“And you’re only telling me this now because…?” Lu Yun chuckled wryly. Did he have any other choice?

The zombie tree was too overwhelming. As long as its roots reached beneath the earth and were protected by the living soul, its strength was boundless and inexhaustible.

Though the Pelagic Orb provided tremendous energy to Xing Chen, it couldn’t compare to a supreme treasure like the living soil. Not to mention, the zombie tree itself was also a treasure of that level.

Despite taking up unwelcome residence in the underworld, the three holy kings hadn’t dared evict it. Now that it possessed the corpsefire and living soil, it was wholly in its element as if a tiger had gained wings.

Only after refining the spleen of the world would Xing Chen rival the three ancient holy kings in the underworld. Only then would he truly possess the strength to combat the zombie tree. Lu Yun didn’t want to consider anything other than that for now.

“Do I have any other choice?” He looked at Ge Long.

The old servant shook his head. “The living soil belongs to the zombie tree now, and it’ll be able to endlessly consume the strength of the tomb as long as it stands in the tomb realm. The Xuan Yuan Tomb will be sucked dry in the end, bequeathing to it the strength of a moat snake. There shouldn’t be anyone who can withstand a moat snake in the current world of immortals.”

“My name is Carmine Arbiter!” objected the moat snake, currently strolling through the City of the Dead with her colleague. Despite their leisurely jaunt, their attention had been focused on events in the outside world.

Lu Yun spread out his hands dismissively. “Let’s begin. The owner of the five organs will at most come looking for my replica after I refine all five of them. They won’t think much of my primary body.”

“Sir,” Ge Long raised solemnly. “All things that exist are rational. There is no absolute right or wrong, or good and evil in the world. Xuan Yuan was the great human sovereign, but his killer may not be a villain.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you ate Xuan Yuan?” Lu Yun asked instead.

Incredulity crossed Ge Long’s face and he hastily shook his head. “No, no, certainly not. I would fall over myself to pay my respects to him, so how would I ever commit the great sin of killing him? I’m just pointing out that whoever killed him may not be an evildoer.”

“Alright, I understand.” Lu Yun nodded. “Let us begin.”

……

With the spleen incorporated into Xing Chen’s body, the five organs of the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys were thus all present and accounted for. The energy of the five elements rose from the organs as rays of scintillating radiance, and Xing Chen’s body began to change at a rapid pace.

Upon the collection of the five elements, their energy formed a complete cycle that both nurtured and suppressed each other in endless succession. Five rays of brilliant luminescence centered on the replica like a pentacolored rainbow, but that wasn’t all. This was just the result of the five organs coming together; their true strength hadn’t been displayed yet.

A series of marvelous changes took place once all five organs settled down in Xing Chen’s body. Pure elemental strength that originated from later development in nature manifested the earth, flame, forest, ocean, and blade. These physical apparitions interacted with each other to support or destroy one another, and all of them eventually went up in a blaze of glory to exhibit the myriad of possible changes beneath the heavens.

The six yang organs, meridians, blood vessels, flesh and blood grew in Xing Chen’s body, making him no different from an ordinary person. However, since these had all come from the organs of heaven and earth, that placed them on the same level as the world’s organs.

“AhhhhHHHHH!!” He suddenly threw his head back and roared at the skies, opening his mouth to also devour the Cosmic Sea hanging in hell’s firmament!

Twilight instantly draped over the once-brightly lit kingdom of the netherworld.

“Well met! The kingdom of hell is one of darkness and shadow, there should have been no stars or light in the first place. The addition of the cosmos obstructed its development instead!” Ge Long applauded heartily.

Lu Yun then accelerated time in hell to ten thousand times its usual pace. His replica and its new organs grew swiftly while beams of starlight filtered out from his body. In this moment, the Cosmic Sea truly became one with heaven and earth.

Xing Chen finally opened his eyes again after a hundred million years, or perhaps it was ten billion years. A plethora of emotions flickered through his gaze, as if he’d experienced much of the fickleness of life.

“I see, I see at last…” Lu Yun and Xing Chen spoke at the same time. They looked at each other, both reading amazement in the other’s eyes.

Lu Yun brought out his luopan and deployed formula dao for a few calculations before nodding in satisfaction.

“You knew a long time ago how to fix the immortal dao and repair the dao immortal realm!” Lu Yun looked at Ge Long. “Someone set all this up in the Primeval Era—“

“Sir!!” Ge Long quickly interrupted his master. “No more, no more!”

Lu Yun nodded and changed the subject. “Mmhmm, I know what decisions to make.”

A faint smile floated onto the old servant’s face. “The immortal dao existed in the Primeval Era as well, but it was too weak then. It was because of this feebleness that we could hypothesize and speculate its future development, determining what weaknesses and trends it would develop. Someone made certain arrangements beforehand with this knowledge.

“Although a few unexpected deviations happened along the way, milord’s fortuitous appearance guided the immortal dao back onto its proper path.” Gratification flashed through Ge Long’s eyes. If it wasn’t for Lu Yun’s appearance, he’d already be dead.

The young man in question nodded back at the old servant. Xing Chen was still undergoing his metamorphosis. After swallowing the Cosmic Sea, the Cosmic Eye and Cosmic Skycarver came flying through the air to assimilate into his body. The Cosmic Eye became his new eyes, and Skycarver his weapon! The three were seamlessly incorporated into one new whole!

They’d originally belonged to Qing Yu, but she had no need for them after the world of the heavenly palace was complete.

Booooom.

An enormous rumble rang out while silver waves washed over Xing Chen, painting the kingdom of hell with the color of the stars. The elemental power manifested by the organs vanished, becoming pure energy of the world. Nurturing an entire world within oneself was the kind of power grasped by peak great emperors!

……

When Lu Yun and Xing Chen returned to the yin tomb, they displayed the strength of a peak great emperor with abandon.

“What is this?!” shrieked the zombie tree as Ashu and the others gawked as well. In their eyes, only the blink of an eye had passed before the fourth holy king of the underworld had suddenly exploded into an existence that rivaled Great Emperor Kunpeng!

“How is this possible, how can this be? You transformed in a split second! Even if you obtained all five organs of the world, you’d need a hundred million years to refine and incorporate them. It would take at least that long before you can manifest a world within yourself. It’s not possible to do it so quickly!!” The zombie tree rejected the reality in front of them, but Xing Chen really did possess that legendary level of achievement!

Someone who’d attained such heights was destined to surpass even great emperors. It’d only be a matter of time before they were on par with Ling Weiyang and Xuan Yuan.

The zombie tree suddenly shrank in on itself and streaked into a ray of black light, seeking to escape from the tomb.

Hummmm.

The tomb shook violently as the five elemental altars appeared out of the void, locking down all of the Xuan Yuan Tomb. You Si, the high priests of earth, ocean, forest, and blade stood on their respective altars, all of them directing overwhelming elemental energy to seal off the void.

However, the zombie tree really was too overbearing; just the combination of corpsefire, living soil, and its own strength proved sufficient to challenge the five altars. It hadn’t been long since the five priests obtained their altars, so they were unable to deploy their full strength and wavered in the face of the zombie tree’s frontal charges.

“Give that here!” Xing Chen strode forward and grabbed the living soil and corpsefire, wresting them away for his own. He then pressed gently on the tree’s trunk.

Kaboooom!

The thick trunk immediately decimated into a shower of splinters.

“Lu Yun!! To become a great emperor in this day and age is to seek death! Just you wait, it’s coming for you!!” the zombie tree yelled as a portion of its trunk broke through the air and made its escape.

Condemnation ringing in their ears, things settled down in the Xuan Yuan Tomb. In all of the chaos, Xuanyuan Xiaoyue had remained silently looking at a faint figure on top of the snake outer-coffin. A beautiful smile crossed her face.

“I’d like to live now, I think.” She looked at Lu Yun.

“Gotcha.” Lu Yun waved a hand and opened the invisible Gates of the Abyss in front of her. Stepping forward lightheartedly, she entered hell.

……

“What a shame he got away,” sighed the Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign with disgruntlement.

Lu Yun raised an eyebrow at him. “Though the zombie tree was really here, he still left a section of trunk outside. So even if I’d gotten all of him just now, that still wouldn’t be enough to kill him.”

“Sir, does this mean that the entire world is yours now that you’re a great emperor? You can be the master of the world of immortals and unite it all?” Ardent enthusiasm burned in the demon sovereign’s eyes.

“The immortal dao is not yet complete, making great emperors a forbidden realm. Whoever dares become one or call themselves an emperor must die. I am no exception.” Xing Chen walked up with a sigh. “What a pity, I’ll miss feeling this strength. My apologies, senior holy kings. I’m afraid I’ll be dying before I’ve done anything for the underworld as her fourth holy king.”

Though he was about to die, there wasn’t any disappointment or loneliness on his face. In fact, Xing Chen looked… expectant.

“For the good of all!” Holy Kings Atrophy, Desolation, and Antiquity applauded in the underworld.

Ashu looked at Xing Chen and nodded as well. “That you are willing to give up this replica means Xuan Yuan has not died in vain.”

A trace of gratification appeared on Xuan Yuan’s face before he slowly dissipated.