Star Odyssey

Chapter 645: The Third Soul Split

“Could you be one of those evil survivors from the Fifth Mainland?” Nong Zaitian suddenly spoke a thought aloud before vigilantly observing Lu Yin’s reaction.

Lu Yin rolled his eyes. “Have you seen someone as weak as me among the evil survivors from the Fifth Mainland?” 

Nong Zaitian’s eyes spun. “That’s true. Any evil survivor of the Fifth Mainland that shows up in the Daosource Sect would at least have the power of a Realmling. You’re too weak.” 

The two walked for a while, and then Nong Zaitian sighed. “Stop following me! You also saw that Blood Looney was chased away by that evil survivor from the Fifth Mainland. Now, there’s nowhere in the entire Daosource Sect that’s safe! I plan to hide, and I will continue to hide until my time expires.” 

“Me too,” Lu Yin replied.

Nong Zaitian blinked. “Then go look for a place to hide! What are you following me around for?”

“I don’t know the way,” Lu Yin said.

Nong Zaitian growled, “I don’t know, either, so stop following me!”

“The more people, the safer,” Lu Yin said again. His tone was rather casual as he spoke with Nong Zaitian. He had taken quite a fancy towards the youth’s hoe, as it was just too useful.

Nong Zaitian also knew what Lu Yin’s true target was, and although he was angry, he was left with no choice but to comply. He wanted to do something, but this fellow had been able to escape from the clutches of Blood Looney, which proved that he was in no way weak, and shockingly, it seemed like he had not been injured either. Nong Zaitian had no confidence to make a move against Lu Yin. 

After the two walked a certain distance, they found three corpses lying on the ground. Judging from the direction that the two had traveled in, it seemed that these three people had all died at the hands of Nightking Zhenwu. 

Nong Zaitian felt a little numb when he saw the corpses, and he softly said, “Bro, stop following me! How about we each just hide by ourselves?” 

“I don’t know the way.” 

“I’ve already said that I don’t either!” 

“The more, the safer.” 

“You f*cker!”

…

Suddenly, a spatial crack spread out over their heads, and Lu Yin grabbed Nong Zaitian and dodged away from the spreading crack. 

Nong Zaitian was scared out of his wits, and he patted his chest. “I almost died.”

Lu Yin patted the young man’s shoulder. “You owe me a life.” 

“If not for me being so pissed off, how could I have missed that crack?” Nong Zaitian bellowed. 

Lu Yin did not bother with him, and instead, he stared off into the distance with a solemn expression. He could see that there were more spatial cracks spreading toward them, as well as a hurricane sweeping across a region. His expression quickly changed. “Not good! Let’s go!”

With that, he turned around and headed back towards where they had just come from. However, Nong Zaitian had already furtively slipped onto his hoe. This bastard was even faster at escaping than Lu Yin himself. Still, it would be fine since Lu Yin had his secret technique. 

Nong Zaitian crashed to the ground with a thump once again, his position showing that he had just fallen flat on his face. 

“You idiot! I’ll kill you!” Nong Zaitian roared.

An immense pressure came from above the two youths, and he no longer hesitated to quickly pull out his second hoe, sit down, and make his escape. Still, he managed to find the time to glance back. Two figures were frantically fighting in the sky, and the sight of one of them caused Nong Zaitian to shudder. “Shang Rong? I’ll be damned.” 

Lu Yin was sitting on the second hoe, and he also looked back, as he had felt two powerful strengths clashing, though he did not know who they were. The two combatants were quickly drawing close to Lu Yin and Nong Zaitian, and Lu Yin could soon see that they were actually White Knight and Shang Rong. 

When he saw Shang Rong, Lu Yin felt a chill run down his spine. He had not forgotten about those cultivators who had directly vanished at Heaven’s Pit, and he felt that Shang Rong’s power was truly astounding. 

Bang! A loud noise was heard, and White Knight was blasted in Lu Yin’s direction, the spear slipping from his grasp. Lu Yin dodged aside, but Nong Zaitian was not quite so lucky and was swept away by the shockwave of White Knight crashing into the ground. He fainted shortly after activating his hoe in an attempt to slip away. 

Without Nong Zaitian, Lu Yin did not know how to use the hoe in his possession. Thus, he could only carry it and run on his own two feet. 

Without the hoe, his speed had dropped significantly.

White Knight dashed up, but the knight was once again sent flying by Shang Rong and launched back in Lu Yin’s direction. 

Lu Yin felt helpless, and he hurriedly dodged. 

High in the sky, Shang Rong coldly stared down. “So the Fifth Mainland’s Ten Arbiters are merely this strong. Get out!”

Beneath the ground, White Knight stood up and stared up at Shang Rong. “You’re just taking advantage of me at a bad time.” 

“Dealing with you evil survivors is already dirtying my hands, and there’s no fairness to speak of. You can’t even force me to use my imprint.”

Shang Rong raised a hand, and a white light radiated out from his palm. “Cauterizing Beam Bloodline—Skyless.”

The white radiance in his hand formed a ball that gradually rose up. It looked like a white sun that was illuminating the entire area. 

As the white sun appeared, the mountain and sky both began to break down and vanish.

Lu Yin’s face changed. This was not good, and he had to escape right away; otherwise, he would be disintegrated as well. What kind of attack was this? 

Down on the ground, White Knight coughed and hung their head, appearing resigned.

Shang Rong remained arrogant, as he enjoyed the feeling of dominating others. Killing normal cultivators did not arouse any of his interest, as only experts who approached his level could satisfy him. He enjoyed looking down upon everything from the position of a god while wielding the power to end it all. 

Suddenly, Shang Rong’s expression changed. He immediately dodged to the side, but he was still too late; a spear had pierced through his shoulder, and it was now stained with his blood. 

Behind him, another White Knight had appeared without his knowledge, and the White Knight on the ground slowly vanished. 

Lu Yin had seen this technique before and knew that this was the Soulsplitting Technique. Ling Que had been able to split himself into three copies, which indicated that White Knight could at least do that much as well. The knight had only split into two during his battle against Blood Looney, not revealing his full strength. Thus, this hidden trump had been reserved for an emergency like Shang Rong. 

Shang Rong’s face fell, and he waved his hand, causing the white sun to fall onto White Knight. At the same time, an imprint appeared behind the youth in the sky, revealing the image of a figure who was wrapped entirely in long, black hair and whose face could not be seen at all. This imprint released an indescribably terrifying pressure along with a chilling aura. This was an Empyrean Imprint, and it was at the same grade as Blood Looney’s imprint from the Bluedome Elder. 

A castle suddenly appeared around White Knight as a glorious clock rang out. The heavenly noise reverberated throughout the entire area. In the castle, one marvel after another appeared. Those from the Lingling clan were able to combine ten great innate gifts from others into a single one of their own, and the marvels that had appeared inside this castle were precisely White Knight’s ten innate gifts. At this moment, White Knight was displaying their true power and was clearly putting their full effort forth. 

Boom!

The ground trembled, and a giant fissure divided the sky, looking just like a black mountain range hanging upside down in the sky. 

The battle between Shang Rong and White Knight nearly caused Lu Yin to lose consciousness, and the terrifying pressure from the two wantonly swept across their surroundings, threatening to destroy the entire area. 

After quite a while, the aftershocks from their collision dispersed. 

At this moment, everything that Lu Yin could see had changed; the mountain range that had been in front of him before had vanished, and the void was distorting unceasingly, as if it would shatter at any moment. 

He looked around for Shang Rong and White Knight and quickly found the two. They were both standing within a deep pit, staring at each other. 

Shang Rong’s face was flushed red, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. There was a gaping hole in his shoulder where he had been stabbed by White Knight’s spear, and the blood from the wound had spilled out to cover half of his body. 

White Knight was standing across from him and was not in much better shape. The knight’s armor had been almost completely shattered while the spear was broken in half. White Knight had already sustained some injuries from the battle against Blood Looney, and then the knight had been forced to fight against Shang Rong soon after. White Knight’s injuries were even worse than Blood Looney’s when he had faced off against Nightking Zhenwu. 

Shang Rong tightly grasped his shoulder and walked forward towards White Knight step by step. “You are already at your limit. To be able to struggle with me to this degree, I, Shang Rong, will remember you. But today, you must die.” 

White Knight slowly raised the broken spear so that its tip pointed at Shang Rong. “Have you forgotten what the Fifth Mainland people excel at?”

Shang Rong suddenly hesitated, and he appeared uncertain. According to the historical records of the Sixth Mainland, the Fifth Mainland’s cultivators were the best at concealing their strength, or in other words, acting weak to gobble the strong. These people would always hold something back, and this characteristic had repeatedly caused those from the Sixth Mainland to feel resentful, but also helpless. 

Because of this, during the ancient war, countless experts from the Sixth Mainland had died at the critical moment of a battle.

Shang Rong stared at White Knight. “I don’t believe that you still have the strength to retaliate.”

“You can see. At worst, we’ll just die together,” White Knight said indifferently.

Shang Rong froze in place as his eyes flickered. 

Lu Yin watched this confrontation take place, hesitating over whether or not he should act. There was a fundamental disparity in his strength compared to Shang Rong, and while White Knight had been able to withstand that strength which could dissolve everything, Lu Yin may not necessarily be able to do so. In particular, his hesitation was born from his inability to see through the essence of the strength behind that disintegration. Even if Shang Rong was currently injured, that strength was still enough to obliterate Lu Yin. 

After a while, Shang Rong appeared to have made the decision to act, and he stepped forward.

White Knight spun the spear tip with a cold expression, but the knight did not take a single step back.

Shang Rong stopped. He seemed to struggle with himself for a while, and then he glared at White Knight. “I won’t take advantage of your injuries for now. When you recover, we will fight each other again.”

He then leaped up, left the crater, and flew into the distance.

Lu Yin relaxed, as Shang Rong had been intimidated into retreating.

Within the pit, White Knight maintained the same posture without moving.

Lu Yin felt that something was strange, and he jumped down into the pit to approach White Knight, as he wanted to find out what was going on in the Innerverse. 

Out of fear that White Knight would attack him, he promptly stated, “I’m from the Fifth Mainland. You must know Wendy Yushan. I’m Lu Yin.” 

White Knight did not respond. 

Lu Yin approached closer. “I’m Lu Yin. You should’ve heard of me.”

White Knight still did not respond. 

When Lu Yin walked to the armored figure’s side, he gently pushed against the body, and White Knight crumbled to the ground. 

“So he actually passed out a long time ago.” Lu Yin laughed, as an unconscious person had managed to scare Shang Rong away. Lu Yin wondered what Shang Rong would think if he came back only to find that White Knight had fainted during their battle. 

Lu Yin bent over and looked at White Knight. This was one of the Ten Arbiters, and back in their original universe, the Ten Arbiters were supreme existences of the younger generation. Wen Sansi, Nightking Zhenwu, Lan Si: each and every one of them was a high and mighty figure. This was the first time Lu Yin had ever been this close to one of the Ten Arbiters, and he could even decide this one’s fate. 

Lu Yin felt complicated, as White Knight was the person who had taken Wendy Yushan to Myriad Swords Peak. Zhao Yilong had also mentioned that this person had treated Wendy Yushan very well, and nobody believed that the knight did not have feelings for Wendy Yushan. 

Wendy Yushan was also Lu Yin’s fiancée. Even though the whole thing was a sham, they had known each other for so long that Lu Yin had to admit that he had had some thoughts of his own for Wendy Yushan; any normal man would have some intentions. Her appearance and character contained attractive qualities that were rarely seen, and even if Wendy Yushan did not feel any love for Lu Yin, there was still the affection one felt for a family member. 

If this person lived, they might eventually take Wendy Yushan away from Lu Yin some day in the future. 

Lu Yin sighed and smiled bitterly. He grabbed White Knight and left. No matter what the future might hold, this person was on his side in the dispute between the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands, and he had also indirectly saved Lu Yin’s own life. He had to repay this favor. 

“A life for a life. I’ll rescue you this time, and the favor I owe you for saving me from the cauldron will be considered repaid,” Lu Yin said. 

As for Nong Zaitian, Lu Yin did not look for him, as his survival depended on his own luck. After all, they were still enemies. As for Mr. Bai and the others, Lu Yin held some friendship towards them, and he would save them if possible. However, the rest could forget any such effort on his part. 

Lu Yin also did not toss the hoe aside, as he figured that taking it back to research further might yield some results. Although its appearance was rather lacking, its speed was impressive.

The Daosource Sect was massive, and it was not easy to run into any of the Realmlings or Ten Arbiters.