Chapter 3688: Bygone Days

The mirror shot towards Lu Yin. Even when he used the full power of his consciousness against the mirror, it did not shatter. Instead, it brushed past him.

Lu Yin remained motionless. As the mirror passed by him, a vague silhouette stepped out from the surface of the mirror. It turned around and faced Lu Yin. The figure was also Lu Yin.

Staring at the shadowy Lu Yin, he recalled bits of information from Hua Manyi’s memories.

According to Hua Manyi’s memories, the Luminary known as Xing Jue the Nightmare used fear as a mirror.

Hua Manyi was aware that Xing Jue could draw out a creature’s deepest fears, which Lu Yin had experienced when Xing Jue had first attacked. However, the conscient posed no threat to him, so Lu Yin had paid the incident little mind.

Old Chief had described Xing Jue’s ability as “a man in the mirror, a nightmare among men.”

No one knew what that meant. Even Hua Manyi, who was also a Luminary, had never witnessed that particular ability.

At this moment, Lu Yin understood the description.

He was looking at the man in the mirror, the nightmare among men.

The blurry form of Lu Yin was the embodiment of all the fears that he had ever experienced. While the figure could not attack and was not dangerous, Xing Jue had removed those fears from Lu Yin’s consciousness, which forced him to relive them.

Lu Yin could not—and would not—avoid those fears. That was because they held not only his terror, but also triggering events, karma, and memories.

If he lost those fears, he would cease to be complete.

Suddenly, the mirror shot off, and it dragged the blurry Lu Yin with it.

This was Xing Jue’s most carefully hidden ability. Only Old Chief had ever seen it. None of the other Luminaries had ever seen this life-saving technique.

Given Lu Yin’s level, he knew that he could not afford to lose his past fears. Xing Jue was attempting to send those fears far away so that Lu Yin would be forced to chase after them. That would give Xing Jue enough time to escape. The blurry form of Lu Yin would eventually be caught, but in order to reclaim his lost fears, Lu Yin would have to relive them. That was the true power of Xing Jue’s ability.

While this could not directly harm Lu Yin, having to relive his fears would make it hard for him to do anything else for a time.

No matter how high one’s cultivation rose, their greatest enemy would never be another being, but rather their own self.

Immortality was a realm achieved alone. It could not be granted by another, and thus, in order to achieve Immortality, a person had to surpass themself.

Reliving one’s fears was a way to confront their past self.

This was not an attack, yet it was still a life-saving ability that gave Xing Jue absolute confidence.

The instant the mirror dragged the blurry Lu Yin away, Xing Jue’s consciousness abruptly reappeared. The conscient had been hiding their strength, and they instantly released their full power, taking an attack from a Skyshearer Millstone before fleeing in the opposite direction of the mirror.

Lu Yin took a single step, which was just what Xing Jue had expected. The human had to chase after the mirror, as he could not afford to lose his fears.

The sight of Lu Yin giving chase allowed Xing Jue to breathe a sigh of relief as they hurriedly fled.

Five seconds. Only five seconds passed, and while Xing Jue had fled a great distance, Lu Yin was still behind them.

“Yo- you’ve abandoned your past?” Xing Jue cried in disbelief.

Does this man not understand what it means to lose his past?

“Don’t you want to become an Immortal? Do you intend to remain incomplete?”

Lu Yin calmly stared back at Xing Jue. “Are you that certain that there’s no other way to deal with your technique?”

Xing Jue was at a loss. Of course there was no way to overcome their ability. Even Old Chief had said that any creature that cultivated, both conscients and biologicals, experienced fear. As long as one experienced fear, it could not be removed from their past, at least not as long as they wished to continue cultivating. Any creature that failed to grasp the dire consequences of abandoning their past could never hope to threaten Xue Jing.

This was what made their technique invincible.

Even if this human had caught the mirror already, there was no way he could have reclaimed his fears in that short an amount of time. It was simply impossible.

Xing Jue could not see it, but karma was slowly moving across the universe and seeping back into Lu Yin’s body.

Fear? What fear? Events had occurred, and where there was cause, there would be effect. Fear was nothing more than an effect. By connecting Karmic Lines to his own blurry image, Lu Yin was able to pull his karma back into himself without reexperiencing his past fears. It was wishful for Xing Jue to think that Lu Yin’s past could be torn away from him and his karma broken with such a method. How could that be possible?

Karma was a power dreadful enough that it far surpassed the imagination of ordinary cultivators.

Karma was a power that all beneath the Immortal realm could only look upon with awe. That included even a peak Dukkhan like the High Seraph.

Once Lu Yin honed his power of karma to a profound enough level, even the High Seraph would be incapable of opposing him.

Xing Jue could not comprehend how Lu Yin had unraveled their ability. Backing away, the conscient pleaded, “Human, spare me, and I’ll tell you a secret.”

“Speak,” Lu Yin replied coldly.

“There is a great secret within the Willbound Expanse. Have you heard of the Willbound Spire?”

“No,” Lu Yin answered.

Xing Jue went on, “The Willbound Expanse is the oldest location in the Consciousness Megaverse. It is said that it hides a path to Immortality, which is why the Thirteen Luminaries’ greatest desire is to explore it. Your Spirit Nidus’s High Seraph has come here on several occasions for that very reason.”

“The High Seraph knows of the Willbound Spire’s existence?” Lu Yin asked. He had wondered about this.

Wu Wei had not mentioned the Willbound Spire to the High Seraph, and neither had Hua Manyi. In that case, how had the High Seraph learned of it? Why did he seem both concerned and unconcerned about offering to share it with Lu Yin?

Xing Jue spoke with certainty, “Your High Seraph definitely knows of it. When five of the Thirteen Luminaries fought against him—including Wu Wei—two of those Luminaries died, and Wu Wei surrendered. From that battle, we are able to confirm that the High Seraph was seeking the Willbound Spire. He may not know its name, but there is no question that he is searching for it.”

Lu Yin nodded. “Well said. I’m also interested in it. Come here and follow me.”

Xing Jue immediately grew wary. “Human, as long as you spare me, I can tell you more secrets regarding the Consciousness Megaverse. I know secrets about the other Luminaries, and even some about the people from your Spirit Nidus. I have already shared the secret of the Willbound Spire with you.”

Suddenly, Lu Yin attacked. His consciousness pressed down to capture Xing Jue.

The conscient roared, “Human, you leave me no choice!”

With that, Xing Jue’s consciousness dispersed entirely, dividing into countless shadows that fled in every direction.

Lu Yin’s consciousness fell. Stars were enveloped, and none of the shadows could escape.

He quickly focused on one of the shadows; it was heading towards a Broken Realm that lay in the distance.

Earlier, when Lu Yin had chased after the Luminary, he had noticed the nearby Broken Realm. While others might not recognize it, he remembered it from the memories of Forbidden. This was one of the few Broken Realms recorded in that book whose danger level was unknown. No conscient had ever been willing to explore it, and every cultivator from the Spirit Nidus who had been forced into it had died, including even an Ortuser.

Driven to desperate measures, Xing Jue plunged straight into the Broken Realm. The other shadows of consciousness slowly faded away, as the one that had fled into the Broken Realm was Xing Jue.

Once the strand of consciousness entered the Broken Realm, it became completely motionless.

From the outside, the Broken Realm looked to be filled with stone. It was as if countless shattered rocks had formed a ravine. Not so much as a blade of grass could be seen.

Lu Yin slowly approached the Broken Realm and only stopped when he was right at its edge.

One more step, and he would enter. Xing Jue was no more than three steps away.

“Stop, human! This is a Broken Realm! Do you dare to enter it?” Xing Jue called out, their voice carried out from the Broken Realm by their consciousness. The Luminary did not dare to speak aloud.

Should even the slightest disturbance occur within a Broken Realm, no one could predict the potential consequences.

When Lu Yin had first entered the tablet world, he had also sat silently within an inn next to Black and White. None of them had dared to move, knowing that any sound could incite an assault by the gray remnants that filled that world.

At the time, Lu Yin had believed that the remnants were lingering spiritual forces. He was still unable to explain what they were, as conscients believed that these remnants were consciousnesses left from a distant past.

In short, there were many potential explanations.

Lu Yin stared at Xing Jue. “Why don’t you dare to go further in?”

“Broken Realms are dangerous. Don’t you know that?”

“There’s nothing dangerous about them. I’ve never seen any Broken Realm that held any real danger. Many cultivators from our Spirit Nidus treat them like scenic spots,” Lu Yin casually replied.

Xing Jue was naturally aware of this. Ninety‑nine percent of the Broken Realms in the Consciousness Megaverse were perfectly safe. However, that remaining one percent had claimed the lives of countless people from the Spirit Nidus. It was only by continually forcing invading cultivators into Broken Realms that Forbidden had become such a detailed record.

“This Broken Realm is different.”

“How so?”

“An Ortuser once died here.”

Lu Yin was taken aback. “That’s impressive, but can an Ortuser really compare to me?”

Xing Jue threatened, “That Ortuser died here instantly. Even we have no idea just how dangerous this Broken Realm might be. If you insist on coming after me, we’ll die here together.”

Lu Yin sneered. “I don’t buy it.”

With that, he stepped into the Broken Realm. Everything around him turned gray. Broken stones littered the area. It was desolate with an ancient, eerie aura. He recalled when he had first entered the tablet world and how he had thought he had seen actual ghosts.

Xing Jue cried out in alarm, “Human, don’t be rash! I’m not lying! This Broken Realm is much too dangerous. You don’t want to die, do you? Even we Thirteen Luminaries don’t dare to enter this place. Honestly, we lure you humans to this place to die. If you hadn’t cornered me, I would have never come in. Don’t do anything reckless!”

Of course, Lu Yin was perfectly aware of just how dangerous the Broken Realm was. He was only pretending not to care in an attempt to force Xing Jue back out.

No one wanted to face the unknown, not even Lu Yin, no matter how confident he might be in his own strength.

Each time Lu Yin took a step forward, Xing Jue moved back. Both were moving so cautiously that not even the pebbles on the ground were disturbed in their passing.

“You think that I’ll believe you? This is just a Broken Realm,” Lu Yin stated. “To me, this one is no different from any others. Well, it’s a bit uglier.”

Xing Jue was growing increasingly anxious. Broken Realms were the Consciousness Megaverse’s advantage. Using them had allowed the megaverse to resist being destroyed by the Spirit Nidus for a long, long time. Many powerful cultivators from the Spirit Nidus had died in Broken Realms. Naturally, the conscients would never reveal the truth about the Broken Realms to the Spirit Nidus, but there were also drawbacks, and Xing Jue was suffering one of those drawbacks at this moment.

If someone did not believe the danger in front of them and followed a conscient into a Broken Realm, both would be dragged down. Unfortunately, Xing Jue could not explain this clearly to Lu Yin.

At this point in time, words had become useless.

Helpless, Xing Jue kept retreating until they reached a cliff. One more step would send them past it.

Wait!

Xing Jue suddenly realized something, and they stared at Lu Yin. “You’re afraid of this Broken Realm.”

Lu Yin arched a brow. “What nonsense are you spouting now?”

Xing Jue declared, “If you weren’t afraid, why would you be so cautious? You should have attacked right when you first entered. Did you already know how dangerous this Broken Realm is?”

Lu Yin exhaled. It was impossible for a person to keep their subconscious actions hidden. Even just a few steps could betray one’s thoughts. “Fine, you’ve scared me. I don’t know if this Broken Realm is really dangerous or not, but your fear certainly does appear to be real.”