If a powerful civilization truly wanted to find the Tricolor Skyborne, they would find a way. Even so, having a general direction would save them a great deal of time.
Of course, even if they saved some time, actually locating the snails could still take centuries or even millennia if the searchers’ luck was poor. Still, such spans of time were not considered long for civilizations that roamed the Aevum Inch.
Lu Yin looked at a stone in his hand. Some other creature had carved, ‘How deep is your grudge? After throwing out hundreds of copies of these coordinates, now everyone in this Thread of Heaven knows the location of those Tricolor Skyborne. Despicable.’
Lu Yin tossed the stone and picked up another. ‘Tricolor Skyborne? Sounds domineering. They’re probably trouble. Best not to provoke them.’
‘I hate names that swagger like that. Tell us what these Tricolor Skyborne can do. Don’t just throw out coordinates...’
Lu Yin and Mu Zhu frantically flung out stones with the Tricolor Skyborne's coordinates, stirring up a commotion in the Thread of Heaven. The place had previously been almost dead silent. Stones had only occasionally been collected or tossed out, but at this moment, the entire place buzzed with discussions about the giant snails.
Lu Yin believed that most of the creatures in the Thread of Heaven must have already seen one of the stones with the coordinates.
Greater Sancte Blood Tower had remained in the Thread of Heaven for more than a decade. During that time, he had read every stone that had been tossed out. No new creatures had arrived since then, and the place had only grown more silent after his departure.
For some beings, it was normal to remain in a Thread of Heaven for one or two thousand years.
“Junior Brother, someone is cursing you,” Mu Zhu commented while lifting a stone that was covered with insults and crude faces.
Lu Yin shook his head. “Their civilization’s coordinates were probably sold before, and they’re just venting on me.”
Right as Mu Zhu was about to toss the stone aside, Lu Yin said, “Give it here.”
Mu Zhu watched in utter speechlessness as he carved, ‘Serves you right.’
Then he threw the stone out.
Mu Zhu could not hold back her laugh. Was there any point in such actions?
She suddenly remembered just how young Lu Yin was. He was no more than a few centuries old. To those like Mu Zhu, he was essentially a child.
Even so, the “child” carried the burden of an entire civilization and had already experienced more than most ever would.
Mu Zhu looked at him with pity. “Junior Brother, here’s another batch of insults. Would you like to reply?”
“That’s a waste of time.”
“...”
Lu Yin suddenly thought of something: while the Tricolor Skyborne were not a well-known species, what if he threw out something about the Seven-Treasure Anura themselves? Would anyone recognize that species?
He immediately acted on that impulse, drawing a picture of Astral Anura on a stone and tossing it out.
He then grabbed another stone to read, and his eyes immediately narrowed. “Senior sister.”
Mu Zhu looked over and saw a character carved on the stone: ‘Cauldron (鼎).’
Cauldron.
What does that mean? Lu Yin immediately thought of the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation, which was Mister Mu’s ultimate technique.
Mu Zhu’s thoughts matched his own, and she looked up to meet Lu Yin’s eyes. “That is very likely it.”
Lu Yin clenched the stone tightly. After thinking for a moment, he wrote ‘Cauldron (鼎)’ on the same stone beneath the original character and threw it back out.
He watched the stone get grabbed, though it was impossible to tell where it was taken.
He looked for the stone that he had drawn Astral Anura’s picture on, only to find that it was also gone. Someone had taken it.
There were countless stones on the surface of the upper jaw; they were as numerous as the stars. Even if no more were added, it would take a long time to read through every one already there.
Most were useless.
Lu Yin solely focused on the locations where the two stones had appeared, as he wanted to prevent anyone else from snagging the stones before him.
The rest were left for Mu Zhu to peruse.
Before long, the Astral Anura stone appeared again. Lu Yin hurriedly snatched it up and looked: ‘My dear father!’
What is this?
Beneath the sketch of Astral Anura were only those words. ‘My dear father!’
Was someone in the Thread of Heaven trying to claim kinship to Astral Anura? For them to call the toad their dear father, could there be one of the Seven-Treasures Astral Anuras present? No, that was impossible. If one were present, why would they call Astral Anura their father?
Humans were able to recognize individual faces, and there was no doubt that the Seven-Treasure Anuras could do the same within their species. If the one writing on the stone was one of those toads, they would never have made such a mistake.
If it’s not one of the toads, then who are they calling father?
Instinctively, Lu Yin checked the universal script written on the walls of their chamber, just to reconfirm that the stone really did say, ‘My dear father!’
“What is it?” Mu Zhu asked.
“Nothing.” Unsure of how to respond, Lu Yin drew two question marks and tossed the stone back out.
The cauldron stone reappeared. Lu Yin grabbed it and found another cauldron (鼎) character had been added, which made for a total of three. He wrote a fourth and threw it back out.
He glanced up and saw that the Astral Anura stone had reappeared. That was a fast reply.
He picked it up and read, ‘I’m your son, my dear father!’
Lu Yin’s face twitched. You’re the son. Wait, no.
The other party had already demeaned themselves. He could not even insult them.
Strangely, his curiosity about the one corresponding with him through the stone had started to outweigh his interest in the one where they were writing cauldron (鼎).
After thinking for a moment, Lu Yin wrote, ‘I don’t believe you.’ Then, he tossed the stone back out.