Chapter 439. Shaking the Universe, One Step Further
"He cut down two Holy Sons and the Child of the Present Buddha, just like that."
"Is that Lu Yuan mad? Or should we call him bold?"
"I'd say it's more like a display of strength for everyone to see."
These were the remarks of the powerhouses in the Outer Cosmos; all of them were stunned by Lu Yuan's power. At the same time, they found his killing of the two Holy Sons and the Child of the Present Buddha almost impossible to believe.
After all, those two Holy Sons were from the Ji Clan and the Eternals. The Ji Clan and the Eternals were terrifying powers that both ranked among the top ten in the Outer Cosmos. No one would dare to make the same move as Lu Yuan if they were in his shoes.
Lu Yuan had killed the two Holy Sons along with the Child of the Present Buddha.
Needless to say, Lu Yuan had forged a blood feud with all three of those powers at once. If the three of them were to attack Lu Yuan, even the Jiang Clan and the Separation of Heaven and Earth could save Lu Yuan.
It would be a display of fury that could set the entire universe on fire.
Despite knowing all of that, Lu Yuan had gone ahead and done it anyway. This was why some people called him "mad." Still, more people took it as boldness. It had to be known that in the ancient era, the Milky Way Starfield was unparalleled.
In fact, it was said that the Sukhāvatī Starfield and the Sky Dragon Starfield couldn't compare to the Milky Way Starfield back then. With that in mind, they deduced that Lu Yuan's actions were his attempt to bring back the Milky Way Starfield's glory days.
Moreover, none of those who heard the news would think that he was biting off more than he could chew. After all, that one battle had proven many things, and it proved Lu Yuan's formidable strength as well. Virtually no one doubted that he would grow into a true powerhouse capable of tipping the balance of the universe itself.
Just like that, the clans and races of the Outer Cosmos stopped looking down on the Celestial Court and started treating it with respect. In their eyes, only the strong counted as equals, while the weak were mere garbage.
The Celestial Court had seen this coming well in advance. Zhu Qingyu and the others didn't let it go to their heads, as they knew perfectly well that the respect being given to them wasn't something they had earned for themselves.
Had it not been for Lu Yuan's display of strength, those from the Outer Cosmos would have continued to disregard the Celestial Court. Considering that, the one thing they needed to do now was to remain calm. Hence, the Celestial Court kept the same low profile as before without much change.
As for Lu Yuan, he went straight into seclusion. Drawing out the power of Providence had cost him a huge amount of effort and energy.
His Innate Spirit had dimmed, and not even the Bodhi Tree could ease the strain. As always, the reason came down to one thing—he was just too weak. In the eyes of others, an Undying Immortal was a formidable existence, but in the eyes of Providence, an Undying Immortal was not strong enough at all.
It still comes down to being too weak. If I become a Grotto-Heaven Immortal, or even a Creation Immortal, I could draw on a lot more of that power of Providence. I also wouldn't be so exhausted afterward.
Lu Yuan could only sigh as he examined himself. The power of Providence really wasn't easy to wield. It had just been a single try, and only a small slice of the whole at that, and even so, it had left him in this weakened state.
Fortunately, the experience made a few things clear to him. If he could ever draw on the full power of Providence, he would become terrifyingly strong. Of course, his strength wasn't the only factor here; the second factor was the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Tokens. Until he gathered them all, he wouldn't be able to tap on the full power of Providence even if he were already strong enough to do so.
The Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token...Lu Yuan murmured the words to himself. He had to gather those tokens as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuan knew that he was strong enough to reach the Grotto-Heaven Realm on his own, but the issue was the Creation Realm that came after it.
As for the final two stages of the Immortal Realm, he had no idea when he would reach those.
Unfortunately, his enemies wouldn't stay quiet forever. The Ji Clan, the Eternals, and the Sukhāvatī Starfield would most likely send out their true powerhouses soon, as conflict between them had devolved into a blood feud.
Moreover, the recent battle had revealed his potential before the whole universe. Lu Yuan believed that neither the Eternals nor the Ji Clan would sit by and let him keep growing.
There was also the matter concerning the Extracosmic Heavenly Demons. Lu Yuan knew that the true crisis could appear at any moment.
Lu Yuan couldn't help but sigh. The stronger he grew, the harder the obstacles he had to face. However, he knew exactly where the issue was. He was the problem here; he was just too weak.
Emptying his mind, Lu Yuan closed his eyes and focused on recovery. This was going to be a long process; he estimated that it would take him a month or more.
Hence, he planned to stay in seclusion and only step out every now and then. He had to step out to remind the Celestial Court's members not to slacken off. He wanted them to keep focusing on becoming even stronger.
In addition, he wanted to keep the beings from the Outer Cosmos in check, or they would start cooking up some rumors again.
He couldn't wield the power of Providence for the time being, but he didn't actually sustain any real injuries. In fact, most of Lu Yuan's seclusion was spent digesting the gains he had obtained during the recent battle.
In the days that followed, he told Zhu Qingyu and the others to keep contending for the boons and fortunes across the world. The Great Age's Providence was the root cause behind the descent of the beings from the Outer Cosmos, and Lu Yuan knew that his people could contend for those as well.
As for the Jiang Clan, they kept sending people down, as everyone knew that the Ji Clan and the Eternals would never let the matter drop. No battle would break out so easily again, of course, so everyone slowly focused on obtaining some of the Great Age's Providence for themselves.
Unfortunately, they actually had no idea how to obtain the Great Age's Providence, but they knew that doing some training in this world and making attempts to obtain its boons and opportunities were the right things to do.
Just like that, time flew by. A month later, Lu Yuan finally recovered. His soul and his fleshly body had returned to their peak state.
More importantly, he found that he seemed to have drawn a step closer to the Grotto-Heaven Realm. If he just made use of the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token and the power of Providence, he'd soon make a breakthrough. He found it so easy that it was absurd.
Lu Yuan told Jiang Ningxian and the others. When they heard it, they were shaken.
After all, they had watched him grow with their own eyes. In a short time, he reached the Undying Immortal Realm and was now on the verge of another breakthrough.
Jiang Haokong took the hit all over again. He thought about going into seclusion, but in the end, he let the idea go. By now, he had truly admitted defeat. No matter how hard he pushed himself, it would still be useless against Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan was always a step ahead of him, but Jiang Haokong figured that there was no shame in coming up short against him. After all, the two Holy Sons and the Child of the Present Buddha had all died at Lu Yuan's hands!