Chapter 3832: The Night Pillar Returns

“Have any of you ever seen a stone box like this before?” Lu Yin asked the people around him.

The people in the crowd looked at each other before shaking their heads.

“Have you ever seen the characters ‘Heaven’ or ‘Slave’ carved anywhere?” Lu Yin asked again.

Again, everyone shook their heads.

Lu Siyu and Ming Xiaolong were just as confused as everyone else present, and they also responded negatively to Lu Yin’s questions.

Lu Yin let out a long breath. There was no chance that the Autumnspring Slip was the only one faction that had received something from the unknown Immortal. The sect was nothing more than a single piece. It remained unknown just how many other groups in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had a connection to the mysterious Immortal. Did any of the groups even know about that being’s existence? There were signs in both the Nine Odysseys and the Tianyuan megaverses of that Immortal’s influence, so what about the Spirit Nidus?

That unknown Immortal was a bigger problem than Lu Yin had expected. They seemed to use all of humanity’s megaverses as their chessboard, rather than just the Tianyuan Megaverse.

Yong Heng had spent some time in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse at some point in the past, and Lu Yin needed to investigate what the man had done during that time.

Yue Ya clearly knew something. Lu Yin had previously tested both Si Jiushi and Lu Sizhan, but neither man had known anything.

There was a mysterious darkness behind Yong Heng, so dark that it was impossible to make out so much as an outline. All that Lu Yin had ever seen was a single hand, and even just had caused Lu Yin to suffer karmic backlash. That Immortal gave off the impression of a giant boulder that was pressing down upon his heart, preventing him from ever enjoying a single moment of peace.

Before Lu Yin became an Immortal, there were certain things that would forever remain out of his reach.

The women of Deathmound had left only recently, so as soon as A'zuo sent his message to Deathmound, it was relayed to the Third Peak, and Long Yin hurried back to Ridgeplain, along with her women.

“Where is it?” Long Yin’s expression was calm, and she appeared completely unsurprised.

Lu Yin took out the stone box. “You can look, but you cannot touch.”

Long Yin just gave him a confused look.

The women of the Third Peak stared intently at the cultivated spirit seeds in the stone box. Their eyes did not show greed, but rather relief. They had finally justified their actions.

All along, the Third Peak had not been fixated on the Autumnspring Slip solely because of Long Yin's personal grudge. There had been a number of clues related to stolen cultivated spirit seeds that had pointed to the Autumnspring Slip which had drawn more and more of the Third Peak’s attention, even if things had been initially triggered by Long Yin’s quest for revenge.

The more that they had investigated the Autumnspring Slip, the more suspicious the sect had appeared.

The women had repeatedly disrupted the Worldscript gatherings, and they had done everything they could think of to gain access to the Autumnspring Slip and perform their Spirit Search technique, all to no avail—but they never gave up.

There were times when the deeper one got involved in a situation, the more easily they could be misled.

For example, there was the failure of the spirit-searching technique; did the fact that the Third Peak had failed to find anything prove the Autumnspring Slip’s innocence?

Deathmound never relied solely on their spirit-searching technique. They also conducted traditional investigations. How else could they hope to distinguish between stolen cultivated spirit seeds and those that had been legitimately passed down?

The women of the Third Peak had been absolutely certain that the Autumnspring Slip had committed crimes, but they had never been able to find the stolen cultivated spirit seeds. They had struggled bitterly for years. This also answered something that many had found quite puzzling, which was why Long Yin had remained so stubbornly fixated on the Autumnspring Slip when her greatest enemy should have been the White Jade Clan.

Vengeance had only played a part in her determination. The other part had been her sense of duty.

The people of Deathmound were allowed to seek revenge, but only so long as it fell within the bounds of their principles.

The Great Master showed favoritism to those of Deathmound, and he had searched for excuses to lighten Long Yin’s punishment. Once again, this was not due to mere favoritism, but rather because of one simple sentence Long Yin had stated long ago: "Great Master, I am certain that the Autumnspring Slip has broken the laws."

No oath had been necessary. Just a single statement alone had been enough for Deathmound to trust Long Yin.

That was Deathmound.

With proof of the Autumnspring Slip’s crimes, Long Yin could finally breathe a sigh of relief, as could the rest of the women of the Third Peak, and even all of Deathmound.

Deathmound remained true to its principles. They had not been blinded by hatred.

“Thank you,” Long Yin said to Lu Yin.

The other women of the Third Peak bowed as one to Lu Yin. “Many thanks, Senior.”

Lu Yin waved their thanks away with a hand. “Are you done looking? If so, I’m putting it away.”

Once more, Long Yin and the women of the Third Peak left Ridgeplain. Standard procedure would be for the cultivated spirit seeds to be taken back to Deathmound, but since they had not been the ones to destroy the Autumnspring Slip, they were not entitled to take anything.

What a beautiful day!

Long Yin smiled, which was a rare sight. She looked up at the sky. The blood had long since dispersed, leaving the sky over Ridgeplain blue once more. It was truly beautiful.

Next... the White Jade Clan.

Once the people of Deathmound had left, Lu Yin asked Ming Xiaolong to nudge her sisters again, only to receive the same response. No one had decided on their requests yet.

Helpless, Lu Yin decided to travel towards the roots of the Mother Tree, which were located at the very center of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

The Nine Odysseys Megaverse was split between four massive realms that surrounded the Mother Tree’s roots. Of the Seven Fairies, only Lu Siyu and Ming Xiaolong lived in the East Domain, which meant that Lu Yin would have to travel elsewhere to complete the other requests.

After asking around, Lu Yin decided to travel to the Northern Domain, which had once been the Ruler Garden’s home. The Northern Domain was also home to Deathmound, which Lu Yin needed to pay a visit to.

What happened next in Ridgeplain was no longer his concern. All he needed to focus on was completing the Seven Fairies’ requests.

His eyes scanned the horizon. Far away, Shui Su stood quietly, staring at Lu Yin. When she saw him glance her way, she panicked and quickly looked away.

Don’t talk to me, don’t talk to me, don’t talk to me...

Shui Su kept praying. She did not want to be noticed, and she absolutely did not want to travel with Lu Yin again. While he was certainly very powerful, he was also far too ruthless. He had not hesitated at all to erase the Autumnspring Slip. It would be better to maintain a safe distance from such a person. After all, who could say what his next target would be?

Lu Yin looked away, ready to leave.

At that moment, someone cried out in alarm, “Look at the sky!”

Everyone looked up.

High above the stars in the sky, something that looked like a pillar was streaking across the sky, leaving a tail of distorted space in its wake. It flew down, maintaining its path and splitting the sky in two.

At that moment, it was not just Ridgeplain, but also the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse that could see the object fly across the sky.

Countless people stared upwards. The Seventh Night Pillar had returned.

“The Seventh Night Pillar?” Lu Yin could clearly see the object above the sky. The pillar-shaped object was an actual pillar, though an unimaginably massive one. It was large enough to support the entire landmass that formed the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

The Seventh Night Pillar had been absent from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse for some time.

It was important to first understand just how tall the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s Mother Tree was. Its crown and roots might as well have belonged to entirely separate universes. However, the Seventh Night Pillar landed a great distance away, beyond the reach of the Mother Tree itself. Even so, the pillar was clearly visible. Such size was simply unimaginable.

Lu Yin had originally believed that the Night Pillars referred to places, and only at this moment did he understand that they referred to actual pillars.

No wonder people said that the nine Night Pillars supported the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. He could even picture it in his mind.

Someone excitedly cried out, “If the Seventh Night Pillar has returned, then they’ve completed their mission! That means...”

“In another hundred years, we will be able to witness the Orchid Megaverse being reset.”

“Ancestor, did you see? You've waited so long for this, and the Seventh Night Pillar has returned! You can actually attempt to step into the Immortal realm before your life ends! Waiting your entire life was not in vain!”

“But why is it back so soon? The Seventh Night Pillar left just a short while ago.”

“It’s back too soon. We can’t make it. With our cultivation, there’s no way we’ll be ready when the Orchid Megaverse is reset in just a hundred years. What can we possibly hope to do in that amount of time? Why did it turn out like this?”

While some rejoiced, others despaired.

A'zuo let out a sigh of awe. “In a hundred years, the Orchid Megaverse will be reset. Who knows if a new Immortal will appear? This is a grand event for the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse! This is an event that can genuinely alter the course of history and rebalance the cosmos.”

Lu Siyu rolled her eyes. “You’re exaggerating things. How many megaverses have been reset throughout our history? And yet, we only have a few Greater Sancti. Not even that, but one of them died! It’s much too difficult for another Immortal to appear.”

A'zuo replied in a bitter tone, “True. While it’s said that witnessing the reset of a megaverse is a chance to enter the Immortal realm, just what are the chances of that actually happening? It’s much too small. It takes several, or even dozens, of eras to accumulate the luck needed for another Immortal to appear. Back when I visited the Spirit Nidus, many people there actually believed that resetting a megaverse guarantees the appearance of a new Immortal.

“What a joke! They’ve never even seen a megaverse be reset. Where did such a belief even come from?”

At that moment, Ming Xiaolong tugged on the man’s sleeve, startling A'zuo. He glanced at Lu Yin and quickly bowed. “My apologies, I’ve spoken out of turn. Please don’t take any offense.”

He had forgotten that Lu Yin was from the lower three megaverses. Mocking those people’s beliefs could be construed as mocking Lu Yin.

Lu Yin was staring up at the sky. He watched as the Seventh Night Pillar fell and eventually disappeared, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

It was a valid question; just where did the Spirit Nidus’s certainty that resetting a megaverse would produce an Immortal come from?

The Tianyuan had never reset a megaverse, but neither had the Spirit Nidus.

Only the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had accomplished that.

From what Lu Yin had learned, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had reset several megaverses, and yet there were less than a handful of Immortals in their megaverse. Countless years had passed, and yet no new Immortal had appeared.

Was it really necessary for entire eras to pass for an Immortal to arise?

“There must be other ways to enter the Immortal realm besides resetting a megaverse,” Lu Yin muttered. “You people in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse have a saying: ‘Perceive with clarity that the five aggregates are all empty and thereby transcend every form of suffering.’ That sounds like a valid path to Immortality.”

A'zuo nodded. “In theory, yes. We don’t know which of the current three Greater Sancti stepped into Immortality by resetting a megaverse and which did so by walking the true path. Still, the existence of that expression does point towards the path of Immortality..”

With his hands clasped behind his back, Lu Yin stared up at the stars, lost in his own thoughts.

Immortality? He was not even an Ortuser.

It was not that it was impossible for him to have a breakthrough. If he wished to, he could enter the Origin realm as easily as waving his hand. However, he had always felt as though something was missing.

Sequence laws could be forged into a new weapon, but the Origin realm could not be skipped. More crucially, Lu Yin did not even know what his own Dukkha was.

It was possible to enter Dukkha at the same time one entered the Origin realm.

The Origin realm was a cultivation level, whereas Dukkha was a journey of the heart; a path to Immortality. However, that path required signposts, and Dukkha itself was one such signpost. Unfortunately, Lu Yin had no idea where his lay.

His cultivation had made huge leaps forward, and he had faced life‑and‑death crises countless times. Still, his actual cultivation had seen almost no obstacles.

He could absorb any battle technique or cultivation art he set his mind to, and had always succeeded.

Upon arriving in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, his outlook had shifted. He had transcended the hatred tied to his native megaverse and saw the broader outlook. Yet he still had no clue what kind of Dukkha awaited him.

Emotional ties? He had Yan’er at his side and could awaken her at any time.

A thirst for Immortality? In real time, he had only lived for just over 200 years. Even when his time in his Timestop Space was included, he was not quite 500. Compared to cultivators who went into seclusion for tens of millions of years, Lu Yin might as well be a child.

Asking a child to find their Dukkha was too much.

Lu Yin had fallen into a vicious cycle: his combat power had climbed steadily, to the point that he could rival even Immortals, and he was able to freely battle across realms of cultivation. Yet each gain in strength had cost him something vital: his capacity to contemplate suffering, his ability to cling to hatred, his fervor for cultivation, and even his pursuit of Immortality.

His inner journey had grown dark and dim.

And yet this very road was the true path to Dukkha.

Only by truly understanding himself could he see the future.