Chapter 2558: The Truth
Luo Lao'er was stunned by the unexpected demand. "The Three Monarchs Universe?"
"Hurry!" ‘Tu Shuangshuang’ shouted sternly.
Luo Lao'er's heart nearly leaped from his chest. He cried, "We’re in the Sixverse Academy! Space here has been stabilized, so I- I can't open the passage. I can only do that from outer space."
Lu Yin frowned. Outer space? Moving there would draw the attention of those old guys.
Suddenly, his expression shifted. They had already noticed. In that case... He grabbed Luo Lao'er and condensed his spiritual force to form what looked like colorful bubbles. The bubbles revolved around his disguised form before tearing through the void. Without taking any measures to hide his presence, he stepped into the open.
"Sure enough, something happened. Bubble Fantasys?" Shi Jiao exclaimed in shock. She swung her stone cudgel.
As the woman attacked, endless cudgels morphed into hands that shot downwards towards her opponent. This was Shi Jiao’s inner world.
From another direction, both You Teng and Zhi Bing appeared at the same time. One released a white-colored energy that had the strength of a Semi-Progenitor, while the other vanished into the void, concealing his killing intent.
Still disguised as Tu Shuangshuang, Lu Yin stared at Shi Jiao. "Get lost."
As he spoke, blue energy filled the area around him, and he threw a palm strike upwards to clash with Shi Jiao's inner world.
Normally, blue energy from an energy converter would be suppressed by an inner world, but Lu Yin's attack was only repelled. Bubbles appeared in front of Shi Jiao, and as they popped, they released their true form as spiritual force that relentlessly assaulted the woman.
If Tu Shuangshuang was the one attacking, the bubbles would not be able to cause any harm to someone like Shi Jiao. After all, the woman was a powerhouse on the same level as a Semi-Progenitor. However, it was Lu Yin who was actually attacking, and he was someone who had spent years cultivating his spiritual force with the Origin Progenitor's Sutra. The bubbles were able to daze Shi Jiao, leaving her mind completely blank. She stumbled and collapsed.
Shock filled Shi Jiao's eyes. She had believed that she had a good understanding of Tu Shuangshuang’s strength. Even if the young woman used a blue energy converter, no, even a red energy converter, she should not be able to harm Shi Jiao, not even with the dream-woven bubbles that were Cheng Kong’s greatest technique.
White energy filled the sky, quickly transforming into spears that shot at Lu Yin. From behind Lu Yin, Zhi Bing released a frigid aura. The man held a broken blade that radiated an undeniable killing intent that fully enveloped Lu Yin.
Lu Yin tightened his grip on Luo Lao'er and took a step forward. To Lu Yin’s vision, space was filled with intersecting lines. He stepped from one line to another, which caused him to instantly disappear from You Teng and Zhi Bing’s sight. He crossed space instantaneously, and next appeared high above the two men.
Zhi Bing's felt an indescribable sense of shock. His Lost Clan excelled in mysterious and deadly assassinations. For his attack, he had completely sealed the void. Even a powerhouse with his same level of strength would find it impossible to escape unscathed. Only a peak powerhouse should be capable of doing so. However, this woman who was not even as strong as her three opponents had casually escaped. How? Zhi Bing was not able to discern what had happened at all.
"She must be Cheng Kong!" You Teng shouted.
No one had ever seen Cheng Kong’s true appearance. That fearsome person was the personification of illusions and nothing. There were no recognizable attributes that could be attributed to Cheng Kong, such as power level or gender. All that anyone truly knew about Cheng Kong was their dream-woven bubbles.
‘Tu Shuangshuang’ had just succeeded in dodging Zhi Bing's attack and injuring Shi Jiao despite revealing nothing more than the strength of an Envoy. This was a demonstration of skill that far exceeded the three people’s imagination. The only possibility that they could conceive was that they were facing Cheng Kong.
There was a swoosh. Lu Yin frowned and took another step, disappearing in an instant. The moment he was gone, a carrion bug appeared at his previous location. Xu Xiangyin had arrived.
Maintaining a firm hold of Luo Lao'er, Lu Yin moved along by utilizing the spatial lines only he could see. Zhi Bing and the others had no idea where their opponent had gone.
However, by this point in time, Lu Yin had already entered a parallel universe. He moved just like that big tree that was constantly trying to escape. Moving to different spatial lines was similar to stepping from one frame to another, though each frame represented a parallel universe.
Understanding this, Lu Yin considered that there might come a day when he would be able to travel between parallel universes without having to pre-determine their coordinates, which would allow him to move just the same as the big tree.
"I found it!" Luo Lao'er exclaimed.
Lu Yin then entered the Three Monarchs Universe, dragging Luo Lao’er along.
In the Singularity Universe, Zhi Bing and the other representatives overseeing the Sixverse Academy gathered, their expressions grim. "All we can do at this point is report what happened to those above us. No one expected Cheng Kong to appear."
Shi Jiao frowned. "That wasn’t Cheng Kong, or else we’d all be dead. That was Tu Shuangshuang, a member of the Hua Gate. She’s a spy for Aeternus."
Xu Xiangyin's voice grew heavy, "We believed the academy would be safe after that peak powerhouse attacked the Voidchaos Territory, but it proved to be nothing more than an additional layer of deception. Xuan Qi and the others have all been captured."
Shi Jiao's voice was steely, "We must find them. Shao Qingfeng, Jiang Xiaodao, and Xuan Qi... No harm can be allowed to come to any of them!"
...
Attendant Wu had once told Lu Yin that the Three Monarchs Universe had been afflicted with Time Poison long ago. Just the same as the Fifth Mainland, Aeternus had poisoned the universe, which had put an end to their previous cultivation civilization. The three Monarchs had completely transformed the universe, which had created the current Three Monarchs Universe.
Upon arriving in the universe, Lu Yin knocked Luo Lao'er out again before observing his surroundings. He glanced to the east, then the north, and finally the west. He was able to sense the auras of Progenitor-level powerhouses in each direction, and they belonged to both Aeternus’s corpse kings and human experts. It was a raging war in this universe.
The Three Monarchs Universe was smaller than the Fifth Mainland, the Voidforce Universe, or the Arboreal Realm.
The more time Lu Yin had spent among the Sixverse Association, the more certain he became that the Three Monarchs Universe was only included to fill out the numbers.
He descended onto a desolate planet, still with Luo Lao'er. Soon, fierce battles broke out in outer space. It seemed as though Aeternus was working on surrounding the Three Monarchs Universe.
Lu Yin released Bai Qian from Zenith Mountain. "I apologize for dragging you into this."
Bai Qian glanced around. "A battlefield?"
"We’re in the Three Monarchs Universe," Lu Yin replied.
Bai Qian looked at Lu Yin. "Starting here is a wise choice. Out of the different members of the Sixverse Association, the Three Monarchs Universe is the easiest to conquer."
Lu Yin choked. "Easiest to conquer?"
"Aren’t you here to conquer this place? The Sixverse Association is deeply connected to your Lu family being exiled."
"How do you know about that?" Lu Yin asked with a light cough. Bai Qian seemed to have access to a great deal of information, which seemed to be related to her high status in the Transcendent Universe.
Bai Qian stretched a bit. "How are you doing in the Fifth Mainland?"
Lu Yin considered the question for a moment. "About the same as you are in the Transcendent Universe."
"So, unrivaled, but there are still one or two people with whom you don't get along."
Lu Yin chuckled. "True enough."
Bai Qian locked eyes with Lu Yin and asked, "You’re curious about what I’ve gone through?"
Lu Yin nodded. "Of course. I can’t believe that someone from Earth has managed to climb to such a high position."
Bai Qian stared out at the stars in the sky. "Someone felt that I could be useful. While I might appear strong in certain circumstances, the reality is that I'm quite powerless. I’m nothing more than a puppet."
"If you don't mind, I hope you can share what’s happened to you with me. We can pretty much be considered old neighbors," Lu Yin said.
Bai Qian calmly replied, "The true ruler of the Transcendent Universe is..."
The more one understood Bai Qian, the more one would admire the woman. The phrase “fear of the unknown” was not something that existed in her dictionary. As long as there was a path before her, no matter how difficult it might be, she would always continue forward. Exploration was all that she knew, and that had led to her not hesitating to leave Earth. Her only motivation had been an invitation from Starsibyl.
In the woman’s heart, while Earth was her home, it was not a place worth dwelling on. Her true desire was the thrill of the unknown, even if she knew the results might not be favorable to her.
"Whether you believe me or not, I always knew that our paths would cross again," Bai Qian said with a laugh. This was the first time Lu Yin had seen the woman smile. They had only met a few times before, with the most memorable encounter being their meeting in CyNet World. The first time he had caught a glimpse of her, her elegant figure had been as stunning as a painting, and she had radiated an unparalleled grace. However, her personality was as cold as her sword, capable of freezing everything.
There was a captivating allure to Bai Qian that went beyond womanly charms. It was an allure not brought about by mere appearance, but by her unique personality.
Lu Yin took a bottle of wine out from his cosmic ring. "Do you drink?"
Bai Qian's eyes sparkled with nostalgia. "While I lived on Earth, I used to love visiting the bars. Nights would be calm and peaceful outside, but inside, things would be bustling and lively. Those were places for people to unleash their hidden passions and expose their darker sides."
She took a sip from the bottle, and even let the wine dribble over her lips. She did not seem at all bothered if Lu Yin drank directly from the same bottle.
Perhaps it was Bai Qian’s influence, but Lu Yin also started drinking. He actually preferred tea to alcohol, as it allowed him to remain clear-headed.
"Without me, you can’t break free of your current situation," Lu Yin stated.
Bai Qian nodded. "True enough; without you, I cannot break free."
"I’ll help you."
"That’s helping yourself."
"What do the Transcendent Universe records say about what happened with my Lu family being exiled?" Lu Yin asked.
Bai Qian gently wiped her mouth clean. "The Lu family carried a burden of sin."
Lu Yin's eyes grew sharp as he stared at Bai Qian.
Bai Qian said, "It's ironic. I didn't know the name of the universe where I was born, and only came to find out during my time in the Transcendent dimension. Our universe is known as the Origin Universe, which was home to the glorious era of the Heavens Sect long ago. During that era, countless organizations traveled from far and wide to pay their respects. At that time, the Sixverse Association was nothing more than an alliance of ordinary universes. So what if there was Lord Xu, the Arboreal Overlord, or even the Great Sovereign? Before the might of the great Heavens Sect, all of them still needed to pay their respects and offer gifts. The Heavens Sect was unquestionably superior to the Sixverse Association.
"However, that era was too glorious, and the Heavens Sect was blind to the corruption and ambition that bred in the shadows. That was the start of Aeternus."
Bai Qian gulped more of her drink before letting out a burp. "Many reported the dangers of Aeternus to the Heavens Sect, but the Heavens Sect did not heed those warnings. As a result, the Origin Universe fell, and one Mainland after another was destroyed. The Seven Skygods, each an ancient monster, came to be. The current Sixverse Association’s primary opponent is the Seven Skygods, most of whom come from the Origin Universe.
"In the history that the Transcendent Universe has recorded, everything is the fault of the Origin Universe and the Heavens Sect. They were too arrogant, and refused to lower themselves to interact with the mortal world. In the end, they were cast down, and disaster struck not only the Origin Universe, but the Sixverse Association as well.
"How many people have lost loved ones and friends to Aeternus's hands? Take this Three Monarchs Universe, for example. This place had its original cultivation civilization destroyed, and that death toll cannot even be estimated. The Sixverse Association united to fight back against Aeternus, though they also hoped to hold the Heavens Sect accountable and force the Origin Universe to take responsibility for the catastrophe. However, the Origin Universe now only consists of the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands. The Sixverse Association did not originally want to let either of the two Mainlands off, however, they also need that strength to help fight against Aeternus. Even now, the Origin Universe is still able to resist a portion of Aeternus's might.
"This continued until some started to believe that the Sixverse Association has become capable of holding back Aeternus on its own. For that reason, the Lu family was thrust forward and forced to pay the cost for the Heavens Sect’s arrogance. This is why the Cyclic Universe joined forces with the four ruling powers to exile the Lu family."
Lu Yin stared out into space. The cost of arrogance… was this really true?
Repercussions from the Heavens Sect era should be born by those of that same era. However, how of the Three Realms Six Dao remained? Only the Lu family had survived the eons that had passed, and thus, only the Lu family could be held accountable and punished for the ancient sins.
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