The gravity beam shot out in an attempt to pierce through the sky. Right after that, Emperor Slayer entered a memory. He appeared under a strange sky, but right as he tried to make out his new surroundings, he was struck by an indescribable chill that left his scalp numb.
He looked up, and his mouth fell open. “Oh, shit...”
The universe was collapsing upon him, and Emperor Wu’s body started shattering. His organs trembled as they were squeezed. He was very familiar with this sensation; he was being compressed by gravity.
How was that possible? Who could possibly subject him to such terrifying gravity?
After all, he was Emperor Wu Slayer! He was a powerhouse second only to the High Seraph, and he had no peer when it came to the power of gravity. Eons had passed with no one capable of surpassing his mastery of this power, and yet in this unknown universe, not only was Emperor Slayer being squeezed by gravity, but the entire universe was also being subjected to such a powerful force that it was about to be completely destroyed. Stars were shattering, and astral phenomena were all being destroyed as the void collapsed. Everything was being crushed by gravity.
Emperor Slayer roared and released his own power of gravity, only for it to be instantly smothered. There was absolutely no comparison, and his attempt to resist was utterly futile. He had only lasted for a moment, a fleeting instant.
He felt as if his body was being ground to dust at that moment. He was about to die. There was no doubt about it.
“There is no need for that. If you wish it, I shall grant it.”
Emperor Slayer started to lose consciousness, but right before he did, he heard those words. He had no idea who had spoken.
Elsewhere, the moment that Lu Yin released his consciousness, everything around him transformed. His body lost all weight, and he dropped straight down. Only a moment later, as soon as he managed to steady himself, he looked around and saw that he was in another place.
According to the memories that he had obtained from Wu Wei, Hua Manyi, and Gui Shaoqing, this was where all the Thirteen Luminaries had been acknowledged.
He was at the bottom of a sheer cliff that was at least 33,000 meters tall. For cultivators, this distance was irrelevant, as any of them could traverse such a distance without difficulty. However, in this place, there was no difference between cultivators and ordinary creatures, and that meant that neither could climb the cliff.
Lu Yin looked straight up. At the top of the steep cliff, past a barrier of light, a palace stood. It was barely visible from his position, and it looked like it was shrouded with some otherworldly energy. It looked unstained by the world.
Even with Lu Yin’s current level of strength, he still felt that it would be nearly impossible for him to reach the top.
He tried to climb up the cliff, but the barrier of light was as smooth as a mirror, and Lu Yin’s strength meant nothing in this place. He could not even start climbing the cliff.
There was heaven and earth, and while he remained on the ground, the palace was high above in heaven.
He was aware that there was a chance that he was in another memory. If he was really in a real place, then he would try Flipping the Sky.
According to the memories that he had received from Wu Wei and the other Luminaries, just standing in this place would soon grant him some sort of experience. This was where Wu Wei had obtained Heaven's Blade and where Gui Shaoqing had seen the Primordial Skyflame Beast.
At that moment, a figure appeared a short distance away.
Lu Yin looked over and arched a brow. “Shuangdao?”
The newcomer was indeed the guardian conscient. Given what kind of creature he was, he had arrived at the bottom of the cliff when entering the Willbound Spire.
At the same time that Lu Yin saw Shuangdao, the conscient also saw the human.
“Who are you?” Shuangdao shouted loudly. He was familiar with almost all the top experts in the Spirit Nidus. The fact that this man had entered the Willbound Spire while Shuangdao had been preoccupied with Emperor Slayer was proof that the stranger was at the same level as the astral beast, and yet Shuangdao had absolutely no impression of this man in the Willbound Spire.
A smile touched Lu Yin’s lips as he replied, “You still have a chance, if you choose to run now.”
Staring at Lu Yin, Shuangdao suddenly thought of something, and his expression fell. “You’re the one who took out Xing Jue.”
Despite Shuangdao’s rough appearance, that was nothing more than the human form the conscient had adopted. No one capable of becoming one of the Thirteen Luminaries was a fool. For instance, Shuangdao had accepted that Emperor Slayer would invade the Willbound Spire if the Luminary moved away to stop another. This was because the Consciousness Megaverse could bear the loss it would suffer from Emperor Slayer entering the Willbound Spire. The same was not true of other powerhouses from the Spirit Nidus, especially the High Seraph.
Shuangdao had hurried over in order to confirm who had entered the Willbound Spire.
It could be said that the Luminary had quickly analyzed the pros and cons, and it was entirely natural for him to deduce Lu Yin’s identity.
Lu Yin observed the conscient and said, “If you don’t want to run, then stay.”
With that, he took a step forward, instantly arriving next to Shuangdao as a hand stretched out to grab him.
Shuangdao was unaware of how strong Lu Yin was, so he raised his blade and slashed it sideways, shouting, “Arrogant!”
Xing Jue’s forte had been survival, while Shuangdao’s greatest strength was powerful attacks. The two were polar opposites.
Unfortunately, Shuangdao had no idea just how completely helpless Xing Jue had felt when facing Lu Yin.
There was a ringing impact when Lu Yin’s palm struck the blade. Snowflakes filled the air as the Luminary’s Frozen Skyblade fell. However, it was unable to affect Lu Yin in the slightest. His consciousness far surpassed Shuangdao’s, and his hand slid along the blade to grab its back. Overwhelming physical strength pulled the blade back to slash at Shuangdao, to his complete disbelief.
The blade sliced through skin, and a tiny trickle of blood streamed down Shuangdao’s neck. He had barely managed to pull back in time, narrowly avoiding decapitation.
He had been careless, never expecting that Lu Yin was not only capable of blocking a Frozen Skyblade, but also ripping the blade away from Shuangdao. The conscient had been completely overwhelmed in an instant.
This man was on an entirely different level from Emperor Slayer. In fact, facing Lu Yin made the Luminary feel as though he was confronting the High Seraph.
This human... was terrifyingly strong.
Shuangdao continued to retreat, and as he pulled back, he retaliated by attacking Lu Yin with consciousness.
Lu Yin’s eyes focused, and he moved at the speed of time with Inverse Step. In an instant, he bypassed the consciousness, his hand still outstretched to grab Shuangdao’s throat. However, when Shuangdao saw Lu Yin moving at the speed of time, he suddenly roared, freezing Lu Yin in place, and startling him. Was this... disorienting his consciousness?
Shuangdao had used his consciousness to strike Lu Yin’s, and while Lu Yin possessed a stronger consciousness, Shuangdao had not tried to crush it. Instead, he had struck at a single point that affected the rest of Lu Yin’s consciousness. This had disrupted Lu Yin’s consciousness, causing him to briefly pause after his perception was disoriented.
Even if Lu Yin was only momentarily stunned, it was still enough to demonstrate Shuangdao’s unique method of using consciousness. It was completely different from how Xing Jue, Hua Manyi, or the others did things.
The Luminary took advantage of Lu Yin’s brief pause and pulled further back. He no longer dared to directly confront Lu Yin. This was a monster on par with the High Seraph.
Just as Lu Yin was about to attack again, a powerful memory struck him. He stopped moving entirely, falling into the process of absorbing the memory.
Only by absorbing a memory could one become one of the Thirteen Luminaries.
This was how Wu Wei, Hua Manyi, and all the others had obtained their titles, and it was also the exact reason why Lu Yin had wanted to visit the Willbound Spire. He was curious to see what memory he might witness.
The megaverses were all mysteries, and it was clear to Lu Yin that the Willbound Spire involved the memories of more than one megaverse. Since it contained memories of the Tianyuan Megaverse, then could it also have memories of other megaverses?
Soon, Lu Yin saw the memory.
He saw a unique civilization, or rather, unique creatures. Their appearance, movements, and entire manner of life was completely different from humans’. Additionally, the creatures were incapable of cultivating. In short, Lu Yin was observing ordinary creatures that had managed to form a civilization.
Lu Yin could not understand why the memory from the Willbound Spire was focused on these creatures. Time passed, and he observed the civilization for so long that he became numb.