Chapter 3671: Taken Away

The Gate of Laws’ Garden of Passing constantly interred more experts, and it was acknowledged throughout the entire Spirit Nidus as the place with the most powerful cultivators. From what Lu Yin was seeing, the Apex Palace was just as impressive.

There was Lan, Zi Tianshu, as well as this old man, all of whom were Dukkhans. There might be even more hidden experts, but there were at least three. That was also not even mentioning the peerless High Seraph.

The Apex Palace was truly the most difficult place to attack in the entire Spirit Nidus.

With three experts guarding Hua Manyi, there was no need for the High Seraph to seriously injure the conscient, as he had no possible means of escape.

Before Lu Yin Possessed Hua Manyi, the Luminary had been playing cards, though he had obviously been bored.

As memories started to pour in, Lu Yin soon learned that Hua Manyi had already divulged nearly everything he knew to the High Seraph without any coercion. He had spoken about the Consciousness Megaverse, the Willbound Expanse, and even what was known about the Willbound Spire. Everything that Hua Manyi knew had been shared, including the fact that another Luminary was hiding in the Spirit Nidus. That conscient’s name was Bu Wen, and they had a fixed form of a human woman, though Hua Manyi had no idea where she was hiding.

Similarly, Bu Wen had not known where Hua Manyi had been hiding.

The two conscients had been able to communicate with each other, but neither had ever known the other’s location.

There was one more matter that Hua Manyi wanted to share with the High Seraph, but he could not. That was the fact that Ye Meng had only pretended to betray the Consciousness Megaverse and that the Willbound Expanse was actually a trap that the Consciousness Megaverse had specifically prepared for the High Seraph. The conscient could not speak of these matters because there was a seal on his mind that had been placed there by the oldest and most powerful of the Thirteen Luminaries.

The High Seraph seemed aware of the seal, as he had not pressed for more information. Even if he had, he would not have received any answers.

Hua Manyi had been quite cooperative with the Apex Palace. Of course, none of his information had surprised the High Seraph. Given the many years of conflict between the two megaverses, the High Seraph might be better informed about the Consciousness Megaverse than even Hua Manyi.

The conscient’s only value was in being a prisoner and awaiting the complete destruction of the Consciousness Megaverse. At that point, he could defect to the Spirit Nidus and become a branded, enslaved conscient who could assist someone in cultivating Linked Spirit, nothing more.

Hua Manyi seemed resigned to his fate. Only if the High Seraph perished in the Consciousness Megaverse would there be an opportunity for the Consciousness Megaverse to launch a counterattack against the Spirit Nidus.

Lu Yin ended the Possession and allowed his mind to return to his body. He stared in the Ascendant Hall’s direction.

Hua Manyi held little value to the High Seraph, and merely keeping the conscient imprisoned was sufficient. On the other hand, Hua Manyi could be quite valuable to Lu Yin.

Indeed, feigning injury often led others to subconsciously pity them.

Lu Yin took a step and moved away from the Ark Domain. He soon arrived at the Ascendant Hall, and once there, he took a deep breath. In order to avoid getting dragged into the conflict between Yue Ya and Lu Yin, the High Seraph had intentionally left to search through parallel universes. However, simply leaving the connected universes of the Spirit Nidus wasn't enough to sever the karma. Since he had chosen to leave, he would have to pay the price.

Lu Yin’s expression grew cold, and he suddenly vanished.

In the Ascendant Hall, Lan was staring at the giant tree in the distance as it continually dropped spirit seeds. The few times that

Boundless

had confiscated spirit seeds from the Spirit Nidus had actually done a surprising job of reducing the available spirit seeds. Everywhere, people worked to collect spirit seeds, and there were rumors spreading that there would be an even greater scarcity as people continued to use and cultivate with spirit seeds. Already, they had become quite rare.

Still, the entire situation was nothing more than a farce.

Suddenly, her expression changed, and she whirled around. Ripples ran through the sky up above as the spirit treasure formation activated. “Enemy attack!”

The thirty-six Ascensii reacted swiftly. By the time that Lan detected the enemy, they had already joined forces and set up a spirit treasure formation that instantly covered the Apex Palace.

This was the day when the Apex Palace faced an enemy attack the likes of which the Spirit Nidus had never seen before. While their greatest enemy remained the Consciousness Megaverse, that megaverse had always been on the defensive and had never been able to counterattack against the Spirit Nidus. On top of that, the Apex Palace was itself home to a supreme expert, the High Seraph. No one had ever dared entertain the thought of attacking such a place.

At this moment, that was exactly what was happening.

Bang!

A deafening impact rang out as the thirty-six Ascensii’s spirit treasure formation instantly shattered. The overlapping danger zones scattered, and bodies collided in every direction. The thirty-six experts spat out blood as they collapsed.

Lan was astonished. How was this possible? That spirit treasure formation was strong enough to withstand attacks from even the Seven Seraphs! Even if it could be broken, instantly shattering it should be impossible. Who could be attacking?

The first person who came to Lan’s mind was Lu Yin. Only someone with a strength similar to the High Seraph’s could possibly do such a thing.

There was no time to think any further. The moment the spirit treasure formation was destroyed, Lan grabbed the Untamed sequence base and slammed it down outside of the Apex Palace.

At the same time, in the depths of the Apex Palace, Hua Manyi set his cards down and turned to look outside.

Is something happening?

The three elders guarding the conscient all opened their eyes at the same time, their gazes as deep as the sea.

Bang!

There was another thunderous boom. Lan felt as though her heart itself had been struck, and she coughed up blood. No one appeared in front of her. She could not see the attacker or even any sign of them. All she knew for certain was that Untamed was being attacked.

When a second palm strike landed on Untamed, the sequence particles shattered. Lan barely managed to catch a glimpse of a figure as they flashed by. Then, everything went dark for an instant before Lan knew nothing more.

One palm strike had been enough for Lu Yin to destroy the thirty-six Ascensii’s spirit treasure formation. A second palm strike had broken Untamed, and the overwhelming power of the attack had even knocked Lan unconscious. Everything had happened in a moment.

His Wielder - God battle force gave Lu Yin the physical strength to match even an Emperor Wu who was using the Nine Heavens Transformation. This meant that just his battle force put Lu Yin at the High Seraph’s level, which meant that no one else could stand up to him.

Lu Yin’s biggest concern was not the powerful experts hiding within the Apex Palace, but rather the Morrow Behemoth itself.

The creature’s strength was a complete unknown, and Lu Yin had no idea what it was capable of. That made the beast a great concern, and for that reason, Lu Yin moved swiftly and confined the power of his attacks. He did not want to risk provoking the Morrow Behemoth.

The Apex Palace was a mysterious place that was shrouded in darkness. This was the first time that Lu Yin was truly entering the place. Previously, he had only approached the entrance.

Pressure struck Hua Manyi, and he felt as though an abyss had opened up, wanting to devour him. His expression tensed.

Who is this?

The three old men rose to their feet, and in perfect unison, they attacked the outside of the Apex Palace. However, an instant later, all three were swept away by an overwhelming consciousness.

“Hua Manyi, attack!”

The conscient reflexively released his consciousness, working with Lu Yin to suppress the three old men. With two Universe-level consciousnesses attacking them, the trio stood no chance at all, and they fell as one.

“Who?” Hua Manyi was extremely cautious, but then a familiar face appeared in front of him. “Seraph Lu?”

With no hesitation, the conscient attacked.

Regardless of whether Lu Yin was there to rescue him, instinct drove Hua Manyi to attack Lu Yin. This human was even more terrifying than the High Seraph.

However, the Luminary’s pupils soon dilated. The moment that Lu Yin was within five meters of him, Lu Yin Possessed Hua Manyi.

After taking control of Hua Manyi, Lu Yin grabbed his own body and raced out of the Apex Palace.

It was at that moment that Lan happened to regain consciousness, just as Lu Yin had planned. If she was not conscious, who would witness what was about to occur?

Pain caused Lan’s head to throb. When she looked up, she saw Hua Manyi’s smug grin as he brushed past in front of her, leaving behind one of his playing cards. “Tell the High Seraph that the one to be reset remains uncertain. Hahaha!”

Lan wanted to attack, but she was helpless to do so. All she could do was watch as Hua Manyi left, accompanied by another mysterious individual.

She spat out a mouthful of blood and crumpled back to the ground.

After leaving the Ascendant Hall, Lu Yin glanced back at the Morrow Behemoth. The beast remained calm, and it showed no hint of animosity. Lu Yin paid particular attention to its hand. Eventually, he would need to visit it.

His mind returned to his own body, and then he carried Hua Manyi back to

Boundless

.

As long as Hua Manyi was within five meters of Lu Yin, there was no chance for him to escape or even resist. After returning to

Boundless

, Lu Yin Possessed the Luminary again and started combing through his memories.

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed. There was no news regarding the attack on the Apex Palace, as the Ascendant Hall did not want its dignity compromised. Still, Lan repeatedly tried to make contact with the Ark Domain so that she could speak with people aboard

Boundless

. She wanted to speak with Lu Yin, but she was repeatedly rebuffed with the excuse that Lu Yin was training in seclusion.

Lan had no idea if the person that she had seen with Hua Manyi was Lu Yin or not, but the only person in the entire Spirit Nidus who was capable of attacking the Ascendant Hall was him. However, Lu Yin had undoubtedly survived a major battle only recently, so Lan wanted to confirm if he was injured or possibly glean some other clue.

However, she failed to even catch a glimpse of Lu Yin.

Lu Yin had personally captured Hua Manyi and delivered him to the Ascendant Hall, so logically, there was no reason for the man to rescue the conscient afterwards. Had Hua Manyi been delivered solely for him to obtain Wu Wei?

Even if Lu Yin wanted to save the Luminary, the most logical approach would have been to wait until after the expedition left for the Consciousness Megaverse. He could find a way then. A rescue at this juncture made no sense, especially since the High Seraph could return at any moment.

Lan could not make sense of the matter. The reason why she could not confirm that Lu Yin was the attacker was Hua Manyi’s attitude. That mysterious person had to have joined forces with the Consciousness Megaverse, but logically, Lu Yin should no longer be cooperating with the conscients. If he was, then did he not fear being attacked by the Spirit Nidus?

Hua Manyi’s behavior had caused Lan to remember that another one of the Thirteen Luminaries was still in hiding.

However, did any of the Thirteen Luminaries possess such a terrifying physical strength?

Overwhelming physical strength was too conspicuous a trait, so it was possible that the Consciousness Megaverse was trying to frame Lu Yin.

He had only recently fought a tremendous battle, but who had been his opponent? Could Lu Yin have fought that mysterious individual?

Many possibilities ran through Lan’s mind, but she had nowhere to even start. The only thing that she could do was prevent any information from spreading and await the High Seraph’s return.

On

Boundless

, Lu Yin felt his head spinning. While Hua Manyi had not lived for nearly as long as Wu Wei, the conscient was still ancient, and his memories were vast as an ocean. It was impossible for Lu Yin to review all of them in a short period of time. He could only browse a small portion, such as the memories related to the Willbound Expanse or the situation regarding the Willbound Spire.

What Wu Wei had experienced in the Willbound Spire was completely different from what Hua Manyi had experienced.

The High Seraph should be returning soon

. Lu Yin glanced at Hua Manyi.

Alright, let’s begin

.

A bit more than ten days later, the High Seraph returned. When he heard that the Apex Palace had been attacked, Lan’s account caused the High Seraph to think not of Lu Yin, but rather of Yong Heng.

The High Seraph knew that Yue Ya and Xing Fan had targeted Lu Yin. After all, he had left to search through parallel universes in order to avoid that battle. The High Seraph knew that it would not be easy for the two Lesser Sancti to drag Lu Yin away, but it was also highly unlikely that Lu Yin had escaped that battle fully unscathed. The High Seraph believed that Lu Yin was truly injured and in the process of recovering on

Boundless

.

If that was true, the Yong Heng was the most likely culprit for the attack on the Apex Palace.

Does Yong Heng hope to work with the Consciousness Megaverse? If not, then why rescue Hua Manyi? Hua Manyi should have also met Yong Heng long ago, as there’s no other reason for him to agree to cooperate so quickly.

Lan had become quite certain that Hua Manyi had been expecting someone to save him. His confident smile had been engraved in her memory.

Yong Heng was at least as dangerous to the Spirit Nidus as Lu Yin.

First, he had collaborated with Lu Yin to outmaneuver Yue Ya and gain information about the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. At present, he was cooperating with the Consciousness Megaverse. Once, he had even helped the Spirit Nidus suppress the Tianyuan Megaverse. Not even the High Seraph could guess at Yong Heng’s thoughts.

If not for the fact that the High Seraph was so wary of Yue Ya, he would have taken action the moment that Yong Heng and Ru Guo had first appeared in the Ark Domain.

At the moment, there was no way to even find Yong Heng.

As for the other hidden member of the Thirteen Luminaries, Bu Wen had not been found, but that had never been the High Seraph’s primary objective.

As long as Hua Manyi had been imprisoned, even if one of the Thirteen Luminaries remained hidden in the Spirit Nidus, they would not have been able to affect the expedition to the Consciousness Megaverse. This sudden development caused the situation to shift yet again, and the High Seraph felt increasingly uneasy about leaving Yong Heng unchecked in the Spirit Nidus.

As for Yue Ya, things would remain quiet for a time. He had first destroyed the Ru family, and then he had attacked the Spirit Nidus as a whole. The Greater Sancte had already intervened and imposed punishment. The only thing still uncertain was how severely Yue Ya had injured Lu Yin.