Chapter 3932: No Communication

"Have you ever seen a civilization where every creature consists solely of bones, with skeletons similar to my size?" Lu Yin asked, remembering the dark plaza filled with white skeletons that he had seen.

The transparent moth replied, "I haven’t, but I haven’t encountered many civilizations. Even then, most of them tended to avoid me."

“To your understanding of things, are civilizations frequently destroyed?" Lu Yin asked, still staring at the transparent moth.

The creature seriously considered the question for a moment. "I cannot give you an answer, as there is no communication in the Aevum Inch."

Lu Yin exhaled. The more clearly he understood the cosmos, the more insignificant he felt.

He had once believed that the Progenitor realm was the pinnacle of cultivation, only to later learn that there were other realms above that, including the elusive Immortal realm. However, even after becoming an Immortal, cultivators could still eventually die.

"Is there any truly invincible creature in the omniverse?" Lu Yin muttered.

Despite the question not being directed towards the moth, it answered anyway. "The omniverse alone is invincible. I once heard of a creature that wanted to replace the omniverse and become a supreme existence. However, if the omniverse is replaced, is it still the omniverse? Would that creature remain the same being that it once was? Ultimately, would it simply become the omniverse, or would it stay the creature that it had once been?

"It’s truly an ancient speculation. What that being itself was and if it could truly replace the omniverse don’t matter. What matters is that it’s a joke, and a funny one."

Lu Yin stared at the transparent moth, still lost in his own thoughts. "A joke?"

“Precisely. At times, jokes circulate through the cosmos, carrying with them a sliver of light for the dark depths of reality, and for many beings that light is enough.”

Lu Yin smiled. "It is a good joke."

The transparent moth fluttered its wings. "Mighty one, I wish to join you. Please give me a chance. Your civilization surely possesses an Immortal, doesn’t it?"

Lu Yin nodded. "Three."

The transparent moth was startled. "Three? You belong to a truly powerful civilization! You are qualified to hunt other civilizations. I wish to help you. Please, give me a chance. I don’t want to keep hiding."

Lu Yin said, "We can take you in, if you're willing to help us. It would be good. So, what do you want from us?"

The moth bluntly answered, "Lifeforce. I hope to become an Immortal realm while sheltered by your civilization. With that, your civilization will gain a fourth Immortal powerhouse. I will never leave your civilization. The more that one understands the cosmos, the more that they’ll realize just how attractive your civilization is. I want to be part of a civilization-hunting civilization."

"How do we give you Lifeforce?"

"Give me some living creatures and enough time. For Immortals, time no longer matters, does it?"

Lu Yin gave a small smirk. "And what about me? What benefit will I get?"

The transparent moth hesitated. "I can share some of the Lifeforce that I receive from your civilization with you. Together with the Lifeforce and Immortal matter that you already possess, you’ll definitely become an Immortal before me.

"Five Immortals... Just the thought is thrilling! Mighty one, can you imagine it? Five Immortals would be enough to hunt any civilization, and it would be one of the strongest civilizations in the cosmos. It will be beautiful. Mighty one, we will no longer need to hide. We can spread across the Aevum Inch, hunting other civilizations and harvesting them."

As its thoughts progressed, the transparent moth grew increasingly excited, until its whole body was trembling.

Lu Yin had no idea if the moth was sharing its true thoughts or if it was merely an act to convince him that the moth sincerely wanted to join the human civilization.

Still, regardless of the moth’s thoughts, there was only one possible outcome.

No matter how powerful a creature might be or what it may have witnessed, it would still possess its own limitations.

The transparent moth could not comprehend the respect that humans like Lu Yin held for life. The Nine Odysseys Megaverse might have launched wars to destroy foreign megaverses, exterminating all life in those places. Even if their actions were born out of a desperation to survive, it still seemed hypocritical to their respect for life. Nonetheless, that sense of respect remained true.

Humans respected life. Of course, there were individuals who might disregard such things, but those people could not represent all of humanity, let alone Lu Yin.

This was humanity. Emotion was a defining trait of humans, and it was also something that the transparent moth could have never imagined.

The greater its understanding of the cruelty of the cosmos became, the less it was able to comprehend humanity’s respect and compassion for creatures outside of their own species.

It stole and slaughtered in a cruel fashion. All of its intelligence could only lead to one outcome.

“You’re genuinely afraid of the omniverse,” Lu Yin slowly stated.

The moth grew agitated. “I’m not afraid anymore! Not now. With five Immortals, we will make other creatures fear us! We too will become a civilization that can follow the springboards.”

Boom

.

There was a loud explosion as the transparent moth’s compound eyes broke. The cracks spread from its back and covered its entire body in an instant.

It writhed about and looked up at Lu Yin. He stood in the sky above the moth, and the copy of him in front of the creature gradually faded away. It was not an after image from immense speed, but an aftereffect resulting from the power of time itself. Lu Yin had frozen time.

“Why?” the transparent moth asked in confusion. Why had Lu Yin attacked it after it had already submitted?

Lu Yin stared down from up above. “If you’re so afraid of the cosmos, then there’s no need for you to exist. Isn’t death more comforting?”

The moth’s compound eyes suddenly grew deeper. It looked as though luminous planets had formed in their depths, originating from the flickering light inside the creature’s body. “You despicable creature! I’ll kill you!”

Lu Yin’s hand rose, and then fell back down. Lifeforce coiled around his hand, and a terrifying power crashed downwards with an unstoppable force. The transparent moth’s massive body shattered.

Lu Yin’s first attack had created cracks, and his second had completely shattered the moth. He had not needed to use two attacks because the moth had strong defenses, but rather because he had been trying to find the vulnerable creature’s Lifeforce to see if he could use it for himself.

Unfortunately, despite finding the Lifeforce, Lu Yin was unable to make use of it.

He watched as the stream of Lifeforce visibly faded along with the moth’s vitality. It could not be reversed.

As Lu Yin thought about it, if Lifeforce could be freely stolen, the cosmos would have developed into an even more chaotic place.

The moth had spent countless years stealing Lifeforce through its Allsenses and flowers, and yet it had only gathered slightly more Lifeforce than Lu Yin. Considering the moth’s massive size, it seemed that stepping into the Immortal realm using its method would be even more difficult than resetting a megaverse.

That must have been why it had wanted to ally with humanity. With their protection, it would have been able to plunder Lifeforce without restraint, which would have greatly accelerated its pace.

The moth could never understand how such a species like humanity could exist in the omniverse. A race with individuals on the cusp of Immortality, yet they still possessed emotions such as compassion.

Or perhaps, the moth had simply seen too few species.

The creature’s Immortal matter also vanished. The frenzied madness filled Lu Yin, but he could only watch as the moth’s Immortal matter dissolved into the void so quickly that Lu Yin did not even have time to grab it.

What a pity

.

The transparent moth’s body had been completely destroyed. Its compound eyes were reduced to dust beneath Lu Yin’s overwhelming might. Its final efforts to resist had proven meaningless. It had not even been able to utter a curse before dying, as everything had happened too quickly.

Lu Yin had attacked decisively and completely erased the creature.

The stranger a creature that one faced, the less time it could be given to react.

Lu Yin released his inner universe, but the transparent moth’s presence was gone from the universe. He looked over at the Mother Tree. The war in the Allsense Megaverse was over.

Far away, the Allsenses dropped en masse. Their lives had ended with the moth’s.

Even the flowers started to wither, eventually crumbling to dust.

The transparent moth had been a disaster to the megaverse. It had not suffered extermination at the hands of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, but instead encountered that moth. That was the nature of the cosmos.

It was possible that the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would one day also encounter powerful beings that brought about catastrophe.

I just hope that three Immortals are truly enough to make the Nine Odysseys Megaverse a powerful civilization.

The transparent moth had known far too little about the omniverse, as it had always been hiding. Still, from what it had shared, it was clear to Lu Yin that, even if the Nine Odysseys Megaverse was not the most powerful civilization, it had to be close to it. If they could gain another two Immortals, human civilization would step onto an entirely different level.

Lu Yin could not say when it had started, but he truly wished for the Nine Odysseys Megaverse to become strong.

His mindset had evolved. He had long since lost his feelings of hatred, and instead, what remained was the same as what the three Immortals and others who had learned the secret of the Aevum Inch understood: it was all about survival. As long as humanity could survive, that was enough.

It was such a simple wish.

The Tianyuan Megaverse needed to survive, and the Nine Odysseys Megaverse also needed to survive. Above all, humanity itself needed to survive.

Lu Yin finally understood something the Great Master once said.

“You still might not be able to understand what I’m saying, but one day, after you’ve experienced a war between megaverses and the destruction of an entire civilization, you’ll look back at this conversation and understand: the three megaverses are both our shield and our burden.

”

The Tianyuan served as a shield for the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. If a crisis ever arose, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would abandon the Tianyuan without hesitation. However, the presence of the Tianyuan also increased the risk that the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would be exposed. If the Tianyuan had not been inhabited by humans, why would the Nine Odysseys Megaverse have accepted it as a burden? The Orchid Megaverse had been even closer.

If the Tianyuan was ever cast aside one day, Lu Yin was no longer sure if he would hate the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. He had learned just how difficult it was to survive in the cruel omniverse.

Hate the Nine Odysseys Megaverse? Perhaps not, but Lu Yin would still choose to live or die with the Tianyuan.

He took a step and arrived at the Mother Tree.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

He saw a massive wound on its trunk, left by the transparent moth, marking where it had lived.

This Mother Tree was also withering. It should have stood in the megaverse’s main universe, but it had been moved elsewhere. Why had the transparent moth not simply destroyed it?

Was it possible that the moth had known that the Mother Tree could help the megaverse avoid some catastrophe, much like how the black Mother Tree in the Spirit Nidus had once saved the Nine Odysseys Megaverse?

Lu Yin raised a hand and reached out to touch the Mother Tree’s bark. He could only feel a faint trace of life. It was nothing compared to the vitality of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s Mother Tree. Could this one even survive?

After a moment, he reached into the void and grabbed the sequence string that was connected to the main universe, connecting it to the universe with the Mother Tree.

The megaverse was no longer what it had once been. The manner in which its parallel universes overlapped had greatly damaged the Mother Tree.

Ming Zhuo, Yu, and the others traveled over to Lu Yin. They saw him standing below the Mother Tree. They looked around and were dumbstruck by the sheer magnitude of the battle that must have taken place.

“What about the creature?” Ming Zhuo asked.

“Dead.”

Ming Zhuo and Yu exchanged glances, both still shocked. A single touch from that moth had nearly killed both of them, and yet Lu Yin was completely unharmed. Was there really that vast a gap between them?

They were not even able to see how vast it was.