Lu Yin’s understanding of the universe as a whole had changed as his comprehension of star energy had expanded and risen to new levels. The description of a single flower containing an entire world was not simply a metaphor; every single bit of star energy essentially contained an entire world of its own. Samaritan Tears was no different, as it contained a separate world as well, one in which poisons and toxins lived and interacted with each other.
The die’s Enhance was able to improve this world, but Lu Yin had no idea what level the bit of poison could actually reach.
Poison would never be 100% fatal, as everything depended on how such a tool was used.
Lu Yin carefully put away the vial of Samaritan Tears. He had gained another powerful tool, but acquiring it had cost him dearly, as he had spent 1.9 billion star essence on improving it.
At Lu Yin’s current level of strength, upgrading anything at all that could be useful to him would cost at least 100 million star essence just to begin with. This was absurd amounts of money!
The next thing he wanted to Enhance was the froststone. It was something that he had been given from the Royal Frost Continent’s Frost Emperor, and it was supposed to be able to freeze even injuries.
Such a thing was useless when it was unneeded, but your life could be saved in a crisis if you had such a thing.
After gaining more than 3 billion star essence, Lu Yin was able to go through another round of improving the stone.
The froststone was completely different from the Samaritan Tears, as the poison had been clearly something to use to attack others. Naturally, it took far less resources to Enhance the froststone than Lu Yin had spent on the vial of poison. He had already improved the stone seven times, and even the seventh upgrade had only cost 200 million star essence. On the other hand, the sixth time that Lu Yin had upgraded the Samaritan Tears, he had needed to cough up 1 billion star essence. The two could simply not be compared.
However, the Samaritan Tears had only been able to be Enhanced six times, while Lu Yin had no idea what the limit might be for the froststone.
As the froststone fell through the two screens of light, the cold that radiated from it was almost enough to prevent Lu Yin from touching it. The stone was becoming more and more white with each upgrade, and at this point, it was almost entirely white, though the light around it was being devoured, almost like the darkness that perpetually surrounded the Chief Justice.
Lu Yin only upgraded the stone once, spending 400 million star essence, but he decided to stop there after considering it for a moment. After all, he had no confidence that he would even be able to touch the froststone if he Enhanced it again. It was possible that another upgrade would completely freeze Lu Yin.
A bit later, Lu Yin pulled out some gray powder, which was the teardust that he had obtained from refining some materials that First Edition City had provided him. He had no idea if this gray powder could be Enhanced, as it was said that Progenitor Hui had used this substance as the soil from which he had grown his first Root of Intelligence. Lu Yin’s eyes lit up the moment he thought about the Roots of Intelligence.
He also made a note to himself to remember to ask Brother Hui for some Root of Intelligence. After all, since Lu Yin already had some of the teardust, maybe he could grow a root.
Lu Yin became even more excited when he discovered that the teardust could actually be improved.
However, even the first upgrade cost him a million star essence, which caused Lu Yin’s excitement to fade. Such a small bit of the soil had already cost such a large amount of star essence to be improved a single time, so how much would it take to improve it to its limit?
He suddenly suspected that the tremendous amounts of star essence in his cosmic ring would not end up lasting him for very long.
He suddenly was reminded of the four Junior Progenitor Planets in the Perennial World. If he could steal those planets, he would be able to splurge freely and could enjoy the life of a rich man.
His thoughts ran wild as he Enhanced the soil again and again.
At first, the teardust was a gray powder, but as it was improved repeatedly, it started to gain a shine, and it even began to emit a slight sound that was similar to large beads and small beads hitting each other. It was a very pleasant sound as the grains of powder fell through the screens one at a time. There was an odd beauty to the light that the soil gave off as well.
Eventually, it was impossible to improve the teardust any further. At this point, the dirt looked more like a pile of delicate gems, each one a finely crafted piece of art. Each was a perfect sphere, and there was an odd solidness to the soil when one held it in a hand. Though it was odd, it was quite pleasant.
Lu Yin stared at the teardust for a moment. It had completely transformed, and could actually be considered a completely different material.
He had improved the teardust eleven times, and the tenth upgrade had cost him a billion star essence. In total, he had spent 1.96 billion star essence to improve the dirt.
Lu Yin’s heart was dripping blood. While he had spent such a fortune improving the teardust, he had absolutely no idea what it did or what had improved. He could only hope that whatever it was, it was worth the amount of resources he had poured into it.
Also, his funds were down to only about 300 million star essence. While this would be considered a substantial amount for an Enlighter, or even an Envoy, for Lu Yin, it was almost nothing. He was poor again already.
Everything that he had obtained from the Divine Venom Dynasty had only been enough for him to Enhance two items.
He let out a silent sigh and looked up to check the time he had remaining in the Timestop Space. It was not much, so after a moment’s thought, he started reciting the Origin Sutra while waiting for his time to run out.
As the scenery changed before his eyes, Lu Yin exited his Timestop Space. He had not been in seclusion for long at all, and he wanted to continue rolling his die. He was not wanting to continue training or try to improve any other items, but instead wanted to roll six pips. At his current level of strength, anytime that he rolled a Possession, he would merge with someone with the strength of an Envoy, and Possessing any such expert would be a fruitful experience.
However, as soon as Lu Yin glanced at his gadget, he saw numerous missed calls. There were calls from Wang Wen, Wei Rong, and many others. Even Yuan Shi had tried to call Lu Yin.
Clearly, something had happened, so Lu Yin immediately reached out to Wang Wen.
The call soon connected, and Lu Yin saw Wang Wen’s very solemn expression. The man’s very first sentence left Lu Yin utterly stunned: “Corpse God is dead.”
“What?”
Wang Wen explained a bit more, “One of the Neohuman Alliance’s Seven Skygods, Corpse God, is dead.”
Lu Yin’s expression shifted. “When? Wait, first, how do you even know about Corpse God?”
The Neohuman Alliance was quite famous for being one of the Three Dark Hands, but very few people had ever heard the names of the Seven Skygods. This was not information that Wang Wen should have had access to.
Wang Wen replied, “I’ve actually known of the Seven Skygods for a long time, but I never knew the names of any of them. However, I’m not the only one right now, as everyone knows the name of the Seven Skygods’ Corpse God.”
“How did he die? Tell me everything,” Lu Yin ordered. Forgotten Ruins God had died in Venom Flowzone, but Lu Yin had no idea if the Neohuman Alliance was aware of that incident. Regardless, since Lu Yin simply wanted to be left alone, and it was impossible for him to have accomplished such a thing, he had purposely ignored it to maintain as much anonymity with the Neohuman Alliance as possible.
Still, only a few days had passed, and yet another of the Seven Skygods had already died? Was it that easy to take one of them out? This sounded like a joke.
Wang Wen told Lu Yin about how while Lu Yin had been in seclusion, Ancestor Lingtong had succeeded at his breakthrough and had become an Empyrean Imprinter. Many powerhouses had arrived to congratulate the man, including even Arrow God of the Wilderness, who was himself an Empyrean Imprinter. However, Ancestor Lingtong had seen through the other Empyrean Imprinter as being Corpse God in disguise.
A trap had been set, and many powerhouses had cooperated to attack Corpse God under Jiu San’s leadership.
That battle had been world-shattering, and Corpse God had revealed his terrifying and gigantic body. It had been large enough to toy with planets as though they were marbles, just like Progenitor Chen’s clone. The battle had spread across many of the Outerverse’s weaves, and had even crossed the border into the Great Eastern Alliance’s territory. Countless people had been caught up in the battle, and casualties had been heavy as people had tried to flee.
The Sixth Mainland had experienced terrible losses, and even Jiu San had been seriously injured and had eventually returned to Daosource Sect in order to recuperate.
“Reports claim that Corpse God was finally killed by Jiu San using the Progenitor of Combat’s imprint and using the Progenitor’s power. Without that, they never would have been able to kill Corpse God. This event shook the entire universe, and we’re still analyzing what sort of impact it will have. For the moment, all we can do is keep pulling back and retreating while trying not to provoke the Neohuman Alliance,” Wang Wen concluded.
“Are there any videos of the battle?”
“How could there be? It was a fight between Semi-Progenitors.”
Lu Yin felt this was very unfortunate, as a battle between Semi-Progenitors was invaluable. Just what he had seen of the fight between the Chief Justice, Kui Luo, and Forgotten Ruins God had greatly expanded Lu Yin’s horizons. He had also wanted to see Corpse God’s massive body that was comparable to Progenitor Chen’s clone’s body.
What a pity.
“You’re right, the Neohuman Alliance has lost one Skygod after another, and there’s no way they won’t retaliate. Just avoid them for now and don’t do anything to provoke them.” Lu Yin was very somber at this moment. No matter if it was the incidents involving the black crystals or the death of the Skygods, the Neohuman Alliance had suffered incalculable losses. The universe was about to descend into chaos.
The most important detail was that the Seven Skygods themselves had not been killed, but rather just their bodies. Lu Yin could not begin to guess just how many bodies they might have, but he did know that the Neohuman Alliance’s strength far surpassed what people imagined. This was why Lu Yin did not dare do anything at all that might provoke them.
He simply hoped that the Neohuman Alliance was ignorant of what had happened in Venom Flowzone, as otherwise, Lu Yin would be placed in a very difficult situation.
“Before you went into seclusion, you ordered the alliance to search for black crystals like what were in the Horned Galaxy. What are your orders now?” Wang Wen asked.
Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. “Continue the search, but also spread word that I’m not the one looking for the crystals, but the Hall of Honor. Make it clear that we are simply helping them.”
Wang Wen nodded. “Got it.”
The black crystals had been kept as a very close secret, or else it would not have been just two that had been discovered over the years. Each of the crystals had only been discovered by chance, and if the crystal in the Horned Galaxy had not been discovered, nothing would have been found in Venom Flowzone.
However, after the crystals had been exposed, Lu Yin felt confident that more would eventually be found. “Be careful. If any of the black crystals are found, the information has to be locked down and nothing can be leaked. Do whatever’s necessary to ensure this,” Lu Yin’s eyes were like chips of ice.
Wang Wen nodded. “Understood. Are you going to resume your seclusion?”
“It really wouldn’t be proper to do that right now. Let’s first see how the Neohuman Alliance responds, though the Sixth Mainland will absolutely bear the brunt of their rage. This will actually work as the second battlefield we were hoping to force the Sixth Mainland to fight on.”
In a distant Aeternus Kingdom stood seven dark towers, though two of them had already collapsed. It seemed that the deaths of the two Skygods had caused their towers to collapse.
“Forgotten Ruins God and Corpse God are both dead; anyone want to guess who’ll be next?” A strange laughter echoed through the dark towers, and the Ghost Monkey shrank back when he heard it. However, a palm reached out and patted the monkey’s head and stroked its fur.
While the Ghost Monkey felt disgusted, he did not dare say a thing. At this moment, he was in Shaman God’s tower, and Shaman God was actually the one petting the Ghost Monkey. However, the oddest thing was that there were only arms and no body.
“Shaman God, why are you so happy?” a dull voice spoke. It seemed completely devoid of all emotion.
Shaman God showed a strange smile. “It’s just funny! The magnificent Skygods are being killed by Semi-Progenitors, kakaka.”
“Stop laughing! What have we learned about Forgotten Ruins God’s death?” A cold voice spoke up this time. It belonged to a female, but was incredibly cold. The sound of it brought to mind an indescribably beautiful individual.
“She died in Venom Flowzone, but I don’t know anything more.”
“We didn’t receive any information?”
“It’s not like you don’t know her personality. She’s really weird, and she doesn’t like to interact with us. She insists on doing her own thing, even if it kills her. It doesn’t matter anyways.”
“The Hall of Honor will take what’s in the Crimson Prison, and sooner or later, that thing will be discovered. It won’t be long now.”
“We don’t have any options. We can’t get into the Hall of Honor unless we can use the power of a Progenitor.”
“Then distract them. Undying God, how long are you going to pretend to be asleep?” The cold voice shouted in a harsh tone.
Some time later a lazy voice replied, “Who- who called?”
“Forgotten Ruins God and Corpse God have both been taken out.” Shaman God’s bizarre smile returned.
“So, is it my turn?” Undying God asked.
The cold voice replied, “It’s time for you to make a move after sleeping for so long.”
“What? Alright. Just look at this place and how many ancient bloodlines are here. It’s time for them to step onto the stage and make their entrance,” Undying God responded.
