Published at 16th of December 2025 8:05 am

Chapter 3972: The Scouring Of Time

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Lu Yins test was not without results. Lightstream did succeed in absorbing a bit of time. Lu Yin could feel it.

As long as the effort was useful, it was enough. Verdant Eternity had barely touched the River of Aeons, and it had almost no chance of pausing the flow. Even so, the river must have absorbed an extremely large amount of foreign time, as even that slight contact had let Lightstream absorb some. Repeating the same process as before would work.

Lu Yin once again released his inner universe and made momentary contact with the River of Aeons before immediately retracting it.

His body swayed slightly, but he managed to endure for an instant. Within that instant, Lightstream had absorbed more time.

He continued his efforts, his body occasionally swaying on the boat, much to the Great Masters bewilderment. What is he doing?

The Great Master had succeeded in pulling both Qing Xing and Dan Jin onto her boat, and she was avoiding being washed away by the River of Aeons.

As for the surrounding swarm of insects, more and more of them were constantly being erased. None of the insects were able to withstand the temporal scouring, and the part of the horde that was farther away continued to move away in an attempt to leave the range of the River of Aeons.

Unbroken Time felt quite confused, as it was also unable to understand Lu Yins actions.

The first time it had fought Lu Yin, it had been injured by karma and felt a brief bit of backlash after using its ninth marks ability. That had raised Unbroken Times wariness of Lu Yin. Later, when facing the Great Master, it had become even more cautious, as a ferryman of a River of Aeons was a being who could contend with Unbroken Times own mastery of time. Therefore, it had set the Great Master as its primary opponent, which had led it to somewhat overlook Lu Yin.

At this moment, Lu Yin was again upending Unbroken Times opinion of him.

Not only did he possess a boat that used the power of time and was capable of floating on the River of Aeons, but he was also constantly trying to counterattack.

That was exactly what Unbroken Time was seeing, that Lu Yin was attempting some form of counterattack. There was no other reasonable explanation for his actions.

Lu Yin stood on Lightstream, swaying on the boat from time to time in a manner that made him look drunk. Other than that, he made no movements.

It was impossible to not move while the River of Aeons tried to wash a person away, but there was no need to sway so violently.

Even Qing Xing felt dizzy watching Lu Yin.

No one had noticed that the boat beneath Lu Yins feet was slowly growing larger and sinking deeper and deeper into the River of Aeons.

Unbroken Time simply had no idea what to do. Whatever Lu Yin was doing, the ability of its twelfth mark seemed to have suppressed the humans, but retreating would be extremely difficult for it. Removing the river would result in it being immediately surrounded. As for killing Lu Yin or anyone on the Great Masters boat, that was even more difficult. Every one of the four humans was strong enough to fight Unbroken Time, while both the Great Master and Lu Yin seemed particularly strange.

Retreating was impossible, but advancing was equally difficult.

Unbroken Time had expected the humans to falter, which would cause the battlefront to stretch out in a manner that would be to its advantage. Only at this moment did it realize that only four humans had attacked, and they were there specifically to kill Unbroken Time.

It was trapped between advancing and retreating, but the Great Masters group was not in much of a better position.

So long as the River of Aeons tried to wash away their time, anything outside of the boats would be eroded by the flow of time, regardless of whether it was power or their own bodies. No one could approach Unbroken Time, which meant that no one could do anything to it, just as it could do nothing to the four humans.

Thus, the stalemate persisted.

Unless Unbroken Time withdrew the River of Aeons, neither side would be able to act.

Qing Xing pointed, sending a stream of energy towards Unbroken Time, but it proved useless. The energy vanished only a short distance from where it was released.

Dan Jin threw out pills, but they were equally futile. Some fell into the River of Aeons, but they failed to even raise a ripple. Others simply vanished from sight and were utterly gone.

Time could destroy everything. Even Immortal matter was useless. It could empower attacks, but it could not withstand the flow of time. Only the cosmos itself was eternal.

Dont waste your strength. This is its River of Aeons. Even I can do nothing while its scouring everything away, the Great Master said.

Qing Xing somberly asked, Is there no way to get closer?

Time is flowing too fast. The river is too fierce.

Dan Jin asked in confusion, How can it control a River of Aeons?

The Great Master clenched her oar tightly. No one can truly control a River of Aeons, not even an Immortal. The River of Aeons belongs solely to the omniverse. This thing merely found a way to locate this river before us, and it can unleash it in a specific manner that leads time to scour everything away.

Its far easier said than done. As expected of a bizarre lifeform.

What now? Dan Jin asked.

The Great Master shook her head. We wait.

Wait?

Wait for it to give up. Once this temporal scouring stops, we can attack. As long as this continues, all of our attacks will be useless. As she spoke, she looked at Lu Yin and frowned. Just what is he doing?

It wont stop. If Im not mistaken, the other three Insect Lords are on their way here, Dan Jin said darkly.

Of course, the Great Master knew that as well. Before attacking, they had already assumed that, since the Nest civilization was trying to keep Luo Chans ability a secret, the other three Insect Lords would not immediately provide support when one of them was attacked in order to avoid exposing anything. While they had already split the insect horde into four, which had exposed Luo Chans ability, they had not known that they were being observed by Master Qing Cao at that time and had believed that everything was still hidden from the humans.

Given the previous circumstances, it was highly unlikely that the bugs would be willing to reveal Luo Chans ability of their accord.

But things had changed. So long as the humans were trapped on the River of Aeons, the other three Insect Lords would have time to arrive. It might take a long time, but Unbroken Time could continue to scour everything away for quite a long time as well.

While the twelfth marks temporal scouring ability seemed terrifying, it did not affect Unbroken Time much. It was not being washed away by the flow of time. Instead, it acted like a lever that simply pried the River of Aeons open. It was simple to maintain or halt the flow, and it cost the creature little to do so.

The greatest flaws of this ability was that it both left Unbroken Time unable to move and also encompassed too small of a range. If not for these flaws, it would have been able to defeat absolutely everything with this ability.

The Great Master and the others still had one path available to them, which was to leave the River of Aeons. She could do it just by rowing her boat. Unbroken Time was unapproachable, due to it being upstream. However, if the boat instead simply went downstream it would be easy to leave the River of Aeons. However, doing so would also take them far away from Unbroken Time, and that would allow it to leave whenever it wished. That would be the humans loss.

The Great Master had been the one to decide to kill Unbroken Time, and she could not accept simply fleeing from the battle.

Qing Xing and Dan Jin were also reluctant to leave things as they were, but they had no choice.

The Great Master also had no choice. She was a ferryman of a River of Aeons, not the master of the River of Aeons. A ferryman was merely someone with a boat on the river. Countless people had died while moving about on the rivers, and the ferrymen of the River of Aeons were no exception.

Lu Yin was the only variable, as there was no telling exactly what he had learned. The power of karma was certainly not inferior to the power of time. If anyone could break the current stalemate, it was Lu Yin.

All eyes again fell upon him.

Lu Yin was still swaying on his boat, though he was not doing it on purpose. Each time Verdant Eternity was scoured away by the River of Aeons, he lost control and was shaken, no matter what he wanted.

To Unbroken Times perception, Lu Yins actions were a bit of a provocation.

It spoke for the first time. Human, you are mocking me.

Lu Yins eyebrows shot up. You can speak?

Some distance away, the Great Master wished she could smack Lu Yin dead with her oar. How could any lifeform that had reached this level still be unable to communicate? It simply had not wanted to do so. What a ridiculous question.

Naturally, Lu Yin had been aware that Unbroken Time could communicate. He simply found it strange that the being took the initiative to do so.

There was no surrender in a war between civilizations, only the absolute destruction of one side.

Humanity could never accept including the Nest civilization, and the Nest civilization would never be willing to accept humanity.

Human, what are you doing?

Lu Yin swayed again. Im seasick.

The Great Master and the others were left speechless.

Unbroken Times voice betrayed neither joy nor anger. You cannot kill me.

There will be a way, Lu Yin replied.

Unbroken Time remained silent for a moment. Are there many powerful ones like you in your human civilization?

Lu Yin chuckled. Are you bugs so blunt when trying to gather information?

What I mean is, do you still have reinforcements? I have three, and they are on their way here. If you do not retreat, all that awaits you is being surrounded by the four Insect Lords. Your only fate will be death.

Hey, you are threatening us? the Great Master shouted sternly.

Unbroken Time did not respond.

Lu Yin countered, Shouldnt you be looking forward to surrounding and killing us with the other Insect Lords? Why warn us?

They are coming to help me, which means that the other three battlefields will no longer have any Insect Lords protecting them. It is possible that your attack is humanitys effort to deliberately draw them away so that the insects at the other three battlefields can be destroyed. You are being sacrificed for those three battlefields. It is not worth it.

Lu Yins eyes narrowed. That does seem to make sense.

He looked over at the Great Master and the others, who were also looking at him.

Unbroken Time was clearly speaking in an attempt to keep Luo Chans ability hidden. While the bugs were trying to scheme, their efforts were too blatant.

The moment Luo Chans ability was exposed, humanitys current strategy would be revealed as the most disadvantageous one to the Nest civilization. The insects did not consider why humanity had chosen their current strategy. They only considered ways that they could expand the battlefield to their own advantage.

What appeared to be a stubbornness for fighting in a specific manner had led to the current stalemate.

Both sides were trying to guide the battlefield in a direction that would be favorable to themselves.

Even as Unbroken Time was locked in a stalemate with Lu Yin and the others, it was still trying its best to keep Luo Chans ability a secret, while sharing the potential disadvantages to the Nest civilization. It did not really want Lu Yin and the others to retreat, but rather for them to stick to their current plan.

To Unbroken Times understanding, this should be the only method that humanity could see that would lead to victory. As for Lu Yin and the others, humans were intelligent, and they would surely choose to retreat as soon as the other three Insect Lords drew close.

This meant that the humans would not be surrounded by the four Insect Lords, while the other three Insect Lords would be forced to leave their positions, which would lead to all-out war.

Unbroken Time was waiting for the moment when the humans tried to be clever.

At the moment when humanity believed that they had lured the Insect Lords away and that their victory was certain, they were guaranteed to launch a full-force attack. When that moment came, Luo Chans ability would be revealed, and humanity would suffer a crushing defeat. Humanitys disastrous attack would serve as the beginning of their complete defeat.

So what if they had Immortals? All of the insects were prepared to sacrifice themselves for the Immortal Lord, and not even the four Insect Lords were an exception to that.

Humans, do you still refuse to retreat? Do you truly want to be surrounded and killed by the four Insect Lords? Unbroken Time asked again.

The Great Master sneered. Let them come. This Great Master will tear all four of you bugs apart.

Lu Yin said, We already wanted to eliminate the four Insect Lords. The more, the better.

Unbroken Time replied, Humans, you underestimate the strength of us four Insect Lords. If you wish to die, I will grant your request.

It then fell silent. There was no need to say anything more.

Unless the humans knew of Luo Chans ability, humanity would be destroyed by their own cleverness during this battle.

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