Chapter 4400: Take Care
Chapter 4400: Take Care
Lu Yin had helped the Immortal Lord eliminate the Plume Immortals’ ability to track them to make the Immortal Lord bear the consequences of killing Ming Yu. The Immortal Lord understood this, but they chose not to mention it. In other words, they were deliberately reminding Lu Yin of a favor granted.
In addition, the Immortal Lord had never worshiped the Divine Tree. Even while inside Vestigium, they refused to do so. That choice had also been made for Lu Yin’s sake. This was another favor that had to be remembered.
These two favors were a demonstration of the Immortal Lord’s goodwill toward Lu Yin. Of course, another reason was that they did not know if there was another Dao Sword hidden within their body, or if one might be planted there in the future.
Having their karma severed and a Dao Sword planted within them had affected the Immortal Lord more deeply than anything else. They had become so wary that they distrusted even Obscura’s rules and simply hoped that Lu Yin would never want to act against them.
This was no longer a simple matter of settling grudges. To some degree, it meant that the Immortal Lord was leaning towards supporting Lu Yin.
But that inclination could not undo the past destruction of the Lost Clan.
"I understand. You can stay in Vestigium without fear." After saying that, Lu Yin withdrew.
Vestigium fell silent. Inside a floating coffin, the Immortal Lord stared at the Divine Tree. No one feared Lu Yin more than they did. His ability to sever karma, plant hidden Dao Swords, and kill Plume Immortals had profoundly shaken the Immortal Lord. For countless years, they had failed to escape from the Plume Immortals. On the other hand, Lu Yin seemed to have accomplished the impossible task with seemingly no effort.
Luo Chan had clearly obtained the ability to teleport, while the Immortal Lord themself had not. Lu Yin, a human, had gained that ability.
One event after another had caused the Immortal Lord to mentally place Lu Yin practically on the same level as the Plume Immortals. Lu Yin gave them the impression of being capable of doing anything, and the Immortal Lord felt this more strongly than anyone else.
That was why they had carried out this bit of goodwill. At this point, the Immortal Lord only hoped to complete missions for Obscura and use the rewards to ask Ba Se to check if there was still a Dao Sword hidden within their body. Only by completely removing any sort of hidden danger could they return to being themself.
No matter what happened, they wished to have no further conflict with Lu Yin. Absolutely not.
Meanwhile, Lu Yin repeatedly teleported until he arrived at the location of the coordinates that the Immortal Lord had given him. It was extremely far away from the Human Trio. Shan Barrens alone should have never been able to carry Great Elder Shan Gu and the others to the Tianyuan from here. Even if the card itself had managed to cover the distance, Shan Gu and the others should have died long before completing it. None of them were Immortals.
But the time between the Lost Clan’s defeat and their arrival in the Tianyuan had not been long. How had that been accomplished?
Lu Yin looked around and found no trace of a megaverse ever existing in this area.
He suddenly recalled his battle with Chang Dou, when the Consciousness Megaverse had moved between the Trio in order to stop Chang Dou from teleporting. Could the two events be related?
Taking out Shan Barrens, Lu Yin stared at it thoughtfully.
Soon afterward, he teleported to the Crimson Starshade Civilization and asked if there was anyone who knew about the Third Rampart. Jiu Wen helplessly replied that he had been young at the time of the Nine Ramparts and thus knew nothing about the Third Rampart, or even the Second Rampart.
Lu Yin could only return to the Tianyuan to pay a visit to the Lost Clan and Great Elder Shan Gu.
"Greetings Lord Lu."
"Greetings Lord Lu..."
Countless members of the Lost Clan bowed in respect. Lu Yin asked them all to rise before meeting with Shan Gu alone.
The old man was excited. He had long wanted to find Lu Yin, but too many events had occurred one after another, leaving him no opportunity to do so. Lu Yin’s arrival was a surprise to Shan Gu, and also a chance.
"Senior, has the Lost Clan been doing well recently?" Lu Yin asked.
Shan Gu replied respectfully, “Reporting to Lord Lu, everything within the clan has been peaceful. Thank you for your care.”
Lu Yin sighed. "When the Plume Immortals attacked, many people were affected, so I wanted to check on the Lost Clan. It's good that you are doing alright."
He proceeded to chat with Great Elder Shan Gu for a while without directly asking anything concerning the Third Rampart. The main reason was that he needed to examine Great Elder Shan Gu’s past with karma, and that was not an easy request to make. Such a request would be excessive for anyone. Even if Lu Yin was considered the ruler of the Tianyuan, he still needed to show respect to others.
In fact, if this matter did not involve the Third Rampart, he would have simply let it go. However, the Third Rampart was extremely important. He had a hypothesis regarding the disappearance of their megaverse, and if he could obtain an answer from Great Elder Shan Gu. it would resolve everything.
While they were speaking, Great Elder Shan Gu suddenly knelt down. "Lord Lu, my Lost Clan has a request."
Lu Yin was startled, and he hurried to help the old man up. "Senior, please speak openly. There’s no need for this."
Great Elder Shan Gu looked at Lu Yin with pleading eyes. "We want to return home."
Lu Yin paused and stared at the old man. "Return home?"
Shan Gu nodded while meeting Lu Yin’s eyes. "Shan Barrens carried us here to the Tianyuan Megaverse, but our home is the Third Rampart. Therefore, we ask you to help us return home, Lord Lu.
"I know that this request is excessive, as we do not even know where the Third Rampart is and that it must be searched for, but this old man still wishes to ask you this just once, Lord Lu. Please help us return home."
Return home. It was not an excessive request.
Lu Yin had always felt rather guilty toward the Lost Clan. When he had suppressed the Immortal Lord, he had not even asked about the location of the Third Rampart, having completely forgotten about the matter. Later, he had used the Immortal Lord to shoulder the blame for killing Ming Yu and had helped them to join Obscura. All of this had been a betrayal to the Lost Clan.
If Lu Yin had been born from the Lost Clan, he would have undoubtedly killed the Immortal Lord for the sake of revenge, not hesitating at all.
The Lost Clan had once helped him greatly, but after Lu Yin gained the ability to do so, he had not avenged them.
"Senior, if it becomes possible, I will certainly help you return home," Lu Yin replied.
Great Elder Shan Gu responded gratefully while trying to kneel once more. "Thank you, Lord Lu!"
Lu Yin firmly lifted the old man up. "I am the one who has wronged the Lost Clan."
Shan Gu appeared confused. "What do you mean, Lord Lu?"
Lu Yin explained what had happened with the Immortal Lord. "When the Lost Clan gave me Shan Barrens, I promised to take on your hatred and avenge you. But when I clearly had the ability to do so, I did not act. I have failed you and the Lost Clan."
Shan Gu tightly grasped Lu Yin’s arm and emotionally stated, "Lord Lu, this old man knows how difficult it is to survive in the Aevum Inch. I know that you have fought in one war after another, and while I do not know the details, the Immortal Lord must have helped you in some way. That is enough. Truly, it is enough."
Lu Yin wanted to speak, but the old man cut him off, "The survival of my Lost Clan relies entirely on you, Lord Lu. Our hatred and vengeance are not more important than you. What the Nest civilization did or what the Immortal Lord did is not merely a matter to avenge. We all understand this."
As he spoke, Shan Gu stepped back several paces and bowed low to Lu Yin. "I, Shan Gu, on behalf of the Lost Clan, ask Lord Lu to take care."
From outside, voices echoed him, one after another. "Lord Lu, please take care."
"Lord Lu, please take care."
"Lord Lu, please take care..."
Everything that Lu Yin had done over the years had been witnessed by everyone. His schemes had been directed at humanity’s enemies, while he had always worked to protect his own people. No matter what he did, everyone had come to support him unconditionally. The Lost Clan wished to avenge their hatred, but when vengeance was weighed against Lu Yin’s safety, it meant nothing.
"Lord Lu, you once destroyed the Nest civilization for the sake of our Lost Clan. You avenged us with those Insect Lords, especially Shan Xiao and Shan Lie. That is enough, Lord Lu. Truly, it is enough," Great Elder Shan Gu stated solemnly.
Lu Yin looked at everyone and let out a breath. The hesitation that he had felt before arriving suddenly disappeared. The Lost Clan held nothing back in regards to him, so there was no reason for him to hesitate.
After asking everyone to leave, Lu Yin addressed Great Elder Shan Gu again, "Senior, I had a conversation with the Immortal Lord about the Third Rampart."
A tremor ran through the old man’s body as he stared at Lu Yin with hope and unease. Lu Yin had just said that he would try to take the Lost Clan home, which meant that he was not currently able to do so. Yet, if he had already spoken with the Immortal Lord, how could the Immortal Lord not know the location of the Lost Clan’s former home?
The only answer was that their home was gone.
Lu Yin stared at Shan Gu as he repeated the Immortal Lord’s account. The old man could hardly believe what he heard. "Impossible... How could the Third Rampart not be a megaverse?"
Lu Yin said, "I also can't believe it, which is why I came here. I would like to see if I can find anything by looking at your past with karma, Senior."
Shan Gu opened his mouth to speak, yet he said nothing. Lu Yin understood what the old man wanted to say. “The Immortal Lord would not lie to me. You don’t need to worry. At least for the time being, they have no cause to try to deceive me. The Third Rampart means nothing to them. Protecting an empty megaverse would be useless.
“I once wondered if something might be hidden in the Third Rampart. For example, Hui stayed in the Ninth Rampart while constantly searching for their guardian artifact, so it was not completely impossible. Of course, it is unlikely. To begin with, the Immortal Lord would have had to know that the Third Rampart possessed a guardian artifact, and they shouldn’t have known anything about that. Still, if there is even the slightest possibility, I will not ignore it.
“What I need to verify now is whether there is any useful information left, and if that possibility doesn’t even exist.”
Great Elder Shan Gu nodded. "I understand. Lord Lu, please look. I have nothing in my past that I need to hide."
Lu Yin’s gaze grew solemn. “Senior, forgive my offense.”
The old man just smiled. “Lord Lu, you are doing this for the sake of my Third Rampart. What offense could there be? Rather, it is our Lost Clan that is causing trouble for you, Lord Lu.”
Without saying anything further, Lu Yin pierced through Great Elder Shan Gu with karma and observed his past.
“Senior, try to remember as much as you can about what happened in the Third Rampart back then. The more you remember, the better,” Lu Yin reminded him.
Shan Gu began to recall the past. Within his past revealed by karma, a brutal battlefield appeared. Blood and fire filled the universe. It was the Third Rampart’s war, their brutal resistance against the Nest civilization. It was the memory etched most deeply into Great Elder Shan Gu’s mind: their final battle.
Lu Yin saw powerful figures charging at the bugs, as if marching to their deaths. In the final scene, although the Lost Clan clearly won, an Immortal Verdant Sage suddenly appeared. With absolute power, it suppressed every human expert and drove the Third Rampart to destruction.
Lu Yin spent more than half a month observing Shan Gu’s past with karma. He saw the megaverse shrinking and then vanishing in an instant.
For more than half a month, Lu Yin continued examining Great Elder Shan Gu’s past with karma, replaying the Third Rampart’s final moment countless times, but he could not sense anything unusual about their megaverse.
Great Elder Shan Gu had lived in the Third Rampart for so long, yet he had never noticed anything different about it either.
How could a perfectly normal megaverse simply disappear in such a fashion? But the Immortal Lord should not have deceived Lu Yin about such a thing. It was too absurd of a claim.
In the end, Lu Yin left the Lost Clan. He had discovered nothing at all. If the Immortal Lord had deceived him, asking about it would be useless. Lu Yin would need to find an opportunity to examine the Immortal Lord’s past with karma.
But first, he would go to the Starfall Megaverse.