Star Odyssey

Chapter 1864: Endless Fear

The Karmic Flame Sable had not expected Lu Yin to suddenly attack it, and its flames abruptly formed a curtain that shielded the beast from all directions. Still, the sable was a bit too slow, and the Hollow Palm smashed into it, sending the creature's body tumbling away.

The Karmic Flame Sable was furious, and it shrieked at Lu Yin. The beast's eyes blazed with killing intent, and flames surged crazily from its body. It was clearly quite small, but in the blink of an eye, a mountain-sized flame had appeared around it. The astral beast raised its paws and slapped one at Lu Yin while attacking Ling Qiu with the other.

When it came to simple power level, Ling Qiu could not compare to the Karmic Flame Sable. However, she was a part of the Lingling Clan, and both her innate gift and battle techniques were unparalleled. The Lingling clan had the Soulsplitting Technique, which allowed a person to split into three clones. Each clone was just as strong as the original body until they were destroyed. This technique alone made anyone from the Lingling clan a challenge to face.

When Ling Taizu had fought against Liu Huang, Ling Taizu had been utterly crushed, as Liu Huang had a power level of over a million while Ling Taizu's was only at around 800,000. During the recent battle, the Celestial Demon with a power level of more than a million had launched a sneak attack, and Ling Taizu had once again been completely powerless.

Still, these losses were no reason to underestimate someone from the Lingling clan. When fighting against someone with an equal power level, people from the Lingling clan were practically invincible.

The Karmic Flame Sable's power level clearly surpassed Ling Qiu's, but the two were nonetheless still in a stalemate. This was also why Ling Qiu was confident that she could deal with the astral beast.

The Soulsplitting Technique gave Ling Qiu the ability to restrain the Karmic Flame Sable and keep it completely occupied.

Ling Qiu dodged the burning claw as she stared at Lu Yin. "I don't need your help. It's just a beast. I can handle it."

Lu Yin was not helping her specifically, but rather capturing the Karmic Flame Sable alive for himself. Still, that looked to be a rather difficult task.

Ling Qiu's words enraged the Karmic Flame Sable. Regardless of how the words were spoken, they sounded like an insult. As the astral beast's fury raged, its flames surged in all directions. Ling Qiu was caught off guard, and the fires burned her to ashes.

Although only a clone from the Soulsplitting Technique had fallen, Ling Qiu's attacks became far fiercer. Drifting leaves floated through space as the Envoy had activated her innate gift.

The most terrifying aspect of people from the Lingling clan was their innate gift. The result of combining ten different innate gifts could become truly incredible.

Ling Qiu's talent was autumnal, just like her name. The falling leaves were from autumn, and although they looked like nothing more than fallen leaves, the Karmic Flame Sable's fires could not burn them. The leaves fell like rain, and unbelievably, they smothered the sable's flames that had formed a mountain.

The Karmic Flame Sable raised its head, and a sharp whistling sound pierced through the air, full of the creature's anger as it glared at Ling Qiu.

Lu Yin's eyes grew cold, and an astral chessboard appeared beneath his feet, allowing him to move.

He appeared directly above the Karmic Flame Sable's head, and as Ling Qiu watched on in astonishment, the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant visualization method appeared as his palm dropped down: Hollow Palm.

Initially, the Karmic Flame Sable had not cared about Lu Yin at all and had been completely focused on Ling Qiu, especially when the woman started using her innate gift. However, the beast felt an even stronger sense of danger from this attack of Lu Yin's, which left the sable stunned. Lu Yin's Hollow Palm was incredibly powerful, and even if the Karmic Flame Sable had a power level of more than 700,000, it still would not be able to endure this strike. Unsurprisingly, it was smacked into the true universe.

Lu Yin seized the opportunity and shouted, "Do it!"

His hand fell again, not giving the sable any chance to mount a defense. Ling Qiu also had not expected Lu Yin's palm strike to be so powerful. Also, what was that image behind him? An elephant?

Ling Qiu did not have any time to think about what she had just seen. She quickly formed a spear with her stellular energy and stabbed it into the Karmic Flame Sable.

The astral beast was pierced through, and blood sprayed out. The excruciating pain woke it from its daze, but only in time for it to see Lu Yin's next attack land. The Hollow Palm incorporated Lu Yin's domain and spiritual force. While the sable might have the physical strength to endure Lu Yin's Overlaying Stacks and even his domain, the beast was weak to spiritual force. The unexpected and mixed nature of Lu Yin's Hollow Palms left the Karmic Flame Sable in a stunned state, and it was completely unable to fight back.

Off in the distance, Feng Lin had returned to her form as a Celestial Ice Phoenix. She rose high above the battlefield, and her tricolored rays swept out.

Lu Yin grabbed the Karmic Flame Sable and used it as a shield. When the tricolored rays arrived, Lu Yin and the sable were both blown back.

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Feng Lin's power level was only a bit over 600,000, which meant that it was impossible for her to breach Lu Yin's defenses, but the ray still managed to scorch the sable's fur.

"Despicable!" Feng Lin raged.

Across from her, the Frost Emperor raised a hand. A wreath of five interlocking plum blossoms appeared and shot out. "See if you can melt this."

Feng Lin turned to glare at the Frost Emperor. "Our tricolored ray can melt anything! It's impossible for you to defeat me!"

She fired off another ray even as she spoke.

The Karmic Flame Sable was caught in an unending onslaught from both Lu Yin and Ling Qiu. It was suppressed to the point where it could not fight back at all.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared and wrapped around the Karmic Flame Sable and tried to pull the creature away.

It was Shadowbeast.

Lu Yin instantly became upset. Shadowbeast wanted to steal his prey? Lu Yin immediately formed a sword from his star energy and slashed out, but he could not cut through Shadowbeast's shadow.

At the same time, Liu Qianjue's sword struck from the distance, instantly slicing through the shadow and disrupting Shadowbeast's control. Ling Qiu took advantage of the opening to stab the shadow with her spear, nailing it in place.

Still, Shadowbeast's interference had given the Karmic Flame Sable a moment to breathe, and it quickly regained control of its faculties after being dazed by Lu Yin's Hollow Palm. Flames erupted from its body and shot at Lu Yin. At this moment, the sable hated Lu Yin far more than it did Ling Qiu.

Even if Ling Qiu's fallen leaves reappeared, she would not be able to completely suppress these flames.

However, Lu Yin did not feel any fear against these flames. His bodysuit armor was more than capable of protecting him, and even though it had cracked, the heat that could seep through those openings would not be too fierce. Besides, Lu Yin usually cultivated with the assistance of hot flames, so he had developed a high resistance to heat.

Still, Lu Yin remained cautious, as his goal was to capture the Karmic Flame Sable alive. If he could not accomplish that, then he would have wasted his time and should have just left this beast for Ling Qiu to fight on her own.

As Lu Yin thought about his, the black and white mist seeped out of his chest and formed a large cocoon that enveloped him. Ling Qiu suddenly appeared in front of him, and she swept the encroaching flames away. That done, she turned to look at the black and white cocoon in surprise. What was this?

At the same time, countless others looked over: Feng Lin, the Frost Emperor, Liu Qianjue, Shadowbeast, Liu Huang, Xu Qing, the Celestial Demon, the Second Nightking, and more. This was because the moment the dual-colored mist appeared, an ancient aura had filled the area, and its appearance caused everyone to reflexively look over.

The Karmic Flame Sable stared at the black and white cocoon, and fear appeared in the depths of the beast's eyes. It did not fear Lu Yin, but it was very afraid of this new power that had just appeared. While this new power might not exceed the astral beast's power level, for some reason, just the sight of it elicited an inexplicable fear from the bottom of the sable's heart. It was almost as if its species was suppressed by this power on a primal level.

The sable was not the only astral beast feeling this, as every single astral beast on the entire battlefield had frozen at the same time.

There was one detail that Lu Yin had never even thought about; as he grew stronger, the aura of the God of Death that he gave off also grew stronger, and he became more similar to the God of Death. That ancient powerhouse had faced off against humans, astral beasts, and even the Aeternals. There was an indelible mark on the very souls of the creatures who had faced the God of Death.

The fear that gripped the astral beasts' hearts was essentially an instinct, and it would only grow more and more pronounced as time passed.

The black and white cocoon broke open, and Lu Yin reappeared. His hair hung to his waist, and black and white mists twined about him. He had used the God of Death Transformation.

When he looked up, his eyes were pure black, and anyone that looked into them would feel endless fear.

At this moment, Lu Yin looked very different from normal.

He shook his hands; he felt much stronger than before. Every time he improved his cultivation or absorbed more death energy, it seemed that his God of Death Transformation would become stronger as well. Lu Yin had never this stronger before, and this increase was far from small.

"Out of my way," Lu Yin growled. He glanced at Ling Qiu before quickly stepping forward. He raised a hand, and the massive scythe slashed at the Karmic Flame Sable.

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The astral beast seemed frozen in place as it stared at the approaching scythe. Surprisingly, it never moved at all, and the scythe sliced through half of the sable's body, spilling its blood into space.

Lu Yin was caught off guard. Is this guy stupid? Why didn't it do anything?

Some distance away, Shadowbeast's shadow twisted as he tried to drag the Karmic Flame Sable away once again, but this time, Lu Yin was prepared. The scythe swept out again, this time towards Shadowbeast, and Lu Yin actually managed to block the shadow.

Despite the incredible difference in power level, Lu Yin had actually managed to block the shadow.

Shadowbeast was startled, as this was simply impossible. His power level meant that it should have been impossible for someone as weak as Lu Yin to block him no matter what Lu Yin did. That scythe was odd, and there was also something strange about Lu Yin's strength. Shadowbeast was actually feeling a bit fearful, and he did not dare to look directly into Lu Yin's eyes.

The Karmic Flame Sable finally reacted, and it forced itself to endure its terrible injuries to escape. Lu Yin entered the true universe and chased after the sable. His chains shot out and captured the Karmic Flame Sable before he turned around and raced towards the human fleet. "Stop them."

From the moment Lu Yin entered the cocoon to when he captured the Karmic Flame Sable, only a few seconds had passed. Still, the shock that his actions brought to the battlefield was unmatched. All the astral beasts were completely stunned, both from the innate fear towards Lu Yin's God of Death Transformation and from the sight of Lu Yin blocking Shadowbeast.

The Celestial Demons were arrogant creatures that devoured spiritual force. They saw themselves as the rulers of the Astral Beast Domain, and they looked down upon all humans. However, the moment the Celestial Demon saw Lu Yin's God of Death Transformation, the Celestial Demon had felt an instinctive fear well up. He did not fear Lu Yin, but rather the power that Lu Yin controlled.

Just what was that power? It actually transcended cultivation and power levels to induce a fear in one's very soul!

Xu Qing stared at Lu Yin's back, and the Void Thundbeast's eyes blazed. This was the power that he wanted! This was it! This was the strength that suppressed all peers, and Xu Qing had to obtain it.

Once Lu Yin was completely out of sight, the countless astral beasts finally reacted. The Karmic Flame Sable had been captured.

Xu Qing screamed, "Lu Yin, let the Karmic Flame Sable go!"

As he yelled, he tried to force his way closer to the humans' fleet in vain, but Liu Huang stopped the astral beasts' general. Xu Qing glanced around, and he saw that none of the astral beasts had any fighting spirit left at all, and their loss of morale caused Xu Qing's heart to sink. Even someone at Xu Qing's level had been scared by Lu Yin, so there was no need to mention any of the others. Realizing this, Xu Qing ordered an immediate retreat. Continuing the fight at this point would only cause the astral beasts to suffer more casualties, especially since they had lost a powerhouse.

The retreat of the horde of astral beasts indicated the Great Eastern Alliance's victory.

In fact, as far as the Great Eastern Alliance was concerned, they were victorious as long as they were not forced to retreat.

However, there were odd expressions on the faces of Liu Huang and the other powerhouses. Winning was winning, so why had Lu Yin captured the Karmic Flame Sable and fled from the battlefield?

No one could understand Lu Yin's intentions aside from Abel Phoenix, who had somewhat of an idea.

In the center of the Great Eastern Alliance's fleet, Lu Yin emerged from the true universe. His chains still bound the Karmic Flame Sable, who struggled frantically. Unfortunately, it had already been injured by Lu Yin's Hollow Palm and Ling Qiu's attacks before being severely wounded by Lu Yin's God of Death Transformation. At the moment, the sable's strength had been reduced to that of a new Envoy, and it was completely unable to escape from Lu Yin, let alone when Lu Yin was using the God of Death Transformation.

Lu Yin took out the Skyblaze Stone and placed it in front of the Karmic Flame Sable's mouth. "Breathe fire."

The sable's little eyes glared at Lu Yin, burning with killing intent. However, there was also an inexplicable fear deep in the beast's eyes.

"I said, breathe fire!" Lu Yin yelled.

"Human, are you trying to humiliate me?" For the first time, the Karmic Flame Sable spoke. Its voice was as sharp as its eyes, and it sounded like grinding metal.

Lu Yin calmly stated, "If you don't breathe fire, you'll die."

The Karmic Flame Sable raged, "We captured three of you humans' Envoys, and yet we never killed any of them!"

"That's just because not enough time passed. Xu Qing was planning to use them to destroy my Great Eastern Alliance's morale, which is even more despicable than just killing them. I entered your army on my own to meet with Xu Qing and to rescue them. Tell me, does Xu Qing have the courage to do the same for you? Would you?" Lu Yin mocked.