Wang Fan was not very wary of Di Xia. He had just led Bai Mu towards Di Xia in order to join forces with the corpse king to fight against Bai Mu. When Di Xia had attacked Bai Mu with divine energy, the attack had brushed past Wang Fan, lowering the Progenitor’s guard significantly. Divine energy was a clear sign of one’s allegiance to Aeternus. That, combined with other recent events, meant that Wang Fan would never guess that who he assumed to be Di Xia was actually Lu Yin.
Lu Yin drew closer to Wang Fan. This time, things were different.
Before, Wang Fan had been wary of Di Xia, but Lu Yin had decided that this was the moment to take action. Wang Fan could not be allowed to return to Aeternus alive.
While Wang Fan was not yet a Sequence Progenitor, he would undoubtedly eventually reach that level, given more time. He would not be a weak Sequence Progenitor either, as he had cultivated death energy and inherited a battle technique from his Mountain and Sea, which was the Shadows of Life.
Shao Yin had managed to merge Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang together, and his sequence particles granted him a level of power that nearly rivaled the Seven Skygods. He had managed to severely injure Sovereign Lotus in an instant. Given that Wang Fan had mastered a battle technique from a Mountain and Sea, as well as cultivated death energy, he would become a grave threat to the Origin Universe if he ever became a Sequence Progenitor. The man’s cunning nature only made him more dangerous.
Lu Yin moved within a few meters of Wang Fan. "Let's go."
Wang Fan chose a direction and started to move.
Up above, the bell continued to reverberate, and its tolling blended with the sound of the flute. The resulting pressure overwhelmed space and started to melt it away. Reality seemed to become an oil painting whose colors were dripping off; reality was stripped away to reveal the Hollow.
Lu Yin felt his scalp go numb. The clashing powers in this confrontation went beyond his imagination. He looked up, but Heaven's Sight ached, and he was unable to make out anything. The powers here surpassed Lu Yin’s comprehension, and the sequence particles had solidified as they worked to erase space itself.
"This way," Lu Yin growled, suddenly charging in another direction as the space in front of them disintegrated.
Wang Fan was terrified. This was a battle far beyond the level of just Progenitors, and he was incapable of getting involved in any way. This proved that he had been right to believe that the Divine Selection would not be easy.
This was the Immemorial Citadel's battlefield.
Legends claimed that the Immemorial Citadel held the method for humans to transcend, which was why countless people throughout history had striven to reach the Immemorial Citadel. However, Wang Fan and his peers had never entertained those thoughts. If the Immemorial Citadel was so great, then why had no one ever returned from that place?
Wang Fan wanted to leave this battlefield alive and then return to the Immemorial Citadel at a later time when he was better prepared.
Pain shot through the man’s arm, and Wang Fan froze. He slowly looked down, only to see that his right hand was missing.
There was a spray of blood, and to his side was the glaringly conspicuous form of someone shrouded in a black robe. Wang Fan stared at the figure. "Why?"
Lu Yin had attacked while Wang Fan was distracted by the chaos above the battlefield, and the Progenitor’s right arm had been severed, along with Wang Fan’s cosmic ring that had been on his right hand.
"Simple, to kill you." Lu Yin remained hidden beneath the robe as he struck out again. A withered arm struck out with a hundred confined punches.
Wang Fan's pupils shrank as his eyes blazed with a crazed light. He felt even closer to death at this moment than when an entire universe had been destroyed. He was reminded of the time when Xia Shang had almost killed him, and Wang Fan suddenly relived that moment. In his eyes, the black robe in front of him transformed into Xia Shang.
Death energy started to spread, and it was immediately followed by a yellow liquid. It was the Yellow Springs.
Lu Yin had expected the Yellow Springs to be in Wang Fan's cosmic ring, but the man had instead hidden it beneath his skin.
Regardless of what power Wang Fan tried to use, he was unable to stop Lu Yin's attack. The fist pierced through the Progenitor’s chest, spraying blood into outer space.
High above everything else, the bell and flute clashed with each other on a battlefield that was unreachable for practically everyone else in the nearby area. Compared to that grand battle, Lu Yin and Wang Fan’s exchange was like the fighting of mere ants, and it went completely unnoticed.
The space around them was being erased, and no one paid any attention to the minor skirmish.
Lu Yin and Wang Fan were like two moths which had been caught up in a volcanic eruption, and they could be easily obliterated at any moment.
Wang Fan grabbed hold of Lu Yin's arm with his remaining hand. The man had become frantic. "You aren’t Di Xia! Who are you? Why do you want to kill me?"
The Yellow Springs crept towards Lu Yin from Wang Fan's arm. Uncertain of the Yellow Springs' effect, Lu Yin used Inverse Step to move at the speed of time. Wang Fan seemed to freeze in place, though the power that was destroying space around them continued without pause. It was a power that exceeded the limits of time or space. If it caught hold of Lu Yin, not even Inverse Step would be able to save him.
However, Wang Fan was unable to touch the power of time.
Lu Yin pulled back, and he tore off Wang Fan's left arm before grabbing the man’s neck and stopping Inverse Step.
In an instant, Wang Fan's left arm had been removed, and the black-robed figure was right in front of him. Familiar eyes stared at Wang Fan from beneath the robe’s folds.
The Progenitor had never expected to meet this person in this place.
Lu Yin looked up, and the flames of the lotus illuminated his face. "Surprised to meet me here, Wang Fan?"
Wang Fan could not believe his eyes, and he stared blankly at Lu Yin's face. "Lu Xiaoxuan?"
Lu Yin's lips curled up. "Killing you here at the Immemorial Citadel is all too easy, though I’ll let you see humanity's strongest before you die."
Wang Fan's face turned red. "You little bast... Lu Xiaoxuan, don't kill me! I can be useful to you!
"I was never willing to betray humanity. I was forced by my ancestor! My ancestor forced me to become a traitor! I couldn't disobey her.
"It was Xia Shang and Ku Jie! Those two wronged me. If they hadn’t humiliated me, I would have never betrayed mankind! Lu Xiaoxuan, you have to spare me! I'll help you fight against Aeternus to redeem myself. Spare me—I can be useful."
Lu Yin stared as Wang Fan struggled. The man’s arms were already gone, giving him a pathetic appearance, though Lu Yin felt no pity.
"Your four ruling powers banished my Lu family. Shaman God, Blackless God, and even True God tried to recruit me, but did I ever betray humanity?" Lu Yin asked in a glacial voice.
Wang Fan’s terror mounted. "If I die, I’ll lose all value. I'll tell you the secret of my Wang family's floating landmass! It’s not actually a piece of land, but a hand. Spare me, and I'll take you to find the other hand. Those are the Origin Progenitor’s hands!"
Lu Yin had already guessed as much, and he even knew where the other hand was: Burial Garden.
The Origin Progenitor had transformed one of his hands into Burial Garden, using it to support those who had fought against Aeternus and were unwilling to accept defeat. Burial Garden had been established to give humanity the hope to be able to resist in the future.
Lu Yin had no idea how the Wang family had obtained the Origin Progenitor’s other hand, but that also did not matter.
Space around the two men continued to melt. Lu Yin’s grip tightened.
Bang!
Lu Yin’s hand relaxed, and Wang Fan's lifeless body dropped.
Long ago, Lu Yin had vowed to avenge his family. He had never imagined that he would be able to kill Wang Fan so effortlessly.
Xia Shenji's main body had already been destroyed, and Wang Fan was now dead. Long Er had died years ago, which left only Bai Wangyuan.
Whether or not Bai Wangyuan was a traitor to humanity, he would have to pay for his crimes.
Lu Yin looked around, looking for the area with the fewest number of sequence particles, and then raced away. He was eager to leave this dangerous place. He had been within range of the battle between Mister Mu and the being called Yuan Qi Laoguai. Lu Yin had never witnessed such a powerful fight before. Just touching any of the attacks’ aftershocks would end him instantly.