Long Xi began the White Dragon Clan’s ritual for visiting their Progenitor.
Lu Yin did not really understand the point in such things, as the Python Ancestor would not simply open his eyes to admire his worshipers’ power. Lu Yin even had a rather evil suspicion that if the python opened his eyes, he would swallow the two humans. Still, they were too small to even get stuck between the Progenitor’s teeth. Still, the Python Ancestor had been sleeping for a long time, so if he woke and had nothing to eat, he would be hungry!
Lu Yin felt as though he had discovered some secret truth, and he struggled with himself over whether or not to tell Long Xi.
After Long Xi finished her ritual, Lu Yin asked her, “Can we go?”
Long Xi nodded. She looked up at the Python Ancestor with a fire blazing in her eyes. “My White Dragon Clan’s power comes from a gift from the Python Ancestor. If I could one day see him wake up with my own eyes, my life would be worth it.”
“When will the Python Ancestor wake up?” Lu Yin was very curious about this.
Long Xi’s eyes darkened some, but she did not reply.
“What about the terror ants? We have to head back the way we came, and we’ll run into them again.” A quite serious problem had occurred to Lu Yin.
Long Xi squatted down and touched the dirt beneath them. “the Python Ancestor has slept here for such a long time that even the dirt holds a bit of his energy. Putting this dirt on our bodies will be enough to scare off those terror ants.”
“That sounds too risky,” Lu Yin said.
Long Xi said lightly, “Then stay here.”
She then hesitated and looked at Lu Yin in a more serious manner. “If you decide to stay, I can publicly announce that you experienced some bit of enlightenment from feeling the Python Ancestor’s gift. This will let you avoid a great deal of danger from Bai Shaohong. No Envoy would dare attack randomly in this place, and anyone who is not an Envoy can’t break through that ring I gave you.”
Lu Yin’s eyes lit up as Long Xi continued talking and started treating the matter more seriously. Lu Yin quickly threw some dirt on himself. “I’d still rather go back.”
Long Xi did not say anything further, but she did seem to somewhat regret Lu Yin’s choice.
Lu Yin was speechless at her response. The woman actually wanted to leave Lu Yin in such a place! He would not remain in such a haunted location, and if the Python Ancestor ever moved in his sleep, Lu Yin would instantly be crushed.
They had traveled slowly on their way to pay their respects to the Progenitor, but they moved quickly for the return trip. There were no beasts or people to be seen, and they returned to where they had encountered the terror ants within half a day.
Lu Yin felt a sense of panic as he stared upon the endless emptiness before him. This was the power of the terror ants; not even a blade of grass remained.
“Those terror ants did a lot of damage to the Mother Tree,” Lu Yin asked.
Long Xi was solemn as she replied, “Terror ants are one of the biggest problems for Root. Every year they kill hundreds of colonies of terror ants.”
“Why not ask a more powerful expert to make a move? Don’t the four ruling powers care to help out?” Lu Yin asked.
Long Xi’s tone grew lighter. “The ant colonies have their strong and weak as well. Their reproductive abilities are unmatched, so they can’t be simply destroyed. Most of the creatures here in the Lower Realm harm the Mother Tree, but there is also an ecosystem down here, and there would likely be catastrophic consequences to wiping out an entire species.”
The terror ants were gone. After they had cleaned out this area, they had moved on to somewhere else.
There were no plants at all due to the ants, and the two people also encountered almost no beasts, since nearly all creatures had been frightened away by the terror ants’ passing. Their path crossed a well known region of the Lower Realm, so they were able to return all the way back in only three days.
Back at the entrance to the third region, they saw Gui’s massive body, as well as Elder Long Kui with some of the people he had detained.
Long Kui felt relief at seeing Long Xi and Lu Yin safely return. Although the two looked somewhat embarrassed, everything was fine as long as they returned after successfully visiting the Python Ancestor.
Lu Yin saw a great number of people at the entrance to the third region, and every single one of them was a powerhouse. Lu Yin knew that Long Kui must have stopped these people from entering the third region, as their reasons for entering meant nothing to the White Dragon Clan, and even less to an Envoy, so Long Kui had stopped all potential threats he had seen, just to be safe.
“I’ve inconvenienced everyone, but you can now continue on your way,” Long Kui said to the people he had held up.
All of the detainees felt helpless, so they forced out polite responses and entered the third region one after another.
There was one person within the group who shot a vicious glare towards Lu Yin before heading straight into the third region.
“We’ve forced Elder to wait a long time,” Long Xi said.
Long Kui smiled. “It’s fine.”
From behind, Gui lifted his body and stared at Lu Yin with both heads. It appeared that Lu Yin’s return had made the beast very happy, though Lu Yin always felt that the beast looked at him and saw a toy. Lu Yin felt a bit scared of the beast with the strength of an Envoy, but also knew that such fear was unfounded; the creature was a complete coward, and Lu Yin still had the ring-shaped power vessel.
A playful light sparked in Lu Yin’s eyes after he saw Gui staring at him. Lu Yin arched a brow and stared at the beast in a stern manner. Then, Lu Yin’s eyes went wide and he opened his mouth to let out a loud roar, which was quickly answered by an even louder roar from off in the distance. Gui was instantly cowed.
Lu Yin was also taken aback; were there really so many beasts in this place with the strength of an Envoy?
Long Kui was helpless. “Let’s go.”
Long Xi stared at Lu Yin before stepping onto Gui’s back. Lu Yin also leaped up, and the beast quickly unfurled his wings and began to fly towards the Rainbow Bridge. Their time in the Lower Realm was done.
On the Rainbow Bridge, the red color flowed down, while the bordering orange color slowed up into the sky.
The Rainbow Bridge was absolutely massive, so it was not a simple matter to pass from the red stripe over to the orange one.
Lu Yin was very surprised to find that this universe had no spacecraft; even the Astral Combat Academy had their own.
Still, Lu Yin was an outsider visiting for the first time, and every place would have their own culture and rules, so Lu Yin did not ask many questions.
As they sat on Gui’s back, Lu Yin was able to see various groups making their way down to the Lower Realm. Though it was an incredibly dangerous place, it also held a fatal attraction for many cultivators.
Lu Yin was looking down at the ground beneath the red stripe of the Rainbow Bridge. The people making their way down to the Lower Realm were naturally able to see Lu Yin’s group flying over their heads and making their way towards the orange stripe.
Many people felt envious; a glance was enough to know that Gui was a mount with the strength of an Envoy, and such a creature had to belong to a superpower, possibly even one of the four ruling forces.
Gui shot through the sky, not only traveling parallel with the ground, but also making his way upwards as much as possible.
Among the people in the red stripe making their way towards the Lower Realm, there were two people who caught Long Kui’s attention.
Long Xi followed Long Kui’s gaze to see an old man with his hands clasped behind his back. The man looked ancient to the point where he might collapse at any moment. However, Long Xi’s expression changed the moment she saw the old man. “Master of the Graceful Sword Arts Liu Yijian.”
As she spoke, the old man looked up and saw Long Kui and Long Xi. He nodded to them with a smile.
Long Kui responded, while Long Xi had Lu Yin stand up and bow to the old man with her.
A young man stood behind the old man, and he blankly stared at Lu Yin for a moment. A startling amount of stunned disbelief could be seen deep in the young man’s eyes.
Lu Yin was no different, as he was startled to see just who it was behind the old man: Zhang Dingtian.
Lu Yin had never dreamed he would meet Zhang Dingtian in the Perennial World. Though Lu Yin knew that both Zhang Dingtian and Bai Xue had been sucked into Jupiter and he had considered that they had likely entered this universe, he had not expected to meet either of the two, let alone so quickly and so suddenly.
The two young men were both surprised by each other, but their shock lasted only a moment. Long Xi did not notice anything, and Long Kui and the old man were only focused on each other, so no one noticed anything out of the ordinary from Lu Yin or Zhang Dingtian.
The two acted as though they did not recognize each other.
Gui shot towards the orange stripe of the bridge.
Zhang Dingtian averted his gaze. No matter how surprised Lu Yin had been, Zhang Dingtian had been startled far worse. After he and Bai Xue had been sucked into Jupiter and had appeared in this universe, Zhang Dingtian had assumed it would be impossible for him to ever see Lu Yin again, and yet they had seen each other while Zhang Dingtian had been on the Rainbow Bridge.
“Those were people from White Dragon Clan. When you see them in the future, watch yourself. The four ruling powers are not to be ignored.” The old man in front of Zhang Dingtian gave words of caution to the young man.
Zhang Dingtian respectfully accepted such words. “Understood.”
He had not expected that Lu Yin would actually be mixed in with one of the four ruling powers. Zhang Dingtian had been in the Perennial World for years, and thus he was aware of just how intimidating and powerful those four powers were. They were the masters of this universe! Just how had Lu Yin become entangled with those people? He seemed destined to become the center of attention no matter where he went.
Still, regardless of anything else, Zhang Dingtian was very happy to have seen Lu Yin again, as they were friends.
Nothing meant more to a person than meeting a friend when in a foreign country.
Elsewhere, Long Xi voiced her curiosity, “Who was that standing behind Senior Liu? I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”
Long Kui explained, “The Liu family is very strange. Every generation they have many people who will spend their entire lives guarding their sword monument and who will never leave that place. No one knows what sort of foundation the Liu family might have, so it’s not unexpected for you not to know him.”
“For him to be able to follow behind Master Yijian, the young man is definitely not weak,” Long Xi said.
Long Kui smiled as he replied, “No matter what, he can’t compare to you, Princess. No matter how extraordinary their sword monument might be, they are not able to compare to one of the four ruling powers.”
Long Xi nodded. This was undeniable.
Lu Yin was left somewhat speechless after hearing their conversation; was everyone with the Liu surname connected to the sword? Back in the Fifth Mainland, the Liu family had founded the Sword Sect and were the masters of the universe’s most powerful sword technique: the Thirteen Swords. In the Perennial World, the Liu family had a sword monument, which was enough that even the White Dragon Clan took note of it.
“Is their sword monument that amazing?” Lu Yin asked.
Long Kui did not respond.
Long Xi said, “Their sword monument is something from ancient times. It is said that it holds the best sword technique to ever belong to humanity, and that it has always been guarded by the Liu family. No one knows if that legend is true or not, but the Liu family does indeed frequently demonstrate incredible swordsmanship. The Liu family is indisputably the master of the sword in this Perennial World.”
Lu Yin understood. “So the Liu family is quite powerful, but they’re still not able to enter the Higher Realm and reach the level of the four ruling powers? So our White Dragon clan is even better.”
Long Kui laughed, as this was a pleasant thing to hear. “That’s naturally the case, as their sword monument was left behind by the ancient Wu Tian, so it is clearly something beyond belief. Wu Tian was the one who set the precedent of human beings using weapons, so how could that monument be only something for swordsmanship? Wu Tian was one of the first of the ancient human Progenitors, so how could something from him be able to easily be passed down all the way until now?”
Everyone would like to hear compliments, and as soon as Lu Yin praised the White Dragon Clan, Long Kui had immediately offered up extra information.
Wu Tian? One of the most ancient Progenitors? There had actually been a powerhouse who had set the precedent for humans to use weapons? That was the ancient past, so was it possible to have been from the same era as the God of Death?
Long Xi commented, “Wu Tian existence alone is already a legend. There are no historical records to support his existence. It’s possible that Wu Tian was a spirit, a symbol, or even the name of a specific era.”
“That is indeed true. There are numerous legends about the ancient Progenitors, but very few can be confirmed. Wu Tian, Destiny, the God of Death, and even the Origin Progenitor who created humanity are all uncertain. The only thing that can be confirmed is Lu-” Suddenly, Long Kui cut off his words and would not say anything further.
Long Xi’s body trembled, but she remained silent.
