Star Odyssey

Chapter 2114: Seizing Stellular Energy

Even without any stellular energy, the true universe still existed, as it was an actual place in the universe. The only thing that had changed was that it was almost completely devoid of stellular energy.

After Sapling entered the true universe, it instantly felt that something was wrong. The power that had felt so comfortable in the past was gone. No, it was still there, but very, very far away. Regardless, this place was also boring.

Elsewhere, Lu Buzheng led Lu Yin to where the four cauldrons had been gathered.

"When the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect shattered and the four cauldrons were sent into the Fifth Mainland, they were brought back here after the Heavens Sect was established. They were mostly saved here because no one was able to get anything from them at all," Lu Buzheng explained.

Excitement filled Lu Yin's eyes, as there was no longer anyone to stop him.

Lu Buzheng stared at Lu Yin. "The legend of Nine Cauldrons existed even in the ancient era. It was said that the full technique from all nine cauldrons is invincible, but even in the Heavens Sect era, all that anyone knew was that the technique was known as the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation. No one has ever managed to train in the technique, so you’re the first even for us.

"Show me the technique when you finish. Is it truly invincible?"

Lu Yin had not expected to hear that the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation had been a huge mystery even during the Heaven Sect era, as both Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis had known about it. This was really strange.

Chu Yuan had used a secret technique that froze time in order to stack multiple slashes of his blade in a manner that could theoretically produce unlimited power. The Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation had the same potential, but it did not require the power of time.

"Third Uncle, who created the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation?" Lu Yin asked.

Lu Buzheng shook his head. "I don't know. It wasn’t created by any of the masters of the Three Realms Six Dao, so no one ever really believed that it was a genuinely invincible battle technique. The only reason why the technique was highly regarded was because no one ever managed to learn it. Once you finish with your training, even people like Destina will be very curious to see the results."

"Third Uncle, have you ever heard of a battle technique called Origin Tracer?" Lu Yin asked another question. He hoped to be able to learn more about Mister Mu's identity through Lu Buzheng. Mister Mu had told Lu Yin that he had created both the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation and Origin Tracer. If this were not true, it would have been disgraceful for Mister Mu to make such a claim.

Lu Buzheng shook his head again. "Never heard of it."

Lu Yin was disappointed. He was very curious about just who Mister Mu really was. All that Lu Yin was certain of was that Mister Mu was at least a Progenitor, and a powerful one at that. Mister Mu had once mentioned that it would not be easy for him to deal with Corpse God, but that was all. Not easy was completely different from impossible.

Even though Lu Yin had not learned Corpse God’s original identity, he was still one of the Seven Skygods, all of whom were extremely ancient powerhouses. Mister Mu was able to deal with even the Seven Skygods’ true bodies, which meant that his strength was unimaginable.

Also, Blackless God had recognized Mister Mu, and Wu Xing, who was Undying God, had also seemed to recognize Lu Yin’s master. Did that mean that only Progenitors knew of Mister Mu?

Lu Yin wondered if the Progenitor of Bloodlines knew who Mister Mu was.

"Third Uncle, I'm going into seclusion to finish learning the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation," Lu Yin stated.

"Train hard. I’ll keep an eye on the Heavens Sect, and when you leave seclusion, I’ll give you a breakdown of things according to how the original Heavens Sect operated."

"Thank you," Lu Yin replied.

Suddenly, both men’s heads whipped around in unison. They were not the only ones to do so; at the same time, Kui Luo, Liu Ye, Fei Hua, the Sea King, Liu Qianjue, and many others turned to stare in a very specific direction. Stellular energy?

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. That way? Sapling?

He instantly took off.

Lu Buzheng was far faster than Lu Yin. After all, the older man was a Semi-Progenitor, and regardless of how much Lu Yin had improved, it was still impossible for him to compare to a Semi-Progenitor without relying on the inherited power from Progenitor Chen.

"What the hell?" Lu Buzheng was blankly staring at a green sapling that sat in the true universe.

Kui Luo arrived as well. Is- is that plant trying to fight the droplets for the stellular energy it devoured? And it’s actually winning?

Everyone had been stunned and drawn over because they had sensed a bit of stellular energy. No one had been able to recover any expended stellular energy ever since the true universe had been drained twenty years ago. Even battle techniques that used stellular energy or star energy were unusable, as the energy was stolen from the techniques as they were being used. Despite all of that, how was some little tree actually extracting stellular energy from one of the mysterious droplets?

When Lu Yin arrived, he anxiously requested, "Third Uncle, old man, help me hide it!"

People started to appear as soon as Lu Yin finished speaking. These people were the Envoys in Earth’s solar system, most of whom had formerly been part of the Great Eastern Alliance. Of course, people like Chu Yuan and Heluo Mavis also arrived.

The Heavens Sect was being constructed in Earth’s solar system, so it was where the greatest number of powerhouses had congregated out of anywhere in the Human Domain.

"What are you all looking at? Have you never seen the Dao Chosen cultivate before?" Kui Luo yelled, and the power of a Semi-Progenitor swept out and pressed down upon everyone.action

All the people who had just arrived stared at Lu Yin as he emerged from the true universe. There was no one who was not stunned.

"Alliance Leader—no, Dao Chosen, were you just cultivating?" Ling Taizu asked. As early as twenty years ago, the Lingling clan had moved to Earth’s solar system, along with the rest of the Great Eastern Alliance.

Lu Yin glanced around at the people who had gathered. "I was just cultivating. No need to kick up a fuss."

Everyone was startled. Cultivating? Kick up a fuss? They had just felt stellular energy appear!

"Were you able to steal back some stellular energy?" Chu Yuan asked in shock. After he had been released from the sourcebox, he had immediately noticed the absence of stellular energy, as well as the massive battle in the western region of the Innerverse, but he had not taken part. Instead, he had gone to the Daosource Sect ruins to search for the Origin Progenitor’s swor.

Still, Chu Yuan was well aware that all the stellular energy in the current era had been swallowed and stolen. It was impossible for even Chu Yuan to regain any stellular energy, no matter how hard he tried. Just how had Lu Yin pulled this off?

Lu Yin clasped his hands behind his back. "What's the big deal? Head on back."

No one had recovered from the shock of what they had just learned yet.

Lu Yin may have simply lost twenty years of time, but the rest of the universe had not. They had lived through twenty years of being unable to restore even the slightest bit of stellular energy, so it was only natural for them to be stunned by such a revelation. Even Semi-Progenitors like Lu Buzheng and Kui Luo were still stunned, let alone the Envoys.

Fortunately, Lu Yin was known for accomplishing impossible feats, and he also held a unique position. No one could force him to speak if he did not want to, so there was no choice but for everyone to leave.

However, this was far from the end of the matter, as everyone wanted to understand exactly what had just happened and what they had sensed.

If stellular energy could be pulled away from the droplets, then human cultivation would change yet again. This was a very serious matter that concerned the entire human race.

After everyone else left, Lu Yin let out a sigh of relief as a sapling appeared and leaped into his arms. Lu Buzheng and Kui Luo both stared at the plant. Sapling was suddenly startled by the two men’s presence, and it leaped behind Lu Yin, only to expose a green leaf. It looked like it was peaking around Lu Yin.

"What is that thing?" Lu Buzheng asked dryly.

Kui Luo had already known about Sapling, but no one had ever mentioned to him that the little tree could absorb stellular energy, let alone fight the strange droplets for stellular energy. This was something beyond the capabilities of even the Progenitor of Bloodlines.

Lu Yin did not know how to explain what had happened. After all, even he was shocked that Sapling could rip stellular energy away from the droplets, but he realized that it only made sense after thinking about it. Sapling was a miniature version of the Mother Tree, and the Mother Tree was a pillar of the universe. Lu Yin had seen the ancient Heavens Sect era, and even with the Sky Pillars’ support, not a single part of the Heavens Sect had been able to rise above the Mother Tree.

The Mother Tree was the center of the known universe, and it was possibly older than even the primordial era.

With the power of the Mother Tree, it was not unbelievable that stellular energy could be ripped away from the strange droplets of liquid.

However, how was Lu Yin supposed to explain this matter to the two Semi-Progenitors?

"I don't know how to explain this. Just know that this is related to Sapling’s special ability." Lu Yin pursed his lips as he tried to give a bit of an answer. Since he could not explain Sapling’s existence, he did not even try to explain what had happened. Sapling was a Mother Tree, and this was Lu Yin’s greatest secret. He could not share this information with anyone.

Kui Luo rolled his eyes. "If you don't want to tell us, then just say it."

"I don't want to tell you," Lu Yin said bluntly.

Kui Luo grinned and stared at Sapling. A burning desire blazed in the old man’s eyes, but they were not the flames of greed, but rather of curiosity. Kui Luo desired knowledge of the unknown, and his greatest desire was to unravel secrets. It was clear that at this point in time, Sapling was more important and precious to Kui Luo than any other mystery.

Lu Buzheng stared at Sapling for a long moment. "If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine. Everyone has some secrets they can’t share."

He then started physically dragging Kui Luo away. "Let's go. This is his affair."

Kui Luo could not accept this. "Boy, tell an old man! I promise not to tell a single soul! Never! How ‘bout it?"

Before Lu Yin could even open his mouth, Lu Buzheng literally dragged Kui Luo away. "No one would ever talk about something like this. You want to steal a junior’s secrets? Shameless!"

"That’s bullshit, old man! I’m just curious, that’s all."

"It's fine to be curious. Time to go."

"Little Lu, I’ve helped you so many times before; just tell me!"

…

Lu Yin watched the two men leave and then looked down at where Sapling’s vibrant green leaves were touching his chin. They were cold and itchy, but they also felt very comfortable.

Lu Yin praised the little tree, "You’re so good! You can even steal stellular energy from those things!"

Sapling was thrilled to hear Lu Yin’s praise, and it started to leap about in its typical happy manner.

Lu Yin squatted down and touched Sapling’s green leaves. The tree quickly calmed down and simply enjoyed the touch.

"Hey, if you get bored, go ahead and grab more stellular energy like you did just now. The more you take, the better." Lu Yin smiled gently.

Sapling raised its leaves and then slammed them down. It was nodding in a very human expression.

Lu Yin smiled. "It’d be even better if you could condense the stellular energy that you steal into stellular liquid."

Sapling did not understand, so its leaves started to droop.

"It's fine. Just do whatever you like. Go and play for a bit, and I’ll take you somewhere new to play soon," Lu Yin said.

Sapling raised a branch to tickle Lu Yin's chin. It showed Lu Yin that it was dependent on him as it hopped and trailed after Lu Yin.

Lu Yin had no idea if Sapling was actually capable of condensing stellular liquid or not, but he would not try to force anything. Still, it would be great if Sapling was capable of doing so, as it would provide more stellular energy for Lu Yin to use.

The reason why Sapling was able to steal stellular energy from the droplet was mostly due to the fact that it had absorbed Leaf King's body. Sapling’s real body was actually massive, though it was impossible for it to compare to the true Mother Tree.

If Sapling were the size of the real Mother Tree, then the stellular energy stolen by the strange droplets would be nothing more than mere water droplets.

Lu Yin might have kept the fact that Sapling could steal stellular energy from the droplets a secret, but he had already exposed himself. It was not long before everyone learned that Lu Yin was able to snatch stellular energy from the droplets.

Over the next few days, people continued to ask about the incident, and it led to a huge commotion.

In order to escape the hassle, Lu Yin went into seclusion. He had already planned on doing so, but he had been interrupted by Sapling’s actions.

Lu Yin took Sapling with him to where the four cauldrons sat. This was where Lu Yin intended to remain in seclusion, and Sapling was able to steal the devoured stellular energy from this location. Even if anyone sensed anything, they would merely attribute it to Lu Yin’s cultivation, and no one would even consider that Sapling might have anything to do with the matter.

Before Lu Yin went into seclusion, Lu Buzheng gave him a brief run-down of the system the ancient Heavens Sect had operated by. Then, Lu Yin had asked Wang Wen to work with Lu Buzheng to start implementing certain things so that Lu Yin could address matters after leaving seclusion.

…

The four cauldrons floated silently in the air, each one showing signs of countless years of erosion.

These signs of age had not been noticeable in the Daosource Sect ruins, as everything had looked ancient and decaying. But outside, the age of the four cauldrons could be readily seen.