Chapter 1443: Hidden World

Lu Yin did not try to hide what he had done. "I once practiced a form of puppet manipulation, which allowed me to control this corpse."

He then turned to Wu Taibai. "Are you saying that, as long as that corpse is destroyed, the Forgotten Ruins will disappear?"

Wu Taibai sighed. "That’s what’s happened in the past, but you have to remember that this is a trap and that all of us followed a map to get here. That map came from Long Xian, so Long Xian must be a Redback, which means that those monsters must also be here. If a trap is that easily destroyed, then can it still be considered a trap?

"Besides, destroying the corpse is a part of the trap, and it appears that the trap activated after the four Junior Progenitors all used their visualization method. Or maybe it was triggered after the power level in the battle crossed a certain limit."

Everyone quietly listened on.

"I suspect that, even if I smash that corpse apart now, not only will it not save them, but it might even kill them," Wu Taibai said in a serious manner. "This is what those monsters like to do the most: force us into killing our own youths. Still, all of this is just my speculation."

Everyone had to admit that Wu Taibai's guesses seemed highly probable.

It was absolutely not easy for humanity’s enemies, those monsters, to set a trap in the Dominion Realm. If their trap that had taken such a great amount of effort was easily destroyed, then it would be pointless.

Given that a trap had been set up, the monsters clearly had complete confidence in trapping the four Junior Progenitors, even if a true Progenitor moved to save the youths.

The Perennial World had placed their hopes entirely on the Junior Progenitors, hence their title. As for the monsters, they would be willing to do nearly anything if it allowed them to eliminate a future Progenitor. It was also possible that this trap had not even been set with the youths in mind.

Humanity had been at a disadvantage in the war against the monsters for countless years, and even the Dominion Realm had been invaded many times. No one knew just how many traps had been left behind. Alternatively, could the monsters be hoping that someone would make a trip to save the youths? Had the trap not been fully activated yet? It was impossible to know.

"Should we go?" Unseen Light asked.

Everyone looked over at Lu Yin. He had rescued them all, and he was also the most powerful. Thus, he had the most say in this situation.

Lu Yin looked over at Long Xi who was still within range of the Forgotten Ruins. He could not just abandon this woman.

Even after Lu Yin had been completely exposed as a trespasser, Long Xi had still given him critical information during a battle, which was beyond anything that she owed Lu Yin.

The moment she warned Lu Yin, she had claimed a place in his heart. While he could certainly just leave her here in the trap, Lu Yin was not willing to do so. However, if he rescued her, then what guarantee was there that she would not expose them all as trespassers? What should he do? It was one thing to have certain feelings for a person, but could that overcome the brutal truth of the situation? As a part of the Perennial World, could Long Xi actually let them go as trespassers from the Forsaken Land? Even if she could overlook that status for Lu Yin, what about everyone else? She definitely would not allow the others to continue roaming around freely.

Lu Yin was not confident that Long Xi could be trusted with their status, and releasing her would be gambling with everyone's lives.

Yao Xuan was cautious. "Lu Yin, you can’t possibly be thinking of saving that woman! We can’t all die here with you."

Unseen Light spoke up. "Our situation is not stable. It might be possible for you to save her in the future."

Lu Yin frowned as he silently stared at Long Xi.

Shang Qing glanced over at Lu Yin. "If you want to save her, then you have the option to do so. Don’t you have a hidden world? Just put her there."

Lu Yin was taken aback. "A hidden world? How could I have something like that?"

Shang Qing casually replied, "Zenith Mountain."

"That's a hidden world?" Lu Yin was stumped.

Everyone else was similarly surprised, as they were all very familiar with Zenith Mountain, but was that mountain really a hidden world?

Shang Qing explained, "Zenith Mountain was one of the Hall of Honor’s greatest treasures, and it was always a hidden world. It can grow large or small, and it can also be used to attack or defend. At first, the Hall of Honor wanted to give it to me, but that would not have looked right. That was why they made it the prize for ZENITH’s champion, which is why it was given over to you."

Lu Yin felt awkward. "So are you saying that it’s something that I stole from you?"

Shang Qing looked back at Lu Yin and replied, "No. You earned it through your own strength, though there have been many arguments within the Hall of Honor. Still, Arch-Elder Zen is the hall’s master, and he awarded you with Zenith Mountain. It’s a hidden world that can hold life that can still be stored in a cosmic ring."

After speaking, the three streams of ancestral qi swirled back around Shang Qing, giving him an ethereal appearance. Anyone who saw him would want to beat him up.

Lu Yin impatiently took out Zenith Mountain and placed it on the ground. It looked like a simple rock.

Everyone stared at it, and they could all see where they had been fighting on the mountain, though they all felt irritated by the statue of Lu Yin.

Lu Yin sat down cross-legged on the ground. "I'm going to control the withered corpse, so please step back."

Everyone gave him odd looks before stepping back.

Lu Yin's consciousness returned to the withered corpse, and it stood up.

Everyone was amazed. Was this real life? It was not that they had not encountered puppetry techniques before, but rather that they had never expected such a thing to be so useful at this moment.

However, even with a puppetry technique, how had Lu Yin himself been immune to the Forgotten Ruins? The people who were present were not stupid, and they all knew that Lu Yin had some secrets, but who among them did not? Unseen Light had not revealed his innate gift even during ZENITH. Thus, no one questioned Lu Yin on the matter.

The corpse approached Lu Yin’s body, placed it on the corpse’s back, and then reentered the Forgotten Ruins. After all, Lu Yin’s body could never be more than five meters away from the corpse.

The corpse picked up Long Xi, set her on the edge of the trap’s range, silently returned to a corner, and then Lu Yin’s consciousness returned to his own body.

Lu Yin opened his eyes and pulled Long Xi out of the Forgotten Ruins.

She opened her eyes and warily looked around. When she saw all the people who were still trapped within the Forgotten Ruins, she turned to look at Lu Yin with a torn expression. "Did you save me?"

Lu Yin nodded.

Everyone else stayed silent and kept their distance.

Long Xi stared at Lu Yin. Suddenly, a spear appeared in her hand, and she raised it high. "You and I are enemies!"

"Then why did you warn me?" Lu Yin countered.

Long Xi clenched the spear shaft. "I warned you as a final show of affection. From now on, there is nothing more between the two of us."

Lu Yin sighed in a helpless manner. "Do you really believe that they’ll just let you go?"

He looked over at Unseen Light and the others.

Long Xi's expression froze. "Then just try to stop me!"

She instantly used the Roving White Dragon and disappeared with a single step. Lu Yin also disappeared, blocking Long Xi’s path. She reflexively used White Dragon Surveying the Sky, and she was a bit stronger than Wang Yi when he had participated in ZENITH. After all, she had already opened her lower meridian point. Still, that meant nothing against Lu Yin.

This was the first time that the two had faced each other in a serious manner, and it was also Long Xi’s first time truly experiencing Lu Yin’s terror.

Lu Yin had been trapped by the White Dragon Surveying the Sky several times in the past, but it could not hold him at this moment. He appeared behind Long Xi by using a Teleportation Formation and stretched out a hand to grab her as golden battle force twined around his hand.

Long Xi spun around as dragon scales covered her body in a dense pattern: the White Dragon Transformation. She thrust her spear forward, showing no mercy.

Lu Yin calmly raised a hand and grabbed the shaft of the spear. A shockwave spread out from the two and blasted their surroundings to shreds.

Long Xi was unable to move, which shocked her even more. "You-"

Lu Yin shook his head. "You are much weaker than me.”

He then unleashed 250 Stacks of the Overlaying Stacks Path through the spear. Long Xi was unable to keep her hold on the spear, and she instantly dropped it. The moment it fell down, she released a punch, but Lu Yin just leaned his head to the side, sweeping the spear shaft away while simultaneously striking Long Xi in the shoulder. Her body swayed to the side, and her fist missed Lu Yin.

Lu Yin's domain was only deployed to a few meters around him, but it made Long Xi feel as though she was mired in mud. With this opportunity, Lu Yin grabbed Long Xi's shoulder and dragged her towards Zenith Mountain.

The scenery changed before their eyes, and Long Xi suddenly saw the massive, towering form of Zenith Mountain, as well as the statue of Lu Yin far above.

She retreated back dozens of meters, and as she stood across from Lu Yin, she sharply accused, "Is this your real strength? Have you been laughing at me this whole time?"

Lu Yin blinked. "No, I'm actually quite afraid of you."

Long Xi gritted her teeth. "Where are we?"

"This is a hidden world, so don't even think about trying to escape from this place unless you can shatter the entire world," Lu Yin said. As he spoke, he began throwing out massive amounts of star essence.

Zenith Mountain used star energy to fuel its protective barrier. The more star energy that was used, the stronger its protection. Theoretically, it could even defend against the attacks of an expert with a power level of a million.

Lu Yin had no idea how much star essence it would take to reach that limit, but to be safe, he immediately threw out 100 million star essence.

Zenith Mountain quickly changed in response. The inside of the mountain filled with energy, and as that happened, a transparent barrier completely surrounding the mountain appeared.

Long Xi jumped up and punched at the barrier.

Lu Yin simply watched.

After blasting the barrier apart, Long Xi raced away from Zenith Mountain to return to the chamber.

Lu Yin’s mouth fell open, and he quickly chased after her while cursing to himself. Zenith Mountain looked powerful, but it seemed to be nothing but a false facade. He had assumed that it would at least be able to defend itself against an Envoy, and he had not expected the initial barrier to be so weak. He would have to spend more money.

As Lu Yin left Zenith Mountain, Long Xi glared at him with cold eyes. She raised a hand, and her star energy formed a rope that she threw at Long Tian. She was trying to save him from the Forgotten Ruins. However, the moment her rope entered the range of the Forgotten Ruins, Long Xi was overwhelmed with confusion and sat down cross-legged once more.

Lu Yin was left speechless. If it was that easy to save people from this trap, then he would not have needed to carry everyone out one at a time. He grabbed Long Xi and returned to Zenith Mountain.

Long Xi recovered as soon as she entered Zenith Mountain. When she looked around, she quickly realized that she was back in this place.

Lu Yin could not believe what had just happened, so he threw out 200 million star essence onto the mountain this time.

He had spent more than 116 million star essence upgrading his universal armor until it could protect him from attacks with power levels of almost 700,000. Zenith Mountain was so huge that even 100 million star essence had been completely useless. Thus, Lu Yin threw out another 200 million more, making for a total of 300 million star essence.

Long Xi jumped up to attack the barrier again.

The barrier was much tougher this time, and although Long Xi was able to crack the barrier with a single punch, she was unable to escape this time.

Lu Yin gritted his teeth. This still was not enough. He threw out another 200 million star essence, practically bleeding from the cost that he was paying to save Long Xi. If it were anyone other than her, then he would not have nearly spent so much star essence on Zenith Mountain; this was a pitiful return on his money.

Long Xi threw out another punch. This time, she failed to break the barrier, which surprised her. She began to frantically attack the barrier while using various combat techniques, even the White Dragon techniques, but everything was useless. Although the barrier trembled violently, it held firm.

Long Xi was unwilling to accept captivity, so she used a power vessel.

As soon as he saw the girl’s crazed appearance, Lu Yin silently threw out another 100 million star essence. He had already gone numb to this expenditure, as so far, he had spent 600 million star essence on this mountain for her. This was getting rather expensive.