(Bonus) Chapter 2121: Response
The truth of the matter was that Lu Yin being in power was good for Smoke-Eater Peaks. More than twenty years ago, Gu Laogui had been upset for quite some time, as Lu Yin had taken advantage of Smoke-Eater Peaks. However, later on, Lu Yin had saved all of Smoke-Eater Peaks from being destroyed when they had faced a catastrophe in the Cosmic Sea. Gu Laogui had always remembered Lu Yin’s kindness at that moment, and the old man’s attitude towards Lu Yin had completely turned around.
Gu Laogui would never forget that his entire sect owed Lu Yin their very lives.
The external threat of the Aeternals had been eliminated, and peace had returned to the Fifth Mainland. Even with the new Heavens Sect dominating over all of humanity, Gu Laogui was no longer bothered by it, because Lu Yin was the one in power.
"You saved us in the Cosmic Sea, Alliance Leader Lu, and I will definitely repay your great kindness," Gu Laogui sent.
Lu Yin smiled. "That’s not all that you’re going to need to repay me for, Senior."
Gu Laogui became confused. "What do you mean, Alliance Leader Lu?"
"Senior, are you familiar with the power that you cultivate?" Lu Yin asked.
The old man became even more confused. "The power that I cultivate? Are you referring to stellular energy, Alliance Leader Lu?"
"Of course not. I’m talking about the smoke you use from your mountains."
Gu Laogui was completely lost by this point in the conversation. "What are you saying? I don't understand."
Lu Yin replied, "Wei-Induction Technique."
Gu Laogui was caught off guard. "How does Alliance Leader Lu know my Smoke-Eater Peaks’ cultivation art?"
"Senior knows the Wei-Induction Technique? Then why do you refer to wei as smoke?" Lu Yin wondered.
Gu Laogui still did not understand what Lu Yin was asking. "What's wei? I really don't understand what you’re talking about."
"You really don't know that the unique smoke you cultivate with isn’t even smoke? It's a unique power called wei, and it was created by Progenitor Smoke," Lu Yin said.
Gu Laogui was stunned. "Wei? We honestly had no idea. Ah, no wonder our cultivation art is called Wei-Induction Technique. So that's what it means."
Lu Yin could not tell for sure whether Gu Laogui was truly ignorant, or if he was putting on a show. Though, there should be no need for a charade. Smoke-Eater Peaks’ unique power was not particularly strong, and at best, when there was enough of it, it could be used to equip an army, strengthening and assisting those with inadequate strength. It was not much help to a true powerhouse however.
"Alliance Leader Lu, how did you learn about Wei-Induction Technique? Was it from Yun Tingting?" Gu Laogui asked.
Lu Yin replied, "I’ll explain more when I get back and see you in person, but for now, all I know for certain is the name of the cultivation art is Wei-Induction Technique. It might be similar to what you’ve been using and not be of much help, but if there are any higher levels of mastery that you’re missing, I’ll give them to you."
Gu Laogui was so stunned by Lu Yin's offer that he could not process the information.
The old man stared at his wireless jincan. He only knew one thing, which was that Lu Yin felt that it was possible to acquire higher levels of Wei-Induction Technique, but did those higher levels of mastery even exist?
Yun Tingting's Smokecloud Sect possessed a better understanding of this unique power than Smoke-Eater Peaks, but even then, the strength of their smoke was limited. If Yun Tingting had a higher level of the cultivation art, then there was no chance that Lu Yin would not have brought it up before now. This only made the whole conversation even more strange.
At this time, Lu Yin entered Zenith Mountain to meet with Yun Tingting.
Yun Tingting calmly looked at Lu Yin standing in front of her. Her attitude had changed drastically from when Lu Yin had first captured her. Lu Yin believed that the woman had gone numb from her extended captivity.
"You said that you’d let me go," Yun Tingting stated flatly.
Lu Yin replied, "I said I’d take you to the Perennial World."
Yun Tingting sneered, clearly not believing a word of it.
"You should know what’s been happening lately. The Perennial World sent an army into the Fifth Mainland, but at the same time, the Aeternals attacked. However, I’ve dealt with both of those threats. So, the next step is to go back to the Perennial World, and then I’ll let you go," Lu Yin said.
Yun Tingting casually said, "I don't have what you want with me."
Lu Yin asked, "You cultivate with Wei-Induction Technique, right?"
Yun Tingting did not answer. Her sect’s cultivation art was not some massive secret. After all, the people of Smoke-Eater Peaks also practice this.
"In that case, do you know about wei?" Lu Yin asked.
Yun Tingting’s eyes snapped wide open, and she stared at Lu Yin in disbelief.
Her expression answered Lu Yin’s question. "Smoke-Eater Peaks still doesn't know that what they use isn’t actually smoke, but rather wei, and you never corrected them. Do you really want to try to say that you don’t have anything I want to know?"
Yun Tingting was puzzled. "How did you find out about that?"
The corners of Lu Yin's mouth curled up into a smile. "Because I can also use Wei-Induction Technique, and I know that wei is a unique energy created by Progenitor Smoke, which is actually a different cultivation method than stellular energy. However, the descendants of your two sects treat the energy as simply a tool to power your battle techniques, which is different from how Progenitor Smoke used it. In fact, there’s no comparison."
Yun Tingting frowned. "Wei-Induction Technique is the battle technique that moves wei, but wei is essentially just an outside power that was created by Progenitor Smoke. All we can do is control that power."
Lu Yin finally understood that this was almost exactly like the Specter Clan. The Specter Clan could cultivate with death energy and manipulate it, but they could not produce the unique energy. Truthfully, they merely used the unique energy, and they did not actually cultivate it.
"Has your Cloudsmoke Sect only learned to use Wei-Induction Technique in the same manner as Smoke-Eater Peaks?" Lu Yin asked.
Yun Tingting replied, "We’ve mastered far more than Smoke-Eater Peaks, but we still use Wei-Induction Technique. It’s just that we have what can be considered a full version of the cultivation art, though we don’t have access to any of the higher levels. We know of the legends that claim that Progenitor Smoke was able to alter the universe itself with the power of wei, but we can’t access even a millionth of that power.”
"How did your sect get your version of Wei-Induction Technique?" Lu Yin felt curious.
Yun Tingting and Lu Yin both just stared at each other for a moment. "Are you really going to release me?"
"There’s no point in keeping you," Lu Yin replied. Though the words were harsh, Yun Tingting believed them. After all, she was truly worthless to Lu Yin.
At first, she and several others had been captured and imprisoned on Zenith Mountain because Lu Yin had not wanted to expose the existence of the Perennial World and had wanted to eliminate as many variables as possible. However, even people from the Heavens Sect era had appeared, let alone those from the Perennial World.
Forget the Fifth Mainland—even if Lu Yin’s various captives were released to the Perennial World, none of them would be able to harm him at all.
Yun Tingting thought back. "I heard from my father that the founder of our Smokecloud Sect once served Progenitor Smoke, and he was regarded as an outer disciple who wasn’t recognized by Progenitor Smoke. That was when the Fifth Mainland was fighting against the Sixth Mainland. There was some sudden change, and things happened too fast, but our ancestor was lucky enough to survive, and he followed the top powers to the Perennial World. As for Progenitor Smoke and the Mountains and Sea where they stayed, it all disappeared."
"Progenitor Smoke didn't go to the Perennial World?" Lu Yin asked, and when he remembered what Feng Mo had mentioned, the Mountain and Sea that Progenitor Smoke had controlled had most likely stayed in the Fifth Mainland.
Yun Tingting shook her head. "I'm certain that my father said that Progenitor Smoke didn't go to the Perennial World with the four ruling powers back then. He isn’t qualified to meet the four ruling powers’ Progenitors, so he doesn’t know anything at all about where Progenitor Smoke might have gone. All that has been passed down to us is just the Wei-Induction Technique that our ancestor received from Progenitor Smoke.
"Also, the reason why our ancestor was even given Wei-Induction Technique was so that he could help Progenitor Smoke create more wei that the Progenitor could use."