Chapter 2043: An Era’s Pride

The people who had been released from the sourcebox array had asked about many things after being released and entering the current era. However, the Lu family’s unfortunate fate had occurred in the Perennial World, so most people knew nothing about that. None of the ancient figures had learned anything about the Lu family yet as they only knew about the Fifth Mainland’s hatred for the primeval surnames.

This shocking revelation concerning the Lu family left all the ancient people stupefied. Such a thing seemed impossible, given their experiences from the Heavens Sect era. This was exactly the same as Sky Garan being unable to accept that he had not been able to learn a single detail about his Garan family in the current era.

"What are you talking about?" Lu Buzheng stared at Kui Luo and demanded clarification.

Kui Luo raised a hand and pointed at Ni Huang and the other three Semi-Progenitors from the Perennial World. "Those four—the White Dragon Clan, the Wang family, the Bai family, and the Xia family—are known as the four ruling powers. They took advantage of the White Dragon Rolling Over to banish the entire Lu family. We have heard nothing at all from them since that time."

Lu Buzheng directed his glare towards Ni Huang and the others. "Is this true?"

Lu Buzheng had already recognized Wang Si as a member of the Wang family, which had initially caused the ancient powerhouse to feel a bit of a connection with the woman. After all, they were both cultivators from the Fifth Mainland. Despite that, a powerful bloodlust rose up in Lu Buzheng’s heart that he could not control. He quickly reached the point where he was about to lash out.

The Lu family had always stood at the helm of the Fifth Mainland, and the sect master of the Daosource Sect in the Fifth Mainland, which was known as a Dao Monarch, had been one of the Lu family’s Progenitors. The Wang family, the Bai family, and all the other primeval surnames had been subservient to the Lu family, which meant that Lu Buzheng’s family had been betrayed by their own followers.

Wang Si responded with a sneer, "The Lu family acted however they wished in the Fifth Mainland, and they never saw any of us deserving of their regard. So what if we exiled them? It was retribution for your Lu family’s behavior!"

Her words further enraged Lu Buzheng, and he stepped forward. The visualization method of the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant appeared behind him, and he struck out at Wang Si with a palm strike while utilizing one of the Lu family's unique techniques: Lifeseizer Palm.

The Lifeseizer Palm was a technique that used stellular energy. So, the absorption aspect of the palm strike quickly disappeared as the stellular energy was sucked away by the nearby droplet. Even so, Lu Buzheng’s physical might behind the palm strike was intimidating, and Wang Si was terrified of the approaching attack.

She also lashed out with a palm: Four Arts: Bear Stalwart.

Boom!

Palm clashed against palm, and Wang Si retreated more than ten steps backward, her hand numb. Her entire arm was trembling, and a bit of blood could be seen leaking through her skin.

The Wang family's Four Arts: Bear Stalwart was a technique that focused on an explosive physical might while the Lu family's Lifeseizer Palm focused on absorbing the opponent’s vitality. The physical power of the Lifeseizer Palm should theoretically be inferior to Bear Stalwart, but Lu Buzheng's Immovable Heavenly King Elephant had reinforced the attack’s physical power to a shocking degree. His Lifeseizer Palm had immediately overpowered Wang Si's counterattack.

Furthermore, Lu Buzheng himself was a gatemaster of one of the Twelve Heavenly Gates from ancient times, as well as a Semi-Progenitor who was on the very cusp of becoming a Progenitor. His strength was completely incomparable to Wang Si’s.

If not for the fact that Lu Buzheng had attacked with a Lifeseizer Palm, Wang Si would have at least lost her arm in the exchange.

Lu Buzheng instantly attacked again, this time not using Lifeseizer Palm, but rather a punch that contained nothing more than pure physical power as he pressed his attack on Wang Si.

Wang Si's expression changed, and four black ropes shot out from the void in an attempt to bind Lu Buzheng, but the man casually broke free.

Streams of qi swirled around Lu Buzheng's body, blocking the Forgotten Ruins technique. The Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique was a peerless technique, and it alone had allowed Shang Qing to surpass all others in the same generation.

Lu Buzheng's second stream of ancestral qi shot out to strike Wang Si, but because all the stellular energy was stolen from the ancestral qi, the qi strand disappeared before it was even able to close to Wang Si.

At this time, Ni Huang appeared next to Lu Buzheng. Ni Huang stretched out his hands to grab hold of Lu Buzheng, and as that happened, the arms transformed into dragon scales.

Kui Luo snorted derisively, and his spiritual force erupted between Ni Huang and Lu Buzheng, knocking both men back at the same time.

"A sneak attack? Despicable!" Kui Luo shouted.

Ni Huang answered quietly, "I just want to stop this fight."

Lu Buzheng shot a glare at Ni Huang. "You were too arrogant to betray my Lu family!"

Bai Laogui looked on with cold eyes. "Your Lu family stood at the peak for too long, and it was time for a change. Ni Huang, don't worry. The passage to the Starfall Sea had been blocked, so let’s get rid of these last two bastards of the Lu family now."

"What a joke! Do you think that we’re just here for show?" Kui Luo grabbed Lu Yin and threw him over onto Ancestor Tortoise’s back.

Lu Yin was still suffering from an unbearable headache and a terrible weakness that wracked his entire body. Still, he was conscious and aware as Yunying Mavis caught him. He panted for breath as he squatted down on Ancestor Tortoise’s back as Bai Laogui tried to convince Ni Huang and Xia De to team with Wang Si and Bai Laogui to deal with Lu Buzheng and Lu Yin.

However, Lu Buzheng did not wait for his opponents, and he attacked again. At the same time, Kui Luo went after Bai Laogui. Highsage Grandmaster did not remain on the sidelines, and he moved to confront Xia De.

Of all the Semi-Progenitors present, only Hen Xin and Jue Yi did nothing. No one could tell what the two men’s opinion of the current situation was.

"Alliance Leader Lu, you need to rest. You’ll be perfectly safe here," Yunying Mavis said while watching the Semi-Progenitor battle take place in outer space beyond Ancestor Tortoise. Off in the distance, there was still a sea of slitted scarlet eyes that were dispersing in all directions. And yet, Humanity was already being divided by internal strife. This change had come about too quickly.

Lu Yin understood Lu Buzheng’s reaction. From Lu Buzheng's view, he had just recently been living in the Heavens Sect era, and the Lu family had stood at the peak of that era and ruled the entire Fifth Mainland. The Wang, Xia, and Bai families had all served under the Lu family, and the Lu family had long since developed a sense of pride in their position. While countless years had passed since that era, it had not been a long time for Lu Buzheng, and it was impossible for him to accept that these people had rebelled against his Lu family.

Still, this was not the time for internal strife. Corpse God’s hand was still wedged in the passage to the Starfall Sea, pressed between Mt. Microcosms and the barrier to create a small gap. While it was not enough to allow the Aeternals to launch a large-scale invasion, powerhouses like the Seven Skygods and the Twelve Marquises could still freely enter and exit the Fifth Mainland. Unless this hidden danger was removed, the Fifth Mainland would never be safe.

Humanity still faced a threat from the Starfall Sea. On top of that, both Forgotten Ruins God and Whiteless God were still within the Fifth Mainland, and either one might attack at any moment.

"Senior Yunying, can Ancestor Tortoise attack?" Lu Yin suddenly asked. He sounded exhausted.

Yunying Mavis shook her head. "If that were possible, Ancestor the Tortoise would have participated in the last battle, but he has no way to attack."

Lu Yin found this to be a pity. Given the current situation, as it seemed impossible for the two sides to come to a peaceful resolution. Perhaps Lu Yin could take advantage of this opportunity to deal with the people like Ni Huang, force them to be captured by the mental network, or even possibly subdue them. If this was not possible, humanity risked division erupting again at any moment, and Lu Yin also did not want to deal with the threat of the Semi-Progenitors from the Perennial World.

He preferred to cow the Perennial World’s powerhouses so that they could work together to fight against the Aeternals, but that was very difficult to accomplish. For the moment, the two sides were evenly matched.

Ni Huang's entire body had been covered with dragon scales, and he was hard-pressed to fight against Lu Buzheng's Immovable Heavenly King Elephant visualization method. The two men were evenly matched for the time being. Each of them were on the verge of breaking through to the Progenitor realm, and with all stellular energy being stolen away from the Fifth Mainland, how would a winner be decided? It was difficult to say.

If stellular energy continued to be consumed as this was happening, both sides of the current fight would be left helpless against any hidden Aeternal powerhouses remaining in the Fifth Mainland. Right now, the fighters were quickly exhausting their stellular energy reserves.

"Alliance Leader Lu," Yunying Mavis suddenly called out. "That man is here."

Lu Yin turned his head and saw that Jue Yi had moved close to Ancestor Tortoise. The approaching expert was releasing a heavy aura of death energy. This was the man who had managed to deceive even Forgotten Ruins God with the Mask of Death, only to be blocked by Whiteless God once he got close to the passage to the Starfall Sea. Lu Yin was very wary of this person, but he was also curious about him. Given that he was another expert from ancient times, he had definitely met the God of Death before, and he was likely even the God of Death’s disciple.

"Let's talk," the man calmly addressed Lu Yin.

Lu Yin rubbed his head as he nodded. "Alright."

Jue Yi made to move onto Ancestor Tortoise’s back, but Lu Yin raised a hand to stop him. "First help my Lu family deal with those traitors."

Lu Yin no longer wanted to try to find a peaceful resolution. If there was an advantage available, then it was better to remove any potential threats in one go.

Jue Yi frowned. "I am no thug of the Lu family. Both you and I are descendants of the God of Death."

"But I am first a son of the Lu family," Lu Yin said.

Jue Yi clearly did not like this answer. "That has nothing to do with me."

"Then we have nothing to talk about," Lu Yin directly replied.

Jue Yi's voice instantly grew cold. "Death energy comes from the God of Death. The God of Death holds absolute control over the creation of death energy. I am one of the God of Death’s disciples, and thus, all who cultivate with death energy must obey my orders. This is the power that the God of Death gave to me, and you are no exception to this."

Lu Yin laughed. "Are you saying that you want me to obey you?"

Jue Yi’s eyes tightened. "That's right. The fact that you use death energy makes you an heir to the God of Death, and as the only remaining disciple of the God of Death, I alone can act as the master of all wielders of death energy. If you do not obey, I will strip you of your cultivation."

Lu Yin shook his head. "I’m sorry, but times have changed. In this era, forget you, but even the God of Death is nothing more than a legend. Even if Senior God of Death himself appeared before me, I might not listen to him."

Jue Yi’s expression chilled further. "Are you trying to betray the God of Death’s wishes?"

Lu Yin spoke earnestly, "I’ve already told you that the God of Death no longer exists. I received my death energy after barely surviving various crises, and no one helped me or gave it to me. Why should this mean that I have to obey you? While I respect you as a senior from ancient times, and even ignoring the time that you were in the sourcebox, you are still a Semi-Progenitor while I’m an Envoy. Thus, there’s clearly a gap between us."

Death energy leaked out as Jue Yi's aura expanded. "It would seem that it’s impossible to discuss this with you. Since you have no desire to follow me, give me everything that you possess related to death energy. Given your status as a descendant of the Lu family, I will not press matters further, but if you resist, I will personally strip you of your death energy."

Lu Yin stared at Jue Yi, wanting to both laugh and get angry, but also feeling that neither reaction was appropriate. "For the last time, my death energy has nothing to do with you or even the God of Death. It's just another form of power. If the God of Death truly wished for everyone who can use death energy to obey him, then this power would never have spread out. The fact that I was able to acquire death energy proves that the God of Death acknowledges that others can learn to use death energy, and you do not possess the right to make decisions on the God of Death’s behalf."

Jue Yi said nothing more, and he instead tried to barge onto Ancestor Tortoise’s back to capture Lu Yin. However, even Ancient God had not been able to accomplish such a thing, and it was naturally beyond Jue Yi’s abilities as well.

However, Jue Yi's actions were noticed by Lu Buzheng, who was still locked in fierce battle with Ni Huang. The man angrily demanded, "Jue Yi, what are you trying to do?"

Jue Yi answered indifferently, "This child of your Lu family possesses the God of Death’s power, yet he refuses to acknowledge the God of Death as his master. This is a betrayal, and just as you wish to annihilate those who betrayed your Lu family, I intend to do the same for the God of Death."

"You're seeking death!" Lu Buzheng shouted. Ni Huang glanced away from his battle to look over at Ancestor Tortoise, and his eyes flickered.

The moment the foreign enemy disappeared, humanity’s internal conflicts blossomed and moved to the top of people’s list of priorities.

Lu Buzheng could not allow the four ruling powers’ betrayal of the Lu family to slide while the four ruling powers could not permit anyone from the Lu family to live.

As for Jue Yi, he stubbornly believed that Lu Yin had to obey him and that any refusal was a betrayal to the God of Death.

The people from the ancient era had their own values, and they would defend their own time’s pride despite their anachronistic existence in between the past and the present.

As for the four ruling powers, Lu Yin definitely hated them even more than Lu Buzheng, but Lu Yin understood that he had to endure his hatred for the time being. However, Lu Buzheng was not capable of such control, and this was another difference that was related to the eras they were from.

The same was true for Jue Yi. If he had been born in the current era, he might have held the same perception as Tian Dou, believing that Lu Yin would eventually be able to create death energy and eventually become a second God of Death, rather than demanding Lu Yin’s complete and total obedience.

No matter what, fighting had already broken out, and it would not be easy to settle the disagreements that had broken out.

Only Semi-Progenitors could settle a fight between Semi-Progenitors.