Chapter 3933: Return

“When the Allsenses started dying en masse, we already had our suspicions, but we never expected you to have such an easy time, Mr. Lu. Truly amazing,” Yu said as he stared at Lu Yin with deep admiration filling his eyes.

Ming Zhuo laughed heartily. “Well, just remember that he’s my junior brother! He’s the second genius in the history of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse to have comprehended karma. Junior Brother, you’ve accomplished something great this time. Let’s see who will dare to say anything when we get back. So what if you’re from the Tianyuan Megaverse? You can still become a Lesser Sancte!”

Lu Yin was no longer concerned about becoming a Lesser Sancte. He simply stared at the Mother Tree, his expression complicated and his mood heavy. Despite having eliminated the transparent moth and finishing the war, he could not summon any joy.

Was it because of the Mother Tree? It was radiating a feeling of sorrow.

The Mother Tree in the Orchid Megaverse had once given Lu Yin the same feeling: sorrow and brokenness. At that time, he had not imagined that he would feel such emotions for a tree, but even when he did, he had been unable to prevent the Orchid Megaverse from being reset.

Lu Yin was no saint. Sympathy would not help him survive, and a single megaverse’s Mother Tree was not enough for him to turn against the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

When a megaverse was reset, its Mother Tree was destined to be destroyed as well.

Of course, if there was any chance that it could be spared, he certainly wanted to try.

“Senior, is there any hope for it?” Lu Yin asked.

Ming Zhuo shook his head. “None.”

“Can we move it back to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse?”

Yu answered, “It’s already withering.”

Ming Zhuo sighed. “The more one understands the cosmos, the more grateful they are to the Mother Tree. Our Nine Odysseys Megaverse has eliminated more than one megaverse, and yet we’ve never taken a Mother Tree back. It’s not because we can’t, but rather because we don’t dare do so.

“The more Mother Trees we have, the more likely we are to be exposed.

“Also, this Mother Tree is clearly already dying. Even if we take it back, it might not survive. Junior Brother, don’t dwell on it.”

Lu Yin withdrew his hand. He had almost forgotten; Mother Trees sustained a megaverse, yet they also exposed it. That was why the transparent moth had moved the one in the Allsense Megaverse.

“Dust to dust, earth to earth. Let me see you off on your final journey.” He then pressed his hand against the Mother Tree. There was a rumble, and the tree shattered, its remnants scattering.

Yu wanted to say something, but when he looked at Lu Yin’s back, the man decided to hold his tongue.

Normally, when a universe was annihilated, its Mother Tree would vanish during the reset, but upon seeing Lu Yin’s mood, Yu wisely chose to say nothing. Some people were simply exceptions.

As the Mother Tree crumbled and dissipated, a green light emerged from the destruction and entered Lu Yin’s body.

It was the same light that had appeared when the Orchid Megaverse’s Mother Tree was destroyed.

“Did you see something?”

Ming Zhuo and Yu were both puzzled. “See what?”

“Nothing.”

“Junior Brother, are you alright?” Ming Zhuo was worried that Lu Yin might have suffered some unseen damage.

Lu Yin said, “Isn’t it protocol for us to begin searching for useful resources now?”

Yu nodded. “As long as we can confirm that a megaverse universe is relatively safe, the Night Pillars’ cultivators can begin gathering resources. Anything useful will be taken back to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. One of the Night Pillars will remain stationed here and determine how many parallel universes there are and when the megaverse can be reset.”

Lu Yin returned to the primary universe. There was no longer a need for the people on the Night Pillars to stay in their formations. Nothing in the Allsense Megaverse posed a threat to them anymore.

There were not even any true lifeforms left.

The Allsenses had wiped out literally all life in the megaverse.

While the war against the Allsense Megaverse had been the strangest expedition that many had ever participated in, it had also ended the quickest. Most members of the expedition had not even had an opportunity to fight.

Still, if they were given a choice, they would rather fight against the Skyveil Megaverse again. At least in that megaverse, people had known how they died.

One by one, cultivators traveled back to the Sixth Night Pillar. They were originally members of that Night Pillar.

The war drums echoed out. Qiunan Hongye was beating the drums on the Sixth Night Pillar.

After that, the drums on the Second, Fourth, and Fifth Night Pillars joined in as well, and the war drums echoed across the megaverse.

“We shall see you off on your journey.”

“We’ll see you all off.”

“Go in peace...”

Lu Yin also arrived at the Sixth Night Pillar. He looked at the flat section where the Night Pillar had been severed, as well as the harsh-looking bloodstain that had stained a long section. It had been left by Liu Li.

“If we go back now, the Sixth Night Pillar won’t even have a worthy candidate for its Odyssey Commander,” Lu Feichen said.

Lu Yin asked, “Do you want to stay here?”

Lu Feichen nodded. “Lu Jing is dead, and the Sixth Night Pillar has also lost their peak Dukkhan. I want to stay.”

“There’s no telling how long it’ll take the Sixth Night Pillar to recover,” Lu Yin commented. “We thought that this war would attract more experts, helping it to recover. This outcome wasn’t expected.”

He thought back to Liu Li’s hope that the war would revive her Night Pillar. What would have happened if Lu Yin had agreed to join the Sixth Night Pillar at that time?

Lu Feichen looked down at his sword. “This is the way of the cosmos. When you step into the Aevum Inch and truly see the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, every bit of arrogance disappears. We are still very weak.”

Lu Yin glanced at him. “Your sword intent has improved. Not bad. It appears that you have a real chance of becoming a peak Dukkhan.”

Lu Feichen lowered his sword. “Thank you.”

“Have you ever blamed me?”

“Fro what?”

“For interfering in the contest to determine the Four Commands Grand Swordmaster and giving Lu Sizhan the position that would have otherwise gone to you.”

“No. I didn’t back then, and I still don’t now.”

Several months passed. During this time, cultivators scoured the megaverse for useful resources, and they discovered quite a few. Out of everything that was found, the most valued was actually stone.

The Night Pillars were able to travel through the Aevum Inch thanks to the stone that they were made from. Only a specific type of stone could both bear the weight of a Night Pillar and travel through the Aevum Inch.

There were no such stones in either the Tianyuan or the Spirit Nidus, though that was not because they had never existed there, but rather because they had already been collected by the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

The Nine Odysseys Megaverse had expanded from just a single Night Pillar to nine by waging wars against foreign megaverses.

Those stones were the resources that they cared about the most.

When the Sixth Night Pillar was severed, aside from the cultivators who had died, the greatest loss had actually been the stone that was the Night Pillar itself.

A single megaverse contained endless resources, and it was impossible to quickly evaluate it all in a short amount of time. The cultivators from the Nine Odysseys were only able to identify the most valuable ones and return with that information. Later, a specific Night Pillar would be sent to gather those materials.

At most, they would spend a few more months in the Allsense Megaverse before the expedition returned to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Lu Yin was in no rush to head back. Four of the Spirit Nidus’s battleships had been sent to support the Tianyuan, which meant that his home should be safe.

One day, Lu Yin suddenly sensed someone staring at him, and the gaze originated from outside the Allsense Megaverse. He was quite surprised by this and suspected that some creature from a foreign megaverse might be looking at him.

The transparent moth’s caution and desire to remain hidden had left Lu Yin feeling as though he was walking on thin ice. He instinctively moved to the boundary of the Allsense Megaverse to determine the direction of the gaze.

As he emerged from the Allsense Megaverse, Lu Yin peered into the distance and locked eyes with a pair of human eyes. When that happened, the other person’s eyes shifted slightly, as though recognizing Lu Yin. After that, some powerful force pulled his body away, and he vanished.

Whither Peak?

The man was from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, and he had been sent from Whither Peak to observe the situation in the Allsense Megaverse. He was the child from Qing Sheng’s story, the child tied to the bamboo pole.

He had observed the battlefield in the Allsense Megaverse, much like what had happened in the past when wars had required more reinforcements.

Lu Yin felt reassured, and he returned to the Allsense Megaverse.

He realized then that, much like the transparent moth, he had lost his sense of safety. The further he was able to see, the more exposed he felt.

The Nine Odysseys Megaverse was hidden, not unlike how the moth had hidden the Allsense Megaverse’s Mother Tree. Lu Yin also feared that the day would come when a powerful creature discovered the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and humanity became just like the transparent moth.

Hearts were heavy as the Second, Fourth, and Sixth Night Pillars left to return to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. It was time.

The Fifth Night Pillar remained stationed in the Allsense Megaverse.

While Lu Yin had been assigned as the Odyssey Commander of the Fifth Night Pillar, he had no intention of staying behind. He instead appointed the Azuresword Sovereign as the new Odyssey Commander and returned aboard the Sixth Night Pillar.

Shortly after the three Night Pillars left the Allsense Megaverse, a long, blue sword emerged from the void. The blue blade was shrouded with an aura of blood that, if one looked closely, swirled around the sword like a nebula. It was not a hand that held the sword, but rather what looked to be a tentacle that was covered with green moss. It stretched out from the void, seemingly endless, only to suddenly stop. “Gone? How can it be gone? Is there someone in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse capable of defeating it? Or... has a new Immortal appeared?

“Just what is Qi Xu doing?”

“I thought that this would be enough to force the Nine Odysseys Megaverse to expose itself... They truly are a heaven-blessed race, heh.”

With that, the moss-covered tentacle and the blue sword both vanished. The people aboard the Fifth Night Pillar never noticed anything at all.

...

At the same time, in a distant part of the Aevum Inch, a colossal beast let out a roar of fury in the endless darkness. Its claws relentlessly slashed and tore out, destroying the void and leaving behind vast gouges, whose depths seemed infinite.

If Lu Yin were present, he would instantly recognize the claws of the Immortal monster which had chased him.

The Immortal beast was unbelievably massive, and yet it was attacking a person so small that they were nearly invisible to the beast. However, that person was pushing the beast farther and farther away from where it had started. The beast grew increasingly enraged, its roars and howls powerful enough to shatter stars.

Master Qing Cao stood before the beast, his bamboo basket slung on his back as he gazed at the massive creature before him in a helpless manner. “I told you, if you’d just cooperate and slowly retreat, I wouldn’t have to attack you. Stop resisting. It’s pointless. You’ll be forced back regardless, so why bother?”

The beast’s two remaining eyes glared at Master Qing Cao, and its only response was to lash out again with its claws.

“If you were in your prime, I would’ve struggled to deal with you, but as you are now, it’s pointless. You’re nothing but the shell of an Immortal. If Lu Yin had been capable of even slightly more powerful attacks, you’d already be dead. Behave and back off. I don’t want to kill you, as keeping you alive might still be able to cause him a bit of trouble.”

The beast’s claws continued to strike out, completely ignoring Master Qing Cao’s words.

After another half a year, the beast had been pushed a great distance farther. Master Qing Cao checked the time. “That should be about right. My time’s up, and I can head back now. I hope that you won’t let me down.”

He looked back at the Immortal monster. “This might hurt, but bear with it.”

Then, vibrant green grass surged out, growing endlessly to fill the entire area. The man made a sweeping motion towards the Immortal beast, and the Immortal matter-infused grass smashed the beast away with overwhelming force.

“As I said, you're just a shell of an Immortal now. You’re completely useless. Such hatred is terrifying. It’s left you completely irrational.

“Given this distance, even if you try to find Lu Yin again, it’ll take a bit of time.” With that, Master Qing Cao turned to leave, only to suddenly turn and look into the distance in a different direction. His calm face quickly grew solemn and then angry. “The Nest civilization... Why are they heading towards the Spirit Nidus? Could it be... that there’s also a nest in the Spirit Nidus?”

He suddenly realized something; the Tianyuan must have diverted their disaster elsewhere by sending someone to plant a Nest in the Spirit Nidus.

Despicable! To think that they would actually do such a thing!