Star Odyssey

Chapter 689: Jianqiang Takes Action

Serpent Queen was stumped, and she stood there, frozen in place, as her python glared at Lu Yin, furious. However, the serpent immediately lowered its head as soon as Lu Yin glanced over at it. 

“None left.” Serpent Queen was in a bad mood.

“I don’t believe you,” Lu Yin said.

In a rage, Serpent Queen poured out everything from inside her cosmic ring, even revealing numerous pieces of her underwear, which caused Lu Yin to feel a little embarrassed. “You’re pretty frank. Alright, I believe you. You can leave.”

Serpent Queen glared at Lu Yin, as she felt that this brat was even more vile than the bastard from before. 

“Monkey, do you think that we should go fishing?” Lu Yin asked.

The Ghost Monkey sniggered. “It’s up to you. Anyways, no one here’s your opponent. This place belongs to you as soon as you put on that universal armor.”

Lu Yin thought about it, but he ultimately decided against it. He recalled the person who he had seen before. That man was a Hunter, and not an average one either. He was definitely scary, and if Lu Yin baited such a person in, it would actually be troublesome, as the competition would not be able to continue after that.

Lu Yin somewhat hoped that Ku Wei would bait the Hunter in. 

Battles frequently broke out in the mountain range behind the Hall of Insight, as there would be a battle as long as someone discovered a sourcebox. 

As for Ku Wei, nobody created any trouble for him. He had taken care of a few batches of assailants. He had then conveniently placed the three sourceboxes that he had snatched over his head, which made the others envious, but no one dared to act against him. 

The first day passed in a cloud of chaotic battles.

When the sky completely darkened, many competitors found places to hide and began lockbreaking. Those who were faster like Deng Pu had already completed lockbreaking their first sourcebox.

Within the Hall of Insight, Saul was satisfied, as Deng Pu had been the first competitor to unlock a sourcebox. The rest either had not done so, or were still in the process. 

In the latter half of the night, with a soft thump, a sourcebox vanished, but it left nothing behind. Lu Yin was disappointed, but it was alright, as even if anything came out of these sourceboxes, it would have to be returned to the society and would not belong to him.

He continued to search for more sourceboxes.

In the hollow area of a mountain wall, Xi Qi wiped the sweat on her forehead and said in disappointment, “There’s nothing.” 

“That’s better, as anything you obtained would simply belong to others.” The fish was happy and continuously flapped its tail.

At this moment, a figure strode by, glanced at Xi Qi, and then looked at the ground where there were traces of sourceboxes having been placed there recently.

“What are you looking at? Keep it up, and your eyeballs will be plucked out to be kicked around as balls, ugly,” the fish spoke.

That person’s eyes narrowed. “Xi Qi?”

Xi Qi looked at the man. “You’re Straight Metallic Man?”

Straight Metallic Man acknowledged her with a grunt. He then simply glanced at the fish and left.

“You’re fast enough to run away! You’re so ugly, but you still come out late at night to scare others,” the fish complained.

Xi Qi spoke in a depressed voice, “Stop scolding others. I already don’t have any friends left.”

The fish made dismissive sounds. “Who cares about having friends or not? Only weak creatures gather together. Only Lord Fish can guarantee that you will stand at the peak of the universe. Then, that sort of trash from just now won’t even dare to look at you.” 

Xi Qi sighed.

***

Cai Jianqiang sat alone out on the plains. He had searched for an entire day, but he had not found a single sourcebox. Although he was accustomed to being inferior to others in the field of lockbreaking, it still wasn’t a nice feeling. If his elder brother were here, he definitely would have easily uncovered multiple sourceboxes already .

The disparity of talent between individuals was really difficult to overcome.

Deng Pu appeared from the sky and landed a short distance away from Cai Jianqiang. He then spoke in a dull tone, “I’ll trouble you to move aside.”

Cai Jianqiang looked up and recognized the youth as Deng Pu, who was Saul’s disciple, but this person did not seem to recognize Cai Jianqiang.

“I’ll say it again—move over,” Deng Pu’s tone was not very friendly.

Inside the Hall of Insight, Saul straightened in his seat as his expression turned very ugly. This idiot disciple was actually provoking Cai Jianqiang!

Felynn’s expression also changed. Not good! That idiot doesn’t know any better, so he’s provoking Cai Jianqiang. This is problematic. 

The others also stared at the exchange. 

Cai Jianqiang did not take action against Deng Pu, as he was very curious about what Deng Pu was doing in this place. Was there a sourcebox nearby? He had searched through area after area using star energy, but he had not found a single sourcebox yet.

Deng Pu saw Cai Jianqiang move aside and paid no further heed to the man. He walked over to where Cai Jianqiang had been sitting and pressed a hand against the ground. There was a rumbling sound as the ground shattered, and after consecutive bombardments, a crater a dozen meters in diameter appeared, with a chest finally exposed in its center. 

Cai Jianqiang was astonished, as there had actually been a sourcebox right underneath his own butt, but he had not felt anything at all! How had this person discovered it?

Cai Jianqiang was well aware that he had not comprehended a domain and that he had no battle techniques that could help him in lockbreaking. However, he at least had a lockbreaking tool, and his control of star energy was fairly decent. But despite all that, he had not discovered this sourcebox despite its close proximity to him while this person had easily done so. Was the disparity between them so great? 

Within the Hall of Insight, Felynn glanced over at Saul, as this sourcebox was definitely not something that Deng Pu was capable of finding on his own since it had been buried too deeply. Even at that close range, Cai Jianqiang had not discovered anything at all, but Deng Pu had been able to find it in an instant. This was clearly cheating, and Saul was being unscrupulous in his methods to obtain True Insight. 

Saul’s face remained calm, and he acted as if he did not know anything.

Deng Pu retrieved the sourcebox and prepared to leave, but he was suddenly blocked by Cai Jianqiang. 

“You want to steal it?” Deng Pu asked coldly as he looked at Cai Jianqiang. Only now did he take a closer look at the person in front of him, as he had focused only on the location before. Eh, why does this person look so familiar? 

“How did you find it?” Cai Jianqiang asked, as he was truly curious. The sourcebox that had been beneath his own butt had been taken by somebody else, and he could not tolerate this even if he did have a good temper. 

Deng Pu’s response was icy, “That’s none of your business. Move aside.”

Cai Jianqiang did not budge.

Deng Pu’s gaze turned sharp, and it seemed like he was about to do something.

Within the Hall of Insight, Saul leaned forward, and his lips moved imperceptibly. Deng Pu’s face suddenly changed as he looked at Cai Jianqiang in apprehension. “I recall now—you are Master Wusheng’s younger brother.”

“How did you find this sourcebox?” Cai Jianqiang repeated.

Deng Pu’s eyes shifted. “It’s my ability.”

Cai Jianqiang frowned, and he simply stared at Deng Pu, which caused the youth to tremble. Then, Deng Pu set the case down. “You want this? It’s for you.” He then left without even turning to look back.

Cai Jianqiang was in a daze, as he had not thought that Deng Pu would give up and leave so easily.

Inside the Hall of Insight, Saul released his pent-up breath. 

Felynn glanced over at Saul and then looked back at the screen. This Deng Pu was smart, as he would be finished if he fought against Cai Jianqiang. Now that Deng Pu had given the sourcebox away, if Cai Jianqiang decided to take action, Saul would have an excuse to step in. 

In the end, Cai Jianqiang did not make any moves against Deng Pu. He merely opened the case and looked inside it to see a long sourcebox. He was delighted to have finally obtained a sourcebox, and so, he immediately began to unlock it. He enjoyed lockbreaking, as the process gave him the pleasure of exploring the universe’s secrets. 

Cai Jianqiang had been able to become a one-star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker not by lockbreaking Perceptive Intermediate sourceboxes, but instead he had advanced purely through numbers. He had unlocked many Discerning Elementary sourceboxes, and had then relied on lockbreaking a single Perceptive Intermediate sourcebox to reach the level of a Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker. It had taken him dozens of hours to unlock the Perceptive Intermediate sourcebox, and while the average Lockbreaker would not have been able to manage it, he had relied on the support of his impressive power level. 

His aptitude for lockbreaking was truly poor. This Discerning Elementary sourcebox was merely at the two star level, but he still took eight whole hours to successfully unlock it. Although he did not obtain anything, he still felt very satisfied that he had succeeded. 

After succeeding, Cai Jianqiang realized that he should not waste any more time looking for sourceboxes. Otherwise, when the time for this first stage of the competition expired, he would likely be eliminated. He would be embarrassed all the way back to the Neoverse if he was eliminated in such a fashion while being a Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker. Hence, Cai Jianqiang decided to start stealing sourceboxes from others, as he had already tasted the sweetness of theft once.

Cai Jianqiang looked up at where Ku Wei was still leisurely hanging around, trying to use a case to bait others into attacking him. He should have already finished lockbreaking the other two.

Cai Jianqiang leapt up towards Ku Wei, and his berserk star energy swept out in all directions, to the point where even the Hall of Insight quivered almost imperceptibly, which shocked everyone.

Lu Yin looked up and saw the boundless lines of runes crash towards Ku Wei, and he was delighted. You tried to bait more, and finally, that person was lured out. 

Ku Wei jumped up in fright as a crisis had suddenly appeared. He saw Cai Jianqiang grab at him, and he responded by tapping out with a single finger. His forcefield formed a giant Finger Tap that ruthlessly crushed down upon the Hunter. 

The two sides clashed in the sky and caused the void to warp. A violent gale swept out and even made the four towering trees tremble, leaving countless people in the region numb.

Ku Wei was beaten back by Cai Jianqiang’s single attack, and he appeared astonished at this turn of events. “Where did this madman come from?” 

Cai Jianqiang’s expression was steely. “Hand over the sourcebox.”

“Alright, here.” Ku Wei threw the sourcebox to Cai Jianqiang without any hesitation before turning and fleeing. He was even more direct about things than Deng Pu.

That exchange had shown Ku Wei just how terrifying this Hunter realm fellow was, as his own Finger Tap had been completely ineffective. That berserk storm had sent a chill running down his spine, and Ku Wei knew that he could not go head-to-head against that man.

Cai Jianqiang retrieved the case and saw that there was a sourcebox inside it. He nodded in satisfaction, but then scanned around as he had decided to grab a hold of a few more. 

The people within the Hall of Insight exchanged glances, as they did not know if they should interfere. Cai Jianqiang’s strength was high enough that, out of the countless people on all of Sourcepeak Planet, perhaps only Saul and Fiend Li could overpower him, as this person was a freak who had an abnormal cultivation talent and was able to crush everyone within his own generation, including the Youth Councilors of his time. It was only because he was obsessed with lockbreaking that he had not become too famous. Once this sort of person erupted, the result would be very scary. 

In just half an hour’s time, Cai Jianqiang had managed to steal seven sourceboxes. He used his overpowering star energy to suppress everything around him, and it was useless to even try to hide. He was significantly more efficient at stealing sourceboxes than Ku Wei, and the final sourcebox that he stole coincidentally happened to be another one from Den Pu. 

This scene angered Saul to the point of being unable to endure any longer, and his voice rang throughout the sky above the mountain range. “Anyone in possession of sourceboxes that have not been successfully unlocked by the end of this stage will be punished by double negative points.” 

This rule made many change their attention to Cai Jianqiang. Currently, he was the one with the most sourceboxes as he had managed to gather seven, but would he be able to unlock all of them?

Cai Jianqiang was stumped, as no matter how he looked at it, this rule was targeting him. He looked up with an ugly expression on his face. 

In another part of the mountain range, Lu Yin laughed. Saul was growing more and more shameless in his methods to help Deng Pu achieve victory. In previous competitions, there had been no such rules, as seizing sourceboxes also depended on a contestant’s ability. If a Lockbreaker could not protect their own sourcebox, then lockbreaking was impossible. But now, no matter who it was, it was pointless even if they seized every single last sourcebox on this mountain range. 

Unlocking two sourceboxes and having an unlocked one would give a person the same score as someone who had not competed or someone who did not have a single sourcebox. This rule was very shameless. 

Inside the Hall of Insight, Fiend Li frowned, but that did not stop Saul from setting this new rule in place. Cai Jianqiang’s power was rather excessive compared to the other participants, and so, it was justifiable to restrain him a bit. As for the final results, the Lockbreaker Competition only cared about the champion, and the results of the others did not matter. 

Felynn’s lips rose. The more Saul leaned towards helping Deng Pu, the more miserable it would be for him in the end.