Chapter 1444: Can You Act?
Lu Yin pursed his lips. "I want to save you from that trap, but I’m also afraid that you’ll ruin things for us. So, for now, you’ll have to stay in this great world. Don\'t worry, I’ll let you go as soon as it\'s safe."
Long Xi was enraged. "Let me out! I\'d rather be back in the Forgotten Ruins!"
"That’s just stupid since that trap was set by those monsters. You\'ll most likely end up dead." Lu Yin was very upset. After all, he had just spent 600 million star essence in an instant to imprison Long Xi. It was not worth the expense. No, he would have to get some more value from this expenditure.
"By the way, you\'ll be bored if you stay here all alone, right? I\'ll go and get you some friends," Lu Yin told Long Xi before leaving.
Long Xi around at the deserted Zenith Mountain, her face flushed with anger. Her mind was filled with all the moments that she had spent with Long Qi in the past and how he must have been laughing at her this entire time. The most infuriating bit was how earnest he had sounded when speaking to her. If possible, she would tear his mouth off without any bit of hesitation.
Soon, a man was thrown onto the mountain: Wen Diyi. He fell to the ground and then stood back up with a blank expression on his face.
"Princess Long Xi? Where are we?" Wen Diyi was confused.
Long Xi took a breath before indifferently responding, "We’re in a great world that belongs to Long Qi."
Wen Diyi was stunned. "Long Qi captured us?"
Long Xi was already in a terrible mood, so she just ignored Wen Diyi.
After that, Yun Tingting was sent to the mountain, followed by Liu Hao, and finally, Crown Prince Gui Qian. In the end, Lu Yin rescued everyone from the Forgotten Ruins except for the four Junior Progenitors and Dong Shan.
He could not afford to take Long Tian and others with him, as if he did, there was no way he would be able to endure the investigation that the four ruling powers would carry out. His only chance was if the four were left trapped within the Forgotten Ruins since this trap had nothing to do with Lu Yin. On the other hand, people like Wen Diyi did not matter. The universe was so vast that no one could possibly know where such people went.
"Everyone, stay here and relax. I’ll save all of you," Lu Yin\'s voice filled the mountain.
Long Xi was furious, and she ground her teeth.
Wen Yi and others quickly tried to say something, but Lu Yin simply ignored them all.
Outside of Zenith Mountain, Lu Yin was feeling quite satisfied as he put the mountain back into his cosmic ring. Now, the expenditure had been worth it.
Yun Tingting\'s smoke was very similar to what Smoke Eater Peaks possessed, though Yun Tingting’s was even more advanced. Liu Hao was the Liu family’s most talented youth. Wen Diyi had mastered a more advanced form of the Literary Prison, and Crown Prince Gui Qian was from the Specter Clan. It would be useful to take all of these people back to the Fifth Mainland, and it would definitely more than compensate him for the 600 million star essence that he had spent on Zenith Mountain’s barrier. Lu Yin would never voluntarily suffer a loss.
After seeing Lu Yin throw Wen Diyi and the others onto Zenith Mountain one by one, Yao Xuan and others were no longer able to sit still.
"Brother Lu, are you planning on taking them back with you?" Unseen Light asked.
Lu Yin seriously answered, "They’re old friends, so I can’t bear to see them suffer here, especially when I can take them away."
Damn! He can spout off bullshit so easily! Yao Xuan secretly cursed. His handsome face betrayed his dissatisfaction at this moment, though he did not dare to reveal too much. After all, Lu Yin was much stronger than Yao Xuan. Not to mention how Lu Yin could just outright kill Yao Xuan, but he could also toss the prince back into the Forgotten Ruins, which would be the end for Yao Xuan.
"If these people disappear, then the people of the Perennial World will definitely investigate the matter. Both the Liu family and the White Dragon Clan won’t give up that easily," Liu Tianmu commented.
Lu Yin replied, "Given the size of the universe, it’s impossible to know where these people end up."
"So only the four of them fought with the Junior Progenitors? Who would ever believe such a coincidence?" Yao Xuan couldn\'t help but point out.
Lu Yin glanced at him like he was looking at an idiot. "Aren’t there still the rest of us?"
Everyone was stunned; what did that mean?
"Everyone, can you act?" Lu Yin asked with a smile.
…
A few days later, Nong Sanniang and Xia Taili arrived at the fork in the branch. They had been trapped for several days, but finally, after Nong Sanniang\'s injuries healed, the two women had worked together to escape.
It was impossible for Long Tian and others to keep the two women trapped for too long.
"Is that it?" Nong Sanniang asked.
Xia Taili nodded as she looked around. "I can see traces of battle everywhere, but I don\'t know what happened to everyone."
She was worried about Xia Shenfei, so Xia Taili jumped down and headed into the hole.
Nong Sanniang followed close behind.
The two soon arrived at the bottom, where they found Liu Tianmu with a sword piercing through her belly and stabbing her body to a wall. The blood from her wound had already dried and turned black, giving her a miserable look. She had been stabbed by Wu Taibai, but he was not in a good state himself. Half of his body was strangely twisted around, and it took no more than a glance to see that he had been badly injured and fallen into a coma.
This scene made Xia Taili go pale, and she hurriedly moved forward to check, only to be relieved to discover that Wu Taibai was not dead.
Nong Sanniang spoke up, "This woman isn’t dead either."
Xia Taili quickly roused Wu Taibai. He coughed, and blood spurted from his mouth. He slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to see Xia Taili. "I\'m not dead?"
Xia Taili anxiously asked, "What happened? Where\'s my brother?"
Wu Taibai shook his head. "I don\'t know. At that time, I injured that woman, but my consciousness grew hazy for a moment. It feels like I forgot about something because, when I next opened my eyes, I saw you."
Xia Taili felt puzzled, and she looked over at Nong Sanniang.
Nong Sanniang also woke Liu Tianmu up. She looked like she was in a terrible state, and there were numerous sword wounds crisscrossing her body. She was lucky that the wounds had not killed her.
She tried to resist the moment she opened her eyes, but Nong Sannian easily held Liu Tianmu down. "What happened here? I remember that you were with the White Dragon Clan’s team. Where’s Long Tian?"
Liu Tianmu solemnly answered, "I don\'t know. I fainted after being stabbed, and when I next opened my eyes, I saw you."
Xia Taili and Nong Sanniang looked at each other and quickly moved further in.
Wu Taibai glanced over at Liu Tianmu before struggling to his feet. They both pretended to be cautious of each other as they followed Xia Taili through the tunnel.
After a while, they came across Unseen Light, and they saw that his blood-stained body had fallen to the ground.
Nong Sanniang hurried forward to investigate, but Unseen Light had not died yet either.
Unseen Light also apparently only remembered fighting, and he was as ignorant as the other two about what had happened afterwards.
Xia Taili grew increasingly anxious. As they walked further in, they eventually found Shang Qing, Yao Xuan, and Lu Yin. Everyone was in terrible condition, but there was one thing that never changed: everyone was still alive.
This did not seem right. How could there be no deaths after such a terrible fight?
Finally, the Forgotten Ruins entered their sight, and Xia Taili saw Xia Shenfei sitting cross-legged on the ground, as well as Long Tian, Wang Su, Bai Shaohong, and Dong Shan. She also saw Dong He\'s corpse.
Nong Sanniang\'s expression grew solemn. "Don\'t be hasty."
"What the hell is going on here?" Xia Taili felt puzzled as she studied everyone sitting on the ground.
Everyone felt confused.
Unseen Light spoke up. "During the battle, I heard certain words like ‘Forgotten something’."
"The Forgotten Ruins?"
"The Forgotten Ruins?!" Xia Taili and Nong Sanniang both shouted at the same time, their faces already pale.
Unseen Light replied, "I’m not sure."
Nong Sanniang\'s face grew solemn. "That’s probably what you heard. If I’m remembering correctly, this is indeed what happens when people come across the Forgotten Ruins. Its no wonder why you all instantly fell to the ground during the fighting. No matter how violent the battle is, the moment the effect of the Forgotten Ruins is activated, you’ll forget about everything and become like the living dead."
Lu Yin secretly praised Nong Sanniang. If he did not know that this woman came from the Nong family, he would have assumed that she was another trespasser. Her explanation had been practically perfect.
"What about Long Xi and the others?" Xia Taili asked Lu Yin as she turned to look at him.
Lu Yin shook his head. "We lost track of each other a long time ago. On the way here, we were attacked by a massive horde of withered creatures, and Long Xi and a few others were separated from us."
Xia Taili frowned. Long Xi and the other missing ones did not have the map to this place, so they would not be able to find this place. However, why was Crown Prince Gui Qian not present?
"How do we save them?" Lu Yin asked, afraid that Xia Taili would overthink things and uncover some holes in the story.
Lu Yin’s interruption caused Xia Taili to lose her train of thought as her anxiety over saving Xia Shenfei and the others grew.
However, the Forgotten Ruins were something that she had only heard a little about, and she had no idea how to dismantle the trap.
Xia Taili tried to use her star energy to drag Xia Shenfei out of the Forgotten Ruins, only to suffer the same fate as Long Xi.
Nong Sanniang solemnly said, "The Forgotten Ruins aren’t easy to break free of, and it’s beyond us. All we can do is ask for help."
Xia Taili felt helpless. "We’ll have to head back to the Junior Progenitor Planets to ask the elders to help out with this."
Lu Yin\'s heart sank. For the first time ever, he was actually hoping that those monsters would be stronger so that this trap would not be shattered that easily. Otherwise, all of the trespassers would end up suffering.
"I\'m actually rather curious. The Forgotten Ruins are the symbol of the Wang family\'s mastery of All Is Forgotten, so why is one here? Could the Wang family have set up this trap?" Lu Yin asked curiously.
He had considered asking this question a long time ago, but he had been sidetracked before. Thus, he had only mentioned it at this time.
Nong Sanniang answered, "This has to do with the Wang family’s past. If you want to know more about this, you’ll need to ask the elders of your White Dragon Clan."
Lu Yin choked for a moment and simply stopped talking afterwards.
Typically, the excursion into the Dominion Realm did not end that quickly, but the situation had become very serious, and the four Junior Progenitors had clearly miscalculated. Thus, everyone needed to immediately return to the Junior Progenitor Planets to ask for backup.
Before they left, everyone discussed whether or not they needed to leave behind someone to guard the place.
"There are trespassers among us, and no one knows what those people might do! Also, if this trap was somehow set by those monsters, then they might still have another card hidden up their sleeves. Thus, we have to leave someone to protect them," Xia Taili said.
Everyone glanced around at each other. They were all visibly wary and untrusting of each other.
After seeing everyone’s reactions, Xia Taili did not know how to proceed. She did not know if there were any trespassers among those present. Since someone from the Mavis family had managed to get into the Dominion Realm, then there had to be others as well. It would be a huge problem if any of the trespassers were left behind as guards.
In truth, the best person to leave behind was Nong Sanniang, but she had been seriously injured, and she also needed to speak to the elders herself. With no other resort, Xia Taili finally turned to look at Lu Yin.
Upon seeing Xia Taili looking at him, Lu Yin’s eye twitched, and he coughed a few times, hacking up blood. Everyone else was even worse off than him.
Xia Taili felt helpless. "Leave behind a power vessel to protect them."
"My power vessel was destroyed," Lu Yin said. He pointed over at Shang Qing. "He did it."
Xia Taili rolled her eyes and helplessly said, "I didn\'t tell you to leave one."
The more desperate the situation was, the less this person could be counted upon.
In the end, no one knew what Xia Taili left behind for protection. Based on her reassured expression, Lu Yin believed that the power vessel should even be able to fend off Envoys, but where had it come from? Xia Taili had lost her cosmic ring.
Lu Yin had ignored something important; all of these elites were skilled at deception, so the more important items might not have been stored in their cosmic rings. After all, cosmic rings were rather obvious targets, and it would be safer to store truly valuable items elsewhere. As soon as Lu Yin thought of this, he felt his heart lurch, and he once again saw all of the people sitting within the Forgotten Ruins. They must still have some good things left on themselves that he had not taken away. How terrible! Unfortunately, it was already too late.