Star Odyssey

Chapter 1823: Hua Wu

The woman turned around, her face already growing pale. “This junior didn’t manage to find anything in Burial Garden, so Seniors, I beg you to let me go.”

“Didn’t get anything? Open up your cosmic ring and dump everything out for me to check!” the man demanded.

This had become the normal state inside Burial Garden. At the moment, not only were there people gathered outside of the gates who were searching everyone exiting, but the inside of the gates were also being controlled. Everyone was doing their best to grab what they could, and even if the people being searched had not found anything in Burial Garden, they still needed to turn over their cosmic rings to be searched.

This was not a good situation for the people exploring Burial Garden. Unless they came from a powerful enough organization or were sufficiently powerful themselves, everything depended on luck.

The woman felt frustrated and offended. “Senior, this junior swears that she did not find anything! I’ve seen the dangers in Burial Garden, and I just want to leave.”

“Cut the bullshit and open your ring!” Someone next to the gate leaped to their feet and almost instantly appeared next to the woman and snatched her cosmic ring.

Her face flushed red, and she raised a hand to fight back, only to have her arm instantly broken when she touched the man. One of the man’s hands grabbed her ring while the other reached for her neck.

The man was ruthless and did not care about whether the woman lived or died. All he cared about was if she had anything valuable.

If the woman was not strong enough, this attack would kill her.

The woman felt a chill at her neck, and she started to despair. Was she about to die? She should have listened to her father and not entered Burial Garden. She had not found anything, and even when she was about to die, she could not say anything.

Suddenly, an invisible force swept through the group of people, and all of them, including the woman and the man who had attacked her, were stunned. Many of the people instantly fell unconscious, and even those who retained their senses fell to the ground and felt their vision grow blurry. Was this a domain?

The man who had attacked the woman saw a burry figure appear in front of him and crouch down. A voice spoke. “Tell me, where does this exit from Burial Garden lead to?”

The man’s brain was still in a fog due to the pressure placed on him by the domain. He could not stop his body from trembling, and he struggled to even speak. “Out- Outerverse. Umbral- Umbral Butterfly Weave.”

After answering, the man fainted.

Lu Yin stood up. These were people from the Sixth Mainland, and this gate led to the Umbral Butterfly Weave, which currently belonged to the Sixth Mainland. If he went out through this gate, he would immediately be captured by the Sixth Mainland, which was not an ideal situation. On top of that, the Outerverse was quite a long way from the Neoverse.

Lu Yin decided to continue searching for another exit from Burial Garden.

He looked over at the woman and then waved a hand to move her a bit further away from the gate and the people guarding it, which was essentially saving her life.

Despite many of the exit gates from Burial Garden leading to known locations, Lu Yin was still quite nervous about finding an exit that led to the Neoverse. He had been trapped by the statue for more than two months, and Yang Kong had tried and failed to get in touch with Lu Yin during this time.

Lu Yin had no idea how long the poison would remain dormant within his body, and while he was fairly confident that he could deal with it, he did not want to take such a risk.

***

Elsewhere in Burial Garden, Yang Kong released his hand, and an old man slowly fell to the ground. There were several other people around, but all of them were already dead.

The old man had been someone with an ancient bloodline. A desiccated corpse had been chasing after him, but after he was rescued, he had been forced to enter Burial Garden. He had been lucky enough to find a stone in Burial Garden, and the words written on the stone had entered his mind and given him the power to release vocalization attacks.

However, he had been seen during this encounter, and word of it had spread, which had eventually led to the old man’s death at Yang Kong’s hands.

His entire mission was to slaughter anyone with an ancient bloodline and cut off any inheritances from ancient times.

Yang Kong wiped his hands clean, unconcerned with what had just happened.

“You- aren’t you Bu Kong?” A weak voice spoke up.

Yang Kong’s expression grew sharp, and he looked over at a nearby person who should have already died.

The old man had been ganged up on by this person and all of the other dead people, as they had been trying to steal his inheritance. However, all of them had ended up dying at Yang Kong’s hands.

“Bu Kong, aren’t you dead? How are you still alive?” The person could not believe what they were seeing and could not understand the situation.

Yang Kong walked over to the man. “What’s the point in telling you anything? You’re already dead.”

He stomped on the man’s body and walked away.

More and more bearers of ancient bloodlines were finding their way into Burial Garden, and the place seemed to be undergoing greater and greater changes.

There were even people in the Human Domain who were not eliminating the dried up corpses, but instead using them to hunt down people with ancient bloodlines so that they could use them to explore Burial Garden.

Lu Yin still knew nothing about these events. He was also quite lucky, as after just a few more days, he came upon another exit gate. This time, there was no one guarding it despite it being readily visible. That was because this gate stood within a sourcebox array.

The more rumors about Burial Garden that spread, the more the place became known, and the more that certain dangers were also discovered.

Many of the people entering Burial Garden were becoming increasingly cautious, and with an obvious sourcebox array surrounding this gate, it was seen as a place to avoid despite the fact it was an exit gate.

Lu Yin arrived, but he was in no hurry to examine the sourcebox array. He had already noticed that there were several other people hiding in the area, all waiting for someone else to step forward and investigate the sourcebox array.

This was the exact same situation as what he had encountered in the tea hills.

One, two, three, four. Lu Yin found four hidden people when he glanced around, though not one of them noticed him.

He considered tossing them into the array to probe it, but at that moment, he noticed another person approaching through his domain. This person looked very young and quite worried, though he held his nose high and had a rather odd appearance.

Immediately, the four other people leaped out, startling the man, who unconsciously started rubbing the bridge of his nose and licking his lips. “Little- little brother Hua Wu pays his respect to these big brothers. I didn’t know that you big brothers were resting here, and your little brother ended up disturbing you. Here’s a gift to apologize to you big brothers.”

As he spoke, he emptied his entire cosmic ring. He made no attempt to hide anything at all.

The four men glanced at each other, and one of them smiled. “You’re quite direct.”

The young man named Hua Wu replied, “I didn’t see you big brothers here, and you startled me with your prowess when you came out. I know that you big brothers only have a bit of time, so I don’t want to waste my big brothers’ precious time. You might be able to use this time to find an inheritance, so delaying you all would really be a sin. You little brother isn’t very talented, and I don’t deserve to hold onto anything valuable, as that would be a case of handing pearls to swine. You big brothers can instead use it to a much greater effect, and if you become stronger, that’s already enough to help out your little brother. I really want to thank you again.

Lu Yin was left speechless by this monologue as he watched from a distance. This guy had a slick tongue, and he really knew how to flatter people. He did not stop after he got started, and he never once repeated himself. It was impressive to watch.

The four people surrounding Hua Wu were stunned speechless, and a couple of them grew embarrassed. “How can we accept this? These are your possessions, so how can you just give them to us?”

Hua Wu acted angry. “Third Brother, that’s just wrong! How can this stuff be mine? All of this belongs to my big brothers! Please don’t act polite.”

“Third- third brother?” The man who had spoken felt confused.

Hua Wu quickly continued, “Of course you’re Third Brother! Third brother is powerful and domineering! Just a glance is enough to know you’re a direct and upfront person.”

The man was caught off guard, and he laughed a few times. So he was domineering? That sounded pretty good.

Hua Wu turned to face a different man. “You’re Eldest Brother. You’re the eldest, and you’re amazing at strategizing and can see things from thousands of miles away. I really admire the wisdom in your eyes!”

The man puffed his chest out. Eldest brother? Strategist? How did this kid see how smart I am?

Hua Wu then turned to the man on his right. “Second Brother, your little brother really admires your confidence! The only woman in the entire universe who could be worthy of you is Starsibyl!”

The second brother’s eyes lit up, and swung his long hair behind his head. “My little brother is right!”

Hua Wu grew excited as he finally looked at the man who stood behind him. “Fourth Brother, when I look at you, your little brother is instantly reminded of Lu Yin! Excuse me, but are you possibly Lu Yin?”

The man who was called fourth brother was startled. “I- do I look like Lu Yin?”

Hua Wu shouted, “Of course! If you aren’t Lu Yin, then who is?”

“Hahaha, Little Brother, don’t be so silly! You need to be careful, as you might be overheard by someone from the Great Eastern Alliance, haha.”

“Little brother Hua Wu formally submits himself to his big brothers.” Hua Wu stepped back and bowed low.

The four men who had surrounded him all quickly moved forward to help him back up. “You’re welcome with us, Fifth Brother.”

“Fifth Brother, you’re one of us! There’s no need for this.”

“You’re our fifth brother.”

…

Lu Yin was stunned. Was there something wrong with them? Were those men complete idiots? Were they just playing around and messing with Hua Wu? No, judging by their eyes, it seemed like they fully believed everything they said. Why? Lu Yin did not believe that someone could trick people so easily with just a few words. This was something beyond even Kui Luo.

He watched as the five people chatted with each other as Hua Wu was warmly welcomed into the group. In the end, they actually did not even know what Hua Wu said. They had intended to attack and rob him, but instead, they had offered him gifts and seen him off safely. They never even once considered why they had first surrounded the young man.

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered, and he kept an eye on Hua Wu with his domain as he observed the four men left behind.

They should have forced Hua Wu to check the sourcebox array surrounding the exit gate for them, but reality had played out very differently. Something had gone wrong.

After Hua Wu was a good ways away, the four suddenly reacted. “Where’d that kid go?”

“What did we just do?”

“Bro, what’s the matter?”

“Get lost! Who’s your brother? We were scammed! Find that kid!”

“He’s gone! I can’t find him!”

“Bastard! He already left. We need to go find him!”

“Second Brother, help me!”

“Scram! Who’s your second brother?”

…

Lu Yin stepped out and disappeared to chase after Hua Wu.

Far away, Hua Wu clapped a hand to his chest. “Those idiots! Thankfully, none of them were strong enough, or else I wouldn’t have been able to trick them. Go be a strategist! Go get your Starsibyl and your Lu Yin! Go get your fifth brother!”

“Even if you curse someone, it’s not good to drag others into it. Besides, Lu Yin didn’t do anything to you.” A voice entered Hua Wu’s ear.

Hua Wu retorted, “I’ve already offended too many people! Even if Lu Yin were right here, I’d still curse him!”

Right at that moment, Hua Wu froze. He slowly turned around and saw a figure next to him. This figure had a dried up appearance, and it looked just like a dried up corpse.