Lu Yin sized the woman up. “Remove your disguise.”
The woman gave Lu Yin a careful look and then turned back to Elder Le. She appeared to be pondering something. Finally, she turned around as water droplets condensed out of the air to clean her face. Her hair fell loose, and her tattered outer garment fell away to reveal an exquisitely tailored soft armor beneath it. Her transformation was so complete that she looked like an entirely different person.
Elder Le stared in astonishment. “What a beautiful girl.”
The woman had delicate features. Her bright eyes betrayed just a hint of stubbornness and caution. The soft armor was black, and her long hair was slightly curled. There was a bit of a wildcat look to her.
Lu Yin just continued to observe the woman.
The woman looked over at him as well, and licked her lips. “Um, thank you two seniors for saving me.”
Elder Le chuckled. “You were saved by your own skills. We had nothing to do with any of it. By the way, why were those people chasing you?”
As soon as the question was asked, the woman started grinding her teeth. “They’re despicable! They’re nothing more than a band of riffraff masquerading as robbers trying to snatch what’s rightfully mine! If I hadn’t run away so quickly, not only would I have lost all my belongings, but I- I also could have gotten hurt.”
Despite not saying anything further, the woman’s expression said everything.
Elder Le was furious. “How outrageous! They even tried to ask for my help! If I had known, I would have never spared them.”
The woman was quite grateful. “Thank you, Senior.”
“Remove your disguise,” Lu Yin ordered again.
Elder Le was stunned. Hasn’t she already removed her disguise?
The woman looked puzzled. “Sir, what do you mean? I have already revealed my true appearance.”
Lu Yin slowly smiled. “Your disguise is quite impressive. Most Ortusers wouldn’t be able to see through it. I’ll give you one last chance. Now, remove your disguise. I don’t enjoy it when people try to deceive me.”
Elder Le noticed the woman’s expression changed, and her eyes grew noticeably sharper. Clearly, she was hiding something.
The woman’s expression continued to shift. Beneath Lu Yin’s stare, she eventually let out a deep sigh and bowed. “Senior, your eyes are quite keen, but please understand that it is not easy for me to travel. I was hasty this time, borrowing your carriage to move. I have nothing to offer in return, aside from my thanks. If we meet again in the future, I will definitely find a way to repay you for saving my life.”
Elder Le’s gaze softened once more. Although she was in disguise, it was true that it was not easy for a woman to travel alone. The old man glanced back at Lu Yin, as if ready to say something.
Lu Yin coldly retorted, “You disguise yourself, attract our Bluethorn Beast, complain about your sufferings, and then try to leave while offering gratitude. It’s clear that you’re quite skilled at playing this game. You’ve done this more than once, haven’t you? Your tricks won’t work on me. Remove your disguise and show me your true appearance. Otherwise, don’t blame me for taking action.”
Sorrow entered the woman’s voice. “Senior, why would you bully a mere girl? I bear you no ill intentions. It’s just-”
With a casual wave of his hand, Lu Yin released a blast of wind. The woman’s long hair was blown about while she was practically pinned to the carriage door. The wind quickly vanished. Startled by what had happened, the woman spun around to give Lu Yin an angry glare.
As she did, her true appearance was exposed.
Lu Yin was briefly stunned, as though he were looking at the sun. He was seeing a face of unparalleled beauty. There was no makeup, and yet it was brighter than the stars as it illuminated every corner of the beast carriage.
“You! How rude!”
Lu Yin studied the woman. “No wonder you need a disguise.”
The woman reminded him of Qing Yun. In the Spirit Nidus, Jiu Xian had hidden Qing Yun’s appearance. After Lu Yin ripped the young woman’s disguise off, she was just as breathtaking to look upon.
The woman in the carriage was by no means inferior to Qing Yun. There was simply a bit more fierceness and less fragility than Qing Yun’s mien.
Elder Le’s eyes also went wide as he admired the woman. “Throughout all my years traveling the world, it’s rare to see a woman as beautiful as you, young lady. It’s no wonder why you concealed your appearance.”
After glaring at Lu Yin for a moment, the woman fixed her hair and stiffly asked, “May I leave now?”
Lu Yin nodded. “You may.”
Elder Le did not stop her. The two men just watched as the woman jumped down from the carriage. As she moved away, she shot one final, fierce glare at the carriage.
Elder Le chuckled. “That woman is quite interesting. Her beauty rivals that of my own daughter.”
He glanced at Lu Yin, and after seeing his calm expression, was silently impressed. Sure enough, someone with such impressive cultivation would not be swayed by mere beauty.
Lu Yin had seen countless beautiful women. If appearances could sway his heart, he would have agreed to Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s request in the Sea of Karma and instantly been granted the favor of the Seven Fairies. He could not help but wonder how many in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse might envy or resent him in that case.
He looked down at his hand once more. That moment of contact had felt unnaturally smooth. He still had no idea who he had touched.
“Eh? Why have you returned to us?” Elder Le asked in surprise.
The same woman was chasing after the carriage from behind.
The beast did not slow, and it continued towards the Everchange Valley.
The woman shouted loudly, and when she saw that she was being ignored, she had no choice but to take out her powder and scatter a bit of it.
The Bluethorn Beast instantly turned around and charged at the woman with bloodshot eyes.
No matter how the driver tried to control the beast, his efforts were useless.
Taking advantage of the moment, the woman jumped back into the carriage. She saw Elder Le and Lu Yin both staring at her, and her expression fell before she managed to force out a smile. “Th- those people caught up with me. I don’t know how they found me. Can- can I travel with you?”
Elder Le solemnly replied, “Young lady, we have no obligation to help you.”
“All of them are truly wicked people,” the woman pleaded softly.
Elder Le shook his head. “Words aren’t enough to determine the facts. I have seen too many despicable people. Some look completely evil, yet are kind, while others appear to be kind, but are truly evil.
“Leave.”
The woman started begging, “If I leave, I’ll be captured! I beg you, seniors, let me stay here.”
“They are no match for you,” Lu Yin said coldly.
The woman said, “The ones here are just the small fry. The real experts are further behind. If they come after me, I’m done for.”
Lu Yin ignored her protests. Such incidents were all too common among cultivators. He was no saint, and there was no reason for him to save the woman.
Elder Le waved his hand. “Get out. Don’t force me to drive you away.”
The woman’s expression shifted. “I’m willing to pay any price.”
“Don’t you already know that I am from the Everchange Valley and am a Thousand Changes realm cultivator?” Elder Le asked slowly. The implication that he had seen too many valuable things was clear.
The woman lowered her head, clenched her jaw, and then pulled something out of her cosmic ring.
The old man’s eyes bulged when he saw what she held. “A karmic bud?”
Lu Yin was also surprised, and he stared at the karmic bud in the woman’s hands.
She reluctantly explained in a low voice, “They are after me just because of this thing. Rather than end up being caught by them, I would rather choose to give it to you, Senior. I hope that you will take this karmic bud as payment for taking me with you. So long as I am safe, I promise that I will not trouble you again.”
Elder Le glanced at Lu Yin, as he knew that Lu Yin wanted these things.
The woman also focused on Lu Yin.
Lu Yin met the woman’s gaze. “What is your name?”
“Shui Su.”
Lu Yin continued, “I will deal with your pursuers, and then you can leave.”
Shui Su begged, “Please take me to a safe place, seniors! This entire region is under their control. Even if you eliminate this group, the true experts behind them will still chase after me. My cultivation is nothing special, and it’s impossible for me to escape quickly.”
Lu Yin glanced back at the karmic bud. “Fine. I will take you to the Everchange Valley.”
Shui Su was thrilled. “Thank you, Senior! Thank you!”
She then immediately handed the karmic bud to Lu Yin.
She understood that Lu Yin was the one who made the decisions in the carriage. He was also the one who had seen through her disguises in the first place.
Elder Le sighed in amazement. Truly, the concept of fate is incomprehensible. Mr. Lu needs karmic buds, and here one is, just days after he mentioned the matter.
What might happen if he eventually fully comprehended the idea of fate? Of course, the old man was only musing. Not even Greater Sancte Green Lotus had fully understood such a concept.
The carriage continued on towards the Everchange Valley. The group of people continued to follow them for a while, but they eventually gave up. This was not because they wanted to give up, but rather because they did not dare offend the Everchange Valley.
The Everchange Valley was not a sect that such people could afford to mess with. Not even the experts behind the crowd could afford to do that.
Two days later, the Everchange Valley entered their view.
“Where is it?” Shui Su wondered. She had just heard Elder Le mention that his home had appeared, but she could see nothing in front of the carriage aside from a rift in the ground that looked like an endless abyss. Where’s the Everchange Valley? Could it be at the bottom of that chasm?
Lu Yin peered into the distance, his eyes narrowing. “What a beautiful place.”
In Shui Su’s eyes, there was a bottomless ravine in front of the carriage, but Lu Yin was looking at floating mountain ranges, cascading waterfalls, and hillsides that were dotted with pink flowers. It was a truly beautiful place. Mist swirled and clouds drifted through the sky, which glowed with various colors. It was like paradise on earth.
All of this was unseen by Shui Su, as her cultivation was insufficient.
The entire Everchange Valley was hidden by sequence particles.
“This is the Spirit Nidus’s thirty-first ranked sequence technique, Descent,” Lu Yin slowly said.
Shui Su grew puzzled. “The Spirit Nidus?”
Elder Le laughed. “Your eyes are quite keen! You are correct, the entire Everchange Valley is concealed by Descent sequence particles. Those sequence particles are not only able to hide objects, but also vision. Beneath the cover of Descent, all that people can see is a dark abyss. That’s because all of the light has been masked by Descent. So, nothing can be seen.”
Lu Yin glanced at Elder Le. “It would take five sequence powerhouses who have cultivated Descent sequence particles working together to pull this off. Have your people cultivated in the Spirit Nidus before?”
Elder Le nodded.
Lu Yin looked away. So that’s how it is. They really do just use the Spirit Nidus as a tool.
In the grand scheme of things, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse used the spirit seed liquid that they harvested from the Spirit Nidus as the foundation of their cultivation. This allowed the Nine Odysseys Megaverse to continuously strengthen their foundation as a whole, while also allowing their cultivators to have a second life. When it came to sequence particles, the Spirit Nidus had eighty-one well-developed sequence techniques. These cultivation paths gave the Spirit Nidus a rigid cultivation model that surpassed what the Tianyuan Megaverse possessed, but they also limited the Spirit Nidus’s overall development. Additionally, those fixed sequence techniques also offered the Nine Odysseys Megaverse further benefits.
As long as a group in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse wanted specific sequence particles, they could simply send their people to learn them.
If the Everchange Valley was able to send five experts to learn the Descent sequence technique, then other organizations had clearly sent far more.
Everything in the Spirit Nidus served the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.
This was a cruel truth for the Spirit Nidus. Their entire culture, cultivation system, and even the lifetimes that they spent cultivating their spirit seeds all ultimately served the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.
Just thinking about it was depressing.
However, it was a matter for the Spirit Nidus and was unrelated to Lu Yin. The omniverse was an inherently cruel place.
When analyzing cultivation systems, no matter how one looked at things, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse seemed like an enlarged version of the Tianyuan Megaverse.
The people of the Spirit Nidus believed that their fixed cultivation system surpassed the free cultivation that the Tianyuan Megaverse pursued. That was because the latter had always been weaker than the Spirit Nidus. The place that the Spirit Nidus should have been comparing itself to was the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.
More and more, Lu Yin found himself understanding the High Seraph. There was a time in the past when the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had sent countless people into the Spirit Nidus, and the Spirit Nidus had been forced to protect those people. If the High Seraph had not publicly dueled and killed Ru Shi, the major powers of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would have been far more ruthless in their treatment of the Spirit Nidus.
As Lu Yin’s thoughts drifted in this direction, the carriage came to a halt.
Right in front of them was what Shui Su saw as a bottomless abyss, but in Lu Yin’s eyes, their path continued forward into the Everchange Valley.