Chapter 4553: Transfer

The fact that the Grand Clarity Civilization’s denizens spent their entire lives studying a single sourcebox was something that had been unfathomable to Lu Yin before, but he understood now. While they only ever studied a single sourcebox, they could unlock that sourcebox’s danger field and create an endless variety of sourcebox arrays with just that one sourcebox. One was enough to study for a lifetime.

He looked at the five primal talismans in front of him, simply shook his head, and then left.

He had overturned the earth but had not found any intact sourcebox arrays.

As he considered the matter with this new knowledge, he realized that there had to have been a reason why the tenth Lepid had been hiding within that great mountain. That mountain should have been the largest battlefield during the ancient war. If there had been a complete sourcebox array there, was it possible that other things had been preserved as well?

Lu Yin looked towards the great mountain and then glanced at the colorful Lepids again. He suddenly noticed that their movements in regards to the great mountain followed a pattern. When one pair moved away, another pair would approach the mountain. When that pair moved away, the next would approach.

There was unquestionably more inside that great mountain. There was no need to search anywhere else. He would go back inside that cavern.

At least one pair of Lepids was always watching the mountain, so it would not be easy for Lu Yin to enter that region.

For an Immortal, while it might not be easy to search through an entire megaverse, keeping an eye on a single mountain was no problem.

There seemed to be many ways to lure the Lepids away, but since they had reached the Immortal realm, none of them would be that stupid. Luring the Lepids away would only make them more cautious of Lu Yin entering the great mountain.

After thinking things over, Lu Yin still could not come up with a safe method. Helpless, he could only try to lure the Lepids away.

To do so, he only needed to release Stillness in various locations across the landmass. That was not difficult.

Just one or two eruptions of Stillness would be too obvious, so Lu Yin roamed the continent and left Stillness in many different places, sealing all of them with the Six Ancient Spirit Array and making it so that they would open at specific times.

As one eruption of Stillness after another shot into the sky across the continent, the Immortal Lepids were stunned at the sight of so much Stillness appearing simultaneously. This was clearly suspicious, but no matter how suspicious it might be, they could not simply ignore it.

The eruptions of Stillness were evenly distributed across the entire land mass, making it difficult to connect them to the great mountain.

Lu Yin seized the opening, entered the cavern beneath the mountain, and returned to the place where a fierce battle had been fought long ago.

Outside, Stillness kept dissipating while inside the mountain, Lu Yin suppressed his aura and buried himself deep underground so that he could avoid the searches of the Lepids. These Lepids needed to see him before they could target him with Butterfly Bloom, so he simply made it difficult for them to see him. After restraining his aura, any sort of sweeping search that they conducted was completely useless; they would have to carefully search the area inch by inch to find him.

The mountain he was inside was large enough to contain entire stars. As the largest battlefield in the war against the Grand Clarity Civilization, it was simply impossible to search through the mountain inch by inch.

Lu Yin hid inside for ten years, a full decade. The Lepids constantly searched the mountain, but they failed to find any trace of him. Gradually, they relaxed their search of the mountain’s inside.

Outside, more Stillness was still being released. Lu Yin used that to divert the Lepids’ attention, granting him time to search the inside of the mountain and see what was really here.

Previously, he had swept through the place with his consciousness, so there should be nothing left.

Lu Yin left the underground region and continued to search in the dark and hidden regions of the mountain, but he ultimately found nothing.

Strange. Those colorful Lepids value this place so much, so how could there be nothing here?

Lu Yin walked back to where he had found the intact sourcebox array. It had already been destroyed, and at its center was where the tenth colorful Lepid had been buried.

Lu Yin walked over and suddenly wondered what happened to the Lepids after they were buried in the ground. Did their corpses linger in the ground, or did they vanish?

Thinking of this, he immediately took action and carefully opened the earth, wanting to check on the corpse of the tenth Lepid.

Suddenly, his vision shook and became somewhat blurry. The world had not moved. Instead, it was his own mind that had been affected. Was his consciousness being absorbed? But there was no Butterfly Bloom attached to him.

Lu Yin quickly retreated, and the feeling of his consciousness being absorbed disappeared.

He was startled and uncertain as he moved forward again.

The same feeling reappeared.

His consciousness was being absorbed, which matched what the tenth Lepid had done to him while it had still been alive. It should already be dead, so why was his consciousness still being absorbed? Moreover, even the corpse was gone.

Lu Yin looked at the grave in the middle of where the sourcebox array had stood. Was it possible that the Lepid was not dead? Had it merely fallen into the Lepidarch's body? Was he currently standing at the maximum range of its Butterfly Bloom, which was how it was absorbing his consciousness?

No, that was not right. There were no flower marks on his body. Even if the Lepid were alive and standing before him, it would be impossible for it to absorb his consciousness without a flower mark.

It should be dead. He had killed it himself, unless the Lepidarch was somehow able to revive it. That was not impossible.

No, no. Thinking about it another way, what if it really was dead?

All of the Lepids were Immortals. With the severity of the injuries that Lu Yin had inflicted upon them, even if the Lepidarch could revive one of the Lepids, it could not possibly revive every single one of them. That would be too terrifying an ability. Lu Yin had killed four Immortal Lepids, all of which had been buried underground. He had seen this practice be mentioned throughout the history of the Lepidarch Continent as well.

If the Lepids were truly dead, then what did the fact that his consciousness could still be absorbed imply?

Lu Yin examined himself. The implication was that his consciousness was still being absorbed by Butterfly Bloom, but the user was being transferred from the dead Lepid to the Lepidarch. Because he was standing on the Lepidarch Continent, he was also close to the Lepidarch. That meant that, once the Lepidarch fully inherited the flower mark, his consciousness would be continuously absorbed.

Could that be what was happening?

To confirm this, he only needed to go and examine where the other three Lepids had been buried.

Getting inside the great mountain had been difficult, but leaving was easy. Lu Yin rushed straight out without giving the Lepids any time to react.

The pair of Lepids that were closest to the mountain tried to chase after him, but stars of Stillness exploded right in front of them, hiding Lu Yin as he disappeared.

The continent fell into chaos. The other pairs of Lepids all arrived, and they all gathered outside the great mountain and then flew around it.

Lu Yin went to where he had killed the first Lepid. On his way there, he kept an eye on the six Immortal Lepids. He saw that they actually did not try to surround or intercept him, which did not make sense. He had appeared from inside the great mountain. If they were watching that place because they feared that he would discover that the Butterfly Bloom state could be transferred to the Lepidarch when an Immortal Lepid died, then the first thing they should do was to seal off the other two burial sites. They could not be so stupid as to fail to think of such a possibility.

So why did they not move out?

Lu Yin found where the first Lepid had been buried, and he opened the soil. As soon as he got close, his physical strength started draining away.

As expected, he was still targeted by Butterfly Bloom in this place. If the Lepid had not died, it would be one thing, but now, it seemed that, even though the flower mark had vanished from his body, his energies could still be absorbed. None of the Immortal Lepids had this ability. The only one who might was the Lepidarch itself.

The Lepidarch was indeed inheriting the marks.

Lu Yin had no flesh and blood, or else his expression would certainly be crestfallen. He went to where the second Lepid was buried, and his physical strength was drained there as well.

He had killed four Immortal Lepids. Three had managed to target him with Butterfly Bloom, while the last one had been killed by a sneak attack and had had no time to react at all.

Of the three Lepids, two had absorbed his physical strength, and one had absorbed his consciousness.

If all three had absorbed the same power, it would be difficult for him to withstand such a drain.

It seemed very likely that the ownership of his flower marks had been transferred to the Lepidarch from all three Immortal Lepids. Once that transfer finished, if the Lepidarch awakened, Lu Yin would be at a terrible disadvantage. Furthermore, this was only considering him being targeted three times. The six surviving Lepids would definitely help the Lepidarch surround and attack him, and they were also able to target him with Butterfly Bloom.

If a few more flower marks appeared on him, the Lepidarch would be able to kill him in mere minutes.

This was the true absolute means of this civilization. Who could withstand having their power be absorbed by so many flower marks? Even if the Lepidarch was an average two-law Immortal, this ability to absorb power from so many flowers would inevitably give it an overwhelming advantage when fighting against even a peak two-law powerhouse.

At the very least, Lu Yin felt that not even his true body could endure being drained by ten Butterfly Bloom marks.

No. He could not allow himself to be forced into such a passive position.

Three marks were already in the transfer process. Either the Lepidarch would not awaken and he would be able to leave, or he could not allow any more marks to be transferred. If that happened, he would have no strength to fight back.

Could it be that the hypothesis of that ancient Lepidarch Continent civilization’s ancestor was correct and that the Lepidarch had never truly been asleep at all? Was it merely waiting for the ownership of the marks to transfer to it when its civilization faced powerful enemies? Or was it cultivating something through the ten Immortal Lepids?

After all, this was a fishing civilization. Things could not be as simple as they initially appeared to be.

Also, what was the significance of those six Lepids still circling the great mountain?

Lu Yin peered into the distance. They did not care about where the other two Lepids had been buried and only guarded the great mountain. This meant that his guess was wrong. What they cared about was not where the Immortal Lepids were buried, but rather something else.

However, he had searched the inside of that mountain thoroughly and found nothing.

After thinking for a while, Lu Yin suddenly drew a picture in the air in front of him, mapping the Lepidarch Continent. At that moment, he finally noticed the location of the great mountain: it was at the dead center of the map.

That was it. He had not noticed this detail while roaming the continent, but if one looked down upon the entire Lepidarch Continent, they would see that the great mountain was located right at the center of the Lepidarch's back. What the Lepids were guarding was not the great mountain nor the burial site within it, but rather a specific location.

Did that location have some effect on the Lepidarch?

The largest battlefield of the war between the Grand Clarity Civilization and the Lepidarch Continent was also right at the center of the landmass. Too many sourcebox arrays had been left in that place. Grand Clarity must have wanted to do something there but had ultimately failed.

Lu Yin considered the matter for a long time but then decided to leave first.

Before arriving, he had already known that it would not be easy for him to deal with the Lepidarch Continent. After all, it was a fishing civilization. However, he now felt that things had become too dangerous. If the situation went bad, he might really have to bring his true body over, and that was not worth the risk.

Thinking of this, he shot into the sky without hesitation, making his way away from the Lepidarch Continent.

An entire megaverse could be traversed in just a few steps by an Immortal. Although his skeleton clone was not an Immortal, it was not at all slow.

When the Lepids saw him leaving through the sky, making his way back to the Aevum Inch, they hurriedly gave chase and attacked him. Just as Lu Yin was about to get away, his speed suddenly slowed. It was as if he had fallen into a mire. For a moment, he was unable to escape.

Lu Yin was startled. Was this the effect of the light barrier that surrounded the Lepidarch Continent?

When he had arrived, the light barrier had obstructed him, but with nowhere near as much force as when he tried to leave. In particular, he discovered that his physical strength was draining away, as was his consciousness. Not good! The Lepidarch is taking action!

In just two breaths, two more Butterfly Bloom flower marks appeared on his back, and the Immortal Lepids drew close.

Lu Yin clenched his teeth and attacked them with a palm strike: Endless Recall.

Two Lepids dodged at the same time, only to then simultaneously freeze in place: the Yan Gate's First Needle.

Lu Yin did not fight the two and simply fled in another direction.

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