Chapter 3536: Ripple Effect

Jiu Xian's lips curled up, creating a beautiful smile. "Not necessarily. The Phantom Reach has been eyeing the position, and Yi Nan's is certainly not weak."

Emperor Wu frowned. "If the Phantom Reach dares to compete, my Primal Beastland will obliterate them."

Jiu Xian thought for a moment. "True. The Primal Beastland simply has too many true experts. Even if we ignore those like Threeheaded Fiend, who have already competed for the title of Seraph before, there are several other strong contenders who are genuinely qualified to fight for the position of Seraph."

Emperor Wu gave an arrogant smile. "As long as a Seraph’s position becomes available, it will undoubtedly belong to my Primal Beastland."

He said nothing to Jiu Xian about how, before the excursion to the Consciousness Megaverse, he had made a deal with Old Salamander. If any Seraph’s position became available, Old Salamander would help the Primal Beastland seize it.

While the old guy was a coward and terrified of dying, there was no denying his strength. It would not be a problem for him to deal with one or two experts for the sake of the Primal Beastland.

Throughout the entire Spirit Nidus, there were only a few people who were truly capable of fighting for the title of Seraph. Even fewer had the courage to compete against the Primal Beastland. Emperor Wu's reputation alone was enough to scare some off.

Only if a Seraph’s position became available right before the Day of Offering would some of those old monsters find it impossible to resist making a move. Aside from that, the Primal Beastland would take the next available Seraph’s position.

...

Old Tao and the rest of Lu Yin’s entourage finally arrived in the Roaming South Realm. They could not come even close to traveling at Lu Yin’s speed, which was why they had taken so long to catch up.

Surprisingly, neither Qing Yun nor Qing Xiao had fled.

It was possible that the two had stayed because Old Tao and the others had been watching, but Astral Anura had also stayed, which was an even bigger surprise to Lu Yin.

Astral Anura looked thrilled, and his golden skin was shimmering in the light. "Run? Why would I run? I, Astral Anura, am a part of the Grandverse Manor!"

Lu Yin gave a small smile. "You're clever. If you took the risk and ran, you'd end up as an enemy of both the Spirit Nidus and the Tianyuan Megaverse."

This comment chilled Astral Anura to his bones. There was a reason why he had made his position clear.

"You... You actually destroyed Jiu Xian's valley? You’ve gone too far!" When Qing Yun arrived, she saw the devastated valley, and she angrily shouted at Lu Yin.

Old Tao sternly rebuked her, "Silence! What is with that attitude? This is the Third Boss, a master from the mythic realm, and our master."

Qing Yun glared fiercely at Lu Yin, and Qing Xiao tugged on her sleeve. "Sis, lower your voice! We can’t beat him."

The young man had given up entirely. In the past, he had yelled at Lu Yin and had even wanted to take Qing Yun away from him. At present, Qing Xiao was certain that waiting for Jiu Xian to return was the best choice. He had seen what had happened to Nian Xian, and that man was someone whom even Jiu Xian was unable to keep in check. Despite that, Lu Yin had managed to capture the Dukkhan, which was too terrifying.

Lu Yin just shrugged. "I'll apologize to Jiu Xian when she returns. This wasn’t intentional."

Qing Yun continued to glare at Lu Yin even as she stepped back.

"Come here."

Qing Yun was still furious, but Lu Yin remained calm. "Come here."

Qing Yun wanted to refuse, but Ru Mu dragged her over to Lu Yin.

A hand was held out. Qing Yun ground her teeth and glared at Lu Yin for a long moment before finally setting her hand on his.

"Boss, congratulations! You've become invincible in the Spirit Nidus," Ru Mu praised.

Lu Yin looked over at the woman. "Tell me about Heavenspire, particularly about anything you know about their spirit treasure formations."

"Spirit treasure formations? Are you asking about the Cheng family?" Ru Mu was surprised.

Lu Yin nodded.

Without hesitation, Ru Mu shared everything that she knew about Heavenspire’s Cheng family.

Lu Yin continued to hold Qing Yun’s hand, observing her physique while listening to the information that Ru Mu shared about Heavenspire. All the while, he continued to watch the two Spirit Formation Grandmasters arranging Codex 16. Days passed by one after another as Lu Yin waited for Jiu Xian to return.

Feng Bo's portraits were blown about by the wind, serving as constant reminders to Lu Yin that the man had a connection to everything.

Far away, in the Hundred Grasses Domain, almost everyone who had been sent to monitor the Grandverse Manor had been withdrawn. There was no longer any need to observe the place. People already knew that they could not defeat the Grandverse Manor. Even if the High Seraph ordered an attack on them, no one had any intention of being the first to die.

Even with the Third Boss absent, people believed that the Grandverse Manor had more hidden powerhouses than any of the megaverse’s seven major powers. If the Third Boss fought alongside the rest of the people aboard

Boundless

, no one could guess how many of the Spirit Nidus’s experts would die.

No one was ready to be the first wave of sacrifices.

With no one monitoring the region, the Hundred Grasses Domain was able to start returning to its former prosperity.

Many cultivators visited the Hundred Grasses Domain and started searching for the rare plants, while many others sought to join the Grandverse Manor. All newcomers were given a place in the Hundred Grasses Domain to await Lu Yin’s return. He would be the one to decide who could join the Grandverse Manor and who would be rejected.

The person who most clearly saw the changing attitude towards

Boundless

was neither Lu Yin nor the people aboard the battleship, but rather Yu Shan, who was still hanging from a tree on the ship.

At first, people had visited him every day, especially women. They had gossiped about

Boundless

, tried to comfort Yu Shan, and shared news about the rest of the megaverse with him.

As time passed, fewer and fewer people stopped by to visit Yu Shan. It was not that the women did not want to visit him, but rather that most of them were confined to their homes, having been forbidden from visiting the Hundred Grasses Domain. Some had even changed their attitudes towards the Third Boss. What infuriated Yu Shan the most was that one of his former admirers now actually blamed him for provoking the Grandverse Manor. She had even suggested that he should let go of his grudge and beg the Third Boss for forgiveness.

Just the thought absolutely revolted Yu Shan.

Things had unfolded far beyond Yu Shan’s expectations. He had believed that he would not be left hanging from the tree for very long. He had been confident that the Ascendant Hall would take action and that

Boundless

would quickly be decimated. He had assumed many things, all of which had proven to be wrong.

Boundless

had remained untouched, and the Third Boss had become known as being undefeatable. As long as the High Seraph did nothing, there was no one who could stand against Lu Yin.

When the Grandverse Manor’s observers left, people started to move about freely, and they abandoned all restraints. Even those who had broken the Spirit Nidus’s laws ceased to be cautious. After all, no one dared to offend anyone from the Grandverse Manor.

For the first time, Yu Shan understood what it meant to be powerless.

He had once destroyed an entire domain with just a few words, but that was because he had been supported by the High Seraph. At the moment, there was no one to help Yu Shan.

How could this have happened?

He watched as Bian Ji and Yan Xiang’er walked by with Bian Xiaoxiao. Their laughter rang out in a pleasant manner.

Other such talented young cultivators moved away from the confines of

Boundless

. They no longer needed to fear the outside world.

If anyone was determined to target them, then simply hiding aboard

Boundless

would be pointless. Attacking anyone from the Grandverse Manor would mean that the entire Spirit Nidus was starting an all-out assault on

Boundless

.

Ba Liu and Yi Yao walked by, accompanied by their small, cat-form conscient. They merely glanced at Yu Shan before vanishing from his sight again, walking hand in hand.

Jiang Qi, still wrapped up in his blanket, slowly moved towards the edge of Boundless. It looked like he wanted to leave, but after visibly considering things for a bit, he turned back. He was on

Boundless

because he had nowhere else to go. What would be the point of leaving?

The Tianyuan Army, the various black energy converter users, and towering mechas all moved out from

Boundless

, heading out to explore the Hundred Grasses Domain.

Things were starting to change in the Spirit Nidus.

In a flash, several months had passed. Finally, Lu Yin had mastered Codex 16.

The main issue impeding his progress had been that the two Grandmasters were too slow at arranging the formation. This was even after the two men had already set up the sourcebox array. Without that prior experience, they would have needed years, or possibly even decades, to complete the array.

After seeing their work, Lu Yin was able to quickly understand Codex 16. He embedded the offensive arrangement into Verdant Eternity, adding another sourcebox array into his arsenal.

Initially, Lu Yin had believed he could wait in the valley for Jiu Xian’s return, but one day, he received news that forced him to leave the Roaming South Realm.

He sat in the sedan as it was carried through outer space, his expression dark.

Ba Liu and Yi Yao were dead. They had been killed in the Hundred Grasses Domain.

Hearing this forced Lu Yin to return to the Hundred Grasses Domain. The incident sent shockwaves through the Spirit Nidus.

Ba Liu and Yi Yao had originally been regarded as insignificant figures, and no one had paid any attention to them. Even if they had violated the megaverse’s law, most people believed that the two were merely being used by the Grandverse Manor. The couple themselves were not the real issue. The real issue was that the Grandverse Manor was protecting those who broke the law.

However, their deaths greatly changed their importance.

In particular, after Lu Yin’s victories at the Umbral Deep and the Roaming South Realm, he was more famous than ever. The two people’s deaths were regarded as a provocation against Lu Yin.

Who dared to act with such audacity?

Countless eyes in the Spirit Nidus were once again drawn towards the Hundred Grasses Domain.

The moment the Grandverse Manor had arrived in the Spirit Nidus, the megaverse’s attention had stayed on the movements of the outsiders.

The sedan raced back to the Hundred Grasses Domain. As it passed, all who saw it remained silent.

Finally, Lu Yin and the others arrived in the Hundred Grasses Domain.

There, far from

Boundless

, in a location nearly at the edge of the domain, Yuan Qi was standing on the ground. There was a grim expression on his face, and he was surrounded by soldiers of the Tianyuan Army.

As soon as Lu Yin arrived, he saw Ba Liu and Yi Yao’s corpses. The couple had been crushed and killed by an incredible amount of power, but there was no other sign of violence. The two had been overpowered by raw physical strength.

The stronger of the two had been a Spirit Ancestor. Trying to crush such a person with brute force was not something particularly easy or difficult.

Their pet conscient was also dead, but because of its nature, there was no corpse.

"I've searched, but I found no lingering energies. This was done with pure strength. There’s nothing to follow," Yuan Qi reported in a low tone. Ba Liu and Yi Yao had officially been his disciples. While the old man had been forced to accept the two by Lu Yin, Yuan Qi had taught Ba Liu and Yi Yao while they were with him, and yet they had died under his watch.

Bloodlust glimmered in Lu Yin's eyes.

They were quite far from

Boundless

, which was why the two had died without a trace. If they had been any closer to the ship, Yuan Qi would have undoubtedly noticed something. Unfortunately, the Origin Progenitor was still in seclusion, so he would not notice something unless someone boarded

Boundless

. They had not placed the entire Hundred Grasses Domain under surveillance either.

The killer could not be weak, but that did not mean that they had to be exceptionally powerful, either. The key was that the attack had been a surprise and that the attacker had controlled their aura well.

Physical strength?

The first thing that came to Lu Yin’s mind was the Primal Beastland.

Few humans were capable of suppressing their aura and using pure physical force to kill a Spirit Ancestor. It required too great of a difference in strength. Only the beast-form Spirit Rebirth cultivators from the Primal Beastland who focused on physical strength could accomplish such a feat. If the assailant was a sequence powerhouse, they would have had an even easier time of things.

Karma twined about Lu Yin’s fingertips, but the dead had no karma.

"Who is that?"

Nearby, there was another corpse. It was in an even worse state than Ba Liu and Yi Yao’s. Nothing but shattered bones remained, as the individual’s flesh had been mixed with the soil, staining the ground red. The place where they had died was the epicenter of the attack, and it appeared that Ba Liu and Yi Yao had merely been caught up in the attack.

This suggested that the couple had not even been the attacker’s target and that the crushed corpse had been the real goal.

"Luo Shan is looking into it," Yuan Qi reported. It was also clear to him that Ba Liu and Yi Yao had likely been nothing more than collateral damage, though that was not important. Whoever had attacked had not hesitated to kill the couple. This showed no concern at all, and that was no different from directly attacking the two.

Luo Shan soon returned. "We've identified the other victim. His name was Yue Cheng. He applied to join the Grandverse Manor half a year ago."

"He applied to join the Grandverse Manor?" Lu Yin was caught off guard, and he looked back at the corpse.

Was this the result of some sort of vendetta?

Anyone who wished to join the Grandverse Manor only did so out of true desperation. No one would risk becoming an enemy of the entire Spirit Nidus if they had any other choice.

"This is quite clear. Ba Liu and Yi Yao were nothing more than collateral damage. The attacker’s real target was Yue Cheng," Luo Shan stated.