Star Odyssey

Chapter 3898: Changes At The Skyward Gate

As he watched on from a distance, Ru Guo felt a bit of sympathy. Of all the people to provoke, why had Lei Gong antagonized Lu Yin? In the current Nine Odysseys Megaverse, there was likely no one other than the three Greater Sancti who dared to offend that man.

Fortunately, Lei Gong just had a hot temper and had not gone too far. He had been given a little lesson, but he had not been injured. He was still able to continue collecting Immortal matter.

If the man had managed to make Lu Yin see him as an enemy in even the smallest way, Lei Gong would have never been able to make another breakthrough attempt.

If he lost this chance, he would never get another one. No, it would be questionable if he could even survive long enough for the next opportunity to appear.

Lei Gong being taught a lesson was just a minor matter. Lu Yin had not used a heavy hand.

Still, from that moment on, anytime Lei Gong saw Lu Yin, he kept his distance. The look of disbelief never faded from the Dukkhan’s eyes.

He simply could not understand how a mere Ortuser could have such power. Was the man a monster? Lei Gong had not been able to fight back at all. How was it possible for his cultivation, strength, insights, and even innate gift to all seem so feeble before Lu Yin? Lei Gong had felt pathetically weak.

Gu Duanke had once warned Lei Gong with a sigh, sharing a few details, but Lei Gong wanted to curse the man for not saying more. When confronted, Gu Duanke had replied with only one word: “Tired.”

That word caused Lei Gong to hold a grudge for half a year.

Gu Duanke had given enough of a warning that Lei Gong had avoided going too far when targeting Lu Yin, but the warning had not been enough to stop him from being taught a lesson.

What a despicable man!

Another year passed, and already, Lu Yin had gathered more Immortal matter than during his entire time in the Consciousness Megaverse, which was thrilling for him.

So what if he was unable to make a breakthrough attempt for the Immortal realm? After gathering so much Immortal matter, he could unleash the Tri-Azure Sword Intent countless times. He could also use it with the Heaven and Earth Lock, which meant that he had one technique for offense and defense each.

Still, it was not enough. He needed more Immortal matter.

If he possessed enough Immortal matter to rival what Master Qing Cao possessed, would Lu Yin actually be able to fight the Immortal as an equal?

After all, he also had the power of karma and Word Manifestation.

The more that Lu Yin thought about the possibilities, the more excited he got.

Some time later, Lu Yin, Gu Duanke, and Venerable Lan Ye saw Lei Gong attempt to break through to the Immortal realm. His body entered a cycle of destruction and rebirth, just like Venerable Lan Ye had as the man tried to understand the cycle and take the final step.

By borrowing the reset of a megaverse to reset oneself, all the rationality inherent in what the megaverse could accomplish could be transferred onto the self. Since a reset was possible, so was Immortality.

This was the conviction of those who used the reset of a megaverse to step into the Immortal realm, and it was an unshakable belief.

Lei Gong failed, which meant that his only option was to continue gathering Immortal matter.

Half a year later, Venerable Lan Ye made another attempt, only to fail again. After that, it was Gu Duanke’s turn, and he also failed.

After watching the Dukkhans’ breakthrough attempts, Lu Yin actually wanted to try himself, but he was unable to do so. This was not only because he was just an Ortuser, but also because he had not gathered enough Immortal matter to trigger a backlash.

For a person’s body to enter a cycle of destruction and rebirth, the only way was to use Immortal matter and harmonize with a megaverse.

Venerable Lan Ye and the others had only needed to gather a bit of Immortal matter to trigger a backlash. But for Lu Yin, while he had gathered far more than any other men, he could not trigger a backlash. The Immortal matter simply could not harm his body.

That was a real problem.

This issue reminded Lu Yin that every breakthrough he faced had seemed to have a similar difficulty.

The stronger he became, the harder his breakthroughs. In the Tianyuan, stellular tribulations were regarded as the standard for breakthroughs. Each and every tribulation that Lu Yin had faced had shaken all who had seen them. While his breakthrough to the Ortuser realm had gone smoothly, that was because his mentality and dominance were what had been tested. Next, he needed to enter Dukkha, and then break through to the Immortal realm after that. Both of those steps would be unimaginably difficult.

Seeing that even this much Immortal matter could not induce a backlash, Lu Yin suspected that it might be far more difficult to achieve Immortality through a megaverse’s reset than he had initially imagined.

...

In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s North Domain, the Luo family was in complete chaos. They had once been looked up to and befriended by countless clans and sects, but they had recently fallen into dire straits. It was entirely because of the horde of cultivators who had gathered outside of the Skyward Gate.

No one knew when it started, but Heavenspire had become fully connected to the Spirit Nidus. That had led more and more cultivators to enter Heavenspire from the Spirit Nidus. As time passed, the number of cultivators there had swelled dramatically.

Once, Heavenspire had been regarded as one of the Spirit Nidus’s seven major powers, and they had been directly under the High Seraph’s control. Without his permission, no one could enter that place.

However, the High Seraph had gone missing ever since the Spirit Nidus’s expedition to the Consciousness Megaverse, and the Ru family had also vanished. Once the Spirit Nidus fully connected to Heavenspire, no one could stop the Spirit Nidus’s cultivators from entering, and there, they were able to see the Skyward Gate.

At first, the Luo family had taken action, sealing off a huge region that surrounded the Skyward Gate and thereby preventing the Spirit Nidus cultivators from seeing it. However, someone had broken that seal, which had completely exposed the Skyward Gate to the people of the Spirit Nidus.

From that moment on, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had ceased to be a secret.

The Spirit Nidus had learned of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s existence, and at the same time, the cruel truth of how they harvested the Spirit Nidus.

Countless Spirit Nidus cultivators had gathered outside the Skyward Gate. They were unwilling to endure the bitter truth that the purpose of their entire lives was to be harvested. In particular, when they learned that countless cultivators across entire domains had had their spirit seeds ripped from their bodies by the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, many people’s eyes grew bloodshot with rage. They became unable to stop themselves from attacking the Skyward Gate.

This was a massive event, as it was something that could potentially change the power structure of the entire cosmos.

The Nine Odysseys Megaverse could no longer be kept a secret, and the Luo family would be forced to carry the blame, seeing as they were the ones responsible for the Skyward Gate. Their duty was to protect the secret of their megaverse.

Bang!

There was a deafening roar. “Get lost! All of you, leave!”

Luo Nanshan’s eyes were bloodshot, and his breathing was heavy. The man looked like he had aged greatly in just a few years.

He drove the Luo family members who had gathered away. Their expressions were dark, and no one said anything.

Luo Nanshan looked outside. His Luo family was done for. If the situation regarding the Spirit Nidus reached the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, the Luo family would inevitably be the first to shoulder the blame. They had kept the matter hidden for years already, but that could not last much longer. Eventually, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would learn of the situation at the Skyward Gate.

If not for the fact that Yue Ya, Xing Fan, and the other Lesser Sancti had been kept out of the Spirit Nidus, the disturbance would have already been reported to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

While a few years might seem long, for the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, it was less than an instant.

Already, the Luo family had reached the limit of their ability to keep the matter hidden. If the people from the Spirit Nidus suddenly attacked the Skyward Gate, the matter would instantly be exposed, and the Luo family would be the first to fall.

How had the situation reached such a point?

Clearly, someone was instigating trouble.

How had Heavenspire merged with the Spirit Nidus? Without overwhelming strength, it should have been impossible. On top of that, how had the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s name spread? Only a few in the Spirit Nidus had ever learned of how their megaverse was harvested on a regular basis, as the matter had been kept from even the Seven Seraphs. How had the information that Xing Fan and other Lesser Sancti had caused the deaths of countless cultivators in the River Domain and other places leaked?

All these details pointed to one thing: someone was deliberately pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

Members of the Luo family had advised Luo Nanshan to report the matter to the Greater Sancti, as only they could handle the matter, but Luo Nanshan could not do that. That report would cause the Luo family to lose absolutely everything.

The Skyward Gate would remain the same as ever, and so would the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. The Spirit Nidus might lose a generation of cultivators, possibly even two or three, but ultimately, it would be easy for the Greater Sancti to suppress the matter. Regardless, the Luo family would be finished.

As long as the people from the Spirit Nidus withdrew from Heavenspire, the matter could still be suppressed.

As for the Spirit Nidus learning the truth about how they were being harvested by the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, they could simply find someone else to pin the blame on. For example, Yue Ya. The Luo family could simply say that Yue Ya’s people had been the ones to let that information slip, and then that would have nothing to do with the Luo family.

The Luo family just needed to properly protect the Skyward Gate.

If the Skyward Gate remained intact, the Luo family would not get into too much trouble.

Everything else that happened had nothing to do with them.

Luo Nanshan’s eyes flickered. How could he force the people from the Spirit Nidus to retreat? Mo Shang had disappeared, and Luo Nanshan was not qualified to seek out Master Qing Cao. For that matter, Luo Nanshan was not even capable of finding the Immortal. Besides that, Luo Nanshan had started to suspect that Qing Cao might be the one controlling everything from behind the scenes. Only an immortal being like Qing Cao could have connected Heavenspire to the Spirit Nidus. Who else aside from one of the Immortals could suppress the entire Spirit Nidus?

Only Lu Yin.

Luo Nanshan was suddenly reminded of Lu Yin. That man had fought his way from the Spirit Nidus into the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, and he enjoyed a very high status in the Spirit Nidus.

Where is Lu Yin? Luo Nanshan pulled out his communication device, but he could not reach Lu Yin no matter how long he tried. Skyveil City, that’s right. Lu Yin destroyed the Chen family there.

Luo Nanshan’s eyes glinted as he made another call.

“Brother Luo? It’s been a long time. I didn’t expect your call.” Yu Jing’s face appeared on the screen.

Luo Nanshan suppressed his unease to smile at Yu Jing. “It really has been a long time. We first met at the bottom of Whither Peak. You were carrying out a family mission, while I was hunting down an enemy. It feels like the blink of an eye, and yet so many years have passed. Brother Yu, how have you been?”

Yu Jing gave a faint smile. “I’ve been alright. Brother Luo, just say what you called me for.”

Luo Nanshan’s expression grew hard. “Fine, I’ll be blunt. Are you aware of the current situation in the Spirit Nidus?”

Yu Jing froze, taken aback by the question regarding the Spirit Nidus. He had assumed that Luo Nanshan was calling because Lu Yin had destroyed the Chen family, as there was supposedly some sort of connection between Lu Yin and the Luo family.

“The Spirit Nidus? I don’t know much. We only occasionally contact the Wisdom Domain there. Why?”

Luo Nanshan hesitated briefly, but then he proceeded to describe the current situation.

Yu Jing’s expression changed dramatically. “What did you say? That actually happened?”

Luo Nanshan’s expression grew heavier.

Yu Jing fell silent, his mind racing. After a while, he stared at Luo Nanshan. “How much longer can you keep this hidden for?”

Luo Nanshan shook his head. “Not long at all. Someone is stirring up trouble behind the scenes, and the people from the Spirit Nidus are either being provoked or used. They might storm the Skyward Gate at any moment, and if they do, Greater Sancte Awe Gate will definitely notice. At that point—”

“—your Luo family will be finished,” Yu Jing finished.

Luo Nanshan did not deny it. His family really would be finished. However, would the Yu family be able to escape? The Wisdom Domain existed in order to control the direction that the Spirit Nidus took. They publicly claimed to be an era ahead of the rest of the megaverse. If the Nine Odysseys Megaverse lost control of the Spirit Nidus, the Yu family would also suffer.

It was the thought of Skyveil City that had reminded Luo Nanshan of Yu Jing. The Yu family would not be able to extricate itself from the current situation either, which forced them to face the matter together with the Luo family.

While Luo Nanshan did not say any of that openly, Yu Jing was smart enough to instantly grasp the important details, and his expression turned extremely ugly. “Luo Nanshan, why didn’t you say something before this?”

“I forgot,” Luo Nanshan answered bluntly. He really had forgotten.

Still, those two words infuriated Yu Jing to the point where he nearly wanted to slap Luo Nanshan dead.

Luo Nanshan’s suspicions were correct. The Luo family was responsible for the issue in the Spirit Nidus, but only because the Skyward Gate had been exposed. On the other hand, the Yu family had far bigger problems.

“Luo Nanshan, by hiding the situation outside of the Skyward Gate from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, you have also prevented Yu Xing from reporting back to us. Do you realize that?”

Luo Nanshan closed his eyes, seemingly in pain. “I know, but I really did forget.”

There had never been much interaction between the Luo and Yu families.