Chapter 3845: Being Of Manifested Thought

Yue Ya was terrified, and his fear caused his manifested thought to churn. The dark-gold cloud grew chaotic as he cried out with unprecedented panic, “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I’m useful! Lu Yin, You can use me! I am the most powerful being of manifested thought in the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse. I can help you cultivate manifested thought!”

Lu Yin sneered. “You want to devour my consciousness, just as I want your manifested thought. Surely you can understand that much?”

Yue Ya cried out in horror, “You can’t do that! You’ll die! Your body can’t possibly endure both my manifested thought and your own consciousness! You should have already realized that!”

Lu Yin nodded. “I do know. However, someone once taught me that if you change the form, you change the function.”

That only confused Yue Ya.

Lu Yin stared at the dark-gold cloud, saying nothing more. He released his inner universe and dragged Yue Ya straight into the Champions’ Stage Purgatory.

At that same moment, Lu Yin’s Karmic Dao surged uncontrollably.

Yue Ya had lived far, far too long. Before existing as a creature of manifested thought, that manifested thought had already existed. It had become a new being that had then adopted the name Yue Ya. However, the truth was that the being had existed long before Yue Ya. Lu Yin could not even guess how old the manifested thought was.

The Champions’ Stage Purgatory simply harvested karma from whatever creature entered it. It did not matter to the Champions’ Stage Purgatory or to Lu Yin’s Karmic Dao if the karma belonged to the manifested thought itself or to Yue Ya the individual.

This was a detail that Lu Yin had not considered.

Because of that, when he saw his Karmic Dao growing so unexpectedly, he was stunned.

He had expected Yue Ya to strengthen the Karmic Dao by a considerable amount, at least far more than he would normally gain from a peak Dukkhan, but Lu Yin was seeing far, far more than that. His gains were so excessive that he did not even know how to react.

Still, the power of karma grew stronger. Lu Yin started to grow uneasy. Why was it not slowing down?

He could not make any sense of the situation. Yue Ya alone should not be able to strengthen Lu Yin’s power of karma by so much, and yet it was still improving further. This was nearly as much karma as the meteorite.

That meteorite had granted Lu Yin the karma of an entire destroyed megaverse; how could Yue Ya possibly possess so much?

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. Greater Sancte Green Lotus appeared behind Lu Yin, and he stared in awe at the surging Karmic Dao. “Our guess was correct.”

Lu Yin turned around and offered a respectful bow. “Senior, what is going on?”

Others were unable to see the Karmic Dao, but there was no doubt that Greater Sancte Green Lotus could. Lu Yin did not try to hide what was happening within his Champions’ Stage Purgatory.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s expression remained calm. “Before Yue Ya came to be, the manifested thought that formed him already existed, vast and powerful. While most of it dissipated over time, the remaining amount was still enough for Yue Ya to become a Lesser Sancte.

“Do you understand now?”

Lu Yin was shocked. “Immortal-level manifested thought?”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus did not deny it.

For a fraction of manifested thought to be enough to give rise to a Lesser Sancte like Yue Ya, the original being must have been unimaginably powerful. The only explanation was Immortal-level manifested thought.

“Yue Ya did everything he could to achieve Immortality, but he was not the manifested thought itself—he was merely a desire to survive that was born of it. That desire ensured that the manifested thought did not completely vanish, and the resulting being instinctively sought to return to the Immortal realm.

“For Yue Ya, everything was about achieving Immortality, but to the original manifested thought, it was simply a desire to be restored.

“No matter how hard he tried, Yue Ya couldn’t break through and achieve Immortality. Ultimately, his only available path was to devour consciousness and form the Immortal power of Word Manifestation. Unfortunately, he was unable to devour the Consciousness Megaverse’s conscients, leaving him stuck... until you appeared.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus turned to smile at Lu Yin. “Yue Ya believed that, by devouring consciousness, he would be able to fuse it with his own manifested thought and achieve an Immortal-level power. It could have worked, but he did not anticipate you being so difficult for him to deal with, nor did he consider that we would have never allowed him to succeed.”

Lu Yin understood. “As soon as he obtained Immortal-level power, Yue Ya would have vanished, and the original manifested thought would have emerged.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus nodded and let out a heavy sigh. “Let the dead rest in peace. Why stir up more trouble? An Immortal who has lived for endless ages is completely different from one who has died and is clawing their way back to power. The latter...”

The man’s expression grew solemn. “Is no longer human.”

Saying that someone was not human was not an insult, but rather an indication of fear towards such a being.

If the dead could return, what would death mean to such an individual? They would no longer fear death, regardless of whether it was their own or that of others. Such an Immortal would be extremely dangerous.

The most accurate analogy was the difference between a human and a corpse king.

To Lu Yin, the theoretical return of an Immortal was simply an elevated version of the difference between a human and corpse king.

“You’re saying that Yue Ya should have died long ago,” Lu Yin commented.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus gave a small smile. “He should not have died at our hands. However, since you desire his manifested thought, it is yours. If you can use it to obtain an Immortal-level power, it would benefit all of humanity. Provided, of course, that you are not controlled by the manifested thought.

“I have confidence in you.”

Lu Yin then understood that he had walked into trouble. He had obtained Yue Ya’s manifested thought, and when it fused with his own consciousness, Lu Yin might truly obtain the power of Word Manifestation and see a tremendous surge in power. Even if that did not happen, just the karma that he had gained from defeating Yue Ya was more than worthwhile. However, he was effectively crushing the return of an Immortal. That had to have some consequences, right?

“Senior, did you know the Immortal that was trying to revive?”

“I did not.”

“In that case, are there any clues? Since they were an Immortal, is it possible that they still have friends or allies?”

“You can dismiss those fears. Even if there are such people, we will hold them back. Even so, that is highly unlikely. Immortals only theoretically possess eternal life. They can still die. That being’s friends are likely long gone.”

Lu Yin was able to relax a bit after hearing that.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus studied Lu Yin. “With all that you’ve learned, your greatest concern is the Immortal themselves. That indicates that you are confident that you will not be influenced by the manifested thought, correct?”

Lu Yin showed a wry smile. “You are overestimating me, Senior. How could I be so confident? Sometimes, I just get odd ideas.”

“Such as changing the form to change the function?” Greater Sancte Green Lotus interjected.

Lu Yin felt helpless. His comment had been overheard. He had been careless. Still, who could have guessed that Yue Ya had connections to an Immortal?

Greater Sancte Green Lotus smiled. “I won’t ask how you plan to handle this. Since I’ve entrusted Yue Ya to you, it means that I am confident in you.

“This matter is concluded. From this moment, Yue Ya no longer exists in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.”

With that, the Greater Sancte vanished.

Once Green Lotus disappeared, Lu Yin’s body dropped, and he returned to the Sixth Night Pillar.

His descent was witnessed by many on the Sixth Night Pillar.

Liu Li stared at him in shock. While they had not felt any shockwaves from the battle, that was only more impressive. Some unimaginable power had blocked their sight, even the peak Dukkhans. There was no doubt that an Immortal had been involved.

One of the Greater Sancte had intervened.

The dark-gold light that they had seen in the sky must have belonged to Yue Ya.

Lu Yin and Yue Ya

... As Liu Li remembered how Yue Ya had once tried to fish someone up from the Spirit Nidus, only to almost end up being dragged out of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse instead, she instantly made the connection. At that moment, she looked at Lu Yin with even greater respect than before.

If the major factions of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had the means to send reports and share information with the Greater Sancti, Lu Yin had the means to directly meet with the Immortals.

No wonder he emerged from the Sea of Karma.

The Azuresword Sovereign could not be sure if he should feel happy or sad. Yue Ya was gone, which meant that no one could compete with the Azuresword Sovereign for the position of Odyssey Commander, but Yue Ya’s absence also meant that Lu Yin could no longer be asked for help. On top of that, Yue Ya had been a disgraced Lesser Sancte, and yet he had simply... disappeared. It was chilling.

Jian Hong looked away. There were certain people who were simply destined to remain out of reach.

Only those in the Sixth Night Pillar knew of the battle, but not even they had been able to witness anything that had happened. Still, from that day on, the people of the Sixth Night Pillar looked at Lu Yin in a completely different light.

When Lu Yin landed on the Sixth Night Pillar, no one disturbed him.

He waited quietly.

More than ten days later, he finally inhaled deeply and released his Karmic Dao.

He watched as it spread out, enveloping one person after another on the Sixth Night Pillar. Eventually, the Karmic Dao spread beyond the Night Pillar itself. Lu Yin exhaled. It had grown to reach a greater range than it had ever touched before.

He had not gained this much karma even from the meteorite.

Was this the karma of an Immortal?

It was absurd. The longer one lived, the more they would experience, and the greater the karma they would accumulate.

Just the karma from Yue Ya alone rivaled that of an entire civilization.

Within the range of Lu Yin’s Karmic Dao, peak Dukkhans like Liu Li and the Azuresword Sovereign grew nervous. They could not pinpoint the source of their unease, and they merely knew that their hearts were unsettled. They had lost a sense of freedom and instead felt the arrival of a crisis that urged them to leave the Sixth Night Pillar and get as far away as possible.

The Azuresword Sovereign did just that, and he left without even saying goodbye.

Liu Li also wanted to leave, but she was unable to do so. The Sixth Night Pillar was her home. She suspected that Lu Yin had something to do with her discomfort. He was the only one on the Sixth Night Pillar with the strength to shake her so badly.

For that reason, the woman chose to wait. Lu Yin would not harm the Sixth Night Pillar, would he?

While Greater Sancte Green Lotus cultivated the power of karma and wielded his Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, almost no one in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse was actually able to sense his power of karma. They were not worthy of the Immortal’s direct attention. Not even Yue Ya had ever felt the direct touch of the Greater Sancte’s karma.

It felt like becoming a puppet, as though all of one’s life and existence could be determined by the whim of another.

This was also why countless cultivators throughout the Nine Odysseys Megaverse offered their gratitude to the universe; they hoped to catch Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s attention. They believed that he was able to see each and every individual. Still, no one actually knew what it felt like to be the target of karma.

It was quite some time later that Lu Yin recovered his Karmic Dao.

Only then did Liu Li let out a breath of relief. As she did so, she realized that her back had become soaked with sweat.

Jian Hong was better off than Liu Li. He was naturally arrogant, and he even believed that he had already comprehended three-tenths of existing sword intent. Even without his arrogance, that was his goal. He had left the Seventh Night Pillar with only a basket on his back, knowing that he would be pursued. Even after he was abandoned by the Sixth Night Pillar, he had never given up. His determination was far stronger than Liu Li’s.

The weaker one’s cultivation, the less they would feel the pressure of being controlled by karma.

In particular, those beneath the Envoy level felt nothing at all.

However, the Morrow Behemoth, which was hidden deep underground, gave a barely perceptible tremor.

When Lu Yin had strengthened his karma with the meteorite or with peak Dukkhans, the entire process usually finished rather quickly. In contrast, Yue Ya took over ten days.

Lu Yin could not say when it started, but he felt insecure whenever his power of karma grew weak. It might have started when he had used the power of karma together with Immortal matter to escape from the Immortal monster.

He had constantly been considering various ways to strengthen his karma. After achieving that goal so suddenly, it felt surreal.

There were times when, the greater the gains, the more nervous one would become.

Lu Yin had essentially stolen a lifetime of karma from an Immortal; how absurd was that?

Lu Yin remained silent for a long time. Then, he finally released Yue Ya from the Champions’ Stage Purgatory.