Star Odyssey

Chapter 3352: Opportunity

At first, the Heavens Sect had kept the war at the boundary a secret, but as the war spread, especially after Meng Sang massacred everyone at Astral-10, news had started to leak.

With the fighting at the boundary over for now and a temporary victory achieved, Lu Yin did not want any unnecessary speculation. Thus, he announced the results to the entire megaverse.

While many people were shocked that another megaverse was invading them, news of an initial victory inspired them. Regardless of how things played out, they would fight to the end.

Fear was inevitable, but given that the situation could not be avoided, there was no choice but to fight to the death.

Lu Yin tossed the Spirit Nidus’s young elites from the battleship into the Tower of the Fifth, leaving them to be included among the inheritances available. Anyone who entered the Tower of the Fifth could challenge the captives in order to becfamiliar with the Spirit Nidus’s methods.

That was the only value that the prodigies held, as it was impossible to learn much about the Spirit Nidus from them.

Lu Yin had no intention of interrogating any of the young people, as he had a much simpler method: he would have them cultivate a unique energy, use his die to Possess them, and then directly access their memories. This was the sthing he had down with the Verdant Sage he had captured. When Lu Yin Possessed people, they could not falsify their memories, which made Possession far more efficient than interrogations.

Palace Master Yao was different. The woman was unyielding and unafraid of death. She was also unwilling to cultivate any sort of foreign energy.

In comparison, Yuan Qi was much more cooperative, as he answered whatever questions he was asked. According to him, the Tianyuan Megaverse was destined to lose, and he wanted to live to see that day. As for the trouble or setbacks that the Spirit Nidus might suffer due to the information he shared, Yuan Qi did not care at all.

While the Spirit Nidus had a unified cultivation method, such a rigid structure had caused their resources to becfixed long ago. Securing resources in the Spirit Nidus was even harder than in the Tianyuan Megaverse, which led to fierce internal competitions for those resources.

In the past, Zhan Yan had decided not to help Yuan Qi in order to have a chance to beca Seraph. That moment had offered Lu Yin insight into certain aspects of the Spirit Nidus’s cultivation culture.

As Wang Wen had mentioned, there were differences between the megaverses due to their differing cultures. To win a war, it was important to not only consider an opponent’s strength, but also their culture’s attributes. Such considerations often yielded remarkable results. Wang Wen referred to such measures as a strategic assault.

The Tianyuan Megaverse continued to send experts to hunt down the Spirit Nidus powerhouses who had escaped. Lu Yin was not worried that these survivors would start indiscriminately killing in various parallel universes. They had fled the battlefield in order to wait for reinforcements, and while they waited, they would do their best to remain hidden. None of them wanted to be found and killed.

Thus, Lu Yin and his people needed to root out the hidden enemies.

“This will be difficult. All of them are experts, and randomly tracking them will be harder than finding a needle in a haystack,” Wang Wen commented as he rubbed his forehead.

Lu Yin sat at a stone table with the other man as he let out a laugh. “I always thought that nothing could stump you.”

Wang Wen rolled his eyes. “You overestimate me. I’m not even an Envoy yet. I barely managed to break through and becan Enlighter, but at the very least, we’re up against people as powerful as Progenitors. What am I supposed to do?

“You should talk to Wei Rong. That guy’s cunning is infamous. While he isn’t too strong, there’s no one in the Heavens Sect who dares to offend him. You never know when he might pull a fast one on you.”

Lu Yin thought back to Wei Rong’s arrangements that he had put into place during the battle against the Spirit Nidus and nodded in agreement.

Truthfully, Lu Yin did not understand Wei Rong’s thoughts. The setup was simple, exceptionally so, but Lu Yin’s problem lay in why Wei Rong had arranged things at that particular time. What was the purpose? Who was it all for? What use would the arrangements have?

Lu Yin had no answers to his questions, and yet Wei Rong had proceeded anyway, orchestrating and performing a show for himself. It was possible that no one would ever see the performance play out, but even so, Wei Rong had taken things very seriously.

“Wei Rong’s most insidious aspect is his planning. He doesn’t target the present, but the future,” Wang Wen stated as he looked out at the lake. “When someone wants to fish, they only do so when they feel like it, either out of pleasure or because of hunger. However, Wei Rong does neither. He has no interest in fishing, and neither is he hungry, but he still goes fishing. No one can understand why he does it, until, one day, a bored person comes along and states that they will exchange the lake’s fish for treasure.

“No one could have known in advance that such a thing would happen. It’s impossible to anticipate. Wei Rong will ultimately becthe richest person and take nearly all of the treasures, practically bankrupting the person, simply because he started fishing in preparation for a future that didn’t exist when he began.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. “Opportunities only appear to those who are prepared, but opportunities are so elusive that who can know when they might appear. Wei Rong treats each potential opportunity as a fish, casting a wide net. Eventually, he’ll catch something. All that he sacrifices is the boredom of the the wastes.”

Lu Yin then looked over at Wang Wen. “What about you? How do you go about seizing opportunities?”

Wang Wen flashed a brilliant smile. “I prefer to wait for opportunities to ctoand leave things to those willing to take the bait.”

Lu Yin chuckled. “Then let Wei Rong catch the mice.”

Suddenly, the phrase “catch the mice” spread across the entire Tianyuan Megaverse.

It originated in the Heavens Sect, but it quickly spread through all of the megaverse’s parallel universes. Countless people grew excited. The mice mentioned were naturally the Spirit Nidus experts who had fled from the battlefield.

Famous peak powerhouses, sequence powerhouses, and even cultivators like the Seraphs were being called mice. Countless people in the Tianyuan Megaverse chanted Lord Lu’s name.

It was as if they could see the day when the Tianyuan Megaverse would completely crush the Spirit Nidus.

...

In the depths of outer space, beneath a sky full of stars, stone houses were scattered across a vast desert wasteland. Their arrangement seemed random, but closer inspection would reveal that the stone houses precisely matched the locations of the stars above. It was as though the ground mirrored the sky.

The plwas hto a civilization that was still in an ancient era, and their universe was an unknown one. The inhabitants worshiped the stars, and they had arranged their buildings and even their battle formations to mirror the stars.

A figure on the roof of one stone house was bathed in both golden and dark-red light as they stared upwards, lost in thought.

Suddenly, the sky warped, and someone descended from above.

Light touched several of the nearby stone houses, and many eyes turned to look at the newcomer.

“Why didn’t you help?” the newcomer asked. It was Tian Ci.

He had escaped from the battlefield at the Tianyuan Megaverse’s boundary, and he had eventually found himself on a certain planet. He stared at True God.

True God continued to stare up at the night sky. “I’m not from your Spirit Nidus.”

“But we are working together,” Tian Ci countered.

True God remained silent. @@ @@

Tian Ci’s expression turned grim. “We were defeated in the last battle, and even the Seraphs have fled. Do you know what the Heavens Sect is saying? They’re announcing that they’re going to ‘catch the mice.’ They’re acting like it’s a huge joke that people from the Spirit Nidus are being called mice!”

True God turned to Tian Ci. “Aren’t you?”

Tian Ci’s eyes bulged. “Yong Heng, don’t forget that resetting this Tianyuan Megaverse isn’t just for my Spirit Nidus—you also have a vested interest! This megaverse needs to be reset for you to have a chance to enter the Immortal realm. How has my Spirit Nidus helped you towards that goal? Seraph Yuan Qi, Zhan Yan, and Whiteless God have all helped you work against this megaverse. If your Aeternus can’t handle Lu Yin’s Heavens Sect, that’s not our problem. If you had been able to fight in the battle at the boundary, things would not have turned out the same.”

True God calmly replied, “As you said, if I could fight.”

Only then did Tian Ci notice the shimmering glow that covered True God’s body. The man frowned. “What is this?”

True God gave a slight smile. “A gift from Tai Hong. What do you think?”

“Is this why you failed?”

“Tai Hong was not an easy opponent. She used her own life to place this seal on me. It won’t be easily broken.”

Tian Ci remained skeptical. “Are you saying that Tai Hong willingly sacrificed herself?”

True God answered flatly, “You underestimate Tai Hong. Or you could say, you overestimate her. Her determination was far stronger than what you believed.”

Tian Ci felt helpless. If True God was unable to take action, then there was no one in the megaverse at the moment who was capable of handling the Origin Progenitor.

“Half of my Spirit Nidus’s forces are in the Consciousness Megaverse. Even if reinforcements are sent here, there won’t be many true experts. Lu Yin has managed to reach his current level in just over a hundred years. Who knows what level he’ll reach if he’s given more time? On top of that, there are also the Three Realms and Six Daos and the Three Suns Six Rulers, any one of whom might have a breakthrough at any moment. Not to mention, the greatest advantage the Tianyuan Megaverse enjoys is time. They have multiple universes where tflows faster, and that’s not even considering the Mirari Realm.

“Even just a few decades can allow the Tianyuan Megaverse to experience a complete transformation that the Spirit Nidus won’t be able to cope with. At times like this, Master Qing Cao should make a move. He...”

Suddenly, Tian Ci stopped talking entirely. He did not dare to continue. True God stared at the other man, and his gaze sent a chill down Tian Ci’s spine.

“There are things that you can say, and things that you cannot. You understand, don’t you?” True God’s voice rang loud in Tian Ci’s ears.

He glanced around, confirming that Blackless God and the others were not present. It was necessary that they not be present for this conversation with True God.

“If we can’t break through, what will be the point of all of our efforts up to this point in time?” Tian Ci was unwilling to accept things.

True God’s expression turned cold. “The Spirit Nidus’s losses are insignificant. So far, only a few of your peak powerhouses and sequence powerhouses have died. Not one Seraph has perished. When your reinforcements arrive and I break free of Tai Hong’s seal, it won’t matter how much the Tianyuan Megaverse’s strength may have increased by. It would be best if your High Seraph comes.”

Tian Ci affirmed, “The High Seraph will definitely come.”

“Oh?” True God looked puzzled.

Tian Ci sneered. “Lu Yin’s cleverness has backfired on him. During the last battle at the boundary, he used Palace Master Yao as bait to lure people out and kill them. He still holds Palace Master Yao’s life in his hands, and no one knows if she’s still alive or already dead. For her, the High Seraph will surely come.”

“Good. The High Seraph, myself, and the addition of a few more Seraphs. What will there be to fear from this Tianyuan Megaverse then?” True God asked. He then looked over in a certain direction. “Yan Gang, Verdant King, chere.”

Tian Ci followed True God’s eyes and saw two men step out. One was unremarkable and even seemed to lack any sort of cultivation at all. However, the other one caused Tian Ci’s eyes to instantly focus intently.

He stared at Verdant King. Was he one of Aeternus’s corpse kings? He seemed different. How could he describe it? Verdant King possessed a sort of grace that was rare among true corpse kings, as well as an indescribable arrogance. Tian Ci had never seen this level of arrogance in any Aeternal, not even the Three Pillars and Six Skies. This arrogance was unique. It reminded him of when he had first arrived in the Tianyuan Megaverse, certain that the megaverse would eventually be reset and that he would personally slay its most powerful protectors.