Chapter 3092: Luring Him Out

Many individuals would go into seclusion for thousands or even tens of thousands of years at a time simply because they had a direction to proceed with their cultivation. On the other hand, Lu Yin lacked that necessary direction. Once he found his path forward, time would not be an issue, and he would be able to easily continue.

The difficulty lay in finding a direction forward.

Half a month passed, but Arch-Elder Zen still had not returned.

Lu Yin was still not feeling rushed at all, and he calmly continued to visualize the Fifth Mainland.

Finally, after a full month went by, Arch-Elder Zen returned. However, he did not do so via the teleportation device, but rather through the cosmic door.

The cosmic door activated, connecting the Heavens Sect to the cave, and it remained open.

“Why did you return through the cosmic door?” Lu Yin asked, puzzled.

Arch-Elder Zen smiled wryly. “I couldn’t find this place again. That teleportation device is connected to an unknown number of other devices. As soon as I left this place, the device I arrived at broke and became unusable.”

Lu Yin glanced at the teleportation device. It seemed that it was connected to quite a distant location, as well as an intricate setup.

“Dao Monarch, beyond this is a vast universe. I saw an Aeternus Kingdom,” Arch-Elder Zen reported.

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. “Are there many Aeternals in this universe?”

Arch-Elder Zen’s expression grew solemn. “Very many. It looks as though this entire universe has been occupied by Aeternus. To avoid alerting them, I didn’t engage in any battles. All I did was blend into the Aeternus Kingdom so that I could gather some information. The strongest expert from Aeternus who attacked this universe is Arrow God.”

Lu Yin was surprised. “Arrow God?”

Arch-Elder Zen nodded. “When we invaded the First Scourge Region, Arrow God arrived and helped them. Her arrows nearly turned the tide against us. If not for Sovereign Dou Sheng’s intervention, Arrow God would have most likely reversed the situation. She’s undoubtedly the most powerful individual in this universe, and she frequently takes action. The strongest civilization that once existed in this universe was destroyed by her.”

Lu Yin sighed. Clearly, they were already too late. The image of the scarlet-haired woman appeared in his mind.

Arrow God was not merely beautiful, but also extraordinarily powerful.

When the Great Sovereign had shown Lu Yin Aeternus’s six Scourges, Arrow God had attacked. She had also been the first one to reinforce the First Scourge when the Sixverse Association had invaded. The woman seemed unusually active, which was not at all like the other Three Pillars and Six Skies.

During the Divine Selection, during which Lu Yin had been disguised as Ye Bo, he had learned that Arrow God was the ruler of the Fifth Scourge. Her subordinates included the Five Elders, all of whom were sequence powerhouses. Two of them, the Magician and Da Huang, had represented the Fifth Scourge during the Divine Selection, but Da Huang had died, and the Magician had been gravely injured. It was unknown what had become of the man.

With five sequence powerhouses under her command, as well as Arrow God’s frequent activities, it was clear that the woman wielded tremendous influence within Aeternus.

If Blackless God were not one of the Seven Skygods and solely focused on the First Scourge, his Fourth Scourge would not be nearly so weak. Its only sequence powerhouse had been Kong Ji.

At the moment, it appeared that the greatest threats to humanity among the Three Pillars and Six Skies were Di Qiong and Arrow God, as they had both done a great deal of harm so far.

“Let's go. There's no hope for this universe,” Lu Yin said as he stood.

Arch-Elder Zen stopped him. “It’s not entirely hopeless.”

Lu Yin grew puzzled.

Arch-Elder Zen explained, “While this universe’s most powerful civilization was destroyed by Arrow God, she failed to kill a truly powerful expert known as The Abandoned.”

“The Abandoned?”

“The Abandoned is supposedly the strongest powerhouse from the civilization that Arrow God exterminated. While his civilization was destroyed, The Abandoned managed to escape, and since then, he’s been targeting the Aeternus Kingdoms. He’s succeeded in destroying more than thirty Aeternus Kingdoms over the years.

“He is Aeternus’s greatest obstacle in this universe, and while Arrow God has fought him several times, she has gained nothing.

“If we can recruit The Abandoned, we will gain a truly powerful ally.”

Lu Yin was astonished. “For him to be able to fight against Arrow God on his own, he must be an incredible powerhouse. However, where do we find him?”

As Lu Yin spoke, his expression changed, and he looked around the cavern.

Arch-Elder Zen and Leng Qing exchanged glances.

“This can’t be a coincidence,” Arch-Elder Zen muttered.

Lu Yin’s eyes lit up. “Perhaps Mister Mu sent us here to find The Abandoned.”

From the very beginning, the men had known that the cave they had arrived in was quite peculiar. Not even Heaven's Sight could see through the walls of the cave. It appeared to be the ideal hiding place, and it was not unreasonable to think that The Abandoned had been hiding in the cave.

How many places throughout the megaverse’s countless parallel universes could block Heaven's Sight?

Arrow God’s inability to catch The Abandoned was possibly due to the man’s strength, but it might also be due to the fact that she was unable to even find him.

When Arch-Elder Zen had left the cave, the teleportation device that he had arrived at had instantly shattered. This suggested that whoever had used the cave in the past had wanted to avoid being tracked. The more the three men considered the situation, the more likely they felt that The Abandoned used this cave.

All three men arrived at the same conclusion.

Lu Yin frowned. Even if this cave was used by The Abandoned, how were they supposed to find him? Waiting for him to return could take countless years, and Lu Yin could not afford to wait for too long.

When it came to cultivation time, Lu Yin was very different from most people.

If waiting was simply not an option, then the best approach was to somehow lure The Abandoned out.

“Arch-Elder Zen, Leng Qing, we’ll split up and destroy Aeternus Kingdoms. Attack each place once, and then immediately retreat so that we can avoid drawing out Arrow God,” Lu Yin ordered.

Arch-Elder Zen and Leng Qing agreed, and each of them stepped onto the teleportation device and left the cave.

Lu Yin followed suit, and after experiencing a spatial warp, he appeared in a city.

He had not expected to appear in a city.

The city was not an Aeternus Kingdom, but simply a city that belonged to a primitive civilization. Lu Yin examined his surroundings through his domain, but he did not even find anyone at the Explorer level. The strongest people were only peak Limiteers, and they were all in what appeared to be a palace. They were clearly the most powerful individuals in the primitive civilization.

The moment that Lu Yin arrived, a teleportation device shattered beneath his feet.

Whoever had set up the teleportation devices had been exceedingly cautious, as some had even been placed in a primitive civilization that could not explore outer space.

Such people might not even be able to draw Aeternus’s attention.

Lu Yin stepped away and left the city. He immediately started searching for an Aeternus Kingdom. One should be somewhere nearby.

He quickly succeeded and moved over. Standing in outer space, Lu Yin looked down at the Aeternus Kingdom. A hand rose, and a palm strike fell.

The void was compressed, and it took on the shape of a palm print that fell upon the Aeternus Kingdom.

From within the city, a Progenitor-level corpse king charged upwards to protect the Aeternus Kingdom, only to be instantly crushed by the palm strike.

The single attack shattered the Aeternus Kingdom into nothingness.

Lu Yin had targeted the city sections that did not have human inhabitants, so while the Aeternus Kingdom was destroyed, the humans in it were left unharmed. Only the infrastructure had been shattered.

After delivering a single attack, Lu Yin promptly left and moved on.

At the same time, Arch-Elder Zen and Leng Qing also destroyed Aeternus Kingdoms themselves before quickly retreating.

Lu Yin had no idea how many Aeternus Kingdoms existed in this particular universe, but he destroyed one every few days, continuously repeating the process.

All together, the three men quickly destroyed almost ten Aeternus Kingdoms.

They easily found their targets at first, but as soon as the Aeternals realized that they were being attacked, things became far more difficult. Otherwise, The Abandoned would not have destroyed a mere thirty Aeternus Kingdoms, and he likely could have targeted even more.

One day, Leng Qing swung his blade, expecting to destroy another Aeternus Kingdom, but the attack was blocked. A middle-aged man emerged from the Aeternus Kingdom, and he stared at Leng Qing with dark, cold eyes.

Leng Qing’s instincts screamed danger. This man was a very strong powerhouse.

There was no doubt that the man was a sequence powerhouse, and Leng Qing did not hesitate. He immediately turned and fled.

The middle-aged man sneered. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

He raised a hand, and the void warped. Seals appeared, and they all hurtled towards Leng Qing. The void exploded from the terrifying power, and the stars shattered, startling the inhabitants of the Aeternus Kingdom.

Leng Qing’s blade swept out again and again to defend him from the surrounding seals and explosions, but he was trapped. While he could block the seals and the explosions, the unexpected attack had caught him off guard.

The middle-aged man moved in on Leng Qing. “I am one of the Five Elders under Arrow God, Thousand-Hand Seal. Tell me your name.”

Leng Qing clenched the hilt of his blade. He refused to use his Celestial Blade World, as the situation would become very complicated if Arrow God’s people recognized Leng Qing as someone from the Origin Universe.

At the very least, Aeternus would raise their guard.

Thousand-Hand Seal glared at Leng Qing. “Not talking? Then I’ll cripple you and see how long you can stay silent for.”

As the man spoke, the void twisted again, and more seals appeared. The sheer number was daunting, as each one on its own was enough to make Leng Qing wary.

This was not his first time fighting against a sequence powerhouse. Leng Qing could put up a fight against such opponents, but to do so, he needed to first understand their sequence particles. Without that, Leng Qing would be at too great a disadvantage.

Right when Thousand-Hand Seal was about to attack, the Aeternus Kingdom behind him shattered. He whipped around, his expression changing drastically. “Bastard!”

Someone had destroyed the Aeternus Kingdom, which momentarily distracted Thousand-Hand Seal. Leng Qing had an opening with which to escape.

Thousand-Hand Seal was about to pursue, but he was abruptly enveloped by a strong chill. He froze in place and stared intently at the Aeternus Kingdom.

It took some time, but the man eventually calmed down.

“The Abandoned...”

As for Leng Qing, as soon as he escaped from Thousand-Hand Seal, he had circled about in outer space. The Progenitor knew that The Abandoned must have intervened and drawn Thousand-Hand Seal's attention. Leng Qing waited for The Abandoned to appear.

However, even after several days, the man never appeared.

It was possible that he was simply too cautious.

Leng Qing decided to not wait any longer, and he returned to the Heavens Sect.

He did not have to wait long for Arch-Elder Zen to also return. The old man looked quite battered, which Leng Qing immediately noticed. “Did you also run into a sequence powerhouse?”

Arch-Elder Zen was taken aback. “You encountered a sequence powerhouse?”

“You didn’t? Then why do you look so bad?”

“I was attacked by a Progenitor-level corpse king that could undergo a Pupilless Transformation. It was quite a difficult opponent, especially since I couldn’t use my Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi. It was very difficult to escape.”

“You’re still luckier than me. I was attacked by Thousand-Hand Seal, one of the Five Elders. I wasn’t even able to find out what his sequence particle is.”

“How did you escape?”

Leng Qing glared at Arch-Elder Zen. The word “escape” grated on the man’s nerves, no matter how accurate it might be.

“Someone destroyed the nearby Aeternus Kingdom, which gave me an opening to escape. It was probably The Abandoned.”

Arch-Elder Zen’s eyes lit up. “Did you see him?”

Leng Qing shook his head. “He’s very cautious.”

Arch-Elder Zen was not surprised. “Given his strength and the number of teleportation devices that are scattered about, the fact that he’s only destroyed a few Aeternus Kingdoms over the years suggests that he is very cautious. He’s probably been deceived or pinned down by Aeternus before and won’t trust us.”

“That’s normal. The Nine-Star Civilization didn’t trust us either,” Leng Qing added.

The two said nothing further as they simply waited. They had agreed with Lu Yin to return to the Heavens Sect at predetermined intervals.