Chapter 2313: Progenitor Guai

This was a Semi-Progenitor level creature that had no hint of sapience.

Lu Yin suddenly remembered that Kui Luo had been fishing in the Astral River in the easternmost region of the Innerverse some time ago. He had wanted to catch a certain fish that had slipped away from him. When the fish had first escaped, Kui Luo had even gotten a bit upset with Lu Yin, and Lu Yin had eventually promised to use Progenitor Chen’s power to help the old man catch the fish that had gotten away.

Could it be the fish currently in the jiao’s claws?

Lu Yin found it hard to believe that so many Semi-Progenitor level creatures were living in the Astral River.

The Astral River had once circled through all six Mainlands and nourished the Mother Tree. It had definitely been home to many powerful creatures at that time, but that was no longer necessarily true.

Lu Yin quickly called Kui Luo. It was impossible to connect to the old man with a call made through Lu Yin’s gadget, but the wireless jincan connected. "What's wrong?"

"Before we went to the Perennial World, I promised to use Progenitor Chen’s power to help you catch a fish. Remember?" Lu Yin got straight to the point.

Kui Luo rolled his eyes. "I might be old, but I’m not dumb enough to take something like that seriously. Using Progenitor Chen’s power to catch a fish is a bit excessive."

"Well, what about using the jiao?"

Kui Luo's eyes lit up. "That would be fine! That beast has long claws that are perfect for catching fish. Hurry up and meet with me. I’m at the easternmost end of the Astral River."

"It would actually be better for you to come see me. I just caught a fish with the strength of a Semi-Progenitor, and I’m curious if it’s the one that got away from you," Lu Yin replied.

Kui Luo instantly ended the conversation and took off to meet with Lu Yin.

After arriving, Kui Luo stared at the fish that was held in the jiao’s claws for a long time. Finally, he said with utter confidence, "That’s the fish. I remember the thing’s teeth very clearly."

"Well, I've caught it for you, so that settles the debt that I owed you," Lu Yin said. He saw that Kui Luo was still staring at the fish. "Why did you want to catch this fish?"

Right as Kui Luo was about to answer, Lu Yin cut him off, "You’d better not try to use this fish to sneak away from me. You do, and I’ll make sure you never go fishing again."

Kui Luo opened his mouth, reconsidered his answer, and then rolled his eyes as he said, "I’m hoping to find something good."

"Something good?" Lu Yin asked curiously.

Kui Luo leaned closer. "You know where the Astral River came from, right?"

Lu Yin nodded. "It’s the river that once circled around the Mother Tree and ran through all six Mainlands."

"If you know that much, then you should also understand that the creatures that live in the Astral River live for a very, very long time. Honestly, the more powerful the creature is, the longer they live for. Like this fish here—this thing has a life expectancy that’s at least ten times greater than a human Semi-Progenitor. It can bury itself in the river bed, where the silt there nourishes the Mother Tree itself. Burrowing into the bottom of the Astral River can extend their life spans, much like cryostasis for us humans. There are much stranger creatures than fish that live in the astral river, and some of them-” Kui Luo cut off for a moment as he considered his next words. “It’s believed that some of the creatures have survived since the Heavens Sect era."

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"That’s impossible," Lu Yin stated doubtfully.

Kui Luo replied, "I didn’t believe it either, but I’ve read some of your Lu family’s old records, and Lu Qi even came to find me one time because he wanted to descend into the depths of the Middle Ocean to try to find those ancient fish."

"What's the point of catching such a creature?" Lu Yin still felt rather puzzled by the appeal.

Kui Luo rolled his eyes. "You’re still not as smart as your father. Look at this fish. Is it sapient?"

"No."

"Then what does that mean?"

Lu Yin thought about it for a bit. "Just tell me."

"It means that it eats everything!" Kui Luo answered loudly, "The dumber the beast, the more likely it is to eat everything that it finds, and there are certain treasures that can never be digested. No matter how long this thing might have lived for, even if it’s only been around since the Daosource Sect era, it’s likely swallowed treasures from the Daosource Sect era. It could have power vessels, records of battle techniques, or even Progenitor weapons!"

Lu Yin was stunned. "Is this what my father told you?"

Kui Luo nodded. "Your father’s a bastard with absolutely no shame or reservations. He’s nothing at all like how you used to be. When you were Lu Xiaoxuan, your personality was much closer to your mother’s, and it was so extreme that your father even tested you several times to verify that you were his own child."

Lu Yin was left speechless.

"If your father could see you now, he would have absolutely no doubt that you’re his son. Even if you aren’t a complete asshole like him, you will still stoop to just about anything," Kui Luo said. He then moved past Lu Yin to get a better look at the odd fish.

Lu Yin turned around. "So did you ever go down into the depths of the Perennial World’s Middle Ocean?"

"We never had a chance. Besides, the Perennial World simply isn’t old enough, and the Middle Ocean is nowhere near as old as the Astral River. This is the river that nourished Mother Tree itself, so there should definitely be some good things in it." Kui Luo stared at the fish for a moment before continuing to say, "All we can do is check and find out if there’s anything good in this thing’s stomach.

"Also, there’s no need to be gentle. It might only be a dumb beast, but it hasn’t only eaten stuff that belongs to the Astral River, you know."

Lu Yin was well aware that countless people died each year after falling into the Astral River, most of whom were eaten by the creatures that inhabited the river. This fish had no intelligence, so it was only natural that it had eaten many people over the years.

Lu Yin gave the jiao an order, and the beast flexed its claws. There was a bang as the fish’s body was broken.

Kui Luo immediately moved forward to check the fish’s belly and see what had been inside it.

Lu Yin calmly observed the man and then looked over at the Astral River. Kui Luo was right. The creatures that lived in the Astral River did live for a long time, and they all seemed to be dumb beasts that devoured whatever they found. It was certainly possible that they might get lucky and find some great treasures from such creatures.

The fish had been truly massive, so even with Kui Luo rummaging through the beast’s remains, it was still going to take a long time.

"Kid, where's that domain of yours? This is the time to put it to use!" Kui Luo turned around and urged Lu Yin to help.

Lu Yin released his domain, and it swept past Kui Luo and enveloped the remains from the fish’s belly.

The fish's belly had been full of gravel, but Lu Yin did manage to find some other things as well, such as a corroded cosmic ring. The presence of the ring indicated that the fish had also eaten people, but the bodies had been fully digested long ago.

Lu Yin also found some odd items.

One thing that caught Lu Yin's attention was what looked to be a broken weapon that looked truly bizarre. It seemed like something halfway between a harpoon and a rake.

Kui Luo leaned over and stared at the weapon. "That’s incredibly old. The characters on it are from before even the Daosource Sect era. Let’s find out what it says!"

Lu Yin had no idea what the writing said, so he released Yu Chen. While the woman was not particularly powerful, she was quite knowledgeable about ancient writing.

"Tell me what this says." Lu Yin asked Yu Chen to examine the ancient weapon.

Yu Chen observed the weapon and was quite surprised. "This is one of Progenitor Guai’s weapons! These characters read as ‘guai,’ which was the Progenitor’s signature."

"Progenitor Guai?" Kui Luo was stunned. "Are you referring to the legendary Progenitor Guai who was infamous for making strange weapons?"

Yu Chen nodded.

"Who was Progenitor Guai?" Lu Yin asked.

Yu Chen answered, "Supposedly, there was a Progenitor who lived during the Daosource Sect era who specialized in creating weapons, but every weapon that he made was extremely strange, and most people could not use them at all. Still, invaluable materials were used to produce the weapons, and most people could never hope to even find those rare materials. The weapons created endless complications for the Daosource Sect, but there was nothing that could be done about the matter.”

"Progenitor Guai marked all of his weapons with the character ‘guai,’ which is the symbol that you see here."

Lu Yin stared at the weapon in his hands. It was clearly very tough, and it should be at least on the cusp of the Progenitor level, but not quite at that level. After all, if it were truly a Progenitor level weapon, the fish would have not been able to digest it at all, but Lu Yin could see that the weapon was clearly corroded.

"I remember hearing that Progenitor Guai had an entire armory filled with all of the weapons that he made. He used to invite people to visit his armory, but no one could use any of the weapons that he had made," Kui Luo said.

Yu Chen agreed, "There are certainly records regarding Progenitor Guai’s armory, but they vanished when he died. Supposedly, all of the weapons he ever created are still hidden in that armory."

"Were there a lot?" Lu Yin's eyes lit up.

Yu Chen nodded. "There should be a lot. According to the ancient records, the Daosource Sect’s authorities spoke to Progenitor Guai on several occasions, asking him to reforge his weapons into useful forms. However, even if it was possible, Progenitor Guai refused, and the Daosource Sect could not force him."

"Was the armory’s location ever mentioned?"

"No."

"Kid, what are you thinking about? Are you hoping to find the armory? The four ruling powers should have stolen that thing long ago." Kui Luo spoke up in a clearly grumpy manner.

Lu Yin hoped that that was not the case. While other people would struggle to smelt the weapons in that armory and extract the valuable materials, Lu Yin was different. All he needed to do was roll Blackhole Disassembly, and then he would be able to easily extract all of the raw materials from the various weapons.

After all, even the Daosource Sect had considered those materials to be invaluable and had wanted to use them to produce Progenitor weapons.

After putting Yu Chen back in Zenith Mountain, Lu Yin resumed staring at the weapon in his hand. He offered it to Kui Luo. "Do you want it?"

Kui Luo was speechless. "What would I even do with that? Clean my teeth?"

Lu Yin smiled and put the weapon away. After all, he could Disassemble it for the raw materials.

"Still, how did the fish swallow that thing? Do you think that Progenitor Guai’s hidden armory might be hidden beneath the Astral River?" Lu Yin guessed.

Kui Luo replied, "I don't know about that, but the Astral River has been around for countless years—who knows what else might have fallen in it. Now you understand why I’m so interested in fishing in this river."

Lu Yin stared at Kui Luo in open admiration. "Senior, fishing is an excellent hobby to have, and it’s something that you can enjoy for your entire life. If you ever find a fish like that again, just let me know, and I’ll catch it for you."

Kui Luo smiled and showed all of his teeth. "Everything good in it will be mine."

"I won’t fight you for it." Lu Yin smiled. He then had the jiao continue pawing through the Astral River in an attempt to catch another ancient fish, but even after several days, he found nothing.

Kui Luo eventually mentioned that, regardless of how many powerful creatures lived in the Astral River, it was impossible for them to just line up to be caught. The Astral River was enormous, and it was impossible to catch two Semi-Progenitor level creatures that had lived since ancient eras in the same place.

After a bit of thought, Lu Yin felt that Kui Luo’s observation made sense.

Beep beep beep!

His gadget beeped, and Lu Yin blinked when he looked at it. After a moment’s hesitation, he answered the call.

"You can go." Qing Ping said.

Lu Yin grunted in acknowledgement and then told Kui Luo, "Take your time fishing. I’m going to head out for now."

Kui Luo waved Lu Yin away. He wanted to find a new location to fish.

After saying goodbye to Kui Luo, Lu Yin directed the jiao into the Outerverse, and then headed towards Ironblood Weave. As they traveled, Lu Yin forced the jiao to completely retract its aura so that no one would feel any pressure as the jiao passed by.

The jiao soon arrived at Ironblood Weave. The border of the Outerverse was still being patrolled and protected by people from the Sixth Mainland. Lu Yin had united all of the people living in the Fifth Mainland under the Heavens Sect, but certain things were still the same. There was no need to alter everything, and the Sixth Mainland had maintained control of the Outerverse and Ironblood Weave.

The jiao hid itself just outside Ironblood Weave, and Lu Yin entered on his own while altering his appearance. Without anyone’s notice, he sneaked into the Primal Zone and continued straight on into the Astral Beast Domain.

This was his first time visiting the Astral Beast Domain.

[1] "Guai" (怪) can mean strange or bizarre, so this is a very odd name.