Chapter 3357: Springboard

Lu Yin kept his eyes closed, as though he were simply resting.

Palace Master Yao’s eyes flickered. "I told you, this is useless."

Lu Yin showed no reaction.

The woman’s eyes narrowed. "We rose up from being ordinary people. We’ve gone through too much to care about life or death anymore. Lord Lu, how many times have you faced death? Instead of playing tricks like this, why don’t you focus on strengthening your Tianyuan Megaverse? Our Spirit Nidus is far stronger than you realize."

Lu Yin still remained silent, his eyes never opening.

"Since you are the one who chooses who dies, then even if you do kill one of us, it will only be the one that you’ve already decided upon. The other two of us won’t even know what was said. That’s why you’re keeping the other two in the dark. Speaking won’t help us, and none of us are fools. You will get nothing from us."

The incense stick was nearly gone. There was only a faint red ember left.

Palace Master Yao’s eyes clicked down to the stick of incense, and her pupils fluctuated slightly. She glanced back up at Lu Yin and softly stated, "I am the High Seraph’s whetstone. The High Seraph cultivates the sequence technique known as Everstone. The firmer his resolve is, the stronger his sequence technique becomes. At its peak, he can alter both the universe and others through his will alone. He sharpens Everstone by refining it against my Absolute Reversal sequence technique.

"I alone understand just how powerful the High Seraph truly is. I am the only one in all of the Spirit Nidus, aside from the Fated One, who knows everything about the High Seraph—his mirebound artifact, his Spirit Weapon, his sequence base, and his innate gift. I know everything about him. I-"

But before she could finish, death energy surrounded her again. The incense had burned out.

Palace Master Yao stared at the pitch-black death energy with a grim expression. She had not been able to hold back. There was no guarantee that she would live, but staying alive was infinitely better than dying. Few were aware of her relationship with the High Seraph. As long as he was alive, she would enjoy a unique status in the Spirit Nidus. After the Tianyuan Megaverse was reset, she would have an opportunity to try to reach the Immortal realm, and her prospects for the future were even better than the Seven Seraphs.

Why should she accept death here?

She was one of the Absolute Duo of Ascendant Hall, revered by countless throughout the Spirit Nidus. Dying in an underground prison was not a worthy death.

How despicable. That man had used this game to exploit Palace Master Yao’s weakness. No, he had exploited human nature.

She swore to kill him, no matter what it might take.

Lu Yin next appeared in front of Tian Ci. Not a word was spoken as another stick of incense was lit.

As he saw the thin stream of smoke rise, Tian Ci quickly spoke up. "Lord Lu, I have nothing to hide. I will answer any question you ask."

Lu Yin just closed his eyes.

Ask? What could he ask? The human heart was unfathomable, and asking questions might instead allow Tian Ci to gain a greater understanding of Lu Yin.

For Tian Ci, survival was more important than anything else, and at this moment, if he wanted to survive, he could not hold anything back.

Lu Yin did not ask any question, or even speak. A single chance was all that he offered, and Tian Ci did not dare to take such a risk.

Before, when he had been in the Heavens Sect’s main hall, speaking with Lu Yin and the Three Realms and Six Daos, Tian Ci had tried his best to keep certain matters concealed. That was impossible at this moment. Lu Yin was confident that Tian Ci would speak, as long as the secrets he shared would not simply kill him, like those characters of “slave” and “heaven” that Lu Yin had seen before.

When Ye Zhang, Tian Feng, and Tian En had died, all of them had revealed that they had the character “slave.”

According to Lu Yin’s understanding, the only being capable of enslaving such powerhouses was an Immortal like Master Qing Cao, but Lu Yin still felt like there was something missing.

"Lord Lu, I’ll tell you everything I should, but at this moment, I don’t even know what you want to know about. Give me a bit of time, and I’ll compile everything I know about both the Spirit Nidus and the Tianyuan for you. Killing me won’t gain you anything. I’m far more valuable alive.

"Trust me, I won’t disappoint you."

Lu Yin kept his eyes closed as Tian Ci spoke.

The truth was that Tian Ci was very similar to Palace Master Yao, but he was taking a different approach. Palace Master Yao had chosen to say nothing until the incense had nearly burned out, whereas Tian Ci babbled on without offering anything of actual value. Both were equally useless to Lu Yin.

Seeing that the incense stick was half gone and Lu Yin still had not opened his eyes, Tian Ci’s face grew pale. "Lord Lu, you’ve been preparing for the Spirit Nidus, and fighting against us shows that you have some understanding of us. Did you learn about us from Yuan Qi? Or from one of the Consciousness Megaverse’s conscients?

"I don’t know how aware you are of the relationships between the three megaverses. Do you know about the springboard?"

Lu Yin kept his eyes closed, showing no reaction.

Tian Ci grew frustrated. It was maddening to try to save his own life without knowing if it was even possible. No matter how much he hated Lu Yin, at this moment, Tian Ci had to find something of value to share.

"There’s a springboard between my Spirit Nidus, the Consciousness Megaverse, and your Tianyuan Megaverse. springboard is the name that we gave it. Our three megaverses are equidistant from each other, and in between all three of them is an inexplicable phenomenon. Reaching that place allows one to quickly travel in any direction, provided that they can withstand the force of the impact. The Spirit Nidus’s vanguard traveled here using that.

"We can use the springboard to reach the Consciousness Megaverse as well as this Tianyuan Megaverse. The invasion’s first wave was nothing more than a test. If the Tianyuan Megaverse was weak enough, then the vanguard would wipe you all out. If that failed, then a second wave would quickly be sent out, followed by a third, a fourth, and more. All of them are to join with the vanguard. Our true task is to build something similar to the springboard outside of the Stone Gate.

"It’s taken years, but we’re finally very close to completing construction. As soon as it’s completed, we’ll be able to jump between the Tianyuan Megaverse and the springboard that lies in between the three megaverses in no more than ten years, which is incredibly quick. My journey from the Spirit Nidus to this Tianyuan Megaverse took an incredibly long time; it was nearly 10,000 years, as we had not yet learned to use the springboard..."

While Lu Yin appeared to be as calm and indifferent as ever, internally, his mind was in turmoil. He had not anticipated anything like what Tian Ci was sharing.

In the beginning, Progenitor Xi had said that the Consciousness Megaverse was restrained by the Spirit Nidus. To travel from the Consciousness Megaverse to the Tianyuan Megaverse, it was necessary to first pass through the Spirit Nidus, which sat between the other two megaverses.

That was when Lu Yin had first heard the names of the Spirit Nidus and the Consciousness Megaverse. The conversation had taken place soon after the final battle at the Immemorial Citadel.

That moment was when Lu Yin had started to learn about the three megaverses. While he never trusted everything that Progenitor Xi said, he had never questioned one particular detail.

It was only at this moment that Lu Yin understood Progenitor Xi’s greatest deception of all.

The three megaverses were equidistant, which meant that they essentially sat at the corners of a triangle. At the center was the springboard. Whoever controlled that center would hold the advantage.

Progenitor Xi might not have known about the springboard, but her words had still succeeded in forcing the Tianyuan Megaverse into a conflict with the Spirit Nidus. If she had been aware of the springboard and deliberately concealed its existence, then her motives were even more complicated than what Lu Yin had initially believed.

Instantly, Lu Yin discarded everything he had learned from Progenitor Xi, and he started to reevaluate his understanding of the three megaverses.

Tian Ci kept talking, not knowing if Lu Yin cared about the information he was saying, due to the fact that Lu Yin never showed any reaction at all. Since Lu Yin never stopped the man, Tian Ci had no choice but to continue talking.

However, the rest of the information that he shared was nothing more than details regarding battles and events that had taken place in the Tianyuan Megaverse. Nothing was even remotely close to as important as the revelation regarding the springboard.

Lu Yin was still engrossed in that.

More than half of the incense stick had burned away, and only a small bit remained.

Beads of sweat dripped down Tian Ci’s forehead. Seeing that there was still no reaction from Lu Yin, the man racked his brain for further secrets to share. What could he offer? What value could he hold for Lu Yin?

Tian Ci was competing with Yuan Qi, a Seraph, and Palace Master Yao, who had a close connection to the High Seraph himself. It was impossible for Tian Ci to compete with those two and survive, unless...

The incense stick was about to burn out.

Lu Yin opened his eyes, his expression cold and emotionless. To Tian Ci, they were eyes that were staring at a dead man.

"Lord Lu, what did they tell you? Was it Yuan Qi or Palace Master Yao? You can’t believe them! They’re lying to you. I’ll do everything in my power to help you. I’ll help you deal with Yong Heng and the Spirit Nidus. I will do anything!" Tian Ci was desperate.

Lu Yin slowly raised a hand and touched Tian Ci’s head as the man stared in terror. "Lord Lu, there’s still one more person! One of us hasn’t spoken to you yet! You said that this would end after all three of us spoke to you!"

He was convinced that Lu Yin was going to kill him.

Lu Yin stared at Tian Ci’s forehead. "There should be a character here."

Tian Ci’s eyes narrowed as his face turned ashen.

Lu Yin glanced at the incense. "Almost out of time."

Tian Ci gulped. "It’s Master Qing Cao."

"Who else is there?"

"I only know about the Boundary Guardians. If there are any others, I never knew about them."

"Who does that blood-red sword belong to?"

Tian Ci’s voice trembled. "To... Master Qing Cao."

The incense burned out, and darkness enveloped Tian Ci. He stared forward as Lu Yin disappeared, his heart pounding. One more incense stick would burn, and once that expired, one of the three prisoners would die.

Damned game! Damned Lu Yin! What did the other two say?

Tian Ci never questioned whether or not Lu Yin would kill one of them. Only by executing one of the prisoners could Lu Yin ensure that the two survivors would fully cooperate. The execution would be a show of power.

It would serve as proof that Lu Yin could decide the lives of even Ortusers or Dukkhans.

Lu Yin lit the last stick of incense as he appeared before Yuan Qi. The younger man closed his eyes, just as when he had spoken to the other two prisoners.

Yuan Qi was calm. "Lord Lu, may I ask what the other two told you?"

Lu Yin showed no reaction. The smoke rising from the incense blurred his face.

Yuan Qi shook his head. "Whatever they told you, my secret is greater. However, in exchange for sharing this secret, I not only ask for my life, I also ask that, should the Tianyuan Megaverse face total defeat, at your moment of desperation and weakness, you will not kill me. I will remember such kindness, Lord Lu, and will do my best to protect those you wish to save. What do you say?"

Lu Yin still showed no response, and the incense continued to slowly burn away.

Yuan Qi frowned. "This deal is absolutely worthwhile. So far, I’ve answered your questions and haven’t tried to keep any secrets, but this is one secret that I’ve kept for years. No one else knows about this, and it is worth more than enough to guarantee my life."

Lu Yin remained silent.

Yuan Qi’s voice dropped low. "Lord Lu, I am a Seraph of the Spirit Nidus. A dead Seraph has no value to you. If you wanted me dead, I wouldn’t still be alive. Whatever one of us tells you, the others cannot hear. Who lives and who dies depend solely on your will, Lord Lu. I am certainly more valuable to you than the other two."

Lu Yin was unfazed, and his eyes remained closed. He might as well have been sleeping.