Chapter 3728: A Single Path

After a long while, the Origin Progenitor solemnly told Lu Yin, “That’s not right.”

Confused, Lu Yin asked, “Not right?”

The Origin Progenitor gave a tight frown. “No, it’s definitely not right. While it’s theoretically possible to fuse manifested thought and consciousness into a new form of mental power, possibly creating Word Manifestation, that still requires the two powers to be balanced.

“If manifested thought is strong and consciousness is weak, then a person will become a being with thoughts that cannot be controlled: a monster.

“If consciousness is strong and manifested thought is weak, it would be possible to control the thoughts, but it would be impossible to harness the incredible power of manifested thought, still resulting in a monster.

“Additionally, all of this requires a vessel.”

The Origin Progenitor looked at Lu Yin. “Your body would serve as the vessel, but is your body capable of withstanding Immortal-level power?”

Lu Yin replied, “Yue Ya intends to use my body as a vessel to fuse his manifested thought with my consciousness.”

The Origin Progenitor shook his head. “Your body cannot serve as the vessel, not unless you yourself enter Immortality. Without that, no matter how impressive your physical strength might be, you will not be able to harness the terrifying power of Word Manifestation. If your body can bear the strain, then the power won’t be able to reach the level of the Immortal realm. And if the power does reach that level, your body won’t be able to bear it. It’s a paradox.”

“Then why is this Yue Ya’s goal?”

“Because he wants to use your body to share the strain of the destructive power that belongs to an Immortal,” the Origin Progenitor said loudly in a sudden realization.

Lu Yin stared blankly at the Origin Progenitor. “Share?”

The Origin Progenitor’s eyes lit up. “That’s exactly it: share the strain. A mental power at the Immortal level is not something that a mere mortal body could ever endure. Think about it: could you defeat Master Qing Cao with just physical strength? Or even get close to him?”

Lu Yin shook his head. “That’s impossible.”

Even if his physical strength were infinite, he would still be instantly defeated by Master Qing Cao. It had been no different for Ancient God, and he had failed to even approach the Immortal.

The Origin Progenitor nodded. “If Word Manifestation reaches the level of an Immortal’s power, then so can physical might. Only that level of strength could endure a mental power of equal potency, but you cannot achieve that. Thus, the power will crush your body.

“Your body will be destroyed, but in the process, it will also absorb and disperse a portion of the destructive power that comes from fusing the two powers. As for the remaining, unfused power, then Yue Ya must either have another, stronger body that can endure the strain, or he doesn’t need a physical body at all.”

Lu Yin blurted, “The cloud?”

The Origin Progenitor’s expression turned grave. “That cloud is a physical manifestation of manifested thought. If manifested thought is able to take such a form, then so can mental power.

“There’s no doubt that he can use your body, in addition to other physically strong individuals, to share the burden of the destructive fusing process. Whether those bodies are destroyed doesn’t matter to him. Ultimately, even if he lacks a physical form, his manifested thought can still fuse, and he will reach the level of using a single word to alter the rules of the universe.

“He can take this path, but you...” The Origin Progenitor then let out a heavy sigh. “Are you willing to abandon your body?”

Lu Yin trembled. Of course he was not willing to do that.

While a path to Immortal-level power had been clearly laid out before him, Lu Yin could not bring himself to abandon his body for such power.

The greed instantly disappeared from his eyes, and Lu Yin instead showed a bitter smile. “I thought that I’d found the most direct path to Immortal power... It turns out that it’s actually the most difficult path.”

The Origin Progenitor sighed and patted Lu Yin’s shoulder. “Pillar, throughout history, how many mighty cultivators with astounding talents and peerless intelligence have failed to take the step into Immortality? If there were shortcuts, they would’ve been found long ago.

“Immortality is the final destination. While there are indeed many roads, every single one is arduous. Even shortcuts require sacrifice.”

Lu Yin was unwilling to make such a sacrifice. “So Yue Ya can walk this path, and I can’t? In that case, I’m nothing more than his prey. Even if I can turn the tables and hunt him down, will I gain nothing?”

The Origin Progenitor smiled. “Not necessarily.”

Lu Yin looked into the Origin Progenitor’s eyes. While Lu Yin may have caught up to the old man in terms of combat power and the Origin Progenitor often appeared incapable of offering much in the way of direct help, the man’s long years of cultivation experience and deep understanding put him on another level. He was a kind and wise elder who patiently guided Lu Yin.

“Your consciousness star is quite promising,” the Origin Progenitor commented.

Lu Yin twitched. “Exactly! I can just form another star of manifested thought. Just because I can’t bear the burden of Word Manifestation now doesn’t mean that I won’t be able to eventually.”

He looked at the Origin Progenitor. “If I can one day contend with Master Qing Cao with just my physical strength alone, then I’ll be able to endure the strain of Immortal-level mental power. At that time, I’ll be able to gain the power of Word Manifestation.”

The Origin Progenitor nodded. “Precisely, and that is the path that you should take. Transforming physical strength is arduous, and you might not even be able to see the end of that path, but you still must walk it. Once your physical strength transforms, your overall power will also transform.

“At that time, your own strength alone will be enough for you to contend with an Immortal, even if your cultivation isn’t at that level yet. Add in your power of karma, and you won’t be weaker than any Immortal opponent.”

The Origin Progenitor started to grow excited. “Pillar, work hard! You may become the first human from our megaverse to become an Immortal.”

These words caused a surge of excitement to surge through Lu Yin, but then he quickly considered Yue Ya. Nothing would be easy. Yue Ya was not clay to be shaped, and the High Seraph and Yong Heng were both watching as well. On top of that, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse was looming behind them all.

For the moment, Lu Yin needed to focus on strengthening his consciousness.

The stronger his consciousness became, the more likely it was that he would be capable of resisting Yue Ya’s manifested thought.

The Consciousness Megaverse would be the start of Lu Yin’s transformation. He first needed to improve his consciousness to the point where he could use it to fight against the High Seraph and Yue Ya. It was still a bit short of that level.

Absorbing two more of the Thirteen Luminaries would put him close. Soon, his consciousness alone would allow him to remain undefeated. If he could devour all the conscients in this megaverse, Lu Yin could not even guess how powerful his consciousness would become. Would it be possible for him to fight against an Immortal?

He did not even dare to imagine such a thing.

It would also take an extremely long time for him to accomplish that. The Consciousness Megaverse was vast, and it contained countless parallel universes. It would not be easy to devour all of its creatures.

It was time for him to go into seclusion and roll the die. Only Possession could allow him to locate the powerful conscients.

Just as he was about to proceed with that plan, Lu Yin’s eyes darted over to the Sand Sea. A blanket was writhing in the sand. It was Jiang Qi. Lu Yin had almost forgotten about this young man.

It was still a mystery how Jiang Qi was able to ignore karma. Lu Yin had studied the young man multiple times, but he still had not found an answer.

At the moment, Jiang Qi had buried himself in the sand, and he was trembling.

Lu Yin was puzzled by this behavior, and he watched. Jiang Qi quickly vanished, reappearing right in front of Lu Yin.

“Are you... afraid?”

From beneath his blanket, Jiang Qi could hear Lu Yin’s question, and the young man carefully raised a corner of his covering. “Gree- Greetings, Third Boss.”

Lu Yin grunted, squatted down, and then stared at the blanket.

Jiang Qi really wanted to pull the blanket back to cover himself, but it felt impolite to do that in Lu Yin’s presence, as though Jiang Qi were dismissing the Third Boss. He did not dare to do such a thing. This was partly due to his fear, but also due to his respect for Lu Yin.

Jiang Qi had been repeatedly bullied in the Spirit Nidus because of his behavior. Despite being more powerful than his peers, his life had been rather miserable. People had treated him like a freak, and trouble had followed him everywhere. Many older cultivators had casually lifted his blanket to look at him, terrifying him each time.

However, ever since he had boarded

Boundless

, no one had mocked him, and Jiang Qi had been living happily. While the battleship was not large, he was content living on it.

No one bullied him on

Boundless

, and no one forcibly peeked under his blanket. He felt completely safe.

On top of that, the Third Boss had been very kind in accepting Jiang Qi, and he felt extremely grateful.

“Why are you afraid?” Lu Yin asked curiously.

“I– I don’t know. I’m just afraid of sunlight.”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Lu Yin said nothing, and Jiang Qi quivered. “Th- Third Boss, I don’t dare to hide anything from you. I’m afraid of sunlight, though I don’t know why.”

Lu Yin had asked Jiang Qi several times what he was afraid of, only to always receive the same answer. Jiang Qi was afraid of upsetting Lu Yin, yet he could only offer the one answer. He did not dare to try to lie to Lu Yin.

“Ever since we’ve entered the Consciousness Megaverse, I’ve become even more afraid.”

Lu Yin arched a brow. “Even more afraid?”

“Yes.”

“More than in the Spirit Nidus?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Lu Yin said nothing after asking that question. If Jiang Qi had an answer, Lu Yin would not have questioned him so many times.

Jiang Qi still had no idea how to respond. “I’m just... afraid.”

Suddenly, Lu Yin remembered something, and his head snapped up. Jiang Qi was able to ignore karma, yet the Spirit Nidus had a hidden wall of karma and inverted funnels of karma. Could there be a connection?

If so, then...?

Lu Yin’s consciousness was released behind him as he unleashed the Nine Heavens, and Heaven’s Blade sliced out.

From his finger, a spiral of karma shot out and struck the sword.

After the booming impact occurred, he looked up at the starry sky and saw a wall of karma.

Sure enough, the karmic structures also existed in the Consciousness Megaverse.

His breathing quickened. The Consciousness Megaverse also had a karmic wall, just the same as the Spirit Nidus. This wall of karma had to be the power of Greater Sancte Green Lotus.

What Jiang Qi was scared of was the walls of karma.

Was it possible that the green lotus was able to travel to the Consciousness Megaverse so quickly because the two megaverses’ karma was connected?

Could such an immense distance be bridged by karma? Just how powerful did Green Lotus have to be?

Green Lotus, the Willbound Spire...

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered, and he immediately turned and headed for the Willbound Expanse.

It did not take him long to arrive. The Willbound Expanse had become a wasteland, as no conscient dared to enter the Broken Realm.

Lu Yin looked over at where Emperor Slayer had once hidden himself. Lu Yin had no idea where the beast had gone.

In another instant, Lu Yin had arrived before the thatched hut. His hand rose out to touch the hut, but an invisible power blocked him. No matter how strong he was, he could not push through that power.

Most likely, Yue Ya, the High Seraph, and others had already tried the same thing and failed. For that reason, they did not bother attempting to return to the Willbound Spire again.

Lu Yin unleashed Heaven’s Blade and struck it with karma. He looked at the hut again and smiled. Things were just as he had suspected.

The invisible barrier was nothing more than a wall of karma.

A wall of karma was sealing off the Willbound Spire, preventing Lu Yin and all the others from entering.

However, a wall of karma could not stop him, as he could remove the bricks.

He tried prying out one brick and succeeded. He then silently wedged it back into place.

While he could enter the Willbound Spire, what use was that? He was still unable to climb the cliff and reach the top. Entering the Willbound Spire would be pointless without being able to scale the cliff.

The High Seraph and the others could forget about entering, as they would never live to see the day.

Lu Yin returned to

Boundless

and entered seclusion. He needed to strengthen his consciousness as quickly as possible.

Boundless

continued to comb through the Consciousness Megaverse for conscients while Lu Yin rolled his die.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed. Lu Yin rolled Possession once, but he had failed to find any of the Thirteen Luminaries. He had reluctantly Possessed a Celestial-realm conscient, and after determining its location, gone and devoured it. Such conscients were still quite helpful. After all, there were very few Universe-realm conscients aside from the Thirteen Luminaries.