Chapter 2983: Self-Judgement
Lu Yin was completely unconcerned with Sovereign Lotus’s words, and he calmly replied, "There’s no issue here. Bai Xian"er is the Great Sovereign’s disciple, so the Great Sovereign should be the one who has something to say. You aren’t qualified to make trouble for me. As I said, if we capture her, I’ll give you an explanation. That’s all I’ll say about it.”
"Lord Lu, if you do this, the other members of the Sixverse a.s.sociation won’t agree," Chu Jian could not help saying.
Lu Yin casually sipped his tea. "I won’t give the Great Sovereign any face."
Ugly expressions appeared on both Sovereign Lotus and Chu Jian’s faces.
"However, I am willing to give Sovereign Dou Sheng some face. Go find Bai Xian"er yourselves, and I will give her a chance to confront me face to face," Lu Yin said as he lowered his tea cup.
Sovereign Lotus felt puzzled. "The four ruling powers might have rebelled against your Lu family, but will you really humiliate my Cyclic Universe for the sake of just Bai Xian"er?"
Lu Yin looked over at the Sovereign Ninth Lotus. "Once again, I will give her a chance to confront me face to face, provided that you are able to find her."
Chu Jian frowned. As soon as the Heavens Sect had made the announcement about Bai Xian"er, he had looked for his senior sister, but he had not been able to find her anywhere.
Seeing Lu Yin"s unwavering determination, was it possible that there could be something wrong with Bai Xian"er?
Although Lu Yin was overbearing, he was not unreasonable.
"Lord Lu, what has happened with Bai Xian"er? Is there a reason why you are determined to capture her? If so, my Cyclic Universe is willing to help." Chu Jian changed his tone of voice as he tried to probe.
A smile spread across Lu Yin"s mouth. "Whether you help or not is your choice. You don"t need to know too much."
Lu Yin then tossed the list that he had been reading over to Chu Jian. "When we invaded Aeternus this time, they summoned these outsider powerhouses to help. If you have a chance, find some way to deal with a few of them. While Aeternus is able to call upon outsider powerhouses, so are we. Let’s take advantage of this time when Aeternus seems to have suffered a grave setback to deal as much damage as possible."
Seems to have suffered a grave setback? Sovereign Lotus did not understand why Lu Yin had chosen to word things in such a way. No matter how one looked at the current situation, Aeternus had suffered badly.
Another one SkyG.o.d had died, the Great Sovereign had invaded the Scourge, which had forced Aeternus to call upon outsider powerhouses, the frenzied corpses had all been eliminated, and the True G.o.d Guard Captains kept on dying or being captured. There was no denying that Aeternus had been gravely injured.
Before long, Lu Yin drove Sovereign Ninth Lotus and Chu Jian away. The Cyclic Universe was forced to help find Bai Xian’er. She was the Great Sovereign’s disciple, and if the Cyclic Universe did not find the woman first, the Heavens Sect would undoubtedly kill her as soon as she was found. It was imperative that the Cyclic Universe find Bai Xian’er so that they could talk to her before Lu Yin got to her. They needed to find out why Lu Yin was determined to capture the woman.
If the Heavens Sect really did execute Bai Xian"er, the Cyclic Universe and the Great Sovereign would both lose all face, and war would very likely break out between the two universes.
Additionally, Lu Yin had maintained the upper hand within the Sixverse a.s.sociation, and the other member universes would listen to him.
After the two left, Qing Ping arrived.
"There is a problem with w.a.n.g Xiaoyu."
This caught Lu Yin completely by surprise. "What"s the problem?"
Qing Ping considered the question. "There’s a problem with her betrayal."
Lu Yin was taken aback. "Why do you say that?"
"I judged her for betraying her race, but w.a.n.g Xiaoyu was not condemned. Instead, the judgment was a draw. Disregarding all else, that alone means that neither her nor I have betrayed our own race," Qing Ping stated solemnly.
Lu Yin frowned. "How could that be? w.a.n.g Xiaoyu is known as the biggest redback that the Fifth Mainland has ever seen. If it weren"t for her, Progenitor Chen would have never started the war against the Sixth Mainland. The war between the two Mainlands created an opportunity for the Aeternals, and it ultimately led to the current situation. It was during that war that the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect disappeared and most of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas died. The Lu family even had to break the Perennial World away from the Fifth Mainland to serve as a shield against the Aeternals. w.a.n.g Xiaoyu was the trigger for all this.”
Qing Ping agreed, "I know, and yet the judgment says otherwise."
"Senior Brother, what is the basis for your judgment?"
"The law."
"Have you already mastered a law?" Lu Yin was pleasantly surprised.
Qing Ping shook his head. "The law that I am referring to is different from the laws of the universe that you are familiar with. I don"t know how to explain this to you. While it might seem as if my judgments are determined by outside factors, they actually force anyone being judged to judge themselves. Everyone in the universe wears a mask, even you and me. We wear masks for others to see, and sometimes, we wear the mask for so long that we forget who we are underneath it.
"My judgments essentially remove that mask and forces a person to face their true selves."
"What if w.a.n.g Xiaoyu is able to deny her true self?" Lu Yin suddenly asked.
Qing Ping considered the question. "Then her very existence would also be denied, and she would be obliterated by laws that govern her true self."
Lu Yin still failed to understand, but he believed his senior brother. Since Qing Ping was so certain, could there really be something wrong with w.a.n.g Xiaoyu"s betrayal of the Fifth Mainland?
Lu Yin was reminded of his previous speculations that there had to be a human spy within Aeternus. He still had no idea who it might be, but it was possible that it was one of the Seven SkyG.o.ds, or maybe a Progenitor-level expert who had betrayed humanity. It was even possible that it was one of the freakish existences among the True G.o.d Guard Captains. It was possible that the one helping humanity was not actually human themselves.
If there was a problem with w.a.n.g Xiaoyu"s betrayal, then could she be a spy?
Still, the cost of being a spy had to be absurdly high, to the point where it should be impossible.
Who could explain the universe clearly? It was impossible for the Aeternals to imagine that Lu Yin had entered the Scourge, disguised as a Ye Bo. This was basically proof that anything could happen.
It was still necessary that Lu Yin return to the Scourge and learn more about Aeternus.
What Lu Yin had learned about Aeternus was terrifying, but after seeing the truth, despite the hopelessness of the situation, Lu Yin at least had a direction to proceed in now.
Lu Yin’s current goal was to overcome the First Scourge and drag the other Scourges into the war against the Sixverse a.s.sociation, thereby forcing out Aeternus’s entire strength. Of course, his alias as Ye Bo was his only means of getting inside information.
When Lu Yin shared his thoughts with w.a.n.g Wen, the man had a headache. "The Aeternals must already believe that there is a traitor among the True G.o.d Guard Captains. If they catch that traitor, there will be no problem with Ye Bo returning, but the problem is that you are the traitor they’re searching for, Your Highness. Before the traitor is caught, as soon as Ye Bo returns to the Scourge, even if they don’t decide that you are the traitor, they will undoubtedly subject you to a long period of surveillance and stop trusting you. If that happens, there’s no point in you returning to the Scourge."
Lu Yin was already aware of this as well. "Which is why you need to come up with a reason for me to return that won’t arouse the Aeternals’ suspicions."
w.a.n.g Wen had already been filled in on the truth regarding Aeternus. While Lu Yin might worry about others losing hope and giving in to despair, there was no fear of that when it came to w.a.n.g Wen.
Long ago, they had used their foothold in the Outerverse as a foundation upon which they planned their campaign to conquer the entire Fifth Mainland. That level of difficulty was no less than trying to have the current Heavens Sect be the foundation of the fight against Aeternus.
w.a.n.g Wen was someone who was unwilling to act alone. He was always seeking out a bigger and better challenge. Wei Rong was exactly the same in this regard.
This was a good aspect to intelligent people. They understood themselves very well and knew what they could and could not do.
"While I can’t come up with an answer right now, we can at least lay the groundwork. The Heavens Sect has already captured three of the True G.o.d Guard Captains: Chong Gui, the Chiliagonist, and the captain that Senior Mu Xie captured during the last battle. The last captured captain is a man and woman pair, who seem to be known as Duel Bladeform. Your Highness, have Ye Bo also be captured by the Heavens Sect, and after that, we can figure out a way for you to escape. After all, you can’t go back to the Scourge for now, as it would be too sudden," w.a.n.g Wen said.
Lu Yin agreed, so they proceeded according to w.a.n.g Wen’s suggestion.
...
The Progenitor-level enemies that the Heavens Sect had captured could only be imprisoned beneath the death energy in Aeternus Nation. The death energy could even suppress and weaken peak powerhouses, which was how Lu Yin had initially dealt with Monarch Mu.
Death energy was cold and oppressive, and being suppressed by it was incredibly unpleasant.
At the moment, Duel Bladeform had also been imprisoned beneath Aeternus Nation after being captured.
"This is all my fault! If I had managed to hold him back, you could have escaped, brother." The pink-haired woman blamed herself. She was curled up in the arms of the blue-haired man.
The man looked up at the death energy that blocked their vision. "It doesn"t matter. At worst, we will break like other knives. It’s the fate that we deserve."
"I"m sorry, brother."
"There’s nothing to be sorry for. I won’t live on my own without you. As long as we are together, it doesn’t matter if we are part of Aeternus or the Sixverse a.s.sociation."
"Mm-hmm."
Suddenly the death energy parted before the two, and w.a.n.g Wen approached. He looked at the two with a smile and evident curiosity.
The pink-haired woman instantly raised her guard as she stared at w.a.n.g Wen. This person’s gaze gave her the chills.
The blue-haired man frowned. "Human, kill us!"
w.a.n.g Wen was curious. "Are you two blades?"
"What do you want?" The pink-haired woman was put even more on edge, and she acted like she was about to bare her teeth and claws. "I"m warning you, don"t try to mess with us! We would rather be broken."
w.a.n.g Wen gave the two a bright smile. "Since your weapons, you can freely pledge your loyalty to Aeternus or to us. There’s no need for any sort of loyalty."
The blue-haired man looked up. "A weapon’s loyalty is different from that of you humans. We will never betray anyone."
w.a.n.g Wen shook his head. "You’re wrong on that. After all, if you die, you’ll have nothing."
"We don"t care," the two said in unison.
w.a.n.g Wen was caught off guard. "This isn’t something that you can just not care about. Let me explain it this way; if you refuse to join us, only one of you will survive."
The pink-haired woman rolled her eyes. "Human, we are blades. We can break at any moment. Your little tricks won’t work on us."
The blue-haired man did not even bother responding to w.a.n.g Wen.
w.a.n.g Wen suddenly pointed at the pink-haired woman. "Even if you break, I will take your pieces and give you to a pervert who’s covered in stinky pus, who hasn’t washed their hair for 10,000 years, and who likes to clean the dirt from his hair with a knife."
The pink-haired woman was startled, and after a moment, she screamed at w.a.n.g Wen, "Human, that’s too much!"
w.a.n.g Wen gave her an odd smile before pointing at the blue-haired man. "I will give you to the most beautiful woman in the universe."
The pink-haired woman’s scream rose louder. "Human, I’ll fight you!"
The blue-haired man quickly grabbed the woman, even as he glared at w.a.n.g Wen. "Human, you are the most vicious, shameless person I have ever met!"
w.a.n.g Wen shrugged. "Thanks for the compliment. I like the sound of that. After all, that’s high praise among humans."
Dual Bladeform both glared at w.a.n.g Wen. He had infuriated them both with just a few words. This human was an absolute b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
"Enough, human. No matter what you say, it"s useless. If we are broken, we will no longer have any sort of consciousness. Only our broken bodies will be left behind, and you can use them however you want," the blue-haired man spat in a cold voice as he cradled the pink-haired woman.
As for her, the woman was still glaring at w.a.n.g Wen, wishing that she could chop him to pieces.