Chapter 3284: The End And The Beginning

Lu Yin reappeared in the courtyard, his expression somber. Had he seen things correctly? Had he really just been attacked by Destiny?

Were Professor Wei and Destiny the same person? How could that be?

The reality of the forbidden region in the Mirari Realm had led both Lu Yin and Hongyan Mavis to think that Destiny was an imposter. However, the Origin Progenitor had promised that Destiny was real.

At the time, Lu Yin had considered the possibility that the person who had met with the Origin Progenitor and the one who met with the Three Realms and Six Daos had been two different people.

However, how could Destiny not know when someone posing was her? How could there be two of her?

The seven sword strikes aimed at the River of Aeons had targeted Lu Yin’s past. Destiny had tried to erase Lu Yin’s existence in the past, and while it was almost impossible for her to succeed, the results were rather similar to what had happened when Professor Wei had sliced the paper cutout; the overlapping ripples in the River of Aeons had injured Lu Yin.

When Destiny had emerged from Professor Wei’s body and launched seven sword slashes, Professor Wei could have attacked Lu Yin with another paper cutout, but she had chosen not to.

There was no way she had refrained out of love for Lu Yin. There had to be some other motive for her actions.

Fay Blossoms fell in front of Lu Yin as he watched the red flowers rain down. At the same time, Bai Xian'er's body dissolved into red light that then disappeared.

After all, Bai Xian’er had never been anything more than one of Wei Nu’s avatars.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The Origin Progenitor’s sword also disappeared from Lu Yin's hand. It would reappear in the future.

The shower of red flowers caused the entire Perennial World to tremble.

The Lu family was particularly affected. Ancestor Tianyi, Lu Qi, and others all moved out and started searching for Bai Xian'er.

Lu Yin explained the situation to his family, which finally allowed peace to return to the Perennial World.

In one corner of the Perennial World, on Dragon Mountain, Long Xi stared out at the sky as the rain of red flowers gradually disappeared. This was both the end and the beginning.

Bai Xian'er was finally dead. The woman’s existence had weighed heavily on everyone, leaving them suffocated.

The only one capable of killing her is Brother Xiaoxuan.

...

Lu Yin left the Perennial World and went to find Wu Tian.

At the moment, the man was at the Immemorial Citadel. He kept a constant eye on the Origin Progenitor.

Lu Yin wanted to ask Wu Tian about Destiny’s fighting style.

“How Destiny fights?” Wu Tian thought for a moment. “To be honest, the rest of us rarely fought against Lassy. You should ask your ancestor, he’s more familiar with her combat style than the rest of us. He even forced a junior from your Lu family to cultivate Destiny’s shadow.”

"The Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique?"

"That’s right, the Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique. Loam, despite being so close to Lassy for most of the time, was more ruthless when it came to preparing to fight against her than any of us. Lassy actually tattled on him to Master, but nothing came of it in the end," Wu Tian explained.

Lu Yin then went to see his ancestor, Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan reacted with confusion. “Why don’t you just go ask Master himself?”

Lu Yin gave an awkward chuckle.

Lu Yuan sighed. “You’re afraid that Master won’t leave you alone, aren’t you?”

Lu Yin remembered that the Origin Progenitor had mentioned that they would talk more after the battle at the Immemorial Citadel. If Lu Yin went back to ask the Origin Progenitor questions, he might be stuck there for a while, and that was not a complication that Lu Yin could handle.

"Lassy has incredible control over the power of aeons. Didn't your master mention to you that she always acts at the most critical moment? Normally, she can look down the River of Aeons to see what will happen next. That’s where things get tricky..." Lu Yuan proceeded to slowly explain things.

His explanation was similar to what Lu Yin already knew. While fighting against Wei Nu, he had already experienced how frustrating it could be to fight against an adept user of the power of time. If not for the fact that he had noticed a mistake in Wei Nu’s claims, Lu Yin might not have been able to attack at all.

Destiny’s power was really nothing more than a skilled manipulation of the power of aeons and the ability to see into the future. That was why it was called divination.

"Lassy specializes in attacking through the River of Aeons. She erases moments in her opponents’ pasts in order to alter the present. Of course, changing the flow of time in the future is impossible, but it can create ripples in the present," Lu Yuan said.

Lu Yin shared with Lu Yuan what had happened with the paper cutouts, as well as with Wu Tian, Chu Yi, and Hongyan Mavis. He was worried that they might eventually run into Wei Nu and be caught off guard.

Far beneath the Immemorial Citadel, the Origin Progenitor looked up. "Is Wei Nu stirring up trouble again?"

Lu Yin moved down below the Immemorial Citadel. "She claimed to be the first one to know when the Mirari Realm became anchored to this megaverse. Senior, are Wei Nu and Destiny the same person?"

The Origin Progenitor rolled his eyes. "Pillar, can’t you listen when an old man is talking to you? Lassy is Lassy. She's real, not fake. Wei Nu is Wei Nu, and that woman is treacherous. However, she hasn’t shown herself in a very long time. In fact, I’d almost forgotten about her.

"Be careful if you run into her."

"But Wei Nu used Destiny's power."

"She’s still Wei Nu, not Lassy. Pillar, there’s always wisdom in an old man’s words. Come, let’s talk."

Lu Yin quickly changed the subject, “Where are your swords?”

The Origin Progenitor was taken aback. "My swords? Why are you looking for those? Pillar, you can't be too greedy. You already have Primaldust, and now you want my swords too? That’s a bit much."

Lu Yin sighed helplessly. "Senior, I need to resolve some temporal karma..."

He explained what had happened to the Origin Progenitor, who praised him. "You reacted pretty fast, but unfortunately, you can only use the sword that you used to stabilize the Fifth Mainland. The rest of them were either stolen by Yong Heng or broken."

As the man spoke, despite the fact that he did not move at all, shards of a sword started to fall. They were the pieces of one of the Origin Progenitor’s swords.

Lu Yin was taken aback. "Shattered?"

"Of course. After going through so many battles, even people will break, let alone a sword. If you want it, take them.

"Oh, and be careful of Wei Nu. She doesn’t show herself frequently, but I’ve always felt like she’s been plotting something."

Mister Mu arrived. "Wei Nu is not simple."

Lu Yin looked at Mister Mu. "Master, do you know her?"

Mister Mu shook his head. "I don’t, but I do know that she is like me in that she’s not from this megaverse."

Lu Yin arched a brow. "Another person from another megaverse?"

Mister Mu replied in a grave tone, "She’s been missing for a very long time. We had indeed forgotten about her, but it seems that she’s never left. If you encounter her again, contact me. I need to have a word with her."

...

When Lu Yin left the Immemorial Citadel, he took the fragments of the Origin Progenitor’s shattered sword with him. He needed to resolve his temporal karma.

It would be expensive to repair the Origin Progenitor’s sword, incredibly expensive.

When the first sword had merely cracked, it had cost Lu Yin 12 trillion star essence to repair it. This sword, however, had completely shattered, so Lu Yin could not even guess how much it would cost to repair.

He had only 26 trillion star essence left.

Should he try to repair the sword?

Lu Yin stared at the fragments of the Origin Progenitor’s sword.

The truth was that the swords had been nothing more than the Origin Progenitor’s weapon. Even if Lu Yin gathered all six of them, it would not necessarily grant him any significant benefit. They were just weapons.

What had once seemed unattainable he now realized had only been because of how weak he had been at the time.

Lu Yin currently had the courage to go up against the Origin Progenitor in his prime. While Lu Yin would not be able to win, he would at least be able to put up a fight. There was no longer any reason for him to revere the Origin Progenitor’s swords.

Still, the swords’ greatest ability was that they stabilized time.

The reason why Wei Nu had not entered the Fifth Mainland was because the time there was suppressed by the Origin Progenitor’s sword. As long as she was not confident that she could simply destroy the sword, she would not try to stir up trouble in the Fifth Mainland.

In fact, the only threat that Lu Yin posed to Wei Nu, aside from using the power of time, was by using the Origin Progenitor’s sword.

He was certain that Professor Wei was not Wei Nu’s full form. Wei Nu was a powerhouse on the same level as the Origin Progenitor and Mister Mu. That was not a level of power that Lu Yin could compete against yet.

The Origin Progenitor’s sword served as a form of deterrence.

With that thought, Lu Yin decided to repair the sword.

He raised a hand and brought out his die. A tap sent it spinning.

The die slowly came to a stop on one pip. A useless item fell out, so he rolled the die again. The second roll was Gift Copy. He rolled once more and got Enhance.

He threw the shards of the Origin Progenitor’s sword onto the screen of light and immediately began throwing out enormous amounts of star essence.

Before long, 12 trillion star essences were consumed, and the Origin Progenitor’s sword was fully repaired.

Lu Yin let out a sigh of relief. It had cost him 12 trillion star essences to repair this sword as well. It seemed that the amount of damage did not matter; instead, the overall power of the completed weapon was the only factor that determined how much it cost to repair the swords.

With the sword repaired, Lu Yin asked Mu Zhu and the others to once again use Origin Tracer. This time, they searched for the branch in the River of Aeons that Lu Yin had created by using Inverse Step to attack Professor Wei. That moment of time did not belong to the River of Aeons, which was exactly the type of temporal anomaly that the technique targeted.

The four people combined their efforts. After several days, they finally managed to successfully locate the branching stream of time. Following their directions, Lu Yin threw the Origin Progenitor’s restored sword into that moment of time.

With Origin Tracer complete, Lu Yin left the Heavens Sect and returned to Professor Wei’s courtyard in Virtue Archives. There, the Origin Progenitor’s sword lay on the ground.

Only then was the karma that Lu Yin had accumulated by manipulating time resolved.

Lu Yin picked up the sword. Truthfully, this means of altering the present with actions in the future was quite exciting. While it offered infinite possibilities, it also carried numerous unforeseen risks. This was not something that Lu Yin could use unless it was absolutely necessary.

Time clearly flowed in one direction, but because the River of Aeons existed, it was possible to make changes to the flow of time. If Lu Yin was the one to use such means, it was to his benefit, but if others used it, things could quickly turn against him.

Was this the reason why the Origin Progenitor and the others had anchored the Mirari Realm to the Tianyuan Megaverse?

If not, then why had Mister Mu created Origin Tracer? Was the technique intended solely for battle?

The River of Aeons was like a treasure that many could access. It would not be good if a single person seized control of it.

...

In the Heavens Sect, in a courtyard that was piled high with books, two figures bustled about.

"Senior Brother, isn’t this enough?"

"No, they’re not enough—far from it. Junior Brother, you need to read more books, and you need to read the good ones."

"But it will take a long time to read all of these books."

"Take that pile as well."

"That many?"

"Your senior brother chose those for you himself. You need to study them seriously. When your senior brother saves the megaverse in the future, you’ll need to help. You can’t leave everything for Master to handle on his own, understand?"

"Fine, Senior Brother. You’re amazing."

"Thank you, Junior Brother."

An old man arrived outside of the courtyard. When he heard the conversation within, he smiled.

The man was Sage Yajna, one of the Cyclic Universe’s Three Sovereigns and Nine Sages, the one who had been ranked second only to the Great Sovereign. Even Sovereign Dou Sheng showed Sage Yajna respect.

The Sage stepped into the courtyard and looked around at the piles of books while letting out a long breath.

Two heads popped up from the sea of books. One belonged to Hui Can, and the other to Tuo Lin.

"Who are you?" Hui Can asked. He did not recognize the old man, but since he had been allowed into the courtyard, there was no way he was an enemy.

The old man smiled. "Young friend, congratulations on becoming Lord Lu’s disciple."

Hui Can beamed with pride. He had risen up from a frightened mining slave to becoming the disciple of the ruler of the entire megaverse. Even with Hui Can’s restraint, he found it hard to hide his excitement over the complete transformation in status.

Sage Yajna then looked over at Tuo Lin, and the old man’s expression became conflicted. "Child, we’ve met before."

Tuo Lin was one of the Sage’s descendants. It was thanks to Sage Yajna that Tuo Lin had the qualifications to attend the Great Sovereign’s Tea Ceremonies and be treated with respect by many powerful cultivators. However, the man himself was unaware of his ancestry, and he had only met Sage Yajna once before.

"Old man, are you here to see me?" Tuo Lin asked, curious.

Sage Yajna smiled and nodded. "Yes, I came to see you. Can we speak privately?"

Hui Can immediately grew cautious. "Old man, why do you need to speak to my senior brother?"

Sage Yajna chuckled. "You don’t need to worry. Lord Lu knows that I’m here."