Chapter 2017
Although the Great Eastern Alliance had managed to unite the Innerverse, it had also been forced to shrink its defensive perimeter. At the moment, they controlled the eastern portion of Blazing Mist Flowzone, half of Venom Flowzone, First Flowzone, Beast Tamers Flowzone, and so on.
Ancestor Tortoise’s sudden appearance astonished everyone from the Great Eastern Alliance.
Upon returning to the Ross Empire’s mobile fortress, the first thing that Lu Yin did was to contact the forces that controlled the Innerverse’s eight major flowzones.
On Sword Mountain, Liu Qianjue looked at the image of Lu Yin with an ugly expression on his face. "Alliance Leader Lu, my Sword Sect cannot agree to this! Sword Mountain has always been the very foundation of my Sword Sect. From the moment we first seized control of First Flowzone all those years ago, we have never once left. Even if I give you my word to abandon Sword Mountain and flee to Blazing Mist Flowzone, my sect’s disciples will never agree to it."
Lu Yin answered in a deep voice, "I am not asking you to abandon Sword Mountain. Once this catastrophe is over, you can return."
Liu Qianjue shook his head. "Of my Sword Sect’s tens of millions of disciples, hundreds of thousands of them are willing to die protecting Sword Mountain. Countless disciples have already been buried beneath this mountain, and it is a part of Sword Sect’s beliefs."
"Even if you will be destroyed with your Sword Mountain?" Lu Yin asked.
Liu Qianjue answered firmly, "Even if that is the case, I will not leave."
Lu Yin had a headache. Talks with the Sword Sect, the Divine Grade Hall, and the Divine Venom Dynasty were not going well, especially with the Divine Venom Dynasty. Their faith in Venom Flowzone’s protection was nigh unshakeable. Since the flowzone had protected them from even the Sixth Mainland’s invasion, their confidence had soared higher than ever, and nothing could persuade them to leave Venom Flowzone.
Once humanity lost to the current invasion, their only option to survive would be to rely on a stronghold. So far, the most suitable region in the entire Fifth Mainland for such a stronghold was in the Innerverse’s eastern flowzones.
While Lu Yin did not maintain much hope for humanity to successfully hold back Aeternus’s invasion, he refused to give up without a fight. At this moment, he was waiting to learn of the results of the various Semi-Progenitors’ fights. If the humans managed to win those battles, they would immediately launch a counterattack. However, Lu Yin did not believe that the human Semi-Progenitors would win their battles, which was also why Lu Yin was proactively trying to gather all the major forces in Blazing Mist Flowzone. Once the Fifth Mainland lost all hope, he would make a beeline for Jupiter with everyone.
The entire Fifth Mainland seemed to be holding its breath as they all waited for the winners of the Semi-Progenitor battles to be decided. At the same time, Aeternus’s Semi-Progenitors were biding their time, waiting for the moment that all the humans a.s.sembled in one location. This showed the level of confidence that the Aeternals possessed.
The moment Aeternus bared its fangs, the final battle would begin. Once that happened, the fate of the Fifth Mainland would be tied to the outcomes of the Semi-Progenitor fights.
Lu Yin planned to gather the entire Great Eastern Alliance and unite all of their available forces. They would either be the primary counterattack against Aeternus, or they would all be led to the Perennial world to deal with the four ruling powers.
…
The Semi-Progenitor fights were scattered across the Fifth Mainland. In the Outerverse, a short distance away from the Daosource Sect, a fierce battle was being fought between Jiu Yao and Forgotten Ruins G.o.d, and it shook the heavens and the earth. In the Innerverse, at the border of the Starfall Sea, Arch-Elder Zen had almost defeated his first opponent: a Semi-Progenitor corpse king. Unfortunately, Arch-Elder Zen had then been dragged into a battle with one of the Twelve Marquises, which drained a great deal of the old man’s strength.
Ni Huang was fighting against Marquis Green Bamboo while w.a.n.g Si, Highsage Grandmaster, and the others all faced their own opponents.
As time pa.s.sed, the disadvantage that humanity suffered grew increasingly apparent. Being unable to replenish their stellular energy was starting to take a serious toll on the humans.
Aside from the Semi-Progenitor battles, the fierce battle between the countless swarm of mechanical ants and the horde of corpse kings was reaching a conclusion. Just a few days after the battle began at the edge of the Starfall Sea, it was about to end.
It was also after these few days that Lu Yin learned that the New Corridor had been destroyed, as well as news of Aeternus’s imminent victory.
"It would be great if the Rune Progenitor’s power returned," Ling Qiu muttered to herself.
The Lingling clan’s Soulseal Flowzone was located in the western-central region of the Innerverse. When the stellular energy first started being drained from the true universe, Ling Taizu had instantly made the decision to evacuate his clan to a flowzone further east in the Innerverse. The more one understood Aeternus, the more they feared them.
The Sword Sect and other forces were able to use their locations to replenish their stellular energy, so they were not afraid of a fight, but the Lingling clan could not do the same.
For humans, losing their stellular energy meant losing all of their combat strength.
When Lu Yin heard Ling Qiu"s words, his heart stirred. When the Sixth Mainland had invaded, the Rune Progenitor’s power had forced all the cultivators to suppress their cultivation to the Enlighter realm. Even though the Sixth Mainland had still possessed more Enlighters than the Fifth Mainland, this suppression had greatly reduced the Sixth Mainland’s advantage.
If the Rune Progenitor’s power returned, it would only be good for humanity.
However, Lu Yin believed that this was a very unlikely outcome. The Rune Progenitor’s remnant strength could not appear without limit. At the end of the Sixth Mainland’s invasion, the power had already been drastically weakened.
Lu Yin’s guess was right, and the Rune Progenitor’s power did not appear. Instead, an unexpected power was unveiled—the Technocracy’s Master Brain’s manifested thoughts.
When w.a.n.g Si, Bai Laogui, and Kui Luo had all appeared on the battlefield in the Technocracy that was known as the Sophic Rift, the sudden appearance of powerful Semi-Progenitors had alerted the Master Brain. As a result, it had trapped all the humans present at that time.
Even back then, Lu Yin had held certain suspicions regarding the truth behind the Technocracy’s creation. At the present moment, the Master Brain’s thoughts stretched out from the Technocracy across more of the Fifth Mainland. It quickly encompa.s.sed the battlefield in the Starfall Sea before extending further east.
Arch-Elder Zen and others looked up at the mental network, completely confused by what they saw.
In front of Arch-Elder Zen stood a gloomy-looking man who wielded a long sword. He looked to be in his fifties, and he wore a tattered coat with jagged tears in it. The man looked quite odd.
Still, he was one of the Twelve Marquises, and Arch-Elder Zen had been on the back foot for their entire battle.
"That power that’s appeared is rather interesting," the swordsman mused as he studied the mental network. His pupils glowed with a faint, dark red before he let loose a slash of his sword.
Although Arch-Elder Zen looked calm, his opponent’s sword skills left him sweating. He had never seen such a bizarre sword skill before. It somehow resembled both a sword technique and a secret technique. It was much harder to deal with than even the Sword Sect’s Thirteen Swords.
When the sword slash struck the mental network, the surface of the Master Brain’s thoughts undulated like ripples on water. The next moment, an invisible force hauled the swordsman up and trapped him within the mental network. This was the exact same thing that had happened to Kui Luo and Lu Yin when they had been trapped.
Arch-Elder Zen stared at the scene in disbelief. He was well aware of just how strong his opponent was, and he possessed little confidence of victory in a drawn-out battle. Despite that, the swordsman had just been easily restrained.
At the border of the Technocracy, w.a.n.g Si and Bai Laogui exchanged glances. "Be careful and don"t attack it. This mental network can trap any of us."
Ni Huang looked up in surprise. Marquis Green Bamboo reflexively froze his attack and looked at w.a.n.g Si in a questioning manner.
w.a.n.g Si"s face turned dour. "This formless power was able to easily able to trap me, Bai Laogui, and Kui Luo. We struggled to escape."
"The Forsaken Land actually holds such a power?" There was a hint of surprise in Marquis Green Bamboo’s voice.
Both humanity and Aeternus’s Semi-Progenitors became much more cautious of disturbing the mental network after witnessing Marquis Wu Yi being captured by it. Envoys similarly grew cautious, and no one dared to probe the mental construct with any attacks.
Arch-Elder Zen and Ni Huang took advantage of this opportunity to team up and move towards the Innerverse’s eastern flowzones. As for the battlefield at the edge of the Starfall Sea, there were only a few partic.i.p.ants still there, aside from corpse kings and the Technocracy’s mechanical ants. The Technocracy had not sent out any additional forces besides the mechanical ants to fight against the invasion, and the mechanical ants were solely intended to exhaust the corpse kings’ overwhelming numbers.
Most of the cultivators from the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands that had been stationed there to defend the pa.s.sage had already died. Only a few had managed to escape alive.
At the Ross Empire’s mobile fortress, Lu Yin looked up at the Master Brain’s manifested thoughts with complicated feelings.
Humanity’s ancestors had left them with multiple inheritances to preserve the human race. When the Rune Progenitor’s strength had been exhausted, Progenitor Hui’s preparations had emerged. It was unknown whether another power would show up after Progenitor Hui’s preparations lost strength.
During the a.s.sault on Burial Garden, Progenitor Chen had released an attack when the Progenitor of Secret Arts had betrayed humanity. However, Lu Yin remained uncertain as to whether that had been remnants of the Progenitor’s strength or something else.
Those people were the Progenitors who had been most admired by the human race. If humanity managed to avoid extinction, it was quite possible that Lu Yin would also leave something behind for humanity’s future after he became a Progenitor.
After observing the manifested thoughts for a while, Lu Yin smiled bitterly. Regardless of whether this catastrophe could be surpa.s.sed was yet to be determined. Even if he escaped to the Perennial World, it would be difficult for him to gain a foothold in that place. Dealing with the four ruling powers would not be much easier than dealing with Aeternus.
Before long, people started to appear above the Ross Empire’s mobile fortress.
Kui Luo was the first to look up, and he gasped in surprise when he saw six Semi-Progenitors approaching them.
Arch-Elder Zen, Highsage Grandmaster, Ni Huang, and the other Semi-Progenitors had all appeared above the fortress.
When Lu Yin saw Ni Huang and the others, he asked Kui Luo to take him over to the Mavis family.
Kui Luo wasted no time at all, and he silently moved Lu Yin as requested.
w.a.n.g Si had already subconsciously prepared herself to attack Lu Yin, but Ni Huang quickly stopped her and pointed to the power that hung overhead.
A jolt of shock suddenly ran through w.a.n.g Si’s mind. The instant she saw Lu Xiaoxuan, rage and hatred had clouded her mind, and she had forgotten about her surroundings.
"Is that the Lu family’s Ancestor Tortoise?" Bai Laogui’s eyes followed Kui Luo’s path as he moved Lu Yin and instantly saw a huge creature lying nearby. Truthfully, it was impossible to miss the tortoise given its size.
Ni Huang and the others also looked at Ancestor Tortoise. "That"s right. We all found it strange when the Lu family did not take Ancestor Tortoise with them. So it was here all along."
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“They left it for their purse," Xia De commented.
w.a.n.g Si’s eyes narrowed. "That Lu b.a.s.t.a.r.d’s hiding on Ancestor Tortoise’s back. Even if this power above us wasn’t around, we wouldn’t be able to do anything to him."
Ni Huang shook his head and sighed. "Let"s find a way to deal with our current crisis first."
Xia De had to hand it to the youth; Lu Xiaoxuan was too well-prepared. They had no chance to deal with him, given the current situation, and yet he never lowered his caution around them at all. He had even fled to Ancestor Tortoise’s back for protection the moment they had seen each other. It was no wonder how the youth had been able to survive for so long.
Arch-Elder Zen glanced around. "Everyone, humanity is currently facing a crisis on an unprecedented scale. We have all agreed to temporarily set aside our differences and not fight with each other. Please remember your promise."
Ni Huang replied, "Don"t worry. Even if we wanted to attack, we would first need to worry about the power above us."
Arch-Elder Zen nodded. He exchanged a look with Highsage Grandmaster, and Highsage Grandmaster immediately moved a short distance away and began setting up a sourcebox array.
Arch-Elder Zen then led Ni Huang and the others closer to Ancestor Tortoise.
Lu Yin stood on Ancestor Tortoise’s back with his hands clasped behind his back while facing the approaching people. Behind him, the glowing fruits of the sacred tree seemed to create an atmosphere of holiness.
The Great Eastern Alliance’s Envoys then started to appear one after another. Liu Ye and Fei Hua, Man Li, the Sea King, Elder He, the Frost Emperor, Ling Taizu, and Ling Qiu all stood to face Ni Huang and the other Semi-Progenitors.
Further back, the Great Eastern Alliance’s Allied Forces had a.s.sembled. There was the Giants Army along with the lesser giants, the Lu Elite Troops, and more. They all took up positions in outer s.p.a.ce as countless warships moved to the west.
The entire Great Eastern Alliance had mobilized for war.
This would be an awe-inspiring spectacle for most humans, but Ni Huang and the others from the Perennial World had fought on the battlefield behind the Mother Tree. Most of the Great Eastern Alliance’s cultivators did not even possess the necessary strength to step onto that battlefield, and any who did qualify would be nothing more than cannon fodder on that battlefield.
"Don"t worry, they won"t attack you," Arch-Elder Zen told Lu Yin.
Lu Yin appeared calm. "I don"t believe that at all."
A vein throbbed at w.a.n.g Si’s temple.
Arch-Elder Zen sighed. "They aren’t that foolish. No one knows just how strong of an attack the force above us will allow us to launch. Everyone is afraid of being captured."