Chapter 4181: Never Meet Again

In the Mirari Realm, Lu Yin grew uneasy.

Zhao Ran directed a reluctant look his way. “I have to go.”

Before Lu Yin could respond, he heard the voice of Greater Sancte Green Lotus call out, “This is not good. This disturbance in the Mirari Realm has drawn the main stream of the River of Aeons over. As it passes by, this branch of the river will be pulled away.”

Lu Yin was shocked. “What will happen?”

“It will merge back into the main stream of the River of Aeons and flow through the entire Aevum Inch,” Zhao Ran explained.

Lu Yin’s eyes tightened. “And what about you?”

Zhao Ran gave Lu Yin a faint smile. “I don’t know. We may perhaps... never meet again.”

Lu Yin’s expression changed drastically. “Senior Green Lotus, is there any way to stop this?”

The Greater Sancte sighed. “Before the River of Aeons’ main stream, we are like mortals in the face of time: utterly helpless. A mortal cannot change time.”

Lu Yin looked at Zhao Ran, and then at Mister Mu who was in the middle of his breakthrough. How had things reached this point?

“What about my master?”

“Your master will be fine. Only the River of Aeons and the Mirari Realm will disappear,” Greater Sancte Green Lotus replied.

Lu Yin looked at Zhao Ran with a determined expression. Then, Lightstream flowed around him, forming a small boat. He stepped onto it as it moved towards her. “Zhao Ran, come with me.”

She shook her head. “A ferryman needs to be with the River of Aeons.”

“If the branch is just merging with the main stream, why does a ferryman need to be there?” Lu Yin asked in confusion.

Zhao Ran’s expression fell. “I don’t know either, but without a ferryman, something terrible will happen. There is no exception, unless the megaverse that is home to the branch of the River of Aeons is completely erased.”

Lu Yin stared at Zhao Ran in a daze. How could things have reached this point?

From above, an indescribable pressure fell like a river flooding backwards. Lu Yin looked up, but he saw nothing. He could only faintly sense an immense presence. It was the main stream of the River of Aeons, a terrifying power that flowed throughout the entire Aevum Inch.

The Aevum Inch was home to countless civilizations, including many fishing civilizations, all of whose time stemmed from the same River of Aeons.

Not even Greater Sancte Green Lotus could stop this river from appearing.

Compared to the main stream, the Mirari Realm’s River of Aeons was nothing more than a branch, and an extremely small one at that.

At the moment, Lu Yin felt true helplessness, such as when a person stood before collapsing mountains. He had absolutely no ability to resist. What did it matter that he was strong enough to kill even Immortals? In the Aevum Inch, there would always be unimaginable giants that were irresistable. The Seven-Treasure Anuras’ ancestor had been right: no matter how strong their human civilization became, their ultimate destination would still be destruction. Nothing could become truly invincible.

Even Greater Sancte Green Lotus fell silent. No one could stop the main stream of the River of Aeons.

The Mirari Realm trembled. Chunks of the land split apart and rose up into the sky.

The River of Aeons itself was boiling, and time throughout all parts of the human civilization grew chaotic. However, as soon as the river merged back into the main stream, everything would settle back down again.

Lu Yin watched as Zhao Ran’s small boat rose into the air. He could do nothing to stop it. There was simply nothing to be done.

The nine cauldrons did not move, but Lu Yin could feel the magnificence of Mister Mu’s breakthrough diminishing and fading away. Just as Greater Sancte Green Lotus had said, without the River of Aeons, Mister Mu’s chances of success would plummet.

Lu Yin clenched his teeth. Was there really nothing that he could do?

At that moment, Greater Sancte Green Lotus suddenly said, “Lu Yin, bring Blood Tower here.”

Lu Yin did not understand the reason for the order, but he did not hesitate. He teleported to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. As soon as Greater Sancte Blood Tower saw Lu Yin, he went to the Tianyuan and entered the Mirari Realm. With a wave of the Immortal’s hand, the void split apart, and another River of Aeons appeared.

Lu Yin had already known that Blood Tower controlled a River of Aeons. That river had allowed Lu Yin to reach the Thread of Heaven that he had previously visited.

“Senior, you’re...”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower exhaled. “Since humanity is about to gain a powerful Immortal, how can we possibly let the chance slip away and gain nothing? If the main stream wants a River of Aeons, then we will give it one.”

Lu Yin trembled. Was Blood Tower actually willing to sacrifice his own River of Aeons?

Blood Tower controlled his River of Aeons, and it overtook the Mirari Realm’s river as it was pulled upward.

Zhao Ran paddled her boat towards the rising river.

Lu Yin watched on, sorrow filling his eyes.

Greater Sancte Blood Tower let out a helpless sigh. “A River of Aeons must have a ferryman, and this one is being pulled away from the Tianyuan. Without a ferryman, something will go wrong with the Tianyuan itself. I don’t know exactly what, but the Great Master told me that it would be bad.”

Lu Yin stared at Zhao Ran, memories of their time together flashing through his mind.

There were both the times when she had lost her memory and the times when she had remembered him. When she regained her memories, she had suddenly seemed distant, and yet she had still stepped forward again and again, every time the Tianyuan faced danger. She was his family.

Zhao Ran paddled her boat upwards, following the river. She glanced down at Lu Yin and then towards the Mirari Realm’s forbidden region of karma. The two people whom she could not bear to separate from were Lu Yin—whom she had addressed as Highness for so long—and Progenitor Ku, who had protected her and spent many years with her.

Standing at the edge of the river, Lu Yin clenched his fists. “Is there any chance that one day... I can bring you back?”

Zhao Ran smiled at him. “Take care, Your Highness.”

Lu Yin nearly stepped into the river, as his whole body felt numb. He would find her. No matter where in Aevum Inch she drifted to, he would find her and bring her back.

Family...

He would not lose a single member of his family.

At that moment, another figure appeared on the opposite bank of the river, and they rushed towards Blood Tower’s rising River of Aeons even faster than Zhao Ran.

Lu Yin looked over and was stunned by what he saw. “Bai Xian'er?”

He stared blankly at the woman rushing towards the rising river, unable to believe his eyes.

Bai Xian'er? Isn’t she already dead?

Zhao Ran also looked over in shock.

Bai Xian'er? Another one of Wei Nu’s clones?

As Bai Xian'er raced towards the rising river, she glanced back at Lu Yin and showed him a beautiful smile. “Little Xuan, we meet again. Are you happy that I’m not dead?”

Lu Yin felt betrayed by his eyes. “How are you still alive?”

Bai Xian'er laughed softly. “I missed you, so I didn’t want to die.”

Lu Yin did not know what to say. He stared at the stunning face. It was a face that was etched into his very bones. She was the source of Lu Xiaoxuan’s purest love and Lu Yin’s deepest hatred. Her death should have erased everything, and yet she had appeared before him again, at such a moment.

Lu Yin’s past in the Tianyuan felt like a dream, and Bai Xian'er’s appearance dragged him back into that dream.

She smiled brightly at him. “Little Xuan, I never wanted to hurt you. Do you believe that?”

Lu Yin watched as she continued to move closer to the River of Aeons.

What is she planning to do?

Bai Xian'er gazed at him fondly. “The River of Aeons needs a ferryman. As one of Wei Nu’s clones, I can be considered one as well.

“I wronged you in the past, so today, I will repay everything I owe to you. After this, I hope that you won’t hate me anymore.

“Goodbye, Little Xuan. I’ll miss you.”

With that, she entered the river and vanished with Blood Tower’s River of Aeons.

As soon as the river and Bai Xian'er disappeared, the Mirari Realm became calm once more. Zhao Ran clung to her boat as it dropped into the River of Aeons that still flowed there, droplets of time splashing from the impact.

Since Bai Xian'er had been taken away as the ferryman of the River of Aeons, Zhao Ran had naturally been left behind.

Lu Yin stared up at the sky. Everything that had just happened felt surreal, like something from a dream.

The main stream of the River of Aeons had appeared. Blood Tower had sacrificed his own River of Aeons, allowing it to be taken in place of Mirari Realm’s. Bai Xian'er had returned from death and left in Zhao Ran’s stead, leaving nothing more than a beautiful smile behind. Everything had happened too quickly for him to process.

Lu Yin suddenly whipped around to look at Mister Mu.

How is Master?

Lifeforce surged from the nine cauldrons. The megaverses’ time and space became calm once more, no longer frozen.

“He has passed that stage. The phenomenon of him resonating with a cosmic law has ended. Everything now depends on whether or not he can overcome Dukkha. If he can, he will become an Immortal.” Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s voice rang out once more.

Lu Yin let out a breath of relief, despite knowing that he should not.

Overcoming Dukkha was clearly the most crucial step of the entire process, and yet Mister Mu’s phenomenon had simply been too overwhelming. Given that the Mirari Realm itself had almost been erased, Lu Yin found himself simply relieved that that part was over.

However, Mister Mu was facing his true trial at this moment.

Lu Yin glanced over at Zhao Ran. She stood at the bow of her boat, still staring upward.

Lu Yin had no clue how Bai Xian'er had returned from death. The fact that she had left in Zhao Ran’s stead left a faint ache in his chest. It was similar to the moment when she had died in his arms, when Lu Xiaoxuan’s love for the woman had vanished entirely.

Whether Bai Xian'er was currently alive or dead, all past grudges had been erased.

It was certainly possible that they would never meet again.

With mixed feelings, Lu Yin walked over beside Greater Sancte Blood Tower.

The man was also feeling quite distressed. After all, his River of Aeons was gone.

Lu Yin moved to stand in front of Greater Sancte Blood Tower and bowed deeply. "This junior thanks you on behalf of my master, Senior."

Blood Tower waved a hand. “That’s unnecessary. I didn’t do it just for your master, but also for the Mirari Realm. This place is far from ordinary.”

Lu Yin knew that the Greater Sancte was comforting him. He owed the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s Immortals far too much.

The man had just sacrificed a River of Aeons. Without it, Blood Tower’s progress with the power of time would be severely limited. He had once hoped to touch upon the main stream of the River of Aeons, transforming his mastery of time. That hope was fading away.

“If your master fails his breakthrough, that would be completely infuriating,” Blood Tower muttered as he stared out at the River of Aeons.

Lu Yin could only offer a bitter smile. It would indeed be unfortunate if his master failed, but there was nothing that anyone could do about it. No one could guarantee Mister Mu’s success. In fact, failure was the far more likely outcome.

“By the way, what was the deal with that girl? The two of you have some sort of past, right? She was actually willing to enter the main stream of the River of Aeons for you. Your bond must run deep.” Greater Sancte Blood Tower was quite curious about Bai Xian’er.

Since it would take some time for Mister Mu to overcome Dukkha, Lu Yin briefly recounted bits of his past in the Tianyuan for Blood Tower.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the others had investigated the Tianyuan before, but it was impossible for them to learn everything.

“So that was Bai Xian'er? The woman who once rained red flowers over your Lu family and helped banish them?” Blood Tower was taken aback. During their research into Lu Yin’s past, they had learned that Bai Xian'er had died. They had only learned about her, never seen her.

Lu Yin replied, “The one who banished my family was the Great Sovereign, though it was indeed related to Bai Xian'er, or more precisely, to Wei Nu.”