Chapter?C.2567 – Karmic Cause and Effect

After Lu Yin reimprisoned Tu Shuangshuang in Zenith Mountain, the next person that he brought out was Seruzen.

It was time to chat with his old friend.

Seruzen stepped forward, his eyes locked onto Lu Yin. "You are Lu Yin."

Lu Yin was rather surprised to hear the comment, given that he was still maintaining Xuan Qi’s appearance. While he had intended to have their conversation after revealing his identity, Seruzen had exposed him before he could. "When did you know it was me?"

"The first time we met in Cliff Town," Seruzen said.

Lu Yin frowned. "Cliff Town? You recognized me all the way back then?"

Seruzen calmly replied, "I consider myself to be determined, but I am still human in the end, and all humans have weaknesses. I still wish to return to Earth, the place where I first set foot onto the path of cultivation. I long for the water and the people of my hometown. I've thought back to that place countless times, so naturally, I have a deep impression of you."

"After so many years, I’m surprised that you even still remember me." Lu Yin laughed and returned to his normal appearance.

Seruzen poignantly replied, "We're fellow countrymen."

The words triggered an inexplicable warmth in Lu Yin’s heart.

"Why didn't you tell me in the Lost Clan School that you recognized me?" Lu Yin wondered.

"That situation was rather special, and I didn't have true freedom."

"Has someone been restricting you?" Lu Yin's expression instantly changed.

Seruzen shook his head. "Not exactly restricting me, but rather assessing me. It’s because I left my name in the Arboric Scripture."

"The Arboric Scripture?"

"The Arboreal Realm’s supreme scripture that was created by the Arboreal Overlord. Anyone whose name is recorded in the Arboric Scripture has a chance of being accepted as the Arboreal Overlord's disciple. Every word I speak and action that I take is being monitored."

"Mu Sanye?"

Seruzen shook his head. "While that is possible, I’m not necessarily being monitored by someone from the Arboreal Realm. The Sixverse Association can be regarded a single entity."

Lu Yin thought for a moment. "It should be Zhi Bing."

"That’s indeed possible," Seruzen replied.

Lu Yin understood. It was possible that Seruzen had been continuously monitored by the representative of whatever school he attended in the Sixverse Academy. When Tu Shuangshuang had attacked the students, Shi Jiao seemed to have been the first to arrive, but Zhi Bing had not been any slower. In fact, he had actually arrived earlier, but had remained hidden in the void. The reason for his quick reaction might have been related to monitoring Seruzen.

"What kind of innate gift did you pick up that made the Arboreal Realm see you as so important?" Lu Yin's curiosity was genuine. He had asked Seruzen the same question before, but the man had never been willing to share.

Seruzen raised a hand, and a murky light emerged from Lu Yin's body to gather over the other man’s palm.

Lu Yin watched in astonishment. He could not feel that anything was missing from within him. What was the meaning of this murky light?

"Jenny Auna, do you feel guilt towards her?" Seruzen asked as he scrutinized the murky light in his palm.

Lu Yin's features twisted as a certain face appeared in his mind. The woman in his mind was staring at him with lifeless eyes that were filled with sorrow and loneliness. He suddenly found it hard to breathe. "You…?"

Seruzen waved his hand, which dispersed the murky light. "The innate gift that I obtained is called Karmic Fruit. From birth until death, everyone will feel guilt towards specific people or regarding certain events. No one can live a life free of guilt, as even children feel it. It is truly unavoidable. This guilt, or perhaps the feeling of having sinned, is the fruit of Karma they have sown. I can extract the Karma and return an equivalent amount of damage to anyone that I target."

The explanation triggered a storm in Lu Yin's mind. Such an innate gift actually existed? How was that even possible? This defied all belief.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Seruzen’s eyes remained locked onto Lu Yin, and he saw the astonishment in Lu Yin’s eyes. "When I obtained my innate gift, I also felt that it was unimaginable. Still, the megaverse is a wondrous place, and such things truly do exist. After obtaining this innate gift, I have started to think that the reality we know is a quantifiable existence. Whether it's power levels, behavioral predictions, emotions, past events, or even virtue and sin, everything can be measured. Anyone, any organism, plant, animal, or inanimate object, can be measured, or rather, designed.”

"Everything that you have ever experienced will be recorded on some sort of unseen, higher level. And I, by chance, am able to see that record."

Lu Yin's pupils flickered. Seruzen’s innate gift defied belief, but for that matter, so did Lu Yin’s die. Even the Champions' Stage and the Investiture of the Gods were incredible powers that defied any sort of logic. Just as Seruzen had said, everything in existence could be quantified, which meant that everything could be recorded. In that case, who or what was doing the recording? Was it the megaverse itself? Or was it some higher-order existence beyond anything that was known?

Was the direction of human history somehow predetermined? After all, that should be even easier to weigh and measure than something like sin and guilt.

"No wonder you were able to leave your name in the Arboric Scripture, and it’s no wonder why Mu Mu is so worried about you," Lu Yin exclaimed.

This secret that Seruzen had revealed without hesitation was no less important than Lu Yin's die. To be able to observe and read a person’s guilt was little different from reading their memories. This was a truly terrifying innate gift.

"Aren't you afraid that I’ll do something to you?" Lu Yin suddenly asked.

Seruzen responded with a slight smile. He rarely smiled, and when he did, it was a very disturbing sight. "There are certain matters that are destined, and it is impossible to escape them."

Lu Yin found this a strange reaction. Was that really how things were? He stared at Seruzen and his withered arm that was held up high. This man’s thoughts were quite strange. If Lu Yin had exposed his die soon after he had started cultivating, he would have never survived for so long. Could that be regarded as destiny? No wonder Seruzen had managed to obtain such a unique innate gift; he himself was extremely peculiar.

"I can see that you have a great deal more guilt and remorse in your heart. Do you need to remember them?" Seruzen offered.

Lu Yin stepped back. "There’s no need for that."

He did feel guilty about many things. Once, he had forced Destina to conduct a divination for him, and that had led to many, many people being sacrificed to keep Destina alive during the process. That was just one of many sins that Lu Yin had to bear.

Countless people had been sacrificed for him to reach his current position.

The same was also true for Progenitor Hui. In order to get revenge against the Sixth Mainland, he had allowed Aeternus to occupy the Mainland. In that situation as well, the ones who had suffered the greatest were the ordinary humans. The people with cultivation and power had been the first to escape and seek refuge in the Fifth Mainland.

No one could live a life without guilt.

Seruzen soon returned to Zenith Mountain. He was not a native of the Arboreal Realm, so if he was tossed into a random universe, he would not be able to find his way back to the Arboreal Realm. Because he had left his name in the Arboric Scripture, such an event was all too rare. Lu Yin knew that he needed to find a way to get Seruzen back as well.

Lu Yin emerged from the courtyard that he had been given, and the moment he did so, Luo Lao'er immediately approached him. "Brother-in-law, why didn't you come out for so many days? Don't tell me that you were in seclusion. If that was the case, it wouldn’t have been so short."

"I had an epiphany," Lu Yin replied.

Luo Lao'er was equal parts flabbergasted and envious. An epiphany would lead to a drastic improvement in strength.

"What’s going on? Are we heading to the Transcendent Universe now?" Lu Yin asked.

Luo Lao'er replied, "Soon. My uncle has already gotten in touch with an expert from the Transcendent Universe who’s currently living in our Three Monarchs Universe. When it’s time, that expert will take us back."

"Is he reliable?" Lu Yin looked uneasy.

Luo Lao'er’s voice dropped low. "He should be."

"One wrong move will cost us everything. I don't want to die because of you," Lu Yin stated bluntly.

Luo Lao'er pursed his lips. "I don't want to die either."

After several more days, Luo Lao'er returned to speak with Lu Yin, this time with an extremely upset expression on his face. "We can't go now. The expert from the Transcendent Universe who was supposed to take us has already left. My uncle looked into it and learned that the Mu Clan spoke with him. It wouldn’t have been safe."

Lu Yin shrugged. "So how much longer do we need to wait?"

"Don't worry, we’ll definitely get back there," Luo Lao'er said, though without much confidence.

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. "Is your uncle going to be able to keep the fact that he contacted someone from the Transcendent Universe hidden?"

Luo Lao'er's expression grew even worse.

Since the Mu family was targeting the Fenglei clan, every move that the clan made was undoubtedly being watched.

"The Mu family probably already knows you've returned," Lu Yin said.

Luo Lao'er's turned pale, and he raced away to find Fenglei Guanqin.

At the same time, the old woman from the Mu family had a grim expression on her face as well. She had just received another reminder from Monarch Mu to deal with the Fenglei clan and obtain the necessary resources as quickly as possible.

The task had seemed very straightforward at first, but then, a powerful expert had suddenly appeared, who possibly had ties to the Fenglei clan. If the Mu family attacked again, would that person appear to help the Fenglei clan? The old woman considered just fleeing in order to escape any potential complications, but she was restrained by the Death Seal that had been left inside her body. Escape was impossible.

Monarch Mu continued to put greater and greater pressure on her family, and she had even sent three experts from the Mo Courtyard to assist her. The old woman was no longer able to stall.

That very night, three Demi-Monarchs attacked the Fenglei clan, and a fierce battle between them and Fenglei Guanqin erupted.

How could Fenglei Guanqin hope to stand up to attacks from three Demi-Monarchs? He had barely held his own against two.

"Today is the day that your Fenglei clan will be wiped out!" one of the attackers roared. Fenglei Guanqin watched as monarch essence filled the air and took on the form of an enormous blade. As the blade fell, Fenglei Guanqin's eyes went wide from fear. No one could survive this attack.

"Stop!" the clan patriarch howled.

The old lady from the Mu family approached from the distance, carefully observing everything. Was that expert going to appear again?

Suddenly, the massive blade stopped falling. The silver-haired woman’s eyes grew large. There was a line stopping the blade. No, was that one side of a set of scales?

A set of scales took form beneath the blade, forcing back the attack’s killing intent. Standing on one side of the scales was a person who was completely shrouded within pure darkness.

The three Demi-Monarchs turned to face the mysterious dark figure, as did Fenglei Guanqin. None of them were certain who had appeared, nor why the person was helping the Fenglei clan.

"Who are you?" one of the Demi-Monarchs asked. It was his blade pressing down upon the scales. He stared into the darkness.

From within the darkness, a deep voice replied. "I am a guest of the Fenglei clan."

Everyone turned to look at Fenglei Guanqin.

Fenglei Guanqin felt completely confused, but this was not the time to think about such things. Instead, he just said, "I'll leave that person to you."

Lightning erupted as the patriarch launched a counterattack against the two Demi-Monarchs before him.

The blade-wielding Demi-Monarch snorted contemptuously. "Stop trying to act so mysteriously."

Monarch essence spread out to shroud the blade with three colors. Suddenly, the blade seemed to twist and melt before it reformed into countless blades that filled the entire sky. As they appeared, they fell upon the figure hidden in the darkness.

The unknown figure raised a hand before instantly being engulfed by the falling blades.

Fenglei Guanqin's expression changed. This was bad. The stranger had severely underestimated the experts from the Mo Courtyard. The patriarch readied himself to provide some assistance, but the scene that played out before his eyes shocked everyone.

The fathomless darkness spread out, quickly enveloping the Fenglei clan entire grounds, including even Fenglei Guanqin and his two Demi-Monarch opponents. Everyone dropped into the darkness.

"Skyless." A deep voice rang out in the silver-haired woman’s ears. Right after that, the darkness dissipated. All three of the attacking Demi-Monarchs slowly lowered their heads, their eyes glazed. Blood streamed from their bodies, staining the sky red as three figures slowly fell to the ground.