Star Odyssey

Chapter 4184: Slash

Hui’s form had eyes, ears, a mouth, and a nose. However, the figure was entirely silver, which made it seem less like a real body and more like a crafted object.

The silver eyes first went to Mister Mu and then swept over towards Greater Sancte Awe Gate and Lu Yin. “Do you understand what you are doing? Protecting him means stepping over a line. Next, you won’t be dealing with just Lan Meng, but also with me.”

Greater Sancte Awe Gate coldly replied, “All of Obscura are our enemies. That includes you.”

Hui’s voice grew frigid. “Each member of Obscura has their own enemies. As long as no one crosses the line, no one can act against another’s target. You’ve stepped over that line, which means that you will face two members of Obscura now. You cannot afford that. Do you really want to be completely destroyed like this human civilization?

“Retreat now, and I won’t pursue this.”

Greater Sancte Awe Gate seemed to consider the proposition, her eyes flickering with hesitation.

Suddenly, a drum suddenly appeared behind Hui. It was not very large, yet the sound of it being struck somehow shook one’s soul. It was a mirebound artifact.

“You don’t have time to think. If you dare to interfere, I will join with Lan Meng to erase your human civilization from existence. You cannot stand up to two members of Obscura.” As Hui spoke, a silver hand rose and a mallet formed, which then smashed down upon the drum.

Boom!

The tremendous crash shook the universe. Greater Sancte Awe Gate instantly lashed out, thrusting Awecloud forward as she used Cloud Manifest.

“Is this your answer? Then your human civilization is doomed!” Hui roared in fury, using both hands to beat the drum. At that moment, Awe Gate froze, her expression changing dramatically. Both Lu Yin and Kang Tian also grew pale. Each beat of the drum felt as if it would shatter them. For a moment, their bodies seemed to be on the verge of being ripped apart.

The drum was a mirebound artifact, and beating it produced far more than mere sound.

Lu Yin had intended to wait for Mister Mu to finish his breakthrough before surrounding and killing Hui. He had not wanted to expose his true strength so soon, but he no longer had a choice.

Against Hui, Greater Sancte Awe Gate was unable to gain even a sliver of an advantage. The fact that she was able to defend herself at all was already quite impressive.

Greater Sancte Awe Gate was not weak by any means, but there was still a gap between her and opponents like Lan Meng, Hui, and the Immortal Lord.

Moving with Inverse Step, Lu Yin raised his hand and threw a palm strike at Hui.

The silver being had not expected Lu Yin to directly attack them. It was clear that Lu Yin was an Aberrant, but even though Lu Yin was one of those infuriating beings, Hui was no ordinary Immortal either.

Before Lu Yin’s attack, Hui’s mouth curled into a feral grin. Seeking death!

Boom!

The drum was struck again, a wave of pure sound gathered before erupting into blades that swept towards Lu Yin.

His hand fell, shattering the attack outright before sending multiple strands of Tri-Azure Sword Intent slashing out.

Hui shook the drum, pulverizing every slash aimed at them. They raised a hand at Lu Yin, as if to say, “Let’s see how many you can take.”

The next instant, the drumbeats grew even fiercer. The resulting sensation of tearing forced Lu Yin to use Extremes Must Be Reversed. His body instantly withered, only to quickly recover.

The drumbeats had not yet reached a level that surpassed Extremes Must Be Reversed’s limits. There was no question that Hui themselves possessed that level of power, but the silver creature had not gone all-out yet.

Similarly, Lu Yin was not using his full power either. His goal was to stall, to buy enough time for Mister Mu to succeed.

From another direction, Awe Gate thrust Awecloud at Hui. The silver being instantly grew far more cautious, and they continued to beat the drum while changing locations, only to run into Lu Yin’s Tri-Azure Sword Intent.

The three clashed, and their battle saw no pause. Hui wanted to cripple or even kill Lu Yin first. However, while Hui found that Lu Yin was not as threatening as Awe Gate, the man could somehow hold on. With Awe Gate’s lethal attacks synergizing with Lu Yin’s distractions, the two humans drove Hui back, step by step.

Far away, the remainder of the Hui-Silver Sky Army charged at Mister Mu, but Kang Tian was still there. The snail’s spatial mire trapped the army members, preventing them from advancing.

There were no Aberrants in the Hui-Silver Sky Army. Such experts were even rarer than Immortals throughout the Aevum Inch.

Seeing that Mister Mu was in the process of overcoming Dukkha, Hui knew that if the man was not stopped soon, it would be too late to kill the man after his breakthrough.

The power of the drumbeats increased, and they spread across the entire universe, especially concentrated in the direction of Obscura’s gate.

But Lu Yin had been cautious of that location all along. He had already placed Shan Barrens in front of the gate. The card was unable to handle Hui, but it could at least restrain the drumbeats. After all, Shan Barrens was a Primordial card that was intended to deal with Immortals. All approaching attacks were absorbed, ensuring that the gate was not disturbed.

Hui made several attempts, but each time they tried to increase the power of the drumbeats, Awe Gate and Lu Yin interfered.

Hui could not wait any longer. Raising a hand, silver dripped from the palm, slowly gathering to form a sword. It was a silver sword.

The sight of the sword caused both Lu Yin and Greater Sancte Awe Gate to grow wary. A colored sword was the standard weapon for a member of Obscura.

As soon as the silver sword appeared, Hui’s aura changed. The silver eyes gained a hint of ferocity, a streak of cold ruthlessness, and a trace of brutality. While the color of the energy was not the same as the divine energy that Lu Yin was familiar with, the two felt extremely similar.

Boom, boom, boom...

The drumbeats thundered without pause. Hui carried the drum on their back while wielding the silver sword. The figure took a step forward, slashing the sword down upon Lu Yin. Die!

Awecloud appeared before Lu Yin to block the attack. There was a clang as the silver sword was knocked aside. Lu Yin’s eyes locked onto the point of impact and the strand of silver there. It moved, as if alive, and flowed along the spear towards Awe Gate. The woman flicked her spear away. “Be careful. That silver can force whatever power you cultivate out of your body. Anyone who touches it must be on guard.”

Lu Yin had already seen that power in action. The silver that drove power out of others’ bodies was likely Hui’s innate gift. The Immortal was not blatantly using that ability, but it was utilizing it in every exchange. It was vicious and insidious, and it made Hui far more difficult to deal with than creatures who used their innate gifts more openly.

Hui’s sword sliced out once more. Awe Gate tightened her grip on Awecloud: Cloud Manifest.

Boom!

The drumbeats shook space, resulting in Awe Gate faltering for a moment. The silver sword slid past her spear, aiming directly for her throat. Suddenly, sword intent swept in from the side, knocking the silver sword aside. Lu Yin had once again used his Tri-Azure Sword Intent.

Hui reversed their sword’s direction and slashed again. The drum continued to ring out, each beat releasing vibrations that disrupted Awe Gate. As that happened, the silver sword cut off her paths of retreat. Hui was determined to kill the human Immortal.

Above Lu Yin’s head, the Investiture of the Gods appeared. Tri-Azure Sword Intent: Hidden Blade.

One Tri-Azure Sword Intent after another sliced at Hui.

Hui thought nothing of the attacks, intending to crush all of them with more drumbeats. It was only in the next moment that they discovered the drum was unable to destroy the incoming attacks. These sword intents were different.

The silver being turned and slashed out with their own sword, cutting down five Tri-Azure Sword Intents in an instant. Instinctively, Hui retreated. Something was wrong. These sword slashes were extremely strong.

Hundreds of Tri-Azure Sword Intents rained down from the void like a storm falling upon Hui.

This was the same attack that had once suppressed the droplet-shaped Verdant Sage, leaving the Immortal helpless. If an ordinary Immortal took these attacks head-on, they would be heavily wounded. While they were not a major threat to Hui, they were more than what the drum could overcome and were at least powerful enough to wound the silver Immortal.

Gates appeared and opened around Greater Sancte Awe Gate. She flickered through them, vanishing. Awecloud could attack from any direction. With the sea of Tri-Azure Sword Intent supporting her, Hui was pressed back for a time.

Far away, Kang Tian had a relatively easy time of things. The Hui-Silver Sky Army was completely unable to cross the spatial mire. If the snail was not trying to minimize its karmic chain, then it could have wiped out the entire army without any effort at all.

This was not to say that the Hui-Silver Sky Army was weak. There was more than one peak Dukkhan present, as well as experts in various other realms: Dukkhans, Ortusers, sequence powerhouses, and more. Outside of Immortals, the army was strong enough to dominate the Aevum Inch.

Unfortunately, they were facing an Immortal.

They had first been slaughtered by Lu Yin, and now they were being toyed with by Kang Tian.

With Hui unable to advance, there was no one present who could interfere with Mister Mu’s breakthrough.

Hui was completely tied down and even suppressed by Greater Sancte Awe Gate and Lu Yin. As time dragged out, their rage grew. “Humans, you’re courting death!”

As their words fell, the silver eyes suddenly gained new depth. A silver line appeared in the void, flickering before shooting at Hui.

Lu Yin and Greater Sancte Awe Gate both saw the line and immediately moved to stop it.

Each member of Obscura had a gate, a sword, and a line.

The gates could be used to travel across the cosmos. The swords improved their offensive power, and the lines could raise their combat power even more.

Qi Xu’s red line had merged into Lu Yin’s star of divine energy, which had caused the amount of divine energy in his inner universe to spike. As soon as he used his divine energy transformation, his power became far more terrifying.

The silver line was the same sort of power.

If it fused with Hui, the power of Obscura that the silver being cultivated would surge. That was not something that Lu Yin and Awe Gate wanted to see.

Trying to stop the line was one thing, and succeeding was something else entirely.

The silver thread vanished, and when it reappeared, it was already entering Hui’s body.

Silver eyes flared wide. “I didn’t want to use the power of Obscura, but you have forced me. Humans, I will wash away my humiliation with the blood of your civilization!”

As they spoke, silver light filled outer space, spreading out endlessly. Behind Hui, the drum thundered louder and louder, the tearing force shattering space.

The cycle of withering and recovering that affected Lu Yin’s body sped up further and further. Greater Sancte Awe Gate clenched Awecloud’s haft and fiercely thrust the spear forward.

Hui only slashed the silver sword once, but the collision rang across the universe. Greater Sancte Awe Gate was driven back by the sword, and she even nearly lost her grip on her spear. Silver rushed up along Awecloud, moving towards Awe Gate so quickly that she was unable to even react.

The moment the silver touched her body, a portion of her sharp aura faded away.

Her power had been expelled.

Lu Yin sliced at Hui with his Tri-Azure Sword Intent, but this time, his dozens of sword intent strands were cut down by a single silver slash. Hui did not care about the rest of the attacks. They charged straight for Lu Yin. Space was pushed back in front of the advancing silver creature like a curtain of water. The gray power of time flowed out, cracking layer by layer and stopping. It felt like an instant, yet also eternity. The silver sword sliced down.

Lu Yin let out a breath and then merged with the will of the megaverse.

Thump.

His heart beat, and at that moment, the megaverse became a vast phantom of Lu Yin. What stood before Hui was no longer clearly the megaverse or Lu Yin, but rather both.

Hui stared on in shock. Merging with a megaverse?

They were reminded of a scene from the final battle that had been fought long ago in the same megaverse, when Mister Mu had also merged with his megaverse.

Before Hui’s thoughts could move any further, Lu Yin threw a palm strike, the enormous figure lashing out. The heaven-shaking blow was enough to encompass an entire universe.

Hui’s sword fell.

Sword and palm met, and both were forced back. Merging with a megaverse made Lu Yin far more powerful, but not to the point where he could face Hui head-on. Blocking the silver being’s attack at all was already quite difficult.

Hui sneered. So what if you’ve merged with the will of the megaverse? That just means that you’re a larger target!

With that thought, the silver sword slashed again.

At the same time, Awecloud fell behind Hui and thrust forward.

The silver sword swept back in a horizontal cut, knocking the spear away. At that moment, a dark rift enveloped the creature, swallowing Hui. Endless pressure fell upon them as twenty-nine rifts opened up. This was the best that Awe Gate could do after some of her power had been expelled. Seizing the opening, she drove Awecloud down from above, using Cloud Manifest.

The silver light was blinding. It tore through the rifts, shooting beams of silver light in all directions. Greater Sancte Awe Gate was forced back, and right after that, a terrifying sword strike pressed down into the darkness of the rifts, suppressing everything. Wherever the sword passed, nothing remained behind.

Greater Sancte Awe Gate stared at that sword with deadly focus, even as she retreated again and again.