Chapter 3031: Qingluo Jiantian
It was no wonder why Sovereign Dou Sheng, despite his severe injuries, appeared to be unaffected. Everything had been nothing more than an act from the very beginning. He could use Extremes Must Be Reversed, which meant that, unless he was utterly obliterated by an overwhelming amount of power, he was indestructible.
Progenitor Ku had used his Extremes Must Be Reversed to venture into the Scourge on his own, face off against True G.o.d, and survive the encounter. Sovereign Dou Sheng was capable of doing the same, which meant that his previous injured state had been nothing more than an act.
Lu Yin felt redundant, which left him feeling bitter. Even if he had not gone to rescue the Sovereign, Dou Sheng could have dealt with the Purple Emperor and the other attackers on his own. The man had hidden his own capabilities too deeply, and the combination of Extremes Must Be Reversed and Triumphant Brawl meant that he possessed an incomparable level of power. It was no wonder why Progenitor Xi had mentioned that the man could have eliminated the Purple Emperor and his helpers.
However, just how had the Sovereign come to possess Extremes Must Be Reversed?
Arrow G.o.d emerged from beneath the ground, and she stared at Sovereign Dou Sheng in astonishment. She was from the Fifth Scourge and was unfamiliar with the enemies of the First Scourge.
The First Scourge possessed the greatest combat power and the most powerhouses of all the Scourges, including nearly half of the Three Pillars and Six Skies. However, it was still unable to achieve total victory and had even needed to call for reinforcements for this battle. If all the First Scourge’s enemies were like this man, then there was a reason to call for help.
Arrow G.o.d was able to dominate all the parallel universes the Fifth Scourge was tasked with facing, and she had no peer. However, after she came here to help the First Scourge, while her archery had suppressed the entire battlefield, the invading humans could retreat if they chose to. Were these people really Aeternus’s strongest enemies?
With Sovereign Dou Sheng handling Arrow G.o.d, Lu Yin could breathe a sigh of relief. “Senior Voidlord, you don"t need to worry about Arrow G.o.d. No matter how strong she may be, she can"t kill Sovereign Dou Sheng. We just need to go deal with our own opponents.”
Lu Yin then promptly used Inverse Step and moved away. He needed to deal with either Mu Ji or w.a.n.g Fan.
Lord Xu took a long look at Sovereign Dou Sheng. This man had hidden his true power very deeply. The strength that the Sovereign was demonstrating was such that he had few peers in the entire Sixverse a.s.sociation. It was no wonder why he had the courage to stand guard at the entrance to the Scourge on his own.
High above in the sky, Mu Shen also let out a sigh of relief. He already had a headache dealing with Astral Anura. It was a welcome relief to have someone else capable of dealing with Arrow G.o.d.
Astral Anura"s steel trident kept stabbing at Mu Shen. "Die, die, die, die, die...!"
On the ground below, hidden behind the rubble of a tower, Mu Ji felt miserable once again. This was the third time he had felt a sense of danger. Was Lu Yin targeting him specifically? Mu Ji had to escape as quickly as possible.
Lu Yin sent the Seven-Star Mantis after Mu Ji, despite feeling dizzy from summoning the champion. Lu Yin was exhausted from the battle, but he had to eliminate Mu Ji.
Mu Ji did not hesitate to run away, but such efforts were futile when the Seven-Star Mantis was chasing after him at the speed of time. Lu Yin also quickly caught up.
"Luck! I need luck!" Mu Ji muttered to himself, already pulling out his Roulette of Life and Death. He immediately spun the pointer. He had no idea when the Seven-Star Mantis might attack, which meant that his only option was to spin. Mu Ji could not help but wonder why none of the other powerhouses from Aeternus had appeared yet.
The Seven-Star Mantis raised one of its blades, and it swiftly dropped back down.
Mu Ji was not able to even see the blade approaching, let alone move to block it.
However, he was extremely lucky. Just as the blade fell, the needle on his innate gift came to a stop: Live and Die Together.
At the same time, the Seven-Star Mantis vanished as its blade brushed past Mu Ji"s head and nearly decapitated him.
The moment that Lu Yin saw the result of the Roulette of Life and Death, he had canceled his summon in shock. Live and Die Together? Could that target him?
Because of his own die, Lu Yin was very wary of innate gifts like the roulette wheel.
While someone else might not care about the Roulette of Life and Death and would not believe that it could accomplish what Mu Ji proclaimed, Lu Yin was different.
His sudden appearance startled Mu Ji, as he understood the incredible speed that Lu Yin was capable of.
A strand of hair drifted down, fluttering in the wind in front of Mu Ji"s eyes. He had very nearly lost his head.
Mu Ji"s face grew incredibly pale as he stared at Lu Yin. "Did you attack me?"
Lu Yin was staring at the Roulette of Life and Death. "Live and Die Together?"
Mu Ji was terrified. He glanced at the roulette wheel, and then back at Lu Yin. "You’re lucky that you didn"t kill me, or else you would have also died."
Lu Yin gave Mu Ji a skeptical look. While Lu Yin was wary of the Roulette of Life and Death, was the innate gift really able to link Mu Ji’s life to Lu Yin’s? If Mu Ji could link his life to True G.o.d’s with the roulette wheel, then would True G.o.d also die with Mu Ji?
Clearly, that was not possible. There had to be limits to the innate gift.
Still, Lu Yin was not even a Progenitor yet, so there was no way he could exceed the limits of Mu Ji’s innate gift.
"I would die with you?" Lu Yin asked. Killing intent flickered across his eyes, and his arm suddenly darted out, and he grabbed Mu Ji by the neck to pick him up.
Mu Ji did not try to fight back and simply allowed Lu Yin to hold him, even as the man’s face turned red. "You- you can"t kill me! If I die, you- so will you!"
"On what grounds? Just because of your innate gift from the Arboreal Sanctuary?"
"Yes! If you don"t believe me, just ask Mu Shen."
Lu Yin started to squeeze. Mu Ji was completely helpless before Lu Yin.
"Even if your innate gift can link our lives, there must be limits to it. I won’t kill you, but I can get someone else to do it," Lu Yin spoke grimly.
Mu Ji struggled to speak. "I- I"ll bu- buy my life with a secret."
Lu Yin frowned. "A secret? I"m not interested in your secrets."
"It’s about you!"
Lu Yin puzzled "A secret about me?"
Every word that Mu Ji spoke was a struggle. "Yo-, you’re Ye Bo!"
Lu Yin"s eyes flared and his pupils dilated. "What nonsense is this?"
Mu Ji stared at Lu Yin through bloodshot eyes. "Your evil, it’s exactly the same as Ye Bo’s. Yo- you are-"
As the man spoke, Lu Yin automatically let him go. It was as though some other power had taken control of him. He was about to attack again, but a slash of sword qi swept over, aimed at Lu Yin. He quickly moved back with Inverse Step and turned to see who had attacked. Progenitor Xi had taken action to save Mu Ji.
Unfortunately, Progenitor Xi was so far away that Lu Yin could not really attack the woman himself.
Mu Ji softly threatened, "Lu Yin, if you attack me again, I"ll spill your secret."
"I have no idea what you’re talking about."
"I swear, I don’t know either. If I break my oath to stay silent, may I never find any peace and be eternally punished by heaven and earth, doomed for eternity."
Lu Yin eyed Mu Ji warily, not knowing what the man was up to. Mu Ji was making a truly vicious oath, and the higher a person’s cultivation realm, the less they could afford to make such an oath. Some people believed in them, others did not.
However, Ye Bo was too important an alias for Lu Yin, and he could not afford to make even one mistake.
Mu Ji had to die.
Lu Yin moved back with Inverse Step while preparing to attack Mu Ji again, ignoring the man’s threat to expose Lu Yin as Ye Bo. If Lu Yin was outed, he could always just get a new ident.i.ty. After he cultivated divine energy, any sort of ident.i.ty was possible.
Just as Lu Yin took a step forward, the tip of a pale green sword suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Lu Yin looked around and observed the distant battlefield. As he did, the tip of the pale green sword slashed sideways.
He hastily defended himself, and while the blade swept past his body, it did not injure him.
At that moment, the entire battlefield froze. Everyone, both those fighting for humanity and for Aeternus, was affected by the pale-green sword qi.
It was Progenitor Xi’s attack.
As her sword sliced out, her expression remained as calm as ever. However, this calmness gave off a terrifying coldness.
Across the entire battlefield, even individuals such as Astral Anura, Mu Shen, Lu Tianyi, Ancient G.o.d, Sovereign Dou Sheng, Arrow G.o.d, and all the others turned to look at Progenitor Xi.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please, let us allow this battle to come to an end here," she said.
Her voice was so tranquil that it gave off the impression that she was not speaking about an actual battle, but rather simply describing one.
Lu Yin stared at Progenitor Xi across the Scourge, and their eyes met.
"Dao Monarch Lu, may I?" As she spoke, the mist around Progenitor Xi dispersed to reveal the fallen form of Progenitor Smoke.
Lu Yin looked at the woman. "What happened to Progenitor Smoke?"
Progenitor Xi spoke casually, "She merely fainted. After all, she is my beloved disciple, and I won’t harm her."
Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. Was Progenitor Smoke reallyProgenitor Xi’s disciple?
"You want to stop this battle, but on what grounds?"
Progenitor Xi raised her sword up high and looked at its blade. "My Qingluo Intent."
Lu Yin was left rather confused.
However, the very next moment, he felt as though the universe had started to spin, and he took an involuntary step forward to steady himself as he nearly fell over. He had been overwhelmed by a wave of dizziness caused by a spiritual force attack.
Even Lu Yin felt dizzy, despite the many years that he had recited the Origin Progenitor"s Sutra for. In that case, what about everyone else?
Soft sounds could be heard across the Scourge from people who had collapsed; Food Sage, Arrow Sage, Cloudflow, Leng Qing, Mu Tao, Xu Heng had collapsed, and even Xu Wuwei and Big Sis, who were sequence powerhouses, were down on one knee, barely able to keep themselves upright.
The pale-green sword slash had attacked everyone"s spiritual force, and they had all been gravely wounded.
Sovereign Dou Sheng clenched his golden cudgel as he used it to prop himself up.
Lu Tianyi let out a long breath. He was the only one among humanity’s forces who had remained unaffected. The Lu family practiced the Origin Progenitor"s Sutra as a means of compensating for their lacking spiritual force, and that practice made it incredibly difficult for anyone to use spiritual force attacks against members of the Lu family. Even so, Lu Tianyi was a bit pale.
"Qingluo Jiantian. So it’s you." Lu Tianyi stared at Progenitor Xi as he spoke slowly.
It was an unfamiliar name, and Lu Yin had also never heard it before.
Mu Shen slowly moved down to land on the ground. He cradled his head, also suffering from dizziness. "Qingluo Jiantian? The legendary figure who once forced the Lu family to seek the Origin Progenitor"s guidance in order to compensate for their lack of spiritual force?"
Big Sis was sweating badly as she looked up at Progenitor Xi. "That person’s real?"
Only people who had lived during the Heavens Sect era had ever heard the name “Qingluo Jiantian.” In that distant past, when the Heavens Sect was at its peak, the Lu family had ruled over the Fifth Mainland, and Lu Yuan had been one of the Three Realms and Six Daos.
At that time, no one had dared to provoke the Lu family, aside from one person who had challenged the Lu family. Their spiritual force had left the family helpless. That person had been Qingluo Jiantian.
Why did the Lu family recite the Origin Progenitor"s Sutra to strengthen their spiritual force? It was because of Qingluo Jiantian. That person had revealed the Lu family’s weak spiritual force, and by doing so, she had altered the Lu family.
Progenitor Xi looked at Lu Tianyi. "It"s been a very long time since I last used that name."
Lu Tianyi appeared very contemplative. "I truly never even considered that I might meet you in this era. So you are part of Aeternus."
Progenitor Xi"s expression remained completely indifferent, and she offered no explanation. "Can we end things here?"
Lu Tianyi looked over at Lu Yin.
Despite the fact that Lu Tianyi was far stronger and older than Lu Yin, the decision to end or continue the battle rested on Lu Yin. He had earned his authority within the Sixverse a.s.sociation through numerous battles and plans, and that was how he had gained a status that rivaled even that of the Great Sovereign herself.
Progenitor Xi was aware of this, and it was why she had first addressed Lu Yin after releasing the spiritual force attack.