Chapter 2136: A Prestigious Display
Lu Yin watched as Wang Si's attack drew closer and closer. Even though he had greatly weakened and suppressed the attack, it had not been completely eliminated.
Wang Si moved ever closer to Lu Yin, and he could see the hatred and bloodlust within her eyes. It almost felt as though the woman had gone insane at this moment.
"Thank you, for providing me with such a perfect performance." Lu Yin smiled gently. The Origin Progenitor’s sword that was held in his right hand shot forward, twisting time and space as it stabbed right into Wang Si's heart.
Everyone was startled. The Origin Progenitor’s sword was a symbol, and even if Lu Buzheng had never seen it during the Heavens Sect era, such a symbol had never been used as a weapon before.
Lu Yin had once again set a precedent. It was likely that he was the very first person to ever attack with this sword, aside from the Origin Progenitor himself.
Wang Si was open to an attack while unleashing her own full-powered attack with the secret technique Supremacy. Additionally, any resistance she might have been able to mount would have still been useless before the sword.
She bowed her head and looked down at the sword that had pierced her heart. She felt no pain, but everything that was touched by the sword was disappearing. Starting with her heart, Wang Si’s body slowly disappeared, vanishing from the universe.
Everyone stared blankly as she faded away, a chill gripping their hands and feet.
Wang Si’s death would have been one thing, and people would have accepted seeing her blood spill onto the stairs within the Heavens Sect. However, the sight of someone mysteriously disappearing was something that no one could accept.
The sword was able to make a person disappear. What sort of power was behind this?
Jiu Yao was very close to Wang Si, and he grew pale as he once again witnessed this inexplicable scene. Before, he had watched Forgotten Ruins God disappear from merely touching the hilt of the sword. The Origin Progenitor’s sword could not be touched by anyone. Only Lu Yin was able to come into contact with the weapon.
The other Semi-Progenitors’ scalps went numb, especially Hen Xin. A never-before-seen fear manifested in the man’s eyes as he stared at Lu Yin.
This child was too ruthless! It was no wonder why he had left the Origin Progenitor’s sword laying in the open, unprotected. The sword was able to cause people to disappear! If being stabbed caused Wang Si to vanish, then did that mean that the power was restricted to just the blade, or did it cover the entire sword? If it did cover the entire sword, then Lu Yin’s actions were terrifying. Anyone who had failed to curb the temptation to grab the sword would have died without question.
For the first time, Hen Xin felt a trickle of true fear towards Lu Yin.
Before, when Lu Yin had used Progenitor Chen’s power to suppress the Fifth Mainland, even though Hen Xin had submitted, he had never been truly convinced of Lu Yin’s superior power. Rather, Hen Xin had simply believed that he would be able to wrest back control of everything as soon as he became a Progenitor.
However, chills ran down the man’s spine at the sight of Wang Si’s execution. Just how deep did this young man’s schemes run? Would he allow Hen Xin to simply step into the Progenitor realm without issue? Would Hen Xin ever be able to break free of Lu Yin’s grip?
These thoughts plagued not only Hen Xin, but also Jue Yi. He was extremely nervous as he stared at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin was completely different from the Dao Chosen of the Heavens Sect era, and there was no comparison at all. Lu Yin was perfectly suited for the modern era, as he had been molded by this era.
If even Semi-Progenitors like Hen Xin and Jue Yi were startled, there was no need to mention anyone else.
Wang Si's body eventually disappeared completely, but right up to the moment she disappeared, the hatred in her eyes as she glared at Lu Yin never fluctuated.
However, Lu Yin was unbothered. Wang Si had already played her role to completion, and the Lu family had been avenged.
As he thrust the Origin Progenitor’s sword high into the sky, Lu Yin heard voices respectfully call out once more, "Representing the heavens."
"Representing the heavens."
"Representing the heavens…"
At this moment, even the gathered Semi-Progenitors were looking at Lu Yin with respect. They truly saw him as representing the heavens. This was no longer mere lip-service.
Lu Yin lowered the sword and glanced around, his eyes sweeping over everyone present. The members of the Lu family had seen similar scenes many times before, but this was Lu Yin’s first time. At this moment, there were Semi-Progenitors looking up at him, but in the future, he would force even Progenitors to look up at him.
"I officially declare… The founding of the Heavens Sect!" Lu Yin announced.
The Fifth Mainland started boiling. This moment was the opening of a new chapter in human history.
The formal establishment of the Heavens Sect benefited Lu Yin more than any other person. With the Heavens Sect, Lu Yin now had the justification to represent the heavens and wield some degree of authority over every human cultivator. He had achieved this authority by more than just the power he had received from Progenitor Chen.
After Wang Si vanished with a single thrust of a sword, people felt as though the Origin Progenitor himself had appeared.
At present, the most powerful humans were Semi-Progenitors. While there was too great a gap between them and true Progenitors, nobody understood how powerful Progenitors actually were. Even the Sixth Mainland’s three Progenitors were gone. All that was left were Semi-Progenitors, and the masses’ knowledge of peak powerhouses only reached that level.
Executing Wang Si had allowed Lu Yin's prestige to reach the greatest heights in known history.
***
A few days later, when the Heavenly Gates’ conference was held, things naturally proceeded very smoothly. Hen Xin and Jue Yi barely spoke at all. All the matters concerning the Fifth Mainland were decided by Lu Yin alone. The meeting did not even last very long, but right before its conclusion, the Second Nightking entered to deliver a report. "Dao Chosen, Xu Qing, the Commander-in-Chief of the Astral Beast Domain, has come to deliver a congratulatory gift."
This message caught Lu Yin off guard. It was not the fact that the Astral Beast Domain had sent a gift that was surprising, but rather that Xu Qing had been sent to deliver it.
This individual was an old friend.
"Send him in," Lu Yin replied. At the moment, he was sitting inside the Heavens Sect’s main hall, surrounded by the protectors, educators, and gatemasters of the Heavens Sect.
Xu Qing was quickly escorted in, and complete shock could be seen in his eyes.
The Human Domain had truly been transformed.
From the moment he had been born, to the time when he had become the commander in chief of the Celestial Beast Empire, the vast majority of Xu Qing’s life had been on the battlefield. He had even been on the battlefield when he had inherited the position of the Void Thunderbeasts’ patriarch. Most of his life had been spent fighting against humans, and Xu Qing had a profound understanding of the Human Domain.
This was actually why he had never imagined that humans would one day actually unite. It was something that should have been impossible, and yet it had happened right in front of him.
A truly united Human Domain was beyond terrifying, as it was a power that was impossible for the Astral Beast Domain to stand up to.
Xu Qing could not resist looking down at what he carried as a congratulatory gift. The imperial advisor had said that this would enable the Astral Beast Domain’s safety.
After climbing the astral staircase, the Second Nightking led Xu Qing to the main hall, where the commander worked to suppress his shock and regain his composure before entering the hall.
He was met by the sight of fourteen Semi-Progenitors.
With fourteen Semi-Progenitors staring at him, Xu Qing almost spat out blood. He had never dreamed of one day facing fourteen powerhouses. These people were all Semi-Progenitors, and there were actually fourteen of them!
In the current Astral Beast Domain, there only remained one Semi-Progenitor: Yao Di.
Xu Qing had believed himself capable of remaining composed when visiting the humans’ Heavens Sect. However, when fourteen Semi-Progenitors suddenly stared at him, even the Commander-in-Chief of the Celestial Beast Empire who decisively commanded countless creatures could not eliminate his burgeoning fear.
What he was facing was not something that could be countered with something like status. Semi-Progenitors were near the absolute peak of cultivation, and they looked at all those beneath them as though they were ants.
Fortunately, Xu Qing frequently met with Yao Di and had occasionally been forced to suffer a bit of the Semi-Progenitor’s pressure. This kept Xu Qing from embarrassing himself, and he slowly walked into the main hall despite the fact that sweat had already soaked his back.
Lu Yin smiled when he saw Xu Qing slowly walking closer to the meeting. It was clear that each step was a struggle.
With the threat of Aeternus gone for the time being, Lu Yin had been considering what to focus on. It was important for the Human Domain to continue improving, hidden threats to be eliminated, and internal conflicts to be redirected. Lu Yin’s initial inclination had been to focus on the third goal, and he had wanted to distract humanity from their internal conflicts by shifting their focus onto the Astral Beast Domain. Starting a war with the astral beasts was a perfect option.
Humanity could not simply accept always being the passive defenders, and Lu Yin had already promised Elder Lohar and the other defenders of Ironblood Weave that he would lead them into the Astral Beast Domain.
However, the decision to declare war had been first disrupted by Wang Si, and then by the fact that Lu Yin’s senior brother Qing Ping was soon going to challenge his stellular tribulation in the Perennial World. Lu Yin had been considering whether he should also go to the Perennial World and rescue the people who had been conscripted into Star Alliance and imprisoned within Crimson Garden.
Lu Yin felt a bit confused as to what to do.
While Lu Yin was considering his various goals and options, Xu Qing stopped ten meters away and slowly bowed. "Xu Qing, Commander-in-Chief of the Celestial Beast Empire, greets the Heavens Sect’s Dao Chosen Lu. I offer our congratulations for representing the heavens and taking control of the Human Domain."
Hen Xin and the other Semi-Progenitors felt quite curious as they looked at Xu Qing. Since awakening in the modern era, they had fought against the forces of Aeternus. While they were all aware that, in the current era, humans were also enemies with the Astral Beast Domain, they had not given the astral beasts much consideration.
The Astral Beast Domain had been very quiet in the twenty years that Lu Yin had been absent. In fact, they had been almost completely silent, and they had never once tried to stir up any trouble. This was why none of the ancient powerhouses had had any contact at all with the Astral Beast Domain.
This was the first official interaction.
The Astral Beast Domain should be the remnants of the Fourth Mainland.
"Commander Xu Qing, we meet again," Lu Yin said with a smile. He put on a show of being very friendly.
Xu Qing straightened up as he looked at Lu Yin with open admiration. "Yes, we meet again. I never thought that I would see you again in this lifetime."
Lu Yin was caught off guard for a moment. "Why would you say that?"
"You were gone for twenty years. If you weren’t dead, your abilities should have made it impossible for you to not appear at all."
Lu Yin laughed. "I see that my accident has caused the commander to worry about me."
Worry? Xu Qing exhaled. The truth was that Lu Yin’s return had been a devastating disappointment to Xu Qing. Without Lu Yin, how could the Human Domain have transformed to such an extent? Even if the Astral Beast Domain had not waged war against the Human Domain for twenty years or even had any official contact, there was no way to ignore their countless years of effort in developing an intelligence network.
The Celestial Beast Empire was fully aware of the schism that had appeared between the awakened ancient powerhouses and the people of the modern era. They were aware that humanity’s cultivation system had been broken, as well as all of Hen Xin’s various efforts. The astral beasts were fully aware of all that had happened within the Human Domain, and it was why they had not developed any plans to take action against humanity.
The Celestial Beast Empire had no desire to help either Aeternus or humanity, and they had also been confident that the appearance of the ancient powerhouses would not be enough to restore humanity to their previous strength. No matter how popular the cultivation methods of battle force, domain, death energy, or Destiny’s method became, not even all of them combined could replace the stellular energy cultivation method. Humans were doomed to decline.
With such an inevitability, there was no need for the astral beasts to do anything at all. They could sit back and watch, or even help the remnants of humanity fight against the Aeternals at a critical moment.
However, Lu Yin had returned, and the Human Domain had transformed yet again. Even if Lu Yin was unable to change the fact that humanity’s primary cultivation method had been taken away, he had changed the internal dynamics of the Human Domain and truly united all of humanity beneath the Heavens Sect. Even the threat of Aeternus had been eliminated, and that was the most troubling change.
Lu Yin alone had allowed humans to leap up from being weaklings on the verge of destruction, to being the true rulers of the Fifth Mainland.
If at all possible, Xu Qing would happily sacrifice himself to ensure Lu Yin's death.
"I’ve come here at this time at the orders of the imperial advisor and Emperor Yao Di to deliver a congratulatory gift and offer the Astral Beast Domain’s congratulations on the establishment of the Heavens Sect, as well as personal congratulations to the Dao Chosen for representing the heavens." As he spoke, Xu Qing lifted a hand and offered a folded piece of paper.
Lu Yin made a casual gesture, and the paper floated over to him. He was very curious to see what sort of gift the Astral Beast Domain would send.
Xu Qing's eyes flickered. Emperor Yao Di was very concerned about a united Human Domain, and he feared what the Heavens Sect might do to the Astral Beast Domain. The Human Domain had become too powerful, and a force of more than a dozen Semi-Progenitors was more than sufficient to completely overpower the Celestial Beast Empire after the humans’ outside threats had been dealt with. The Technocracy was no longer considered an enemy of the Human Domain, which left the Astral Beast Domain as their only remaining enemy.
This was what most concerned Yao Di, and yet the imperial advisor had taken out a single piece of paper as he had reassured the Celestial Beast Empire’s ruler.
There had been countless moments during his journey that Xu Qing had wanted to open the folded paper, but he had not dared to do so.
Xu Qing’s eyes focused intently on Lu Yin as he held the paper.
The gathered Semi-Progenitors were also paying attention to Lu Yin at this moment. They had already known that with the Heavens Sect uniting the Human Domain, the final external threat was the Astral Beast Domain. How could a simple piece of paper be valuable enough to win the astral beasts the favor of the Heavens Sect and Lu Yin? Could it be the record of some sort of priceless battle technique?
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