Chapter 2695: Escaping Destiny

However, Master Shan was not the same as he had been in the past. Black energy spread out in lines that seemed to solidify the illusory mountain, and that mountain shot forward and slammed into Destina.

Lu Yin was curious to see what level of power Master Shan would be able to exert with the energy converter.

Destina retaliated, and a thread of Destiny’s power shot forward to pierce the mountain, only to be rebuffed, much to her shock.

How was that possible? She could feel the strength of a Progenitor from that mountain. “Are you a Progenitor?"

Master Shan took a step forward, and Destina was pushed back.

Lu Yin called out as Destina was forced away, "Don't go spreading wild stories, or else you’ll never learn anything about Destiny."

Destina felt terribly conflicted and increasingly confused by Lu Yin. He had shown that he was capable of snapping one of her threads without relying on any external powers to reach the Progenitor-level, and he was also hiding a new Progenitor powerhouse.

Where had Master Shan gained that strength?

Regardless of whether Destina was willing to admit it, the Heavens Sect was growing stronger and stronger as time passed.

Unless Destina wanted to endanger the entire Origin Universe, there was no way she could leak anything about Lu Yin.

On the other hand, Skymender was much easier to deal with. Just a glance from Lu Yin sent the astral beast away, and he dragged Xiao Shi along with him.

"Senior Skymender, that little sister has such a rotten personality," Xiao Shi quietly mentioned to Skymender.

Skymender quickly shushed the young man.

Even so, Destina overheard the comment, and she glared at Xiao Shi. "Where is the Book of Destiny?"

Just as Xiao Shi was about to answer, Skymender covered the man’s mouth and replied, "The Dao Monarch has it."

Destina’s eyes narrowed.

At this moment, Zhao Ran arrived, and she happily distributed a few cups of herbal tea that she had prepared, not knowing which of the people present were guests who should receive refreshments.

Xiao Shi stared at Zhao Ran in surprise, and his eyes grew wide. He then followed after the girl.

Destina frowned. "Who is that mushroom head?"

Skymender gave a bitter smile. "I really don't know myself, but his affinity for Inverse Enigma is unlike anything I’ve ever seen."

Destina looked away and back at the mountain that they had just left. At this moment, she wanted to know what was happening with the Starsibyl Sect.

Back on the mountain, Lu Yin clasped his hands behind his back. "This is the end of things, so there’s no need to try to beat around the bush. Tell me, what happened to the Starsibyl Sect, why did Mr. Zhu pretend to be dead, and who attacked all of the Astral Combat Academy branches’ Stargazing Decks? Just what is going on, and what do you know about Destiny? There must be answers to all these things."

Mr. Zhu sighed. "The moment you found me, I was destined to give you these answers. The truth is, I am a pearl."[1]

Lu Yin was not at all surprised. In fact, he had already had his own suspicions. "Destiny had thirteen pearls. Are you one of them?"

Mr. Zhu nodded. "And Starsibyl is my host."

Lu Yin looked over at Starsibyl, who remained calm. "The Starsibyl Sect was founded by Mr. Zhu in order to select a Starsibyl to serve as his host. We have long since known of Destiny’s existence and that she is not a mere legend."

"Destiny will return," Mr. Zhu suddenly said.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. "Will Destiny really come back?"

Mr. Zhu took a deep breath. "Destiny is not dead yet, or else I would not exist. My existence is founded on Destiny’s power, and if she dies, I cannot exist."

Lu Yin retorted, "The Rune Progenitor’s power still lingers in the Fifth Mainland. Is that a guarantee that he’s still alive?"

Mr. Zhu shook his head. "That’s different. The Rune Progenitors altered the universe, while Destiny-”

The man stared intently at Lu Yin. "Converted the universe."

Lu Yin felt confused. "What do you mean?"

Mr. Zhu gave a bitter smile. "If I knew what that meant, I would have never been found by you. I would have become a Progenitor myself long ago. I have no desire to be Destiny’s pearl and be under her control. I also wish to become a Progenitor and to be free. I want to find those three items.”

A flash of inspiration flickered through Lu Yin's mind. "Are those the same three items that Undying Yushan was looking for?"

Mr. Zhu said, "To be precise, it is the Impious Sutra searching for them, or the three items that Progenitor Yōu Ming is searching for: the sword, the beads, and the branch."

Lu Yin's eyes flickered as he thought back to Undying Yushan’s final words before death. He had claimed that the Impious Sutra had influenced him to find three items, and it seemed highly likely that those three things were on Earth. "So that's why you stayed near this solar system.

“Why are you looking for those three items?

"What are they for?"

Lu Yin had slowly come to learn just how extraordinary Earth was. Every time Jiang Chen appeared on Earth, he did so by freely traveling through parallel universes. This was beyond unusual.

Mr. Zhu looked frustrated. "I don't know what those three things are used for. The Impious Sutra is searching according to the will of Progenitor Yōu Ming, while I am searching according to the will of Destiny. Neither of us have been searching for ourselves, yet we are forced to continue. Those three things must be special.

"I am certain that, as long as I find them, I will be able to undergo a transformation, and I will no longer be a pearl controlled by Destiny. I just need to find them.

"Undying Yushan gave me a clue, so why can I still not find anything?"

Lu Yin frowned. "Are they on a parallel universe’s Earth?"

"That’s the only possible explanation," Starsibyl spoke up. "If they aren’t in a parallel universe, then Undying Yushan would have found those three things long ago."

Mr. Zhu said, "Those three items are unique, which means that they cannot exist in multiple parallel universes. There can only be one version of each of them."

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Lu Yin stared off into the distance. If those items were in a parallel universe version of Earth, then they were most likely in the parallel universe that Jiang Chen was from.

It was not impossible to find them, but it would be almost entirely up to luck. After all, there was no telling when Jiang Chen might return again.

The Starsibyl Sect had likely been hiding the greatest secret of the modern era.

Before Lu Yin had obtained the God of Death Transformation, both the God of Death and Destiny had been nothing more than legends in his mind. They had been regarded as myths that some people were aware of, but whom no one ever mentioned. However, even back then, the Starsibyl Sect had always known the truth about Destiny, and they had even known that Destiny would one day return.

Mr. Zhu had not done anything wrong; it was even perfectly normal for him to think of his own well-being.

However, after being found and captured, it would be impossible for Mr. Zhu to ever regain his freedom. A pearl would always be a pearl.

If an ordinary person realized that Destiny was real and their life was nothing more than a prearranged story, would they resist? Maybe, but maybe not. However, what if the ending of the story did not align with that person’s desires, would they resist then? The answer would then become a definitive yes.

For Mr. Zhu, Destiny would eventually return, and his fate was to be a pearl that Destiny would wear as part of a bracelet on her wrist. He refused to accept his fate, and that was why he wanted to resist.

Mr. Zhu had spied and stolen Destiny’s cultivation arts, and then he had tried to use the three items he was searching for to connect himself to Destiny’s power and break through to become a Progenitor so that he could break free from Destiny’s control and seize the reins of his own fate.

Unfortunately, all his efforts had come to nothing in the end.

Staring down at the ten pearls in his hand, Lu Yin did not know what to do. Just holding them filled him with fear. After all, one of these pearls was Mr. Zhu, who was a sapient individual. Could each of the other nine pearls be the same sort of existence? Did wearing these pearls as a bracelet on his wrist mean that he had ten individuals observing him at all times? Just the thought induced feelings of panic.

Even more important was the fact that when Destiny returned, the first thing that she would do was find Lu Yin.

Lu Yin also had no idea what to do with these pearls if he did not wear them.

"Tell me what to do with these pearls," Lu Yin calmly asked as he stared at the pearls in his hand.

Starsibyl was also very calm. "I don't know. If I knew, I wouldn’t have remained as his host."

Lu Yin looked up at the woman. "You don’t want to be a host?"

Starsibyl answered in a bitter tone, "For Mr. Zhu, Destiny is the enemy who he’s been fighting against for his entire existence, but he is the same for me. Every action I’ve ever taken has been determined by Mr. Zhu."

"Does that include your divinations that concern me?" Lu Yin asked.

Starsibyl stared at Lu Yin. "Mr. Zhu divined a future catastrophe for all of mankind, and he tasked me with searching for someone who can help humanity survive that catastrophe. I had no idea how to find such a person or identify them from the vast sea of people. Instead, Mr. Zhu told me to perform divinations, and whomever I was unable to see anything about, they would possess the potential to save mankind from the future disaster.

"In the end, I found you. What I told you before was no lie. It was because of the fact I couldn’t see you in any of my divinations that I started paying attention to you, and that only increased after your fight with Nightking Zhenwu.”

Lu Yin interrupted Starsibyl, "You've already told me all of this. Tell me something that I don't already know."

Starsibyl looked up at the sky. "The current Fifth Mainland has too little knowledge about the Heavens Sect era. People know nothing at all about Destiny, and many don’t even believe that Destiny was ever even a real person. As far as I’m concerned, such people aren’t qualified to try to help me break free of Mr. Zhu."

Starsibyl paused for a few moments before looking back down at Lu Yin. "I needed to find someone who could help free me from Mr. Zhu, even if they were weak when I found them or needed to endure terrible suffering.

"I don't care about the catastrophe that humanity may eventually face, nor about Mr. Zhu’s desires. All I want is to be able to hold my own fate. Everything I’ve told you is the truth, and I’ve already said everything that needs to be said. All that’s different from what I told you before is that my true motivation was not to save humanity, but rather to save myself. I needed you to help free me from Mr. Zhu."

Lu Yin frowned. "That’s all?"

"Yes," Starsibyl answered bluntly while staring at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin stared into the woman’s eyes, but he was unable to read anything. It seemed that she had truly told him everything, but it was impossible for Lu Yin to ever believe her again.

He had no idea what else Starsibyl might be hiding. Given the gap between the two of them, what would be the point in her trying to hide anything at all? The bottom line was that he would never trust Starsibyl again, so he went to find Destina. "She’s all yours."

Starsibyl's expression changed slightly. "I can't go with her."

Destina glared at the younger woman with cold eyes. "When did it become your choice?"

Starsibyl stared only at Lu Yin. "I got free of Mr. Zhu. I won’t be controlled by Destina."

Lu Yin ignored Starsibyl and continued to focus on Destina. "I don't care how much you may hate her, she’s still useful to me. I don't want to see her warped beyond recognition the next time I see her."

Destina’s eyebrows rose, but she did not argue.

After awakening in the current era, the woman had slowly become more and more restrained compared to her willfulness and arrogance during the Heavens Sect era. Back then, she had acted like the daughter of the heavens themselves, and she had even dared to chase after Lu Buzheng, trying to kill the man. However, in the current era, she did not dare to disobey Lu Yin’s orders and was even only able to accept Lu Yin’s rebukes with suppressed frustration. However, that anger would soon be vented onto Starsibyl.

"Who is that mushroom head?" Destina asked.

Lu Yin was taken aback. "Where did Xiao Shi go?"

Skymender answered, "He chased after Zhao Ran."

Zhao Ran?

Lu Yin was surprised. Why would Xiao Shi chase after Zhao Ran? This question prompted Lu Yin to release his domain, and he immediately found both Zhao Ran and Xiao Shi.

When Lu Yin found the two, Xiao Shi was talking to Zhao Ran, appearing rather happy and excited, though Zhao Ran simply appeared confused. She even spilled tea while pouring it in a cup as she blankly stared at Xiao Shi.

Lu Yin stepped out and next appeared in the same place as the two people.

Skymender and Destina followed right behind him.

1. Zhu = pearl/bead. ?