Chapter 2469 – Alive Or Dead

Progenitor Long said, "If that man can open his three meridian points, then he will definitely be worth our attention. But for now, we don"t need to worry about him too much. Still, he is absolutely exceptional among Semi-Progenitors."

Bai w.a.n.gyuan watched as Progenitor Smoke left. Just one Stargazing Deck remained. It was such a pity. 

Back in the Fifth Mainland, Skymender spent a good half day flipping through the Book of Destiny. Finally, he shook his head. "There is no mention concerning the whereabouts of the pearls. While there are many mentions and records of various pearls that are power vessels, none of them are connected to the Stargazing Decks." 

"See what you can find about the Starsibyl Sect’s Mr. Zhu," Lu Yin requested.

Destina found this question odd. "Mr. Zhu? He"s already dead."

Lu Yin completely ignored the comment. If what Destina said was true, then it would appear while Skymender was investigating the man.

Skymender did not hesitate. In the past, he had been wary of Lu Yin, but he had not feared the young man much as he had believed himself to be of use to Lu Yin. However, after witnessing the scene that had appeared after merging two Books of Destiny, Skymender had started to feel genuine fear towards Lu Yin. This person would betray his own kind species, so was there anything that he would not do?

Luckily, Skymender was an Astral Beast and not a human, or else he would have already been killed. 

"Huh? He"s still alive," exclaimed Skymender. 

Destina was astonished. "That"s impossible. He was already dead when I first found the Starsibyl Sect." 

Lu Yin"s expression darkened as he demanded, "Where is he?" 

Skymender shook his head. "It doesn"t say. I"ve fought Mr. Zhu many times in the past, as we often confronted each other over the course of the continuous war between the Human Domain and the Astral Beast Domain. However, because I held a Book of Destiny, I never took Mr. Zhu very seriously. Even so, I didn"t underestimate him either. I"ve investigated him before, and he was clearly dead, so why is he alive again now?"

"Do you think that the pearls are related to Mr. Zhu?" Destina asked in surprise. 

Lu Yin gave a snort. "If even a black hole can possess intelligence and be capable of fighting, then there is nothing impossible in this universe. Skymender, keep looking. Find out where he is."

"I"ll fight him right now." Skymender stretched out a hand, and the Book of Destiny floated into the air. He started using Inverse Enigma with the intention of attacking Mr. Zhu with Destiny’s power.

Lu Yin was no stranger to this sight. He had already seen Destina use the power of Destiny to attack Skymender. Still, the power of Destiny was as mystical as ever.

Skymender was about to launch his attack when the Book of Destiny suddenly fell. He frowned. "He’s dead again."

"What does that even mean?" Destina exclaimed in surprise.

Skymender replied, "It means that Mr. Zhu died again."

Lu Yin stared at Destina, "Is there anything else about Destiny"s pearls that you"re hiding from me?"

Destina swore, "Absolutely not! I always thought that they were just something Master liked."

"Useless." Lu Yin was growing irritated. For someone who was supposed to be Destiny"s heir and disciple, Destina hardly knew anything about Destiny. He grabbed Skymender and tore through the void.

Destina"s face flushed red. During the Heavens Sect era, no one had ever spoken to her in such a manner. She had even dared to become enemies with Lu Buzheng. Given the fact that she was Destiny’s disciple and heir, Destina had enjoyed a level of status no lower than that of an average Progenitor. She had always been an extremely proud woman, but Lu Yin was scolding her like a child.

"Hmph!" She gritted her teeth and headed for the Starsibyl Sect.

What was going on with Mr. Zhu? The only way she could find out anything about him was through the Starsibyl Sect. Destina had thought that, given her ident.i.ty and strength, no one would dare to try to deceive her. That was why she had never investigated Mr. Zhu"s death or performed a divination regarding the man. However, it had become extremely obvious that something about the man and his death was very fishy. The Starsibyl Sect better not have lied to her, or else… 

Lu Yin took Skymender with him, and they headed straight for the Neoverse to look for Xiao Shi. At this point, Lu Yin had no desire to continue hiding anything.

The recent frequency of Destiny"s power’s appearances was making Lu Yin very uneasy. He was far warier of Destiny than he was of even the four ruling powers.

Besides, Skymender already believed that Lu Yin would eventually betray humanity at some point in the future and join Aeternus. With that exposed, what could possibly be worth keeping hidden from Skymender? Naturally, a Death Seal had to be planted within Skymender"s body so that Lu Yin would have full control over his life and death.

Beneath a giant mushroom head, Xiao Shi’s eyes were full of confusion. He stared at Lu Yin and Skymender, who had just appeared. "Brother Lu?"

Lu Yin looked at Xiao Shi and then at the ma.s.sive book in the man’s hands. "Let me borrow your book for a while."

Xiao Shi immediately handed the book over.

The moment Skymender arrived, his eyes were immediately drawn to the book. This book was perfectly identical to his own Book of Destiny. "Dao Chosen, what is this?"

"It"s a Book of Destiny," Lu Yin replied as he took the book and handed it to Skymender. "Let"s see if we can learn anything more by merging the two books together."

Skymender nervously swallowed as he looked at Lu Yin in fear. Finally, Skymender understood exactly why Lu Yin had been able to confirm so many things over the years; he had long since controlled a Book of Destiny. Still, something seemed off.

Skymender stared at Xiao Shi. This person did not seem like someone who cultivated Destiny"s power. He asked, "Do you know Heaven"s Enigma?"

 "What is that?" Xiao Shi was perplexed.

Skymender was about to say something more, but Lu Yin interrupted, "He doesn’t know anything. Just check for me."

Skymender did not waste another moment as he quickly repeated what he had observed from Bai Xian"er. The two Books of Destiny were held in the air, and they slowly started to merge as Skymender used Inverse Enigma. However, unlike the time when Bai Xian’er merged two books, nothing happened this time. No phenomena appeared in the area around the three people.

Skymender helplessly replied, "Bai Xian"er was right. If we want to merge two Books of Destiny, then we need to use both the true Inverse Enigma and the true Heaven’s Enigma. In this era, she"s the only one who knows Heaven’s Enigma."

Lu Yin"s eyes flickered. "Since it’s possible to merge these two books, then it’s possible that something has already changed. Just check the book."

Skymender nodded and opened the merged Book of Destiny. However, he only saw blank pages.

He was shocked by the sight. "I can"t see any text."

This startled Lu Yin as well. "You can"t see anything?"

Skymender shook his head.

"Aren"t the words right there?" Xiao Shi cautiously asked.

Skymender spun to face Xiao Shi and demanded, "You can see the text?"

Xiao Shi nodded as he hid behind Lu Yin. He was rather scared of Skymender.

Skymender stared at the young man in amazement. How could such a person see the text? Skymender himself could not see anything. Just who was this young man?

"Leave us," Lu Yin ordered Skymender.

Skymender briefly hesitated before slowly walking out of the library.

Lu Yin grew serious as he looked at Xiao Shi. "Can you really see the text?"

Xiao Shi nodded. "Brother Lu, I"ve always been able to see them."

Lu Yin had investigated Xiao Shi before. Both Skymender and Destina claimed that it was impossible for anyone to see the text within a Book of Destiny without cultivating either Heaven"s Enigma or Inverse Enigma. The only exception to that was Destiny herself. Lu Yin had started investigating Xiao Shi when he first learned of that limitation, but everything about Xiao Shi was quite normal.

Xiao Shi"s birth and everything about his ancestors was quite clear. He had never had any connection to the Starsibyl Sect, and he had never exhibited any special abilities. There was no connection between Xiao Shi and Destiny no matter how thoroughly Lu Yin looked. However, both Skymender and Destina were certain that Xiao Shi was doing something that only Destiny was capable of.

Lu Yin simply could not understand what was going on with Xiao Shi.

Since the people from the Heavens Sect era had been released from the sourcebox, Lu Yin felt that there were more and more mysteries out there waiting to be unraveled.

However, this was not the time to be thinking about such mysteries. "Help me look into Destiny"s pearls."

Xiao Shi nodded and immediately started flipping through the merged Book of Destiny.

Lu Yin had never allowed Xiao Shi to investigate anything related to Destiny out of fear of drawing Destiny"s attention or triggering Destiny. However, he no longer had any other choice.

"Nothing," Xiao Shi reported. It was the same result as what Skymender had found.

"The Starsibyl Sect’s Mr. Zhu."

"Dead." 

Lu Yin frowned. Again, the result was the same.

He then asked Xiao Shi to look up several other things that might be connected to Destiny, but the results were always either missing, or could be easily found by just about anyone. Destiny was like a layer of fog that shrouded the truth, and while the Books of Destiny might be the keys to unlock that truth, things were neither simple nor straightforward.

"Heaven"s Enigma," Lu Yin said.

Xiao Shi flipped through the Book of Destiny. "Oh, here it is."

Lu Yin"s eyes lit up. "Write it down."

Xiao Shi hesitated. He stared at the page for a long time before finally saying, "Brother Lu, I can understand these words, but as soon as I look away from the page, I forget them entirely."

Lu Yin felt quite disappointed. As expected, Destiny"s methods were not easy to cultivate. "Oh right, you should cultivate that."

"Cultivate what?" 

"That Heaven"s Enigma that you just saw," Lu Yin said.

Xiao Shi gasped. "My talent for cultivation is terrible."

"It doesn"t matter. If you use this, you"ll be able to cultivate twice as fast with half the effort."

Regardless of Xiao Shi"s relationship with Destiny, things eventually had to change. There were certain things that simply could not be stopped. If Xiao Shi truly was Destiny, then cultivating the true Heaven"s Enigma would be a walk in the park for him. After that, he might not even need to use a Book of Destiny. Given the situation, it was better to have Xiao Shi cultivate under Lu Yin"s supervision.

Xiao Shi still hesitated. He did not want to spend time cultivating. All he wanted to do was quietly read in the library.

Lu Yin patted Xiao Shi"s shoulder. "I promise that if you succeed in mastering this cultivation art, Brother Lu will help you promote the mushroom head hairstyle throughout the universe."

This offer left Xiao Shi overjoyed. "Really?"

Lu Yin nodded vigorously. "Really."

"I"ll work hard in cultivating! I won"t let you down, Brother Lu!" Xiao Shi excitedly exclaimed.

Lu Yin breathed a sigh of relief, but after seeing Xiao Shi"s excitement, Lu Yin had no idea if this was the right choice or not.

It was said that a man could conquer his fate, and Lu Yin was confident that he would eventually find a way to defeat the elusive Destiny. Taking this step meant that Lu Yin was stepping onto the path to victory.

He could only hope that Xiao Shi was not Destiny herself. No, even if Xiao Shi was Destiny, he simply had to remain true to his current self.

"Can you find out anything regarding Inverse Enigma?" Lu Yin asked again.

"Yes."

"Then practice both."

Xiao Shi pursed his lips, still extremely reluctant. "Okay."

"Look up Time Poison."

"Didn"t we check this before?" Xiao Shi asked curiously.

"Check it again." The answer available from the merged Book of Destiny might not be the same as what they had seen before.

Xiao Shi browsed the merged book, and his eyes soon lit up. "Someone lifted a sword and thrust it into the ground."

Lu Yin reflexively looked at the merged Book of Destiny, only to see blank pages. "Who was it?"

Xiao Shi had no idea how to describe the person.

Lu Yin raised a hand and used star energy to form an image. Xiao Shi grew excited when he saw it. "Yes, that"s him! He lifted the sword and stabbed it into the ground."

Lu Yin let out a sigh of relief. Sure enough, it had been the Origin Progenitor who had stabbed his own sword into the ground. This was the only way to remove Time Poison. The Origin Progenitor"s sword could indeed eliminate Time Poison, which explained why each of the six Mainlands had one of the Origin Progenitor"s swords. Time Poison must have first appeared during the Heavens Sect era.

If Time Poison had been discovered so long ago, then why had the Origin Progenitor not made any moves against Aeternus?

Given the Heavens Sect’s strength at its peak, dealing with Aeternus should not have been an issue. A good number of the Seven SkyG.o.ds had risen to power during the Heavens Sect era.

Something had to have happened during that era that caused the Mainlands to break apart, the Heavens Sect to be destroyed, and for Aeternus to grow much stronger than it had originally been.

The Book of Destiny seemed to hold the answers to the questions of the universe, just waiting for someone to read it.