Star Odyssey

Chapter 2255: Lu Yin And Wang Fan

Lu Yin could not understand this situation at all; why would anyone put in the time and effort to raise Servant One into a five-tribulation powerhouse?

He understood the concept of gu cultivation, where a group of people were forced to fight to the death to survive until a single elite powerhouse remained in the end. But what in the world was Servant One’s purpose? Was he really just here to clean up something’s messes?

Also, Lu Yin had happened to see a single memory of a corpse that Servant One had once found.

While the man had no knowledge of the outside world, the fact that he had managed to become a five-tribulation Envoy in complete isolation was enough to demonstrate Servant One’s incredible talent. He had even cultivated a domain by accident. Once, when unleashing his domain, he had found a corpse. Aside from that, there was absolutely nothing in the underground area.

As for what the corpse actually looked like or whom it belonged to, the man had no idea.

Lu Yin was only able to see the one corpse in the man’s memories.

After following the route in the memories, Lu Yin arrived at a pile of debris. There were bits of metal here, as well as some plant and animal remains. There were even scraps of books and coins, but everything could only be vaguely made out, as it had all been thoroughly crushed.

Lu Yin casually gathered the trash into a cosmic ring, using motions that were very familiar to the body that he had Possessed. After all, he had cleaned up countless similar messes many times in the past. He was a five-tribulation Envoy, and he had lived in the underground area for no less than 1,000 years.

Lu Yin had no idea how Servant One could have endured this life if he had ever gained any knowledge of the outside world. As far as Servant One was concerned, the entire universe consisted of the few underground passages.

Lu Yin did not want to immediately end the Possession. Servant One had been given the resources and cultivation arts to pass five stellular tribulations, and the man had never had a single memory of ever lacking any training resources. Whoever had raised the man was clearly not a simple group, and Lu Yin wanted to find out who they were and what sort of creature was producing the messes that Servant One always cleaned up.

Thoughts passed through Lu Yin’s mind as he walked forward. There was more rubbish up ahead, but Servant One had never approached it, as he was not allowed to enter that area.

However, Lu Yin controlled Servant One’s body and made the man continue walking forward. He was a thousand meters away from the location of the corpse that Lu Yin had seen in Servant One’s memories. He only needed to cross two more passages to see the corpse for himself.

"Why are you continuing forward?" The hideous voice that spoke left Lu Yin feeling very uncomfortable.

"There is more rubbish up ahead," Lu Yin replied.

"Retreat. Get back," the voice ordered.

Lu Yin bowed to the voice and then slowly walked backwards until he stepped into some water.

It was normal for water to pool up in the dark and damp underground region. Lu Yin had stepped in the puddle when he had first passed through the tunnel, but he suddenly realized that he was not stepping in normal water, but rather a Netherworld River.

Lu Yin looked down and stared in shock. Was it really a Netherworld River?

This was not something that Lu Yin would mistake. The moment he stepped in the water, his body had abruptly moved, and it had done so without his control. Uncontrollable movement was something that only the Netherworld River could do, and this even seemed to be the Netherworld River Lu Yin had personally Enhanced before. However, this seemed to be the ruined scraps of that Netherworld River. Did this place belong to Realmless?

Lu Yin stared ahead. He had given a Netherworld River to Realmless as a deposit for them to assassinate Xia Xing. The fact that it was in this underground tunnel meant that this place had to belong to Realmless.

He had heard the rumors that claimed that the headquarters that had been destroyed by Shenwu's Sky had not been the real headquarters. The four ruling powers had started monitoring Elder Qiu not only to eliminate the entire Dealcut Association, but also to learn where Realmless’s true headquarters was. The four ruling powers had learned that the Dealcut Association had been providing funds for Realmless for many years, and Realmless had been helping the Dealcut Association eliminate certain problems in turn. There was a long-standing cooperation between the two groups.

Lu Yin had unexpectedly ended up in Realmless's real headquarters. In that case, just exactly where was he? Also, who did that horrible voice belong to?

Lu Yin had just too many questions, but unfortunately, there were no answers to be had from Servant One.

It was possible that this was actually the reason why the creature had raised Servant One; it wanted a powerful, yet easily manipulated servant. Even if Servant One was discovered, no one would be able to extract any information from him. Also, it was likely that Servant One was trained to a certain level of strength so that he could accomplish his assigned tasks.

Lu Yin moved Servant One’s body back to where he had started before ending the Possession, but that was all that Lu Yin could do. Servant One had no idea where he was located or how to leave. There was no way for Lu Yin to make the man escape. Doing so would inform even an idiot that something had happened, and Realmless’s headquarters would definitely change. Even if Lu Yin could find the place again, exposing Servant One would make such knowledge useless.

Lu Yin’s consciousness passed back through the dark space as it returned to his own body. This Possession did not consume that much star essence. One, he had not taken very long, and two, the target had not been nearly as powerful as Lu Yin’s most recent Possessions.

However, how was he supposed to find that place?

Servant One, trash… Lu Yin’s eyes suddenly lit up. That Netherworld River! That was the answer! It might be possible to locate Realmless’s headquarters through that Netherworld River.

After all, that power vessel had come from the bottom of the Yōu family's Great Abyss, so it was possible for the Yōu family to have a way to locate all the Netherworld Rivers. If that assumption was true, then Lu Yin might be able to find Realmless’s headquarters.

After returning to the Fifth Mainland, he absolutely had to go visit the Yōu family again.

Realmless was an organization that absolutely had to be eliminated entirely. If they were just another group of assassins, then things would be fine, but they had also cooperated with the Dealcut Association to interfere in the rear battlefield. Lu Yin was absolutely certain that, if anything happened in the future to compromise the rear battlefield and humanity’s safety, Realmless would be the first group of humans to switch sides and join Aeternus. Given the assassins and information that Realmless had at their disposal, humanity would suffer terribly in that case.

Lu Yin took a moment to carve the matter deep into his heart before his hand rose back up to tap his die again.

His luck had run out, as two of the next three rolls were Blackhole Disassembly. Still, he did manage to roll Timestop once.

With his various training sessions in his Timestop Space, Lu Yin had already simulated 110,000 stars of the Cosmic Art. Still, there was a very, very long way to go before he reached the 380,000 stars that indicated full mastery of the Cosmic Art’s sixth level.

Simulating stars took time and effort, and it was not something that could be done in a short amount of time.

If Progenitor Chen was still alive, then how many stars could he have simulated?

Twenty days had passed since the students had entered the Tri-Petal, so it was time for Lu Yin to head back and wait for them to emerge.

Just as Lu Yin was about to leave his quarters, the communication crystal on the table trembled. He looked at it, as he had forgotten about the communication crystal. Had the other person run out of patience?

He picked up the crystal and answered the call.

"Yu Hao?" There was no image, just the sound of a voice. It was a deep and heavy voice that could shake people to their core. Only two words were spoken, but that was enough to reveal the majesty of someone who had absolute control of everything.

While it was a bit early to judge someone through the sound of their voice, Lu Yin had a very distinct impression of the speaker. He would not dare to underestimate the person speaking to him. "That is this junior’s name. Who might I be speaking with, Senior?"

"I am Wang Fan." Four words caused Lu Yin's fingers to tremble, and his breathing instantly grew heavy.

Wang Fan, the Wang family’s ancestral Patriarch. The master of one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas since the Daosource Sect era. A top ranking powerhouse who had once competed with Progenitor Chen, the Rune Progenitor, and Progenitor Ku, and who currently stood at the pinnacle of the Perennial World. The man was quite literally one of the most powerful humans in existence.

The more Lu Yin learned about the previous eras, the more he understood how horrifyingly powerful the masters of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas truly were.

Progenitor Chen, the Rune Progenitor, and Progenitor Ku had all left countless legends in the Fifth Mainland, but this did not mean that Wang Fan and Bai Wangyuan had not done so because they were incapable of doing so. Rather, their legends simply had not been left in the Fifth Mainland.

Progenitor Smoke had said that she was not particularly skilled at combat, but the help that she had provided to Lu Yin in the Perennial World could not be overestimated. He would have never been able to succeed nearly as much in the Perennial World without it, and he certainly would have never been able to capture Xia Xing and the other patriarchs.

Wang Fan was someone who stood on the same level as Progenitor Smoke and the other masters of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas. It did not matter if one considered the Progenitor’s combat strength or any other aspect of him; everything about the man was beyond Lu Yin’s imagination.

He had assumed that someone from the Wang family would call him, but he had never expected it to be Wang Fan.

"Junior Yu Hao greets Progenitor Wang Fan," Lu Yin said in a very respectful tone. Given that he was supposed to be Yu Hao at this moment, he needed to show proper respect.

"Only a few decades have passed, yet you’ve risen from being a mere ant to your current heights. Yu Hao, you have done very well." Wang Fan praised the young man without any hesitation.

Lu Yin's eyes flickered, but he maintained a respectful attitude. "This junior is far from qualifying to receive a Progenitor’s compliments."

He not only sounded respectful, but also nervous and intimidated to be speaking to a Progenitor realm powerhouse.

For most people, Progenitors were no different from distant gods who were completely out of their reach. People kneeled to gods and prayed for blessings. Even when natural disasters took countless lives, the survivors did not hate god, but instead thanked them for their mercy and for surviving.

For cultivators, Progenitors were essentially gods. Receiving a compliment from a Progenitor was the greatest affirmation that a cultivator could ever receive. By the same token, having a Progenitor order a person’s death could be regarded as an honor, as few people were qualified to have a Progenitor learn their name.

Lu Yin expressed the appropriate nervousness, respect, admiration, and even reverence for a Progenitor through his tone.

"You deserve it. I’ve heard about you and your life. The Xia family has gone too far in dealing with you, and yet you’ve risen up to become capable of negotiating terms with them. If you wish, I can help you with those negotiations," Wang Fan offered.

Lu Yin acted terrified by the idea. "This junior would never dare to presume to bother Progenitor Wang Fan with such mortal concerns! It is this junior’s greatest honor to hear that his name has become known to a Progenitor."

"I want you to join my Wang family, not only because you are Grandmaster Gu Yan’s apprentice, but also because you are personally qualified to receive an invitation from me. Yu Hao, not only will you be the next person to become an Array Grandmaster, but I promise to also do my best to ensure that you become the youngest Array Grandmaster in history, and you will obtain your own statue on my Wang family’s mainland.”

"You recently saw how enthusiastic your Virtue Archives’ students were to pay their respects to the statue of Chong Yue. In the future, you will receive the same treatment. You will be regarded as the foremost invited expert of my Wang family. We will never do anything to restrict your freedom, and we will also provide you with all the resources you could ask for."

Lu Yin was blown away. He realized that he had severely underestimated his own lockbreaking ability since even Wang Fan was this impressed.

It was evident that the Progenitor was completely serious in his offer; he really did value “Yu Hao” just as much as his supposed master, Grandmaster Gu Yan.

Most likely, Wang Nian had said something to the Progenitor.

Lu Yin remained silent as his mind raced, trying to find the proper answer. He had attracted Wang Fan’s full attention, and it would be a waste not to take advantage of the situation somehow.

As Lu Yin’s thoughts swirled, he unconsciously stared at the communication crystal.

"This junior’s grandfather, Yu Chuan, is still in Shenwu's Sky," Lu Yin stated. He kept to a few words.

"I'll handle it," Wang Fan replied, and then the call was cut off.

Lu Yin took a deep breath before reaching out and collecting the communication crystal. Wang Fan. He was actually able to make a direct call to Progenitor Wang Fan himself. How had Lu Yin reached this height without even realizing it? Did this mean that he would soon be approached by other Progenitors? First had been the Wang family’s Progenitor, so would he be approached by the White Dragon Clan’s Progenitor next?

Progenitors were not stupid, and the fact that Lu Yin was considered valuable enough to warrant Wang Fan personally speaking to him meant that the same should be true of the other Progenitors as well.

The only thing that Lu Yin was uncertain of was whether or not Wang Fan would be able to get Yu Chuan away from Shenwu’s Sky.

Complicated emotions appeared when Lu Yin thought of Yu Chuan. If things proceeded according to plan, Yu Chuan might be the sole victim.

The communication crystal was put away, and Lu Yin walked out from his guest room and made his way towards the Tri-Petal.