The faceless man also hailed from the third realm, but he wasn’t a living being—“he” was a human tribulation.

Lu Yun disturbing the prohibited parts of the Dragonquake Scripture had called forth a heavenly, earthly, and human tribulation. 

The storm of black lightning was the heavenly tribulation, and now Qing Yu faced the human tribulation in the form of an actual humanoid being. That left the earthly tribulation for the little fox.

A chaos dragon genius of yesteryear had once disturbed the forbidden as well. When the chaos dragons attacked the mythological realm, all three tribulations had descended at the same time to exterminate the race.

The instrument of their curse was simply refined by some unknown being later on, having obtained chaos dragon skeletons from the Tomb of Heaven and Earth. This was also why the chaos dragons were mixed breeds now, all incredibly violent, and limited to nine total in number.

With Lu Yun having destroyed that weapon, it was only a matter of time before pureblood chaos dragons truly reappeared in the chaos.

……

Qiu Luoyu released the creation seed’s power to use as a shield against the human tribulation. The tribulation’s dagger possessed the power to kill all living things, but it was unable to get past Qiu Luoyu as he wielded a treasure from the same point of origin.

However, another human tribulation walked out of the unknown in the next moment. And another, and another…

Too many to count, they were everywhere and quickly surrounded Qiu Luoyu and Qing Yu.

Qiu Luoyu’s eyes bulged with horror. He could easily handle one or two human tribulations, but thousands? Tens of thousands? They’d be able to drown him with one mouthful of spittle each!

He glanced at Qing Yu behind him. She seemed wholly oblivious and was still focused on refining the immortal dao, making it part of everything in the chaos.

“Are you afraid?” A very pleasing voice drifted into his ear. A young girl in a purple chiffon dress had popped into the crowd of human tribulations at some point in time.

She was uncannily beautiful, her form willowy and graceful, her brows as if painted on. Her fair skin seemed to glow in space and her expression was languid, as if she’d just awoken from a nap.

“Yep.” Qiu Luoyu nodded gently and swallowed hard. “I am. But right now, I’m more afraid of you.”

She was standing right in the middle of tens of thousands of dagger wielding tribulations, but the latter had all stopped moving and were frozen in place.

As if time itself had frozen too.

There was no notion of time in the chaos, but this girl in a purple chiffon dress possessed enough power over time to impose it onto this part of the realm. A human tribulation was part of the dreadful trio and unaffected by the constraints of time and space. However, the humanoid representations of this trial were firmly caught in the domain of time right now.

“I’m Violetgrave, one of Lu Yun’s… friends.” Violetgrave thought for a bit before settling on that label. “And now, I’d like to make a deal with you.”

“What kind of deal?” Relaxing at first, Qiu Luoyu grew wary again.

“I have a type of fire here called the dark fire.”

Whoosh!

Violetgrave opened her hand to display an azure blue flame dancing on her palm.

Qiu Luoyu’s face spasmed painfully. As a heavyweight of the chaos, he naturally knew of a certain existence in the chaos that controlled a purple flame. That personage had reigned invincible in the chaos and ultimately surpassed it, becoming a legendary existence.

He’d also seen the purple flame once—nether fire. There was currently something very similar to it quietly burning in front of him.

“That little fox was the first being to transact with me. He obtained my nether fire,” chuckled Violetgrave, as if she’d read Qiu Luoyu’s mind. “You… are probably the last, so I’ll make a deal with you for dark fire.”

“What price do I need to pay?” Though Qiu Luoyu was sorely tempted by the eerie flame, he didn’t entirely lose his mind.

“Your soul belongs to me after you die.” Violetgrave smiled sinisterly. “But bear in mind that not even the first to make a deal with me has died yet.”

Qiu Luoyu trembled violently and grit his teeth. “Deal! My soul is yours after I die!”

Death?

He constantly flitted between life and death in the chaos, and would be slated for immediate execution if those of the nine divine sects caught him.

Qiu Luoyu wasn’t afraid of death and didn’t care what would happen to him afterwards. Being able to obtain greater power now and create a sanctuary for otherkind in the chaos would be worth even his death on the spot.

Violetgrave smiled again and waved gently, sending the azure blue flame into Qiu Luoyu’s body. His body, hair, eyes, and lips instantly turned vivid blue. While his strength and cultivation level didn’t change, his bearing was completely different. He would now be formidably armed whenever the flame burned.

“That’s not very nice, Violetgrave.” Busily setting the immortal dao in order, Qing Yu suddenly opened her eyes. “My Lu Yun sees Qiu Luoyu as one of his own and gave him the creation seed. It’s not very nice for you to rob him like this.”

“Oh?” Violetgrave blinked, surprised that Qing Yu wasn’t affected by her control over time either. But the conundrum resolved itself as soon as she took a look at the Dao Flower over Qing Yu.

“Your dark fire burns away life force. The more he uses, the faster he dies.” Qing Yu remained staring at Violetgrave. “I made some quick calculations just now. With Qiu Luoyu’s cultivation level, he’ll die after three uses of dark fire at most.”

Qiu Luoyu trembled violently and his jaw dropped.

Burns life force? I’ll be dead after three uses??

This wasn’t a deal, it was a huge scam!

Violetgrave spread her hands out with resignation. “He agreed to the deal and my dark fire already took root in his life force. What else can we do? He won’t die if he doesn’t use it haphazardly.”

Qing Yu frowned without a word.

“Alright, I should be getting back now. Remember, seventeen more years. You must come get me in seventeen more years or I promise that I’ll become an utter disaster for you two. I’ll be worse than anything you’ve seen thus far.” Violetgrave started fading away. “Since you’re good friends with Lu Yun, I’ll give you a few more chances. Your soul will belong to me only after five uses of the dark fire.”

Her voice drifted away after this last tidbit.

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