Chapter 2999: Probing
Ghost Monkey also wanted to go to the second continent, as he felt that that was the safest place in this universe. Unfortunately, he was threatened by Lu Yin, who said that, while the second continent was safest, it was also definitely being watched by the Seven-Star Mantis. This terrified Ghost Monkey, and he instead went to visit the third continent.
Lu Yin and Arch-Elder Zen separated to search for a nearby parallel universe. This was not an easy task, as searching for universes required one to travel around. This meant that the people of the seven continents should not be able to find any parallel universe at all. Thus, they also needed to craft a reasonable excuse.
Five years quickly pa.s.sed in the universe.
At the top of the stack of continents, the killing game continued.
A large mantis waved one of its blades, and the expression of the human in front of the beast contorted in fear. Not a word was spoken before the mantis chopped the man to pieces.
The mantis slammed its blades against each other, which let out a pleasant ringing sound as the beast glanced around.
There were more mantises everywhere, and far away was one that radiated a terrifying pressure. That was the Progenitor-level mantis that Lu Yin and the others had first noticed.
There was only one such mantis in the entire universe, which indicated that the Seven-Star Mantis had not returned yet.
Dozens of humans were surrounded by a large number of mantises. They pressed in together tightly as they looked around, their despair mounting. Some of the people were missing arms or legs, and blood trickled away from the small group. The eyes of the mantises turned red.
"So the rumors were actually true. This is the place of death."
"If I had known, I would have never come. I should have listened to those people."
"They’re beasts. They’re nothing but beasts! If you want to kill us, we’ll take you down with us! Come on! Let’s go!"
Crazed roars accompanied desperate howls as people struggled against death. All of these sounds only served to arouse the mantises’ excitement even more.
They loved to watch humans right before they died. The beasts could never get enough of the sight.
The furthest mantis, which was the Progenitor-level beast, excitedly raised one of its blades before suddenly dropping it down and slicing through the void. Its attack shot forward, cutting through a number of mantises as it approached the group of people.
All of them died before they could even react.
For the mantis, even killing its own kind was entertaining.
The Progenitor-level mantis excitedly slaughtered other creatures. Its blades were extremely sharp, and they reflected its vicious and terrifying face.
The top continent was stained with blood, and the scent of it filled the air.
One attack left only a few humans still alive, and they trembled with fear.
They were surrounded by a group of giant mantises, and the beasts’ shadows fell over the people. As they looked up, they saw blood-stained blades and ferocious faces with sharp pincers.
Some of the people lost their minds, and they started cackling wildly as they were cut down by the blades, split from head to toe.
"No, no! I don"t want to die! I don"t want to die! I can still live! Please don"t kill me! Don"t kill me-" someone begged, but the blades still fell, cutting him to pieces.
All eyes then focused on the last living human. His eyes were dull as they flickered around. He not only took in the numerous mantises which surrounded him, but also their blood-stained blades and the corpses that covered the ground. The blood that had pooled together flowed away in a stream, visibly traumatizing the man.
The mantises did not attack the man, though their blades moved closer and closer to him. This was another form of entertainment, and it was their favorite form of pleasure. In every round of the killing game, the last person to die gave the beasts their greatest enjoyment, because the last person always displayed the greatest fear.
The more fearful a person was, the less predictable they would become. There was no telling what sort of act of desperation they would take, and those final struggles to survive were what the mantises looked forward to most.
This man"s legs were already weak, and he slumped to the ground, unable to even stand. His body splayed out along the ground, and he trembled as he muttered something to himself.
All around the man was the mantises’ strange laughter, and it sounded like a nightmare. He had heard this sound too many times as he ascended to the second continent. It was a sound that had always woken him from his sleep. He had thought that reaching the second continent would erase those nightmares, but he had instead climbed higher and been confronted with an even crueler game than the one that he had survived before.
Why is this happening? Why is the world this way? If the man had known the truth, he definitely would have stayed on the second continent. He should have listened to those people. There was clearly a place of escape, but he had not wanted to stay there. He had wanted to live.
"I can escape! I can escape!" His voice continued. He had clearly lost his mind.
When a mantis raised a blade, it would soon fall, and then they would quickly start their next game.
Suddenly, the sharp blade swept out, slicing through all the nearby mantises. The Progenitor-level beast had taken action.
Its ma.s.sive shadow fell upon the final survivor as the mantis slowly moved closer. Its triangular head moved close to the human, listening to his ranting.
"I can escape! There are people in another parallel universe. They say that they can take us away from here, so I can escape. I should escape, hahahahaha! I want to escape, hahahaha..."
The Progenitor-level mantis lifted its body, stepped forward, and with a bang, crushed the man into a puddle. It then glared down at the second continent with cold eyes. A parallel universe with more humans? What a joke.
Another ten years pa.s.sed, and during these ten years, nothing seemed to have changed across the seven continents. However, there were voices spreading a rumor, and those voices were getting louder and louder. Now, the rumor was occupying many people’s thoughts.
Go to that parallel universe where there are more humans. There, it is possible to live free from these monsters.
The top continent is simply h.e.l.l. The only way we can survive is by escaping to the parallel universe.
No one knew when the rumors had started, but they had been circulating for around ten years, and they had only grown stronger with time. The rumors had developed at a speed that even Jiang Qingyue and Ghost Monkey had not expected.
It was as though there was something propelling the spread of the rumors, and that something was growing stronger.
Lu Yin sat on the jiao’s back as he stared down at the top continent. "That praying mantis wants to change the game."
Arch-Elder Zen commented, "It already knows that people from a parallel universe have entered this universe to save these humans, but instead of stopping them, the mantises are pushing things forward. It looks like they want to treat the parallel universe as another second continent."
"Games get boring after you’ve played them for too long, but a new game can be quite entertaining."
"They are also very confident. There’s no fear that this parallel universe will have a peak powerhouse."
"No, there’s fear." Lu Yin"s eyes flickered. "It’s because of that fear that the mantis hasn’t tried to investigate that parallel universe. It’s waiting for the Seven-Star Mantis to return. It’s taking the safest option."
"This altered game is its gift to the Seven-Star Mantis, while the beast can take the safe and stable path. That’s what it wants."
Fifteen years had pa.s.sed since Lu Yin had first arrived in the universe. He had been waiting for fifteen years, and he intended to continue to do so.
He would not leave this universe until the Seven-Star Mantis was dealt with.
The Aeternals were trying their best to recruit outside allies, while Lu Yin was doing his best to eliminate all of Aeternus’s allies. Jing Zhe would certainly not be the last one, and neither would the Seven-Star Mantis.
Finally, after Lu Yin and the others had spent thirty years in the universe, they felt their hearts skip a beat.
All of them glanced at the uppermost continent, and Lu Yin felt a flicker of fear. It was clear that the Seven-Star Mantis had returned.
"Call Qingyue and Ghost Monkey back. We’ve already laid the trap, so we just need to wait for them to take the bait," Lu Yin said as he moved in a particular direction. That was where the parallel universe that he had found connected to the current universe.
There were people in that other universe, though they were all humans that Lu Yin had taken from the seven continents over the years.
The mantises were unable to differentiate between humans, and they could not even tell the difference between corpse kings and normal people.
While the Progenitor-level mantis had never visited the parallel universe, it had sent weaker mantises to verify that humans lived there.
Lu Yin and others entered that universe and then waited for another three years. During these three years, more mantises were sent to investigate the universe, but the inhabitants had been taught by Lu Yin and the others, which meant that they were far, far stronger than the humans of the seven continents.
This only served to convince the mantises that the parallel universe was inhabited by humans not from those of their own universe.
Finally, after a total of thirty-five years pa.s.sed, the Progenitor-level mantis finally entered the parallel universe.
Jiang Qingyue stepped forward. "It’s mine."
This had been decided long before.
When Lu Yin had first seen Jiang Qingyue in the Sixth Mainland, she had only been an Envoy, but since then, both she and Jiang Chen had broken through, and they had both become Semi-Progenitors.
Jiang Qingyue mostly cultivated in the Ice Spirit Tribe’s universe, where time pa.s.sed 100 times faster than in most universes. Lu Yin had no idea how long the woman had spent in that universe, and he did not ask her. It was impolite to ask about things like age.
However, the fact that she had broken through and reached the Semi-Progenitor level indicated that it had not been a short amount of time.
Becoming a Semi-Progenitor meant a qualitative change in power. Lu Yin had no idea what Whitecloud City referred to the cultivation realm as, though he was very curious to see just how strong Jiang Qingyue had become.
This would be her first real battle since accompanying Lu Yin on his journey, and she was playing the part of the ruler of the human universe that had been rescuing humans from the mantises.
Upon seeing Jiang Qingyue, the Progenitor-level mantis was surprised and grew uncertain. This was not a peak powerhouse. "Human, who are you?"
Jiang Qingyue"s eyes grew cold as she raised her sword and pointed it at the mantis. "Leave!"
The Progenitor-level mantis tipped its triangular head to the side. "Are you the strongest person in this universe?"
"I told you, leave!" Jiang Qingyue was deliberately acting tough. She was following Lu Yin’s instructions, though she said very little and maintained a cold demeanor.
The Progenitor-level mantis made a move, and a blade slashed out, tearing through the void as the blade sliced downwards. It had been ordered to investigate the universe by the Seven-Star Mantis.
At the same time, Jiang Qingyue attacked. Not even a shadow of her snow-white sword could be seen. There was only the spatial cracks created by the impact of the two blades.
Blade met blade, but Jiang Qingyue was forced to retreat. The Progenitor-level mantis’s eyes flickered with a cold light, and it unfurled its wings. In an instant, its speed spiked. Blades kept flashing, as it attempted to overwhelm Jiang Qingyue.
Lu Yin frowned. If not for Dragonturtle hiding in Jiang Qingyue"s sleeves, Lu Yin would not have been able to resist getting involved.
It was very difficult for a Semi-Progenitor to be a Realmbreaker. While Lu Yin could do it, and so could his senior brothers Qing Ping, Mu Xie, and Mu Ke, that did not mean that it was easy. On the contrary, it showed Mister Mu’s stringent disciple-selection criteria. After all this time long, Lu Yin was only barely able to determine that Mister Mu was at least on the same level as the Great Sovereign, which meant that he was even more powerful than the Lord of Lightning.
While Jiang Qingyue was the daughter of the Lord of Lightning, that did not mean that she was as powerful as Mister Mu’s disciples.
The mantis’s a.s.sault forced Jiang Qingyue to continuously retreat, though there was no fear in her eyes. Her expression betrayed the same determination and fearlessness that Lu Yin had seen when he had first met her. A purplish-black substance continued to spread across her body, and that gave Jiang Qingyue the ability to fight back against the mantis’s blades.
Whitecloud City had never fought against the Seven-Star Mantis, let alone this Progenitor-level mantis. So, the creature had no idea what the purplish-black substance that had covered Jiang Qingyue was. All the beast knew was that Jiang Qingyue"s sword had suddenly become more powerful.
The universe was constantly being sliced apart.
Jiang Qingyue was barely able to fight back against the Progenitor-level mantis, though it was clear that she would eventually be defeated, unless she had some other form of strength that she had kept hidden.
The Origin Universe’s Semi-Progenitors all had inner worlds, but what was Jiang Qingyue relying on?
This battle was far from over.