Chapter 1915 – A Scheme
Nightmare heaved a long sigh of relief to see Moran Dongning. Plainly, she knew the girl as well. When she targeted the Moran sisters on the World of Soul Dominion, her ultimate goal had been to become acquainted with Lu Yun. A scheme against the manifestation of dark dao had unfolded the second that the Myriad Spirit Grand Supreme sent Lu Yun to the World of Soul Dominion.
Lu Yun had been in the dark about this and also didn’t need to know about any of it. He was just one of many threads in the grand scheme of things, albeit one that ran from beginning to end. The true mastermind behind this plot was Moran Dongning and the Myriad Spirit Grand Supreme.
The tomb of the empyrean supreme opening at this time, however, was outside of everyone’s expectations. That left only Moran Dongning free to enter the Dark World, but she was enough for their purposes. Since the Myriad Spirit Grand Supreme had entered the empyrean supreme’s tomb, that meant the same for the manifestation’s guardians.
Another minor incident had developed along the way—the manifestation of dark dao accidentally offended Princess Jiang Lu of Rising Sunriver on her way to the Dark World. Jiang Lu was a Corpse Refiner, and the sect happened to possess a treasure that could restrain the manifestation.
Thus, the Corpse Refiners used Jiang Lu as an excuse to attack the manifestation from all sides. It was also why Starcatch Tower didn’t take Rising Sunriver to task for their hijacking of a merchant vessel—they sensed the Corpse Refiners’ true intentions.
If it wasn’t for Lu Yun razing Starcatch Tower to the ground and scaring off the sect and Rising Sunriver, the manifestation of dark dao would’ve had to fall back to the Moran Clan for protection. Thankfully for her, Lu Yun’s actions scared off her enemies.
The manifestation of dark dao was similar to Lu Yun wearing the Master of Darkness—they could deploy their strength only in the Dark World.
Lu Yun couldn’t help but pout as he looked at Nightmare and Moran Dongning. Both of them had known what was going on—he was the only one blissfully unaware. It wasn’t until Nightmare revealed at the last possible second that the young woman was the tangible form of dark dao and that the treasure was ineffective against her, did Lu Yun realize what the situation at hand was.
Moran Dongning strode through the air and slammed her palm down on the manifestation without the slightest hesitation.
The girl of dark dao shrieked and furiously barrelled toward You Haoyue. There was none of her previous aplomb to be found anymore. However, the big-headed doll had torn You Haoyue into pieces. Though he wasn’t dead, he’d lost the ability to fight back.
“It’s the Morans behind Starcatch Tower,” Nightmare quietly muttered. While her name was written into the Tome of Life and Death, that didn’t make her Lu Yun’s slave. There were certain things she wouldn’t speak of unless Lu Yun asked her about them himself.
As for why she’d kept this a secret from him… With his temper, he would’ve found a way to fish out the manifestation once he found out and destroyed her.
“Sikong Myriad Treasure wanted me to ally with the dark dao manifestation. I could claim the world heart while she claimed the world spirit. But when I raised the condition of thirty percent of Starcatch Tower’s profits in the future, he turned me down without hesitation.
“It’s not that they can’t afford the split or were scheming against me, but that the Dark World will gradually turn into a land of darkness after the world spirit is gone. There won’t be anything to be gained from this place then!”
Nightmare’s resolute attitude had been why Sikong Myriad Treasure gave up the notion of cooperating with her. His method to raise her strength to a grand supreme’s was to borrow the dark dao manifestation’s power. Hence, Starcatch Tower could do so without repercussions, whereas the Wind and Cloud Pagoda could only use the method that required an astronomical number of ancestral veins of heaven and earth.
It was then that Nightmare began suspecting that Starcatch Tower was in communication with the dark dao manifestation. Lu Yun destroying their Darkstar branch was just a coincidence.
Although some unexpected twists and turns occurred along the way, things eventually proceeded as originally planned. The manifestation of dark dao entered the Dark World while Moran Dongning did the same through the Gates of the Abyss.
The two released their strongest power as they battled each other, shaking the world from the force of their blows.
The endarkened of the Dark World wailed and howled; even the grand supremes hidden in its depths frantically fled for their lives. The power these two deployed raged at unfathomable heights. It rivaled what Yun Yi could bring to bear!
The tangible form of dark dao hadn’t dared fight Moran Dongning at first, but she had no choice after the big-headed doll tore You Haoyue apart. The Master of Darkness could restrain darkness from taking shape, but so could she call upon incredible strength in the Dark World!
The two matched each other blow for blow. Although Moran Dongning occupied the upper hand, she was unable to claim a decisive victory.
……
The big-headed doll came skipping back with You Haoyue’s head dangling from his grip.
“As I thought, that woman’s power is inside this guy,” the doll giggled. “I took shape out of the Master of Darkness, so there’s nothing he can do when faced with me.”
“Mmhmm.” Lu Yun nodded, his attention focused on the two girls locked in combat.
Many bolder sequence cultivators had followed the bridge in from the outside world. But when they sensed the ripples of battle from grand supremes, they quickly fled with their tails between their legs.
The world heart had matured and hung silently in the void. Hints of intangible ripples swept through the world, cleansing it of imperceptive traces of disorder.
“C’mon, let’s get that world heart!” Lu Yun waved to the doll and Nightmare before setting out. He was just a supreme at the moment—granted, a very domineering supreme. The world heart would be out of reach if he couldn’t call upon the strength of a high supreme.
The big-headed doll and Nightmare, however, were bonafide grand supremes.
The manifestation of dark dao seemed to sense Lu Yun’s goal and slowly pulled her fight toward the world heart. But when she sensed a new development, she halted her directional drift and focused on fighting Moran Dongning. A trace of relief appeared on her face—her reinforcement was here.
……
“We meet again, Lu Yun.” An ethereal female voice sounded from the front. A girl with blue hair and wearing a blue dress walked up to the world heart and plucked it out of the air. “I told you that you would pay for violating our agreement.”
She fixed frosty eyes on Lu Yun in a glare of death. Color drained from the doll’s face and he hastily backed away, frantically searching for places to hide. The one who’d wanted to kill him before was here in the flesh!