Star Odyssey

Was that the Roving White Dragon? Lu Yin was instantly caught off guard—this person was clearly from the White Dragon Clan, and he immediately thought of the Flying Armor Troops. The army was the only group that could lock down an area inside Flying Armor Pass, which meant that he was being targeted by someone from the White Dragon Clan; this was an inside job.

Given that he was facing someone under Long Xian, Lu Yin needed to be careful to not reveal too much of his strength. With that in mind, he released his domain and tilted his head. The attacker's spear shot forward towards Lu Yin's chest, tearing apart the ground as it passed by. Lu Yin was able to clearly see the attack and even predict its trajectory, so he took a simple step back to avoid the attack. The dark figure's eyes flashed with frustration. Then, they stepped forward with their right foot as their breathing suddenly changed. Lu Yin heard a roar.

"White Dragon Transformation! Watch out!" Guo Shan shouted.

Lu Yin's eyes showed his surprise. The White Dragon Transformation was one of the White Dragon Clan's inherited techniques, and it allowed the user's strength to momentarily spike. This attacker was definitely a descendant of the White Dragon Clan.

After using the White Dragon Transformation, the dark figure's strength surged. The spear swept out again, much faster than before, and the person also used the Roving White Dragon. Lu Yin was no longer able to predict the attacker's movement, but he was still able to evade.

The black figure seemed to be in a rush, and they quickly abandoned the spear to attack Lu Yin with a palm. Guo Shan shouted from a distance, "Don't block it!"

Lu Yin completely ignored the advice and responded with a Vacuum Palm of his own. The two attacks clashed, and an explosion blasted everyone's ears as the shockwave swept out while the ground broke open and formed a crevice beneath them. Both Lu Yin and the dark figure retreated at the same time, opening up some space between them.

The black figure was stunned. Even though they had used the White Dragon Transformation, they still weren't able to gain the upper hand. Long Qi was not an easy opponent.

Lu Yin was also surprised that his attacker had managed to withstand a Vacuum Palm that contained nearly 200 Stacks. While Lu Yin had not combined it with any battle force, it still was not an attack that most Hunters could withstand. Actually, even an Enlighter like Unseen Light would not be able to endure that attack.

This was the power of the White Dragon Transformation. Using it tremendously increased a person's physical strength.

"Time's up!" shouted one of the people fighting with Guo Shan.

Lu Yin immediately attacked again, once more using a Vacuum Palm. The invisible attack was too fast for the black figure to react to, and the palm struck them in the chest, knocking them a thousand meters back. The mask was stained with blood, and the figure was clearly enraged that they had been attacked. Despite their fury, the attacker did not continue the assault. The sky cleared, and the restrictions on the area disappeared.

The dark figure glanced at Lu Yin in frustration, but they still turned around and left.

Lu Yin did not want to let his attackers go, so he instantly pursued them.

Guo Shan did the same.

But the dark figure simply used Roving White Dragon and disappeared in the blink of an eye. If they were still in the Fifth Mainland, it would have been impossible for Lu Yin's attacker to escape so easily, but he could not use any secret techniques or reveal too much strength in this place. Thus, he could only watch the attackers leave.

Lu Yin looked down at his slightly reddened hand as the color quickly faded away. That person had been very strong; did the White Dragon Transformation really increase a person's strength that much?

"How are you? Are you hurt?" Guo Shan asked while looking down at Lu Yin's hand.

Lu Yin shook his wrist. There was a bit of pain as it moved around.

Guo Shan rolled his eyes. "I told you not to fight against them head on. The White Dragon Transformation is one of the White Dragon Clan's inherited techniques, and the user's physical power will completely change after using this technique. They'll basically turn into a humanoid monster, but the person who attacked you was clearly not very strong. If it was your future wife who used it, then she would have crippled you with a single hand."

Lu Yin shrugged. "Yeah, that was really impressive."

"It's too bad that you're only from one of the White Dragon Clan's branch families. Almost no one who's not from the main family can learn the White Dragon Transformation. It's really too bad that your bloodline isn't pure," Guo Shan said.

Lu Yin stared off into the distance. "Who the hell attacked me just now?"

"You want to know?" Guo Shan smiled. "I know how we can find out."

"How's that?"

"Follow me. Whoever stops us was the attacker. Watch." Guo Shan then rushed back towards Flying Armor Pass.

After a while, the two men entered the city, and Guo Shan loudly said, "I left a mark on that person, so he won't be able to run away. The mark will last for a quarter of an hour before fading."

Lu Yin showed his excitement. "Then let's go! Anyone who dares to attack our Fourteenth Gate is courting death."

Before the two made it very far, a squad of flying cultivators in armor stopped them. They were led by a bearded, middle-aged man who stared at Lu Yin and Guo Shan. "There was a violent fight just outside the city, and the commander has ordered you two to be placed under a half month house arrest. You are both to immediately return to your residence. The other party will be arrested."

Guo Shan and Lu Yin looked at each other, and Lu Yin stepped forward with his head held high. "I am Long Qi of the White Dragon Clan. I wish to see the commander."

The bearded man frowned. "The commander is busy with certain affairs and has no time to meet with you at this time."

"Brother, you aren't even from the army's headquarters, so how do you know the commander's busy? Aren't you supposed to be on break right now?" Guo Shan shot back.

The bearded man's eyes froze. "There was a violent fight just outside the city, and the commander sent a qualified person to investigate. There is no need for us to report to you."

He then looked at Long Qi, and his voice lost a bit of strength. "If the young master wishes to meet the commander, then I must ask you to return to your residence and wait while I submit a report."

It would take at least fifteen minutes for this report to be made. Lu Yin already knew that someone under Long Xian had attacked him, but there was no way for it to have been Long Xian himself. The man was not that stupid.

The attack had happened outside of the city, so how could the army have found out about it so quickly? Also, a house arrest was a stupid excuse, and it had only been done to delay the two from tracking down their attackers.

"If that's the case, then let's go. We don't want to hinder the Flying Armor Troops from doing their business," Guo Shan said.

Lu Yin nodded.

"Young Master Long has my respect," the middle-aged man said quickly. He personally made a point of watching the two leave before turning to a person beside him. "Go and tell the young master that everything is going well."

"Yes."

…

Back outside the city, Lu Yin felt curious. "Long Xian shouldn't have been the attacker, so who could it have been?"

Guo Shan laughed. "You don't even know about the other members of the White Dragon Clan?"

Lu Yin shook his head. "Not about Long Xian."

Guo Shan said, "Long Xian has a son named Long Ding, and he's the one who attacked you just now. The body shape, battle techniques, and cultivation realm all match up."

Lu Yin did not know anything about this person. In fact, let alone Lu Yin, even Long Kui had only recently met Long Ding for the first time.

"Why'd he attack me?" Lu Yin asked.

Guo Shan gave Lu Yin a strange look. "Don't try to tell me that you had a happy time in the White Dragon Clan. Did no one ever target you? No one ever tried to bully you?"

Lu Yin immediately understood; this person was another fool who had a crush on Long Xi, but was too afraid of Bai Shaohong to do anything. Despite his own fears, Long Ding was jealous of Lu Yin, who had married Long Xi. Lu Yin's future wife really was too charming.

"How did you feel when fighting against Long Ding just now?" Guo Shan asked.

Lu Yin thought for a moment before answering, "He's very powerful, though I'm talking about after he used the White Dragon Transformation."

Guo Shan nodded. "Every member of the White Dragon Clan will completely transform after using that technique. Long Ding's strength spiked, but he was still weaker than you. You managed to injure him, but things will change in a few days. He's definitely going to find another chance to fight you."

"What kind of change? Oh, are you saying that he'll break through to the Enlighter realm soon?" Lu Yin asked.

Guo Shan sneered. "Enlighter? That's just a small part of it. More importantly, he'll try to open his lower meridian point."

Lu Yin was surprised. "Can he open the lower meridian point? How? Does he have that many tribulation crystals?"

Before, Lu Yin had not known about the meridian points, but then Long Kui had mentioned how tribulation crystals could be used to help a person open their meridian points, first the lower and then the middle. Lu Yin had finally understood the temptation for these crystals.

The human body had three meridian points: the lower meridian point, the middle, and the upper. These meridian points could not be opened by regular cultivation, not even if one became an Envoy or an expert with a power level of more than a million. Not even a Semi-Progenitor would have these meridian points opened, as they did not affect one's cultivation.

However, it was necessary to open these meridian points in order to become a Progenitor.

The higher one's cultivation became, the more difficult it was to open these meridian points. Thus, it was best and easiest to open them while still young with the help of tribulation crystals.

Also, aside from opening up the possibility of becoming a Progenitor in the future, each time a meridian point was opened, a person's strength would rise by leaps and bounds, similar to breaking through to a new cultivation realm.

Everyone in this universe dreamed of opening their meridian points, but this kind of opportunity could not even be asked for. Not even a major clan was guaranteed to gather enough tribulation crystals, and even though the White Dragon Clan had spent years doing so, they had still only managed to gather enough to allow Long Tian to open the lower and middle meridian points. Not even Long Xi had been able to open a meridian point.

The reason why Long Tian, Bai Shaohong, Wang Su, and Xia Shenfei had managed to become Junior Progenitors was entirely because they had become peerless within their generation, and they had done so by opening their lower and middle meridian points. Their strength could not compare to that of others.

It had taken so much for those four to accomplish this task, and even the forces behind them had not been able to provide enough tribulation crystals for everything that they needed, so how could this Long Ding manage to open a meridian point?

"That's precisely why our Fourteenth Gate is investigating Flying Armor Pass," Guo Shan said solemnly.

Lu Yin frowned. "Are you saying the Fourteenth Gate suspects Long Xian of becoming a Redback because of the tribulation crystals?"

Guo Shan nodded. "Think about it—the four ruling powers have spent countless years accumulating resources to allow their Junior Progenitors to open up just two meridians, and maybe one other person to open a single meridian point. So then, just how could this Long Ding have enough tribulation crystals to open a meridian point? How?"

"Are there any problems with this investigation?" Lu Yin wondered.

Guo Shan nodded. "The biggest problem is that no one knows where Long Xian got the tribulation crystals. No matter how many years he might have spent skimming off the top from what's been gathered in Flying Armor Pass, it's impossible for him to save up enough to open Long Ding's meridian point, let alone the few years that he's been the commander here. However, our investigation has ruled out the possibility of him being a Redback or a traitor. This whole thing is very strange.

"Still, since we've ruled out the possibility of him being a Redback or a traitor, Humility's Gate no longer has any jurisdiction to investigate. No matter where his tribulation crystals are coming from, it's got nothing to do with us."

Lu Yin felt twitchy. The moment that he had learned about the three meridian points, he had understood the importance of tribulation crystals, and he had developed an insatiable greed for them. However, tribulation crystals were different from star essence in that no one would ever sell tribulation crystals.

"You need to open all three meridian points if you want to become a Progenitor, and it becomes harder to open them the older you get and the higher you climb. Even a Semi-Progenitor would find it practically impossible to open a single meridian point, and it's almost impossible to do so without tribulation crystals. It also takes more and more tribulation crystals to succeed as you get older, and even the four ruling powers struggle to gather enough for even their Junior Progenitors. This is why it's necessary to open the meridian points at as young an age as possible, as otherwise you'll never have any chance at all of becoming a Progenitor," Guo Shan said with clear envy.

The four Junior Progenitors had all opened their middle meridian points, and the upper meridian could not be opened with tribulation crystals as that one required Origin Matter, which could only be found in the Dominion Realm. This was the motivation behind the Yuanlun Festival, and it was also the entire purpose behind the trips to the Dominion Realm.

Only after visiting the Dominion Realm was it possible to determine who had the greatest chances of becoming a Progenitor in the future.

This was just one part of why it was so difficult to become a Progenitor.

OMA's Thoughts

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA