Star Odyssey

Lu Yin’s cold eyes stared at Qiao Er as he slowly emerged from the sourcebox array and approached the first array base.

Qiao Er was shocked by the sight. "Impossible! How can he leave Master's Coiling Knot?"

Seeing the cold light in Lu Yin's eyes, Bai Qi felt a bad premonition, and she yelled at Qiao Er, "Hurry up and leave! I'll stall him."

Qiao Er bit her lip hard. Why should she leave? What would someone who was nothing more than bait dare to do to her?

With Mu Shang as her master, Qiao Er was a guest of honor absolutely everywhere she went, and even Bai Qi and the other Semi-Progenitors treated her well. Qiao Er had been safe and secure for so long that she had forgotten what her own strength and power was; she had never even once stopped to consider why a Semi-Progenitor like Bai Qi would tell Qiao Er to leave. Why would a powerful Semi-Progenitor act as though she had no control over the current situation? The only thought in Qiao Er’s mind was that Lu Yin was being used as bait by the four ruling powers. She firmly believed this to be true, and seeing as she was Mu Shang’s apprentice, there was no one who would dare to touch her here.

However, Bai Qi grabbed hold of Qiao Er, and she was just about to throw the woman away from the first array base.

Lu Yin suddenly appeared next to the two women, and his hand stretched out to grab Qiao Er’s shoulder. He then looked past the woman at Bai Qi. "A powerful Semi-Progenitor like you wouldn’t be trying to attack a junior, would you?"

Bai Qi stared at Lu Yin. "Just let her leave. Give her something to do."

Lu Yin smiled and looked back at Qiao Er. The woman was staring at Lu Yin, and so the two locked eyes.

"My name is Lu .in," Lu Yin introduced himself with a gentle expression.

Qiao Er felt terribly confused. Those terrifyingly cold eyes that she had just seen seemed to have been an illusion.

"I heard that you lost the key to that Coiling Knot down below, right?" Lu Yin asked.

Only then did Qiao Er snap out of her daze, and she became upset when she realized that she was frightened. What was there to be afraid of? This last survivor of the Lu family was nothing more than a stray dog. "That’s right. I'm sorry, but I lost it."

"Why didn't you let me know sooner? I’ll be honest—I just went down there and learned that several people died within these last few days. If you told me earlier, they wouldn't have died," Lu Yin said in a low voice. There was no indication in his tone as to whether he was happy or angry.

Bai Qi's heart fell. She had not known anything about this.

Qiao Er casually answered, "It’s an honor for them to lay down their lives on the rear battlefield. Many of the people in the remnant army deserve death, and they’ll all die eventually."

Lu Yin nodded. "By the way, did you really lose the key?"

Despite her arrogance, Qiao Er was not an idiot. There were some things that could be done, but only if she had enough of an excuse. She would not allow herself to lose the initiative. "I lost it."

Lu Yin sighed. "That's quite the problem. After all, how will you be able to save yourself without that key?"

Bai Qi was startled by the comment. “Lu-“

She only got a single word out before God of Flames’ figurine appeared on Lu Yin’s shoulder and an endless number of runes bombarded the Semi-Progenitor. The sudden attack caught Bai Qi off guard, and she was instantly rendered helpless.

God of Flames had never become a Semi-Progenitor himself, but after he had managed to cultivate himself into the form of a candle, his runes had increased to match those of a Semi-Progenitor.

While the number of runes were comparable to a Semi-Progenitor’s, it was nowhere near enough to actually pose a threat against someone with Bai Qi’s strength. Still, the Rune Progenitor’s power was invisible and undetectable to those who did not practice Truesight, and even Jue Yi, a gatemaster of the Heavens Sect’s Twelve Heavenly Gates, had been caught off guard by the odd attack, let alone Bai Qi.

If God of Flames was still alive, then there was no way for him to be Bai Qi’s opponent, but a sudden attack of runes was not something that Bai Qi could withstand at a moment’s notice.

Bai Qi was briefly shaken, as she had no idea what sort of power had just been used against her.

During that time, Lu Yin grabbed Qiao Er and jumped down towards the sourcebox array.

The sudden change terrified Qiao Er. "Lu Xiaoxuan, let me go! What are you doing?"

Lu Yin replied, "I’m taking you to where you can learn the sourcebox array that your master set up. Maybe this will help you become an Array Grandmaster even sooner and allow you to surpass your master."

Lu Yin proceeded to drag Qiao Er deep within the Coiling Knot.

By the time Bai Qi managed to recover enough to look down, her expression turned ugly. It was already over. Qiao Er was done for. Why had the woman spoken to Lu Yin in such a manner?

"Lu Xiaoxuan, if there’s something that you need to say, just say it! Qiao Er will take any punishment needed!" Bai Qi shouted.

Lu Yin completely ignored the Semi-Progenitor. He dragged Qiao Er deep inside the sourcebox array and placed her within a particular node of knots. There were thousands of knots within the sourcebox array, and Lu Yin had placed the woman within the central node that consisted of thousands of knots. It was the most important location for opening or understanding the Coiling Knot, as it was also the section that corresponded to the key that was used to control the entire thing.

Qiao Er looked around in a daze. All around her, she could see her master’s unpredictable and incomprehensible methods that could only belong to an Array Grandmaster. She could not help but marvel at her master's creativity and admire his pure strength. Qiao Er had been absolutely correct when she had said that any Realm Array Master who pushed too deep into this Coiling Knot would find themselves unable to escape.

However, that was precisely where Qiao Er was at the moment. She saw the endless interlocking layers of the sourceboxes’ danger zones, and their incredible complexity left her feeling desperate. This was her first time venturing so deep into any sourcebox array that her master had set up, and the circumstances defied Qiao Er’s imagination. Just how could this array have been set up to begin with?

There was a specific pattern to the unending danger zones that surrounded her, but each wisp of energy from the sourceboxes felt so dangerous that just looking at them caused Qiao Er’s scalp to tingle. She felt as though she was standing on the edge of a cliff that was so tall that falling would leave her without any bones at all.

The woman had fought on the rear battlefield for many years, but every bit of fighting that she had ever been in had been carefully orchestrated, and she had always understood that her life had never been in any danger. The defenders on the rear battlefield, and even the generals, would not let her die, as they would have no way to justify her death to Mu Shang.

Unfortunately, at this moment, Qiao Er understood that she was truly facing death, and the reality of her situation left her wanting to do nothing more than collapse and wail in despair.

Lu Yin was only about one meter away from the woman, and he watched her reactions with great interest. "This is what your master’s Coiling Knot looks like from the inside. Since he hasn’t shown it to you, I’ll give him a hand and teach his apprentice."

"Let me out! Let me out! I don't want to be in here!" Qiao Er screamed, her face pale.

Up on the first array base, Bai Chi and Xia De both arrived next to Bai Qi, and they stared down at the sourcebox array. "Lu Xiaoxuan, regardless of what you need, just bring Qiao Er up here, and we can talk about it."

Xia De said nothing. Qiao Er was Mu Shang's disciple, and the Celestial Frost Sect might need to keep Mu Shang happy since he belonged to the sect, but the Xia family owed nothing to the Array Grandmaster. In fact, Xia De was even hoping for a fight to break out between Lu Yin and Mu Shang. When it came to combat strength, there was no way for Mu Shang to compare to Lu Yin no matter what the man might be capable of doing. After all, Lu Yin could fight against Progenitors. However, Mu Shang was an Array Grandmaster, and the methods available to a Lockbreaker were incomprehensible to anyone who was not also an Array Grandmaster.

There were legends that claimed that Progenitor Hui had been just as bad at open combat as Progenitor Smoke, but the Ceaseless Impetus that Progenitor Hui had created had protected all of humanity for endless years by holding back the forces of Aeternus. This was a perfect example of what an Array Grandmaster was capable of doing.

Mu Shang was famous for being the youngest Array Grandmaster in history. Given his talent, no one could say whether or not the man would eventually be able to measure up to Progenitor Hui's ability with sourcebox arrays.

Lu Yin looked at Qiao Er and smiled at her. "You should be thanking me. I'm helping Mu Shang teach you, but I'm a very strict teacher. My standards for my apprentices are very high, so you’ll have to see if you can measure up. If you can’t understand this sourcebox array, then you might just… die."

Qiao Er stared at Lu Yin in terror. "Let me out! I’m sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to lose the key! Just let me out, please!"

Lu Yin’s body then disappeared before the woman’s eyes as he left the Coiling Knot and returned to the first array base.

Bai Chi approached Lu Yin and stared at him. "Lu Xiaoxuan, bring Qiao Er up here right now. We will pay for her mistake."

Lu Yin glanced over at Bai Chi and addressed the general for the first time. "Get lost."

The general went stiff, and a cold light flickered in his eyes. He reflexively wanted to attack, but Bai Qi stopped him. Ignoring whether Bai Chi could even do anything at all to Lu Yin, there was the jiao over the fourth array base.

If the jiao had not returned to the fourth array base, Bai Chi would not have come close to losing his composure no matter how furious he became.

"Lu Xiaoxuan, we will be sure to offer you a satisfactory explanation for what has happened. Anything can be discussed, so just bring Qiao Er back up here. She is Mu Shang's apprentice, and Mu Shang is one of the four Array Grandmasters who helps protect humanity. If he becomes upset due to what happens to Qiao Er, the entire rear battlefield will suffer for it," Bai Qi said in a soft voice. She did not want Lu Yin to feel like she was threatening him. After all, there was no way that Mu Shang could pose any threat at all to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin glanced over. "If one of your Array Grandmasters goes missing, I will give you another one. If two disappear, then I’ll provide you with two."

Bai Qi and Bai Chi looked at each other. There was nothing that they could say to such a response.

Xia De sighed. "So the Fifth Mainland has more than one Array Grandmaster."

Lu Yin looked down and clasped his hands behind his back. Qiao Er was struggling and desperate, but she did not dare to move a single muscle. She was terrified that any movement at all would cause one of the danger zones that made up the Coiling Knot to touch and kill her. Master, where are you? Master!

Bai Chi fell silent. Lu Yin did not like the general at all, and he was completely uninterested in speaking to the man, even if he was a Semi-Progenitor.

Bai Qi quietly asked, "Can't you let her go?"

Lu Yin looked up from staring at the sourcebox array. "If she has the key, she can get out."

Bai Qi frowned. "And if she doesn’t have it, then what? All that will do is prove that she lost the key. It was an accident, not something that was done deliberately. Negligence is not a crime worthy of death."

Lu Yin shook his head. "If she had simply told me about it a few days sooner, Che Zhan would not have died." 𝓫𝓮𝒹𝓷ℴ𝓿ℯ𝓵.𝓬ℴ𝓶

Bai Qi had nothing more to say. While certain people’s lives did not matter to some people, they could be priceless to others.

No one present actually regarded Qiao Er with much personal importance, but to Mu Shang, Qiao Er was priceless. The Semi-Progenitors on the first array base regarded Che Zhan as nothing more than a criminal who could be sacrificed at any moment, but to Lu Yin, the man had been a comrade-in-arms who had faced life and death together with him on the battlefield. Lu Yin had promised his comrades that he would take them away and rescue them, but Che Zhan had died because Qiao Er had supposedly been busy preparing for a birthday celebration. Forget Mu Shang—not even an old monster like Bai Wangyuan would be able to save the woman.

Everyone stopped talking. Down within the sourcebox array, Qiao Er did not dare to move. No matter how desperate and frightened she became, she remembered that Mu Shang was on his way. As long as her master arrived, Qiao Er would be saved.

Half an hour later, Mu Shang arrived. He noticed Lu Yin and the others standing at the edge of the first array base, and the three Semi-Progenitors were all staring at Lu Yin with amazement and shock in their eyes. There was something truly strange going on.

As soon as he saw that Mu Shang had arrived, Bai Chi said, "Qiao Er is trapped in the sourcebox array. Please save her."

Mu Shang felt confused. "How did she end up down there?"

Bai Chi glanced at Lu Yin, who looked up at Mu Shang. "We finally meet, Grandmaster Mu."

Mu Shang and Lu Yin stared at each other. The Array Grandmaster nodded to Lu Yin, walked to the edge of the first array base, and then looked down. He saw Qiao Er.

The woman had been eagerly waiting for her master for what had felt like an endless amount of time, and she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Master, save me! Master!"

Mu Shang frowned and turned back to look at Lu Yin. "You did that?"

Lu Yin gave the man a small smile. "I was teaching your apprentice for you. I wanted to see if she could get out on her own."

"You’re executing her." Mu Shang's eyes grew cold.

Lu Yin shrugged. "She can get out if she still has the key."

Mu Shang stared at Lu Yin. "You’ve changed."

Lu Yin arched a brow. "Another old acquaintance? Sorry, but you only knew the old me. You don’t know the current me at all."

Mu Shang stared at Lu Yin for a moment, leapt down, and immediately entered the Coiling Knot.

Bai Chi felt quite puzzled. The Coiling Knot had been set up by Mu Shang, so the man should be able to control and open the array even from the first array base, no different from how someone with the key could control the array. Why had the man personally entered the sourcebox array?

Bai Qi suddenly thought of something, and she turned to stare at Lu Yin. "Did you change the array?"