Chapter 4172: Return

Lu Yin looked to the towering peak. “Senior Shan has already made it clear that there will be no further communication with our human civilization.”

“You are you, and human civilization is human civilization.”

“I can’t be separated from human civilization.”

Little Eighteen growled, “Old man, I still have one more move. I must use it, or else I won’t be able to accept this result.”

“You are no match for Lu Yin,” Old First said.

Little Eighteen stared at Lu Yin. “Human, have you ever killed an Immortal?”

Lu Yin met the toad’s stare. “Of course.”

“I have too. Next, I’m going to use the technique I used to kill that Immortal on you. Do you dare to take it?” Little Eighteen taunted.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “No matter what move you have, you still can’t beat me.”

“Then just watch.” Sequence particles spread out from Little Eighteen.

Lu Yin arched a brow.

Sequence particles?

Given their level of power, sequence particles could no longer play much of a role in combat. They were crushed too easily by both Lifeforce and Immortal matter.

What is this damn toad trying to do?

Just then, a lotus leaf suddenly moved closer to the shore of the lake. It grabbed Little Eighteen and dragged them into the depths of the lake and out of sight.

Lu Yin stared in a daze.

Is that it?

Old Fourth and Old Fifth exchanged glances, unable to understand why Old First refused to let Little Eighteen use their final move.

“Human Lu Yin, Little Eighteen has lost. Thank you for the lesson. We won’t see you off,” Old First said from beneath the lake.

Lu Yin stared at the lake for a long moment. Did they not want him to see Little Eighteen’s most powerful attack?

“You’re welcome. This junior will take his leave.” With that, Lu Yin nodded to Old Fourth and Old Fifth before looking over at Astral Anura one last time. Under Astral Anura’s conflicted, hesitant gaze, Lu Yin approached the green stalk, sat on a branch, and left.

Once the green stalk was gone, Old Fourth and Old Fifth also left.

Farther away, toads enthusiastically led Astral Anura away.

Beneath the lake, Little Eighteen was being held firmly in place. “Old toad, I’m not convinced! I didn’t even use that move! I’m not convinced!”

“Fool. That was not a fight to the death. If we rashly expose all of our trump cards to a foreign civilization, we will be the ones to lose out.”

“Exactly. Human civilization is trouble. If we can avoid contact, we should do so,” Ancestor Shan’s voice drifted down.

Little Eighteen was still unhappy. “I didn’t lose.”

“Heh, Little Eighteen, you won. You forced that human to reveal his trump cards. He wields Willforce, which is indeed very strong. However, once you know about someone’s trump cards, they become much easier to handle. Compared to your ultimate attack that still remains hidden, his means were exposed, which leads to him being the one who lost,” Ancestor Shan praised the young toad.

Little Eighteen was still frustrated, but with the way that Ancestor Shan framed the situation, they felt much better.

Old First released Little Eighteen and allowed them to leave. “Ancestor, I can’t help but feel that Lu Yin never revealed his true strength.”

“Of course he didn’t. I was just comforting Little Eighteen. The gap between them and Lu Yin is far too great.”

“Human civilization is truly frightening with infinite possibilities. Those creatures can even comprehend Willforce,” Old First said with a sigh.

Ancestor Shan lamented, “Every species that lives in the Aevum Inch has powers that they can comprehend and powers that are absolutely impossible for them to wield. Humans alone are an exception. They are born very weak, yet they are able to cultivate every kind of power. If they are destroyed at the very beginning, they will be nothing. But if a human civilization is allowed to fully develop, it will become a problem.

“Back when the Nine Ramparts soared across the cosmos, many great powers appeared, and they shocked many civilizations while feeding humanity’s ambition. In the end, they trapped and doomed themselves. I hope that this branch of human civilization won’t repeat those mistakes, or else the cosmos will be thrown into chaos yet again.”

Old First suddenly felt uneasy. “Will that human Lu Yin listen to you?”

Ancestor Shan said, “I don’t know. Humanity’s nature makes it impossible for them to remain content. Every shift in circumstance breeds a new scheme.

“You rise through intelligence, yet you are just as likely to be buried by it.

“The Aevum Inch does not lack clever beings or those with talent. What it lacks are creatures that are truly straightforward.”

...

A green stalk moved through the Aevum Inch, making its way towards human civilization.

Without Astral Anura accompanying them, things felt much more peaceful.

Lu Yin stared straight ahead. He could sense traces of each pathfinding stone that he had tossed out. Each and every one of them could serve as a set of coordinates for him to teleport to. If he was not trying to hide his innate gift from the Immortal Lord, Lu Yin could simply teleport straight back to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, not needing the twenty-plus years for the journey home.

They traveled without making conversation. The Immortal Lord and Lu Yin had little to say to each other to begin with.

After more than twenty years had passed, the green stalk suddenly stopped. “This is the agreed upon location. Release Luo Chan.”

Lu Yin and the Immortal Lord had made an agreement that Luo Chan would be released outside the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, at a distance that an Immortal could cover with a year of traveling, though the Immortal Lord would be the one to choose the exact location. This was the condition that had convinced the Immortal Lord to accompany Lu Yin to visit the Seven-Treasure Anuras.

They had arrived at the location that the Immortal Lord had chosen.

Lu Yin peered into the distance. “So from here, it’ll one more year for me to return to human civilization?”

Of course, if he could see the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, he could simply teleport directly to it. Still, to keep that ability a secret, he needed to ask.

The light of the green stalk rippled. “Correct.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Lu Yin, are you trying to go back on your word?”

Lu Yin looked at the green stalk. “My life is in your hands. How could I go back on anything? Still, if this place isn’t actually close to the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm and you’ve taken me somewhere farther away, just what am I supposed to do about it? You should at least let me confirm my whereabouts. Don’t worry, I can’t contact Greater Sancte Green Lotus or any of the others from here.”

“Fine, you can verify these coordinates, but you had best not try to deceive me. So long as you are in my grasp, no one can save you. Not even that old monster from the Seven-Treasure Anuras can take you away instantly. Don’t seek your own death,” the Immortal Lord warned before flying off into the distance.

Half a year later, Lu Yin saw the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, though all he could make out was a vague outline.

They were approaching from a direction that the Immortal Lord had chosen. Not even someone like Greater Sancte Green Lotus could hope to observe every direction leading to the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm.

“This should be enough,” the Immortal Lord stated.

Lu Yin nodded. “Thank you. And don’t forget our agreement.”

With that, he took a Blood Tower out from a Zenith Mountain. Luo Chan was sealed within it.

The moment the Immortal Lord saw Luo Chan, they grew visibly on edge, ready to defend against any possible mishap.

There was no hesitation as Lu Yin tossed the Blood Tower over to the green stalk. The Immortal Lord caught and crushed it, and Luo Chan instantly appeared behind the green stalk. “Master.”

Lu Yin took a step, moving a bit away.

Luo Chan looked over at him. “Master, he’s going to run.”

Lu Yin remained focused on the green stalk. The Immortal Lord was similarly staring at Lu Yin.

The two remained silent.

But in the end, the Immortal Lord did not attack Lu Yin. “Are you alright?”

Luo Chan answered, “I’m fine, Master. Though this human nearly killed me-”

The Immortal Lord cut the bug off. “Enough. From this day onward, my Nest civilization will no longer have any connection to the human civilization, nor will we be their enemy. Lu Yin, that is what I agreed to.

“As for the Seven-Treasure Anuras, they also made it quite clear that they will not make trouble for your human civilization, which means that I have no reason to stand guard for you any longer. Farewell.”

Lu Yin had been on guard against the Immortal Lord the entire time, so hearing these words allowed him to finally relax a bit. “I hope you will keep your word.”

“Luo Chan, let’s go.”

“Yes, Master.” Luo Chan gave Lu Yin a hard stare before eventually vanishing with the green stalk.

The Aevum Inch fell silent once more.

The Immortal Lord had left, and barring any unforeseen incidents, they would not appear again. Lu Yin let out a breath. If possible, humanity certainly would have preferred to destroy the Immortal Lord, but their strength made that very difficult.

Merely forcing the Immortal to retreat for good was already a stroke of incredible luck.

Lu Yin just hoped that nothing unexpected would happen in the future. If the Immortal Lord failed to keep their promise, Luo Chan would at least no longer pose much of a threat to his human civilization.

Lu Yin’s gaze turned cold. He could also find the Immortal Lord.

Both Lu Yin and Ancestor Lu Yuan had cultivated a bit of the Immortal Lord’s power. With their ability to teleport, if the Nest civilization decided to fight against humanity again, it would be possible to eliminate the Immortal Lord, even if doing so came at a tremendous cost.

Elsewhere, the Immortal Lord had been teleported far away by Luo Chan. “Master, are we really just going to let this human civilization go?”

“That was the price to get you back.”

“I’m sorry, Master.”

“It doesn’t matter. This human civilization far exceeded my expectations. They are very strong and are not at all comparable to the Third Rampart. During this journey, I also saw the Seven-Treasure Anuras. I may not know exactly what that old monster said to Lu Yin, but there is no chance that he paid those toads a visit just to deliver Astral Anura. Most likely, he proposed an alliance against Obscura. Even if it seems that his attempt at an alliance failed, given how treacherous humans are, they wouldn’t tell us even if they did ally with the Seven-Treasure Anuras.

“The Seven-Treasure Anuras are not to be trifled with. If the human civilization cooperates with those toads, it would be more than enough to become a fishing civilization.

“But that is not even the most important part. What is most important is that human civilizations are far too conspicuous. Staying close to them would be dangerous for us as well.”

Luo Chan was surprised by the various developments. At first, it had believed that simply destroying this human civilization would be enough. Who would have thought that the human civilization could be so tenacious and have so many Immortals? Three of the four Insect Lords had been eliminated, and Luo Chan itself had even been captured. There was also more than just one powerful enemy targeting the humans. Luo Chan’s master was right; it was time to leave.

This human civilization was hardly the first civilization that their Nest civilization had abandoned.

If they continued to fight to the bitter end here, the Nest civilization would likely suffer disastrous losses.

They were not retreating because they no longer wanted to eliminate the humans, but rather simply because they did not want to put themselves at risk in order to do so.

Even the Immortal Lord felt nervous.

Similarly, Lu Yin was feeling quite uneasy as well, though his unease stemmed from Ancestor Shan’s words.

That toad had survived in the Aevum Inch for ages and witnessed too many brilliant civilizations, including even the peak of other human civilizations. It was hard not to believe the toad’s words.

Lu Yin had heard the distilled experience that allowed Ancestor Shan to lead the Seven-Treasure Anuras and survive for so long.

Lu Yin had always regarded humanity’s unyielding drive to advance as the spirit of human civilization. There was nothing wrong with that.

To live on, to survive, to cultivate, to climb higher step by step, human civilization had no choice but to keep ascending. Even when faced with numerous powerful enemies, life had to be passed on, and so did that driving spirit.

In Lu Yin’s view, this was the greatest difference between himself and Master Qing Cao.

Master Qing Cao had once admitted that he admired Lu Yin. Lu Yin sought the continuation of human civilization’s spirit, whereas Qing Cao merely wished for humanity to survive.

What differed between the two was what the true inheritance of a civilization should ultimately be.

This was not a matter of right or wrong, as these differences were only the result. But what about the process?

Did human civilization need to keep climbing upwards? To keep challenging stronger foes? Or should they settle down in a single corner to live quietly?

The Aevum Inch was home to many powerful beings. Lu Yin wanted to lead his human civilization to become a fishing civilization. Humanity had developed many Immortals, and they had also gained an absolute means with the innate gift of teleportation and the civilizational cultivation system of the Nirvana Tree Path. Everything had been done to strive towards that goal, with the entirety of his human civilization uniting and constantly advancing. There was nothing wrong with that.

But their progress had caused many powerful enemies to grow wary of humanity as they gradually advanced towards becoming a peak civilization.

And what came after reaching the peak?

The end of a civilization was its destruction. There would always be an undefeatable enemy waiting somewhere up ahead. That was Ancestor Shan’s understanding of the Aevum Inch.

No civilization could be truly invincible. That was a law of the cosmos, and it was ironclad.

With human civilization ceaselessly climbing upwards, was what awaited them still ultimately destruction?