Chapter 3978: A Walking Lucky Charm

Chang had been born from Stillstorm’s blood, and it had inherited the astral beast’s strengths. This was the history behind the existence of one of the Nest civilization’s four great Insect Lords, each of whom was a being with a power that had reached the extreme.

As for Stillstorm, the Nest civilization had allowed the beast to leave without disturbing it.

“I didn’t expect you to also fear other creatures. Tell me, are you scared of that creature?” Lu Yin asked.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Chang roared, “Human, you insult us!”

“Then why didn’t you act back then?” Lu Yin loudly challenged.

Chang suddenly charged at Lu Yin. From beneath its scales, endless amounts of Immortal matter erupted. Its body rapidly shrank, until it was only 100 meters in length and completely enveloped by Immortal matter. It instantly shot at Lu Yin, five claws sweeping down.

“Stop.”

Both consciousness and manifested thought were shattered. After encasing itself with Immortal matter, Chang was able to instantly break free from Lu Yin’s Word Manifestation. Fortunately, there had still been a slight delay, which gave Lu Yin enough leeway to easily evade the attack.

Word Manifestation targeted a creature’s manifested thought and consciousness. Not even a being as overwhelmingly powerful as Chang could completely ignore it. Only bizarre lifeforms like Unbroken Time could remain unaffected.

The transparent moth also possessed both Immortal matter and Lifeforce, and yet it had still been vulnerable to Word Manifestation.

The Heaven and Earth Lock descended after being empowered with Immortal matter, sealing Chang.

The creature let out a roar and waved its five claws, quickly shattering the Heaven and Earth Lock before charging towards Lu Yin once more.

Lu Yin’s focus sharpened. The beast’s strength had increased greatly. It was currently able to break a Heaven and Earth Lock apart even after Lu Yin infused it with Immortal matter. Out of all the non-Immortal opponents that Lu Yin had faced so far, Chang was the most direct in its attacks.

The Tri-Azure Sword Intent sliced forth, yet even that strike was completely ineffective against Chang’s body.

Immortal matter completely enveloped its body, making it incomparably tough. It was possible that, at this moment, Chang’s defenses were not inferior to even the Immortal monster’s.

Lu Yin had no idea how much Immortal matter Chang had available, but he was unwilling to exhaust himself in a contest of attrition. Instead, he used Word Manifestation to interrupt Chang’s attacks while evading.

Immortal matter was not enough for Chang to fight forever.

Sooner or later, it would run out of resources.

Far away, Gu Duanke’s sword intent sliced across the universe, relentlessly pursuing Hua Yan.

Hua Yan no longer appeared to be as elegant. Gu Duanke’s attacks had cut off three of its nine tentacles, and its robe had also been torn apart. Its eighteen eyes were shedding tears of blood. As for its tea table, that had long since vanished.

It flitted about the battlefield, constantly dodging and only occasionally managing a few strokes of a sketch in an attempt to hinder Gu Duanke.

Blood stained Gu Duanke’s lips. A single sword attack cleaved the battlefield, severing another two of Hua Yan’s tentacles, leaving it with only four.

Hua Yan’s eighteen eyes were fixed on Gu Duanke. His sword intent felt familiar to the creature. It was reminiscent of the human who had once stalked it across a different battlefield.

Yes, so does that mean that this human is after me for revenge?

Thinking that, Hua Yan painted Gu Jing. A sweeping stroke caused Gu Jing’s image to appear in outer space, only to be split in two.

When Gu Duanke saw it, his eyes narrowed. His killing intent retracted, and yet his sword intent grew sharper than ever. A sideways sweep of his sword slashed the void apart, splitting the universe itself.

Hua Yan’s eighteen eyes narrowed. As expected, this human was seeking revenge. This was a weakness of humans, similar to the creatures of many other civilizations.

Pathetic

.

With that in mind, Hua Yan continued to paint images of Gu Jing, creating illusions that flickered in the void, constantly filling Gu Duanke’s vision.

He slashed his sword again and again, ignoring Gu Jing’s images.

Suddenly, his body was stabbed by a sword. It had come from one of the images of Gu Jing.

Gu Duanke looked down at his blood that was dripping into the void. As he watched, Gu Jing’s image dissipated, seemingly having never even existed.

How could this be?

In the distance, Hua Yan smirked proudly. This was its innate gift. It could paint not only form, but also the heart. Did it always paint what was false? To blur the line between truth and illusion—that was the supreme realm of art.

Gu Duanke knew that Gu Jing was dead, but the more that he ignored Gu Jing’s images, the more that he had been ensnared by the painted heart, ultimately resulting in him being stabbed by a sword.

Still, one sword was not enough. One sword could not kill the powerful human.

But as long as the human cared for the one who had died, he would not be able to escape from the painted heart. The more he acknowledged the other human’s death, the less he would be able to resist.

Human, you are already doomed

.

This human had an innate disadvantage against Hua Yan, but without that, the bug would never be the man’s opponent.

Gu Duanke raised his sword and sliced downwards again. Sword intent dropped, cleaving the void and severing two more of Hua Yan’s tentacles.

The creature let out a wail, its eyes darting about as it continued to paint images of Gu Jing.

Suddenly, at the center of its eighteen eyes, a hooked blade pierced it. The blade ripped to the side, shredding Hua Yan’s entire head.

Eighteen eyes scattered about, spinning and bloodshot as it looked back. An old man had appeared behind the creature. E Xiu had attacked.

The old man sneered. “Vermin, you underestimate humans too much.”

Gu Duanke arrived, the tip of his sword falling. He struck downwards, and although Hua Yan’s eyes desperately searched for a way to flee, all possible paths were annihilated by the man’s sword intent. The painted canvases were destroyed where they were.

Cough, cough.

E Xiu looked over at Gu Duanke. “Old man, don’t you dare die now. This war is far from over.”

Gu Duanke exhaled. “I won’t die. I don’t even want to anymore.”

“Oh? You’ve come around?”

“The debt that I owed has been repaid.”

“Weren’t you dealing with that Ci Liu?”

“I left it to someone else. I’m not good at dealing with long-range opponents.”

E Xiu glanced at Gu Duanke’s chest where he had been stabbed by the sword. “Head back to rest. There are plenty of bugs inside the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. The Seventh Night Pillar isn’t doing well, and Jian Hong’s run out of spirit seeds.”

Gu Duanke frowned. “Thank you.”

He then immediately turned and headed for the Seventh Night Pillar.

Staying where he was, E Xiu glanced around. There were still far too many bugs. While he understood why Lu Yin had prevented the battlefield from spreading out, could they not have started the battle sooner? With so many bugs around, when would the fighting even end?

On another battlefield, spikes pierced the void, stabbing into one cultivator after another. Some cultivators had sent out their cultivated spirit seeds to protect their bodies, and such deaths only resulted in shattered seeds. However, there were others who bled. All across the cosmos, gruesome and tragic deaths occurred.

Some of the spikes had been shot by Ci Liu, who folded space and used the void as a bowstring. Ming Jie, the peak lord of Deathmound’s Second Peak, had been severely injured. Half his body was shattered, and Long Yin had to carry the man away from the spikes.

“Leave me, or else you’ll die too.” Ming Jie struggled to get off of Long Yin’s back.

Long Yin clenched her twin blades, slicing the spikes away. “Don’t forget that I am Long Yin, the Ten‑Foot Blade. Within that distance, no bug can harm me.”

Ming Jie glanced at the blood that stained Long Yin’s sleeves, yet he said nothing. Deathmound would not abandon him.

He looked up.

Has Li Guo finished his job yet?

Ci Liu and its blightspike bugs were a massive threat on the battlefield. Previously, Qing Xing had fought Ci Liu on his own, and before that, Xue Lou had struggled to withstand the insect’s attacks. Killing Ci Liu would not be easy. Only overpowering, all-encompassing attacks could take it down.

That was precisely Li Guo’s forte.

Long Yin’s twin blades continued to split the spikes shooting at them apart. Her heart stirred, and she looked up. “Here it is.”

A starry sky appeared, and light poured down from Clear Moon, Scattered Stars. Even though Li Guo had been heavily wounded during his battle with Cheng Hongyuan and Jie Zun, he was not able to avoid the current war.

Beneath Clear Moon, Scattered Stars, the blightspike bugs were forced to reveal themselves, and Wei Er shot out to slaughter them. As the peak lord of the Seventh Peak, Wei Er had accepted a Seed Transfusion to become a peak Dukkhan, but he still had the strength to kill the bugs once they were exposed.

On the other side of the battlefield, Chao Yi also attacked. While Deathmound’s peak lords were weaker than peak Dukkhans who had achieved their strength through personal effort, they had the advantage of numbers. They coordinated with each other to sweep across the battlefield, killing one blightspike bug after another.

Ultimately, only Ci Liu themselves remained hidden. Clear Moon, Scattered Stars could not force the Verdant Sage out.

Li Guo ground his teeth. “This beast! Clear Moon, Scattered Stars isn’t enough, so we’ll use something harsher. Everyone retreat! Heaven, Earth, and Man: Threefold Link!”

Suddenly, spikes shot out from behind the man, aimed straight for Li Guo.

The man stood motionless. The spikes pierced his body, but there was no blood. All that could be seen was a hand-sized piece of white cloth that drifted along the trajectory of the spikes. It seemed like there was an invisible passageway, though its position was constantly shifting.

Upon that white cloth stood a delicate, tiny woman.

The cloth was no larger than a hand, while the woman was only the size of a thumb. Even so, her aura revealed her to be a peak Dukkhan. She was Xiang Siyu, the peak lord of Deathmound’s First Peak.

Humans were not the only intelligent species in the cosmos, but they were a species that rose to power solely through wisdom.

At the moment of birth, humans were incredibly weak. Forget creatures that were able to freely roam through outer space; even a random creature on any given planet could kill a human infant. Despite that, through their wisdom, ancient humans had risen to power, step by step. They had relied on cultivation or technology to reach their current power.

There were highly intelligent creatures within the Nest civilization, and at the start of the war, the bugs had matched wits with humanity. However, instincts led the bugs to have greater trust in strength and numbers. Ci Liu was a prime example. It always remained hidden, using its spikes to launch ambushes. It was confident in its power, and yet it had underestimated the humans.

It had believed that the humans would always remain passive, just as Xue Lou had. It was unexpected for the humans to use deception. While Li Guo had put on a show of using Clear Moon, Scattered Stars to expose the blightspike bugs, he had prepared another spirit treasure formation long ago. Regardless of whether the man himself was present, the spirit treasure formation could be triggered. Xiang Siyu had taken Li Guo’s place in the void. She was the peak lord of Deathmound’s First Peak. She was blessed by luck itself and was known as the Walking Lucky Charm.

The woman’s luck was extraordinary. As soon as she was born, a powerful cultivator had accepted her as a disciple. This had not been arranged by her family, but rather because that powerhouse had simply happened to pass by, and his shoe had inexplicably fallen right where the child had been born. Seeing the workings of fate, he had accepted her as his disciple. From that point on, her cultivation had always been unhindered. Anytime she encountered a bottleneck, she would achieve enlightenment within five days. Everything in her life had gone smoothly. When walking down the road, she would find treasures. If she slipped off a cliff, she would stumble upon ancient ruins. If her family’s enemies sought vengeance, lightning would strike them down before they could even take action. Whatever Xiang Siyu wanted, she obtained. She never struggled at all.

The woman was an anomaly of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

She carried no strong hatred. Of those who had joined Deathmound, she alone did not seek vengeance. She had only joined because she sought suffering. She had cultivated to the peak Dukkhan level, and she was only one of two in Deathmound to have accomplished that.

The Autumnspring Slip had gathered luck by writing the character “Luck” (运) character, while Xiang Siyu had been born as an embodiment of luck.

The Autumnspring Slip had wanted to approach her, but they had feared her identity. After seeking Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s guidance, Xiang Siyu had withdrawn into Deathmound, and she had never made another public appearance. It had been many years since then, and many in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had almost forgotten about the woman.

The white cloth steadily drifted forward, locked onto Ci Liu’s position.

Xiang Siyu’s expression remained calm. Spikes shot toward her, yet she never moved. The attacks brushed past her; she was too small to hit. More and more spikes flew towards her.

“Found it.” Sand spread out, covering half a million kilometers. Long Yin and Chao Yi both instantly attacked, having determined Ci Liu’s position. The bug scrambled to escape, but it was already too late. The moment that Xiang Siyu located Ci Liu, its fate had been sealed. Ci Liu could only ambush others, and it had no power in open combat. It fell, buried by Deathmound’s peak lords.

Ming Jie let out a breath of relief. The bug was finally dead.