Published at 9th of May 2026 6:30 am

Chapter 4260: Everything Begins From Nothing

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The bird had waited a full two years before attacking again. What would happen if the strange bird attacked on a periodic basis in the future? It would become difficult to even cultivate.

It was simply impossible for Lu Yin to continue building the wall of his mental state, as he could be interrupted at any time.

Reluctantly, all of humanity's Immortals were paired up so that, even if they were ambushed, they would not suffer a complete disaster.

A year later, the strange bird reappeared and attacked Greater Sancte Awe Gate, precisely locating the pair of Immortals.

However, the ambush proved futile. Awe Gate even had a gate in place to capture all who approached, and she worked with Ku Deng to try to capture the bird. Unfortunately, its ability to teleport made that simply impossible. The strange bird only appeared for a moment before vanishing again, leaving Awe Gate furious.

Another year passed, and Awe Gate was ambushed yet again, which no one had expected.

In fact, none of the Immortals had left their initial area when the strange bird had first attacked, out of fear that leaving would prompt the bird into launching indiscriminate attacks. While the Immortals could deal with such powerful attacks, they were the only ones.

But despite the presence of multiple Immortals, the bird did not attack Awe Gate personally, but rather struck her Frightened Sparrow Terrace, almost flipping it over with a flap of its wings.

After another year passed, the strange bird attacked the mountain behind the Heavens Sect. While no one was harmed, the tremor shocked many of the cultivators in Heavens Sect.

Helpless, Lu Yin went through the Gate of Laws and traveled to the region occupied by the technological fishing civilization. He had no choice but to destroy the Seal-Eater Civilization. If he completed his mission, he would be able to learn more about the Plume Immortals Civilization, and then he could act accordingly.

He did not have any idea just how many times the strange bird might attack them. With different amounts of time passing between the attacks, no one could guard against it.

Also, had the bird truly reached their human civilization by pure chance? Could it have been lured to them by the Immortal Lord? Or could it have a connection to Obscura?

Lu Yin needed to know more in order to analyze the situation. Their human civilization could not afford to suffer such a massive loss.

He manifested a gate some distance away, teleported over next to two other gates, and then placed the third one down before disappearing.

This was the correct way to use teleportation.

When he looked back, there were now three gates in place.

At that moment, from far past the gates, a giant elliptical light appeared, and an alarm rang out within it. "Beep! Foreign matter detected. Beep! Foreign matter detected"

"Stop reminding us. There’s a third gate. There’s probably another civilization on the other side. They’re constantly using us."

"Submit a report to the empire?"

"Of course! Send it now."

Lu Yin left, leaving the gate in place.

What technological civilizations lacked the most was resources. While other civilizations destroyed those they encountered because of the ubiquitous uncertainty of intentions in the cosmos, technological civilizations would destroy others even without those suspicions. It was simply because they required endless resources and could not stop searching for more.

Stopping would mean declining, and in the Aevum Inch, declining meant destruction.

What Lu Yin did not know was how long it would take for the technological civilization to launch a strike against the Seal-Eater Civilization.

He had considered the advantages and disadvantages that the technological civilization possessed, and he had realized that they would certainly move against the Seal-Eater Civilization. They would also never simply destroy the gates.

However, he had underestimated the technological civilization.

The only message that the civilization’s empire sent back was one word: wait.

While it was true that the technological civilization aimed to destroy other civilizations in order to seize resources, it was essentially waging war in order to fuel further war. Still, they could wait.

After analyzing the previous two times that Lu Yin had used a gate against them, the empire had deduced that the civilization using them was in a hurry. Each time, when they had gone through, they had found two civilizations at war with each other. They decided not to rush, as they were certain that there was a civilizational war waiting on the other side. Even if that was not true, the civilization past the gate would need to be urgently dealt with as soon as they arrived.

For that reason, they intended to wait a while before acting.

It might be 100 years, or maybe 1,000. But as long as the gate remained, they would be able to pass through the gate and take the resources there.

It was also possible that the civilization or creature that was trying to use them might not be able to wait that long.

Lu Yin was unaware of this development. He had no idea that the technological civilization had decided to wait.

No one was perfect, and it was impossible to consider every possible scenario, especially when dealing with an entire civilization.

Only when several more years had passed did Lu Yin even consider such a possibility.

When he saw that the technological civilization had no intention of going through the gate to attack the Seal-Eater Civilization, Lu Yin realized that they would not take action anytime soon.

In the Sea of Karma, Green Lotus let out a sigh. "After all, it’s a fishing civilization. They can’t be used forever."

"The technological civilization hasn’t destroyed the gate, so they clearly want to go through it. Technology can’t endure without more resources, yet they haven’t rushed through. They’re undoubtedly trying to outlast us. They can afford to wait, which means that they don’t lack the resources that a megaverse can offer. However, we can’t afford to keep waiting," Awe Gate solemnly stated.

Lu Yin had a growing headache. Everyone was simply too clever, and it made doing anything at all exhausting.

"Can we provoke them?" Old First asked. Given that the strange bird had also attacked the Consciousness Megaverse, the Seven-Treasure Anuras could not stay out of the matter.

After speaking, Old First stared at Lu Yin. He clearly remembered how Lu Yin had been the one to instigate the war between the Blacklight Civilization and the technological civilization. The young human was quite skilled at such ploys.

Lu Yin felt helpless. It was not easy to stir up trouble like that. Could he trick the Seal-Eater Civilization into attacking the technological civilization? It was not impossible, but since the Seal-Eater Civilization’s destruction had been listed as a three-star mission by Obscura, they were likely aware of Obscura and had even had previous encounters.

If one of Obscura’s gates appeared, they would likely destroy it immediately instead of attacking whatever lay on the other side.

It was the same with human civilization.

They needed to either prevent Obscura from activating the gate, with the Gate of Laws being one example, or destroy it outright. These were the only two options for civilizations that knew about Obscura, unless they were confident that they could face Obscura head-on, and the Seal-Eater Civilization clearly did not have that ability.

Mister Mu said, "We cannot control the choices of the technological civilization, which means that we can only consider how we respond.

"Wei Rong visited recently and offered a solution."

Lu Yin looked over at Mister Mu. He had not met with Wei Rong recently, and Mister Mu had taken over the location at the mountain behind the Heavens Sect.

The man continued, "Every living creature’s action has a purpose. Since this bird targets Immortals to kill, allow it to do so. Allow it to fulfill its purpose."

Lu Yin was surprised. "Master, what do you mean?"

"Since the technological civilization isn’t going to act against the Seal-Eater Civilization, we’ll do it. We’ll use the lives of the Seal-Eater Civilization's Immortals to make the bird leave."

Everyone fell into deep thought. They had not considered this approach.

It did not seem impossible. There was surely a reason as to why the bird was determined to kill Immortals, so why not catch an Immortal and give it to the bird?

It would be better than letting it endlessly attack their human civilization.

Furthermore, there was its karmic chain to consider. Even if the bird wanted to keep attacking humanity, at most, it could only kill two or three Immortals before being forced to stop.

And yet, it still felt uncomfortable to take the suggested option.

Their civilization had become so powerful that they were confident even when facing Obscura and other fishing civilizations. But now, a single bird had forced them into such a terrible situation.

Lu Yin alone could not capture the Seal-Eater Civilization’s Immortals. That civilization had five Immortals, which meant that the human civilization would need to send at least five, possibly more. The cost of the increase in the Immortals’ karmic chains would be too high otherwise.

To be forced into such dire straits by a single bird was unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable.

"What are your thoughts on the matter?" Awe Gate asked, looking at Mister Mu.

He smiled. "I disagree."

Everyone looked over at the man, and Mister Mu explained, "The reason why I’m telling you all about this method that might resolve the bird’s interference is due to my respect for all of you. However, if we resolve things in this manner, what will happen to the dignity of our human civilization?

"We have worked hard to get to where we are. No matter what, we can’t let a single bird force us to such straits."

Old First grinned. "I, and my Seven-Treasure Anura, also refuse to endure this humiliation! If we really do this, what’s the difference from being enslaved? We might as well allow that bird to just eat us as a snack."

Kang Tian was also there, but the snail said nothing. It felt like the toad’s words were directly insulting it.

Master Qing Cao was also present. Even he, who had once chosen to join Obscura and abandon the majority of their human civilization, did not want to make such a choice at this time.

It was too stifling. The bird was unable to threaten the existence of their human civilization, and yet it was nonetheless forcing their Immortals into a difficult position. It was hard to accept.

Lu Yin’s expression turned grim. "Then we kill it. We need to find a way to bring that bird down.

"The Plume Immortals Civilization is strong. If it weren’t, Obscura wouldn’t be so wary of them. Still, I don’t believe that the Plume Immortals Civilization can send their full power to us here. Obscura won’t allow that.

"Che once said that I was allowed to join Obscura partly because of my ability to teleport. Teleportation is my innate gift, and it is unrelated to Obscura, but since they need it, it’s likely to deal with the Plume Immortals Civilization."

Green Lotus agreed. "The Plume Immortals Civilization won’t be able to come here easily. The arrival of one bird alone is also not enough to force Obscura into action.

"Every fishing civilization has its own sphere of influence. If the Plume Immortals Civilization truly wants to destroy our human civilization, Obscura will absolutely be the first to intervene."

This was what Ancestor Shan had once said: Obscura was both an enemy and a shield.

Before Green Lotus could say anything more, his expression changed. "Mr. Lu, bring City Lord Jiang over. He has emerged from seclusion."

Some time ago, Jiang Feng had seemed to have obtained some insight. He had remained in seclusion in Whitecloud City for several decades and had only just emerged.

Lu Yin instantly arrived in the Tianyuan Megaverse and returned with Jiang Feng.

Lu Yin explained what had happened regarding the strange bird. Jiang Feng had not expected such a thing to have happened during his seclusion. "Teleportation? That's certainly a problem, but I remember that teleportation isn't unbeatable."

He looked at Lu Yin. "I believe that Luo Chan was once trapped, right?"

Lu Yin nodded. "We did indeed manage to capture Luo Chan. In fact, if not for the Immortal Lord's direct intervention, Luo Chan wouldn't have escaped during our first battle against the Nest civilization. But Luo Chan is Luo Chan, and this bird is a different case. The bird is an Immortal."

Jiang Feng agreed, "Using the method to trap Luo Chan on this bird definitely won't work. We can’t trap it. But what if you don't try to trap it? What if you instead follow it? As long as you can touch it, it won't be able to escape."

This was another characteristic of teleportation: anything touching the one teleporting could be taken along.

The question was how to make contact with the bird.

Everyone fell silent.

Kang Tian glanced at Jiang Fen. Isn't it already obvious? Our problem is how to touch the bird!

"I have a way to restrain it briefly. When it attacks, I can restrain it for an instant and then again for another instant after that. That's two instants. Lu Yin, is that enough for you to touch it?" Jiang Feng asked.

Everyone stared at the man in surprise.

"Can you really stop it for an instant?" Awe Gate exclaimed.

Jiang Feng answered confidently, "I resonate with the cosmic law of Everything Begins From Nothing."

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