Star Odyssey

“Come on, have something to eat.” Hui Kong tossed Lu Yin a giant beast’s thigh.

Lu Yin caught it, and began to devour it without any hesitation.

Soon, there was just a pile of bones left on the ground. Lu Yin patted his stomach and wondered to himself if he had grown fatter.

“Oops, I forgot something.” Hui Kong suddenly smacked himself in the head, which startled Lu Yin and made him jump.

Lu Yin gave the old man a blank look.

Hui Kong looked down, thinking to himself for a moment. Suddenly, he grew annoyed. “How could I have forgotten about him?!”

“Bro, what’s the matter?” Lu Yin asked.

Hui Kong looked to be in agony, and he apologetically said, “I’m sorry, bro, but I might not be able to send you to the Outerverse anymore. Can you wait another hundred years or so?”

Lu Yin blinked. “Bro, stop kidding.”

Hui Kong sighed. “I’m not joking. With how long it’s been since I first barged into this broken place and started wreaking so much havoc, do you really think that the Technocracy relies on just those mechanical monsters to try to deal with me? That’s too naive. In order to restrict me, the Technocracy’s Master Brain sends an absolute powerhouse to deal with me every once in a while, and each fight will last for a hundred years.

“I wanted to send you off, but alas, it might already be too late.”

Lu Yin’s heart sank, as he did not want to be stuck in the Technocracy for a hundred years. After that much time, everything he was working towards would have already gone cold. “Bro, is there no other way? With your strength, it should just take you an instant to pass through the Technocracy.”

Hui Kong smiled bitterly. “In the Human Domain, it really is that easy to travel around the universe, but the situation here in the Technocracy is different. This place is littered with technological defenses, and wherever I go, those defenses will start to endlessly increase. Also, there are traps hidden everywhere, even where the void has solidified. Let’s put it this way—within the next hundred years, even if I wanted to leave, I can’t.”

Lu Yin’s face went pale. What should he do if he could not leave? After a hundred years, let alone the Innerverse; even the situation in the Outerverse would completely change. Those powers that had been forcibly incorporated into the Great Eastern Alliance would likely leave, and they might even turn around to deal with the Great Yu Empire. Also, there were still other unstable factors within the Great Eastern Alliance, such as Undying Yushan—nobody even knew if the previous emperor was dead or alive. There was also the Hidden Earth Society and other such organizations. Of course, most importantly, what about Ming Yan? Was she supposed to just wait for him for a hundred years?

If it took him a hundred years to return, then he would be too late for everything.

“Bro, when will that powerhouse arrive to deal with you?” Lu Yin asked.

Hui Kong thought about it. “Anytime now.”

Lu Yin silently muttered to himself.

Hui Kong had a pained look. “I’ve let you down. I was only thinking about keeping you around a bit longer to chat, and I never expected to accidentally leave you stranded here. It really wasn’t intentional.”

Lu Yin quickly replied, “I know that bro didn’t do it on purpose.”

Hui Kong sighed helplessly. “Just stay if you have to. It will also be good for you to watch me fight for a hundred years. With your aptitude, you’ll end up reaching at least the Enlighter realm after that long. Relax and don’t worry about resources or things like that. I’ll just steal them for you.”

Steal? Lu Yin’s eyes lit up. “Bro, you understand the Technocracy well, right?”

Hui Kong patted his chest. “You must be joking. I’ve been fighting here for many years.”

Lu Yin hurriedly took out the star chart that showed the path that connected the Innerverse to the Outerverse that he had received from Endless Borders. He then passed the map over to Hui Kong. “Bro, do you recognize this place?”

Hui Kong looked at it, puzzled. “This place is pretty close by. What’s up with this? Why do you have a star chart of part of the Technocracy?”

Lu Yin was thrilled. “Bro, this star chart is one that was mapped out by Endless Borders, and it shows a path between the Innerverse and the Outerverse.”

“So there’s even something like this? But there shouldn’t be any holes in the Technocracy’s surveillance.” Hui Kong found this matter quite strange.

Lu Yin explained, “One of Endless Borders’ exploration teams really did manage to successfully map out this route. Although there are strange phenomena on this route that make it dangerous, they really did get to the Innerverse.”

Hui Kong looked at Lu Yin. “You want me to send you through this route so that you can return to the Outerverse?”

Lu Yin nodded.

Hui Kong thought about it. “If this route is real, then there’s no problem. However, if there’s any sort of problem, then you might really die. Think about this carefully.”

Lu Yin felt like he had no other choice. “I really can’t wait for a hundred years. Honestly, I was framed, and I lost in the Innerverse. I still need to get revenge. If I can’t return soon, then everything to do with that matter will be over soon.”

Hui Kong frowned. “There’s no bit of business more important than your own life. I’ll promise you that I’ll get the unknown generation of my Hui family’s descendents to help you. You’re from the Outerverse, and my descendants also might not have lived up to my expectations, but they should still be able to help you gain control of a few weaves.”

Lu Yin blinked. “I’ve already unified half of the Outerverse.”

Hui Kong blankly stared at the youth. “How? The Innerverse, Neoverse, and the Hall of Honor all just watched on as you did that?”

“When the sky changed, the Astral River’s energy surged, and the Outerverse ended up being isolated from the Innerverse,” Lu Yin explained.

Hui Kong finally understood what had happened. This was a matter of Lu Yin taking advantage of the extraordinarily rare opportunity where the Outerverse was isolated from the Innerverse, and he had managed to achieve something unprecedented. Under normal circumstances, it would not be possible for anyone to unite half of the Outerverse. Even if the Hall of Honor had agreed to such a thing, those top powers from the Innerverse would not readily agree.

“I’ve really underestimated you. Alright, I’ll send you on your way, and your life and death will depend on the will of heaven. Tell me, who is your enemy? If you die during this, I’ll get revenge for you when I head out,” Hui Kong said.

Lu Yin did not hesitate to carve Nightking Zhenwu’s name into the ground. His greatest enemy at this moment was Nightking Zhenwu.

Hui Kong was astonished. “A Nightking? So you offended the Daynight clan, and one of the Nightking’s descendants at that.” He was about to make another comment, but his expression suddenly changed. “Not good! The enemy’s here.”

He quickly grabbed a hold of Lu Yin and stepped forward, vanishing from the surface of the planet.

Hui Kong had only just left when a semi-mechanical man appeared on the planet, his gaze sweeping across the surface of the planet. After a moment, he also tore through the void to leave the planet.

All Lu Yin could feel was a sensation of his body being cut open, and the next instant, there was a cyclone that engulfed the region of space in front of him. Hui Kong stood tall in outer space as he grabbed Lu Yin. “Bro, this is as far as I can take you. This is the route that you showed me, so I’ll see you off here.”

Lu Yin’s entire body tensed up, and he immediately put on his universal armor. “Bro, will we be able to meet again?”

Hui Kong laughed. “Of course! Nobody can kill me!”

The man then forcefully tossed Lu Yin straight into the cyclone, and the youth was swallowed as he spun towards the north.

Lu Yin had only just been thrown out when the semi-mechanical man appeared next to Hui Kong, staring at the old man.

Hui Kong turned around to face the newcomer. “Hahahaha, now we can have a good match!”

The very next moment, the heavens themselves ruptured.

Lu Yin had been thrown by Hui Kong’s incredible strength, and the youth’s breathing slowed as his entire body was forced to endure a tremendous pressure that almost exceeded the limit of what his body could withstand. When the cyclone swept him up, it looked like the sky was spinning above him. When he was finally able to open his eyes, the cyclone had disappeared, and he was in a strange part of the universe.

This was where the route started.

Lu Yin did not know how to determine where the route started exactly, but he could use his gadget to find out.

Before long, he gained his bearings and shot off in a certain direction.

This route was one of the few loopholes in the Technocracy’s border surveillance, and as long as one could evade the terrifying phenomena, they would be able to reach the Outerverse.

This last journey to the Innerverse had felt like a dream. He had not realized that he had already reached a very high level. After just a few years had gone by, he had become more famous than ever and shocked the Innerverse.

However, the event that had left the deepest impression on Lu Yin was naturally his battle against Nightking Zhenwu, as it seemed impossible to stop the Heart Seeker secret technique. Anyone who fought against Nightking Zhenwu could be struck by that technique at any time, and with Nightking Zhenwu’s personality, he would never expose such a sneaky attack in advance. The Nightking had comprehended Skybreaker, and now that he had captured Zhuo Daynight, he even had a chance of obtaining Night’s End, Daybreak from her.

That man had already gained control of the Nightking bloodline’s greatest inheritance, and he had also received the Sixth Mainland’s Arrow Progenitor’s inheritance. On top of that, after seizing the Champions' Stage, it was highly likely that Nightking Zhenwu would also become one of the Cosmic Five, thus obtaining one of the Fifth Mainland’s Progenitors’ inheritances. If everything went according to his plan, then he would become unrivaled within his generation, and even the Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Three Skies might not be able to stand up to him.

Nightking Zhenwu was like the child of heaven, as bright as the moon in the night sky above. He carried the mandate of heaven, but the only thing that he had failed to do so far was kill Lu Yin.

Lu Yin clenched his fists, his eyes cold.

Nightking Zhenwu might seem to have everything going as planned for him for the time being, but Lu Yin strongly believed that he still had an opportunity to thwart the Nightking’s plans and stop him.

Nightking Zhenwu—it would not be too long before they met again.

Suddenly, Lu Yin thought of something. He had forgotten to ask about something, as he had been interrupted by Hui Kong’s hunting.

He had wanted to ask the old man about the primeval surnames, as Hui Kong would likely know about them due to his advanced age, but Lu Yin had forgotten.

“Seventh Bro, are we heading back to the Outerverse now?” the Ghost Monkey asked.

Lu Yin grunted in acknowledgement.

The Ghost Monkey fell silent for a moment and then asked, “Seventh Bro, have you heard of the surname Hui before?”

Lu Yin did not understand the question. “No, have you?”

“Within the Seven Courts, there’s a family with the Hui surname,” the Ghost Monkey explained.

Lu Yin was surprised, but then he casually replied, “It’s no wonder why his family’s so powerful. So they’re a part of the Seven Courts.”

“There’s another thing that Seventh Bro might not know, or perhaps you didn’t really pay too much attention to it.” The monkey paused for a moment before continuing, saying, “The Technocracy was birthed from Progenitor Hui.”

Lu Yin’s gaze trembled, as he suddenly remembered hearing something about that before.

“Do you remember when the Tong family and the Sightless clan attacked the Outerverse? Yuan Shi used a Progenitor’s item to stand up to Ancestor Sightless, and he said something at that time.” the Ghost Monkey slowly said.

Lu Yin finally recalled that moment. At that time, Yuan Shi had used Progenitor Wushang’s hide to fight against Ancestor Tong and Ancestor Sightless, and Ancestor Sightless had mentioned a “Progenitor Hui who had created technology.”

“The Technocracy was born from Progenitor Hui?” Lu Yin was astonished.

The Ghost Monkey answered in a dull voice, “Probably. Otherwise, who else could have created such a massive civilization from nothing? The Technocracy was originally known as the Lost Technocracy, which shows that it was abandoned at some point in time, and that it possibly has Progenitor Hui’s inheritance.”

“Progenitor Hui… The Seven Courts’ Hui family. Could it be the same bloodline?” Lu Yin muttered.

“Hui Kong might not be staying in the Technocracy for reasons as simple as you were assuming. He might actually be searching for Progenitor Hui’s inheritance,” the monkey said.

Lu Yin nodded. “That’s possible. Hopefully, he finds it.”

The monkey was puzzled. “Hopefully? Seventh Bro, he’s someone from the Seven Courts’ Hui family, and he might even be one of the family’s ancestors. They’re one of the Three Dark Hands!”

Lu Yin smiled. “So what? He’s my brother. He sent me here, and he also reminded me to deduce the Overlaying Stacks Path myself. He told me about a lot of things.”

The Ghost Monkey fell silent.

Humans were humans, and they would not always remain rational. Hui Kong had indeed been pretty good to Lu Yin; he had not done much to the youth, and the old man hadn’t even tried to coax any information out of the youngster, never taking the initiative to ask any questions. All of their interactions had been very natural, and Lu Yin would not become enemies with such a person regardless of whether they were from the Three Dark Hands or the Hall of Honor.