Star Odyssey

Chapter 4062: The Same Person

What kind of person was Yong Heng? If he attacked, then it meant that he had already confirmed that his target was the God of Death himself.

For the God of Death to make preparations in this kind of situation, there was only one possible explanation: the God of Death had known about the plot between the Spirit Nidus and Yong Heng, and he had known that they would attack.

Lu Yuan and the others’ expressions changed yet again. This was impossible. If Blackie had known that Yong Heng and others would attack their master, how could he have not given a warning?

That period of time had been very chaotic. Wu Tian had personally witnessed the Origin Progenitor being attacked by the Boundary Guardians and sensed the gaze of fate, but he had not necessarily known that there was a connection to Yong Heng.

And at that time, Aeternus and humanity had already gone to war after the first Divine Commandment was issued.

Too many things had happened far too suddenly.

The First Mainland had shattered, Garan Zhiluo had disappeared, and Mister Mu had taken the Origin Progenitor away. The God of Death most likely had not been immediately informed.

Moreover, Yong Heng had attacked the God of Death right after the Origin Progenitor’s disappearance. The two events had occurred practically without pause. Even if someone had warned the God of Death right when the Origin Progenitor was attacked, he might not have had any time to prepare.

The only possibility was if the God of Death had already known something beforehand.

The Origin Progenitor had been attacked by the Boundary Guardians, who had actually been ordered to keep an eye on the Tianyuan by the Spirit Nidus. Among the Boundary Guardians, there was Tian Ci. Right, Yuan Qi.

Lu Yin was suddenly reminded of Yuan Qi. During that period, there had been another person from the Spirit Nidus present: Yuan Qi.

He immediately summoned the old man.

“I just remembered, Blackie did have some dealings with Xia Chan,” Lu Yuan suddenly said.

Wu Tian also recalled. “Are you talking about that battle?”

Lu Yuan nodded. “While Xia Chan was not one of the Three Realms and Six Daos, he was still considered a remarkable figure back then. He belonged to the Fifth Mainland, but he roamed everywhere. He and Blackie fought once, and Blackie was the one who broke his blade.”

Lu Yin was surprised. “The broken blade that was pinning the jiao down at Shenwu’s Sky?”

Lu Yuan grunted his affirmation. “Blackie rarely ever interacted with others. Apart from us, he had no other friends, which is why I just remembered that incident now. If we’re trying to understand where he learned the Nine Clones Secret Technique, he must have received it from Xia Chan, as that man created the technique.”

Chu Yi sighed in admiration. “When I first heard about the Nine Clones Secret Technique, I praised it and hoped that more people would be able to create similarly powerful battle techniques. I never thought that Blackie would have learned it as well. He was proud and arrogant. For him to choose to learn another’s technique, he must have truly valued it.”

Lu Yuan added, “Do you really believe that? There’s absolutely no way that Xia Chan willingly taught Blackie the Nine Clones Secret Technique.”

No one argued against that statement. They were all too familiar with Blackie’s personality. While the man might have given off the impression of being indifferent, the reality was that he had been more scheming than anyone else.

Garan Zhiluo said, “But he also wouldn’t have forced him.”

“He would have just stared Xia Chan down. If Xia Chan had refused to teach him, Blackie simply wouldn’t have left. Who could endure that?” Lu Yuan added.

Lu Yin grew puzzled. “Ancestor, how do you know that?”

Wu Tian and Chu Yi exchanged glances with Lu Yin, their faces clearly stating what anyone could have guessed.

Lu Yin was speechless. Just how did the Three Realms and Six Daos see the God of Death?

Yuan Qi made his way across the Tianyuan and to the Heavens Sect.

He was nervous, as he did not know why Lu Yin had suddenly summoned him.

The man was no longer free, but he also had no plans to try to flee. In the known cosmos, human civilization consisted of the Tianyuan, the Spirit Nidus, and the Nine Odysseys megaverses. The Spirit Nidus was fully under the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s control, and its resources were constantly plundered. Yuan Qi had no desire to return to that megaverse. Given his strength, there was no doubt in his mind that the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would target him, and he did not dare imagine the consequences of that.

As for the Tianyuan, unless he went to an empty parallel universe, everything was under the Heavens Sect’s influence.

There was no longer any meaning to trying to run away.

Not to mention, if he was recaptured, his fate would likely be grim.

There was yet another reason: the Nirvana Tree Path. Yuan Qi longed to receive that cultivation path’s true method.

What Lu Yin had universally shared was only the experience of the Nirvana Tree Path. Very few were able to truly cultivate that path. Yuan Qi wanted that, even if he knew that his chances were slim. Still, he had seen the illusory tree that Lu Yin had created. When that young man broke into the Immortal realm, his broad perspective of wanting to protect the entire human civilization might very well prompt him to share the true Nirvana Tree Path with Yuan Qi.

The old man’s current cultivation method gave him absolutely no hope of ever reaching the Immortal realm. His spirit seed could be stripped from him by the Nine Odysseys Megaverse at any moment, and that insecurity tormented him. He longed to step onto another path. Even if it would not allow him to achieve Immortality, he would at least be free from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s control.

All in all, the man felt bound to the Heavens Sect.

It was possible that Lu Yin felt the same way, which was why he had not kept Yuan Qi under a strict watch.

But why had he suddenly been summoned?

It did not take long for Yuan Qi to arrive at the mountain behind the Heavens Sect. There, he saw Lu Yin, the Three Realms and Six Daos, as well as the God of Death’s corpse.

Once Yuan Qi arrived, Lu Yin carefully focused on the man. There was no reaction when Yuan Qi saw the God of Death’s corpse, which caused Lu Yin’s eyes to flicker. Was it really possible that Yuan Qi was not connected to the man’s death?

“Yuan Qi, do you recognize this man?” Lu Yuan asked while pointing at the God of Death’s corpse.

Yuan Qi first bowed to Lu Yin and then looked back at the corpse. He shook his head. “I’ve never seen him before.”

“When did you first arrive in the Tianyuan Megaverse?” Wu Tian asked.

Yuan Qi considered the question, but he was unsure of how to answer.

“When you arrived in the Tianyuan, did the Heavens Sect still exist?” Hongyan Mavis changed the question.

Yuan Qi reflexively shook his head, but then he suddenly remembered something. “It... it still existed.”

Lu Yuan frowned. “The way you hesitated... you’re hiding something.”

Yuan Qi’s voice grew bitter. “I’m not hiding anything. I just reacted out of habit.

“The truth is that, while I’ve always claimed that it took me a very long time to travel to the Tianyuan, that’s not the truth.

“I made the journey even faster than if I had used manufactured springboards. The entire journey only took a few years.”

“How is that possible?” Lu Yuan and the others could not believe it.

Lu Yin lifted his gaze. “Yong Heng brought you.”

Yuan Qi nodded.

Lu Yin continued, “Yong Heng personally went to the Spirit Nidus to demand that the High Seraph send you to support Aeternus. That’s why the High Seraph created the lie about the Lesser Spirit Megaverse.”

“You already know about this, Lord Lu?” Yuan Qi had not intended to conceal the truth, but he had used the cover story that had been agreed upon with Yong Heng for so long. Naturally, that ancient agreement fell apart before Lu Yin.

Ancient God was puzzled by something. “Yong Heng personally went to the Spirit Nidus? How could he have made the journey that quickly? And if it hadn’t been quick, there’s no way a lengthy absence from the Tianyuan would have gone unnoticed. Our master might have appeared to be unconcerned with Yong Heng, but he was actually constantly watching him.”

Lu Yin understood. Yong Heng had used either Master Qing Cao or the hidden Obscura Immortal to travel through the Aevum Inch. He had quickly moved from the Tianyuan to the Spirit Nidus and then returned with Yuan Qi. The purpose had been to deal with Greater Sancte Mi Jin. That had been Master Qing Cao’s plan, and possibly Obscura’s plan as well.

No one had expected Greater Sancte Mi Jin to die with Qi Xu. If that outcome had been considered, then the fact that Yuan Qi had been sent to the Tianyuan had nothing to do with Obscura and had been Master Qing Cao’s scheme alone.

Whoever the true mastermind was, the fact was that Yong Heng and Yuan Qi had traveled through the Aevum Inch and back to the Tianyuan in only a few years. To keep that matter a secret, Yuan Qi had not revealed himself right after arriving. Instead, he had waited for the war of the first Divine Commandment to finish and the Heavens Sect to be destroyed. That was when he had appeared at the Immemorial Citadel, supporting Aeternus.

He had actually arrived in the Tianyuan shortly after the Origin Progenitor’s ambush by the Boundary Guardians. This new understanding of the timeline indicated that there had certainly been time for Yuan Qi to meet with the God of Death.

Lu Yin released his Karmic Dao again, merging it with the Tianyuan’s karma and then leveraging the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm. There was no need for further questions when he could simply use karma to learn what he wished.

There were many details that Yuan Qi himself was ignorant about.

Lu Yin had already formed a vague conjecture.

A spiral of karma pierced through Yuan Qi, using the God of Death’s face as the target of Lu Yin’s search as Karmic Lines were released and collided.

Multiple Karmic Lines emerged and collided, simultaneously revealing many scenes of the past.

Lu Yin watched the scenes play out, one after another. Karma was constantly consumed, but it was the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm’s karma that was being depleted. If he were relying solely on his own Karmic Dao, it would have been exhausted long ago.

After all, Yuan Qi was a Dukkhan.

The more of the past that Lu Yin saw, the more karma that was consumed.

Still, the cost was nothing compared to the cost of erecting the karmic walls or when Lu Yin had woven the Immortal monster’s karma.

He had stopped bothering to consider how he would explain things to Greater Sancte Green Lotus. So much of the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm’s karma had been consumed that Lu Yin had become numb to the expenditure.

Yuan Qi’s past flashed by in fragments as the Karmic Lines collided. Lu Yin continued to stare, his mind not only on the God of Death, but also on Greater Sancte Mi Jin.

Who could have imagined that a single bit of gossip that Zhan Yan had spilled in order to save his own life would be connected to Greater Sancte Mi Jin’s death?

Karma threaded back and forth. Yuan Qi stood stiff, not daring to move. He knew that he might have gotten caught up in something momentous.

There were many things that he did not know about himself, and that could only mean that some other mind had taken control of his body at some point in time.

Knowing that was a stifling feeling, though there was absolutely no way for Yuan Qi to avoid it.

For the moment, all he could do was submit to whatever came to him.

The sensation of having karma pierce through him was also distinctly unpleasant.

After half a day passed, Lu Yin’s eyes flared at a particularly incredible scene. The outline of another person had appeared behind Yuan Qi and merged with him. If Lu Yin was not wrong, that image was of Greater Sancte Mi Jin, but what shocked Lu Yin the most was the fact that Greater Sancte Mi Jin was actually... Progenitor Hui.

Progenitor Hui?

Lu Yin stared on, dumbfounded.

Lu Yuan and the others were also stunned. “Hui Wen?”

“Hui Wen?”

This revelation was too abrupt. Even such powerful experts were left stupefied.

Progenitor Hui... Progenitor Hui... Was Greater Sancte Mi Jin actually Progenitor Hui?

Impossible.

Lu Yin continued to stare as more Karmic Lines collided with each other. Finally, another familiar face appeared in the resulting scenes: the God of Death. As expected, Yuan Qi had interacted with the God of Death, though Yuan Qi himself had not known about that interaction. Greater Sancte Mi Jin had been the one to make contact.

The fact that God of Death had always been in the Tianyuan meant that Yuan Qi could have only encountered the man and formed a karmic connection with him after arriving in the Tianyuan.

At the same time, Master Qing Cao also appeared in the scenes of the past.

The Karmic Lines continued to collide in ever greater numbers. The number of karmic connections that Yuan Qi possessed was unimaginable.

The most difficult to accept was that he had a connection to Progenitor Hui.

Progenitor Hui had been Greater Sancte Mi Jin, and Greater Sancte Mi Jin had been Progenitor Hui. That was something that Lu Yin had never even considered, but it was not hard to explain. Progenitor Hui might have come from the manifested thought that Greater Sancte Mi Jin had left behind in the Tianyuan.

It was difficult for an Immortal to truly die. A portion of Greater Sancte Mi Jin’s manifested thought had merged with Yuan Qi and traveled to the Tianyuan. While the Immortal’s main body had perished while fighting against Qi Xu, the fact that a portion of his manifested thought had been taken away meant that the fragment would not fade away easily. That had given rise to Progenitor Hui, or at least influenced the man enough that Progenitor Hui had possessed Greater Sancte Mi Jin’s appearance and even inherited his intellect.

Progenitor Hui’s schemes had spanned eons, which was remarkably similar to what Greater Sancte Mi Jin had done for the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Additionally, Progenitor Hui had also excelled in cultivating manifested thought.