While everyone’s attention was on High Seraph, the Origin Progenitor’s Verdant Arsenal attacked Old Chief. Caught completely off guard by the unexpected attack, the conscient was struck directly and wounded.
Taking advantage of Old Chief’s injuries, Lu Yin inverted the control of the Heaven and Earth Lock and released the seal’s restrictions outwards in every direction.
The first people touched by the seal were Yanbo Haomiao and Yue Ya, who both shouted, “Mo Shang, work with us to slaughter these two!”
Yanbo Haomiao used the Nine-Rulers: Heaven-Defying Art to endure the Heaven and Earth Lock, and Yue Ya spread out his manifested thought, cooperating with the technique and helping the ruler grow larger. Simultaneously, Yue Ya‘s manifested thought blasted towards Lu Yin, momentarily freezing the younger man’s mind.
The High Seraph glanced at Lu Yin, only wanting to return to Willbound Spire, but after a moment’s hesitation, Mo Shang gritted his teeth and attacked Yanbo Hongli, who was the closest to him.
The High Seraph’s expression was grim. He was certain that Lu Yin was behind why he had been swept out of the Willbound Spire. The High Seraph had already been certain that Lu Yin would never willingly allow him to stay above the cliff alone. If Mo Shang refused to help at this moment, he could forget about ever making another attempt to reach the palace.
How could the High Seraph possibly help Yue Ya and the others deal with Lu Yin? Mo Shang’s own plans for Lu Yin had not been accomplished yet.
The High Seraph had never felt so suffocated before.
This was much worse than the earlier four-way balance. Lu Yin firmly held the advantage this time.
“How do you know the Heaven and Earth Lock?” Old Chief shouted in shock as he glared at Lu Yin.
No one had even considered the possibility that Lu Yin could take control of the technique and use it to push Yanbo Haomiao and Yue Ya back, forcing the pair to combine their power and resist the Heaven and Earth Lock with the Nine-Rulers: Heaven-Defying Art.
Lu Yin’s consciousness was as vast as an abyss. When he used the consciousness that the various conscients had merged with the Heaven and Earth Lock, the same technique that had once succeeded in briefly restraining the High Seraph also succeeded in restraining Yue Ya and Yanbo Haomiao.
Old Chief shouted, “All conscients, fall back!”
Their trap had failed.
Yanbo Haomiao was immobilized, and the Origin Progenitor released Old Chief. However, instead of attacking Old Chief, the Origin Progenitor moved forward, following Lu Yin’s directions and grabbing a Celestial-realm conscient.
The conscient was terrified, and it tried to retaliate, but the Origin Progenitor effortlessly dissolved the attack.
From behind, Shuangdao’s Frozen Skyblade fell down, along with the Middle Heaven’s Blade. Behind Lu Yin, the Upper Heaven’s Blade sliced out, slashing straight at Shuangdao and Xi Wen and forcing the two to hastily defend.
The Origin Progenitor grabbed the Celestial-realm conscient and flung it away.
The following moment, a dazzling radiance lit up the sky, seemingly shattering the Willbound Expanse. The High Seraph had taken action with his Everlasting Will.
Everlasting Will stabbed straight through both Yue Ya and Yanbo Haomiao.
Yanbo Haomiao peered down at his body before spitting out a mouthful of blood. He could not believe his eyes. How could he have been wounded so easily? Was the Nine-Rulers: Heaven-Defying Art actually useless?
The battlefield fell silent.
Lu Yin exhaled. As expected, the High Seraph had marked many Celestial-realm conscients as targets for his Everlasting Will. Lu Yin could still clearly remember what had happened when he had tried to devour a conscient. The High Seraph had too many tricks to guard against. Even Yong Heng had failed to do so, and Lu Yin had nearly been caught. This time, the man’s preparations had wounded both Yanbo Haomiao and Yue Ya.
Yue Ya’s dark-gold manifested thought quivered. High above them all, the dark-gold radiance was instantly snuffed out as the Voidheart Mirror vanished.
The High Seraph’s eyes were as heavy and cold as still water as he stared at Yue Ya. Lu Yin also seemed to fall within the man’s gaze.
At that moment, the dazzling radiance returned: Everlasting Will.
“Impossible,” Yue Ya muttered softly.
The High Seraph replied in a frosty tone, “When the heart becomes like Everstone, even when heaven and earth cannot move, thought can.”
These words granted Lu Yin a flash of insight as he turned to look at the High Seraph. So that’s it.
Just as he was about to share his discovery with the Origin Progenitor, an irresistible pressure caused Lu Yin to spit out a mouthful of blood. Karma scattered within his inner universe, and he saw countless scenes flash before his eyes. Karmic backlash? How?
A short distance away, the Origin Progenitor also coughed up blood at the same time, equally incredulous. Where had this wound come from?
At that exact same time, bloody cracks opened up across the High Seraph’s body in the sky. He looked down, his pupils contracting. What was this?
Emperor Slayer nervously watched from the distance. The balance of the situation was reversing too quickly and abruptly for him to keep up.
Lu Yin and the other two men had no idea how they had instantly gone from cooperating in an attack against Yue Ya and his group, leaving Yue Ya and the old man gravely injured, to spitting out blood and suffering injuries at least as severe as Yue Ya’s. What was going on?
Not even a Dukkhan like Emperor Slayer could make sense of the situation.
Lu Yin’s vision spun, and he clenched his teeth to resist the karmic backlash while turning to stare at Yue Ya.
Yue Ya slowly stated, “You underestimated this Lesser Sancte. Did you truly believe that manifested thought was my only ability?”
The High Seraph’s eyes flickered. “Against the Mortal World.”
Yue Ya glanced over. “You know about that?”
The High Seraph gave a wry smile. “I only just remembered it. There’s a legend that you possess a supreme comprehension technique known as Against the Mortal World. The combination of your manifested thought and comprehension technique earned you the position of a Lesser Sancte. Still, legends are legends, and you’ve never used any comprehension techniques before, so I didn’t recognize it at first.”
Yue Ya’s manifested thought had been shattered, indicating a grave wound, but in return, he had been able to simultaneously wound the High Seraph, Lu Yin, and the Origin Progenitor, making it worth the price. “Against the Mortal World reverses all that has just occurred.”
He glanced at Lu Yin. “You had the worst luck of all. The comprehension technique takes hold without a sound, and you happened to use the power of karma right after I used it, triggering karmic backlash. Without that, I truly would have never caught you.”
Lu Yin’s sight blurred. So this was a supreme comprehension technique. This was Yue Ya’s trump card.
The conscients’ trap and the mirebound belt artifact had both been decoys. It was possible that even Ruler Garden had forgotten about Yue Ya’s hidden trump card. This was why Yue Ya had been so confident that he could capture Lu Yin.
“Why didn’t you use that the first time you attacked me?” Lu Yin asked in confusion.
The comprehension technique could have gravely injured him at any time.
Yue Ya replied in a low voice, “Peerless geniuses do occasionally appear in the three megaverses, and for someone as young as you to have achieved such strength, you must be favored by fate. How could I use my comprehension technique before I was absolutely sure of victory?”
With that, the manifested thought surged towards Lu Yin.
The current situation was far from certain. It was the High Seraph’s heavy blow that had forced Yue Ya to expose his Against the Mortal World.
If even his comprehension technique failed to capture Lu Yin, then there would be little chance of Yue Ya ever succeeding.