The battlefield that Lu Yin was standing on was just one of the many where Obscura and the Mudwater Dominion were warring. Civilizations appeared one after another as if deliberately heading to their deaths. Some reacted fast enough to destroy the gates, while others lacked the ability to do so.
Lu Yin frowned. This could not continue. These civilizations were only strengthening the Mudwater Dominion. The more civilizations that they recorded, the stronger the Mudwater Dominion’s Immortals became.
Obscura was not able to stop the Mudwater Dominion, and neither could all of these civilizations. They were forcing Lu Yin to make a move.
That old fox Ba Se.
Lu Yin vanished in an instant and arrived directly above the Mudwater Dominion. He clenched his fist and punched down.
Boom!
The Mudwater Dominion below him was not the true Mudwater Dominion, but rather a region with one of the civilization’s Immortals. These regions were also called Mudwater Dominions.
One Immortal, one dominion—this was another defining characteristic of the Mudwater Dominion.
The true Mudwater Dominion that Ba Se and the others spoke about was the supreme dominion that was capable of bearing all eight of the civilization’s elders. The ruler of that dominion was called Ni Bieluo, who was also the strongest being in the Mudwater Dominion and a terrifying existence that even Obscura greatly feared. It was not a creature that Lu Yin could provoke.
The master of the Mudwater Dominion that he had just attacked was one of the eight elders: Ni Gui. Lu Yin had confirmed that much with just a short time of observation.
Of the Mudwater Dominion’s eight elders, aside from Ni Bieluo, Lu Yin could probe all the others.
A terrifying power followed the punch as his fist fell, smashing against the Mudwater Dominion.
Within that Mudwater Dominion, one civilizational weapon after another shot up to meet the attacker, only to be blasted away by Lu Yin’s overwhelming power. He did not destroy those weapons, since each one was an entire civilization. Of course, he also did not deliberately protect them. Other than human civilization, there was no civilization in the Aevum Inch that Lu Yin would go out of his way to protect.
He was no saint and knew that he could not protect everyone. The only ones that he would protect were humans.
“Hm? An Aberrant?” A low voice echoed from the Mudwater Dominion. A cement-like creature that looked similar to a mud doll emerged. It seemed to be staring at Lu Yin. “We’ve never absorbed an Aberrant before. You’ll be the first.”
As the creature spoke, the cement extended further, transforming into a sharp claw that grabbed at Lu Yin.
Behind Lu Yin, strands of Tri-Azure Sword Intent gathered and then sliced out.
All of the Tri-Azure Sword Intent struck the claw, but they left no trace behind.
“How could an Aberrant like you resist the Heavenly Mud Ghost Claw? Little thing, be obedient and let me collect you, hahahaha!” Ni Gui laughed loudly. The claw suddenly vanished, a faint wisp of gray replacing it.
Lu Yin arched a brow. This was the power of time. He immediately moved away, and as the surrounding space froze and time grew sluggish, the claw reappeared... and missed.
Even so, a moment later, a tremendous blow landed on his back, producing a sharp burst of pain.
Lu Yin turned his head. The claw that should have missed him was no longer there and was instead directly behind him. When had it moved?
Inside the Mudwater Dominion, Ni Gui was equally surprised. “It actually didn’t severely injure you? Little thing, your defenses are pretty tough. Again!”
As it spoke, the Heavenly Mud Ghost Claw disappeared.
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed as he moved away again. The same scene played out a second time; the Heavenly Mud Ghost Claw that he could see was not real, and the true Heavenly Mud Ghost Claw suddenly appeared above his head, grasping for his head. If not for Lu Yin’s vigilance, he would have been caught.
“Let’s see how many times you can dodge it.”
Lu Yin stared at the Heavenly Mud Ghost Claw, realizing what was happening. What a bizarre technique.
This battle technique used temporal coordinates as transfer points. This allowed the attack to delay itself by one beat. To put it more simply, the attacker could change their mind and try again. Ni Gui could take back its attack and shift targets.
It was an incredibly insidious application of the power of time, and it somewhat resembled the Ce secret technique, Board Manipulation. The difference was that the former used the power of time while the latter used the power of space.
Board Manipulation was not even close to qualifying to be used on an Immortal battlefield, while Ni Gui’s technique certainly was. Ordinarily, opponents would find it impossible to evade the attack, but once Immortals saw through the usage of the power of time and relied on their own defenses, it would not have much of an impact. Ni Gui was underestimating Lu Yin.
There was no need to reveal everything right away. Lu Yin dodged again and again, occasionally even allowing the Heavenly Mud Ghost Claw to barely scratch him. Ni Gui was toying with him. In its eyes, Lu Yin was being pushed to his limits again and again, and it would catch him sooner or later.
An Aberrant would be an invaluable record. Such a being was no different from a weapon capable of killing Immortals.
There was no need to rush, so Ni Gui planned to slowly play with its opponent. It did not want to end the game too quickly.
“What is your civilization? Why have you appeared here?” Lu Yin asked.
Ni Gui sneered. “You came through a gate, didn’t you? Pathetic. You don’t even know who your enemy is or how you got here. Little thing, come with me. Stop resisting. I’ll take you into my civilization and allow you to avenge your civilization.”
“Avenge them?”
“Of course. That gate belongs to Obscura. They marked your civilization as one that they can use. Obscura can use you at any time to target other civilizations, and they can also destroy you.”
Lu Yin feigned confusion. “What is Obscura?”
Ni Gui could not possibly imagine that its opponent was a member of Obscura, as there had never been a non-Immortal Obscura member throughout its entire history, not even an Aberrant.
Given how long Obscura had existed, they had seen more than one Aberrant, but none had ever joined. Ni Gui would never imagine that Lu Yin, another Aberrant, would be the sole exception.
As for Lu Yin, he hoped to gain more information about Obscura through the Mudwater Dominion’s perspective.
“Obscura is a fishing civilization, though calling them a civilization isn’t quite right. They are a gathering of monsters that specialize in destroying civilizations. They use civilizations to target other civilizations, massacring them. They seek to spread their taint across the entire Aevum Inch.”
“The entire Aevum Inch?”
“Heheh, join my Mudwater Dominion and you won’t need to fear Obscura. Obscura is indeed formidable, but they are not invincible. The Aevum Inch is infinite, and there are other civilizations that can fight them.”
“I understand. Since you’ve appeared here and Obscura sent us here, you must be one of those civilizations that can fight them, right?”
“We are not.”
Lu Yin was surprised. “No?”
Ni Gui explained, “We can merely ensure that, once you join us, you needn’t fear Obscura. That does not mean that we can defeat them. Obscura cannot be defeated.”
“In that case, why do you insist on going to war with Obscura?”
“It may not be possible to defeat Obscura, but neither are we. Little thing, come with me.” With that, a sheet of paper appeared from within the Mudwater Dominion. It folded continuously while expanding to overshadow the cosmos.