Chapter 2699 – Adaptable Life
Jiang Qingyue said, "My experience here has nothing to do with my father."
After a moment of silence, the woman continued to say, "As long as nothing happens, you can leave. Dragonturtle won’t stop you."
Lu Yin hummed while thinking, but ultimately decided to ask another question. "I have a friend with the same surname as you: Jiang."
Jiang Qingyue remained calm and did not respond at all.
"His name is Jiang Chen. Do you know him?" Lu Yin asked.
Jiang Qingyue’s eyes snapped open, and she turned to look at Lu Yin in shock. At the same time, Dragonturtle suddenly appeared in the dark. "Young Master Chen? You know Young Master Chen?"
Lu Yin smiled and let out a relaxed breath. "We do know each other."
Jiang Qingyue stared at Lu Yin. "Are you Lu Yin?"
Lu Yin was caught off guard. "How did you recognize me? Am I Jiang Chen’s only friend?"
Upon confirming Lu Yin’s ident.i.ty, Jiang Qingyue"s expression softened a great deal. "We’re in the Sixth Mainland, which is adjacent to the Fifth Mainland. He only has one friend in the Fifth Mainland, who is you."
Lu Yin nodded. "Then allow me to formally introduce myself—I am Lu Yin."
"So it"s a friend of the family, hahahaha! It’s good I didn’t do anything to you, as it would have been difficult to explain myself to Young Master Chen," Dragonturtle said with a laugh.
Jiang Qingyue stared at Lu Yin. "You’re much more powerful than what he told me. You’re actually able to enter the Sixth Mainland from the Fifth Mainland."
Lu Yin shrugged. "You’re not bad yourself. From what he said, as long as you find a parallel universe with an accelerated flow of time, it’s possible to catch up no matter how large the gap may be."
Jiang Qingyue shook her head. "It"s not that simple. People"s potential is limited, so what does it matter even if they can live forever?"
"However, you clearly have impressive potential," Lu Yin said.
Jiang Qingyue raised her sword. "If I was really any good, then that Semi-Progenitor corpse king would already be dead."
"Little Yue and Lu Yin can be considered family, so there’s no need to talk about this. We should spend some time getting familiar with each other, and maybe getting a bit closer," Dragonturtle encouraged.
Jiang Qingyue glanced over. "I have my own plans."
Dragonturtle sneered, and the light that hid his body disappeared. At first, he looked like a human, but his figure continuously shifted and changed until his true form was revealed.
Lu Yin stared in astonishment. "He really is a dragonturtle!"
He was staring at a creature that had the head of a dragon and the body of a turtle. It was only as big as his palm, and it quietly landed on Jiang Qingyue"s shoulder, where it grinned at Lu Yin.
Jiang Qingyue said, "He’s called Dragonturtle, and he once fought at my father’s side. In our universe, there are very few beings still alive from my father"s generation. Dragonturtles have long lives, and this one is also very powerful. He was guided by my father and trained in a parallel universe. When they returned, he was already a Progenitor."
Dragonturtle lifted his head. "All of the others were nothing but trash, especially that stupid rabbit, which actually ran away. Young Master Chen has vowed to catch it and bring back, but I don"t believe that he’ll succeed."
Lu Yin stared at Dragonturtle. This creature had become a Progenitor during a trip to a parallel universe, and after hearing this, Lu Yin could not help but become. He had finally found a parallel universe with an accelerated flow of time. If he could enter it, would he be able to freely travel between the universes? Could he become a Progenitor in this manner?
This was different from his die’s four pips, as Timestop had an a.s.sociated cost.
"Little Lu Yin, what are you thinking about?" Dragonturtle asked.
Lu Yin did not evade the question, and he honestly answered, "I’m thinking about parallel universes with accelerated time flows."
Dragonturtle sneered. "You’re overthinking things. Time may flow differently in those places, but if you go to one of those universes, it will be 10,000 years before you return. Even then, you can’t forget that you are in that universe."
"What do you mean?" Lu Yin thought of a possibility.
Dragonturtle replied, "No matter how different the flow of time may be, your life will pa.s.s according to the timeflow of whatever universe you are in. For example, normal humans only have a lifespan of about 100 years. If you take such a person to a universe with a faster flow of time, then they won’t be able to return as their lifespan is limited to 100 years, and that time will quickly pa.s.s. For that person, they will experience 100 years in that parallel universe, no matter how much time pa.s.ses elsewhere. If not, wouldn’t people basically become immortal in a universe with an accelerated flow of time?”
Lu Yin now realized that, no matter how fast time may pa.s.s in a given universe, it meant nothing if a person could not continue improving their cultivation.
"Hmph, too many people followed the old master to train in that parallel universe, but how many of them were able to return? All of them died in there, and no one else remains alive from that generation." Dragonturtle sighed. "Also, on top of this, there’s another important point.”
Lu Yin listened carefully.
Dragonturtle slowly said, "But I’m not going to tell you."
Lu Yin blinked, confused.
Jiang Qingyue was also stunned by this comment, and she slowly turned her head to stare at Dragonturtle.
The little creature turned to look at the woman while pointing at Lu Yin with his tail. "You two go ahead and chat. I"ll talk about this after you two have developed some feelings for each other. Otherwise, you can just forget about it. Little Lu Yin, I"ll just say that there are big problems with parallel universes with altered flows of time. My old master discovered this, but only at the cost of countless lives. Unless you become his son-in-law, don’t even think about learning that information."
After speaking, Dragonturtle jumped up and vanished.
Jiang Qingyue reflexively grabbed for the creature, but she missed.
Lu Yin was left speechless. Dragonturtle would not lie about this. Was there a big problem with parallel universes where time pa.s.sed at a different speed? What could be the problem?
"I"m sorry, he wasn"t like this in the past. He became like this after what happened with that d.a.m.n rabbit," Jiang Qingyue said.
Lu Yin gave a bitter smile. "I"ve seen that rabbit twice, but it ran away both times."
"If it wants to run away, it"s almost impossible to stop it," Jiang Qingyue said in agreement.
The two fell silent once again.
Lu Yin had many questions that he wanted to ask, but all of them seemed inappropriate, given that he and Jiang Qingyue had only just met. Even if Jiang Chen were present, there were some questions that would not be easy for Lu Yin to bring up, even if they might be easy to ask a stranger.
"Dominance Qi." Jiang Qingyue slowly enunciated two words, leaving Lu Yin quite confused.
"What’s that?"
Jiang Qingyue raised a hand, which the purplish-black substance appeared and wrapped around. "This."
"You call that Dominance Qi?"
Jiang Qingyue nodded. "In our universe, Earth has gone through various catastrophes, and Dominance Qi is the power that emerged in response to those disasters. It’s the equivalent to your universe’s battle force."
"That power can’t be easy to obtain," Lu Yin commented.
"It isn’t too difficult."
Lu Yin arched a brow. Dao Monarch Gu had only developed Wielder-realm battleforce after countless tests and experiments, which had driven Nutjob Lu insane and killed countless people. How could such a power not be too difficult to obtain?
"You just need to be lucky," Jiang Qingyue concluded.
Lu Yin almost choked. "Isn"t that rather difficult?"
Luck was the most difficult thing to obtain. Hen Xin had once mentioned that luck was incredibly important if someone wanted to develop Wielder - Indestructible, as it could only be acquired through luck. Even Lu Yin would have failed if he had not tried repeatedly until finally succeeding.
Just remembering the pain that he had to endure to develop Wielder-realm battleforce gave Lu Yin the chills.
Jiang Qingyue calmly stated, "In our universe, there is someone with the power of luck. It’s what you would call an innate gift. My father was able to succeed because of the luck that he obtained from that person."
Lu Yin was stunned. "Someone can have an innate gift of luck?"
"Why not?" Jiang Qingyue challenged.
Lu Yin was stunned. True, why not? His die was an innate gift that was more miraculous than any other he had ever heard of, while Seruzen had acquired an innate gift of karma from his arboreal transformation. It should not be shocking that someone had an innate gift of luck.
An innate gift of luck? Then it was no wonder why they were able to allow people to cultivate Wielder-realm battleforce. With sufficient luck, it would be simple to succeed.
Lu Yin felt a surge of pity for Dao Monarch Gu. That man had conducted endless experiments, whereas it might have been a better use of his time to simply seek out someone with an innate gift of luck.
"Without the power of luck, it’s highly unlikely that anyone can acquire this kind of power, according to my father," Jiang Qingyue said.
That matched Dao Monarch Gu’s own thoughts.
Lu Yin felt grateful for this information. "Thank you for telling me."
Jiang Qingyue said, "It’s nothing."
She then remembered something else. "Thank you for the gift."
Lu Yin felt quite confused. "Gift?"
"The praying mantis," Jiang Qingyue replied.
Lu Yin was still confused for a moment, but then he remembered that, when the Astral Beast Domain had invaded the Outerverse, a praying mantis astral beast had been sent to a.s.sa.s.sinate him. At that time, Jiang Chen had been around, and he had taken the enormous mantis away while saying that it was a gift for his father. He had even referred to the creature as a gardener. "Are you talking about the giant mantis?"
"It works very hard and is perfectly suited for being a gardener."
Lu Yin was speechless. Had the mantis really become a gardener?
The two continued to chat casually for some time. Lu Yin was curious about Jiang Qingyue"s universe, and the woman was similarly curious about the Fifth Mainland. They continued talking, and Lu Yin did not even notice that he spent several days in the camp, visiting Jiang Qingyue.
A big reason for this was that he had no idea where to look for the Stargazing Deck.
Jiang Qingyue seemed cold and distant, but she was actually quite talkative, and she enjoyed talking with Lu Yin.
Lu Yin did not ask about Jiang Chen and Jiang Qingyue"s father, as he did not like to pry into other people’s family matters.
Even so, it seemed quite evident that the man was a true powerhouse. Even a Progenitor-level creature referred to the man as master, and Dragonturtle was not like Lu Yin’s jiao that had been left wounded and stupid. Dragonturtle had even set Lu Yin up on a blind date.
Upon remembering the blind date, Lu Yin suddenly grew uncomfortable and wanted to leave.
"What are you doing here in the Sixth Mainland?" Jiang Qingyue asked after the two returned from the battlefield.
Lu Yin replied, "I’m looking for the Stargazing Deck."
"The Stargazing Deck?" Jiang Qingyue asked in confusion.
"By the way, have you spent a lot of time here in the Sixth Mainland? All of the people call you Valkyrie."
Jiang Qingyue lifted her sword to look at the patterns on the snow-white blade. "I"ve visited this place many times."
"In that case, have you seen this before?" As he spoke, Lu Yin created an image of the Stargazing Deck.
Jiang Qingyue looked at it. "I have seen that before. It was in an Aeternus Kingdom."
Lu Yin was caught off guard. "Which one? I came here to find that."
"I"ll take you," Jiang Qingyue offered.
"What about this place?"
"You should already understand the situation in the Sixth Mainland. Does me being here really make any difference?" Jiang Qingyue asked.
The fighting that was still playing out in the pockets of human resistance were clearly purposely allowed to continue because the Aeternals wanted something from them. Lu Yin might not know what they wanted, but as soon as Aeternus decided to get serious, all human resistance in the Sixth Mainland would be instantly eliminated.
This might be some sort of game for the Aeternals. They had already won, so perhaps they were just waiting before finishing their game.
Becoming Valkyrie was nothing more than an accident. Jiang Qingyue had never thought that she could actually change things for the Sixth Mainland. She was only there to gain some experience, and while she was at it, she did her best to help the surviving humans.
A short time later, Jiang Qingyue led Lu Yin to the north, away from the battlefield.
According to her, the Aeternus Kingdom that Lu Yin wanted was in the Grand Martial Realm.
The Sixth Mainland was not as large as the Fifth Mainland, and that was because the Fifth Mainland had absorbed the remnants of four fallen Mainlands. For example, the Astral Beast Domain was from the Fourth Mainland, and on top of that, there was also the Technocracy, the Starfall Sea, the Innerverse, and the Outerverse. There were remnants of four different Mainlands that had fused into the region that had once been the Fifth Mainland.