The more that Lu Yin thought about the possibility of Possessing peak powerhouses, the more excited he became. While the idea had occurred to him before, he had forgotten about it. This was his first time thinking about it since becoming a Semi-Progenitor.
Yes, it would be best to roll his die and Possess a peak powerhouse.
There were only so many peak powerhouses in the entire Sixverse Association. Aside from the sequence powerhouses, Lu Yin felt confident that he could Possess anyone else.
Excitement filled Lu Yin's eyes. If he could accomplish this, he would be able to indirectly control the decisions of more than half of the Sixverse Association.
This meant that, once again, Lu Yin’s problem was money. He simply did not have enough star essence, though that was not all that he lacked. He also needed voidforce energy, the power of the Arboreal Realm, and more. Out of all the different parallel universes, the most troublesome was the Transcendent Universe. That universe did not cultivate any specific power, which meant that there was no way to Possess anyone.
Still, that was not terribly important. For now, Lu Yin could ignore the Transcendent Universe. After all, the Cyclic Universe was the most important.
Of the Three Sovereigns and Nine Sages, Lu Yin believed that he could Possess the vast majority of them.
However, he lacked money. It always came down to a lack of funds.
Lu Yin did not even dare to consider how much it would cost to Possess a peak powerhouse. Even if it was not as ridiculous as the price to Enhance the Origin Progenitor’s sword, there was no doubt that it would be an exorbitant amount.
After thinking for a while, he eventually decided to visit the Arboreal Realm to first meet with his senior brother, Mu Ke.
During the Tea Ceremony, Lu Yin had realized that Mu Ke was one of his senior disciple brothers, but they had barely spoken. There was finally time to do so, and it would be good for them to meet each other.
Lu Yin entered the Arboreal Realm for the second time, and just like the first time, he was taken to the universe by Mu Sanye.
The trees filled the entirety of the Arboreal Realm, and Lu Yin looked at the endless growth once again.
While visiting the Arboreal Realm, the person Lu Yin wanted to see the most was to see Mu Ke, the least was Mr. Daheng.
Mr. Daheng was unquestionably a sequence powerhouse, and he seemed to be at the same level as Xu Wuwei. He had first learned about Mr. Daheng and the Liberation Palace from Chen Le.
Even though Mr. Daheng’s attention had been shifted over to Luoshan, the fact that Chen Le had publicly joined the Heavens Sect meant that Lu Yin could not be certain of anything regarding Mr. Daheng.
"Senior Mu San, I'm sorry to need to trouble you," Lu Yin apologized.
Mu San's expression changed, as he was scared by Lu Yin’s apology. "Lord Lu, it’s a pleasure. Please, follow me."
Lu Yin nodded.
Once Lu Yin’s true identity was exposed, Xuan Qi’s network and relationships had naturally changed. Now, Mu San, the bureau members, and Xu Xiangyin all treated Lu Yin differently from before.
There was no way around this. Once a person reached a certain level of status, their influence would be infinitely amplified by that status. As the ruler of the Origin Universe, especially with the backing of the Lu family, Lu Yin enjoyed the support of no less than ten peak powerhouses. Such support was terrifying even to peak powerhouses in the Sixverse Association.
And that wasn’t even mentioning Lu Yin’s Semi-Progenitor-level contacts; there were many people who lacked even that much strength.
Mu San led the way, and the two men made their way towards Mu Ke.
When Lu Yin had last visited the Arboreal Sanctuary, the entire group had been delivered there by Mu Ke, saving them a great deal of time. Looking back, Lu Yin realized that the blade slash that had moved them might have been a greeting to him.
After some time, Lu Yin started to sense an indistinct pressure from far away. It felt very familiar, as it was the same pressure that he had felt protecting him at the Tea Ceremony. This was his senior brother, Mu Ke.
"Lord Lu, Senior Mu Ke is just up ahead. I will take my leave now." Mu Sanye spoke very respectfully.
Lu Yin nodded. "Thank you for your hard work."
Mu Sanye offered a few polite words before quickly leaving.
Once Mu San was gone, Lu Yin continued on towards where he sensed Senior Brother Mu Ke. It did not take long for Lu Yin to arrive. "Senior Brother."
Mu Ke looked up. "Have things in your universe stabilized?"
“Yes.”
Mu Ke was sitting on the trunk of a tree, his eyes covered by a strip of black cloth. He sat as though staring off into the distance. "Some years ago, Master visited me and said that he had accepted a disciple. I asked him if he was satisfied with his new disciple, but Master said that he did not know himself.”
Lu Yin felt confused, but Mu Ke continued speaking. "Master's standards for accepting a disciple is that they must demonstrate some sort of power that can impress him, or even better, surprise him. I succeeded in this, but I only managed to earn half of his satisfaction. Mu Xie also succeeded, but he only received four points out of ten. Qing Ping also succeeded, and he received six out of ten points. However, for you, Master simply did not know.”
"At that time, I asked about you, but Master explained that your path was constantly changing. He could not determine how it would develop, and he even said that he could not influence your path or see through it. He simply had no way of determining how far your path can take you, which completely surprised him.”
"Now, I see that Master was right. Junior Brother, no one can see through you."
Lu Yin shrugged. "Senior Brother, you must think that I am very insidious."
Mu Ke gave Lu Yin a grave look. Despite not being able to see the man’s eyes, Lu Yin could feel his gaze. "Only by taking a different path can the shackles of the current situation be shattered. The prosperity of the Origin Universe came about precisely because of your Origin Progenitor and the Three Realms Six Dao. Each of them blazed a unique path for themselves. The Aeternals are indeed truly powerful, but they only follow the path of True God. If a path is used well, it can be extremely powerful, but if it is used poorly, it will break.”
"That is also true of the Cyclic Universe’s Three Sovereigns and Nine Sages. The Great Sovereign believes that her path is correct, but she has never succeeded in surpassing the Aeternals. In my opinion, that is evidence that the Main Universe will never reach the same heights as the Origin Universe."
Lu Yin was curious about something. "What level has Master reached?"
Mu Ke remained silent for a moment. "I don't know. He may be equal to the Great Sovereign or possibly even stronger. I’ve never seen Master truly take action. It’s possible that the only place where Master will ever truly reveal his power is at the Immemorial Citadel."
"Brother, just what is the Immemorial Citadel?" Lu Yin asked. When he had asked Ancestor Lu Yuan about it, the man had answered with only a few words: sequence string. Lu Yin still had not been able to make any sense of the term, but he remained very curious. Maybe he could learn more from his senior brother.
Mu Ke turned so that he faced Lu Yin. "If I told you that you would die if I stabbed you, would you act obediently and accept being stabbed by me?"
Lu Yin was speechless. "Of course not."
"What if I told you that, as long as you did not die, you would break through?"
"What can guarantee my survival?"
"What can guarantee that your current understanding of the world won’t be shattered by learning about certain matters?" Mu Ke retorted.
Lu Yin gave a bitter smile. He understood that, just like Ancestor Lu Yuan and Ancestor Lu Tianyi, there were certain things that Mu Ke would not share with him. Learning of certain matters would disrupt Lu Yin’s current mindset, and who could say if that would be good or bad?
Lu Yin was walking a path that had never been paved before, and not even Mister Mu could see through Lu Yin’s cultivation path. All that could be said was that Lu Yin was already walking down his own path.
If Lu Yin cultivated a standard method, then he would be able to receive guidance from his seniors, but he was not following a standard path. Rather, if he learned about that path, it could alter the direction of his cultivation.
"I understand. I won't ask any more about that," Lu Yin said with a sigh. While he still knew nothing about the Immemorial Citadel, he was at least certain that it had some connection to the universe he knew, the standard cultivation methods, and even to sequence particles and the laws of the universe.