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Chapter 1511: Choice
Lu Yin’s eyes flashed; what Shaman God had just said was all too true. How could an ordinary human ever reach the level of strength that Lu Yin possessed? Among the various powerhouses who had accompanied the Junior Progenitor to the Dominion Realm, had there been even one who had not come from an influential family or organization? Even if someone had not come from an influential background, at the very least, they had to have encountered some sort of unbelievable opportunity.
But what about Lu Yin? His level of talent far surpassed that of any of the four Junior Progenitors, which was practically impossible for a nobody. On top of that, Lu Yin had the “Lu” surname. If his true name was ever revealed, the four ruling powers would never believe that Lu Yin was not a part of the Lu family.
“It actually doesn’t matter whether or not you are truly from the Lu family. More importantly, once the four ruling powers announce that you are, the entire universe will take their word for it,” Shaman God continued. The doll leaned closer once again until its face was almost touching Lu Yin’s. The doll continued, saying, “And even more importantly, we all watched everything when you fought against Leader Hong back then. Tsk tsk, summoning the Giant Emperor with the Champions’ Stage? Truly remarkable!”
Lu Yin’s expression instantly turned grim. “That’s impossible. No one saw that battle.”
Shaman God's doll cackled. “The Perennial World has its Redbacks, so what makes you think that the Fifth Mainland doesn’t as well?”
Lu Yin’s heart fell. He had indeed failed to take such a thing into account. The Fifth Mainland most likely suffered from both the Neohuman Alliance and Redbacks. For example, there had been Zi Rong, who had cultivated the corpse king’s transformation technique long ago.
“The heir of the Lu family appearing in the Perennial World? Kakakaka! The four ruling powers are sure to erupt with rage when they learn of this! The Higher Realm and Middle Realm will both start boiling as well. The most intense battle in history will explode between the Lu family’s former retainers and the four ruling powers’ supporters. Just the thought of it gets me all excited! Brat, keep on living. You actually have to stay alive, because you’re the only catalyst that can trigger all of this chaos.” Shaman God's doll burst out laughing.
Lu Yin scoffed. “Even if my identity is revealed, I won’t become the four ruling powers’ enemy.”
“Really? Judging by what you did back in the Fifth Mainland, you’re clearly not a big-hearted person. But even if you’re willing to, do you really think that the four ruling powers will let you off? Will their supporters leave you alone? Above all, will the one behind the scheme of the Lu family’s exile forgive you?” Shaman God shot out three questions at Lu Yin in one go, leaving the youth with nothing to say in reply.
If Lu Yin’s identity was exposed, there was no question that he would become the greatest enemy of the entire Perennial World, and he would definitely be blacklisted as a peerless villain. The four ruling powers were guaranteed to do at least that much. Regardless, Lu Yin would not abandon his goal of avenging his Lu family, which meant that he would ultimately take on the roles of the four ruling powers’ enemy.
Lu Yin stared at Shaman God's doll. “You plan to have me become the trigger to a war between the Perennial World and the Fifth Mainland and pave a path for you.”
“That’s right! This plan sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Kaka,” Shaman God replied, sounding quite proud.
Lu Yin scoffed, “Stop dreaming! I’ll never help you guys.”
“Of course not! You’ll only ever be acting in self-defense, and that’s all there is to it. Unless you die, the four ruling powers will never let you or the Fifth Mainland go. Well, brat, you can always opt for suicide!” Shaman God mocked.
Lu Yin’s eyes grew cold. This plot was completely exposed and transparent, which also made it the most difficult kind of trap to deal with. Even though he, the target, knew his enemy’s schemes quite clearly, he had no choice but to follow along.
Since ancient times, humanity’s greatest enemy had always been Aeternus. During the entire time, humanity had always been on the losing side against Aeternus, and the primary reason for that was that Aeternus thoroughly understood humanity. There was no way Lu Yin would sacrifice himself, and neither would the four ruling powers ever be willing to show him mercy. The hatred between the two stemmed from the fact that the two were on opposing sides, and their hatred would only grow larger and deeper.
The moment that Shaman God had discovered that Lu Yin had appeared in the Perennial World, he had already planned everything out.
“To be honest, back then, I didn’t want to kill you when ZENITH ended, and I only wanted to bring you over here to the Perennial World. Unfortunately, my plans were ruined by that old Highsage Grandmaster. And yet, you came here anyways, and you’ve even created a name for yourself here that echoes throughout the entire Perennial World. I would say that my plan is proceeding quite smoothly, kaka.” Shaman God's doll laughed without restraint.
Lu Yin quietly asked, “What happened to the Lu family?”
The doll suddenly stopped laughing, and it looked at Lu Yin with a somber expression. “Why should I tell you?”
Lu Yin ridiculed the doll in turn. “Even if you’re only using me as a pawn, you should still throw me some scraps now and again.”
Shaman God considered the matter for a bit before answering, “I can tell you, and on top of that, I’ll even swear on my title as one of the Seven Skygods that the Lu family is most likely still alive.”
A flicker of excitement lit in Lu Yin’s eyes, and his heartbeat started to pick up.
“The Lu family was banished towards Aeternus. Still, the four ruling powers aren’t a bunch of fools, and they never actually planned on destroying the Lu family from the very beginning, though neither were they capable of doing so. Instead, their goal was to have the Lu family fight Aeternus to their dying breath, essentially using the family’s lives to light a torch and ignite the final flames of a war. However, the members of the Lu family weren’t dumb enough to simply submit to what fate had delivered to them. Instead, they hid themselves in other dimensions, which made it very difficult for even us Aeternus to find them. As of this day, no one knows just which dimensions the Lu family is hiding in,” Shaman God explained.
“Parallel universes?” Lu Yin asked eagerly.
The doll replied, “Correct. It’s just that there are far too many parallel universes in existence, and even we would struggle to track them all down. They could have even died after running into a much stronger civilization, or they could still be alive and well. Who knows?”
Lu Yin grunted. His first thought at this revelation was of Jiang Chen, who Lu Yin had met on Earth. In order to find a lightning rabbit, the man had been searching through multiple parallel universes. He somehow seemed to be able to easily travel between such universes, and also conduct searches in the ones that he visited. Lu Yin had no idea how Jiang Chen was able to do that.
“Whether or not the Lu family still lives is just your business. Maybe after you defeat the four ruling powers in the future, you’ll also be able to find your family, kaka. Brat, the Lu family also has high hopes for you, which can be seen by how they willingly accepted their exile. They’ve placed all of their hopes on you, and I’m eager to see if you’re willing to bear the burden of humanity’s might by sacrificing yourself or if you’ll choose to pave the way for my Aeternus by challenging the four ruling powers in order to bring the Lu family back to their rightful place. The final choice rests with you.” Shaman God posed a terrible question.
Lu Yin stared at Shaman God's doll and continued to try ruffling the Skygod’s feathers. “You monsters have no intelligence or emotions, which must be why you all love to test the limits of human emotions, right? How pathetic. You guys will never be able to comprehend familial connections and love. After all, the more you try to test humanity, the more it just proves your own failings. You really are all just monstrous brutes.”
Shaman God’s doll screeched with its strange laugh. “And so what, brat? I’m still waiting for your decision. If you don’t want to die, then go repair the sourcebox array at the second forward basecamp within two days. That sourcebox array was completely destroyed when a large portion of the second forward basecamp fell down. I’ll even help you with it.”
After speaking, the doll raised a hand and pointed in a very specific direction. “Run that way, and you’ll meet someone who’ll help you.
“Until next time, brat! I look forward to seeing your growth, kakakaka.” Shaman God's voice slowly faded into the distance.
Lu Yin’s surroundings returned to normal, and he soon heard Che Zhan’s voice right next to his ear. “Brother Long Qi, what about what I just asked you?”
Lu Yin was confused, and he asked in a daze, “What was the question?”
Che Zhan rolled his eyes. “Princess Long Xi! Aren’t you the son-in-law of the White Dragon Clan’s main family? I’ve heard that Princess Long Xi is the most radiant pearl of all of the four ruling powers. So how is she? Is she really as gorgeous as the rumors claim?”
Lu Yin replied with a slightly forced smile, “She’s not bad.”
“Alright, Che Zhan. Let Brother Long Qi rest and don’t disturb him anymore,” Brother Hong chided the swordsman.
Lu Yin looked away as Long Xi’s face appeared in his head, followed by Ming Yan, Wendy Yushan, Zhuo Daynight, and Madam Nalan. The list also continued past them. Ku Wei, Yan Yan, and Cai Jianqiang. The faces of everyone who was familiar and dear to Lu Yin flashed through his mind one by one. He thought of the Fifth Mainland, the Outerverse, and the tiny planet that had always put him at ease: Earth.
The universe was such an exciting and vibrant place, so how could he willingly throw his life away? There was no way he could do that.
Even if he stood up against the four ruling powers, he would not die! Instead, he would bring the Lu family back to where they belonged, and he would also destroy Shaman God's plans. However, there was still so much he needed to do.
No matter how impossible a task ruining Shaman God's schemes might appear to be, Wang Wen and Wei Rong could be trusted to put up a challenge. In particular, Wei Rong excelled at all sorts of nefarious plots and machinations. There had to be some way to disrupt the Skygod’s scheme.
At this moment, Lu Yin’s question was no longer about whether he would return, but rather how he would be able to return with everyone who was currently with him.
Still, it would not do to underestimate the corpse kings’ intelligence. The driving reason behind the four Junior Progenitors being trapped was Long Xian. Even if Lu Yin had not snatched the tribulation crystal thread back then, the monsters would have still found some way of ruining the man and forcing him into leaking that map of the Dominion Realm. That plan had been long in the works. With that thought, Lu Yin grew curious as to what had become of Long Xian. If he was still alive, then there was no doubt that he had already become a traitor.
Long Xian would not have had any other choice. Other than that man, it was impossible to know just how many others had been coerced by the monsters through various despicable methods, forced to tread paths that would have never been traveled otherwise. Lu Yin had just become one of those desperate people.
Humanity would undoubtedly meet a terrible end if they underestimated the intelligence of these monsters. They had lived for far too long, and they were extremely skilled in setting calculating and complex traps.
Lu Yin felt his head ache. He was not afraid of running into an enemy whose strength was beyond his ability to fathom, but he did fear intelligent enemies, especially ones who had lived for countless years.
After two days, another corpse king with the strength of an Envoy arrived to welcome death. From Lu Yin’s new perspective, all of these corpse kings had actually been sent to die to him, as he had realized that Shaman God was actually helping him gather achievements on the battlefield. Not only did Shaman God need to ensure that Lu Yin lived and returned to the Perennial World, but Lu Yin’s status also had to climb, as that was the best way for him to receive the attention of the four ruling powers. In essence, Shaman God's plan was for a single result, which was that the moment Lu Yin returned to the Fifth Mainland, all four of the ruling powers would also make their way to the Fifth Mainland due to their wariness of Lu Yin’s true identity. If that happened, Shaman God’s plan would be a success.
Given his knowledge of Shaman God’s plans, Lu Yin believed himself to be the most secure person on the entire battlefield. The monsters actually wanted him to survive far more than Xia Yan or any of the humans did.
“This is already the fourth Envoy level corpse king! Brother Long Qi, you’ve completely shattered everything I’ve ever known about cultivation,” said a dumbstruck Che Zhan.
Even though the corpse king had been sent to die, that did not mean that it had been weak by any means. Lu Yin had still been struck hard enough where the vibrations from each impact had caused him to cough up blood, though such injuries recovered almost immediately.
After hearing Che Zhan’s words, Lu Yin also felt like he had actually gone overboard. Throughout all history, how many cultivators had been capable of defeating multiple corpse kings at the Envoy level while being nothing more than an Enlighter who had completed thirty two cycles themselves?
Both Progenitor Chen and the Rune Progenitor had likely been capable of doing so, but no one inferior to Progenitors in their younger years would have been capable of such a feat. Lu Yin was very confident about that guess, since he also understood his strength after opening all three of his meridian points.
“I remember that, when the second forward basecamp began to fall, the defensive sourcebox array there seemed to fall down along with us,” Lu Yin suddenly commented, and his words roused the attention of everyone in the underground space.
Mr. Guo tried to clarify Lu Yin’s intentions. “What are you trying to say?”
Lu Yin seriously replied, “If that sourcebox array is repaired, then would there be a possibility for us to use its power to escape from this place? There’s an army here in the New World, right? Since that army is capable of staying here and defending an outpost, they’re clearly quite capable. If we work with them, we just might be able to get back up to the second forward basecamp.”
People’s eyes lit up with hope. All of them had already abandoned all thoughts of survival, and they had almost completely embraced their fated deaths. However, who would be truly willing to die? If there was even the slightest chance of survival, any of them would seize it in a heartbeat.
However, Mr. Guo’s next words instantly returned everyone to the hell that was reality. “That’s no use. The sourcebox array that protected the second forward basecamp is called Red Beam. It’s very powerful and can defend against the attacks of powerhouses who have survived five and even six stellular tribulations. However, it was destroyed when the assault on the basecamp first started, and only a Lockbreaker who’s surpassed the Senior Array Master level like Master Song could possibly repair it.
“Even the second array base’s Master Zan wouldn’t be able to repair this sourcebox array. Leaving aside the fact that there we don’t even have a Senior Array Master, let alone a Realm Array Master, but even if we did, that person would still need a lot of time to comprehend the Red Beam before they could repair it. We’ll never be able to endure for the time required to do that.”
Everyone’s eyes dulled.