Star Odyssey

Chapter 1349: Strange Place

Day and night passed in this place.

At night, this sea was full of danger. The ship was not large, and from time to time, massive marine creatures would pass by, putting the ship at risk of being overturned every time. Mr. Shou stood alone at the ship’s bow and drove away the powerful marine creatures.

Inside the cabin, Lu Yin’s eyes suddenly opened. He stood up, his mind still in the time when the Neohuman Alliance was attacking. He was still with Barudar, Jiang Chen, Shaman God, and Highsage Grandmaster. He was at Jupiter. Jupiter was behind him. He had been attacked by Jupiter, and sucked away. Wait, where was he?

A hand reached out in front of Lu Yin.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, and his hand shot up to grab the arm. He twisted it violently, causing a squeak to be heard, followed by a scream, “Let go! Kid, let go! Help, Mr. Shou! Mr. Shou!”

“Shut up.” Lu Yin slowly sank back down and pressed the man against the floor.

The door opened, and Lu Yin looked up to see a group of people rush in. His eyes focused at the back of the crowd onto a sturdily-built middle-aged man. This person was not weak. Lu Yin’s pupils transformed into runes and he observed the man. Eh? No runes? Wait, there were no runes to be seen from anybody; was this inside Jupiter? Even if it was, why were there no runes?

The Rune Progenitor’s power had covered the entire Fifth Mainland, so unless Lu Yin was no longer in the Fifth Mainland, where was he?

“All of you, stand down,” Mr. Shou said. Everyone else stepped back.

The man who Lu Yin had pinned to the floor was gritting his teeth in pain.

Mr. Shou looked at Lu Yin and smiled as he spoke, “Little brother, you fell into the Middle Ocean, and we saved you.”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, but he loosened his hand. He looked down at his own body, and saw that he had very little star energy left, and his channels for circulating his star energy were all blocked, though not injured. He could not tell why this was the case. He also saw that his own body looked to have been badly injured, and some of the wounds looked like vicious cuts.

It appeared that he had been badly wounded, and the injuries also all looked to be quite painful, but everyone was nothing but minor injuries to Lu Yin. Fortunately, he still had his cosmic ring, and so long as he used some of the medication he had in there, he would be able to recover within just a few days. As for his blocked channels, that was not a major concern either.

With his cosmic ring, Lu Yin was able to pull out his universal armor at any moment, so he would have no problem protecting himself.

At this thought, he relaxed a great deal.

“Sorry”, he said as he completely freed the man.

The man quickly got to his feet. He stared at Lu Yin in fear as he backed out of the cabin.

There was also an old man who had entered the room with Mr. Shou.

Lu Yin looked at the men. “This junior thanks you both for saving him.”

Mr. Shou replied with a smile, “You’re welcome. Our meeting was fate. I am Shou Sheng, and I am an explorer who belongs to the Root.”

Lu Yin said, “I’m-“

He had been just about to reveal his real name, but after a moment’s thought, he said, “I’m Ah Qi, an independent cultivator.”

Shou Sheng’s eyes flashed and he smiled. “Brother Qi is an independent cultivator? You do not look like it. Although I cannot see your cultivation, your physical strength is quite good, and cannot compare to most independent cultivators.”

Lu Yin’s gaze grew sharp. “I stumbled upon some natural treasures.”

Shou Sheng smiled. “I know the struggle of independent cultivators. Brother Qi, rest well. I won’t bother you any longer.”

Lu Yin really wanted to know where he was, but he was not stupid, so there was no way he would ask such a question. While Shou Sheng seemed straightforward and rather honest, Lu Yin felt something treacherous from the man, and it raised Lu Yin’s vigilance. “Thank you Mr. Shou.”

Shou Sheng nodded and then led the old man away.

Not once during the entire episode had the old man spoken.

After leaving the cabin, the old man expressed his anxiousness, “Mr. Shou, why didn’t you tell him? We’ll arrive soon, and if he doesn’t agree then, isn’t it certain that we’ll all die?”

Shou Sheng shook his head. “I had no intention of saying anything right now. The youth is evasive in his answers, and he hides from questions. It’s impossible to know where he actually came from.”

“And yet you dare allow him to pretend to be my young master?” The old man was extremely worried.

Shou Sheng’s eyes snapped over to the old man. “And what if I don’t? Can you continue to live on in the Middle Realm? If that happens, not only will I not get paid, but I might also be hunted down by the White Dragon Clan. Neither of us can afford to take responsibility for this matter.”

“Then what if everything gets ruined at that time?” The old man was terrified.

Shou Sheng sneered. “Then that’s just his business, as you and I will already be long gone. We take him to his destination, you get a lot of money, and then I will offer you a special price and you will hire me to take you to safety in a place where you can rest in your old age.”

The old man swallowed, still nervous, but there was nothing he could say.

“Don’t worry, that vial of blood has already been injected into him. The White Dragon clan’s blood is plenty to suppress his own. When the time comes, the presence of the White Dragon clan’s blood will be enough to let him pass through their exam. Don’t worry, the powerhouses of the White Dragon clan will be around when this kid shows up, he’ll be forced to cooperate even if he doesn’t want to. If not, he dies, and nobody wants to die. So, what do you think?” Shou Sheng looked at the old man.

The old man shuddered. “Yes, yes.”

Lu Yin had wandered about the universe for more than a decade, and he was no longer an inexperienced child. He did not have a good feeling about Shou Sheng, and so Lu Yin intended to leave the ship as soon as possible.

The next day, Lu Yin exited the cabin, and then saw the endless sea. There was a wall in the distance that seemed to block off another world, and rainbows that connect the sky to the ground. Everything above his head seemed blurry. Where was this place?

During his ten-plus years as a cultivator who had roamed the universe, Lu Yin had seen many strange places. Despite that, this place still managed to surprise him.

He heard footsteps from behind, and Shou Sheng walked up. Lu Yin did not reveal any unfamiliarity with where he was, and simply took a deep breath and stretched his arms.

“Brother Qi’s body is recovering quickly.” Shou Sheng laughed heartily as he stepped up to Lu Yin’s side.

Lu Yin smiled and replied, “I have thick skin. Mr. Shou, where are we headed?”

Shou Sheng said casually, “Not too far away.”

Lu Yin nodded. They were in the middle of a vast sea, so he did not want to be impulsive and simply leave. It would be best to have solid ground beneath his feet before fleeing, though with Lu Yin’s strength, let alone the middle of the sea, he would be fine surviving in the middle of space. Still, this was an unknown place, and he did not want to take too many risks.

He looked up and saw the land up above. This place seemed to be a hidden region, and there was actually ground up above the stars and the sun. Could he be inside of Jupiter?

Shou Sheng noticed that Lu Yin was staying rather quiet, and so the middle-aged man stayed relatively quiet himself. After calculating the time, he realized it was almost time.

Lu Yin returned to the cabin and waited for nightfall. Inside the cabin, Lu Yin lifted his hand and brought out his die. He first needed to allow his body to recover, and that thought caused him to set aside his cosmic ring. After that, he immediately rolled the die.

It spun slowly before suddenly stopping. Luckily, it was four pips: Timestop. Lu Yin grabbed his cosmic ring as the scenery changed before his eyes and he entered the Timestop Space.

After entering the space, Lu Yin let out a sigh of relief. He opened his cosmic ring and took out an ancient medication he had upgraded. He had twelve such pills, and he had upgraded them all to the point that their rune lines compared to an Enlighter, and three had been further upgraded until they matched the runes of an Enlighter with a power level of close to 300,000.

Lu Yin’s combat power was strong enough for him to overpower Enlighters with power levels of more than 400,000, but he himself was still just a Hunter, so these pills were perfect for him.

There was also the pill he had been given by the elders of the Cosmic Sect which was useful for even Envoys, but that pill was too precious, as well as unnecessary.

After a moment’s thought, Lu Yin swallowed a pill. It did not really matter if it worked or not.

The medicinal herbs entered his body, and were quite effective. The wounds covering his body began to recover at a visible rate, and his internal injuries also began to quickly heal.

However, his blocked channels did not improve, and Lu Yin could not determine how they had been blocked.

He was not in a hurry, as he could stay in this space for a long time and cultivate.

He then began to silently recite the full Stonewall Scriptures, even as he was practicing his other battle techniques.

A month soon passed in the space, and Lu Yin’s blocked channels had recovered a great deal. He quickly absorbed some energy from some star essence in order to restore his body’s reserves.

Two months. Three months. Eventually, five months. Lu Yin’s star energy reserves had been fully restored, and he let out a long breath. As long as was able to recover, he would be able to protect himself.

With the defensive strength of his universal armor, he should be safe even in such an unknown place.

The scenery again changed before him, and Lu Yin returned to the ship’s cabin.

He had spent five months in the Timestop Space, but only a moment had passed in the outside world.

Lu Yin deliberately restrained his breath and suppressed his star energy, as he did not was his recovery to be noticed by others.

As the sky brightened, Lu Yin walked out of the cabin ready to leave the ship as soon as it reached the shore.

As soon as he emerged, he looked up and saw it was very dark off in the distance. It looked like the precursor of an approaching storm.

Shou Sheng’s expression was solemn, as well as rather unsightly.

There were other people on deck, though all of them looked apprehensive and frightened.

When the old man saw Lu Yin walking out of the cabin, he quickly said, “Little- Little Brother, you should return to the cabin. There’s danger approaching.”

Lu Yin did not ask any questions, as he was afraid that any questions he had would reveal his lack of common knowledge and cause him to be seen through. He turned around and returned to the cabin.

Soon, an inexplicable sense of danger struck him, and made his scalp go numb. The fact that the Stonewall Scriptures had failed to inform him of approaching danger as he was accustomed to. Without it, he was actually much less vigilant towards the outside world.

He lifted his hand. The ambient star energy was actually trembling. This was not something that most people could see, but Lu Yin’s control of star energy had reached the Worldliness realm, and he was able to see that star energy was actually breaking down, and the process of the reaction was accelerating.

Some power was approaching, and this power left Lu Yin’s back go cold. He immediately put on his universal armor.

The black sky off in the distance was rapidly approaching, and a roar echoed through the sky and sea. The sound caused the sea to churn, and the stars to fade as a violent hurricane swept across the sea. The ship bobbed up and down, nearly capsizing.

Shou Sheng became desperate. This storm had the strength of an Envoy, while he was merely an Enlighter. He was utterly powerless before an Envoy.

Four massive eyes suddenly appeared in the pitch-black sky. Flames flashed, and then a monster fanned our wings of flames that evaporated the sea as the creature slowly descended.

The creature was an incomparably massive two-headed behemoth. It was no smaller than the size that Star Devourer had assumed when ZENITH had first started. The monstrous beast held its two heads high as its two huge clawed feet flickered through the air as it floated in the sky.

Lu Yin’s pupils shrank. This beast had the power of an Envoy. He reflexively wanted to measure the beast’s power level, only to realize that his gadget was gone.

The air was shuddering, and the sea was boiling. Countless dead fish floated atop the waves, and terrifyingly hot flames covered the sky within an instant, and the entire sky turned red.

Lu Yin’s expression grew serious. The power of this beast was no less than Leader Hong had been at his peak. Just where was this place? Was it possible to run into an Envoy so easily?

Wait, since this creature had the strength of an Envoy, the power it had already released should have torn through the void. A thought flashed through Lu Yin’s mind, and he waved a hand out. By Lu Yin’s reasoning, he should have easily torn open the void with such a movement, but his hand simply waved through the air and did not affect the void in the slightest.