After studying the wall for a long time, Lu Yin released his consciousness to search the rest of the ruins. Unfortunately, because so much time had passed, there was almost nothing left.

Lu Yin made a casual beckoning gesture, and Elder Qiu was dragged to his side from outside the ruins, against the old man’s will. He wanted to resist but did not dare to do so.

"What does that symbol represent?"

Elder Qiu looked over and thought for a moment. "I think that it should be a family crest?"

"A family crest?"

"Yes, a family crest. The Xu family's crest." Elder Qiu grew certain. "I have seen it before, when the Xu family was at its peak. As the family of one of Sect Master Jiu Wen's disciples, no one dared to provoke them, just like the Stonewall clan."

"What exactly did their crest look like?"

Elder Qiu drew the crest, and Lu Yin looked at it. The longer he stared at it, the more familiar it felt. He was certain that he had seen it before, but where? He sank deep into thought.

He returned to Canglan Valley and allowed Elder Qiu to leave on his own. Months later, Lu Yin used the Mirrorlight Art to teleport, and he returned home.

Upon returning, Lu Yin shared all that he had learned about Crimson Starshade with everyone, as well as his suspicions concerning Obscura, and even what he had learned about Jiu Wen. Unfortunately, Greater Sancte Green Lotus was still in seclusion.

The actions taken by those who followed the Path of Dispassion weighed heavily on everyone's mood.

Originally, Lu Yin had a far better impression of Jiu Wen than of Bing Xu and the other Crimson Starshade Immortals, only to discover that Jiu Wen was equally as ruthless.

Those who cultivated the Path of Dispassion were utterly incompatible with people like Lu Yin and the other human powerhouses.

Lu Yin simply told everyone about what he had learned. They had the right to know, and this would also help them to judge, going forward, whether to establish contact with Crimson Starshade or not.

After that meeting, he went to see Hong'er.

The last time he visited the woman, Lu Yin had wanted to search her karma, but Hong'er's past had not been able to help him. This time, Lu Yin was looking for an answer.

Hong'er had no idea what had happened. Lu Yin was repeatedly paying her visits while saying nothing to her.

Karma pierced Hong'er time and time again as Lu Yin used karma to examine her past.

This time, he was far more serious. Hong'er noticed the change, but said nothing.

Finally, after several days, Lu Yin's eyes lit up. He had found it. He drew an image in mid air. "Do you recognize this symbol?"

Hong'er looked at it and silently nodded. "This is the crest of our Crimson Starshade Civilization."

Lu Yin stared at her. "Crimson Starshade's crest?"

Hong'er nodded.

"The civilization's crest?"

Hong'er nodded again. "Yes."

Lu Yin frowned. That’s wrong. This is the Xu family's crest.

He had felt that the partial imprint of the crest in the Xu family ruins had looked familiar. Given his level, he would not feel such familiarity for no reason; there had to be karma involved. From Elder Qiu, he had learned that the symbol was the Xu family's crest.

The Xu family had been a part of the Crimson Starshade Civilization and had had no connection whatsoever with Lu Yin, so how could he have seen their crest before?

He had found the reason: Hong'er's past. He had seen this crest when examining Hong'er's past through karma.

Then what relationship did Hong'er have with the Xu family?

Before returning home, Lu Yin had made it a point to ask Elder Qiu, only to learn that the Xu family had not been a powerful clan. Their legacy was not even as ancient as the Lian family’s, so why would the Xu family's crest have a connection to Hong'er?

If the Xu family were one of the oldest families in Crimson Starshade, that would make sense. If Crimson Starshade had split apart, the Xu family might have also split their descendants to preserve their lineage. That would explain it.

However, the Xu family was not some ancient clan at all.

"In addition to this crest, our Crimson Starshade Civilization had several more. Would you like to see them, Mr. Lu?" Hong'er did not know why Lu Yin was interested in this crest, but that did not matter. It was simply good that Lu Yin was paying attention to Crimson Starshade. If her civilization had not been destroyed, there remained hope.

Lu Yin was surprised. "More crests?"

Hong'er drew four more crests in quick succession.

Looking at these four drawings, Lu Yin let out a breath. These four were unquestionably the crests of Jiu Wen's four other disciples’ clans.

That meant that the five clans that had clearly been exterminated had made contact with the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. What was going on?

Was it a lie that Jiu Wen had exterminated those five clans? Of course not. Ji He and the others were not fools. If the incident had been faked, it could not have been hidden from them. So then, why had those five clans’ descendants appeared in Hong’er’s civilization?

Had Jiu Wen done it? Or had someone, without Jiu Wen’s knowledge, sent those five clans’ descendants away in advance? But how could so many people have been sent away?

There were far too many people in Hong'er's past. It might not have been the population of an entire civilization, but Lu Yin had seen at least the population of a parallel universe. Wait, a parallel universe?

Lu Yin realized something, and he immediately returned to the Crimson Starshade Civilization. After several consecutive teleports, he returned to Canglan Valley, and then he went to the Xu family’s ruins. He stood beside a pond and then stepped forward, sinking into the water.

As he looked at the ruins that surrounded him, he understood. As expected, there was a pond civilization here.

The Xu family had had a pond civilization, and the other clans that had been exterminated had also had their own pond civilizations.

This could explain Hong'er's situation. The Crimson Starshade that she knew was not the real Crimson Starshade, but rather the combined pond civilizations of the clans of Jiu Wen’s disciples that he had exterminated. Her knowledge had only ever encompassed those pond civilizations.

The Crimson Starshade Civilization that Green Lotus had abandoned was the pond civilizations of those five clans.

Scenes flashed through Lu Yin's mind. Jiu Wen, pond civilizations, exterminated disciples, Hong'er, Green Lotus...

His thoughts grew tangled. He wanted to understand the full chain of events regarding this matter, but it was still too vague.

First of all, why had these five clans’ pond civilizations been taken to the Human Trio, and who had taken them there? Jiu Wen? Someone else?

What was Jiu Wen's purpose in exterminating those five clans? If he had been the one to deliver the pond civilizations to the Trio and met with Green Lotus, why? Was Green Lotus aware that he had abandoned a pond civilization rather than the real Crimson Starshade Civilization?

Given that there had been a meeting between Green Lotus and Jiu Wen, the one who had taken the pond civilizations to the Trio had to have been Jiu Wen because only he knew where those megaverses were.

Then the next question was, what was Jiu Wen's purpose? Had he deceived Green Lotus with the pond civilizations, or had Green Lotus known that they were only pond civilizations? Why would he take these pond civilizations to the Human Trio at all?

It made no sense.

After thinking a great deal, Lu Yin leaned toward one possibility: Green Lotus had not known anything about the true Crimson Starshade. The Greater Sancte had been deceived, and Jiu Wen had used the pond civilizations to deceive him. Otherwise, the Trio would have faced multiple crises. If Green Lotus had known about the true Crimson Starshade Civilization, he would not have kept silent.

Lu Yin trusted Green Lotus, even if the man had kept the fact that he had met Jiu Wen a secret.

To learn more about Jiu Wen and Crimson Starshade, the most suitable person was Ji He.

***

Baiquan Mountain was a very special place in Crimson Starshade. It was not a famous peak or a grand mountain range, and yet it drew countless cultivators to kneel at its foot at all times. All of them longed to gain the favor of the person at the top of the mountain and be accepted as a disciple.

That person was Ji He. This mountain was where he cultivated.

Baiquan Mountain was perfectly ordinary, as it was merely a tall mountain. The only thing extraordinary about it was the countless fist imprints at its base, left by those who sought discipleship.

It was said that Ji He's forte was fist arts. His fist arts were powerful enough to shatter the sun, moon, stars, and even the Aevum Inch. According to rumors, the first punch he had ever thrown was at Baiquan Mountain itself. The punch had been fierce yet caused no damage to the mountain. The most challenging part of that punch was not its power, but the fact that he had left the mountain undamaged.

Even a very ordinary cultivator could cause great damage to Baiquan Mountain, but when Ji He had thrown a punch that possessed overwhelming strength, the imprint of his fist had sunk deep into the mountain while the mountain itself had remained intact. That was Ji He's mastery of the fist.

The Immortal had once declared that anyone who could strike the mountain with their full power without damaging it would earn the qualification to ask to be his disciple. That announcement was why Baiquan Mountain always drew countless people to it.

Bang!

A loud boom echoed as the mountainside cracked. Many people around started jeering. "Young Master Ling, that won't do! Look at how the mountain shattered. Take a break."

"Hahaha!"

The young man pulled back his fist looked around. "If you’re so capable, why don’t you try? How many people throughout all of history could do it? That was also only one punch. Ji He can throw a hundred punches without damaging this mountain."

"Of course we know how strong Ji He is, but you aren’t!"

"Get down there, haha."

"Get down!"

Young Master Ling snorted and retreated into the crowd. This was only one corner of the mountain, and there were people everywhere beneath Baiquan Mountain, all of them constantly trying to punch the mountain.

If the mountainside was broken one day, it would be restored the next. If not for that, Baiquan Mountain would have vanished long ago.

Both men and women tried. Some women possessed even more physical power than the men, and yet they still could not do it.

Some elders tried, and their attempts drew laughter.

Lu Yin stepped out from behind the crowd, approaching the side of the mountain. He raised a hand to touch it. It was a perfectly ordinary mountain.

No one paid any attention to him. There were far too many people punching the mountain. There was a dense crowd of people completely surrounding the base of the mountain, too many to count.

Who did not want to become Ji He's disciple? It was a chance to ascend into the heavens with a single step.

Lu Yin looked into the distance. There was a fist imprint in the mountain. Countless people were staring at it, trying to comprehend something from it.

That fist imprint had been left behind by Ji He.

Lu Yin lifted a foot and took one step. When he reappeared, he was already in front of the fist imprint. Someone immediately grew upset. "Kid, move aside! Don’t block everyone!"

"What bad manners."

"Don’t get so close. That is Ji He's fist imprint."

"Move aside, now!"

"Move aside!"

Many people shouted at him, but Lu Yin just raised his hand and reached for the fist imprint.

Someone appeared at his side and reached out to grab Lu Yin. The man was powerful, as he was an Ortuser. He idolized Ji He and had guarded his fist imprint for years, allowing no one to touch it.

The people nearby watched, entertained. This kid was unlucky. So he wanted to touch Ji He's fist imprint? That was simply courting death.

However, the Ortuser could not touch Lu Yin. His hand passed through Lu Yin's body. The man froze, shaken. He stared at Lu Yin while slowly backing away.

The people watching could sense that something was wrong, but what was going on?

Lu Yin placed his hand against the fist imprint. In his mind, he pictured the punch that Ji He had thrown earlier when Lu Yin had grabbed Bing Xu’s neck. That punch had been interesting but unable to do much in the face of Lu Yin’s overwhelming physical strength.

Still, while it could not affect him much, that did not mean the punch was weak. Ji He specialized in fist techniques.

Lu Yin clenched a fist and threw a punch. His fist sank into the mountainside, but the mountainside remained intact.

The crowd was stunned. This guy had done it.

"He must have held back. Very few people can do that at full strength," someone said jealously.

No one else said anything. Held back? That was possible. It depended on how many punches the man could throw. Even if he held back, keeping the mountain intact after multiple punches was still rare.

But Lu Yin did not throw a second punch. Instead, a voice came from atop Baiquan Mountain. "Mr. Lu, since you are here, come in."

Lu Yin looked up with a faint smile and then vanished.