Star Odyssey

Chapter 2116: Ancient Aura

Twenty years might be enough for people to forget about many things, but no one could forget about Lu Yin, especially those who had witnessed his impressive rise to power.

Zhi Shao had felt relieved when he first heard that Lu Yin was dead, as no one would be comfortable living with such an oppressive peer. It had been shocking to learn of Lu Yin’s return, as it was completely unexpected. Even more, as soon as Lu Yin had appeared, he had taken control of the entire Human Domain. It was just too freakish.

There was simply no point in resisting such a person, so it was better to just submit. Zhi Shao simply felt lucky that he was not Lu Yin's enemy, like Ni Huang and Xia Ji. Even though they were both Semi-Progenitors, the two men had still been captured, and no one had dared to protest.

The Three Fatalities Heavenly Gate had no intention to refuse to give Aurora Enterprises to Lu Yin, which proved how Lu Yin had managed to completely suppress everyone.

A month passed, and many resources from all across the Human Domain had already been delivered to Earth’s solar system in the Outerverse. Publicly, all of this was being done to aide the construction efforts of the Heavens Sect and consolidate humanity’s resources. But in truth, everyone knew that it was all being given to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin’s return had caused many stories about him to start recirculating, and his greed for money had always been well known. Countless people quickly prepared all kinds of congratulatory gifts for Lu Yin’s appointment as Dao Chosen and representing the heavens.

The efforts to reestablish the Heavens Sect were in full swing, and resources were being delivered from every corner of the Fifth Mainland's Human Domain. Once the Heavens Sect was fully established, there was no doubt that it would be the most powerful force in the Fifth Mainland’s modern era.

All of history was converging upon a single point, and that consolidation meant that a new Heavens Sect was about to arise.

It was at this point that Chu Yuan suddenly suggested creating a visualization method based off of the ancient golden characters. This news was like a clap of thunder that shook the entire Human Domain.

In Earth’s solar system, in the area where the Heavens Sect was being built, ancient, golden characters hovered all around each other, and they illuminated an area.

Lu Buzheng stood nearby, accompanied by Liu Huang, Liu Ye, Fei Hua, and many other Envoys. Some other cultivators were standing a bit further away, but everyone was staring at a man in the middle of the glowing golden characters. He was Wei An, a young man from the Heavens Sect era who considered himself to be Leng Qing’s disciple. He had defeated both Liu Tianmu and Liu Shaoqiu during the Dao Chosen selection with a blade, and he was widely recognized as an impressive genius.

It was quite unfortunate that Wei An was an independent cultivator who had never received any resources; he could have been much stronger with the support of a family or sect.

Chu Yuan had suggested that it was possible to visualize the ancient golden characters, and Wei An was the first to attempt it.

Visualization methods were not unique to the Lu family. During the Heavens Sect era, all of the families that had controlled a Mainland had had their own visualization method. Chu Yuan had not possessed a visualization method until he received one during his meeting with the Origin Progenitor, and that was when Chu Yuan had first visualized the Arkfish.

During the Heavens Sect era, many people had been aware that visualization methods were able to greatly increase a person’s strength. However, very few were capable of using such methods or even understanding the principles behind them.

Even if Wei An was an exceptionally talented cultivator, he had never learned a visualization method before. It was something that he had yearned after for many years.

He glanced around at the shining golden characters that surrounded him. Wei An chose a particular character and started to visualize it.

"The power that you receive from your visualization method will have nothing to do with the specific character. Every single character that you see here came from the Origin Progenitor, so what you are visualizing is actually the intention created by the Origin Progenitor," Chu Yuan slowly explained.

Three days passed, and Wei An was still attempting to create his own visualization method.

Ten days passed, and a hint of gold started to appear behind Wei An. It was blurry, but if one looked carefully, they would be able to see the visualization of the ancient golden character that Wei An had chosen to focus on.

After another month, several ancient golden characters had appeared behind Wei An, and during a spar with Lu Lai, Wei An proved that his strength had improved a great deal.

Lu Buzheng stared at Chu Yuan in amazement. This young man had given humanity a great gift.

With the revelation that the ancient golden characters could be visualized, the Heavens Sect started to actively gather all of the ancient golden characters.

When the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect ruins collapsed, many inheritances had been scattered across the Fifth Mainland, like the ancient golden characters, the remaining four cauldrons, and even the Mountains and Seas. The four cauldrons had already been found and collected, and the Mountains and Seas had also been located. However, no one had cared about the ancient golden characters aside from the Wen family, who had tried to search for them.

However, this recent development caused the entire Human Domain to start searching for the ancient golden characters.

In the Neoverse, an ugly expression could be seen on Hen Xin's face. Chu Yuan had never mentioned this method to Hen Xin. If Hen Xin had known about it, he would have been able to provide his Team Resolution with a visualization method and taught it to more of his people, which might have changed the outcome of the team battle. If the results of that competition had been different, Hen Xin’s name would have gone down in history.

Each of the former Dao Chosen had kept their abilities and thoughts hidden deeply.

…

Another two months passed, the Heavens Sect was still being rebuilt. The Human Domain was searching for any of the ancient golden characters that might still be missing, but there had been no other developments. With the power of a Progenitor on his side, Lu Yin intimated everyone, and no one dared to kick up any sort of fuss.

On one particular day, an obscure and ancient aura swept out for a moment before instantly disappearing. Despite only existing for a mere moment, the sensation still terrified both Lu Buzheng and Kui Luo.

They both appeared in Lu Yin's place of seclusion at the same time, and when they looked at each other, they each saw the shock in the other's eyes.

"What was that aura?" Kui Luo asked.

Lu Buzheng's eye twitched. "I don't know, but it was very, very old."

"Aren’t you ancient?" Kui Luo was puzzled.

Lu Buzheng looked away. While he did not know where that ancient aura had come from, it had felt horrifying. He had felt like an ordinary person facing the collapse of the universe, or seeing a giant. It was not an easy feeling to describe, but the man was certain that the aura had given him even more pressure than a Progenitor. This was unrelated to power level, as it was rather intrinsic to the aura itself.

Lu Yin looked around the various shattered cauldrons that surrounded him with a calm expression. He had finally finished cultivating the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation.

He looked around and saw that Lu Buzheng and Kui Luo had arrived. Could it be because he had finished learning the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation?

Lu Yin had not expected to encounter any drastic changes in the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation after completing it, but according to the name, it made sense for something to happen once the technique was fully cultivated.

Lu Yin had even shocked himself, and he finally realized that the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation was not as simple as he had believed it to be. He wondered who could force him to use it, as none of his peers could push him that far.

It had taken Lu Yin half a year to fully absorb the cauldron energy from the last four cauldrons and finish training the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation. While Lu Yin was focused on that, Sapling had stolen and absorbed a great deal of stellular energy.

When Sapling saw Lu Yin moving around, it immediately leaped out of the true universe.

Lu Yin touched the little tree’s branches. Where did all the stellular energy that this little guy stole go? Most likely, it was all in Sapling’s trunk, as that was how the Mother Tree also functioned. The four ruling powers extracted stellular energy from the trunk and roots of the Mother Tree.

As Lu Yin thought about Sapling, the little tree shook its branches and leaves, and a drop of liquid slowly appeared among them.

Lu Yin's expression changed drastically, and he became extremely excited. Was this really stellular liquid?

"Did you manage to condense some stellular liquid?" Lu Yin asked in delight.

Sapling was so proud of itself that it raised its branches high, and the drop of stellular liquid almost fell off of its leaves.

Lu Yin quickly stored the drop, and then he looked back at Sapling.

Another drop gathered, and Lu Yin stored that one away as well.

Sapling continued to condense stellular liquid, and Lu Yin put everything that appeared away. Eventually, he managed to gather enough to fill an entire bottle of stellular liquid.

Sapling had absorbed quite a lot of the original Mother Tree’s unique substance from Leaf King's body. Thus, over the course of half a year, the little tree should have been able to absorb as much stellular energy as the Second Nightking’s reserves, and he was a peak Envoy.

That meant that the bottle of stellular liquid that Lu Yin had gathered was equivalent to what a peak Envoy could store in their body.

"Is that all of it?" Lu Yin asked.

Sapling’s leaves trembled, and it leaped back into the true universe to continue gathering more stellular energy.

Lu Yin was taken aback, and he quickly pulled Sapling back. "If that’s all, don’t worry about it. This is enough."

Sapling became very happy again.

Lu Yin looked at the bottle in his hand. It had about as much stellular liquid as the three bottles that he had taken from the Celestial Frost Sect’s ruins altogether. Lu Yin had never used stellular liquid himself, so he had not been entirely sure how much stellular liquid had been in the bottles that he had picked up. He had assumed quite a bit, as his senior brother Qing Ping had asked for two of the three bottles that Lu Yin had acquired. If those bottles had not had much stellular liquid, Qing Ping would not have been interested at all.

It was only at this moment that Lu Yin understood that each bottle had contained close to the same amount of stellular energy as a peak Envoy’s capacity, and he also understood why his senior brother had only asked for two bottles.

Lu Yin still had the bottle of stellular liquid that he had picked up from the ruins, and he had just gathered a second bottle with the help of Sapling. This was enough stellular energy for others, and even Chu Yuan would be able to complete several breakthroughs, but it was not enough for Lu Yin.

Lu Yin took Sapling with him as he left seclusion. Sapling had done a great job, so Lu Yin wanted to play with the little tree a bit.

Upon leaving, Lu Yin immediately ran into both Lu Buzheng and Kui Luo, who were waiting for him. They had arrived because of the aura they had felt.

"Hey kid, are you done with your secluded training? It wasn’t very long this time either." Kui Luo spoke up the moment he saw Lu Yin.

Lu Yin pursed his lips. "Have you really just been standing around waiting for me here?"

"Of course not! I don't have that much free time." Kui Luo rolled his eyes.

Lu Buzheng eagerly asked, "Little Seven, what was the aura that we just felt?"

Sapling hid behind Lu Yin, its leaves fluttering as though it was batting its eyes. It was very cute.

Lu Yin thought for a moment. "A battle technique."

"The Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation?" Lu Buzheng blurted out.

Lu Yin smiled and nodded.

Lu Buzheng was shocked. Before Lu Yin had gone into seclusion, the Semi-Progenitor had mentioned that he and the other ancient powerhouses were all quite curious about the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation and that he wanted Lu Yin to show him the technique after he finished training. Even though Lu Buzheng had not directly witnessed the technique, the aura that he had felt from it was already enough to shock him.

"The full, combined form of the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation is indeed invincible. It was actually true. Just that aura is enough to terrify people," Lu Buzheng muttered to himself. He stared at Lu Yin as though looking at a monster.

It should have been impossible for a genius to be born in the modern era who surpassed the people of the Heavens Sect era, but Lu Yin had done just that. Lu Buzheng had initially only regarded Lu Yin as an impressively talented person from the Lu family, but as Lu Yin had revealed more of his strength and inherited powers, things had changed. Most recently, the youth’s little tree had revealed its ability to rip stellular energy back from the mysterious droplets, and Lu Yin himself had mastered the Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation. His accomplishments were no longer merely legendary; the youth was simply a freak.

Even Lu Buzheng, someone from the Lu family who had managed to rise up to become a gatemaster of one of the Twelve Heavenly Gate, felt that Lu Yin was too much of a monster.

Kui Luo showed his teeth. "Kid, be honest. Just how strong are you now?"

Lu Yin blinked. "Senior, you don't know?"

The two men just stared at him.

Lu Yin smiled. "Progenitor Realm."

The two were speechless.

"Being able to use the power left behind by a Progenitor is not the same as having the power of a Progenitor." Kui Luo rolled his eyes.

Lu Yin shrugged, but he said nothing in response. "How are things going with the Heavens Sect?"

Half a year was not much time, but given the strength and abilities of cultivators, a lot could be accomplished.

Kui Luo lost all interest in the conversation when he heard the direction it was going. Instead, he focused on Sapling, studying the odd little tree again and again. However, the old man was unable to satisfy any of his curiosity about Sapling, so he soon left.

Lu Buzheng raised a hand, showing a gadget on his wrist. He activated it, and an image of the Heavens Sect appeared in the air. "During our era, the Heavens Sect ruled over all Six Mainlands, and every Progenitor had to join the Heavens Sect. Semi-Progenitors were allowed to join, but even if they didn’t, all Semi-Progenitors had to be registered with the Heavens Sect, and they were then split into either education or protection, which were very simple categories.

"Semi-Progenitors who joined the Heavens Sect accepted the Dao Monarchs’ authority and agreed to pass on their own inheritances and train humanity. Semi-Progenitors who did not join were required to follow the requirements to patrol and protect the Six Mainlands, keeping people safe."