Down on the street, there was a long line of people shuffling forward while being whipped by cultivators.
These people looked similar to normal humans, aside from the fact that they had four ears, sharper teeth, longer legs, and ash-gray skin that gave them a somber air. Each creature blankly stared straight forward, as though lacking all intelligence.
Crack!
A long whip lashed across a grey man’s back. “Head up! If you don’t sell today, I’ll make your lives worse than death!”
The man who had been struck shuddered, and then he forced his head upright while trying to smile at the people nearby. He even showed his teeth. It was not a menacing gesture, but rather to allow potential buyers to clearly see his physical traits. The otherborns’ teeth were one of their selling points.
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed at the sight. Otherborn... Was that a word for “slave”? Or were they a race from a foreign megaverse?
While chatting with Si Jiushi, Lu Yin had learned that, aside from groups like the four Greater Sancti and the five Lesser Sancti, Deathmound, Autumnspring Slip, and Ruler Garden, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse could be divided into two major camps.
One was the Nine Odysseys, and the other was the Temporal Heavens.
The Nine Odysseys referred to the nine towering pillars that surrounded and supported the megaverse. They also served as its defenses and warships, used to launch invasions against foreign megaverses. Each Night Pillar housed a formidable force of cultivators. Once a foreign megaverse was discovered, a Night Pillar would be deployed—an act tantamount to declaring war.
In contrast, the Temporal Heavens referred to the megaverse’s internal powers, such as the Skyward Gate’s Luo clan, Ruler Garden, and Autumnspring Slip.
The Nine Odysseys and the Temporal Heavens did not interfere in each other’s affairs.
The Nine Odysseys was not a coalition or alliance, but rather the megaverse’s grand cultivator army. Its members could be lone cultivators or belong to other major factions, but once part of an Odyssey, they all answered to the Odyssey Commander.
Though they appeared to operate independently, the conflict between the Nine Odysseys and the Temporal Heavens was no secret to those with eyes to see.
Lu Yin had not yet encountered such matters.
He only knew that there were indeed other megaverses beyond the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the other three megaverses. The Nine Odysseys had been launched multiple times, though not necessarily one at a time. At the very least, five foreign megaverses were known to have been exterminated.
While the number sounded quite large, given that it was more than the number of megaverses that Lu Yin knew, it was important to note that these five megaverses had been discovered by the Nine Odysseys Megaverse over the course of countless years. While it was certain that there were other megaverses in the Aevum Inch, they were extremely hard to find.
The otherborn came from one of the megaverses that the Nine Odysseys had defeated.
“Seventh Bro, don’t you think that this treatment is too cruel?” Si Jiushi asked, carefully observing Lu Yin. He had already become convinced that Lu Yin was not from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, but the fatty also had no idea where Lu Yin might be from. If he was from an unknown megaverse, there could potentially be a huge problem.
However, that possibility seemed unlikely. Lu Yin claimed to know Chao Yi, and the people of Deathmound did not fear death. If this Seventh Bro was a threat to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, Chao Yi would have either killed him or been killed himself. There was no third option.
Lu Yin calmly replied, “Whether it’s cruel or not is irrelevant. When it comes to a war between species, life and death can only follow their destined course.”
Si Jiushi nodded and bit into a haunch of meat. “Don’t be fooled by how meek they look. When the Odysseys fought against their megaverse, countless people were killed by their kind. Do you have any idea just how miserable the outcome of the vanguard that was captured by these otherborn was?
“I’m afraid that you’d lose your appetite if I told you. Let’s just say that they once bragged about what they considered the perfect weapon. The main component was...” The fat man paused, and his eyes grew cold. “Tendons.”
Lu Yin looked over, and Si Jiushi’s cold eyes swept downwards. “Human tendons.
“They outfitted endless warriors with weapons that were mostly made from human tendons. As for those people’s bones and flesh, I heard that they were piled up to form mountains with the blood forming seas.
“Yes, it’s true that we invaded their megaverse, but so what? That’s the way of the omniverse: survival of the fittest. If they had been stronger, then our Nine Odysseys Megaverse would have vanished long ago. There’s no need to pity these people.”
Lu Yin looked back down. Pity them? They had not been wrong. They had tried to defend their megaverse. Had the Nine Odysseys Megaverse been wrong? No. Their only sin was being too weak.
Lu Yin did not hate the Spirit Nidus, nor did he hate the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. Even if the Tianyuan ended up being reset, he would not hate either megaverse. The only thing that he would hate was his own powerlessness.
An enemy’s mercy could never be relied upon. The only option was to continue growing stronger and stronger. Morality was never something that appeared on the battlefield.
Lu Yin suddenly realized that he had apparently forgotten his former hatred. Nothing ever happened without cause. Others could exterminate him, and he could also exterminate others. Hatred was meaningless.
"Sir, here is your food," the waiter spoke respectfully while approaching.
Si Jiushi nodded and then proceeded to pick at his teeth while staring out at the street. The earlier group was already gone, replaced by another. There were no otherborn this time, but rather oddly shaped creatures, one of which was an astral beast that was pulling their cart. It looked quite strong as it was able to travel freely through outer space, but it was practically mindless.
Suddenly the waiter attacked Lu Yin, slicing at him with a thin blade that had been hidden in his hand. There was a cold, dark-green sheen to the blade, which was clearly poisoned.
Anyone who was bold enough to attack after seeing the handprint in the mountains from the Five-Palm Art could not be an average opponent.
The blade slid past the man’s hand, slicing open the void and revealing a spreading darkness that was filled with sequence particles.
There was no time for Si Jiushi to react. He could only watch as the blade swept across Lu Yin’s throat.
The fat man froze. Dead? Just like that?
It did not seem possible.
As the blade passed by, Lu Yin’s figure slowly faded away. The waiter’s expression changed, and he immediately bolted for the door, only for a hand to clamp onto his shoulder. The man’s sequence particles were crushed as he was slammed down flat. When he looked up, he saw Lu Yin still calmly sitting in his chair, as though he had never at all moved.
Clearly, he had just dodged the blade.
“There’s more of them!” Si Jiushi shouted as he backed away. He wanted no part in this fight. Lu Yin was the one fishing, and it was already clear that he had caught some big ones.
More enemies appeared: behind Lu Yin, below him, and above him. They were everywhere. Every last attacker was a sequence powerhouse, as weaker cultivators were unqualified to join in. In the shadows, yet another pair of eyes were watching Lu Yin, though no action was taken. Those eyes belonged to an Ortuser.
As Lu Yin had gone from the Tianyuan to the Spirit Nidus, and later to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, each subsequent megaverse had had more and more powerful cultivators. This was not just because of their longer histories, but also because of each megaverse’s civilizations’ size and sheer population.
For every cultivator in the Tianyuan, the Spirit Nidus had two, and the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had at least five. The disparity between each megaverse was staggering.
Thus, even an ambush in a random tavern in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse could involve an Ortuser.
Lu Yin looked up and stepped forward. He vanished from sight and reappeared in the sky. His hand fell, simultaneously unleashing four attacks; three were aimed at the tavern, while the last aimed at the shadows.
The tavern was completely destroyed, and the three sequence powerhouses who had attacked Lu Yin were crushed, driven deep underground.
From the shadows, an old man lashed out. A spear from a finger attack shot out as a rising surge of killing intent erupted. The old man expected his finger attack to block the palm strike, but the moment the two techniques made contact, he knew that he was in trouble. His own attack shattered, and the palm strike broke the old man’s arm while also driving him underground.
The old man was an Ortuser, and he forced himself to escape despite his terrible wounds. Unfortunately, before he could take so much as a single step, Lu Yin appeared in front of him.
The old man stared at Lu Yin, stunned and drowning in regret. No, their target was neither a sequence powerhouse nor an Ortuser. It was clear that he was a powerful Dukkhan.
How could someone so powerful be so young? Could he have accepted a Seed Transfusion?