Star Odyssey

Chapter 4438: Found

When the song ended, countless skeletons cheered as if they had truly understood the music. Lu Yin pretended to cheer as well, raising his arms higher than anyone else even though the sound was so awful that it had grated on the ears.

"Friend, it seems that you understand it quite well. How about we exchange a few thoughts?" In the small river behind him, a skeletal fish appeared, opening and closing its mouth as it spoke to Lu Yin.

He looked over at it. "I don’t understand it. I just think it sounds good."

"You instinctively think that it sounds good? That works too. How about forming a band?"

"You’re a fish, and yet you also want to form a band?"

"Fish have dreams too."

"Go play somewhere else." Lu Yin ended the Possession, feeling rather frustrated. Why did he always Possess weak skeletons every time? Could he not find a stronger one so he could go inside the castle and look around?

Helpless, he shook his head. It was better to just keep trying.

Another half year passed before Lu Yin saw a very bright orb of light. It was brighter than any ball he had merged into so far. He grew excited and hurried over to it.

After spending more than a year trying to Possess creatures of the Death Megaverse, Lu Yin had finally understood that the brightness of each ball of light was not correlated to the strength of the being, but rather how much Stillness they contained. The more Stillness a skeleton had, the brighter its associated ball of light.

He had never considered such a thing before. After all, when he used stellular energy or consciousness to roll the die, he had always Possessed creatures that had cultivated their own power. Thus, their stellular energy or consciousness naturally represented their own strength. However, the skeletons of the Death Megaverse were different. They did not cultivate their Stillness; rather, it was bestowed upon them.

This meant that, even if a creature was a two-law Immortal, Lu Yin would still dare to Possess it without fear of being discovered because all of the skeletons only had Stillness that had been bestowed to them. The only exception was if he happened to Possess Withered Requiem themself. That would be troublesome, as Lu Yin would definitely be discovered.

Still, the amount of Stillness that a skeleton had could serve as a point of reference. The stronger the being, the more Stillness they would be granted.

Judging by the brightness of this orb of light, Lu Yin was certain that it absolutely had to represent an Immortal.

He grew excited. At last, he would be able to enter the castle and take a look around. He could finally learn about the strength of the forces under Withered Requiem’s command, and he should also be able to glean some understanding of the Death Megaverse’s situation.

His mind merged with the target’s body, and when he opened his eyes, a skeletal fish entered his view. It looked very familiar...

Isn’t that the same fish that I saw half a year ago?

Lu Yin was by a riverbank. The fish skeleton was pacing back and forth. When Lu Yin looked at it, it ingratiatingly asked, "Boss Zhou, have you thought it over? Let’s form a band. My musical talent is absolutely good enough, and we can definitely get into the castle."

Lu Yin silently stared at the fish. This really was quite the coincidence.

Memories started to pour in, and he understood the identity of the being he Possessed.

Zhou was an Immortal, and astonishingly, one who had reached that level via a direct breakthrough. Their strength was quite impressive, but their luck had been too poor. They had encountered Withered Requiem, and their skeleton had been granted life. Their flesh had been forcibly torn away as their bones betrayed their former self upon gaining new life.

Zhou was one of the rare enemies powerful enough to make Withered Requiem personally take action, as Zhou was a pinnacle one-law Immortal.

Lu Yin kept reviewing the battle that had occurred between Zhou and Withered Requiem, and he found that Withered Requiem had only used one move to grievously wound Zhou. That move was called Cosmic Erasure.

A single use of Cosmic Erasure had rendered Zhou completely unable to fight back. Once he was crippled, Bone Script had come next. Just two moves had been used, and a peak one-law Immortal had been utterly defeated.

Lu Yin kept reviewing memories, as the memories of an Immortal were truly invaluable.

Setting everything else aside, insights into breaking through to the Immortal realm alone were extraordinary.

However, Lu Yin quickly realized that something was wrong. He felt as though the world was spinning, as if the entire universe was being torn apart. He suddenly had a sense of cultivation deviation.

This was bad. Every individual had a unique understanding of the cosmos. He had not yet attained the insight needed to enter the Immortal realm, but he had just presumptuously tried to peer into another being’s insights behind their own breakthrough. Zhou’s insights were simply overwhelming Lu Yin’s own, which had caused him to nearly suffer a deviation.

Lu Yin quickly stopped examining Zhou’s memories.

He could not do this. Such a shortcut could not work. Another’s insights were their own. Every person and every creature had unique experiences, and forcing another’s insights upon himself would only cause a clash with his own, which would ultimately lead to total failure.

Lu Yin let out a breath. He had thought too simply. If success were really that easy, then in the future, he could simply focus on cultivating all kinds of powers and then use his die to Possess other Immortals to resonate with multiple laws, possibly even a dozen. Would he not become invincible by doing so?

"So Boss Zhou, think it over. I am the most suitable choice," the skeletal fish spoke again, clearly longing to enter the castle.

Lu Yin glanced at it. He had deliberately searched Zhou’s memories for anything related to the castle, but there was almost nothing. In fact, there was only an instinctive longing, as if that castle were truly the center of this world.

The situation was similar to how people instinctively sought a life of enjoyment rather than one of struggle. Although there were no memories regarding the castle’s interior, Lu Yin still managed to gain some understanding of this world. It was called Joy City, and it was part of a mirebound artifact.

That was right, the entire world was a mirebound artifact called Building Blocks.

Building Blocks consisted of pieces of wood that could be stacked into various shapes, much like a toy, but it was actually a mirebound artifact. It could freely change form and color, which was why, in the earlier battle, everything beneath the skeletons’ feet had become transparent. That was a function of the Building Blocks mirebound artifact.

"I do not understand music," Lu Yin replied through Zhou’s body.

Finally receiving a response from Zhou caused the fish skeleton to become extremely excited. "Boss Zhou, are you finally willing to talk to me? Great! Don’t worry, I’m a great musician, so you don’t need to know anything. You just need to join the band."

A band? Lu Yin continued searching through the Immortal’s memories. In a world that valued neither standard musical skill nor individual strength, why was this fish specifically targeting Zhou?

Lu Yin quickly found the answer. The music of this world was different from what ordinary people understood as music. Here, while music still required musical talent, there was also brutal music. Some beings could turn slaughter itself into music, manifesting the savage exhilaration of the law of the jungle, and they were also able to gain entry to the castle.

Did this skeletal fish want to take that same route? It did not seem likely.

Given its tiny body, one good roar would shatter it.

Having finally Possessed someone stronger, Lu Yin had no interest in dealing with the fish skeleton. He raised a hand, grabbed the fish skeleton, and flung it away.

He then proceeded to continue examining Zhou’s memories.

Not long later, he ended the Possession. This was not by choice, but rather because the Stillness converted from Activeness by Extremes Must Be Reversed had been exhausted.

Lu Yin had spent more time Possessing Zhou than any other creature from the Death Megaverse. Unfortunately, he still had not managed to learn much about the Death Megaverse itself. Lu Yin had spent most of the time reviewing the memories related to the battle between Zhou and Withered Requiem, especially their final move, Cosmic Erasure. That technique felt profoundly mysterious, to the point where not even Zhou understood how they had lost.

The technique appeared simple, but the more that Lu Yin examined it, the stranger it became. It seemed to contain countless variations, yet all of them also seemed to merge back into a single move.

Cosmic Erasure awakened Lu Yin’s longing for battle techniques. He very much wanted to learn it.

In outer space, Lu Yin raised a hand and tried to mimic Cosmic Erasure, but he could capture neither the form nor the spirit of the technique.

He returned to rolling his die. He refused to believe that he could not get into that castle.

He rolled the die again and again, occasionally Possessing creatures from the Death Megaverse, but not once did he manage to enter the castle. After some time, Lu Yin started to suspect that it might be possible that the castle blocked his die’s Possession ability.

That was not impossible. After all, Possession had failed before. Yong Heng’s seal had even managed to injure Lu Yin while he was moving through the mysterious dark space. Just because something was miraculous did not mean that it was invincible. Mirebound artifacts were all wondrous, but every mirebound artifact also had its own distinct function.

Going forward, it would become more and more normal for the die’s Possession ability to be countered or blocked because Lu Yin was encountering stronger and stronger beings.

If his suspicions were correct, there was really only one way for him to enter the castle. A band?

The first thing he thought of was the fish skeleton. Forget it, there’s no rush.

First, he needed to determine Joy City’s actual location.

Peering into the distance, he teleported. It was impossible to determine the location from inside Joy City. How could any of the skeletons that he had Possessed know where they were? Only by using the Mirrorlight Art from the outside could Lu Yin pinpoint the location.

His Mirrorlight Art allowed him to see as far as fifty years’ travel distance. Withered Requiem was indeed powerful, and their range of influence was likely similar to Hong Xia’s, which was more than 100 years’ travel distance. However, that was simply the skeleton’s attack range, and it did not correspond to the distance that they could see or passively perceive.

From a distance of fifty years’ travel, as long as Lu Yin was adequately prepared and actively concealed his aura, he would be safe.

He teleported again and again, and each time, he paused to peer into the distance with the Mirrorlight Art. He was not even certain if Joy City was in the direction that he was moving in. It all depended on luck.

He had already considered bringing Xiang Siyu out to rely on her luck, but no matter how good Xiang Siyu’s luck might be, it could not influence the Death Megaverse. The two were simply not on the same level. Lu Yin had once believed that luck had nothing to do with strength, but now that he felt that luck itself might be part of some great Dao, then perhaps it was not entirely unrelated to strength after all.

And besides, this was the Aevum Inch. If time had a main stream and various branches, then did luck also have a primary source and smaller channels?

While considering the possibilities, Lu Yin continued to teleport and search.

Three years later, just as Lu Yin was about to teleport away again, he suddenly looked over in a particular direction. With his Mirrorlight Art, he saw it. It was the megaverse that had been destroyed during the war he had witnessed earlier. Yes, the very same megaverse.

Lu Yin stared at a certain point outside the megaverse. It was the precise location where the civilization’s Immortal had been pierced through by their own bones amid the music, while countless more skeletons had torn free of their flesh and climbed onto Joy City.

Lu Yin had found the megaverse, which meant that Joy City was not far away. He remembered the direction that Joy City had started moving in after that battle ended.

Lu Yin peered into the distance with the Mirrorlight Art and found it.

Joy City was only a few years’ travel away from the megaverse. Fortunately, he had not teleported directly to the megaverse, as that would have brought him too close to Joy City.

Upon seeing the direction that Joy City was moving in, Lu Yin determined its coordinates. The location was more than 1,300 years’ travel away from the Trio, but with teleportation, it was not all that far.

Still, without a clear target, it would be very difficult for Joy City to discover the Trio.

Forget a distance of 1,300 years’ travel—even just a distance of 300 years would be enough to obscure a megaverse. The Crimson Starshade Megaverse was only 300 years’ travel away from the Trio while the Seven-Treasure Anuras’ home had been much closer, a mere fifty years’ distance.

Lu Yin observed Joy City’s movement. It was heading precisely in the direction where he had seen the fragment of the creature of the Soft Megaverse appear. The Death Megaverse was searching for that fragment.

That fragment of the Soft Megaverse creature was connected to Withered Requiem. Previously, when Lu Yin had examined the white magma’s past through karma, he had seen Withered Requiem.

Thus, if his guess was correct, the three black plates of armor that had once been in the possession of the Seal-Eater Megaverse Immortal were very likely in Joy City.