Chapter 2597: Frantic Absorption
With a chuckle, Xu Xiangyin said, "The feud between the Void Yang and Void Yin clans has gone on for a very long time. Xu Heng and Xu Leng’s relationship is even a legendary tale in the Voidforce Universe, with many stories woven around it. Even so, you resolved their matter so quickly."
Lu Yin replied, "They only needed the chance to voice their grievances. I stumbled upon them by accident. Many people should understand the issue better than I do even now, but they just didn’t have the chance to step in."
Xu Xiangyin continued, "Regardless, you’ve resolved the trouble that laid between the Void Yang and Void Yin clans for so long. In the future, they will become your greatest backers in this Voidforce Universe. Even if they are both Void Morphora for now, they are able to combine their strengths with their clans’ techniques to become the equal of a Void Suprema. What I’m saying is that you have a Void Suprema backing you here in the Voidforce Universe. Along with having Senior Xu Wuwei guiding you, I'll be the one who needs you to look after me in the Voidforce Universe, haha."
Lu Yin showed a bitter smile. "Senior, stop teasing me. I still don't know what sort of attitude Senior Xu Wuwei's will show towards me."
Xu Xiangyin tried to reassure the young man. "Senior has a broad mind. Even if he does not like you, he won't treat you poorly. Since he is now your guide, he will definitely teach you wholeheartedly. Don’t worry."
"When were you allowed to gossip about me, kid?" A voice that carried the vicissitudes of life rang out.
Xu Xiangyin whirled around, startled to see Xu Wuwei standing behind him, holding a drink.
"Junior Xu Xiangyin greets Senior.”
"Junior Xuan Qi greets Senior."
Xu Wuwei sipped a bit of his drink and let out a breath of satisfaction. "Tastes pretty good."
He dismissed Xu Xiangyin with a wave of his hand. "Leave us."
Xu Xiangyin knew what to do, and he quickly took his leave, abandoning Xuan Qi to Xu Wuwei.
Xu Wuwei moved closer to Lu Yin and then circled him once. Lu Yin started to feel rather uneasy.
"Not bad, kid. You even managed to cross the Void Pass. You certainly have some skills," Xu Wuwei praised.
Lu Yin bowed. "This junior took some liberties in asking Senior to act as my guide. Please forgive me, Senior."
Xu Wuwei chuckled sardonically. "Why didn't you become Lord Xu's disciple?"
Lu Yin started to answer, but then he hesitated.
"Have you met Lord Xu?" Xu Wuwei inquired.
Lu Yin nodded in confirmation.
Xu Wuwei took another sip of his drink. "You’ve concealed your original cultivation and strength and held impure intentions. Disappointed by how things have turned out, lad? The chance of having Lord Xu become your master was already cut off for you. If not, your status would have instantly become equal to that of He Ran or Bai Qian.”
"That's the true peak of status. Are you uncomfortable, finding that you are unable to reach that level?"
Lu Yin straightened up. "Yes."
Xu Wuwei rolled his eyes. "Well, at least you can be honest."
Lu Yin forced a bitter smile. "I can't hide anything from you, Senior."
"It’s good that you know that," Xu Wuwei replied before taking another sip of his drink. "Given your other motivations, wouldn't it have been better for you to take another peak powerhouse as your master? Xu Wuji is quite good, so why are you so determined to have your path cross mine?"
"I wish to learn from you, Senior."
Xu Wuwei stared into Lu Yin's eyes. "Something's not right."
Lu Yin's heart skipped a beat as he met Xu Wuwei's eyes.
It took a while before Xu Wuwei spoke again, "Your cultivation is very impressive. To reach such a level by such a young age, you must have a master."
Lu Yin's eyes flickered, but he remained silent as Xu Wuwei continued, "Your master isn't someone simple, are they?"
Lu Yin nodded. "I do have a master."
Xu Wuwei continued to stare at Lu Yin. "Who your master is hardly matters at all. I doubt that they are a peak powerhouse, as if they were, the Transcendent Universe would not have failed to detect them, and you would have never been able to approach He Ran. In fact, you having a master is a secret. You gave up the chance to become the disciple of a peak powerhouse because of your master. Do you regret that choice?"
Lu Yin replied solemnly, "There's no reason for any regret. My master has treated me like a son and saved my life, in addition guiding my cultivation. I don't mind admitting to you, Senior, that it was not because Lord Xu saw through my secrets that I do not wish to have him as my master. For someone like Lord Xu, whether or not I try to keep things hidden from him is irrelevant."
Xu Wuwei raised an eyebrow.
Lu Yin continued, "I turned down the chance to become Lord Xu's disciple because I already have a master. Regardless of my master's level of strength, I will never consider acknowledging another as my master, not even Lord Xu."
Xu Wuwei stared at Lu Yin for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"
Lu Yin shrugged. "Believe it or not. It’s the truth."
Xu Wuwei scoffed at the youth. "Do what you want. After all, I'm not your master, but merely your guide. My only role is to help you cultivate voidforce energy. I will not interfere or get involved in anything else, though I do suggest that you keep your schemes to yourself. If you try any tricks, I'll be the first to put you down."
Lu Yin nodded. With how things had developed, he decided to forgo the traditional formal bow. "In that case, thank you, Senior."
Xu Wuwei chuckled. Suddenly, voidforce energy completely surrounded them, and somehow, the void instantly seemed to be inverted. Lu Yin suppressed his urge to retaliate. After all, anything that he was capable of doing would be futile before Xu Wuwei's power.
"I will first take you to the Voidchaos Territory to find a voidforce puppet," Xu Wuwei explained.
Lu Yin quickly spoke up, "I already have a voidforce puppet, and it can even be used as my life-bound voidforce puppet."
Xu Wuwei froze, and immediately became curious. "You have a life-bound voidforce puppet? Show me."
Lu Yin certainly would not mind obtaining another puppet, but Lord Xu was already aware of his bone pike, and he had even personally placed voidforce energy inside the pike. If Lu Yin visited the Voidchaos Territory to obtain another voidforce puppet and Lord Xu learned of it, it might mean trouble for Lu Yin. He had no choice but to admit to what he had received.
He brought out the bone pike and handed it to Xu Wuwei.
Xu Wuwei appeared startled by the sight of the pike, and he quickly tossed the bone pike back to Lu Yin. "So, you really did meet Lord Xu."
Silently, Lu Yin put the weapon back away.
"The amount of voidforce energy contained within that voidforce puppet is rather terrifying, as it’s quite possibly equal to this old man's. That should be enough for you to cultivate until you become a peak powerhouse," Xu Wuwei explained as he observed Lu Yin. "It appears that Lord Xu favors you. I hope that you won't disappoint his expectations."
"I understand," Lu Yin responded.
Xu Wuwei moved over, "This has somewhat convinced me that you refused to take Lord Xu as your master because you already have one. Given the amount of voidforce energy that Lord Xu has given you, he doesn't seem at all bothered by your hidden cultivation."
After seeing the bone pike, Xu Wuwei's attitude toward Lu Yin had improved slightly. He had verified that the voidforce energy inside the pike was from Lord Xu, and if Lord Xu himself acknowledged Xuan Qi, then Xu Wuwei had no reason to continue doubting the youth.
Xu Wuwei left the Void Pass with Lu Yin in tow. What remained of the tides of voidforce energy had become a surging wave of energy that everyone nearby was working hard to absorb. More people were arriving and joining in at every moment.
"My cultivation art is known as the Five Earthly Flavors.[ref]Just a reminder, but "Wuwei" means five (earthly) flavors. Xu Wuwei means "void" + "five flavors," referring to his obsession with food and this cultivation art's name. The five earthly flavors are sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty.[/ref] It takes a long time to learn, and it requires one to wander the universe and immerse themselves in tasting all five flavors. Given your age, even if you have lived through numerous experiences, it will still be nowhere near enough for you to experience the full variations of the five flavors. Because of that, I can only help you absorb voidforce energy by using a pot. The amount that you manage to absorb will depend entirely on your own abilities," Xu Wuwei explained. He was duty bound to guide Xuan Qi’s cultivation of voidforce energy, and he would fulfill it.
What the old man was offering was not something that he would do for an average cultivator, but he had already seen that Xuan Qi’s true cultivation level was close to that of a peak Envoy. Given his level of strength, cultivating voidforce energy could be achieved with twice the results and half the effort, as the youth’s body was already capable of enduring greater amounts of energy. Xuan Qi only lacked a cultivation method that would allow him to quickly absorb voidforce energy.
Lu Yin had requested Xu Wuwei to be his cultivation guide because he feared being exposed by another peak powerhouse. Unexpectedly, this was also the best choice that he could have made. Xu Wuwei was one of the few Void Suprema who could help Lu Yin cultivate voidforce energy as quickly as possible. Within the mentioned pot, all five earthly flavors boiled.
Everyone around or within the dissipating Void Pass who was frantically working to absorb voidforce energy revealed odd expressions. A new tide of voidforce energy had appeared in the remnants of the Void Pass. All of the energy had started surging towards the center.
Was the Void Pass going to reappear?
Nearly everyone quickly fled from where the Void Pass had once been, as none of them could guess at what might occur with the return of the tides of energy.
There were also those few with the boldness to follow the tides towards the center. They hoped that the new tide would help them become the second person to cross the Void Pass, or at least allow them to reach the center of the Void Pass.
The remnants of the Void Pass had transformed once again, this time becoming a massive vortex that was being pulled into a pot.
Lu Yin was inside the pot. He had never dreamed that he would one day cultivate inside a pot. The world was full of the unexpected, and there was no predicting the future. A perfect example was the slipper that remained inside his cosmic ring. Lu Yin still had no idea who it had belonged to.
The pot violently pulled in the surrounding voidforce energy, creating a vortex that then poured into Lu Yin's body. His body acted like a bottomless abyss, and he found himself absorbing voidforce energy far faster than he could ever hope to do so on his own.
Xu Wuwei calmly watched from a distance. If the youth had not already possessed sufficient cultivation, this method would have been impossible. Had the child chosen Xu Wuwei at random, or had he made the choice after researching the old man? Xu Wuwei fell deep into thought.
Several days later, a person was stunned to find the pot. After that, word started to spread through the nearby crowd that a pot was the source of the terrifying surge of voidforce energy.
"A pot? You must be joking. Do you think I'm an idiot? How could a pot create a voidforce tide?"
"Could there really be a pot at the center of the Void Pass? How is that even possible?"
"A pot? That sounds vaguely familiar."
"Isn't Senior Xu Wuwei's life-bound voidforce puppet supposed to be a pot?"
"The Void Pass is known to have existed since the beginning of Lord Xu’s time, and it seems that Senior Xu Wuwei also lived during that era."
...
Everyone started speculating about the pot that had been found.
An indeterminate amount of time passed. Inside the pot, Lu Yin continued to frantically absorb voidforce energy. It was so extreme that he was stealing almost all of the voidforce energy from the area that had once held the Void Pass. The energy entered the power system within his chest, and the flow on the small landmass quickly increased in size. If only a small trickle of voidforce energy had been previously running through the continent of fatesand, then now it had become a mighty river that continued to increase in size.
Compared to the Fifth Mainland's cultivation levels, Lu Yin’s voidforce energy had already reached the peak Enlighter level.
Cultivating voidforce energy did not trigger bottlenecks or obstacles like stellular tribulations. There were no hindrances at all. As long as a person had enough resources and ability, they could absorb however much voidforce energy they desired. This was something that Lu Yin found himself envying.
As far as he could tell, only the Origin Universe’s cultivators were forced to face stellular tribulations. While he was not certain about the Cyclic Universe, even if stellular tribulations did occur there, that place still held an incredible advantage as the seats of the Three Sovereigns and Nine Sages could be bestowed upon anyone at all. This was something that the Origin Universe could never compete with.
Why would only the Origin Universe’s cultivators need to struggle so much to reach the peak of cultivation?
Lu Yin briefly opened his eyes and glanced around before immediately resuming his absurd absorption of voidforce energy.
Things continued on in this manner for half a year. For an entire six months, Lu Yin remained inside the pot, entirely focused on absorbing voidforce energy. The river that flowed through the landmass in his chest grew incredibly vast. It split the entire continent of fatesand in two, and it even started resembling the river that had once split the ancient Fifth Mainland.
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