Chapter 1960
The announcement regarding the Tower of the Fifth completely transformed Lu Yin's reputation. No matter what people had thought of him before, at this moment, countless people started praising him, worshiping him, and even praying for him. This was also just the beginning, as the Tower of the Fifth had not even been built yet. Once the tower was constructed and someone successfully learned one of the battle techniques available there, Lu Yin’s reputation would rise to yet another level.
When that happened, what Wang Wen had claimed would become true: countless people would build monuments to Lu Yin, and he would receive the gratitude of countless people. He really would be regarded as a savior.
Of course, this was only true for independent cultivators and average cultivators. Powerful organizations and sects saw things very differently. They were only able to maintain their dominance because of their strength, and thus they would be very difficult to coerce with a simple show of strength.
However, luckily for them, everyone would be allowed access to the Tower of the Fifth, even disciples of major sects and various organizations.
On top of that, those disciples would have an easier time acquiring the available inheritances compared to the independent cultivators.
It would not be easy to acquire an inheritance from the Tower of the Fifth. Each floor would have its own tests. Each floor would also be massive enough to allow many, many people to enter and take the tests at the same time, which meant that people would also be competing with each other.
It would still be very difficult for common cultivators to compete against the disciples of the major powers, but at least they would have a glimmer of hope.
At this time, the ones who were the most upset were the Cosmic Sect and the Sword Sect, as their own core inheritances were going to be made available in the Tower of the Fifth.
Yuan Qiong was the first to reach out to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin did not accept the call request, instead sending a message to Arch-Elder Zen and asking the old man to speak with the Cosmic Sect.
The next group to call Lu Yin was the Ce family, as their secret technique was going to be made available on the eighth floor of the Tower of the Fifth.
"Alliance Leader Lu, my Ce family doesn’t care if you wish to provide training for all of humanity, but why are you sharing my family’s secret art in your Tower of the Fifth? Doesn’t this mean that everyone will be able to learn the Ce Secret Art? Alliance Leader Lu, what are you doing?" Ce Laoyan angrily demanded. Anyone forced into his position would be furious.
Lu Yin comforted the man. "Patriarch Ce, please don't be upset. Please understand what this is a bit more clearly: I am only going to allow people to experience the Ce Secret Art’s Board Manipulation, not provide the Ce Secret Art itself."
Ce Laoyan was momentarily stunned, and Elder Ce Jiu who was beside the patriarch looked at the man and nodded.
"The feeling of the Ce Secret Art’s Board Manipulation?" Ce Laoyan could not understand.
Lu Yin smiled. "I don’t have the Immovable Chessboard, so please tell me, who will be able to learn the Ce Secret Art. Am I, Lu Yin, going to be able to teach it to anyone else? How? Please teach me, Patriarch Ce."
Suddenly feeling embarrassed, Ce Laoyan gave a dry cough. "Alliance Leader Lu, you say that you are going to share the feeling of the Ce Secret Art’s Board Manipulation on the Tower of the Fifth’s eighth floor. Can you tell me what this means?"
Lu Yin explained, "If a person doesn’t already know the Ce Secret Art, this will be completely useless, as it will merely provide them with the sensation of Board Manipulation. In reality, this is a gift for the descendants of your Ce family. As long as the members of your Ce family are able to climb up to the eighth floor, they will be able to experience this feeling. Patriarch Ce, are you still unsatisfied?”
Ce Laoyan was pleasantly surprised. Satisfied? Of course his family was satisfied! Lu Yin had observed the Immovable Chessboard and managed to comprehend Board Manipulation, but they had no idea how to go about getting such an insight from him. However, he was making his insights into their secret technique available on the eighth floor of the Tower of the Fifth. While they already knew that it would not be easy to obtain, this was still much better than being strung along by Lu Yin.
"So that's what is happening. In that case, thank you, Alliance Leader Lu," Ce Laoyan said. "Given your intentions to openly provide your own techniques as a public inheritance, you have gained the admiration of my family. We are willing to offer several of our own battle techniques to be made available in the Tower of the Fifth for anyone suitable enough to learn them."
Lu Yin's eyes lit up. This had been his goal all along! While he was going to build the Tower of the Fifth, he intended his contributions to merely be the start. Only by having other organization from the Fifth Mainland join him and contribute their own battle techniques would the Tower of the Fifth truly become a place that would house the entire Fifth Mainland’s inheritances. Even if the battle techniques that others shared were only mediocre ones, it would still be enough to draw in the most talented geniuses of the Fifth Mainland.
"Thank you, Patriarch Ce. I’ll have someone add that to the tower’s design and include your Ce family’s contributions to the public announcement," Lu Yin said.
Ce Laoyan smiled. "That's not necessary."
"Are you looking down on me, Patriarch Ce? The Ce family’s contributions belong to your family alone! I, Lu Yin, am not trying to be greedy. All I need is for you to tell me the name of the techniques that you wish to contribute," Lu Yin said.
Lu Yin’s words left Ce Laoyan too embarrassed to try to pass off some worthless battle techniques. Luckily, his Ce family had gathered numerous battle techniques and other techniques over countless years, so he was able to choose two top-quality techniques to share with Lu Yin.
Lu Yin immediately passed the information on to Wang Wen, asking for them to be added to the design of the Tower of the Fifth.
Only a short while later, the online announcement for the Tower of the Fifth was updated, and two additional inheritances were added to the description of the tower: the Seven Swords Manual and the Middle Sky Technique. The Seven Swords Manual was going to be made available on the second floor while Middle Sky Technique was added to the third floor. They were both marked as the Ce family’s contributions
This did not mean that Middle Sky Technique was something on the same level as the Daynight Restoration Technique or the Inception Array already available on the third floor. Lu Yin’s contributions remained the best available on the floor.
The Ce family was merely the first to make a move. Soon, with Wang Wen’s hand manipulating things, many Innerverse powers began to contribute various battle techniques and cultivation arts to be added to the Tower of the Fifth’s second floor.
After just half a day, hundreds of battle techniques and other inheritances had been added to the first floor, as well as countless resources.
The Ku family had also reached out to Lu Yin to ask about the Extremes Must Be Reversed that was listed as available in the Tower of the Fifth.
Lu Yin had already told the Ku family that he was not able to share Extremes Must Be Reversed with them, as he did not understand it himself, and he had even declared as such to Ku Rong. However, he was making it available in the Tower of the Fifth, which was too much of a slap in the face to the Ku family. They were basically being humiliated by his earlier visit, and they felt like they were being treated as a joke.
All that Lu Yin could share with them was that once things reached an extreme, they had to reverse themselves. This was not nearly enough for anyone to actually learn the technique. However, as Lu Yin’s strength continued to rise, he might eventually be able to share the actual technique with others.
The Ku family was dubious about his explanation, but even if they did not believe him at all, there was nothing that they could do to stop Lu Yin from placing Extremes Must Be Reversed on the ninth floor of the Tower of the Fifth.
However, the fact that Extremes Must Be Reversed was being placed on the same floor of the tower as the God of Death Transformation was quite the show of respect for Progenitor Ku.
While all the numerous inheritances that were going to be placed in the Tower of the Fifth could apparently be obtained through hard work, how much effort would actually be needed? The prices required for everything was entirely up to Lu Yin’s discretion, which provided him with a different means of controlling the various powers of the universe. The simplest example of things in the tower not being what they appeared was the God of Death Transformation; could anyone even learn it if they acquired it? The prerequisite was the Arcane Art—Fatal Revival, which no one could learn to begin with.
Next, Lu Yin also planned to include the method of layering the Literary Prison, the Fourteenth Sword, as well as the location of the statue that Gods' Origin was so eager to obtain. He would use his Tower of the Fifth to capture the entire Fifth Mainland.
Lu Yin was playing a game of chess, but he was also the only player.
As for the security of the Tower of the Fifth, Lu Yin had no worries. For one, Lu Yin had already negotiated an agreement with Arch-Elder Zen to have a Semi-Progenitor oversee the place. On top of that, there was another insurance policy in play: if anyone tried to attack the Tower of the Fifth, all the inheritances within it could be instantly removed. This information was included in the online introduction as a means to dissuade any malicious designs that certain people might hold, such as Xia Ji or the Neohuman Alliance.
Many valuable inheritances had already been announced to be in the Tower of the Fifth, and everyone was focused on something different. There were people who were excited about the Overlaying Stacks while others took notice of the Cosmic Art. There were a few people who were very interested in the sourcebox arrays, but far more people were focused on the secret techniques and Vacuum Palm. The God of Death Transformation and Extremes Must Be Reversed incited endless speculation, as people were curious as to why these two techniques were reserved for the last floor, which indicated that they were more valuable than even Inverse Step. After all, Inverse Step was one of the battle techniques that had been cultivated by one of the invincible Progenitor Chen’s clones.
It was not long before seven more battle techniques were announced that were contributed by the Hall of Honor, including even a secret technique: Banishment. This drew the attention of countless people.
After that, the Mavis Bank contributed star essence. While none would be available on the first floor of the tower, the second floor alone would already have 100 million star essence available, and each floor after that would see an increase of an additional 100 million star essence. As for the ninth floor, it would hold a prize of a full billion star essence.
Most ordinary cultivators did not even know what star essence was, as they had only ever dealt with star crystals. However, after they discovered the exchange rate of star crystals to star essence, countless people felt their heads explode, and a flood of people made their way to the Cosmic Sea.
Some people lacked battle techniques to train with, while others lacked resources. The Tower of the Fifth held both.
The Human Domain’s network exploded from the continuous updates, and everyone was talking about the Tower of the Fifth. There was nothing but endless praise offered to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin closed his gadget. He did not need to read anymore. Already, the Ce family, the Hall of Honor, and the Mavis Bank had provided additional contributions. The tower’s treasures would only continue to rise until everyone was blinded and the endless desires for those treasures grew in the hearts of countless people.
He knew that he had already succeeded. The Tower of the Fifth would be built, and Lu Yin would hold the upper hand over the entire Fifth Mainland. No one would want to see the inheritances of the Tower of the Fifth lost or for Lu Yin to take away the entire thing, not to mention the geniuses that he would gather under him through this tower.
Lu Yin did not want to have to resort to such a threat, and he desperately hoped that no one would force him to do such a thing.
Not to mention, building up a reputation of training and educating everyone in the Fifth Mainland was not bad at all.
Director Zhi went to find Lu Yin, and the man stared at Lu Yin in amazement. "Are you really going to build this Tower of the Fifth and share your techniques with the entire Fifth Mainland?"
Lu Yin smiled. "Surprised?"
Director Zhi simply could not believe it. "This isn’t like you."
Lu Yin sighed. "Many people misunderstand me."
Misunderstand? Director Zhi laughed out loud. How could they be misunderstanding Lu Yin? Just the struggles that he had endured and the blood that the Great Eastern Alliance had shed to reach its current state showed Lu Yin’s personality. On top of that, Director Zhi had just seen Lu Yin manipulate things to get five years of free labor from Aurora Enterprises. It was quite clear who Lu Yin was, and there was no way it made sense for him to freely share anything that he possessed.
"Director Zhi, humanity is currently facing the threat of the Aeternals. Raising the cultivation level and combat strength of everyone as a whole is really the only way that we can hope to deal with the Aeternals. Do you honestly believe that our fractured strength will be enough? You should already know that the Progenitor of Secret Arts has betrayed us. And while I don’t believe that the talent available in the current era is inferior to what humanity possessed in the past, it is undeniable that in ancient times people far surpassed our current strength. And yet, even with the strength that humanity possessed during the Daosource Sect’s era, four of the Six Mainlands were destroyed. If we try to protect our own interests and keep our inheritances hidden, all that awaits us is annihilation," Lu Yin slowly explained as he poured himself a cup of tea.
Director Zhi stared at Lu Yin for a long moment. "My Aurora Enterprises is willing to contribute six eonlight-grade Auroras."
Lu Yin smiled. "Thank you."
No one who was familiar with Lu Yin could see his intentions in building the Tower of the Fifth, and that was because no one aside from Lu Yin understood the threats that he was facing.
Regardless of how anyone looked at the matter, the creation of the Tower of the Fifth would only benefit the Fifth Mainland and not cause it any harm.
"My Aurora Enterprises can also help with building the Tower of the Fifth," Director Zhi offered.
Lu Yin shook his head. "That’s not needed. Building the Tower of the Fifth won’t be difficult. I will create the challenges for each floor through a combination of virtual reality and true reality. I will do my best to ensure that everyone who emerges from the Tower of the Fifth will experience a transformation."
"I hope so," Director Zhi said.
A few days later, Liu Ye and Fei Hua arrived at Aurora Fortress, and they brought Sapling with them.
Lu Yin had asked the couple to bring Sapling with them, as his next destination was a certain hidden world: he was going to visit Shamrock Enterprise’s headquarters.
It was time to settle numerous things. With the impending threat of the Perennial World’s attack, Lu Yin needed to set as many of his affairs in order as possible, one of which was Shamrock Enterprise.