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This futon plaza was familiar to Lu Yin because he had appeared in this place several times before, and this was also the first place he had ever come to in the Daosource Sect. However, it also felt foreign because the entire futon plaza had changed, as if something had flattened it. The ground had been smoother out by some overwhelming strength, and the terrain had changed on a fundamental level.
Lu Yin stood up and surveyed his surroundings. He then unleashed his domain, allowing it to spread out further and further. But despite letting it expand unabated, he could not find a single soul within his domain’s range.
Right, the floating mainland above the mountains and seas had fallen into the seabed. Thus, he wouldn’t be able to appear within the mountains and seas at the start anymore, forcing him to return to the futon plaza.
Lu Yin then lifted a leg and stomped on the ground, causing his foot to sink into the ground. His eyes flashed; this was the Daosource Sect's ruins, and the terrain’s natural hardness was incomparable to an ordinary piece of land. However, it had still been pulverized. The culprit had to be one of the Ten Arbiters, one of the Realmlings, or perhaps someone even stronger, like Wu Taibai of the Daosource Three Skies.
Lu Yin could not determine how long the battle that had destroyed the land had occurred just based on the markings on the ground. Thus, he could only carefully head in the direction of the First Divine Gate.
He successfully passed through the First Divine Gate without issue, though the path there had also been badly damaged, leaving not many guardians that tried to stop him. Lu Yin occasionally ran into some corpses on the ground, but it seemed as though these people had been dead for some time.
Lu Yin had already unleashed his domain to its fullest extent, but despite that, he still had not found a single trace of any other people.
After passing through the First Divine Gate, he entered the Budding Terrace, but there still was not a single soul to be seen.
Although the Realmlings had fought an intense battle against the Ten Arbiters that had resulted in many Sixth Mainland cultivators being too afraid to even enter the Daosource Sect, it should not have been so bad that not a single person was present.
Lu Yin reduced his aura as much as he could and then headed towards the region with the Nine Source Cauldrons. His foremost goal this trip was to comprehend the battle technique within the Nine Cauldrons. If he ran into the White Knight or Wen Sansi, he would also be able to gain some more information concerning how the war between the Innerverse and Sixth Mainland was progressing. If he met any of the other Ten Arbiters, he planned to not reveal himself, as it would be too dangerous.
It seemed as though there was not a single other person in the entire Daosource Sect. That was, at least until he arrived in the region of space with the Nine Cauldrons. There, Lu Yin finally sensed some people entering and leaving the region through his domain. This caused him to heave a sigh of relief, as if the entire Daosource Sect had been devoid of people, he would have felt rather panicked.
There were two youths standing in the cauldron where Lu Yin had once been trapped by Blood Looney in the past. These two people seemed to be searching for something.
Lu Yin restrained his aura and approached the two people while concealing his face.
The two people inside the cauldron explored around for a short while before one of them sighed. “Sure enough, there’s nothing to be found. Senior, why don’t we leave?”
“What do you want to leave? What's the hurry? These are the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect's ruins, and it’s where all arts, battle techniques, bloodlines and inheritances originate from. If these were ordinary times, would we be able to explore so effortlessly?” The other berated.
“But other people have scoured this place for countless years, and anything that could be easily discovered would have been taken away long ago. See? The others all headed to the battlefield to hunt down the Fifth Mainland’s Title Holders. The reward for killing any one of them is high, and the highest reward is being accepted as one of the three Progenitors’ disciples!”
“Hmph, hunt? Idiot! The people who went there still think that that bunch from the Fifth Mainland are easy to deal with. However, they’ve all been duped and are being sent into early graves.”
“Why?”
“At first, during the invasion of the Fifth Mainland, our main force was from the Grand Martial Realm, the War Martial Realm, and the Blackblood Realm. If it was possible to hunt down those Fifth Mainlanders, then would those three realms have casually agreed to allow people from the other realms to join the invasion? But now, the Fifth Mainland’s Innerverse has completely changed, and it’s turned into a bloody factory. Whoever goes there, dies.”
“Senior, are the rumors true? Did the Martial Progenitor enter the Fifth Mainland but come out severely injured?” the junior cried out.
Lu Yin’s expression abruptly changed, and he listened carefully.
That senior looked around, and when he confirmed that there was no one around, he softly answered, “I accidentally heard some of our sect seniors talking about it. More than half a year ago, the three realms’ invasion of the Fifth Mainland wasn’t going smoothly, especially because the Fifth Mainland’s Innerverse’s various flowzones were separated by energy barriers, making it difficult to access each one. It was too time-consuming to break them open one by one, so the invasion force invited the Martial Progenitor to directly eliminate the energy barriers between the Innerverse’s flowzones so that they could quickly start invading the Neoverse.
“But when the Martial Progenitor acted, it initiated a disaster.” The senior swallowed his saliva and continued on with some fear in his voice, saying, “A Progenitor from the Fifth Mainland took action.”
“What! The Fifth Mainland still has Progenitors?” the junior cried out.
The senior hurriedly shushed his junior and scanned the area again. “Be quiet!”
That junior also swallowed some saliva as he hurriedly nodded.
The senior checked his surroundings again before saying, “There are no living Progenitors there, but there are Progenitors who once lived. According to some rumors, a remnant spiritual force collided with the Martial Progenitor, and that collision caused the entire Innerverse’s star energy to transform. Now, the Fifth Mainland’s Innerverse’s sky is chaotic and boils continuously. Anyone who uses an attack that surpasses a power level of 200,000 will be melted by that freakish boiling energy. It’s just like having lava float above the heads of commoners—whoever moves, dies.
“It's precisely because of this event that every powerhouse with a power level over 200,000 has withdrawn from the battlefield, and those whose power level is under 200,000 have become the main force of the invasion. The Fifth Mainland created something called the Champion's Stage. Anyone whose power level is under 200,000 can make contributions, after which they’ll be given a corresponding title. They are the Title Holders you’ve heard of before. After that, our Sixth Mainland sealed off all of the information about the war so that they can trick everyone with a power level under 200,000 into invading the Fifth Mainland and fighting against those people from the Fifth Mainland. That’s why the rewards have become better, and it’s reached the point where some of them are just ridiculous.”
The junior disciple was terrified. “Ah, it’s no wonder why nobody is in the Daosource Sect's ruins! They were all duped into heading to the Fifth Mainland. Right, a power level under 200,000? Then shouldn’t the Realmlings be the primary attackers?”
That senior shook his head. “I don't know the details, but no matter who acts on the battlefield in the Fifth Mainland’s Innerverse, their attacks can’t surpass a power level of 200,000, or else they’ll be instantly dissolved. Even Imprinters are no exception, and nobody is able to change this fact. This was a fundamental transformation in that place’s laws of the universe created by a battle between two Progenitors.”
“Then, Senior, what about the Martial Progenitor?”
“It’s reported that they’re injured, but the Fifth Mainland’s Progenitor’s remnant spiritual force also vanished. Thus, many have begged the Secret Progenitor and the Blood Progenitor to move out and reverse the transformation that took place in the Innerverse. However, all of their requests have been rejected. Now, our two mainlands have been locked into a war of attrition where the resources are the cultivators with power levels lower than 200,000. This basically means that our younger generation has become the main force of the invasion.”
“The real power in the war has to be the Realmlings and Daosource Three Skies. Although their attacks have also been suppressed since they can’t surpass a power level of 200,000, when up against others of the same power level, they are still the strongest, followed by the descendants of those Imprinter families. People like us are just expendable fodder,” the junior said helplessly.
“As long as you’re aware. The good friends that I was able to contact before have all gone unresponsive. It’s one thing for the battlefield to be sealed off, but supposedly, they’re all dead.” The senior disciple’s voice sounded melancholic, and he was clearly terrified of the battlefield.
Lu Yin was astonished, as he did not expect to hear such news. Back when he had Possessed Tong Chou’s body, he had heard that the Sixth Mainland had asked their Progenitors to act. However, he had never thought that they would truly take action. But that had just led to an even scarier outcome; a Progenitor had been injured while the other two Progenitors did not dare to reveal themselves at all.
It was no wonder why that Yu family elder had mentioned that the Fifth Mainland was not as simple as they believed. The Sixth Mainland had assumed that the Fifth Mainland was a trapped beast, but they had not thought that they would end up trapped as well.
But it was not very realistic for the Sixth Mainland to withdraw either, as they had expended far too many resources just to give up here. Even their Martial Progenitor had acted, and retreating would be the same as admitting failing in their invasion attempt, which would discredit their Martial Progenitor.
To preserve their own reputation, the Sixth Mainland had been forced to scam all of their cultivators with power levels under 200,000. They had been tricked into heading onto the battlefield and fighting against the Innerverse’s forces.
Lu Yin heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had heard some good news.
The Fifth Mainland could not compare to the Sixth Mainland in terms of cultivators at the top power levels, and it seemed like that remnant spiritual force of a Fifth Mainland Progenitor had also been aware of this. Thus, they had intentionally changed the cosmic conditions to the Fifth Mainland’s advantage. Lu Yin wondered which Progenitor’s remnant spiritual force had taken action, as he really wanted to witness such a thing.
Also, he had become greatly interested in this Champion's Stage. And Title Holders? If they were all cultivators with power levels under 200,000, then that included the Top 100 Rankings, the Ten Arbiters, and even the top youths from the Cosmic Sea as well as those absolute freaks from the Neoverse’s younger generation. They would form the Fifth Mainland’s main fighting force. He wondered who could be conferred titles: Mu Rong, Ling Que, Liu Shaoqiu, Zhanlong Daynight, Zhuo Daynight, Long Yun, Zhang Dingtian, and Yōu Ye'er were the most likely ones off the top of his head. How would the people whom he was familiar with fare on this battlefield? At best, they would be able to fight against Hunters, and Lu Yin did not know if that would be enough to be given a title.
Lu Yin stepped forward.
The pair of disciples had never expected someone to be nearby, and they stared at Lu Yin as if he was a ghost.
Lu Yin jumped inside the cauldron and looked at the senior disciple. “Just now, you mentioned something about conferred titles—what conferred titles?”
The youth frowned and then warily asked, “What conferred titles? Bro, you must have heard wrong.”
Lu Yin’s tone turned cold. “I don’t have time to deal with nonsense, so let me ask again: what conferred titles?”
The senior squinted, exchanged glances with his junior, and then acted together. They were both supported by their imprints as they instantly attacked Lu Yin. They acted with murderous intent from the very start, and the two had great cooperation and were both Explorers. The average cultivator would not be able to deal with this joint attack, but the two of them were too far from Lu Yin’s level.
Lu Yin raised a hand, directly caught the junior disciple’s wrist, and snapped it. He then leaped up and directly crushed the senior’s imprint, causing the youth to spit out a mouthful of blood as he crashed fiercely against the side of the cauldron. Finally, Lu Yin waved his hand to fling the junior disciple away as a terrifying suppressive force directly knocked the junior unconscious as he was thrown out of the cauldron.
The entire battle was over in less than a second.
That senior spat out a mouthful of blood and looked at Lu Yin in terror. “Who- who are you? You’re so powerful even without using an imprint—you must be the heir of some Imprinter family.”
Lu Yin approached the young man step by step. “Speak, what conferred titles?”
“How can you not know with your status? What exactly is it that you want?” The senior disciple sat on the ground, almost paralyzed with fear as he constantly tried to edge back. He clutched at his chest, and his eyes were filled with fear.
Lu Yin frowned, and he raised a hand to press downwards.
A gale blew out that caused the senior disciple’s blood to run cold. “I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”
The palm stopped just a centimeter away from that disciple’s skull.
He asked in terror, “Can you let me go after I tell you?”
“You don’t have the power to negotiate with me,” Lu Yin coldly retorted.
“Many people are able to tell you the information you want! None of this is a secret!” he said fearfully.
Lu Yin pressed one hand against the young man’s skull. “Will you tell me or not?”
That senior bitterly answered, “I only overheard it, but the Fifth Mainland’s Innerverse’s Champion's Stage will bestow these titles upon their youths who have made great contributions: General, Marquis, King, and Arbiter. The titles are differentiated according to each person’s achievements, and our Sixth Mainland’s fighters will receive rewards that correspond to the level of the Title Holder we kill.”
With a thump, Lu Yin’s hand struck the senior disciple’s head, knocking him unconscious, before he was tossed out of the cauldron. This pair would not awaken before Lu Yin left the cauldron.
Gaining titles of General, Marquis, King, or Arbiter? Lu Yin was excited, as this news made his blood run hot! Unfortunately, he could not participate in the greatest battlefield. Countless people would be watching this fight between two mainlands, and the participating fighters would be conferred titles and gain contributions by killing their enemies. This was a real war, and comparatively, the war that Lu Yin had initiated was just child’s play.