Chapter 2061: Origin Progenitor’s Statue
At this same time, Semi-Progenitors were streaming towards the Daosource Sect ruins from all parts of the Fifth Mainland, but before they could reach the ruins, they were all summoned by the Progenitor of Bloodlines. The passage to the Starfall Sea was being attacked.
When Arch-Elder Zen and the others received this news, they immediately changed directions and raced towards the Starfall Sea. Even Ni Huang and the other Semi-Progenitors followed behind.
The trembling in the Daosource Sect’s main hall grew worse and worse. No one noticed that a layer of mottled colors had appeared outside the main hall. It was difficult to see with the naked eye, and it was like a thin film that covered the main hall.
Beneath the main hall, Lu Yin dodged to the side. A statue had suddenly appeared beneath his feet, and it slowly floated up.
All three people in the room stared at the statue.
"The Origin Progenitor?" Chu Yuan exclaimed.
Heluo Mavis was startled. "That’s the statue of the Origin Progenitor?"
Lu Yin stared at the statue. It was of a middle-aged man who looked rather scholarly. There was a hint of a smile on his face, a massive snake coiled around his waist, and an eagle perched on his shoulder. The statue was quite lifelike.
The statue was not very large, and it was merely the size of a normal human. However, when he looked at the statue, Lu Yin felt an inexplicable sense of reverence.
He had heard what Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis had said. Was this really the Origin Progenitor?
According to the legends, the Origin Progenitor had brought humanity into outer space, united the six Mainlands, established the first cultivation method, and even brought about the peak of humanity by founding the Heavens Sect. He was someone who was worshiped by every human, though Lu Yin had initially believed the man to be nothing more than a myth. While interacting with different powerhouses had taught him better, it was only at this moment that Lu Yin saw the true appearance of the Origin Progenitor.
Not one of the three people moved after the statue of the Origin Progenitor appeared. They simply watched as it slowly rose up to break through the ceiling and ground above their heads, creating a hole that connected to the first level of the main hall up above. Lu Yin and the others were able to see the three Semi-Progenitors standing above them.
The statue of the Origin Progenitor continued to rise after entering the first level of the main hall.
Jiu Yao was startled when he saw the statue. "The Origin Progenitor?"
Lan Xian's expression completely transformed. A deep look of respect entered her eyes as she gazed upon the statue of the Origin Progenitor.
As for Leng Qing, who was one of the masters of the Twelve Heavenly Gates, his body returned to a normal state as he faced the statue and offered it a respectful bow. "Leng Qing pays homage to the Origin Progenitor."
The statue of the Origin Progenitor continued to slowly float up higher and higher until it finally stopped in the middle of the sky. Once it stopped, it started to pull in and absorb all of the nearby stellular energy. The statue’s speed of devouring stellular energy actually surpassed that of the droplets of strange liquid. Not only was the main hall affected by the statue, but all of the nearby area was as well. Every last bit of stellular energy started to gather towards the main hall.
The statue was even more overbearing than the strange droplets, as not only was the ambient stellular energy being sucked up, but even the stellular energy in the vortices within cultivators’ bodies was being absorbed.
The first to be affected in this manner was Jiu Yao, who was standing the closest to the statue. The man was terrified when he felt all his stellular energy streaming out of his body and forming a veritable river that made its way towards the statue.
"No! My stellular energy!" Jiu Yao desperately tried to stop the process, but nothing he did had any effect.
Next, Lan Xian was affected, quickly followed by Leng Qing.
Leng Qing continued to maintain a respectful bow, even as his body was drained of stellular energy. He never once revealed any reaction to the process.
Jiu Yao and Lan Xian reacted in an entirely different manner, as they both raced away from the main hall and the statue. Regardless of the other details, stellular energy was the very foundation of their power, and without it, they would not even be able to use their inner worlds. If they encountered an overwhelming opponent, they would not even be able to release their inner worlds and be captured by the mental network.
If their stellular energy was taken away from them, they would be as good as dead.
However, neither of the two were able to escape, as an invisible barrier had appeared outside of the main hall at some point in time, trapping everyone inside.
On the lower level beneath the main hall, Lu Yin also felt his stellular energy vortex being drained. He wanted to stop the process, only to find it was impossible. On top of that, the devouring force broke into Lu Yin’s sealed meridian points and started draining his other three stellular energy vortices as well.
His expression changed drastically. How was this even possible? His extra vortices were his most carefully guarded secret. How were they being drained?
He leaped up, hoping to escape the area, only to discover that he was trapped, just like Jiu Yao and Lan Xian.
Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis reacted in much the same manner.
In comparison to Chu Yuan, Heluo Mavis seemed much calmer. The foundation of her strength was not actually stellular energy. Instead, it was merely one of the powers that the Mavis family members cultivated.
Lu Yin similarly cultivated death energy in addition to stellular energy, so losing his vortices would not actually strip him of his cultivation. Still, regardless of how much strength he would retain afterwards, Lu Yin was absolutely unwilling to see his four stellular energy vortices be lost.
Jiu Yao immediately attacked the statue. He had never lived during the Heavens Sect, and he could not comprehend the greatness of the Origin Progenitor. He did not feel much reverence for the legendary figure. Even though Jiu Yao had frequently visited the Sixth Mainland’s statue of the Origin Progenitor, he had simply been following the Progenitor of Combat. Cultivators from the current era had no real opinion towards the Origin Progenitor at all. After all, even the God of Death and Destiny were considered to be nothing more than myths.
Jiu Yao’s attack accomplished nothing. Even though he was already close to the statue when he attacked, the attack was simply devoured by the statue along with the rest of the stellular energy. No matter the type of attack used, nothing that Jiu Yao did was able to damage the statue.
Across the entire Fifth Mainland, countless people stared up at the Daosource Sect ruins. The main hall was the only remaining structure, and it was now pulling in astonishing amounts of stellular energy. Once the Envoy closest to the Daosource Sect had his stellular energy vortex be drained, no one dared to get anywhere near the main hall.
In the Outerverse, Ancestor Tortoise suddenly looked at the main hall, and the beast’s eyes suddenly were filled with peace and respect.
The Astral River almost never experienced a moment of peace, but at this moment, every one of the monstrous creatures froze in place and turned to face the Daosource Sect’s main hall.
Beasts were far more perceptive than humans, and the creatures had all sensed the suppression coming from the statue.
In the distant reaches of the Astral Beast Domain, Skymender looked towards the Human Domain and clenched his fists. He had also felt the suppressive power, but instead of feeling respectful, Skymender was filled with pure resentment. The Origin Progenitor might have ushered in a golden era for humanity, but that same era had been the darkest oppression for the astral beasts.
They would absolutely get revenge for those wrongs.
Inside the main hall, Heluo Mavis was the first to have her stellular energy completely drained from her body by the statue. She had the smallest stellular energy reserves, which was not surprising. After all, the Mavis family did not focus on cultivating stellular energy.
During the Heavens Sect era, the Origin Progenitor had encouraged humans to create their own forms of energy, which was what had given rise to things such as death energy, Destiny, and even the Mavis family.
Next, Chu Yuan had all his stellular energy sucked from his body. He had focused on cultivating stellular energy, and he had even been acknowledged by the Origin Progenitor himself. Chu Yuan had wanted to use stellular energy as a base to create another unique energy and rise up to stand equal to Three Realms Six Dao.
However, it was only possible to create a unique form of energy after one reached the Semi-Progenitor level at the very least. Thus, Chu Yuan had only ever cultivated with stellular energy.
This also meant that his reserves of stellular energy were not inferior to any other Dao Chosen.
Of the Six Mainlands’ six Dao Chosen, the one who always possessed the greatest amount of stellular energy would be the Dao Chosen from the Lu family. Regardless of whether they were cultivating just star energy or stellular energy, their usage rate and the reserve size far exceeded normal cultivators. Even then, Chu Yuan felt confident that his reserves were just as vast as his counterpart from the Lu family. He had fought with Lu Tianyi in the past, and their energy reserves had been about equal.
Chu Yuan had expected his stellular energy to exceed Lu Yin’s reserves, as Chu Yuan had passed his second stellular tribulation. Even if Lu Yin was powerful enough to compare to the Dao Chosen, he was still a bit behind them when it came to cultivation level. Naturally, this meant that Lu Yin should possess less stellular energy than Lu Tianyi, which would make him inferior to Chu Yuan as well.
However, Chu Yuan could see that Lu Yin’s stellular energy was still being sucked away even after Chu Yuan had been completely drained.
Both Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis turned to look at Lu Yin in surprise. Did this person actually still have more stellular energy? Quite fitting for someone from the Lu family.
Lu Yin was rather vexed, as this posed a huge problem. His first stellular energy vortex was just about empty, and once all four vortices were drained, how could he raise his cultivation in the future?
Wait. He glanced down at his cosmic ring. He still had the five suns of the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation stored on Zenith Mountain, and they contained an amount of stellular energy comparable to what a Semi-Progenitor possessed. That was definitely enough for Lu Yin to recover from this loss, though it would still make it very difficult for him to make any future breakthroughs.
He realized how lucky he had been to form the five stars when he had, as they were a way for him to recover from this disaster. In the end, since he was unable to escape or stop his stellular energy from being taken away, Lu Yin decided to simply ignore the matter.
He looked over at the three Semi-Progenitors and saw that they had also given up. There was simply no way for anyone to avoid having their stellular energy taken away.
Feeling that both Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis were staring at him, Lu Yin looked over. "Are you two out of stellular energy?"
"How much do you still have?" Chu Yuan asked. This was the first time he had felt any bit of curiosity towards Lu Yin. Even if Lu Yin had revealed a level of strength comparable to the Dao Chosen’s, that had not mattered much to Chu Yuan. Regardless of how powerful other people might be, Chu Yuan would stand at the pinnacle of the era. It was inevitable.
Heluo Mavis was also looking at Lu Yin in a curious manner. It was common knowledge that members of the Lu family needed much more star energy and stellular energy when cultivating. She wondered just how much Lu Yin had left, as well as how he would have measured up to Lu Tianyi in the past.
Lu Yin had no idea what the right answer was. Could he say that only his first stellular energy vortex had been drained and that he still had three more vortices to go? Obviously not, but there were certain things that were impossible to keep hidden at this moment.
Time slowly ticked by, and the people who had wanted to enter the Daosource Sect ruins all stayed far away. They were afraid that their star energy or stellular energy would be ripped away. Thus, no one dared to get close to the main hall in the Daosource Sect ruins.
Lu Yin's first stellular energy vortex had been completely drained, and his second was almost empty as well. Already, Lu Yin had endured for twice as long as Chu Yuan.
Chu Yuan did not look very good at this moment. Just how much stellular energy did Lu Yin have? How was more still being dragged out of him?
Things had reached the point where Chu Yuan was not the only one incredulously watching Lu Yin; Jiu Yao, Lan Xian, and even Leng Qing had noticed Lu Yin’s situation.
At this time, there were only the four of them within the main hall who were still having their stellular energy ripped away from them. Three of them were Semi-Progenitors, which meant that their reserves of stellular energy far outstripped what Envoys could possess. Despite that, Lu Yin was still being drained by the statue. The child’s reserves were rather frightening.
Lan Xian’s eyes were glowing at this moment, as Lu Yin was proving that the Lu family was as powerful as the legends claimed.
A bit later, Lu Yin’s second stellular vortex was completely emptied, and his third was down to almost half capacity.
Everyone was staring at Lu Yin in an odd manner. No matter what sort of knowledge or understanding they had, Lu Yin defied everything they had believed to be true. How could a one-tribulation Envoy possibly possess so much stellular energy? His cultivation level was no different from what they could sense, so was he just a freak?
Not even Chu Yuan could avoid this thought any longer. Even Lu Tianyi had only possessed a third of Lu Yin’s reserves when Chu Yuan had fought him. Despite that, there was clearly still more stellular energy being pulled from Lu Yin into the statue.
Everyone in the main hall was staring at Lu Yin, waiting to see just how extensive his hidden reserves were.
Lu Yin was also feeling quite helpless. His four stellular energy vortices had been discovered before he had exposed them. This was not what he had wanted at all.
Well, it could also be considered that Lu Yin had more than just four vortices. If his death energy was also considered, then he had five vortices.
Time crept by. Three of Lu Yin's stellular energy vortices had been emptied, and the fourth was quickly following.
Chu Yuan's expression darkened over time. He had originally believed that he could easily go against both Lu Yin and Heluo Mavis when they worked together, but at this point in time, Chu Yuan was feeling threatened. It seemed impossible for so much stellular energy to be stored within this person’s body. It looked like Lu Yin’s reserves were nearly comparable to that of a six-tribulation Envoy! Just how had he accomplished such a thing?