Chapter 2235: Investiture of the Gods

Bai Su’s eyes glinted dangerously after hearing the open threat. "Long Tian, don't forget that Long Ke undeniably attacked Wang Zheng. How can you be so certain that Long Ke was being controlled by someone? Maybe your White Dragon Clan is the one behind this, and you’re the ones who attacked the Wang family.”

"I won’t be deceived by the Wang family either. All of this is nothing but conjecture, and it’s possible that all of this is just being brought up to manipulate you into attacking my Celestial Frost Sect. As for us, we have no intention of attacking the rest of you."

In the end, it did not matter what Bai Su said, as Xia Xing and the others would not even answer. There was no way to deny that this latest incident had been very strange. Had Long Ke really been under someone’s control? How did Xia Yuan have the strength to instantly defeat Long Ke? Why had Xia Yuan worked with Long Ke to attack Wang Zheng? There were so many questions.

However, before the truth was revealed, it was important for the three organizations to unite and prevent the Celestial Frost Sect from gaining any more power. The final decisions would be made by the Progenitors.

…

As soon as Wang Zheng and Long Ke disappeared, the entire Higher Realm was sealed off. No one was allowed to enter or leave. Unfortunately, such precautions were useless against Lu Yin, as he could not be stopped by average cultivators.

He easily escaped from the Higher Realm and returned to Virtue Archives.

After arriving at the academy, he was startled to discover that the academy was actually enveloped by a massive tree that nearly covered the entire Virtue District.

The fact that the tree covered most of the Virtue District indicated just how massive the tree was; it was capable of holding multiple stars.

Lu Yin leaped over the branches, moving quickly towards Virtue Archives, only to be stopped by the academy's sourcebox array. Virtue Archives had publicly announced that the academy’s students were undergoing an intense training regime, and no visitors were allowed for the time being.

Lu Yin had wanted to sneak through with Progenitor Smoke's wei, but he was afraid that doing so would expose Liu Shaoge. While considering his options, Kui Luo found Lu Yin.

"Kid, you're finally back." Upon seeing Lu Yin, Kui Luo proudly pointed at the massive tree. "What do you think? This old man’s masterpiece is impressive, isn’t it?"

Lu Yin wondered, "Your masterpiece? You made this tree appear?"

"Of course! That old fart, God of Food, dared to mock me, so I decided to make him suffer this time." Kui Luo grew noticeably happier with the situation as he thought about what had happened before.

Lu Yin was completely stunned. "How is this tree supposed to be your revenge against the God of Food?"

Kui Luo rolled his eyes. "What? Do you think that this is a normal tree? Let me tell you a secret—this tree is Virtue Archive’s greatest secret of all! Do you think that the sourcebox array is protecting the academy? Wrong! It’s this tree!"

"How do you know about it then? What does this tree do?" Lu Yin was becoming increasingly curious about the situation.

Kui Luo explained, "When I was younger, I studied in Virtue Archives by myself, and I was very interested in the academy’s secrets. I actually spent most of my energy on this place back then. How could this run-down school keep anything hidden from me? As for what this tree’s actually for, I have no idea. I just knew that it would be a good idea to force it out, as that old God of Food fart’s got to be going nuts! Hahahaha!”

Lu Yin turned and looked at Virtue Archives, feeling powerful empathy for the academy. It was never good to offend anyone, but Kui Luo was infamous for being petty, unscrupulous, and merciless in his revenge.

Lu Yin finally understood why Kui Luo had done nothing ever since Lu Yin had joined Virtue Archives. In fact, Lu Yin had forgotten about how Kui Luo had said that he would get revenge on the God of Food. Apparently, the old man had been working on just that this entire time.

"You don't know what the tree does? Then why force it out? Maybe the God of Food and the headmaster are actually happy about this turn of events," Lu Yin said.

Kui Luo sneered. "Why don’t you go and ask them if they’re happy about it? Old Wen Lai has the ability to bring this tree out, but he never did it, so I decided to help them out. Let’s head in now! I would have already gone in a long time ago if I wasn’t waiting for you!"

"You can get in?"

"Don’t be silly. How do you think I’ll get it out?"

Lu Yin pursed his lips before following Kui Luo. They entered from the loophole that existed in the academy’s defensive sourcebox array, and the two men had no issues passing through.

Once inside, Lu Yin saw that the tree’s enormous branches were hanging down, covering almost the entire academy. Most of the locations used for lectures had been destroyed by the branches, including the lake shore. However, none of the stone pillars had been damaged. In fact, the pillars were avoided, as though they had been placed with the tree in mind.

Many students had gathered at the center of the academy. They had surrounded one of the pillars, and the instructors were there as well. Lu Yin saw Prof. Wei, Prof. Zheng, and the rest, including Liu Shaoge, who was posing as Yu Hao. However, Wu Taibai was missing from the instructors, and Xia Shenfei could not be seen among the students either.

Lu Yin looked around, and he immediately saw a looming mountain. There was a sea beneath the mountain that had drowned a large portion of the academy’s forest. Wait, a mountain and a sea… Why did this seem so familiar?

Was this one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas?

"Hey, old man. Is that the Mountain and Sea that the legends claim is hidden in Virtue Archives?" Lu Yin asked.

Kui Luo shook his head. "No idea, but there has to be something in this school that can draw the attention of the four ruling powers. I just don’t know if it’s their secret techniques, Progenitor Wen’s Scriptures, or a Mountain and Sea. It could be any one of those things. If it is a Mountain and Sea, we don’t know who it belongs to."

Lu Yin started to get excited, and he pulled out the mirror and called Progenitor Smoke.

The woman wanted to get upset, as every time it felt like she was about to make some progress with Blood Alchemy, she would be interrupted by Lu Yin.

However, as soon as she emerged from the pocket dimension, she noticed the issue. "A Mountain and Sea?"

Both Lu Yin and Kui Luo were staring at Progenitor Smoke. "Is that really one of the Mountains and Seas?"

Progenitor Smoke nodded. "Definitely. There’s no mistaking this feeling."

"Who does this one belong to?" Lu Yin asked.

Progenitor Smoke rolled her eyes. "How should I know? It was impossible for me to visit other people's Mountains and Seas."

Lu Yin then had to ask, "Senior, do you know what techniques are in the inheritances of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas?"

Progenitor Smoke thought for a bit. "I know what some of them are, but most people kept such things a secret. There were even some people who wouldn’t reveal their inherited techniques in battle. Most people were very secretive about it, like Old Fu. No one ever learned about what he inherited from his Mountain and Sea. Hui Wen's inheritance was related to fire, but I’m not sure of the specifics. Xia Shang acted like a rich man wanting to flaunt his wealth, but even though he controlled two Mountains and one Sea, he only ever revealed one inheritance. No one knows what the second one was.

"Bai Wangyuan and Wang Fan were both secretive and never revealed anything."

"What about Patriarch Lu Tianyi?" Lu Yin asked.

Progenitor Smoke shook her head. "Senior Lu Tianyi isn’t from the same era as the rest of us, so there was no way for me to know about his Mountain and Sea’s inheritance. Besides, he was so strong that it was basically impossible for anyone to force him to use his inheritance. He already had his Champions’ Stage, and with his Investiture of the Gods thrown in, he had more than enough options to deal with his enemies."

Progenitor Smoke’s answer reminded Lu Yin that he had never asked anyone about what the Investiture of the Gods actually was. He had heard it be mentioned by the four ruling powers, the Seven Skygods, and even the former Dao Chosen from the Heavens Sect era.

"Senior, what is the Investiture of the Gods?" Lu Yin asked.

Progenitor Smoke was taken aback. "Haven’t you already met other members of your Lu family? Why didn't you ask them?"

Lu Yin shook his head. "I forgot."

Progenitor Smoke looked over at Kui Luo. "Isn't this guy one of your Lu family’s retainers? Shouldn’t he know?"

Lu Yin looked over at Kui Luo. The topic of the Investiture of the Gods had never come up, and Kui Luo had never taken the initiative to mention it. It was true that Kui Luo should know something about it.

Surprisingly, Kui Luo actually shook his head. "While I saw the Investiture of the Gods be used in the past, I didn’t understand what I saw."

"What does that mean?" Lu Yin was puzzled.

"The so-called ‘Investiture of the Gods’ is a roll of cloth. When it’s opened, someone will appear and assist whoever from the Lu family controls the Investiture of the Gods. I saw it once on the rear battlefield, but it was a long time ago, and that’s really all I saw, so I don’t know much."

Lu Yin looked back over at Progenitor Smoke. She reminisced for a bit, and when she spoke, both admiration and envy could be heard in her voice. "The Investiture of the Gods can be thought of as the second form of your Lu family’s Champions’ Stage, or an additional visualization method. It all depends on how it’s used. However, as the name suggests, the Investiture of the Gods is a technique the Lu family used to confer ranks to a person.

"In the Fifth Mainland, the Lu family stood above all others like gods and were the undisputed rulers. They were able to completely control the entire Fifth Mainland because, no matter who the person may be, as long as they belonged to the Fifth Mainland, they could be controlled by the Lu family. The Investiture of the Gods ignores distance, and it’s not an actual person who is summoned to help the wielder of the Investiture of the Gods, but rather some kind of summon with the same strength as the real person. Basically, the Champions’ Stage can summon the dead, while the Investiture of the Gods can summon the living."

Lu Yin's eyes grew large. "Summon living powerhouses?"

Progenitor Smoke nodded, and then she recalled something. "I was once summoned myself. Actually, all of the masters of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas were. Senior Lu Tianyi summoned all of us when he confronted the full assault of the Aeternals alone. I don’t know what he did or how he accomplished it, but that was something that not one of the masters of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas could have done on their own. Not even Old Fu or Xia Shang could have stopped the full power of Aeternus like that."

The woman looked at Lu Yin as she continued to explain, "The most terrifying thing about the Lu family was never their Champions’ Stage or their visualization methods, but rather their Investiture of the Gods. That was what gave them complete authority over the Fifth Mainland, as they could freely wield the power of everyone within it. There is absolutely no way to deal with someone from the Lu family who has awakened their innate gift of the Champions’ Stage and the Investiture of the Gods. That is not the strength of one person as strong as a nation, but rather one person as strong as a Mainland."

Kui Luo gasped. "No wonder Lu Qi dared to rush down to the New World beneath the rear battlefield all alone. Wherever he went, there were always at least four of the Twelve Marquises watching him. He had a Champions’ Stage and also the Investiture of the Gods. Additionally, he used the Lu family’s visualization method and countless power vessels, making him truly a freak of nature. Back then, he wasn’t even a Semi-Progenitor, but not a single Semi-Progenitor was willing to face him alone.

"Oh, right, Lu Qi’s your father." The last sentence was directed at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin was stunned. "You couldn’t have told me his name before now?"

"I remember mentioning it to you."

"I don’t!"

Lu Yin was growing increasingly confused as to how the four ruling powers had banished his Lu family. With their Champions’ Stages, the Investiture of the Gods, and all their retainers, it was clear that the Lu family had been so terrifyingly powerful that they could have destroyed all four of the ruling powers combined. And yet, the Lu family had somehow ended up being exiled. There was something very wrong about this no matter how Lu Yin thought about it.

It would not be long before Lu Yin settled his accounts. He first needed to rescue all of Star Alliance, as well as the prisoners in Crimson Garden. After returning to the Fifth Mainland, it would then be time to think about the four ruling powers. Lu Yin knew that he was still far from being their opponent. After all, they had several Progenitors. Still, they were so desperate to kill him that they had sent an entire army to the Fifth Mainland, and Lu Yin had obtained a large number of hostages as a result.

"Let's go see whose Mountain and Seas this is," Progenitor Smoke said.

Lu Yin immediately started moving towards the Mountain.

All of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas were enormous, but the speed that Lu Yin and the other two traveled at meant that they arrived very quickly.

They stopped at the base of the towering Mountain. There were three people standing above the Sea, standing guard in three different directions, and they were stopping everyone from approaching the Mountain.