Star Odyssey

"Where did you learn that motion?" Lu Yin asked.

The Pridebeast was confused, and it simply continued to give Lu Yin a thumbs-up.

Lu Yin raised his own thumb. "This. Who taught it to you?"

The Pridebeast stared at Lu Yin's thumb and fell deep into thought.

"Have you ever heard of Whitecloud City?" Lu Yin asked.

The Pridebeast shook its head.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. "Have you ever seen a rabbit that likes to step on people's heads?"

The Pridebeast's eyes suddenly lit up, and it responded with repeated thumbs-ups.

Lu Yin understood that it was saying yes.

The Pridebeast shook its head and then started gesturing wildly as an explanation.

It took Lu Yin some time to understand. The rabbit had suddenly appeared and tried to step on the Pridebeast, but the Pridebeast was no ordinary beast. It was even stronger than Hongyan Mavis, who had been one of the physically strongest members of the Three Realms and Six Daos. Even Aeternus’s Seven Skygods would struggle against the Pridebeast, let alone the rabbit.

That rabbit had been captured and beaten, but the Pridebeast had not killed it. Instead, the ape had chosen to play with the rabbit. The Pridebeast had learned the thumbs-up gesture from the rabbit during that time.

Later on, the rabbit had escaped, and the Pridebeast had not bothered trying to chase it down. The rabbit had fled through multiple parallel universes, and the Pridebeast had no way to track it down.

Lu Yin had suspected that the Pridebeast had a connection to Earth, so the story was not surprising.

However, that rabbit really did have some nerve, despite constantly fleeing in fear of being captured by the people of Whitecloud City.

After getting an answer, Lu Yin turned and stared at the Megalith.

The whale-like creature was floating in midair, looking like a dead fish. Only occasionally did it flick its tail.

When it noticed Lu Yin staring at it, the Megalith panicked and quickly forced out a smile, though it did its best not to show its big white teeth. Its tail rose up to give Lu Yin a thumbs-up.

Lu Yin pursed his lips. He continued to stare at the Megalith without saying a word.

Behind him, the Pridebeast blinked and watched with a good deal of curiosity. It seemed like the ape enjoyed watching the Megalith’s misfortune.

The Pridebeast and the Megalith had only met each other very recently, and they had even fought against each other, but they were already brothers in misfortune.

The Megalith grew increasingly nervous, and it lifted its tail higher and gestured frantically to make its thumbs-up more emphatic.

Lu Yin frowned. "How did you figure it out?"

There was something that he could not figure out. When Tian Fa had first seen the Megalith, he had immediately noticed that the Megalith was from a different megaverse, but how had Tian Fa figured that out?

The Boundary Guardians had to have some way of identifying creatures from other megaverses. How else could they have managed to track someone like Great Elder Shan Gu across multiple universes? How had Tian Ci discovered where the Lost Clan was hidden?

Lu Yin was eager to figure out the truth.

He wanted to learn how to identify creatures from other megaverses so that he could find and eliminate threats like Tian Ci and Tian En.

But even after observing the Megalith for several days, Lu Yin still could not sense anything at all.

The entire time, the Megalith had been giving him thumbs-up with its tail, and it was completely exhausted.

It believed that the only reason why it had not been beaten yet was the constant thumbs-ups that it had been offering. Given the intensity of Lu Yin’s stare, the Megalith was certain that it would have been hit otherwise.

At this thought, the whale-like creature gave the ape a grateful look. After all, the Pridebeast had been the one to teach the Megalith that movement.

Lu Yin went to see Ancestor Lu Yuan, Garan Zhiluo, Wu Tian, and many others, but none of them could tell him what he was searching for.

He even went to speak with True God.

"You want to use this to find the Boundary Guardians?"

"Find them and eliminate them. Isn’t that what you Aeternals want to see as well? Humanity and the Boundary Guardians are irreconcilable enemies. Only one of us can remain."

"Unfortunately, I don’t know where they are or any characteristics that will let you find them. However, you… your aura has changed quite a bit. Have you advanced another inner world to the Progenitor level?"

There was no way to hide the changes that Lu Yin had undergone from True God, and Lu Yin had not intended to try to hide anything either.

True God was not the only one to notice, as the other Aeternals with him could also sense the change in Lu Yin. There was a captivating aura to the young man that had not been there previously, and it gave off immense pressure.

Forgotten Ruins God was certain that, in a one-on-one fight, she could no longer match up to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin left and went to the Lost Clan’s city that had been massacred.

Tian Ci had slaughtered the entire city in an attempt to enrage Lu Yin and incite a war between humanity and the Boundary Guardians. Things had unfolded as Tian Ci had predicted, though he had failed to gain any sort of advantage. The Heavens Sect still ruled supreme in the megaverse.

As Lu Yin walked through the city, he picked up the smell of blood that still lingered in the air.

All of the Lost Clansmen had been returned to their universe, where they lived openly again, and the city that Lu Yin was in had been abandoned. However, there was one person still there: Xu Wuji.

The Lost Clan had a unique funeral ritual for their dead. Their graves looked like traps, and each one had a card engraved on the outside. It was the same card that the deceased had used in life.

At the front of Shan Fangyi’s grave was an engraved card.

Xu Wuji sat by the grave, clutching a jar of wine while mumbling to himself. There was a box at his feet; it was the same one that Fang Yi had once asked Lu Yin to deliver to Xu Wuji.

At the time, Lu Yin had been curious about the contents of the box, but it had been a secret between Xu Wuji and Fang Yi.

Lu Yin walked up behind Xu Wuji and stared at Shan Fangyi’s grave.

Engraved cards served as tombstones for the Lost Clansmen. For them, their cards were their greatest treasures.

Lu Yin stared at the engraving for a long time before offering a slow bow to pay his respects to Shan Fangyi and all the Lost Clansmen who had died.

While the massacre was not Lu Yin’s direct fault, he still felt as though he had failed to protect them.

The fact that the Lost Clan had joined the Heavens Sect made him responsible for protecting them, and he had failed to do that.

"I'm sorry," Lu Yin said heavily, his voice echoing through the deserted city.

Xu Wuji set down the wine jar, and he adjusted his sunglasses before trying to stand up. He was so drunk that he stumbled and fell to the ground.

Lu Yin looked down at the man.

Xu Wuji tried again, but despite multiple attempts, he could not get to his feet.

"Sorry, Lord Lu. Can't get up." Xu Wuji barked out a bitter laugh.

Lu Yin stared at the man. "I'm sorry."

Xu Wuji waved the apology away. "For cultivators, life and death are common. There's no need for you to apologize. You've done quite well, far better than others would have. Most would have abandoned the Lost Clan long ago. Lord Lu, you don't owe anyone anything."

Lu Yin slowly sat down on the ground, facing Xu Wuji. "Does it hurt?"

Xu Wuji chuckled and shook his head. "It doesn't hurt. We'll all meet again someday."

"Your sunglasses fell off."

Xu Wuji’s hand rose, and he touched his face, only to find that his sunglasses were still there. He let out another bitter laugh and took a big gulp from the jar of wine. He seemed to feel somewhat relieved.

Lu Yin looked around. "I will avenge them, I swear."

Xu Wuji threw the wine jar to the ground, shattering it. He took his sunglasses off and stared at Lu Yin, looking very serious. "If you're confident, it's revenge. If you're not, it's suicide. I already did something suicidal."

He was referring to when he and Shan Zheng had attacked Tian Ci. Both of them had been instantly defeated without landing so much as a single blow. If Lu Yin’s Lightstream had not managed to reverse time by one second, Xu Wuji would have died then and there.

"Lord Lu, you shouldn’t have saved me," Xu Wuji stated as he pulled out another jar of wine from his cosmic ring and started drinking again.

"I already feel terrible that I didn’t save all of these people," Lu Yin replied.

Xu Wuji sighed. "You shouldn't have saved me, but I still want to thank you for it."

Lu Yin stayed silent and just stared at Shan Fangyi's grave. Only a while later did Lu Yin finally speak. "Tell me about you two."

Xu Wuji lay back on the ground. "What's there to tell?"

"What was the deal with that box? What was inside it? I was your courier," Lu Yin asked.

Xu Wuji stared up at the sky in a daze. "I have one of the Lost Clan’s cards. It's a seven-star Primordial card called Nightfall. I got it during the Shangsan Festival.

"I'm the guy I told you about. I flexed my muscles during the Shangsan Festival, showed my true self, and ended up getting a card because of it."

Lu Yin was not surprised at all by this admission. Xu Wuji had once told Lu Yin about the Lost Clan’s Shangsan Festival, and at that time, he had listed off various methods that had successfully drawn out a card before—singing, writing poems, verbally expressing one’s desires, and even flexing muscles. At that time, Lu Yin had already suspected that the muscle-flexing guy had been Xu Wuji. It turned out to be completely accurate.

Xu Wuji slowly shared the story of how he and Shan Fangyi had met and fallen in love.

It was not a long story. At the time, Shan Fangyi had been named Fang Yi, and she had just been another Lost Clansman. The Lost Clan was reclusive, so she had not had many opportunities to interact with Xu Wuji.

What had sparked their love was a fateful encounter during the Shangsan Festival.

Xu Wuji had not been flexing his muscles to draw out a card, but rather to catch Fang Yi's attention. Ironically, Fang Yi had been particularly attracted to muscular men. On that day, Xu Wuji had been ridiculed by people from the Voidforce Universe, as well as members of the Lost Clan. Only Fang Yi had found him attractive.

As simple as that, they had fallen in love.

However, the Lost Clan had not approved of their love. So the two had been forced to meet in secret while, in public, they had pretended to be close friends. Xu Wuji openly called her Xiao Fang to lower the Lost Clan’s suspicions. Sometimes, acting more intimately drew less attention. Even when they exchanged tokens of affection, their actions had been filled with traps.

In spite of everything, Xu Wuji had risen up to become a powerful figure, and the Lost Clan had to show him some level of respect, so the relationship had not been entirely forbidden. At the very least, the two had been allowed to exchange their gifts.

Xu Wuji had given Lu Yin a sculpture of a man flexing his muscles as well as one of the couple’s keepsakes to deliver to her. In return, Fang Yi had given Lu Yin a trap to take back to Xu Wuji. If the box had been opened, it would have been dangerous, and this prevented anyone from the Lost Clan from inspecting the box. Within that trap had been Fang Yi’s true gift.

The two had expressed their feelings for each other by exchanging gifts.

Hearing the story, Lu Yin could not hold back his admiration. "You two had a purely spiritual love."

Xu Wuji rolled his eyes and hurled his wine jar into the distance where it exploded with a loud crash. "To hell with that! Who wants something like that? The Lost Clan forced us into it. Thankfully, you managed to convince them to open up a bit recently. After they connected to the Origin Universe, they stopped being so isolated. Xiao Fang and I were finally able to be together, and we were even acknowledged by the Lost Clan.

"The Lost Clan hid in several different universes, and I’m one of the few who knew about this city. I visited this place many times, but our time together was always too short. I never thought that that last visit would be our final farewell—no, it wasn’t even that."

Xu Wuji's words caused Lu Yin’s mood to fall. A love that had finally been fulfilled had been forcefully torn apart, the lovers separated forever. He understood that pain all too well.

Ming Yan’s current condition was no different from dead.

Even so, Lu Yin was luckier than Xu Wuji. Ming Yan was at least still alive, while Shan Fangyi was truly gone.

Tian Ci would pay his debt. There was no doubt about that.

OMA's Thoughts

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA