After returning to the Human Trio, Lu Yin told Green Lotus and the others about Manifest City, but unfortunately, no one could confirm anything. The only ones who knew anything about the mirebound artifact were Hong Xia and his ilk, but how could Lu Yin possibly ask Hong Xia?
Right, there are also Obscura’s rewards.
Lu Yin entered Vestigium and asked Ba Se specifically, but when it came to Manifest City, not even Obscura truly understood it. Lu Yin could only figure it out on his own.
Blood Tower and several others wanted to enter Manifest City. Lu Yin tried to stop them. He did not want anything to happen to them inside, but he could not stop them. It was a mirebound artifact that was a human treasure. If humans did not dare to even try to take control of it for themselves, how could they ever succeed?
Lu Yin had no selfish desire to control Manifest City. If Blood Tower or any of the other human Immortals could succeed, humanity would only benefit. Still, simply entering Manifest City was dangerous.
"It’s fine. At worst, we’ll just wait until you control Manifest City in the future and then you can rescue us. Don’t worry, we won’t go in all at once, but rather one by one," Blood Tower said.
Lu Yin could only agree and take them to Manifest City one by one.
Blood Tower came out after half a year, while Awe Gate emerged after a month. Green Lotus did not go in, not due to fear, but because their human civilization could not bear losing him, even if the chances of that happening were small.
In truth, placing such responsibility onto Green Lotus was often unfair to him. Whether it was exploring the Aevum Inch or entering Manifest City, he could not go. All he could do was stay and guard the Trio.
Despite being an Immortal, it was as if his freedom had been stripped away.
Ku Deng and even Jiang Feng went into the city. Mister Mu did not go, as he already controlled the Ninth Rampart’s mirebound artifact.
Lu Yin was greatly relieved when both Ku Deng and Jiang Feng came back out, especially Jiang Feng. He had also been transformed into an ant. With Lu Yin’s experience as a lesson, the man managed to quickly and easily find the city gate to get out.
Lu Yin and Jiang Feng were actually quite similar.
As for what Blood Tower and Awe Gate became, neither of them said. Lu Yin asked, but they still would not tell him. Their responses caused Lu Yin to suddenly think of the slipper that he had seen.
Ku Deng became a candle. Was that a surprise? Not really. To begin with, his unique world was his heartlamps. Still, a candle was easy to notice. Whose candle could burn all night without being consumed? For that reason, after night fell and lights went out, Ku Deng ran.
He raced for the city gate in the middle of the night.
Luckily, Manifest City seemed to have just one street. With Lu Yin and Blood Tower verifying that much and confirming the direction of the gate, Ku Deng was able to get out. Without that information, he might not have made it.
After coming out, no one ever wanted to go back in.
Ba Yue still had not come out.
A hundred years passed. During those years, Lu Yin built the walls in his heart higher and higher, while also calculating more layers of his Mirrorlight Art. He even re-entered Manifest City once. This time, he appeared closer to the city gate.
That time, he primarily went in to search for other transformed creatures.
While trying to gain control of Manifest City, Che could not have only sent in creatures from one or two species. Whether it was the number or the cultivation of those sent in, there must have been all kinds, including even Immortal powerhouses.
If Che had thrown an Immortal into Manifest City as part of his experiments, then that Immortal must have some knowledge of Che. Perhaps through them, Lu Yin would be able to gather some information.
Even if the possibility was very low, there was no choice. Before gaining enough strength, any information that Lu Yin could gather was worthwhile. Back when they had faced Hong Xia, if they had not learned about Hong Xia’s strength beforehand, they would have suffered terrible losses.
As for controlling Manifest City, Lu Yin had no clues.
He was in no rush and intended to take things slowly. A guardian artifact could not be easy to control, not unless one obtained the Fifth Rampart’s inheritance and knew exactly what to do.
Several more years passed, and Ba Yue finally emerged.
Lu Yin returned to Manifest City once every five years, and he finally saw Ba Yue. She was standing outside of Manifest City, waiting for him.
"You finally came out. What happened?" Lu Yin asked.
Even when she saw Lu Yin, Ba Yue still appeared frightened. "I became a vine and nearly died inside."
Lu Yin arched a brow. A vine? That certainly would not have been easy.
"What did you see in there? Tell me in detail."
Given that she had spent more than a hundred years within Manifest City, Ba Yue had spent more time inside than anyone else.
She thought back, "The moment I entered, I became a vine, clinging to the wall of a poor house..."
Ba Yue’s voice was bitter as she recounted her tale. She had nearly been burned on several occasions. "Once, I actually started burning, not because someone set me on fire, but by sheer coincidence. Fortunately, a little dog passing by put out the flames. At that moment, I was very, very close to death. I felt as if my actual self was being burned."
Lu Yin asked, "That little dog was a transformed creature, wasn’t it?"
Ba Yue nodded. "I spoke with it. It had no idea how to escape the city, so I told it that it only needed to press against the city gate. It cried its heart out because, long ago, it tried to leave through the gate, but when it reached the gate, it found the gate was closed. It was only ten meters from the gate, and it ended up being chased and beaten until it was covered in wounds. It actually could have gotten out at that time."
How truly tragic. Without knowing the rules, one would suffer far too much. Lu Yin could imagine how that little dog must have suffered miserably while surviving in Manifest City.
The fact that a dog was larger than an ant did not fool Lu Yin. In Manifest City, a dog truly could not survive as easily as an ant. It would be chased and beaten everywhere it went, and it might even end up as dog meat.
"Wait, where is that little dog now?" Lu Yin suddenly considered that.
Ba Yue shook her head. "I never saw it again."
Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. That little dog should have already left Manifest City and exited even earlier than Ba Yue, so where was it?
Because he was scared of Che and the dangers of the Aevum Inch, Lu Yin had not left anyone behind to stand guard over Manifest City. If that little dog had exited the city, no one would know about it.
Manifest City was too far from the Trio, and Lu Yin could not observe it at all times. If he sent someone to guard it, while Immortals might be fine, anyone beneath that level could easily run into trouble. However, Immortals were not idle.
"Do you know what kind of creature had transformed into that little dog?"
"I do not know."
"It really wasn’t a mistake that you transformed into a vine." Lu Yin rubbed his forehead.
Ba Yue wanted to retort, but her experience in Manifest City left her unable to do so.
"Do you realize that that little dog might also be an Immortal?"
"How could there be so many Immortals?"