Chapter 4233: A Dream That Cannot Be Pursued

Lu Yin slowly replied, “The appearance of thirteen-ring energy makes me very happy, but it’s not enough, not even remotely. I need more: fourteen-ring, fifteen-ring, and even sixteen-ring energy. You said it yourself, technology has no bounds. I want to see if there really are no limits to technology.”

He looked at Elder Huan. “Out in the Aevum Inch, I encountered a technological civilization, a technological fishing civilization.”

Elder Huan and the others were shocked. “A technological fishing civilization?”

This was something that only a few people were aware of. While it was not a secret, there had been no need to publicize such information.

However, Lu Yin was revealing it to Elder Huan and the others. After all, out of all of humanity’s technological developments, the Infinity Empire stood at the very forefront.

Lu Yin did not know if mechas represented the future of human technology, but at the very least, there was nothing that currently surpassed them.

Lu Yin and the human Immortals had all been shaken by the discovery of a technological fishing civilization, but Elder Huan and his researchers were even more shocked. Only those who studied technology knew just how outrageous it was to make technological weapons with the power of an Immortal. The researchers did not even dare to imagine such a possibility.

Even so, there was already a civilization in the Aevum Inch that had accomplished just that.

Lu Yin was incredibly envious of the unrestrained offensive abilities of that technological civilization. In any case, he had some time to spare, so he allowed the Infinity Empire to conduct a bit of research. If they actually succeeded one day, their human civilization would see a genuine transformation.

In the future, he intended to try to gather more information about technological civilizations throughout the Aevum Inch and bring it back to the Infinity Empire.

Lu Yin painted a grand vision of the future for the Infinity Empire, pulling Elder Huan and the others out of their excitement at successfully developing thirteen-ring energy. They were pushed to invest even more effort into their research. How much of that vision they could ultimately realize, no one could say.

What struck Lu Yin the most about the matter was one particular comment of his: “Countless people die without ever getting a glimpse at the Origin realm, and yet you have perhaps developed the means of producing it as an assembly-line product.”

Lu Yin had said it, and yet they were the words that Elder Huan, as well as everyone else in the Infinity Empire, had wanted to say.

The advent of thirteen-ring energy caused something new to appear in the eyes of the people of the Infinity Empire, especially those of Shang Tianshi’s generation. Their gazes had started to contain a hint of pride and even disdain towards cultivators. This was also one of the reasons why Lu Yin had revealed the gap of power between them.

Cultivators could never be assembly-line products. Lu Yin could mock cultivators himself, but he would not allow others to cast such insults.

Technology had its own advantages, as did cultivation. Neither one had the right to look down on the other. The best outcome was a situation of mutually complementing each other.

Lu Yin was able to see this clearly because he stood above the Infinity Empire, but what of ordinary cultivators? If they were to learn that an assembly-line product could instantly surpass a lifetime of efforts and even touch on power levels that they did not dare to even imagine, how would they feel?

Given the rise of such thoughts, Lu Yin deliberately forgot his current status, his cultivation realm, his power, and everything else. He forgot it all and looked at the current cultivation culture through the eyes of an ordinary cultivator. The only difference was that, this time, he retained knowledge of thirteen-ring energy. He wanted to see how that knowledge would shape his thinking.

The universe was profound and vast beyond what ordinary cultivators could even begin to comprehend. It was impossible for most to reach the end of the megaverse, no matter how long they lived for, even if one ignored the fact that there were countless parallel universes.

Lu Yin sat cross-legged atop a meteorite, allowing it to carry him into the distance as he mentally simulated the typical cultivation journey. No movement was needed for the process, as his consciousness experienced everything.

His efforts lasted for two years. After that time, the meteorite was still flying into the distance. No one knew where it might end up.

During his time on the meteorite, he had encountered other cultivators, as well as space craft and astral phenomena, but he had ignored everything. After two years, he had succeeded in gaining some measure of insight.

For the first half year, Lu Yin had been mentally lost and confused. When a cultivator realized that they could be replaced by an assembly-line product or that they may never be able to personally achieve such power in their entire lifetime, the resulting confusion would cause them to give up.

Again and again, Lu Yin had given up. Again and again, he had returned to his senses and continued his mental simulation, only to give up yet again. He gave up decisively, as he could not see a road forward.

Just as Greater Sancte Green Lotus had once said, upon being told what lay beyond the fog, every step of exploration lost its meaning.

The cultivators of the Spirit Nidus, upon learning that a lifetime of cultivation would only allow them to serve as resources for the cultivators of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, had also seen no path forward. Because of that, even in the face of certain death, they had chosen to resist.

Total despair was suffocating.

After half a year and countless failed attempts, Lu Yin, still taking the perspective of an ordinary cultivator, had stopped resisting. He had mentally relaxed and stopped trying to calculate anything. There was no longer any pursuit of gains or losses. For the following year and onwards, his heart remained still.

He was challenging a fabricated Dukkha and mental restraints. Once he managed to see through his restraints, he found that the world was vast and expansive, infinite.

No matter how powerful an assembly-line product might be, what did it have to do with the individual?

After a person completely lost everything, even the smallest gain would still be a gain.

Lu Yin vanished, teleporting. He reappeared back in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, where he gazed at a river in front of him. The river was very familiar to him. Years ago, when he had had a mental breakthrough, he had drifted down the river, spending his time divining the fortunes of mortals and clearly observing each mortal’s karma. During that time, his heart had also been still, to the point where he had received comfort from it.

Letting go... During that moment, he might have let go of many things. Those mortals were actually quite content. Every ordinary person who lived out their life in peace, growing up with a kind mother and raising filial children, lived out a dream that not even Immortals could pursue. It was a dream of tranquility, of acceptance, and of letting go of everything.

Lu Yin took a deep breath. A bamboo raft appeared on the river, and he sat back down on it. This time, he did not intend to divine any fortunes; he simply wanted to drift along the river and look into the past, observing the lives of those ordinary people.

He was pursuing nothing and had no greater purpose; he simply wanted to look. Among the ordinary people, those he had known in the past were long gone. Hundreds of years had passed, and they were nothing more than bones. But even if none of his old acquaintances were still around, he still saw acquaintances. Every ordinary person he saw was an old acquaintance.

A glance would reveal the end of the river to Lu Yin, but he did not wish to look or even know. He only wanted to drift along the current, listening to the sound of fish bumping against his bamboo raft. It was a sound that he had heard many times before.

He was equally capable of walking across the land, but that involved walking, and he preferred to be lazy.

The river passed through city after city. Many of the cities that he had seen in the past had changed. Some had flourished, while others had vanished completely. After the various civilizational wars that humanity had fought, were there still any descendants of his old acquaintances around?

There was no need for him to deliberately search for such people. Just as he had thought before, everyone was an old acquaintance, because they all recognized him.

Wuyang City was a mortal city. Lu Yin had once passed through it while divining fortunes.

It had been a lively place at that time, but when he returned, he found that it had become desolate. There was evidence of war wherever he looked, and a new profession had even appeared: bug-salvagers.

Bug-salvagers, as the name suggested, were people who dug up insects. Naturally, these were not ordinary insects, but rather bugs from the Nest civilization. As for the salvagers themselves, they were cultivators, of course.

When the Nest civilization had invaded the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, a specific type of insect had descended upon Wuyang City, destroying the city and creating a nest there. Later, after the Nest civilization’s defeat, cultivators had exterminated those insects and reclaimed the city.

However, several decades later, people had discovered that, when the corpses of those insects were buried and fermented, they turned into extremely valuable medicinal materials. Not only that, but these harvested bugs were not a singular medicine; the fermented insect corpses could substitute for many different medicines. From that point forward, the city had become a treasure ground for many cultivators. They had started to scour Wuyang City, digging up the insect corpses from underground.

Logically, given the number of years that had passed, all of the insect corpses should have already been dug up. However, when it came to medicinal uses, the older the insect corpse, the better. Also, they had to be buried within the city, as the city had once served as the insects’ nest. Because of this, many people, after digging up insect corpses, returned them and reburied them while keeping watch over them. The longer the corpse remained buried, the greater their value, with time causing the value to rise precipitously.

More people sought opportunities to dig up the insect corpses that others had reburied.

Consequently, Wuyang City was not exactly a desolate place; there were many cultivators around. Even so, it was certainly not a lively one. Everyone present looked at all others with open hostility.

Beneath an arched bridge in Wuyang City, more than a dozen figures had surrounded a woman. She stood in the shadows, her face pale as she panted heavily. She had a tight grip on a portion of an insect corpse as she warily eyed those who surrounded her.

“You’ve got quite the nerve, daring to dig up the insects buried by Lord Feng! I’m curious, how did you know that Lord Feng had buried corpses there?” someone asked, his voice cold and filled with killing intent.

The woman’s eyes drooped. There was a diagonal knife scar rising to her forehead. She did not respond, though as she listened, her eyes darted about. She was clearly searching for an escape route.

“Hmph! Fine, you don’t want to talk? Take her back. We’ll let Lord Feng interrogate her himself,” the man announced. The others nearby immediately prepared to take action.

At that moment, water suddenly surged up from the stream. Despite being just a small river, the water swept forward like ocean waves, startling the people present, and they hastily retreated.

They did not know why they retreated. Let alone such a small river, but even true ocean waves should not be able to pose a threat to them. All of them were cultivators. Even so, they had all retreated, driven by an inexplicable, instinctive urge to withdraw.

The woman also retreated instinctively, staring into the distance in horror. She felt fear, a primal fear of life itself. Who could it be?

A small raft was drifting downstream. A jug of turbid wine, a few little snacks, and a single person appeared in the eyes of those beneath the bridge. They stared at the newcomer. Despite blinking hard to clear their eyes, they could not see the person clearly. They looked blurry, no matter how hard the people stared. It was as if a cloud of fog was obscuring the person’s face, but where could the fog have come from?

The leader’s heart sank, knowing that a true master had appeared before them. He slowly bowed. “I am-”

“Not interested.”

The man’s expression grew cold. “Have you heard of Lord Feng of North Mountain?”

“Not interested. Leave.”

The leader did not hesitate and immediately left. He knew that this was someone they could not afford to provoke.

One of the others present whispered, “Boss, the insect.”

The leader glanced at the woman. Stubborn determination was clear on her face. She had taken a step back, but she refused to hand the insect over, keeping a firm grip on it.

The leader glanced back at the small raft, turned, and then left.

More than a dozen people left the area, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Despite seeing everyone leave, the woman did not relax. Her attention turned to the small raft and to the person on it. She was also unable to clearly see their face.

An absolute expert had appeared.

“They can’t defeat you,” a voice commented, originating from the person on the small raft.

The woman frowned. “I don’t want to fight.”

“Why not?”

“If I fight, things won’t be easily resolved.”

“But you stole their belongings, which makes things just as difficult.”

The woman replied, “They’re nothing more than worldly possessions. There’s no need to take things to extremes. The cultivation world has its own code.”

“I don’t understand any such rules. All I know is that your forbearance only leads to greater trouble.”

With that, they looked toward the arched bridge.

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