Lu Yin frowned. Behind him, Long Xi asked, “Is it possible that they don’t identify creatures by appearance?”
Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. He pointed to himself and then to Long Xi. “Are she and I the same species?”
“W- we don’t know, mighty honored one. You are both of a similar size, so perhaps?”
“What? You can’t tell?”
“Mighty honored one, there seems to be a misunderstanding. We of the Toro civilization perceive the cosmos differently from other creatures...”
After a bit of explanation, Lu Yin learned that the creatures did not distinguish things through visual appearance, but by color. Humans were able to see less than one percent of the colors that the odd creatures could perceive, and they identified species through color alone.
What they referred to as the Crimson Starshade was a red color that could not be translated into words or communicated in a manner that Lu Yin could comprehend.
For the creatures of the Toro civilization, the color had its own name and meaning, while to human ears, they simply understood it as red.
That was because it was a color that humans could merely perceive as red.
Lu Yin withdrew the pressure he had exerted upon the creatures, and only after that were they able to recover. The strands on top of their heads had nearly snapped as they writhed about. They were clearly terrified.
“Exactly what is this ‘Crimson Starshade?’”
“The Crimson Starshade is a terrifying civilization! Everyone in that entire civilization wears crimson garments, and they all carry red umbrellas. Those details are what mark their people. Wherever they pass by, other civilizations perish. All flee before the Crimson Starshade.
“Once, we encountered a member of the Crimson Starshade by accident. We believed ourselves doomed, but fortunately that creature had no interest in us. Otherwise, we would not have survived to this day.”
Lu Yin asked, “Was it the Crimson Starshade who destroyed your Toro civilization?”
“No, that was another civilization, which has no connection to the Red Clothes. Still, even if we had not encountered them, we would have eventually been destroyed by the Red Clothes. Wherever they pass through, no trace of life remains behind. That is what all know about them.”
Lu Yin frowned. “Do civilizations communicate with each other?”
“No, there is no communication.”
“Then how do you know these legends of the Crimson Starshade?”
“Civilizations cannot communicate with each other, but individual creatures can, provided that they are able to keep their native civilizations a secret. Occasionally, places appear throughout the Aevum Inch where creatures are able to communicate with each other. Our civilization learned of all of this from one such place, though we were only able to visit it a few times. Such places never endure for very long. Much like civilizations, once such a place is exposed, it is destroyed.”
Lu Yin was astonished. “Such places exist?”
“Yes. These places are known as the Threads of Heaven. ‘Heaven’ refers to powerful civilizations. Threads of Heaven appear to offer weaker civilizations glimpses of stronger ones, enabling them to avoid danger and seize a thread of life. They are the single thread to survival beneath the heavens. They are one of the rare mercies in the Aevum Inch.”
Lu Yin calmly took a sip of tea. Rare mercy, is it?
Who would establish a place like these Threads of Heaven and grant the weak a chance to gain knowledge about the Aevum Inch?
Where there was righteousness, there had to also be the opposite. Where there was darkness, there would also be light.
In the Aevum Inch, civilizations known as fishing civilizations ceaselessly sought to destroy others. Whenever different civilizations encountered each other, there would be a silent war to the death. This was the unbreakable law and cruelty of the Aevum Inch. Even so, where there was darkness, there also had to be light.
Nothing that existed was truly absolute.
The Threads of Heaven, when looked at against the background of the darkness that annihilated everything, were indeed a stark contrast.
“So, you learned these legends about the Crimson Starshade from a Thread of Heaven?”
“Yes, though we only managed to visit that place a few times. When we tried to return, it had vanished, which means that it had either been destroyed or moved away. Powerful civilizations see the Threads of Heaven as a thorn in the eye.”
“For example, the fishing civilizations?”
“Yes. When a fishing civilization encounters a Thread of Heaven, they must destroy it, though there are also some fishing civilizations that create them.”
Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. “Bait.”
“Indeed. They use the Threads of Heaven as bait. It is simply another method of fishing.
“This is also why the Threads of Heaven are regarded as a joke throughout the Aevum Inch. Most civilizations do not dare to approach such places. Those who do are either the ignorant or the weak.”
Lu Yin sighed. “And yet those are precisely the civilizations that need the Threads of Heaven the most.”
“Thus, the creation of the joke,” the creature agreed in a bitter tone.
The most pitiful aspect of weak civilizations was that they could not overcome their own helplessness. Even the means that they employed to survive were regarded as something to be mocked.
But what could be done? This was the way of things in the Aevum Inch. This was the way of the cosmos.
After that, the creatures spent time sharing everything that they knew about the Crimson Starshade with Lu Yin. He also asked about their knowledge of the Aevum Inch in general, but their knowledge about such things was limited. The fact that they had any knowledge about the Threads of Heaven or the legends of the Crimson Starshade suggested that they had been individuals of high standing within the Toro civilization. Likely, they were descendants of some of the strongest beings in that civilization. Unfortunately, their cultivation had been too weak. Their limit had led to their downfall.
“How many fishing civilizations are there in the Aevum Inch, to your knowledge?” Lu Yin asked.
The creatures exchanged glances before the leader spoke again. “Mighty honored one, we know of one fishing civilization that creates Threads of Heaven and uses them as lures in their fishing, which created that joke in the Aevum Inch.
“Another was mentioned in the Thread of Heaven that we visited. It is a civilization that is said to fish by causing other civilizations to annihilate each other, never taking direct action.”
Lu Yin’s heart stirred: Obscura.
“However, little was said about that fishing civilization. Someone in the Thread of Heaven once tried to reveal more information, but they were stopped. The one who created that Thread of Heaven refused to allow anything to be spoken of it.
“And another fishing civilization is known to all: the ones who created the springboards.”
Lu Yin’s eyes widened. “The giant springboard?”
“Yes. That fishing civilization is archetypal, and it is known by all. Even those with no understanding of the Aevum Inch can sense the danger of the springboards. As soon as a civilization enters the Aevum Inch or encounters other civilizations, fear of the springboards will only grow.
“No civilization dares to touch them.”
Lu Yin pressed, “Which civilization left the springboards behind?”
He had a tremendous amount of curiosity regarding that civilization. Truthfully, it was even greater than his curiosity towards Obscura or the Death Megaverse. What kind of power was needed to scatter things like the springboards across the entire cosmos? They were no longer fishing for weak civilizations, but rather treating all civilizations equally as prey, even other fishing civilizations.