Smiles slid off the faces of the Deaf Prince and the others as they looked sternly at the Great Formation of the Nineheavens Gates teetering on the edge of collapse.

……

“So they really did find a way to break the great formation in the end.” Lin Yan was Taiyi’s reincarnation. Though the great demon god had sacrificed himself to become a blazing sun for the great formation, he’d created a multitude of backup plans for himself since he was the first celestial emperor of the realm. He would’ve been reborn even if he’d been completely wiped out from existence.

However, the power of reincarnation was so domineering that once its system was established, Taiyi eventually lost himself in the endless cycle of life after life. Upon his final return, he was Taiyi no longer, but Lin Yan of the world of immortals.

The Great Formation of the Nineheavens Gates in front of them wasn’t what it’d once been. Upon his first homecoming, Taiyi had set up a second great formation that Fuxi melded with the first, the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. But now, the formation wobbled dangerously.

On the other side of the seal, horrific beings of the chaos had collected hordes of living spirits from somewhere and were furiously sacrificing them en masse to corrupt the formation.

Working in tandem, the eight great experts lifted Mount Vastspace and Timelight Tower at the same time, summoning the reincarnation of spacetime again and aiming it at the sun star transformed from Taiyi’s body.

“Careful!” Yulei suddenly objected at this time. Two rays of black and white light shot out from his eyes as he looked at the blazing sun. “Those things breached the great formation a long time ago, but they’re still guarding the spot for some reason, pretending to attack…”

As Houtu’s guard, Yulei himself wasn’t very strong. However, his notable ability was that he could easily discern everything that occurred in the chaos.

“What?!” Fuxi reacted to Yulei’s words with great shock.

“The Great Formation of the Nineheavens Gates has already been broken, but those in the chaos don’t pour forth in an attack… Then there’s only one explanation for their behavior: they’re waiting for the great weapons of space and time.” Jing Huaci pondered deeply, worry flashing through her eyes. “Only a very select few knew of our plan and most of them died to see it through.”

In the great wilderness, peak connate great gods such as them had made countless preparations and numerous backup plans for the sake of the future. However, most of their painstaking arrangements had been washed away in the long river of time, and not many contingencies were still intact in the present day and age.

Mount Vastspace and the Timelight Tower were two crucial pieces they’d devised to replace the great formation sealing away the chaos. But the chaos natives on the other side of the gap were plainly waiting to launch an ambush and steal the two weapons.

“We have a traitor among us,” Jing Huaci pronounced heavily after some thought. Unbearable sorrow colored her voice.

Everyone quieted down at the mention of “traitor”.

“It shouldn’t be anyone who survived until now… All of us have gone through the wheel of reincarnation and with the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak overseeing things, he wouldn’t have let the traitor enter the cycle. Unless—” Lin Yan looked solemnly at Lu Yun.

Very few of those alive now had known of the plan. Apart from Fuxi, Lin Yan, and Jing Huaci, all of the rest had connected the dots only when the two treasures of human dao awakened their sense of self. Even the little fox had been kept in the dark, though she’d been an active participant.

“Tianqi’s not the traitor,” Lu Yun declared firmly. “I’m his master, I know his character well.”

“Mm.” Fuxi nodded lightly. “I don’t think Tianqi is the traitor either. Then… that traitor is among those who’ve died!”

Leize, Huaxu, Wahuang, Pangu, God, Hongjun, and some other great gods on the same level as Leize and Huaxu had all voluntarily given up their lives for the plan, just like the Queen Mother of the West. They’d been reduced to dust without a word of complaint.

Whether it was Fuxi, Jing Huaci, or Lin Yan… none of them could bear to view any of the dead with suspicion.

“We don’t need to fret about this, the traitor’s shown themselves a long time ago.” Lu Yun thought of Yu Rang and the human powerhouses ready to ambush him when he fought the Dao Tree. Their appearance then hadn’t been coincidental. If there was a traitor among them, this traitor had to be the person directing that crowd’s movements!

The traitor could be human, or they could also not be human.

“I’ll go!” Tushan stepped forward. “Since they’re waiting there to seize Mount Vastspace and the Timelight Tower, I don’t mind teaching them a very painful lesson!”

Golden radiance flared over her body as the Bell of Chaos slowly rose to hover over her head. Curtains of aureate light cascaded down from the treasure and dyed this patch of space a sparkling golden. Tushan then turned around and suddenly shoved her face in front of Lu Yun’s.

What had been a rather somber atmosphere instantly turned a bit weird. Caught off guard, Lu Yun quickly scrambled back a step. Tushan’s face followed his closely.

“What… what are you doing?” Lu Yun demanded hotly.

“I’m risking my life to fight those awful creatures of the chaos, what if I die? Hurry and take some of my soul force so I can head into battle with peace of mind!”

Suppressed eyerolls filtered through the crowd. Tushan had been known for her impish antics during the great wilderness. Thoroughly stumped by her mischief, many an expert could only throw their hands up with resignation as they couldn’t do anything to the greatest beauty of the great wilderness.

Lu Yun chuckled wryly and pointed at the center of Tushan’s brows, extracting a strand of soul force from her.

“Don’t worry, you won’t die with me around.” He dropped a karmic fruit into her hands.

Tushan wiped off a bit of drool at her lips and quickly stored the fruit inside her robes, chuckling deviously all the while.

When she’d visited hell last, the sparkling karmic fruits on the Karmic Tree’s branches had caught her eye. However, Lu Yun had been busy planting the souls of those he’d brought back from the great wilderness, and she’d been preoccupied with releasing the Deaf Prince and others from the bell. When everything was said and done, she’d forgotten to ask Lu Yun for a few fruit.

But he was just giving them to her today!

“Alright, I’ll go meet them in the chaos! You all do whatever needs to be done here.” She looked at Lu Yun and continued in a soft voice, “If I don’t return in a hundred breaths… you should plant my soul force.”

Lu Yun’s expression shifted slightly when he heard her words. It looked like the little fox wasn’t joking for once. She really did think she’d die on this excursion.

“I’ll go with you,” Qing Yu suddenly piped up. “The Dao Flower itself is still in the chaos. I’ll make a trip to bring it back.”