Chapter 3773: Upheaval
Chapter 3773: Upheaval
The Origin Progenitor thought for a moment after hearing the High Seraph’s offer. Finally, he looked down at Lu Yin.
The entire argument between Lu Yin and the Origin Progenitor had been an act. With time, the High Seraph would indeed recover, while continuing on in a dead-lock would only hurt the Origin Progenitor. Once the High Seraph was fully recovered, the Origin Progenitor would be in trouble.
With that in mind, Lu Yin looked up at the High Seraph and raised one finger. “I’m adding one condition: give your wooden statue to Senior Tai Chu.”
The High Seraph’s eyes flickered. “Lu Yin, you don’t hold all the cards.”
“Then we wait. We’ll see if you manage to recover first, or if more people from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse arrive,” Lu Yin replied.
“If that megaverse sends people here, Tai Chu will also suffer.”
“If you recover, Senior will suffer just the same.”
“I can swear an oath.”
“I don’t trust you,” Lu Yin bluntly retorted. While oaths might serve as severe restrictions on someone as powerful as the High Seraph, such things were not infallible or foolproof. If the High Seraph ever lost hope of reaching the Immortal realm, his oath would become meaningless, and Lu Yin would not gamble the Origin Progenitor’s life on the High Seraph’s future.
The Origin Progenitor spoke up. “Mo Shang, what are you so afraid of? That statue is not a weapon. Even with it, I’m still just a target. I can swear not to attack you, unless-” The man paused, and a cold light glinted in his eyes. “That statue really can threaten you, which would prove you a liar.”
Lu Yin’s voice echoed up the cliff. “It normally takes people a year to reach this place from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, which means two years for a round trip, though a Greater Sancte could arrive much faster. How long did we spend to get close to the palace last time?”
The High Seraph relented, and he handed the mirebound artifact to the Origin Progenitor. With that, both men swore not to attack each other.
Everyone was finally able to breathe a bit easier.
The High Seraph was most concerned about attempting to reach the palace, while Lu Yin cared deeply about the Origin Progenitor’s safety. Unfortunately, despite discovering a method to reach the palace by dispersing his own memories, Lu Yin had no opportunity to use the method himself. Still, he could at least share what he had learned with the Origin Progenitor. There was a chance that the information would help the old man, even if the odds were not very high.
As for the Origin Progenitor, he no longer had any lingering concerns. He turned to face the palace. He had not made any attempts to reach the palace before, but it was finally his turn. Pressure from memories? That would be a new experience for him.
Elsewhere, Master Qing Cao had already left the Consciousness Megaverse behind, and he had taken the Spirit Nidus’s four battleships with him.
No one was capable of stopping Master Qing Cao. Even if Lu Yin had been on Boundless, he would not have been able to do a thing. In fact, Lu Yin was already well aware that he had lost the four battleships for good.
Master Qing Cao would never allow an entire generation of the Spirit Nidus’s top elites to be held captive.
Still, both Old Salamander and Meng Sang had been imprisoned in the Champions’ Stage Purgatory, so they could not escape from Lu Yin.
As for Su Shidao, Zi Tianshu, and the others, they were taken back by Master Qing Cao.
The cultivators on those four battleships did not know who Master Qing Cao was, but when they saw that no one on Boundless dared to try to stop the man, speculations started to crop up. No one felt confident in the validity of their guesses.
Many suspected that Master Qing Cao was their invincible being, but if that was true, then why did he not attack Boundless? If he was not the Spirit Nidus’s invincible being, then why rescue them? It was clear from the expressions on the faces of those aboard Boundless that they were familiar with Master Qing Cao.
The man simply dragged the four battleships away.
Still on Boundless, Chu Yi and the others were only able to relax once the battleships had completely vanished from their sight.
“How is he here?”
“An Immortal... that’s Master Qing Cao.”
“The only Immortal we’ve encountered so far.”
“Why didn’t he attack us?”
“Obviously because of the restrictions of his karmic chain.”
“I’m going to go check on Little Seven.”
The Consciousness Megaverse’s boundary gate lay in ruins. The cultivators on the Spirit Nidus’s four battleships stared at the destruction with conflicted expressions. They had no idea what had become of the Consciousness Megaverse.
Their expedition to destroy the Consciousness Megaverse had sounded grand, but none of them had done so much as lifted a finger.
Master Qing Cao stood atop Genesis as the ship passed by the gate and directed it towards the nearby springboard. The springboard soon activated, and the battleship was hurled into the Aevum Inch.
Shortly thereafter, Master Qing Cao’s expression changed. He looked off in a specific direction, and Genesis suddenly stopped, startling the other people aboard. Many were even thrown forward.
Master Qing Cao peered into the distance for a moment, raised a hand, and then released a wave of invisible power. No one could sense what the man had just done.
At that moment, another battleship rapidly approached from behind.
Aboard Genesis, Su Shidao’s mouth fell open. “Se- Senior! We’re about to crash!”
Master Qing Cao dropped his hand, and Genesis suddenly shot forward. It moved even faster than when it had first been thrown by the springboard. In less than an instant, the approaching battleship had disappeared.
Su Shidao and the others stared in astonishment. Just like that, the danger’s gone?
They looked back at Master Qing Cao, and one by one, people dropped to their knees. This man was an Immortal. There was no other way he could replicate the power of a springboard.
Master Qing Cao continued to stare into the distance and muttered to himself, “I can’t allow you to have too easy a time of things, or else others won’t be able to feel any peace.”
...
Half a year soon passed, and only then did Lu Yin leave the bottom of the cliff and return to Boundless.
While the four battleships had been lost, he was not very bothered. He could always reclaim such bargaining chips in the Spirit Nidus.
He first needed to return to the Tianyuan Megaverse.
The reason why he had not already left was that he wanted to find Yue Ya.
It had been months since the High Seraph had told Lu Yin that Yue Ya was still in the Consciousness Megaverse, hoping that the young man would leave the Willbound Spire and stop staring at him. Lu Yin had indeed left to find Yue Ya, as he knew how important it was to find the man.
Unfortunately, Yue Ya still had not been found.
Lu Yin decided to search for another six months. If it was still impossible to find Yue Ya, Boundless would return to the Tianyuan Megaverse.
The crisis regarding the Spirit Nidus had already been resolved, and now, it was the Nine Odysseys Megaverse that was a concern. There was no need to take Boundless to that megaverse; Lu Yin intended to go alone. Boundless would not be able to offer any meaningful help in that place, as the gap was simply too vast.
For six months, both the High Seraph and the Origin Progenitor had steadily approached the palace.
To the surprise of both the High Seraph and Lu Yin, the Origin Progenitor proceeded forward just as quickly as the High Seraph, matching the speed that Lu Yin had once shown. Not even Lu Yin had expected such rapid progress.
The palace gave off memory pressure, which required both a powerful consciousness and resilient memory string. While the High Seraph and Lu Yin possessed both, the Origin Progenitor did not have a particularly strong consciousness. In fact, it was only average for a Dukkhan. His resistance to the memory pressure should have been no better than one of the more average Thirteen Luminaries. That was also why the Origin Progenitor had not considered approaching the palace before.
However, on his very first attempt, he almost moved faster than the High Seraph.
No one could make any sense of it.
Lu Yin was no better in this regard. He speculated that it might be because he had shared the method of dispersing memory with the Origin Progenitor, but that method required a powerful consciousness and Lu Yin’s own inner universe. Was the Origin Progenitor really capable of replicating what Lu Yin had done? Or had the man simply always been capable of approaching the palace?
The Origin Progenitor’s cultivation was aboveboard and righteousness. Yue Ya and others saw the man’s path as a grave threat, but no one had ever mentioned that it could be so effective at approaching the palace.
Still, the closer that one drew to the palace, the harder it became to make further progress, and the more time that was needed to proceed further. Lu Yin merely hoped that no one from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would arrive anytime soon, particularly not one of the Greater Sancti.
As for Immortal matter, Lu Yin had managed to collect a bit more. He would never waste an opportunity, and he managed to gather another bit about every day and a half. The rest of his time was spent either searching for Yue Ya or extracting karmic bricks.
One day, Lu Yin returned to Boundless, intending to rest for a day and a half before continuing to search for more specks of light.
Suddenly, he looked over in a particular direction, his eyes blazing. Yue Ya had finally appeared.
The High Seraph had commented on Yue Ya’s presence just to chase Lu Yin out of the Willbound Spire, but Lu Yin had not fully trusted that information. Still, staying at the bottom of the cliff served no purpose at all, so he had indeed left to search for Yue Ya. After half a year of fruitless effort, he had nearly given up, becoming convinced Yue Ya had already left the megaverse. Despite that, the man had just revealed himself.
Lu Yin stepped away from Boundless, his consciousness erupting to spread across the Consciousness Megaverse.
Far away, though still directly in front of Lu Yin, Yue Ya stared out at the stars from beside the ruins of the boundary gate. He had gone into hiding the moment that Lu Yin had defeated the High Seraph. Yue Ya did not know that Lu Yin had been searching for him, but that was also unnecessary. After all, if Yue Ya were in Lu Yin’s place, he would certainly search for himself.
Beneath the dark sky, lit only by stars, consciousness descended.
Yue Ya’s expression grew conflicted. This was the same manner in which he had once appeared before people. He had never imagined that it would one day be used against him.
Lu Yin had long since surpassed Yue Ya’s ability to contend with.
Still, it would not be easy to catch Yue Ya.
“Lu Yin, farewell until the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.” With those words, Yue Ya turned and exited the Consciousness Megaverse.
Consciousness exploded beneath the starlit sky. Lu Yin raised a hand and unleashed the Tri-Azure Sword Intent, deliberately infused with Immortal matter. You want to escape? Impossible.
Since Lu Yin had seen his target, there would be no escape.
Yue Ya had no idea what Lu Yin had become capable of. He believed that merely leaving the Consciousness Megaverse would suffice, but at that moment, he was gripped from behind by an indescribable terror. The Tri-Azure Sword Intent pierced through the darkness, slicing straight at him. Yue Ya stared at the approaching slash, dazed by the realization that he could not dodge it. Why not? It was not moving swiftly, and yet he could not avoid it. It cut both the process and the result, while also containing a terrifyingly destructive power that Yue Ya could not comprehend.
Despite that, he had felt such power before, and on more than one occasion: this was the power of an Immortal.
Yue Ya could not believe what he was seeing. Was Lu Yin actually capable of matching the power of an Immortal?
Impossible!
No matter how Yue Ya racked his brain, he could not understand how Lu Yin had accomplished such a thing. As the Tri-Azure Sword Intent bore down on him, a ripple ran through Yue Ya’s manifested thought. He contorted his form, returning to the appearance of a dark-gold cloud. “Greater Sancte of the Nine Odysseys: Blood Tower!”
A hazy Blood Tower manifested, just as the Tri-Azure Sword Intent descended.
At that exact moment, the void cracked open, to reveal pale, bone-colored claws that reached for the Tri-Azure Sword Intent that was right before Yue Ya’s eyes.
The Tri-Azure Sword Intent was barely 100 meters away from Yue Ya. It was a distance that could be covered in an instant. To the pale, bone-colored claws, that distance was completely negligible.
Yue Ya stared blankly at the bone-colored claws. They pressed against space as a monstrous hand shoved through the void and slowly stretched into the Consciousness Megaverse.
The suffocating pressure that had appeared with the claws was nearly enough to stop his thoughts. Another Immortal? Another Immortal-level being?! Damn it! Where did this one come from?
Simultaneously, Lu Yin froze, and his pupils shrank. His consciousness swept from planet to planet as he focused on the bone-colored claws. Memories surged through his mind, bringing back scenes that he had once witnessed during a memory shock atop the Willbound Spire’s cliff.
He saw claws that encompassed an endless universe and the Tri-Azure Sword Intent cutting through it. The blood of the clawed being had stained the sky itself.
These were the exact same claws. They were perfectly identical. How could the creature be here?
The void continued to rip apart as the claws pressed forward. It looked as though they were cleaving reality itself.
Yue Ya slowly retreated, still stunned as he stared at the bone-colored claws. He finally turned and fled, racing for the nearby springboard.
The Consciousness Megaverse had been struck by so many shocking events; first, there was the Starforged Sword, and this time, a monstrous creature had appeared. Both were existences at the Immortal level.
Where had this creature come from? Despite all of Yue Ya’s years in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, he had never seen anything like it before.
The Consciousness Megaverse was on the brink of catastrophe.