Chapter 315 – The Lord God’s Transaction

A flash of realization streaked through Lu Yan’s mind like a bolt of lightning. He immediately thought of the events following the last Occult Version update.

In that harrowing struggle, in order to escape the targeting of the seven newly awakened True Gods, he had cleverly leveraged the power of the Lord God’s space. Borrowing the Lord God’s momentum, he successfully diverted the attention of the seven True Gods onto the Lord God.

At the time, the Lord God had even seemed quite willing to cooperate. After all, the Lord God had wanted to privately devour the secret of the Immutable trait within Lu Yan and had no intention of handing over such immense benefit to the seven True Gods.

Thus, the Lord God had proactively shouldered the blame, taking on tremendous pressure from the True Gods. Only then was Lu Yan able to safely escape the Occult Version after stirring up chaos and successfully enter the current Cyber Version.

Lu Yan had once thought it was a nearly perfect play of borrowing strength to combat strength—a mutually beneficial cooperation.

But now, given this sudden and grand-scale invasion by the Lord God’s version, it seemed he had been unknowingly used once again by that unfathomable being.

“To allow these reincarnators from various versions to ignore their own world’s version-update restrictions and even break through massive cross-version barriers to descend upon this cyber world…”

“There’s no doubt—it can only be accomplished through the power of the Immutable trait!” Lu Yan’s eyes sharpened, his thoughts growing increasingly clear.

“The Lord God himself clearly does not possess the Immutable trait. If He did, He wouldn’t still be confined to that single Lord God Version. He would have long since gained the freedom to traverse the endless versions and brought them all under His dominion.”

“So the root of this massive invasion still lies with me.”

“It’s the Lord God who used some unknown method to ‘borrow’—or more accurately, to ‘leverage’—a portion of my Immutable trait.”

“It’s precisely through the Lord God’s method that these reincarnators have temporarily gained the power of the Immutable trait, ignoring the update restrictions, and followed in my footsteps into the Cyber Version to launch this unprecedented invasion.”

Countless thoughts flashed through Lu Yan’s mind in a burst of sparks, but he keenly caught onto several crucial doubts.

“With my current level of authority—though I haven’t yet fully achieved the realm of this world’s sole existence—I’m already unimaginably close.”

“Even for someone as powerful as the Lord God, if He tampered with my Immutable trait in secret, I should have at least sensed it. There’s no way I’d remain completely unaware.”

“Not to mention the Immutable trait itself, which contains the essence of ‘this world’s sole existence’—its level of authority is beyond imagination. It shouldn’t be so easily borrowed or manipulated.”

“Unless… unless the Lord God paid a price I couldn’t refuse—or rather, a price I had no choice but to accept!”

Suddenly, the specific scene from the Occult Version where Lu Yan used the Lord God to counter the seven awakened True Gods surfaced in his mind.

At first, his plan was simple: get the Lord God to take the fall temporarily, withstand the pressure from the seven newly awakened True Gods, and buy enough time for the version update.

However, things had quickly escalated beyond his expectations.

When the version update began and time froze, the Lord God had gone so far as to descend with His main body into the Occult Version.

With a heaven-shaking might, the Lord God had clashed head-on with the seven True Gods, drawing all attention to Himself. That was the only reason Lu Yan’s plan had succeeded so flawlessly, with no complications.

Looking back now, everything had gone far too smoothly—almost as if the Lord God had deliberately cooperated in putting on a performance with him.

“Deliberate… cooperation!” Lu Yan’s pupils shrank as a shocking realization exploded in his heart.

“That’s right! The Lord God planned it all along!”

“With His own power, He clashed directly with the seven awakened True Gods and took on all my calamities Himself.”

“The true purpose behind His actions wasn’t just to prevent the seven True Gods from discovering the true value of my Immutable trait too early. More importantly, it was to make me owe Him a tremendous karmic debt!”

The peerless divination art of Orchestrating Creation seemed to touch upon the deeper truths of reality, swiftly filling in the missing pieces of information.

“As the creator of the Lord God’s Space, with countless reincarnators traversing across the myriad worlds, one of the Lord God’s core and most powerful authorities is undoubtedly the Authority of Trade.”

“Whether it’s cultivation techniques, divine abilities, rare bloodlines, bizarre supernatural powers, extraordinary artifacts, or cutting-edge technology—the Lord God’s Authority of Trade encompasses everything conceivable within His version.”

“And if reincarnators wish to obtain these things from the Lord God, the price they must pay comes in the form of Plot Points.”

“Plot Points, in essence, are a manifestation of karmic interference—the Lord God’s Space evaluates the reincarnators’ actions across various worlds: altering plotlines, completing missions, interfering with events, and converts it into a measurable resource.”

“When the Lord God took on the pressure of the seven True Gods for me—especially summoning His main body to descend—He was proactively generating karma between us.”

“And by wielding His immense Authority of Trade, He could use this enormous karmic debt to request something from me in return.”

“Since it’s based on the principle of equivalent exchange, the greater the karma the Lord God pays, the more valuable and plentiful the things He can obtain from me.”

“Thus, He spent a massive price, descended with His main body, and fought the seven True Gods—creating a karmic value of staggering proportions.”

“Initially, the Lord God probably wanted to use that colossal karmic exchange to directly seize the complete Immutable trait from me.”

“After all, that is the true key to transcending all limitations and becoming the sole existence across all versions.”

“But ultimately, the Lord God underestimated the true value and authority of the Immutable trait.”

“Even as the supreme being who wields the Authority of Trade, He must abide by the basic rules of equal exchange.”

“Not even the karmic debt of fighting the seven True Gods was enough to claim the complete Immutable trait.”

“So, He compromised—using that immense karma to ‘borrow’ a portion of the trait’s permissions or temporarily leverage its power.”

“With that borrowed trait, the Lord God orchestrated a unique invasion task, allowing reincarnators from His domain to ignore version-update restrictions and descend into the Cyberpunk Version, launching this grand-scale invasion.”

After Lu Yan traced the entire chain of events and unraveled the deep logic behind it all, a chill ran down his spine—yet he also felt a hint of relief.

“What a terrifying Lord God… What a terrifying Authority of Trade!” he couldn’t help but sigh internally.

“No matter how perfect I thought my scheme was—no matter how seamless my plan seemed…”

“In front of those who stand at the apex of all existence—those who wield authorities on par with the world’s sole existence—no amount of calculation or wisdom may matter. It could all become meaningless, or worse, a tool for others.”

Once again, Lu Yan recalled the option description he had seen on the version update interface for the Lord God Version:

[Lord God Version: In the face of absolute power and supreme authority, all conspiracies and calculations are nothing but futile illusions.]

So from the very beginning, the Lord God hadn’t bothered to hide anything from him.

It was simply that, at the time, even though Lu Yan was cautious, he still hadn’t fully grasped the true meaning of those words—or the Lord God’s immeasurable ambition.

Once everything was sorted out and understood, Lu Yan’s turbulent thoughts began to calm.

Although the version invasion sparked by the Lord God’s borrowing of his Immutable trait was grand in scale, it wasn’t an unsolvable crisis.

With Lu Yan’s current strength and trump cards, unless a true Sole Existence descended, even against top-tier beings like the King of Angels—who wielded partial and incomplete forms of uniqueness—Lu Yan was confident he could hold his own.

And among these reincarnators, it was impossible for anyone to have reached the level of a Sole Existence. Anyone at that level wouldn’t even be bound by the Lord God’s Space.

Even reincarnators at the level of the King of Angels might be absent.

What Lu Yan truly needed to watch out for was the Lord God’s potential ability to partially interfere with the internal rules and order of the Cyber Version due to this version invasion.

That meant Lu Yan had to proceed with extreme caution, constantly wary of the Lord God’s hidden manipulations.

“Then again, looking at it from another angle, this sudden version invasion might not be entirely a bad thing for me,” a gleam flashed through Lu Yan’s eyes as he rapidly calculated in his mind.

“The AI God has suddenly deployed a world-encompassing Celestial Canopy, and based on His actions, it seems He’s also walking a path toward becoming the sole existence of this world.”

“There must be profound secrets and schemes hidden behind it all.”

“In that case, I might as well let these reincarnators—used by the Lord God as cannon fodder—test out the AI God’s true strength and nature.”

“That’ll give me a perfect opportunity to observe from the shadows and collect intelligence.”

With that, Lu Yan’s mind cleared up, and his course of action became apparent.

He concealed all his presence and, like a silent shadow, followed the stealthy Ascenders’ squad as they stepped into the unknown and unpredictable territory of City Fourteen.

Unlike the typical Cyberpunk cities Lu Yan had seen before—where the upper layers gleamed with splendor and the lower slums were filthy, ruled by rigid hierarchy and uneven resource allocation—City Fourteen had undergone a dramatic transformation, seemingly breaking free from the Cyber Version framework.

Massive amounts of resources had been consciously invested into the formerly desolate lower districts. Towering skyscrapers now lined the streets, rivaling even the traditional upper zones in prosperity.

The streets had widened and become cleaner. Public infrastructure was modernized and well-maintained.

Most notably, the once-pervasive fog of neural euphoria—used to numb the nerves of the lower populace and trap them in endless pleasure—had been completely abolished.

The city now radiated a vibrancy utterly unlike what Lu Yan had experienced elsewhere in the Cyber Version.

Compared to other cities still shrouded by the Celestial Canopy, City Fourteen’s level of technological automation appeared somewhat behind.

While the streets were still dotted with smart devices and automated systems, their coverage and advancement clearly lagged.

This was likely a safeguard—intended to prevent the omnipresent AI God from infiltrating and exerting control through the network.

All across the city’s corners, alleys, building walls, and even on unremarkable public structures, intricate golden patterns could be seen—none other than the revised Heavenly Dao Code used to conceal real-world data.

Although the outside world often claimed that the AI God had evolved to a point where these codes had lost their effectiveness, the people of City Fourteen still believed otherwise.

They viewed the Heavenly Dao Codes as the last bastion shielding them from the Celestial Canopy—an invisible wall barring the AI God’s omnipresent will.

Pedestrians on the streets, male or female, were mostly muscular and sturdy, exuding a fierce and battle-ready aura.

Almost all of them practiced the path of physical enhancement as Espers—forming a stark contrast to the mainstream cyber Espers who relied on tech augmentations and neural mods.

What surprised Lu Yan even more was that some of them wore identical white martial uniforms.

The design was plain and simple, but on the back, three powerful calligraphic characters were boldly emblazoned:

Nine Dragons Society!

(End of Chapter)