Complicated emotions assailed Lu Yin as he stared at Young Master Tu. “The mental torture that you suffer from must be very painful.”
Young Master Tu acted confused. “What mental torture?”
Lu Yin looked out at the massive form of Xiang City off in the distance. “I already know about it. You suffer from it once every month. Who did it to you?”
Young Master Tu’s face twisted, and he left without looking back. It was clear that he had no desire to speak about such things.
Lu Yin continued to say, “Just live. Hope can only exist as long as you’re alive. You’ve endured for so many years, so you can endure a while longer. Maybe you’ll be able to last until you see your hope realized.”
Young Master Tu snapped his head around, and Lu Yin saw that Young Master Tu’s eyes were blazing red. “Live? You say that word so easily! Do you even know what sort of torture I, Master Tu, have suffered? If not for those specific words that were spoken, death would be my greatest relief! I’ve wished for death more than once before. Every month, every day, every hour. Even as I speak with you, I want to die. You don’t understand anything, you traitor! You’re all traitors…”
Young Master Tu screamed like he had gone insane.
Lu Yin simply faced Young Master Tu and said nothing. He allowed Young Master Tu to go crazy as the youth vented and cursed. Words were spoken that had never been said to Uncle He or any other person. Only Lu Yin heard these words. It was because even though there was no connection between Lu Yin and that person, they looked quite similar, and years of mental torture would leave anyone susceptible to hallucinations, no matter who they were.
“The pain pierced all the way down, deep into my bone marrow! It causes splitting headaches! My cultivation was destroyed! In the past, I, Master Tu was known as a peerless genius who was qualified to become the eighth hero…
“If not for the Lu family, you would already be dead! Why did you betray them? What did you gain? Why have you tortured me? Why did you destroy my cultivation…”
…
Lu Yin merely listened in silence as Young Master Tu vented his pain. He listened as the man laid bare all that he had hidden deep in his heart for so many years.
Young Master Tu finally calmed down after half an hour. He laid back down on the mountainside and stared up at the vague outline of the array base with dull eyes.
Lu Yin finally said, “You will definitely endure.”
Then, he left.
Lu Yin spoke these words not only to Young Master Tu, but also to everyone from the Star Alliance.
He could not reveal himself at this time. Even if these people were all absolutely loyal to the Lu family, he still would not say anything for the time being. The Lu family had been cast out of the Perennial World by the four ruling powers, and if Lu Yin revealed his true identity, then these people likely would be in danger themselves. Even though he was the Qiming family’s young master, Young Master Tu had been unaware of Wan Zhiyi’s presence beneath the Stacking Mountain Range.
Also, Wan Zhiyi had not spoken with Young Master Tu at all, which convinced Lu Yin that he was not able to reconcile with each other for the moment.
He could not take such a risk. He could only re-summon these people when the time was right.
On the other side, Young Master Tu ignored Lu Yin; could he actually endure? How difficult would that be? The four ruling powers had gained absolute control over the Perennial World, and unless the full force of the Lu family returned, no one could shake the status quo.
Several days later, a new Semi-Progenitor arrived to replace Semi-Progenitor Liu Hua, which meant that Qing Chen was finally free to leave.
Semi-Progenitor Ji Feng also hoped to leave the New World, but he was not able to do so. Thus, he remained at the Stacking Mountain Range.
Qing Chen took not only Lu Yin with him, but also Semi-Progenitor Liu Hua and another group of people who had been among the cultivators who had fallen to the New World along with Lu Yin. Other than Zhou Tang and the few Envoys from the Star Alliance, the others were all taken up. Even with those people leaving, there were still many people with a great deal of time remaining in their sentence with the Forsaken Soldiers. As for the tens of millions of people who had been rescued from the New World’s cities, none of them were taken away. Such people could not be allowed to leave for the time being despite their fervent wishes.
Lu Yin often considered the difference between a Semi-Progenitor and an expert whose power level had exceeded a million. When he remembered being isolated from the void, he only felt confused.
Qing Chen led tens of thousands of people up towards the second array base, and the tens of thousands of people were carried upwards in what amounted to bags. Even if Marquis Xiang attacked from the distance, he would not be able to affect them one bit.
This was why only Semi-Progenitors were able to take people away from the Folded Mountains.
…
“Subordinate Long Qi greets the general.” Up on the second array base, Lu Yin held out his commander token as he saluted Xia Yan.
Xia Yan was overjoyed upon seeing Long Qu, and he stepped forward to personally help Lu Yin stand up. “It’s good you’re alive! It’s great!”
“Not only is he alive, but he’s alive and well after shaking things up in the back for those monsters.” Long Laogui smiled and stared at Lu Yin with admiration as he spoke.
Qing Chen’s face remained calm, but pride filled his eyes. Lu Yin had accomplished plenty to make them all feel proud.
Xia Yan was exactly the same. He smiled. “Long Qi, tell me how you survived. Not to mention you, but even if I fell to the New World, I’m not sure that I would have been able to live long enough to return.”
Lu Yin remained humble as he explained, “This subordinate was lucky, as there were several comrades who worked to live and die as one…”
There was constantly fighting on the battlefield behind the Mother Tree, and no one had time for foolishness. Despite the seriousness of the location, Xia Yan and others all listened carefully to Lu Yin’s story, as not even Qing Chen was privy to all the details of what had occurred on the New World.
Lu Yin talked about the corpse kings he had faced one by one. Of course, he did not mention how he had defeated them all on his own, and he made the story sound more reasonable by saying that he had joined forces with Mr. Guo and others.
He also spoke of what had happened while clearing out the terror ants, and how he had been attacked by Marquis Green Bamboo. Even Xia Yan was shocked to hear that particular detail.
Long Laogui’s face remained solemn, though he actually felt fear at some portions of Lu Yin’s report.
“If the Twelve Marquises are actually concerned about you, then you can’t remain on this battlefield,” Long Laogui solemnly commented. At this moment, Lu Yin absolutely deserved the old man’s attention, not only because of his talent for cultivation and his relationship with Humility’s Gate, but also because he was an extremely talented Lockbreaker.
He had only needed a brief amount of time to study and gain control of the spherical red sourcebox array. Such lockbreaking talent was enough to shake up the Lockbreakers’ Headquarters. As soon as Master Deng Guo learned about Lu Yin’s accomplishments, he would undoubtedly accept Long Qi as a disciple. In fact, given Lu Yin’s talent, why was Master Deng Guo the limit? What about even more accomplished Lockbreakers?
Long Laogui suddenly thought of a certain person, the legendary Grandmasters! If Long Qi could become such a person’s disciple, then everything would change. Long Laogui’s eyes blazed bright as he stared at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin noticed the old man’s gaze, and it sent chills down his spine; just what was the old man thinking about?
Xia Yan spoke up. “That’s true. Unless a person is a Semi-Progenitor themselves, anyone who is a target of the Twelve Marquises must temporarily retreat from the battlefield. That’s not even taking into account the fact that Long Qi has already accomplished more than enough to allow him to withdraw from this battlefield.”
Lu Yin was overjoyed; of course he wanted to leave! The battlefield behind the Mother Tree was the primary battlefield of the entire human race. He knew that he would eventually return, but his current strength was not enough to do anything.
“Long Qi, do you want to leave?” Xia Yan stared at Lu Yin as he asked this question. The general of the second array base felt great admiration for Lu Yin. Even if Xia Yan was a part of the Xia family while Lu Yin was from the White Dragon Clan, such a difference did not prevent Xia Yan from admiring the young man. There were some people who were truly impressive.
Lu Yin answered in a respectful tone, “If possible, this subordinate would like to continue contributing to humanity’s efforts on this battlefield and eliminate more of those monsters.”
Qing Chen arched a brow; those words sounded very familiar. He could not help but glance over at Lu Yin, as the youth was spouting off such familiar words again.
Even though it was a bit of an obvious act, there were certain people who simply wanted to hear such words being spoken, and Xia Yan was one such person. As a general on the battlefield behind the Mother Tree, he had dedicated his entire existence to the war efforts. Thus, he naturally wished for the entire Perennial World to enter the battlefield and fight to protect humanity. Lu Yin’s words were very reassuring to Xia Yan. “Don’t worry about that. You will have many more opportunities in the future, and I will bring you back after you have escaped the Twelve Marquises’ attention.”
Lu Yin stretched out his hand to return his commander’s token.
Xia Yan took the token and stared at Lu Yin. “The Cloudguard Robes were destroyed, but thanks to them, you were kept alive. We would have never seen you again if you had not used them.”
Lu Yin also felt that he had been quite lucky. “If not for the Cloudguard Robes, I would have had no chance of surviving Marquis Green Bamboo’s attack.”
“At first, all of your accomplishments on the battlefield were to be put towards paying back for the Cloudguard Robes, but Supervisor Qing Chen has spoken up and stated that he has outright settled the debt of the Cloudguard Robes with his own merit points. This means that everything that you have accomplished when clearing out the terror ants and were active in the New World have earned you additional merit points. Long Qi, would you like to trade in your merit points now, or some time in the future?” Xia Yan asked.
Lu Yin did not hesitate. “I’ll go redeem them now.”
Xia Yan nodded. “Go and do so.”
Lu Yin respectfully took his leave, and by leaving Xia Yan’s office, he had effectively withdrawn from the battlefield itself.
Xia Yan stared at Lu Yin’s back as the youth left, and he sighed. “If I had the choice, I would rather have this Long Qi here with me than any of the Junior Progenitors.”
Long Laogui was taken aback. “Do you believe that the Junior Progenitors are inferior compared to Long Qi?”
Xia Yan answered in a serious tone, “When it comes to their abilities on the battlefield itself, there’s no comparison.”
Long Laogui could not argue, as Xia Yan had not spoken incorrectly. Long Qi had repaired the second array base’s defensive sourcebox array as well as the spherical red sourcebox array, and just these two accomplishments were beyond what the Junior Progenitors were capable of doing. Even if Long Tian was also a Lockbreaker, his talent in the field could not compare to Long Qi’s. At best, the four Junior Progenitors could contribute about as much to the battlefield as a typical Envoy. Long Qi, on the other hand, could fill a role that allowed him to influence the battlefield as a whole.
“It’s a pity that he’s not a part of my Xia family.” Xia Yan sighed before looking down at something.
Upon hearing the general’s words, Long Laogui felt proud. Even if Long Tian had been trapped in the Dominion Realm, the White Dragon clan still had talented youths who were capable of standing out and making the clan proud. No matter what it took, Long Laogui had to make Long Qi more dependent and loyal to the White Dragon Clan. As for the rift between Long Ke’s main family and Long Quan’s side family, such things were beneath Long Laogui’s notice. All he cared about was Long Qi.
Up in the Higher Realm, at Dragon Mountain, Long Ke had a strange expression on his face; just what had Long Qi done this time? Ever since that child had stepped onto the battlefield behind the Mother Tree, Long Ke had received many messages from the family’s Semi-Progenitors one after another, each one asking the clan patriarch to find a way to keep the youth safe. After a few months of silence, Long Ke had received yet another message, and this time, the tone of the message has indicated that if Long Qi seemed far important than his title as the family’s patriarch.
What has he done?
The truth was that Long Ke was not the only one asking this question, as even Xia Yan wanted to know what Lu Yin had done. This was because the old woman in charge of the battlefield merit points had contacted Xia Yan and asked him to visit the exchange center.
Long Laogui naturally followed Xia Yan.
At the exchange station, Liu Jing was once again present, and he saw Lu Yin. Like before, Lu Yin had created a bit of trouble when attempting to redeem his merit points. Even though it was not a grave matter, the array base’s general had been asked to intervene again. Was that not a bit much? Liu Jing had been on the battlefield for many years, but he had never seen anyone require the general’s intervention when trading in their merit points.
Qing Chen was also present, though he made no move to interfere, and he simply observed as things unfolded. On the battlefield, Qing Chen was not the supervisor of Humility’s Gate, but rather just another Semi-Progenitor.
“Since it’s listed, then I can trade for it. Why do I have to go through so much trouble every time I want to exchange my points?” Lu Yin was not convinced by what he had been told, and he stared at an entry on the interface as he complained to the old lady.
The woman felt helpless. “Little brother, you really can’t trade for that item. It’s not that it’s been reserved, but that we’re out of stock.”
“Are you kidding me? You would list something that you don’t even have available?” Lu Yin angrily demanded.
The old woman was growing anxious, as she could not provide a clear explanation.
Finally, Xia Yan arrived. “What’s going on?”
When the old woman saw Xia Yan, she immediately bowed. “I greet the general.”
Xia Yan did not have a very friendly expression on his face as he stared at the old woman. “What’s the matter? Has something else been reserved? Why is there so much trouble every time he tries to redeem something?”
