Chapter 4046: It’s The One

Great Elder Shan Gu let out a heavy breath before turning back to face Lu Yin and bowing low. “On behalf of the Third Rampart, I thank you, Lord Lu, for this great kindness. The grace that you have shown to the Third Rampart is something that we will never be able to repay.”

Lu Yin waved the thanks away with a hand. “You are now people of the Tianyuan. It’s only natural that I help you.”

Shan Gu remained grateful. “Thank you, Lord Lu. Our Lost Clan will fight to the death for the Tianyuan.”

To Lu Yin, Shan Lie no longer held any value. He had never even seen the humanoid Immortal insect, which made him useless. If he had captured Shan Xiao, Lu Yin would not have been that willing to hand her over to Great Elder Shan Gu so easily. At the very least, Shan Xiao could have provided a bit of insight into the humanoid Immortal.

Shan Xiao possessed far greater value than Shan Lie.

“I need to ask, have you seen this person?” Lu Yin asked as he drew a picture of the humanoid Immortal insect in the air.

Great Elder Shan Gu looked at the image and froze in horror. “It’s that Immortal! The one that destroyed my Third Rampart!”

Lu Yin let out a breath of relief. This was good news. If the humanoid insect had not destroyed the Third Rampart, it would mean that the Nest civilization had yet another Immortal, which was an unthinkable possibility. Of course, just because the Immortal was the same one that the Lost Clan had encountered before did not mean that the Immortal Lord was the Nest civilization’s only remaining Immortal.

“Lord Lu, have you seen him?” Great Elder Shan Gu’s face flushed with both excitement and unusual fear.

Lu Yin nodded. “He’s arrived.”

Great Elder Shan Gu’s pupils shrank sharply. He looked as if he was reliving the past as he suddenly clenched his teeth. His people had escaped from that Immortal once before, but they would not escape a second time.

“The Lost Clan is willing to live and die with the Tianyuan Megaverse.”

Great Elder Shan Gu had already embraced death in his heart. With both the droplet-shaped Immortal bug and the humanoid Verdant Sage Immortal, how could the Tianyuan Megaverse possibly hope to endure?

Lu Yin responded with a wry smile. “It hasn’t come to that just yet. As for that Immortal, do you know anything?”

Great Elder Shan Gu answered bitterly, “Forgive me, Lord Lu, but we truly don’t know. At the time, the only ones who were qualified to confront him were our emperor and royal regent. We were taken away by the card and escaped from the Third Rampart.”

“What level is that card?” Lu Yin asked.

Great Elder Shan Gu’s eyes flickered, and he did not hesitate to bow low. “It’s a Primordial card.”

Lu Yin stared at the man. “So, you lied to me before?”

Great Elder Shan Gu shook his head. “Lord Lu, at that time, was there any difference between a Primeval card and a Primordial card?”

Lu Yin was taken aback, but then he nodded. That was true; even if he had been told the card was a Primordial card, he could not have done anything with it at that time.

In fact, as he thought back to the past, he also understood why Great Elder Shan Gu had grown so agitated the first time the card appeared, given Lu Yin Evernight, and decided to support him fully. It was because that card was a Primordial card, something that only an Immortal could ever hope to truly control.

“Did the Third Rampart ever produce an Immortal?”

“No. In all our history, there was never any record of one.”

“Then why does that card exist? Even the Nest civilization covets the Primordial card. If I’m not mistaken, they want to take it for that humanoid Verdant Sage Immortal.”

Great Elder Shan Gu shook his head. “I truly don’t have an answer. Throughout the history of our Third Rampart, the strongest was always our emperor. The emperor of our era was also the mightiest throughout the entire history of the Third Rampart, but even he found it difficult to control a Primordial card. As for where it came from, no one knew.”

It was possible that merely those at Shan Gu’s level had never known. It was possible that the emperor had known.

The words that Greater Awe Gate had once spoken were quite true: there was a hole in human history.

Lu Yin dismissed Great Elder Shan Gu. It was clear that the old man longed to get revenge for the Lost Clan and also that seeing Shan Xiao and Shan Lie had completely awakened his ancient memories.

Shortly after Great Elder Shan Gu left, Master Qing Cao arrived.

“What should be said was already said by City Lord Jiang. Why summon me to this place? Don’t tell me, do you want to leave again and try to support the Nine Odysseys Megaverse?” Master Qing Cao’s voice held open amusement.

Lu Yin replied, “That would be much too foolish.”

If the two men left the Tianyuan, they would truly be following the Nest civilization’s script. The insects were able to freely approach any megaverse they wished, but regardless of whether Lu Yin and Master Qing Cao traveled to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse or the Tianyuan, the journey would be a waste of time. Ultimately, neither megaverse could be saved.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

“Then why did you call for me?” Master Qing Cao asked blandly.

Lu Yin looked at him. “The Nine Odysseys Megaverse holds not only a part of our human civilization, but also Obscura.”

Master Qing Cao’s brow rose as he stared intensely at Lu Yin. “So what?”

Lu Yin met the man’s gaze. “Will Obscura act?”

Master Qing Cao sneered. “Lord Lu, do you understand your own question? Even ignoring the question of whether Obscura has anyone hidden within the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, their only goal is to destroy that human civilization. Why would they save it?

“Did you think that threatening me would allow you to threaten Obscura? If so, you are gravely underestimating them.

“To Obscura, everything outside of their own civilization can be destroyed.”

Lu Yin had no idea if Master Qing Cao was being honest or lying. He had indeed considered the possibility of forcing Obscura’s hand by threatening Qing Cao, at least to the point of stalling one of the insect Immortals so that Greater Sancte Awe Gate could hold down the second one. Ultimately, during the last war between the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the insects, Qing Cao had leaned towards supporting the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, though that was only because the Nirvana Tree Path was destined to let a part of humanity’s strongest experts’ power surge.

The Nest civilization’s slow journey towards the Nine Odysseys Megaverse was certainly torturous to humans given their nature, but it also granted the megaverse more time for cultivators to train in the Nirvana Tree Path.

This was something that the Nest civilization had no idea of.

There were times when being clever would cause one to trip over themselves.

But all possible success hinged on the possibility of both insect Immortals being restrained. If even one of them took action against the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, they would be able to wipe out all of the powerful cultivators who had trained in the Nirvana Tree Path. That would be an absolute catastrophe for the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Lu Yin was most curious about what exactly Master Qing Cao’s agreement with Obscura was.

There had to be an agreement between the two, and within that, there was one other person involved: Yong Heng.

Yong Heng had betrayed multiple powerful organizations, all while repeatedly involving himself in matters that were related to Master Qing Cao and Obscura. If the Nine Odysseys Megaverse was destroyed, that man would not remain untouched.

“Heh, how amusing. I never imagined the day would come when the Nine Odysseys Megaverse faced such a calamity.

“Four Immortals... even with Mi Jin dead, they still had three. But even three Immortals have been pushed so far by a swarm of bugs. Things are so bad that someone from the Tianyuan who hasn’t even reached the Immortal realm has to worry over them. Lord Lu, don’t you think that that’s quite the joke?” Master Qing Cao said mockingly.

Lu Yin asked coldly, “Are you pleased?”

“Hard to say.”

“The Spirit Nidus will also be destroyed.”

“Then I must thank you, Lord Lu, as you have preserved a seed of the Spirit Nidus.”

“Do you truly not care about the Spirit Nidus?”

Master Qing Cao sighed. “In life, why should one make things hard for themselves? You care too much about others. That leaves you as nothing more than a puppet of your own life.

“Lord Lu, your heart is tied to the Tianyuan. Saving it depends not on what you think, but on what you do. As for the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the Spirit Nidus, regardless of what you do at this moment, you cannot change the facts. You can only pray for Blood Tower or Green Lotus to return.

“You are just another creature who has not yet reached the Immortal realm. You will die, you will feel helpless, and you will despair. Do not believe yourself to be too important. Without you, the cosmos will still be the same cosmos.”

Lu Yin smiled as he clasped his hands behind his back. “You’re wrong. Without me, the megaverse would no longer exist.”

Master Qing Cao froze.

So arrogant?

“The megaverse exists

because

I exist. If I die, how could this megaverse continue? I am everything to myself. Everything I do is for myself, whether it’s about protecting the Tianyuan or wanting to protect the Nine Odysseys Megaverse—it all comes from me. I am willing to shoulder the burden, no matter how heavy it may be, and I do so with a clear heart.

“But what about you, Senior? You can abandon the Spirit Nidus and those who revere you as an invincible being, which means that you can abandon everything. But ultimately, can you abandon yourself?” Lu Yin’s voice echoed across the universe just as it echoed in Master Qing Cao’s ears.

The man did not reply and instead just stared blankly into the distance.

“I don’t know what sort of agreement you made with Obscura, and I also don’t know what it is that you want me to see clearly. Even so, the plain truth is that life is simple: live with peace of mind. That’s all,” Lu Yin stated. “Gains and losses of benefits or emotional entanglements—all that matters is having a clean conscience. The more you scheme, the more you will lose.

“Will the final outcome truly be what you wish to see? Does doing something mean that it has to be the right decision?”

Master Qing Cao let out a breath as he chuckled and shook his head. “Lord Lu, you speak well. I won’t argue with you, but that is not to say that I believe that I am in the wrong. Everyone pursues different things. Ultimately, history will be the one to judge.”

“That belief relies on the outcome that humanity will have a history to leave behind,” Lu Yin retorted as he stared into Master Qing Cao’s eyes, “I don’t want to see the only remnant of humanity’s existence to be a carving on a gate.”

Master Qing Cao quivered as his face showed a rare change of expression.

Lu Yin said nothing more.

Obscura’s gates were carved with the images of many different species. When Lu Yin saw one of those gates, he had felt nothing but sorrow. He had immediately guessed that the creatures carved on the gate had all been exterminated by Obscura.

Every time a species was wiped out, their image would be carved on the gates.

There were humans carved on those gates, which meant that Obscura had wiped out a human civilization at some point in the past.

If the day came when it was impossible to find humanity anywhere in the cosmos, what then?

It was a long while later that Master Qing Cao finally spoke. “No matter what you wish to do, or whether Obscura has a presence in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, I cannot answer. Whether or not Obscura will act, I also cannot tell you. However, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse will not be destroyed so easily, even if Blood Tower and Green Lotus do not return.

“The Tianyuan has developed for countless years, and I have seen many astonishingly brilliant individuals appear here. The Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s overall strength greatly surpasses the Tianyuan’s. Even if their potential cannot compare to this megaverse, they have still produced just as many geniuses. Do you know why that megaverse’s greatest geniuses are frozen in the Scion Spire?”

Lu Yin was taken aback by the question. “Why?”

It was something that he had wondered about before. What was the purpose of putting geniuses like Little Lotus King into cryostasis in the Scion Spire? People believed that it was done so that the Scions could be awakened to compete when a Lesser Sancte’s seat became available, but during the time that Lu Yin had spent in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, he had realized that the title of Lesser Sancte did not appear to be overly attractive to top experts. On the contrary, many of the most powerful experts, like the Great Master and Qing Xing, cared nothing for the title.

Given that, then the Scions could have simply continued training, striving to reach the same level as those supreme experts and then attempt to step into the Immortal realm. Why bother waiting?

Master Qing Cao continued to explain, “It’s because those geniuses need to avoid certain eras, the eras when someone is already attempting to break through to the Immortal realm.”

Lu Yin was shocked. “Is someone attempting to become an Immortal? What are you saying? Aren’t there always people trying to reach the Immortal realm?”