Star Odyssey

Chapter 1604: Mountain Seas Painting

It was only at this time that Lu Yin finally saw through the Hall of Honor's facade, though he could not blame them. If Liu Huang had managed to continue increasing his strength, the Sword Sect definitely would have entered the Neoverse, and conflicts would certainly have broken out. Death and chaos would have become common occurrences, which would have allowed the Neohuman Alliance to take advantage of the situation that would have benefitted the Sword Sect. With Liu Huang held captive, all remained peaceful.

However, was this fair to the Sword Sect? Was this fair to Liu Huang? In the name of balance, the Hall of Honor had sacrificed both Liu Huang and the Sword Sect.

This situation was clearly unfair from the Sword Sect's perspective, but to many in the Neoverse, it had been seen as a lucky outcome.

The Hall of Honor did not necessarily carry the blame, as they truly did protect the balance of the Human Domain and worked to prevent war. In the end, blame could only fall upon the Sword Sect's weakness. This was the law of the universe.

Any semblance of fairness or morality was always built upon brute strength.

Lu Yin could only be thankful that he had powerful support behind him. Otherwise, the Hall of Honor would have long since thrown him into Gaia's Swamp after he had unified the Outerverse, not to mention taken aim at the Innerverse. At the moment, Lu Yin could act with utter fearlessness given his peerless background and standing within the Hall of Honor.

Right after receiving an influx of memories, Lu Yin then saw Liu Huang's thoughts. The man had long ago come to terms with his situation, he did not blame anyone. Still, if he could, he would annihilate the Hall of Honor to get revenge. No matter right or wrong, the path of survival was the way of the universe and strength determined right and wrong.

Liu Huang's personal emotions aside, the man was absolutely worthy of his title as a genius, and this was because he had actually created the Fourteenth Sword.

Lu Yin continuously reviewed Liu Huang's memories in order to experience how Liu Huang had cultivated his sword skills. Lu Yin was able to attempt to repeat Liu Huang's actions, as Lu Yin was able to see a precise route laid out before him. All that he lacked was sufficient cultivation.

The Thirteenth Sword was an unparalleled sword technique, and it was able to even create a sensation in the Perennial World. There was no way to evade it, unless a person had no emotions. Lu Yin had once believed the Thirteenth Sword to be the apex of sword techniques, given its ability to meld emotions within a technique. It was something that he could not have conceived on his own.

And yet, Liu Huang had created the Fourteenth Sword while held captive within the hellish nightmare that was Gaia's Swamp. He had managed to create an unbelievable sword skill that would shock the entire universe, and he had named it "Misery."

Oink oink, oink oink. "What a weird expression on his face just now. Let me go check on him again."

Lord Piggy turned around.

Lu Yin returned to his own body. Liu Huang had achieved an incredible level of cultivation, and his power level had already exceeded 800,000 when he had retreated into seclusion to create the next level of the Thirteen Swords. After so many years in Gaia's Swamp, he had weakened and become frail and his battle power has fallen to match that of an ordinary Envoy. If not for this, there would have been no possibility of Lu Yin Possessing the man.

Rolling six pips had once again been a beneficial roll: Gaia's Swamp, the death energy within the prison, Possessing Liu Huang, discovering the Fourteenth Sword… There had even been something else. Lu Yin's eyes turned cold. Someone within that prison was plotting a rebellion.

Most people believed Gaia's Swamp was located within the Innerverse, but that was not true. It could actually be found at the border of the Innerverse and the Cosmic Sea. The vast swamp had formed from the spread of the sea's water, and the prison could be accessed from either the Innerverse or the Cosmic Sea.

Still, the portion of Gaia's Swamp that could be found within the Cosmic Sea was far worse than the portion that lay within the Innerverse. Liu Huang was held prisoner in the worst portion of the entire prison, while Grand Marshal Shui Chuanxiao had been imprisoned within the Innerverse portion of Gaia's Swamp.

There were three thousand chains that could be found in Gaia's Swamp, and each one held a single prisoner. There was no escape. Regardless, Lu Yin had learned from Liu Huang's memories that someone had been plotting an uprising for a hundred years, and it could be instigated at any time. Liu Huang did not know who had masterminded this plan, but he knew that it was someone who was imprisoned close by.

Whoever the mastermind was, they had to be an absolutely monstrous powerhouse for them to be incarcerated close to Liu Huang.

Lu Yin raised a hand and moved to roll his die again. He had just witnessed the Fourteenth Sword that Liu Huang had created, and even if Lu Yiin was never able to match Liu Huang's mastery of the sword, Lu Yini had also managed to experience the full Thirteen Swords through Liu Huang's memories. Those memories had deepened Lu Yin's comprehension of sword skills and had reinforced the inheritance he had received from the Sword Monument that had allowed him to break down sword techniques.

Lu Yin realized that he had unwittingly become a sword master. If he was given a sword, he could probably defeat Liu Tianmu. Probably.

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Feeling able to do something was one thing, but actually doing so was another thing altogether.

The die gradually stopped spinning on four pips: Timestop. Lu Yin's eyes gleamed as he entered the Timestop Space.

Lu Yin formed a sword from his star energy after entering the space, and he demonstrated the First Sword of the Thirteen Swords. The attack shot through the air with incredible power.

Lu Yin felt satisfied and immediately continued.

The Thirteen Swords was not something that just anyone could master; of Lu Yin's generation, only Liu Tianmu and Liu Shaoqiu had managed to accomplish such a thing out of the entire Sword Sect. There had even been generations where no one had managed to inherit the technique at all.

Lu Yin had underestimated this aspect of the sword technique. He might have witnessed Liu Huang's process of training in the Thirteen Swords, but Lu Yini was unable to exhibit fine mastery of the technique no matter what. It was as though he was using a poor copy of the original version of the technique, and this proved to be even more exaggerated when he tried to use the Fourteenth Sword.

Lu Yin felt confident that he could break down the Thirteen Swords, and was even confident that he could stand up to Liu Huang's self-created Fourteenth Sword and teach it to others. Still, he struggled to use it himself.

Lu Yin had long since received an inheritance that allowed him to break down and understand the movement of weapons from the Sword Monument, but actually using a technique specific to a given weapon was still a struggle for him.

Lu Yin blew out a long breath; forget it. He had never been too interested in the Thirteen Swords anyway. People were what could become invincible, not battle techniques.

Still, it would be absolutely amazing if the Sword Sect managed to receive the Fourteenth Sword!

No, Liu Huang's return to the Sword Sect would create an even greater uproar.

That was something that could remain nothing more than a dream to Lu Yin. It would also be incredibly troublesome if Liu Huang refused to cooperate and exposed the reason for his disappearance, as it would ruin the Hall of Honor's reputation.

Regardless of how the Hall of Honor had treated the Sword Sect, such actions did not matter so long as they remained good to Lu Yin. The Hall of Honor, Yuan Shi, the Chief Justice, Arch-Elder Zen… all of them formed Lu Yin's powerful support system that upheld him.

He had even become able to influence the nine overseers.

He decided to give up on sword techniques and instead cultivate the Cosmic Art. This was his trump card.

About half a year later, his time in the space expired, and Lu Yin left the Timestop Space.

He had managed to simulate a total of 5,100 stars during this time cultivating the Cosmic Art. That was nearly a thousand stars more than when he had left the Cosmic Sect. This was the result from his cultivation of the fifth layer of the Cosmic Art.

The Cosmic Art's fifth layer could allow a person to simulate 99,000 stars, which was an impressive number. Even Lu Yin was uncertain that he could accomplish such a feat with his current cultivation.

It was possible that he would finally be able to use the pattern on the bottom of his foot after he succeeded in cultivating the fifth layer of the cultivation art, though it was also possible that the fifth layer would prove to still be insufficient and that he would need to master the sixth layer.

He continued to roll the die, and he next rolled a single pip. A rather useless weapon dropped out that he instantly crushed. He continued rolling the die. This was his fourth roll, and he would need to pause from rolling it for ten days after this last roll.

Lu Yin's luck proved to be good for his final roll, as it was three pips. Unfortunately, there was nothing that he needed to Enhance, so the roll was actually useless at this time.

Lu Yin rested for ten days while also checking out the situation of the war in Blazing Mist Flowzone.

The conflict in the flowzone had only gotten more heated. The sylvan dragons and the Ross Empire had both started to hire outside powerhouses, and an increased number of unknown individuals had started to enter Fennel Flowzone. It was clear that the eight great flowzones had started to interfere.

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Lu Yin became curious as to whether or not the Hall of Honor would intervene from the dark. He imagined if they might capture Emperor Luo or the sylvan dragons' Long Yi and throw them into Gaia's Swamp as they had done with Liu Huang. That would be a truly miserable fate.

With the assistance of more outside experts, Wang Wen was hoping to see Blazing Mist Flowzone turn into a blackhole of war that would pull in even major powers like the Sword Sect and the Wen family. If this succeeded, it would greatly benefit the Great Eastern Alliance. Things would be even better if Wang Wen could get the Sixth Mainland and the Neohuman Alliance involved as well.

Following these thoughts, Lu Yin sent Wang Wen a message, reminding him about the Sixth Mainland and Neohuman Alliance.

The necessary ten days passed quickly, and Lu Yin then rolled his die again. He was unable to determine if his luck was good or bad, as he ended up rolling six pips, again.

His last Possession had only exhausted millions of star essence, as Gaia's Swamp was not too far away. He hoped this Possession would be somewhere rather close as well.

He returned to that strange space once more, and he quickly merged with the closest and brightest of the orbs of light. He felt a sense of familiarity as he completed the Possession, and he realized that it was the sensation of Possessing a corpse king.

A corpse king was cold, and their thoughts were rigid. Not a hint of emotion could be sensed anywhere. This coldness and lack of emotion was enough to freeze Lu Yin's thoughts.

He knew he had Possessed a corpse king the moment the Possession was completed.

A vast and desolate scene was revealed to him when he opened his eyes. He stood on a desolate planet. Everything around him was black, and the only glimmer of light came from the movement from a distant star, but it was incredibly faint.

There were not many memories in this corpse king's mind, and almost all of the memories were of slaughter. These memories made Lu Yin uncomfortable, and he wanted to quickly end this Possession, but suddenly the image of Han Chong appeared within the memories.

Han Chong had been killed by this corpse king, and at the moment, this corpse king was in Erudite Flowzone not far from the Lost Radiance Academy.

Recently, Wen Sansi had told Lu Yin that Han Chong had died. Lu Yin had not expected that he would so coincidentally Possess the body of the corpse king that had killed Han Chong.

Wen Sansi had not been certain who or what had killed Han Chong and the others, and it had only been a vague guess that the Neohuman Alliance might have been behind the deaths. However, Lu Yin had just confirmed the killer.

As for why this corpse king had killed Han Chong, it was because of the Mountain Seas Painting.

Han Chong had once been heralded as the Art Saint during his time in the Astral Combat Academy. At that time, his primary batte technique had been painting. He had once been the student leader of Astral-2 and had painted during the Astral Combat Tournament.

Lu Yin had already been curious when he had first seen the painting technique, but had not put much thought into it. He would never have thought that Han Chong's death would actually be instigated by his own painting of mountains and seas.

This corpse king had remained focused on Han Chong for years; killing the young man had not been a sudden decision. The corpse king had paid close attention to Han Chong even before the Outerverse had been isolated from the Innerverse, it just had never made a move. All it had done the entire time was observe Han Chong's every move in an attempt to understand the painting that he had created.

The corpse king itself was actually uncertain of the reason for its task, but it had been an order from the Neohuman Alliance.

As for why the corpse king had ultimately killed Han Chong, that was because its unfruitful observations had prompted the creature to capture the young man and interrogate him. Despite the torture, Han Chong remained silent until the end. Or, more accurately, even Han Chong himself had been unaware that the painting he had made was something that came from the Lost Radiance Academy.

At this moment, the corpse king has moved on to observing the Lost Radiance Academy.

Lu Yin quickly ended the Possession, confused.

Why would the Neohuman Alliance be interested in Han Chong's painting? Lu Yin lost himself in his own memories as he thought back to the Astral Combat Tournament. At the time, it had been the most intense tournament ever, but later, Han Chong had also participated in the Tournament of the Strongest.

During the Tournament of the Strongest, Han Chong had ended up defeated by Yun, but everything had seemed normal at the time.

However, things were bound to be complicated since he had been targeted by the Neohuman Alliance.

The Lost Radiance Academy, the Mountain Seas Painting… It looked like Lu Yin would need to visit Erudite Flowzone, and maybe he would finally be able to come up with a price to give to the Wen family.