Chapter 109. Opening Five Grotto-Heavens, Explosive News, Public Outrage!

Radiant golden light surged endlessly from the blood pool, carrying with it a formidable aura that pervaded every corner of the space.

The light pulsed with energy, and the Eleven-Tier Blood Pagoda also manifested. Unlike its previous appearance, it was now cast in pure gold, making it give off a sacred feel. Its aura had grown even stronger as it hovered, unleashing streams of light that circulated throughout the area.

Bathed in the lights, Lu Yuan sat cross-legged with a solemn face. His hair drifted behind him as his pores absorbed and expelled massive amounts of vital qi, which then melted into his limbs, his bones, and every cell within his body.

Lu Yuan was completely engrossed in assimilating Shennong's blood essence, forcing it deep into his very genes. This wasn't a mere evolution but a complete reconstruction of his genes and cells.

In other words, Lu Yuan was completely absorbing Shennong's great boon.

His original bloodline was being broken down and reorganized before being elevated to unprecedented heights.

However, assimilating everything would still take some time. He needed to assimilate Shennong's blood essence until every drop of his blood had taken on the same golden hue as the blood pool around him.

Rumble!

As time trickled by, the golden rays of light converged on Lu Yuan, transforming into pure vital qi that pervaded his pores and penetrated deep into his cells and bones.

When all the light had completely vanished, the Eleven-Tier Blood Pagoda also disappeared into his organs. Behind him, seven grotto-heavens were suspended, and each one nurtured a god within.

Just then, Lu Yuan's eyes snapped open, and a radiant beam of light rushed out of them.

Boom!

The blood pool itself split apart, turning to dust. Not a single drop of blood remained, indicating that everything had been absorbed.

Lu Yuan jumped off the platform, landing gracefully on the ground. His entire being now resembled an ancient mountain, and even Shennong's altar trembled in the face of his aura.

A powerful pressure emanated from him—a pressure deep within his bloodline.

Hum!

Circles of golden blood energy pulsed from him. In an instant, his tendons and bones resonated with his bloodline. His muscles trembled slightly, and they radiated the same formidable aura as his entire being.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng pressed itself low to the ground, trembling. The pressure was so powerful that even its proud bloodline couldn't resist the urge to submit to it.

"It has to be Shennong's great boon. It has to be."

The Golden-Winged Great Peng felt its heart racing. Lu Yuan had created an Ancestral Bloodline! In other words, his descendants were sure to possess exceptional talent.

Of course, his bloodline would become diluted with each passing generation, but the point was that Lu Yuan had just become the very first generation of his bloodline—the progenitor, in other words.

His Ancestral Bloodline was still in its initial stage, but it would undoubtedly become even more terrifying with the passage of time.

Lu Yuan closed his eyes to feel the changes within him.

I've shattered ten genetic shackles in total, which means I've shattered a total of thirty genetic shackles. While my strength hasn't really increased that much, my bloodline has undergone a qualitative change.

I've also made great progress with the Primordial Dragon Breathing Technique, and I managed to manifest another five grotto-heavens...

Lu Yuan realized that Shennong's blood essence had brought him many benefits.

His bloodline and foundation had markedly improved, becoming far more formidable than before. Lu Yuan could definitely go even further on his path of evolution.

The stronger he became, the more formidable his bloodline would become, and it would eventually become a Divine Bloodline similar to the bloodline of families such as the Zhou Family of the Wuzhou Group and the Wang Family of Longevity Genetics.

Unfortunately for them, a myriad of generations had passed since their Ancestral Bloodline was made. Their bloodline had become so diluted that they could no longer awaken its latent potential.

He had become a progenitor... like the progenitors of those two families. Of course, even though he was a progenitor just like them, the difference between them was vast.

The progenitors of those two families were extremely powerful...

back then.

The benefits that Lu Yuan's revamped bloodline would bring were only going to become more apparent as he continued on his path of evolution.

He shattered ten more genetic shackles, but his strength hadn't increased significantly.

The reason behind that was simple—the Unfettered Realm was just

that

special, and breaking more shackles wouldn't just add raw power; it meant raising one's talent and potential, much like how the sword steles at Ancient Mount Shu tested one's level of comprehension.

"Before all these, I could break at least fifty to sixty genetic shackles with my foundation, but with this revamped bloodline... breaking all one hundred and eight genetic shackles will likely be no problem at all.

"It seems that I have truly embarked on the Sovereign's path." Lu Yuan was pleased. Shennong's blood essence had indeed brought him profound benefits.

Once he broke through all one hundred and eight shackles, he would reach heights unheard of even in his previous life. In fact, he had never heard of such an existence even among the beings from the Outer Cosmos.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he restrained his aura. Since he had donned the Primordial Qi Robe, he was no different from before. He stepped out of the pool, but then he paused and turned.

"Thank you, Ancestor," he said, bowing. The great boon had come from Shennong, which meant this bow was warranted.

"Master, where are we going next? Are we going to leave Shennongjia?" the Golden-Winged Great Peng asked, its tone even more respectful than before.

Its master had completely surpassed it in both strength and bloodline. The Golden-Winged Great Peng was finally beginning to believe that acknowledging Lu Yuan as its master was a great boon in itself.

At this rate, its master would surely achieve unimaginable heights, and it would certainly profit greatly from being his mount.

"How long was I in seclusion?" Lu Yuan asked back instead of answering.

"Eighteen days in total," the Golden-Winged Great Peng replied.

"Eighteen days?" Lu Yuan nodded. That was about right; refining Shennong's blood essence would naturally require time. He pondered briefly before saying, "Let's stay here for now. I still have something to do."

He had come here with two goals in mind—to help the Golden-Winged Great Peng hunt mutated beasts with dragon's blood to purify its bloodline and to obtain something. Shennong's blood essence was an unexpected boon.

According to Lu Yuan's memories, what he sought was being protected by a powerful mutated beast. It was no weaker than the Dragon-Blooded Jiao and teetered on the edge of the Golden Body Realm.

In his previous life, its discovery had sparked a massive battle.

For the current Lu Yuan, obtaining it would not be too difficult. They were still in the early stages of the Global Awakening, and the majority of mutated beasts had just embarked on the path of evolution.

Lu Yuan's case was unique, as an advantage of knowing ten years worth of future events meant he had ample preparation to walk at the forefront of the new era.

"Let's go." Lu Yuan smiled and emptied his mind. He then jumped onto the Golden-Winged Great Peng's back and sat cross-legged.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng did not hesitate at all. Its golden wings trembled slightly as it shot into the skies, heading in another direction under Lu Yuan's guidance.

While Lu Yuan was busy in Shennongjia, a piece of explosive news rattled the entire world.

Asura conspired with Lu Yuan to kill one of the Vatican's Twelve Apostles, Jennifer, and four of her companions, committing blasphemy against God. One month later, the remaining Apostles will pass judgement on Asura just outside Hu City. They demand that the mastermind, Lu Yuan, come and confess his sins as well as seek God's forgiveness!

As soon as this news was released, it ignited a tremendous uproar and sparked countless heated discussions. The public was stunned, completely unaware of what had transpired.

An Apostle, Asura, and Lu Yuan... how come these three suddenly became involved with each other?

"Something huge has happened! Asura and Lu Yuan killed people from the Vatican?"

"Good riddance. I've been sick of those zealots for a while now."

"What? Do you not see the meaning behind that news? The news was released by Skygod Technologies! They're going to pass judgement on Asura! That means Asura might die!"

"Judgement? Does Skygod Technologies even have that authority? They're being far too bold."

"That's why they said 'outside Hu City.' They're trying to exploit a loophole in the Awakened Ordinance."

"Isn't Skygod Technologies from Huaxia? Why are they doing that for those foreigners?"

"

Hmph,

that Liu Changyuan from Skygod Technologies is a mixed-blood, and everyone knows that he's from the same religion as those fanatics. I also believe he has always been collaborating with the West."

"What about the Aurora Academy? What's their stance? Are they not going to do something about this?"

The heated discussions online drove even more traffic to the news, and it spread like wildfire. The implications were just too shocking, and the news told everyone a ton of details. Lu Yuan had allegedly killed an Apostle, and Asura acted as his accomplice, attracting the ire of the Celestial Archangel.

The news also confirmed that Skygod Technologies had been working with them for an extended period of time. Indeed, the majority of their state-of-the-art technology was born thanks to the support of the West.

In other words, the rumors back then had just been proven to be true. Many people found it hard to believe, but the facts were now laid bare before them, leaving them with no room for doubt.

Meanwhile, new rumors began to circulate, stating that Asura was tortured and abandoned by Skygod Technologies.

The great changes to the world had been going on for quite some time now, and the people realized that the so-called Five Supremes were not truly

supreme

beings, as more powerful individuals existed out there.

Asura and the other Supremes had simply left a deeper impression on the public.

Despite that, Skygod Technologies' act of abandoning Asura and handing him over to the West elicited disgust from the people.

Moreover, they had dragged Lu Yuan into the matter, demanding he confess his sins to some "God," which further stirred public outrage.

However, even the public outrage had little effect. Skygod Technologies was, after all, one of the four major powers. Mere online discussions could not influence their decisions.

With that in mind, the public could do nothing but observe and wait for the Aurora Academy's reaction.

Everything remained peaceful. For now.

***

A tense air hung above the Dean's Office at the Chang'an branch of the Aurora Academy.

"Dean, have you seen the news?" Zhu Qingyu asked, her delicate brows furrowed. Beside her stood the Northern Emperor and other elite students from the Academy.

They all looked displeased.

If this were just an internal affair of Skygod Technologies, they wouldn't say anything. After all, they were in a new era; many things were being revamped, and there were bound to be some growing pains with it.

If an organization wanted to punish its own people, outsiders couldn't interfere.

However, they had brought in the Vatican's Twelve Apostles. This was a complete disgrace. The students couldn't sit still and decided to visit the Dean's Office.

"I saw it, of course," Dean Zheng said, looking at the assembled students. "I already contacted Dean Liu from Hu City to talk to Skygod Technologies and find out what exactly is going on."

Dean Zheng's face was solemn. Lu Yuan was somehow involved in the affair. Dean Zheng valued Lu Yuan highly, even though he wasn't one of them. Dean Zheng saw him as a hero who could play a major role in the new era and help Aurora Academy stabilize the nation.

Now that he was being targeted, Dean Zheng was unwilling to just stand by and watch. As for the matter of killing an Apostle, Dean Zheng firmly believed that there had to be a story behind it.

"What did Dean Liu say?" the Northern Emperor asked.

Dean Zheng shook his head. "We couldn't get anything out of them. Skygod Technologies isn't willing to reveal anything."

"So we just do nothing?" Zhu Qingyu asked sharply. "They're targeting Mr. Lu!"

"Alright, all of you are to stay out of this matter. We have our own ways to deal with something like this," Dean Zheng said, waving his hand to signal the end of the discussion.

The Academy's higher-ups were indeed busy dealing with this matter. Skygod Technologies had gone too far and crossed a bottom line. However, he could not say that to the students, as they wouldn't understand it.

Hence, Dean Zheng could only avoid the matter entirely.

The group was speechless in the face of Dean Zheng's decision, but they said nothing more and simply left the office one by one.

Once they were gone, Dean Zheng's eyes narrowed. "The Twelve Apostles and Skygod Technologies... they have gone too far."

In the new era, even though the laws of the world were still being revamped, some things remained forbidden, and an example of that was the officials' bottom line.

"Do they really think that the officials will just ignore this?" Dean Zheng muttered to himself. He then made several phone calls. The waters of the new era were deep, and considering the current situation, it seemed it was about time for them to reveal their fangs.

***

To suppress the expansion of Longevity Genetics, Polaris Biotech relocated its headquarters to Shen City. With their powerful backers, they started suppressing Longevity Genetics, completing their mission.

Polaris Biotech hid in the shadows, while the Aurora Academy stood in the light. This two-pronged approach was the government's way of dealing with powerful major forces. If things went according to plan, they would eventually be able to take full control of the nation.

They were left with no choice and had to resort to such measures, but fortunately, the Global Awakening had yet to reach a crescendo, which meant modern weaponry was still useful.

As one of Polaris Biotech's most important figures, Ice Fairy settled in Shen City with them. She had just returned from Shennongjia when she saw Skygod Technologies' news release.

She immediately deduced their true goal. "So they're going to use Asura as bait to deal with Lu Yuan? That's a vicious, but very effective strategy."