Lu Yin’s communication crystal trembled. It was a message from Qi You.
"Senior Ye Bo, have you ever heard of this Ice Spirit Tribe?" Qi You asked.
Lu Yin replied, "No. Have you?"
"Of course. While I might not be particularly strong, I have been a part of Aeternus for quite some time, and I have managed to learn a bit about several of our more powerful enemies. The Ice Spirit Tribe is one of them.
"Well, more precisely, it's not the Ice Spirit Tribe itself, but rather the entire Five Spirits Alliance and the Lord of Lightning."
This made Lu Yin's eyes go wide. "The Lord of Lightning?"
"So you’ve heard of him, right? The Lord of Lightning is one of Aeternus’s greatest enemies, but we also do not fight directly against him in the open. I’ve heard that the Lord of Lightning managed to reach his current cultivation level by relying on the Five Spirits Alliance, which includes the Ice Spirit Tribe, the Fire Spirit Tribe, the Wood Spirit Tribe, the Earth Spirit Tribe, and the Lightning Spirit Tribe.
"The Five Spirits Alliance has a very close relationship with the Lord of Lightning, while also being very powerful themselves. Senior, we need to be very careful. The Ice Lord can speak with the Lord of Lightning, which means that he might not be any weaker than Shao Yin."
Lu Yin was confused, "Does our Aeternus want to start a war against the Lord of Lightning with this attack on the Ice Spirit Tribe?"
"I have no idea. I've only heard what I’ve told you. Shao Yin told us to expose that we are human during this mission while also warning us to not let it be known that we are from Aeternus. The true goal might be to trigger a conflict between humans and the Five Spirits Alliance. It’s just a guess, but it’s possible that stealing the Iceheart is nothing more than a means to an end. Senior, your task is to steal the Iceheart, which should be very simple. If you can get it, do it, but if you can’t, then just forget it. "
Was this accurate? Lu Yin stared at the Ice Spirit Domain in a trance.
He had already assumed that Shao Yin would not be given an easy task, but even then, Lu Yin had not expected that this matter would involve the Lord of Lightning himself.
The Lord of Lighting… I’ve really wanted to meet him for a while now.
In the blink of an eye, ten years passed. For the entire ten years, Lu Yin had sat atop the snowy mountain. He had barely moved at all, and he had simply stared at the Ice Spirit Domain.
There were a few times when some of the Ice Spirits had visited the planet, but whenever that happened, Lu Yin had not been seen anywhere.
Even if someone had passed right by Lu Yin, they would not have seen him.
During these ten years, Lu Yin had been reciting the Origin Progenitor’s Sutra. The sutra was profound and comprehensive. Lu Yin had once used it to truly become the Dao Monarch of the Fifth Mainland in the Origin Universe, and yet, even with that, he felt that he was still very far from fully understanding the meaning of the Origin Sutra.
Mister Mu had given Lu Yin and his senior disciple brothers Origin Tracer and the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation, both of which were supposed to allow them to achieve transcendence. The battle technique that Lu Yin had received from his master might offer a path to transcendence, but there was more than one path. It seemed that the Origin Progenitor’s Sutra was capable of doing something similar.
Also during this time, Lu Yin had been trying to master the One Word Manifestation that he had received from Ancestor Tianyi.
Lu Tianyi’s One Word Manifestation was something that had been developed by his master, Chu Yi. That man had been the First Mainland’s Dao Monarch, and Lu Tianyi had shared the technique with Lu Yin. The true usage of this technique was to create a chance of survival when Lu Yin encountered a truly desperate situation.
Nothing in existence was truly absolute, which meant that there were no truly hopeless situations. One Word Manifestation would allow Lu Yin to see that glimmer of hope that could save him from a desperate situation.
Ancestor Tianyi hoped that Lu Yin would never need to use it, and Lu Yin felt the same way, but there were wishes that would never be fulfilled. So, Lu Yin proceeded to learn the battle technique.
Soon, another twenty years passed.
There was no movement at all from Shao Yin.
From time to time, Qi You would reach out to Lu Yin to exchange a few messages, and the old woman also joined in, which gave Lu Yin a general understanding of the current state of affairs in the Ice Spirit Domain.
Even so, there were some things that were pointless to learn about, as it was impossible to understand them. Such a case existed in the Ice Spirit Domain.
Lu Yin observed an entire generation of Ice Spirits grow up and learn to cultivate while he stared at the Ice Spirit Domain. Their cultivation method only required them to face the wind and snow. This was not nearly as exhausting as the methods used by humans, but this method was also unique to the Ice Spirit Tribe.
Eventually, a full fifty years passed, though only half a year had passed in the Scourge and the Origin Universe.
However, in the fiftieth year, the frozen universe underwent a change. Lu Yin used Heaven’s Sight, and he saw sequence particles moving away. They should indicate the Ice Lord’s location. He had finally left the Ice Spirit Domain and gone to a distant planet.
All of the humans’ communication crystals trembled, and they heard Shao Yin’s voice. "Move now! Remember, only reveal that you are human when I tell you to. If I don’t tell you, do not allow yourselves to be exposed.
"Ye Bo, go steal the Iceheart. It’s on the white-blue planet in the southeast region of the Ice Spirit Domain. I’ll give you the specific location once you get there."
Lu Yin arched a brow. The white-blue planet? He had clearly watched the Ice Lord go towards that planet. Shao Yin had no intention of luring the Ice Lord away; instead, he wanted to force Ye Bo to fight against the Ice Lord while Shao Yin himself stole the Iceheart. The man was trying to seize all of the glory.
Had Shao Yin ever considered that Ye Bo and the others could simply expose themselves as part of Aeternus?
That was not something that would never happen. The three were human, not corpse kings. They lacked the defining characteristics of the Aeternals, and even if the three did speak to the Ice Spirit Tribe, the Ice Spirits might not believe them. This was also why Shao Yin had specifically asked Ye Bo if he cultivated divine energy.
If Ye Bo had confirmed that he did cultivate divine energy, Shao Yin might have assigned him a very different task.
It was important to note that the Aeternals had been preparing for this mission for a very long time. Since it was necessary to frame the humans as the ones that had attacked the Ice Spirit Tribe, there also had to be someone to take the blame. Aeternus must have already found a scapegoat, which meant that there was no way the people following Shao Yin could ever convince the Ice Spirit Tribe that they were not from a human organization.
Whether the three lived or died also did not matter. Their deaths could even serve to give even greater meaning to the mission.
Lu Yin instantly saw through Shao Yin’s intentions, but if not for Heaven’s Sight, Lu Yin would have been completely deceived and driven to his death.
"Move!"
Outside the Ice Spirit Domain, Qi You and the old woman used some ice to impersonate Ice Spirits as they entered the Ice Spirit Domain, where they immediately went after the two Progenitor-level experts.
Chaos soon broke out in the Ice Spirit Domain, and a frighteningly cold blue light covered the area, flashing continuously.
Qi You and the old woman both fled from the Ice Spirit Domain at the same time, closely pursued by the two Ice Spirit powerhouses. The two creatures used ice and snow to glide through the void, and they both had the strength of a Progenitor. Cold energy passed through the void in front of them, and the old woman was nearly frozen to death.
"Ye Bo, it's your turn," Shao Yin ordered.
Lu Yin did not move, and instead, he watched quietly.
"Ye Bo, go!" Shao Yin spoke through the communication crystal again.
Lu Yin still did not move.
No matter how Shao Yin shouted, Lu Yin did nothing but stare at the Ice Spirit Domain. He was not the only one on this mission, and he wanted to see what Shao Yin intended to do without Ye Bo’s cooperation.
"Ye Bo, you dare to disobey orders during a mission? Even if you are a True God Guard Captain, you will die for this! Go now, or else it will be too late for you!
"Ye Bo, you are seeking death!"
Shao Yin kept raging, but Lu Yin was unphased. He even put his communication crystal away.