Chapter 3619: Take Him Back

The Nine Heavens Transformation was able to amplify a cultivator’s power multiple times over, but the exact increase varied from person to person.

Lu Yin had no idea how much Emperor Wu's strength had increased by, but he did know that the amplification that he received from the technique was quite extreme. Even after fighting for so long, Lu Yin still had not yet gone all out. In contrast, Emperor Wu was constantly coughing up blood. Given that he had only recently mastered the Nine Heavens Transformation, the more he used his sequence base, the worse the backlash that he suffered. Even Limitless Destruction was unable to completely mitigate the consequences of forcefully using Heaven's Seal.

Emperor Wu was terrifyingly strong even in his natural state. He was truly powerful. However, after using the Nine Heavens Transformation, not even three of the other Seven Seraphs together could match his power. Even the six Seraphs who had recently stood as Emperor Wu’s equals would be helpless against him, and he might have been able to kill them all, one by one. The only variable was Jiu Xian, as Lu Yin had no understanding of her cultivation or abilities.

Even so, Jiu Xian could not possibly defeat Emperor Wu. He had reached an entirely different level.

The moment that Lu Yin had comprehended the power of karma, only the High Seraph had been able to completely disregard that power in combat. Emperor Wu had just become the second, with how he was able to effortlessly evade the spirals of karma. Unlike Dukkhans like Mr. Li, who had to carefully maneuver to avoid the spirals of karma, Emperor Wu acted as if he could see everything. This showed the fundamental difference in their levels.

Still, Emperor Wu had reached his limit.

Lu Yin pointed out with one finger, and a sword-like strike pierced straight through Emperor Wu’s body, erupting out from his back and sending blood spraying into outer space. The attack was followed by a series of relentless attacks as Lu Yin continuously wore away at Emperor Wu’s defenses. The serrated blade slipped from Emperor Wu’s hand as the lanterns surrounding him were repeatedly destroyed. Even the red line running down his face grew dim. Every blow forced Emperor Wu back. From a distance, it became clear that Lu Yin was once again overpowering Emperor Wu.

This time, no one believed that another miracle would appear. There was no chance of that happening. While both combatants had used the Nine Heavens Transformation, the boost that Emperor Wu had received was clearly inferior to what Lu Yin experienced. Emperor Wu had lost any chance of victory.

Who could have imagined that the battle would reach such a climax?

Days of unending combat between two unmatched powerhouses had left even the spectators feeling stifled. For the first time, they had witnessed a demonstration of power that surpassed the level of the Seven Seraphs. And yet, a tragedy awaited them: one of the two would inevitably vanish forever.

The beast-form Spirit Rebirths of Primal Beastland were overcome with sorrow. Why had things come to this? They had seen hope; Emperor Wu had mastered the Nine Heavens Transformation and had even brought their sequence base, Heaven's Seal, to the battle. He should have been able to lead the beast-form Spirit Rebirths to rise up. Even if it was impossible to surpass the human-form Spirit Rebirths, Emperor Wu certainly would not be defeated that easily, even by the High Seraph. Even if they couldn’t seize the peak, at the very least, the beast-form Spirit Rebirths would have escaped from the suppression of the human-form Spirit Rebirths.

As of this moment, Emperor Wu commanded absolute loyalty from all beasts. Every last beast-form Spirit Rebirth in the entire Spirit Nidus was willing to follow him and join the Primal Beastland. He was the only one who could elevate the Primal Beastland to unprecedented heights, establishing it as a second Apex Palace and a holy land for all of their kind.

Instead, right when Emperor Wu reached his absolute peak, it became the saddest moment in his existence.

Why had things come to this? The beasts refused to accept the outcome.

The roars of countless beasts echoed across the universe, all aimed at Emperor Wu.

More and more cries rang out from the beasts as they gave voice to their unwillingness. They wanted Emperor Wu to win; no, he

had

to win. This desire was shared by every last beast-form Spirit Rebirth.

Why had their sequence base been created? Heaven's Seal had been born from the collective longing of countless beasts to rise above humanity. At this moment, they had drawn closer to that goal than they had ever dared to dream was possible. They could not lose.

Emperor Wu endured Lu Yin’s relentless strikes. His aura and his strength both faded with every blow. The red line down his face grew dim. It looked as though he was being beaten into sleep.

The beasts roared, venting their frustrations and all of the desperate hopes they had placed upon Emperor Wu. The collective will of all beast-form Spirit Rebirths throughout the Spirit Nidus echoed out.

At this moment, it seemed as though countless beasts had arrived behind Emperor Wu, and one by one, they merged into him.

His head suddenly snapped up, the red line on his face erupting with a brilliant light once again. His aura surged unimaginably as yellow lightning spread across his body and his sequence base particles swirled around him like an endless sea of clouds. He took a step towards Lu Yin, clenched a fist, and punched.

The punch was too fast. The moment the first started to move, it seemed as though the entire universe froze. Time, space, everything—even karma itself—appeared to freeze and make way for this one punch.

This was Emperor Wu’s most powerful punch ever. He had pushed the Nine Heavens Transformation to its absolute limit, forcing his power to be multiplied more than ever. He pulled out absolutely everything he could from his sequence base particles to throw a punch that bore nothing but forward momentum. It was truly unstoppable.

This punch carried not only Emperor Wu’s own power, but also the will of all beast-form Spirit Rebirths. This punch was a matter of life or death.

Everyone fell silent.

Lu Yin’s expression remained as calm as still water. It was as if he could not even see Emperor Wu’s ultimate punch. Behind him, the consciousness that formed his version of the Nine Heavens started to rumble. From the highest layer, Lu Yin drew Heaven’s Blade for the first time.

A single slash of Heaven’s Blade fell.

This was an attack that ignored the process and cut only the result.

Wu Wei had once used this very attack to drive Lu Yin deep underground into the Consciousness Domain. Even when Wu Wei had wielded this technique, it had been unbelievably powerful, but what made Heaven’s Blade truly essential for Lu Yin was that it was a sword of consciousness that perfectly complemented his method of splitting apart the Nine Heavens with his consciousness. Even more important was the fact that the blade cut the result directly, ignoring the process entirely.

Emperor Wu had thrown a punch that carried unstoppable momentum, while Lu Yin countered with a sword that struck only the result.

Heaven’s Blade cut through the void and sliced through Emperor Wu’s fist before immediately plunging into his body. Ripples of sword qi radiated out from his back. It was beautiful, yet deadly. Emperor Wu’s fist abruptly stopped moving when it was less than a meter away from Lu Yin. It was still positioned to attack, but there was not even a hint of movement. It was as if time and space had cut off all of the attack’s momentum.

Lu Yin stared at the unmoving Emperor Wu, frozen in the middle of throwing his punch. If he had not run into Lu Yin first, the battle between Emperor Wu and the High Seraph would have been an extraordinary spectacle.

The yellow lightning slowly disappeared, and Heaven's Seal’s sea of sequence particles faded away. Emperor Wu fell out of his Nine Heavens Transformation state. The red line down his face faded away entirely.

The distant cultivators who had been spectating came from all walks of life, and their emotions were just as varied. Finally, the battle was over.

Ultimately, Emperor Wu had still lost.

The victor, Seraph Lu, could truly only be dealt with by the High Seraph.

The beasts all fell completely silent.

Jiu Weihu, Yi Die, and the other mountain lords were all frozen in place, sorrow filling their eyes.

The dream of the beast-form Spirit Rebirths rising up had just been utterly shattered. Could they wait for another Emperor Wu to rise up? Would such a being ever appear again? Emperor Wu was the closest that anyone had ever come to reaching the same level as the High Seraph. He had succeeded in reaching that level, only for fate to pit him against Seraph Lu. Why did things have to take such a turn?

Everyone turned to stare at Lu Yin. Just how strong was he?

Lu Yin stepped forward and placed a hand against Emperor Wu’s shoulder. He gently pushed, sending Emperor Wu’s body drifting through space towards Jiu Weihu and the other mountain lords. "Take him back."

Jiu Weihu and the others stared at Emperor Wu’s body blankly as he drifted closer to them. Their hopes had just been crushed.

The silence that filled the universe seemed unending. No matter how many creatures were present, or how many planets there were, nothing disturbed the silence.

Everyone stared at Lu Yin as he stood in the middle of the universe, entirely alone. It was as though he was the very center of this eternal tranquility...

As if he had always been there...

As if he always would be...

"The strongest Seraph... That is the strongest Seraph," someone unconsciously muttered.

No one could refute that claim. The High Seraph was not one of the Seven Seraphs, as he existed on a higher level. Lu Yin was more than qualified to be called the strongest Seraph, as he too seemed to belong to a higher level.

Just how old was he? Had he lived for even a thousand years?

"Wait a moment, I just remembered! During the battle at the Umbral Deep, Seraph Lu used another power that allowed him to transform," someone suddenly exclaimed.

A woman nearby lit up with excitement. "I remember that! I remember that! Seraph Lu looked so dominant, so... captivating in that form!"

"I remember it too! I even drew a sketch of it!"

"

Hsssss...

Does that mean that Seraph Lu still hasn’t used his full power?"

"It’s impossible to tell."

"That’s terrifying..."

Far in the distance, a dark expression covered Cheng Gong’s face. He hesitantly glanced around, his expression repeatedly switching between uncertain and determined.

Should we attack or not?

He listened to the surrounding discussions as people wondered if Lu Yin still had not revealed his full strength; Cheng Gong refused to believe that. If that were true, then how could Lu Yin’s existence have been tolerated by the High Seraph for so long?

Impossible. He has to be at the end of his rope

.

We attack

.

Cheng Gong made up his mind and grabbed his spirit cloudstone. "Move in!"

He waited, but there was no response.

He lifted the spirit cloudstone again, and he was just about to speak when it trembled and a deep voice asked, "Are you

trying

to get me killed?"

Cheng Gong insisted, "He’s been pushed to his limit! We move now! If we attack now, we can definitely kill him!"

"Shut up! What are you even thinking? Did you not just see that fight? You want to ambush someone like

that

? Even if you want to die, don’t drag us down with you—we don’t want to die!" Anger and bloodlust roiled in the deep voice. It sounded as though the individual felt like Cheng Gong had deceived them into agreeing to his scheme.

Cheng Gong clenched his teeth. "I swear, he is absolutely at his limit! If we move now, we can kill him! I’ll increase what you were promised. On top of that, he just used the Nine Heavens Transformation! You all saw it! That’s the

Nine Heavens Transformation

! If we capture him and force him to talk, mastering that technique will completely transform your power. You’ll have the full advantage-"

"You don’t understand a thing about that level." Before Cheng Gong could finish speaking, a harsh retort came from the spirit cloudstone, and the connection was severed.

No matter how Cheng Gong tried to reconnect the call, all his efforts were futile. The other side clearly had no intention of answering his calls.

Cheng Gong ducked his head, venomous resentment filling his eyes.

Those fools! They refuse to act. Idiots!

However, Cheng Gong himself did not dare to raise his head, as he was afraid that Lu Yin would notice him.

Far away, Lu Yin had already been waiting for quite some time.

Why haven’t they attacked me yet? Strange. Could they have gotten scared off?

Cheng Gong had made plans to ambush Lu Yin together with Wu Wei and several others after the battle with Emperor Wu, and Lu Yin had been waiting for them. He had even just rolled his die and used Timestop to fully recover from the battle. If anyone had the courage to ambush him, he had a surprise prepared for them.

Yet no one appeared.

He peered into the distance at the countless cultivators who were staring back at him. In the crowd, he saw powerful experts, including Zhan Ming and Jiu Xian. Lu Yin was tempted to restrain all of those people and pick them off one by one.

Unfortunately, that would not work and would be way too conspicuous. If people realized that he had already fully recovered, they would use that knowledge against him in future battles.

Lu Yin exhaled, feeling slightly disappointed. He unconsciously shifted his attention over to where Jiu Weihu and the other beasts had gathered.

That sequence base... what a treasure. Such a pity.

No one left. They were all waiting for Lu Yin to leave first.

It was a show of respect for Lu Yin’s strength.

He was in no hurry to leave. He knew that many people wished to speak to him.

The first to approach him was Rong Xiang.

"Congratulations, Seraph Lu, on defeating Emperor Wu. You are invincible, the strongest of the Seven Seraphs. The Chamber of Commerce offers you our congratulations." Rong Xiang spoke with great servility and even greater humility than before. He had personally witnessed the earth-shattering battle.

Lu Yin’s reputation had been fully cemented by this fight.

People had initially claimed that only the Seven Seraphs could deal with Lu Yin, but then it had changed that only the High Seraph could deal with Lu Yin. At this moment, people understood that only the High Seraph could even fight back against Lu Yin.

Rong Xiang was terrified. The entire Spirit Nidus was afraid. Would it ultimately become a situation where only the mythical invincible being could defeat Lu Yin?

If that proved to be true, then it would be utterly devastating to the cultivators of the Spirit Nidus, as most of them believed that the invincible being did not even exist.