Chapter 2401: Wrong
Qing Chen became quite upset by Wu Yao’s answer. “Anything to do with Aeternus cannot be taken lightly! You need to immediately inform us if you notice anything that seems abnormal. If we find out that you’ve been purposely hiding things from us, the consequences will be harsh!”
“Qing Chen, are you threatening me?” Wu Yao clenched his fists.
Mr. Yu slowly spoke up at this moment. “I also feel that something isn’t quite right with Master. Qing Chen, you should go ahead and start investigating him.”
Ce Donglai angrily shouted, “You useless brat! Get lost!”
Lu Yin was taken aback. While he was not particularly familiar with the man, during the few times that Lu Yin had seen Ce Donglai, he had never seen the man this furious. The G.o.d of Food’s hatred for Mr. Yu had become an obstacle in his cultivation, and it had blocked him from challenging the tribulation to become a Progenitor. This matter caused all of Virtue Archives to harbor an intense hatred for Mr. Yu as well.
“Hehe, humans are so boring.” Undying G.o.d’s voice grated on everyone’s ears. He appeared to be quite entertained by their disagreements.
Everyone turned to face the trapped SkyG.o.d. Xia Ziheng and the other Semi-Progenitors who had just arrived all turned pale. This was their first time seeing the true body of one of the Seven SkyG.o.ds.
Never before had one of the Seven SkyG.o.ds appeared within the Perennial World with their true bodies, which meant that this was the Semi-Progenitors’ first opportunity to see one. These Semi-Progenitors were completely incapable of dealing with the terrors of the Dominion Realm.
“Can he not be killed?” Qing Chen asked Lu Yin.
Lu Yin shook his head. “He can recover completely, so I don’t dare to actually try to kill him.”
“Burn him to ash,” one of the two unfamiliar Semi-Progenitors suggested. The man had a burly figure, and there were intense flames shrouding his body.
Ce Donglai replied in a voice that was absolutely dripping with sarcasm. “Go ahead, Jin Ta, give it your best shot. If you can actually burn one of the Seven SkyG.o.ds to death, your name will echo throughout all of history.”
Hearing the name Jin Ta triggered one of Lu Yin’s memories. Was this man a part of the Purple-Gold family? Lu Yin had never thought that they would have a Semi-Progenitor amongst them.
However, after thinking about it for a moment, Lu Yin realized that he should not be too surprised. After all, the Smokecloud Sect had a Semi-Prognitor, and the Purple-Gold family was so powerful that even Shenwu’s Sky had to take notice of them.
Semi-Progenitor Jin Ta shook his head. “I could try it if I were a Progenitor, but unfortunately, I’m destined to never reach that level.”
“Ce Donglai, you’ve been stuck as a Semi-Progenitor for a long time now. Why don’t you attempt to break through to the Progenitor realm?” the other unknown Semi-Progenitor suggested.
Ce Donglai glanced at the man. “Why don’t you give it a try? I’m also destined to never become a Progenitor.”
“You can simply drag Undying G.o.d into your stellular tribulation as you attempt your breakthrough to the Progenitor realm. If you die, he will as well,” Xia Ziheng cruelly suggested.
Ce Donglai sneered. “You could do the same thing. As a Semi-Progenitor from the Xia family, your stellular tribulation will absolutely be more intense than anything that I could trigger.”
Lu Yin completely ignored the bickering Semi-Progenitors. There was no telling how long these old men had been cultivating for, and they had definitely stepped on some toes along the way and created various grudges. Even in the short amount of time that Lu Yin had been cultivating, he had created enough enemies that they could form a line from the Fifth Mainland to the Perennial World.
Big Sis walked over to Lu Yin’s side and stared intensely at Ce Donglai. “Is his surname Ce? Is there a chance that he’s one of Ce w.a.n.gtian’s descendants?”
“That should be the case. He knows the Ce Secret Art.”
Big Sis’s eyes narrowed, and a cold glint flickered in their depths. It was clear that she harbored no good feelings for the man.
Lu Yin arched a brow. “Big Sis, don’t tell me that you actually believe what Wu Xing told you, right?”
Undying G.o.d had said that Progenitor Yōu Ming had been cheated by Ce w.a.n.gtian. If Big Sis believed that claim and decided to get revenge through Ce Donglai, the man would be destined to suffer horribly. While the man was a Semi-Progenitor and Big Sis was not, Ce Donglai had a personality that was as docile and innocent as a lamb’s.
“Not yet,” Big Sis replied.
Lu Yin was uncertain as to how he should interpret her reply. Did this mean that she might believe Undying G.o.d’s words in the future? Lu Yin looked at Ce Donglai with pity. “Don’t drag Virtue Archives into things.”
“Has the battle in the Dominion Realm still not ended? It doesn’t look like the Progenitors will make it here in time, and I doubt that these Semi-Progenitors can kill Wu Xing. Let’s leave this mess to them and leave now,” Big Sis suddenly declared without bothering to lower her voice. All of the Semi-Progenitors heard her, and the chatter and bickering trailed off into an awkward silence.
Out of everyone present, Lu Yin was the only one who had the ability to get involved in a fight at the Progenitor level. All the others here were rather average Semi-Progenitors who were far from able to face Undying G.o.d in a true battle. As soon as Lu Yin left, none of them would even have the courage to look at Undying G.o.d. Another worrying issue was that the Python Ancestor, who was under them, could roll over at any moment. That action had previously thrown the entire Lu family out of the Perennial World, so there was no need to even mention their little group.
“Lu Xiaoxuan, the Seven SkyG.o.ds are the greatest threat to humanity, and we finally have one trapped after much difficulty. You’re the only one here with the strength to truly kill him—how can you just wash your hands of this matter?” Jin Ta was the first to speak.
“That’s right. You have a responsibility to handle this matter since you have the strength to do so. Even if you can’t kill the SkyG.o.d, you should at least wait here until a Progenitor to arrives before leaving. Otherwise, there’s no telling what might happen if Aeternus sends another powerhouse here to rescue him.” The still unknown Semi-Progenitor agreed.
Lu Yin glanced sideways at the two men. “I will choose whether I do anything. Your opinions make no difference to my decisions.”
The unfamiliar Semi-Progenitor wanted to protest, but he reluctantly held his tongue.
Lu Yin was someone who could directly fight against Progenitors in a battle. Naturally, all of the Semi-Progenitors feared him, and they did not dare to argue. However, they still did not treat Lu Yin with the same degree of respect that they would a true Progenitor. No matter what, Lu Yin had not reached that level.
The Semi-Progenitors from the four ruling powers never once addressed Lu Yin directly. They were perfectly aware that any suggestions that they offered would simply go in Lu Yin’s ear and out the other.
“We’ll discuss the issue with Undying G.o.d later, as there’s not much that we can do about him for the moment. First, we should settle the issue of the Liu family. I suggest that we conduct a thorough investigation of them. All of their family members should be arrested and sent to the Higher Realm for individual interrogations,” Xia Ziheng proposed in a stern voice.
Wu Yao instantly agreed.
Mr. Yu replied, “I also agree. However, Progenitor Liu is helping to protect the Outer Realm, so if the members of the Liu family are deemed innocent, they should be immediately released.”
“Of course. Apart from the Liu family, we will also need to investigate a large number of other people from the Middle Realm. Who knows if there might be further problems with other families? Those dried up corpses emerged from many different pond civilizations, and how could all of those families not know about them? We need to start monitoring all of the pond civilizations as well,” Wu Yao added.
As Lu Yin listened, he felt that the various suggestions were all reasonable. Liu Song had turned out to be Undying G.o.d’s Semi-Progenitor avatar, and he had also been part of the Liu family. How could the Liu family be completely oblivious of their imposter? How could Progenitor Liu have not seen that something was wrong from a single glance? Progenitor Liu might not agree with the idea that it was better to kill an innocent man than risk allowing a guilty one to go free. But even if Liu Song had been innocent, Progenitor Liu would still be guilty of negligence.
It had been pure coincidence that Lu Yin had Possessed the unnamed Envoy and discovered Realmless’s true headquarters, which had also managed to lure Liu Song into exposing himself. It had also been pure chance that Lu Yin had once Possessed Liu Yishou. The two separate Possessions had given Lu Yin the unique opportunity to expose Liu Song as an imposter. Otherwise, with the man’s secretiveness, he would never have been discovered as an imposter if not for Lu Yin.
The deeper the secret, the greater the problem that was kept hidden.
Still, no matter how secretive Liu Song had been, there was no excusing Progenitor Liu’s oversight.
As for overseeing the Perennial World’s pond civilizations, Lu Yin had already decided to not contest the four ruling powers’ decision to start monitoring them. Corpse kings had previously been discovered in pond civilizations, and the existence of these farmed civilizations also violated basic human rights, which made them a breeding ground for darkness within the Perennial World.
Wait a moment, dried up corpses?
“What are you talking about? What dried up corpses?” Lu Yin suddenly asked.
Qing Chen answered, “A large number of dried up corpses have started appearing in the Higher and Middle Realms. Some rose up from underground, but most of them emerged from different pond civilizations.”
“What kind of dried up corpses?” Lu Yin’s expression was no longer calm.
Qing Chen gave a brief description.
Lu Yin turned to Undying G.o.d, his eyes sharp. “Did you do this?”
Undying G.o.d answered by rolling his scarlet eyes. “This is the fruit of years of my labors. I hope you enjoy it.”
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “So were those dried up corpses in the Fifth Mainland that were hunting down and killing people with ancient bloodlines also your handiwork?”
Undying G.o.d no longer responded, but his shattered body was disturbing to look at.
“Have these corpses also appeared in the Forsaken Land?” Xia Ziheng asked.
Lu Yin’s mind was racing, and he could not be bothered to answer such an obvious question. At the moment, his thoughts were scrambling, desperately trying to uncover some connection between the desiccated corpses, ancient bloodlines, and Undying G.o.d.
“There’s no need to worry about those corpses. They’re easy enough to eliminate. Even if there are a lot of them, their numbers mean nothing in context of the entire Perennial World,” Wu Dao casually commented.
“Wrong.” A cold voice echoed out from a rip in the void that had opened up behind the group,
The sound of the voice made Lu Yin go stiff, and he could hear his heart start to pound in his ears as he slowly turned around. He was greeted by the sight of an ethereal beauty: Bai Xian’er.
Everyone was stunned by Bai Xian’er’s arrival, though each person reacted differently.
Wu Yao’s expression showed respect and deference. Xia Ziheng and Mr. Yu both shrank back, clearly intimidated. Qing Chen’s face showed a complicated mix of emotions, though there was a good bit of pure admiration. No matter what Bai Xian’er might have done, she was a true legend of the Perennial World. Not even Lu Yin’s monstrous talent and accomplishments could overshadow Bai Xian’er’s brilliance.
As far as the people of the Perennial World were concerned, Bai Xian’er was their G.o.ddess.
Undying G.o.d’s eyes jerked over, clearly shocked by Bai Xian’er’s appearance. A rarely seen trace of seriousness overcame the SkyG.o.d.
“Why am I wrong?” Wu Dao was genuinely confused.
Bai Xian’er stood in the air, her long skirt gently flowing with the breeze. She appeared sacred, untouchable. She calmly stared at Lu Yin, complicated emotions filling her eyes. Was it love? Kinship? Friendship? Something else? No one could understand the mix of emotions within Bai Xian’er’s eyes.
Lu Yin met Bai Xian’er’s emotional eyes. He thought back to what Bai Teng had once told him. “There are people who naturally don’t possess a single spec of humanity in them! That girl has felt nothing for her family ever since she was a child, but she’s good at keeping it hidden.”
“You truly believed that she loved you back then, but you were completely wrong. She doesn’t possess any emotions at all.”
“She"s different from normal people, and she can’t even be considered human at all.”
Bai Teng’s various words echoed in Lu Yin’s mind as Bai Xian’er looked at him with eyes that held myriad emotions. Such an extreme contradiction made Lu Yin’s mind spin. What was triggering such powerful emotions in her?
“Bai Xian’er?” Ce Donglai was confounded by her behavior.
Bai Xian’er continued to simply stare at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin stared back. Neither one said a word.
Big Sis carefully observed Bai Xian’er. After having spent a year in the Perennial World, Big Sis had naturally heard of the famous Bai Xian’er. However, Big Sis knew almost nothing about the matters between Lu Yin and Bai Xian’er, though she could readily see that the two had a complicated relationship.
“If these corpses are as easy to dispose of as you claim, then would one of the Seven SkyG.o.ds spend so much time and effort to keep them hidden?” Bai Xian’er asked. She looked past Lu Yin to stare at Undying G.o.d.
Undying G.o.d’s battered head c.o.c.ked to the side as he stared back at Bai Xian’er with eyes that seemed to penetrate her soul.
Bai Xian’er lifted a hand and brought out one of the corpses from the Middle Realm. As everyone watched, she destroyed the corpse. The shattered remains rose up and floated in mid-air. To everyone’s shock, a droplet of blood-red liquid fell out of the corpse. The droplet seemed to take on a life of its own, and it suddenly shot towards Undying G.o.d.
Wu Dao reflexively reached out to stop the droplet, but it pierced right through his hand before entering Undying G.o.d’s body.
Lu Yin stared at where the droplet had disappeared with an ugly expression. “Divine energy.”
“It seems that this isn’t the first time you’ve encountered it,” Bai Xian’er commented as wariness filled her eyes. “With this, we can see his true motive. As long as these desiccated corpses are destroyed, they will release the Aeternals’ True G.o.d’s divine energy, and it will all come here to Undying G.o.d. He will be able to use it to recover, no matter how severe his injuries may be. The only way to avoid this is to completely annihilate him and scatter the ashes. Unfortunately, none of us have the power to do that.”