Chapter 2751: Strange Battlefield
Lu Yin"s domain had already become extremely powerful. As for the spatial lines that he could see, they meant nothing in the Umbral Universe, as no one else could use the power of s.p.a.ce. Besides, Lu Yin was always able to perceive the spatial lines.
At best, he could use those lines to move around in the universe.
The first sentence in the Umbral Universe dossier that Sage Bodhi had given Lu Yin was quite succinct: stay hidden.
In the Umbral Universe, regardless of a person’s level of cultivation, it was imperative that they not reveal themselves. After all, no one else would expose their existence.
As soon as a person was exposed, they would be targeted by everyone.
The Umbral Universe did not have a data center. While the Umbrians regarded the Aeternals as their enemies, they also hated the Sixverse a.s.sociation and refused to cooperate with them.
This universe did not have an environment that was suitable for normal humans to survive in. Even without reinforcements from the Sixverse a.s.sociation, Aeternus would struggle to take control of the Umbral Universe.
Even peak powerhouses would find it hard adapting when they first entered the universe.
Lu Yin stood upon a landma.s.s that should be considered a planet. After spending some time trying, he finally figured out that, by utilizing the power in his chest, he could get a clear view of his surroundings. However, its range was fairly limited, and the darkness would also shortly start devouring his power, though he would at least be able to look around for a decent period of time. Thus, he was now trying to understand his surrounding area.
He pulled out his wireless jincan and sent a message to Wendy Yushan.
While highly unlikely, he desperately hoped that Wendy Yushan was actually in the Umbral Universe.
After an hour, Lu Yin lowered his hand. There had been no response from the wireless jincan. Was Wendy really in one of the other universes?
There was no need to get worked up so quickly, and Lu Yin intended to wait around for at least half a month. If by that time he still did not receive any response, he would need to find a way to get to the Gourd and Platinum Universes.
If Lu Yin could not find a way across the Endless Frontier, he would have to think of something else. After all, Sovereign Shao Yin would not casually disregard Wendy Yushan’s life as long as she was useful to him.
Lu Yin could not simply follow the path that Sovereign Shao Yin had laid out for him, and it would be best if he found a solution outside of the Endless Frontier. However, that would not be easy at all.
For the time being, the only solution that Lu Yin could think of was to personally search for Wendy Yushan.
After a few days, Lu Yin tried to make contact again, but there was still no response.
After a few more days pa.s.sed, a man arrived in the Big Stone Universe, and he immediately sought out the emperor of the Big Stone Empire. The man was searching for Lu Yin, but he was told that they did not know where Lu Yin had gone.
The man"s face turned livid, and he angrily cursed the Big Stone Empire. Not one person dared to speak up, as the man was a peak powerhouse.
The man’s name was Shan Pu, and he was one of the Lost Clan’s peak powerhouses. He had been enjoying himself in a relatively safe parallel universe of the Endless Frontier, waiting out his last years of service before he could leave. Unfortunately, he had received a message from the Lost Clan, ordering Shan Pu to find someone named Lu Yin, protect him, and do whatever was necessary to ensure that Lu Yin survived his time on the Endless Frontier.
This order completely ruined Shan Pu"s previously happy mood.
He had planned on staying in the safe parallel universe, relaxing and enjoying himself for the rest of his time on the Endless Frontier. He did not want to leave, even if threatened with death. For this reason, he was upset with the orders that he had received from the Lost Clan, and he wanted to refuse. However, his refusal had received a threat of expulsion from the Lost Clan.
The Lost Clan’s stance could not have been made more clear; if Shan Pu did not protect Lu Yin, he would be exiled from the Lost Clan. They would refuse to have any further connection with him.
The Lost Clan’s reaction confused Shan Pu, as it was clear that they were even more determined than he was.
Left without any choice, Shan Pu left the comfortable universe that he had settled down in and made his way towards the Big Stone Universe to find Lu Yin.
Fortunately, the two parallel universes were only separated by only six others, and as Shan Pu traveled, he luckily did not encounter any Aeternal powerhouses. He had arrived in the Big Stone Universe without incident, only to be told that they did not know Lu Yin’s location.
Lu Yin had clearly been reported to be in the Big Stone Universe, so how could no one know where he was?
Shan Pu initially thought that the locals simply did not know who Lu Yin was, but he soon learned that they were incredibly impressed by him, as he had nearly managed to officially purge the Big Stone Universe of all Aeternal forces.
There was nothing that Shan Pu could do, so he sought out the universe’s data center, only to discover that the universe no longer had one.
His only option was to go to the closest data center in the Gemini Universe to ask about Lu Yin there.
As soon as the man made contact and mentioned Lu Yin"s name, someone in the Gemini Universe’s data center informed Shan Pu that Lu Yin had left for the Umbral Universe.
Shan Pu grew furious when he received the news.
What was this Lu Yin trying to do in the Umbral Universe? Was he trying to kill himself?
Shan Pu asked Sage Bodhi about the matter, but the woman refused to divulge any information. Rather, she expressed her own curiosity as to what Shan Pu intended with Lu Yin.
Naturally, Shan Pu refused to say anything, and he instead hurried to the Umbral Universe.
While the Sixverse a.s.sociation as a whole was not very clear about the situation in the Umbral Universe, the Lost Clan was fully cognizant of the details. There were peak powerhouses from Aeternus present in the Umbral Universe, and they were extremely powerful.
Shan Pu felt that Lu Yin was an incredible amount of trouble.
In the Umbral Universe, Lu Yin continued to spread out his domain. He would sometimes withdraw it, and other times release it.
He had already been in the universe for more than ten days, but he had not seen a single other person yet.
Lu Yin had not stayed on the landma.s.s that he had first arrived at, as he also wanted to explore the universe a bit. Given his strength, as long as he was careful, he should not face any real danger.
Finally, after another five days, Lu Yin found a battlefield.
If not for the strange characteristics of the Umbral Universe, Lu Yin would have discovered the battlefield the very day he entered the universe.
While he regarded it as a battlefield, it was completely different from any ordinary battlefield.
From outside, the battlefield resembled a hive. There were cultivators from the Sixverse a.s.sociation, Umbrians, and even corpse kings that were all hiding from each other, probing each other, and launching sneak attacks. It was completely different from how most battles were fought on the Endless Frontier.
When Lu Yin’s domain swept through the area, only one cultivator from the Sixverse a.s.sociation noticed, as they also cultivated a domain.
Almost no one in the Sixverse a.s.sociation cultivated domains, and the fact that this man did suggested that he was from the Cyclic Universe.
"s.h.i.t! What kind of b.a.s.t.a.r.d searches a battlefield so brazenly? Aren’t they afraid of being killed? There are some corpse kings that can detect this kind of power. I’m not going to react. This person should be a rookie who just arrived. It"s better for them to die early." In a hidden corner of the battlefield, a fierce expression appeared on one man’s face. He was holding a long knife in front of his chest as he stared straight ahead, and there were stone walls surrounding him on three sides so that he could only be approached from the front.
He was at the end of a tunnel so small that it could only allow a single person to pa.s.s through it at a time, and beyond that, there was a cliff.
The man had found a perfect location, and he had even managed to kill five corpse kings and an Umbrian by ambushing them from this hidden place.
It had not been even close to easy for the man to take down five corpse kings. Any corpse king sent to the Umbral Universe was not average, as they had all been specially selected.
There were corpse kings with innate gifts, and others with odd battle techniques. In the end, all of the corpse kings in the Umbral Universe were difficult opponents.
The man tightly clenched the hilt of his long knife. He had spent more than a year in the Umbral Universe, but he still had almost nine more years of service.
If any sort of big commotion broke out, the man had no idea if he would survive, but the chances were slim.
He wanted to escape from the Umbral Universe, but he was unable to find a spatial portal. Even if he was capable of locating one, the question of whether he could pa.s.s through it was still unknown.
Even if he was only a kilometer away from the spatial portal, that kilometer would be as good as a shield blocking his path.
Don"t come, don"t come, don"t come...
The man kept mumbling to himself, hoping that no corpse king or Umbrian would show up and that he could just remain here for the duration of his service. He would be happy with that outcome.
Suddenly, the man felt a fluctuation of energy in front of him, and the man"s eyes went wide. Someone was there, but who was it?
Even when cultivators were completely blind, they had many other ways of perceiving nearby movement. This man was as strong as an Explorer and had even cultivated a domain, which made him confident that he had a thirty percent chance of surviving in the Umbral Universe.
Two domains clashed, and the man"s eyes flickered. It’s that b.a.s.t.a.r.d!
His knife rose up and slashed out. In the Umbral Universe, everyone else was an enemy to the man.
However, his blade froze, and he could not move it any further forward.
"You’d even kill one of your own? How cruel," Lu Yin said as he gave the man a cool stare.
The man struggled with his full might, but he was unable to move the knife any further forward. He knew that he was in trouble, as this man was clearly a powerful expert. The man wanted to escape, but there was a wall behind him, blocking his path.
"Say whatever you want. I don’t want to hurt anyone," the man replied in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
Lu Yin ignored the man and instead stared at the wall behind him. There was no light, and yet somehow, the darkness on the wall was more intense than its surroundings, and it seemed like it could be moved.
"Is this the power of the Umbrians?" Lu Yin suddenly pressed his hand against the wall, as though trying to touch the darkness. His hand plunged into a bone-piercing cold. Darkness clearly possessed no temperature, and yet this darkness was bitingly cold.
The cultivator spun around, and said in shock, "An Umbrian!"
The stone wall shattered, and a figure rushed away, shooting into the distance.
Umbrians mostly looked like normal humans, except that they only had a single eye that had no pupil. It was incapable of seeing the light that existed in normal universes, but it was extremely useful in the Umbral Universe.
Lu Yin disappeared. The Umbrian had been ready to kill the cultivator, and the man was clearly from the Sixverse a.s.sociation. Regardless of whether the man was good or evil, the Umbrian was prepared to attack the man, which clearly made the Umbrian an enemy. Lu Yin needed to gain some understanding of the situation in the Umbral Universe. Did the Umbrians perceive both Aeternus and the Sixverse a.s.sociation as enemies, or had that particular Umbrian defected to the Aeternals?
Lu Yin knew too little about the Umbral Universe, so when he had found an Umbrian about to attack a normal cultivator, he had instinctively intervened.
The Umbrian used a very odd method to escape, as it seemed like he was swimming through the darkness. He moved quickly, but not by relying on his own power. Instead, it seemed like the darkness itself was propelling the man forward.
The Umbrians were truly people of the darkness, but it did not matter. The Umbrian’s speed was useless against Lu Yin, and he only needed to take a single step to appear in the Umbrian’s path.
Even from a great distance, the Umbrian looked straight at Lu Yin. It was clear that he knew that someone was blocking his path.
Suddenly, a stone shot towards the Umbrian. The man quickly dodged, but the stone instantly stopped, only to explode. The countless fragments pelted the area with shrapnel, and the Umbrian was pierced by debris. He was badly injured, and he spat out blood as he collapsed.
As he fell, another stone appeared from the same direction as the first, and it also exploded. If these fragments. .h.i.t the Umbrian, he would certainly die.
Lu Yin appeared next to the Umbrian and grabbed him with one hand. The shards of rock froze in place around Lu Yin and then shot back in the direction that they had come from.
Some of the fragments struck true, ripping through a corpse king’s head and instantly killing it.
Lu Yin’s domain swept out, and he suddenly saw that fights had erupted in every direction.
The commotion he had instigated had acted like a trigger, igniting the battlefield. Many attacks targeted the place where Lu Yin had suddenly appeared, and they included both battle techniques and innate gifts. Lu Yin even caught sight of a card, indicating that someone from the Lost Clan was present.
Lu Yin took another step, and he appeared in a distant location, carrying the Umbrian that he had just captured.
The man fell to the ground, coughing up blood while clutching at his wounds that were still bleeding.
"Why were you about to kill that man?" Lu Yin asked.
The Umbrian gasped. He raised his head to stare at Lu Yin, pinpointing Lu Yin’s location despite the lack of light. While the Umbrian eye had no pupils, Lu Yin still felt like he was being stared at.
"Everyone is an enemy."
Lu Yin frowned. Everyone was an enemy? Fair enough. Lu Yin had just seen how the Umbrian had been attacked and nearly killed by both Aeternals and cultivators. This proved that the man was not a spy for Aeternus, but a Lost Clansman and the rest of the Sixverse Universe had not hesitated for even a moment to attack the Umbrian.
There were no lines separating allies from enemies, as everyone saw everyone else as their personal enemies.
Cough!
The Umbrian had been seriously injured, though Lu Yin noticed something very strange. The man’s wounds were being devoured by the darkness.