Star Odyssey

Chapter 1808: Water God Dojo

Lu Yin paid close attention as he continuously moved back. As he stared, the corpse king's right arm continued to twist, and a terrifying amount of strength was being gathered.

It was truly unfortunate that Lu Yin was in a region controlled by the Aeternals, as it was impossible to determine the corpse king's power level by observing its runes. Otherwise, Lu Yin would have most likely been able to kill the corpse king through a combination of Truesight and the God of Death Transformation.

Lu Yin's mind raced as he watched the strength continue to build up in the corpse king's arm, and he suddenly dropped to the ground.

Suddenly, the corpse king released a punch, and the attack covered the entire sky. The void was shattered, and the ground was destroyed. The entirety of Grayweed Continent was almost destroyed with this punch.

Some time later, the corpse king landed to find a bottomless pit that had been opened in the ground. The pit extended beyond its line of sight, though bloodstains could be seen in it, as well as a crushed body.

The corpse king stared at the remnants of the body for a bit before looking up and leaving.

After the corpse king left, Lu Yin reappeared. He had been struck by the attack, but his bodysuit armor had allowed him to ignore the attack. The crushed corpse that had appeared in the bit was the one that he had found outside of Burial Garden's exit gate.

There was no way for the corpse to remain intact given the strength of the corpse king. Lu Yin had pulled the corpse out the moment the punch landed and thrown it out to take his place in the pit.

Lu Yin let out a sigh of relief and flexed his hand, which was still numb. Corpse kings were quite different from humans, and their style of fighting was also completely different.

Humans employed a variety of fighting methods, including battle techniques, weapons, secret techniques, innate gifts, power vessels, lockbreaking techniques, and other exotic methods like tamed beasts, jincans, poison, and more. Corpse kings used a much more direct style of combat: an innate gift if they had it and physical strength. At best, they would also use a corpse king Transformation, but that technique simply enhanced their physical power.

Lu Yin's fighting style was actually quite similar to what corpse kings used, especially when he went up against Envoys as he could not use any star energy-based techniques against such opponents.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't leave you with a complete body at your death." Lu Yin felt a bit guilty as he looked down at the bloodstain on the ground.

Suddenly, he remembered something, and he shot off towards the gate that he had come out of.

He soon arrived, only to find that the gate had already been destroyed. The corpse king's punch had affected too large of an area, and it had even reached the gate of Burial Garden. It almost looked like an entire layer of the continent had been removed by the creature's punch.

Lu Yin felt both helpless and resentful that the gate had been destroyed. How was he supposed to get back now?

He glanced around. Grayweed Continent was vast, and the Starfall Sea was much, much larger. There had to be another one of Burial Garden's gates around here. Thus, Lu Yin's only hope was to be able to find one that was not guarded by the Aeternals, which would prevent him from being able to return.

Using his memories from his previous time on Grayweed Continent, Lu Yin started making his way towards Skyblaze Dojo.

He had no idea where another one of Burial Garden's gates might be, and wandering around aimlessly was not a valid plan. So, he decided to make his way to Skyblaze Dojo in order to cultivate.

He still remembered the flame that he had seen beneath Skyblaze Dojo, as that flame had supposedly given birth to the Skyblaze Stone that he used for cultivation. That flame was what had allowed Skyblaze Dojo to surpass nearly all the other seventy-two dojos on Grayweed Continent and rank beneath only the Mt. Stacks Dojo.

Lu Yin hoped the flame would still be at Skyblaze Dojo and that it would be able to accelerate his cultivation. After all, he needed a source of heat that was intense enough to actually pose a danger to him, which was far from easy to find.

This time, Lu Yin was much more cautious as he traveled. He had gotten too excited when he obtained the Hollow Palm Technique, and his excitement had caused him to become careless. He did not want to repeat that mistake.

Several days passed, and Lu Yin continued to search for one of Burial Garden's gates as he traveled across Grayweed Continent, following the paths in his memories. Finally, he arrived at Skyblaze Dojo.

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Lu Yin looked at the dojo. It seemed to have been abandoned, just like Mt. Stacks Dojo. The sight caused Lu Yin to become rather emotional, as Madam Hong had nearly killed him at Skyblaze Dojo before they managed to escape.

This was also the place where Lu Yin had first tentatively compared his strength with Lan Si, and it was also where he had picked up the Skyblaze Stone. This place was significant and could be considered an integral part of what had molded Lu Yin into his current self.

Skyblaze Dojo seemed to have been abandoned for even longer than Mt. Stacks Dojo, but fortunately, the underground flames had not disappeared.

Lu Yin immediately went straight down into the underground flames, right to the very bottom, as he was searching for a source of heat that could actually pose a threat to him.

The further down he went, the higher the temperature of the flames became, though it was never enough to pose any threat to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin had no idea how deep he had gone, but he suddenly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. Was that a stone?

After his experiences in the Bizarre Sect's ruins, Lu Yin would never underestimate any stones anymore, especially not one in the middle of flames that were hot enough to burn an Enlighter with a power level of over 400,000. This was very odd. Just what sort of stone could endure such heat? The flames surrounding Lu Yin were hot enough to reduce an entire planet to ash.

Lu Yin approached the stone and reached out to touch it. As he did, space twisted, and he disappeared.

A smile spread across Lu Yin's face when he saw what was in front of him; he had entered a pocket dimension hidden within the void. Like the Blaze Realm, the Daynight clan, and other powerful organizations, Skyblaze Dojo had also hidden their treasury within a pocket dimension. Lu Yin licked his lips as he observed the neatly piled star essence and other resources. He picked the place clean. All of this was now his.

Still, this seemed quite strange. Had the Sixth Mainland not searched Skyblaze Dojo after destroying it? Everything should have been searched, so why was this treasury still present? Could Lu Yin have stumbled upon Tian Yanzi's private stash? That seemed possible.

This treasury had been hidden within incredibly hot flames, and the only person in all of Skyblaze Dojo who could have reached this place was Tian Yanzi. When Madam Hong had chased Lu Yin and the others out of the Starfall Sea, it was possible that she had forgotten about this stash, or that she had considered searching for such things to be a waste of time. Regardless, this treasury had been forgotten.

Lu Yin found 200 million star essence, and while it was not a lot, it was not bad. After all, before finding this stash, Lu Yin's funds had only been a bit more than 200 million star essence.

The Blaze Realm had controlled a large portion of one of the Innerverse's eight great flowzones, and they had also controlled one of the Astral River Arks, which had allowed them to accumulate a great deal of wealth. They had lost most of that after being attacked by the Sixth Mainland, which was the reason why Lu Yin had acquired so little from them. As for Skyblaze Dojo, they did not have any huge streams of income, which meant that the wealth that Lu Yin had found had to have been gathered by Tian Yanzi on his own. As expected of an Envoy.

Lu Yin still felt that it was a bit of a pity, as it would definitely be better if there were more. He was an Enlighter who had completed thirty nine cycles, and he would need 200 million star essence to complete his fortieth cycle, and even more to complete his forty first. This basically meant that he was broke.

If cultivation resources were provided for him, then the temperature of the hottest flames beneath the Skyblaze Dojo would be just barely enough to accelerate his cultivation, which would have allowed him to cultivate until he was nearly an Envoy.

The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became.

He cleaned out the treasury and then continued to move deeper.

Lu Yin finally reached the bottom, and the heat of the flames was just barely enough to cause him some discomfort, though it was still lacking compared to what he had been hoping for. This heat was only barely useful.

Lu Yin took out his Skyblaze Stone and absorbed all the flames in this area. The heat that the stone absorbed over the course of a day was enough to meet Lu Yin's needs, so he raised his hand and brought out his die. He needed to get four pips.

When the dice slowly came to a stop, it showed three pips. Lu Yin pursed his lips. This roll would not appear when he actually needed it, but it frequently appeared when he did not. Not to mention, he was currently broke.

The second roll showed the die stopping on five pips. Lu Yin sighed and then tapped the die again.

The third time, he rolled Pilfer.

Whatever fell out was instantly vaporized by the heat of the flames surrounding him, and Lu Yin was not even able to see what had appeared.

Again.

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The fourth roll went well, as Lu Yin got four pips. The scenery changed around him, and he entered the Timestop Space.

He pulled out all the star essence on him, as well as the Skyblaze Stone. 9,300 stars began to revolve around Lu Yin as he began to absorb star energy.

…

No matter how much time has passed in the Timestop Space, only a second would ever pass in the outside world.

His surroundings changed once again, and Lu Yin returned to the outside world. He had improved his cultivation to forty one cycles, and the number of stars that he could simulate had increased to 10,000.

Lu Yin did not feel that there was much of a difference between 9,300 stars and 10,000. He needed to simulate a total of 99,000 stars in order to reach the fifth level of the Cosmic Art, and he had only completed 10,000 stars. He was barely a tenth of the way there.

If he had enough star essence, he would happily enter seclusion for several years, but unfortunately, that was not possible at the moment.

He simply did not have enough funds. He was broke, and he always seemed to be broke.

Lu Yin was reminded of the Mavis family, which led to him remembering that Yuehua Mavis had delivered a formal invitation for him to visit the Mavis family. Unfortunately, the events that had played out after that had been quite unexpected, and the visit had been taken off of Lu Yin's schedule. However, after he got back, he would make the trip to visit the Mavis family as soon as possible. Lu Yin felt that even if he offended the rest of the universe, he absolutely could not offend the Mavis family.

All he needed to do was pick up a bit of the money that fell from their fingernails.

At this time, a group of people arrived outside Skyblaze Dojo. There were both men and women among them, and all of them were quite young with the exception of a single old woman. In the middle of the group was a beautiful woman clad in blue. She had a bold forehead, and she was holding a long sword in a hand as the group slowly walked towards Skyblaze Dojo's entrance.

"Is this Skyblaze Dojo? Big Sister, I haven't been here before!" a very cute girl exclaimed.

A man to the side of the group retorted in a contemptuous manner, "Skyblaze Dojo was once very powerful, but not that it's fallen, our Water God Dojo can take it over."

"That's true. Skyblaze Dojo will eventually be reduced to mere rubble, just like Blacktop Dojo back then. They simply don't know how to conform," someone else agreed.

The old woman frowned. "Watch your tongues! Skyblaze Dojo boasts an impressive history, and you children are not in any position to spout such nonsense."

The man protested, "But we juniors are still right! No matter if we're talking about Skyblaze Dojo or Mt. Stacks Dojo, neither of them understood the fundamental truth regarding the rise and fall of power. This is something that my Water God Dojo understands, as this is related to the concept of water and our cultivation art. No matter how long it may take, my Water God Dojo will eventually be able to stand tall and proud in the universe without falling."

The old woman coldly retorted, "If you understand the truth regarding the rise and fall of power, then why not be humble? Can you improve your strength or status by arrogantly criticizing an abandoned dojo?"

The man wanted to reply, but the beautiful woman in the middle of the group spoke up. "How has my Water God Dojo managed to survive? Do you not know? How did Tian Yanzi die? Do you understand just how many people Dojo Master Lan and the Thundercharge Dojo Master died to protect? You are in no position to condemn them."

The man seemed much more intimidated by the younger woman than the old lady, and he no longer dared to open his mouth.

"Xiao'er, don't bring up the past again," the old woman reminded.

The group silently followed the woman into Skyblaze Dojo.

Si Xiao'er looked at the dilapidated state of the dojo with complicated emotions.

In the past, Grayweed Continent's seventy-two dojos had shone brilliantly. Mt. Stacks Dojo had stood at the very top, followed by Skyblaze Dojo, Bluearch Dojo, and others. Her Water God Dojo had been ranked just below Skyblaze Dojo, and the two had always competed for second place.

Unfortunately, the master of Water God Dojo had not been able to break through and become an Envoy, which meant that he could not compare to Tian Yanzi. Otherwise, Water God Dojo might have greatly surpassed Skyblaze Dojo.

One focused on fire while the other cultivated water techniques. Water and fire were always incompatible.