“Blood dragon and blood phoenix....” Lu Yun’s expression darkened as he stared at the blood phoenix approaching him. “Tell me, are there any other blood whatevers in the world?”

“You may not get an answer if you ask anyone else, even Myrtlestar,” responded the dread zombie. “There are two more blood fiends apart from these two: blood qilin and blood turtle.”

“Dragon, phoenix, qilin, and turtle.” The governor paused in shocked recognition.

There were four divine beasts that represented the gods of the four cardinal directions—the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and the Black Tortoise. There were also four auspicious spirits of good omens—the dragon, phoenix, qilin, and turtle!

Noting Lu Yun’s dazed expression, the dread zombie continued, “That’s right. It’s those four creatures of auspicious omens. Blood fiends themselves have no physical form, but they can manifest through dragons, phoenixes, qilins, and turtles to plague the world with disaster and destruction.

“Isn’t it funny? What the world hails as auspicious creatures delivering peace and prosperity can become world-ending nightmares just like that.”

Lu Yun’s expression shifted uneasily in tandem with his thoughts.

“Come, come to me...” the blood phoenix whispered to the governor like one would a lover. “Let me use your body, your blood, your flesh, your bones, and your soul to refine this supreme divine sword. Come to me!”

Crimson light exploded from its body and a pungent smell broke through the protection of hellfire to assault Lu Yun’s senses. Lightheaded, he felt an urge to complete the Sword of Chaos with his own flesh and blood.

“Wake up!” He bit his tongue and jerked himself awake. The blood phoenix was only a little more than three meters away from him.

“Come, come, let’s complete this sword together and return the divine race to its glory. The light of the divines will shine on all the heavenly planes once again.”

“Piss off!” growled Lu Yun, throwing a powerful punch at the blood phoenix.

The phoenix flashed back to the smithing platform under the giant sword and continued hammering Huang Qing’s body.

“Hm?” Lu Yun started and whirled around, coming face to face with a young man. The newcomer wore a worn, white robe with an expression that suggested ancient pain. His eyes seemed to house a boundless ocean of stars.

“I told you the Sword Barrow spells doom and that trespassers will die.” His voice grated like two pieces of dry wood rubbing together.

Lu Yun shuddered violently. “You’re the Dusk restriction!”

The young man being here was nigh unfathomable! Lu Yun had seen that pair of eyes twice before. Once outside Dusk City, where the eyes glared Donglin Yuhuang, the patriarch of House Donglin, to death by popping him like a bubble.

The other time was outside this very Sword Barrow.

Lu Yun took a closer look at the unexpected visitor. The young man was neither alive nor dead, but stuck somewhere in between and was alternating between the two states.

“Restriction?” The young man paused. “Many seem to have called me that over the past thousand years.” That was when the restriction had appeared in Dusk Province.

“Then what did people call you before that?” Lu Yun sucked in a deep breath.

The man’s eyes grew unfocused as he travelled down the dusty hallways of memory. “A thousand years ago, many called me… His Majesty the Celestial Emperor of Exalted Major.”

“What?!” Lu Yun’s eyes threatened to fall out of his skull. “The Exalted celestial emperor?! You’re him?!” He reflexively took a few steps back. “Who’s the one that stands with the nine celestial emperors now?”

Lu Yun immediately contacted hell with his mind. His envoys had all died more than a thousand years ago, so they wouldn’t know about things that had occurred after their death. He could only ask the Infernum.

“What?” Yuchi Tianhuang gasped with incomprehensible shock. “The Dusk restriction is the Exalted celestial emperor?! Then who’s the celestial emperor now?!”

He’d established a great intelligence network within the world of immortals in his efforts to revive the divine race’s fortunes and lift the curse on the White Tiger tribe, yet he’d never gotten an inkling that a celestial emperor had been replaced.

“His Majesty was replaced?! How is that possible??” Zhao Dianliang from the Exalted Immortal Sect could barely recover his jaw. Peace reigned in Exalted Major! There’d never been news of the celestial emperor clashing with anyone, nor had there been any battles on a grand scale. Yet… here the celestial emperor was, as the Dusk Province restriction.

Even the Nephrite celestial emperor was in the dark.

Lu Yun’s widened eyes were still fixed on the Exalted celestial emperor, while the man trained his gaze at the blood phoenix and walked toward it.

Seemingly blind to the human’s approach, the blood phoenix continued to hammer doggedly at Huang Qing’s body.

“Rumors fly that the nine celestial emperors will undertake a joint attempt at breaking through the dao immortal realm. If that imposter is up to no good....” Apprehension rose in Lu Yun’s heart.

“Back off!!” The blood phoenix stared rancorously at the celestial emperor, its eyes glowing crimson.

The celestial emperor was rooted on the spot, like a spear thrust into the ground. However, he suddenly reached out and grabbed at the phoenix.

“Move!!” the phoenix shrieked again. Beams of dense, crimson light flared from its body. Blood energy surged and filled the Sword Barrow almost to the brim.

“The blood energy here originates from this blood phoenix!”

Swoosh!

Hellfire covered Lu Yun’s body in a protective layer, blocking the terrible crimson light. Meanwhile, a fight broke out between the Exalted celestial emperor and the blood phoenix.

The crimson figure had transformed into an actual phoenix, its blood-red wings blotting out the sun and pinning the human down. Unfazed by his disadvantage, the celestial emperor manifested a treasure resembling the brocade canopy of an imperial carriage.

“That’s the Exalted Parasol!” Zhao Dianliang exclaimed when he saw the adorned umbrella. “He really is the Celestial Emperor of Exalted Major!”

Ignoring the words, Lu Yun made his way to the smithing platform and examined Huang Qing’s body. There were no signs of decay or damage from the continuous hammering; she looked just like how she’d appeared in life.

Lu Yun frowned and reached out to Huang Qing.

“Don’t touch her!” the Exalted celestial emperor cautioned worriedly with his hoarse voice.

“Die!!” The blood phoenix suddenly lost its mind and knocked the celestial emperor away, growing to three hundred meters tall and lunging at Lu Yun.

“Auwuooooo!” A piercing dragon howl sounded from Lu Yun’s side, marking the leap of a crimson dragon that clashed with the phoenix midair.

“Blood dragon.” The celestial emperor frowned slightly. “You’ve tamed the blood dragon buried in that burial mound. How unexpected.”

“Oof!” Pain flickered through the celestial emperor’s eyes. Thick death energy gradually rose from his body as he lifted his head and let out an inhuman roar.

In midair, a pair of giant eyes slowly opened.