Star Odyssey

Chapter 3234: Opportunity

Lu Yin remembered what Great Elder Shan Gu had once mentioned.

The Lost Clan’s original megaverse had fought a final battle, and while humanity had won, their victory had disrupted some omnipotent being’s plans. In the end, humanity had been wiped out from that megaverse.

In that case, could everything that had recently been happening also be part of some sort of game?

Lu Yin did not want to see a repeat of what had happened to Shan Gu’s original megaverse.

If an omnipotent being really did exist, then just what exactly was it? There was no doubt that it was a monster.

Wu Tian and Hongyan Mavis both returned to the Scourge to once again stand guard over the Six Paths of Reincarnation Realm.

Lu Yuan took the Origin Progenitor's hand back to the Lu Sanctum.

There, Lu Yin took what remained of the Yellow Springs, intending to use it to train Verdant Infinity.

He raised his hand and brought out his die. One tap started a roll, as the best way to train was with Timestop.

Of course, training in the Five Spirits Alliance’s universes was also an option, as the time in those universes passed much, much faster than in most universes.

Currently, Lu Yin essentially had access to all the various resources of the megaverse, which allowed him to train in various manners. In the end, he chose to roll his die, as it offered him more than just Timestop. There were other features that he could use, and he also felt like his Timestop Space was the only place where he could hide from fate’s attention, even if it was more of a mental comfort than anything.

...

In the blink of an eye, three years passed in the Origin Universe.

During this time, not much changed, as it was only a brief period of time.

Most of the Aeternus Kingdoms had been destroyed during this time. The occupants of the Aeternus Kingdoms who had simply been captured were allowed to return to their original universes, while those who had been born in those cities or who had betrayed humanity were sent elsewhere by the Heavens Sect.

Neither Tian Ci nor Tian En made any appearances, and the Heavens Sect was also unable to find them.

Tian Ci’s original megaverse, which Lu Yin had been so wary of, also remained silent.

Humanity continued to hunt down corpse kings, and the number of the monsters across the megaverse plummeted. The destruction of the six Scourges had destroyed Aeternus's very foundation, which led to things collapsing for them.

True God, Ancient God, and all the others remained in the Six Paths of Reincarnation Realm, ignoring all that happened throughout the megaverse.

None of them cared if the corpse kings were wiped out. As long as they attained ultimate victory, they could always create more corpse kings.

The Heavens Sect would not allow True God or any of the Aeternals trapped with him to escape. All of them had to die.

The Great Sovereign's Six Paths of Reincarnation Realm continued to sap away at True God's power, but it was a very lengthy process. It was even possible that not even she knew how long it would take to finish.

Also, during this time, countless parallel universes kept being pulled to the Heavens Sect. As far as most people could see, the modern Heavens Sect had achieved something incredible, and while most people had not witnessed the original Heavens Sect, they felt that the difference in strength between the ancient sect and the modern sect could not be too wide.

Lu Yin emerged from seclusion. While only three years had passed in the Origin Universe, he had spent fifty years training in his Timestop Space.

It was the longest period of training that he had ever undergone.

He had spent these fifty years trying to learn Verdant Infinity, but unfortunately, he still had not mastered the technique.

However, he had gained a profound understanding of the Origin Progenitor’s technique, which was why Lu Yin understood that mastering one of the man’s ultimate techniques would not be easy. At the very least, it was impossible for Lu Yin to succeed at the moment. Even if he managed to remove the Four Locks Array, success would still be impossible. What he needed was the right opportunity.

"An opportunity, huh? That makes sense. Master’s ultimate techniques aren’t things that can be easily mastered. While you’ve cultivated with stellular energy, a technique like Verdant Infinity exceeds the bounds of what stellular energy can accomplish," Lu Yuan remarked.

Lu Yin asked, “Of the Three Realms and Six Daos, I understand that only Senior Wu Tian cultivates with stellular energy, while the rest of you have forged your own paths. So, is your path the Investiture of the Gods?”

Lu Yuan replied, “My path is my Fertile Soil.

"At first, all of us cultivated with stellular energy, but as time passed, our paths diverged. In fact, no one has ever learned Master’s ultimate techniques. He only ever passed down one of his methods to us."

“The Origin Sutra?” Lu Yin asked.

Lu Yuan nodded. "That’s all that any of us ever received. Blackie developed death energy, Lassy mastered her own power, and the rest of us followed our own paths. My path was to develop my Investiture of the Gods in my Fertile Soil, and when I fight, I primarily rely on my Champions’ Stage and the Investiture of the Gods.

"However, the Investiture of the Gods isn’t a power that can be cultivated.

"The power that one cultivates doesn’t determine their path. For example, Chu Yi follows the Dao of One Heavens. He still cultivates stellular energy, but stellular energy is not his path. Stellular energy encompasses many aspects, but both Chu Yi and I diverged from that power. I focused more on open, massive battle techniques."

Lu Yin said, "In that case, I haven’t been following the path of stellular energy either."

Lu Yuan nodded. "Of course not. You stopped following that path a long time ago. When was the last time you relied solely on your stellular energy in a fight?"

Lu Yin considered the question. It had been so long that he could not even remember.

None of his four inner worlds relied on stellular energy, and while there was stellular energy in his inner universe, there were also other energies, like death energy. Lu Yin’s innate gifts did not even need to be mentioned.

He had not followed the path of pure stellular energy for a long time.

"Big Thug's path is rooted in stellular energy. He developed methods to use various weapons, and he taught such techniques to all of humanity. Only by cultivating stellular energy was he able to guide all creatures in the Origin Universe," Lu Yuan stated, clearly admiring Wu Tian.

"If he wanted to, Big Thug could have walked his own path, but he didn’t, and that’s something that we all admire about him.

"With all of that said, mastering Verdant Infinity definitely won’t be easy, but I believe that you can do it."

Lu Yin also believed that he could master the technique. In fact, he had already figured out what sort of opportunity he needed. He was just waiting for something crucial.

...

The Aeternus Kingdoms in the First Scourge had all been reduced to ruins. Many humans and corpse kings had once lived in those places, but they were all gone now.

An echo rang out in an empty underground chamber as rocks fell.

Suddenly, a pair of eyes opened deep beneath the ground, looking upwards. After a long wait, a hoarse voice stated, "No one’s here. We need to move now."

"I don’t think that we should move. This place is already in ruins. The Heavens Sect won’t be paying attention to it, so staying here might actually be safer," another voice responded.

The first voice argued, "The Heavens Sect won’t search this place just once. They’re going to comb through the Aeternus Kingdom again and again until everything here is completely destroyed. You can see ruins, but they want it to all be dust."

"It’s too dangerous to leave now."

"It’s more dangerous to stay. The people from the Heavens Sect haven’t been gone for very long. Right now, this place is a blind spot, which is why we need to leave immediately."

Soon, a slight tremor ran through the ground. A pair of hands rose up, breaking through to the surface. Following them, an old man crawled out.

His face was gaunt, and his eyes were dim. It was as though the spark of life might expire at any moment. Deep in those eyes hid an almost imperceptible cruelty.

He carefully scanned the area and then barked, "Move!"

One by one, other people crawled up from beneath the ground. None of the people were very powerful, though they all shared one common trait; deep in their dim eyes, there lurked the sharp cruelty of a vulture. Most people would avoid eye contact after seeing that.

These people moved through the ruins of an Aeternus Kingdom, occasionally searching the ground for something as they moved forward.

"Who knows how long it’ll take, if we have to search like this."

"What other choice do we have? All of the cosmic doors have been destroyed. The only corpse king that was carrying a cosmic door died the day this Aeternus Kingdom was destroyed. If it hadn’t been killed, all of us would have already been discovered."

"We can’t escape."

"Shut up! We betrayed humanity, so there’s no way for us to survive if we’re caught. We’ve been living underground without any hope, so it’s better to just take this gamble. When Aeternus returns, we can come back. They won’t blame us for leaving."

The atmosphere grew tense, and the only sound to be heard were soft footsteps. The group continued to search the ground for a cosmic door they could use to escape the Scourge.

From atop the black Mother Tree, True God watched the group with a frown. "What utter fools."

A person’s perspective was determined by what they were aware of, and that was frequently determined by their level.

Ordinary people could never understand the feeling that cultivators experienced when they saw an entire world in a single glance. It was similar to looking down on a two-dimensional drawing from a three-dimensional perspective. Every detail was crystal clear.

Similarly, normal cultivators could not comprehend how ridiculous many of their actions must appear in the eyes of peak powerhouses.

There was no need for peak powerhouses to destroy the Aeternus Kingdoms, as the Infinity Empire's mechas could handle that task. That was also why a group of traitors had managed to escape. They had avoided the mechas’ detection because, while the machines could fight against peak powerhouses, they did not possess all of the abilities of such cultivators.

However, the moment these people emerged from underground, the human experts who surrounded the black Mother Tree immediately noticed the group. Every expression on their faces, every movement they made, and even every word that they spoke was on full display.

It did not take long for someone to approach them.

Terrifying pressure fell on the area, making it difficult for the people to breathe. Most of them were only at the Enlighter level, which meant that they were barely able to survive the toxic environments of the Scourges. They were far from thriving.

The moment a peak powerhouse put a bit of pressure on the area, these people knew that they had no chance to fight back.

Xia Qin went to see the people.

She looked at the pitiful figures trying to flee and easily subdued them with nothing more than a cold glare. She then abruptly appeared in front of the scrawny old man.

"Who are you people?"

The scrawny old man dropped to his knees. "Please, my lady, take us from this hell! We are just ordinary cultivators who were captured and then brought to this Aeternus Kingdom. We know nothing!"

"Yes, we know nothing!"

"Please, take us away from here."

"Please, my lady..."

Xia Qin coldly retorted, "And what about those two poisons?"

The old man’s heart sank, though he looked confused. "What? What poisons?"

Xia Qin stared at the man. "The Time Poison and the Vitality Poison?"

...

In the Heavens Sect, a delighted smile covered Lu Yin’s face. "We finally found it!"

Aeternus had developed both Time Poison and Vitality Poison to target humans.

Lu Yin had first encountered Vitality Poison on Shenwu Continent, where a short old man had used it to threaten Ming Zhaoshu's maid, who had then poisoned Ming Zhaoshu. The short old man had then observed the emperor’s reactions to the poison and measured how long it had taken him to die.

After that, Lu Yin had seen Vitality Poison several more times. Yan'er had even been afflicted by it, and if Mister Mu had not used a secret technique to split the woman’s personality, Ming Yan would have died there and then.

As for Time Poison, it had once sent the entire Origin Universe into despair. Only by restoring the Origin Progenitor’s cracked sword had Lu Yin been able to remove the Time Poison and return things to normal.

Both poisons were incredibly dangerous.

After defeating Aeternus, Lu Yin had ordered people to search for more Time Poison, as it was the antidote to Megalith Poison. Until Time Poison was found, Moon Fairy, Ice Lord, and the others who had been afflicted by the Megalith Poison could not be cured. Additionally, Lu Yin wanted to go after the Megalith itself.

After quite a bit of time, they had found more Time Poison.

It was perfect timing.