Chapter 2874: Lu Yin’s Foundation
The God of Death’s scythe slashed down at an angle, fueled by the black and white mist from within Lu Yin’s chest. It was death energy, but at the same time, not.
Specter Progenitor had no way to dodge, though his eyes flushed red as he did his absolute best.
Boiling death energy gushed out from Specter Progenitor’s body, forming a black forest that continuously spread out until it covered the Wall of Purity. The Progenitor himself was wearing the skeleton of an astral beast, strengthening his body with the Xie family’s technique while using death energy to transform his body. He was strengthening himself as much as possible before he released his own attack. The sky as the guillotine, and death energy as the blade.
The blade fell.
The two attacks slammed into each other fiercely, the shocking blow forcing Arrow Sage and the others to fall back again and again.
The Wall of Purity was a warfront battlefield, fierce and covered with death. However, beneath the two overwhelming attacks made with death energy, the Wall of Purity took on a dark and ethereal appearance that made it look like some sort of hell.
Shockwaves swept out from the point of impact. The guillotine was torn apart, and the slash from Lu Yin's scythe continued on, splitting the black forest and striking Specter Progenitor.
The scythe sliced into the man’s body, cracking through all of his defenses. "Impossible! Lu Xiaoxuan, you-"
Lu Yin took a step forward, his hand shooting up to grab Specter Progenitor.
The Progenitor looked up at Lu Yin, lashed out with a palm strike, and howled, "Lu Xiaoxuan, I will make you pay for this!"
Even as the man spoke, his body shattered, along with the bones of the astral beast that had been protecting him.
Lu Yin's hand fell, and all of the ambient death energy swirled around him, gradually sweeping away Specter Progenitor’s death energy. A massive maelstrom of death energy formed, filling the sky.
Lu Yin’s hand rose, and he pulled at the vortex. It shrunk down and was absorbed into his body. Once he finished, the black and white mist in his chest had expanded by a full circle.
Specter Progenitor’s death energy had come from Specter Abyss, which made it very pure, exactly like the death energy that Lu Yin had encountered in Gaia's Swamp and other places.
Lu Yin had no idea how many fields of death energy the God of Death had left behind, but he suspected that there were not too many. With this, one more field had been depleted.
He had no idea if there were any fields of death energy in the Sixverse Association.
As the death energy dissipated, peace returned to the Wall of Purity.
The Aeternals stared at the humans’ side of the battlefield with their scarlet eyes, but none of them dared to make a rash move. Lu Yin's attack had been earth-shattering, and without the support of a powerhouse equal to one of the captains of the True God Guard, the more ordinary Progenitor-level corpse kings would not dare to approach the humans at this time.
Some distance away, Arrow Sage gulped. The matter had been resolved.
Specter Progenitor had not been weak in the slightest, at least as powerful as Arrow Sage himself. Even so, Lu Yin had easily eliminated the Progenitor. Not even one of Lu Yin’s inner worlds had been brought out or needed. It was too extreme.
Bai Sheng and Xia Qin glanced at each other and then moved closer together. Lu Yin was growing increasingly arrogant. The Lu family had returned, and the Heavens Sect was only gaining more and more Progenitors. Lu Yin was behaving in a more domineering manner than ever, and there was no guarantee that he would not deal with the two of them later.
Lu Yin suddenly turned around and looked at Bai Sheng and Xia Qin.
At that moment, they both felt incredibly nervous.
Arrow Sage was startled, and he quickly moved to intervene. "Lord Lu, you just killed Specter Progenitor!"
"I didn’t kill anyone. He was nothing more than Wang Fan's shadow," Lu Yin corrected.
Arrow Sage’s expression fell. "Regardless, our Wall of Purity is now missing a peak powerhouse who was helping to defend this place."
"I’ll send someone to the Heavens Sect and tell Chen Le to come help defend the Wall of Purity, just as I said." Lu Yin was clearly unconcerned.
Arrow Sage had no idea how to handle the situation. He lost all confidence when trying to deal with Lu Yin.
Lu Yin looked back at Bai Sheng and Xia Qin. "Are you two going to stay in the Cyclic Universe like beaten dogs like Bai Wangyuan, or are you going to return to the Origin Universe?"
Xia Qin felt frightened. "I’ll go back."
Lu Yin’s eyes fell upon Bai Sheng.
The Progenitor frowned.
"I will only give you this one chance. If you don't want to return now, then never go back!" Lu Yin shouted coldly. "You’re only a Progenitor, and my Heavens Sect already has plenty. If you do return, you will need to be investigated to determine whether or not you ever participated in persecuting my Lu family."
Bai Sheng replied, "I had nothing to do with the Lu family’s exile, and I never persecuted anyone from your family or any of the vassal families."
"That needs to be proven. If it is discovered that you ever persecuted my family, you will be forced to pay the price, even if you try to stay hidden in the Cyclic Universe. Not even Bai Wangyuan or Wang Fan will be excluded. No one will be able to escape," Lu Yin declared as he clasped his hands behind his back.
Arrow Sage's expression grew even worse. "Lord Lu, Bai Wangyuan and Wang Fan are now two of the Nine Sages! Their fates are up to the Great Sovereign to decide."
Lu Yin finally looked back at Arrow Sage. "I can decide their fates as well."
Arrow Sage’s eyes narrowed. This was an open provocation, as Lu Yin was blatantly showing completely disregard for the Cyclic Universe. He was an absolute madman!
In the past, Arrow Sage would have simply attacked. Regardless of anything else, the Cyclic Universe was the leader of the Sixverse Association. Not even the most powerful cultivators could have afforded to offend the Great Sovereign. However, at the current moment, Arrow Sage lacked the courage to attack. Lu Yin was a difficult person to deal with, and more importantly, there was someone even more overbearing behind him. That person dared to publicly berate the Great Sovereign, and she had been unable to do anything in response. Just what was the deal with this family?
Even though they had been exiled, they had still managed to return.
Lu Yin left, though he glanced back at Bai Sheng. He had given Bai Sheng a chance. It was up to him whether or not he returned.
...
The news that Lu Yin had eliminated Specter Progenitor at the Wall of Purity quickly spread throughout the Sixverse Association. His public display of tyranny and disregard for the Cyclic Universe opened the eyes of countless people in the Sixverse Association.
This was a complete disregard of the Cyclic Universe.
Something else happened on the Endless Frontier that was related to Lu Yin during this time; Qing Ping had started to make a name for himself on the Endless Frontier. He remained a Realmbreaker, and he had proven it by killing a Progenitor-level corpse king and purging two parallel universes. Unfortunately, after that, he had encountered a captain of the True God Guard in the third universe, and had to be rescued by Mu Ke.
Despite the need to be rescued, Qing Ping’s achievement shocked the Sixverse Association.
It was nearly impossible for a Semi-Progenitor to be a Realmbreaker and fight against peak powerhouses, much less actually kill such an opponent.
How many people in the entire Sixverse Association were capable of such a feat? It was possible to count them all with one’s fingers.
Yao Lan was said to be a Realmbreaker who could challenge peak powerhouses, though she had never actually killed a Progenitor-level corpse king. Qing Ping was one of the few humans throughout the history of the Sixverse Association to kill a Progenitor-level corpse king as a Realmbreaker.
Word of Qing Ping’s ability spread, and it was astonishing enough to attract the attention of the most powerful people in multiple universes. The Semi-Progenitor had proven that he would become one of the most powerful peak powerhouses alive as soon as he became a Progenitor.
If he had not already accepted a master, many of the most powerful peak powerhouses would be most eager to take in such a person as their disciple.
Lu Yin and Qing Ping were both Semi-Progenitors who were capable of killing peak powerhouses, and their senior disciple brothers were Mu Xie and Mu Ke, who were both peak powerhouses.
The relationship between the four men was also exposed, and their connection left countless people speechless.
How was this even possible?
In the beginning, Lu Yin had led the Heavens Sect and a number of Progenitors from the Origin Universe. He had then led the Lu family back from their exile, including their founding ancestor who dared to publicly insult the Great Sovereign, and the unfathomable Lu Tianyi. Lu Yin’s father was another Progenitor, and after all of that, it was revealed that he had three senior disciple brothers. All of them were shockingly talented and powerful, which made their master an even greater mystery.
Once numerous people came to understand Lu Yin's background, there was a unanimous reaction; who would dare to mess with such a person?
It was no longer a question of whether people could afford to offend Lu Yin, but rather more of a question of how far he wanted to take things. The bolder his behavior, the more people took what he did for granted. With such terrifying backing, how could Lu Yin not be brazen?
There was a location in the Cyclic Universe that was filled with jagged rocks.
The stones in this place not only looked bizarre, but their nature was also varied and odd. There were stones that were so hard that even the strongest Semi-Progenitor-level cultivators could not break them, as well as others that would melt at a touch. There were also stones that continuously produced odd sounds. The entire region was very strange.
This was the Stone Boundary, and it was the location where every generation of Sage Stone lived.
The title of Sage Stone sounded a bit similar to the Endless Frontier’s Big Stone Universe, but there was no connection between the two.
The Big Stone Universe’s name came from the fact that every cultivator in that universe needed to carry stones in order to avoid being wiped out by the laws of the universe. As for Sage Stone, that title had come into being because of a cultivation method that needed many different kinds of stones. This cultivation method transformed one’s energy channels, making them as hard and durable as stone. Additionally, there was the Stone Cudgel and the Eight Hands of the Stone Gate battle techniques, which also used stone.
After the death of the previous Sage Stone, the title had been given to Nutjob Lu.
At the moment, Nutjob Lu had returned from the Endless Frontier.
He had not attended the Tea Ceremony, though not because he had not wanted to. Rather, Shao Yin had been worried that Nutjob Lu’s presence would impact their plan, so the Sovereign had found a way to send Nutjob Lu to the Endless Frontier.
The attack on the Tea Ceremony had occurred simultaneously with another attack on the entire Endless Frontier.
Nutjob Lu had boldly killed three Progenitor-level corpse kings during that battle, which was an impressive achievement. Only because of that had he been allowed to return from the Endless Frontier ahead of schedule. In fact, he had only spent three months away from the Stone Boundary.
When Nutjob Lu heard the news that Lu Yin had eliminated Specter Progenitor at the Wall of Purity, the new Sage Stone had thrown his bottle of wine while letting out a loud belch. "Even if I hate the Lu family, this is the tyranny of the Lu family. They are unwilling to let anyone who has crossed their bottom line live, and they will slaughter them, hahahaha.
"So what if the Lu family has come back? Let's see what you can do to me! When I gain complete control over my sequence particles, I’ll take out that old bastard Lu Yuan along with that little bastard, and then I will become the patriarch of the Lu family! Hahahaha! Come on, more liquor!"
At the bottom of the mountain, a frightened-looking man pulled out a jar of wine from a pile of rocks and started to climb up the rocky mountain. "Senior."
Nutjob Lu grabbed the jar of wine and opened his mouth to start drinking. As the scent of the alcohol spread, so did a violent aura. It was so fierce that the man who had delivered the jar stumbled and nearly fell.
Even so, the man remained standing behind Nutjob Lu in a respectful manner, his eyes dark. This man was Jiu Zizi.
The man had once been the commander of the Fourth Array Base on the Perennial World’s rear battlefield, but he was actually a Redback who had been raised to a position of authority by being given various accomplishments by the Aeternals. They often used this method to promote Redbacks in the Perennial World.
It was difficult for any such person to be suspected of being a Redback in the Perennial World. After all, such magnificent achievements granted them respect and good treatment wherever they went, and they would even be allowed to readily join any of the four ruling powers. These spies were of great use to Aeternus.
As Lu Yin rose to power, the Aeternals had intended to have Jiu Zizai enter Lu Yin’s service. This was why, after Lu Yin had cleared the Aeternals from the rear battlefield, Jiu Zizai had taken the initiative to ask to join the Heavens Sect in the Fifth Mainland.
Some time ago, Wei Rong had suddenly approached Jiu Zizai and asked him to accomplish a specific mission. The man was asked to go to the Cyclic Universe and find a way to be accepted by Nutjob Lu.
The mission had confused Jiu Zizai. What connection did he have to Nutjob Lu? Why did the Heavens Sect want him to follow the man?
Wei Rong had offered an explanation, stating that they needed to get someone close to Nutjob Lu. Several people had been sent before, but they had either died, or had never had any opportunity to even see Nutjob Lu. The reason why Wei Rong had sought out Jiu Zizai was because of his previous experience fighting on the rear battlefield, as well as the fact that Jiu Zizai greatly resembled Nutjob Lu.
Jiu Zizai had wanted to curse when he had been given the mission. He looked a lot like Nutjob Lu? Was that really a valid reason to give him such a mission?
However, Jiu Zizai had been in no position to refuse. He was only a minor character in the Heavens Sect, and Wei Rong was someone who advised Lu Yin himself. The man was known to be incredibly conniving, and the entire Heavens Sect knew that offending Wei Rong was asking to have their entire lives ruined.
There had been no choice, and Jiu Zizai had been forced to go to the Cyclic Universe.
Jiu Zizai had assumed that it would be impossible to get close to Nutjob Lu. So, not knowing what else to do, he had contacted Aeternus to see if they could do anything to help him. As a result, not only had Jiu Zizai joined Nutjob Lu and become a follower, but many other people had also come, though Jiu Zizai was the person who grew closest to Nutjob Lu.
It was a situation that he had never dreamed of.
The more that Jiu Zizi saw what Aeternus was capable of, the more determined he became to join them