Lu Yin recalled the scene when they escaped from the Red Coat civilization under the stars. Indeed, when he said the word "unknown," Red Hero's attack paused for a moment.
Was that a subconscious pause? Instinctive?
"Some fears are like the essence of life that cannot be changed," Jiang Feng said.
Lu Yin's eyes flashed. "Could his breakthrough be related to the essence of life?" He thought of the Immortal Master. The Immortal Master had always wanted to break away from the Immortal Plume Civilization.
For Red Hero, he was strong enough to truly get rid of the trauma of the past.
He had to break through the essence of life so that he would no longer be so afraid.
He had survived to this day because he had knelt and submitted.
Perhaps he could not make any progress because of this.
Did he really think it was easy to lose one's dignity?
Some people were popular.
But if they submitted, their dignity would be gone.
Qing Lian Yu frowned. "If his breakthrough coincides with the three laws of the universe, we will definitely not be a match for him even if we wear away 120% of his Path of Ruthlessness. So we can't wait.
"Besides, you're too young. Who knows when you'll break through?"
This was also why Qing Lian Yu and Jiu Wen felt helpless. They had waited for too long for a suitable candidate.
They had been waiting for him.
But this person was too young. The advantage was that they could make a move at any time.
The disadvantage of interrupting Red Hero's breakthrough was that they were not confident they could kill him.
The original plan was for him to join forces with Jiu Wen to fight Red Hero.
After Red Hero's 120% of his Path of Ruthlessness was worn away, they were confident they could kill him.
But Red Hero's Turbid Artifact …
It was also within their consideration.
The worst-case scenario was what had happened now. Red Hero had used the Turbid Artifact to prevent Jiu Wen from making a move. Qing Lian Yu alone could not solve this problem. Otherwise, there would be no need for so many schemes. He could have just made a move.
In order to prevent Red Hero from breaking through, they had to take action even if the worst-case scenario happened.
"Since Red Hero knows about our existence, why hasn't he attacked us yet?" Jiang Feng was puzzled. But then he realized it was because of the unknowns.
Every unknowable mission was different, and the other unknowns could not interfere.
Huan was almost certain that this was the reason why Mr. Mu could not make a move even though he had escaped here. He had waited in the Ninth Stronghold for so many years and did not dare to take the risk of breaking the unknowns' rules.
Red Hero was also one of the unknowns. Similarly, he could not attack this human civilization..
Turning the Azure Lotus Defense into the Sustenance of the Twelve Merciless Paths was already the limit of what he could do.
"What's a base master?" the Alarmed Lord asked.
Imperial Blue Lotus said, "The nine bases correspond to the nine great human civilizations. The Base Master is the ruler of each human civilization, the strongest existence of each human civilization."
"Every base master." Speaking up to this point, his gaze was filled with reverence. "Every base master is at least as powerful as the current Red Hero."
Everyone was shocked. Red Hero's current strength?
No one knew how strong Red Hero was, but at the very least, Jiu Wen and Qing Lian Yu, two existences that were compatible with the laws of the universe, were not confident in fighting him. They needed to plan for a long time. In the end, Jiu Wen even included himself in the calculations, but there was still no direct confrontation.
One could imagine how strong Red Hero was.
The base master was at least as strong as Red Hero.
The nine base masters.
Only now did everyone understand why the Nine Ramparts Traverse the Sky was a true colossus that was capable of sweeping through all enemies within an area.
Lu Yin had a high estimation of the Unknowns, but even so, he didn't think that they would be able to compete with Jiu Lei.
It was no wonder that many civilizations had to work together to defeat the Nine Strongholds.
Currently, there were a few known civilizations, and they were all fishing civilizations.
If they weren't fishing civilizations, they wouldn't be qualified to fight against Jiu Lei.
Red Hero gave Lu Yin a feeling that he was close to Patriarch Shan. If he had a Quintessence Turbid Treasure, he might be able to defeat Patriarch Shan. Red Hero was a powerful enemy that even Jiu Wen and Qing Lian Yu had to scheme against.
"Why was human civilization divided into the Nine Strongholds?" Mister Mu didn't understand. The universe he was in was the Ninth Stronghold, which was also one of the Nine Strongholds.
Qing Lian Yu shook his head. "Many things in the past have been lost. I've asked Jiu Wen some questions, but Jiu Wen was just an ordinary young cultivator during the Nine Strongholds era. He didn't know anything at all. Today, only two humans understand part of the past of that era.
"The first is Red Hero. He was already a top expert during the Nine Strongholds era. It was precisely because he plotted against the second base master, Red Frost, that a loophole appeared in the Nine Strongholds.
"The second is Rangyu."
Lu Yin's gaze turned cold. "Rangyu?"
Qing Lian Yu and Lu Yin looked at each other. "You've met Rangyu before, so you should have seen many things from his past. Unfortunately, not much time has passed. If you can understand Rangyu's life, even if you can't see all of the Nine Strongholds, you can at least see a few of them."
"Rangyu was Red Hero's greatest enemy during his early days. One of Red Hero's Twelve Ruthless Paths is Rangyu."
Lu Yin understood. "No wonder Rangyu was imprisoned so miserably. He was living a life worse than death. He even had schizophrenia."
Qing Lian Yu said, "The person Red Hero hated the most in his life was Rangyu. Rangyu wasn't a very powerful person during the Nine Strongholds era and had a conflict with Red Hero. Only Jiu Wen knows the details. Even when I met Jiu Wen, I didn't dare to say too much about Red Hero. Such a powerhouse could easily sense it.
"In short, one of Red Hero's Twelve Ruthless Paths is to forgive Rangyu."
Everyone was shocked. "Forgive?"
Qing Lian Yu nodded. "Forgiving Rangyu is equivalent to letting go of past grievances. Let me ask you, when a person completely forgives his greatest enemy, is he good or evil?"
This question made everyone fall silent.
Everyone believed that letting go of the past was a virtue. However, even if someone could let go of past grievances, could they really live happily with their former enemy?
Ordinary grievances couldn't be forgiven, let alone life and death enemies.
For Rangyu to be identified as Red Hero's most hated enemy, it was easy to imagine what he had done.
Since he was forgiven, Rangyu's imprisonment wasn't revenge. Red Hero wanted to ensure that one of the Twelve Ruthless Paths existed. That was why he was imprisoned and kept alive, but he couldn't speak to the outside world.
Lu Yin had seen Rangyu's past and knew what kind of person Rangyu was. He didn't need to think about what he had done. It must have been something extremely cruel. If he were in Red Hero's shoes, he wouldn't be able to forgive him. Forgiving such a person was equivalent to betraying his former self.
Red Hero betrayed his former self and thus became one of the Twelve Ruthless Paths.
Qing Lian Yu's voice was low. "After so many years, Jiu Wen has already seen through Red Hero's Twelve Ruthless Paths. Perhaps that's why Red Hero trusted him and didn't hide it."
"The Twelve Ruthless Paths are plotting against Base Lord Hong Shuang, ignoring the massacre of the Red Shirt civilization, kneeling down to his enemy, letting go of his hatred for Rangyu, sacrificing the Turbid Treasure, killing Hong Yao, Ji He, He Xiao, the West Upper Peak, Parallel Order, Beauty Dan, and finally, me."
"This is Red Hero's Twelve Ruthless Paths."
"If people can become the sustenance of the Ruthless Paths, then so can things."
Lu Yin's eyes flickered. "The Turbid Treasure is the Blood Tower Forest?
Didn't Jiu Wen make that for him? "
Qing Lian Yu said, "Red Hero personally watched every human skin. He didn't make a move because he wanted to avoid being bound by karma. However, his heart is like the sustenance of the Ruthless Paths, placing it in the Blood Tower Forest."
"Then why is the Blood Tower Forest at the West Upper Peak?"
"I guess it's Red Hero's trick to guard against Jiu Wen. However, Jiu Wen saw through it long ago. It's precisely because the Blood Tower Forest is at the West Upper Peak that Jiu Wen came up with the idea of sitting in the Blood Tower Forest. This is also his realization."
Qing Lian Yu was depressed. Blood Tower … Blood Tower … Blood Tower … Just like its name, he felt that something was off.
Jiang Feng asked, "Who's Hong Yao?"
Qing Lian Yu said, "She's Red Hero's favorite disciple. You could say that she's his favorite person."
"Just like his relationship with Hong Shuang."
Everyone was shocked. "He has that kind of relationship with Hong Shuang?"
Qing Lian Yu sighed. "If not for that, how could he have plotted against the Second Stronghold's Lord?
How long did Jiu Wen and I take to plot against Red Hero?
But we still couldn't defeat him. At that time, it was as difficult for him to plot against Hong Shuang as it was for us to plot against him. However, Red Hero saw things clearer than we did. He knew that if he wanted to plot against Hong Shuang, only she could do it herself.
"Emotions are what hurt him the most."
"Don't they cultivate the Path of Heartlessness?" Mr. Mu was puzzled.
Qing Lian Yu had a complicated look in his eyes. "The Path of Heartlessness of the past is different from the current Path of Heartlessness. Lu Yin, if you can't accept those people in the current Path of Heartlessness, then can the other human civilizations during the Nine Bases Era accept them?"
Lu Yin understood. "The Path of Heartlessness is divided into right and wrong."
Qing Lian Yu nodded. "That's right. The Path of Heartlessness is divided into right and wrong. This is the true Path of Heartlessness of the past. The current Path of Heartlessness has been led astray by Red Hero. In order to win Red Hero's trust, Jiu Wen went all the way to the dark side. Actually, those people who were in the current Path of Heartlessness were heartless, but they were born into the current Path of Heartlessness and had no choice in that environment."
"I'm not trying to excuse them. Some people's evil is ingrained in their bones. I can only say that the current Path of Heartlessness has unleashed this evil."
Everyone listened quietly. The more they understood, the more they marveled at the Nine Bases Era. It was no wonder Patriarch Shan's tone changed when he mentioned the Nine Bases Era.
Even he did not dare to provoke the unknowns, let alone the Nine Bases Era's civilization.
"The Red Coats beneath the Stars once had a saying," Qing Lian Yu recalled. "The Red Coats beneath the Stars were heartless, but Red Frost was the most emotional!"
"Red Frost's emotions and the Red Coats beneath the Stars' heartlessness were the hallmarks of that era. But in the end, Red Frost was betrayed by the person she loved the most."
"Her life and death became a mystery, and she also took away the Second Stronghold's Turbid Treasure, which was the beginning of Red Hero's defeat of the Second Stronghold."
Lu Yin fell silent. Red Frost?
If that was the case, then she was not a qualified Base Master. However, he did not know the exact situation at the time. Perhaps Red Frost had been hurt by her emotions and was unable to deal with Red Hero. After all, he did not understand much about the Path of Heartlessness.
Suddenly, he recalled a scene he had seen when Tian Que's memories were shaken.
He had seen a woman in red with her back facing everyone and buried in the mirage.
A woman in red. A woman in red. Could she be Red Frost?
Lu Yin looked in the direction of the Tian Yuan Universe. The mirage was still there.
Was it true or not?
"In the past, the Red Coats beneath the Stars had produced countless heroes. We were forced to attack Red Hero at this moment because we were worried that Red Hero would break through. Ju Jiuwen guessed that the reason why many civilizations joined forces to attack the Nine Bases Era was the same as why we attacked Red Hero."
Lu Yin was surprised. "Worried that the Nine Bases Era would be even stronger?"