Blood spilled onto the bridge as a single sword slash tore into the Origin Progenitor, sending him stumbling backward. Yong Heng’s Return of the Myriad Swords was an overwhelmingly powerful and virtually unstoppable technique. At close range, even a peak Dukkhan would suffer.
The attack wounded the Origin Progenitor, but it also allowed a spiral of karma to strike Yong Heng.
As the spiral of karma entered True God’s body, Lu Yin caught a glimpse of a hand that was formed from bones and shone like white jade. It was hovering above Yong Heng’s head.
Was there really a hand above Yong Heng’s head?
Lu Yin tried to track the hand with his eyes, but the spiral of karma instantly snapped. Both Lu Yin and Yong Heng spat out blood and staggered back. Within the space of a single heartbeat, every last bridge in the Broken Realm shattered, and even the Broken Realm itself vanished.
For a single moment, Lu Yin believed that he had seen the hand move.
Again he was struck by karmic backlash. His vision went white, and he instantly lost consciousness.
In a short span of time, Lu Yin had been struck by karmic backlash twice, and his body was unable to endure the strain.
Yong Heng’s face had gone deathly pale as he was ravaged by the same karmic backlash as Lu Yin.
His body split open, and blood soaked his clothes. The Origin Progenitor scooped Lu Yin up and fled.
Unwilling to give up, Yong Heng grabbed his sword and pursued.
This was his one opportunity to kill Lu Yin.
It took Lu Yin a full day to regain consciousness. During that time, the Origin Progenitor had carried him while fleeing from Yong Heng, who refused to abandon his pursuit. There were dozens of bleeding wounds on the Origin Progenitor’s back. There were no spirals of karma to deter him, which allowed Yong Heng to chase the pair far more efficiently than before. If Lu Yin had taken any longer to regain consciousness, the Origin Progenitor would have been forced into a desperate battle to the death.
Lu Yin’s own clothes were similarly soaked in blood, though he could not tell if it was his own or the Origin Progenitor’s.
In a weak voice he said, “Left... there’s another Broken Realm over there.”
They soon entered another Broken Realm, one that was also recorded in the Forbidden Tome. This time, Yong Heng did not hesitate for even a moment, and he instantly attacked the Broken Realm itself. Yong Heng, Lu Yin, and the Origin Progenitor were all caught up in the chaos of the disturbed Broken Realm, but after half a day, Yong Heng had smashed everything apart and continued the chase.
In this same manner, Lu Yin and the Origin Progenitor passed through multiple Broken Realms. At no point did Yong Heng show even the slightest intention of giving up.
Lu Yin wanted to slow the man with spirals of karma, but he did not dare to actually attack with karma. He had been gravely wounded by the second karmic backlash, and he needed at least a year or two to fully recover.
He could not understand what had happened; the spiral of karma had clearly struck Yong Heng, so how could Lu Yin have suffered karmic backlash? Could the owner of that hand be Greater Sancte Green Lotus? If not, then what other explanation was there for the karmic backlash? It clearly had not been Yong Heng’s doing, as he had also suffered from the backlash.
Several days later, Lu Yin and the Origin Progenitor entered yet another Broken Realm, but this time, they saw something familiar within it: the meteorite.
The meteorite turned so that its eye faced the two men. It looked much calmer than when they had first encountered it.
Lu Yin and the Origin Progenitor stared at the rock, and the meteorite stared back at them. Neither side made a move.
When Yong Heng arrived, the meteorite turned to look at him. The eye initially froze, and then it became completely bloodshot. It instantly shot forward, completely ignoring Lu Yin and the Origin Progenitor.
The two quickly moved out of the way and simply watched as the meteorite slammed into Yong Heng. Finally, they would be able to catch their breath.
Sword shadows shattered. Yong Heng tried to stop Lu Yin and the Origin Progenitor from escaping to a parallel universe, but this time, he was blocked by the meteorite.
Yong Heng could not understand why this meteorite would help Lu Yin. He had clearly seen the two fighting against each other at the Willbound Expanse earlier.
The man was given no choice. The meteorite was already shooting towards him, which meant that he had to deal with it.
Out of the corner of his eye, True God watched as Lu Yin brought out a die and held it in his hand.
Yong Heng’s expression drastically changed. His sword sliced out, only for the meteorite to yet again get in the way.
Lu Yin tapped the die with a finger, causing it to spin. When it stopped, it showed one pip. He immediately rolled it again.
“I’ll also fight him and buy you as much time as I can. Pillar, if it really comes down to it, go to a parallel universe by yourself,” the Origin Progenitor urged before attacking Yong Heng with his Verdant Arsenal.
The gap between the Origin Progenitor and Yong Heng had narrowed considerably due to the Nine Heavens Transformation, but there was still a gap between them. The Origin Progenitor was simply not as powerful as Yong Heng.
Lu Yin glanced at the Origin Progenitor and his blood-soaked back. The man’s entire body had been stained red. With a grave expression, Lu Yin continued rolling his die.
It slowly came to a stop: four pips. Timestop. He had actually rolled it.
The scenery changed before his eyes, and he quickly found himself within his Timestop Space.
He let out a long breath as he looked at the familiar surroundings. Rarely had he been so eager to enter this place.
The last time he could remember being so desperate to roll Timestop had been during his battle against Nightking Zhenwu.
He sat down cross-legged and began to heal himself. A full year of recovery should be enough.
As Lu Yin recuperated, he thought about the Lower Heaven’s Blade. When the sword of consciousness combined with the Upper Heaven's Blade and the Middle Heaven’s Blade, they formed the Tri-Azure Sword Intent. He had seen the power of the unified attack in a memory shock that he had suffered while trying to approach the palace in the Willbound Spire, and he was eager to master the technique.
Lu Yin also needed to revisit Old Chief’s memories regarding the Heaven and Earth Lock.
Old Chief had only comprehended a portion of the technique. Through the conscient’s memories, Lu Yin intended to comprehend the complete Heaven and Earth Lock for himself. If Lu Yin relied solely on Old Chief’s understanding of the technique, the technique would be extremely limited in use against Yong Heng and the High Seraph.
Lu Yin believed that Old Chief’s memories would allow him to quickly master the Tri-Azure Sword Intent. Despite that confidence, after nearly half a year had passed, Lu Yin had not even reached the threshold of the sword technique. This far surpassed his expectations.
The technique appeared simple, but it was exceedingly intricate.
One sword of consciousness cut the result, while another cut the process. As for the third, Lu Yin had noticed that it connected the process and result. The unified technique appeared to be quite straightforward, yet it proved maddeningly difficult to grasp.
He was able to attack with all three consciousness swords at the same time, but how was that any different from how Old Chief and Xi Wen had used the attacks?
When he had been struck by the memory shock atop the cliff, the Tri-Azure Sword Intent that he had seen had not been a mere combination of the three sword techniques. It had indeed appeared quite ordinary, but it had given Lu Yin the sense that it could cut the very existence of whatever it struck. That effect could not be attained purely through a powerful cultivation. That blade had truly been unstoppable.
Simply releasing three separate sword slashes would never result in such power.
Lu Yin opened his eyes and let out a deep breath. He was still unable to grasp the technique. It felt like chasing a mirage; the deeper he delved into the technique, the more confused he became. This was his first time encountering such a situation with a battle technique.
Additionally, there was the Heaven and Earth Lock. He had assumed that by repeatedly reviewing Old Chief’s memories, it would be possible to master the technique. Sure enough, Lu Yin’s mastery had already surpassed Old Chief’s, but instead of learning the true Heaven and Earth Lock, Lu Yin had merely seen through the technique.
The Heaven and Earth Lock was not actually a battle technique, but rather just the first step in learning the technique.