Chapter 4522: Thousand Machinations

Inside the castle, Lu Yin saw all kinds of skeletons. They did not gather together and, like Lu Yin’s own band, most were scattered and alone.

The arrival of Lu Yin and the others truly drew the attention of quite a number of skeletons. As they walked about the castle, several skeletons extended olive branches to the Dream Band and even invited the members to join their own bands.

After fighting against Void Mountain, many of the bands had lost some members and needed to replenish their numbers.

Several days later, the Dream Band gathered back together. Fishbone excitedly flicked its tail. “I was invited to join three different bands!”

Yong Heng said, “So was I.”

Lu Yin agreed, “So was I.”

“It is meaningless,” Zhou said, “None of these bands would ever dare to challenge the Death Band. What we want is to defeat the Death Band.”

“Then let us set off,” Yong Heng prompted.

Fishbone grew a bit hesitant. “Actually, the Death Band is very hard to defeat. After all, all of Joy City belongs to Lord Withered Requiem. I suggest that we practice for a bit longer to improve our musical skills before proceeding. That would give us a better chance. What do you think?”

Zhou glanced at Lu Yin. Because of the matter of Revolution Planet, Zhou felt a bit of guilt towards Lu Yin, who Zhou believed to also be a creature from Revolution Planet. So, Zhou essentially listened to whatever Lu Yin wanted.

Fishbone also looked at Lu Yin. He was the core of the Dream Band.

Yong Heng and Zhu were also looking at him.

Lu Yin raised his arm with a clenched fist. The skeletal fist looked powerful at this moment. “We challenge. Fearless! Unafraid!”

“Good! Those of my Revolution Planet are not afraid.” Zhou grew invigorated.

Fishbone felt helpless. “All right...”

The Death Band could be found at the very top of the castle. There was an unwritten rule in the castle; when band members were scattered, they could go anywhere, but if they gathered together and wanted to move upward, there were rules that they had to follow. They had to defeat the bands on the upper levels.

There were seven other bands within the castle, all of which needed to be defeated before Lu Yin and the others could challenge the Death Band. This was nothing difficult. It could even be considered very easy, as almost all of the bands had lost some members and were simply incapable of defending their position. Lu Yin and the others easily reached the very top of the castle.

“Beyond this door is the Death Band's territory. They occupy an entire floor on their own,” Zhu stated. He had just recently paid this place a visit.

Lu Yin stared at the wooden door ahead of them. It was heavy, plain, and gave off a sense of great age.

One corner of the wooden door had shattered, just as how one corner of the castle had been shattered. As the entire place was a mirebound artifact, it could clearly be restored. Lu Yin did not understand why Withered Requiem had not done so.

Zhou moved to the very front and pushed the wooden door open. They were immediately faced with a white skeleton that slowly turned its head to look at Lu Yin and the others.

Right after that, another white skeleton stepped out. Both skeletons were members of the Death Band.

“Yo yo, Dream Band, are you going to challenge my Death Band? Yo yo.” Withered Requiem’s words followed a strange tune while they teased them. Their green hat was extremely bizarre and looked like a joke, while the skeleton moved as though they were dancing. They appeared completely carefree.

Zhou answered in a low voice, “That is right. We are here to challenge you.”

Withered Requiem gave a loud shout. Raising their arm up high, a microphone appeared in the skeleton’s grip. With a shout, the roar of music echoed throughout Joy City. Withered Requiem performed a segment that included singing and dancing, and all of Joy City grew excited.

Inside the castle, the various white skeletons burst into song in a mocking fashion.

Outside the castle, upon the wasteland of white bones, all of the skeletons were shouting. In the river, white-boned creatures constantly leapt up, splashing water. On the shore, a bear and a toad looked up.

Before their eyes, pitch-black natives of the Death Megaverse rowed past in boats, letting loose wisps of black smoke and dust.

Far away, a fragment of the creature of the Soft Megaverse lay collapsed on the ground, as if half dead.

If the roar of music had brought life to Joy City, then at this moment, Withered Requiem's Death Band’s singing and performance gave Joy City a soul.

At the top of the castle, Fishbone's tail drooped. “Victory is impossible. This music makes my soul tremble. It makes me subconsciously want to dance along. It makes me worship. It is impossible for us to win.”

Lu Yin grew solemn. His heart was also matching the beat of the music. Facing the Death Band, he felt utterly powerless.

More than 300 years ago, he had used music to elevate his mental state until he was prepared to break into the Immortal realm. It had been equivalent of stripping away multiple layers of clothing from his sense of self. On the other hand, Withered Requiem had no clothing at all. The skeleton did not even have any flesh or skin, as they were nothing more than white bones.

How could the Dream Band compete with this? There was simply no way to compete.

They could not even match the Death Band’s rhythm.

“Yo-yo, the Dream Band is~~challenging me, but I do not want to~~waste time. Listen~~clearly to this rhy-thm. This is my rhythm, not your rhythm~” As Withered Requiem continued to sing and dance, Lu Yin and the others silently withdrew. They had already lost.

With a bang, the wooden door closed. Zhou was unwilling, and they stared at the wooden door. The contest had not even begun, and yet they had already lost.

Fishbone consoled the others, “Do not mind it. This is the strength of the Death Band. Since ancient times, no other band has ever been able to defeat them. We’ve already done very well in even coming here to challenge them.”

Yong Heng calmly stared at the wooden door. “That level of musical ability is something I will never live to reach.”

Lu Yin was equally calm. When he heard Yong Heng's words, Lu Yin could not help but question what the man meant. Was he truly amazed, or had he seen something?

Withered Requiem's performance was indeed impressive. It was truly impossible to win. However, precisely because winning was impossible, Lu Yin did not want to win.

To achieve such a level of musical mastery, one had to completely release their sense of self. No one could completely abandon all worldly restraints. As long as one was born, from the moment they put on their first piece of clothing and ate their first bite of food, they were already constrained. Because of those constraints, victory was impossible.

Withered Requiem did not have any such constraints. To them, this was not a loss, but a gain. But however much one gained, one was destined to lose just as much. Lu Yin did not know what had been lost, but he did know that he did not want to lose it.

In Lu Yin's perspective, although such constraints were restraints, they were also proof of life. If even such proof disappeared, how could one still be considered alive?

Fishbone did not care about the failed challenge, but Zhou was very unwilling to accept it.

Still, the challenge was not completely without any benefits. Lu Yin slowly looked over at the staircase leading to the top of the castle. In a corner of that staircase lay a black plate of armor. It was covered with dust and ignored by everyone. It looked as though someone had once used it as a cushion and sat on it.

There were indeed some black plates of armor inside the castle. Since there was one, the other two were definitely around somewhere.

In the past, the Immortal from the Seal-Eater Civilization had carried three plates when it had been consumed by the fragment of the Soft Megaverse creature. All three black armor plates had to be within the castle.

“Let us go. Aside from this top floor, we can stay anywhere in the castle. We are now the Dream Band, second only to the Death Band.” Fishbone was in a very good mood.

Aside from Zhou and Lu Yin, no one had ever truly cared about defeating Withered Requiem.

Zhou wanted revenge, while Lu Yin wanted to see if the rumors were true, that whoever defeated Withered Requiem in music would gain control of Joy City.

Such a rumor had seemed laughable in the past, but after listening to Withered Requiem's latest performance, it did not seem entirely impossible for those rumors to be true. It was very possible that Withered Requiem could not tell any lies at all.

A creature that had completely released their sense of self and returned to the state of their birth would naturally be incapable of lying.

It was just a pity that victory was absolutely impossible.

After that, they remained within the castle. Zhou studied music while Yong Heng meditated whenever he had nothing else to do. Zhu wandered everywhere, and Lu Yin also walked everywhere, searching for more plates of black armor. He did manage to find a second one, which was on a skeleton.

He gave the skeleton a strange look as it walked by in front of him. This fellow actually treated the plate of black armor as true armor. It was tied together with other metals and worn on the skeleton’s body. Lu Yin had to admit that this skeleton had quite the good eye. With a bit of luck, even if an Immortal struck it, it would be perfectly fine.

Lu Yin tried to communicate with it. “Friend, that armor of yours is...?”

“Don’t get any ideas about it! Mine!” The skeleton was extremely wary.

Lu Yin tried to reassure it, “No, I’m just asking. This-”

“Mine!”

“I know it is yours. I was just asking-”

“Mine,” the skeleton growled.

Lu Yin was left speechless. This fellow’s armor plate must have been stolen before. Judging by how much it treasured the armor, it seemed possible that the skeleton had already discovered just how tough the plate of black armor was.

“All right, what’s yours is yours. I won’t ask again.” With that, Lu Yin turned and left.

The skeleton continued to vigilantly stare at Lu Yin until he was completely out of sight. Only then did it relax by leaning against the wall and then lay down. It was the skeleton of a beast.

Lu Yin had quite the headache. How was he supposed to take that plate of armor? It seemed that fighting was not allowed inside the castle. Challenges were conducted solely through music.

Just as Lu Yin was thinking about his dilemma, his path forward was blocked. Two figures stood in front of him, both of them staring at him.

Lu Yin looked up and was immediately taken aback. That bear and Old Six were standing before him.

The bear’s eyebrows rose, and Old Six translated, “We meet again.”

Lu Yin nodded. “We meet again. How did you get in?”

Old Six rolled their eyes. “We can go wherever we want. Are you the ones who just challenged Withered Requiem?”

“That’s right. We failed.”

“You gave up before even starting,” Old Six corrected.

Lu Yin did not deny it.

“I can help you defeat Withered Requiem,” Old Six suddenly said. Lu Yin stared at the toad in astonishment, only for them to point at the bear. The words came from them.

Lu Yin looked at the bear. “What do you mean?”

The bear raised a thick finger and made a gesture.

Old Six said, “Exactly what it sounds like. I can help you defeat Withered Requiem with music.”

“Why?” Lu Yin found this offer strange. Moreover, he did not believe that this bear could do what it claimed. This was something that had nothing to do with combat strength. It was possible that this bear was very powerful, but Withered Requiem's music came from being completely free of all restraints. Music was their only path. It was impossible to defeat them through music itself.

The bear snapped its fingers, and Lu Yin looked at Old Six. Who could understand such a simple movement?

Old Six very somberly stated, “Withered Requiem's ability has already reached its peak, while yours has not. I want to see how high the ability of you, a former human, can ultimately reach. This is a great experiment. Doing this will not only elevate you, but also myself.”

Lu Yin stared at the bear and then looked at Old Six.

More than 300 years before, Old Six's translations had already been exaggerated, but now...

“It only snapped its fingers. You can interpret that much from just that?”

Old Six rolled their eyes. “I even simplified things. There was also a long section that I left out. It’s actually quite a chatterbox.”

You’re the chatterbox, alright? Lu Yin really wanted to say that, but after thinking about it, he stayed silent. No matter who one offended, they could never offend a translator. Sometimes, a difference of just one or two words was enough to ruin an entire life.

“Just who exactly are you?” Lu Yin asked, staring at the bear. It actually dared to say that it could help him defeat Withered Requiem. That skeleton was an Abyssal of the Death Megaverse.

The bear nodded.

Lu Yin was stunned.

“Thousand Machinations,” Old Six stated.

Lu Yin was not surprised. This bear was indeed one of the Death Megaverse’s Abyssals: Thousand Machinations. This was no surprise at all.