Hong Xia did not actually care about the Soft Megaverse. It was not the megaverse that was important, but rather the fact that Obscura had not informed Hong Xia of its destruction or issued a mission reward.

Unfortunately, the gate that he had previously used to reach the Soft Megaverse had been discovered and destroyed by the being that had occupied that megaverse. Thus, he had no way to personally verify its destruction. Otherwise, Hong Xia would have never bothered asking Lu Yin.

To verify things, it was also possible to simply return to Vestigium and request another gate, but if the Soft Megaverse truly had been destroyed, then Obscura undoubtedly knew about it. Even so, he had not been granted his reward. Something was wrong.

Was it possible that the entity living in the Soft Megaverse had merely vanished instead of dying?

***

Elsewhere, Lu Yin teleported to the vicinity of the next location.

Just like before, he was cautious, extremely so. The first location that Lu Yin had explored was the Soft Megaverse. He had no idea what awaited him at the second.

If not for the ability to teleport, Lu Yin would have never been willing to check any of the locations. More importantly, Lu Yin could not seize the initiative against Hong Xia.

Hong Xia was too strong, but he also had no bottom line and was unburdened by any sort of attachments. His only leverage points, Rang Yu and Ji He, could not even be found. On top of that, Lu Yin wanted to learn more about Obscura through Furball, which meant that the initiative was completely in the other party’s hands.

Still, nothing in existence was absolute, and initiative could change hands.

He proceeded very slowly. He had been through such situations many times before.

The second location also had nothing. Damn it. The first coordinates were also like this. Was this the Death Megaverse again?

Lu Yin investigated, but there was no power of Stillness in the megaverse. He searched relentlessly, spending a full half year to confirm that there was no hint of Stillness. He had also found no indication that the megaverse had been reset. Either there was truly nothing at all, or so much time had passed since the megaverse’s reset that all traces had vanished.

The Tianyuan and others had all been reset in the past. Human civilization had only appeared after those resets. Everything from before had been erased, leaving nothing behind at all.

On to the next location.

Lu Yin returned to the Crimson Starshade Megaverse. All of the coordinates used the megaverse as the point of origin, so he could only set out from there.

Teleport after teleport, each time peering into the distance, Lu Yin eventually saw something just as unbelievable as before: a forest of Mother Trees.

It was common knowledge that each megaverse only had one Mother Tree, while some megaverses had none at all.

Despite that, Lu Yin found himself staring at a forest of Mother Trees. He rubbed his eyes. Could it be an illusion? Was it even possible for Mother Trees to form a forest? But far away, about as far as an Immortal could travel in twenty years, there truly was a forest. While calling it a forest might be an exaggeration, there were still more than ten Mother Trees. Each one was enormous enough to support an entire universe, so with more than ten gathered together, they naturally looked like a forest that spanned the Aevum Inch.

This was essentially the same as more than ten megaverses being linked together. The scale was simply outrageous, and it far surpassed the size of the Tianyuan, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, or any other megaverse that Lu Yin was familiar with.

Where had so many Mother Trees come from?

The moment he saw the cluster of Mother Trees, Lu Yin became certain that he had found Furball’s location, because Furball cooked Mother Trees.

Lu Yin took a deep breath. He had been given four locations, one of which was real. Finding his goal on the third try was not the worst outcome.

He teleported closer, appearing within the canopy of one of the gigantic Mother Trees. He peered into the distance. Where was Furball?

The forest of Mother Trees was teeming with life. All kinds of creatures lived there.

Lu Yin watched a massive reptilian creature sprint past him. Up above, birds soared through the sky. Now and then, strange astral beasts would chase after them. No matter where he looked, it all seemed peaceful.

With his Mirrorlight Art, Lu Yin could see every corner of the Mother Tree forest, and yet he still could not find Furball anywhere. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

There were also no humans present. Only the various creatures gave life to the forest of Mother Trees.

However, none of them were strong. The strongest were only as powerful as a Progenitor, and none had even comprehended Sequence laws.

Lu Yin was in no hurry, so he waited. This had to be Furball’s location.

Day after day passed. More than a year later, the cosmos trembled. All of the birds shrieked in unison as they took flight. Across the trunks of the trees, creatures fled in swarms. Panic could be seen everywhere.

Lu Yin looked into the distance. Furball had arrived.

Their figure expanded wildly, taking on the form of a green giant large enough to rival a Mother Tree. They reached out and grabbed one of the trees. All of the creatures on it fell like raindrops as Furball tossed them off, like flicking off a bit of dust.

Next, they raised a hand and slammed down with a palm strike that cleaved the Mother Tree in two. Again and again they struck, chopping the enormous tree into dozens of pieces that were then bound together and hauled on the giant’s back as they walked towards a gate.

Lu Yin saw it all. Were they... a lumberjack?

Furball really did live self-sufficiently.

Just as Furball was about to pass through the gate, they suddenly stopped and turned their head to stare in Lu Yin’s direction. The giant’s aura clearly started to spike. After a moment, a furious voice shook the cosmos. “You again?”

They grabbed the dozens of pieces of the Mother Tree that they had chopped up and hurled them at Lu Yin.

He stepped forward, entering outer space. Confronted with dozens of logs hurtling towards him, he calmly raised a hand. There was a bang as space shattered. Terrifying force shot out to the sides in a gale that bent the other Mother Trees over.

Furball roared and brought their arm down in an overhead strike.

Lu Yin reached for the dozens of logs with one hand and absorbed the green lights. At the same time, he pointed into space with his other hand and released his strongest attack.

Power rippled through space. But Furball’s arm tore through the ripples, slamming down upon Lu Yin as though splitting a wave to crush him.

Feeling a suffocating pressure from the attack, Lu Yin smiled. “Hong Xia is here.”

Furball froze and then roared, “Where?”

Lu Yin mockingly said, “I told you that you’re afraid of him, and you didn’t believe me. Compared to Hong Xia, Furball, you’re still lacking. Still, I can’t blame you. You’ve only managed to resonate with one cosmic law.”

Furball’s arm slammed down the rest of the way. “You’re courting death!”

Lu Yin teleported away. Where he had stood, another Mother Tree was cleaved from top to bottom. Furball’s power was frightening, though it might not be enough to overpower Lu Yin. At the same time, it was also possible that Furball did not focus on physical strength.

“I’m just visiting. Look at how mad you are. Fine, if you’re so unhappy, I’ll leave.” Lu Yin vanished, teleporting away.

Back near the forest, Furball let out a roar of fury. The gate opened, and they charged through.

Far away, Lu Yin was laying down inside the red coffin again. Let’s go, then.

In Vestigium, Furball’s furious curses shook the Divine Tree. Throughout Obscura’s entire history, no one had cursed so viciously in Vestigium.

“Lu Yin has indeed gone too far. He keeps going after you. Even if he hasn’t attacked you, he’s forcing you to take action. Ba Se, this needs to be handled.” The voice that spoke was unfamiliar. Lu Yin had only heard it once before, and whoever it was, they were not friendly towards him.

Second Furball, probably.

Ba Se’s voice sounded rather helpless. “Cyan, did Lu Yin go looking for you again?”

Furball roared, “Hong Xia told him my location!”

Che asked, “Cyan, can you be sure that Hong Xia knows where you are? How can he find you so precisely? Perhaps this is just a misunderstanding.”

Lu Yin was left speechless. Right now, the last thing that Furball wanted to hear was the word “misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding my ass! That traitor was able to betray even his own civilization—despicable! Who knows when he started observing me. Fine. I said it last time: every time Lu Yin finds me, I’ll expose one of you. You didn’t believe me, did you?

“Lu Yin, I know you’re here! You’re deliberately looking to make me talk about the others. If that’s what you want, then listen: Lan Meng lives in the Bluebright Realm. That’s its civilization. Search thoroughly. When you see a blue megaverse, that will be the Bluebright Realm, where Lan Meng is.”

“Cyan, you’re going too far!” Lan Meng was furious. It had never expected to be exposed by Furball.

The unfamiliar voice turned grim. “Cyan, you’re breaking Obscura’s rules.”

Furball just sneered. “What rules? Ba Se, tell me, have I broken any rules? You’re the ones who haven’t hidden well enough. What? Only Hong Xia gets to sell me out, but I can’t sell you out?

“Ba Se, if you say a single word about how I’m breaking the rules, I’ll shut up immediately.”

Ba Se said nothing. While Furball’s behavior was absolutely disgusting, they were not breaking the rules. At the very least, not one member of Obscura had yet attacked another.

Lan Meng was still stunned. It did not visit Vestigium often, especially after it had been injured by Ancestor Shan. It had gone into seclusion to recover.

It had entered Vestigium this time to take a look at things and learn about the current circumstances of the human civilization, but it had ended up being exposed the moment it arrived.

What did it have to do with anything? It had not done anything at all.

Che said, “Lu Yin, you’re here, aren’t you? Come out and explain this misunderstanding. As fellow members of Obscura, even if you can’t be friends, you shouldn’t be enemies.”

Lu Yin said nothing. Ignoring anything else, as long as Ba Se did not stop him, he would continue to look for Furball.

If Hong Xia was able to learn about Furball’s situation, then Furball could also learn about other Obscura members. Lan Meng was a minor character, but Lu Yin wanted information on the other members.

Che was also a target. After all, he had participated in the war that had destroyed the Nine Ramparts, which made him another enemy.

“Cyan, how do you know about the Bluebright Realm?” Lan Meng asked. It had kept its information hidden, not wanting to be found.

Furball sneered. “What do you think Obscura is? Obscura is the most unfair—and also the most fair—place in the entire Aevum Inch. As long as you can reach the Immortal realm, you might be able to join Obscura, no matter if you resonate with one cosmic law or three. But don’t think that joining Obscura makes you an equal to everyone; you’re still far from that.”

“Hehe. Of Obscura’s twelve colors, some change often, while a few have never changed.” Old Man Hehe chuckled.

Lan Meng fell silent.

Lu Yin looked around Vestigium. It was true that Obscura was fair. At least in this place, those who resonated with just one law were able to talk to, and even insult, those who resonated with three. With Obscura’s rules in place, no one would pick a fight with another member. In fact, they might not even know each other’s identities.

At the same time, it was the most unfair place because Obscura would offer help to no one. No one would stand up for another member.

“If you want to resolve this, then talk to Hong Xia. If Lu Yin finds me again, I can’t guarantee who I’ll expose next. I may not have lived as long as some of you old fossils, but I still know plenty. Just try me,” Furball threatened before leaving.

Lu Yin did not rush to leave this time. Even if he left, he would not be able to find Furball again.

In Vestigium, Che spoke up again. “Lu Yin, come out. We know you’re listening.”

Old Man Hehe laughed. “You’re thoroughly using Furball, brat. They’re too impulsive, and everyone knows that they’re being used. Even they know it, but what can they do about it? Obscura doesn’t allow members to attack each other.

“Ba Se, you should step in.”

Ba Se’s voice echoed, “Obscura does not interfere with its members’ actions.”

“Hehe. The rules come first, I understand. However, Obscura has Obscura’s rules, while we have our own. Ba Se, if Cyan dares to leak anything about me, I’ll leave Obscura,” Old Man Hehe stated very calmly. A smile could even be heard in their voice. “Of course, that’s assuming that they even know anything about me.”