Chapter 1997

Arch-Elder Zen clasped his hands behind his back and looked as if he was reminiscing. “During the Daosource Sect era, do you happen to remember the group of independent cultivators during the deciding battle against the Sixth Mainland who faced their enemies knowing that only death awaited them?”

Grand Elder Ni Huang initially felt a bit confused, but then his expression changed and he simply stared at Arch-Elder Zen. “Were you one of them?”

Arch-Elder Zen nodded and let out a sigh. “When the Sixth Mainland invaded, no one in the Fifth Mainland was able to stay safe. Even children who had only started cultivating were forced to take up arms and fight, and independent cultivators were no exception. There was actually an army of independent cultivators whose strength was terrible, and who were considered nothing more than cannon fodder when they stepped onto the battlefield. Fortunately, I happened to meet the person leading the White Dragon Clan’s forces on that battlefield. That battle nearly wiped us all out.”

As Arch-Elder Zen continued, he stared at Grand Elder Ni Huang. “This junior still remembers your words, Elder, when you roused us and encouraged us before that fight.”

Grand Elder Ni Huang exclaimed, “I had only just become an Envoy back then!”

Arch-Elder Zen laughed. “And this junior was a mere Limiteer.”

Grand Elder Ni Huang nodded, and when he next spoke, his admiration was clearly expressed, “I remember that army. There were only a few hundred thousand members, and almost all of them ended up perishing. Still, their determination was inspiring.”

Arch-Elder Zen laughed. “We merely laid eyes on each other then. Our army faced the Sixth Mainland’s Envoys, and we independent cultivators weren’t able to endure for even a breath’s worth of time, which must have been a joke to someone like the Grand Elder.”

Grand Elder Ni Huang remained solemn. “Anyone willing to step onto that battlefield and face such odds deserves the respect of the entire White Dragon Clan.”

Highsage Grandmaster and the other Fifth Mainland Semi-Progenitors had not imagined Arch-Elder Zen had lived such a life. The man had never shared such details regarding his past, and truthfully, no one knew almost anything about the master of the Hall of Honor. From the time that all of them had first started cultivating, Arch-Elder Zen had already existed and held his same position. He was much, much older than any of the other Semi-Progenitors.

Still, no one had imagined that Arch-Elder Zen might have actually been part of the Fifth Mainland’s most decisive battle against the Sixth Mainland so many years ago, even if he had only been a Limiteer at that time.

Grand Elder Ni Huang laughed. “I never thought I might meet a former comrade-in-arms in this Forsaken Land. What a pleasant surprise. After we settle this matter, I would love to speak with you further. There are too few of us still alive who lived through that war back then.”

Arch-Elder Zen grew sorrowful. “Yes, far too few.”

Wang Si frowned as she stared at Arch-Elder Zen. “Where is your Forsaken Land’s Progenitor? Why have they not come out?”

Arch-Elder Zen felt quite puzzled. “Our Progenitor?”

Wang Si answered coldly, “There was a Progenitor seen standing behind Lu Xiaoxuan during his breakthrough. Such a powerhouse must have been teaching him for him to have reached his current level. Call that person out, please, as we wish to speak with them.”

Arch-Elder Zen felt completely confused; A Progenitor behind Lu Yin? During his breakthrough? Could it be?

Suddenly, the old man thought of Mister Mu. Could Mister Mu have been with Lu Yin during his breakthrough to become an Envoy? If that was the case, no wonder the boy had been fine despite the churning turmoil that had spread throughout the true universe. It had been because of that man’s help.

“We can’t contact that person,” Arch-Elder Zen replied.

Wang Si’s eyes flashed. “You can’t speak to your own Forsaken Land’s Progenitor?”

Xia Ji started to get upset. “Why do you keep referring to this place as the Forsaken Land? This is the Fifth Mainland.”

Wang Si sneered in response. “This place was only the Fifth Mainland with the Mother Tree here. Without the Mother Tree, this place became nothing but the Forsaken Land. You even had your sky replaced by the Sixth Mainland.”

Highsage Grandmaster spoke up, “If you people hadn’t fled, our sky would never have changed. Rather than calling this place the Forsaken Land, it’s more accurate to call you all a bunch of deserters.”

Wang Si’s eyebrows started to climb. “What did you just say?”

Grand Elder Ni Huang raised a hand to stop Wang Si from saying anything more. “The decision back then was made by the Lu family, and they were also the ones to decide to move the Mother Tree. You should all be aware that the Lu family ruled everything back then. They were the true masters, and none of us were able to gainsay them. If you hold such hate for their decision back then, that hate should carry over to their descendent, which is the person you all know as Lu Yin. We are here to take him away.”

Elder Gong spoke up, “Lu Yin is Lu Yin. Where is this accusation of him being a descendent of the Lu family coming from?”

Wang Si sneered. “Don’t try to play dumb! How could you not know? His identity was exposed some time ago in the Technocracy! What? Did he kill everyone present to keep his secret and keep his true identity hidden?”

Elder Gong looked over at Wang Si. “I don’t care who he might have been before. He grew up in this place, and he has done much for the Fifth Mainland. He has saved countless people, and also established the Tower of the Fifth to selflessly raise up this entire place. Lu Yin is a person from my Fifth Mainland, so please return to where you came from.”

Wang Si’s voice grew icy, “It looks like you want to protect the Lu family’s descendent.”

Highsage Grandmaster looked at Wang Si. “If you’ve already eliminated the Lu family and have already succeeded in taking control, what need is there to deal with Lu Yin? Are you truly afraid that he will be able to deal with your four ruling powers all by himself?”

Grand Elder Ni Huang spoke up, “It’s not that simple.”

He glanced at Arch-Elder Zen. “You send people from this Forsaken Land to sneak into the Perennial World after each Yuanlun Festival so that they can get some Origin Matter. When your latest batch was sent, not only did that child of the Lu family get sent in, he posed as a member of my White Dragon Clan. He eventually humiliated my entire White Dragon Clan on Dragon Mountain before the entire world, which caused us to lose face. After suffering such an embarrassment, Lu Xiaoxuan must be given to my White Dragon Clan.”

Arch-Elder Zen sighed. “Dragon Mountain is the home of your White Dragon Clan where you, Grand Elder Ni Huang, stand guard. How could a mere Enlighter have the courage to act unscrupulously on Dragon Mountain? Unless someone were forced into a corner without any escape, they would never try such a thing. Clearly, this was not done by choice.”

Ni Huang’s voice dropped low, “I know you hate the primeval surnames and all the rest of us for abandoning you. Since that is true, why do you insist on protecting that last survivor of the Lu family? The Lu family was who abandoned you to begin with. They moved the Mother Tree and isolated your Fifth Mainland. Their actions are why your sky was replaced by the Sixth Mainland. The Lu family should bear the greatest weight of your hatred. There’s simply no need for you to fight us because of Lu Xiaoxuan.

“Additionally, we are willing to let you send people from this Forsaken Land to occasionally train in the Perennial World, and even openly compete for Origin Matter. You can consider this to be the greatest improvement in our treatment of you.”

Xia Ji’s eyes flashed. “Truly?”

“Of course,” Wang Si replied.

Xia Ji stared at Arch-Elder Zen. “Lu Yin is indeed Lu Xiaoxuan, and he is a descendent of the Lu family. This is about the entire Human Domain. There’s no need for us to interfere.”

Arch-Elder Zen stared at Xia Ji for a long moment, and Xia Ji started to panic. “If your Xia family had seized the initiative to stop the Astral Beast Domain’s invasion and saved the lives of countless humans, or built the Tower of the Fifth to raise up humanity to new levels of strength, you would indeed hold the qualifications to say such a thing.”

Xia Ji did not like Arch-Elder Zen’s response, and got ready to respond, only to be sharply cut off by Arch-Elder Zen, “Xia Ji, if you are guaranteed to become a Progenitor and act to protect this Fifth Mainland, that will also qualify you to say such things.”

Xia Ji’s expression instantly changed. How could he possibly guarantee that he would become a Progenitor?

Arch-Elder Zen turned back to look at Grand Elder Ni Huang. “Given the fact that you fought in that great battle during the Daosource Sect era, you should understand that that war did not only involve the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands, but also Aeternus. Humanity should not be fighting against itself.”

Grand Elder Ni Huang’s eyes grew incredibly sharp.

“If humans fight each other, the only ones who will benefit will be Aeternus. Lu Yin has a good chance of eventually becoming a Progenitor—a very good chance. He is someone the Aeternals are eager to kill, so why are you acting as their knife to come and kill one of your own?” Arch-Elder Zen loudly accused.

Wang Si yelled in rage, “Nonsense! The Lu family is everyone’s enemy! Every last one of the Lu family members deserves to die! They’re even more despicable than the Aeternals!”

“Wang Si!” Ni Huang shouted sharply to silence the woman.

Arch-Elder Zen’s head raised high. “Is this the position of the four ruling powers? Do you all truly view the Lu family as more hateful than Aeternus? Then tell me, who were the ones to hold back the Aeternals? Who protected all of you? Regardless of how much you may hate the Lu family, even if you moved to eliminate all of them, back then, that family held the front lines in the fight against the Aeternals, and they have shed blood throughout the universe. Grand Elder Ni Huang, that is not something you could have forgotten.

“One after another, their Champions’ Stages shattered. The Lu family ruled over the Fifth Mainland, but they were also the first to fall to the Aeternals during the war. You held nothing back in order to eliminate that family, and now you’re actually wanting to kill Lu Yin, who has such a strong chance of becoming a Progenitor?”

Ni Huang shrugged. “I will admit that Lu Xiaoxuan has an exceptional talent, and it’s indeed true that he has a very good chance of becoming a Progenitor. But tell me, once he becomes a Progenitor, will the first ones that he will strike down be the Aeternals, or my four ruling powers?

“Can you promise me that Lu Xiaoxuan will not work to get revenge on the four ruling powers in the future?”

Arch-Elder Zen could say nothing to this. He was looking at things from the perspective of all of humanity, but from the perspective of the four ruling powers, Ni Huang and the others from the Perennial World who had been sent to the Fifth Mainland were doing the right thing. The four ruling powers had destroyed the entire family, and this had created an enmity that Lu Yin would not be able to lay down. Arch-Elder Zen knew Lu Yin, and understood the young man quite well. While he had indeed built the Tower of the Fifth to strength in the Fifth Mainland, Arch-Elder Zen knew that Lu Yin would never be able to let go of the hatred in his heart, and he would never be able to give up all hope and abandon his revenge to live in peace.

“While it’s unfortunate for humanity to lose a Progenitor, for my four ruling powers, that loss means eliminating one more enemy,” Grand Elder Ni Huang said. “The Lu family once held back the Aeternals and stood on the front lines, and now, my four ruling powers have taken on that task. No matter if it was right or wrong to eliminate the Lu family, everything has already been settled. Do you really want to see Lu Xiaoxuan attack us after he becomes a Progenitor and initiate a war among humans?

“Because he is still an Envoy, there’s no need to take any risks in eliminating him. This is what is best for humanity.”

There was nothing that Arch-Elder Zen could say. The hatred between Lu Yin and four ruling powers was something that could not be resolved. Unless the Lu family returned, a civil war was inevitable.

Arch-Elder Zen tried to do what was right and best for all of mankind in the Fifth Mainland, and thus he desperately wanted to prevent four ruling powers from killing Lu Yin. However, Ni Huang was also trying to do what was best for mankind in the Perennial World, and thus wanted to kill Lu Yin. Who was right? Who was wrong? It was impossible to say, as in this situation, there was no right or wrong.

“Tell me, do you still want to protect Lu Xiaoxuan?” Ni Huang asked softly as he stared at Arch-Elder Zen.

The old man instantly thought of everything Lu Yin had done. He glanced in the direction of the Cosmic Sea, where the Tower of the Fifth had just been completed. In just a few years, it would house the Fifth Mainland’s greatest treasure trove of inheritances. Lu Yin had done too much for the Fifth Mainland, and everything that he had done made it too difficult for Arch-Elder Zen to agree to abandon Lu Yin.

How good would it have been if the four ruling powers had visited the Fifth Mainland the moment they had learned that Lu Yin was Lu Xiaoxuan? At that time, Arch-Elder Zen could have given them Lu Yin without any hesitation, and a war between humans would have been averted.

But at this moment, how could Arch-Elder Zen agree to deliver Lu Yin to his enemies?

Countless people throughout the Outerverse had built statues to commemorate Lu Yin.

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Countless people from the Innerverse relied on him.

There were countless people throughout the entire Fifth Mainland who felt grateful to Lu Yin, and countless more who would accept him as a half-master. How could Arch-Elder Zen betray such a person?

Highsage Grandmaster, Gong Elder, and Jiu Chi were also unable to agree to betray Lu Yin.

Grand Elder Ni Huang frowned. Even after all that had been said, these people were still not willing to turn Lu Xiaoxuan over to the four ruling powers? Just what had the child done while in the Forsaken Land? Why was everyone bent on protecting him?

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