Star Odyssey

Chapter 1926: Great Seal

Step by step, Lu Yin approached the dark towers. He wanted to find the Ghost Monkey.

There was a soft sound, and Lu Yin stopped. He slowly turned around to see a person emerge from a portion of the ruins.

Lu Yin's expression instantly changed dramatically as he stared at the figure in surprise. "Undying Yushan."

Sure enough, Undying Yushan had shown himself. The man had long since been considered dead, but Lu Yin had also started suspecting that the man was still alive some time ago.

Once, when Lu Yin had Possessed a corpse king, he had seen Undying Yushan enter one of the seven dark towers, and that had confirmed to Lu Yin that the man was alive. Still, Lu Yin had not expected Undying Yushan to still be in Aeternus Nation.

Undying Yushan slowly walked forward. He sighed as he looked at Lu Yin. "The child has already grown up. How should you refer to me?"

Lu Yin looked at Undying Yushan with a complicated expression on his face. "Imperial Uncle."

Undying Yushan nodded, clearly relieved. "I never expected someone who rose up from a tiny planet in the Outerverse to ever climb so high. Imperial Uncle is very happy with your progress."

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. If he was being honest, Undying Yushan had treated him very, very well in the past. Ever since Lu Yin had arrived in the Great Yu Empire from Earth, Undying Yushan had lavished gifts and luxuries upon Lu Yin. While Lu Yin had never quite been able to see the older man as family as he had faked his identity as a member of the Zishan family, Lu Yin had still felt grateful and a good bit of respect for Undying Yushan.

Lu Yin had been both sad and furious when he learned that Undying Yushan had been killed by the Neohuman Alliance, especially after the man passed the Yu Secret Art onto him. Undying Yushan had given Lu Yin a genuine secret technique, and Lu Yin had been able to feel true generosity and kindness from the man, and he had come to view him as a loved one.

However, as soon as Ku Wei appeared, Undying Yushan’s death had suddenly come into question, and Lu Yin’s impression of the man had slowly changed. In particular, when Lu Yin had seen Undying Yushan in Aeternus Nation as well as enter one of the Seven Skygods’ towers, all respect had been lost for the man. From that point on, it had been replaced with caution and wariness.

"Didn’t you die? Why are you here, Imperial Uncle?" Lu Yin asked.

A small smile appeared on Undying Yushan’s face as he looked at Lu Yin. "What do you think?"

Lu Yin clenched a fist. "Imperial Uncle, you’ve betrayed humanity!"

Undying Yushan just laughed. "It’s only normal for you to think that, but I can tell you that that’s not the case."

Lu Yin arched a brow.

Undying Yushan sincerely implored, "Your Imperial Uncle hasn’t betrayed humanity. I never did; not now, and never in the future either."

Lu Yin sneered. "Right. Uncle, quit messing around. If you haven’t betrayed humanity, then how could you safely stay here in Aeternus Nation? Don’t try to tell me that the Seven Skygods are welcoming hosts."

Undying Yushan answered casually, "Aside from emotional attachments, people can also get along due to aligned interests. I’ve been able to stay safe here in Aeternus Nation because my interests align with theirs. We are both very interested in you."

Lu Yin lifted his head and said, "Explain."

Undying Yushan stared at Lu Yin, and the man’s eyes looked as though he was looking at a peerless treasure. "When speaking of the Fifth Mainland, the most valuable treasure here is not the place itself, the battle techniques that can be found here, or even the various Envoys or Semi-Progenitors, but rather you. You are the most valuable thing here, and I am worthy of the Seven Skygods’ attention because of you. From now on, you will become my tool!"

Suddenly, the former emperor’s expression changed and became much darker than before.

Lu Yin had no idea what the man did, but he was suddenly struck by a splitting headache. The pain originated from his own spiritual force.

"You absorbed the spiritual force that was within Liuying Zishan, and that made you part of the Undying Manual!" Undying Yushan shouted as he pressed a hand down towards Lu Yin.

Lu Yin suddenly started to recite the Origin Sutra, and the echoes of ancient voices drifted through time. Undying Yushan let out a short scream as his entire body started melting away. He could not believe what had just happened. "How is this possible? How can you resist being enslaved by the Undying Manual?"action

Lu Yin stared at the older man. "So is this the Undying Manual? It looks like you really did pick it up. That technique seems to allow you to use your spiritual force to control others. You really were the one in Gaia’s Swamp back then, and you used your spiritual force to plan a riot."

Undying Yushan clutched his head as he howled. He gritted his teeth and glared at Lu Yin. "So that was you! You killed my remnant there!"

Lu Yin reached out to grab Undying Yushan's neck, but his hand passed right through the man. Lu Yin’s expression changed. "This isn’t your real body?"

Undying Yushan gave a bitter smile. "Of course not! How could I be dumb enough to enter Aeternus Nation with my actual body? Boy, don’t think that you can remove the Undying Manual—it’s impossible! You can never do it. You can’t imagine the horror of the Undying Manual, and I will one day enslave you through the technique!”

With that, the body exploded.

There was no flesh or blood, only an explosion of spiritual force.

While Lu Yin was able to absorb this spiritual force, but he did not, as he was very wary of it.

If not for the Origin Progenitor’s Sutra, Lu Yin would have truly fallen prey to Undying Yushan.

In the end, Undying Yushan really had acquired the Undying Manual and had successfully practiced the technique.

"Creating a physical body with spiritual force. What a bizarre technique," the Chief Justice spoke up from behind Lu Yin.

The young man turned around to face the Chief Justice, his expression somber. "That man was Undying Yushan. He’s managed to cultivate the Undying Manual, and it allows him to control people with his spiritual force. He can separate his consciousness into thousands of people."

The Chief Justice was genuinely surprised by this information. "The mythical art that appeared in the Starfall Sea? That Undying Manual?"

Lu Yin nodded.

"When rumors of the Undying Manual first appeared, the Hall of Honor also sent people to search for the technique, but they were unable to find anything. There were rumors that two men from the Outerverse known as the Undying Duo picked it up. He must have been one of those two," the Chief Justice commented.

Lu Yin had not expected even the Chief Justice to have heard of the Undying Duo. "Senior Brother, is the Undying Manual really that impressive that even you were interested in it?"

"When the Undying Manual first surfaced, it was accompanied by rumors that training in the technique could grant one eternal life," the older man replied.

Lu Yin laughed. "It looks like a bunch of people believed those rumors. There were people from the Mavis family, the Specter clan, and even the Seven Courts who made their way to the Outerverse’s Great Yu Empire to search for the Undying Manual, but none of them found it."

"It is indeed a miraculous technique, but gaining immortality from it is too absurd. Not even in our ancestral land was anyone ever able to achieve eternal life," the Chief Justice replied.

Suddenly, the ground beneath the man’s feet broke open, and he dropped down.

The more powerful the individual, the less likely they were to believe in something like immortality. If this were not the case, Undying Yushan would have never been able to safely return to the Great Yu Empire.

Lu Yin quickly followed the Chief Justice. It seemed that his senior brother had found something.

The parallel universe that held Aeternus Nation was not a reflection of the entire universe, but rather only the planet that held the kingdom.

The surface of Aeternus Nation continued to shatter as the Chief Justice descended underground. Finally, he arrived at what looked to be a box in the depths of the earth. It seemed to be made of stone or metal, nothing special. Despite that, it could not be destroyed by the Chief Justice’s power.

The man continued going further down until all that greeted them was the darkness of outer space. They had arrived at the bottom of Aeternus Nation.

Lu Yin grew curious as he stared at the box floating in the middle of an empty chamber. "Senior Brother, what is that?"

"The foundation."

Lu Yin was taken aback. "This simple looking thing is the foundation of Aeternus Nation?"

"This is what allows the corpse kings to find this parallel universe."

Lu Yin stared at the box. "It looks to be a large seal. What are those characters carved on it? Do you know that language, Senior Brother?"

"I don’t."

"You don't even recognize them?" Lu Yin was surprised.

The Chief Justice put the seal away. "Let’s go-"

"Wait!" Lu Yin quickly called out. "Senior Brother, if you take that away, doesn’t that mean that we won’t be able to go back to this place again in the future?"

"Yes."

"Then, what’s going to happen to all this death energy?"

The Chief Justice remained silent.

Lu Yin licked his lips and then smiled. "Um… Senior Brother, could you leave it here for a bit longer? It’s probably nothing more than an anchor for this place, and it won’t be of any use after its taken away. It’d be better to leave it here so that I can come back again in the future to absorb the rest of the death energy. Senior Brother, could you just leave it here until I clear out the death energy and then take it? Would that work?"

Lu Yin anxiously stared at the figure before him that was entirely shrouded in darkness.

The big seal drifted out from the darkness, and Lu Yin took it in surprise.

"Thank you, Senior Brother. By the way, how do I use this to find this Aeternus Nation in the future?"

"Leave a mark of your own on it."

"A mark?"

"Blood, some sort of trace from a battle technique. Something. The stronger the trace that you can leave, the better. It will act as a beacon to this place’s location, so as long as you leave some trace of yourself on it, you’ll be able to sense this parallel universe. However, before you do that, remove all of the existing marks on it."

"How do I do that?" Lu Yin was puzzled.

The Chief Justice took the box back, and a short while later, it reappeared.

Lu Yin took the box. It barely looked any different from before, and the only change that he could see was that it seemed to be a bit cleaner. When it had been marked before, someone must have used their blood, battle techniques, or other skills. Lu Yin had no idea how to remove those marks, but luckily, his senior brother was present.

The Chief Justice then left. Lu Yin stared at the box in his hand, especially the writing on the bottom. He could not recognize any of the characters, and they looked even older than the ones used by the Wen family’s Literary Prison. After all, not even the Chief Justice had recognized this writing. Lu Yin could show it to the Second Nightking, as the man had lived for a very long time, but the man was unlikely to recognize anything that even the Chief Justice was ignorant of.

Mark the foundation, but how? With blood? No, the Lu family’s blood was extraordinary, and this foundation was something that the Aeternals had created. Who knew what other functions it might have? The Chief Justice was truly powerful, but at best, he could only compare to a Semi-Progenitor. There were many things the man might not be aware of.

If blood was not an option, then only a battle technique could be used.

Lu Yin thought about his options for a while as he stared at the box. Finally, he raised a hand and sent out a bit of death energy. The death energy roiled about in Lu Yin’s hand and then covered his face. This was the Mask of Death. When Lu Yin had absorbed that massive amount of death energy earlier, he had seen the God of Death’s face, or rather the Ancient Progenitor’s mask. That experience had allowed him to understand the words “Mask of Death,” as well as how to use the technique.

The Mask of Death was a technique that covered a person’s face with death energy, but beyond that, it also altered a person’s appearance.

This was an ability that Lu Yin was excited to use, as it was one of the God of Death’s personal battle techniques. Lu Yin was curious to see if anyone would be able to see through it.

This was his first time trying to use the technique, and it was not an easy technique to use or master. After all, this was something from the God of Death, and it naturally required delicate control of death energy to form the mask that was fixed to Lu Yin’s face. After that, no one would be able to see the mask.

Lu Yin spent five entire hours trying to use the technique, but it was difficult for him to complete the mask.

Frustrated, he finally just slapped a hand covered with death energy against the box, intending to use that as his mark. He then left the box in the chamber where it had been found so that it could continue acting as the anchor for Aeternus Nation. This parallel universe would become Lu Yin’s private domain.

When Lu Yin returned to the surface, he found that the Chief Justice had already left with the others from the Hall of Honor and that all of the corpse kings had been wiped out. Mr. Feng was gone, and Lu Yin had no idea if the man was dead or alive. As for the ordinary humans who had been living in Aeternus Nation, they had been left alive, but all of them had been taken away.

All of Aeternus Nation was silent and empty of all life.

Deep underground, there remained an entire sea of death energy.