Chapter 2414: Investigation, Checks, And Balances

After the Fan family was taken away, Lu Yin turned to Yang Yi and Bu Kong. “Do you regret betraying humanity?”

Yang Yi sighed. “I don’t dare to question Master’s orders.”

Bu Kong glared at Lu Yin. “I only hate the fact that the gap between us has widened.”

Lu Yin gave Bu Kong a long look, simply captured him alive, and then placed him on Zenith Mountain. Bu Kong would be Lu Yin’s bargaining chip when the time came to deal with Yi Ren. Lu Yin then spoke to the Progenitor of Bloodlines while eyeing Yang Yi. “Senior, when the people of the Sea King’s Dome arrive, turn him over to them. They will decide his fate.”

Having accomplished all he needed to at the Sea King’s Dome, Lu Yin left, riding atop the jiao. He made his way towards the Upper Three Gates. It was only a matter of time before word of Yi Ren’s defeat reached the Seven Skygods.

Shortly after Yi Ren escaped from the battlefield, news of the matter reached Ancient God’s group in the Perennial World’s Dominion Realm.

“Didn’t Shaman God give him Decaying Diablo? How was he still defeated so quickly? How can such a person ever qualify to rule over humanity?” Forgotten Ruins God blocked an attack from Xia Shenji as she spoke.

Upon hearing Forgotten Ruins God’s words, Xia Shenji knew that Lu Yin had already gained the upper hand in the Starfall Sea. The Progenitor clearly remembered the tricks and abilities that Lu Yin had employed against him, and he dearly wished for Aeternus to have an even more difficult time dealing with the young man.

Ancient God replied, “That brat uses all kinds of strange methods. He has the ability to upgrade objects, instantly heal himself, and even seize control of others. It’s not surprising that Yi Ren isn’t his match. Are any of you able to withdraw from here to deal with him?”

“Not possible.” Blackless God was fully focused on holding back Wang Fan. This was not an easy task, as Wang Fan had fought against Blackless God on more than one occasion before, and he was no stranger to the Skygods’s abilities.

Corpse God and Progenitor Long faced off against each other. Progenitor Long was using the White Dragon Transformation, and his body had grown to an enormous size due to the Python Ancestor’s blood. The massive body slammed into Corpse God.

Forgotten Ruins God fought against Xia Shenji.

Ancient God had two opponents: Bai Wangyuan and the Divine Eagle.

The four ruling powers’ Progenitors were just barely able to hold their own against the Seven Skygods with the assistance of the Divine Eagle and Ceaseless Impetus.

Ancient God looked up as the eagle swooped down towards him once more. “Even the Arkfish could brush off that attack. What makes you think that it could do anything to me?”

He stretched out his arm with his palm facing the eagle and then curled his fingers into a fist. Ancient God’s fingers seemed to seize hold of some place within the Divine Eagle. Then, he swung his hand to the side, tossing the eagle away. Ancient God quickly followed up with a punch at Bai Wangyuan, which caused the Progenitor to grimace. The stars in the Outer Realm shook, and the seven planets fell, leaving trails of light behind them as they blocked Ancient God’s attack.

Ancient God pulled his hand back and glanced at Bai Wangyuan before turning to leave.

Bai Wangyuan recalled the agreement that he had made with Lu Yin, and he desperately tried to stop Ancient God from leaving the battlefield, but all of his attempts were in vain, even with the Divine Eagle’s help.

“Ancient God, if you dare to leave, I’ll immediately go kill Undying God!” Bai Wangyuan threatened.

Ancient God left without so much as a glance backwards.

Bai Wangyuan also left the Dominion Realm.

Forgotten Ruins God rolled her eyes. “So he took the initiative and opened the path to the Starfall Sea to declare war on Aeternus? How bold.”

In the Starfall Sea, Lu Yin’s wireless jincan vibrated. After giving it a quick glance, he hastily turned the jiao back to the sea’s entrance. At the same time, he ordered all of the Fifth Mainland’s forces to immediately retreat.

Ancient God soon arrived in the Starfall Sea, and he took a step towards its entrance. He prepared to attack the seven enormous sourceboxes, but something made him pause. He looked up to see the massive jiao waiting just outside the Starfall Sea, along with Lu Yin and the human army. His scarlet eyes briefly flickered before Ancient God turned and left.

Lu Yin heaved a sigh of relief as he watched Ancient God’s figure retreat.

Progenitors with Xia Shenji’s level of strength were within Lu Yin’s capabilities, but he knew that he was nowhere near being able to put up a fight against Ancient God. As one of the Dao Monarchs from the Heavens Sect era, Ancient God was on an entirely different level. Lu Yin’s tricks and tools would only collapse before such power.

It was likely that even a full-powered blow with the God of Death’s power would not affect Ancient God too much.

Grandmaster Gu Yan also let out a sigh of relief. There was no way his Sealing Path sourcebox array could ever stop Ancient God.

“Lu Xiaoxuan, if he ever returns, just use Mt. Microcosms to reseal the path to the Starfall Sea. Anything else is too risky,” Grandmaster Gu Yan said.

Lu Yin agreed. They were lucky that Ancient God had decided to leave. If the Skygod had tried to force his way through, no one would be able to stop him.

In the Perennial World’s Lower Realm, Undying God directed a disturbing stare at Bai Wangyuan as the man landed one blow after another onto Undying God’s body. If no one arrived to stop Bai Wangyuan, there was a possibility that Undying God would truly die.

Bai Wangyuan hoped to kill Undying God once and for all, but the stars in the Outer Realm soon trembled, which signaled Ancient God’s return. Bai Wangyuan knew that his goal was already out of reach. Sighing at his failure, he returned to the Dominion Realm.

Undying God continued to rebuild his body with divine energy.

As far as Bai Wangyuan was concerned, the best possible outcome would have been if he had killed Undying God in the Lower Realm while Ancient God killed Lu Xiaoxuan in the Starfall Sea. Unfortunately, Ancient God had chosen to prioritize rescuing Undying God, which had left Bai Wangyuan with no choice but to return to the Dominion Realm to block Ancient God from entering the Perennial World. Bai Wangyuan was well aware of just how disastrous it would be if Ancient God were not stopped.

Lu Yin had never intended to rely on the four ruling powers to keep him alive. Instead, he had placed his bet on the Seven Skygods, as he was absolutely certain that they would prioritize saving Undying God over anything else. As long as the Seven Skygods remained committed to that mission, everything would go smoothly for Lu Yin. However, if they abandoned Undying God, then the Fifth Mainland would face an absolute disaster, which would also impact the Perennial World. After all, the collapse of the Fifth Mainland would allow the Seven Skygods to access the Perennial World through the New Corridor. Lu Yin had already made arrangements at both ends of the New Corridor, as he was unwilling to entrust complete control of it to the four ruling powers.

In other words, even if the Seven Skygods chose to give up on rescuing Undying God, the four ruling powers could not afford to let the Fifth Mainland lose. As Lu Yin had once said, they would either achieve a complete victory together, or suffer an utter defeat together.

Lu Yin became certain that he had made the right decision to open up the path to the Starfall Sea as soon as he saw Ancient God leave just moments after arriving. This meant that it was time to make a trip to the New World. Although this did not mean that the humans had won their war against Aeternus, an achievement as impressive as invading the New World would be enough to etch Lu Yin’s name in the annals of history. It was crucial for his future plans that the Lu family name regain prominence and be regarded for their valuable contributions to humanity.

Of course, the underlying assumption was that the Seven Skygods would not abandon Undying God regardless of what else happened.

He could achieve his goals, as long as the Seven Skygods ignored him. They would have to do so no matter how much he provoked them.

Lu Yin had one more desire, one that he had not shared with anyone at all. He was hoping to investigate and discover the depths of Aeternus’s hidden strength. Lu Yin wanted to assess the scope of Aeternus’s power and their ability to influence not only the universe he knew, but also other parallel universes.

If Aeternus was able to effortlessly rout the Fifth Mainland’s army and save Undying God at the same time, then it indicated that Aeternus possessed a significant amount of power in all of the parallel universes that they were present in. It would mean that they possessed enough strength to smooth over any and all incidents that occurred in any given universe. However, if Aeternus was unable to handle matters on both fronts at the same time, it would show that their strength had limits.

Whichever result occurred, Lu Yin had already prepared a corresponding counter for Aeternus. He truly hoped that they were not overly powerful, as that was the only way for humanity to still stand a chance at victory.

After Ancient God returned to the Perennial World to resume fighting in the Dominion Realm, Lu Yin made his way back through the Sealing Path sourcebox array and returned to the Starfall Sea. His target was the New World. He needed his name to be engraved in the hearts of all humans. The Fifth Mainland’s armed forces followed behind Lu Yin, and upon entering the Starfall Sea, a second massive battle erupted against the corpse kings. Just like before, the army remained close to the entrance, and only a few powerhouses moved forward and penetrated deep behind the enemy lines. Most people remained with the main force to ensure that everyone could quickly retreat into the Fifth Mainland at a moment’s notice.

As for the Perennial World, all attention was focused on the rear battlefield. Every eye in the Fifth Mainland was focused on the Starfall Sea. This was why no one noticed when Leng Qing was ambushed near the Extreme Path. He was instantly immobilized by eight matrices and then trapped within a white inner world that had the ability to dissolve anything. The perpetrator was none other than Whiteless God.

Each of the Seven Skygods was an incredibly powerful Progenitor who stood above their peers. In the same manner, their Semi-Progenitor avatars were far superior to other Semi-Progenitors. Leng Qing had been the gatemaster of one of the Heavens Sect’s Twelve Heavenly Gates, and he was no pushover himself. And yet, even he was unable to find any way to launch a counterattack. Still, his strength allowed him to survive the ambush.

Whiteless God’s purpose was very simple: to open up the Extreme Path and release a flood of corpse kings into the Fifth Mainland from the Sixth Mainland. As soon as this happened, the human army that was invading the Starfall Sea would be forced to withdraw to save the Fifth Mainland from total annihilation.

In the same manner as how Lu Yin had attempted to use an attack on the Starfall Sea to divert Aeternus’s focus, Whiteless God intended to use an invasion from the Sixth Mainland to divert Lu Yin’s attention.

However, before Whiteless God could open up the Extreme Path, a thread slashed through the void, slicing through the inner world formed from white mountains and rivers. Destina stepped out. “Let’s see who you really are.”

Leng Qing seized this chance to break free of the eight matrices. His sword rose high, and he slashed at the inner world.

The sharpness of this blade was unparalleled, and by coordinating with Destina, the two Semi-Progenitors successfully shattered Whiteless God’s inner world. Blood splattered across space, and Whiteless God’s presence instantly vanished from the region of the universe. Throughout the altercation, she had not shown herself even once.

Lu Yin soon received a report about the incident, and after seeing it, he lowered his wireless jincan.

Whiteless God’s sneak attack on Leng Qing was completely within Lu Yin’s expectations. The only one of the Seven Skygods who still had a Semi-Progenitor avatar in the Fifth Mainland was Whiteless God. Her presence was a ticking time bomb that had been troubling Lu Yin for some time.

Since he was up against Aeternus this time, Lu Yin had already envisioned every possible scenario that could potentially lead to his defeat, and he had then devised strategies to prevent them.

Destina was confident that Whiteless God’s Semi-Progenitor avatar was no longer a threat to Lu Yin’s plans. This meant that, even if the avatar had managed to survive, she was no longer able to carry out Aeternus’s plans. The ticking time bomb had become nothing more than a dud. However, Lu Yin still had no idea who Whiteless God was.

Lu Yin was confident that he personally knew Whiteless God’s avatar, and it was even possible that he was close to the person. Not knowing her true identity had made him nervous for a long time.

Lu Yin had sent out orders for everyone whom he was close to be checked on and for any mysterious absences reported to him. It was the only method available.

The jiao flew past the Sea King’s Dome, moving closer to the huge waterfall. The beast tore through space, delivering them right before the cascade that concealed the Upper Three Gates.

He looked up at the majestic waterfall that appeared to connect the sky and the ground. This was the place.

Lu Yin took in the sight of the Upper Three Gates. When he had traveled through time and space in the Daosource Sect’s main hall, he had personally witnessed the moment when the Sea King had blasted the gates open with pyrolyte-wrapped clothes that had been soaked with Progenitor Chen’s blood. Lu Yin had also watched Bai Xian’er casually eliminate a Semi-Progenitor from the Sixth Mainland with a single finger. That was the day that the Fifth Mainland’s true sky had been returned. It had also been the spark that triggered the Sixth Mainland into declaring war on the Fifth Mainland.

Only history could judge whether the Sea King’s actions were morally justifiable. As far as Lu Yin was concerned, that previous decision had presented him with an opportunity…

As long as Lu Yin passed through the Upper Three Gates, he would enter the Perennial World’s New World. After the Lu family was exiled, the New World had been left uncontested to Aeternus. People from the Perennial World were no longer able to even step foot on the New World.

Actually, there was one exception: Bai Xian’er had managed to enter the New World. It was the only way she could have attacked the Sixth Mainland Semi-Progenitor and break the Fifth Mainland’s false sky.

But just how had she done it?

The flood of corpse kings that had poured into the New World had only occurred after Aeternus took over the Starfall Sea. That meant that, before, Aeternus had not known about the Upper Three Gates in the New World. Their presence had only been discovered after the Starfall Sea was occupied. That was why countless corpse kings had poured into the New World, to increase the pressure on the rear battlefield. Bai Xian’er had sneaked into the New World before all of that, which would not have been an impossible task.

The jiao’s massive body moved closer to the waterfall where the Upper Three Gates were hidden. Just as the beast was about to enter, a red glow in the corner of his eye caught Lu Yin’s attention. He turned to see what it was.

He ordered the jiao to move towards the red glow, and it passed the waterfall to do so. Considering where the barrier that protected the Fifth Mainland lay, the glow was coming from the Aeternals’ territory. The barrier demarcated the territory of the Fifth Mainland in much the same way that the five array bases separated the New World from the Perennial World.

An endless sea of corpse kings charged forward to block Lu Yin from moving forward, but all of them were easily eliminated by the jiao before they could even draw close to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin could only see scarlet eyes ahead of him. He had already become numb to the sight.