Lu Yin was not overly concerned to learn that Feng Bo was still alive. While it seemed impossible, Lu Yin was ignorant of the full scope of Eternal Decree’s abilities. It might be possible for Yong Heng to resurrect Feng Bo.
But even if Feng Bo had been resurrected, he was only an Ortuser, and he could not pose any real threat to Lu Yin.
What had truly astonished Lu Yin was the sight of Lan.
Lan was the caretaker of the Ascendant Hall, and she was also responsible for delivering the High Seraph’s orders to the Spirit Nidus. She was from the same generation as Zi Tianshu, and she was qualified to speak to the Seven Seraphs as a peer, despite not being one herself. Her status was without equal, as she was the High Seraph’s representative.
Lu Yin had never imagined that he would see Lan appear in front of Yong Heng next to Feng Bo, Arrow God, and Meng Sang.
It was at that moment that Lu Yin realized Lan’s true identity: she was the final member of the Three Pillars and Six Skies. She was the Pillar who had never been revealed.
Once, Lu Yin had suspected Old Salamander of being Aeternus’s third Pillar, but the ancient beast had no true ties to Yong Heng. True God had rescued Old Salamander simply due to his curiosity after seeing Stillstorm’s form, as well as his plans for the Spirit Nidus. The one who had truly been kept hidden was Lan.
At the same time, at the Consciousness Megaverse’s boundary, Yong Heng appeared and stared at the shattered gate. After a moment, he turned around and peered into outer space. Despite the distance, it seemed that Yong Heng was looking at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin turned his head and also stared across the stars.
Lan was one of the Three Pillars. This meant that, from the very beginning, Aeternus’s collaboration with the Spirit Nidus had never been genuine. Lan had been weaving some plan in the corners of the megaverse that the High Seraph did not see.
Both Yong Heng and Lu Yin peered across the stars. While their eyes never truly met, each felt that they were looking at the other.
“I’ll go on ahead,” Yong Heng muttered, “Should you return to the Spirit Nidus alive, you will find a different place.”
“Always stirring things up from an unseen corner, but now I see you, Yong Heng,” Lu Yin whispered in reply.
Shortly thereafter, Yong Heng stepped past the broken gate and left the Consciousness Megaverse.
Elsewhere in the Consciousness Megaverse, a Broken Realm warped before slowly fading away.
Within that Broken Realm was the meteorite.
The meteorite’s eye blinked, only to grow more animated as the Broken Realm faded away. The madness and rage that seemed to be perpetually present within the eye slowly faded.
Once the Broken Realm was completely gone, the meteorite’s eye shifted, and then the stone charged at the nearest Broken Realm.
Once the meteorite entered the new Broken Realm, its solitary eye started darting about, seemingly searching for something.
Outside of the Consciousness Megaverse were countless fragments. The Starforged Sword had shattered into these countless fragments, though the sword’s origin remained a complete mystery. All that was known was that the sword had been searching for the meteorite.
If one followed the path that the Starforged Sword had traveled along, they would move far across the Aevum Inch, further and further until a man entered their view. He was wearing a loose black and white robe with short hair that just barely framed his eyes as he stared in the Consciousness Megaverse’s direction. He placed his left hand behind his back and his right to his chest before giving a slight bow. There was an indescribable sense of grace to the man.
“I’m merely here to retrieve my weapon. Please, pay me no mind at all,” he said. His lips pulled up to show a wry, almost sinister smile. He looked up as he straightened and then took a single step. However, while his body remained where it was as his shadow separated from him and walked off in the direction of the Consciousness Megaverse.
...
In the Consciousness Megaverse, Boundless returned to the primary universe. Neither Yue Ya, the High Seraph, nor even Yong Heng could threaten Lu Yin as they previously had.
His Karmic Dao was able to weave threads of karma into a person’s life, and Lu Yin could even use his newfound ability to weave karma in the midst of battle.
He was actually looking forward to being attacked by Yue Ya.
Boundless had a simple goal at this moment: to visit each of the Consciousness Megaverse parallel universes and capture every last conscient for Lu Yin to devour to improve his consciousness.
Already, his consciousness was the strongest of anyone in all three megaverses, surpassing even that of Old Chief and the rest of the Thirteen Luminaries. Lu Yin’s consciousness alone was powerful enough for him to challenge Yue Ya’s manifested thoughts, though Lu Yin was still not able to overpower Yue Ya with his consciousness alone.
Since there was a way for him to improve his consciousness, he would naturally take it.
The experts on Boundless had thrown themselves into his Champions’ Stage Purgatory in order to strengthen him. In comparison, capturing conscients was far easier.
Even if it was not possible to directly locate parallel universes, by interrogating the captured conscients, it was easy to find their originating universe.
Lu Yin stood atop a massive tree in the Rain Observatory. At his side was Lu Tianyi.
“Ancestor, I feel that, in the past, my heart was too small. No matter if I was focused on gathering cultivation resources or strengthening my karma, my vision has been limited. If I could go back again, I would improve much faster than before.”
Lu Tianyi shook his head. “You were not wrong in your choices. One’s heart expands as their strength improves. When you achieve Immortality, your perspective will no longer be limited to a single megaverse, but will instead expand to encompass the entire Aevum Inch.
“Once, you focused solely on the Origin Universe, not even considering parallel universes, but that limitation was not your fault.
“One of the greatest fears for us humans is for our ambition and ability to be disproportionate. If one’s heart is large, but they lack ability, they will suffer for it. However, if their heart is small while their ability is great, they will simply waste time.
“Go ahead and pursue your ambitions. No matter what you decide to do, the Tianyuan Megaverse will always support you.”
Lu Yin smiled. It was truly wonderful to have his home supporting him.
Boundless led the Spirit Nidus’s four battleships, with the captives aboard them intended to serve as leverage during negotiations with the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. Lu Yin had thought that the people that he had already captured would be enough, but ever since his Karmic Dao had improved, he felt that his leverage was not nearly enough. His ambition remained too small. His new goal was to seize control of the entire Spirit Nidus and use the megaverse as his ultimate bargaining chip with the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.
Unfortunately, Lu Yin had failed even before he could take the first step towards that goal.
Lan was one of Aeternus’s Three Pillars, and her strategic position in the Spirit Nidus gave Yong Heng the upper hand, while Lu Yin still could not guess how things in the Consciousness Megaverse would end.
If the Nine Odysseys Megaverse intervened and one of the Greater Sancti appeared, he would lose all control over the situation.
If Lu Yin were in Yong Heng’s position, he would absolutely retreat, as things in the Consciousness Megaverse were spiraling out of control.
With Yong Heng gone, Lu Yin was no longer certain of how things would develop in the Spirit Nidus.
Yong Heng was a truly difficult opponent.
As Boundless captured more conscients, the Consciousness Megaverse once again started to grow busier.
Not all conscients had fled to parallel universes. Some, in a state of panic, escaped to the Willbound Expanse, which informed Yue Ya and the others there of Boundless’s activities.
Yue Ya was eager to ambush Lu Yin again, but his repeated failures made it clear that Lu Yin would be difficult to deal with. The fact that Boundless was being so blatant about their actions meant that Lu Yin was utterly unfazed by Yue Ya’s threat. This meant that Lu Yin had either learned of Chao Yi’s presence, or he had grown stronger.
Yue Ya refused to believe that Lu Yin could suddenly become even stronger. His strength was already astonishing, given his youth. Substantial improvement in such a short amount of time seemed impossible.
Thinking that, Yue Ya looked at Emperor Slayer. “You. Come here.”