“What sort of technique exactly is the Undying Manual?” Lu Yin asked, as he did not have a firm understanding of it.
Aden shook his head. “I don’t know. The rumors say that those who cultivate it will live forever, but nobody believes that. Only Progenitors can live forever in this universe, so how could there be a technique that gives someone everlasting life?”
“Seventh Bro, he’s right. How could a mere technique give everlasting life? That’s too extreme,” the Ghost Monkey commented.
Lu Yin naturally did not believe such a claim either, but the Undying Manual was so famous that it had caused many powers from the Starfall Sea and Innerverse to keep a watch on Undying Yushan. The technique might not be so simple either. It was still alright if Undying Yushan had been lying to Aden, but if he had truly obtained the Undying Manual, then the odds of him still being alive would be even higher.
But if Undying Yushan wasn’t dead, then why had he faked his death?
After that, Lu Yin met with Undying Yushan’s previous supporters one by one, including Huo Qingshan, Peach, Shalosh, Rocky Auna, and the blind monk. He wanted to use their memories to piece together Undying Yushan’s true personality, but his efforts were in vain. Although these people had been handpicked by Undying Yushan, they had never known him very well.
Lu Yin met Liuying Zishan last, as she was someone who was filled with gratitude towards Undying Yushan. Without him, she might not have managed to withstand the many years of misunderstanding and mistreatment. She might appear to be detached, but there was a limit to how strong a person could be, and Undying Yushan had helped her a great deal.
“Without His Majesty, I would not be the person I am today,” Liuying Zishan said.
Lu Yin nodded and let out a sigh. “That’s right. His Majesty was insightful, and he handpicked you, the blind monk, and Huo Qingshan. The former Great Yu Empire was actually enough to sweep through the Frostwave Weave.”
Liuying Zishan felt that something was strange. “Why is Your Highness suddenly asking about His Majesty, Undying Yushan?”
Lu Yin smiled. “It’s nothing much. Since the Great Eastern Alliance has been established, I’ve been thinking about His Majesty recently. It would be great if he was still alive.”
Liuying Zishan felt a pang of grief. “That’s true, it would indeed be great.”
Not much later, Lu Yin stepped out of Liuying Zishan’s home. He had not managed to ask her much, and he had instead listened as a flood of praises for the late emperor had poured out of her. Undying Yushan’s reign had been the Great Yu Empire’s great restoration period. Before he ascended to the throne, the Great Yu Empire had just been a remote nation that ruled over a few filaments, and it had not been any more powerful than Firesmelt Planet. But subsequently, the Great Yu Empire had expanded to cover thirteen regions, and even surrounding weaves like the Northcastle Weave had felt threatened by the empire. Undying Yushan had then arranged for the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons to guard the thirteen filaments, which had stabilized the empire.
Without him, the current Great Yu Empire would not exist. His ambition had been clear, but as an emperor during the resurgence period, it had been all too normal for the ruler to possess some degree of ambition.
Lu Yin looked up at the sky, pondering his own emotions towards Undying Yushan’s supposed death.
Undying Yushan had shown Lu Yin great kindness, and he had even been willing to give him the Yu Secret Art. This was something that even many of the Innerverse’s great powers did not possess, and this gift was enormous.
At this moment, a familiar person walked over—Da Lei. The first time Lu Yin had rolled six pips: Possession on his die, he had Possessed Da Lei’s body. This allowed him to experience the young man’s impressive control of star energy, which had then allowed his strength to quickly improve. Da Lei had left a deep impression on Lu Yin, and if not for Lu Yin back then, Da Lei and his girlfriend might have long since died.
Da Lei also noticed Lu Yin, and he hurried forward to bow. “Da Lei of the Thirteenth Imperial Squadrons greets His Highness, the Royal Regent.”
Lu Yin smiled. “You may rise.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Da Lei stood straight and respectfully moved to the side.
Lu Yin did not speak much with the soldier, as the disparity between their positions was too great. By now, they had nothing in common at all.
As Lu Yin walked past Da Lei, a strange sensation struck him, and his vision suddenly shifted. Not only could he see ahead of him, but he could also see his own side profile. This was Da Lei’s vision. Lu Yin’s vision had actually been superimposed with Da Lei’s!
Lu Yin suddenly froze, and he turned towards Da Lei.
Da Lei looked to be perfectly normal, and he did not seem to know that his vision was being shared with Lu Yin.
Lu Yin’s heart jolted; did the die’s Possession ability not only allow him to merge with a person, but also allow him to repossess that person if they came within a certain distance? And was that person also unable to sense the repossession?
Lu Yin stood there, frozen in place, as he pondered the implications of what he had just discovered.
Da Lei felt that something was strange, but he did not say anything. Instead, he merely lowered his head.
Lu Yin could see two different viewpoints, and delight flashed through his eyes. He had not expected the die’s Possession to contain such a wonderful hidden use, and this feeling was very fascinating. He walked a few steps away from Da Lei, and the double vision vanished. The double vision seemed to require a certain distance.
Lu Yin thought about it, turned around, and walked back towards Da Lei. As he did so, his vision became doubled once again.
Da Lei felt odd; what was His Highness doing?
Lu Yin stood in front of the soldier. “I remember that the last time we met, you were a Limiteer. Why are you still just a Limiteer? It must have been several years since I last saw you.”
Da Lei felt ashamed. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Your Highness. I will cultivate more seriously, and I will strive to break through to the Explorer realm as soon as possible so that I may continue to serve Your Highness.” He felt very grateful towards Lu Yin, as if it weren’t for the Royal Regent, both he and his wife would have died years ago.
Satisfied, Lu Yin nodded. “Well spoken. Recently, the Thirteen Imperial Squadron captains have all been outsiders, and I wish to handpick a few people from within the empire to become captains. My hope lies in you guys, so don’t disappoint me.” Lu Yin then raised a hand to pat Da Lei’s shoulder.
Da Lei determinedly said, “I won’t let you down, Your Highness.”
Lu Yin grunted in acknowledgement and then turned to leave.
Da Lei stared at Lu Yin’s retreating back and was inwardly encouraged. He had to become a captain of one of the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons.
After leaving Liuying Zishan’s manor, Lu Yin’s face fell. When he touched Da Lei, he had suddenly been able to read through Da Lei’s memories, and he had seen fragments of the soldier’s life. They contained the memories of his time with the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons, and one of them had been incredibly bizarre to Lu Yin.
Da Lei was stationed as a year round guard at Liuying Zishan’s manor, and he would occasionally enter the mansion to receive orders. In these recent few years, whenever Liuying Zishan was at home, she would frequently cultivate in the middle of the night. Da Lei had seen it once, and he had been severely punished by her.
Through Da Lei’s memories, Lu Yin had seen Liuying Zishan’s cultivation method. Da Lei had not been able to discern many details, but he could tell that Liuying Zishan’s rate of absorption of star energy had been dozens of times that of an ordinary cultivator within the same realm. This speed even surpassed Lu Yin’s absorption rate with the nine starred Cosmic Art. Also, Liuying Zishan had been absorbing star energy from star essence.
This was a bit suspicious, as Liuying Zishan was just a captain in the Outerverse’s Great Yu Empire, and she was also only a Cruiser. Where could she have gotten a hold of so much star essence to absorb? And what technique did she possess that was able to increase her star energy absorption rate dozens of times over? It should be known that even heirs of great powers from the Innerverse like Zhuo Daynight and Liu Xiaoyun did not have cultivation techniques that let them absorb star energy so rapidly.
More importantly, since she was able to absorb star energy so quickly, why was she still a Cruiser? Lu Yin did not believe that she required even more star energy to break through than him, and these strange inconsistencies of Liuying Zishan made Lu Yin feel rather uncomfortable.
As the sky turned dark, Lu Yin hid himself and appeared outside of Liuying Zishan’s manor, easily slipping past the guards. He entered the manor and quickly arrived in the location where Da Lei had previously accidentally encountered Liuying Zishan while she was cultivating. Lu Yin hid inside a fake mountain and set his gadget to block all incoming messages.
A group of clouds drifted across the sky and blocked the moonlight when a person appeared nearby and slowly walked through the garden. From the corner of his eye, Lu Yin could see that it was Liuying Zishan.
She was dressed in delicate clothes, and she walked towards Lu Yin one step at a time. Each step seemed to be perfectly measured, and her eyes were focused on something in front of her, but her pupils were unfocused.
Lu Yin squinted, as this expression was oddly reminiscent of someone being controlled.
Liuying Zishan arrived at the bottom of the fake mountain, where she sat down cross-legged. She waved a hand, which caused many star essence to appear on the ground. She then began to skillfully absorb the star energy from the essence at a rapid rate, and the star energy quickly formed a visible tornado that wrapped around Liuying Zishan.
Lu Yin’s eyes went wide, and he watched as Liuying Zishan’s rune lines fluctuated. The rune lines that represented the star energy quickly vanished as it entered her body, and it was almost as if there was a blackhole inside her, constantly swallowing the massive influx of star energy.
Suddenly, a ball of light rose up from Liuying Zishan’s head, and the star energy that she had absorbed flowed back out of her body and into the radiant sphere.
Lu Yin was astonished upon seeing such an inexplicable scene, and he unintentionally made a sound. Liuying Zishan did not react to the sound, but that ball of light suddenly charged towards Lu Yin. He felt no suppression of star energy; instead, there was a different, silent form of suppression that pressed down upon him. Lu Yin was alarmed, as this suppression was through spiritual force.
Lu Yin swatted a hand at the light, but the ball seemed to be incorporeal. The radiance chased after Lu Yin’s palm before merging into his body and vanishing.
Lu Yin was taken aback; what the hell had just happened?
The next moment, his brain felt like it had been jostled, and he suddenly heard the clear sound of evening drums. His ears, nose, and eyes started bleeding with fresh blood, and his head started spinning.
Lu Yin knelt down on one knee and gritted his teeth. He then began to recite the Stonewall Scriptures without any hesitation.
“To be good at communicating, the Dao of Heaven refuses. To jump and lie in the heavens, the Dao of Heaven accepts. To jump and lie in the horizon, to condense gas, to swallow rivers…”
As he recited the Stonewall Scriptures, the rumbling in his brain decreased slightly, but he knew that the ball of radiance was still crashing about within his brain. This was the materialization of spiritual force, and it was trying to reduce him to an idiot. Fortunately, he had been reciting the Stonewall Scriptures for several years now, and he had developed a healthy resistance towards spiritual force, which allowed him to withstand the attack. Otherwise, he would have been finished the moment he came into contact with the ball of light.
Inside the fake mountain, Lu Yin continued to recite the Stonewall Scriptures, and outside, Liuying Zishan continued to absorb star energy without any sign of awareness. Everything seemed very calm.
After an unknown amount of time, the sky turned pitch-black. This was the darkness that came before the dawn.
Lu Yin suddenly opened his eyes, which they blossomed radiantly. They looked as though they had suddenly become exceptionally bright. Everything that he saw seemed clearer than ever before. He looked at his hands and quickly closed his eyes to sense what had happened to him. He quickly became ecstatic, as he discovered that he had actually absorbed that ball of light, and his spiritual force had undergone quite a change. Although he did not know how much his spiritual force had been raised, it seemed to be a pretty decent improvement; all he knew for sure was that his spiritual force was now a good deal stronger than what it had been before.
He looked out from the fake mountain and at where Liuying Zishan continued to sit and absorb star energy, completely oblivious to his presence. The star essence had already all been absorbed, and she was currently only absorbing the ambient star energy. At this moment, in Lu Yin’s eyes, her rune lines had greatly increased compared to the previous day.
That ball of light had always been suppressing her, and now that it was gone, the results of her cultivation were able to manifest. Even if her battle power had not reached that of a Hunter yet, she could at least match up to a peak Cruiser.
What exactly had that ball of light been? Lu Yin really wanted to ask Liuying Zishan, but he knew that she probably did not know anything herself.
Coincidentally, Liuying Zishan awakened at this moment and opened her eyes. She seemed dazed. “Why am I here?” She looked around the garden and then left.
