Seven days later, every blade of grass around Azure Dragon Lake was covered by teeming cultivators.

The city lords of Azure Dragon and Coiling Dragon City had spent three years conquering Azure Dragon Region. They stood on the city walls and quietly looked out at Lu Yun over the lake.

“My path has reached its end,” the Azure Dragon city lord said quietly. “There is no road beyond ninth step king. If I wish to become a true king, I must sever my cultivation and start anew from the beginning.

“The orders of this Hongmeng are scrambled,” sighed the Coiling Dragon city lord. “Apart from those in the ten divine nations, no one in the realm can walk the proper path.”

There were no true kings among them.

There were some hidden in the realm, of course, but they either came from the ten divine nations or were disciples or personages surviving from incredibly ancient eras—such as Dragonhollow Mountain.

In present times, including the Ten Valleys of Evil, there wasn’t anyone who received a title from the Hongmeng Tower who later on became a true king. Purple King Lu Qing was an anomaly.

Ever since knowledge of the proper and deviated path was revealed to the public, despair had wrapped around the realm. Everyone’s path was a dead end. While many would never reach ninth step kinghood in the first place, they also mourned a lack of hope.

Yet on this day, the Immortal King was going to set foot on the deviated path! He who was on the proper way of cultivation wanted to guide them back to the right course! Hope suddenly sparked back to life for much of the realm.

Naturally, a great majority didn’t believe this wild claim. Despite that, nearly all of the high level kings in the Hongmeng had come. They wanted to see how Lu Yun was going to become a titled king and throw away his proper path for one that didn’t have a future.

Time marched on and increasing numbers of cultivators gathered by the lake. The supplemental kings of the Immortal Pagoda and Haotian Tower—the two greatest supplemental dao factions in the land—were also present to set up spatial formation upon formation. That allowed the location to hold even more people.

“Yuying,” Lu Yun suddenly called out. “Go protect the two mistresses. It won’t be that easy for the ten divine nations to move against me, so they’ll try other methods to disturb my concentration.

“Set up the Formation of the Ten Yama Kings around Multitude City.”

“Understood!” Up on the city walls, Yuying inclined her body and exchanged glances with her brethren. A Formation of the Ten Yama Kings immediately draped around the city.

Their cultivation levels had taken another step forward following Lu Yun’s visit to the fourth realm. They’d all reached true third level—the equivalent of third step kings—and thus their joint formation was also strengthened.

Hummmm.

An imperceptible hum shook the void as flowers with petals of six different colors drifted down, melding into the great formation. They instantly fortified the formation to the true king level and sent innumerable dao rules crisscrossing over it. Even the rulers of the ten divine nations would find it difficult to handle now.

“My thanks.” Lu Yun opened his eyes and raised cupped hands at the starry sky above.

Hong nodded gently. “Are you not going to retrieve your future self from Mount Cloudcover?”

“No.” Lu Yun shook his head. “My future self is the same as the mistress of the Hongmeng. If they are truly connected to events in the realm, they will appear of their own volition. I don’t need to seek them out.”

Hong blinked, then nodded more firmly.

“Your future self has become a demon and is here from the future to kill the present you,” she mentioned meaningfully. “Hong sealed him under the mountain for safekeeping. He will surely come for you if you become a titled king, so be careful.”

She’d sent Lu Yun to retrieve his future self before he became a titled king not because she thought his future self would be of any help, but because he’d traveled through time to kill the present Lu Yun.

The young man in question took a deep breath. He’d thought something was off about Mount Cloudcover, and now he finally knew.

“I understand, I’ll be careful.” He settled back down and said no more.

“The mistress will show herself to help you, but you better not let her do anything. There are a lot of people in and outside the Hongmeng who are scheming against her.” Hong disappeared after this final remark. She would not help Lu Yun within the third realm.

……

In the lost ancient city.

“And why should I help him?” Thanks to Lu Yun’s Hell Flower and karmic fruit, the city lord of the lost ancient city had come back to life.

She took the form of a young girl with delicate features, teal-blue hair cascading down over a blue silk dress that was as wispy as cicada wings. She lazily reclined on a bed of clouds and regarded the man in front of her with interest—the Dao King.

“He borrowed water from the river of time and returned it with my life. My karmic relationship with him has ended. What will he repay me with this time if I help him again?” she giggled.

“The karmic debt of life and death is not so easily repaid,” frowned the Dao King.

“I was saving his life when I lent him the water. My life and his life are all lives, there is no rank or hierarchy when it comes to a life.” She shook her head.

“He will die without a doubt this time if you do not help,” the Dao King sighed. “You might not know that yours is the only ancient city left out of the six in the Hongmeng…”

The city lord flicked a glance at the Dao King.

“I’d thought I could keep the Curse King in check and prevent him from rash action, but only now do I realize that he’s become too strong. His dao of curse can doom all living things, and you will also become his curse.”

“Can a mere Curse King destroy the five other cities?” The city lord frowned and extended a slender hand, counting off her fingers with her thumb in her calculations. “Ah…”

“You should know how important this Hongmeng world is. Once the Curse King kills Lu Yun, destroys the world of immortals and the worlds, his next step will be to continue cursing the Hongmeng.

“You will be his prime medium through which to do so.” The Dao King looked at the young girl. “He will need to focus on Lu Yun as long as Lu Yun is alive. That gives you some breathing space to recover your strength.”

“And that is meaningless to me.” The city lord looked at the clock at the end of the river of time. With the advent of the immortal dao, the disorderly clock was starting to show signs of a certain rhythm.

The order of time was beginning to form.

“Only if the immortal dao arrives now and restores the realm’s order of time will that make a difference. Otherwise, not within a hundred million years would I be able to recover.” The city lord shook her head.

“Then give Lu Yun your help so he emerges victorious and facilitates the arrival of the immortal dao!” the Dao King proposed solemnly. “He may not have anything to offer, but I do.”

A brilliant blue key appeared in his extended hand.

“The key to the sequence of time!” The city lord’s interest was finally roused.