The war of the great wilderness lasted a full ten years before gradually drawing to a close, leaving behind devastation that greeted the eye in all directions and enormous swathes of scorched earth.

The primary enemy of the human race and the four nations was the connate races in the great wilderness. Most of these races also had a connate demon god backer behind them. But as strong as the demon gods were, all of them ultimately bowed their heads in the face of human dominance.

As for the latter-day races, humans saw them as nothing more than a gaggle of uncivilized barbarians still eating raw flesh and drinking blood. Though they also practiced the cultivation methods of the great dao, they scratched only the barest surface.

Even the most noble of all races in the future—the dragons, phoenixes, qilins, and spirit turtles—were lumped in the same category, to say nothing of monster spirits.

For every race the humans conquered, they would develop tailored cultivation methods for their new vassal so the race could raise its strength. This proved to be the key to truly winning over hearts and curtailing the desire to resist human rule.

……

The year was the ninetieth year of Lu Yun’s arrival in the great wilderness, and only ten short years lay between him and home.

“Little fox, you call yourself the monster spirit ancestor in the future. Doesn’t that title come from you passing on cultivation methods to the monster spirits of this time and being their patron?” Lu Yun regarded the fox in his embrace with surprise.

“I was the monster spirit ancestor a very long time ago,” she yawned lazily. Though she’d returned to the empyrean realm, she still preferred lying in Lu Yun’s arms and would rather not take human form.

“Latter-day monster spirits found themselves in very similar circumstances to the human race. I imitated Fuxi once and saved them from disaster, upon which they hailed me as their ancestor. Well, to be honest, I am indeed the first monster spirit in the world to reach chaos realm.

“But if I make an appearance again, certain unstable elements within the monster spirits will probably jump out and defy human rule. I’m not willing to lead those gremlins and monsters precisely because their wild natures are too strong and they’re too unruly to control.”

The little fox looked deep in thought. When human rule would be overthrown and human dao destroyed in the future, monster spirits would be the first to raise the banner of insurrection. Granted, it was more than likely because someone had been instigating them to do so, but that didn’t change the fact that monster spirits would be the lead troublemakers.

“What about you?” Lu Yun asked curiously. “Aren’t you a monster spirit too?”

“I’m different.” The little fox squinted and curled up comfortably into a furry ball the size of a fist. “I’ve been enlightened by that one!”

“Uh, alright then.” Lu Yun accepted that answer with resignation and then looked at his shoulder. A little figure three inches tall and burning with black flames stood there—the blood demon’s replica.

During these chaotic times, the blood demon had somehow ended up refining Rearbow’s core essence and become its weapon spirit. But since the treasure had already been refined via Lu Yun’s hellfire, the blood demon was bizarrely able to project himself with hellfire for current results.

He was rather depressed by the unexpected chain of events. He’d been waiting to return to the future and make a quick getaway, but Lu Yun had become his master for some strange reason!

“Where are you hiding at this moment?” Lu Yun smiled merrily at the blood demon.

“What, do you want to take care of the current me?” the blood demon asked woefully.

“If I went to take care of the current you, do you think you’d be able to cause all that trouble in our time?” Lu Yun took Mount Buzhou’s path to the world of celestials.

“That’s true,” the blood demon thought about it. In his memories, no one came for him after his birth. He spent this time fishing in troubled waters and devoured demon god upon demon god, quietly increasing his strength.

“Don’t worry, Hongjun is raising you and Leize spares you for the sake of balance. Humans will be the rulers of the world for a very long time to come, but they must have a sense of danger and an enemy. You’ll become their foil.”

Of course, Asura was the combination of demons of heaven and earth. If he was allowed to grow unchecked, then his boundless lust for annihilation would one day destroy the great wilderness.

“I was in the Blood Sea at this time,” the blood demon said quietly. “I’d thought my combat arts were strong enough to hide me from him, but it now looks like he was just letting me off the hook.”

This was a depressing revelation.

“The Blood Sea, of course.” A knowing smile flashed across Lu Yun’s face.

“What are you doing? Are you looking to die by going to the world of celestials now? Tens of millions of soldiers are stationed at the peak and the dao weapon of the celestial court deters all challengers…”

The blood demon naturally knew that the top of the mountain was under siege by tens of thousands of soldiers arranged in formations. Even the him of this era didn’t dare provoke the celestial court.

It was called thus because it was seated in the world of celestials, and hailed as the sovereign of the three realms because three great dao weapons protected its fortunes. Just like the immortal dao to come would have its own dao weapons, so did the primitive great dao have its treasures. Those of the human dao hadn’t been born yet.

“Tens of millions of celestial soldiers?” Lu Yun grinned. “In your memories, has anyone ever pierced this place straight though?”

“Pierced it through?” The blood demon looked around in a daze. “Well, yes, but that was on the eve of all beings conquering the heavens…”

Booooom.

Lu Yun suddenly released a black air current and shot two streaks of flame out from his eyes. He set down a heavy step on the peak of the mountain.

“Who dares attack a pivotal holding of the celestial court!!” A powerful demon god erupted with blazing radiance that lit up the mountain peak like it was high noon.

This had once been God’s dao arena where he’d sat cross-legged in meditation. However, it was now occupied by countless soldiers and a cauldron, bell, and tower shining brilliantly over the scene.

“These three dao weapons…” Lu Yun trembled when he saw them, thinking of the three mysterious factions in the future—the Azure, Purple, and Crimson Firmaments.

Booooom.

Tens of millions of soldiers stationed at Mount Buzhou’s peak stepped into formation at almost the precise moment Lu Yun appeared and launched themselves in a running charge. They were deploying a pure formation instead of the battle formations seen in the future. This utilized living beings as a foundation to become one with the enormous power of the land and receive a temporary explosive increase of strength.

But in the eyes of a formation grandmaster like Lu Yun, this formation was crude beyond belief. Though it was very strong, it was riddled with flaws and thus extremely easy for him to break through.

In the same vein, there would be no point in him coming here if he wanted to resolve things with an easy little trick. He was going tit-for-tat and wanted to crush the celestial court’s confidence with absolute force. He would destroy their faith and have them shudder whenever they heard of the human race or the Flame Emperor’s name!

Booom.

Black light surged out of his body and pierced the clouds before he concentrated all of his strength on his fist and struck out at the formation.