Chapter 309: The Fruit of Lu Yan

The name “Lord God” was all too familiar to Lu Yan.

Back during the Great Collapse, in order to counter the lingering schemes of the Longevity Heavenly Lord, Lu Yan had taken the risky step of destroying the version fragment belonging to the Lord God. As a result, he triggered the erasure protocols of the Lord God’s version itself.

From that moment onward, Lu Yan’s trait as an Immutable One was exposed to the Lord God, and his karmic link to the entity was firmly established.

However, due to the unique rules of the Great Collapse version—which strongly suppressed and rejected beings at the level of “this world’s only one”—even a being as powerful as the Lord God found it difficult to project His power into that realm on a large scale.

Moreover, the Longevity Heavenly Lord had long been laying the groundwork in secret, gaining the upper hand in that version. This made it nearly impossible for the Lord God to exert significant influence within it.

As a result, the Lord God’s interference with Lu Yan back then had been relatively weak.

Even so, when Lu Yan attempted a version update to escape the Great Collapse version, the Lord God used the faint karmic link to forcibly intervene through Lu Yan’s memories, even going so far as to alter the version update options in an effort to draw Lu Yan into the Lord God’s own version, fully bringing him under control.

Though Lu Yan had decisively severed the corrupted part of his memory, temporarily escaping the Lord God’s grasp, he knew in his heart it was only a temporary measure.

With the Lord God’s methods, it was impossible that such a retreat would be permanent.

Come the next version update, the Lord God would surely act again, doing everything in His power to pull Lu Yan into His chessboard. A second clash with the Lord God was inevitable.

And now, during the Old Ones’ Feast, with the seven Supreme Gods bearing down on him, Lu Yan wasted no time. He seized the opportunity presented by preaching the path beyond “this world’s only one” and once again invoked the name of the Lord God.

It was no reckless move—but a calculated risk.

He would use the power of the Lord God to shatter this stalemate.

The moment Lu Yan reconnected the severed thread of karma, a will far clearer and more powerful than what had previously reached him in the Great Collapse version tore through the endless boundaries between versions and descended upon this mysterious astral dimension.

Without the restrictions of the Great Collapse version, the gaze of the Lord God fell unobstructed upon this place.

Instantly, the heavens changed.

The once star-filled sky dimmed all at once.

And then, a pair of eyes—so vast they defied description—slowly opened at the highest point of the astral dimension.

Those eyes were ice-cold and detached, devoid of human emotion, carrying only the absolute logic and order of a higher being.

His gaze, like that of a deity from on high, swept over the feast below and all those participating in it.

When the Lord God’s indifferent eyes landed upon the massive corpse of the Old One stretched across the stars, a flicker—almost imperceptible—of astonishment surfaced in those eternal pupils.

“Deviant from the True Path?”

A soft murmur rang out from the colossal eyes, like the resonant chime of the Dao itself.

Though barely audible, the voice carried into the ears of all present with perfect clarity.

At the sound of that voice, the entire astral realm rumbled. Countless mystical phenomena surged and vanished among the stars, as though answering the presence of this supreme entity.

The seven Supreme Gods all looked up, their expressions solemn as they stared at the vast eyes manifested in the heavens.

They could clearly sense that this was the will of one who had become “this world’s only one,” projected across unimaginable distance from another version.

Even though it was just a projection, separated by countless versions, the terrifying pressure within those eyes was enough to make even them—the unique existences of this world—feel a flicker of dread.

This display alone proved that the being known as the Lord God had already walked far ahead on the path beyond “this world’s only one.”

Yet, the Lord God had only partially descended, and this Mysterious Version was still the domain the seven Supreme Gods had cultivated for countless eons.

So despite their wariness, the seven gods showed no signs of fear.

“This realm is not Your dominion!”

The God of Steam and Machinery erupted in radiant divine light.

All around him, countless intricate gears materialized from nothing, spinning rapidly with sharp clattering sounds. Behind him, they assembled into a grand divine kingdom of steel and invention.

“We ask that You retreat of Your own accord,” said the God of Steam, his voice a grinding, metallic rumble of absolute authority.

The other six gods also shed their restraint, unleashing their divine power in full.

The Eternal Sun flared with burning brilliance, the Storm God summoned even greater thunder and wind, the Goddess of Night melted into shadow, the God of Knowledge unrolled scrolls of history and truth…

Seven unique yet equally overwhelming auras of “this world’s only one” exploded into being, all converging upon the pair of indifferent eyes suspended in the heavens, attempting to drive away the uninvited guest through sheer force.

Seven gods of equal standing, all present.

And beside them lay that enigmatic and terrifying corpse of the Old One.

The Lord God’s ever-seeing eyes shimmered faintly. He instantly understood that Lu Yan had deliberately established the karmic link to draw Him here.

He had been used.

Upon arriving, the Lord God was shown the Old One’s corpse—the Mysterious Version’s greatest secret.

This alone was enough to trigger intense suspicion and hostility from the seven gods. Even if He claimed no interest in the corpse, the seven would never believe Him.

Lu Yan’s Imperial Lord Manifestation had only been allowed here because it was weak and carried remnants of the Old One’s aura—no threat to the gods.

But the Lord God was different. By Lu Yan’s own words, He had already stepped onto the path of the Multiversal Unique. He had every reason to devour the Old One’s remains.

The seven gods would never tolerate such an outside force disrupting their feast.

From their perspective, though the Lord God had yet to transcend completely, He was still bound by the limits of this world. Fighting all seven of them here in their own domain was a near impossibility.

The Lord God understood.

Striking directly at Lu Yan now was impossible.

Yet, the karmic link that Lu Yan had reignited wasn’t entirely useless.

It served as a pinpoint coordinate, a thread the Lord God could follow to influence Lu Yan’s fate with increasing precision over time.

Given enough time, He would draw Lu Yan into the Lord God’s version to uncover the secrets of the Multiversal Unique.

And if there was one thing the Lord God possessed in abundance—it was time.

His gaze lingered meaningfully on the diminutive Imperial Lord Manifestation below.

Then, the eyes reflecting the birth and death of countless stars slowly began to close.

The Lord God’s projected will was about to withdraw.

But just then, deep within the Victoria Palace, in that quiet chamber, Lu Yan’s body moved once more.

His lips parted slightly, speaking in a voice only he could hear:

“Begin early—Version Update.”

Hummm…!

It was as though an unseen hand pressed the pause button on the entire world.

In a single instant—space and time froze.

From the transcendents of the supernatural world, to the countless mortals of the material realm, to the drifting dust and flowing light—everything in the Mysterious Version lost its color and became still, suspended in a timeless grey.

Lu Yan had activated the new authority he gained during the Great Collapse—early version update.

Normally, once a version update begins, all things are caught in frozen time. Nothing is exempt.

Except… beings of “this world’s only one.”

Up among the stars, the seven Supreme Gods, the terrifying Old One’s corpse, and the Lord God’s projection were all suddenly cut off from the static grey world around them.

In this realm of utter silence and stillness, only these transcendent beings retained their color, motion, and thought.

Within the palace, Lu Yan had already anticipated that such entities would remain unaffected.

He remembered well how, during the Xianxia Version, Jiang Zhiwei had remained active during a version update. She had taken the opportunity to destroy the Longevity Heavenly Lord’s Gate of Mystery Womb, eliminating Lu Yan’s lingering danger.

With that precedent etched into memory, Lu Yan knew the moment the seven gods awakened, he had fallen into a trap.

The version update was his escape from this world—but it depended entirely on his ability to complete the update.

Once the seven gods focused their attention on him, any attempt to begin updating would be interrupted and exposed.

Under the gaze of seven such beings, Lu Yan would become a specimen—dissected, studied.

The gods had already divided the Old One’s corpse. They wouldn’t hesitate to place another Immutable One on their feast table.

And so, Lu Yan devised an intricate plan.

First, he baited the trap by sending his Imperial Lord Manifestation to the Old Ones’ Feast, drawing the attention of the seven gods.

Then, he deliberately invoked the name of the Lord God, luring this formidable outsider into the scene, further splitting the attention and sowing potential discord.

Finally, in the chaos, with every divine eye fixed on the Lord God’s descent, he seized the moment of greatest confusion—when he was least likely to be noticed—and triggered the early version update.

It was a high-stakes gamble, based entirely on exploiting a gap in information, betting that these lofty deities wouldn’t immediately suspect that such an event could be orchestrated by a “mere” Sequence Two avatar.

And the gamble paid off.

As the world froze into grey, and only the gods remained in motion, the seven Supreme Gods instinctively turned their eyes to the heavens—to the Lord God’s overwhelming gaze.

Who else but this newly-arrived, power-shrouded Lord God could have triggered such a phenomenon?

In their understanding, a version update could not possibly be caused by a Sequence Two “manifestation.”

But Lu Yan knew there was one more loose thread—one who knew the truth.

His gaze turned upward to the pair of massive eyes in the sky.

The Lord God was aware.

He would immediately realize that this version update had been triggered by Lu Yan.

And yet… would He expose it?

The stars shimmered, and the Lord God’s eyes flickered.

Indeed, He understood at once that Lu Yan was the true cause.

But He made no move to reveal it, nor did He show any anger at being deceived.

The Immutable trait possessed by Lu Yan was, to one seeking the Multiversal Unique path, an unparalleled opportunity.

Only an Immutable One could disregard the effects of version updates. This was the Dao fruit the Lord God had pursued for countless eons.

He could not allow it to fall into the hands of another.

If the seven Supreme Gods realized Lu Yan was the true culprit, they would seize him immediately.

That was the outcome the Lord God could not accept.

If Lu Yan updated alone, the Lord God would have countless opportunities to guide him into the Lord God’s version.

But if he were taken by the others, all would be lost.

Not only could He not expose Lu Yan—He had to cover for him, shoulder the blame, and completely divert the gods’ attention.

His gaze flicked toward the palace, at the youth still active in frozen time.

“Impressive calculation.”

The cold murmur echoed in Lu Yan’s soul.

Then, in the stillness of the frozen world, the star-bright eyes slowly closed.

And at that moment—an enormous white sphere of light tore through the grey silence without warning and burst into the astral realm.

The light was unimaginably vast—beyond all comprehension.

Its arrival displaced even the divine kingdoms of the seven gods, pushing them to the boundaries of the dimension.

It wasn’t a sun, yet radiated an ineffable sanctity and authority.

Its mass and Dao essence were so immense that the entire astral dimension began to twist violently, teetering on the brink of collapse.

And within that radiant glow… the cycles of all worlds and the birth and death of all things could be faintly seen.

(End of Chapter)