Chapter 2051: Two Wishes
"What happened between you two?" Lu Yin felt rather curious about the matter, though the atmosphere was also making him more and more uncomfortable. He was aware that Long Xi had liked Lu Xiaoxuan in the past, and while Lu Yin was Lu Xiaoxuan, he also was not. Was Long Xi treating Lu Yin as a subst.i.tute for Lu Xiaoxuan? But Lu Yin had also once been Lu Xiaoxuan…
He similarly felt rather confused, as he could not understand why there was a burst of unhappiness welling out from his heart.
Long Xi looked up at Lu Yin. "Do you want to know?"
Lu Yin pursed his lips. "I’m just asking, but you don’t have to say anything if you don"t want to."
Long Xi looked away and calmly replied, "He liked to hold my braids. He would take me to eat all kinds of special food, and he would watch me laugh, though he would also make me cry. He once promised to protect me forever, and he said that no one but him could bully me.
"He used to have that flower."
This startled Lu Yin. "The flower that can produce delicious food?"
He reflexively looked over at the flower as he spoke.
Long Xi looked over as well. "Food Paradise has those flowers, and we used to have fun going there and waiting for different dishes to show up. It would be me, him, the rest of the Seven Heroes, and Tu Qiming. Back then, Tu Qiming would constantly challenge him, and he was always threatening to become the eighth hero. His eyes were always gazing at that woman. If not for her, things would not have turned out this way."
"Bai Xian"er?" Lu Yin interrupted.
A tremble ran across Long Xi"s body, but she did not deny Lu Yin’s guess. A cold glint appeared in her eyes as she continued. “That woman hid herself deeper in the shadows than anyone else, and no one could see what she had planned. No one could even imagine that the mighty Lu family would completely disappear overnight. No one wants to think about it.”
"Back then, one of his greatest dreams was to marry that woman, while the other was to recreate the glory of the ancient eras. He said that he wanted to rebuild the Heavens Sect, but those dreams have all disappeared."
Lu Yin asked, "What was the relationship between him and Bai Xian"er like?"
Long Xi once again focused on Lu Yin. "At that time, only the Lu family and their subordinate groups lived in the Higher Realm. Everyone else, even the Bai, w.a.n.g, and Xia families, had to stay in the Middle Realm. The Lu family was the unquestionable overlord of the Perennial World. At that time, Bai Xian’er was nothing more than an outer disciple that the Celestial Frost Sect had sent over to attend to the Lu family. We all used to train with him and even served him. All of us believed that Bai Xian"er would eventually become his wife, and that turned out to be accurate, as they did get married.
"On that day, red flowers bloomed across the Perennial World, and it rained flowers. I hid on White Mountain and didn’t go anywhere. By the time I finally went out again, the Lu family was already gone." At this point in her story, Long Xi started quivering again. "That woman looked down upon everyone and announced that the Lu family had betrayed humanity and been eliminated by them. That was the day that the four ruling powers entered the Higher Realm, and it was also the day that the Lu family disappeared.
"I frantically searched for the Lu family, the Seven Heroes, the Qiming family, and the All-Dao family, but I wasn’t able to find anyone. Even the family of my White Dragon Clan’s patriarch disappeared that day, including Sister Long Xing. No one wants to mention her anymore, and her name’s been completely erased from the family tree, along with the entire family of our old patriarch.
"I went to see the Liu family, the Nong family, and many, many other people, but not a single person has been able to tell me what happened on that day."
Lu Yin had no idea at what point in time his hands had clenched into fists. All of his veins were bulging as he imagined the scenario being described.
"The Perennial World’s changed after that, and history was rewritten. The Lu family can be mentioned, but only as a family that betrayed humanity. They’ve become an evil family who is the object of everyone"s hatred and vitriol. Eventually, even that stopped. Both the Lu family and the Seven Heroes were gradually forgotten by people, and the four ruling powers’ Junior Progenitors rose up. The former period of history has been completely suppressed." Long Xi continued her long exposition as she unburdened herself of everything that she had kept hidden in her heart for so many years.
After she finished speaking, she stared at the flower, lost in a daze.
Lu Yin stared at the woman’s back. "That was also the day that you stopped smiling for anyone."
Long Xi said nothing, and she kept her back to Lu Yin so that he would not see the expression on her face as tears streamed down. She had not laughed or cried since that day. These were her first tears.
Sapling moved closer to Long Xi, and its branches rubbed against her face. It moved its emerald green leaves against her, as though trying to wipe away her tears.
Lu Yin spoke up in a soft voice. "Thank you for telling me all of this. If you ever want to leave, just tell me, and I’ll let you go."
He then moved to leave.
Long Xi suddenly spoke up again. "Everyone knows that you are Lu Xiaoxuan, which means that the four ruling powers will never let you go. Their Envoys, Semi-Progenitors, and even Progenitors are all keeping an eye on you, but the person you should be the most wary of is that woman.
"I remember he once said that her talent is something that’s rare throughout history. He was already exceptionally talented, as were all the Seven Heroes, but it’s possible that she surpa.s.sed them all. She has both an unmatched talent for cultivation, as well as a certain darkness to her, making her the most terrifying being in the universe."
"I see," Lu Yin replied. With that, he finally left Zenith Mountain.
Bai Xian"er. He had seen the woman in the past. First, it was in a dream that he had fallen into from the Astral Combat Academy’s Stargazing Deck, and then later during his breakthrough to the Envoy realm. When the odd resonance had occurred and s.p.a.ce had overlapped, he had looked at a certain woman who had been staring at him. She had not been a stranger to him, and precisely because of that, he would never risk underestimating her.
In fact, Lu Yin had never been as guarded, even when confronting Semi-Progenitors like Ni Huang, as he had been when he saw that woman.
Lu Yin did not need Long Xi"s cautious reminder, as Bai Xian"er had always been the enemy that Lu Yin was the wariest and curious towards.
Lu Yin put Zenith Mountain back away within the Timestop s.p.a.ce, and he then stared off into the distance in a daze.
Long Xi only knew about the Lu family from the time of Lu Xiaoxuan"s generation, and given her age at that time, she had not even known much about the Seven Heroes. All she had paid attention to had been eating, drinking, and playing.
However, she had known one bit of valuable information: Lu Xiaoxuan had actually dreamed of rebuilding the Heavens Sect.
The Heavens Sect should have been a mystery to Lu Xiaoxuan, as it was a name from a truly ancient era. With the destruction of most of the Six Mainlands, the name of the Heavens Sect had long since faded away into history, though it had not become a secret to the Lu family. They had always existed.
The Lu family"s knowledge of the Heavens Sect era had likely not been any less than what Lu Buzheng and the other ancient powerhouses possessed. In fact, the Lu family might have even known more, simply because of their Progenitors.
It was nothing unusual for Lu Xiaoxuan to have known about the Heavens Sect, but what was strange was his dream of rebuilding the Heavens Sect.
A person who had never personally witnessed the glory of the Heavens Sect era had dreamed of rebuilding it. It sounded like a flight of whimsy, but the truth was that it would be an incredibly challenging project.
Lu Yin looked down at his hands. Since Lu Xiaoxuan had also held the wish to rebuild the Heavens Sect, Lu Yin should try to accomplish that as well. In the past, he had been a mere Explorer when he had dared to set down the path of unifying the Outerverse. Given Lu Yin’s current status, there was nothing wrong with him trying to rebuild the Heavens Sect.
…
The Neoverse was calm. After the pa.s.sage to the Starfall Sea was blocked off and the Progenitor of Bloodlines had appointed himself and four Semi-Progenitors as guardians of the remaining gap in the pa.s.sage, the Neoverse had become peaceful once more. Although, a horde of corpse kings had been scattered across the Fifth Mainland.
The only difference that could be seen from before everything had happened was that it was no longer possible to restore stellular energy.
It was completely impossible to do so even in the Honor Zone, and there was no place in the entire Neoverse where anyone could replenish their stellular energy. The final strongholds that humanity had established after uniting had already been disbanded.
The Cosmic Sect and Eversky Island’s forces had already left G.o.ds" Origin, and the Seven Courts had departed from the Honor Zone to return to Progenitor Chen"s Mausoleum.
Once the Court of Seven Names arrived at the mausoleum, ready to settle back into their homes, they found a group of people standing in s.p.a.ce and staring at Progenitor Chen"s Mausoleum.
"Who are you?" Ku Pu yelled loudly as he stared up ahead in fear. These people were all very calm, and they were simply standing in the middle of outer s.p.a.ce without letting any hint of their aura leak out. He felt his heart begin to race, as though he was confronting a terrifying monster.
It was an instinctive fear.
One of the people turned around.
Ku Pu was taken aback. "Senior Xia Ji?"
The patriarchs of the Ce, Yōu, Hui, and Xie families, as well as their most powerful elders, all stepped forward and offered a bow. “We greet Senior."
Xia Ji nodded. "From now on, the Seven Courts will change."
Hui Zhi, the patriarch of the Hui family, was caught off guard. "What do you mean by that, Senior?"
Xia Ji answered indifferently, "Progenitor Chen’s Mausoleum belonged to Xia Shang, who was my Xia family’s ancestor. There’s no need for you all to protect it. It belongs to my Xia family alone. You can join my Xia family, and I will still protect you, but if you choose not to, then you must leave."
Hui Zhi and the others glanced at each other in astonishment. "Senior, our families all agreed in ancient times to form the Court of Seven Names to work together to protect Progenitor Chen"s Mausoleum, and all of us even swore an oath. Do you want to unilaterally break that oath and agreement, Senior?"
Before Xia Ji could say a word, Xia De turned around. "He has not broken that oath. I am the one making these decisions. I am Xia De."
Ce Laoyan was shocked. "The Semi-Progenitor from the Perennial World’s army?"
Naturally, all the patriarchs and elders were aware of the Perennial World’s army, and they had even learned of the ident.i.ties of the people leading it. However, they had never expected Xia De to team up with Xia Ji, and this was certainly not the only surprise; it appeared that a leader of the Perennial World’s army held an even higher status than Xia Ji.
"Since you know of the Perennial World, you should already understand that my Xia family is the ones who own Progenitor Chen"s Mausoleum. The only reason why my family agreed to work with you all to protect it was to deal with the Hall of Honor. There is no longer any need for that, as even if the Hall of Honor was ten times more bold, they would never dare to make trouble for us. Choose: you can join my Xia family, or you can leave alone. We will not force you either way," Xia De stated.
Hui Kong stepped forward and stared straight at Xia De. "For many years, all of us have protected Progenitor Chen"s Mausoleum from other various powers. Our dedication and efforts are credit enough to lay our claim here. Wanting to drive us away so casually is too much."
Bai Laogui grew impatient. "Be gone! Enough of your nonsense."
Hui Kong became furious. "You!"
He was just about to continue when Ce Yue stopped the man. “All of them are Semi-Progenitors."
There was a qualitative difference between a Semi-Progenitor and a peak Envoy. Even with the restrictions of the mental network in place, any Semi-Progenitor could easily deal with the patriarchs and great elders of these families. On top of that, the families were being confronted by multiple Semi-Progenitors.
"Then what should we do? Just abandon Progenitor Chen"s Mausoleum?" Hui Kong angrily demanded.
Ku Rong spoke up, "Senior Semi-Progenitors, stellular energy can no longer be gathered, and so we were hoping to work together to find an alternative means of combat. To do this, we need to enter Progenitor Chen’s Mausoleum. Long ago, Progenitor Chen’s colossal giant clone cultivated his battle force to the extreme, and we hope to use that to fight back against the Aeternals."
Hen Xin turned to stare at Ku Rong. "You want to train your battle force to the limit? There’s no need to rely on Progenitor Chen. I can teach you."
Ku Rong and everyone else present were left stunned. "Senior, have you cultivated battle force to that level?"
Hen Xin did not answer with words, instead simply releasing an invisible power that spread out and encompa.s.sed everyone from the Seven Courts. The void started to warp and burn. This was aurelian force.
Hui Kong and the other powerhouses felt the unbelievably terrifying aura. Each of them felt as though they could be consumed in an instant.
Almost as soon as the aurelian force appeared, it vanished once again. Hen Xin calmly stared at the patriarchs and elders. "Stay here. I can teach you."