Star Odyssey

Off in the distance, Lu Yin’s gadget suddenly rang. Shen Fu was calling him.

“Alliance Leader Lu, please help Shamrock Enterprises. Shen Fu will be extremely grateful to you,” Shen Fu respectfully begged for Lu Yin’s assistance.

Lu Yin felt helpless. He had coincidentally come to this branch, and both Shen Fu and Yu Mu were aware of his presence. Despite him recently offending Shamrock Enterprises, he had still forced them to treat Luo Shen. Thus, he clearly owed them a favor, which meant that he had to act.

“I got it,” Lu Yin replied, acknowledging Shen Fu’s request as he stepped out. Lu Yin’s figure then flashed as he suddenly appeared in the sky, quickly donned his universal armor, and moved to face the sylvan dragon.

“Long Erhuo, do you remember me?” Lu Yin’s voice suddenly echoed in the sylvan dragon’s ears.

The sylvan dragon was taken aback, and he looked up to exchange glances with Lu Yin. At first, the beast was bewildered, but then he became flabbergasted before finally revealing an indignant look. “So it’s you again! Are you trying to ruin all of my efforts? You already dragged me down once back at the Skyblaze Dojo, and I will not let you off no matter what you say! Get over here and die!”

Lu Yin leisurely put on the huge mechanical arm and clenched a fist. “During the battle in the astral cemetery, I killed two Imprinters.”

Long Erhuo had just been about to attack, but he paused upon hearing Lu Yin’s words. He suddenly remembered that he had indeed heard about this fellow slaughtering two Imprinters. Imprinters were existences whose power levels were above 500,000, and they were even from the Sixth Mainland.

The situation suddenly turned awkward, as Long Erhuo no longer dared to take action against Lu Yin. After arriving in the Outerverse, he had roamed about unimpeded for some time. During his travels, he had heard quite a bit about Lu Yin, especially how this youth possessed the most powerful external items to the point where no one knew the full extent of Lu Yin’s armory. In addition, Lu Yin was also a part of the Hall of Honor with Yuan Shi standing behind Lu Yin and supporting the youth.

Long Erhuo swallowed his saliva. He knew that this kid would be a tough bone to chew, and there was no need for him to look for such trouble. “Scram, kid. My business here has nothing to do with you.”

Lu Yin clenched his right fist. “This place is temporarily under my protection.”

Long Erhuo bared his fangs. “Kid, don’t create trouble when there isn’t any.”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, and he directly sent his voice to Long Erhuo. “You covered your face since you don’t want to openly offend Shamrock Enterprises, so aren’t you afraid that I’ll give Yu Mu your name? The Outerverse is about to reconnect to the Innerverse, so do you really want to be chased after by the full power of Shamrock Enterprises?”

Long Erhuo was infuriated, and he unhappily glanced at the base of the mountain range and at all the pretty girls. He then mumbled, “I’m someone who researches the human body, and from just once glance, it’s clear that these females are ill. I simply wish to provide them with some treatment.”

“Long!” Lu Yin barked, which frightened Long Erhuo. The sylvan dragon thought that Lu Yin was about to reveal his name, and Long Erhuo immediately started to run away with his tail between his legs. “Kid, I’ll remember you!”

Lu Yin let out a long breath. This sylvan dragon was completely immoral. Back at the Skyblaze Dojo, the fiery dragon that had burnt away various cultivators’ clothes had supposedly been taught by this sylvan dragon. He was a failure of a dragon, but he was also very powerful as his power level had reached nearly 300,000. This dragon was difficult to deal with, and his presence in the Outerverse would be a constant frustration.

Lu Yin had managed to chase Long Erhuo away, and the people from this branch of Shamrock Enterprises were all very grateful to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin pressed them to take good care of Luo Shen before leaving.

A month had passed since Lu Yin had left the Great Yu Empire to visit Ironblood Weave. Currently, the biggest news in the Outerverse was about how all of the Outerverse’s central weaves had officially joined the Great Eastern Alliance.

This news was stunning, but it was also nothing unexpected.

The Great Eastern Alliance uniting the entire Outerverse seemed to be an unstoppable trend, though the Outerverse could not be considered as truly unified. Currently, they were merely an alliance since none of the numerous weaves’ various great powers had collapsed or lost their power.

A true unification would eradicate the authority of these powers, which would be an arduous process that could not be accomplished overnight.

Even if Lu Yin was capable of living for eons, he would not ever have the inclination to attempt such an endeavor.

Maintaining an alliance was the best option for Lu Yin, as he merely needed the organization’s status, authority, and resources.

By now, of the seventy-two weaves that made up the Outerverse, fifty of them had joined the Great Eastern Alliance. In other words, there were only twenty-two weaves that were still independent, and they were all in the western region.

Everyone suddenly directed their focus to the western reaches of the Outerverse.

Lu Yin had only just entered Frostwave Weave when he received a message from En Ya informing him of the current circumstances. Along with the summary was a confirmation that the remaining weaves would join the alliance within half a year.

However, Lu Yin felt that this was still too slow, and he gave En Ya, Wang Wen, and the others a strict timeline: three months. Within this period of time, the remaining weaves all had to join the alliance. This deadline had been set because, based on the speed that the Astral River’s energy was receding at, the Outerverse would reconnect with the Innerverse within half a year.

They had to unify the Outerverse before it reconnected with the Innerverse, as only the united strength of the entire Outerverse could cause the Innerverse’s various great powers to hesitate. This was also the only way an allied Outerverse would be able to obtain the Hall of Honor’s recognition.

To resist the Innerverse’s pressure, the Hall of Honor’s attitude towards a united Outerverse was of the utmost importance.

Next, Lu Yin decided to return to the Daosource Sect’s ruins, as he had not been there in a long time, and it was time for him to begin cultivating the Second Sun.

During these recent past months, it was not that Lu Yin did not want to enter the Daosource Sect’s ruins, but rather that he had no time. He had been flung all the way to the Cosmic Sea after fighting in the astral cemetery’s battles, and after that, he had fought in great battles one after another. Lu Yin had been completely occupied with absolutely no time to visit the Daosource Sect’s ruins.

After making his decision, Lu Yin took out his futon and sat down on it. The scenery changed before his eyes as Lu Yin appeared within Daosource Sect’s ruins, just outside the First Divine Gate’s futon plaza.

There were many more people in the futon plaza than before. Since the Sixth Mainland had given up on invading the Innerverse, their younger generation members had all returned to the ruins. Thus, there were naturally more people present.

Below the First Divine Gate, quite a few Sixth Mainland cultivators had grouped up into teams.

Lu Yin surveyed the surroundings, but he quickly found that not many looked familiar to him. He took some quick steps, streaked through the First Divine Gate, and made his way to the Budding Terrace.

The cultivators who were standing beneath the First Divine Gate were all stunned. “That was an expert! By his attitude, he must be the heir of some Imprinter family.”

“The three realms that tried to invade the Fifth Mainland’s Human Domain all failed, and all of their young experts who participated in that invasion have returned. The peaceful times that we previously enjoyed and used to search for opportunities will probably disappear in the future.”

“What a pity.”

…

The First Divine Gate Guardians that were along the path to the Budding Terrace had clearly been destroyed in the past, but they appeared once again as Lu Yin ran along the path. There was no telling where these guardians had come from.

Lu Yin waved a hand, instantly shattering all of the guardians. They were not able to delay him for even a second.

After passing through the First Divine Gate, he stepped onto the Budding Terrace. The number of people here was a bit lower than before, and Lu Yin moved straight towards the region with the Nine Cauldrons.

Lu Yin had already made several trips to the Daosource Sect’s ruins before, so he had become rather familiar with this area. At this moment, he was mostly concerned that he would run into someone familiar with his appearance, so he had altered his appearance as soon as he had appeared in the futon plaza.

During the skirmishes in the Cosmic Sea, Zhi Yi had put up a bounty on Lu Yin, so his face had become widely recognized by the countless people of the Sixth Mainland. Thus, he no longer dared to carelessly use his original appearance.

There were more people within the Nine Cauldrons’ space this time. During his last visit, the region had actually been sealed off with a battle between two factions taking place. However, no one was restricting this region any longer.

With a single leap, Lu Yin jumped inside the second cauldron. There, he found multiple Sixth Mainland cultivators, each one trying to comprehend something. Lu Yin recognized one person, a young man who had chased after Lu Yin back in the Cosmic Sea along with many other Sixth Mainland cultivators. This youth had been one of the people at the front of the crowd, and he was the heir of an Imprinter family.

Lu Yin’s arrival roused a bit of attention, but Lu Yin acted timid as he paced back and forth before making his way to a corner. He looked rather diffident.

The Sixth Mainland cultivators did not pay much attention to him after an initial glance, only giving him a look of contempt before returning to their attempts to comprehend something from the cauldron.

Lu Yin heaved a sigh of relief that he hadn’t been recognized. He then sat down in a corner and put his hand on the cauldron. As soon as he made contact with it, the cauldron released a slight tremble before cauldron energy began flowing into his body through his palm.

The others also sensed that the cauldron had trembled, and at first, they thought that it was just an illusion, but everything changed once they realized that they had all felt the same thing at the same time.

The cultivators grew excited, and they all continued trying to comprehend something from the cauldron. They had already come to a tacit agreement that nobody here would speak of what had just happened.

The Imprinter family heir even spoke up in warning. “Those of you who are here, please stay silent, as there’ll be nothing left for you if anything spreads out. The Nine Cauldrons’ battle technique is said to be invincible when combined, so don’t make a mistake.”

Although the people here did not answer, they also did not refuse his request.

If possible, this heir actually wanted to kill off everyone else within the cauldron, but he was not confident in succeeding. If anyone escaped, then this matter would be revealed, and he would have lost the opportunity to continue trying to comprehend the cauldrons’ technique as this region would definitely be sealed off if news leaked.

He glanced over the several people inside his cauldron, and his focus eventually swept over Lu Yin as well, though it clearly contained contempt and a trace of displeasure. This person was just too lucky, and he had encountered the cauldron’s tremor almost the moment he arrived. This event was something that had only ever happened a few times throughout the countless years. Although nobody had ever comprehended the Nine Cauldrons’ battle technique before, this tremor still represented a glimmer of hope.

The fact that some piece of trash had encountered the cauldron’s tremor could almost be considered an destined opportunity.

If the heir killed this person, then the others in the cauldron would also be scared. At this thought, the heir snorted. Consider yourself lucky.

Over the next few days, Lu Yin sat in the corner and continued to silently absorb the cauldron energy.

The rest occasionally glanced over at Lu Yin, but he seemed rather honest, not even moving.

The others occasionally adjusted their positions as they attempted to comprehend the Nine Cauldrons’ battle technique, but not a single one of them was met with any success.

A few more days passed, and someone else entered the second cauldron only to sigh in disappointment. “Just who spread the rumor that these Nine Cauldrons have a battle technique? Aren’t they just messing with people?”

“Who said that that isn’t the case? These things have been here for countless years, and the historical records about them have all rotted away so even the older generation has given up.”

“Still, the commotion raised by the first cauldron shattering was pretty impressive, and quite a few experts from the older generation still come over to take a look.”

“These things definitely just corroded over time. Those elders wouldn’t be able to find anything no matter how hard they searched.”

“That’s true.”

…

After another two days, some people left while a few others arrived.

Neither Lu Yin nor any of the others who had initially been in the cauldron left, and there was no way any of them would leave unless their time expired. Even after their time ran out, they would definitely come back to this place on their next visit since they had felt the cauldron tremble.

“Who could have imagined that the invasion of the Fifth Mainland would fail? Two Empyrean Imprinters even died! What a waste.”

“That’s right, the Fifth Mainland cultivators are simply too sneaky. During the battle between the two mainlands, the cultivators from the Fifth Mainland used all sorts of lies to deceive our Sixth Mainland’s top experts. If not for their vigilance, the outcome of the battle definitely would have been different.”

…

“Brother Lin, you’re here too? Didn’t you fight in the invasion of the Astral Beast Domain?” another person called out as he entered the second cauldron and.

Lu Yin opened his eyes and looked over. The battle in the Astral Beast Domain?

That man who had been called Brother Lin grew vexed. “Don’t bring that up! If I had known about it earlier, I would have never gone. What Astral Beast Domain? It’s just some backwater place that ignores all of the strange phenomena in space. They have all sorts of resources but do nothing with them. There was nothing more than a bunch of wild beasts in that place.”

“Was the invasion successful?”

“Not really. Their resistance was incredibly tenacious, and those beasts have all kinds of strange innate gifts and weird abilities. They were also able to organize themselves into a powerful army called the Celestial Beast Empire. In addition, a lot of the biggest battles ended up being relatively passive as it seems that some Skymender predicted everything. We were basically screwed from the very beginning! When did things get so messed up? We weren’t even able to obtain that many resources since that place was basically completely undeveloped. If we had known about this before, we probably wouldn’t have even gone there. Right, what about the invasion of the Human Domain? I heard that things got pretty intense there.”

“You’re actually pretty lucky. The fighting in the Fifth Mainland’s Human Domain was harsh, and two Empyrean Imprinters from the older generation actually died, let alone the Cosmic Imprinters, World Imprinters, and regular Imprinters. Even the Daosource Three Skies of the younger generation showed up, but we still had to retreat.”

“Who knew that things would be so bad.”