Chapter 3348: Eightfold Nexus

Lu Yin raised his hand and brought it back down, destroying another lantern.

Meng Sang spat out more blood before looking over at Lu Yin in disbelief.

What kind of power is this?

Meng Sang was clearly a Seraph, which meant that he stood at the very peak in all of the Spirit Nidus, and yet he had repeatedly lost to Lu Yin. Meng Sang could not understand what kind of techniques the Tianyuan Megaverse had developed that not even he could resist.

The damage he had suffered from the lanterns’ destruction far exceeded any of his earlier physical wounds.

He glared at Lu Yin with bloodshot eyes. Behind him, more of the lanterns were destroyed. As Lu Yin raised his hand and brought it back down, the Eightfold Nexus suddenly vanished. Lu Yin’s eyes flickered, and the downward motion of his hand instantly changed. The floating lanterns instantly vanished, only to reappear with Meng Sang trapped within them.

Meng Sang had been about to flee, but Lu Yin had preemptively sealed the Seraph within the lanterns.

There was blood at the corner of his mouth as Lu Yin said, “You trapped me once. Now, I’ll seal you. I managed to survive, but let’s see if you can.”

He then swung his hand down to attack again.

Inside the lanterns, Meng Sang let out a deep growl as an indescribable aura formed a gale. As Lu Yin’s arm dropped, and a lantern split in two. Meng Sang spat blood at the sky as his body suddenly tore apart and vanished.

This was a familiar sight to Lu Yin, as it was how Meng Sang had escaped after being found while Lu Yin had sailed across the River of Aeons in Astral-10.

This time, they were in the dream realm, within a dream of Lu Yin’s. Meng Sang had managed to escape in the exact same manner.

Lu Yin immediately left the dream realm.

His eyes opened on the mountain behind the Heavens Sect. He spat out a mouthful of blood and then stood up. As he took a single step, Lu Yin used the Cosmic Art, instantly enveloping the entire Fifth Mainland. Stars moved as he grasped the entirety of the Fifth Mainland, quickly pinpointing the Seraph’s location.

Lu Yin vanished.

Beneath the Fifth Mainland’s Astral River, Meng Sang spat out blood as his body trembled. He had escaped, but at the cost of permanently falling by a realm. He was only an Ortuser, and he would never be able to try to overcome Dukkha again. Even if the Tianyuan Megaverse was reset, Meng Sang had no chance to achieve Immortality.

He had completely opened up a gap between himself and the other Seraphs.

“Lu Yin, you bastard!” Meng Sang’s eyes blazed with hatred. The shadows of the Eightfold Nexus protected him. He did not dare to move at all, as he was terrified of being discovered by Lu Yin.

Suddenly, Meng Sang’s expression changed. Right in front of him, Lu Yin emerged from the void, his cold eyes already focused on Meng Sang.

Meng Sang did not hesitate at all to turn and try to escape again. His eight shadows again moved to block Lu Yin, trapping him within the Eightfold Nexus.

The small boat that was Lightstream flickered into view, and time was reversed by a second. The sequence moved back a second, and Lu Yin threw a palm strike. Terrifying power shot through space and slammed into Meng Sang’s back, ripping through his body. The next moment, the Eightfold Nexus reappeared, once again trapping Lu Yin.

As for Meng Sang, he had vanished without a trace. He had sacrificed the eight shadows to buy a chance to escape.

Blood streamed along the bottom of the Astral River.

Lu Yin let out a breath. The Seraph had escaped. He had reacted too quickly, and he had not even hesitated to abandon a sequence base.

Lu Yin had obtained another sequence base. He had lost the stolen Heaven-Devouring Umbrella, only to obtain the Eightfold Nexus.

Meng Sang had survived several of Lu Yin’s attacks, including Natural Art and Lu Yin’s final blow. The Seraph was barely alive. While there was no chance of Meng Sang showing himself again anytime soon, Lu Yin regretted letting Meng Sang survive.

A living Meng Sang was a lingering threat.

Without Meng Sang’s control, Lu Yin was easily able to collect the Eightfold Nexus. He could not use the sequence base, so he pulled it into his inner universe, which then slowly pulled away the sequence particles as it digested the sequence base.

As for Life's Requiem, that quickly dissipated. It was a poison formed from the use of sequence particles, which meant that it could not last very long.

Was that why the sequence technique was ranked sixth? It produced a poison that had worked on even Lu Yin. If not for its short duration, if the poison were able to persist a bit longer, the sequence technique would have at least ranked within the top three.

Fighting against Meng Sang had strengthened Lu Yin's understanding of the Spirit Nidus’s sequence techniques.

While sequence techniques were incomparable to sequence bases, the top ten sequence techniques were something else entirely.

They could be regarded as just as much of a threat as a sequence base, and they needed to be treated as such.

After returning to the Heavens Sect, Lu Yin ended the crisis response. Many cultivators breathed sighs of relief. Since they had been freed from the threat that was Meng Sang, they could continue training. As long as the emergency response was in effect, they would not be able to cultivate at all.

Soon, Lu Yin arrived at the Tower of the Fifth, where he added the names of Shao Chen and the others who had died in Astral-10.

He gazed at the Tower of the Fifth for a long time, not saying a word. The Spirit Nidus had only just begun their invasion, and yet so many people from the Tianyuan Megaverse had already perished. If the conflict dragged on, Lu Yin truly could not guess just how many would survive to the end.

The Nests were also a looming crisis, as were the last remnants of Aeternus. In addition to those two threats, there still was the Spirit Nidus.

None of the threats had appeared suddenly. All of them had been present in the Tianyuan Megaverse for a long time. It was Lu Yin’s sudden rise to power that had brought the threats into the open.

Had his rise been a good thing or a bad thing for his era?

Ordinary humans had short lifespans of no more than a century. Had Lu Yin not appeared, an entire generation of ordinary humans would have lived and died without going through various battles and wars or dying because of them. But because Lu Yin had appeared, countless lives had been lost.

Lu Yin remained silent as he stood beneath the Tower of the Fifth.

Several days later, news arrived from the boundary: the Spirit Nidus wished to negotiate with Lu Yin.

He arrived at the boundary. Just beyond the stone gate, the people of the Spirit Nidus stood on their battleship, staring at Lu Yin.

“Negotiations?” Lu Yin asked.

Chu Yi was the one to reply, “It’s that president of their Chamber of Commerce who wants to negotiate with you.”

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. It would seem that the Spirit Nidus had already learned that Meng Sang had lost the Eightfold Nexus and wanted to threaten Lu Yin yet again.

In front of him, the round-faced old man entered outer space. "Lord Lu, come speak with me.”

Lu Yin moved forward, approaching the old man. "What do you want to discuss?”

The man stared at Lu Yin, and then raised a hand and extended his palm. "For the next fifty years, the Spirit Nidus will not fight against your Tianyuan Megaverse.”

Lu Yin arched a brow, but he said nothing as he waited to hear the rest of the offer.

“In exchange, return the Eightfold Nexus to us”

Lu Yin chuckled. "So, you know about Meng Sang?”

The old man’s expression grew solemn. "You are the first person I have ever seen who has managed to defeat Meng Sang, Lord Lu. At your age, that would have been beyond even the High Seraph. He was not even close. If you are willing to join my Spirit Nidus, you may well become the High Seraph in the future.”

“I've heard your nonsense several times before, and I don’t want to hear it again,” Lu Yin said impatiently. “As for returning the Eightfold Nexus, is this a joke?”

The old man did not get angry. "Trading the Eightfold Nexus for fifty years of peace is no loss for you. From what I know of your Tianyuan Megaverse, because the Mirari Realm is anchored here, your megaverse has many parallel universes where time flows differently, and you are even able to enter the Mirari Realm, where time does not pass.

“While I am only offering you fifty years, for you, it could be 500, 5,000, or even 50,000 years. Such a long amount of time would be enough for your Tianyuan Megaverse to see a tremendous spike of power.”

Lu Yin smiled. "You know quite a bit about us.”

The old man continued, "The Eightfold Nexus is of no use to you. No one in your Tianyuan Megaverse can utilize our sequence bases, so why not return it to me and gain fifty years of peace? What is there to refuse?”

Lu Yin nodded. "Logically, your offer is sound. Your Eightfold Nexus can be taken from any of you, given that I was able to take it from Meng Sang.”

Lu Yin’s comment caused the old man’s expression to darken, but he did not argue.

“However, I still refuse,” Lu Yin stated decisively.

The old man frowned. "Lord Lu, consider things carefully. It's rare to be able to trade something utterly useless to you for an opportunity to greatly increase your own strength. By the way, you seem to believe that our reinforcements will arrive in fifty years, but you’re mistaken. I can assure you that our reinforcements will arrive in no more than twenty years.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed as he stared at the old man.

The Seraph confidently declared, "Just twenty years. This means that by sacrificing the Eightfold Nexus, you will gain thirty years of peace. Why don’t I offer you fifty years once they arrive? That means that you will have seventy years of peace.

“The strength of your Tianyuan Megaverse means that it is impossible for you to stand against my Spirit Nidus. Gaining another opportunity to increase your strength is nothing less than another chance at victory, isn’t it?”

Lu Yin chuckled. "So you’re helping us?”

The old man shook his head. "I just want to get the Eightfold Nexus back. Compared to how you can increase your strength, the sequence base is even more important to me. If I lose the Eightfold Nexus, I will struggle to justify myself to the High Seraph. Time passes like flowing water. It’s nothing that I care about. As for your strength rising, I also don’t care. Once the High Seraph arrives, you will have no chance at all. As for me, I can’t afford to make a mistake. I am offering you this opportunity out of selfishness.”

“The High Seraph is coming?” Lu Yin was surprised by this news.

The old man smiled. "Of course.”

“How does his strength compare to yours?”

“He is incomparable.”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. Incomparable? Was the gap really so large? It should be impossible for the High Seraph to be an Immortal.

Progenitor Xi had claimed that the High Seraph should be about as powerful as True God, which meant that the Origin Progenitor should be able to stand against the High Seraph.

Mister Mu had been greatly weakened during the war in his own megaverse, not to mention the fact that he had used Origin Tracer to anchor the Mirari Realm to the Tianyuan Megaverse. Mister Mu was nowhere near as strong as the Origin Progenitor. At his peak, the Origin Progenitor was even able to defeat True God, so it should also be possible for him to deal with the High Seraph.

“This old man knows that your Tianyuan Megaverse has some top-tier experts who might be able to contend with the High Seraph, but whether or not they will be able to do so, or if they can even regain their former strength, will take time. Seventy years should be sufficient. Lord Lu, don’t deceive yourself,” the old man spoke slowly.

Lu Yin’s attention turned to the battleship. "Meng Sang slaughtered everyone in Astral-10.”

The old man just shrugged. "It was just a school. Such an incident won’t create even a ripple in the overall war. During our earlier battle, just how many standard peak powerhouses did both of us lose? Compared to such experts, a school is worthless.”

“If I give you the Eightfold Nexus, how will I explain things to those who were killed by Meng Sang?” Lu Yin countered.

The old man’s frown deepened. "That’s your concern. Whether you can live with that or not has nothing to do with me. I’ll tell you again: return the Eightfold Nexus to me, and I’ll give you seventy years of peace. This is the best offer you’ll get. Don’t be deceived.”

“What if I simply refuse to return it?” Lu Yin countered.

The old man’s expression grew frigid. "I offered you this chance due to my own selfishness, and yet you forsake it for your own desires. I’ve overestimated you.”

“If your reinforcements will arrive in just twenty years, why should I believe that you’ll give us another fifty years of peace after that?” Lu Yin retorted.