Chapter 1804: Solved
Lu Yin was lucky that he had been able to grab the Voidsoul Umbrella, as without it, his bodysuit armor most likely would not have been enough to completely protect him from the Progenitor of Combat’s martial print. If it had been the limit of what Jiu Han could endure, then the martial print had probably been an attack that exceeded a power level of 900,000. This was more than what he could withstand, but the Voidsoul Umbrella was a treasure from Progenitor Ku’s Voidsoul Palace, which meant that it was also something from a Progenitor.
"There are plenty of things that you’ll never be able to understand, but let me see if you have another martial print!" Lu Yin shouted as his spiritual force swept towards Jiu Han once again.
The Envoy’s expression changed drastically, and she waved a hand in an attempt to pull the water out of Lu Yin"s body, but Lu Yin was holding the Voidsoul Umbrella, and it was able to block all of her attacks. She was instantly lost in the illusion once again.
Daynight Praises caused Jiu Han to suffer unimaginable pain. The Progenitor of Combat’s martial print had been able to protect her once, but a second time was impossible. Within the illusion, the Progenitor of Combat"s palm finally fell upon her.
Jiu Han spat out blood, and her forehead fractured. She stared at Lu Yin and started wailing, "I’m the Progenitor of Combat’s descendant! Lu Yin, do you really dare to kill me?"
Lu Yin"s eyes suddenly flared. "So what if you’re the Progenitor of Combat’s descendant? This is the Fifth Mainland, and your background means nothing here."
Jiu Han screamed and pulled out numerous power vessels from her cosmic ring in an attempt to save herself. One of the defensive items had a shape that was similar to a martial print, and it wrapped around her entire body before carrying her far away. “You little beast! I’ll remember this! You’ll pay for this with your life! Your Great Eastern Alliance can forget about surviving in the Outerverse!"
Lu Yin"s eyes turned cold, and his expression firmed. "Did you actually think that you could escape?"
An astral chessboard appeared beneath his feet even as he spoke, and he moved.
Jiu Han tore into the true universe in order to escape, but Lu Yin followed her there. He raised his hand, and his Champions’ Stage appeared. "With my name, I summon a champion."
Lu Yin’s death energy suddenly dropped as it formed Cang Zhou’s body. The champion targeted Jiu Han and flames erupted. Cang Zhou had been an expert with a power level of over 700,000, and a single attack from him caused the water ripples that protected Jiu Han’s body to distort, terrifying the woman. "Lu Yin, stop! Do you want to start a war with my Sixth Mainland? Do you want to start a fight with the Progenitor of Combat?"
Lu Yin remained unfazed as he bombarded her with Vacuum Palms.
It took less than ten seconds for all of Jiu Han"s defensive power vessels to shatter, which horrified her. "Lu Yin, I’m one of the Progenitor of Combat’s descendants! There are many powerhouses in my family, and if you dare to kill me, you will absolutely die in the future! The Progenitor of Combat will never let you go for this!"
Lu Yin took out the weapon fragment that he had picked up and casually waved it towards Jiu Han. The weapon fragment pierced the woman’s neck, and a thin, blood-red line became clearly visible.
Shang Qing stared blankly as Jiu Han"s body fell and struck the ground some distance away. The Envoy’s eyes were still wide open, displaying her resentment and frustrations even in death.
Lu Yin emerged from the true universe. He looked absolutely exhausted.
Jiu Han had not been an easy opponent even if her spiritual force had been quite weak. She had also been protected by the martial print that she had received from the Progenitor of Combat himself.
Given her status as one of the Progenitor of Combat’s descendants, she had access to many treasures, but fortunately, Lu Yin had proven more capable.
The ground trembled. The wandering corpse of the ma.s.sive astral beast had been unaffected by the battle, and it was still plodding forward and carrying the palace on its back.
Lu Yin approached Jiu Han"s body and quietly stared at it.
Killing one of the Progenitor of Combat’s descendants would certainly incite an enmity that could not be resolved, though Lu Yin also had no desire to even try. There was already an inerasable hatred between the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands.
Despite the fact that both Mainlands were inhabited by humans and their greatest enemy was actually Aeternus, Progenitor Chen had previously slaughtered the Sixth Mainland’s Progenitors, and the Rune Progenitor had led his entire civilization to fight against the Sixth Mainland. These ancient sacrifices that the Fifth Mainland’s Progenitors had made proved that the Sixth Mainland had to have done something that the Fifth Mainland could never forgive.
If not for Progenitor Hui"s incredible scheme that had spanned the ages and led to the collapse of the Sixth Mainland due to Aeternus’s invasion, the Sixth Mainland would have never agreed to live in peace with the Fifth Mainland. In Lu Yin"s heart, the Sixth Mainland was an enemy that ranked behind only Aeternus and the four ruling powers. If they were killed, so be it.
Still, at the moment, the loot that Lu Yin could gain from Jiu Han’s corpse was the most important thing.
His eyes fell onto the Envoy’s cosmic ring on her finger, and he grabbed it with high expectations.
Shang Qing approached, though he was left speechless by Lu Yin"s actions.
Lu Yin looked over and reluctantly threw the Voidsoul Umbrella back. "That thing’s pretty good."
Shang Qing took the umbrella and stored it in his cosmic ring. "I picked it up in the Dominion Realm. I’d like to thank you."
Lu Yin"s mouth twitched to the side. "Then get me some star essence."
Shang Qing nodded. "Alright. I’ll make some arrangements when I get back."
Lu Yin did not take the conversation to heart as he was focused on Jiu Han"s cosmic ring. He opened it with her blood, and everything fell out. What he found left him stunned.
In addition to a woman’s personal items, he also found some medicinal pills, but not too many. What about all the power vessels? Cultivation arts? At the very least, there should have been star essence, but there was none at all.
Lu Yin a.s.sumed that he must not have completely emptied the cosmic ring, so he focused on pulling everything out, only to realize that there was nothing left within the ring at all.
He gritted his teeth. Despite fighting such a battle, he had not ended up gaining anything at all.
Actually… He summoned the Champions’ Stage once again. "By my name, I anoint a champion."
Unsurprisingly, Jiu Han’s image appeared on the stage.
This was the first time that Shang Qing had seen Lu Yin anoint a champion, and he was startled by the process.
Lu Yin glanced over and he suddenly remembered the Voidsoul Umbrella. Typically, Lu Yin would never return something that he had taken, especially after saving someone’s life.
Well, he would just forget it this time and pretend to have not seen the Voidsoul Umbrella.
"Keep this to yourself," Lu Yin commented, referring to his Champions’ Stage. Even though Arch-Elder Zen knew about it, Lu Yin did not want his innate gift to become public knowledge.
Shang Qing was still stunned. "Is that your innate gift?"
"You don’t recognize it?" Lu Yin wondered.
Shang Qing shook his head. "Should I?"
Lu Yin then remembered that everyone in the Perennial World had had any and all memories related to the Lu family sealed, which meant that none of them were able to even think about the Lu family. The Champions’ Stage was essentially the symbol of the Lu family, so naturally, no one in the Perennial World would speak of such a thing, and no records of it existed. Only people like Arch-Elder Zen and other knowledgeable powerhouses would even know about such a matter.
While Shang Qing was second only to Lu Yin within their generation, he was still a young man and did not qualify to be given very much information.
"She was Jiu Han, a descendant of the Sixth Mainland’s Progenitor of Combat," Shang Qing reported.
Lu Yin replied in a casual tone, "I know. We fought each other before."
"I heard her mention something about that and a.s.sumed that she’d fought with you. There isn’t any other Enlighter who could have gotten away from her."
Lu Yin glanced over. "Are you complimenting me?"
Shang Qing denied nothing, but he did change the subject. "As soon as her death becomes known, the Progenitor of Combat’s other descendants will definitely start investigating."
"Did anyone see her chasing you?" Lu Yin asked.
Shang Qing stared back at Lu Yin. "I don"t know."
Lu Yin frowned, but there really was nothing else to say.
Shang Qing"s expression remained calm. "Even if someone does learn that her death has something to do with me, it doesn"t matter. Even if the Progenitor of Combat comes, he won’t be able to force his way deep into the Neoverse. My Fifth Mainland is not powerless to defend itself against even Progenitors. Also, Aeternus managed to badly injure the Progenitor of Secret Arts, which left the Sixth Mainland’s three Progenitors all wary."
"Also, the power of the Rune Progenitor injured the Progenitor of Combat," Lu Yin reminded. He actually wanted to find out what sort of hidden power the Hall of Honor had that could make even the Seven SkyG.o.ds nervous.
Each of the SkyG.o.ds was a Semi-Progenitor, and while the Human Domain as a whole had their seven Semi-Progenitors to hold back the Seven SkyG.o.ds, the Hall of Honor alone did not have that ability. If the Seven SkyG.o.ds worked together to attack the Hall of Honor, then the Human Domain’s other Semi-Progenitors might not be able to arrive in time to help. Despite this, the Seven SkyG.o.ds had never united to attack the Hall of Honor even though Ancient G.o.d had once destroyed a node even when it was being protected by Arch-Elder Zen.
Even if the nodes had been put into place by Progenitor Hui, this incident showed that Arch-Elder Zen might lack the strength to completely hold back Ancient G.o.d.
The Hall of Honor had to have some sort of foundational power that even the Seven SkyG.o.ds feared, but Shang Qing would not know about such things at his level. So, Lu Yin remained silent.
The giant wandering corpse continued to move away step by step, and Lu Yin and Shang Qing hastened to catch back up to it.
"What are you doing?" Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, and his voice took on a decidedly unfriendly tone. Shang Qing had better not want to try to take this chance from Lu Yin. That would be going too far.
Shang Qing indifferently replied, "I’m just following along to watch. Don"t worry, everything will belong to you."
Lu Yin pursed his lips, but what could he say? If Shang Qing dared to try to take anything, Lu Yin would just stop him.
Shang Qing was actually just curious about where the wandering corpse of the enormous astral beast had come from, as well as the situation in Burial Garden. No matter what, Burial Garden was one of the Three Dark Hands.
"So, were Arch-Elder Zen and the others comfortable letting you come to Burial Garden?" Lu Yin asked after remembering something.
Shang Qing casually replied, "After ZENITH, many people"s thoughts changed. They used to want to train me in the safest manner possible and have me cultivate without ever risking my life, but things are different now. I lost to you during ZENITH, and that caused many people to reevaluate their opinions, especially Arch-Elder Zen. He’s allowed me to go out on my own to get some experience. Even if I die, I’ll die while gaining experience.”
Lu Yin’s voice grew strange. "That sounds so weird! How can you just train so that you can go get experience? That sounds so forced! If possible, I"d love to be kept safe and secure so long as I was given enough star essence."
"That’s not funny."
Lu Yin was actually being serious. "I"m not kidding! As long as someone could provide for all my needs, I’d be happy to not go anywhere at all."
Shang Qing absolutely did not believe Lu Yin, and no one else would believe such a claim either. In fact, only Lu Yin himself believed it. This was similar to when Starsibyl had asked Lu Yin how to become stronger, and he had replied that it just took money.
However, that had been Lu Yin"s honest answer. This was his path, and it was a path that no one else could copy.
The two young men followed the wandering corpse for two days, during which many people approached the giant wandering corpse. Some of the people entered the palace while others acted like Lu Yin and Shang Qing and tried to follow from behind in order to collect others’ harvests. Lu Yin hated seeing others trying to copy his idea, and he forced those people to enter the palace and explore it.
If they were lucky, they might be able to leave with a treasure. If they were unlucky, they would be swatted to death like a fly.
Lu Yin managed to collect a few things from the people who tried to escape from the palace, but everything that he found was useless. There were some items that seemed ancient, but they broke as soon as they were touched. There were also some treasures that even Envoys could use, but Lu Yin saw them as worthless as they were not worth Enhancing.
"Do you want this? I"ll sell it to you." Lu Yin offered an ancient-looking treasure to Shang Qing while asking in an expectant tone.
It was a power vessel that could unleash an overwhelming power that could even push an Envoy away, but it was not even as useful as the Vacuum Palm technique to Lu Yin. Even if he Enhanced the power vessel to the limit, its range was limited enough that it would not be very useful.
Shang Qing took it. "How much?"
"What do you think?" Lu Yin’s expression sharpened as soon as money was mentioned.
Shang Qing considered the question for a bit and then gave Lu Yin a white Mavis Bank card. "The Hall of Honor gave me this to use, so you can take whatever’s left in the account."
He then proceeded to tell Lu Yin how to access the account.