Chapter 4611: The Two-Polarity Heaven-Scorching Mirror

Lu Yin threw the ferryman over to Old Man Hehe.

Ruinfall saw this, and its heart plummeted. Helpless, it could only watch as that ferryman was swept away by the miniature River of Aeons, taken away to join the main stream.

Old Man Hehe had found a scapegoat.

Ruinfall let out a roar of fury. It had never expected someone to thwart it with an ability like teleportation. It instantly lashed out, wanting to drag the main stream of the River of Aeons down.

However, Ruinfall was not Old Man Hehe, and it had absolutely no ability to influence the main stream whatsoever.

"Hehe, Ruinfall, as the Death Megaverse’s ferryman of the River of Aeons, you should know what you will face once you join the main stream. This is the last time we will ever meet."

"Old thing, I do not accept this! I do not!" Ruinfall roared.

But no matter how unwilling it was to accept its situation, Ruinfall was ultimately swept away by the main steam of River of Aeons, and it vanished together with the ferryman that Lu Yin had captured.

Ruinfall had far too many questions, yet it received no answers, even at the end.

The cosmos fell silent. The River of Aeons’ main stream vanished. It was grand and magnificent, and for the time that it had appeared, it had actually somehow seemed even vaster than the entire Aevum Inch.

What Lu Yin felt most fortunate about was that the descent of the main stream had not crushed the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array.

With Ruinfall gone, only Lu Yin, Old Man Hehe, Ji, and Hong Xia remained.

There were quite a few experts on this particular battlefield, though Hong Xia was far away from the other three. He had done almost nothing throughout the entire battle, aside from watching everything from start to finish.

"Hehe, child, how did you do it? Is this a clone that you created before you broke through to the Immortal realm?" Old Man Hehe asked curiously.

Hong Xia stared at Lu Yin. "No wonder you were so decisive when breaking through and even left yourself just one final opportunity to take action. I imagine that not even Wang Wen knows about this. You used a clone to create a new identity and even claimed to be Obscura’s newly joined Red. It would seem that you intend to come after me."

Lu Yin looked over at Hong Xia. "You should have died long ago."

Hong Xia looked at Ji. "What is going on with him?"

He then glanced back at Old Man Hehe. "You know him, don’t you?"

Earlier, Ji had been the first one to try to interfere with the miniature River of Aeons that had tried to drag Old Man Hehe away. Lu Yin had clearly seen that, and of course, so had Hong Xia.

"Hehe, I do not know him."

Hong Xia sneered, but did not argue. Did Old Man Hehe not know the expert from the Death Megaverse? Would any powerhouse from that civilization take the initiative to help a member of Obscura? Especially given that the strange Immortal had initially cooperated with Lu Yin. It was clear that they knew each other, and Lu Yin had also helped Old Man Hehe. No matter how one looked at the situation, these three were allies.

Lu Yin suddenly disappeared, teleporting away.

Hong Xia's pupils shrank, and he instinctively took out a gate to leave. Suddenly, a hand fell on the gate, blocking Hong Xia's path. Lu Yin was already there.

Hong Xia met the younger man’s gaze and threatened him. "We are both members of Obscura. Do you intend to break the rules?"

Lu Yin just smirked and exerted a bit of force through his hand. With a crack, the gate shattered. Then, he vanished once again.

Hong Xia spun around. Behind him, Ji’s black saber slashed down. This attack was different from before, as it included a shocking amount of bloodlust.

"Purple, attack!" Hong Xia shouted, trying to force Old Man Hehe.

Yet the roly-poly just silently watched from the distance, making no move at all. "Hehe, this old man hurt my waist in the battle just now. If I move again, I will collapse. Just like you, I can only watch this battle."

Ji’s blade slashed down, Stillness surging through the curved black saber. Hong Xia clenched the hilt of his own sword in a reverse grip and retaliated.

Clang!

There was a loud crash, and Ji retreated several steps. It was clear that he was no match for Hong Xia.

Hong Xia was a peak two-law Immortal, and he had stood at that level since the Nine Ramparts era. If Master Qing Cao and the others had not successfully schemed against him, Hong Xia might have already broken through and resonated with a third cosmic law.

Of everyone at his level, Hong Xia was one of the very strongest. The only ones capable of comparing to him were the Death Megaverse’s Abyssals, and even then, only the older ones.

Ji had only just become an Abyssal, which was why his strength was still somewhat lacking. If he had not absorbed enough Stillness in the Nethersea, Hong Xia would have defeated Ji even quicker.

Hong Xia did not want to fight at all. Regardless of whether he won or lost, his karmic chain would increase.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do. He could not even escape at this point in time.

Clang, clang, clang.

The impacts of the two weapons rang out incessantly, and the cosmos was split apart. Black Stillness swept towards Hong Xia, while divine energy surged from him. However, the divine energy was devoured by the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array. From below, Lu Yin's divine energy clone rushed up, unleashing a beam of divine energy straight at Hong Xia.

The man swung his sword, and a red beam of the power of Path of Dispassion shot out, tearing through the tri-colored divine energy and continuing on towards Lu Yin.

He was startled and dodged. The red beam pierced the cosmos, leaving a deep scar in the Aevum Inch.

"Lu Yin, even if we are within this Clear Sky Locked Earth Array, your clone is not yet an Immortal. Even if you join forces with this creature of the Death Megaverse, you can never be my opponent!" Hong Xia confidently declared. "Stop now, and I will act as if none of this ever happened."

Lu Yin let out a heavy breath. The Path of Dispassion: Sorrow Without Heart, Forged as a Sword. This was not a power that the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array could easily devour. The Path of Dispassion was not like divine energy or Stillness, which were fully released outward. Rather, Hong Xia had drawn the Path of Dispassion within himself, and his Twelvefold Path of Dispassion was extraordinarily powerful.

He was right. Under normal circumstances, even if Lu Yin fought side-by-side with Ji, they would never be able to defeat Hong Xia, not even inside the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array.

In that case... Lu Yin raised a hand as he faced Hong Xia. He threw a palm strike across the distance: Endless Recall.

This palm strike caused a single thought to recur endlessly, and within that single thought, the Path of Dispassion could be walked once again.

Already, five of the anchors of Hong Xia's Twelvefold Path of Dispassion had been broken. Those anchors were He Xiao, Bing Xu, Meiran Dan, Greater Sancte Green Lotus, and Hong Xia’s own hatred of Rang Yu. As long as two more anchors were broken, his Path of Dispassion would shatter.

Lu Yin had previously made a point to ask Jiu Wen to leave the Blood Tower and move to the Human Trio, openly stating that there was no longer any need to break seven parts of Hong Xia's Path of Dispassion. It had become unnecessary to weaken the man. Those words had been intended for Hong Xia so that the people of Crimson Starshade could be taken away. After all, that had been the population of an entire megaverse.

Hong Xia was ruthless enough that he had been willing to use the Blood Tower to slaughter every person in an entire megaverse. That threat had forced Jiu Wen to sit inside the Blood Tower to prevent Hong Xia from following through on his threat.

Lu Yin had not been able to abandon those people.

At the time, Hong Xia had believed Lu Yin because the younger man had but one chance to take action. If Lu Yin's true body was determined to kill Hong Xia, there would be no need to break seven anchors of his Path of Dispassion. As for the other human Immortals, they had to protect the Trio, which made it impossible for them to risk their lives in a fight against Hong Xia. That was why Hong Xia had been willing to allow Lu Yin to take away everyone from Crimson Starshade at the time.

If Hong Xia had known that Lu Yin had a non-Immortal clone, he absolutely would not have allowed the people of Crimson Starshade to be taken away.

After all, it was imperative for Lu Yin’s clone that seven anchors of Hong Xia’s Path of Dispassion be broken for it to defeat him.

Of the remaining anchors, there were only two that could be broken. One was Ji He, and the other was Xi Shangfeng.

After Lu Yin had taken everyone away from the Crimson Starshade Megaverse, he had immediately ordered Lu Huai to keep a watch on Hong Xia from a distance of more than 200 years away from Crimson Starshade. The purpose for that was Ji He.

With everyone else gone, Hong Xia no longer needed to keep Ji He hidden. It was the only time that Ji He could appear.

At this moment, someone was already dealing with Ji He.

As for Xi Shangfeng, Lu Yin did not want him to die or fall from the Immortal realm, like He Xiao and the others had. While Xi Shangfeng had also cultivated Hong Xia's Path of Dispassion, he had never committed wholesale slaughter or done anything monstrous. He had only ever been cruel to himself.

If the man could be kept alive, he would be.

There was only one thing that Lu Yin could do to keep Xi Shangfeng alive, and that was to use Endless Recall to force Hong Xia to rewalk his Twelvefold Path of Dispassion.

Just because things had succeeded once did not mean that they would succeed a second time. It had not been easy for Hong Xia to complete the Twelvefold Path of Dispassion. If he were forced to attempt it again, he might well fail.

Lu Yin was doing what he could to win an opportunity for Xi Shangfeng. As for how great the chance of success might be, he did not know. That depended entirely on Hong Xia himself.

Lu Yin had considered this option back when he had first learned Endless Recall.

This technique had a certain restraining effect on the Path of Dispassion.

This was the Aevum Inch; this was the cosmos. All things could exist, but everything in existence had something that countered it. There was no such thing as absolute invincibility. As long as one could think of something, they could try it.

Hong Xia had not expected Lu Yin to have mastered Ni Bieluo's Endless Recall. Caught off guard, he was struck by the attack. His eyes lost focus, and the past played out before his eyes. The red beam of his Path of Dispassion flickered, and countless miserable voices echoed in his ears. He was seeing the Crimson Starshade Megaverse. He was seeing the Second Rampart.

"We humans will not perish. Even if the Rampart Warden disappears, my Second Rampart will fight to the bitter end!"

"Hong Xia, you betrayed the Rampart Warden! You will die a miserable death!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

...

Countless familiar and unfamiliar voices seemed to cross the ages to reach Hong Xia's ears once again. His face turned deathly pale. He re-witnessed those scenes of the past, and he was plunged into familiar images of slaughter, blood, and fire. Lives withered away. These were all scenes of the Second Rampart being massacred.

This was one of the anchors of his Twelvefold Path of Dispassion.

Once, within the Second Rampart, he had betrayed Hong Shuang, causing both her and Qiu Huang to suffer heavy injuries before disappearing. After that, Hong Xia had simply watched as countless people from the Second Rampart had died tragically. On that day, the sky itself had seemed to bleed, and all of his old acquaintances had fallen. Countless people had cursed him, countless people had wailed, and even more people had fought to the death.

But none of it could shake his iron-like heart. The Path of Dispassion was intended to be ruthless. The Rampart Warden's path was wrong, while the Path of Dispassion that Hong Xia followed was correct. This was the only way that the Two-Polarity Heaven-Scorching Mirror could be cultivated.

His was the true Path of Dispassion of Crimson Starshade.

Hong Xia's eyes flushed red. He again saw the tragic deaths of countless people. So what if he had to witness it all again? He would still make the same choice as before. Those people's deaths had been for the sake of Crimson Starshade’s continuation. Even now, Crimson Starshade still existed, so those deaths had been worthwhile.

If they had not died, how could Hong Xia have survived? If his life withered away, there would be nothing left.

Hong Xia abruptly raised his hand, and a red sword light swept through the cosmos. Before him, the black saber was knocked away. The man’s eyes were bloodshot as he glared at Lu Yin. "I was not wrong! Give me another chance, and I will make the exact same choice.”

“Life is destined to wither. No life can continue forever, and you are no exception."

"They would have died one day regardless. It was better to give their deaths value and allow them to complete me."

Lu Yin's eyes were glacial. He did not say another word but simply struck again, still with Endless Recall.

This time, Hong Xia avoided the attack. His right hand held a red sword, while a dark-crimson mirror appeared in his left, constantly spinning in his palm. "Lu Yin, you have always wanted to understand the Two-Polarity Heaven-Scorching Mirror. Today, I will let you see it."

As Hong Xia spoke, a red beam shot into the sky from both sides of the mirror. Then, moving as if they were alive, the two ends connected to each other.

Lu Yin hurriedly devoured the power with Clear Sky. But despite his efforts, a ball of fire emerged in outer space. It had a faint red color, but while it looked to be gentle, it was burning the cosmos itself, as well as the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array.

Lu Yin could clearly feel the sourcebox array wavering as it was burned.