Star Odyssey

Chapter 3116: The Writing

Lu Yin looked down and saw writing on the floor in the language of the Heavens Sect era. Ancestor Lu Tianyi had personally taught Lu Yin this language.

"I built a cabin for future convenience - Wu Tian."

"You built this? Didn't we come here at the same time? Why are we so far apart? - Lu Yuan."

"Convenience? You built a toilet?"

"Who’s being so snarky? That has to be Blackie. You don't speak much, but you always stir up trouble in secret. Also, Big Thug, Master is too biased towards you, letting you come here first. I had to wait a thousand years! - Garan."

"Garan, I had to wait even longer than you. What are you talking about? - Gu Yizhi."

"So why are you saying anything? - Garan."

"You guys are all useless."

"Put your name down if you have the courage, Blackie. That has to be you - Lu Yuan."

"Loam, what’s it to you? Blackie never mentioned you. You came here early enough; Master is just too biased - Garan."

"That wasn’t me - God of Death."

"It was you - Wu Tian."

"It was you - Gu Yizhi."

"It was you - Lu Yuan."

"Roar."

"Yellowy, don't think we don't know you're cursing us every time you roar. It's all written here - Garan."

"Garan, you make too much of a fuss about things - Lu Yuan."

"You all came here before? - Hongyan."

"Thanks, Wu Tian, for the cabin. It’s very convenient - Destiny."

"Lassy, you finally broke through! We’ve been waiting forever for you - Lu Yuan."

"Loam, why are you here again? I think that you must have ulterior motives towards Lassy. Lassy, be careful of him - Garan."

"Having a toilet built makes all of you so happy. Do you like sleeping in an outhouse?"

"Blackie, don't think I don’t know it’s you. Just you wait! - Destiny."

"So everyone’s been here, huh? - Chu Yi."

Lu Yin stared at the writing on the floor. It spread across the room and even to the door. Reading the messages gave him a different perspective on the Three Realms and Six Daos. They had once been so happy and carefree.

For so long, people had regarded those nine people as great and impressive predecessors who had been solemn and aloof, untainted by the mundane world. However, Lu Yin was currently looking at proof that they had once been young and carefree, even playfully bantering with each other.

Lu Yin could almost picture the Three Realms and Six Daos writing on the floor to each other. Each one must have been so young and full of life.

Where had they all gone?

Wu Tian was imprisoned atop the Wu Tian Observatory in a Scourge. No one knew what had happened to Garan, and it was uncertain if the God of Death was even still alive. If they had known the fate that awaited them, how would the Three Realms and Six Daos have felt?

Everyone had to carry their own burdens, but they were also unable to see others’ burdens.

Ancestor Lu Yuan felt like he owed Lu Yin a debt for placing the responsibility of the Lu family onto the young man, but Lu Yuan had never laid down his own burden. How much had the man carried? He also had close friends, brothers, and family. There were people he cared about as well.

What had been Lu Yuan’s state of mind when he had seen Gu Yizhi betray humanity?

And what about when Lu Yin’s ancestor had seen Wu Tian chained atop the Wu Tian Observatory?

Conflicting emotion appeared in Lu Yin’s eyes as he stared at the messages on the floor. Those people had all once been so innocent and happy.

He closed his eyes and stood there in silence for a long time before finally leaving the cabin.

Outside, Hongyan Mavis looked to be perfectly calm.

"Those messages written on the floor, is that a conversation between the Three Realms and Six Daos?" Lu Yin asked.

Hongyan Mavis nodded. "Master sent us into the Mirari Realm in batches. This place allowed us to find our own paths. I visited this place several times before."

"You all seemed so happy back then."

"Yes, we were very happy and utterly carefree."

After a moment of silence, Lu Yin asked, "Senior, what’s the story between you and Feng Bo?"

Hongyan Mavis stared off into the distance again. "Feng Bo betrayed humanity. Long ago, my Mavis family took him in and had him nurture our Divine Tree. However, when Aeternus destroyed the First Mainland and started attacking the Second Mainland, he betrayed my family and gave our Divine Tree to Corpse God. Losing the Divine Tree cut my strength in half, and we were unable to fight the Aeternals off. Eventually, the Second Mainland shattered.

"If not for Feng Bo, the Second Mainland wouldn't have fallen so quickly.

"Still, it isn’t entirely accurate to call him a traitor, as he was always a spy for Aeternus who was sent to infiltrate my Mavis family. Aeternus schemed against us for a long time before attacking."

Lu Yin could not resist asking a certain question, "Why didn't the Heavens Sect destroy Aeternus back then?"

Hongyan Mavis turned back to look at Lu Yin. "That was Master's decision. He must have had his own reasons for that."

"But the Origin Progenitor didn't always make the right decisions. If Aeternus had been dealt with back then, we wouldn't be fighting against such a powerful enemy now," Lu Yin countered.

Hongyan Mavis's expression remained calm. "But there would still be another powerful enemy."

Lu Yin was startled. Another powerful enemy?

Hongyan Mavis's gaze became distant. "Nature is that of a stable ecosystem. If the ecosystem becomes unstable, it will bring about disasters. The megaverse is the same. No species can remain invincible forever. Without being restrained by an outside enemy, there’s no doubt that humanity would inevitably reach the pinnacle, which would disrupt the cosmic order.

"Whether it's Aeternus or some other enemy, the current situation is a result of natural law and fate."

Lu Yin stared at Hongyan Mavis. "What would have happened if the Heavens Sect had destroyed Aeternus back then?"

Hongyan Mavis smiled. "The Origin Progenitor’s decisions were not wrong."

While the woman refused to give a direct answer, Lu Yin understood what she was saying: Aeternus had to exist.

Aeternus’s existence was necessary.

However, if that were true, then what was the point of everything that Lu Yin had been doing for so long? The Immemorial Citadel, the Sixverse Association, and uniting the various human civilizations—what was the point of any of them?

Hongyan Mavis stared at Lu Yin. "You're quite odd. I can't tell if you're putting on an act or if you're genuine. After seeing those messages on the floor, you seem to feel sorry for us, which is not the attitude that an outsider should have. We are not the same as you."

Lu Yin felt heavy-hearted. If he had read messages left behind by the ancient powerhouses of another human civilization, he would not feel the same way.

It was because he was from the Origin Universe that he felt so conflicted.

"Senior, tell me more about Feng Bo. What level has his cultivation reached? What sort of techniques does he use?"

Hongyan Mavis did not refuse and proceeded to share all that she knew about Feng Bo.

During his time within Aeternus, Lu Yin had never heard of Feng Bo. He had no idea if Feng Bo might be one of the Three Pillars and Six Skies, but he was clearly as powerful as the Seven Skygods.

If not, the man would not have been able to trap Hongyan Mavis in the Mirari Realm for so many years.

"He has an innate gift called Reverse. Anything, no matter if it is an attack or anything else, can be made to fall down, or the opposite and not fall. It’s an infuriating innate gift to deal with.

"His battle technique is called Wind and Cradle. There's an expression that describes it well: 'As the wind blows, the candle burns to its end.' When his candles go out, a life ends...

"As for the law of the universe that he has comprehended, I understand it to be expansion. It isn’t the expansion of physical objects, but rather the expansion of time. Expanding time is not like stretching out a physical object. Instead, in his perspective, when time is expanded, time slows down, and he has more time to work with. For everyone else, time passes at the same rate as ever, which gives Feng Bo more time to work with. The River of Time is here, and time is frozen, so you can think of his sequence particles as creating a weaker version of frozen time.

"Even in our era, there were very few who could freeze time. While we were all able to touch upon the powers of time and space, anyone who didn’t specialize in those powers would never be able to deal with his sequence particles.

"I’ve fought Feng Bo many times, and the only way to counter his time expansion is with frozen time. If you can’t do that, then every move you make appears incredibly slow to him, and you will move much slower than him. Of course, that’s just one of the ways he can use time expansion. I've had to deal with other uses as well..."

Hongyan Mavis shared a great deal, and she recounted all of her own battles against Feng Bo.

The woman spoke quickly, clearly not wanting to discuss what she was saying with Lu Yin. She was simply speaking, and whether Lu Yin was capable of understanding what was being said was of no concern to Hongyan Mavis. She did not believe that anyone Feng Bo could control with his innate gift could fight back against him. So, she simply assumed that Lu Yin was curious.

Another possibility was that he was unwilling to accept his situation.

Lu Yin listened without saying a word. He had attacked several of the Seven Skygods before, and he understood just how terrifying that level of power could be. Every time Lu Yin had tried to ambush one of those powerhouses, they had revealed a hidden trump card. Corpse God had even managed to escape thanks to his trump card, and Shaman God had nearly escaped as well. Undying God had only been killed because of Origin Tracer. If not for Mister Mu’s technique, Undying God’s ability to skip time would have made him completely impossible to deal with.

Despite having fought so many battles, Lu Yin had never had the opportunity to analyze an enemy's abilities as thoroughly as at this moment. Layer after layer was peeled back and clearly explained, which allowed him to simulate multiple battles against Feng Bo.

There was no one in the Mirari Realm who could help Lu Yin, not even Hongyan Mavis. If she were capable of defeating Feng Bo, she would have done so long ago and would not still be trapped here. She had already mentioned that she had been drastically weakened from her previous strength.

The Mavis family had always been famous for their physical strength, and yet Lu Yin was unable to sense any sort of power from Hongyan Mavis, which was different from the other members of the Mavis family he had encountered.

In fact, this woman felt fragile.

"Senior, how is Feng Bo trapping you in the Mirari Realm? Given your strength, even if you’ve been weakened, you shouldn't fear him," Lu Yin asked.

Hongyan Mavis countered, "How strong do you think Feng Bo is?"

"Very strong," Lu Yin answered without hesitation.

"Right now, I am no match for him," Hongyan Mavis admitted.

Lu Yin frowned. "But still, that shouldn't be enough to trap you here in the Mirari Realm for so long."

Hongyan Mavis stared at Lu Yin. "Then why didn’t you consider that he might be trapped in here by me?"

Lu Yin was taken aback. This was true, for while Hongyan Mavis was in the Mirari Realm, so was Feng Bo. Neither of them was able to leave this place.

Hongyan Mavis smiled. "There is no doubt that I am not his match, given how weakened I am. Even so, he is unwilling to let me go. The fact that someone like me is able to keep one of Aeternus's strongest experts trapped here in the Mirari Realm—do you think that’s more advantageous for humanity or for the Aeternals?"

Lu Yin had to admire Hongyan Mavis. "I understand now."

Hongyan Mavis stared off into the distance again. "Humans and Aeternus have reached a certain balance, despite the constant fighting. Both are unable to completely overpower the other. Master has his battlefield, while Wu Tian and the others have theirs. I have mine.

"To use my ruined body to deal with an Aeternus powerhouse who is as strong as the Three Realms and Six Daos is certainly not a bad trade, even if I remain trapped here for millions of years. One day, I may find my eternal rest in this place." She glanced over at the cabin, and a happy smile returned to her face. "It's really not that bad, is it?"

Lu Yin stared at Hongyan Mavis and then looked over at the cabin. "Perhaps not.

"Also, maybe one day, you’ll meet the person you’ve been waiting for, Senior. Then, you’ll be able to write a few more words on that floor."

Hongyan Mavis's eyes trembled as a mix of longing and other complex emotions appeared. She could no longer look at the cabin.