Chapter 2330: Gathering

Most people in the Fifth Mainland had no idea that Lu Yin had just driven back one of the powerful Progenitors, Xia Shenji. It was enough for them to simply know that Lu Yin had repelled a Progenitor, as all Progenitors were seen as equal to many people.

The Lu Elite Troops, the Redemption Army, and the Great Eastern Alliance’s army of lesser giants all gathered in the west of the Outerverse.

At the same time, the Heavens Sect sent out the Heavens Corps and the Astral Beast Army.

Envoys appeared one after another. Some also arrived from the Hall of Honor, while a total of sixty three Envoys arrived from the former Star Alliance, led by Semi-Progenitor Zhan Lin.

Powerful auras kept appearing as more Semi-Progenitors revealed themselves. The gatemasters of the Heavens Sect’s eight Heavenly Gates arrived, along with the protectors and educators of the Heavens Sect. A full fifteen Semi-Progenitors appeared.

The entire Fifth Mainland was moving.

Ancestor Tortoise looked to the west and began to move as well.

If one looked at a two-dimensional map of the entire Fifth Mainland with dots of light representing cultivators, then all of them would be concentrated in a single area that had been designated as a gathering point by Lu Yin.

Just the Heavens Sect’s armies alone amounted to tens of millions of people.

This was a gathering of the full might of the Fifth Mainland. Their strength was more than what had been gathered to face off against Aeternus’ invasion. That was mostly because, in the past, there had been no one qualified to command the entire Fifth Mainland, but Lu Yin had taken on that role.

In Endless Weave, the Progenitor of Bloodlines grew worried. "Is it really going to come to war?"

Lu Yin laughed. "We’ll talk about that later."

The Progenitor of Bloodlines sighed. He did not know how to settle the current situation. If war truly broke out, the losses that humanity would suffer would be incalculable, which would only benefit the Aeternals.

But what could the old man do? Even if Lu Yin abandoned his revenge, the Perennial World would never allow him to live. His only path to survival was to fight until the Perennial World either gave up or lost their determination.

In the Innerverse, Wen Qian’er looked at Wen Sansi, who was standing beside a spacecraft. She approached him. "What are you thinking about?"

Wen Sansi continued to stare out into outer space. "The gap has become really, really big."

Wen Qian'er knew that Wen Sansi was referring to how far Lu Yin had pulled away from his peers.

"Back when the Astral Combat Academy sent their students on training excursions, he was sent to Shenwu Continent. I met him when he left that place, and at that time, the gap between us was immeasurable. No one believed that he would ever be able to catch up to us, let alone surpass us. However, our situations have actually been reversed," Wen Sansi said in an emotional voice.

Wen Qian'er replied, "Don't think about it, cousin. He’s an absolute freak."

Wen Sansi could not help laughing. Long ago, many people had referred to the Ten Arbiters as freaks. When had the word become a compliment?

"This war is not some small matter. You shouldn't have come, but it’s too late for you to return now," Wen Sansi stated solemnly as he turned to look at Wen Qian'er.

The woman shook her head. "No one can disobey the Heavens Sect’s orders. I’m a Cruiser now, and I can’t avoid my responsibilities."

"No one would make trouble for you."

"I want to see what kind of enemies are powerful enough to warrant gathering the entire Fifth Mainland, as well as people from the Sixth Mainland and the creatures from the Astral Beast Domain."

At this point, someone reported that a vessel from the Sword Sect had been spotted in the distance.

The Sword Sect’s spacecraft were easy to recognize, as they were all shaped like massive swords.

"Haha, so you’ve come out too, Liu Qianjue. I thought that you’d die of old age on Sword Mountain." Wen Zizai smiled as he stepped out to greet an old acquaintance.

Liu Qianjue appeared and glanced around at the Wen family’s spacecraft. "It appears that your Wen family has come out in full force. You’ve even brought out all of your youths."

There was only one thing that Wen Zizai could say. "There’s no other option unless one wants to disobey the Heavens Sect’s edict. What? Did you hold back some of the Sword Sect’s forces?"

Liu Qianjue flatly replied, "Of course that’s not possible."

"Old friend, things are troublesome this time, possibly even worse than when we faced the Neohuman Alliance’s monsters," Wen Zizai commented to Liu Qianjue as he dismissed his juniors.

Liu Qianjue responded softly, "We are no longer living in an era where you and I qualify to make decisions. Not even the Hall of Honor is able to decide anything. There is only one person who holds those qualifications."

Wen Zizai nodded. "Back when he first united the entire Outerverse, I believed that he had reached his peak. Later, he disintegrated our own alliance and took over the Innerverse, and again I believed that he had reached his limits. I never once thought that anyone could climb so high. He’s managed to gain control of the Sixth Mainland, the Astral Beast Domain, and even those powerful people from the Heavens Sect era. He’s truly terrifying."

Liu Qianjue remained silent. Was Lu Yin terrifying? There were certain people who were destined to be incomparable, as they exceeded all others by too great a margin. Such people were geniuses who transcended time and eras.

A short ways behind the two Innerverse forces, the people of Northline Flowzone were also rushing towards the west. At this time, the Lily family was led by Lily Anne, as their former matriarch, Lily Liana, had died twenty years ago at the hands of a corpse king.

"Sister, the entire Fifth Mainland is being gathered. How can we even participate in a war of such scale? Why has the Dao Chosen asked us all to gather?" Lily Shu'er was worried.

All of Northline Flowzone had the same fear, as did most of the minor flowzones and smaller families and sects across the entire Fifth Mainland. None of them had enough strength to qualify to participate in a war that necessitated the full strength of the Fifth Mainland. Even when the Sixth Mainland had invaded, such forces had only sent a few of their members to join the war efforts. But at this moment, practically the full strength of every organization in the entire Fifth Mainland had been mobilized.

Lily Anne appeared calm. "I’d be more worried if only some people were being summoned to join the battle. As things are now, there’s no need to worry, as it’s highly unlikely that we will even fight."

"Why do you say that?" Lily Shu'er felt even more confused.

Lily Anne replied, "The Dao Chosen won’t sacrifice weak people. What could we even contribute to a war that requires the full strength of the Fifth Mainland? Our deaths? Since we’ve all been ordered to gather and participate in this war, the highest possibility is that we are being gathered to intimidate someone. We most likely won’t fight, but will rather be used as deterrence.

"This means that we should not be facing the Aeternals this time, but instead some kind of intelligent creatures, like us."

Lily Shu'er guessed, "Could it be some terrifying species from the Astral Wilderness?"

Lily Anne had no idea herself, as she was far from qualified to know about such details, given her own status.

After sending Lili Shu'er off, Lily Anne lifted a hand. She was holding a bit of fatesand.

More than twenty years ago, her best friend, Xiao Yi, had died because of this small bit of fatesand, all in order to provide Lily Anne with an opportunity to get close to Lu Yin and earn his favor. Unfortunately, the gift had been held for more than twenty years without being delivered. It was finally time to do so.

The Lily family’s proudest achievement was the fact that they were the representatives of Northline Flowzone, but they dreamed of stepping out of their minor flowzone. This bit of fatesand was their opportunity, as just a single word from Lu Yin was already enough to allow anyone to instantly be elevated to unimaginable heights.

In the Outerverse, a solitary man walked through outer space.

Suddenly, a sword appeared from the distance, and it slashed at the man's back.

The man spun around and casually destroyed the incoming attack. He stared into the distance, where a number of people had gathered. Most of them were part of the Jiu family, which meant that they were descendants of the Progenitor of Combat.

Also present was Xiao Qing.

"Fan Shun, you traitor! How dare you show your face?" a man from the Jiu family shouted angrily. He had been the one to attack, but most of the people around the man were also glaring at Fan Shun, clearly wanting to attack the man as well.

Fan Shun just shrugged. "Save your energy for the battlefield."

"Then why don’t I just kill you now, you traitor!" the man from the Jiu family roared.

These people had enmity not with Fan Shun, but rather with Fan Chen, who had led the Fan family to betray the human race and join Aeternus. Fan Chen had become the first city lord of one of the cities in the Aeternus Kingdom that had been established in the Innerverse, and the betrayal had enraged countless people throughout the Sixth Mainland, and they had wanted to tear Fan Chen apart.

However, Fan Shun had not followed the rest of the Fan family and betrayed humanity. He alone had stayed behind. Over the years, he had been forced to endure a life of absolute infamy, and he had been constantly attacked from all sides.

Fan Chen's betrayal had been an inevitability. Kui Luo had exposed the fact that Fan Chen had captured the Cloud Valley’s former master, which had cost Fan Chen his position within the Sixth Mainland. That was why the Fan family had betrayed mankind.

As for why the members of the Jiu family were so desperate to kill Fan Shun, it was not only because his family had betrayed humanity, but also because of Jiu Xiao.

A year before, Jiu Xiao had been drunk, and he had wanted to avenge the sword attendant of the master of Cloud Valley, which had led Jiu Xiao to confront Little Bear, the deputy city master of the Technocracy’s First Edition City. The android had been on his way to deliver supplies to Lu Yin from the Technocracy, and he had simply killed Jiu Xiao, which had made the family a joke in the Sixth Mainland. They had wanted to redeem themselves and their reputation, and killing Fan Shun was the method that they had come up with.

The Fan family was mortal enemies with Cloud Valley, and Jiu Xiao had simply wanted to avenge Cloud Valley’s master’s sword attendant, only to die a tragic death. The members of the Jiu family intended to help Cloud Valley by eliminating Fan Shun and helping alleviate some of their rage.

Fan Shun was facing a dire situation.

Soon, an entire group of people from the Jiu family started attacking Fan Shun, and some of their friends joined in as well.

No one shouted threats at Fan Shun, and he also did not start slaughtering his attackers. Killing members of the Jiu family would cause too many problems. Even though the Progenitor of Combat had died, he had been killed by the forces of Aeternus, sacrificing himself for humanity. His death had helped humanity, and he had essentially purchased a pardon for his family that would last for hundreds of millions of years, as long as none of them did something like betray humanity. The family was practically untouchable.

"The Heavens Sect has summoned all of us, and yet you people want to fight?" Xiao Qing shouted.

Someone from the Jiu family retorted, "We'll go after this traitor has been cut down!"

Fan Shun's eyes grew serious. "So you’re going to make the Dao Chosen wait for you?"

Fan Shun’s comment caused the hearts of the members of the Jiu family to tremble. There was only one person in the entire Fifth Mainland who was referred to as the Dao Chosen: Lu Yin. The ruler of the entire Fifth Mainland.

These people had the courage to do whatever they wished within the Sixth Mainland, as the Progenitor of Combat’s sacrifice meant that the members of the Jiu family were proud enough to stand up to even a Semi-Progenitor. However, the moment the Dao Chosen was brought up, their expressions all changed. The Dao Chosen was someone who could eradicate the entire Jiu family with but a word, and not one person would dare to object.

Xiao Qing's eyes flickered. These descendants of the Jiu family were willful and arrogant everywhere within the Sixth Mainland. Who could intimidate them? Only Lu Yin. He had become famous throughout the Sixth Mainland when he had started visiting the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect ruins, despite the fact that he had not been unbelievably stronger than his peers back then. Given his boldness in the past, what would Lu Yin not dare to do given his present status?

At this moment, another person appeared, and their aura left everyone unable to even breathe.

Xiao Qing noticed the person, and she reacted first and offered a respectful bow. "Greetings, Lan Xian."

Fan Shun reacted almost immediately as well. "Greetings, Lan Xian."

The entire group of people from the Jiu family bowed in unison. "Greetings, Lan Xian."

Lan Xian calmly glanced around at all of the people there. "War is about to break out, and yet instead of preserving your star energy for the battlefield, you’re trying to kill each other here? What is going on?"

A descendant from the Jiu family spoke up to answer in a respectful tone. "Semi-Progenitor Lan Xian, that man is Fan Shun, a traitor to humanity. His ancestor, Fan Chen, is the city master of a city in Aeternus Kingdom."

Lan Xian looked over at Fan Shun.

Fan Shun spoke up, very respectful as well, "When my family betrayed humanity, this junior betrayed his family."

Lan Xian nodded. "I know what happened with the Fan family. Are you answering the Heavens Sect’s summons?"

"The Heavens Sect has called us, and this junior’s only wish is to die on the battlefield," Fan Shun answered.

Lan Xian looked over towards the Technocracy. "You betrayed your family, but are still not accepted by humanity. Do you regret your choice?"

Fan Shun calmly stated, "I regret nothing."

The people from the Jiu family wanted to say something, but a glance from Lan Xian caused them to all quickly bow their heads.

"Prove yourself in your own way. Even if you do not regret your actions, you are still a member of the Fan family, and you should work hard to compensate for their betrayal," Lan Xian stated casually.