Chapter 3421: Old Tao
Ba Liu was stunned when he saw a single finger pierce through Yi Xia's body. The attacker’s strength was beyond terrifying.
Lu Tianyi was one of the Heavens Sect’s Three Suns and Six Rulers, and he had comprehended the Law of Undoing and cultivated the Dao of One Heavens. He had been practically peerless even during the Heavens Sect era. Even if his fame had diminished with the return of the Three Realms and Six Daos, there was no one who could deny the man’s power.
Lu Tianyi was another person who was capable of reaching the Origin realm. If there was a fight to the death, he might not lose, not even against people like Wilderness God or Hongyan Mavis.
Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.
As he examined Yi Xia’s miserable state, Lu Yin lazily spun the Severence sequence base on the tip of a finger. "You’re close, but not quite there. You see, while we aren’t from the Spirit Nidus, we also weren’t observing the springboard."
Blood dripped from Yi Xia’s lips as he glared at Lu Yin. "The Tianyuan Megaverse."
As he spoke, several sharp gazes locked onto Yi Xia. Feeling them sent chills down his spine.
Lu Yin grabbed the sequence base again and gave a small smile as he looked at Yi Xia. "How many people know that name?"
Yi Xia froze. These people really were from the Tianyuan Megaverse.
Twenty to thirty years earlier, a battleship had been scheduled to leave Beacon City to start off the Spirit Nidus’s invasion of the Tianyuan Megaverse. This was the second excursion against another megaverse that the Spirit Nidus had ever launched, the first being their ongoing campaign against the Consciousness Megaverse. However, just one day before the scheduled departure, the High Seraph had halted the operation, which had led to a massive uproar throughout the entire Spirit Nidus.
No one knew why the High Seraph had stopped the invasion.
The High Seraph had given the excuse that the timing had not been right and that it was necessary to wait.
Yi Xia’s grandfather had reached out to several other Seraphs, hoping to arrange a discussion with the High Seraph to obtain a more reasonable explanation. After all, the Spirit Nidus had planned and prepared for countless years to invade the Tianyuan Megaverse. Putting a halt to the invasion at the exact moment they were about to start was unacceptable.
They were Seraphs, powerhouses who were overcoming Dukkha. Since they could see no path to Immortality by overcoming Dukkha, the only path for a future breakthrough was by resetting the Tianyuan Megaverse.
However, even then, the High Seraph had still refused to provide them with an answer.
Yi Xia had never expected that, thirty years later, the Tianyuan Megaverse would arrive to attack them.
How could such a thing be happening?
The Tianyuan Megaverse was supposed to be ripe and ready for invasion and conquest, so how had they launched a counterattack? Where had they found the confidence and strength to venture out of their megaverse? How had they even managed to reach Beacon City? They should not know about springboards, and without being able to build them, it should have taken them at least 10,000 years to reach the central springboard from the Tianyuan Megaverse. Could this expedition have set out 10,000 years ago?
That was not impossible. It could take a powerful cultivator 10,000 years to cross the Aevum Inch, and the young man could have been kept in cryostasis that entire time. It was certainly feasible.
But what Yi Xia could not understand was why the Tianyuan Megaverse had the courage to attack the Spirit Nidus at all. Where had they gained such strength?
Also, there was the High Seraph. Why had he suddenly canceled the invasion? Could it be connected to these people?
The void warped in front of Yi Xia, and Lu Tianyi attacked with his finger again, this time piercing Yi Xia’s other arm. More blood sprayed across the ground.
He coughed up blood and looked up at Lu Tianyi with eyes that contained both hatred and fear.
"I asked you, how many people know that name?" Lu Yin spoke up again.
This time, Yi Xia did not dare to hesitate. "The entire Spirit Nidus."
Lu Yin turned to Ba Liu.
Ba Liu answered in a respectful tone, "He’s correct. The entire Spirit Nidus knows about the Tianyuan Megaverse. When the battleship was about to set out, it was watched by the entire megaverse..."
He had never thought that these people would actually be from the Tianyuan Megaverse.
As far as anyone in the Spirit Nidus knew, the Tianyuan Megaverse was ready to be reset or destroyed at any moment. It had no powerful cultivators, and everything was under the Spirit Nidus’s control. They had sent powerhouses there long ago, following ancient plans while waiting for the right time to reset the megaverse. Whether or not they could reset the megaverse was never even considered.
For countless years, even children in the Spirit Nidus had known that the Tianyuan Megaverse belonged to them, and that it could—or rather would—be destroyed, plundered, or enslaved at any moment.
Thirty years ago, when the battleship had left the Spirit Nidus, its departure had attracted the entire megaverse’s attention. Countless people had cheered them on, eager for the Tianyuan Megaverse to be reset and for the Spirit Nidus to give rise to an Immortal powerhouse.
That battleship had also contained a group of young geniuses. They had not been picked at random, but rather selected through competitions that had stirred up the entire Spirit Nidus, raising their morale to a fever pitch.
Everything had been set for the Spirit Nidus to invade the Tianyuan Megaverse.
That was also why Yi Shang and the other Seraphs had been so determined to meet with the High Seraph. There was no other reason why someone as calculating as Yi Shang would ever act so boldly.
Lu Yin gazed at the sequence base in a distracted manner. The five members of Second Life stood behind him, somber expressions on their faces.
Chu Yi, Sovereign Dou Sheng, and Ce Wangtian all arrived from where they had been exploring across Beacon City.
Above Boundless, Wilderness God opened his eyes, staring in the Spirit Nidus’s direction.
Luo Shan hid in the shadows, a sneer on his face.
The Spirit Nidus had genuinely regarded the Tianyuan Megaverse as a treat for them to consume at their pleasure.
To the people of the Spirit Nidus, multiple competitions had been held to select the young elites who would accompany the vanguard to the Tianyuan Megaverse. Such a reward was considered the greatest opportunity in the Spirit Nidus. What a joke.
The Origin Progenitor burst into laughter. "How funny! When their excitement reached the peak, they were told to retreat at the last moment. That High Seraph really did have the guts to take such an action! Hahaha!"
Two more figures fell from the sky, also unconscious.
Ba Liu’s brow rose. These people were both deputy city lords of Beacon City.
The city had a single ruler and three deputies. In order for the original springboard to be used, it was necessary for either the city lord to directly give the order, or for all three deputies to act together. The city lord and the deputies could restrict each other, creating a microcosm of the Spirit Nidus’s overall political structure in Beacon City.
Regardless of how the authority was split, all of them were sequence powerhouses. Even so, all of them were completely powerless before the experts from the Tianyuan Megaverse.
Was the Tianyuan Megaverse really as weak as they had believed?
There was another thud as another person fell, but this one let out a cry of pain. "Don’t attack! Everyone, calm down! Just calm down!"
It was an old man, and he had fallen onto his head in an undignified manner. He started shouting even before he had recovered.
Lu Yin observed the old man.
Aside from Yi Xia, everyone else was still unconscious, and yet this old man had already woken up. He was far from weak. Lu Yin could sense that it was possible that the old man was even stronger than Yi Xia.
No one attacked, which allowed the old man to recover. He rubbed his head as he glanced around, and his attention instantly locked onto Lu Yin, to whom he showed an ingratiating smile. The old man quickly stood up to offer a bow. "Such a dashing and mighty young master! Who might your esteemed teacher be? Let me guess—could it be the High Seraph himself? This is all just a misunderstanding! A complete misunderstanding.
"Are Ba Liu and Yi Yao under your protection? That’s not a problem at all. Everything can be talked through."
Lu Yin chuckled. "They’ve done several things that are forbidden."
The old man immediately retorted, "No, absolutely not! If no one knows, then nothing happened. If you say it didn’t, then it didn’t."
Shameless! Everyone from Second Life sneered at the old man. He had none of the dignity that a powerhouse should have.
Yi Xia growled, “Old Tao, these people are from the Tianyuan Megaverse.”
The old man looked confused. “What? I couldn’t hear you clearly. City Lord, what’s wrong with you? You’ve seen the young master, so why aren’t you even bowing?”
Yi Xia gritted his teeth. Old bastard!
The aspect of his time in Beacon City that Yi Xia hated the most was this old man. It was not because the old man was uncooperative, quite the opposite in fact. He always complied with whatever Yi Xia said and never put up even the slightest bit of resistance. However, it was precisely because of that that Yi Xia had never been able to trust the old man. There was simply no way to find or gain any sort of leverage over him.
When others opposed Yi Xia, he had always managed to either find ways to win them over or simply eliminate them. In contrast, this old man had always treated Yi Xia with excessive courtesy. He was slippery, spineless, and utterly devoid of any self-respect. Despite that, he had still managed to become one of Beacon City’s deputies. He was from the same generation as Yi Xia’s grandfather and had strong ties in the Spirit Nidus. There was nothing that Yi Xia could do about the old man.
Even his grandfather had warned Yi Xia not to touch the old man.
For the many years that Yi Xia had served as city lord, the old man had gone from being someone he had found agreeable to being a thorn in his side. There was no pain, but it was incredibly irritating.
“We’re from the Tianyuan Megaverse,” Lu Yin repeated.
The old man exclaimed in astonishment, “The Tianyuan Megaverse? That great megaverse? The one which is worshipped by countless people and regarded as a mythical place? That place is simply heaven! Young master, you’re a divine being! Please accept this old man’s obeisance. If possible, I would be flattered to join the Tianyuan Megaverse, even if only in name. I seek nothing from you, only to get closer to that mythical place so that I may admire you and the other esteemed experts from a distance.”
As the old man spoke, he actually dropped to the ground and prostrated himself before Lu Yin.
Lu Yin was rendered speechless, and everyone else from the Tianyuan Megaverse was similarly at a loss for words.
Even the Origin Progenitor was completely dumbfounded.
This man was a sequence powerhouse, and yet he was utterly shameless. It was hard to believe.
Ba Liu and Yi Yao both stared at the old man in a daze. Nobody had ever imagined they would see a deputy city lord act in such a manner.
The two of them had previously seen Old Tao from a distance. He had given off the impression of a reclusive powerhouse from a distance, while seeming kind and benevolent when up close. What were they seeing now? That the man was utterly shameless.
“Shameless,” Second Zi sneered.
Second Gu glared at her.
Yi Xia closed his eyes. This was how the old man had always been. He was someone without the slightest shred of self-respect.
“Introduce yourself,” Lu Yin indifferently ordered.
In a subservient tone, the old man quickly answered, “This lowly one is known as Old Tao. Young Master, you can call me Little Tao. I’m one of the deputy city lords of Beacon City. If you have any questions, either about Beacon City or the Spirit Nidus, you can ask me. This lowly one is willing to offer what small contributions I can to serve such divine beings from the mythical land, as long as I can please you.”
“Then tell me about Beacon City.”
“Allow me to explain, Young Master. Beacon City...”
Everyone in Beacon City had been captured, but no one woke up. All of them remained unconscious.
Lu Yin and the others stood in the sky, looking down at the impressive array of springboards. These were the springboards that connected Beacon City to the Spirit Nidus.
“Begin,” Lu Yin said calmly.
Yi Xia took a deep breath and moved among the springboards. He had been tasked with sending a message to the Spirit Nidus.
He systematically proceeded to destroy some of the springboards, while finishing the construction of others that had just barely been incomplete. The pattern between destruction and completion resonated with the springboards that lay just outside the Spirit Nidus, and this was how the two locations communicated with each other.
Such communications were prohibitively expensive, as every springboard was something that had been made by an Ortuser. Any that were destroyed had to be rebuilt from the very beginning.
This was why, despite instantaneous communication being possible between Beacon City and the Spirit Nidus, it was rarely used. Even then, such messages would only be sent when authorized by either the city lord or under the unanimous decision of the three deputies.
There were similar limitations on the Spirit Nidus’s side.
As the message was sent to the Spirit Nidus, Yi Xia spoke in a low voice. “The reply that will come will be from the High Seraph himself.”
Lu Yin looked at Yi Xia. “Are you willing to accept this?”
Yi Xia looked puzzled.
Lu Yin clasped his hands behind his back. “You are a Seraph’s grandson. Your grandfather paved your way for you. He even prepared a sequence base for you. All you needed to do was wait for him to step down, and then you would rise up to the position of a Seraph. Now, I’ve captured you. Losing Beacon City is one thing, but being captured by me? That stain on your reputation is itself enough to prevent you from ever becoming a Seraph. Are you content with this?”