Xin Nü’s body froze in place. She suddenly whirled around to stare at Lu Yin. “What did you just say?”
Lu Yin met Xin Nü’s eyes and quietly said, “Champions’ Stage.”
Xin Nü was completely incredulous as she stared at Lu Yin. “How do you know about that?”
Lu Yin smiled. “The top ten finalists of ZENITH were sent to another place in the universe. There, there was an ancient and powerful family with the Lu surname. They’re known for their invincible innate gift that’s known as the Champions’ Stage.”
Xin Nü grew excited. “Have you seen that family? Do you know how to get there?”
“Are you from the Lu family with the Champions’ Stages?” Lu Yin asked.
Xin Nü nodded and grew increasingly excited. “I’m from that Lu family! Lu Yin, tell me how to get there!”
Lu Yin stared at the young woman. “Why should I believe that you’re from that Lu family?”
Xin Nü felt confused. “Why wouldn’t you believe me?”
Suddenly, her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped. “You- your surname is Lu! Are you?”
Lu Yin spread his hands. “Make me believe that you’re from that Lu family.”
“Why should I believe you’re from that Lu family?” Xin Nü countered.
Lu Yin sat back down. “Believe me or don’t. I don’t care.”
Xin Nü stared at Lu Yin with complicated emotions churning in her eyes. “Are you really from that Lu family?”
Lu Yin said nothing at all and instead stared out at the sea. He looked perfectly calm, but his heart was in turmoil. He actually already believed that Xin Nü was from his Lu family, as what else could explain the implicit trust he felt for her that had absolutely no reason behind it? When the two had first met, neither of them had even heard of the Lu family or the Champions’ Stage. There had been no one to vouch for Lu Yin at that time, and it was impossible for anyone to have known that he was Lu Xiaoxuan.
Even if she wanted to plot against him, what could Xin Nü do to him?
Xin Nü stared at Lu Yin’s back. “No wonder I felt like I could trust you from the first time I saw you. You want me to prove I’m from the Lu family? Alright.”
As she spoke, she raised a hand and released a palm strike. As the attack moved away, the palm print grew more and more corporeal until the moment it struck the sea.
“This is the Lu family’s Lifeseizer Palm. It’s a technique that’s exclusive to my Lu family’s branch families. Is this enough to prove myself?” Xin Nü said, her tone very calm.
Lu Yin stared at where the palm print had disappeared in the distance. It was very similar to the Celestial Frost Sect’s Gap Between Heaven and Human. “Can this attack steal the opponent’s life force?”
Xin Nü solemnly replied, “Yes. The Lifeseizer Palm is a technique that’s exclusive to the Lu family, and it can steal an enemy’s life force.”
This Lifeseizer Palm was very similar to the Gap Between Heaven and Human, but it was supposed to be a battle technique that was exclusive to the Lu family. This meant that the Celestial Frost Sect had stolen one of the Lu family’s exclusive techniques, which was far from impossible. The Celestial Frost Sect had many secret techniques, including the Yu Secret Art, so it was not very surprising for them to also have the Lu family’s Lifeseizer Palm.
“That’s not enough,” Lu Yin stated.
Xin Nü retorted, “Make me believe you’re from the Lu family.”
Lu Yin smiled and the Champions’ Stage suddenly appeared in front of him. There was nothing else that could prove his identity easier than his inherited innate gift.
Xin Nü went stiff when she saw the Champions’ Stage suddenly appear, and her pupils shrank to points. “The Champions’ Stage? You’re a direct descendant!”
“Prove to me that you’re from the Lu family.”
Xin Nü again became excited. “Okay!”
Space behind her began to distort, and Lu Yin felt an unusual energy. He looked behind her, and he saw a life-like animal foot appear in the air, and it was quickly followed by a leg that looked like an elephant’s. A creature continued to gradually appear, and once it fully formed, it roared at the sky with a voice that produced visible sound waves that broke open the sky and radiated into the distance.
The earth trembled, and the sea boiled. The phenomenon that appeared behind Xin Nü caused her aura to spike, in much the same manner as an imprint.
Lu Yin stared the creature that simultaneously appeared to be both real and illusory. As he did, he recalled a voice in his mind. ‘Little Seven, this is one of my Lu family’s visualizations. What do you think? Isn’t it spectacular!’
‘Second Brother, it’s amazing! I want one, too.’
‘Haha, there’s no need for that. That’s the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant that’s the visualization method used by one of the branch families. We’re part of the main family, and we use another, more powerful visualization method.’
‘Really? Second Brother, I want to visualize! Teach me how to visualize!’
‘Don’t worry, Little Seven, first practice the Hidden Needle.’
The arrival of the voice brought about a terrible pain on Lu Yin’s back. His seal was activating. All of his fingers tore out gouges in the stone beneath him as he stared at the creature that had appeared behind Xin Nü. The voices he had heard were his past memories. He wanted to be able to recall them.
Suddenly, bones snapped inside his body, and Lu Yin’s breathing was cut short. He tumbled into the sea.
Xin Nü quickly grabbed him—what in the world had just happened? Lu Yin’s energy had just become terribly unstable.
The voices disappeared from Lu Yin’s head, and he found himself again sitting atop the cliff, breathing heavily and dripping with sweat.
“What’s wrong with you?” Xin Nü was quite worried.
A more serious expression was on Lu Yin’s face at this moment, and a strong frustration filled his eyes. His memories, cultivation, and even his innate gift had all been sealed. The crazy headmaster, the desiccated corpse, and even Progenitor Chen’s blood had unlocked multiple layers of his seal, but there was still more.
It was inevitable that the seal would act up during his breakthrough to the Envoy realm, which meant that he would face even greater dangers than other people during his breakthrough.
Everyone faced their first stellular tribulation when becoming an Envoy. However, Lu Yin also had his seal, which was no different from a death sentence from the four ruling powers. However, he would completely break free of the seal one day, and he would welcome back his Lu family.
“Immovable Heavenly King Elephant,” Lu Yin forced out in a quiet but hoarse voice.
The image disappeared from behind Xin Nü. “This should be enough to prove my identity.”
Although Lu Yin’s memory had not been fully restored yet, the voice that he had heard when looking at Xin Nü’s visualization had told him that it was the visualization of a branch family of the Lu family. It was the same concept as the four ruling powers’ visualization methods.
Lu Yin suddenly remembered that someone had once said that the four ruling powers had also stolen their visualization methods from the Lu family and that the Lu family was the originator of all visualization methods.
“I am both Lu Yin and Lu Xiaoxuan,” Lu Yin stated.
Xin Nü asked, “Is Lu Xiaoxuan your real name?”
Lu Yin explained, “It was my name from before I lost my memory.”
“You still haven’t recovered your memories?” Xin Nü was taken aback. Given Lu Yin’s cultivation level, it seemed very odd for him not to have recovered his memories.
Lu Yin coldly stated, “My memories were sealed.”
“By who?” A chill entered Xin Nü’s voice as well.
Lu Yin shared with Xin Nü everything that had happened in the Perennial World. It was information that many people were already aware of, so there was no need to hide such things, especially from someone from his same Lu family.
Xin Nü’s expression grew colder and colder. After hearing Lu Yin’s story, hatred blazed in her eyes. “If we had known before that those families would betray us, they would have never been given a single chance.”
“What era are you from? You’ve never heard my name before, so you must be from a long time ago, but you don’t look very old,” Lu Yin asked.
Xin Nü solemnly replied, “I come from the Daosource Sect’s era.”
Lu Yin was stunned. “The Daosource Sect’s era? And you’re still alive now?”
Xin Nü began to reminisce. “Back then, you could still see the Mother Tree, and everyone was under the Daosource Sect’s authority. In the Fifth Mainland, there were the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas. However, everything changed because of that war.”
“The war between the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands?” Lu Yin interjected.
“Yes, the war between the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands. That war brought about an unprecedented disaster to the Fifth Mainland, and countless people died. Progenitors fell, the heavens wept, and the Daosource Sect collapsed. The Nine Mountains and Eight Seas were broken.
“Back then, I was nothing more than an insignificant Hunter, and I fought on a battlefield that couldn’t even count as the tip of the iceberg, and yet I saw several Progenitors be wounded.”
The weight of her memories caused Xin Nü to slowly squat down. She was remembering a terrifying scene, and fear and mourning could be seen in her eyes. “During those years of war, enough blood was shed to destroy the universe. No one knew what places were safe, or if you would live for even another second. No one was sure.”
“I said that I was just a tiny Hunter back then, but even Envoys and Semi-Progenitors could get drawn into a battle and killed at any moment as collateral damage. The Mother Tree trembled, and everything was painted red. I saw massive corpses floating through space that were devoured by enormous beasts. I saw old Progenitors look up at the sky and cry. I saw countless eyes filled with despair, and…” Xin Nü started to shake as she thought back to that ancient war, and her face grew pale.
Lu Yin quickly reached out and grabbed her hand. “Don’t think about it, Xin Nü! Xin Nü!”
He shouted, and the young woman quivered, and her breathing grew ragged before she slowly calmed back down.
“I’m sorry.” Xin Nü’s voice was wooden and uncertain. It was clear that she was still traumatized by the war. If even someone from a branch of the Lu family had suffered so badly, one could only imagine how horrifying that ancient war must have been.
Lu Yin had fought in wars. He had first fought on the border warfront in Erudite Flowzone, and later on in Ironblood Weave and Endless Weave as well. He had fought in a war in the Cosmic Sea, and many others. However, all the wars and battles that Lu Yin had participated in were still far from comparing to the one war that Xin Nü had participated in. That was a war that had involved Progenitors.
“So, the Fifth Mainland with its Nine Mountains and Eight Seas still lost to the Sixth Mainland?” Lu Yin slowly asked.
Xin Nü’s hands clenched into fists as she gritted her teeth and angrily replied, “No! The Sixth Mainland has always been far inferior to the Fifth Mainland! Any one of the Fifth Mainland’s Progenitors could have overwhelmed their peers in the Sixth Mainland with the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas. It was those monsters! The Fifth Mainland lost to those monsters!”
“The Aeternals?” Lu Yin’s voice dropped low.
Xin Nü could not remain sitting. “Yes, the Aeternals! The Sixth Mainland was nothing more than a hoodwinked tool of the Aeternals! They were the ones who actually entered our Daosource Sect and fought against our Progenitors with the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas. However, the Sixth Mainland’s invasion took up half of the Fifth Mainland’s strength, which was why we were defeated by the Aeternals! One by one, our Progenitors sacrificed themselves. I was also affected by some power and sealed in stone. I have no idea what happened after that.”
This did not surprise Lu Yin, as there were already various hints that the Sixth Mainland had been deceived. “Why were they tricked?”
Xin Nü shook her head. “That I don’t know.”
Lu Yin felt disappointed, but Xin Nü had only been a Hunter back then, so how could she have been privy to such secrets?
“I did hear that it had something to do with the Wang family,” Xin Nü hesitantly said.
Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. “Did you hear any details?”
Xin Nü frowned. “No, but one thing I’m sure of is that when the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands went to war, the Fifth Mainland was the one to attack, and Progenitor Chen led the charge.”
Lu Yin’s brows rose high. “Progenitor Chen led the attack?”
Xin Nü nodded. “Back then, he was one of the Progenitors who controlled the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, and he held the highest status in my Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect. His actions caused the two Mainlands to go to war, though I don’t know why he attacked.”
Xin Nü shared everything that she remembered, but aside from the fact that Progenitor Chen had been the first one to attack and that he had actually triggered the war, nothing else that Xin Nü mentioned was too surprising. “Which Progenitors controlled the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas?”
This was something that Lu Yin had always wondered about.
