Chapter 4466: It Finally Sounds Listenable

Fishbone really wanted to kick Yong Heng out of the band. Having Lu Yin, whose musical talent was awful, was already enough of a headache. The band had enough members that they could remove one. So, getting rid of Yong Heng, who was only dragging them down, would be perfect.

But the fish skeleton only heard Lu Yin say, “Never abandon, never give up.”

There was no helping it; Yong Heng stayed. No matter how bad his musical talent was, he just had to learn.

Yong Heng was not surprised. It had long since been established that his musical talent was terrible. After all, he had been in Joy City for quite some time and had always been trying to find a way to get into the castle. Although he had never joined a band, he had encountered those who had invited him to join a band, only for them to be frightened off by his musical ability.

He had come to understand the situation in this regard even earlier than Lu Yin. He had simply not expected Lu Yin and the others to keep him around.

That left Yong Heng unable to figure things out. These few had definitely set their sights on him and Zhu for some other reason. Could this be Withered Requiem’s arrangement?

Yong Heng’s music sounded even worse than Lu Yin’s, but Lu Yin was not surprised in the slightest. Yong Heng had lived far longer than Lu Yin had. In terms of scheming, the man was even more experienced. Yong Heng had betrayed humanity, the Netherfiends, and Stillness. He was now in an Abyss, though whether that counted as betrayal or not was uncertain.

Yong Heng had done far more than Lu Yin ever had. If Lu Yin’s music contained five layers of restraints, then Yong Heng’s music contained at least ten. In Joy City, his music was considered truly awful. Even Zhu could not stand it.

As time passed, the band’s training got on track. One by one, they exchanged their understanding of music with each other, and Lu Yin also began to empty himself, undoing the layers of shackles that restrained his state of mind. He strove to take the final step and complete the wall in his heart as soon as possible.

Yong Heng did the same. He appeared to be more at ease than Lu Yin, but when it came to cultivating the state of his mind, he had gone much farther than Lu Yin. The more casual that Yong Heng appeared, the harder it was for him to make progress.

Time slowly passed. Ten years passed, during which Lu Yin did not move at all. The roaring music had long since become normal to him. He spent his time feeling Withered Requiem’s self and feeling the essence of the world.

At the same time, he was continuously absorbing Stillness and cultivating. This was the only way that external power could be cultivated in Joy City. It was not that the skeletons there could not grow stronger. One method was to strengthen the self, their consciousness, state of mind, and so on. Another was to grow stronger by absorbing the power of Stillness.

However, absorbing Stillness was far too slow of a process. Even the Cosmic Art could not change that. The Stillness in Joy City contained a sticky quality, unlike the Stillness that had been left behind in the reset megaverse.

Several more decades passed. Joy City discovered another cosmic civilization, and war began.

Countless skeletons charged into the megaverse and began slaughtering the creatures that lived there. The civilization had no Immortals, only a few Dukkhans. They were completely unable to resist the Death Megaverse.

Withered Requiem’s music spread throughout the megaverse, causing countless creatures of flesh and blood to wail.

When the megaverse was reset, the war ended. Joy City successfully replenished its numbers with a new batch of skeletons. The number of additions was considerable.

During the war, Lu Yin also succeeded in devouring quite a bit of the Stillness from a number of skeletons. After all, everyone had split up after they charged into the megaverse.

Only by devouring the Stillness inside of other skeletons could Lu Yin’s strength increase quickly.

Unfortunately, the skeletons that he had targeted were too weak. They possessed nowhere near the amount of Stillness that Lu Yin had gained the time that he had devoured an Immortal skeleton. The two were not even comparable.

What was worth noting was that Zhu had originally wanted to gain Withered Requiem’s attention during the war and speak with them, but Yong Heng stopped Zhu.

That was what Lu Yin had intended to do.

After returning to Joy City, Lu Yin gave Yong Heng a long look, unable to understand why he had done such a thing. He was clearly the one who had brought Zhu back to the Death Megaverse, and he must hope for Zhu to cultivate there. But despite that, Yong Heng had still stopped Zhu from meeting with Withered Requiem. Lu Yin could not make sense of it.

Zhu also could not understand it, and after returning, he kept staring at Yong Heng.

Yong Heng did not care. From time to time, he tapped the Root Seal, which was his instrument of choice. To Lu Yin, it actually sounded quite decent, but Fishbone and the others unanimously thought that it sounded terrible.

Lu Yin actually wished that he found the sound revolting as well. If he did, it would serve as proof that his music had gained the same essence that Fishbone’s and the others had, rather than still being wrapped in restraints.

Time continued to pass. Several more decades went by.

One day, Lu Yin struck a stone once in rhythm with Fishbone, and it excitedly cried out, “Brother, your music is finally listenable!”

Zhou was also quite happy. “Congratulations.”

Lu Yin let out a breath. “That’s good.”

Nearly 100 years had passed since he had first entered Joy City with his skeleton clone, which was nearly 100 years of trying to comprehend this world’s essence of music. At last, Lu Yin was starting to shed some of his restraints, allowing his music to reflect his true self. He was starting to produce results.

At the same time, the wall that he was building in his heart rose to cultivate his mental state had risen considerably. The efficiency was even greater than when he had wandered about the various cosmic civilizations.

Lu Yin let out a sigh of emotion and looked toward the castle. He really had to thank Withered Requiem. If not for the daily torment of their music, which forced him to keep perceiving and sensing, Lu Yin’s progress in cultivating his state of mind would have never been this fast.

It was like having a master constantly demonstrate a battle technique, day after day, year after year, tirelessly, until one finally understood it. What kind of master could be so diligent? None. Not a single one.

Withered Requiem was a good person. They had forcibly put on a demonstration for Lu Yin for nearly a century, and they would continue to do so in the future, right until the end of their time.

Although his music had shed some of its restraints, Lu Yin was still quite far from being able to compose a full piece. He continued to comprehend, full of anticipation for the future.

It was just that the end of Obscura’s protection period for the Human Trio was drawing nearer and nearer.

Lu Yin hoped that the Keeper of Balance would not act again until after his breakthrough to the Immortal realm. It seemed that Lu Yin would have to use a mission reward.

Yong Heng had also improved. He had even more room for improvement than Lu Yin, but his speed of improvement could not match Lu Yin’s.

They continued, and Joy City still moved in the same direction.

Another 100 years passed. During that century, Joy City never changed direction.

Lu Yin’s music was also being accepted by Fishbone and the others with greater and greater frequency. In the fish skeleton’s own words, if Lu Yin kept improving at this pace, it would not be long before they could challenge the castle.

After saying that, it suddenly thought of Yong Heng and immediately went to check his musical progress. Fishbone’s conclusion was that their band still had a very long time to go.

It very much wanted to kick Yong Heng out.

Sitting by the river, Lu Yin stared at the castle. Now, when he listened to Withered Requiem’s music, it no longer sounded so awful. Even the ear-splitting roar at the beginning of the song had become acceptable.

“Look! Look at my brother’s progress, and then look at you. You do not strive at all! Pathetic, truly pathetic!” Fishbone was furious and began berating Yong Heng.

He smiled faintly. “I am also trying.”

His smile only made Fishbone angrier. It wanted nothing more than to slap this guy to death.

Yong Heng sat down beside Lu Yin and looked at him. “Congratulations.”

Lu Yin said flatly, “As long as you work hard, you can do it too.”

Yong Heng sounded tired. “It is very hard.”

Lu Yin said nothing. When it came to this guy, the more that was said, the more likely Lu Yin was to slip up.

“There are very few beings like us in Joy City. At worst, take Zhou for example. They have never studied music, but the way that they strike things does not make people feel disgusted. Interesting, isn’t it?” Yong Heng casually commented.

Lu Yin looked over at him. “Very few like us? Then why are we like this?”

Yong Heng shrugged. “I do not know. Perhaps we are rather special.”

“I am still better than you,” Lu Yin said.

Yong Heng nodded. “That is true. I need to work harder as well.”

With that, he turned and walked away.

Lu Yin stared at Yong Heng’s back. Whenever the man spoke, it always felt like there was some further meaning, but Lu Yin could never figure out what that might be.

It should be impossible for Yong Hen to recognize Lu Yin. Had the difference in music allowed him to notice that Lu Yin was different from the others?

It did not matter.

At this moment, there were still 500 years remaining before Obscura’s protection for the Trio expired.

Lu Yin gazed at the castle. 500 years was not much, but it was also not little.

A few more years quickly passed. One day, Fishbone suggested that everyone play a piece and asked if Lu Yin had composed anything.

Lu Yin felt helpless. He was still some distance away from composing a full song.

Fishbone excitedly said that it had already prepared one, and it told everyone to play according to its composition.

Of course, the purpose was merely to rehearse, not to use its piece to challenge the castle.

Its words put Lu Yin at ease. He had already decided to set everything else aside and to first complete the final step of building the wall in his heart. He could not enter the castle too quickly.

~Pa

~Da

~Dong dong

~Pa

~Dong

~Da da

~Ding

“Whose ding was that?” Fishbone glared.

Yong Heng held up his Root Seal. “My ding.”

Fishbone angrily scolded him, “That was awful! Have you seriously thought about music at all? Look at my brother. That dong sounded so good!”

Lu Yin mused. Really?

“...”

Fishbone kept berating Yong Heng, even suspecting that he was ruining their song on purpose.

Suddenly, Zhu moved, and he started walking towards the castle.

“What are you doing? Rehearsal isn’t over yet!” Fishbone asked.

As if hearing nothing, Zhu continued moving closer to the castle. Zhou raised their claws to grab the skeleton, but suddenly, patterns appeared across the surface of Zhu’s bones. They spread out endlessly, ultimately linking together to form a gate.

The moment Lu Yin saw the gate, his heart sank. This is bad. Obscura!

Zhou’s claws fell. Throughout all of Joy City, music exploded in a roaring blast.

Zhou’s claw froze in midair, and it stared up at the castle.

Above the castle, Withered Requiem had appeared at some unknown point in time, and they were also staring down at Zhu. Although they were wearing sunglasses, at this moment, Lu Yin and the others were all within Withered Requiem’s gaze.

The gate took form.

Dong, dong, dong.

Footsteps were heard from it.

Zhu stood frozen in place, not moving at all.

A creature that Lu Yin was incomparably familiar with walked out from the gate: Skydog.

The dog slowly stepped out of the gate. Someone sat on its back, facing away from Lu Yin and the others and toward the castle. He spoke slowly, “It’s been a long time, Withered Requiem.”

Lu Yin stared at the figure’s back. He had not expected to see him in Joy City. Did Obscura’s Keeper of Balance have connections to the Death Megaverse?

“Well, well, if it isn’t Obscura’s Keeper of Balance. What brings you here to see me?” Withered Requiem spoke. Their strange tone sounded relaxed, and yet Lu Yin could sense the wariness and even unease in their voice.

At this moment, such emotions had become all too obvious to Lu Yin. If this meeting had occurred when he had first arrived in Joy City 200 years ago, he definitely would not have to pretend to know nothing.

“I would like to ask for your help. Of course, I will help you as well.” After saying that, Skydog walked to the castle and went in.

Everything returned to normal in Joy City. Zhu woke up, having no idea of what had just happened.

When Lu Yin had previously Possessed Zhu, they had not known that the Keeper of Balance had carved a gate onto their skeleton. What was the condition that had triggered the gate’s appearance? Distance? Time?

Zhu and Yong Heng had been sent to Joy City, but they had never been able to meet Withered Requiem. Joy City was also moving farther and farther from the Trio, so it was very likely that distance was what had triggered the Keeper of Balance’s visit.

This Keeper of Balance had made a personal visit, and his intentions were all too obvious. He was probably trying to use the Death Megaverse against the Trio.

It has already begun. Lu Yin’s gaze darkened.

If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.