Chapter 1810: Shudders
The fact that the Neohuman Alliance was searching for Burial Garden’s gates and systematically destroying them meant that there was a very low chance of ever finding a gate anywhere on Grayweed Continent. Still, regardless of the probability, Lu Yin still had to search. Burial Garden’s gates were Lu Yin’s only way of leaving the Starfall Sea and returning to the Innerverse. The Sixth Mainland’s three Progenitors were guarding the pa.s.s to the Innerverse, so even if the Aeternals did not stop Lu Yin, he still would not even consider the possibility of making his way past the three Progenitors.
In particular, the Progenitor of Combat was eager to kill Lu Yin, though he did not actually trust any of the three Progenitors.
"Senior, what are you going to do now?" Si Xiao"er asked.
Lu Yin was solemn. "I’m going to find one of Burial Garden’s gates and make my way to the Innerverse. I refuse to live under the reign of corpse kings."
"But all of Burial Garden’s gates should have already been destroyed, right?" Si Xiao"er had very little confidence in this plan.
Lu Yin remained determined. "Even if there’s only a glimmer of hope, I’ll still pursue it."
Si Xiao"er pursed her lips. "This junior is willing to take Senior to search across Grayweed Continent. If you go alone, Senior, you will run into corpse kings, and you’ll be easily found out. You clearly are not an ordinary person, and even my master might not be your opponent, correct?"
Lu Yin smiled. "Your master is definitely not my opponent."
Si Xiao"er was startled. How could he be so confident?
"If you go with me, what will you say if we meet with a corpse king?" Lu Yin asked.
Si Xiao"er thought for a bit, but her eyes soon lit up. "Do you have any way to drain water from your body? Our Water G.o.d Dojo has a battle technique that can extract the water from an opponent’s body, but it takes a long time to train in the technique. If we encounter a corpse king, we can just say that you are a junior of mine who’s out training in that water extraction technique."
Lu Yin found this option quite odd. "Extract water from an opponent’s body? Where did this technique come from?"
It had not been long since Lu Yin had fought against Jiu Han, and she had possessed an innate gift that had allowed her to do the exact same thing as this battle technique. Lu Yin had almost been drained, and it had been an awful feeling.
Si Xiao"er replied, "All of our battle techniques have been handed down to us by our ancestors, and most people whose cultivation involves water have similar techniques."
Lu Yin nodded. "I"ll take you out of here. Just hold on for a bit."
He then grabbed hold of the woman and shot upwards.
Lu Yin tore the flames apart above Si Xiao"er"s head as they raced upwards, and she left the underground flames without ever feeling any hint of heat. The other Water G.o.d Dojo disciples had already left, as she had spent a long time underground.
Lu Yin used Progenitor Ku’s battle technique Extremes Must Be Reversed.
If Lu Yin wanted to deceive a corpse king with the strength of an Envoy, he needed to actually drain his body of water. Si Xiao’er was far from strong enough to do this to Lu Yin, and it was not something that could be faked.
Actually, Lu Yin had another reason to use this particular technique. After activating this technique, suffering attacks would allow a person’s body to return to normal. The more powerful the attack was, the greater the recovery, and the more power the technique would acc.u.mulate.
Lu Yin had no idea when he would be able to return to the Innerverse, so this sort of battle technique was perfect for this situation. It would practically guarantee his survival from almost any attacks, and it would also change his appearance to something similar to a mummified corpse. No one would be able to recognize him. Best of all, this was not some sort of disguise, but a genuine change in appearance, which meant that not even a Semi-Progenitor would be able to see through it!
Si Xiao"er waited just outside of Skyblaze Dojo for more than three days. She spent this time cultivating, so she did not become impatient with the wait.
Fire opposed water, and suppressing her water techniques with the heat and fire in the air was also a form of cultivation.
Finally, the void behind the woman twisted, and Lu Yin appeared. Si Xiao"er turned to look, and her expression changed completely, as she was overcome with fear. "You- you?"
"It"s me," Lu Yin replied.
Si Xiao"er stared blankly for a moment, and then was shocked. "Senior?"
At this moment, Lu Yin"s appearance was quite frightening, as his entire body looked like a mummified corpse. There was no trace of moisture within his body, and let alone Si Xiao"er, even Ming Yan would not recognize Lu Yin in this condition.
Lu Yin’s body looked like he was nothing more than stringy muscles stuck to bones.
"Let"s go and find a gate," Lu Yin tried to speak casually, but his voice had become incredibly hoa.r.s.e.
Si Xiao"er grunted in acknowledgement. Lu Yin’s appearance caused her to feel a bit of fear, but he absolutely had the appearance of someone who had drained the water from their body. As expected of a powerhouse, this man was quite thorough.
"By the way, don"t mention me to your master. After all, I am someone from Skyblaze Dojo," Lu Yin commented.
"I know."
Si Xiao"er moved quite slowly, and Lu Yin also had to limit his speed so that he did not draw any unwanted attention and potentially attract a corpse king.
The two then made their way towards the west from Skyblaze Dojo. They specifically sought out regions with dense forests and no people, as well as forbidden areas.
"Forbidden areas? No, the seventy-two dojos divided the entire Grayweed Continent, so even if there were any forbidden regions, they’ve all already been explored," Si Xiao"er said.
No matter what, Grayweed Continent was smaller than any of the Innerverse’s eight great flowzones. Venom Flowzone had the Infernal Zone, which was a place that not even Qing Shaohuang had been willing to enter, and he was an Envoy powerful enough to overpower all of Grayweed Continent. In the entire Starfall Sea, only the Sea King himself could compare to Qing Shaohuang.
"Have any gates shown up inside one of the Aeternal Kingdoms?" Lu Yin asked.
Si Xiao"er nodded. "One did, but it was immediately destroyed."
"No one tried to go through it and explore?"
"No."
"You all just trust the Neohuman Alliance’s words?"
"It"s not a matter of trust, but that no one wants to die."
…
Lu Yin and Si Xiao"er chatted as they traveled, and half a month pa.s.sed in a blink of an eye.
They found nothing at all during this half a month, but after another two days, they found a destroyed Burial Garden gate, which Lu Yin found regretful.
"Senior, let"s find another," Si Xiao"er encouraged.
Lu Yin nodded. "Don"t refer to me as ‘Senior.’ It makes it too easy to be exposed."
"Then what shall I call you?"
Lu Yin thought for a moment. "Call me Seventh Bro."
"But what should I call you if we meet a corpse king?" Si Xiao"er asked again.
Lu Yin thought again. "Then just call me Seventh Junior Brother."
"I have a seventh junior brother."
"Then call me Seven." Lu Yin started to get upset.
Si Xiao"er stuck out her tongue at him. "Fine."
A few more days pa.s.sed, and finally, Lu Yin hesitated for a moment. “They’re here."
Si Xiao"er was confused, but then darkness appeared above them, and the void twisted. A figure emerged and crashed into the ground.
It was a corpse king, and it was actually the same one that had fought with Lu Yin at Mt. Stacks Dojo.
Lu Yin’s expression remained unchanged despite instantly noticing this detail.
Si Xiao"er turned pale, as she was rather frightened.
The corpse king’s scarlet eyes swept over Si Xiao"er and locked onto Lu Yin. "Who is this?"
Si Xiao"er gulped. "He’s my junior brother."
The corpse king continued to stare at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin"s eyes flickered, and he quickly dropped his head, not daring to make eye contact with the corpse king. "I offer my greetings, sir."
The corpse king approached Lu Yin and reached out to grab his arm. The creature squeezed hard enough to cause Lu Yin pain. "Sir?"
Si Xiao"er started to panic. "Sir?"
The corpse king let go. "What are you doing here?"
Si Xiao"er quickly offered an explanation, "We’re exploring Grayweed Continent’s various dojos. We’re close to Zhanyi Dojo, so that’s where we"re headed to next."
The corpse king suddenly looked up, took a step, and disappeared.
An entire minute after the corpse king had left, Si Xiao"er let out a sigh of relief. Her forehead was drenched with sweat.
Lu Yin also let out a sigh of relief. He was quite lucky that he had used Extremes Must Be Reversed. The muscles in his arm had actually loosened up a bit, which indicated that the corpse king had used a terrifying amount of strength.
"We- are you alright?" Si Xiao"er asked nervously.
"Are you scared?"
Si Xiao"er answered in a bitter tone, "If I didn’t know when to be afraid, I would have never lived this long."
Lu Yin stared at her for a moment. "Let"s go."
Lu Yin had been able to confirm Si Xiao’er’s words from the corpse king"s behavior. It really seemed as if the Aeternals were looking for a way to coexist with humans. They had to have some sort of deeper purpose.
Lu Yin had been terribly disturbed by what he had seen in Aeternus Nation in the Neoverse, but he had also expected such things. At the moment, this new behavior of the Aeternals left Lu Yin far more nervous. They were actually eroding humans’ will to fight the Aeternals, and they were practically raising human beings in captivity.
This was more terrifying than wanton slaughter. Lu Yin believed that there had to be quite a number of people in the Starfall Sea who were unwilling to fight the corpse kings and were instead content to accept their new overlords.
This was the worst possible outcome.
While Lu Yin was searching through Grayweed Continent for Burial Garden’s gates, a major event occurred within Burial Garden as well.
Someone recovered a horn from the depths of Burial Garden. It was a horn made from the skin of a Progenitor, and when it was blown, all of Burial Garden began to tremble. People felt as though ma.s.sive creatures from ancient times were breaking through s.p.a.ce and time to charge through the area and pa.s.s through the universe.
Many people started fighting over this horn, and it was impossible to predict where it would ultimately end up. All that anyone knew was that the moment that the horn appeared, the guards stationed at the exit gates were reinforced multiple times over.
Whoever managed to seize the horn was guaranteed to try to escape, and they would try to leave Burial Garden through an exit gate. They were equally likely to emerge from all the exit gates, and since this horn was a Progenitor-level item, even Semi-Progenitors would be willing to step forward.
Aside from how amazing the horn was since it was a genuine Progenitor item itself, the person who had uncovered the horn was also worth paying attention to, as they were someone with an ancient bloodline.
Rumors claimed that Burial Garden was the tomb of countless powerhouses from both ancient and modern times and that it also held the most ancient of inheritances. These inheritances, apparently, could only be accessed by those with an ancient bloodline.
This particular rumor caused many forces throughout the Fifth Mainland to grow jealous, and many of them started to target people with ancient bloodlines. The desiccated corpses still hunting the ancient bloodlines were quickly eliminated while the remaining people with the ancient bloodlines were forced to enter Burial Garden. Some were poisoned while others were controlled by various techniques.
On Yima Planet, a cultivator from the Great Eastern Alliance was determined to enter Burial Garden to seek out opportunities. The man knew that all of Burial Garden’s gates were being guarded, so even if he found something, he would most likely not be able to keep it. Still, he wanted to go.
How many chances did the universe contain? There were countless cultivators, but how many of them could actually stand out? The compet.i.tion was too fierce, but this man simply wanted to enter the compet.i.tion. If he found something, even if he could not keep it for himself, since he was a part of the Great Eastern Alliance, he might be able to sell what he found. If he was lucky, he would be able to find an exit that opened into the Great Eastern Alliance’s territory. That way, even if he lost whatever he found, it would at least benefit the alliance.
As long as he could find an opportunity, he could change his destiny.
The man was far from the only one with such thoughts, as countless others were thinking the exact same thing. This caused the number of people in Burial Garden to practically double every day. No one was stopped from entering Burial Garden, as this had essentially become a rule. Someone had to find the opportunities in Burial Garden.
However, in addition to opportunities, there were also dangers in Burial Garden. Many people who entered Burial Garden died tragically. Still, this did not scare people off, as they all hoped to at least fight for a chance to find an opportunity to change their fates.
After the cultivator made his decision, he rushed straight towards the gate of Burial Garden. He moved fast enough that he could not even stop himself. All he wanted to do was to charge ahead.
However, just as he was about to enter the gate, someone came out of it and blocked the man. There was a bang, and the man was struck unconscious as he fell to the ground.