Chapter 3082: Straightforward

Lu Yin's expression grew solemn. "I will have the Sixverse Association keep a careful watch out for Mu Ji."

Ancestor Tianyi shook his head. "Doing that will only make Mu Ji more convincing if he returns to Aeternus."

Lu Yin understood this reasoning. From Aeternus's perspective, Mu Ji was a human spy who had been sent to the Aeternals. If the humans started targeting Mu Ji, it would only solidify the Aeternals’ trust in him.

"Ancestor, what if I disguised myself as Mu Ji, return to the First Scourge through a cosmic door, and give the First Scourge another surprise?" Lu Yin suddenly suggested.

Ancestor Tianyi was momentarily stunned, but then he nodded approvingly. "Clever."

"Time is of the essence. We need to act before Mu Ji finds a way to contact Aeternus so that we can prove that he’s a spy. At the same time, we need to rescue Hui Wu. Leaving him in Aeternus is too dangerous," Lu Yin explained.

Ancestor Tianyi nodded again. "This time, the results you can obtain aren’t as important as ensuring that there are no casualties."

"I understand." Lu Yin hesitated and stared at Ancestor Tianyi for a moment. "I still need to see Ancestor Lu Yuan."

The man shook his head. "Ancestor has gone into seclusion again."

Lu Yin's eyes flashed. "Or is it that I'm not ready to ask the questions I have?"

"It’s not about readiness. There are some things which are best left unknown," Ancestor Tianyi replied.

Lu Yin understood. Mu Ji had strayed due to learning too much, but Lu Yin could not shake Wu Tian from his mind. "Ancestor, Wu Tian aided me in learning a comprehension technique. I really want to bring him back."

With that, Lu Yin left the Lu Sanctum.

Instead of returning to the Heavens Sect, he went straight to the Cyclic Universe.

There was a region of the Cyclic Universe that was known as the Lotus Realm, and it was Sovereign Lotus’s home for herself and her disciples.

Lu Yin quickly arrived in the Lotus Realm.

Most people could not simply enter such a place. This was a special rule of the Lotus Realm, as any cultivator's residence would not allow outsiders free entry.

When Lu Yin arrived in the Lotus Realm, he was immediately struck by its beauty.

The so-called Lotus Realm was a gigantic lotus platform, but it was not built. Rather, it was a single, enormous lotus flower.

The Lotus Realm was protected by sourcebox arrays that prevented outsiders from entering without permission.

Lu Yin stood with his hands clasped behind his back. "Sovereign Ninth Lotus, come see me."

His voice was not loud, yet it somehow penetrated the entire Lotus Realm, unaffected by the protective formations that were in place.

Deep within the Lotus Realm, the Sovereign Lotus's eyes snapped open in shock.

Lu Yin? What is he doing here?

Regardless of what Lu Yin had accomplished for the Sixverse Association as a whole, Sovereign Lotus found the young man to be unpredictable, bold, and utterly ruthless. If possible, she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.

As time passed, Lu Yin’s status and influence within the Sixverse Association had risen up to become second only to the Great Sovereign herself. If not for the Great Sovereign's invincible cultivation, even she would have been overshadowed.

At the moment, the Great Sovereign was in seclusion, which left Lu Yin as the de facto leader of the Sixverse Association.

The Sovereign turned to look towards the entrance of her Lotus Realm. "Lord Lu, I was injured during the invasion of the First Scourge and am still recovering. May I ask what brings you here?"

Lu Yin calmly replied, "I need to see Astral Anura."

Sovereign Lotus was taken aback. "Astral Anura?"

Several women were approaching the Lotus Realm at this time, and they were led by Little Lian, who was Sovereign Lotus's favorite disciple. Little Lian was exceptionally talented at learning Sovereign Lotus’s techniques, which made her unique out of all of the Sovereign's disciples.

Accompanying Little Lian were Rou’er, the girl who had once reprimanded Lu Yin while flattering Chu Jian, and Ling Mu, who had had a close relationship with Cheng Feng. She had even tried to stop Lu Yin from arresting the Aeternus spy, but had failed to do so.

The women quickly arrived before the Lotus Realm, where they saw Lu Yin.

"Xuan Qi?" Ling Mu was surprised to see the young man.

Little Lian was delighted. "Brother Xuan Qi."

Lu Yin looked over and smiled. "Little Lian."

Little Lian excitedly ran over. "Brother Xuan Qi, what brings you to the Lotus Realm? Are you here to see my master?"

Lu Yin nodded. "I have a bit of business with your master. Little Lian, you've improved."

Little Lian beamed. "Thank you, Brother Xuan Qi."

Standing beside Little Lian, Rou’er kept her body bowed. She did not dare to even look at Lu Yin.

She had once scolded him in order to compliment Chu Jian, only to be slapped by Sovereign Lotus herself. From that point on, Rou’er had hated Lu Yin. She had been shocked by what he had accomplished during the Great Sovereign’s Tea Ceremony, as he had started by defeating Chu Jian and Sage Yuan. Then, he had passed his Semi-Progenitor tribulation and fought against one of the Seven Skygods. She was still in awe of those feats, and her awe had silenced her contempt for Lu Yin.

Later, as events had unfolded for the Sixverse Association, the attacks launched against the Seven Skygods and the crusade to conquer the Endless Battlefield had both caused Lu Yin's reputation to soar. The greatest change had occurred when he had been audacious enough to visit the Cyclic Universe and disturb the Great Sovereign’s seclusion, but he had somehow survived the matter unscathed.

This had proven to the entire Sixverse Association that no one could suppress Lu Yin.

He was the undisputed ruler of the Sixverse Association. Even the Great Sovereign had not acted against him, which meant that Rou’er’s own master was powerless before the man.

Rou’er tucked her head down even lower, but to Lu Yin, the woman was insignificant to the point where he barely even remembered her.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Instead, Lu Yin turned to look at Ling Mu.

"When I arrested Cheng Feng, someone tried to ambush me and my people in the Voidforce Universe. You were the one behind that, weren’t you?"

Ling Mu's face turned pale, and she quickly fell to her knees. "I beg for forgiveness, Lord Lu. My ignorance and arrogance offended you. Please forgive me."

Little Lian bit her lip. While she appeared innocent, she was not naive. She clearly understood the situation.

Little Lian was aware of the close relationship between Cheng Feng and Ling Mu, as well as the fact that Ling Mu had done everything she could to help Cheng Feng, even going so far as to implicate their senior disciple, Yao Lan.

While it had appeared to outsiders that all of Sovereign Lotus’s disciples had been trying to protect Cheng Feng to prevent Yao Lan from getting caught up in the scandal, the reality was that Ling Mu had played a significant role in instigating matters.

Little Lian disliked such underhanded methods, but she had not distanced herself from Ling Mu, who had been kind to the younger woman.

Lu Yin calmly observed Ling Mu.

Little Lian whispered, "Brother Xuan Qi, Sister Ling Mu knows that she was wrong. Can you show some leniency?"

Lu Yin's voice turned cold. "Because of her, Old Dian was exposed, captured, and later died at the New Inn. Should I show leniency for that?"

Little Lian fell silent.

Ling Mu's face turned ashen.

Lu Yin had never pursued the matter in the past, but not because he did not want to. It had been because he had not been able to. Later, after he had become a Semi-Progenitor and the Lu family had returned, he had been too busy to remember such a minor individual.

If he had not made the trip to the Lotus Realm, Lu Yin likely would have never remembered Ling Mu.

At this moment, Sovereign Lotus stepped out of the Lotus Realm. "Lord Lu, what do you intend to do with Ling Mu?"

Lu Yin looked over. "Many people say that magnanimity is a virtue. Given my current status, dealing with someone like her would appear rather petty."

Ling Mu felt a flicker of hope.

"However, I don't care about appearances. Life is more important than so-called magnanimity." Lu Yin's face grew stern.

Sovereign Lotus replied, "Old Dian's death was of his own doing. He joined the New Inn to receive its protection, and he should have stayed there for life. Leaving broke the rules, and he would have eventually been exposed, regardless of how things played out."

"Are you saying that your disciple is not at fault?" Lu Yin countered.

Sovereign Lotus sighed. She found it extremely difficult to deal with people like Lu Yin. Anyone else with his power and status would not bother about such a trivial matter, and they would simply allow past events to fade away.

The Sovereign understood that Lu Yin genuinely wanted Ling Mu to pay for her actions. He was not trying to use the matter as leverage.

Lu Yin asked, "Would you forget past pain?"

Sovereign Lotus replied, "It would depend on the pain."

"The sort that leaves scars," Lu Yin retorted bluntly.

Sovereign Lotus frowned, but said nothing.

Lu Yin continued, "Human history is crucial. Forgetting history is to betray the future and to do a disservice to oneself. Sparing her would be to betray my past self. Back then, I often wondered if, once I became stronger, I would be able to go back to help my past self. Mistakes need to be atoned for, and time cannot erase such things."

He glanced at Ling Mu. "I don't want to deal with this. Handle it. This matter needs closure."

Sovereign Lotus nodded. "I understand. Little Lian, Rou’er, take Ling Mu back."

Rou’er quickly escorted Ling Mu into the Lotus Realm, but Little Lian glanced at Lu Yin. "Brother Xuan Qi, I’m heading in now."

Lu Yin nodded.

"Lord Lu, you mentioned Astral Anura earlier?" Sovereign Lotus asked.

Lu Yin nodded. "If Aeternus can hire Astral Anura, so can we, right?"

"That’s true. The Sixverse Association has hired Astral Anura once before, but the cost was too steep, so we never did it again."

Lu Yin chuckled. "The Sixverse Association encompasses many parallel universes and does not belong to any one person or organization. Of course we can't afford to pay the same prices as Aeternus, especially when they earn everything back in the end.”

Sovereign Lotus grew puzzled. "Earn everything back?"

Lu Yin did not elaborate, and instead said, "I want to hire Astral Anura. You should be able to contact it, right?"

Curious, Sovereign Lotus asked, "Why do you want to hire Astral Anura?"

"To attack the Scourge."

Sovereign Lotus was startled. "You want to attack the Scourge again?"

Lu Yin smiled. "Scared?"

Sovereign Lotus stared at Lu Yin as though she were looking at a madman. "The last time we tried to invade the Scourge, the battle was already intense enough that we were forced to retreat. Aeternus has more powerhouses than anything we've ever seen, and the Seven Skygods could reappear at any moment. What’s the point in attacking now? Do you really think that we can destroy the First Scourge? True God is also there."

Lu Yin replied, "Don't worry about it and just find Astral Anura. I'll pay the price, even if it’s more than what he demanded in the past. All that matters is that he doesn’t betray us."

Sovereign Lotus stared at Lu Yin. "Do you really intend to invade the Scourge again?"

Lu Yin grinned at her. "Not just me, all of us."

The woman’s expression changed drastically.

"Since you already know about my plans to invade the First Scourge, you’re coming with me."

"I haven’t fully recovered from my previous injuries."

"That doesn't matter. You just need to put on a good show.”

“Why should I go?”

“I don't trust you, and I want to make sure that you don't warn Aeternus."

Sovereign Lotus was speechless. The man’s bluntness was impossible to deal with.

...