Who the little fox regarded as traitors were humans that had long defected to the chaos creatures. They were very clear on what their purpose and mission were, and had never been exposed to the immortal dao because they were still empyrean realm instead of great emperor realm.

But as great emperor realm was now restored to the immortal dao, these traitors would nurture the energy of their world in their bodies if they ascended to great emperors. They wouldn’t be able to serve their masters then, an unpalatable proposition since their main function was to protect the chaos creatures.

……

When the little fox stowed the Bell of Chaos, the skeletal palace collapsed into rubble. There were more palaces of bone within this dao palace—plainly the breeding ground of the dead spirits. They were all empty now, removed of their vengeful spirits and any accumulated resentment.

“Three empyrean realm humans are inside the palace ahead of us. The chaos star of the dao palace is also there. You must be careful,” the little fox said nervously.

This dao palace was bigger than the one that’d been in the Quiet Realm, and its chaos star was stronger as well. She’d already exposed her Bell of Chaos, so the three empyrean realm humans were certainly on the alert.

The little fox wouldn’t have been afraid if she’d been here alone, but she was here with Lu Yun. Though the six paths of his nascent spirit were in hell, empyrean masters ahead possessed the ability to destroy one’s core essence even when reaching through an entire world.

“There’s no need, let’s head out.” Lu Yun grinned broadly.

The little fox suddenly realized the flaw in her thinking; Lu Yun didn’t need to barge into the rest of the dao palace if he wanted to take it with him!

The chaos beasts stationed here had left with their masters. With the torch dragon holding down the fort, no one dared make any further designs on Dustfall Realm. The chaos creatures didn’t care about some humans that’d turned race traitors, but they did care very much about the well-being of their chaos beasts. These were the only lifeforms from the chaos that could exist within the boundaries of a realm.

Back on the main world of Dustfall Realm, immortals had begun to clean up the battlefield. Almost all of the dead spirits within this realm were dead—an unprecedented victory. The immortals had truly wrenched a realm from the grasp of the dead spirits!

Dustfall Realm was now the only safe harbor within the lower realms, its inhabitants embraced each other in tears. Even now it seemed surreal; the dead spirits that had tormented them for countless eons were truly eradicated!

The world of immortals paid a hefty price for this victory—several hundreds of thousands of immortals had died, including three High Immortals of the Great Firmament. However, the significance of this victory was too enormous and it brought an unheralded wave of confidence and hope to the world of immortals.

The immortals had died a worthy death, and their names would be forever immortalized in the monuments of Dustfall Realm.

Lu Yun set up a Size Manipulation talisman formation outside of the dao palace and moved the entire structure into hell, like he had when taking the dragon palace of the North Sea. The dao palace was a system unto its own and completely isolated from the outside world. Now that the chaos creatures had left, it was ownerless. Lu Yun could bring it into hell anytime he wanted to.

……

Dustfall Realm, half a month later.

The entire realm was a scene of strewn wreckage and war torn ruins. What little remaining energy of the realm there was worked stubbornly to repair its broken worlds.

An enormous monument was erected in the center of the main world, inscribed with a dense register of names. It recorded the gruesome, tragic struggle the war had been and the heroes that had fallen in the final battle.

Lu Yun stood in front of the monument that towered like a small mountain and bowed gently from the waist.

“What a pity they died to the dead spirits. They’ve completely scattered into nothingness… there’s nothing I can do for them,” Lu Yun sighed softly. To be eaten by a dead spirit meant that one was either truly erased from the world, or summoned by another power elsewhere and unable to be traced further.

“You’re Lu Chen of the Dao Academy? And a member of the Lu Clan?” a voice sounded behind him.

Lu Yun turned around to see roughly a dozen academy disciples behind him, looking at him quite rudely. One of them was a High Immortal of the Great Firmament and a descendant of the Lu Clan.

“I’ve perused the official records of the Dao Academy and you’re not in them. There are three Lu Chens in my clan, but you’re neither of them. Out with it, who are you?!” The high immortal took a step forward, pressure exuding from his eyes as he stared fixedly at Lu Yun.

“Does it matter who I am?” Lu Yun frowned, quite displeased with these academy disciples.

Everyone had witnessed “Lu Chen’s” feats with their own eyes in the last battle. Even if he was using a moniker, the headmaster of the Dao Academy would’ve invited him to join after learning of these matters.

However, these academy disciples seemed bent on denouncing him.

“You aren’t a disciple of the Dao Academy, alright! How dare you commit fraud in the name of the academy?! I will arrest you today so the academy can decide how to punish you!” His hand expanding to the size of a small mountain, the Lu immortal reached out and smashed down on Lu Yun. He didn’t intend to capture Lu Yun, he wanted to kill “Lu Chen” on the spot!

In addition, Lu Yun noticed that all of the Lu immortal’s consciousness was fixed on Quietus that he wore on his back.

“Hmph!” Lu Yun snorted and took a step forward, releasing his presence with a roar and shattering the hand to pieces.

“AHHH!!” The Lu immortal shrieked with anguish and clutched his pulped wrist, gaping at Lu Yun with horror.

This was a peerless immortal in front of him, but the energy within the imposter’s body was far behind it! He’d be able to beat up a Golden Immortal of Grand Unity with one punch, to say nothing of a High Immortal of the Great Firmament!

Indeed, Lu Yun remained below the dao immortal realm only because he hadn’t refined his dao fruit yet. He was one in everything but name.

“You little bastard, how dare you provoke the Dao Academy and make enemies out of us?!” Loud condemnations flying from their mouths, the other disciples took a few quick steps backward.

“Make an enemy out of the Dao Academy?” A ball of inexplicable anger rose from Lu Yun’s stomach when he heard this. He reached out and swept all of the disciples to the ground.

The disturbance had caught the eyes of others by now, especially as this wasn’t a particularly discreet spot.

“It’s Lu Chen, Lu Chen of the Dao Academy. He’s fighting with the Lu disciples of the academy!”

“Apparently he’s an imposter and not an academy disciple…”

“Come on, let’s go take a look! Let’s see who he is to dare antagonize the Dao Academy!”

Though immortals steered clear of the area, their consciousness avidly observed the proceedings. The rest of the academy disciples on the main world swiftly ran over to surround Lu Yun.

“Who are you to dare set yourself against the Dao Academy?!” they loudly criticized him.