Chapter 2659: The Red Star

The rapidly devolving situation forced Xia Shenji to leave the entrance to the passage and go face off against the Progenitor-level corpse king.

However, due to Arch-Elder Zen’s sudden absence, Aeternus intensified the assault on the Three Monarchs Universe, and they even sent a Progenitor.

It was Yi Ren.

Chen Le was forced to step onto the front lines.

In a rare display of strength, Forgotten Ruins God exerted her full strength, which Monarch Luo and Monarch Xing struggled together to hold back. Xia Shenji assisted the two Monarchs, and the three powerhouses were only barely able to hold the Skygod back. However, Chen Le was able to deal with both Yi Ren and the Progenitor-level corpse king on his own.

At the critical moment, Sage Yuan revealed himself from behind the rainbow wall, and he stopped the attacks from striking the universe’s first line of defense.

Chen Le had not expected Sage Yuan to appear. He had not even known that Sage Yuan was in the Three Monarchs Universe.

The new Monarch was not alone, as Forgotten Ruins God and Yi Ren also had not expected to see Sage Yuan, who was one of the Cyclic Universe’s Nine Sages, appear. Why was he in the Three Monarchs Universe?

Monarch Luo, Monarch Xing, and Xia Shenji showed no hint of surprise by the Sage’s arrival, though they were completely caught off guard by Arch-Elder Zen's sudden departure.

Lu Yin seized the opportunity and arrived next the entrance to the passage to Shenwu Continent. A short distance away, he caught sight of a familiar figure: Mu Shang.

This was the time for Lu Yin to put his divine energy to the test. He changed his appearance and then mentally pictured the scene of the Three Monarchs Universe invading and subjugating the Fifth Mainland. In this bleak vision, Lu Yin saw his loved ones, friends, and the rest of the inhabitants of the Fifth Mainland become subhumans. They were killed and tortured, rendered completely hopeless.

Lu Yin could not allow this to actually happen.

Slowly, a scarlet light blossomed in Lu Yin's eyes. The glow came from the red dot at the center of the power system in his chest. The red glow spread, and Lu Yin started to radiate an aura of cruelty, ruthlessness, and brutality. He felt an inexplicable desire for endless violence that only welled up and continued to grow stronger. Within moments, the formidable crimson energy erupted, engulfing everything it encountered.

Lu Yin’s awareness grew hazy, and he lost track of his thoughts. All that consumed him was an overwhelming urge to eliminate a very specific face. He was overcome by an uncontrollable compulsion to take that life

Some distance away from Lu Yin, Mu Shang was staring at the entrance to the passage. The Sealing Path was a sourcebox array that had been designed by Grandmaster Gu Yan. While Mu Shang understood the principles behind it, that was not enough for him to be confident in undoing the sourcebox array. As long as he worked on his own, there was a very good chance that Mu Shang would fail. To undo the Sealing Path from the Three Monarchs Universe, someone at least as capable as Grandmaster Gu Yan would need to make the attempt, and they would also need to be supported by more than one Progenitor-level expert.

This passage must open! The Fifth Mainland has to be connected to the Three Monarchs Universe. Lu Yin, this is what you deserve! Your Lu family should have disappeared long ago!

Mu Shang's eyes blazed with excitement. He was determined to remove the Sealing Path by any means necessary.

Suddenly, a dark red light shot past the man, and his scalp went numb. He whirled around and saw a red dot off in the distance, though it was quickly getting closer.

What is that?

There was a deafening explosion that shattered space. Lu Yin, enveloped by a scarlet aura, was completely unscathed, despite the oppressive monarch essence that surrounded him. With a single sweeping motion, he eliminated everyone in his path.

He moved forward, his eyes locked onto Mu Shang as he launched another attack.

Mu Shang was badly startled. "A corpse king?"

He immediately set up a sourcebox array and brought out a power vessel, but both defenses were effortlessly torn apart by Lu Yin.

When Lu Yin had fought against Nutjob Lu in the Lu Sanctum’s treasury, he had pulled out the death energy in the Specter Abyss so that he could use the God of Death's attack to defeat Nutjob Lu. However, Nutjob Lu had revealed the ability to use the pupilless eyes stage of the Corpse King Transformation. At that point in time, Nutjob Lu’s physical strength had far exceeded Xia Shenji's, and it had caught Lu Yin off guard. However, despite such incredible power, Nutjob Lu had still been badly wounded when Lu Yin had augmented his attack with divine energy.

Such a thing would not have been possible even with the combination of the God of Death's scythe and left arm. Only divine energy could unleash such power.

With the boost in strength that Lu Yin received from the divine energy, everything that Mu Shang threw out to defend himself might as well have been paper, as Lu Yin effortlessly ripped everything apart.

Mu Shang was grabbed by his head, and the next instance, both figures vanished.

With neither Xia Shenji nor Sage Yuan nearby, there was no one who could stop Lu Yin.

Lu Yin appeared in a remote region of the Three Monarchs Universe, still holding onto Mu Shang.

The Array Grandmaster crashed into the ground with enough force that every bone in his body was shattered. Blood spewed from his lips as he stared up at the imposing figure who had captured him.

It was a monumental struggle for Lu Yin to retain his sanity. He stared down at Mu Shang's face while attempting to rein in the rampaging divine energy. However, an insatiable bloodlust coursed through his veins with enough intensity that it shook Lu Yin to his core. All that he could think of was to kill, kill, kill...

Mu Shang coughed up more blood as he tried to escape, but Lu Yin instantly blocked his path. While staring into Mu Shang's eyes, Lu Yin muttered, "It’s time to end this."

The Array Grandmaster’s pupils instantly shrank, as he recognized that voice. "Lu Yin? You are Lu Yin!"

There was a thunderous crash as Mu Shang's body was smashed to the ground once again. He was mercilessly pummeled by Lu Yin’s fist.

The same moment that Mu Shang breathed his last, the uncontrollable bloodlust that had overwhelmed Lu Yin's mind miraculously disappeared, which allowed him to return to his normal state of mind.

He collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. That had been too dangerous. He had simply wanted to test out the divine energy inside him while also leaving evidence of Aeternus at the scene. He had not expected things to become so dangerous. If he had been the slightest bit careless for even a moment, his mind might have been devoured by the bloodlust.

This was the power of True God Wei Yi.

It was no wonder that Aeternus was mankind's greatest enemy. It was possible that the minds of every Aeternal was filled with aggression and the desire to enslave others. However, the moment Mu Shang died, all thoughts of violence had disappeared from Lu Yin’s mind.

He stared at the ground. Had Mu Shang been the source of that obsession with killing? Had Mu Shang been the key to the raging bloodlust?

Lu Yin looked into his chest. The red dot was still there, hanging like an eternal red star that shone down on the rest of the power system in his chest. The red dot illuminated the continent of fatesand.

The mixed energies within Lu Yin’s chest were too bizarre. He could not make sense of what was there, and even Mister Mu found it mysterious.

Despite using the divine energy, the red dot did not seem depleted at all, and it instead seemed more like a seed that had been planted in his body.

Lu Yin feared that the divine energy would one day take control of him. That would be a terrible disaster.

He could still vividly remember the vision of the future that had appeared when the Books of Destiny had merged. Would he really one day slaughter his loved ones and friends? Every time the thought returned, it left him nervous.

Xuan Jiu had been absolutely right; Lu Yin was an ominous person. He wanted to change the future before. But now, he

had

to change it.

...

While Lu Yin was eliminating Mu Shang, elsewhere, Monarch Luo and the rest of the Three Monarchs Universe’s forces held steady at the rainbow wall.

With the support of Sage Yuan and Chen Le, the rainbow wall held strong. It would not fall even if another Progenitor-level Aeternal arrived.

As the fighting on the front lines started to ease, what had happened at the entrance to the passage reached Monarch Luo’s ears.

Enraged, Monarch Luo charged over to the passage, with Xia Shenji and Sage Yuan right behind him.

An area of outer space that had been tainted with remnants of divine energy were what met them.

Sage Yuan's expression turned grave. "This is not the work of a normal corpse king. This is traces of divine energy. Could one of the Seven Skygods' avatars have taken action?"

Monarch Luo had not expected to encounter traces of divine energy.

Xia Shenji's face fell. Failure. They had failed yet again. Where had they gone wrong? Why would the Aeternals attack Mu Shang? Traces of divine energy indicated that Aeternus had taken action, but why would they?

If not for discovering divine energy, the first person that Xia Shenji would have suspected would have been Lu Yin. Only that young man had an interest in keeping the passage sealed. However, all the evidence pointed away from Lu Yin, as there was no way he could be a corpse king.

What on earth had happened? Nobody could figure it out.

"Sage Yuan," Monarch Luo spoke softly, "Arch-Elder Zen's desertion of the battlefield placed us in a disadvantage during battle. This needs to be thoroughly investigated."

Sage Yuan replied, "I know. This matter won’t be dropped here."

Xia Shenji stared at the entrance to the spatial passage. "This is just too much of a coincidence. Right when Sage Yuan arrived with an Array Grandmaster from the Cyclic Universe to remove the seal on the passage, Arch-Elder Zen left the frontlines, which forced us onto the battlefield, leaving this place unprotected. If Arch-Elder Zen had remained at his post, Mu Shang wouldn’t have been killed."

Sage Yuan's eyes were steely. "Are you implying that the Heavens Sect is connected to this?”

Monarch Luo also turned to look at Xia Shenji.

The man replied, "There's no evidence supporting that, but no matter how I look at this, the Heavens Sect is unquestionably connected to what happened here."

"But there are traces of divine energy," Monarch Luo objected.

Xia Shenji had no answer for that, as it was undoubtedly the greatest point of contention. Could the Heavens Sect be collaborating with Aeternus? Just the mere thought of such a thing was insane. No matter how much Xia Shenji might hate Lu Yin, the Progenitor would never make such an outrageous accusation.

The only reason why Aeternus’s forces had been driven out of the Perennial World was because of Lu Yin. If not for him, the Perennial World might have even been taken over by the Aeternals. There was no reason for Aeternus to put in the effort of nurturing someone like Lu Yin, just for him to fight against them.

Sage Yuan growled in frustration. "Regardless, I will find out why Arch-Elder Zen left so abruptly."

The man then turned to look at Xia Shenji. "Aside from Mu Shang, who else knows about the Sealing Path?"

Xia Shenji shook his head. "There are four Array Grandmasters in my Perennial World. Mu Shang is the youngest and most talented of them all, which is why he was occasionally given the opportunity to learn from Grandmaster Gu Yan. Aside from him, it’s possible that only Grandmaster Gu Yan's disciple had any knowledge of this sourcebox array.

"Unfortunately, Grandmaster Gu Yan has only ever had one disciple, who was named Gu Yue, and he died many years ago. When this passage was first sealed, Gu Yue was the one responsible."

Monarch Luo's eyes went wide in shock. Gu Yue and Gu Yan; these two men were the reason why the Three Monarchs Universe’s hopes of invading the Origin Universe had been dashed repeatedly. They would not be let off lightly.

Sage Yuan stared at Xia Shenji. "There's no need to rush things. Since Grandmaster Gu Yan's disciple is already dead, we can just help him find another one. As long as they can learn the Sealing Path from him, they will eventually be of use to us. It does not matter to us if we need to wait hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years."

Xia Shenji nodded. "I understand."

Sage Yuan then went to the Origin Universe to learn why Arch-Elder Zen had suddenly left the battlefield.

As soon as the Sage left, Monarch Luo and Xia Shenji exchanged glances. "Is it possible that Lu Yin could be colluding with Aeternus?"

Xia Shenji frowned. "As much as I hate to admit it, the chances of that are almost zero."

Monarch Luo's eyes were icy cold. He had not thought that there could be a spy in his Three Monarchs Universe who was capable of utilizing divine energy. This was a terrible threat, and it absolutely had to be eliminated.

In the Origin Universe, Sage Yuan arrived at the Heavens Sect in the Fifth Mainland and approached Arch-Elder Zen.

The Progenitor was taken aback by Sage Yuan's arrival. "I merely came back to retrieve a power vessel. Why are you here, Sage Yuan? Is there something that you need to tell me?"

Sage Yuan’s eyes narrowed. "You came back here for a power vessel?"

Arch-Elder Zen nodded. "I was thinking of throwing a Devourer into Aeternus's territory before they launched an all-out assault on the rainbow wall. I wanted to measure how effective a deterrence it might prove to be."

Sage Yuan frowned. "What’s a Devourer?"

"It seems that your Cyclic Universe is uninformed of various details of my Origin Universe. The Devourer was a disaster that befell the Fourth Mainland back during the Heavens Sect era. It is a metal that grows stronger and larger by devouring flesh and blood."

As he spoke, Arch-Elder Zen brought out a bit of the metal that Lu Yin had Enhanced and left in the Heavens Sect. It was an excuse that the two had come up with to justify Arch-Elder Zen's return.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Do not underestimate this metal, as it once brought catastrophe upon the Fourth Mainland. As one of the Three Sovereigns and Nine Sages, even if you did not live during that era yourself, you should at least have some knowledge of it."

Sage Yuan grew solemn. Of course he had heard of the Origin Universe’s Fourth Mainland during the Heavens Sect era. The Origin Universe might have few historical records about their own past, but plenty still remained in the Cyclic Universe, and among them were records of the Fourth Mainland’s history.