Chapter 3689: Stone

Xing Jue could not tell if Lu Yin was being honest or not. “I’m not lying to you. This Broken Realm ranks near the top of the most dangerous realms in the entire Consciousness Megaverse. We don’t fear it because it’s dangerous, but rather because we have no idea just how dangerous it is. At the very least, no Ortuser from your Spirit Nidus could survive this place. That already makes it at least second-tier in strength. Even our Consciousness Megaverse’s Celestial realm conscients have died here.”

Lu Yin narrowed his eyes. “Then why aren’t you leaving?”

“Let me go, and I’ll tell you a secret that will allow us to both leave safely.”

“Go ahead.”

“Human, we know just how cunning you creatures can be. I’ll write the secret down and leave it here in this Broken Realm. After I’m gone, you can retrieve it.”

Lu Yin sneered. “I’ve seen plenty of your little conscient tricks. When I go in to retrieve the item, it’s going to blow up the moment I touch it, dooming me. You said you’re Xing Jue, right? I’ll give you one last chance: tell me the secret, and I’ll let you go. If you refuse, I’m quite curious to see just how dangerous this Broken Realm truly is. No matter how powerful it might be, neither of us will die instantly. So, who do you think has a better chance of making it out alive?”

Xing Jue replied in a cold tone, “It won’t necessarily be you. I’m a conscient, while you’re a biological creature. In Broken Realms, we conscients always hold the advantage.”

“Then why don’t we test that out?” Lu Yin was pushing for a fight.

Xing Jue was unable to read Lu Yin’s thoughts. If the human truly understood just how dangerous this Broken Realm was, then that was fine, as it meant that he would not dare to act rashly. However, if he was ignorant, then things could get tricky. Xing Jue might be forced to make a move.

For a moment, the Luminary hesitated.

“I’ll give you until the count of three. This is your only chance,” Lu Yin stated, his eyes glued to Xing Jue. The more Lu Yin pressed, the more panicked the conscient seemed. “One.”

Xing Jue growled, “I swear, the moment this Broken Realm is triggered, you’ll end up dead or crippled. How will you continue fighting in the Consciousness Megaverse then? You humans are always fighting among yourselves.”

“Two.”

“You must be a newly anointed Seraph. Don’t think that I don’t know how you Seraphs also fight among yourselves. That Seraph from the Hundred Grasses Domani was the same back then.”

“Three.”

“Fine, I’ll talk.” Xing Jue did not dare take the risk. In the face of danger, the ignorant grew bold, but the conscients’ nature was to survive. Even if Xing Jue could overcome unknown dangers, it was impossible to overcome their own instincts.

Lu Yin’s lips curved upwards. “Start talking.”

Xing Jue hesitated briefly before continuing in a low voice. “There are humans among you that are actually our own. They are controlled by conscients. I can give you the list.”

Lu Yin arched a brow. This felt too familiar.

Rooting out traitors again? Interesting.

Xing Jue soon gave Lu Yin a list.

“All of your Spirit Nidus’s Seven Seraphs have been here. One was especially odd. She clearly had a chance to kill one of us—one of the Thirteen Luminaries—and yet she didn’t. When I asked Old Chief about her, he confirmed that she isn’t one of ours.”

Lu Yin grew interested. “Who is that?”

“Jiu Xian, the woman who’s always drinking.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. Jiu Xian? She actually represented the Nine Odysseys Megaverse rather than the Spirit Nidus. It appeared that the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had no wish to eliminate the Thirteen Luminaries.

Why would that be? Resetting the Consciousness Megaverse would allow someone to become an Immortal. Did the Nine Odysseys Megaverse not want a reset?

As Lu Yin continued to think about the matter, he realized that, while it was possible for the Consciousness Megaverse to block the Spirit Nidus, no matter how the conscients fought, they would never be able to block the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. Just one of the Greater Sancti could deal with the Consciousness Megaverse on their own. If the Nine Odysseys Megaverse wanted a reset, it would have happened long ago.

There were originally four Greater Sancti. Even if one had died, that still left three. Given that there were three Greater Sancti, did they not want to see another Immortal appear? While the vacancy had to be filled, perhaps they only wanted that to happen under their control.

The Spirit Nidus believed that they could reset the Consciousness Megaverse, but the truth was that the decision would never be theirs.

Everything that had been done—all the deaths they had suffered, and the endless hatred—had merely laid the groundwork for the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

The Tianyuan Megaverse had suffered, and its potential had been weakened when the Spirit Nidus had joined with Aeternus to overthrow the Heavens Sect. But that had most likely only happened by the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s order.

The three Greater Sancti were truly akin to gods, standing above everything and ruling over multiple megaverses.

“There’s another secret, and this should be what you want to know the most.” Xing Jue paused before slowly stating, “The location of the Willbound Expanse.”

Lu Yin narrowed his eyes. “You’re willing to tell me that?”

Xing Jue was uncertain of whether Lu Yin was aware of the Willbound Expanse’s location or not. Of course Lu Yin knew, but he had to act ignorant. Only then would Old Chief’s plan to trap the High Seraph be carried out.

At this moment, revealing the Willbound Expanse’s location was Xing Jue’s best chance to stay alive. Even if the information was not what Lu Yin wanted, he had to hear it, and he also had to act as though it was new information to him.

“As long as you let me go, I’ll tell you.”

Lu Yin stared intently at the cloud of consciousness before him. “Fine.”

Xing Jue appeared to hesitate again. Only after a long time had passed did they finally reveal the Willbound Expanse’s location. It was the same location that Lu Yin had received from the High Seraph.

“Well? You can let me go now, right?” Xing Jue asked. Their consciousness was focused entirely on Lu Yin, afraid that the human would change his mind.

Lu Yin raised a hand, instantly making Xing Jue wary.

Instead, Lu Yin just waved his hand. “Go on.”

Xing Jue felt as though their heart was in their throat. “You’re really letting me leave?”

“You don’t want to go?”

“No, I’ll go.” Xing Jue drifted upwards, but they moved very, very slowly. With a chance to live within reach, the Luminary did not want to ruin things.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Soon enough, the conscient emerged from the Broken Realm and raced away.

Lu Yin’s eyes grew cold. He moved away from the Broken Realm with a single step, instantly vanishing.

Far away, Xing Jue let out a shrill scream, “You said you’d let me go!”

“But I never said that I wouldn’t chase you.”

“Human, you’re despicable!”

“You’re no better.”

Boom!

The universe quaked, and consciousness surged briefly before everything fell silent.

Lu Yin stood in outer space, a dark expression on his face. He vanished once again, returning to the edge of the Broken Realm, where he peered inside. “Get out.”

Within the Broken Realm, a barely visible shadow of consciousness moved about. It was Xing Jue. What had fled just moments ago had been a decoy. The conscient had never trusted Lu Yin.

“Human, you really are despicable.”

Lu Yin chuckled. “The conscients who’ve lived for so long are incredibly cautious. You won’t even run.”

“Nowhere is safer than this Broken Realm. I can at least survive in here. Human, what’s your name?” Xing Jue asked. As soon as the Luminary had entered the Broken Realm, they had hidden their true self. The figure that had spoken with Lu Yin had been nothing more than a strand of consciousness disguised to look like the conscient. Even the escape had been a test.

Had the escape proven successful, Lu Yin would have left, and Xing Jue’s real body would have been safe. Failure meant that the conscient would stay within the Broken Realm. The fact that Lu Yin had agreed to allow Xing Jue to leave proved that Lu Yin also feared the Broken Realm, which made it the safest place.

Lu Yin had indeed been deceived for a brief moment. He had not expected Xing Jue to keep such a trump card hidden even after retreating into a Broken Realm. Such powerful beings were always hard to kill, as each one had many tricks to stay alive.

Xing Jue was one of the best at doing that. Both their cunning and their methods of using consciousness were all geared towards survival. The Luminary’s means were even more impressive than what Wu Wei and Hua Manyi had been capable of doing to stay alive.

Lu Yin looked at Xing Jue within the Broken Realm. “You didn’t escape just now, so you really have no intention of leaving.”

“Human, you also fear this Broken Realm. I don’t know how you learned of its dangers, but I’m certain that you won’t act rash within it.”

Lu Yin sneered. “Knowing not to be rash doesn’t mean not doing anything.”

“I told you that secret earlier in exchange for you to not attack me in this place.”

“Not enough.”

“Then what do you want?”

“Tell me about the Willbound Spire.”

Xing Jue replied, “The Willbound Spire is the greatest secret of my Consciousness Megaverse. I won’t tell you about it.”

Earlier, just the name of the Willbound Spire had been mentioned, indicating its existence. At that time, Xing Jue had been certain that they could escape and that Lu Yin would die at the Willbound Expanse with the High Seraph. However, that certainty no longer existed. This human was not only powerful, but also quite devious. Such a person would not die easily, and that naturally meant that the secret of the Willbound Spire could not be easily revealed to him.

Lu Yin moved his arm. “Are you sure that you won’t tell me?”

Xing Jue grew more cautious, and they retreated deeper into the Broken Realm. “Human, don’t do anything here, or else we’ll both die.”

Lu Yin raised his hand and pointed a finger forward. A blast of wind shot into the Broken Realm, shattering a stone.

The moment that Lu Yin attacked, Xing Jue evaded.

The stone shattered, yet the Broken Realm remained completely still.

“Human, don’t do pointless things! If you could see through the Broken Realms so easily, your Spirit Nidus wouldn’t have fought us for so long.”

Lu Yin sighed. “In that case, why don’t we make a bet on which one of us will walk away alive.”

With that, he stepped into the Broken Realm. This time, there was no hesitation. Lu Yin’s consciousness was unleashed in a thunderous burst that shot at Xing Jue. He refused to believe that this dangerous Broken Realm could kill him.

Given Lu Yin’s current strength, if he lacked the courage to even fight within a Broken Realm, what was the point of his power? To his knowledge, the only creatures in existence who could reliably defeat him were Immortals. Even the High Seraph, an expert who was a peak Dukkhan, would struggle to defeat Lu Yin, and he might find it impossible to actually kill him.

Lu Yin simply refused to believe that this Broken Realm harbored power at the level of an Immortal.

Xing Jue cried out in astonishment, “Human, you’re courting death!”

Consciousness filled the Broken Realm before roaring downwards.

Xing Jue was overwhelmed by Lu Yin’s powerful consciousness. As Lu Yin attacked, the ground of the Broken Realm cracked apart, and the nearby grey stones shot at him.

He casually shattered the stones with a wave of his hand, stepping directly in front of Xing Jue. A hand reached out and grabbed the conscient.

As that happened, Lu Yin felt a chill from behind, signaling the arrival of some terrifying danger.

He turned his head to look and saw a cube of stone shooting through the sky, hurtling at his face.

Lu Yin held Xing Jue with one hand while attacking the stone block with his other.

Bang!

The void shattered and twisted as spatial cracks spread out in every direction. The Hollow was devouring everything.

Lu Yin’s eyes grew frigid. The limit of physical power?

The stone cracked and split apart. As that happened, another block of stone shot at Lu Yin. More cubes of stone hurtled at him from all directions, surrounding him.

Lu Yin kept Xing Jue captive with a hand as Wielder - God covered the other. A swing of that hand seemed to freeze the void briefly. After that, all the stones shooting towards him crumbled to dust. The horrifying power of the shockwave from Lu Yin’s attack lit up the nearby universe, startling Xing Jue. Just what kind of power was this? Was this actually something a human was capable of doing?

Xue Jing could sense how dangerous the blocks of stone were. Each one could shatter space to the point of releasing the Hollow, which could devour consciousness.