“Time… the Timelight Tower!”

That treasure was the first thing that came to mind when time was on the table. The Timelight Tower had been the ultimate treasure of Empress Timelight—one that could modify the rate in which time passed and even traverse the time continuum.

“But the Timelight Tower is in the underworld, inside the celestial master tomb.” Lu Yun fell into deep thought. “Apart from that treasure, this is the only thing that can affect time…” He clutched at empty air to return with the dao weapon of time. “The dao weapon of space, the dao weapon of time…

“Empresses Timelight and Vastspace respectively controlled time and space, and both of them vanished before Emperors Fall. They didn’t participate in that battle…”

Lu Yun seemed to be on the verge of grasping something, but it remained tantalizingly out of reach. He subconsciously looked at the Tome of Life and Death; there was a special corner of space within it which held a girl fast asleep—Yu Hengluo.

“I’m just going to forget about what I can't wrap my mind around. The truth will come out, sooner or later.” He stood up and heaved a long sigh, then took a careful look at his feng shui compass.

The true spirit fragment of the immortal emperor was deep asleep inside it, having become the resident spirit of the weapon. The luopan’s energy was nurturing him into a gradual recovery.

“Since the emperor’s coffin could spark the Sol Truefire, it’s no ordinary item either. I’m taking it with me!”

As the tomb had ceased to possess a purpose, the restrictions within had deactivated as well. Lu Yun flew like the wind, reaching the end of the passageway with a few steps.

The heart of the tomb was now a world of darkness so complete that one’s outstretched hand would be invisible to the eyes. Even the Spectral Eye failed to pick up anything. In here, his consciousness was firmly confined to himself.

“Gaseous nascent spirit soil?” Lu Yun paused. Last time he’d run into this situation, he’d been in the celestial master tomb. That endless flood of gaseous grains had isolated everything in its vicinity.

“No, wait... this isn’t nascent spirit soil, it has a completely different structure.”

Frowning faintly, his ears picked up on something different in the darkness. Though his consciousness and sight were sequestered, his hearing wasn’t affected. He could clearly hear the rise and fall of an enormous breath, as if something was awakening in the darkness.

“What is it?” Lu Yun took a half step back, Violetgrave at the ready in his hand.

“It’s vapor, black water vapor…” An idea struck him and he collected a bit of black light in his hand. “Connate kui water of yin!”

Yin wood of the east, yang metal of the west, yang fire of the south, yin water of the north, and yang earth of the center were the strongest tangible forms of the five elements.

“The lungs of heaven and earth nurtured geng metal, while the heart fosters li fire, the liver protects yi wood, so if there’s kui water here… can the kidneys of heaven and earth be here as well?!” Lu Yun trembled violently and quickly shot backward when the thought occurred to him, not daring to stay a moment longer.

Boom!

A tremendous roar sounded along with an enormous pulse of water as soon as he exited the chamber. Where he’d been standing was promptly annihilated into a void of nothingness.

Cold sweat drenched his back.

“The kidneys of heaven and earth have fully formed and become a divine spirit! The Water Altar [1] comes from the Central World, which means this thing must’ve formed roughly five thousand years ago. It then broke free of the altar’s restraints and caused tremendous instability in the Central World, shaking loose all that stuff onto the twenty three facets below.”

When the Central World had rocked from instability five thousand years ago, countless fragments of it had showered onto the world of immortals, the most famous of which were Levitating Island in the North Sea and Myriad Formation Summit in Dusk Province.

It now looked like the unrest was all a result of the kidneys of heaven and earth coming to life in the immortal emperor’s tomb. Thankfully, the emperor’s coffin resting on top of the organ’s divine spirit all this time had kept it from running amok.

Now that the emperor’s coffin had dimmed, the spirit immediately took advantage of the reprieve to fan the flames of disorder. It hurtled about randomly with connate yin water, seeking to break free of the tomb entirely.

“I’d always thought what happened five thousand years ago was the result of a massive conspiracy. I hadn’t thought it’d be because of this thing… Then… what about the seal over the Abyss of Divine Burial?” A distinct headache brewed from Lu Yun’s acute lack of brainpower. “Was the Water Altar just a happy coincidence that reinforced the seal and slowly became its core?

“No, wait, that’s wrong, that’s still wrong. There were manmade traces left at the scene, so it wasn’t a coincidence. Someone purposefully guided the people to worship the altar and facilitate the godhood of this thing!

“It’s like the lungs! If someone hadn’t sent those to the bottom of the abyss, the lungs would’ve also become a god a long time ago, too!

“So there definitely was a massive conspiracy involving them five thousand years ago!”

Wham!

Wham!

Wham!

Increasingly violent collisions sounded from the center of the main burial chamber; all of the Central World started quaking as well. This was the true strength of an organ of heaven and earth!

Though Xing Chen had two of them in his body, he couldn’t deploy anything beyond a minuscule, trifling amount of their power. A divine spirit formed from one of them, however, could shake the facet with their power alone.

……

“What’s going on?!” Making use of both the Skyturning Seal and Sugato Sword, the Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign tore the big fur seal to pieces. Not even taking a single second to celebrate his victory, he shook with trepidation instead and looked askance at the ground beneath his feet.

“It looks like Lu Yun has successfully obtained the Immortal Subjugation Seal… that thing is awake.” Gravity afflicted the youth from the Green Firmament. “An expert from my Green Firmament grievously injured it five thousand years ago, and it’s been suppressed by the immortal emperor’s coffin ever since. It still carries a fatal wound, so it can be easily slain if one can cause the injury to flare up again.

“But it’s too strong, so Lu Yun can’t identify where the injury is.” The Green Firmament representative kept a firm hand clamped down over the cauldron and egg and suddenly turned around with a yell. “Demon Sovereign, the Skyturning Seal was yours to begin with, so giving it to you now is returning it to its rightful owner!

“Use the seal to suppress the demon god’s egg until Lu Yun arrives with the Immortal Subjugation Seal. Under no circumstances can the demon god be allowed to undergo his tribulation!”

The demon sovereign smashed his seal into the Ichor Bog to prevent the big fur seal from reforming. “What are you going to do?” The Hadal Bonefire in his head flickered rapidly in thought.

“Naturally, I’m going to finish what my senior was unable to complete.”

Whoosh!

A black flame blossomed from the youth’s body. He instantly crumbled to dust and a tremendous nascent spirit departed through the void. There were no ripples of life to it, like it were a dead being.

With the departure of the Green Firmament expert, the Skyturning Seal shook and slammed into the cauldron as a streak of light. About to return to its black appearance, the cauldron trembled and flashed pure gold again.

Hadal Bonefire smoldering with determination, the demon sovereign stood on top of the cauldron, one hand pressing down on the seal and the other wielding the Sugato Sword. Terrifying sword aura howled and swept like a great storm, slicing down whenever the big fur seal tried to reform itself.

Roaring and snarling, the demon god kept attempting to take form and charge through the seal’s suppression. Alas for its efforts, the seal sat firmly in place without moving one bit.

1. The altar at the bottom of the Dusk River to which people offered sacrifices to remain safe from yin spirits.