Chapter 1973: One Word

"Are you sure that that’s Gods’ Origins’ Platform of Trials?" Lu Yin asked again.

Xuan Jiu grumpily answered, "Absolutely."

"Do a divination," Lu Yin commanded.

Xuan Jiu was speechless, and he stared blankly at Lu Yin. "Do you really not believe me?"

Lu Yin explained, "Xia Ji wouldn’t easily reveal a connection to Gods’ Origin if he had one. Even if there is something, he’s not stupid enough to take me to a place as easily discovered as their Platform of Trials."

With this, Xuan Jiu understood. "You’re misunderstanding. This Platform of Trials is different from what you’re used to. This one’s only available to Envoys."

Lu Yin was even more confused.

Xuan Jiu continued, saying, "The greatest difference between the Neoverse, the Innerverse, and the Outerverse is that it’s not too difficult for the Neoverse powers to produce Envoys. Every Neoverse power has their own Platform of Trials that’s exclusively reserved for Envoys. The Cosmic Sect, Eversky Island, and the Hall of Honor all have one, and Gods' Origin is no exception. Even though I say that it’s not too difficult to produce an Envoy, that’s only in comparison to the other places in the Fifth Mainland. Even a place as large and powerful as Gods' Origin only has a few Envoys, so naturally, only a few people have ever seen their Platform of Trials.

"If not for a certain coincidence, I would have never seen it. Then, you would not have been able to find out where you were taken no matter how badly you tried."

Lu Yin understood that, in the Innerverse, Envoys were the top powerhouses. Even the Sword Sect only had two Envoys, so it was impossible for the Innerverse powers to have a Platform of Trials dedicated solely to Envoys. Another detail was that Xia Ji had not expected Lu Yin to injure him, escape, or leave the Platform of Trials.

The strength of a Semi-Progenitor meant that Xia Ji should have had an easy time controlling Lu Yin on the Platform of Trials. If he had not rushed away and moved away, he would have never known that he had been atop an enormous pillar.

Xia Ji had actually been very cautious. Any other Semi-Progenitor who was even remotely more self-confident would have simply taken Lu Yin to their own territory.

However, this information brought up a new question: what was the connection between Xia Ji and Gods' Origin?

The fact that Xia Ji had taken Lu Yin to Gods’ Origin after capturing him showed that the Semi-Progenitor was very familiar with Gods’ Origin. Was it possible that one of his clones held a high position in Gods' Origin?

However, it was also not impossible for Xia Ji to have simply randomly chosen a relatively secure place where he could question Lu Yin. The man was able to go wherever he wished as he was a Semi-Progenitor. However, this idea was contradicted by the fact that Lu Yin had been knocked unconscious and dumped in the middle of the Cosmic Sea when Xia Ji had been forced to release him.

If Xia Ji had simply chosen a place at random, he would not have cared if Lu Yin had found out that he had been taken to Gods’ Origin, and he might have even revealed the information himself.

This was Lu Yin’s biggest question at this time.

It seemed highly likely that Xia Ji had a clone in Gods' Origin.

Lu Yin waved a hand to dismiss the image. Regardless of whether or not Xia Ji had a clone hidden in Gods' Origin, Lu Yin still needed to visit the place. He also needed to take a look at their Platform of Trials to check it out himself.

Lu Yin had been intending to visit Gods' Origin for some time now, and it seemed like this trip to the Neoverse would settle everything that he needed to do there.

He had already visited the Seven Courts, the Mavis family, Aurora Enterprises, and the Cosmic Sect. Right now, he was also quite close to Gods' Origin. He wanted to visit them not only to investigate his capture and Xia Ji, but also to study Rune Technology. He had previously received a few invitations from Gods' Origin.

"It looks like you’ve got quite a few enemies in the Neoverse. There’s that Semi-Progenitor from the Seven Courts, and now also someone from Gods’ Origin. You’re not going to have an easy time of things." Xuan Jiu sighed and remembered the divination that he had performed in the past. Lu Yin’s list of potential enemies had been much larger in the past, but even the recent developments did not seem to have been enough to remove all the hazards from the young man’s path.

Lu Yin shrugged. "It will probably be difficult, which is why I need help from my friends."

Xuan Jiu instantly grew wary when he heard Lu Yin’s words. "I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" Lu Yin looked confused.

Xuan Jiu’s face twitched. "You just said that as long as I divined a location for you, you’d let me go! I just told you that that place is in Gods’ Origin. What? Are you not going to keep your word?"

Lu Yin smiled and settled an arm around Xuan Jiu's shoulders once again. "You told me that you’ve already seen that place. You didn’t do a divination."

Xuan Jiu was stunned. "What does that matter?"

Lu Yin became very serious. "I asked you to help me perform a divination about a place, but you simply told me about a place you’ve seen. You didn’t do any divination, so you’ve only fulfilled half of my request."

Xuan Jiu raged, "Boy, you're toying with me! You didn’t care if I did a divination—you just wanted to find out where that place is! You’re going too far, and you’re rotten to the core!"

Lu Yin shrugged. "There’s no need to quibble over who’s right or wrong. I just need you to do a divination."

"Fine! Grandpa Jiu will do a divination for you and confirm what I already told you!"

Xuan Jiu was in a rush, so he prepared to do the divination immediately, but Lu Yin grabbed the older man’s wrist. "There’s no need to get so worked up. We’re old friends who’ve fallen out of touch. That doesn’t mean that I don’t believe you, but that I simply want to admire your Heaven’s Enigma. Tell you what, I won’t embarrass you by asking you to verify your own words. Instead, you can just do a divination on a single word. It doesn’t have anything to do with anyone, as I just want to see Heaven’s Enigma at work.”

With Lu Yin holding Xuan Jiu's wrist, the man could not move his hand an inch. He stared at Lu Yin in surprise. "Just one word? Alright, sure."

Lu Yin nodded. "Just one word, and since you’ve already completed the other half of my conditions for letting you go, doing this much should be easy. You can also leave after this divination."

Xuan Jiu kept feeling like something was wrong, but there was nothing that he could pinpoint. If it was only a single word, then what could the word possibly be?

"This word can’t be connected with a powerhouse, so no primeval surnames, or words like ‘Chen,’ ‘Rune,’ or anything else. No connections at all, got it?" Xuan Jiu said as he stared at Lu Yin. He was not going to let Lu Yin force him into doing a divination on a Progenitor, as that would not turn out well at all for Xuan Jiu.

Lu Yin instantly agreed. "Sure, it doesn’t have anything to do with anyone at all. I just want to see Heaven’s Enigma."

"That's easy to do. I’ll share the method with you, and you can do the divination yourself. That’s far more exciting than watching someone else do a divination," Xuan Jiu gushed in a single breath.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

However, Lu Yin refused. "How can anyone do a divination on themselves? Are you messing with me?"

Xuan Jiu felt more and more trapped. “If you just wanted to see Heaven’s Enigma, then I’ll just use a random word that I choose."

"I want to be the one to pick," Lu Yin said. He was not giving Xuan Jiu any freedom in this matter.

"What’s the word?" Xuan Jiu asked helplessly. He still looked very wary, as the suspicion that something was wrong would not leave.

Lu Yin wrote a single word in between them: Murkiness.

Xuan Jiu stared at the word, and he frantically tried to remember if this word had any connections to any powerhouse at all. Murkiness, murkiness, murkiness…

He could not think of a single powerhouse, so the word did not seem to be related to anyone powerful. Gods’ Origin’s God of Flames had a name that was somewhat similar, but it was different enough to not matter.

Could it be connected to someone from so long ago that I don’t know about them? Xuan Jiu kept trying to consider every option, as he did not want to be tricked by Lu Yin again.

Lu Yin remained still and perfectly calm.

Xuan Jiu stared at the young man. "What does the word mean?"

"Are you asking for the definition?" Lu Yin asked in confusion.

Xuan Jiu’s eyes narrowed. "Pick a different word."

Lu Yin became upset. "Now you’re messing with me! I asked you to divine a specific word, and now you’re asking me to change it? No deal! I chose this word, and I won’t change it."

Xuan Jiu's eyes flickered. "Lu Yin, we’ve gotten to know each other quite well, so don't lie to me. Divination is not some trivial matter. I’m going to ask you one last time—what does this word mean?"

Lu Yin answered somberly, "It really doesn’t have any special meaning to it. I chose it at random."

"For real?"

"For real."

"I don’t believe you."

Lu Yin looked offended. "Are you serious?"

The Second Nightking was bored of watching the two men’s interactions. In the nearby spacecraft, Sapling was leaning against a window, and it looked eager to leave the ship.

Xuan Jiu swallowed. "It can't be the God of Death’s name."

Lu Yin stunned. "Did you think that the God of Death would have such a dirty name?"

"No idea," Xuan Jiu replied.

Lu Yin sighed. "Just forget it. If you don’t want to do the divination, then let’s head out. You can go with me to Gods’ Origin, and then we’ll move on to the Cosmic Sea. I’ll ask you for a divination after I come up with something that I want to check into."

Xuan Jiu gritted his teeth. "Fine! I’ll do it, but let me give you one last reminder that divination is no small matter! When I did that divination on your family members, I instantly spat out blood, and it took me an entire year to recover. I don’t want anything like that to happen from divining this word."

Lu Yin pursed his lips. "It’s just a random word that I thought of, so any accidents have nothing to do with me."

Xuan Jiu puffed heavily. "Out of the way."

Lu Yin and the Second Nightking both stepped back to watch as Xuan Jiu divined the word “murkiness.” Lu Yin was extremely nervous.

Did the word have a connection to a powerhouse? It absolutely did, but it was not the name of an expert. Instead, it was the name of a plan. It was the name of Aeternus’s plan.

Mister Mu had been investigating this particular plan, but he had not been able to find anything about it at all. If Lu Yin had guessed correctly, then not even the Seven Skygods were aware of this plan; if they were, then there was no way for Mister Mu to not even have a clue about it.

How powerful was Mister Mu? How powerful was the person who had created this plan? It was possible that both of them were much stronger than most Progenitors.

Lu Yin stared at Xuan Jiu's thin body. Old man, good luck!

Xuan Jiu was being extremely cautious. Before performing the divination, he made it a point to recall everything that he could about anything related to the word “murkiness” to make sure that there was no connection at all to any powerhouse. He could determine nothing special about the word, so he proceeded with the divination.

However, he did not even do a divination on the word “murkiness” itself. Rather, he used Heaven’s Enigma to calculate what was related to the word.

However, the moment Xuan Jiu started, he spat out blood and collapsed.

Lu Yin was startled by the sudden change, and he rushed forward to grab Xuan Jiu. Lu Yin found that the man’s face was completely white, and his body was trembling incessantly. Terror filled the man’s eyes, and cracks could be seen spreading across his body. It was as though he had been struck by an unimaginable invisible power, like how Envoys were invisible to a typical Enlighter.

Lu Yin and the Second Nightking were both horrified, as neither of them had sensed a thing. Just what had happened to Xuan Jiu?

Most of the blood drained from the man’s body, and yet he spat out another mouthful of blood.

"Xuan Jiu! Xuan Jiu!" Lu Yin yelled frantically while feeding the old man pills.

The Second Nightking’s eyes darted about. He had not sensed a single thing and could not find anything nearby. A chill slowly spread across his body, and he could not help but nervously swallow.

Xuan Jiu was just a single breath away from death, and he struggled to stay alive. Time passed, and he eventually stopped trembling. His eyes that had been glassy and unfocused regained some clarity, though the absolute fear remained strong. "This- this-"

Lu Yin spoke in a very soft voice, "I'm sorry. You’re hurt because of me."

Xuan Jiu blinked and blankly stared at Lu Yin. The old man was initially confused, but then he was quickly overcome by pure rage. He forced his weak voice out and started cursing, "You- you- you rotten goods! You killed me! You killed me! I’m dead! Cough cough."

Lu Yin looked at the man apologetically. "I'm sorry."

Xuan Jiu just kept backing away until he reached the side of the spacecraft. His eyes never left Lu Yin, and the old man never stopped dripping blood from his mouth. "You killed me! Do you have any idea what just happened? I just touched an unimaginably powerful strength! That’s a level of power that you and I can’t even fathom! Luckily, I was smart and didn’t try to directly divine that word with Heaven’s Enigma, as that would have instantly killed me! You’re rotten goods! Nothing but rotten goods! Where did you even find that word?”