Chapter 2096: Erasing Time

Lu Yin stared at Chu Yuan in disbelief. How could the blade have cut into him when it had been far enough away for Lu Yin to use the Knowing realm of Truesight? It had appeared as though the blade had instantly traversed the distance. It had not broken through space or moved quickly, but rather had seemed to already have chopped into his shoulder. It had felt both natural and correct for the blade to be embedded into Lu Yin’s body.

But how?

Chu Yuan held the hilt of his blade and pressed down with an incredible amount of force. He used his innate gift to multiply the power of his attack in an attempt to chop straight through Lu Yin's body with the blade.

In the end, he had still underestimated Lu Yin. Just because Chu Yuan had managed to land a direct blow with his blade did not mean that the fight was over. Lu Yin’s body was just too freakishly durable. Most people would only face a single stellular tribulation when they broke through to the Envoy realm, and then another tribulation for each subsequent breakthrough. On the other hand, Lu Yin had faced four tribulations for each of his three breakthroughs, and this had tempered and strengthened his body an extra three times for each tribulation that he passed.

An inch into Lu Yin’s body was as far as the blade could proceed.

Lu Yin was startled to see that Chu Yuan was able to land such a perfect blow, while Chu Yuan was startled by Lu Yin’s raw physicality. Even if this attack had struck Heluo Mavis or Lu Tianyi, it would have gone much deeper than just a mere inch. Lu Yin’s body was robust enough that Chu Yuan actually felt frustrated that his attack had been foiled. Lu Yin was supposed to be a human, not an astral beast, and yet not only did his stellular energy reserves far surpass what Chu Yuan possessed, but Lu Yin’s physical strength also far exceeded all of his peers’.

Lu Yin raised a hand and grabbed the back of the blade with a strange expression. He commented, "The power of time."

Chu Yuan's eyes flickered. "That's right, this is the power of time."

Hearing Chu Yuan's confirmation horrified everyone. Everyone was aware that the most terrifying force in the entire universe was time. Even the most powerful of Progenitors could not overcome the passage of time. With enough time, any powerhouse could be erased into nothingness, even the Origin Progenitor himself.

Throughout human history, almost no one had ever been capable of controlling the power of time. Destiny claimed to be able to see both the past and the future, but no one knew if she was actually able to control time itself.

To Lu Yin’s knowledge, Wendy Yushan’s innate gift gave her a bit of control over time, and even that small bit had allowed her to break Zhi Yi’s Vitality Qi despite the massive difference between the two’s strength. Progenitor Chen had mastered the Inverse Step to the point where he could create a chaotic region of time and space, which had drawn Lu Yin to learn the movement technique, as it allowed the user to be able to break through any battle technique.

The Origin Progenitor’s sword had taken Lu Yin and several other people away on a trip through time and space, showing them various significant events that had occurred, and Lu Yin had even been able to witness the peak of the Heavens Sect era.

Any power that was related to time was something that defied common sense.

If Chu Yuan had truly mastered some power of time, then he was absolutely not weak.

The smile finally disappeared from Silver’s face, and he stared at Chu Yuan with an indescribable greed filling his eyes.

There was a similar expression on Lan Xian’s face as she stared at Chu Yuan from the Bloodlines Heavenly Gate’s place in the stands. She wanted this person's blood.

Time was an elusive power that even most Progenitors failed to comprehend, but everyone present was about to be given the opportunity to witness the power in use.

The Immovable Heavenly King Elephant behind Lu Yin let out a roar. He squeezed tight with his right hand, and there was a soft snap as the blade in his hand shattered.

Chu Yuan lashed out with a palm, but once again, the attack landed on Lu Yin as though it had always been there.

Lu Yin had no chance to block or dodge the attack. It seemed that Chu Yuan was erasing the period of time that his attacks needed to reach Lu Yin, which gave Lu Yin the impression that the attacks were arriving instantaneously.

Chu Yuan knocked Lu Yin back with the palm strike. As Lu Yin retreated, Chu Yuan clenched the hilt of his broken blade and slashed at Lu Yin with a follow-up attack.

This time, Lu Yin did not hesitate at all. He had activated the Knowing realm of Truesight the moment the palm strike landed.

Chu Yuan slashed his broken blade straight at Lu Yin's neck.

Countless people watched, their tension growing, but the blade did not manage to move forward. It had been blocked by the Knowing realm of Truesight.

Chu Yuan was impressed. "The Rune Progenitor was truly an amazing man. The power of creation can only be called miraculous, even if it had appeared in our era. Still, how long can you maintain this state? Also, is this state even enough for you to be able to defeat me?"

Lu Yin shrugged. "You’ll have to give me a chance to figure out how to break your power of time."

He was delighted to see that Chu Yuan had not managed to learn Inverse Step, as that would have let the man easily break through Lu Yin’s Knowing realm of Truesight with the power of a chaotic time and space region.

Chu Yuan just smiled. "Break my power of time? This is a power that the Origin Progenitor himself valued, and you want to overcome it? Brother Lu, you’re truly too arrogant."

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. There was no such thing as a perfect power. The Origin Progenitor had his sword, and had apparently mastered the ability to travel through time and space, which suggested that he had also mastered the overbearing power of time. Despite that, humanity had still been defeated by the Aeternals, and five Mainlands had been destroyed. This was enough to prove that even the unfathomable power of time was not invincible. Lu Yin had too many techniques at his disposal, and he simply needed to find a way to compensate for the small bit of time that Chu Yuan was erasing.

If there was truly nothing that Lu Yin could do to deal with that loss of time, then his only option would be to rely on Extremes Must Be Reversed. Given Chu Yuan's strength, he had no way to overcome the threshold and actually harm Lu Yin once he used Progenitor Ku’s technique.

However, the power that Chu Yuan had revealed put a stop to the battles that Heluo Mavis and the others had been fighting. Without the ability to defeat time, how could any of them defeat Chu Yuan?

"While it’s true that time isn’t an invincible power, you can’t beat me, Brother Lu.” Chu Yuan stared at Lu Yin. "This challenge is too difficult for you to overcome. Still, it’s impossible to say just how powerful an attack is needed to defeat you when you use Extremes Must Be Reversed, and no one can surpass your strength.”

He turned to look at Heluo Mavis. "The most terrifying aspect of the Mavis family is that, as long as there are plants nearby, members of that family can’t die. They will simply reincarnate into a new body. I can certainly kill you once, but it will be very difficult to kill you a second time, let alone a third. You possess as many lives as there are plants nearby, which means that it will be very difficult for me to defeat you.”

Chu Yuan then turned his attention to Sky Garan. "The name ‘Eight-Star Garan’ was enough to intimidate an entire era of the Heavens Sect. The Garan family ruled the Sixth Mainland, and they managed to do so with the strength of an innate gift that is passed down to a sole inheritor each generation. With your Eight-Star innate gift, no matter how badly I want to defeat you, my chances aren’t very good.”

"Each of us possesses a nearly incomprehensible power, which is why we all kept them hidden."

Everyone in the audience around the plaza listened intently to Chu Yuan’s words, and they were utterly stunned by what they heard. Could this be real? This meant that time was not the only unfathomable power possessed by those fighting in the plaza. Just how could anyone from the current era face these powers that the ancient Dao Chosens had kept hidden?

Lu Buzheng frowned. While Lu Yin's performance had far exceeded the Semi-Progenitor’s expectations, the powers wielded by the three Dao Chosen were far from simple, and Chu Yuan’s words were absolutely true. These abilities were wielded by families who had controlled an entire Mainland for multiple generations, and each of them stood on the same level as the Lu family. While the Lu family had their Champions’ Stage that allowed them to anoint champions to fight for them, each of the other families similarly possessed a terrifying power that had enabled them to suppress an entire Mainland for generations.

Even the ability to control time might indeed not be able to overcome these powers.

Lu Yin arched a brow as he glanced over at Sky Garan and Heluo Mavis. These two’s abilities did sound rather difficult to deal with. If Lu Yin could use his internal powers, he would attempt to use the God of Death Transformation, but his energy sources were completely unusable at the moment. His current strength would make victory incredibly difficult to achieve. While he could use the power that he had inherited from Progenitor Chen, what would be the point in doing that? Forget Lu Yin’s opponents in the plaza—not even the observing Semi-Progenitors could handle the attacks that Lu Yin could unleash with Progenitor Chen’s power.

In the end, Lu Yin needed to find a way to use the power stored within his body. He needed to finish his earlier attempts to reestablish control over his own cultivation.

"Captain, these guys are all absolute freaks. What should we do?" Silver kept his distance from Heluo Mavis as he shot his standard foxy smile at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin looked over. "You don’t have anything still up your sleeves?"

Silver’s smile grew brighter. "Don't I already know that you’ve kept some things hidden?"

Lu Yin's eyes flashed. "If we want to win, it's not impossible."

Silver’s eyes widened slightly. "Just as expected of you, Captain. I want to see how you can pull out a win in this situation."

"You’ll have to help me," Lu Yin said.

Silver grew curious. "What do you need from me, Captain?"

Lu Yin spoke slowly, "Cover me with your death energy so that no one can see me for a bit."

Silver instantly understood. "So you’re going to use the God of Death Transformation, and you’re worried they’ll stop you midway?"

Lu Yin nodded.

Silver smiled. "Any of your requests are orders, Captain."

Big Sis had stopped trying to smash Sky Garan with her hammers and moved over next to Lu Yin. "Little Seven, it's going to be hard to beat any of them. What do you want to do?"

Lu Yin was caught off guard. "Do you want to be the Dao Chosen, Big Sis?"

The woman just rolled her eyes. "Of course not!"

"Then why are you here?"

"I wanted to have some fun, and that woman insisted that I join."

"She was that confident in you?"

"She told me that I was doomed."

Lu Yin glanced at Destina in the stands. "In that case, you should just call it quits."

Big Sis’s brows climbed high. "Are you looking down on this old woman? Just stop talking! I’m going to kick that sugar boy’s ass for you."

While Sky Garan heard Big Sis’s aggression, he ignored the woman. He already intended to work with Heluo Mavis to deal with Chu Yuan. While each of them had their own hidden abilities, time was something that intimidated everyone. There was no telling just how broad Chu Yuan’s mastery of time might reach or what he might be capable of doing.

Sky Garan had been filled with boundless self-confidence before the Dao Chosen selection, but just the fact that Chu Yuan controlled the power of time was enough to leave him nervous. Only with this knowledge was there understanding as to why the Origin Progenitor had only acknowledged Chu Yuan from their generation. The power that he wielded was beyond terrifying.

Heluo Mavis glanced at Sky Garan. The two had already reached an unspoken understanding.

Becoming a Dao Chosen induced a specific bit of pride in a person, and while it could not truly be considered a victory if they had to work together to win, it was imperative that they at least first force Chu Yuan to reveal his full abilities. The power of time was too intimidating.

Chu Yuan sighed. He had already known that, regardless of what abilities and powers the others might have kept hidden, he would still become the primary target as soon as he revealed his ability to control time. Still, he had been forced into a corner, as without that ability, Chu Yuan was unable to hurt Lu Yin in the slightest.

"The title of Dao Chosen is something from the Heavens Sect of our era. No matter what, it is something that cannot be taken away from us by anyone from this era. Why don’t the three of us deal with the rest first? Especially Lu Yin. You should already know about his Extremes Must Be Reversed, and it’s impossible for me to launch an attack with enough power to overcome that technique. If he manages to store up enough power and release it at the end, none of us will be able to beat him."

Chu Yuan’s only choice was to try to get rid of Lu Yin and the others first. When it came to Heluo Mavis and Sky Garan, Chu Yuan was confident that he could fight against both of them at once.

Heluo Mavis hesitated. After all, Lu Yin was from the Lu family while she was from the Mavis family. If she targeted Lu Yin with the others, it would be difficult for her Mavis family to have a place in the Lu Heavenly Gate.

On the other hand, Sky Garan showed no hesitation. "Then we’ll do it your way."

He immediately leaped forward and launched an attack straight at Big Sis’s head. "We’ll get rid of the trash first!"

As he shouted, his palm strike shattered the void and dropped down onto Big Sis, who became furious at the provocation. "Sugar boy, you dare to move against me? I’ll beat you to death!"

Her hammers rose yet again to smash at Sky Garan.

Lu Yin instantly shouted, "Watch out!"

At the same time, he lashed out with his own palm strike to counter Sky Garan's attack. Space shattered, and the overwhelming power of the resulting shockwave rattled Big Sis’s head and knocked her back.

She was stunned. What had happened? How had that kid’s strength suddenly changed?

Blue light appeared around all of Sky Garan’s body, giving him a pale blue halo. "Let this era once again witness the power of the Garans!"

His hand rose up, and the blood on the floor of the plaza rose to form spears that shot towards both Lu Yin and Big Sis in a single attack. Sky Garan was targeting both of them, and the pale blue light that shrouded his body also wrapped around the spears of blood.

Lu Yin stared at the blood spears, and as he did so, his pupils transformed into runes and weakened the attacks.