Li Qiye didn’t hold back in this nest, killing every step along the way, whether it be monsters or poisonous fiends.

They couldn’t escape from his grasp and had to face their doom. It didn’t take long before screams echoed and corpses piled up on the surface.

He eventually made it to the far regions of the nest, leaving behind carnage and blood in his path.

A while later, two figures flew towards his direction. They tried to converge their progenitorial aura but each of their actions still seemed imposing and mighty. They were, without a doubt, powerful progenitors.

One of them wasn’t especially tall and sturdy but still gave off the sense of being an immovable pillar or mountain. His body seemingly possessed incalculable weight.

He was slovenly dressed with no shirt on. This made him look quite bold and adventurous. His muscles were built beyond imagination. His abs had clear outlines; each muscle had been sculpted through numerous trials. His tanned skin looked like bronze. Thus, he gave off a reassuring presence. 

His bulging muscles and veins looked like dragons. He could probably push up the sky or tear a true dragon apart.

This was clearly a physique cultivator capable of withstanding powerful attacks from weapons.

The other progenitor looked elegant in comparison. He rode a group of clouds, wearing a robe embroidered with red clouds. He looked like a transcending immortal from above with his whisk. 

He had the bearing and temperament of a scholar. People would assume that he had read plenty of books.

This was quite an interesting pair - a scholar and a musclehead; brain and brawn. They made up for each other’s lacking, perhaps.

“Brother Wu, you’re still not giving up?” The scholar told the muscular progenitor.

“My physique is at grand completion so I’m giving it a shot. Time to challenge Burden, see if I can take it down.” The man named Wu laughed and responded.

“Brother Wu, we’ve been friends for so long so excuse me for being blunt. I think it’ll be difficult. Remember, White Ash tried to do it before to no avail. This nest is too large and dangerous. Once you’ll get in, it’ll take a lot of effort to leave.” The scholar shook his head.

“I know. That’s why I invited you in the first place. We’ll take turns. You lure it out from the nest and then everything will be easy. Surround first then maybe we can take it down.” Wu smiled.

“I still think it will be difficult. Burden is pretty much an intelligent demon by this point, probably just as smart as us.” The scholar wasn’t as optimistic: “Several of our peers have been swallowed by it, both their essences and intelligence stolen. It has been growing stronger all this time.”

“Yes, all nine of them are like this, pushing their border. It won’t be good if this continues.” Wu sighed and said.

“This is still the expanse, let it happen naturally. Even if we kill these nine, maybe ten thousand years later, a different ten or whatever will pop up. There is no lack of monsters here because the place is perfect for gestating these creatures. We’re the outsiders and they’re the real natives.” The scholar smiled.

“Well, natives or not, let’s just kill this one. This place has so much more freedom than Three Immortals. We don’t need to hold back.” Wu said.

The scholar smiled, agreeing with the sentiment. After all, progenitors worried about too many things back in Immortal Lineage.

A battle or a war couldn’t be fought trivially because using too much power might result in piercing through their own system.

This wasn’t the case here at the expanse. They could fight to their heart’s content and destroy the area. Plus, the place was large enough that no one else would notice. It became the best battlefield where these progenitors could go all out.

That’s another reason why they didn’t wish to return to Three Immortals even if they could.

“Don’t you want to have a good fight, Brother Yun?” Wu smiled: “I know that you have created a secret art recently, it should be at grand completion, no? Time to try it then.” 

“It’s not a secret art or anything, just a formation technique. I’ve gathered great materials in the last one hundred thousand years and refined them into a grand formation.” Yun smiled.

“Perfect.” Wu continued: “Let’s lead it out and use your formation to trap it, then we can kill it.”

“Still very difficult. My formation can definitely stop it from returning to the nest but not for long. It’s far smarter now and can break the formation.” Yun replied.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. We’re just testing our blades. If we can’t do it this time, we’ll just return another day or get other brothers to help out. We just need to come up with something that can really take it down.” Wu said.

“So in the end, you just want me to be the bait.” Yun grumbled.

“It can’t be helped. I’m just a brute and can’t do anything that requires finesse, my movement techniques are crappy compared to yours too.”

“You might as well say that I’m the best at running away.” Yun smiled wryly.

“Hey, that’s a good skill to have. Not everyone can do what you do, I can’t and envy your cloud-dodge art. No one will be able to catch me then.” Wu laughed.

Their pleasant conversation suddenly halted the moment they entered the nest.

This place was red now instead of being black. The thick stench of blood assaulted the tip of their nose.

Numerous corpses floated on the surface, some as big as a mountain and others as small as a fist…

They were massacred in a direct manner - torn to pieces or pierced completely. These wounds were clearly inflicted by a barehanded combatant. 

The two progenitors exchanged glances.

“Someone is one step ahead of us.” Yun became serious.

They slowed down while looking at the corpses and imagining the battle.

“So brutal and fierce, that must have felt good.” Wu acclaimed.

“Far, far stronger than us.” Yun had a good judge of this combatant’s power.

“A member of the Decemvirate?” Wu put on a serious expression as well.

“No, things have changed after that disaster. The lucky survivors wouldn’t have the time nor the mood to do this.” Yun said.

“That frightening existence then?” Wu grimaced.

A powerful progenitor like him was still afraid of that dark existence. They stood no chance at all.

“It’s unlikely. He had disappeared for a long time. If he were to show up, he’ll definitely be ambushed on all sides.” Yun said.

Yun and Wu might not be their actual name but rather, a part of their title. Yun means cloud while Wu means martial. I had no choice but to use these pinyin for now because of readability. In the original text, these two progenitors are 全身肌肉的始祖 and 文質彬彬的始祖, meaning muscular progenitor and elegant progenitor. Yeah, that's a lot of free word count; if I see another comment about how the raw has more words than the translation... Putting that grievance aside, I had a good choice for the latter - scholar. The problem was, I couldn't come up with a nice noun for the muscular progenitor. There's no neutral word to describe someone muscular. For example, I came up with musclehead, hunk, bodybuilder. None of these are neutral like the original text. I just didn't want to use the muscular progenitor for 20 times in this chapter. Thus, I ultimately chose to use Wu and Yun despite knowing that this might not be their actual name. Martial and Cloud might be the correct choice, which I'll have to go back and change. Really, a part of me prefers the pinyin version more. It just feels much better to read.