As he followed behind Qing Chen, Lu Yin saw nothing dangerous as they proceeded along. All of the creatures could sense the pressure of a Semi-Progenitor from Qing Chen, and they all actively moved to avoid him.
The Ancestor Python"s body was wrapped around the Mother Tree, and it could be seen from any point in the entire Lower Realm. The third region was the closest to the python’s head, but the sixth region had a view of the snake’s ma.s.sive body, as it covered both the sky and the sun.
"Will your presence be enough to wake up the Ancestor Python?" Lu Yin suddenly asked as he stared upwards with fear in his eyes.
"Not normally."
"Can my White Dragon Clan really cause the Ancestor Python to roll over?" Lu Yin asked another question.
Qing Chen stayed silent for a while. "Yes."
He thought for a while, and then continued, saying, "The White Dragon Clan’s predecessors received their cultivation technique from the Ancestor Python’s blood, and that was the start of their path of invincibility that led to their current position among the four ruling powers. The White Dragon Clan has an intrinsic connection to the Ancestor Python."
"The Ancestor Python won’t attack those monsters?" Lu Yin wondered.
Qing Chen shook his head. "Neither the Ancestor Python nor the eagle in the Mother Tree’s canopy will take any such initiative."
In this manner of question and answer, Lu Yin managed to learn a great deal from Qing Chen. The Semi-Progenitor did not try to hide anything, though there were also some details that he did not know. For example, when Lu Yin asked how long the Ancestor Python had lived for, Qing Chen had no answer, only that the snake had been around for a long, long time. Lu Yin also asked if the eagle had ever taken flight, and he also asked about the legend of Wu Tian. Even though Qing Chen was a Semi-Progenitor, he was ignorant of many of these matters that came from such a distant past.
"Even though I have also lived for a long time, I barely know anything about the period when the Daosource Sect was active, and you are asking about matters that are even more ancient than that. These events actually took place before the Daosource Sect even existed, so I can’t tell you about them. Even the four ruling powers’ Progenitors might not know about such matters,” Qing Chen explained helplessly.
Lu Yin smiled wryly. "This subordinate is just curious."
"You don’t need to know about such things. Wu Tian is just a legend, just like the G.o.d of Death, Destiny, and others. Those legends represent what people believe to be true of the ancient times, but they are more like beliefs. For example, Specter Abyss has a perceived image of the G.o.d of Death, and that particular image has spread over the entire Perennial Realm, which has led to many people believing that the G.o.d of Death truly lived. However, from Specter Abyss’s first founding to now, no one has ever discovered the G.o.d of Death’s inheritance.
"Specter Abyss has powerful elders, but even they have not found the G.o.d of Death’s inheritance yet, which proves that the G.o.d of Death is nothing more than a fable. To be blunt, I don’t believe such a person ever lived. There are other people within the four ruling powers who do believe in it and are searching for that inheritance, but most people don’t believe it to be real," Qing Chen explained.
Lu Yin displayed a sincere expression. "This subordinate doesn’t believe it either."
Qing Chen sighed and approvingly stated, "That"s the right way. Cultivate yourself and don’t chase after such illusory power."
There was a bang as two powerful forces collided. The shockwave smashed the void apart, allowing Lu Yin to see the true universe.
The higher Lu Yin climbed, the higher the status of those he came in contact with. When he had been a Limiteer, he had rarely seen any Enlighters. Similarly, after becoming a Hunter, he had rarely seen Envoys. At the moment, with Lu Yin being an Enlighter, he was frequently meeting Envoys. This was not because there were fewer Enlighters, but rather because cultivators of that strength generally avoided him.
It did not take long for Qing Chen to escort Lu Yin to the site of the battle. There, they found two ma.s.sive beasts fighting. One looked like an elephant that was 1,000 meters tall and 1,000 meters long, causing every one of its steps to shatter the earth. The elephant-like creature was fighting against a four-headed snake with a ridiculously long body that Lu Yin could not even see the end of.
Each one of these creatures were as strong as an Envoy who had survived multiple stellular tribulations.
"There’s someone else here," Qing Chen cautioned Lu Yin as he looked to the right. There, they saw two people. When Qing Chen saw the two, they also noticed Qing Chen. None of them bothered trying to conceal their presence.
"Adventure King?" Qing Chen was surprised, but only a bit.
Lu Yin looked over. Adventure King? This was a name that Lu Yin had heard of before. According to the rumors, Adventure King seldom visited the Middle or Higher Realms, and he almost always stayed in the Lower Realm. People claimed that he enjoyed adventure, wanted to live an exciting life, and also desired to clear out the Mother Tree’s parasites. He was the most important person in Root, and he was also one of the organization’s top powerhouses.
Adventure King turned to face Qing Chen and bowed from across the distance. The man then looked past Qing Chen and noticed Lu Yin. At that moment, Adventure King’s pupils shrank; what was going on?
Lu Yin was also able to get a clear look of Adventure King. He was an absolutely ordinary looking man who was short and skinny, only about 1.6 meters in height. Lu Yin also had a feeling that if his eyes were closed and this person was standing right in front of him, he would not be able to notice Adventure King’s presence at all.
A young man was standing beside Adventure King, and unless Lu Yin was mistaken, this youth should be Wan Wu.
When Lu Yin had first reached the Junior Progenitor Planet, he had accompanied Long Tian to meet the top talents of their generation before the lineup for the Dominion Realm had been decided upon. However, Wan Wu had left due to some other incident. If he had not left, he would have been poisoned just like all the others who had stayed.
The battle between the two giant beasts soon ended; the elephant was defeated by the enormous snake. The serpent wrapped itself around its opponent and strangled the elephant-like beast to death. Before dying, the creature let out a terrible roar as it tried to break free, but its efforts were fruitless.
However, the snake was not in a good condition either, as half of its body had been trampled and smashed.
Adventure King led Wan Wu over to Qing Chen. "Senior, it’s been a long time."
Qing Chen smiled. "Given the fact that you are always in the Lower Realm, it"s hard for us to meet."
Adventurer King calmly replied, "An opportunity will always appear.”
As he spoke, his eyes shifted over to Lu Yin. "And who is this?"
"This is Long Qi, and he is the Huaiyuan Gate Master," Qing Chen introduced Lu Yin.
Lu Yin politely greeted the older man, "I’m honored to meet Senior Adventure King."
"You’re Long Qi? The same Long Qi who went to the Dominion Realm with Long Tian?" Wan Wu asked in surprise from behind Adventure King.
Lu Yin looked over at Wan Wu and smiled. "And you are Wan Wu."
Wan Wu nodded.
"Brother Wan was forced to leave the Junior Progenitor Planet at that time. Otherwise, you would have been the one to visit the Dominion Realm with Junior Progenitor Long Tian," Lu Yin said with a smile.
Wan Wu shook his head. "That’s impossible. I can’t compare to you."
Lu Yin was caught off guard. "Why would Brother Wan say that?"
Wan Wu was completely serious as he explained, "I can feel your breath, and it’s very powerful. You are much stronger than me, and even-"
He wanted to say that Long Qi had even surpa.s.sed Long Tian, but thinking of the Junior Progenitor had reminded Wan Wu about the White Dragon Transformation and that other, more mysterious power of visualization. Wan Wu had never seen Long Tian’s full strength, so the comparison with Long Qi was left unsaid.
Lu Yin"s eyes flickered. People who fought against vicious beasts all the time were very sensitive to their opponents’ breath, and they often paid attention to such things. Mister Mu had hidden Lu Yin’s cultivation so that not even Semi-Progenitors could sense his power, but that did not mean that it was completely impossible to discern Lu Yin’s true strength. There would always be people with special innate gifts or abilities, such as Hua Beibei whom Lu Yin had encountered when clearing out the terror ants. That youth had been able to easily determine the “beast king,” or the most powerful individual, in a group.
It seemed like such people were not terribly uncommon.
"Someone from the White Dragon Clan?" Adventure King frowned, and his att.i.tude changed subtly.
Behind the little group, the giant snake finished strangling the elephant, and it finally noticed Qing Chen and the others. The beast began devouring the elephant as it stared at the humans with its vertical pupils while letting out a blood-curdling hiss.
Adventure King turned his head and quietly said, "This junior is here to deal with this giant snake. Does senior have anything to say?"
Qing Chen replied, "We’re merely pa.s.sing by, so do as you please."
He then turned to Lu Yin. "Let"s go."
Lu Yin nodded and followed as Qing Chen led the way.
Shortly after leaving, Lu Yin felt the ground tremble, and he turned around. The snake had most likely perished.
"Supervisor, Adventure King always stays in the Lower Realm, so he should be very familiar with this place. Why didn’t you ask him to help you find the anteater?" Lu Yin asked.
Qing Chen answered in a low voice, "This is a very important matter, and I cannot easily trust other people. After all, you exposed the three Guan brothers and Yun Mubai as Redbacks, so who can be certain that Adventure King is not one as well?"
Lu Yin nodded. The monsters had planted Redbacks within humanity not only because Redbacks and traitors were able to sabotage humanity, but also because their mere existence led to an air of distrust, which was a very serious problem.
Originally, Qing Chen had made Lu Yin the acting Gate Master of Huaiyuan Gate in order to lure out Shaman G.o.d, but the supervisor had not asked any questions regarding Shaman G.o.d at all, which clearly indicated that he no longer expected Lu Yin to be able to draw out one of the Seven SkyG.o.ds.
The two spent more than ten days searching through the sixth region, and they found the plant that Lu Yin had drawn in the image of his memory, but they did not find any anteaters.
Given Qing Chen"s cultivation, he was able to constantly scan a wide region, but he was unable to find the anteater.
"Could it have left this region?" Lu Yin guessed.
Qing Chen felt helpless. "It"s certainly possible."
The Lower Realm seemed boundless, as its area was larger than the Middle and the Higher Realms combined, which made it very difficult to find a single beast.
"Supervisor, if the creature really does eat terror ants, then if we find more ants, maybe we can find the creature as well," Lu Yin shared a sudden thought.
Qing Chen"s eyes lit up. "That’s certainly possible."
However, he then grew quite embarra.s.sed. "There are a tremendous number of terror ants in the Lower Realm, and they can be found almost anywhere. It will still be very difficult to find your beast using this method of chasing after the terror ants."
Lu Yin also felt rather helpless.
"All we can do is try, and if this doesn’t work either, then we can only issue a bounty to Root to have them search for the anteater. Still, doing that might expose our intentions to the enemy," Qing Chen said.
Lu Yin also felt like they were running out of options. They had already searched through every part of the sixth region where the Qingcang leaves could be found.
It was rather easy to find terror ants, and only two days later, Qing Chen and Lu Yin found a ball formed by a horrifying number of terror ant. The bugs were ruthless killing machines in the Lower Realm, and even the average Envoy would be forced to retreat in the face of so many terror ants.
Wherever the ball of bugs pa.s.sed through, nothing living was left behind.
The two followed the ball of ants for two entire days. During this time, they ran into several cultivators. Everyone who ran into the ball of ants a.s.sumed that they had met their death, but all of them ended up being lucky enough to be saved by Qing Chen.
On their third day of chasing behind the ball of ants, the ball suddenly vanished. Qing Chen’s expression changed, and Lu Yin hurried forward. To their shock, the ball of terror ants had fallen into a gap between the Mother Tree’s roots.
While it was technically a gap, it was actually a vast canyon from the perspective of a human, and they could not even see the bottom.
"Supervisor, did all of the ants fall down there?" Lu Yin asked.
Qing Chen nodded. "Let"s go after them."
With that, he grabbed Lu Yin and leaped down.
Lu Yin felt a bit fl.u.s.tered; who knew what lay beneath the surface of the Lower Realm? They were descending into the Mother Tree’s roots, and any number of strange creatures could reside in this place. Even the Ancestor Python was present, and Lu Yin was worried that they would run into something that not even Qing Chen could handle.
It was dark below the surface, and there was not even the smallest hint of light.
Fortunately, Lu Yin was a cultivator, which meant that he could still observe his surroundings quite clearly.
Each one of the Mother Tree’s roots was no different from an entire mainland to Lu Yin. No matter how far down they traveled, all that Lu Yin could see was roots, various creatures, insects, and the cracks on the root.
As they continued traveling further down, Lu Yin started to wonder if they might fall out of the Perennial World and into the location where the Mother Tree had rooted itself in the universe.
?