Only when he was this close could Lu Yin see the many wounds on the crow’s body. Its feathers had been torn apart, and its bones were exposed in numerous places. Its entire body had also been roasted until it looked like an ash-gray stone sculpture, which was the work of Rampart Warden Hong Shuang’s Path of Dispassion.

Lu Yin might not know exactly how strong the Rampart Wardens had been, but at the very least, they had surpassed Hong Xia. Even so, it had taken multiple people at that level to deal with this Ten-Eyed Divine Crow. One could only imagine how terrifying it had been.

Not only that, but the Rampart Wardens had also possessed powerful guardian mirebound artifacts. One could even say that, with those treasures, each Rampart Warden would not have been much weaker than Ancestor Shan.

It had taken several powerhouses at Ancestor Shan’s level to beat the Divine Crow into this state. No wonder it had been considered the most powerful creature in the Aevum Inch.

Lu Yin raised a hand and touched it.

It was icy to the touch and had the texture of stone. He slowly moved up the crow’s back and neck, inching his way forward. He finally saw one of the eyes. As soon as he did, that eye looked at him, and he was paralyzed.

Using the green motes of light from the Mother Trees, Lu Yin pushed back against the immobilizing power as he stared at the back of the crow’s head.

The eye was able to move. It had just done so. Was the crow really dead? Was it possible that it was not dead and that its consciousness had been trapped inside its body?

He wanted to pluck the eye, but how?

Lu Yin faced the crow and took a deep breath. Keeping the location locked in his mind, he teleported directly in front of the crow so that he was practically face-to-face with its eye. He tried to raise his hand but could not move. Using the green light of the Mother Trees to shroud his arm, he slowly lifted it and reached for the crow’s eye.

At that moment, there was practically no distance between the crow’s eye and him. It was so massive, and it stared at him in a way that made his scalp crawl.

His hand crept closer. It was as if the cosmos itself was flowing in reverse, as if his body was being swallowed by the eye’s gaze, as if time itself was reversing. Lu Yin forced himself to continue moving, and his fingertips finally touched the eye. It was one of three remaining eyes, and it was the exact one that had been moving to meet his gaze.

A sensation of a flowing liquid spread up his arm. In an instant, Heaven’s Sight opened on Lu Yin’s brow, and a vision that he had seen once before surged back. Back in the Sight Realm, when he had been absorbing sight power with Heaven’s Sight, Lu Yin had seen countless images of Heaven’s Sight being used in battle.

Chang Chuan had deceived Lu Yin by referring to the visions as a deduction of what Heaven’s Sight was capable of, but in truth, they were visions of the past. It had been a vision of other people using Heaven’s Sight to fight. Scene after scene played out of Heaven’s Sight being used, all preserved in the Sight Realm via sight power.

One of those scenes had been exactly what he was currently doing: someone reaching out to touch something. It was at this moment that Lu Yin understood: that person had been touching one of the Ten-Eyed Divine Crow’s eyes. A member of Heaven’s Sight had obtained one of the missing eyes.

That scene of the past overlapped with his present experience, and Lu Yin understood. He released his sight power, connecting it to the Divine Crow’s eye.

Purple sight power pressed down on the surrounding space, causing everything to drop. The Ten-Eyed Divine Crow’s eye seemed both lively and cold as it stared into Heaven’s Sight.

Lu Yin suddenly attacked, slamming a palm into the Divine Crow’s eye, stunning it for a moment of bewildered shock. At that same instance, Lu Yin’s sight power surged like boiling water, completely enveloping the eye and plucking it.

The moment the eye was removed from its socket, it abruptly shrank, transforming into a streak of light that followed along the sight power to enter Heaven’s Sight.

Lu Yin staggered back several steps, dizzy and reeling. He immediately sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes to cultivate.

Heaven’s Sight was transforming. The two abilities were fusing. This was something that others could not do, but the people of Heaven’s Sight could.

Originally, even if Lu Yin had plucked the Ten-Eyed Divine Crow’s eye, he would not have been able to fuse it with his body. He would have been restricted to using it as a mirebound artifact. However, because of Heaven’s Sight, the eye would become Lu Yin’s own ability.

This was an ability of the people of Heaven’s Sight, a method left behind by his predecessors.

Day after day passed. On Lu Yin’s forehead, Heaven’s Sight sometimes expanded and at other times shrank. Lines of blood trickled from his brow, accompanying a pain that cut to the bone. Even so, Lu Yin had endured such pain more than once. He could withstand it.

As the eye fused with him, there was a surge of unfamiliar memories. He saw battle after battle and civilization after civilization; these were memories from the Ten-Eyed Divine Crow. Lu Yin saw a woman in red who was frozen in the void. A terrifying attack then appeared, only to be blocked by the woman’s red umbrella.

He saw a middle-aged man in splendid robes unleash a punch so powerful that it shattered the cosmos.

He also saw an old man with seven needles at his fingertips.

The memories ceaselessly shifted about, making it impossible to make anything out clearly. Many images flashed by in a single moment. Suddenly, Lu Yin opened his eyes, and Heaven’s Sight also opened on his brow. He panted heavily as it had taken him a long time to recover, and he did not dare to look back at the Ten-Eyed Divine Crow. There were still two eyes remaining; who knew what abilities they might possess?

He immediately teleported to the crow’s back, avoiding those eyes’ line of sight.

At this moment, the Heaven’s Sight on his forehead had become a bit more spirited than before, and it constantly darted about.

Lu Yin gazed in one direction with Heaven’s Sight. There, the void suddenly froze, and black lines appeared. They stretched far into the distance in a mere moment, forming what looked like a black corridor.

This was the exact same ability that had immobilized him.

Lu Yin was ecstatic; he had obtained the eye. Still, he did not know its limits or how much of an effect it would have on Hong Xia.

Also, with this, Lu Yin could deal with the Plume Immortals. This ability was the perfect counter to teleportation.

But the moment that thought occurred to him, Lu Yin realized a problem. The Ten-Eyed Divine Crow had killed Plume Immortals in the past, which meant that the Plume Immortal Civilization had to be aware of this ability as well. While it might be possible to freeze one of those birds the first time, a second attempt might fail. As soon as they learned that Lu Yin had acquired this eye of the Divine Crow, they would certainly be on guard against it.

This would not be the best way to deal with the Plume Immortals. Those strange birds only needed to avoid meeting Lu Yin’s gaze. Relying solely on freezing space would make it hard to trap something that could teleport.

But in addition to that ability, Heaven’s Sight had also gained the ability to see an extremely far distance, even approaching how far Lu Yin could see with his Mirrorlight Art. This was likely related to his level of cultivation. Once he broke through to the Immortal realm, the distance that he could see would change, and he would be able to see even farther.

At the same time, there was yet another ability that absolutely delighted Lu Yin: as long as someone was looking at him, he would be able to sense it and even see that individual, regardless of distance. Of course, Heaven’s Sight had to be active.

Even if they were beyond the maximum distance of his Mirrorlight Art, as long as someone was looking at him, he would see them. This was a trait of the Ten-Eyed Divine Crow’s eye, and it was incredible. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Since the immobilization ability had come from the Divine Crow, he would call it Crow Immobilization.

Lu Yin looked at the Divine Crow’s back. Two eyes still remained, but he did not know what abilities they held.

He did not dare to try to take them. Simply acquiring Crow Immobilization had been a tremendous risk. He had been frozen the first time due to ignorance. If he had known, he would have never made an attempt without a supreme powerhouse standing guard over him.

It was very possible that one of the other two eyes’ abilities would simply kill him. Eight eyes had already been taken, so the remaining two would surely be the hardest to deal with.

The Ten-Eyed Divine Crow was clearly already dead, and yet its eyes’ abilities were still so powerful. It was impossible to imagine how strong the bird had been at its peak.

From its memories, he had vaguely seen the attacks of several Rampart Wardens, Hong Shuang among them. Those memories had been very similar to the visions that he had seen in the Willbound Spire’s memories. It seemed increasingly possible that Hong Shuang might be in the Mirari Realm.

There had also been a middle-aged man, though Lu Yin had no idea who he had been. The old man must have been the Rampart Warden of the Seventh Rampart, given the seven needles in his hand. Seventh Needle: all that is human is completely sealed. The power of the Yan Gate’s Seven Needles made them extremely desirable.

Heaven’s Sight closed. Lu Yin stared at the Ten-Eyed Divine Crow for a long time before leaving.

In the future, once he better understood the Divine Crow, he would return. Two eyes remained, and he hoped that they would not be taken by anyone else.

Pinnacle innate gifts were simply too difficult to deal with.

He teleported back to the Trio. The moment he arrived, he saw Master Qing Cao in the Sea of Karma.

Seeing Lu Yin return, Master Qing Cao announced, “Obscura has issued a mandatory draft for war.”

Lu Yin was taken aback. “A mandatory draft?”

“You can refuse, but you will only ever get one chance to do so,” Master Qing Cao continued.

Lu Yin considered the matter. He did not know if he should refuse or not.

Green Lotus then appeared. “Do you know who their opponent is?”

Master Qing Cao shook his head. “They won’t inform us in advance.”

“No hint at all?” Lu Yin asked. If Obscura was facing a powerful enemy, like the Plume Immortals, there should be signs.

Master Qing Cao’s expression grew heavy. “Obscura has no fixed territory. This war may take place in an extremely distant location. No one knows. There must be some within Obscura who knows who this formidable enemy is, but they certainly won’t tell us.”

“Could it be the Plume Immortals?” Green Lotus guessed.

That matched Lu Yin’s thoughts. If Obscura was facing the Plume Immortals, he would have to fight. Human civilization was already a target of those birds, and helping Obscura oppose the Plume Immortals would reduce the pressure on the Human Trio. The more that Lu Yin learned about the Plume Immortals, the better he could counter them. But what if they were not fighting against the Plume Immortals?

How strong was Obscura? If they were issuing a mandatory conscription, one could imagine how strong their opponent was. Lu Yin did not want to get involved. He had never been sincere about joining Obscura. He would much rather see it destroyed.

There was no point in debating the matter. Go or not, those were the only two choices.

Lu Yin entered Vestigium, hoping to talk to some others and glean some information, even if the chances were slim.

However, upon entering Vestigium, he discovered that there was no chance to do anything, as his voice would not exit the coffin at all.

Ba Se had silenced everyone. At this moment, no one in Vestigium could speak to anyone else.

“Lu Yin, there is a mandatory war draft. Will you participate?” Ba Se asked.

Lu Yin asked, “If I participate, can I withdraw if I’m outmatched?”

“This is war. Just like every war you’ve experienced before, this is not a game.”

“I have a chance to refuse, don’t I?”

“Yes.”

Lu Yin did not want to participate, but he only had one chance to refuse a draft from Obscura. More importantly, Ba Se had mentioned that the next time there was a draft, it might be when Obscura faced the Plume Immortals. “Ba Se, you invited me to join Obscura in large part to deal with the Plume Immortals. If this war is against those birds, I’ll definitely fight. Can’t you even tell me that much? If you don’t tell me, I might refuse.”

“You have the right to refuse, but only once,” Ba Se replied, completely unmoved.

Lu Yin let out a helpless sight. “What benefits are there to participating?”

“If you kill enemy powerhouses, you can obtain corresponding rewards. The advantage is that this is far easier than completing a mission that would give the same rewards. It would be difficult for you to complete a four-star mission, but by fighting in a war, you might be able to receive the same rewards. The disadvantage is that it is hard to leverage a civilization in war. No cosmic civilization is stupid. The scale of a war can push civilizations to retreat.”

Lu Yin understood. Rationally, he should not join the fight. Even if he would not be able to refuse again, who knew when the next draft would be? By that time, he might have broken into the Immortal realm. Staying alive during this war was the best choice.

Also, if Hong Xia was able to refuse to join while Lu Yin did, that would not be good for the Human Trio.

Lu Yin voiced his concern, and Ba Se explained, “During participation in Obscura’s wars, a member’s civilization is protected by Obscura, and that protection is absolute.

“The protection period persists for 1,000 years after the war ends.”

Lu Yin was startled. “Protection for 1,000 years after the war ends?”

“Yes.”

“Is Hong Xia participating?”

“No comment.”