Chapter 3862: Magnanimity

Xuan Ding gazed into the distance, his eyes blank. He said nothing.

He could not think of a reply. While Lu Yin’s domineering spirit was indeed directed at the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, it also included all of humanity. Yes, he was determined to protect the Tianyuan, but even more so, he was determined to protect humanity itself. If Xuan Ding kept arguing, he would have to argue against Lu Yin’s determination to protect humanity as a whole. That was a determination that no one could shake, not even the Immortal Greater Sancti.

There were countless things that Xuan Ding had wanted to say. Countless arguments and rebuttals had flashed through his mind. He had believed that he could suppress Lu Yin with words.

But he had been wrong. This was not because Xuan Ding’s words were not sharp enough, but rather because his perspective was too limited.

He only saw the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, the Tianyuan, and the Spirit Nidus, but not humanity as a whole. His viewpoint was restricted to a single megaverse, while Lu Yin was looking at the entire macrocosm, and even all of life throughout the Aevum Inch.

That was the same perspective as the Immortal Greater Sancti.

To continue protesting against Lu Yin’s actions, Xuan Ding would need to dispute not Lu Yin himself, but rather his broader perspective that looked at the entire macrocosm and his heart that encompassed all of humanity.

When faced with such magnanimity, Xuan Dian could only look up to it. How could he argue against it?

The man coughed up a mouthful of blood and bowed low. “Many thanks, Mr. Lu. Xuan Ding... has learned his lesson.”

With that, he turned around and left.

The universe fell silent. Countless people were amazed by Lu Yin’s magnanimity and arrogance. They were not cowed by Lu Yin’s strength, but rather his determination to protect.

What lower three megaverses? What Nine Odysseys Megaverse? In one man’s eyes, they all formed humanity as a whole, nothing more.

If the day came when the Nine Odysseys Megaverse suffered a calamity, or when humanity as a whole faced a catastrophe, Lu Yin would still charge into the unknown without hesitation, bearing everything on his own in order to protect from the front.

How could anyone not be amazed by such a stalwart determination?

Countless people looked at the sky before offering deep bows.

The orchid leaf resumed its journey towards the Mother Tree.

Lu Yin sat atop the leaf, absentmindedly staring at the pathfinding stone. If he one day stepped into the Immortal realm and threw this pathfinding stone out into the Aevum Inch, just what would he see?

Since Gu Duanke had a pathfinding stone, others should have them as well. It was highly likely that Immortals such as the Greater Sancti had some.

Could they... have seen something?

Lu Yin was still far from the level of the true top powerhouses.

After Xuan Ding asked his questions and ended up coughing up blood, no one else in the East Domain dared to cause any trouble for Lu Yin.

In the distance, Lu Yin saw the skyswings.

They hung from the branches of the Mother Tree and could swing around to bring people to the other three domains. It was a truly ingenious idea, and the concept treated the universe like a toy. This had to be the handiwork of a Greater Sancte.

Lu Yin looked back at the East Domain. It was time to leave.

His time in the East Domain had been the start of his journey in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. Leaving the domain with such a domineering statement was not a bad way to go.

The main thing that surprised him was that the strongest group in the East Domain had never shown itself during his time there.

Each of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s four domains—east, west, south, and north—had a single faction that stood above all others in the region.

If the minor families could not even be considered real factions, then groups like the Four Commands Sword Sect, Ruler Garden, and the Skyward Gate’s Luo family could be considered third-rate factions. The Autumnspring Slip had been a second-rate faction, while the first-rate factions were those that were able to stand supreme above an entire domain.

In the East Domain, that faction was the Dream Dominion. The South Domain had the Scion Spire, the West Domain had Skyveil City, the North Domain had Rift of Suffering, and Deathmound sat in the center.

These were the five most powerful factions in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s Temporal Heavens.

Even in the Nine Odysseys, a significant number of the most powerful cultivators came from those five top factions.

Above the Nine Odysseys and Temporal Heavens stood the Greater Sancti.

The Sea of Karma belonged to Greater Sancte Green Lotus, and while it was not a formal organization, it stood above all such groups. Even if the strength of Green Lotus’s disciples were ignored, the Greater Sancte himself was a peerless transcendent.

During Lu Yin’s Origin realm breakthrough, he had expected Dream Dominion to be the first in the East Domain to react after his declaration. Surprisingly, no one from that sect had appeared from beginning to end.

It was said that Dream Dominion had pioneered a technique that replaced reality with dreams and that all of the sect’s disciples cultivated solely within their dreams. Because of this, its sect members rarely appeared in the real world.

Their method of cultivating in their dreams was different from what the Spirit Nidus’s Seraph Meng Sang did.

Meng Sang was able to attack from within dreams, and he could also cultivate within dreams, but his dreams were ethereal and illusory.

In contrast, the Dream Dominion’s dream inverted reality and illusion. Their dream might be a dream, or it might be reality.

Meng Sang could use dreams to influence reality, while Dream Dominion could replace reality with dreams.

Lu Yin had always been curious about Dream Dominion’s techniques ever since he had heard about the sect, but there had never been an opportunity for him to interact with them, which he rather regretted. After all, he had also cultivated the Dream Sutra, which had enabled him to fight against Meng Sang within the dream realm.

The skyswings were not right at the Mother Tree’s trunk.

The Mother Tree’s branches stretched out far enough to shroud half of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

The skyswings hung from one of the branches, which meant that there was a fair distance to the Mother Tree itself.

Lu Yin put the orchid leaf away and approached the base of the skyswings. There were many people already there. Each skyswing was actually just a single long rope with a massive mountain hanging from the bottom of it. Beside the mountain, the Morrow Behemoth was soundly snoring. The beast’s job was to fling the mountain, which would swing out and around the Mother Tree, held in orbit by the skyswings.

This Morrow Behemoth was much smaller than the ones that launched the Night Pillars, though it was roughly the same size as the one in the Spirit Nidus.

Even while asleep, the beast’s snoring shook the void. No one dared to approach it too closely, afraid that the Morrow Behemoth might roll over and crush them. After all, such things had happened before.

The skyswings were actually just a rope that swung an entire mountain out and around the Mother Tree. This was not what Lu Yin had expected.

For the mountain to withstand the force of being thrown by a Morrow Behemoth and not break, it had to have been made from some extraordinary material.

Many of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s resources were retrieved from foreign megaverses.

Lu Yin arrived right before the skyswings were about to be thrown to the West Domain.

After storing the orchid leaf away, he suppressed his aura, but he was still recognized. Too many people had seen his image curing his Origin realm breakthrough, as the commotion had shaken the entire megaverse.

Some people offered bows, while others silently stepped back.

Most people in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse still looked down on the Tianyuan, despite hearing Lu Yin’s earlier words.

Still, his comments had started to change the way that most people viewed Lu Yin himself.

A group of cultivators quickly approached and bowed respectfully before Lu Yin. “Qu Xun of the skyswings offers greetings, Mr. Lu.”

The group gathered behind the man joined Qu Xun’s bow. “Greetings, Mr. Lu.”

Lu Yin asked, “Are you the ones in charge of the skyswings?”

Qu Xun answered, “That’s correct. Do you wish to use them, Mr. Lu? It’s nearly time, so you can leave shortly.”

Lu Yin just gave a small nod, but he did not speak further.

Just then, a familiar voice called out, “Mr. Lu!”

Lu Yin turned his head. “Elder Le?”

Sure enough, Elder Le was also there. Lu Yin had not expected to see the man at the skyswings.

The old man hurried over to bow to Lu Yin. “Greetings, Mr. Lu.”

Lu Yin acknowledged the man’s greetings. While it was possible for him to instantly sweep a vast area with his consciousness, he was not constantly doing so. Such restraint was one of the unspoken rules of cultivators.

How would people feel if every cultivator was constantly scanning everyone wherever they went? Weaker cultivators would never be able to keep any secrets at all; how could they survive then?

“I’ve been waiting here for you this entire time, Mr. Lu. You’ve finally arrived,” Elder Le said with a smile and a sigh of relief.

Lu Yin was puzzled. “Why have you been waiting for me?”

Elder Le took out five karmic buds from his cosmic ring and respectfully offered them to Lu Yin. “Everchange Valley wishes to thank you for taking action, Mr. Lu. Please accept this small token of gratitude.”

A commotion rose around the two men as countless eyes stared at the karmic buds with blazing envy.

Those were karmic buds! Who in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse did not want such treasures? For five of them to appear at once too—what generosity!

Even Lu Yin was surprised. “For me?”

Elder Le smiled. “Yes. We wish to thank you for helping Everchange Valley, and more so for eliminating the Autumnspring Slip. You have performed a great service to the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse.”

Everyone nearby was silently observing the conversation. Even those who had not bowed to Lu Yin and still looked down upon the three megaverses were forced to admit that they were extremely satisfied with the fact that Lu Yin had destroyed the Autumnspring Slip.

This was not solely because the sect had behaved arrogantly and had broken many people’s spirits, but more so because they had violated one of the most sacred taboos of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse: killing people to steal their spirit seeds. That was what everyone despised the most, especially independent cultivators with no backing. No one wanted to spend countless years cultivating, only to have everything stolen from them in an instant to benefit a complete stranger.

Deathmound might intimidate the whole megaverse, but such crimes still persisted.

If there had been no evidence of the Autumnspring Slip’s crimes, the aftermath of Lu Yin destroying the sect would not have been nearly so calm.

Lu Yin accepted the gift without hesitation. “Thank you.”

Elder Le nodded, bowed once more, and then left.

Elder Le had been ordered to wait at the skyswings for Lu Yin ever since he had broken through to the Origin realm. It was quite fortunate that the man had not needed to wait long for Lu Yin’s arrival.

Lu Yin stored the karmic buds away. With these five, he had gathered a total of thirty-one karmic buds, which was certainly not bad. He would slowly continue to accumulate more.

While absorbing karmic buds did not boost his power of karma as much as imprisoning a Dukkhan within his Champions’ Stage Purgatory, Lu Yin could not capture powerhouses without justification. It was important that he find additional methods to strengthen his karma.

Qu Xun glanced at Lu Yin’s cosmic ring and with envy and then carefully asked in a respectful tone, “Mr. Lu, should we head out now?”

“Let’s go,” Lu Yin said.

Qu Xun bowed again, took out a communication device, and made a call. Soon, a strange sound rang out, causing the Morrow Behemoth’s eyes to twitch. The sound grew louder and more intense until finally, the creature’s eyes snapped open. With a yawn, it slowly rose to its feet, and released a roar.

That strange sound just now was used to wake up the Morrow Behemoth.

“Everyone, enter the mountain!” Qu Xun shouted.

Up ahead, the mountain was hanging in the air from the skyswings. The crowd of cultivators streamed onto the mountain as the Morrow Behemoth swung its arms about, gathering its strength.

Lu Yin also stepped onto the mountain. He took a position near the edge so that he stood the closest to the Morrow Behemoth.

The beast fiercely pounded its chest fiercely as it looked at the mountain. When it first glanced at Lu Yin, the Morrow Behemoth felt an instinctive chill that gave it pause. It blinked its eyes several times and then looked away. While it continued to gather its strength, it refused to look back at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin could not suppress a smile. The Morrow Behemoth actually turned out to be rather cute and silly.

Beneath the mountain, Qu Xun clicked his tongue in amazement.

As expected of a supreme powerhouse—not even the Morrow Behemoths dare to provoke him. No, it refuses to even look at him.

This Morrow Behemoth was a bit mischievous, and there were times when it would intimidate the passengers on the mountain before throwing it. Some of the more timid people had even fainted out of fear. It had actually wanted to scare someone just now, only to instead be the one who was frightened.

Serves it right.

Lu Yin quietly stood on the edge of the mountain.

As the Morrow Behemoth continued to stretch its body, the sound of its heartbeat grew louder and louder.

Many of the people on the mountain were using the skyswings for the first time, and thus they were feeling both excited and nervous.

After a while, the Morrow Behemoth finished stretching. It crossed its hands and cracked its knuckles, the crisp sound causing some of the cultivators’ scalps to tingle. If that hand touched them, they would surely die.

The Morrow Behemoth was very wary of Lu Yin, so it actually moved to the other side of the mountain before grabbing the skyswings. Teeth bared, its muscles swelled with power. Its energy surged, and the void shook as space warped.

Facing Lu Yin, Qu Xun offered one last deep bow and said, “Safe journeys, Mr. Lu. Go!”

The Morrow Behemoth suddenly let out a deafening roar that startled even Qu Xun. It grabbed the skyswings with both hands and then swung them with all its might. In the blink of an eye, both the skyswings and the mountain were gone.