Long Xi took the Ancestor Python’s blood and examined it incredulously, but it was real.
“How- how did you get this?” She was completely gobsmacked, as this was not something that could be bought.
Lu Yin answered, “It doesn’t matter how I got it. You can have it.”
Long Xi frowned. It seemed as though Lu Yin was specifically trying to destroy her worldview. His combat power surpassed the four Junior Progenitors’, and even with a false identity, he had somehow had gotten a hold of the Ancestor Python’s blood. Almost no one in the entire White Dragon Clan had any of the Ancestor Python’s blood, and only the patriarch and the Semi-Progenitor elders might have some.
She grew serious as she stared at Lu Yin and then lowered her head to speechlessly stare at the jar of the Ancestor Python’s blood that she held.
“So? Will this work?” Lu Yin asked.
Long Xi nodded. “Yes.”
She looked at Lu Yin. “I’ll use it after you leave.”
“I’m not from the White Dragon clan, so the Ancestor Python’s blood’s useless for me,” Lu Yin commented.
Long Xi’s eyes flashed. “Come find me in two days.”
Lu Yin immediately left Zenith Mountain to wait for Long Xi to use the Ancestor Python’s blood.
On Zenith Mountain, Long Xi sat down with the jar of the Ancestor Python’s blood to start her breakthrough.
Even though it was not as effective as opening the three meridian points, members of the White Dragon Clan could also absorb the Ancestor Python’s blood to greatly benefit their future cultivation. In other words, this meant that absorbing the blood would not lead to an immediate increase in strength. Long Xi had not received any before the trip to the Dominion Realm, as she would have used it long ago if it had granted immediate effects.
The Ancestor Python’s blood improved the user’s cultivation talent, not their actual strength.
Two days later, Lu Yin went to meet Long Xi.
She had changed a bit over the course of these two days. She seemed colder, but also paler and nobler.
Long Xi frowned as she casually threw the jar that had once held the Ancestor Python’s blood back to Lu Yin. It currently held a single drop of her own blood. “You can merge that with your own blood before worshiping the ancestors.”
Lu Yin was thrilled, and he solemnly put it away. He then suddenly thought of something. “If I use this blood while worshiping the ancestors, and then you come back in the future, won’t the White Dragon Clan use this blood to accuse you of knowingly helping me?”
Long Xi indifferently replied, “It doesn’t matter. I’ll just say that you forced me.”
Lu Yin had also thought of that answer. Wait a minute, the people on Zenith Mountain were supposed to be his prisoners, so how could they make so much trouble for him?
“Can you teach me the necessary etiquette now?” Lu Yin asked expectantly.
Long Xi stared at him and let out a silent sigh. “Let’s start.”
…
Learning the ritual to worship the ancestors was not difficult. Even though the movements for the ritual were cumbersome, cultivators were capable of memorizing the movements after seeing them once.
When worshiping the ancestors, it was important for a person to maintain a devout attitude throughout the ritual. Lu Yin knew that he had put on many such performances throughout his life, so this should not be a problem for him.
He left right after learning the proper aspects of the ritual. For some reason, he always felt like he was being groomed and trained when with Long Xi.
Although he wanted to see Luo Shen before he left the Zenith Mountain, he did not want to deal with that complicated matter just yet.
He still had several months remaining in the Timestop Space, and with his remaining time, Lu Yin planned to look into the Extremes Must Be Reversed battle technique.
This was Progenitor Ku’s battle technique, and Lu Yin had been quite impressed by the withered creatures that he had fought against in the Dominion Realm’s Withered Glory Region. Whenever the creatures were attacked, they would only grow stronger, unless the power of the attack exceeded a certain limit.
Lu Yin had no desire to actually use this battle technique, as he saw no benefit to withering himself. However, it was still possible to research the technique.
The battle technique had entrenched itself into Lu Yin’s mind, though it was not without reason that he wanted to learn it. After all, it was a Progenitor’s battle technique.
After thinking about it, Lu Yin sat down cross-legged and started carefully mentally reviewing the Extremes Must Be Reversed battle technique.
Right when Lu Yin entered the Timestop Space, Xia Xing, the lord of Shenwu’s Sky who had arrived at Dragon Mountain early, met with a certain person: the great elder of the White Dragon Clan, Ni Huang.
The White Dragon Clan was one of the four ruling powers, and they naturally had more than a single Semi-Progenitor powerhouse. Ni Huang was another such Semi-Progenitor, and he was just as famous as the All-Dao family’s Wan Zhiyi, who had been renowned for being the Semi-Progenitor closest to becoming a Progenitor. Ni Huang was the White Dragon Clan’s second most powerful person, and he always remained at Dragon Mountain to stand guard over the clan.
“Junior Xia Xing greets Senior Ni Huang.”
“Many years have passed. I did not expect the child from back then to now become the master of Shenwu’s Sky.”
“Might I ask why senior has asked this junior to come see him?” While facing Ni Huang, even though Xia Xing referred to himself as the junior, he actually had a very indifferent attitude. He was the master of Shenwu’s Sky, so if he was meeting Ni Huang in an official capacity, there was no difference in status between them.
However, Xia Xing had heard stories of Ni Huang during his childhood.
“Your daughter is not married yet,” Ni Huang stated.
Xia Xing was taken aback. He had not expected Ni Huang to suddenly bring up Xia Taili. Her marriage had practically nothing to do with the White Dragon Clan, as their clan members typically did not marry outsiders.
Some time later, Xia Xing left, though no one knew what they had discussed, not even Long Ke.
Inside the Timestop Space, Lu Yin did not know how much time had passed, but he suddenly felt that something was off with his arms, prompting him to open his eyes. When he looked down, his pupils shrank to pinpoints when he saw that his arms had shriveled, even his bones.
He was startled by what he saw, and he immediately stopped practicing Extremes Must Be Reversed. Only when his arm eventually recovered did a profound wave of relief wash over him.
Fortunately, he had noticed in time, as otherwise his entire body would have withered. If that had happened, then he would have had to rely on others to return his body to normal, which would have its own bevy of problems. If he showed up to worship the ancestors with the body of a desiccated corpse, he could very well imagine that the White Dragon Clan’s Long Zu might jump down from the Dominion Realm in outrage.
Lu Yin once again realized how miraculous this battle technique was as it could force a person’s body to an extreme state, but it was almost the same as gaining a second life. Lu Yin could not even imagine how Progenitor Ku had come up with such a thing.
It was no surprise why the legends had claimed that Progenitor Ku had mastered the secret of immortality. He had definitely been able to completely wither his own body, which would allow him to survive for a long time, much like cryostasis.
Cryostasis was used to preserve one’s life, while Extremes Must Be Reversed brought about a reversal of vitality. Comparing these two options side by side, the battle technique could preserve a person’s body for much longer than cryostasis.
However, this preservation was just a side-effect of cultivating the battle technique, as it could also instantly reduce an opponent to ash, just like what Lu Yin had seen on the ancient battlefield. Using self-destruction to eliminate the enemy was a very difficult attack to counter.
Even though Lu Yin was thoroughly impressed by the power and utility of this battle technique, it was, unfortunately, one that he could not use.
He let out a silent sigh. Maybe one day, after he grew old, he would be able to practice this battle technique. Then, perhaps he would be able to reverse his vitality, restore his youth, and live forever. However, if he became a Progenitor, there would be no need to cultivate this particular technique.
The scenery changed before his eyes, and Lu Yin returned to the real world where only a second had passed.
Hidden Dragon Lake was a very beautiful location. Lu Yin found that he quite enjoyed sitting next to the lake and watching the planets move about beneath his feet as the various civilizations developed. The lake had various restrictions in place that would destroy anyone who wanted to escape from the various planets within the lake. However, there were exceptions in place as well, and anyone who managed to exploit those exceptions to escape the lake would be accepted by the White Dragon Clan and become a guard.
Status determined everything. Anyone who managed to leave their home planet would be the most talented person in their entire civilization, but after reaching the outside world, they would learn that they were nothing more than an ordinary cultivator.
A group of people arrived in the distance, and Lu Yin looked over to see that they were led by Xiao Qing, who was Long Xi’s maid. Lu Yin had actually completely forgotten about this particular maid.
“I greet the family’s son-in-law.” Xiao Qing bowed, and the more than a dozen maids following behind her bowed as well. “We greet the family’s son-in-law.”
Lu Yin had to ask, “Xiao Qing?”
Xiao Qing’s face remained calm. “The patriarch ordered us to serve the family’s son-in-law.”
Lu Yin declined. “There’s no need. I don’t need anything.”
Xiao Qing whispered, “We are here at the clan patriarch’s orders, so please don’t humiliate us.”
Lu Yin thought for a moment. “Alright, I’ll do this much for you: you can stay, but I don’t need you to actually do anything for me.”
“Thank you my lord,” Xiao Qing replied. With that, all of the maids entered Lu Yin’s quarters and began to clean for him.
Lu Yin rarely ever had anyone care for him after he had started cultivating. In King Zishan’s palace, there was Zhao Ran, but she could not really be considered a servant. Having so many maids present actually pushed Lu Yin’s comfort zone.
Xiao Qing stayed close to Lu Yin and observed him.
Lu Yin did not even need to turn around to know what Xiao Qing was doing. “Is there something that you want to ask me?”
Xiao Qing answered in a quiet and respectful tone, “Xiao Qing does not dare.”
Lu Yin turned around to face the woman. “I don’t know where Long Xi is right now. We were separated when we were in the Dominion Realm.”
“Yes, Xiao Qing knows this,” she replied.
Lu Yin knew that Xiao Qing had a good relationship with Long Xi. Thus, he made a point of saying something before falling silent.
After a while, Xiao Qing suddenly asked, “Are you planning to leave Hidden Dragon Lake soon?”
Lu Yin was curious as to why she would ask such a thing. “I shouldn’t be going anywhere before the ceremony to worship the ancestors. Why?”
Xiao Qing answered in a quiet voice, “Before arriving, I saw clansmen from the branch families gather. Among them were Young Master Long Zhang, Long Jue, and several of the branch families’ disciples. It looked like they wanted to come here to convince my lord to leave Hidden Dragon Lake and cause some trouble.”
Lu Yin laughed. “You heard them?”
Xiao Qing remained respectful. “Yes.”
Lu Yin turned back around to stare out at Hidden Dragon Lake. The other clan members were not able to enter this region of Dragon Mountain, so the only way they could cause any trouble was if Lu Yin left the lake. Even though Xiao Qing had not said anything, Lu Yin had not forgotten about how Qing Chen had mentioned that the Commander did not like impulsive people and that he preferred people who remained calm and were not swayed by their emotions.
However, wasn’t Long Zhang looking to create trouble the perfect opportunity for Lu Yin to reveal a bit of his true nature?
If the Commander really was Mister Mu, then he was already Lu Yin’s master and knew Lu Yin quite well. But if the Commander was not Mister Mu, then this situation might give Lu Yin a way to escape accepting a new master. Otherwise, Lu Yin did not have any idea how he could explain himself to Mister Mu.
“Xiao Qing, what do you think those people with Long Zhang will do to try to lure me out?” Lu Yin asked.
Xiao Qing shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Lu Yin looked out at Hidden Dragon Lake and muttered, “I hope you’ve at least got a brain, as it won’t be any fun otherwise.”
He then suddenly said, much louder, “Xiao Qing, do you have a fishing rod?”
The planets within Hidden Dragon Lake trembled. Staring into the lake was like staring into the sky even though it was all under water. However, an invisible power kept all of the planets isolated from each other and the water.
On Dragon Mountain, no matter if it was Hidden Dragon Lake or any of the other lakes, people were not ordinarily allowed to fish, but Lu Yin was allowed to do so.
Lu Yin laughed as an odd fish the size of a mountain leaped out of the water on the far side of the lake and crashed back into the lake. The impact jostled the entire island.
The next day, someone challenged Lu Yin from outside Hidden Dragon Lake.
“Young Master Long Qi, the son of the Wulong branch family has come to issue a challenge.” A maid approached Lu Yin and make a report in a respectful manner.
“Okay!” Lu Yin shouted loudly, startling the maid. Xiao Qing was nearby, and the young master of the Wulong branch family by the edge of Hidden Dragon Lake jumped too. Then, the lake itself started to surge from the excessive energy blasted out from Lu Yin.
The young master of the Wulong Branch was a Cruiser, which was considered decent for his age, but since he was a member of the four ruling powers, this was not very impressive. He could not even compare to Long Jue.
