Chapter 2130: Darkness

The Inferno city lord was still alive while hellfire ignited every inch of his body. Wails of agony pierced through the void, sending shudders of horror down Blazemountain’s back.

“Ahh!!” She reacted after an indeterminate period of time and fled, leaving her fragmented city behind.

Lu Yun sagged with relief to see the city lord run in the opposite direction and vomited another mouthful of blood. He sat down cross-legged in the void and meditated to recover from his injuries.

“Heh heh heh, little fellow. Here I thought you really were invincible.” Inferno leered to see Lu Yun suddenly stop his refinement and retract hellfire. Not only did he still live, but his wounds began to close as well. “I thought you let her go on purpose. So it turns out that you’re at the end of your rope!”

Lu Yun looked noncommittally at Inferno and didn’t say anything. He concentrated on recovering from the harm that he’d suffered from the fight. The last blow had gravely injured him as he’d yet to reach the pinnacle. But after that fight, he was beginning to better understand the strength of the city lords in the nothing.

Civilization had decayed in the nothing; the cultivation systems and levels were hazy and ambiguous. Lu Yun was dividing thepeoplem according to the definitions of immortal dao, but it was an imprecise categorization.

Take the Inferno and Blazemountain city lords, for example. They were both immortal emperor to Lu Yun’s senses, but one Inferno could easily destroy ten Blazemountains because he controlled something similar to an external circulation of heaven and earth.

Unfortunately for him, his strength had deviated from the proper path and lost the support of a real world. He would never touch the level of true heaven and earth; his way forward was dead.

However, Lu Yun didn’t think that Inferno was the strongest kind of existence in the nothing, there had to be others stronger than him!

While the city lords could just barely be categorized using immortal dao, they didn’t cultivate immortal dao. So who knew what other aces they had up their sleeves?

There had to be others stronger than who he’d encountered thus far, there had to be!

“Aren’t you afraid of Blazemountain suddenly coming back at this time and giving you a fatal blow?” Inferno continued when Lu Yun remained silent. “Or do you think Blazemountain is a coward and she won’t dare seek revenge on you after you’ve slaughtered her dao partner, son, and troops?”

“There’s one thing I’m curious about,” Lu Yun finally raised. “Even a bumpkin like Blazemountain had others under her banner. You’re a heavyweight many times more powerful than her, so why are you alone?”

Inferno’s heart skipped a beat. Lu Yun spat out another mouthful of blood and closed his eyes in quiet meditation.

Stillness reigned in the void for a moment.

Inferno continued to recover and he continued to leer unblinkingly at Lu Yun. However, unease was beginning to creep into his heart. Although he steadily recuperated, he couldn’t contact his city no matter what.

The void was rootless and devoid of everything—it was the pure concept of nothing. The city lords could walk through it and wield such strength because they had their cities.

Crafting “something” in the nothing and providing a basis for them to stand all came from the cities. They were the roots and sources of their strength. A city lord was as good as crippled once they lost their city.

Lu Yun had let Blazemountain go because her city was destroyed. She was no longer a city lord. She could only latch onto a stronger existence and survive from their largess.

If she was lucky, her new patron might craft a new city for her—just as she had once done for Snowmountain. But regardless, she was crippled. Without a city, her strength would gradually recede until she was assimilated by the nothing, even if she was as strong as an immortal emperor.

....

“Dregs trying to resurrect the world?” A massive collection of cities in the nothing forced something into existence in this part of the nihil. They were like a world, but not really a world. They were just a gathering of countless cities of nothing into something that resembled a world.

Each city possessed power of the world, but their power was tattered beyond belief. They were forcefully stuck together, like a broken mirror glued back into a whole. They looked complete on the surface, but were actually a handful of pieces.

A broken mirror could never be what it once was.

The Blazemountain city lord did not have the right to come here. She would be chased off if she even tried to draw near it. But this time, she ran into no obstacles because her wounds were too severe and contained a hint of a complete world.

The power of a complete world, a complete heaven and earth.. was the most frightening existence in the nothing. A complete heaven and earth would attract that terrible structure and destroy everyone.

A man in long black robes knitted his sharply angled brows together. He stared intently at Blazemountain. “Did he leave that power on you?”

“Yes.” Extremely wan, she took a deep breath. “My troops have been decimated and my city razed. That person is refining the Inferno city lord as we speak.”

“Just him alone?” the black-clad man considered gravely. His eagle eyes stared intently at Blazemountain—or rather, the hint of a complete world on her.

It was a full demonstration of force, just a hint, but it was enough to make his heart palpitate.

“Yes, just one person.” Blazemountain hung her head and didn’t dare keep anything from the man.

He suddenly extended his hand and manifested a black city.

Rumble—

An incredible rumbling echoed in the void as another city floated out of the nothing. It was the fragmented Blazemountain that’d split into eight sections.

It recovered in the next second.

“My thanks to the Darkness city lord!” A sharp light flashed through Blazemountain’s eyes when she saw the change. Although she thanked the man, her heart filled with despair.

The Darkness city lord was one of the tyrants of this collection of cities and an absolute powerhouse in the nothing. He was far stronger than the Inferno city lord. To Darkness, Inferno was just a hunting dog and Blazemountain an ant.

The Darkness city lord had been closest to the pinnacle before the world collapsed. He once championed people against the horrific tomb, wanting to kill its owner.

Sadly, he failed and had to bow his head to destiny, constructing the Darkness city in the nothing. Despite his efforts, he was no benevolent soul nor some magnanimous saint who cared about life. Everything he did was for his own benefit—such as helping Blazemountain restore her city.

“Go spread the word of that person and say that he has a complete world on him.” Darkness’ thin lips moved. “This time, I’m going to erase all of the dregs.”