Chapter 2216: Deviating Consciousness

Once the cap came off the bottle, Xia Xing felt a vague connection to it, which seemed unbelievable. There was a connection to this blood, and it felt like both he and the blood shared the same origin. Regardless of whether this blood actually belonged to Progenitor Chen, the resulting resonance left Xia Xing completely certain that this blood belonged to a powerhouse of the Xia family.

"Who- whose blood is that?" Xia Xing asked in shock as he stared at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin replied in a relaxed manner, "I already told you, it’s Progenitor Chen’s."

"That’s impossible! Progenitor Chen never came to the Perennial World, and he died during the Daosource Sect era in the war between the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands," Xia Xing denied.

Lu Yin laughed. "If Progenitor Chen never visited the Perennial World, then how could you know if he died or not?"

Xia Xing wanted to retort, but he had no words.

Although the sect master knew the truth regarding Progenitor Chen, he had not lived during the Daosource Sect era. Thus, he did not have any strong feelings about the matter. On top of that, Progenitor Chen had long since become a forbidden topic within the Xia family. The man had genuinely never considered the possibility of one day encountering Progenitor Chen's blood.

Xia Xing stared at the blood in a daze, not knowing whether he believed Lu Yin’s words that it was truly Progenitor Chen's blood. He did not even know if he wanted to believe Lu Yin’s words.

"Progenitor Chen, whose name was Xia Shang, came from Shenwu’s Sky’s Xia family," Lu Yin slowly explained, "He was a powerful Progenitor from the Xia family, and was truly invincible during his era."

Xia Xing's eyes kept flickering. Eventually, he could not resist looking back up at Lu Yin. "Do you want to trade this blood for the restriction method?"

Lu Yin shook his head, much to Xia Xing's confusion. Then, he slowly explained, "I won’t trade it for the restriction method, but I will give you a chance to escape. Absorb the blood, and you might be able to get away from me."

Xia Xing grew puzzled. "Why would you do that?"

Lu Yin just responded with a small smile as he tossed the bottle of blood over to Xia Xing, who caught it.

"Absorb it and let me see just how strong the Xia family’s patriarch can become from absorbing Progenitor Chen's blood," Lu Yin said.

Xia Xing could not understand Lu Yin at all. Despite having Progenitor Chen's blood, he made no attempt to trade it away, and instead, Xia Xing was simply given the blood. This was the blood of a powerful Progenitor from the Xia family, which was truly useful to the sect master.

Xia Xing had been in charge of Shenwu's Sky for many years, and he was decisive and ruthless. He certainly was not a hesitant person. After a moment’s thought, he crushed the bottle and started absorbing Progenitor Chen's blood.

Lu Yin gave Xia Xing an odd look. Was Lu Yin an altruistic person? Absolutely not. However, he also wasn’t some sort of battle maniac who simply wanted to fight against a Xia Xing strengthened by Progenitor Chen’s blood. No, that was not the reason at all. Instead, Lu Yin wanted the clone in front of him to break free from the control of Xia Xing’s main body.

Lu Yin might not be overly familiar with the Nine Clones Secret Technique, but he had seen that Xia Jiuyou had been able to absorb all of his clones aside from Xia Luo as his other clones did not fear death. Xia Xing had similarly said that he did not fear dying. Clones were similar to puppets, and was there any use in trying to tempt or threaten a puppet? Even if Xia Xing’s clone looked like he was being tempted or threatened, Lu Yin did not believe it. Instead, Lu Yin would simply assume that the clones were doing everything for the benefit of the main body.

In that case, Lu Yin would simply free this clone from its main body, which essentially meant that he had to make this clone Xia Xing’s main body, just like how Xia Luo had replaced Xia Jiuyou as the main body.

While Lu Yin had no idea how Xia Luo had pulled it off, there was at least a 90% chance that absorbing Progenitor Chen’s blood would make this clone the main body, which would completely change the clone’s perspective.

Xia Luo had not been willing to be absorbed by Xia Jiuyou, so as soon as Xia Xing's clone developed his own desires, he would also no longer be willing to be absorbed by the main body, which was Lu Yin's goal.

Xia Xing's body turned red, and absorbing Progenitor Chen's blood made his breath start to accelerate. The man let out a roar, and his body started to grow larger and larger as he transformed into a giant.

Lu Yin was amazed. The Progenitor realm was the pinnacle of human power, and a Progenitor’s mere blood could transform an Envoy, which showed just how amazingly powerful a Progenitor had to be.

The various changes that took place in Xia Xing happened quickly, and it also finished quickly. In just half an hour, he had become a colossal giant. He stared at Lu Yin within the Timestop Space, and then he suddenly lashed out and threw a punch at the tiny human. Xia Xing had become utterly confident that he could overpower Lu Yin.

Lu Yin shook his head, but he did not move a single step from where he stood. Xia Xing released a vicious punch, but it had no effect.

Xia Xing could not believe what he saw. How could such a thing be possible? He had absorbed Progenitor Chen's blood, and he was now close to triggering his seventh stellular tribulation. Adding in the strength of this newly acquired colossal giant, he was confident that he could face off against even a peak Envoy, so how could his full might be useless against Lu Yin?

Lu Yin sneered, and his pupils transformed into runes. He then used God of Flames’ runes to suddenly create a massive hand in midair that slapped down onto Xia Xing’s head, smashing the man to the ground.

The amount of runes that belonged to God of Flames were comparable to a Semi-Progenitor’s. The man had only ever reached the level of a peak Envoy, but after transforming into a candle and being Enhanced by Lu Yin, the candle’s number of runes had risen to become comparable to those of a Semi-Progenitor. Such power could easily suppress Xia Xing.

Xia Xing's body shrank more and more until he finally regained his original size. He lay on the ground and glared up at Lu Yin, unwilling to accept this outcome.

Lu Yin bent over to look at the man with satisfaction. "I can see the desire to live within your eyes."

Xia Xing frowned "What does that mean?"

Lu Yin smiled. "I gave you a chance to escape, but you failed. That means that I still control whether you live or die."

"It doesn't matter. I'm just a clone," Xia Xing replied in the same manner as before.

Lu Yin clasped his hands behind his back. "Who said that a clone can't replace the main body?"

Xia Xing's eyes instantly flared, as his mind started to race. Lu Yin’s simple question opened up a new avenue of thoughts for the patriarch. Could a clone replace the main body?

Lu Yin’s eyes never left Xia Xing, and the change in the man’s expression suggested that Lu Yin’s efforts had succeeded. Absorbing Progenitor Chen's blood had freed the clone from the restraints of the main body, which gave him a new way of thinking.

Just as Wang Si had introduced the concept of overthrowing the Lu family to the four ruling powers, Lu Yin had just introduced the previously foreign concept of freedom to Xia Xing's clone.

Certain thoughts or possibilities were too terrifying to consider, but once they occurred, more and more changes would naturally soon develop.

It was rather normal for soldiers to be fearless on the battlefield, but the moment one person fled in fear for their life, it introduced a new concept to others on the battlefield as well. This one small action would quickly cascade into more and more soldiers also fleeing.

This change was taking place in the mind of Xia Xing's clone at this moment. Why did he have to die? Why was it necessary? He could live instead, and why was it impossible for him to replace the main body and become the true Xia Xing and the Xia family’s patriarch? After all, Xia Xing was already the patriarch…

The more the man thought about it, the more the clone wanted to follow these new desires, and his desire to live and survive grew stronger and stronger.

Lu Yin squatted down next to Xia Xing. "Tell me about the restriction, and I can let you leave this place alive. I’ll even help you replace the main body."

The clone stared up at Lu Yin in a daze, confused. Complicated thoughts and emotions assaulted the man, creating all kinds of differing internal conflicts as turbulent emotions clashed. Just what was he supposed to do?

This new line of thought made the clone like a child who had just obtained the ability to think for itself, and it caused the clone to fall into a state of confusion.

"Why are you hesitating?" Lu Yin asked. "You are Xia Xing, the sect master of Shenwu's Sky and the patriarch of the Xia family. You can absorb the other clones, which means that you are the main body now."

Xia Xing’s pupils constricted. "This was your goal all along."

Lu Yin smiled. This was what made the Nine Clones Technique so miraculous; each clone was capable of independent thought, but they were incapable of resisting the main body. It seemed that being absorbed by the main body was something innate to the clones, despite the fact that the clones were not mindless puppets. After all, if the clones were mere puppets, then how could each of Progenitor Chen’s clones be capable of destroying a Progenitor?

Each of Progenitor Chen's nine clones had been invincible, and yet it had been impossible for any of them to avoid being absorbed by the main body.

Just these few words allowed Xia Xing's clone to understand Lu Yin's goal and open yet another new line of thought. The clone understood that he had previously had no way to resist being absorbed by the main body or sacrificing himself for the main body, but that had changed. He could resist now.

"It's quite interesting, isn't it?" Lu Yin smiled.

The clone just stared at Lu Yin. "Lu Xiaoxuan, you are absolutely terrifying. You’re nothing at all like how you used to be."

Lu Yin stood back up and looked down at Xia Xing from up above. "My name is Lu Yin. Lu Xiaoxuan is dead."

The clone’s eyes narrowed. He could no longer tell Lu Yin that he was willing to die, as it was no longer true, and Lu Yin already knew that. There was no point in trying to bluff. The clone now wanted to absorb the main body in Shenwu’s Sky and become the new main body.

"You only want the restriction method?" Xia Xing asked.

Lu Yin nodded, "Just tell me that, and I can let you leave this place alive."

Xia Xing's clone let out a breath. "Trying to rescue the people of Star Alliance is far too difficult. Each of the four ruling powers have a quarter of the restriction method, so even if you get my Xia family’s portion, what are you going to do about the other three parts?"

"You don’t need to worry about that," Lu Yin said.

Xia Xing laughed. "We managed to exile the entire Lu family, only to end up deceived by a mere Lu Xiaoxuan. What a joke!"

After feeling all sorts of conflicting emotions, Xia Xing finally shared the Xia family’s restriction method with Lu Yin.

This meant that Lu Yin had already acquired half of the restriction method needed to free Star Alliance, as he had obtained the parts belonging to both the White Dragon Clan and the Xia Clan. Only half remained.

"You said that you would let me go," the clone reminded Lu Yin.

Lu Yin nodded. "I will, but not yet."

Xia Xing had not expected to be immediately released, as it was only expected for Lu Yin to worry about his presence in the Perennial World becoming public knowledge, so this response was no surprise at all.

"However, I’ll offer you a deal. If you give me the Nine Clones Secret Technique, not only will I let you go, but I’ll also help you absorb and replace the main body. In fact, I’ll even teach you Progenitor Chen's battle techniques. Would you like that?" Lu Yin suddenly offered as he stared at Xia Xing's clone.

The clone just responded with a wry smile. "I’m willing to cooperate, but it’s impossible."

Lu Yin’s expression grew a slight bit more tense. "What do you mean?"

The clone shrugged. "The Nine Clones Secret Technique is something that the main body cultivates, and the rest of us are created from the main body, which means that it’s impossible for us to cultivate on our own initiative. This is a limitation inherent to the Nine Clones Secret Technique. First, it limits the clones’ thoughts so that we can’t resist the main body, not unless the main body is comparatively weaker and we can break free from those limitations. The second limitation is that even if we want to resist, we can’t absorb the main body, which is why I can’t teach you the secret technique."

Lu Yin stared at the clone, wondering if these words were true or not.

Xia Xing calmly stared back at Lu Yin.

After a while, Lu Yin averted his eyes and said, "I’ll release you in a while."

He then asked Progenitor Smoke to come out from the mirror and replace the restrictions on Xia Xing.

Progenitor Smoke’s sudden appearance terrified Xia Xing. He did not dare to directly look at the woman, but he could not help but feel that she looked very familiar. He was sure that he had seen her somewhere before.

Progenitor Smoke had apparently reached some sort of breakthrough in her research into Blood Alchemy, so she immediately returned to the pocket dimension within the mirror after replacing the restrictions on Xia Xing. She did not say even a single word.

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