Star Odyssey

Chapter 1509: Battle Wit

Lu Yin similarly disappeared and entered the true universe. He was instantly greeted by the sight of the fat corpse king charging straight at him, who spread its arms open wide and embraced Lu Yin.

Lu Yin was stunned for a moment; what the hell was happening? He quickly grabbed his knife and tried to stab the corpse king's neck.

To his surprise, the rotund corpse king did not even try to evade his attack, and it simply continued to tightly squeeze Lu Yin in its embrace, allowing Lu Yin to drive his knife blade deep into the neck. But shockingly, not even a trickle of blood seeped out from the wound. Although the knife had clearly stabbed into the corpse king, something seemed off. It almost felt as though something had devoured the knife blade instead.

At this moment, the fat corpse king's arms squeezed down on Lu Yin's waist even tighter than before, and a tremendous amount of pressure began constricting Lu Yin's body.

There was an audible click, and an immense pain radiated out from Lu Yin's waist. He was almost in disbelief at how unbelievably strong this heavy corpse king was. The damage was even getting past his Cloudguard Robes, which were tough enough to defend against attacks with a power level of more than 900,000. However, the corpse king was emitting powerful vibrations as it squeezed Lu Yin, and it was clearly much more difficult for the clothes to block than a normal attack.

Lu Yin was suffering from excruciating pain, so he lashed out with a leg, aiming his knee at the corpse king's stomach. He wanted to land a powerful blow with the Overlaying Stacks Path.

Although the fat corpse king was very strong, Lu Yin was far from weak, and his kick managed to force the corpse king back. Still, it was completely unfazed, and it simply charged right back at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin's vision shifted as he exited from the true universe. An astral chessboard appeared beneath him, and he prepared to shift himself away. Unfortunately, right when his body was about to vanish, the corpse king grabbed his arm and pulled him in, forcefully canceling the Ce Secret Art.

Lu Yin slashed at the corpse king, unleashing an aggressive offensive that managed to slice open the corpse king's neck once more, but all of his efforts proved to be futile. The corpse king's thick neck seemed to contain an endless amount of fat that just absorbed all of the knife's potential damage. Wait, absorb?

Lu Yin stared intently at the fat corpse king; could this thing have reached the Creation realm of star energy control?

Liquor Hero was the only person Lu Yin knew whose star energy control had reached the Creation realm. With nothing more than a drop of alcohol, she could absorb the force of any incoming attacks, and she had even trapped a carrion bug, forcing it to wander through an endless maze of alcohol. Her techniques were some of the most brutal ones that Lu Yin had witnessed during ZENITH. With her in mind, Lu Yin felt there were similarities between how this corpse king absorbed his knife's attacks and how Liquor Hero had handled that carrion bug.

Liquor Hero had absorbed damage with her alcohol, but the fat corpse king was apparently able to do the same with the excessive amount of fat within its body.

This fat corpse king must have been a peerless expert among its peers when it had still been alive. Reaching the Creation realm of star energy control was something that provided one with an incredible advantage, even after one became an Envoy.

Lu Yin had a feeling that this fight was going to be quite difficult, as he was essentially facing off against an Envoy level Liquor Hero.

Liquor Hero was a rare talent within her generation, and she certainly would not be an easy opponent at the Envoy rea;,. Thus far, Lu Yin had only faced opponents whose had the combat strength of an ordinary Envoy powerhouse. No matter how high their strength became, these Envoys were still just average among their peers, and they could not even come close to touching Liquor Hero's dazzling brilliance.

The fat corpse king did not have much variety or tricks in its attacks; rather, it just focused on one singular goal: crushing its opponents with a bearhug. Still, the creature was practically immune to any and all attacks.

Lu Yin retreated again and again, but the corpse king kept pace throughout his movements. Both opponents repeatedly entered and fled the true universe, and Lu Yin was suppressed the whole time as the corpse king steadily advanced.

Che Zhan's fingers twitched. He wanted to attack, but would he even be able to help? The swordsman was not sure how he himself could deal with the fat corpse king. Long Qi was in a different situation, as he was able to use secret techniques and power vessels to stay safe, but Che Zhan? If he stepped forward, he would only be rushing towards his death.

The corpse king managed to smack Lu Yin's arm, and the impact traveled through his body and almost knocked him over. As he recovered, he saw the corpse king, lunging forward in front of him, trying yet again to enwrap Lu Yin in a bear hug.

This was the first time in Lu Yin's life that he had encountered such a bizarre strategy, but it was incredibly difficult to counter, as none of Lu Yin's regular attacks were having any effect. Lu Yin started mentally running through everything that he had in his cosmic ring, just to see if he had anything that could help him seize an advantage in this battle.

This was not a battle that Lu Yin could win through brute strength. He had to either break through the corpse king's defenses by unleashing an overwhelmingly powerful attack or find some way to bypass the obstacle.

Lu Yin stared at the corpse king, his eyes glued to the creature's neck and body fat. Suddenly, Lu Yin's eyes lit up. He had thought of something.

During ZENITH, that carrion bug had done everything it could to come up with a way to escape from the drop of alcohol. That droplet had been able to completely trap the insect because it had lacked the strength to overcome star energy when it was manipulated by someone who had reached the Creation realm of star energy control. However, what if the bug had been strong enough to overpower the star energy? Would that mean that it would not have remained trapped within the drop of alcohol?

The corpse king's fat was all inside its body, so the moment Lu Yin managed to land an attack that broke through the layer of fat, he would be directly attacking the corpse king's real body.

Lu Yin lifted a hand, and an oddly shaped crystal appeared. It was the Karmic Flame.

Don't you like absorbing attacks? Then take this Karmic Flame! Lu Yin placed the crystal atop his knife and charged towards the corpse king in an aggressive manner. He stabbed the knife forward while using the Yu Secret Art, which sent the knife flying straight towards the corpse king's body.

The corpse king had no reason to even take note of such an attack, so it simply allowed the knife to pierce its body. Quickly, the Karmic Flames surged forth, and red flashes emerged before quickly disappearing.

Lu Yin waved his hand a second time, and the knife reappeared in it, still with the odd crystal attached. The Karmic Flames within the crystal could be used three times, which meant that he only had two more uses left.

He looked up and eagerly observed the fat corpse. The Karmic Flames had already been enhanced six times, and they were now comparable to an attack with a battle power of more than 700,000. Lu Yin was waiting to see if the flames could penetrate the fat corpse king's defenses that came from its Creation realm of star energy control.

For a moment, the fat corpse king stood still, but then it began to shriek. Its body turned red from the flames raging within its body. Soon, the flames completely engulfed the creature.

Far away, Marquis Green Bamboo's expression remained unchanged as he quietly watched the fat corpse king burn to ashes.

Even if he felt disheartened at losing the fat corpse king, the marquis would rather choose to do nothing than disobey an order from one of the Seven Skygods. This thought occurred to him as he shifted his focus back to Lu Yin's face. This Long Qi had already exterminated two of the corpse kings that Marquis Green Bamboo valued the most.

If not for his orders from two of the Seven Skygods, how could he have allowed his corpse kings to be taken down so easily? Since you want to earn achievements on the battlefield, then I'll give you more deeds to accomplish.

In the distant underground crevice, Mr. Guo and the others stared in shock as the Karmic Flames burned and devoured the corpse king. They were able to see the creature's face even through the flame's vibrant red color.

Just how many more power vessels did Long Qi own?

First, he had used a sourcebox array that had eliminated all of the nearby corpse kings in a single move. Then, there was the defensive armor he was wearing as clothes, plus the knife that he continued to wield. Finally, he had just used a burst of overwhelmingly powerful flames. On top of all that wealth, the youth had also comprehended secret techniques. It was such a shame that such a talented youth was doomed to die in the New World with all of them.

Once this child matured and grew, in the future, it seemed practically guaranteed that he would reach the level of a Semi-Progenitor at the very least. Truly, what a pity.

The flames enveloped the fat corpse king, but then they also spread to the surroundings.

Everyone in the underground area looked on in horror; were those flames going to reach them too? Even that terrifying corpse king had been consumed by the flames, so there was clearly no possibility of any of them surviving if they were caught by those flames.

Lu Yin pulled out his Skyblaze Stone and absorbed the remnant flames before they spread any further.

Almost instantly, all the remaining Karmic Flames were sucked into the Skyblaze Stone, which let the other humans heave sighs of relief. Their backs were drenched with sweat from both the fear and the heat.

That was two. Lu Yin had single-handedly eliminated two corpse kings that had the strength of an Envoy now. This was even more impressive when one considered the fact that neither of the two corpse kings had been an easy opponent.

Lu Yin tried to catch his breath. While the second corpse king had relatively easier to deal with compared to the first, neither had been weak. Rather, Lu Yin had simply found the proper counter to the second corpse king.

A dead end was not always hopeless, and once a solution was discovered, it could open the possibility of walking away.

"Brother Long Qi, it's my turn," Che Zhan said.

Lu Yin turned around with a smile that was rather infectious. "Just wait a bit more—I can keep going. Did you already forget what I just said?"

Che Zhan stared at the child with eyes filled with deep admiration. "Alright, I'll wait."

Everyone in the underground space stared at Lu Yin with growing respect, and there were quite a few whose expressions were filled with actual worship. If they survived this ordeal, then all of them would swear to repay the youth for the unbelievable assistance that he had given them.

The endless horde of corpse kings standing outside the crevice did not move. It seemed that they were all waiting for something.

Only a limited number of corpse kings with the strength of an Envoy could be deployed, so the monsters needed to wait before sending out another powerhouse to fight.

One day later, another corpse king stepped forward. Yet again, it had the strength of an Envoy. This one did not seem to be as powerful as the earlier ones, though it was much, much faster. It immediately rushed at Lu Yin, and he was repeatedly attacked for half a day without even a single opportunity to fight back. In particular, with the corpse king's stellular energy disrupting his star energy, Lu Yin was not able to use his Teleportation Formation or the Ce Secret Art even once.

Lu Yin had fought countless battles throughout his life, and there had been many fights where he had faced overpowering enemies where the situation had seemed completely hopeless. His current battle felt like that as well. In this battle, he was left with no choice but to pull out the spear with the sticky green substance that he had taken from Long Tian. He had tested this weapon out in the Timestop Space, and he had found that the sticky green substance on the spear had an extremely high viscosity. Lu Yin had no idea how it had been used in the past, but at the moment, it was the perfect weapon for his needs.

There was a bang, and Lu Yin saw stars after taking yet another kick from the corpse king. Despite being protected by the Cloudguard Robes, the neverending barrage of attacks sent a constant flow of destructive vibrations into his body that bypassed his armor, and he had reached the point of no longer being able to endure. Still, every time the corpse king entered the true universe, Lu Yin would follow it even though it moved so quickly that he could not keep track of it. Everyone behind Lu Yin was feeling the same sense of despair that had descended upon him.

After coughing up a mouthful of blood, the spear appeared in his hand. He resolutely stabbed it into the ground, and the sticky green substance began to flow down the spear shaft and towards Lu Yin's feet. The substance soon covered the area for a hundred meters in all directions even as it continued to spread further out.

There was another bang, this time from the corpse king striking Lu Yin in the stomach. Lu Yin was still unable to catch so much as a glimpse of the corpse king's retreating figure as the creature was traveling through the void. Not once had the corpse king actually set foot on the ground. Lu Yin took a deep breath and began silently calculating and planning.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

…

Che Zhan gritted his teeth as he stood next to the entrance to the underground space. He was staring intently in an attempt to also track the corpse king's movements. The swordsman's hair stood on end. Of the surviving humans, only Long Qi was able to face off against this corpse king, as the youth possessed many defensive power vessels that not even Envoys could break through. If anyone else was pitted against this corpse king, the battle would have reached a conclusion long ago.

Zhou Tang's eyes danced about constantly. It was clear that the powerhouse was able to see where the corpse king moved, but it would be no help for him to say anything to Lu Yin, as the youth's reflexes would not be able to keep up with his thoughts.

Many other people closed their eyes, as they could not bear to watch the horrible fight.

It was truly difficult to watch Lu Yin's miserable situation and injured appearance. He was being beaten one-sidedly, and he was even bleeding from all seven orifices of his head. But while he looked critically injured, in reality, he had actually not suffered that many injuries. Even when the destructive vibrations wounded him, his increased vitality due to his opened upper meridian point allowed him to almost instantly recover. This meant that Lu Yin was suffering more from frustration than physical injuries.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

All of a sudden, Lu Yin opened his eyes, and he held the spear in front of him sideways in a defensive stance. The sticky green substance had already spread throughout the entire area. There was a bang as the corpse king punched Lu Yin once more, but this time, the creature was not able to flee as quickly as before. Its fist had gotten stuck in the sticky green substance that covered the entire area.

Humans and other creatures were intelligent, but that intelligence also came with the formation of habits. This was similarly true for the corpse king that had been attacking Lu Yin this whole time. It had been striking at Lu Yin for half a day, and it had developed a habitual attack pattern during this process. Each blow came in somewhat regular intervals, and Lu Yin had managed to calculate the precise timing to launch his counterattack. This was much like how he had pre-positioned his knife in order to deal with the first corpse king.

Strength alone was not enough to determine victory in a fight; intelligence could also be a gamechanger.

With the sticky green substance binding its fist, the corpse king tried to flee. However, while its speed had only been somewhat affected, it was nonetheless unable to flee at its normal speed. More importantly, the sticky green substance now trailed after the corpse king wherever it went, and there was no way for the corpse king to remove it. This meant that Lu Yin no longer struggled to track the corpse king, as all he needed to do was look for the sticky green substance that was attached to the creature.

Considering the corpse king's incredible speed, it most likely had relatively poor defenses.

Lu Yin held the spear in his hand and started attacking as he tracked the strange green substance. He used his domain to predict his opponent's attacks and managed to stab the spear into the corpse king's thigh. The spear trembled, and he punched at the corpse king with a full 350 Stacks, causing the creature to let out a low growl. His attack had utterly destroyed half of the corpse king's leg, and Lu Yin took advantage of this opening to slash out sideways with his knife.