Chapter 2852: Chasing Time
Tuo Lin took a while to think before he answered, "Determination."
Wu Da laughed. "Do you know how many people want to persuade Dao Monarch Lu with their determination? However, none have ever succeeded. There are some people who have been kneeling outside of the Heavens Sect for several years, but Dao Monarch Lu might not even know that they exist. What you are saying is all too common."
Tuo Lin remained silent. He did not know how he could become Lu Yin’s disciple, so he had simply followed his passions and made his way to the Heavens Sect.
Wu Da shook his head. "I hope that you succeed."
Tuo Lin quietly answered, "Thank you."
Wu Da had been completely sincere. Lu Yin had no idea that there were people kneeling outside of the Heavens Sect, hoping to become his disciples. The only sort of disciple Lu Yin had ever accepted was Ku Wei, who had been accepted as Lu Yin’s lockbreaking apprentice.
Lu Yin’s current strength certainly qualified him to accept a disciple, but he had never considered doing so. After all, he was still quite young, and he also had numerous problems that he was trying to deal with.
Even if he accepted a disciple, Lu Yin intended to do the same as Mister Mu and accept a disciple who amazed or surprised him. Was there anyone who could do that in the known universes?
Tuo Lin had left the Cyclic Universe for the Origin Universe, but by the same token, there were people from the Origin Universe who had made their way to the Cyclic Universe.
Xuan Jiu was one of those people.
In order to avoid Lu Yin, he had done everything he could to leave the Origin Universe.
Finally, after being tricked and deceived and spending all of his savings, he had finally found someone willing and able to take him to the Cyclic Universe. Then, he had left.
Staring out at an endless grassland, Xuan Jiu shouted excitedly, "I finally left! I finally got rid of that rotten luck!"
Nearby, people gave the man strange looks, and some of them even recognized Xuan Jiu. After all, he had the funds to travel to the Cyclic Universe from the Origin Universe, which meant that his status was not simple.
Upon seeing Xuan Jiu’s excitement, someone joked, "You old bastard, you want to get rid of your bad luck? All your divinations are the opposite of what’s going to happen.”
"This old man couldn’t survive in the Origin Universe. Watch out, everyone, this old man might tell fortunes, but don’t let him fool you here in the Cyclic Universe with his false divinations.”
"Hahahaha!"
Xuan Jiu became furious. "What did you say, you rotten goods? Grandpa Jiu’s divinations never fail! They simply haven’t come to pass just yet."
"Bah!" someone spat in disgust.
Xuan Jiu gritted his teeth. He pulled a wooden pole out from his cosmic ring and looked at the writing on the flag attached to the pole. “Starsibyl’s Ninth Grandpa.”
He felt that there was something wrong with this. Starsibyl was incredibly famous in the Fifth Mainland, but not necessarily so in the Cyclic Universe.
After thinking about it, he let out a cough. He moved away from the people around him and traveled to a nearby city. After entering, he did his best to ask around, and he quickly learned that there were many famous women in the Cyclic Universe. Apparently, the most famous was a woman named Yao Lan. It was said that she was one of the Nine Sages and was also Sovereign Ninth Lotus’s eldest disciple. She had become extremely famous for being able to fight against peak powerhouses as an Ascendant.
Xuan Jiu initially wanted to change his sign from “Starsibyl’s Ninth Grandpa" to "Yao Lan's Ninth Grandpa," but after considering the matter repeatedly, he abandoned that idea. Supposedly, Sovereign Lotus had disciples all across the Sixverse Association, and Yao Lan appeared to be someone who should not be trifled with. Xuan Jiu knew that he was prone to getting into trouble, so he continued to ask around.
Finally, after a long time, he heard a bit of news. There was a new person in charge of the Transcendent Universe, and her name was Bai Qian. She stayed in the Transcendent Universe, but her fame had spread throughout the entire Sixverse Association, and many people knew of her.
She was perfect.
She was famous, yet absent. Also, she seemed rather familiar to Xuan Jiu, and he felt that he had heard her name before. Was there a connection to Starsibyl?
He quickly stopped thinking about it. It did not matter.
Xuan Jiu settled on a decision, and he promptly replaced “Starsibyl’s Ninth Grandpa” with “Bai Qian’s Ninth Grandpa.”
Settling the sign high above his shoulders, Xuan Jiu started to wander about the Cyclic Universe.
…
Time flowed by, and more than a month soon passed. On this day, the stellular tribulation of a Progenitor’s breakthrough appeared in the Fifth Mainland.
Lu Yin and several others stepped out one after another to stare into the distance. "Big Sis, you’re finally having your breakthrough."
Aeternus’s attack on the Heavens Sect had disrupted Big Sis’ plans to breakthrough, and then the Lu family’s return had upset her intentions of sweeping the Perennial World. Her breakthrough would be the icing on the cake for Lu Yin, as this would greatly strengthen the Heavens Sect.
Progenitor Yōu Ming had been an incredibly powerful Progenitor of the Second Mainland during the Heavens Sect era. Even the Dao Monarch of the Third Mainland, Gu Yizhi, had been impressed by the help that Progenitor Yōu Ming had been able to provide. It was easy to imagine just how powerful the woman had been in her prime.
As long as Big Sis was able to fully recover the strength of Progenitor Yōu Ming, the Heavens Sect would take another leap forward, moving closer to the glorious heights that it had known in the past.
More and more people appeared, and they all stared off into the distance.
The Progenitor’s tribulation continued to expand, growing larger and larger.
Lu Buzheng and the other Semi-Progenitors had also arrived, along with Leng Qing, Cloudflow, and the other peak powerhouses.
"Is Progenitor Yōu Ming stepping back into the Progenitor realm, or is she regaining her former strength?" Lu Buzheng was unable to understand what was happening.
Lu Yin had the same question, as he also could not make sense of the situation.
According to logic, Big Sis should be regaining her strength as a Progenitor, but she was facing a Progenitor’s tribulation, and judging by the scope of it, she was not facing a normal Progenitor’s tribulation either.
Beneath the tribulation’s vortex, Big Sis’ expression had turned solemn, and her eye was twitching. This breakthrough was giving her an increasingly uncomfortable feeling.
What had happened between the Heavens Sect era and the present to have landed her in her current state? She had never been able to find an answer to this question. If she had lost her cultivation in battle, then she should have been gravely injured, but there was nothing. Additionally, the Yōu Secret Art had been a shortcut for her to regain her former strength.
The only problem was the Impious Sutra. It somehow controlled those who cultivated the battle technique and forced them to search for something. Could what the Impious Sutra had been searching for have anything to do with what had happened to Progenitor Yōu Ming?
These thoughts all ran through Big Sis’ mind as the tribulation was about to begin. She felt as though things were out of her control, as though something terrible was about to occur.
Everyone waited for the Progenitor’s tribulation to start.
Finally, they saw a river flow down from the stellular tribulation.
While others were confused and did not understand what this river was, Lu Yin’s expression changed drastically. "The river of time?"
He had never dreamed that the first thing to appear during Big Sis’ stellular tribulation would be the river of time. Did Big Sis control the power of time? Was her inner world related to it?
Lu Yin's exclamation startled everyone watching, and they stared on blankly. Was that really the long river of time?
It had been said throughout the ages that time was invisible and intangible. It could be described as a gust of wind or as a river, but at this moment, they were all able to see that the river of time was a genuine river.
Bis Sis’ mind went blank for a moment. Then, countless memories flashed before her. Her pupils instantly shrank, and she shouted, "I remember now! It's over!"
Lu Yin's expression turned ugly.
In the Perennial World, Ancestor Lu Yuan’s eyes snapped open, and he gazed at the Fifth Mainland. "No! Tianyi, stay here!"
The old man then stepped out, instantly arriving in the Fifth Mainland.
"The river of time…"
Lu Yin saw that Lu Yuan had arrived, as well as the ugly expression on the man’s face. "Ancestor."
Lu Yuan was staring into the distance. "She didn't lose her cultivation, it was taken from her by the river of time."
"What do you mean?" Lu Yin asked nervously.
Lu Yuan answered in a low voice, "I already mentioned to you that, during the Heavens Sect era, the Origin Progenitor did not allow anyone to reverse the flow of time, and he used his swords to suppress the entire universe. Time could flow, but not in reverse. Doing so would cause a price to be paid.
"If she had simply lost her cultivation and been forced to recultivate, it would not have influenced the river of time. She must have violated the rules of our era without the strength necessary to protect herself."
Lu Yin stared at Lu Yuan, dazed by this information. "Are you saying that Big Sis reversed time?"
Lu Yuan nodded. "I don't know why she did it, but without the strength to equal the Three Realms and Six Dao, reversing time back then was courting death. It’s a miracle that she was able to survive to this era, though her cultivation was torn away by the river of time. If she wants to return to her former peak, the only way is for her to enter the river of time. Whether or not she can even survive is one thing, but it will be impossible for her to remain in this era.
"She will be cut off from this time."
Lu Yin looked back at Big Sis. Did she want to break away from the current era? Did he want her to disappear? No, she was Big Sis, his family. She had rescued him, and she was one of the people dearest to him.
"Ancestor, is there any way to help her? Even if doesn’t restore her cultivation," Lu Yin asked worriedly.
Lu Yuan sighed. "Every universe has its own laws, but time is one of the most basic rules. If anyone could reverse time, the universe would have collapsed long ago.
"The Origin Progenitor made sure that this would not happen. No matter what occurred, time would not be allowed to go in reverse. He feared that the requisite price would be too steep for anyone to bear. No one was exempt from this rule.
"Now that the river of time has appeared, even if she abandons her breakthrough, she will be swept into the river of time. Maybe an instant will pass, or maybe billions of years. She might be completely erased by the river of time, or she could appear far in the future. It’s impossible for anyone to know.
"That is the price that she must pay."
Lu Yin clenched his fists.
Within the range of the stellular tribulation, the river of time continued to flow forward. Big Sis could do nothing to stop this river. The moment she was about to be swept into the river of time, she turned to look at Lu Yin and forced out a smile. "I'm sorry, Little Seven. I thought that I could help you, but luckily, your Lu family is back. Goodbye."
The sight of Big Sis being swept away by the river of time caused Lu Yin's pupils to constrict. "I can't let this go!"
He took a step forward. His hand rose, and Lightstream flew out, aimed straight at the river of time.
Lu Yuan was startled. "Little Seven, stop!"
Lu Yin shouted, "Ancestor, help me!"
Lu Yuan's hand that was about to grab Lu Yin and pull him back suddenly froze. This was the first time that Lu Yin had asked his family for help. For the sake of the Lu family, Lu Yin had endured too much. Lu Xiaoxuan had died to give way to Lu Yin. A carefree person had disappeared, and in his stead, the ruthless Dao Monarch of the Heavens Sect had risen up. Lu Xiaoxuan’s entire being had been altered to save the Lu family.
The debt that the Lu family owed Lu Yin made it difficult for Lu Yuan to continue.
Lu Yin used Lightstream to chase after the river of time. This was his second inner world, and it used the power of space to chase after time.
Big Sis had been swept away by the river of time, and the river had instantly disappeared. No one could see it other than Lu Yin. At the exact moment that the river of time was about to completely disappear, Lu Yuan reached it with his Lightstream.
Lu Yuan's eyes blazed. Master, you stopped me once, but don’t do so again! Don’t stop me!
The man’s hand rose, and he slammed his Champions’ Stage Down upon the last splash of the vanishing river of time, holding it in place before it could vanish into the void.
At this moment, Lu Yin had already entered the river of time. Lightstream flickered, as time flowed about him. Countless scenes swirled around him, though he could not make out any of them clearly. "Big Sis!"
Big Sis whirled around, shocked. "Little Seven, go back!"
Lu Yin gritted his teeth. "Big Sis, grab hold of me!"
Big Sis’ eyes turned bloodshot, but she could not hesitate at this moment. A massive shadow rose up behind her. It was her own image, magnified countless times over. It wore pure black, and the scent of an orchid lingered about the image, giving it the impression of a poisonous flower. The aura of a powerful Progenitor swept through, creating ripples in the river of time. This was the true Progenitor Yōu Ming.