Chapter 2084: Trouble
Many distinct layers of authority had been implemented in the newly established Heavens Sect.
Naturally, only the gatemasters and a select few were allowed to freely enter the Heavens Sect. In other words, only a handful of elites were allowed to freely roam about Earth’s solar system, and the people who lived on Earth were not allowed to leave the planet. Essentially, they were prisoners.
This was not something that the Lu Heavenly Gate could change or control, as these rules had been insisted upon by the other Heavenly Gates to prevent Aeternus’s spies from slipping in, as well as to maintain the image of the Heavens Sect.
Lu Yin finally met Lu Buzheng on the back of Ancestor Tortoise.
The older man used a great deal of force as he patted Lu Yin"s shoulder and nodded. "You seem to have gotten stronger."
Even as he spoke, he threw a punch at Lu Yin’s chest.
However, the punch had absolutely no effect, and Lu Yin just grinned. "Third Uncle, is this how you’re welcoming me back?"
"Didn’t I hear that you got stabbed by a sword? Are you alright?" Lu Buzheng asked.
Lu Yin let out a breath. "Luckily, I didn"t die."
"Was it really the Origin Progenitor’s sword?" Lu Buzheng was very curious about this.
Lu Yin nodded and pulled the sword out of his cosmic ring. "I’m going to tell you this right now, but don’t touch it. Forgotten Ruins G.o.d did, and she completely disappeared. Later, some other guy named Old Hei touched it as well, and he also vanished."
Lu Buzheng had indeed wanted to reach out and touch the sword, but he stopped himself when he heard Lu Yin’s warning. "Then hurry up and put it away. Seeing something that you can’t touch is frustrating to begin with, and this is the Origin Progenitor’s sword! It’s one of the six swords that suppressed the entire Heavens Sect, and it possesses the power of time."
Lu Yin smiled as he put away the sword. "How’s the Lu Heavenly Gate doing?"
Lu Buzheng replied, "We’re doing fine. Thanks to you, Corpse G.o.d"s hand is gone, or else things wouldn’t be as they currently are."
"What happened?" Lu Yin felt puzzled. It had been impossible for Xi Yue to have a comprehensive understanding of the Fifth Mainland’s situation.
Lu Buzheng explained, "When the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect appeared, the entire thing broke apart. Countless ancient golden characters scattered everywhere, as did the Mountains and Seas. The only place in the entire ruins that didn’t collapse was the main hall that sent you and the others traveling through time and s.p.a.ce. Corpse G.o.d tried to steal the main hall, but his attempt forced him to put all his eggs in one basket. The main hall ended up disappearing right from underneath his hand, and then his hand was cut off by the cooperation between the Progenitor of Bloodlines and the mental network, though it destroyed the mental network as well…"
"So that"s what happened. So apparently, Corpse G.o.d also wanted to get his hands on this sword," Lu Yin murmured.
Lu Buzheng replied, "Everyone wants it. It holds the power of the Origin Progenitor, and if anyone can comprehend even a thousandth of that power…”
The man suddenly shot a glance at Lu Yin. “From what Heluo Mavis was saying, were you acknowledged by those two?"
Lu Yin shrugged. "Doesn"t matter. Whether or not they acknowledge me, they still can’t beat me."
"Hahahaha! Those two are Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis, the Dao Chosen from the Heavens Sect era, and yet you aren’t intimidated by them! You really can compete for the position of Dao Chosen," Lu Buzheng said happily.
"By the way, what did you manage to learn from the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate? You were only there for a few days."
When this question came up, Lu Yin instantly grew solemn. He quickly shared all that he had seen and experienced while on Sword Mountain with Lu Buzheng.
Lu Buzheng rubbed his chin. "When the Origin Progenitor encouraged people to create unique energies, the Three Realms Six Dao still existed. The ancient Dao Monarch of the Third Mainland did talk about how all cultivation can be categorized as internal or external, but most people didn’t care. Very few were willing to try the external cultivation method that he mentioned, but the people of the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate were always absolutely loyal to their Dao Monarch, and his knowledge was genuine.”
"We never even considered that battle force could be comparable to stellular energy."
"You didn"t know about this?" Lu Yin was surprised.
Lu Buzheng responded, "Who paid attention to any of that in the past? The Dao Monarchs were too far above our level, and all of them created their own cultivation methods. As for me, I was too caught up in Destiny’s divination to focus on anything else, so why would I give a d.a.m.n about battle force?”
"If I had known I’d eventually live to see this day, I might have just tried getting my third stream of ancestral qi to be of the Third Mainland’s Dao Monarch."
Lu Yin arched a brow. "How’s Heluo Mavis’s training been going?"
Lu Buzheng shook his head. "No idea. The Mavis family developed their own cultivation method, and even though our Lu family had a good relationship with the Mavis family back then, we didn’t study them very much."
"I captured a member of Team Resolution," Lu Yin stated.
Lu Buzheng was stunned. "What do you mean, ‘a member of Team Resolution?’"
Lu Yin repeated himself. "I captured one of the members of Team Resolution."
Lu Buzheng was shocked. "You captured a member of Team Resolution? For real?"
Lu Yin released Hen San from Zenith Mountain. The man was still seriously injured, as Lu Yin had not dared to heal the man, as he feared that everything on Zenith Mountain would be destroyed after that.
When Hen San appeared, he first saw Lu Buzheng, and the man’s scarred face changed expressions. He gritted his teeth and angrily stated, "It was you, Gatemaster Lu? You’re such a conniving b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
Lu Buzheng was left speechless. "I didn"t capture you."
Hen San then saw Lu Yin, and since Lu Yin had already reverted to his normal appearance, Hen San recognized him. His expression changed yet again. "Lu Yin?"
Lu Yin was taken aback. "The Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate seems to know a lot about me. What’s the deal with that?"
Lu Buzheng explained, "Who hasn’t heard about how you were stabbed by the Origin Progenitor’s sword? If anyone finds you, they’ll also find the Origin Progenitor’s sword. Forget the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate—everyone in the current universe is looking for you right now, though no one has any idea what time period you might have fallen into."
Lu Yin finally understood.
"Lu Yin, you’re despicable! You disguised yourself as Xing Kai and attacked us!" Hen San yelled as he glared at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin just winked at the man.
Lu Buzheng then knocked Hen San unconscious with a single attack. "Why did you kidnap him? You can’t possibly expect him to teach you how to train battle force, right? You should drop that idea, as the members of Team Resolution aren’t afraid of death."
"I still want to try." Lu Yin put Hen San away again. He did not share his plan with Lu Buzheng, as the older man would definitely stop Lu Yin.
"How long until the Heavenly Gates meet again?"
"A bit more than three months."
"What about our ten-man team for the compet.i.tion that you agreed upon? Were you able to talk to w.a.n.g Wen and the others like I asked?" Lu Yin asked.
Lu Buzheng slapped his forehead. "I forgot to talk to them. Our representative team’s already been selected, and you already know all of them."
"Oh? Who is it? How strong are they?" Lu Yin asked.
"Should we call them over? As for how strong they are…" Lu Buzheng felt a bit embarra.s.sed to answer this question, as he had already heard about how strong Xia Luo and the others had become. “They’re definitely not as good as the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate’s team."
Lu Yin had already expected this, as the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate had always been focused on alternative cultivation methods such as battle force. If they were not able to surpa.s.s the other teams, they might as well drop dead. Hen Xin would be too embarra.s.sed to mention that he was the leader of the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate.
Lu Yin quickly called w.a.n.g Wen.
"This wireless jincan… Your Royal Chesspiece?" w.a.n.g Wen asked as soon as he started communicating with Lu Yin. Lu Yin was using his own wireless jincan that he had lent to Lu Buzheng.
"It"s me," Lu Yin confirmed.
"When did you get back?"
"Just recently."
"No wonder. If you’d returned sooner, we wouldn’t have so much trouble to deal with," w.a.n.g Wen replied.
"What"s wrong?" Lu Yin asked.
w.a.n.g Wen answered, "The Dao Chosen selection, the representative teams to determine the Heavenly Gates’ wager, Aurora Fortress, pyrolyte, the Seven Courts. Oh, right, there’s also Big Sis. That’s pretty much all the problems."
"Big Sis?" Lu Yin was taken aback, and he looked over at Lu Buzheng. "What happened to Big Sis?"
Lu Buzheng naturally had no idea. "Who’s Big Sis?"
Lu Yin quickly asked w.a.n.g Wen to clarify.
w.a.n.g Wen was genuinely surprised. "You didn’t know that Big Sis was kidnapped by Destina? The woman forced Big Sis to become her disciple."
Lu Yin felt confused. "Why would Destina take Big Sis away and take her as a disciple? What"s going on?"
w.a.n.g Wen replied, "This all happened while you were still in seclusion. Oh, right—you went to the Daosource Sect ruins when you were in seclusion, and that’s when the ruins appeared above the Fifth Mainland and shattered. You were with Jiu Yao, and you all disappeared, making it too late to tell you anything.
"Honestly, it"s not really a big deal. Big Sis was taken away from the Honor Zone by Destina, who took her in as a disciple. Actually, Big Sis might take part in the Dao Chosen selection and represent Destina."
Lu Yin had to ask, "Why would Destina make Big Sis her disciple? Also, with Big Sis’s age, how can she compete to become the Dao Chosen?"
w.a.n.g Wen was left speechless. "Just how old do you think Big Sis actually is? She probably isn’t even as old as Chu Yuan."
Lu Yin was stunned, but after thinking about it, w.a.n.g Wen’s words seemed quite possible. Both Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis possessed a higher cultivation base than Lu Yin, and his cultivation speed had always been unbelievable. It was highly unlikely for Chu Yuan and the other Dao Chosen to have cultivated faster than Lu Yin even in the Heavens Sect era, so it was highly improbable that they were from the same generation as Lu Yin. The Dao Chosen were likely even older than Wen Sansi and the other Ten Arbiters.
"Is there an age limit to become a Dao Chosen?" Lu Yin looked over and asked Lu Buzheng.
Lu Buzheng replied, "A person needs to be under a hundred years old. From what I understand, anyone under the age of forty is considered a youth in this era, which is about the same as our time, but there are some people who are late bloomers. Thus, the position of Dao Chosen is available to anyone under a hundred years old. If you can’t achieve anything before a hundred, then you can only be considered unfortunate, even if you are a late bloomer.
"Also, during our time, there wasn’t anything like generational compet.i.tions. Everyone under a hundred years old was considered to be in the same category, and so they were all allowed to freely compete with each other, as they were all considered peers. They competed at things like their cultivation realm and combat strength. All of the Dao Chosen were naturally Realmbreakers, and some could even surpa.s.s multiple cultivation levels."
"Your Highness, it’d be better for you to ask Highsage Leon about Big Sis, as I really don’t know any of the details," w.a.n.g Wen offered.
Lu Yin answered, "Got it. Big Sis should be fine. As for the team compet.i.tion coming up, have you made any preparations?"
"Isn"t Gatemaster Lu responsible for that?" w.a.n.g Wen asked in surprise.
Lu Yin replied, "Quit playing around. Since Hen Xin was willing to accept this deal, he’s confident in winning. I want to know what you guys set up to deal with him."
The wireless jincan remained still for a bit, but it finally wiggled out an answer, "As long as the people Gatemaster Lu arranged aren’t too bad, we might have as much as a 60% chance of winning."
Lu Buzheng was stunned when he saw this answer. He was fully aware of the strength of the people that he had selected for the team, and from what he had heard from Lu Yin, even if they were being optimistic, the Lu Heavenly Gate’s team had no more than a 10% chance of victory. So where did w.a.n.g Wen find the confidence to claim a 60% chance of victory?
"That"s fine. You’ve got it handled then," Lu Yin replied.
"What if we lose?" w.a.n.g Wen asked.
Lu Yin’s eyes grew cold. "I"ll give you to the Sea King."
w.a.n.g Wen’s mouth fell open. The Sea King? That man was w.a.n.g Wen’s worst nightmare! "You- you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
As Lu Yin was messaging w.a.n.g Wen, Lu Buzheng"s wireless jincan trembled. "Elder Gong?"
Lu Yin looked over.
Lu Buzheng quickly answered, "What"s the matter?"
"Is Lu Yin back?" Elder Gong asked.
Lu Buzheng looked over at Lu Yin. "Did you expose yourself?"
"No idea," Lu Yin replied. He finished his conversation with w.a.n.g Wen and then quickly sent Elder Gong a message through Lu Buzheng"s wireless jincan, "Elder, I"m back."
In the Cosmic Sect, in the Neoverse, Elder Gong straightened up and let out a sigh of relief. "So you really didn"t die."