Chapter 4617: Principle Of Endless Reversal

Lu Yin appeared inside Manifest City. He had long since been regarded as a god in this place, and statues of him could be seen everywhere, throughout the streets and alleys. Tuo Lin had deliberately shaped Lu Yin into that sort of existence within Manifest City.

It had been possible for Lu Yin to seize control of Manifest City during his Immortal breakthrough, but because he had been eager to return to fight the powerful enemies besieging the Trio, such as Death's Dominion, he had waited. Later, Lu Yin had grown increasingly wary of You Che, and he had continued to delay matters.

It was finally time for him to take control.

One statue after another radiated light that shot straight into the sky, where the light finally converged upon Lu Yin.

He looked down on Manifest City from above. In this city of mortals, he was the only one who possessed cultivation.

Everyone inside of Manifest City knelt in worship.

Tuo Lin grew excited. "Master!"

Yan Ruyu swayed constantly.

Lu Yin's perspective kept shifting, moving from one statue to the next. Finally, he descended from the sky, and the moment his feet touched the ground of Manifest City, a feeling of blood blending with water rose within him. It was a feeling of control.

He could now control Manifest City.

There was no time to think further. Lu Yin stepped back out of the city. Then, he turned around and raised his hand. The enormous city started to shrink, and it eventually fell into his hand. As it did so, Lu Yin threw the Immortal stone monster into Manifest City and then teleported away.

He instantly reappeared in the Trio.

Lu Yin took a deep breath. Manifest City, I hope that you can truly protect the Human Trio.

The next moment, countless people witnessed a shocking scene: city walls rose high in the Aevum Inch. The ground appeared down below. A street cut across the cosmos, stretching far across the Aevum Inch.

It was an extremely magnificent sight. These were the human civilization’s three megaverses, not just a single universe. Although there was no need to take the Spirit Nidus away because it was being reset, it was too close to the Tianyuan Megaverse. In order to take away the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the Tianyuan, Lu Yin also had to take the Spirit Nidus, which was between the two.

Whether he took two megaverses away or three, the distance remained the same.

For those at Lu Yin’s level of power, the Trio was not large. Even without teleporting, he could rapidly cross the entire area, and his attacks could extend far beyond this range. In fact, he could already attack across distances that might be comparable to what Hong Xia and others at his level were capable of.

However, that was all regarding Lu Yin’s personal strength and attacks. Manifest City was different; it was a mirebound artifact, not a cultivator’s personal power.

Lu Yin controlled Manifest City and expanded it endlessly, wanting to fully envelop the Trio.

It seemed impossible to do. He had only just gained control of Manifest City, and doing so required not only the acknowledgement of Lu Yin’s consciousness by Manifest City, but also heartforce. Fortunately, Lu Yin happened to possess heartforce, which he had obtained from You Che.

Within Lu Yin’s inner universe, there was now a star of heartforce.

At this moment, Green Lotus and the others were barely able to take care of themselves. They were completely unable to offer Lu Yin any help at all. They were unable to even ask questions, as their own powers were in chaos.

Lu Yin used the full power of his true body to expand Manifest City farther and farther. On his wrist, the karmic chain slowly lengthened. In the end, he was being forced to use his last chance to take action.

He simply hoped that this would be enough for him to take the Trio away to safety.

After enveloping the Tianyuan, Manifest City spread across the Aevum Inch, but before long, the expansion stopped. Lu Yin's gaze shifted, and the star of heartforce slowly spun, power surging into Manifest City.

The guardian artifact started expanding once more.

The Investiture of the Gods appeared behind Lu Yin as consciousness surged out and also entered Manifest City.

In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, someone noticed the city walls spreading across the Aevum Inch and was utterly shocked.

Manifest City ultimately enveloped the Trio. The distance between the different megaverses was beyond vast, and it would take an ordinary Immortal a year to traverse such a distance.

At the very least, Lu Yin had never seen a city of such size before. He did not know how large the Nine Ramparts may have been.

Manifest City was still that same Manifest City. Its streets, shops, and people overlapped with the Trio. The people of the Trio could see the people of Manifest City, but the residents of the city could not see the people of the Trio.

After Manifest City completely enveloped the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the Tianyuan Megaverse, Lu Yin's face grew pale. He could not help but look down at his wrist. His karmic chain was still growing. There was no longer any chance of him being able to fight and kill a peer.

Could this be the end of his road? What the Nine Ramparts had failed to do, he had also failed to accomplish.

"You have finally taken control of Manifest City." A familiar voice entered his ears.

Lu Yin trembled, despite not appearing to be surprised. "So you really aren’t dead, You Che."

Sure enough, You Che had called out to Lu Yin. A person who should have died, yet was not dead.

You Che was caught off guard. "You knew that I was not dead? That shouldn’t be. My physical body died fighting against the Death Megaverse, and my heartforce was also personally killed by you. How could you have been so certain I was not dead?"

Lu Yin looked inside Manifest City, examining it. After the city enveloped the human megaverses, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the Tianyuan had both calmed down.

Manifest City could indeed resist the changes occurring outside. This further proved that, during the Nine Ramparts era, humanity's greatest enemies had never been the fishing civilizations that Lu Yin had known about, but rather the Primacy Paths.

"When you were attacked by the Death Megaverse, Thousand Machinations and the Seven-Treasure Anura never participated. Withered Requiem alone lacked the strength needed to kill you.

"You were deliberately seeking death. Your goal was to lull me into complacency, push me into taking control of Manifest City, and break free of Obscura."

You Che smiled. "Clever, but there is one detail that you have wrong: Obscura can never be escaped from."

Lu Yin suddenly turned to look at a certain location in Manifest City. The city had expanded to encompass the Trio, but neither the number of people in the city nor the number of streets had increased. Instead, everything about the city had expanded endlessly while maintaining the same proportions that had always been present. Every storefront far surpassed the size of the Heavens Sect, and every person was like a giant standing in the cosmos.

The people of the Trio could choose to see those residents or not. They were essentially like ants living within the colossal city.

Lu Yin did not know how this guardian artifact had come into being. It was truly bizarre.

At the moment, he was looking beneath a bridge that spanned a river running through Manifest City. It was the place where You Wu had once stayed. At this moment, there was a piece of seaweed growing there, and it was unmistakably You Wu's form when they had been present within Manifest City.

However, that seaweed was not You Wu, but rather You Che. After all, You Che was the one speaking to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin was confused. There was no doubt that You Wu had existed. After all, they had even stepped out of Manifest City at one point. Everything that had happened with You Wu had been real, so why had You Wu's form inside of Manifest City become You Che? Was this the method that You Che had intended to use to seize control of Manifest City?

"You Che, you tried to exchange our heart gates to make me certain that you were dead, but even as you were dying, you refused to tell me how you planned to seize Manifest City. There’s some connection to Senior You Wu, isn’t there?"

"I, You Che, am the most talented person in the entire history of the Fifth Rampart! Xiang Xue and all of my so-called peers were far inferior to me. In addition to the Formless Heaven Art and a series of other heart techniques that I learned, I even created a heart technique of my own. While it is not an invincible technique, it surpasses such techniques.

"All things in existence follow the principle of endless reversal. My technique uses the reversed opposite of things as a vessel. The more a thing follows the actions of its development, the more that its opposite vessel will manifest.

"Why do you think You Wu was able to live for so long until they were able to speak with you? Why do you think that those scenes of the past within Void Mountain were shown to you?

"Wrong. Heart techniques and the cosmos itself are born from the heart. What is the heart? No one can answer that. Not even the Fifth Rampart can give you an answer.

"The heart moves according to intent and manifests through action. It can be direct, but it can also be reversed. With this heart technique, the more that You Wu acknowledged you, and the more that their heart leaned towards you, the more that the vessel of this endless reversal would manifest. I left it here in Manifest City.

"I did die. Both my physical body and my heartforce died, but this vessel became another me.

"This is a height that not even the Fifth Rampart ever reached! The Heartbond Nonduality means nothing to me. I don’t care about that invincible technique at all. I have my own! The only thing that I care about is Manifest City. Only by obtaining it can I continue moving higher.

"Lu Yin, you are the only possible key to my success. For this, even if I had to face the true danger of death, I could not give up. In the end, I still won. Manifest City is not something that you can control. This heartforce still belongs to me." As he spoke, You Che moved to seize the star of heartforce.

Manifest City instantly grew unstable, and the statues of Lu Yin all started to crack.

In a low voice, Lu Yin said, "You can seize Manifest City if you want, but look outside first."

After a moment of silence, You Che reacted in pure shock. "How could that incense stick be here?"

Lu Yin sneered. "That’s not all. This entire region of the Aevum Inch is in complete chaos. Time is in chaos, space is in chaos, karma is in chaos, and even fate is in chaos. People are no longer in control of their own lives, and anyone can easily die at any time without warning."

"The power of the Primacy Paths..."

"That's right. Why else do you think I took control of Manifest City if I already suspected that you weren’t dead? I need to keep humanity safe."

The current situation was completely outside of You Che’s expectations. It could be said that his scheme had indeed succeeded, and yet he had succeeded with the absolute worst timing.

Lu Yin almost had to suppress a laugh. "You Che, you are very clever, and you are able to endure very well. However, even if you are given Manifest City, what of it? Will you face the powers of the Primacy Paths on your own? Without my ability to teleport, can you even get away?"

Manifest City trembled. The chaotic powers filling the Aevum Inch were converging upon the incense stick. That incense stick seemed to be the source of all unrest. The bad luck that Xiang Siyu had ordained for human civilization had all begun with that incense stick.

All of the great changes occurring in the Aevum Inch were centered upon the Human Trio.

You Che was astonished. "Lu Yin, leave now! You cannot take this head-on! Manifest City cannot withstand it either!"

"I know. The powers of the Primacy Paths exceed comprehension, but I have been targeted, and teleportation isn’t omnipotent," Lu Yin lamented. Outside of Manifest City, the figure that had lit the incense stick reappeared, drawn to Manifest City.

Lu Yin could teleport and take Manifest City, as well as the Trio within it, away to flee. Ultimately, a megaverse was a concept of a region. Lu Yin did not know how they moved, but it was surely related to the Mother Trees. However, even if he did not take the Mother Tree with him, he could still take away everything else in the area.

Manifest City was able to accomplish that.

But at this moment, it was very, very difficult for him to leave. That figure was watching him.

"That is the power of the Life Primacy Path. Do not fight it. That thing cannot die," You Che warned.

Lu Yin frowned. "It is watching me, so I can’t run."

You Che's voice dropped low. "It's trying to find a way to snap your lifeline. Use your own power to reinforce it so that it cannot be snapped. That's all you need to do. The powers of the Primacy Paths may seem miraculous, but in truth, the Nine Ramparts began searching for ways to counter them long ago. This is a means of forcibly resisting life deprivation."

Lu Yin did not know what a lifeline was, but at this moment, he could only trust You Che. He had witnessed the war that had destroyed the Nine Ramparts, so he must have dealt with the powers of the Primacy Paths before.

Lifeforce roiled like clouds in the highest sky. Lu Yin raised his hand, and immense power roared through the void. Willforce swept out, and his Karmic Dao spread out to completely fill Manifest City. At the same time, he opened Heaven's Sight and released Pressure Over All Living Beings. Purple sight power erupted around him like a lotus.

The power he released began disappearing, as if devoured by an invisible maw.

Lu Yin immediately surrounded himself with specks of green light. Only then did the sensation of having his power devoured ease.