Chapter 4160: Gap
Chapter 4160: Gap
“How long?”
“Five days.”
“Apparently, it is different from Luo Chan’s ability. It is undoubtedly difficult to alter the essence of life, but,” Greater Sancte Green Lotus paused as he laughed. “This is more than enough!”
Lu Yin bowed low to Greater Sancte Green Lotus. “This junior thanks you for your aid, Senior, and the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse for its help.”
Greater Sancte Green Lotus laughed happily as he helped Lu Yin back up. “If you one day save the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, or all of human civilization, should we all bow to you as well, Mr. Lu?”
“Hahahaha.”
“Hahahaha.”
Their unrestrained laughter spread across the Sea of Karma.
Not long after, Greater Sancte Awe Gate and Ku Deng both arrived. When they learned that Lu Yin had succeeded, their expressions quickly changed from disbelief to wild joy.
Each of them was a dignified Immortal. They were supposed to remain unmoved by both joy and sorrow, but at this moment, none of them were able to suppress their excitement.
The innate gift of teleportation was not perfect, but it was still enough.
It could be considered a quasi-absolute means.
On top of that, their human civilization still had the Nirvana Tree Path, Seed Transfusion, and Lu Yin’s own nascent Mental Manor. Once it matured, humanity would essentially possess multiple lives when fighting against foreign civilizations. That was another ability that could be regarded as a quasi-absolute means.
It was also important to consider the sheer number of human Immortals.
The human civilization was not necessarily any weaker than a fishing civilization in terms of raw power.
Finally, they had some genuine confidence with which to face the Seven-Treasure Anuras. It was as if the sky above the entire human civilization had finally cleared.
“Mr. Lu, hurry and let us try it. I want to go to the Tianyuan.”
“Take this old man to the Mindscape Megaverse.”
“The boundary.”
Each person wanted to personally experience teleportation. Lu Yin was delighted, and he refused no one. He was happy to give the Immortals a chance to play with their new toys like children. They all found it both novel and entertaining.
It also filled them with an incredible sense of security.
Greater Sancte Blood Tower and Ancestor Lu Yuan were also taken back to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. Distance was no longer much of an issue.
Greater Sancte Awe Gate said, “But this is only within the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. Once you exit it, how far are you able to see, Mr. Lu?”
Lu Yin replied, “I am going to cultivate abilities that specifically improve my perception. Also...” He took out a stone. “Do you seniors still recognize this?”
“A pathfinding stone,” Ku Deng recognized it at a glance.
Greater Sancte Blood Tower said, “A pathfinding stone from Whither Peak.”
Lu Yin nodded. “A person’s consciousness can be attached to a pathfinding stone before it is thrown out. However far it goes will be however far you can see. With my strength, if I throw one at full power, the distance that the stone travels will become the effective range across which I can teleport, and that will be... substantial.”
Greater Sancte Green Lotus stared at the pathfinding stone. “But there is a limit to the consciousness that can be attached to a pathfinding stone. Once a certain distance is crossed, the consciousness will start to disperse. It does not remain attached to the stone forever.
“We tested this long ago. The maximum range is actually about the same as the distance between the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the border of the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. It also depends on the purity of each stone. Some can go farther, and some less.”
Greater Sancte Awe Gate added, “Also, throwing a pathfinding stone is not necessarily any faster than traveling yourself. It will merely go ahead in your place. For ultra-long-distance movement, these stones are not very useful.”
Lu Yin nodded. “So I still have to cultivate some technique that will allow me to see farther.”
“That’s not easy. Being able to see farther also takes time, unless your perception can directly reach whatever you want to look at,” Greater Sancte Blood Tower said.
Greater Sancte Green Lotus looked up. “Or you replace the cosmos itself, much like what the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm accomplishes, in order to allow yourself to see farther. Without it, even I would have to first spread out karma in order to peer into the distance, which would also waste time.”
Lu Yin frowned. “So is there no way to directly see far-off places?”
“What about the power of time? Have you tried that? Maybe you can create a battle technique with it.”
“This old man’s heart lamps are also able to illuminate the distance. That might be worth a try.”
“Your heart lamps are your own unseen world. Mr. Lu can’t cultivate that. By the way, Senior Green Lotus, your Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm isn’t evenly shaped. Could it be reformed into a straight line to spread farther in one particular direction?”
“It could, but doing so would still take time...”
As they spoke, the group eventually felt that something was off. That was because Greater Sancte Awe Gate had not spoken a second time.
They turned to look at the woman, only to see that her head was bowed in deep thought.
They did not disturb her.
After quite a while, Greater Sancte Awe Gate suddenly snapped back to her senses and looked up. “Why did you all stop talking?”
“You have something on your mind,” Greater Sancte Green Lotus said.
Greater Sancte Blood Tower looked at her. “Are you concerned about something?”
Greater Sancte Awe Gate sounded displeased. “What’s that supposed to mean? Am I not allowed to have concerns?”
Lu Yin asked, “Senior, if something is bothering you, just tell us. Maybe we can help.”
Awe Gate looked over at Lu Yin. “I know of a civilization that specializes in cultivating vision techniques that can allow you to see much farther. But that civilization...” She hesitated. After some time, she said in a low voice, “Let me go back and think about it before I say anything more.”
With that, she turned around and left.
The others watched her leave before exchanging glances.
“This is related to her thousand-year journey through the Aevum Inch,” Greater Sancte Green Lotus stated.
Lu Yin grew puzzled. “A thousand years isn’t very long, especially since it also includes her return trip. Senior Awe Gate shouldn’t have gone too far, right?”
Greater Sancte Blood Tower said, “Time and space are sometimes unreliable. Also, don’t forget about the Threads of Heaven. Those places move about depending on the individual master. Awe Gate has entered a Thread of Heaven before.”
Lu Yin looked in the direction of the Frightened Sparrow Terrace. Awe Gate had gone on a 1,000-year journey, leaving as a peak Dukkhan and returning as an Immortal.
Just what had she experienced during those years?
Judging from her attitude, her breakthrough was probably connected to the civilization which cultivated eye techniques that she had mentioned.
“I’ve always been curious about whose child Qing Yun is. It looks like we’re about to find the answer,” Greater Sancte Blood Tower commented with a smile.
Greater Sancte Green Lotus sighed. “If not for the sake of our absolute means, Awe Gate might have never mentioned that civilization for the rest of her entire life.”
“Right, there’s one more thing.” Lu Yin turned to Greater Sancte Green Lotus. “We should talk to the Immortal Lord again. It’s useless for us to keep Luo Chan here any longer. We can trade its immediate release for something of value.”
“Release Luo Chan?” Greater Sancte Blood Tower’s brows shot up.
Lu Yin said, “The bug is no longer of any use to us. Keeping it here serves no purpose, so it would be better to use it to get better terms from the Immortal Lord. Of course, there is the problem of how to guarantee that the Immortal Lord will actually fulfill those terms. As for Luo Chan itself...”
He slowly smiled. “It’s no longer of any threat.”
Greater Sancte Green Lotus nodded. “As long as Luo Chan appears within your line of sight, it truly does pose no threat to us. It doesn’t know that you can teleport, right?”
“It doesn’t.”
“Good. If it knew, then it would be nearly impossible for us to capture it ever again. As long as it remains ignorant, recapturing it remains possible,” Greater Sancte Green Lotus mused.
Greater Sancte Blood Tower said, “The Immortal Lord has already offered the best terms that they can, just to force us to release Luo Chan. What more can we ask for now?”
Greater Sancte Green Lotus also directed a look of curiosity towards Lu Yin.
The truth was that he had not thought of anything yet either. “We can think about this some more. No matter what, they are an overwhelmingly powerful Immortal. It’s vital that we make as much use of them as possible.”
“Then we can only wait until they contact us again,” Greater Sancte Green Lotus said.
Soon, Lu Yin and Greater Sancte Green Lotus arrived in the Consciousness Megaverse. They stood atop the cliff within the Willbound Spire, staring at the palace before them.
Inside the palace, they could make out the hazy outline of the Origin Progenitor. Neither man could see the Origin Progenitor clearly, just that he was sitting cross-legged, cultivating something unknown.
Lu Yin’s gaze shifted to the High Seraph, who stood before the palace.
At that moment, the High Seraph also noticed Lu Yin and Greater Sancte Green Lotus.
He did not recognize the Greater Sancte, nor could he sense the Immortal’s aura.
“So you actually came back,” the High Seraph remarked in a low voice while staring at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin met the man’s gaze and sighed. “We haven’t seen each other in more than a hundred years. You’ve become much more haggard.”
The High Seraph’s eyes narrowed. He sized Lu Yin up, feeling that something was off.
While more than a hundred years had passed since they had parted ways, that was but a moment for beings at their level of power. It would pass like the blink of an eye. Lu Yin should not have experienced any major changes.
Despite that logic, the High Seraph felt an indescribable sense of threat from Lu Yin. The man could not express the feeling in words, but his instincts told him not to get too close.
He did not know what had happened to Lu Yin, nor anything that had happened in the outside world.
The Spirit Nidus was a completely different place from the megaverse that the High Seraph remembered.
“Have you come back to approach the palace?” the High Seraph asked. “If that’s the case, then you’re too late. He got before both of us. The opportunities here are beyond both of our reaches now.”
As he finished, the High Seraph glanced back at the palace with obvious reluctance.
Lu Yin smiled. “That doesn’t matter. I’m merely curious about something. Why were you left behind?”
The High Seraph’s eyes narrowed. “You had your own means of ensuring that I wouldn’t strike him, but he had his own means as well, and he used them to leave me behind, step by step.
“Even so, I don’t know how he actually approached the palace.”
Lu Yin looked at the outline of the Origin Progenitor within the palace. How had he entered the palace? Lu Yin could not help but wonder if it was because of the method that he had once shared with the Origin Progenitor, the method that he had developed after being inspired by Che.
“Come with us,” Lu Yin said.
The High Seraph directed a cold stare at Lu Yin before glancing at Greater Sancte Green Lotus. “Is he a helper that you’ve brought?”
Greater Sancte Green Lotus chuckled while clasping his hands behind his back. “I won’t make a move.”
The High Seraph’s eyes glinted with a sharp light. The bad feeling in his stomach suddenly grew stronger. Was Lu Yin really this confident?
When they last parted, Lu Yin had already been able to suppress the High Seraph by using Immortal matter, though Master Qing Cao had intervened. That had prevented the High Seraph from clearly seeing the gap between them.
Lu Yin did not want to waste any time. He walked towards the High Seraph. The closer he drew to the palace, the stronger the resistance he suffered, but the High Seraph was standing even farther away than where Lu Yin and the Origin Progenitor had waited atop the cliff. It was too easy to reach the man.
The High Seraph watched Lu Yin walk toward him, and the relaxed, unconcerned demeanor triggered an instinctive urge to flee. Still, the man refused to believe his instincts. It had only been a mere hundred years; had this man somehow broken into the Immortal realm?
Lu Yin would already be considered lucky to have become an Ortuser in such a short amount of time.
No matter what, he was the High Seraph, the strongest being beneath the Immortal realm in the Spirit Nidus. Previously, Lu Yin had needed to use tricks to suppress the High Seraph. For more than a hundred years, the man had replayed their battles in his mind. All he needed to do was avoid Lu Yin’s sword technique, his slashes of consciousness.
Thinking of this, the High Seraph instantly lashed out. His body contorted as he underwent the Nine Heavens Transformation and released Veilparter, becoming formless, selfless, and able to cross all barriers.
Lu Yin watched as the High Seraph’s palm descended. He had once needed to use Immortal matter to defeat this man in a serious fight. But now...
Bang.
There was a thunderous sound as the High Seraph’s palm was stopped in mid-air. He stared ahead, frozen in place.
He saw Lu Yin standing there with a faint smile on his face. The younger man’s hands were even clasped behind his back, as though he was taking a casual stroll. He had neither blocked nor dodged, and yet the High Seraph’s palm remained frozen in the air. He could not move it at all. It was as though some invisible power had him completely locked in place.