Star Odyssey Chapter 3354: Illusion

Chapter 3354: Illusion

Tian Ci cut through the void with his sword in an attempt to force his opponents back. Even he struggled when two SkyG.o.ds worked together. He was dealing with both sneak attacks and True G.o.d's Natural Art. There was no choice but to escape. True G.o.d was absolutely despicable!

An inexplicable feeling surged within Tian Ci's body, and his expression changed drastically. Something was very wrong; he was unable to control his body. He threw his head back, his mouth wide open as black threads shot out. They were carrying an unremarkable looking seed.

Forgotten Ruins G.o.d struck Tian Ci with another palm strike. It was Natural Art yet again.

Tian Ci was an Ortuser, which meant that he could not be affected by the laws of the universe. However, neither Forgotten Ruins G.o.d nor Blackless G.o.d were using any of their sequence particles right now.

In response to Forgotten Ruins G.o.d's palm strike, Tian Ci caused his sequence particles to erupt in front of him, which dispersed the SkyG.o.d’s Natural Art.

Forgotten Ruins G.o.d and Blackless G.o.d both fell back. “See you later, mouse.”

Tian Ci was furious, and he clenched the hilt of his sword as he chased after the two. At that moment, several figures appeared behind him, which attracted both Tian Ci and Forgotten Ruins G.o.d’s attention.

“Xia Shang, this mouse is all yours,” Forgotten Ruins G.o.d said as she turned to leave.

Black lines sliced out from Blackless G.o.d’s eyes, dividing the universe horizontally and vertically.

Tian Ci severed the lines with a slash of his sword. Right as he did so, Forgotten Ruins G.o.d's palm strike that had vanished earlier reappeared, and it struck the empty s.p.a.ce where she had been standing earlier.

This was from the law that Tian Ci had comprehended: Stacking. He could stack enemy attacks, which included both causing them to instantly vanish and releasing them at will afterwards. He could even stack his own power to amplify the strength of his own attacks.

Forgotten Ruins G.o.d and Blackless G.o.d escaped, the last lantern being destroyed as they left. No matter how frustrated he felt at the moment, Tian Ci was unable to chase after the two. He also wanted to escape, but the moment the last lantern was destroyed, he coughed up more blood. He had no way to defend himself from True G.o.d’s Natural Art.

At that moment, Progenitor Chen and several others caught up to Tian Ci.

Progenitor Ku used Extremes Must Be Reversed as he reached for Tian Ci’s sword. The blade pierced through the man’s hand, but he maintained a firm grip on the blade. Progenitor Chen sent a palm strike to Tian Ci's head behind him. Tian Ci hurriedly used his sequence particles to defend himself, but they were completely overwhelmed by Progenitor Chen’s Linked Palm. Even though Tian Ci used his Stacking sequence particles, the Linked Palm still struck his back, breaking his body.

Clang!

Progenitor Ku bent the sword, snapping the blade before slas.h.i.+ng out with the broken sword.

Qq

Tian Ci stood frozen in place as blood spurted out from his neck. He staggered before collapsing.

The capture was done quickly and efficiently. It looked as though Progenitor Chen and Progenitor Ku had worked together for countless years, given how easily they had taken down Tian Ci.

After seeing Tian Ci crumple, Progenitor Chen turned to chase after Forgotten Ruins G.o.d, but she, True G.o.d, and the others had already left the universe. There was no trace of them at all.

“My lord, Tian Ci should have been captured by the Heavens Sect by now. He won’t be able to escape,” Forgotten Ruins G.o.d reported.

As she spoke, Blackless G.o.d handed the unremarkable seed that they had extracted from Tian Ci’s body over to True G.o.d.

The man accepted the seed. “So, this is his real mirebound artifact. He thought that he was being clever, and he wasn’t a complete fool. The glow of the seed that he gave me was fake, but what he told me was true. This seed would have allowed him to undergo a second Spirit Rebirth.

“Intriguing. Was this mirebound artifact born in harmony with their megaverse? Purity within the impure... Who could have traveled up the River of Aeons to the moment the omniverse was born?”

As True G.o.d muttered to himself, he remembered the phenomenon that had heralded Lu Yin’s breakthrough. It had been a great tree, laden with mirebound artifacts. Just what secrets did Lu Yin hold?

His appearance had altered the course of history, but it was possible that his upheaval was precisely what was intended.

The Heavens Sect’s main hall was filled with a tense, murderous atmosphere.

Wu Tian, Hongyan Mavis, and Lu Yuan were all present, and each of them glared at Tian Ci without concealing any of their bloodl.u.s.t.

They had all arrived the moment they learned that Tian Ci had been captured and taken back to the Heavens Sect.

Tian Ci was one of the Boundary Guardians who had ambushed and attacked the Origin Progenitor. Even though the Origin Progenitor had ultimately been restrained by Master Qing Cao, Tian Ci and the other Boundary Guardians had been the main culprits.

The other three were dead, and Tian Ci alone had been captured.

He lay on the floor of the hall, staring downwards. He felt as though countless sharp blades were stabbing into him from all directions. How had it come to this? Why had he been betrayed by Aeternus? It was impossible for them to cooperate with the Heavens Sect, as the two were mortal enemies, so why?

d.a.m.n it. If not for Aeternus, I would have never been found!

Lu Yin sat at the front of the room, and he calmly observed Tian Ci. “Apparently, we caught a mouse.”

Tian Ci gritted his teeth while lifting his head to glare at Lu Yin.

A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of Lu Yin’s mouth. “You plotted against the Origin Progenitor and worked to suppress humanity. Tian Ci, how would you like to die?”

Tian Ci’s eyes narrowed, but he remained silent.

From the side, Garan Zhiluo spoke up. “The day is finally here, Tian Ci. Can you even imagine the hatred I felt while sealed inside Tian Fa after being flayed and disfigured? I’ve waited a long time for this moment. The other three got off too easily.”

Wu Tian said in a solemn tone, “I can finally avenge Master.”

“What a joke that the Boundary Guardians of our megaverse, who were supposed to protect us from outsiders, were actually our enemies all along,” Hongyan Mavis said with a sneer.

Tian Ci felt a numbness overcome him as he listened to each person speak in turn. Blood trickled from his neck, staining the floor.

He struggled to speak, and his voice came out hoa.r.s.e. “I am from the Spirit Nidus. We were always enemies.”

Lu Yin looked at him. “You were always our enemy, but what about Aeternus?”

Resentment blazed in Tian Ci’s eyes. He had been betrayed by the Aeternals.

“Aeternus worked with your Spirit Nidus, and you even sent one of your Seven Seraphs to help them, but they ultimately betrayed you. I’m quite curious as to why,” Lu Yin continued.

The others were also curious about this. None of them could think of a logical reason why Aeternus would betray Tian Ci. And yet, it was quite clear that the man had been attacked and injured by Forgotten Ruins G.o.d and Blackless G.o.d. That ambush was what had given Progenitor Chen and Progenitor Ku the opportunity to capture the Boundary Guardian. If Tian Ci had not been wounded beforehand, it would have been nearly impossible for them to capture the Ortuser.

Lu Yin had not managed such a feat even during the battles at the megaverse’s boundary.

“Lord Lu, I don’t want to die. I only attacked your Tianyuan Megaverse because we were already enemies. I’m no traitor, and I have also never slaughtered any innocents from your megaverse,” Tian Ci stated through gritted teeth as he locked eyes with Lu Yin. “I can help you deal with Aeternus. There are only a few of them remaining. Oh, and they also have a Nest that’s sp.a.w.ned a Verdant Sage that they call Verdant King. It’s a corpse king.”

Lu Yin was surprised. “A Verdant Sage became a corpse king?”

Wu Tian and the others were equally shocked to learn that a corpse king had emerged from a Nest.

“That’s right, a corpse king. Yong Heng is teaching that creature his battle techniques. Someone named Yan Gang is controlling the Verdant Sage. Those few people are all that remain of Aeternus, and I can help you take them down.”

Yan Gang? Lu Yin frowned. The name sounded familiar.

“Yan Gang? Is that the name of the person controlling the Nest? What’s his cultivation level?” Great Elder Shan Gu asked. He was also present, and he was clearly most concerned by the presence of a Nest.

“To us, he can only be considered an ordinary human. Any of us could have dealt with him with a single glance. We would never pay such a person any attention.”

Shan Gu frowned. “That could be a problem.”

Tian Ci grew puzzled. How could such a weakling be a problem?

The Great Elder looked over at Lu Yin. “Humans have never truly been the masters of the Nests, but rather the Immortal Lord. The only other creatures that are actually capable of controlling a Nest are Verdant Sages. As soon as a Nest sp.a.w.ns a Verdant Sage, the supposed master controlling the Nest becomes irrelevant. A perfect example is Cang Xiaoxue. As soon as her Nest sp.a.w.ned a Verdant Sage, despite the woman’s personal wishes, Scrollbane Centipedes started to appear. We were eventually able to track her down as a result, but the Verdant Sage was most likely simply using her as bait.

“Yan Gang is no exception to this. There’s no way he can actually control the Verdant Sage that he sp.a.w.ned. There’s a simple explanation for why it looks like that: that Verdant Sage is pretending.”

Lu Yin’s heart grew heavy. “As soon as this Verdant Sage was born, it met Yong Heng. It would have immediately realized that it was impossible to contend against such a person. Thus, it would have feared falling under Aeternus’s control or simply being eliminated. It’s probably pretending to be controlled by Yan Gang, using him to deceive Aeternus while also waiting for an opportunity to escape.

“The worst-case scenario is if the bug doesn’t even plan to escape and instead stays at True G.o.d’s side, learning his battle techniques. Given the fact that it sp.a.w.ned in the form of a corpse king, it’s naturally suited to Yong Heng’s power, which means that it will be easily trusted. Yan Gang is nothing more than a decoy.”

Garan Zhiluo remained skeptical. “A Verdant Sage is nothing more than an insect. Could it really be that intelligent? You talk about how one sold out Cang Xiaoxue and how another is using Yan Gang as a decoy. Can this really be possible?”

Shan Gu grew deadly serious. “Never underestimate a Verdant Sage. Any one of them is capable of bringing about an irreparable disaster to humanity.”

Tian Ci was similarly skeptical, but after thinking about how weak Yan Gang was, things seemed plausible. How could that Verdant King be controlled by such trash?

It was clear that the Heavens Sect feared the Nests even more than Tian Ci had thought. Could the Nests really be that dangerous?

Tian Ci was no fool. He had not risen to his current level by blindly underestimating things. Yan Gang’s explanation regarding the Nests had only been focused on the characteristics of the insects that could be sp.a.w.ned. But now, he had just heard Great Elder Shan Gu’s story about what had actually happened in the Lost Clan’s original megaverse. The two explanations were completely different.

From Tian Ci’s perspective, no matter how powerful a Verdant Sage might become, the insects would never be able to reach the same level as a Seraph. Without reaching that level of power, the Nests could never be a true threat to humanity.

But in Shan Gu's perspective, each Verdant Sage possessed infinite potential. He had personally seen that possibility manifest at the Third Rampart.

Tian Ci also did not care, as the Nests were irrelevant to his Spirit Nidus. No matter what happened in the Tianyuan Megaverse, it was destined to be reset.

For the time being, his only goal was to survive.

An incredible price had been paid to reset the Tianyuan Megaverse. If he died at this time, it would be unbearable. This was not so much because Tian Ci feared death, but because he was unwilling to accept such a loss.

The Heavens Sect had known for a long time that True G.o.d had a Nest. What surprised everyone was that a Verdant Sage had appeared in the form of a corpse king, as well as Great Elder Shan Gu’s suspicions. If he was correct, then Verdant Sages were exceptionally intelligent, and all of Shan Gu’s previous claims would be validated.

As for Lu Yin, he was still pondering the name “Yan Gang.” It sounded so familiar. He was certain that he had heard it somewhere before.

Yan Gang... Yan Gang... Yan Gang...

For someone at Lu Yin’s level of strength, the fact that a name sounded familiar indicated that he had definitely heard it before.

The room fell silent, as everyone could tell Lu Yin had fallen deep into thought.

Even Tian Ci remained silent.

Lu Yin closed his eyes as he sorted through his memories. Suddenly, he opened them again. “It’s him.”

He now remembered; Yan Gang had been a subordinate of Yan Feng, the heir to Firesmelt Planet. Yan Gang had been present at the training excursion that had taken place on Earth during its apocalypse, and he had also started a conflict with Lu Yin at that time. Yan Gang had become one of Lu Yin’s earliest enemies after he started cultivating. However, after Lu Yin dealt with Yan Feng and destroyed Firesmelt Planet, Yan Gang’s name had faded from his memory. In fact, it was not only Yan Gang; Lu Yin had gradually forgotten about Yan Feng and even his father, Yan Wujiu. They were enemies from more than a century before.

Unexpectedly, one of those enemies had reappeared.