Chapter 2160: The Power Of Dual Pupils
While there was no confirmation that a Progenitor had transformed into the Champions’ Stage that Progenitor Lu Tianyi had left behind, the Lu patriarch would not have left anything weaker behind. Progenitor Hui also would not have accepted anything that could not protect the Fifth Mainland from Progenitors.
However, if the Champions’ Stage really was Lu Jian, and he had not become a Progenitor, then why was he able to anoint Progenitor-level champions?
Also, there had been no one from the Lu family aside from Lu Jian who had cultivated Truesight to such a high level.
The whole thing was strange, very strange.
"It looks like this Champions’ Stage really was Lu Jian. As far as I know, after Old Fu became a Progenitor, even though a lot of people started using his cultivation method, very few powerhouses used it, let alone people from your Lu family. Everyone from your family was famous throughout the entire Fifth Mainland, even if they were from one of the branch families, and out of everyone alive back then, only Lu Jian was obsessed with Old Fu’s power. On top of that,” Progenitor Smoke paused as he let out a breath, "Lu Jian hated the blood giants more than anyone. He even threatened to exterminate them and erase the entire race of blood giants."
Lu Yin was caught off guard. "Why?"
Progenitor Smoke explained, "Blood giants are nothing more than a scourge. As countless years passed, different races of giants developed. Some became as powerful as the colossal giants who follow you but were peaceful creatures. Other races became much crueler, and their intelligence even faded away until all that was left was a desire for slaughter. Of those monsters, the blood giants were the most infamous, as they killed everything wherever they went.”
"Many people would kill any blood giant that they came across, but Lu Jian was a bit more excessive. Still, no one made any efforts to try to stop him."
Lu Yin felt rather puzzled. "If this Champions’ Stage really was left behind by Ancestor Lu Jian, then does that mean that he did become a Progenitor?"
"That’s something that I don’t understand, as there’s no way that Lu Jian could have become a Progenitor without me knowing about it, but there’s also no way Hui Wen would have messed around and accepted a measure from Lu Tianyi that only had the strength to stop Semi-Progenitor threats. It’s really strange." Progenitor Smoke stared at Lu Yin. "Are you positive that this Champions’ Stage has Progenitor-level champions?"
Lu Yin nodded. "There definitely should be. At least, there are champions that I can’t summon. If I tried to force things, even if my stellular energy reserves could handle the summoning, I can’t tell if I would be able to summon those champions."
"Then those should definitely be Progenitor-level champions. With your current strength, you should be able to summon Semi-Progenitor champions, and only Progenitor champions would be out of your reach," Progenitor Smoke commented.
Both people stared at the Champions' Stage for a while, thinking about various possibilities, but not getting any closer to any conclusions. Eventually, Progenitor Smoke returned to her pocket dimension. She enjoyed researching Blood Alchemy, and quite frankly, the Champions’ Stage had nothing at all to do with her.
If even a living fossil like Progenitor Smoke could not understand the situation concerning the origins of the Champions’ Stage, then there was no way for Lu Yin to unravel what had happened so many years ago. It was also impossible for Arch-Elder Zen to know anything. While the man understood that Progenitor Lu Tianyi had left behind some powerful champions, that was the extent of Arch-Elder Zen’s knowledge.
After all, there had not been an active war when Progenitor Lu Tianyi had left the Champions’ Stage behind.
Lu Yin reluctantly returned the Champions’ Stage to Earth. It was too conspicuous to leave it sitting around in the Heavens Sect, and it was better to keep it hidden on Earth.
After testing the Champions' Stage out, Lu Yin called Liu Huang. If Lu Yin wanted to use his newly acquired power during his trip to the Perennial World, he needed to first get used to it. Liu Huang happened to be staying in the Heavens Sect instead of returning to Sword Mountain, and the swordsman was a perfect training partner.
"Attack you?" Liu Huang felt quite puzzled. "What sort of sword technique have you learned that you are hoping to test out, Dao Chosen?"
"Just attack me."
Liu Huang took out his sword and unleashed an attack without any hesitation. This sword slash was not one of the Thirteen Swords, but rather just an ordinary slash of his sword. Still, Liu Huang had a power level of over a million, which meant that any casual attack that he let loose could cut through the universe. Anyone who faced such an attack would feel an unprecedented sense of danger.
Liu Huang held nothing back against Lu Yin. After all, the young man had already proven himself when he had executed Semi-Progenitor Wang Si, so Liu Huang saw no reason to hold anything back.
As Liu Huang's sword slash approached him, Lu Yin's pupils transformed into runes. He saw endless runes gathering together in this sword slash, but as Lu Yin’s pupils constricted, the approaching runes quickly started to be erased. The influence of Truesight’s Infinity realm was completely different from the Clarity realm, and the number of runes that Lu Yin could influence was incomparable to before.
The Clarity realm of Truesight was only able to erase a portion of an attack’s runes, while the Infinity realm allowed a person to directly alter the attack’s runes. This difference meant that Lu Yin could seize control of the sword slash and redirect it. The slash shifted and moved past Lu Yin’s shoulder, slicing through the solar system.
Liu Huang was stunned, and he stared at Lu Yin in disbelief. "What is this?"
Lu Yin’s mouth curled upwards into a smile. He had tried to shift the approaching attack with the smallest amount of force possible. This was the power of Truesight’s Infinity realm. Any attack that Lu Yin saw could be seen as runes, and influencing those runes gave Lu Yin the ability to shift and redirect the attack instead of simply erasing it. This meant that Lu Yin could take control of any attacks launched against him.
If not for the difference in pure strength between Lu Yin and Liu Huang, Lu Yin would have tried to take complete control of the attack and redirect it against the swordsman instead of simply shifting it.
Even when facing an opponent with such a clear advantage in cultivation, Lu Yin was able to shift an attack, completely invalidating it.
This was the power of the Rune Progenitor and the fathomless ability of Truesight. This was an example of the miraculous power that the Rune Civilization had wielded.
"Again!" Lu Yin shouted.
Liu Huang's expression changed, and his sword slashed out again. This time, he used one of the Thirteen Swords, and the power of this attack completely eclipsed the first slash in both raw strength and speed.
Lu Yin was completely unable to evade this attack, and the attack landed and cut him before he was even able to use Truesight.
Liu Huang was shocked. "Dao Chosen!"
Lu Yin raised a hand. "I’m fine."
Liu Huang let out a sigh of relief, though he also felt quite frustrated. He had been known as the Sword Sect’s peerless genius. The fact that he had succeeded in creating the Fourteenth Sword had boosted his self-confidence, as had the fact that his mere existence had scared the Neoverse so badly that he had been secretly captured and imprisoned in Gaia's Swamp.
And yet, despite all that, Liu Huang felt that he could not compare to the young man in front of himself. This youth far, far surpassed the genius swordsman.
Just how talented was Lu Yin? What had he done to render Liu Huang’s attack so ineffective? Seeing the results of his own attack was too shocking to Liu Huang.
Lu Yin let out a slow breath. He had been lucky that he had put up some measure of defenses with the Knowing realm of Truesight, as otherwise, Liu Huang’s sword slash would have left him with terrible injuries.
The Thirteen Swords’ First Sword was simply too fast. When Lu Yin had first seen Liu Shaoqiu use it, the swordsman’s opponent had been eliminated before they could even see the attack. While the Infinity realm of Truesight gave Lu Yin the power to shift and redirect attacks, such an ability was useless if he was not fast enough to react to an attack.
"Let’s go again. Use the First Sword again," Lu Yin said.
Liu Huang nodded, and his sword flickered out. The Thirteen Swords’ First Sword shot out once more.
This time, a tiny figurine appeared on Lu Yin’s shoulder, and Lu Yin waved a hand when he saw Liu Huang’s sword move. The endless runes that belonged to the wax figurine swept out, and even though the sword slash was incredibly fast, the movements of the runes within Lu Yin’s perception could not escape his notice. He easily altered the direction of the attack this time, rendering the First Sword useless against him.
Liu Huang stared at what seemed like a little doll on Lu Yin's shoulder in surprise. What was that thing?
"Again!" Lu Yin yelled.
Liu Huang raised his sword.
Over the next three days, Lu Yin continued to test things out in a spar with Liu Huang, slowly familiarizing himself with the Infinity realm of Truesight.
While Lu Yin was testing his new limits, in the far distant Neoverse, Qing Ping received a response from the creeper who was a spy for humanity in the Astral Beast Domain. The beast had died.
This news quickly reached Lu Yin, and he immediately ended his spar with Liu Huang. Lu Yin’s expression was somber as he responded to the report, "Dead? How did it die?"
Qing Ping replied, "All we were able to find out is that the creeper’s dead. We weren’t given any details. If not for the creeper’s high status within its clan, we wouldn't have even learned of its death."
"Senior Brother, are you saying that the creeper’s death wasn’t deliberately reported to you?" Lu Yin tried to clarify.
"No. We have always paid attention to the most powerful species in the Astral Beast Domain, which is how we learned of the creeper’s death."
Lu Yin's eyes flickered. Given this information, it seemed possible that the creeper might not have died because it had been exposed as a spy for humans. It might have been killed because it had been investigating the humanoid sourceboxes.
In that case, did Skymender already know that Lu Yin was aware of that secret location?
This was something that Lu Yin had to get answers to. Those humanoid sourceboxes represented a hidden danger, and with the creeper dead, there was no one in the Astral Beast Domain who could investigate this matter. Lu Yin’s mind raced, but it seemed that his only option was to rely on his old methods and try to roll Possession on his die.
After all, he still had an absurd amount of star essence, and it was enough for Possession.
"I'm getting closer and closer to my breakthrough," Qing Ping sent.
Lu Yin replied, "I know. I’m hurrying to deal with a few matters as soon as possible."
As soon as Lu Yin finished the conversation, he returned to where he had gone into seclusion in the past. He raised a hand and brought out his die. His goal was to roll Possession and merge with the body of a powerhouse from the Astral Beast Domain. That was the fastest and most reliable method to uncover the Celestial Beast Empire’s secrets.
Lu Yin’s current strength meant that he should be able to Possess experts with power levels of at least a million.
He stared as the die slowly came to a stop. One pip. This was no surprise, as it was the most common roll.
Some useless item fell out, and Lu Yin quickly tapped the die again.
The second roll was Enhance, but the third roll landed on Possession.
Lu Yin’s eyes lit up as he entered the strange dark space with the orbs of light.
He saw balls of light in every direction, but all of them were dim. Some were so faded that they were practically invisible.
Given Lu Yin’s current level of strength, just how many living creatures in the universe were on the same level as him?
Lu Yin's consciousness roamed the dark space, but almost every orb that he saw was dim. Suddenly, he saw a single bright light, and he shot forward and merged into it without any hesitation. The longer he remained in that dark space, the more star essence he would burn through.
The next instant, darkness gave way to light. Lu Yin opened his eyes and saw that he was inside a large hall. It was extremely luxurious, but after seeing the new Heavens Sect, every other building that Lu Yin saw was inferior.
However, there was one thing in the hall that drew his attention. There were eyes carved into the stone in every direction. It felt as though anyone in the hall was being stared at by countless eyes.
Someone was kneeling in front of Lu Yin, and he looked down at the figure. Huh? Xu San?
Memories started to flood Lu Yin’s mind, and an odd expression appeared on his face. He had actually Possessed Ancestor Lingtong.
Ancestor Lingtong was one of the Sixth Mainland’s most talented geniuses. When he had been a World Imprinter, he had been considered invincible within his cultivation realm, and after he had broken through to become a Cosmic Imprinter, he had managed to expose one of the hidden Skygods. The man’s combat strength was considered superior to even an old Cosmic Imprinter like Ancestor Sightless.
Lu Yin had had dealings with Ancestor Lingtong before, primarily when he had secretly taken away the lesser giants from the Sixth Mainland during the war against the Astral Beast Domain when the Great Eastern Alliance had moved out to protect the Outerverse from invasion.
Ancestor Lingtong was also Xu San's master.
Lu Yin opened his eyes again and looked around, but what he saw was very different from his normal vision. Everything looked different. He looked back down at Xu San, and the man looked entirely different from before. Lu Yin could see Xu San’s body, meridians, and even his blood. This was the power of Ancestor Lingtong’s innate gift of Double Sight. It was no wonder how the man had discovered one of the Seven Skygods who had been in hiding.
Xu San was respectfully kneeling on the floor, his eyes darting about nervously. He had approached his master to request more resources. Xu San did not have enough star essence to meet his needs, and he had many underlings waiting for him. He had once been extremely extravagant in his spending, but he was currently broke.
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