One day, eighteen years later, two figures gazed into the distance from far beyond the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. “What is that?”

“What vast power! That is an Immortal’s unique world, the power of karma.”

“Karma? You can see karma?”

“Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean that I can’t. That is a supreme expert, very likely a legendary powerhouse who has resonated with two cosmic laws. If not, the range wouldn’t be so great, and neither would they dare to release it without any restraint. This is purely a deterrent. Let’s go in a different direction. We cannot provoke that civilization.”

“Hey, our Seal-Eater Civilization had five Immortal beings! At our peak, we might not have been afraid of this civilization.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. If this powerhouse is bold enough to brazenly release this kind of intimidation, that civilization must be very strong.”

“But it clearly isn’t a fishing civilization. What a pity. If we had discovered this civilization earlier, then allying with them might have been enough for us to defeat that technological civilization.”

“We were not destroyed by that technological civilization, but rather by Obscura.”

There was a moment of silence. “It doesn’t matter. I wasn’t born in the Seal-Eater Civilization anyways.”

“Let’s go. We need to get far away from this area. We can’t be found by Obscura.”

***

Lu Yin looked at Master Qing Cao in front of him. “So from now on, you’ll be passing messages to me for Obscura. Is that it?”

Master Qing Cao helplessly replied, “Unless there’s a mandatory war conscription, Obscura won’t reach out to you.”

“Only I’m special?”

“The message has been delivered. Whether you go or not is up to you.”

Master Qing Cao also did not want to serve as a messenger, but there was no way around it. Who had told Lu Yin to not worship the Divine Tree?

In fact, the normal process was that, for Lu Yin to even join Obscura, he needed to first worship the Divine Tree. That was the only way to receive Obscura’s resources and their unique power, which he would then take back to his civilization. In that process, Master Qing Cao should have become a part of Obscura’s power due to being a member of Lu Yin’s own civilization, just as how the Hui-Silver Sky Army had been Hui’s power.

Members of Obscura could have subordinates do things for them.

But Lu Yin had not followed the usual path at all. He had not worshipped the Divine Tree, and he was extremely wary toward Obscura, which forced Master Qing Cao into an awkward position on all sides.

In the past, he had allied with Obscura, working against their human civilization, which had earned him the hatred of Awe Gate and the other Greater Sancti. If not for Mi Jin’s final request, their own fear of increasing their karmic chains, and the looming threat of Obscura, Qing Cao might have already been killed.

While Lu Yin had joined Obscura, everyone still despised Qing Cao.

This was despite the fact that everyone understood that the man’s choice to ally with Obscura might not have been wrong from his point of view. He had once witnessed Obscura use a civilization to destroy another that had been home to ten Immortals, and that scene had given him an incomparable shock. That incident had made it clear to Qing Cao that their human civilization could not stop Obscura.

But knowing was one thing. Mi Jin’s death was still a thorn lodged in everyone’s hearts, and they could not let it go.

As a result, Master Qing Cao had made it a point to stay in the Spirit Nidus, not interacting with any of his peers. Only occasionally did he reveal himself to teach some junior cultivators.

Only recently had he been given an additional task: to deliver messages from Obscura to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin entered Vestigium with his consciousness, and he immediately called out in greetings. “Furball, Old Man Hehe, are you both here? I’m back again!”

Ba Se’s voice responded, “Lu Yin, congratulations on completing your mission. You may choose your reward.”

Lu Yin froze. “What completed mission?”

Suddenly, his expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly left.

After shoving the lid off of the red coffin, Lu Yin instantly vanished, making his way to the Seal-Eater Civilization.

There was only one explanation for the mission that Ba Se claimed had been completed: the Seal-Eater Civilization must have been destroyed at the hands of the technological civilization.

Lu Yin had forgotten about the entire matter. He had not expected the technological civilization to delay their attack for so long. It had been more than 200 years. Their preparations must have been incredibly thorough. He was not surprised that the Seal-Eater Civilization had been destroyed, even if they had had five Immortals.

Lu Yin’s current worry was that, since the technological civilization had destroyed the Seal-Eater Civilization, would their next target be his human civilization?

The Seal-Eater Civilization was not like Thorn Civilization, which had been separated from his human civilization by an incredibly vast distance. The Soul-Eater Civilization was practically next door.

Lu Yin teleported again and again. His consciousness had dissipated from some of the pathfinding stones, but many remained usable.

It only took half a year to reach the edge of the Seal-Eater Civilization’s megaverse. Even a quick glance revealed a completely different scene from what he had seen in the past. There was a feeling of withering to the megaverse. Its universes were filled with countless cracks, and even the space outside of the megaverse had grown unstable. There was no mistaking the aftereffects of Cosmic Shear. Who knew how many times the Seal-Eater Civilization had endured that particular weapon.

At the moment, the technological civilization was continuously sending more ovoid lights through Obscura’s gate. Both large and small vessels were heading towards the Seal-Eater Civilization’s megaverse.

The ovoid lights could be seen in every direction from outside the megaverse.

Lu Yin teleported repeatedly, circling the megaverse once. He could confirm the presence of four of the largest ovoid lights. Those vessels were the ones capable of firing Cosmic Shear. Back when the technological civilization had attacked the toads’ homeland, only one such vessel had been present. There were multiple more at the Seal-Eater Civilization.

With the technological army being capable of firing Cosmic Shear four times at once, it was little wonder that the Seal-Eater Civilization had been destroyed.

Lu Yin believed that sending out four of the enormous vessels must have been a strain even for the technological civilization. It was enough firepower to overwhelm the Seal-Eater Civilization’s five Immortals. It was truly intimidating, though it could do nothing to Lu Yin himself.

He slowly clenched a fist. His body withered, and terrifying power continued to gather as he stared into the distance.

At the same time, an alarm rang out within the massive oval light that was closest to Lu Yin. “Initiate absolute analysis.”

“Absolute analysis initiating... Analyzing... Analyzing...”

Bang. There was a tremendous boom as the enormous oval light dropped down. Lu Yin stepped on the void, instantly vanishing, only to reappear right beside the enormous oval light even as he threw a second punch.

He had not anticipated that his full-strength punch would fail to destroy the oval light. The vessel’s defenses were astounding.

On second thought, this should have been expected. If the vessels relied solely on Cosmic Shear and were unable to endure any attacks themselves, the technological civilization would have failed to win this war.

But how many times can you endure?

“Launch Cosmic Shear now!”

“Warning! Please confirm the launch of Cosmic Shear. Aside from this battleship, the Third Fleet cannot withstand the attack as a whole.”

“Cut the nonsense! Fire!”

“Preparing Cosmic Shear... Preparing Cosmic Shear...”

Bang! Lu Yin smashed through the outer defense of the enormous light with another punch. All around him, countless attacks of various types fell, engulfing both him and his target.

But all of the attacks proved ineffective against Lu Yin. The strongest was only Crystal Fall, which he had seen before. It lacked the power necessary to force his withered body to recover. On the other hand, the enormous oval light, with its broken defenses, could not withstand the rain of attacks, and it was instantly disintegrated.

Lu Yin saw the strange creature within the vessel be destroyed by the hail of countless attacks.

The enormous ovoid lights were capable of withstanding several of his full-powered attacks, while Cosmic Shear was strong enough to heavily injure a typical Immortal.

These were the means available to the technological civilization. Each of the massive oval lights was the equivalent of an Immortal.

But because the technological civilization relied on visible laws, their attacks were simple when targeting Immortals: if they could block the attack, it was stopped. If they could not, they died.

Once a technological civilization’s weapons reached the destructive level of an Immortal, quantity served as their absolute means.

From every direction, light illuminated the cosmos.

The other three vessels were simultaneously launching Cosmic Shear, and the attacks enveloped the entire megaverse.

Lu Yin looked over. The Aevum Inch itself was being pulled. He did not want to try to endure this attack, not because he was incapable of doing so, but rather because there was no need.

He teleported away.

The Seal-Eater Civilization’s megaverse warped. The entire megaverse was being pulled, its void inverted and left drifting. Aside from the three largest lights, all the others were completely destroyed.

At the same time, the Seal-Eater Civilization’s megaverse itself was destroyed. The sequence strings all snapped, and the megaverse was reset.

The technological civilization had an advantage when it came to fighting against Immortals, but Lu Yin had an even greater advantage against the technological civilization. He could teleport away, which meant that Cosmic Shear posed absolutely no threat to him.

According to the technological civilization’s understanding, Cosmic Shear encompassed such a large range that ordinary Immortal beings could not avoid the attack.

However, if the attack could be avoided, Cosmic Shear would pose no threat at all.

The three enormous ovoid lights headed into Aevum Inch. The megaverse was being reset, and they did not want to endure it.

Bang!

Another tremendous boom set another alarm ringing within one of the massive vessels. “Launch Cosmic Shear now! Right now!”

Some distance away, alarms also rang out in the other two enormous ovoid lights. “It’s him! It’s that creature who used us! He doesn’t have even the slightest injury. Is Cosmic Shear ineffective against him?”

“He avoided the attack. Cosmic Shear is effective against any creature. That’s a cosmic law.”

“Transfer energy. Have the fourth battleship hold on. We’ll use the pull of Cosmic Shear to trap him. No matter how fast he might be, we can envelop him. He can’t escape.”

“Prepare to sacrifice the fourth battleship.”

Lu Yin raised his hand. His scythe appeared in it, and then he sliced downwards.

The enormous light flared brighter, and it actually managed to block the scythe, catching Lu Yin off guard. This vessel’s defenses were much stronger than the one that he had already destroyed.

No, this toughness did not belong to the vessel itself.

Lu Yin looked back. Far away, the void was flowing backward. Cosmic Shear had been fired again.

He teleported away.

Lu Yin did not know that the other two vessels had been using his target as bait, using the pulling power of Cosmic Shear to envelop him within the attack’s range.

But even if he did know, it would not matter. No matter how far the attack’s pull might be able to reach, it could never spread to human civilization.

Such a distance far exceeded an average Immortal’s understanding of an attack’s range.

Even Green Lotus’s Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm covered a span that an average Immortal could cross in three years. Cosmic Shear could normally cover the distance that an Immortal could cross in a month, which meant that only a powerful Immortal who had succeeded with a direct breakthrough like Mister Mu had a chance of avoiding it. Additionally, Cosmic Shear’s pulling effect could be felt at a distance of a full year if lateral coverage was sacrificed and it was launched in a straight line. It was a staggering distance for an attack.

Even a powerhouse like the Seven-Treasure Anuras’ Old First might not be able to escape, though there would be no need for that toad to do so in the first place.

But forget a distance that an Immortal could traverse in a single year—not even a distance of ten years would be enough to trap Lu Yin.

The technological civilization had no idea what they were facing. Lu Yin could teleport, which was the absolute means of the Plume Immortal Civilization. It was a terrifying ability that only a powerhouse who had resonated with three cosmic laws might be able to stop.

It existed on an entirely different level from the technological civilization’s understanding.

Cosmic Shear’s extreme pull was released not just once, but rather six times simultaneously. Each of the enormous lights fired the attack three times.

Six instances of Cosmic Shear’s extreme pull, in their understanding, should be enough to heavily injure any Immortal. Even if this failed to kill Lu Yin, he should be rendered immobile.