Chapter 4240: Refining the Ferry of Tribulation
The Fifth Generation Heavenly Void Palace Master had once tampered with the butler's formation, adding his own tricks completely unbeknownst to the butler. The Fifth's mastery of divine runes was far beyond the butler's; the two were not on the same level at all.
But trying to hide such schemes from Lin Moyu was not so easy. Despite Fifth Generation's caution, Lin Moyu still managed to spot clues.
In one rather inconspicuous spot on the teleportation array, a few broken divine runes could be found. These runes blended in perfectly with the formation; most of the time they seemed like mere scraps, discovered only when the array was actually activated.
So Lin Moyu first activated the array before searching for them.
His analysis indicated that this particular rune's function was to mark the user of the teleport array a nearly invisible trace, but enough to allow Fifth Generation to observe anyone using it.
For years, almost everything the butler did had been under Fifth Generation's eyes. And there had to be deeper intentions behind it all.
Lin Moyu did not remove the runes left by Fifth Generation as soon as he did, Fifth would notice.
Instead, Lin Moyu took out a blank jade slip an empty, unmarked piece. With a touch of soul fire, he quickly refined it, turning it into a solid little array plate. He then casually drew a simple formation on the plate, and, holding the jade in hand, entered the teleportation array, headed for the Fourth Generation Heavenly Void Palace.
The array rumbled to life, opening a spatial channel between the Dao, and Lin Moyu saw the world blur into rivers of light as he was transmitted.
The Fifth's hidden runes activated too, slipping into the flow of light and stealthily heading toward Lin Moyu.
But Lin Moyu activated his own array plate, setting his formation into motion it drew the Fifth's mark into itself.
Fifth Generation would believe his rune had activated and attached to someone, and with no one else in the teleportation formation except Lin Moyu, he'd never suspect otherwise.
When the transmission ended, Lin Moyu was standing before the grand gate of the Fourth Generation Heavenly Void Palace.
He kept the array plate attached to his waist, feigning total ignorance.
Looking around, Lin Moyu examined the palace. The patterns on the gate were quite different from those in the Fifth Generation Domain; almost all the lifeforms depicted were unfamiliar to him.
These were all beings from the Fourth Generation Domain each generation's world contained utterly distinct creatures. Not recognizing them was only natural.
From the characteristics, however, Lin Moyu could glean some information.
The Fifth Generation Domain was marked by a complete set of Great Dao, giving rise to all sorts of life the diversity was such that no type was considered absolutely superior.
But the Fourth Generation's palace doors and walls mostly depicted fish like creatures, and Lin Moyu felt powerful traces of water Dao and cause and effect Dao from them.
"So, the Fourth Generation Domain was a world evolved primarily from the Great Dao of Water?"
"No, a single Great Dao of Water wouldn't be enough to make an entire domain. At best, it played an outsized role."
"Since the fifth succeeded the fourth and the Fourth Generation Palace went silent at the moment the Fifth Palace appeared, there probably shouldn't be any life left inside."
Lin Moyu walked up and tried to push open the grand gates.
But they were tightly sealed not budging no matter how much strength he used.
To enter, he had to solve the riddle of the door. But where was the riddle? And how was it to be unraveled?
There was no visible divine rune, no clear formation Lin Moyu could not immediately see any solution.
The Fourth Generation Domain had its own rules, born from the former master's intent a wholly different system from the Fifth.
If he searched slowly enough he would surely find the answer, but that would mean wasting considerable time.
He didn't want to waste so much effort: the Fourth Generation was already gone; outside of its historical and Dao value, it had little to offer the present or future.
Being straightforward, Lin Moyu simply produced the Ferry of Tribulation he'd use it to crash inside.
The ferry was already partially refined, so with a thought, Lin Moyu entered its space.
Upon the deck, many Dao Lord level beings some real, some illusory were hard at work, hailing from diverse realms.
They'd already lost all sense of self, functioning only on the Ferry's orders.
Without consciousness, such beings were nothing but walking corpses in Lin Moyu's eyes, worse than dead.
He realized now he could command these soul slaves, order them to do anything even charge out in battle for him if needed.
But that was pointless. They were only Dao Lords, their power negligible in his eyes.
Partial refinement of the ferry allowed him to move freely about its deck; to go deeper, into the ship's interior, required further refining, and at present, he could not yet command its core.
His soul force surged through the Ferry of Tribulation, probing for deeper control.
As his soul delved, Lin Moyu mapped out the internal structure and understood the purpose of each region.
The ferry was split into outer, inner, and central regions.
The outer region was the deck, where the ferry could control or erase the souls of those aboard, making them slaves. Whether it could erase or enslave a target depended on the controller's own strength.
When the Kunlun Emperor controlled the ferry, he'd only been a weak half step Chaos barely above Eternal level so the ferry could overpower Dao Lords and lesser beings, but struggled against Great Dao Lords.
"You can only suppress enemies one major realm below you honestly, that's not so useful."
If you're already that much stronger, you could crush opponents yourself. Why bother with the ferry?
So the true ability was not combat but rather in erasing souls to create ferry slaves, though even this was less useful than his own army of undead servants.
The ferry, after all, was not a weapon of mass destruction; its strength lay elsewhere.
The inner region was the administrator's zone the part Lin Moyu had reached before, including the statue. With this refined, he'd be able to fully command the ferry.
The center was reserved for the ferry's true master; its function was still unclear, as he hadn't refined it yet.
Lin Moyu had mastered the outer region and was refining the inner, but it was getting slower and more difficult.
He soon understood: the Kunlun Emperor had only ever refined the inner region, as had Fifth Generation neither had truly become the ferry's owner, just its managers and controllers.
The ferry had existed long before the Fifth Generation Palace, indicating its creator was far more mysterious.
Dozens of days later, Lin Moyu finally finished refining the inner region. He became the new manager and controller.
When he attempted to refine the central region, though, his soul force was blocked.
He stopped right away the core felt dangerous, and he sensed that a forced refinement would end very badly.
"That's enough for now. I'll just use it as it is."
With a single thought, the Ferry of Tribulation flared with dazzling light, illuminating the main gate of the Fourth Generation Heavenly Void Palace.
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