Lu Yin did not disturb the sourceboxes’ danger zone, but Wu Dan did. He immediately triggered changes in the game board that he could not control. Lu Yin understood Wu Dan’s thoughts, as he had been similarly lost and confused when Grandmaster Qiu Ling had made her first move during their game of Stable Zone. Back then, Lu Yin had not been able to understand the changes that had taken place on the game board.
At this moment, Lu Yin was in the position that Grandmaster Qiu Ling had held during their game.
Grandmaster Qiu Ling had been merciful to her future apprentice, and she had calmly allowed Lu Yin to deal with the turbulence created by her attack, but Lu Yin had no intention of showing Wu Dan the same kindness. After all, Wu Dan was not Lu Yin’s apprentice, and Lu Yin could see that the youth refused to accept the gap between them. In that case, Lu Yin would force Wu Dan to accept it. Lu Yin lifted a hand and agitated the sourceboxes’ danger zone.
Wu Dan had wanted to observe the danger zone that formed the game board, but Lu Yin’s movement had completely negated Wu Dan’s efforts, and he was unable to understand anything that he saw. A sudden attack from the danger zone struck Wu Dan across the back, and he was thrown through the air. Lu Yin then seized complete control of the danger zone and used it to eliminate all of the black star energy pieces.
The gathered Array Masters were all shocked, as the ability that Lu Yin had displayed throughout the course of this game was terrifying.
Wu Dan lay on the ground with blood leaking out of his mouth. The fire in his eyes dimmed, as he had been completely defeated. It was the second game, but he still had no way to retaliate at all.
Lu Yin stepped out of the game board and bowed to Xiu Ming. “Senior, this junior will return to work on unlocking a sourcebox.”
Xiu Ming nodded. “Go on.”
“Yes, Senior.” Lu Yin then nodded to the gathered Array Masters who had spectated the game before leaving.
The small group of Array Masters all stared at Wu Dan. He was the Lockbreakers World’s most outstanding genius. Even though he had mastered a sourcebox array at a very young age and been treated as the most gifted Lockbreaker of his generation, he had just been utterly crushed by a peer. It was too depressing to watch.
They felt like a rabbit had died to a fox. Wu Dan not only represented himself, but he also represented the entire Lockbreakers’ World.
Xiu Ming asked the audience to leave and then turned his focus onto Wu Dan. “You should have realized that you had no chance after the first game. The gap between you two is simply too large.”
Wu Dan bitterly protested, “Chairman, the gap shouldn’t be this big!”
Xiu Ming sighed. “His control over star energy has already reached the Creation realm, and his domain can even extend beyond what he can control with his star energy. Every aspect of his abilities, even including the sourcebox arrays that he has experienced, far surpasses your own.”
Wu Dan felt confused. “Sourcebox arrays?”
Xiu Ming grew solemn as he explained. “From the first match, I was able to see that this was not his first time playing Stable Zone. He has come into contact and studied sourcebox arrays that greatly surpass what you have, and his experiences even surpasses those of many Senior Array Masters. It’s possible that he has mastered as many sourcebox arrays as a Realm Array Master, as there is no other way to explain his current abilities.”
Wu Dan’s face turned pale and gray. A Realm Array Master? Really? A Realm Array Master? That was a level that Wu Dan might not be able to reach for hundreds of years. Lu Yin really had moved too far beyond Wu Dan.
“There are certain people who are capable of achieving amazing things from the moment that they are born while others are destined to remain in obscurity. However, such things are not all that determine the future.” Xiu Ming gazed at Wu Dan with gentle eyes. “Your heart is more pure than his, and you are also much more focused on lockbreaking than him. It does not matter if your talent is inferior to his. If you can’t catch up to him within a year, then do it in two. If you can’t do so in two, then take ten years, or a hundred. Wu Dan, you are a genius who has been nurtured by the Lockbreakers’ World, and your future will be no worse than anyone else’s.”
Wu Dan slowly clenched a fist. “But Chairman, this disciple is still unwilling to accept this!”
“Then continue to compare yourself to him until the day that you surpass him,” Xiu Ming said.
Determination grew firm in Wu Dan’s eyes. “Yes, Chairman.”
***
After leaving Grandmaster Xiu Ming’s home, Lu Yin left the entire island and returned to the planet that he had been given.
At this time, he was close to improving his Lockbreaker rank to that of a two star Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker. He could not afford to spend the necessary time to increase his rank any further than that.
There were still so many tasks that he needed to complete.
A few days later, Lu Yin unlocked the first one star Boundless Advanced sourcebox, and it dispersed to reveal a red plant that was shaped like a creature. Lu Yin did not recognize the plant, so he simply put it away and started working on the second sourcebox.
Unfortunately, the second sourcebox revealed nothing. Lu Yin immediately continued on to start unlocking the three star Advanced sourcebox.
He eagerly anticipated successfully unlocking this particular sourcebox, but he ended up being disappointed as it held nothing as well.
The people of the Perennial World were generally split into two different mindsets regarding sourceboxes. Some believed that sourceboxes should only be used to set up sourcebox arrays while others believed that sourceboxes should be unlocked even though it was highly likely that the items sealed inside had already disintegrated.
No one could say which of the two opinions was right or wrong.
However, Lu Yin had started leaning towards the first mindset, as the financial losses of this round of Lockbreaking were massive. If he had simply sold the sourceboxes, he could have made an incredible profit.
Lu Yin currently had a billion star essence in his possession. While it might sound like a lot, Lu Yin still felt that he was short on funds. After all, he had no power vessels or useful items. At this point in time, one of his most important tasks was to obtain a new defensive item, though he did not know where he could go to find such a thing.
Unlocking two one star Boundless Advanced sourceboxes and one three star advanced sourcebox, in addition to recording down the shape and danger fields of a hundred sourceboxes in the Ancient Spirit Sea was finally enough for Lu Yin to be promoted to a two star Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker. It had not been easy.
Lu Yin let out a long breath as he looked at his gadget and saw that his Lockbreaker rank had improved. He wanted to continue improving his rank, but even if Grandmaster Xiu Ming did not block his efforts, he still would need to find enough sourceboxes. How could it be easy to find and gather more Boundless Advance sourceboxes?
Also, Grandmaster Xiu Ming’s words had made Lu Yin more cautious. Sourceboxes were not easy to unlock, and no two sourceboxes in the entire universe were identical. There were also some sourceboxes that were impossible to fully see through. For example, Dao Bo had come across one such sourcebox, and if not for Lu Yin stopping him, Dao Bo would have touched the red lines emanating from the sourcebox, which would have put him in the ground.
After improving his Lockbreaker rank, Lu Yin’s next goal was to visit Cong Ying. Lu Yin wanted to find out why this particular overseer was trying to make things difficult for Continental Shipping. However, before he even met with Cong Ying, Lu Yin could question a few people about the matter.
Before Lu Yin left the planet that he had been given, two familiar people arrived. They were the two mushroom heads.
“We heard that you were back, so we hurried over to find you.” Xiao Chi pushed his glasses up. Excitement was written all over his face.
Lu Yin asked, “Is there something wrong with me?”
Xiao Shi still carried his massive history book. “I heard that you won a game of Stable Zone against Wu Dan. Is it true?”
Lu Yin nodded. “I beat him by a little bit.”
“Amazing!” the two exclaimed. Their eyes seemed to be filled with stars as they stared at Lu Yin.
“You were really just too strong during ZENITH! That transformation made you look like the God of Death! Maybe you’ll also be recorded down in this book one day,” Xiao Shi said in admiration.
Lu Yin grew uncomfortable. For some reason, that sentence sounded like he had just been cursed.
“You should also get a mushroom haircut! Not everyone understands the glory of the mushroom head, but you’re famous enough to start a new trend!” Xiao Chi said with bright eyes.
Xiao Shi just nodded along while looking similarly excited.
Lu Yin briefly pictured the Great Eastern Alliance being filled with mushroom heads… Chills ran down his back, and he quickly changed the topic by looking at Xiao Shi. “Tell me more about that person, the God of Death.”
Xiao Shi flipped through his book. “I already told you everything that I’ve managed to find out about the God of Death. You can’t judge the information provided by this book’s size. It has records pertaining to the countless years of human history, so each topic has very little information written about it.”
“Does it really have the history of the entire human race?” Lu Yin started to get curious. The God of Death had already been proven to actually have existed, as Lu Yin himself was living proof. In that case, it was possible that the book’s contents were credible.
“Just part of it. There should be other books, but we don’t have them in the Historical Archives on Mt. Microcosms,” Xiao Shi lamented.
“Is there really nothing more about the God of Death?” Lu Yin pressed.
Xiao Shi turned around and read for a bit. As he did so, Xiao Chi stared at Lu Yin and tried to convert Lu Yin to understand the glory of a mushroom head.
Before long, Lu Yin felt a nearly irresistible urge to burn the two youths’ mushroom heads, but suddenly, Xiao Shi exclaimed, “Well, there’s this, but I don’t know it’s really connected to the God of Death.”
“Tell me.” Lu Yin instantly grew serious.
Xiao Shi’s finger touched the book, and he carefully recited a passage, word by word. “The God of Death’s domain brings darkness. It rises like a black wolf of smoke to rouse the world. When the smoke wolf rises, war will begin.”
Xiao Shi continued to scan through the book after reading the one passage.
“Nothing more?” Lu Yin asked.
Xiao Shi confirmed, “No.”
“Where is this God of Death’s domain? Is there any more information?” Lu Yin asked.
Xiao Shi replied, “That sentence was the only information. There’s nothing else.”
Lu Yin felt disappointed. It seemed that this passage about a smoke wolf that would awaken the world and start a war was important enough to be recorded in this book, and even the God of Death had been mentioned. This indicated that the war would be no minor matter. Still, even if that was the case, it had taken place far too long ago, and human history had not recorded down anything else about it.
Lu Yin thought for a bit. Maybe he could check the historical records of the ancient clans, like the Daynight clan and the Court of Seven Names. It was possible that he would find more useful information there.
He even had a thought that the place in Aeternus Nation with the overpowering death energy might actually be the God of Death’s domain.
After considering this possibility, Lu Yin immediately called Arch-Elder Zen about the location of Aeternus Nation that had been destroyed by the Progenitor of Secret Arts. However, Lu Yin was disappointed once again, as he was told that the Progenitor had not shared the location with the Fifth Mainland.
Could Lu Yin ask the Progenitor of Secret Arts himself for the location?
Lu Yin really wanted to find Aeternus Nation, as he could absorb death energy in that place, which would improve his God of Death Transformation ever further. He did not want it to become like the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation, which had not been able to keep up with Lu Yin’s increasing strength.
Lu Yin said goodbye to the Chi Shi duo as he left the Lockbreakers World under their expectant but disappointed eyes. He did not know when he would return to this place again.
San Liang was one of the guard masters on Mt. Microcosms. He was almost an Envoy, and his status was quite high. After all, this was the only way he could pursue his goal of becoming an overseer.
Lu Yin easily found San Liang’s home, but that was also because Lu Yin had once Possessed the man, and therefore, he knew a great deal about this person.
When San Liang saw Lu Yin had come to visit, he greeted the youth in a solemn manner. “Alliance Leader Lu, please come in.”
Lu Yin followed San Liang to a sitting room, where San Liang asked someone to prepare some tea for Lu Yin. The man’s eyes flickered. His mind was racing, though he was also carefully studying Lu Yin’s movements in an attempt to pry into what was on this youth’s mind.
Lu Yin was amused at San Liang’s behavior, and he simply picked up his teacup and took a sip. “What do you see in my body language?”
San Liang was startled. “What do you mean by that, Alliance Leader Lu?”
Lu Yin stared at the man for a moment before setting the teacup to the side. “What do you believe this action means?”
San Liang’s expression instantly changed. This was not because of what Lu Yin had done, but rather because Lu Yin was actually aware that San Liang studied people’s body language in order to gain a deeper understanding of the inner workings of their minds. This meant that Lu Yin knew that San Liang studied psychology, but that was impossible! No one knew about that, as it was San Liang’s innermost secret.
“While I haven’t studied psychology very much compared to you, I still know enough to see that your expression reveals your surprise. In that case, if I tell you something else, you might be even more surprised.” A smile slowly spread across Lu Yin’s face as he spoke. “I had Wang Wen’s contact information be left for you.”
San Liang’s pupils instantly shrank to pinpricks. “That was you?!”
OMA’s Thoughts
Translated By: OMA
Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox
TLC’ed By: OMA
