Star Odyssey

Chapter 3211: A Clash Of Wits And Power

Lu Yin arched a brow. Yes, Prof. Wei had been the one to leave the paper cutout in Virtue Archives. She had also held Ancestor Lu Tianyi back on the day of the Lu family’s exile. It was why Lu Tianyi had hurried to Virtue Archives.

In Lu Yin’s memories, there should only be Prof. Wei, and Wei Nu should not exist.

"Brother Xiaoxuan, where did you hear the name Wei Nu?" Bai Xian'er asked, very curious. At this moment, she suddenly seemed like a complete stranger. Her eyes, tone of voice, movements—everything seemed slightly different. It was as if she was no longer Bai Xian'er.

"Oh? Does the name Wei Nu hold some sort of special significance to you?" Lu Yin retorted.

Bai Xian'er's eyes grew cold. "It seems that Brother Xiaoxuan doesn't intend to answer. In that case, let's continue."

She took a step forward, a pale hand raised to attack.

While this palm strike appeared gentle and to not carry much power, Lu Yin’s guard rose. While they had not been fighting for very long, Bai Xian'er had held the advantage at every turn. Nothing that Lu Yin tried seemed to have any effect on the woman. Finally, she was taking the initiative to attack, and it was with what appeared to be a harmless attack.

No threat was the greatest threat, as it meant that Lu Yin was unable to even see where the danger was.

He used Inverse Step, but he did not move at the speed of time. He simply moved quickly as he charged at Bai Xian'er. He also threw a palm strike, but halfway through the movement, his strength faded away. It was the effect of the Fay Blossoms.

The two palms collided, creating a shockwave through the divine energy in all directions.

In the second Scourge, all the lakes and rivers of divine energy were connected to the black Mother Tree, and all of them erupted. Multiple explosions caused divine energy to surge into the sky, drawing the attention of many across the battlefield as power channeled from down below.

Both the people from the Heavens Sect and the Aeternals knew that Lu Yin had descended underground. As the repercussions of that unseen battle appeared, everyone knew that Lu Yin was in the middle of a fierce fight with someone underground.

Lu Yuan and many others immediately thought of the last of the Three Pillars and Six Skies, and also of Whiteless God. Those were the only two powerhouses that Aeternus had held back from the current battle who could hold their own against Lu Yin in a fight.

Beneath the black Mother Tree, Lu Yin visualized the landmass in his inner universe, and his arm withered, only to instantly recover with Extremes Must Be Reversed as he lashed out with another palm strike.

Bai Xian'er still appeared to be soft and practically boneless, but each palm she threw out managed to block Lu Yin's. The Fay Blossoms were continually sapping his strength, and his withered arm kept recovering. Lu Yin still had not managed to figure out what sort of effects the Fay Blossoms might have beyond numbing his nerves and draining his strength.

There was a bang. Lu Yin used Infinity and broke Bai Xian'er's arm with a palm strike that struck her shoulder, forcing her back.

The woman’s expression remained calm. When she saw Lu Yin trying to press his advantage, a smile tugged at her lips, and she quickly recovered. Her movements were graceful, like a butterfly, and her strange footwork allowed her to keep increasing the distance between her and Lu Yin.

Lu Yin moved with Inverse Step, giving chase at the speed of time. Even so, he was unable to catch up to Bai Xian'er.

Her movement technique also used the power of time. She was not moving parallel to time or at the speed of time, but rather moving between distinct points, as though skipping through time or erasing the time she used when retreating. 𝘳

She flickered about in the depths of the lake of divine energy, looking like an ethereal spirit. She was beautiful, but also disturbing to look at.

Her hair drifted past her cheek as Bai Xian'er glanced back at Lu Yin. His heart dropped. It was coming again.

Everything around him slowed down as his sense of time was extended indefinitely. Lu Yin had no way to avoid this technique. It seemed that, as long as Bai Xian'er simply looked at him, his sense of time would inevitably be extended.

However, that was simply not possible. There had to be a triggering condition, or else it would be a truly invincible technique.

Unfortunately, Lu Yin had no idea what the trigger might be.

Ten years. 100 years. 1,000 years passed. After 1,000 years elapsed, Lu Yin once again felt intense pain. He reversed time by one second and just barely managed to recover, only to have his sense of time immediately extended again. Bai Xian'er intended to either completely numb him or drive him mad with her technique.

Maintaining the same posture and staring at nearly the same scene for a thousand years was more than enough to a person insane.

At the very least, Lu Yin was already growing numb to his condition. He experienced 1,000 years, and as soon as his sense of time was restored to normal, he instinctively used Lightstream to reverse time by one second. Once he recovered from the injury, he felt disconnected from the battle with Bai Xian'er. There was not a smooth flow to the battle from Lu Yin’s perspective, and it made him insensitive.

He felt like a deaf and mute person walking through a canyon. He was walking forward, step after step, but could see no end in sight, as the canyon appeared to be exactly the same no matter where he stood. It was endless and unchanging.

Lu Yin tried everything he could, but he could not restore his normal senses.

If he allowed Bai Xian'er to continue controlling him in this manner, he would be doomed.

Finally, Lu Yin decided to cultivate True God’s Natural Art.

The divine energy that formed the lake around him was the only external power that might be able to restore his normal senses, but Lu Yin was unable to control external divine energy on his own. Cultivating with the power was his only option.

The Natural Art required a person to lose their sense of self and others. They had to abandon all thoughts and desires and become one with the universe, in order to live for as long as it continued. It was a technique that stripped away one’s emotions and all desires. Everything was perceived as karma to be overturned…

The lake of divine energy trembled.

It was a very slight tremor, and it was nearly imperceptible.

Even so, Bai Xian'er noticed it. She glanced around in surprise. Was someone using divine energy?

At this moment, experts from all six Scourges were fighting, and any of them could have potentially cultivated divine energy, but the fluctuation that she had just sensed had been very close. In fact, it had been within arm's reach.

None of Aeternus’s powerhouses were nearby, which meant that nobody who cultivated divine energy should be so close.

There was another fluctuation, and Bai Xian'er’s suddenly locked onto Lu Yin. It was him.

The surrounding divine energy suddenly started to boil, and all of it was instantly sucked into Lu Yin’s body, much like a whale drawing in water.

Bai Xian'er's eyes flared. What she was sensing seemed ridiculous. Was Lu Yin actually cultivating divine energy?

In order to overcome the impossible, something impossible needed to be done.

Bai Xian'er had always believed that she had held complete control over Lu Yin and that she understood absolutely everything about him. She knew that he had a mirebound artifact and had received the Seven Heroes’ innate gifts. Still, she had never anticipated seeing him cultivate divine energy. On top of that, what he was doing was not simple cultivation. He was absorbing the divine energy at a rate that was incredibly rare, even for the Seven Skygods.

He was clearly not simply cultivating with divine energy.

At the top of the black Mother Tree, True God looked down, his eyes flickering. What was happening?

Lu Yin had not tried to master the Natural Art before because he was afraid of being discovered, but he no longer had any choice. It did not matter if he was discovered, as True God would eventually find out regardless, as divine energy was the man’s own power. As for Bai Xian'er, even if she knew, her knowledge would not affect Lu Yin.

Who among the current human civilizations could do anything about this matter? Only Lu Yin himself.

Even if the Aeternals spread word everywhere that Lu Yin cultivated divine energy, such rumors would not truly shake his position, not unless Lu Yin himself admitted to it.

Beneath the black Mother Tree, Lu Yin absorbed more and more of the surrounding divine energy.

True God frowned, surprised to see that Lu Yin had even cultivated his divine energy. How was he maintaining control of himself? As Lu Yin absorbed more and more divine energy, True God took a step, which caused all six Scourges to tremble. The lake of divine energy suddenly solidified, and the divine energy became as immovable as a solid object.

This was the divine energy at the roots of the black Mother Tree, which meant that the tree was also unable to absorb divine energy at this moment.

Lu Yin opened his eyes and let out a breath. He had indeed been discovered by True God, but that did not matter. He had already absorbed a great deal of divine energy.

Blood leaked from a corner of his mouth. He had still not truly mastered the Natural Art, but he could at least use it to restore his normal senses. The technique absolutely deserved to be known as one of True God’s ultimate techniques.

"Brother Xiaoxuan, you’ve actually cultivated divine energy?" Bai Xian'er asked in shock.

Lu Yin looked at Bai Xian'er. "It's not easy for me to surprise you."

Bai Xian'er shook her head as she looked at Lu Yin with open admiration. "Yong Heng’s power is something that not even Tai Chu wanted to touch. The more you involve yourself with it, the more you’ll be affected. Brother Xiaoxuan, are you planning to join Aeternus?"

"Why aren't you affected by divine energy?" Lu Yin asked.

Their entire battle had taken place in the middle of a lake of divine energy, and while Lu Yin had not been at all affected, that was because he cultivated divine energy.

Why was Bai Xian'er not effected either?

Bai Xian'er answered with a gentle smile, "My power isn’t inferior to divine energy."

Lu Yin's expression sharpened. Was that Wei Nu’s power? As expected, she was an old monster who was overcoming Dukkha.

Only someone who stood at the same level as True God would be unaffected by his power.

"Since even divine energy can't affect you, Brother Xiaoxuan, then I can't allow you to live." Bai Xian'er's smile faded away as she stared at Lu Yin. His sense of time started to stretch out once more.

This time, he immediately started using the Natural Art. Whether or not he succeeded did not matter, and neither did the risk of suffering backlash and injuries. All that mattered was restoring his normal senses.

Again, blood trickled from the corner of Lu Yin's mouth, but he had successfully overcome Bai Xian'er’s innate gift.

She was impressed. "Throughout history, very few people have managed to overcome this move of mine. As expected of Brother Xiaoxuan. In that case, I’ll get serious now. Survive as long as you can."

Her body then flickered as she stepped across nodes of time and instantly appeared behind Lu Yin.

He responded by using Inverse Step to move at the speed of time, which caused everything around him to freeze. In that frozen stillness, Bai Xian'er continued to move, flickering again as she threw a palm strike at Lu Yin.

He raised an arm to block her attack while countering with a palm strike of his own with his left hand. As Bai Xian'er flickered about and vanished, Lu Yin focused on the void and used One Word Manifestation and the Dao of One Heavens.

The moment that Bai Xian'er appeared behind him again, Lu Yin threw a palm strike backwards, and he managed to catch her off guard. Lu Yin was using Chu Yi’s technique. That man was the oldest of the Three Realms and Six Daos, and his power was both stable and decisive. He was able to see through the most desperate of situations, and his mastery of the power of time was at a level as Wu Tian’s Heaven's Sight.

However, while Wu Tian’s Heaven's Sight allowed him to see through his opponents’ attacks, the Dao of One Heavens allowed a person to see a path of escape from even the most desperate situation.

The palm strike landed on Bai Xian'er’s shoulder, knocking her back. She lifted a leg and kicked at Lu Yin’s head, but Evernight appeared beside his head. The foot struck the card, which pulled her body in. Lu Yin also entered the card to use Dark Palace.

The darkness surged around them, the black flames burning Bai Xian'er.

A brilliant light surrounded the woman, and she remained unmoved as the darkness blazed around her. She raised a finger and drew a line to connect two points and release a Void Rip.

The two people emerged from Evernight’s pocket dimension at the exact same time.

Evernight could not trap Bai Xian'er. She pointed a finger at Lu Yin, and her Fay Blossoms suddenly exploded. As they did, something burst inside of Lu Yin’s body. His expression changed, as he realized that it was pollen. This was her Fay Blossoms’ true power.

The pollen had entered his body, and Bai Xian’er could detonate it inside of him. The damage that this caused was no different from suffering a peak powerhouse’s attack.

Lu Yin could not even begin to calculate how much pollen had entered his body. It was as pervasive as air.

The pollen continued to explode within his body, but Lu Yin released his inner universe, isolating himself from the rest of the universe and cutting Bai Xian'er off from being able to control her pollen.

At that same time, Lu Yin waved his hand towards Bai Xian'er, using Setting Sun.

The glow of a sunset appeared in the depths of the lake of divine energy. It was a stunningly beautiful sight. As the sun set, its light shone across the horizon!

OMA's Thoughts

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA