Chapter 4018: Red Floating Coffin

The Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s reluctance to accept beings from foreign civilizations was also an aftermath of the incident with Qi Xu. As far as the Nine Odysseys Megaverse was concerned, those not of their kind could never be trusted, their loyalties would always diverge.

The Nine Odysseys Megaverse would only trust humans.

While Lu Yin was from the Tianyuan, he could still be accepted even if he had initially arrived with hostile intentions towards the Nine Odysseys Megaverse since he was a human.

On the other hand, no foreign species would ever be truly accepted by the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, no matter how sincere they appeared to be.

Foreigners like those forming the Spirit Coalition would never be accepted. They had merely been granted a place to live within the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and were treated as higher-tier vassals, nothing more.

“How did you find... me?” Wu Er asked.

Lu Yin Possessed her again. He took advantage of Wu Er’s moment of shock to take control, hoping to use that split second to catch a glimpse of any memories related to himself.

Memories poured in.

Wu Er’s first reaction to seeing Lu Yin had been to flee. After she realized that she was a captive, her second thought had been of the red floating coffin.

It was the same red coffin that she had escaped with.

That red coffin was more important to Wu Er than her own life. It had once belonged to Qi Xu and thus to Obscura.

Had Lu Yin not caught that momentary thought from Wu Er, he would have completely overlooked the red coffin.

After all, the Netherfiends that participated in the multiple spirit seed fusion experiments had been laying in their own floating coffins. Lu Yin had inspected the coffins carefully, but he had found nothing special about them.

Floating coffins were an oddity in Lu Yin’s experience, and because of that, he paid careful attention anytime he encountered something that seemed like one.

In the Willbound Spire, while approaching the memory palace, he had seen a memory of the Mirari Realm. There had been a woman in red clothes walking through the sky, and he had heard the words “floating coffin,” which had unlocked long-sealed memories.

After all, Lu Yin had heard the God of Death mention floating coffins once as well.

On top of that, when he had stepped onto the Stargazing Deck, he had seen a shadowed cliff with rows of black floating coffins that were wrapped in vines. Those memories, which he had forgotten long ago, had awakened in an instant.

Because of all those incidents, Lu Yin had become exceptionally attentive to any sort of floating coffin.

As for Wu Er’s red coffin, it was anything but ordinary.

Was it possible that the black floating coffins that were entwined by Obscura’s vines?

Was it possible that the cliff Lu Yin had seen was where Obscura resided?

But how could the God of Death have known about Obscura?

Lu Yin withdrew the red coffin from Wu Er’s cosmic ring and then ended the Possession while tapping Wu Er’s brow once again.

The old woman froze, stunned by the sight of the red floating coffin before her. “Th- that...?”

She could not fathom why Lu Yin would pay attention to the red coffin.

While using one finger to restrain Wu Er, Lu Yin focused on the red coffin. As he reached out for it, a sensation beyond words caused him to instinctively recoil. For a single moment, an icy force had gripped his heart while an endless bloodlust and desire to commit slaughter had raged through his mind. It had been pure madness and destructive desire.

He had felt it before. It was the same sensation that he had felt when undergoing his Divine Energy Transformation.

However, the emotions induced from touching the red coffin were far more violent than the ones of the Divine Energy Transformation.

Xiang Siyu raised a hand to touch the red coffin, but Lu Yin warned her. “Don’t.”

She gave him a puzzled look.

Lu Yin said, "You cannot touch this thing."

After a moment, he added, "Senior, this belongs to Qi Xu."

Greater Sancte Awe Gate stepped forward, a grave expression on her face as she approached the red floating coffin.

The sight of Greater Sancte Awe Gate caused Wu Er’s eyes to narrow. At this moment, she knew that escape was impossible.

However, she still could not understand how Lu Yin had managed to find her, as well as why he was so concerned with the red coffin. Not even the Greater Sancti had ever seen the coffin before, as Wu Er’s master had kept it very well hidden. How could Lu Yin know about it?

Greater Sancte Awe Gate stopped beside the red floating coffin, her expression heavy. "This thing gives me a very disturbing sensation."

"Please, Senior, take it away." Lu Yin also felt uneasy. There was an icy dread emanating from the coffin. He trusted his instincts and was certain that the coffin should not be touched.

Greater Sancte Awe Gate nodded. She glanced at Wu Er but said nothing further. The Immortal simply left with the red coffin.

Once Greater Sancte Awe Gate was gone, Lu Yin Possessed Wu Er again. There was no need to say a word. Perusing the woman’s memories was the best way to do things.

She could hide nothing from Lu Yin as her memories surged forth unbidden.

The first thing that Lu Yin sensed was Wu Er’s confusion. She could not understand how she had been found, or why Lu Yin was so concerned with the red coffin.

From the memories that appeared, Lu Yin learned that Qi Xu had always kept the red coffin hidden, never allowing Greater Sancte Green Lotus or any of the other human Immortals to ever see it.

It was no wonder why Wu Er had been so startled.

Red floating coffin, red floating coffin...

Lu Yin focused on memories related to the item.

In Wu Er’s memories, he saw Qi Xu. She had been a faceless Immortal who had taken on a human appearance when she entered the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Noble, stunning, and cold; that had been people’s impression of Qi Xu in that era.

Wu Er had seen Qi Xu lying within the red coffin, wounded. By that point in time, Wu Er had already gone into hiding, as Qi Xu had turned against Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the other human Immortals.

Qi Xu’s identity had been revealed, and her identity as a part of Obscura had come out.

If Qi Xu had not been wounded, Wu Er would never have seen her resting in the red coffin.

Suddenly, Lu Yin’s spirit shuddered. He saw a red line emerging from the coffin, drifting through the universe.

It was the exact same red line that kept the Netherfiends hidden and melted them when they were discovered.

In the memory, Qi Xu was still lying inside the red coffin.

If she had disappeared, Lu Yin would have suspected the red line of being Qi Xu herself and that she had not truly died.

However, the red line had drifted out into the universe while Qi Xu was still inside the coffin. Even if the line came from her power, there was no evidence that she had survived.

While it was certainly difficult to kill an Immortal, it was not impossible.

Qi Xu had been assaulted by all of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s Immortals, and she had fallen alongside Greater Sancte Mi Jin. There was no doubt that Qi Xu was dead.

Wu Er had not seen, nor had she even been qualified to see, the battle that had led to Qi Xu and Greater Sancte Mi Jin’s mutual destruction.

Wu Er only knew that, after Qi Xu’s death, she had hid inside her master’s red coffin and slept.

That sleep had lasted for countless years.

As for the purpose or origin of the red coffin, Wu Er knew nothing at all. All she ever knew was that the coffin had been Qi Xu’s most treasured possession and that it was capable of hiding her.

Lu Yin finally understood why he had managed to Possess a Netherfiend who had been so close to Wu Er without sensing her at all; it was because she had been inside the red coffin. The coffin was even able to block Lu Yin’s die.

It was possible that the red coffin was another kind of mirebound artifact.

Mirebound artifacts were treasures that everyone desired, but Lu Yin did not want the coffin; it was far too disturbing.

It would be best to leave Obscura for the Immortals. He had no desire to serve as their vanguard.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Wu Er’s memories were too vast for Lu Yin to fully comprehend. He had already examined her memories that were related to the experiments conducted on multiple spirit seed fusion, as well as the memories related to the coffin. Next, he would examine memories related to Qi Xu.

He wanted to see just how Wu Er had interacted with Qi Xu.

Qi Xu had been cold, noble, and beautiful. In addition to that, she had actually been a good teacher.

She had taken great care when teaching Wu Er. Though Qi Xu’s voice had been cold, it had held great warmth to Wu Er’s ears.

Wu Er’s strongest impression of Qi Xu was that she had been reliable. Wu Er had respected her teacher and depended on her. It had never mattered if Qi Xu had stood against humanity or not; Wu Er had only ever wished to follow her master.

That dependence and respect were what had driven Wu Er to keep the Netherfiends hidden for countless years.

Exactly what is Obscura?

Lu Yin could not make sense of it.

Why would someone from a fishing civilization show warmth to creatures that belonged to a civilization they wished to destroy?

Could it have been pity?

Wu Er’s feelings for Qi Xu were real, and the care that Qi Xu had shown for Wu Er was just as real.

However, the Immortal’s determination to destroy the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had been even more real.

That much was clear in Wu Er’s memories.

She had been well aware of Qi Xu’s desire to annihilate human civilization.

Wu Er had still been willing to help Qi Xu, even if doing so meant abandoning everything else.

Obscura’s gate had not been placed by Qi Xu. That memory was an important one, but Lu Yin could not find the gate’s origin, even after searching through all of Wu Er’s memories. Wu Er had once asked Qi Xu about Obscura’s gate, only to be told a few words: Keeper of Balance.

Aside from those few words, nothing else in Wu Er’s memories was related to the gate.

There was another memory that Lu Yin found hard to believe: the idea of fusing with multiple spirit seeds had not come from Qi Xu.

“Fusing multiple spirit seeds together... What a curious idea.”

“Master, what do you mean by fusing with multiple spirit seeds?”

“Humans cultivate by using spirit seeds. They are the very core of their cultivation system. If multiple spirit seeds could be cultivated, would that not allow a human’s power to skyrocket?”

“Can a person really fuse with multiple spirit seeds?”

“I don’t know, but let’s try. Maybe it’s possible?”

The conversation had been buried deep in Wu Er’s memories. That conversation showed that Qi Xu had not been the one to come up with the idea of fusing with multiple spirit seeds.

But who could have shared that concept with Qi Xu?

The idea could not have come from Greater Sancte Green Lotus or any of the other Greater Sancti; could it have been that Keeper of Balance’s idea? Obscura’s gate in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the concept of multiple spirit seed fusion: could that Keeper of Balance be behind both things? Who, or what, was the Keeper of Balance? A person? An organization? That red line?

The more that Lu Yin tried to understand Obscura, the less he found he knew.

How much did Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the others really know about Obscura?

Unless Lu Yin succeeded in becoming an Immortal, they might never share that information with him.

That remained true even if Lu Yin was already strong enough to fight against Immortals.

His mind returned to his body, and Lu Yin slapped a hand at Wu Er’s forehead, knocking her unconscious. He then casually tossed her into his Champions’ Stage Purgatory to strengthen his Karmic Dao while also preventing her from melting away.

Xiang Siyu had been watching the entire time. When she saw Lu Yin regain consciousness, she excused herself.

Lu Yin offered his gratitude. “Thank you. Without you, I might have never found her.”

She smiled. “You’re welcome. If you ever need to use me again, just come find me.”

“...Your way of speaking is... quite unique.”

“Is it? No one’s ever mentioned that to me before. Well, anyway, I’ll take my leave.” With that, Xiang Siyu departed.

Lu Yin watched the woman leave. Everyone had their own path. While Xiang Siyu’s smooth road had easily led to the peak Dukkhan realm, and with time, she was even destined to reach the limit of combat power for that realm, her greatest desire would always be to break through to Immortality.

Human desire was something that could never be satisfied. That was not necessarily a bad thing, as without desire, what motivation was there?

Lu Yin could not help but wonder; if Xiang Siyu were given a choice, would she choose the life of an ordinary cultivator? One that was filled with hardship, but which also held the possibility of reaching the Immortal realm? Or would she choose the same, smooth path that guaranteed that she would become a peak Dukkhan but made it nearly impossible for her to ever become an Immortal?

Why did people seek strength?

Because they refused to choose, they grasped at all.

Wu Er did not offer Lu Yin much karma, though it was also not too little. It was less than expected, though certainly more than most Dukkhans.

Theoretically, Wu Er should have accumulated a vast amount of karma, given the eons that she had lived for, but after Lu Yin considered her situation, he understood.

She had spent countless years experimenting with multiple spirit seed fusion, and she had done almost nothing in the outside world. Even if the karma generated by the Netherfiends who succeeded in fusing multiple spirit seeds together could be attributed to Wu Er, it was only indirect.

In other words, her age meant nothing and her life had been wasted, at least as far as Lu Yin was concerned.