Chapter 1692: Take A Beating

Lǜ Yan laughed bitterly after hearing Lu Yin’s question. “If you’re a part of the Neohuman Alliance, then our universe is doomed! Who could stop your God of Death’s powers if you were a corpse king? We might as well just surrender.”

Lu Yin then left, though Lǜ Yan gave him a warning that there were certainly corpse kings with power levels exceeding a million at the Neohuman Alliance’s headquarters for the Innerverse and Outerverse, so he should not touch the place without making ample preparations.

Each person had their own story, and the prisoners in Gaia’s Swamp had all lived exciting lives. No matter if they were good or bad, normal people would never be imprisoned in Gaia’s Swamp.

Lu Yin was curious about the various prisoners’ backgrounds, so he ordered Lǜ Cha to bring him information regarding the prisoners. Shortly after, he started reading.

A few days later, Lu Yin approached a prisoner. To be precise, he was approaching a brain. This brain was the same one that Lord Piggy had shown him when Lu Yin had taken a tour of Gaia’s Swamp.

The owner of this particular brain had killed numerous people in order to obtain eternal life. The last person that he had killed was Overseer Xin Jiao’s son, and it was also why the brain had been imprisoned and sentenced to eternal torture. Everything that entered the thoughts of this brain was a nightmare, so the mind that it once contained had probably gone crazy by now.

This was just the information that Gaia’s Swamp had recorded, but Lu Yin had learned more from San Liang, as some facts had been intentionally hidden by Xin Jiao.

This brain had actually belonged to a normal cultivator. The reason why this person had been able to carry out those crimes was actually all because of Xin Jiao’s son. Xin Jiao’s son had financially backed this cultivator, and he had not been the only person chasing after immortality; Xin Jiao’s son had also been interested.

However, the experiments had failed, and Xin Jiao’s son had been killed. That was why Xin Jiao had come to hate this cultivator and had imprisoned his brain.

Lu Yin could not communicate with a mere brain, but he felt like he was looking at Xin Jiao as he stared at the brain. Beneath her mild appearance, Xin Jiao was an extremely cruel person. The woman was far from being as nice as she seemed.

There were still ten days left before Mu En arrived at Gaia’s Swamp, so Lu Yin asked the Warden about aurelian force due to his boredom.

Lu Yin had wanted to learn about aurelian force for a long time, and he had asked Zhou Tang about it in the past. Now, he was continuing by asking the Warden about it.

“Aurelian force? Oh, you’ve cultivated battle force too, right? What level have you reached?” The Warden asked curiously. He had to bend his head down low to look at Lu Yin, as the giant was far too massive.

Golden battle force appeared around Lu Yin’s body, and it shook the sky.

The Warden was surprised. “That’s not bad. Almost nobody in this whole universe can reach ten lined battle force.”

“Are you complimenting yourself, Senior? You’ve already achieved aurelian force.” Lu Yin smiled.

The Warden shook his head. “I only managed to reach the realm of aurelian force by using Progenitor Chen’s blood. If not for his blood, my limit would have been nine lined battle force. One’s spirit is the most important factor when cultivating battle force, but this universe’s values restrict everyone’s spirit.

“Everyone in this place believes that the peak of battle force is nine lined battle force, and with that belief, how could anyone achieve a further breakthrough unless they truly felt like they had conquered the universe? How did you manage to break through?”

Lu Yin looked up. “When I became the champion of ZENITH.”

The Warden laughed. “No wonder! You defeated all your peers and proved that you are invincible among your generation. That’s why you were able to break through. Think about it: how many people in this universe could achieve the same thing? And even then, those who could be capable of doing so may not have cultivated battle force. Those conditions aren’t easy to fulfill.”

Lu Yin nodded. “You’re right, it’s tough. Senior, I really want to learn aurelian force. Do I need to reach yet another peak to do that?”

The Warden hesitated and took another sip of his wine. “Spirit is the most important thing, but the second most important is accumulation. Without a strong enough body and a sturdy enough foundation, it’s impossible to achieve aurelian force even if you are the master of the Hall of Honor. So, you should take a beating.”

Lu Yin choked. “What?”

The Warden grinned. “Take a beating. Spirit is improved through beatings. If you want to become stronger, then you’ll need to take beatings, and only then will your battle force become stronger. That’s my opinion, but you can ignore it if you want.”

The Warden then continued drinking.

Lu Yin laughed bitterly. Fighting was indeed a great method to improving one’s battle force. There was no shortcut when it came to cultivating battle force, as each person had to get there on their own.

Lu Yin had not become the champion of ZENITH through an accident. He had put in a great deal of effort in order to accomplish that feat and that included cultivating battle force.

“Senior, can you help me? I would like to experience aurelian force,” Lu Yin spoke with confidence.

The Warden smashed his flask onto the ground. “I don’t mind beating you up. Here’s some aurelian force for you.”

A finger appeared right in front of Lu Yin, and the Warden flicked his finger at Lu Yin. The young man crossed his arms before his chest, but he still felt like both of his arms were about to fall off. He was blasted backwards, and the golden battle force covering his body was instantly shredded apart as a stabbing pain wracked his body, forcing him to spit out blood.

Liu Ye and Fei Hua were both shocked, and they instantly appeared next to the Warden and almost attacked him.

The Warden said, “He asked me to beat him up.”

Off in the distance, Lu Yin felt like his body was falling apart. He had crashed into a distant portion of the swamp, and he was surrounded by death energy. Only after taking a few deep breaths did he start to feel a bit better.

Pain assaulted his entire body, and he was unable to even stand. This was the effect of a gentle finger flick from the Warden; Lu Yin’s body was completely unable to withstand the power of such an attack without the protection of his armor.

Lord Piggy anxiously rushed over as soon as he saw Lu Yin.

“Alliance Leader! Alliance Leader Lu, are you alright?” the pig shouted.

Lu Yin slowly sat up as he looked down at his hands and his stomach. His body had been torn apart, and he had suffered quite serious injuries. Fortunately, he had opened through all three of his meridian points, which allowed him to recover very quickly.

A snout suddenly appeared right before Lu Yin. Lord Piggy was carefully looking at Lu Yin. “Alliance- Alliance Leader Lu, how are you feeling?”

Lu Yin answered, “I’m fine. I’m not dead yet.”

Lord Piggy felt disappointed, but said, “That’s great, Alliance Leader Lu. Why did Sir Warden attack you? Did you say something that he reacted poorly to?”

“No.” Lu Yin was about to continue, but instead he suddenly said, “Is he sensitive about anything?”

Lord Piggy moved much closer to Lu Yin and whispered, “Sir Warden has been single for years! He’s liked a few women in the past, but he’s never had any success. So, he drinks to alleviate his loneliness.”

“Female giants?” Lu Yin was shocked; were pure blooded giants not extinct? He had heard that the Warden was the only one left!

Lord Piggy shook his head. “No, human women.”

Lu Yin was speechless. Of course that would never have worked! One was 30,000 meters tall, while the other was just over 1 meter tall!

“While the Warden seems brash, he’s actually very emotional. Let me tell you a secret.” Lord Piggy whispered, “Sir Warden’s even written a love poem before!”

Lu Yin blinked in shock. A- a love poem?

“How do you know about this?” Lu Yin asked.

Lord Piggy blinked. “I always see Sir Warden reciting his poems.”

Lu Yin shook his head. He did not want to continue this conversation. “You can leave. I’ll stay here for a bit longer to recover.”

“Do you want me to take you to the castle?”

“No thanks.”

Back in the castle, the Warden had sat down and continued his drinking. He had actually not held back very much in his attack against Lu Yin, but he had controlled the attack very precisely, so he felt that it should have been at just the right level for Lu Yin to be able to withstand. While the youth would certainly be badly injured, he should be fine after recuperating for a few days since the injuries should all be superficial.

The Warden continued drinking.

Half a day later, Lu Yin returned, looking quite disheveled. His clothes were tattered, and wounds could still be seen all over his body, though most of his injuries had already recovered.

Liu Ye and Fei Hua were both shocked. They had seen the extent of Lu Yin’s injuries, so how had he managed to recover so quickly?

However, they were unaware of the changes that had occurred to Lu Yin’s body after he opened his three meridian points. As long as he was not instantly killed, he could recover from basically any injury. As for wounds that were inflicted by a Semi-Progenitor and were unable to recover on their own, he could use Extremes Must Be Reversed and Timestop to recover. If he told anyone about these abilities, including powerhouses like Liu Ye and Fei Hua, they would be shocked.

“Huh? You’re already fine?” The Warden was completely astonished.

Lu Yin answered, “Senior, let’s continue.”

The Warden grew intrigued. “Alright, then I’ll keep going.”

His aurelian force once again lit up the sky.

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. Ever since the Outerverse had been separated from the Innerverse, Lu Yin had started down a unique cultivation path, especially after he had killed Enlighters as an Explorer by using Enhanced weapons. Lu Yin’s upgraded items had since become an integral part of his attacking methods. Even when he fought against people like Nightking Zhenwu and Shang Qing, Lu Yin had never felt the pressure of a life or death situation.

He had always been thinking about the long-term pressure rather than anything in the heat of the moment where he could be killed.

Lu Yin was about to feel that kind of pressure in a battle, and he truly felt as though he could be crushed at any moment.

The Warden’s finger appeared again, but this time Lu Yin was prepared. An astral chessboard appeared under his feet, and he moved. However, the Warden’s aurelian force had already warped space, which meant that Lu Yin could not move himself anywhere, not even into the true universe. Lu Yin raised a hand and set up a Channeling Diagram even as golden battle force covered his body. Once again, he was shot backwards with a bang.

Despite being better prepared than before, Lu Yin was still heavily injured, as the Warden had used more strength in this attack.

Not everyone would be able to face the pressure of an attack that utilized aurelian force, and Lu Yin was confident that he would be able to break through if he kept experiencing aurelian force.

Bang.

He was thrown to the southern region of Gaia’s Swamp.

Bang.

He was shot to the northern section of Gaia’s Swamp.

Gaia’s Swamp’s guards would occasionally look up to see Lu Yin being blasted all across the swamp. Lord Piggy secretly hoped that the Warden would accidently kill Lu Yin, as the pig would no longer be under Lu Yin’s control in that case.

Lǜ Cha was also watching, but her thoughts were different from Lord Piggy’s. She did not hope for Lu Yin’s death, as he was the only person who could potentially set her father free. The prison riot had been the first prison break to succeed even after countless years. Without Lu Yin, there would never be another chance in her entire life to rescue her father.

Ze Cu was astounded by Lu Yin’s talent. Only a short amount of time had passed since ZENITH had finished, but Lu Yin was already able to withstand the Warden’s attacks.

Lu Yin used multiple methods, but he simply could not find any way to avoid the Warden’s attack as the gap between them was too large. The Warden’s power level was comparable to Cang Zhou, Liu Ye, and Fei Hua’s. However, with the boost provided by aurelian force, not even Cang Zhou could have been the Warden’s opponent. Liu Ye and Fei Hua would also never be able to trap the Warden, just like how they had not been able to trap Nightking Dijiang.

Nightking Dijiang had possessed a powerful spiritual force, but the Warden controlled a powerful battle force.