Chapter 4582: The Nature Of War
Chapter 4582: The Nature Of War
"Devouring Trace saw me get involved," Lu Yin reminded.
Ji replied, "A corpse will be accepted."
Lu Yin looked at Old Sixth. "Use Devouring Trace to get credit for its death, but your injuries are not light. There’s no need for you to immediately go to Vestigium and join. Just hold the title for now."
"I’m fine. I wasn’t really injured," Old Sixth protested.
Lu Yin stressed, "I have three different colored lines of divine energy. If you go to Vestigium, they will certainly make you choose a color, and that would force me to go to Vestigium. I cannot go to that place."
Old Sixth asked, "Then can I just say that I don’t want to choose yet?"
"Another member of Obscura has already done that," Lu Yin replied.
The toad was left speechless, and they stared at Lu Yin for a long moment. Just as their father had said, each human was ruthless and vicious. They highly valued their bonds with their own kind, yet they could also be heartless at times. Similarly, they could have exceptional opportunities and shocking talent, and their schemes ran extremely deep.
Even a monster like Obscura already had Lu Yin’s people planted inside. Do I count as the second?
Right. The toad pointed at Ji. "You seem particularly polite to him. Do you know him?"
Lu Yin shook his head. "I’ve never met him before."
"So why?"
"That’s my business. If you want to avenge Ancestor Shan, you will need my help. Of course, I am not offering my help for nothing. The Seven-Treasure Anuras allied with my human civilization at Ancestor Shan's orders, so you also need to do some things for me," Lu Yin continued.
Old Sixth did not argue. Even if everything from before was ignored, it could be said that Lu Yin had just saved the toad.
"Also, I need to remind you of something." Lu Yin stared at Old Sixth with an exceptionally serious expression. "Obscura and the Death Megaverse are two different concepts. They do not know each other's identities or purposes. Any member of Obscura who communicates with you might be trying to use you, kill you, or use you to kill me. You must remember this at all times."
Old Sixth's eyes grew fierce. "This Lord Sixth has lived for so long! No one can use me!"
"What if I told you who targeted Ancestor Shan and caused his death?"
"What? You know?"
"See? That is a means of using you. Whether you believe me or not, as soon as I give you a name, you will go and investigate it. That will achieve my goal, won’t it?" Lu Yin demanded.
Old Sixth’s mouth fell open. "Send my regards to the last person who saved you."
"I don’t know how long Thousand Machinations will take to finish that battle, so we need to hurry over as soon as possible. One last thing." Lu Yin took out three black plates of armor. "These three are from Withered Requiem's Abyss. Help me translate them."
Old Sixth looked at the black scales with a conflicted gaze. His father’s writing was on them. These were the words that he had left behind for later generations before dying.
The toad suppressed their grief and took the plates. They slowly stroked the writing on them.
"’Grand Clarity. A civilization that cannot be ignored. They want to unravel the secrets of the cosmos, but their efforts were accompanied by endless war. They left. I found traces that they once existed within our surrounding region. Whether their departure was because of victory or defeat is unknown.’"
Lu Yin was surprised. Traces of the Grand Clarity Civilization? It was a surprise that this piece of armor had this recorded on it.
As for Grand Clarity, no one truly understood the civilization, and yet everyone knew something about it. That civilization had participated in the war that had destroyed the Nine Ramparts. It was one of human civilization’s most powerful enemies, and because of Grand Clarity’s special nature, both Obscura and the Death Megaverse were searching for anything related to it.
The reason why Withered Requiem had attacked You Che was because the Abyssal had been searching for traces of Grand Clarity.
As long as there was any chance of success, the Death Megaverse would definitely try to find the Grand Clarity Civilization.
But Withered Requiem could have never imagined that the most useful clue regarding Grand Clarity had been right beneath its nose.
Lu Yin received the coordinates, which pointed to a location that was very, very far away. It was farther than any place he had ever visited before, but so long as he knew the direction, he could reach any destination.
Old Sixth also had not expected his father to have actually found traces of Grand Clarity.
From when he had first learned of the existence of Immortals until now, Lu Yin had crossed a gap that was like a cosmic chasm. He was approaching the power of experts who resonated with three cosmic laws. It could be said that, throughout the entire cosmos, there were few capable of readily defeating him.
But even so, he still had not yet reached Ancestor Shan's level.
In a situation where Ancestor Shan's karmic chain had been completed and his strength had already started to decline, he had still been able to unleash an attack that had affected the entire cosmos, overturning space itself. That kind of shocking combat power was something that Lu Yin still found difficult to match, even with his current power.
It could be said that, even during the Nine Ramparts era, Ancestor Shan would undoubtedly have been one of the most powerful beings in existence.
Of course, back then, Ancestor Shan probably had not reached his strongest state yet.
The Blacklight Civilization had not been weak. Its absolute means combined with its Darksky Seal had allowed their Immortals to reach a level of strength comparable to a three-law powerhouse. Only Ancestor Shan had been capable of destroying such power.
Even if Lu Yin himself had taken the toad’s place to challenge the Blacklight Civilization of that era on his own, he would not have been able to achieve an equal result. Once the One-Hundredth Seal was used, he could only flee.
He did not know if the Death Megaverse had learned of the direction that the Grand Clarity Civilization had gone in from You Che.
Old Sixth looked at the second black plate and slowly said, "’All powers that produce knowledge of the outside world ultimately return to the cosmos itself. This is the Primacy Path.
"’Time, Space, Karma, Consciousness, Fate, and so on. All powers that can be named and that influence the outside world have a source. It is like a tree—the branches originate from the trunk, and the trunk grows from the roots.
"’Only by touching on the power of the Primacy Path can one truly be considered to have reached the peak of the cosmos.
"’This is a kind of knowledge, and knowledge is also a kind of power. In essence, the war against the Nine Ramparts was also a power struggle for the Primacy Paths.’"
After saying this, Old Sixth looked at Lu Yin. The war against the Nine Ramparts had been mentioned.
Lu Yin was shaken. This was the first time that he had heard such an explanation of that war’s motivations. Had the war against the Nine Ramparts been a struggle against the power of the Primacy Paths?
Before this, they had always believed that the Nine Ramparts had grown too powerful and had violated the law of survival in cosmos, initiating communication across the Aevum Inch and suppressing other civilizations so badly that they had not been able to even breathe.
The trigger for the war had been when three Rampart Wardens had killed the Ten-Eyed Divine Crow.
However, this message from Ancestor Shan suggested that Lu Yin’s understanding of that war was still much too shallow. If what Ancestor Shan had written was true, then that war had actually been one to control the Aevum Inch, because the power of the Primacy Paths covered the entire Aevum Inch.
That was not a simple war. Even after so long, they still could not see the truth clearly.
"My old man... If he wanted to say something, why couldn’t he explain it clearly?" Old Sixth complained.
Lu Yin stared out into space, clasping his hands behind his back. That Mother Tree that spread across the entire Aevum Inch... this entire region was nothing more than a section of a single branch. That branch grew from the tree’s trunk, and the trunk grew from the roots. Was the power of the Primacy Path the source of all powers that influenced everything in the outside world?
Old Sixth looked at the third plate of armor. "This is some conjecture of my old man about summoning the Heart-Questioning Candle.
“Huh? The Heart-Questioning Candle?"
Lu Yin suddenly looked over at Old Sixth. "The Heart-Questioning Candle?"
Old Sixth nodded. "I feel like I’ve heard of that before... Right, you humans had a powerful mirebound artifact that was called the Heart-Questioning Candle, right?"
That treasure was not as simple as a mere mirebound artifact.
One time, Ancestor Shan had mentioned that he had seen a human civilization in the Aevum Inch, one with a candle. That candle was very likely the Heart-Questioning Candle. The Heart-Questioning Candle represented the Eighth Rampart.
So far, the Trio had come into contact with the Second Rampart and the Fourth Rampart, while the Third Rampart, the Fifth, and the Ninth were all confirmed to have been destroyed.
The Third Rampart was the Lost Clan. The Lost Clan’s presence in the Tianyuan meant that the Third Rampart had been destroyed. It was just that they could not find the megaverse that the Lost Clan had come from. It was a complete mystery.
The Fifth Rampart's Manifest City stood some distance from the Trio, and You Che had confirmed that Xiang Xue and the others were dead.
The Ninth Rampart had been Mister Mu's home megaverse, which had likewise been destroyed.
As for the First Rampart, nothing at all was known about it. The Second Rampart followed the Path of Dispassion. The Fourth Rampart was the Longevity Civilization. Nothing was known about the Seventh or the Eighth Ramparts either.
If they could truly summon the Heart-Questioning Candle, then there was a strong possibility of also summoning the Eighth Rampart.
Lu Yin looked at the sword-testing stone. It had once been the sword-testing stone of the Eighth Rampart's Rampart Warden, the Divine Swordsman. "How do we summon it?"
Old Sixth shared the method with Lu Yin, and he immediately had the Second Nightking release an announcement to the entire Trio, telling them to prepare the summoning method. However, the commotion could not be too great as they could not afford to draw Wang Wen's attention.
In truth, this summoning method was similar to how the Death Megaverse used sourcebox arrays to transmit signals from various megaverses, but the distance was limited. The possibility of actually summoning the Heart-Questioning Candle might be less than one in hundreds of millions.
But no matter how remote the possibility, Lu Yin had to try. He hoped to bring both the Fourth Rampart and the Eighth Rampart into the Trio. If both Ramparts retained their considerable past strength, the Trio would be much safer.
Putting everything else aside, the Longevity Civilization’s Chang Chuan was too powerful for anyone to casually provoke. Otherwise, Wang Wen would not have severed the Meteor Realm with his sword. Even he was wary of that man.
"Wait here for a bit." Lu Yin stepped away and disappeared, going to the lotus pond in the Sea of Karma.
The Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s Mother Tree had collapsed during the war, but it had since been propped back up. Lu Yin had not absorbed the green lights of that Mother Tree.
The lotus pond in the Sea of Karma, the Frightened Sparrow Terrace, and the other places had also already been restored.
When Lu Yin arrived, not only did he find Greater Sancte Green Lotus, but there were also several other human Immortals present, including Master Qing Cao, Mister Mu, Chu Songyun, as well as Greater Sancte Awe Gate and Chang Tian.
Chang Tian’s human appearance had already been revealed, and he had clearly spoken with Green Lotus and the others.
When he saw Lu Yin arrive, Chang Tian immediately stepped forward and bowed low. "Thank you, Lord Lu, for saving my life."
Lu Yin smiled and helped the man back up. "Senior, there is no need to be polite. I only did what I should do."
Awe Gate stood beside Chang Tian. She also bowed low but did not say anything.
Lu Yin had taken a great risk to bring Chang Tian back. In doing so, he had not only saved the man’s life, but he had also reunited their family. This incurred a debt of gratitude that far surpassed merely saving one’s life.
However, having known Lu Yin for so long, Awe Gate did not stand too much on ceremony.
Lu Yin moved across the Sea of Karma to look at Devouring Trace.
At this moment, the Abyssal’s aura was extremely weak. Its Stillness had completely dissipated, having been ground away by Green Lotus, and even its body had shrunk by an entire size.
"We all participated, sharing the increase in our karmic chains, so there is no problem," Green Lotus stated.
Lu Yin let out a breath of relief. That was good. He certainly did not want humanity’s Immortals to increase their karmic chains by killing Devouring Trace.
In front of him, his Champions' Stage Purgatory appeared. Lu Yin raised his hand, and power fell from the void to seize Devouring Trace and throw it into Champions' Stage Purgatory.
Devouring Trace let out a low roar, "Humans! It was actually humans! I thought that this was a game between the Death Megaverse and Obscura. I never expected that you humans were behind it!"
It was unwilling, but Lu Yin had no need to listen to its nonsense. He directly overpowered the creature and forced it into his Champions' Stage Purgatory.