One of the bubbles popped with a clear sound, and Lu Qi's skin flushed red. An incredible pressure erupted with the arrival of a scorching heat that spread out, evaporating the Middle Ocean in its wake. The entire Middle Ocean started to boil. Countless dead fish floated to the surface, as the ocean had instantly started boiling.
A shockwave blasted out, the high temperature warping the air. Countless spatial cracks appeared, and the Higher Realm was rattled by the pressure that shot upwards into the sky.
Just a short distance away, Cheng Kong was startled. What was this? What kind of power had just appeared?
Lu Qi's clothes were completely burned away, exposing his scarred body. There was practically no part of his body that was unblemished. The terrifying pressure that reached even the Higher Realm did not crush the man.
"Where’s that rat who dared to attack me? Don't you know that I’m called the Immortal Lu Qi?" Lu Qi searched for Cheng Kong, but he had already vanished.
It was only natural for an assassin to escape if the attack failed.
Cheng Kong had instantly sensed that his attack had failed. This was not his first failure either.
Anytime Cheng Kong launched a sneak attack, the target was either on guard and Cheng Kong failed to seize control of them, or the target was controlled and eliminated. Nine times out of ten, Cheng Kong would succeed, but he had first failed with Lu Yin, and then again with Lu Qi. His attacks on both the father and son had failed. What was going on?
It was also clear that Lu Qi was not particularly strong.
Lu Qi had no idea that Cheng Kong had already left, and he continued to search for his attacker.
At this time, people started to shoot up out of the Middle Ocean. "It's so hot! Which bastard screwed up so badly?"
"I nearly got cooked!"
"Who was it? Get out here!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down! It might have been some powerhouse we can’t afford to offend."
…
Lu Qi stared blankly at the numerous people emerging from the Middle Ocean. They were all quite familiar to him. Aside from the cultivators from the four ruling powers who had been condemned to the 100,000 currents, all of the other guardians were people that Lu Qi were responsible for.
All of the guardians of the 100,000 currents had risen to the surface.
Clearly, the 100,000 currents had been damaged.
The Aeternals!
A fog appeared above the ocean, blocking everyone’s sight.
Lu Qi waved his hand, dispersing the fog. He stared out at everyone, and everyone stared back at him.
Someone quickly shouted, "Lu Qi, you lied to us! Where are the resources that we were promised?"
Many others also started to glare at Lu Qi.
All of the people looked to be in miserable condition, and some were even quite skinny, looking like they had starved for a long time.
In order to prevent the 100,000 currents from being found by Aeternus, the Lu family had hidden them to ensure that they could not be used to attack the Mother Tree. This also prevented the guardians from leaving their posts.
In the past, the Lu family has sent the various guardians training resources on a regular schedule, but after the Lu family’s exile, none of the guardians had received any resources during the many years that the family had been missing for.
Lu Qi had been sent to the Middle Ocean with the task of delivering the neglected resources, but he had never gotten around to it as he had been considering what he should say to the guardians of the 100,000 currents.
That the Lu family had been exiled? That was too humiliating, but what would be best?
Before Lu Qi could come up with some excuse, the Aeternals had destroyed the 100,000 currents, releasing all of the guardians.
While the sourcebox array used to hide the 100,000 currents could conceal them from average cultivators, it was impossible to hide the currents from the Aeternals’ peak powerhouses. In the past, due to the presence of the Lu family, the Aeternals had not dared to approach the 100,000 currents, but at this moment, they attacked manically.
Everyone who had appeared above the ocean was staring at Lu Qi.
100,000 cultivators who were at least Enlighters should have been guarding the 100,000 currents, but nowhere close to that number appeared before Lu Qi, even with the cultivators from the four ruling powers. There were significantly more than half, but even so, a great number was missing.
Even so, it was a shocking number of cultivators.
Because of this, Lu Yin noticed the odd situation above the Middle Ocean even from the rear battlefield. He immediately changed course when he saw tens of thousands of cultivators who were at least Enlighters surrounding Lu Qi. Many of them looked as though they had been starving for years, and it made for a rather impressive spectacle.
Everyone was waiting for Lu Qi's explanation.
However, his face twitched. "Shut up!"
Everyone's hearts trembled. Only when Lu Qi shouted did they realize that the man was no longer the man that they had known. Had he become a Progenitor?
Everyone on the Middle Ocean gradually bowed to the Progenitor before them. Such cultivators stood at the peak of human cultivation. Had Lu Qi, that absolute bastard, actually become a Progenitor?
In the face of a Progenitor, no one dared to be too bold, and their attitudes became far more subdued.
Lu Qi pointed at Bai Qi. "You, explain things to them."
The woman’s expression instantly changed.
She turned and looked at the eyes of the tens of thousands of cultivators that were focused on her, but just as Bai Qi was about to speak to them, Lu Qi waved a hand. "Move away a bit. I don't want to see their faces."
Soon, all the various guardians of the 100,000 currents moved away together. After hearing an explanation of what had happened, the guardians learned that there was a group of people who would continue to guard the 100,000 currents, but many of them were done with their time there and could return.
Lu Yin arrived at the island. "Father, what's going on?"
Lu Qi was still upset as he shared what had happened.
Lu Yin was stunned. "Cheng Kong sneak attacked you?"
"So that’s Cheng Kong? I’ll be sure to remember this!" Lu Qi snorted coldly.
Lu Yin was quite frightened. Cheng Kong had attacked again. The threat posed by that person had been magnified by an infinite degree with this particular attack.
"Cheng Kong killed Sage Jiang, as well as the previous Stone Sage," Lu Yin said quietly.
Lu Qi grew solemn. "It’s a pity that I couldn’t find that rat, or else I would have burned him to death."