In that case, I should kill this one first.
With that thought, the two long white blades beside Ni Ren attacked Hong Xia. The two had fought more than once during this war, but both had always shown a level of restraint, and they had never managed to see the other's true strength.
Hong Xia had no desire to entangle himself with Ni Ren. Every clash further increased his karmic chain. Even if he ultimately defeated Ni Ren, the designated karma would ruin him. There were no benefits to be found in this battle; merely restraining Ni Ren was enough.
This was also the entire goal of Obscura’s war against the Mudwater Dominion. No losses meant victory.
Clang, clang, clang. The red sword and white blades clashed as the two fought. While Hong Xia did not want to fight Ni Ren, he could not simply abandon his opponent. If he did, he would not be able to answer to Obscura.
While they fought, the Mountain Sword Sect suddenly vanished.
Hong Xia stared in shock into the distance. He had seen a gate swallow the Mountain Sword Sect, causing the mountain to disappear. Did that one intervene?
Ni Ren was stunned as well. Where is the Mountain Sword Sect? Gone?
Obscura had rescued the Mountain Sword Sect. Logically, Obscura should not care about such a weak civilization. Besides, this civilization’s Immortal had already been recorded by Ni Ren, so what was the point of taking the Mountain Sword Sect away?
Could it be because of that Aberrant?
Ni Ren regretted its decision. Hong Xia's uncaring attitude had led it to believe that the Aberrant also did not care about his own kind and would not come to save this civilization. That belief had caused Ni Ren to ignore the Mountain Sword Sect while fighting against Hong Xia.
Who would have thought that the mountain would be rescued so easily?
"It seems that you do care about your own kind after all. You put on such a convincing act." Ni Ren was furious. A slash of a white blade tore through the void, opening a rift that stretched out endlessly.
Hong Xia dodged while staring at Ni Ren. "You were never testing me. This was all because of some other human."
"So what?" Ni Ren kept attacking with its civilizational weapons.
Hong Xia also regretted his actions. He thought that Ni Ren had brought out the Mountain Sword Sect to influence him, and he had even mocked Ni Ren for being naive. However, the moment that Obscura rescued the Mountain Sword Sect, Hong Xia had realized his mistake; the Mountain Sword Sect had never been bait for him, but rather Lu Yin.
Lu Yin was also fighting in this war. His status as a powerful Aberrant left no doubt that he must have caused the Mudwater Dominion to suffer heavy losses. On top of that, the Mudwater Dominion had happened to stumble upon a human civilization on the battlefield, so they had wanted to use that civilization to counter Lu Yin. This had been a trap to eliminate Lu Yin.
But Hong Xia’s own lack of concern had convinced Ni Ren that humans did not care about their own kind, undermining the trap. The less that Hong Xia cared, the more convinced that Ni Ren was that Lu Yin was the same. Things had continued until the creature had removed all protection from the Mountain Sword Sect, allowing the civilization to be easily rescued.
It was as if Hong Xia had unwittingly helped Lu Yin. How infuriating.
Hong Xia rarely grew angry. "Why did you not say earlier that this was to deal with Lu Yin?"
"Lu Yin?" Ni Ren was puzzled. "Is that the Aberrant's name? What do you mean by that?"
Hong Xia fell back, silently staring at Ni Ren. After a moment, the man turned around and left.
Ni Ren looked at the emptiness before it. Its opponent had simply left. What did his words mean? Was it possible that this Obscura member also wanted to deal with the Aberrant? That would explain why he was no longer keeping Ni Ren occupied.
With that conclusion, Ni Ren took out a paper bridge. Without an opponent to hold it back, it could leave the current battlefield and kill that Aberrant.
Success depended on whether Ni Ren’s opponent would interfere.
The paper bridge stretched out, and Ni Ren stepped onto it, carrying its Mudwater Dominion with it and instantly vanishing.
Hong Xia watched from afar, doing nothing to stop it. There was no doubt that his actions would displease Ba Se. Every member of Obscura fighting in this war had been assigned to a specific enemy. They were not required to kill that enemy, merely hold them back. However, Hong Xia had allowed Ni Ren to leave.
He did not want to offend Ba Se, but dealing with Lu Yin was a far more urgent priority. As long as Lu Yin died, all of Hong Xia’s problems would be resolved at once. Compared to that, as long as he did not openly violate Obscura's rules, Obscura would not do anything to him.
***
Elsewhere, Lu Yin stared at the gate that opened before him. The Mountain Sword Sect emerged from it and quickly expanded. He was thrilled. They had been rescued so quickly.
Lan Meng was also astonished. This was far too efficient.
There were countless humans within the Mountain Sword Sect who had survived. Having been rescued, they were extremely grateful to Lu Yin, and they were also curious as to which human civilization he was from. Even so, they were even more eager to rescue their ancestor.
Across the Mountain Sword Sect, everyone knelt, begging Lu Yin to save their ancestor.
There was nothing Lu Yin could do. He simply transferred the people from the Mountain Sword Sect to a Zenith Mountain and then put it away.
"Ba Se, thank you."
Ba Se replied, "This was a mission reward. You have used up your rewards from this war. I wish you luck."
With that, the gate vanished.
A short distance away, Lan Meng felt that this use of rewards was a pity. Two four-star rewards had been used up in an instant. If turned in after the war, the potential rewards that they could be exchanged for were too tempting for even powerful Immortals to resist.
"Contact Old Man Hehe."
"Hehe, child, are you looking for me again?"
"I want to know who from Obscura is fighting Ni Ren."
"You rescued that human civilization?" Old Man Hehe was genuinely surprised. "You must have used an extraordinary reward."
It was not surprising that the ancient powerhouse had quickly reached that conclusion. If Ni Bieluo had been the one to set the trap for Lu Yin, then not even Ba Se could have rescued the human civilization so quickly. That meant that Ni Ren was the only possibility. There was also a substantial difference between Ni Ren and Ni Bieluo.
"Two four-star rewards."
"What a pity, what a pity. Upon killing my opponent of the eight elders, you would have been able to exchange your rewards for a five-star reward. Do you know how tempting a five-star reward is? Even I would be moved by that. Truly, what a pity."
"I won’t help you now."
"Hm? You no longer want to touch the main stream of the River of Aeons?"
"If I kill another of the eight elders, Ni Bieluo will definitely come after me itself."
"Hehe. Even if you do not kill another, the result will not change."
"What do you mean?" Lu Yin froze. At that exact moment, the paper bridge reappeared. As it did so, an indescribably sharpness filled the area, along with a suffocating, terrifying sense of dread. Pressure surged over from the distance, racing straight for Lu Yin.