Chapter 3662: Not Listening
Chapter 3662: Not Listening
Ge Yao was stunned, and she assumed that she must have misheard. The number that she had heard was too absurd. “What?”
“100 trillion spirit seeds.” Lu Yin repeated. He felt that 50 trillion might be too small of a number. After all, spirit seeds came from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, so who could say how many there might be? Even the number that existed in the Spirit Nidus was unclear, but given the number of years that the Spirit Nidus had been developing, there was clearly a tremendous amount of them.
Ge Yao had not expected Lu Yin to ask for spirit seeds as his condition for working with Yue Ya. Basically, he was demanding money.
Such a powerful man—Oh. She suddenly recalled the rumors that claimed that Seraph Lu was constantly gathering spirit seeds in an attempt to limit the number of cultivators the Spirit Nidus would see in the future. Despite being mocked by the outside world, the man was clearly determined to see his plan to completion.
Earlier in the conversation, Ge Yao might have said something, but she no longer dared to utter even a word against Lu Yin.
Only after understanding their relative position could a person know what to say and what not to say.
Ge Yao left. No matter how absurd she felt Lu Yin’s condition might be, her only task was to relay the message back to Lesser Sancte Yue Ya. Besides, Lu Yin’s request was not terrible. Even if the amount that he was asking for was rather high, it was not a difficult request to fulfill.
As Lu Yin watched Ge Yao leave, he felt a growing sense of anticipation. It would be no trouble at all for Yue Ya to gather that number of spirit seeds. So, what will my next condition be?
That girl can’t be thinking that I only have one condition, can she?
Once Ge Yao was gone, Lu Yin resumed tearing out karmic bricks. Life was simple and peaceful without any luxuries.
Yuan Qi was in the Roaming South Realm, and yet the High Seraph did not react at all. Lu Yin was unbothered as well, and he simply continued to wait.
Jiu Xian continued to be chased about by Nian Xian.
As time passed, people occasionally visited the valley, asking to see Lu Yin, but he turned all of them away.
He also received word from the Ark Domain that it was indeed possible to repair Boundless, but doing so required a tremendous amount of rare materials.
This made Lu Yin quite happy. This battleship had carried them to the Spirit Nidus from the Tianyuan Megaverse. It had once embodied hope by carrying humanity’s inheritance. If it could be repaired, it would serve as compensation to the Tianyuan Megaverse.
Even Boundless was one of their companions.
Seeing the list of materials that were needed, Lu Yin already knew what his next condition would be.
Elsewhere, Yue Ya leveraged his influence, frantically gathering spirit seeds.
Despite the fact that Yue Ya could not personally descend into the Spirit Nidus, over the course of countless years, he had built up his influence in the megaverse. One example was the person who had once been sent to deliver a message to the High Seraph. While that man had been eliminated by Master Qing Cao, he was not the only servant that Yue Ya had in the Spirit Nidus. Ge Yao was another one of his people.
There were myriad ways for a Lesser Sancti to expand their influence.
Quickly, the spirit seed market in the Spirit Nidus grew fierce and energetic. No one knew where this new group of people had come from, but they were desperately gathering spirit seeds, no matter if they acquired them through trade, theft, or any other means. Many in the Spirit Nidus suffered terribly as this group continued their efforts, especially in the Daquan Domain. When it was discovered that several individuals of the Chamber of Commerce had hoarded a number of spirit seeds, stashing them away, they were captured. However, they would rather die than reveal where they had stashed the wealth.
Lu Yin’s first condition had already sent the entire Spirit Nidus into chaos.
There were even rumors that one of the attendants in the Ascendant Hall tried to steal the tree with spirit seeds hanging off of it, only to be beaten to death by Lan.
When the High Seraph heard of the matter, he looked quite irritated. Yue Ya had been keeping a close eye on the Spirit Nidus for countless years, though it was also possible that some of Xing Fan’s people were part of the chaos.
Still, these people were unlikely to accomplish anything significant. At worst, they were simply gathering resources and delivering messages.
Finally, after more than a month had passed, 100 trillion spirit seeds were collected, and all of them were delivered to the Roaming South Realm by Ge Yao.
The fact that so many spirit seeds had been suddenly removed from circulation triggered many rumors that spread across the Spirit Nidus. The loss of an enormous sum of spirit seeds had a significant impact on the economy, and for some cultivators, the idea of replenishing their spirit seeds suddenly seemed like a distant hope.
People were reminded of when Boundless had previously confiscated spirit seeds from the thirty-six domains, acting with the authority of Seraphs Lu and Yuan Qi. Those collections had occurred repeatedly, and already, there were a great number of people who lacked the resources that they needed to cultivate. This latest collection only exacerbated the existing problem.
Things were so grave that Seraph Lu’s efforts no longer seemed like a childish goal.
Lu Yin was continuing to work to limit the number of cultivators who would rise up in the Spirit Nidus. Everyone believed that his efforts were naive, but if he truly did succeed in removing all of the spirit seeds from the Spirit Nidus, there would never be any more new cultivators.
That was certainly no joke.
Many eyes turned to stare at Boundless in the Ark Domain. How many spirit seeds were contained within that vessel?
Many powerful cultivators had never even considered gathering spirit seeds, only to suddenly be forced to do so.
100 trillion spirit seeds. If word of this wealth leaked, it would drive countless cultivators in the Spirit Nidus insane.
This was not because people desire that wealth for themselves, but rather because it would enable many of their juniors to start cultivating.
In the Spirit Nidus, one of the factors that restricted the growth of certain families and sects was the number of spirit seeds that they had access to. With enough of them, they could nurture billions of new cultivators. Even if no other resources were expended, simply dispersing those cultivators across the megaverse would allow a few with extraordinary talent to rise to power.
Even if the probability of success was low, it did not matter. Time would inevitably eventually reward such an investment.
Unfortunately, even the Daquan Domain’s Chamber of Commerce would struggle terribly to gather that many spirit seeds at once.
Ge Yao knew that there were countless spirit seeds in the Spirit Nidus, but due to how she had been groomed, she had never imagined that she would one day carry so many. Fortunately, she had not been forced to gather them all herself.
The price for gathering these spirit seeds was that most of Lesser Sancte Yue Ya’s people in the Spirit Nidus had been exposed. They had revealed themselves in order to collect the spirit seeds.
Before her visit to the Roaming South Realm, Ge Yao could have never imagined that years of Lesser Sancte Yue Ya’s careful planning would be exposed simply because of spirit seeds.
“Not bad. Very impressive. 100 trillion spirit seeds is a tremendous amount,” Lu Yin commented as he looked at Ge Yao. “Now I believe what you told me. This is a true demonstration of Lesser Sancte Yue Ya’s power.”
Ge Yao felt incredibly stifled. Not even the extermination of the Ru family had been enough to produce such a favorable reaction from this Seraph Lu.
While gathering spirit seeds, Ge Yao had also investigated how many spirit seeds Boundless had managed to collect through their previous efforts, and the reports had caused her to gasp in shock.
Regardless of whether Seraph Lu’s methods were naive, the number of spirit seeds that he had already collected was astonishing. He had repeatedly abused his authority as a Seraph to confiscate a tremendous number of spirit seeds, and when the profits from the wagers made on the battle at the source of the Fu River were also added in, Seraph Lu had already gathered at least 100 trillion spirit seeds.
No matter how naive his methods may seem, no one could laugh at how much he had succeeded in accumulating.
Already, his efforts were having a significant impact on the Spirit Nidus.
“As long as you are satisfied, Seraph Lu,” Ge Yao respectfully replied.
Lu Yin murmured, “Very. Alright, here is my next condition.”
As he spoke, a piece of paper gently fluttered over to Ge Yao.
She was floored. “You have more conditions?”
Lu Yin arched a brow. “What? Is that not allowed?”
Ge Yao stared blankly at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin leaned forward, his eyes locked onto the woman. “You can’t believe that I, one of the Seven Seraphs, would agree to work for one of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s peerless Lesser Sanci for nothing more than some insignificant resources, could you?
“Are you looking down on me, or are you looking down on Lesser Sancte Yue Ya?”
Ge Yao was at a complete loss for words. How did this have anything to do with looking down on someone? On top of that, Lu Yin had not been given an insignificant amount of resources; that was 100 trillion spirit seeds! Did he not understand that the Spirit Nidus was already shrouded by a sense of crisis with the disappearance of so many spirit seeds?
The woman wanted nothing more than the courage to slap the man in front of her, but doing so was too dangerous, and the consequences would be outrageous.
Lu Yin let out a breath and casually leaned back in his recliner. “Since you’re not willing, please leave. If you want to take the resources back, you can have them.”
Ge Yao could not help but glance at the various cosmic rings, despite never even considering taking them. Touching them at this moment would be asking to die.
She bowed to Lu Yin. “Please, Lord Seraph Lu, allow this girl to report back to Lesser Sancte Yue Ya.”
Lu Yin dismissed her with a wave of his hand, and Ge Yao stepped back.
“Hand.”
Qing Yun stepped forward, her hand already out. Her eyes darted over to the cosmic rings that had just been delivered. There were so many spirit seeds! Such wealth was beyond excessive. She had never seen that many spirit seeds in her entire life, and it was very possible that not even Jiu Xian had.
Lu Yin looked up. “Want some?”
“I’ve never seen so many.”
“Take as many as you want. After all this time, you deserve some compensation.”
Qing Yun blinked. “Compensation for what?”
She then looked down and saw her hand being held by Lu Yin. In an instant, Qing Yun’s expression changed, and she flushed brightly, feeling shame, anger, and suppressed resentment. She instantly snatched her hand back and turned to leave.
Lu Yin was momentarily stunned, and he watched Qing Yun storm off in a huff. What’s going on? Has the girl finally grown bold enough to try to run away?
Lu Yin stored all of the 100 trillion spirit seeds on the landmass in his inner universe, which caused them to slowly melt into liquid.
He already understood quite clearly that the more liquid he gathered, the more useful it would become.
Unfortunately, the liquid conversion rate was too low. Spirit seeds were nothing more than raw materials, and no matter how many he gathered, they would only produce a minuscule amount of liquid when they melted away. In fact, when compared to all the cultivated spirit seeds that the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had ripped away from the cultivators in the River Domain, the resulting liquid was no doubt on an entirely different level from what Lu Yin had gathered.
If he could have replaced his unused spirit seeds with ones that had been cultivated, Lu Yin could have most likely produced a small lake of the liquid on the landmass in his inner universe.
His expression grew heavy. The Nine Odysseys Megaverse functioned like it was operating a farm. People were used as nourishment. They were given a path to cultivate, as well as spirit seeds that were then used as vessels to deliver the liquid to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. In the past, this had been acceptable, as their spirit seeds had only been collected upon their deaths. However, things had recently escalated to forcibly ripping spirit seeds away from living cultivators.
Each time spirit seeds were harvested, an absurd number of cultivators died.
Even if the Tianyuan Megaverse and the Spirit Nidus were enemies, both were still occupied by humans, and Lu Yin empathized strongly with the fallen.
Ge Yao’s attitude reflected that of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. That megaverse stood supreme with the other three beneath it. Given how the Spirit Nidus was being treated, the Tianyuan Megaverse would fare no better.
Such thoughts gave Lu Yin a strong sense of crisis.
If the day came when all of the cultivators in the Spirit Nidus’s spirit seeds were stolen from them, killing them, who would be next?
After a few days had passed, Ge Yao returned and bowed again to Lu Yin. “Lesser Sancte Yue Ya has agreed to your conditions, Seraph Lu, but my master has conditions of his own.”
“I won’t hear them.”
Ge Yao had not expected Lu Yin to be so blunt. “Seraph Lu, this is Lesser Sancte Yue Ya.”
Lu Yin lightly tapped a finger on his recliner. Each impact sent ripples through the void, resulting in a roar that exploded in Ge Yao’s ears. The woman nearly fainted. “I said, I won’t hear them. If you’re willing to listen to my conditions, then fine, but if not, that’s also fine. You can take the spirit seeds back with you. I won’t force you to do anything.”
Ge Yao’s face turned pale, and she nearly collapsed. Numbness spread across her body.
She was hemmed in by Lesser Sancte Yue Ya on one side and Lu Yin on the other. She had absolutely no idea how she should deliver the message that she had been given.
Seraph Lu certainly lived up to his reputation; he was completely reckless and unrestrained. Could he not at least wait until the other person finished speaking before taking action against them?
Ge Yao wiped blood from the corner of her mouth. She was terrified, and she felt completely helpless. She gave another bow. “This small one shall take her leave for now and see this condition fulfilled.”
Lu Yin nodded and closed his eyes. He did not spare the woman so much as another glance.
The Ark Domain had prepared a lengthy list of materials that were required to repair Boundless, and all of the materials listed were ones that the Ark Domain could not provide on their own.
The materials were primarily controlled by the Ascendant Hall, though the Daquan Domain could also slowly gather them. It was also certain that the major sects and powers in the thirty-six domains were also in possession of some.
However, Yue Ya had already expended his influence by gathering the 100 trillion spirit seeds for Lu Yin. That left him with a headache over what to do with Lu Yin’s list of materials.