Read Daily Updated Light Novel, Web Novel, Chinese Novel, Japanese And Korean Novel Online.
Star Odyssey (Web Novel) - Chapter 4278: Insignificant
Chapter 4278: Insignificant
This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl
The cement spoke, “You’ve actually comprehended karma as well. That shouldn’t be something an Aberrant is capable of.”
Lu Yin stared at the cement, killing intent gradually filling his eyes. Weak civilizations already struggled to survive. Using a Thread of Heaven as bait to fish was just too despicable.
Lu Yin was not someone with overflowing compassion. If one civilization destroyed another, he would not interfere, provided that it had nothing to do with his human civilization. Even so, he simply could not stomach such vile methods.
Weak civilizations longed for a sliver of hope, yet that very sliver was, in truth, an abyss. Humanity had also once walked through such an abyss, so he understood it too well.
There was also another thing: he had actually felt a trace of respect for this chunk of cement just a moment ago, and that left him feeling like he had been deceived.
“Human, nothing that happens in the Aevum Inch can be considered strange. Using a Thread of Heaven to fish? Many civilizations do that. Look across the Aevum Inch—where will you find a powerhouse who truly sympathizes with weak civilizations? There used to be some. Now, there are fewer and fewer.
“As for the civilizations I’ve collected into my paintings, they have nothing to do with your human civilization.” Sensing Lu Yin’s killing intent, the cement hurriedly explained its actions.
Lu Yin’s tone was icy. “Aren’t you afraid of increasing your karmic chain?”
The cement replied, “Collecting them into a painting doesn’t mean killing them. I merely change their living environment.”
“But they can’t move.”
“At least they aren’t dead. If they’d run into another fisher, they would all simply be dead.”
Lu Yin laughed coldly. “So should they thank you? For giving them an existence worse than death?”
“Human, are you sympathizing with them?”
“I’m just disgusted by your methods.”
The cement fell silent. Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. “You use this method to restrain Immortal beings as well, don’t you?”
Collecting a civilization into a painting did not destroy the civilization, and the creatures did not die, which meant there was no increase in a karmic chain from such actions. On the other hand, if a paper boat was torn apart, the civilization within would be torn apart as well. That would lead to the cement suffering at least a partial increase in its karmic chain.
That meant that this method was not actually beneficial to it either. The only benefit was that it could use the paper boats as a means to restrain other Immortals by making them hesitate to strike.
It used the boats to establish a sense of balance with powerful enemies.
The cement said, “Correct. If I encounter a powerful enemy, this is an effective method. I only want to live.”
Lu Yin let out a breath. “Do your kind all do this?”
The cement replied, “I have no civilization. Beings like us wander the Aevum Inch scattered about. Some of my kind may band together, but there shouldn’t be many.”
“What would’ve happened if you’d finished that drawing of me just now?” Lu Yin asked. Before the cement could answer, he added flatly, “You only have one chance to answer. I’ll verify the truth for myself with karma.”
“Then why don’t you just use karma to find the answer directly?”
“Are you telling me how to do things?”
The cement spoke in a low voice. “As long as the image is finished, it can be erased.”
Lu Yin raised an eyebrow. Erased. It was a simple word, and yet the implication was chilling. “Once the image is erased, would I also disappear?”
“Nothing that extreme. My innate gift isn’t invincible. It’s just that, the more I erase, the more severely you would be injured. Given your strength, I wouldn’t be able to erase you outright.” After a pause, the cement added, “But if I meet a being I can directly erase, then yes, that being would disappear.”
“You know of humans, so how much do you know about human civilization?”
“I really don’t know much. It’s just because of the Thread of Heaven. I’ve collected some civilizations, and through their exchanges, I learned about the Crimson Starshade and human civilizations. The word ‘human’ appears in quite a few civilizations’ historical records.”
Lu Yin was surprised. “Quite a few?”
The cement continued, “Even if just a handful of civilizations recorded such creatures, that would already count as ‘quite a few’ because civilizations shouldn’t be communicating with each other.”
“Tell me every record about humans.” Lu Yin’s voice held no emotion in it.
The cement replied, “It would be better for you to just see them for yourself. I have collected all of those civilizations myself.”
With that, it took out one painting after another.
Lu Yin frowned. “Just how many civilizations have you collected?”
“The more I collect, the better I am able to protect myself. That’s why fishing civilizations destroy civilizations on sight, whereas I collect them on sight. However, none of the civilizations in my collection had an Immortal. If they had, it would have been very difficult to collect them.” As it spoke, the cement held onto three scrolls while spreading one open.
Lu Yin looked. Every civilization’s environment was different. When this painting was unfurled, it was completely dark green. The creatures portrayed in it were small, and they looked like monkeys. No, they were much uglier than monkeys.
The cement lightly tapped a spot on the painting. That region suddenly swelled, stretching across the cosmos.
It had only been a tiny part of the painting, to the point of being almost impossible to see with the naked eye. However, once it was projected into the cosmos, it became an enormous expanse.
After all, an entire civilization had been collected within the painting. Even if a civilization did not encompass an entire megaverse, it came close to it.
The enlarged region had effectively been released from the painting. In an instant, the dark green spread across the cosmos, and the small creatures on the land fled in panic, letting out piercing cries.
The cement explained, “Their memories are still stuck at the moment they were collected. In the blink of an eye, they’ve appeared under an unfamiliar sky, so naturally, they’re afraid.”
Lu Yin’s consciousness swept over, becoming another sky that pressed down upon the region, rendering every creature unable to move. The strongest creature was as strong as a Dukkhan. Given its strength, it should know about humans.
Lu Yin summoned that strongest creature and looked at it. “Do you recognize me?”
The strongest creature was both ugly and very old. It stared at Lu Yin, confusion and consideration appearing in its eyes. Then, its eyes bulged, and it hoarsely rasped, “Hu… human.”
“Bring out your records related to humans and let me see them.”
The ugly creature did not dare hesitate. It hurriedly took out a huge stone stele from a storage object that functioned similarly to a cosmic ring.
Lu Yin looked at the stone. It took just a single thought for him to parse the text on it. Images had been carved besides the words, images of human figures.
There was not much of a description for humans, just a few lines: “The creatures with this form are called humans. My descendants, do not encounter their civilization. Do not encounter them! If you see them, run. This is a fishing civilization. Stay far away from them. You must stay far away from them.”
Lu Yin looked at the ugly creature. “Who wrote this?”
“An ancestor of our civilization who once became Immortal, but they disappeared long ago.”
Lu Yin was startled. He examined the creature more closely. Had such a civilization actually managed to produce an Immortal?
The cosmos was truly wondrous, giving rise to countless civilizations and species. Some were born strong but had a relatively low ceiling for how strong they could become, while others were born weak and had extremely high limits.
This civilization was rather similar to humanity, and from the records they possessed, the creatures were clearly quite intelligent. Given the perspective of a civilization with an inheritance spanning countless years, it did not seem impossible for them to have produced an Immortal.
It was no different from humanity; how many Immortals had appeared between the time of the Nine Ramparts and the present?
“Are these all of your records regarding humans?”
“Yes, that’s all.”
Lu Yin soon saw a second civilization’s records about humans. They were similar; both accounts showed great wariness towards humans.
Each of the civilizations’ records were extremely ancient. Their knowledge regarding humanity was likely from the Nine Ramparts era, which had been the most glorious era for human civilization. The Nine Ramparts had spread across the cosmos. Each rampart had undoubtedly been incredibly powerful, and each might have even been qualified to be regarded as a separate fishing civilization.
The last civilization’s records about humans caused Lu Yin’s face to fall, his hand slowly clenched.
“My descendants, remember: stay away from the civilization that brings death. That civilization is too terrifying. They possess endless bones. They control bones and destroy everything. They are the very embodiment of death.
“Look at this! This is the form of humans, a ridiculous and pitiful race. I have never seen creatures so miserable, suffering the most humiliating torment before being destroyed. That death-bringing civilization tortured them, forced them to crawl on the ground, shattered their knees, and tormented their bodies and minds. In contrast, there was a dirge that death itself praised. It is one that I will never forget.
“I have never seen a human civilization, but at that moment, that civilization made itself unforgettable to me. Their misery is something I have never felt, even after becoming an Immortal. Do not touch death! Do not touch death!”
Lu Yin stared at the inscription on a piece of jade. This jade came from a civilization that the cement had collected, and this inscription was part of that civilization’s historical records.
The creature standing before him trembled. It was the strongest of that civilization, but it was only as strong as an Ortuser. Clearly, its civilization had completely fallen. Let alone an Immortal, they did not even have a single Dukkhan.
However, this was also the civilization that had the most information regarding humans.
“Is this all?” Lu Yin demanded.
The creature was terrified. “Yes. Only this.”
“Have you ever seen the Immortal who recorded these?”
“No. That was our ancestor. Only my grandfather ever saw them.”
“Bring your grandfather here.”
Soon, another creature arrived, trembling so badly that it could barely walk.
Lu Yin asked the same question, and the creature thought back, “Our ancestor once guided us. I was very young at that time, but I remember that our ancestor said: when death descends, death descends. We didn’t understand what that meant, and our ancestor didn’t explain it either. They merely repeated certain phrases.
“Still, I remember those words very clearly.”
The creature glanced at Lu Yin and spoke in a dry, hoarse voice. “That civilization knelt, not out of fear, but because every one of their knees had been shattered. They wanted to approach the one who had died in battle, and the only way to do so was to crawl on their knees. They all crawled toward that fallen figure, but before them lay a line of death. Touching that line meant death.
“That day, that civilization endured darkness and utter despair. The lives of that entire civilization filled that line of death. Once it was filled, they could cross. No one hesitated. They all crawled forward, toward that line of death. They wanted to fill it, to retrieve the fallen one’s body, to give him his last respects.
“That civilization was tragic, yet it earned my respect. Sadly, in the face of death, they were insignificant.”
