As more days passed by, Lu Yin occasionally exchanged a few words with Si Jiushi, seeking additional information about the Nine Odysseys Megaverse in order to expand his understanding of the megaverse. Still, Lu Yin never asked too many questions.
Less than ten days remained before they arrived at the Four Commands Sword Sect.
That day, the road forward was blocked. Si Jiushi stepped out of the carriage and asked, "What's going on? Why is the road closed? With a mountain range blocking the way, if we can’t go forward and are forced to go around, we’ll be delayed by at least half a day."
Before them, one of the Mother Tree’s branches was hanging down. It was connected to another nearby branch, forming what appeared to be a mountain range. To pass the branches, it was necessary to either go around or descend, but both of those options required additional time, even if only a bit.
“We kindly ask that you take the detour. The path ahead is mountainous and dangerous, and we’re considering your safety...”
Lu Yin was still sitting inside the carriage, looking out while listening to Si Jiushi’s conversation with someone.
The fat man soon returned, and he asked, “Seventh Bro, should we force our way through or take the detour?”
“Why is the path blocked?” Lu Yin asked.
“They wouldn’t say, but judging by what I could see, they’re nothing special. Your strength is enough to easily deal with them, Seventh Bro. However, without you, I would unquestionably have to go around.
“The mountain range up ahead belongs to the Yan Clan. My guess is that someone went after their karmic buds and tried to steal them.”
Lu Yin arched a brow. “Karmic buds?”
Si Jiushi nodded. “Exactly, those.”
He then paused and then shot a suspicious glance at Lu Yin. “Seventh Bro, do you not know what a karmic bud is?”
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
Si Jiushi’s face twitched. He quickly reviewed every conversation he had had with Seventh Bro during recent days, and he suddenly realized something. Damn, could he actually be from outside the Nine Odysseys Megaverse? But if so, why doesn’t he have the aura of a foreigner?
A brief silence fell.
“What is a karmic bud?” Lu Yin knew that he had exposed himself with his ignorance, so he bluntly asked the question.
Si Jiushi gave Lu Yin a long, intense look before answering in a low voice, “According to legend, Greater Sancte Green Lotus cultivates a Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, which envelops the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse. It is why we accept the existence of karma and respect the Karmic Dao. The truth is that it’s all to earn Green Lotus’s favor.
“Rarely, the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm produces fruit-like objects. No one knows how they form, but we do know that they come from the Sea of Karma. Having a fruit qualifies the owner to travel to the Sea of Karma to face a trial. If they pass, they can become one of Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s disciples.
“Since ancient times, many have used karmic buds to reach the Sea of Karma. Green Lotus has had many disciples over the years. Some have enjoyed great success with their cultivation, while others have died. Right now, only a few remain.
“To pass the trial, not only is personal ability necessary, but fate is even more important. Green Lotus places great importance on the words “fate” and “destiny.”
“Currently, that ‘fate’ has fallen upon various women. Over the past century, only seven women have succeeded in passing the trial with karmic buds. We call them the Seven Fairies.”
Lu Yin looked up at the sky. So that’s it. Those seven women are the Seven Fairies.
For nearly a century, Green Lotus had only accepted those women as his nominal disciples. Given that, just how absurd and generous had it been for the Immortal to offer the Seven Fairies to Lu Yin as his wives? What was Green Lotus after? Was it really just because of the word “fate”?
Si Jiushi continued to explain, “There are rumors that claim that ‘fate’ will fall upon men in the next century. Coincidentally, just half a year ago, karmic buds fell from the sky, and there were far more than in the past. No one knows why there were so many, but with their appearance, people naturally started to fight over them. The Yan Clan obtained one, but it’s only brought them trouble.”
Lu Yin’s heart stirred. “The karmic buds fell from the sky half a year ago? What was the exact date?”
Si Jiushi thought back, and then answered.
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. The karmic buds had rained from the sky on the exact day that he had fallen into the Sea of Karma’s Lotus Pond. Could the two events be connected? Even if he did not want to admit it, Lu Yin felt that his suspicions were correct.
He had entered the Nine Odysseys Megaverse after being thrown there by the Morrow Behemoth, but Green Lotus had altered Lu Yin’s destination as he had been thrown, which had resulted in him falling into the Lotus Pond. Green Lotus was behind it all.
But why? When had Green Lotus started watching Lu Yin?
Could it have been when he had comprehended the Karmic Dao in the Spirit Nidus? When he had stolen the karmic bricks? Or was it when he had learned how to write karma?
Lu Yin fell deep into thought. The fact that Green Lotus was targeting him could be either good or bad. So far, the Immortal did not appear to be hostile to Lu Yin, but Lu Yin was from the Tianyuan Megaverse, and he had also tried to lure an Immortal monster to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. Was it really possible for Green Lotus to not care about such things?
After a moment, voices outside the carriage urged them to move on. The people blocking the road were trying to drive them away.
Lu Yin glanced at Si Jiushi. “Let’s go.”
Si Jiushi called out to the driver, “Take the right detour.”
"Go straight."
Si Jiushi was startled by the order, and he turned to look at Lu Yin. "You want us to force our way through?"
Lu Yin drew the curtains and looked outside the carriage to see a group of cultivators staring at them from in front of the mountain range. "I'm a straightforward person. I don't like to be diverted."
Si Jiushi blinked. Something about that statement sounded wrong.
The middle-aged driver hesitated and looked at Si Jiushi, who said, "Seventh Bro, if we go straight, we'll have to deal with those people, and I’m alone."
"Aren’t you people of the Five-Palm Sect fearless before heaven and earth and even want to defeat the Lesser Sancti? Why worry about a bunch of small fry?" Lu Yin countered.
Si Jiushi sighed and shrugged. "Those are all future goals. At the moment, I'm only a peak powerhouse. I can’t defeat them."
The Nine Odysseys Megaverse categorized powerful cultivators in the same manner as the Spirit Nidus and the Tianyuan Megaverse: there were peak powerhouses, sequence powerhouses, Ortusers, and Dukkhans. While the three megaverses might appear to have never interacted in the past, there also seemed to be some sort of imperceptible influence. The Origin Progenitor had merely granted his cultivation method to the Tianyuan Megaverse. Not even the man himself knew when he might have been influenced by the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.
History indicated that Immortals had already appeared in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse before the Origin Progenitor rose to power.
Lu Yin looked outside and smiled. "Fine. I'll help you."
With that, he raised a hand and lashed out with a palm strike.
A gentle breeze picked up the curtains as the attack moved out of the carriage. It grew larger and larger, and as the people in front of the carriage stared on in frozen shock, the palm expanded to cover the sky before pressing down upon them.
Boom!
A deafening crash echoed through the sky as ripples spread across the mountain range.
The middle-aged driver gaped, staring blankly at the mountains in front of the carriage. Forget the cultivators blocking their path—even the mountains had a massive hand imprint in them. Was that the Five-Palm Art?