Chapter 4497: The Future Is Where Our Home Lies

Although Obscura’s White had not directly moved against the Trio, their actions had not been any less revolting than what Death's Dominion and the others had done. If not for White, the war would never have taken such a drastic turn. At the very least, Lu Yin could have mobilized Black and Ba Se.

Detestable White—he would remember this.

Old Man Hehe's departure allowed Green Lotus and the others to finally breathe easy. There were truly no formidable enemies left.

In the sky of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, two white skeletons stood silently. Before them were Qing Xing and the Great Master. These two skeletons were Chen Jian and Ba Yue.

"It's finally over," Chen Jian commented in a low voice.

He was just a skeleton, and yet he was able to produce a voice no different from that of his flesh and blood body.

Beside him, Ba Yue stared off into the distance. "Yes, it's over."

Qing Xing's expression fell. "Senior..."

At the very start of the war, Chen Jian and Ba Yue had charged at Death's Dominion, which had resulted in their skeletons ripping free from their bodies. Such a fate was no different from death.

Both of them were Immortals.

In the fighting that followed, they had been under Death's Dominion's control, and the two had been forced to attack their human civilization. Even so, they had remained self-aware and had done their best to suppress their combat strength, which had allowed Qing Xing and Dan Jin to stop them separately. Later, after Dan Jin died, the Great Master had taken over. Because of that, Chen Jian and Ba Yue had never been able to advance even a single step.

"Thank you." Chen Jian looked at Qing Xing. "Thank you. If not for you, we would have committed slaughter."

Ba Yue agreed, "Many thanks."

The Great Master lowered the brim of her hat, not knowing what to say.

The two Immortals were speaking, but they were also approaching death.

Still atop his Champions' Stage Purgatory, Lu Yin merged with the megaverse, and his silhouette soon appeared before Chen Jian and Ba Yue. This one was only the size of an ordinary person.

Facing the two Immortals, Lu Yin slowly bowed. "It was this junior who brought you two seniors here, and it should also be this junior who sees you off with respect. Human civilization thanks you, seniors. I, Lu Yin, thank you, both."

Chen Jian and Ba Yue returned the bow.

"We are also human. Lord Lu, there is no need for this. Many of our ancestors have also sacrificed themselves for our civilization. We merely went one step ahead to go find them," Chen Jian replied.

Lu Yin looked at the two of them. "Thank you."

"Lord Lu, to be honest, I really don't like you," Ba Yue suddenly stated.

Lu Yin smiled. "I know."

Ba Yue continued to say, "But I do respect you. It doesn't matter if we die, but you must not die. And..."

She paused for a moment before finishing, "Send He Xiao on his way too."

In the end, she had never truly been able to forget. She thought that she already had, but at the end, just before death, she discovered that the one person entrenched the deepest in her memories was still He Xiao.

Lu Yin stared at Ba Yue. Human emotions were something that not even Immortals could escape. In many cases, emotions proved to be humanity's weakness, and yet they could also be a great strength.

Without emotion, what meaning would life even have?

"I understand."

Ba Yue's skeleton collapsed, the Stillness completely gone.

Lu Yin looked over at Chen Jian, who raised his head. "How I wish I could see the true Tai'a Star Fist."

As he spoke, his body also collapsed.

Two Immortals were dead.

Lu Yin let out a breath. In a single battle, four of humanity’s Immortals had died. Chen Jian and Ba Yue had at least been able to leave behind their final words, but Blood Tower and Ku Deng had not had that chance. Every step that humanity had taken to ascend to greater heights was fraught with peril. There was no end to the deaths that they faced. Who would be next?

Immortality was not truly the end. Everyone knew that they would ultimately have to bid farewell to their old companions and would one day be seen off by a younger generation. Life itself was a road of no return, and what one pursued was merely the scenery along the way.

Throughout the Trio, cries of grief could be heard echoing everywhere. Parting with loved ones left many people questioning what meaning there was in coming into this world. Having lost their loved ones, life had lost all color.

Lu Yin heard far too many voices crying out in grief. There were also those who were unable to even cry, the ones who silently accepted reality, their hearts like dead ash.

Listening to the voices of countless people, Lu Yin's silhouette suddenly expanded, instantly enveloping the Trio as he merged with the megaverses. His enormous silhouette drew everyone's eyes upward.

Progenitor Chen, holding Wang Xiaoyu in his arms, also looked up.

Lu Yin quietly sat atop the Champions' Stage Purgatory as he looked down at everyone. "War has forced us to bid farewell to our loved ones. We’ve said goodbye to the elders that we respected, juniors that we protected, and even adorable children. These partings are forever.

"Cry as much as you wish. When loved ones leave you, you have the right to cry, and you have the right to grieve. Whether mortal or cultivator, whether you or I, we are all the same in this.

"But when you are done crying, stand up and brush off the dust. We still have a road to walk. On the road ahead of us, there will be countless sacrifices. Everyone must be prepared. Our civilization is surrounded by powerful enemies. They all want to exterminate us, to destroy us, and make us humans completely vanish from existence. I cannot accept that, and our civilization cannot accept that either.

"No matter who wants to take a bite out of us, I, Lu Yin, promise that they will lose a chunk of flesh in return! Even if we are destroyed, we will not let them take us down easily. Because what we protect is not merely our own lives, or just the inheritance of our civilization, but also those who have died.

"The future is where our home lies."

His words shook everyone. One after another, people lifted their heads to stare up at the starry sky, and at Lu Yin's massive silhouette. The future is where our home lies?

Green Lotus, Master Qing Cao, Mister Mu, and many others all looked at Lu Yin.

Progenitor Chen clung to Wang Xiaoyu's corpse even tighter as he stared at Lu Yin with trembling eyes.

Lu Yin's voice shook the megaverses. "Do you believe in fate? I do. A civilization’s inheritance is a cycle. Those of you who’ve died at this moment may reappear after who knows how much time, with another you being born. Your loved ones will always, at some unknown point in the future, appear at your side again with another identity and another personality. They may not know you, but you may know them. Your emotions come from the deepest and truest part of life itself.

“The family bonds that you cannot let go of are bonds that your loved ones also cannot let go of. One day, you will meet again. When that time comes, you may cry or laugh as you renew the bonds that you once had."

In the minds of countless people appeared the faces of their departed loved ones, whose familiar faces appeared again and again in dreams due to inescapable emotions.

Would they really meet again?

The future is where our home lies?

"But the premise of all this is that we have a destination." Lu Yin's voice grew louder and louder. "Human life begins with humanity and ends with humanity. Human civilization alone is our destination. Whether in the past or in the future, we only have one destination!

"Protect our civilization well, so that our loved ones and friends all have a destination and so that we ourselves have a destination. That is the greatest meaning in protecting our civilization."

Someone let out a low shout. They stood up, brushed the dust from themselves, and then bowed to the figure above the sky. "Many thanks to Lord Lu for his guidance. This junior understands."

One person after another stood up. They wiped away their tears, and bowed to the figure above the stars. "This junior understands."

"This junior understands."

"Thank you, Lord Lu."

“...”

Countless voices gathered throughout the megaverses, all of them entering Lu Yin's ears.

He withdrew from his state of merging with the megaverses and looked at the people of the Trio. In truth, time was the greatest power of all, as it was capable of washing everything away.

What awaited everyone was the smoothing hand of time.

However, there was one thing that time could not change, and that was hatred. Whether it was the hatred of the Nine Ramparts or the hatred of the Human Trio, Lu Yin would never forget either one, no matter how many seas turned into fields or how the ages flowed by.

Obscura, the Plume Immortals, the Death Megaverse, Grand Clarity, and many more: all of those civilizations would be forced to pay the price. It would be an accounting owed to both to current human civilization and to their countless ancestors from the Nine Ramparts era.

Time passed slowly. Gao Tian was still slamming against the inside of Champions' Stage Purgatory, but each impact was weaker than the last. Its injuries were no less severe than Lu Yin's.

The karma that the bird added to the Karmic Dao gradually decreased. Before long, the process would end.

Lu Yin closed his eyes and waited quietly.

One day, the karma finally stopped increasing. Green Lotus, Chu Songyun, and Mister Mu all arrived, warily eying the Champions’ Stage Purgatory.

Their injuries had recovered a great deal, all of them having spent time recuperating in the Mirari Realm.

Lu Yin needed to constantly observe his Champions' Stage Purgatory, or else he would have also entered the Mirari Realm to recover.

He could not take the Champions' Stage Purgatory into the Mirari Realm, as doing so risked creating too much commotion and drawing down the River of Aeons’ main stream.

With the encirclement in place, Lu Yin stepped down from his Champions' Stage Purgatory. The next moment, Gao Tian shot straight up, trying to escape from the Champions' Stage Purgatory, only to be captured by the green motes of light and pulled back like a kite.

Chu Songyun hurriedly opened the Red Umbrella and captured Gao Tian within it.

The bird let out an angry screech. Its aura was clearly much weaker than when it had entered the Champions' Stage Purgatory.

Lu Yin immediately unleashed his karma and tried to send it into Gao Tian. The Plume Immortal saw the karma and kept teleporting around to avoid it.

It turned out that this human had actually comprehended karma as well. While in the Champions' Stage Purgatory, as scene after scene of its past were repeatedly replayed, Gao Tian had already realized that this ability was connected to karma. At this moment, upon directly facing the power of karma, it of course needed to avoid it.

But while the bird could avoid Lu Yin’s karma once or twice, it could not do so repeatedly. Its teleportation range was already extremely limited, and it was even being dragged down like a kite on a string by the green motes of light. There was simply no escape.

Lu Yin's karma finally pierced Gao Tian.

The Plume Immortal found that nothing happened to it, and it immediately understood that this karma was being used to see its past.

"Human, what do you want to know?" Gao Tian roared.

Lu Yin looked through Gao Tian's past. By using karma and targeting a specific act, he was searching for anything related to Wang Wen.

Green Lotus was also staring at Gao Tian's past revealed by karma.

There was no Wang Wen.

Lu Yin continued to unleash karma. Time and again, karma entered the bird, yet not once did he see Wang Wen.

Lu Yin was shocked. How could this be? Had Gao Tian never come into contact with Wang Wen? That was absolutely impossible. The two should have fought each other.

However, if there had been a battle, why could Lu Yin not find any appearance of Wang Wen in Gao Tian’s karma? Even without targeting a specific detail in the past, by continuously unleashing karma, Lu Yin should still be able to at least occasionally catch a glimpse of their battle.

Why did Wang Wen not appear at all?

A sense of unease rose within Lu Yin's heart as he continuously unleashed karma to look further.

***

Elsewhere in the Aevum Inch, Skydog slowly walked through outer space, with Wang Miaomiao following behind the dog.

Wang Wen sat on Skydog's back, slowly stroking its fur, a smile touching his lips and a profound depth to his eyes.

How interesting, Your Royal Chesspiece. If you kill Gao Tian, your karmic chain will be nearly complete. What more can you do then?

Do you want to see me clearly?

***

Outside of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, Lu Yin's face grew pale, and disbelief filled his eyes. It was actually impossible to learn anything about Wang Wen through examining the past with karma.

How had he done it?

"You still cannot see him?" Green Lotus asked.

Lu Yin shook his head, and Green Lotus took action. "Let me try."

A long time later, he had to admit that he had also failed. Neither of them could find Wang Wen within Gao Tian's past.

Had Wang Wen somehow transcended karma?

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