Jiu Wen continued to explain, “Teleportation is not unbeatable. Even the Plume Immortals can be killed, let alone you. You need to see your destination in order to teleport there, and this flaw, in the eyes of certain powerhouses, essentially makes what you do not teleportation at all, because they can attack further than what you can teleport to.
“Hong Xia is someone capable of doing just that; he simply has not gone all out yet. If he refuses to make a move, then there must be beings at these locations who can.”
Lu Yin frowned. “There can’t possibly be another civilization backing Hong Xia. Unless... it’s a civilization that he can use.”
Jiu Wen pondered. “We have always been the civilization that Hong Xia has exploited. He told me that members of Obscura are required to complete missions, but his own mission has not been completed, even after a very long time.”
Lu Yin was surprised. “Does Hong Xia not have another civilization that he can use?”
“As far as I know, there is none.”
Lu Yin looked away to stare in the direction that Hong Xia had gone in.
If there was no other civilization that the man exploited, he might not need one because Crimson Starshade itself was enough. But there was also another possibility, as Lu Yin understood it. Immortals like Bing Xu rarely left this megaverse, which suggested that their value lay not in being used against other civilizations, but rather in serving Hong Xia alone.
It was also possible that the man had never intended to complete his mission at all and thus had seen no need to exploit any other civilization.
Lu Yin favored the last option. It was quite possible that Hong Xia had never intended to complete his mission. He could be just like Lu Yin, stalling for time.
Obscura was not a single civilization, but rather a force created by beings who were united for some particular purpose. While such a gathering had a unified objective, there was no unified inheritance. Everyone had their own agenda, and they were either there because Obscura’s goal happened to align with theirs or because, like Lu Yin, they had been coerced.
When Hong Xia had been given a choice between the Plume Immortals Civilization and Obscura, he had chosen Obscura. This meant that Obscura had offered him something that the Plume Immortals could not.
In that case, just what was the man’s purpose in joining Obscura? No matter what the purpose might be, Lu Yin would have to investigate all four locations.
Sometimes, even a trap could be a clue.
Lu Yin looked in the direction of the four coordinates. Hong Xia had given them in a specific order, but what meaning did the order have? Did he think Lu Yin would investigate the locations in order or deliberately go in a different order?
With a casual wave, Lu Yin mixed up the records of the four coordinates and then grabbed one at random. Whichever he grabbed would be the next one he visited. This is the one.
None of the four locations were close. The farthest one was much farther away than Furball’s initial location, while the location that Lu Yin had just chosen was about the same distance away.
He started repeatedly teleporting. The closer he got to the location, the more cautious Lu Yin became.
In particular, for the last few teleports, he first used the Mirrorlight Art to examine the distance. He would only move on after clearly scouting out his destination. He did not want to fall into Hong Xia’s trap.
In the end, he found himself staring at an empty megaverse. Lu Yin was baffled. Was this the location that Hong Xia had shared? Why was there nothing there?
There was nothing at all in this megaverse: no creatures, no Mother Tree. Everything that should have been there was simply gone. It did not even feel like it had been reset. No matter what Lu Yin looked at here, the place was disturbing.
Lu Yin cautiously restrained his aura as he entered the megaverse. He carefully examined it with his Mirrorlight Art to confirm that there was truly nothing there.
Hong Xia would not waste time deceiving Lu Yin with an empty megaverse. There was no point in doing so. This megaverse had to conceal something.
He continued his search. To stay on guard against dangers he might not even be able to perceive, Lu Yin avoided teleporting around, reserving it as a hidden trump card.
His search lasted for months, and eventually, Lu Yin found the answer: the power of Stillness.
This megaverse actually contained the power of Stillness. It was extremely faint, to the point of almost being imperceptible, but it was absolutely that very power. If the Stillness was not so miniscule, Lu Yin would have detected it long ago.
Why would the power of Stillness remain in this megaverse? What sort of relationship was there between this megaverse and the Death Megaverse? Also, what did the Death Megaverse have to do with Hong Xia? Was it possible that Hong Xia had a connection to not only the Plume Immortals and Obscura, but also to the Death Megaverse?
That seemed unlikely. Could a human traitor really move between three colossal forces? Not even Lu Yin had the confidence to do that.
He continued his search. Another half a year passed. Lu Yin stared out at the stars and exhaled. This megaverse had already been reset, and it should have been done by the Death Megaverse.
The Death Megaverse had reset this megaverse, but because far too much time had passed since then, even the power of Stillness had faded. As for Hong Xia, he most likely had nothing to do with the reset. If he had, why would he have specifically sent Lu Yin to this megaverse? Just to show his connection to the Death Megaverse?
That did not make any sense at all. Someone as cautious as Hong Xia would not reveal every trump card in their hands. Was he not afraid that Lu Yin would tell Obscura?
There was also a possibility that something had once existed in this megaverse but had been destroyed by the Death Megaverse and that Hong Xia did not know about the destruction.
He may have believed that he was sending Lu Yin to a powerful civilization, one that could pose a threat to Lu Yin. If that were true, then Hong Xia had no clue that the civilization had been destroyed by the Death Megaverse.
Lu Yin considered the situation for a long time before finally returning to Crimson Starshade to see Hong Xia again.
Standing in outer space, Hong Xia observed Lu Yin with cold eyes. “You look miserable.”
Lu Yin’s face was pale, and he no longer appeared as calm as he had before. His eyes even betrayed a lingering bit of fear. “You wanted to kill me.”
Hong Xia slowly replied, “I merely said that one of the four locations is absolutely real. I never said that they were all real.”
“That civilization is very strong. Is that a civilization that you use?” Lu Yin asked, staring at Hong Xia.
Hong Xia sneered. “The Soft Megaverse is a civilization close to the level of a fishing civilization. It isn’t a fishing civilization, but because of their special battle techniques and their control over space, you most likely only escaped by catching them off guard with your ability to teleport. Otherwise, if they had known that you could teleport in advance, you wouldn’t have been able to return.”
Soft Megaverse... Lu Yin understood. He had been testing Hong Xia. It appeared that the situation matched Lu Yin’s guess: Hong Xia had truly wanted to use that cosmic civilization against Lu Yin, but he did not know that the civilization had already been destroyed by the Death Megaverse.
“Are you able to use that civilization, or is it your mission?”
“Why would I tell you?”
“When was the last time you went to the Soft Megaverse?” Lu Yin asked curiously.
Hong Xia frowned. “Why ask that question?”
Lu Yin’s voice grew contemptuous. “The real threat to me there was their ancestor. As far as I can tell, that one’s not any weaker than you.”
Hong Xia’s eyes flared. “You didn’t go to the Soft Megaverse...”
Lu Yin’s brows shot up as he looked at Hong Xia in surprise. Had he already been seen through?
Hong Xia appeared puzzled as he stared intensely at Lu Yin. “That’s not right... You clearly carry the aura of the Soft Megaverse. Such an aura cannot be erased even if a megaverse is destroyed. You must have been there, but...”
At this point, the man’s expression turned heavy. “The Soft Megaverse was destroyed. You saw the Soft Megaverse after it was destroyed.”
Sure enough, Lu Yin had been caught. It was probably because he had mentioned an ancestor.