Chapter 1938: Netherworld River

Yōu Lao immediately understood the seriousness of the situation that Lu Yin was describing. "If what you’re saying is true, then there might actually be something wrong with the Undying Manual."

"What do you mean?" Lu Yin's eyes lit up.

Yōu Lao’s voice dropped low, "Our ancestor lived much too long ago. The truth is that we know nothing about our ancestor aside from the fact that they possessed the Yōu Secret Art. Without that secret technique, even we would not believe that Progenitor Yōu Ming ever existed. Everything that we’ve learned about our ancestor has come from the Yōu Secret Art, such as the fact that she was known as Ever-Changing Yōu Ming."

Lu Yin nodded. Yōu Keyan had previously mentioned the title of Ever-Changing Yōu Ming.

"Our ancestor’s cultivation art was known as the Impious Sutra, and it encompasses everything. No one knows what its various chapters contain, and it’s possible that the Undying Manual is one of the Impious Sutra’s chapters," Yōu Lao explained.

Lu Yin suddenly had a headache. If this was true, then Undying Yushan was going to be incredibly difficult to deal with.

Progenitor Yōu Ming had been one of the Ancient Progenitors, and the Starsibyl Sect had told Lu Yin that she had most likely lived during the same era as the God of Death.

"Senior, would you believe that your ancestor might still be alive?" Lu Yin asked suddenly.

Yōu Lao looked up at Lu Yin. "Because of the Undying Manual?"

Lu Yin nodded. "If the Undying Manual really is a chapter from the Impious Sutra, and since it’s said that the Undying Manual can grant immortality, then could Progenitor Yōu Ming still be immortal? Could she still be alive somewhere?"

Yōu Lao shook his head. "It’s possible. If our ancestor is still alive, it would be wonderful for my Yōu clan."

"Could it be that the eyes that have been observing your family belong to Progenitor Yōu Ming?" Lu Yin asked again.

This question startled Yōu Lao quite badly, and Yōu Kexin suddenly felt chills cover her body. She felt as though that gaze was looking at her once more, and she suddenly found that the Great Abyss looked much more sinister than before.

"Alliance Leader Lu, are you teasing me?" Yōu Kexin's face had turned pale. Such a thought would cause just about anyone to panic. If their ancestor was still alive and watching their family, then that would be simply too terrifying.

Seeing that the matriarch was genuinely terrified and not putting on an act, Lu Yin indifferently replied, "Whether that gaze belongs to Progenitor Yōu Ming or not, that watcher hasn’t done anything to your family despite the passage of so many years. Honestly, I’d be more worried about Xia Ji. After all, you’re both part of the same Seven Courts. There’s also the possibility that the gaze is nothing more than an illusion."

"Impossible," Yōu Kexin instantly refuted.

Lu Yin looked down at the Great Abyss. He could not see the bottom, so he reached out to touch it. The Great Abyss was not a normal river by any means, and its waters had a corrosive property. Normally, people would not dare to even touch the river, though such a thing could not pose any threat to Lu Yin. "Have you ever considered how the eyes watching you might lay at the bottom of the Great Abyss?"

Yōu Lao was taken aback. "You also thought of that?"

Lu Yin was startled, and he turned to look at Yōu Lao. "Do you also think that that’s possible, Senior?"

The old man’s voice grew emotional. "From the moment that that gaze first locked onto us, my entire Yōu clan has worried for countless years, and our family’s entire territory has been thoroughly searched. The only remaining possibility is the bottom of the Great Abyss."

"And?" Lu Yin pressed.

Yōu Lao replied, "Nothing unusual was found at all. The Great Abyss is itself a powerful treasure, and my Yōu clan's power vessel, the Netherworld River, is born from it. However, despite going down to the bottom of the river countless times, I haven’t been able to find a single thing. In fact, the reason why I’m always out on this boat and paddling about is because if there really is someone hiding at the bottom of the Great Abyss, I’ll be the first to know when they ever appear, or at least the first to die."

Lu Yin stared at Yōu Lao with genuine respect. This old man would gladly sacrifice himself to save his family. "If your Yōu clan agrees, then this junior is willing to investigate the bottom of the Great Abyss as well."

"Of course, Alliance Leader Lu. Please do as you wish." Yōu Lao instantly agreed.

Yōu Kexin also nodded. "Absolutely."

Lu Yin actually started to panic a bit at the two’s instant and straightforward approval. His only advantage over Yōu Lao was that he could observe runes. However, that advantage did not really exist in the Neoverse as most places had precautions against Gods’ Origin. The only other means at Lu Yin’s disposal to investigate the Great Abyss were his domain and his spiritual force. Given the fact that Yōu Lao had repeatedly investigated the depths of the Great Abyss and been unable to find anything, Lu Yin would also fail to discover anything given his inferior strength.

"Let’s have the Second Nightking go down," Lu Yin said.

The elder did not refuse this suggestion.

Lu Yin called out the Second Nightking, and the old man felt rather awkward when he was informed that he needed to dive to the bottom of the Great Abyss. Several juniors were relaxing in a boat floating on top of the river while the Second Nightking was being sent down into the depths like an errand boy. Such treatment would leave anyone a bit disgruntled.

Still, the Second Nightking could not refute Lu Yin’s orders.

Once the Second Nightking descended into the depths of the Great Abyss, Yōu Lao started to get quite anxious.

"Senior, tell me about the Ce family. How much do you know about them?" Lu Yin asked.

Yōu Kexin was surprised by this change in topic. "The Ce family?"

After seeing that Yōu Lao was ignoring him and simply staring at the bottom of the Great Abyss, Lu Yin turned to look at Yōu Kexin. "That's right. I intend to visit the Ce family next."

Yōu Kexin replied, "It looks as though you intend to visit all the families of the Seven Courts, Alliance Leader Lu."

"Just about," Lu Yin admitted.

"There’s nothing much to say about the Ce family. Their ancestor was Ce Wangtian, another rather ancient Progenitor. Still, compared to my Yōu clan's Progenitor, there are many more detailed records concerning Progenitor Ce Wangtian. He created the Ce Secret Art, the Astral Chessboard, and he also created the battle technique Combat Doctrine. This is all common knowledge.”

Lu Yin looked up at the woman. Common knowledge? No, that was only from the point of view of people at the level of the Seven Courts’ patriarchs.

If not for an incredible coincidence that had let Mister Mu use the blood of a member of the Zhu family as a guiding medium, Lu Yin would have never been able to learn the Ce Secret Art. He might not have even heard of Progenitor Ce Wangtian until after becoming an Enlighter.

"Combat Doctrine incentivizes the members of the Ce family to continuously learn and test out more battle techniques. They’re thought to possess the greatest number of battle techniques out of any of the Seven Courts. On top of that, because they want to comprehend the Ce Secret Art, they constantly try to play chess with everyone. They’re very competitive with the Hui family because the Hui family is regarded as the most intelligent people in all the Seven Courts while the members of the Ce family believe themselves to be the smartest. This causes them to be incredibly arrogant, so if you intend to visit the Ce family, you should be aware that things might not go as smoothly for you as when you’ve visited the other families, Alliance Leader Lu," Yōu Kexin explained.

Lu Yin understood that Yōu Kexin was referring to the fact that Lu Yin was essentially trying to visit the Ce family while being a complete stranger to them. Actually, that was not completely true. At the very least, Lu Yin had comprehended the Ce Secret Art, which had become public knowledge. On top of that, since he had ruined the Ce family’s plot to take over Millions City, it was quite likely that the Ce family would not view Lu Yin as a friend.

"Has anyone ever studied the Ce family’s chessboard?" Lu Yin asked.

Yōu Kexin shook her head, but then she suddenly realized something that surprised her. "You can’t possibly want to study the Immovable Chessboard that their ancestor left behind, right?"

Lu Yin nodded as though such a thing were only natural.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Yōu Kexin was left speechless. "You realize that the Ce family’s understanding of the Ce Secret Art comes exclusively from the Immovable Chessboard, right? They also copy that treasure to produce their exclusive power vessels, which are inferior Immovable Chessboards. Their power vessels are named the same as their greatest treasure, and those Immovable Chessboards are the Ce family’s equivalent of my Yōu clan’s Netherworld River or the Ku family’s Withered Bark. How could they possibly allow you to study that?"

Lu Yin started considering this as he stared towards the bottom of the Great Abyss. This was quite a good question. How could he get permission to observe the Immovable Chessboard?

"It's not impossible. Another outsider has been allowed to study the Immovable Chessboard before," Yōu Lao calmly mentioned, his eyes never shifting from staring at the bottom of the river.

Lu Yin was surprised. "Who?"

Yōu Lao casually replied, "The Chief Justice."

"The Chief Justice?" Yōu Kexin exclaimed.

The Chief Justice that he had mentioned could only be the Interstellar Supreme Court’s Chief Justice. Everyone harbored a deep fear for the Chief Justice, not only because he wielded the Hall of Honor’s most powerful sword, but also because of his own, personal strength. The Chief Justice was monstrously powerful, and no one could deny that fact.

In the current era, Semi-Progenitors stood at the peak of the Fifth Mainland, but even Semi-Progenitor had to be respectful towards the Chief Justice.

"The Chief Justice visited the Ce family and observed the Immovable Chessboard?" Lu Yin was also surprised.

Yōu Lao finally turned to look at Lu Yin. "Yes. It happened many, many years ago."

"How did he pull that off?" Lu Yin asked.

Yōu Lao could clearly still remember that moment. "He overwhelmed them."

"He overwhelmed them?" Lu Yin's eyes flickered.

Yōu Lao solemnly stated. "Anyone who manages to overwhelm the Ce family is able to observe the Immovable Chessboard. The Ce family can be seen as a bully who fears those stronger than themselves. They consider themselves to be strategists who do their best to weigh the potential outcomes before making any decision, so they typically will not truly commit to a fight. When the Chief Justice appeared, they backed down because their opponent was too strong."

Lu Yin blinked. Too strong? Was that really how things had played out? This was really quite interesting, though unfortunately, such an option was still out of Lu Yin’s reach. The Ce family definitely had an elder with a power level of over a million, and Lu Yin still could not do a thing against such a powerhouse. If he tried to rely on the Second Nightking, it would be seen as relying on an external power.

"How powerful was the Chief Justice for him to be able to overwhelm the Ce family?" Lu Yin asked.

Yōu Lao answered, "I don't know, as no one has ever seen through the Chief Justice’s strength, but it is known that he had already survived several stellular tribulations. Even if his power level had not reached a million back then, he must have been about there."

Lu Yin nodded. He had only passed a single stellular tribulation so far. Even if he had managed to form an additional three stellular energy vortices by resealing his meridian points to give himself a strength approaching that of a four-tribulation Envoy, he had also lost his advantages that he had gained from opening his three meridian points. However, once he reopened his meridian points and exposed all four of his stellular energy vortices, his strength would soar to unknown levels.

Yōu Kexin stared at Lu Yin and then at Yōu Lao. She was confused. This was something even she had been ignorant of, so why had her elder shared it with Lu Yin?

It was at this time that the Second Nightking burst up from the depths of the Great Abyss. All three people in the wooden boat looked at the old man, who stated, "There’s nothing unusual down there aside from a few strange currents that swirl through the river in a way that seems to ignore spatial properties."

"Those are the Netherworld River," Yōu Lao replied. He then waved a hand, causing the Great Abyss to violently churn before a stream of water was brought up before Lu Yin, who looked at the swirling water in confusion. "Alliance Leader Lu, this is a Netherworld River which is my Yōu clan's unique power vessel. Although this one is not an exceptionally powerful power vessel, it’s still been strengthened within the Great Abyss for many years. This is my gift to you."

Not only had Lu Yin heard of the Yōu clan’s unique power vessels known as the Netherworld River, but he had also seen them be used in person. In particular, he had seen Ce Jiu use a Netherworld River in Progenitor Chen's Mausoleum, and he had been deeply impressed by the power vessel.

"Ordinary Netherworld Rivers are only able to move one through the visible universe, but this one can actually function even in the true universe, and it can carry you a vast distance. These are precious even to Envoys," Yōu Kexin was actually quite envious, as not even she possessed a Netherworld River of this quality.

The Netherworld Rivers were birthed from the Great Abyss, and the longer they remained within the Great Abyss, the more powerful the Netherworld River would become. The one that Ce Jiu had used had been one of the most commonplace Netherworld Rivers, but just that had already been able to help him tremendously. As for the one that Lu Yin had just been given, it was one of the most powerful power vessels in the Yōu clan’s, and not even their matriarch, Yōu Kexin, was qualified to use one.

This power vessel was being given to Lu Yin by the Yōu clan as thanks for his help in saving them.

Lu Yin's eyes lit up, and he quickly put away the Netherworld River and thanked Yōu Lao.

His time visiting the various families of the Seven Courts had increased Lu Yin’s wealth by incredible levels. He had already acquired one of the Hui family’s true Roots of Intelligence, a piece of the Ku family’s inherited Withered Barks, and at this moment, the Yōu clan’s Netherworld River. He next intended to visit the Ce family, as only by continuing his rounds would he reap the greatest profit possible from this visit to the Seven Courts.