Yan respectfully answered, “That’s correct. He was able to manipulate the nine overseers. Thus, when they voted, more than half of them rejected our proposal, causing this subordinate to fail.”
“How do you want to proceed?” Balsam asked.
Yan grew solemn. “Lu Yin is backed by powers that cover the entire universe. He’s supported by Semi-Progenitors, the Hall of Honor, Leon’s Armada, and even Yuan Shi, who stays hidden in the Outerverse. This youth is a prickly opponent to mess with, and direct confrontation is not the answer, as our only method of retaliation is to completely withdraw our pharmaceutical sales from the Outerverse. It might be possible to deal with him, but regardless, my Shamrock Enterprise cannot be humiliated.”
The pink flowers disappeared from Balsam’s hand. She turned around and left. “Do as you wish.”
Yan stared at the ground, his eyes blazing. Even though Shamrock Enterprise could not compare to Aurora Enterprises, it was still a massive company that had managed to force its way into the Neoverse. Not just anyone could afford to offend their company! He wanted to see just how Lu Yin would deal with Shamrock Enterprise. Unless the youth could bring out an expert that was even more powerful than Leaf King, their company really had no reason to feel any fear.
***
In front of the Skystar Jade Wall, Lu Yin opened his eyes as 890 stars revolved around his body. He was currently learning the fourth level of the Cosmic Art, but he knew that Qiu Shi had been able to simulate 932 stars during ZENITH. Even if she had improved by an incredible amount after entering the Perennial World, Lu Yin expected that she could have only reached 2,000 stars, and that was already evaluating her talent quite highly.
Given the situation, it was time for Lu Yin to roll his die. He was not afraid of falling behind when it came to a matter of time.
Lu Yin left the Skystar Jade Wall, allowing the place to once again be used by the other disciples.
In Cosmo Hall, Sect Master Yuan Qiong had been waiting for Lu Yin for quite some time.
Lu Yin offered a respectful bow, his attitude always excellent in this place.
Yuan Qiong was overcome with complicated emotions as he looked at Lu Yin, especially whenever the older man glanced at Lu Yin’s feet. The Cosmic Sect’s greatest treasure was actually on the bottom of this child’s foot, which made the sect master truly unhappy.
If not for the fact that Lu Yin had been so insistent on learning the fourth level of the Cosmic Art and the Cosmic Sect agreeing to open his fatal meridian points, they would have never discovered the pattern on the bottom of Lu Yin’s foot. Without these coincidences, it would have been impossible for them to ever find their sect’s greatest treasure.
“When do you plan on leaving?” Yuan Qiong asked.
“I’ll stay here for no more than half a month.”
Yuan Qiong silently thought for a bit. “Just stay in Cosmo Hall to train then. There is a certain forbidden area there that would suit your training quite well.”
Lu Yin felt truly grateful. “Thank you, Sect Master.”
There was a part of Yuan Qiong that really wanted to ask Lu Yin if he had planned out everything in advance and if his insistence on learning the fourth level of the Cosmic Art had been nothing more than a ploy to reveal the pattern on the bottom of his foot to the Cosmic Sect. However, the sect master eventually decided to leave the question unasked. He did not want to think too deeply about the possibilities.
No matter what, his Cosmic Sect could not really deny this youth.
Out of sight was out of mind, and Yuan Qiong left without speaking to Lu Yin any further.
Elder Yuan Shou entered the hall and saw Lu Yin cultivating in the forbidden area behind Cosmo Hall. The place was intended for only the sect’s elders cultivation use, but it had been given over to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin was truly grateful for the sect’s treatment, but the attitude of even Elder Yuan Shou had changed. All of the elders assumed that Lu Yin had known about the pattern on his foot and that everything he had done so far had been an act. This belief had altered their attitude towards him.
On the other hand, Lu Yin had no idea how to react, as he really had not known! The elders were wronging him, and it was not a pleasant feeling to be treated like this.
Regardless, he had still achieved his goal.
Lu Yin had no worries that someone would spy on him in the elders’ training ground. In the Fifth Mainland, there were far too many people protecting him, and it wouldn’t matter even if his die was discovered.
At ease, he raised his head and brought out his die. After tapping it, it finally stopped on four pips. His luck was quite good this time.
The scenery changed before his eyes, and Lu Yin entered the Timestop Space. Now, he was guaranteed to roll what he wanted.
First, he needed to start training, and while doing so, he would roll the die every ten days.
Naturally, he started practicing the Cosmic Art.
Ten days soon passed, and Lu Yin rolled the die again. This time, he got a useless result of six pips. He resumed his training, and after ten more days, he rolled a one. Also useless. Continue.
After more than a month in the Timestop Space, Lu Yin finally rolled a three.
He stared at the two screens of light as he placed his bodysuit armor on the upper screen and began throwing out star essence. This armor was made from much better materials than Lu Yin’s last universal armor. While that armor’s materials had come from the Technocracy, this bodysuit armor’s materials hailed from ancient times that the Fifth Mainland no longer had the ability to recycle or refine. Only Aurora Enterprises’ cutting-edge technology was able to process the raw materials into Lu Yin’s new bodysuit armor.
Even just the first upgrade cost Lu Yin millions of star essence. However, the more expensive the upgrade was, the better its quality. Lu Yin became very excited.
Even though the armor was made from excellent materials, they could not be upgraded indefinitely. In the end, Lu Yin Enhanced his new armor eleven times, spending nearly a billion star essence in the process. This also improved the armor to the point where it could defend against attacks with power levels of nearly 900,000, but it did not seem capable of surpassing that level.
Lu Yin was incredibly excited as he held up his bodysuit armor. This thing really was not too bad, and the materials that he had used had to have been truly precious for the armor to be able to reach this level. After all, even the aquatic plant-shaped power vessel and the combat puppet had been limited to the power level of an Envoy. It was not easy for an item to reach the Semi-Progenitor level.
It was no wonder why the engineers from Aurora Enterprises had been so excited when they had seen Lu Yin’s materials.
Lu Yin felt that he would need to periodically visit Black Street in the future. Most of the Neoverse’s unrecyclable materials had gathered at that place, and many of them came from ancient ages and were made from very precious materials.
After Enhancing his bodysuit armor, Lu Yin had 1.4 billion star essence left, which was enough for emergencies.
Lu Yin’s Timestop Space lasted for a minimum of three days, and he was able to extend that time to a maximum of 300 days, which was not that much. However, it cost him two million star essence to extend his time to such a degree as each extension would cost twice the previous.
Three hundred days was almost a year, and Lu Yin did not know how many stars he would be able to simulate in this period of time.
…
The years meant nothing to cultivators. Once a cultivator reached a higher level, it was normal for their training to be measured by years instead of days, and experts on Yuan Shi’s level cultivated in sessions that started at a thousand years or more.
Three hundred days quickly passed by.
Lu Yin opened his eyes as the scenery changed before his eyes. He had returned to the forbidden cultivation area behind the Cosmo Hall. Only a second had passed since he had disappeared.
He raised a hand and rolled his die once again. The sooner he was able to master the fourth level of the Cosmic Art, the sooner he would be able to start learning the fifth level. Only then was he willing to leave. The fifth level of the Cosmic Art would allow him to cultivate for a very long time.
Three pips. Useless, again. Two pips. Useless, again. Four pips… The scenery changed before Lu Yin’s eyes, and he returned to the Timestop Space, where he resumed practicing the Cosmic Art.
After spending nearly a whole year practicing the Cosmic Art, Lu Yin had managed to simulate more than 1,800 stars. He was curious to see how many he could cultivate with another 300 days of training.
As the number of stars that he could simulate increased, so too did Lu Yin’s understanding of the Cosmic Art. Even though the cultivation art grew increasingly difficult as he progressed, he had the time needed to master it.
…
Another 300 days passed, and Lu Yin left the Timestop Space again. He needed to wait ten days before he could roll his die again, as trying to roll again before that would knock him unconscious.
At this moment, Lu Yin had managed to simulate more than 2,600 stars.
He left the cultivation area, and after glancing around, he saw Elder Yuan Shou staring at the names written down in Cosmo Hall. Lu Yin’s name was also present.
Elder Yuan Shou was surprised to see Lu Yin already leaving his training. “Don’t you want to practice?”
Lu Yin had been training nonstop for almost two years, but only a few seconds had passed for Yuan Shou and the others. Most of that time was Lu Yin rolling his die.
Feeling the passage of time, Lu Yin suddenly grew emotional. “”Elder, this disciple wishes to ask you a question.”
“Speak,” Yuan Shou replied, his voice indifferent.
“How many stars can Elder Yuan simulate?” Lu Yin asked curiously.
Yuan Shou glanced at Lu Yin. “An Envoy with a power level of less than 700,000 can only cultivate up to the complete fifth level of the Cosmic Art: 99,000 stars. It’s unknown if this limit has to do with physical limitations or the control that one has over the true universe. Only after exceeding a power level of 700,000 can an Envoy try to train in the sixth level, but caution is needed. Training in the sixth level can easily cause one’s body to collapse, which would cause the stellular energy to be forcibly pulled out of their body.
“As for me, I practice the sixth level.”
Lu Yin had not expected to hear that Elder Yuan Shou’s power level was more than 700,000, which meant that he was at least as powerful as Liu Ye and Fei Hua. “What about Elder Yao Shan?”
“The fifth level,” Yuan Shou stated.
Lu Yin nodded. He felt that Elder Yao Shan’s power level was a bit more than 600,000.
While in the Neoverse, Lu Yin did not dare casually observe people’s rune lines, as it was easy to get into trouble by doing so. The existence of Gods’ Origin had caused all of the Neoverse’s major powers to take precautions.
“What about Elder Jiu Shen?” Lu Yin asked tentatively. He was very curious about the elder’s strength.
Elder Yuan Shou frowned. “Return to your training. Don’t you want to leave?”
Lu Yin saw that Elder Yuan Shou did not want to continue the conversation, which only made sense. After all, Lu Yin was asking about Elder Jiu Shen. Lu Yin had dealt with many bigshots, but to the others in the Cosmic Sect, Jiu Shen was akin to an old monster with a power level of over a million, and he wielded a great deal of authority. It was not respectful to discuss such a powerhouse as casually as Lu Yin had.
Lu Yin returned to the forbidden area to resume cultivating. He sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. However, he simply rested his mind. Training for two years was quite exhausting.
Ten days later, Lu Yin raised his hand and brought out his recovered die. He tapped it, and it slowly spun before stopping on six pips.
Lu Yin let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had set his cosmic ring aside before rolling, and there was only a small amount of star essence on him, just enough to prevent him taking a total loss if he rolled six pips.
As soon as he appeared in the strange space, Lu Yin merged with an orb of light that was not very bright. The star essence on him was not enough to last for more than a few seconds.
As he opened his eyes, he saw a dim sky and ordinary buildings. Before he could even get a clear look at his surroundings, memories started pouring in. However, what Lu Yin found caused his expression to change drastically; what kind of memories were these? Kill! Kill! Kill! Everything was emotionless and cold, like a corpse. Wait, had he-? Had he Possessed a corpse king?
Lu Yin quickly glanced around, and he saw seven familiar towers standing in the distance. Were those the dark towers? He was actually in Aeternus Nation.
“Little Lu!” A loud shout was heard.
Lu Yin was startled; was someone calling him? How was that possible? Was there someone capable of seeing through his die’s Possession? Lu Yin’s body went cold, and he felt like all of his secrets had been exposed.
He slowly turned around and looked towards where the shout had come from; was that the Ghost Monkey?
Sure enough, the Ghost Monkey was nearby. The beast had returned to the same appearance when Lu Yin had first fought against the monkey. The Ghost Monkey was no longer just a shadow, and he was sitting in a sedan chair that was being carried by two corpse kings. The monkey raised a hand that held a whip and started beating it against the back of the corpse king in front of him. “Little Lu, I was calling you! Didn’t you hear me?”
“Yes,” the corpse king answered in a hoarse voice.
“Idiot! What did I tell you to call this Lord Monkey? Say it loud!” the Ghost Monkey shouted with an arrogant grin on his face. He looked incredibly smug.
“Bi- Big Brother Monkey.” The corpse king was not able to speak clearly.
The Ghost Monkey grew even more proud. “Little Lu!”
“Big Brother Monkey.”
“Little Lu.”
“Big Brother Monkey.”
“Nice, Little Lu.”
…
OMA’s Thoughts
Translated By: OMA
Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox
TLC’ed By: OMA
