Lu Yun felt his replica shudder violently the moment the enormous pupil emerged, like it’d discovered high quality prey. Unbidden, he shot upward with Diexi in hand, rising up to the height of the eye.

“…you’re not a realm monster!” Lu Yun narrowed his eyes as he looked at the eyeball larger than a star.

Not a realm monster!

He could immediately come to this conclusion now that he was face-to-face with the eyeball.

“Wait, no, you are a realm monster,” he suddenly changed his tune. “You’re a realm monster that’s reincarnated into the great wilderness!”

Being as there was no wheel of reincarnation in this age, no one controlled this process. As long as the great masters didn’t fully perish and left a strand of their true spirit intact, there would be hope yet that they could one day return to the world.

Connate gods such as Taiyi, Yinglong, and Kuafu could reincarnate at any time if they so wished and return to the great wilderness in the body of one of their more humble descendants.

However, that was a fate that some connate demon gods would rather avoid at any cost, [1] while those like Yinglong and Taiyi voluntarily became ghosts to fend off the realm monsters and protect their world.

At the same time, realm monsters could also reincarnate into the great wilderness if they met certain conditions. They would then be life forms under the primitive great dao. The enormous eyeball in front of them was one such mighty realm monster that’d reincarnated and ultimately regained its strength!

“Latter-day humans built hell, maintained order of the netherworld, and controlled reincarnation of the multiverse not to enslave all races, but to prevent realm monsters from reincarnating into the great wilderness!” Lu Yun took a deep breath. Everything was falling into place, and he finally knew what he should do from now on.

“But though you’re very strong and infinitely close to being a creator, I will keep you down today!” He took a step forward and explosively deployed the strength of a body of the world.

The heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, as well as the six yang organs manifested by their yang brethren, all flared with scintillating light at the same time. Lu Yun opened his mouth and emitted an eruption of sword energy that stabbed at the eyeball.

It was just a pair of eyes; he’d dug this eyeball out last time and suppressed it in the cosmos. However, it still contained boundless might. If the three chaos realm experts beneath him ran into it, they’d disintegrate into pieces from a single glare.

Thankfully, Lu Yun’s body was one of the world and he also possessed the organs of the world. He was the perfect weapon with which to counter the reincarnated realm monster.

His blast of sword energy pierced savagely into the eyeball. It shrieked from anguish and answered back with a blaze of scarlet red flame.

“Fire and water in conjunction, yin and yang in harmony… you’re just one step from breaking free of realm monster limitations and becoming a real living being!” Lu Yun started.

If this realm monster truly transformed into a living soul of the great wilderness, he would no longer be able to suppress it anymore.

Gritting his teeth, he parted the surging flames with Diexi and came howling down on the eyeball. Since he’d possessed the strength to dig it out from its owner, he naturally had the power to destroy it completely.

His primary body had been too severely injured last time for him to continue to control Xing Chen. That was why his replica had been left in space to keep the eyeball under control. Who would’ve thought that it’d show itself again when the Great Formation of the Nineheavens Gates was on the cusp of completion?

Hummm.

The moment that Diexi touched the eyeball, a red ripple burst out of the eye and repelled Lu Yun with a shockwave. A faint smear of blood barreled out of the eye and aimed for the falling human.

“Luo Houluo!” Lu Yun shrieked when he saw the bloody shadow.

“Eh? You know me?” The faint shadow paused and resolved itself into the form of a handsome young man. Luo Houluo was also one that took the form of whoever was looking at him, so Lu Yun saw him as a human.

The demon god had withdrawn his attack and was looking at Lu Yun with confusion. He didn’t seem to have met this human empyrean cultivator before, but the human had instantly recognized him even when he’d concealed his true form.

Hence, Luo Houluo aborted his attack and dithered with indecision.

He’s the Luo Houluo of this era, not the one of the future who came back with me! Lu Yun’s thoughts raced furiously. He knew what was going on now. The future Luo Houluo wanted to enter space not to seize possession of Taiyi’s soul, but to search for the realm monsters. He’d sworn fealty to them!

“Luo Houluo, you’ve thrown your lot in with the realm monsters and become their dog!” Bai Ze erupted in fury when he saw the demon god.

Though Luo Houluo possessed views opposite to the great gods when it came to their descendants, he was a connate being just the same as them. They were the same race and in the same boat, so they should’ve resisted the realm monsters together!

But now, Bai Ze could plainly see that Luo Houluo had defected to the enemy.

“What is a dog?” Luo Houluo cocked his head. “Ah, the life form that humans have domesticated to hunt prey. That’s an apt analogy, I am indeed hunting for the realm monsters now.”

A strange smile flitted over his face; he didn’t feel there was anything bad about Bai Ze’s description.

That kid’s a bit odd, he actually inspires fear in a reincarnated realm monster and dug out one of its eyeballs last time. Tsk tsk tsk, if I capture him, I may be able to figure out how to control these reincarnated realm monsters. I can turn the tables on them and be their master instead!

Gleefully counting his chickens before they hatched, Luo Houluo reached out and grabbed at Lu Yun.

He was one of the strongest connate demon gods of the world, the founder of demonic dao in both the great wilderness and in the future. Even the great demon god in the future, Ji Du, was his disciple. [2] There was no room for resistance in front of him; the gap between him and Lu Yun was too great.

Lu Yun felt like part of the world was crashing down upon him. His body and organs were firmly suppressed. Such was the power of the strongest connate demon god, able to fully restrain the master of hell with a single thought.

Ring—

Ring—

Ring—

Peals of gentle bell tolls rang throughout the stars. An enormous golden bell suddenly appeared protectively above Lu Yun. Luo Houluo’s hand was repelled as soon as he touched the human.

“The Bell of Chaos! Taiyi’s Bell of Chaos!” he gasped.

“Die!” Bai Ze, Xiang Liu, and Dusk Snake had herded the realm monster jellyfish to where it would be suppressed by the great formation, and the formation was beginning to settle down. They shot into the air for a concerted strike upon Luo Houluo.

“Ignorant fools,” sneered Luo Houluo and thrust out a palm strike with a casual backhand. As a preeminent demon god, the three couldn’t match his strength either. Such a simple reaction was enough to gravely injure them.

Ring—

However, the Bell of Chaos sounded again at this time and shattered his palm strike.

1. Reminder that the two are the same in this age. Demon gods that are willing to protect life and view even their mortal descendants as being of the same bloodline are hailed as gods.

2. The OG demon god who took over the Exalted divine emperor’s soul and forced two celestial emperors to use their lives to kill him. They failed.