Old Man Hehe said, "I know the answer, but I will not tell you."

"I am also a member of Obscura."

"We can talk after you have worshiped the Divine Tree. Child, it is meaningless for you to remain on guard against Obscura. Unless you recreate the splendor of the Nine Ramparts, killing you or not makes no difference to us. What is the difference between you appearing here or appearing in Vestigium?"

Lu Yin said, "The Mudwater Dominion is here. Vestigium doesn’t have it."

"Hehe, young man, you should have more vigor and less cunning. When you reach my age, you will regret not being impulsive. Immortality does not mean that you do not grow old."

Lu Yin said nothing more, and Lan Meng ended the call in silence.

Obscura feared humanity, yet they still allowed Lu Yin to grow. From Lan Meng's perspective, this was an extremely unwise decision. If they were destined to be mortal enemies, humanity should be destroyed.

But rules stood above all within Obscura.

More months passed. High above them, the paper bridge stretched out once more. They had arrived.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. Since Ni Bieluo had deliberately gathered the eight elders, some sort of activity was inevitable. Either they would avoid Lu Yin if at all possible, or they would kill him.

He decided that he would no longer help in Old Man Hehe's battle. Did that old monster truly think that Lu Yin cared that much about touching the main stream of the River of Aeons? He did care, of course, but nothing was more important than his own survival. He would not take any further action in this war

The paper bridge vanished. Far in the distance, Mudwater Dominions could vaguely be seen approaching.

Lu Yin used his Mirrorlight Art to look over. His pupils shrank. A human?

The creature from the Mudwater Dominion that had appeared in the distance was another mud doll, but this one was attached to the crown of a human middle-aged man. It looked as if it had partially swallowed the man.

Lu Yin suddenly looked at Lan Meng. "Are there humans on this battlefield?"

Lan Meng was bewildered. "I do not know."

Lu Yin frowned tightly as he stared into the distance. The man was indeed human. This was not a disguise. Obscura had drawn another human civilization onto the battlefield.

Which human civilization was it? It could not be the Human Trio or Crimson Starshade, as both were protected for a period of time. This meant that it had to be another human civilization that Lu Yin was unaware of.

This was Ni Bieluo's strategy to deal with Lu Yin. This man was bait.

"Contact Old Man Hehe."

Lan Meng immediately did so.

"Humans?" Old Man Hehe was surprised. "Oh, that is certainly possible. Obscura is aware of more than one human civilization. I do not know why they have not been destroyed yet, but it is perfectly normal to draw them into a fight.

"Even though the Nine Ramparts’ peak was absolutely brilliant, the human civilizations of today no longer warrant any fear. In the eyes of Obscura, they are the same as any other civilization that can be lured onto a battlefield. Of course, I am talking about the weak human civilizations that have survived. Human civilizations which require a five-star mission reward or above to obtain their information do not fall into that category."

Lu Yin said, "Is this human civilization the one whose information is available as a two-star reward?"

"Very likely. What? You want to take action? Right, I almost forgot, you humans are very complex creatures. When ruthless, you might betray everyone, but when affectionate, you can face death without fear. This is how Ni Bieluo is testing you. It is trying to confirm whether you are a creature which truly cares about your own kind."

"If I show that I care, I fall into its trap. That human civilization must already be in their control."

"Correct."

"Then what if I don’t care?"

"Hehe, then that human civilization will be recorded, just like any other civilization that the Mudwater Dominion encounters. Of course, their deaths will not be painful. But if you do care, then unless you are certain that you can save them, what awaits them is a torment more painful than death." Old Man Hehe sounded delighted by the misfortune of others. "The value of being useful can grant you a perfect life, or it can offer you a life of despair."

The mud doll lounged in outer space, clinging to the middle-aged man's head. The man trudged forward, as awkward as a puppet, clearly in agony.

Suddenly, time froze. There was a stream of gray light, and Lu Yin abruptly appeared right before the middle-aged man, a hand outstretched and pointing at the mud doll.

The mud doll saw the hand and tried to counterattack, only to discover that it could not move. It was trapped by purple sight power.

Everything took no more than an instant. A moment later, Lu Yin's finger stabbed into the mud doll. He ripped it off of the middle-aged man and casually flung it away while releasing his Investiture of the Gods. Tri-Azure Sword Intent: Hidden Blade.

Strands of sword intent erupted and surged forward. The mud doll had already been badly wounded, and it was utterly incapable of retaliating. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

As an Immortal, even one that had been forcibly elevated into that realm, it should not have been rendered absolute helplessness by Lu Yin. However, it truly had no ability to fight back.

With teleportation, the power of time, and Lu Yin's experience fighting against the eight elders, then forget a mud doll. Even if Lu Yin encountered another opponent equal to Ni Gui, he was confident that he could leave it with little room to fight back.

The Mudwater Dominion's prided absolute means were worthless against him.

The middle-aged man collapsed. Lu Yin caught him and settled him down onto a planet. There was thick vegetation all around, releasing various scents. Strange creatures made sounds, but they all fell silent when Lu Yin landed, overcome with fear.

"No... don’t kill it." The middle-aged man's hazy eyes struggled to open. There were threads of blood sticking his eyelids sealed, and he struggled to even speak.

Lu Yin heavily replied, "I didn’t kill it. It’s still of use."

Cough, cough, cough, cough...

Lu Yin tried to treat the middle-aged man's injuries, only to find that the man's internal organs and meridians had been shattered. His blood was congealing. He would not survive.

"Thank you." With the last of his strength, the middle-aged man grasped Lu Yin's arm. He forced his blurry eyes to open and rasped in a hoarse, weak voice, "Save... save us. I beg you... save... save us.

"We... we are the Mountain Sword Sect. You are also... human. I beg you, save us."

Lu Yin felt heavy in his heart. "Don’t say anything more. I will see for myself. Rest a moment."

As he spoke, a spiral of karma flicked from his fingertip, entering the middle-aged man's body and allowing Lu Yin to see the man's past.

The man could barely even speak, so Lu Yin could only use karma to learn as much as possible about the Mountain Sword Sect.

Karma revealed multiple scenes of the past. Lu Yin calmly watched as time flowed on. After more than half an hour, the middle-aged man passed away.

Lu Yin closed his eyes, his mood ruined.

The Mountain Sword Sect was a human civilization that had existed in a certain megaverse, but unlike the Tianyuan or the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, humanity had lost in the Mountain Sword Sect’s megaverse. Fortunately, their ancestor was an Immortal, and despite losing to other Immortals from the same megaverse, he had at least been able to protect himself. He had gathered all humans, hiding them within the Mountain Sword Sect, and then taken the mountain itself to leave their megaverse. If they had not left, their entire civilization would have eventually been destroyed.

That Mountain Sword Sect’s ancestor had led human civilization across the Aevum Inch while searching for a suitable home. As they traveled, they had faced many dangers and wars. They had found a suitable home, only to be marked by Obscura and made into a tool.

The Mountain Sword Sect was completely unable to resist Obscura. They were ants compared to Obscura. Their Immortal had had no choice but to fight war after war for Obscura in order to preserve the human legacy of the Mountain Sword Sect.

The middle-aged man had been one of the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor’s disciples. The man had personally witnessed how, time and time again, his master’s robes were stained with blood, how he had walked the edge of life and death, how he repeatedly tried to break free of Obscura, and how he had silently stepped onto yet more battlefields.

The entire Mountain Sword Sect was weeping. Everyone grieved for their ancestor, yet no one could replace him.

Finally, the entire Mountain Sword Sect had been taken to the current war. Through reading the middle-aged man's past with karma, Lu Yin learned that they had been targeted by the Mudwater Dominion. Lu Yin himself was the most likely cause.

He had captured Ni Gui and killed Ni Bai, both of which were heavy losses for the Mudwater Dominion. More of his same species just happened to be on the same battlefield, so it made sense that the Mudwater Dominion had struck them.

It was all because of Lu Yin. But he had not expected a human civilization to actually appear on the current battlefield.

If he could have killed Ni Fan, the Mountain Sword Sect would not have suffered such a tragedy. It was all because of Lu Yin.

His fists clenched tightly. "I am sorry!"

He stared at the middle-aged man's corpse in silence. Before long, the mud doll fell down in front of him, slamming into the ground.

Lu Yin looked down at the mud doll. "Where is the Mountain Sword Sect?"

The creature took out a sheet of white paper and folded it into the shape of a paper bridge. "This can take you to find them."

Clearly, this was the Mudwater Dominion's test for him. Just as Old Man Hehe had said, the Mudwater Dominion was uncertain if humans truly cared about their own kind. This was nothing more than a test. If he showed that he did not care, it did not matter. If he did, they could use this to remove Lu Yin.

The Mudwater Dominion did not fear Obscura’s many powerful Immortals, but they did fear an Aberrant like Lu Yin. He was an existence that the Mudwater Dominion could not accept, no matter what. Not only that, but he had also already forced them to suffer heavy losses.

"And if I don’t go?"

"If you do not appear, half will die," the mud doll replied.

Lu Yin exhaled. His Champions' Stage Purgatory appeared, and he threw the mud doll in to increase his karma. As that happened, he stared off into the distance in a daze.

The Mountain Sword Sect was not a mere sect, but rather a surviving remnant of a human civilization. Everyone had been gathered within the Mountain Sword Sect under the protection of their Immortal. It was an entire civilization.

This civilization should be the same as the Tianyuan and the others in the Human Trio: former bait. It just so happened that, because of Hong Xia betrayal and the fall of the Second Rampart, humanity’s powerful enemies had stopped chasing the bait and had instead launched a full assault against the Nine Ramparts. That had given the bait a chance to survive.

In truth, they were all the same as the Mountain Sword Sect.

Lu Yin would have to watch half of the Mountain Sword Sect's people die for nothing. It was all because of him. He could not accept that.

But how could he save them?

All that awaited him was certain death in a trap that the Mudwater Dominion had prepared.

Lu Yin was not arrogant enough to think that he could break free of a death trap prepared by a fishing civilization with just his own power. His teleportation, Crow Immobilization, karma, and everything else combined was not enough to compensate for the immense gap between him and an absolute powerhouse.

Lan Meng approached. The small gate was still open beside him, and Old Man Hehe's voice came through it. "Troubled, child?"

Lu Yin did not answer.

"Hehe, as expected, you have cultivated for too short a time and have not yet grown numb. You have not seen the cosmos clearly at all."

Lu Yin's eyes shifted over to the gate. Those words sounded familiar. Master Qing Cao had said the same thing several times.

"The cosmos is a cycle. Every living creature is composed of matter that exists within a given megaverse. When a creature dies, the matter it was composed of will recombine to form another creature. What is thought of as reluctance to let go of life mostly comes from emotional bonds. Humans end up like this precisely because they have too many emotional bonds. If you do not go to save them, this war will end soon. Whether they live or die has nothing to do with you, as it is due to their own incompetence.

"Hehe, or do you believe that, if you act, you can save them?"