Star Odyssey

Chapter 2083: Attack

Lu Yin still vividly remembered how, when they had been students at Astral-10, absolutely no one had ever wanted Coco’s healing. Just the idea of being stabbed by such a terrifying needle gave Lu Yin the chills. Coco must have worked hard to hold back back then.

Everyone else remained immersed in their own illusions as their battle force was guided through their bodies. Lu Yin spent a few days considering the matter before deciding to not resist the middle-aged man’s spiritual force, as doing so rendered this entire training completely meaningless.

Lu Yin slowly relaxed his spiritual force and allowed the middle-aged man's spiritual force to guide his own mind along.

Just a short bit of time passed, and Lu Yin found himself staring at the collapse of the Perennial World’s Higher Realm. Wailing echoed out from the four ruling powers, and their various experts surrendered one by one. The Ancestor Python was wrapped around the Mother Tree in the same way it had done so on the statue of the Origin Progenitor. Unfortunately, everything he was seeing was false.

Lu Yin was fully aware that he was looking at an illusion, and he found it impossible to convince himself that what he was seeing was real. Sigh, this method really is useless for me.

Lu Yin had already heard that the plan was to use an entire month on this particular training method, but he did not have a month to waste away.

Since he had already acquired the method for cultivating battle force, there was no need for Lu Yin to waste any more time.

After considering the matter, Lu Yin pulled a candle out of his cosmic ring and lit it while the two men from Team Resolution were not paying attention.

While it was impossible for Lu Yin to use any of his own internal energies, Truesight was completely unaffected.

The two men from Team Resolution and the middle-aged man all looked over at Lu Yin, confused. A candle?

Lu Yin looked up and smiled at the three men. As the candle burned, enough runes to compare to an eight-tribulation powerhouse erupted. This was a power level of 1.2 million, and the full force shot towards the two members of Team Resolution.

Given the fact that they were both part of Team Resolution, the two men were accustomed to constantly fighting, and they maintained a highly vigilant state. Still, they had never expected to suddenly receive such an attack at this moment.

The countless runes smashed into the two men, and they reacted just in time to trigger their aurelian force at the same instance.

A terrifying boom rang across Sword Mountain, and massive spatial tears opened up in every direction. A shockwave swept out that lifted everyone into the air.

The two men from Team Resolution spat out blood. The overwhelming number of runes shattered their aurelian force. While they both had power levels of over a million, neither of them had passed their eighth tribulation yet. That, combined with a sneak attack, meant that they were instantly crushed by Lu Yin’s attack.

He shot forward, grabbed Scarface, and left.

The second man from Team Resolution was seriously injured, and he coughed up more blood. However, even with his consciousness fading, he managed to force himself to move and attack with a power vessel.

Unfortunately for the man, Lu Yin had already activated his Netherworld River and disappeared.

Everything happened so quickly that no one had any idea what happened, aside from the wounded member of Team Resolution.

The middle-aged spiritual force cultivator had passed out at the very beginning of Lu Yin’s assault, as he had also been caught up in the aftershocks of the runes’ attack. Fortunately, he had not been directly hit by the attack, or else he would have instantly died.

Xia Luo and the other eight people were tossed up into the air, and only after Lu Yin was gone were they able to even react. When they opened their eyes, they saw that Sword Mountain had been split asunder and that Scarface had disappeared.

The second man from Team Resolution was beyond furious that Xing Kai had actually attacked them. No, he couldn’t have been Xing Kai! Xing Kai doesn’t have anywhere close to the level of strength needed to deal with us.

The man endured his wounds as he pulled out his wireless jincan and immediately sent a report to Hen Xin.

In the far distant Neoverse, Hen Xin was still staring at Progenitor Chen's Mausoleum, his thoughts unknown.

When his wireless jincan trembled, he looked down at the message, and his expression changed drastically as he became furious. "Hen San was captured? By whom?"

"I don't know. They disguised themselves as Xing Kai and then suddenly attacked during the group training with the selected team. They used Gods' Origin’s technique," came the reply.

Hen Xin clenched his fists. Truesight? Gods’ Origin had no true powerhouses, and their most powerful expert had only passed three tribulations. How could any of their people have managed to attack and defeat both Hen San and Hen Qi1 at the same time?

"How strong were they?" Hen Xin pressed.

Hen Qi, the second man from Team Resolution who had been badly injured, felt ashamed as he answered, "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Hen Xin’s rage was only growing.

Hen Qi quickly explained, "The kidnapper disguised themselves as Xing Kai, and even their cultivation seemed to be exactly the same as Xing Kai's. Neither of us were able to notice anything out of place, but the fact that they were able to defeat both Hen San and I at the same time with Truesight means that they should have passed at least eight tribulations."

"Gods' Origin doesn't have any eight-tribulation experts," Hen Xin retorted, "Stay right where you are and don't move."

Hen Xin then immediately called Elder Gong.

Gods’ Origin was located within the area that Honor Heavenly Gate protected and controlled. While Gods’ Origin was not a part of the Honor Heavenly Gate, they were still under Elder Gong’s protection.

Elder Gong was surprised to receive a sudden call from Hen Xin.

"I want to speak with someone from Gods' Origin," Hen Xin stated very bluntly.

Elder Gong frowned. "It’s still unknown whether the Rune Progenitor is still alive or not, and we have no way of knowing whether or not runes will one day vanish from the universe. Truesight will never be able to become a common cultivation method in the Fifth Mainland, so there’s no use even if you do get a hold of Truesight."

Hen Xin had considered many alternate cultivation methods over the years. He had approached Jue Yi and the Undying Heavenly Gate about joining forces, and he had even considered the possibility of cooperating with Destina. His reasons for these negotiations had always been very clear.

Despite the fact that Hen Xin had yet to see any success at all, Elder Gong believed that the man still had not given up.

"I don't need Truesight. There’s something else I need to discuss with Gods' Origin," Hen Xin replied.

Elder Gong thought for a bit, but he eventually gave Hen Xin the code to contact God of Mirrors’ wireless jincan. Just a short time later, Hen Xin reached out to God of Mirrors.

Elder Gong had already told God of Mirrors to expect a message from Hen Xin, so the man was not surprised. "What can I do for you, Senior?"

"Does your Gods’ Origin have an eight-tribulation powerhouse?" Hen Xin got straight to the point.

God of Mirrors felt rather puzzled. "Of course not. Why do you ask, Senior?"

Hen Xin's eyes flickered. "Someone attacked my Team Resolution. They used Truesight to instantly injure two of the members of Team Resolution."

"Impossible," God of Mirrors instantly replied, "As of now, I am the person in Gods’ Origin who has the greatest mastery of Truesight, and I’ve only passed three tribulations. The person you’re searching for does not exist."

"I’ve heard that your Gods’ Origin’s God of Flames is in seclusion?" Hen Xin asked.

God of Mirrors explained, "God of Flames died long ago, and his light has been extinguished. If you don't believe me, you are welcome to come visit my Gods’ Origin and check for yourself. My Gods’ Origin has no reason to attack Team Resolution, and we would gain absolutely nothing by becoming your enemy, Senior."

Hen Xin snorted disdainfully. Nothing to gain? Hen Xin had not mentioned Hen San’s capture, which was of vital importance. It was clear that the kidnapper intended to use Hen San to learn the Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate’s cultivation methods for battle force, but they had underestimated Team Resolution. Hen San would never help the enemy, not even if it cost him his life.

"I will absolutely come to investigate your Gods’ Origin. My Team Resolution was undeniably attacked by your Truesight, and there’s no use trying to hide anything. If you did do this, the Honor Heavenly Gate will not be able to protect you." As soon as Hen Xin finished delivering his threat, he ended the conversation.

God of Mirrors did not appear to be lying, so just who had attacked Hen Xin’s men?

There was one very important detail that Hen Qi had not mentioned to Hen Xin: the candle that the attacker had lit. Hen Xin and his people had no understanding of Truesight at all, as the cultivation method was simply too mysterious. There were all sorts of different techniques that people could use, including one that caused people to disappear from being looked at. The cultivation technique was fundamentally impossible to understand.

Creating something out of nothing was the strongest impression that people had of Truesight, but because it was a mystifying cultivation method, no one was surprised by anything that Truesight accomplished, let alone something as simple as someone lighting a candle.

If Hen Qi had mentioned the candle, Hen Xin would have instantly been reminded of the great battle against the Aeternals, as Lu Yin had used a candle at that time to attack Marquis Wang and a few others.action

Unfortunately, Hen Qi had not mentioned anything.

Suddenly, Hen Xin received another message from God of Mirrors.

The man glanced at his wireless jincan and accessed the message.

"Senior, if you want to know about someone who’s managed to surpass this junior’s mastery of Truesight, then there’s one person whom I have no idea what level their mastery has reached," the message stated.

Hen Xin’s eyes narrowed, and he quickly asked, "Who?"

"God of Magenta, or at least that was their name when they were part of my Gods’ Origin. They are actually one of Xia Ji’s clones," God of Mirrors replied.

Hen Xin was caught off guard for a moment before he remembered that Xia Ji had indeed once mentioned that he knew Truesight. "Is his mastery of Truesight very high?"

"While I don’t know the specifics, I can confidently say that his mastery far surpasses this junior’s. Senior Xia Ji is a Semi-Progenitor, and this junior can’t see through his cultivation," God of Mirrors responded.

Hen Xin ended the communications again as he fell deep into thought.

Was Xia Ji truly the only person with a greater mastery of Truesight than God of Mirrors? Could Xia Ji have been the one who had attacked the two members of Team Resolution? That was unlikely. If Xia Ji had wanted to take action, there would have been no need for him to use Truesight and expose himself, as it would have been quite easy for a Semi-Progenitor to conceal their identity. However, there really was no one else.

Hen Xin kept analyzing the situation. Could Xia Ji have purposely left the evidence behind? To what ends? Could it have something to do with Xia De, Ni Huang, and the others from the Perennial World? Hen Xin clasped his hands behind his back as he quietly mulled the matter over.

***

The truth was that Lu Yin had never considered puzzling Hen Xin so badly. Lu Yin had assumed that he would be instantly exposed. After all, so many people had already seen him use the candle in the past, so how could he not have been exposed?

He had never even considered the possibility of Truesight to still be such a fascinating mystery to Hen Qi even after all these years. The man had never even mentioned the candle that Lu Yin had used. No one else had seen it, and so Lu Yin had somehow avoided being exposed.

At this time, Lu Yin was making his way back to the Outerverse. Given the impressive speed of the Netherworld River, it would not take him long to arrive there.

The Netherworld River was a power vessel that was fueled by stellular energy every time it was used. While stellular energy was pulled back into the true universe after being expended, not all of it was taken away due to the vortex caused, which was a silver lining.

It was not long before the Netherworld River brought Lu Yin to the Astral River, and he was greeted by the sight of the tidal flat.

The Astral River looked completely different from what Lu Yin had seen twenty years before. It had spread out a great deal. From what Lu Yin could see now, it was possible that half of Blazing Mist Flowzone had been flooded.

He looked around, but the tidal flats stretched far into the distance.

Over the last twenty years, the Astral River had changed drastically, and pyrolyte had been discovered at the bottom. Lu Yin expected that people were eagerly studying just how pyrolyte had formed in the depths of the river.

Lu Yin just took a casual look, as he had no desire to stop here. He was soon back on his way to Earth’s solar system.

…

Earth’s solar system had changed so much that Lu Yin barely recognized the place.

In the past, Earth had been a planet in a perfectly ordinary solar system, but Lu Yin could see that multiple layers of defenses had been erected around it. With Truesight, he saw a few powerhouses in the solar system, as well as an absolutely massive sourcebox array. On top of that, he could see that, closer to Earth, there was an enormous palace complex. Unless Lu Yin’s guess was wrong, that was most likely the headquarters for the Heavens Sect.

An era had to have a symbol of the times, and the intention was to recreate the Heavens Sect and have it become a symbol of all humanity.

The only place where the reestablished Heavens Sect could be headquartered was in Earth’s solar system, and that was because of Jupiter.

If the Aeternals attacked, the members of the Heavens Sect would be sent to Earth’s solar system through sourcebox arrays, and then they would leave through Jupiter. This was humanity’s escape tunnel.

While there was no sign of Aeternals’ attack for the time being, five Mainlands had already been destroyed. Not even the arrogant powerhouses from the ancient Heavens Sect era dared to underestimate the power of Aeternus now.

Earth’s solar system was also no longer freely accessible to anyone who wished to enter. Aside from the people who had previously been living in the solar system, other people found it very difficult to gain access, even the members of the Heavens Sect. Most people had no choice but to live outside of Earth’s solar system.

1 For the names of the members of Team Resolution, the names are literally "Hen," as in Hen Xin, followed by a number. Essentially, their only identity is through Hen Xin. ☜