Lu Yin took a deep breath. "Death Lord still didn't kill you?"
Thousand Machine Strange Performance grinned. "Little fellow, keeping your civilization safe is going to be difficult. But from what I know of you, you're not the type to act on impulse. So tell me, what do you plan to do?"
"Let me remind you: I have absolute confidence in myself. No matter what you do, you won't break through my defenses."
Lu Yin glanced into the distance, where that force continued to spread. It had already covered more than twenty realms. Those who'd been marked kept fleeing, and some had already lost their light, evidently dead.
"That's Four Phases Stripping, isn't it?"
"Stripping life to leave no continuity, stripping time to leave no time, stripping karma to leave no defilement, stripping fortune to leave no action. Why isn't your Dao of Death among them?"
"Or is it meant to deal with you?"
Thousand Machine Strange Performance laughed. "Trying to sow discord? It won't work. I should thank you for eliminating Fluff Civilization for me. Otherwise, with that Liu working alongside Four Phases Stripping and that Active Heart, I'd have had a real headache."
"Times have changed. There are no eternal enemies in the universe. Your Human Civilization should understand that."
"By the way, the more you talk, the more trouble you'll bring to your people. What we need here is time."
Lu Yin looked around. Could he defeat Thousand Machine Strange Performance? Impossible. He knew that very well. Their recent fight hadn't been about stopping that force from spreading, but about testing Thousand Machine Strange Performance—and testing whether he could fuse with Chen.
The result was bleak. Even if he fused with Chen, he wasn't confident of winning. But he had no choice but to take this step.