Old Man Hehe said, "I know the answer, but I will not tell you."
"I am also a member of Obscura."
"We can talk after you have worshiped the Divine Tree. Child, it is meaningless for you to remain on guard against Obscura. Unless you recreate the splendor of the Nine Ramparts, killing you or not makes no difference to us. What is the difference between you appearing here or appearing in Vestigium?"
Lu Yin said, "The Mudwater Dominion is here. Vestigium doesn’t have it."
"Hehe, young man, you should have more vigor and less cunning. When you reach my age, you will regret not being impulsive. Immortality does not mean that you do not grow old."
Lu Yin said nothing more, and Lan Meng ended the call in silence.
Obscura feared humanity, yet they still allowed Lu Yin to grow. From Lan Meng's perspective, this was an extremely unwise decision. If they were destined to be mortal enemies, humanity should be destroyed.
But rules stood above all within Obscura.
More months passed. High above them, the paper bridge stretched out once more. They had arrived.
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. Since Ni Bieluo had deliberately gathered the eight elders, some sort of activity was inevitable. Either they would avoid Lu Yin if at all possible, or they would kill him.
He decided that he would no longer help in Old Man Hehe's battle. Did that old monster truly think that Lu Yin cared that much about touching the main stream of the River of Aeons? He did care, of course, but nothing was more important than his own survival. He would not take any further action in this war
The paper bridge vanished. Far in the distance, Mudwater Dominions could vaguely be seen approaching.
Lu Yin used his Mirrorlight Art to look over. His pupils shrank. A human?
The creature from the Mudwater Dominion that had appeared in the distance was another mud doll, but this one was attached to the crown of a human middle-aged man. It looked as if it had partially swallowed the man.
Lu Yin suddenly looked at Lan Meng. "Are there humans on this battlefield?"
Lan Meng was bewildered. "I do not know."
Lu Yin frowned tightly as he stared into the distance. The man was indeed human. This was not a disguise. Obscura had drawn another human civilization onto the battlefield.
Which human civilization was it? It could not be the Human Trio or Crimson Starshade, as both were protected for a period of time. This meant that it had to be another human civilization that Lu Yin was unaware of.
This was Ni Bieluo's strategy to deal with Lu Yin. This man was bait.
"Contact Old Man Hehe."
Lan Meng immediately did so.
"Humans?" Old Man Hehe was surprised. "Oh, that is certainly possible. Obscura is aware of more than one human civilization. I do not know why they have not been destroyed yet, but it is perfectly normal to draw them into a fight.
"Even though the Nine Ramparts’ peak was absolutely brilliant, the human civilizations of today no longer warrant any fear. In the eyes of Obscura, they are the same as any other civilization that can be lured onto a battlefield. Of course, I am talking about the weak human civilizations that have survived. Human civilizations which require a five-star mission reward or above to obtain their information do not fall into that category."
Lu Yin said, "Is this human civilization the one whose information is available as a two-star reward?"
"Very likely. What? You want to take action? Right, I almost forgot, you humans are very complex creatures. When ruthless, you might betray everyone, but when affectionate, you can face death without fear. This is how Ni Bieluo is testing you. It is trying to confirm whether you are a creature which truly cares about your own kind."
"If I show that I care, I fall into its trap. That human civilization must already be in their control."
"Correct."
"Then what if I don’t care?"
"Hehe, then that human civilization will be recorded, just like any other civilization that the Mudwater Dominion encounters. Of course, their deaths will not be painful. But if you do care, then unless you are certain that you can save them, what awaits them is a torment more painful than death." Old Man Hehe sounded delighted by the misfortune of others. "The value of being useful can grant you a perfect life, or it can offer you a life of despair."
The mud doll lounged in outer space, clinging to the middle-aged man's head. The man trudged forward, as awkward as a puppet, clearly in agony.
Suddenly, time froze. There was a stream of gray light, and Lu Yin abruptly appeared right before the middle-aged man, a hand outstretched and pointing at the mud doll.
The mud doll saw the hand and tried to counterattack, only to discover that it could not move. It was trapped by purple sight power.
Everything took no more than an instant. A moment later, Lu Yin's finger stabbed into the mud doll. He ripped it off of the middle-aged man and casually flung it away while releasing his Investiture of the Gods. Tri-Azure Sword Intent: Hidden Blade.
Strands of sword intent erupted and surged forward. The mud doll had already been badly wounded, and it was utterly incapable of retaliating.
As an Immortal, even one that had been forcibly elevated into that realm, it should not have been rendered absolute helplessness by Lu Yin. However, it truly had no ability to fight back.
With teleportation, the power of time, and Lu Yin's experience fighting against the eight elders, then forget a mud doll. Even if Lu Yin encountered another opponent equal to Ni Gui, he was confident that he could leave it with little room to fight back.
The Mudwater Dominion's prided absolute means were worthless against him.
The middle-aged man collapsed. Lu Yin caught him and settled him down onto a planet. There was thick vegetation all around, releasing various scents. Strange creatures made sounds, but they all fell silent when Lu Yin landed, overcome with fear.
"No... don’t kill it." The middle-aged man's hazy eyes struggled to open. There were threads of blood sticking his eyelids sealed, and he struggled to even speak.
Lu Yin heavily replied, "I didn’t kill it. It’s still of use."
Cough, cough, cough, cough...
Lu Yin tried to treat the middle-aged man's injuries, only to find that the man's internal organs and meridians had been shattered. His blood was congealing. He would not survive.
"Thank you." With the last of his strength, the middle-aged man grasped Lu Yin's arm. He forced his blurry eyes to open and rasped in a hoarse, weak voice, "Save... save us. I beg you... save... save us.
"We... we are the Mountain Sword Sect. You are also... human. I beg you, save us."
Lu Yin felt heavy in his heart. "Don’t say anything more. I will see for myself. Rest a moment."
As he spoke, a spiral of karma flicked from his fingertip, entering the middle-aged man's body and allowing Lu Yin to see the man's past.
The man could barely even speak, so Lu Yin could only use karma to learn as much as possible about the Mountain Sword Sect.
Karma revealed multiple scenes of the past. Lu Yin calmly watched as time flowed on. After more than half an hour, the middle-aged man passed away.
Lu Yin closed his eyes, his mood ruined.
The Mountain Sword Sect was a human civilization that had existed in a certain megaverse, but unlike the Tianyuan or the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, humanity had lost in the Mountain Sword Sect’s megaverse. Fortunately, their ancestor was an Immortal, and despite losing to other Immortals from the same megaverse, he had at least been able to protect himself. He had gathered all humans, hiding them within the Mountain Sword Sect, and then taken the mountain itself to leave their megaverse. If they had not left, their entire civilization would have eventually been destroyed.