Greater Sancte Green Lotus held both He Xiao and Meiran Dan, one in each hand. Lu Yin held Bing Xu with one hand, while his other hand on Green Lotus’s shoulder, ready to escape at any moment.

Unexpectedly, even as Lu Yin arrived at Jiu Wen’s side, Hong Xia still did not make a move.

Lu Yin had assumed that Hong Xia would strike. The calmer the man was, the more unsettling he became.

Lu Yin glanced at Hong Xia and then at Jiu Wen. Both of them had gone silent.

“Are you finished?” Hong Xia asked slowly, his eyes still locked on Jiu Wen.

Jiu Wen took a sip of wine. “Finished.”

Hong Xia looked back at Green Lotus. “When did you first start plotting against me?”

Lu Yin did not understand. He could not see how Green Lotus had plotted against Hong Xia. Jiu Wen had schemed against the man, certainly, though it did not seem to have ultimately harmed Hong Xia at all. Lu Yin did not understand the whole affair. He was simply not a part of what had transpired.

Green Lotus replied, “I did not expect you to return so quickly.”

Hong Xia’s gaze remained frigid, but a smile slowly crept across his face after hearing Green Lotus’s comment. “What? If I did not return, what could you have done? Did you want to capture Xi Shangfeng as well?”

Jiu Wen shook his head and chuckled. “That would not have happened. Xi Shangfeng is, after all, a half-owner of this mirebound artifact. If he is touched, there would be no need for you to return, as the mirebound artifact would activate on its own.”

Hong Xia’s gaze then fell to Lu Yin. “You should not have come.”

Lu Yin did not know what to say. He had known nothing at all. Everything that he had learned over his years in Crimson Starshade suddenly seemed false, as it had all been deliberately fed to him by Jiu Wen.

The “truth” that he had understood did not match the situation that was currently playing out. His thoughts were in chaos.

“And yet only you could do it,” Hong Xia continued. “I do not believe that all of this was a part of your plans. No one can account for everything, not even you.”

Green Lotus replied, “You underestimate karma. Where there is cause, there is effect. That is what I excel at most.”

Hong Xia stared at Green Lotus. “Then tell me, what outcome does your karma reveal if you fight me to the death?”

Green Lotus took a deep breath. “You die. I perish.”

“Is it worth it?” Hong Xia pressed.

Green Lotus’s expression grew solemn. “You are humanity’s greatest traitor.”

Hong Xia laughed disdainfully. “If not for this traitor, how could your civilization have survived? I was not the one who used you as bait, and yet you were saved by this traitor! Green Lotus, tell me: in your eyes, who was right and who was wrong?”

The Greater Sancte replied, “But if you had not betrayed the Nine Ramparts, the Nine Ramparts would not have fallen.”

“That only happened after you were already bait,” Hong Xia shouted. Contempt filled his eyes. “The Nine Ramparts? The human race? Hypocrisy is any civilization’s defining trait! The essence of life is to live. One or billions, it does not matter. Living is enough. Crimson Starshade exists because I live! If I die, Crimson Starshade will disappear!”

“You’re quibbling.” Jiu Wen’s voice rang out, spreading throughout the universe. “If we must rely on a traitor in order to live, what is Crimson Starshade? How can we face our ancestors? How can we face humanity’s legacy?”

Hong Xia sneered. “Legacy? Do you believe that this is now a legacy? Without me, could any of you be alive? Go ask the people down below! What civilization do they care about? What legacy do they care about? As long as they can live, that is enough. I protected you. Without me, there would be no ‘you’ in this era. Even if the Nine Ramparts did not fall, it would not have been you who lived, but another group. You would have never existed. Every one of your lives was given to you by me! It is precisely because of my betrayal that you were born. If you did not exist, what would humanity’s glory in the cosmos have to do with you?

“Can you not see it? No matter how vast the cosmos may be, no matter how many civilizations exist throughout the Aevum Inch, no matter how brilliant later generations become, the moment you close your eyes, there is nothing left! You all exist only because of me, Hong Xia! No one is qualified to blame me! What I betrayed was the Nine Ramparts, not the present Crimson Starshade.”

Jiu Wen’s eyes sharply flared. “The human legacy is the continuation of spirit. What our ancestors traded their lives for was not life, but rather humanity’s fearless conviction! Hong Xia, you will never be able to see it clearly. That is why you are a traitor and also why you dared to betray the entire human race.”

Hong Xia laughed loudly. “Good! Such conviction! Then allow that conviction to accompany you to death. I want to see where that conviction is if all of Crimson Starshade is gone. Where is that spirit?”

With that, he raised a hand.

The dazzling Blood Tower kept expanding. At the boundary of the megaverse, Xi Shangfeng’s eyes grew vacant as he walked towards the tower, one step at a time. Each step caused his flesh to connect more to the tower.

The Blood Tower was made from human skin, and activating it required the flesh and blood of an Immortal. From the very beginning, Xi Shangfeng was the sacrifice that Hong Xia had prepared to activate the Blood Tower. The method of extreme pain that Xi Shangfeng had followed to cultivate the Path of Dispassion also gave him the endurance required to serve as the necessary sacrifice.

If one could not endure, they were not even qualified to serve as a sacrifice. Compared to Xi Shangfeng, Bing Xu was too inferior.

Hong Xia’s gaze grew cold as he continued to enlarge the Blood Tower. It pressed down upon the megaverse, releasing a blood-colored light that countless people could see. From outside of the megaverse, the entire thing took on a dark-red color.

Lu Yin could not help but ask, “What is he going to do?”

He felt an indescribable sense of unease. It was as if he were standing before a blade, an invisible one that could not be stopped.

Jiu Wen calmly replied, “He is going to destroy the entire Crimson Starshade Civilization.”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “Bury the civilization?”

Green Lotus’s expression grew solemn. “Is this the mirebound artifact that you spoke of?”

Jiu Wen’s expression grew complicated, but Lu Yin did not understand. “Is he not afraid of increasing his karmic chain?”

This was an entire megaverse that contained Immortals like Xi Shangfeng and Ba Yue, as well as numerous powerhouses who had reached the peak beneath the Immortal realm, such as Chu Songyun and Xie Man. The increase in one’s karmic chain from killing such people was enough to make any Immortal wary.

Burying an entire civilization just for a clash of beliefs, no matter how one looked at it, was not worthwhile.

Green Lotus explained, “It will increase a karmic chain, yes, but it will increase Jiu Wen’s.”

A chill ran through Lu Yin. He understood. All along, this mirebound artifact had been constructed by Jiu Wen. As karma had revealed to Lu Yin in Rang Yu’s past, Jiu Wen had killed countless people, using their skins to build this mirebound artifact, culminating in this Blood Tower.

That meant that, if this mirebound artifact was used to destroy the entire Crimson Starshade Civilization, Hong Xia would have no connection to it. The karmic chain increase would be entirely borne by Jiu Wen.

Lu Yin stared at Jiu Wen’s back. This man had been plotting against Hong Xia, but Hong Xia had also been plotting against him, connecting Jiu Wen to the mirebound artifact from the very start.

It was no wonder why Jiu Wen had managed to win Hong Xia’s trust. It was not only because he had helped to build this mirebound artifact, but it was also because it was connected to his karmic chain.

Hong Xia did not care about the Crimson Starshade Civilization; Jiu Wen did.

A single mirebound artifact was enough to completely lock down Jiu Wen.

Hong Xia appeared calm, but so did Jiu Wen. The two men just stared at each other. All along, neither had trusted the other.

However, Hong Xia had initially needed Jiu Wen’s help, and Jiu Wen had not been able to betray Hong Xia at that time either. Doing so would have been meaningless. What use would it have been to merely speak the truth? Jiu Wen wanted to kill Hong Xia and eliminate the greatest traitor in human history.

Jiu Wen moved. Just like Xi Shangfeng, he walked towards the Blood Tower.

“Jiu Wen...” Green Lotus’s voice dropped low.

Jiu Wen’s voice remained very calm. “The worst has still come to pass. There is no need for more words, as this is also my karmic retribution.

“Green Lotus, I can only leave him to you. My apologies. I had intended to fight him to the death, but I have been trapped instead.”

Green Lotus silently nodded. “We overestimated his humanity. Lu Yin, go.”

Lu Yin glanced at Jiu Wen and then at Greater Sancte Green Lotus. Without further hesitation, he left, teleporting away.

Hong Xia’s expression turned ugly. They had fled. He turned to stare at Jiu Wen. “You?”

Jiu Wen looked up and smiled at the man. “This mirebound artifact was built by me, so naturally, I should bear its burden. Hong Xia, you want to bury this civilization? Fine, but do it with your own hands.”

He then took another step forward, entering the Blood Tower and sitting down cross-legged beside Xi Shangfeng.

Hong Xia’s expression changed. “Are you actually willing to sacrifice yourself? Jiu Wen, you are an Immortal who resonates with two laws. Is this truly worth it?”

Jiu Wen did not offer any further response. Sitting within the Blood Tower was for him to atone for himself.

Hong Xia was unwilling to accept this outcome. He clenched his fists. He had actually been outplayed.

From far away, Ji He watched on in shock. He had not expected the one plotting against his master to actually be Jiu Wen. While Ji He did not know what had happened, it was clear to him that even he had been nothing more than another piece in Jiu Wen’s scheme against his master. Everything had started when Lu Yin had entered that watery prison.

***

“Everything began with my first meeting with Jiu Wen. That was long ago, right after I had first broken through to the Immortal realm.”

Lu Yin had gathered Mister Mu and the other human powerhouses in the Sea of Karma. They were all listening as Green Lotus recounted his tale.

“The human desire to find others of our own kind has never stopped. We were the same, us and Jiu Wen. It just so happened that I had used karma to break through to the Immortal realm and Jiu Wen had been passing by at that time. He sensed it and met me. After that, it was only natural that he allowed me to learn about certain things, and we also went to Crimson Starshade while Hong Xia was away...”

Green Lotus looked at Lu Yin. “Like you, I slowly learned about Crimson Starshade. Although Bing Xu and those other Immortals did not yet exist, there were others, and all of them had cultivated the Path of Dispassion. There, what I truly needed to understand was not the Path of Dispassion, but rather Hong Xia.

“Unlike you, who learned about Hong Xia’s past by examining Rang Yu with karma, I learned the truth directly from Jiu Wen. From there came a series of schemes.”

Green Lotus’s expression grew conflicted as he looked out across the Sea of Karma. He was sharing things that had been unknown even to Awe Gate and Blood Tower, despite how long they had been in contact with the oldest Greater Sancte.

“Hong Xia is very strong. Even during the Nine Ramparts’ era, he was an absolute expert. He was a supreme powerhouse of the Second Rampart, second only to Warden Hong Shuang. Even at that time, he had already resonated with two cosmic laws. For Jiu Wen and me to deal with him was as difficult as ascending the heavens. It could be considered impossible, especially since Hong Xia had already joined Obscura and gained the Plume Immortal Civilization as backing. Both of those made it even harder to move against him.

“Thus, only after a long period of studying did we arrive at the present situation.

“We needed someone to draw Hong Xia out, but that person could not be killed by him. Jiu Wen and I would then deal with the anchor of Hong Xia’s twelvefold Path of Dispassion and grind down his strength. Hong Xia’s true combat power originates from his twelvefold Path of Dispassion. No matter what he gained through Obscura or the Plume Immortals, none of it can compare to the fundamental cultivation method of the twelvefold Path of Dispassion. As long as that path is eroded away, Hong Xia can be weakened.

“That objective has now been achieved.”

Lu Yin asked, “Bing Xu and the others?”