Lu Yin felt a heavy weight settle onto his shoulders. The strength hidden within the Ossis Ark was comparable to that of the Immemorial Citadel, which was home to many of humanity’s most powerful experts. If the remnants of Aeternus united with the Ossis Ark, not even the Heavens Sect would be able to endure their combined might.

“I’ll try again.”

A short time later, Lu Yin descended once more. He still was unable to find a solution. The only possibility was if he mastered Dominion.

Wait.

He looked around, examining the different Scourges and the cracks that riddled the ground. Rivers of divine energy had once flowed across the Scourges, and supposedly, True God’s three ultimate techniques were hidden beneath those rivers. Where had they gone?

Lu Yuan and the others would eventually be able to break free from Dominion if they worked together, but doing so would take a long time—far longer than they could afford to spend.

Even Lu Yin’s help would only save them a negligible amount of time. It would take far too long to break the barrier.

Frustrated, Lu Yin released his inner universe from his chest and spread it across the entire Second Scourge. His current strength meant that his inner universe could fill all six Scourges.

He wanted to see if he could find True God’s three ultimate techniques which were supposedly hidden in the Scourges.

He had already learned the Natural Art, but not yet mastered it. There were still two techniques remaining.

As his inner universe continued to expand, stars spun out across the dark Scourges. It was as though the universe was lighting up the Scourges, illuminating them with the light of the cosmos.

Nothing was found anywhere in the Second Scourge, nor in the Third or the First. Then, as Lu Yin’s inner universe reached the Fourth Scourge…

Wait, is that Wei Shu?

Lu Yin’s eyes snapped open, and he suddenly vanished.

Deep underground in the distant Fourth Scourge, Wei Shu was curled up. He did not dare to move. His eyes were closed, and there was no energy within his body at all.

His cultivation had fallen, and he was no longer a peak powerhouse. Nothing at all stood out about him.

This was Wei Shu’s way of staying alive. If he had not done this, he would have died long ago.

The sudden battle between the Heavens Sect and the Aeternals had caught the man off guard, and he had not had any chance to escape. He had believed that such a battle was in the distant future, but it had erupted without any warning.

As soon as the fighting started, Wei Shu had fled underground. He had never had any intention of joining the battle. The fighting had been fierce, and the Scourges had been torn apart. The black Mother Tree had swayed, and had even tilted. Wei Shu had trembled in fear, ecstatic that he had not joined the battle.

The fighting had taken place everywhere, both above and below ground.

He had been waiting for the moment when a victor would be decided. He firmly believed that Aeternus would win because their foundation was so deep, but the actual results of the battle left the man in despair; Aeternus had lost.

When the Aeternals were defeated and True God was trapped in the Six Paths of Reincarnation Realm, Wei Shu had made a decision: he would disperse his power and fall from being a peak powerhouse in order to protect himself.

There had never been any chance for Wei Shu to escape, from the moment the battle had started. It had been impossible for anyone to leave the Scourges. Even after the fighting had ended, escape had still been impossible.

He was certain that, the moment he tried to tear open the void, those terrifying human powerhouses would sense his actions and instantly crush him like a bug. It was inevitable.

By dispersing his cultivation, as long as Wei Shu remained unnoticed underground, he would not only be able to stay alive, he would also be able to continue searching for True God’s ultimate techniques.

The rivers of divine energy had all been drained away, but Wei Shu knew that True God’s ultimate techniques were not hidden in the rivers themselves; they were hidden in the riverbeds. This was something that he had learned after years within Aeternus. He had made countless connections and exhausted every resource available.

Wei Shu continued to wait. He was waiting for the Aeternals to be completely defeated and for humanity to secure total victory. He was waiting for the Scourges to be left as an abandoned wasteland. At that time, there would be no one to compete with him. He would be able to freely search for True God's ultimate techniques and then use them to climb back up and join the ranks of truly top-tier powerhouses.

A peak powerhouse? That level had once been impressive, but it had since become redundant.

After mastering True God's ultimate techniques, even a Semi-Progenitor could become invincible. Just look at Lord Lu. What kinds of battles had he fought while only a Semi-Progenitor? After his breakthrough to the Progenitor realm, he had become one of the most powerful individuals in the entire megaverse.

Wei Shu did not intend to compare himself to someone like Lu Yin, but if he compared himself to others, he was more than capable.

He would sleep for countless years as he waited for the ideal opportunity. This was not the first time Wei Shu had done such a thing.

Content in his slumber, Wei Shu never imagined that he would be discovered. The battle had finished, and no one would visit the barren Fourth Scourge.

When a dim light shone down on him, Wei Shu opened his eyes. He stared blankly up at a figure above him. The man grimaced, and his expression looked worse than if he were crying. "L-Lord Lu?"

Wei Shu had never even considered that Lu Yin himself might find him.

While Wei Shu had considered the possibility of being discovered, there was no chance of him being found by the most powerful man in the megaverse. There was no need for Lord Lu to bother with someone like Wei Shu; he was just an insignificant ant.

Lu Yin also had not expected to find the man.

Wei Shu had been something of an oddity in the Fourth Scourge. He had avoided any sort of fighting, and he had instead focused on searching for True God’s ultimate techniques. The man had even created a map of the rivers and lakes of divine energy across five of the Scourges, which was quite impressive.

No one else in Aeternus was as skilled at making connections as Wei Shu.

Looking down at the man, Lu Yin said, “You really know how to hide.”

Wei Shu trembled as he kneeled down, overcome with a sense of despair. “Lord Lu, I’m just a nobody. I’ve never done anything to harm humanity. Please, don’t kill me. Give me a chance to change, Lord Lu! I beg you!”

Lu Yin had no time to waste. “Where are True God’s ultimate techniques?”

Wei Shu was momentarily stunned, and he stared at Lu Yin in confusion. “True God’s… ultimate techniques?”

“You’ve been searching for them for so long, don’t you have any leads?” Lu Yin pressed. He had searched all six Scourges with his inner universe, but had found nothing.

Wei Shu blinked. “I… I don’t know.”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed.

Seeing the change in Lu Yin’s expression, Wei Shu quickly continued, “I may not have found them, but I know how to look for them.”

“Go on.”

“Dig.”

“Dig?”

“Yes. Supposedly, Lord Xu Jin found an ultimate technique by digging it out. Long ago, something happened in the Second Scourge. All of the corpse kings, as well as the humans from the Aeternus Kingdoms, were digging. Lord Xu Jin raised up entire sections of the rivers of divine energy and dredged the riverbeds. Ultimately, they found nothing.

“However, we now know that Lord Xu Jin learned True God’s Natural Art. He must have found it while digging.

“And as for Lord Di Qiong, he was given an ultimate technique by True God himself.”

Lu Yin frowned. “Di Qiong didn’t master any of the ultimate techniques.”

Lu Yin himself had killed Di Qiong. If the man had mastered one of True God’s ultimate techniques, there was no way Di Qiong would not have used it.

Wei Shu’s face turned pale. “I don’t know about that, but I am sure of one thing: if you want True God’s ultimate techniques, you’ll have to dig for them.”

“All of the rivers of divine energy are gone. Do you really think that the ultimate techniques were left behind?” Lu Yin asked. He had not held out much hope even while searching.

Wei Shu nodded resolutely. “They’re there. Trust me, Lord Lu. If we dig up all of the river beds across the six Scourges, we’ll definitely find the ultimate techniques.”

“The riverbeds?”

“That’s where the techniques should be hidden.”

Lu Yin's inner universe had already enveloped the six Scourges, and a map of the rivers of divine energy appeared in his mind. Despite how damaged the Scourges were from the recent battle, Lu Yin could still find where the rivers had once run.

Overwhelming power rippled through the six Scourges, catching the attention of Lu Yuan and the others. They all looked over, as they did not understand what Lu Yin was doing.

Wei Shu felt the ground beneath him tremble, and the nearby channel that had once been a river was dredged by an unseen force. This did not only happen nearby, as the entire Fourth Scourge was upended. It was as though a giant serpent was slithering beneath the land.

Wei Shu also knew that this was not just happening in the Fourth Scourge. The river beds in all six Scourges were being dredged.

Lu Yin suddenly glanced in a particular direction and then vanished.

Wei Shu collapsed, his body going limp as he was overcome with bitterness. Lu Yin must have found what he was searching for, what should have been Wei Shu’s.

In the Fifth Scourge, a small stone at the bottom of a shattered river channel had caught Lu Yin’s attention.

As the stone was lifted from the river bed, it flew towards the star of divine energy in Lu Yin's inner universe, drawn by the divine energy.

Lu Yin grabbed the stone and examined it.

After a while, he crushed the stone in frustration. It was a copy of True God’s Natural Art.

Apparently, of his three ultimate techniques, True God had only passed down his Natural Art, keeping the other two for himself.

That made sense. Why would True God leave something like Dominion behind in the Scourges? It would give others the key to break free.

It was simple logic, but Lu Yin had still hoped to find more. Ultimately, the Natural Art was all that he could find.

He returned to the Second Scourge and watched as Lu Yuan and the others continued to attack Dominion. Lu Yin had only one option remaining: make another breakthrough.

His previous breakthroughs with Dust World and Infinity had both induced massive disturbances. He could only hope that his next breakthrough would similarly create an incredible commotion that would be powerful enough to break Dominion.

Lu Yin asked Lu Yuan and the others to stop attacking the barrier and to move back. Lu Yin then looked up. This time, he intended to break through with his Wordless Heavenly Book.

If not for his previous breakthroughs with Dust World and Infinity, Lu Yin would have never considered trying to break through with his Wordless Heavenly Book. Even at this moment, he did not fully understand the purpose of this inner world beyond blocking sequence particles and allowing him to name people to be shunned from the Origin Universe.

He did not even have an idea of a direction for this particular breakthrough.

However, would he be able to find that direction even if he waited longer? No, he would remain lost. In that case, he might as well attempt a breakthrough and see what the Wordless Heavenly Book could become.

As for Lightstream, Lu Yin wanted to save that inner world for last. It used the power of time, and he hoped to one day be able to use it to sail along the River of Aeons.

The Wordless Heavenly Book appeared, and Lu Yin raised his head. Golden light shone down on his face in a warm and comforting manner.

As he stared up at the dark-red sky, Lu Yin wondered what kind of tribulation his Wordless Heavenly Book would trigger. He had never wished for a large tribulation before.

It was a shame. If he could repeat the tribulation that he had faced for Dust World’s breakthrough, where parallel universes had crashed together to crush Lu Yin, it might be enough to break Dominion.

Far away, Lu Yuan and the others watched Lu Yin, their expressions somber.

“What kind of tribulation will be triggered from being acknowledged by the Origin Universe?” Hongyan Mavis had no idea what would happen. She had never been acknowledged by the entire Origin Universe.

Throughout history, only the Origin Progenitor had also received that acknowledgement. Lu Yin was the second.

At best, the Six Daos had only ruled over a single Mainland each.

Lu Yuan's expression grew heavy. “I don’t know either. All of us were only acknowledged by a Mainland. None of us ever had a breakthrough like what he’s attempting with his Wordless Heavenly Book. This is the first time. It’s possible that not even Master knows.”

Wu Tian solemnly said, “Heart refinement.”

Lu Yuan and Hongyan Mavis looked at Wu Tian, as neither of them understood what the man meant.

Wu Tian had enlightened countless beings, and in a way, that was much like being acknowledged by the Origin Universe. However, Wu Tian had never pursued that particular power.

OMA's Thoughts

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA