Chapter 4546: The Lepidarch Continent

"Senior, how was my improvement?" Lu Yin asked.

Thousand Machinations continued to stare at him. "Very impressive."

"How do I compare to Withered Requiem? You’ve always said that my potential surpasses Withered Requiem's. Was that true?" Lu Yin asked again.

Thousand Machinations replied, "It should count as having surpassed them."

Lu Yin understood. It seemed that Thousand Machinations was unable to clearly determine his limits and potential. Logically, that should not be possible, but when Lu Yin thought of what he had first seen in the black sphere, how the bear had approached and stared at him in disbelief, it seemed that Lu Yin had done something the Abyssal could not understand.

Wait, it just mentioned movement. Could it be that, while inside the black sphere, no creatures were able to move? Was it the fact that Lu Yin had moved that Thousand Machinations could not understand his potential?

Lu Yin had another question that he wanted to ask, but Thousand Machinations raised a paw. A black dot appeared on it, and it quickly grew bigger into a black ball.

"Again?"

"Go in and absorb Stillness. Let us see just how much you can absorb."

Lu Yin looked at the black sphere and then at Thousand Machinations. "We won’t wait for the Abyssal Displacement?"

"I have more than enough Stillness here."

"Then why did we wait for the Abyssal Displacement last time?"

"It was convenient."

Lu Yin stepped into the black sphere. This time, the black sphere did not contract inwards. He simply started using the Cosmic Art to absorb the Stillness.

"Senior, could I trouble you to expand the range of this black sphere?"

Thousand Machinations wanted to know how much Stillness Lu Yin could currently absorb, intending to compare it to before to understand the difference.

Lu Yin was also curious to know his current limit.

Outside the black sphere, Thousand Machinations calmly observed. The black sphere expanded dramatically. As the stars of the Cosmic Art appeared, the black sphere continued to envelope them all. Eventually, the sphere grew to cover Thousand Machinations’ entire Abyss and then even spread out into the Aevum Inch.

The range approached the size of Joy City.

Just how much Stillness does Thousand Machinations have?

The Three Deaths Art allowed Lu Yin to store a truly absurd amount of Stillness, and Thousand Machinations had to possess an even more exaggerated amount. It had to be a staggering amount even when compared to the other Abyssals.

Thousand Machinations was also inside the black sphere at this moment. It could very clearly feel the Stillness within its own Three Deaths Art flowing away and being absorbed by Lu Yin. In truth, Lu Yin had already absorbed as much Stillness as his limit in the past, so the fact that he was able to continue absorbing more proved that he had indeed been pushed to the limit of his potential.

The question at this moment was simply how much he could absorb.

One star of stillness after another took form within the black sphere. These were new stars that were part of the Cosmic Art. The ones that had already formed had reached their limits, and Lu Yin now needed to surpass that limit. This was what his skeleton clone was capable of at this moment.

The clone's power was actually very pure. It simply possessed its own physical strength and toughness and Stillness. That was then supplemented by his cultivation arts and battle techniques. This clone was not nearly as complicated as his true body.

Complexity had its benefits, but simplicity also had its advantages.

The number of stars continued to increase as the Cosmic Art’s range constantly expanded. Lu Yin did not try to control them at all. He simply wanted to see how far Thousand Machinations' black sphere could expand.

However, no matter how many stars appeared or how large they grew, the black sphere was always able to encompass them all.

Lu Yin looked over at Thousand Machinations in the distance. All he could feel at this moment was that the bear was unfathomable.

One had to know that the Stillness supporting the birth of all these stars was all from this one black sphere. In other words, Thousand Machinations was supporting Lu Yin’s Cosmic Art and its own black sphere at the same time. The Stillness that the Abyssal controlled was simply endless, far surpassing what someone like Withered Requiem could handle.

At the same time, Thousand Machinations wanted to see exactly how many more stars Lu Yin could form compared to before. It had already learned the Cosmic Art through mere observation, which was why it understood exactly how much Stillness each star could contain.

At this moment, both sides were probing the other.

The stars stopped appearing. It was not that Lu Yin could not form more, but rather that he did not want to continue. He was probing Thousand Machinations, and he also knew that Thousand Machinations was watching him. Lu Yin could not allow this Abyssal to fully see through him.

Already, his Cosmic Art had expanded to far surpass the limits of its previous range, but he still needed to condense the gathered Stillness into the Three Deaths Art. That also needed to be controlled.

This feeling of being restrained was truly frustrating, but there was no other way around it.

Thousand Machinations stared at Lu Yin. Was this it? While the scope was a great deal larger than before, it was nothing that exaggerated. The true metric to determine how much this human skeleton had improved depended on how much more Stillness he could store with the Three Deaths Art.

Previously, he had stored all the Stillness that could be gathered into those stars ten times over. Now, Thousand Machinations did not know how many times the process could be repeated. Even if it was still just ten times, that would still be an exaggerated amount of Stillness.

The Stillness of one star after another surged toward the Three Deaths Art like a tide. Between Lu Yin's hands, the triangle constantly absorbed more and more Stillness, becoming the center of the black sphere while growing ever darker. The black sphere remained unchanged. Only the range of the Cosmic Art shrank. One star after another disappeared, and in the end, all of the Stillness gathered with the Cosmic Art had been pulled into the Three Deaths Art.

Right after that, his stars started to reform, and Lu Yin once again absorbed Stillness into the Cosmic Art.

The process repeated; stars appeared again and again, only to disappear again and again. Each time they appeared and disappeared was the same as multiplying the amount of Stillness that he absorbed. He had already absorbed Stillness from the stars three times, and he was still continuing.

Four times.

Five times.

Six times.

Thousand Machinations' expression grew solemn. This was already very exaggerated. This skeleton had already shown that he could create a great deal more stars than before, which meant that each repetition of absorbing Stillness from those stars was not a simple increase. He had already surpassed the maximum amount of Stillness that he had been able to absorb after learning the Three Deaths Art, and yet he was still continuing.

Seven times.

Eight times.

Nine times.

Thousand Machinations slowly raised their head to stare directly at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin sensed the attention, but he did not dare to look back at the bear. Such a being would instantly notice someone looking at them.

The way Thousand Machinations looked at Lu Yin changed at this moment. This meant that he should have reached his new limit, or rather, he had already surpassed Thousand Machinations' expectations.

It was important to note that Lu Yin had not even released the Cosmic Art to its limit, and he also had not yet absorbed all that he could handle with the Three Deaths Art either. Even so, he could not continue any further. Thousand Machinations could tolerate a supreme genius capable of becoming an Abyssal, but they would absolutely never tolerate the existence of a genius who surpassed their imagination, especially since Lu Yin was human.

The Death Megaverse held a different attitude towards human skeletons. Thousand Machinations did not show that prejudice, but that was simply because they did not care and believed that they could control Lu Yin. As soon as a uncontrollable situation appeared, if Lu Yin were in the bear’s place, he would definitely erase such an anomaly without the slightest hesitation.

Ten times.

Lu Yin lowered his arms. "Senior, I have reached my limit."

Thousand Machinations stared at Lu Yin in shock. Ten times. He really completed the cycle ten times, just like when he first learned the Three Deaths Art. He still absorbed the Stillness from those stars ten times in a row. Could it be that the ratio of power between the Three Deaths Art and those stars is ten? It is possible.

However, ten times the Stillness was quite the exaggerated capacity.

Lu Yin looked around. This black sphere had allowed him to absorb such a vast amount of Stillness, and yet it showed no sign of any consumption at all. That was too terrifying. The gap between one Abyssal and another could be terrifying.

Within Obscura, the difference between Lan Meng and Wang Wen’s strength was like heaven and earth. In the Death Megaverse, it was possible that similar differences in strength existed between the different Abyssals.

The black sphere slowly shrank, eventually condensing into a single point. Thousand Machinations then opened at their mouth and swallowed the dot.

Lu Yin stood before Thousand Machinations. "Senior, how was I?"

Thousand Machinations raised a thumb. "Impressive."

That same sentence again. Lu Yin asked, "Specifically? Throughout the Death Megaverse, who do I compare to in terms of the Stillness I can absorb?"

Thousand Machinations praised him, "You surpass more than half of the Abyssals, including Old Sixth and Withered Requiem."

Lu Yin was shocked. Clearly, he had still ended up revealing too much of what he was capable of. "I actually surpassed Withered Requiem?"

Thousand Machinations replied, "I said long ago that your potential far surpasses Withered Requiem's. I simply did not expect you to surpass them by so much. Given the vastness of your Stillness right now, even if Withered Requiem used Bone Script on you, it would be completely useless. Of everyone in the entire Death Megaverse, only Nethersea Suppression might be able to suppress you with Bone Script. As for the rest." The bear shook its head. "They probably are no longer able to do it."

"Senior, you also can,” Lu Yin said respectfully.

Thousand Machinations grinned. "My skill is focused on literary matters, not martial ones. Having a vast amount of Stillness does not make one strong. You are different. One look at you tells me that you are good at fighting. So, we will be counting on you to deal with the Lepidarch Continent. No matter what, it is the closest to my Abyss, so I cannot avoid putting in some effort."

Lu Yin felt helpless. "Why must we help Ruinfall? That toad is right. This isn’t worth it."

Thousand Machinations opened a paw. "It has to be done."

"Why?"

"Ruinfall is the ferryman of the Death Megaverse’s branch of the River of Aeons. Its existence allows the Death Megaverse to communicate with the River of Aeons of the Primacy Path so that it will not be too passive, although most of this communication is ineffective."

"The River of Aeons of the Primacy Path?"

"The power of the Primacy Path is not limited to the River of Aeons, but is the origin of all power throughout the Aevum Inch. You will understand once you become an Abyssal. Once Ruinfall is lost, we will completely lose all initiative in regards to the River of Aeons of the Primacy Path."

Lu Yin thought of Old Man Hehe. Initiative? That old thing often drew down the main stream of the River of Aeons. However, if Old Man Hehe was indeed the one who had plotted against Ruinfall, then what they did might not necessarily be drawing down the main stream. If they had done that, then there would have been no need to go through so much trouble to plot against Ruinfall.

That was the power of the Primacy Path.

Or could it be... right, could it be that Old Man Hehe is also a ferryman of the River of Aeons? Lu Yin suddenly thought of a possibility that he had never considered before. But now that it had occurred to him, the more he considered it, the more plausible it seemed.

Thousand Machinations' voice rang out.. "If you want to become an Abyssal, do not place too much hope on Ruinfall. We have always believed that we cannot help it, but that is only us. We cannot represent the entire Death Megaverse."

Lu Yin was startled. "What do you mean?"

Thousand Machinations smiled. "Nothing much. Go to the Lepidarch Continent without worries. At this rate of development, you will definitely become an Abyssal. You have my word."

"It will still take a very, very long time."

"If you cannot wait, then kill an Abyssal yourself."

Lu Yin was left speechless.

***

The dark and endless Aevum Inch was filled with countless possibilities. There were megaverses, Mother Trees, and all kinds of strange creatures.

In the distance, a vast landmass shaped like a butterfly made of rock slowly drifted along. At certain intervals, the left or right wing of that landmass would flap once. It was not actually a landmass, but rather a massive butterfly. It was the Lepidarch Continent.

The enormous landmass that was around the size of a megaverse was the Lepidarch.

Lu Yin stood in the Aevum Inch and stared into the distance. His current mission was to enter the Lepidarch Continent and search for everything that had a connection to the Grand Clarity Civilization, especially materials that could be used to seal sourcebox arrays.

Furthermore, he was supposed to destroy the Lepidarch Continent.

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