Chapter 2312: A Huge Fish

Lu Yin remained standing in outer space, staring at the place where Blackless God’s avatar had been destroyed. An offer that would stand for 100,000 years? A chance to escape the endless cycle? What did this mean?

What was the truth of the universe?

Lu Yin wanted to know more and understand.

Only by becoming a Progenitor could he learn all the secrets that he craved to understand!

After pondering such things for a moment, Lu Yin resumed his journey to Gaia's Swamp. It was possible that the God of Death was the only way for Lu Yin to learn the truth.

Lu Yin traveled very quickly, moving through the void with his void god domain. It did not take long for him to see Gaia's Swamp up in front of him.

Upon seeing the death energy that filled the swamp, Lu Yin rushed forward while taking out the broken scythe and the God of Death’s left arm.

Unfortunately, nothing happened.

He felt disappointed, but apparently, both the arm and the scythe were completely saturated with death energy, which meant that Lu Yin would not be able to use them to trigger another vision of the God of Death.

A massive figure approached Lu Yin from afar, and he saw that it was the Warden.

The Warden saw that Lu Yin was the person visiting Gaia’s Swamp, and the colossal giant offered a respectful bow. "Dao Chosen."

Lu Yin nodded. When Jue Yi had forcibly occupied Gaia's Swamp and brought the Specter Clan with him, the Warden had been treated as a prison within Gaia’s Swamp. Lu Yin had ultimately saved the Warden and freed him.

After everything that had happened with Tian Dou, Lu Yin had sent Jue Yi to the Astral Beast Domain, and Arch-Elder Zen had sent the Warden back to Gaia’s Swamp to keep an eye on the members of the Specter Clan who had been found innocent after an investigation. At the moment, the Warden was once again in charge of Gaia’s Swamp. With Tian Dou dead and anointed as one of Lu Yin’s champions and Tong Yu stuck in the Perennial World, there was no one in the Specter Clan who was close to matching the Warden’s strength.

In addition to the Warden, there was also Lǜ Cha. Jue Yi had forcibly used death energy to transform the woman’s body, and she could be considered a pure-blooded member of the Specter Clan now. Despite that, she hated the Specter Clan, and she hated Jue Yi even more.

Finally, Lord Piggy was still around.

As soon as Lord Piggy saw Lu Yin approaching, he dived into the swamp and did not dare to show himself. All that could be seen was his little tail sticking out.

"We greet the Dao Chosen." A group consisting of Specter Clan members and former guards of Gaia's Swamp greeted Lu Yin and bowed.

"Be at ease," Lu Yin stated. He looked over at the Warden. "Has Jue Yi recently returned at all?"

"He has not."

Lu Yin nodded, and then he looked at a huge castle that stood in the distance. He could not hold back a laugh. "You rebuilt it! You seem to really like that building style.”

He then stepped forward, moving past the Warden, and appearing within the castle in an instant.

The Warden could not even see how Lu Yin had moved past him. How long had it been since the Warden had first met the young man? It could not be more than a few decades at most, and yet the Warden felt that Lu Yin had moved so far ahead that he could no longer even see the youth’s back.

The Warden was reminded of Lu Yin’s first visit to Gaia's Swamp and of how he had asked for help improving his battle force. This had led to the Warden personally beating Lu Yin for some time. The Warden no longer dared to even consider Lu Yin’s level of strength. After all, even his mount had the strength of a Progenitor.

Progenitor… It was a word that intimidated all who heard it. The Warden did not even dare to dream of reaching such a level, and yet Lu Yin had such a powerful creature as his mount!

Anyone who considered this matter would feel as though Lu Yin was completely invincible.

Inside the castle, Lu Yin was sitting quietly with Lǜ Cha standing beside him. Regardless of Lǜ Cha’s personal feelings regarding Lu Yin, she maintained a very respectful attitude toward him.

The Warden also entered the castle, though he did not know why Lu Yin was there.

"Come, have a seat." Lu Yin took out some wine. "This is what I offered to share with you last time."

In the past, the Warden had laughed with Lu Yin, and they casually swore during their conversations. Overall, the giant had been very laid back and casual, and he had even been willing to beat Lu Yin with aurelian force to help him train. However, although the wine and the location were the same, the Warden did not reveal the same level of familiarity as before.

Lu Yin smiled as he poured some wine for the Warden.

The giant automatically drank the offered wine.

"Does it taste the same as last time?" Lu Yin asked.

The Warden nodded, despite the fact that he had not been able to taste anything at all.

"Have you ever gotten in touch with the Giants Army’s colossal giants?" Lu Yin suddenly asked while looking up at the Warden.

"No."

Lu Yin did not press the issue. Everyone had their own personal matters, and it was possible that the Warden regarded himself as the only true colossal giant.

"Progenitor Chen's blood allowed you to become the only individual in the entire Fifth Mainland who managed to achieve aurelian force with your battle force, but things have changed recently, and aurelian force is no longer the peak of battle force. You’ve been left behind, and you can’t keep up with the current times," Lu Yin bluntly pointed out.

The Warden responded quietly, "The changing times do not matter to me. All I want to do is protect Gaia's Swamp."

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Lu Yin shook his head. "You can’t protect Gaia's Swamp. How can you protect anything if you encounter someone like Jue Yi again?"

Lǜ Cha cut in. "With the Dao Chosen ruling our universe, such a thing will never happen again."

Lu Yin laughed, and he looked over at Lǜ Cha. "You’ve changed. You aren’t as cold as before."

Lǜ Cha remained silent.

Lu Yin took out a bottle of Progenitor Chen's blood from his cosmic ring, and he immediately opened it. An invisible pressure descended upon all of Gaia's Swamp, though the person most strongly affected was the Warden, as his blood started boiling. He felt like he had lost control of his own body.

He stared at Lu Yin in shock.

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered as he caused the blood to leave the bottle and fly towards the Warden. The giant instinctively absorbed the blood, causing his body to flush red and start to steam. The Cosmic Sea itself trembled as a wave of pressure swept towards the Innerverse.

Everyone in Gaia's Swamp was badly startled.

Lu Yin had not expected the Warden to have such a powerful reaction, but it was exactly what he had wanted to see. After all, Lu Yin had not visited Gaia’s Swamp only hoping to see the God of Death again. He had also wanted to see the Warden.

Lu Yin had recently remembered that, while he needed blood with traces of Progenitor Chen’s blood to Enhance, that did not mean that Lu Yin had to use Ku Wei's blood. Other people who had absorbed Progenitor Chen's blood would also work, and while the Giants Army was not an ideal option, given the fact that their bloodline was far more diluted, the Warden was different. He had also absorbed Progenitor Chen's blood before, and when it came to matters of purity, it was possible that the Warden’s blood was at least comparable to Ku Wei’s.

Ku Wei was only so big, and he could only produce so much blood, but the Warden was different. He was a true colossal giant, and he possessed enough blood to form an entire river.

This was one of the primary reasons for Lu Yin’s visit.

As Lu Yin watched the Warden’s various changes, he took Lǜ Cha away from the castle. Lu Yin had no idea how much the Warden’s strength would rise, or how much larger he would grow, but Lu Yin was eager to find out.

Lǜ Cha was confused by the entire matter. "Dao Chosen, what is this?"

"It's fine. He’s just getting a boost to his strength," Lu Yin answered casually.

Some distance away, Lord Piggy glanced up at the castle, only to quickly burrow down into the swamp again, terrified. The Warden had been forced into such a miserable condition as soon as that man had returned to Gaia’s Swamp, and Lord Piggy could absolutely not see him! Never again! He was too scary!

A roar exploded in the sky high above Gaia's Swamp, and the churning power forced the void back in a manner that could be seen by the naked eye. The castle almost instantly shattered, as the Warden was quickly growing. 70,000 meters. 100,000 meters. 120,000 meters… Finally, he stopped at 150,000 meters.

During the entire time the Warden was growing, his combat strength was also rising. Unfortunately, with the true universe depleted of all stellular energy, the Warden’s cultivation could not improve, and it was impossible for him to face any of the corresponding stellular tribulations. Despite the incredible rise in strength and size, the Warden’s stellular energy cultivation had not changed, which meant that the difference would not be overly impressive.

Just as this thought occurred to Lu Yin, the Warden’s body became visible, and roiling battle force covered the giant’s entire body. It continued to spike and surge, constantly burning the void.

It was clearly aurelian force.

In the past, the Warden’s aurelian force had been able to encompass an area within 100 miles of the Warden’s body, but the range started increasing and expanding. It soon reached 500 miles away from the Warden, then 1,000 and 5,000. Finally, it stopped expanding when it had spread out to encompass everything within 10,000 miles of the Warden. This was the new limit to his strength.

His battle force had grown much, much stronger.

The Warden grew increasingly excited as he felt the massive increase in strength of his aurelian force. He could not resist looking down at Lu Yin, and at that moment, Lu Yin was also looking up at the Warden as well. Their eyes met, and the Warden felt a cold flash. It felt as though someone else was holding his life in their hands.

It was clear that Lu Yin was only a three-tribulation Envoy, so why was he so terrifying?

"Congratulations on a successful breakthrough. As long as the true universe recovers, you’ll reach a power level of at least a million," Lu Yin complimented the giant.

The Warden released a pent up breath, and then his body started to shrink until he reached the same size as before. He then offered Lu Yin a very respectful bow. "I only succeeded thanks to the Dao Chosen."

"Do you know whose blood that was?" Lu Yin asked.

"Progenitor Chen's."

"That's right. I gave you Progenitor Chen’s blood, which allowed your strength to rise tremendously. Shouldn’t you offer me some sort of compensation?" Lu Yin gently prodded.

The Warden felt terribly puzzled. "What do I possess that the Dao Chosen would be interested in?"

Lu Yin just smiled.

Lu Yin soon appeared outside Gaia's Swamp, a satisfied expression on his face.

The Warden had provided Lu Yin with a great deal of blood. Given the size of the colossal giant, and the fact that he had literal rivers of blood, Lu Yin should have more than enough to serve his purposes, even if Enhancing the blood did reduce the quantity by a significant amount.

He needed to gather enough of Progenitor Chen’s blood to be able to learn the Nine Clones Secret Technique.

His next task was to visit the Astral River in order to see if he could dig up a good amount of pyrolyte from the bottom.

Naturally, this was not something that Lu Yin could accomplish on his own. If he was going to excavate the bottom of the Astral River, he needed to dig up a significant portion of it.

Lu Yin therefore returned straight to the Heavens Sect, and he sat himself down upon the jiao's head before kicking it awake. "Why are you sleeping again? Come on, let's go!"

The jiao opened its eyes, startled but the sudden impact. It wanted to demonstrate its rage by threatening and intimidating whoever had disturbed it, but it could only close its mouth when it discovered Lu Yin’s presence. Frustrated, the jiao could only obey Lu Yin and move over to the Astral River.

On this particular day, the miners who worked on the mud flats alongside the Astral River were treated to a show that they would never be able to forget. Massive, sharp claws fell from high above and stabbed into the Astral River with enough force to almost overturn the river.

Since Lu Yin was using the jiao to dig, it would be a waste to use the beast to excavate the banks of the astral river where sand and gravel was fused with the pyrolyte, making it difficult to sift through and extract. Each piece had to be checked visually, which was not something that the jiao could help with. Instead, the jiao could reach down, dig up the bottom of the Astral River, and reveal what was concealed down there.

The jiao’s claws fell, but it found nothing. An endless amount of filth and gravel fell out from between the beast’s claws, but when the paw was fully pulled up, it held nothing more than some moisture and some flopping fish.

"Again!" Lu Yin ordered, and the jiao reached down and dug up more dirt.

"Again!"

The jiao reached down again.

"Again!"

It continued. Again and again, the jiao reached down and pawed at the bottom of the Astral River, churning up the river, and almost upsetting the distant Astral River Ark.

Despite numerous efforts, no pyrolyte was discovered, though the beast did dig up a massive fish. It was about as big as the jiao’s claws, and given the absurd size of the jiao, the fish was truly enormous. Even more importantly, the fish was as strong as a Semi-Progenitor, and when it flailed its tail and flopped about, even the jiao’s claws vibrated. Still, it was utterly impossible for the fish to actually injure the jiao even the tiniest bit.

Lu Yin told the jiao to hold still, and then he moved down to its claws to inspect the fish.

The fish appeared perfectly ordinary, just stupidly big. When it saw Lu Yin approach, it opened its mouth and tried to bite him. To Lu Yin, the two rows of teeth looked like mountain ranges, and the mouth of the fish emitted a horrible stench.

Lu Yin frowned. "Can you understand me?"

The fish kept snapping at Lu Yin, trying to bite him, but the jiao held the fish firmly, and it was unable to move at all. Strangest of all, the fish was clearly unafraid.

Any creature that had not yet reached the Progenitor level itself would feel an overwhelming pressure from a creature that had reached that level. The fish did not have the necessary strength, and yet it continued to struggle non-stop in vain attempts to break free.

.

After observing the fish for a long time, Lu Yin came to the conclusion that it had no spark of sapience.