Disdain filled Furball’s voice. "Did you think that I didn’t see it? When you saw Ni Bieluo, you ran like a rat! Still, the fact that you managed to kill Ni Ren means that there are no Aberrants who can match you. Hong Xia, are you panicking now? This brat is going to butcher you. Hahahaha!"
Lu Yin retorted in a deep voice, "Furball, don’t say things to harm a sense of unity. Ba Se, Furball is trying to stir up conflict. Are you just going to watch?"
Furball snorted. "Who doesn’t know that you want to get rid of Hong Xia? Ni Ren’s opponent was Hong Xia all along. Heheh, why was it able to get away and go after you instead? Hong Xia, explain that."
Ba Se spoke up, "Orange has already provided an explanation for this incident. Obscura will impose a corresponding punishment."
Lu Yin’s expression grew cold. "Ba Se, that’s unnecessary. It’s possible that Hong Xia was just tricked. His brain has never worked well, so it’s just to be expected."
Old Man Hehe chuckled again. "Ba Se, this brat is showing dissatisfaction with you."
Ba Se did not respond, but Che suddenly spoke up. "Lu Yin, are you all right?"
Lu Yin said, "I am fine."
"Ni Ren was very strong. I was not confident that I could defeat it myself. You are very impressive."
Lu Yin rolled his eyes. He was not fool enough to believe that. He might not know Che’s true strength, and while that might have been an honest comment, he would rather believe that Che was lying.
Che was an ancient creature who had fought in the war that had destroyed the Nine Ramparts. Was such a creature inferior to Ni Ren? The chances of that being true were extremely small.
Lu Yin then remembered that, when Furball had exposed the fact that Che was the master of Void Mountain, the aura that Che had released had terrified him. That kind of aura was not something that Ni Ren could compare to.
Furball asked, "Actually, I’m very curious. How did you beat Ni Ren?"
Old Man Hehe laughed and said, "I am curious too. Child, do you want to talk about it?"
"Sure. Let’s have a gathering somewhere. How about Crimson Starshade?" Lu Yin casually suggested.
"I agree," Furball instantly replied. Hong Xia had repeatedly shared their location, and Lu Yin had found them several times. It was only natural that Furball harbored a grudge over that. If they could lure Old Man Hehe to Crimson Starshade and have a gathering there, who knew what might happen?
"Hehe."
Whenever Lu Yin entered Vestigium, it always became lively. Anytime he had a conversation with Furball or any of the others, he kept probing, trying to gather information about the various members of Obscura.
This time, Furball was not showing nearly as much hostility towards Lu Yin as usual. Clearly, the fact that he had eliminated Ni Ren had caused all of Obscura to reassess his strength.
Ni Ren had instantly killed Lan Meng, and yet Lu Yin had managed to kill Ni Ren. That was a level of strength that deserved respect.
Inside the orange coffin, Hong Xia listened in silence. Lu Yin’s words might sound like pure sophistry, but they often drew out information that could be analyzed, and he even brought up Hong Xia from time to time. It was truly nauseating.
Even so, the boy’s strength was exceptional. After all, Ni Ren had actually been defeated. Hong Xia had asked Ba Se exactly how Ni Ren had been defeated, but Ba Se would not speak of it.
Hong Xia guessed that someone must have first heavily injured Ni Ren and then left it for Lu Yin to finish off, but that did not seem quite right. Ni Ren had not been foolish. If it had encountered such an expert, it would have certainly designated its karma to restrain them, because such an opponent would have been proof that Ni Ren was Obscura’s Aberrant’s next target, against whom designating karma was meaningless.
No one from Obscura should have been willing to help Lu Yin deal with the creature.
Hong Xia’s expression grew cold. Everyone was aware that he had deliberately allowed Ni Ren to go, hoping that it would kill Lu Yin. He had paid a price for that, and yet his efforts had still failed. Lu Yin was becoming harder and harder to deal with.
Especially as he listened, Hong Xia inexplicably began to feel isolated.
In the past, Obscura members had not communicated with one another. Each individual had kept themselves hidden with no exceptions. Recently, Lu Yin had started to pull stunts that had successfully thrown off Obscura’s normal rhythm. It even seemed like he had a good relationship with Green, Purple, and Che. No matter how Hong Xia analyzed the situation, it seemed that those few would come together. He was not fooled by how frequently Green and Lu Yin hurled insults at each other; the more that happened, the easier it was for them to draw closer.
What if they joined forces to deal with him? How could things have come to this?
For the first time, Hong Xia felt like a stranger in Obscura. Everything had started with Lu Yin. Detestable. It was all because of him. If Hong Xia had not betrayed the Nine Ramparts, Lu Yin’s ancestors would not have survived and that remnant civilization would not exist. It was hateful. If only Hong Xia had delayed his betrayal for a little longer back then.
He wished he could immediately go and slaughter the Human Trio.
Given time, Lu Yin would have chosen to chat in Vestigium for ten days or half a month, but Furball and Old Man Hehe did not have the opportunity to accompany him. Before long, they all stopped speaking.
Lu Yin called out several times, but no one responded. He could only ask Ba Se about the Mudwater Dominion.
Ba Se replied, "The Mudwater Dominion is Ni Bieluo’s domain alone. I am explaining this to you in human terms."
Lu Yin understood. That was why killing any creature other than Ni Bieluo would only grant four-star rewards. He asked curiously, "Ni Bieluo must be very strong, right?"
"Extremely strong."
"Who in Obscura does it compare to?"
"No comment."
"Old Man Hehe actually managed to hold off Ni Bieluo. He is shockingly strong."
"Extremely strong."
"Furball always feels a bit weaker than them, but what about Hong Xia? How does Hong Xia compare to them?"
"Extremely strong."
Lu Yin felt something was off and asked, "Ba Se, how strong do you think Ni Ren is?"
"Extremely strong."
"..."
"Has Ni Bieluo comprehended karma?"
Ba Se revealed a rare bit of surprise. "How do you know?"
"Don’t forget that I have also comprehended karma. I could sense it."
Ba Se said, "You are correct. Ni Bieluo has indeed comprehended karma. The Mudwater Dominion’s absolute means was created by Ni Bieluo. Its use of karma differs from yours since it cannot attack or even deduce much. Instead, it uses karma on its entire civilization, which is what allowed the Mudwater Dominion to leap from an ordinary civilization to a fishing civilization, even becoming regarded as an Aberrant in the Aevum Inch. Without their absolute means, the Mudwater Dominion would not be qualified to wage war against Obscura."
"If that’s all true, why didn’t you tell me this before?"
"Aside from designating karma, Ni Bieluo has no other abilities related to karma. You already knew about designating karma, so there was no need to tell you."