Star Odyssey

Chapter 4136: Hui

Mu Zhu took a deep breath, exhaled, and handed the stone to Lu Yin with a grave expression. “The color silver.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered.

Mu Zhu continued, “I will never forget that overwhelming silver. They were known as the Hui-Silver Sky Army.

“Cultivators from every age of our megaverse who could still fight did so. Some even returned after being gone for eons. The full strength of an entire megaverse was united. Our power at that time was in no way inferior to the current Tianyuan, and it even rivaled the Spirit Nidus at its peak.

“We won.” Mu Zhu looked at Lu Yin, a bitter smile on her face. “And yet we ultimately lost, to a single Immortal.”

Lu Yin had already known this much. Mister Mu had shared how his megaverse had defeated a formidable enemy. The Tianyuan had once referred to the being behind the Boundary Guardians as “Heaven.” Mister Mu’s native megaverse had referred to their own greatest enemy by the same name. That “Heaven” had been the one to shatter Mister Mu’s megaverse.

That was because any being that could be called “Heaven” was an Immortal.

Mu Zhu’s voice grew aged and dry. “We paid a terrible price, sacrificing several future generations to defeat that Hui-Silver Sky Army. We utterly erased it. But when an Immortal appeared, even with Master’s greatest efforts, we still fell.”

“What was the name of that Immortal?” Lu Yin asked.

Mu Zhu’s eyes trembled. She ground her teeth and forced out a single word: “Hui.

“Hui, the master of the Hui-Silver Sky Army.”

“What did it look like?” Awe Gate asked.

Mu Zhu hesitated, unsure of how to describe the creature. “It has no fixed form. It could take the form of a human or a beast, becoming any creature that we could think of, or even a puddle. What stuck with us was the silver color. It’s a color that I will never be able to forget.”

Lu Yin arched a brow. “Obscura.”

Greater Sancte Awe Gate and the others were thinking the same.

“Transforming a civilization’s perception of a color... That’s a tactic of Obscura. But Obscura usually manipulates civilizations to fight against other civilizations. Why would Hui have personally intervened?”

Ku Deng replied, “So far, Qi Xu and Lan Meng were solitary individuals. On the other hand, Hui commands this Hui-Silver Sky Army. That suggests that the army itself is the civilization that the Immortal uses to destroy its targets.”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower nodded. “That’s certainly possible. It could be sending out wolves to devour a tiger. The wolves might be an independent civilization, or one that is controlled like the one that belongs to Hui.”

Seeing that Greater Sancte Green Lotus was lost in thought, Lu Yin asked, “Senior, did you think of something?”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus looked at Mu Zhu and then drew an image in the air. It was just a blob of liquid. “Was it this?”

Mu Zhu’s expression tightened. “Yes! That’s it. Have you seen it before?”

Lu Yin and the others stared at Greater Sancte Green Lotus.

The Immortal’s expression turned grave. “I have not seen it personally, but I have read records about it. Obscura is an ancient enemy of our human civilization, having always sought our destruction. Qi Xu was only one member of Obscura sent to destroy us. There were others before her, and from our conflicts with them, there are even records describing this creature.

“Lu Yin, you remember Che, don’t you? Hui resembles Che, and is not hostile to us.”

Lu Yin frowned. “Both our megaverses and Master’s are human civilizations. Why wouldn’t it be our enemy?”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus replied, “Obscura’s understanding of the Aevum Inch far exceeds ours. There are carvings of humans on their gates, which indicates that they have destroyed human civilizations before. In fact, those carvings might even be of your Master’s megaverse.”

“Where is it?” Mu Zhu growled through gritted teeth, hatred filling her eyes.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus looked at her. “We cannot locate it, and even if we could, there is little that we could do. Hui is an Immortal, and we already have enough enemies. Honestly, I would prefer that you not travel through the Aevum Inch. Antagonizing this Hui would only make things worse for us.”

Lu Yin said, “Hui knows about the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, right?”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower interjected, “Of course they do.”

“But dealing with the Nine Odysseys is Lan Meng’s task. Just like Che, Hui is unlikely to get involved,” Lu Yin continued.

Ku Deng shook his head. “But if Hui is given a reason to intervene, everything changes.”

Silence fell over the group.

Mu Zhu eventually spoke up, “Junior Brother, leave this matter alone for now. Wait until Master emerges. He is breaking through to the Immortal realm, and if he succeeds, we can pursue vengeance. It will not be too late then.”

Lu Yin met Mu Zhu’s gaze. “Right now, I can’t avenge anyone even if I want to, but I at least need to know who is searching for Master. Otherwise, when he emerges, how can I face him with no knowledge whatsoever? Even if Mister Mu were not my master, the kindness that he has shown to the Tianyuan can never be repaid.”

Mu Zhu wanted to say something, but Lu Yin interrupted her, saying, “I will go through the Aevum Inch, but I will not do anything rash. If possible, I will look into this for Master.”

He then turned to smile at Greater Sancte Green Lotus. “Since you brought out that stone, Senior, you must have considered a number of possibilities. Did it occur to you that this might draw out Mister Mu’s enemies? Or did you not expect Obscura to be involved?

“My master is powerful, and his enemies are also Immortals. Whether this is related to Obscura or not, another Immortal enemy would be bad for us right now. It was unwise to bring this up and this moment, and yet you honestly shared everything with me. I would like to know why.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus exchanged a look with Greater Sancte Blood Tower before turning to Lu Yin. “It’s true that we don’t want to make enemies with any new Immortals, but without this, you would not be willing to travel through the Aevum Inch right now. There are both pros and cons to this.”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower said, “It was my idea to use this matter to push you into the Aevum Inch. Senior Green Lotus said that, even without it, you would still go if you were told everything, but I was worried that there might be some accident, so I did things this way.”

“Why?” Lu Yin pressed.

Greater Sancte Blood Tower’s face turned serious. “To share coordinates.”

“The Tricolor Skyborne,” Lu Yin instantly replied.

Greater Sancte Blood Tower looked surprised. “You made the connection that quickly? Have you already thought of that too?”

Lu Yin did not deny it, as it had indeed occurred to him.

Every civilization in the cosmos was hiding, but the human civilization had already been exposed to several other civilizations. This left them vulnerable to being besieged at any moment. Either their enemies had to be completely eliminated, or that pressure had to be shared.

The Tricolor Skyborne were the best option. This was not because of the giant snails themselves, but because of the Seven-Treasures Astral Anuras.

The Seven-Treasures Astral Anuras’ Old Fourth had always been watching the Tricolor Skyborne. If the coordinates of the snails’ civilization were shared and a powerful civilization was drawn to them, the toads might be too preoccupied to cause trouble for humanity.

Lu Yin had considered such a plan, but he had kept silent. After all, the giant snails’ Immortal was around, and mishandling any situation related to its own species could create internal problems for human civilization.

It was a surprise to discover that both Greater Sancti Blood Tower and Green Lotus had also thought of using the Tricolor Skyborne.

It’s not just them. Lu Yin glanced at Greater Sancti Blood Tower Awe Gate and Ku Deng. There was no doubt that the two had also considered such a possibility.

In that case, had Kang Tian also realized it?

From the perspective of humanity, this was the best solution.

In that case, when Kang Tian had asked that human civilization help its species, it had not been talking about the future, but rather making a veiled plea to keep its civilization’s location a secret.

In hindsight, it became clear that Blood Tower’s display of power to cow the giant snail had also been part of the preparations. If and when Kang Tian discovered that the location of its civilization had been exposed by humanity, there was no way to predict its reaction. Cowing the snail had been an act of preemptive caution.

No one was foolish. Everyone had their own schemes.

“The Tricolor Skyborne have no kinship with us, and we’ve even fought against them before. If not for our strength, they would have exterminated all of humanity. Revealing their location places no moral burden on us. As for you, Mister Lu, you launched an expedition to the Spirit Nidus on behalf of the Tianyuan. We have all seen both your ruthless iron will and your mercy. We don’t know if your mercy exists only for humanity, or for all creatures. That is what worries us.” Greater Sancte Blood Tower looked at Lu Yin. “But rest assured, that stone is real. There really is something searching for your master, Mister Mu.”

Lu Yin looked at Greater Sancte Green Lotus. “Earlier, when you were testing me by mentioning a second civilization, you had already thought of this, didn’t you?”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus nodded. “Correct.”

Lu Yin smiled. “I have no objection to exposing the location of the Tricolor Skyborne. My human civilization has already destroyed many megaverses, so what mercy is there to speak of? It would be hypocrisy. I will go through the Aevum Inch.”

Greater Sancte Blood Tower breathed a sigh of relief.

Out of all of humanity, Lu Yin was the one who was best suited to traveling through the Aevum Inch. He possessed the strength of an Immortal yet was not one. That gave him the ability to stay alive.

Furthermore, Lu Yin was quite clever. He had led the Tianyuan, raising it up to its current level. Everything combined contributed to the Immortals’ trust placed on him.

Lu Yin turned to Mu Zhu. “Senior Sister, I’d like for you to come with me. If we do find any information related to Hui, you can help me analyze it.”

Mu Zhu nodded firmly. “Of course.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus sighed. “Mister Mu is fortunate to have disciples like the two of you. Additionally, the fact that he managed to wound Hui is incredible.”

Lu Yin also found that incredible. Hui was a member of Obscura, which meant that it was on par with Lan Meng. How had Mister Mu managed to injure it?

Lu Yin had faced Lan Meng himself and personally knew just how powerful that creature was.

He could not imagine how Mister Mu had managed to face such a powerful opponent and escape with his life while not being an Immortal himself. Not only that, but Mister Mu had also managed to wound Hui. According to Mu Zhu, it was also not a minor wound.

Mu Zhu looked at Lu Yin. “The ability of yours to merge with the Tianyuan, uniting with the will of the megaverse—Master is also capable of that.”

Lu Yin was stunned, as were Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the other human Immortals.

“Master is able to unite with the will of a megaverse?”

Mu Zhu nodded.

Lu Yin glanced at the others present. Isn’t that supposed to be a joke in the Aevum Inch? How are there suddenly two people who can do it?

Actually, how did Master do it?

Lu Yin was all too aware of just how difficult it was to unite with the will of a megaverse. Even if he was given another opportunity, he was not certain that he could succeed again. Success required more than just sacrificing for human civilization.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the other Immortals had sacrificed a great deal for the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, but none of them were able to unite with the will of their megaverse.

Success required not only sacrifice, but also the acknowledgment and recognition of all beings in the megaverse. It took not just strength, but also chance and fate. Put bluntly, one had to put on a performance that convinced an entire megaverse to accept them.

Of course, Lu Yin had not been performing. Everything that he had done for the Tianyuan had been done from the heart, though chance and timing had played a large part as well.

He had repeatedly stood at the forefront of the megaverse, rallying his civilization and rescuing people who had been oppressed by Aeternus.

Lu Yin had no idea how someone with Mister Mu’s personality had accomplished the same thing.