Star Odyssey

Lu Yin considered the ramifications of Lei Nu being an Enlighter as he unhesitatingly raced over to Black and White. "Run!"

Black and White blinked before slipping away with even less hesitation than Lu Yin.

Lu Yin had personally suffered from these two brats' speed, so he was not worried that they would be caught by Lei Nu.

However, the three had still underestimated her.

All of the youths here were focused on expanding their foundations while in the Hunter realm as a preparation step for the Enlighter realm. The fact that Lei Nu dared to break through to the Enlighter realm showed that she had already accumulated a steady foundation. Thus, the moment she revealed her true strength, the battle was already over. Or at least, that was what she believed.

Ripples spread through the sea, carrying with them the hypnotic strength of this Enlighter. Lu Yin turned around only to be shocked at what he saw. He instantly used his full strength and caught up to Black and White. An Astral Chessboard appeared beneath his feet, and Lu Yin turned himself into a chesspiece, which he then moved.

Lu Yin grabbed hold of Black and White as he used the Ce Secret Art to disappear. Lei Nu suddenly appeared where Lu Yin had just been, and she looked around in astonishment. Lu Yin had already raced away, and he was headed for the whirlpool.

Lei Nu vanished, similarly moving toward the vortex when she reappeared.

Down on the seabed, there was a stone tablet at the bottom of the vortex, and there were some indecipherable words etched on it that made it look identical to the one that Lu Yin had grabbed earlier.

Lu Yin felt a pang of disappointment when he saw the stone tablet, and he was just about to use the Ce Secret Art to escape once more. However, at that moment, he suddenly saw a cultivator appear next to the stone tablet, who grew quite panicked when he saw Lu Yin. The man pressed his hand back onto the stone tablet, and his entire body started to be swallowed by the stone. Lu Yin was surprised. What the heck is going on?

Black and White grew excited, and they both increased their speed. White grabbed a hold of the vanishing cultivator, who was astonished at this development. "Let go of me!"

"No, I want to go to the tablet world!" White shouted.

Black grew excited. "Tablet world! Tablet world!"

Lu Yin did not know what these two brats were trying to do, and he was even more confused about how this cultivator had nearly been swallowed by the stone tablet. He was completely baffled, but he let himself be dragged along by Black and White, and the three of them vanished along with the cultivator who had appeared from the stone tablet.

The next moment, Lei Nu appeared at the bottom of the whirlpool, but the stone tablet had already turned grey, and it looked as if it had been corroded from the ages.

As the vortex vanished, Lei Nu stood on the seabed, calmly staring at the grey stone tablet. A trace of blood leaked out from beneath her mask. It was from a wound caused by Lu Yin's attack with the Overlaying Stacks Path.

Although she seemed calm, she could not hide her admiration for Lu Yin's strength.

Lei Nu had encountered the Seven Courts' heirs and some of the Ten Arbiters. But of them all, she believed that not even Liu Tianmu's Eleventh Sword was as intimidating as Lu Yin's techniques. At the very least, Liu Tianmu had not managed to injure Lei Nu twice.

Lu Yin was nothing more than a Cruiser, and once he became a Hunter, his strength would advance by leaps and bounds. At that time, even she, an elite Enlighter, might no longer be his match.

The Outerverse had actually given birth to such a genius.

He had to be driven out of the Mountain and Seas Zone, as otherwise, he might become an unknown variable in the contest for the Cosmic Five.

…

Qian Zou was a good person, or at least, he had always felt that he was. Normally, when there was nothing to do, he enjoyed fighting for justice. Additionally, he often gave money to others who were stuck in poverty, which seemed to be a common occurrence. In the cruel universe, it was not easy to find someone like Qian Zou.

Of course, doing good deeds came at a cost, so he preferred to rely on his abilities to obtain valuable objects. That way, he would not have to bear those costs himself. Many people would call it stealing, but it really wasn't. Rather, he saw it as an art that focused on maturating one's spirit.

Those who had lost their possessions would comprehend a lesson that would subsequently help them to mature. Thus, that could also be considered a good deed, no?

Qian Zou did not believe himself to be very good-looking, but the universe treated him well. He thought back to when he had been caught stealing—pah, when he had been discovered taking some items and been unable to hide. After some difficulty, he had hidden himself within an auction house, during which he had coincidentally obtained a movement technique known as the "Inverse Step." After learning it, he had been able to escape from his predicament.

There had also been that one time where he had been surrounded by many opponents with one of them being a very powerful old man. Qian Zou had thought that he was a goner, but the people surrounding him had been attacked by their own enemies that same day. Ultimately, they had been wiped out, and the enemies of those people had then rewarded him, as if he had not stalled that group, then they would have all been able to escape.

And there was that other time where he had been simply minding his own business when someone had mistaken him for the heir of some sect. As a result, Qian Zou had been welcomed into a city that drifted through outer space, and he had enjoyed a luxurious life for a dozen days.

Wait a minute, there had been too many incidents like that, and Qian Zou could not even remember all of them.

His current situation was no different. One day, his spacecraft had been cruising along just fine when he had accidentally entered this place, and he had even been pushed in. Only after entering had he learned that this was the fabled Mountain and Seas Zone where the Cosmic Five were selected.

After learning that he had entered the Mountain and Seas Zone, Qian Zou had become very excited but also very nervous. Anyone who could take part in the Astral Tower's contest was an absolute freak, and he could not receive even a few blows from such people. Fortunately, he was exceptionally fast, so he could still run away from them.

After the contest at the Astral Tower began, he had been fine while moving around in the sea, but he had encountered battles taking place everywhere. There was this one fellow called Lu Yin who was especially violent. That person had the ability to simply take the items, so why was he beating everyone up? One wild kick had nearly frightened Qian Zou to death, and he would have died then and there if not for his speed.

That Lu Yin really was a freak, and his strength was so ridiculous that even a kick could cut through the void.

Fortunately, because Qian Zou was so fast, he was often able to avoid disaster.

However, Qian Zou felt that his good luck was about to come to an end. He had been traveling along a current in the sea when he had coincidentally landed right in front of an exposed stone tablet. He had simply wanted to leave, but then he had run into that scoundrel Lu Yin. Because Qian Zou had been afraid of him, he had subconsciously wanted to escape into the tablet world. But then, the scoundrel had actually sent two brats to catch him, and Qian Zou had ended up dragging all of them into the tablet world along with him. Infuriated, Qian Zou felt that the scoundrel had done it on purpose.

…

Dong!

Lu Yin crashed to the ground, immediately stood back up, and surveyed his surroundings. Everything that he could see was grey and colorless. There were streets fanning out in all directions that had an ancient appearance.

Across from him, Black and White both fell out, and they rubbed their heads as they stood up. The cultivator that they had followed in also scanned the surroundings in alarm, and he acted as though he was some kind of thief.

"Where are we?" Lu Yin asked.

"Shhhh!"

After his question, Black, White, and the young man instantly raised their index fingers towards Lu Yin and shushed him.

Lu Yin blinked, as he was completely confused.

That cultivator was panicking. "Don't make any noise! This is the tablet world."

Lu Yin was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

That cultivator was stumped. "You don't know about the tablet world?"

Lu Yin shook his head.

At that moment, some fuzzy figures appeared off in the distance.

The young cultivator raced towards a section of the street that looked like a hotel. Black and White urgently followed him, so Lu Yin naturally tagged along as well.

The small group moved quickly, but none of them created much of a disturbance.

What surprised Lu Yin the most was that Black and White were deliberately being as quiet as possible. These two brats had never shown a hint of fear before, but at this moment, they were actually acting very reserved and were insisting that Lu Yin not make any noise. It was all very strange.

The cultivator motioned for Lu Yin to come over with a gesture and had him sit down. Black and White also sat down at the same time, and they kept their mouths completely closed with perfect behavior.

Lu Yin felt utterly lost, and he sat down at a table.

He wanted to ask something, but the cultivator made another shushing motion before sitting down at the table. He did not move or speak, and he only sat there like a statue.

The strangest thing was that Black and White did the exact same thing.

Lu Yin swallowed his saliva, feeling his hair stand on end.

Everything was grey, and there was not the slightest bit of color anywhere.

"Seventh Bro, this monkey feels a bit afraid," the Ghost Monkey said.

Lu Yin ignored the monkey, as he was also starting to panic slightly. It felt as though they were about to meet some ghost, or as if there was something staring at them.

He glanced at the unknown cultivator and saw that sweat was beading up on the man's forehead, and his expression was that of absolute terror.

Lu Yin then glanced at Black and White and discovered that the twins also looked quite flustered. Occasionally, their eyes would glance over at the outside of the hotel.

Before much time passed, a few figures approached the hotel.

Lu Yin looked over, and his pupils shrank; these figures were not human at all! Instead, there was a grey, humanoid shadow. What was that thing? Could it actually be a ghost?

The unknown cultivator swallowed his saliva and gave Lu Yin a little nudge, trying to get him to look away.

Lu Yin copied the cultivator, averting his gaze and silently sitting at the table.

The figures slowly passed by the building. They seemed to have the shape of a man and an old woman while another looked like a girl. The three figures seemed to be a family of three slowly passing by the hotel.

The group of four waited for the figures to walk away and fade from view. Once it was safe, Black and White both heaved sighs of relief. "That scared me to death! That was insane!"

"Crazy."

Lu Yin looked at the young man curiously. "What's going on?"

That cultivator was panting heavily, and there was fear in his voice as he answered, "This is the tablet world in the Mountain and Seas Zone. Didn't the senior who brought you here mention this to you?"

Lu Yin shook his head; Elder Yuan Ke had not mentioned anything about this place.

That cultivator felt confused. "That's not right, this is common knowledge. Even if your senior didn't say anything, you still should have heard of this place."

Lu Yin asked, "Speak clearly, what is this tablet world?"

That cultivator answered, "The tablet world is a bizarre place. You can basically think of this place as a collapsible dimension. No one in here is actually alive, and only remnant spiritual forces left over from dead people exist here. The same events repeat and cycle endlessly in here, and it's been like this for countless years. You can't make any noise here, as the moment the spiritual force remnants discover you, you'll have to face attacks from all of them in this tablet world. This place can be thought of as an area where there are remnant spiritual forces of both commoners and super powerhouses."

Lu Yin was surprised. "There's actually such a strange place?"

The man urgently said, "Speak softer! You're going to doom us all!"

Lu Yin looked at Black and White. "Why didn't we didn't enter the tablet world when we touched that stone plaque we found earlier?"

Black replied, "Some stone plaques can be entered, and others can't."

"Why didn't you girls tell me anything about this tablet world?" Lu Yin asked.

White rolled her eyes. "Who would have thought that you didn't know?"

Lu Yin was left speechless, as it truly did seem like this tablet world was a piece of common knowledge within the Neoverse. Elder Yuan Ke had apparently assumed that Lu Yin already knew about the place, which was why the old man had not mentioned anything.

"Many come to the Mountain and Seas Zone to enter the tablet world, as the remnant spiritual forces repeat the same events without end. Although the cycle takes a bit of time to complete, certain activities are always carried out during each cycle, such as daily activities and other menial tasks, but the repeated activities also include cultivation," the cultivator explained.

Lu Yin's eyes grew bright. "Are you saying that, as long as we don't make any noise, we can observe anyone in here? Even if that person is cultivating, can we still study their whole process?"

The cultivator nodded. "As long as you don't make any noise."

Lu Yin's eyes grew fervent. "How big is this tablet world?"

The cultivator shook his head. "I can't give you an answer, but after a certain amount of time, the remnant spiritual forces in this tablet world will start to repeat their cycle, but the scope can also change. Remember, you absolutely must not make any noise."

Lu Yin understood.

The young man heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, there had not been too many spiritual force figures on the street they had arrived at. Otherwise, they would not have even had a chance to explain anything before Lu Yin made some noise.

No, Qian Zou could not stay with Lu Yin.

As he thought about it, Qian Zou stood up and nodded. He wanted to leave.