As the Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign emerged, the very earth began trembling. A heavy presence oozed in all directions like mercury, sending countless yin spirits fleeing and crushing those too slow to escape.

“The demon sovereign has exceeded the dao immortal realm!” Lu Yun dashed out of the oncoming danger with the Wandering Step.

If the demon sovereign’s eternal true spirit in death exceeded the dao immortal realm, it must have ranked among the mightiest when it were alive, rivaling at least the Azure Dragon King, if not Empress Myrtlestar.

The inscription on its tomb was in the primordial writing system, indicating that the demon sovereign must have been a powerhouse from that era, or that it’d died from having its dao heart shattered back then.

With the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals sealed by the power of hell, Lu Yun couldn’t contact Empress Myrtlestar or the Azure Dragon King to find out more about the Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign. Su Xiaoxiao didn’t remember this demonic personage either.

In less than a breath, he moved several thousand kilometers away, but didn’t dare move out of the explored area.

The East Sea court had spent the past tens of thousands of years exploring the ghost realm, paying the price of numerous dao immortals, but only managing to map out the terrain five hundred thousand kilometers from the barrier.

Those who’d gone further into the unknown had never returned. Even the brand of their nascent soul had disappeared.

Outside the explored land was an area of darkness.

Lu Yun stopped in a mountain col [1] near the celestial master tomb and dropped off the little nun and Star Demon Sect’s holy girl. He casually attached a few healing talismans to them to address their injuries.

“What are the two of you doing here?” Lu Yun asked, frowning at the two girls.

“Servant Yu Hengluo greets the sect head!”

Lu Yun stopped the holy girl before she could get to her feet. She hadn’t yet made a full recovery and should refrain from moving at the moment.

The little nun stared unblinkingly at Lu Yun, face flushed and eyes bright. She idolized Lu Yun and had claimed to be his dao partner in the last Sovereign Meet. Now that he was in front of her in the flesh and had even rescued her like a knight in shining armor, her heart was threatening to jump out of her chest.

Lu Yun rubbed his forehead. That’s right, the little girl still had no idea who he was.

A month ago, Xing Chen had put in an appearance when the geniuses of the world attacked Dusk Province. Almost everyone now believed Lu Yun and Xing Chen were two different people. The little nun was no exception, and her admiration for Lu Yun had reached new highs after that battle.

“I, I...” she struggled to put her thoughts into words, her eyes glued to Lu Yun.

“I hear that I’ve gained a dao partner,” Lu Yun blinked. “Back in Destiny City, a young girl dressed like a nun went around telling people she was my dao partner. Is that true?”

The little nun’s face became as red as an apple.

“That’s not… I...” she continued to stutter.

“That wasn’t you?” Lu Yun snorted. “Good.”

Yu Hengluo snuck a few glances at Lu Yun. This was her first time meeting the sect head. She’d always pictured him as a burly man of three meters in height with ruthless eyes and a rugged appearance, but Lu Yun had turned out to be the fair, slender, scholarly type.

Thinking back to what the Star Demon Sect and the world at large said about Lu Yun, Yu Hengluo couldn’t stop her heart from racing either.

Lu Yun rubbed his forehead and repeated, “So what are the two of you doing here?”

“In response to the sect head,” Yu Hengluo broke out from her trance and hurried out. “We’re here for the Ingress Path of the Nephrite Court. This servant isn’t the only one here, either, as many elites from the sect have come as well.”

The holy girl was the top genius among the youths of the sect, her cultivation reaching returned void realm, yet she referred to herself as a servant when talking to Lu Yun. That made clear the heights of his status within the sect.

Lu Yun nodded.

The Ingress Path had attracted the attention of the entire world of immortals. Almost all of its elites had gathered here in search of the treasure; it was unlikely for him to find it first on his own.

Upon entering the ghost realm, Yu Hengluo and a few other sect immortals had encountered Jiangchen Xie. Words were exchanged, which quickly dissolved into a fight that ended with all of the sect’s immortals being slaughtered by the latter’s zombies.

“And you?” Lu Yun turned to the little nun. “You aren’t here for the Ingress Path, too, are you?”

His head was throbbing after Yu Hengluo’s explanation. Since when did these two know each other?

“I, I’ve joined the Star Demon Sect as well,” the little nun said with a faint blush. “I came with Hengluo.”

Lu Yun’s eyes shot wide open. “You joined the sect?!”

Flustered, the little nun nodded.

Lu Yun rubbed at his forehead with exasperation, uncomfortable with the development. The fidgeting, bashful little nun before him seemed completely different from the lively, outgoing, and exuberantly straight-shooting girl he knew.

She most likely joined the sect for me. Lu Yun shot the girl another glance and noted the peculiarities in her gaze.

After some deliberation, he shifted and transformed himself. After a mystical shimmer of light, he turned into a young man dressed in a black robe, one with determined eyes that caught attention despite him not being particularly good-looking.

The little nun looked incredulous and Yu Hengluo almost screamed.

Xing Chen!

The shitstirrer from back in Destiny City!

“How is this possible?!” the little nun cried out, her voice almost cracking from overwhelming shock.

Lu Yun then turned back to himself.

“There’s nothing to it.” He smiled at her. “Those idiots were just fooled by my replica.”

Thinking back to what had happened in the Sovereign Meet, the little nun wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and hide herself. After the initial shock wore off, though, knowing Lu Yun was Xing Chen allowed her to be fully at ease with him.

After all, theirs was a friendship forged through life and death.

“Wait, if you’re Xing Chen… then Qing Han must be Qing Yu, right?” the little nun asked weakly.

Lu Yun nodded. The two girls’ gazes dimmed and he could almost hear the sound of their hearts breaking.

Damn, since when did I become such a catch? I’ve made two little fairies fall head over heels for me. Lu Yun had to admit he was a little pleased with himself.

“Sect… Sect Head...” Yu Hengluo murmured bashfully. “I’ve heard that many of the demon sovereigns of our sect have hordes of wives and concubines...”

1. Col: the lowest point of a ridge or saddle between two peaks, typically providing a pass from one side of a mountain range to another.