Chapter 2453: The Same Person
Lu Yin asked once more, "Are you sure that you didn't see Nutjob Lu?"
Wang Fan replied, "I swear on my name that I didn't see him there."
Lu Yin looked back at Nutjob Lu. What was going on?
Nutjob Lu chuckled. "If you want to try to frame someone, then you shouldn’t forget about some evidence. Even fabricated evidence is better than nothing at all. Unfortunately, you can't compare to your old man. That brat Lu Qi was also raised under my watch. He was the biggest jerk that I've ever seen. At best, you’re only a little conniving."
"I want to see your Champions' Stage," Lu Yin said solemnly.
Nutjob Lu arched a brow. "It's in Ominion Temple. Do you have the courage to go there?"
"Yes," Lu Yin replied firmly. "I have a responsibility to confirm whether you're a Redback. However, you can't come with me."
Nutjob Lu’s lips curled upwards. "Fine, go take a look, but you should know that that Champions' Stage is stained with the blood of the Lu family."
Lu Yin left with Mu Xie while Bai Wangyuan and the others just watched.
"Let him go," Nutjob Lu told Progenitor Smoke. "This is your only chance to confront me. If he can't prove that I'm a Redback, don't bother me again."
Progenitor Smoke just stared at Nutjob Lu. She had never seen this man before, as he had always been imprisoned by the Lu family. Just who was he to the Lu family?
Lu Yin made his way to Ominion Temple, and then he followed a familiar path.
As he moved along, his path crossed Liquor Hero’s, and he took the seal from her.
When he arrived in the ramshackled courtyard, he saw the dusty Champions' Stage sitting in a corner. When Lu Yin had first felt Nutjob Lu’s hatred for him, it had come from this Champions’ Stage. Standing in the courtyard, Lu Yin also noticed the two deep marks on the ground. Had those been left by Lu Zhen when he had knelt there?
Lu Zhen had wanted to be Nutjob Lu's disciple, but he had failed.
Nutjob Lu harbored a deep hatred for the entire Lu family, and he had continuously sought their total annihilation. Ironically, Lu Zhen’s failure seemed to demonstrate the importance with which Nutjob Lu viewed the members of the Lu family. While both Nutjob Lu and Lu Zhen had betrayed the Lu family, the madman had never seen Lu Zhen as anything more than a lowly servant.
Aside from the Champions' Stage, there was nothing else in the entire courtyard. The house was also simple, and it contained nothing at all.
Lu Yin left Ominion Temple and returned to outer space.
"How did it go?" Progenitor Smoke asked.
Lu Yin shook his head and stared at Nutjob Lu. "I know that you're a Redback. I'll be watching you."
Nutjob Lu laughed. "I'll be watching you too, brat. Watch out, as if I catch you, I’ll skin you and hang your hide on my Champions' Stage."
This entire matter left Bai Wangyuan and the others feeling rather irritated. Lu Yin possessed no evidence, but he had still accused Nutjob Lu of being a Redback. How could he even prove it?
Lu Yin asked Wang Fan once more, "Are you absolutely certain that you didn't see Nutjob Lu?"
Wang Fan said, "I'm absolutely sure."
This discrepancy was not something that Lu Yin had expected. Although everyone here possessed different motives, Lu Yin had been quite confident that this would be a turning point. He had been betting on the scene where Wang Fan, Progenitor Hui, and Progenitor Tianyi had all been present, but why had Wang Fan never noticed Nutjob Lu?
Progenitor Smoke also looked quite irritated.
"What a waste of time," she said with a grunt before leaving.
The Progenitors from the four ruling powers and Mu Xie all left as well. Before leaving, Lu Yin’s senior brother reminded Lu Yin to remain wary of Nutjob Lu going forward. After meeting the madman in person, Mu Xie had become even more certain that Nutjob Lu possessed a terrifying level of strength. The ominion energy that he controlled was frighteningly profound.
Lu Yin returned to the Fifth Mainland. He already held the key to the treasury, so his next step was to enter the Lu Sanctum’s treasury.
While Lu Yin and the Progenitors had been confronting Nutjob Lu in outer space, Liquor Hero had gone and retrieved the key to the treasury from Qin Mountain, and Yu Chen had fled from the Celestial Frost Sect.
She had carefully chosen her timing and had made her escape precisely when the confrontation in outer space started.
By the time the confrontation ended, Yu Chen had already traveled a good distance from the Celestial Frost Sect. She then met up with two individuals, who were none other than Xia Shenji's clone and Liu Shaoge.
Xia Shenji's clone then led the other two along, and the three people soon arrived in the valley beneath the Wang family's floating continent. Once there, they waited to enter the Fifth Mainland.
Wang Yan noticed Yu Chen, but he did not pay much attention to her presence. The four ruling powers had a decent opinion of the woman through her reputation, and Wang Yan had even interacted with her directly on occasion.
However, just a short time later, Wang Yan received word that the Celestial Frost Sect was searching for Yu Chen. Apparently, she had stolen something important to the sect.
The patriarch found this rather strange, and he immediately assigned someone to keep an eye on Yu Chen. Wang Yan was ready to immediately capture the woman, but the decision no longer belonged to the Wang family alone; Skymender had been waiting in the valley for some time.
Yu Chen was trying to get to the Fifth Mainland, so it was possible that she wanted to seek refuge with Lu Yin. If the Wang family tried to capture her, they would likely be stopped by Skymender. Given the situation, it was better to have someone follow the three people into the Fifth Mainland. Once Yu Chen lowered her guard and separated from Skymender, it would be possible to take action. Furthermore, Wang Yan did not recognize either of Yu Chen’s companions.
After arriving in the Fifth Mainland, Skymender separated from the other three. The tracker that Wang Yan had dispatched was able to recognize Liu Shaoge, and he considered attacking. However, he decided to hold back out of fear of contracting the problem that haunted the Fifth Mainland’s stellular energy. More than a month passed, during which the man carefully followed Yu Chen and Liu Shaoge. Eventually, they arrived at the Shenwu Continent.
After they entered the Shenwu Continent, the tracker finally managed to get a clear view of Xia Shenji's clone. The man had never seen Xia Shenji before, so he simply shared a picture of the clone in his report to the Wang family.
Wang Yan had never expected to see Xia Shenji. After all, he had only casually sent someone to follow after Yu Chen.
At this point in time, more than a month had passed since Lu Yin’s return to the Fifth Mainland himself.
It was time for him to find the Lu Sanctum’s treasury.
He looked in the direction of the Shenwu Continent. Xia Shenji should have received word by this point in time, right?
Back in the Perennial World, Wang Zheng stared at the picture of Xia Shenji with a dumbfounded expression.
Xia Shenji? Why is he in the Fifth Mainland? And why is he with Yu Chen?
Wang Zheng felt that something about the matter was not right, and so he immediately reported the matter to Wang Fan. The Progenitor was also stunned. "Xia Shenji? Are you sure that he's with someone from the Celestial Frost Sect? And they both went to the Fifth Mainland?"
"I'm sure. This image was sent to us by the tracker we sent," Wang Zheng replied.
Wang Fan chuckled. "If that man really is Xia Shenji, would anyone that you sent be capable of tracking him?"
Wang Zheng also thought it was quite odd. "Could the person be using a disguise?"
Suddenly, Wang Fan remembered something, and he quickly ordered Wang Zheng to also send the images of Yu Chen and Liu Shaoge over. With those, the Progenitor went straight to speak with Bai Wangyuan.
Bai Wangyuan had never expected Yu Chen to be with someone disguised as Xia Shenji. "Something about this is not right. Why would anyone disguise themselves as Xia Shenji and then go to the Fifth Mainland? Wouldn’t they be afraid of Lu Xiaoxuan finding them? If Lu Xiaoxuan discovered that Xia Shenji went to the Fifth Mainland, he would never let the matter slide. The fact that your people were able to track this person also indicates that they're not very powerful."
"It could have been intentional," Wang Fan suggested.
After discussing things a bit longer, they settled upon a possible theory. Then, they decided to clarify the situation with Xia Shenji himself. If they were right, then it would explain Xia Shenji's recent abnormal behavior.
When Xia Shenji saw the images of Liu Shaoge, Yu Chen, and his own face, his expression fell. "Where did they go?"
"Brother Xia, you need to first explain this matter to us," Wang Fan said.
Xia Shenji hesitated.
Bai Wangyuan frowned. "We already have a rough idea. Is this related to Prison Lock?"
Xia Shenji looked towards the Upper Realm, specifically towards where the Lu Sanctum had once stood. "It's him."
"Didn't you say that he was dead?" Bai Wangyuan questioned.
Wang Fan also spoke up, "Back then, we agreed to sacrifice that person and release Prison Lock in order to keep the Lu Sanctum trapped. I never thought that you would go back on your word."
Xia Shenji replied curtly, "As I said at the time, there was no need to sacrifice him. With Prison Lock’s power, simply keeping him imprisoned is enough to ensure that the Lu Sanctum remains trapped. The results have proven themselves; the Lu Sanctum has never managed to break free from Prison Lock."
"Do you realize how risky this is?" Wang Fan was quite upset. "As soon as Prison Lock lacks the power to keep the Lu family trapped in their exile, everything will be over."
Xia Shenji was unconcerned. "So? Will the Lu family start a war with us? There's no point in discussing this now, as everything has already happened. Regardless, he didn't die, and there’s no need for him to. I want him to become one of my nine clones again."
Bai Wangyuan and Wang Fan exchanged glances, their expressions grim.
They both understood quite clearly why Xia Shenji had kept this particular clone alive; it was to protect himself against the two of them. Having less than the full nine clones was a weakness, as sacrificing even one clone would significantly impact Xia Shenji’s strength. However, each of them had paid their own steep price. They could only curse Xia Shenji for his greed to cling to as many gains as possible by keeping the clone alive.
It was no wonder why the clone had fled, and it was also no wonder why Xia Shenji had been chasing after the clone for more than three years.
"This is not the time to settle old scores. Tell me, where did my clone go? Since you saw it, you must know where it is," Xia Shenji demanded from Wang Fan.
Wang Fan's eye twitched. "Your clone went to the Fifth Mainland."
"The Forsaken Land?" Xia Shenji grew puzzled. "He went there with Yu Chen and someone named Liu Shaoge. Did they join up with Lu Xiaoxuan's people?"
"No, my people never saw them trying to make contact with Lu Xiaoxuan," Wang Fan said.
Bai Wangyuan chimed in, "That actually makes things even worse. No matter how weak your clone might be, it still possesses the strength to rival a Semi-Progenitor. How could some tracker from the Wang family be able to keep up? Lu Xiaoxuan must be using them as bait to lure you into the Fifth Mainland.
“Three years ago, your mysterious injuries were caused by this clone, weren’t they?"
Xia Shenji had also come to the same conclusion. "Lu Xiaoxuan wants to lure me to the Fifth Mainland. He’s scheming against me, which is understandable, but he greatly underestimates me. I need to go and retrieve that clone."
"Lu Xiaoxuan is no fool. If he’s trying to lure you to the Fifth Mainland, then he must be prepared," Bai Wangyuan said.
Wang Fan agreed, "That's true. Based on what we know of Lu Xiaoxuan, he won’t do anything without being confident of the final outcome."
Xia Shenji replied, "If I told you that that clone is able to detect Prison Lock, would you still tell me that I shouldn't go?"
Both Bai Wangyuan and Wang Fan were shocked. "He’s able to sense Prison Lock? What does that mean?"
Xia Shenji's expression turned grim. "Did you really believe that I kept him imprisoned for all these years simply because I couldn't bear to let one of my clones die? The truth is that I’ve been using him to trace the location of the Lu family. Even after all these years, the Lu family has yet to be annihilated. I know this for a fact, because…" His voice dropped low. "Prison Lock still exists."
Bai Wangyuan and Wang Fan's expressions changed. This news was not good at all.
"Are you certain?" Bai Wangyuan asked, "Brother Xia, this is not something that you can joke about. If the Lu family is really still alive, and Lu Xiaoxuan manages to pinpoint their location and bring them back, then there will be terrible trouble—not just for us, but for everyone. The Lu family is not easy to deal with."
Xia Shenji shrugged. "I don’t want to believe it either, and I hope that he's just lying to me, but that’s precisely why we need to capture him and determine the truth."
"I'll go with you," Wang Fan stated.
Bai Wangyuan spoke up as well. "I'll go too."
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