Hearing Hong Xia’s words, Lu Yin raised an eyebrow. “Ba Se, you heard that—he’s about to betray Vestigium again. You clearly said that this kind of thing cannot be discussed, and yet this guy is openly saying that he’ll tell me. My sincerity toward Obscura has been witnessed by heaven and earth. I won’t allow this scumbag to tarnish Obscura’s reputation.”

Furball laughed. “Shameless to the extreme.”

Old Man Hehe laughed as well. “He’s so certain that Hong Xia won’t tell him. Little one, Hong Xia might truly know who the Keeper of Balance is.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. Even if Hong Xia knew the truth, he would never reveal it. They were already mortal enemies.

Ba Se spoke up. “Obscura will not interfere in the matters between you, as long as our rules are not broken. Lu Yin, have you attacked Hong Xia?”

Lu Yin confidently replied, “No.”

Though that was mainly because he could not beat Hong Xia. How could he dare to attack the man?

“Hong Xia, have you attacked Lu Yin?”

Hong Xia fell silent for a moment. “This boy has taken my people and fled Crimson Starshade. I tried to stop him. That cannot be considered an attack.”

Lu Yin retorted, “I nearly died, and yet that doesn’t count as an attack? Ba Se, you need to judge fairly! Obscura’s rules are above everything.”

Hong Xia roared, “You attacked my civilization first!”

“That’s because I discovered that you had betrayed Obscura,” Lu Yin shot back.

Hong Xia was furious. This bastard had clearly attacked because he had betrayed the Second Rampart, and yet he was being so shameless.

Throughout Hong Xia’s long years of survival, from the moment he had first begun cultivating, to when he climbed to the peak, step by step, he had always been surrounded by elites and prodigies. And yet, not even his enemies had been this shameless. Especially after becoming an Immortal, the man had only dealt with other Immortals, and not one had been like this boy.

Hong Xia felt that this boy was more like a traitor than even him.

“Lu Yin, you took action because I once betrayed the Second Rampart. What does that have to do with Obscura?”

“You knelt to a Plume Immortal, and those birds are Obscura’s mortal enemy. Am I right or not?” Lu Yin shouted.

Vestigium fell silent. A long while later, Furball spoke up, “I wondered what he was talking about; so it’s this.”

Lu Yin did not understand. “What do you mean? Furball, are you saying that kneeling to a Plume Immortal isn’t a big deal?”

Furball gave a strange laugh. “We all know that Hong Xia knelt to a Plume Immortal and betrayed your human civilization, so your anger is understandable. However, he didn’t betray Obscura. Back then, he didn’t only kneel to a Plume Immortal. Obscura was there too.”

Lu Yin’s eyes tightened. Had someone from Obscura also been present?

He had already known that Obscura was one of the culprits that had taken down the Nine Ramparts, but from Rang Yu’s memories, Lu Yin had only seen Hong Xia kneeling to a Plume Immortal. Where had the one from Obscura been?

“Don’t try to deceive me. I’ve seen the past. Hong Xia knelt to only a Plume Immortal. There was no one from Obscura there. You’ve all been deceived by him,” Lu Yin declared.

“Hehe. Whose past did you see? If you could see it, it means that the creature has quite limited strength. How could something so ordinary perceive the truth of that era?” Old Man Hehe explained.

Lu Yin considered that answer, as it did make sense. Rang Yu had been nowhere near as strong as Hong Xia, and what he saw could have only been fragments of what had happened.

Through karma, Lu Yin could only see what Rang Yu himself had been able to see. That man had not been capable of seeing the truth of that era at all.

“Are you claiming that Hong Xia betrayed Obscura because of this?” Furball asked.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “So you are taking sides after all. Furball, your words can’t serve as proof that Hong Xia didn’t betray Obscura. What gives you the right to say he knelt to Obscura too?

“You and Old Man Hehe, you’ve both known Hong Xia for too long, and neither of you like me, which makes me suspect that you’re saying this on purpose. Besides, Obscura holds no status in your hearts anyway. Unlike you, I’m full of respect for Obscura.”

Hong Xia sneered. “Still trying to test the waters. As a fellow human, I understand you all too well. Ba Se, tell him.”

A cold glint flashed in Lu Yin’s eyes.

Ba Se spoke up, “Lu Yin, Hong Xia knelt to Obscura, and between Obscura and the Plume Immortals, he chose Obscura. I can testify to that.”

Lu Yin exhaled. “Is that so? If you say so, I have no choice. Fine, let’s assume that that’s the case. I’ll let him go this time, but if I find out again that he’s betrayed Obscura, I won’t let him go.”

Hong Xia roared, “Ba Se, Lu Yin has captured my people. What does Obscura say about that?”

Lu Yin’s brow furrowed, but Ba Se said, “As long as you do not attack each other, it has nothing to do with Obscura.”

“Good! That’s exactly what I was waiting to hear,” Hong Xia said with a savage smile. “Little brat, I know exactly where you are. Just wait! I will completely destroy your civilization. Mere bait dreams of leading humanity? I’ll show you how miserable your fate will be.”

“Haha, it’s starting! Brat, you’re doomed. Hong Xia’s power isn’t something to joke about.”

“Hehe.”

Lu Yin’s expression was grim. “If you’re so capable, then come. You’re just a traitor.”

With that, he withdrew from Vestigium.

After Lu Yin and the others left, Old Man Hehe called out, “Ba Se, you really won’t interfere?”

Ba Se calmly replied, “Obscura’s rules can only restrain Obscura members themselves. Those rules have nothing to do with the civilizations behind the members.”

“What if Hong Xia accidentally kills that brat?” Furball asked.

Ba Se simply stated, “We act according to the rules.”

***

Lu Yin returned to the Sea of Karma, bringing news that Hong Xia was about to attack.

“The reason why Hong Xia didn’t immediately come over is indeed because he was afraid of Obscura’s decision,” Lu Yin said, “You can imagine how badly Obscura frightened him at the end of the Nine Ramparts era. Thus, he’d rather delay rescuing Bing Xu and the others than act before determining Obscura’s stance.”

Green Lotus said, “This battle cannot be avoided, but you cannot take part. Hong Xia is just one member of Obscura. If you strike and Obscura uses that as leverage, we will face far more than just Hong Xia.”

Mister Mu and the others all agreed.

Lu Yin said, “As long as I don’t attack Hong Xia, it will be fine. Nobody said that I can’t pass by.”

“What do you mean by that?” Everyone was confused.

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. “Back then, Hong Xia betrayed the Second Rampart and knelt to a Plume Immortal. According to Obscura, he didn’t only kneel to a Plume Immortal, but also to Obscura. However, Obscura and the Plume Immortals are clearly mortal enemies. Ba Se even said that, if Obscura goes to war and enacts a draft, the opponent will very likely be the Plume Immortals.

“However, Hong Xia turned away from the Plume Immortals to join Obscura. So, do you think that those birds will let him off, given their temperament?”

Awe Gate replied, “Impossible. The Immortal Lord and Obscura have both said that those strange birds hold deep grudges.” 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Lu Yin nodded. “Exactly. Hong Xia abandoned the Plume Immortals, defecting to Obscura. Obscura and the Plume Immortals have fought before, so even though there must have been multiple life-and-death struggles, he managed to stay alive. Add in how vengeful Plume Immortals are, and they have definitely targeted him.”

“You are saying that Hong Xia has a way to deal with Plume Immortals.” Green Lotus understood.

Lu Yin’s expression grew solemn. “He must at least have a way to defend against Plume Immortals. If not, he wouldn’t have been able to survive for so long.”

He stared off into the distance. “Plume Immortals are also a threat to us. So far, we haven’t been able to come up with any way of dealing with them, so we’ll just make Hong Xia tell us. He’s lived far longer than any of us, and he understands the Plume Immortals much better.”

Numbers meant nothing for the upcoming battle with Hong Xia. The more people that participated, the easier they would be broken.

Lu Yin did not know what gave Hong Xia the confidence to attack and ignore the increase in his karmic chain. From Jiu Sen, Green Lotus had learned that Hong Xia had not taken action for a very, very long time. That suggested that his karmic chain had to be relatively short, as time spent inactive could shorten one’s chain.

Despite knowing that the Trio was home to many Immortals, Hong Xia still dared to attack on his own. Lu Yin and the others could only plan for the worst.

However, no matter how limited Hong Xia’s karmic chain might be, he could not kill too many Immortals. Killing any Immortal would drastically increase his karmic chain.

At the same time, the death of an Immortal was absolutely unacceptable for the Human Trio.

Lu Yin asked Green Lotus if everyone working together would be enough to deal with Hong Xia. However, he was told that, for the time being, they should focus on repelling the man. If Jiu Wen were not sitting inside the Blood Tower, it might have been possible to deal with him.

Numbers could only offer the benefit of trading lives to increase Hong Xia’s karmic chain. Beyond that, they served no purpose.

Long ago, Jiu Wen had told Green Lotus some concerning news about Hong Xia’s strength. To block the man, they needed another two-law powerhouse in addition to Green Lotus.

Of course, that was Old First.

Lu Yin immediately set off to look for Old First, starting from where the toad had faced Hong Xia before.

The moment that Lu Yin arrived in that location, he looked towards Crimson Starshade’s megaverse. An indescribable pressure that left one’s skin crawling appeared. Hong Xia was heading out to attack.

Lu Yin quickly looked in other directions. He needed to find Old First as quickly as possible.

It did not take long for Lu Yin to arrive in front of the toad.

“What is it?” Old First was very wary. His brief clash with Hong Xia had left him shaken, especially because Lu Yin had spoken about an expert who “possibly” resonated with two cosmic laws. That incident still made Old First angry.

Lu Yin coughed. “Well, Senior... a moment of crisis has arrived.”

Old First’s face twitched. Ancestor Shan’s warning echoed in his mind: do not get too entangled with human civilization. It is troublesome. Humans always claimed to know their limits, but the truth was that they did not. Additionally, they were particularly prone to attracting powerful enemies.

Old Frist had not understood the warning before, but now he did.

How long had the Seven-Treasure Anuras even been in contact with human civilization? How many times had they already been forced to intervene? Old Fourth and Old Fifth had both fought, and Little Eighteen had even gone missing.

Old First regretted going to the human civilization.

Facing Old First, Lu Yin bowed low. “I know that this puts you in a difficult position. You’re not afraid of strong enemies, but you are worried about increasing your karmic chain.”

Old First stayed silent.

“I promise you that this will be the last time I ask you to act. From now on, unless you take the initiative, I will never disturb you again,” Lu Yin solemnly promised.

Old First looked at Lu Yin. “Is it still that one who ‘might’ resonate with two cosmic laws?”

Lu Yin nodded.

Old First’s head ached. “Have Green Lotus act as well.”

That’s always been the plan. Lu Yin nodded. “Of course.”

Helpless, Old First agreed. Wait, what does “of course” mean? Does this boy think that I can’t hold that guy off by myself?

Old First wanted to say something but decided against it. That man was indeed incredibly powerful.

Lu Yin brought Old First to meet with Greater Sancte Green Lotus. They took position roughly halfway between the Human Trio and Crimson Starshade. Hong Xia was already about to arrive. He moved even faster than they had imagined.