Chapter 1882: Heaven’s Furnace

Many of the other onlookers had also seen what Lu Yin had done, and the carrion beetle had taken particular notice of what had happened and started making sounds of annoyance.

A young carrion beetle had participated in ZENITH, only to fail after being trapped by Liquor Hero within a star energy world that she had created with her Creation level star energy control. The carrion beetles had all been furious and humiliated by the loss.

Lu Yin did not believe that he could keep the clone trapped for long. His Creation realm of star energy control would only be able to briefly trap the clone, and it would soon escape. If it were that simple to trap Progenitor Chen, he would have never been regarded as utterly invincible.

It was also important to note that Progenitor Chen’s clones could merge with each other, and even if a clone could not escape, it could simply merge with another one and then separate again.

Lu Yin let out a slow breath, raised a hand, and summoned his Champions’ Stage.

With how far things had developed, he no longer feared being recognized by people. He had already exposed himself to the entire universe when he revealed the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant visualization method.

The expression of Lan Xian, who had recognized the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant visualization method from before, drastically changed the moment the Champions’ Stage appeared, and she blurted out, "He’s a direct descendant of the Lu family?"

The Fifth Mainland had lost many records and much of its history when its sky had changed and the primeval surnames had abandoned the mainland, but the Sixth Mainland was different. Lan Xian had recognized the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant, and she also instantly identified the Champions’ Stage.

She had assumed that Lu Yin was a descendant of one of the Lu family’s side branches, as she could not comprehend a situation where a member of the main family would use the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant visualization method.

Suddenly, Lan Xian’s eyes blazed as she stared at Lu Yin.

"With my name, I summon a champion," Lu Yin spoke slowly. As he spoke, Progenitor Chen’s clone that used Inverse Step reappeared, and the invisible clone also separated from the knife-wielding clone. Seven clones surrounded Lu Yin to create a net that was impressive enough to shock even a Semi-Progenitor.

A confrontation had broken out in the Fifth Mainland between Progenitor Chen and a direct descendant of the Lu family’s main line.

Two figures appeared from the Champions’ Stage, and as they did so, all seven of the clones attacked. One clone sent the healing water shooting towards all of the other clones while the clones using Inverse Step instantly appeared next to Lu Yin, as Inverse Step was able to negate Lu Yin’s Knowing realm of Truesight and render Lu Yin vulnerable to the various attacks. A fist with aurelian force dropped down from overhead as black ropes appeared from every direction. It was the Wang family’s secret technique: Confinement.

Nobody breathed as they watched in amazement. Each of the clones was powerful enough to deal with an Envoy with a power level of 600,000 to 700,000. In other words, Lu Yin was essentially fighting against seven equally powerful Envoys at once.

There were clones for attack, control, defending, and even healing. It is perfect. It was a complete and perfect system. This was the power of Progenitor Chen who had slaughtered many of the Sixth Mainland’s Progenitors. This was the invincible powerhouse who had left countless people feeling helpless and lost in despair.

A figure appeared in front of Lu Yin, and this person raised a hand, pointed a finger, and dropped it down. Misty clouds appeared in space and fell upon all of the clones at the same time. Every single clone was trapped at this moment. It was the secret technique: Cloud Fall.

Bai Shaohong was the champion that Lu Yin had summoned.

Recently, every opponent that Lu Yin had faced had been an Envoy, which meant that summoning an Enlighter like Bai Shaohong was essentially pointless. At the moment, Lu Yin was facing Progenitor Chen, who was also an Enlighter, and this had provided a unique opportunity. Lu Yin had summoned Bai Shaohong for his secret technique and nothing more. He simply wanted to create an opening.

Bai Shaohong was nowhere near strong enough to fight against any of Progenitor Chen's clones, but Cloud Fall was a secret technique. All of the clones had been instantly trapped by Bai Shaohong, and they would be immobilized for at least a few breaths’ worth of time. Lu Yin was also trapped by Cloud Fall, but he had summoned two champions, and for the second, he had tapped into his death energy to summon Cang Zhou. He was the only one of Lu Yin’s champions with a power level of more than 700,000, and this meant that he was able to pose a threat even to Progenitor Chen's clones.

Both Lu Yin and all of Progenitor Chen's clones were trapped at this moment, and Cang Zhou erupted with his full strength and targeted the clone with the healing water. Cang Zhou released his most powerful attack and severely injured the clone.

Lu Yin quickly broke free from Cloud Fall, and he immediately reactivated the visualization method of the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant while simultaneously reciting the Origin Sutra. An ancient voice resonated through the area as Lu Yin unleashed a storm of Hollow Palms. The clone that used the Xia family’s Triple Blade Will and the colossal giant both broke free from Cloud Fall, but Lu Yin acted as though neither one even existed as he used his Hollow Palm to eliminate the other clones, particularly focusing on the one with the healing water.

Lu Yin knew that it would be nearly impossible to achieve victory while Progenitor Chen was able to heal his clones.

Utilizing Bai Shaohong and his secret technique had given Lu Yin an opportunity to remove one of the clones he was facing.

While it appeared that Lu Yin was in a battle that was one versus seven, he was also able to increase his own numbers with his Champions’ Stage.

Lu Yin still had not broken through to the Envoy realm, which meant that he had no stellular energy. The moment he achieved his breakthrough, he would no longer have to use his precious death energy reserve to summon Envoy-level champions. Lu Yin would then be able to freely summon people such as Cang Zhou, Jiu Han, and Long Yi. Lu Yin’s battle strength would instantly skyrocket.

This was the Lu family’s innate gift. This power allowed one person to be as strong as a nation; one person to lord over all.

If Lu Yin were compared to other direct descendants of the Lu family who had cultivated in a more traditional manner, he was not doing things properly at all. He was facing his stellular tribulation, and yet he only had a few images in his Champions’ Stage.

To the west, Qing Hua was taken aback by what Lu Yin had just done. "The person who pointed their finger forward was able to trap all of Progenitor Chen's clones at once. That should have been a secret technique, but I don’t recognize the technique or the person who used it. He must have been an incredible genius, but he was clearly killed by Lu Yin."

Lan Xian's eyes glittered brilliantly as she stared at Lu Yin. The Lu family! He’s someone from the Lu family! This is the Lu family’s bloodline!

Lu Yin had managed to eliminate five of Progenitor Chen's clones, but he did not grow complacent or confident. After all, Progenitor Chen had nine clones.

No one else believed that Lu Yin had won, either. Even though they had seen a level of combat strength from Progenitor Chen that was enough to defy all understanding, it was still not enough. This was Progenitor Chen, the eternally invincible Progenitor.

"It should be coming out now," Lan Xian murmured to herself. She was recalling what she had once heard the Progenitor of Bloodlines say regarding Progenitor Chen. Everyone was aware of the fact that Progenitor Chen had possessed nine clones, that he had created the Cosmic Art, and that he had even become a colossal giant. He was hailed as invincible across the ages. But despite all of that, no one had ever mentioned Progenitor Chen's innate gift.

Did Progenitor Chen have an innate gift? It was a question that countless people had disregarded, but Lan Xian had heard the Progenitor of Bloodlines say that yes, Progenitor Chen had possessed an innate gift. Additionally, it was so powerful and terrifying that Lan Xian had seen fear in the Progenitor of Bloodlines’ eyes when he spoke about it. Progenitor Chen’s innate gift was much like the Rune Progenitor’s civilization: they had both been so frighteningly powerful that they had been erased from history due to the fact that no one wanted to even mention such things.

Lan Xian stared intently at Progenitor Chen's clone. He was about to reveal his innate gift.

Innate gifts were incredibly important for people who had just started cultivating. In fact, the Fifth Mainland’s Universe Youth Council unconditionally accepted any youth with an innate gift as one of their members. This demonstrated the value and power of an innate gift.

However, as cultivators progressed, innate gifts seemed to become less and less important. Instead, battle techniques or bloodlines seemed to be what dominated the higher levels of cultivation.

Still, it was never possible to simply ignore an innate gift.

As Lu Yin stared at the remaining two clones, he suddenly thought of innate gifts. Progenitor Chen, do you have an innate gift?

There was a whoosh as another clone emerged from the two remaining clones, bringing their total number to three. This new clone faced Lu Yin, as well as Bai Shaohong and Cang Zhou from the Champions’ Stage. The new clone raised its hands, forming a circle over its head while making a gesture that looked as though it was embracing the entire universe.

Lu Yin's expression changed, as he was overcome by a sense of danger. Without any hesitation, he released a Hollow Palm and fled as fast as he could.

The Hollow Palm was blocked by aurelian force, but Lu Yin’s body kept moving, and he had Bai Shaohong and Cang Zhou both attack the newest clone from two different directions at the same time.

There was a crack as the clone clapped its hands together. Space quivered, and Lu Yin suddenly heard a shout that was filled with utter disbelief, “Over your head! Look up!"

Lu Yin did look up, and his pupils instantly shrank. He was supposed to be in the middle of outer space, but he suddenly saw that he seemed to be within a cauldron. It looked as though the universe itself had been compressed and refined to form this cauldron. It looked like a pill furnace, and it completely enveloped him on all sides, even overhead. He was trapped within the cauldron, but how was that possible? When had he been trapped?

Lan Xian was stunned. "Heaven's Furnace."

Qing Hua had never known about Progenitor Chen's innate gift. He had lived for a truly long time, but he only knew of what he was qualified to learn about. In the Sixth Mainland, only the three Progenitors knew anything regarding Progenitor Chen’s innate gift.

"Heaven's Furnace?" Qing Hua asked in confusion.

Lan Xian’s mouth was completely dry as she explained, "Progenitor Chen's innate gift is this Heaven's Furnace. He was able to use it to obliterate absolutely anything. It did not burn, but rather obliterated all that entered it. It was also impossible to escape from it. Once anything or anyone entered that cauldron, that was it for them. Progenitor Chen launched the Fifth Mainland’s initial attack on my Sixth Mainland during the ancient war, and he did so by refining Progenitor Nan in the Heaven's Furnace, reducing Progenitor Nan to nothing more than ash."

Master Qing Hua was horrified. This innate gift could obliterate a Progenitor?

No one knew of this incident. How pitiful was it that Progenitor Nan had been obliterated by Progenitor Chen? Progenitor Nan had actually been completely removed from history by the Sixth Mainland, but it was because his mere existence served to glorify Progenitor Chen’s power while simultaneously discrediting the Sixth Mainland.

"Watch, and you will soon understand why Progenitor Nan was erased from history. It was not only because of the humiliation the Sixth Mainland suffered, but also because of the unspeakable pain and despair that he endured," Lan Xian spoke bitterly.

Lan Xian was actually not the only one to recognize Progenitor Chen's innate gift, as so had the Second Nightking.

He had been born during the Daosource Sect’s era, which was when the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect had still stood and before the Mother Tree had been moved. In a similar manner to how Lu Yin had heard countless mentions of Progenitor Chen and the Rune Progenitor, in his younger years, the Second Nightking had heard mostly about Progenitor Chen.

The Daynight clan had initially been subservient to the Celestial Frost Sect, and they had even been enslaved by the Celestial Frost Sect’s Bai family. The Second Nightking had not heard much more than rumors about Progenitor Chen and the Rune Progenitor until after the Celestial Frost Sect left the Fifth Mainland and the First Nightking had unraveled the Sealed Cage Technique. Only after all that had the Daynight clan started to rise.

Still, even though the Second Nightking had not heard much about Progenitor Chen, he had still heard of the Heaven's Furnace.

"Heaven's Furnace! It’s said that more than one Progenitor was obliterated in that cauldron…” the Second Nightking muttered in complete shock. His words left everyone feeling numb after hearing this information about Progenitor Chen.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The Sea King’s eyes flickered, and he turned back to look at Lu Yin. He had already known that Progenitor Chen was invincible. Absolutely no one could defeat Progenitor Chen, and no matter how talented Lu Yin might be, everything was over after Heaven's Furnace appeared.

The Sea King felt conflicted at this moment. He had once used Progenitor Chen's bloodstained clothes to force the Upper Three Gates open. At this moment, was he going to have to watch as Progenitor Chen killed Lu Yin? Would Lu Yin never be able to break free from the Enlighter realm? That would be the greatest tragedy.

Unfortunately, there was no way to force Heaven's Furnace to open after it had been completely manifested.

Lu Yin continued to launch Hollow Palms as he attempted to break free from Heaven's Furnace, but the furnace would not budge. He also tried to escape with the Ce Secret Art, but Heaven's Furnace was an innate gift that was formed from the universe itself, and the inside was completely cut off from the outside universe.

The secret technique and the Teleportation Formation sourcebox array both failed to let Lu Yin escape.