Chapter 2174: Water Bag
Kui Luo had become hated by many people and even the four ruling powers because he would uncover secrets and spread vicious rumors, which was certainly despicable. This had provoked the four ruling powers into trying to hunt Kui Luo down and kill him.
In contrast, the master of Hope Restaurant was entirely different, as no one dared to antagonize the man.
Lu Yin had to admire the man, as this was quite an impressive feat. The man’s fear of failing his stellular tribulation to become a Progenitor actually gave him a status that allowed him to restrain the full power of the four ruling powers. It was even more effective manner than if he had actually succeeded in becoming a Progenitor. After all, Progenitors needed to make their way into the Dominion Realm and fight against the powerhouses of Aeternus. Instead, this master of Hope Restaurant was free to remain in the Middle Realm and act however he wished.
Furthermore, Kui Luo’s comment was very worrying to Lu Yin. If Virtue Archives gained the support of a Progenitor, then would they really rise up to stand on the same level as the four ruling powers? The Nong family, the Liu family, and Specter Abyss were all being carefully monitored by the four ruling powers, despite having their own Progenitors. There were many affairs that the Perennial World’s Progenitors were not allowed to interfere with, and this meant that Virtue Archives had the greatest freedom beneath the Progenitor realm.
On top of that, Ancestor Bei had recently learned that Virtue Archives was cooperating with the four ruling powers. This meant that there was another organization that could approach the other families openly, visit the Dominion Realm, the rear battlefield, and the Lower Realm.
Lu Yin considered his options again, and he realized that going to Virtue Archives might be an ideal choice. It was right in the middle of the muddy waters that flowed throughout the Perennial World, and by entering that place, Lu Yin just might be able to discern who was an enemy and who was a potential ally.
As Lu Yin’s mind was racing, a deafening roar rang out, shattering the sky. The endless sea waters rose up and filled the entire sky. Far away, Ancestor Bei’s expression changed drastically as he did his best to stop the approaching tsunami. Soon, both the coastline and the nearby islands would be dragged underwater.
After the last of Palm of Thousand Skies disappeared, Lu Yin looked over, only to see that his senior brother looked quite drained. It had not been easy for Qing Ping to deal with Wan Zhiyi's attack, though that attack had most likely not been from Wan Zhiyi’s peak, but rather from when he had just become a Semi-Progenitor.
Wan Zhiyi had been a truly incredible powerhouse who had arrived at the very cusp of the Progenitor realm. Everyone who had known him had believed that he would become a Progenitor. He had been even more powerful than Great Elder Ni Huang, and Ni Huang was someone with the strength to compare to the gatemasters of the Twelve Heavenly Gates.
"Back when the Lu family was still around, Wan Zhiyi qualified to be treated as an equal by Progenitors, and yet this person just destroyed Wan Zhiyi’s Palm of Thousand Skies. This is a truly shocking level of combat power, but the tribulation hasn’t finished yet," the white-robed old man commented.
Right after he finished speaking, a drop of water appeared within the vortex of the stellular tribulation. The sight of it left everyone confused.
Lu Yin's heart skipped a beat—water? He instantly thought of the spring water that he had seen during the trial to inherit one of the Mountains and Seas, but this could not be the same. That water was one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas’ inherited battle techniques.
"That isn’t water," Progenitor Smoke replied, a strange expression on her face.
Kui Luo stared at the growing drop of water. "It really does seem to not be water."
The nearby old man took a hard look at Progenitor Smoke for a moment. "It truly isn’t water, but rather someone’s inner world. It’s a bizarre inner world that belonged to a very strange individual."
An inner world? Lu Yin felt rather confused. This was water, but not actually water. It looked like water, but was actually an inner world?
"Old Man Bu Dai?" Kui Luo exclaimed, looking at the old man in white robes.
The old man nodded solemnly. "That's right. This inner world belonged to Old Man Bu Dai. It looks like water, but it is not. It’s an inner world that can trap people until they die."
"This is a problem. So he actually has to deal with this sort of irritating inner world during his tribulation?" An ugly expression appeared on Kui Luo's face.
Lu Yin had a sinking feeling. "Old man, what's going on?"
Kui Luo answered quietly, "Old Man Bu Dai was a strange powerhouse who appeared in the Perennial World. He spent his entire life studying how to capture and trap people. Ever since he first started cultivating, any time he got in a fight, he would only try to capture or trap his opponent. Whether his opponents were able to survive depended entirely on whether they were able to escape from his traps. As his strength grew, his traps became more and more terrifying. When he was a peak Envoy, he actually killed a Semi-Progenitor by trapping them."
Lu Yin's pupils shrank. "He killed a Semi-Progenitor?"
While it was easy to talk about Envoys who were capable of fighting against Semi-Progenitors, just how many people had reached such an impressive level of combat strength throughout all of time?
It was something that was beyond Kui Luo’s abilities. While Lu Yin did not know if Lu Buzheng or any of the other ancient gatemasters of the Twelve Heavenly Gates had been able to accomplish this feat, those twelve were supposed to be the most powerful Semi-Progenitors alive. They were supposed to be practically guaranteed to become Progenitors when the time came, and they represented the best of an entire generation.
In the current era, the Fifth Mainland only had Qing Ping and Tian Dou as peak Envoy Realmbreakers. Such a thing was far too difficult for anyone else to contemplate without appropriate power vessels.
However, all of that only took the ability to fight against a Semi-Progenitor into account, and it said nothing about victory, let alone killing a Semi-Progenitor.
The fact that Old Man Bu Dai had actually successfully executed a Semi-Progenitor as a mere peak Envoy was something that defied imagination. Regardless of how weak a Semi-Progenitor might be, simply possessing an inner world placed such experts on a completely different level.
Lu Yin had been confident that he could execute Wang Si after she had been crippled and was no longer technically a Semi-Progenitor due to her destroyed inner world. But without that handicap, Lu Yin would have struggled terribly against the woman, even with all of his power vessels and treasures.
There was a qualitative difference between an Envoy and a Semi-Progenitor.
"Upon becoming a Semi-Progenitor, Old Man Bu Dai’s inner world took on the appearance of a water bag. His most impressive feat throughout his entire life was when he once captured three Aeternus Semi-Progenitors at the same time. Three of the Twelve Marquises were sent to kill the man, but he managed to defeat them all. It’s just too bad that he failed to open his three meridian points as an Enlighter or an Envoy, which prevented him from ever becoming a Progenitor. If not for that, there’s no way he would have died so easily," Kui Luo explained.
Lu Yin stared at his senior brother Qing Ping. The drop of water above the man’s head continued to grow, and it looked as though it would devour the entire world.
"Senior Brother! Don't get caught!" Lu Yin could not stop himself from sending Qing Ping a warning through a voice transmission. Lu Yin made sure that the old man in white robes heard nothing, as it was best to keep his relationship with Qing Ping a secret.
Unfortunately, Lu Yin’s warning changed nothing, as Qing Ping was still trapped. It was impossible for him to leave the range of the stellular tribulation, which meant that it was impossible for him to escape the drop of water. No, it was actually a bag of some sort that encompassed an inner world that would trap all who fell into it.
At this moment, Qing Ping was like a fish swimming around within a bag of water.
Lu Yin started to get nervous. While the water bag that had appeared should not be a manifestation from when Old Man Bu Dai had been powerful enough to trap three Semi-Progenitors, which would be impossible for Qing Ping to escape from, this was still a manifestation of an inner world that had been used to trap and kill Semi-Progenitors. This would be an incredibly difficult challenge to overcome.
Qing Ping kept attacking in all directions in an attempt to break free, but everything that he did proved useless. At worst, the bag bulged where the attacks landed, but it showed no signs of breaking.
"The power of a stellular tribulation is determined by the energy reserves of the person facing the tribulation. This man must have an absurd amount of stellular energy in his body, as there’s no other way for a manifestation of Old Man Bu Dai to appear. He was famous for being able to outlast anyone when it came to endurance. Not even the Lu family was able to compare to him," the white-robed old man commented.
Lu Yin's eyes twitched. As he thought, the strength of a stellular tribulation was determined by one’s energy reserves. If this was the tribulation that Lu Yin’s senior brother induced, Lu Yin did not even want to imagine what his own would look like.
Lu Yin had gone through a few stellular tribulations while traveling through time and space within the Daosource Sect’s main hall, but those tribulations had all been small and weak. He had easily passed all of them with the help of some power vessels. However, what would his sixth tribulation look like? Or worse, his breakthrough to become a Semi-Progenitor? Lu Yin started to panic slightly, as watching Qing Ping trying to break free from the water trap almost felt like Lu Yin was staring at his own future.
"It’s a very interesting inner world," Progenitor Smoke complimented, her eyes bright as she watched the tribulation play out. "While it’s not as dense as my own, it’s sturdier than any of the other ones that were difficult to deal with in my era. Unfortunately, the attack power is lacking, as otherwise this would be on the same level as Xia Shang’s."
The white-robed old man was badly startled when he heard this comment. "Wasn’t Progenitor Chen’s name Xia Shang?"
Lu Yin calmly replied, "It’s a different Xia Shang."
The old man in white robes stared at Progenitor Smoke, but he said nothing.
Lu Yin quickly sent a sound transmission to Progenitor Smoke, asking her to be careful with her words. They were in the Perennial World, and many details from the Daosource Sect era were still remembered by the experts here. The knowledge of this place far surpassed the Fifth Mainland.
Progenitor Smoke ignored Lu Yin, intending to say whatever she wished.
Lu Yin could do nothing about the woman.
They watched as Qing Ping continued to attack the manifestation of the inner world, attempting all different kinds of battle techniques. Nothing managed to pierce through the trap, and even the blood-red bell proved useless. Time passed, and Lu Yin started to worry that some of the Semi-Progenitors from the four ruling powers would take notice of what was happening, and it would be troublesome if any of those people recognized Qing Ping.
This was not Qing Ping’s first visit to the Perennial World, and on his first visit, he had completely overwhelmed all of his peers. Even the Lu family’s descendants of that era had been no match for Lu Yin’s senior brother.
"It looks like he can’t break free." The old man in white robes shook his head sadly.
Kui Luo frowned. "Hey, old man. Let’s make a bet!. I bet that he’ll absolutely break out."
"If he breaks free, then he breaks free. What’s the point of betting on it?" the old man retorted.
A disturbing smile appeared on Kui Luo’s face. "You just said that he won’t be able to break free, while I say that he will. If you win, I’ll answer any question you ask, and if you lose, hehe, you’ll owe me a favor."
The old man in white robes just shook his head. "In that case, I bet that he’ll be able to break free."
Lu Yin was speechless at the exchange. This old man really did seem to be Kui Luo's nemesis.
Far away, Qing Ping let out a long breath. Even if there was no threatening attack from this inner world manifestation, it really did seem capable of keeping him trapped forever. The energy of the inner world even circulated internally, which prevented any of its stellular energy from being wasted or consumed. Qing Ping had no idea who this inner world belonged to, but he definitely wanted to meet them.
His mind continued to churn even as a set of scales appeared beneath his feet that then started to spread out. The scales shot straight through the edge of the inner world, piercing through it like a needle and continuing out into the sky.
The old man in the white robes was stunned. "He really broke free?"
Kui Luo felt frustrated that the old man had not agreed to a bet, as Kui Luo would have won. He had been utterly certain in Qing Ping’s victory.
Old Man Bu Dai had trapped a Semi-Progenitor until they died only because that was all that the man had been capable of doing. He had lacked the combat strength to directly fight against a Semi-Progenitor, but he had been determined and ruthless.
"Congratulations, sir, on successfully becoming a Semi-Progenitor." The white-robed old man smiled at Qing Ping. "Do you have any interest in becoming Virtue Archives’ dean?"
Qing Ping glanced over at the old man, but then he ignored him and looked back up. The stellular tribulation was not finished yet. If it were that easy to pass, Qing Ping would feel like all his years of efforts to improve himself had been wasted.
Qing Ping’s reaction caught the old man off guard, and he also looked upwards at the stellular tribulation’s vortex. "It's still not over? How is that possible? He just faced Old Man Bu Dai’s inner world. What other Envoy could break free from that? That should already have guaranteed that he successfully passed his tribulation. How could this not be the end?"
On the other hand, Lu Yin was not at all surprised. He had come close to death during his tribulation to become an Envoy, and he had consumed all of his energy reserves. Qing Ping clearly had not reached that point yet, as he had not gone all out. At the very least, he still had his visualization method, secret techniques, and battle techniques from Mister Mu.
Lu Yin was very curious to find out what sort of battle techniques his senior brother had received from Mister Mu. After all, it could not be the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation, so could Qing Ping have been given Origin Tracer?
More cultivators arrived from the distance, but these four new arrivals were not ordinary cultivators, but instead all Envoys.
Envoys were not common in the vast Middle Realm, or else the Bei family would have never been able to control an entire city with just Ancestor Bei’s strength. Qing Ping’s stellular tribulation had created quite a large commotion, but the ripples did not spread out as far as Lu Yin had anticipated. He had thought that they would need to deal with one of the four ruling powers’ Semi-Progenitors.
The tribulation’s vortex erupted, startling everyone watching. Lu Yin had no idea how far the deafening sound traveled, but he would not have been surprised if it had reached the people in the Higher Realm.
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