Chapter 2068: I Am A Human
Even if Lu Yin were beaten to death, he would have never thought that he would actually run into Zhao Ran while traveling through time and s.p.a.ce. The girl still had the same oblivious manner as ever, confusion filling her eyes as she silently poured tea for the person sitting in front of her.
"That's poison," Heluo Mavis could not resist commenting when she caught a clear view of the floral tea that was being served.
"It should be poison," Chu Yuan solemnly agreed. Every time the sword shuttled through time and s.p.a.ce, they had only seen major historical events. Could there be some major event happening at this place as well? It looked too calm and peaceful.
Hearing the two’s comments, Lu Yin arched a brow. Poison? No, it was definitely tea. A floral tea that looks like death, yet that tastes amazing.
Lu Yin had never considered that he might not have been the first person to have tasted Zhao Ran’s floral tea. Just who was this person?
The person seated in front of them was a man, and his head was bent over so that he could sip the tea, which left the observers unable to see his face.
"Is it any good?" Zhao Ran asked, blinking her big eyes while eagerly waiting for approval.
The seated man lowered the teacup and looked up at her with a warm smile. "Of course it's delicious, Zhao Ran. Let me have another cup."
"En!" Zhao Ran was delighted, and she quickly turned around to collect some flower petals while humming a song.
It was only then that the people in the main hall were able to get a good view of the man sitting down. He was someone who seemed to be in his early thirties, though most of his hair had already lost its color. He had a haggard look, and he was extremely skinny.
The man had a gentle smile, despite his rather ugly appearance. It was a smile that caused those looking at him to subconsciously ignore his homely appearance.
Who was he?
Lu Yin stared at the man. He had never seen him before.
Suddenly, the ocean started to boil, and Zhao Ran looked up in a panic. Around them, at some point in time, countless withered, yellow hairs had stretched out from the void, approaching from every direction. At the same time, a voice echoed out. "Ku Jie, you should die."
Lu Yin was flabbergasted. He could not stop himself from taking a step forward and staring downwards. Was that man really Progenitor Ku?
Jiu Yao and Lan Xian were also both surprised, though their shock did not reach anywhere close to the same level as Lu Yin’s.
Even though Progenitor Ku had controlled one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, he had never been famous. The Sixth Mainland hated Progenitor Chen, and they had gone so far as to erase all records of the Rune Progenitor’s mere existence, but Progenitor Ku’s life and existence had simply never been considered to begin with.
Most people had never even heard of Progenitor Ku from the moment he had first started cultivating, to the moment he had disappeared forever. No one was concerned about him at all.
However, the more one learned about Progenitor Ku, the more they would understand just how terrifying the man had been. In particular, Lu Yin was more shocked by the sight of Progenitor Ku than he had been by the sight of Progenitor Chen.
There were simply too many stories and records of Progenitor Chen’s accomplishments, but there was practically nothing at all about Progenitor Ku. Even the Perennial World had considered the man to be the weakest Progenitor, as evidenced by his territory in the innermost regions of the Dominion Realm.
However, it was precisely that ignored and forgotten Progenitor who had stood alone against the Seven SkyG.o.ds, only they were opponents at the same level who could keep him in check.
Above the sea, Zhao Ran trembled, and her face turned pale.
Progenitor Ku rose to his feet, and he slowly walked over next to Zhao Ran to place a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be afraid."
Zhao Ran looked at him, her lips pursed. She was clearly nervous.
Progenitor Ku raised his hand to touch the girl’s head. "I’m not the person you are waiting for. You won’t miss me, so go on. It’s possible that we may meet again one day."
With that, the man pushed Zhao Ran into the void with a hand, and she vanished.
"You still pity the fragrance and cherish the jade. Throughout all the years you’ve spent cultivating, has a woman ever once fallen in love with you? How pathetic. You’re a glorious Progenitor, and yet no one cares about you. Why don’t you join my Aeternals, who will protect you from death?" Undying G.o.d slowly stepped out and looked around.
"Senior Wu Xing?" Leng Qing exclaimed.
"The Sword Monument Guardian?" both Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis shouted.
Forgotten Ruins G.o.d calmly watched the scene play out. While this was another incident from the past, there were some details that she was not clear about.
Progenitor Ku looked over at Undying G.o.d. "Caring about others is a relative matter. They may not care about me, but I also don't care about them."
"In that case, why don't you join my Aeternals?" Undying G.o.d repeated.
A vicious smile spread across Progenitor Ku's skinny face. "Because I am a human!"
As soon as he spoke, his body took on the appearance of a corpse. He tightly clenched his right hand, and the void shattered as s.p.a.ce trembled. It felt as though the universe itself was quivering. "You are not my opponent. I want to see just how powerful you Aeternals’ so-called ‘True G.o.d’ really is."
As soon as Progenitor Ku finished speaking, he stepped forward and simply pa.s.sed through Undying G.o.d. At that same moment, Progenitor Ku's body fully recovered, while Undying G.o.d was half torn to bits before he was able to take even a single step.
The next moment, Progenitor Ku took another step, and he crossed the entire sky in a mere flash.
Undying G.o.d had only been just a step behind Progenitor Ku, and he whirled around to stare in disbelief. "Ku Jie, do you truly dare to invade my Aeternals’ realm? You’re courting death!"
The main hall suddenly trembled, and the stellular energy within everyone's bodies started to be devoured by the statue yet again. The area around the hall descended back into darkness, leaving the occupants of the main hall with only their shock.
Every single scene that they had witnessed while traveling through time and s.p.a.ce had been absolutely shocking.
All of these incidents were major historical events, and yet Lu Yin was still blown away by the interactions between Progenitor Ku and Zhao Ran. As for Leng Qing and the others, they were in disbelief with what had happened to Undying G.o.d.
They had never expected Wu Xing, who had once been the guardian of the Sword Monument, to have become one of the Aeternals’ Seven SkyG.o.ds. But even more shockingly, the man referred to as Ku Jie had actually been bold enough to claim that Wu Xing was no match for him.
That man had been Wu Xing, the child who had been adopted by Wu Tian. His extraordinary talent meant that he had the unique position of protecting the Sword Monument, which also allowed him to browse through the thousands of collected battle techniques that it held. During the Heavens Sect era, no one would have dared to underestimate Wu Xing. Leng Qing had focused his training on mastering the blade, and he even possessed the Celestial Blade Realm, and yet he had still been completely crushed by a single swing of Wu Xing’s sword.
Leng Qing understood Wu Xing's strength, and the fact that he had managed to survive for so many years further proved just how terrifying his power was. Despite that, had he still not been a match for that Ku Jie?
"Who is Ku Jie?" Leng Qing asked. This was the first time he had asked a question.
An ugly expression covered Jiu Yao's face. "The Fifth Mainland’s Progenitor Ku."
Jiu Yao simply could not believe that Progenitor Ku, who had essentially been an unknown Progenitor, had actually possessed enough strength to crush Undying G.o.d! Everyone had been deceived, and it was quite possible that Progenitor Ku had been the master of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas who had hidden his strength the deepest.
Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis glanced at each other, and they once again found themselves reevaluating their arrogance that had caused them to underestimate the later eras.
Progenitor Chen had publicly killed Progenitor Nan, while the Rune Progenitor had challenged the Sixth Mainland with nothing more than the support of his own civilization. As for Progenitor Ku, he had claimed that he could easily defeat Wu Xing. Who would dare to underestimate such an outstanding individual? Even in the Heavens Sect era, such a person would have been considered an exceptional powerhouse.
"That person we just saw also controlled one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas," Chu Yuan solemnly stated.
The ability to control one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas was not related to an era, but rather the raw ability of the person being a.s.sessed. In other words, anyone who could take control of one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas would have also wielded such power and ability during the Heavens Sect era.
Realizing this, Chu Yuan suddenly looked over at Lu Yin. "In your era, have all of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas received masters?"
It seemed that Lu Yin was able to see through Chu Yuan’s thoughts. "Of course."
Heluo Mavis's eye twitched. It was important to understand that there had been times during the Heavens Sect era when not all of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas had found masters. How could a later era have found enough powerful individuals to control all Nine Mountains and Eight Seas? Such a thing defied belief.
Their perception of the current era changed yet again.
"Where's Progenitor Ku now? How is he?" Lu Yin looked at Forgotten Ruins G.o.d once again to question her.
She considered the question for a moment. "He should still be alive. I mean, he can't die. I never fought him, as he’s just too difficult to deal with."
Lu Yin heaved a sigh of relief. Progenitor Ku had gone on his own to fight against the Aeternals. When it came to the boldness of his actions, Progenitor Ku did not fall behind the Rune Progenitor at all. However, Progenitor Ku had always kept a low profile and remained unknown. He was truly an unsung hero.
At this moment, stellular energy once again began to surge out and force its way into everyone's bodies.
Lu Yin quickly started using the Cosmic Art to devour as much stellular energy as he could, and his four stellular energy vortices were restored to peak condition even faster than before.
Once again, everyone focused their attention onto Lu Yin.
It was not long before enough energy had gathered in each vortex that Lu Yin was starting to approach the threshold of his next stellular tribulation. Each time a vortex reached that point, Lu Yin would seal it with death energy, and then the stellular energy would move from one meridian point to the next, filling each vortex in turn. The vortices all started to shine brightly, and they arrived at the threshold at nearly the same time. Everything proceeded much more quickly than it had on Lu Yin’s previous attempt.
Everyone else was staring at him.
A wolf head appeared above Lu Yin's head. It was clearly Forgotten Ruins G.o.d’s innate gift, though it was far weaker than when she had used it earlier.
When Lu Yin saw the wolf head descending to swallow him, he silently pulled out an eggsh.e.l.l and placed it above his head.
The wolf head was blocked by the sh.e.l.l without being able to harm Lu Yin in the slightest.
Everyone was speechless at this sight. While it was certainly possible to use items and power vessels to pa.s.s stellular tribulations, this tribulation had been far too easy for Lu Yin to pa.s.s.
Jiu Yao quietly said, "If the true universe were in its normal state, such actions would have likely triggered a terrible revenge."
Revenge?
Lu Yin looked over at Jiu Yao. "Who would take revenge?"
"The true universe, of course," Lan Xian replied as she stared at Lu Yin. "These minor stellular tribulations are indeed not usually very powerful, and most people will try to pa.s.s without any a.s.sistance. They will only use items if they face a situation where they truly can’t survive on their own. This is because there have been incidents in the past where other people would disperse a minor tribulation for someone else, but that has always triggered a terribly powerful stellular tribulation, and there have been multiple cases where a tribulation that already started evolved. Every time that happened, the person facing the tribulation has died."
Lu Yin thought back to his first stellular tribulation and the bolt of lightning that had struck at him at the end. If not for that strange corpse blocking the lightning, Lu Yin would have absolutely died.
So even the minor tribulations could evolve? Lu Yin felt lucky that it had not happened this time.
He put the eggsh.e.l.l away.
However, the stellular energy that had gathered above Lu Yin’s head did not disperse, but remained as though there was still more to the tribulation.
Everyone watching felt shocked, as stellular tribulations usually had just a single attack, so why was Lu Yin facing another?
Lu Yin blinked. No way! Is this because I have four stellular energy vortices? Am I going to have to face four tribulations?
Lu Yin’s expression darkened. Forget these minor tribulations—how in the world was he supposed to survive his tribulation when he reached a power level of a million? Or after that, when he tried to break through to become a Semi-Progenitor or a Progenitor? A single stellular tribulation at those levels was already terrifying, but four? Just the thought made Lu Yin tremble.
Lu Yin was still dazed when the second tribulation struck.
This time, the attack was a colorful palm strike. This was Jiu Yao's battle technique, and although it was a beautiful technique, it had been utterly useless in the fight against Forgotten Ruins G.o.d.
However, that merely meant that the palm strike had been useless against Forgotten Ruins G.o.d. If Jiu Yao had attacked Lu Yin with that same technique, it would have been completely impossible for Lu Yin to stop it without using a power vessel or some other item. However, Lu Yin had been scared by Lan Xian’s explanation, and he did not want to needlessly risk using the eggsh.e.l.l. He put it away and retaliated against the approaching palm strike with a Hollow Palm.
The two palm strikes met, and the Hollow Palm managed to slow the tribulation’s attack. Lu Yin quickly followed up with a second Hollow Palm, and then a third. Finally, Lu Yin’s fifth Hollow Palm managed to shatter the attack from the tribulation.
This tribulation was truly too weak. Lu Yin had not even used the visualization method of the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant to strengthen his Hollow Palm. In contrast, the first attack of Lu Yin’s stellular tribulation when he had broken through to the Envoy realm had been a punch from a colossal giant that had been reinforced with aurelian force. Just to survive, Lu Yin had been forced to not only use the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant, but also recite the Origin Progenitor’s Sutra. The two tribulations were simply not on the same level at all.
However, the energy that had gathered for Lu Yin’s tribulation still did not dissipate.
Everyone was giving Lu Yin odd looks at this point in time. Bizarre things always happened around this person.
This time, the attack was a blade slash. It was the attack that Leng Qing had used to protect Heluo Mavis when he had first arrived.
Lu Yin frowned. Every attack from the stellular tribulations that had appeared within the main hall was a technique used by one of the people present in the place. The main hall was still hurtling through time and s.p.a.ce, so how could there be a true universe present? Could it be that the stellular energy present within the main hall was different from what was present in the rest of the universe? All the stellular energy had been drained from the true universe in Lu Yin’s era, which should mean that there were no stellular tribulations. Despite that, there were still tribulations within the main hall. Could the sword have created a new true universe within this s.p.a.ce?