After a pause, Wu Tian continued speaking. "Back when I was teaching the creatures of the Origin Universe, I saw countless cultivation methods and analyzed many of them. While I was imprisoned in the Third Scourge, the question I pondered most was: what is the origin of our universe? The Mother Tree, the laws of the universe, and various other things that nurture humanity. Just where did they all come from?
"It wasn’t until I saw your Progenitor’s breakthrough and your inner universe spread out that I finally understood," Wu Tian said with great excitement. "This universe may have been born naturally, and we humans may have been brought into being through a series of coincidences. However, if the universe is a cycle, then since it gave birth to us, then we, in turn, can create a universe!"
Lu Yin’s heart skipped a beat. ‘The universe is a cycle?’ Bai Xian’er had once said the same thing, but her understanding of the universe being a cycle had clearly been different from Wu Tian's, though the outcome was the same.
Did everyone develop a different understanding of the universe, only to arrive at the same conclusion?
Wu Tian patted Lu Yin on the shoulder. "The Three Realms and Six Daos, and even our master and Mister Mu, are no longer able to offer you much help. Your path is one that you must walk on your own. The only thing that we can offer you is the wisdom that we’ve accumulated over time, which might grant you some inspiration. Pillar, keep moving forward."
With that, Wu Tian also left, and Lu Yin was alone.
He stared at the Rivers and Mountains Painting for a long time before releasing his inner universe and enveloping the sequence base.
As the painting entered Lu Yin's inner universe, it started to shake violently. Inside the painting, the mountains and rivers started to dissolve, reverting back to sequence particles that began to flow outwards as they were being repelled by Lu Yin’s inner universe.
Lu Yin's eyes flared. Within his universe, the golden light of his Wordless Heavenly Book blazed, and it shone upon the Rivers and Mountains Painting. That caused the dissolving sequence particles to stop being repelled and somehow soften.
At this moment, Lu Yin could see the sequence particles.
For quite some time, Lu Yin had been unable to see sequence particles because True God had destroyed Heaven’s Sight. But after his Progenitor’s breakthrough, his strength had risen to the level where he was slowly starting to see them again. Sequence particles possessed great power, especially when gathered into a sequence base. It was so overwhelming that it was hard to miss. Only someone like the Great Sovereign could compare to what Lu Yin was currently seeing.
Lu Yin instantly appeared beside the Rivers and Mountains Painting. Sequence particles radiated out around him, drifting away into invisible currents that flowed through his universe.
When Lu Yin touched the sequence particles, he instantly felt a sense of control.
He instinctively knew that, once he controlled these sequence particles, the space in front of him could become either vast or short. He would be able to instantly travel vast distances, or remain where he stood while sending others far away. This was the essence of Near and Far.
Laughter erupted from Lu Yin as he realized the path he would take to master sequence particles. While he still did not know just which laws of the universe he would end up mastering, he did know that he would ultimately obtain a great number of them. Just as Wu Tian had said, Lu Yin’s universe seemed to possess everything, yet it lacked the most vital thing: sequence particles.
Other people did not possess enough sequence particles, which was why they were repelled whenever they came into contact with Lu Yin’s inner universe. Only the sequence particles of a sequence base like the Rivers and Mountains Painting were enough for Lu Yin to use. Instead of using the Rivers and Mountains Painting himself, he was dissolving it to obtain control over the overwhelming amount of sequence particles it contained.
This was the path that he would walk.
To seize, or even outright steal, and then take control of something was the fundamental power of Lu Yin’s inner universe.
If he could not seize the laws, then they would be repelled. If he could seize them, then they would become his.
Lu Yin loved this ability. It was something born of creating his own universe.
He felt like a child who had just been given a new toy, and he started to toy more and more with his ability as he manipulated the particles. There was no sense of unfamiliarity. It was as though he had directly leapt from a Progenitor to become a Sequence Progenitor. Once the Rivers and Mountains Painting completely dissolved and released all of its sequence particles, Lu Yin could only imagine just how much power he would have at his disposal.
Unfortunately, the Law of Near and Far was not that useful to him. In fact, its help was practically negligible.
Still, that did not matter anymore. Lu Yin had seen the direction forward and found his path. That was more than enough.
At this moment, Lu Yin found himself suddenly looking forward to fighting against the Spirit Nidus. War with that megaverse was inevitable, but in addition to fighting for his own megaverse, he had gained an additional motivation to fight: sequence bases.
Since he was able to control the sequence particles that made up the Rivers and Mountains Painting, that meant that he could control the sequence particles of other sequence bases as well.
What would it look like if he seized all of the Spirit Nidus’s sequence bases and absorbed all of those sequence particles into his inner universe?
Lu Yin's eyes blazed with a fervent light. He wanted to take as many sequence bases as he could to satiate the hunger of his inner universe.
…
Two months later, in a parallel universe that was filled with countless stars, Forgotten Ruins God met with True God, still accompanied by both Wang Xiaoyu and Yan Gang.
Blackless God and Skydog quietly stood in the distance.
True God listened to Forgotten Ruins God's report.
"So, that old freak, Yuan Qi, lost his Dao Bell? In that case, it was only a matter of time before Lu Yin dealt with him. However, you actually killed Zhan Yan?" True God looked at Forgotten Ruins God, his expression calm and his demeanor unshaken.
Forgotten Ruins God answered in a respectful manner, "After we were defeated at the Immemorial Citadel, I started to feel that cooperating with the Spirit Nidus is no longer worth much to us. In the future, when the Spirit Nidus invades this megaverse, it will be more important for us to have the means to protect ourselves."
"So, you wanted to take the Rivers and Mountains Painting to use it as leverage in negotiations with the Spirit Nidus?" True God asked lightly.
"Yes."
"Unfortunately, it was taken by Xia Shang."
These words caused Forgotten Ruins God's expression to sour. "Xia Shang is too annoying to deal with. He’s even learned Wu Xing's method of skipping time. If not for that, I would have killed him."
True God chuckled. "You can't kill him."
Forgotten Ruins God looked confused.
True God stared off into the distance. "Xia Shang might not possess Ku Jie’s defenses that render him immortal, but Xia Shang possesses a greater will and combat talent than anyone else. Those things are enough to ensure that he can always turn the tides when faced with adversity.
"In the past, it took almost all Seven Skygods to kill his eight clones, and even then, we failed to destroy his main body. After that, he hid in Burial Garden and developed that Linked Palm of his, while also recultivating his sequence particles.
"Given enough time, someone like him will become truly terrifying."
Forgotten Ruins God said, "Xia Shang will find me."
True God replied, "I am still unable to take action."
As he spoke, his attention shifted to Yan Gang.
The man trembled. Forgotten Ruins God and True God had done nothing to hide their conversation from Yan Gang, which meant that he had heard everything that they had said. He knew exactly who was in front of him.
This was the ruler of Aeternus, the invincible lord of the universe, True God.
Yan Gang had never dreamed that he would one day meet True God face-to-face.
While True God was unquestionably humanity’s greatest enemy, that did nothing to make the man any less intimidating to Yan Gang. It was fair to say that, no matter how much humanity hated True God, most humans would be terrified in his presence. He seemed like the ruler of the universe.
"Take good care of your Nest. It will be of great use in the future."