Since Yun Zhongzi was certain of Lu Yunâs identity, so was Lu Yun certain of his. Mo Yi sat in his Disordered Hellâhe would always believe her.
In the future, she would die because of him, just as the Dao King had died for her in the past thirty-three cycles. Though everything was different now and progressed down an unknown trajectory, Mo Yi was still Mo Yi. Nothing about that had changed.
Yun Zhongzi was certain about Lu Yunâs identity either because of Mo Yi or Hong. Only those two knew of the young manâs true cultivation level.
Lu Yun sank into deep thought as he regarded his visitor. Since heâd journeyed through the past cycles, he knew how strong the Imperial Seal was. If he obtained it now, it would be like adding wings to a tiger.
When he caused Mo Yiâs death in the previous thirty-three loops, it hadnât been because of an enemy coming for him. Mo Yi had died to ensure mutual destruction with the existence taking shelter inside the seal. Sheâd sacrificed herself to completely root out latent danger in the treasure.
The owner of the sealâthe emperor of the original Hongmengâslept within it.
At that time, Lu Yun hadnât known what the Imperial Seal was or who its owner was. Over the course of those previous cycles, his strength reached unfathomable levels. If it wasnât for his future self being one of his replicas, he wouldnât have been able to see that version of himself at that time either. Many things wouldâve remained obscured from view.
It wasnât until Lu Yun connected the many glimpses and hints gleaned throughout the various cycles that numerous truths sharpened into focus for him. He was utilizing the combination of Jian Juexian, Yun Zhongzi, and Mo Yiâs words to determine what the traces heâd seen in the previous cycles meant.
While it remained to be seen if there were certain parties who wished to use him as a cauldron to revitalize the emperor of the original Hongmeng, it was very true that Mo Yi had died to ensure the emperorâs demise.
âWhy me?â Lu Yun suddenly asked. âWhy did you guys choose me? I was just an ordinary tomb raider on Earth, why did Fuxi choose me?â He looked closely at Yun Zhongzhi and carefully enunciated each word.
âWhy you? Because you are the Flame Emperor of the human race,â responded Yun Zhongzhi. âWe chose the Flame Emperor. We chose the one who created human dao and propelled the human race to rule the great wilderness. You are the Flame Emperor.â
âAnd why am I the Flame Emperor?â Lu Yun was still confused. He was the very definition of average boringness, yet Fuxi had picked him out of the masses when he looked down at the planes through the river of time.
Heâd set up his plans with Lu Yun in mind and designed everything from the Han Dynasty tomb to the world of immortals, the end of the West Sea in which Lu Yun repaired the immortal dao, then the trip back to the past to become the Flame Emperor.
Lu Yun had thought that with Fuxiâs death, the one whoâd come from the past wasnât Fuxi, but the three-eyed man in search of the Dragonquake Scripture.
Then Mo Yi had told him that the three-eyed man was still Fuxi, that it was his self of evil. Everything had still been part of Fuxiâs plans.
What was notable about the past thirty-three cycles was that in those, Lu Yun had been pushed along every step of the way. Every single one of his moves had been calculated in advance for him.
This time, he walked his own path. Just as countless people cultivated the same great dao, none of them did so in the exact same fashion. Lu Yun employed a wholly different method to travel the road that Fuxi had paved for him, resulting in a handful of different outcomes from before.
However, heâd still become the Flame Emperor and heâd still pioneered human dao. Those general milestones hadnât changed from the previous loops. So had it once been, so would it still be.
Lu Yun looked at Yun Zhongzi; Yun Zhongzi looked back at him.
âWhat do you think?â Yun Zhongzi smiled. âWhy do you think Fuxi chose you?â
âI donât know how much you know, but since youâve become a Nihil World Sovereign, the mistress, Hong, and Meng shouldâve told you certain things,â Yun Zhongzi continued. âFuxiâs primary self died and his evil self created the sect of tomb raiders, passing down the Dragonquake Scripture.
âWhen it came to your generation, you were the only one left. Your accomplishments in feng shui surpassed your forebears and eclipsed what Fuxi couldâve accomplished at your age. Thus, he chose you.
âI wouldâve done the same if it were up to me.â
âSo it was because I was that good.â He rubbed his nose narcissistically.
âI suppose you could put it that way,â he chuckled wryly. âYou werenât the only one. Fuxiâs chosen many others in the past, but they were all eliminated for various reasons. You werenât the only one, but you should be the last.
âA Nihil World Sovereign at less than a thousand years oldâŚâ he concluded through clenched teeth.
âAre you one too?â Lu Yun asked.
âOf course I am, but I wasnât before. After the birth of the new epoch, I cultivated anew with the new orders of the fourth realm. Iâve reached peak Nihil World Sovereign now.â Yun Zhongzi nodded.
âAre you also a supplemental grandmaster?â
âYes.â Yun Zhongzi nodded.
âThe one who built this tomb is called the Cloud Sovereign. He was the Hallowed Emperorâs good friend.â Lu Yunâs mind was spinning from all the revelations.
âAlso known as me,â Yun Zhongzi winked.
Even if he was somehow blessed with three brains, he never wouldâve guessed that the hand in the shadows, the one behind all the troubles in the tomb, would be the one who built it!
As a powerful supplemental grandmaster himself well versed in feng shui, tombs represented many different things to Lu Yun. To ordinary people, they were just what they seemed.
âThis Broken Primeval Plane is where the emperor of the original Hongmeng died and the new epoch started. His Imperial Seal was left here as well. The Hallowed Emperor and I built this tomb in order to find it.
âOn the surface, this tomb appears to bury the Hallowed Emperor. Underneath it all, however, which is the world youâre in right nowâit buries the emperor of the original Hongmeng. The Imperial Seal has been called to the tomb.â Since Yun Zhongzi was certain that he spoke to Fuxiâs heir, he held nothing back. The seal was meant for Lu Yun to begin with.
âThe Hallowed Emperor is one of the original emperorâs descendants. He used his bloodline to coalesce the original emperorâs true body, then dismantled himself to leave traces of the emperor of the original HongmengâŚâ Yun Zhongzi explained.
âWhich means that the original emperor buried here is formed from the Hallowed Emperorâs body. But in doing so, that erases all traces of the Hallowed Emperorâs existence from the world!â Lu Yun gasped.
Anything that ever existed would leave traces in the world. Where there were traces, there would be karma. As long as that held true, one stood a chance for rebirth even if the soul scattered and true spirit vanished.
But if the Hallowed Emperor used his own corpse to manifest the emperor of the original Hongmeng, he would become the latter in form and essence. That would summon the original emperorâs soul back and the Hallowed Emperor⌠would completely disappear.
Not even the Tome of Life and Death could save him then.
âThat was the only way to find the hidden Imperial Seal,â Yun Zhongzi sighed, his expression less than pleasant.
âThe emperor died in battle, did heâŚâ Lu Yun suddenly thought of something else that Yun Zhongzi had said.
âYes, there was an enemy in those times, and they still exist. The ones who attacked the original Hongmeng still spy upon us.â Yun Zhongzi regained his calm. âIâm sure youâve already met them.â
âThe Curse King??â The name immediately sprang to Lu Yunâs mind. Heâd previously viewed the akasha ghosts as his greatest enemy, but it turned out that he was the one whoâd created them. They contained all of the resentment and malice of his future self.
The brush hadnât existed in the past thirty-three cycles, so Lu Yunâs future self hadnât been able to release his resentment. Itâd become entangled with the dao fruit and returned to Lu Yunâs primary self.
That had been one of the primary reasons why heâd ultimately failed.