Chapter 286: Return to Origins

The Deaf Prince didn’t know he’d been dragged down by Lu Yun, he thought Jiangchen Wushang was after him. If he’d known the Jiangchen scion was after Lu Yun, however, he probably would’ve been even more eager, and killed the man before Jin Heyi could come to the rescue.

Onlookers broke into a cold sweat at his declaration; only the freaking insane would want a taste of his crystal mountain!

“I didn’t expect the cash cow of Levitating Island to be so vicious. I once heard him say he was going to bury someone with immortal crystals, and thought it was a joke. But no, crystals can actually be lethal!”

Although it’d been a zombie the crystal mountain had crushed, it was still a dao immortal zombie. Those who’d scammed the prince before suddenly felt their ill-gotten gains sitting heavily in their hands. An abrupt desire to pay the violent prince back flared up.

“The third prince is righteous and good!” announced a monster spirit immortal dressed in North Sea official attire. “The Corpse Refiners are a plague upon the world who refine living immortals into zombies. Their sins cannot be forgiven! Today, the third prince drove away their disciple and undid their conspiracy, saving countless immortals on Levitating Island. What great fortune for us to be graced by your presence!!

“On behalf of the countless cultivators of the island, this marquis thanks Your Highness for your great kindness and deeds!” The marquis bowed down to the East Sea Third Prince.

However, the prince considered the immortals around him like he hadn’t noticed the marquis at all. “Who else would like to try my crystal? I may not possess great strength, but I have immortal crystals aplenty!”

The marquis stilled, his back still bent and his expression dark. As an official representing the North Sea Court, the tiger shark considered it highly disrespectful for the prince to ignore his expression of gratitude.

An empyrean immortal burst into laughter. “Stop trying to curry favor, Marquis Tiger Shark. The Draggin’ Prince is also the Deaf Prince. He can’t hear you!”

However, the other immortals around him didn’t laugh, but instead moved away from the man in unison. Peerless immortal power locked on to him in the next second, cutting the empyrean immortal off in mid-laugh and draining the color from his face.

“Say that again?” Hongxiu’s voice cut through the crowd as a sharp and chilling sword, almost penetrating the man’s purple manor.

“N-no… never again...” Almost pissing himself with fright, the empyrean immortal kowtowed frantically in apology.

“It is fine for anyone to say anything they like when His Royal Highness wanders around the city as a commoner. However, he is now here in his capacity as the third prince of the East Sea court. He represents the authority and dignity of the royal clan. If I don’t kill you, that would make the East Sea monster spirits seem weak in comparison.”

The empyrean immortal wilted with despair as two beams of sword light shot out from Hongxiu’s eyes, severing his neck.

Thud!

His nascent spirit had been minced as well.

“Stand down, Marquis Tiger Shark,” Hongxiu said in a steely voice. “His Royal Highness was attacked by Corpse Refiners out of the blue and forced to fight back. This has nothing to do with the cultivators and immortals on this island.”

“Un-understood...” The tiger shark wiped the sweat off his forehead and fell silent.

“Hm? Why did you kill the empyrean immortal?” the Deaf Prince asked in surprise.

“Because he deserved it,” Hongxiu transmitted with a smile.

“Ah.” The Deaf Prince didn’t keep asking. If Hongxiu said he deserved to die, then so he did.

……

Jiangchen Wushang sprawled bonelessly like a puddle of mud on an uninhabited island in the inner sea. His meridians, flesh, and blood were paste, and his bones stuck out of his skin.

“Why save me?” he asked with an impassive expression, staring at the Jin scion near him.

“You’ve already lost the Cauldron of Invincible Constitution, and I didn’t want you to lose the Bag of Corpse Refinement as well.” Jin Heyi shoved a grey pill that reeked of decaying corpses into his mouth.

“You almost disrupted my plans when you refined Donglin Buo! Don’t you know I’d just formed an alliance with Donglin Shaohui?” Hatred flashed through Jiangchen Wushan’s face—plainly, he was forgetting that it’d been Jin Heyi who’d saved him.

“Donglin Shaohui? He’s just spineless junk.” Jin Heyi shook his head. “You’ll become trash by association if you work with him.”

Jiangchen Wushang didn’t respond, his chest heaving.

“Lu Yun is mine.” A particularly devilish look overtook Jin Heyi’s expression as his eyes turned the ghastly pale of a zombie’s . They settled unblinkingly on Jiangchen Wushang. “If you make another move against them, I’ll suck your blood and spirit dry.”

“The Zombifying Method!” Jiangchen Wushang shrieked with terror when he noticed Jin Heyi’s eyes. “You’ve practiced a zombie method with your own body! Are you out of your mind?!”

“Who said we can’t practice the method on ourselves?” Jin Heyi schooled his expression and his eyes turned back to normal. An orb shimmering with crimson light appeared in his hand—Diexi’s origin sphere. “It’s a shame that the zombie king escaped…. But no worries, I’ll find it sooner or later with the sphere. Then I’ll perfect the method and reach immortality with the dao of zombies.”

……

It was the opening day of the Myriad Returns Market.

From within the city shot a beam of white formation light that criss-crossed over and over again to form a giant formation in the air, enveloping all the floating inner island. Tall buildings formed within the light and gradually turned physical, forming an enormous city. That was the real Myriad Returns City, all of the floating island itself!

The market was held every ten years because that was when the formation light activated, turning the island into a grand city.

“That’s the Great Formation of Myriad Returns... Return to Origins!” Shock flashed through Lu Yun’s face from his position in the Deaf Prince’s carriage, and he looked up at the hazy white island. “Return to Origins is the greatest perfection of formation dao! It’s a realm that we hear of only in stories!”

The ultimate peak of comprehension for formation masters was to set up formations without foundation, but the great perfection of formation dao was to Return to Origins.

Formations drew their power from heaven and earth. The perfect state of formation dao returned formations to their origins, becoming one with heaven and earth, which then corresponded to the heavenly influence of feng shui layouts.

Moreover, those who mastered the technique could distill ten thousand formations into one, and vice versa. It allowed the formation master to truly manipulate formations at will. If Feinie could fully refine the Formation Orb and master all of the formations within, she’d be able reach those heights. Right now, however, she could tap into only a thousandth of the formations in the orb. There was still a very long way to go.

Lu Yun had thought it was merely something that existed in theory. No human had ever attained those levels of accomplishment. Now however, he was faced with the proof of its existence—the Great Formation of Myriad Returns. The city before him was a standalone world created by the formation.

“Not just that.” The little fox stared at the island and shrieked, “It’s also the peak of illusions—Simulated Reality! All these used to just be illusions, but now they’ve been refined into reality and come into existence!”