That Mountain Sword Sect’s ancestor had led human civilization across the Aevum Inch while searching for a suitable home. As they traveled, they had faced many dangers and wars. They had found a suitable home, only to be marked by Obscura and made into a tool.
The Mountain Sword Sect was completely unable to resist Obscura. They were ants compared to Obscura. Their Immortal had had no choice but to fight war after war for Obscura in order to preserve the human legacy of the Mountain Sword Sect.
The middle-aged man had been one of the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor’s disciples. The man had personally witnessed how, time and time again, his master’s robes were stained with blood, how he had walked the edge of life and death, how he repeatedly tried to break free of Obscura, and how he had silently stepped onto yet more battlefields.
The entire Mountain Sword Sect was weeping. Everyone grieved for their ancestor, yet no one could replace him.
Finally, the entire Mountain Sword Sect had been taken to the current war. Through reading the middle-aged man's past with karma, Lu Yin learned that they had been targeted by the Mudwater Dominion. Lu Yin himself was the most likely cause.
He had captured Ni Gui and killed Ni Bai, both of which were heavy losses for the Mudwater Dominion. More of his same species just happened to be on the same battlefield, so it made sense that the Mudwater Dominion had struck them.
It was all because of Lu Yin. But he had not expected a human civilization to actually appear on the current battlefield.
If he could have killed Ni Fan, the Mountain Sword Sect would not have suffered such a tragedy. It was all because of Lu Yin.
His fists clenched tightly. "I am sorry!"
He stared at the middle-aged man's corpse in silence. Before long, the mud doll fell down in front of him, slamming into the ground.
Lu Yin looked down at the mud doll. "Where is the Mountain Sword Sect?"
The creature took out a sheet of white paper and folded it into the shape of a paper bridge. "This can take you to find them."
Clearly, this was the Mudwater Dominion's test for him. Just as Old Man Hehe had said, the Mudwater Dominion was uncertain if humans truly cared about their own kind. This was nothing more than a test. If he showed that he did not care, it did not matter. If he did, they could use this to remove Lu Yin.
The Mudwater Dominion did not fear Obscura’s many powerful Immortals, but they did fear an Aberrant like Lu Yin. He was an existence that the Mudwater Dominion could not accept, no matter what. Not only that, but he had also already forced them to suffer heavy losses.
"And if I don’t go?"
"If you do not appear, half will die," the mud doll replied.
Lu Yin exhaled. His Champions' Stage Purgatory appeared, and he threw the mud doll in to increase his karma. As that happened, he stared off into the distance in a daze.
The Mountain Sword Sect was not a mere sect, but rather a surviving remnant of a human civilization. Everyone had been gathered within the Mountain Sword Sect under the protection of their Immortal. It was an entire civilization.
This civilization should be the same as the Tianyuan and the others in the Human Trio: former bait. It just so happened that, because of Hong Xia betrayal and the fall of the Second Rampart, humanity’s powerful enemies had stopped chasing the bait and had instead launched a full assault against the Nine Ramparts. That had given the bait a chance to survive.
In truth, they were all the same as the Mountain Sword Sect.
Lu Yin would have to watch half of the Mountain Sword Sect's people die for nothing. It was all because of him. He could not accept that.
But how could he save them?
All that awaited him was certain death in a trap that the Mudwater Dominion had prepared.
Lu Yin was not arrogant enough to think that he could break free of a death trap prepared by a fishing civilization with just his own power. His teleportation, Crow Immobilization, karma, and everything else combined was not enough to compensate for the immense gap between him and an absolute powerhouse.
Lan Meng approached. The small gate was still open beside him, and Old Man Hehe's voice came through it. "Troubled, child?"
Lu Yin did not answer.
"Hehe, as expected, you have cultivated for too short a time and have not yet grown numb. You have not seen the cosmos clearly at all."
Lu Yin's eyes shifted over to the gate. Those words sounded familiar. Master Qing Cao had said the same thing several times.
"The cosmos is a cycle. Every living creature is composed of matter that exists within a given megaverse. When a creature dies, the matter it was composed of will recombine to form another creature. What is thought of as reluctance to let go of life mostly comes from emotional bonds. Humans end up like this precisely because they have too many emotional bonds. If you do not go to save them, this war will end soon. Whether they live or die has nothing to do with you, as it is due to their own incompetence.
"Hehe, or do you believe that, if you act, you can save them?"