Chapter 2070: The Eagle And The Fish

"This looks familiar," Forgotten Ruins God muttered.

Everyone else felt rather confused, as they had never seen such a massive lake before. Could this be the scene of the other Mainlands being destroyed?

The Fifth Mainland had the Astral River while the Sixth Mainland had the inverted waterfall.

No one noticed Chu Yuan's expression of absolute shock. He was familiar with this place, as not only had he seen it, but he had also visited this place before. This was where he had met the Origin Progenitor.

"Up above!" Lan Xian exclaimed, fear evident in her voice.

Everyone looked up.

A massive shadow enveloped them. It was so large they could not see the edge. Suddenly, they heard a deafening sound that caused space to grow chaotic. It was the cry of an eagle.

Everyone stared in disbelief as a majestic eagle flew down and landed. As it approached and drew closer, they realized that it was much larger than it had first appeared to be, as it covered half the lake.

The lake itself was large enough that Lu Yin could not see the shore, despite having passed his third stellular tribulation. It was large enough to hold an entire region of the universe, and yet the eagle fully covered half of this lake. It was even larger than Ancestor Tortoise!

When he saw the eagle fly over and land, Leng Qing's pupils shrank to pinpricks, and he shouted, "The Origin Progenitor’s eagle!"

Jiu Yao and Lan Xian were both startled, and they were instantly reminded of the statue they had often visited in the past. It was a statue of the Origin Progenitor, and there was a massive python wrapped around the waist of the statue as well as an eagle perched on his shoulder. Could this really be that eagle?

Lu Yin stared in a daze as the eagle descended. His mind went back to the legend he had heard in the Perennial World that claimed that there was a massive eagle perched atop the Mother Tree while the Python Ancestor wrapped around the base of the Mother Tree’s trunk. Lu Yin had already seen the Python Ancestor for himself, so could the eagle also be real? Was this that same eagle?

The eagle covered the lake as it landed. Its talons stretched into the lake. It seemed to grab onto something, and the entire lake churned so violently that the nearby stars were disturbed. Water splashed everywhere, each droplet large enough to drown out an entire star. However, given the size of the eagle, they were nothing more than mere droplets.

The eagle’s talons remained in the lake for just a few more moments before it soared back into the sky once again, making its way towards outer space as it let out another cry.

The eagle’s cry contained anger and annoyance that Lu Yin and the others could clearly hear.

Suddenly, they all heard a rough voice speak up from beneath them. "Come on, little birdy. Come on! Get over here and catch Lord Fish. It’s not good to make Lord Fish wait and frown, so get over here!"

Everyone looked down, and they all saw a massive tail suddenly appear within the lake. It smashed down onto the surface of the lake, sending out crashing waves that were powerful enough to distort space.

Lu Yin instantly felt that the voice sounded rather familiar, and he kept looking around for who had spoken. Finally, he realized that the voice was coming from the enormous mouth of the fish that they were staring at. The fish was so unbelievably large that it was impossible to see either side of its head. The fish continued mocking the eagle. "Come on, Lord Fish will accept you, little birdy. Come on, get over here! Lord Fish is bored."

The angry eagle let out another scream from far overhead. It then dropped, its talons stabbing straight into the water. However, the fish had already dived to the bottom of the lake before the eagle was even able to get close. The fish was startlingly quick, and this singular exchange made it clear that the fish had done the same thing to the eagle countless times before. The eagle failed to catch the fish, and it flew back up into the sky.

The fish resurfaced as it slapped its tail onto the surface of the lake once again. "Little birdy, where’d you go? Lord Fish misses you! Get back here! Lord Fish loves eating roast fowl and two-legged beasts. Come back to Lord Fish! Lord Fish will teach you how to lockbreak! Lord Fish will teach you how to become a Progenitor!"

The eagle let out an enraged scream. It continued to swoop down at the lake in an attempt to catch the fish, only to fail yet again. The mouthy fish was slippery, but the eagle became so angry that it tried to simply completely drain the lake. However, a mysterious force stopped the eagle from doing so, and it was even pushed up away from the lake. This only made the eagle even more enraged than ever.

"Lord Fish wants to use this little birdy as a mount, just like those two-legged beasts. Hurry over here and be Lord Fish’s mount! Lord Fish is in a good mood right now, and I will teach you things that will allow you to stand above all of your peers." The fish shouted again and again. It was incredibly irritating to hear, but there was nothing that the eagle could do to stop it.

Lu Yin was utterly speechless. Even if he could not see the entire fish or had a good idea of what it looked like, its voice sounded exactly like that miserable fish that rode around on top of Xi Qi's head. That nasty little fish had to this massive fish’s descendant.

"Chu Yuan, you look like you know this place." Heluo Mavis stared at Chu Yuan.

Lu Yin looked over as well.

Chu Yuan answered in an indifferent tone, "That eagle is indeed the one from the Origin Progenitor’s back garden, and the Python Ancestor was nearby. As for that fish down below, I heard the Origin Progenitor refer to it as the Arkfish."

"So that’s the Arkfish? There were rumors that the Origin Progenitor used it specifically to train the eagle, and I can see why now," Heluo Mavis murmured to herself.

Lu Yin looked back down at the lake. There had been mention of the Arkfish in the Perennial World’s legend as well, but as far as Lu Yin was concerned, it was more like a fart fish. The words it spew were simply infuriating.

The main hall trembled, startling everyone, as this stop had been incredibly brief. Previously, every stop had been successively longer, and everyone had expected this to be their longest stop yet.

The statue once again started absorbing all the stellular energy from everyone's bodies and devouring it. The lake disappeared as they resumed traveling through time and space.

Right as everyone thought that the same cycle as before would continue, something inexplicably changed. The stellular energy that the statue had been devouring suddenly stalled, and then it was violently sent back. It started pouring back into everyone's bodies.

Lu Yin reflexively started using the Cosmic Art again, but he did glance at the statue. Why was the cycle so short this time?

Before he could even really consider the change, a tremor shook the main hall, catching everyone off guard. Had they already arrived at their next destination?

There was a burst of light outside the main hall, and they were greeted by the sight of an enormous tree covered with glowing fruits. The tree was falling, and a massive figure was standing next to it and punching at the tree.

Heluo Mavis was completely stunned. "The divine tree!"

She leaped forward, but she was blocked by the power that isolated the main hall from the rest of the universe.

The main hall shook again right away, and it returned to the dark river of time. They had only seen the tree for a maximum of two seconds before it disappeared. Then, the stellular energy started draining from everyone once more.

Heluo Mavis had gone completely white. She had just seen a colossal giant attacking her Mavis family’s divine tree. She had never seen that giant before, but rumors claimed that the colossal giants had been created by the Dao Monarch of the Third Mainland. Did the fall of the Second Mainland have something to do with the Third Mainland? Was there a connection to the colossal giants?

Before everyone could recover from the sudden changes, stellular energy suddenly shot back into their bodies once more. At almost the exact same time, the main hall shook. They saw someone stirring up the Astral River, which meant that they were looking at the Fifth Mainland. They could see the Astral River twining through space like a ribbon, but they could not see the face of the person disturbing it.

The main hall kept trembling. As it became more and more frequent, they saw more and more glimpses of events throughout history.

Sometimes they saw battlefields, and other times a peaceful location in outer space. There were times when they saw a wedding, or just the Mother Tree. The scenes flickered by faster and faster until it became impossible to clearly see anything.

Lu Yin stared at what was happening outside the main hall. Everything he was seeing at this moment were bits of history. He watched snippets of events that had played out across the various Mainlands, powerhouses who toyed with stars, and even the Heavens Sect.

He had never before imagined that he would one day have the opportunity to see the Heavens Sect for himself.

The Mother Tree held up the universe, and the Six Mainlands circled the Mother Tree. When the main hall appeared outside another Mainland, Lu Yin saw both a Sky Pillar and the Mother Tree standing tall in the distance. He saw the Daosource Sect standing proud like an imperial palace atop the Sky Pillars. There were countless races streaming towards the Heavens Sect. It truly was the peak of human civilization.

Lu Yin did not recognize what he was seeing, and he only recognized it for what it was because Leng Qing had recognized the sight and remarked that it was the Heavens Sect. That point in time had been the era when humanity had stood at the absolute center of the universe. Every powerful Progenitor and Semi-Progenitor who had lived during that era had represented the essence of humanity. It was an era that had been beyond prosperous.

When Lu Yin saw this, it was the image of what humanity should have to him. This was, and should have been, the true face of mankind.

Ever since Hen Xin and the other people from the ancient era had appeared, every last one of them had kept speaking of the Heavens Sect, and their words and demeanor had given Lu Yin an ever-growing mental image of the place. When he finally saw it for himself, the impression was instantly etched into his very bones. He saw the stunning magnificence of the Heavens Sect, and its power to play with stars and the universe itself. The Aeternals were nothing more than monsters while the astral beasts only deserved to be enslaved.

For a long time afterwards, Lu Yin remained quite emotional. He suddenly understood why Sky Garan had declared that he would rebuild the Heavenly Sect. It also made sense that the same goal had been Lu Xiaoxuan’s dream. After seeing the Heavens Sect for himself, rebuilding the Heavens Sect became Lu Yin’s dream as well. He wanted to place the Tower of the Fifth within the Heavens Sect to guide and train humans, paving the way to the future.

Lu Yin had not held such a grand ambition since the time he had been left as white meat on Driftcharge Planet.

The constant ebb and flow of stellular energy within the main hall continuously shifted to different points in time and space. It was clear that something had changed, and Lu Yin and the others all started to panic, as they were afraid that they might be left in a random point in space in an ancient era.

Leng Qing, Chu Yuan, and Heluo Mavis did not fear such a possibility, as they were actually eager to return to the Heavens Sect era. For them, this bit of time travel felt like a bit of a tour. Still, regardless of the process, returning to their own place and time would be the best for them.

Forgotten Ruins God finally took action. She had no idea what sort of changes might occur to the main hall in the future, but since things had already started to change, she felt that making the first move would secure the advantage. All she needed to do was get the sword.

The dark-red stream of energy took on the form of a massive wolf head that tried to devour Leng Qing and the other two Semi-Progenitors. At the same time that she released her innate gift, Forgotten Ruins God lashed out with Four Arts: Celestial Blade.

Leng Qing changed back and merged with his blade while fiercely slashing out at Forgotten Ruins God. The man collided with Four Arts: Celestial Blade, but Leng Qing was the one who was pushed back. The stellular energy kept fluctuating within his body, and he did not have a reliable level of combat power at this moment. He was actually weakened right at the moment of impact, which was why Leng Qing was forced back.

Forgotten Ruins God raised her hand. Four Arts: Pearl.

Forgotten Ruins God had never used the Four Arts before this moment. However, during this surprise attack, she had started by using the Four Arts’ Celestial Blade to stop Leng Qing while simultaneously sealing Leng Qing’s prowess with the blade away with the terrifying Four Arts: Pearl.

Leng Qing’s combat strength plummeted, as his blade had been sealed.

Forgotten Ruins God seized this opening to sweep past Leng Qing while racing towards the statue.

Jiu Yao and Lan Xian instinctively moved to stop the charging woman, but they were sent flying with a Sit and Forget. Lan Xian suffered the brunt of the blow, as she was knocked all the way down to the lower level of the main hall where she spat out blood. The difference in strength between Lan Xian and Forgotten Ruins God was too much.

Jiu Yao was the Sixth Mainland’s only Semi-Progenitor who was even close to approaching the Progenitor Realm, but at this moment, he was facing Forgotten Ruins God who was using the Aeternals divine energy. On top of that, Jiu Yao was weakened as he was still missing some of his stellular energy.

Forgotten Ruins God had held back from doing anything earlier since she had been concerned about the unknown consequences her actions might have while traveling through time and space. However, as soon as she took action, she revealed an unrivaled level of strength that instantly crushed three Semi-Progenitors.

Only Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis were left near the statue, and it was impossible for either of them to stop Forgotten Ruins God.

Lu Yin looked up from where he was on the lower level of the main hall. When he saw that Forgotten Ruins God was moving towards the statue, he jumped up and moved to block her path. The Cosmic Art was activated at full power, and Lu Yin took in every scrap of stellular energy that he could.

The stellular energy had just started to surge out of the statue again to fill everyone’s bodies. As Lu Yin used the Cosmic Art, it caused the stellular energy levels around him to soar. Forgotten Ruins God had no choice but to enter the area affected by Lu Yin’s Cosmic Art if she wanted to take the statue.

It looked like Lu Yin wanted to use the higher levels of stellular energy caused by the Cosmic Art to force greater amounts of stellular energy into Forgotten Ruins God's body and overwhelm her. Unfortunately, such a thing could only be a dream. While it was possible to overwhelm Heluo Mavis or Chu Yuan with such a method, it was impossible to do the same to Forgotten Ruins God. If things reached a point where Forgotten Ruins God could be affected, then Lu Yin would already have self-destructed.

"Naive." Forgotten Ruins God struck out at Lu Yin with a hand. It was not a powerful attack, as she still did not want to kill Lu Yin.

Lu Yin took out his eggshell and hid inside it. He then pulled out his needle-like weapon and thrust it at Forgotten Ruins God.