Not far from where Fang Xuan was...
Lu Zheng was there.
He sat cross-legged in a secret chamber, his body enveloped in a faint blood-red glow.
Two corpses floated in the air before him.
They were two Immortal Venerables.
One was at Taiyi Level 5, the other at Taiyi Level 3.
Both had been core figures of the Tianxu Holy Land. Usually high and mighty, they were now nothing more than cold corpses.
Lu Zheng closed his eyes and formed a hand seal.
The blood-red light transformed into countless fine threads, piercing into the corpses' brows, dantians, and heart vessels.
Then... he gave a violent pull!
Two transparent divine souls were forcibly dragged out of the corpses.
“Argh—!”
Shrill, agonizing screams echoed through the chamber, but they were muffled by a restrictive array and could not reach the outside.
Lu Zheng remained expressionless as he began to refine the two souls.
The aura surrounding him began to climb slowly.
The bottleneck of Taiyi Level 9 loosened slightly.
He opened his eyes, a flash of satisfaction crossing them.
Soon.
With a few more refinements, he could return to the Taiyi peak.
Then Daluo, and finally... the Dao Ancestor realm.
He looked down at his palms, which were covered in cracks.
He had traveled back against the river of time... and the price had been anything but low.
His cultivation had dropped from the Dao Ancestor realm to the Taiyi realm, and it was irreparable by normal means.
Now, he could only rely on this evil method to slowly restore his strength.
But it didn't matter.
As long as he could return to the Dao Ancestor realm, any price was worth it.
Lu Zheng closed his eyes, memories of his previous life surfacing in his mind.
Back then, he had been a peak powerhouse of the Dao Ancestor realm, traversing the Nine Heavens and Five Regions with no one daring to provoke him.
And then he met that person...
A genius who dominated for all eternity using only the laws of lust!
At that time, everyone believed the laws of lust were the lowest grade of laws—a path chosen only by trash.
But that man had pushed this “dead end” to the absolute limit.
The further one progressed in cultivation, the more one had to discard their humanity.
Desire, family, and friendship were all obstacles.
But that man was different.
He cultivated the most worldly laws of lust to the extreme.
Beyond his immense talent, the hardships he must have endured were unimaginable!
Dao Ancestors? Taiyi? Before him, they were all merely ants.
Fang Xuan...
Lu Zheng remembered clearly.
In his previous life, he had once seen that man from afar. Just one glance had filled him with awe.
That was a true genius, an existence capable of standing alone across the ages.
So this time, after shattering time and narrowly escaping with his life, he had rushed to pull Fang Xuan to his side as soon as the youth entered the Upper Realm.
The corners of Lu Zheng’s mouth curled slightly.
In his previous life, he had offended the Tianxu Holy Land and been hunted down like a dog.
That was the primary reason he had come here first.
He planned to rely on Fang Xuan to refine all the Immortal Venerable ancestors here.
Then he would play dumb, wait for Fang Xuan to grow, and simply follow behind him to keep scavenging corpses.
It was a perfect plan.
Except... he had been exposed.
He looked down at the two corpses beside him.
He had assassinated these two Immortal Venerables, thinking he had done so without a trace. He hadn't expected to be discovered so quickly.
The refining process wasn't over. If he stopped now, most of the divine souls he had just absorbed would be wasted.
He couldn't bear to let them go...
But the group of Immortal Venerables outside was already closing in.
There were three at Taiyi Level 8, five or six at Taiyi Level 7, and the rest were all around Taiyi Level 4 or 5.
In his current state, he couldn't win.
So now, his only option was to find Fang Xuan and use his laws of space to hide for a while.
He grabbed the two corpses, and with a flash, he vanished from the spot.
...
Meanwhile, on Fang Xuan's side.
He had just stepped out of a spatial rift and hadn't even found his footing when a person suddenly appeared before him.
Lu Zheng...?
The man was beaming, dragging two... corpses behind him.
And they carried... the aura of Immortal Venerables?
Fang Xuan was stunned. “???”
What was going on?
Lu Zheng spoke first, his tone urgent. “I'll give you a strand of time laws if you let me hide for a bit.”
He didn't know how Fang Xuan had managed to comprehend the laws of time already; it had taken him hundreds of years to do the same.
But since he could, that was enough.
Fang Xuan's expression remained dazed, but he was already prepared to manifest Yunchang and make a run for it...
The man had killed Immortal Venerables and wanted help hiding?
Wait... laws of time?
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Just what was this Lu Zheng’s background...?
Lu Zheng grew anxious. “You don't want it?”
“I do...” Fang Xuan said.
Although he didn't understand the situation yet, he would take what he could get first.
If things went south, he could always sell the man out later.
Lu Zheng breathed a sigh of relief. A golden light condensed at his fingertip, and he transferred it directly to Fang Xuan.
The moment that light entered his body, Fang Xuan felt his entire perception change.
Laws of time... he really had them.
He looked at Lu Zheng again, his gaze becoming solemn.
He had to tell Senior Sister—this man couldn't be kept around...
...
At that moment, several powerful auras approached from the distance.
“The aura ends here...”
“To think someone dared to commit murder in the Tianxu Holy Land!”
“He can't have gone far. Search...”
...
Fang Xuan raised his hand and made a light stroke.
A spatial rift opened behind him.
Lu Zheng didn't stand on ceremony, dragging the two corpses as he dove inside.
Before entering, he looked back at Fang Xuan.
“Thanks.”
Then, he vanished into the rift.
Fang Xuan withdrew his hand, and the space sealed shut.
He turned around just as several figures landed.
Leading them was Xing Fa, followed by Li Changqing, Zhang Yuan, and seven or eight other Immortal Venerables.
Xing Fa glanced at Fang Xuan, then at the empty hall, his brow furrowing slightly...
“Martial Nephew Fang, did you see anyone?”
Fang Xuan shook his head, his expression remaining calm. “No. Did something happen?”
Xing Fa stared at him for a few seconds, as if judging his words.
Then, he withdrew his gaze.
“It's nothing. Just focus on your cultivation.”
He turned and waved to the people behind him.
“Let's go. Search elsewhere. The culprit must have escaped already.”
The Immortal Venerables departed one after another.
The hall fell silent once more.
Fang Xuan stood in place, looking in the direction they had left, deep in thought.
What exactly was Lu Zheng up to?
Killing Immortal Venerables, giving away laws of time, and asking for help hiding...
Well, the laws of time were in his hands now, so it wasn't a loss.
Besides, Lu Zheng couldn't leave that space on his own; he was essentially locked in a cell of Fang Xuan's making.
When the time came, he could just call Senior Sister and deal with him.
...
Fang Xuan looked down at his palm again.
There, a strand of golden light was slowly flowing.
Very pure laws of time... To think Lu Zheng possessed the law ranked second in the world yet hid within this holy land of the Third Heaven.
Presumably, the ancestor's time-based dao weapon had also come from him.
Furthermore, the fact that he had tricked Fang Xuan into coming with him the moment he reached the Upper Realm suggested he knew something... perhaps he could use the laws of time to see the future.
...
Though it was only a strand of the laws of time, it was enough to boost his comprehension progress...
It was just that the plot was moving too fast. He had originally planned to spend some lazy, relaxed time with Senior Sister.
...
Rate on N.U.
