Star Odyssey

Chapter 1746: The Silhouette

Lu Yin let out a slow breath as the death energy revolved within his chest. The black and white mist that usually sat there slowly returned to normal.

While Lu Yin was absorbing death energy, Ancestor Autumnfrost was shooting through space at top speed, racing back to the Autumnfrost family’s territory as soon as possible.

Autumnfrost Chen was already dead, but Ancestor Autumnfrost did not care. The only thing that he cared about was the tool.

The man’s face twisted as he stared at the shattered remains of the massive construction project. He quickly approached the center, but once he saw the countless shards of the shattered crystal, he let out a roar and began to frantically search for something.

"No, it hasn't broken, so it must have been taken away! Who?" the man said to himself.

A spacecraft approached from the distance. It carried the members of the Autumnfrost family who were responsible for the construction.

Ancestor Autumnfrost looked at them sharply. "Who did this?"

The members of the Autumnfrost family aboard the vessel were terrified, but they also had no answer.

Ancestor Autumnfrost was truly furious, and he destroyed the ship. None of the people on it survived.

The man seemed crazy at this moment, and he did his best to find out who had destroyed his tool, but he could not find anything at all.

Nong Laohan arrived, and he watched Ancestor Autumnfrost, who was still searching through space for something. Nong Laohan hesitantly asked, "Autumnfrost Feng, why did you leave Ironblood Weave without permission?"

Ancestor Autumnfrost ignored the man.

The old man’s eyebrows rose sharply. "Autumnfrost Feng, I am speaking to you! Why did you leave Ironblood Weave without permission? You should know that abandoning your post has caused Ironblood Weave to be occupied by the Astral Beast Domain, and they have even invaded other weaves in the Outerverse. You understand that this concerns my Sixth Mainland-"

Before the man could even finish speaking, Ancestor Autumnfrost angrily shouted, "Get lost!"

Nong Laohan was stunned for a moment, but then he also became angry. He was a good-natured man who tended to not get into fights, so he did not enjoy a particularly high status among his peers in the Sixth Mainland. Still, people would be respectful when speaking to Nong Laohan, and no one would dare to underestimate someone with his strength. This had always been true of Ancestor Autumnfrost in the past, but at this moment, Ancestor Autumnfrost seemed to have lost his mind and raised his voice against Nong Laohan.

No matter how good-tempered the old man might be, he could not tolerate such behavior. "Autumnfrost Feng, no matter what it takes, I will capture you myself!"

He then raised a hand and unleashed the terrifying strength of a Cosmic Imprinter to attack Ancestor Autumnfrost from the true universe. Nong Laohan was trying to use the power of pure stellular energy to suppress Ancestor Autumnfrost.

Ancestor Autumnfrost clenched his fists, and his breathing changed.

When Nong Laohan emerged from the true universe, Ancestor Autumnfrost suddenly looked up. The man’s eyes had turned scarlet, and his pupils were slits. An unfathomable aura surged forth and shot upwards to smash into Nong Laohan's descending palm.

Nong Laohan was startled, and he blurted, "A third transformation corpse king?"

Ancestor Autumnfrost turned to stare at Nong Laohan. "You… court death."

Nong Laohan hesitated for a moment, but then he fled without even looking back. The Neohuman Alliance’s corpse king transformation was an absolutely terrifying battle technique, as each subsequent transformation raised the user’s physical strength by tenfold.

Corpse kings were naturally much stronger than ordinary humans, and after a third transformation, the corpse king’s physical strength would be 1,000 times its original level. Even if Ancestor Autumnfrost was just a World Imprinter, Nong Laohan did not want to fight against a corpse king with such power, and he was not even sure if he was facing the real Ancestor Autumnfrost.

It should be impossible for Ancestor Autumnfrost to be a corpse king.

Ancestor Autumnfrost moved forward and crushed space with a fist that shot straight towards Nong Laohan. The terrifying physical might left the void quivering as the attack forced its way into the true universe. Everything before the fist shattered. It was unstoppable.

Nong Laohan felt Ancestor Autumnfrost’s attack approach him from behind, and he could even hear the corpse king breathing. Those scarlet eyes and slitted pupils made the Cosmic Imprinter’s scalp go numb.

Suddenly, he whirled around and raised a hand. "Skylock Pattern."

As his voice rang out, a circular pattern appeared before him, the interior of which was entirely composed of stellular energy chains that shot straight for Ancestor Autumnfrost.

Ancestor Autumnfrost crashed into the Skylock Pattern.

He had assumed that he could smash through the Skylock Pattern with his body, but the corpse king had underestimated Nong Laohan, as well as the power of a Cosmic Imprinter. No matter what the corpse king’s physical power might be, there was still a gap in their cultivation.

Ancestor Autumnfrost became trapped by the Skylock Pattern, and the chains bound his limbs. He was quickly and completely suppressed by the technique.

Nong Laohan spun back around and left. He had no desire to continue attacking.

Even if Ancestor Autumnfrost had been trapped, his physical power had increased so much that it not only gave him a much more powerful attack, but also an incredibly robust defense. Nong Laohan was not certain that he could overcome Ancestor Autumnfrost’s defenses.

Roar!

With a roar, Ancestor Autumnfrost fought against the Skylock Pattern using his peerless physical strength, intent on chasing after Nong Laohan once more.

Nong Laohan looked back, but it was impossible for him to kill the creature, as he had only managed to trap it for less than ten seconds. Helpless, Nong Laohan attacked again, and another Skylock Pattern shot through space.

This time, Ancestor Autumnfrost dodged the attack. Even if he could destroy the Skylock Pattern, he did not want to be trapped again.

However, despite clearly avoiding the attack, the Skylock Pattern changed directions and struck Ancestor Autumnfrost from behind, trapping him once more.

Nong Laohan seized this opportunity to escape.

A Cosmic Imprinter was far faster than a World Imprinter.

By the time that Ancestor Autumnfrost destroyed the second Skylock Pattern, Nong Laohan had long since disappeared.

Nong Laohan fled a great distance. His breathing was ragged, but he immediately called Bluedome Elder.

The Empyrean Imprinter was absolutely shocked by the report. "What did you just say? A corpse king?"action

"Yes. Ancestor Autumnfrost is one of the corpse kings from the Fifth Mainland’s Neohuman Alliance. He used a third stage corpse king transformation, and I immediately fled." Nong Laohan still felt a lingering fear.

Bluedome Elder grew completely solemn. When it came to the Neohuman Alliance, the Sixth Mainland also treated them as an enemy, but their attitude was far from the Fifth Mainland’s, which held the position of destroying any trace of the Neohuman Alliance at any cost.

In fact, the Sixth Mainland had even cooperated with the Neohuman Alliance in the past to deal with the Fifth Mainland, even if very rarely.

At least, this had been the Sixth Mainland’s attitude before their home had been destroyed by Aeternus. After the Sixth Mainland’s destruction, the Sixth Mainland’s attitude towards the Neohuman Alliance had completely changed, and they also believed that all corpse kings needed to be eradicated.

In some ways, the Sixth Mainland held even greater hatred towards the Neohuman Alliance than the Fifth Mainland. While the Fifth Mainland’s hatred was born of old feuds and rules that had been passed down from ancient times, the Sixth Mainland’s enmity was fresh. Naturally, their hatred for the Neohuman Alliance far surpassed what they felt for the Fifth Mainland.

Upon learning that Ancestor Autumnfrost was a disguised corpse king, Bluedome Elder immediately ordered Ancestor Lingtong, who was the closest powerhouse, to cooperate with Nong Laohan and Ancestor Sightless to deal with Ancestor Autumnfrost. As for the Great Eastern Alliance, they were a much lower priority.

Nong Laohan told Bluedome Elder that he could not handle Ancestor Autumnfrost alone.

"Your Excellency, after undergoing a third stage corpse king transformation, Ancestor Autumnfrost is definitely not something that we can compare to. He is too strong now, and we will at least need some Empyrean Imprinters to handle him," Nong Laohan hesitantly protested.

Bluedome Elder answered in a low voice, "He is nothing more than a World Imprinter. Even if he did undergo a three stage corpse king transformation, two Cosmic Imprinters are still enough to deal with him. Do you want to us to do your work for you?"

Nong Laohan opened his mouth, but after a moment’s thought, he closed it again. It was clear that Bluedome Elder did not want to deal with this.

"Your Excellency, Ancestor Autumnfrost has likely run away by now, and we may not be able to find him." Nong Laohan really did not know how to handle this matter.

"Do whatever it takes to find him," Bluedome Elder ordered firmly.

Nong Laohan felt even more helpless than ever.

Ancestor Sightless had been left at the border with the Great Eastern Alliance with only Cemetery Keeper.

Cemetery Keeper had a very minimal presence, and he even looked like a corpse. Yuan Shi had no idea how to speak to such a person, so he did not even bother trying.

***

In the pocket dimension hidden at Aegis’s former headquarters, death energy poured into Lu Yin's chest, gradually forming a black and white mist.

He was absorbing much more death energy than last time, and his body was also being pulled towards the black sun.

Suddenly, Lu Yin opened his eyes as a tremendous amount of death energy entered his body. He looked out and saw a shattered region of outer space where a sun was setting in the distance where a strange, limbless creature with no eyes stretched to the horizon and was headed towards him.

Off in the distance, there was a lonely figure sitting on the ground with a black scythe next to him. His arms were wrapped around his knees, and his chin seemed to be resting on his hands. Even though Lu Yin could not see the person’s face, he could feel the person’s abject loneliness, as well as their indifference at facing such a strange creature.

The lonely silhouette and the setting sun were both instantly covered by a black fog, which then condensed into a gigantic black sphere that shot into the sky to strike at the back of the strange creature. The creature could not resist at all and was simply forced to the ground.

There was no sound, and yet Lu Yin felt like he could hear the creature’s wails and frustrations. Still, everything was soon overwhelmed by the black sphere. Eventually, the black fog dissipated, and the setting sun disappeared from the starry sky. The figure’s back also vanished, and the only remaining thing of the scene that Lu Yin had witnessed was a drop of blood.

That drop of blood transformed into the setting sun.

Lu Yin suddenly opened his eyes, confused. What had he just seen? That figure that he had seen from the back, as well as that familiar scythe; could that person have been the legendary God of Death? Had Lu Yin just seen something from the God of Death’s time?

People claimed that the God of Death was nothing more than a legend, and even if Lu Yin cultivated death energy and could use the God of Death Transformation, he still was not completely certain that the God of Death had truly existed. It was possible that the God of Death was just an imaginary figure and Lu Yin just happened to be cultivating something similar to what everyone pictured for the God of Death.

Even if Xiao Shi had read about the God of Death in his mysterious book, and even if the Celestial Frost Sect’s Bai family was certain that the legends were true, Lu Yin had never been completely confident in the existence of the God of Death.

However, Lu Yin was now absolutely certain that the God of Death had once lived, because he had nearly seen his face!

Lu Yin slowly descended from the sky. The death energy had been restored within his chest, and it had even been increased by a small amount. That meant that the duration of his God of Death Transformation would also be somewhat extended.

Lu Yin felt a bit of regret that he had only seen the back of the God of Death. He wished that he could have clearly seen the face of the person who had become the legendary God of Death.

After exiting the Bizarre Sect’s ruins, Lu Yin's gadget beeped. He looked at the message only to be shocked; had such a thing really happened?

Ancestor Autumnfrost had abandoned the war in Ironblood Weave, which had led to the Astral Beast Domain completely occupying Ironblood Weave. The Cloud Valley Master had personally moved out to reclaim Ironblood Weave.

Right after the first message, another arrived. Ancestor Sightless had left the border, which meant that only Cemetery Keeper remained at the Sixth Mainland’s border with the Great Eastern Alliance.

Something must have happened.

It was impossible for reports from within the Sixth Mainland to spread to the Fifth Mainland, but if the matter was serious enough, it would eventually reach Lu Yin’s ears. Still, Lu Yin did not want to wait, so he pulled his gadget up and called someone he had not spoken to in a very long time: Xu San.

Xu San was someone whom Lu Yin had taken away from Earth but had later disappeared. When Lu Yin had entered the Cosmic Sea for the first time, it had been during the Sixth Mainland’s invasion, and he had met Xu San there once again. However, at that time, Xu San had gained the favor of Ancestor Lingtong due to the fact that they shared the same innate gift of double sight. Xu San had been accepted as a disciple and had then become the young master of the Sixth Mainland’s Lingtong clan.

When Lu Yin had met with Xu San in the Cosmic Sea, Xu San had promised to help Lu Yin and the others, which was considered repayment for all that Lu Yin had done for Xu San in the past, but that they would never speak again.

However, as a potential catastrophe loomed over Xu San in the Sixth Mainland, he had shamelessly left a message at Zenyu Star for Lu Yin to contact him.