Chapter 2152: Immemorial
Chapter 2152: Immemorial
The expressions of Yōu Lao and the others from the Yōu clan grew ugly at that moment. They had just been considering whether Big Sis could really be Progenitor Yōu, but she had already taken the Yōu Secret Art away from them. Even if they ignored the matter of Big Sis’s identity, the Yōu Secret Art was an inheritance that their clan had passed down for countless years, and they had just lost it. Even worse, the person who had taken it from then did not even recognize them as family.
"If you are not our ancestor, then please return the Yōu Secret Art to our Yōu clan," Yōu Kexin stated coldly as she stared at Big Sis.
Yōu Keyan quickly snapped in a low voice, "Kexin, don't be ridiculous."
Yōu Kexin continued to stare straight at Big Sis without any sign of fear.
Big Sis laughed in a teasing manner, and then she suddenly stretched out a hand to touch Yōu Kexin's chin. Yōu Kexin reflexively backed up while warily watching Big Sis.
"Little girl, you’re quite daring. What if I don't return it?" Big Sis teased.
Lu Yin was speechless. This arrogant, bullying attitude had to be something that Big Sis had learned while part of Leon’s Armada.
Yōu Kexin grew angry, and her face flushed red.
Yōu Lao coughed, drawing Big Sis’s attention to himself. "Many people over the years have tried to steal my Yōu clan's secret technique, but without the blood of my clan, it was impossible for any of them to succeed. This secret technique is passed on by blood. Ancestor, we clearly share the same bloodline."
Big Sis sneered. "That’s up to me."
Lu Yin could not tolerate what he was seeing any longer. The Yōu clan was being very submissive and deferential, and this was even after they had lost the Yōu Secret Art. Lu Yin felt like Big Sis was just bullying them.
"Big Sis, are you sure that they aren’t your- no, that they aren’t Progenitor Yōu’s descendants?"
Big Sis replied, "If I say that they’re not, then they’re not. I’m still a young woman with her virtue intact, so how could they be my descendants?"
"I agree." A voice suddenly spoke up from the back. Progenitor Smoke had entered the conversation.
Lu Yin was speechless. How was he supposed to respond to such confidence?
Progenitor Smoke glanced over everyone present. "The higher one’s strength, the stronger their intuition. If she really shared the same blood as all of you, then she would absolutely be able to sense it. You truly are not her descendants."
"Then how do you explain how she was able to take the Yōu Secret Art from us?" Yōu Keyan asked.
Progenitor Smoke explained, "What you’ve referred to as a bloodline inheritance is actually nothing more than a great power of someone from the past. It’s a power that’s on a completely different level, likely from a Progenitor. However, if a stronger power is able to overwhelm it, then that’s not proof that she carries the same bloodline as your Yōu clan."
"Senior, you look very kind-hearted. Have we met before?" Yōu Lao stared at Progenitor Smoke as he asked this question. The woman had not revealed herself even once after Lu Yin had entered the Yōu clan’s territory. This was the first time that anyone had seen her.
Yōu Keyan and Yōu Kexin both stared at Progenitor Smoke as well. "She looks very familiar."
Big Sis sneered. "What? Do you want to latch on to someone else now? She’s Progenitor Smoke. Why? Do you want to claim to be her descendants now? She’s also a pure woman, so don’t try to smear her reputation."
Progenitor Smoke silently agreed with Big Sis’s accusation.
"Progenitor Smog? Progenitor Smoke from ancient times?" Yōu Lao exclaimed.
Progenitor Smoke was caught off guard. "You actually know my other name?"
Yōu Lao grew increasingly excited. "You really are Progenitor Smoke! This junior greets Progenitor Smoke!"
"We greet Progenitor Smoke." Yōu Keyan and Yōu Kexin both got down on their knees at the same time.
Big Sis grew upset. "Hey! You guys didn’t get this excited when you thought that I was your ancestor? What’s the deal? Are you looking down on your ancestor?"
Lu Yin pursed his lips, as he could understand the perspective of Yōu Lao and the other two. Progenitor Smoke had controlled one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas during the Daosource Sect era, and her existence was an accepted fact. On the other hand, Progenitor Yōu came from a much, much more distant time, and people struggled to accept such legends as true.
Besides the fact that Big Sis had refused to acknowledge the Yōu clan as her family, they also struggled to genuinely accept the existence of a being as ancient as Progenitor Yōu.
This was similar to seeing a video of Arch-Elder Zen instead of seeing him in person on Mt. Microcosms. Meeting a true powerhouse that one had always looked up to in the flesh just felt like a dream.
"How do you know of me?" Progenitor Smoke was rather confused by the three people’s reaction.
Yōu Lao was still excited as he lifted his head. "My Yōu clan had a painting that matches your appearance perfectly. It’s a picture of Senior Progenitor Smoke."
This was shocking news to Progenitor Smoke. "A picture? Show me."
Yōu Lao suddenly grew embarrassed. "Well, that picture was damaged when our family moved."
Progenitor Smoke rolled her eyes.
"Who made the portrait? An ancestor of your Yōu clan?" Lu Yin asked.
Yōu Lao replied, "Yes! Her name was Yōu Xiaojing."
Yōu Xiaojing? Lu Yin glanced over at Progenitor Smoke. They had just talked about that person.
Progenitor Smoke nodded. "So she did it. Why would she draw a picture of me?"
Yōu Lao answered, "That’s something that we don’t know, but we always kept that portrait safe. Unfortunately, when the Aeternals invaded and we were forced to escape to the Honor Zone, many of our clan’s possessions were lost or destroyed. The same thing happened again when the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate forced us away from Progenitor Chen's Mausoleum."
"It probably wasn’t a good thing that that woman painted my portrait," Progenitor Smoke muttered to herself.
Yōu Kexin looked up at Progenitor Smoke, and begged, "Senior, please help my Yōu clan for the sake of Ancestor Xiaojing!"
Big Sis’s brow furrowed when she heard this.
Progenitor Smoke glanced over at Big Sis before looking back at Yōu Kexin. "She should indeed be Progenitor Yōu, but what she said is accurate: you don’t share her blood. That’s a matter between her and you, and I don’t have any intention of getting involved."
Yōu Lao's expression grew ugly, and he could not stop himself from looking over at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin felt quite embarrassed. The Yōu clan had welcomed him openly and warmly when they had arrived unannounced, and yet his small group had first stolen the Yōu Secret Art away, and then Big Sis refused to acknowledge the clan as her descendants. It really looked like Lu Yin had stopped by just to pick on the Yōu clan.
"Head on out for now. We need to talk," Lu Yin said.
Yōu Kexin shot a reluctant look back at Big Sis again.
A smile spread across Big Sis's face, and her fingers curled up. She suddenly said, "I'll tell you what, if you have one of your women marry this kid, we’ll become family. It doesn’t matter if he shares my blood or not."
Yōu Kexin started to lose her patience.
Yōu Lao had no option but to take Yōu Keyan, Yōu Kexin, and the comatose Yōu Ye'er out from their clan’s main hall. The times had changed, and they were no longer part of the Court of Seven Names that had controlled the entire southern region of the Neoverse. Even if the Seven Courts had not been disbanded, they could not compare to Lu Yin’s current status. Even Xia Ji had been made his prisoner.
At this time, it was clear that they were living in Lu Yin’s shadow.
After everyone from the Yōu clan left, Lu Yin gave Big Sis a helpless look. "Big Sis, even if they don’t share your blood, can’t you be a bit gentler when speaking to them? You took their clan’s secret technique away, which has been passed down within their family for countless generations as their greatest inheritance."
Big Sis was unfazed. "It's best to make things clear right now so that they don’t try to rely on me in an emergency."
"In that case, have you ever considered why they were able to inherit the Yōu Secret Art? It’s possible that their ancestors were your most trusted confidantes, or even your disciples, which is how they were able to inherit the secret technique," Lu Yin suggested.
"It's also possible that their ancestor was a disciple who betrayed their master and stole the Yōu Secret Art," Progenitor Smoke countered.
Lu Yin pursed his lips. It was not that he was necessarily eager to help the Yōu clan, but they had been abandoned like orphans or a widow. Yōu Lao would not live for much longer, and their situation was quite pitiful. On top of that, they were Lu Yin’s people.
In the past, the Yōu clan had been part of the monster that was the Seven Courts, but they had felt as though someone was spying on them at all times. That had been the power of the Impious Sutra. While that insidious sense of being watched was now gone, so was the power and influence of the Seven Courts. On top of that, the Yōu Secret Art had been taken away. The Yōu clan truly seemed to have suffered repeated setbacks.
"Little Seven, do you just feel bad for the Yōu clan? Or have you taken a fancy to one of their girls? If that’s what it is, then your sister will acknowledge the entire clan as my descendants, and with that, they’ll have to obey their ancestor. Even if it isn’t just one, you can take all the women from this Yōu clan. I’ll give them all to you," Big Sis’s voice suddenly grew teasing.
Progenitor Smoke looked over at Lu Yin with renewed interest.
Lu Yin was left speechless. He frequently suffered from the same issue when speaking with Big Sis. "Big Sis, I’ll handle my relationships myself."
"Hmph! Even after all these years, I still haven’t seen you bring a single girl back to meet your big sister! Honestly, this is something that even the captain’s started to think about. He’s even said that if too much time passes, he’ll personally help you out and order all the pirates throughout the universe to help you find a girl you like so that you can get married." Big Sis’s threat sounded terrifying.
Lu Yin blinked. Was that even possible?
"Finding a partner to marry is a good thing. I’ll help out with that, too," Progenitor Smoke offered with a smile.
Lu Yin waved them away with a hand. "Alright, enough gossip."
He grew serious as he looked at Big Sis. "Big Sis, have you just regained a bit of Progenitor Yōu’s strength, or are you Progenitor Yōu herself again? Do you have any memories from Progenitor Yōu?"
Big Sis also grew somber. "After absorbing the Yōu Secret Art, it feels like I really have become a different person. For starters, my body's stabilized and won’t keep changing anymore. While I don’t have any memories of being Progenitor Yōu, there are certain things that have become clear to me. One example is that I know that the Yōu clan are not my descendants, and another is that I can sense the Impious Sutra in people’s bodies."
"So you are both Progenitor Yōu, and not Progenitor Yōu." Progenitor Smoke fell into thought as well.
Big Sis nodded.
Lu Yin found this to be a pity. "I was hoping to be able to learn more about Progenitor Yōu and that era, but unfortunately, that seems impossible."
Big Sis suddenly commented, "Even if I don’t have any memories, there’s one word that’s burned so deeply into my mind that I would be able to remember it even if everything else turned to ash."
Lu Yin and Progenitor Smoke both turned to stare at Big Sis.
She nodded solemnly as she said, "Immemorial."
Lu Yin felt confused. "Immemorial?"
"Immemorial Citadel," Progenitor Smoke finished with a solemn expression.
Lu Yin remembered hearing about the Immemorial Citadel before. Mister Mu had mentioned that he expected his disciples to grow strong enough to eventually be able to enter the Immemorial Citadel, where they would qualify to walk beside certain people. However, Lu Yin really did not understand what that meant.
"What is the Immemorial Citadel?" Lu Yin asked.
Big Sis looked confused. "I only remember the word Immemorial. I don’t know anything about the Immemorial Citadel, and that name doesn’t sound familiar to me at all."
Progenitor Smoke thought back to what she remembered. "The first time I heard of the Immemorial Citadel was when Senior Lu Tianyi mentioned it. However, he just mentioned the name and nothing else. That was when I was still a Semi-Progenitor and had just received the inheritance of one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas. The second time I heard of the Immemorial Citadel, it was from Old Fu."
"The Rune Progenitor?" Lu Yin asked.
Progenitor Smoke nodded. "He said something about how it was possible that we would one day meet in the Immemorial Citadel, and then he just walked away. I asked him about it later, but he wouldn’t say anything more. When I brought it up later to Xia Shang, Ku Jie, and a few others, they didn’t say anything, but rather acted like I should already know. I also asked Wang Fan, Bai Wangyuan, and even Hui Wen, but none of them seemed to have ever heard of the name.”
"The last time I heard the Immemorial Citadel be mentioned was when I was torturing a corpse king to death," Progenitor Smoke's expression grew more and more serious as she continued, saying, "I didn’t actually pay too much attention to the Immemorial Citadel before that, even if I was a bit curious. No one would say anything to me, so I didn’t really press the matter, but that all changed when the corpse king mentioned it. It was the last thing that the creature uttered before death.”
Progenitor Smoke's expression grew complicated. "It said, 'You’re so lucky that you don't have to go to the Immemorial Citadel.' That was the last thing it said before dying."
Lu Yin grew curious. "So, is the Immemorial Citadel an actual city?"
Progenitor Smoke shook her head, as she did not know for sure herself. "Judging by the name, it should be."