Chapter 2087: Slipper
Kui Luo was left speechless. Clearly, Lu Buzheng did not know Lu Yin very well quite yet, but Kui Luo was very familiar with that kid. It was nearly impossible for Ancestor Tortoise’s sudden and strange behavior to not be connected to Lu Yin. The beast had once been the Lu family’s pet, and if anyone was capable of disturbing Ancestor Tortoise, it would be Lu Yin.
On the tortoise’s back, Lu Yin was staring at the slipper in his hand in utter disbelief. It really had not been a coincidence! Ancestor Tortoise had let out a wail when Lu Yin had smacked it with the slipper. Really? A slipper? Was it possible that it was actually an incredible power vessel that just looked like a slipper?
Lu Yin stared at the footwear for a long time, especially the clear black footprint. In the end, he had no choice but to admit that his initial assessment of it being a simple slipper was absolutely correct.
But who would make such a thing? Not even the full power of Ancient God’s Semi-Progenitor avatar had been able to harm Ancestor Tortoise in the slightest, which meant that a Semi-Progenitor would be in an absolutely miserable state if they were struck by this slipper. Really, just who would go so overboard as to make such an excessive slipper?
Lu Yin shook the slipper, but it looked perfectly ordinary. He could bend and twist it with just the slightest bit of strength, and yet it possessed such an unimaginable power. He really did not know how to react to this.
It was just unfortunate that he had only picked up one piece of the pair.
It seemed rather obvious that someone had used this slipper, and if Lu Yin had acquired one, then did that mean that the original owner was left with just one as well? Lu Yin swallowed. Sorry, that wasn't my intention.
He had just rolled his die four times, so he needed to rest for ten days.
During these ten days, Lu Yin studied the slipper in detail. He was very curious. There were no runes to be seen, and he could not detect any power at all, so just how was it able to leave Ancestor Tortoise wailing in agony? He also could not determine what sort of materials had been used to make the slipper. There were moments when he wanted to smack himself with the slipper to test it out, but just a bit of thought removed that urge. He would just have to find a chance to test it out on a Semi-Progenitor.
After the required ten days passed, Lu Yin raised a hand. His next goal was to continue cultivating the Cosmic Art.
He had already managed to simulate 80,000 stars with the Cosmic Art, which was not far from the 99,000 stars that were needed to complete the fifth level of the technique. He was determined to reach the next level of mastery.
The die stopped, but showed just two pips. Lu Yin shook his head. Again. Pilfer.
Seeing the solitary pip, Lu Yin suddenly felt a surge of anticipation, as he had just acquired something quite good. Unfortunately, all that appeared this time was a useless piece of clothing.
Again.
Only on his third roll was Lu Yin able to get Timestop. The scenery around him shifted, and he entered the Timestop Space.
Cultivating was a very boring process. It required meditating for excessive amounts of time.
Fortunately, Lu Yin still had the Roots of Intelligence that the Hui family had cultivated themselves. He also had an authentic Root of Intelligence in his possession, but, unfortunately, it was the last such root that he possessed, and he had been saving it for critical moments in the future.
He began to recite the Origin Sutra while stars revolved around his body.
When Lu Yin had last trained with the Cosmic Art, he had increased the number of stars he could simulate by nearly 4,000 over the course of almost a year. At this pace, Lu Yin would need another five years in his Timestop Space to fully master the current level of the Cosmic Art. Without his die, he had no idea just how long it would take to master the fifth level of the Cosmic Art.
Seclusion was not as comfortable to undergo in the normal universe as in the Timestop Space, and Lu Yin would most likely be disturbed if he tried to spend so long training in the real universe.
There was still more than a month left before the meeting of the Heavenly Gates was planned to convene.
Earth’s solar system became increasingly lively. People constantly arrived, though most of them were forced to stay outside the solar system. There was only a select number of elites who were allowed entry.
The Heavenly Gates held a reunion every five years, but the next conference had two additional events scheduled, and both of them were battle-based events.
One was the ten-person team competition to conclude the wager that had been made, and the other was the selection of the Dao Chosen.
Most people did not care about the team competition at all. As long as they could learn how to cultivate battle force, they did not care if they were trained by the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate or a different Heavenly Gate. Even if the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate ended up controlling the entire Fifth Mainland, it really made no difference to most people.
On the other hand, everyone was very focused on the Dao Chosen selection.
Choosing a Dao Chosen was not only an important step in rebuilding the Heavens Sect, but it also concerned the mysterious Semi-Progenitor Destina. Whoever managed to acquire Destina’s unilateral support would likely dominate the entire Fifth Mainland, as it seemed that there was no one else on the same level as Destina.
In addition to the Heavenly Gates’ representatives, there were many other people who intended to compete in the selection. As long as they were not too old, even people a bit over a hundred years old were allowed to sign up.
There were certain discrepancies that not even time could compensate for, especially for as brief a time as ten years.
Every single person wanted to participate in the Dao Chosen selection, especially cultivators who had once been heralded as geniuses.
One spacecraft after another arrived outside the solar system, and they all docked at various space stations. There were also countless vessels drifting through outer space without approaching any of the space stations.
Wu Da led a few people through space. None of them were very old, and most of them were wearing universal armors. It was easy to see that they were not even Explorers. "Stay quiet, and don't let anyone see you!"
"Boss, don't act so low-key. We got permission from both the Honor Heavenly Gate and the Lu Heavenly Gate to interview the competitors for the Dao Chosen selection," someone whispered back.
Wu Da yelled back, "We’re not being low-key! It’s about the right attitude! Regardless of how people treat us, we need to continue in the same way as always. Your boss graduated from the Astral Combat Academy, and I’ve even been able to interview a Semi-Progenitor! How did I do that? Attitude!"
A woman smiled. "Even if you hadn’t been given permission to conduct these interviews, you’d still sneak in anyways."
Wu Da replied, "That’s what I mean by attitude! As the greatest reporter in the universe, I need to find out whatever it is I want to know about."
He then stared off into the distance as a familiar figure flashed by. "After them! Someone just went by."
A short time later, Wu Da saw the person who had passed his group on a barren planet. "No wonder I thought they looked familiar. It's him."
"Boss, who is that?" The people following Wu Da were all curious.
Wu Da explained, "That’s Avery, the genius from the Dire Barbarian Tribe. He used to follow the Ten Arbiters’ War King, Xing Kai. He’s absolutely nuts."
"I never heard about that."
Wu Da snapped back, "Of course not! You’re just a little brat, and the Fifth Mainland wasn't what it is now back then. When your boss was younger, the Ten Arbiters and the Top 100 Rankings were all considered the most outstanding geniuses in the entire universe. Avery over there was almost at the very top of the Top 100 Rankings. He was ranked fourth."
"Is that the same time that Lu Yin was around?" someone asked.
Wu Da was caught off guard, but he nodded with a sigh. "Yes, that was when Lu Yin was active. He was basically the symbol of that era. Even though it’s only been twenty years since then, without him, the universe is just not the same. Back then, even ordinary people had heard of Lu Yin’s legend. No one else has ever managed to accomplish the same feats, and everyone is still overshadowed by him."
"My mom told me that back then, the network connected the entire Human Domain, which allowed them to quickly learn about what was happening anywhere in the universe, and Lu Yin was always in the news."
"Lu Yin’s name indeed resounded for an entire generation. It’s really a pity that he died."
Wu Da shook his head. Lu Yin was a name that he had not heard for quite some time. At the moment, everyone knew of Sky Garan, Chu Yuan, and Heluo Mavis. However, star energy had disappeared, as well as all the associated cultivation methods. All that was left was battle force, domains, and spiritual force. Thus, people only saw experts of those cultivation methods.
The previous era was forever gone. It was truly a pity regarding what had happened to Lu Yin; if he had survived and developed, there was simply no telling what heights he would have reached.
"Honestly, it doesn't matter that Lu Yin isn't around any more, as there’s no way he could compare to Big Brother Chu Yuan," the woman on Wu Da's team whispered. Her eyes positively lit up as soon as she mentioned Chu Yuan.
No one said anything to refute her comment.
Chu Yuan had grown increasingly famous in the Fifth Mainland over the last ten years. He had been an exceptionally arrogant Dao Chosen even in the Heavens Sect era, and he had been acknowledged as the best Dao Chosen because he had been the only one to receive the Origin Progenitor’s acknowledgement. Everyone knew that Chu Yuan would be the one to lead humanity in the future. Such an exceptional talent was the most likely person to become the Dao Chosen of the current era.
Even if Wu Da felt sorry for Lu Yin, he had to admit that, even if Lu Yin were still alive, he might not have been comparable to Chu Yuan. The two were simply not from the same era, and Chu Yuan had come from the greatest heights of human civilization. Lu Yin might not have even been able to become a Dao Chosen back then.
Avery’s arrival barely attracted any attention. He was not very well known, especially since his Dire Barbarian Tribe had almost been wiped out, just like the Souldream Tribe.
Mu Rong soon appeared as well, which Wu Da took note of. Many people who had once been famous in the Human Domain continued to show up, but only a few people were noticed, and none of the arrivals created any real commotion.
"It's Wei An! Wei An’s here!" A commotion broke out outside of Earth’s solar system as one young man’s arrival drew a great deal of attention.
Wei An was not someone from the current era, as he was the same as Chu Yuan and many others in that he was from the Heavens Sect era. Wei An was originally from the Second Mainland, and he was a truly talented cultivator who was a skilled swordsman. He had once even challenged Heluo Mavis by relying on his innate gift.
Since Wei An had woken up in the current era, he naturally wanted to compete in the Dao Chosen selection.
Right after Wei An’s appearance, another young man arrived who also raised quite a commotion. He was Hen Mo, a young man who was absolutely fanatical in his loyalty to the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate. He had even changed his name and surname because of his devotion and dream of one day joining Team Resolution.
Unfortunately for Hen Mo, during the Heavens Sect era, it would have been impossible for him to ever join Team Resolution due to his family. Team Resolution only ever accepted independent cultivators.
Still, he had always cultivated battle force.
The moment Hen Mo appeared, Wu Da ranked the man very highly in the Dao Chosen selection. In the absence of stellular energy, Hen Mo's mastery of battle force was sufficient to give him the confidence to challenge even Chu Yuan and the other Dao Chosen of the ancient era.
As time passed, more and more people from the Heavens Sect era started to appear.
Not even Lu Buzheng had any idea just how many people had been frozen in time within the sourcebox. All he knew was that the Lu family had sent some youths to the battlefield that had been frozen. Those youths were Lu Lai and Lu Jiao. While neither of them could quite measure up to Lu Tianyi, they had still been able to at least challenge him directly.
In addition to the people from the ancient era, the Sixth Mainland’s Nan Yanfei and Di Fa both appeared. They had previously qualified for the title of Realmling, and they wanted to fight in the Dao Chosen selection.
The newly established Heavens Sect encompassed both the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands. At the moment, Jiu Yao was acting as the gatemaster for the Sixth Mainland’s Bloodlines Heavenly Gate. As for the Progenitor of Bloodlines, he was treated as just a legend.
Time passed, and more and more people arrived at Earth’s solar system. Soon, there were less than ten days left before the Heavenly Gates’ conference.
The Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate, the Undying Heavenly Gate, the Bloodlines Heavenly Gate, and all the other gates arrived, though their people arrived through sourcebox arrays.
All the Heavenly Gates had their own sourcebox arrays that led directly to Earth’s solar system, as this was their emergency escape route.
By this time, Lu Yin had spent nearly four years training in isolation, though this was all in his Timestop Space.
With the four years that he had spent training the Cosmic Art, plus his battle with Hen San and his recovery time, Lu Yin had spent almost five years in seclusion. During this time, he had burned through hundreds of millions of star essence. In the past, it had been very unusual for Lu Yin to train for so long for a single session, but as his strength improved, he became more diligent in his cultivation.