When formation dao and illusions combined, they came together as illusory formations. The enormous Myriad Returns City was created by one such formation. Everything about and within the city was fake, but when the formation attained the heights of refining illusion into reality, the city became tangibly substantial and formed a city of five thousand kilometers in radius.
Such were the heights that the little fox dreamed of reaching.
Now real, crowds thronged the streets, carriages fought for space, and all sorts of vehicles filed into the city. Shops lining the avenues hawked a great variety of ingredients and treasures, too many for the eye to catalogue.
Another great commotion rose when the Deaf Prince’s carriage entered the market. After all, the prince had just smashed a dao immortal zombie of the Corpse Refiners into meat paste. More importantly, he was rich enough to use immortal crystals as weapons! Though he was known as the fattest cash cow on Levitating Island, no one dared approach him now.
Heavenly melodies reverberated in the air as a golden path extended from Myriad Returns City to the Deaf Prince’s carriage. A group of high-level immortals rushed along the path, led by an aloof-looking, golden immortal girl.
“Qing Xun of the Panorama Pavilion greets His Royal Highness the Third Prince, Sir Lu, and Sir Qing Han,” she transmitted as she approached the carriage.
“Fairy Qing Xun of the Panorama Pavilion!” The Deaf Prince perked up.
Myriad Returns Market had been held on Levitating Island for thousands of years, and was first organized by the Panorama Pavilion and a few other major merchant guilds. Therefore, the pavilion naturally wouldn’t miss the event when it kicked off.
As the largest trading company in the world of immortals, the Panorama Pavilion did business all over the world, as well as the East Sea. Thus, it was no surprise that the Deaf Prince would know Qing Xun.
“I didn’t expect Fairy Qing Xun to welcome us in person. What an honor, truly an honor!” The Deaf Prince laughed heartily to see the girl.
Qing Xun was the pavilion head’s personal disciple and arcane dao immortal Qing Ruyan’s younger sister. That bequeathed her great status in the guild; she’d been the facilitator of the auction in Xiankan.
“He says that a lot,” muttered the little fox.
Smiling, Qing Xun continued her transmissions with the Deaf Prince and turned to Lu Yun at the same time. She wasn’t here for the Deaf Prince, but for Lu Yun and Qing Han.
Lu Yun had refined a Heaven Descent Pill for her elder sister, which had effectively gifted the faction a future celestial emperor. Meanwhile, Qing Han had restored the Dao Flower and gained its favor. He would one day become the rightful Dao Sovereign of the world. In fact, he was already known as the Youth Dao Sovereign.
But of course, Qing Xun wasn’t going to point that out. She wasn’t going to embarrass the Deaf Prince, who was partial to grandiosity.
Some of the immortals in the area couldn’t help but feel disappointed when the Panorama Pavilion guided Lu Yun and his companions into the market. They were low-level immortals and cultivators who couldn’t enter the real trading hub, so had to stay on the fringes. Originally, they’d hoped to make some money from the Deaf Prince, but the Panorama Pavilion’s actions had shattered that hope.
“Hahahaha!” The Deaf Prince’s hearty laughter scattered from overhead. “I have money to spare! I have nothing but money and crystals!”
Clatter!
Translucent crystals dropped from the sky like high-velocity snowflakes. The Deaf Prince stood on top of his carriage with a giant box in hand, an immortal-crystal bearing flower boy as the carriage moved. Cheers rose in a deafening din as countless cultivators and immortals fought for the crystals, and the Deaf Prince roared with pleased laughter at the crowd’s reaction.
Within the carriage, the corners of Qing Xun’s mouth spasmed.
“The third prince is... indeed the biggest spender of the East Sea.” Qing Xun and the other Panorama immortals had been invited into the carriage. It was extremely spacious, resembling more of a living room than the interior of a carriage. They all looked outside at the Deaf Prince with a strange expression.
Hongxiu smiled wryly when she returned and saw the look on their escort’s faces.
“The biggest spender of the East Sea?” Lu Yun shook his head. “It’ll be worth it, if the crystals buy him some loyalty, but you should remind the prince that this kind of generosity might come to attract resentment over time. Not everyone will be grateful to him.”
He fell silent after the reminder. The Sal Tree of Life and Death in his dantian had sensed the tremendous feedback of goodwill flowing to the Deaf Prince. Many immortals and cultivators were thankful to the prince for the crystals, which manifested as goodwill.
In no time at all, the Deaf Prince would be known for his generosity and kindness, rather than being an easy mark. Of course, many still didn’t feel any goodwill even after receiving his crystals; they took the prince’s generosity for granted.
Hongxiu paused and sunk into deep thought. The Deaf Prince continued to shower crystals off the carriage as they moved from the outer circle of the market into its heart.
“I’ve finally found you, Sir Lu,” Qing Xun transmitted to Lu Yun, shifting her attention away from the Deaf Prince.
“Found me?” Lu Yun paused. “What is it?”
Qing Xun and the others had welcomed them with the pomp and pageantry that one would afford the patriarch of a major clan. Lu Yun and the others weren’t openly walking on the golden path only because the Deaf Prince had enthusiastically stuffed Qing Xun and her entourage into his carriage.
He wasn’t too surprised by Qing Xun’s words, however. Not long ago, he’d received a message from Yuying, saying that a dao immortal from the Panorama Pavilion had arrived at Dusk Province with an invitation for Lu Yun. However, he’d already left the province for the North Sea.
“We do indeed have a favor to ask.” Embarrassment tinged Qing Xun’s expression.
Although Lu Yun had acquired three treasures from the Panorama Pavilion, they still owed Lu Yun a great favor. Not only had they gained the knowledge of the properties and uses of a thousand and eighty dead herbs and their refining methods, they’d also gained a Heaven Descent Pill. Thus, it was more than a little embarrassing that they were here to ask another favor from Lu Yun.
“Please speak your mind, Fairy Qing Xun.” Lu Yun didn’t mind. He, too, wanted to understand what ancient recipe the pavilion was restoring. Therefore, he was happy to help with whatever they needed him for.
“My honored master, the head of the pavilion, is about to face a tribulation.” Qing Xun turned serious.
“A tribulation?” Lu Yun said in surprise. “You aren’t asking me to absorb the lighting, are you?”
“I’m not.” Qing Xun smiled wryly. “My master is a peak arcane dao immortal. He’s facing an origin order tribulation, rather than a lightning tribulation.” [1]
“Origin order tribulation!” Lu Yun started. “Then he’s to become a celestial emperor?”
“That’s two different things,” she corrected. “To become a celestial emperor, one has to pluck all nine dao fruit, be at the peak of origin dao realm, and summon all twenty-four heavenly mandates of the world.
“My master is simply ascending to origin dao realm from arcane dao realm. He’s an old immortal who survived the divine race’s rule and can no longer suppress his cultivation. There are nine arcane dao fruits within his body that have been communicating with the world every second of the day and he can’t stop the process any more.”
For some immortals, it was arduously difficult to pluck a dao fruit. For real geniuses, however, once their cultivation reached a certain height, a dao fruit would be drawn into their bodies even if they didn’t seek it out.
However, there was a great tribulation blocking the way between the two realms. Not a heavenly tribulation, but a human tribulation! The tribulation brought creatures like the long-haired monsters—the guardians of the origin dao fruit. Anyone who wanted to pluck a fruit would be attacked and possibly killed by them.
1. Currently, the classes of dao immortals are aether dao immortal, arcane dao immortal, and origin dao immortal. No one has ever advanced beyond origin dao immortal due to the broken cultivation path.