Chapter 4541: Three Deaths Art

Now free, Lu Yin roamed about Thousand Machinations’ Abyss to pass the time. Just as the bear had said, aside from the skeletons underground, there was not a third skeleton present.

If not for the underground region, this Abyss place would be a tropical rainforest, filled with all kinds of plants and animals. Was this where Thousand Machinations deduced the Death Codex?

Withered Requiem’s music was how it released its self. Thousand Machinations’ goal was to stop thinking so much and to become a little purer, and the environment of its Abyss seemed quite suited to that. This was probably Thousand Machinations’ self.

This Abyss was an area with a dark sky. If one looked at the expanse from a distance, it was simply a small world that would be dwarfed by Joy City. It was surrounded by the endless darkness of the Aevum Inch. Lu Yin had no idea what was close to this Abyss in terms of the cosmos.

He sat atop a great tree and calmed himself as he waited for the Abyssal Displacement to reappear.

It had been 500 years since he had left Joy City and 800 years since his true body had entered seclusion for his clone to infiltrate the Death Megaverse. This could not be considered very long.

Flocks of birds flew past, letting out cheerful cries.

After an unknown amount of time, the small world shook. Vast amounts of Stillness surged through the area, rising into the sky above. The soil, rivers, mountains, streams, grass, and trees were all connected to the sky by Stillness. In this respect, the Abyss was rather similar to Joy City.

However, in Joy City, Withered Requiem had needed all the skeletons present to lie down to help them conduct the Abyssal Displacement. In this place, Thousand Machinations was drinking water, not moving at all. The bear allowed the Stillness that permeated the world to connect to the sky. It did not need to move, much less have Lu Yin move.

"Go. Absorb as much as you can. I want to see the limit of your Three Deaths Art." Thousand Machinations' voice reached him.

Lu Yin looked up at the Abyssal Displacement and felt an inexplicable shadow appear in his heart. Dark Prisonbone had almost killed this skeleton clone.

He stepped forward, entering the Abyssal Displacement. Raising both hands, he activated the Cosmic Art and began to frantically absorb Stillness. Stars of Stillness condensed one after another and then circled around him.

Thousand Machinations stood by the river and watched Lu Yin with considerable expectation.

***

Waves surged across a dark-yellow sea. From time to time, enormous black shadows swam beneath the waves, giant tails striking the surface again and again and causing the sea to sway even more.

Suddenly, a sharp cry rang out as a giant tail emerged from the sea, followed by a massive body, and then finally a head emerged.

The entire creature looked like it had been blasted away by some enormous force.

Right after the creature appeared, a figure charged out of the sea, panting heavily. With every breath, it inhaled and exhaled black Stillness, but not long after the power entered the area, it became dark yellow. Some of it was swallowed back by the figure that had appeared, while the other droplets fell into the sea.

"I was suffocating!" the figure roared. It was none other than Old Sixth. Entering the Nethersea to absorb as much Stillness as possible was the only way to become one of the Death Megaverse’s Abyssals. The Seven-Treasure Anura had spent several hundred years absorbing Stillness to reach their body’s limit.

Old Sixth looked down at the sea. "Nethersea Suppression, you almost filled me to death."

A deep voice echoed through the sea and sky, "This is necessary to become an Abyssal."

Old Sixth's eyes looked fierce. "Entering the Nethersea is to absorb Stillness, not be force-fed until one suffers a backlash. You are seeking revenge."

Another voice sounded, "What would it take revenge on you for, Toad?"

Old Sixth looked up at the sky. "Who are you?"

"Dark Prisonbone."

"So that mangy bird."

"Toad, you are not a true Abyssal yet. The road to becoming one is very long." Dark Prisonbone's voice turned icy.

Old Sixth sneered. "What? You want to stop me?"

"That is not impossible."

"Try it, and see if I don’t tear your bird bones apart!"

"The Death Megaverse does not have as many rules as Obscura." Dark Prisonbone's voice grew even colder.

Old Sixth’s brows rose, and they took a deep breath. Finally, they said, "I was wrong."

The Nethersea fell silent.

"Yo yo, toad, you’ve got no backbone."

Old Sixth raised their head. "My life is precious."

They knew that they could not beat an old monster like Dark Prisonbone. They looked up at the sky. "Has the Abyssal Displacement appeared? In that case, I am leaving."

Very soon, the toad entered the Abyssal Displacement and moved to their assigned position. Each of the Death Megaverse’s seven great Abysses had their own location, which ensured that the Abyssal Displacement could be conducted without issue.

Old Sixth was actually being sent to the same place that Death's Dominion had been at before.

The toad was familiar with the path, and they quickly arrived. This was the speed that the Abyssal Displacement should enable.

"Allow me to formally greet everyone. This Seven-Treasure Anura has joined the rest of you Abyssals, so I ask you all to look after me in the future. Hahahaha."

A deep voice rang out, "Report your positions one by one and reconfirm the range of the Abyssal Displacement now."

"The toad has only just become an Abyssal and does not have much Stillness. It seems the range of the Abyssal Displacement will shrink," Dark Prisonbone observed.

"Yo yo, I will go first." Withered Requiem reported the position of Joy City, and after that, all of the other Abyssals did the same.

Then, it was Thousand Machinations' turn.

Snap.

?

The atmosphere fell silent.

"Thousand Machinations, report your position."

Snap.

"Where is your translator?"

Snap.

Old Sixth blinked. "Where is that human skeleton? Didn’t you have him become your translator?"

Snap.

No one understood.

"Toad, translate."

"I don’t understand."

Thump, thump.

Old Sixth uncertainly asked, "Does that mean, ‘wait a moment?’"

Thump, thump.

The Nethersea churned and then fell silent again.

Elsewhere, on the path of Stillness that connected the Abyssal Displacement to Thousand Machinations' Abyss, the stars of Lu Yin's Cosmic Art were increasing explosively. There was simply too much Stillness present, far more than what had been available even when he had traveled from Joy City to where Death's Dominion had last connected to the Abyssal Displacement to compete for the position of Abyssal. The amount of Stillness that each Abyss contributed to the Abyssal Displacement differed, and Thousand Machinations undoubtedly contributed a vast amount, far surpassing what Withered Requiem had been capable of.

Before long, the final star formed, and the Stillness that Lu Yin had absorbed with the Cosmic Art reached its limit.

Lu Yin looked around. He had returned to the same amount of Stillness that he had possessed when he first left Joy City and was ambushed by Dark Prisonbone. Under normal circumstances, he would not be able to absorb any more.

However, he had since acquired the Three Deaths Art.

He raised both arms, and three black lines of Stillness formed in front of his chest. They linked with one another to form a triangle, which then compressed inward toward the center before finally condensing into a single point.

Thousand Machinations watched it all. Is he already this proficient? He truly is a good test subject.

It had to be said that the cosmos favored humans. While their starting point was indeed low, once they set foot on a path, they advanced very quickly and possessed infinite possibilities.

The various invincible powers of the Nine Ramparts were examples of just that.

No matter how powerful the Death Megaverse might be, it would still be difficult for it to surpass the Nine Ramparts.

Someone called out to the bear from above the Nethersea again.

Thousand Machinations casually knocked on the void in response. As for whether the other Abyssals understood or not, that was unimportant. They simply had to wait.

Above the Abyssal Displacement, Lu Yin condensed the Three Deaths Art. The Stillness stars that surrounded him all surged toward that tiny black speck like a receding tide. He gradually lowered his arms. The black point flickered between his hands as they slowly dropped down, as if he was meditating. More and more Stillness continued to flow into the black spot.

That tiny point was like the primordial birth of a universe.

Stars disappeared one after another, until every last star of Stillness formed from the Cosmic Art vanished. All of the Stillness that they had contained had flowed into the Three Deaths Art.

Lu Yin used the Cosmic Art again to continue absorbing more Stillness.

Stars formed, disappeared, reformed, and disappeared again. The cycle repeated again and again. The Cosmic Art had already appeared five different times, but Lu Yin still could not even see his limit.

This left him shaken. Just how much Stillness could this Three Deaths Art contain? It had already consumed five times more Stillness than what his skeleton clone had possessed at its previous peak.

The maximum amount of Stillness that this clone could absorb had already surpassed what ordinary Immortals could handle. By relying on the Duality Seal and the sourcebox array that he had placed on his bones, Lu Yin had managed to defeat Great Golden Wings, who had been a peak one-law Immortal. At this moment, Lu Yin possessed five times more Stillness than back then.

If he had possessed such vast reserves at the time, he could have killed Great Golden Wings with the Duality Seal alone.

Not only that, but he was also still not done. He had reached the limit of what a two-law skeleton could absorb, but Lu Yin was able to continue absorbing even more Stillness.

Thousand Machinations stared at Lu Yin with a growing intensity.

Another Abyssal called out from the Nethersea. The bear casually knocked twice before going back to waiting.

The Three Deaths Art absorbed stars of Stillness six times.

Then seven times.

Eight times.

A voice echoed from above the Nethersea. "Strange, has the Abyssal Displacement shrunk?"

"I keep feeling that Stillness is disappearing."

"Yo yo, I feel that too."

Old Sixth spoke, "Don’t blame me. I did not cut corners."

Thump, thump.

"Thousand Machinations, what exactly are you trying to say?" a deep voice asked. This was Nethersea Suppression.

Dark Prisonbone spoke up. "There is no rush. Thousand Machinations must have its reasons for what it does."

The skeleton bird had ambushed Lu Yin, who was Thousand Machinations' test subject. Although the dead Plume Immortal had already paid a price, it had still offended Thousand Machinations and was afraid the bear would grow to hate it. If a few words could help that bear, then the bird would speak them.

Thousand Machinations was special in the Death Megaverse, extremely special.

However, Dark Prisonbone did not know that helping Thousand Machinations was also helping Lu Yin.

At this moment, Old Sixth was the most curious. That human skeleton can’t already be improving his potential, can he? He really knows how to pick a time.

The toad was certain that Lu Yin was in Thousand Machinations' Abyss because Thousand Machinations valued its test subjects. If Chen was not translating for it at this moment, then he must be doing something else.

The Abyssals could only keep waiting.

Thousand Machinations maintained the same posture the entire time, simply watching Lu Yin absorb Stillness.

This cycle had already played out nine times.

At this moment, the Three Deaths Art contained nine times more Stillness than Lu Yin had ever been able to absorb on his own. This was an absurd amount, and it even approached what some of the Abyssals could handle.

Of the seven Abyssals, the one with the least amount of Stillness was Devouring Trace because it kept splitting itself apart. At this moment, Lu Yin had absorbed nearly as much Stillness as Devouring Trace.

The cycle completed a tenth time.

Lu Yin took a deep breath and stared at the tiny black point between his hands. Ten times. He had already absorbed ten times more Stillness than what he had been able to handle in the past. He was able to keep going, but he did not dare to do that. He was being watched by Thousand Machinations, and what Lu Yin had accomplished was already quite exaggerated. If he pushed further, there was no telling what might happen.

Even so, this Three Deaths Art was truly terrifying. It had already absorbed so much Stillness, and yet he still could not see its limit.

If he obtained the materialized black point that belonged to Thousand Machinations, could Lu Yin seize all of the Stillness in the Death Megaverse?

Lu Yin considered this as he slowly descended, returning to Thousand Machinations' Abyss.