Chapter 3788: Prerequisites

Lu Yin had revealed a level of strength such that the only people who might still be willing to go after him were Dukkhans. Even with the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s countless cultivators, ancient heritage, and Seed Transfusions, Dukkhans were rare experts. It was nearly impossible to run into one by chance. Additionally, all of the people who had attacked Lu Yin had accepted Seed Transfusions.

No one would be willing to risk sending an Ortuser or Dukkhan who had achieved their cultivation through self cultivation, and all of Lu Yin’s attackers had been physically present. Not one had sent a projected spirit seed.

Si Jiushi nodded and summoned his carriage.

Lu Yin told the man to wait a bit. He left on his own, quickly dragging out a young man who had been hiding a street away. This was the Ortuser’s young master, as well as the reason why the Ortuser had attacked Lu Yin.

When he saw Lu Yin, the youth collapsed in terror.

Lu Yin shook his head. “Someone like you could gather 10,000 karmic buds and still never pass the trial.”

The young man was then casually tossed into the Champions' Stage Purgatory, just like the old Ortuser and the four sequence powerhouses.

Sending his enemies into the Champions' Stage Purgatory was an excellent way for Lu Yin to gather the power of karma.

However, as long as he was in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, Lu Yin would never dare to imprison someone who was not an enemy. Greater Sancte Green Lotus might not let such a matter slide.

The youth had not accepted Seed Transfusion, nor had he sent his externally cultivated spirit seed. Lu Yin had captured his true body.

Many cultivators in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would travel with their real bodies, unless they expected danger. Their cultivated spirit seeds could never fully replace them, and there were times when appearing before others with only one’s spirit seed was considered rude.

The other karmic bud was on Loneswan Island, which was too far away for Lu Yin to bother with for the time being.

Besides, one of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse cultivators that Lu Yin had captured and imprisoned on a Zenith Mountain was from that island.

He would have an opportunity later.

The carriage left Misty Steps City and continued on towards the Four Commands Sword Sect.

As they traveled, Si Jiushi asked, “Seventh Bro, you gave me an odd look back at the tavern ruins. Did something happen?”

Lu Yin leaned back against his seat and casually replied, “It’s nothing. It’s just that I learned that there’s more than one person pushing blame onto your Five-Palm Sect.”

Si Jiushi was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“Have you heard of the White Jade Clan?”

“The Spirit Alliance’s White Jade Clan?” Si Jiushi exclaimed.

Lu Yin glanced outside. There was a meteor streaking by. Its blue tail trailed among the stars. “Tell me about them.”

Si Jiushi explained, “The White Jade Clan is one of the Spirit Alliance’s thirteen clans. The Spirit Alliance was formed by cultivators from foreign megaverses that our Nine Odysseys Megaverse destroyed and some people from the Spirit Nidus. They all banded together for survival and to carve out a foothold for themselves. The White Jade Clan is one of its primary clans.

“Seventh Bro, were any of those attackers from the White Jade Clan? That doesn’t seem likely, as those people are readily noticeable. Their entire body is a white jade color.”

Lu Yin tossed the two sequence cultivators out from the Champions' Stage Purgatory. “Where do you think they’re from?”

Si Jiushi stared at the two men. Whatever they had been going through had stunned them.

He grabbed one by the arm, carefully feeling and examining the man. Suddenly, the fatty’s expression changed. “War Clan! They’re part of the War Clan! That’s another one of the Spirit Alliance’s thirteen clans.”

Lu Yin nodded. “Exactly. In fact, they actually belong to the White Jade Clan. They pretended to be members of the War Clan before attacking me. Since I’m pretending to be part of your Five-Palm Sect, well, you get the idea.”

Si Jiushi swore furiously. “Those White Jade Clan bastards! They’re completely despicable! They have a grudge with the War Clan, so they want to use my Five-Palm Sect as their blade.”

“‘Use’ is the key word,” Lu Yin stated in a mild tone.

Si Jiushi’s outburst snapped the two men to awareness, and they both stared at Lu Yin in horror. How could he have learned the truth?

They really had been sent by the White Jade Clan, and they had been told to pretend to be members of the War Clan when they attacked someone from the Five-Palm Sect. Ostensibly, they had been trying to steal the karmic bud, but really, they were trying to expose the power of the War Clan and attract the Five-Palms Sects’ hatred. The White Jade Clan wanted to watch two tigers fight.

The Five-Palm Sect was unquestionably one of the most renowned powers in the megaverse, despite falling after the third generation master’s defeat. Even then, it remained far beyond what the War Clan could compare to.

The Five-Palm Sect stood at the same level as the entire Spirit Alliance. While many in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would barely consider the Spirit Alliance to even be worth mentioning, the Five-Palms Sects was different. Its people might be lawless and defiant, but they were also ruthless and powerful.

It would be easy for the Five-Palm Sect to cripple the War Clan.

Still, how had their plot been exposed?

The two men stared at Lu Yin in utter disbelief.

He glanced at the pair and gave them a small smile. “Nothing escapes me. Did you have fun trying?”

Si Jiushi kicked the two men. “Curs! You dare to use my Five-Palm Sect? Your White Jade Clan is finished! I’ll inform Master at once! We won’t let you get away with this.”

Lu Yin watched Si Jiushi fume as he put the two sequence powerhouses away. After a moment, Lu Yin calmly asked, “Does the Spirit Alliance have a settlement nearby?”

Si Jiushi forcibly suppressed his fury and adopted a more respectful tone. “Yes, the Brocade Clan is near.”

How had Lu Yin learned of the White Jade Clan’s plot against the Five-Palms Sects? Si Jiushi might seem brash, but he was no fool, and neither was the White Jade Clan. It must have been quite expensive to train two cultivators to look like members of the War Clan. The fact that they had been so casually exposed did not mean that they were incompetent, but rather that Seventh Bro was too terrifying.

Si Jiushi had no idea how the man had learned the truth, but then he remembered that he himself had been exposed with a mere glance.

This man possesses an uncanny, unfathomable ability.

“The Brocade Clan? Are they strong?”

“The Brocade Clan is one of the thirteen clans. They typically keep to themselves, but whether you consider them powerful or not depends on who you compare them to. If you compare them to the typical powers in the Temporal Heavens, then no. They’re roughly as strong as the White Jade Clan.”

“Then we’ll pay a visit to the Brocade Clan.”

Si Jiushi grew curious. “You want to inform the Brocade Clan? Is that so that they can denounce the White Jade Clan within the Spirit Alliance and expose them?”

Lu Yin looked at the fatty as though looking at an idiot. “Really? That’s what you think?”

“Am I wrong?”

Lu Yin chuckled, his eyes crinkling in amusement. “You truly are the pride of the Five-Palm Sect.”

Si Jiushi felt as though he had just been insulted, but that was not what he had heard.

“The Brocade Clan’s isolated behavior is only possible due to the Spirit Alliance’s unity. Do you think that they would expose something like this and compromise the entire alliance?

“They’ll either pretend to be ignorant, or they’ll inform the heads of the thirteen clans and have the entire alliance negotiate with your Five-Palms Sects while forcing the White Jade Clan to pay a steep price. It won’t be enough to destroy the clan, but it should be enough to satisfy your people. That’s because the Spirit Alliance wants stability, and the one faction in the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse that they are the least willing to antagonize is your own Five-Palms Sects, due to your unpredictability.”

Now, Si Jiushi felt like his entire sect had been insulted.

“However, they won’t take me into account.” Lu Yin’s eyes turned frigid. “They attacked

me

, not your Five-Palms Sects. The price that they’ll be forced to pay won’t be nearly so simple. We’ll go visit the Brocade Clan first and make some trouble for the White Jade clan.”

Si Jiushi grew increasingly curious. “Seventh Bro, what are you planning to do?”

Lu Yin’s lips curved. “You’ll see.”

The carriage altered course and started moving towards the Brocade Clan.

The Spirit Alliance’s thirteen clans were scattered across the Nine Odysseys Megaverse due to the various member species’ differing habitats. There were races that needed to live in the sea and others in magma. There were some who could never touch the ground, and more. The Brocade Clan lived in mountainous forests, their woodlands enclosed beneath a transparent domed shield.

“Is that a spirit-treasure formation? No...” Lu Yin studied the Brocade Clan’s forest from a distance.

Si Jiushi replied, “The Brocade Clan is able to absorb a certain power from forest plants. When an Odyssey invaded their megaverse, they weren’t even able to establish a landing zone until Lesser Sancte Dan Jin personally took action.”

Lu Yin’s heart stirred. “Is Lesser Sancte Dan Jin very strong?”

Si Jiushi nodded. “Of course. Every Lesser Sancte is strong.”

“But surely, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse has more than five peak Dukkhans, no?”

Si Jiushi was not at all surprised by the question. This was common knowledge in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. “There are multiple requirements to become a Lesser Sancte. Combat power is not the only requirement, though it certainly is an important one.

“First, you must have served as an Odyssey Commander, ideally leading an Odyssey to war and defeating a formidable opponent.

“Second, you must not be a part of any faction. At most, a Lesser Sancte will be allowed to be a member of a family, like Lesser Sancte Ru Shi’s Ru family. They can never be from a larger organization.”

Lu Yin interrupted, “But the Ruler Garden belongs to Yue Ya.”

“They only submitted to him after he became a Lesser Sancte. Also, while everyone knows it, no one mentions it openly.”

Lu Yin understood. It was no wonder why Deathmound had exterminated the Ruler Garden. Their destruction had not only been warranted due to meddling in the three megaverses, but also because they had openly declared that they obeyed Yue Ya. Tacit acceptance and an open declaration were two very different things. Given that Yue Ya had lost his title as a Lesser Sancte, even a tacit agreement would need to eventually be settled.

However, this brought up yet another question: the geniuses frozen in the Scion Spire supposedly had the potential to become a Lesser Sancte, but both Luo Ning and Qian Shu were members of powerful factions. How were they supposed to become a Lesser Sancte?

“A Lesser Sancte may have disciples, even a great many of them, but they can never be part of an established organization. The sole exception is the Spirit Nidus’s High Seraph, who is given the title of Lesser Sancte by the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and also governs an entire megaverse.”

There was a pause, and then Si Jiushi continued, saying, “The third and most crucial requirement is that the person must possess the potential to enter the Immortal realm.”

Lu Yin raised a brow. “The potential to become an Immortal?”

Si Jiushi’s voice turned grave. “That’s what my master says. While each Lesser Sancte must be a peak Dukkhan, that is not too rare. Each major organization has at least one, not including people who have accepted a Seed Transfusion. If all of those people competed for the title of Lesser Sancte, it would be pure chaos. This last requirement excludes most people, because most peak Dukkhans can never become Immortals.”

Lu Yin grew puzzled. “If they’re already peak Dukkhans, how can anyone determine whether or not they can progress further?”

Si Jiushi gave a wry smile. “That’s something that belongs to people on a higher level. It might be that the Greater Sancti are able to discern something. In our megaverse, there’s a saying: ‘Perceive with clarity that the five aggregates are all empty and thereby transcend every form of suffering.’[1]

“I’ve heard my master say it, and many peak Dukkhans repeat it. However, unless you reach that level, it makes no sense.”

Lu Yin murmured, “Perceive with clarity that the five aggregates are all empty and thereby transcend every form of suffering?”

He fell deep into thought.

1. This is a very famous line from the Buddhist Heart Sutra. In Buddhist doctrine, the “five aggregates” (五蘊, Pāli and Sanskrit: skandha) are the five categories that compose a sentient being’s experience of “self.” They are:

Form (色, rūpa) - The physical body and physical phenomena—matter, the five sense-organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body) and their corresponding objects (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations).

Feeling (受, vedanā) - The raw sensory “tones” of experience as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral—i.e. the immediate hedonic coloring of any sensation or perception.

Perception (想, saññā/samjñā) - The basic recognition or labeling of sensory input—identifying “blue,” “hot,” “pain,” “flower,” and so on.

Mental Formations (行, saṅkhāra/saṃskāra) - Volitional, karmic impulses or “conditioning factors”—the myriad mental attitudes, emotions, intentions, and habits that shape how we respond to sense impressions.

Consciousness (识, viññāṇa/vijñāna) - The bare awareness that arises in dependence on a sense-organ and its object—eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, mind-consciousness, etc.

Together these five aggregates explain how what we take to be a solid “I” is in fact a constantly changing flow of physical and mental processes. The Heart Sūtra’s key insight is that each of these aggregates is “empty” (空) of any permanent, self-existent essence.

There are numerous translated versions of this passage across different Buddhist traditions and schools of thought. The rendering above is one interpretation intended for contextual reference. For doctrinal accuracy or comparative study, readers are encouraged to consult canonical sources and established translations within their respective traditions. ☜