Chapter 2130: Who Are You?

Lu Buzheng's comment reminded Lu Yin of something. "Third Uncle, of the thirteen Semi-Progenitors, who do you think is the most likely to break through and become a Progenitor first?"

Lu Buzheng thought for a while. "It's possible for several of us to attempt a breakthrough…"

He suddenly hesitated and looked over at Progenitor Smoke. "Senior, you should understand this process much better than any of us."

Even though Lu Buzheng was someone from the Heavens Sect era that far outdated Progenitor Smoke, he had been frozen in the sourcebox for countless years. Thus, the number of years that he had actually lived for could not compare to Progenitor Smoke’s. This was also not even considering the fact that the woman’s cultivation far surpassed Lu Buzheng’s.

She was happy at the acknowledgement, and she gave the man a smile. She had wanted to sneer when she heard him start talking; what gave any Semi-Progenitor the confidence to speak of the Progenitor realm?

"Breaking through to become a Progenitor doesn’t depend on how long a person’s been cultivating, nor their combat power. It all depends on how well a person can control their own power and their understanding of the universe. You must have already heard that Progenitors can alter the universe, but this is actually referring to how breaking through to become a Progenitor allows a Semi-Progenitor’s inner world to transform to the point where it can replace a part of the universe," Progenitor Smoke said.

"There are some people who might be peerless within their realm, but they can never become a Progenitor. There are others who are merely average, but they can pull off that last breakthrough. No one is guaranteed to become a Progenitor, as there is nothing completely certain in the universe."

Lu Buzheng scoffed. Was she referring to him and the other gatemasters with that comment?

The gatemasters of the Twelve Heavenly Gates were said to be guaranteed to become Progenitors, which meant that Progenitor Smoke was rather blatantly insulting them.

Progenitor Smoke looked over at Lu Yin. "You said that there are currently thirteen Semi-Progenitors in the Human Domain, right? Just based on probability, at least one should be able to become a Progenitor. Hurry up and have your Heavenly Gates’ conference so that I can examine each of them for myself."

While Lu Yin believed Progenitor Smoke's words, he also believed in the reputation of the gatemasters from the Heavens Sect's era. At least half of them would succeed in becoming Progenitors, so it was really just a question of who would be the first to succeed.

"Third Uncle, the conference will be held in ten days, and this time, all Semi-Progenitors and Envoys are required to attend," Lu Yin stated formally.

Lu Buzheng immediately released the announcement. This could be considered the first conference after the establishment of the Heavens Sect. The previous Heavenly Gates’ conferences could only be regarded as informal discussions.

With the Heavens Sect about to hold its first formal gathering, Lu Yin felt that it was time for him to meet with Wang Si and the other captives.

Lu Yin had not met with any of the people from the Perennial World after they had been captured, and he had been in no rush to do so. Half a year had already passed, so it was time for him to meet with the prisoners.

It was not a simple matter to imprison Semi-Progenitors, and there was not really any way to do so. The only option was for Lu Buzheng to severely injure the captives periodically.

The first person that Lu Yin met with was Xia De. Lu Yin did not have any real grudge with this man, and if not for the fact that the Xia family was one of the four ruling powers and that Xia De had also been sent to the Fifth Mainland to eliminate Lu Yin, Lu Yin would not have been so harsh towards the man.

The sound of dripping water could be heard within the dark prison, and it was impossible to see its end. Lu Yin had entered the Heavens Sect’s prison, which had been constructed in an imitation of the original Heavens Sect.

Lu Yin did not allow Lu Buzheng to accompany him, and instead, he slowly led Ku Wei into the prison one step at a time.

Ku Wei was quite excited, as Lu Yin had finally remembered him. More than half a year had passed since Ku Wei’s master had returned, and he had finally been sought out. Ku Wei had not had an easy time of things.

Thinking of everything that had happened, Ku Wei felt the urge to cry.

Ku Wei had not had an easy life during the twenty years that Lu Yin had gone missing. Even if he had not been treated badly because of his assimilation of the colossal giants’ bloodline, he had lost the overbearing momentum he had while being backed by Lu Yin. Ku Wei had developed a certain arrogance that was founded upon Lu Yin.

In the entire universe, Ku Wei was certainly one of the people who wished the best for Lu Yin.

"Master, be careful—there’s water underfoot." Ku Wei quickly stepped forward to lead Lu Yin into the prison. He deliberately opened every door and cleared a path whenever there were puddles on the floor. Progenitor Smoke looked at the young man strangely, as he seemed like nothing more than a loyal dog.

On the other hand, Lu Yin felt quite satisfied. There were times when people like Ku Wei remained necessary.

Actually, Lu Yin had quite a few sycophants around him at this time. There was the Ghost Monkey, that elder from the Blaze Realm, and even Gu Xiao’er.

It was not long before Lu Yin was face to face with Xia De.

"Hey, old man! My master’s here to see you!" Ku Wei shouted loudly as he walked into the prison.

Progenitor Smoke was startled by the sudden sound, and she became upset.

Within the prison cell, Xia De's limbs had been pierced and bound to the wall. The man slowly raised his head after hearing Ku Wei's shout.

His face was haggard, and he completely lacked the dignity of a Semi-Progenitor. He sighed when he saw Lu Yin. "There are winners and losers, and it’s only fair for the winners to deal with the losers."

Lu Yin quietly looked at Xia De for a moment. "Honestly, out of all the four ruling powers, your Xia family is the one that I would prefer not to be enemies with. I received Progenitor Chen’s power, and when I first started cultivating, the very first cultivation art that I came in contact with was Progenitor Chen's Cosmic Art."

Xia De shook his head and gave Lu Yin a wry smile. "In that case, you don’t need to feel any sort of debt. While Progenitor Chen was a member of my Xia family, he has no connection to us."

Lu Yin felt rather confused.

Progenitor Smoke spoke up to explain, "When Xia Shang cultivated the Nine Clones Secret Technique, one of his clones assimilated the colossal giants’ bloodline, and the Daosource Sect ordered him to be hunted down. At that time, the Xia family did nothing to help him, and they never even gave him any support or assistance throughout his cultivation journey."

"Why?" Lu Yin wondered. It was impossible for anyone to miss Progenitor Chen's outstanding talent, and the Xia family should not be that short-sighted. Even when the Daosource Sect had ordered Progenitor Chen to be hunted down, only his peers had been allowed to take action against him, and even Progenitor Lu Tianyi had valued Progenitor Chen's talent.

Xia De stared at Progenitor Smoke with an odd expression. "Who are you?"

Progenitor Smoke looked back at Xia De. "Xia Shang is from one of your Xia family’s branch families, and if not for the fact that he happened to learn the Nine Clones Secret Technique, he would have never even been noticed by the Xia family. Not every family is like the Lu family where the branch families are harmonious with the direct line. The Xia family was always too oppressive on the branch families, and Xia Shang's parents were killed while training with someone from the main family."

Xia De was startled, and he grew pale as Progenitor Smoke spoke. "You- how do you know about this? Not even most of the descendants of my own Xia family know these things! This is my Xia family’s greatest secret."

Progenitor Smoke derisively replied, "I've known Xia Shang for too long, so there's nothing about him that I don't know."

"Who the hell are you?" Xia De grew horrified. This woman claimed to have known Progenitor Chen, but he had lived a very, very long time ago. On top of that, the fact that this person knew about Progenitor Chen's family matters proved that she had not simply known of him.

Progenitor Smoke sneered. "Your Xia family fell because of Xia Shang. Back then, your Xia family stood at the very top, and it was beneath only the Lu family. Your Nine Clones Secret Technique is exceptional, and if not for the fact that the Lu family was simply invincible, you probably would have ruled over the Fifth Mainland. Your Xia family achieved amazing success, but Xia Shang's birth and sudden rise not only robbed your Xia family of the Mountains and Seas it wanted to inherit, but he also stole the one that your family controlled, leaving you with nothing at all.”

"Xia Shang’s existence is really the greatest humiliation of your Xia family."

Xia De's expression grew ugly, and he dropped his head. This woman was absolutely correct. During the Daosource Sect’s era, the Wang family’s Wang Fan and the Celestial Frost Sect’s Bai Wangyuan had both tried to gain control of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas. At that time, while Progenitor Chen had appeared to represent the Xia family, there had been no relationship between them at all.

In fact, the entire reason why Xia Shang had seized control of two Mountains and one Sea had been because he wanted to remove the Xia family's path forward and prevent anyone from the Xia family from controlling one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The Xia family had given birth to some truly outstanding individuals in that generation, and they did not fall behind the geniuses from the Wang or Bai families at all, but because of Xia Shang, everyone from the Xia family had failed to receive any of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas’ inheritances. In fact, they had all failed to become Progenitors due to the emotional scars that Xia Shang had inflicted upon them. These events eventually led to the Xia family to fall until they were merely comparable with the White Dragon clan.

The Xia family hated Xia Shang, though they also hated Lu Tianyi. Without Lu Tianyi's protection, Xia Shang would have been killed long before he became invincible.

The Xia family would have preferred a dead Xia Shang to a fallen Xia family.

This was also one of the primary motivations for the Xia family cooperating in overthrowing the Lu family.

"A family’s greatest fear is not actually to have no peerless geniuses, but rather to have someone who is too talented, especially if they’re someone from a branch family." Progenitor Smoke grew emotional as she spoke.

Lu Yin let out a breath. He had seen some of Progenitor Chen's memories, and he had seen the man fight and stare at a rainy flower field. However, at no point had there been any warmth or family. All that Lu Yin had ever seen of Progenitor Chen’s life was combat and death. Finally, Lu Yin understood why, and everything made sense.

Ku Wei felt both sad and indignant, as he well understood Progenitor Chen's feelings. Ku Wei was from a branch family of the Ku family, and he had always been suppressed and harassed by Ku Lei. In fact, if not for being saved by Lu Yin, everything that Ku Wei had accomplished would have been given to Ku Lei. Regardless of what Ku Wei might have achieved, Ku Lei would have received all of the credit and benefits.

Why had Ku Wei left the Neoverse and gone to the Outerverse to search for the remnants of the Yu family? Because it had been his only path to climb higher. Receiving the Yu family’s slot to enter Progenitor Chen’s Mausoleum had given Ku Wei an opportunity to surpass Ku Lei. It had been something that he had attempted out of pure desperation. If Ku Wei had not been horribly oppressed, how would he have taken such risks?

"They deserve it!" Ku Wei spat out.

Xia De looked at Progenitor Smoke. "Just who are you? Why do you know so much about Progenitor Chen?"

Lu Yin answered, "You don't need to know who she is. I only came here to ask you about the truth regarding the Lu family’s exile."

Xia De grew puzzled. "Truth? What truth?"

Lu Yin grew much more somber. "The Lu family had Progenitor Lu Tianyi, as well as other Progenitors. There were our vassal families and even a legendary Dao Monarch, so how could the four ruling powers have banished them?"

Xia De just laughed. "Lu Tianyi was indeed very powerful, but the Wang family has Wang Fan, and the Celestial Frost Sect has Bai Wangyuan. Both of them also control one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, so how could they be any worse than your ancestor? As for that legendary figure, unless they actually show up, they’ll never be anything more than a legend."

Lu Yin stared at Xia De. "You aren’t actually answering me."

Xia De shook his head. "I'm only a Semi-Progenitor, and I didn’t have the strength to be a part of the group that dealt with the Lu family."

Lu Yin frowned, though he had already expected this answer long ago. "Does your Xia family really hate my Lu family that much? Even with the outside threat of the Aeternals, why were you still willing to banish my Lu family?"

Xia De said nothing. He did not want to speak any further. As he had first said, there were winners and losers. Even the Semi-Progenitor who had been sent here to deal with Lu Yin were nothing more than prisoners, so there was nothing more to say.

Lu Yin left, and he soon saw Bai Laogui.

In opposition to Xia De, Bai Laogui glared at Lu Yin with open hatred and resentment in his eyes.

Ku Wei immediately lashed out, "Old man, what’s with that look on your face?"

Bai Laogui ignored Ku Wei completely. He only had eyes for Lu Yin. "The four ruling powers will never let you go! Our Progenitors will not let you escape!"

Lu Yin sneered. For him, Bai Laogui was completely different from Xia De. Xia De was Lu Yin’s enemy because of their families’ choices and actions, and it was not a personal matter. On the other hand, Bai Laogui personally hated Lu Yin, and the old man’s hatred could only be eclipsed by Wang Si’s.

"So what if Bai Wangyuan comes to this place?" Lu Yin was completely confident.

Bai Laogui responded by mocking Lu Yin, "You are too arrogant. Forget you, even if Progenitor Chen himself were still alive, he wouldn’t dare to act so arrogantly in front of my Progenitor!"

"What a joke. Back then, how many times was Bai Wangyuan beaten up by Xia Shang? Bai Wangyuan was the older one, and he could barely be considered Xia Shang’s peer, yet not once was he able to beat Xia Shang. Whenever they actually met, Bai Wangyuan didn't dare to even let out a fart," Progenitor Smoke retorted.

It was only at this moment that Bai Laogui noticed Progenitor Smoke, and he looked at her with blazing eyes as he raged at her. "You actually dare to insult our ancestor? When our ancestor comes here, you’ll regret your words for thousands of years as you’re tortured!"

Progenitor Smoke lifted her head. "Just let Bai Wangyuan try it. I might not be that good at fighting, but he still can't handle me!"

This arrogance caused Bai Laogui's expression to change. "Who are you?"