Chapter 2443: A Glimpse Of The Future  

It was difficult to get Skymender access to the Perennial World, but once Bai Xian'er personally made the request, people were left with no choice but to give her some face.

Several days passed before Skymender arrived at the designated location.

Lu Yin retrieved the Book of Destiny and tossed it to Skymender. "This woman has a Book of Destiny as well. She wants to merge the two of them together to see the future."

Skymender was taken aback, and he immediately looked at Bai Xian'er. "Merge them? Is that possible?"

The haziness that surrounded Bai Xian'er grew clear once more as she opened her eyes. They glittered like stars but revealed no emotion. "Combining two books can reveal the future, so let's begin."

As she spoke, she raised a hand, and a book identical to the ones that Skymender and Xiao Shi possessed appeared from nowhere.

Lu Yin focused on the book. If combining two books could reveal the future, did that mean that he could see the future any time he wanted? After all, he possessed two books.

But that should not be the case. In the past, Lu Yin had tried to compare the two books, but he had failed to see the future.

Skymender held his book up, and a strange force pulled the two books to the middle of the three individuals. Soon, the books began to combine.

"Heaven's Enigma," Bai Xian'er murmured.

Skymender instinctively invoked Heaven's Enigma as well, and a mysterious sensation emanated from him. Hints of images and scenes appeared around Skymender, like snapshots of time. Space warped and transformed into lines that connected to his Book of Destiny. Bai Xian'er also started using Heaven's Enigma, but her reaction was vastly different from Skymender’s.

Bai Xian'er's use of Heaven's Enigma gave Lu Yin the odd sense of seeing yet not seeing. At this moment, he could feel a pair of eyes staring at him. He did not know where they were, nor what era they were watching him from, but it felt as though he was watching the great river of time flow by, magnificent and grand. It felt as though time had been transformed into something tangible.

Skymender’s eyes instantly snapped open, his shock evident. "Is that the true Heaven's Enigma?"

At that moment, the two Books of Destiny abruptly opened, and their pages started to rapidly turn. None of them were able to get a clear look at any of the pages, though they could tell that every page showed a distinct scene. Lu Yin's breath quickened. Did these images show the future? Was every page a scene from the future?

He had previously been skeptical, but after Bai Xian'er demonstrated the magnificence of the river of time, Lu Yin started to believe. Destiny seemed to be connected to time in some way.

All of a sudden, the pages stopped flipping. The image shown within the book displayed a pair of crimson eyes that were filled with fury and insanity. Were they the eyes of a corpse king?

All three individuals stared intently at the page.

The image suddenly zoomed out, which allowed them to see the face of the corpse king. Was that…?

Skymender's mouth fell open, and he turned to stare at Lu Yin.

Bai Xian'er's expression grew solemn, and she also looked at Lu Yin.

The owner of the crimson eyes proved to be none other than Lu Yin himself.

Lu Yin's pupils shrank, and disbelief covered his features as he stared at the page. It was him?The page displayed a scene where Lu Yin's red eyes gleamed with madness as he thrust a sword into Kui Luo's body. Kui Luo roared and clawed at Lu Yin's face as though trying to tear him apart, but the old man’s body slowly dissipated until nothing but ash remained. Lu Yin's hand held the Origin Progenitor's sword.

With a single slash of the sword, Lu Yin had erased Kui Luo from existence. He then turned and struck Lu Buzheng’s shoulder. Fury covered the man’s face as his body also dissipated, followed by Ku Wei, the Ghost Monkey, Wendy Yushan, Arch-Elder Zen, Lu Yin’s Senior Brother Qing Ping, Big Sis, and even Highsage Leon. Everyone struck down had the familiar faces of Lu Yin’s loved ones. Everyone vanished with a strike of the sword, reduced to nothing but dust.

The scene shown on the page that the books showed left all three individuals completely stunned.

Skymender stared at Lu Yin with a mixture of fear and panic. It was the first time that he had ever looked at Lu Yin with such an expression.

Bai Xian'er gazed at Lu Yin with mourning filling her eyes.

Lu Yin felt all energy drain from him, and his arms dropped limply to his sides. He was the one with those crimson eyes, and he was killing everyone that he cared about one after another with the Origin Progenitor's sword. He was doing it himself.

He suddenly remembered what True God had mentioned three years before: "You are still too stubborn, but the day will come when you will finally be enlightened. When that day comes, you will kill everyone that you know and hold dear. You will let go of everything and transform into a new creature. You will expose the mysteries of the universe. On that day, you will no longer stubbornly cling to the word ‘human.’ You can still call yourself human, but at that time, you will no longer choose to do so."

At the time, Lu Yin had believed that True God had just been trying to convince him to join Aeternus, so he had not paid much attention to the words. However, after seeing the scene from the Book of Destiny, Lu Yin realized that this comment perfectly matched what he had just seen: he would kill all the people he knew and cared about, abandon everything, and transform into a new creature.

Those crimson eyes seemed to pierce his very soul.

With a thud, the two books fell, and Lu Yin snapped out of his thoughts.

He watched as the two Books of Destiny fell to the dirty ground.

Skymender's heart trembled, and he quickly picked up one of the Books of Destiny, while the other flew into Bai Xian'er's hands.

"Brother Xiaoxuan, should we silence him?" Bai Xian'er looked at Lu Yin, showing the same smile as ever.

Lu Yin looked at the woman. "Do you really think that I’m going to believe what I just saw?"

Bai Xian'er's smile grew slightly larger. "Destiny is inevitable. You saw what happened to the God of Food. What you just saw will definitely happen in the future. Time has shown us a moment in the future, and you cannot change it.”

"I am actually very curious. Brother Xiaoxuan, you are a direct descendant of the Lu family, so why did you become a monster?"

Lu Yin coldly replied, "Your petty tricks can’t affect me. I don't know how you did it, but you clearly know far more about Destiny than we do. Even if this is truly the future that Destiny has foreseen, so what? Since I can travel through time, I can naturally change the future. There's no way I will ever become a monster of Aeternus."

Bai Xian'er smiled. "I hope so. In that case, do you want to take another look at the future?"

"Yes, leave your book behind." Lu Yin suddenly reached out to seize the Book of Destiny that Bai Xian'er held.

Bai Xian'er chuckled, and then the void behind her tore open, and Bai Sheng emerged. He held his staff out in front of Bai Xian'er. "Lu Xiaoxuan, it's been a long time."

Lu Yin stopped and met Bai Sheng's gaze. "It certainly has been."

As he spoke, he withdrew his hand.

"I'm leaving now, Brother Xiaoxuan. Don’t worry, I will keep everything that we just saw a secret," Bai Xian'er said before leaving with Bai Sheng.Bai Sheng shot one more glance at Lu Yin before leaving.

After the two left, Lu Yin remained standing where he was. He rubbed his cosmic ring, remembering everything that he had just witnessed. Would he really end up killing everyone he held dear? Would he really become a monster?

It was not impossible, as there was divine energy in his chest.

During the last trial of his sixth stellular tribulation, he had managed to defeat the manifestation of the Mother Tree with that divine energy. Lu Yin knew that his eyes had turned red at that time, and while it had been a different shade than the crimson that had filled his eyes in the Book of Destiny, they had still definitely been red.

True God Yi Wei’s words, the divine energy within Lu Yin’s chest, and the visions that he had just seen all seemed to tell the same tale: in the future, he would no longer be human, and he would cut down his family, friends, and everyone else he cared about.

Even long before any of those incidents occurred, Xuan Jiu had told Lu Yin that anyone who became close to him would meet a terrible end and that he would bring bad luck to all his loved ones. Given what Lu Yin had just seen, were Xuan Jiu’s words going to be proven true?

Behind him, Skymender waited respectfully, beads of sweat forming across his forehead.

Skymender had never before felt so nervous. He knew that he had just seen something he should not have, as once the matter was exposed, Lu Yin would become the enemy of all mankind. There was no way Lu Yin would ever allow that to happen, so the safest course of action would be to permanently silence Skymender.

The more he thought about it, the more Skymender felt that he was most likely about to die.

After having lived for many years, Skymender had experienced many things, and hardly anything fazed him anymore. He had not been this panicked even when Lu Yin had conquered the Astral Beast Domain, but at the moment, Skymender knew that he was standing at the very cusp of death.

"Skymender, do you believe what we just saw?" Lu Yin asked calmly, keeping his back turned to Skymender.

Skymender instantly replied, "No, I do not."

"But we just saw a glimpse of the future from two Books of Destiny."

"Lu Yin, Bai Xian'er just used the true Heaven's Enigma. That technique has been lost for ages, and it should not even exist any longer. All the rest of us use the Inverse Enigma. Everything that we just saw was under her control. With her ability, it's not impossible for her to have created a vision of a false future."

Lu Yin nodded, "Yes, what we saw may indeed have been a false image created by Bai Xian'er."

Skymender continued in a low voice. "Not may have, definitely. I've never heard that merging two Books of Destiny could reveal the future. Dao Chosen, you can check with Destina if such a thing is possible, but Bai Xian'er must have fabricated the whole thing."

Lu Yin found Skymender’s reaction rather amusing. The astral beast was adamantly refuting everything that he had just seen, worried that he would be silenced.

"But what if it's true?" Lu Yin suddenly threw out a question.

Skymender's eyes flickered, and he firmly replied, "If it's true, then the Dao Chosen will betray humanity, but that has nothing to do with my Astral Beast Domain. Whether it's Aeternus or humanity, it doesn't matter to us, because we are astral beasts, not humans."

Lu Yin stood there with his hands clasped behind his back. Astral beasts were astral beasts, while humans were humans. Aeternus was humanity’s archenemy, but to many humans, astral beasts were no different.

"You can go back now. Leave the book," Lu Yin said.

Skymender handed the book over in a respectful manner before silently leaving.

Only after putting a vast distance between himself and Lu Yin was Skymender able to breathe once again. He felt incredibly lucky that he was an astral beast and not a human. Else, he might not have survived this incident. Anyone who saw what had appeared in that book would never be allowed to live unless they followed Lu Yin and defected to Aeternus. However, Lu Yin currently had no intentions of turning to Aeternus, which meant that there was no escape for anyone who witnessed such a scene.

If Skymender defected to Aeternus, Lu Yin would kill him. If he did not defect to Aeternus, Lu Yin would have to worry about the matter being exposed. It was a situation with no answer.

Lu Yin lifted the Book of Destiny and opened it, only to be met with blank white pages. There was nothing in the book at all.

Heaven’s Enigma and Inverse Enigma… Lu Yin fell deep into thought.

After a long time, he put the book away and sent a message to Xuan Jiu with his wireless jincan.