Lu Yin took a few deep breaths as he looked at the endless sea of star essence beneath his feet. This was the smell of money, the smell of power.
There was finally a day where he could no longer care about his consumption and increase his strength without any restraint.
"I don't understand why you need so many star essence. You cultivate astral sources, not star energy." The Mist Ancestor was puzzled, and she kept sizing up Lu Yin. She could sense that he was hiding some secrets.
Lu Yin coughed. "Senior, um, can you … Can I put the mirror away?"
The Mist Ancestor raised her brows. "What do you mean?
You don't want me to appear?
You want to burn the bridge after crossing it?
Kid, you're really something. "
Lu Yin smiled apologetically and promised, "I have a secret, and I won't hide it from you. However, it's not convenient for others to see it. How about this, I can promise you something." Lu Yin's expression turned solemn. "I'll do my best to get you out in the next few days."
The Mist Ancestor's eyes widened. "Get me out?
Are you sure?
Do you have the ability to do that? "
Lu Yin was certain. "I'll give it a try. What do you think, Senior?"
Before he could finish, the Mist Ancestor returned to the mirror and said, "I'm taking your words seriously. If you can't do it, then don't expect me to help you in the future."
Lu Yin put the mirror away. He did not doubt the Mist Ancestor's determination. After all, she was one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, and she had been used by a third tribulation cultivator without knowing anything.
However, Lu Yin could not expose his innate gift. Kui Luo had already seen it, but he did not know the specifics. The Mist Ancestor might have seen it as well, as their perspectives were different.
It was best not to expose it as much as possible.
But since he had already said that, he had to think of a way to help the Mist Ancestor escape. Thus, the first item he needed to upgrade was the needle.
He wanted to upgrade the slippers, but even if the Minor Progenitor Planet had many resources, it might not be enough to upgrade them. After a rough estimate, each Minor Progenitor Planet had about 300 billion to 500 billion star essence, and upgrading the slippers would require trillions of star essence. Lu Yin did not want to come here and upgrade just one slipper. Even if he upgraded it to the point where it could kill a Progenitor, it would be useless to him since he could not even approach the Progenitor realm. The current power of the slippers was enough, so upgrading them would be more likely.
Of all the items he had, the only one that could help the Mist Ancestor was the needle. Back then, the Mist Ancestor only had the strength of a half-step Ancestor because of the needle and the slipper.
He was currently on Shenwu's Junior Progenitor Planet, and the guardian Senior Jun and a few other Emissaries had been knocked unconscious. He raised his hand, and his die appeared. He tapped on it; he only needed three pips.
He did not have a cosmic ring large enough to store all of the star essence on Planet Junior Progenitor, so even if he rolled Possession, it would be useless for him to enter the Time Stop Space.
Lu Yin's luck wasn't very good. The first time, he obtained two pips, and the second time, he obtained four pips. He had stayed in the Time Stop Space for almost a year to cultivate the Sirius Technique. He had originally planned on upgrading all of the star essence in his cosmic ring since he would definitely be able to obtain three pips in the Time Stop Space. However, after some thought, he decided against it and decided to focus on cultivating the Sirius Technique.
On the third roll, he rolled five pips, and on the fourth roll, he rolled three pips.
Looking at the two screens, Lu Yin moved his arms. The physical work had come, and he needed to start moving the star essence.
Lu Yin had thought that upgrading the needle would consume a lot of star essence, as the needle could already break through a half-step Ancestor's inner world. It was an item that belonged to a half-step Ancestor, and if it was upgraded again, it would touch upon the Progenitor realm. However, he had not expected that upgrading the needle would consume so much star essence.
460 billion star essence.
A total of 460 billion star essence.
Lu Yin looked at the needle, which had not changed at all, and gulped. This was the largest upgrade he had ever done.
More than half of the star essence on Shenwu's Junior Progenitor Planet had been consumed, and only the surface layer remained to prevent the Culinary God from seeing through it.
Even Lu Yin's eyes trembled at the consumption of so much star essence.
He slowly picked up the needle, but it did not seem any different.
He touched it and found that it was still icy cold, but he did not dare to test it out in case the Culinary God saw through it.
He looked at his cosmic ring and then back at Junior Progenitor Planet.
There was nothing left for him to upgrade on this planet, so he took out the mirror and asked the Mist Ancestor to take him to the next planet.
When the Mist Ancestor came out, he subconsciously glanced at Lu Yin, and his face was filled with surprise and disbelief. "Where did all that star essence go?"
Lu Yin pursed his lips. "Senior, it's not convenient for me to tell you my secret, but don't worry. After we leave this place, I'm confident that I can help you break through even more Micro."
The Mist Ancestor looked deeply at Lu Yin, but he did not say anything. He then took Lu Yin to the next planet.
This was the White Dragon's Junior Progenitor Planet, and it was here that Lu Yin had prevented Nong Lie and the others from helping Long Tian, which had allowed him to obtain the qualifications to enter the Ruler's Realm.
He had also consumed some star essence here, but compared to the entire White Dragon's Junior Progenitor Planet, this amount was negligible.
The mirror was stored away in his cosmic ring. Lu Yin had already thought of the next item he would upgrade: the Time Withering Wood.
Ancestor Ku held a very high position in Lu Yin's heart. Even though he was not as domineering as Progenitor Chen, nor as intelligent as Progenitor Hui, or as mysterious as the Symbol Progenitor, when it came to endurance, no one would dare to claim second place if Ancestor Ku claimed to be first. Even the Mist Ancestor had said that Ancestor Ku was a monster that could not be killed. God King Miaomiao of the Forgotten Ruins had also mentioned this.
Ancestor Ku dared to charge at the Eternals on his own because he was confident in his own strength.
The Time Withering Wood was a power vessel that Ancestor Ku had left behind.
Lu Yin had grasped that when things reached an extreme, things would move in the opposite direction, and he had the ability to revive withered trees. However, the first two words of the Time Withering Wood were "years," which meant time. Lu Yin had always wondered how Ancestor Ku was related to time.
Even the Ku family did not have any records of Ancestor Ku possessing the power of time.
Only Ku Rong had said that Ancestor Ku had grasped the power of time, but he had only been able to revive withered trees.
Lu Yin felt that the Time Withering Wood was not called the Time Withering Wood for nothing. Given Ancestor Ku's low-profile personality, only the heavens knew what he had grasped.
Lu Yin had seen Wendy Yushan and Chu Yuan's power of time, and he had also traveled through spacetime. He had seen almost all of humanity's history, and his thirst for time was extremely strong. Even if there was only a sliver of a chance, he wanted to try it.
Lu Yin calmly looked at the Time Withering Wood and rested for ten days. He tapped out a finger and began to roll his die.
He watched the die slowly spin and then stop at six pips. His eyes lit up as he appeared in a dark space. There were bright and dark orbs around him, but he did not want to waste time. He immediately found a brighter one and merged with it.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a battlefield of slaughter. His surroundings were dusky, and beneath his feet was a huge array base. This was the battlefield behind him.
In front of Lu Yin, several Corpse Kings attacked him, and he subconsciously dodged. This body had five Origin Tribulations, and it easily retreated into the Astral Source Universe. The Corpse Kings that were attacking him all had the power of Envoys, and one of them could transform with green eyes. His physical strength was extremely powerful, and he also had a strange innate gift. This was the one that Lu Yin had merged with.
He was the one that Lu Yin feared the most.
Memories flooded into his mind, and Lu Yin finally knew who this person was.
The fourth array base's Token Master was Jiu Zizai, and he was also the fourth array base's strongest Token Master. His status was equivalent to the second array base's Token Master Zuo, who Lu Yin had met before. Jiu Zizai's cultivation was even higher than the Token Master's, and he was second only to the commander and the array core.
If that was all, then Lu Yin would have immediately withdrawn from the fusion.
However, through his memories, Lu Yin discovered that this person was actually a Redback. A thousand years ago, when Jiu Zizai had entered the battlefield behind him, he had been developed into a Redback during the second battle. He should have died in that battle, but he had changed sides and killed his comrades. He had then begged the Eternals for mercy, and he had been developed into a Redback by Marquis Wuyi, one of the Eternals' Twelve Marquises.
For nearly a thousand years, Jiu Zizai had not done anything, and Marquis Wuyi had not asked him to do anything either. Marquis Wuyi had only asked him to do his best to avoid being implicated when attacking the second array base. Because of Jiu Zizai's extraordinary innate gift, he had been an Enlighter when he had first entered the battlefield behind him, but he had smoothly broken through to five Origin Tribulations. All of his achievements had been given to him by Marquis Wuyi so that he could climb even higher.
Now, Jiu Zizai was the strongest commander of the fourth array base, second only to the commander and the array core. If he broke through again, then he would be useful to Marquis Wuyi.
Through Jiu Zizai's memories, Lu Yin knew that Marquis Wuyi had not asked him to do anything on the battlefield behind him. The five array bases were a single entity, and even if Jiu Zizai became a Half-Progenitor or the commander of one of the array bases, he would not be able to influence the battle.
What Marquis Wuyi wanted was for Jiu Zizai to return to the Astral Trees from the battlefield behind him. Only then would Jiu Zizai be able to display his usefulness.
Just think about it; once an expert who had experienced a thousand years of slaughter on the battlefield behind him and had reached six or even seven Origin Tribulations returned to the Astral Trees, he would definitely be roped in by all the powers. He would then become one of the most powerful Redbacks in the Astral Trees.
Lu Yin was deeply shocked when he saw these memories. Many people believed that the battlefield behind him was the front line to stop the Eternals, and it was indeed the greatest barrier to protect the Astral Trees. However, the Eternals had treated it as a place to develop their Redbacks.
There were definitely many people like Jiu Zizai on the battlefield behind him. The Eternals saw the weaknesses of human nature, and as long as they wanted to survive, there was a high chance that they would become a Redback. The Eternals could develop unscrupulously on the battlefield behind him and then let them return to the Astral Trees.
Such people were the least likely to be suspected. Even the commoners did not dare to casually interrogate them, as it would cause a huge backlash.
Lu Yin controlled Jiu Zizai's body to fight against the Corpse King, and he almost wanted to commit suicide. However, after some thought, he decided against it. Since he knew that Jiu Zizai was a Redback, then there was no need for him to hide anything. Perhaps he could use Jiu Zizai to turn the tables on the Eternals and learn their secrets.
Jiu Zizai had never done anything bad to the fourth array base. Instead, Marquis Wuyi had contributed a lot to him, and these contributions had all been paid with the Corpse King's lives.
Lu Yin suddenly had a strange idea. If a large number of people joined the Everlasting Race and became redbacks, would the Everlasting Race continuously provide them with battle merits in order to promote them? How much would those people's battle merits cost the Everlasting Race?
If those people were Redbacks, then the Eternals' losses would be worth it. But what if they were fake?
Once this idea popped into his head, he could not stop it. Lu Yin's eyes grew brighter and brighter, and he almost got hit by a Corpse King.
These Corpse Kings did not know that Jiu Zizai was a Redback, and they were all fighting for their lives. Only the Corpse Kings at the very top that could threaten Jiu Zizai were aware of this, and they were creating opportunities for him at critical moments.