Chapter 3956: Disappearance

The spike came from the back of the swarm. Behind the other insects was a creature with eight arms, sharp fangs, and a roughly human-sized body. It was another Verdant Sage, named Ci Liu. The spikes within its body served as arrows, which it shot out with its arms as a bow. Its vision surpassed even a peak Dukkhan’s, and it possessed the ability to fold space, using the void itself as its bowstring.

It was nearly impossible for any creature that Ci Liu targeted to escape being shot. The only real way to avoid such an attack was by using large, incredibly robust objects as shields to block the attacks.

Ci Liu was not the only one of its kind. When the Nest civilization had started spawning insects in the megaverse where Ci Liu was born, all of the strengths of the indigenous creatures had been incorporated into the Verdant Sages. There were other insects in the Nest civilization that had manifested the abilities of that megaverse’s creatures, and their forms were similar to Ci Liu’s. They were even known as blightspike bugs and were also capable of folding space and using the void as a bowstring to strike any living target.

There were a total of eighteen blightspike bugs, and when they had first arrived on the battlefield, they had caused the Eighth Night Pillar to suffer heavy casualties. If not for the Odyssey Commander, Xue Lou, using his weapon, which was the blood-colored pavilion, to protect a region of space, humanity would already have lost this battlefield.

Some of their top experts had been assassinated, and the rest could only serve as cannon fodder.

“Senior Brother, hold on! We need to retreat!” Gan Mo shouted, gritting his teeth as he stared at the swarm of insects before them.

Ci Liu was extremely powerful, and it could also conceal itself well enough that no one was able to locate it. It rendered the human forces nothing more than living targets.

Every spike launched by its folded space could kill a Dukkhan. The Blood-Colored Pavilion had already blocked too many of those spikes.

A middle-aged man stood atop the blood-colored pavilion. He was Odyssey Commander Xue Lou, as well as Greater Sancte Blood Tower’s first disciple. He was referred to as “Bloodwraith,” and he was considered the most suitable killer on the battlefield, in addition to being the strongest of Blood Tower’s disciples.

He had created Blood Tower’s Eight Styles on his own. Once, when fighting against a foreign megaverse, he had once slain two peak Dukkhans at the same time, shocking the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Later, the Eighth Night Pillar had entered seclusion, and Xue Lou had not appeared for a very long time. His legend had faded from the Nine Odysseys, but the moment he had stepped out again, the name of Bloodwraith spread through the Nine Odysseys again. He was someone from the same generation as Qing Xing.

...

Four units west and above the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, a monster was painting.

This monster had eighteen eyes growing from its head, and it was a full meter in height, though the creature’s body was less than half a meter tall. It had an extremely disproportionate appearance.

Nine tentacles stretched out from its body, each one holding a paintbrush as it painted different pictures on nine canvases. Some were pictures of people, others of outer space, and even a few of otherborn. One even depicted the Third Night Pillar.

The monster wore formal attire, and it had a hot cup of tea sitting beside its canvases. Steam curled up from the cup as soothing music hid the clamor of the fighting on the nearby battlefield.

It was... elegant.

Yes, the impression that the monster gave off was that it was elegant. Even with its hideous and frightening appearance, it still seemed refined.

Its name was Hua Yan, and it was a Verdant Sage. It took no pleasure in killing, and it wanted nothing more than to paint. Its paintings formed its world, though interchanging reality with the world of its paintings and playing with such things was another way that Hua Yan amused itself.

The battlefield was the reality that it had replaced.

In front of the canvases stretched an endless horde of insects which were locked in deadly combat with humans. The blood being spilled sprayed across the stars.

Hua Yan lifted a brush and crossed out a painting that had just been completed. As that happened, a peak powerhouse on the battlefield was torn into four pieces. If one closely examined the scene, they would find that the tears in the man’s body perfectly matched the cross that Hua Yan had marked on its canvas. There was not even the slightest deviation.

Soon, another painting approached completion. Hua Yan fixed two of its eyes onto a corner of the battlefield. The painting featured a woman.

With another sweep of the brush, the woman’s head in the painting was separated from her body. Across the battlefield, a woman’s head instantly flew off. There was not even a hint of resistance.

One of Hua Yan’s brushes swept down, and a section of outer space grew dark. It had become blackened like paint, and that darkness devoured everything.

After ruining three of its paintings in a row, Hua Yan’s mood had picked up nicely. It tore the three canvases down and hung up new ones. It had countless canvases prepared, all for the myriad creatures of the target megaverse.

Suddenly, Hua Yan vanished, as did its canvases and even the cup of tea.

The void at the vacated location collapsed, and someone stepped out. It was the Odyssey Commander of the Third Night Pillar, the man universally acknowledged as the one with the greatest physical strength within the Nine Odysseys, Kang Tian.

He clenched his fists as he peered into the distance. Far away, Hua Yan turned its head back to look at the man. A tentacle lifted a teacup for the monster to enjoy a sip, while the other eight continued to paint. Almost instantly, a painting of Kang Tian’s was half finished. His eyes narrowed sharply, and he stepped forward again with an upraised fist. He struck, only for Hua Yan to vanish before the void collapsed again.

“How long do you think you can keep hiding?” Kang Tian growled. A casual wave of his hand released a terrifying power that tore the void apart, the Hollow devouring a tremendous number of bugs.

...

In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, in the Frightened Sparrow Terrace, Greater Sancte Awe Gate wore a calm expression. The arrival of the Nest civilization meant that the Nine Odysseys Megaverse was no longer at peace, but they had long foreseen this day.

Too many civilizations throughout the cosmos had been destroyed. Since humans could destroy others, there were those who could destroy them in turn.

If only one or two more Immortals could rise to power.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

It was unknown how the four battlefields were faring. Whither Peak had already scouted and gathered information, though they had not checked the Consciousness Megaverse since Lu Yin had gone to reinforce the defenders there. The battlefield at the Spirit Nidus’s boundary was manageable, but when checking on the other two battlefields, Whither Peak’s scouts had simply vanished.

It was not unusual for scouts to disappear when gathering information from the Aevum Inch for Whither Peak, but at this moment, humanity was at war.

...

A green lotus leaf drifted through the Consciousness Megaverse, making its way straight for where the Willbound Spire stood.

Lu Yin was nervous. He simply hoped that nothing had happened to the Origin Progenitor.

Soon, the green lotus leaf came to a stop in the middle of outer space. Lu Yin looked around. Where was the Willbound Spire? Where had it gone?

There was no doubt that he was in the right location, and yet the Willbound Spire was nowhere to be seen.

Lu Yin released his consciousness across the entire Consciousness Megaverse, yet he failed to find the Willbound Spire anywhere. The Consciousness Megaverse was much smaller than the Spirit Nidus, the Nine Odysseys, or the Tianyuan megaverses, and yet the Willbound Spire had simply vanished.

Lu Yin’s expression fell. How could the Willbound Spire have disappeared? What had happened to the Origin Progenitor? Could this have something to do with Mo Shang? Could the Willbound Spire have entered a parallel universe, or could some outside power have interfered?

Yu Jing and the others exchanged glances. “Mr. Lu, to my knowledge, the Willbound Spire is able to move about.”

Lu Yin replied, “The Willbound Spire isn’t anywhere in the Consciousness Megaverse’s main universe.”

“Could it have gone to a parallel universe?” Jue Ling guessed.

That seemed to be the only reasonable explanation, but who had moved it? The Thirteen Luminaries were all gone, while Mo Shang was trapped inside the Willbound Spire. Who else could have moved it?

It was acceptable if the Willbound Spire had moved to a different location within the megaverse’s primary universe on its own, but if it had moved into a parallel universe, then there had definitely been some sort of outside interference.

Who was currently capable of influencing the Willbound Spire?

No one from the Tianyuan Megaverse had traveled to the Consciousness Megaverse recently. Similarly, there were no possibilities in the Spirit Nidus, as all of that megaverse’s experts had either died or left. The last of them had been transported to the Tianyuan. Not even a single one of the Seven Seraphs was still present.

Even if there was a Seraph still present, none of the Seven Seraps had been capable of interfering with the Willbound Spire. The sole exception was, of course, Master Qing Cao himself.

Lu Yin tried to search through all of the megaverse’s parallel universes, but to no avail. There were so many parallel universes in the Consciousness Megaverse that searching for the Willbound Spire was no different than looking for a needle in a haystack. Helpless, Lu Yin abandoned his attempts.

There was no time to waste, as all-out war with the Nest civilization could erupt at any moment. Lu Yin let out a long breath. All he could do was leave some clues behind in the place where the Willbound Spire had once stood. If the Origin Progenitor was still in the Consciousness Megaverse, he might see it. If not... Lu Yin stared into the depths of the universe. No matter who it was or what they did to the Origin Progenitor, they would be forced to pay a price, even if they were an Immortal.

The green lotus leaf changed direction and drifted off in the direction of Beacon City, quickly leaving the Consciousness Megaverse behind.

...

While traveling through the Aevum Inch, Lu Yin felt heavy-hearted. No one disturbed him for several days. Only after his mood recovered did he hear about how Yu Jing had used Heaven and Earth as One to annihilate a swarm of insects.

However, Yu Jing felt rather embarrassed when Lu Yin heard the story.

During his visit to the Yu family, Yu Jing had specifically told Lu Yin that his family’s strongest spirit treasure formation was Clear Moon, Scattered Stars. He had hidden the existence of the secret Script Array. Since Heaven and Earth as One had been used, he was afraid that Lu Yin might cause trouble for them, so the patriarch made it a point to apologize.

Lu Yin was not at all offended. “It’s fine. It’s all the same.”

His words left Yu Jing with mixed feelings, including the vague sense that he had just been insulted.

It’s all the same? Clear Moon, Scattered Stars and Heaven and Earth as One are on entirely different levels of power, especially since Heaven and Earth as One is a large-scale attack. How could they be the same?

Even so, to Lu Yin, they were both the same.

The man let out a sigh as he sat back down.

Yu Jing had believed that keeping Heaven and Earth as One a secret had been a remarkable accomplishment, given that it had originally been one of the Skyveil Megaverse’s most powerful spirit treasure formations. Unfortunately, it appeared that their family had underestimated the cosmos.

While the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had struggled mightily to defeat the Skyveil Megaverse, that megaverse had had no Immortals of their own, which meant that the Nest civilization was on an entirely different level. It made sense that Heaven and Earth as One was unable to cross that gap.

When Jue Ling saw Yu Jing apologize, she thought for a moment before also approaching Lu Yin. “Thank you, Mr. Lu, for your timely rescue. If not for your help, Ancestor Jue Huang would have died without a doubt. Perhaps even...”

Lu Yin said, “I came to support you, so there’s no need for any thanks.”

“Mr. Lu, my Jue family has also kept a certain legacy hidden. It’s called the Immovable Skyveil Formation. Back when Greater Sancte Blood Tower helped defeat the Skyveil Megaverse, it was this spirit treasure formation that injured him,” Jue Ling admitted, feeling rather nervous after the confession.

Jue Rou walked over from nearby, her eyes moving about awkwardly as she stole glances of Lu Yin.

He just stared at Jue Ling. “I know.”

Jue Ling was startled. “How do you know about that?”

Lu Yin indifferently replied, “I also know that the Spirit Treasure Guild is owned by your Jue family. Was that also a closely guarded secret?”

Jue Ling was absolutely floored. A closely guarded secret? For many, many years, the Cheng and Yu families had guessed the truth behind the Spirit Treasure Guild, but they had never been able to confirm their suspicions. As for the rest of the megaverse, no one had ever had any idea at all.

The woman suddenly understood how Yu Jing had felt belittled and insulted. It felt as though their clans’ greatest inheritances were worthless in this person’s eyes.

Still, that was the Immovable Skyveil Formation, which had once injured even Greater Sancte Blood Tower. How could it hold no value?

“In order for your three great clans to preserve their elite status in the West Domain, you have harmed many people, both openly and secretly. While you may have believed that your actions were secret, there have always been many eyes on you. Some people, given enough time, can even gain the power to suppress you. What’s strange about that?” Lu Yin calmly asked.

Jue Ling blurted, “Li Guo!”

Lu Yin met the woman’s eyes. “In the future, you should show a bit more restraint and not act so domineeringly. No one should have an overinflated sense of self-worth.”

Jue Ling was completely speechless. She wanted to retort and ask Lu Yin who could be more domineering than him, but ultimately, she lacked the courage to give voice to such thoughts.

“Your Immovable Skyveil Formation is nothing more than a shell. The more powerful the spirit treasure formations that are added to it, the greater its power. Shouldn’t Heaven and Earth as One be added to it?” Lu Yin asked.

Jue Ling looked over at Yu Jing, who quickly replied, “Yes! Long ago, the only way the Skyveil Megaverse managed to injure Greater Sancte Blood Tower was because the Immovable Skyveil Formation contained many powerful spirit treasure formations, such as Heaven and Earth as One, to the point where it underwent a qualitative change. In fact, the Immovable Skyveil Formation has no power in and of itself.”

Jue Ling’s eyebrows rose. “Even with Heaven and Earth as One added, it’s far from enough to injure an Immortal.”

Yu Jing did not argue, as that was indisputable.