Chapter 2446: The War Of Turtledove River
Nong Sanniang let out an audible sigh. Clutching her hoe, she trudged away from the field, heading in a specific direction.
Nong Lie plopped down into the muddy field and let out a groan. "Here we go again."
Lu Yin asked curiously, "What's going on?"
Nong Lie sighed. "It's our turn to chat with Big Face Tree."
Lu Yin's eyes lit up as he remembered his own interactions with the strange tree. The tree’s voice carried some kind of mysterious force that smashed the listeners’ minds like a sledgehammer. The tree had spoken to Lu Yin in the past, as well as Bai Xian'er.
Lu Yin had also met the tree while posing as Long Qi, and the tree had been the first to recognize that he was actually Lu Xiaoxuan.
"Does Big Face Tree know a lot of things?" Lu Yin asked.
Nong Lie nodded. "It knows a lot, but who can listen to it? Even Father can't."
Lu Yin glanced at Nong Ya, who had started working the field with an unpleasant expression on his face.
Nong Yi leaned on his hoe as he said, "Old people like to reminisce, and Big Face Tree is absolutely ancient. It often recounts the same old stories that we’ve already heard, but it never gets tired of repeating them."
The old man looked at Lu Yin. "You can go chat with it, if you want. For all you know, you might learn something useful."
Lu Yin considered the offer for a moment before putting away his hoe. "I'll go chat with it."
"Xue'er, take Lu Yin over," Nong Ya ordered.
Nong Lie's face lit up. "Father, why not let Lu Yin take my place?"
"Dream on. Go tend the crops," Nong Ya retorted.
"Yes…"
Lu Yin followed Bai Xue as she led the way toward Big Face Tree.
"It’s been a long time," Lu Yin greeted.
Bai Xue ran a hand through her hair. "It's been quite a while. You've changed."
"Do you want to stay with the Nong family from now on?" Lu Yin asked.
Bai Xue nodded. "It's nice here. The people lead simple lives."
Lu Yin did not try to keep the conversation going. It was not uncommon for close friends to grow apart. It was not because of any tension in their relationship; rather, their different perspective would only grow with time and cause them to drift apart.
Bai Xue had nothing to say and no way to relate to Lu Yin's current situation, while Lu Yin had no interest in bringing up the past just to bridge the gap between them.
"What happened to the person who came to Seed Garden with you last time?" Bai Xue suddenly asked.
Lu Yin was caught off guard. Person? Shang Qing? "Why ask about him?"
Bai Xue replied, "His eyes were special."
Lu Yin chuckled. There was no doubt about that, as Shang Qing had been quite attracted to Bai Xue. Still, a woman's intuition was quite scary. Shang Qing and Bai Xue had only met a single time in Seed Garden, but Bai Xue clearly still remembered him.
"He disappeared when Burial Garden closed," Lu Yin said.
"Oh." Bai Xue then fell silent.
They soon came face to face with Big Face Tree.
Nong Sanniang fled almost immediately, though not fast enough to avoid a tremendous amount of agony.
Bai Xue turned to Lu Yin. "Are you sure about this? I'm Big Face Tree's caretaker, and I’ve heard that even the family’s Progenitor can't endure a conversation with it for very long."
Taking a deep breath, Lu Yin stepped forward to approach Big Face Tree.
During his last visit, he had only heard the words "Third Mainland" before losing consciousness. This time, he wanted to carefully listen to what the tree had to say.
"Oh, little one, you've come to see me again! Uncle Tree is delighted! You're one of the few people who can listen to Uncle Tree's nagging for a bit. Come, let Uncle Tree tell you a bit more. We previously left off at the War of Turtledove River, right? Let's continue from there. There's a river that runs from east to west across the Third Mainland called Turtledove River…"
Each word Big Face Tree spoke pummeled Lu Yin’s brain with the force of a massive hammer. It was still insanely difficult to tolerate the tree’s words despite the incredible increase in Lu Yin's strength since his last visit. This was not just a spiritual force attack, as every word delivered a strange power that hammered at Lu Yin’s very soul.
Lu Yin gritted his teeth as he endured the pain. Despite the agony, he was able to handle Big Face Tree's words much better than before.
"And that was the War of Turtledove River, which buried half of the Third Mainland's Progenitors and broke the Mainland apart, splitting it into two pieces. It paved the way for the Third Mainland’s destruction. Speaking of the War of Turtledove River, it’s impossible to not mention one person: Progenitor Yōu Ming."
Lu Yin's head throbbed as his vision spun. He had no choice but to recite the Origin Progenitor's Sutra in order to deal with the pain.
As soon as the name "Progenitor Yōu Ming" was mentioned, Lu Yin’s eyes went wide.
Big Face Tree blinked, and its cheeks puffed out. "Oh, little one, are you suddenly interested? Then Uncle Tree will tell you the story of the War of Turtledove River again! There's a river that runs from east to west through the Third Mainland called Turtledove River…"
Lu Yin's mouth dropped. "Um, can you start from the part about Progenitor Yōu Ming?"
Big Face Tree continued to prattle on, not even hearing Lu Yin's request.
Every word continued to slam into Lu Yin's brain, and he only managed to endure the pain by mentally reciting the Origin Sutra.
"Speaking of the War of Turtledove River, it’s impossible to not mention one person: Progenitor Yōu Ming. She was a ruthless character, and it was she, not those monsters of Aeternus, who tore Turtledove River apart. At the cost of splitting the Third Mainland in twain, she single-handedly buried an ancient monster, achieving a remarkable victory rarely seen throughout the Human-Aeternus war. Although her victory practically broke the Third Mainland in two, it successfully forced Aeternus's forces back. Gu Yizhi was ecstatic, and he personally raised a toast to Progenitor Yōu Ming, lavishing her with praise. He generously imparted his complete cultivation method for spiritual force, which caused her to focus her cultivation around spiritual force. This ultimately led to the birth of the Impious Sutra."
Lu Yin was taken aback. "Is the Impious Sutra related to Gu Yizhi?"
"What did you say? The Impious Sutra? Oh, if one mentions the Impious Sutra, then we have to trace its origins back to the War of Turtledove River. There's a river that runs from east to west through the Third Mainland called Turtledove River…"
Lu Yin fled without any hesitation. He had reached his limits. Was Big Face Tree suffering from dementia?
Some distance away, Nong Sanniang and several others were watching, and they all looked quite impressed. It was rare for anyone to be able to listen to Big Face Tree for this long.
Even Nong Yi was amazed. "Even I find it hard to listen to it for so long."
Lu Yin had to ask, "Why do its words have such an effect? That’s not a battle technique or even spiritual force. Or rather, it’s not just spiritual force."
Nong Yi shook his head. "I don't know. Senior Lu Tianyi once came to study Big Face Tree, but he couldn't figure anything out either. Still, the tree knows about many things that have been lost to history. What did it talk to you about?"
"The Third Mainland’s war."
Nong Yi sympathized. "You’re quite unfortunate. Every time the tree sees you, it will recount the story of the Third Mainland’s war from beginning to end, and it will even mention some meaningless battles."
Lu Yin's face twitched. "How long will that take?"
"A very, very long time."
"Can I ask it any questions?"
"No."
Lu Yin sighed. Apparently, that was his fault. He should not have interrupted the tree, as every time he did so, Big Face Tree would restart from the very beginning.
He had automatically interrupted the tree, as what Lu Yin had heard had been too shocking. In the future, he needed to mentally prepare himself so that, no matter how shocking or unbelievable the story was, he would keep his mouth firmly shut.
"Do you want to keep listening?" Nong Yi asked.
Lu Yin nodded and said with firm determination, "It mentioned something that I'm quite interested in. As long as I keep listening, I'll be able to learn something important."
Nong Yi did not discourage him. "Then go ahead."
The Nong family members slowly drifted away, until only Bai Xue remained.
Lu Yin looked back towards Big Face Tree and then decided to take a break. He felt like he might be able to learn many secrets from Big Face Tree.
His wireless jincan vibrated. It was a message from Jiu Yao.
"I've checked. Altogether, your ten cities have 6 billion star essences," Jiu Yao transmitted over.
Lu Yin had asked Jiu Yao to check on his ten cities after learning about them from Nong Yi. Not a single person had mentioned anything to Lu Yin before that, and if he had not asked, all of the cities’ resources would have been taken by others.
"Only 6 billion star essences?" Lu Yin's expression fell.
Nong Yi had said that each city held an average of 10 billion star essences, but all ten of Lu Yin’s cities combined only had 6 billion.
"Yes, only 6 billion star essences. I found evidence of people trespassing underground. After inquiring, I learned that all the other cities hold far more star essence, so someone must have stolen what was there," Jiu Yao replied.
Lu Yin lowered his wireless jincan. There was no need for any guesses. Even if the four ruling powers did not directly steal the star essence, they must have tacitly approved of the theft. The cities had been allocated to Lu Yin’s name, so who else would have dared to touch what belonged to him?
The amount of resources in those ten cities would not be enough to tempt any of the four ruling powers themselves. Thus, they must have allowed others to do so. Moreover, many people had taken action, which made it impossible for Lu Yin to track down each and every thief.
Since the four ruling powers had given what belonged to Lu Yin to others, Lu Yin would be the one offending the people if he asked for anything to be returned. If he offended too many people, then not only would the four ruling powers retain their goodwill because of the gifts, but Lu Yin would also sow a grudge against them.
Bai Wangyuan and the other Progenitors were unlikely to be behind this, as this was the role of Semi-Progenitors like Xia Ziheng. Such people did not have as wide a perspective of the universe as a Progenitor.
Regardless of who was behind the theft, the four ruling powers had clearly taken advantage of Lu Yin. Did they really expect him to just let this matter go and eat the loss?
The primary purpose of his visit to the Perennial World was to gather enough star essence to repair the Origin Progenitor’s sword. Anyone who dared to lay a finger on his star essence must have grown tired of living.
He sent a message to Wang Wen, "I want to make some trouble for the four ruling powers, but I can't use brute force. Any ideas?"
Wang Wen replied, "Talk to Qiong Xi'er. She should already have some things planned out."
Lu Yin immediately reached out to Qiong Xi'er.
After receiving the message on her own wireless jincan, Qiong Xi'er's eyes started to blaze. "It’s time for us to take action? Then let the games begin! I can't wait to show them what it means to make money without spending a cent."
Lu Yin put his wireless jincan back down. He had no intention of leaving Seed Garden for the time being. He would stay here and listen to Big Face Tree. The matters involving the rest of the universe could be left to Qiong Xi'er and her team for the time being.
One day, chaos erupted in the Perennial World. This was not due to war, revenge, or a power struggle, but rather because the wireless jincans were malfunctioning.
For three years, the Fifth Mainland and the Perennial World had traded frequently with each other. The Perennial World had bought a large number of Void Wanderers, wireless jincans, and universal armor, as well as other goods from the Fifth Mainland.
These things were just too useful on the battlefield. Void Wanderers allowed cultivators of any strength to move through the void, and while the wireless jincans were unable to transmit images like communication crystals, they allowed their users to communicate across any distance. Furthermore, the messages sent through a wireless jincan were completely impossible to intercept, unlike communication crystals. These attractive features made them very popular among powerful families and sects.
As the value of wireless jincans continued to rise, more and more people in the Perennial World had abandoned communication crystals and switched over. Although three years was not a very long time, a significant number of people had already become accustomed to using wireless jincans.
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