Chapter 4609: Take You Away

Stillness surged from Ruinfall, only to be instantly dispersed by the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array. Its body was hidden within streams of black energy and had to endure the white Cosmic Erasure as it fell toward the tall mountain, leaving black streaks in its wake.

Everyone stared at Lu Yin. Who was this person?

Even Old Man Hehe was stunned. They stared at Lu Yin but did not recognize the man.

Lu Yin had altered the appearance of his clone and had not used his tri-colored divine energy. He had only attacked with Lifeforce. On top of that, due to the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array, despite having just released all of his Lifeforce, it was rapidly recovering. The effect of Earth Locking was truly ideal.

Standing tall in outer space, he stared at the mountain. What had happened to Ruinfall?

His first sneak attack had not worked. He had struck absolutely nothing, and even after delivering a successful attack, he still had not seen Ruinfall’s true appearance.

The tall mountain continued to shatter, though the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array remained unaffected.

Ruinfall slowly emerged from the rubble. The black streams shrouding it had visibly shrunk, leaving it a full size smaller. Its tone low and threatening, it demanded, “Where is Withered Requiem? Who are you?”

That was everyone’s question.

Lu Yin looked down at Ruinfall. He turned a bit to the side and raised his right arm. He beckoned with his hand. “Come.”

Ruinfall did not move.

From afar, Ji suddenly charged at Lu Yin. Given the relatively short distance between them, he arrived in an instant.

Hong Xia did not interfere. After all, humanity was also his enemy.

Old Man Hehe also did nothing. Both members of Obscura allowed Ji to approach Lu Yin. A curved black saber rose and fell, releasing a slash.

It looked like Lu Yin had failed to react in time. He turned around and raised both of his arms, pinning the saber’s blade between his hands. His body was blasted down by the powerful attack. The Clear Sky Locked Earth Array could transform countless powers, but Lu Yin had only adapted to the sourcebox array. The most that he could do was expand and shrink it. He did not have complete control over the array. He had an advantage, but it was not absolute. His body was launched towards Ruinfall.

The Abyssal released a surge of Stillness. The black energy was devoured by Clear Sky, which caused it to constantly shrink, but the devouring rate of the Stillness could not match the speed at which Ji was moving Lu Yin towards Ruinfall. Eventually, Stillness would strike him.

Just as Ruinfall’s Stillness was about to hit Lu Yin, Old Man Hehe made its move. Its body flickered, and the gray power of time formed a line that crossed the cosmos. This unequal line of time cut through the Stillness and the curved black saber. A clear slash mark appeared on the black saber.

Ruinfall was prepared for this. Its Stillness was being erased, so it immediately turned and grabbed an arrow that used time as the shaft and Reversal as the arrowhead. These powers were also being devoured by Clear Sky, but the arrow would not be consumed until after it struck Lu Yin.

Clang.

A deafening sound rang out. The arrow had been blocked by the curved black saber.

The blade not only blocked the arrow, but it also pressed into the streams of black energy that surrounded Ruinfall, causing the stream to scatter slightly, revealing a pair of eyes. There was no pattern to how the eyes drifted about, and they looked quite similar to Nethersea Suppression’s pair of eyes that hung above the Nethersea.

Lu Yin struck out with both palms, targeting both eyes at once.

Ruinfall wailed and frantically retreated, but the black saber and Lu Yin attacked in perfect unison. The saber slashed as a hand threw a palm strike: Endless Recall.

Half of Ruinfall’s black streams of energy were instantly destroyed, and it was driven deep into the ruins of the mountain.

No one had expected this sudden development. No one had expected Ji to attack Ruinfall. No one had expected Lu Yin and Ji to actually be working together. They had to know each other, as there was no other way for them to coordinate so well with each other.

Without Ji, Lu Yin could have never gotten close to Ruinfall, as the Abyssal’s guard was always up.

Hong Xia and Old Man Hehe watched like two outsiders, unable to make sense of the current situation.

“That should be about enough, right?” Lu Yin said.

Ji, who was shrouded in the same streams of black energy as Ruinfall, answered, “No. It has been heavily injured, but it has not been forced into a desperate situation yet.”

Lu Yin looked back at Old Man Hehe and Hong Xia. “Are you two just going to watch?”

“Who are you?” Hong Xia asked.

Lu Yin sneered. “I was invited by Ba Se. I am Obscura’s new Red.”

Hong Xia was taken aback, and he glanced over at Old Man Hehe.

The odd body swayed. “You are a new member of Obscura?”

Lu Yin raised his head. “Correct.”

“Ba Se did not say anything to us,” Hong Xia said, his voice dropping. He then looked over at Ji. “And what is the deal with that?”

Lu Yin sneered. “If Ba Se had informed you, it would have been the same as informing the Death Megaverse, wouldn’t it?”

Ji said, “There is no need for you to know of my situation.”

Hong Xia’s eyes narrowed. “You said that you are Obscura’s Red?”

“That’s right.”

“Have you entered Vestigium to worship?”

“Bullshit. I will only go to worship after this war,” Lu Yin answered very bluntly.

Hong Xia was not bothered about this stranger’s rudeness. What he was thinking about was a conversation that he had overheard in Vestigium between Lu Yin and Ba Se. Hong Xia had originally believed that Ba Se was using the skeleton from the Death Megaverse to force Lu Yin to return the three lines of divine energy and worship the Divine Tree. It was completely outside of Hong Xia’s expectations that Ba Se had kept this move hidden in reserve. Not only had Ba Se been on guard against the Death Megaverse, but also against the rest of Obscura.

Still, there was nothing wrong with this. If this human was targeting the red line of divine energy, Lu Yin would still be forced to enter Vestigium, worship the Divine Tree, and return the lines of divine energy.

“Where are you from?” Hong Xia asked. At this moment, the biggest problem was this human’s identity. Just what megaverse did this human belong to? Was he connected to the Trio in any way, or did Obscura have another hidden human civilization?

Lu Yin answered impatiently, “There are some things that you will learn after this war. This war is not as simple as you believe.”

This was actually his own understanding of this war. Saying something so ambiguous was the easiest way to deceive people.

“Hehe. This war is indeed not simple. Ba Se managed to have you arrive here one step ahead of us. The one who should have been here first was Withered Requiem, one of the Death Megaverse’s seven Abyssals. Is it possible that you have already defeated Withered Requiem?”

“That has nothing to do with me. When I arrived, Withered Requiem was not here.”

“It’s necessary to adapt to this Clear Sky Locked Earth Array. You—”

There was more that Hong Xia wanted to say, but Lu Yin cut him off. “There is no time to waste. Once this battlefield is dealt with, there are still others. Only by completely eliminating the Death Megaverse can we feel at ease. I accepted a mission to kill Abyssals, so do not drag me down.”

Old Man Hehe laughed. “An Aberrant, and quite the arrogant one too!”

“It is coming back out,” Ji interrupted.

Ruinfall once again emerged from the rubble of the tall mountain. This was the second time it had been knocked into the mountain, but unlike before, it did not have a single creature helping it this time.

So long as it was within the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array, it was trapped in a dead end. Lu Yin already felt much, much less pressure from Ruinfall than he had at the beginning of the battle.

Stopping just above the rubble, Ruinfall spoke in a deep voice. “Ji, how long have you followed me?”

Ji answered, “I cannot remember. A very, very long time.”

“Why have you betrayed me?” Ruinfall demanded.

“It is already done, so why ask?”

“I think I know what is going on.” Ruinfall’s voice dropped even lower. There was no body to be seen, and even its eyes had been blasted apart by Lu Yin. No one could tell what the Abyssal was thinking.

Ji raised his black saber. “This should end now.”

Ruinfall sneered. “It is not up to you to decide my end!

“How long has it been? When you first contacted me countless years ago, you enlightened me. Thus, only you could scheme against me. We are on opposing sides and are therefore destined to be enemies.”

Old Man Hehe sighed. “Given the choice again, I would have chosen to not enlighten you. It would have been best for you to peacefully remain in the River of Aeons.”

Ruinfall seemed to look over at Old Man Hehe. “Why did you help me?”

“Loneliness is the greatest enemy of all ferrymen. Countless ferrymen long to leave the River of Aeons. Even the Immortal realm becomes unimportant. Was helping you not good?”

“It was good, very good. Without you, I could not have become the ferryman of the River of Aeons for the entire Death Megaverse so quickly. Without you, I would have had to endure endless years before being able to emerge.” Ruinfall laughed. “All this time, I have owed you thanks.”

“Hehe.”

“But you also schemed against me.” Ruinfall’s tone changed. “Old thing, you schemed against me! You were never actually helping me at all! Without you, I might have had to endure countless years, but I absolutely would not have been targeted so easily. Only you were able to scheme against me. Tell me why!”

“Do you need an answer?”

“I do.”

“You said it yourself. We are on opposing sides.”

“Impossible. Back then, you had no side.”

Old Man Hehe sighed. “Thinking too much is pointless. We can be considered to have perished together. You used the Death Megaverse to knock me out of the main stream of the River of Aeons, forcing me to recultivate from the beginning.”

“That cannot count. True mutual destruction begins only now!” Ruinfall let out a fierce roar, and space distorted around it. Ji attacked without the slightest hesitation, his saber slashing out while Lu Yin simultaneously attacked with Endless Recall.

Old Man Hehe also struck. Hong Xia alone did not move.

The distorted space around Ruinfall kept expanding. Even the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array could not immediately disperse this phenomena.

"That is its Time Realm. Within that realm, all changes related to time are forced to use a certain reference model. One has to either allow themself to reach the state that the model represents or allow the change itself to reach the state that the model represents," Old Man Hehe explained.

Lu Yin’s brow shot up. “I don’t understand.”

Ji explained, “If the reference model is an ordinary creature, then all changes within the Time Realm are measured according to the standard of an ordinary creature. Whether it is an attack or a block, both can be no more than the level of an ordinary creature and will therefore have no effect on Ruinfall. If we enter the Time Realm, Ruinfall can use one of us as the reference model. With that, even if its strength has drastically fallen, it will still remain the strongest.”

Lu Yin was astonished. Was it actually possible to use time in such a manner? These ferrymen of the River of Aeons were constantly interacting with the power of time, and they could unleash incredible abilities.

“How do we break it?” Lu Yin did not understand. Even the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array could not immediately erase this Time Realm.

“Ruinfall is risking its life with this. It cannot endure for long,” Ji said. If the Abyssal could endure, it would have never been beaten so viciously earlier in the battle.

“Hehe. Its goal is not the Time Realm, but...” Old Man Hehe paused and looked up.

Lu Yin, Ji, and Hong Xia all reflexively looked up as well. At some unknown point in time, a surging river had appeared up above them. It was the River of Aeons’ main stream.

Ruinfall was releasing its limit, and it had drawn the main stream down.

All along, the purpose of this battle had been for Ruinfall to take down a member of Obscura with it.

The distorted Time Realm around Ruinfall turned into a gray beam of time that shot straight upwards and broke out of the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array. The moment that happened, the main stream of the River of Aeons seemed to sense it and surged over.

“You enlightened me so that you could scheme against me, but my enlightenment was granted by you, and it can take you away as well!” Ruinfall roared.