Chapter 4544: Experiencing Death

"Chen, what do you think of the scenery here?" Thousand Machinations led Lu Yin through the Abyss, talking as they walked.

Lu Yin replied, "It is different from Joy City. It doesn’t look like a place where creatures of the Death Megaverse would live."

"How do you feel?"

"Not bad."

"Pick a place to be your grave."

Lu Yin was startled, and he shot a wary look at Thousand Machinations' back. For a moment, he was unable to say anything.

Thousand Machinations turned around with a smile. "If you want to reach the limit of your own potential, you must pay a price. The price is approaching death, or even actually dying. If you fail, you will undoubtedly die, so choose a place that you find appealing to serve as your grave."

Lu Yin blankly stared at Thousand Machinations. "Is it that dangerous?"

Thousand Machinations thought for a moment. "Very."

"Can I refuse?"

"You can," Thousand Machinations answered very simply, "I will send you to the Lepidarch Continent right now. Go and collect everything related to Grand Clarity and wipe out the civilization there while you are at it."

The Lepidarch Continent was the nearby fishing civilization. If Thousand Machinations sent Lu Yin there at this moment, it would be no different from sending him to his death. Even when his true body had been an Aberrant, he had not been able to single-handedly destroy a fishing civilization, let alone this skeleton clone.

Lu Yin remained silent for some time. Thousand Machinations did not rush him at all. The bear simply observed the world, looking completely at ease.

"I will have to trouble you, Senior." Lu Yin bowed deeply to Thousand Machinations.

Thousand Machinations asked, "Are you going to the Lepidarch Continent, or are you going to increase your potential?"

"I will increase my potential." Lu Yin stopped hesitating. How could cultivation ever be a smooth path? His skeleton clone had long since been walking along the edge of death and had even already died once. At worst, he would take that same risk again. His hesitation had only been due to his worry that Thousand Machinations might be scheming against him, but clearly, that worry was unnecessary. Given Thousand Machinations' strength, killing Lu Yin’s skeleton clone would be as easy as flipping their paw. There was no need for any sort of scheming. It could only be said that his years of cultivation had made Lu Yin too vigilant, causing him to instinctively worry about such things.

Such worry was meaningless.

Thousand Machinations raised a paw and pointed. "Choose a place."

Lu Yin calmly replied, "Right here."

"So casual?"

"This is leaving things to fate."

Thousand Machinations grinned. "Stand still."

The bear then retreated step by step, while Lu Yin looked at them in confusion.

The Abyssal continued to retreat as a shadow suddenly fell upon Lu Yin. He looked up to see a huge black sphere slowly descending upon him, its surface perfectly smooth.

As the black sphere approached, the wind remained unchanged. Nothing at all changed, which was exactly what made this sphere so terrifying.

Whenever any object moved, there would be some sign. Such a huge black sphere had abruptly appeared, and yet Lu Yin had actually failed to sense it. That in itself was a problem. This black sphere had to contain an extremely terrifying power. That was what he felt the moment he first saw it, yet as he stared at it, the feeling actually vanished.

What an enormous gap.

He turned back to stare at Thousand Machinations.

The bear’s voice reached him, "It is rare to find such a good test subject. Do not die."

As Lu Yin heard that, the black sphere abruptly dropped down and pressed over him. In an instant, it was as if the sky had turned dark for him. Following that was the chilling power of Stillness. The coldness entered his bones and seemed to strip away all of his senses. His entire being felt like it was floating up, despite the fact that he continued to stand in exactly the same place and never moved.

It was as if his soul were floating up, separating from his body.

Nearby, Thousand Machinations watched calmly.

This black sphere was a shocking amount of Stillness that the Abyssal had condensed with its Three Deaths Art. It had used the technique to compress a terrifying amount of Stillness into a single point, which created this sphere.

Although it was a black sphere that was only a few dozen meters in diameter, it contained more Stillness than the entire Thousand Machinations Abyss. This was essentially using the Three Deaths Art to squeeze Lu Yin, which would cause him to collapse and even die.

Every time the one within the sphere approached death, the black sphere would contract completely. Whenever it contracted to the size of the creature within it, if that creature still lived, the sphere would expand once more. If the creature died, the sphere would condense to form the Three Deaths Art, leaving behind nothing more than a single black dot.

Many creatures of the Death Megaverse had died in this Abyss in the past, and many had done so voluntarily. Those who had not died had all reached the limit of their own potential.

Withered Requiem had experienced it, and so had Old Sixth. In fact, most of the most powerful creatures of the Death Megaverse had experienced this process. When they reached the limit of their own potential, both their own strength and their ability to absorb Stillness would increase. The increase itself depended on the individual.

However, after countless attempts, certain patterns had appeared. When ordinary creatures approached death, they would only cause the black sphere to contract and expand about five times. After that, if they had successfully reached the limit of their potential, they would be able to sense it themselves and could simply walk away. If they wanted to continue, death was certain because their potential had already been pushed to the limit. Even if the amount of Stillness in the sphere did not decrease in the slightest, potential was like a spring. If it existed, it could serve as a buffer, but as soon as one’s limit was reached, that spring would disappear. Then, without that protection, the pressure would easily shatter the body.

Therefore, no creature would continue after reaching the limits of their own potential. That would be seeking death and have no meaning.

Creatures with outstanding talent might see the sphere expand about seven times.

Some supreme powerhouses could go through more cycles. For example, Withered Requiem had caused the sphere to expand eleven times. Old Sixth had experienced thirteen cycles, proving that their potential surpassed Withered Requiem’s.

In the past, the greatest potential that Thousand Machinations had ever witnessed had caused the sphere to expand more than twenty times. That had been extremely shocking, and it represented that creature's incomparable potential.

The Abyssal was very curious to see just how many cycles Lu Yin would be able to endure for.

Cold pressure came from every direction. Lu Yin's entire being was immersed within the Three Deaths Art. The bones that made up his body released faint sounds as death came closer and closer to him.

This was true death. He could feel that his bones were barely able to withstand the pressure. He could feel his own consciousness grow hazy, like a drowning person who was desperately trying to grab hold of something. He felt that he could not breathe, and that suffocating pressure was trying to crush him.

Was he truly going to die?

The entire universe was nothing but darkness. He could see no light, only the boundless and terrifying Stillness that surrounded him. It had once felt so familiar, but at this moment, it felt completely foreign.

This was Thousand Machinations' Stillness. It was different from any that Lu Yin had ever come into contact with before. Even the Stillness of Death's Dominion and Withered Requiem had not given him this kind of sensation.

It was as if vitality was somehow evolving within the Stillness, yet that vitality could not be seen or touched. It even felt as if it was shifting farther and farther away from him. Still, that strand of vitality undoubtedly existed.

What kind of feeling was this? What was he thinking?

Thousand Machinations watched as the black sphere shrank, moving closer to Lu Yin's bones as it gradually contracted.

Lu Yin's consciousness grew increasingly hazy. He felt the approach of death, yet suddenly, he moved.

Outside of the sphere, Thousand Machinations was utterly shocked by this, and it stared at Lu Yin in disbelief. He moved. This guy just moved, didn’t he? Impossible. How could he move?

The black sphere did not use Stillness to outright suppress whatever creature was inside it and leave them unable to move. Instead, it used Stillness to simply erase the creature. What truly pressed down upon the creature and left them unable to move was not Stillness, but the arrival of death itself.

Just think; when a person died, how could they still move?

This was common sense to Thousand Machinations, but at this moment, Lu Yin moved. Damn it, he actually moved.

This was the same as saying that a dead man was moving. It was absolutely impossible.

Thousand Machinations’ gaze remained locked upon Lu Yin.

He moved again, turning his head to look to both sides.

Thousand Machinations rubbed their eyes and then scratched their head. How can this be?

Lu Yin himself did not know why this was happening. The feeling of death approaching should have clearly caused him to feel despair, and yet he found the sensation to be very familiar. Right.

He suddenly remembered. This was death. He had experienced death, and more than once at that. It was something that he had experienced many times before.

Rolling six pips on his die had allowed him to Possess the bodies of too many creatures. He had controlled some of those and forced them to commit suicide, while others had sought death on their own. Regardless of the cause, a number of them had died.

There had even been a period of time when he had used Possession to specifically experience the feeling of dying in order to increase the amount of his death energy for the Arcane Art of Fatal Revival.

So, was death not unfamiliar to him?

Yes, it was indeed familiar. It was not something unknown to him, and so Lu Yin was able to remain completely clear-headed.

What should he do? How could he experience death when he was so clear-headed? How could he reach the limits of his own potential? This method was useless for him.

He was somewhat dazed.

Thousand Machinations was also dazed at this moment. What was going on? It could not make sense of it at all.

Thinking back to how confidently they had ordered Lu Yin to choose his grave, the Abyssal suddenly felt as if they had slapped themself in the face.

Watching Lu Yin's skeleton move about within the black sphere, Thousand Machinations lost their composure in a rare moment. This had never happened before. The death of this process was not like being bestowed Bone Script, but rather true death. If someone died, how could they still move?

Since Lu Yin could move, it meant that he was still conscious, but his body absolutely should not be able of handling that. Powerful Immortal beings like Withered Requiem and Old Sixth had risked death in this process, and it was even more impossible for a non-Immortal to withstand it.

Is it that his body is not able to hold on but his consciousness is? Thousand Machinations moved in front of the black sphere.

Inside it, Lu Yin was looking back at the bear. It was as if the two were staring at each other.

The black sphere had already condensed around Lu Yin's body, which should have indicated that the skeleton was on the verge of death. However, the sphere soon expanded again.

Thousand Machinations watched carefully. Contracting and expanding. The process continued in the same manner as it had with so many other creatures, but this Chen had retained his conscious awareness. What difference would this have on the results? The bear could not predict the result, but this was truly interesting. This test subject was truly interesting.

Lu Yin watched as Thousand Machinations retreated again, step by step. His body felt like it was growing lighter and lighter. Although he could only move slightly, he could not make any large movements. He could not see that his bones were covered with cracks and were about to shatter. There were even cracks running throughout his skull.

He could not see any of this. He only knew that this feeling of dead yet not dead was far too familiar. It was so familiar that even a sliver of consciousness was enough for him to remain clear-headed.

The black sphere condensed once more.

Crack.

The sound of something cracking reached Lu Yin's ears. Was that his own body? He wanted to lower his head to look, but his skull could not move. He could only move a finger.

Thousand Machinations stared. He moved again.

Contracting, expanding.

Contracting, expanding.

Lu Yin's bones kept hovering on the edge of completely shattering as the black sphere contracted and expanded again and again.

The cycle had already repeated nine times, and the tenth was about to finish.

Withered Requiem had completed eleven cycles. Thousand Machinations had already expected Lu Yin to surpass Withered Requiem. It calmly watched as the black sphere finished its eleventh cycle while Lu Yin's bones became increasingly broken. Even so, they still formed a complete human skeleton.

Nothing could be built up without destruction. Anything inside the black sphere would experience this same process until they reached the limits of their own potential. Only then would they recover. That moment would serve as a new beginning.

However, if they could not reach that stage, they could only die.

The bear had not been trying to frighten Lu Yin. Far too many creatures had died in its Abyss.

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