Chapter 2520: Cliff Town

Feeling that his words might be insufficient, Xu Xiangyin continued speaking. "You come from the Transcendent Universe, so you should already understand the advantages of energy converters. As long as your physical abilities can keep up, you can use an energy converter that can give you a power level of millions without any cultivation. That is the same as status. You’ve heard of He Shu, right? If he wants to obtain a black energy converter, he will get one. Even if he lacks sufficient talent, he can still obtain whatever power he desires.

"The path before stretches further than you know."

Lu Yin gave Xu Xiangyin a very deep bow. This time, he was completely genuine in his show of respect. Even though Xu Xiangyin treated Lu Yin differently because of the talent that he had revealed and also possibly harbored ulterior motives, the advice that he was offering was undeniably sincere. Lu Yin had already understood the truth of the old man’s warning after he had been thrown onto Driftcharge Planet as white meat. That incident was precisely why Lu Yin had never stopped trying to find ways to further increase his status. He had first united the Outerverse, then the Innerverse, and had ultimately become the ruler of the Heavens Sect. Eventually, he would seize control of the Perennial World as well. Everything had sprouted from the realization of exactly what Xu Xiangyin was trying to share.

If Lu Yin were truly just an extraordinarily talented young man, then he might not be touched by such words, but given his own experience, Lu Yin was deeply moved.

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior," Lu Yin said solemnly.

Xu Xiangyin nodded. "It's good to see that you understand. Alright, resume cultivating. I’ll remind you again that a powerful senior from the Voidforce Universe will definitely come here to test you. It might be Senior Xu Wuwei, or possibly someone else, but whoever it is, remember to do your best. I’m looking forward to seeing your future."

With those final words to Lu Yin, Xu Xiangyin left. He could not constantly accompany Lu Yin. Still, before the old man left, he warned the other students one last time. They were already accustomed to hearing such things, as from the day Lu Yin had arrived at the Voidforce School, Xu Xiangyin had threatened the rest of the students. All of them were incredibly frustrated by the unfairness of it all, but they were powerless to do anything about it.

Luo Lao'er ran over. "Brother-in-law, you're too amazing! You actually brought the village down! Is there anything that you can't do?"

While Lu Yin could not understand the rest of what Luo Lao'er said afterwards, he imagined that it was a bunch of exaggerated compliments. "How much do you know about the other universes?"

Luo Lao'er grew puzzled. "A little bit. Why, Brother-in-law? Do you want to know more about them?"

"Sooner or later, I’m going to need to know about them. Isn't there some Central School?"

"That's right. That guy Luo Zang is already in the Central School, as is Xie Wu's young master, He Shu. It's the place where the geniuses all gather, and all of the people in there are the most famous youths from all parts of the Sixverse Association. Brother-in-law, if you go there, you'll definitely open their sorry eyes and show them how it's supposed to be done!" Luo Lao'er continued with the endless flattery.

"Instead of just telling you about things, why don't I take you someplace where you can learn more about the Sixverse Association?"

"Where? Are we allowed to leave the Voidforce School?" Lu Yin asked, rather intrigued. According to the jade slips that they had been given, students were forbidden to leave a given school until they had passed the threshold. Even then, they could only leave to apply to another school.

Luo Lao'er mysteriously said, "Cliff Town."

Lu Yin frowned.

"Cliff Town is the place where all six schools meet. It’s at the bottom of a cliff in space. The Sixverse Academy’s rules state that no one is allowed to leave their school, but all of the students here are young and energetic, so how can they be expected to obediently remain in one place? That's why we have Cliff Town, a recreational haven that accommodates anyone in the Sixverse Academy. In fact, the academy itself tacitly allows the place to exist. After all, this is the junction of six different universes, and they all need to communicate with each other. As long as you’re able to get to Cliff Town, no one will bother you," Luo Lao'er explained.

Lu Yin was fascinated. "Interesting. Let's take a look."

"Alright." Luo Lao’er suddenly hesitated. "By the way, Brother-in-law, do you have any money?"

Lu Yin instinctively touched his cosmic ring. Having money was not an issue, but the problem instead was how much he had. Ever since Lu Yin had first started cultivating, he had almost always possessed greater wealth than anyone else, to the point where he was wealthier than even the Perennial World’s four ruling powers. However, the way that he spent his money was also something that no one else could copy. Unfortunately, all of Lu Yin’s wealth was in the form of star essence, and there was no way that it would be accepted currency in the Sixverse Academy. "I don't have any."

Luo Lao'er sighed. "Alright then, I guess that we can only window shop then. Honestly, the primary purpose of Cliff Town is to facilitate a black market.”

"When it comes to trading illicit goods, nothing’s safer than selling them to a parallel universe. Whether it's ordinary cultivators with remarkable talent, or the young heirs with powerful backgrounds, all of them have picked up things that they can't sell openly. In Cliff Town, those things can be sold to parallel universes, as there are very few people who can track things down across universes. It’s incredibly safe."

Lu Yin's eyes lit up. "In that case, there must be tons of good stuff in Cliff Town, right?"

"Plenty. The Sixverse Academy isn’t sealed off from the Sixverse Association, and it’s possible to apply to leave. Once you're out of here, you can help other people sell their items in Cliff Town. This is all tacitly permitted, as no one interferes," Luo Lao'er replied.

The more he heard, the more intrigued Lu Yin became in Cliff Town. There was no reason to wait, so Luo Lao'er led the way, and the two men headed straight for Cliff Town.

Just as the name said, Cliff Town had been built beneath a cliff and was surrounded by outer space.

The Taiyi Universe had the tall peak at its center, and the six continents spread out from it to form the Sixverse Academy. As for Cliff Town, it was located directly beneath the center of the Sixverse Academy, which meant that it was far below the peak.

From the peak, it was possible to reach Cliff Town by going straight down.

The peak was the highest point in the Sixverse Academy. while Cliff Town was the lowest.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

When they arrived at Cliff Town, Lu Yin looked up and saw an overhead section of rock blocking the view of outer space. The town seemed to have been carved from the rock itself, and the emptiness of outer space surrounded it.

"Who made this place?" Lu Yin asked.

Luo Lao'er lowered his voice, "I don't know, but it probably wasn’t the people in the Sixverse Academy’s first class. They don't have that much strength. There are actually rumors that claim that this place was made by academy’s big shots because they wanted the students to interact and also trade goods between universes.

"It’s also necessary to hide your face before you enter Cliff Town. The people you meet there might not just be students, but could also be some of the academy’s faculty. For example, Xu Xiangyin might even show up."

Lu Yin looked forward. This town that had been hewn out of solid rock gave off a dim light, as the only light sources around were artificial illumination, which gave the place a rather quaint atmosphere.

His first impression of Cliff Town was that it was actually quite large. No one in this place had an ordinary background. At the very least, they needed to be able to cross a vast distance through outer space with a single step. Anything less meant that they would not be able to reach Cliff Town.

"Brother-in-law, do you see that big tree up ahead that’s covered in fruit? The fruits have a dough-like texture and can be kneaded into various shapes. They’re used to create masks to cover our faces. We need to put one on in order to enter Cliff Town, or else we won't be allowed in," Luo Lao'er said as he approached the big tree.

Lu Yin was amazed. The universe was truly full of wonders.

"Can't I just alter my appearance? Why do I have to use one of these fruits?" Lu Yin held a fruit in his hand and squeezed it. It really was soft and malleable.

Luo Lao'er smirked. "This is to prevent people from 'borrowing a knife to kill' and manipulate some third party into resolving a grudge."

The young man lowered his voice. "In a place like this, someone could easily use their enemy’s appearance to go around and intentionally offend others, which could ruin someone’s reputation. Things like that have happened too many times before. While it’s possible to knead these fruits into looking like someone else’s face, it's easy to tell when that happens."

Lu Yin blinked. He had certainly done something similar in the past, and he had even invested a considerable amount of time to formulate the plan.

Luo Lao'er kneaded a fruit into a handsome appearance, and he even went so far as to add strands of hair before he put it on. An ordinary human would not be able to tell if it was a disguise or the man’s real face. "Brother-in-law, do I look good?"

Lu Yin replied, "Fix the way you refer to me. You’re the only person in the entire Sixverse Academy who uses that form of address."

Luo Lao'er slapped his forehead. "Right, then I'll call you Seventh Bro."

Lu Yin nodded. Many people already called him Seventh Bro. As he thought of that, he kneaded his own fruit into the appearance of a fish. More specifically, it was the Arkfish, as that image had suddenly popped into his head.

Luo Lao'er gave a forced smile. "Seventh Bro, your mask has its own personality."

Lu Yin raised his head. "Let's go."

With that, the two of them entered Cliff Town.

As they stepped past the big tree, an invisible curtain parted and allowed them past without any resistance.

Lu Yin turned around. If he had not been wearing the fruit mask, that curtain of energy would have stopped him from proceeding.

Cliff Town was a large, dimly lit marketplace. When the two men entered, they saw that many masked people had set up stalls. None of the stall owners spoke, as each of them was instead focused on cultivating.

Lu Yin scanned the various masks, briefly taking in their appearances. How could these masks possibly block his gaze?

If he desired it, he could unleash his domain and see the true appearance of every last person in Cliff Town without issue. No one would be able to escape.

They arrived at a stall that had various strange items on display.

"This is a special product of Pearlrain Planet, the Water-Engulfing Pearl. When this is thrown out, it will envelop the sky and earth with droplets of water to essentially form a torrential downpour. Its power is also quite impressive. According to the measurements of the Transcendent Universe, it has a power level of 300,000… Hey, you must be from the Three Monarchs Universe, aren’t you?" Luo Lao'er said to the stall owner.

The stall owner looked up. "Are you trying to violate the rules of Cliff Town?"

Luo Lao'er waved his hands dismissively. "I was just kidding."

He then straightened up and continued, "Water-Engulfing Pearls aren’t common even on Pearlrain Planet. This one-"

Before he could finish speaking, the stall owner had snatched the pearl back and left without looking back.

Luo Lao'er sneered. "It's actually him."

"You figured out his identity?" Lu Yin asked.

Luo Lao'er replied, "More than a decade ago, the third prince of the Pearlrain Planet Empire died. Among his various treasures that were lost was a Water-Engulfing Pearl. That particular pearl has a unique mark, and it’s different from ordinary Water-Engulfing Pearls. It looked exactly like the one that we just saw. It seems that that guy’s the one who killed the unlucky third prince.”

"He should be someone from the academy’s first class. He probably has a decent enough talent that he made a good impression on my old man and got sent here."

They then continued to stroll around Cliff Town. It was quite a distance to the next stall.

The people who had set up stalls to sell things in Cliff Town were not eager to interact with other people, and after being recognized by Luo Lao’er, the first stall owner was unlikely to return to the town for some time.

"There are quite a few people here." As they walked around, they passed by several large groups, each which had about a hundred people.

Luo Lao'er replied, "All of them are newcomers who are being led around by older students. Brother-in-la—no, Seventh Bro, you’ve been cultivating this whole time, so no one told you about these things."

"So how did you learn about all this?"

"Have you forgotten about my intel-gathering abilities?"

Lu Yin remembered how Luo Lao'er had proven himself capable of gathering vast amounts of sensitive information that was always very accurate. His ability to gather information was truly impressive. He had even managed to find out that Zi Jing had brought a man back to the Transcendent Universe with her.

Out of nowhere, a sudden gust of wind blew past, and a wooden stick was lodged into a wall.

Luo Lao'er pulled the stick out and saw that there was an arrow drawn on it. "Seventh Bro, you’re in luck! An underground auction is about to happen. These secret auctions are limited to people within a certain range, and only the people within that range will be informed of it, which means that joining one is entirely dependent on luck. This right here? This is a ticket!"

He waved the wooden stick.