Chapter 4326: It’s Also a Rule
Lu Yin kept comparing Old Man Hehe with Furball because he wanted to compare the green giant’s attitude toward Old Man Hehe to his attitude toward Hong Xia.
Furball raged for a while, but then they fell silent.
Then, the stove was gone. The entire stove, or rather, the stove and the dining table, was Furball’s world. Still, their world was just far too bizarre.
A gate appeared in the distance, and Furball walked toward it. “If you’ve got the guts, follow.”
Lu Yin shouted, “I can’t figure it out. Your species is vegetarian, and you eat plants all day, so how is your temper still so explosive?”
Furball did not respond and simply passed through the gate.
Lu Yin felt helpless. There was no question that the gate led to Vestigium, which was a place that he did not dare to go to. But even if his real body could not go, his consciousness could. Furball obviously intended to settle accounts with Hong Xia.
The moment Lu Yin entered Vestigium, he heard Furball shouting for Hong Xia, rage filling their voice. It sounded as if they wanted to overturn Vestigium itself.
Lu Yin tactfully stayed silent.
“Hong Xia, come out! Don’t think I don’t know that you’re here! Get the hell out here, Hong Xia!” Furball roared, their voice shaking Vestigium.
After a while of shouting, Che spoke up. “Cyan, how has Orange offended you? Why are you so angry?”
Furball fumed, “That bastard gave out my location. Ba Se, are you going to handle this or not?”
Ba Se spoke, sounding somewhat surprised, “Orange shared your location?”
“That’s right. Lu Yin came looking for me and said that he received my location from Hong Xia. That shameless traitor! Betraying his own civilization is one thing, but he even sold me out! Ba Se, Obscura owes me an explanation.”
Ba Se did not respond, seemingly thinking.
Che spoke again. “Could there be a misunderstanding?”
Furball snapped, “Misunderstanding my ass! How did Lu Yin find me? How far am I from his human civilization? Without someone pointing the way, could he have found me?”
“Maybe it was a coincidence? Cyan, don’t be so angry. Harmony is precious.”
“Shut your mouth!” Furball growled. The more polite Che’s words were, the more that Furball felt Che was helping Hong Xia.
Lu Yin also wanted to scold Che. Furball was picking a fight with Hong Xia; what did that have to do with Che? Why did he insist on butting in all the time?
Che did not get angry at all, and his voice remained as gentle as ever. “Cyan, don’t make a judgement before things are made clear, or else you’ll lose your sense of reason.”
“Get out of the way! Spare me the nonsense. Hong Xia, come out!” Furball roared.
Che helplessly said, “I’m helping you. You probably aren’t Hong Xia’s match.”
That comment caused Furball to completely explode. He roared like a madman, “I’m not Hong Xia’s match? Che, say that again! I can’t beat Hong Xia?”
“After all, Hong Xia is a top-tier expert who resonates with two laws, as well as a Twelvefold Crimson who has received the legacy of humanity’s Crimson Starshade. He can even fight against a being who resonates with three laws. You only resonate with one.”
Furball shouted, “Do you really think that more laws makes one stronger? Then make Hong Xia come out and fight me!”
“I’m doing this for your own good,” Che insisted.
Lu Yin was speechless. The more times that Che said that, the more infuriating it became.
As expected, Furball lost all sense of reason. “Fine! You’re not coming out, are you? One by one, you’re all helping him, huh? You all think that I’m inferior to him, right? Fine! Then let’s blow everything up. If I can’t have it easy, none of you will either.
“Che, you live at Void Mountain. I’ll give the coordinates to Lu Yin right now so that he can go and have a ‘chat’ with you. Don’t think that I don’t know that you also took part in the war to destroy the Nine Ramparts. Stop pretending to be a good guy.”
Inside the red coffin, Lu Yin’s expression instantly tightened. Had Che taken part in the war against the Nine Ramparts?
“Cyan.” Che immediately spoke again, but this time, his voice was so cold that the void seemed to freeze. At that instant, even Lu Yin felt his scalp go numb from an indescribable dread.
Is that really Che’s voice?
“Cyan, that’s enough,” Ba Se spoke.
Furball sneered. “Oh, so now you’re willing to speak up? What about Hong Xia giving away my location?”
Ba Se blandly asked, “Did Lu Yin attack you?”
“If he dared, I’d have cooked him to death.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“You think that there’s no problem? That freely exposing my location is no problem? Then I’ll announce all of your locations and see if you still think that there’s no problem.”
“Hehe. Furball, what did the little brat do to you to make you so angry?” Old Man Hehe called out.
Furball answered in a low voice, “He’s just a petty Aberrant. What could he really do to me? The problem is, what right does Hong Xia have to give out my location? If Obscura doesn’t give me an explanation, I’ll go find Hong Xia myself!”
Che sounded a bit helpless. “You can’t beat him.”
Furball snarled, “We’ll see!”
Ba Se said, “As long as members of Obscura do not attack each other, you are free to go find whomever you wish.”
Furball sneered. “Fine. After all these years, do any of you really think that you have stayed hidden? Everyone’s identities are an open secret. I’ll add one more thing: if Lu Yin comes looking for me again, every time he finds me, I’ll expose one more of you. Let’s see who can stay hidden to the end.”
With that, they left Vestigium again.
Lu Yin left at the same time and peered into the distance. Furball did not reappear. After leaving Vestigium, they had gone elsewhere.
Recalling what he had heard in Vestigium, Lu Yin’s expression gradually darkened. Che had taken part in the destruction of the Nine Ramparts. Was he another enemy of the Nine Ramparts and humanity?
Lu Yin could never forget the politeness that Che had shown when they had met in the Consciousness Megaverse, nor the guidance that he had offered Lu Yin. He had never considered the possibility that Che could also be an enemy.
Vestigium was like a thick history book; each time it was opened, a new bit of history would appear. To see history clearly, someone had to fully open the book.
Expose someone else each time I find them? Now that’s interesting. Furball, where are you?
In Vestigium, Old Man Hehe was laughing. “Vestigium’s been dull for so many years, and now things are getting stirred up. Ba Se, do you regret bringing that little fellow in?”
Ba Se calmly replied, “Obscura regrets adding no one.”
“Hehe.”
Che spoke up, “Orange has somewhat broken the rules. Members of Obscura never expose each other. Ba Se, you should give Cyan an explanation for this; that is the polite thing to do. An unwritten rule is still a rule.”
Ba Se replied, “I also don’t know what should be done. From the day Obscura was founded until now, those who have joined have all been powerhouses. People understood the rules and limits, acting silently and scheming without being seen. But Lu Yin insists on skirting along the edge of rules and is even afraid that others won’t notice his actions. He is completely disrupting Obscura’s atmosphere, so...”
“Are you trying to think of a way?” Old Man Hehe asked in surprise.
Ba Se did not deny it.
Che sighed. “I’ve met Lu Yin. He’s a very polite child, though a bit too lively. I hope that Orange can teach him a lesson and make him steadier.”
“Hehe.”
Far away, Lu Yin returned to Crimson Starshade with high expectations. He wanted to see Hong Xia and ask about Furball.
Seeing the smile on Lu Yin’s face as he sought out Hong Xia left even Jiu Wen stunned. What is going on? Why does it feel like he’s visiting relatives?
“I don’t know where he is,” Jiu Wen said.
Lu Yin found that odd. “After so many years, you still haven’t been able to pin down Hong Xia’s location?”
“There are many possibilities, but right now, he probably isn’t in a location that we are aware of. After all, he has to be on guard against your teleportation.”
Lu Yin understood. Indeed, anyone would want to guard against teleportation. If not, even going into seclusion would not feel safe.
“Fine. It looks like I’ll have to think of another way.” Lu Yin scanned the megaverse. He then shouted so that his voice reached across the entire civilization. “Hong Xia, come out and see me!”
Countless Crimson Starshade cultivators looked up. Again? Mr. Lu comes to pick fights far too frequently.
Many of them wished to leave with Lu Yin, but they did not dare to make the attempt because of Hong Xia’s threats.
On the one hand, they hoped that Lu Yin would be able to defeat Hong Xia, but on the other, they knew such an outcome was unlikely. The Chivalrous Ancestor was too strong.
Lu Yin waited for a while, but Hong Xia never appeared.
Lu Yin frowned. “What? You want to keep hiding like a turtle in its shell?”
“Junior, did you visit the coordinates?” Hong Xia appeared, directing indifferent eyes to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin met the man’s stare. “Of course. You gave me Furball’s location. What? You wanted to use them to kill me?”
“They wouldn’t dare.”
“Then why don’t you find someone who does dare and send me there?”
Hong Xia clasped his hands behind his back. “Each member of Obscura’s identity is very well hidden. Over the years, everyone has developed their own suspicions, but some truly can’t be guessed. Also, I will tell you something else: the one you call Furball is named Origin Lord.”
Lu Yin raised an eyebrow. “Origin Lord?”
“Correct. Though they only resonate with one law, they are innately adept at converting any energy into their own use. Even I can’t claim absolute certainty of victory over them.”
“Furball would be happy to hear you say that, but why tell me this?”
A smile appeared on Hong Xia’s face. “Didn’t you come looking for me precisely because you went to see them? I’d also hate for you to die too easily.”
Lu Yin sneered. “Then I should really thank you for the warning.”
Lu Yin was clear on Hong Xia’s goal. The man wanted to use Lu Yin to uncover the identity of who was plotting against him from the shadows. In the end, what Hong Xia feared most was not Lu Yin’s civilization, but that hidden manipulator. If that hidden hand did not exist, there was no doubt that Hong Xia would do everything he could to eradicate the Human Trio’s power.
Hong Xia wanted to identify that hidden schemer, and he suspected that it was someone from Obscura.
Lu Yin wanted to gain a clear understanding of Obscura, because Obscura as a whole was an enemy.
While he and Hong Xia were also enemies, before either one was fully confident in being able to overwhelm the other, they would continue to push for what they each wanted done.
Of course, Lu Yin would have to keep his guard up against Hong Xia actually trying to kill him. The man’s desire to do so was never in question.
Without Lu Yin, the threat posed by the Trio would be greatly reduced, and the hidden hand’s plotting against Hong Xia would become less of a threat.
“I’ll give you four sets of coordinates, one of which is Origin Lord’s current location.”
Lu Yin frowned. If Hong Xia shared four sets of coordinates with him, then some would be real and some false. Naturally, one was Furball’s real location, but what about the rest?
“What? You don’t dare to go see?” Hong Xia looked at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin glanced at Jiu Wen, but the old man was also bewildered by the four sets of coordinates. He shook his head.
“If you don’t dare, then don’t go. However, I can tell you that one is Origin Lord’s current location. Their strength may not be enough to dominate Obscura, but they have lived for a long time and have developed even more suspicions than me. I don’t even know how much they might know about me.” After saying this, Hong Xia vanished, leaving Lu Yin with the four sets of coordinates.
“Don’t go,” Jiu Wen’s voice came.
Lu Yin looked at him.
Jiu Wen’s expression was grave. “From what I know of Hong Xia, there is no doubt that one of the four locations is real. The problem is the other three. They must be locations that he believes can kill you.”
Lu Yin’s expression sharpened. “Kill me?”
