Chapter 2934: Sense Of Superiority  

After listening to Bi Lan's words, Bi Teng shook his head. "Such things might not matter to ordinary cultivators, but for those at Lord Lu's level, especially since he is capable of reversing time…" At this point, the man paused, seemingly hesitant to continue. "For such people, these parallel universes are essentially consumables."

Bi Lan did not understand, but upon seeing the expression on Bi Teng’s face, she did not ask any further questions.

"If this doesn't work, then we’ll just tell him about that place," Bi Teng muttered to himself, though his voice was soft enough that Bi Lan could not make out his words.

…

The storm stirred the dark red sea, raising up huge waves. In the distance, lightning flickered continuously, and a green mist nearly covered the entire sky. Occasionally, massive creatures would leap out of the sea, swallow some of the sea water, linger among the lightning, and then fly off into the distance.

This was the Merchant Exchange’s twelfth universe.

It was referred to as the twelfth universe because time flowed twelve times faster than in the Origin Universe.

Lu Yin stood on a deserted island. It was an enormous landmass, and it was equal to an entire continent on Earth. And yet, it was nothing more than the tiniest island in the vast sea that surrounded Lu Yin. That was because even just a small corner of this sea far exceeded the size of Earth.

The entire universe consisted of seas. When Lu Yin looked into the distance, he saw various seas connected to each other, all of which formed a unique parallel universe.

This entire universe was composed of nothing but these seas. Some looked like they were lying on top of planets, while others floated in outer space. No matter what, they were all interconnected, and there was no end in sight.

Lu Yin stepped forward, moving past the lightning storm. A wave of his hand dispersed the green mist from the sky, revealing the depths of a slightly green starry sky. In this universe, even outer space was poisonous, and the universe was not at all suitable for human survival.

This was another parallel universe without any humans, and it was also considerably larger than the fifth universe.

Lu Yin's eyes went wide when he looked at the spatial lines in the twelfth universe. Sure enough, they were larger and more robust than the spatial lines of the fifth universe. Specifically, they were twelve times thicker than the Origin Universe’s, and adapting to this universe would allow Lu Yin to peer twelve seconds into the past.

It was entirely possible to immediately enter a universe where time flowed fifty times faster than in the Origin Universe, which vastly exceeded the twelfth universe’s flow rate. However, Lu Yin had quickly dismissed the possibility after considering it. It would be even more difficult to adapt to an extreme difference in temporal flow rates. If just a fivefold increase had made his Lightstream feel like it was stuck in a quagmire, then a universe whose time flowed fifty times as fast might reject him the moment he tried to bring out Lightstream.

It would also be very difficult to obtain the acknowledgement of such a parallel universe.

Now, all of this was nothing more than Lu Yin's personal conjecture, and it was entirely possible that the difficulty in being acknowledged by a parallel universe had nothing to do with how fast time passed in that universe. It might be possible that one could quickly receive the acknowledgement of a parallel universe where time passed millions of times faster than in the Origin Universe, but that was nothing more than a possibility. Without any proof, Lu Yin could only go off of his own conjectures.

It would also be extremely difficult for him to gain access to such a parallel universe. Even if the Merchant Exchange had one, there was no way they would ever be willing to share it with Lu Yin.

Additionally, Lu Yin knew that he could not continue to rely solely on the Merchant Exchange. He needed to learn about others with access to similar parallel universes from them.

There was a snap as a bolt of lightning shot across the sky overhead. Nearby, a gigantic tornado spun around.

Lu Yin took another step forward and started to learn about the current universe. Only by understanding it could he receive its recognition.

A month later, Lu Yin stood above a sea as stellular energy surged out from his body. He suppressed the entire sea, causing it to spread out in every direction. Huge creatures that lurked within the sea looked at Lu Yin in terror. There were fish, turtles, and many more bizarre creatures.

All of the creatures were wagging their tails or somehow submitting to Lu Yin in their own manner.

Lu Yin discovered that, while all of the creatures in the twelfth universe were marine astral beasts, they were all quite intelligent and understood how to submit to higher powers.

The entire universe was a system of interconnected seas, and the astral beasts had divided them into various territories. Some of the creatures banded together to defeat powerful opponents, while others acted independently.

This universe had a unique marine civilization.

Things were easier to handle since some sort of civilization had already been established.

The only method to receive the universe’s recognition that Lu Yin could think of was to conquer all of the astral beasts. He would never offer the astral beasts cultivation methods, as the beasts were barbaric. The civilization they did have was primitive, and the idea of survival of the fittest was engraved into their very bones. The only way for Lu Yin to establish himself as the apex existence was to suppress all the astral beasts with absolute power.

Wherever Lu Yin went, just the pressure of his stellular energy was enough to cow all the astral beasts. The more powerful the creature was, the greater the terror that they felt from Lu Yin’s show of strength. When faced with an utterly irresistible power, no creature would resist. They would only choose to surrender.

Two months, three months. Finally, five months passed before Lu Yin swept through the entirety of the twelfth universe. For the Origin Universe, less than half a month had passed, and Lu Yin had already forced all of the most powerful marine astral beasts in the twelfth universe to surrender to him.

Twelve times the speed of time meant that Lu Yin had twelve times more time to work with.

He could feel that the universe was no longer hostile to him. This feeling had not been noticeable in the past, but it had become more prominent after he received the fifth universe’s acknowledgement. This subtle feeling made Lu Yin confident that the twelfth universe had recognized him.

Of the two universes, intimidating creatures into submission had been much faster and easier than educating the pole-like creatures. Lu Yin had spent ten years to receive the acknowledgement of the fifth universe. If he had first come to the twelfth universe, Lu Yin would not have wasted nearly as much time.

Despite feeling that the lost time was a pity, Lu Yin could not blame the Merchant Exchange. After all, they had been forced into cooperating with him.

It was time.

Lu Yin used his inner world, Lightstream.

He felt nervous as he brought out his inner world, and he felt the same sensation as he had in the fifth universe; it felt as though Lightstream had been submerged in a quagmire. If he had not taken the time to first adapt to the fifth universe, the feeling would have been even more extreme in the twelfth universe.

In the fifth universe, after receiving the universe’s acknowledgement, Lu Yin had been able to use Lightstream smoothly and without any hindrance. However, in the twelfth universe, even after receiving the universe’s recognition, Lightstream moved as though it was trapped in a quagmire. Was it possible that Lu Yin had not been truly acknowledged by the universe?

Lu Yin gazed up at the stars and waited.

After a long time passed, he let out a sigh of relief. He was not in danger of being rejected, which proved that he had been accepted by the universe.

The astral beasts were the dominant lifeforms in the twelfth universe. Just like how Lu Yin had received the acknowledgement of the fifth universe by teaching the poles, convincing the dominant lifeforms in the twelfth universe gave Lu Yin the universe’s acknowledgement.

In that case, since he had been recognized by the twelfth universe, why did Lightstream still behave as though it was trapped in a quagmire?

Lu Yin started to adjust to the twelfth universe with Lightstream. Well, he attempted to do so.

…

In the Heavens Sect, Tuo Lin stared blankly at the books that practically filled an entire room before him. The Second Nightking stood behind the books, unable to even enter the room as the books blocked him.

"These are the books that the Dao Monarch ordered me to gather for you. I ask that the Young Master review them." The Second Nightking spoke respectfully to Tuo Lin, even though there was clear envy in his voice. This young man had been accepted as the Dao Monarch's disciple. In the Origin Universe, not even Progenitors could compare to Tuo Lin’s new status. The young man had taken one step and surpassed the sky.

Tuo Lin was stunned by the sight before him. "So many?"

The Second Nightking replied, "This is nothing more than a small portion of what has been gathered. Much more is still on the way."

Tuo Lin's face turned pale. There was even more? How would he ever finish reading all of these books?

He stared at the piles of books that were piled everywhere he looked. For a moment, he questioned his situation.

"Young Master, these books have been collected by various sects, organizations, and families. All of them are accounts of human history. Once you have finished reading these, please inform your servant, and the books will be returned to their owners," the Second Nightking explained.

Tuo Lin frowned. "Are these books very valuable?"

"Extremely," the Second Nightking replied. He was following Lu Yin’s orders with his responses.

Tuo Lin took a deep breath. It was impossible for his master to lie to him. If Lu Yin wanted to lie, he could have simply found a few ordinary books. Why bother gathering valuable records? Only these precious records would contain details of history that were hidden to ordinary people.

Yes, Master's expectations for Tuo Lin were extremely high, and this test was beyond challenging.

The young man remembered every word that Lu Yin had ever said to him. Thinking about those words and the approval in Lu Yin’s eyes when he had looked at Tuo Lin caused the young man to take a deep breath. After releasing it, a determination stronger than ever filled his eyes. No matter what was placed before him, how difficult his path might be, or how long Master’s test might last, Tuo Lin would see things through to the end.

He needed to bear the heavy burden of protecting humanity. He would be their savior.

"Let’s go!" Tuo Lin picked up a book in front of him and started reading.

The Second Nightking did not understand where the young man’s sudden excitement came from, but he intended to leave the young man alone to read the books. Just the ones in that room would last the young man for several years. After all, Tuo Lin was a completely ordinary human.

…

On the mountain behind the Heavens Sect, Lu Yin waved a hand and brought out Lightstream. It shuttled about, and he silently counted.

Lightstream returned to Lu Yin’s body, as he stood there in surprise. How could he see eighteen seconds into the past?

After adapting to the twelfth universe, Lu Yin had expected his inner world to allow him to see a total of twelve seconds into the past, similar to what had happened after he had finished his time in the fifth universe when he had seen five seconds into the past.

Why could he see eighteen seconds into the past instead?

Eighteen seconds could be interpreted as one second plus five seconds plus another twelve seconds for a total of eighteen seconds. This was the cumulative time of the Origin Universe, the fifth universe, and the twelfth universe.

Why was this the case?

Lu Yin considered the matter for a long time, but he failed to determine anything. Still, this seemed like a positive result.

Instead of seeing just twelve seconds into the past, Lu Yin could see eighteen seconds. If he continued to visit parallel universes with different rates of time and cumulatively add all of them together, he would be able to see further and further into the past.

One minute? An hour? A day? Even a month or a year?

Lu Yin used Lightstream again. He was still only able to reverse time by one second, but he could see what had happened eighteen seconds in the past. This discrepancy was really hard for him to understand.

He became increasingly eager to visit more parallel universes with accelerated time.

A short time later, Lu Yin returned from Backyard, an ugly expression on his face.

He had asked Zi Jing about the parallel universe where the Transcendent Universe had sent the Energy Research Group to study sequence particles. That universe’s time had flowed a hundred times faster than in the Origin Universe. Lord Wei had found an impressive parallel universe for the researchers to use.

Unfortunately, that universe had been destroyed by Progenitor Hui. How frustrating. It was really such a pity.

Lu Yin's eyes flickered, and he sent a message to Madam Nalan, asking her to visit him in the Heavens Sect.

"Dao Monarch, you’ve scared the Merchant Exchange by calling me here. They think that you want yet another parallel universe with an altered flow of time." Madam Nalan relaxed as she looked at Lu Yin with bright, fascinated eyes.

Lu Yin laughed. "They’re absolutely right. I do want another parallel universe."

Madam Nalan was taken aback. "So soon?"

Lu Yin did not know how to explain his situation to Madam Nalan, but it also was unnecessary. "Does the Merchant Exchange have any more options?"

Madam Nalan replied, "They must, but there is a tacit agreement not to share such information with me. I’ve already asked, and I’ve even spoken with Bi Teng himself. However, he won’t tell me anything."

As the Heavens Sect grew increasingly powerful, Lu Yin and many others from the Heavens Sect were taking more and more direct actions. This was completely different from how they had behaved in the past. While this change could be regarded as a good thing, as the people of the Origin Universe had gained a great deal of confidence, there were also negative effects. This attitude of superiority could potentially cause trouble.