Chapter 4601: Overflow

Something moved beneath Lu Yin and swam away quickly. He looked over. It was a pitch-black, whale-shaped creature covered in streams of black energy. Was this a creature of the Death Megaverse?

He had some knowledge of the Nethersea. In the Death Megaverse, there were two categories of beings that were allowed to enter the Nethersea. The first were the Abyssals. Beings like Old Sixth and Ji, once confirmed as Abyssals, could visit the Nethersea to absorb as much Stillness as they could before going out to find other ways to increase that power to fill their own Abysses. That power would be used to connect to the Abyssal Displacement.

The second were the native creatures of the Death Megaverse.

The creatures of the Death Megaverse could enter the Nethersea at any time. The Nethersea seemed to be connected to the Death Megaverse itself.

When Lu Yin had first seen Ji, he had assumed that Ji was a creature of the Death Megaverse. Even Old Sixth had thought so.

It was later on that Lu Yin had learned that he had been mistaken. Ji only gave off the sensation that it was extremely similar to a creature of the Death Megaverse. The two could even be said to be identical, but Ji was not one.

The whale-like creature that Lu Yin was looking at was a true creature of the Death Megaverse. It could hide within the black streams of energy, and it could also reveal its form.

He had asked Thousand Machinations about the creatures of the Death Megaverse, and the bear had said that the creatures did not all share the same form. The Death Megaverse was still a megaverse, and because of that, it naturally had a great variety of lifeforms.

Even Earth had countless species, let alone an entire megaverse.

The bear had even mentioned that there were humans in the Death Megaverse. Of course, they were not true humans, but merely creatures that shared the same form as humans.

After all, humanity had once given rise to the glorious Nine Ramparts, which was something that not even the Death Megaverse could ignore.

Lu Yin had been curious enough to ask if the creatures of the Death Megaverse could freely change their form, but Thousand Machinations had stopped answering and had simply told Lu Yin to find out for himself in the future.

Lu Yin curiously studied that Death Megaverse creature. It had the shape of a whale, and its strength was nothing impressive. At best, it was a sequence powerhouse. However, the Stillness contained within it—no, that was not the right way to describe the creature. It was more accurate to call the creature a convergence of Stillness. To put it most plainly, Stillness had gained sentience and taken this form.

All creatures of the Death Megaverse were, in essence, Stillness. That was what Lu Yin sensed.

He leapt up, burst out of the sea, and inhaled deeply. A skeleton did not need to breathe air. What he breathed in was Stillness.

He looked around, but he could not see clearly. Although the Mirrorlight Art allowed him to see vast distances, at this moment, he was surrounded by the Nethersea.

He had seen the hazy Nethersea more than once. During the Abyssal Displacement and conversations between the Abyssals, he had seen a tiny Nethersea beside Thousand Machinations.

Now, Lu Yin had arrived at the real one in person.

The Nethersea was vast. There were creatures within the hazy, dark-yellow fog overhead, and there were also creatures in the murky sea down below.

Lu Yin observed the scenery for a while and then slowly sank back down into the sea. Sitting cross-legged on the seafloor, he raised both of his arms. It was time to absorb Stillness with the Three Deaths Art. He wanted to see just how much Stillness he could absorb if he pushed himself to his limits.

Because of when he had touched the river of divine energy in Vestigium, Lu Yin now felt a lingering fear. He believed that the Nethersea was as unfathomable as that river of divine energy, but now, the Nethersea seemed far gentler.

This visit to the Nethersea was not only for absorbing Stillness. Lu Yin had another matter that he needed to address, and he hoped that he could succeed.

He began absorbing Stillness.

In an instant, the Nethersea churned. A vortex formed around him as Stillness surged towards the Three Deaths Art between his palms like a flood, and the commotion continued to slowly expand.

At first, no one paid any attention to the vortex. The Nethersea was so vast that such a small disturbance was not enough to bother anyone.

However, as the vortex grew larger and larger, it gradually began to affect a broader and broader area.

Creatures of the Death Megaverse approached. They openly expressed their irritation, and some even wanted to attack.

To Lu Yin and to most others, the Nethersea was an unknown place, but it was home to the creatures of the Death Megaverse. Many of them had their own territory within the Nethersea, and they had their own rules. The commotion that Lu Yin was causing was too much, and it drew the ire of a number of creatures.

“Get lost!” a fierce roar came from his right. Lu Yin looked over and saw a ferocious astral beast standing on the seafloor, glaring at him viciously.

It was a creature of the Death Megaverse. Beneath the pitch-black streams of Stillness, it was baring savage fangs.

Lu Yin ignored it and continued.

The creature attacked, opening its mouth to bite at Lu Yin.

He gently flicked a finger. An overwhelming force created ripples of shockwaves that simply pushed the beast back, but it was unwilling to give up and made several more attempts. In the end, it had no choice but to retreat.

As soon as it did so, more creatures arrived to attack Lu Yin.

There was nothing that he could do about them. He was simply causing too great of a disturbance.

In the past, when Withered Requiem, Devouring Trace, Old Sixth, and Ji had visited the Nethersea, none of them had caused this large a commotion.

This was the Three Deaths Art, and Lu Yin was also doing it on purpose.

After all, how else could he draw out Nethersea Suppression?

Above the Nethersea, a pair of eyes were staring at the seafloor, showing neither joy nor anger.

The Three Deaths Art? Very few beings in the entire Death Megaverse were capable of mastering that art. However, this skeleton had come to the Nethersea to absorb Stillness with the Three Deaths Art and was actually refusing to restrain himself.

Did Thousand Machinations not teach him anything? He was not always honest when translating before. He is also a human skeleton, and human skeletons deserve death more than others. He should have never entered the Nethersea. The Nethersea does not welcome human skeletons. He should be taught a lesson.

The sea churned. It had not been this lively in a very long time.

Since you are so eager, show us just how much you can absorb.

As that thought appeared, the entire Nethersea started to boil. Above the sea, drops of Stillness flowed in reverse. Then, as though heaven and earth had been flipped upside down, those drops suddenly fell towards Lu Yin.

Every creature in the entire Nethersea was startled. The creatures within the vast, dark-yellow fog that hung above the Nethersea all moved to stare downwards.

Back when Stillness had been injected into Old Sixth, the effect had not nearly been so exaggerated.

Nethersea Suppression was angry.

Numerous creatures of the Death Megaverse leapt out of the sea. They could not endure being force-fed Stillness in this manner. They would choke to death.

Still on the seafloor, Lu Yin lifted his head to look up. He felt as though he could see eyes within the dark-yellow fog.

The entire Nethersea was pouring into him. Endless Stillness surged into his body. Lu Yin steadied his mind and used the Three Deaths Art to absorb everything. This was actually saving him a bit of effort.

If the Stillness of the entire Nethersea was poured into him, he certainly would not be able to bear it. But if even Dark Prisonbone had not killed him while delivering him to the Nethersea, then at worst, Nethersea Suppression would teach Lu Yin a lesson. There was no need for him to think too much about his situation.

As he continued to absorb Stillness, tremendous pressure bore down on him from all directions. Even the Three Deaths Art could not absorb Stillness quickly enough. The entire universe was pressing down upon him.

Lu Yin felt as if he were choking on water, suffering from both unendurable pressure as well as suffocation. However, when he compared what he was facing to the pressure that Dark Prisonbone had subjected him to, Lu Yin’s current situation was still tolerable.

His Three Deaths Art quickly matched its previous maximum, yet Lu Yin continued absorbing more Stillness.

Up above the sea, Nethersea Suppression was surprised. Can he actually withstand this much Stillness? Quite impressive. This was already approaching the level of an Abyssal. It was no wonder why Thousand Machinations had allowed this skeleton to enter the Nethersea.

Let me see how much you can endure.

Lu Yin had only depleted about half of the Stillness that the Three Deaths Art had stored, so the amount that Nethersea Suppression believed he possessed was nothing more than half of what Lu Yin had revealed as his past limit. He now started to absorb beyond that, surpassing the limit that he had shown to Thousand Machinations.

Time passed. Nethersea Suppression could clearly feel how much Stillness was being consumed from the Nethersea, and it was quite shaken.

Lu Yin absorbed a great deal more Stillness. In the Abyssal’s eyes, this skeleton had already surpassed Withered Requiem, Ruinfall, and the other Abyssals. He was approaching Dark Prisonbone’s limits.

For someone who was not even an Immortal being to absorb so much Stillness was rare throughout history.

Still on the seafloor, Lu Yin lowered his arms. He had reached his limit. He had used the Stillness within the Nethersea to replenish what he had consumed in battle. That amount could be considered close to the reserves of an Abyssal, but in reality, it was not even half of what he had stored within his Three Deaths Art. After restoring that bit, all the Stillness that he had absorbed had surpassed the limit he had revealed to Thousand Machinations. To Nethersea Suppression, Lu Yin had absorbed as much Stillness as Dark Prisonbone.

However, the reality was that, including the Stillness already stored within the Three Deaths Art, Lu Yin’s reserves unquestionably surpassed Dark Prisonbone’s. He was second only to Nethersea Suppression and Thousand Machinations within the Death Megaverse, but only Lu Yin himself knew this.

Nethersea Suppression was only aware of a portion of what Lu Yin had absorbed, while Thousand Machinations knew about another portion.

With the Three Deaths Art full, Lu Yin could no longer absorb Stillness, but Nethersea Suppression had no intention of simply letting him go. Instead, it continued to inundate him with the Stillness of the Nethersea.

That feeling of drowning grew increasingly clear. Just like an ordinary person drowning, the sensation induced despair and a feeling of helplessness. He was sitting in the depths of the sea on the seabed while endless pressure crushed in upon him from all directions and darkness shrouded everything.

Lu Yin leapt up and tried to escape, only to be forced back down by an even greater force.

At this moment, the Nethersea revealed its true fangs. The entire universe seemed to be filled with death. This was a power that could drag away one’s soul. This was true Stillness, the Stillness that belonged to Nethersea Suppression.

Upon entering the Nethersea, Lu Yin had felt that it was different from Obscura’s river of divine energy and that the sea was much gentler. However, at this moment, while it was not scouring away his rational mind like the river of divine energy, the sea was still stripping away his life, stripping away the light.

Death was approaching.

In comparison, the torture that Dark Prisonbone had subjected Lu Yin to was nothing. This pressure was something that both his body and spirit had to endure.

Above the Nethersea, those eyes continued to stare at the seafloor. The lesson was still not sufficient. This skeleton had dared to alter Thousand Machinations’ words on his own. If Devouring Trace’s death had not left the Death Megaverse unable to replenish its number of true experts, Nethersea Suppression might very well have simply killed this human skeleton.

Dark Prisonbone might have difficulty justifying its actions to Thousand Machinations, but Nethersea Suppression did not care about such things. It had to give this skeleton a lesson that he would never forget for the rest of his life. It had to make him understand what death meant.

Lu Yin fell back to the seafloor. The vast pressure of death was like a shadow, drawing ever closer. He seemed to see another version of himself stepping out of his body. He seemed to see another, pitch-black world.

He clearly cultivated Stillness, but while this was also Stillness, it gave him a completely different sensation.

If the Stillness of every Abyss was different, then just what was the feeling that his own Stillness gave to others?

Lu Yin looked up at the surface of the sea. Although it was moving farther and farther away from him, he felt like he was merging more and more completely with the sea as a whole. He was clearly enduring death, and yet he felt that death was where he truly belonged. The sensation was so familiar. Where had he experienced it before?

Right, it was the feeling that he had experienced when within Thousand Machinations’ black sphere, trying to reach his limits. It was the sensation of roaming freely. The freedom of that moment, of being relaxed and free to roam, was exactly the same feeling that he felt now in the depths of the Nethersea.

Lu Yin’s consciousness was blurring. His vision was blurring. His sense of touch was blurring. Everything, absolutely everything, was becoming indistinct.

In that haze, he thought of many things: the past, the present, and the future.

In that haze, his fingertips touched Stillness. It was so gentle. Was death truly where he belonged?

What was he thinking of at this moment? Was he thinking of the past and the future? He did not know. His mind was in chaos. This was what Stillness brought him. Death, Stillness, death, Stillness...

Suddenly, Lu Yin sat up, and he stared blankly at the surface of the sea. At this moment, a thought flashed through his mind: the Heavenbond Art.