Star Odyssey

Chapter 3730: Effect And Cause

Old Chief and the other Luminaries could not understand how such a creature could exist.

If their suspicions were correct, then Lu Yin posed a far greater threat to their megaverse than even the High Seraph.

Lu Yin no longer needed to bother hiding anything. Since Yong Heng had threatened to expose Lu Yin’s ability to Possess other creatures, then there was no point in staying secretive.

There was no need for him to conceal that he could devour consciousness. There were no longer any threats to him in the Consciousness Megaverse, and the conscients had already all gone into hiding. It seemed that they were instinctively avoiding Lu Yin.

It was better to use his consciousness to push away Yue Ya’s manifested thought and interrupt his monitoring.

...

Dark-red ridges undulated across the plain. In total, there were seven of them, arranged in a perfect circle. From a distance they resembled low hills more than true mountains. Any cultivator could scale each one in a single breath, and even an ordinary person could climb them in a few days’ time.

These seven ridges were in fact the seven summits of Deathmound, formally comprised of three mountain-mass clusters which combined to yield exactly seven peaks. Although none of the individual ridges was especially tall, every cultivator knew to avoid Deathmound entirely. No one dared to cross those seven peaks. To all who understood its reputation, Deathmound was simply a land of death.

One day, a young man stepped away from one of the peaks. His eyes were as peaceful as still water, his expression revealing nothing. With each step he took, his foot seemed to land upon a peak, yet he also somehow seemed to move beyond them.

“Zhao Yi.”

The young man slowly bowed. “Great Master.”

“You have not been given any tasks since being promoted to the Lord of the Sixth Peak. I will now entrust you with one.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Go to the Consciousness Megaverse and eradicate Ruler Garden.”

Zhao Yi lifted his head to stare at the empty sky. “Ruler Garden... has gone to the Consciousness Megaverse?”

“They have committed a grave crime. Yue Ya has manipulated Ruler Garden into risking everything and interfering in the affairs of the three lower megaverses without permission. Such actions cannot be tolerated. Execute all of them without mercy.”

Zhao Yi calmly replied, “Since they’ve risked everything, it means that Yue Ya is confident in completing his transformation. If he does succeed and protects Ruler Garden, what should I do then?”

“Do whatever is necessary: execute them all without mercy.”

“Understood.” Zhao Yi bowed, turned, and left. The peace that had once existed in his eyes was gone, and they now rippled with emotion.

Right after Zhao Yi left Deathmound, a veiled woman approached him. Her beauty could leave mortals breathless, and her limpid eyes met Zhao Yi’s as she greeted him with a small smile. “Congratulations, Lord of the Sixth Peak. You finally have a chance for revenge.”

Zhao Yi swept past the woman without replying. She stared at his back as he moved away. “You truly are lucky.”

Zhao Yi stopped when he heard her words, but he did not turn around. In a cool tone, he stated, “So long as you continue living, you will also have your chance.”

With that, he disappeared.

The woman stared at the place where the young man had just been standing. “My own chance? You and I are not the same.”

...

In the Consciousness Megaverse, Lu Yin dispersed Yue Ya’s manifested thought from aboard Boundless and then sensed his strengthened consciousness. He still needed to improve it even further, but that would have to wait for a while. If he devoured too much consciousness at once, the power could spiral out of his control.

He rolled his die and was lucky to see four pips as the first roll. He spent a year resting in his Timestop Space, and when he emerged, he released Xi Wen from the Champions’ Stage Purgatory.

The conscient had not suffered much during her imprisonment. Unlike most other creatures, conscients did not mind the Champions’ Stage Purgatory.

Xi Wen looked around when she was released and saw that she was on Boundless. Instantly, her heart sank.

“No one can save you,” Lu Yin stated bluntly.

Xi Wen looked at him. “Just what exactly are you trying to do? Shouldn’t your Tianyuan Megaverse be allying with our Consciousness Megaverse?”

Lu Yin was unmoved. “You simply aren’t worth that much.”

Xi Wen frowned, though her voice remained quite pleasant. “You captured me for the Middle Heaven’s Blade.”

Lu Yin nodded. “Give me that technique, and I’ll let you go.”

“Why should I believe you?” Xi Wen did not refuse. After all, even the Middle Heaven’s Blade was less important than her own survival.

Lu Yin slowly smiled while keeping his eyes locked with the Luminary’s. “What makes you think that you can afford to not believe me?”

Xi Wen fell silent.

She had always kept her strength hidden from the other Luminaries; not even Old Chief had known that she had mastered the Middle Heaven’s Blade.

However, such secrets seemed absurd in front of Lu Yin. Forget the Middle Heaven’s Blade; even if she matched Old Chief’s strength and had kept her power a secret, it would still mean nothing more to Lu Yin than another gift.

“Many humans are honest. I hope that you are one of them,” Xi Wen replied in a low voice that revealed both her hope and her apprehension.

It was not easy to learn the Middle Heaven’s Blade. Xi Wen initially believe that she would quickly teach it to Lu Yin, and Lu Yin shared that same assumption.

Unfortunately, they soon learned different.

Sword techniques contained both intent and skill. Lu Yin had dabbled in many sword techniques over the years, and he took pride in being able to quickly master them. In particular, since he had already learned Heaven’s Blade, he expected to learn the Middle Heaven’s Blade quickly, yet he struggled terribly.

The intent contained in the Middle Heaven’s Blade was not something that could be taught, but rather something that could only be grasped intuitively.

Lu Yin needed Xi Wen to repeatedly use the Middle Heaven’s Blade so that he could slowly sense its intent.

It would be a very lengthy process.

The quickest way to succeed would be to roll six pips with Lu Yin’s die and Possess Xi Wen, but that was not guaranteed success. There was already a path before him, so he would try that first.

It took more than two months of watching Xi Wen demonstrate the sword technique before Lu Yin finally grasped the Middle Heaven’s Blade’s intent.

The conscient also had not expected it to be so difficult to teach Lu Yin the technique.

“Can you release me now?” Xi Wen asked while staring at Lu Yin. This was the moment her fate would be decided.

Lu Yin softly stated, “Find Old Chief, and I’ll give you a chance to join Boundless.”

Xi Wen frowned, failing to understand what Lu Yin meant.

He gave her a faint smile. “Of the Consciousness Megaverse’s Thirteen Luminaries, the only ones still alive are only Old Chief, Shuangdao, Lan Huifeng, you, Ye Meng—who is imprisoned in the Spirit Nidus—and Bu Wen, who is in hiding. Only five of you are free, so believing that you can stand up to the Spirit Nidus is nothing more than a fantasy.

“On top of that, Lan Huifeng answers to the High Seraph, which means there are really only four of you left. What can you possibly do?”

Xi Wen gasped. “Lan Huifeng follows the High Seraph?”

Lu Yin replied, “Ask Old Chief and the others about that yourself, but you need to decide quickly. I don’t have many places available on Boundless.”

A wave of his hand dismissed the conscient.

Xi Wen released a breath and raced away from Boundless.

When she looked back, she saw a colossal leviathan that sprawled across outer space, a row of the Spirit Nidus’s battleships trailing behind it.

Xi Wen’s thoughts were in turmoil after talking to Lu Yin. Could Lan Huifeng really be working for the High Seraph? Lu Yin had no reason to lie. What could the four remaining Luminaries hope to accomplish?

She needed to consider her own survival first.

On Boundless, Progenitor Xi approached. “Lord Lu.”

Lu Yin looked over, and Progenitor Xi offered a respectful bow. “I once aided the humans of the Tianyuan Megaverse.”

Lu Yin chuckled. “Are you asking for repayment?”

Progenitor Xi’s face grew ashen. “I simply wish to continue living.”

Recently, she had watched Lu Yin devour one conscient after another. This had led her to feel like a lamb awaiting slaughter. She was suffering from an indescribable, growing sense of despair.

Ever since Progenitor Xi had learned that Lu Yin was capable of devouring the consciousnesses of conscients, she had understood that her death was only one step away. She did not want to die. Despite all that she had done for the Consciousness Megaverse, her greatest desire remained her own survival.

“Does Old Chief know about you?”

Progenitor Xi shook her head. “He does not.”

Lu Yin looked at her. “You traveled to the Tianyuan Megaverse seeking our help on behalf of the Consciousness Megaverse, and yet Old Chief, who can be essentially regarded as the ruler of the Consciousness Megaverse, doesn’t even know about you. What were you after?”

Progenitor Xi replied, “I simply want to live.”

“You were fine living in our megaverse, so clearly, survival was not all you wanted.” Lu Yin had long since found this matter odd. When Progenitor Xi had left the Consciousness Megaverse, she had only been a Stellar-realm conscient. Only after staying beside the River of Aeons in the Mirari Realm after reaching the Tianyuan Megaverse had she been able to breakthrough to the Origin realm, also becoming a Celestial-realm conscient.

How could a mere Stellar-realm conscient represent the Consciousness Megaverse to forge an alliance with another megaverse?

Even if the alliance had been a real possibility, why would Old Chief and the other Luminaries have not known anything about it?

If Progenitor Xi had been one of the Thirteen Luminaries, it would have made sense. If Old Chief had sent her to seek the Tianyuan Megaverse’s aid, that would have also explained things, but neither was true of Progenitor Xi.

It was truly odd.

After releasing Xi Wen, Lu Yin had already wanted to speak with Progenitor Xi.

He had seen her in Wu Wei’s memories. She had left an impression on the Luminary because she had reported her intentions to pursue an alliance with the Tianyuan Megaverse. At that time, Wu Wei had believed Progenitor Xi to be incapable of doing so. After all, she had only been a Stellar-realm conscient, which Wu Wei had considered far too weak. Later, Wu Wei had seen her again in the Consciousness Domain, which had startled the Luminary. They had realized that the Tianyuan Megaverse must have actually allied with the Consciousness Megaverse because of the weak conscient.

Progenitor Xi had believed that Wu Wei would betray the Consciousness Megaverse because, when she had mentioned an alliance with the Tianyuan Megaverse, Wu Wei had told her, “Survival is more important than anything else, including location.”

That remark had convinced her of the Luminary’s treachery.

From a human perspective, Wu Wei’s character could not compare to Progenitor Xi’s in any way. For the sake of the Consciousness Megaverse, she had braved the journey to the Spirit Nidus and then continued on to the Tianyuan Megaverse. There had been almost no possibility of survival, let alone success, and such courage demonstrated extraordinary loyalty to her megaverse.

On the other hand, Wu Wei had been a traitor.

However, a conscient’s perspective saw things completely differently.

Conscients’ sole instinct was to survive and stay alive. It was their nature. How had Progenitor Xi managed to overcome her nature and demonstrate something like loyalty?

In the Consciousness Megaverse, “loyalty” was worth less than anything else.

Lu Yin had allowed Xi Wen to go free, offering her a chance, and she had indeed been tempted. This was a test. If even a Luminary like Xi Wen could be swayed, then why not Progenitor Xi? Unlike her, Gui Shaoqing, Hua Manyi, and Wu Wei had all betrayed their megaverse. Why was Progenitor Xi such an outlier?

Was a peaceful life in the Tianyuan Megaverse not a better option for her? She had clearly faked her death at the Immemorial Citadel, and yet she had still chosen to reappear before Lu Yin, representing the Consciousness Megaverse and requesting an alliance with his megaverse. Such behavior defied the logic of her species.

The more that one understood the Consciousness Megaverse, the more that Progenitor Xi’s behavior appeared to be wrong.

Even if Progenitor Xi had not approached him first, Lu Yin would have still sought her out.

“Your loyalty to the Consciousness Megaverse is very strange,” Lu Yin said softly.

Progenitor Xi looked bewildered. When she heard Lu Yin point it out, even she started to feel that her old behavior had been strange.

Why had she risked death to reach the Tianyuan Megaverse and request an alliance? Why had she exposed herself when she could have continued living in hiding? She was not even particularly strong, and yet she had still undertaken a task that far exceeded her level. Everything that she had done seemed so strange.

Lu Yin abruptly moved and placed a hand firmly upon Progenitor Xi’s shoulder, startling her. “Lord Lu!”

Lu Yin’s expression turned heavy as a spiral of karma spun about his fingers before penetrating Progenitor Xi.

The spiral of karma coiled upward and then reversed and rose upwards into the sky as Lu Yin used his Inner Clarity Technique.

He was not simply viewing the past with karma; he was following the effect, tracing it back to the cause.

When he had first comprehended the Inner Clarity Technique, Lu Yin had felt someone watching him. That sensation had been the effect, and he had traced it back to its cause and caught a glimpse of a blood-red sword. However, the moment that he saw the sword, the blade had severed the karmic link.

This time, Lu Yin wanted to see what cause he would find after tracing the effect of Progenitor Xi’s appearance before him.