Chapter 4432: Words
Chapter 4432: Words
Ba Rong was still shaken, and its fear lingered after it sensed the terrifying power that Lu Yin had kept hidden. This human had not used even close to his full strength when capturing Ba Rong, and he was undoubtedly a two-law powerhouse. Even so, the fish still should have been able to tell that this human was an Immortal being. Unless... he’s even stronger?
As this thought occurred to it, Ba Rong felt helpless. It had been perfectly fine for so many years of wandering about the Aevum Inch, but ever since it had encountered the civilization known as humanity, its luck had become terrible. It would definitely have to be far more careful in the future.
“In that cursed place, I took the form of a little dog, and I hid under a bridge the entire time. One day, I happened to overhear a conversation. The voice sounded familiar, and it belonged to the human who had captured me. I did not dare to move, so I just quietly listened, and ended up hearing the conversation between him and his master.
“Come to think of it, his master was really quite miserable.”
After glancing at Lu Yin, Ba Rong slowly continued, sharing the conversation that had left the deepest impression on it.
...
“Master, why cling to the past so stubbornly?”
“Beast, what happened to the Nine Ramparts?”
“I’ve told you many times already. The Nine Ramparts were defeated, and humanity has lost its inheritance.”
“I don’t believe it! The Nine Ramparts are glorious and peerlessly brilliant. How could they have lost? The Fifth Rampart alone surpassed what those civilizations could fight.”
“Master, when will you finally accept reality?”
...
“Master, you can leave at any time. Do you truly not want to see the outside world with your own eyes? Do you not want to find Xiang Xue?”
...
“Being so stubborn is useless. Master, despite all these years of refusing to leave, deep down, you’ve already accepted that the Nine Ramparts have fallen, haven’t you? You just don’t want to face the truth. But sooner or later, you will have to.
“I have feelings for the Fifth Rampart, and Xiang Xue also treated me well. So, if you are willing to help me take control of Manifest City, I will protect a branch of human civilization. At the very least, I will ensure that humanity does not go extinct.
“Master, it seems that in your eyes, Xiang Xue is more important than the entire human civilization.”
...
“Master, since you refuse to speak with me, allow me to speak to you instead. I’m going to give Manifest City away, to a child who has inherited the legacy of human civilization. That child has granted me hope of being able to control Manifest City. But do you know this? Once he gains control of Manifest City, I will be able to seize it from him. No one can tell him the truth. Master, are you willing to tell him?”
“Beast, you will not succeed!”
“Mm, it won’t be easy, but I will definitely succeed. After all, you know me. Rather, you can try to stop that little fellow. Prevent him from taking control of Manifest City. Let’s see if he listens to you.”
“Manifest City belongs to human civilization. It belongs to the Fifth Rampart!.”
“Exactly. So what will you tell him? Should you tell him he is Manifest City’s true owner, or will you try to stop Manifest City from returning to its rightful people? What do you want to do?”
“I will kill you, beast! I swear it!”
“How interesting. I surpassed you long ago, didn’t I, Master? Don’t be angry. I believe that child has a way to get you out. Or rather, you will meet him, and I am really looking forward to hearing what you say when you do. Will you stop him? Help him? Why don’t we make a bet? When that day comes and you meet him, say as much as you can against me. Let’s see which sentence you speak will touch my bottom line.
“That bottom line will serve as the trigger for me to kill that child, so since that’s the case, won’t it mean that you kill him with your own hands?”
“I will kill you! I definitely will!”
“I’m looking forward to that day. Alright, Master, I’ll be leaving now. When we next meet, it should be outside of this city.”
...
When Ba Rong finished speaking, it glanced at Lu Yin, falling silent. It did not understand the true meaning of that conversation. But while You Che had sounded polite, his words had concealed a murderous intent and a coldness that cut straight to the bone.
Lu Yin stared off into space. His expression was calm, yet his bloodlust had been roused by the mere thought of You Che and had already filled the universe.
It was no wonder why Senior You Wu had wanted to say something after emerging from Manifest City yet had not been able to explain things clearly. Not only that, but once Che had appeared, You Wu had also thrown its life away without hesitation. At that time, Lu Yin had actually wanted the ancient Immortal to survive in order to share more about the Fifth Rampart, but You Wu had still chosen to sacrifice itself. From one angle, its sacrifice had felt like quite the waste.
This conversation explained You Wu’s choice. It had wanted to tell Lu Yin more, but it had also been afraid to say too much. It had been walking along the edge of a cliff all along. In its eyes, it had even dragged Lu Yin to that same ledge, and anything it said might have easily led to Lu Yin’s death. That was not a cost that You Wu had been willing to bear.
Its thoughts had been completely dominated by You Che. Fear of You Che had left it unable to trust anyone. No matter how powerful the human civilization became, You Wu did not believe that anyone could stop You Che from killing however he wished.
That was why You Wu had chosen death, using its own death to tell You Che that it could say nothing more and that humanity would gain nothing from it. That was intended to make You Che be at ease and not direct his killing intent toward Lu Yin.
The more astonishing Lu Yin proved himself to be, the more that You Wu had cared about his life or death.
It was possible that, from the very first time when Lu Yin had spoken with You Wu, when it had given the relieved response of “good,” it had already decided to use its own death to protect the young human.
From the very beginning, You Che had been using Lu Yin’s life to threaten You Wu, and yet Lu Yin had known nothing of this. Only the master and disciple had known.
Them, and one fish.
You Wu had not known that Lu Yin was protected by the rules of Obscura, which prevented You Che from actually making any move against the young man.
You Wu had been played. Just a few words had been enough to push it to choose death. It had known that it could not even stop Lu Yin from taking control of Manifest City because Manifest City belonged to humanity. Not only that, but You Wu had also wanted Lu Yin to control the guardian artifact, despite knowing full well that Che had a follow-up move waiting.
Words truly could kill, and not even Immortals were exempt from that. Lu Yin could fully understand You Wu’s humiliation, rage, helplessness, and despair.
He slowly clenched a fist. Judging from the outcome, You Wu’s death had not been even close to worthwhile, and yet You Wu also deserved everyone’s respect. It had truly not feared death, and it had even used death to protect its convictions.
You Che had accomplished his goals. You Wu’s appearance had long been within Che’s calculations. He was not able to control Manifest City himself, but he knew that there was a very good chance that You Wu might have known something. That was why he had spent so many years trying to persuade You Wu. However, You Wu refused to say anything, and so Che had given Manifest City to Lu Yin, intending to use him to force You Wu to reveal the secret of controlling the guardian artifact. As soon as Lu Yin succeeded, You Che would take it away.
When he had first turned Manifest City over to Lu Yin, You Che had not actually had much hope that Lu Yin would ever be able to control it. True hope had only appeared after You Wu had emerged and spoken to Lu Yin. That was when a genuine possibility had first appeared.
It could be said that every single step had been anticipated by You Che. For one person to scheme against another was truly very simple.
Lu Yin’s expression fell. Behind all of these calculations lay You Che’s absolute confidence in himself. If he was not certain that he could seize Manifest City back from Lu Yin, Che would have never allowed You Wu to leave, and Manifest City would have never been given to Lu Yin.
What kind of hidden move did You Che actually have? Lu Yin was still unable to see through his enemies. He was too weak. In the end, he was still too weak. He needed to take an unconventional path.
His earlier thoughts resurfaced. It seemed that he would truly have to try that.
Obscura’s Transparent had always been watching the Trio, and they had limited the human civilization’s potential strength. The Death Megaverse was lurking nearby. Obscura controlled everything. You Che pressed in closer, step by step. There were also Hong Xia, the Plume Immortals, and more. If the situation did not change, Lu Yin knew that he was already at his limit. Even if he broke into the Immortal realm, it still might not be possible for him to carve his way out of this encirclement.
If he wanted to restore the glory of the ancient Nine Ramparts era, he would have to walk a path different from any of his predecessors. In the current era, no one could help Lu Yin. He could only continue walking forward on his own, bearing everything. Things were already hard enough, so he no longer feared things becoming even more difficult.
He longed to sweep away every powerful enemy blocking his path.
“So... can I go now?” Ba Rong asked, its tone unusually soft and full of flattery.
Lu Yin broke his gaze to look over at the fish. After thinking for a moment, he gave a small smile. “Thanks for telling me all of this.”
Ba Rong’s heart trembled. Thanks? Did such a word even exist in the Aevum Inch? Wait. That You Che said the same thing before. His exact words were “Thank you. Please help me control Manifest City.”
“Don’t thank me. Can I go now?” Ba Rong nervously asked.
Lu Yin sighed. “Of course. But...”
Ba Rong’s heart leapt into its throat.
Lu Yin gave Ba Rong an apologetic look as he moved closer and raised a hand. The fish instinctively retreated, but quickly stopped itself. It seemed that it could not retreat any farther.
Lu Yin placed a hand to Ba Rong’s head. “The Aevum Inch is dangerous, isn’t it?”
Ba Rong did not know how to answer. Dangerous? Not dangerous? It felt as if fate itself had just placed two possible paths before it.
“I promised to let you go, and I absolutely will, don’t worry. I’m someone who keeps my word,” Lu Yin continued. He patted the fish’s head. “It’s just that the timing will need to be delayed a bit.”
Ba Rong’s heart sank. “Delayed a little?”
“Yes, just a little.”
“How long is ‘a little’?”
“About 100,000 years.”
Ba Rong’s eyes bulged. “You call that ‘a little’?”
Lu Yin grew puzzled. “For an Immortal, doesn’t that count as just a little? I remember back when I had just started cultivating, an enemy once gave me 100,000 years to consider a choice, and that enemy wasn’t even close to the Immortal realm.”
Ba Rong blankly stared at Lu Yin, going back through their earlier conversation. At the time, the fish had wondered whether the timing of its release might be delayed, but it had already asked two questions and had been so frightened by this human’s killing intent that it had forgotten to say anything. And now... it no longer knew what to say.
Lu Yin laughed loudly. “All right, it’s only 100,000 years. It will pass quickly. Some Immortals stay in seclusion for more than 100,000 years at a time. Don’t worry, it’ll go by in no time.”
“Then why are you keeping me?”
“My human civilization is short on Immortals. You can fill in for a while.”
“To wage war with outsiders?”
“My human civilization loves peace. Why would we go to war with anyone?”
Ba Rong kept feeling that there was something wrong with what this human was saying, but there was nothing that it could do. At this point, escape was absolutely impossible. The only benefit it had received from revealing the conversation that it had overheard was that it no longer needed to enter the Champions’ Stage Purgatory.
Lu Yin had promised that much, so he would not throw the fish inside. He had also promised to let it go, but he had never specified when that would happen.
“Come on. I’ll introduce you to some other Immortals.” Lu Yin brought Ba Rong out of the Mirari Realm, teleporting to where the stone monster and Lu Feiyang were. After a brief introduction, Lu Yin took them all back to the Trio.
The stone monster eyed the megaverse, speechless. 100,000 years? Did it also need to stay within this human civilization for 100,000 years? At this point, the stone monster could not even decide if that was a long or short period of time. After all, Lu Yin had clearly promised to let it go before.
The stone monster exchanged glances with Ba Rong, and they each saw the helplessness in the other’s eyes.
Lu Yin really was forcing the stone monster and Ba Rong to stay within his human civilization simply because they did not have enough Immortals. Manifest City needed a protector, and the stone monster was the best fit for that task. As for Ba Rong, it would replace Kang Tian and stay within the Human Trio. If humanity encountered danger, then as long as the fish’s life was not placed in jeopardy, it could at least lend a bit of aid, just as Kang Tian had once done.