Chapter 4366: Longing For The Ordinary

Hong Xia’s method was indeed effective. Not only that, but Lu Yin also had not cultivated the Path of Dispassion, which meant that he could not use a red umbrella to trap the strange birds. If only he could find the Second Rampart’s mirebound artifact, the red umbrella. That umbrella must be invincible regardless of where it went.

The Plume Immortals’ teleportation ability was able to break the Path of Dispassion’s Umbrella Dominion, but from another point of view, the Umbrella Dominion was also the nemesis of teleportation.

If Lu Yin could not find that mirebound artifact, then... what about someone else’s?

Lu Yin thought for a moment and then headed for Crimson Starshade.

“My red umbrella?” Jiu Wen was surprised.

Lu Yin nodded. “I know that this request is excessive, but to deal with the Plume Immortals, I must rely on the Path of Dispassion’s red umbrellas. I can’t cultivate it myself, so I would like to find out if I can borrow your red umbrella, Senior.”

Jiu Wen nodded. “So that’s how it is. Hong Xia can restrain the Plume Immortals because of his Umbrella Dominion, right? But I heard that the Plume Immortals’ teleportation ability is specially able to break our Umbrella Dominion. How does Hong Xia resolve this issue?”

Lu Yin explained Hong Xia’s method. It sounded simple, but neither the twelvefold Path of Dispassion’s Umbrella Dominion nor Obscura’s divine energy lines were things that ordinary people could possess. It was necessary to possess both powers at the same time, but both were legacy powers of fishing civilizations.

Taken separately, whether within Obscura or within Crimson Starshade, no one else could possess both aside from Hong Xia. He alone could combine the two forces to weave a birdcage that could counter teleportation.

“If you don’t cultivate the Path of Dispassion, then even if I give you my red umbrella, it will be useless. You won’t even be able to open it,” Jiu Wen said. This was not to say that he was unwilling to give his red umbrella to Lu Yin. The old man was prepared to die at any time; keeping his umbrella served no purpose. But what was the point of handing it over if it could not be used?

Lu Yin had already considered this. “What level must I reach to open your red umbrella, Senior?”

Jiu Wen thought for a moment. “It isn’t about strength, but rather about one’s perseverance in regards to the Path of Dispassion. The Second Rampart’s mirebound artifact is a red umbrella that belonged to Rampart Warden Hong Shuang, but there were others aside from her who were also able to open it. They did so by relying on precisely that perseverance.

“In other words, it’s due to the recognition of the Path of Dispassion, or the Path of Dispassion’s acknowledgement of a person. While the Path of Dispassion may differ from person to person, it all originates from the same power and ideal.”

From his cosmic ring, Lu Yin took out jade slips that had recorded the ceremony of Chu Songyun being accepted as his disciple. He then scattered them across the entire Crimson Starshade Megaverse. These countless recordings would let Crimson Starshade see that he, Lu Yin, would not treat the people of their civilization any differently. One of their own had even managed to become one of his disciples.

Jiu Wen also saw the recording. He saw Chu Songyun climb the Stairway to Heaven, step by step, and accept Lu Yin as his master. The old man then saw the struggle between the Path of Dispassion and the Nirvana Tree Path.

It could be readily seen that Chu Songyun had been unwilling to cultivate the Path of Dispassion. There were countless times when he had wanted to flee from Crimson Starshade, and yet he had ultimately chosen the Path of Dispassion and steeled his resolve.

That perseverance... Jiu Wen could see it in Chu Songyun’s eyes. It was as if he was looking at his master, or even his former self. He saw the person who had turned his back on all living creatures to climb to the peak of that mountain to bury himself, his beloved, and three Plume Immortals.

That was the Path of Dispassion, an obsession with it, an attachment to it, a conviction rooted in it.

“Can he open Senior’s red umbrella?” Lu Yin asked.

At this moment, ripples spread through the universe from a certain corner. All the images were dispersed, and all the jade slips shattered. Hong Xia had made his move.

Lu Yin did not try to stop the man. Many people had already seen the recordings, and sooner or later, word would spread. When the day came that Crimson Starshade joined the Human Trio, the difficulty of integration would be greatly reduced.

Jiu Wen laughed. It was a free, relaxed sound that was filled with relief. “I never thought that, in the current era’s Crimson Starshade, I would still be able to see those eyes! Everyone else is wrong, and he alone is right!

“The Crimson Starshade that he has always sought to escape from is the Crimson Starshade that Hong Xia and I led astray. The Path of Dispassion has an heir!”

Lu Yin also smiled. “Isn’t this something that you anticipated long ago, Senior?”

Jiu Wen shook his head. “I always thought that Chu Songyun truly hated the Path of Dispassion. I failed to see his true desires. In truth, this is quite fortunate, as if I had correctly seen his obsession with the Path of Dispassion, I might have unconsciously tried to protect him, and that would have betrayed the truth of things, making it easier for Hong Xia to notice.”

He raised his head toward the starry sky. “I never thought... I never thought that the current culture of our civilization could still give rise to a cultivator who upholds the original Path of Dispassion. Mr. Lu, do you know how difficult that is?”

Lu Yin nodded. Of course he understood. It was a situation where the entire universe was telling someone that they were wrong, telling them to learn from them. There were complete inheritances, incredible experts, and paths that were long proven “correct.” To persist with one’s own beliefs under such circumstances—the obsession and perseverance required to do so were unimaginable.

Lu Yin had no confidence that he could do so himself.

However, Chu Songyun had not fully succeeded either. He had not actually known what he despised about the current Path of Dispassion. He had not even known that it was merely the current era’s Path of Dispassion that was wrong. It was simply his natural talent that had guided his heart, but even so, his path had been far from easy.

A red umbrella appeared in front of Jiu Wen and drifted out of the Blood Tower.

From a distant corner of the megaverse, Hong Xia saw this. He moved to stop it, but Lu Yin moved one step faster, seizing the red umbrella and putting it away. It was practically impossible to compete with the speed of teleportation, especially when Lu Yin was prepared.

Hong Xia stared at Lu Yin. The brat wants Jiu Wen’s red umbrella to deal with the Plume Immortals, doesn’t he? It seems that he’s seen my method for countering teleportation, and now he wants to imitate me.

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Hmph! Do you think that it’s easy to do so? Without cultivating the Path of Dispassion, he wants to rely on someone else to open a red umbrella to trap the Plume Immortals? Does he really think that those strange birds are easy to deal with?

Hong Xia understood why Lu Yin had allowed Crimson Starshade to witness the scene regarding Chu Songyun. That man had succeeded in stubbornly clinging to the Path of Dispassion to an extreme degree. This exceeded Hong Xia’s expectations. Had he known before, he would have killed that kid long ago.

But it did not matter. When it truly came time to fight against the Plume Immortals, they would learn the true meaning of despair. If the Plume Immortals were so easy to handle, they would not be an enemy that even Obscura found troublesome.

Do they really think that just any civilization was qualified to join the attack on the Nine Ramparts? Do they really think I, Hong Xia, feared death so much that I would kneel to just any civilization? The Plume Immortals are different.

Lu Yin left, taking Jiu Wen’s red umbrella back to the Trio. He then took Chu Songyun into the Mirari Realm. They were going to weave a birdcage.

This was the only means that they could use to deal with the Plume Immortals. Of course, Lu Yin was already aware that the Plume Immortals possessed countless other methods, especially since Hong Xia could already counter their ability to teleport. There was no chance that the birds had not considered ways to deal with his Umbrella Dominion. And yet Lu Yin was helpless, as there really was no other method to deal with the Plume Immortals for the time being.

Crow Immobilization would be very useful, but since the Ten-Eyed Divine Crow had also killed Plume Immortals before, they had to understand the characteristics of Crow Immobilization as well. Lu Yin might be able to use it successfully for one ambush, but not a second. Nothing could be used forever.

Unlike Hong Xia, Lu Yin had not cultivated the Path of Dispassion, which meant that he needed Chu Songyun’s help. This was a severe disadvantage. However, Lu Yin also had three lines of divine energy, which was his own unique advantage. Even if he was unable to fully control them, he would simply take things slowly. It was useless to be anxious.

While time did not pass within the Mirari Realm, there was still a sense of it. After an unknown period of time, Lu Yin finally re-emerged with Chu Songyun.

After all, Chu Songyun had not yet become an Immortal, and Lu Yin was trying to simultaneously control two lines of divine energy. They could not continue to experiment only in the Mirari Realm. They needed to come out from time to time.

***

Time flowed on. In the blink of an eye, more than 100 years passed. During that, Lu Yin continuously tried to weave the birdcage while also deducing more layers of the Mirrorlight Art. He occasionally made trips to Manifest City, but he never entered. Most of his time spent outside the Mirari Realm was focused on building the wall in his heart.

His path forward already lay before him. As long as he kept walking it, he would eventually see results. That was his top priority for the time being.

As for his efforts to weave a birdcage, that was solely done within the Mirari Realm, which meant that it did not affect the progress of the wall in his heart.

One day, Lu Yin was transplanting rice seedlings. Yes, he was transplanting seedlings. He wanted to experience the life of an ordinary human, and for such people, a field and a harvest were the most beautiful things in life. Watching the sunset with their children surrounding them was more reassuring than chasing fame and profit.

Lu Yin even found himself getting somewhat addicted to such days. This was the ordinary life that he longed for.

But a quiet life would always be broken sooner or later. Green Lotus’s voice reached Lu Yin, and his expression changed. He straightened up in the field and took a step forward, vanishing in an instant.

No one nearby even noticed.

A creature floated in the Aevum Inch at the very edge of the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. Its head was a half-oval, and its entire body was covered with a brown skin that looked like rock walls. Inertia was pushing it towards the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Lu Yin teleported in and examined the creature.

It was actually an Immortal. It appeared to be gravely injured, given that only half of its head remained. Also, it seemed that its skin had not originally been brown; its body had been torn open, and its blood had stained the creature’s entire body brown. It had even lost consciousness.

Lu Yin grabbed the creature and took it back to the Sea of Karma.

Green Lotus examined the creature. “A badly beaten Immortal. It isn’t far from death. Otherwise, it would never have risked entering my Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. Use karma to examine it.”

Lu Yin sent out a spiral of karma, piercing the creature and bringing forth multiple scenes of its past.

It took a long time to examine an Immortal’s karma. It was only some time later that Lu Yin and Green Lotus exchanged looks. This Immortal was actually from the Seal-Eater Civilization. That was outside of their expectations.

Moreover, according to what they saw of its past, this Immortal had seen the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm up close once before, and at that time, there had been another Immortal with it.

They continued examining the creature’s past with karma.

Days later, Lu Yin exclaimed in amazement, “This Seal-Eater Civilization is very strange. Their so-called ‘seal-eating’ is actually them swallowing a bit of another creature’s flesh and blood in order to plant a seal inside that creature, which allows them to control it freely. Not only that, but the higher the cultivation of the sealed creature, the more it will also lean towards favoring the Seal-Eater Civilization. This explains why when I first saw the Seal-Eater Civilization, the five Immortals protecting it were almost all different species.”

Green Lotus sighed heavily. “There are countless strange civilizations in the Aevum Inch. This Seal-Eater Civilization’s method may seem powerful, but there are many limitations, of which range is the greatest. Also, once their means are discovered, an Immortal can pull the seal out without really affecting anything.”

“They’re like rats that keep multiplying, but they are easily eradicated once discovered. In particular, their sealed Immortals aren’t particularly strong, and once a seal is implanted, the Immortal’s potential becomes limited. At best, they’re at the level of that Immortal monster back then,” Lu Yin observed.

At the same time, he understood why his mission from Obscura had been considered complete, even when one of the Seal-Eater Civilization’s Immortals had escaped. It was because, in essence, the Immortal did not actually belong to the Seal-Eater Civilization.

For eons, Hui had stayed in the megaverse of the Ninth Rampart, using the fact that their mission had not been completed as an excuse. In that case, the excuse had been technically correct, as both Mister Mu and Senior Sister Mu Zhu had escaped.

In that case, it also made sense why Hong Xia’s mission was considered incomplete: creatures from the Soft Megaverse must have also escaped.

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