Star Odyssey

Chapter 2418: Decision

There were only two possible explanations for why Nutjob Lu had done nothing during the attack on the Perennial World. The first was that the person that Lu Yin had seen speak to Ancient God in the past was not actually Nutjob Lu and that Lu Yin was mistaken about who he had seen. That would mean that Nutjob Lu was not a Redback and that he merely wanted to kill everyone from the Lu family. The second option was that Nutjob Lu was involved in some other, even more important plan, to the point where Ancient God preferred to risk losing Undying God rather than expose Nutjob Lu as a Redback.

The second possibility absolutely terrified Lu Yin.

After spending half a day mulling over the possibilities, Lu Yin decided to first focus on healing his injuries. After that, he would pay the four ruling powers a visit and also have a showdown with Nutjob Lu. Removing this thorn from his side was imperative.

Whiteless God, who had been hiding in the Fifth Mainland, had already been dealt with. While Lu Yin still did not know her identity or even have a list of possible ones, it was enough to know that the Skygod’s Semi-Progenitor avatar had been neutralized and that she could no longer cause any trouble for the Fifth Mainland. Lu Yin was also confident that, with careful scrutiny of those close to him, he would eventually discover Whiteless God's hidden identity. It was time to deal with Nutjob Lu.

His die slowly came to a stop, showing six pips: Possession. The result startled Lu Yin.

His consciousness quickly arrived in the familiar dark space. A blindingly bright sphere of light overshadowed everything else nearby. This orb also seemed to somehow pull at Lu Yin, drawing him closer. He subconsciously understood that this ball of light represented someone that he had Possessed before.

This brightness of the sphere indicated that the person had the strength of a Semi-Progenitor, and Lu Yin had only ever Possessed one Semi-Progenitor before: Marquis Lan, one of Aeternus’s Twelve Marquises. Lu Yin was shocked to see the same ball of light yet again.

Lu Yin immediately rushed over. Possessing Marquis Lan had been an invaluable experience, and Lu Yin wanted to learn more details about Aeternus’s plans, as well as access the marquis’s memories regarding parallel universes.

Discovering the enormous scarlet eye had confirmed Lu Yin’s assumption that Aeternus was spread across at least a few parallel universes, as well as the fact that they were fighting wars in those places. When Lu Yin had first accessed Marquis Lan’s memories, he had caught glimpses of those parallel universes. This Possession could let him gain an even clearer understanding of those matters.

His eyes opened, and he looked down to see that he was in a body that was absolutely covered in injuries. These wounds had been dealt to the marquis by Kuang Yan. Marquis Lan and Marquis Midday had attacked the fifth array base during the massive assault on the rear battlefield.

Kuang Yan truly lived up to his reputation as a madman. He had completely disregarded his own safety to exchange blows with Marquis Lan during the battle. By cooperating with Semi-Progenitors Elder Qiu and Ru Ying, the three humans had left Marquis Lan in a miserable state. Marquis Midday also had not gotten away unscathed. Still, the final outcome was that Kuang Yan’s side had suffered the worse exchange.

Marquis Lan’s worst injuries were the ones that Hen Xin had inflicted. The ancient Semi-Progenitor had used a combination of both Wielder-realm battle force and his domain to not only suppress the Twelve Marquises who had attacked the fourth array base, but also to deal serious damage to them from a vast distance. He had proven himself to be one of the Aeternals’ most difficult opponents.

Lu Yin examined Marquis Lan’s memories of Hen Xin’s attacks. It was possible that the man was not too far from becoming a Progenitor.

As Marquis Lan’s memories continued rushing into his mind, Lu Yin’s expression changed. The moment the Seven Skygods retreated from the Dominion Realm, they had completely left the known universe. At the moment, only one Progenitor from Aeternus remained on the Perennial World’s rear battlefield, or rather, in the entire known universe. That Progenitor was Yi Ren.

This was the first time that Aeternus had left such a small presence behind in the known universe, even when considering the time when the Perennial World had first been established.

Marquis Lan had not been far from the Seven Skygods when they had left. In fact, he had seen them hurry away with his own eyes.

“Yi Ren, you will stay here.”

Yi Ren had been taken aback. “Ancient God, are you going to leave me here by myself?”

“Scared?” Forgotten Ruins God snickered.

Blackless God spoke up in a cold voice. “Relax. Ever since the Lu family disappeared from this place, the people of this universe have never once stepped foot onto this land, much less pushed into its depths. You only need to remain here and protect the cosmic door. We cannot waste any more time. We need to leave now.”

“No one has the courage to come all the way out here. Just don’t chase after death yourself, and you’ll be fine, haha.” Forgotten Ruins God laughed as she stepped into the giant scarlet eye.

A few Progenitor-level corpse kings also disappeared.

Undying God said something else before leaving. “Lu Xiaoxuan has the ability to control others when he is close to them. I understand that two of your disciples have fallen into his hands. Don’t be manipulated by him.”

Yi Ren looked around at the suddenly empty surroundings. Only the Twelve Marquises remained. There was not a single other Progenitor to be seen.

Sighing from his helplessness, Yi Ren accepted his fate to remain behind.

This memory of Marquis Lan’s was particularly vivid. From his other memories, the universe that Lu Yin knew about was Aeternus’s main battleground. Most of the Seven Skygods themselves had been born in this universe with many of them coming from the Heavens Sect era. At that time, Aeternus had barely had a foothold in the known universe. Only after the Heavens Sect era had ended and the Daosource Sect era began did humanity start to lose to the Aeternals. However, the most recent battle had resulted in the humans coming out on top.

After scanning that particular memory, Lu Yin’s plans for the future solidified. He wasted no time examining any of Marquis Lan’s other memories.

Lu Yin’s consciousness returned to the dark space before entering his own body once again. His eyes opened, a trace of excitement dancing in his pupils. The departure of Aeternus’s powerhouses was an opportunity for humanity.

Marquis Lan's memories had revealed to Lu Yin that, during the Lu family's peak, the furthest that humanity had ever pierced into Aeternus's territory was the New World. At least one of the Seven Skygods had always remained on guard there, accompanied by several Progenitor-level corpse kings. Despite the Lu family's strength, Aeternus had always maintained a formidable presence in the known universe. However, at the current moment, Aeternus’s forces were the weakest that they had ever been since the Heavens Sect era.

They were overconfident and were absolutely certain that humanity would never be able to push deep into their territory.

This confidence was well-founded since the four ruling powers, Mu Xie, Progenitor Smoke, and the other human Progenitors had no plans to launch any sort of counterattack on Aeternus. Their focus was entirely on maintaining the safety of the Perennial World, particularly because the Mother Tree’s trunk had cracked open. The presence of that fissure left all of the human Progenitors extremely uneasy.

It was no wonder why True God had purposely damaged the Mother Tree. It might have actually all been part of Aeternus's plan to allow them to leave the Perennial World without worrying about about any sort of counterattack.

Unfortunately, they had never once considered the possibility that Lu Yin could learn their plans. The fate of Aeternus in the known universe had already been sealed.

The die was rolled once more. Everything had to wait until after Lu Yin’s injuries were healed. He was still in a withered state from Extremes Must Be Reversed.

Three pips: Enhance. Lu Yin shook his head as he looked at the two light screens. He rolled again. Four pips: Timestop.

He let out a sigh of relief and entered his Timestop Space.

While in the Timestop Space, Lu Yin intended to not only heal his injuries, but more importantly, Disassemble all of Progenitor Guai’s weapons with Blackhole Disassembly.

While recovering from his injuries, Lu Yin continued to roll his die.

Almost a full year passed within the Timestop Space, but only a second passed in the outside world. Lu Yin rose to his feet, left the metal box, and stepped atop the jiao. “To the Perennial World.”

With a roar, the jiao’s massive body shot out from the Astral River and headed towards the Technocracy.

The war between Aeternus and humanity spanned countless years. It had first started escalating during the Daosource Sect era, and it had continued to grow to the present day. Over the years, humanity had gained a good understanding of Aeternus, though Aeternus had gained an even greater understanding of humanity.

The Seven Skygods were absolutely certain that the Perennial World would never dare to invade the New World, and they were right to be confident.

Among the four ruling powers, Mu Xie, Progenitor Smoke, as well as the Progenitors from the Nong and Liu families, not one of the human Progenitors had any thoughts of invading the New World. In fact, the same was true of every last cultivator in the entire Perennial World. Everyone’s thoughts were focused solely on defending the rear battlefield. The crack in the Mother Tree made nearly everyone panic.

Riding atop the jiao, Lu Yin arrived in the Perennial World. He quickly made his way to the Wang family’s floating continent.

The jiao’s massive shadow shrouded the Wang family’s continent, frightening many of the Wang family’s cultivators.

Wang Zheng clenched his fists. “Lu Xiaoxuan, what are you doing here?”

He did not believe that Lu Yin would actually dare to attack the Wang family at the moment, but the jiao seemed to have a rather aggressive attitude.

Lu Yin stared down at the Wang family’s continent for a moment, and then looked up at the Dominion Realm. “Everyone, come down here. We need to talk. There’s something important that I need to tell you.”

“Lu Xiaoxuan, what brings you to visit our Wang family?” Wang Fan asked without even showing himself.

Lu Yin’s brow furrowed as he asked, "Are all of you so afraid after being beaten up by the Seven Skygods that you won't even leave the Dominion Realm?"

“How presumptuous! Lu Xiaoxuan, no matter what the case may be, we are still your seniors!” Xia Shenji shouted.

A smile spread across Lu Yin’s face. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to burn some incense for you in the future.”

“That’s enough. Lu Xiaoxuan, what exactly has brought you here? The Aeternals are not any less intelligent than humans, and it is possible that their retreat is nothing more than a show that they are putting on to make us relax our guard,” Bai Wangyuan said.

Lu Yin composed himself before transmitting his voice to only the few Progenitors who were in the Dominion Realm. “I want to invade the New World.”

Bai Wangyuan and the others were all stunned. “What did you just say?”

“I want to invade the New World,” Lu Yin repeated.

Xia Shenji shook his head and let out a cold laugh. "Lu Xiaoxuan, do you truly believe that Aeternus is so foolish? We're currently on high alert to prevent them from exploiting any temporary peace to launch another attack while our guard is lowered. Despite that, you want to walk straight into their trap?"

“Right now, Aeternus is at war with more than one universe, which I’m sure you already know,” Lu Yin replied.

Bai Wangyuan and the others no longer interrupted.

“I will not say how, but I am absolutely certain that not a single one of the Seven Skygods in this universe at this moment. This is an unbelievably rare opportunity, and if we don’t seize this chance to destroy the scarlet eye in the New World, we will never obtain such an opportunity again after Aeternus settles their battles in the other universes,” Lu Yin said.

“You are underestimating them.”

“I am not underestimating them. Rather, all of you are overestimating them. When the Lu family was still here, Aeternus always left at least two Skygods to stand guard over the Perennial World, but the Lu family was still able to maintain a foothold in the New World. If Aeternus truly had the strength to completely suppress this universe, and the Seven Skygods are so powerful that no one can match them, that would have never happened. I explained this to you before when I decided to open the entrance to the Starfall Sea, Bai Wangyuan. Have you already forgotten?”

“Given the crack in the Mother Tree, Ceaseless Impetus may start to exhibit malfunctions if another attack is launched against us.”

“All the more reason to resolve the threat of Aeternus in our universe once and for all.”

Wang Fan found the conversation to be rather odd. “Lu Xiaoxuan, You keep referring to ‘this universe.’ Exactly what do you know?”

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered, “I know just as much as any of you, if not more.”

Bai Wangyuan and the other Progenitors from the four ruling powers exchanged glances.

Progenitor Smoke transmitted her voice over. “You guys need to explain what’s going on. Even I don’t know what you’re talking about, so what kind of joke is this? Little Lu, what are all of you talking about?”

Lu Yin found this question extremely strange. “Senior, how can you not know about parallel universes?”

“What do I need to know about them?” Progenitor Smoke replied.

Lu Yin did not understand. Progenitor Smoke was the master of one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, so how could she not know that Aeternus was fighting wars in multiple parallel universes? If she did not know about this, then it meant that even the masters of the Nine Mountains and Eights Seas during the Daosource Sect era might not have known about it either. In that case, how did Bai Wangyuan and the others learn about the matter? Also, had the people during the Heavens Sect era known about it?

Lu Yin remained silent, waiting for Bai Wangyuan and the other Progenitors to answer Progenitor Smoke.

Bai Wangyuan transmitted his voice over. “There are infinite parallel universes. Anyone can travel to a parallel universe by chance, even Hunters. However, the chances of returning to one’s original universe are less than one in a billion. Only Aeternus possesses the coordinates that allow them to access numerous parallel universes. Right now, they are at war in many parallel universes. We are just one of many.”

Regardless of an individual’s strength, it was impossible to travel between two different parallel universes without the ability to determine the coordinates of each universe. In some parallel universes, the same person could be alive in two different universes. The entire concept was inexplicable, and it was possible that only the creator of all the universes could fully understand this phenomena.