Pfft!

Lu Yun spat out another mouthful of blood as something suppressed his blazing hellfire. Even the Sal Tree of Life and Death retreated back to the netherdark.

Firmly grasping the Tome of Life and Death, he looked up at the firmament to where a pair of purple eyes burning with purple flames regarded him frostily. Lu Yun locked eyes with it while the Tome of Life and Death emanated bronze radiance to protect its wielder.

He didn’t know who the eyes belonged to, but he was certain that the master of these eyes was the one behind the taboos of the world. Living beings were hit with recoil if they touched earth veins because those were taboo, Emperors Fall was taboo, the great war of immortals was also taboo… and it was all because of these purple eyes!

It’d done so to bury the truth.

Even the current age he was in, the rule of the demon gods, would eventually become a taboo. Future generations would completely forget this era and the origin story of how the human race came to be. And now, it’d also made the reason for Pangu’s death a taboo. No one could learn of the truth, or they’d suffer the condemnation of the heavens!

Lu Yun had made use of the Tome of Life and Death, death arts, and a Dragonsearch Invocation at great perfection to finally pierce through the veil of mystery. Hence, the eyes materialized to prevent the truth from being revealed.

He refused to back down, glaring with determination and maintaining a tight grip on the book. He would never admit defeat here. Never.

“Ai!” a soft voice sighed. “I buried truth in order to protect all life. It’s not a good thing to know too much. Please keep the reason for Pangu’s death a secret, fellow daoist.”

The voice was low, resonant, and suffused with resignation.

“Who killed the great god? He can’t have committed suicide.” Lu Yun frowned.

Having this conversation meant that the master behind the eyes of purple flame had acceded, and Lu Yun also recognized the fire burning in those eyes!

Nether Fire!

The Nether Fire that belonged to Violetgrave, but the master of these eyes was absolutely not her!

Violetgrave had once said that the first person to transact with her had traded for Nether Fire, and that they’d eventually destroyed the hell of human dao.

Could that person be the owner of these eyes?

“With your current status, you can learn of only so much. Death will lie in wait for you if you run afoul of certain taboos!” said the voice. “If one day you fully master the Tome of Life and Death, then there will be no secrets remaining to you in this entire world. No, not even in all of the chaos.”

It dwindled away until the last word was simply a breath upon the air, as did the eyes hanging in the void.

Lu Yun stood upon the mother altar and looked down at the book in his hand. That being knew of the treasure and its power… It hadn’t admitted defeat because of Lu Yun’s strength, but given way because he was the master of the Tome of Life and Death.

“You may retrieve Worldcarver, but you cannot move Pangu’s corpse. His body is the foundation of Mount Buzhou and the mountain will fall if you shift his body,” sounded the voice once again. “Mount Buzhou will fall sooner or later, but absolutely not now.”

Lu Yun nodded silently. This time, he could clearly sense an enormous entity slowly depart from the premises.

Hellfire had absolutely wrecked Pangu’s tomb. Under its blazing might, everything sinister, ghostly, or of yin energy was reduced to dust. Even vicious beings that could kill Lu Yun with a snap of their fingers were unable to withstand the fiery ocean.

However, Lu Yun still remained on the mother altar.

“An opportunity for my replica to break through to chaos realm lies within these five altars.” He surveyed the elemental altars hovering beneath the mother altar and frowned slightly. “But... my body of the world comes from the future and can’t ascend to chaos realm in this time period.”

His body would break through to empyrean realm in the future and refine the great dao of the future. If Lu Yun ascended to chaos realm in this age and assimilated the great dao as it were now, he wouldn’t be able to go back to his time.

At least, Xing Chen wouldn’t be able to.

However, his replica had a greater mission on its shoulders—to make the immortal dao whole!

“Ai, Little Yu probably calculated as well that the five elemental altars are the key to Xing Chen breaking through to the chaos realm. But if they enter his body, my primary body will also be impacted and turn into a divine spirit…” Lu Yun gave up on the notion in the end. He didn’t want to transform from being a human to being a divine.

“Eh?” Something caught his eye inside the palace.

Footprints had appeared over the scoured surface of the palace ground at an unknown point in time. Dense and thickly dotted, they were everywhere. Many things unseen seemed to be standing in the palace and looking up at Lu Yun.

He felt his hairs stand on end as the feeling of being watched rose from the bottom of his heart.

“No, wait. There’s more secrets left in this tomb, the akasha ghosts…”

Zhi Guangji had also been an ephemeral existence that was an akasha ghost. Apart from Lu Yun, no one had been able to see, hear, or sense him. The same beings now filled the palace, and were even stronger than the former Dao Flower guardian. Lu Yun couldn’t see or sense them, but they truly were standing in the palace, despite there being no other trace of them other than the footprints.

They were a kind of existence like akasha ghosts, but ones even stronger.

“Just like death spirits accompanying a realm monster, the akasha ghosts are just the hangers-on of these beings.” Lu Yun’s expression flickered uncertainly.

He’d calculated just now that he’d be obliterated if he dared walk down from the mother altar; there wouldn’t even be a complete corpse left when his attacker was through with him. The culprit wouldn’t be the master of the eyes earlier, but the owners of these dense footprints!

“Fuxi drew the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals with God’s essence to restrain the akasha ghosts… the mother altar is God’s greatest treasure, so it too can suppress the creatures below.

“Man, do I really have to refine these altars and break through to chaos realm to get out of this predicament?”

That hellfire hadn’t burned them along with everything else was testament to how strong they were.

“You can retrieve Worldcarver first, then think of a way to leave this place.” The Yin Prince’s genteel tones sounded once more.

The black litter appeared again with its eight bearers standing beside it. Everything was how it’d been before, and the three that Lu Yun killed had somehow revived. Apart from the black-clad Yulei beside the carriage, he was joined by another handsome young man in a white robe.

“Hmm?” Lu Yun hadn’t thought this personage would appear again and this time, to resolve his problem. Wasn’t the Yin Prince waiting to collect his corpse?

“Do you know how to retrieve Worldcarver?” Lu Yun asked with shock. “And do you know the reason for Pangu’s death?”

“No.” The Yin Prince suppressed an eyeroll. “The connate demon gods who knew are all dead and became the owners of these footprints.”