Chapter 2956: Return To The Scourge

Lu Yin put the Enhanced froststone away and then began Enhancing the second piece to the same level. In total, he expended 10 trillion star essence.

He already had plans for both pieces; one would be given to the Ice Lord to repay the Ice Spirit Tribe for the losses incurred by Yan'er entering the Iceheart, while the other piece would be used to deceive Aeternus.

As for the origin of these upgraded froststones, Lu Yin had already reached the level where he no longer needed to hide his abilities. The Aeternals had likely already identified several of Lu Yin’s abilities, and his ability to improve items should have been the first one that they had deduced.

Lu Yin returned to the Ice Spirit Domain with two Enhanced pieces of froststone. When they were presented to the Ice Lord, the spirit was stunned.

He stared blankly. "Dao Monarch Lu, what is this?"

Lu Yin handed one of the pieces to the Ice Lord. "I’m uncertain, but will this serve as a fake Iceheart?"

The Ice Lord took the froststone and examined it. Not only was he unharmed by the cold from the stone, but it would also improve his cultivation. The source of the Ice Spirits’ cultivation was coldness, and a deeper cold would strengthen the Ice Spirits in the same way that one of Lu Yin’s subordinates could increase their strength through eating poison. Others could never use these methods.

The Ice Lord stared at the froststone for a long time before he solemnly returned it to Lu Yin. "Dao Monarch Lu, is this a half of the froststone that I just gave you?"

Lu Yin smiled. "That’s right."

Even though the Ice Lord had suspected as much, hearing an affirmation to his question still sounded unbelievable.

A normal piece of froststone had been transformed into an ancient and powerful one in such a short period of time. It really was not a dream, no matter how much of a fantasy it felt like.

Seeing the dazed look on the Ice Lord’s face was hilarious to Lu Yin, and he quickly offered an explanation. "I am able to shorten the time needed for certain items to grow."

The Ice Lord was left speechless. How was this shortening the time needed? This was simply skipping that time.

He really did not know what to say to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin then handed the froststone back over to the Ice Lord. "This froststone is yours, to compensate for the losses you’ve suffered by letting Yan’er enter your Iceheart. If this isn’t enough, I can help your Ice Spirit Tribe by accelerating the growth of more froststones. Will this form of compensation be enough for using the Iceheart, Senior Ice Lord?”

The Ice Lord stared at the froststone for a long time before accepting it. "Dao Monarch Lu, you must have paid a steep price to use this sort of ability."

Lu Yin let out a breath. "It's worth it."

He said nothing about the price that he had paid, but the less Lu Yin said about the matter, the steeper the price the Ice Lord suspected. As far as the spirit was concerned, Lu Yin must have paid a price close to that of the Iceheart itself.

"It was merely a coincidence that your person was frozen within the Iceheart. There is no need to pay any form of compensation. Dao Monarch Lu, please take this back," the Ice Lord refused.

However, Lu Yin insisted. "I don’t have much use for a froststone anymore, and besides, I still have another one. Senior, you mentioned earlier that the Iceheart likes to devour froststones, so just give this one to the Iceheartg then."

The Ice Lord repeatedly refused, but no matter how he protested, Lu Yin insisted. In the end, the Ice Lord could only accept the gift.

Once again, the Ice Lord’s impression of Lu Yin changed. The Ice Lord was not even considering Lu Yin’s gratefulness, but rather the fact that the Dao Monarch possessed an ability that could be of great assistance to the Five Spirits Alliance. There might come a day when they would need to rely on Lu Yin’s ability.

The Ice Lord's attitude towards Lu Yin was constantly changing, and Lu Yin could feel it. He had also come to understand just how powerful the Five Spirits Alliance was. The Heavens Sect needed such allies.

The Sixverse Association had many powerful individuals outside of the six member universes who could be relied on, but they were only compliant towards the Sixverse Association. They had no connection to the Heavens Sect.

Since Lu Yin had reestablished the Heavens Sect, he needed to return it to its former glory. At that point, the Heavens Sect might not need any help from outsiders. They would be the strongest, with enough power to suppress the Aeternals and render universes like the Arboreal Realm or the Cyclic Universe speechless. But the Heavens Sect had not reached that level yet. The more that Lu Yin learned about other civilizations, the more that he wanted to integrate these powers and form a different Heavens Sect from the past one.

He did not just want to restore the ancient glory of the Heavens Sect; Lu Yin wanted to surpass it.

The Ice Lord also told Lu Yin that the Enhanced froststone would indeed be able to trick Aeternus, as this froststone was approaching the same level of power as the Iceheart itself. If there was any problem, Lu Yin could simply say that the Iceheart had been broken in half, as the froststone had clearly been split apart.

Lu Yin prepared to leave, but before he did so, the Ice Lord asked Lu Yin to leave a mark on a coordinate seal in the Ice Spirit Tribe’s universe so that he could return at any time. This was also what Lu Yin had hoped to achieve by revealing his secret. Yan'er was in the Iceheart, so Lu Yin needed to be able to see her at any moment.

Shao Yin had already returned to the Scourge, and he quickly told Progenitor Xi about what had happened during the mission in the Ice Spirit Tribe’s universe. They had successfully deceived the Ice Spirit Tribe into thinking that someone from the Luna Alliance had tried to steal the Iceheart, which meant that the Ice Spirit Tribe should declare war on the Luna Alliance soon.

In Shao Yin’s original plan, Qi You and the old woman would have lured away all of the Ice Spirit Tribe’s Progenitor-level experts. Instead, Shao Yin had wanted Ye Bo to lure away the Ice Lord so that Shao Yin would have a chance of stealing the Iceheart himself. The goal was to have Ye Bo die, Qi You and the old woman escape, and Shao Yin steal the Iceheart. That would have been the best-case scenario.

Unfortunately, Ye Bo had refused to obey orders at the very start of the battle, and Shao Yin had been forced to take action himself.

He had no idea how things had turned out.

It was possible that both Qi You and the old woman had died, and it was also possible that the Ice Lord had believed Shao Yin’s comment and that he would soon declare war on the Luna Alliance. It was also possible that Qi You and the old woman were still alive and that the mission had failed entirely.

Shao Yin had no way of knowing if the mission was successful or not, so he forced all of the responsibility onto Ye Bo, making any potential failure Lu Yin's problem.

"Ye Bo fled before the battle even started?" Progenitor Xi was surprised.

Shao Yin quietly shared his original plan. "We waited for fifty years, and we could have succeeded when the opportunity appeared, but because Ye Bo fled at the last moment and did not dare to attack with us, I was forced to stall the Ice Lord while also trying to steal the Iceheart. I wasn’t able to steal it, and I have no idea if the mission was a success or not. It all depends on whether the Ice Lord learns that I am from Aeternus.”

Progenitor Xi still appeared calm. "Is Ye Bo dead?"

"I don't know."

"Then the mission should have failed," Progenitor Xi stated.

Shao Yin grew puzzled. "Not necessarily. I made sure to indicate that I was part of the Luna Alliance, and everyone who participated in the attack was human. Are you worried that one of them might have been captured and admit to being from Aeternus?"

Progenitor Xi stared at the Sovereign Shao Yin. "Ye Bo will definitely use divine energy if he faces certain death. The moment divine energy appears, they will know that he’s from Aeternus."

Shao Yin was startled. "Ye Bo’s cultivated divine energy?"

"You didn’t know?" Progenitor Xi asked.

Shao Yin became even more furious. That bastard have clearly said that he had no divine energy. If Shao Yin had known the truth, he would have never tried to use Ye Bo to distract the Ice Lord. How could that bastard be so unreasonable? Shao Yin had tried to be clever, but everything had backfired. It would have been perfect if Ye Bo had died, but instead, it looked like the bastard would be the cause of the mission failing. This mission had been Shao Yin’s opportunity to compete to become one of the Seven Skygods. That bastard!

Progenitor Xi suddenly stared off into the distance, her eyes lighting up. "Ye Bo is back."

Shao Yin was taken aback. "What?"

He turned and looked as well, and he saw Ye Bo quickly approaching. The man’s face was pale, and his whole body radiated an icy chill. It was clear to see that he had been badly hurt. His right arm was the worst, as it had been entirely frozen.

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Lu Yin reached the other two, panting heavily while he glared at Shao Yin. "Senior, you actually ran away from the battle!"

Shao Yin was startled so badly that he could not even react.

Progenitor Xi examined Lu Yin's arm. "That injury—Ye Bo, who hurt you?"

Lu Yin gritted his teeth. "This is all from the Iceheart."

This surprised Progenitor Xi. "The Iceheart?"

Shao Yin shouted angrily, "Ye Bo, you disappeared before the battle even started, causing the mission to fail. How dare you return now?"

Lu Yin retorted in anger, "You’re the one who ran away! You didn't have the courage to hold out for even three breaths against the Ice Lord. I almost failed, and it was all because of you."

"This is ridiculous! The other two moved, but you stayed where you were and never moved, and yet you dare to try to accuse me?" Shao Yin was absolutely furious.

Lu Yin sneered. "Are you saying that I’m making it all up? Then what’s this?"

He then pulled out the Enhanced froststone from his cosmic ring. The moment the stone appeared, a white mist spread out, freezing the void wherever it went.

Progenitor Xi’s eyes flickered, and her hand shot out to grab the stone. "Is this it?"

Shao Yin was stunned. While he had never actually seen the Iceheart, he had nearly managed to steal it, and he had been exposed to its coldness. The cold that he felt from this stone was very similar to what Shao Yin had felt before. Could this be the Iceheart? How was that possible?

"This is not the Iceheart." Progenitor Xi looked away from the stone to stare at Ye Bo.

Lu Yin's expression never changed. "It is, but it’s only half of it, since the Iceheart broke."

Progenitor Xi was taken aback. "It broke in two?"

Lu Yin grew solemn and turned to stare at Shao Yin. "While we were making plans to attack the Ice Spirit Tribe, this man tasked me with stealing the Iceheart, but when it was time, he changed his mind and wanted me to distract the Ice Lord while he stole the Iceheart himself. I didn't know about that beforehand, so I tried to do as I was told. However, the Ice Lord ignored me and instead returned to the Ice Spirit Domain as quickly as possible. Given the Ice Lord's strength, he could have frozen me in place easily, thus, I didn’t have a chance to execute the task properly.

"Not only did this man not try to save me, but he also didn't steal the Iceheart. As soon as the Ice Lord returned, this man escaped without a word, which led to the deaths of Qi You and some other old woman who went with us. If I hadn't sacrificed one of my clones, I would have died."

"That’s bullshit!" Shao Yin roared. He was ready to attack Ye Bo.

Progenitor Xi looked at the former Sovereign and said, "Shao Yin, tell me what happened from your perspective."

Shao Yin gritted his teeth and then proceeded to share how he had ordered Ye Bo to take action, but that Ye Bo had never responded.

"This is slander! How can you say such things? Are you really a sequence powerhouse?" Lu Yin demanded in a rage.

Shao Yin was also incredibly angry. "I told you to take action, but you never even replied!"

Lu Yin retorted, "My job was to steal the Iceheart, so my communication crystal was in my cosmic ring. I never got any of your messages, so of course I wasn’t able to respond. Besides, the directions that you gave me in those messages indicated somewhere far away from the Ice Spirit Domain. When I tried to get there, I had to suppress my aura. How can you possibly expect someone to answer you when they’re trying to sneak around?"

Shao Yin's eyes bulged. "You never even moved!."

"Right when I was about to take action, you attacked a different location. The Ice Lord appeared and instantly froze me as soon as he found me. He never paid any attention to me at all," Lu Yin replied.

There was nothing that Shao Yin could say to this. He stared at Ye Bo in a daze. Was this possible? Everything that this man said sounded perfectly reasonable.

Shao Yin had not been able to contact Ye Bo because he had completely retracted his aura in preparation to steal the Iceheart. Ye Bo not known that the Iceheart was not at the place he had targeted, so it made sense that Ye Bo had restrained his aura. There was also no problem with him claiming that the Ice Lord had instantly frozen him, as Ye Bo could not compare to the Ice Lord's strength at all.

When Shao Yin had led the Ice Lord to Ye Bo’s hiding place, there had been no one there. Could Shao Yin have been wrong about Ye Bo from the very beginning?

Shao Yin was stumped, and he reconsidered all that had happened and all that Ye Bo had said. There were no problems to be found. Could he have been mistaken?

OMA's Thoughts

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA