Chapter 2049: The Secret Of The Dao Monarch
The Ghost Monkey’s mouth fell wide open. He simply could not believe that Lu Yin knew about what had happened in Aeternus Nation. After all, it should be impossible, as there had only been corpse kings in Aeternus Nation. How could Lu Yin have known about the monkey calling him “Little Lu?” Someone other than one of the corpse kings must have said something, but the only people who had been around other than the corpse kings had been the Specter clan. Could one of them have said something? The Ghost Monkey suddenly remembered Silver. That guy had always a smile on his face, but it never touched his eyes.
"Seventh Bro, Little Monkey has never been disrespectful to you. If I ever have, then I am willing to endure thunder and lightning and never become a Progenitor!" the Ghost Monkey shouted. He sounded completely sincere.
Lu Buzheng stared at the Ghost Monkey in surprise, as ordinary cultivators would never dare to make such an oath. It looked like this odd little creature was telling the truth.
On the other hand, Lu Yin did not believe the Ghost Monkey in the slightest, and he preferred to believe that the Ghost Monkey had never even considered becoming a Progenitor.
After finally driving the Ghost Monkey away, Lu Yin took a sip of the tea. His headache finally eased slightly. "Third Uncle, Progenitor Lu Tianyi is currently the oldest Progenitor powerhouse in the Lu family. However, even if you wanted me to tell you more, I never met him, and I actually can’t tell you anything, as I’ve lost my memory.”
Lu Buzheng sighed. "How sad and pathetic it is to see that our glorious Lu family has fallen this low. I would rather have died in my own era rather than live alone and watch my family fade away."
Lu Yin set his teacup down. "Third Uncle, tell me about the Heavens Sect era."
Lu Buzheng replied, "That era’s already gone, and there’s nothing to say about it. All I can tell you is that anyone who appears from that era will have a completely different att.i.tude towards the Aeternals that what you people now hold. Now, it seems that people see the Aeternals as an unbeatable foe, but in our time, the Aeternals were regarded as less than ants."
Lu Yin interrupted, "The appearance of you all has given us confidence."
Lu Buzheng was taken aback, but then he considered this perspective for a moment. "Fair enough. Actually, I wanted to comment on how the people of our era are inexplicably arrogant. It was an arrogance that arose from the existence of the Heavens Sect, as well as the fact that astral beasts and the Aeternals were both enslaved by humans. However, it’s also true to say that our presence in this era has truly given you confidence."
"Wait." A detail had jumped out at Lu Yin, and he stared at Lu Buzheng. "Did you just say ‘enslaved?’"
Lu Buzheng stared back before nodding. "They were slaves."
"Humanity enslaved the astral beasts?" Lu Yin was stunned.
Lu Buzheng asked, "What"s wrong? Astral beasts are nothing more than mounts for humans. During our era, the Fourth Mainland was home to the most astral beasts, and that mainland was ruled by Wilderness G.o.d, who was another one of the Three Realms Six Dao, and everyone in his Fourth Mainland had astral beast slaves. He had no choice but to turn a blind eye to such things. It’s quite possible that during our era, the astral beasts saw humans as even worse than how we currently view the Aeternals.
"Back then when the Aeternals schemed against us, the astral beasts played a part in it, but that was nothing more than mere conjectures."
Lu Yin looked eastwards, which was where the Astral Beast Domain lay. He felt like something had just flashed through his mind, but he could not quite grasp it. He knew that he had just been reminded of something, but he simply could not nail down just what it was that he should be remembering.
What could it be? Slavery, astral beasts, Wilderness G.o.d, the Aeternals… what else was connected to those things? A prediction related to the astral beasts? Something that could have caused two generations of humanity’s top powerhouses to be eliminated?
"I just remembered!" Lu Buzheng suddenly yelled. Lu Yin looked over, and the older man was gritting his teeth. "Black-Hearted Hen wants to rebuild the Heavens Sect."
Lu Yin was surprised. "What do you mean?"
Lu Buzheng grew solemn. "Don"t think that Black-Hearted Hen"s att.i.tude actually means that he doesn’t want anything. In fact, this guy is smart and ambitious. He started off as just an ordinary person who did everything he could to get the attention of one of the ancient Dao Monarchs. He trained hard and endured a rigorous selection process, beating out other persistent cultivators to join Team Resolution, which he raised up to be his own power. Also, keep in mind that there were rumors that the guy had the potential to eventually fight for the position of Dao Monarch.
"It"s no wonder he wanted to form an alliance with those other Semi-Progenitors and is so eager to find Team Resolution. He definitely wants to reestablish the Heavens Sect, break through to the Progenitor realm, and then become one of the Dao Monarchs."
Lu Yin was stunned. "I get why he wants to become a Progenitor, but why would he care about becoming a Dao Monarch? The Daosource Sects are already gone."
Lu Buzheng explained, "In our time, there was a legend that said that only the Dao Monarchs could learn about certain core secrets of the universe. It was a legend that none of us will ever forget."
Lu Yin shook his head. This was a legend based on the a.s.sumption that the Daosource Sect still stood, but there was only one of the six Daosource Sects still in existence, and it was the Sixth Mainland’s. On top of that, the Daosource Sect had already been moved to a different location. What sort of secrets could anyone gain access to just by becoming a Dao Monarch? Hen Xin could already be considered one of the most outstanding experts of the current era, so who was left to share such important secrets with him?
It was possible that the legend had been true during the Heavens Sect era, as it was possible that humans needed sufficient motivation to continue cultivating.
Lu Yin had no idea whether Hen Xin would be able to successfully reestablish the Heavens Sect, but Lu Yin had a hunch that Sky Garan would most likely join. In fact, he would even be eager to do so if there was such an opportunity.
Another burst of terrible pain struck, and Lu Yin could not stop himself from holding his head. The pain was so severe that he grew dizzy.
Lu Buzheng shrugged. "Your innate gift backfired, and no one can help you with this. All you can use to recover is time. Until you’ve recovered, your combat strength will be badly impaired, so it would be best if you just stayed in seclusion and trained. Listen to what that old man told you, and don’t leave Ancestor Tortoise. No one can touch you here."
The man then turned to look at the divine tree. "Speaking of which, I never imagined that the Mavis family would fall so far."
The severe pain eased a small bit, and Lu Yin looked over with a pale face. "Was the Mavis family once very powerful?"
Lu Buzheng replied, "Of course. Their family ruled over the Second Mainland, just like our Lu family with the Fifth Mainland, and they also had a Dao Monarch. Every plant in the entire universe was under their control, which was why it was common sense back then that, if you ever fought against someone from the Mavis family, you should make sure that there were no plants around. Otherwise, you would die without ever understanding what happened. It was accepted as fact, just like how anyone fighting against someone from our Lu family would need to do their best to make sure that a direct family member never pulled out their Champions’ Stage.”
"How is that even possible?" Lu Yin asked.
Lu Buzheng nodded. "Exactly, how? That’s why the Mavis family was always so strong."
Lu Yin wanted to find out much more about the Heavens Sect era, but Lu Buzheng refused to say anything more in order to force Lu Yin to rest and recover from his innate gift’s backlash sooner. According to Lu Buzheng, just like how Hen Xin wanted to reestablish the Heavens Sect in the current era, Lu Buzheng wanted to reestablish the Lu family and restore the family’s glory.
Lu Buzheng also had no idea how many Lu family members had been frozen in the sourcebox that had sealed the ancient battlefield.
Lu Yin entered seclusion, but before that, he made it a point to introduce Lu Buzheng to w.a.n.g Wen and the other people closest to Lu Yin. w.a.n.g Wen and the others were all asked to help Lu Buzheng find other powerhouses from the Heavens Sect era who had been released from the sourcebox.
Lu Yin wanted to gather as many ancient powerhouses as possible, as it was impossible to know what the future might hold for the Fifth Mainland.
Also, Lu Yin made sure to remind w.a.n.g Wen and the others that they needed to be very careful with the ancient powerhouses. The Great Eastern Alliance had managed to unite the Outerverse, the Innerverse, and given their intimate connection with Leon’s Armada, they possessed a strong presence in the Cosmic Sea as well. Given all the various changes that had recently occurred in the Fifth Mainland, the Great Eastern Alliance might no longer control all of their previous territory.
Lu Yin went into seclusion beneath the divine tree.
"Alliance Leader Lu, you can rest a.s.sured that you will be safe here as you go into seclusion. Just let Lulu or someone else know if you need anything," Yunying Mavis offered. The Mavis family was essentially tied to Lu Yin at this time, and they intended to follow Lu Yin the moment he left, should he decide to escape to the Perennial World.
Lu Yin looked around and rubbed his head. "Senior Yunying, I know a bit about your Mavis family, but I’ve never heard anything about your Mavis family pursuing wealth in the ancient times.”
He gave the woman an odd look. “Was it the Lu family who caused you to start your efforts of acquiring wealth?"
Yunying Mavis shrugged. "We didn’t know how else to try to pay the Lu family back. When it comes to making money, plants are the most effective means. How could there be any place in the universe without plants? Any plant will serve as our eyes and ears."
Lu Yin"s face twitched. This was a horrifying concept. It was no wonder why the Mavis family had been able to control the economy of the entire Fifth Mainland. Even if someone wanted to scheme against the Mavis family, it would be nearly impossible to do so. Given the family’s means of collecting information from any and all plants, there was almost no one in the universe who could keep a secret from the family.
What about me? At this sudden thought, Lu Yin stared intently at Yunying Mavis. "How much do you know about me, Senior?"
Yunying Mavis remained perfectly calm. "We never spy on our friends, and our ability isn’t as exaggerated as you seem to believe, Alliance Leader Lu. You don"t need to worry."
Lu Yin pursed his lips. "By the way, why did your family continue to focus on making money even after the Lu family left the Fifth Mainland?"
"We were just used to it.”
"Really?" Lu Yin continued to look around the area.
"Alliance Leader Lu, if there’s nothing else, I’ll head on out now," Yunying Mavis said.
Lu Yin thought for a moment. "Is there anyone from the Mavis family among the people who were released from the sourcebox?"
Yunying Mavis"s expression suddenly grew serious. "It’s possible."
"Then why didn"t they show up? That fight with the Aeternals was difficult to miss."
"I couldn’t say, but it’s possible that people are recuperating."
"Maybe. I hope that there will be more people who can help us," Lu Yin replied. He hesitated for a bit before continuing. "I remember that your Mavis family’s tea is quite delicious. Why don’t we have some?"
Yunying Mavis"s eye twitched, and she stared at Lu Yin intensely for a moment. "Alliance Leader Lu, most of my Mavis family’s funds are scattered in our various banks, and we don’t keep much here at the divine tree. If you need some money, the most that I can offer to lend you is five billion star essence for your Great Eastern Alliance’s cultivators to use to restore their energy, but that’s truly all I can offer.”
"I’ll have to say thank you, Senior. That will be enough. I"m going to enter seclusion now," Lu Yin instantly responded before turning around and entering a wooden house without a backwards glance.
Yunying Mavis was left speechless. Lu Yin had endured excruciating pain in order to keep talking to her. She had not understood his intentions at first, but she had eventually figured it out. Lu Yin wanted more star essence, but he was too embarra.s.sed to say it out loud, so he had been waiting for Yunying Mavis to reach such a conclusion on her own.
How could anyone be like that? Yunying Mavis shook her head before turning away and leaving.
After entering the wooden house, Lu Yin sighed. There was nothing that he could do at this moment. Countless corpse kings had spread across the entire Fifth Mainland, and the Great Eastern Alliance needed to eliminate as many of them as soon as possible, but technological weapons would not be enough to accomplish that. Cultivators would need to fight, but since all the stellular energy had been sucked from the true universe, people couldn’t even restore their star energy reserves unless they had star crystals or star essence. Lu Yin had been willing to humiliate himself for the sake of his subordinates.
No, it’s for all of humanity. Lu Yin comforted himself.
He lifted a hand and brought out his die. Suddenly, he became exceptionally vigilant, and he glanced around. There were no plants within the house, so no one from the Mavis family should be watching him at this moment.