Star Odyssey

Lu Yin's breath was ragged, and he growled as dark death energy started to fill his eyes.

Silver stood behind him and observed with a frown. Shaman God was also present.

"How is it? Have you figured out why?" Shaman God asked.

Silver shook his head. "Should I invite the clan leader over?"

Shaman God replied, "There's no need for that. There's more important research for us to focus on. So, I guess that this kiddo should be considered a successful experiment, no?"

Silver carefully eyed Lu Yin as he raised his head and roared at Silver. Silver's eyes gleamed as he raised a hand and set it on Lu Yin's shoulders. The roaring stopped.

Silver furrowed his brows. He had suppressed Lu Yin with death energy, which was what was supposed to happen. However, even though Lu Yin had been suppressed, Silver felt like something was off, though he could not quite put his finger on it. He could not feel the superiority that the Specter Clan held concerning death energy.

One possible explanation was that Lu Yin was already able to control death energy, but Silver was highly skeptical of that theory. Even other members of the Specter Clan were not able to control death energy that quickly.

But what is this strange feeling?

Silver stared into Lu Yin's eyes. They had not turned white, and everything was a bit strange.

When regular humans absorbed death energy, their eyes would change color, regardless of their success or failure. But what was happening with Lu Yin? There was death energy in Lu Yin's eyes, but they had not turned white.

Strange.

"So what's the verdict? Can he undergo a second remodeling?" Shaman God pressed on.

Silver deferentially replied, "It's better to not perform the second remodeling just yet, as his eyes have not turned white. Proceeding could allow for an unimaginable consequence to occur."

Shaman God was extremely displeased. "The Specter Clan has never let me down when it came to controlling death energy."

"My lord wishes to obtain the perfect weapon, and at the moment, Lu Yin has not reached that state yet. Only after his eyes have changed color will he be able to cultivate the corpse king transformation."

Shaman God snorted derisively. "Then show me some results now."

Silver nodded and snapped his fingers. Far away, a crouching figure stood up.

Lu Yin continued to act crazy, and with death energy in his eyes, he saw Beast, which had attacked him in the Mountain and Seas Zone, draw close. This was the same corpse king that had managed to nearly capture even Shang Qing, and it had actually managed to injure the First Honor Chosen with its claws. This creature was peerless within the younger generation.

It possessed a strength that was comparable to Progenitor Chen's when the progenitor had been an Enlighter.

"Attack," Silver ordered with a grin that would give a person chills.

Beast growled as its crimson eyes went grey—first transformation. It rushed at Lu Yin while raising its claws.

Lu Yin stood rooted in place and allowed Corpse Beast to slash his shoulder. The attack drove Lu Yin into the ground. He suffered through the pain with a low growl before leaping up high. His body was wrapped with death energy as he charged back at Beast, using the same clawing motion. Beast was sent flying a hundred meters back, and it left a huge pit in the ground upon landing.

Lu Yin did not stop and charged at the transformed corpse king again. His body was shrouded with black death energy as he stomped at the creature.

This time, Beast's eyes turned green—second corpse king transformation. It met Lu Yin's foot with a punch of its own, catapulting Lu Yin away. Beast then leaped up and sent another punch flying at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin simply absorbed the death energy shrouding his form back into his body and punched back.

Boom!

The violent impact sent massive ripples throughout the underground area, causing many corpse kings to roar.

In the past, without transforming, Beast had been no match for Lu Yin. After the first transformation, its strength had rivaled Lu Yin's. And with the second green eyes transformation, Lu Yin had been outclassed even with his nine lined battle force. But at this moment, he was able to fight the creature with just brute strength and death energy.

This was the power of death energy.

However, after the third corpse king transformation, Lu Yin was sent flying by another punch, and he vomited a mouthful of blood as he crashed into the ground.

Beast wanted to continue attacking, but it was stopped by Silver.

Silver looked over at Shaman God.

Shaman God commented in a satisfied tone, "Not bad. With his physical strength and death energy, he's already able to fight against a twice transformed Enlighter realm corpse king. He's indeed worthy of becoming the perfect weapon. Even if the Mavis family's Treeheart Descendent was remodeled with death energy, she wouldn't be much stronger than him."

Silver smiled. "The Treeheart Descendent is an Enlighter, so this humble one believes that once Lu Yin becomes a Hunter, he will definitely be able to surpass the Treeheart Descendent or even Shang Qing even if they were remodeled by death energy."

Shaman God cackled at those words and left some words behind before returning topside. "Will he be able to achieve that much just by becoming a Hunter? Interesting. Continue letting him absorb death energy to become the perfect weapon. Once he has regained control of his mind, force him to hand over his secret techniques."

"Yes, my lord," Silver replied.

Silver turned towards Lu Yin after Shaman God left.

Lu Yin was still growling where he lay on the ground.

Silver looked down at Lu Yin and said, "Do your best to absorb more death energy and become a Hunter. Then, you will be able to fight against Beast after he uses the third corpse king transformation. As for me, I'll have another weapon on my hands, as well as more assurance for my upcoming journey to Progenitor Chen's Mausoleum. Captain, do your best." Silver left and took Beast with him. However, before that, he had Corpse Beast toss Lu Yin next to the pit that emanated death energy. The concentration of death energy in that place was even stronger.

After they left, Lu Yin stood up and roared while internally cursing them.

It's so painful!

Beast's attacks had been overwhelmingly strong, and Lu Yin had been forced to face all of the attacks head-on during their fight.

Fortunately, he had become a nine cycle Cruiser, and with the additional strength of the death energy, he had been able to fend off the corpse king even after the second transformation. The third, however, was powerful enough to maim him with any random move.

Lu Yin observed his surroundings and saw that there was a dense concentration of death energy all around him. He then recalled Silver's words.

What's that about Progenitor Chen's Mausoleum? Isn't it protected by the Seven Courts? He's able to get there?

He remembered that, back in the Outerverse, Ku Wei had come from the Neoverse and had invited Lu Yin to pay the Ku family a visit after the competition for the Cosmic Five was over. Then, the two of them were supposed to enter Progenitor Chen's Mausoleum together.

Did this mean that Progenitor Chen's grave was about to open? Only descendants from the Seven Courts were able to enter that place, so Lu Yin was once again surprised by the influence that the Neohuman Alliance wielded.

However, that meant that Lu Yin could also go! His eyes sparkled with excitement.

Progenitor Chen's Mausoleum was an opportunity for him to leave Aeternus Nation and escape.

Lu Yin's breathing started to grow labored as he studied the death energy around him. If he accompanied Silver to Progenitor Chen's Mausoleum and escaped, then he would no longer have the opportunity to cultivate with this death energy in the future.

Lu Yin was rather reluctant to abandon this power that had left him feeling extremely comfortable.

I'll have to make use of this time, then.Lu Yin opened his mouth and began to deeply inhale the death energy.

…

Lu Yin continued absorbing death energy beneath Aeternus Nation. In the outside world, news of the Neohuman Alliance capturing him had spread everywhere, and the Great Eastern Alliance descended into chaos. The Great Yu Empire grieved the loss of their leader, and everybody appeared to pay respects to Lu Yin's statues.

The common consensus was that even if Lu Yin had not died after being captured, he would still be turned into a corpse king. It was over for him.

This news dealt a heavy blow to many people.

But before they could even react, another piece of news spread out.

The Hall of Honor ordered the Great Eastern Alliance to release the Astral River Ark to facilitate travel between the Innerverse and Outerverse. At the same time, control of the Great Eastern Alliance would temporarily be given to Bu Laoweng.

At this moment, on the Great Yu Empire's capital, Zenyu Star, all of the high-ranking members, such as Wei Rong, the Imperial Cabinet, the Lu Cabinet, and the Lu Defense, were engaged in a heated discussion.

"The Royal Regent has been captured, and the Hall of Honor immediately sent someone to take charge of us? They're too much!"

"With the Royal Regent's abilities, he might still be able to return. Let's contact someone higher up in the Hall of Honor and ask for them to wait for the Royal Regent's return."

"Immediately contact Ye Gui! He is the guardian of Zenyu Star! He's an Enlighter stationed here by the Royal Regent. He's the only one who can contact the higher ranks of the Hall of Honor."

"And the Lan family as well. Didn't Lan Si and the Royal Regent travel to the Astral Tower competition together? Request their aid. With the status of one of the Ten Arbiters, he should be able to contact the Hall of Honor as well."

…

The entire Outerverse was thrown into disarray by the news of Lu Yin's capture.

Within Grandtop Weave, Tian Ming was feeling extremely apprehensive. He had managed to become the leader of the Nine Stacks Sect due to Lu Yin's support, but with Lu Yin gone, how could he remain in this position? After the news spread, he had felt the attitude of the higher members of the sect abruptly change.

In Lars Weave, the leader of the Six-Fingered Tribe, Bach Shamus, had complicated feelings. When he had agreed to join the Great Eastern Alliance, it had been in order to deal with the Wei family, but now that the Wei family had assimilated into the Great Eastern Alliance, the tribe's common foe had vanished. Even if the Great Eastern Alliance ended up fracturing, the Wei family no longer posed any threats to the tribe.

Bach Shamus did not know how to feel. Was he looking forward to Lu Yin's return, or was he hoping that the youth would never come back?

No, Lu Yin definitely was not coming back.

If he could not come back, then there was no reason for the Six-Fingered Tribe to listen to others' orders. Heed the orders from the Hall of Honor? Impossible!

Bach Shamus was not the only one with such thoughts, as all of the powerful factions within the Great Eastern Alliance, including Greenpeak Gorge, the Vastdearth Sect, Evenground Palace, the Neo-Vestige Sect, the Dark Phoenix family, and the others were completely unwilling to accept orders from some stranger.

Lu Yin had succeeded in unifying the Outerverse due to the Outerverse being isolated from the Innerverse and his various methods. However, was everyone expected to heed orders from some new guy? On what basis?

This outcome was well within the expectations of the Hall of Honor. Now that travel between the Innerverse and Outerverse had returned to normal, the Innerverse had no desire to see an united Outerverse, not even if the Hall of Honor wished for such a thing.

A unified Outerverse would not benefit or profit the Innerverse powers.

The Hall of Honor was naturally aware of such things, so they immediately released Bu Laoweng's identity: he was one of the Hall of Honor's overseers.

On the surface, the decision-making group within the Hall of Honor was the overseers. They had the authority to pass judgment and conduct trials.

Even if they were not powerful individuals, they had been given absolute authority, and to some extent, they could even affect the Interstellar Supreme Court, the Lockbreaker Society, and other such powerful organizations.

Bu Laoweng was naturally a powerful authority figure who stood at the peak of the Human Domain as the overseer.

Such a figure would oversee the Great Eastern Alliance. This caused the various factions who had intended to break away from the Great Eastern Alliance to break out in a cold sweat. They all wanted to leave, but nobody wished to be the first to make such an attempt.

It was evident that the Hall of Honor had disclosed Bu Laoweng's identity as a warning to such powers. Most likely, they would be immediately dealt with if they tried to break away.

At this moment, even the Innerverse did not dare to lay any plans regarding the Outerverse.

As for the competition for the Cosmic Five, that fever had died down after the massive changes within the Neoverse. The Mountain and Seas Zone no longer existed, and naturally, the same was true of the Cosmic Five.