Boom!

Sparking with hellfire, the Stone of Three Lives continued on its trajectory and slammed into Dusk Snake with tremendous strength. His body instantly disintegrated into a mass of ash and sparks, but his detached head sailed into the great river below like a meteor of doom.

Lu Yun stared coolly at the churning waters below, making no attempt to intervene.

Boom!

A second explosion rocked the land. Great waves reared above the water surface as an enormous hand rose out of the river and slapped the snake’s head back with unbridled force.

Lu Yun easily grabbed the returned head.

“My deepest gratitude!” He bowed at the river.

“How dare you, Bingyi?!” Dusk Snake’s head shrieked in Lu Yun’s clutches, his eyes dripping with venom.

A hazy figure emerged from a high wave of the surging waters.

“There’s no need for gratitude.” The figure flashed Lu Yun a slight smile, sparing no attention for Dusk Snake. “This seat was appointed Lord of the River, Hebo, by His Celestial Majesty himself. Celestial Master Fuxi ordered me to protect the humans residing by the banks of the great river, so this was part of my duties as the river god.”

Hebo was the greatest god within the Yellow River. [1]Although he wasn’t a connate demon god, he’d received his divine decree directly from the hands of Taiyi. Since the river was one of the greatest in the great wilderness, his access to its full power enabled him to rival a chaos realm connate demon god.

Nothing that happened in the Yellow River basin could escape his notice. He’d learned of Lu Yun’s existence long ago and how important the young man was to Fuxi.

Nevertheless, the human race had to rely on their own deeds in their development. Hebo was only going to protect it from destruction. He didn’t care if some tribesmen were worshipping gremlins or other spirits as river gods.

Lu Yun hadn’t known about Hebo before, but upon his return to the great wilderness, he’d sensed a terribly powerful being residing within the great river.

Noting Hebo’s blatant disregard for his existence, Dusk Snake raised his voice and called out, “Bingyi! This seat is a celestial king of the celestial court, assigned by His Majesty to guard the cosmos. He...”

And then Hebo was gone, his manifestation crashing back down as water droplets. Dusk Snake stared dumbly at the great river, uncomprehending of how his noble self had been ignored just like that.

“Don’t you understand yet?” Lu Yun boomed, striking an imposing figure between heaven and earth. He clutched the snake’s head firmly in his hands, leaving no wriggle room. “Taiyi’s passed away and so has his celestial court dispersed. Hebo now serves Fuxi.”

Color drained out of Dusk Snake’s face.

Numerous powerful minds scanning the area retreated as soon as they saw Lu Yun carrying Dusk Snake’s head.

Dusk Snake was a powerful connate demon god. Although Taiyi had subdued him and made him a celestial king of the heavenly court, he was no meek wallflower to quietly bide his time. Now that Lu Yun had decapitated even him, no one dared risk the ire of someone with such immeasurable power.

No one considered him a regular empyrean realm cultivator either. Someone who could kill a chaos realm being was surely on the same level, despite his projected cultivation!

……

“Big brother Lieshan, you’re back!” Ah Bao threw herself into Lu Yun’s arms, burrowing her flushed face into his chest. The little fox popped out weakly, grumbling in complaint.

“Ah, the little fox is back as well! It’s so thin now… it’s not gonna taste good!” Ah Bao mischievously fished out the little fox from Lu Yun’s arms, who played dead after struggling for a bit. Emerald light streamed from the mountain ghost’s hands into the little fox’s body, and Miao’s dim eyes brightened with vitality again.

“So you still remember me, little mountain ghost.” Having recovered some of her energy, the little fox cast Ah Bao a sheepish look.

“Don’t call me little,” Ah Bao giggled. “You’re younger than I am!”

The little fox ducked back into the sanctuary of Lu Yun’s collar. She’d grown up in Qingqiu Mountain, so it was only natural that she be familiar with its mountain ghost. In fact, Ah Bao had recognized the little fox as soon as she and Lu Yun arrived at the Ning Village. That was why Ah Bao had often joked about eating her.

The great wilderness was fraught with danger and internal conflict constantly raged between humans. It would be suicide to allow strangers into one’s village. Lu Yun had been allowed to stay only because Ah Bao recognized the little fox.

“Lie Shan, how did you… how did you become powerful enough to kill such a mighty god?!” Shennong and Jiang Ti came up to Lu Yun with disbelief. All of the great wilderness had noticed when Lu Yun chased down Dusk Snake, and the Yan Tribe was no exception.

Jiang Ti had fully recovered from his injuries; he now appeared to be a strongly-built young man, rather than his previous feeble form. More importantly, cultivating the qi refinement method had propelled him into the true divine realm and greatly prolonged his life.

Shennong, on the other hand, had reached peak true divine realm. One more step would take him into the celestial divine realm.

Due to the human sacred land, Lu Yun’s inventions and discoveries had spread throughout human territory, such as the qi refinement method, ways of agriculture, usage of herbs, and identification of poisonous plants. The human race had been growing stronger as a whole at an unexpected pace.

Of course, humanity was still weak in comparison. In order to prevent other races from acquiring his cultivation methods and learning them to attack the human race, he made it so that only humans could practice this refinement method.

“Remember when you guessed I was a great master as soon as I arrived at the Ning Village?” Lu Yun responded with a smile. “I journeyed the great wilderness this time to recover my strength.”

“Ah… No wonder Holy Emperor Fuxi holds you in such high regard!” Realization caught up with Shennong.

……

News that a human had killed a chaos realm demon god and brought his head back to human territory took the great wilderness by storm.

Humanity had been one of the weakest races for the longest time, with the most powerful of the species in the true divine realm. That was the lowest bar possible for the major races.

Although Fuxi and Wahuang had been safeguarding the human race, and Hebo ordered to guard the great river and prevent the race’s extinction, they weren’t part of the human race’s own power.

Lie Shan’s sudden emergence heralded the powerful rise of the human race! A chaos realm expert would make the race one of the major players in the great wilderness!

The human sacred land also wasted no time sharing the news with the rest of the race. At the same time, they clarified that the qi cultivation method everyone was making use of was the great master’s invention. That further astounded all humans, especially the tribes that were itching to wage war against the Yan Tribe.

Many more tribes were quick to approach the Yan Tribe and offer to join them. With a great elite who could kill a chaos realm demon god, the tribe was on the cusp of conquering all humans. It was better to voluntarily assimilate themselves into the great Lie Shan’s tribe and seek protection, rather than to wait for oncoming defeat.

1. Hebo is the god of the Yellow River. The Yellow River is the main river of northern China, one of the world's major rivers and a river of great cultural importance in China.