The old man sneered and raised a hand, but just as he was about to attack, his body was forced a few steps back. His face alternated between blue and white, and he stared at Lu Yin in shock. “Spiritual force?”
Lu Yin was caught off guard by the fact that his Hollow Palm had been ineffective. After all, even if this Imprinter’s power level was more impressive than Jiu Han’s, there was no way that the old man had as many life-saving treasures. Still, given his age, neither the old man’s spiritual force nor his body were actually weak.
“You’re Lu Yin!” the old man shouted. “The only Enlighter in the entire universe who can defeat someone with my strength is you. I didn’t expect to run into you.”
Lu Yin lifted his head. “Old man, quit wasting your breath. Keep coming if you want to die.”
The old man was actually afraid and did not want to fight Lu Yin. Despite the youth only being an Enlighter, he was a monstrous existence who was qualified to even speak to the Four Empyreans. There was no telling what sort of means this child might have for protection.
However, the Imprinter also understood Lu Yin’s significance for their Sixth Mainland, especially when the Nine Cauldrons’ inheritance was considered. That technique was extremely important.
To go, or not to go?
“He’s hesitating! Let’s get out of here!” Xin Nü whispered. She did not want to take any risks at this moment. After all, this old man was a powerful Imprinter.
Lu Yin gently replied, “Not only has he seen and identified me, but he’s also seen you. We can’t let him leave.”
Lu Yin’s eyes went wide as he unleashed Daynight Praises.
Spiritual force filled the sky, enveloping the old man in an instant. Flames covered his body, but it was impossible for him to completely isolate himself from the spiritual force, and he quickly fell into Daynight Praises’ illusion.
The Imprinter looked up to see the Progenitor of Bloodlines about to crush him with a hand while the beast of flames whose bloodline he had absorbed suddenly retaliated and started to incinerate his body. “You can’t even control your own bloodline, so you should just die.”
“No! Progenitor of Bloodlines, I don’t want to die! Progenitor-” the old man screamed, and the flames surrounding his body surged into the sky. His body morphed and twisted to take on the shape of an odd flaming beast that suddenly broke free from Lu Yin’s Daynight Praises.
Daynight Praises was renowned for being an invincible battle technique, but that was only when considering opponents within the same realm or slightly stronger. However, Lu Yin frequently faced opponents whose strength far surpassed his own. Not even an invincible battle technique like Daynight Praises was guaranteed to completely trap and suppress such opponents.
Fortunately, Lu Yin had learned it instead of Night’s End, Daybreak; the latter technique would have never pulled the old man into an illusion, as the gap between them was just too large.
Still, even though the old man had broken free of the illusion, he had been injured by it. He spat out a mouthful of blood as he glared at Lu Yin. “I want you dead!”
An imprint appeared behind the old man, and his hand swung down as the flaming beast stomped down upon Lu Yin.
The heat from the flames caused the water to evaporate from the sea, and all of the star energy in Xin Nü’s body was suppressed. She started suffering from the unimaginably high temperature, and she felt like she was about to be burned to a crisp.
All star energy in the area had been suppressed by the Imprinter, which meant that Lu Yin and Xin Nü could only use their physical bodies to resist the heat that was high enough to burn mountains and evaporate the seas.
Lu Yin’s eyes grew cold, and the massive foot of a beast suddenly appeared behind him, quickly followed by the rest of the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant. The elephant completely dwarfed the flame beast.
The moment the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant appeared, an incredible and majestic power entered Lu Yin’s body, and he quickly threw out another Hollow Palm. This one far surpassed the ones that he had used before, as his power had increased tremendously while using the visualization method of the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant.
There was actually no need for Xin Nü to teach Lu Yin how to utilize the visualization method, as he instinctively understood how to use it.
The Hollow Palm shot straight through the flame beast and struck the old man’s chest, causing him to cough up blood as his body was sent flying. There was a visible dent on the man’s chest, and the image of a hand with five fingers could even be seen protruding from his back. Pieces of his organs were actually mixed in with the blood that he had spat out.
The Imprinter was in utter disbelief. How could an Enlighter be capable of such a shocking display of strength?
In fact, Lu Yin had not expected to experience such a boost in strength from using the visualization method. The flame beast completely dispersed, and Lu Yin stepped forward to enter the true universe.
Seeing that, the old man’s expression changed. This youth was unstoppable! The old man fled without another thought, racing away as fast as possible.
However, Lu Yin suddenly appeared in the Imprinter’s path. There was a sword in the young man’s hand, and he released a single attack: the Fourteenth Sword.
This attack could not be avoided, and the old man suffered another terrible wound to his chest. He stared at Lu Yin. “You sent people out of the Daosource Sect to send a message, but we captured all of them.”
Lu Yin’s face twitched. “What did you say?”
The old man gasped for air. “How much are you looking down on my Sixth Mainland? Do you really think that those people were at your mercy? The first thing that they did after leaving was to report the matter to their elders. An announcement’s already been made across the entire Sixth Mainland that no one is allowed to deliver the message for you, or to even speak the name ‘Xia Ji.’”
Lu Yin became furious. “You’re just asking to die!”
The old man sneered. “I’m the only one who can help you right now. As long as you let me go, I’ll have someone send the message for you after I leave. Otherwise, you’re done for!”
Lu Yin’s eyes flickered as he started thinking about his situation.
The old man let out a sigh of relief. “I can swear an oath for you. You should understand the importance of such a thing for us cultivators. Given your current level, you should already know how important one’s state of mind is for cultivating, and how we cannot allow any flaws to enter our mentality. I can swear that I will have someone send your message for you when I leave, but that’s only possible if you let me go.”
The sword formed from star energy disappeared from Lu Yin’s hand. He naturally understood what the old man was talking about. In fact, the reason why Lu Yin had brought up certain topics when speaking to Arch-Elder Zen was to verify that his Lu family had not actually abandoned the Fifth Mainland, but had rather gone to block the Aeternals and protect the Fifth Mainland. Lu Yin needed this assurance for his own mental state to be in the proper condition. The higher one’s cultivation was, the more important their state of mind would become.
If this old Imprinter swore to send a message for Lu Yin, even though there might still be some loopholes, Lu Yin had other means to enforce the old man’s promise.
Another sigh of relief escaped from the old man when he saw the sword disappear from Lu Yin’s hand. “The life of an old man like me means nothing to you, but if let me go, I’ll swear to do as you ask.”
Lu Yin was being cornered. “Swear it.”
The old man’s face twitched. If he really did swear such a thing, he would have to follow through on his promise, as doing otherwise would negatively affect his mental state. Weaker cultivators might not care about this, but it was very important to people at the Imprinter’s level. He had already lied to Lu Yin, which meant that this oath would also be a lie, but a flaw in his mental state was better than dying, at least in the old man’s mind. “I swear-”
The Imprinter only spoke two words when he suffered a terrible attack that pierced through his entire body and splattered his blood across the sky.
It was another Hollow Palm, and it had struck exactly where Lu Yin’s previous Hollow Palm had landed. The first attack had weakened the Imprinter enough for the second to pass straight through the old man’s body.
The old man could not believe that he had just been attacked. “You- Why?”
Lu Yin’s voice was completely indifferent. “Did you really think that I believed the crap you were spouting? Dumbass! From what you said when you first saw me, I knew that everything you just told me was a lie. While there might be some people from the Sixth Mainland who know that I’m Lu Yin, you certainly didn’t. Also, if your people truly didn’t fear death and were really the type to ignore the risks to report to their elders, how could my Fifth Mainland have ever fought against your Sixth Mainland?”
The old man’s eyes went wide, and his face grew pale. He plummeted into the sea below, already dead.
Xin Nü approached, still shaken. “He was just trying to mess with your head in order to save his own skin. Still, even if what he said is true, it’s impossible for everyone from the Sixth Mainland to not have reported the situation to their elders. Are you really not worried that no one might have taken such a risk?”
Lu Yin just smiled. “I was actually being honest. There’s already someone in the Sixth Mainland who knows I’m Lu Yin. If he really did report the matter to his elders, the first thing the old man said shouldn’t have been ‘Who are you?’ but rather ‘It’s you, Lu Yin.’”
“On top of that, the old man was still hesitant even after realizing my identity, which showed his cautious nature. If such a person had known who I was, they would have waited for others to arrive so that they could surround and take me down together instead of confronting me on his own.”
Xin Nü nodded. “Are you really certain?”
“Don’t worry, there are some people who become increasingly careful as they get older, and Xia Ji is one of them. He must have already guessed that I’d find a way to expose him from within the Daosource Sect’s ruins and that someone would question him. Even if that hasn’t happened, he still wouldn’t wait around for me to return.”
“How much longer before you leave?” Xin Nü asked.
Lu Yin quickly calculated the time. “A few more days.”
Xin Nü shrugged. “I’ll be leaving after you, so I can’t help you.”
Lu Yin smiled. “I already told you that I’ve dealt with the old fart, so don’t worry. Still, you should move on, as this place is going to attract a lot of attention from a lot of people.”
Several days later, Lu Yin left the Daosource Sect’s ruins.
Xin Nü intended to remain in the Sixth Mainland for a while longer. She claimed that there might still be other members of the Lu family who had awakened, as many people had been sealed in stone during the ancient war. She wanted to find more former comrades.
Even though Lu Yin had not managed to gain any more cauldron energy during this trip to the Daosource Sect’s ruins, he had still managed to reconnect with Xin Nü and learn that she was a member of his Lu family. On top of that, he had even managed to learn the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant visualization method, which had improved his combat strength tremendously. This trip certainly had not been a waste of time, and Lu Yin merely hoped that he was not about to return to Xia Ji and that Elder Gong had managed to lend a hand and pressure Xia Ji.
The scenery changed before Lu Yin’s eyes, and he returned to the abandoned city.
The moment he appeared, he looked around, but there was no one around. His pupils transformed into runes, and he looked around again, but there was still no one in sight. He put the futon away and stood up, but suddenly, a shadow appeared on the ground. Lu Yin’s pupils instantly shrank, and he slowly turned around. However, he was not able to see anyone before passing out. Again?
Lu Yin had no idea how much time had passed when he next woke up. He rubbed his head and sat up, only to see that he was on a meteorite drifting through space above a sea. The meteorite was actually zipping along calmly.
Lu Yin rubbed his head, as he felt quite confused. What had happened? The person who had knocked him out could not have been Xia Ji, as there was no reason for the old man to hide himself from Lu Yin anymore. It had to have been another top powerhouse who was cooperating with Xia Ji.
In that case, why had that person knocked Lu Yin out and left him in such a place?
Lu Yin looked at his gadget and tried calling Elder Gong, and he was surprised to see the old man actually answer.
“Lu Yin?” Elder Gong tentatively asked.
Lu Yin looked up. “It’s me, Elder Gong.”
“Where are you?” Elder Gong quickly asked.
“I actually don’t know. I’m on a meteorite flying above a sea.”
“Figure out where you are, and I’ll go get you,” the old man said.
“What about Xia Ji?”
“Don’t worry about him—we’re keeping an eye on him.”
“‘We’?”
“I’m with Highsage Grandmaster.”
Lu Yin felt quite touched. “Thank you, Senior, and please thank Highsage Grandmaster for me as well.”
“Hurry up and determine your location so that you can let us know. We’ll go get you,” Elder Gong repeated.
Lu Yin agreed and hung up.
A mysterious expert had helped Xia Ji by moving Lu Yin from where he had been to this sea, but that only brought up more questions. Who was the powerhouse that had cooperated with Xia Ji? It was clear that they did not want Lu Yin to figure out where he had been taken after being kidnapped. Could that person have been one of Xia Ji’s clones? If that was the case, then why had they not questioned Lu Yin about the Cosmic Art’s inheritance or the God of Death’s?
It had to be because Xia Ji was suffering from too much pressure at this moment. Elder Gong and Highsage Grandmaster were in the Xia family’s territory, and Xia Ji did not want to create too much trouble. If anything happened to Lu Yin, even while Xia Ji was being watched, the Semi-Progenitor would still be the top suspect, as everyone knew that Xia Ji had clones now.
