Chapter 4154: Terms Of The Trade

“You do not want that civilization to appear, and neither do I. So, humans, I am willing to help you deal with the Seven-Treasure Anuras in exchange for Luo Chan’s release. This condition is both reasonable and extremely beneficial to you,” the Immortal Lord said.

Lu Yin looked at Greater Sancte Green Lotus. “Senior, agree to it.”

The Greater Sancte had already been inclined to agree. In fact, everyone present wanted to. With an additional helper like the Immortal Lord, their human civilization’s security would increase dramatically.

They wanted to accept both for their own sakes and for all of humanity.

Besides, if the Seven-Treasure Anuras never actually fought against human civilization, there would be no need to release Luo Chan at all.

Lu Yin slowly smiled. “We will only release Luo Chan after we have fought against the Seven-Treasure Anuras and verified our safety. That is our condition. They can take it or leave it.”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower nodded. “The chances of us actually going to war with the Seven-Treasure Anuras is quite low. The Immortal Lord can serve as an insurance policy. If they really do help us deal with the Seven-Treasure Anuras, then Luo Chan’s value will have fully appreciated.”

Greater Sancte Awe Gate frowned. “What if the Immortal Lord returns as our enemy later on?”

Lu Yin and the others all looked at Greater Sancte Green Lotus.

The man thought for a moment. “I will find a way to deal with that.”

A short while later, Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s voice echoed across the Aevum Inch. “We accept your terms.”

The Immortal Lord’s tone immediately softened. “Humans, this is a wise choice. Release Luo Chan now.”

“Are you joking? You want us to release it right now? What if you go back on your word?”

“Human, I do not break my promises.”

“On what basis should we trust you?”

“You have already accepted my terms.”

“We agree to release Luo Chan only after you have helped us deal with the Seven-Treasure Anuras and we confirm that they will no longer be our enemy.”

The Immortal Lord’s voice dropped low. “I will definitely help you against the Seven-Treasure Anuras and will also never again stand against humanity. All I ask is that you release Luo Chan first.”

“We cannot do that. We do not trust you.”

“How long do you intend to delay for?”

“We are not delaying. As I already told you, only after we are certain that the Seven-Treasure Anuras are no longer our enemy will we release the bug. There is nothing more to discuss. If you are dissatisfied with these terms, then come and take Luo Chan... if you can.”

The green stalk swayed. The Immortal Lord did not respond, but the green radiance grew stronger.

The Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm roiled. Greater Sancte Awe Gate and Greater Sancte Blood Tower both turned to peer across the Aevum Inch, the killing intent rising their eyes.

A short while later, the green stalk receded. The Immortal Lord had neither agreed nor refused.

Whether the Immortal Lord retreated or not made no real difference to humanity. No matter how strong the Immortal Lord might be, they had no hope of defeating all of humanity on their own. Even if they were stronger than even Greater Sancte Green Lotus and all the other human Immortals, they still could not easily take action, as they were wary of adding to their karmic chain.

The Immortal Lord could only wait for the time being, wait for the Seven-Treasure Anuras to arrive.

For an Immortal, waiting tens or even hundreds of millions of years was nothing excessive.

The conversation with the Immortal Lord had confirmed that, behind the Nest civilization—or at least behind Luo Chan—there existed a truly powerful fishing civilization. This actually served to somewhat reassure people. If it was likely that the hidden civilization would appear, the Immortal Lord would have shown a very different attitude.

Of course, that premise would only endure so long as Luo Chan remained alive.

Everyone’s gazes fell upon Luo Chan. This little creature actually had a connection to a fishing civilization, and to a certain extent, to humanity’s survival.

“Senior Green Lotus, do you remember what I said?” Lu Yin turned to Greater Sancte Green Lotus.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus fell into thought. He remembered clearly. Lu Yin wanted to use Lu Yuan’s Progenitor’s world to grow an innate gift of teleportation. The odds of success were low. No, they were essentially nonexistent, approaching zero. Even so, Lu Yin wanted to try. He had suggested the attempt before, because if it succeeded, humanity would gain an absolute means.

When Lu Yuan planted an innate gift, his descendants in the Lu family gained a certain chance to inherit that innate gift. That was the origin of their bloodline.

But Green Lotus needed to consider the matter further at this time. If they attempted to grow an innate gift, would the attempt kill Luo Chan?

Previously, no one had cared. Capturing Luo Chan alive had not even been thought about, but all of that had changed. With a fishing civilization involved, if Luo Chan’s death prompted that powerful civilization to descend upon humanity and destroy them, they would have caused the downfall of their entire species.

A single conversation had changed many, many things.

Lu Yin understood how serious the matter was. Even with Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s decisive nature, the man hesitated. In the past, he had not shown such hesitation even when killing the droplet-shaped Verdant Sage Immortal, risking conflict with Lan Meng, or testing the situation in the Thread of Heaven.

Seeing Greater Sancte Green Lotus hesitate, Greater Sancte Blood Tower and the others grew curious. “Mr. Lu, what did you say to Senior?”

Lu Yin looked at them. “Seniors, you should all know about this too. I want to try growing the innate gift of teleportation.”

The entire place briefly fell into absolute silence.

After hearing what Lu Yin had to say, both Greater Sancti Awe Gate and Blood Tower also grew hesitant, despite the massive amount of bloodlust that they were radiating.

Ku Deng stared at Lu Yin in a daze.

He actually dares to consider such things? Is this the difference between Mr. Lu and the rest of us?

No, this is the difference between the Tianyuan and the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Ever since the people of the Tianyuan had arrived in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, change had appeared despite the short amount of time that had passed.

As the master of the Abyss of Suffering, Ku Deng could clearly feel that his subordinates no longer buried themselves in cultivation alone. There were times when they had started to entertain more creative ideas.

It was also precisely those extraneous thoughts that occasionally produced unexpected, ingenious effects.

As the ruler of the Tianyuan, Lu Yin’s ideas were the strangest of all.

The entire Lu family was just as bizarre. The ability to grow innate gifts? Ku Deng had never even heard of such a thing before.

Everyone instantly understood why Greater Sancte Green Lotus was hesitating.

“If we proceed with this planting, regardless of whether it succeeds or fails, will Luo Chan die?” Greater Sancte Blood Tower asked. That was what everyone was most concerned about.

Greater Sancte Awe Gate rolled her eyes. “If he could answer that, he would have already mentioned it. Why else would Senior Green Lotus hesitate?”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower muttered, “I just wanted confirmation. What if there happens to be a clear answer?”

“Then ask him again.”

“Mr. Lu, if we proceed with it, regardless of whether it succeeds or fails, will Luo Chan die?” The man really did ask his question again.

Lu Yin gave a wry smile. “I don’t know.”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower sighed. “No wonder Senior Green Lotus hesitates.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus spoke slowly. “You misunderstand. I was not hesitating.”

Lu Yin and the others looked at Green Lotus. His expression gaze was perfectly calm. “I was only thinking about how to go about helping you plant his innate gift of teleportation. When you mentioned this to me before, it was merely a hypothetical situation. To turn that into reality, we need to consider every step.

“Luo Chan’s life and death are important, but when compared to whether humanity can grasp an absolute means, that bug is utterly insignificant. Even so, we must do our best to ensure its survival. The casualties that we have suffered from the recent civilizational wars are already too great.”

Ku Deng bowed. “Senior’s insight is far beyond ours.”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower said, “I thought that Senior had changed his mind and no longer wanted Mr. Lu to make an attempt.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus smiled. “If we cut off humanity’s path to gaining an absolute means because some civilization may or may not arrive, then we trap ourselves in a dilemma. How could we hope to gain a stable position in the Aevum Inch in the future?

“Regardless of whether there truly is a fishing civilization behind the Nest civilization, and regardless of whether that civilization will ever appear, neither of those are matters that we should be considering right now. Even if the odds of success are only one out of hundreds of millions, we must proceed. Humanity cannot allow any opportunity to gain an absolute means slip by us, no matter how great the price.”

“Well said, Senior!” Greater Sancte Awe Gate praised. The woman was tougher than anyone else.

Greater Sancte Blood Tower guffawed. “Exactly! What is there to fear? If they come, we fight. We will try again and again. As long as we can succeed just once, we will gain an absolute means, and our civilization will rise to new heights. That is far better than living stifled in this tiny patch of the cosmos.”

Lu Yin slowly released a breath. He had never considered abandoning the attempt. Even if the attempt doomed Luo Chan, Lu Yin would not give up. Humanity could not afford to miss even a single chance.

Rather than clinging to a wretched survival, it would be better to press forward with open hands and carve out a brighter future and an invincible position.

To be honest, all of these seniors are truly admirable.

At this moment of tearing through the darkness, it was incredible luck for Lu Yin to have such like-minded seniors at his side.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

After that, Lu Yin summoned Ancestor Lu Yuan and, together with Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the others, they carefully went through the entire process of growing an innate gift. They were trying to consider every single step.

Ancestor Lu Yuan had never expected that growing his third innate gift would rouse the full attention of all the Immortals from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. Each one wanted to accompany Lu Yuan and review the entire process. This matter was crucial for humanity.

Lu Yin soon went to find Tuo Lin and Yan Ruyu. The one who actually needed to take the stage was Yan Ruyu.

If not for her existence, how could Lu Yin and the others have any confidence at all that they could help Lu Yuan grow such an innate gift?

To succeed, the first step was to confirm that Luo Chan was actually a Verdant Sage. That had already been done.

Of course, this had nothing to do with whether there was a fishing civilization behind Luo Chan.

The second step was to acquire a piece of the green stalk, which Greater Sancte Green Lotus had already accomplished.

During the battle at the Allsense Megaverse, Lu Yin had released a Thousand Faces of Karma: Karmic Heavenwheel, which had forced the Immortal Lord to retreat. However, the Immortal Lord had still been within the bounds of the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. Escaping had not been easy. The moment that they crossed the boundary, Greater Sancte Green Lotus had struck, knocking a tiny fragment of the green stalk loose. It was small, but it was still a fragment.

The third step, and the most crucial one, was that Yan Ruyu needed to be able to borrow the power of the Immortal Lord’s green stalk.

This was the key to whether they could even attempt to grow the innate gift. If Yan Ruyu could not do it, there would be no point in making an attempt. Ancestor Lu Yuan had said that, to grow an innate gift, it needed to fall within the scope of his own power and understanding. Clearly, teleportation did not meet that requirement. Even Immortals could not naturally comprehend such an ability, so how could a mere Dukkhan?

Only by turning the unreasonable into something reasonable could it be planted.

Lu Yuan had bluntly stated that he could not succeed on his own. There needed to be a process of transformation, and that process needed to rely on the Immortal Lord’s power.

If the Immortal Lord could grant a Verdant Sage a strange lifeform’s ability to teleport, then they could also enable Lu Yuan to grow an innate gift of teleportation. That was the nature of the Immortal Lord’s power.

Every Immortal possessed a unique type of power. Greater Sancte Green Lotus had once said that the Immortal Lord’s power might be very similar to Lu Yuan’s, given how both were filled with vitality and the ability to nurture. That was why the Nests and the Verdant Sages even existed.

No matter how the Nests were perceived, they somewhat resembled a grand extension of Ancestor Lu Yuan’s ability to grow innate gifts.

“Master.”

“Master.”

Every time Lu Yin met Tuo Lin and the others, he felt an indescribable sense of accomplishment. The way the two of them looked at him contained nearly fanatical admiration. Their fervor was so intense that it seemed capable of igniting the earth itself.

He coughed lightly and smiled at the two. “You have done well. Your master is pleased.”