âYouâre just a tiny fellow at the moment, so you canât see any of this. The Dao King foresaw all of it long ago and made certain arrangements in the cosmos around Earth. He laid his plans starting in the era of the great wilderness,â Princess Mu thought for a moment before continuing, âMount Buzhou sits at the spot of that world, suppressing and keeping it under control. You should go seek out the Dao King and retrieve his star diagram and battle flag.
âAh, yes.â Two beams of faint crimson light radiated from her eyes as an aura of violence emanated from her body. She immediately tamped it down. âI am indeed Princess Muâa new personality born after the soul ghost reincarnated. I am able to keep the soul ghost under control with help from the Three Pure Ones after coming to Earth, but my control seems to slip by the day.â
She looked at Lu Yun.
âTake these.â He suddenly understood why the incredibly savage soul ghost had turned into the delicate and airy Princess Mu, why sheâd built a sea temple instead of a nest of ghosts. Qing Buyi had likely let her in for the same reason.
He took out several karmic fruits and gave them to the princess. He didnât dare use something like the Netherdark Talisman since that would likely dispel both her will and lingering resentment.
She left after accepting the fruit; Lu Yun watched her go with worry in his eyes. He turned in a certain directionâhis master could be found there. For some reason, he didnât have the courage to face the man. Not even Lu Yun knew why.
âNever mind, letâs go retrieve the battle flag and star diagram first,â he murmured to himself.
âYou want the battle flag and star diagram?â Goldenlight smacked his forehead. âHaotian gave them to me before I came.â
He brought out a star diagram and a black flag that was one meter across. Haotian was the disguise that the Dao King had assumed when journeying the great wilderness, era of primordial dao, human dao, and immortal dao. Goldenlight knew Haotian, but not the Dao King.
âWeird, why couldnât I remember that I had those two things before that woman showed up?â Goldenlight swung his head around. âHaotian mustâve done something.â
âThese two treasures are very important. Itâd be a disaster for you, me, and the Dao King if theyâre exposed to any degree.â Lu Yun carefully put the star diagram and battle flag away.
âIt looks like Qing Buyi also allowed the sea temple to be built. Although it appears that three factions are fighting bitterly over Earth, this is how weâre able to stabilize the situation on the planet and prevent more factions from intervening.â Lu Yun frowned. âAt the same time, war draws the most potential out of geniuses and is the best shortcut to raising a crop of true powerhouses.â
At some point in time, heâd started considering everything from the perspective of the bigger picture. Perhaps the battles between the three were too brutal for the denizens of Earth, but from the consideration of the entire race, war was necessary.
Lu Yun didnât have much time and neither did Earth. When outsiders charged in after six hundred years, the planet would be one of their primary targets. The greatest heavyweights among the invaders would naturally meet their match, but Earthlings themselves had to be strong if they wished to protect their home.
One thrived in calamity and died in soft living.
Goldenlight looked at him. âAre we heading to the stars now?â
âNo,â Lu Yun shook his head. âTime to kick down the sea temple.â
âHuh??â Goldenlightâs jaw dropped. Wasnât Princess Mu on the same side as them?
âIt only looks like there are three factions on Earth. Who knows what kind of unsavory characters are hidden among us? We need to see the full act through!â Lu Yun turned into a streak of golden light and flew toward the sea temple.
Experts abounded at the temple and it also possessed an incredibly strong sea goddess. Lu Yun wasnât able to gain the upper hand and slunk away with his tail between his legs. Finally, they headed to the stars.
âŠâŠ
Princess Mu rubbed her forehead with some resignation.
âStrange, the soul ghost reincarnated into the World of Sea, so why wasnât I born alive? My soul is still dead after rebirth.â She shoved a karmic fruit into her mouth and pondered the issue through bites of the sparkling fruit.
She was different from Fuxiâs family since the latterâs primary bodies had been buried in tombs. Only their replicas of the mind roamed the land. Even if they reincarnated and completely lived out their lives, they were still dead.
Princess Mu was the complete reincarnation of the soul ghost and shouldâve been alive. The past shouldâve remained in the past and everything started anew. But somehow, she remained dead and the soul ghost returned after she entered the yang tomb. In fact, it was slowly replacing her!
If it wasnât for her meeting Fuxiâs kind self after coming to Earth, the personality that belonged to Princess Mu would likely have already vanished.
Sighing gently, she lifted her head and looked up at Lu Yun in the stars. Lu Yun could help her come back to life as a real, living person. Heâd resurrected Fuxi in the hell tomb, after all.
âŠâŠ
Lu Yun and Goldenlightâs entrance into the cosmos raised quite a bit of attention. But due to the Dao Kingâs measures, all news was sealed off and no one knew what the two were doing among the stars.
It was a boundless sea of celestial bodies and cosmic phenomena, but the stars were derived from the corpses of connate demon gods. They were buried in this vast expanse upon death and later transformed into stars due to influence from the laws of the stars. Space around Earth was a massive mausoleum; the stars here were both the bodies of connate demon gods and real stars. Lu Yunâs star diagram and battle flag were meant to collect the expansive mausoleum.
Heâd seen both flag and diagram before. Hong had wielded the battle flag while Meng kept the star diagram. It was also proof that other than the Dao King, the original emperor was also involved.
However, Meng Wang never raised the issue to Lu Yunâevidence that heâd deleted the relevant memory from his mind. When Princess Mu spoke of the matter, sheâd also done so with an expression of deep thought. Sheâd told Lu Yun that another world was going to refine Earth, but he knew that this wasnât the case the moment he entered the void with the two items.
There were layers upon layers to the schemes at hand and lies abounded at every turn. Even he didnât know what he was doing in the cosmos and why he wanted to collect the mausoleum.
The seed of nothing played a crucial role in all of this, but it wasnât the final goal. That itâd returned to its origins and suddenly appeared at this point in time was only meant to set other events into motion.
Lu Yun and Goldenlight both landed on Mount Buzhou. Hongjun had anticipated their arrival, so was already waiting for them.
âYou shouldâve come here first two hundred years ago, not gone to the rest of the worlds.â Standing at the peak of Mount Buzhou, Hongjun gazed into the vast expanse of stars ahead of him. Heâd sealed Goldenlight into a piece of crystal the moment the scarlet ape appearedâhe couldnât see, hear, or say anything.
âEverything was for this place?â Lu Yun frowned.
âDo you know what the mountain suppresses?â Hongjun asked.
Lu Yun opened the Spectral Eye and looked down to the foot of the mountain. He didnât see anything.
The mountain hadnât been here during the great wilderness. Itâd appeared to seal off the fissure leading from the chaos to the worlds. The fissure was long gone, but the mountain remained; it suppressed another terrible existence.
Lu Yun shook his head.
âItâs the corpse of the master of this land. Heâs become a corpse demon and is furiously raging against the seal,â Hongjun responded lightly. âThe entire mausoleum in the cosmos was prepared for him so he could be laid to rest and buried here. Sadly, it failed.â
Lu Yun shook. The body of the master of this land?
âI thought you wanted to use the battle flag and star diagram to recreate the Major Cycle Worlds,â he inhaled sharply. âIf the Corpse Refiners find out about such a terrible corpse demon hereâŠâ
âTheyâre here precisely for it,â Hongjun nodded. âThe masterâs body has mutated primarily due to influence from their corpse dao. If youâd sealed it into the battle flag two hundred years ago and then gone to eliminate the foundations of corpse dao⊠we might stand a chance now. But now, itâs obtained corpse dao and will become the new foundation for corpse dao in the Land of Reincarnation.â