Chapter 4373: Grand Clarity

“You should recognize my kind.” Lu Yin spoke slowly while staring at Miao Zun. At this moment, dozens of Tri-Azure Sword Intent were surrounding the Immortal. The slightest movement would result in immediate dismemberment.

Miao Zun felt the piercing sharpness and stared at Lu Yin for a moment before replying, “I do not.”

Lu Yin sneered. “That isn’t what Origin Lord and Hong Xia said. They told me that humans are your favorite food.”

Miao Zun’s aura fluctuated. “No. I have never eaten any humans. Is that why you captured me?”

“That’s right.”

“I truly never have. I have never eaten your kind. Who is Origin Lord? Who is Hong Xia?”

“You don’t know Origin Lord or Hong Xia? They are both members of Obscura.”

Miao Zun thought for a moment. “Obscura? They are part of Obscura?”

“Yes. They’re the ones who told me about you. So unfortunately, you aren’t able to join Obscura, and you also must die.” Lu Yin’s voice grew cold. Dozens of strands of Tri-Azure Sword Intent moved even closer, giving Miao Zun the horrible feeling that they might be ripped apart at any moment.

Miao Zun hurriedly said, “They deceived you! They don’t want me to join Obscura, so they lied! I have never eaten humans!

“I remember now. During the war against Obscura, I fought two creatures, and one was a creature of your same species. Is that them? Are they Origin Lord or Hong Xia?”

Lu Yin clasped his hands behind his back. “Stop pretending. If you don’t even know who your enemy is, why fight them? No matter how you act, you can’t escape death.”

“You can’t kill me! I am joining Obscura! If you kill me, they will hunt you down.”

“Those two members of Obscura told me about you, which means that they don’t want you to join. So, you will not be joining them.”

“They are using you!” Miao Zun shrieked. “Do you have a grudge against them? They are having you kill me so that Obscura will attack you afterward! That must be their plan! Don’t let them manipulate you!”

Lu Yin found the creature’s protests amusing. Miao Zun’s mind worked quickly, and whatever occurred to them, they spoke without a care for how likely it may be.

If Hong Xia were standing in Lu Yin’s place, this creature would probably say the same things. Everything that they said was simply an attempt to survive, and that was exactly what Lu Yin needed.

“It is possible that they are using me,” Lu Yin admitted, “So tell me about their abilities and I’ll see if the ones who spoke to me are the same as the ones you encountered.”

Miao Zun could only cling to this potential lifeline. The Tri-Azure Sword Intent was already slicing into their body and might shred them to bits at any moment. This being was not even an Immortal and therefore had no fear of increasing their karmic chain. They could truly kill Miao Zun whenever they wished.

How can such a powerful Aberrant exist?

“During the war with Obscura, I fought two of them. One looked like you. That one specialized in sourcebox arrays, and I never even reached them. I was trapped in one place by a sourcebox array for so long that I failed to escape until after the war had ended.

“The other relied purely on divine energy to fight me. The amount of divine energy that they possess surpassed any other I have ever seen from Obscura. It was outrageous. I could only flee from them. That one’s world was a table.”

Lu Yin frowned. “You just said sourcebox arrays?”

The latter was obviously Furball, while the former had to be Hong Xia, Hong Xia had apparently trapped Miao Zun with nothing more than a sourcebox array.

Miao Zun was far weaker than Hong Xia, and the man could have easily destroyed them, but he may have refrained due to not wanting to increase his karmic chain. However trapping Miao Zun with nothing more than a sourcebox array implied an astonishing level of mastery.

Hong Xia truly did have exceptional mastery of sourcebox arrays. The array at Baiquan Mountain had already revealed as much, but that array served primarily for concealment, rather than imprisonment.

Miao Zun was an Immortal comparable in strength to Lan Meng. To trap such an Immortal and prevent their escape until the end of a war was proof of just how formidable that sourcebox array must be.

Lu Yin realized that he had overlooked this matter. Hong Xia was undoubtedly a true master of sourcebox arrays.

Miao Zun thought back to that battle and slowly shared everything without omitting any details. This was possible not because of a good memory, but rather because that incident had left an indelible impression on the creature.

Being trapped by a single sourcebox array until the war’s end had made them feel like a helpless insect. They never wanted to experience such a thing again.

The trauma from that battle was precisely what had made Miao Zun willing to join Obscura. That group was simply too powerful. Both Obscura members that they had faced were capable of easily defeating them.

But why would those two try to prevent them from joining Obscura? Was the answer truly as they suspected, that those two intended to use Miao Zun against this Aberrant? They knew that they had fallen prey to someone else’s scheme, and at this point, survival became Miao Zun’s only priority.

After listening for a long time, Lu Yin realized that only one sourcebox array had trapped Miao Zun. From beginning to end, Miao Zun had only ever seen Hong Xia and had never truly fought the man. The fact that a single sourcebox array could imprison a powerful Immortal was rather frightening. This also meant that Miao Zun was unable to even perceive the limits of that array, and it also implied that Hong Xia might possess even more powerful arrays.

Lu Yin exhaled slowly. “What about the other one? Just a massive amount of divine energy?”

After all, Furball was also a part of Obscura and therefore also an enemy.

Miao Zun replied, “The amount of divine energy that that one possesses is ridiculous, absolutely absurd. I have never seen a creature from Obscura with more.”

“You have only seen two members of Obscura.”

“I only fought against those two, but during that war, I saw our strongest expert battling another Obscura member. Their battlefield was one where supreme power was used and nothing could be clearly seen, but not even that member of Obscura possessed as much divine energy.”

Lu Yin frowned. Did Furball really have such immense energy reserves?

Apparently, Furball did have some confidence when it came to challenging Hong Xia. Why else would a one-law Immortal be bold enough to antagonize that man?

“Also, that creature possesses two worlds,” Miao Zun added.

Lu Yin was surprised. “Two?”

“Yes, two.”

“There are creatures with two worlds?” This was something that Lu Yin had never heard of before. An Immortal’s world came from their application of the cosmic law that they resonated with. It was normal for an Immortal to have none, but why would someone have two? That would require resonating with two cosmic laws, but even Green Lotus had said that, normally, Immortals would integrate their understanding into a single world.

This was because, in most situations, quantity held no significance. Anyone would know the decision to make if given a choice between one supreme world or two ordinary ones.

Miao Zun said, “That was my first time encountering such a thing as well.”

“Is there anything else?” Lu Yin asked.

Miao Zun replied, “That war was extremely intense. I feel that there is something important that I cannot remember clearly. I slept for far too long, but if I encounter them again, I will remember.”

Lu Yin smiled and pointed ahead. His Champions' Stage Purgatory lay there.

Miao Zun was tossed inside, and they heard Lu Yin’s voice speak out. “Relax. You are still an Immortal and are of great use. I can’t bear to let you die.”

Miao Zun slammed into the Champions' Stage Purgatory, hatred filling their eyes. They had never imagined they would be captured by a mere Aberrant. Just wait. Once I recover, I will devour you piece by piece! You will suffer a life worse than death!

It was some time later that Lu Yin’s Karmic Dao finally stopped expanding. He was certain that his Karmic Dao had grown to surpass the range of the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm, though that was only the version that Green Lotus maintained for long periods of time. What Lu Yin knew as the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm was not its true limits.

Ni Ren had been capable of attacking across distances that a normal Immortal would need dozens of years to traverse. Even if Green Lotus was not Hong Xia’s equal, he was certainly no weaker than Ni Ren. The range of his Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm at full power had to be astonishing.

What Lu Yin had seen of the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm was merely its size when Greater Sancte Green Lotus kept it constantly released. This was all to adapt to his eventual fight against Hong Xia, in preparation to counter the man’s laws. At the same time, constantly releasing the Macrocosm reflected humanity’s attitude regarding the Aevum Inch: no contact, no publicity, and avoiding all others whenever possible.

Swish, swish, swish.

The Tri-Azure Sword Intent flashed through, and Miao Zun died.

They had never expected Lu Yin to actually kill them. How is this possible ? Didn’t this creature say that he couldn’t bear to let a valuable Immortal die? I am an Immortal and should also be valuable, so why kill me?

Lifeforce scattered across the cosmos. Another Immortal had fallen.

Lu Yin’s gaze was cold. The fact that I don’t want you to die doesn’t mean that you won’t die.

He wished to use every Immortal in the Aevum Inch to strengthen himself, but that was clearly impossible. Some Immortals could be used while others could not.

After dealing with Miao Zun, Lu Yin teleported to Crimson Starshade and stopped in front of the Blood Tower. “Senior, what is Hong Xia’s skill with sourcebox arrays like?”

Jiu Wen asked, “Why ask about that?”

Lu Yin explained how Miao Zun had been trapped, which absolutely shocked Jiu Wen. “He actually concealed such mastery?”

“You didn’t know? The sourcebox array inside Baiquan Mountain isn’t weak.”

“He did not arrange that sourcebox array...” The man hesitated mid-sentence. His expression changed as he stared at Lu Yin. “I was deceived.”

Lu Yin exhaled. He finally understood. All along, Hong Xia had never intended to reveal his mastery of sourcebox arrays to the Crimson Starshade Civilization. Jiu Wen had always believed that the array inside Baiquan Mountain had not been placed there by Hong Xia.

“Hong Xia told us that that array came from a foreign civilization and that it can only remain permanently fixed in one location. That is why Baiquan Mountain exists, rather than the array being built afterward.

“You have seen Baiquan Mountain yourself. It is not suitable for cultivation, and it is also not particularly scenic, so why imprison Rang Yu there? Because that array existed there.

“I have always believed that explanation without question, but if what you say is true, then he has deceived me from the very beginning, causing me to ignore his mastery of sourcebox arrays for all these years.”

Lu Yin asked, “Did he ever mention which civilization that array is supposedly from?”

Jiu Wen shook his head. “He never said.”

The first civilization that came to Lu Yin’s mind was the Grand Clarity Civilization, which Senior You Wu had mentioned as the leader of the attack against the Fifth Rampart. Only that level of civilization could possess such mastery in sourcebox arrays.

Thinking back, he had once wondered if there might be a fishing civilization in the Aevum Inch that focused solely on developing sourcebox arrays. It turned out that such a civilization truly did exist.

This was the Aevum Inch, where anything was possible. A technological fishing civilization and a sourcebox-array fishing civilization were both beyond what he had expected.

But how could Hong Xia have a connection to Grand Clarity? That civilization had attacked the Fifth Rampart, while Hong Xia belonged to the Second Rampart. While they had both been a part of the Nine Ramparts, they had been separated by vast distances. The Ramparts had never been physically connected.

The Nine Ramparts had existed similarly to how independent nations existed in mortal understanding. People from one country might not understand those from other countries, and they might not even fully know their own nation.

Unable to reach a conclusion, Lu Yin left.

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