Chapter 3197: Real And Fake

No one knew how much time they spent in the Mirari Realm, but Hongyan Mavis's injuries had mostly healed, and Shan Gu had long since recovered. While he was no longer able to wield the power of Heavenly King’s statues, thanks to that card, he retained the ability to barely hold off an Ortuser, even if only for a short while. This was even without using the power of any of the statues.

The members of Second Fate had also recovered. Since they were unable to leave the Mirari Realm, they had been forced to stay with Lu Yin.

One day, a golden streak flew by all of them, and Lu Yin, Hongyan Mavis, and Shan Gu immediately gave chase. There was no mistake; they had just seen Astral Anura.

The toad had ventured into one of the Mirari Realm’s forbidden zones, searching for what was supposed to be the path to Immortality. Not even Hongyan Mavis was confident that she could survive the Mirari Realm’s forbidden zones, and Astral Anura had just returned from one of them.

Lu Yin was curious to learn about what the toad had experienced.

At the banks of the River of Time, Astral Anura finally stopped, his back to Lu Yin and the others as he blankly stared into the river. The copper coins that had hung from his neck had been scattered, and the wound that he had received from the blood-red figure’s sword was still bleeding.

No matter how they looked at the toad, Astral Anura not only seemed to have failed to recover, but he seemed to have ended up in an even worse condition.

On top of that, the toad’s posture indicated that he was rather depressed, as though he had suffered some sort of mental blow.

"Toad, are you... are you alright?" Hongyan Mavis asked hesitantly.

Astral Anura's body swayed, and he leaned forward as though he was about to fall into the River of Time. Lu Yin felt an instinctive urge to give the toad a little shove.

Lu Yin, Hongyan Mavis, and Shan Gu were all in silent agreement, and no one said a word to warn Astral Anura. While the wretched toad had his uses, his death would not be a setback. Lu Yin had already felt the urge to kill the creature on several occasions.

Unfortunately, Astral Anura merely wobbled, and he did not fall into the River of Time.

“First Blood, you’re incredibly shameless!” Astral Anura spat.

Hongyan Mavis was momentarily taken aback, and then her expression fell. "Are you insulting me, you damned toad?"

Astral Anura turned around to glare angrily at the woman. "So what if I am? I haven't hit you yet!"

"Go ahead and try it," Hongyan Mavis threatened as she clenched a fist with enough force that the void quivered.

Astral Anura clenched his jaw, rage blazing in his eyes. "That wretched place doesn’t have any path to Immortality. It’s just, just-"

The three humans were all curious. "It’s just what?"

Astral Anura, finally finished, though he sounded bitter and despondent, "It’s just that I saw my great-great-grandmother, who died long ago. She told me to join her, saying that many of my elders are waiting for me and that they really like me."

Lu Yin blinked, feeling very puzzled. What the hell?

Hongyan Mavis casually remarked, "Isn't that immortality? Your great-great-grandmother already died, but she was still able to appear in that place. If even the dead can be seen, what could it be but immortality?"

Astral Anura's skin changed, taking on a mottled coloring as he raised his steel fork and glared fiercely at Hongyan Mavis.

Lu Yin’s guard rose. The damn toad was not about to go berserk, was he?

After a moment, Astral Anura spat out, "Shameless," turned around, and fled, disappearing from everyone’s sight.

Lu Yin gave Hongyan Mavis a strange look.

Shan Gu also looked at her oddly.

She coughed, and said, "Don't look at me like that. This isn’t my fault. I didn't expect things to turn out like this.

"If I had known, that would have meant that I had lied, but I didn't. If I had, it would have affected my upcoming breakthrough to the Origin realm."

Lu Yin thought about it, and then agreed. "So, does that mean that Destiny lied to all of you?"

Hongyan Mavis frowned. "I don't think that’s it, either. Back then, Lassy was very obedient."

This would not have been a simple deception, but a bold-faced lie.

Astral Anura had been severely injured, but he had originally been in better condition than Hongyan Mavis. With the time they had spent in the Mirari Realm, the woman had recovered, but the toad’s condition had worsened after entering a forbidden zone. If Astral Anura ran into an enemy at this moment, he might die without even knowing what happened.

No one would tell such a lie without some deep resentment already present.

Logically, in the past, Destiny had been one of the Origin Progenitor’s disciples, alongside Hongyan Mavis and the others of the Three Realms and Six Daos. There should not have been any great hatred between them.

Unless...

Lu Yin glanced at Hongyan Mavis, right as the woman looked at him. She asked, "Did you think of something?"

Lu Yin replied, "Did you think of something too, Senior?"

"I did, but it shouldn't be that, right?"

"Let's see if we're thinking the same thing and write it down."

Each of them wrote a word on their palms and then raised their hands to each other.

Lu Yin's palm read “fake."

Hongyan Mavis's palm read "real."

What was the real answer?

Both people’s moods grew heavier as they realized that the cosmos that they throught they had understood became increasingly strange.

"Great-great-grandmother-" Astral Anura wailed in the distance.

Lu Yin exhaled. It was time to leave the Mirari Realm. After all, he could always return.

...

In the Heavens Sect’s main hall, Lu Yin sipped a cup of tea that Zhao Ran had prepared. In front of him stood the five hosts of the recent auction.

The five men were nervous, and none of them dared to speak or sit.

Lu Yin set down his teacup. "Your auction was quite the success. Congratulations."

Bai Ni quickly and respectfully replied, "It was thanks to the support that we received from the Heavens Sect. Without that, we would have never been able to host such an event. The items might have disappeared before the auction even started."

Lu Yin chuckled. "That has nothing to do with me. Besides, I’m the one who stirred up trouble at the end."

Qing Du smiled. "You must be joking, sir. That had nothing to do with you. You didn’t even attend our auction."

Bai Ni was startled, and he turned to look at Qing Du in surprise. What did this mean? They all knew that Lu Yin had attended their auction and attacked Second Life. None of the five hosts were idiots; how could any of them have not noticed?

They had made the trip to the Heavens Sect for two reasons: first, they needed to offer the Root of Intelligence to Lu Yin. Second, they needed to apologize to the Heavens Sect, as none of them had done a thing during the battle that had ended the auction. Not once had any of them entertained the thought that Lu Yin might not have attended the auction, but they had never known if they should act ignorant about that matter or not.

None of them knew what to make of the situation. Did it make any difference whether Lu Yin had been present at the auction or not? Bai Ni did not know, and neither did any of the others.

Why would Qing Du say such a thing? He was clearly placing some distance between Lu Yin and the auction, but why? Also, why was the man so certain that this was the correct course to take?

When Bai Ni looked at Lu Yin and saw the hint of a smile, a flash of insight struck the man. He turned and stared at Qing Du with open disbelief.

Could Lu Yin have orchestrated everything from the very beginning?

Qing Du turned to meet Bai Ni’s stare. "Isn’t that right, Brother Bai Ni?"

Bai Ni’s eyes narrowed as he stared intently at Qing Du.

The man gave a subtle signal, and Bai Ni let out a breath. "That’s right, Lord Lu didn’t attend our auction."

Lu Yin looked up and studied the men before him. "I understand the purpose of your auction. Everyone has their own ambitions. I can help you, but for that to happen, you need to do me a favor."

Bai Ni bowed. "Please, tell us, Lord Lu."

"Choose someone suitable to serve as your representative who can take the position of one of the Heavens Sect’s Eight Outer Paths."

Bai Ni was taken aback, and he instantly felt rather troubled.

The Heavens Sect’s Eight Outer Paths were no pushovers. The five hosts of the auction had seen the Heavens Sect’s power during the military declaration, and regardless of whether it was the Infinity Empire’s Supreme or the Scourge Occupation’s E' Ji, neither would be easy to deal with. These people had the strength to directly fight against Second Life.

There were many parallel universes which were not affiliated with the Heavens Sect, but aside from Second Life, none of the connected universes had any real experts. Where were they supposed to find someone with the strength to join the Heavens Sect?

Lu Yin did not care if other universes wanted to form their own alliances. He was not overbearing to the point of wanting to control such things, but the war against Aeternus needed to be the top priority. Whether the parallel universes submitted to the Heavens Sect or not, they all needed to join the war against Aeternus.

In fact, Lu Yin actually preferred the unaffiliated civilizations to form their own alliances. There was no need for the Heavens Sect to manage such affairs. Instead, it was better if a single command could summon all the alliance’s experts for war. If these five men and their allied universes could find someone who was qualified to become one of the Eight Outer Paths, Lu Yin would have a very pleasant surprise.

Whether they could find a qualified expert or not, the Heavens Sect had no time to worry about the affairs of other universes.

Bai Ni and the others all bowed and left.

Arch-Elder Zen laughed. "These guys are all trying to plot their own schemes! They saw our Heavens Sect connect multiple parallel universes and grow stronger by doing so, to the point where we’ve even driven Aeternus into hiding, and now they want to do the same. Dao Monarch, that military declaration demonstrated humanity’s strength, but it also ignited many people's ambitions."

Lu Yin was unbothered. "Ambition is a good thing to have. With it comes motivation to improve. It’s a true disaster when there's no ambition."

He then raised a hand to look at the Root of Intelligence that he had received from Bai Ni.

The Root of Intelligence that had been sold at the auction had been purchased by Bai Ni at a steep price, as the man had hoped to form a relationship with Lu Yin.

Arch-Elder Zen similarly took out the Root of Intelligence that he had been given by Bai Ni and handed it to Lu Yin. "I've already reached my own peak. Having a breakthrough and becoming a Progenitor was already an unexpected surprise. I can't progress any further, so it would be better for you to use this Root of Intelligence, Dao Monarch."

Lu Yin did not refuse. "Thank you."

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

After leaving the Heavens Sect, Bai Ni and the others all shot dirty looks at Qing Du.

While Bai Ni had seemed to be the one to organize and manage the recent auction, Qing Du had been the one to put forth the suggestion. Their recent meeting had made it clear that Lord Lu had gotten what he wanted from their auction, but this fact needed to be kept hidden.

The only one of the five who had truly benefited from the auction was Qing Du.

"Brother Qing Du, what did Lord Lu offer to make you go through so much trouble to organize the auction?" Bai Ni asked.

The others, including Yang Jia, were also staring at Qing Du. "We want to know as well."

Qing Du chuckled. "Everyone, don't be upset with me. Lord Lu didn't offer me any sort of wealth or benefits, and he certainly never approached me directly. Arch-Elder Zen came to see me.

"I never helped the Heavens Sect for any sort of benefits—I just wanted to get closer to them.

"Think about it. We may be powerful and control the lives of countless beings within our universes, but Second Life alone leaves us all terrified. There are too many powerful creatures in the megaverse, and who can guarantee that we won’t encounter one of them? I just want to survive."

"What sort of promise did the Heavens Sect give you?" King Luo Fu asked coldly.

Qing Du smiled and answered humbly, "My life. They promised to save my life once."

Bai Ni and the others let out sighs and praised their companion. "You’ve received nothing, and yet this was completely worth your efforts."

Seeing that the other four were still upset with him, Qing Du said, "The truth is that we can all join the Heavens Sect, if we want. They treat everyone the same."

Bai Ni frowned. He could not join the Heavens Sect, as he had his own plans for the future. The most important thing was to find a suitable representative who could qualify to receive the title of one of the Eight Outer Paths.

However, where could they find such a representative? Even if one was found, such a person might not even acknowledge the five of them. This was a difficult dilemma.

Tian Fa was dead, and Lu Yin was waiting for Tian En, the butterfly, to visit him. It was impossible for her to not know that Tian Fa was dead.

Lu Yin did not wait very long.

He looked out into outer space and saw the enormous butterfly, and Lu Yin stepped out of the Heavens Sect.

"Dao Monarch Lu, may I ask where Tian Fa is?" Tian En's voice sounded as gentle as ever, but Lu Yin would never forget the fact she had once left Progenitor Ku for dead. If not for her, Progenitor Ku would not have remained comatose for so long.