Chapter 4201: What Was Once Seen

The void twisted as Master Qing Cao arrived. His eyes swept over everyone who was already present before finally stopping on Lu Yin. “How much do you know about Obscura?”

Lu Yin met his eyes. “What have you seen? What do you know?”

Master Qing Cao countered, “Have you really seen the cosmos clearly?”

“How do you define seeing the cosmos clearly? Do you happen to know what Obscura’s six star missions are, who completed them, and what sort of strength is required to do that?” Lu Yin asked.

Master Qing Cao shook his head. “I do not know what is considered a six star mission. I merely personally watched as Obscura destroyed a powerful civilization with more than ten Immortals.”

Everyone’s expression grew heavy. So that was what had happened.

Finally, they understood why Master Qing Cao was so terrified of Obscura.

Destroying a civilization with more than ten Immortals was not a mere matter of numbers; it was a demonstration of absolute power.

Even if the human civilization included Lu Yin, Master Qing Cao, and Kang Tian among their number of Immortals, they only had eight. That was already a number sufficient to give them the confidence to stand against a fishing civilization. With the addition of teleportation, humanity practically considered themselves to be one such civilization. In that case, what level of strength and what sort of methods would a civilization with more than ten Immortals possess? They might as well have been considered a fishing civilization.

It was likely that such a civilization had methods not necessarily inferior to what humanity possessed and would very likely be superior.

Master Qing Cao had personally seen such a civilization be destroyed. How could he not have succumbed to despair?

They were finally able to understand how he must have felt all along.

They also understood why, for so many years, he had cared nothing about the continuation of the human civilization as a whole and had focused solely on protecting the Spirit Nidus and preserving humanity’s inheritance.

“But that was Obscura using other civilizations,” Greater Sancte Blood Tower protested in a low voice.

Master Qing Cao gave a bitter smile. “Is there any difference?”

No one could argue.

Indeed, was there any difference? The process did not matter, only the outcome.

If Obscura was able to destroy such a powerful civilization, then as long as they wished to, they could destroy the human civilization just as easily. It had been mere luck that they had been assigned to Qi Xu and Lan Meng. Of course, that was not pure luck. Strength had also played a role. If Lan Meng had not been severely injured, its methods might have given it the confidence to lure over the Seven-Treasure Anuras to attack humanity.

Even with their human civilization’s current strength, they might not be capable of stopping those toads.

Their species had that ancient monster, and yet it was possible that not even the Seven-Treasure Anuras had more than ten Immortals among their numbers. On the other hand, a civilization with more than ten Immortals was much more likely to have a powerhouse equal to the toads’ ancestor.

More importantly, the civilization whose destruction Qing Cao had seen had only been considered a four star mission for Obscura.

Master Qing Cao left. Lu Yin had joined Obscura, which meant that their human civilization no longer needed to face Obscura as a mortal enemy. Qing Cao was finally relieved of his burden, and that also meant that he would no longer need to waver between human civilization and Obscura.

As for the three star mission that Lu Yin had been assigned, Greater Sancte Green Lotus, Mister Mu, and the others were in complete agreement on how to proceed: they would ignore it.

They had never planned to gain anything from Lu Yin joining Obscura. If they did, wonderful; if not, they would not force it.

Mercy did not exist in the Aevum Inch, and it was perfectly normal for a civilization to destroy others. But if they were able to choose, they still did not wish to reap the lives of others purely for their own gain.

There was no mercy, but there were choices.

Obscura would no longer move against their human civilization. The threat of both the Seven-Treasure Anuras and the Nest civilization had both been eliminated, while the technological civilization that existed somewhere on the other side of the Gate of Laws had not reappeared.

Yong Heng and Zhu remained trapped in a parallel universe, unable to travel to the Death Megaverse.

For the moment, humanity was safe.

For the moment, both internal conflicts and external threats had been removed, and Lu Yin felt as though a great weight had been lifted from him.

“Little Seven.”

“Master?”

“Do you want to gain experience with a suppressive mirebound artifact? The more people that are capable of using it, the more strength we will gain.”

“Alright.”

...

Cultivation blurred the passage of time. The blink of an eye might allow millions of years to slip by. But for Lu Yin, a mere 100 years already felt quite long. After all, only a few centuries had passed since he had first started cultivating.

More than 200 years passed since Lu Yin had returned from Vestigium.

During those two centuries, humanity had experienced a period of remarkable peace. No foreign civilization had appeared, Obscura had remained silent, and their civilization flourished with vibrant growth.

Multiple talented individuals appeared during that time. The former Dao Chosen of the Tianyuan and the Origin Universe’s Ten Arbiters rose up and started to stand out among the human civilization. They had once been famous youths in the Origin Universe and the Tianyuan Megaverse, but even after the unification of the three human megaverses, they were still considered outstanding among those of their generation.

Some had been buried in obscurity for a time, some had chosen to live ordinary lives, and yet ultimately they all ended up shining with their own brilliance.

Human Immortals started to appear in public with greater frequency to instruct the masses. Even Master Qing Cao made appearances in the Spirit Nidus, occasionally offering guidance to cultivators.

The overall strength of humanity was rapidly rising.

There was one event in particular that created a stir among the entire human civilization: Jiang Feng had a breakthrough and became an Immortal.

Jiang Feng had cultivated by taking a shortcut, and yet in a twist of, all of his senses had been sealed away by Master Qing Cao. After that, by relying on his understanding of aura energy and his conversations with Yan Ruyu, Jiang Feng had gradually awakened. He had overcome the bottleneck that his shortcut had created and had proceeded to steadily advance once again, eventually making the final breakthrough to become an Immortal.

During that period, he repeatedly entered the Mirari Realm to cultivate, to the point where not even the man himself had any idea how much time he had experienced.

Finally, the day came when he successfully stepped into the Immortal realm.

Lu Yin was not even sure if the man’s breakthrough could be considered a purely direct breakthrough, but that did not matter. Jiang Feng was an Immortal, and that was enough.

As for the man’s strength, Immortals did not spar with each other, and Lu Yin did not ask for one either. There was no need to increase anyone’s karmic chain just for the sake of a duel.

The next one to have a breakthrough should be the Origin Progenitor, Tai Chu.

Everyone was anticipating the Origin Progenitor’s breakthrough. His path to the Immortal realm was tied to the mysterious consciousness that existed in the Consciousness Megaverse. No one had any idea just how terrifying that being might be. It had observed Greater Sancte Green Lotus when he comprehended karma, only to ultimately be disappointed in him.

With a single strike of the Tri-Azure Sword Intent, that being had severed the body of an Immortal monster. Previously, Lu Yin had believed it to be a full-strength strike, only to later become certain that it had been nothing more than a casual blow.

That Immortal beast had sought revenge not because it had believed itself to possess comparable strength to the one who had crippled it, but rather because it had no understanding of just how vast the gap between them truly was, and it simply could not accept such a loss.

An example was when humanity had been at war with the Nest civilization; despite having fully escaped from the bounds of the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, the beast had still wandered about the nearby region. It had been clear that the beast’s mind had not been quite right.

Any normal Immortal creature would not have even considered pursuing revenge.

Lu Yin was particularly curious about what the Origin Progenitor’s breakthrough to the Immortal realm would look like.

During these centuries, the Lu family was busy, exceptionally so. Factions in the Tianyuan, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, and the Spirit Nidus all tried to send people to join the Lu family. To be precise, they tried to send beautiful women to the family, hoping to increase the number of the family’s descendants. The family’s numbers were exploding.

In the span of two centuries, a new generation of the Lu family had grown up. The newest generation was the largest in the family’s history, even with the restraint the older members had shown. If they had allowed themselves a bit more indulgence, they could have easily produced multiples times more children.

There were even some in the new generation who managed to awaken the innate gift of teleportation, and this was exactly what thrilled the entire human civilization.

The first person was Lu Huai, Lu Buzheng’s son.

Lu Buzheng had once been one of the Heavenly Gate masters during the ancient Heavens Sect era. He was an extremely senior member of the family, to the point where even Lu Tianyi called Lu Buzheng Third Uncle.

Ever since Lu Yin had released the group of people from the ancient Heavens Sect era by unlocking a sourcebox, Lu Buzheng had followed Lu Yin. The man had helped rebuild the Heavens Sect and had fought against Aeternus without voicing a single complaint. He cultivated the Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique, and one of the three summons even seemed to be related to Destiny. Lu Buzheng had helped Lu Yin many times over the years.

Lu Yin also addressed the man as Third Uncle.

As humanity pushed more and more women at the Lu family, Lu Buzheng had not escaped an arrangement. He had accepted a wife, who had eventually given birth to a son, Lu Huai.

Because of Lu Buzheng’s seniority within the Lu family, it naturally meant that Lu Huai was considered a member of one of the oldest generations of the family as well. One could say that the young man was from the same generation as Lu Tianyi. There were very few members of the Lu family whose seniority exceeded Lu Huai’s. Compared to him, Lu Yin was from one of the youngest generations.

Not only was Lu Huai’s seniority very high, but he had also awakened the innate gift of teleportation. This instantly made the young man one of the most sought-after geniuses of the Lu family, as well as someone regarded as a treasure of the human civilization as a whole. Even Ancestor Lu Yuan regarded Lu Huai very highly.

From the moment he was born, every step that Lu Huai took was within the Lu family’s protection. Even Immortals like Greater Sancte Green Lotus made arrangements for the youth, doing everything that they could to elevate his cultivation ever higher, hoping that he would one day become a second Lu Yin. It was not his combat strength that people wanted to replicate; Lu Yin was considered unique in that regard. However, if Lu Huai could at least use teleportation in a useful manner, it would benefit all of humanity.

Originally, everything proceeded smoothly, but everyone ended up overlooking human nature.

Among humans, arrogance inevitably led to domineering behavior. Too many people had taken care of Lu Huai, and because of this, he became arrogant and developed an overbearing personality. He did not show this to his elders and seniors, but to others, he was flamboyantly presumptuous.

By relying on the Lu family’s status within human civilization, as well as his own innate gift of teleportation, Lu Huai quickly considered himself to be the future ruler of humanity.

Even after Ancestor Lu Yuan and the others noticed the youth’s behavior and disciplined him, nothing actually changed.

At most, he would restrain himself a bit, but whenever no one was watching him, his behavior degenerated more than ever. His reckless action led many people to resent him, but they were helpless to anything about it.

Lu Yin knew nothing about what was happening, as no one mentioned it to him.

He was focusing on cultivating the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation with Mister Mu.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He had grown quite familiar with the suppressive mirebound artifact, and the cauldron did not reject him.

And yet the cauldron proved to favor Sapling over Lu Yin. Sapling was welcome to leap into the cauldron and play as it pleased.

...

In the Tianyuan, the Main Universe, which was also known as the Cyclic Universe, had a place that was known as the Wall of Purity. It had once served as the parapet that held back Aeternus, but the Aeternals had vanished long ago. Nothing had really changed about the Wall of Purity afterwards, aside from the fact that there were no cultivators defending the wall and that more weeds had appeared.

Cultivators still occasionally visited the place, letting out emotional sighs while remembering the past.

A solitary figure quietly sat on the grass near the Wall of Purity, staring off into the distance with calm eyes.

Another person approached from the distance, carrying a wooden staff. The traveler’s clothes were ragged, yet his face had a smile. Everything about him gave off the impression of a wanderer who drifted about the world. It was Xuan Jiu.

As Xuan Jiu drew close and saw who was sitting on the grass, he chuckled. “Well, if it isn’t Chu Jian. What are you doing here? There hasn’t been any news about you anywhere at all for a long time. Many people have already forgotten you.”

Chu Jian looked over at Xuan Jiu. “...Are you Xuan Jiu?”

Xuan Jiu smiled. “That would be this old man’s name.”

Chu Jian calmly replied. “If they have forgotten about me, then let them forget. It does not matter.”

Xuan Jiu studied the man. “For the former perfect Junior Sovereign to become so modest, these years have not treated you well, have they?”

Chu Jian did not argue. Not treated him well? No, his life had been better than ever, but his heart had never been at such peace.

Ever since his master had died, he had stopped being the perfect Junior Sovereign and had become nobody at all. All eyes had turned to Lu Yin, and he had not disappointed them. He had defeated Aeternus, led an expedition to the Spirit Nidus, earned the respect of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, and caused all of humanity to respect the Tianyuan.

After that, Lu Yin had even killed an Immortal, becoming one of the individuals with the greatest authority in human civilization. He stood equal to Immortals.

Such a man was unattainable, and his brilliance was unmatched in the cosmos.