Chapter 3801: Odyssey Commander

Lu Sizhan led the members of the Four Commands Sword Sect and the rest of the crowd away from the Sword Altar. Lu Yin and Ming Zhuo were the only ones allowed to remain behind, so that they would have some privacy for their conversation.

No outsider had ever been left at the Sword Altar unsupervised, but Lu Sizhan showed that much respect for Lu Yin and Ming Zhuo.

Normally, outsiders were barred from the Sword Altar because of the scars that past Grand Swordmasters had left there and because the sect did not want its techniques to be stolen. However, it was clear that neither Lu Yin nor Ming Zhuo had any interest in learning such techniques.

“Master has told me about you,” Ming Zhuo stated with a smile, “If you need any help, just ask. Those girls aren’t easy to deal with.”

Lu Yin thanked him. “Many thanks, Senior.”

Ming Zhuo waved the gratitude away. “Don’t call me senior. It won’t be long before you might be calling me senior brother instead, haha!”

Lu Yin said nothing to that. It was clear that Greater Sancte Green Lotus had not mentioned to Ming Zhuo that Lu Yin had refused to become the Immortal’s disciple, and Lu Yin was happy to accept Ming Zhuo’s favor.

While Lu Yin might not know how many disciples Green Lotus had, every last one of them had to be impressive. The Seven Fairies were only nominal disciples, and they had all been accepted by Green Lotus within the last century. While each one’s individual strength was rather average, their backgrounds were terrifying.

Just Lu Siyu alone was able to mobilize the entire Four Commands Sword Sect. That meant that a conservative estimate would be that the Seven Fairies were together capable of moving half of the powers in the megaverse.

“Honestly, I never expected your swordsmanship to be so impressive. You even cut through Lu Sizhan’s last strike. I wasn’t exaggerating either—his attack truly does rival Lu Cang’s greatest strike. In the current Nine Odysseys Megaverse, there are very few who can match him in the sword,” Ming Zhuo said, still impressed.

Lu Yin remained modest. “Throughout my journey, I have met many Grand Swordmasters, which led to me also stepping onto the path of the sword.”

“And the path of karma as well, no?” Ming Zhuo suddenly asked, his eyes boring into Lu Yin.

Lu Yin met the man’s gaze and denied nothing. The question was met with nothing but silence.

Ming Zhuo let out a breath. “So it’s true. You’ve comprehended the power of karma. It’s no wonder why Master regards you so highly and mentioned you to me. Even my junior brother sleeping in the Scion Spire hasn’t received such a high evaluation.”

The man looked Lu Yin up and down, envy and yearning clear in his eyes. “Can you tell me what karma feels like?”

Lu Yin blinked. “What does it

feel

like?”

Ming Zhuo eagerly nodded, full of desire.

Lu Yin thought for a moment. “There’s no real feeling to it. It’s simply the power to act as you will.”

Ming Zhuo stared at Lu Yin with hope-filled eyes.

Lu Yin helplessly continued, “I really don’t know how to describe it.”

Ming Zhuo gave a bitter smile. “Exactly... how can something like that be described? Don’t take offense, Junior Brother, but you truly can’t grasp how deeply the cultivators of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse yearn for karma. It’s more than just a path to power; it’s a form of belief. To put it simply, it’s the road toward transcendence.”

“The road to transcendence?”

“Exactly! Comprehending karma can allow one to become Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s disciple and strive for the Immortal realm. It’s something that countless people dream of, including your senior brother right here. But for ages, aside from Master, no one else has ever been able to comprehend karma. It’s referred to as a shortcut to the Immortal realm, but it’s more difficult than anything else. Who can comprehend karma? My junior brother is astonishingly talented, more than enough for him to sleep in the Scion Spire, but not even he can comprehend karma, which has disappointed Master.

“Things are different now, as Master finally has an heir!” While Ming Zhuo regretted his own failure, he looked at Lu Yin with nothing but happiness and well wishes. “Junior Brother, do your best! Strive to enter the Immortal realm soon so that Master Green Lotus will have a faction with two Greater Sancti! Hahaha!”

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Lu Yin smiled. In this man, he saw the shadows of his own senior brothers and sister. The eldest of the disciples, his senior sister, had followed him out of their home megaverse to fight against the Spirit Nidus. The second disciple, Senior Brother Mu Ke, had given Lu Yin wooden blades that had saved his life on more than one occasion. His third senior brother, Mu Xie, and fourth senior brother, Qing Ping, had constantly protected Lu Yin, willing to do anything.

They had always been indulgent towards their youngest disciple brother.

Ming Zhuo demonstrated the exact same attitude.

The way that the man looked at him made Lu Yin feel like he was seeing his senior brothers’ eyes, creating a sense of closeness, though it was not quite the same.

“What if I can’t become Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s disciple?” Lu Yin asked.

Ming Zhuo chuckled. “That’s impossible. Master will never let you go. Do you know how long he’s waited for a disciple like you?”

After a moment the man added, “Still, since he’s given you a test, there is a chance you’ll fail. Master does honor the word ‘fate.’

“Regardless of whatever happens, I find myself quite liking you. Even if you don’t manage to become his disciple, you can still come with me. If worse comes to worst...” He looked at Lu Yin expectantly. “Why not accept me as your master? I’m pretty impressive myself.”

Lu Yin was left speechless.

Impressive? If I wasn’t being polite, I could smash you flat.

“Just kidding. By the way, Junior Brother, where are you from? Master said that you’re from one of the three megaverses, right?” Ming Zhuo asked again.

Lu Yin nodded. “The Tianyuan.”

Ming Zhuo was caught off guard. “I thought that you were from the Spirit Nidus! Right, if you were, Master would have just said so. There are plenty of people from the Spirit Nidus here in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

“I truly never expected that someone from the Tianyuan would show up here.

Tsk-tsk

, has the Tianyuan already made contact with the Spirit Nidus?”

Lu Yin proceeded to share some of the events that had taken place in the Tianyuan and the Spirit Nidus. This was both to satisfy Ming Zhuo’s curiosity, as well as to see if he could glean anything from Ming Zhuo’s reactions. After all, the man was a part of the Nine Odysseys, which specialized in fighting against foreign megaverses.

Ming Zhuo’s expression turned grave, and he looked at Lu Yin with a great deal of respect. “You’ve shown true courage. You could have lived a comfortable life in the Tianyuan, and yet you fought your way into the Spirit Nidus. Your megaverse has its share of people ready to do battle. I admire that.

“If there’s a chance, your senior brother here will find a way to prevent the Tianyuan from being reset.”

Lu Yin bowed solemnly. “Thank you, Senior.”

Ming Zhuo waved a hand. “There’s no need for that sort of formality. I said ‘if.’ The odds aren’t high. The Nine Odysseys are not the ones who make the decisions. The ones who choose whether a megaverse is reset or not are the Sancti and the masters of a select number of the great powers. Steel yourself. I’ve noticed something odd with the Fifth Odyssey lately. They’ll most likely mobilize soon.”

Lu Yin was startled. “The Fifth Odyssey is going to mobilize?”

Ming Zhuo grunted as he glanced in the direction of the distant Fifth Odyssey. “The Nine Odysseys take turns fighting against foreign megaverses. The last war was launched by our Fourth Odyssey. Naturally, the next one is the Fifth’s turn. I’ve heard rumors that say that they will likely be targeting one of the three megaverses.”

Lu Yin’s pupils shrank. “Why?”

“Because there have been no new foreign megaverses that need to be subjugated,” Ming Zhuo replied.

Lu Yin’s heart sank. “Is there a chance that they’ll be going after a newly discovered megaverse?”

“While possible, it’s unlikely. The competition between megaverses is harsher than any battle between cultivators. Don’t be fooled by the might of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. Even with our Nine Odysseys that are dedicated to fighting foreign megaverses, we don’t dare expose ourselves lightly. Especially-”

The man abruptly cut himself off. “Forget it. There are some things that are better to learn from Master. In short, the omniverse is a cruel and mysterious place. Our Nine Odysseys Megaverse has faced more than one crisis that could have utterly destroyed us, which is why we constantly have to prepare for such events. Why else do you think the three megaverses are allowed to exist?

“While this certainly sounds cruel, that does not make it any less true.

“If the day comes when the Nine Odysseys Megaverse faces a true crisis, the first to bear the cost will not be the Nine Odysseys Megaverse itself, but rather the other three megaverses.”

Lu Yin understood. The Nine Odysseys Megaverse sustained itself by harvesting from the Spirit Nidus, which granted all cultivators in the megaverse a second life, as well as a method of directly creating powerful experts with Seed Transfusions. In turn, the Spirit Nidus treated the Tianyuan as a shield. There were multiple layers nestled within each other.

Essentially, the Tianyuan served as the outermost shield for the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. If the threat of extermination arrived, the Tianyuan would be hit first. If the Nine Odysseys Megaverse needed to reset a megaverse in order to raise up more experts, again, the Tianyuan would be the first to be sacrificed.

While Ming Zhuo had not directly stated it, it was highly probable that the Fifth Odyssey’s target was the Tianyuan Megaverse.

After all, given how far the megaverse had developed, it was ready to be reset.

Lu Yin had known some of these details for a long time, but he had not expected things to come to a head so soon.

Was the Fifth Odyssey already prepared to launch?

“How much time do I have left?” Lu Yin asked.

Ming Zhuo replied sympathetically, “That depends on the Fifth Odyssey’s preparations. You need to ask someone from there, someone with a high ranking. The other choice is to join the Odyssey yourself.”

The man’s eyes instantly lit up, and he turned to face Lu Yin. “If you became the commander of the Fifth Odyssey, you might be able to change your megaverse’s destiny.”

“The Fifth Odyssey’s commander?” Lu Yin was startled by the suggestion.

Ming Zhuo nodded. “The Odyssey Commander has absolute authority over everything in the Odyssey, down to the lives of every cultivator there.”

“But I want to become a Lesser Sancti,” Lu Yin said.

Ming Zhuo rolled his eyes. “You’re certainly ambitious enough, but that’s going to be hard. That is not a position that you can obtain with just sufficient power or cultivation. Actually, what is your cultivation realm?”

Lu Yin calmly replied, “Dukkhan.”

Ming Zhuo gave him an odd look. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t tell at all.”

Lu Yin calmly asked, “Senior, are you trying to see through my Dukkha?”

"That's not what I’m saying, but I feel like something is off. Forget it. Maybe your Tianyuan has a unique approach to cultivation." He glanced down at his waist and pulled out a teardrop-shaped object that he looked at. "Junior Brother, I have other matters to attend to, so I'll leave now. Oh, if you truly want to understand the state of things, you’ll need to join the Fifth Odyssey. The Odyssey Commander wields absolute authority during wartime; not even a Greater Sancte cannot override a commander at that time. If you wish to join the Fifth Odyssey, one of those seven girls can arrange things for you. I hope that you’ll one day be able to call me Senior Brother."

With that, the man left.

Lu Yin watched Ming Zhuo move away, his mind racing.

The Fifth Odyssey, huh?

He seemed to remember that there was someone from the Fifth Odyssey nearby.

***

Xian Ding had already left the Four Commands Sword Sect, and he was hurrying back to the Fifth Odyssey to report all that he had seen to his master. Lu Sizhan’s strength was unexpectedly impressive.

He had thought that Lu Sizhan becoming the Grand Swordmaster was nothing more than a joke. The man would be regarded as the weakest Grand Swordmaster in history and therefore would pose no threat to his master.

However, Lu Sizhan’s transformation was entirely unexpected. The attack that he had demonstrated was truly frightening.

On top of that, there was that man from the Sea of Karma who had a connection to Greater Sancte Green Lotus. That man’s sword had been incredibly powerful. If he had interfered merely because of Lu Siyu’s request that he help Lu Sizhan, then things would be fine. However, if that man had genuinely visited the Four Commands Sword Sect to sharpen his sword skills, then he might target Xian Ding’s master next, and his master could not lose, especially not at this time.

These thoughts had prompted Xian Ding to quickly leave the Four Commands Sword Sect. Feeling pressed for time, he was not even riding in a carriage.

Suddenly he stopped and stared ahead in a daze. He shouted in surprise, “Why are you here?”

In front of the man stood Lu Yin, looking at Xian Ding. “Let’s talk.”

Xian Ding’s eyes darted about nervously. He wanted to refuse but could not. Knowing that it was pointless to resist, he slowly bowed. “Xian Ding greets Senior.”

Lu Yin descended to approach Xian Ding. Conveniently, there was a pavilion nearby, and the two moved within it.

“Tell me about the Fifth Odyssey.”

Xian Ding grew puzzled, but he proceeded to slowly share what he knew as Lu Yin listened quietly.