Chapter 4374: A Wisp Of Sharpness

Jiu Wen was still shaken with lingering fear. If Hong Xia had not bound Jiu Wen to the Blood Tower long ago and had instead joined forces with Green Lotus, things might have played out far differently from the way they had assumed. Hong Xia had kept far too much hidden.

Another twenty years passed in the blink of an eye. One day, Ba Se’s voice echoed across Vestigium. "The Jade Thread of Heaven has completely dispersed. The mission of capturing the Jade Thread of Heaven is hereby canceled for all of you."

"Canceled? Then what about the Jade Megaverse? They are still spreading information about Obscura everywhere."

"Hehe, this is not right."

"There is no other choice. With the disappearance of the Jade Thread of Heaven, the Jade Megaverse cannot be located. The Jade Megaverse is too cunning. Even if one travels through the Jade Thread of Heaven, they will not see the Jade Megaverse itself."

"Could this be related to the Seven-Treasure Anuras?"

"What we saw through the Jade Thread of Heaven was not the Jade Megaverse. What the Seven-Treasure Anuras saw after going there might not have been the Jade Megaverse either."

"This was my mission. Just canceling it like this isn’t fair to me, is it Ba Se?"

Ba Se replied, "Your mission has not been canceled."

"But if we don’t capture the Jade Thread of Heaven, we cannot find the Jade Megaverse. How are we supposed to destroy it? Hehe."

"Old Man Hehe, how can you still laugh at a time like this?" Lu Yin demanded. He was also present because his mission had been to capture the Jade Thread of Heaven. With that mission canceled, he naturally wanted to know what had happened.

Old Man Hehe said, "Child, stay optimistic. If one road disappears, another can be opened."

They then raised their voice slightly. "White, lend a hand."

Lu Yin’s gaze sharpened. White. All of Obscura’s gates came from White. This member of Obscura was extremely mysterious.

"Help us locate the Jade Megaverse. As for the price, we will discuss that between ourselves," Old Man Hehe offered.

Lu Yin could not understand. Why was Old Man Hehe so determined to destroy the Jade Megaverse?

"Agreed." An unfamiliar voice was heard. This was one that Lu Yin had never heard before. Was that White’s voice?

He immediately greeted, "White, hello?"

White did not respond. Lu Yin called out several more times, but White gave no response.

With no other choice, Lu Yin withdrew from Vestigium. It seemed inevitable that a war against the Jade Megaverse would break out. But if White was able to find the Jade Megaverse, why had there been a mission to capture the Jade Thread of Heaven and find the Jade Megaverse through it? After that Thread of Heaven was dispersed, Ba Se had even canceled the mission to capture it. Was it possible that not even Ba Se could command White?

That might not be the case either. It might be that White had a different mission. When a member of Obscura received a mission, they could not receive another mission, not unless there was a war and a mandatory draft.

Lu Yin hoped that the latter was true, as the idea that there might be someone within Obscura who stood above Ba Se was deeply unsettling. That transparent Keeper of Balance was already frightening enough.

After leaving Vestigium, Lu Yin rested for a while before heading to the Frightened Sparrow Terrace to meet with Awe Gate.

"In another ten years, the Meteor Realm will reappear. Senior, will you visit the Longevity Civilization again?" Lu Yin asked.

800 years had already passed since their last visit to the Longevity Civilization. Time flowed much too quickly. Those centuries felt far shorter than Lu Yin’s first 100 years of cultivation in the Tianyuan.

Awe Gate’s expression grew complicated. Was that moment approaching again?

The Longevity Civilization was the Heaven's Sight clan of the Fourth Rampart. Lu Yin was already certain of that. When the Meteor Realm appeared next, he intended to go find Chang Chuan and clarify everything. Even if the Longevity Civilization no longer wished to involve themselves with the Human Trio, Lu Yin at least needed to know what had truly happened during the war that had destroyed the Nine Ramparts and who their enemy was.

The Nine Ramparts: each Rampart had essentially been a fishing civilization. That was no exaggeration.

At the moment, the civilizations known to have joined the war against the Nine Ramparts included Obscura, the Plume Immortals, the Death Megaverse, and the Grand Clarity Civilization. Additionally, there had been many independent cultivators, such as You Che.

But what Lu Yin knew only amounted to a few fishing civilizations. How could they have been qualified to besiege the Nine Ramparts?

He had heard the word “siege” be mentioned many times, which indicated that the enemy civilizations must have outnumbered the Nine Ramparts. Weaker civilizations would not have even been qualified to take part in such a siege. Lu Yin estimated that there must have been at least nine fishing civilizations working together to assault the Nine Ramparts. Only that would make sense.

How else could the Nine Ramparts have collapsed?

Wargod Pan had even guarded one direction on his own, but that had still not been enough to stop the Nine Ramparts’ destruction. It was easy to believe that the enemy civilizations had far outnumbered the Nine Ramparts.

Although nearly every civilization within the Aevum Inch could be considered an enemy, there were still differences between them. Compared to the technological fishing civilization, Lu Yin would much prefer to eliminate the Plume Immortals. Compared to the Mirewater Dominion, he would rather destroy Obscura first.

Awe Gate pondered for a moment. "I don’t know myself."

She did want to see how Chang Tian was doing. Just giving her a small section of the Longevity Vine had been enough for Chang Tian to receive punishment, and she had never forgotten that matter. Furthermore, Qing Yun had always wanted to meet her father.

"Do you want the Longevity Civilization to ally with us?" Awe Gate asked as she looked at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin shook his head. "I only want to ask them some questions. Whether they choose to ally with us depends entirely on them. They have the freedom to decide."

Awe Gate nodded and said nothing more. Lu Yin left. Whether the Greater Sancte went or not, he would still go. Compared to his last visit, he had gained a far greater understanding of the Nine Ramparts and could finally speak with Chang Chuan on equal footing.

Ten years passed quickly. When the Meteor Realm reappeared, Lu Yin returned to the Frightened Sparrow Terrace. This time, he left with not only Greater Sancte Awe Gate, but also Qing Yun.

Qing Yun held the piece of Longevity Vine in her hand. She had no memory of her father at all, yet she still felt warmth. Her father had not abandoned her.

"Let us go," Lu Yin said.

Awe Gate took Qing Yun’s hand and they moved closer to the Meteor Realm. Lu Yin followed behind them.

At that moment, a cold light flashed and fell from above. A sharp edge that took their breath away abruptly appeared, and it stretched out of sight from one direction to another. Along its path stood Lu Yin, Awe Gate, and Qing Yun.

The moment Lu Yin sensed the sharp edge, he instinctively grabbed Awe Gate and tried to teleport, but the slash was unbelievably fast. The instant they saw it, it was already too late. Lu Yin teleported away and looked beside him. Awe Gate was gone. All that remained was a severed arm dripping with blood. It was hers.

Far away, the Meteor Realm had been split in two. Even farther away, but still within Lu Yin’s field of vision, the Spirit Nidus had also been cleaved in half. The cut extended even to the Consciousness Megaverse, slicing a third of the way through that as well.

A single strand of sharpness had crossed the cosmos. Nothing seemed capable of stopping it. It extended beyond the limit of what Lu Yin could see with his Mirrorlight Art, continuing farther into the distance.

It had only been a single flash of sharpness, and yet the Meteor Realm had been shattered and utterly destroyed.

At that moment, Lu Yin was speechless.

At that moment, the entire human civilization fell silent. Green Lotus and the others silently stared across the cosmos, as though time itself had frozen.

Lu Yin immediately teleported back to Awe Gate. He found Qing Yun supporting her mother, and Awe Gate’s face had grown pale. Her arm had been severed. The sharp slash had devastated nearly half her body, and she was coughing up blood.

"Senior!" Lu Yin immediately took her back to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, and they appeared within the Sea of Karma. Green Lotus pressed a hand to Awe Gate’s shoulder to dispel the lingering sharpness.

Lu Yin stared on in a daze, his limbs cold. Even just recalling the instant that the slash had appeared left his scalp tingling. The entire cosmos had seemed like a thin sheet of paper being sliced apart. Whether it was within the Aevum Inch or inside a megaverse, there had been no difference.

Even Greater Sancte Awe Gate had been severely wounded. Forget defending against such an attack, but they had not even been able to evade. Even teleportation had barely allowed Lu Yin to escape.

From beginning to end, he had not even seen the enemy’s appearance, nor did he know where the attack had originated from.

In that moment, Lu Yin felt a profound helplessness. This was similar to when he had first started cultivating and faced the Nightking clan. It was like when the Great Sovereign had revealed the truth about Aeternus to him. It was like the time when he had tried and failed to rescue Ancestor Shan. Each moment of helplessness and despair carried the same icy chill.

Everyone remained silent.

Green Lotus silently treated Awe Gate’s wounds. However, the injuries would not heal easily. Time alone would not eliminate them. Some unknown force remained present.

Qing Yun stood beside them, clenching the Longevity Vine tightly. Lu Yin said nothing. At this moment, there was nothing that he could say. The Meteor Realm was gone. The Longevity Civilization could no longer be found. Was this the reason why that sharpness had suddenly appeared?

It had taken only a single move. Just one strike, and the sense of security of the Trio had been completely destroyed. Humanity’s self-confidence that they could defend themselves had been utterly shattered.

If that strike had shifted even slightly, Awe Gate would have died. The attacker was not incapable of killing; they had simply chosen not to.

The spilled blood told everyone the same thing. If that being wished it, their human civilization would not be able to withstand even a single strike.

Lu Yin took a deep breath and teleported away. He appeared in outer space, laid down in the red coffin, and entered Vestigium.

"Ba Se."

"I am here."

"Some being just cleaved through my human civilization’s megaverses and severely injured Greater Sancte Awe Gate. You said that if I fought in Obscura’s war, my civilization would be protected for 1,000 years. How do you explain this?" Lu Yin demanded in a low voice.

Ba Se said, "Obscura promised protection, but we are not omnipotent. I can only promise that this matter will be investigated. If no result can be found, compensation will be provided."

"The attacker should be Obscura’s transparent one."

"Do you have evidence?"

Of course Lu Yin had no evidence. He did not even know where the strike had originated from. However, aside from that mysterious Keeper of Balance who might be hiding within the Trio, he could think of no one else.

He had joined Obscura in order to protect the Trio, as well as learn about Obscura in order to ultimately eliminate humanity’s mortal enemy. Lu Yin had never intended to truly rely on Obscura.

But at this moment, he actually placed his hopes upon that very enemy. Even he found it absurd.

The feeling of helplessness wrapped around him. He did not know who to turn to or who could help him. He longed to obtain something from Obscura, even if it was only information about his current enemy, but Ba Se’s response was cold and ruthless.

Should Lu Yin feel disappointed? That was ridiculous. In the dark and endless omniverse, placing hope in others was already the greatest joke, let alone placing it in an enemy.

All that could be said was that that single wisp of sharpness had severed everything that Lu Yin believed he had achieved until now. It felt as though all of his efforts had been meaningless.

He left Vestigium, returned to the mountain behind the Heavens Sect, and silently stared out at the starry sky.

Mister Mu arrived. He said nothing and simply accompanied Lu Yin in silence. Long Xi poured tea for the two of them and quietly withdrew.

"Master, what I have done is still not enough. Far from it," Lu Yin murmured.

Mister Mu took a sip of tea. "You are lost."

Lu Yin’s expression turned complicated. Yes, he was lost. It was not fear or cowardice, but genuine confusion. He felt more lost than ever before.

In the past, when he had faced powerful enemies, even after seeing the truth of Aeternus, he had never felt that way. He had experienced despair before, but he had always been able to quickly regain his resolve. No matter how hopeless things had seemed, there had always been people walking beside him.

This time, his confusion came from something else: his path forward had been sealed off.

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