Published at 30th of September 2023 7:52 am

Chapter 2347: Probing

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When Skymender and the Progenitor of Bloodlines emerged from the New Corridor, the Progenitor of Bloodlines immediately looked up at the Wang family’s mainland, as he had sensed an unusual aura.

Even though Semi-Progenitors could not sense anything from the Mountain and Sea in the sky above the floating landmass, the Progenitor of Bloodlines could.

"So this is the Perennial World? Since the great war back then, my Sixth Mainland has never had any dealings with this place. I never thought that I would actually come here." The Progenitor of Bloodlines sighed as he solemnly stared at the Wang family’s mainland.

Skymender commented, "If not for the Aeternals interfering in things back then, the war would not have ended as it did."

The Progenitor of Bloodlines sighed again. "We were simply too arrogant and were used by the Aeternals."

"Let's go. We need to get to Virtue Archives."

The two then left the valley in the mountains and made their way towards the Middle Realm.

While the Progenitor of Bloodlines had been crippled and had lost his Progenitor’s world due to his injuries, he was still a Progenitor. His strength was incomparable to a Semi-Progenitor, and the old man could still move with the same speed as before. Because of that, the two new arrivals from the Forsaken Land instantly vanished.

Up on the Wang family’s mainland, Wang Zheng was horrified. He had not been able to see either of the men’s cultivation levels, which meant they were each at least Semi-Progenitors. Why did more Semi-Progenitors arrive from the Fifth Mainland? What were they doing?

Without any hesitation, Wang Zheng sent a report to Wang Fan.

Eyes in the Dominion Realm quickly looked down. They found the Progenitor of Bloodlines and Skymender right after the two left the Higher Realm; they were headed for the Middle Realm.

The two did not have any knowledge of the Perennial World’s layout, but given their strength, it was too easy for them to find a place like Virtue Archives.

In the Dominion Realm, Wang Fan was surprised by what he saw. "A Progenitor? No, he no longer has that strength. He seems to be a cripple."

"What is someone like that doing in my Perennial World?" Xia Shenji was also looking down, and he frowned. "Regardless of what he’s here for, throw him out."

Bai Wangyuan interjected, "The Forsaken Land has assumed the task of protecting the fourth array base, and we have reached an agreement with Lu Xiaoxuan that our two places will allow free travel between them. Sending those two back to the Forsaken Land without just cause is no different from violating the truce. Just wait and see what they are going to do."

"Based on the direction they’re traveling in, they seem to be going to Virtue Archives, right?" Progenitor Long guessed.

There were several people staring down at the Middle Realm.

Within the Middle Realm, the Progenitor of Bloodlines looked upwards. "We are being watched by this place’s Progenitors."

Skymender's expression grew ugly. If he had not been forced by Lu Yin, Skymender would never have come to the Perennial World. There were so many Progenitors watching him, which was a terrifying experience.

The Progenitor of Bloodlines was also feeling a great deal of pressure. Any one of the Progenitors who belonged to the Perennial World could casually eliminate someone like him. Moving around with the feeling of a blade at his throat was extremely uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to refuse Lu Yin's requests.

The two remained focused as they searched for Virtue Archives. It did not take them long to find the place.

At the same time, Xia Ziheng and the other four Semi-Progenitors who were waiting outside of Virtue Archives were staring at the academy. The Undying Bird and the Dark Undying Bird had already disappeared. Mu Shang had proceeded quicker than expected in opening the sourcebox array. Headmaster Wen was no longer able to endure, and he collapsed.

"It won't be much longer." The Semi-Progenitors all watched as the Undying Bird and the Dark Undying Bird vanished and were replaced by lines.

These lines would not be unfamiliar to those who were familiar with Virtue Archives, as they were the academy’s famous Eighteen Lines Formation, which was used as a graduation exam to test the students’ combat strength. However, there were not merely eighteen lines at this moment, but countless lines.

Mu Shang was very interested in this sourcebox array, as understanding it would greatly benefit his lockbreaking abilities.

"Wen Lai, why don't you ask the God of Food to come out and challenge the Progenitor realm? How long do you intend to wait?" Xia Ziheng taunted.

Headmaster Wen remained solemn. "Keep stalling them. We need to buy time for Lu Xiaoxuan’s people to get here."

"Wen Lai, what you’re doing is pointless. Just give up. No one can save Virtue Archives," Wu Yao said.

"Master. Come out, old man. Your disciple wants to watch you become a Progenitor," Mr. Yu said in a soft voice. It sounded as though he genuinely wanted to see the God of Food break through and become a Progenitor.

The expressions of Mr. Tang, Prof. Zheng, and the rest of the remaining faculty all grew ugly. As soon as the defensive sourcebox arrays were broken, they would be confronted with five Semi-Progenitors and one Array Grandmaster. Such a line-up was too intimidating.

Prof. Wei emotionally commented, "Back then, Lu Xiaoxuan managed to fight against four Semi-Progenitors on his own. I can’t even imagine the pressure that he must have faced."

The others remained silent. There were so many of them facing five Semi-Progenitors, yet they were already suffering from the pressure. Just how had Lu Xiaoxuan managed to endure such a thing? Not only had he fought against four Semi-Progenitors, but he had also killed one. Was that what was known as a peerless genius?

"Hey, someone’s coming!" Prof. Huai exclaimed.

Headmaster Wen and Ce Donglai had already noticed the new arrivals, and they were both solemnly staring into the distance. They had no idea if these strangers approaching were friends or foes, but the two men were afraid of the four ruling powers sending additional experts to deal with the academy.

The headmaster and Ce Donglai were not alone, as Xia Ziheng and the four Semi-Progenitors with him had also noticed someone was approaching. They turned around, looked, and saw Skymender and the Progenitor of Bloodlines.

Xia Ziheng was terrified as he looked at the unfamiliar face of the Progenitor of Bloodlines. This person’s aura completely suppressed Xia Ziheng. It felt like confronting… a Progenitor?

Wu Yao's eyes widened. "A Progenitor?"

Mr. Yu was very wary of the two strangers. "Impossible. An unknown Progenitor?"

Semi-Progenitor Ji Feng and Semi-Progenitor Liu Hua glanced at each other in shock. How could a Progenitor be getting involved?

The Progenitor of Bloodlines's cultivation might have fallen, but only other Progenitors could sense that the man was a cripple. It was not something that Semi-Progenitors could pick up on. As far as the Semi-Progenitors were concerned, the Progenitor of Bloodlines was a powerful Progenitor, which was Lu Yin’s entire purpose in sending the man to Virtue Archives. Without the Progenitor of Bloodlines intimidating Xia Ziheng and the others, there was no way that a single person would be able to get past the five Semi-Progenitors sealing off Virtue Archives.

At first, Xia Ziheng and the others did not even guess that the two strangers were from the Fifth Mainland. There were too many hidden powerhouses in the Perennial World, and occasionally, one would reveal themselves. No one would know where such an expert might come from, and it was even possible for such a person to be a hidden Progenitor from one of the four ruling powers.

Given the five Semi-Progenitors’ knowledge, the possibility that the Progenitor of Bloodlines came from the Forsaken Land was not even considered.

The Progenitor of Bloodlines and Skymender slowly approached Virtue Archives.

Xia Ziheng stepped forward, staring at the Progenitor of Bloodlines in confusion and with great fear. "Might I be so bold as to ask who Senior might be? This junior is Xia Ziheng, a junior from Shenwu’s Sky."

The Progenitor of Bloodlines glanced over indifferently, but he did not answer. The pressure of a Progenitor spread out, and it caused Xia Ziheng's hair to stand on end. It had not been long since he had last felt this same sort of pressure, though it had come from the jiao and Xia Shenji. Feeling such pressure again made it difficult for the Semi-Progenitor to breath, and he instinctively wanted to escape.

Wu Yao and others felt the exact same reaction.

Not one of the Semi-Progenitors dared to stop the Progenitor of Bloodlines.

The Progenitor of Bloodlines and Skymender simply walked past the group of Semi-Progenitors and approached the edge of the sourcebox array that surrounded Virtue Archives.

"The Dao Chosen asked us to come and offer our help to Virtue Archives," Skymender said as he looked at Headmaster Wen and others.

Headmaster Wen was overjoyed to hear this. "Lu Xiaoxuan asked you to come here?"

Xia Ziheng and the others stared blankly. Lu Xiaoxuan? Was he interfering yet again? How had he managed to ask a Progenitor to take action? Where had such a powerhouse even come from?

Skymender gave a small smile. "That's right."

He then started to observe the sourcebox array. "It's been a very long time since I last performed any lockbreaking in front of others. Let me see the strength of this place’s Array Grandmasters."

He then disappeared into the sourcebox array.

Mu Shang was completely engrossed in his lockbreaking, so Skymender’s sudden appearance was a complete surprise. The man did not know how to respond.

Skymender started working, and Headmaster Wen quickly handed over control of the sourcebox array to the newcomer. Instantly, the horizontal lines that had been fading away one after another returned. Soon, the images of the Undying Bird and the Dark Undying Bird reappeared in the sky.

Mu Shang was startled. "An Array Grandmaster?"

The power of a sourcebox array controlled by an Array Grandmaster was incomparable to the strength that could be displayed without one.

Progenitor Wen himself had left behind the sourcebox array that protected Virtue Archives. Progenitor Wen had not only been an Array Grandmaster, but also a Progenitor. How could his sourcebox arrays be easy to unravel? Skymender’s presence was like a key that fully unlocked the true power of the defensive sourcebox array.

The Progenitor of Bloodlines turned to face Xia Ziheng and the others. "The four ruling powers have an agreement with my Fifth Mainland. People are allowed to freely travel back and forth between the two places, and I am here to submit applications to Virtue Archives on behalf of my Fifth Mainland’s elite youths."

Xia Ziheng and the others stared in a daze. Applications? If the academy regained students, then given the agreement with Virtue Archives, would not all of their previous efforts be in vain?

The five Semi-Progenitors were not the only ones who were shocked, as Xia Shenji and the others watching from the Dominion Realm also had not expected Lu Yin to play such a hand.

Sending cultivators from the Fifth Mainland to enroll in Virtue Archives would give the academy students once again. And as long as Virtue Archives had students, the four ruling powers would have no official reason to destroy the academy. Moving against Virtue Archives would destroy their reputation.

If that was what was needed to deal with Virtue Archives, then the four ruling powers would not have waited so long to target the academy.

"Attack now and destroy Virtue Archives!" Xia Shenji ordered angrily. "Does Lu Xiaoxuan really believe that he can help them? What a joke! This is the Perennial World, not the Fifth Mainland."

Wang Fan agreed. "I agree—destroy Virtue Archives. We don’t need any reasons."

"We should have done so long ago. Progenitor Wen died fighting for humanity, but that was his own contribution for humanity, not something that can be credited to Virtue Archives. All that matters is that we do not harm people like Wen Lai, but we absolutely have to get a hold of the Mountain and Sea," Progenitor Long said.

Bai Wangyuan frowned. While it was easy for them to destroy Virtue Archives, it would not work out well for them. They had avoided openly attacking the academy thus far not only because of Progenitor Wen’s contributions to humanity, but also because the four ruling powers were wary of offending the Liu family, the Nong family, and Specter Abyss.

Without just cause, what would those three powers do if Virtue Archives was destroyed by the four ruling powers? This was why the four ruling powers needed at least reasonable cause for their actions, as they did not wantonly destroy all that opposed them.

Even more important, with Lu Xiaoxuan leading the Fifth Mainland to assume the defense of the fourth array base on the rear battlefield, it was possible that many things would soon change.

In the recent decades, the four ruling powers had dominated the Perennial World without contest. But given the recent developments, if they started acting too aggressively, they might end up pushing everyone not allied with the four ruling powers to Lu Xiaoxuan.

The Liu family and the Nong family had always been close to the Lu family, so if Virtue Archives was carelessly destroyed, then there was no way of knowing how those two would react.

Furthermore, there was still Specter Abyss. Given the fact that Lu Xiaoxuan had received the God of Death’s inheritance, it was possible that Specter Abyss would become his sworn enemy and would fight him for the God of Death’s inheritance. However, it was also possible that Specter Abys would ally with Lu Xiaoxuan instead.

Bai Wangyuan did not want to gamble. If he lost this bet, Lu Xiaoxuan would instantly obtain the support of three more Progenitors. With both Mu Xie and Progenitor Smoke added in, the four ruling powers would not have even the slightest advantage over Lu Xiaoxuan even in the Perennial World.

While the current conflict only involved the unimportant Virtue Archives, the events that were playing out right now could have ripples that would involve the entire Perennial World.

This was also the direction that Lu Yin’s thoughts had traveled in when he had received Mr. Tang’s call for help. Lu Yin wanted to see how the four ruling powers would deal with Virtue Archives, as well as how it would affect the attitudes of the rest of the organizations in the Perennial World.

Lu Yin was essentially tying a thread to a pebble and tossing it in a lake to measure the depths of the water.

Bai Wangyuan shared his hesitations, and Xia Shenji and the others remained silent for a moment. While they were able to suppress Lu Xiaoxuan and the Fifth Mainland, if the Liu family, the Nong family, and Specter Abyss moved to join Lu Xiaoxuan as well, then things would become very difficult. It would essentially create a schism in the Perennial World.

"I am going to go speak with Lu Xiaoxuan," Xia Shenji said.

"Let me do that," Bai Wangyuan replied.

Skymender’s interference made it very difficult for Mu Shang to open the sourcebox array that protected Virtue Archives. As time passed and Skymender grew increasingly familiar with the sourcebox array, Mu Shang would eventually be left completely unable to open the sourcebox array, instead of just needing additional time.

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