Chapter 2755: Awakening
There was no way for Lu Yin and Shan Pu to ask for help while in the Umbral Universe, and there was also no data center. On top of that, they could not simply leave the Endless Frontier, which meant that their only option was to stay and fight. Of course, Lu Yin would escape if fighting was useless. As long as he was not attacked by someone like Cheng Kong or the eighty-one saber slashes, both of which had left him helpless and completely immobile, he was confident in escaping. A fatal attack would have to surpass the limit of what Lu Yin could survive with Extremes Must Be Reversed, and that was a steep threshold.
As for the need of explaining his actions to the Great Sovereign, that was something to consider if the time ever came. Why worry about such things when his life was on the line?
The Umbral Expanse lay in the furthest depths of the Umbral Universe, and the thick darkness that lay there meant that Lu Yin's domain could not spread out very far, and it would also be devoured very quickly.
In this place, he was quite like a blind man.
"We need a way to find the old monster!" Shan Pu shouted.
Lu Yin stared straight ahead into the darkness. In the past, he had felt like there was only one shade that darkness could take, but after arriving in the Umbral Universe, he had encountered multiple variations. The darkness right in front of him was undoubtedly the most dangerous that he had ever encountered.
Since he was facing darkness, he needed to bring out some light.
Thinking of this, his Investiture of the Gods appeared above his head, and the golden light formed a sharp blade of light that pierced the deep darkness and shone through the Umbral Expanse.
The darkness in this place was able to devour light, but the Investiture of the Gods was the Lu family’s greatest innate gift, and it was not easy to suppress. The golden light was even able to pierce through death energy, and when Lu Yin’s Investiture of the Gods’ golden scroll had first appeared in the Perennial World, it had illuminated the entire place. The light had permeated not only the Higher Realm, but also the Middle and Lower Realms. When Lu Yin brought it out in the Umbral Universe, it similarly illuminated the entire Umbral Expanse and shone upon An Jiu and the other Umbrians.
All the people screamed and fled from the light. They could not bear its touch.
Shan Pu was startled. What sort of power was this? The golden light was bright, though not blinding, and it possessed an incomparable sense of sacredness and supremacy. The Lost Clan’s isolationist nature was in part due to the fact that they looked down on the other parallel universes of the Sixverse Association, but the golden light that had just appeared made Shan Pu very aware of Lu Yin's power.
Regardless of the young man’s level of cultivation, the golden light from the scroll indicated that it was a very powerful inheritance.
The golden light illuminated the entire Umbral Expanse, and Progenitor Nong stepped out. The summoned Progenitor faced the Umbral Expanse, and the land shattered. All of the Umbrians living on the Umbral Expanse fled, wailing.
An Jiu trembled. "Ancestor, please wake up! Ancestor–!"
Underneath the Umbral Expanse, a pair of eyes snapped open. They were ancient and cloudy, but they instantly gained clarity. The eyes turned to stare upwards at the golden light that pierced the ground and illuminated an old face. "The power of the Fifth Mainland’s Lu family."
The moment the old man spoke, the ground before him vanished, and darkness formed an arch that covered the sky. The man who was lying in the ground sat up and released a sigh.
An Jiu and the other Umbrians dropped to their knees, tears filling their eyes. "Greetings, Ancestor."
"Greetings, Ancestor."
"Greetings, Ancestor."
...
Countless Umbrians shouted in excitement, like devoted worshipers.
Lu Yin and Shan Pu glanced at each other. They had found their target.
Shan Pu’s eyes narrowed. The Great Elder had visited the Umbral Universe in the past, and that visit had made him certain that a very, very ancient powerhouse of incredible strength dwelled in the universe. Shan Gu had tried to awaken the sleeping powerhouse several times, but all of those efforts had failed. In order to avoid generating any enmity, the Lost Clan had not tried to force the ancient powerhouse awake.
But now, that person had just awakened.
Lu Yin took a deep breath and stared into the darkness. The golden light was competing with that darkness, but the golden light had come from the Investiture of the Gods and was not Lu Yin’s personal power. Even Lu Yin had not expected the golden light of the Investiture of the Gods to be able to force back the darkness.
Beneath the Umbral Expanse, the ancient individual looked upwards, and for a brief moment, Lu Yin saw the old man’s eyes. He had pupils? He was not an Umbrian?
"Child of the Lu family, you have awakened me." When the man spoke, his voice was dry and grating. It sounded as though he had not spoken for a very, very long time.
Lu Yin's pupils shrank. Sure enough, there was a connection between the Umbral Universe and the Origin Universe. There was a reason why he had discovered Inverse Step in this universe. "You recognize me as a member of the Lu family?"
The old man raised a hand to block a bit of the golden light. "The Lu family's Investiture of the Gods... This light is as oppressive as ever!"
"Who might you be, Senior?" Lu Yin asked.
Shan Pu clenched his card tightly. The very moment this ancient man woke up, Shan Pu had felt an incredible sense of danger that made him feel like he was being observed and completely seen through. The strangest thing was that the feeling of being observed did not only originate from below, but also from above and every other direction. It was as though Shan Pu was being stared at from every part of the Umbral Universe.
It felt as though the universe had woken up with the old man.
Shan Pu had only ever experienced this feeling from the Great Elder. This monster was someone who was at the same power level as the Great Elder. What could Shan Pu do? This was a very, very dangerous situation.
The old man sighed and rose to his feet. "That doesn't matter. In this entire megaverse, very few are able to leave their names behind in eternity. All others are mere passersby.
"Child, tell me, how is the Heavens Sect?"
Lu Yin's eyes flickered. "Senior, how was the Heavens Sect doing when you came to this universe?"
The old man chuckled. "Young people now are so rude. Clearly, by asking you that question, I was indicating that I have an old connection to your Lu family."
"Senior, are you really related to my Lu family?" Lu Yin's heart moved. Was this man someone from the Heavens Sect era?
"That’s right. I had the most interactions with Lu Buzheng, as we were both gatemasters of the Twelve Heavenly Gates. I saw him frequently." The old man gave a small smile.
Lu Yin was taken aback. "Senior, you were a gatemaster of one of the Twelve Heavenly Gates?"
"You seem to understand what that means."
Lu Yin's expression changed. While the gatemasters of the Heavens Sect’s Twelve Heavenly Gates had not been Progenitors, each of the twelve had received their position because they were a Semi-Progenitor who was believed to be guaranteed to become a Progenitor. Even peak powerhouses had been polite to the gatemasters.
The potential of Lu Yin’s third uncle, Lu Buzheng, had even been admired by the Lu family’s ancestor, who had tried to obtain the power of Destiny for Lu Buzheng to use as his first summon for the Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique.
Destina had been Destiny’s disciple, Hen Xin had been Dao Monarch Gu’s disciple, and the other gatemasters had possessed similar backgrounds. It could be said that the gatemasters of the Twelve Heavenly Gates had all been destined to become the most powerful individuals of the next era, provided that they did not encounter any accidents.
Lu Buzheng and the others gatemasters that Lu Yin was familiar with had all been frozen in a sourcebox during the Heavens Sect era, and they had remained in that frozen state until the Fifth Mainland reached a critical point in the war against Aeternus. For that reason, the surviving gatemasters were all still Semi-Progenitors, and regardless of how impressive their cultivation might be, they were not all powerful.
However, Lu Yin could only imagine. If his third uncle, Lu Buzheng, had survived to the present era from the Heavens Sect era, just how strong would the man have become?
With his Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique, he would be able to summon Destiny herself. Who could hope to win against such power?
If Destina had lived for so many years, would another Destiny have appeared?
Could Hen Xin have followed the same path as Dao Monarch Gu?
It was impossible to know for sure, but there was one thing that was undeniable: any one of the ancient gatemasters would be a very, very powerful individual after so many years.
Lu Yin was facing someone who had once been a gatemaster of the Twelve Heavenly Gates at the same time as Lu Buzheng, and that was terrifying. This was a true ancient Progenitor who had survived since the Heavens Sect era, which meant that he was much, much older than Progenitor Chen and those of his generation.
?As Shan Pu had said, this was an old monster.
"Might I be so bold as to ask your name, Senior?" Lu Yin stared at the old man, who smiled once again.
"Since when did the members of the Lu family become so humble?"
The moment the man finished speaking, Shan Pu’s card appeared behind him. However, the old man disappeared, and at the same time, Shan Pu vanished.
Lu Yin’s eyebrows rose, as the attack had already failed.
"Just call me Old Mo. If you can return alive, tell Lu Buzheng for me that his old friend will go find him."
As the man spoke, it felt as though the Umbral Universe was turned upside down, and the people who were fighting all across the universe suddenly discovered that they lost control. The darkness turned into a raging tsunami that threatened to drown the entire universe, and the darkness grew stronger than ever.
The biting cold that assaulted everyone left them all terrified.
Shan Pu stepped out, an ugly expression on his face, and a trace of blood could be seen where it had leaked from his mouth. "Does this old monster have some sort of grudge against you?"
Lu Yin looked around, and Progenitor Nong suddenly attacked, casting out green leaves as he floated forward. Old Mo raised a hand and casually tore the leaves apart. "Today, I want to see if the Lu family's Investiture of the Gods can be devoured.”
Shan Pu’s head snapped over, and a card suddenly appeared beside Old Mo. It was Shan Pu’s card.
He expected Old Mo to be pulled into the card, but darkness blocked the card and gradually enveloped Shan Pu.
"This old monster is as powerful as the Great Elder! Run!" Shan Pu urged softly.
Lu Yin prepared to escape. This old monster was clearly someone who had touched the governing laws of a universe. By the Transcendent Universe’s standards, this was a powerhouse who could interact with sequence particles. Such experts were even more powerful than the masters of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, and Lu Yin believed that they even approached the power of the Three Realm Six Dao. This was not someone whom Lu Yin and Sahn Pu could handle.
Shan Pu did not even want to recover his card.
Suddenly, the two of them looked behind Old Mo, and their pupils dilated. An Jiu, who should have been kneeling on the Umbral Expanse while devotedly offering his prayers to his ancestor, had suddenly appeared at some point in time, and he was attacking Old Mo. The attacker’s palm strike split into three, and then the three palms merged back into one.
No one had expected the man to suddenly attack Old Mo. An Jiu was the leader of the Umbrians, and he had even been the one to awaken Old Mo.
As the attack struck Old Mo, An Jiu's eyes changed.
The ancient powerhouse spun around to look at An Jiu. "Is he being controlled? Or is it another rat?"
Lu Yin instantly grew wary. Controlled? His first thought was of Cheng Kong, but then he heard Shan Pu mention an odd name, "The Chiliagonist."[1]
Lu Yin felt confused, but Shan Pu offered no further explanation and instead simply pointed downwards.
The Umbrians were all rushing upwards into outer space, and they were all attacking Old Mo. None of the Umbrians were very strong, but the Chiliagonist had greatly enhanced their combat power, and thousands were attacking Old Mo.
The man frowned. "You don’t understand that you’re walking to your deaths."
As he spoke, the endless darkness that surrounded him shot out at a point in the distance. Old Mo stared in that direction, and the darkness formed a sharp blade that sliced the Umbral Universe in half. It looked as though even a massive universe was nothing more than a toy for the man to play with.
Far away, a flash of red appeared. It swept out and sliced through the darkness, falling upon the Umbral Expanse.
This touch of red was the second color that had been able to endure the darkness. The first had been the Investiture of the Gods’ golden light.
This red color was quite familiar to Lu Yin. It was divine energy.
As expected, the Aeternals had taken action.
Old Mo looked upwards and frowned. Both fear and wariness could be seen in his eyes. He remembered what he had seen before entering this universe. The arrival of this particular power had caused the Mainland to break, and countless people had died tragic deaths. He had seen the Three Realms Six Dao all bleeding. This power had engraved a deep fear in Old Mo’s memory.
However, the divine energy that was being used was not being wielded by that terrifying individual, but rather by a tiny mouse borrowing another’s power.
Old Mo’s eyes started to blaze. A mouse borrowing another’s power had frightened him, leaving him nervous and scared. Such a thing was unforgivable, and it was no different from how Lu Buzheng had once used the power of Destiny to scare Old Mo after the man had successfully cultivated the Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique. Unforgivable, completely unforgivable!
The darkness twisted and spread towards the divine energy.
The divine energy radiated a red light that shone down on the Umbral Expanse like a sun. As soon as it appeared, An Jiu and the other Umbrians who had attacked Old Mo lifted their hands, and divine energy touched their fingers. All of them absorbed the energy, and while they had no pupils, their single eyes blazed red.
This is a very difficult name to translate, as it literally means "a thousand angles/versions of the character/protagonist/player/participant." While we orginally gave him the name "the Thespian," that was not very accurate. "Chiliagonist" is 2 greek roots mashed together: chilia = Greek for thousand and agonist = Greek for role, which gives us "man of a thousand roles/parts." ☜
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