Chapter 3231: The Fruit

In the past, the four ruling powers had been an indestructible giant in Lu Yin’s mind. But they had since disappeared, with the White Dragon Clan suffering the worst. Their clan had been almost completely wiped out, though those losses were the price for the freedom of Long Tian and the rest of the survivors.

Upon thinking of the White Dragon Clan, Lu Yin could not stop himself from remembering Long Xi.

"Lord Lu, please follow me," Xiao Can said as he struggled to his feet. He started leading Lu Yin in a certain direction.

Xiao Can’s cultivation had nearly reached the Envoy realm. The truth was that, for his age, he was quite strong. Not many people in the entire Origin Universe had managed to become an Envoy.

The people that the Heavens Sect had gathered together made it seem that they had a great number of powerful cultivators. However, they were actually scattered throughout the entire Origin Universe, so such people were quite rare.

When Lu Yin had first met Xiao Can on the rear battlefield, the man had been quite weak. After being captured and taken to the Wang family’s floating continent, he had spent most of his time mining, and he had had few opportunities to cultivate. Despite those limitations, Xiao Can had still managed to reach the Envoy realm, which made Lu Yin curious.

Lu Yin questioned whether even he, given the same limitations, could have done any better than Xiao Can.

His high cultivation was how Xiao Can had entered the Wang family’s floating continent and had had the confidence to observe the mines for the Yellow Springs.

However, when compared to Lu Yin, Xiao Can’s cultivation was simply too weak.

They continued moving in the same direction, and it seemed that they still had quite a distance to cover.

"How much further? I'll take you there," Lu Yin asked.

"With my speed, it will take three days," Xiao Can replied respectfully.

Lu Yin took one step forward and warped space. The next instant, the scenery around Xiao Can had changed. As he took in his new surroundings, his pupils shrank in shock.

What—how?

He could see that they had already arrived. What would have taken Xiao Can three days to reach had taken Lu Yin a mere instant.

For Lu Yin, such distance no longer held much meaning.

Xiao Can was startled. This was the strength of a top-tier powerhouse, the leader of all humanity. With such power, it was possible to ignore normal distances. Would he ever be able to obtain such strength in the future?

While feeling a mixture of awe, yearning for the future, and regret at the impending loss of a treasure, Xiao Can led Lu Yin to a hidden location. There, they found a pond civilization.

In the Perennial World, pond civilizations were similar to the 3,000 hidden worlds of the Fifth Mainland. Both were hidden pocket dimensions that contained civilizations hidden from the normal universe.

In the Perennial World, a few powerful families controlled pond civilizations, treating them as a continuous source of cultivators.

Lu Yin had once fantasized that their entire universe might be a sort of pond civilization, but such a thought was too fantastical for him to consider any longer.

There were both pros and cons to pond civilizations. It was good that they provided a steady stream of new cultivators to the Perennial World. While the cultivators were loyal to their respective families or factions, they were still human. The downside was that Aeternus had managed to infiltrate some of the pond civilizations, planting spies and occasionally even converting entire civilizations into Aeternus Kingdoms.

Such things had happened in the past.

After becoming the Dao Monarch of the Heavens Sect, Lu Yin had ordered a crackdown on pond civilizations, making the operations of pocket dimensions more transparent. After that, many corpse kings had been discovered in them, and some were discovered to be Aeternus Kingdoms.

After that, pond civilizations had gradually faded away. Most had been either hidden or destroyed, and the civilizations within them had been forced into the open.

It was clear that this pond civilization before the two men was one that had been hidden away.

"This is my home," Xiao Can explained.

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. "Your home?"

Xiao Can nodded. "Lord Lu, please follow me."

With that, he entered the pocket dimension, followed by Lu Yin.

They entered a small pocket dimension that Lu Yin scanned in just a glance. Suddenly, his eyes focused on a single point, and he instantly vanished.

Xiao Can knew that Lu Yin had discovered something, though the man’s expression remained calm.

In the end, it was impossible to keep it hidden.

An unusual flower had blossomed in one corner of the pond civilization. The flower itself was not beautiful, and it was actually quite ordinary looking, but its roots were anything but ordinary. Its roots were Roots of Intelligence.

Lu Yin had never known that a Root of Intelligence could produce a blossom.

Not only had this plant bloomed, but it had also borne fruit. This Root of Intelligence had been planted in Yellow Springs.

When Lu Yin reappeared, he was shocked as he stared at the flower. The fact that a Root of Intelligence could produce fruit when planted in Yellow Springs... How did such a thing exist?

Xiao Can arrived and said, "My true name is Hui Can. I am a descendant of Progenitor Hui from this Perennial World."

Lu Yin turned to look at Xiao Can. "You're one of Progenitor Hui’s descendants?"

Xiao Can nodded. "Yes."

Lu Yin frowned. "Progenitor Hui went missing when the Perennial World was split off from the Fifth Mainland. How can you be his descendant?"

Xiao Can looked at Lu Yin. "In the same way that Shenwu’s Sky can be considered descendants of Progenitor Chen."

Lu Yin thought for a moment and realized that there was some sense to this. Although Progenitor Hui had disappeared before the Perennial World’s appearance, that did not mean that his descendants had not followed the Perennial World. But Lu Yin could not understand why Progenitor Hui clearly had other descendants, such as the Hui family of the Court of Seven Names. Hui Wu was even one of the Progenitor’s descendants. In that case, what was Xiao Can’s connection to the Progenitor?

"Are you a descendant of Progenitor Hui, or a descendant of the Hui family?" Lu Yin asked.

Xiao Can replied, "I am a descendant of Progenitor Hui. Our ancestor left a task for our family, which is why I am so certain that I am a descendant of Progenitor Hui."

"A task... this?" Lu Yin looked at the Root of Intelligence.

Xiao Can nodded. "The Wang family harvests the Yellow Springs. This wasn't a secret during my ancestor's time, but no one understood what the Yellow Springs truly is.

"Ancestor used every method possible to obtain the Yellow Springs and then he cultivated a Root of Intelligence with it. He left our branch with a task: wait. Wait for a Root of Intelligence to bloom and bear fruit. That fruit of the Root of Intelligence will reveal the truth about the Yellow Springs.

"Our branch has waited for countless years, from the Daosource Sect era with the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas to now. It’s only in my generation that we’ve seen any results, though I don’t fully understand what it means. The results will be limited, unless we can get more Yellow Springs. That’s why I deliberately exposed myself and went to the rear battlefield."

Xiao Can looked up and stared at the Root of Intelligence with a complicated expression. "I traded that Root of Intelligence with Wang Xun both to save my own life on the rear battlefield, and also to attract the Wang family's attention. I was captured by them and taken to their continent. After they squeezed out all my value, they sent me to the mines where they extract the Yellow Springs.

"Everyone from my branch of the family fled long ago. This isn’t where they live, or else we would have never been able to keep this place safe."

Lu Yin gazed at Xiao Can in amazement. He thought back to how he had schemed against the four ruling powers in order to survive. Lu Yin had thought that his own plotting was impressive, but it was nothing compared to what Xiao Can had accomplished.

Lu Yin had relied on disguises, while Xiao Can had done nothing at all to disguise himself. He had calculated every step far in advance. How well did he understand the Wang family?

A single mistake at any point in the plan would have doomed Xiao Can.

The rear battlefield, the Wang family, mining—every step had been foreseen and calculated, just so that he could get more of the Yellow Springs.

"The Wang family would have never imagined that they were being outwitted by you," Lu Yin praised. Many people wanted the Yellow Springs, and it was possible that even the Lu family had once desired it, but the Wang family had guarded their treasure carefully. In the end, it was a minor character who had managed to pry the great mountain open.

Xiao Can’s voice grew bitter, "I wasn’t trying to outwit them, but was rather gambling with my life. Without doing at least that much, my entire family’s existence would have been rendered meaningless. Our ancestor's intelligence was truly without peer, and his plans spanned millennia. He left behind the sourcebox array Ceaseless Impetus to defend this place from Aeternus. As for this ploy regarding the Yellow Springs, it was done at a whim. We were never given a heavy responsibility to see this to completion."

"A whim?" Lu Yin considered what he knew of Progenitor Hui’s actions and schemes. He had worked against the Sixth Mainland, taking advantage of Aeternus to help the Fifth Mainland get revenge, which had almost led to the complete downfall of the Sixth Mainland.

The man had laid down sourcebox arrays to seal away countless humanoid sourceboxes in order to prevent the return of Wilderness God.

He had set up Ceaseless Impetus to prevent the Aeternals from conquering the Perennial World through the rear battlefield.

His manifested thoughts had taken over the ruler of the Transcendent Universe, posing as the man and acting as though he had been controlled by Shaman God before finally working with others to kill the Skygod.

Progenitor Hui had even sent his own son to infiltrate Aeternus. Even after so long, Lu Yin still did not know the real purpose for that infiltration. Hui Wu had chosen to become a frenzied corpse instead of escaping from Aeternus. There was no doubt that the decision was connected to Progenitor Hui.

Indirectly, Hui Wu’s decision had allowed Lu Yin to obtain three pieces of Primaldust, which he had then used to break through and become a Progenitor.

Every single incident demonstrated Progenitor Hui's unparalleled intelligence.

The man was so clever that people could not even comprehend what he was capable of.

Because of that, when Xiao Can claimed that using a Root of Intelligence to analyze the Yellow Springs was merely because of Progenitor Hui’s "whim," Lu Yin believed it.

For countless years, no one had been able to understand just what the Yellow Springs was, not even the Lu family. Despite that, Progenitor Hui had been confident that his Root of Intelligence could reveal the Yellow Springs’ secrets. That was a perfect example of the Progenitor’s brilliance.

Progenitor Hui may not have wielded invincible power, but his intelligence was still humanity's greatest treasure.

"And the results?" Lu Yin asked as he stared at the Root of Intelligence in wonder.

Xiao Can sounded helpless. "I can't make any sense of it."

"So, you still need more of the Yellow Springs?"

"Yes."

"What did you see?"

Xiao Can hesitated for a moment before bowing to Lu Yin. "I truly don't understand it. Please, Lord Lu, see for yourself."

Lu Yin looked at Xiao Can. "How?"

The man explained, "You just need to water the Root of Intelligence with the Yellow Springs. Over the years, I've stolen a bit of the Yellow Springs using a tool that my ancestor left behind, but I used up everything I managed to collect more than twenty years ago. After all that happened with the Wang family, I wasn’t able to find any opportunities to obtain more."

Lu Yin understood. It was no wonder why Xiao Can had been so focused on the Yellow Springs. Everything made sense. He thought that the fruit of the Root of Intelligence was intended to be eaten.

It had been nearly impossible for Xiao Can to obtain any of the Yellow Springs, but that was no problem for Lu Yin.

The Wang family naturally had kept stores of the Yellow Springs. While Wang Fan had taken most of it, some had been left behind, all of which had eventually ended up in the hands of the Lu family.

Lu Yin quickly took out the Yellow Springs and had Xiao Can continue experimenting.

Xiao Can watered the fruiting Root of Intelligence with some of the Yellow Springs, and it started to emanate a fragrant scent. Xiao Can closed his eyes as he sniffed. It seemed as though he had been transported into an illusion. It was clear that he was sensing something.

Soon, Lu Yin felt the same thing. He could see some carvings, as well as a few images of someone engraving something.

The images flashed by, disappearing quickly. Each of them lasted for only the briefest of moments.

Lu Yin and Xiao Can simultaneously opened their eyes.

Xiao Can eagerly stared at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin frowned. "Carvings?"

Xiao Can shrugged. "Yes, carvings. While I can see them, I can't understand them."

Lu Yin was also unable to make sense of what he had seen.

He did not know how much of the Yellow Springs Xiao Can had used on the plant over the years, but no matter how much Lu Yin’s strength might surpass the other man’s, Lu Yin could not expect to fully understand everything in one attempt.

For that reason, he decided to continue.

However, he did not intend to include Xiao Can. The plant only released a limited amount of the scent, and there being two people here meant that the fragrance was consumed faster.