Suspended from the ceiling of the palace, an enormous head silently regarded them with a pair of blood-red eyes. It was so big that it resembled a small mountain, and it was scarlet red to match its eyes. A slight hint of malice could be found within them.

“That’s Kuafu’s head!” Bai Zhaoju shrieked.

Though he was less than a hundred years old, he hailed from the Jin Clan of the west. The clan counted a connate great god among its members, and his own status was very high among his kin. That meant he was acquainted with the images of all sorts of moguls and titans of the great wilderness.

As Kuafu was a connate god of the great wilderness, Bai Zhaoju was naturally familiar with his appearance. Kuafu had been the first god to die in the battle of Suncrows Plain, and his head was hung in Great Yi’s tomb! He hadn’t been buried in a final resting place, but was dangling here in a manner that was almost sheer humiliation!

Bai Zhaoju found this too incredible to believe. Connate great gods, even those who’d died, should be shown respect and not have their heads displayed as a trophy in someone else’s tomb.

“Why would Fuxi do this??” he cried out incredulously. Since Lie Shan had mentioned all of this was the holy emperor’s doing, that was where his thoughts immediately jumped to.

“Not Fuxi.” Lu Yun shook his head and smiled at Kuafu. “Luo Houluo, so you couldn’t resist in the end.”

Kuafu’s eyes bulged from his sockets from the force of his glare. Though this was his head, someone else’s soul resided in it at the moment.

Luo Houluo.

Bai Zhaoju looked askance at Lie Shan.

“I think… I probably put his head here as a trap for Luo Houluo.” Lu Yun thought for a moment, his tone low. “There was already nothing left of Kuafu then.”

Of one thing he was certain of, and that was Luo Houluo of the future was much more terrifying than Luo Houluo of the present.

The Luo Houluo of this era was just a chaos realm demon god under the primitive great dao. But in the future, he would absorb the immortal dao at some point along the way and create blood demons, setting foot on a more horrifying path of demonic dao. Even his disciple cowered in fear of him, or would it be better described as shuddered in downright terror?

Kuafu’s soul fragment had likewise discovered the terrors of the demon god and thought up a plot with Lu Yun. He’d sacrificed himself to seal Luo Houluo in his own head.

Though Lu Yun had destroyed the relevant portion of his memories, certain instincts yet remained in his heart. He also had formula dao to call upon, so he could absolutely theorize what course of action he’d taken after he’d arrived here.

Blinking, Bai Zhaoju realized in this moment that this peak golden core human might not be as simple as he seemed.

“Let’s go, Luo Houluo won’t be getting out so long as this tomb stands.” Lu Yun pointed at the four pillars. “He’ll have to destroy this formation first if he wants to destroy the tomb, hah!”

He activated the formation rune on the sarcophagus as he spoke and summoned a small door made of light. He stepped right through it, Bai Zhaoju hot on his heels.

Above them, a strange light flashed through Luo Houluo’s eyes.

“Destroy the formation? If I was still an idiot life form of this era, of course I wouldn’t be able to do so. But, I have come back from the future, kyahahaha!!” he brayed with laughter.

……

“Why did you let the demon know how to escape?” Bai Zhaoju asked in surprise as he quickly caught up to Lu Yun.

“Luo Houluo’s soul is incomplete, so he’s just an idiot for now, pure and simple. It’ll be his execution date the second he dares touch that formation,” Lu Yun replied absentmindedly as he scanned the surroundings.

A great expanse of gray earth was to be found beneath their feet, one pitted by meteorites of varying sizes. Lu Yun turned back to see a vividly blue planet enter his field of vision.

Bai Zhaoju had no response to that. The kid just shoved Luo Houluo head first into another trap! He subconsciously shuffled step to the side, adamantly maintaining what he thought was a safe distance from the human youth.

“Is that… Earth? But it’s so many times bigger than its future self.” Bafflement flashed through Lu Yun’s eyes. He was certain that this blue pearl of a planet was Earth, but it was much bigger than it should be. He and Bai Zhaoju should be standing on the moon, or the Taiyin Star as the people here called it. “The sun and the moon are also bigger than they should be in the future,” he murmured to himself.

“What are you talking about, the future?” Bai Zhaoju blinked. [1]

Lu Yun nodded and sat down cross-legged, closing his eyes to call upon formula dao. He could now sense his replica after setting foot into the cosmos, and he would be able to recall Xing Chen with just a thought.

However, Lu Yun didn’t dare do anything when success was so close at hand. He’d been the one to send Xing Chen into the stars, so bad things might happen if he haphazardly recalled his replica like this.

The star beneath their feet was the Taiyin Star, a source of utmost yin energy. This was why it’d connected to Yi’s tomb in Suncrows Plain and become a door to the cosmos.

Fuxi was likely behind this as well.

The sun and moon stood side by side in space, creating an enormous forcefield that enveloped all of the constellations as seen in the great wilderness. This was a naturally occurring seal that didn’t need any protection. And since the Taiyin Star was one with the great wilderness, there was air and living beings here too as well, just not that many.

“Realm monsters alright!” Lu Yun’s eyes shot open and he took a deep breath, an unpleasant expression settling on his face. “I know where Taiyi’s body is, but it’s keeping powerful realm monsters at bay. Are you sure you’re willing to venture there?”

“What the heck are you talking about? If even a puny golden core cultivator like you dares to go there, what would a mighty celestial divinity like me have to fear?” Bai Zhaoju puffed his chest out and raked a glance over Lie Shan.

“Umm… I’m not going to the same place as you.” Lu Yun rubbed his nose and pointed at his comrade, copying the star map that Yinglong had given him and sending it to Bai Zhaoju’s mind.

The man froze, then went slack-jawed with astonishment.

“A star map, this is a star map!” He jumped into the air. “Only the celestial court would have this, so why would you… Oh, right. You met Yinglong, she gave this to you!”

“Shh.” Lu Yun placed his finger to his lips and Bai Zhaoju hastily clapped both hands over his mouth.

This was the Taiyin Star, the dao arena of a connate demon god. Though she wouldn’t care about two ants, her disciples wouldn’t share the same indifference.

“I can evade the dangers in the cosmos thanks to this star map and find Taiyi’s body all the faster!” Delight flashed across Bai Zhaoju’s face. As for whether or not he’d be able to obtain the true feather he sought, he wasn’t worried about that at all. He had his methods and would be able to find it as long as he was close to Taiyi’s corpse.

“Remember to erase it from your mind after you come back, or you’ll attract fatal danger!” Lu Yun reminded seriously.

Bai Zhaoju nodded, raised a cupped fist salute to Lu Yun, then transformed into a thin line of sword light before vanishing among the stars.

Lu Yun didn’t move a muscle. He turned around and looked behind him.

1. That’s right, he doesn’t know that Lu Yun is from the future.