Star Odyssey

Chapter 4439: The Master's Confidence

Although the location of the Soft Megaverse creature’s fragment was some distance away from the Trio, it was still far closer to the Trio than Lu Yin’s current location. If Joy City headed towards the fragment’s location, there was a chance that it would run into the Trio.

Lu Yin pondered for a moment and then suddenly looked in another direction. That was where the fishing civilization known as the Divine Realm lay. It seemed to be even closer to Joy City.

He vanished, teleporting away. He needed to first scout the route. If only he had a fully mapped star chart of the Aevum Inch. He was only able to scout like this because he could teleport. Other creatures lacked the ability to do so. Scout? They could only dream. It was truly an incredible stroke of luck that he had managed to obtain the innate gift of teleportation at all.

After some time, Lu Yin saw the Divine Realm. He used his Mirrorlight Art to observe things and judged this place to be about fifty years’ travel from his target.

He had received the coordinates of the Divine Realm from Obscura, but those coordinates had been calculated with the Trio as its starting point. The location of the megaverse that Joy City had destroyed earlier could not be accurately aligned to the coordinates that Lu Yin had, which was why he needed to scout out a route.

Now, he had roughly succeeded. Joy City was about 1,300 years’ travel away from the Trio and only 800 years’ travel away from the Divine Realm.

It was closer to the Divine Realm fishing civilization.

On top of that, the Death Megaverse’s Abyss was moving in a direction that was in the relative direction of the Divine Realm. Since it wasn’t directly head on, there was a location where the distance between the two was minimized.

Lu Yin calculated that point and then teleported around to search for the right location. He wanted to lure Joy City towards the Divine Realm.

His previous attempt to lure the technological fishing civilization to the Divine Realm had failed, but that was because the technological civilization had already fixed its sights on the Trio and had been specifically targeting humanity.

Lu Yin’s goal this time was to lure the Death Megaverse away before it even approached.

Standing in outer space, Lu Yin released his inner universe. The star of Stillness spun as he raised an arm up. He held his scythe out to the side and then used Extremes Must Be Reversed to cause the absolute darkness of Stillness to surge out wildly. He had already locked onto a specific direction, and he quickly released a slash.

The power of Stillness became a streak of darkness that sliced into the distance. At this moment, he was launching his Stillness from the Divine Realm’s direction. Given Lu Yin's strength, his slash would only dissipate after traveling a bit more than what an ordinary Immortal could traverse in ten years. Of course, that did not mean that the attack itself could target something at that distance, merely that it covered that distance. Additionally, that distance would bring it within a fifty years’ travel distance of Joy City. Lu Yin did not know if Withered Requiem could detect something at that distance, but if they could, they would be able to trace the Stillness that Lu Yin had left behind and move towards the Divine Realm. This might be enough to lure the Death Megaverse to the Divine Realm.

Every time Lu Yin observed Joy City, he had done so from a distance of about fifty years’ travel away, and Joy City had never detected him. That was why he had released his slash from that specific distance.

Things now depended on how far away Withered Requiem could detect attacks.

After unleashing his attack, Lu Yin teleported straight back to the Trio. As soon as Withered Requiem detected the slash of Stillness, they would inevitably expand their senses, and Lu Yin had no desire to be discovered.

As soon as he returned to the Trio, he ordered people to find highly accomplished musicians and send them to the Mirari Realm so that he could study music.

His order left countless people dumbfounded. Lu Yin wanted to learn... music?

On the mountain behind the Heavens Sect, Long Xi poured Lu Yin a cup of tea while giving him an odd look. He coughed. “Don't look at me like that. I'm just developing a new hobby.”

“No more closed-door cultivation?” Long Xi asked, blinking.

“For now.”

Long Xi asked nothing further and simply left.

Not long afterward, Mister Mu arrived. As soon as he did, he took out his wooden flute. He spun it once with great flair and asked, “You want to learn music?”

Lu Yin looked at the flute. “Yes.”

“There may not be much that I can teach you, but I am rather skilled with the flute. Listen to this one piece of your master’s. It’s called ‘Parting Melody, Forgotten Years.’”

The sounds of flute notes filled the room, beautiful and very much in line with Lu Yin's tastes. He enjoyed it, but it was not suited for Joy City's style. He needed something more explosive, something filled with power, excitement, and killing intent. It had to be the kind of music that could make people cheer.

As for the flute music, it did not matter if Lu Yin enjoyed it personally.

Still, he could not crush his master's confidence. It had been a long time since Lu Yin had seen Mister Mu so confident about teaching him. “Master, let's study together in the Mirari Realm.”

“Alright. If you like, your master will teach you everything.”

“Thank you, Master.”

While watching Mister Mu enter the Mirari Realm, Lu Yin quickly reached out to Long Xi and told her to gather a group of people who were able to suit his requirements.

She gave a small smile as she watched Lu Yin enter the Mirari Realm in resignation. Her aqua-blue hair drifted in the wind, and she looked exceptionally beautiful.

Within the Mirari Realm, Lu Yin first studied the wooden flute under Mister Mu. In this particular discipline, Mister Mu enjoyed an overwhelming advantage while Lu Yin had little natural talent. At the very least, it could not compare to his talent for cultivation. This allowed Mister Mu to experience true confidence as Lu Yin’s master.

Only after he finally won Mister Mu's approval and mastered the flute did Lu Yin begin studying the explosive style of music from the masters that Long Xi had gathered.

This style of music was honestly difficult for Lu Yin to learn. After all, he had cultivated for thousands of years, and his mental state had become calm and composed. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done about it. He would certainly need this skill in the future, which gave him no choice but to learn.

In truth, experiencing different styles of music was also a part of life. Just because something did not suit his tastes did not mean that it was bad. Some music simply gave people a sense of power.

After leaving the Mirari Realm, another half year passed before Lu Yin teleported back to check on Joy City. He found that it was still moving along the same route as before. He could not tell if the slash of Stillness that he had released had failed to attract attention or if something else had happened. He ultimately just treated his first attempt as a failure and continued.

From then on, he tested things again and again, changing the angle, force, dissipation time, and other variables. He repeatedly unleashed the power of Stillness.

During this time, he also Possessed various skeletons inside Joy City, though none of the skeletons outside the castle had any idea what was happening inside it. No one knew what Withered Requiem was doing.

Finally, one day after five years had passed, Lu Yin Possessed a skeleton in Joy City and discovered that it had changed directions. It was now headed straight for the Divine Realm.

He had succeeded.

The power of Stillness had caught Withered Requiem's attention, and they had shifted course.

The technological fishing civilization had been targeting the Trio, so it had not been easy to divert them, but Joy City was different. It was searching for the fragment of the Soft Megaverse creature, but compared to that, the sudden appearance of such powerful Stillness in the Aevum Inch was clearly more important.

That was why Lu Yin had tested it again and again. He simply did not believe that the Death Megaverse would ignore Stillness appearing outside its knowledge. No matter where the power came from, they should want to investigate it.

The memories of the skeleton that he had Possessed did not include the reason why Joy City had altered direction, but that news had already spread outside the castle. It was said that Withered Requiem had left Joy City, and then their direction had changed. However, the reason for their change of direction had never been announced.

Listening to the surrounding rumors, Lu Yin looked up at the sky and hoped that the Divine Realm and the Death Megaverse would go to war. No matter who won or lost, he would benefit.

The Divine Realm had already spread to within 200 years’ travel distance of the Trio, and just one more step would bring them within range. That was not something that he wished to see.

In the Aevum Inch, aside from other humans, most species had to be treated as enemies. It was never wrong to think in that way.

“Friend, do you want to form a band? I have exceptional musical talent.”

The skeleton that Lu Yin had Possessed turned its head to see a skeletal fish in a nearby river. Is it really that same one again? This thing is really persistent.

Wait. Lu Yin’s location was a vast distance from where he had Possessed Zhou. It could not even be said to be part of the same river. Joy City was vast, to the point where it could contain countless stars. How had the fish reached this place?

“What are you doing here?”

“Huh? Have we met before?”

“You invited me before.”

The fish skeleton flicked its tail, splashing some water. “This is fate, my friend—no, my brother! This is fate. Want to form a band? I can tell at a glance that you're a talented musician.”

Lu Yin found the fish’s continuous invitations a bit strange. “I saw you invite Boss Zhou. Did they agree?”

The fish skeleton helplessly replied, “Not yet, but they will agree soon. Boss Zhou has already spoken to me.”

“Boss Zhou is so far from here. How did you get here?”

“I swam.”

Lu Yin just stared, and the fish skeleton continued to say, “I know every river in Joy City and even the sewers. Let me tell you a secret: I can even get into that castle!”

Lu Yin was surprised. “You can enter the castle?”

The fish skeleton sounded quite proud. “Of course!”

“Really? I don't believe you.”

“What's so unbelievable about that? As long as I can enter the castle, it’s enough. The sewers are still a passage.”

Seeing that Lu Yin said nothing, the skeletal fish said, “You still don't believe me? Want me to show you?”

“Can I go too?”

“You're small enough.”

Lu Yin looked at the body he had Possessed. It really was not a large skeleton. In fact, it was quite small, and it belonged to what had once been a reptilian creature. Come to think of it, the fish skeleton was not picky at all when it came to inviting others to form a band.

With a splash, Lu Yin jumped into the river.

“Hold on to me. I'll open your eyes.” Lu Yin grabbed hold of the fish skeleton and followed it along the riverbed in an unknown direction.

Why were they moving farther and farther from the castle?

Rivers crisscrossed everywhere, and beneath the riverbeds lay countless branching channels. The block-shaped mirebound artifact had truly become an entire world, complete with even sewers.

After twisting and turning through no one knew how many bends, they surfaced in a dim underground waterway.

“Brother, the castle is right above us. Don't make any noise. We'll just listen,” the fish skeleton whispered in warning.

Lu Yin looked upward. Right above his head was what looked to be a manhole cover. He could not understand why there were sewers in this place; the only inhabitants were skeletons, so there should be no wastewater from their daily lives.

However, he very quickly understood.

Thunderous music surged through the sewer, reverberating within it.

They were not sewers, but rather speakers.

Lu Yin glared at the fish skeleton, though of course, a skeleton was not really capable of displaying such an expression. “This isn't a sewer!”

The fish skeleton replied, “It's practically the same thing, just with an amplification function thrown in. This is the channel that the entire castle uses to project sound to the outside. They act like a network of lines. This is fine. Aside from the sound in here being a bit loud, there's nothing to worry about.”

“This is just a bit loud?” Lu Yin had only barely begun to speak when, with a boom, music exploded with enough force to nearly blow the skull off of the skeleton that he was Possessing.

At the same time, his heart dropped. He had heard this rhythm before from outside the castle. This was only the softest segment of the explosive song, and yet even this was enough to nearly shatter the skeleton that he had Possessed. In that case, what would happen during the intense parts of the song?

The moment that thought crossed his mind, the sound intensified even further, shattering the skeleton and scattering its bones all along the sewer.

At the same instant that the skeleton that Lu Yin had Possessed shattered, an annoyed voice arose from within the castle. “There's extra noise in the song. It's not tuned properly. Start over.”

Still in the sewer, the fish skeleton moved its tail helplessly. “See, Brother? I brought you here, but you just didn’t have the fate to appreciate the castle's music from up close. Forget it. I'll go back to inviting Boss Zhou.”

With that, it swam off through the sewers.