Star Odyssey Chapter 3342: Aevum Inch

Chapter 3342: Aevum Inch

The round-faced old man stood with his hands clasped behind his back, a deep chill clear in his eyes. "Meng Sang is someone from my Spirit Nidus, and he is completely indifferent to the lives in your Tianyuan Megaverse. After all, our Spirit Nidus came to destroy your Tianyuan Megaverse, and he is not even human, so he care even less.

"If you don't believe me, you are welcome to wait. It has not even been long enough for a single stick of incense to burn away since we called a cease-fire. Wait just a bit more and find out if a parallel universe is destroyed. By the way, the universe they destroy will undoubtedly be one that you are familiar with. Tian Ci has spent so much time here, and he has plenty of ways to find specific universes."

Lu Yin stared at the old man, but he did not say a word. It was as though Lu Yin was trying to see through the Seraph.

The round-faced old man remained calm. There was even a smile on his face.

No one else could hear the current conversation, but their expressions revealed something.

The people of the Tianyuan Megaverse saw the old man’s smile, and expressions turned grim as people became uncertain of just what was happening.

Mister Mu looked away from the stone gate. He could at least guess that whatever was going on was related to the Seraph who had attacked the Immemorial Citadel. The Spirit Nidus was another megaverse, and while being the invading force meant that they had certain disadvantages against the Tianyuan Megaverse, they also had the advantage in that they were indifferent to whether anything in the Tianyuan Megaverse lived or died.

At the moment, this was the only real advantage that the Spirit Nidus could leverage.

Could Lu Yin take such a gamble? Of course not. This was not a matter of courage, but rather an absolute certainty of losing.

This was why some cultivators could easily destroy a planet, killing countless people, yet would find it impossible to slaughter those same people one at a time. The psychological impact of the two scenarios were completely different.

Lu Yin believed that Meng Sang would indeed destroy parallel universes. After all, the invaders wanted to destroy the entire Tianyuan Megaverse.

For the sake of taking back a stolen sequence base, there was no question that the invaders would destroy inhabited universes.

Lu Yin raised a hand, and the Heaven-Devouring Umbrella trembled as it was released. As people watched in confusion, the umbrella flew towards Lu Yin.

The old man's smile deepened. He had already known that Lu Yin would compromise, as there was simply no other choice. Lu Yin was still too young. Enjoy the scenery along the way? How absurd. The scenery changed with every step that was taken. The only constant was oneself.

Lu Yin was extraordinarily talented, given that he had reached such a high level of power in a mere hundred years. This was something that no one else could compare to. However, the shortcomings of such rapid progress were equally evident: Lu Yin lacked the determination and experience to match his strength.

If the old man were in Lu Yin’s shoes, he would not care about the threatened parallel universes at all. There were simply too many in a given megaverse. The value of a sequence base far surpa.s.sed that of countless parallel universes.

"I will return the sequence base to you. In exchange, until this war is decided, you will not target the innocent of the Tianyuan Megaverse," Lu Yin coldly stated.

The old man agreed.

Lu Yin grabbed hold of the Heaven-Devouring Umbrella and then threw it over to the old man.

The round-faced old man accepted it. "Decisive enough. They call you Lord Lu? You are indeed deserving of my respect. Lord Lu, consider things carefully. I’ve agreed not to harm the innocent of your Tianyuan Megaverse not simply because you returned the Heaven-Devouring Umbrella, but also because of you yourself. I sincerely want you to join my Spirit Nidus. For that goal, I am willing to give you a bit of face. You should understand that I also only agreed to conditions that are the most beneficial for my Spirit Nidus for this invasion."

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, as he suddenly realized that, if the Spirit Nidus completely dispersed their forces and started wantonly slaughtering the population of the Tianyuan Megaverse, regardless of the number of experts on his side, it would be impossible to stop the ma.s.sacre.

Before the invaders had arrived, Lu Yin had considered many possible outcomes and tactics, but he had never considered the possibility that the Spirit Nidus might not have any sort of bottom line.

He had intended to eliminate the Spirit Nidus’s young elites. Even though they were still cultivators, they were the Spirit Nidus’s future that had not yet matured. Lu Yin had never considered targeting the ordinary humans of the Spirit Nidus. But because that was beyond his considerations and within the bounds of what the invaders were willing to do, they had obtained a significant advantage.

Neither side spoke another word. Lu Yin returned to the Tianyuan Megaverse’s forces, while the old man returned to the battles.h.i.+p. The stone gate was sealed with the Impression Realm, to prevent the Tianyuan Megaverse from taking any sort of action.

Lu Yin dispersed his experts and had them surround the entire region. He wanted to prevent the Spirit Nidus’s forces from spreading out, as well as prevent them from connecting with True G.o.d.

Then, Lu Yin returned to the Heavens Sect to speak with Progenitor Xi.

For just one battle, the Tianyuan Megaverse had dispatched nearly half of their experts to deal with the Spirit Nidus, and the results were in.

From the moment he had first heard of the Spirit Nidus to immediately before the invasion started, the Spirit Nidus had been growing increasingly powerful in Lu Yin’s mind. The Tianyuan Megaverse had believed that they could not gain much of an advantage in the fight against the invading the Spirit Nidus, but during the very first clash of the two megaverses, and especially after seeing Lu Yin steal the Heaven-Devouring Umbrella, morale and confidence had risen, spiking when the Spirit Nidus had chosen to have a cease-fire.

Regardless of how powerful the invaders were, as long as they were not able to easily destroy the Tianyuan Megaverse, the natives could fight back.

The most frustrating thing was that, while the Tianyuan Megaverse clearly held the upper hand, they risked defeat simply because of how the Spirit Nidus was completely indifferent to the lives of the people of the Tianyuan Megaverse. Yes, Lu Yin viewed the initial battle as his defeat. He had personally returned the Heaven-Devouring Umbrella that he had stolen back to the Spirit Nidus, and he had even revealed his ability to traverse the River of Aeons. Suffering such a defeat left him feeling quite helpless.

"Lord Lu." Progenitor Xi arrived. She had not fought in the battle at the boundary.

Lu Yin stood with his back to the woman as he stared out at the lake. "I managed to steal the Heaven-Devouring Umbrella, but one of the Seraphs managed to take it back from me."

Progenitor Xi calmly asked, "What do you wish to do, Lord Lu?"

"Aren't you surprised?"

"Not at all. There are countless ways for a person without boundaries to threaten one with them. Lord Lu, you are overthinking and worrying about too much."

Lu Yin laughed at himself. "I don't even know when I became like this, but I have no regrets."

Progenitor Xi stared at Lu Yin's back. "This is what it means to be human."

Lu Yin turned to face Progenitor Xi. "How can we turn the tides, given your understanding of the Spirit Nidus?"

Progenitor Xi sighed. "No level of understanding can alter the reality of pure strength. The war between my Consciousness Megaverse and the Spirit Nidus has gone on for far longer than your war with Aeternus. It’s a war between megaverses, and the timescale of such a conflict is not something you can imagine. Despite our extensive knowledge of the Spirit Nidus, we have never been able to defeat them.

"Just their Everstone sequence base alone leaves us helpless. Lord Lu, you should already know about their Limits and Sanctis, the Ascendant Hall, and their sequence bases. So far, the strongest threat from the Spirit Nidus that your Tianyuan has faced hasn’t been the Fated One. Most of the Seraphs cannot join the invasion, and you are even able to counter a few of them. Instead, the Ascendant Hall will be the most critical point to this invasion, as they have the greatest number of peak powerhouses and sequence powerhouses.

"You’ve spent the last decade gathering as many resources as possible in order to create Progenitor-level combatants. However, the number of such experts in the Spirit Nidus far exceed your expectations."

Lu Yin replied coldly, "I didn’t ask you to ill.u.s.trate how bleak our situation is. I want a solution, or to at least have a way to find one."

"That’s quite simple: go to the Spirit Nidus," Progenitor Xi stated.

Lu Yin's eyes flickered as he stared at the woman. "Go to the Spirit Nidus?"

Progenitor Xi replied earnestly, "In battle, unless you are completely invincible and able to suppress the entirety of the Spirit Nidus by yourself, reaching the level of the High Seraph or even that of an invincible being, you won’t be able to gain an advantage in combat. No matter what method you employ, the Spirit Nidus will simply send more experts over.

"The only option is to go to the Spirit Nidus. With your combat strength and the abilities of your mirebound artifact, even an invincible being might not be able to handle you. You've done such things more than once before."

Lu Yin's eyes flickered again. "Won’t I be recognized?"

Progenitor Xi shook her head. "This time will be completely different from any other infiltration you've done in the past. You certainly will be recognized. You won’t be able to disguise yourself, as you are not from the Spirit Nidus. Their experts will be able to see through you with a glance. Your energy is too obvious. This is no different from how the Boundary Guardians were able to instantly identify creatures from other megaverses.

"What I am saying is that you should go to their megaverse and cause destruction. With your abilities, you can avoid their invincible being and surpa.s.s the limitations of being human. Threaten them as the Spirit Nidus has threatened you.

"While I know you might not be able to slaughter their ordinary humans, simply target their cultivators. Every cultivator, from the moment they step onto their path, needs to be able to distinguish between life and death.

"This is the only way for your Tianyuan Megaverse to fight back against the Spirit Nidus. You are not like us. Our Consciousness Megaverse has different lifeforms than the Spirit Nidus, which is also why we have endured for so long. However, you belong to the same species as them. As long as there is a gap in strength, it’s only a matter of time before you are completely annihilated, especially since the Spirit Nidus has been planning your downfall for far too long."

Lu Yin sat down, lost in his own thoughts as he stared out at the lake.

Progenitor Xi continued, “Lord Lu, aside from you, I can't think of anyone else in your Tianyuan Megaverse who might be able to wreak havoc in the Spirit Nidus while avoiding the Supreme Above and Command Below. Don't underestimate any mirebound artifact, especially not yours. Even Yong Heng fears it, and he is as strong as the High Seraph himself.”

Lu Yin was taken aback. “Is True G.o.d as powerful as the High Seraph?”

Progenitor Xi solemnly replied, “While I don’t know the specifics myself, I would say that Yuan Qi’s att.i.tude towards Yong Heng is evidence enough. On top of that, Yong Heng is the only one who has encountered Master Qing Cao.

“I don’t know what the invincible being in the Spirit Nidus is like, as I have never encountered them. However, the High Seraph is certainly not an Immortal. Yong Heng should stand at the pinnacle beneath the Immortal realm. If even he fears your mirebound artifact, then that should at least confirm that, in the Spirit Nidus, the High Seraph will not be able to deal with you.”

Lu Yin lightly tapped the table with his finger. “In that case, what about the invincible being?”

“I can’t suggest a plan of absolute safety. If I could, we would have used it ourselves long ago. This is your only option to defeat Spirit Nidus: to force them to retreat. If they lose their younger generation and are unable to do anything against you, they will have no choice but to retreat. This path will be extremely difficult, and you will constantly risk your life while suffering from the mental pressure of facing death. Lord Lu, can you bear this burden?” Progenitor Xi looked at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin did not answer, and he instead asked another question, “How long will it take to travel from the Tianyuan Megaverse to the Spirit Nidus? How do we get there?”

Progenitor Xi took a moment to think. “That is a journey that cannot be explained. The Spirit Nidus refers to it as the Aevum Inch. By that, they mean that the distance can be covered in an instant, and yet, that inch might as well be an infinite distance. It’s a distance that may seem short for creatures or megaverses, but for the creatures making the journey, it can feel very long.

“Last time, I secretly followed Tian Ci and others to this Tianyuan Megaverse, and the journey took more than 10,000 years. I encountered many challenges and difficulties along the way. With what I know, the people of the Spirit Nidus might have left tens of thousands of years ago for this invasion, or they might have some means of shortening that time, such as Master Qing Cao.”

OMA's Thoughts

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Nes.h.i.+/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA