Chapter 4164: Candidates

Kang Tian spat out with disgust, “The Seven-Treasure Anuras are selfish, arrogant, vile, shameless, cowardly, and also reckless. By all logic, such creatures are not worth interacting with, and yet they have one advantage. That advantage is also their only means of communicating with other civilizations.”

“Honesty,” Lu Yin replied.

Kang Tian agreed. “Yes, honesty.

“Civilizations in the Aevum Inch do not communicate with each other, but they do compete. It is also inevitable for a civilization to encounter others. When they do, and if their strengths are comparable, they cannot fight to the death. There will instead be compromise and avoidance. The basis of such exchanges is integrity.

“The Seven-Treasure Anuras are absolutely detestable due to their countless flaws. If they were not also honest, they would have been wiped out long ago. The only ones who fear nothing are the true fishing civilizations, but the Seven-Treasure Anuras are not at that level. They do not seek to destroy every civilization they encounter, as they have their own goals.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus nodded. “Integrity is indeed the platform through which the Seven-Treasure Anura communicate. That is understandable.”

Lu Yin thought back to what he knew about Astral Anura. The wretched toad’s Dukkha was business—the more transactions the better. Even though stellular energy was worthless to a Dukkhan like Astral Anura, he had still hoarded that currency. No matter what else was said, the toad’s integrity had never been a problem. At most, he had exploited loopholes within contracts.

If not for his honesty, the toad would have died long ago during the war between humanity and Aeternus in the Tianyuan.

Humanity had hired the toad to fight against Aeternus, while the Aeternals had hired him to target the humans. It had simply been a matter of who hired Astral Anura first.

That too had been dependent on Astral Anura’s integrity.

“It seems that we should pay a visit to the Seven-Treasure Anuras. Since they sent us an invitation, then as long as we return Astral Anura, our civilization will no longer have a formidable enemy,” Greater Sancte Green Lotus commented.

Greater Sancte Blood Tower nodded in agreement, and Lu Yin joined in. If not necessary, no one would willingly provoke such a powerful opponent.

The Seven-Treasure Anuras’ old monster was a ruthless creature. Simply by sending a single token, they had forced both the toads and humanity onto a stage where refusal would mean war. Obscura, karmic chains—none of that could outweigh the dignity tied to that token.

That old monster was forcing both sides, though they were also demonstrating the Seven-Treasure Anuras’ overwhelming confidence.

That old monster possessed terrifying strength.

The next question was: who would go?

“I’ll go. I accepted the token,” Greater Sancte Blood Tower announced.

Ku Deng spoke up, “Let this old man go instead. It would be a good chance for me to see the Aevum Inch.”

“I’ll go,” Lu Yin said.

The others all looked at him, and Greater Sancte Blood Tower said, “How could you go? Don’t joke around.”

Ku Deng agreed, “Mr. Lu, you are the hope of humanity. We cannot afford to allow you to suffer even the slightest accident.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus added, “Indeed. Anyone can go, aside from you.”

Lu Yin shook his head. “I am the most suitable choice.”

Seeing the doubtful gazes facing him, he turned to Ku Deng. “Senior, are you good at negotiating?”

Ku Deng bowed his head and silently took a step back.

Lu Yin then looked at Greater Sancte Blood Tower. “Senior, can you swallow your anger?”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower rolled his eyes.

Swallow it? Nonsense. So what if that old monster is strong? At worst, I’ll die fighting.

Lu Yin finally looked at Greater Sancte Green Lotus. “Can our human civilization endure without you, Senior?”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus stared at the young man. “And yet your value to humanity is no lesser than mine.”

“With my innate gift of teleportation, the chances of anything happening to me are very low. The Seven-Treasure Anuras are unlikely to attack anyone who isn’t an Immortal, and on top of all that, we have a mutual enemy: Obscura.

“It is a risk, but if this risk earns us an ally against Obscura, it’s also worth it,” Lu Yin said.

Seeing that the three were still hesitating, he spoke of his past struggles against Aeternus in the Tianyuan. “I am much too familiar with these kinds of situations with tenuous alliances and delicate counterbalances. The Seven-Treasure Anura aren’t fools. Even if they don’t ally with us, they will still keep us close as a means to restrain Obscura. Obscura is a threat to us, but as long as they exist, the Seven-Treasure Anura won’t pose a threat to us.

“Also, I won’t be going alone.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus was taken aback. “You won’t?”

For anyone to qualify to accompany Lu Yin to visit the Seven-Treasure Anuras, they would have to be an Immortal. However, if he was accompanied by an Immortal, what would Lu Yin’s role even be?

Lu Yin slowly smiled as he turned to look at Kang Tian.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the others followed Lu Yin’s gaze, astonishment filling their eyes.

That one?

Kang Tian instantly panicked and shrieked, “I’m not going!”

Lu Yin retorted, “Not you—the Immortal Lord.”

“The Immortal Lord?”

“The Immortal Lord?” The others were equally confused.

Lu Yin smiled. “We weren’t able to decide what additional condition we should demand in exchange for Luo Chan’s immediate release. That condition has just appeared: we will demand that the Immortal Lord accompany me to visit the Seven-Treasure Anura. That will be the safest arrangement.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus chuckled. “So that’s the plan. You intend to use the Immortal Lord to hold the old monster’s attention. The Seven-Treasure Anuras will focus entirely on that creature, which will leave you with a chance to withdraw at any moment.”

Lu Yin nodded. “If nothing happens, the Immortal Lord will simply serve as a guardian. If something does happen, the Seven-Treasure Anuras will undoubtedly target the Immortal Lord first. They won’t even pay attention to me. That will give me a brief opening to escape with teleportation. I doubt that even that old monster can anticipate such an innate gift.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus muttered in agreement. “This is indeed feasible. Luo Chan is much weaker than you, and yet even I struggled to capture it. Even if the toads’ old monster is much stronger than me, you are also much stronger than Luo Chan. Escape is not impossible. Also, the Immortal Lord is not an easy opponent to handle either. Their strength is formidable.

“However, will the Immortal Lord agree?”

Lu Yin shrugged. “We will simply take Luo Chan along.”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower and Ku Deng stared at Lu Yin, completely speechless. This young man had to have a hundred things running through in his mind.

For the sake of Luo Chan, the Immortal Lord would have no choice but to go.

Lu Yin did not have to be the one to make the trip as humanity’s representative, but he genuinely wished to go.

He knew very well that relying solely on humanity to reach the level of a fishing civilization and defeating Obscura was nearly impossible. Master Qing Cao had not changed his position regarding humanity and Obscura. The man had seen the true despair brought about by Obscura.

Lu Yin had also witnessed it, though he did not want to believe it. If each color represented an Immortal of Obscura, then they had a terrifying number of experts.

Even if humanity gained several more Immortals, it would make no difference.

As soon as Obscura moved with their full strength, their human civilization would be annihilated.

Given the circumstances, only alliances could offer them any hope.

When Lu Yin had first seen the six Scourges, he had also fallen into despair. The Great Sovereign had taken him there specifically to witness Aeternus’s full power. He could still remember the feeling of that moment. How had they transformed defeat into victory? Had it been because of him? No. It was because many had united. Multiple parallel universes had joined forces to achieve triumph.

Victory did not have to be won by a single individual.

It was the same thing again. Humanity could not prevail alone, so they needed to unite with other civilizations.

Despite the many flaws and detestable nature of the Seven-Treasure Anuras, as long as they shared a common enemy with humanity, they would be reliable. At the very least, they could serve as competent cannon fodder.

Also, Lu Yin would never forget that, aside from Obscura, the Death Megaverse, the civilization behind the Nest civilization, the springboard civilization, and more were all hiding somewhere in the Aevum Inch. None of those civilizations were necessarily weaker than Obscura. Humanity faced more threats than could be imagined.

Since the Seven-Treasure Anuras had requested a visit, humanity needed to respond and see what happened. There was hope for this journey to change human civilization’s overall situation.

Lu Yin could see all of this clearly and knew that he was the most suitable choice to go. Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the others understood that just as well; they simply did not want Lu Yin to take such a risk.

Still, some dangers would always lurk in the background even if Lu Yin stayed. It was only a matter of time.

“If the Immortal Lord goes with you, it will be much safer, though that will still not be enough.” As he spoke, Greater Sancte Green Lotus took out a karmic bud and tossed it into the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. Right after that, Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm started to roar, causing countless people to lift their heads and look up. What was happening this time?

Lu Yin watched the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm churned. After a moment, it seemed to shrink.

“Senior, this...?”

Previously, in order to lure the Immortal Lord into attacking the, Greater Sancte Green Lotus had deliberately shrunk the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm to expose the Allsense Megaverse. Later, after Luo Chan was captured and the Immortal Lord retreated, that megaverse had once again been folded into the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm.

But as Lu Yin watched on, the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm genuinely shrank, and the Allsense Megaverse was exposed once more.

All because of a single karmic bud.

Lu Yin had gathered a number of karmic buds before, and he had even used them to strengthen his Karmic Dao. However, he had eventually abandoned that path because the reward to effort ratio had been too small.

As he stared at the karmic bud in the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, Lu Yin instantly knew that this one was completely different from any he had seen before. This one contained an astonishing amount of karma.

The karmic bud drifted down to float in front of Lu Yin.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus looked rather exhausted. “Take it.”

Lu Yin accepted it, feeling the surging karma within the bud. “Senior, this karmic bud...?”

“That is no longer a karmic bud, but rather something called a transmutation disc.” Greater Sancte Awe Gate had arrived.

Lu Yin was puzzled. “Transmutation disc?”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower said, “You can consider it a miniature Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. It contains Senior Green Lotus’s karma, enough to ensure your safety in any situation.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus waved his hand. “It contains no offensive power whatsoever. Lu Yin, you have already learned my Karmic Heavenwheel. The karma within that transmutation disc is enough to merge with your own Karmic Dao so that you can unleash the strongest Karmic Heavenwheel possible. I hope that you never have to use it, but if you do, this will grant you at least a moment to escape from that old monster.

“A single moment is enough.”

Lu Yin put away the transmutation disc and bowed low to Greater Sancte Green Lotus. “My thanks, Senior.”

The price of this transmutation disc was not small. The Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm had been reduced by a noticeable amount. Even if the difference seemed miniscule compared to its entirety, the fact that the difference could be noticed at all indicated how much karma had been siphoned off. At the very least, the transmutation disc contained more karma than Lu Yin’s entire Karmic Dao.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s exhaustion alone was indicative of the price that he had paid.

The man let out a helpless sigh. “We should be the ones thanking you. You have already risked yourself many times for our human civilization. Mr. Lu, I hope this journey goes smoothly for you.”

Greater Sancte Awe Gate had only just arrived, and so he was unaware of what had been decided. Ku Deng shared what had happened with her.

Previously, when Greater Sancte Blood Tower retrieved the token, he had not disturbed Greater Sancte Awe Gate. After mentioning the civilization with the vision techniques and leaving, she had not made another appearance, and no one had bothered her.

Upon learning that Lu Yin would be making a journey to visit the Seven-Treasure Anuras, Greater Sancte Awe Gate frowned and looked at him. “The Immortal Lord is an unreliable guardian. I can go with you.”

Lu Yin shook his head. “Unreliable or not, they’ll still protect me for Luo Chan’s sake. It’s safer for you to keep an eye on the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. The region on the other side of the Gate of Laws is also not secure.”

“What happened?” Greater Sancte Blood Tower asked.

Lu Yin described the technological civilization that they had encountered, and as everyone listened, their expression grew darker. Why were there powerful civilizations everywhere?