Chapter 3599: Trade

Upon hearing High Seraph’s words, Lu Yin arched a brow. Had the Willbound Expanse really been found?

The Willbound Expanse was the place in the Consciousness Megaverse where the Thirteen Luminaries resided. According to the rumors, finding the Willbound Expanse would allow the Spirit Nidus to destroy the Thirteen Luminaries and completely conquer the Consciousness Megaverse.

It was the place where all consciousness in the Consciousness Megaverse both began and ended. In Lu Yin’s understanding, it was a place that served a similar function to the Tianyuan Megaverse’s Immemorial Citadel.

Emperor Wu and Jiu Xian were both startled. "Ye Meng broke?"

Zhan Ming trembled. "How is that possible? Throughout history, while other Thirteen Luminaries have been captured, none have ever shared any information. Was Ye Meng honest?"

Su Shidao sighed. "So, Ye Meng really isn't dead. Qi Yuan was right, and the conscient isn’t dead. Ye Meng isn’t easy to kill."

The High Seraph said, "Ye Meng undoubtedly spoke the truth. I have decided to launch a full-scale attack on the Consciousness Megaverse and completely eliminate all of the Thirteen Luminaries. The Consciousness Megaverse will be reset, and I will enter the Immortal realm. Everyone, prepare to join me in the Consciousness Megaverse as soon as possible."

With that, the man vanished.

Zhan Ming looked over at Emperor Wu and Jiu Xian. "I still can't believe it. Did one of the Thirteen Luminaries actually break?"

Emperor Wu sneered. "Regardless of whether it’s true, it's time to end things with the Consciousness Megaverse. Once we deal with that megaverse, our next target will be..." He glanced at Lu Yin. "The Tianyuan Megaverse."

Lu Yin met the other Seraph’s gaze. "We’ll talk if you can survive our fight at the Fu River’s source."

Emperor Wu continued to stare at Lu Yin. Right before Emperor Wu moved to leave, he suddenly reached out and grabbed at Meng Sang, who stepped back and avoided the hand.

Lan intervened and blocked Emperor Wu. "This is the Ascendant Hall! If you want to fight, leave this place first."

Emperor Wu glared at Meng Sang. "Where is that old man?"

Meng Sang said nothing, and Emperor Wu’s expression soured. "If you interfere with my Primal Beastland again, I will tear you apart."

Meng Sang looked over and met Emperor Wu’s gaze. "If you survive the battle at the source of the Fu River, we’ll talk."

Emperor Wu was enraged, and he wanted to attack.

Lan immediately summoned the thirty-six Ascensii, and she had them stand guard to prevent Emperor Wu from doing anything.

Ultimately, Emperor Wu left. His top priority at the moment was to fully master that ability.

Zhan Ming also left, but not before wishing Lu Yin luck in his fight against Emperor Wu.

Lu Yin replied, "If I win, I’ll visit your Gate of Laws."

Zhan Ming did not dare to respond to that. No one welcomed Lu Yin as their guest. They did not want to deal with such a pariah, and the Gate of Laws was a very special existence. They were the place where many ancient powerhouses awaited death, and it was where sequence bases were constructed. It was absolutely crucial to the Spirit Nidus.

Su Shidao soon left as well.

Jiu Xian practically fled, as she was afraid of being targeted by Lu Yin.

Lu Yin was not concerned that the woman had run away. Given how much she hated Feng Bo, she would eventually approach Lu Yin on her own.

Yuan Qi asked, "Should I return first?"

Lu Yin nodded.

In the end, only Lu Yin, Meng Sang, Lan, and the thirty-six Ascensii remained.

Lu Yin looked over at Lan. "I won’t do anything here. You don’t need to bother keeping an eye on me."

Lan did not believe him, but she also knew that it was useless to continue watching him. "Seraph Lu, the fact that you were able to see the strange scene is proof that our megaverse has acknowledged you. Combined with the fact that you bear the title of Seraph, please at least show the basic respect for the Ascendant Hall."

With that, she left, along with the thirty-six Ascensii.

Once everyone else was gone, Lu Yin turned to Meng Sang and slowly asked, "Where is Old Salamander?"

Meng Sang answered in a low voice, "Trade."

"What trade are you proposing?" Lu Yin asked.

Meng Sang looked at Lu Yin. "Trade Zhan Yan for Old Salamander."

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. "So, Forgotten Ruins God attacked and killed Zhan Yan in the Tianyuan Megaverse, stealing the key under Yong Heng’s instructions. Right now, Yong Heng still has the key, doesn’t he? The fact that he told you even this proves that you really are under his control."

Meng Sang denied nothing, and he simply continued, "This is what he will accept: Zhan Yan for Old Salamander."

Lu Yin asked, "Do you really think that Old Salamander is worth as much as one of the Gate of Laws’ keys?"

"What if he is Stillstorm?" Meng Sang asked.

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. "That’s impossible."

"There’s no need to argue with you. I don’t know what Stillstorm means, but since he is offering to exchange Old Salamander for Zhan Yan, he must be confident. Whether you accept the trade or not is up to you," Meng Sang said.

Lu Yin remained silent for a time. "I won’t trade."

Meng Sang simply turned and left.

Lu Yin watched the retreating figure with a heavy expression.

This explained why Meng Sang had saved Old Salamander. It was all because Yong Heng wanted to trade Old Salamander for Zhan Yan. True God was well aware of how important the truth of Old Salamander’s identity was for the Tianyuan Megaverse. If Old Salamander really was Stillstorm, then it meant that he had visited the Tianyuan Megaverse long, long ago and done something there.

If one took that possibility even further, could Old Salamander have something to do with the appearance of the Origin Progenitor and the others?

The Origin Progenitor had no idea how humans had first appeared in the Tianyuan Megaverse. It was something that had just happened naturally. In the Spirit Nidus, as well as in Mister Mu’s home megaverse, there were humans. If one claimed that all of the megaverses coincidentally gave birth to the same form of life, then the odds were extremely remote. Humans must have appeared in the Tianyuan Megaverse from somewhere else.

But from where? It was possible that Stillstorm could provide an answer.

This was the reason behind Yong Heng’s confidence.

Was Old Salamander actually Stillstorm? The ages of the two indicated that it was not impossible, but Lu Yin kept feeling like the chances of the two being the same were slim.

Just as Meng Sang was about to leave, he said, "Even if you don't accept the trade, he can still pay what’s necessary to keep the key, like he did with me."

With that, Meng Sang disappeared.

Lu Yin let out a breath. What was the price that Yong Heng had paid to keep Meng Sang? Also, what was the price that he had paid to keep Tian Ci’s spirit seed? Could Yong Heng really afford to pay that price again? Lu Yin did not know the answers to those questions.

Still, the fact that Yong Heng had sent Meng Sang to propose a trade indicated that the price he needed to pay was excessive.

That made sense. How could it be easy to pay to avoid karmic backlash?

There was also another thing; since Yong Heng was willing to trade Old Salamander for Zhan Yan, it meant that Old Salamander was not in the hands of the Wisdom Domain. Yong Heng and Meng Sang had not cooperated with Old Yu, as if they had, Old Yu would never have agreed to hand Old Salamander over to Lu Yin. Did that mean that Qianmen Feidu had betrayed the Wisdom Domain?

That also did not seem quite right. Old Yu also needed the key, which meant that Yong Heng could be using the key to gain the Wisdom Domain’s cooperation.

Lu Yin’s brow furrowed. Analyzing matters was not easy. The best way to handle things was to simply fight.

The details behind Qi Gong stealing the White Willow had been incredibly complicated, and yet the entire matter had been exposed because Lu Yin had coincidentally stolen the Skyriver from the Vast Qian Domain.

Yue Cheng’s murder and Emperor Wu’s cooperation had also been forced due to pure strength, and those two matters had led Old Salamander to be captured.

Ultimately, strength was the foundation of everything.

Lu Yin stepped out of the Ascendant Hall and started moving towards his destination: the Consciousness Domain.

The strange scene that had played out during the Day of Offering lingered in Lu Yin’s mind. He needed to find Wu Wei and see that strange scene again, as well as complete the Nine Heavens Transformation.

With the Day of Offering concluded, the people in the Consciousness Domain returned to their usual activities; those who trained resumed their training, and those who needed to carry out tasks returned to work.

The members of the Revolt Alliance enjoyed a much larger training area than in the past.

For a long time, most of the Consciousness Domain had belonged to the Qi family. But after the family was attacked and it had been revealed that Qi Gong had stolen the White Willow, the family had fallen into decline. While the Qi family still lived in the Consciousness Domain, no one cared about them any longer.

In fact, the family was only allowed to stay in the Consciousness Domain because Qi Yuan had sacrificed himself during the Everstone Discourse. Without his sacrifice, the family would have been completely driven away.

The outside world continued to see the Consciousness Domain as a joke. It was pathetic that someone from the Consciousness Domain had stolen their own treasure.

The Qi family’s estate had been rebuilt. Despite looking exactly the same as before, their territory lacked its former dignity. At present, the strongest member of the Qi family was only a Spirit Ancestor. In fact, the man was an elder of a branch family who had previously been completely disregarded. His name was Qi Liu.

A name like Qi Liu was too casual. When the Qi family had been prosperous, he, as a branch family elder and a mere Spirit Ancestor, had enjoyed no say in the family affairs. He had not even been allowed to change his name. He had been forced to keep the name of Qi Liu. After most of the family’s experts had died or gone missing, Qi Liu had risen to become the head of the family, and he had started thinking about changing his name.

Outside the Qi family’s estate, a young man sat by the gate, staring blankly at the shattered stone monument.

The monument had once stored Qi Zun’s remnant consciousness, but even Qi Zun, who had been as strong as one of the Seven Seraphs, had lacked the strength to protect the Qi family.

"Qi Miao, why are you sitting there again? Get lost! Aren’t you tired of being mocked by those people?" Several members of the Qi family emerged from the family estate. They had previously been members of a branch of the family, but now that the main branch had been destroyed, the branch lines had risen to power. They naturally despised the remaining members of the main branch due to the ridicule that the family suffered from Qi Gong stealing the White Willow.

Qi Miao was Qi Gong’s grandson, which roused even more animosity.

Qi Miao ignored them and continued sitting on the ground and staring blankly at the fragments of the stone monument.

People yelled at him and even kicked and punched him, but he did not care at all. Eventually, they left.

A member of the Revolt Alliance passed by. Once, such people had not dared to approach the Qi family’s estate. Now, after the family’s fall from glory, members of the Revolt Alliance would sometimes brazenly enter the estate, laughing at the Qi family’s misfortune and venting their past grievances.

Some people mocked Qi Miao, while others, much like the members of the Qi family, would punch and kick him. Qi Miao did not care.

When people left, others would arrive. Qi Miao had already gotten used to it.

A deep voice entered Qi Miao’s ears. "Do you want to become stronger?"

His expression changed slightly, and he looked around in confusion.

"Do you want to become stronger?" the voice repeated.

Qi Miao, still confused, asked, "Who are you?"

"Do you want to become stronger?"

Qi Miao suddenly looked at the shards of the stone monument, and he grew excited. "Ancestor, Qi Zun, is that you? I knew you weren’t dead! You’re still alive! You’re living in these fragments, aren’t you? Ancestor Qi Zun!"

"If you want to become stronger, listen to me," the deep voice continued.

Qi Miao, overcome with excitement, replied, "I’ll listen! Whatever you say, I shall do! Ancestor, I, your descendant Qi Miao, offer my respects!"

At that moment, someone arrived behind the young man, and their shadow fell onto Qi Miao. He spun around, and his eyes bulged. "Shi- Shi, Lord Shi Lin?"

Shi Lin’s expression fell as he casually tossed Qi Miao into the Qi family’s estate. The man’s consciousness swept across the other family members, putting oppressive pressure on all of them. "Keep an eye on your people! If one of them ends up being influenced by Wu Wei again, your Qi family will cease to exist!"

Inside the estate, Qi Liu was horrified, and he quickly bowed low. "I understand, Lord Shi Lin! Please rest assured that it won’t happen again!"

He then shot a vicious glare at Qi Miao.

Useless fool! Doing such things!

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Shi Lin snorted contemptuously, and with a flash, he disappeared. When he reappeared, he was already in another corner of the Consciousness Domain, which was where Wu Wei resided.

He stared into the dark land before him. "Wu Wei, you caused Qi Gong to steal the White Willow and then teamed up with Sage Qian to lure Seraph Lu here to take away the conscients. The Ascendant Hall still has not investigated this matter, but do you really think that it’s over? The High Seraph has simply been too busy to care about you, and yet you still dare to try to influence the youths of the Qi family! Do you really believe that no one can deal with you?"