Chapter 2230.1: Sir Heaven

“My grandfather will personally take care of Yan Guichi in the future,” Lu Yun shook his head. “He has to do it himself or it will be an eternal mental demon for him. The Human Emperor also showed me face that day, so I cannot make things difficult for him.”

That day, the Human Emperor recalled the three empyrean immortals standing guard at the formation array to avoid an awkward situation. Otherwise, Lu Yun would’ve made a direct enemy out of Great Xia if Terra Demon killed those three in the public eye.

With the young man’s personality, he would not stay his hand. Thus, the Human Emperor recalling his three subordinates at that time had been a concession. Lu Yun had no idea why the emperor had done so. As impressive as the Lu young master’s background or feats may be, he walked along unlit paths at night. No one knew of him and not even the Fengxian Immortal King had the ability to make the Human Emperor give way.

But since the august personage had done so, Lu Yun would not invite contempt upon himself to act as if he hadn’t benefitted massively from the situation.

Terra Demon departed Jade Ruins Realm and soundlessly entered Great Xia. Tai Sui remained behind to help Situ Wenxian oversee Darklake Empire. Lu Tianling and Lu Xiaochi remained in closed door cultivation, but the drums of war pounded.

……

The emergence of Immortal Burial Valley altered the political layout of the realm, resulting in frequent battles and skirmishes. What was unexpected this time was that war commenced from the Tianlong Empire side.

The Tianlong Empire was a solid third rank empire—their strongest were nascent soul experts. Cultivators of that level did not have the right to enter Immortal Burial Valley. Even soul separation cultivators easily died in the formation array if they were not protected by powerful heavyweights.

Thus, the arrival of Immortal Burial Valley barely had an effect on lower ranked empires.

This was borne out in practice when Tianlong Empire no longer sent representatives to the valley after losing a dozen nascent soul cultivators in the first foray. The fires of war burned for another reason.

Three hundred cultivators of unknown origin descended upon the empire the second day after the heavenly book returned. Dressed in blazing red armor, their arrival in the capital was very unexpected. Their strongest was soul projection and weakest latter nascent soul. They cut down the Tianlong royal family like they were chopping vegetables and casually exterminated some of the nation’s biggest clans.

They then occupied the empire’s land and began ravaging the nation of its riches.

These events were the catalyst that detonated Jade Ruins Realm like it was a powder keg. First to strike out was Tianlong Empire’s superior nation—fourth rank Skypine Empire.

Skypine was a premier fourth rank nation and several of its soul projection cultivators had been extraordinarily lucky to obtain a few treasures from Immortal Burial Valley. One of them was one of a forefather of Tianlong royalty.

How would he sit back upon hearing that his family had been exterminated? He immediately requested permission to root out the mysterious cultivators in fiery armor.

Skypine Empire was in fine fettle after counting its riches from Immortal Burial Valley. It naturally mobilized its troops upon hearing that one of its vassal nations had been attacked.

The three hundred-odd cultivators were completely unafraid and stood up to Skypine’s army of more than one hundred thousand strong. A great battle commenced, but neither side was able to cinch a decisive victory. As the conflict dragged on, nearby cultivation empires couldn’t stand to remain on the sidelines. Those with grudges against Skypine or those of its allies became embroiled in the struggle.

The campaign grew and grew until it became a vortex that devoured the entire realm.

……

“Lu Xuan and Wu Zhen have seriously done quite a thing,” Lu Yun chuckled ruefully when he read the report in his hand.

Wu Zhen was the patriarch of the Wu Clan of Tianlong Empire—they’d been exterminated after the Tianlong emperor suspected them for no good reason. He was the only survivor and revenge the only constant thought on his mind.

Under the commands of Lu Xuan and Wu Zhen, the Vermilion Birds used this opportunity to eliminate Tianlong royalty and ignite this war.

Lu Yun passed no judgment about their actions and gave them full jurisdiction over the Vermilion Birds. He didn’t care what they did so long as they grew from this conflict and didn’t betray him. The ensuing chaos and confusion from war was a perfect match for his plans.

The Vermilion Birds found success with every maneuver they took on the battlefield. They were only three hundred and sixty-five strong, but they were shockingly ferocious and dominated their engagements. They were not the least bit disadvantaged when they faced an army from a fifth rank cultivation empire.

Wu Zhen was very quick-witted—he was an ideal strategist. Despite the fighting, he hadn’t lost a single member of the Vermilion Birds thus far.

“Go on, fight and struggle to the death. The dross will be discarded in the fires of war and leave only the essence.” A small ring appeared in Lu Yun’s hand as he slowly closed his eyes and sank his mind into it. He wasn’t a saint, so what did he care about all this?

Humm!

His nascent soul left his body and entered a strange world. Qi of heaven and earth surged to form a new body, one that was a container for his nascent soul. It possessed the cultivation level of initial nascent soul and its true origin was run-of-the-mill. The internal energy within this body was identical to the true origin of any nascent soul cultivator at the bottom rung of a world of cultivation.

This was the Celestial Realm Battlefront, the mysterious place that enshrouded Great Xia and all of the three realms and six paths.

The Celestial Realm Battlefront was unbounded without end. It looked the same as the rest of the three realms and six paths—the only difference was that all cultivators, even immortals, who entered this place were reduced to initial nascent soul. At the same time, only those at nascent soul and above could enter.

No one knew where or what it was. Only those approved by the heavenly book and bestowed one of its rings could enter.

Of course, this task was determined by the various rulers of the outside worlds. Those from fourth rank cultivation empires and above gained the right to enter the battlefront. They could obtain rings from the heavenly book and distribute them to cultivators under their banner.

Great Xia royalty, and by extension the royalty of other cultivation empires, ruled over their domain instead of being fractured by other sects or factions primarily due to the heavenly book and the Celestial Realm Battlefront.

Lu Yun briefly took stock of his new condition and determined that what belonged to him—his nascent soul, sword pagoda, Builder Tree, world of true water, and Seal of the Multitude had been left in his primary body. None of it was in the battlefront with him.

The only thing he brought in was his true spirit.

The ring that’d sent him in was still on his finger. It could transport items out of the battlefront, but could not bring items in. It was the only thing that could communicate with the outside world while he resided here.

A shadow shrouded his heart after Lu Yun arrived in the Celestial Realm Battlefront. Compared to the vicious spirits, this was the true origin point of destruction for the world of immortal dao civilization. Life would start its march on the heavens from this locale.

However, an unknown power quickly suppressed these thoughts—the heavenly dao.

“Heavenly book, oh heavenly book, it looks like I’ve underestimated you. You are nowhere near as simple as a mere connate treasure.” Lu Yun looked toward the center of the battlefront, where a massive book thirty thousand meters tall reared. Anyone could see it, no matter where they stood in the world.

On one side of it was a stone tablet with the characters War Gods Ranking carved on top. The list of names that followed was the ranking for the Jade Ruins Realm.

First: Sword First

Second: Ying Kongkong

Third: Sui Wuye

Fourth: Ji Lin

Fifth: Sui Wuzhou

There were only names on the ranking—no introductions or explanations. The Jade Ruins portion of the Celestial Battlefront appeared rather deserted at the moment as there weren’t that many cultivators moving through it.

“If memory serves correctly, Ji Lin should’ve been number ten on the ranking. It looks like he gained quite a great deal from Immortal Burial Valley to soar to number four.”

Every cultivator possessed the same cultivation and similar quality of methods and Hongmeng qi in the Celestial Realm Battlefront. Even their consciousness and senses were the same. This arena tested control of true origin and understanding of heaven and earth.

Lu Yun flexed his new muscles, finding that he could utilize both the Eighteen Cerulean Sword Dragons and Nine Oscillations of the Heavenly Sword. However, he needed to condense sword qi anew. As for the heavenly dao combat arts… they were unusable here because they were derived from his cultivation method.

All other combat arts remained available.

“Shall I go challenge the War Gods Ranking and see how far up I can make it?” Lu Yun shifted his body, flinging himself through the air due to a lack of flying sword.

While war raged outside, there were still numerous cultivators in the battlefront. After all, the battles didn’t involve every single cultivator in the realm. When the young man arrived in front of the stone tablet at the center of the realm, he took a close look at it.

There were one thousand and eight total names on it, meaning that out of the entire Jade Ruins Realm, only one thousand and eight cultivators had the right to be listed on the tablet.

This included empyrean immortals.

Cultivators were measured in terms of hundreds of millions in a world of cultivation. To be the top one thousand meant being an earth-shaking genius. One also received rewards from the heavenly book if listed on the ranking. The higher the placement, the greater the rewards. They were so bountiful that they caused cultivators to throw all caution aside and aim for a position on the ranking.