Chapter 2226.1: Vermilion Bird

A small knot in Lu Yun’s heart loosened after he refined Yan Beifei’s memories and learned where the man had obtained Origination Mountain. Everything proceeded naturally after that and he entered mid soul separation.

Once he set foot into this stage, the black shadow that was one with the sword pagoda turned silver. It was a few hints more solid and his image of heaven and earth also increased in power.

“Although I’m mid soul separation, I’m still unable to deploy the fourth stroke of the Nine Oscillations of the Heavenly Sword… I probably won’t be able to until I break through to combination stage,” Lu Yun mused.

The Nine Oscillations of the Heavenly Sword was the accumulation of nine strokes overlaid on top of each other. The first three were sufficient power for Lu Yun to destroy some of Great Xia’s empyrean immortals.

The gap between Great Xia’s empyrean immortals and those of the worlds of cultivation was similar to the difference between the dynasty’s cultivators and those from the worlds of cultivation. Immortals from the worlds remained primitive immortals if they didn’t move to Great Xia; they would never stand on the same footing as the dynasty’s immortals.

That was why Jadecliff never dared to leave Jade Ruins Realm. Once an empyrean immortal from a world of cultivation traveled to Great Xia, they became a rootless ant without backing.

However, there was also an insurmountable gap between cultivators and immortals. It was completely preposterous for a cultivator to kill an immortal in the worlds of cultivation. Even in Great Xia, such feats were manageable only by the most monstrous geniuses. A good portion of Great Xia cultivators would still be overpowered by empyrean immortals from worlds of cultivation.

In his current condition, Lu Yun would absolutely be a perverse genius if he was in Great Xia. Regular Great Xia empyrean immortals were no match for him. If he was able to deploy the fourth stroke of the Nine Oscillations of the Heavenly Sword, then he would be able to compete on equal terms against Lu Youya.

“I’m just mid soul separation right now and have many combat arts to practice. A sword technique like that Nine Oscillations of the Heavenly Sword consumes too many resources. I can only use it as a final ace up my sleeve.” Lu Yun formed a hand seal with both hands and summoned the green whirlpool from the Seal of the Multitude.

Not being a connate treasure, the seal wasn’t powerful when it came to offensive capabilities. Its main function was to collect goodwill from the people. Thus, Lu Yun never considered refining it for his image of heaven and earth. It was completely useless for that. Apart from its innate attack abilities, the attributes of the treasure were extremely important for an image of heaven and earth.

After the incense of goodwill that was the vortex of green floated upward, rays of iridescent light flashed through the air over his nascent soul and formed runes that contained the profound mysteries of heaven and earth. Runes corresponding to Petrification, the Connate Great Dao of the Five Elements, Eye of Nullification, Size Manipulation, Teleportation and Split Shadow circled around his nascent soul.

Lu Yun took a deep breath and sent the whirlpool into the rune for the Eye of Nullification. The other five runes made another circle in the air before returning to his nascent soul.

An incense stick worth of goodwill surged into the rune for the Eye of Nullification, sending rays of scintillating light flashing out of it. The presence of the heavenly dao suffused Lu Yun’s dantian as runes of heavenly dao gathered from all directions to meld into the rune.

“So goodwill itself doesn’t improve the combat art… It’s the summation of goodwill from the people that communicates with the heavenly dao. That in turn collects power from the heavenly dao to improve the combat art …” Enlightenment dawned in Lu Yun’s eyes. “The goodwill of the people isn’t supposed to enhance my cultivation or the combat arts! It’s meant to help me draw closer to the heavenly dao and understand it.”

The combat arts of heavenly dao weren’t a result of ascension, but from the comprehension of heavenly dao. Goodwill from the multitude was the ladder with which to gain this understanding.

After the radiance flashed by, the Eye of Nullification rune fully transformed into something brighter than before. The combat art of heavenly dao—the Heavenly Eye!

It examined everything within five hundred meters down to the tiniest detail and nothing escaped its purview!

However, the mental strain posed by this art was rather profound. Lu Yun’s current level of cultivation could maintain it for a dozen breaths at most. And yet, a dozen breaths was sufficient for cultivators to do many things.

The rune for the combat art flickered a while longer before melding back into his nascent soul. Lu Yun heaved a long sigh as he stood up.

Goodwill still trickled toward him from various parts of the void. It might be the Vermilion Birds’ faith in him, or it might be lingering gratitude from cultivators in other parts of the valley. Regardless of the source, it slightly replenished the goodwill that he’d just exhausted.

“I still have three Dao Rune Pills and should be able to use those to reach combination stage. Sadly, I can’t take it in the formation array.” It was quite a pity as if he could break through to combination stage in the place of burial, he’d dominate the area and locate more treasures.

The rune of dao in the pill helped cultivators comprehend nature and reach the realm of becoming one with heaven and earth. When one reached that stage, one absorbed ambient qi at a faster pace as well.

However, Dao Rune Pills were too precious. Even just one of the pills was beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators. Everything within the formation array was isolated from heaven and earth. Dao Rune Pills were ineffective here; Lu Yun had to wait until he left.

He stood up and raised a ray of sword light beneath his feet, flying toward the ruins of Sagittarii Hall. With the Eye of Nullification being elevated to the Heavenly Eye, he wanted to see what was within the seed storage world beneath the palace.

He took a deep breath when he arrived at the ruins and opened his eyes with a flicker of lilac radiance. A void suffused with flames appeared in front of him, one that held a scarlet bird the size of a palm in its center. It drooped listlessly—feathers that should have been brilliantly resplendent were a shabby mess. Its eyes like black pearl were half closed as it weakly regarded Lu Yun.

“You’ve finally come,” A pleasing, yet uncommonly tired female voice echoed in his mind.

“You were waiting for me?” Lu Yun raised a brow and transmitted back in kind.

“I would say that to anyone who came.”

Lu Yun: ……

“But I didn’t think it would be you, immortal emperor of the north—the High Lord of the Northern Sky!” Joy traced the voice’s words.

“Neither did I think that the notable Vermilion Bird of the South would fall to these straits,” Lu Yun sighed.

The palm-sized bird in the void was the divine beast of the south—the Vermilion Bird.

“What happened that year? Why did you vanish the second you broke through, like you never existed in the first place ?” Confusion appeared in the beast’s voice as it regarded itself self-deprecatingly. “Do you know how overjoyed we were when we discovered that you’d broken through chaos immortal and become an existence like us? But you had us rejoice for nothing.”

“My master took me away.” Lu Yun shrugged helplessly.

“Your master?” asked a baffled Vermilion Bird.

“The heavenly dao,” the young man responded candidly.

An existence like the Vermilion Bird could absolutely understand the heavenly dao. Lu Yun felt no mental pressure as he faced the divine beast. The heavenly dao hadn’t said he was to keep the relationship a secret, so it didn’t matter if he told others.

Of course, most would think him a madman if he said that his master was the heavenly dao. No one would believe him as cultivators typically thought of the heavenly dao as an intangible, formless existence.

The disciple of the heavenly dao? What a joke!

As for the Vermilion Bird… The divine beast of the south was born of the rules of fire. It naturally understood the existence of the heavenly dao.

“I see…. I see. No wonder the five of us couldn’t calculate your origins when you first appeared. So you’re the disciple of the heavenly dao.” Having understood, the Vermilion Bird continued meaningfully, “This must be your true self. The northern immortal emperor in the world of immortals was your reincarnated self, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Lu Yun nodded, but then looked startled. “Five of you?”

“Our leader is the qilin. He wields the rules of the central earth,” Vermilion Bird explained.

Lu Yun stood in front of the ruins of Sagittarii Palace, having stopped the Heavenly Eye a long time ago. He communicated with the divine beast through mind alone. The Vermilion Bird was heavily injured and couldn’t leave that part of the void. It would vanish as soon as it did and be reincorporated into the rules, returning to its origins.

Prior to this, it was the one behind absorbing the nascent souls of Terra Demon and the five inauspicious immortal kings, as well as the core essence of the immortal treasures. It only wanted to recover from its injuries—the six immortal kings wouldn’t \ be alive otherwise. They would’ve long been scattered to the four winds.

Vermilion Bird couldn’t be bothered to communicate with anyone if no one disturbed it. Lu Yun scanning it with the Heavenly Eye had awoken it out of slumber, which was why it sent out its consciousness to talk with the young man.

“What happened? Where has the world of immortals gone? What is this place?” Lu Yun asked after a long moment.

“The affairs of times past are very complicated,” Vermilion Bird responded with resignation. “Out of the five of us, only I was lucky enough to live. The other four died. It was a cataclysm of sorts—you’ll find out later.

“As for where the world of immortals has gone, I don’t know either. It was still there when I fell asleep. This place should be a special void formed after the palaces of the five immortal emperors smashed into each other.”

Lu Yun fell silent.

A cataclysm…