She turned around, excitement brightening her eyes. “Brother Lu, you’re awake!”
Lu Yin grunted in acknowledgment and then curiously asked, “What are you doing?”
Ming Yan flashed him a stunning, playful smile that left him momentarily dazed. “I’m looking for Little Yellow and Little Red.”
“?”
“They’re two little fish. A year ago, a big fish was chasing the two of them, and they jumped onto the raft. After the big fish left...” She happily shared her story of how she had made friends with the two fish.
Lu Yin patiently listened for quite a while until she finally finished. Her cheeks flushed red.
For his sake, she preferred to not have her body restored. She wanted to wait in her current form until he was truly able to let go.
Lu Yin owed Ming Yan.
He also owed Long Xi.
He had saved many people, but he also owed many others.
It was never easy to let go. The path to Immortality was truly arduous. It was not a struggle against the heavens, but rather a struggle against oneself.
“Yan’er, do you want to cultivate?”
She blinked. “Will that help you?”
Lu Yin smiled. “Of course.”
“Am I even able to cultivate?”
He nodded. “I’m hoping that you can become my other world.”
Her eyes brightened. “Then let’s begin.”
Lu Yin’s expression grew solemn. “Alright.”
After expending a vast amount of Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s karma, Lu Yin finally deduced a way for consciousness to exist apart from the body. The solution was to use his own consciousness as the source and the Investiture of the Gods as the soil. Within it, separated consciousnesses could take root and exist. Because the Investiture of the Gods was both his innate gift and part of his Karmic Dao, the consciousnesses would never form independent thought or split awareness; they would remain fully governed by the Investiture, unless their original bodies died.
This option would allow the consciousness body to cultivate and gain strength while also ensuring that no conflict arose between the cultivator’s consciousness body and their original self.
The deduction had been completed. While the results seemed simple, how could anyone have come up with such a solution without using karma to deduce it?
There were many cases where answers appeared simple, but the process to arrive at that conclusion was unimaginably complex.
Lu Yin had never considered the possibility that his Investiture of the Gods could be separated from him and serve as a cultivation ground for consciousnesses. From that moment on, he named his Investiture of the Gods the Mind Manor.
During times of war, cultivators would be able to use the Nirvana Tree Path to imbue most of their power into consciousness bodies and then send countless such bodies into battle.
In peacetime, the consciousness bodies could cultivate independently.
This would grant all humans a second life.
In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, the way in which they cultivated with spirit seeds offered them a second life, while in the Tianyuan, the Mind Manor would offer a similar opportunity.
If the day ever came when Lu Yin received the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s acknowledgement, the people of that megaverse would gain a third life.
To become a fishing civilization, some manner of absolute means was needed. Lu Yin did not know if his Mind Manor could count as an absolute means, but even if it did not, he was steadily allowing humanity to move in that direction.
As for him personally, the Mind Manor was a part of his cultivation. As consciousness bodies cultivated inside the Mind Manor, his own consciousness would improve. Even if the Investiture of the Gods was separated, it still belonged entirely to him.
In retrospect, if his Karmic Dao had not transformed his Investiture of the Gods, it would have been impossible for him to separate it, given that it was his innate gift.
As for Ming Yan, she would serve as a second source of Lu Yin’s consciousness. His consciousness needed to be anchored by another, or else it could not serve as a cultivation ground for the consciousness bodies of human civilization.
Once the Mind Manor was successfully created, Lu Yin would gain a second world, one which was governed entirely by consciousness. Even if his body died, he would be able to continue on as an existence similar to Xu Jin: pure consciousness.
This form of existence was exclusive to Immortals, and yet Lu Yin had also obtained it.
Greater Sancte Green Lotus had once said that Lu Yin was equal to Immortals, and this new development only made that statement truer than ever before.
Lu Yin possessed his inner universe, his Karmic Dao, and most recently, the Mind Manor. This essentially meant that he possessed three different worlds.
He suddenly felt that he was walking a path reminiscent of when he had become a Semi-Progenitor. It seemed that he always took a more diverse path than others.
Was it possible that, when he broke through to the Immortal realm, he would have more unseen worlds than any other Immortal?
During his Progenitor’s breakthrough in the Scourge, Lu Yin had claimed “As a Progenitor, no one in the same realm can stand against me!” That claim had been supported by the fact that he had possessed four Progenitor’s worlds.
Would the same thing occur when he stepped into the Immortal realm?
He inhaled deeply and released his consciousness, channeling it into Ming Yan’s consciousness body. His Investiture of the Gods also appeared, radiating light.
Ming Yan opened her eyes and took a step forward to enter the Investiture of the Gods.
Right after that, Lu Yin stepped through the void. With just a few strides, he appeared on one of the Spirit Nidus’s battleships, where he found Progenitor Chen.
Progenitor Chen had never stopped searching for Master Qing Cao, but after years of failure, he had decided to accompany the people from the Spirit Nidus and wait there.
The Spirit Nidus’s cultivators disliked the man’s presence, but they were powerless to do anything about him.
His strength was such that even Su Shidao felt pressure. Progenitor Chen was not the same as he had been in the past.
When Lu Yin arrived, Progenitor Chen directed a questioning gaze his way. “Senior, please use the Nirvana Tree Path to merge your power into your consciousness and enter my Investiture of the Gods.”
Progenitor Chen glanced at the Investiture of the Gods. Without any hesitation, he proceeded to use the Nirvana Tree Path, gathering his various powers and condensing them before finally merging them into his consciousness.
He then stepped out of his body, like a spirit ascending into heaven, and entered the Investiture of the Gods.
When the man entered, he saw Ming Yan there. While she was not personally powerful, she was filled with Lu Yin’s vast and unfathomable consciousness. It was like an ocean or an abyss, and it left even Progenitor Chen shaken.
The next moment, his perspective expanded. He raised a hand, confirming that it was his own physical body and that he could still control it. At the same time, he was still able to perceive the inside of the Investiture of the Gods. He felt as though he was occupying two places at once, as though the universe had been split for him.
What is this?