Star Odyssey

Chapter 3635: The Garden Of Passing

While the Spirit Nidus’s top experts all knew of Lu Yin’s purpose in gathering spirit seeds, they believed that, sooner or later, all the spirit seeds would inevitably return to the Spirit Nidus. It was only a matter of time.

This was something that everyone was absolutely certain of. Any problem that could be resolved with spirit seeds was not a real problem.

After all, which of the Seraph could resolve their matters with nothing more than spirit seeds?

After the battle at the source of the Fu River, all the profits from the Chamber of Commerce’s betting pools had been sent to Boundless. Lu Yin had placed all of them on the landmass in his inner universe, increasing the amount of the liquid there.

Meng Sang would eventually give Lu Yin a time and place to deliver Zhan Yan, which meant that Lu Yin was on a timer. He needed to find Yi Shang as soon as possible.

He had no choice but to keep rolling his die.

A finger stretched out and tapped the die, and Lu Yin watched as it slowly stopped spinning. His eyes were thoughtful, and his expression was heavy.

Two months quickly passed. Lu Yin had rolled Possession multiple times, but he failed to locate the conscient that always accompanied Yi Shang. All that Lu Yin could do was keep rolling his die.

At this point, no one was able to find Yi Shang. Since the man knew that Lu Yin was searching for him, there was no doubt that Yi Shang had gone into hiding.

The fact that Lu Yin had managed to locate the former Seraph multiple times already had left him extremely wary.

Finding Yi Shang through Possessing his conscient was something that no one in the Spirit Nidus could even imagine. If such a possibility were considered, Yi Shang would have already suspected his enslaved conscient. The man was certainly no fool.

Since Lu Yin was unable to find Yi Shang, he had no choice but to stall Meng Sang from taking Zhan Yan. This was simple enough to do; Lu Yin just asked Jiu Xian to keep an even closer watch on the other Seraph.

In exchange, Lu Yin offered Jiu Xian more information regarding Yong Heng.

Jiu Xian did not understand why Lu Yin wanted her to shadow Meng Sang, but she had already been intending to do just that.

Meng Sang was unbelievably frustrated. He was unable to return to True God, and he also unable to collect Zhan Yan. All he could do was try to find a way to escape from Jiu Xian. Unfortunately, she proved to be far more persistent than anticipated.

He had considered leading Jiu Xian to True God, as True God was undoubtedly strong enough to crush the woman, but True God refused. It was clear that Jiu Xian’s real target was not Meng Sang. Since that was the case, she was most likely searching for True God himself. Naturally, True God refused to allow that to happen.

It was not yet the right time for him to reveal himself.

Months passed, and still Meng Sang was still being followed by Jiu Xian. She simply watched him, not saying a word. The jug of wine that she drank from also seemed to have no limits.

Finally, after several months of searching, Lu Yin saw a familiar orb of light.

He had memorized the exact brightness and size of the ball of light that represented the conscient who accompanied Yi Shang. After searching for so long, and even after going to a parallel universe to replenish his consciousness, Lu Yin had finally found the creature.

His consciousness shot forward and merged with the orb.

He soon saw a familiar figure: Zhan Qianguhou. Is this... the Gate of Laws?

Memories started to flood his mind. Lu Yin remained completely still, maintaining the conscient’s position to avoid alerting Yi Shang, who was quite close.

It was unexpected that Yi Shang was hiding in the Gate of Laws, but this made it clear just how committed Zhan Ming was to working with the former Seraph.

If the Gate of Laws was solely motivated by the sequence base materials that the Chamber of Commerce had agreed to provide, then the risk from helping Yi Shang was not justified. Zhan Ming was an intelligent person, and even if Yi Shang was no longer a Seraph, the fact that he was forced into hiding proved that his pursuer was exceptionally powerful. There were only a handful of individuals in the entire Spirit Nidus who were capable of posing a threat to a Seraph, either former or current. It did not take much guesswork to understand that Lu Yin was on that list.

Despite the threat of Lu Yin, Zhan Ming had still chosen to hide Yi Shang in the Gate of Laws. Either the man believed that Lu Yin would never learn of this matter, or Yi Shang possessed something valuable enough to warrant the risk.

Everyone in the Spirit Nidus knew what had happened to the Consciousness Domain and the Phantom Reach. After the battle at the source of the Fu River, no one in the Spirit Nidus—aside from the High Seraph himself—was capable of stopping Lu Yin. But even in these circumstances, Zhan Ming was still sheltering Yi Shang. Lu Yin was more inclined than ever to believe that Yi Shang held something of immense value.

The only thing that Lu Yin could think of that was important enough to warrant Zhan Ming taking the risk to protect Yi Shang was the third key to the Gate of Laws.

Learning that Yi Shang was hiding in the Gate of Laws left Lu Yin almost entirely certain of this. In fact, he was ninety percent confident that Yi Shang had already obtained the key.

The man was hiding in the Garden of Passing, which was the location where aging cultivators awaited death. Some of them might have even already died, though no one knew.

Zhan Ming had been extremely cautious, so he had had Yi Shang impersonate a cultivator who had passed without the outside world learning of the matter. If Lu Yin had not succeeded in Possessing Yi Shang’s conscient, he would have never learned of this matter.

The Garden of Passing was essentially a cemetery. It stretched across a wide expanse, dotted with countless tombs, each one isolated from the next. But for cultivators—especially the strong—that kind of distance meant nothing at all.

The conscient was able to see many graves in the distance. The cemetery place was not a desolate place, and some of the graves even carried signs of recent offerings and prayers.

Was it possible for people to pay their respects to those who had retired to the Garden of Passing? Some of the people entombed there were not even dead yet.

"Old Fart Zha, Old Fart Zha, are you dead or not? Say something! Pretending to die won’t work on me! You promised to pass your inherited technique to me. I ran myself ragged for you, searching through half of the Spirit Nidus. I may not have found any descendants to pay their respects to you, but you should at least give me some credit for my efforts! Faking death like this is just cruel.

"If you really die, at least give me that technique first! Why do you have to make things so difficult? What’s the point? You have no descendants, so why take your technique to the grave?

"You don’t want to answer me? Fine! Just wait! I’ll come here and talk to you every day. I’ll also keep looking for your descendants. Just you wait, I won’t give up..."

Not even the gravekeeper, Zhan Qianguhou, knew who was alive or dead in the Garden of Passing, even if everyone assumed that he should know.

The truth of the matter was that Zhan Ming would take many of the elders away from the Garden of Passing right before they died in order to record their final wishes. This was an act of respect for their sacrifices. These people were dying to contribute to the creation of sequence bases, which essentially meant that they were perishing for the sake of the Spirit Nidus. Their contributions to the megaverse were astounding.

Zhan Ming was the only one who knew who was alive or dead in the Garden of Passing.

Zhan Qianguhou spoke at length at Yi Shang’s grave. Within the tomb, Yi Shang sat calmly, undisturbed by the commotion outside. Only in this place could Yi Shang truly feel at ease. Even if Seraph Lu arrived in search of him, the Gate of Laws would be able to delay the man long enough for Yi Shang to escape. He would never be found unexpectedly.

No matter how powerful Seraph Lu might be, he was not capable of instantly tearing through the Gate of Laws to reach the Garden of Passing.

The Garden of Passing was one of the most important regions for the Gate of Laws.

"Hey, all of you! Are you still not done? Time’s up!" Zhan Qianguhou suddenly called out in a particular direction.

Several graves away, there were five people kneeling at a tomb, engaged in conversation. There were four men and one woman. Two of the men were so old that their eyebrows were nearly touching the ground.

When they heard Zhan Qianguhou’s shout, all five quickly bowed. "Please wait a moment longer. It’s possible that our ancestor has not yet heard us."

Zhan Qianguhou rolled his eyes. "Don’t bother. Your third ancestor has been dead for ages. Let me think... he must have passed ten years ago now. That was when we had our last bet. We wagered on how long Boundless would survive before being surrounded and destroyed. That was right after Boundless had first arrived in the Spirit Nidus and started breaking all the rules. Our patriarch sent me out to observe Seraph Lu, so before I left, a bunch of old geezers made bets with me.

"Ultimately, that geezer lost, but when I returned to collect my winnings, he didn’t respond. That means that he’s probably dead."

"Impossible! Our ancestor’s lifespan hasn’t run out!" the youngest among the four men shouted.

Zhan Qianguhou shook his head. "Dying can be like snuffing out a lamp. People don’t only die when their lifespan runs out. Which of these old monsters doesn’t have old injuries? The older they get, the harder it becomes for them to hold on. It’s perfectly normal for them to die before their time."

"Brat, who are you cursing?" a thunderous voice rang out in the distance.

Zhan Qianguhou turned to look in the direction of the voice. "You old bastard! You’re about done for, aren’t you? Hurry up and settle our bet! Don’t think you can get away with this!"

Cough, cough... cough, cough, cough.

"Hey! Stop playing dead and settle our bet!"

Cough, cough, cough, cough...

Cough, cough, cough, cough...

Sounds of coughing rang out from all directions. The sound spread across the Garden of Passing in a disturbing wave. The atmosphere grew increasingly sinister, and the expressions of the people paying respects to their ancestor grew pale.

Zhan Qianguhou shouted, "Oh? So you’re all pretending to be dead now? Which of you old freaks doesn’t owe me something? Show a little dignity, a little decency! Pay me what you owe already!"

Cough, cough, cough, cough...

The Garden of Passing was suddenly and unnervingly lively.

The group paying their respects were frozen in place, utterly dumbfounded by the scene unfolding before them.

At this moment, the tomb in front of them suddenly cracked open, and the closest man was pulled inside. Just a few seconds later, he was thrown back out. Zhan Qianguhou, still busy shouting, noticed nothing at all.

The others in the group turned to look at the man, excitement filling their eyes.

He nodded vigorously to them, also looking quite excited.

Everyone in the group let out a breath of relief. One of the old men whose eyebrows nearly touched the ground called out to Zhan Qianguhou, "Given the situation, we’ll take our leave now. We don’t want to disturb the seniors’ rest."

"Old man, what are you saying? Who’s resting? Look at yourself! You’d better hurry up and claim your own grave while you still can! Why are you leaving?"

"Exactly! You’re even older than the grandfather of the guy next to me."

"You bastard! Do you think that I can’t hear you? I’m not dead yet!"

"Haha, my mistake. I thought you died ages ago."

"Hmph! I still intend to fight for Lord High Seraph in the Consciousness Megaverse for millions of years more! I’m just here taking a short rest, unlike you lot."

“Yeah yeah, go do whatever.”

“No, you go do whatever.”

“Screw your mother.”

“Who? Who just cursed me? Don’t think I didn’t catch that!”

Zhan Qianguhou covered his ears and quickly led the group away. Once the old monsters started arguing, they would keep going for days. It was practically a competition to prove who could live the longest.

As for Lu Yin, he had ended the Possession long ago and was sitting deep in thought.

How could he force Yi Shang out? It would not be easy.

The Gate of Laws was one of the Spirit Nidus’s seven major powers, but it was also the most profound foundation for the human-form Spirit Rebirths. Even if the dying powerhouses were not technically part of the Gate of Laws and therefore would not obey Zhan Ming’s orders, if an outsider attacked the Gate of Laws, those people would not just sit by. Since they were all willing to sacrifice themselves to create sequence bases, there was no way they would allow anyone to destroy the Gate of Laws. That was where sequence bases were made.

On top of that, Zhan Ming had so many of the old monsters under his control that he had plenty of means of getting them to take action, whether it was by trading favors or other means. Even Zhan Qianguhou, who was just a mere gravekeeper, was able to make deals with the dying.

While it appeared that the Gate of Laws did not have much influence and mostly kept to itself, their influence far exceeded what outsiders could even imagine.

Which family did not have an ancestor who had entered the Gate of Laws? Once there, it was inevitable for them to fall under their control.

This was why Lu Yin had never taken any reckless actions against the Gate of Laws.

Just attacking the Primal Beastland had drawn out numerous powerful beast-form Spirit Rebirths, and the Gate of Laws held an even more important position. The Gate of Laws was part of the Spirit Nidus’s true foundation.

Lu Yin was not at all confident that he could barge into the Gate of Laws and capture Yi Shang. Yi Shang’s own strength was irrelevant here; the Gate of Laws would never let Lu Yin enter and leave as he wished. Even if he managed to force his way in, Yi Shang would have more than enough time to react and escape.