Chapter 3320: Writhing Words

After a pause, Wu Tian continued speaking. "Back when I was teaching the creatures of the Origin Universe, I saw countless cultivation methods and analyzed many of them. While I was imprisoned in the Third Scourge, the question I pondered most was: what is the origin of our universe? The Mother Tree, the laws of the universe, and various other things that nurture humanity. Just where did they all come from?

"It wasn’t until I saw your Progenitor’s breakthrough and your inner universe spread out that I finally understood," Wu Tian said with great excitement. "This universe may have been born naturally, and we humans may have been brought into being through a series of coincidences. However, if the universe is a cycle, then since it gave birth to us, then we, in turn, can create a universe!"

Lu Yin’s heart skipped a beat. ‘The universe is a cycle?’ Bai Xian’er had once said the same thing, but her understanding of the universe being a cycle had clearly been different from Wu Tian's, though the outcome was the same.

Did everyone develop a different understanding of the universe, only to arrive at the same conclusion?

Wu Tian patted Lu Yin on the shoulder. "The Three Realms and Six Daos, and even our master and Mister Mu, are no longer able to offer you much help. Your path is one that you must walk on your own. The only thing that we can offer you is the wisdom that we’ve accumulated over time, which might grant you some inspiration. Pillar, keep moving forward."

With that, Wu Tian also left, and Lu Yin was alone.

He stared at the Rivers and Mountains Painting for a long time before releasing his inner universe and enveloping the sequence base.

As the painting entered Lu Yin's inner universe, it started to shake violently. Inside the painting, the mountains and rivers started to dissolve, reverting back to sequence particles that began to flow outwards as they were being repelled by Lu Yin’s inner universe.

Lu Yin's eyes flared. Within his universe, the golden light of his Wordless Heavenly Book blazed, and it shone upon the Rivers and Mountains Painting. That caused the dissolving sequence particles to stop being repelled and somehow soften.

At this moment, Lu Yin could see the sequence particles.

For quite some time, Lu Yin had been unable to see sequence particles because True God had destroyed Heaven’s Sight. But after his Progenitor’s breakthrough, his strength had risen to the level where he was slowly starting to see them again. Sequence particles possessed great power, especially when gathered into a sequence base. It was so overwhelming that it was hard to miss. Only someone like the Great Sovereign could compare to what Lu Yin was currently seeing.

Lu Yin instantly appeared beside the Rivers and Mountains Painting. Sequence particles radiated out around him, drifting away into invisible currents that flowed through his universe.

When Lu Yin touched the sequence particles, he instantly felt a sense of control.

He instinctively knew that, once he controlled these sequence particles, the space in front of him could become either vast or short. He would be able to instantly travel vast distances, or remain where he stood while sending others far away. This was the essence of Near and Far.

Laughter erupted from Lu Yin as he realized the path he would take to master sequence particles. While he still did not know just which laws of the universe he would end up mastering, he did know that he would ultimately obtain a great number of them. Just as Wu Tian had said, Lu Yin’s universe seemed to possess everything, yet it lacked the most vital thing: sequence particles.

Other people did not possess enough sequence particles, which was why they were repelled whenever they came into contact with Lu Yin’s inner universe. Only the sequence particles of a sequence base like the Rivers and Mountains Painting were enough for Lu Yin to use. Instead of using the Rivers and Mountains Painting himself, he was dissolving it to obtain control over the overwhelming amount of sequence particles it contained.

This was the path that he would walk.

To seize, or even outright steal, and then take control of something was the fundamental power of Lu Yin’s inner universe.

If he could not seize the laws, then they would be repelled. If he could seize them, then they would become his.

Lu Yin loved this ability. It was something born of creating his own universe.

He felt like a child who had just been given a new toy, and he started to toy more and more with his ability as he manipulated the particles. There was no sense of unfamiliarity. It was as though he had directly leapt from a Progenitor to become a Sequence Progenitor. Once the Rivers and Mountains Painting completely dissolved and released all of its sequence particles, Lu Yin could only imagine just how much power he would have at his disposal.

Unfortunately, the Law of Near and Far was not that useful to him. In fact, its help was practically negligible.

Still, that did not matter anymore. Lu Yin had seen the direction forward and found his path. That was more than enough.

At this moment, Lu Yin found himself suddenly looking forward to fighting against the Spirit Nidus. War with that megaverse was inevitable, but in addition to fighting for his own megaverse, he had gained an additional motivation to fight: sequence bases.

Since he was able to control the sequence particles that made up the Rivers and Mountains Painting, that meant that he could control the sequence particles of other sequence bases as well.

What would it look like if he seized all of the Spirit Nidus’s sequence bases and absorbed all of those sequence particles into his inner universe?

Lu Yin's eyes blazed with a fervent light. He wanted to take as many sequence bases as he could to satiate the hunger of his inner universe.

...

Two months later, in a parallel universe that was filled with countless stars, Forgotten Ruins God met with True God, still accompanied by both Wang Xiaoyu and Yan Gang.

Blackless God and Skydog quietly stood in the distance.

True God listened to Forgotten Ruins God's report.

"So, that old freak, Yuan Qi, lost his Dao Bell? In that case, it was only a matter of time before Lu Yin dealt with him. However, you actually killed Zhan Yan?" True God looked at Forgotten Ruins God, his expression calm and his demeanor unshaken.

Forgotten Ruins God answered in a respectful manner, "After we were defeated at the Immemorial Citadel, I started to feel that cooperating with the Spirit Nidus is no longer worth much to us. In the future, when the Spirit Nidus invades this megaverse, it will be more important for us to have the means to protect ourselves."

"So, you wanted to take the Rivers and Mountains Painting to use it as leverage in negotiations with the Spirit Nidus?" True God asked lightly.

"Yes."

"Unfortunately, it was taken by Xia Shang."

These words caused Forgotten Ruins God's expression to sour. "Xia Shang is too annoying to deal with. He’s even learned Wu Xing's method of skipping time. If not for that, I would have killed him."

True God chuckled. "You can't kill him."

Forgotten Ruins God looked confused.

True God stared off into the distance. "Xia Shang might not possess Ku Jie’s defenses that render him immortal, but Xia Shang possesses a greater will and combat talent than anyone else. Those things are enough to ensure that he can always turn the tides when faced with adversity.

"In the past, it took almost all Seven Skygods to kill his eight clones, and even then, we failed to destroy his main body. After that, he hid in Burial Garden and developed that Linked Palm of his, while also recultivating his sequence particles.

"Given enough time, someone like him will become truly terrifying."

Forgotten Ruins God said, "Xia Shang will find me."

True God replied, "I am still unable to take action."

As he spoke, his attention shifted to Yan Gang.

The man trembled. Forgotten Ruins God and True God had done nothing to hide their conversation from Yan Gang, which meant that he had heard everything that they had said. He knew exactly who was in front of him.

This was the ruler of Aeternus, the invincible lord of the universe, True God.

Yan Gang had never dreamed that he would one day meet True God face-to-face.

While True God was unquestionably humanity’s greatest enemy, that did nothing to make the man any less intimidating to Yan Gang. It was fair to say that, no matter how much humanity hated True God, most humans would be terrified in his presence. He seemed like the ruler of the universe.

"Take good care of your Nest. It will be of great use in the future."

Yan Gang had no idea how to respond, so he simply bowed and nodded.

...

In the Origin Universe, on an ordinary planet in the Fifth Mainland, children could be heard reading aloud, and their voices broke the peace of the morning.

A man with glasses was flipping through a book while listening to the children reading in a nearby classroom. There was a smile on his lips. It was the start of a new day, and the children were probably most excited about the fact that the next day was the start of the weekend. He chuckled, remembering how he had felt the same as a student.

As he turned the pages of his book, the man quickly found the content he was searching for.

At that moment, the man noticed that the text on the page he was reading had started twisting. Frowning, he took a second look, only to see nothing at all. It was possible that he had just gone to bed too late and was still tired.

He tried to copy the text again, but the words twisted once more.

The man stared at the writing. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Oddly enough, there was still nothing. Just what was going on?

Suddenly, the writing rose out from the page and formed an intimidating mouth that swallowed the man whole. There was a sharp crack, and his glasses fell to the floor. The impact shattered them.

Someone entered the room. "Teacher Pang?"

Where was he? The person looked around, but they only found the glasses on the floor. There was nothing else at all.

A light breeze blew through the room, flipping through the pages of the book. The words still twisted, as though there was something crawling through them. Outside, the sound of the reading children remained crisp, and the morning air was still fresh and calm.

Bits of paper fell from the book, landing on the chair and the floor next to the broken glasses. If someone were to put those pieces together, they would find a picture of the man.

A short time later, the same scene played out on a distant planet.

This time, the oddity was witnessed by more than one person, as the man who was devoured and shredded to pieces had been in the middle of giving a speech.

The strange incident incited widespread panic on his planet, but it was a primitive planet that had not yet started exploring outer space. The inhabitants knew nothing about cultivation or the Heavens Sect, and there was no way for them to send any messages to the greater universe.

Similarly terrifying and disturbing scenes started to take place throughout the universe.

In the Innerverse’s Erudite Flowzone, Wen Qian’er sat in a courtyard. He was feeling rather annoyed.

"Damn it, Xiao Li! Are you still not out? You’ve kept me waiting for so long! Just wait! I’ll make sure you regret this!"

After another half-hour passed, Wen Qian’er gritted her teeth and shot to her feet. "You’re courting death!"

She stormed into the neighboring courtyard and kicked the door open. "Damn it, Xiao Li! How much longer are you going to make me wait for? Get out here now!"

A few nearby people heard her shouts and shook their heads in exasperation. Xiao Li was in trouble again. She had been sent to train under Wen Qian’er by her mother, but how was that any different from sending her to die?

Wen Qian’er stormed into the courtyard, where she kicked another door open. "You’re still not coming out? Are you trying to slack off? Just see how I deal with you!"

However, when the woman looked in the room, she saw that it was empty. Wen Qian’er frowned, confused. Where was she?

She entered the room and felt that she had stepped on something. When she glanced down, she saw a picture.

She picked it up. The picture had already been torn apart, but for a cultivator, putting the pieces back together was nothing difficult.

When the pieces were put together, they formed the picture of a cheerful girl with a bright smile and small, mischievous teeth. She was Xiao Li.

Wen Qian’er stared at the picture in bewilderment. What the hell?

Suddenly, Wen Qian’er felt a chill all over. She was overcome by a terror that was impossible to describe. As it fell upon her, she felt as though she was about to be devoured by something. She looked up and saw that a large, intimidating mouth had appeared out of nowhere; it was reaching down to bite her.

There was a loud bang, and the monstrous mouth was shoved aside, and someone appeared beside Wen Qian'er with an extremely grave expression on their face. "Literary Prison!"

The mouth was forced to the side. The face of the man who stood next to Wen Qian'er was filled with a great deal of concern. "Literary Prison!"

More and more characters appeared, and together, they formed barriers that sealed the room. The void trembled, and everything nearby started to shatter. The commotion captured the attention of the entire Wen family.

At the entrance to the Wen family’s home, Patriarch Wen Zizai grew pale, and he immediately shot into the estate.

Wen Qian'er was curled up on the ground, trembling as she clutched Xiao Li’s picture tightly in her hand.

"Qian’er, what happened?" Wen Zizai asked as soon as he arrived.

Wen Sansi stood Wen Qian'er. He slowly turned his head to look at Wen Zizai. "Patriarch, a Scrollbane Centipede has appeared."

...