One day, half a year later, Zhao Ran suddenly appeared, bringing a note for Lu Yin. On it was a set of coordinates.
Lu Yin looked at her in confusion. Zhao Ran explained, "It came from the River of Aeons. I don’t know what it means."
Lu Yin stared at the coordinates on the note. From the River of Aeons?
"Alright, thank you." He stood up and vanished in an instant. No matter who had provided this set of coordinates, he needed to go take a look.
The coordinates were for a very distant location, but teleportation allowed him to arrive quite quickly.
While it was farther away than what an ordinary Immortal could travel in twenty years, Lu Yin stopped and peered into the distance. He saw a megaverse that was home to a civilization. It appeared ordinary to him, but that might just be because he was still too far away.
He moved a bit closer and examined the distant civilization. He still felt that it was rather ordinary, but at a closer distance, he was able to sense the aura of an Immortal that was spread across the entire megaverse at all times.
It felt similar to how Green Lotus protected the Human Trio with his Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, though what Lu Yin was currently seeing was far weaker. This was simply the efforts of an ordinary Immortal.
Could this be the site of Miao Zun’s trial? Back when he had been tested by Obscura, he had been tasked with eradicating the Thorn Civilization, which had also only had one Immortal.
Miao Zun’s trial should be similar, since Obscura’s entrance trials were not about personal strength, but rather about a candidate’s ability to use other civilizations. To pass the trial, a candidate could not take direct action. They had to use another civilization to destroy their target civilization.
If Lu Yin’s suspicions were correct, then who had given him the coordinates? It could not possibly have been Hong Xia. There was no need for him to hide anything, and he would have simply told Lu Yin directly.
Only someone from Obscura could know these specific coordinates, but who in Obscura, aside from Hong Xia, would share them with Lu Yin? The first to come to mind was Old Man Hehe, as he could influence the main stream of the River of Aeons. It should not be impossible for them to pass a note down a River of Aeons. Also, while that ancient powerhouse had infuriated Lu Yin on multiple occasions, they had also saved his life on the battlefield.
Could it be them?
Lu Yin forced himself to stop speculating. No matter who it was, since he may have found the civilization that was Miao Zun’s target, even before being told by Hong Xia, the situation had become advantageous to Lu Yin.
He first went back to Old First to capture the Jade Thread of Heaven. Then, he took the toad, Greater Sancte Blood Tower, the Jade Thread of Heaven, and the Seven-Treasure Anuras to the target civilization. They stayed far enough away from the target for its guardian Immortal to not detect them yet close enough for Old First to arrive quickly.
After that, Lu Yin went to visit Crimson Starshade.
Hong Xia wanted Lu Yin to skirt the edge of breaking Obscura’s rules, or even outright break them. In that case, Lu Yin would make Hong Xia be witness to the fact that he was not breaking any rules.
In the Aevum Inch, beneath a sky with no suns, dark-red gas blanketed the land, blotting out the sky. All manner of grotesque, strange insects crawled across the land. Some even curled into balls and rolled around. The scene was utterly unsettling.
Space twisted, and a shadow stepped out. They took out a floating coffin and drew a gate.
Underground, a pair of fierce, ugly eyes opened. The pupils shifted to look upward and stare at the surface.
The shadow finished drawing the gate and looked down, as if meeting the savage gaze. "Miao Zun, are you willing to join my Obscura?"
The eyes flickered with a vicious coldness, and a sound similar to glass being cut came forth. "Willing."
"Good. Complete your trial, and you may join my Obscura. Your trial target is the Ning Megaverse. You may not act personally and may only use civilizations. Pass this trial and you may join. Good luck." With that, the shadow stepped through the gate and vanished.
Once the shadow was gone, the land split open. A gigantic, triangular monstrosity crawled up, large enough to pressure the void. More than ten legs, solid like iron hammers, stomped the ground. Each step shattered space in all directions.
The creature stretched its body and then roared at the sky with enough force to shatter the stars. It then sprang up and ran toward a certain direction.
Obscura was truly troublesome. To destroy a civilization, it had to use another civilization. Fortunately, Miao Zun knew the location of a qualified civilization. It was one which had once allied with their own civilization in the war against Obscura. In the end, Miao Zun’s own civilization had been destroyed, while their allies had been crippled.
But even crippled, it would be no problem for them to destroy a civilization with only one Immortal.
However, that civilization knew of Obscura and would not be willing to pass through a gate. Miao Zun would have to force their hand.
With that thought, the creature ran faster and faster, reaching a speed that far surpassed most Immortals. Each step left deep imprints in the Aevum Inch and shattered the cosmos.
Elsewhere, Lu Yin arrived at the Crimson Starshade Megaverse, but he did not look for Hong Xia. Instead, he went straight to the Blood Tower and sat down cross-legged in outer space to face Jiu Wen.
The man was puzzled. "What is this?"
Lu Yin met Jiu Wen’s gaze. "The Path of Dispassion is a legacy of human civilization. This junior once misunderstood the Path of Dispassion. Now, I want to understand it more deeply."
Jiu Wen was surprised. "You want to cultivate the Path of Dispassion?"
Lu Yin nodded.
Jiu Wen said, "A person’s energy is limited. Mr. Lu, reaching your current height is unprecedented throughout the past and present. Even in the Nine Ramparts era, you would have stood at the pinnacle. Why cultivate other powers? Doing so is not only useless, but also harmful. Furthermore, you do not understand the Path of Dispassion. The Path of Dispassion cannot coexist with other powers."
Lu Yin smiled. "This junior understands the nature of the Path of Dispassion very well, but cultivating the Path of Dispassion is only to perfect my mental state. I won’t cultivate its power, only its meaning."
"So that is how it is. In that case, this old man will share some stories with you. Perhaps you can comprehend the Path of Dispassion from them," Jiu Wen said.
Lu Yin was grateful. "Thank you, Senior."
The stories that Jiu Wen shared might have come from the Second Rampart’s history or simply be his own inventions. Regardless of their origin, they aligned with Jiu Wen’s Path of Dispassion.
His Path of Dispassion was the Path of Dispassion followed by the Second Rampart.
Lu Yin listened to story after story, his mind sinking into them as if becoming a person within the tales, experiencing different choices again and again and feeling various mental states again and again.
Not far away, Hong Xia observed the entire time. Lu Yin should have come to learn the location of Miao Zun’s target megaverse from Hong Xia, but he would not tell the brat at this time. Telling Lu Yin too early would give him time to prepare. It was better to wait. Miao Zun would not act quickly. Hong Xia would tell Lu Yin the target after Miao Zun started to move.
Then, the brat would have to teleport over in order to arrive in time, and that would give Hong Xia ammunition to accuse Lu Yin in Vestigium. Even if Lu Yin did not clearly break the rules, he would still have to flirt with breaking them.
If Miao Zun proved to be insufficient, then he would use two candidates next time. Lu Yin might be able to handle one, but what about two?
Someone would eventually force him to break Obscura’s rules, as long as he did not worship the Divine Tree.
Just wait. You can only learn the location of the target civilization from me. I will make you wait until the last moment.
With that thought, Hong Xia sneered and closed his eyes.
Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed. During these years, Lu Yin had sat in front of the Blood Tower. Sometimes, he listened to Jiu Wen’s stories. Sometimes, he pondered. Sometimes, he had discussions with Jiu Wen. Xi Shangfeng also occasionally spoke a few words. The time passed quickly enough.
"Senior, this junior has heard that there was a saying in the Second Rampart: Crimson Starshade follows the Path of Dispassion, yet Hong Shuang alone is the most compassionate.
"You have shared many stories with me, including ones about affection and love. Affection and love are choices of action, while the Path of Dispassion is a choice of one’s mental state. Action and mental state do not have to conflict with each other, but if they do not conflict, are the emotions still real? Without a conflict, how can there be emotions when following the Path of Dispassion?