Chapter 4363: Parting Here

Lu Yin met Jiu Wen’s gaze. Even after so many years, when Jiu Wen recalled what he had seen at that time, the shock in his eyes was as fresh as ever. "Mr. Lu, what is dispassion, and what is affection? If dispassion is defeated, affection can bury everything.

"How fortunate I am to have witnessed that scene. That is the true Path of Dispassion." Jiu Wen lifted his wine gourd, drank the last bit, and let go. The gourd fell and shattered. "Crimson Starshade follows the Path of Dispassion, but Hong Shuang alone is the most compassionate! This old man did not see Rampart Warden Hong Shuang’s affection, but to have seen that scene, dying would be enough."

Lu Yin’s eyes turned to stare out into space. The Path of Dispassion, the Path of Dispassion... Perhaps the Path of Dispassion really was the most affectionate of all.

The shock brought on by seeing the Crimson Lotus Tomb left Lu Yin silent. He did not know what to say. He only knew that he would never forget that scene.

After that, Lu Yin said nothing more. Jiu Wen could not help him with anything further. Whatever Lu Yin could comprehend from the Crimson Lotus Tomb was his own matter. How many cultivators who followed the Path of Dispassion would never be able to see their own path clearly?

One glance of Crimson Lotus Tomb, 10,000 Paths of Dispassion!

Another three years passed. One day, Hong Xia emerged from the void to appear behind Lu Yin. "You’ve been waiting for me."

Lu Yin turned his head. "Waiting for you?"

Hong Xia stared at Lu Yin with cold eyes. "Stop pretending. You and I both know it. What you want to know, I can tell you."

"I only came here to cultivate the Path of Dispassion. I don’t want to know anything, especially not from your mouth, because your Path of Dispassion is wrong," Lu Yin said.

Hong Xia frowned. "I said, stop pretending."

As he spoke, he raised a hand, and a piece of jade flew to Lu Yin. "These are the coordinates of Miao Zun’s trial. If you have the ability, go."

The jade landed in Lu Yin’s hand. He glanced at it,and sure enough, it was the correct coordinates.

As Hong Xia watched, Lu Yin crushed the jade. "Hong Xia, I don’t know what you’re trying to do. What does Miao Zun’s trial have to do with me?"

Hong Xia’s gaze sharpened. "You won’t stop it?"

"Why should I stop it? If they can join Obscura, it means strengthening Obscura’s power. Could it be that you want to stop it?" Before Hong Xia could retort, Lu Yin shouted, "I knew that you had ulterior motives! During the war against the Mudwater Dominion, Ni Ren managed to slip away from you. I thought that you were just stupid, but now it seems that you had other intentions. Hong Xia, you intend to betray Obscura!"

"Absurd. You truly won’t go?" Hong Xia could not believe this.

Lu Yin sneered. "What? You want to force me? Then make a move. I knew that you wanted to take advantage of my ability to teleport to quickly get to Miao Zun and stop them from joining Obscura, but let me tell you: keep dreaming! I won’t help you. My devotion to Obscura is evident to both heaven and earth!"

Those words left even Jiu Wen stunned. What does this child mean?

Xi Shangfeng looked at Lu Yin strangely. Is he truly loyal to Obscura?

Hong Xia was similarly dumbfounded. What is going on? This should not be happening. Will this brat actually allow Miao Zun to join Obscura?

Even ignoring Miao Zun’s attitude toward humanity, once they joined, Lu Yin would have to worship Obscura’s the Divine Tree. Given his personality, would he ever be willing to do that? Exactly what was happening?

Hong Xia felt as though everything was slipping out of his control. Wait!

Based on his understanding of Lu Yin, it was impossible for him to allow Miao Zun to join Obscura. If he was not stopping the trial at this moment, then there could only be one possible reason: he already knew the coordinates.

That fit. Hong Xia himself had learned the coordinates long ago but was only now sharing them with Lu Yin. It was not impossible that he had obtained the location earlier.

That meant that Lu Yin was using Hong Xia to establish an alibi. There must be other experts already dealing with Miao Zun.

Hong Xia’s expression changed. Who gave this brat the coordinates? Could it be the hidden mastermind who is targeting me?

Lu Yin stared at Hong Xia. He was also very curious to know who had sent him the coordinates. Were they trying to help him? He did not actually believe that. Within Obscura, no one would genuinely help him, but there was another possibility: they wanted to deal with Hong Xia.

If Lu Yin did break Obscura’s rules, he would be unable to deal with Hong Xia, and it was not only the Human Trio that wanted to deal with the man; there was also a mastermind who had remained hidden all along. They had already suspected that the mastermind might be a member of Obscura, and now, they were more certain than ever.

It had to be a member of Obscura.

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Lu Yin and Hong Xia were thinking along the same lines, but this matter was only beneficial to one while harmful to the other. Hong Xia had not expected the hidden mastermind to help Lu Yin and cause his own scheme to fail completely.

His eyes were frigid as he stared at Lu Yin. The man barked a cold laugh. "I betrayed the Nine Ramparts long ago, but at this moment, how are you not betraying the current human civilization?"

With that, he vanished. Lu Yin watched Hong Xia leave and slowly clenched a fist. There had always been a shadow behind their conflict with Hong Xia. If that shadow was not exposed, Lu Yin and the Trio would also be at a loss.

They did not know what sort of grudge that mastermind might have against Hong Xia, but no matter what, dealing with Hong Xia required the strength of the entire human civilization. As Hong Xia had said, if every step had been calculated by that hidden mastermind, humanity would be doomed sooner or later.

How was following that hidden figure’s plan any different from betraying human civilization?

To deal with Hong Xia, it was necessary to first drag that mastermind out and have them clash with Hong Xia. Only then could Lu Yin and the others extricate themselves from the situation. Anything else would place them in far too passive a position.

***

Far away, the civilization that Lu Yin had once seen was embroiled in a great war.

Battles between Immortals upended the megaverse. Within it, various species waged war. Green blood fell like rain, turning the entire universe green.

Far away, Miao Zun’s grotesque eyes betrayed a smile. Kill, kill!

Only with that Immortal’s death could they join Obscura. They had paid a price for this as well.

Compared to the increased karmic chain from killing an Immortal, as long as a civilization had more than one Immortal, the survival of that civilization carried even greater weight.

They had been too naive back then, to dream of actually defeating Obscura. Now, thinking back, the entire thing seemed like a joke.

If victory was impossible, then they would just join them. From this point forward, Miao Zun would also be a part of Obscura.

Unfortunately, the creatures of this civilization were not tasty. Of everything that they had eaten throughout their existence, the tastiest were still those humans—so fresh, so delicious! They hoped that Obscura could help them find a human civilization.

While thinking about that, an indescribable pressure suddenly fell upon Miao Zun. Their eyes bulged. Not good!

They immediately tried to escape, but it was too late. The Seven-Treasure Anuras’ Old First leapt over and slammed a hand down.

With terrifying gravity augmenting his attack, twin claws sliced straight through Miao Zun’s body, forcing out a howl. "Who are you? Why are you attacking me?"

Old First smirked. "You can only blame yourself for coming out at the wrong time."

As he spoke, his hand swept to the side, removing a third of Miao Zun’s body.

Miao Zun was not weak; their strength rivaled Lan Meng’s. But Old First was a supreme powerhouse who resonated with two cosmic laws. Even if he could not match a pinnacle two-law Immortal like Hong Xia, the toad was still far beyond Miao Zun.

The creature’s dozen-plus hammer-like legs viciously stomped at Old First, but the toad casually swatted them aside. A wave of gravity swept through, flinging Miao Zun’s body away like a sheet of paper. They aimed their sturdy legs at Old First again, unleashing a soundless power. This was their innate gift. This soundless force was enough to tear an ordinary Immortal’s body apart, using sound waves as power.

But there was no effect on Old First. He raised both hands and pressed them together. A tremendous amount of gravity manifested in the cosmos on both sides, growing endlessly and enveloping Miao Zun.

Far away, the two Immortals who had been fighting near the megaverse broke apart. They turned and watched with dread and fear. This was a terrifying level of power. They tacitly agreed to stop their own fight; who knew what they might draw out if they continued.

Miao Zun roared, "I am Obscura! Obscura! You cannot kill me! Obscura will not let you go!"

They opened their mouth and released their world: Soundless Realm.

The Soundless Realm finally caused some cracks to open on Old First’s body. He was surprised. This was interesting, as was the nature of this power.

Every living creature had blood flowing within their body, and flow meant sound, even if ordinary beings could not hear it.

If that sound was stripped away, it could in turn halt the flow of blood. Taken even further, it could stop battle techniques and other abilities from functioning, forcibly preventing a creature from taking action at all.

But this could not do much to Old First. The gap between the two was too vast.

The toad pressed down upon his entire body with gravity. It looked like he was draping a black curtain over himself; he had simply isolated himself from Miao Zun’s world.

Lifeforce erupted from the insectoid Immortal and merged with Immortal matter. Maio Zun shot countless lines of sound at Old First. "Audible Score."

Each line carried an incredible amount of power, but Old First’s eyes flared. It’s over.

Gravity slammed down. Miao Zun spat out a mouthful of blood, and their body was squashed flat. All of their power dissipated, and their body floated helplessly in the cosmos. They were just one breath away from death.

Old First grabbed Miao Zun and simply left, moving towards the location that he had agreed upon with Lu Yin. There were not only Seven-Treasure Anuras there, but also Greater Sancte Blood Tower.

Old First threw Miao Zun down the ground. "It’s yours."

Blood Tower looked at the half-dead creature and praised, "Worthy of Old First. Truly impressive. This Miao Zun isn’t weak, and yet they couldn’t even harm a single hair of yours."

Hearing this made Old First quite happy, and he grinned. "I’ve done what I promised Lu Yin. This is where we part ways."

Behind him stood Old Fourth, Old Fifth, Astral Anura, and others. Old First was taking all of them away through the Jade Thread of Heaven to search for Little Eighteen, as well as to leave this region of the Aevum Inch.

Blood Tower nodded. "Parting here."

Old Fourth and Old Fifth exchanged glances. They wanted to say something but ultimately decided to say nothing. They were unwilling to leave. Ancestor Shan was dead, and they were being forced to leave before avenging him.

Old First was just as unwilling, but what could they do about it? Only after he broke through to resonate with three cosmic laws could they return.

It was not that they would never return. They were only leaving for a time. This human civilization had antagonized far too many powerful enemies, and the Seven-Treasure Anuras did not want to be destroyed alongside humanity.

Astral Anura was the most reluctant to leave. He wanted to stay, but he had to be taken away. He was very important to the Seven-Treasure Anuras.

Old First patted the smaller toad. "Kid, let’s go."

Astral Anura looked at Blood Tower and then peered into the distance in the direction of the human megaverses. He truly did not want to leave.

Not long after that, Old First led the Seven-Treasure Anuras away, and the cosmos grew still once more.

Obscura’s nearby gate was also destroyed, though Miao Zun’s target civilization was not. They had failed their trial, and Miao Zun themself had been captured.

***

In Vestigium, Ba Se’s voice rang out. "Miao Zun has failed their trial. I am announcing that they are no longer invited to join us."

"What? Failed? How could they fail?" Furball cried out in surprise. They had been waiting for the outcome of the trial all along. In truth, Furball’s anticipation had little to do with Miao Zun themself and was more towards Lu Yin. It was all because of Miao Zun’s attitude towards humans and the fact that Lu Yin would be forced to enter Vestigium and worship the Divine Tree; that was what Furball wanted to see.

Instead, they received word that the trial had failed.

"Hehe, that child made a move?" Old Man Hehe asked.

Furball replied, "He must have something to do with this. How else could someone with Miao Zun’s strength fail a mere trial? I’m guessing that Miao Zun is probably as good as dead, right?"

Ba Se replied, "Miao Zun’s life or death is unknown. The one who acted was a Seven-Treasure Anura."

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