Lu Yin closed his eyes and listened calmly. In his mind, an abyss that devoured life after life appeared. Those people, with shattered knees, crawled toward the person on the far side, determined to retrieve the fallen one’s body. Even if their entire civilization would be buried there, they would fill that abyss.

Too many lives had been swallowed by that abyss. It became a boundary of death.

Lu Yin clenched his fists. Had humans suffered through this torture?

“After they died, something even more terrifying happened.” The creature glanced at Lu Yin again and spoke with a trembling voice, “Their bones crawled out of their corpses, out of the abyss, and out of that line of death. They crawled towards the one who had fallen in battle. They danced around that person. Even with their knees pulverized, they still danced on their bellies, singing for death, mocking that person.

“Then, the living started to crawl even faster. One after another, without any hesitation, they filled that line of death, trying to crawl across in order to shove those bones away. This was a mockery of death, ridiculing the one who had died in battle, ridiculing their entire human civilization. But the more they crawled, the more bones that appeared. Despair overcame that entire civilization. Even if their entire civilization was poured in, what next? Death gazed down from high above, its gaze forever carrying mockery and amusement. To death, this was nothing more than a game, a diversion.

“Do not touch death. Do not touch death!

“That... that’s all.”

Lu Yin stood there calmly and slowly opened his eyes. Who had suffered like that? One of the Nine Ramparts? Death... Could that be the Death Megaverse? Controlling skeletons, making bones separate from bodies—it had to be the Death Megaverse.

Had something like that really happened in that ancient past?

Making skeletons dance, drawing a line of death, Death Megaverse, you really know how to play.

The three civilizations that the cement Immortal had collected were all released and left in the area. As for what would become of them, that had nothing to do with Lu Yin.

They had given Lu Yin information, and he had given them freedom in return. It was an exchange. Everything beyond that was irrelevant to Lu Yin. Any civilization that was not human was not something that he was obligated to save.

“Did you know of a human civilization that once suffered like this?” Lu Yin looked at the cement.

The creature replied, “Every civilization has suffered tragedies. It’s normal.”

“Those civilizations’ records about humans weren’t prominent. How did you know to check?”

“I’m used to reading a civilization’s history after collecting it. Sometimes it’s possible to find connections to certain present-day civilizations.”

Lu Yin’s heart stirred. Yes, that was a usable method. Through that last civilization, he had learned about what the Death Megaverse had done to a human civilization. Without that knowledge, if he encountered the Death Megaverse at some point in time, he might have foolishly considered trying to cooperate with them.

It was no wonder why Green Lotus had been so desperate to lure the Death Megaverse away.

The Greater Sancte was the most powerful human powerhouse, to the point where he was seen as a formidable adversary to even the Death Megaverse. That was how he had been able to draw that civilization away.

This story also explained why so many of the Death Megaverse’s skeletons were humans. It was possible that all of those bones had come from their war against the Nine Ramparts.

Next, Lu Yin had the cement bring out the creature that knew the direction to the Crimson Starshade Megaverse. He wanted to find it.

The creature was a Dukkhan, and it was absolutely terrified of Lu Yin. His aura’s pressure felt like the cosmos itself.

“Are you sure that it’s in this direction?” Lu Yin asked. The creature had given him a rough bearing, and the megaverse was not that far away.

The creature said, “That’s what’s our civilization’s records say. It should be in that direction.”

Lu Yin understood. That made sense. After all, how else could a mere Dukkhan know the location of Crimson Starshade?

Lu Yin faced the correct direction and used the Mirrorlight Art.

The distance that an Immortal could traverse in twenty years was more than enough.

With the Mirrorlight Art, Lu Yin slowly adjusted his focus, and he quickly found a megaverse. That was it. He instantly vanished with the cement and the Dukkhan, and when they reappeared, they were outside the megaverse, but at a distance that Immortals could see across with their naked eyes.

The moment they appeared, a vast aura surged out from the megaverse before them.

Lu Yin arched a brow. An Immortal?

“Crimson robes ahead. Turn back.”

It was just five simple words, but they carried a peerless dominance. It was as if the words “crimson robes” themselves were intimidating.

Lu Yin immediately vanished again, taking the cement and the Dukkhan with him to retreat far away.

Inside the megaverse, a man opened his crimson eyes and looked out. Gone? So fast?

How long had it been since an Immortal had last approached? He just did not know which civilization that Immortal belonged to.

What the man sensed was not Lu Yin’s aura, but rather the cement’s. The man had not seen Lu Yin, but Lu Yin had seen him.

After moving away from the Crimson Starshade Megaverse, the first thing that Lu Yin did was to attack the cement with the Tri-Azure Sword Intent: Hidden Blade. A single slash cleaved almost halfway through the cement. It was unable to evade and was gravely injured. With its body torn more than halfway open, it let out an enraged shriek, “Human, why are you still attacking me?!”

Lu Yin’s expression grew cold. He had not attacked earlier only because he had needed to find Crimson Starshade. Now that he had found it, while it was not necessary to kill the cement, it absolutely had to be captured.

Its techniques were reliant on torturing entire civilizations. It was impossible for Lu Yin to simply let it go.

He also needed to take it back and examine its karma, as he simply did not have the time to do that at the moment.

Tri-Azure Sword Intent was not enough. Lu Yin attacked with his body and repeatedly wounded the cement. Eventually, it was beaten until its condition resembled the injuries that Lu Yin had inflicted upon Kui. Only then did he toss it into his Champions’ Stage Purgatory. He needed to further increase his karma.

He did not release his Karmic Dao, but Lu Yin knew that, at this moment, it had regrown to match its size before he had planted his Dao Sword in the Immortal Lord. It was truly immense.

With a few more Immortals, it would be capable of rivaling the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. That was what Lu Yin was looking forward to.

A few months later, Lu Yin imprisoned the cement on a Zenith Mountain and then turned his attention back to the Crimson Starshade Megaverse.

He did not go straight to the megaverse but instead first returned to his own civilization to discuss things with Green Lotus and the others. This was particularly necessary since Green Lotus had once abandoned Crimson Starshade, leaving it to be destroyed. This past act made the current existence of the megaverse undoubtedly odd.

Since it had been abandoned by Green Lotus, Crimson Starshade had to have been extremely weak. However, that did not match the Crimson Starshade that Lu Yin had just seen. They had more than one Immortal. In that case, what was the Crimson Starshade that Green Lotus had abandoned?

It was only a matter of a few teleports, and Lu Yin returned quicker than the time it had taken him to strengthen his Karmic Dao.

Lu Yin quickly returned to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, only to learn that Green Lotus had gone into secluded cultivation.

“Is Senior Green Lotus in seclusion?” Lu Yin was surprised.

Ming Zhuo said, “That’s right. Master said your use of karma gave him inspiration, so he immediately went into seclusion. Unless there’s an emergency, he should not be disturbed.

“He also asked me to deliver a message to you, Mr. Lu.”

After a pause, Ming Zhuo stared at Lu Yin. “In regards to all matters concerning human civilization, Mr. Lu may decide as he sees fit.”

Lu Yin nodded. “Understood.”

With Green Lotus in seclusion, Lu Yin could only inform Mister Mu and the other human Immortals, letting them know that he had found Crimson Starshade. After that, he went back to investigate alone.

Of course, before leaving, he also went to find Hong’er. “Is your civilization really Crimson Starshade?”

Hong’er was still in the same crimson forest. Looking at Lu Yin, she calmly replied, “Yes.”

“How strong was it?”

“It was strong enough to be abandoned. Strong enough that it was useless to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.”

“Did you have any Immortals?”

“Of course not.”

“How can you be sure that your civilization was Crimson Starshade?” Lu Yin pressed.

Hong’er was stunned by the question and stared at Lu Yin in a daze. What did that question even mean? How could she not know the identity of her own civilization?

After a moment of silence, she finally asked, “What are you trying to say, Mr. Lu?”

Lu Yin stopped asking and directly examined the woman with karma. Regardless of the appropriateness, Green Lotus had said some time ago that Lu Yin could ask however he wished, and he wanted to see Hong’er’s past through karma.

Scene after scene of her history surfaced in the karma. Lu Yin saw Hong’er’s civilization and her experiences there. It had indeed been a civilization, and many of the cultivators in it had worn crimson robes. Yes, they wore crimson robes, carried crimson umbrellas, and wielded crimson swords. It should have been Crimson Starshade.

What is going on?

From what Lu Yin could see in Hong’er’s past, her civilization matched the legendary Crimson Starshade in every way, aside from strength. It could not measure up at all in that regard.

It was also perfectly normal for strength to differ from what was recalled in legends. The Third Rampart and the Ninth Rampart had both been weak while the First Rampart, the Seventh Rampart, and the others had vanished long ago. They might have been destroyed without anyone knowing.

After the war of the Nine Ramparts, this was what Crimson Starshade should have looked like. Meanwhile, the humans who had been cast out to serve as bait, such as the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the Tianyuan, had instead risen in a miraculous manner.

So what was this other Crimson Starshade civilization?

Lu Yin left. He would not get any answers from Hong’er, so he would have to examine this Crimson Starshade Megaverse personally.

He quickly arrived outside the Crimson Starshade Megaverse a second time, and then he used the Mirrorlight Art. He saw that same Immortal again, still wearing crimson robes. As the Mirrorlight Art passed over him, the man’s eyes suddenly opened, and he stared in Lu Yin’s direction.

He could not see Lu Yin, as the distance was too great, but the man knew that someone was observing him.

He spoke, and the sound wave swept across the distance like a storm, suppressing the surrounding cosmos.

Lu Yin shifted his gaze to look further ahead with his Mirrorlight Art. There was another Immortal sitting outside the megaverse. Lu Yin continuously shifted his gaze. In four directions, there were four Immortals. There were four Immortals guarding this megaverse from all four sides.

This was the power of the civilization before him.

For their own human civilization, the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm served as protection, its power stemming from Green Lotus alone.

On the other hand, this human civilization used four Immortals to stand guard in four different directions.

Clearly, they were not lacking for Immortals at all.

If Lu Yin could fold this human civilization into his own, humanity’s strength would instantly undergo a complete transformation. Just the number of Immortals would be enough for them to be considered a fishing civilization.

However, Lu Yin was not nearly so optimistic. First of all, he did not know what sort of relationship Hong’er’s civilization might have had with this one. Second, the four Immortals that he had just seen gave him an indescribable sense of cold detachment.

In particular, the moment that he gazed into each one’s eyes, he had met an icy, bone-deep indifference that seemed capable of freezing time and space.

It was a gaze that reminded Lu Yin of the Aeternals.

Of course, these four Immortals were not Aeternals, and they did not have slitted pupils and scarlet irises. Still, their gazes were similar.

Normally, it was impossible to enter the megaverse without passing by the four Immortals standing guard, but Lu Yin could teleport. So...

In an instant, he had already entered the megaverse and appeared within a bustling city.

The Mirrorlight Art allowed him to easily look across the megaverse, and he could see planets turning, continents rising and sinking, and countless cultivators living their lives.