Star Odyssey

Chapter 2377: Escape

More and more people trickled into the Perennial World from the Fifth Mainland. With the new arrivals, the Perennial World was certain to soon become far more lively.

On the rear battlefield, Skymender wearily said, "No, there’s not even one."

Lu Yin started thinking. He had asked Skymender to do a divination for fatesand, only to find that there was not a single piece of fatesand in the entire Perennial World. Of course, Lu Yin did not believe this. It was far more likely that Bai Xian'er had gathered them.

"Forget it." He looked around at the fourth array base. It was time for him to leave, so he handed over responsibility of the fourth array base to Arch-Elder Zen and the other Semi-Progenitors.

A short time later, Lu Yin left the fourth array base atop the jiao. As for Wan Zhiyi and the other vassals of the Lu family, none of them left with Lu Yin. He was headed for the Higher Realm to find Food Paradise. He intended to see if he could recover some of his memories there.

…

There was a clanging of heavy chains, as well as the sound of slowly approaching gentle footsteps.

Liu Shaoge opened his eyes. His vision was blurred, and the magma gave everything a reddish tint.

He was deep underground, far below Shenwu’s Sky. This was where the people who were regarded as Shenwu's Sky’s worst criminals were imprisoned.

There were chains everywhere, but not even a Semi-Progenitor could break free from these chains. All who entered this place would never leave.

The footsteps drew closer.

Liu Shaoge was panting for breath. There were no wounds on his body, but that was because the people of Shenwu’s Sky were not foolish. Liu Shaoge had clearly been abandoned by Lu Yin, and he was possibly even Lu Yin's enemy. Thus, they wanted to extract some information from their prisoner.

Liu Shaoge had proven cooperative, very cooperative. He had shared everything that he knew about Lu Yin. Things had gone so smoothly that he had only seen two people during his entire incarceration.

One was Xia Xing, the sect master of Shenwu's Sky. The other was the man responsible for interrogating Shenwu's Sky’s prisoners.

At this moment, a third person was approaching him: Xia Ziheng.

When he saw that Xia Ziheng was visiting him, Liu Shaoge heaved a sigh of relief. "You’re finally here."

Xia Ziheng stared at Liu Shaoge. "You knew that I would come?"

Liu Shaoge smiled. "There are very few people who have the authority to make decisions about someone like me. It was bound to be either you or Sect Master Xia Xing."𝚋𝚎ｄｎｏｖ𝚎𝚕．𝚌ｏｍ

Xia Ziheng calmly replied, "I don't like people who act smart, but I will give you a chance to guess the purpose of my visit."

Liu Shaoge answered without any hesitation. "You either need my help or my cooperation."

"How could you cooperate with us?" Xia Ziheng clasped his hands behind his back as he looked down at the prisoner.

Liu Shaoge looked up at the Semi-Progenitor. He was like an ant begging for its life. "Lu Yin—well, the one you call Lu Xiaoxuan, wields a power that makes things difficult for all of you. While I don't know what he might have done recently, I guess that you underestimated him somehow. Am I right?"

Xia Ziheng frowned. "Do you know him very well?"

Liu Shaoge smiled. "So I was right? Yes, I know him very well. From when I first started cultivating until now, I have been very familiar with him. I know how he acts, how he thinks, and even his motivations. I know him very well. You also know this too, which is why you need my help. I can help you discover his flaws."

Xia Ziheng asked, "Then tell an old man what he is thinking right now and what he is about to do next."

"May I know the current situation?"

"You may." Xia Ziheng then proceeded to share a brief summary of the recent events.

Liu Shaoge thought for a bit and then looked up at Xia Ziheng. "He has placed people near you."

Xia Ziheng's expression instantly changed. "Why would you say that?"

Liu Shaoge explained, "Lu Yin will never do anything without being confident of success. The fact that, even after he revealed his abilities to you, he still dared to come to the Perennial World means that he is prepared to face all of you. That means that he must have his own people planted within your four ruling powers, and more than just one. He would only act like this if he is confident that he can learn about everything that you do. For the time being, he is going to do his best to work with you.”

"Your four ruling powers completely dominate this Perennial World. The full power of the Fifth Mainland is not enough to stand up against you all, which means that he is going to find a way to use the Perennial World’s situation against you and destabilize your power."

"What will he do?" Xia Ziheng asked softly. The four ruling powers were familiar with Lu Xiaoxuan, but they did not know much about Lu Yin. His personality was completely changed, and Shenwu’s Sky not only needed to be on guard against Lu Yin, but also against Bai Xian'er.

Even after all that had happened, the Xia family still regarded Bai Xian'er as a greater threat than Lu Yin.

Even after Lu Yin had fought against four Semi-Progenitors by himself as just a three-tribulation Envoy and contested Progenitors, he was still not considered as great a threat as Bai Xian'er. This was why Bai Wangyuan had chosen to agree to allow Lu Yin to become a Semi-Progenitor if it meant saving Bai Xian’er. This was also why the Xia family, the Wang family, and the White Dragon Clan were forced to agree to the truce as well. Nothing could happen to Bai Xian'er. This was something that the Celestial Frost Sect would never allow no matter what it took.

The four ruling powers were constantly competing with each other. After all, there could only be one true master of the Fifth Mainland.

Lu Yin posed a threat that the four ruling powers were indeed wary of, but the Xia family needed to not only guard against Lu Yin, but also Bai Xian'er. They wanted to seize the initiative in dealing with Lu Yin, and hopefully aim that threat at the Celestial Frost Sect instead. If they could get Lu Yin to fight against Bai Xian'er, it would be best if both of them destroyed each other.

Liu Shaoge straightened up. The chains binding him swayed, constantly clanging from the movement. "I’m not sure how complete his knowledge of the Perennial World might be, nor how much he’s kept hidden. So while it’s impossible for me to accurately guess his next move, if I were in his place, I would find people who aren’t under your control and then use them against you.”

As Liu Shaoge spoke, he stared at Xia Ziheng with greater intensity.

"Aside from that, what else will he do?" Xia Ziheng showed not even a flicker of surprise. Naturally, the four ruling powers had already guessed this much themselves.

Liu Shaoge replied, "Senior, you may not have heard what I said clearly. I mentioned people who are not under your control. I am not merely referring to the Nong and Liu families or Specter Abyss."

Xia Ziheng frowned. "Then what do you mean?"

Liu Shaoge took a moment to consider his words. "Look at the entire Perennial World and make a list of everyone in it who you consider worth your notice, regardless of whether they are friend or foe. Of those, list out all those who are not under your control. Oh, and make sure that you include the Aeternals."

Xia Ziheng’s eyes instantly snapped wide open. "Aeternus? Has Lu Xiaoxuan colluded with Aeternus?"

Liu Shaoge quickly denied the allegations. "That is not what this junior said. However, that does not mean that he can’t use Aeternus. As for how he might use them, it depends on what he is capable of doing. It is much like when your four ruling powers exiled the Lu family, Senior. Did you not make use of Aeternus at that time?"

As soon as the words left Liu Shaoge’s mouth, Xia Ziheng casually waved a hand, and a blade stabbed Liu Shaoge through his forehead. The young man’s eyes went wide as blood tainted and blurred his vision. Even at that moment, disbelief filled his eyes. "Why? Why do this?"

Xia Ziheng stared at Liu Shaoge. "I already told you that I don't like people who act smart. There are some things that you can say, but there are also some things that cannot be said. Child, you are still too young."

With that, the old man turned around and left.

Lu Yin had disguised himself as Yu Hao, humiliating the Xia family beyond redemption. Afterwards, Xia Ziheng had been punished by Xia Shenji himself because the Progenitor was irritated that Xia Ziheng had been so badly outwitted in his assumption that Yu Hao was Grandmaster Gu Yan’s apprentice.

As Liu Shaoge analyzed Lu Yin's future actions step by step, Xia Ziheng had seen Lu Yin’s shadow overlap with Liu Shaoge’s image. Both were cunning and smart, and Liu Shaoge’s last comment had triggered the final spark. As Xia Ziheng had said, there were certain things that could not be spoken. No, they could not even be thought.

Liu Shaoge’s death had absolutely no effect on the Xia family. Xia Ziheng dismissed the entire matter from his mind in an instant. His final thought was that Liu Shaoge had overestimated himself far, far too much. Had he truly believed that the Xia family needed to rely on him in order to deal with Lu Xiaoxuan? How ridiculous! They were the Xia family! One of the four ruling powers! They had an unshakeable foundation and powerful Progenitors. Mere children could not mess around and play tricks without consequences.

Shortly after Xia Ziheng left, two other members of Shenwu's Sky arrived to dispose of Liu Shaoge's body.

"I thought that they said that this guy wasn’t going to be executed. I didn't expect him to die anyway."

"There aren’t many people locked up down here who were killed by Ziheng himself."

"This guy isn’t an ordinary person. He actually impersonated Yu Hao and was captured inside Shenwu's Sky. I heard that he was abandoned by Lu Xiaoxuan."

"Whatever. Just toss his corpse into the magma and burn it."

Dark-red blood stained the ground, but the liquid all quickly evaporated due to the high temperature. It caused a layer of blood mist to quickly form around Liu Shaoge's body.

The two men unlocked the chains that bound Liu Shaoge’s corpse in place, but right as they lifted the body, Liu Shaoge attacked. Both men’s heads were sent tumbling into the magma, quickly followed by the headless corpses. A slight push had sent them into the magma, and they were quickly reduced to ashes.

The two men had only been Explorers, and they had been helpless against Liu Shaoge.

For some time, tremors ran through Liu Shaoge’s body. "I'm so dizzy."

He then looked in a direction where another person was bound by chains. At this moment, there was a wound on the man’s head identical to the one that Liu Shaoge had suffered.

"Nightking Zhenwu's innate gift is incredibly useful, even if it does cause a bit of dizziness. My thanks, brother." Liu Shaoge wiped away the last of the blood stains and then took on the appearance of one of the guards who had arrived to collect Liu Shaoge’s body.

"I told you that I can escape, but you didn’t believe me. How about it? I really can escape," Liu Shaoge muttered to himself, though he sounded like he was speaking to someone else.

The chains vibrated, giving off a sound at a specific frequency. Liu Shaoge followed the chains’ vibrations and stared deeper underground. "A Semi-Progenitor is staring at me? Seriously??"

The chains vibrated again.

Liu Shaoge touched his head. "That’s going to be difficult. I don’t have the key to unlock your chains. I saw what happened that day. The Progenitor with Lu Yin had to use a weapon to break the chains."

The chain vibrated again.

"It seems that you’ve been preparing for this for a long time. Very well, Lu Yin is keeping Shenwu's Sky busy, so we’ll keep a low profile and sneak out of here." After speaking, Liu Shaoge followed the vibrating chains and entered the magma itself. He then moved towards the depths of the earth.

Far deeper underground, a pair of eyes opened. The boundless depths of the eyes seemed capable of piercing through everything as they looked up, past Shenwu’s Sky, and seemingly into the Dominion Realm itself. "Xia Shenji, I will find you!"

…

Lu Yin flew to the Dingshang Realm on the jiao. At this moment, he didn't know that Liu Shaoge had escaped from Shenwu's Sky.

Towards Liu Shaoge, he had no feelings of guilt. This was simply the rule of the universe. The strong killed the weak. He was not a benevolent person, let alone a good person. Just like the people who had thrown him into the floating star as white meat, Lu Yin had no remorse for Liu Shaoge.

He could abandon Liu Shaoge, because Liu Shaoge was not his friend. Similarly, Liu Shaoge would not hesitate to betray him, as they owed nothing to each other.

Liu Shaoge understood Lu Yin, and Lu Yin also understood him. He knew very well that, if possible, Liu Shaoge would do his best to survive and win Shenwu's Sky's trust to deal with him. However, that was just for survival, not hatred.

They were both all too aware of the laws of survival in this universe.