Apart from the alcohol in the cosmic ring, there was also something that looked like a puppet that caught Lu Yin"s attention. He studied it quite seriously, and his face was solemn. This was most likely Xia Shenfei"s most powerful treasure, as the puppet gave Lu Yin a great feeling of danger.
It was naturally taken.
Next was Long Tian. Lu Yin violently smacked Long Tian’s forehead and then simply took away his cosmic ring along with everything inside of it.
It held numerous items, but most of them were useless. The only thing that actually interested Lu Yin was a spear that had some strange, green, gelatinous substance on it. Only the G.o.ds knew what it was, but Lu Yin took it anyways. Before moving on, he smacked Long Tian one more time.
Oops, almost forgot. Lu Yin glanced over at Long Xi. He had almost forgotten that Long Xi was carrying Xia Taili"s cosmic ring, as she had not yet had the opportunity to return it to Xia Shenfei. Lu Yin fished it out, and after opening it, he found the power vessel that looked like an aquatic plant within it. Not bad.
Finally, Lu Yin moved on to Bai Shaohong, who was the leader of the four Junior Progenitors.
Talking to this person was not as simple as just searching through his cosmic rings.
Finally done, Lu Yin returned his consciousness to his own body, and for an instant, he felt the confusion and suppression press down upon his mind once more. He quickly started reciting the Stonewall Scriptures, and the pressure immediately pulled back. Free to move, he quickly released four Vacuum Palms in a row to shatter Bai Shaohong"s limbs. A fifth attack struck his chest, causing Bai Shaohong to spit out a mouthful of blood. He barely woke up for a moment, and he saw Lu Yin"s attack. However, the haze of the Forgotten Ruins quickly overcame him once again.
Lu Yin let out a long breath, and his consciousness switched back to the dry corpse. He then dragged Bai Shaohong out of range of the trap while also carrying his own body.
Bai Shaohong woke up as soon as he was out of range of the Forgotten Ruins. Years of training his mind caused him to instantly try to flee, but Lu Yin had already crippled Bai Shaohong’s arms and legs and severely injured him. Bai Shaohong was so badly wounded that he nearly collapsed the moment he tried to move.
Lu Yin had already shifted his consciousness back to his own body. He watched as Bai Shaohong"s body swayed once before grabbing the man with a hand. All four of the Junior Progenitors seemed to like to do this to people, so Lu Yin would reciprocate.
Bai Shaohong was now conscious, so he clearly saw Lu Yin"s hand shot towards him. He instinctively tried to resist, but he was too injured.
Lu Yin grabbed Bai Shaohong"s neck while fiddling with his cosmic ring with his other hand. "Are you looking for this?"
Bai Shaohong stared at Lu Yin as blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. He still could not believe what had happened. "How are you fine? How did you escape from the Forgotten Ruins?"
"What are the Forgotten Ruins?" Lu Yin asked.
Bai Shaohong sneered, "The Forsaken Land really is forsaken. You don’t even know about the Forgotten Ruins."
Lu Yin frowned, and his left knee slammed into Bai Shaohong"s stomach. Star energy appeared above the Junior Progenitor’s body and formed a finger, but the finger dissipated at almost the same moment that it appeared. Even though Bai Shaohong had also reached the Worldliness realm of star energy control, it was impossible for him to resist Lu Yin due to how injured he currently was.
Lu Yin"s knee struck Bai Shaohong"s stomach, and he bent over, coughing violently. Along with his coughs came out blood.
Pitiless, Lu Yin looked down at the Junior Progenitor.
Bai Shaohong swayed. Finally, he was unable to endure the pain, and he collapsed to the ground as his limbs bled from the exertion of the attempted violent movements. He gritted his teeth as he glared at Lu Yin with bloodshot eyes. "Do you even know what you’re doing? How dare you say anything! You’re nothing but an ant from the Forsaken Land! If I take action, do you realize that my Celestial Frost Sect can wipe out your entire Forsaken Land at any time? The only reason why you people have been allowed to continue to exist is nothing but pity!
"I can ask the Progenitors to take action against the Forsaken Land whenever I wish to destroy everything you know."
Lu Yin quietly stared at Bai Shaohong. "Are you threatening me? If I’m worried about what you’re saying, then I can just kill you."
Bai Shaohong"s eyes grew wide. "You wouldn’t dare."
Lu Yin thought that this was too funny. Long Tian and Bai Shaohong were the same kind of person. Long Tian acted completely self-righteously and always looked down on Lu Yin while acting as if he was the ultimate authority. Bai Shaohong behaved in the exact same manner. Apparently, this was just the att.i.tudes of the Junior Progenitors that had been elevated to the highest level by the entire Perennial World. The entire universe even contributed to their cultivation resources.
While Lu Yin had never spoken with w.a.n.g Su or Xia Shenfei, he was quite confident that, even if those two were not as open about their arrogance, it was still something that had been engraved into their very bones. In particular, these four had a sense of natural superiority over those from the Forsaken Land.
"The moment I die, the Celestial Frost Sect will instantly know, and they will naturally come to the conclusion that I died at the hands of you trespa.s.sers. That’s because no one else in this entire universe would dare to offend my Celestial Frost Sect by killing me! Only you pitiful people from the Forsaken Land would ever dare do such a thing. But know that if you really do dare to kill me, the Forsaken Land will become a true h.e.l.l!" Bai Shaohong threatened loudly.
Lu Yin squatted down and looked Bai Shaohong straight in the eyes. "Then tell me. If the Perennial World—no, I’m sorry. If your Celestial Frost Sect wishes to attack the Forsaken Land, do you have a way to get there?"
Bai Shaohong stared back at Lu Yin. "I know that you"re trying to mess with me, but I’ll still tell you. Your strength should put you at the top of your generation in the Forsaken Land, so you should already know about the Three Gates. After pa.s.sing through the Three Gates, on one side is our universe and on the other is your Forsaken Land."
Lu Yin arched a brow, as this was rather surprising. Was Bai Shaohong actually that stupid? Or was he just pretending and trying to bluff Lu Yin?
After pa.s.sing through the Upper Three Gates from the Perennial World’s side, one would not be in the Fifth Mainland, but rather the territory of the monsters. Once they opened the Upper Three Gates—wait, no. The Upper Three Gates had already been opened. Otherwise, the battlefield behind the Mother Tree would not have become as fierce as Guo Shan had mentioned.
Bai Shaohong had to be bluffing. But even then, that did not seem right. Bai Shaohong was aware of Lu Yin’s strength, and thus, his status. So, what would he think that Lu Yin did not know that the Upper Three Gates had been opened by those monsters? Why would Bai Shaohong say such things?
Could it be that the actual location of Upper Three Gates was a secret? Bai Shaohong might merely know of their existence, but not where they were actually located. He was just bluffing.
Lu Yin thought for a moment. Earlier, Guo Shan had said that the battle behind the Mother Tree had become fierce, but he had not mentioned the existence of the Upper Three Gates. Rather, Lu Yin was the one who had guessed at their location.
That actually made sense, if his thinking was correct. If everyone in the Perennial World knew where the Upper Three Gates were located, then the Fifth Mainland would not have been so peaceful for so many years. The people of the Perennial World had already left the Fifth Mainland and abandoned it. As far as this world was concerned, the Fifth Mainland was a forbidden land.
In that case, the question was, just how had w.a.n.g Yi traveled to the Fifth Mainland? He had represented the Technocracy during ZENITH, which meant that the w.a.n.g family had a secret pa.s.sageway that led to the Fifth Mainland. Bai Shaohong would not try to bluff Lu Yin by threatening that the Celestial Frost Sect would pa.s.s through the Upper Three Gates if the sect had an alternative means of entering the Fifth Mainland.
Numerous thoughts flashed through Lu Yin"s mind. Across from him, Bai Shaohong felt that he had succeeded in intimidating Lu Yin, so he let out a sigh of relief and coldly stated, "Although you’ve injured me, you can still save me from the Forgotten Ruins. I’ll just act like nothing here ever happened, and I can even help you with your ident.i.ty as a trespa.s.ser. Compared to the Forsaken Land, I expect that you’re more than willing to stay in the Perennial World and join the Celestial Frost Sect."
Lu Yin felt that this was hilarious. Bai Shaohong was not stupid, but he was actually trying to intimidate Lu Yin while simultaneously trying to recruit him!
Not even someone like Bai Shaohong knew the location of the Upper Three Gates, which showed just how wary the Perennial World was of the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands. How easy would it be for Lu Yin to turn this threat around on Bai Shaohong? The Junior Progenitor’s words had made Lu Yin suddenly realize the seriousness of being a trespa.s.ser.
"You still haven"t told me what the Forgotten Ruins are," Lu Yin pressed.
Bai Shaohong frowned. "I just told you that I can give you a new ident.i.ty. Get me out of here, and not only will I get you into the Celestial Frost Sect, but I’ll also make sure that you become a core disciple. It won’t be impossible for you to become a Progenitor one day. I don’t even need to get any Origin Matter during this trip. In truth, my Celestial Frost Sect already has some, but it’s better if a person tries to get it for themselves. Still, it doesn’t really matter if I get it or not. This is the strength of my Celestial Frost Sect."
"I"m going to ask you one more time: what are the Forgotten Ruins?" Lu Yin ignored everything that Bai Shaohong had just spouted off and focused on his question.
Bai Shaohong grew angry and shouted back, "Long Qi, do you really want to end up as my enemy? Do you even understand how terrifying my Celestial Frost Sect actually is?"
Lu Yin suddenly moved and grabbed Bai Shaohong"s hair. This supremely talented young man, who had once been handsome and extraordinary, was nothing more than a stray dog at this moment. "My name isn’t Long Qi. My surname is Lu."
Bai Shaohong"s pupils instantly shrank to pinp.r.i.c.ks, as though he had just heard the worst thing in the world. He stared at Lu Yin in amazement. "What did you just say? You- you- your surname is Lu?"
Lu Yin sneered. "What? Does my name make you that uncomfortable?"
All of the blood drained from Bai Shaohong"s face. He suddenly looked more panicked than ever as he stared at Lu Yin in disbelief. "Impossible! You’re a descendant of the Lu family? How’s this even possible? You can"t be from that Lu family."
After a moment’s thought, he said, "You’re from the Forsaken Land. You just have the Lu surname, but you have no connection to that Lu family."
"I am from that Lu family, as how else would I be able to reach this level of strength? I’ve come back," Lu Yin said in a nostalgic voice as he stared off into the distance. It was as though he was reminiscing.
Bai Shaohong roared, "That’s impossible! The Lu family was exiled! Everyone with the Lu bloodline was exiled back then, so even if there are some remnants, they’re nothing more than the Lu family’s disciples. There’s no way that anyone truly surnamed Lu is still around! You’re a fake! You’re lying!"
As Lu Yin observed Bai Shaohong"s reaction, it was clear that this information had greatly disturbed the Junior Progenitor. Could the Lu family really be that terrifying?
Lu Yin’s mind raced, and he shouted back, "If I wasn"t from the Lu family, how could I possibly have defeated you?"
"It’s impossible! Even your Progenitors were exiled! None of them were missed! None of them!" Bai Shaohong screamed as he stared at Lu Yin.
"I"m standing right here, so why should it be impossible? Do you really believe that your methods were flawless? Your exile ended up being ineffective," Lu Yin scolded, his eyes growing red.
Bai Shaohong was hysterical now. "The White Dragon rolled over and shoved the entire Lu family towards those monsters! All of the members of the Lu family were there, as it was done on the day of their festival! Their celebration became their funeral! The four ruling powers joined forces against the Lu family, so how could any of them have returned? Not a single member of the Lu family was spared! Every last one of them was exiled! You can"t possibly be from the Lu family!"
Lu Yin felt shaken. While he had made some guesses before, at this moment, everything was finally laid bare, and he had some difficulty breathing. The Lu family really was from this universe. However, apparently, they had been defeated by the four ruling powers, and the White Dragon Rolls Over had shoved them towards the monsters? They called it exile. How was that exile?
"I"m from the Lu family, and I"m back. The Lu family has returned," Lu Yin coldly announced.
Bai Shaohong"s veins were bulging out across his entire body, and his hands were clenched into fists. Although Lu Yin had crippled Bai Shaohong, he briefly managed to regain control of himself with this surge of adrenaline, and he grabbed Lu Yin"s clothes. "You’re lying! If you really are from the Lu family, then prove it!"
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