Chapter 4130: The Second One

Lu Yin looked toward the Mindscape Megaverse. The entire megaverse was a rift, the absolute limit of what a megaverse could become.

Extremes Must Be Reversed... what would happen if that technique was pushed using the limit of an entire megaverse, reversing the extremity that its own pressure induced?

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. He stood in place, silent and in no rush. He just slowly thought through things.

...

The Seven-Treasure Anuras’ Old Fourth hopped along through the Aevum Inch when it suddenly stopped and turned to look in a different direction. “Old Fifth? That’s Old Fifth’s aura, no doubt about it, but why is it here?”

At the same time, in the direction that Old Fourth was looking, another massive Seven-Treasure Anura appeared. This one looked a great deal more like Astral Anura than Old Fourth, which was also perfectly normal. Also, it was carrying a larger lotus leaf.

This toad also halted and peered in the direction of Old Fourth. “Strange. Why did Old Fourth come? Isn’t it supposed to be watching the slugs?

“And another thing.” It turned so that it was looking towards the human civilizations. “There really is a kin’s aura. Ancestor was right. Little anura, just wait. I’m smart enough, so I’ll surely take you back home. Just wait for me.”

Just outside the bounds of the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, Astral Anura abruptly let out a shriek, badly startling Xing Fan.

She could not remember the last time that she had been startled in such a manner. Ever since she had become a Lesser Sancte, all of her cultivation places had been perfectly peaceful, as no one had ever dared to disturb her.

This damned toad!

“What is it now?”

Astral Anura grimaced. “There’s another aura.”

Xing Fan’s expression changed drastically.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s voice immediately came out. “What did you say? There’s another aura? What do you mean by that?”

Astral Anura pointed in a different direction from before. “I can feel a familiar aura coming from that direction too.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s expression shifted.

Two Seven-Treasure Anuras? Impossible... Or could it be?

He looked at the Mindscape Megaverse through the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm.

At the edge of that megaverse, Lu Yin looked up. “Senior?”

Above the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, Greater Sancte Green Lotus met with Lu Yin.

“What? There’s another Seven-Treasure Anura?”

“Yes. Astral Anura has sensed two familiar auras approaching us. Both should belong to Immortals.”

Lu Yin’s expression darkened. “The one coming from the same direction as the Tricolor Skyborne should be the Seven-Treasure Anuras’ Old Fourth, while the other one might have been drawn here when I tried to search through Astral Anura’s karma.

“This is my fault for being careless.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus replied, “You hold no blame. For you to have been found across such a vast distance by a Seven-Treasure Anura means that this species is truly incredible. It turns out that our enemies are even stronger than we had imagined. Your earlier suggestion may just work.”

Lu Yin nodded. He had previously spoken with Wei Rong about the fact that humanity might need to abandon certain things. It was impossible for civilizations to truly coexist in peace, but why were so many other cultivations continuously eying humanity? There had to be something particularly concerning about human civilization.

The second Seven-Treasure Anura was concerned about Astral Anura, so they just needed to hide Astral Anura.

As for Obscura, they were concerned with the red coffin.

Lu Yin had once suggested that they toss the red coffin over to the Immortal Lord, but unfortunately, they could not even locate the Immortal Lord. How could they throw the coffin to them?

“We need a different approach,” Lu Yin said, his eyes gleaming, “If just one of the Seven-Treasure Anuras was approaching us, it would be difficult to handle, but the more civilizations that appear, the more chaotic the situation.”

“You want to divert the disaster elsewhere?” Greater Sancte Green Lotus asked.

“I want to frame someone.”

“Are you certain of success?”

“Not at all, as we don’t have any allies. Still, we should be able to divert at least some of the threats away from us.”

“Then do it. It is not easy for any civilization to survive. Lu Yin, live, if you can. The rest of us may die, but you cannot.”

Lu Yin looked at Greater Sancte Green Lotus, feeling the sincerity in the Immortal’s voice. For a moment, Lu Yin had no idea how to even respond.

Rationally speaking, if humanity needed someone to lead their civilization forward, then Greater Sancte Green Lotus was the best choice. He was an Immortal being who wielded karma and was immensely powerful. However, it was also precisely because he was an Immortal that he carried too many burdens. That was his weakness.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus represented the present.

In contrast, Lu Yin, despite not being an Immortal, was able to fight against such beings. Once he broke through, his combat strength would not be inferior to any of the Greater Sancti’s. He represented the future.

One was the present, while the other was the future.

The Greater Sancte supported the future, though only if the future could be made real.

There was no time to consider things further. Lu Yin left the Mindscape Megaverse, traveling towards Astral Anura’s location while the toad rode a green lotus leaf back towards the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The two met in the Aevum Inch.

When Astral Anura saw Lu Yin, he felt inexplicably moved. While Lu Yin was not an Immortal, he somehow gave off a greater sense of safety than any of the Immortals.

“Lord Lu! Lord Lu, I finally see you! Lord Lu!”

Lu Yin pursed his lips. “What’s wrong?”

Astral Anura could not be sure if Kang Tian had been lying, used by the humans to scare him, but the toad did not dare to take that gamble. Instead, he treated everything that the snail had said as true.

He shared everything that Kang Tian had said with Lu Yin.

Lu Yin acted surprised. “That’s a thing? Then that second aura must be another one of them coming for you.”

Astral Anura gave a bitter smile. In the past, he would have hoped for that to be true, and he might have even turned his back on everything in order to make the human civilization answer to the mighty Seven-Treasure Anuras.

But after everything he had learned... “I hope not.”

Lu Yin sympathetically patted the lotus leaf atop Astral Anura’s head. “We’ve met and traveled together. I’ll help you as much as I can.”

Astral Anura was moved. “Thank you, Lord Lu.”

“Still, if we can’t hold out, we’ll have no choice but to hand you over.”

Astral Anura froze. He suddenly believed Kang Tian’s words more than ever. If Lu Yin had promised to protect him unconditionally, it would have proven that something was wrong, but such pragmatic honesty was exactly like Lu Yin.

“Lord Lu, please, don’t hand me over to them! I can’t fight them! They grew up with the rest of my clan, so they must have learned so much! And me, I- I’m just a stray!”

Lu Yin sighed helplessly. “I need to consider the entire human civilization. I’m sorry. Still, I’ll do what I can to help you. Go hide in a parallel universe.”

“Will that work?”

“It will at least keep them from finding you quickly. I’ll see if I can deal with them for you.”

“Th- thank you, Lord Lu!”

“Leave this lotus leaf behind.”

“Huh?” Astral Anura blinked.

Astral Anura quickly fled into a parallel universe while Lu Yin stayed behind. He threw the lotus leaf away before taking a step forward and allowing bright-red energy to surge through him. He used it to form a crimson sword that vanished after a flash. The lotus leaf was split in two, the pieces flung into a parallel universe.

This was the first step.

Some time later, Lu Yin exited the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. He took a deep breath. In a different direction, the red coffin drifted towards him. He moved over to it, muttering, “May Obscura help shield my human civilization from another calamity.”

When he touched the coffin, the star of divine energy in his inner universe suddenly trembled. A crimson line shot through it, but no matter how hard Lu Yin tried to find that line, he could not.

The coffin and the line must be part of a set for a creature of Obscura.

Right, there was also that red sword.

However, when Qi Xu had fought her final battle against Mi Jin and the other Greater Sancti, why had the sword never appeared? Aside from concealing Qi Xu, what else was the coffin capable of doing? Also, there was the red line, which had not done anything to help.

It was all quite strange.

He slowly lay down inside the floating coffin, and immediately felt himself wrapped in crimson. It was the same as when he used divine energy: a surging hunger for slaughter and an expanding awareness of the cycle of life. He suddenly sat upright, exhaling sharply. Again.

Each time the coffin lid closed, Lu Yin’s eyes turned crimson, and his entire body was inundated by the coffin’s molten red energy. More energy spread out from the star of divine energy, and it swept through his entire inner universe.

No!

Lu Yin shot back up to a sitting position again, gasping for breath.

No matter what he tried, he could not stop the divine energy’s spread. Once the lid closed, every power he possessed vanished, leaving only divine energy, and even his understanding of life began to shift.

So this is Obscura?

The red coffin drifted off into the distance, Lu Yin sitting inside of it without closing the lid. He simply sat there, searching for the red line.

It seemed that, aside from the red sword that had been shattered, he had inherited everything else that had belonged to Qi Xu.

Her seven emotions had entered his Champions' Stage Purgatory, strengthening his karma.

The red line had entered his star of divine energy.

The red coffin was right beneath him.

Lu Yin’s gaze deepened. If Qi Xu had possessed all of these things as a set, then Lan Meng should possess the same tools.

He remembered that, the moment the red line entered his body, he had seen vibrant coffins hanging from a sheer cliff, and a massive tree streaked with many colors.

That vision matched with what Kang Tian and Greater Sancte Green Lotus had said about Obscura.

Each member of that civilization had their own color, and Obscura would alter a civilization’s understanding of color, leaving nothing but fear for it.

Qi Xu had been red.

Lan Meng was blue.

There were many colors; did that mean there were an equal number of Obscura members?

If so, that would be beyond terrifying.

Was this the true strength of a fishing civilization?

As Lu Yin’s mind wandered, the red coffin left the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. Green Lotus sent it hurtling towards the Seven-Treasure Anuras’ Old Fourth.

In perfect unison, both Old Fourth and Old Fifth sensed Astral Anura’s aura vanish.

One was bewildered. They had already been confused by why the aura of one of their kin was coming from the direction where the Tricolor Skyborne had fled in, and then the aura had simply disappeared.

The other toad grew furious. “Something happened? My kin is in trouble! No, he isn’t dead. He must have been hidden. You can’t fool me! I’m too smart. No one can!”

...

The red coffin left the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, moving straight for Old Fourth, who was less than a year away from the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm.

After half a month had passed, Lu Yin was still calmly sitting in the coffin when a blue sword abruptly appeared in front of him, moving to slice his head off.

His eyes flared, and he swung the red coffin’s lid to block the attack.

Clang

.

The sound was soft, but a tremendous force blasted the red coffin backwards. Lu Yin dropped the lid and swept a hand forward, sending a rain of Tri-Azure Sword Intent slashes at Lan Meng.

The void was torn open. Lan Meng emerged, its sword in hand, the blade moving to disperse all of the Tri-Azure Sword Intent. Pointing the sword at Lu Yin from afar, the creature said, “Let’s see if I’m right. You want to use Obscura’s power to attack the Seven-Treasure Anuras’ Old Fourth to redirect their anger.”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, a cold glint flashing within them.

Lan Meng chuckled. “It appears my guess was right. It was worth waiting here. We’ve only crossed blades with your human civilization a few times, but from that, I am aware of how scheming you humans are, of how you can win large battles while only risking small stakes. It was indeed wise to guard against such subterfuge.

“Unfortunately, your understanding of the cosmos is far too shallow.

“You want to redirect hatred? Completely unnecessary. If I appear before Old Fourth with you, it will try everything within its means to kill me. You wouldn’t matter at all.

“We intend to destroy human civilization, and the Seven-Treasure Anuras as well. So you don’t need to bother redirecting anyone’s hatred.”