Chapter 3299: The Consciousness Megaverse

Mister Mu sighed. "There are countless cultivation methods in existence. Even just this megaverse has given rise to numerous methods. Essentially, each peak powerhouse represents their own unique method. In my original megaverse, all of the various cultivation methods were eventually unified, which led to the most efficient cultivation method. Spirit Nidus must have done the same. It’s clear that it is a unified megaverse."

Lu Yin interjected, "Our megaverse hasn’t yet achieved that sort of unification."

"And that’s why we are at a disadvantage against Spirit Nidus," Mister Mu replied.

Progenitor Chen rubbed his forehead. "It feels like cheating. Each of us cultivates differently and achieves different results, but Spirit Nidus has already published their results, so everyone can use those as guides to cultivate. The scariest part is that their results can be stacked, leading to even more terrifying results, such as their sequence bases.

"That old man said that the Rivers and Mountains Painting is only ranked seventh out of all of Spirit Nidus’s sequence bases."

Mister Mu nodded. "If Spirit Nidus’s people cultivate like this, then that’s not impossible. I believe that their top-ranked sequence base must be beyond terrifying. It might very well be in the hands of Master Qing Cao."

Facing just one Immortal was already challenging, but suddenly, the entire Spirit Nidus seemed just as difficult to contend with.

How many people in the Tianyuan Megaverse could defeat or trap Progenitor Chen? And yet, just the Rivers and Mountains Painting alone had almost been enough to prevent him from escaping, and that was nothing more than a sequence base. Lu Yin believed that, aside from the sequence bases, Spirit Nidus’s cultivators also had to be extremely powerful. Even without a sequence base, their sequence powerhouses would no doubt be just as formidable as everything else from that megaverse.

Old freaks like Yuan Qi, Tian Ci, and Zhan Yan were all incredible powerhouses.

Spirit Nidus was already dealing with the Consciousness Megaverse, and yet it had also infiltrated the Tianyuan Megaverse. It was dealing with both enemy megaverses with ease. It was difficult to even grasp just how powerful Spirit Nidus must be.

Still, no matter how strong Spirit Nidus might be, Lu Yin did not feel the same sort of despair that he had felt when he had first learned about the six Scourges. The only one who made him feel that sort of despair was Master Qing Cao, who was an Immortal.

He was a powerhouse beyond anything that even Ancient God could fight against.

Even if Master Qing Cao was restricted, there was no telling just how many lives it would take to increase those restrictions to the point where the Immortal was a manageable opponent.

Not knowing the end could make one hopeless, but that knowledge could also bring about the same thing.

The Origin Progenitor was able to breathe a little easier. He preferred to know the end. Even if it meant that everyone’s lives would be sacrificed to strengthen the restrictions, he felt that that was better than waiting in uncertainty.

"What’s going on with Wang Xiaoyu?" Lu Yin asked.

Progenitor Chen stared into the sky, lost in thought. "I’ve always believed in her."

Lu Yin hesitated. At first, he had thought it fact that Wang Xiaoyu was the worst Redback in the history of the Fifth Mainland, as she was the direct cause of the war between the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands, which had led to the collapse of the Daosource Sect. Later, Lu Yin had discovered that Wang Xiaoyu could be a human spy within Aeternus. Lu Yin had hoped that Progenitor Chen would be able to bring the woman back from the Immemorial Citadel’s battlefield.

However, even when Progenitor Chen had been lured into the Rivers and Mountains Painting and been in grave danger, Wang Xiaoyu had shown no sign of concern. Was that because of her faith in him, or was she really a Redback who did not care if Progenitor Chen lived or died?

Lu Yin could not make any sense of Wang Xiaoyu’s real motives.

Of the surviving Aeternals, there was only True God, Blackless God, Skydog, Forgotten Ruins God, and Wang Xiaoyu. Everyone else was gone. Could there really be any human spies among those few survivors?

Lu Yin wanted to sail along the River of Aeons to search for traces of the Rivers and Mountains Painting, but Mister Mu stopped him, the older man’s expression complicated.

“You must always approach the River of Aeons with a great deal of respect and caution. It is not the case that things will go smoothly every time you sail on it. Yuan Qi is an old monster, and he knows that you can sail on the River of Aeons. He’ll be prepared for it.”

Lu Yin realized that this was true.

Traveling along the River of Aeons was not a foolproof strategy. If his enemy was properly prepared, they could potentially attack while Lu Yin was still on the River of Aeons, especially if that person was as powerful as Yuan Qi.

Lu Yin had already sailed along the River of Aeons three times. The first attempt had been after his Progenitor’s breakthrough with Lightstream where he had chased after True God and the others on the Ossis Ark. The second attempt had been while searching for Wei Nu, who had been waiting for Lu Yin. His third trip had been to find Whiteless God, who had clearly wanted to die.

While all three of Lu Yin’s journeys along the River of Aeons had gone smoothly, that did not mean that he would always be successful.

Mister Mu had cultivated for a very long time and seen too much. He would not allow Lu Yin to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Progenitor Chen parted from the others, still determined to find Wang Xiaoyu.

Lu Yin was worried that the man would be ambushed by Yuan Qi, but Progenitor Chen remained fearless.

Mister Mu praised Progenitor Chen. “That man is a true hero. He grows stronger the more powerful his foes are. He’s like the last ember of a dying civilization. No matter how he is destroyed, he will always reignite.”

After returning to the Heavens Sect, Lu Yin contacted Progenitor Xi. Master Qing Cao had likely returned to Spirit Nidus, which meant that outright war was inevitable. Their lack of knowledge about Spirit Nidus placed the Tianyuan Megaverse at a major disadvantage.

There was no one in the megaverse who knew more about Spirit Nidus than Progenitor Xi.

She had been searching for True God, but she had not had any luck at all so far.

When Progenitor Xi returned to the Heavens Sect, she not only met with Lu Yin, but also Mister Mu, the Three Realms and Six Daos, and the Three Suns and Six Rulers.

Everyone was there to learn about Spirit Nidus.

This gathering told Progenitor Xi that something had happened.

Lu Yin immediately shared what had happened to Ancient God. Hearing the news caused Progenitor Xi to fall silent. “I didn’t think that Gu Yizhi would really be a mole.”

“You knew?” Hongyan Mavis asked as she stared at Progenitor Xi.

Progenitor Xi sighed. “I guessed. Gu Yizhi never showed any disloyalty to Aeternus. He was controlled by True God, so there was no possibility of him betraying the Aeternals. However, just because he couldn’t betray them didn’t mean that he always gave his full effort.

“There were many battles where he held back and limited his strength, especially when attacking the Perennial World. Did you really think that being shunned in the Origin Universe was enough to hold back the Seven Skygods?

“At the very least, it would have taken Lu Yuan to truly stop Gu Yizhi. Lu Tianyi alone would have never been enough. Even if the Perennial World could have held Gu Yizhi back, the rest of the Seven Skygods should have been able to break through.

"Each of the Seven Skygods was led by their own motivations. Gu Yizhi did not exert much effort, Forgotten Ruins God has been mainly focused on self-preservation, while Undying God rarely did anything. The only ones who were truly determined to conquer the Perennial World were Blackless God, Corpse God, and Shaman God. If not for that, the Perennial World would have never been able to hold back all of the Seven Skygods."

Lu Tianyi said, "It’s true that we were only able to stop the Seven Skygods because they never went all out. But if both you and us were able to see that, then how could Yong Heng have not noticed?"

Progenitor Xi chuckled. "What difference would it have made if he noticed? It's not like he could have just eliminated Gu Yizhi and the others who held back. Do you think it would have been easy for Yong Heng to find replacements for Gu Yizhi and the rest?

"The Seven Skygods, as well as the Three Pillars and Six Skies, were all meticulously recruited by True God since the Heavens Sect Era.

“By the way, Blackless God is also not from this megaverse. He’s from the Consciousness Megaverse."

Lu Yin was surprised. "Is Blackless God also from the Consciousness Megaverse?"

Progenitor Xi looked at Lu Yin. "‘Also?’ Aside from Blackless God, the only other one from the Consciousness Megaverse is Whiteless God. Did you also know about that, Lord Lu?"

Lu Yin nodded. Upon hearing the truth, things made sense. If both Blackless God and Whiteless God were from the Consciousness Megaverse, it explained why their names were so similar.

"The Consciousness Megaverse has been slowly losing to Spirit Nidus, which has led many consciousness lifeforms to betray our megaverse, much like you humans’ Redbacks. Spirit Nidus doesn’t trust such traitors, so they were sent here to the Tianyuan Megaverse and given to Aeternus as a gesture of good will. Of course, they could have also been sent so that they could be monitored.

"Whiteless God is able to shrink to a microscopic size, and her Progenitor’s world is made of microscopic organisms. Additionally, she is able to influence people’s minds with her consciousness. She is the mastermind behind the enlistment and training of Redbacks, and many were personally recruited by Whiteless God. She is extremely intelligent, and she is the one who controls Aeterna.

"As for Blackless God, I didn’t know his innate gift before. He demonstrated a rather average level of power for a Skygod, but after the battle at the Immemorial Citadel, I realized that his consciousness is even stronger than Whiteless God’s.

"In the Consciousness Megaverse, we classify the strength of consciousness with different levels. The lowest level of consciousness is the Nine Gears level, which is comparable to the strength of your Origin Universe’s Explorer through Semi-Progenitor levels, and that level is then split into nine stages.

"Above the Nine Gears Consciousness is the Starlight level, which corresponds to your Progenitors.

"The Stellar level of consciousness matches your Sequence Progenitors.

"The Celestial level is equal to your Ortusers.

"The Universe level is as strong as your Dukkhans.

"The highest level is the Cosmic level. Of course, we believe that that level is nothing more than a legend, as none have ever appeared. That level is the same as the myth that you have here in this megaverse: Immortals.

"While Blackless God demonstrated the strength of a sequence powerhouse, his consciousness is at the Celestial level. His consciousness is not something that he has cultivated, like Xu Jin, as it is actually his life force. If he were to fully utilize his consciousness in battle, it would kill him. That’s why he has never used his consciousness and instead used it to power his Endless Path, which is why it was impossible for you to reach the Immemorial Citadel.

"You can’t really blame yourselves for being outsmarted by him. As far as our Consciousness Megaverse was concerned, a Dukkhan was scheming against you, which would be no different from going against Yong Heng or Tai Chu."

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Wu Tian interrupted. "Are you saying that, no matter how strong a creature’s consciousness is in your Consciousness Megaverse, fully utilizing their power will consume their life itself?"

Progenitor Xi answered with a shrug, "That’s exactly what I’m saying. That’s why whenever the Consciousness Megaverse fights against Spirit Nidus, our disadvantage is painfully obvious.

"If we fight at full strength, we’re literally fighting to the death. It’s extremely difficult to recover after that. The more we fight, the weaker we become."

"Did you know about Master Qing Cao?" Garan Zhiluo suddenly asked.

Progenitor Xi shook her head. "I promise that I knew nothing about him. I’ve already explained this to Lord Lu, but if I had known, I wouldn’t have kept that from you, and I wouldn’t have sat back and watched as Gu Yizhi killed himself. Losing Gu Yizhi weakens you significantly, and it does nothing to help my Consciousness Megaverse either.

"I’m not saying that I would have saved Gu Yizhi, but rather that I’m trying to save my Consciousness Megaverse itself."

"If you knew that both Blackless God and Whiteless God are from your Consciousness Megaverse, why didn’t they figure that out about you?" Chu Yi asked, confused.

Progenitor Xi answered, "They weren’t concerned about being exposed, while I kept myself hidden."

People asked Progenitor Xi many more questions, and she answered each one. Whenever she knew an answer, she shared it. When she did not, she readily admitted it.

Despite her apparent sincerity, no one fully trusted her.

Both Spirit Nidus and the Consciousness Megaverse might eventually become the Tianyuan Megaverse’s enemy in the future.

"You still can’t find Yong Heng and the others?" Lu Yin asked.

Progenitor Xi sighed. "Nothing at all. Yong Heng is still bound by Tai Hong’s Six Paths of Reincarnation Realm. Until he is completely free of it, he won’t risk showing himself."

"What’s the deal with that dog?" Lord Xu suddenly asked.