Chapter 3344: Strategic Strikes

The Spirit Nidus's unified cultivation methods lacked creativity, and that was because of the cultural attribute of their cultivation methods. But this was not to say that they were wrong. After all, they were extremely powerful at the moment. However, the Tianyuan Megaverse possessed a culture rich in creativity, which provided more opportunities.

Lu Yin shared his thoughts, and Wang Wen’s eyes lit up. “Is that the case? That makes things far more interesting.”

Lu Yin was surprised. “That’s not what you were referring to?”

Wang Wen shook his head. “You’re talking about the cultivation culture, which is something I don’t fully understand. I didn’t receive much insight from how Shao Chen managed to land an attack on that Seraph, but the reasoning that the Spirit Nidus uses shows me a completely different kind of warfare. Let me ask you something.

“If a herd of elephants tramples over ants, do they need to use any strategy?”

“No, they just stomp over the ants.”

“Exactly. They wouldn’t bother with any strategy. That’s the mentality of the Spirit Nidus’s cultivators. On the other hand, our Tianyuan Megaverse is constantly employing and devising strategies. Aeternus plotted against the Heavens Sect, defeating a stronger opponent from a weaker position. They destroyed the Mainlands one by one. Dao Monarch Chesspiece, you’ve used countless strategies yourself in order to defeat Aeternus, and it all started with uniting the Outerverse. Strategy is a concept that has followed you your whole life.”

Lu Yin interrupted, “Just because the Spirit Nidus doesn’t use strategies doesn’t mean that they don’t know how to. How could there not be at least a few brilliant minds in an entire megaverse? I wouldn’t be surprised if they even have someone as intelligent as Progenitor Hui.”

“However, those people would have all been washed out by the overall mentality of the cultivators in the Spirit Nidus,” Wang Wen countered.

Lu Yin stared at the man.

Wang Wen confidently stated, “The greatest invention of intelligent minds is deception, while their greatest weakness is habit. The Spirit Nidus, with their unified cultivation methods, believes in warfare by utter dominance. They fully believe that they can conquer anything and everything. In fact, not even the Consciousness Megaverse could stand up to them. As soon as their expedition arrived at our Tianyuan Megaverse, they started fighting without even questioning our true strength. That shows their mentality and their habits as a civilization.

“The mentality of a civilization such as theirs is not one that focuses on strategy. This is dictated by the attributes of their cultivation culture, which is not something that can be artificially changed; they would have to suffer a terrible loss to do so. Dao Monarch, we have a chance to defeat them when it comes to the attributes of our civilization.

“War requires determination, fate, and luck. Every last one is absolutely essential. In terms of absolute strength, it seems that, at the least, the first wave of invaders might not be able to measure up to us. That alone gives us a thirty percent chance of victory. We’ve already seen through their mentality as a civilization, which means that our strategy will be able to succeed at least once. I call this a strategic attack, and it will give us another thirty percent chance of victory. However, luck is where we’re at a disadvantage. Dao Monarch, you returned that sequence base because of this exact disadvantage.

“Out of a perfect score of ten, we’re already at six, which means that we are bound to defeat the first wave of invaders from the Spirit Nidus.

“This is warfare unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before. Victory or defeat won’t rest solely on strength, but also on the attributes of our cultivations.

“This is a war of cultivations between the culture and mentality of two civilizations from two different megaverses. However, the Spirit Nidus hasn’t realized this just yet. They still see this as nothing more than a war, and that ensures their failure.”

Lu Yin’s eyes gleamed. “What are you planning to do?”

Wang Wen smiled. “What do you think the Spirit Nidus desires most right now?”

“Right now, the people from the Spirit Nidus are all hiding outside the stone gate. They don’t have any intentions of making any moves until more reinforcements arrive. Right now, they probably want my life more than anything else,” Lu Yin replied.

Wang Wen shook his head. “I watched every bit of that battle from start to finish. The only time when that old man who fought you showed any fear was when you sailed over the River of Aeons, Dao Monarch Chesspiece.”

“The Mirari Realm?” Lu Yin was surprised.

Wang Wen smiled. “I heard that the Origin Progenitor anchored the Mirari Realm to our megaverse, which seems a bit unfair to the Spirit Nidus. As far as they’re concerned, do you think that they want to take the Mirari Realm away from us? Since our Tianyuan Megaverse managed to anchor it here, they can do the same. Dao Monarch Chesspiece, you startled all of them badly when you traversed the River of Aeons.

“By the way, right now, the people of the Spirit Nidus are definitely very eager to know more about you, Dao Monarch Chesspiece. We should give them a chance to do so.

“It might be best to talk to Wei Rong. He’s probably already done something, Dao Monarch Chesspiece. That guy is great at preparing traps ahead of time.”

After Wang Wen left, Lu Yin met with Wei Rong. No one else knew what was said between the two, but once Wei Rong took his leave, there was clear anticipation on Lu Yin's face.

...

Several months passed after the battle at the megaverse’s boundary. During this time, the invaders from the Spirit Nidus stayed beyond the stone gate, which remained sealed due to the Impression Realm. Due to their caution of the sequence base, the Tianyuan Megaverse did not launch any further attacks. Both sides maintained peace for a period of time.

Lu Yin used the time to roll his die, and he finally succeeded in rolling six pips, which allowed him to Possess the Verdant Sage.

The moment Lu Yin’s mind entered the Verdant Sage’s body, all of the chaotic thoughts that had been swirling around calmed down entirely. It was as though he had moved from a stormy sea to a tranquil river.

The Verdant Sage's thoughts were simple: survival. All the bug wanted was to continue living, nothing more.

This was the Verdant Sage’s mindset. In order to stay alive, it treated Lu Yin with respect, and it obediently followed all of Lu Yin’s commands. However, beneath the facade, the insect kept certain things hidden, such as its true level of talent.

It was able to master whatever energies it cultivated even faster than what it had revealed, but in order to avoid alarming Lu Yin, the Verdant Sage had deliberately slowed its progress. Despite its efforts, it had noticed Lu Yin’s slight surprise at its progress, which had prompted the bug to make itself appear as even less of a threat in the future.

As for loyalty, there was none at all. The Verdant Sage’s only goal was survival. It wanted to remain alive, nothing more.

This was not simply the Verdant Sage’s thoughts, but a voice imprinted deep into its very soul. It was a voice that continuously urged the insect to survive, and the voice had to be obeyed, as it belonged to the Immortal Lord.

While Possessing the Verdant Sage, Lu Yin was finally able to sense the existence of the Immortal Lord. They were the one who had created the Nests and defeated the Lost Clan. They had seemed invincible to the human civilizations of the Lost Clan’s original megaverse.

The Verdant Sage’s memories revealed that it had never met the Immortal Lord, and it had indeed been born in the Tianyuan Megaverse. Despite that, the insect instinctively obeyed the Immortal Lord’s orders. However, due to being in separate megaverses, there was a barrier between the Verdant Sage and the Immortal Lord. That being might be very far away, or very close; the Verdant Sage simply did not know.

Lu Yin continued to rifle through the Verdant Sage’s memories. Even before it had spawned from its Nest, its body had instinctively evolved due to the countless insects that preceded it, all in order to take on the most suitable form for cultivating. In the West Mountain Dynasty’s universe, everyone had worshiped a god with the exact same appearance as the current Verdant Sage. However, the Verdant Sage regretted adopting that form, as it was not ideal for cultivating in the Origin Universe.

It wanted to survive, but it also wanted to become as powerful as possible.

For the time being, Lu Yin’s orders were the most important orders for the Verdant Sage, as obeying those orders was essential for its survival. While the insect could not disobey the Immortal Lord’s commands, it had not received any orders at all, aside from the order to survive. To Lu Yin, it felt as though the voice urging the Verdant Sage came from before the Nests had even been sent into the Tianyuan Megaverse.

The Immortal Lord had not issued a single order ever since the Nests had first arrived in the Tianyuan Megaverse.

The other Verdant Sage was not in the Origin Universe. This was something that Lu Yin’s captive Verdant Sage was completely certain of. From the creature’s memories, Lu Yin learned that the Verdant Sage really had never sensed the presence of another of its kind. However, Lu Yin also saw the creature’s true intentions; even if it did find another Verdant Sage, it would never reveal such information to Lu Yin, as it fully knew that doing so would lead to its own death.

The Verdant Sage’s only goal was survival, and it had absolutely no sense of loyalty. It would follow whoever controlled its life.

These were the entirety of the Verdant Sage’s memories. Lu Yin looked through all of them, and what he found matched what he knew of the creature. It was extremely talented, cunning, ruthless, and only loyal to the Immortal Lord. This was a Verdant Sage. However, Lu Yin felt that he still had not fully seen through the creature.

Verdant Sages were living creatures, and their instincts would emerge as they developed. Lu Yin was controlling a Verdant Sage that was practically a newborn, and he suspected that the insect was capable of transforming. After all, that was true of every living creature.

Lu Yin ended the Possession with the Verdant Sage none the wiser. The creature had no idea that it had been Possessed, let alone the fact that Lu Yin had seen through all of its memories.

For the time being, the Verdant Sage was no threat. As long as it wanted to survive, it would have to obey Lu Yin. As for anything that did not endanger its life, it would act without reservations. If exposing another Verdant Sage would not lead to death, the creature would have been willing to do so without any hesitation.

This was the nature of a Verdant Sage.

Life and death were the means to completely controlling a Verdant Sage. Until the Immortal Lord personally entered the Tianyuan Megaverse, Lu Yin would remain the master of his captive Verdant Sage.

Even if the Immortal Lord did appear, as long as Lu Yin was within five meters of the Verdant Sage, he would be able to briefly control it and access its memories.

As long as Lu Yin could Possess the creature, it was not a threat.

Lu Yin looked at the Verdant Sage, and it stared back at him.

“Master, do you have any orders?”

Lu Yin said, “Great Elder Shan Gu is still urging me to kill you.”

The Verdant Sage immediately grew terrified, and it started pleading, “Master, please don’t! I am completely loyal to you! I am definitely your best servant! Aren’t you at war? Let me help! I will make sure to prove myself to you. That old man is useless, but I am different. Master, I can help you find all of the Nests. I’m sure that there are many more hidden throughout this megaverse. Master, you have to trust me.”

Lu Yin’s gaze swept past the Verdant Sage. Just where had Cang Xiaoxue’s Verdant Sage gone?

...

In the Origin Universe’s Innerverse, the massive form of

Boundless

floated in outer space. Every day, it drew countless tourists.

No one could have guessed that the warship named

Boundless

that had carried Astral-10 would play such a significant role in the final battle at the Immemorial Citadel. Stories of that battle had spread, as had the story of how

Boundless

had traveled through the Hollow. The vessel’s history had aroused many people’s curiosity.

Those who stepped onto

Boundless

were baffled, as they were unable to see how the ship could travel through the Hollow.

After all, even Progenitors would die if they entered the Hollow.

The only remarkable aspect of

Boundless

was the blazing fire. There seemed to be nothing else at all.

Every day, countless people applied to visit

Boundless

. Many of Astral-10’s graduates, after being encouraged by family and friends, returned to their alma mater and showed those they knew around. Everyone had become aware that Astral-10 was not an ordinary place.

Astral-10 was where Lord Lu had started his cultivation journey. It was a place that meant a lot to him, and he had elevated it above the other branches of the Astral Combat Academy. Because of this, as the years passed, many people had aspired to enter Astral-10, though that was mostly due to sentimental reasons. Most of the true elites of the megaverse had not paid the school much attention.

However, the recent battle had revealed that Astral-10 was truly unique; it was a ship that could move through the Hollow. Learning this had transformed everyone’s ideas about the ship, and they started to wonder what made

Boundless

so special. Many Progenitors’ and families and sects now tried to send their most outstanding youths to study at Astral-10.