The High Seraph frowned. This was beyond his control. He had no say over whether he would be struck by Memory Shock or not. If Lu Yin and the others were not present, the High Seraph would have welcomed it. As for entering the palace, he was attempting it, but he had almost no hope of succeeding.

With Yong Heng fixating on him, as well as the fact that Lu Yin would surely retaliate, the High Seraph had no confidence that he could protect himself if he was struck by a Memory Shock.

Realizing this induced a small bit of regret. He should not have attacked Lu Yin, as doing so had set a very bad precedent.

Old Chief glanced at the three men and then advanced again. His position had suddenly become quite awkward given that he was standing ahead of everyone else. If the current balance of power broke down, he would instantly become the most obvious target.

As expected, the High Seraph looked over at Old Chief, as did Yong Heng and Lu Yin. All three pairs of eyes were looking at the old conscient.

While nothing at all was said, Old Chief was struck by an intense chill.

Shuangdao and the other Luminaries turned grim. If Old Chief advanced further and they were unable to join him, then they would be in danger. Any one of the three men could easily eliminate them.

Old Chief stopped advancing, choosing to instead wait for Shuangdao and the others to catch up.

The other conscients all breathed a sigh of relief.

The High Seraph and the other two humans looked away from Old Chief and continued forward.

Before long, Lu Yin caught up to Old Chief and praised, “This is more like it. Don’t move ahead too quickly, or else you’ll definitely be attacked by the High Seraph.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Old Chief replied.

“You all seem very curious about what I saw just now,” Lu Yin said.

Yong Heng and Old Chief both turned to stare at Lu Yin. “You’ll tell us?”

Lu Yin shrugged. “Why not? What I saw had nothing to do with me.”

As everyone stared, he slowly continued, saying, “I saw a megaverse being reset.”

He then turned and smiled at Old Chief and the rest of the Luminaries before adding, “It was the Consciousness Megaverse.”

Old Chief and the Thirteen Luminaries turned pale, and the High Seraph looked over.

Lu Yin continued to speak while staring at Old Chief and the others. “You are not the first generation of lifeforms to occupy this megaverse. I don’t know which generation you belong to, but I’m certain that the megaverse that I saw being reset was this very Consciousness Megaverse.”

“How can you be sure?” Shuangdao asked.

Lu Yin pointed at the palace up ahead. “I saw that.”

Shuangdao and the others exchanged glances. They did not believe Lu Yin. If their megaverse had truly been reset, then how could the palace have endured? Still, they had no way to argue with the young man.

“I’m guessing that all of the memories that we’ve seen so far are from this Consciousness Megaverse,” Lu Yin continued, “That palace might be the origin—or the end—of the Consciousness Megaverse’s karmic cycle.”

Lu Yin was sharing a theory that was difficult to grasp, but given the level of everyone atop the cliff, they were all able to understand his words.

Each megaverse contained karma. This was something that could only be seen by those who were overcoming Dukkha.

But where did karma come from? No one knew. How did karma between different megaverses appear? Could karmic threads cross? None of those questions had known answers.

They had entered the Willbound Spire, which contained countless memories. This was already something with no explanation.

If these memories were actually remnants of karma, did that make the phenomenon any easier to understand?

Was memory karma?

Lu Yin was fabricating everything, as chaos served him best. He needed the conscients to feel threatened. Without that, they might switch sides at a critical moment.

Yong Heng looked away and resumed walking forward. He did not believe a word of Lu Yin’s nonsense.

The High Seraph also believed nothing that had been said.

Old Chief stared at Lu Yin intently. “Does this guess of yours stem from the karma that you’ve comprehended?”

Lu Yin clasped his hands behind his back. “You could say that. The power of karma is vast and profound, and my understanding of it is superficial. That palace could be the origin and endpoint of the Consciousness Megaverse’s karma, and breaking it could erase all traces of this megaverse’s past, much like how a megaverse’s sequence strings need to be broken for a reset to occur.”

He then turned to look at Yong Heng. “What do you think?”

Yong Heng nodded. “It’s possible.”

“Then why don’t we work together to deal with Mo Shang first? He doesn’t play by the rules,” Lu Yin suggested.

Yong Heng glanced at Lu Yin. “Why are you bringing that up again?”

They then looked over at Old Chief, who sighed. There was no trust left between anyone on top of the cliff, so what was the point of fighting?

The High Seraph did not even bother to look over at the other two men. Yong Heng and Lu Yin would never genuinely work together.

Time continued to pass, though no one knew how long it had been. Everyone advanced side by side as they moved closer to the palace. No one dared to push ahead, afraid of drawing the other three sides’ ire.

Then, a day came when Old Chief was struck by a Memory Shock. His eyes lost focus, and he froze in place.

Lu Yin instantly took action, reaching through the air for Xi Wen. Five splayed fingers descended while a terrifying power removed everything close to her.

Xi Wen stared blankly at the approaching attack. She had never faced such an overwhelming, terrifying attack before.

There was a loud bang, as both the High Seraph and Yong Heng attacked from the sides to block Lu Yin.

He looked over at the two men, and they stared right back at him.

At that moment, Old Chief recovered. He trembled and instantly sensed that something was wrong. He immediately looked over at the three men.

“Not bad reflexes,” Lu Yin calmly commented.

Yong Heng chuckled. “No one dares to disregard you, Lord Lu.”

The High Seraph’s voice was cold. “You’ve been eyeing that woman’s consciousness sword for some time. Who would fail to notice that?”

Lu Yin shrugged and then looked over to smile at Xi Wen. “Don’t take it personally. I was just probing.”

Xi Wen kept a wary eye on Lu Yin. She had almost been gravely injured by his attack. “Just probing?” The man was absolutely terrifying.

Old Chief glanced at Lu Yin, but he said nothing.

No one trusted any of the other sides atop the cliff. An attack from any direction was fully expected.

Lu Yin’s attack had merely caused everyone to become even more cautious.

The Luminaries were especially wary, as they had to work together to face any one of the three men. No matter how they looked at the situation, they were clearly the ones at a disadvantage.

There were no further Memory Shocks for a long time after that. Well, it was possible that it was not that long, but the pressure from the palace’s memories made it impossible for anyone to truly know how much time had passed.

By this time, everyone had surpassed the progress made by the people from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse during their attempt to reach the palace, but they could still see footprints on the ground. Someone from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had gone farther than anyone currently atop the cliff.

That was quite reasonable. Lu Yin had not been pushing himself. If not for his wariness of the others accompanying him, he could have advanced much farther.

Still, the same was true of everyone else as well.

The closer people drew to the palace, the more that would be unable to endure the pressure.

Gui Shaoqing was the first to falter. He was no longer able to advance any farther, and his condition instantly drew everyone’s attention.

What did it feel like when someone’s string of memory snapped? Did they forget everything? No, it was much worse than that.

They watched as Gui Shaoqing collapsed onto his back, his eyes completely unfocused. It looked like his mind had been erased.

Old Chief looked back at the cultivators from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse who had been captured, all of them immobilized.

“Is this what you call the ‘No Memory’ state?”

The cultivators nodded. “It’s known as memory collapse; your mind goes blank like an idiot’s. You remember nothing. You need time for your memories to piece themselves back together.”

Gui Shaoqing was lying on the ground, drooling. He really was an idiot at this moment.

Seeing his condition caused Xi Wen and the other conscients to turn pale. If all of them ended up in the same condition, wouldn’t they be completely at their enemies’ mercy?

Old Chief understood this as well. While he was confident that he could move closer to the palace, the rest of the Luminaries were about to reach their limits.

Lu Yin frowned. This was worse than expected. Was this the condition of having “No Memory?” He glanced at Old Chief and the rest of the Luminaries. Xi Wen and Lan Huifeng were already showing signs of needing to retreat. They could feel that they were reaching their limits, and they could not force themselves to take another step. However, Old Chief wanted to continue on.

This was effectively the beginning of the eliminations. The worst part was that, even though everyone was suffering from the pressure of the memories, their combat abilities were not restricted at all.

Did Old Chief have the courage to continue? If he did, he would advance alone. It was highly unlikely that any of the other Luminaries would take another step.

The balance had been broken.

There was no way that Old Chief would just watch as others approached the palace. At the very least, he would attack the High Seraph, and with no escape, the High Seraph would undoubtedly drag Yong Heng and the others down with him.

Gui Shaoqing’s collapse was a signal that no one could move any further forward.

The balance between the four groups was like chains that bound everyone. No one could do anything.

Even someone as powerful as the High Seraph was forced to stop.

And at that moment, someone appeared at the bottom of the cliff, and their arrival drew everyone’s attention.

Emperor Slayer?

Sure enough, Emperor Slayer had appeared beneath the cliff.

He looked around in confusion, but then he saw Lu Yin and the others. His mouth fell open. “What the hell? Why are you people everywhere?!”

He was terrified of both the High Seraph and Lu Yin, and he was no less intimidated by Old Chief and the Thirteen Luminaries. Additionally, Emperor Slayer could see Yong Heng, and while Emperor Slayer had never met the man before, his bearing clearly portrayed the man as someone not ordinary.

Emperor Slayer’s face fell. He was doomed. Again, he had fallen into the hands of these people.

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. It was possible to leave the Willbound Spire from below the cliff, and in fact, that was the only exit. However, anyone who entered first needed to endure a memory that would be forced upon them. Without that, no one would know how to leave.

It was like learning to swim; once someone knew how to do it, the motion would be instinctual.

At this moment, Emperor Slayer was unable to leave the Willbound Spire. Judging by his miserable expression, he also did not know that it was impossible to climb up or down the cliff. There was no doubt that this was his first time in the Willbound Spire.

Thinking of that, Lu Yin spoke. “It’s been a long time, Emperor Slayer.”

The beast’s bitter expression immediately transformed as he forced a smile onto his face after hearing Lu Yin. He started offering some shameless flattery. “Aren’t you the Third Boss? I’ve been searching so hard for you, Third Boss! Where did you go? How did we get separated after entering the hut? Please don’t misunderstand me. I wasn’t running away, absolutely not.”

Yong Heng looked down at Emperor Slayer’s forced smile. He had heard of this creature during his time in the Spirit Nidus. Emperor Wu Slayer was considered to be synonymous with the word “scoundrel.” And after the battleships arrived at Beacon City, everyone had heard what he had done there. Frankly, the beast was a complete disgrace.

In comparison, Old Salamander was far better.

Old Chief and the conscients did not care about Emperor Slayer at all, and they instead maintained a wary eye on the High Seraph.

“You didn’t run? Then why did you suddenly disappear?” Lu Yin’s voice grew cold, and he made his displeasure clear.

Terrified by the possibility of Lu Yin suddenly attacking him, Emperor Slayer hurriedly explained, “I didn’t run! Absolutely not! Third Boss, think about it. If I had run, why would I suddenly appear in this cursed place? I can’t even leave! You must believe in my honesty, Third Boss. I, Emperor Wu Slayer, roam the cosmos, led by virtue! Virtue rules the way! That’s me!”

Lu Yin nodded. “Alright. I’ll reluctantly believe you.”

Emperor Slayer let out a sigh of relief, only for Lu Yin to add on, “You said that you’d seen a toad similar to Astral Anura before. What was that about?”

Lu Yin’s comment caused Emperor Slayer to immediately become unusually serious. “That was a long time ago. If I hadn’t recently seen that toad with you, I probably would have never remembered anything.

“How do I put this... Everything started the first time I met that shameless Emperor Wu. Back then...”

Everyone atop the cliff silently listened. No one interrupted the beast.