Chapter 3093: A Heavy Heart
Lu Yin soon returned, and he also learned of Leng Qing"s encounter. He took out the cosmic door and said, "Let"s continue. We need to draw The Abandoned out, though this time, we need to be more cautious. The Aeternals are now prepared, so we"ll act together. Even if we run into a sequence powerhouse, we’ll be fine."
He then pa.s.sed through the cosmic door, but just as Lu Yin was about to use the teleportation device, his expression changed. He used Inverse Step, moving at the speed of time and causing his surroundings to freeze. A cold glint flickered in the air, narrowly missing him. He turned to watch as the glint disappeared.
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed as he looked back. There was a figure standing behind him, and a short blade pressed against his neck. The sharp edge froze Lu Yin’s movements, and he reflexively used Extremes Must Be Reversed.
"Don"t move," a hoa.r.s.e voice whispered.
At this moment, Arch-Elder Zen and Leng Qing arrived, and they shouted, "Release the Dao Monarch!"
Lu Yin raised a hand to stop the two men, but his eyes remained fixed on the figure. "The Abandoned?"
The man’s voice was low and hoa.r.s.e, "You"ve been destroying Aeternus Kingdoms recently. Why?"
"To draw you out," Lu Yin answered bluntly. The muscles in his neck withered, making it difficult for the figure to harm him with the short blade.
"Why did you want to draw me out?"
"To join forces with us against the Aeternals."
"Leave the cosmic door and go. I don"t work with others."
Lu Yin stared at the figure. The man was short, to the point where his raised arm could barely bring the short blade against Lu Yin"s neck. The man had also covered his own face so that Lu Yin could not get a good look at it.
"You"re constantly destroying Aeternus Kingdoms. You hate the Aeternals. Why not work with us? What can you achieve alone?" Lu Yin pushed.
The figure’s head rose, revealing cold eyes. "That doesn"t matter. I"m the last remnant of a destroyed civilization. Death means nothing."
"It"s still not worth it."
"That’s none of your concern. Leave."
Lu Yin’s eyes moved along the man’s arm to eventually meet his eyes. "Aren"t you curious about how we found this place?"
The figure"s eyes flickered. "Speak."
"Mister Mu," Lu Yin stated.
The man was clearly shocked. "Mister Mu?"
Lu Yin sighed in relief. As expected, Mister Mu had sent him to find The Abandoned.
"I"m Mister Mu"s disciple. My master gave me several cosmic doors to unite various civilizations in the war against the Aeternals. You"re one of them. How else could we have found this place?"
The man’s arm lowered. "No wonder."
"You believe us?" Lu Yin was surprised. The Nine-Star Civilization had not initially believed him.
The man looked down at his short blade. His face reflected off of the blade. "The megaverse is vast and has countless parallel timelines. Even just this universe alone is enormous. It’s impossible to find this place by chance with a cosmic door. The Aeternals can’t find this place. If they could, you wouldn’t have been the ones to show up, but that woman.
"There"s nothing to not believe about what you’ve said."
Finally, Lu Yin saw the man’s face.
The Abandoned was a gaunt old man whose face looked rather sinister. He reminded Lu Yin of a shadow that could vanish at any moment. The man’s eyes were filled with a cold, endless hatred, and the short blade in his hand made him look like an a.s.sa.s.sin.
"Are you The Abandoned?"
"Mister Mu did me a favor. I won’t team up with you like you want, but I’ll attack for you one time," The Abandoned stated.
Having just finished negotiations with the Nine-Star Civilization, Lu Yin felt like he had said enough. He regretted not recording his conversation with Kakawen, as doing so would have saved him a great deal of trouble.
It was rather obvious that The Abandoned did not like talking very much.
"If that"s the case, then so be it. How should we contact you?" Lu Yin asked.
The Abandoned handed Lu Yin something that looked rather similar to a communication crystal. It was likely this universe’s equivalent of one.
"You’re the only one to get one of these from me, even after all of these years."
Lu Yin nodded. "Thank you."
Ultimately, having The Abandoned agree to attack once for Lu Yin was already quite good. The brief exchange had already demonstrated the man’s strength to Lu Yin.
Inverse Step had not been able to evade The Abandoned’s blade, which was not something that Lu Yin had expected.
It was no wonder why The Abandoned had been able to survive against Arrow G.o.d for so long. The man was likely just as strong as Senior Brother Mu Ke.
After returning to the Heavens Sect, Lu Yin immediately took out the fifth cosmic door.
As before, Leng Qing moved through first. Their latest encounter with The Abandoned had made the Progenitor even more cautious.
Arch-Elder Zen followed close behind.
Anyone from the Origin Universe could die, even Lu Yuan. The sole exception was Lu Yin. He not only represented the present, but also the future.
Everyone believed without a doubt that Lu Yin would reach at least the same level as the Great Sovereign, and quite possibly even higher.
Even Lu Yin himself was confident of that, though he could not find his path forward at the moment.
If he could find the way to break through and become a Progenitor, he would have already done so.
Another breakthrough was Lu Yin’s only way of directly fighting against the Aeternals. Only then could he no longer worry about fleeing every time he encountered an opponent at the level of the Seven SkyG.o.ds.
He had to find a way to break through.
Through the fifth cosmic door lay a shattered universe. There were spatial tears everywhere, much like the place in the Daosource Sect where Progenitor Chen’s handprint had been left behind.
However, that had only been a single region of a universe, whereas the universe that Lu Yin and the others were currently looking at had been utterly destroyed.
The three men spread out, but even after searching around, they found no signs of intelligent life. The universe had been completely destroyed.
There were only some leftover indications that the universe had been destroyed by a powerful force. The three men could not even find the ruins of the civilization that Mister Mu had wanted Lu Yin to find.
With no other choice, they left the universe and moved on to the sixth cosmic door.
It appeared that they had run out of luck, as the sixth cosmic door was connected to another shattered universe. This one was in slightly better shape than the previous one, as there were at least some ruins. Still, everything indicated that the civilization no longer existed.
Finding two destroyed universes in a row weighed heavily on Lu Yin"s heart.
He continued to the seventh cosmic door, and with a grim expression, he impatiently went through.
Lu Yin found himself arriving in an Aeternus Kingdom. It was a ma.s.sive one, and there was a grand gate that clearly was not of the Aeternals’ design. It was likely a relic of the civilization that they had conquered.
Lu Yin and his companions explored the universe, hoping to find traces of a civilization that was still fighting against the Aeternals, but the results were disappointing.
There was no one. There was not a single person capable of fighting against the Aeternals.
They spent two months in the universe, searching through it the entire time, hoping to find someone like The Abandoned.
They found nothing. The Aeternals were the uncontested rulers of this universe.
However, Lu Yin did manage to learn that the universe had been conquered by the Sixth Scourge.
This made sense, as the Sixth Scourge was ruled by Corpse G.o.d, one of the Seven SkyG.o.ds. He had been focused on the First Scourge for many years, but the Sixth Scourge still had other powerhouses, such as Ji Luo.
Ji Luo was incredibly powerful, and Lu Yin believed that the man was just as strong as the Seven SkyG.o.ds. For such a skilled powerhouse, it would be easy to defeat a single universe.
With heavy hearts, the three men left the universe.
Only one cosmic door remained, but Lu Yin did not rush to enter it. He simply stared at it.
There were times when coincidences were real, but causality also existed.
Destiny’s power was no longer something mysterious; she built a bridge across the river of time, which allowed her to catch glimpses of the future.
What truly fascinated Lu Yin were powers related to karma, such as Seruzen’s Karmic Fruit, Mu Ji’s ability to see sin, or even the ability of Destina and several others to transfer karmic effects.
There were all sorts of inexplicable powers and abilities in the megaverse, and not everything could always be explained.
After encountering three civilizations in a row that had been destroyed, Lu Yin found himself hesitant to use the final cosmic door.
The destruction of a civilization meant the loss of countless lives. Such an outcome was too much to handle.
Lu Yin turned away from the cosmic door and walked to a solitary mountain peak. From there, he stared off into the distance.
Arch-Elder Zen and Leng Qing exchanged glances, but they said nothing as they shook their heads.
They would not be bothered if Lu Yin responded heartlessly, but how was that possible? He was also human, and the emotions he felt after seeing the results of three civilizations of three different universes be wiped out was something that could only be imagined.
It was possible that Lu Yin was thinking about the Sixverse a.s.sociation, the Origin Universe, or possibly his loved ones.
It was possible that someone would one day visit the Origin Universe and find nothing but Aeternus Kingdoms, without any trace left of the Heavens Sect.
Lu Yin stood at the peak of the mountain and stared far into the distance. He saw the jiao roll over in its sleep. How nice would it be to be as carefree as the beast?
He stared at the Heavens Sect, seeing many familiar faces. Finally, Lu Yin’s gaze rested on a specific courtyard.
The courtyard was filled with books. It belonged to Lu Yin’s unfortunate disciple, Tuo Lin. The man must have been reading for a very long time.
At this thought, Lu Yin vanished, and he reappeared just outside the courtyard.
The courtyard was absolutely packed with books, many of which had been preserved with extraordinary means. All of the books had been donated by various large families or sects, some of which had come from personal collections. Even the owner’s family members would have struggled to catch a glimpse of many of these volumes, but they were all piled up in a single courtyard because Lu Yin’s disciple was going to read them.
Tuo Lin was no longer inside the house, but instead buried among the books in the courtyard. He had become completely engrossed in each page. There were times when he would read quickly, and at other times slowly. An occasional laugh of excitement might be heard, or he might cover his face as he cried. The man looked completely mad.
Lu Yin arched a brow. He did not want his disciple to go mad. If that happened, who would be willing to become Lu Yin’s disciple in the future?
The idea that the Heavens Sect"s Dao Monarch"s disciple might be a madman was terrifying.
Lu Yin quickly entered the courtyard. "Tuo Lin."
Within the pile of books, Tuo Lin"s ear twitched when he heard Lu Yin"s voice. He shot to his feet, toppling the nearby stacks of books as he happily looked over at Lu Yin. "Master!"
Lu Yin breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, Tuo Lin still recognized Lu Yin, and he was not completely mad.
"Master, why have you come here?" Tuo Lin carefully moved around the books on the ground to approach Lu Yin.
Lu Yin chuckled. "If I didn"t, you"d rot away with these books."
Tuo Lin grew puzzled. "Rot away?"
"How long have you been reading here?" Lu Yin asked.
Tuo Lin considered the question for a moment, but then shook his head. "I don"t remember."
Lu Yin looked at him. "How are these books?"
Tuo Lin instantly lit up. "Master, your test was perfect! By living with these books, I"ve learned so many life lessons! Master, I now understand your intentions. You wanted me to learn to be a good person before I learned to cultivate, right?"
Did I? That had not been Lu Yin’s intentions in the least.