Chapter 2155: The Power Of Time
Kayze’s status was actually very high within the Great Yu Empire. He had previously served as Lu Yin’s guard, and then he had moved on to serve the same role for Wendy Yushan. As long as he did not allow a person to enter the gate, no one dared to break in.
Lu Yin walked up to the gate to Wendy’s palace step by step. Kayze was just about to angrily curse the person who was approaching, but his eyes went wide when he saw that it was Lu Yin. He quickly offered an excited bow. "Your Highness, you’ve returned."
Lu Yin certainly had not expected Kayze to remain in the Great Yu Empire this entire time. He had actually a.s.sumed that Kayze would return to the Dire Barbarian Clan, or simply wander about the universe. The man was certainly powerful enough to make a place for himself in the outside universe. "I really appreciate your efforts here."
Kayze respectfully answered, "Thank you, Your Highness, for seeing me."
Lu Yin patted Kayze’s shoulder before walking into the palace.
Outside the princess’s palace, the old man who had been scolding Pierce stared blankly when he noticed Lu Yin moving through the gate. Was that… Was that the royal regent?
An entire group of officials blanked out and stared. Had the regent been standing with them all along?
As for Pierce himself, he was completely paralyzed. This was the end! The regent had just learned of the situation, which meant it was the end of the road for him.
As Lu Yin entered the palace, a maid approached and led him in. He soon entered a large training courtyard, and in it stood Wendy Yushan. She held a sword as she quietly watched Lu Yin walk in.
"You expanded your palace ? You definitely didn’t have these training grounds before." Lu Yin was mildly curious.
Wendy Yushan made a sudden move, and countless swords slashed through the air in an instant, only to merge into a single sword a moment later. The attack sliced through the void as it approached Lu Yin.
He just raised a hand right when the attack was about to land, and two fingers clamped down onto the sword.
The gap between Lu Yin and Wendy was just too large. She had risen from the Cruiser realm to the peak Hunter realm over the last twenty years, which was quite impressive. This achievement was even more outstanding given how it was impossible to absorb star energy after the true universe had been drained of stellular energy. In other words, Wendy had achieved such progress exclusively through cultivating with star essence.
Still, the gap between her and Lu Yin was not something that could be made up with just time. Even if Wendy had another twenty years, or even two hundred more, she still would not be able to catch up to Lu Yin.
Even when compared to the Ten Arbiters, Wendy Yushan lagged far behind.
The Ten Arbiters had been capable of becoming Enlighters before they reached the age of forty. Wendy had surpa.s.sed that age during the last twenty years, yet had failed to become an Enlighter.
"Impressive." Lu Yin squeezed with his fingers, which twisted the edge of the sword. The overpowering force pushed Wendy Yushan back as the sword was moved.
Her eyes glinted, and she slashed out with her sword once more. It looked identical to the attack that she had just used.
Lu Yin arched a brow. While the attack looked like it possessed the same power and was completely identical, Wendy must have made some changes if she was still coming after him.
But even as the edge of the blade drew close, Lu Yin could find no difference. Two fingers once again clamped down on the blade, only for the sword to suddenly disappear. Without any warning, the sword shifted slightly and attacked Lu Yin from a different direction.
This managed to surprise Lu Yin, but he still clamped down on the blade. Wendy’s strength was not enough for her to budge the sword at all. Instead, she used the power of time.
Lu Yin’s index finger twitched, and there was a bang as a shockwave swept out with enough force that the void warped. The sword was struck as well, and it was sent flying through the air until it finally stabbed into the ground with a soft hum.
Wendy Yushan looked down at her empty hands. "The gap is really too large. Not even time can compensate for it."
Lu Yin stared at the woman in surprise. "Did you just use the power of time?"
Wendy Yushan nodded. "What’s your impression?"
Lu Yin answered honestly, "It certainly deserves to be related to time. That attack caught me completely off guard."
"But it still didn’t pose any threat at all to you." Wendy Yushan smiled slightly.
Lu Yin shook his head. "There are certain things that can’t be overcome with just an innate gift. There’s too much of a gap between the two of us, but with what you just showed me, if you keep working at it, you’ll definitely be able to catch up to the Ten Arbiters. In fact, you might even be able to catch up to the people beyond them."
"So are you saying that I’m a late bloomer?" Wendy Yushan asked casually.
Lu Yin did not know how to respond to that. It felt wrong to say that someone with an innate gift of time was a late bloomer, as anyone who could master that kind of power would undoubtedly be outstanding. However, in reality, Wendy had not even caught up to the Ten Arbiters, and instead, Xi Qi had actually caught up to Wendy. It would only be a matter of time for others to reach the same level as the Ten Arbiters.
However, as time pa.s.sed, Wendy would grow increasingly powerful as she achieved a deeper comprehension of time. It was even possible that she might one day manage to catch up to even Chu Yuan.
No one would dare to underestimate the power of time.
It could only be said that it was a pity that Wendy’s innate gift had developed rather slowly. Twenty years ago, she had only been able to use it to heal people. Since then, she had clearly refined her control over it.
"Chu Yuan has mastered the power of time, and you’ve fought against him. What’s the difference between him and facing me?" Wendy Yushan and Lu Yin sat down across from each other. Despite twenty years pa.s.sing without them seeing each other, it was as if no time had pa.s.sed at all.
As far as Wendy Yushan was concerned, Lu Yin was her only surviving family member. As for the members of the Yu family who were in hiding, they were all strangers.
On Lu Yin’s part, twenty years had not actually pa.s.sed for him. For him, it had not been long since he had last seen Wendy; he had met with her when he had collected some people from the Great Yu Empire and taken them to Earth for safety. He had also seen her during the Heavens Sect’s opening ceremony when he had been climbing the staircase to the main hall.
He stared at Wendy Yushan for a moment. While she looked the same as twenty years ago, she had matured and lost a bit of her sharp edge. She still possessed the same natural beauty, and her scent was still very familiar to Lu Yin. "Chu Yuan is incredibly capable when it comes to completely erasing a small piece of time. When he attacks, it always lands, as he’ll erase the time it takes for the attack to reach his target. There’s no way to block it, so the only option is to prepare your defenses in advance and have them be strong enough to block his attacks.
"As for what you just did, you reversed time slightly, which allows your attack to slightly return so that you can attack a second time."
Wendy Yushan considered this. Erase bits of time?
"I can"t tell you which option is better. Chu Yuan will always be able to land an attack, but if his opponent’s defenses are too tough, his attacks won’t be able to do anything at all. That’s why his power of time is useless against me. In that sort of situation, the way that you control time is more effective, as you can instantly alter your attack and try something different. You can respond to any changes without any time pa.s.sing. But again, if you’re going against someone who’s too strong, your method is still useless, as there’s no guarantee that your attacks will land, like Chu Yuan’s." Lu Yin a.n.a.lyzed both methods of controlling time.
Wendy Yushan stared at Lu Yin. "He also has a secret technique. Is he very strong?"
Lu Yin nodded, and grew serious as he continued. "His Realm of Time freezes time in a specific area, or at least it slows it down so much that it might as well be frozen. This allows him to stack multiple attacks on top of each other to release a single, explosive attack that can potentially be dozens of times more powerful than an individual attack. This makes up for his relatively unimpressive attack power, and out of all his peers, there’s no one who can handle that sort of power other than me."
"Realm of Time?" Wendy Yushan muttered to herself.
Lu Yin continued, "I"m trying to get that secret technique, but it"s not easy."
Wendy replied, "Don’t bother. It might not even be a secret technique."
"What do you mean?" Lu Yin grew puzzled.
Wendy Yushan also grew serious. "While I don’t understand the principles that make up secret techniques, I do understand time. What you call ‘Realm of Time’ might be something that’s possible without using a secret technique, though it would be very, very difficult."
"Maybe the Origin Progenitor gave Chu Yuan that secret technique to compensate for his particular weakness," Lu Yin suggested.
Wendy Yushan and Lu Yin both looked at each other. "Why did you suddenly come find me?"
Lu Yin smiled. "I haven"t seen you for twenty years. Of course I wanted to visit."
Wendy Yushan looked away. "That’s unnecessary. You have things that you should be doing. There’s no need to come here."
"What about Pierce?" Lu Yin asked.
Wendy Yushan became confused. "Pierce?"
Lu Yin was caught off guard. "Apparently, you don’t know. Lord Garope’s son, Pierre, gathered a bunch of the empire’s officials to work with him to force you to marry Pierce. You didn’t know about this?"
Wendy Yushan shook her head. "Something that small just gets left to the Lu Ministry of Staff to deal with."
Lu Yin laughed. That father and son pair were so worried. They felt like they had been attacking Wendy Yushan and that they had horribly offended her, but in truth, Wendy had never even known about them at all.
This was a difference in status. No matter what the two tried to do, they would never be able to touch Wendy. As far as she was concerned, such people were nothing more than clowns, and there was no need to even know about such people.
Pierre had even resigned from his post because of this matter. If he learned the truth, he would most likely be furious that he had been completely ignored. The whole thing was hilarious to Lu Yin.
As Wendy thought about something and silence reigned between the two, Lu Yin suddenly asked, "Has there been any news about your father over the last twenty years?"
The question startled Wendy, and she looked back at Lu Yin. "Do you still think that he might still be alive?"
Lu Yin softly replied, "I used to think that, but lately, I feel like he must have really died."
"You once asked me for a drop of my blood so that you could try to find him," Wendy Yushan stated. Lu Yin had never tried to hide that matter from Wendy. He had indeed asked her for some blood so that the Starsibyl Sect could perform a divination on Undying Yushan. However, the results had merely shown that countless Undying Yushans existed.
There were certain matters that Wendy already knew, but Lu Yin did not try to explain anything.
"Given your current reaction, I’m guessing my father’s truly dead?" Wendy Yushan asked calmly.
Lu Yin sighed. "I"m sorry."
Wendy Yushan laughed. "There’s nothing for you to feel sorry about. I always a.s.sumed that he was dead, so after so many years, there’s nothing to feel sad about."
Lu Yin still apologized. "Sorry about bringing this matter up again."
"It’s fine. Just don"t do it again," Wendy Yushan replied.
Lu Yin let out a breath. With this, the matter was over. No one would mention Undying Yushan again in the future.
"Is it difficult for you to train with the power of time?" Lu Yin asked, abruptly changing the subject.
Wendy Yushan nodded, and she revealed a bit of frustration. "Time is unpredictable, and there’s no real path to train this power. It’s nothing more than a feeling that can be controlled in the dark. It’s not something that can be used at a whim."
Lu Yin took out the Origin Progenitor’s sword. "This sword contains a power that was able to take a group of people forwards and backwards through time. We even were able to visit the Heavens Sect era. Unfortunately, even though I have this sword, I don’t have any idea how I can actually use it."
Wendy Yushan stared at the sword. "I feel like I can sense the power of time from it."
As she poke, she reached out for the sword, but Lu Yin immediately stopped her. "Even a Semi-Progenitor will disappear if they touch this."
"Is that what killed w.a.n.g Si?" Wendy Yushan asked. Many people across the Fifth Mainland had witnessed w.a.n.g Si"s execution.
Lu Yin put the sword away. "Not just her. It also killed the Semi-Progenitor avatar of Forgotten Ruins G.o.d. All she did was touch it."
It was at this moment that Lu Yin remembered that Forgotten Ruins G.o.d’s name was w.a.n.g Miaomiao. Both of the Semi-Progenitors that had died to this sword had been members of the w.a.n.g family. It seemed that the w.a.n.g family was incompatible with the sword.
Lu Yin would have been happy to leave the Origin Progenitor’s sword with Wendy, if it were possible. If she was able to study it, then she might be able to learn a lot. However, that was not a risk that Lu Yin was willing to take. He did not want to see Wendy Yushan disappear.