Three muffled impacts marked Asura’s skeletal body being pierced clean through. Lu Yun arrived in front of him at almost the same time, bow drawn taut yet once more and this time, releasing a storm of several hundred arrows.

Asura shrieked and flailed, wanting to escape the hail of pain. However, Rearbow proved much stronger than the two swords in his hands; his body was reduced to bone dust in the blink of an eye.

“Lie Shan, I swear upon my essence as a demon that I will seek vengeance for this!”

Whoosh!

The bone fragments drifting around the air suddenly ignited and collected as one enormous ball of Hadal Bonefire, which then scattered explosively in the four directions.

Rearbow was too domineering. When Yi wielded it, he could almost defy Taiyi equipped with the Bell of Chaos. Though Asura was stronger than Lu Yun, his Blood Sea was less than the Sea of Hellfire, and his two swords were also less than the Rearbow. If the fight continued, the human would beat him to death!

Most importantly, Asura was still struggling with his injuries. Ji Du had delivered a devastating blow to his prior self, so he had to continue devouring the core essence of other connate demon gods to increase his strength. He had to keep eating, and eating, and eating until he was the only demon in the end and annihilated all life!

Annihilation!

This was the only desire in Asura’s mind from the moment of his creation.

……

“Trying to run?” Lu Yun sneered when he saw the demon god take the form of Hadal Bonefire.

Whoosh!

Burning merrily in midair, the Sea of Hellfire suddenly exploded and churned toward the scorching Hadal Bonefire.

“AHHHH!!” Asura shrieked with fear. More than eighty percent of his boundless fire was destroyed before it had time to flee! Without a doubt, this was yet another ruinous blow that greatly damaged his core.

Extraordinarily aggressive himself, however, he consumed the Blood Sea with his remaining bonefire and escaped in a shroud of bloody light, vanishing beyond the horizon of the East Sea.

“What a pity, just a little bit more!” Lu Yun sighed. It seemed that some things were decreed by fate. Asura would be defeated and quartered by Ge Long, currently Daoist Yuyu, sometime in the future and buried in the four coffins. Later on, four blood demons would be born into the world…

He wouldn’t be able to kill Asura even if he pulled out all stops now—the demon god had too many lifesaving measures. Still, he’d put in a good day’s work right here. The Constellation Willow was his and he’d gravely injured Asura. That one wouldn’t be showing his face in the world for a very long time.

……

“When… when can I become someone like Lie Shan?!” Veneration crossed Bai Zhaoju’s face as he stood in the formation that Lu Yun had set up.

“You’ll become a peerless master like him sooner or later if you follow the path you’re on.” Ling Weiyang’s tones also rang of emotion. “This Constellation Willow isn’t complete.” He shook his head with resignation when Lu Yun landed next to them again. “Asura’s taken two-thirds of its core essence for some undoubtedly nefarious purpose. The rest is just barely supporting the spirit root so that it doesn’t immediately wither up and die.”

“I see…” Lu Yun blinked, then nodded. “Well, having one-third is enough for me.”

What he wanted was the connate energy within the Constellation Willow. It didn’t matter if all of its core essence was gone, it was enough to just have its true form.

Lu Yun stretched out his hand and stored the willow inside his body, allowing it to take root in his body of the world.

Hummm.

A deep buzz that reached the soul emanated from his figure, and he felt that he’d taken another step closer to all living beings in the world.

“The primitive great dao has undergone some changes again…” In the chaos, Lu Yun’s cross-legged form suddenly opened his eyes to scan the great dao running through it.

In that battle with Asura, he’d unleashed his power to the best of his capabilities and further influenced the great dao because of it. From this moment onward, any life form that took another form would assume Lu Yun’s shape, unless their own bloodline power was uncommonly strong and overbearing, or one bestowed by the heavens themselves.

In other words, all life forms would naturally take human form.

Lu Yun’s cultivation method was slowly being assimilated into the primitive great dao. It’d gained the approval of the heavens and would form the basis for the future path of cultivation.

In the current great wilderness, divine spirits were the pioneers of all cultivation methods for latter-day beings. However, there wasn’t a complete system for cultivation yet, and there wasn’t anything close to being accepted by the great dao.

Though human dao had yet to be established, the primitive great dao was already setting foot in its vicinity.

“Battle… as long as I continue to battle, then the dao for humans will be continuously perfected. …so I’m the one who creates human dao?!” Full realization struck Lu Yun at this point. He was a life form under the immortal dao and thus lacked a direct connection to human dao. In the same vein, that meant there was no need to agonize over whether the chicken or egg came first if he was the creator.

“To fully unleash myself… I just need to keep picking fights.” A smile curved Lu Yun’s lips.

Many naturally noticed the changes in the great dao, but none of the connate demon gods cared about that. So what if one had to take the form of a human in order to cultivate? What did that have to do with any of them—naturally born great masters of combat arts? They didn’t need to cultivate.

No matter what the great dao turned into, it wouldn’t affect them at all.

As for latter-day descendants… they were unable to sense the changes in the great dao. So in the end, no one paid attention to what had changed in their world.

……

After absorbing the Constellation Willow into his body, Lu Yun took another small step closer to the true chaos realm. He traveled back to the Mu nation with Ling Weiyang and Bai Zhaoju.

“Someone’s coming.” His expression suddenly changed. He sensed the addition of two more powerful demon gods in the Mu nation. One of them was Dijiang, and the other shimmered with razor-sharp glints of yang metal. It was the ruler of the Jin nation in the west, Rushou!

Color drained out of his face when Bai Zhaoju also discovered his master’s presence. He’d planned to have Lu Yun accompany him back home so he could ask Rushou face-to-face if he really wanted to refine his disciple as a replica. To think that his master had come here in person instead!

Not only had he come, he’d come with Dijiang so they could threaten Goumang together!

It was plain to see that Bai Zhaoju had been able to reside safely at the Mu nation for eight years only because Goumang had been protecting him.

“Don’t worry, there’s still me.” Lu Yun flashed a slight smile when he noted the pallor of Bai Zhaoju’s face. “And don’t forget, you’re the future White Emperor.”

“I…” Bai Zhaoju’s voice was slightly hoarse. “Does he really want to refine me into a replica?”

Lu Yun sighed inwardly. Bai Zhaoju viewed Rushou as his father, and the demon god had indeed been the one to raise him and pass the great dao onto him. It was only to be expected that he couldn’t accept this harsh truth.

“Go on, you can ask him yourself in front of everyone.” Lu Yun patted his shoulder.

“…’kay…” Bai Zhaoju nodded gently.

“Ashu… eh, Daoist Ling. This has nothing to do with you, so you shouldn’t be involved.” Lu Yun turned to Ling Weiyang.

“Ashu?” Ling Weiyang blinked, then nodded. “I do indeed lack the right to intervene in the affairs of demon gods.”

He smiled ruefully. He was only a true divinity at the moment, and thus less than even an ant in the eyes of the lofty chaos realm demon gods. He raised cupped fists at Lu Yun and Bai Zhaoju and then walked elsewhere.

……

In Goumang’s palace, he looked at his visitors with an unpleasant expression. Rushou’s replica had come several times over the past eight years to request Goumang send Bai Zhaoju back to the Jin nation. The request had been met with refusal each time.

However, Lie Shan’s great battle with Asura over the East Sea had attracted the arrival of Rushou in the flesh. Rushou was now here with Dijiang to demand the return of Bai Zhaoju!

“Fellow daoist, Bai Zhaoju is my disciple and has visited your Mu nation for the past eight years, it’s time he returned to the Jin nation.” Taking the form of whoever looked at him, Rushou sat cross-legged on a seating cushion and looked around with a remote glint in his eyes.

Dijiang beamed merrily, looking like a benevolent mediator, but the corners of his eyes flickered to the Builder Tree now and then. He patently also desired the foremost divine tree beneath the heavens.

“Since fellow daoist has come in person, then I will decline you no longer,” Goumang responded coldly. “But you must think carefully, fellow daoist, Bai Zhaoju’s future is unparalleled…”

“I know that, you need say nothing more, fellow daoist.” Rushou nodded. “My disciple, why do you not come out to greet your master?” He turned and looked in the opposite direction.

Bai Zhaoju walked through a door by himself. He paused in front of Rushou before saying, “This disciple is willing to return with master.”

“Mm?” Rushou started, then smiled. “What, did old man Goumang not tell you that your death is certain if you go back to the Jin nation?”

“This disciple knows!” Bai Zhaoju bit his lip. “This disciple is perfectly willing to!”

Both Goumang and Lu Yun outside the palace didn’t say anything. They’d known from the beginning that Bai Zhaoju would say and do this, which was why Goumang had never told Bai Zhaoju that his master had come.

“Hahahaha!!” Rushou laughed heartily upon hearing this and arched a smug brow at Goumang. “Good, very good! I didn’t teach you for nothing then.”

Goumang remained expressionless.

“In that case, I will impose on fellow daoist no longer. I shall take my leave now.” Rushou waved a hand and collected Bai Zhaoju in his seed storage. He raised a cupped fist salute at Goumang and departed.

Dijiang also smiled at the ruler of the Mu nation. “Fellow daoist, please tell Lie Shan that if he wants the Bell of Chaos, he can come find me at the Tang Valley.”

…..

“I couldn’t save him in the end.” Despondency filled Goumang’s face. “Ling Weiyang, you might as well go into seclusion in the Builder Tree,” he transmitted. “Don’t come out until you’re in the chaos realm. There are too many pairs of eyes on you in the great wilderness now.”

Ling Weiyang nodded, then walked into the tree.

“This was his choice… but I think Bai Zhaoju won’t die.” Lu Yun walked into the palace. “He is a good disciple. As for his master…” He hesitated, then continued, “Dijiang is obviously up to no good. I’m going to take a look.”

He stepped forward and followed in their wake, hiding his figure with hellfire.