Chapter 2479: Buying A Life

Shadows shrouded Shaman God’s doll. It floated in the air before Xia Ziheng, letting out an eerie laugh. "You're willing to join Aeternus? Too bad! Aeternus has been banished from this universe. If that weren’t the case, I might have considered accepting you.”

“Your only use now is as my vessel," Shaman God finished with a cackling laughter.

Panicked, Xia Ziheng shouted, "Wait! I know a secret! I know a secret!"

The doll just sneered. "What secret could a branch family elder possibly know? Just behave and become my vessel."

The doll moved closer to Xia Ziheng until its eyes nearly touched his face.

Xia Ziheng trembled and fear made his pupils fluctuate. "I know the secret behind the Wang family's Yellow Springs!"

The doll instantly froze and raised its head. A pale chin was exposed to the sunlight. "The secret behind the Wang family's Yellow Springs? How did you learn anything about that?"

Xia Ziheng swallowed. "Wang Yi left that secret with the Xia family. Our branch family was the one to receive it."

"Wang Yi?" Shaman God thought for a few moments before remembering. "The Semi-Progenitor woman who attacked Xia Shang and was eventually executed by the Lu family at the Daosource Sect’s gate?"

"Yes, her! Because of Lu Tianyi, she was never able to be with Lu Feng and was instead forced to marry an elder from a branch of the Xia family. That left her not only resenting the Lu family, but also the Wang family. The Wang family hoped to have another woman marry Lu Feng, and thus they never helped Wang Yi. She was married to my Xia family, which led to her hatred for the Wang family being just as strong as her hatred for the Lu family. Before dying, she left the secret of the Wang family's Yellow Springs with my branch of the Xia family," Xia Ziheng explained.

"The secret was supposed to be directly delivered to the main family, but it was intercepted by our branch family. Aside from the direct descendants of the Wang family, I alone know this secret," Xia Ziheng added.

Shaman God’s doll cackled. "It seems like you really do know the secret of the Wang family's Yellow Springs. Well, let's hear it."

Xia Ziheng fearfully asked, "Will you spare my life?"

Shaman God laughed. "I can let you join Aeternus."

Xia Ziheng let out a breath of relief. He knew that this was as far as Shaman God was willing to compromise. It was nearly impossible for him to use this secret to regain his freedom. "In my opinion, the secret that Wang Yi left with us can be considered the greatest secret in the entire Perennial World. Even if the Lu family were still around, this secret would overshadow everything."

The doll stared intently at Xia Ziheng.

Xia Ziheng slowly continued, "The Wang family's Yellow Springs is located…"

Suddenly, Shaman God's head snapped up. "Who’s there?"

The doll immediately grew larger, and its eerie and sinister eyes seemed to replace the sky itself as they scanned the area.

Lu Yin frowned. His impatience had gotten the better of him. He had arrived earlier and had assumed that Xia Ziheng was as good as dead. Lu Yin had intended to make attack Shaman God after Xia Ziheng was dead and eliminate the Semi-Progenitor avatar. However, Xia Ziheng had unexpectedly offered to reveal a secret, specifically one concerning the Wang family's Yellow Springs. Lu Yin had briefly forgotten to keep his aura concealed, and Shaman God had instantly discovered him.

Since he had been discovered, he would just deal with things right away.

"The way you stare at Xia Ziheng," Lu Yin commented as he stepped forward and stared upwards at Shaman God’s huge doll, "Is still as disgusting as ever."

As he spoke, he raised a hand, and earth filled the sky and the world was turned upside down: Flipping the Sky.

Shaman God was startled to see Lu Yin appear. "You?"

The landmass formed from Flipping the Sky mercilessly pressed down upon Shaman God’s doll. It tried to resist, but it only had the strength of a Semi-Progenitor; how could it compete with the might of Flipping the Sky?

In the past, Lu Yin had used his Flipping the Sky technique to pin down Undying God's Semi-Progenitor avatar. How could a mere doll fight against such a thing?

Shaman God was completely amazed. "You've grown so much! What a pity that your growth surpassed our expectations. However, the more you grow, the lower the chances of the four ruling powers sparing you. It's only a matter of time before a great war breaks out in this universe."

Lu Yin stared at Shaman God. "How many more of you Aeternus rats are still hiding here?"

"Kaka, you want to know? Then go find out for yourself," Shaman God retorted before vanishing.

Lu Yin was shocked. Was this the result of a sourcebox array? He lifted a foot and distorted space and time with Inverse Step. Several threads of a barely visible gray energy appeared. It was the manifestation of the power of time.

Even though Shaman God had disappeared, a shadow had remained in place. The timing of the doll’s escape had been warped.

"Do you really think that you can escape from right under my nose?" Lu Yin’s domain sliced through the void, severing the connection between Shaman God and the sourcebox array. A sourcebox abruptly appeared in the sky that had previously been hidden within the void. This was the reason why Shaman God had been able to leave so easily, and it was also why Xia Ziheng's slash had vanished so mysteriously. However, after Lu Yin severed the connection with his void god level domain, Shaman God had no choice but to directly face Lu Yin.

The doll’s hand extended towards Lu Yin with curled fingers as it tried to mix up his five senses.

Lu Yin's body suddenly grew withered. He raised a hand and shot a Hollow Palm back at Shaman God.

Bang!

There was a loud bang, and both of them were forced backwards. Lu Yin's body almost fully recovered from its withered state. Shaman God's ability to rearrange a person’s five senses approached the limits of what Lu Yin's body could handle. Thankfully, the attack had been rebuffed by Extremes Must Be Reversed. On the other hand, Shaman God's body had been shattered by Lu Yin's Hollow Palm.

Lu Yin was startled, as he had assumed that swapping the five senses simply meant that one's senses were shifted about their body. He had never realized that the shift could cause so much damage as well.

Shaman God’s doll clutched the left side its body. "You can actually resist having your senses confounded? You truly are strong, little one."

"I can be even stronger." Lu Yin raised his hand once again, and this time, a purplish-black substance spread across his body as he started using his Wielder-realm battle force.

This time, Lu Yin was relying on nothing but his own strength to face off against Shaman God's Semi-Progenitor avatar. He was not relying on any borrowed Progenitor-level powers.

The Seven Skygods’ Semi-Progenitor avatars were among the most powerful of all Semi-Progenitors. Lu Yin could not afford to be the slightest bit careless.

Deep in the ground, Shaman God’s doll moved its eyes as it floated into the air to stare at Lu Yin.

A chill ran up Lu Yin's spine, and he moved away quickly by using Inverse Step.

Nothing changed in the place where he had just been standing, but he knew that nothing good would have happened if he had remained in place.

Shaman God was completely different from Corpse God. Corpse God fought straightforwardly in a manner that represented unstoppable strength, whereas Shaman God fought elusively in a manner that was difficult to pin down. Furthermore, Shaman God was an Array Master, and Lu Yin felt that Shaman God might even be an Array Grandmaster.

In some ways, Shaman God was a much greater threat to Lu Yin than Corpse God.

"Kaka, little one, I’m not going to play with you anymore," Shaman God said before vanishing once again. The doll quickly expanded, again replacing the sky.

Lu Yin frowned. Shaman God’s techniques were truly bizarre. He could have kept the Skygod in place by using the power of a Progenitor, but he had not brought the Champions' Stage or the jiao with him for this trip. His purpose had been to kill Xia Ziheng, and bringing those things would have made him far more conspicuous and would have likely drawn the attention of Bai Wangyuan and the other Progenitors. As for the Investiture of the Gods, using it would instantly pull the attention of the entire Higher Realm.

Even if Lu Yin did use his Investiture of the Gods, there was no guarantee that it would be enough to prevent Shaman God’s avatar from escaping. The avatar was the same as Lu Yin’s Senior Brother Qing Ping; it was able to easily defeat most Semi-Progenitors, and it could even fight against Progenitors with the many methods that it had available.

High overhead, Shaman God’s gigantic doll loomed over Lu Yin.

Lu Yin slowly raised a hand and lashed out, shattering the doll. Its only purpose was to provide a bit of cover so that the real Shaman God could escape.

As the doll shattered and sunlight shone down once more, Lu Yin turned to face Xia Ziheng, who was being held by Hen Xin.

Xia Ziheng had not expected Lu Yin to appear at such a critical moment. Instead of feeling happy, his heart had dropped. When he had only been dealing with Shaman God, Xia Ziheng had seen a chance towards survival, even if it had meant betraying humanity. However, Lu Yin had clearly been present for some time, and he must have heard everything that Xia Ziheng had said. That meant that Lu Yin was aware that Xia Ziheng was willing to betray humanity, and Lu Yin would never let such a person go.

Xia Ziheng’s mind raced as he stared at Lu Yin, trying to find a path to survival from this predicament.

Lu Yin turned to face Xia Ziheng. "You were really unlucky to be targeted by the Shaman God."

Xia Ziheng's eye twitched and he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just passing by."

There was a bitter smile on Xia Ziheng’s face as he said, "Passing by? What a coincidence."

"Semi-Progenitor Ziheng, you've changed. In the past, whenever you saw me, you would scold or curse me. What's happened? Are you scared?" Lu Yin asked in a laid back tone.

Xia Ziheng’s eyes never left Lu Yin. "You came here on purpose. You came to kill me."

Lu Yin denied nothing, as Xia Ziheng was not stupid. Lu Yin had appeared in this remote place, and he was clearly trying to avoid attracting attention, which made his intentions quite clear.

"To avoid breaking the truce, you're going to make him kill me rather than do it yourself," Xia Ziheng continued.

Lu Yin smiled. "That was the plan, but what you told Shaman God really piqued my interest. I'm willing to let you use that secret to buy your life."

Xia Ziheng answered bitterly, "I am able to buy my life from Shaman God, but not from you."

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. "Do you want to die?"

"Of course not, but I already know that you won't let me go."

Lu Yin shook his head. "That’s not necessarily the case. It all depends on whether your secret is worth enough."

Xia Ziheng solemnly stated, "It's definitely worth what I’m asking. This is the biggest secret of the entire Perennial World, and it’s only known to five people."

"Just because a few people know something doesn't make it important or valuable."

Suddenly, Xia Ziheng started shouting, "The Celestial Frost Sect acted against the Lu family because they believe that Bai Xian'er can replace the Lu family as the ruler of this part of the universe. My Xia family acted against the Lu family because of past grudges related to Xia Shang. The White Dragon Clan participated because, if they didn't, they would lose all hope of surpassing the Nong and Liu families. However, what of the Wang family? Why did they act?"

Lu Yin answered, "Because of Wang Si."

Xia Ziheng retorted, "She was never anything more than a Semi-Progenitor. Even if she were Wang Fan's daughter, so what? Does Bai Qi run the Celestial Frost Sect? Besides, Wang Si wasn’t Wang Fan's daughter. To the Wang family, she was basically an outsider. What gave her the right to lead the plan to exile the Lu family? Why did Wang Fan ever agree to such a plan? Haven't you ever questioned this, Lu Xiaoxuan?"

Lu Yin had honestly never given the matter too much thought. He had learned the truth from Wang Si while interrogating her, and that was how he had learned that the four ruling powers had attacked the Lu family after being instigated by Wang Si. This aligned with everything that Lu Yin had learned through his own investigations; thus, he had naturally assumed that Wang Si was the primary reason why the Wang family had joined the plot to exile the Lu family. He had never really considered why the Wang family had listened to Wang Si.

No matter how powerful or clever the woman might have been, Wang Si had never been anything more than a Semi-Progenitor.

Lu Yin stared at Xia Ziheng. "Is the secret that you plan to reveal related to Wang Si?"

Xia Ziheng responded, "It's related to why the Wang family acted against the Lu family. It's the Wang family’s greatest secret, and it’s the secret that Wang Yi left behind as her revenge against the Wang family."

Lu Yin nodded. "Then tell me, and I'll let you go."