Ni Ren definitely had not revealed its full strength yet. In the face of Lu Yin’s ability to teleport, it had been waiting for an opportunity to unleash a single killing move, just as Lu Yin himself had been waiting for a brief opening to save someone.

Neither side could afford to fail.

Lu Yin observed for a while and then suddenly teleported to Ni Ren’s flank. He faced the long blades’ slashes, dodging while striking out with the Dao Sword.

Karma again. Ni Ren had been extremely wary. One of its long blades fell, chopping down upon the Dao Sword, but it contained very little karma. Lu Yin was just testing things. Next, he slowly raised a hand. Beneath his Karmic Dao, many Dao Swords appeared, forming a river of Dao Swords that suddenly slashed down at Ni Ren.

From the other side, Tri-Azure Sword Intent also formed a river of sword intent and shot at the creature.

Ni Ren hurriedly used its two long white blades to cut at both sides. Compared to the Dao Sword, the river of Tri-Azure Sword Intent was far less of a threat, but it simply did not know where the true Dao Sword might be hiding.

Lu Yin could only make one or two Dao Swords powerful enough to truly threaten Ni Ren. It did not believe that Lu Yin had enough karma for more than that.

But even if there were only one or two Dao Swords, it had to find them first. If it was cut again and one of the white blades was further weakened, its standing in the Mudwater Dominion would truly become unstable.

Everywhere, strength reigned supreme.

The two rivers of sword intent abruptly scattered and then slashed at Ni Ren from every possible direction. At the same time, Lu Yin held his scythe, and white Activeness surged out, enough to be visible to the naked eye as it shot at Ni Ren.

Facing an attack from three distinct powers, Ni Ren’s two white blades slashed frantically. Whether it was the rivers of sword intent or the Activeness, everything was sliced to bits. No power could come close to Ni Ren.

Now! Lu Yin suddenly opened Heaven’s Sight. Purple sight power surrounded the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor: Manifestation Beyond the Pupil.

Clang!

There was a thunderous crash as a white blade struck the Manifestation Beyond the Pupil but failed to cut through it.

Ni Ren was horrified. “Impossible...”

What blocked the white blade were the thirteen scales from the Blacklight Civilization’s One-Hundredth Seal. They were things that even Ancestor Shan had not been able to easily destroy. They were the Blacklight Civilization’s most powerful legacy. Even if Ni Bieluo struck, it would struggle to instantly shatter these scales, let alone Ni Ren.

No matter how sharp its blades might be, it could not surpass Ancestor Shan’s power.

Manifestation Beyond the Pupil blocked the attacks for an instant. Lu Yin reached for the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor, ready to teleport away, and yet the old man dodged away. Eyes smeared with blood looked over at Lu Yin as the old man used every last shred of strength to avoid the grasping hand, hoarsely rasping, “Go!”

Right in front of Lu Yin, cement suddenly erupted from the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor’s seven orifices, and it all surged for Lu Yin.

It was all too familiar of a scene. In the past, that mud doll had used this same method when attempting to draw Lu Yin’s image on a piece of paper. This was the Mudwater Dominion’s method for recording creatures and civilizations. This was their true legacy technique.

Lu Yin teleported away. If he had made contact with the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor, that cement might have touched him. There was a good chance that his image would have been drawn.

He had exhausted every means possible to fight for that opening, but in truth, Ni Ren also wanted to give Lu Yin an opening, as that opening would give Ni Ren an opportunity itself.

However, it had not anticipated that Lu Yin would actually create the opening with his own power. The more successful the human’s efforts, the more he would lower his guard. Ni Ren had believed that it could draw Lu Yin’s image, only for the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor to ruin things.

Ni Ren was absolutely furious. Cement ripped the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor’s skin apart, turning his body into a bleeding mess. “You’re courting death!”

The old man let out a bitter laugh. “Enough! This is enough! Lu Yin, you aren’t even an Immortal, and yet your strength has already reached this level. Humanity has hope for future prosperity, hahahaha!

“Go! Go now! Don’t mind me, go!”

Lu Yin glared at Ni Ren. “Release him. I’ll fight you, and I will absolutely not run away.”

Ni Ren sneered. “Absolutely won’t run?”

“A fight to the death,” Lu Yin stated resolutely.

Ni Ren mocked, “Are you from human civilization? It is even more fragile than I thought. Emotions are the most useless things, obstacles that block one from climbing to the peak. You’ve reached this level, and yet you’re still hindered by emotion? Truly stupid.

“Unfortunately, I don’t believe you.”

Hoo.

There was a soft sound as the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor was recorded into a drawing, the paper becoming Ni Ren’s third long white blade. It pointed at Lu Yin. “I suddenly realized that, since you care about him so much, I’ll use him to fight against you. If you are so capable, take him away. This can’t count as threatening you with him.”

Lu Yin’s eyes were as deep as the sea as he stared at Ni Ren. Even the arm that held Aberrant was trembling.

“What? Scared? You can leave if you want.” Ni Ren sneered. A blade fell, the slash tearing open the cosmos as far as Lu Yin could see.

Lu Yin watched the slash as it drew near and then teleported away. He reappeared directly before Ni Ren. There was a wild surge of Activeness as his left hand formed a fist that smashed forward.

In front of him, the white blade that was the recorded Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor suddenly appeared to block the punch. Lu Yin hurriedly diverted his fist, only for two more white blades to strike down behind him. There was a ringing sound as Lu Yin plummeted, struck down by the edge of a blade.

He spat out a mouthful of blood. If he had not blocked that attack at the last moment with the Darksky Seal’s plates of armor, those two slashes would have torn his body apart.

Ni Ren now controlled three white blades, and all of them slashed at Lu Yin. The creature believed that Lu Yin would no longer insist on trying to save someone who was destined to die. If he persisted, it would overpower him and kill him. If he decided to run, that was also fine. The war was not over yet.

Lu Yin kept dodging the white blades. Any counterattack he attempted met the folded paper that recorded the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor. If his attacks landed on the white blade, they would cause it to crack and shatter, killing the old man.

Lu Yin could not attack, could not save the man, and could not escape. He was trapped.

He could teleport, had kept his Crow Immobilization hidden, and possessed all kinds of powers and abilities. But at this moment, they all felt utterly inadequate. Beneath the edges of the white blades, the cosmos was torn apart like paper. Lu Yin’s body would not fare much better.

Slash after slash, Lu Yin kept evading. His eyes remained locked onto the blade that was the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor.

Hss.

He avoided the slashes, but he could not avoid Ni Ren’s world. Lu Yin started to be cut, and lines of blood appeared all over his body. His only choice was to teleport far away and then teleport back again, constantly searching for an opportunity.

Time passed. His wounds accumulated, but neither Heaven’s Sight’s Manifestation Beyond the Pupil nor his Dao Sword could find any openings.

Ni Ren grew increasingly adept at manipulating the three white blades, its attacks reaching distant parts of the void.

Lu Yin struggled like a drowning man. His river of sword intent returned, only for Ni Ren to immediately use the white blade that was the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor to counter. The river of sword intent scattered. It had been formed from karma, but most of the swords had only possessed tiny bits of karma. Even so, Lu Yin did not want to strike the folded blade that was the old man.

Ni Ren’s slashes grew more and more aggressive. Its unseen world returned. Lu Yin hurriedly dodged, only for fresh cuts to appear on his body. Extremes Must Be Reversed kept restoring him, only for his body to wither yet again.

To be honest, Ni Ren could not understand why Lu Yin had not fled yet. Of course, it did not want the human to flee, but if it were in his place, Ni Ren would see no point in dragging things out. Karma might allow it to erase one of the white blades, but it was impossible to steal one.

However, even if Lu Yin refused to run away, Ni Ren struggled greatly to kill him. Teleportation was simply too disgusting an ability.

If it threatened the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor’s life, Lu Yin would simply leave immediately because there would truly be no point in continuing the fight. Given the circumstances, Ni Ren could only slowly grind its opponent down, exhausting Lu Yin to death.

Most notably, Ni Ren was waiting for Ni Bieluo to arrive. Ni Ren knew that it could not kill a powerhouse who could teleport and that only Ni Bieluo could.

Lu Yin teleported right next to Ni Ren yet again. The three white blades chopped down at him. His expression grew fierce and determined. In that moment, all of the power that he had gathered with Extremes Must Be Reversed was released as he threw a fist at Ni Ren. Manifestation Beyond the Pupil appeared between him and the white blades, using the thirteen black scales to protect him.

Ni Ren raised its guard. It knew that Lu Yin was capable of blocking its slashes; Manifestation Beyond the Pupil had done so more than once already. It simply could not understand how an Aberrant possessed the power to block its blades, but given how Lu Yin had resumed dodging, it guessed that, even if he was capable of blocking the white blades, he was not capable of doing so often.

The Aberrant did not truly have the means to withstand Ni Ren’s attacks.

It did not know that Lu Yin was avoiding using Manifestation Beyond the Pupil not because it was impossible to use it repeatedly, but rather because he feared that doing so would allow Ni Ren to see the truth: only the thirteen plates of armor were capable of blocking the white blades.

Blocking the slashes once or twice would not expose anything, but doing so too many times would reveal the truth.

This was the only way for Lu Yin to directly endure the white blades, which enabled him to counterattack. He had to use it as little as possible.

Clang, clang, clang.

Three deafening blows rang out. The white blades fell, only to be individually blocked by the thirteen armor plates. Even so, Lu Yin was shaken, and he spat out more blood. He forced himself to endure the new injuries while throwing a punch. In front of him, Ni Ren released its world. Countless spatial tears flowed towards the creature, and it released a fourth slash to meet Lu Yin’s attack.

The punch was ripped apart. Physical strength was an entirely different concept from a spatial slash. There was no doubt that Ni Ren could not withstand Lu Yin’s raw power, but that only applied if his attack could actually land.

As Lu Yin’s power was cut apart, Ni Ren’s slash continued straight for him. At the same time, the three white blades attacked yet again. Without teleporting away, the Aberrant would be cut to pieces.

Lu Yin’s eyes suddenly flared. Now!

Karma gathered. It was the karma that had been scattered earlier when his river of sword intent had been dispersed. While facing Ni Ren, Lu Yin wove karma.

Weaving karma was one of the methods of utilizing karma that he had comprehended. The first time he grasped the ability, it had enabled him to escape from the claws of that hexagonal Immortal beast. Now, confronted with the terrifying Ni Ren, he used it again.

Weaving karma did not constitute as an attack, but at this moment, it served as such for Lu Yin.

He spun around, reaching for the folded white blade that was the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor. The thirteen plates of armor covered Lu Yin’s arm, exposing the rest of his body. Just as the other two white blades were about to chop into him, Ni Ren’s fourth slash swept past Lu Yin. It sliced over from the side and slammed into the two white blades with a deafening boom. The void was completely shattered as though it was as fragile as rotten tofu, and it was sliced into countless fragments.

Lu Yin’s arm endured the blow of the white blade that had recorded the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor. The black scales trembled, and bleeding wounds opened on his hand, but he gritted his teeth, and with five clenched fingers, seized the blade.

He had it, the long white blade that was the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor.

He teleported away. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Left behind, Ni Ren stared blankly at the location where its white blade had been before being snatched away. What had just happened? Its fourth slash, released from its world, had clearly been aimed at Lu Yin, so why had it deviated? Why had it struck Ni Ren’s own attacks instead? Looking up, it saw that Lu Yin was panting heavily. In his hands was the long white blade that had recorded the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor, and then the old man was released.

Lu Yin supported the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor, turned to face Ni Ren, and smiled.

He had succeeded.

All along, Lu Yin had never intended to rescue the old man before he was recorded into a civilizational weapon. That was because the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor had always been under Ni Ren’s control, and it was obvious to Lu Yin that Ni Ren could draw the old man’s image at any time, removing him.

This was something that the mud doll had tried against Lu Yin before.

Even if he had rescued the old man earlier, as soon as Ni Ren drew the man’s image and recorded him, the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor would have been doomed.

In order to truly save the Mountain Sword Sect's ancestor, it was necessary to bait Ni Ren into recording him into a civilizational weapon that Lu Yin would then have to steal. That was the only way to succeed.