Star Odyssey

Chapter 3831: Reappearance

Out of everyone who Lu Yin had ever met, the ones with the greatest number of mirebound artifacts were Yong Heng and Jiang Feng.

Even Lu Yin only had one mirebound artifact: his die. Well, he had also acquired the Autumnspring Slip.

"What is this? I can't open it," a nearby voice asked. A disciple of the Autumnspring Slip was trying to open a stone box that he was staring at.

Several other disciples gathered to help, but none could open the box.

Lu Siyu and the others were drawn over as well, and they watched with growing curiosity.

However, even after a long time passed, no one was able to open the box. Lu Siyu shouted, "Hey, Lu Yin! Come take a look at this! They found something!"

Lu Yin's figure flickered, and he appeared in front of Lu Siyu, already staring at the stone box. Everyone nearby retreated some distance.

He placed a hand on the stone box and used a bit of strength. The box shook, but it did not break or open.

Huh? Lu Yin was surprised. He certainly was not weak, but not even he could open the box. He used greater power, and yet still the box resisted his efforts.

Master Yi Bai walked over. "I’ve seen this stone box before, though I’ve never seen anyone open it. Supposedly, it belonged to the founding ancestor of the Autumnspring Slip, and it is very ancient."

Lu Yin refused to believe that he could not open the box. He kept using more and more power, and eventually even resorted to using Infinity. Suddenly, the stone box cracked, and everyone peeked inside, curious to see what it held.

The stone that formed the box was clearly an extraordinary material.

However, when the stone box broke open, all that appeared was yet another stone box.

Lu Siyu was dumbfounded. "What does this mean? Don’t tell me that it’s just an endless series of stone boxes inside of each other. The Autumnspring Slip is too boring."

Lu Yin ignored Lu Siyu’s comment. He was staring intently at the top of the smaller stone box, his eyes flickering. What he saw caused his expression to change dramatically. “Everyone, move back.”

Lu Siyu wanted to ask, but she was pulled away by Ming Xiaolong.

Everyone left the area.

Lu Yin was carefully examining the second stone box, as there was a single character carved on top of it: “Heaven.”

Seeing a character like “Heaven” would be considered normal in a sect like the Autumnspring Slip, but Lu Yin found it decidedly abnormal. The character reminded him of Ye Zhang, the Boundary Guardians, and even of Yong Heng.

He slowly raised a hand and then abruptly slammed it down on the “Heaven” character.

The moment he struck the character, the heavens and earth roared. Everyone felt as though their minds had been struck by something, and it sent them staggering back.

Beneath Lu Yin’s palm, the “Heaven” character shone brightly, light radiating in all directions from between his five fingers. It tried to shoot into the sky, but Lu Yin suppressed it. This was a character that had once almost killed him. At that time, he had been forced to borrow the flames of the Immemorial Citadel to endure it. This time, he no longer needed to rely on anything for support. So what if the character contained the power of an Immortal? Lu Yin was already able to face such beings. How could he not overcome a single character written by such a being?

The moment the “Heaven” character tried to shoot into the sky, Lu Yin had known that it was not created by the Autumnspring Slip. Just like the characters that had appeared when Ye Zhang and the Boundary Guardians had died, this character had come from a mysterious Immortal. And Lu Yin had a guess for who had made them, and he did not suspect Master Qing Cao.

Regardless of Tian Ci’s lies, Lu Yin had become completely convinced that Master Qing Cao was not responsible for the characters.

That meant that there was still an Immortal hidden within the Tianyuan Megaverse.

That being was the one responsible for the “Heaven” characters, the “Slave” characters, Yong Heng, and even for Master Qing Cao himself.

If that Immortal were physically present, Lu Yin would run without a second thought. However, he was only dealing with a single character, and his strength was incomparable to what it had once been.

Beneath his hand, the “Heaven” character surged like a miniaturized astral storm as it constantly tried to rise up.

Lu Yin’s expression turned vicious. Wielder-realm battle force spread across his hand, Heaven's Seal’s sequence particles gathered, and Infinity flowed through him.

“Break!” he roared. The “Heaven” character finally shattered, scattering into countless glowing shards.

Everything happened quickly, though everyone nearby felt as if their heads had been struck a second time. Only after that did they see the scattering light under Lu Yin’s hand. They saw nothing else.

Lu Siyu’s face was pale as she clutched her head and stared at Lu Yin in a daze. “What just happened?”

A'zuo stepped out from beside Ming Xiaolong, staring at the stone box in shock. He was a peak Dukkhan, and he had managed to see everything clearly. However, he could not fathom how a single character could possess such power. Even he felt as though he had received a vicious blow to the head.

There was no way that that character had been Ying Mei’s power. If she had been capable of storing such power, she would not have died so miserably.

Lu Yin silently stood in front of the stone box, lost in his own thoughts and in no hurry to open the box.

Lu Siyu was the one who grew impatient, and she repeatedly urged him to check what was inside.

A deep sound rang out when the box was slowly opened. Countless eyes peered within, all of them eager to see what might lay inside.

Without Ming Xiaolong holding her back, Lu Siyu would have already rushed forward.

Ming Xiaolong was afraid that the box might still be dangerous.

When the stone box opened, Lu Yin saw countless spirit seeds, as well as a number of karmic buds. There were twenty-six in total.

However, the karmic buds did not matter at this moment. They had even been somewhat expected. What stunned Lu Yin was the spirit seeds.

Why spirit seeds? There were countless piled outside of this box, why put these specific ones in the stone box? Unless...

“Seed Transfusion?” Lu Siyu shouted.

Everyone’s breathing grew ragged as they stared at the spirit seeds. Greed flared in their eyes. These were not ordinary spirit seeds, but rather cultivated spirit seeds.

While spirit seeds could be absorbed for cultivation, Seed Transfusion specifically referred to using spirit seeds that had already been cultivated by another. Lu Yin had encountered a number of experts who had gained great power by accepting the strength of another through Seed Transfusion.

The stone box held at least several thousand cultivated spirit seeds. Was this the Autumnspring Slip’s greatest secret?

“This is a crime! They violated the edict!” A'zuo growled through gritted teeth, his expression dark.

Ming Xiaolong and the others had also realized the truth. As they stared at the cultivated spirit seeds, their expressions turned grim.

All of the eyes that had once burned with greed took on looks of absolute fury, though the greed still remained. No one could deny their desire to obtain cultivated spirit seeds, as they could allow a single family to rise above all others and become a major power in the megaverse.

However, no matter how profound the Autumnspring Slip’s foundations may have been, it was impossible for them to have gathered so many powerful cultivated spirit seeds.

“When it comes to average cultivated spirit seeds, any random family can produce far more than what’s in here,” Ming Xiaolong explained when she noticed Lu Yin’s confusion. “However, these are not even close to average. While it’s hard to tell from looking at them, we of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse cultivate spirit seeds, so we can roughly sense the strength of cultivated spirit seeds like these.”

She continued, saying, “Even the weakest of these spirit seeds contain the power of a peak powerhouse.”

Lu Yin’s expression instantly changed. “That’s... the weakest?”

Ming Xiaolong nodded solemnly. “Even if peak powerhouses seem common, that’s only because of how many cultivators there are in total. The reality is that it is extremely rare for anyone to reach that level. On average, only one person out of hundreds of billions reaches that level. While powerful families and sects are able to improve those odds, it’s never to the extent of being able to leave behind thousands of cultivated spirit seeds at or above the level of a peak powerhouse. After all, such cultivators live extremely long lives, and they don’t necessarily die at home, much less leave behind their spirit seed. On top of that, only some of these spirit seeds contain the power of a peak powerhouse. Others contain the power of Ortusers, and even Dukkhans.

“Forget the Autumnspring Slip, not even the East Domain’s oldest faction, Dream Dominion, can have this many. These were definitely stolen, which is a serious crime. The Autumnspring Slip has clearly broken the law.”

Master Yi Bai’s face turned ashen. Countless eyes turned to stare at him and the other survivors of the Autumnspring Slip. All of the disciples grew nervous, and they trembled with fear.

Breaking the law. In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, those words meant a visit from Deathmound, and that meant... death.

But... they had not known about this.

Someone shouted, “Master Yi Bai, to think that your Autumnspring Slip committed such evil deeds! A hundred deaths isn’t enough to forgive this!”

“Ying Mei shouldn’t have been allowed to die so easily.”

“Still, something’s off about this. Deathmound has always been watching the Autumnspring Slip, so how could these cultivated spirit seeds have never been found? Their Spirit Search technique is infallible when it comes to finding stolen spirit seeds, especially since Peak Lord Long Yin was involved in the search.”

“It must be because of the stone box. It must have blocked Deathmound’s techniques...”

Everyone around denounced what had happened, but the Autumnspring Slip had already been destroyed, and Ying Mei was also dead. It was clear that the few survivors had known nothing about this matter. The only one who might have known was Master Yi Bai.

The Dukkhan slowly dropped to his knees, his hair visibly turning gray as he stared at the stone box in anguish. He said nothing.

Any rational person could tell that the man had not known. If he had, he would not have shown no reaction when the box had been found earlier. He had been completely unconcerned.

However, Master Yi Bai had been considered an outlier within the Autumnspring Slip. If not, people like Ming Xiaolong and Qing Yun would not have spoken up on the man’s behalf.

Lu Yin gathered and stored the karmic buds before turning to Ming Xiaolong and the others. “Spirit Search?”

Ming Xiaolong explained, “Deathmound’s mission is to kill those who violate the laws of the megaverse. In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, the most common such crime is stealing cultivated spirit seeds. Obtaining a powerful spirit seed is a shortcut to greater strength, especially for anyone with limited talent, which is why so many people resort to stealing. Deathmound has their specialized Spirit Search technique to find stolen spirit seeds. If there are too many cultivated spirit seeds in one location, they can sense them simply by getting close enough and then determining if someone has committed a crime.

“While it’s expected for the Autumnspring Slip to have a few cultivated spirit seeds, like the peak Dukkhan spirit seed that Qian Shu used or the one that Granny Ya used, they could never gather this many.”

The woman then turned to look at Lu Yin. “Deathmound was constantly trying to find proof that the Autumnspring Slip had committed a crime, but they were never able to find any evidence. It turns out that they failed because the sect had something that can block Deathmound’s spirit-searching technique.”

“Who can contact Deathmound and report what we’ve found?” Lu Yin asked as he looked around.

A'zuo replied, “I can.”

He immediately made the call.

Long Yin and the entire Third Peak had persistently focused on the Autumnspring Slip. The Peak Lord had even joined the battle between the sect and Lu Yin. If the Autumnspring Slip had never committed any crimes, then Long Yin and the entire Third Peak would face punishment, especially given how public the spectacle had been. On the other hand, if there was proof of the Autumnspring Slip’s guilt, Deathmound’s actions would be justified.

After seeing that A'zuo had contacted Deathmound, Lu Yin immediately stored the stone box away.

While he was willing to help, that was one thing. There was no way that Lu Yin would allow his loot to go to Deathmound.

Even so, if the Autumnspring Slip had received the help of a mysterious Immortal to block the spirit-searching technique, how many others in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had received similar assistance?

Lu Yin was not the only one considering the implications of what they had found, as many others were as well. Expressions grew darker by the moment.

Stealing cultivated spirit seeds was a crime that could destabilize the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse. If there really was a hidden group that could both steal spirit seeds and avoid being detected by Deathmound, then who could stop them? Their power would grow at an ever-accelerating rate.

“While there are certainly a large number of cultivated spirit seeds, as well as some very powerful ones, it’s clear that none of them are truly top-tier. If they were, given the earlier situation, the Autumnspring Slip definitely would have used them,” someone commented.

Another person agreed. “That’s true. Would they really have let themselves be wiped out without using something that could have saved them? Not a chance.”

“I’m guessing there isn’t even a single Dukkhan-level spirit seed among them...”

Lu Yin did not care about the strength of the cultivated spirit seeds. Cultivated spirit seeds could not be used by people who had not already externally cultivated a spirit seed, but they could certainly be liquified at some point in time. They would produce a much greater amount of liquid than uncultivated spirit seeds, and they could also be used to trade within the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. Cultivated spirit seeds were far more valuable than even quadrillions of unused spirit seeds.