Star Odyssey

Chapter 4061: Traces Of Cultivation

All of a sudden, a flash of crimson appeared. The tornado of karma was broken, and the universe grew clear.

An invisible force drove Lu Yin back several steps. Startled, he looked up. It was that red sword once again. When he had comprehended his Inner Clarity Technique and sensed that someone was observing him, he had tried to track the observer. But right when he started, this red sword had appeared and severed the karma that he was following.

It had also helped the Boundary Guardians before.

A blue sword had appeared in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. In the Tianyuan, there was a red one.

There had to be a member of Obscura hiding within the Tianyuan.

Lu Yin’s expression fell. He stopped trying to search for his own karmic ties. He could not continue, as Obscura had already intervened.

Since he could not investigate himself, he would have to probe someone else.

Lu Yin withdrew the God of Death’s left arm from his cosmic ring.

Ever since he had first obtained this arm, he had wanted to find the God of Death. This desire had only grown stronger after he learned that the God of Death was the one who had reached down the River of Aeons to save Lu Yin.

The God of Death was connected to too much. Why had he saved Lu Yin during his last battle against Yong Heng, despite the risk of being slain by Yong Heng? How had the God of Death known about the floating coffins, which were a symbol of Obscura? During that ancient era, not even the Origin Progenitor had known about Obscura.

The God of Death had known about far too much.

The God of Death and Destiny had possibly been the two most enigmatic figures of the ancient Heavens Sect era.

Lu Yin had been incapable of investigating before, but at the moment...

A spiral of karma twined about his fingertips. Flicking it out, the karma pierced the God of Death’s left arm, using the arm’s karma as a guide to seek out the rest of the body, as well as any other related karma.

Karma coursed through the arm, but no images appeared. Even so, Lu Yin could sense a faint, elusive connection.

He stepped forward and vanished.

On a desolate planet, wind and sand raged all the way to the horizon.

Lu Yin settled onto the planet. There was a dark-red vortex that connected the planet’s sky and core, pulling up magma that then rained down in sheets.

It was impossible for any sort of ordinary life to survive in such a place, though it posed no obstacle to Lu Yin.

He strode through the red vortex, descending into the planet’s depths as he released his consciousness. He soon found his target.

The magma parted to reveal an ancient stone.

Layers peeled away from the stone until a body part appeared. It was the right hip joint. It was a piece of the God of Death’s body.

Lu Yin’s expression grew conflicted, but he stored the body part away and quickly continued.

Half a month later, Lu Yin returned to the Heavens Sect. He summoned Lu Yuan, as well as the rest of the Three Realms and Six Daos.

“Little Seven, what’s wrong? You called us all in such a hurry,” Lu Yuan asked.

Lu Yin replied, “I’ll explain after everyone’s arrived.”

Lu Yuan just took a seat and quietly waited.

Hongyan Mavis soon arrived, receiving a smile from Lu Yuan. She took a seat, not asking any questions. She simply waited.

Wu Tian arrived, and then Ancient God.

Garan Zhiluo and Chu Yi were not far behind.

Only Wilderness God remained absent.

“Yellowy is keeping the sequence strings suppressed, so he can’t come. Little Seven, just speak,” Lu Yuan said.

Lu Yin’s eyes swept over the gathered people. “Let’s go to the Immemorial Citadel. Wilderness God should hear this too.”

Lu Yuan grew more curious, as well as a bit uneasy after seeing Lu Yin’s grave expression. “Is it bad news?”

Suddenly, his expression changed. “Don’t tell me something happened to Master?”

The others stared at Lu Yin, also growing anxious.

Lu Yin said, “It’s not about the Origin Progenitor, but the God of Death. I’ve gathered Senior God of Death’s body.”

Everyone started at the news, and they stared blankly at Lu Yin. No one was sure of how they should feel.

They had never found the God of Death’s body, and thus they had clung to a hope that perhaps he had not died.

The Three Realms and Six Daos had been as close as siblings, and their bonds ran deep.

The fact that Lu Yin had found a body meant that the God of Death truly was dead.

This was not good news, and yet, it could almost be considered as such. At the very least, the God of Death could now be laid to rest intact.

Nothing was said as everyone silently followed Lu Yin to the Immemorial Citadel, and then beneath it. As Wilderness God watched on in confusion, Lu Yin brought out the God of Death’s remains.

Wilderness God looked over, his eyes narrowing. This...?

Everyone stared at the corpse with mixed feelings. They especially focused on the head and the all-too-familiar face.

Lu Yin sighed. He had found the head inside a meteorite.

It seemed that the God of Death’s body had been scattered far and wide, possibly deliberately. It may have been done to prevent Yong Heng from finding and using the body.

Lu Yuan and the others were stricken with grief, and Lu Yin felt the same heaviness.

The God of Death had saved his life, trading his own for Lu Yin’s. Lu Yin did not know why, but he did know that he owed the God of Death.

Throughout his life, Lu Yin had cheated death several times, thanks to the God of Death’s power.

While the God of Death had never appeared before Lu Yin in person, he had provided him with at least as much assistance as Mister Mu.

As he faced the corpse, Lu Yin slowly bowed. All he could do was allow the God of Death to rest with his body whole.

“I never thought that he would die so easily,” Garan Zhiluo lamented sadly.

Wu Tian shook his head. “Out of all of us, Blackie was the fiercest. Master said it himself: all of us could suppress our breakthroughs, but Blackie could barely manage to do so. His death energy was too domineering, too overflowing with slaughter.”

“Blackie needed to kill to vent his urge to break through. How did he die?” Hongyan Mavis murmured bitterly.

Ancient God clenched his fists as he stared. Dead. Truly dead.

Chu Yi sighed heavily. “I wish we could go back, back to when Master taught us and we messed around together. But those days will never return.”

Wilderness God continued to hold the sequence strings. He had grown to hate the God of Death for how he had suppressed and slaughtered countless astral beasts, but he had never been able to sever the bond that they had formed over so many years.

They had cultivated together, teased the Divine Eagle and Python Ancestor, plotted to beat Tai Hong, and roamed the stars together. Those had been truly joyful times.

Throughout a person’s life, how many people could they entrust their heart to?

“Blackie, may your next life be free of all that venom. Live well as a man.” Lu Yuan sighed, his eyes flushing.

Lu Yin stared blankly at the corpse. Senior... may your journey be peaceful.

Huh? Wait.

He stepped forward, staring at the right hand. “Something’s wrong.”

Everyone turned to look at him.

“Little Seven, what’s wrong?”

Lu Yin stared at the right palm. “This isn’t the God of Death.”

“Impossible. This is Blackie. We all know him,” Wu Tian refuted.

Lu Yuan and the others also reexamined the remains. “That’s Blackie.”

Garan Zhiluo opened the garments to expose the chest. “There’s a scar right here from when he sparred with me. I left it with my spear. This is Blackie.”

Chu Yi added, “This should be Blackie. We recognized him at first glance. There are traces of death energy within the body, and his looks never changed.”

“I agree. I once smashed his shoulder with my Champions’ Stage, leaving this scar right here. There’s no mistake,” Lu Yuan agreed.

Lu Yin gravely explained, “When Nutjob Lu attacked me with his Champions’ Stage, Senior God of Death saved me by reaching down through the River of Aeons. I remember that hand, and its back was covered with scars. I could draw them even now. This hand has none.”

“But all of the body’s other scars match our memories,” Wilderness God said. His eyes fell to one of the corpse’s calves. “That scar is from where I bit him once. I remember.”

Lu Yin frowned. “There’s definitely something wrong. The hand isn’t the same... Could it be that I wasn’t saved by the God of Death?”

Lu Yuan said, “He saved you. Nutjob Lu didn’t lie.”

“Little Seven, how did you find the body?” Wu Tian asked.

Lu Yin answered in a low voice, “Karma.”

Chu Yi held Lu Yin’s gaze. “If you used karma, then there shouldn’t be anything wrong. This body belongs to the same person, including the right hand. There’s nothing wrong.”

“But Little Seven wouldn’t have made such a mistake either,” Lu Yuan countered.

Lu Yin crouched down to study the corpse more closely. There was something off about it. The corpse either did not belong to the God of Death, or that man had not saved Lu Yin.

Lu Yuan and the others had already examined the corpse, and they were absolutely certain that it was the God of Death. The scars, the residual death energy, the familiar aura—at their realm of power, instincts were the most reliable sense.

Could Nutjob Lu have lied?

That was also impossible. He would not have lied when he told Lu Yin about what had happened. The man had been proud, even when facing certain death. He would have scorned any sort of deceit.

So where was the problem?

“I hope that Blackie isn’t dead. Little Seven, find the problem,” Garan Zhiluo said.

The others also turned their attention to Lu Yin. No matter how remote the possibility, they still held onto hope.

Lu Yin drew a deep breath and then took the corpse back to the Origin Universe.

Lu Yuan and the rest kept their distance as they waited for Lu Yin.

He released his Karmic Dao and connected it to the Tianyuan’s karma before sending a spiral of karma into the corpse. He wanted to see what karma the entire body would yield.

Strictly speaking, the dead did not possess karma, but Lu Yin was not trying to extract karma from the body, but rather use it as a basis to seek the powers that it had once contained. Lu Yuan and the others were intimately familiar with the God of Death’s power.

As the karma penetrated the corpse, a familiar power weighed on Lu Yin’s heart. It was death energy, the power created by the God of Death.

The expressions of Lu Yuan and the others all changed. There was no question that this was Blackie’s death energy. It was domineering, ruthless, and unlike anything like what others were able to cultivate.

Even Lu Yin’s own death energy was different from Blackie’s. Death energy from two people could feel entirely different.

Lu Yin’s death energy emanated control and suppression while Blackie’s was of slaughter and destruction. They were different sentiments born of the same power.

From the ancient era to the present, no one other than Lu Yin had ever truly cultivated death energy. That included even Blackie’s nominal disciples.

This corpse was Blackie’s.

When Lu Yuan and the others felt the power, their hearts dropped completely.

However, the very next instant, another sensation appeared, and it caused Lu Yin’s eyes to bulge. “The Nine Clones Secret Technique?”

No one had expected to detect traces of the Nine Clones Secret Technique on the God of Death’s corpse.

That was the Xia family’s secret technique; how could it be connected to the God of Death?

Could it be? Could this just be one of the God of Death’s clones?

Lu Yuan and the others glanced at each other, but surprisingly, none of them felt that such a thing was impossible. While none of them had ever heard of Blackie interacting with their era’s Xia Chan, that was not enough for them to deny the possibility. That was because Blackie had always been a schemer, and no one had ever known all of his actions.

After all, he was the one who had suggested ambushing Tai Hong.

What surprised everyone was that, if the corpse really was only a clone, then where was the real God of Death?

Yong Heng would not have killed the God of Death without cause. On top of that, the God of Death had supposedly died shortly after the Origin Progenitor was ambushed and Garan Zhiluo disappeared. That indicated that Yong Heng’s attack had been planned. The idea that the God of Death might have used a clone to take his place and deceive Yong Heng was simply unbelievable.

That was because it meant that the God of Death had made preparations in advance.

But how could he have known to make such preparations?