Chapter 3376: Spirit Transformation Art

Before leaving, Lu Yin first met with the three Spirit Nidus peak powerhouse that Astral Anura had delivered as captives.

The three were feeling hopeless after arriving at the Heavens Sect. The best future for them was imprisonment, while the worst was, of course, death.

People from another megaverse were of little value to Lu Yin. It was impossible to confer them as summoned gods, as they would never willingly agree. On top of that, Feng Bo had already proven that people from other megaverses could not be anointed as champions. Finally, the Possession from Lu Yin’s die did not work on people from the Spirit Nidus, which meant that he could not access their memories. What could he do to Possess such people?

The nature of a war between megaverses was entirely different from those that took place within one, and Lu Yin’s methods needed to evolve accordingly.

He could not conceal his aura as an outsider, which meant that he could not disguise himself. Possession had also become ineffective.

He needed to find new ways to adapt to this new scale of war.

"Have you heard of Heavenspire?" Lu Yin asked the three prisoners in a frigid tone while squeezing them with his aura. They were under so much pressure that it was hard for them to breathe.

Of the three, the two men reflexively looked at the woman, and Lu Yin followed suit.

She said, "I am from Heavenspire."

A casual wave of his hand caused the two men to leave them.

"Tell me everything you know about Heavenspire," Lu Yin calmly ordered.

The woman did not refuse. Anyone who was given the chance to live would prefer to not die. She had cultivated from an ordinary human to the peak powerhouse level, and she had endured countless hardships along the way. Survival had become instinctual. While such people might not fear death, they were unwilling to easily accept it.

Such people would grasp onto any sliver of hope in order to stay alive.

The woman started speaking, sharing all that she knew about Heavenspire.

When it came to the world of cultivators, things were fair to all. Regardless of whether someone had an influential background or was just an independent cultivator, no matter how high or low they started, the risk of death was always waiting for them.

Everyone had their own understanding of cultivation.

Naturally, Heavenspire excelled at cultivation.

From what the woman shared, Lu Yin understood that her cultivation had been a relatively simple process of rising up, step by step. It was no different from how the people of the Fifth Mainland or the Sixverse Association cultivated until they became peak powerhouses.

While the place was called Heavenspire, from what Lu Yin heard, it was actually multiple parallel universes.

Lu Yin knew that it was the Lesser Spirit Megaverse.

The woman did not know about the Lesser Spirit Megaverse, as someone at her level was unqualified to know about such things. This was similar to how not all of the four ruling powers in the Perennial World had known about the Sixverse Association, let alone the Tianyuan Megaverse as a whole.

The woman’s story was that she had started cultivating in a parallel universe in the Lesser Spirit Megaverse, risen to the peak powerhouse level, and then entered the Spirit Nidus. It was similar to if Lu Yin had become a Progenitor in the Fifth Mainland and then entered the Sixverse Association, where he encountered other parallel universes.

It had essentially been the same process.

The difference was that Lu Yin had been informed that all the parallel universes he had visited were collectively part of the Tianyuan Megaverse.

When the woman left her megaverse, she had been told that it was just another part of the greater Spirit Nidus. Apparently, the region of parallel universes that she had known were collectively referred to as Heavenspire.

That was the truth of Heavenspire.

As far as countless people in the Spirit Nidus were concerned, Heavenspire was just another region of their megaverse, similar to the Hollow, pocket dimensions that could be accessed in hidden spaces, or the ponds that families in the Perennial World maintained. Access to Heavenspire was concealed within a mountain, which was also called Heavenspire.

Heavenspire was both a hidden region of the universe and an actual mountain, both of which belonged to the High Seraph.

The moment the woman had left her home group of parallel universes, she had encountered the High Seraph, and from him, learned about various matters in the Spirit Nidus. Her people’s cultivation methods were identical to those of the Spirit Nidus, which made it easy for them to be accepted in the megaverse.

But Lu Yin was most curious about how her outsider’s aura was concealed.

Meng Sang was eager to return to the Spirit Nidus because he had succeeded in finding people from the Lesser Spirit Megaverse.

Yuan Qi had not bothered trying to identify anyone. He had been captured by the Heavens Sect before the Spirit Nidus’s invasion had even started, and he had never even met anyone else from the Spirit Nidus. If he had, then during his conversation with Meng Sang, Yuan Qi would have simply told Meng Sang how to distinguish cultivators from the Lesser Spirit Megaverse. Meng Sang must have tried out a few different things to figure out how.

According to Yuan Qi’s speculations, in order to deceive the experts of the Spirit Nidus, and particularly to avoid the Seven Seraphs’ detection, there was only one option: spirit seeds.

The people of the Lesser Spirit Megaverse used the same unified cultivation methods as the Spirit Nidus. Only if a spirit seed was cultivated from the beginning could one even talk about concealing their aura to avoid being noticed as an outsider.

Every peak powerhouse that left the Lesser Spirit Megaverse encountered the High Seraph, which was highly unusual.

Given the status of the High Seraph, only sequence powerhouses and above should be qualified to meet with him.

However, the woman who spoke with Lu Yin had not only met the High Seraph, but she had also received a technique from him.

The technique did not have a name, or at least, the High Seraph had not given it one. Many people from Heavenspire referred to it as the Spirit Transformation Art, as it was only taught to people from Heavenspire. No one else had ever received it from the High Seraph.

The Spirit Transformation Art was a straightforward technique that only did one thing: it allowed one to adapt to the Spirit Nidus. There was almost nothing else to it.

However, that was only because people did not understand the true purpose of the technique.

The spirit seeds that people from the Lesser Spirit Megaverse cultivated had all been modified by the High Seraph. To truly prevent any experts from the Spirit Nidus from detecting that there were people from another megaverse, it was necessary to combine the modified spirit seeds with the Spirit Transformation Art. This was why everyone who left Heavenspire was required to cultivate the Spirit Transformation Art.

The technique was easy to learn and could be mastered very quickly.

No one from Heavenspire knew that the technique had combined with their spirit seeds to conceal their auras of outsiders who did not belong to the Spirit Nidus. No one from the Spirit Nidus could have imagined that so many people had come from another megaverse.

Only those who were aware of the Lesser Spirit Megaverse’s existence could see through the High Seraph’s plan.

Lu Yin shook his head. Knowing the technique was pointless if he was unable to cultivate it.

It was a technique that could only be used by people who had cultivated in the same manner as the Spirit Nidus.

To avoid being detected as an outsider while in the Spirit Nidus, it was necessary to have either cultivated with a spirit seed and acquired the Spirit Transformation Art, or like Progenitor Xi, acquire someone’s physical body and replace their consciousness. Lu Yin was incapable of doing either option.

The woman was taken away and imprisoned. Lu Yin then summoned Yao Di and Skymender to come to the Heavens Sect, while he himself went to visit the Five Spirits Alliance’s universes.

He went to speak with Grandmaster Gu Yan and the other researchers.

Grandmaster Gu Yan was delighted to see Lu Yin. "I had originally just been trying to simplify the production of the 108-combination microarrays, but unexpectedly, we developed this."

"What is it? Tell me," Lu Yin asked, curious.

Grandmaster Gu Yan pointed to a microarray that had been layered onto a nearby universal armor. "Tell me if you see anything different."

Lu Yin looked. Given his current strength, he was able to instantly see the difference. He had already reached the Array Grandmaster level, and he was even the best lockbreaker in the Tianyuan Megaverse.

Of course, when it came to pure knowledge and theory, he was still not equal to Grandmaster Gu Yan or the others.

They had studied lockbreaking and sourcebox arrays for far too long, whereas Lu Yin had only reached the level of Array Grandmaster by relying on the experiences of Grandmaster Qiu Ling. It was Lu Yin’s cultivation that allowed him to surpass other lockbreakers, but while strength was indeed crucial, researching sourcebox arrays did not depend on cultivation alone.

"I see. By altering a sourcebox’s danger field, this microarray is transformed into a version that unleashes its full power on a timer." Lu Yin’s eyes lit up.

Grandmaster Gu Yan smiled. "In principle, it’s quite simple. We were always considering manual control modes and hadn’t considered such an approach. If we had thought of this earlier, we could have produced them a long time ago."

"What made you think of it now?" Lu Yin asked, puzzled.

Grandmaster Gu Yan sighed. "You’re probably going to go to the Spirit Nidus, aren’t you?"

Lu Yin raised an eyebrow. "You guessed that, Senior?"

Grandmaster Gu Yan replied, "It’s not just me. Many people have guessed that. We’re at war, and being passive and defensive isn’t your style. However, you won’t be able to take many people with you to the Spirit Nidus, so we’ve been thinking of ways to help you.

"These instantaneous microarrays that have the strength of a Progenitor’s attack should provide you with a bit of help."

Grandmaster Gu Yan and most of the others did not know that Lu Yin needed sequence bases to fill his inner universe with sequence particles, nor that the High Seraph intended to reset the Lesser Spirit Megaverse to achieve Immortality. They were assuming that Lu Yin would go to the Spirit Nidus purely from their basic understanding of the war.

Knowing oneself and the enemy was the most basic condition for achieving victory.

Without knowing about the Spirit Nidus, how could the Tianyuan Megaverse hope to win? Even with so many prisoners of war from the Spirit Nidus, it was impossible to gain full knowledge of their megaverse from them.

On top of that, there was also the Consciousness Megaverse to consider.

"These are just too expensive to produce," Lu Yin commented.

The 108-combination microarrays were being placed into the universal armors of the members of the Tianyuan Army. Given the materials that were currently available in the Tianyuan Megaverse, only about 3,000 soldiers could be fully equipped.

If some of the materials were diverted and used to create these alternate microarrays, then they would have no choice but to reduce the number of soldiers in the Tianyuan Army.

On top of that, the modified microarrays could only be used once.

In spite of this, Lu Yin and Grandmaster Gu Yan discussed the matter further, and they ultimately decided to proceed with its production. They could not make too few of the modified microarrays, but they also did not need to make too many of them, as that would also be pointless.

500 seemed to be about the right number.

This meant that Lu Yin would have 500 attacks with the strength of a Progenitor, which could also be detonated with a timer.

When the time came, these would undoubtedly give the Spirit Nidus a huge surprise.

After leaving the Five Spirits Alliance’s universes, Lu Yin took out a Zenith Mountain and released his captive Verdant Sage.

The green furball was not allowed to wander off too far away from Lu Yin, which was why the Verdant Sage was always kept close in such a manner.

The moment it was released, the close proximity meant that Lu Yin could immediately Possess the Verdant Sage and check its memories, while also using its senses to check the nearby area.

There was still no sign of any Nests or any other Verdant Sages. It was possible that they were simply too far away.

The green furball was essentially a kind of sensor that helped Lu Yin look for Nests.

Before the Verdant Sage could say a word, Lu Yin put it back in the Zenith Mountain. Periodically, he would take the creature back out in a random universe, hoping that he might get lucky and sense the presence of another Nest.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

After returning to the Heavens Sect, Lu Yin found Yao Di and Skymender respectfully waiting for him.

Lu Yin led them to Daynight Flowzone and into the ruins of the Celestial Frost Sect. There, they went through the Celestial Frost Pool to the subterranean area which had once held the Celestial Frost Sect’s treasury.

Lu Yin had once visited the treasury with Bai Shui and Qing Ping, and Qing Ping had been the one to discover the seal that Progenitor Hui had left behind.

The sight of the seal caused Lu Yin’s expression to grow conflicted.

Progenitor Hui had created plans spanning multiple eras, and he had ultimately outwitted Aeternus, granting humanity a major victory. If not for Progenitor Hui, humanity would not have achieved their current status.

While Progenitor Hui had never possessed unrivaled strength, his wisdom was peerless.

Lu Yin stared at Progenitor Hui’s symbol and looked past it to the humanoid sourceboxes that lay beyond.

Progenitor Hui had sealed the humanoid sourceboxes to prevent Wilderness God from being resurrected.