Hongyan Mavis's words made Astral Anura clench his jaw. He thought for a moment and then looked at the ones being assaulted by the endless blades. Ultimately, he refused. "Don't think that you can tempt me! There’s no question that I’m friends with the four Boundary Guardians! We might as well be sworn siblings! I would never accept payment from them, let alone help you. How ridiculous!"
Hongyan Mavis sneered. "Then go ahead and find it yourself. The Mirari Realm has forbidden areas that even our master didn't dare to enter. If you enter one of those, you'll either die or end up crippled. If you want to search all of them, I can promise that, before you find the path to Immortality, you'll be nothing more than a dead toad."
Astral Anura grew furious. "You're the dead toad!"
"Nothing more than a mere toad," Lu Yin mocked, repeating the Great Sovereign’s comment.
The comment completely enraged Astral Anura. He remembered when the Great Sovereign had stepped on his head in the Second Scourge, as well as his brutal defeat when he had teamed up with Yong Heng to fight against Lu Yuan and the others. Just remembering that incident left Astral Anura feeling wronged, and he grew furious and bitter.
He was eager to break through and become an Immortal, as that would allow him to kill the people who were present, every last one of them.
Wait a minute. His eyes narrowed, and he revealed a slimy smile. "You humans intend to allow me to break through to Immortality? Is this a joke? Wouldn’t my breakthrough terrify you all?"
Hongyan Mavis replied, "There are limits even to Immortals. Even if you become invincible, it still won't be easy for you to attack us. Of course, we also would struggle to even try to attack you, but there are no absolutes in existence."
Hearing this made Astral Anura think, as this was quite reasonable.
Lu Yin found the situation rather strange. Hongyan Mavis was repeating words that had once been spoken by the Origin Progenitor. She used them quite smoothly, but the words that had once been spoken to Lu Yin were suddenly being used on Astral Anura.
It was true that, the higher one's cultivation, the more they tended to believe such seemingly abstract concepts.
Tian Fa suddenly spoke up. "Even if you find the right path, we will ensure that you have nowhere to go."
Astral Anura was horrified. This threat from Tian Fa sent a chill through the toad’s entire body. Even if he found the path to Immortality, what good would it do him? If the four Boundary Guardians decided to attack, Astral Anura would be dead long before he became an Immortal.
The thought of such a possibility snapped him back to reality, and Astral Anura angrily waved his lotus leaf while glaring at Lu Yin and Hongyan Mavis. "Lu Yin, cut the nonsense! Don't think that you can tempt me! I'm best friends with the four Boundary Guardians! I am completely on the side of the four Boundary Guardians and will help them uphold the order of the megaverse! I am the future fifth Boundary Guardian!"
Second Meng and Second Zi exchanged glances, and both the other’s strange expression and barely restrained laughter. A toad was jumping around and shouting while waving a lotus leaf about. The sight surprisingly eased their fear of this unknown place where they had found themselves.
Only Second Shan looked at the toad with rising fear. This toad is terrifying!
Lu Yin sighed. "Astral Anura, do you really think that Tian Fa is going to leave this place alive? All four Boundary Guardians will die as well."
"Shut up! You have no right to insult my friends!" Astral Anura shouted.
He was yelling fiercely, yet he showed no intention of actually attacking anyone. Instead, the toad was letting Tian Fa and Lu Yin continue their standoff. Astral Anura just wanted to keep as much distance as possible while not helping Lu Yin, though he also wanted to avoid assisting Tian Fa.
Lu Yin shook his head. "If Immortality isn't enough to convince you, then how about this?"
As he spoke, Lu Yin moved with Inverse Step, avoiding all the blades while withdrawing a steel fork from his cosmic ring that he then threw to the ground.
The steel fork stabbed into the ground, vibrating in front of Astral Anura.
The toad stared at the steel fork, puzzled at first. After a moment, his eyes turned red with rage, and he finally let out a roar of fury. "That’s my old weapon! Where did you get it?"
Lu Yin sneered, "Did you really think that we couldn't find your lair? Daheng gave you a stone, didn’t he? Do you think that I gave it to him on accident?"
The toad’s vicious glare turned to focus onto Mr. Daheng.
The Arborean was dumbfounded; what did he have to do with the current situation?
In the past, Lu Yin had schemed against Mr. Daheng, and he had ultimately sent the man to the Endless Frontier as punishment. There had been no connection between that incident and tracking down Astral Anura. Lu Yin’s scheme had only targeted Luo Shan and Mr. Daheng. At the end of the matter, in order to make peace with Mr. Daheng, Lu Yin had given him a Peaks and Rivers Stone.
At that point in time, Lu Yin had already possessed his own stone, so giving one to Mr. Daheng had not made any difference to him. To their understanding, multiple stones needed to be gathered and put together like a puzzle to reveal the way to the Mirari Realm.
Only later had Lu Yin learned the true method to enter the Mirari Realm from Blackless God. With that knowledge, Lu Yin had formed a plan to use the stone to drag Astral Anura in to help him deal with Tian Fa. However, he also needed some way to force the toad to help him. It was at that point that Lu Yin had remembered the Peaks and Rivers Stone that he had given to Mr. Daheng.
The stones were formed from the megaverse itself, and since they were fragments, each stone had a unique shape.
Lu Yin had simply used Bi Rong’s compass while thinking of the stone that he had given to Mr. Daheng to easily locate Astral Anura's lair. Luckily, Mr. Daheng really had given the toad the stone, or else Lu Yin might never have found the right universe.
This was the most crucial step in manipulating Astral Anura.
The toad was too cunning, and he had lived for countless years, gaining knowledge about nearly everything. From his attitude towards Tian En when the butterfly had appeared in the First Scourge, Lu Yin knew that merely tempting Astral Anura with rewards might not be enough to force his hand. However, raiding the toad’s lair and plundering his entire hoard would put enough pressure on Astral Anura. Of course, there was no guarantee of success. Everything depended on how much the toad valued his hoard.
If the plan failed, it would not be a terrible problem. In the worst case scenario, Lu Yin and the others would simply flee from the Mirari Realm and then find another way to deal with the four Boundary Guardians.
The four Ortusers were a formidable obstacle, and as long as they were not dealt with, it would be impossible to truly eliminate Aeternus. Even if it ultimately led to a confrontation against both the Boundary Guardians and the Aeternals at the same time, Lu Yin was willing to take a risk and gamble on this one opportunity, as it was the only way to eliminate Tian Fa.
There was only one chance to surround Tian Fa and kill it.
Cultivators frequently had to take risks, and Lu Yin was no exception. Every cultivation realm had its own dangers and risks, and dealing with the four Boundary Guardians was a challenge that had to be overcome.
The four Ortusers were unhappy with humanity, and they had plotted against the Origin Progenitor, attacked Progenitor Ku, and forced a truce in the war between humanity and Aeternus. Their repeated actions against humanity were unforgivable in Lu Yin's eyes.
The intention was to surround and kill Tian Fa, and Lu Yin was already prepared for an all-out war with the rest of the Boundary Guardians.
Ancestor Lu Yuan and others had also prepared themselves. Humanity faced too many challenges, but they would eventually overcome them all.
Seeing his steel fork drove Astral Anura mad. His nostrils flared, and his body shifted through a kaleidoscopic array of colors. He reached out and grabbed the steel fork as a necklace of skulls appeared around his neck. The toad suddenly leaped at Lu Yin. "You thief!"
Lu Yin's eyes narrowed as he stared at Astral Anura. "I'm going to sell off your entire hoard for dirt-cheap. It’ll be the worst deal of your entire life!"
"I want you dead!" Astral Anura's body suddenly grew larger as he clenched his steel fork and thrust it towards Lu Yin.
Hongyan Mavis made a fist, and plants quickly grew from the ground to block Astral Anura's attack, but the toad’s steel fork pierced through the vegetation as it continued straight towards Lu Yin in a deadly attack.
"It’s no good! Retreat!" Hongyan Mavis shouted.
Lu Yin stared at the toad, and Astral Anura stared back. Unprecedented ferocity filled the toad’s eyes that were otherwise devoid of emotion or intelligence. They were the eyes of a wild, enraged beast.
The steel fork grazed the top of Lu Yin's head, drawing a line of blood.
Shan Gu was horrified. "Dao Monarch!"
Lu Yin felt the cold killing intent emanating from the steel fork, but this bloodlust was not aimed at him. It was aimed at Tian Fa, who was behind him and above countless blades.
Astral Anura had finally been coerced into helping Lu Yin. It was possible that his madness was his hoard, and it might be even more important to the toad than reaching Immortality.