Star Odyssey

Chapter 1276: Outlook and Scope

As Lu Yin reminisced about his time in Astral-10, he smiled.

He thought that his smile looked friendly, but to Charon, it was a devil’s smile, and a bead of sweat immediately ran down his forehead. Nothing good had ever happened to Charon when he ran into this jerk. This was the end of ZENITH for him.

Lu Yin felt insulted; why did Charon look like he had just seen a ghost? Did Lu Yin look that scary? Why did this guy get more timid the older he got?

Many people’s reputations were on the line in ZENITH, and the major powers were directly vying for a scant few benefits. However, to most of the people in the universe, apart from those who were recognized as the strongest amongst the younger generation who were taking part in ZENITH, the entire competition was pure entertainment.

On the other hand, to some of the bookmakers who were handling peoples’ bets for the competition, ZENITH had an immense impact on their lives.

After the end of the elimination round on the third layer, an ancient family in Beast Tamers Flowzone was in deep trouble.

Before the competition, this particular family had opened up a betting service, and they had made some calculations about the Little Mountain God’s odds. Since they were tied to the Divine Grade Hall and were clearly aware of the Little Mountain God’s abilities, they had had high hopes for him.

Therefore, the Little Mountain God’s defeat on the third layer had placed the family in huge trouble as well as a significant amount of debt.

They had considered simply reneging on the bets and not paying their debt, but that would lead to even worse consequences as they were unaware of who had placed bets. When they initially refused to pay, a few Enlighter powerhouses had attacked the family while people from the Divine Grade Hall, the First Grade Hall, the Second Grade Hall, First Flowzone, Daynight Flowzone, and many other elite powers had come to ask for their money.

This ancient family collapsed from this one event, and even if they ended up surviving the crisis, it would be difficult for them to return to their former glory.

Also, this was just one small part of the universe.

The universe was too vast. There were countless young geniuses among the Outerverse’s seventy two weaves who had joined ZENITH, so the major forces of each weave had each calculated their own odds. Some had made money while others lost it.

These bookmakers had all been confident in their odds, but the ZENITH’s current results were already quite different from their expectations.

The young elites that the various bookmakers had been so confident in were mere passersby in ZENITH and were casually eliminated if they were a bit unlucky.

This had led to huge windfalls for those who had bet against those geniuses.

Aside from the Outerverse, similar situations occurred in the Innerverse’s great flowzones, various areas of the Cosmic Sea, and even the Neoverse.

The battle on the third layer alone had caused thousands of bookmakers to lose everything, and this was just the beginning.

The real bookmakers had not calculated the odds for random people who might be easily eliminated. Instead, they had focused on the more famous powerhouses. For example, a bookmaker had set Lu Yin’s odds to enter the top three as 10:1. That bookmaker had also posted odds for the same category for Bu Kong, Zhi Yi, Yao Xuan, and everyone else who was famous.

Nobody knew who that bookmaker was. There were many guesses, but no one was confident.

Once all of the contestants appeared on the second layer, a woman appeared in the sky and looked at a spacecraft in front of her. “I finally found it.”

…

On the second layer of Zenith Mountain, the competition restarted when the invisible force restricting the competitors disappeared.

Just like on the third layer, the moment people were given their freedom, everyone worked together to attack the famous powerhouses like Shang Qing and Lu Yin.

Stars appeared around Lu Yin’s body and exploded as he looked at the people attacking him.

The Cosmic Art was the Cosmic Sect’s defining battle technique, and most people were unable to endure it. Among those attacking Lu Yin, there were a few people from the Sixth Mainland as well as the Cosmic Sea and the Neoverse. However, only a few remained standing after Lu Yin’s initial attack, as the rest had all collapsed.

Charon was one of the ones who had collapsed. Lu Yin had made no efforts to keep an eye out for Charon, as he would be eliminated regardless of anything else.

Charon helplessly glared at Lu Yin. The gap between them had become enormous.

When they had both been at the Astral Combat Academy, Charon had actually been stronger than Lu Yin, and Lu Yin had had to blackmail Charon into protecting him within the training realms. However, Charon could no longer withstand even one attack from Lu Yin.

Two cultivators from the Sixth Mainland used their imprints and rushed at Lu Yin together.

A young girl from the Neoverse maneuvered behind Lu Yin and attacked him at the same time.

Stars vibrated around Lu Yin’s body, and the three people instantly passed out.

The battle between fifty people and Lu Yin had concluded just like that.

Lan Baobao had also given up, just like most of the other competitors in her arena once they had realized that Shang Qing was with them.

Battles were still raging in most of the arenas. The most interesting battle at this moment was the one between Lei Nü and Bu Kong. None of the true powerhouses had expected to encounter Bu Kong so soon.

Lei Nü was the Hall of Honor’s second Honor Chosen, and she was extremely powerful. She had comprehended a secret technique and even reached the final stage in the Astral Tower, but unfortunately, she had been defeated by Xia Jiuyou at the last moment.

On the other side, Bu Kong was one of the Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Three Skies, so naturally, their battle had attracted a great deal of attention, far surpassing the amount paid to the fight between Shu Jing and Wu Taibai or the battle between Ce Jiu and Liquor Hero.

Bu Kong gave Lei Nü a curious look. He had eliminated the other competitors just a moment before, but Lei Nü had still managed to attack him.

He had only heard two words, “Autumn’s Sorrow,” before her attack had struck him.

This was the first time that Bu Kong had ever been attacked without being aware of the attack.

Lei Nü wore a mask that was half red and half white, and ripples radiated out from her body. Her innate gift was hypnosis.

Bu Kong immediately dodged aside, as he was now wary of this girl.

Bu Kong was eventually surrounded by the ripples and hypnotized. At that moment, he once again heard those two words. “Autumn’s Sorrow.”

Bu Kong crashed to the ground with a loud bang.

Lei Nü floated in the sky and stared down at Bu Kong.

Countless people grew excited at this sight; the Hall of Honor’s second Honor Chosen was truly invincible!

Lu Yin stared at a screen. Lei Nü’s Autumn Sorrow was a truly baffling technique. However, after all this time, he had finally gained some understanding as to how it worked. Bu Kong would not be able to understand it so quickly in the heat of battle, so everything depended on if he could counter it.

The participants from the Sixth Mainland grew nervous, as they could not understand what had happened. They had not seen Lei Nü’s attack, but Bu Kong had somehow collapsed. They refused to believe that he had been defeated; he was one of the Daosource Three Skies!

Bu Kong slowly stood back and brushed off the dirt that had gotten onto his body before taking another look at Lei Nü. He still could not understand her attack, but that did not matter.

Lei Nü floated in the sky, and ripples spread out from her to cover the entire arena.

Bu Kong raised a hand, and the ripples touching him shattered instead of surrounding him.

Lei Nü’s innate gift was hypnosis while Bu Kong’s innate gift was decomposition. Thus, he simply decomposed Lei Nü’s hypnosis.

There was a difference in their innate gifts and strength, and Lei Nü was inferior by a level.

“I’m curious to see what you look like under that mask.” Bu Kong waved his hands as he spoke. Lei Nü was about to move, but she was hit before she could do so. Bu Kong had used a sourcebox array.

Then, Bu Kong appeared right in front of Lei Nü and grabbed at her mask.

Lei Nü was frozen in the air and unable to move. However, one of her hands was facing forward at where Bu Kong had appeared.

Bu Kong’s hand had just touched her mask when he suddenly flew backwards and crashed against the barrier of light that isolated the arena.

This was a secret technique: Banishment. It was one of the Hall of Honor’s secret techniques, and not even Bu Kong could avoid it.

Lei Nü took this opportunity to escape from the sourcebox array and rush at Bu Kong again. “Autumn’s Sorrow.”

Bu Kong raised a hand, and although nobody could see what he was decomposing, the space between him and Lei Nü suddenly shattered, forcing Lei Nü to race backward.

Bu Kong sneered. “I already know that your battle technique is spread through sound, so the moment I hear your words, I’ll be attacked. It’s a pretty good battle technique, but it’s useless once a person understands how it works. I just have to stop sound from spreading.”

He seized control of the star energy surrounding Lei Nü, and her star energy was completely suppressed.

This was the suppression that a Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker possessed over powerhouses within the same realm. Bu Kong was at the Worldliness stage of star energy control, and even Lei Nü could not prevent her star energy from being suppressed.

No matter what battle technique she wanted to use, Bu Kong was able to disrupt the star energy inside Lei Nü. Even if he couldn’t injure her, he was still able to prevent her from retaliating.

Bu Kong rushed towards her with a raised hand. As his hand swung down, Lei Nü stared at him without moving.

The two flew back at the same time, and blood spilled into the air.

This blood was not only from Lei Nü, but also from Bu Kong.

He looked at her in shock, his face pale.

This was Discipline, the most infuriating secret technique that the Hall of Honor possessed. It reflected attacks that a person suffered back to their enemy. Thus, Bu Kong’s attack had struck both Lei Nü and himself.

“Autumn’s Sorrow.” Lei Nü had braced herself to receive Bu Kong’s attack, as this was the only way for her to defeat him.

Despite her heavy injuries, she still tried to attack Bu Kong right after using Discipline. She was confident that she could defeat him if she could land an attack at this moment.

However, Lei Nü had still underestimated Bu Kong. He was one of the Daosource Three Skies, and although he was the youngest, he was also the most intelligent. He had already managed to thoroughly understand the principle behind Autumn’s Sorrow, along with its flaws, after seeing Lei Nü use it just a few times. Thus, he would not be defeated so easily.

Lei Nü’s Autumn’s Sorrow struck true, and her plan succeeded. However, the results were not within her expectations.

Bu Kong was the disciple of the Progenitor of Secret Arts and had been given many secret techniques. In addition to Time Reversal, he had also mastered Reversal Cycle.

He had started using Reversal Cycle the moment he had been injured by Discipline. Thus, he had already recovered by the time that Lei Nü had attacked.

Autumn’s Sorrow could fatally injure an Enlighter with a power level of 300,000, but it was useless against a perfectly healthy Bu Kong.

“Nobody has ever used so many secret techniques against me, and you are the first person from the Fifth Mainland to injure me. Still, this is the end.” Bu Kong’s voice rang out as he swung his hand at Lei Nü. He was using his innate gift, and Lei Nü would either die or be heavily injured once he touched her.