Chapter 2341: Oppression

Lu Yin felt puzzled. If the Celestial Frost Fruit had been so common, then why had the Celestial Frost Sect specifically recorded it down along with the Yellow Springs, Prison Lock, and the White Dragon Rolls Over? There had to be something more to it.

"By the way, Bai Xian'er was the one who suggested moving Food Paradise up next to the Lu Sanctum. I was there when she made the request." Master Shan suddenly thought of something else and mentioned it.

Lu Yin's eyes flashed. "Bai Xian'er brought it up?"

Master Shan nodded. "Logically, the banquet to celebrate your marriage to Bai Xian'er should have been held in the Lu Sanctum, but I don’t know what Bai Xian'er said to convince you otherwise. You happily arranged for your peers to be served on Food Paradise and then asked the family to move Food Paradise up next to the Lu Sanctum. It was such a trivial matter that I did not even pay attention to it at the time."

Lu Yin started thinking. Had Food Paradise really been moved next to the Lu Sanctum just for a matter of convenience?

However, the anecdote also made it clear that Lu Xiaoxuan had listened to all of Bai Xian'er's requests.

"Master Shan, is there some madman in my Lu family?" Lu Yin suddenly asked.

Master Shan's expression changed drastically. "Young Master, why are you asking about that?"

Lu Yin stared at the man. "It looks like you know something. Tell me about him."

Master Shan's face grew pale. "It is true that there is a madman from the family who has always been imprisoned. No one knows the reason. All that any of us know is that Patriarch Tianyi forbade anyone from ever visiting that man. Furthermore, no one was allowed to mention him or speak about the matter at all."

Lu Yin smiled wryly. "Patriarch Tianyi is gone now, so what are you afraid of?"

Master Shan was stunned, and his expression grew dark.

"On my wedding day, did that madman appear?"

"Of course not! Patriarch Tianyi would never have allowed it."

.

Lu Yin continued his conversation with Master Shan for a bit longer. Then, he summoned the old cook and various other servants to find out if any of them knew what had happened on that day.

…

Bai Wangyuan had returned to the Perennial World’s Dominion Realm after releasing the captives that Lu Yin had turned over. Xia Shenji's clone also appeared, still seriously injured. This was completely humiliating to Xia Shenji and the other Progenitors.

Mu Xie was the first to speak after Bai Wangyuan returned. "Since an agreement has been reached, you should keep it. Don't let me learn that any of you have broken this truce by attacking my junior brother. If I discover such a breach, I will kill someone."

Xia Shenji’s eyes flashed. "How arrogant! Do you really believe that you can deal with any of us? The more arrogantly you speak, the earlier you’ll end up dying."

Mu Xie looked over. "You are the arrogant one. Do you really believe that no one else knows that you possess the power of time?"

Xia Shenji's expression instantly changed.

Bai Wangyuan, Wang Fan, and Progenitor Long all appeared perfectly calm after hearing Mu Xie’s comment, but that just made things even worse from Xia Shenji’s perspective.

"The power of time is certainly mysterious, but it is far from invincible. Any power can be restrained, and yours is no exception. Xia Shenji, in both the past and the present, you remain the most ignorant of all."

With that, Mu Xie left.

Xia Shenji was furious, but there was nothing that he could say to refute Mu Xie’s words.

Progenitor Smoke shook her head. "Honestly, you’ve tried so hard to measure up to Xia Shang, so how can you be surprised that your power of time was already exposed? After all, Xia Shang had it as well, hehe."

She then also left.

Xia Shenji looked over at Wang Fan and the others who had stayed behind. "You already knew?"

"It was just a guess," Wang Fan answered indifferently.

Bai Wangyuan replied, "The power of time is something that rarely appears from nowhere, though it’s certainly not impossible. We merely suspected that you possess the power of time as well, so we were not certain until just now."

Xia Shenji’s eyes flickered. His hatred towards Mu Xie rose to a level that was second only to Xia Shang. Not only had Mu Xie prevented Xia Shenji from killing Lu Xiaoxuan, the man had also exposed Xia Shenji’s power of time. It was absolutely despicable.

While Bai Wangyuan and the others all appeared calm over the information that Mu Xie had exposed, they were inwardly shocked.

The power of time was not some minor ability. It was extremely difficult to deal with, and it caused them all to feel a flicker of fear at the thought of facing Xia Shenji in a real fight.

Fortunately, Xia Shang had stolen Xia Shenji’s Mountain and Sea all those years before. Otherwise, the man would be an even more challenging opponent if he also possessed an inheritance from one of the Mountains and Seas.

At this time, Xia Ziheng sent Xia Shenji a message regarding Virtue Archives.

Xia Shenji was already furious, and he coldly answered, "Tomorrow. Deal with them tomorrow, or else we’ll have no way in after the God of Food becomes a Progenitor."

The call was abruptly ended.

Progenitor Long looked over. "I said from the beginning that we should just handle the academy directly, but you wanted to waste time winning over the students. You ended up giving Lu Xiaoxuan an opportunity."

Wang Fan turned to look at the other man. "You shouldn't have hid from us that Mr. Yu was on Dragon Mountain all this time. If we had known that, the God of Food could have never threatened us. Exposing Mr. Yu would have caused any breakthrough attempt to fail, as Mr. Yu’s mere existence is enough to disturb the man’s state of mind."

Progenitor Long shook his head. "Isn't it better to have another Progenitor join us? I might be quite certain that the God of Food will never become a Progenitor and am not interested in wasting time for his sake. However, if there is even a one in a billion chance of him becoming a Progenitor, then it is worth it as it would be an incredible boon for our Perennial World. Another Progenitor means greater security for humanity. Besides, even if the God of Food does become a Progenitor, it would not make it impossible to hold negotiations.

"Regarding that, I’m far more curious as to why they are so insistent on hiding that Mountain and Sea. It simply doesn’t line up with Virtue Archives’ manner of handling things."

Xia Shenji had already lost all his patience. "The reason doesn’t matter, as Virtue Archives will be disbanded tomorrow. If the God of Food manages to become a Progenitor, it’ll be fine, and we could even save Virtue Archives for him, but the Mountain and Sea must be handed over to us. If the God of Food can't become a Progenitor, then the few people left in that academy can either disappear from my sight or be sent to the rear battlefield."

None of the Progenitors paid much attention to Virtue Archives. After learning about Mr. Yu's existence and understanding his history with the God of Food, all of them had become certain that the God of Food would never successfully become a Progenitor. A failure was nothing to fear.

Lu Xiaoxuan remained the greatest threat, and he was so terrifying that the men could not eat or sleep.

Xia Shenji's orders sent Xia Ziheng straight to Virtue Archives to deliver the news. Xia Ziheng remained as arrogant and overbearing as ever when speaking, and Headmaster Wen was so irritated that he wanted to attack the messenger.

"How absurd is this? Is Xia Ziheng really openly threatening us to leave this place? If not for me being worried about the four ruling powers, he could have forgotten about ever leaving the Virtue District after saying such things!" Headmaster Wen angrily exclaimed. He could not even remember the last time he had been so angry.

First, all the academy’s students had been taken away by four ruling powers. After that, the unexpected appearance of Mr. Yu had erased the danger of the God of Food possibly becoming a Progenitor. On top of that, because the God of Food had helped Lu Yin by blocking a single attack, the four ruling powers had ended all measures of civility with Virtue Archives. The academy was facing an unprecedented crisis.

"Tomorrow? Why so soon?" Ce Donglai was stunned.

Headmaster Wen shook his head. "Xia Ziheng doesn't have the courage to do this to us. The only possibility is that this is Xia Shenji’s order. It seems that, because of what happened with Lu Xiaoxuan, Xia Shenji has decided to throw aside all pretenses."

Ce Donglai said, "While Xia Ziheng may be relying on Xia Shenji's backing, the words have already been spoken, and there is no way to change them now. No matter what, Xia Ziheng is still a Semi-Progenitor. If we aren’t gone by tomorrow, we might end up facing more than just one of the four ruling powers’ Semi-Progenitors."

Headmaster Wen retorted, "They weren’t even able to defeat Lu Xiaoxuan! What sort of Semi-Progenitors are they?"

Ce Donglai’s eyebrows rose. "Don't be ridiculous. Lu Xiaoxuan might have been able to face four Semi-Progenitors on his own, but his combat strength is comparable to an ordinary Semi-Progenitor’s, despite the fact that he’s only a three-tribulation Envoy."

Headmaster Wen had been simply trying to mock Xia Ziheng, and he had not intended to insinuate anything at all about Lu Yin.

The young man had single-handedly fought off four Semi-Progenitors while only a three-tribulation Envoy. Not only that, but he had even managed to kill one of the Semi-Progenitors. Such a feat was completely unprecedented throughout all of human history, and Headmaster Wen had been truly impressed by it. Not to mention, Lu Yin could be considered at least partially affiliated with Virtue Archives, which made Headmaster Wen quite proud.

"Unfortunately, we don’t have any idea just what happened in the Forsaken Land," Headmaster Wen muttered to himself. Suddenly, the man grew excited. "Could Xia Shenji's sudden change in attitude have something to do with what happened in the Forsaken Land? Could Lu Yin have escaped there?"

Ce Donglai was taken aback. They had not been able to obtain any information about what had happened in the Forsaken Land, as the people in the Dominion Realm had not let anything spread out.

At this moment, the fact that Virtue Archives lacked even a single student meant that it was not unreasonable to say that it had already been destroyed.

Lu Yin had delivered Wen Diyi to Bai Wangyuan along with all the other captives, but the four ruling powers had kept all of Virtue Archives’ students behind. That included Wen Diyi, as he had refused to join any of the four ruling powers while on Zenith Mountain. Unfortunately, Wen Diyi also did not know the situation that Virtue Archives was currently facing.

"The God of Food is ready to challenge his breakthrough to become a Progenitor. No matter what, he has to take this chance. The secret of the Mountain and Sea that we have here cannot be revealed, but there’s simply not enough time. It’s impossible for him to calm his mind within a single day," Ce Donglai commented.

Headmaster Wen's eyes grew cold. "One day? That’s ridiculous. Xia Shenji might be capable of driving us away from here, but he’s dreaming if sending a few Semi-Progenitors to deal with us is enough! Lu Xiaoxuan had the courage to enter Shenwu's Sky itself on his own in order to save his people, and then he single-handedly fought against four Semi-Progenitors. Are we weaker than even Lu Xiaoxuan? It's time for them to experience the power of Progenitor Wen! Progenitor Wen might be dead, but the will that he left behind will never die!"

Ce Donglai straightened up. "Let's fight! I want to see if the four ruling powers can truly control everything within the Perennial World."

The next day, Xia Ziheng returned to Virtue Archives, just as he had said he would. He was joined by Wu Yao, Mr. Yu, as well as Semi-Progenitors Ji Feng and Liu Hua, who had been fighting in the New World.

Five Semi-Progenitors arrived, completely overpowering the strength of Virtue Archives.

Headmaster Wen and the other faculty members had already known that the four ruling powers would attack, but they had not expected five Semi-Progenitors to immediately appear.

"Ji Feng? Liu Hua? You two are here, too, huh." Headmaster Wen was both surprised and furious to see the two.

Semi-Progenitor Ji Feng apologized. "I'm sorry, Wen Lai. We don't want to act as the academy’s enemies, but nothing is permanent."

Semi-Progenitor Liu Hua sighed. "Just give the four ruling powers whatever it is that they want. What can be kept from them in the Perennial World nowadays?"

Ce Donglai sighed. "I didn't expect graduates like the two of you to return and attack the academy."

Xia Ziheng snapped, "Attack? What are you saying? Do you still want to resist?"

Wu Yao stepped forward. "Wen Lai, does your Virtue Archives intend to become enemies with my four ruling powers?"

Wen Lai raised his head up high. "That's exactly what I intend to do! My academy is closed! Enter, if you can!"

The headmaster stopped bandying words and promptly activated the academy’s protective sourcebox array.

Fire filled the sky, and the Undying Bird and the Dark Undying Bird soared high above. They flew around the academy; one represented light, while the other represented darkness. The two never touched or met, but as soon as the sourcebox array was fully activated, the two converged to form an array so powerful that it stunned anyone who saw it. It was powerful enough to even threaten a Progenitor.

Ji Feng and Liu Hua glanced at each other and subconsciously stepped back. They had both graduated from Virtue Archives, and they knew a bit more about how terrifying the academy’s defenses were. This sourcebox array was not nearly as simple as it appeared, as it was also filled with violent danger. It was the final protection that Progenitor Wen had left behind for Virtue Archives.

Xia Ziheng frowned. "How stubborn."

Wu Yao glanced to the side. "We will have to ask you to step in after all. This is a sourcebox array left behind by Progenitor Wen."

Behind the protection of the sourcebox array, Headmaster Wen and others watched in fear as someone emerged from the void. It was Mu Shang, also known as Grandmaster Mu.