Star Odyssey

Chapter 4057: Constancy

Su Shidao glanced around, but there was no one else present. “Where is Master Qing Cao?”

Lu Yin replied, “When you’re ready to leave, he’ll show up.”

Su Shidao’s eyes flickered. After a moment’s consideration, he stood up. “Very well. In that case, thank you for not stopping us from going home.”

“You’re welcome. Have some tea before you go.”

“There’s no need. The situation is urgent.”

“Have the tea before you go. Show some respect for her work,” Lu Yin insisted.

Su Shidao glanced at his cup, picked it up, and then drained its entire contents in one gulp before leaving.

Lu Yin sipped his own tea. Whether or not the Spirit Nidus cultivators returned home would have almost no effect on the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

It did not matter where the Spirit Nidus’s cultivation path ultimately led to. Even if it led to a dead end, people would still fight for it. Everyone believed that they could be the next invincible being. No path was regarded as utterly impassable.

Besides, Lu Yin would also offer the group new hope.

Whether they could return home without any complications mostly depended on Master Qing Cao’s position. Allowing them to leave was Lu Yin’s way of testing the man.

He was not trying to test Qing Cao’s personal stance on the matter, but rather Obscura’s.

After finishing his tea, Lu Yin left the courtyard and made his way to the Heavens Sect’s main hall, where there were many people waiting for him.

As soon as he arrived, questions about his recent experiences inundated him.

To the Tianyuan Megaverse, Lu Yin’s journey was a legend. Even Ancient God and the rest of the Three Realms and Six Daos felt that way.

People knew very little about the Nine Odysseys Megaverse in particular, and thus, they were eager to learn more about human civilization outside of the Tianyuan.

Lu Yin shared his time in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse with everyone. The people listening were left stunned, thrilled that their Lord Lu had thrived even beyond their megaverse.

“So Feng Bo was from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, and he was brought to the Tianyuan by Yong Heng?” Hongyan Mavis asked.

Lu Yin nodded. “Feng Bo died repeatedly. He and Yong Heng had blackmail over each other, but those secrets are now worthless. What Feng Bo knew is that Yong Heng joined Stillness,[2] as he saw Yong Heng cultivate their power.”[1]

Yong Heng’s bones were abnormal. The fact that he had joined Stillness meant that his skeleton had gained a life of its own, granted through the power of Stillness.

That was Feng Bo’s secret, which had since become half-public knowledge.

As for the secret that Yong Heng knew about Feng Bo, Lu Yin would drag that out of him eventually. The man was not an Immortal, and yet he was even more troublesome than one. Yong Heng could hide deeper than almost anyone else.

He had even managed to steal three mirebound artifacts from Qi Xu. Of them, Lu Yin did not even know what the last one did.

Between the Netherfiends and Stillness, neither was simple. The fact that Yong Heng had managed to survive betraying them both spoke volumes of his nature.

Hongyan Mavis bitterly said, “A mere stray from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse who came to the Tianyuan was able to keep me trapped in the Mirari Realm for years. Pathetic.”

Lu Yuan sympathized with her. “First Blood, don’t belittle yourself. In a way, you also kept him trapped for all those years. If not for you, the outside world might not have held on with someone like Feng Bo joining the rest of Aeternus.”

Ancient God nodded. “That’s right. For years, Aeternus lacked top-tier experts. The Origin Universe’s Seven Skygods and the Three Pillars and Six Skies who dealt with parallel universes were never completely filled. Another one or two experts could have flipped the entire war.”

“Though if First Blood had been out, it would’ve been even,” Garan Zhiluo quipped.

Chu Yi coughed.

Ancestor Lu Tianyi asked, “You mentioned Lan... Was she truly the last of Aeternus’s Three Pillars and Six Skies?”

Lu Yin nodded. “Yes.”

This was something that had spread around after Boundless returned. Lu Yin had learned about Lan’s identity from Meng Sang while in the Consciousness Megaverse, and he had mentioned it to the others while they had been running away from the Immortal monster towards Beacon City.

However, without hearing it from Lu Yin himself, the others had never fully believed it.

Mu Shen sighed. “Yong Heng planned far ahead. Lan’s been around for eons, which proves that he’s been preparing his pieces since long ago.”

Ancient God gravely said, “Without such schemes, how could he have broken the ancient Heavens Sect?”

The fall of the ancient Heavens Sect was a wound that would never heal.

If not for that incident, the Tianyuan would have developed into an utterly different megaverse. How else could the Nine Odysseys Megaverse have pulled so far ahead?

It was only at this moment that they understood the idea of potential.

The Spirit Nidus had interfered in order to damage the Tianyuan’s potential.

Without the Heavens Sect, the Tianyuan’s cultivation had veered off track. Geniuses had certainly risen to power, but far more had perished to Aeternus.

If the Tianyuan had been allowed to develop smoothly, who could say how strong it would have become over the years?

However, would Lu Yin have even been born?

Lu Yuan stared at his descendent. Lu Yin had only appeared because of Lu Xiaoxuan. If not for the game between Aeternus and the Great Sovereign, the Lu family would have never been banished, which meant that Lu Xiaoxuan would have remained the same carefree, noble youth. While it was possible that he would have become a Progenitor, he would have been far from comparable to the modern day Lu Yin.

Crippling the Tianyuan’s potential had cost them eras’ worth of progress and geniuses, and yet it had also produced Lu Yin, whose future far exceeded what most could even imagine.

Such a person had never appeared before, not even in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

In that case, had the Tianyuan’s potential really been weakened?

Or had the situation merely developed in such a way that what had been lost would eventually be compensated?

It was possible that the Spirit Nidus had merely scrambled the Tianyuan’s timeline, rather than destroyed their potential.

Was it possible that nothing in the cosmos could be reversed? Was it all preordained?

Lu Yin’s thoughts traveled in the same direction; was his birth compensation for the Tianyuan’s potential being delayed or lost?

The Autumnspring Slip had relied on manipulating luck to gain something, only to lose far more in the end.

Many believed that they could conquer the universe, that cultivating allowed them to change their destiny, but was that really true? Or was it possible that cultivation itself was preordained?

Then who determined everything?

The most terrifying concept was that certain truths could not be changed, even by megaverses meddling with one another.

Ce Wangtian suddenly asked, “Exactly what is the current situation?”

All eyes looked at Lu Yin. This was a question that only he could answer.

The currently known cosmos consisted of the Tianyuan, the Spirit Nidus, the Nine Odysseys, the Consciousness, and yet more megaverses. Beyond that, there were also forces like the Nest civilization and the Immortal monster.

Once, the Tianyuan had been their entire world. They had since developed an urge to see the larger picture.

The farther one could see, the sharper their sense of danger.

Lu Yin stood up and walked over to the doorway to look out at the stars. “I can’t say for sure, but our human civilization is flourishing. The Nine Odysseys gained another Immortal.”

Joy rippled through the people gathered, though it was tempered with a bit of concern. “What’s Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s position regarding the Tianyuan?”

The lesson that they had learned from the Spirit Nidus kept people from treating the Nine Odysseys Megaverse as fully part of them.

Lu Yin replied, “Friendly.”

Only then did everyone relax.

Lu Yin continued to say, “But we can’t rely on how others treat us. We need our own strength to be able to survive.”

The human heart was unfathomable. He would never forget that.

“The Nine Odysseys Megaverse must have a great deal of internal turmoil, right?” Wang Wen interjected, leaving everyone puzzled.

Lu Yin looked at him. “Why do you say that?”

Wang Wen pondered. “I’m not exactly sure, but from what you just described, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse doesn’t seem capable of focusing all of its energy inward.

“They’ve erased multiple civilizations and even have three Immortals, and yet they allowed Master Qing Cao to remain indecisive, a potential threat. As for you, your Royal Chesspiece, you did plenty there with no one stopping you. It feels like you were allowed to stir the pot.

“You could say that either the elites didn’t care... Or,” His eyes suddenly glinted sharply, “They wanted you to take action and stir up the muddy waters.

“This is just my feeling about the situation. We don’t know enough.”

Lu Yin started considering things more carefully. Wang Wen’s speculation came from looking at the culture of an entire civilization. Would a grand megaverse that ruled above all really allow him to run amok?

That was inherently odd.

If the Nine Odysseys Megaverse was truly united and did not have inner turmoil or external threats, Lu Yin would not have had nearly so easy a time of things.

This was similar to when the Spirit Nidus attacked the Tianyuan. Their defeat came from having their cultivation culture read and exploited.

The Nest civilization believed that Luo Chan’s teleportation ability was enough to allow them to freely roam the Aevum Inch. They had lost because they had failed to truly understand humanity.

To break a civilization, it first needed to be truly understood.

“Send out word: in two months, all human cultivators are to gather in the Origin Universe. I’ll be sharing a cultivation method,” Lu Yin announced.

Outside the main hall, the Second Nightking bowed. “Yes, Lord Lu.”

Many of the people inside were startled by the announcement. Share a cultivation method?

Lu Yin’s mind wandered as he stared out at the stars. The Nirvana Tree Path... of course it should be taught to the Tianyuan.

Ironically, while he had created it, he had never cultivated the method himself. It was not yet his time. The people of Tianyuan could learn it, but they would not progress as quickly as the Nine Odysseys cultivators.

Lu Yin had developed this cultivation method after completing the research into multiple spirit seed fusion. Thus, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse could comprehend and quickly master this method, but the Tianyuan could not as they did not use spirit seeds.

Still, that did not mean that the cultivation method would be useless for them.

Practicing the Nirvana Tree Path would not create any conflicts with anyone’s path of cultivation. It was a catalyst intended to connect all powers. Unused, it would remain dormant, but if used, it could allow one’s power to surge.

This was reminiscent of the Origin Progenitor’s stellular energy method. Each of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas had innovated on the original method, rather than strictly following the original method.

The Nirvana Tree path was a possibility for the Tianyuan. It could break rigid mindsets and open up a path to the unknown.

Even if just one person pioneered a new path with the Nirvana Tree Path, it would be worthwhile.

Sharing the cultivation method would also allow most to receive the mentality behind the Nirvana Tree Path. Lu Yin lacked enough motes of green light, which meant that only a select few would receive them.

That was the most that he could do for the Tianyuan.

After all, his home megaverse was not the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Nearly half of the people from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse who been taught the Nirvana Tree Path had succeeded in cultivating it, which had led their power to multiply. The increase in strength had startled even the Nest civilization.

After talking for a bit longer, Lu Yin left the Heavens Sect and headed to the nearby Earth.

Earth was a planet that he had not visited for a very long time. It felt like a lifetime ago.

He had been absent from the Tianyuan for over 140 years. His last visit to Earth had taken place just before he had left for the Spirit Nidus, when he had discovered that Earth’s periodic apocalypses originated from Stillstorm.

He wondered how Earth was doing at the moment.

1. When Feng Bo died the last time, his last comment was about "Bai." Lu Yin thought this was about the Bai family, but the word was actually being used for the color: white. Feng Bo was trying to talk about Yong Heng's "white bones/skeleton" to connect him to Stillness. ☜

2. This is a name change from "Silent Death." Due to information provided in later chapters, the name "Stillness" ends up being more accurate. ☜