Elder Daggs smiled bitterly. “Alliance Leader Lu, do you think that you are the only one who has been put on trial for cultivating death energy throughout all these years? Anyone who is found to cultivate death energy will be immediately executed without exception. You are the first person to be acquitted, and Arch-Elder Zen even stepped forward to verify your freedom himself.”
Lu Yin had been unaware of any of this. It was no wonder why Bu Laoweng had been so confident that he would be able to incarcerate Lu Yin with his privilege as an overseer. If not for Arch-Elder Zen appearing, then even if the Chief Justice ignored the matter of him cultivating death energy, Lu Yin might still have been imprisoned. At the very least, he would have been placed under observation.
“Arch-Elder Zen really is taking care of Alliance Leader Lu, which is truly enviable. Alliance Leader Lu, do you still remember our visit to the border warehouse?” Elder Daggs looked at Lu Yin with eager eyes.
Lu Yin smiled and said, “Elder, don’t worry. As long as there is an opportunity, I will have you transferred back to the Honor Zone.”
Elder Daggs quickly expressed his gratitude. “Thank you, Alliance Leader Lu.”
When he saw Yuan Shi once again, Lu Yin’s emotions were different from before. In the past, he had been completely ignorant. At the present moment, Lu Yin felt that there was an ethereal aspect to Yuan Shi, as though he did not belong to this universe.
Yuan Shi also felt amazed upon seeing Lu Yin. Throughout the countless years, Yuan Shi had taught many students, all with various degrees of talent. Although he had just casually taught many of these people, the old man had still seen some of the most elite geniuses among all cultivators. Despite that, he felt that he had never seen a genius comparable to Lu Yin before.
“It’s no wonder why the Hall of Honor chose you as a gatekeeper. In both the past and present, there are perhaps very few people who could be considered your rivals while still being your peers, and all of those people have written some of the most splendid pages in history,” Yuan Shi said admiringly.
Lu Yin respectfully replied, “Senior, there are too many outstanding members of my generation, and with this junior’s current strength, I am not confident about ZENITH.”
Yuan Shi smiled gently. “You aren’t confident of taking the championship?”
Lu Yin did not hide anything about this matter, as there was nothing worth hiding in front of an ancient powerhouse like Yuan Shi. “This junior really wants to be the champion.”
Yuan Shi nodded. “It’s normal for young people to be competitive. I don’t know what kind of geniuses are in your generation, but they all have their own elders supporting them and teaching them. All I can offer you is merely this.” With that, Yuan Shi took out a power vessel and tossed it over Lu Yin.
Lu Yin was overjoyed, as it was another one of the precious walnut-shaped power vessels. He quickly grabbed it. “Thank you, Yuan Shi.”
Yuan Shi said, “Even though you were imprisoned, I could not help you given my position. All I can do is offer you some power vessels as compensation. If you ever do go astray in the future, then I will personally move to take care of you, so you must remember this.”
Lu Yin understood that Yuan Shi was talking about the Neohuman Alliance. The Chief Justice and Arch-Elder Zen had both verified that Lu Yin could not be controlled by death energy. However, this matter was one of common sense, and not even Yuan Shi could defy such common knowledge. At his level, the Chief Justice and Arch-Elder Zen were merely stronger cultivators, so it was impossible for Yuan Shi to blindly trust their words.
“Yuan Shi, please rest assured. I, Lu Yin, will never go astray,” Lu Yin firmly declared.
Yuan Shi nodded.
Lu Yin wanted to leave, but then he suddenly remembered something. Though it seemed unlikely, he at least wanted to give it a try. “Yuan Shi, this junior would like to ask for your help with something.”
Yuan Shi asked, “With what matter?”
Lu Yin carefully organized his words before solemnly saying, “This junior nearly died at Nightking Zhenwu’s hands because of the Champions’ Stage, as this junior was actually the one to retrieve that stage.”
“What do you want with that stage?” Yuan Shi asked in an odd tone. Although his expression looked normal, there was a hint of questioning and confusion, as well as other complicated emotions that could not be deciphered.
Lu Yin did not see any of this, and he respectfully explained, “That was the first time that this junior has ever come so close to death, and I almost died. This junior would like to keep a memento to remind me to remain wary at all times.”
Yuan Shi grew serious as he stared at Lu Yin, and Lu Yin lowered his head. Highsage Wudi was unable to help Lu Yin obtain the Champions’ Stage, and he had even warned Lu Yin to forget about it, which showed just how much importance the Hall of Honor placed on the stage. However, Lu Yin had no choice. His innate gift was the Champions’ Stage. Thus, he desperately wanted to obtain the existing Champions’ Stage and study it in hopes of perhaps finding some clues related to his forgotten past.
Yuan Shi considered this matter for a bit. “The Champions’ Stage is not as unimportant as you seem to think. Not only is it a symbol, but it also has other meanings. If this were not the case, then there is no way that the reward for recapturing it would have been a guaranteed spot within the Cosmic Five.”
Lu Yin’s heart sank; was it still impossible?
“However, the Hall of Honor has held the Champions’ Stage for many years, but no one has been able to discover anything. You can do with it as you wish, though it will only be lent to you from the Hall of Honor,” said Yuan Shi.
Lu Yin was overjoyed. “Thank you, Yuan Shi.”
“Head on back for now, and I will retrieve the Champions’ Stage for you,” Yuan Shi said.
Lu Yin respectfully bade farewell to Yuan Shi. Sure enough, if you wanted something from the Hall of Honor, then you needed to go through someone who was part of the Hall of Honor. Although Lu Yin had been told he could only borrow the stage, Yuan Shi had never mentioned when it would need to be returned, so Lu Yin had not asked.
After Lu Yin left, Yuan Shi activated his own gadget. He rarely used the thing, but he had to admit that it was very convenient on certain occasions.
“That little guy wants to borrow the Champions’ Stage? To what end?” An old voice was heard from the gadget.
Yuan Shi replied, “He claims that he wants it as a memento to remain wary.”
“Hehe, that child never does such things, so there should be some other reason.”
“Anyways, the stage has remained there for so many years, but none of us can solve its mystery. Just let this child borrow it. Maybe he can figure something out,” Yuan Shi suggested.
“We can do that.”
After separating from Yuan Shi, Lu Yin was in a good mood. The excuse that he had given for asking for the Champions’ Stage was a bit ridiculous, but he had not been able to come up with anything more reasonable. Also, he had no idea how much time he would need to properly study the stage.
He could not wait to study the Champions’ Stage and see if it had anything at all to do with his own past.
Lu Yin did not return to Southside Weave. Instead, he made his way straight towards the Blaze Realm. With ZENITH about to start, he intended to move a bit closer to Chaos Flowzone.
When Lu Yin returned to the Blaze Realm, the sourcebox array that Astral-10’s Trialmaster had sent had just arrived.
The Diversion Diagram? When Lu Yin stared at the sourcebox array’s name, he felt that it sounded quite common. Still, he started to seriously study the array designs.
After a day, Lu Yin raised his head, let out a long breath, and muttered to himself, “It’s no wonder why the Trialmaster said that this will help me guard the mountain passage.”
The so-called Diversion Diagram used the danger zones of sourceboxes to form a channel or a node to transmit the power of the sourceboxes around and create an isolated realm of star energy.
With his control of star energy already in the Worldliness realm, Lu Yin had exquisite control. Thus, this isolated realm would give him an exceptional advantage when fighting against others at his level. He was already able to suppress and resolve their star energy, but this Diversion Diagram would vastly increase the area that he could control.
With this Diversion Diagram, the more sourceboxes with danger zones that Lu Yin had on hand, the larger the area of control that he could formed. Within this area, he would be able to sense every movement and ignore distance and space by sending his attacks through the sourceboxes’ danger zones. With this array, one person would be able to hold back thousands of people. No, a million people.
This seemed similar to the effects of a domain, but a domain was a unique and separate ability. With this Diversion Diagram, even battle force could be transmitted through the danger zones.
This essentially meant that each sourcebox used in this array would act as an additional guard to protect the region.
Lu Yin’s eyes blazed with excitement. He had started to understand the Diversion Diagram’s profundities, but it would not be easy to reach a level of comprehension where he could set it up. The Trialmaster had sent him a very clear set of instructions with this sourcebox array, but it would be impossible for Lu Yin to achieve any sort of useful mastery of this array without devoting at least a few months to studying it. In fact, it was normal to take a few years to comprehend a sourcebox array like this one.
Lu Yin put down the instructions for the Diversion Diagram, already having decided to roll his die and take advantage of the Timestop Space to comprehend the array.
However, just as he was about to lift his hand, everything around him suddenly turned gray. He was in a secure room, but this gray color covered everything. Lu Yin was able to see outside of the room and off into the distance, but everything outside was also gray.
The sky, the scorching sun, flames, the ground—everything had turned gray. Up in outer space, a spacecraft had frozen, and down on the planet, the waves in the ocean had also frozen. It seemed as though time itself had been frozen.
Lu Yin was shocked. Looking outside of the secure room, he saw a figure quietly standing off in the distance with his back facing Lu Yin. It was Mister Mu.
Lu Yin quickly exited the room and moved closer to greet Mister Mu. “Master.”
Mister Mu lightly replied, “It’s been such a long time since I last saw you. You’ve improved tremendously.”
Lu Yin replied, “Your disciple did not dare to slack off.”
Mister Mu turned around to look at Lu Yin, and the older man’s eyes lingered at Lu Yin’s heart, his eyes narrowing. “You’ve actually cultivated this kind of power.”
Lu Yin glanced down, and then he respectfully explained, “Your disciple was helpless and taken away by the Neohuman Alliance. I was left with no option but to cultivate death energy. Master, rest assured, your disciple will never be controlled by death energy.”
Mister Mu looked at Lu Yin. “There are thousands of cultivation paths, but the destination remains the same. You’ve simply altered your cultivation method.”
Lu Yin released a sigh of relief. He was not concerned about other people, but he had been afraid that Mister Mu would hold the death energy against him.
Even if Lu Yin had met with Yuan Shi, the Chief Justice, Shaman God, Highsage Grandmaster, and even Arch-Elder Zen, Lu Yin still felt that Mister Mu was the most mysterious person that he had ever met. Thinking back to the past, when Mister Mu had shifted half of Endless Weave, Yuan Shi and the other powerhouses had not been able to sense anything. Even with his new experience and strength, Lu Yin still had no idea how powerful Mister Mu truly was.
If not for the fact that the Fifth Mainland had no Progenitor, Lu Yin would have suspected that Mister Mu was a Progenitor himself.
Also, there had been Arch-Elder Zen’s attitude towards Lu Yin, which only made him more confused.
“Since you’ve cultivated this kind of power, I ask that you take first place in this ZENITH that is coming up. Fail, and you will be expelled as my disciple,” Mister Mu said.
Lu Yin was startled. “Expelled as Master’s disciple? Master, your disciple’s cultivation of death energy is not enough.”
“Since it is insufficient, then take advantage of it as soon as possible. You have the ability to manipulate time, but you’re telling me you have no time to train?” Mister Mu said indifferently.
Lu Yin felt helpless, and he could only lower his head. He was somewhat confident about taking first, but ZENITH would not be full of simple prey for him. Shang Qing had the Tri-Yang Technique, the Astral Beast Domain had Star Devourer and Yao Xuan, the prince of the Celestial Demon Empire, and there were still the Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Three Skies. All of them had to be Enlighters.
Lu Yin could not simply use Timestop to cultivate all the way to the Enlighter Realm. At the very least, others would become suspicious.
“Step back and look at things from a distance. What you have seen so far may not be all of your enemies, and your true opponents may be individuals who you are not even able to see at this point in time.” Mister Mu said something that Lu Yin was not able to understand very well. Then, the older man pressed a hand to Lu Yin’s chest before turning his palm to the right. Lu Yin did not react, and he felt a heat rise from his chest. It was as if his heart had caught on fire.
He did not resist and allowed Mister Mu to act.
Even though it was only for a few seconds, Lu Yin felt as though entire years passed, and he was able to hear boiling beads of sweat fall from his forehead.
Mister Mu withdrew his hand.
