There was no way that Cheng Kong was the person who had attacked Lu Yin at the Shangsan Festival. No matter how powerful Cheng Kong might be, it would have been impossible for an Aeternal powerhouses to remain hidden from the Lost Clan in that place and attack Lu Yin. Additionally, if Cheng Kong had been the attacker, Lu Yin would have died to those eighty one slashes.
However, this time, Lu Yin was undoubtedly being attacked by Cheng Kong.
The emperor of the Big Stone Empire suddenly opened his eyes, and his head turned to stare at Lu Yin through lifeless eyes. The body slowly walked over to Lu Yin, and a hand rose up. As the hand rose, a long blade appeared in its grip.
Lu Yin's face grew pale, and beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. The emperor was clearly dead, so Cheng Kong had to be controlling the corpse.
"I let you go once. This time, I’m going to finish the job," the strange voice stated.
It was the second sentence that Cheng Kong spoke, and the last words that Lu Yin might ever hear.
The emperor's blade fell, and for a moment, Lu Yin felt that not only was his body being controlled, but even his instinctive defensive reactions were disabled. This blade was able to kill him, and Cheng Kong had absolute control of Lu Yin’s body.
Lu Yin could only think, and his thoughts were screaming in warning.
The body housed a person’s thoughts, but Lu Yin’s body could not move. All he could do was watch as the blade fell.
Suddenly, the small saber that Lu Yin had hung around his neck floated up, and blade qi gushed out from it like water. Inch by inch, the blade in the emperor’s hand was eroded, followed by his body, but the blade qi continued to spread out. It coalesced and shot out in one direction. It was a single powerful blade slash.
In the small data center, eighty one slashes ripped through the area. Each one was powerful enough to tear the void open, but the surroundings did not suffer the slightest bit of damage.
Lu Yin clearly saw the eighty one slashes, and he also knew that he could not avoid them no matter what he tried. It was no different from when he had endured them in the Lost Clan’s universe.
However, this time, Cheng Kong was the one who was struck by the eighty one slashes.
As the final blade fell, invisible ripples spread out, and Lu Yin abruptly regained control of his body. He looked up and saw that space had shattered. The endless darkness of the Hollow filled the area overhead, covering the entire sky of the Big Stone Universe.
Lu Yin's scalp went numb, and he instantly fled. He did not dare run through the spatial lines, out of fear of being swallowed by the Hollow.
Only after he was a good distance away from the data center did he turn and look back, only to see that the Hollow had erased the entire area. There was nothing to be seen at all, other than the emptiness of outer space.
Lu Yin feared that, without the saber acting to protect him, he would have died just then!
He had never imagined that Cheng Kong would suddenly appear in the Big Stone Universe and try to kill him.
The Aeternal had not appeared by chance. Lu Yin had even been told that he had been allowed to live once, but that he would be killed here.
Had Cheng Kong been referring to the attack in the Sixth Mainland?
Lu Yin felt that the attack in the Sixth Mainland had been rather odd, as with Cheng Kong’s strength, Lu Yin should have been left completely helpless. Despite that, he had somehow escaped. It had seemed obvious to Lu Yin that he had been allowed to escape, but this time, Cheng Kong had seemed determined to kill Lu Yin.
Had Cheng Kong been forced to allow Lu Yin to escape because of some particular reason or an order from someone?
Had Lu Yin survived because of Blackless God?
Blackless God was the first person that Lu Yin thought of, as well as the promise to not harm Lu Yin for 100,000 years. Because of that promise, Blackless God had not hesitated to cooperate with two other Skygods to attack the Three Monarchs Universe.
What had happened? Was Cheng Kong still around? Lu Yin did not dare to linger, and he ran straight back to the Gemini Universe.
Lu Yin was certain that Cheng Kong was unable to use the power of space, so he fled along the spatial lines. As long as Cheng Kong did not have control of Lu Yin, it should be impossible for the Aeternal to find Lu Yin.
He wanted to get in contact with Sage Bodhi and report what had happened in the Big Stone Universe.
Lu Yin touched his chest, discovering that the saber had vanished.
He suspected that Mu Ke had left the saber for Lu Yin, but there had never been any contact between the two, so why would the Arborean leave the small saber for Lu Yin?
"If not for that blade, I would have died."
If Mu Ke had really given the saber to Lu Yin, then his strength might not be what rumors claimed, and the man’s power might be completely unfathomable.
In both the Sixverse Association and Aeternus, there were too many mysteries that Lu Yin still needed to unravel. However, at this point in time, the most important thing was to report the death of the Big Stone Empire’s emperor. Lu Yin could not risk letting Sovereign Shao Yin frame him for the man’s death.
After Lu Yin arrived in the Gemini Universe, he immediately sought out the twin elders and asked them to show him to their universe’s data center. He needed to speak with Sage Bodhi.
Lu Yin immediately reported what had happened, and in Proximity, the Sage let out a long breath.
Proximity had been trying to get in contact with the Big Stone Universe’s data center, but they had not been able to do so. They had known that something had happened and had sent investigators, but those people were not nearly as fast as Lu Yin.
"How did you survive Cheng Kong’s attack?" Sage Bodhi asked.
Lu Yin replied, "I have my own means."
This answer was not good enough for the Sage. The Sixverse Association hated Cheng Kong even more than the Seven Skygods themselves.
While the Seven Skygods were unbelievably powerful, that was just for direct combat. In contrast, Cheng Kong was cunning and sneaky, and they could even control people. The losses the Sixverse Association had suffered at Cheng Kong’s hands exceeded even the Seven Skygods’. The number of peak powerhouses killed by Cheng Kong also exceeded the two or three that common rumors claimed.
Sage Bodhi and the other peak powerhouses with access to more reliable information had not shared that information with anyone.
Cheng Kong was acknowledged by the Sixverse Association as the Aeternals’ most reliable executioner. Even if the Three Sovereigns were targeted by Cheng Kong, the Aeternal would wait for the perfect opportunity, and not one of the three would be able to survive.
Given the situation, it seemed obvious that Cheng Kong had found or created an opportunity to kill Lu Yin in the Big Stone Universe, which was outside of everyone’s expectations. Even so, Lu Yin had managed to survive.
Sage Bodhi did not doubt that Lu Yin was telling the truth. The young man’s history meant that it was basically impossible for him to collude with Aeternus, and there was also no reason for him to put on such a show with Cheng Kong.
"I understand. The Big Stone Universe’s data center will be rebuilt as quickly as possible. However, regarding officially purging the Big Stone Universe, that is impossible to do for the time being, as there is no way to verify that Cheng Kong has left that universe," Sage Bodhi sent back.
There was nothing that Lu Yin could do about that, as it truly was impossible for anyone to determine whether Cheng Kong was dead or alive.
Lu Yin still felt like he was in grave danger, and he had even mobilized the power in his chest, just to prevent his body from being controlled by Cheng Kong.
Powers like runes were unable to sense Cheng Kong, and even Lu Yin’s perception of space was useless. However, by using the power within his chest, Lu Yin was essentially creating an independent universe around himself. With that, as long as Cheng Kong drew close to Lu Yin, it should be possible to detect the Aeternal’s presence.
After sending the report to Sage Bodhi, Lu Yin left the data center. The Gemini Universe was also not safe for him.
He found a random place to rest. No one knew his location, and regardless of how powerful Cheng Kong might be, nothing could be done to Lu Yin unless he was located.
However, if Cheng Kong was capable of tracking Lu Yin down, then a trap would not have been set for Lu Yin in the Big Stone Universe’s data center.