Chapter 5: Vast Yang Great World

Zhou Yu quickly set out.

However, it was not his second primordial spirit inside Heibai Xuegong, but his true self that went.

Zhou Yu's original identity when he crossed over was the son of the clan chief of a small tribe in East Sea Commandery of the Great Summer World; he had achieved cultivation, married, and had children, but regardless of the relentless passage of time, his relatives in this world had already died off one after another.

However, Zhou Yu still held deep feelings for the Zhou Clan, so his second primordial spirit waited for Ji Ning in Heibai Xuegong while his true self remained stationed within the Zhou Clan.

The reason his true self was sent this time mainly because his second primordial spirit lacked valuable treasures and was weaker in strength.

This mission was to deal with a Heavenly Immortal; Zhou Yu dared not be careless, so he naturally let his stronger true self take action.

The Vast Yang Great World is not far from the Great Summer World, so Zhou Yu did not waste a major teleportation talisman but directly broke through the Great Summer World's barrier and flew through the Three Realms' void to the Vast Yang Great World.

Upon reaching the threshold of a Heavenly Immortal, one gains the ability to break through a great world's barrier and naturally can roam the Three Realms' void.

Zhou Yu, after all, is skilled in the Universe Grand Dao; his speed of evasion in the void is extremely fast, and he arrived at the Vast Yang Great World on the day of departure.

He arrived early, naturally to gather information.

For a Heavenly Immortal, even when deliberately purchasing information, knowing many details is still quite easy.

"Fire Cloud Heavenly Immortal, originating from a small tribe, later joined the cultivation sect Holy Fire Sect, roughly passed the tribulation to become an immortal a billion years ago; his last display of strength was thirty million years ago, at which time he should have possessed top-tier Heavenly Immortal strength."

Zhou Yu gathered much information and thus had a clear plan in mind.

A Heavenly Immortal who has lived a billion years, whose display of strength thirty million years ago could barely be considered top-tier, now, unless there is a special opportunity, the chance of further progress is not great.

The only variable is whether the Fire Cloud Heavenly Immortal possesses a terrifying treasure, a powerful pure-yang dharma treasure or even an innate spiritual treasure.

"Judging by the Fire Cloud Heavenly Immortal's background, he doesn't seem to have such a treasure." Zhou Yu gave it no further thought.

From the mysterious person's implication, this mission does not require him to act alone; if there is an accident, he can simply flee.

At this point his strength has improved somewhat; moreover, the Universe Grand Dao is still very adept at escaping.

With plenty of time left before the appointed time, Zhou Yu did not rush to the meeting point "Immortal Cloud Mountain," but instead began to travel around the Vast Yang Great World.

The Vast Yang Great World is very similar to the Great Summer World; both have a unified dynasty under which feudal lords are enfeoffed, each dominating their own region.

Besides the feudal lords, there are also some powerful clans and cultivation sects whose strength is not inferior to, and may even exceed, that of ordinary feudal lords.

For example, the Holy Fire Sect, where the Fire Cloud Heavenly Immortal resides, is a fairly powerful cultivation sect.

Of course, customs differ even among different places within the same great world, and differences between great worlds are even greater in subtle aspects.

Zhou Yu enjoyed himself while traveling and gaining insight into the Dao.

As time passed, Zhou Yu continued to improve, benefiting from the advantages gained in the previous simulation.

After about a year in the Vast Yang Great World, his Formation Grand Dao also advanced further; he created a move surpassing previous ones, the "Trapping Formation," which could be set up instantly and is likely sufficient to imprison a top-tier Heavenly Immortal for a period.

Given him ample time to slowly set up the formation, it would naturally be even more terrifying.

"I indeed have greater talent in the Formation Dao, and together with the transformation of my comprehension after the last simulation, the bottleneck that had troubled me has indeed been broken." Zhou Yu felt no surprise at this.

He then continued to create other formations of his own, such as Killing Formations, Illusion Formations, Composite Formations, and so on.

In Zhou Yu's view, the path of formations—trapping, killing, and illusion formations—are merely superficial; the essence of formations lies in combining and utilizing various forces through many means.

For example, using terrain and environment or certain treasures with corresponding attributes to guide the power of heaven and earth is a formation; likewise, joining the magical powers of different cultivators is also a formation.

Zhou Yu's creation of a higher-level Trapping Formation signifies that his utilization of energy has reached a higher level; spending time naturally allows him to create other different formations.

However, creating other formations of the same level is not difficult; the difficulty lies in upgrading the "Nine Absolute Universe Grand Formation."

At this point, Zhou Yu's Universe Grand Dao and Formation Grand Dao have both broken through; theoretically, this could indeed let the Nine Absolute Universe Grand Formation advance another level, but this step is much harder.

In the blink of an eye, another two years passed, and Zhou Yu arrived as scheduled at the originally agreed-upon location, Immortal Cloud Mountain.

Immortal Cloud Mountain is a mist-shrouded fairy mountain; on the belly of its peak lies a platform where an old man and a middle-aged person sit at either side of a stone table, playing chess.

Upon Zhou Yu's arrival, he immediately noticed the two; his heart startled, for their auras were quite special, clearly beings transcending the Three Realms and Five Elements.

Without a doubt, they are both Heavenly Immortals.

"Oh? Has the time come?"

The two Heavenly Immortals also sensed Zhou Yu's arrival; the old man smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment; we will discuss after everyone else arrives."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu also said nothing; he clasped his hands and sat cross-legged nearby to wait.

He looked at the chessboard before the two and noticed that the flow of time around it was obviously much faster than the surroundings; it seemed the two Heavenly Immortals had deliberately accelerated it to finish the game quickly.

However, although the time flow there is swift, given Zhou Yu's realm, he can still clearly see the situation.

By observing the changes in the chess game, Zhou Yu quickly realized that these two Heavenly Immortals' Dao comprehension realms are not low; at least they should be comparable to ordinary million-year Wandering Immortals.

Yet Heavenly Immortals possess the realm of a million-year Wandering Immortal; judging by the strength of a Heavenly Immortal's magic power, in terms of actual strength they are far superior to a million-year Wandering Immortal.

And as time passed, more people arrived one after another.

These people were without exception Wandering Immortals, and Zhou Yu could not recognize any of their identities.

Actually, this is quite normal; who would come here foolishly revealing their true identity? Concealing one's identity is inevitable.

Even the two Heavenly Immortals before him might not have come using their true identities.

Eventually, after a steady stream, sixteen Wandering Immortals arrived here.

This made Zhou Yu secretly startled; to be able to participate in the operation to besiege and kill a Heavenly Immortal, at least they should be of the million-year Wandering Immortal level—yet so many gathered at once.

Although in the history of the Three Realms the number of Wandering Immortals with million-year strength far exceeds that of Heavenly Immortals, Wandering Immortals have limited lifespans, so the number of million-year Wandering Immortals in the same era is certainly less than that of Heavenly Immortals.

Gathering so many at once, this mysterious force is indeed somewhat terrifying.

Soon, the chess game of the two Heavenly Immortals also reached a conclusion, with the old man gaining a slight advantage.

"Haha, Fellow Daoist Yu, it seems the task of intercepting the Holy Fire Old Ghost is yours." The old man transmitted this message.

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man's face twitched; he also transmitted: "I am no match for the Holy Fire Old Ghost; even with the 'Nine Heavens Banner' in hand, I could not hold out for long, so you all should act quickly when the time comes."

"Don't worry." The old man gave a slight nod and said no more.

At this moment, the two also rose and looked toward the many Wandering Immortals.

"Fellow Daoists, since you have come here, there is no need for me to say more." The old man, looking at the crowd, said:

Once we have slain the Fire Cloud Heavenly Immortal, we will naturally go our separate ways; as for how to deal with him, we already have a plan—just do your best, and our success rate will surely be over ninety percent.

(End of chapter)