Published at 25th of August 2023 10:46 am

Chapter 2274: Cloudforest Tower

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Lu Yin's expression grew ugly. "My father's choice is what caused the Yu family to become what it currently is."

"And yet it also saved you," Wu Yao countered, "If not for that, you would have never received the opportunity to challenge the Sky Beyond the Sky trial. Tell me, how many of the Perennial World’s greatest geniuses can also complete this trial? If everyone was allowed to challenge it, the number of people who have successfully passed it might double, but they simply don’t have the luck to even try. You are different, and the decisions made by your father and grandfather led to you receiving this chance. You should not let them down."

Lu Yin stared at Wu Yao. "Since they made me who I am, I should repay them."

Wu Yao’s voice turned cold. "You should be trying to repay the Yu family as a whole: the past Yu family as well as the future Yu family, not merely your grandfather. I believe even that old man is hoping to see you make the right choice, even if it means that he must pay the price."

Lu Yin frowned. "I can pretend like I never heard you say that, Senior."

Wu Yao felt quite frustrated. If this young man had not passed the Sky Beyond the Sky trial, how would Wu Yao ever allow an Envoy to speak to him in such a tone? This Yu Hao’s attitude was sufficient cause for Wu Yao to kill him.

Wu Yao left, and Bai Su arrived instead. The two were taking turns trying to persuade Yu Hao.

Neither of the man had any hope of being able to rescue Yu Chuan. Shenwu's Sky was not stupid. Even before Yu Hao had challenged the Sky Beyond the Sky trial, they had made it a point to take Yu Chuan away from Star Alliance and lock him up within Shenwu's Sky. At this juncture, they had to be keeping an even closer eye on the old man, and it was possible that they even had Xia Ziheng personally standing guard. Not even the Celestial Frost Sect was confident in being able to rescue Yu Chuan.

If it was impossible to save Yu Chuan, then the only option available was to try to convince Yu Hao to abandon his grandfather.

Unfortunately, if Yu Hao did not agree, the Celestial Frost Sect could only back down. They could not detain Virtue Archives for too long, especially since Xia Ziheng had arrived at the Celestial Frost Sect. They could try to stall the man, but Xia Ziheng would not be stopped for long, and he might even try to attack if they forcibly blocked him.

The soft light that shone down from the clouds dimmed a great deal. This was how the cycles of night and day passed within the Celestial Frost Sect.

As night fell, Lu Yin and the God of Food sat across from each other at the stone table. Lu Yin shared everything that Bai Su and Wu Yao had promised to give Yu Hao.

The God of Food started laughing. "Giving you the resources to open your three meridian points isn’t a condition they’re offering, but a necessity! They only want to convince you to join them because you should be able to become a Progenitor, but how are you going to be able to do that without the necessary resources? Just ignore that part of their offer. As for your grandfather, Yu Chuan…"

The old man started considering the matter. "I can’t convince you to abandon him, but understand that, if you refuse to join Shenwu's Sky, they will use him to try to control you, even after you become a Progenitor. Yu Chuan will always remain a weakness of yours."

Lu Yin softly said, "I want to head to Shenwu's Sky now."

The God of Food believed that “Yu Hao” missed Yu Chuan, so the Semi-Progenitor said, "I'll speak with Wu Yao and try to find a way for us to leave, but the Celestial Frost Sect won't easily allow you to leave. You should be prepared for that."

Lu Yin nodded, and he could not stop himself from glancing upwards at the clouds in the sky. He was simply too worried about Bai Sheng. As soon as that Progenitor realized that Yu Hao was really Lu Xiaoxuan, war would descend. Lu Yin would then have to forget about trying to rescue Star Alliance or the people imprisoned in Crimson Garden, which would make his entire trip to the Perennial World be a waste.

In another part of the Higher Realm, Xia Ziheng was furious. "You came here to slow me down? Don’t think that I don’t know what you’re doing! Dream on!"

The Semi-Progenitor then rushed off.

On the ground below was an old man with blood leaking from his mouth. "This was a huge loss. The Celestial Frost Sect told me to stop Xia Ziheng, but he’s acting like a madman! This is really going to be a waste…"

After the old man finished speaking, his inner world erupted. He was completely disregarding the potential consequences or what it would cost him. No, it could not be considered a loss. He was just doing what needed to be done.

Xia Ziheng's eye twitched. The more the Celestial Frost Sect did to delay him, the more they proved their determination to steal Yu Hao. Xia Ziheng was terribly worried that Yu Hao might agree to abandon Yu Chuan. If that happened, Shenwu’s Sky would lose any hint of an advantage that they might hold over the Celestial Frost Sect. Even worse, given the history between Shenwu’s Sky and the Yu family, they might create an enemy that they never wanted to see.

They could not afford to become mortal enemies with an immortal.

Two days passed, and then three. Each day, various people from the Celestial Frost Sect were sent to speak with Yu Hao to convince him to join the sect. Even Bai Weiwei was sent, and she visited Lu Yin several times. She quite clearly hinted that the sect was willing to offer her to Yu Hao as an incentive, which left Lu Yin completely stunned.

The Celestial Frost Sect was willing to do almost anything if it resulted in an immortal joining them, and even Bai Weiwei was willing to do whatever it took.

Yet again, Lu Yin felt that he had greatly underestimated his own value. It was possible, given the treatment that he was receiving, that he could even get away with pointing a finger at Wu Hao and publicly insulting him.

Lu Yin asked Progenitor Smoke to come out.

He had not been willing to take such a risk before because he had recently met Bai Sheng and was worried about being discovered by a Progenitor, but he felt that it had become necessary. It was too difficult to get into the Celestial Frost Sect, so if Lu Yin did not take advantage of his current opportunity, things would likely become practically impossible in the future.

"Eh? Another Mountain and Sea?" Progenitor Smoke looked upwards at the clouds above the Celestial Frost Sect as soon as she emerged from her pocket dimension.

Lu Yin was taken aback, and he also looked up. "There’s another Mountain and Sea?"

Progenitor Smoke nodded. "You can see it up there in the distance."

"Those clouds?" Lu Yin was even more surprised.

"That's right. That's Bai Wangyuan's Mountain and Sea. Where are we? The Celestial Frost Sect?"

Lu Yin nodded. He had never considered the possibility that the clouds above the sect would be another Mountain and Sea. In that case, was the Sky Beyond the Sky a trial that Bai Wangyuan had created, or was it something from the Mountain and Sea itself?

It should be a trial that had been created by Bai Wangyuan, as there would be no trial from a Mountain and Sea as long as it had a master.

He suppressed his shock of learning about yet another Mountain and Sea and asked Progenitor Smoke to check if anyone was observing him. "I met a Progenitor here by the name of Bai Sheng."

Progenitor Smoke looked around, and then shook her head. "There’s no Progenitor nearby."

Lu Yin arched a brow. "Is there anyone on top of those clouds?"

"I don't know about that, but there’s certainly nobody watching us. What? Do you want me to check out the entire Celestial Frost Sect? That might alert their sourcebox array or the Mountain and Sea," Progenitor Smoke cautioned.

"There’s no need. I’ve already troubled you again, Senior."

Progenitor Smoke folded her arms across her chest and then looked out from Lu Yin’s quarters with a great deal of interest. "This is no trouble. I’ll quite enjoy things if you’re making trouble for Bai Wangyuan."

Lu Yin felt puzzled. "Is there some sort of grudge between you and Bai Wangyuan, Senior?"

"No, but that guy’s very sneaky. I have no idea if I might have been tricked by him in the past, so I’m just going to assume that I have," Progenitor Smoke stated very casually.

Lu Yin blinked. Was this sort of attitude really alright?

He could not begin to guess what Progenitor Smoke was thinking. She might be a Progenitor, but she seemingly remained as petty as ever.

Lu Yin shook his head and brought out Zenith Mountain to release Yu Chen.

When Yu Chen saw Progenitor Smoke, she instantly felt a momentary urge to submit to the beautiful woman. Then, Yu Chen instantly became far more respectful than normal.

Progenitor Smoke gave Lu Yin a very odd look. "Just how many people have you kidnapped?"

Lu Yin pursed his lips. "Not too many."

He then turned to Yu Chen. "We’re in the Celestial Frost Sect."

Yu Chen was taken aback, and she immediately looked up into the sky. Sure enough, they were in the Celestial Frost Sect, but this did not excite the woman, and she felt no gratitude towards Lu Yin at all. Even if they were in the Celestial Frost Sect, she would not be set free. She knew that Lu Yin would not release her.

"I remember that you once told me that the Celestial Frost Sect has a very secure location where top secret records are stored. Take me there," Lu Yin quietly ordered.

Yu Chen's expression completely changed. "The Cloudforest Tower is one of the most heavily protected places in the entire sect! Semi-Progenitor Wu Yao himself stays there to protect it, and we’ll definitely get caught if we try to go there."

Lu Yin laughed. "A Semi-Progenitor can’t do anything. Even if Bai Wangyuan himself were here, he still wouldn’t be able to sense us as long as this senior here is protecting us."

Yu Chen turned to stare at Progenitor Smoke in shock. Lu Yin did not seem to be just bragging, so did that mean that this woman really had the ability to stay hidden even from Progenitor Bai? Did that mean this beautiful woman was actually a Progenitor herself?

Progenitor Smoke loved to hear compliments, and hearing Lu Yin claim that she could hide things from even Bai Wangyuan was simply wonderful to her ears. "Don't worry, no one will find us. Just tell me where we need to go."

Yu Chen forced down the shock that had rattled her so badly and shared the location of the Cloudforest Tower.

Soon, Lu Yin and Yu Chen were making their way towards the Cloudforest Tower while covered with a bit of energy from the mirror.

Lu Yin himself was not certain how powerful Progenitor Smoke was at the moment, but he was absolutely certain that no Semi-Progenitor could possibly sense the woman if she hid herself. He was still worried about Bai Sheng, but the man had said that he was returning to the Outer Realm, so Lu Yin could only hope that the Progenitor was truly gone.

Of course, he still prepared for the worst. If the Celestial Frost Sect discovered him, he would simply join the sect as Yu Hao. The Celestial Frost Sect would most likely not be willing to harm an immortal because of the Cloudforest Tower, not even if he was an outsider. In fact, they might even view the situation as a win-win outcome, as an immortal would always be welcomed into the Celestial Frost Sect, provided that they did not learn of Lu Yin’s true identity.

Naturally, everything depended on just how important the Cloudforest Tower really was.

Soon, they arrived.

The Cloudforest Tower looked like a perfectly ordinary white pagoda from the outside. It stood in the middle of the lake.

"Are you sure that this is it?" Lu Yin asked doubtfully.

Yu Chen replied, "I visited this place once with the Junior Progenitor. Not only was Semi-Progenitor Wu Yao protecting the place, bur it also has its own sourcebox array."

"Bai Shaohong told you that this place is used to store top secret records?"

"Not in so many words, but the Junior Progenitor did make it clear that this pagoda is one of the most important locations in the entire sect."

Lu Yin stared at the Cloudforest Tower that rose up from the middle of the lake. Was this place really one of the sect’s most important places? Bai Xian'er had been in seclusion for a long time, so it was unlikely that they would run into her in this place. Lu Yin desperately wanted to avoid that outcome.

While Lu Yin had never dealt with Bai Xian'er, he was aware of just how difficult she reputedly was to deal with.

The God of Food, Ancestor Wan Dao, and even the Heavens Sect’s gatemasters were unable to sense any trace of Progenitor Smoke when she hid herself. While Lu Yin was confident in the Progenitor’s abilities, he lost a great deal of assurance when it came to potentially came to Bai Xian'er. "This isn’t where Bai Xian'er retreats into seclusion, right?"

Yu Chen instantly replied, "That’s impossible. If she were here, why would Semi-Progenitor Wu Yao need to guard this place?"

That was a good point. Lu Yin looked over at Progenitor Smoke. She had not led them into the pagoda, but was instead staring at something.

After a short while, Progenitor Smoke asked, "There is a sourcebox array protecting this place, but why does it feel a bit like Hui Wen’s work?"

"Is this one of Progenitor Hui's sourcebox arrays?" Lu Yin was shocked.

Progenitor Smoke shook her head. "It feels similar to that, but not exactly like it. Forget it, I don't really care. Let’s go. You don’t need to worry, as this sourcebox array can't stop me.".com

The woman then led Lu Yin and Yu Chen across the lake and towards the Cloudforest Tower.

Through the delicate layer of energy surrounding them, Lu Yin and Yu Chen were able to see Wu Yao. They directly passed by the Semi-Progenitor, but he clearly was unable to sense a thing.

Yu Chen looked over at Progenitor Smoke with eyes full of admiration, which Progenitor Smoke found so pleasurable that she made it a point to circle around Wu Yao.

Lu Yin's face twitched. This woman!

Yunlin Tower was not a hidden world like Lu Yin had assumed, nor was it a pocket dimension like what was used for pond civilizations. It truly was just a small pagoda that was only a few stories tall. It was perfectly ordinary looking even from the inside, and it did not even have shelves to hold the records. Instead, there were stone pedestals, and each one held a single scroll or specially made jade slip. Everything had been made from special materials to ensure that the records were safely preserved.

After Lu Yin confirmed that there were no issues with Progenitor Smoke, he grabbed one of the records and scanned it.

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