Chapter 1931: Alternative Brilliance

"You seem to be familiar with the details of the Mother Tree’s canopy, Senior." Lu Yin was intrigued by this.

Ku Rong replied, "I've been there myself, and I’ve also heard about it."

Lu Yin understood. This man had also been a trespasser in the Perennial World as had the Chief Justice. Lu Yin was not sure how many of the Fifth Mainland’s Semi-Progenitors had been to the Perennial World, but it was possible that all of them had made the trip in the past.

"When this junior first arrived in the Withered Glory Region, the Junior Progenitors from the Celestial Frost Sect and the Wang family both mentioned that Progenitor Ku had been one of the weakest Progenitors and that his secret technique is one of merely healing. They even said that that aspect of the secret technique is inferior to what one of Progenitor Chen’s clones was capable of doing," Lu Yin spoke with strong emotion.

Ku Rong was actually amused by Lu Yin’s words. "Alliance Leader Lu, I’m old and no longer so excitable. Your words aren’t enough to get me to argue with you."

Lu Yin pursed his lips. Such old men were a pain to deal with, as their mentality was too stable.

"I already know what you want to know. Honestly, no one has truly wanted to learn about our ancestor. Since you are interested, I won’t hide anything from you, Alliance Leader Lu," Ku Rong continued.

Lu Yin's eyes lit up. "Senior, please tell me."

Ku Rong clasped his hands behind his back. Lightning once again fell from the clear sky, sparking a fire on the mountain down below. “Our ancestor was actually desiccated from birth, and he was discriminated against so badly that even his own parents did not want to touch him. That was why he was named ‘Ku.’ As for his talent for cultivation…” A wry smile suddenly appeared on the old man’s face at this moment. “It was pretty terrible."

This surprised Lu Yin. Had Progenitor Ku possessed poor talent for cultivation? This was something that Lu Yin had never heard of before. Progenitors were always considered to be synonymous with peerless talent.

"However, despite his poor talent, our ancestor never gave up. Even if his path of cultivation was full of ups and downs, he never gave up and never accepted his fate. His transformation all began when he started training Waning Zen.

"Our ancestor did not create Waning Zen himself, but rather acquired it from an ancient inheritance. It was not some powerful battle technique, but it did match our ancestor’s state of mind most perfectly. It was entirely because he trained Waning Zen that our ancestor was eventually able to sit down and create Extremes Must Be Reversed. Without that, our ancestor would have fossilized at that time."

Lu Yin was shocked. He could not even imagine the determination that a person needed to train a technique to the point where they were about to turn to stone.

The world of cultivation was ruled by the law of the jungle where the strong preyed upon the weak. Thievery and death could be found everywhere.

When Lu Yin had used Extremes Must Be Reversed to change the appearance of his body and look withered, many people had been wary or even outright hostile towards him. Given the information that Progenitor Ku had possessed such an appearance from birth led Lu Yin to believe that the Progenitor’s perseverance had far exceeded what most people could even imagine.

Lu Yin felt like he could see a shriveled young man stumbling his way forward year after year with nothing more than his own determination.

"Extremes Must Be Reversed was an unprecedented technique that allowed our ancestor to obtain a normal appearance for the first time in his life. Finally, he was able to blend in when walking down the street, and he could openly show himself. From that point forward, our ancestor maintained a low profile and essentially disappeared.

“During that same era, Progenitor Chen was seen as invincible, and his fame spread throughout the universe. The Daosource Sect was still the ruler of all of humanity while the Rune Progenitor, Progenitor Wushang, as well as the Progenitors from the Lu, Wang, Bai families and more had not yet become Progenitors, though they were all already on their way towards becoming well known. Only our ancestor remained unknown."

At this point in his story, Ku Rong's voice grew much more passionate. "It was never that our ancestor was unable to compare to his peers, but rather that he did not wish to do so. Given our ancestor’s personality, he was more than happy to maintain a low profile.

"Progenitor Chen remained invincible and the Rune Progenitor mysterious. One after another, our ancestor’s peers became Progenitors, and they even gained control of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas. All of the major families were eager to see who would be the next to become a Progenitor, but no one even considered that Progenitor Ku, who was completely unknown, would be a contender. However, our ancestor managed to surpass all other creatures and become a Progenitor, and he was able to do so entirely because of Extremes Must Be Reversed.”

Ku Rong stared at Lu Yin. "Extremes Must Be Reversed not only provided the opportunity that our ancestor needed to become a Progenitor, but it was also the reason why my Ku family was able to exist in the first place. Without it, our ancestor would have died long before finding our family.”

“Alliance Leader Lu, this is the story of our ancestor. It is not an exciting story, instead being as nondescript as our ancestor himself. He maintained a low profile, but his contributions to humanity are in no way inferior to those of any other Progenitor. During the war between the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands, my ancestor did not participate, but it was because he went out alone to slaughter the Aeternals."

This information left Lu Yin shocked. "The Aeternals?"

Ku Rong closed his eyes, pain appearing on his face. "That’s right. Our ancestor went to confront the Aeternals alone, and he never returned. Of everyone alive back then, only the Aeternals know just how powerful our ancestor was back then because he never revealed his power before humanity. Still, he was far from weak, as he fought against all Seven Skygods, as they were the only powerhouses from Aeternus that had the strength to stand up to our ancestor."

Lu Yin had never imagined that Progenitor Ku would have disappeared in such a manner. "Then what about the Voidsoul Palace in the Dominion Realm? It’s said that Progenitor Ku died there."

Ku Rong shook his head. "Our ancestor never even went there. It’s possible that one of his disciples died there, but our ancestor went to attack the Aeternals, and his fate remains a mystery."

"Why did Progenitor Ku go attack the Aeternals?" Lu Yin found this to be puzzling, as not even Progenitor Chen, the Rune Progenitor, or the Progenitors from the Lu, Wang, and Bai families had done such a thing. Why had Progenitor Ku made such a choice?

"That I don't know. His descendants are all useless, and we haven’t even been able to determine whether our ancestor is dead or alive," Ku Rong answered in a bitter tone.

As Ku Rong had just said, Progenitor Ku had kept himself too far under the radar. Not even the Progenitors of his era had possessed any understanding of his strength, and if not for the fact that Xin Nü had told Lu Yin that Progenitor Ku had controlled one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, Lu Yin would have never known about that detail.

What did the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas represent? Only the most powerful experts had been able to control them, and only a few Progenitors had qualified.

During the Daosource Sect’s era, the Fifth Mainland had always had more than just a single Progenitor at any given time, but there had been many times when not a single one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas had been controlled. Only during Progenitor Chen's time had all of them had a master.

Lu Yin could only imagine how surprised both the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands must have been when Progenitor Ku had first become a Progenitor, let alone the shock that must have rippled out when he had managed to take control of one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas. People must have questioned reality itself.

The fact that Progenitor Ku had controlled one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas indicated that the man had indeed been extremely outstanding amongst his peers, but he had done so in his own subdued manner.

It defied imagination that anyone would keep such a low profile after becoming a Progenitor, but Progenitor Ku had managed to accomplish just that. If Ku Rong’s story was accurate, then Progenitor Ku had gone to attack the Aeternals on his own, and his contributions to humanity were in no way inferior to what Progenitor Chen or other such powerhouses had accomplished. In fact, Progenitor Ku was even more admirable.

Ku Rong grew solemn as he turned to face Lu Yin. "Alliance Leader Lu, I’m well aware that my family has no manner of friendship with you, and from what I hear from Ku Pu, there seems to be a bit of history between the two of you. And yet, he still is shameless enough to ask you for a favor. Regardless of what conditions you may put forth, as long as it is within our means, our Ku family will pay any price you ask. I’m not a shrewd negotiator, so all I can do is express my sincerity to you."

Lu Yin was facing a dilemma. This old man was indeed being sincere, and it was not easy to deal with such a person.

Hui Zhi had kept the fact that his family still had Roots of Intelligence a secret from even Hui Kong, but Lu Yin was able to negotiate with people like that, and he felt no guilt about presenting offensive terms and saying all kinds of things to tempt the other party into agreeing to a deal. However, Lu Yin found it difficult to deal with an open and honest person, especially after hearing the story of Progenitor Ku and feeling genuine admiration for the man.

It was no wonder why Ku Pu had not tried to stay close to Lu Yin. The Ku patriarch was aware of the bad blood between himself and Lu Yin, and if he had participated in the negotiations with Lu Yin, the Ku family was destined to suffer an unending barrage of temptation and exploitation while Lu Yin offered them their Progenitor’s technique that they desired so badly.

"Senior, I would like to ask you a question: how am I supposed to teach this technique to your family?" Lu Yin asked.

Ku Rong was taken aback. "Just tell me how you train in the technique."

"But I don't know that myself," Lu Yin helplessly explained.

Ku Rong stared into Lu Yin's eyes, but Lu Yin did not look away at all and willingly met the old man’s gaze.

"Alliance Leader Lu, do you really not know how to teach us Extremes Must Be Reversed?" Ku Rong did not quite believe this, but he was not entirely certain.

Lu Yin shook his head. "This junior already shared how I found and learned Extremes Must Be Reversed. I obtained the technique from a piece of jade, and it was directly transferred into my mind. It’s essentially an instinct, and I don’t understand how to share it with anyone else. How else can I explain it?”

“Senior, you should understand that the Yōu Secret Art is something that can only be passed onto a single person, and there are other secret techniques that cannot be shared with more than a single person. What I received is essentially the same.” As Lu Yin spoke, he brought out a Blazing Sun.

"This is a battle technique that was very easy for me to learn, but no one else can learn it because of a special energy that’s needed to learn or use this particular battle technique."

Ku Rong frowned. Given the amount of time that he had cultivated for, how could he not be familiar with such situations? He had actually already considered that this exact situation might apply to the Extremes Must Be Reversed that Lu Yin had learned, but it did not matter. Regardless of anything else, they needed to approach Lu Yin about this battle technique. Still, reality had proven that the worst case scenario was indeed the case.

"Alliance Leader Lu, I have already heard about the Wen family’s circumstances," Ku Rong flatly stated.

Lu Yin arched a brow.

"If you wish to lead my Ku family along with Extremes Must Be Reversed as you did to the Wen family with their Literary Prison, there’s no point. My Ku family can only offer you so much," Ku Rong softly explained.

Lu Yin shrugged. "Senior, do you want this junior to swear an oath to speak the truth?"

Ku Rong stared at Lu Yin for a long moment, but then he helplessly shook his head. "I’m just an old man, and I’m not qualified to demand that you swear anything, Alliance Leader Lu. There’s no need for you to do such a thing for my Ku family."

There was nothing that Lu Yin could do to clear up the situation; he genuinely did not have any way to teach Extremes Must Be Reversed to anyone else. Before meeting with the Ku family, Lu Yin had indeed just wanted to string them along just as he had done with the Wen family, but when dealing with someone like Ku Rong, Lu Yin could not do anything aside from be truthful. More importantly, Lu Yin felt true admiration for Progenitor Ku.

If Ku Rong’s story was accurate, then Progenitor Ku was an unsung hero, a nameless powerhouse who had given everything for humanity while receiving nothing in return, not even recognition or a place in history.

Lu Yin could not bring himself to be as ruthless as normal when dealing with the descendants of such an admirable figure.

Ku Rong sighed. "Alliance Leader Lu, I just want to say one more thing."

He stared off into the distance as a fire slowly died on a mountain. "Earlier, you asked me where this lightning comes from. I can tell you."

Lu Yin's eyes lit up.

"The lightning that you see here all comes from Withered Bark," Ku Rong said.

"Withered Bark?" Lu Yin was confused for a moment, but then he remembered that Withered Bark was the unique power vessel of the Ku family. When an Enlighter from the Daynight clan had launched a sneak attack on Lu Yin and Ku Wei in the Outerverse, Ku Wei had used Withered Bark to protect himself. Ku Lei had done the same thing in Progenitor Chen’s Mausoleum in order to survive an attack from the Giant Emperor.

Each of the families that made up the Seven Courts had their own unique power vessels, and the Ku family’s was Withered Bark.

"This lightning all comes from the Withered Bark that was left by our ancestor, and it actually contains the power of Progenitor Ku," Ku Rong solemnly declared.

Lu Yin was stunned. "Progenitor Ku’s power?"

Ku Rong nodded. "You should be aware of the strength of a Progenitor, Alliance Leader Lu. I was thinking that our ancestor’s Withered Bark might be able to help you understand how to teach us Extremes Must Be Reversed. This is the most that my family can offer in order to show you our sincerity."

Lu Yin was truly moved. The power of a Progenitor was unfathomable, let alone the power of someone like Progenitor Ku who had controlled one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas and been an exceptional powerhouse even among Progenitors. Even a remnant of Progenitor Ku’s strength would be enough for Lu Yin to protect himself from even Semi-Progenitors without a problem.

"I’d be lying if I told you that I don’t want the Withered Bark, but I really don’t know how to teach anyone Extremes Must Be Reversed," Lu Yin replied in a bitter voice. His resignation to losing out this opportunity was readily apparent in his voice.