Both people were staring at Lu Yin, though neither interrupted his thoughts. The longer that Lu Yin took to process what he had just heard, the more he understood.
More importantly, both had noticed the brief moment of shock that had appeared in Lu Yin's eyes. What was that about?
The competition for the position of Greater Sancte was the business of those at the High Seraph’s level. Lu Yin had merely been given the reason why the High Seraph had not yet reset the Tianyuan or Consciousness Megaverses. That alone could not account for his shocked reaction.
There had to be another reason for it.
It was even possible that Lu Yin knew something that Old Yu and Jiu Xian did not.
"You won’t give me the names of the ones behind you, but I can still guess that you are both following different Lesser Sancti. In that case," Lu Yin turned to stare at Jiu Xian before continuing. "Are you able to take the initiative and contact your Lesser Sancte?"
Jiu Xian and Old Yu exchanged glances. Contact them?
"Choose a different question," Jiu Xian replied.
She had refused to give an answer, and yet that was in itself an answer.
Jiu Xian suddenly laughed and looked over at Old Yu. "Is that the answer you were hoping to have answered?"
Old Yu grew puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Jiu Xian stared at Old Yu. "Why don’t the two of us ask each other a question, the same one that he just asked: can you contact the person you follow?"
Old Yu calmly replied, "What about you? Can you make contact?"
Lu Yin said nothing. Jiu Xian had told him to change the question, which was no different from admitting she could make contact. Yet she had moved on to speaking with Old Yu instead, deliberately muddying the waters. Had her answer been meant for him, or for Old Yu? And was Old Yu also capable of reaching the one behind him?
Their exchange threw Lu Yin’s thoughts into chaos, and suddenly, he was unable to determine for certain whether Jiu Xian had provided any answer at all.
That might have been the woman’s goal in speaking to Old Yu, but it was also possible that things were more complicated than that.
"I am different from you. I came to the Spirit Nidus for my own revenge and nothing more," Jiu Xian declared.
Old Yu chuckled softly. "Oh? Well, this old man is only here in the Spirit Nidus to keep an eye on the High Seraph on behalf of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, nothing more."
"Are you truly able to keep an eye on the High Seraph?"
"Even if the High Seraph completely disregards my Wisdom Domain, he still needs to consider the one behind this old man. After all, he was merely gifted his authority."
Jiu Xian swirled the jug of wine in her hand. Her expression betrayed a hint of intoxication. "So, you can definitely make contact."
Old Yu stared intently at Jiu Xian. "So can you. The one who stands behind this old man cannot hinder the High Seraph on their own."
Jiu Xian’s face lit up, and she turned to Lu Yin. "See? I not only gave you an answer, but I also got another one for you."
"But you just told me to change my question. That was a conversation between you and the old man, so it can’t count as giving me an answer," Lu Yin rebuked.
Jiu Xian snorted. "So stingy!"
Lu Yin continued to stare at the woman. "How can one enter the Nine Odysseys Megaverse?"
Jiu Xian was startled. "You want to go to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse? Why?"
"It’s my turn to ask a question," Lu Yin reminded her.
Jiu Xian sighed. "There is no way. The only way is if the Nine Odysseys Megaverse takes the initiative to guide you there. Without that, regardless of your strength, it’s impossible to reach that place."
Lu Yin looked at Old Yu, who nodded.
Lu Yin said, "All right, in that case, I'll change the question."
"Wait!" Jiu Xian became upset, and she glared at Lu Yin. "Saying that you can’t get there is still an answer."
Lu Yin calmly retorted, "I asked how to get there."
Jiu Xian said, "You can only get there by being guided. There, a more precise answer! Brat, stop trying to cheat. You might be young, and yet you have no restraint at all. Not even Emperor Slayer is as shameless as you."
She then stood up. "I’m done chit-chatting with you. There's nothing you two know that I want to ask, so I'm leaving.
"By the way." She had one more thing to say before leaving, and Jiu Xian fixed her eyes onto Lu Yin. "You owe me one more answer."
Lu Yin and Old Yu watched as the woman left. With her, she took the wine that had been on the table.
Old Yu and Lu Yin were left alone among the lake’s reeds.
Old Yu brought out another jug of wine. "Will you continue, or should we call it a day?"
Lu Yin replied, "I still owe you an answer, old man. Ask it, and then I'll leave."
"What’s this? Is there nothing more that you wish to learn here?"
"There is, and a deal at that."
Old Yu was left puzzled. "Then why not continue?"
Lu Yin sipped his wine. "There are some questions that don't need to be asked, as the answers will be given on their own."
Old Yu smiled. "Very well. This old man will ask you one last question."
He set down the jug of wine and focused intently on Lu Yin. "What realm has your cultivation reached?"
Lu Yin was taken aback. "That simple?"
Old Yu nodded. "That simple."
It was a simple question, and yet it was the hardest one for Lu Yin to answer throughout the conversation.
Lu Yin had proven that he was practically invincible in Spirit Nidus. No one other than the High Seraph himself possessed the strength to contend with Lu Yi. Things had reached a point where some of the Spirit Nidus’s cultivators believed that not even the High Seraph was guaranteed to be able to defeat Lu Yin. If such a person proved to truly be just a peak powerhouse, how shocking would it be? What sort of transformation would he experience upon becoming a sequence powerhouse, or furthermore, upon entering the Origin realm?