Chapter 676: What If I Say No (1)

If Earth Immortal Yin Yan had any thoughts of resistance before, he dared not entertain them now.

A group of imprint bearers, each capable of unleashing power rivaling High Immortals and High Deities, had easily destroyed half of his lair. Yet they were soundly defeated by the three imprint bearers before him.

Wu Yuan, in particular, was someone Earth Immortal Yin Yan regarded with extreme wariness. He had slain multiple Earth Immortals in rapid succession, as easily as autumn winds sweeping away fallen leaves.

His strength was simply inconceivable, far beyond what Earth Immortal Yin Yan could hope to contend with. Any schemes he had planned naturally evaporated into thin air.

"Fellow Daoists," Earth Immortal Yin Yan said with a fawning smile, "Now that these hunters have been defeated and your spacetime mission is complete, will you be departing?

I have no other treasures worthy of offering you, only some medicinal pills. I hope you three Daoists won't find them lacking," Earth Immortal Yin Yan continued politely.

With a wave of his hand, three gourd-shaped artifacts flew over, their stoppers removed, releasing billowing clouds of dense spiritual qi.

Wu Yuan, Metal Devil, and Purple Secret, with their discerning eyes, easily judged them to be mana-replenishing medicinal pills.

For ordinary Earth Immortals, these pills would be quite valuable. But for the three of them, they were rather useless. There were no mediocre immortal cultivators among those who were sent for training at the Spacetime Island. All of them possessed abundant resources and wealth.

"Many thanks, Earth Immortal Yin Yan," Wu Yuan said with a smile, waving his hand to collect one of the gourds before passing the other two to Metal Devil and Purple Secret.

"However," Wu Yuan continued, his tone shifting, "Our mission is to protect you for three days. The attack just now was only the first wave. There may well be a second or even third wave to come. We cannot be certain.

Therefore, for your safety and to complete our mission, we cannot leave just yet," Wu Yuan said gravely.

"Multiple waves of attacks? Three days?" Earth Immortal Yin Yan exclaimed in shock.

He was wary of Wu Yuan and the others, but had no way to judge their trustworthiness. Moreover, they had indeed protected him from this first wave of attacks.

It could be said that without Wu Yuan, he would likely be dead by now.

"What's the matter, Daoist Yin Yan? Do you still think we're deceiving you?" Purple Secret asked coolly.

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare," Earth Immortal Yin Yan said with a beaming smile. "To have you esteemed Daoists as my guards is my utmost honor. Please, come inside."

"Very well."

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Wu Yuan, Metal Devil, and Purple Secret immediately followed Earth Immortal Yin Yan's mana body, swiftly returning to the core region spanning ten thousand li at the heart of the planet.

The outer layers of the planet had been badly damaged in the recent battle, but this area remained largely unaffected.

"Make yourselves comfortable, Fellow Daoists. I must return to my pill refining," Earth Immortal Yin Yan's mana body said with a smile before departing.

He flew directly into the barrier. At the same time, numerous puppets with strength rivaling Earth Deities began carrying over vast quantities of materials to repair the severely damaged sections of the massive planet.

"Let’s sit." Wu Yuan, Metal Devil, and Purple Secret each took a seat, betraying no abnormal behavior, as if they truly were just carrying out a protection mission.

This scene put Earth Immortal Yin Yan, who had retreated into the barrier, somewhat at ease.

Time went by.

Rumble~

Suddenly, blood-red light began flashing within the massive pill furnace surrounded by magma. The thousand-li area within the barrier pulsed with an eerie crimson glow that chilled one to the bone.

A surging tide of powerful vital aura roiled within the furnace, as if some mighty lifeform was about to be born.

Though Wu Yuan, Metal Devil, and Purple Secret appeared outwardly unperturbed, they were in fact keenly observing the scene and communicating in secret.

"The vital aura of this blood light is terrifying," Purple Secret's voice echoed in the minds of the other two. "It even stirs a hint of reluctance in my heart. What kind of medicinal pill is this Yin Yan refining? Something feels very wrong about this."

"According to our intelligence, Earth Immortal Yin Yan slaughtered tens of billions of living beings from several hospitable planets. But judging from the vital aura erupting from that furnace, I fear far more than trillions of lives were taken," Metal Devil transmitted coldly. "It's bizarre! How could such atrocities go unchecked and unpunished by the powers ruling this expanse of outer space?"

"The situation does indeed differ from our intelligence," Wu Yuan agreed. "Could this be why the spacetime mission requires us to kill him?"

"Impossible," Purple Secret shook her head decisively. "Be it hundreds of billions or countless trillions of lives, the Spacetime Island — and by extension the Spacetime Dao Master — would never interfere. This has been the unwritten rule for eons."

Wu Yuan nodded slightly.

Heaven and earth were absolutely impartial, with no inherent distinctions of good and evil, nor concepts of merit and sin.

Just as an ordinary mortal might aid countless elderly and poor throughout their life, yet also consume vast numbers of cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and fish to survive, felling countless trees, in the eyes of heaven and earth, what difference was there between intelligent life and chickens, ducks, or fish?

What constituted merit? What constituted sin? So-called good and evil existed only in one's heart, merely the perspective of an individual or group, never truly representing the will of heaven and earth. Nor would mass slaughter inherently incur some form of divine retribution.

From Wu Yuan's own perspective, he deeply abhorred Earth Immortal Yin Yan's actions, yet some powerful devils might view it as the strong devouring the weak — the natural way of things.

And to Wu Yuan's knowledge, entities like the Spacetime Island, or rather the Spacetime Dao Master, adhered to principles more closely aligned with the inherent will of heaven and earth.

That was, non-interference, non-restriction, non-governance.

"As long as the operational rules of the Spacetime Dao Realm itself aren't violated, the Spacetime Island won't intervene," Metal Devil transmitted.

"There are two possibilities. First, it's a random mission and Earth Immortal Yin Yan was simply unlucky to be selected by the Spacetime Island's spacetime mission system.

Second, Earth Immortal Yin Yan is somehow involved in some great matter that threatens the functioning of the Spacetime Dao Realm.

But how could a mere Earth Immortal be involved in such affairs?" Metal Devil shook his head. "Even beings as mighty as Astral Monarchs are rarely entangled in such momentous events."

Wu Yuan and Purple Secret were equally perplexed.

In the end, they could only attribute it to Earth Immortal Yin Yan's misfortune.

"Forget it. The spacetime mission requires us to kill him," Wu Yuan transmitted calmly. "So we'll kill him. Besides, his actions warrant death regardless."

"Indeed, he deserves to die," Purple Secret agreed.

"If it were collateral damage from battle, that would be one thing. But to deliberately slaughter countless weaker beings like this... He truly deserves death," Metal Devil's voice carried a hint of killing intent.

Wu Yuan's heart remained tranquil.

He was no paragon of virtue, nor did he consider himself a good person. Typically, he couldn't be bothered to involve himself in such matters, but when confronted with it, he didn't mind eliminating the perpetrator.

If the weak antagonize the strong needlessly, their demise is only natural. But such wanton slaughter? If everyone behaved thus, heaven and earth would descend into chaos. Those with great power should exercise even greater self-restraint, and not act without regard for consequences.

Wu Yuan mused silently.

This was also the guiding principle of most major factions throughout heaven and earth. The Eternal Sun Immortal World and Cang Feng Eldritch World were no exception.

Though they encouraged life-or-death battles and duels between the powerhouses, they still afforded a degree of protection to low-level immortal cultivators and mortals, not permitting powerful immortal cultivators to slaughter indiscriminately.

Of course, the more powerful one was, the more lenient the various powers tended to be. But even an Astral Lord would be executed for excessive slaughter, such as outright destroying the mainland of an immortal continent.

For immortal cultivators of different levels, there was always a bottom line that could not be crossed.

Wu Yuan upheld such a line in his heart as well.

"Daoist Ming Jian, are you confident you can kill Yin Yan after one day?" Metal Devil transmitted.

"Killing him won't be difficult," Wu Yuan replied. "However, he's activated level two of the array barrier. The barrier has stabilized the void, making it hard for me to penetrate it directly."

"That's not a major issue," Purple Secret transmitted. "When the time comes, we'll simply use brute force to destroy the array. How difficult can an Elite-level Mission be?"

"We'll kill him outright," Purple Secret said. "I don't believe he can stop us."

"Agreed."

"An Elite-level Mission — the earlier fight was dangerous enough. We should act decisively," Metal Devil concurred.

The three conversed briefly before settling into quiet cultivation.

Could a mere Earth Immortal Yin Yan truly pose a threat?

...

Something's not right. Metal Devil and Purple Secret say this is just an Elite-level Mission for them?

Wu Yuan pondered.

Facing those twelve hunters would indeed qualify as an Elite-level Mission for them.

Ordinary Missions could generally be completed without too much difficulty. Elite-level Missions were somewhat dangerous, but usually weren't too difficult. They had about a 50% success rate — after all, they couldn't let too many imprint bearers get overly discouraged.

But given my strength, facing a group of Ordinary Imprint bearers constitutes a Sovereign-level Mission?

Wu Yuan felt a flicker of doubt.

Logically speaking, his Sovereign-level Mission should be somewhat easier than the missions of other imprint bearers, but as Star Moon had said, even at the easiest mission still had a baseline difficulty.

Less than half a day remains. We must stay vigilant.

Wu Yuan remained highly alert, his Soul Will spreading out.

He carefully sensed his surroundings, not daring to relax in the slightest. Cautiousness ensured a thousand-year voyage.

...

Wu Yuan, Metal Devil, and Purple Secret cultivated quietly, waiting for the protection stage of the mission to end so they could deal with Earth Immortal Yin Yan.

Meanwhile, within a grand hall of a mysterious voidrealm.

"Those three refuse to leave? Claiming they must protect you for three days?" High Immortal Zhuo Hao, appearing as an elderly man in white robes, asked in a low voice.

"Yes," Earth Immortal Yin Yan answered respectfully. "I've reached a critical juncture in the pill refining process. I suspect they have ulterior motives... I humbly request guidance from the High Immortal." Anxiety gnawed at his heart.

"Don't do anything rash," High Immortal Zhuo Hao gazed down at Earth Immortal Yin Yan. "Even if they intend to act, they likely won't move immediately, since they mentioned a period of three days.

I'm on my way and should arrive in twelve hours. Just focus on refining the pills and be careful.

Remember this clearly." High Immortal Zhuo Hao's eyes glinted coldly. "What I've entrusted to you is the life essence of thousands of hospitable planets, painstakingly selected over centuries. I've managed to avoid detection all this time, so don't mess this up."

"I wouldn't dare, Sir," Earth Immortal Yin Yan replied hastily, a hint of fear in his voice.

He was well aware of the gravity of the situation.

"Very well, you may go now." High Immortal Zhuo Hao waved his hand, and Earth Immortal Yin Yan's form instantly dissolved into countless streams of light.