Chapter 4468: A Familiar Aura
Chapter 4468: A Familiar Aura
In the Divine Realm civilization, Nightflow God requested an audience with the Divine King.
“You are quite bold, daring to openly help another use our civilization.” Around the Divine King, motes of light danced.
Nightflow God responded in a respectful tone, saying, “I ask the Divine King to judge matters clearly. Everything I have done has been for the sake of our Divine Realm, without even the slightest selfish motive.”
“Our Divine Realm has no need to wag its tail and beg for favor.” The Divine King’s voice grew icy.
Nightflow God replied, “This is the last time he will borrow the power of our civilization.”
The Divine King sneered. “Use is use. Why say ‘borrow?’”
“If there are no conditions, it is indeed using, but if there are conditions, it is borrowing.”
“What conditions?”
Nightflow God slowly explained everything. After quite a while, the Divine King asked in a low voice, “Are you certain?”
“I am. I ask the Divine King to trust me. I have always acted for the sake of our Divine Realm,” Nightflow God maintained the same respectful attitude.
The Divine King fell silent for a moment. “Fine. I will go there personally and make that civilization disappear. You will come with me as well.”
“Yes.”
***
In the endless Aevum Inch, a deep voice echoed, “How did you find me?”
“It isn’t hard for me to find whomever I want.”
“Why not act yourself?”
“Why should Obscura take direct action? If something can be used, it should naturally be used.”
“What if I refuse?”
“Do you not want revenge? Or do you truly not care about the path I am offering you? You have no other choice.”
***
In Joy City, Lu Yin and the others saw the experts who had been brought over by the Abyssal Displacement. There were quite a few, though they were somewhat different from what they had expected, as there were many creatures that had not yet reached the Immortal realm.
Given the nature of the Abyssal Displacement, if it was used to transfer powerhouses, then even if only a small number was moved about, they should have all been top experts.
“That guy isn’t even as good as me, so why was he transferred here?” Fishbone shouted as it stared at a skeleton with half of its body buried in the ground.
Zhou said, “The Abyssal Displacement was Joy City asking the Death Megaverse and the other Abysses for aid. With the Death Megaverse’s approval, experts could be transferred over, but the other Abysses might not necessarily have agreed. But restricted by the rules of the Death Megaverse, they still had to send some creatures here.”
Lu Yin understood. No wonder these creatures had been sent.
“However, there must also be some true experts among them. We just haven’t seen them yet,” Zhou continued, “For the Death Megaverse to agree to a Abyssal Displacement, there had to have been experts worthy of such a cost. Otherwise, just transferring these creatures would not justify such an expenditure at all.”
Yong Heng curiously asked, “The expenditure of the Abyssal Displacement?”
Zhou explained, “The range that a Abyssal Displacement can cover is so vast that even ordinary Immortals cannot imagine it. A transfer at such scale consumes an equally unimaginable amount of Stillness. Every Abyssal Displacement means that something major has happened. No matter how unwilling the other Abysses are to cooperate, they still are required to pay some price.”
“Another fragment of the being from the Soft Megaverse,” Lu Yin observed as he looked into the distance. One fragment had appeared where they had laid down to sleep, and now there was another one before them.
Although the fragments of the Soft Megaverse creature were not especially powerful Immortals, they were all quite formidable. Lu Yin did not know how many had been sent to Joy City via the Abyssal Displacement.
The Dream Band kept wandering around Joy City, and they saw many creatures that had been transferred over. Some were easy to distinguish, due to them not being skeletons.
Yong Heng finally found some creatures similar to himself. Although they were not human, they were still flesh-and-blood creatures, so he no longer seemed quite so out of place.
Joy City was enormous, enough to contain countless stars. At the pace they were moving, seeing everything would take several hundred years, so they sped up. Fishbone suggested circling along the river, as waterways ran everywhere.
There was no need to inspect every single new arrival in full.
Lu Yin agreed. Although he was curious about how many experts had arrived to support Joy City, he also needed to build the wall in his heart and take that final step. He had no time to waste.
Following the river, it was several days later when Lu Yin and the others saw a small black boat coming toward them down the river at a very slow speed.
The two parties drew closer and closer.
On the black boat was a creature made up entirely of streaming black energy. Lu Yin knew what he was seeing: this was a creature native to the Death Megaverse itself.
All the skeletons were creatures whose essence had been transformed by Bone Script, but the Death Megaverse was also home to a variety of native creatures, some of which were this kind of black streaming energy.
Lu Yin knew this because he had Possessed so many skeletons.
The black boat passed by them, and Zhou glanced back. “A ferryman of the River of Aeons.”
Fishbone was surprised. “That’s a ferryman of the River of Aeons?”
“It is said that one of the seven Abysses is the ferryman of the River of Aeons and possesses the ability to enter the main stream of the River of Aeons. Apparently, they have many more ferrymen under their command. That should be one of them,” Zhou replied.
Lu Yin looked at the black boat drifting away. So the Death Megaverse also has experts capable of entering the main stream of the River of Aeons, does it?
That was not especially surprising. The Death Megaverse might not be any weaker than Obscura. Since Obscura had a member capable of such a feat, it made sense for the Death Megaverse to have such an ability as well.
It was hard to gauge the ferryman’s strength, but it was most likely not an Immortal. Even so, for such a being, oftentimes, what mattered most was their mastery of a River of Aeons.
They continued along the river. Over the next half year, they saw two Immortals, both of whom had arrived as reinforcements from other Abysses. Adding in the fragments of the Soft Megaverse creature, there were at least four Immortals who had arrived to reinforce Joy City. That was a considerable number, and this was also only what they saw while traveling along the river. There had to be more elsewhere.
Roughly speaking, if each Abyss had sent one Immortal with the Abyssal Displacement, there should be six new Immortals in Joy City.
On top of that, no one knew how many fragments of the Soft Megaverse creature had arrived.
One day, Lu Yin suddenly stood up and stared at the shore in a particular direction. What’s going on? There’s a familiar aura there.
“What is it?” Fishbone asked.
Yong Heng also looked at Lu Yin. He was staring into the distance. What exactly was this aura? It felt extremely familiar, and yet he could not place it. It was too strange.
After thinking for a moment, he went ashore. “I am going over there to look around.”
“Let’s go together,” Zhou suggested.
Lu Yin did not refuse, and the entire band headed into the distance.
The farther they went, the stronger that familiar aura became. Suddenly, Lu Yin stopped. He remembered. That familiar aura belonged to a Seven-Treasure Anura: Old Sixth.
Among the 100 plates of black armor from the shattered Darksky Seal, one plate had held Old Sixth’s aura. It had been left to Lu Yin by Ancestor Shan, in hopes that, if Lu Yin ever encountered that same aura, he would be able to find Old Sixth.
The Seven-Treasure Anuras were able to naturally sense each other.
Although Lu Yin’s current body was just a skeleton, he could still sense that aura. It gave him a sense of familiarity that was rooted in his very bones.
There was absolutely no mistake, this was Old Sixth.
But why is Old Sixth in Joy city? Being here means... Lu Yin’s mood grew heavy as he continued forward.
After some time, he saw it. In the distance, a Seven-Treasure Anura was squatting on the ground. The toad was not large, but it gave off the aura of a powerful Immortal. That was Old Sixth.
Old Sixth was different from Old First and the others. Their entire body was a dark-gold color. Around their neck hung a circle of black beads, and on their back was a white cloak. Most bizarre of all, this toad was actually wearing shoes, and their shoes looked completely out of place. Old Sixth’s eyes were also terrifying, being as bright as mirrors.
When they saw Lu Yin and the others appear, the toad stared straight at them.
Zhou stepped forward, warily eyeing Old Sixth. This was a powerhouse.
Lu Yin sized up the toad. They were not a skeleton, so had Old Sixth not been transformed through Bone Script? And yet, they radiated a dense aura of Stillness. For the toad to appear in Joy City, they must have been sent through the Abyssal Displacement, which meant that they had been in another Abyss.
Lu Yin grew somewhat sorrowful. Even while dying, Ancestor Shan had wanted to see Old Sixth one last time.
Lu Yin had never expected Old Sixth to be under the Death Megaverse’s control. Even though the toad was not dead, it had lost its freedom. This prodigy, whose talent had been praised so highly by Ancestor Shan, was not someone whom Lu Yin had ever expected to meet in Joy City.
“What do you want?” Old Sixth barked, glaring at Lu Yin and the others with bright eyes. They stared at Lu Yin in particular, as he had arrived first.
Lu Yin raised a hand and pointed ahead.
Yong Heng stared at Lu Yin. Does he know this toad?
“I want to talk to that one,” Lu Yin stated. Looking in the direction he was pointing, there was a bear. Perhaps Old Sixth’s aura was so overwhelming that everyone’s attention had been drawn to the toad, as no one had noticed that there was a bear right nearby.
Yong Heng looked over. A bear? So was he not looking for this toad?
Having rushed over after sensing Old Sixth’s aura, Lu Yin had nearly forgotten about Yong Heng. Aeternus had had a long history of dealing with Astral Anura. If Yong Heng noticed that Lu Yin had a connection with Old Sixth, he might start to grow suspicious. That had prompted Lu Yin to quickly shift his attention to the bear behind the Seven-Treasure Anura.
That said, where had the bear come from? Not only that, but it was also reading a book.
That was right, the bear was reading a book, making it rather unusual. Although it had the appearance of a bear, its head was half mechanical and half skeletal, which was rather eerie to look at.
Hearing that Lu Yin wanted to speak with the bear, Old Sixth glanced back. “A friend of yours?”
The bear raised its head to look at Lu Yin. It then shook its head and looked back down, continuing to read its book.
“It does not know you.” Old Sixth said.
Lu Yin shouted, “Ying Xiong, is that you?”[1]
Old Sixth gave the bear an odd look. Ying Xiong?
The bear’s head rose up again, and its mechanical eye looked at Lu Yin strangely. Ying Xiong?
Lu Yin shouted, “Is it you or not? Do you still remember the stone stele of Revolution Planet? The Great Yong River and the eighteen stars in a row of Revolution Planet? Do you still remember them? And this one, this is our Zhou of Revolution Planet. Do you remember?”
Zhou stared at the bear. The Great Yong River and the eighteen stars in a row were both famous sights in Revolution Planet. They knew that Lu Yin was from Revolution Planet. If this bear knew those landmarks, then it also must be from Revolution Planet.
Every creature from Revolution Planet knew Zhou.
The bear silently stared at Lu Yin and then looked at Zhou. After that, it shook its head and then looked back down to continue reading.
“Ying Xiong, is it really you or not? Do you not recognize me anymore? Yes, back then it was because of me that you left Revolution Planet, which is why you became like this. But look at me! I have suffered retribution. Can you still not forgive me?” Lu Yin shouted.
The bear remained unmoved.
Old Sixth said, “You have the wrong one. Leave.”
Unwilling to give up, Lu Yin shouted a few more times, but after seeing that the bear still did not react, he could only leave helplessly.
Fishbone comforted him, “Brother, maybe it really isn’t your friend.”
Lu Yin looked back and sighed. “Maybe...”
Zhou patted Lu Yin’s shoulder. “No creature from Revolution Planet would fail to recognize me. It is probably not Ying Xiong. But do not lose heart. As long as Ying Xiong is alive, you will definitely see them again someday.”
Ying Xiong? Of course that had been made up. Lu Yin had only wanted to mislead Yong Heng and prevent him from growing suspicious of Lu Yin’s identity.
This should be enough for now.
“Wait,” Old Sixth shouted.
1. Ying Xiong (英熊) is a bear-themed pun on the Chinese word for “hero” (英雄, yingxiong). ☜