Chapter 2028

Chapter 2028

Lu Yin might be enemies with the Perennial World’s forces, but their presence would still be a great help if Aeternus decided to fight with Lu Yin in Earth’s solar system. On top of that, if they traveled to the Perennial World through Jupiter, they would all end up in random locations. Regardless of how thoroughly they searched for him in the Perennial World, he would remain safely hidden with his Mask of Death.

A thought popped up, and Lu Yin turned to Ancestor Tortoise. What should he do with this guy?

Ancestor Tortoise was simply too big. Lu Yin had no options but to leave the creature in the Fifth Mainland. Besides, not even the Seven Skygods were able to do much to the tortoise.

…

Aside from the fighting that still raged at the border of the Technocracy, the fighting had mostly died down in the Fifth Mainland. However, the more peaceful things became, the more on edge humans became.

Another month passed. At this point, two months had passed since the great battle.

The mechanical ants had already been completely wiped out, but Aeternus had not pushed to invade the Technocracy. Instead, they had been busy replenishing their numbers. They had taken control of a stretch of the Innerverse’s western flowzones all the way to Chaos Flowzone, and they maintained a careful watch on the rest of the Fifth Mainland.

As many had already guessed, the Aeternals did not conduct a wanton slaughter of humans. Instead, they moved to capture humans to be used as raw materials in the production of new corpse kings.

This was the cruel reality of defeat.

Death was the only way for a person to regain freedom, but who had the courage to choose death?

Under such circumstances, Aeternus gained numerous human followers each day.

Bu Kong once again publicly revealed himself. For a while, he had been living like a street rat, terrified of being exposed. However, he had started to once again hold his head high and strut about arrogantly.

City Lord Yang from the Aeternus Kingdom in the Starfall Sea also revealed himself as the Progenitor of Secret Arts’ disciple. He had publicly faked his death during Aeternus’s invasion of the Sixth Mainland, but he had been cultivating in secret with Aeternus’s support, which had allowed him to become a powerful Imprinter.

A few days later, a shocking piece of news swept through the Fifth Mainland. An Aeternus Kingdom had been established atop the ruins of Chaosgod Mountain in Chaos Flowzone, and the master of that kingdom was Fan Chen.

Fan Chen was a Cosmic Imprinter from the Sixth Mainland’s Brahman Realm. He was the supreme elder of a family in the Brahman Realm, and he was also extremely close to becoming an Empyrean Imprinter.

This news left many dumbfounded. The betrayal of a family from the Brahman Realm had a massive impact on humanity.

This betrayal meant that their enemy had gained yet another expert, but even more importantly, it indicated that humanity had given up.

The Fan family had completely given up on fighting back.

Shortly after the Aeternus Kingdom was established on Chaosgod Mountain, Ancient God and the other Semi-Progenitors of Aeternus revealed themselves. They were headed towards the furthest reaches of the Fifth Mainland.

At this same time, several human strongholds were established across the Fifth Mainland, each under the protection of several Semi-Progenitors.

One of those strongholds was the solar system in Frostwave Weave, which was protected by a total of six Semi-Progenitors. Kui Luo and Highsage Grandmaster cooperated with the four Semi-Progenitors from the Perennial World to form the bulk of the defenses.

Another stronghold had been erected in the Neoverse in the Honor Zone. With the Hall of Honor leading the force, the Seven Courts, Aurora Enterprises, and the 3,000 hidden worlds had joined together to form a force to be reckoned with. The commanders were Arch-Elder Zen, Xia Ji, and Chief Justice Qing Ping.

The Seven Courts were only willing to temporarily abandon Progenitor Chen’s Mausoleum and move to the Honor Zone because of Aeternus’s threat. They were well aware of the fact that they were no match for Aeternus on their own.

The Neoverse had a second stronghold as well, which was led by Gods’ Origin. It was located just a short distance from the Honor Zone.

The Rune Technology that Gods’ Origin used was completely unaffected by the draining of stellular energy from the true universe, which made Gods’ Origin a safe haven whose protection many people yearned for.

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The Cosmic Sect faced difficulties in moving to the Honor Zone, so they had instead joined with Gods’ Origin, which was closer, along with many other forces. The Semi-Progenitors protecting this stronghold were Elder Gong and Jiu Chi.

The Honor Zone and Gods’ Origin could be viewed as a single stronghold, as the distance between the two could be quickly traversed by Semi-Progenitors. If not for the difficulties in traveling to the Honor Zone itself, many forces would have done that instead of staying a short distance away.

As for the Sixth Mainland, they had concentrated their forces at the center of the Outerverse. When the crystal in the Autumnfrost family’s territory had been shattered, the droplet had not been exposed, and it was still inside of Lu Yin’s cosmic ring. This meant that the center of the Outerverse did not experience any draining of its stellular energy, and humans could recover their stellular energy there for the time being.

Aeternus’s Semi-Progenitors had also split up to locate all of the strongholds that had been established across the Fifth Mainland. In the end, Ancient God made the decision to deal God’s Origin’s stronghold a devastating blow.

Since the human Semi-Progenitors were no longer united, Aeternus intended to use this opportunity to eradicate them one by one. On top of that, since numerous humans had already gathered at the various strongholds, they had no need to hunt them down in small groups, as they could instead harvest massive numbers all at once.

This was the obvious next step for them to take.

Since Aeternus was able to come up with such an idea, Arch-Elder Zen had naturally seen his possibility as well. The current situation had occurred simply because the humans were trying to buy a bit of time.

Once the human strongholds appeared, Aeternus felt confident that their victory was already written in stone and that they just needed to wait for the humans to finish flocking towards their final bastions of strength, which gave humanity a bit of breathing room.

Thus, the Fifth Mainland received a two-month respite. Humanity did not merely use this time to recover, but also bet on a path to victory. All of their bets were relying on that place.

After two months, Aeternus’s Semi-Progenitors started moving toward Gods’ Origin. By this time, Xiu Ming and the other Lockbreakers had also finally finished their lockbreaking task.

…

A vast, white, icy plain radiated a bone-deep cold. The ground began to crack open, and fissures gradually spread across the entire region. Torrents of cold air shot straight up from the gaps, tearing through space and freezing it.

Xiu Ming’s expression was absolutely somber. He did not even dare to touch the cold energy that had appeared, as it was cold enough to freeze even Semi-Progenitors. This was the energy that had transformed this vast area into a sourcebox.

Lockbreakers stumbled back as they retreated, all the while staring at the white ice in terror and shock as the fissures grew.

Hao Yue stared at the slitted scarlet eyes which were encased in the layer of ice. He had insisted that they leave this place sealed after he saw so many scarlet eyes sealed within the ice. No one knew which of the frozen forces was stronger. If the released Aeternals were more powerful than the humans, this reckless lockbreaking attempt would bring disaster down upon the Human Domain.

However, given the Fifth Mainland’s desperate situation, that thought had already perished.

The cold white energy continued to spew out from a series of geysers, freezing space solid.

“Move back further,” Geoffery ordered, unprecedentedly serious.

Qing Zhiyu, Mi Wen, Dao Bo, and the other Lockbreakers who had arrived at this location later on retreated along with Gui Junheng, Wu Sheng, Xu Feng, and Yi Dishui.

There was a sudden bang, and a massive crack appeared. A pair of slitted scarlet eyes abruptly moved. Fingers twitched, and a body moved. A neck twisted, causing a hair-raising series of clacks to fill the air. Then, another pair of eyes opened wide. A figure leaped up, releasing a frightening aura that emanated the pressure of a powerhouse from an ancient era. It was a corpse king.

Xiu Ming shivered as the power filling the area oppressed him with a sense of wrongness. What kind of power was this?

The corpse king roared at the sky while releasing an endless might.

Geoffrey gritted his teeth. “This means trouble.”

The power that the corpse king had revealed had completely suppressed him. This pressure was very close to the level of strength a Progenitor might possess. Just as Geoffrey was about to take action, a stream of black energy burst forth from the crack into the sky and bound the corpse king in place. As the Lockbreakers watched in a daze, the corpse king was shredded.

Xiu Ming and the others were blown away. “Death energy?”

At this moment, the entire icy plains shook. Everyone felt as though an unimaginable power was about to appear.

Xiu Ming was startled. “This is bad. There’s another sourcebox array inside the one that we just opened, and it’s about to blow up. We can’t control it!”

He looked at his group of Lockbreakers. “Everyone, protect yourselves!”

Even as his words echoed across the icy plain, the ground shattered with a deafening explosion. The force of the blast radiated out in all directions, disrupting the suppression of the mental network. The power of the explosion was so overwhelming that it overpowered the mental construct. The frozen beings were all sent flying, as well as the Lockbreakers. All of them were thrown back into spatial tears that had appeared, swallowing them whole.

…

With Aeternus attacking Gods’ Origin, the ruins of the Rune Civilization were brought out to be used in battle. They were transformed into majestic rune lines that were sent out to eliminate the waves of corpse kings. These ruins had originally been created by powerful cultivators from the Rune Progenitor’s era who had cultivated Truesight. Once activated, they unleashed an unfathomable power that continuously bombarded the Aeternals’ Semi-Progenitors, including even Ancient God.

A Semi-Progenitor corpse king was caught off guard, and both of its legs disappeared. They were slowly erased into nothingness.

Marquis Green Bamboo gazed in amazement at the invisible runes that were attacking Aeternus’s forces. “To be honest, to me, the Rune Progenitor was the most remarkable Progenitor. He created an entirely new cultivation method, and he even established a whole civilization. If he hadn’t been killed during a siege after trying to take on the Sixth Mainland all alone, who knows how strong he would have become.”

Ancient God’s eyes were icy. “Throughout human history, there have been more than a few people like the Rune Progenitor, but all of them were too foolish.”

Forgotten Ruins God laughed. “Back then, the Heavens Sect ruled over everything: Three Realms Six Dao, the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, and the Twelve Heaven’s Gates. They held all of the power. Back then, humans stood at the apex. However, the more prosperous they became, the worse their fall.”

“Humans will never return to the glory of the Heavens Sect’s era. It’s our turn.” A purplish-black substance covered Ancient God’s body. His hair grew out, and a hazy glow enveloped him. He looked over at Gods’ Origin and suddenly shot forwards at a breathtaking speed.

There were seventeen ruins of the Rune Civilization in Gods’ Origin, each of which was a never-ending fount of runes that were fending off the Aeternals.

Four of Aeternus’s Semi-Progenitors had been dispatched, but they still had not broken into Gods’ Origin yet.

When Ancient God reached Gods’ Origin, he ran into a powerful barrier that directly impeded his forward charge. It was composed entirely of invisible runes. Some distance away, God of Mirrors stared intently at the approaching Ancient God. “Erase him.”

Ancient God looked over. He was overcome by a strange sensation that covered his entire body. With a frown, he waved a hand and tore apart the void, including the runes that were blocking his path. This attack continued to travel on to the ruins, destroying all of them with a single strike.

Elder Gong threw God of Mirrors out of the way. At the place where the man from Gods’ Origin had just been standing a moment before, there was now a line that stretched out of sight. Space had been sliced in two.

God of Mirrors could not believe his eyes.

Elder Gong looked at Ancient God. Elder Gong knew everything would end once the Seven Skygods decided to reveal their true power.

Ancient God was an unstoppable force as he blasted into Gods’ Origin. His first opponent was Jiu Chi. Ancient God struck out at the man with a palm that shattered the gourd of wine, and Jiu Chi was flying as he coughed up blood.

“There is no one from the past or the future who can stop me! It’s time to end this,” said Ancient God as he raised an arm to strike down at Jiu Chi.

Ancient God’s power was on a completely different level than Jiu Chi’s. It was as if an Envoy was battling against an Enlighter.

Jiu Chi watched as Ancient God’s palm swung down. He sighed, and a drop of liquor fell from his lips. It landed at his feet and then spread out like ripples across a pond. They completely enveloped Ancient God. This was Jiu Chi’s inner world.

Xue Laogui had already been killed by Marquis Wang’s innate gift before he even had the chance to utilize his inner world. However, it was not too late for Jiu Chi.

He unleashed his inner world while focusing on Ancient God. “Let’s go down together.”

He released every last drop of his power. This was an all or nothing effort.