Star Odyssey

Chapter 3104: True God's Natural Art

Even though Xu Jin had been severely wounded by the nine-star technique, Restart, Lu Yin refused to believe that it could be killed with just the power that they had used so far. No matter how hard Arrow God and the others had tried to rescue the eye, and even with the presence of Astral Anura, Lu Yin remained skeptical that Xu Jin would be completely destroyed, and that was because True God had not intervened yet.

They were in a Scourge, which meant that this place was within True God’s reach.

When both the Lord of Lightning and the Great Sovereign had entered the First Scourge, they had drawn True God’s attention without even causing much damage to the Scourge. If Xu Jin, who was one of Aeternus’s Three Pillars and Six Skies, could be killed beneath True God’s eye, then what sort of authority would True God have left?

Were all of the Three Pillars and Six Skies or the Seven Skygods present? Absolutely not. In fact, far from it.

What other tricks could Xu Jin still be hiding?

Inside Heaven’s Furnace, the pupil of Xu Jin’s eye was continuously dilating and contracting. The white of the eye grew larger, and it looked increasingly vacant and lifeless. It seemed that, given enough time, the eye would be completely obliterated by Heaven’s Furnace.

This was what Ye Wu believed.

Suddenly, the eye moved again. First, it looked at Ye Wu, and then it scanned the entire Second Scourge, even passing over Lu Yin.

For a brief moment, Lu Yin met the eye’s gaze. At that moment, Lu Yin did not see any hint of desperation. In fact, even the previous ferocity and madness and bloodshot appearance were all gone. At this moment, Lu Yin felt an inexplicable chill from the eyeball. It felt like something was about to happen.

“Be careful!” Lu Yin warned.

Xu Jin’s eye suddenly focused downward. The divine energy that had been held back by the voidforce energy and Mu Shen’s power gently fell to the ground, as though it had lost all power. It simply splashed onto the ground of the Second Scourge.

At the same time, everyone who was present in the Second Scourge heard a faint song.

The Great Sovereign showed a particularly strong reaction to the song. She turned back to look at Xu Jin, despite walking over Astral Anura on her way to the black Mother Tree. The woman’s expression turned solemn. “That’s True God's Natural Art.”

True God had created three ultimate techniques, each one of which was capable of transcending. One of those techniques was known as True God's Natural Art.

The Natural Art represented absolute freedom, being completely unbound and unfettered. It was a matter of transcending both oneself and others, dissolving all preconceived notions while merging with the universe itself in eternal harmony.

The sorrowful song could grant a person a carefree life. Pray to True God. Seek freedom in the Natural Art.

“Ethereal autumn waters, a vague beauty, gazing eastward...”

“Family unseen, ascending the heights of heaven, one person remaining...”

~~

Everyone heard the sad song and instinctively stopped fighting. Every eye turned to stare at Heaven’s Furnace.

This included even Ye Wu.

Inside of Heaven’s Furnace, Xu Jin’s eye was slowly recovering. It seemed that he was no longer suffering from the pressure of the furnace. On the ground of the Scourge, divine energy slowly drifted up into the sky, where it formed red lanterns that floated upwards. It was a beautiful sight, and yet it somehow carried a strong sense of melancholy.

Everyone nervously watched the floating lanterns rise up.

Lu Yin used Heaven's Sight to look around. He could not see any sequence particles being used. The lanterns were purely composed of divine energy.

Suddenly, he realized something. His face grew pale as he turned to look back at Xu Jin again.

Inside Heaven’s Furnace, Xu Jin’s eye was moving while staring downwards. One lantern was slowly rising up, approaching Heaven’s Furnace.

Ye Wu attacked in an attempt to shatter the lantern.

But the lantern seemed to be intangible, and the man’s attack passed through the lantern as though it had struck nothing but divine energy.

"Heir of the Lu family, flee now. This is True God's Natural Art, which you cannot handle." The Great Sovereign’s voice echoed in Lu Yin’s ear. He glanced towards the direction of the black Mother Tree. He could see that the Great Sovereign still had Astral Anura pinned down, even as the toad was frantically racing for the black Mother Tree, begging True God for help.

With the Great Sovereign herself urging a retreat, no matter how reluctant Lu Yin was to do so, he knew that they needed to leave the Second Scourge in order to avoid pointless deaths.

“Everyone, retreat!”

Lord Xu, Mu Shen, and Sovereign Dou Sheng did not argue at all. They all knew that Lu Yin would never abandon an opportunity to kill Xu Jin if there was even the slightest chance of success. Unfortunately, Ye Wu was different. He only saw that Xu Jin was about to be obliterated within the furnace, and the man refused to let go of this opportunity, since he was the one controlling Heaven’s Furnace.

Lu Yin turned to Ye Wu. “Senior, we need to leave now. This is one of True God’s ultimate techniques. We can’t deal with this.”

Ye Wu was unconvinced. “Heaven’s Furnace has never failed.”

Lu Yin grew anxious. “Retreat now! True God's power is not something that you can imagine!”

No matter how Lu Yin urged, Ye Wu refused to move.

Though clearly reluctant to do so, Lu Yin prepared to leave the man behind.

However, Lu Yin had not realized that he was already too late. The sides of the lanterns started to reveal portraits, and the faces of Lu Yin and the others could be seen on the floating lanterns.

Right as Lu Yin moved to abandon Ye Wu and escape with Lord Xu and the others, one of the lanterns cracked and shattered.

At that exact moment, blood spewed from Lord Xu’s mouth, and his voidforce energy dissipated as though it had never even existed.

The Voidlord was utterly horrified. What had just happened? His power had instantly vanished.

Another lantern shattered, and this time, Ye Wu was affected. Heaven’s Furnace broke apart, and just like Lord Xu, Ye Wu spat out a great deal of blood while crumpling to the ground. The man was unable to support himself at all.

Lu Yin's pupils contracted sharply. He had no idea where the attacks were coming from or how both Lord Xu and Ye Wu had been so badly injured. All he knew was that they were too late.

Puff!

Mu Shen also spat out a mouthful of blood. Despite being made of wood, he spat out more blood than anyone else.

The man’s body swayed before he fell towards the ground.

Lu Yin stared at Xu Jin's eye, which was staring straight back at him. "Did you really believe that you could kill one of the Three Pillars and Six Skies? You underestimate us. True God's Natural Art is enough to execute all of you!"

At that moment, the universe within Lu Yin's chest vanished from his mind. His power, his stellular energy, and his various cultivation methods—everything was gone. In their place, an overwhelming agony took over. He could not stop himself from spitting out a mouthful of blood and falling to the ground.

The next to be affected was Sovereign Dou Sheng, and his golden blood splattered all over Arrow God. An arrow stabbed into the man’s body and pinned him to the ground.

In just one instant, True God's Natural Art had severely injured all of humanity’s top experts in the Scourge, without exception.

The Magician, Thousand-Hand Seal, and Arrow God all turned to stare at Xu Jin in fear. He had indeed used one of True God's three ultimate techniques. There were few even among the Three Pillars and Six Skies who had mastered any of those three techniques. They were legends, and it was clear that they lived up to their formidable reputation.

"Hurry! Kill them!" Xu Jin shouted.

The Magician and Thousand-Hand Seal quickly moved to attack.

At that moment, the sky split apart. The Great Sovereign had taken action.

She tore the void apart, splitting the sky of the Second Scourge in twain. Everyone looked up to see a mountain range exposed through the spatial tear. It was the Lu Sanctum.

Lu Yin's eyes narrowed. Was the Great Sovereign able to directly reach the Perennial World?

A huge chasm tore open above the Lu Sanctum. Lu Yuan looked up, and he instantly saw the Second Scourge and the severely injured Lu Yin lying on the ground. The man’s expression instantly and drastically changed. "Little Seven!"

Lu Yuan entered the Second Scourge.

His arrival gave Lu Yin a sense of relief. He had not anticipated a battle that had merely been intended to stall Xu Jin to transform into such a massive showdown. With Ancestor Yuan’s appearance, True God would not be able to stay on the sidelines.

The moment that Lu Yuan entered the Second Scourge, Xu Jin dove straight into a lake of divine energy. It was unwilling to face Lu Yuan at this moment.

A voice rang out from the direction of the black Mother Tree. "Loam, Tai Hong, this is my Scourge. You cannot come and go from this place however you please."

As these words were spoken, the cascade of divine energy shot out from the black Mother Tree, transforming into a tornado that swept towards the Great Sovereign and Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan shouted, "I merely wish to take Little Seven away. This is not yet the time for our final battle! Madwoman, retreat."

"My Scourge won't allow you to leave so easily." Previously, the Lord of Lightning and the Great Sovereign had managed to leave the First Scourge, and later, Lu Yuan had tried to rescue Wu Tian while Lu Yin and some others had invaded the First Scourge again. Every time humanity entered a Scourge, they had successfully retreated. True God’s intervention had not been considered.

This time, True God was serious, and he moved out from the black Mother Tree.

Astral Anura finally arrived at the black Mother Tree. "Yong Heng, I can't deal with this madwoman!"

An overwhelming torrent of divine energy swept towards Lu Yuan.

A Champions' Stage appeared beside the man, and it slammed down and crashed onto the ground of the Second Scourge. It landed right beside Lu Yin, who understood his ancestor’s intention. Lu YIn immediately clambered onto the Champions' Stage.

The divine energy had already arrived at Lu Yuan, and it swept the man towards the black Mother Tree. That would be the location of the grand battle.

Lu Yin had been saved, but Lord Xu and the others had not. Still, Lu Yuan's appearance had bought a bit of time, and True God's Natural Art was not invincible. The brief bit of time was enough to let Lord Xu and the others recover slightly.

They did not understand how True God's Natural Art had instantly stripped them of all power, but with their strength recovered, they knew that it was time to leave.

However, when they turned to flee, they discovered that the cosmic door they had used had been destroyed. During the brief moment when they had been injured and incapacitated by the Natural Art and before Lu Yuan’s arrival, the Magician had used his flames to destroy the cosmic door.

The only way to escape was to tear through the void.

Xu Jin had hidden itself in a river of divine energy, which made it extremely difficult to kill it.

Ye Wu and the others could only think of escaping from the Second Scourge. As time passed, more and more of Aeternus’s top powerhouses would arrive.

However, escape would not be easy. Arrow God and others would not allow Sovereign Dou Sheng or the others the time they needed to tear through the void.

At this moment, Lu Yuan's Champions' Stage presented Lu Yin with two options: to summon reinforcements and make this current battle into a decisive battle for the Second Scourge, or to find some way to escape.

It would be difficult to gather reinforcements. Lu Yin had originally had two cosmic doors, but one had been destroyed. As for the other, it was connecting the First Scourge and the Endless Frontier. Even if Lu Yin tore through the void to connect to Aeternus Nation, there was no one he could gather to reinforce the Second Scourge. Lu Tianyi had led the Origin Universe’s Progenitors to the Third Scourge.

The only other cosmic door that Lu Yin had could connect to the Abandoned’s universe, but that man might not be in his cave, and trying to find him would take too long. It would be better to use the Heaven’s Sect.

Escape truly seemed like the best option at this time.

Lu Yin stared at the black Mother Tree. The battle between the four most powerful individuals not only shook the Second Scourge, but also caused the other five Scourges to tremble.

Lu Yin was afraid that reinforcements would soon arrive from the First Scourge.

No one noticed that someone had slipped through the cosmic door that Sovereign Dou Sheng had used to arrive in the Second Scourge.

This person looked up at the chaotic battle, and with a single swipe of a sword, he became the center of attention for the entire Second Scourge. His sword sliced through the void, and it was followed by a streak of blood that rained down across the land.

Thousand-Hand Seal looked down and saw that the blade was piercing his neck. When had that happened?

In front of the man stood Kong Tianzhao, dressed purely in white. The swordsman withdrew his weapon, allowing Thousand-Hand Seal’s lifeless corpse to fall to the ground.

No one had noticed the attack before it was launched.

Lu Yin stared at Kong Tianzhao in shock. “Whitecloud City’s Kong Tianzhao?”

Kong Tianzhao turned to look at Lu Yin. “I was helping Jiang Feng lure the Ancient Lightning Locust to the First Scourge when I saw a cosmic door and went through it. You must be Lu Yin. You’ve got quite the fierce battle going on here.”

Lu Yin felt invigorated, and he replied, “Thank you for your help.”

Kong Tianzhao clenched the hilt of his sword and turned to look at the Magician before stepping forward.