Chapter 2405: Responsibility

On a barren island in the Middle Ocean, a raging inferno soared into the sky as an old man howled in despair and fury, “I will never let you go! I will have my revenge! Revenge…”

Suddenly, he heard a soft but disturbing sound. The old man turned to look at the source; off in the distance he spotted a desiccated corpse slowly making its way towards him. This dried up corpse did not try to attack, and instead, it simply walked around while reciting the Corpse King Transformation technique.

The old man’s instinct was to destroy the corpse right away, but after processing the words that the corpse was saying, the man’s expression grew solemn. He recognized that it was reciting the Corpse King Transformation.

As someone who had fought on the Perennial World’s rear battlefield, the old man was extremely familiar with the Corpse King Transformation. He had never dared to attack a corpse king that could transform. Each subsequent transformation allowed their physical might to rise tenfold, which meant that a corpse king at his level of strength would suddenly be able to crush him like a bug. Such a level of strength was just too terrifying for the old man to face head-on. However, it appeared that he had just been granted the opportunity to learn the technique.

No, he could not. Learning the Corpse King Transformation was no different than betraying humanity. The Corpse King Transformation was more than just a technique, it was a method of completely reforming one’s body into a corpse king’s. It literally transformed a person from one species into another. No, he could not cultivate this. Doing so would make him an Aeternal.

However, how else could he get his revenge?

The old man stared at the smoldering ashes and burnt remnants around him. This was all that remained of his wife of hundreds of years, his son, grandson, disciples, and old friends. They had all been killed by his enemies. He was growing old, and his body lacked its former strength. He was nothing more than a single old man, but his enemies were numerous. What could he even do to them? Aside from possibly using the Corpse King Transformation, he did not possess even the slightest chance of getting revenge.

The more the old man thought about his situation, the fiercer his eyes became. He clenched his fists tighter and tighter, until his nails dug into his palms. He watched as the fresh, crimson blood dripped from his hands. All he could see was red. Finally, he grabbed the dried up corpse. The desire for revenge had consumed his mind. At worst, he would end things by taking his own life.

Similar scenes played out in many other places. People all across the Higher Realm and the Middle Realm would occasionally capture the desiccated corpses, while other people would simply hide them. All intended to increase their strength with the Corpse King Transformation.

None of the people wanted to betray humanity, but there were times when people simply ran out of options.

This was what Undying God had been referring to with “the human heart.”

On the rear battlefield, a flood of corpse kings swept over the five array bases. The defenders of humanity were not given even a single moment’s reprieve.

Countless corpse kings fell from the fourth array base, collected whatever pieces remained of their bodies, and then attempted to climb upwards once again. Even the corpse kings that only had half of their bodies left refused to give up. Their only goal was to reach the humans and slaughter them.

None of the corpse kings noticed the ravenous hunger of the things growing down below in the New World.

Some things were devouring the corpse kings’ blood and flesh without pause, growing larger and larger as time passed. They devoured their way across the New World, as they could sense the location of swarms of corpse kings further away. All needed to be made into sustenance.

In the Dominion Realm, the eagle cried out, causing Ancient God and Blackless God to lose control of their bodies and fall down. The two of them, Forgotten Ruins God, and Corpse God were all attacking the perennial World. Undying God was in the Lower Realm, which meant that only Whiteless God and Shaman God had not made an appearance yet.

Blackless God stared at Xia Shenji’s Shenwu World and said, “Undying God’s life doesn’t seem to be a worthy enough reason for a descent. He’s always been tired of living. In the past, he lived for Wu Tian, but what does he live for now?”

Ancient God looked over as Corpse God collided with the eagle’s attacks before stepping forward. “The One True God has ordered us to stop all of these people from leaving the Dominion Realm. None of them will take even a single step away from here.”

Across from the Ancient God, Bai Wangyuan and the others occasionally glanced down. All of them were wondering if Lu Xiaoxuan would be able to kill Undying God. They were completely pinned down by Aeternus and were unable to leave the Dominion Realm.

Down in the Lower Realm, Qing Chen and the rest of the people grew serious as they received streams of bad news.

Before even half a day had passed, it was clear that a sizable number of people had taken and hidden away desiccated corpses, and it was clear that this number would only rise. There was only one goal for anyone hiding a dried up corpse: to learn the Corpse King Transformation.

They needed the dried up corpses to learn the Corpse King Transformation. After the process was triggered, the divine energy within the desiccated corpses would leave and fuse into Undying God’s body, which meant that he would continue to grow more and more powerful. This had been Undying God’s plan all along, and it was nearly impossible to stop it.

Because he had once been human as well, Undying God had an excellent understanding of the complexities of the human heart. Given the fact he had been enticed to join Aeternus and become one of the Seven Skygods, he naturally knew how to tempt others to join as well.

Lu Yin felt that one of the most realistic examples of someone betraying humanity that he had seen was Long Xian from the Flying Armor Troops. If Lu Yin had been in Long Xian’s shoes, he might have also made the choice to become a Redback under those same circumstances.

Aeternus did not merely tempt people to join them; they forced people who had no other choices.

The situation on the rear battlefield remained unchanged.

However, these were not the only problems facing the Perennial World. Lu Yin looked down at the cracks running through the Origin Progenitor’s sword before looking up at the crack in the Mother Tree’s trunk. Things were quickly taking a turn for the worse. The united front that humanity had once shown towards Aeternus was slowly but surely failing.

Humanity was too passive. Lu Yin had to find a way to reverse the situation.

He could hear Xia Ziheng and a few others arguing over something.

Qing Chen was fully occupied exchanging messages with different people from Humility’s Gate. His demanding tone restrained his murderous rage as he repeated his orders to kill anyone who was caught hiding a desiccated corpse. There were no exceptions.

Ce Donglai took advantage of Virtue Archives’ influence to uncover more people who were hiding the Corpse King Transformation cultivation method, hoping to capture as many of the dried up corpses as possible.

Bai Xian’er stood there in silence. No one knew what she was thinking about.

“Little Seven, you’ve done your best,” Big Sis said in a heavy voice.

Kui Luo sighed. “True God is a truly legendary being. He even managed to crack the Origin Progenitor’s sword. Other than the Origin Progenitor, no one can stand against him. The Mother Tree’s trunk is now cracked, which will definitely impact Ceaseless Impetus. We’ll start seeing some of those effects soon. The Perennial World is in danger.”

Lu Yin silently stared at the fissure that extended from the ground to high in the sky. Kui Luo was absolutely right; Ceaseless Impetus was tied to the Mother Tree, and with the Mother Tree suffering such terrible damage, the performance of Ceaseless Impetus would soon suffer.

Undying God had used his desiccated corpses to sow chaos throughout the Perennial World while the Seven Skygods attacked the Dominion Realm. Even True God had descended, and the eagle and the Python Ancestor were unable to do anything. The situation was quickly spiraling out of control.

“If only the Lu family were still here,” Ce Donglai said with a sigh.

Xia Ziheng snorted coldly. “What use were they? Even after being thrown to Aeternus, they didn’t manage to reduce the Aeternals’ strength the tiniest bit.”

E Chi suddenly raised his hand and slapped Xia Ziheng’s face, sending the Semi-Progenitor flying into the distance. The man slammed into a large root, where he furiously glared at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin’s eyes were ice cold. “Say something like that one more time, and you’ll be the Python Ancestor’s next meal.”

Xia Ziheng grit his teeth as he glared daggers at Lu Yin, but the old man no longer had the courage to say a word.

Mr. Yu, Wu Dao, and the others were unfazed. Xia Ziheng’s comment had basically been asking for a beating, especially with Lu Xiaoxuan so close by. The attack had also only been a warning as Lu Yin could have easily killed the man.

Xia Ziheng had actually made the comment out of habit, and he had regretted his words the moment they had left his mouth. However, Lu Yin had reacted too quickly, and his champion, E Chi, was a Progenitor. Xia Xiheng had had no way to defend himself at all.

Lu Yin dismissed the champion and put the Origin Progenitor’s sword away. He turned to face Bai Xian’er. “Why did you exile the Lu family?”

Qing Chen impatiently said, “Lu Xiaoxuan, this is not the time! Can’t you settle the grudges between your Lu family and four ruling powers AFTER we settle the matter of Undying God?”

Lu Yin remained solely focused on Bai Xian’er. “Why?”

Bai Xian’er had played a key part in exiling the Lu family, and this was the first time that he asked her this question.

Bai Xian’er met Lu Yin’s eyes. “There is no why. I wanted to replace them, nothing more.”

Lu Yin smiled. “Do you really believe that the four ruling powers can replace the Lu family?”

Bai Xian’er looked away from Lu Yin and stared at the Higher Realm. “Some believe it’s possible.”

“Do you know how this part of the universe was formed?” Lu Yin asked.

Bai Xian’er did not reply.

“Aside from knowing that the Lu family was able to dominate the Fifth Mainland, do you know what else they did completely differently from you?” Lu Yin asked.

Bai Xian’er remained silent.

Lu Yin looked at Xia Ziheng, Wu Dao, and then Mr. Yu. Not one of them spoke.

Lu Yin raised his chin. “Big Sis, tell me, if we reopen the path to the Starfall Sea, what will happen?”

Big Sis was startled. “What's that? Open the path to the Starfall Sea?”

A smile spread across Lu Yin’s face. “That’s right. In the Fifth Mainland, what will happen if we open the path to the Starfall Sea?”

“Absolutely not! If the Starfall Sea is reopened, the Fifth Mainland will immediately be invaded by Aeternus. Our Fifth Mainland will be dragged into hell.” Big Sis immediately refused to acknowledge such a possibility. “Little Seven, why would you even think about doing something so dangerous?”

Everyone stared at Lu Yin with shocked expressions. They could not understand why Lu Yin would consider purposely exposing the Fifth Mainland to danger.

Lu Yin took a deep breath. “Right now, things don’t look good for the Perennial World. Undying God is supposed to be trapped here, but he’s still able to make trouble. He’s using his understanding of human psychology to wreak havoc throughout the Perennial World. The other Skygods are locking down the Dominion Realm. The Mother Tree’s trunk has been cracked. As soon as Ceaseless Impetus weakens even a bit, the Perennial World might not be able to continue holding back the Aeternals. I need to create a new battlefield so that the Perennial World can be saved.”

“No way! That’s too dangerous. I won’t agree!” Big Sis immediately refused.

Lu Yin knew that his idea was extremely risky. However, if the Perennial World failed to stop Aeternus, the Fifth Mainland would soon face the same danger.

In the past, Progenitor Tianyi had relocated to the Perennial World to save the Fifth Mainland, establishing the rear battlefield. When Aeternus had invaded the Fifth Mainland and drained all the stellular energy from the true universe, the pressure on the Fifth Mainland had only eased when the intensity of the Perennial World’s rear battlefield had increased.

The Perennial World and the Fifth Mainland were inseparable from each other. No matter how much Lu Yin might hate the four ruling powers, they had to cooperate to stop Aeternus.

He had already calculated the risk of carrying out his suggestion, and he had even considered the worst-case scenario of the Seven Skygods attacking the Fifth Mainland with their true bodies. In the end, Lu Yin had decided that while he absolutely needed to exercise extreme caution, the risks were still acceptable.

Qing Chen’s initial annoyance transformed into admiration for Lu Yin. The respect he felt for the young man welled up from the bottom of his heart. “Lu Xiaoxuan, do you really intend to open up the Fifth Mainland’s Starfall Sea?”

Xia Ziheng, Ce Donglai, and the others waited for Lu Yin’s answer.

Bai Xian’er eyes flickered, though her thoughts remained inscrutable.

Lu Yin clasped his hands behind his back. “Long time ago, when my Lu family was around, they were able to lead the Perennial World’s forces to invade the New World. Now, while my Lu family might no longer be around, I, Lu Yin, am still here. I will also lead humanity to invade the New World.”

“Little Seven-”

Big Sis started, but Lu Yin cut her off with a reassuring smile. “Big Sis, trust me.”

Big Sis stopped and held back from voicing any further objections.

Lu Yin turned to Bai Xian’er. “This is the difference between my Lu family and the four ruling powers. It’s not our strength, but-” He raised his chin. “Our sense of responsibility.

“Back when my Fifth Mainland went to war with the Sixth Mainland, the Progenitors of that era not only had to face the Sixth Mainland, but also Aeternus. Progenitor Tianyi separated the Fifth Mainland, using all his efforts to hold back the Aeternals with the Perennial World. That was what allowed the Fifth Mainland to enjoy a time of peace. Now that the Perennial World is facing a crisis, the Fifth Mainland must also do its part.”

Bai Xian’er gave a slight smile to Lu Yin. “Now this is the Big Brother Xiaoxuan that I know.”