Chapter 3641: Gone

Hearing Lu Yin's words caused Yi Shang to let out a helpless sigh. "That's right, this was my backup plan. As long as I obtain a Divine Projection sequence base, it would be fine regardless of if I use it or he does. I simply never expected you to take the Impression Realm, Seraph Lu."

Losing the Impression Realm was also one of the reasons why Old Yu had decided to replace Yi Shang with Yi Nan. As soon as the matter was exposed, Yi Shang could have lost his title of Seraph in an instant.

Old Yu was not willing to work with a Seraph whose position was unstable.

However, even if Old Yu had calculated everything else, he had failed to anticipate Lu Yin’s intervention. Yi Nan’s elimination had ruined the old man’s scheme.

Similarly, Old Yu had not anticipated Yi Shang having a backup plan in place. Yu Shang was simply waiting for the Divine Projection sequence base to be completed.

Anyone who could cultivate to their level of power was not a fool, but it was likewise impossible for them to see through everything.

Lu Yin grew puzzled. "You could have shared your backup plan with me to protect yourself. There was no need to expose Rong Xiang’s identity. Why did you do that?"

Yi Shang's expression faded. "I wanted to give you leverage that you could use against me, Seraph Lu."

Lu Yin chuckled. "Are you so certain that I’m going to kill you?"

"There's no need to guess. When your life falls into another's hands, the only thing you can do is try to save yourself."

"Rong Xiang alone isn't enough to use as leverage against you," Lu Yin said.

Yi Shang sighed. "I was merely trying to save myself. Whether my efforts work or fail depends on you, Seraph Lu. All I can do is increase the number of bargaining chips that I hold."

Lu Yin asked, "Where did you hide the key? You were so confident that Zhan Ming can’t get it despite him also being a Seraph."

"I'll take you there now, Seraph Lu."

The meteor continued to shoot through space, but there was no longer anyone on it.

After some time, the two men arrived in the Daquan Domain.

Lu Yin had not expected Yi Shang to hide the key in his own domain. What had made the man so certain that Zhan Ming could not get to it? Rong Xiang was unable to stop someone like Zhan Ming. In fact, that might be beyond even Yi Shang himself.

Only after seeing where the key was hidden did Lu Yin understand Yi Shang’s confidence.

It was in a box made from an unknown material that had been hidden in the void. While the void outside the box was calm, inside it was pure chaos. Yi Shang had created a pocket of extremely unstable space.

"Any disturbance at all, even a mere speck of dust, will shake its internals, causing the key within to vanish. No one can possibly determine where it will end up.

"As for the box itself, it’s made from the same materials used to construct sequence bases, which means that it is extremely difficult to destroy. Even someone as strong as the Seven Seraphs will need time to break the box. Regardless of whether that time is a quarter of an hour or an instant, it’s impossible for anyone to break the box before the key disappears."

Yi Shang explained with full confidence, "I brought Zhan Ming here and showed him this. He won’t dare to risk taking the key by force because he understands exactly how difficult it is to destroy this box.

"The only way to open the box is with the secondary key. The only place where space is even slightly stable in the keyhole that unlocks the box. As I said before, if even a speck of dust touches anywhere else on the box, the key will vanish."

Lu Yin examined the box, and he was able to sense the chaos within it. Yi Shang’s description was quite accurate.

Lu Yin could easily shatter the box, but no matter how easy that was, it would still take a brief bit of time to break the box, and that was enough for the key to disappear. The only possibility was if the time inside the box could be frozen.

This would be easy enough to accomplish in the Tianyuan Megaverse, but in the Spirit Nidus, where there was no River of Aeons, it was impossible to freeze time. Moving at the speed of time and freezing time were two entirely different phenomena.

One was still able to be sensed by an enemy, even those who had not cultivated the power of time.

The other was simply impossible to perceive. If a person was caught in a pocket of frozen time, escape would become incredibly difficult.

If he was in the Tianyuan Megaverse, Lu Yin would not even need to stop time to retrieve the key. He could simply traverse the River of Aeons, reach inside the box, and take the key out without any difficulty.

Unfortunately, that was impossible to do in the Spirit Nidus.

Yi Shang was completely confident because Zhan Ming had already done everything possible to find a means to retrieve the key, only to have failed. This was not something that could be resolved with strength alone.

Yi Shang also knew Lu Yin had cultivated the power of time, but so what? They were in the Spirit Nidus, not the Tianyuan Megaverse. It was nearly impossible for anyone to use the power of time in the Spirit Nidus, but that general disadvantage had become the perfect armor protecting the key from being forcefully taken.

Lu Yin stood in front of the box, contemplating how he could retrieve the key.

Yi Shang did not interfere, and he simply allowed Lu Yin to think.

After a long time, Lu Yin lifted a hand. His palm was covered with a layer of Ethersand.

This same substance had once helped him to find Tian Ci in the Tianyuan Megaverse, which had been truly remarkable. Ethersand could be used flawlessly when combined with the compass.

Yi Shang was taken aback. "Seraph Lu, what are you trying to do?"

"I’m going to give it a try," Lu Yin replied calmly.

Yi Shang's heart sank. "You can't! You only have one chance! If you fail, no one will know where the key might end up. I spent more time than you can imagine to find this key after I built up the Daquan Domain's Chamber of Commerce. If the key disappears, we will never find it again."

"It’s fine. I’m young. I can afford to wait," Lu Yin replied. As he spoke, his consciousness appeared behind him as he released his Nine Heavens. He intended to destroy the box as quickly as possible.

The box had been made from very sturdy materials, but that did not mean that it could withstand Lu Yin’s power.

Even in his normal state, it would be easy for him to break the box, but the faster he could do so, the better.

Yi Shang desperately tried to stop Lu Yin, the old man’s face growing increasingly pale. "Seraph Lu, please reconsider! You really can’t risk this. The space in this box is incredibly unstable. If you fail and Zhan Ming finds out—"

Lu Yin looked over, a twinkle in his eyes. "How will Zhan Ming find out that I did anything?"

Yi Shang was stunned.

Right, Zhan Ming won’t know. He’s already confirmed that the third key is here, and he’s certain that, if even he can’t retrieve it, no one else can either. There’s no way for Zhan Ming to realize that Lu Yin is trying anything at all. Even if he fails and the key disappears, Zhan Ming won’t know anything.

However, even if it was possible to keep the matter hidden from Zhan Ming, the key would still be gone.

Yi Shang was not willing to take this risk. He had waited an incredibly long time to acquire this key after building up his control of the Chamber of Commerce. Even his greater ambitions to seize control of the Spirit Nidus’s official trade associations had been largely driven by his desire to obtain the third key. If it vanished, Yi Shang’s frustration might very well cause him to suffer internal injuries.

For Lu Yin, the Gate of Laws was another part of the Spirit Nidus. No matter what lay on the other side of the gate, it had nothing to do with his Tianyuan Megaverse. Since that was the situation, he would not suffer any loss, even if the key disappeared. Though, it would certainly be better if he could obtain the key.

His hand rose and slowly reached for the box.

Yi Shang’s eyes were locked onto Lu Yin’s hand. "Seraph Lu, you really can’t do this! The key will definitely disappear!"

Lu Yin glanced over. Yi Shang seemed to be telling the truth. Lu Yin’s actions were partly a way of testing Yi Shang.

This old man had deliberately made the situation sound dire, repeatedly pointing out that even Zhan Ming had not dared to make an attempt. Yi Shang must have assumed that Lu Yin would have similar reservations. However, what if the old man had been lying all along? While Lu Yin had not sensed any sort of deception, Yi Shang was still an ancient Dukkhan, and it was only natural for him to have some tricks hidden up his sleeves. That was why Lu Yin had chosen to take action and test the waters.

Judging by Yi Shang’s reaction, he had been telling the truth.

Regardless of the situation, Lu Yin was still going to try to take the key out. After all, his aim was not to get Yi Shang’s half of the secondary key to make a deal with the Gate of Laws. Rather, he wanted to deal with Yong Heng.

Boom!

His hand struck the box, instantly shattering it as he reached for the key. However, the box was empty. The key was gone.

Yi Shang's heart sank.

As expected...

At that moment, Lightstream appeared, and time reversed by one second.

While the River of Aeons did not exist in the Spirit Nidus and Lu Yin could not travel up it, as long as time itself existed, it could be reversed with Lightstream. Lu Yin did not need the River of Aeons to be connected to the Spirit Nidus.

With time rolling back by one second, the box was returned to normal, and Lu Yin’s hand returned to its original position. It was as if he had never moved at all.

Yi Shang was shocked.

The power of time—no, the power to reverse time?

It was no wonder why Lu Yin was willing to make the attempt; he could reverse time by one second. Yi Shang let out a sigh of relief. "Seraph Lu, do you believe me now? It really is impossible to take the key. We have to get Zhan Ming’s half of the secondary key."

Lu Yin frowned. Being made from materials for sequence bases, this box really was durable. Even with an attack strengthened by the Nine Heavens, which had instantly shattered the box, Lu Yin had still been a fraction of a second too late.

His goal had not even been to take the key, but rather to coat it with Ethersand. And yet, even that had failed.

If this was beyond even Lu Yin’s abilities, then it made sense that Zhan Ming had not dared to make any attempts to retrieve the key. Doing so would have caused the key to be lost forever.

There were less than five people in the current megaverse who were capable of instantly shattering the box, and neither Yi Shang nor Zhan Ming were on that short list. While they were both capable of breaking the box, they could not do so quickly enough.

However, Lu Yin was unwilling to give up. With the power of time, he could keep trying. He was bound to eventually succeed.

So, he shattered the box again.

Yi Shang’s heart clenched as he stared at the box in a daze. It was shattered, and the key was gone.

Again.

Gone.

Again.

Gone.

Time and time again, Lu Yin attempted to take the key, reversing time over and over. Yi Shang eventually grew numb to the entire situation, though his face spasmed uncontrollably.

He had thought long and hard and had paid a tremendous price to gather the materials needed to make this box. He had negotiated with Zhan Ming and concocted a scheme that was intended to leave even Zhan Ming hesitant. Despite all of that, Lu Yin was repeatedly breaking the box. Seeing this brought about an unpleasant feeling, yet there was absolutely nothing that Yi Shang could do to stop it.

On the other hand, if even the man hailed as being invincible in the Spirit Nidus struggled to overcome Yi Shang’s arrangements, it could be taken as a form of validation of his efforts.

"Hah—" Lu Yin let out a long breath.

Yi Shang warned, "Seraph Lu, let this go. This box was made with sequence base materials. We should focus on finding a way to take Zhan Ming’s half of the secondary key instead."

Lu Yin looked at him. "I shouldn’t try again?"

"There’s no need."

Lu Yin looked back at the box. "But... the key is gone."

This news startled Yi Shang, and his head whipped back around. When he saw the shattered box and that it was empty, his pupils shrank. He cried out, "Where’s the key?!"

He had been so focused on convincing Lu Yin to stop that the old man had stopped paying attention to the box.

Lu Yin shrugged. "It’s gone."

Yi Shang’s mouth hung open as he stared at Lu Yin. "Then... reverse time?"

"I’ve already done that too many times. It won’t work anymore," Lu Yin explained in a casual tone.

Yi Shang was dumbfounded.

No... it doesn’t work anymore? What about the key? The key’s gone!

He felt a sudden urge to attack Lu Yin, but he forcibly restrained himself.

This fool! I warned him again and again not to try, and yet he still failed! The key’s gone. What am I supposed to use to trade with Zhan Ming now? Even worse, the box is shattered.

Lu Yin smirked as he looked over at Yi Shang. "Frustrated?"

Yi Shang gritted his teeth. He did not dare to meet Lu Yin’s gaze at this moment, afraid of revealing his hatred.

Lu Yin chuckled. "It looks like you’re hiding something. Is that even necessary? After all, I never planned on letting you leave."

Yi Shang briefly froze, only to then give a bitter smile. Right, he had almost forgotten. Lu Yin had never intended to let him go. His life was still in Lu Yin’s hands.

Whether the key was lost or not no longer mattered to Yi Shang.