Star Odyssey

Chapter 2182: Miserable

Lu Yin had never Possessed anyone this long, not even when he had Possessed White Sage.

Lu Yin had accessed many of Long Ke’s memories, and he had learned of too many things that were kept hidden from most people. At this point in time, Lu Yin simply knew too much about Long Ke.

However, none of those details were as important as what he had learned about Star Alliance. Lu Yin had indeed learned how to break the restriction, but unfortunately, while it was indeed similar to the Sealed Cage Technique that Lu Yin was familiar with, the restriction placed on the members of Star Alliance required the joint efforts of representatives of all four ruling powers in order to be removed. This meant that Long Ke only knew a quarter of what Lu Yin needed.

This was a precaution set in place by the four ruling powers to safeguard against any one group being able to fully seize control of Star Alliance.

Regardless of who they were or why they had been controlled, everyone in Star Alliance was an Envoy. One or two Envoys was nothing scary, but ten or twenty was terrifying. Not a single one of the four ruling powers had that many Envoys, let alone anyone else.

Anyone who managed to gain total control of Star Alliance would become capable of utterly crushing every other power in the Perennial World, at least within the Envoy realm or below. That was not something that the four ruling powers wanted to see happen.

Since they each knew that it was impossible for them to gain sole control of Star Alliance, it was only natural for the four ruling powers to put precautions in place and split the control four different ways. Not only did this prevent any one power from controlling an army of Envoys, but it also prevented anyone from being able to save the members of Star Alliance. The four ruling powers would never take the risk of underestimating the remnants still loyal to the Lu family.

This knowledge gave Lu Yin a headache. The White Dragon Clan only possessed a quarter of the required knowledge, which meant that Lu Yin needed to obtain the matching bits of knowledge from the other three families. Shenwu's Sky was already a possibility. Xia Zhitong had access to Xia Yuan, and through that man, it might not be impossible for Lu Yin to acquire the necessary information from Shenwu’s Sky. However, what about the Celestial Frost Sect and the Wang family?

Lu Yin immediately thought of Wang Su, but she was still incarcerated at the Heavens Sect. Unfortunately, Lu Yin had not kept her confined to Zenith Mountain. Wang Yi was in the same place, which made the Wang family the most difficult of the four ruling powers for Lu Yin to approach.

This was also just Star Alliance. Lu Yin had purposely gone through Long Ke’s memories of Crimson Garden as well, and while the place seemed simple, it was anything but. It might appear simple to break the prisoners free, as long as a person could get inside, but Crimson Garden was not merely the prison for the survivors of the Lu family. It was also Bai Xian'er's personal garden. If anything happened to Crimson Garden, Bai Xian'er would be the first to know.

No one actually knew just how terrifying Bai Xian'er’s strength was. While she was someone from the same generation as the Seven Heroes, which made her Long Ke's junior, who in the Perennial World would actually dare to treat the woman as a junior? Her cultivation was beyond what people could comprehend, and there were rumors that she had already become a Semi-Progenitor. Long Ke had once even heard Grand Elder Ni Huang mention that Bai Xian'er was unfathomable and that he would rather fight Wan Zhiyi than Bai Xian'er.

Long Ke firmly believed the grand elder’s words.

Lu Yin also absolutely believed the same, though not because of Long Ke's memories. Instead, Lu Yin’s beliefs stemmed from when he had seen Bai Xian'er's eyes peer down from the Perennial World during his breakthrough to become an Envoy. Also, the finger that had intimidated Arch-Elder Zen had come from Bai Xian'er.

The woman was absolutely an enemy of the Lu family, but Lu Yin had no idea exactly what her role in the exile of the Lu family had been. At that time, the Lu family had been at their peak, so what could Lu Yin hope to accomplish on his own?

If Lu Yin wanted to save anyone, he had to save them all at the same time. If he first rescued the members of Star Alliance, then his enemies would make preparations to protect Crimson Garden. This made things very difficult, and the four ruling powers were not led by fools.

Lu Yin kept considering different options and possibilities. He knew that it would have been best to bring Wang Wen and Wei Rong to the Perennial World to help him with these efforts, as both of them excelled at convoluted plots.

Should he roll the die again? Lu Yin considered other options, but he decided to continue. His second time rolling Possession had allowed him to Possess Long Ke, and there was also the possibility of Possessing Xia Xing, Wang Zheng, or Bai Teng within a few more Possessions. It was also possible that he might be able to gather more information about Crimson Garden.

Wait. Lu Yin quickly checked his cosmic ring. He had Possessed Long Ke for a very long time, and Lu Yin had no idea how much this Possession had cost him.

After a single glance, Lu Yin's face was twitching. 90 billion. A full 90 billion star essence had been consumed. He felt the blood dripping from his heart. This was just too expensive! How much longer had Lu Yin spent Possessing Long Ke than Liu Yijian?

Lu Yin swallowed, and then he set one of his cosmic rings to the side. Despite the painful cost, he knew that Possessing Long Ke had absolutely been worth the price. After all, the Possession had lasted a very long time, and Long Ke was also currently on Dragon Mountain in the Higher Realm. The distance to Long Ke was incomparable to Liu Yijian’s, who was in the Middle Realm. It did indeed make sense for the Possession to have cost that much.

Despite comforting himself with such assurances, Lu Yin still felt very unhappy about burning through so much of his wealth. He would absolutely force Long Ke to eventually repay this expense. Also, Lu Yin had learned the location of Long Ke's personal stash, and there would absolutely be some wealth stored there.

Lu Yin continued to roll his die while his mind wandered, and he did not pay much attention to what he was doing. The roll that had gotten Lu Yin his last Possession had actually been his fourth roll, and he just continued with a fifth.

He was struck by terrible pain. He felt as though his head was being torn apart.

Regardless of how much Lu Yin’s cultivation had improved, he had never been able to roll his die more than four times in a row. The fifth roll was always more than what he could endure, though the backlash this time was less severe than it had been in the past. After all, Lu Yin was able to retain consciousness the entire time, and he had at least not been knocked out by the backlash.

It was a long time before Lu Yin was able to recover.

Once he did, he noticed Kui Luo approaching, so Lu Yin stepped out from the sourcebox array.

"Xia Yuan’s already arrived in Yu City and met up with Xia Zhitong," Kui Luo stated.

Lu Yin nodded and looked towards Yu City. "Let’s see just how many times Xia Zhitong can endure the pain of failure."

Inside Yu City, Xia Zhitong finally met with Xia Yuan. In recent days, she had been so frantic that she had grown haggard, and rumors had started to spread about her. It had become known that she had not taken a single man to warm her bed, and she had even driven them away instead. Each incident had left her extremely irritable.

Many people claimed that she had fallen ill with some kind of incurable disease, while others said that she had gone insane. There were even rumors that claimed that Xia Zhitong had been attacked. Yu City was experiencing a great deal of turmoil.

As for the real reason why Xia Zhitong had been so out of sorts, it was not only because of the restrictions that had been placed on her body like a curse, but also because she had aged a bit. After she had asked Xia Feng to help her, the man’s failure had not crushed Xia Zhitong’s spirits. But later,she had discovered that her eyes had dimmed a bit, and her hair had slightly withered and faded slightly.

This was the discovery that had broken the woman, and she had not dared to allow herself to be seen by anyone. It was only then that she remembered Yu Hao’s warning, and that the poison would not only keep her from touching men. He really had condemned her to the worst torture imaginable.

However, the more Xia Zhitong thought about her situation, the more frightened she became. She had started to give in to despair as she had waited for Xia Yuan’s arrival.

When he finally saw Xia Zhitong, Xia Yuan frowned. "Why has your appearance changed?"

Xia Zhitong's face twisted horribly, and she dropped her head. When she spoke, her voice was a bit hoarse. "Xia Feng wasn’t able to help me, so there’s no reason for you to try to help. I just want you to help me get back to Shenwu's Sky so that I can participate in the ceremony to honor our ancestors."

Xia Yuan frowned. "I told you that I would help you. What could Yu Hao have possibly done?"

"Not even Xia Feng could help me!" Xia Zhitong screamed, her eyes bloodshot. She was losing her mind. It had already been more than half a month since she had last touched a man, and on top of that, her body was aging rapidly. She was on the verge of collapse.

Xia Yuan's expression grew cold. "Xia Feng simply didn’t want to help you. Do you really believe that Yu Hao is capable of standing up to someone with my strength? Not even Shenfei is capable of that."

"I am going to the ceremony." Xia Zhitong stared at Xia Yuan, her eyes filled with insanity.

"You're crazy. I’ll just deal with it for you." Xia Yuan was growing increasingly annoyed.

Xia Zhitong kept trying to escape. "Don't touch me! I don't want your help! I want to see Semi-Progenitor Zihuan! Only a Semi-Progenitor can save me!"

Xia Yuan finally lost his temper. "Don’t be ridiculous! Do you think that you qualify to see a Semi-Progenitor? Let me see what sort of poison you’ve been afflicted with."

As he spoke, Xia Yuan grabbed hold of Xia Zhitong. He was far stronger than her, and she could not escape at all.

Things turned out exactly the same as when Xia Feng had tried to help. Xia Yuan was unable to do anything, and he quickly released the woman.

Xia Zhitong screamed nonstop. "I told you that it's useless! You hurt me! You want me to die and to grow old! You want me to turn ugly and end up as the biggest joke in the entire Perennial World! Fine, I won’t go down easy!"

Xia Yuan's eyes flickered. How had Yu Hao managed to pull off such a thing? Xia Yuan was completely helpless. Did he need to ask a six-tribulation expert to step in?

Xia Zhitong's clothes had gotten messed up, and she was not as elegant looking as earlier. She glared at Xia Yuan like a madwoman. "I want to see a Semi-Progenitor! Only a Semi-Progenitor can save me! Let me see Semi-Progenitor Zihuan! If I die, people will believe that the remnants of the Lu family are behind my death, which will cause your entire plan to fail! On top of that, you’ll have to take the blame for the sake of the family and be ridiculed by all four ruling powers!"

Xia Yuan's voice turned cold. "Do you think that your death can actually threaten me?"

Xia Zhitong sneered. "I always knew you were ruthless, dear Uncle. Did you actually believe me to be dumb enough to believe you? Do you think that I don't already know what the entire family thinks of me? I've already put plans into motion, and as soon as I die, everyone will learn that the remnants of the Lu family are responsible—I can promise you that."

Xia Yuan’s eyes glinted dangerously as he stared at Xia Zhitong. "You allowed such rumors to spread outside?"

Xia Zhitong laughed herself hoarse. "That’s just the beginning! I already worked with you to make sure that the story of the Yu family’s fall intimidated the entire Perennial World. Even back then, I prepared a back-up plan. The list of people who were killed, as well as everyone who’s ever slept with me, will be leaked throughout the Perennial World even faster than the Yu family’s story!

"My reputation is already ruined, so I don’t even care about it. Don’t think that I won’t drag the Xia family’s reputation down with me!"

Xia Yuan became so enraged that he raised a hand to crush Xia Zhitong and kill her, but the woman just let out a crazed laugh. "Go ahead, kill me! I’m already like this anyways. But if I die, the Xia family's reputation will also be ruined, and you’ll never be able to find Yu Hao! He was already able to do this to me, and he can do the same to you!"

Xia Yuan's heart dropped. It was true that Yu Hao had access to some strange poison that even Xia Yuan and Xia Feng were unable to do anything about. Thus, it was highly likely that he had other means as well.

The reputation of the Xia family was important, and in comparison, Xia Zhitong’s death was worth nothing at all. Xia Yuan could not afford to do anything that might impact the current delicate balance, and absolutely nothing that could improve the reputation of the Lu family could be allowed to happen. If Xia Yuan did do such a thing, then he would be doomed. He did not want to die with this madwoman.

"You’re insane if you think that you can threaten my family." Xia Yuan lowered his hand, the anger draining from his voice.

Xia Zhitong mocked the man. "What? You’re not going to kill me?"

Xia Yuan took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "I will allow you to worship our ancestors and see Semi-Progenitor Zihuan, but you better understand what can be said and what cannot. Also, Yu Hao has to be found. We have to get rid of him."

Xia Zhitong's eyes flashed with a sinister light as she gritted her teeth. "Don't worry about that. I’ll get rid of him! I’ll force him to endure the worst torture in the world! I’ll pay him back a thousand times over for what he’s done!"

From outside the Yu family estate, Lu Yin watched everything, enjoying it as though he were watching a performance.

Kui Luo laughed. "What do you think? It wasn’t a waste of time for me to call you out for this, was it? That was a good show!"

A smile spread across Lu Yin's face. "It wasn’t bad, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make an appearance. That would have made it even better."

Kui Luo let out his odd laugh. "What do you think about joining the Xia family’s ceremony?"