Star Odyssey

Chapter 4360: Miao Zun

Lu Yin remembered Obscura’s gates. They were covered with images of all kinds of creatures. Was Miao Zun’s civilization among them?

Their civilization had been destroyed by Obscura, and yet they still wanted to join Obscura. This did not surprise Lu Yin. There were always all kinds of motivations. He himself had joined Obscura. It was possible that Miao Zun was like him, or perhaps they had never cared about their own civilization. There were many, many such beings.

"Vestigium will be even livelier from now on, hehe," Old Man Hehe said.

Lu Yin suddenly called out, "Che, are you there?"

"Lu Yin, what is it?" Che asked.

At this moment, most of Obscura should be present, because they had to choose whether to agree to Miao Zun joining.

"Can you tell me about Miao Zun?" Lu Yin asked.

Che helplessly replied, "Sorry, I did not participate in the war against Miao Zun’s civilization."

Furball laughed. "You can ask Hong Xia. He fought there."

Lu Yin’s gaze flickered. Hong Xia fought in that war?

At this time, Ba Se’s voice sounded out. "Lu Yin, Miao Zun has been approved to join Obscura. They will be contacted soon. Once they agree, the trial can be initiated. Before they join Obscura, you must worship the Divine Tree, be chosen by a color of your own, and return two of the colored lines. If not, you will be breaking the rules. I must remind you of this."

Lu Yin felt helpless, but his voice remained upbeat. "This is wonderful! Obscura will have another member and will surely grow stronger. Ba Se, I am very happy."

"Hmph!"

"Hehe."

“...”

"By the way, just asking, but all Obscura members are currently in Vestigium, right? Shouldn’t we greet each other?" Lu Yin called out.

There was no response.

He called out a few more times, but it seemed that no one in Vestigium, aside from Furball and the few others, was willing to pay any attention to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin felt rather helpless. He kept making a commotion whenever he was in Vestigium, and there were times when his words and actions could be considered setting his dignity aside. All of it was for the sake of learning more about Obscura, humanity’s arch-enemy. But despite his best efforts, some members hid themselves too thoroughly and could not be coaxed out no matter what he tried.

Just as he was about to leave, Hong Xia suddenly called out. "Lu Yin, come find me."

Lu Yin paused. "Hong Xia?"

"Come find me."

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. What did Hong Xia want?

Lu Yin left Vestigium, pushing the lid off of the red coffin. He stared in the direction of Crimson Starshade. Find Hong Xia? It was impossible for him to start a war at this time; he could not even attack the Human Trio. If Hong Xia wanted to see Lu Yin, it had to be related to Miao Zun.

After contemplating for a while, Lu Yin teleported towards Crimson Starshade.

At that same time, Furball’s voice echoed in Vestigium. "It appears that Hong Xia is going to sow discord. He even deliberately spoke up in Vestigium so that you would hear it. Ba Se, you had better protect Miao Zun well. Do not allow them to be dealt with before they can even join."

Ba Se calmly answered, "Obscura does not accept trash."

"Hehe, nor those who cannot be used."

***

By teleporting again and again, Lu Yin arrived at the Crimson Starshade Megaverse to meet Hong Xia.

The man stared at Lu Yin with cold eyes. "Congratulations on leaving the battlefield alive."

Lu Yin sized up Hong Xia. "And congratulations to you as well, for breaking Obscura’s rules and still being safe and sound."

Hong Xia sneered. "I did not break the rules. I have already explained what happened to Ba Se."

Lu Yin smiled. "That I believe. After all, I also helped to justify your actions: it’s because your brain is no good that you were tricked by Ni Ren."

Hong Xia’s expression turned even colder.

"Still, Hong Xia, you really should train your brain more. Ni Ren was dumb enough to deliver himself to me to be slaughtered, and yet it was still able to deceive you. I truly do not know how you have survived for so long," Lu Yin said mockingly.

Hong Xia said, "I do not know how you killed Ni Ren, but luck will not always stand on your side, such as right now."

"Miao Zun?" Lu Yin was puzzled.

Hong Xia clasped his hands behind his back. "Miao Zun’s civilization is vile. They enjoy devouring fresh flesh, and Miao Zun is the strongest from their civilization. The fresh flesh that they enjoy the most is humans."

Lu Yin’s pupils shrank as he stared at Hong Xia.

Hong Xia continued in an indifferent tone, "I do not know when they ate humans, but when they encountered me during the war back then, they said that humans are delicious."

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. He understood why Hong Xia had called him. The man wanted to use Lu Yin, making him break Obscura’s rules and kill Miao Zun so that the creature would not join Obscura.

There were many reasons why Lu Yin would want to eliminate Miao Zun, and yet the one that Hong Xia provided was undoubtedly the biggest.

Lu Yin also understood Furball’s reaction in Vestigium.

Lu Yin did not consider that Hong Xia might be lying. It was very easy to verify his words with a single encounter with Miao Zun. The fact that Hong Xia dared to speak proved that his words were true.

"You can leave now," Hong Xia coldly ordered.

Lu Yin stared at him intently. "You don’t care at all?"

Hong Xia vanished. Care? Why would he care? There were so many humans. Of the bait that had been thrown out so long ago, how many lived and how many died? Who could know?

His only regret was that he had not delayed his betrayal just a bit longer. That had led to the rise of the Human Trio.

Lu Yin teleported over to the Blood Tower to ask Jiu Wen whether he knew about Miao Zun, but the man knew nothing.

There was nothing that Lu Yin could do but leave and try to think of a way forward.

Hong Xia’s move was a brazenly open scheme. He had essentially announced to everyone that he was incentivizing Lu Yin to attack Miao Zun. What happened next depended on what Lu Yin would do. No matter what, his goal would be to eliminate Miao Zun.

Regardless of whether Obscura’s rules were ultimately broken, whatever Lu Yin did would inevitably upset Obscura, because most members had agreed to have Miao Zun join. If Lu Yin could upset Ba Se, it would be even better for Hong Xia.

Obscura would not only ever recruit Miao Zun. Lu Yin might be able to deal with one new member, but could he deal with a second?

That was also under the premise that Lu Yin could deal with Miao Zun without breaking the rules. Under normal circumstances, that would be very hard to do.

Hong Xia stared off into the distance. "As long as you dare to strike Miao Zun, you will be skirting the edge of the rules.

"Not only that, but Miao Zun is also not that easy to kill. As long as they say that they are willing to join Obscura before dying, any move made after that will be in violation of the rules.

"Not only will you fail to kill them, but I will also force you to break the rules. Luck will not always stand on your side."

***

Lu Yin returned to the Tianyuan. Master Qing Cao was still on the mountain behind the Heavens Sect.

Lu Yin shared what had happened, wanting to hear the other man’s opinion. After all, Master Qing Cao had his own understanding of Obscura.

"I warn you to not act rashly," Master Qing Cao said in a heavy tone, "If Miao Zun agrees to join Obscura, they will certainly obtain a floating coffin. Even if you strike them, can you guarantee that they will not be able to escape? More importantly, if Miao Zun agrees to join Obscura, you cannot attack them at all, as doing so will break the rules.

"When you joined Obscura, Lan Meng’s mission was immediately invalidated for this same reason—"

Lu Yin interrupted, “Is it after agreeing to join Obscura, or only after agreeing to join Obscura and passing the trial?”

Master Qing Cao fell silent for a moment. "That is precisely how Hong Xia is targeting you. That difference touches the very edge of Obscura’s rules; you might be breaking the rules, and you might not."

Lu Yin rubbed his head. Since he had first started cultivating, very few of his enemies had been idiots. Everyone knew how to take advantage of human nature, rules, and even themselves.

In truth, there were only two ways for a person to achieve a high status; one was to be good at using oneself, while the other was to be good at using others.

It was clear that Hong Xia wanted to use Lu Yin against himself because it was impossible for Lu Yin to allow a creature like Miao Zun to join Obscura, especially when doing so required him to return the lines of divine energy and worship the Divine Tree.

Miao Zun had to be dealt with, but how? This matter had too many entanglements related to it.

Master Qing Cao left. His advice was always to do nothing and maintain the status quo.

If it were only handing over one divine energy line, Lu Yin would be willing to agree. Even if Miao Zun had once devoured humans, he could simply find an opportunity to deal with it later. There would be no need to rush, as it was not easy for human civilization to achieve a period of stability.

However, this also involved Lu Yin paying a personal visit to Vestigium, and that changed everything. Even if the chances of anything happening to him were miniscule, Lu Yin refused to take that risk. If something happened to him, human civilization would lose at least half of its security.

That was not only because of Lu Yin’s strength, but also because of his ability to teleport, use karma, and various other abilities, all of which were indispensable to human civilization. Not only that, but Lu Yin himself was also the key that bound the Trio together.

"Why don’t we find someone else to join Obscura and have them deal with Miao Zun during the trials?" Wei Rong suggested as he sat down across from Lu Yin.

This was a matter of plotting against others, so after thinking the matter over, Lu Yin had ultimately turned to Wei Rong, because he was the best at it.

Lu Yin replied, "That is indeed an option. First, we can learn of Miao Zun’s location through their trial. Second, if we can deal with Miao Zun, whoever we find can delay worshiping the Divine Tree in Vestigium the same way I have, which won’t affect me.

"But the problem is who."

The first one that they thought of was the Seven-Treasure Anuras’ Old First. That toad was an absolute powerhouse who resonated with two cosmic laws. He was far stronger than Miao Zun, and he was also not a part of human civilization. Obscura would likely be willing to allow Old First to join. After all, Ancestor Shan had once been invited, though he had refused.

However, that led to another problem. If Old First did join Obscura, he would not be able to strike at Hong Xia. After the thousand-year protection period ended, Hong Xia would be able to directly attack the Human Trio, and if Old First was no longer allowed to fight against Hong Xia, Green Lotus alone would struggle to stand against Hong Xia.

Lu Yin was not sure if he could break into the Immortal realm by that time. No one could predict the future.

"We should deal with what is currently in front of us. We can talk about the future later," Wei Rong said.

Lu Yin looked up. "We shouldn’t worry about getting someone to join Obscura, but rather killing Miao Zun."

Wei Rong shook his head. "We don’t know the location of Miao Zun’s trial."

"Hong Xia will tell me," Lu Yin said.

"That’s true. By the way, what about the Immortal Lord? They are also very suitable." Wei Rong suddenly remembered.

Lu Yin’s eyes lit up. It was true. In fact, compared to Old First, the Immortal Lord was an even better candidate. While the Immortal Lord did not belong to Lu Yin’s faction, their previous grudges had been resolved. The Immortal Lord was extremely wary of humanity, especially since Lu Yin had planted a Dao Sword within them, which was intended to deal with the Plume Immortals.

If the Immortal Lord joined Obscura, then even if they did not help deal with Miao Zun, Lu Yin would at least be able to learn of Miao Zun’s location through the Immortal Lord. From there, it was just a matter of ambushing and killing them.

In particular, if the Immortal Lord did join Obscura, what would happen with the Plume Immortal Civilization? Those birds absolutely would not accept such an outcome, which would lead to a great war between the Plume Immortals and Obscura. That would likely be enough to lower the chances of the Human Trio being targeted by the Plume Immortals.

The Immortal Lord was indeed the most suitable candidate. The problem was that they could not find the Immortal Lord.

Even though there was a Dao Sword planted within the Immortal Lord, Luo Chan’s teleportation was different from Lu Yin’s. That bug could freely teleport throughout the entire Aevum Inch. Who knew how far away it might be? Given how wary the Immortal Lord was of humanity, they would absolutely stay as far away as possible.

Lu Yin felt helpless. For now, he still had to choose Old First, though he also needed to persuade the toad.