Chapter 2813: One VS. Two

Chu Jian started trembling. The Great Sovereign's words caused the young man’s heart to almost burst, and he spat out blood. He tried to straighten up, but collapsed back down into the puddle of blood and all he could see was red

Through the blood, Chu Jian saw scenes of battle on the Endless Frontier, and the corpse kings he had slaughtered, as well as the countless people who had cheered for him. He saw the scene of a powerful corpse king, attacking Chu Jian, yet unable to harm him at all.

He heard all the people shouting, "The Silencer! The Silencer!"

Once he had returned to the Sixverse Association, countless people had recognized Chu Jian’s perfection. He had behaved as though he was above all others, as a disciple of the Great Sovereign. No one could enter his sight, which was as it should be.

What of the Three Sovereigns? If he wanted to learn their powers or techniques, he would do so.

The Nine Sages were destined to be trampled beneath his feet.

The Sixverse Association? It was nothing more than a joke, The Great Sovereign was the co-master of all humanity, which meant that the Sixverse Association was nothing more than just a name.

The Origin Universe? That universe was already gone. What was called the Heavens Sect and the person known as the Dao Monarch Master were nothing more than jokes.

In the future, Chu Jian would undoubtedly rise up to be second only to the Great Sovereign in the Sixverse Association. In the same manner that he had slaughtered the Ascendant-level corpse kings, he would face people powerhouses, remaining immortal and undefeatable. He could never be defeated.

What was there to fear?

Chu Jian laid in the puddle of blood staring blankly. He saw eyes that were full of fear and desperation, belonging to people who wanted to run away. Behind them were slitted scarlet eyes in hot pursuit. Was he also afraid? Of course he was. So much that he had to wear a mask and was too scared to even look back.

He was afraid of death. He possessed a powerful innate gift that prevented him from dying, so why was he so afraid?

Look back. Look back. Look back.

The man finally turned around to face countless powerful attacks. He withstood them all, and then fled while countless eyes watched in disbelief.

Everybody praised, amazed at what the man had accomplished.

However, only the man himself knew what he had faced at that moment. From that moment on, no matter what enemy he faced, the man would always use his innate gift. He would loudly proclaim to everyone, including his master, that he was undefeatable and would never be defeated.

His innate gift was the foundation of his invincibility, which meant that he needed to utilize his innate gift. Nothing else could be trusted, as only his innate gift would never betray him.

The blood rippled as Lu Yin walked up to Chu Jian and looked down at him. "Your reliance on your innate gift has led to your success, but also to your failures. Nine of Ten Chambers Empty allows you to divert an enemy’s attack, but you have also diverted yourself, as you lack the courage to not use your innate gift at all.”

"Chu Jian!" the Great Sovereign’s voice boomed again..

Chu Jian looked up at Lu Yin, clarity finally reappearing in his eyes as the few words kept echoing in his mind, “You lack the courage to not use your innate gift. You fear death.“

“You lack the courage to not use your innate gift. You fear death.“

“You lack the courage to not use your innate gift. You fear death.“

...

"I’m not. I don’t fear death, and I’m not afraid. I'm not afraid." Chu Jian abruptly rose to his feet, glaring at Lu Yin with mad eyes. "You're speaking nonsense."

Lu Yin shook his head. "Senior Great Sovereign, this is interesting, right?

"This disciple of yours has finally gained the courage to step forward, but that’s not enough. He simply is not enough to be my opponent, and I’m afraid of accidentally killing him and causing Senior to lose a beloved disciple. In that case."

Lu Yin suddenly turned to Sage Yuan, who was sitting for the tea ceremony. He pointed towards Sage Yuan and beckoned him over with a finger. "Get out here! I told you I would kill you at this tea ceremony."

Everyone stared at Lu Yin in shock. He wanted to fight Chu Jian and Sage Yuan at the same time?

Sage Yuan was badly startled. He had never expected Lu Yin would actually challenge him during the tea ceremony. Just how confident was the brat?

A smile crept across Lu Yin's face. "This little bit can’t even be considered a warm-up, and was merely helping Senior Great Sovereign teach her disciple, nothing more."

Chu Jian clenched his fists and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes again, allowing his sight to clear. The arrogance and superiority he had held so dear had completely disappeared. He understood what his master had been saying when she had told him to remain undefeated. He had never been required to remain undefeated. That had only been said in order to force Chu Jian to realize that he had trapped himself with his need to be undefeated.

What was funny was that Chu Jian was convinced that his master truly did hold very high expectations for him.

After everything had passed, Chu Jian looked at Lu Yin and softly said, "I really should thank you."

Lu Yin smiled. "It's still too early. I just want to clearly show you the gap between us and that it is insurmountable."

Chu Jian had nothing to say in his own defense. He had already tried his best, yet everything had failed to harm Lu Yin even the slightest bit. Chu Jian had attempted many battle techniques that belonged to the Three Sovereigns and Nine Sages, but Xuan Qi had learned several of those battle techniques as well. The only difference was that Lu Yin had also used that purplish-black substance to strengthen the techniques when he had used them, yet Lu Yin had undeniably controlled the pace of the match, completely overpowering Chu Jian every step of the way.

The Junior Sovereign could not even determine just how strong Lu Yin truly was.

It was enough to induce despair!

But so what? The more desperate one became, the greater the benefits that would be reaped from a breakthrough. Chu Jian had only just broken through to become an Ascendant, and was yet to fully master his new strength. He would use Lu Yin to do so.

However, there was no denying that Chu Jian was incapable of doing so on his own. At the very least, he needed someone to buy him some time.

Thinking of this, Chu Jian looked at Sage Yuan. "Even after being provoked in such a manner, you still don’t have the courage to take action? Are you still one of the Nine Sages?"

Sage Yuan's face twisted into a hideous expression. It was no shame to have Lu Yin challenge the Sage, but the brat was provoking a two on one fight. Victory would bring no honor, while losing would be beyond humiliating.

In fact, after seeing Lu Yin’s fight with Chu Jian, Sage Yuan was rather intimidated.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

At this moment, he regretted provoking Lu Yin. The Sage realized he should never have helped Nutjob Lu.

That madman had not even attended the tea ceremony himself, though that was as it should be. Sage Yuan should also have remained on the Endless Frontier.

Everyone was staring at Sage Yuan.

Sage Yuan had no choice but to step away from his seat. He glared at Lu Yin with eyes overflowing with bloodlust. "Lu Xiaoxuan, you have challenged me, which means that with this battle, the restrictions placed on me due to your achievements on the Endless Frontier will no longer hold."

Lu Yin raised his head high. "They aren’t needed."

While Lu Yin had never fought with Sage Yuan, he had a very thorough understanding of the Sage. In order to defeat an enemy, it was necessary to understand them.

Sage Yuan was an exceptional swordsman, but he was most famous for his strongest attack, which was known as the Three Strikes, which was a spiritual force attack.

Very, very few people in the Sixverse Association cultivated battle force, domains, or spiritual force, yet spiritual force was Sage Yuan’s greatest trump card. Of the Nine Sages, Sage Yuan was certainly not the strongest, but he was also not the weakest. He was firmly in the middle of the group, which was enough for him to be arrogant wherever he went.

Sovereign Shao Yin had sent Shao Qingfeng to learn from Sage Yuan, and He Ran had similarly tried to have He Shu learn from the Sage, both hoping that Sage Yuan would share knowledge of cultivating spiritual force.

It was not that the people of the Sixverse Association did not want to cultivate spiritual force, or domains, but that they lacked the cultivation methods to do so.

Even in the Origin Universe, it was not easy to learn to cultivate alternate sources of power, much less in the Sixverse Association. Alternate cultivation methods were always a greater challenge.

A magnificent surge of stellular energy swept out as Sage Yuan took action. He had been forced to join hands with Chu Jian against Lu Yin. Given the situation, it simply meant that Sage Yuan could not afford to lose, no matter what it took. The Sage intended to seize this opportunity to kill Lu Yin.

Regardless of how badly he regretted not dealing with Lu Yin before, the Sage knew to abandon any and all distracting thoughts at this moment. It was not yet too late.

A sword slashed at Lu Yin, accompanied by the incredible wave of stellular energy that attempted to suppress Lu Yin and leave him unable to even breathe.

Lu Yin calmly stood where he was and watched as Sage Yuan drew his sword. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

The moment Sage Yuan drew his sword, Chu Jian did not hold back at all. His own hands rose, and he released the Seven Divine Arrows again. The arrows followed close behind the sword slash, the power of Annihilation twining around the arrows.

This was the power that Chu Jian had always imagined himself using. He had become too comfortable in relying on his innate gift, and had trapped himself with it. He had been unwilling to step away from his innate gift, but he had finally woken up. He was the perfect Junior Sovereign, and there was nothing he did not dare do. There was nothing that was beyond his abilities.

As the slash struck, Lu Yin raised his hand. Stellular energy formed a sword, and with a bang, the two swords met each other. Sage Yuan's sword was swept back, the sharp edge slicing through the void, opening the Hollow within spatial tears that spread.

The Seven Divine Arrows arrived before Lu Yin, entangled with the power of Annihilation. The sword flickered up, striking the arrows to redirect them towards Sage Yuan.

It seemed as though the power of Annihilation did not even exist for Lu Yin. He had seen through every part of the Seven Divine Arrows.

Uncertainty appeared on Arrow Sage’s face. This young man was not merely capable of grabbing hold of the Seven Divine Arrows and deflecting them, he could even use a sword to guide and use the battle technique for his own purposes. It was clear that Lu Yin had completely analyzed the Seven Divine Arrows.

Sage Yuan's sword pierced through the void to slash at Lu Yin's back.

Lu Yin turned around, still controlling an arrow with his sword, and flung the arrow at Sage Yuan. The arrow smashed into Sage Yuan's sword, and with a bang, the Seven Divine Arrows exploded.

An unexpected surge of anger rose in the hearts of the two men.

The arrow had been formed from the emotion of anger, which was able to affect even Lu Yin’s mind for a moment.

While Lu Yin had seen through the Seven Divine Arrows, that did not mean that the technique could not influence Lu Yin. This was Arrow Sage’s battle technique, and it had allowed the Sage to survive his tenure on the Endless Frontier.

Sage Yuan took a step back, a burst of purple energy inexplicably appearing behind him. This was the Three Strikes: Purple Auspice.

Lu Yin faced the approaching purple qi. This was an attack of pure spiritual force. Sage Yuan had reached the Progenitor level with his spiritual force, and the pressure of this attack surpassed all that had appeared before. Even if facing a Progenitor, Sage Yuan’s spiritual force would overwhelm them, and without at least some degree of spiritual force cultivation, even a Progenitor would collapse before this attack.

Chu Jian took this opportunity to use the secret technique Phoenix Tail Sweep, and the Annihilation Phoenix shrieked at the sky before dropping upon Lu Yin.

Lu Yin stared at Sage Yuan, his eyes unclouded. "You dare to attack me with a brute-force spiritual force attack? Go to the Origin Universe to ask if anyone there dares try such a thing."

As Lu Yin spoke, the purplish-black substance spread down the blade of his sword. Without even a glance backwards, he slashed behind him with the sword. Not only did this slice through the Annihilation Phoenix, the edge of the sword sent out a terrifyingly sharp attack that could be easily seen. With this attack, Lu Yin incorporated the Thirteenth Sword, using emotion as a sword to attack. This was the same concept as the Seven Divine Arrows.

There was no denying that the Cyclic Universe had some powerful cultivators, some of whom were no weaker than their peers in the Origin Universe.

Every arrow produced with the Seven Divine Arrows was equal to an attack with the Thirteenth Sword, only using emotions to form arrows instead of a sword. If Lu Yin had not mastered the Thirteen Swords and also obtained Heaven’s Sight, he would have struggled against Arrow Sage’s battle technique.

Again, a Fifth Level Lotus bloomed in front of Chu Jian. While the lotus managed to stop a bit of the force of the sword slash, the blossom was still split apart, unable to stop the Thirteenth Sword.

The sharp slash passed by Chu Jian.

The Junior Sovereign spat out blood. This time, he did not hide from the attack with his innate gift, but instead endured it.

The purple qi that was formed from spiritual force condensed into a copy of Sage Yuan in front of Lu Yin. This was the second phase of the Three Strikes: Spiritual Clone.

Every attack from this spiritual force clone of Sage Yuan was a spiritual force attack. This clone did not attack the physical form, and yet it was able to duplicate Sage Yuan’s battle techniques. When compared with Eastern Purple Qi, the Spiritual Clone was several times more powerful.

However, Sage Yuan was shocked to see that Lu Yin remained unphased.

Lu Yin's spiritual force had been trained and cultivated with the Origin Progenitor’s Sutra. Even if the Sutra lost a good bit of its effectiveness outside of the Origin Universe, it was still able to temper Lu Yin’s spiritual force.

His spiritual force was as stable as a rock.