Chapter 4612: Fighting Hong Xia

“The Two-Polarity Heaven-Scorching Mirror can theoretically burn all things in existence, including even the cosmos itself. Even this Clear Sky Locked Earth Array can be burned away,” Old Man Hehe warned.

Lu Yin was already aware of just how troublesome the Two-Polarity Heaven-Scorching Mirror could be. This had been Rampart Warden Hong Shuang’s ultimate technique, a symbol of Crimson Starshade itself.

If the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array was completely burned away by the Two-Polarity Heaven-Scorching Mirror, Lu Yin and Ji would completely lose their advantage against Hong Xia. Once that happened, the man’s divine energy and Path of Dispassion would be able to erupt at full power, and that was not even considering his cosmic laws or the Immortal’s own world.

However, Senior Jiu Wen’s side should be almost done by now.

***

In the former Crimson Starshade Megaverse, a massive red umbrella overshadowed everything within a massive Umbrella Dominion.

Beneath the Red Umbrella, Ji He’s breathing was ragged, and he warily stared into the distance. “Jiu Wen, why must you kill me? Even if you break seven parts of the Chivalrous Ancestor’s Path of Dispassion, it will still be useless. His strength surpasses anything you can imagine.”

Jiu Wen did not waste time on words. Judging by the time, Ji He could finally be killed.

Moon within the wine, heaven within the gourd.

Bang.

The Umbrella Dominion shattered.

Ji He was merely a one-law Immortal, and he had not even succeeded in becoming an Immortal through a direct breakthrough. He had only managed to become an Immortal because Hong Xia was his master and he was an anchor for Hong Xia’s Path of Dispassion. Compared to Jiu Wen, Ji He was far, far too lacking.

Seeing his Umbrella Dominion broken, Ji He grew absolutely terrified. “I surrender, Senior Jiu Wen! I am willing to join the Trio and betray the Chivalrous Ancestor! I will help you.”

Jiu Wen’s eyes remained cold as he raised a hand and pressed it down.

Ji He clenched his teeth. “Senior, no matter what, I am still an Immortal. Are you really going to fight me to the death? If you kill me, your karmic chain will lengthen a great deal. Is it really worth it?”

“Then I will do it.” A deep voice echoed as someone stepped out from behind Jiu Wen. It was Progenitor Chen.

Ji He’s pupils shrank. An Aberrant?

Without hesitation, he unleashed his Interstice Drive Fist. Fist imprints fell with the power of time, which resulted in them fusing. In front of him, Progenitor Chen retaliated with the Star Fist.

The two punches collided, and the cosmos shattered.

Jiu Wen made a move. A drop of wine fell from above Ji He’s head. He looked up in horror. “No!”

The wine dropped, and Ji He’s entire body broke apart. Blood sprayed across outer space.

Progenitor Chen’s eyes narrowed, and he hesitated.

Jiu Wen looked over at him. “This is not the time for a fair duel.”

Progenitor Chen took a deep breath. He stepped forward, fist upraised, and struck.

Bang.

Ji He was completely crushed.

***

Inside the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array, the instant Ji He died, the Two-Polarity Heaven-Scorching Mirror trembled. The red light on the backside of the mirror slowly dissipated.

Hong Xia’s pupils shrank. This was a catastrophe. A sixth anchor of his Path of Dispassion had been broken. Who was it? Xi Shangfeng or Ji He?

If seven parts of his Path of Dispassion were broken, his Path of Dispassion as a whole would be broken. Having six parts be broken already affected the Two-Polarity Heaven-Scorching Mirror.

He had been tricked. When Lu Yin had claimed to only have one last chance to make a move, he had deceived Obscura, Wang Wen, and also Hong Xia. Because of that, Hong Xia had allowed Crimson Starshade’s people to be taken away, and he had also released Ji He, though he had always stayed in the Crimson Starshade Megaverse.

Hong Xia’s plan for this war had been to simply muddle through it, just like every other one of Obscura’s wars that he had been conscripted into joining. He had never imagined that he would actually be the target of these schemes.

If Master Qing Cao, Jiu Wen, Green Lotus, and the others had once plotted to restrain Hong Xia, then Lu Yin’s scheme was aimed at the man’s death. He had waited a very long time for this day.

There was the blood debt of countless people from the Second Rampart, as well as the Nine Ramparts’ hatred. Those matters had waited for far too long.

With the loss of the Two-Polarity Heaven-Scorching Mirror, the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array restabilized.

Hong Xia took out his red umbrella and unleashed his own Umbrella Dominion.

Lu Yin immediately retreated.

“Lu Yin, even if you manage to break seven parts of my Path of Dispassion, you still cannot defeat me. Let me tell you this, I still have one of the Ten-Eyed Divine Crow’s innate gifts! That will ensure that I will not lose! You are far too naive.”

Lu Yin had not forgotten that Hong Xia had obtained one of the Divine Crow’s innate gifts, but this was a battle that had to be fought. No one could stop it. Even if he truly could not kill Hong Xia, it did not matter.

If Hong Xia went to Vestigium to complain to Obscura, would he be able to show any evidence? If Lu Yin was pushed too far, he could simply merge his divine energy clone into his main body. No one would be able to tell anything.

It remained a fact that his main body could only take action once more. There was no one who could change that, and as long as his main body did not make a move, not even Obscura could do anything to him.

Regardless of whether he was able to kill Hong Xia or not, Lu Yin absolutely had to force the man to reveal everything that he was capable of.

Out of all of the Obscura members, while Hong Xia might not stand at the very peak, he was definitely one of the hardest members to kill. After all, he had lived since the Nine Ramparts era, and he had even survived the war against the Nine Ramparts.

Lu Yin threw another palm strike, attacking with Endless Recall again.

Hong Xia dodged again, and his Umbrella Dominion expanded to envelop both Lu Yin and Ji, and then it continued to expand even farther.

The Path of Dispassion’s Umbrella Dominion was an ultimate technique. The umbrella had a maximum of twelve ribs, with each rib representing mastery over another part of the Path of Dispassion. To break the Umbrella Dominion, one needed twice the power of the wielder, and that would only break one part of the Path of Dispassion that formed the Umbrella Dominion. Hong Xia had mastered the Twelvefold Path of Dispassion. Forget Lu Yin’s divine energy clone, but even Lu Yin’s true body would find it extremely difficult to break this Umbrella Dominion with his own power.

However, using the Umbrella Dominion also harmed Hong Xia himself because he was still in the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array, which was constantly dissolving the Path of Dispassion. Releasing the Umbrella Dominion equated to fully releasing the entire Path of Dispassion, so naturally, doing so caused it to dissipate at the fastest possible speed.

In enveloping Lu Yin, the time between releasing the Umbrella Dominion to when it fully expanded and started to shrink as it was dissolved by the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array took no more than three breaths. But for Hong Xia, that was enough. His Umbrella Dominion could endure under the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array for at least ten breaths, and that was enough time for him to escape.

He stared intently at Lu Yin, turned, and left.

Suddenly, his hair stood on end. Danger had suddenly appeared. He instantly dodged from where he stood, and a flash of purple instantly passed by and vanished.

It was a sword, a purple sword.

Hong Xia’s head whipped around, his expression extremely dark. “Purple, you dare to break Obscura’s rules?”

Still inside the Umbrella Dominion, Lu Yin had not expected Old Man Hehe to make a move, and he was quite surprised.

Old Man Hehe merely swayed, unconcerned. “Hehe, this child saved me, so I am merely returning the favor. Bear with me for a moment and just wait until he comes out.”

Hong Xia was furious. Was he actually being used to repay a favor?

He reached out with both hands and grabbed hold of the void to his left and right. The gray power of time flowed from between his palms, and a great, surging river appeared.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. The River of Aeons again? Right.

He then remembered that this was the River of Myriad Tribulations. Ji He had used it once, and Hong Xia was able to use it as well. It was a technique that could trap time and simulate the River of Aeons to unleash 10,000 palm strikes. In theory, it was a technique that could unleash an infinite number of attacks. Lu Yin had seen many similar methods, but there was no question that Hong Xia’s was the strongest of those that Lu Yin had seen.

For Hong Xia to use the River of Myriad Tribulations to simulate a River of Aeons against Old Man Hehe, a ferryman of the River of Aeons—who could say if this was arrogance or something else.

The man’s two hands struck out, and countless hand prints blasted at Old Man Hehe. The entire cosmos was forced sideways. Although the hand prints were being constantly dissolved by the Clear Sky Locked Earth Array and only a small portion reached Old Man Hehe, they were far from weak.

Old Man Hehe drew a gray line of time in front of itself: Time’s Horizon. This was another technique that created infinite repetitions with the power of time, and it could also theoretically release infinite attacks.

This technique utilized nearly the same principles as Hong Xia’s.

Countless purple swords sliced across the cosmos to meet the countless hand prints.

The entire region was shattered by the resulting shockwave, rendering Lu Yin and Ji temporarily unable to clearly see the outside battlefield.

Lu Yin’s attention shifted, his awareness returning to his true body. He teleported into the Umbrella Dominion and carried both his divine energy clone and Ji out.

Seeing this, Hong Xia’s heart dropped. He had actually forgotten this brat could teleport. Although Lu Yin was fighting with just a clone, he could freely summon his true body at will. Had Hong Xia realized this sooner, he would have used his line of divine energy to create a cage with Umbrella Dominion, making it far more challenging for Lu Yin to teleport out.

A rain of purple swords fell, each one slashing at Hong Xia. The Clear Sky Locked Earth Array unquestionably granted Old Man Hehe the advantage.

Hong Xia gritted his teeth. With a tap of his index and middle fingers, he retreated.

Lu Yin saw this and called out, “Old Man, retreat!”

He had seen this move before. When Hong Xia had fought against Second Furball, he had used this move to break the shield itself. Second Furball had once been Qiu Huang’s shield, and it had possessed incredible defenses. That showed just how powerful this move of Hong Xia’s was.

Lu Yin’s warning was late, but Old Man Hehe had already started retreating. It had started moving back even before Lu Yin’s warning.

“Hehe, Absolute of No Absolutes. This is Hong Xia’s unseen world. Long ago, it shook the Nine Ramparts. How could this old man not be aware of it?”

At this moment, Lu Yin’s awareness returned to his divine energy clone. He released another palm strike: Endless Recall.

The attack struck Hong Xia, and his mind again returned to the Nine Ramparts era. He was forced to relive Hong Shuang and Qiu Huang’s decisive battle.

The man’s expression grew cold. Compared to the previous scene of an entire megaverse of humans being slaughtered, this scene failed to incite almost any emotional reaction from him.

“Given another chance, I would do exactly the same! I want to live, not die. This is the only path.”

Lu Yin charged at Hong Xia, and a beam of tri-colored divine energy shot across the expanse.

Hong Xia tapped his index and middle fingers towards Lu Yin, who felt his hair suddenly stand on end. He could not endure this move.

At that moment, a cubic tunnel swept through the void in an instant. It covered such a vast range that it even managed to envelope Hong Xia.

Absolute of No Absolutes. There were no absolutes in existence. Absolute retreat would manifest as infinite attacks. There was only one attack, yet it contained endless attacks. The result was that an opponent’s defenses would inevitably be broken.

The only exception to that was if someone’s defenses could, at least in theory, never be broken by Hong Xia’s power. But as long as that was not true, the endless attacks would eventually break through.

The beam of tri-colored divine energy was readily scattered. Lu Yin watched as Hong Xia’s attack fell upon him and raised a hand to meet it. Since he could not dodge, he would trade injury for injury.

Blood sprayed across the Aevum Inch. The attack pierced Lu Yin’s shoulder, while his own Endless Recall struck Hong Xia.

Hong Xia yet again returned to the Nine Ramparts era: the war against the Nine Ramparts. Again, it was that same war. Too many things had happened at that time.

This time, Hong Xia looked up and stared blankly into the sky. He knelt.

He knelt while looking up at the Plume Immortals, and farther behind the birds, at a distance beyond what Rang Yu, Jiu Wen, or the others had been able to see, Hong Xia saw multiple other figures. Those were the beings that he had truly knelt to. Some had been members of Obscura, some had been Plume Immortals, and others had been from other civilizations.

He had seen those beings, and seeing them had convinced him that the Nine Ramparts would not be able to hold on. That was the reason for his betrayal.

In kneeling, he had completely betrayed humanity and cast aside his own civilization.

In kneeling, he became the beginning of the Nine Ramparts’ defeat.

Lu Yin and the others watched Hong Xia kneel. There was no hesitation.

Hong Xia knelt on the ground and started to laugh. He laughed so happily, and so freely. “I do not know exactly what you are trying to do. Make me regret my decisions? Break my Path of Dispassion? Clearly, Xi Shangfeng stands with you. You could have killed him and broken seven parts of my Path of Dispassion, but you did not.

“Is it because you care about Xi Shangfeng, or is it because you value him as an Immortal?”