Chapter 3952: The Price

Shan Lie was not the only one staring in disbelief; the same was true even for Jue Ling, Yu Jing, and the other humans present. They had attacked the stone cube for so long, yet they had failed to leave even a single mark. They had already been aware that Lu Yin was a great deal stronger than them, but the difference was simply too exaggerated when they saw it for themselves.

Their combat power was simply not in the same realm at all.

Longevity Stele trembled. Stone blocks continuously pressed in at the point where Lu Yin’s hand had pierced into the stone cube, in an attempt to crush his arm.

But without even seemingly moving, Lu Yin shattered the cube, scattering its pieces away.

He grabbed both Jue Huang and Ye Ge and tossed them back to Jue Ling and the others. Only then did he turn his head to look at Shan Lie, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Are you satisfied with this price?”

The shattered cube quickly reassembled, though some of its broken fragments were truly separated from the main body, and they drifted off.

When the stone cube finally reformed, it was nearly half its original size, and it quickly floated over to Shan Lie, clearly afraid.

Shan Lie’s expression had completely fallen. “Human, what is your name?”

Lu Yin just smiled. “Why don’t you tell me your name?”

Both of the two had asked the same question a second time, though the mood was entirely different.

“Shan Lie.”

Lu Yin’s expression shifted. “Shan Lie?”

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Shan Lie frowned. “You seem surprised.”

Lu Yin nodded as he stared intently at Shan Lie. “Your surname is... rather distinct.”

The humanoid bug’s eyes instantly flared as he stared at Lu Yin. Suddenly, Shan Lie started laughing. “You recognize my surname? Then you must know of the Lost Clan! Wait, could you be a member of the Lost Clan yourself? Or have you simply encountered them before?”

“I’ve met them before, and I even know where they are,” Lu Yin readily admitted.

Shan Lie licked his lips, his eyes blazing. “Interesting... When I fought against these humans, I was certain that they had never even heard of the Lost Clan, nor even knew the power of those people’s cards. And yet you know... Excellent! Human, you have brought us truly great news!”

Lu Yin grew puzzled. “The Lost Clan is a destroyed civilization. Why would the Nest civilization continue to target them? Or is it merely you who’s after them? You must have been born in the Lost Clan’s megaverse, which would explain your human form.”

There was another strange detail. When the Nests had first started appearing in the Tianyuan, it was because Lu Yin had drawn out the Lost Clan’s Primeval card. After the Nests appeared, logically, the Nest civilization should have learned of the Lost Clan’s presence in the Tianyuan. But right now, Lu Yin was hearing that they had been unaware.

If Shan Lie valued the Lost Clan as highly as it seemed, then he would have never given up on attacking the Tianyuan Megaverse. Something must have gone wrong.

Right, Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. Could that be the reason?

While the Nests had entered the Tianyuan Megaverse after the Primeval card was revealed, that megaverse was also protected by the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. That may have prevented the Immortal Lord from clearly sensing why their Nests had been drawn to that megaverse. After all, the Nest civilization had destroyed a number of megaverses, and any of those civilization’s remnants could have potentially attracted the Nests. It was even possible that the Nests had not been sent to the Tianyuan by the Nest civilization at all, but had rather accompanied the Lost Clan into the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm long ago.

If that were true, then as long as the Nests did not spawn new insects, the Nest civilization would not be drawn to the human megaverses.

“The Third Rampart. That megaverse was known as the Third Rampart,” Shan Lie said.

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. “The Third Rampart? I want to know more about that. Please, tell me.”

Shan Lie showed a wicked grin. “That’s fine. Allow me to continue savoring humans’ pain and despair, and I will tell you everything you want to know.”

Lu Yin agreed. “You want to enjoy pain and despair? Alright.”

He then stepped forward, vanishing from sight.

Shan Lie’s focus sharpened, and he immediately retreated into Longevity Stele. Right after that, Lu Yin appeared, his hand raised up and reaching out. The stone cube frantically spun around, manifesting an indescribable toughness and creating a tangible barrier that spread outward. Longevity Stele was more desperate to protect itself than ever before.

Despite the stone cube’s efforts, it was still easily ripped open by Lu Yin. His hand passed through it as though nothing were in front of him. He reached straight for Shan Lie.

The humanoid insect glared at Lu Yin’s grasping hand and raised his own, a card appearing in his grip. “Rampart.”

A wall abruptly rose before him, blocking Lu Yin’s outstretched hand. His palm slammed into the wall, though the terrifying impact instantly shattered the stone cube again. Shan Lie staggered back while coughing up blood. He stared at Lu Yin in complete disbelief.

What terrifying strength! He’s nearly as strong as Chang! How can a human possess such fearsome strength?

Shan Lie had been injured purely by the rebounding force coming from Rampart. The wall itself had not been harmed in the least.

He waved a hand to tear the void open and escape, but as he was doing that, he was bombarded by a descending wave of consciousness. Shan Lie suddenly heard Lu Yin’s voice call out, “Come here.”

The insect’s movements froze, and he turned to look at Lu Yin. Unconsciously, Shan Lie started walking toward Lu Yin. He even put the Primeval card away, dismissing the protective wall.

Why? Why am I walking toward this human? This is impossible!

Despite his internal objections, Shan Lie was doing so willingly.

What is this power?

Shan Lie felt that he should walk towards the human, though he clearly knew that the man was an enemy.

Shan Lie was supposed to return with news of the Lost Clan, so how could this be happening?

Step by step, Shan Lie walked closer to Lu Yin. Finally, he stopped right in front of Lu Yin, as Jue Ling and the others stared on in stupefaction.

Lu Yin did not ask any question and instead simply released the power of karma, using the Lost Clan as a target to search for everything related to the Third Rampart.

The spiral of karma pierced Shan Lie, sending out Karmic Lines that collided with one another. As soon as that happened, Lu Yin started to see various scenes play out.

He saw the Lost Clan’s megaverse, as well as the great battles that had once been fought there, all of which had some connection to Shan Lie. Lu Yin watched how Shan Lie had joined the Lost Clan with his human form, only to then betray them and cause countless human deaths. Lu Yin saw the entire Third Rampart, which had truly been a rampart.

An entire megaverse had been used as a rampart; who could have had such a grand design?

He saw Shan Lie’s card, which was a Primeval card known as Rampart. The wall that had blocked Lu Yin was one of the card’s ramparts, which explained its terrifying defense. After all, It had even managed to block Lu Yin’s physical strength.

He saw a countless number of the Lost Clan’s powerhouses perish in a sea of blood. One by one, they had sacrificed themselves. He also saw all sorts of insects, including a variety of Verdant Sages, and even... the Immortal Lord.

One scene showed the Immortal Lord standing in place. While Shan Lie had not been able to see the Immortal clearly, they had been arrogant and commanding, as though they stood above all.

Suddenly, Lu Yin coughed up blood. The karmic lines snapped, and the scenes that he had been watching grew distorted. A gaze with cold, ruthless eyes stared at Lu Yin. It felt like a sharp sword was crossing an unfathomable distance through the cosmos to stare straight at him.

The gaze created karmic backlash for Lu Yin, and he was forced to continuously fall back.

Clarity returned to Shan Lie’s mind. He seized the opportunity and wanted to escape. However, a spike of greed appeared, and he lashed out through the void in an attempt to crush Lu Yin.

Lu Yin looked up, and his consciousness descended once more. The overwhelming pressure forced Shan Lie down with such power that he nearly fainted.

Lu Yin panted, trying to catch his breath as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He had just experienced the same feeling as when he had tried to use karma to see Yong Heng’s past and suffered karmic backlash.

There had been a hand behind Yong Heng, while the Immortal Lord was behind Shan Lie.

Were Immortals really so far out of reach that they were difficult for Lu Yin to even glimpse at? Not even the power of karma could reveal anything to him.

No matter how far away the Immortals might be, simply seeing them was enough to sever the karma that Lu Yin used and cause him to suffer from backlash. However, Lu Yin had never felt such an unreachable feeling from Master Qing Cao or Greater Sancte Awe Gate. It seemed that there were differences even among Immortals.

Lu Yin lifted his gaze to the cosmos above. It was possible that he had just touched upon something that made the vast distances of the Aevum Inch meaningless to Immortals.

Elsewhere, the stone cube had been trapped. Jue Ling and the others had cut off the cube’s escape route, and they were waiting for Lu Yin to deal with the creature.

Lu Yin did not stand on ceremony and simply shoved the stone cube into his Champions’ Stage Purgatory.

Since the cube was still a living creature, it had karma, regardless of whether it was a stone or any other oddity. Therefore, it could be used to strengthen Lu Yin’s karma.

As expected, as soon as the cube entered the Champions’ Stage Purgatory, Lu Yin’s Karmic Dao began to increase. What he had recently used started to be replenished, even if not completely.

Still, there was Shan Lie.

Jue Rou and the others glared at Shan Lie, hatred filling their eyes. They hated him far more than was warranted for a fight to the death on a battlefield, and they all wanted nothing more than to simply slaughter the humanoid bug.

Even Lu Yin had just coughed up blood. Was Shan Lie really that difficult an opponent?

Shan Lie was dizzy, half-kneeling in the void, and suppressed to the point where he could barely remain upright beneath the bombardment of Lu Yin’s consciousness.

Lu Yin looked at him. “Pain and despair. Just as you enjoy others’, others can enjoy yours. How do you want to die?”

Shan Lie just shrugged. “Don’t you know that life or death really mean nothing to a Verdant Sage like me?”

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered, and he accessed his cosmic ring, quickly releasing the green furball.

Lu Yin had always kept the green furball Verdant Sage in a Zenith Mountain. It was a rather unique creature, but since it belonged to the Nest civilization, Lu Yin feared that, if it ever escaped, it might bring about a terrible disaster.

The green furball’s strength had been steadily rising, though it did not dare to improve too quickly, as it feared arousing Lu Yin’s suspicions.

The moment the Verdant Sage was released, it immediately looked at Lu Yin and greeted him in a nearly fawning tone. “My lord? My lord, you finally remembered me! Furball has been waiting for you for so, so long that I thought you’d forgotten about me! Thank you, my lord, for still remembering Furball! Thank you!”

While speaking, the green furball suddenly sensed something.

A Verdant Sage?

That’s the aura of my kin. Is there a Verdant Sage in this place? So that’s why the human released me. Is this a test?

Its mind racing, the green furball quickly spun around, acting like a fierce tiger on the hunt. Its eyes instantly locked onto Shan Lie. “My lord, that’s a Verdant Sage! There’s no doubt about it! That’s a Verdant Sage!”

Shan Lie stared at the green furball, aghast.

A Verdant Sage? This human has clearly dealt with Nests before, as there’s no other way for him to have captured a Verdant Sage. Also, going by this furball’s behavior, it’s been a captive for quite some time. Could this man be from the megaverse where the invasion’s been temporarily abandoned?

The Nest civilization roamed the cosmos, constantly releasing Nests and searching for new megaverses. Over the ages, they had found a great number of megaverses, and they had also bred a great number of powerful insects, including various Verdant Sages. Decades earlier, they had detected new coordinates, and they had been moving towards them ever since. However, while traveling, another pair of coordinates had appeared, which were for the megaverse that they were currently attacking. They had shifted their forces to deal with one megaverse before moving on to the next.

There was more than one signal from that other megaverse, which indicated multiple Verdant Sages calling to their civilization. There was no rush. All would be dealt with in time.

Upon seeing Lu Yin take out the furball, Shan Lie immediately thought of the megaverse where Verdant Sages were calling out to them. It was the only megaverse close to the one that they were currently attacking.

The Tianyuan, the Spirit Nidus, and the Consciousness Megaverse were all a great distance away from each other, to the point where, without a springboard, even a peak powerhouse would take an extremely long time to travel from one megaverse to another. Still, in the scope of the Aevum Inch, the three megaverses were close neighbors.

Shan Lie remembered how Lu Yin had also encountered the Lost Clan, and he instantly deduced the location of the Lost Clan. They were in the megaverse where the invasion had been temporarily abandoned.

The humanoid insect’s eyes flickered. He needed to find a way to send this information back.

After releasing the green furball, Lu Yin said nothing further. He simply put it away again and gave Shan Lie a knowing smirk. "...Now, does ‘life or death really mean nothing?’”

Shan Lie’s expression changed. “You did that on purpose?”