Star Odyssey

Chapter 2979: Is It Clear Now?

Who could threaten the Scourge? Not even the Lord of Lightning had managed to deliver such oppressive pressure when he came.

The Great Sovereign looked around with cold eyes as she carried Lu Yin across the Scourge. She focused on the black Mother Tree in the distance. "Yong Heng, get out here–!"

Lu Yin was essentially a puppet on strings. He had wanted to ask the Great Sovereign to put him down before they entered the Scourge. After all, a fight might break out at any moment between the Great Sovereign and True God. However, Lu Yin did not dare to say a word, out of fear of disturbing the Great Sovereign.

True God and the Great Sovereign must have had many fierce fights over the years. Was it possible that this was the first time the Great Sovereign had entered the Scourge? Absolutely not. She was quite familiar with this place.

"Tai Hong, how dare you come in?" Progenitor Xi tore through the void to appear before the Great Sovereign.

The Great Sovereign looked at the other woman. She did not speak a word as she waved her hand, causing a wave of sequence particles to strike Progenitor Xi like a tsunami. The Great Sovereign had used nothing but sequence particles to suppress Progenitor Xi.

Progenitor Xi's expression changed, and she unhesitatingly retreated.

The Great Sovereign spared the woman a cold glance before taking a step forward and continuing on towards the black Mother Tree.

Behind her, Sovereign Dou Sheng blazed with golden light. His golden cudgel flickered out as a white streak flashed by. Skydog was attacking. He had noticed Sovereign Dou Sheng. Anytime the Sovereign appeared, Skydog would go and get beaten by the man. After all, it was impossible for the man to kill the dog.

Lu Tianyi was right behind the Sovereign. "Great Sovereign, release Little Seven!"

No matter how hard Lu Tianyi pursued the two, he could not draw any closer to the Great Sovereign. He watched as she crushed the void and moved closer to the black Mother Tree.

Down below, Zhong Pan barely managed to escape being trampled to death, though his tower was shattered.

"Great Sovereign!" Lu Tianyi bellowed. In front of him, Progenitor Xi’s sword flashed, but Lu Tianyi just raised a finger and retaliated with a bang.

"The Dao of One Heavens?" Progenitor Xi was stunned. "Are you Chu Yi’s disciple?"

Lu Tianyi’s expression turned ugly as he stared into the distance. He was very worried that the Great Sovereign would kill Lu Yin.

At that instance, the Great Sovereign crushed the temple and stepped onto the black Mother Tree itself.

Lu Yin’s breathing quickened. He had never been this close to the black Mother Tree before. The waterfall of divine energy was falling right in front of him. The closer he drew, the stronger his desire grew. For some reason, this cascading divine energy held a strong attraction for him, and the dark-red star in his universe was vibrating.

He quickly suppressed it before the Great Sovereign noticed anything.

The woman’s attention was entirely focused on the black Mother Tree. “Yong Heng, why aren’t you showing yourself?”

She then started to ascend higher and higher, climbing onto the Mother Tree. She reached the same location where the Lord of Lightning had stood, and once there, the Great Sovereign raised her hand up high and swung it down.

"Tai Hong, you actually came here." True God’s voice rang out. His hand stretched out from the black Mother Tree and blocked the Great Sovereign’s attack.

There was a bang, and the void exploded as a slash shot across the sky, splitting it across the entire Scourge. The sky was severed from the ground below.

The Great Sovereign pulled her hand back. "This little thing from the Lu family has made seclusion impossible for me, so you can also forget about it."

She then lifted Lu Yin up. "Didn’t you want to see the full power of Aeternus? See it for yourself."

A branch of the black Mother Tree that had been blocking their view of the surrounding area was cut off. Through the opened space, Lu Yin stared into the distance. His pupils shrank to pinpricks, and disbelief covered his face. He felt as though he had just been struck by lightning. How was this even possible?

Throughout Lu Yin’s life as a cultivator, he had seen many shocking sights, but what filled his vision at this moment was something that he struggled to accept.

What was he seeing?

He saw another land mass, very far from the Scourge. There was an Aeternus Kingdom there, as well as cosmic doors in the sky above. It was another Scourge.

He looked in a different direction, and there he saw another land mass. When he looked elsewhere, while the branches of the Mother Tree blocked his view, Lu Yin was absolutely certain that there was another land mass.

More land masses like the Scourge surrounded the black Mother Tree on all sides.

The sight reminded Lu Yin of the ancient Heavens Sect era, when the Origin Universe had been at its peak. At that time, there had been six Mainlands surrounding the Mother Tree.

The Heavens Sect had the Mother Tree, while Aeternus had the black Mother Tree. The Heavens Sect had had six Mainlands, which suggested that the Aeternals also had six landmasses. The Heavens Sect had had the Three Realms and Six Daos, but what about the Aeternals? According to the parallels, it seemed possible for Aeternus to also have powerhouses similar to the Three Realms and Six Daos. In that case, what were the Seven Skygods?

Lu Yin's mind seemed to go blank from too many thoughts racing through it at once.

At this time, a white light flashed out, causing a chill to run through Lu Yin's whole body. The Great Sovereign raised her hand and flicked a finger. An arrow suddenly appeared right in front of Lu Yin’s eyes, just about to pierce his head. If not for the Great Sovereign’s intervention of flicking a finger, that arrow would have stabbed Lu Yin right in the throat.

The sequence particles above the arrow collapsed.

The Great Sovereign looked down and glanced around the black Mother Tree. "You have clearly seen this Scourge, and next, it will be time to eliminate the Seven Skygods one by one. This little thing from the Lu family is extremely talented but also very ruthless. I want to see how the Three Pillars and Six Skies, whom you are so proud of, die to this little thing’s schemes.”

"You think too highly of him. If not for being useful, he would have died long ago."

"I also want to kill him, but even more than that, I want to see him disgust you."

On the Scourge, beams of light appeared. More and more of them appeared, each one connecting the sky above to the earth below. Lu Yin had seen such things several times before; this was how Aeternus requested help from outsider powerhouses.

The void tore open within one of the beams, and a familiar form squeezed through. It was the Star Devourer, and his massive body covered the sky.

A humanoid creature, though one with no facial features, stepped out of the adjacent beam of light. Its body looked like it was entirely made of mercury.

More and more strange creatures appeared, as all of the Aeternals allies had appeared.

Above all the others in the sky, Astral Anura emerged.

"Yong Heng, what evil guest are you asking me to help you evict this time? Wait, Tai Hong?" Astral Anura stared at the black Mother Tree with his gigantic eyes.

The Great Sovereign looked up at the sky. "When did you start to specifically cooperate with Aeternus?"

"I love to make money. I don’t consider affection or emotions, only wealth. Tai Hong, if you can afford it, I’ll fight Yong Heng for you right now," Astral Anura stated proudly as he shook his straw hat.

"Astral Anura, you need to be honest when conducting business," True God’s voice rang out.

Astral Anura appeared quite distraught. "That's true, and the Aeternals did already pay me. I’m sorry, Tai Hong."

The Great Sovereign's eyes remained cold as she carried Lu Yin back towards the Endless Frontier. "You will need to call for outside help when we attack. Yong Heng, I’d like to see what sort of price you can afford to pay.

"Show me how long you can maintain this wretched land of yours."

No one stopped the Great Sovereign from leaving, not even Astral Anura.

As the Great Sovereign left, Sovereign Dou Sheng and Lu Tianyi followed behind her.

The Scourge fell quiet. Only Astral Anura's voice broke the silence, in a tone that was filled with schadenfreude. "Yong Heng, your bad guest has gone. While we did not need to do anything, you can’t ignore your bill."

"Tai Hong did not come here for a fight, but rather to show that child of the Lu family that my Aeternus has changed."

...

In the Endless Frontier, at the entrance to the Scourge, the Great Sovereign threw Lu Yin to the ground. His body turned around, letting him land solidly on the ground. His feet touched down on a mix of blood and water, which released a pungent smell.

High in the sky above him, the Great Sovereign looked down. "Is it clear now?"

At that moment, Sovereign Dou Sheng and Lu Tianyi arrived.

"Little Seven!" Lu Tianyi shouted as he raced over to Lu Yin's side.

Lu Yin replied, "I’m fine, Ancestor."

Lu Tianyi heaved a sigh of relief. "That's good."

He then noticed that Lu Yin’s expression did not seem quite right. He looked rather frightened, which made Lu Tianyi frown. "What's wrong, Little Seven?"

The Great Sovereign spoke up again. "I asked you, is it clear now?"

Lu Tianyi lifted his head to stare at the Great Sovereign. "If anything comes after us because of this, Great Sovereign, my Lu family will deal with you!"

"Is it clear now?" Great Sovereign demanded for a third time.

Lu Yin slowly raised his head to look up at the Great Sovereign. While he was unable to look directly at the woman, his eyes never flinched. "I saw."

"Is that what you wanted to know?"

"Yes."

"Do you still have your arrogance?" the Great Sovereign asked. Her voice echoed across the universe, causing the countless corpse kings still present to freeze in place, none of them daring to move. In the distance, Sovereign Dou Sheng restrained his golden light.

Lu Yin remained silent as he stared up at the Great Sovereign.

"There is an impossible gap in strength that might as well be the difference between heaven and earth. You are nothing but a mortal. So what if you have managed to become the ruler of the Origin Universe? Does it matter if you rise up and become a Progenitor? Even if you can fully unite the entire Sixverse Association, what difference will it make? It will never be enough. What does this difference in strength mean to you? How can you believe that you can control everything? All you possess is a touch of cleverness, nothing more."

"Great Sovereign!" Lu Tianyi shouted angrily.

"I owe your Lu family nothing. Just your Lu family cannot make any difference at all. Only by sacrificing something can something more be gained. Lu Yuan has no idea what Aeternus has become. Your Lu family has always limited your vision to the Origin Universe. What makes you think that you can protect humanity?

"All that you have ever seen, all of the universes and organizations together are not enough to compensate for this difference."

Lu Tianyi was taken aback, and he turned to look at Lu Yin. What on earth had the two seen?

Lu Yin asked, "Is this why you are trying to overcome Dukkha?"

The Great Sovereign remained indifferent. "Only by overcoming Dukkha and becoming the strongest in the megaverse can we conquer all others. Regardless of how many ants there may be, just a thought will be enough to deal with them. Do you care how many mortals attack you?

"I am willing to destroy an entire portion of the megaverse and sacrifice any number of peak powerhouses.

"This difference in strength cannot be overcome, which means that we must rise to a higher level. Now, do you understand?"

Lu Yin’s fingers finally relaxed and tension drained away from his heart. His entire body relaxed. "I understand."

"In the end, I want you to understand that you are nothing more than an ant." The Great Sovereign made her contempt readily evident.

Lu Tianyi was growing increasingly worried. He had no idea what Lu Yin had seen. Although his life had not been in danger, if the young man’s mind snapped, it would be a fate worse than death. What on earth could Lu Yin have seen?

Off in the distance, Sovereign Dou Sheng let out a breath. "When people can see hope, they possess the courage to fight. Even when they can't see hope, as long as they can see the end, the stupid ones will dare to fight. However, if you can't even see the end, how can you fight?"

Humans believed that they were roughly equal to Aeternus. Both of them ground away at each other on the Endless Frontier, sometimes winning and sometimes losing. However, the truth was that this was nothing more than what the Aeternals were willing to let humanity see. It was possible for Aeternus to mobilize its full strength and crush humanity at any time, if they so chose.

Humanity was essentially on the side of a cliff. No matter how hard they try to climb up, they would never even see the top. Such despair was enough to drive a person mad.

Even though he was confused and felt despair, not everyone could accept the truth about the Aeternals, let alone a young man who was not even a Progenitor yet.