Chapter 4002: Absolute Suppression

Absolute Suppression

Bang!

The other man moved. Against the incomparable strength of Lu Yin’s hand reaching for him, the man transformed into a mass of blazing fire. The heat produced was so intense that even Lu Yin felt as if he would melt.

It had been a very long time since he had last experienced the sensation of being burned.

This was no ordinary flame.

There was a whoosh. While the flames were certainly strong, they were not enough to block Lu Yin’s hand. His hand pierced through the flames and fell upon the man’s shoulder. With a sudden burst of force, the man was pressed deep into the mountain, which shattered from top to bottom as the man was driven into the depths of the earth.

Lu Yin’s consciousness followed right behind, forming a Heaven and Earth Lock that sealed off all of the man’s powers and senses. At the same time, he flicked a finger, sending another physical attack at the man through the cracks that had opened up in the mountain. His goal was to knock him unconscious, thus preventing him from being melted by the red energy.

But a terrifying blaze shot into the sky the very next instant. The heat melted the sky, the earth, and the mountain. Even time itself seemed to melt, growing sluggish.

Lu Yin was shocked.

Two spirit seeds?

There was no mistaking what he was feeling. This explosive sensation could only belong to someone who possessed two spirit seeds.

During the battle at Cragpeak, Jie Zun had used two spirit seeds, which had left Li Guo and Cheng Hongyuan helpless. It came as no surprise that the man that Lu Yin had found was also in possession of two spirit seeds.

The world turned red.

The scorching heat spread across the entire sky. High above were the Mother Tree’s branches. If the blaze managed to reach them, not even the Mother Tree would be able to withstand such an intense heat and would begin to burn.

In the Frightened Sparrow Terrace, Greater Sancte Awe Gate looked down, slightly astonished. She could not understand how Lu Yin had accomplished such a thing. First, he had found Silent Death, and then, he had immediately followed up by finding a Netherfiend. What the Greater Sancti had failed to accomplish over the course of many years, Lu Yin had done. It was no wonder why Greater Sancte Green Lotus wanted him to marry the Seven Fairies.

A stream of energy shot out from the side, pushing the rising blaze across the sky. Qing Xing had taken action.

The pillar of flame had happened to appear exactly where the man had been napping on a branch of the Mother Tree.

“This power... Is it him? So, he didn’t die but even joined the Netherfiends.” Qing Xing gulped down some wine as he peered down. “Zhi, a former Lesser Sancte, the man who broke open a Morrow Behemoth’s body with a mere pebble, the slayer of mighty beasts—I never imagined that he was still alive.”

Straight down below, the flames twisted as someone stepped out of them. His eyes blazed with a frenzied bloodlust, which was so strong that not even the slitted scarlet eyes could hide it. “My name is Zhi.”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, though he also felt slightly relieved. It was rare for both Netherfiends and the Tianyuan’s Aeternals to introduce themselves. The fact that this man had done so meant that he would not die too easily.

Also, what’s with this bloodlust? Does he want to fight me?

Lu Yin did not overestimate his own strength, but he also refused to underestimate it.

Even if there were two more Zhis present, it would still be useless.

Compared to Chang, the man was far too lacking.

“Strong... always wanted fight... never chance... until you! Die—no regret!” As he finished speaking, Zhi’s eyes abruptly flared, the scarlet eyes flickering as if the man’s body was about to explode. He let out a tremendous roar.

A ferocious shockwave blasted out in all directions.

The monstrous flames shot high into the sky once more, the deep red replacing all other colors. Countless people throughout the megaverse looked over, but many instantly went blind from the sight, and they let out cries of pain. Some even burst into flames, losing control of their bodies.

At that moment, the intense heat caused the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse to warm up as a blinding light spread across the universe. The leaves falling from the Mother Tree caught fire as they dropped down, becoming massive meteors as they crashed to the ground.

Lu Yin was astonished. This man’s power had more than doubled; he had three spirit seeds.

Greater Sancte Awe Gate had warned Lu Yin that there might be Netherfiends capable of using more than just two spirit seeds. Lu Yin had not really considered the matter before, but he was suddenly seeing their potential being realized.

Three spirit seeds granted Zhi a transformative level of power. At this moment, he had the power to rival even Chang, and he shook the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Greater Sancte Awe Gate frowned.

Such overwhelming might... So this is the power of a Netherfiend with three spirit seeds

.

Previously, she had only guessed that such might was possible. This was the first time her suspicions had been proven correct.

The three spirit seeds completely transformed Zhi. The growing battlelust that had ignited after seeing Lu Yin fight Chang and then suppressed until now fully erupted at this moment. Step by step, he walked toward Lu Yin. Each stride seemed to break another restraint, and he continued to grow taller while burning everything nearby.

As Lu Yin watched Zhi approach, his mind was not on the man himself, but rather on the Netherfiends and Yong Heng.

Each additional spirit seed allowed an individual’s power to further transform. If this was the results of three, then what would be possible four or even five?

Such should not be possible, even for an Immortal’s body. Still, even if three was the limit, spreading this method across the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would cause humanity’s overall strength to rise exponentially.

For example, if there were one, two, or even five cultivators whose powers were comparable to Qing Xing’s, their numbers would not be enough to change the overall situation. Such numbers could only impact individual battlefields. However, if there were ten, twenty, or fifty, that would be an entirely different matter.

Still, Lu Yin quickly discarded the thought. It would instead be better for humanity to gain more Immortals.

Anything that he considered had certainly already been thought of by Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the other Immortals. Despite that, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had never pursued the possibility of cultivating multiple spirit seeds, which served as proof that it was not a viable path.

Whoosh!

The void melted as a scorching pain arrived. In front of Lu Yin, Zhi threw a palm strike straight at his opponent’s face.

Lu Yin raised his own hand, not meeting the attack directly, but instead smoothly redirecting it while countering with his own palm strike. Lu Yin’s attack carried the same blazing flames; he had countered with Linked Palm.

Progenitor Chen’s Linked Palm and Progenitor Ku’s Extremes Must Be Reversed were both battle techniques that increased in power with the user’s cultivation. Lu Yin had not yet found an upper limit to either technique, though Linked Palm was limited by the forms of power that it could borrow. Similarly, Extremes Must Be Reversed could not defend against intangible methods like consciousness. Even these two amazing techniques still had flaws.

Regardless, they remained absolutely astonishing.

Progenitor Chen and Progenitor Ku had also only been Sequence Progenitors when they created their signature techniques.

Flames clashed against flames as destructive powers of the same nature fought each other. Lu Yin’s strength far surpassed Zhi’s, and one palm strike was enough for Lu Yin to gain an overwhelming advantage. He grabbed Zhi’s palm and twisted it apart.

Zhi’s eyes narrowed. He had not expected Lu Yin to use all of his own power against him. That went beyond all expectations.

A large part why Zhi was confident that he could contend with the overwhelmingly powerful Lu Yin was his flames.

Those flames were part of the man’s natural physique. It was what had allowed him to once enter cryostasis in the Scion Spire and to later become a Lesser Sancte.

He had originally just been an independent cultivator, and he had only reached such amazing heights by relying on his flames.

However, his flames had just been used against him by another person. Such an indescribable humiliation further ignited Zhi’s fury. He wanted to fight Lu Yin, not his own power.

A dark-red energy that gave off a bloody feeling steamed off of his body and shot into the sky.

From high above, Qing Xing peered down. “What a monster! How did he gain such strength?”

Zhi continued to release a terrifying level of power, but he could do nothing to change the fact that he was being suppressed by Lu Yin.

Zhi’s arm was twisted around, and then Lu Yin shifted his grip to grab the man’s neck. He was determined to completely suppress the power within Zhi in order to prevent the man from being killed by the red power.

With his other hand, Zhi grabbed Lu Yin’s arm, and terrifying flames completely incinerated the void. Even with that, Lu Yin’s arm remained as unshakeable as a mountain, his Lifeforce surging. He still did not even need to use his other hand. No matter how hard the flames raged, they could not affect him in the slightest. As that happened, everything in the area turned gray as time froze. The high temperatures, the blazing flames, the destroyed void—everything froze. Lu Yin’s eyes remained locked onto Zhi as his hand slid from Zhi’s neck down to his shoulder blade. There was a burst of force, and with a bang, Zhi’s flesh was ripped apart, scattering into the void.

The damage was accompanied by an eruption of red energy. It was similar to divine energy, yet distinct.

Lu Yin shifted his single hand again, targeting every point of red energy that he could sense inside of Zhi’s body.

Blood sprayed as an entire layer of Zhi’s flesh was flayed away. He coughed up blood while letting out a deep growl. His body suddenly shrank as an even fiercer light flared up, momentarily stinging Lu Yin’s eyes.

While taken aback, Lu Yin did not care. No matter how Zhi changed, he could not surpass Lu Yin unless he became an Immortal.

The Immortal Lord believed that Chang had reached the pinnacle of strength beneath the Immortal realm, and Lu Yin surpassed even Chang’s strength at this moment. This was precisely why the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s three Greater Sancti acknowledged Lu Yin as invincible beneath the Immortal realm. Even if Lu Yin tried to be modest, he was absolutely confident that he was indeed the most powerful beneath the Immortals.

There were many special lifeforms in the cosmos, such as Unbroken Time, Luo Chan, and others. Those unique creatures might be able to survive or escape from a fight with Lu Yin, but they would never be able to defeat him.

Zhi was no exception.

Without becoming an Immortal, the man would never be Lu Yin’s match.

Also, from what Lu Yin could judge of Zhi’s current power, he was still a bit short of Chang. The man did not have any hope of escape.

Zhi’s body shrank until it was half of its former size. The blazing flames again spread across his body, but they were more condensed than before. He shone brighter than a sun. In his hand, searing light gathered into a disk that swept towards Lu Yin. The blazing weapon left a burning scar streaking across the void. Even space and time were burned by the heat.

This particular attack gave Lu Yin a similar feeling to Unbroken Time’s first mark.

Unbroken Time’s first mark had been able to freeze a line of time and form the sharpest blade in existence. Even Lu Yin had feared it.

Similarly, Zhi had condensed the extreme heat of his flames into a line that could burn space and time; it was just as sharp as the line of frozen time.

But even that sharpness could not cut through Lifeforce.

Zhi stared on, stupified by the sight of Lu Yin blocking his attack with a single finger. It was simply unbelievable.

Is the difference between us really so vast?

Lu Yin gently waved his hand, shattering the line of heat before pointing his own finger at Zhi.

Bang

.

The man’s pupils fluctuated as he staggered back several steps. The intense heat quickly dispersed, exposing his true form. Blood stained his back red, just before he collapsed.

Lu Yin looked down at Zhi, his eyes glued to the fallen man.

If the energy that could melt Zhi suddenly appeared, not even a Greater Sancte would be able to stop it, so how could Lu Yin hope to succeed?

That still did not mean that there was nothing to be done.

Zhi collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Lu Yin waited a moment. After seeing that Zhi did not melt away, he let out a sigh of relief. At the same moment, Greater Sancte Awe Gate let out a similar breath of relief in the Frightened Sparrow Terrace.

She still could not understand it; if Qi Xu was already dead, how could the Netherfiends borrow her power to stay hidden and melt their bodies? The power that destroyed the Netherfiends’ bodies was something not even Immortals could stop. It had become a shadow in their hearts, a thorn that they could not remove, and that made them all nervous.

It simply could not be understood; how could a dead Immortal help the living hide from other Immortals? Even Greater Sancti Green Lotus could not determine how this was possible.

The only explanation was that Qi Xu’s power was somehow still resonating in the megaverse, which enabled the Netherfiends to use it. That was an acceptable explanation, as any other possibility would be simply too much.

Zhi had not been melted, but what could be achieved by capturing him?

Lu Yin stared at the man. He had dealt with Aeternus for far too long, to the point where they could be called his lifelong enemies. He never considered trying to interrogate such a person.

It did not matter. He would simply deliver the man to Greater Sancte Awe Gate first.

A gate opened behind him. Lu Yin grabbed Zhi and stepped through, reappearing in the Frightened Sparrow Terrace.

The moment that Zhi passed through the gate and entered the Frightened Sparrow Terrace, his eyes abruptly snapped open. A “Heaven” (天) character suddenly appeared, and it pressed down upon Lu Yin.