Star Odyssey

Chapter 944: Explorer And Cruiser

The heat of the Skyblaze Stone was steadily being replenished. As Elder Daggs and the other powerhouses continued to take out all sorts of priceless treasures to stoke the blaze even more, the entire city’s temperature climbed higher and higher. The various cultivators who had not become space-exploring powerhouses yet were unable to endure and were forced to retreat. 

The walls of the buildings in the city were touched by the flames, and it had already caused quite a few of them to vanish. 

A few of the people present realized that the buildings that vanished had not crumbled into ashes; they had actually vanished. 

The Skyblaze Stone had been the Skyblaze Dojo’s fiery dragon’s source of strength. That dragon had been able to delay Madam Hong’s attack, and it had also been able to complement the Skyblaze Dojo Master’s power, allowing him to contest powerful Imprinters. The heat that the stone carried within it was something that could not even be imagined by ordinary people. As such, the heat energy that the powerhouses in the ruins had provided so far was not enough to replenish the heat of the stone, not by a long shot. 

Lu Yin could only tempt the gathered experts by opening the door little by little. If he had not come up with this sort of method, he would have never been able to find such heat anywhere. 

Within the crowd, Meng Tianlong, Mu Nichang, and the other experts from the Great Eastern Alliance all pulled out items that could increase the flame’s temperature. The Great Eastern Alliance had constantly been searching for sources of extreme flames, which everyone was aware of. However, these people had not revealed that they had found anything. 

Lu Yin did not blame these people, as they were not his subordinates, but merely allies that had come together to take what each of them needed. They also had not joined the alliance completely voluntarily, so it was perfectly normal for them to not fully cooperate with him. 

Ten days later, the door had still only opened by a tiny crack. Although the gap was very small, it gave the crowd a glimmer of hope. 

“This is the door to an ancient inheritance, and it must be Ancestor Gu Yue’s test. The high temperature that we have been using thus far is not enough, so if anyone still has anything else, then now’s not the time to remain selfish,” Elder Daggs shouted. 

As Elder Daggs spoke, Elder Lohar suddenly appeared. In fact, he had arrived long ago, but he had simply not shown himself.

Elder Daggs was not surprised to see Elder Lohar here, as they were both elders from the Hall of Honor. Even if their power levels were higher than 300,000, their rankings within the Hall of Honor were quite low. Otherwise, they would not have been stationed in the Outerverse. They both had to increase their strength if they wanted to return to the Neoverse. 

Elder Lohar raised a hand, and he was holding something that looked like white powder. He then casually scattered it, causing an intense, white heat to bubble forth. This white heat suppressed all the other sources of extreme heat, and it even caused the nearby void to quiver slightly. 

Even powerhouses with a power level of 400,000 had to be cautious of this heat.

Nearby, Yuehua Mavis stepped up, and pulled out a sealed sourcebox from her cosmic ring, and threw it towards the large door. While the sourcebox was still in midair, a gale swept out and shattered its surface, causing an overwhelming heat wave to surge up like a waterfall flowing in reverse. Its intense heat even scorched the sky, and those watching in the distance started to panic. In fact, even the stronger experts like Elder Daggs were forced to move backwards. 

“A high temperature that can even threaten Envoy-level powerhouses. The Mavis family is certainly wealthy,” Yu Mu remarked with an envious sigh. 

Yuehua Mavis looked over at the man. “Shamrock Enterprises is not weak either.”

Yu Mu smiled as he pulled out a fiery-red fruit. It looked quite normal except for the imprint of flames on its surface. This was an extraordinary fruit that Shamrock Enterprises had discovered on a certain planet. Specifically, the fruit contained an extremely high temperature that not even Yu Mu dared to consume it. He had originally planned on researching this fruit’s medicinal value, but nothing was more important than Gu Yue’s inheritance that was currently right in front of them. 

Qiong Shanhai also acted, and he threw out a dozen treasures that unleashed high temperature blazes, and there were even a few power vessels among the items that he threw out. This caught many people off guard, and his act let them finally understand just how wealthy Millions City truly was. 

Behind the door, Lu Yin became ecstatic, as the temperature outside of the building had suddenly spiked. In just a short amount of time, the large door was roasted, and the Skyblaze Stone started to emit some light. 

Lu Yin knew that this light was caused by the replenishment of the stone’s high temperature, but the people outside thought that this light was a sign that the door was about to open.

“Soon, just a little more.” Elder Daggs was getting anxious.

Lan Si walked out forward, pulled out two round stones, and then banged them together. When they struck one another, they unleashed a bolt of lightning, and a blaze that even burned the void appeared. The temperature of this flame even surpassed the powder that Elder Lohar had brought out, and it had nearly reached the level of Yu Mu’s fruit. 

Xuan Jiu also ambled over towards the door. Anyone who did not know him would assume that he was not even a space-exploring powerhouse, and thus, they would wonder how he was able to approach the extraordinary blaze. It had to be said his dressing style was a bit intimidating, and he gave off the feeling of some alien highlord from a game world. 

Even Elder Daggs was also caught off guard. Currently, the entire crowd was looking at Xuan Jiu.

Xuan Jiu stared at the door for a while, but then he shook his head. He seemed to mumble something to himself as he simply turned to leave. 

Right after Xuan Jiu left, a black Undying Bird dove down from the sky, aimed straight at the large door. The Dark Phoenix family had arrived, and they were all experts with fire, so their entrance bolstered the confidence of many people who were present. 

Someone sighed. “If the Dark Phoenix family’s ancestor hadn’t died, then this door would have already opened by now.” 

This sentence caused the faces of the Dark Phoenix family’s experts to turn dark.

As one of the three unprovokable powers in the Outerverse, the Dark Phoenix family had forcibly killed their way out of the Innerverse by relying on their ancestor’s reputation. They had been unafraid of everything, but during the border defense, their ancestor had ultimately perished. Since then, the family had become much more subdued, and their general behavior had greatly changed. This was something that had caused all of them to mourn. 

They, more than anyone else, wished that their ancestor was still alive.

As more time passed, one group of experts arrived after the next, and all sorts of powerful flames and tinders were tossed towards the door. It was as if the people here were offering sacrifices.

Twenty days later, Lu Yin stretched his arms. It was time to cultivate.

The door had opened a little more during this time, but this opening was so miniscule that it could barely be seen by the naked eye. What happened next was none of his business, but it would be even better for him if these people had more sources of high temperature. If they did not, then he would wait until after he finished cultivating to decide what to do.

After thinking about it, he waved a hand and threw a pile of star essence onto the floor. Lu Yin then touched the Skyblaze Stone with one hand, and an intense pain burned his hand as a line of ferocious heat was transmitted from the Skyblaze Stone into Lu Yin’s body. His expression became resolute, and he began to absorb the star energy. 

Not many people throughout the entire universe had a cheat-like method like Lu Yin’s for absorbing star energy, but once anyone used such a method even once, they would never be able to give it up. Who would willingly absorb star energy slowly like normal? 

In the past, Lu YIn had used the Skyblaze Stone to complete his fourth cultivation cycle. This time, he intended to completely break through to the Cruiser realm, and as long as those outside did their part, Lu Yin might even be able to reach a higher realm. 

Nobody could have imagined that the majority of the Outerverse’s experts were racking their brains and throwing out all their hidden fire treasures just to provide for Lu Yin’s cultivation. It was likely that everyone would remain ignorant of this for their entire lives. 

For space-exploring powerhouses, when an Explorer completed four cultivation cycles of star energy, they would stand at the peak of the Explorer realm. Five successful cycles meant that they would become a Cruiser. 

There didn’t seem to be much of a difference between four and five cycles besides the amount of star energy. However, the truth was that the human body had an intrinsic limit. Each cultivation cycle expanded the limits of the human body, and in some ancient writings, some powerhouses had compared the human body to a balloon. It was easy for it to explode if it was filled with too much energy at once. Instead, the balloon had to be filled to the limit, have its toughness reinforced, and only then could it be filled even further. 

This analogy represented one cultivation cycle of star energy. It allowed a cultivator’s body to adapt to the universe, resist the exhaustion phase, and also increase their strength. The cycling of star energy was the second most precious cultivation method that stood right behind an ancient inheritance, and it was a cultivation method that belonged solely to humans. 

Astral beasts were different. Their potential meant that they were fated to reach a certain level, and they did not need to slowly proceed by cycling their star energy. 

The human body was very miraculous, and four cultivation cycles would gradually reinforce the body’s endurance. Once five cycles were completed, there would be a subtle change, and whether it was one’s physical strength, reaction time, senses, or even their comprehension, all of these aspects would be improved. This was the reason why there was a dividing line between the Explorer and Cruiser realms. 

A Cruiser refined star energy in a slightly different manner than an Explorer after completing their fifth cycle. 

Otherwise, one would simply continue cycling star energy, and there would be no need to specially designate the Cruiser realm. 

Given the differences between each individual cultivator, the upgrade for completing the fifth cycle of star energy was also different for each person. Some cultivators did not improve by much, and there would generally be a limit to how much stronger they became. Some would improve greatly, and their strength might even double in extreme cases. This naturally included the improvement in their comprehension, which was related to their understanding of battle techniques, arts, and even innate gifts. 

Lu Yin was now speeding towards the completion of his fifth cycle.

Each cycle that his body completed required 200 times the amount of star energy that others needed. However, this also indicated that the limits of his endurance were 200 times that of normal cultivators. This was the reason why Lu Yin was a Realmbreaker who could fight against powerhouses; his physical body was fundamentally different from others’. 

He could even be seen as another lifeform. The Ten Arbiters were the same, as they had also surpassed the limits of ordinary people by a great deal.

A month later, Lu Yin was still cultivating, and he had no spare attention to pay to the door. Thus, the thin opening remained the exact same throughout this entire month; it had not changed by even the slightest amount. 

This made those outside feel frustrated. They had already wasted so many treasures that they would suffer severe losses if they could not open this door. 

“Eh? Can you guys sense that, the closer we get to that door, the more star energy there is?” An Enlighter felt puzzled. 

The others all noticed the difference once it was mentioned. This entire time, their full attention had been focused on the massive door. Thus, nobody had bothered paying any attention to the ambient star energy. 

With the Enlighter’s words, the crowd suddenly noticed the star energy difference. 

“Quickly, turn up the heat! There has to be something good behind that door,” someone exclaimed excitedly.

The rest of the crowd also grew excited; a star energy gradient implied that there was some great treasure behind the door.

Even Lan Si felt a bit of anticipation, as the mystery of what might be lying behind the door was just too tantalizing. 

Lu Yin used the Skyblaze Stone to continuously vaporize star essence, and this caused concentrated star energy to leak out between the gap in the door and spread outside. This had then led to the misunderstanding among the people outside. Even though the door had not moved any further, was this enough to motivate these people? 

Suddenly, quite a few people coughed up more treasures that unleashed high temperatures in another attempt to open the door. 

Elder He also arrived. As an Envoy-level expert who was second only to Yuan Shi in the Outerverse, his appearance was unnoticed. He observed the scene for a while and quickly determined that this place was not Gu Yue’s inheritance. The style of these buildings was far too different from that of Gu Yue’s era. Although the universe was vast with a nearly endless amount of unique architectural styles, Elder He was able to recognize this style. He knew that it belonged to the Rune Civilization. 

The rune-shaped pupils engraved upon the door had been instantly recognized by the Envoy.

After he realized that this city was a ruin of the Rune Civilization, Elder He did not give the place another thought and simply left. His understanding of the Rune Civilization was the reason why he had left without a word; they had been a brilliant but absolutely terrifying civilization. If one made contact with that civilization, they wouldn’t even know when they might suddenly vanish. 

Even he himself, an Envoy, was unwilling to interact with a civilization like that. 

It was impossible to know how many people had left after arriving or returned after leaving, as people were moving around both openly and secretly. 

Soon enough, another month had passed by. 

The crowd had maintained the intense blaze for two entire months, but the door had not budged in the slightest during this time. Many felt their hearts fall. They had indeed put forth their full efforts to open this door, and various sources of incredible heat had been used up, some of which could even attract the attention of Envoy-level powerhouses. However, they still had not been able to open the door. 

Although they were discouraged, people’s expectations of what lay behind the large door became even greater. The harder something was to open, the more that was proof that there was something amazing behind it. This was common sense. 

Two months ago, it could have been said that 90% of the crowd had been suspicious of whether or not this place was Gu Yue’s ancient ruins. But now, those doubts had dropped to 40%. Only a powerhouse like Gu Yue could construct such a sturdy door. If it was this hard to open the door, then it could only be imagined how precious the inheritance inside must be.