Chapter 2288: Naive
Lu Yin's pupils fluctuated wildly, and an intense bloodlust erupted in the depths of his eyes as he unconsciously started clenching his fists.
Xia Xing softly said, "Their guess was spot on. You are here, and this can indeed lure you out as you want to take care of this personally."
The sect master then turned to leave. Lu Yin’s eyes shot over to the man’s back. "The blood you just got is fake."
Xia Xing froze for a moment before he whirled around and angrily glared at Lu Yin. "Fake?"
Lu Yin calmly answered, "Fake."
"You!" Xia Xing was absolutely furious.
Lu Yin frowned. "You can’t possibly believe that the information you just gave me is worth that much of Progenitor Chen’s blood, do you? This isn’t even news. Even without you telling me a thing, the entire Perennial World will learn of it any day now. Since Shenwu's Sky wants to lure me out, how could they not make this as well known as possible? Not to mention, you just told me yourself that they’re going to claim to use the blood of the Lu family to wash the entire Perennial World of their crimes."
Xia Xing gritted his teeth. "What would be enough for you to give me Progenitor Chen's real blood?"
Lu Yin stared at the man. "Save my people. Save the survivors of the Lu family."
"That’s impossible. Lu Xiaoxuan, it's not even that I don't want to, but rather that I quite literally cannot. You must be joking if you think that those survivors of the Lu family can be saved from Shenwu's Sky," Xia Xing said.
Lu Yin replied, "If you’re worried about Xia Ziheng, then I can get him to come here so that you have a chance."
"I just told you that it's impossible! If I try to do this, everyone will immediately know that I was the culprit. I won't do it!" Xia Xing was not stupid, and he bluntly refused.
Killing intent lit up Lu Yin's eyes. "If you won't do it, then you’ll die with them!"
Xia Xing had a headache, and his voice betrayed his helplessness and bitterness at this moment. "Lu Xiaoxuan, I’m worth much more to you than this! Why bother trying to save the members of the Lu family? They’re already worthless, and I can promise you that they’ve already been ruined. Some of them might be Envoys, but their stellular energy vortices have all been broken. They’re crippled for the rest of their lives! They’re trash now. They aren’t worth you sacrificing yourself for them."
"You don’t get to decide their worth!" Lu Yin's expression grew ugly. Hearing his family being called trash made his heart quiver. How badly had these people suffered over the years? He immediately thought of Tu Qiming, Wan Sen, and Zhou Tang, who had been sent to the New World. There was the All-Dao family’s ancestor, Wan Zhiyi. The old servant who had cared for Lu Xiaoxuan who had died in Lu Yin’s arms. The people in Crimson Garden who had been driven insane. There were also the survivors of his Lu family who were going to be killed in hopes of luring Lu Yin out. They were all yearning for his return.
Lu Yin would not abandon any of his family’s people.
Compared to his own people, what was Xia Xing worth?
Xia Xing saw the determination in Lu Yin’s eyes, and he regretted sharing the information with the young man. Not only had the sect master failed to get the Progenitor Chen’s blood that he wanted, but he had also been dragged into Lu Xiaoxuan’s mess.
"You’re still thinking about it."
"There’s nothing to think about. If you don’t save them, you’ll die."
"Lu Xiaoxuan, I thought that you had changed, but shockingly, you’re still as naive as in the past. You used to be just naive, but you’ve since become both stubborn and naive."
Xia Xing was much older than the Seven Heroes, and he had essentially watched the Seven Heroes grow up and become famous. Of course he had known and interacted with Lu Xiaoxuan on multiple occasions. He had simply been a naive child who had been impossible to control, which was why his death had been decided upon.
Lu Yin stared at Xia Xing. "If you are innocent, then prove yourself innocent. If members of my Lu family die, I will bury the four ruling powers with me!"
Xia Xing sighed and thought about the situation for a while. "You’ve lost your memories, and you can't even recognize any of the surviving members of the Lu family. It doesn't really matter if they’re actually members of the Lu family or not."
The man’s eyes lit up as he spoke. "Isn’t that right? It really doesn't matter."
Xia Xing looked over at Lu Yin. "I’ll find a way to save the people from the Lu family, but I can't give them to you, and you can't save them. They’ll remain imprisoned here in Shenwu's Sky. So if you’re determined to save them, your only option will be to wait for a chance in the future."
Lu Yin considered the proposal. "Fine, we’ll do it your way. I’ll find a way to save them in the future."
As he spoke, he stared at Xia Xing. "I may have lost my memories and not be able to recognize people from my Lu family, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t others who can. You better not lie to me, or else I’ll do everything in my power to kill you."
Xia Xing took a deep breath. "You don't need to worry about that."
He glanced down at Lu Yin's cosmic ring. "And Progenitor Chen's blood?"
"I'll give it to you when this task is completed, and I promise to give you the real blood. After all, you’ll still have my family members imprisoned and under your control," Lu Yin replied.
Xia Xing nodded, turned around, and left.
Lu Yin stared at the man’s back. Was it true that Xia Xing had no way to save the imprisoned members of the Lu family? Not necessarily, but Lu Yin could not force the matter. Those people were Xia Xing's bargaining chip that he could use to threaten Lu Yin. He was trying to force Lu Yin to give him Progenitor Chen's real blood.
This was an unforeseen complication. Lu Yin had not expected the Xia family to execute all of the surviving members of the Lu family, and this had forced him under Xia Xing’s thumb. Still, it did not matter. There would eventually be a way to save everyone. As long as Yu Hao was not revealed to actually be Lu Yin, it would be possible to threaten Xia Xing with death.
Everything was something to consider in the future. For the moment…
Lu Yin's expression fell, and he sent a voice transmission to Wu Yao, who was still just outside the valley.
Wu Yao’s eyes snapped open. A message from Yu Hao? Why was the young man reaching out to Wu Yao?
Lu Yin sent a voice transmission to Wu Yao, but he only spoke a few sentences. "Shenwu’s Sky wrongfully accused the Celestial Frost Sect of kidnapping Xia Xing's clone. Wang Zheng and Long Ke have been hidden in the Cloudforest Tower. Ask your sect master to deal with this as quickly as possible."
Wu Yao's expression instantly changed. What is Yu Hao doing? Shenwu's Sky wrongly accused my Celestial Frost Sect? Isn’t he a part of Shenwu's Sky? Why give me this information about Shenwu's Sky? What is he trying to do? Are my previous assumptions actually wrong?
Wu Yao could not understand what was going on. He wanted to enter the valley and speak with Yu Hao direction, but he was prevented from doing so by Semi-Progenitor Chai and Mr. Yu. Each of the Semi-Progenitors was present to stop any of the others from approaching and poaching Yu Hao, so how could they allow Wu Yao to speak to the young man alone?
They had already agreed that each of them would only have a single opportunity to speak with Yu Hao alone, and Wu Yao had already used his chance.
Wu Yao frowned and stared at the valley. Who was Yu Hao really? Why send such a message to him?
Also, why did Shenwu's Sky want to frame the Celestial Frost Sect? Did Semi-Progenitor Chai and Mr. Yu know about this matter?
Wu Yao wanted to try to learn something from the two men’s expressions, but he could not see anything at all on their faces.
Shortly after they stopped Wu Yao from entering the valley, Xia Ziheng went to speak with Semi-Progenitor Chai alone.
Wu Yao saw the two men meet, and the message that he had just received from Yu Hao instantly reappeared in his mind. Had Shenwu's Sky already started to enact their plan?
Some time later, an expressionless Semi-Progenitor Chai returned to his previous location.
Right after that, Xia Ziheng went to see Mr. Yu. After some time, Mr. Yu also returned without showing any expression.
As for Wu Yao, Xia Ziheng did not go meet with the man, which left Wu Yao even more convinced that Yu Hao had spoken the truth.
However, there was no mention of Xia Xing’s clone being in the Cloudforest Tower, so how would Shenwu's Sky frame the Celestial Frost Sect?
Could they have something more planned?
Wu Yao’s suspicions prevented him from being able to sit still. He needed to be sure that Shenwu's Sky was truly doing what Yu Hao had claimed, but while he wanted to send a message to Yu Hao, Semi-Progenitor Chai and the other Semi-Progenitors would not allow it.
Yu Hao was allowed to send messages to anyone, but the Semi-Progenitors were not allowed to respond. This had been agreed upon to prevent anyone from stealing Yu Hao away.
This was something that Wu Yao had agreed to because he had felt that it protected his Celestial Frost Sect’s interests from the other powers. But at this moment, it was hindering Wu Yao.
Desperate, Wu Yao decided to reveal what he knew to Semi-Progenitor Chai and Mr. Yu. He would tell them the truth, as he did not want his Celestial Frost Sect to be forced to respond to others’ actions.
Regardless of Shenwu's Sky’s intentions, whatever they did would harm the Celestial Frost Sect. In that case, it would be best to expose the truth and unite with the Semi-Progenitors of the other two families. Wu Yao did not believe that Shenwu's Sky would dare to move against them all.
"What are you saying? That everything is part of Shenwu's Sky's plan?" Mr. Yu's constant smile had disappeared, and surprise and suspicion instead covered his face.
Semi-Progenitor Chai stared at Wu Yao. "Do you believe that saying this can erase all suspicions directed at your Celestial Frost Sect? We already suspected that Xia Xing and others had been kidnapped by your Celestial Frost Sect, and while the information that we obtained from the rear battlefield proved that the Seven Skygods were behind everything, that was the only information that we ever received on the matter. There has been absolutely no evidence of the Seven Skygods’ involvement. Now, you’re trying to push everything onto Shenwu's Sky? Are you now trying to tell us that you were lying when you claimed that Forgotten Ruins God was the culprit?"
Wu Yao sighed. "When we made that accusation, we truly did believe that Forgotten Ruins God was the one behind the kidnappings. We were able to exclude the three of you, which left only the Aeternals. After all, Forgotten Ruins God did appear in the Yinshan District around that time, but we were never able to find any further evidence of any of the Seven Skygods."
"That isn’t enough to accuse Shenwu's Sky of being behind everything. What is your evidence?" Mr. Yu asked.
Wu Yao replied, "You believe my Celestial Frost Sect to just be making wild accusations without any evidence. If we can be responsible for Bai Teng's disappearance, as well as Xia Xing's, then why not Shenwu's Sky?"
"Xia Xing went to the Middle Realm to see Yu Hao," Semi-Progenitor Chai replied.
Wu Yao's eyes grew cold. "If-"
He instantly stopped himself. If he told these two men that Yu Hao was a fake, they would change their behavior regarding Yu Hao, while the person impersonating Yu Hao had already promised to join the Celestial Frost Sect. If the other two men learned the truth about Yu Hao, they would change their recruitment tactics, and the Celestial Frost Sect could lose their advantage.
Even if it was highly likely that Yu Hao was a member of the Xia family, the young man had also deliberately informed Wu Yao about Shenwu's Sky's plan to frame the Celestial Frost Sect, which had confused Wu Yao. His sect could not afford to lose this freakish genius whom they had thought they had already recruited. Yu Hao could not be allowed to be taken by either the Wang family or the White Dragon Clan.
After all, even if Yu Hao was not really Grandmaster Gu Yan’s apprentice, everything else that Wu Yao had concluded was nothing more than speculation. It was not as if there was no one apart from members of the Xia family who used Progenitor Chen's saber style. That blade was not conclusive proof that the man posing as Yu Hao was really from Shenwu's Sky.
"‘If’ what?" Semi-Progenitor Chai stared at Wu Yao.
Wu Yao considered his response for a bit. "If Shenwu's Sky intentionally made Xia Xing’s clone disappear, then anything is plausible."
Semi-Progenitor Chai and Mr. Yu glanced at each other. They had both just been visited by Xia Ziheng, who had told them both that Wang Zheng and Long Ke might be in the Celestial Frost Sect’s Cloudforest Tower, while Wu Yao was telling them that everything was being orchestrated by Shenwu's Sky. They simply did not know who to trust.
The truth was that, if Wu Yao exposed Yu Hao’s fake identity, the two Semi-Progenitors would likely believe Wu Yao. After all, seeing was believing. Things would change if Wang Zheng and Long Ke were actually found in the Cloudforest Tower, but Wu Yao kept this matter hidden.
He was clinging to the slight hope that the person posing as Yu Hao was not actually part of Shenwu's Sky, as it would allow the Celestial Frost Sect to recruit a true genius, especially since they knew that he was an impostor. Wu Yao was in a better position than the other two Semi-Progenitors when it came to recruiting Yu Hao, but even then, the possibility of Yu Hao not being a member of Shenwu’s Sky was incredibly small.
Life presented many choices to people, and Wu Yao chose to temporarily keep a bit of information hidden.
It was impossible for Semi-Progenitor Chai and Mr. Yu to completely believe Wu Yao's accusation regarding Shenwu's Sky. They were actually far more willing to believe that the Celestial Frost Sect was the guilty party, as the Celestial Frost Sect was too overbearing towards the other three ruling powers.
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