Chapter 3855: Total Perception

Oftentimes, even peak powerhouses were unqualified and struggled to protect themselves. There was no need to mention mere Spirit Rebirth cultivators.

There were even times when the Nine Odysseys Megaverse went to war where even Ortusers failed to survive.

“Most of those joining the expedition are only Spirit Rebirth cultivators. As a peak powerhouse, how can I not go?” Qiunan Hongye said. With that, she ended the call.

Her covered eyes seemed to stare off into the distance at the countless cultivators arriving at the Sixth Night Pillar, all eager to join the expedition.

Rising up through the various cultivation realms was exceedingly difficult. Many spent their entire lives using only the most basic resources, and the probability of them even becoming a peak powerhouse was about the same as in the Tianyuan Megaverse. It only appeared as if there were numerous peak powerhouses in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse because of its vastness and the sheer number of cultivators.

In particular, the cultivators that Lu Yin had encountered were those with impressive backgrounds or those who had enjoyed a lucky opportunity. Ordinary cultivators would never have the chance to cross Lu Yin’s path, so it was only natural that he met more powerful individuals.

Still, the vast majority of cultivators in the megaverse were completely average.

For those ordinary cultivators, the only way that they could rise above others was to fight.

The Nine Odysseys’ expeditions were opportunities to fight.

If they survived the war, then even if they gained nothing from the foreign megaverse, simply participating in the war could earn them merit that would elevate a person’s cultivation by one, two, or even three stages, which would save them countless years of effort.

Despite the high risk of dying, people still flocked to join the expedition.

Of course, recruitment also had different results depending on the expedition’s target.

Very few people had joined the last expedition which had been sent to destroy the Skyveil Megaverse. Only the major powers’ mandatory conscription had barely scraped together enough people to meet the required numbers.

The current expedition’s target was rumored to be rather weak. If that were not the case, the Immortal Greater Sancti would not have issued an order to launch the expedition within so few years.

The interval between when a foreign megaverse was discovered and when the expedition was ordered had nearly become the standard for judging the strength of the target megaverse.

For the current target, that interval was the shortest in history, and that had led to many being eager to participate.

Lu Yin arrived at the place where the Sixth Night Pillar had been severed. When he arrived, he found that the area below was completely packed with cultivators, and a cacophony of voices was filling the air. It was a completely different atmosphere from when he had last visited the location twelve years ago.

As he listened, Lu Yin quickly understood.

It was no wonder why there were so many people eager to fight in this war; they were all assuming that the target megaverse posed no threat and that it would be easy for them to accomplish great things in battle as they plundered resources.

Just then, Liu Li arrived, and she stood behind Lu Yin, a troubled expression on her face.

“Whether the Fifth Night Pillar participates or not is no longer my concern,” Lu Yin calmly stated.

Liu Li let out a sigh and slowly bowed. “I failed to fulfill my promise. I apologize, Mr. Lu.”

With his hands clasped behind his back, Lu Yin thought,

What promise? It was nothing more than the power of Word Manifestation subtly altering your will

.

The fact that not even a peak Dukkhan like Liu Li had realized that her thoughts had been influenced only validated the test that the three Greater Sancti had put Lu Yin through.

“It’s not your fault,” Lu Yin said.

Liu Li did not know what else to say. After all, what could she possibly offer this man as compensation that would be able to catch his eye?

She had witnessed Lu Yin's breakthrough to the Origin realm. His breakthrough had occurred rather close to the Sixth Night Pillar.

There was only one word to describe it: shocking.

She had never considered the possibility that Lu Yin might not have even reached the Origin realm before. She could not comprehend what level his strength must have reached after he had become an Ortuser.

That was precisely why she had reached out to Qiunan Hongye and asked for her to help mediate. Liu Li lacked the confidence to personally confront Lu Yin.

This was the case even without Liu Li knowing that Green Lotus and the other two Greater Sancti had appeared for Li Yin's breakthrough. If she had seen that, her mind would have devolved into an even worse state.

Following Lu Yin's gaze, Liu Li commented, “Everyone believes that this expedition won’t be dangerous because of how quickly the Immortal Greater Sancti issued the expedition order. It was so quick that people are treating this war like they are simply picking up free merit points on the battlefield. The truth is that no war with another megaverse is ever simple. Even the weakest ones we've faced resulted in heavy casualties.

“If even half of these people are able to return, it will be regarded as incredible luck. For most, all that will return is their blood-stained spirit seed.”

Lu Yin looked at the woman. “Where is that foreign creature? Take me to see it.”

He did not want to continue discussing war. He had fought in far too many already.

Liu Li was surprised. “Have you not already seen it, Mr. Lu?”

“No,” Lu Yin replied. While escorting Jian Hong to the Sixth Night Pillar, Lu Yin had merely seen the creature, but he had not carefully examined it.

In fact, after having fought against even an Immortal-realm beast, he had no real curiosity in the creature from the foreign megaverse. Still, since he was about to leave the Sixth Night Pillar, he thought that he might as well take a quick look at it before leaving.

Liu Li nodded. “Please, follow me.

“Twelve years ago, after you left the Sixth Night Pillar, the creature was delivered to the Immortal Greater Sancti. After issuing the expedition order, the creature was sent back here for us to study how it fights so that we could prepare for the campaign...”

As Liu Li spoke, Lu Yin soon learned some of the foreign creature’s unique characteristics.

It looked rather like a tadpole, though it was entirely transparent, which made its granular organs visible.

The Seventh Night Pillar had captured several of these creatures and sealed them within sourcebox arrays to immobilize them.

“We call these creatures Omnifeel.

“They attack through means that are imperceptible to us humans, and they are also able to freely move through space, and even between parallel universes. It’s as though they don’t exist in the same layer of reality as us.

“They do damage by decomposing those granular internal organs and injecting them into another creature’s body. Those organs then assimilate the host’s own organs, transforming them into the same granular structures. When the process is complete, the host dies.”

Lu Yin was intrigued. The creatures bore a bit of a visual resemblance to the Tianyuan’s Void Wanderers, and those creatures could also freely traverse the universe, though Void Wanderers lacked such a terrifying means of attack.

“These Omnifeel only have one way to do harm, which is by assimilating the target’s organs, but the various ways they go about doing so poses a great threat. It’s why we gave them the name of Omnifeel.

“Humans can smell odors, some of which are dense enough to even be seen, but most remain invisible. Cultivators are an exception, but these Omnifeel can see scents, not just odors. When they were first discovered by the Seventh Night Pillar, these creatures used vibrations as a means of attack, and they managed to kill several cultivators.”

“Vibrations?” Lu Yin was intrigued.

Liu Li explained, “When any creature moves, a ripple is created in space. Even a mere mortal’s movement will have subtle effects. These fluctuations are practically imperceptible, and yet these Omnifeel can see and use those spatial disturbances as a path to invade a target’s body.

“Vibrations are the first means of attack that was discovered, while the second is what I already mentioned: scent.

“And their third means of attack,” Liu Li gravely continued, “Is sight.”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed as Liu Li explained, “To the Omnifeel, a creature’s vision might as well be a straight spatial tunnel that they can travel along, just like vibration and scent. When they come into contact with any such tunnel, they are able to ignore spatial distance and instantly invade a body. That’s why, for this upcoming expedition, everyone will need to cover their eyes. If not, our casualties will be terrifying.

“So far, we’ve only discovered three means of attack, but the Immortal Greater Sancti have already warned us that there might be even more dangerous ones. These creatures are able to evolve, and even their means of attacking through sight only appeared after the Seventh Night Pillar captured them.

“When the Omnifeel were first encountered, they lacked that capability. Any new means of attack that appears in the future will undoubtedly be discovered at the cost of many lives.”

Liu Li sighed. “The greatest fear when fighting an unknown megaverse is not understanding how the creatures there can attack us. Discovering those methods always comes at the cost of lives, countless lives.”

“Why don’t the Greater Sancti help you learn about the enemies’ attacks? Wouldn’t that reduce casualties?” Lu Yin asked.

Liu Li replied, “I don’t know, but the Immortal Greater Sancti surely have their reasons for not doing so. Some creatures are able to constantly evolve and adapt. Even Immortals are not always able to predict how far those evolutions can go. Not all creatures are as easy to analyze as us humans.”

Lu Yin fell into thought.

Could it be... their karmic chains?

Immortals were bound by karmic chains, which prevented them from acting freely.

The cosmos was incomparably vast, and even Immortal-realm beings were nothing more than another among countless lives. True supremacy belonged solely to the omniverse itself. No Immortal could ever claim to rule it.

Even an Immortal’s invincibility was accompanied by constraints.

On top of that, it was possible for a foreign megaverse to have their own Immortals.

“Are you willing to join the expedition?” Liu Li once again invited Lu Yin to join. “With your strength, you would face no danger at all.”

Lu Yin shook his head. “Not this time.”

Liu Li was disappointed.

“How many Night Pillars are participating in this expedition?”

“In addition to our Sixth Night Pillar, the Second and Fourth Night Pillars are also going.”

Lu Yin nodded. That meant that Ming Zhuo would be part of the expedition.

The Second Night Pillar stood between the West and South Domains, while the Fourth was entirely in the South Domain. It was no wonder why so many people had traveled to the Sixth Night Pillar; most of them were from the East and North Domains.

It was difficult for cultivators from those two regions to reach the Second or the Fourth Night Pillars, which made the Sixth Night Pillar their best option.

Lu Yin glanced at Liu Li. This woman was clever. Clearly, the Night Pillars selected to join the expedition had not been chosen at random.

Setting the Seventh Night Pillar aside, the East Domain also had the Eighth Night Pillar. If the Eighth had been chosen to join the expedition, most cultivators would have chosen to join that one instead of the Sixth Night Pillar, which would have left it empty.

The Fifth Night Pillar would not be allowed to join, not just because of their past grudges. This was another reason.

After all, both the Fifth and Sixth Night Pillars stood in the East Domain, and most people would have preferred to join the Fifth.

This also explained why Liu Li had been willing to risk offending Lu Yin by asking Qiunán Hóngyé to intervene. If the Fifth Night Pillar had been allowed to join the expedition, the Sixth Night Pillar would have suffered a severe blow to their recruitment efforts.

The Sixth Night Pillar looked completely different from twelve years ago.

There were now no fewer than five Dukkhans present, and among them were a few familiar faces: Lu Feichen and Lu Jing. They had also joined the expedition, as had several unfamiliar powerhouses.

If the Sixth Night Pillar had been this strong before, the Fifth Night Pillar would have never dared try to stop Jian Hong.

“Best of luck in the war. I’ll be leaving now,” Lu Yin said.

“Where are you going next, Mr. Lu?” Liu Li asked.

“The West Domain’s Skyveil City,” Lu Yin readily answered. He had no reason to keep his destination a secret.

Liu Li was surprised. “You’re heading to the West Domain? In that case, you’ll need to use the Skyswings. That’s the fastest way to get there.”

Lu Yin frowned slightly. “Skyswings?”