Star Odyssey

Wu Yao's words were shocking to everyone, and they all turned to stare at “Yu Hao.”

Liu Shaoge met their gazes with a slight smile. "Senior, I don't understand what you’re talking about."

Wu Yao let out a huff. "Quite pretending! Mu Shang has visited Grandmaster Gu Yan, and he heard the truth from Grandmaster Gu Yan's own mouth! He clearly stated that he does not nor has he ever had an apprentice named Yu Hao. He’s never even heard of you!"

The God of Food stared at “Yu Hao.”?He’s not Grandmaster Gu Yan’s apprentice? Wait, something’s off about the kid…

As the God of Food stared, he suddenly felt that there was something wrong with Yu Hao. There seemed to be a hazy fog covering the young man’s face.

In addition to the God of Food, Xia Ziheng and the other Semi-Progenitors noticed the same thing.

Progenitor Smoke's wei was difficult for Semi-Progenitors to notice, but that did not mean that it was impossible. As long as a Semi-Progenitor observed carefully, they would be able to detect problems. Liu Shaoge had remained hidden simply because no one had thought to examine him closely.

As soon as Mr. Yu waved a hand, Liu Shaoge's disguise vanished entirely, and he was fully exposed to everyone.

***

Far away in another part of the Higher Realm, Lu Yin was finally in front of Crimson Garden. At that same time, Progenitor Smoke spoke up, “The other kid’s disguise is gone in Shenwu’s Sky."

Liu Shaoge had been exposed? Lu Yin could not afford to even think about it for the time being. Instead, he was entirely focused on the empty space in front of him. This was the same place that Qing Chen had once brought Long Qi: Crimson Garden.

As he walked up to the empty area, Lu Yin released his domain. A voice suddenly shouted, "Who dares trespass into Crimson Garden?"

"Your grandfather." Lu Yin flitted through the void with a hand upraised. Invisible ripples spread out, and the void collapsed into nothingness. A delicate and beautiful red flower suddenly appeared within the void.

"Brazen!" An old man appeared and he glared at Lu Yin. "You’re seeking death!"

Even as the man spoke, countless meteorites fell from the sky, covering the entire sky. Their impact would reduce the region to a wasteland. This was an inner world. The old man was a Semi-Progenitor .

Crimson Garden was protected by a Semi-Progenitor. This was something that Lu Yin had expected.

Progenitor Smoke appeared next to Lu Yin, and a white fog instantly enveloped the area. All of the meteorites and everything before Lu Yin suddenly disappeared.

The old man's expression instantly changed. "Yo- you-"

Progenitor Smoke responded with a small smile, "Little guy, go to sleep for a while."

Her hand stretched out in a manner that ignored space to touch the old man. A finger gave a gentle flick, the old man collapsed onto the ground.

Lu Yin had no time to focus on how much strength Progenitor Smoke had just demonstrated. He quickly touched the red flower and entered Crimson Garden. He was quickly met with the sight of the red world once again.

The beautiful red flowers rained down, covering the entire sky. It was beautiful and endless. The sky was hidden by the red flowers, as were the bamboo forests, the bridges crossing rivers along paths that wound around the place. It all looked peaceful and comforting.

"It's so beautiful," Progenitor Smoke praised.

Lu Yin excitedly looked up ahead. During his first visit to the garden, he had not known who the insane prisoners were. All he had known was that everyone he saw in Crimson Garden had been raving mad. Semi-Progenitor Qing Chen had told Long Qi that Crimson Garden imprisoned the Perennial World’s most powerful madmen.

Back then, Lu Yin had seen a madman on the bottom of a river, and he had heard the man say, "Copy this scripture a hundred times: don't be naughty. Don't look at the ancestors…"

Lu Yin had seen a fat old woman who had been squatting on the ground, chopping something with her arm, despite the fact that her arm had already rotten away to the point where her bones had been exposed. He had heard her say, "Don't worry, it's almost ready! What else do you want to eat? Fried iced fruit? Grilled fish? I’ll make them all for you! Haha." Her laughter had sounded so hearty and so happy.

Lu Yin had heard a man call out to him, saying, "Young master! Young master, you’ve returned! Young master, this old slave has missed you so much! Young master…"

The man had clearly been in control of his faculties, but Qing Chen had claimed that the man was also insane. Still, hearing the words “young master” had felt so familiar that it had nearly brought tears to Lu Yin’s eyes.

Lu Yin walked towards the river. He looked forward to seeing the old man who sat cross-legged on the bottom of the river once again. While he was unable to remember the people imprisoned in Crimson Garden, he did know that they were all his family. The people closest to him, and yet unknown by him.

Where were they?

Lu Yin stared at the bottom of the river after reaching its edge. Where was everyone? Why were all of the people gone?

He leaped into the river, searching for the old man, but Lu Yin failed to find him. Lu Yin's expression changed, and he raced out of the river and charged into the depths of Crimson Garden. He sought out the old woman, the little girl, and the madman who had referred to him as young master, all of the people he had seen on his previous visit. Where were they all?

Lu Yin frantically looked everywhere. He searched the entirety of Crimson Garden, but did not find a single person.

Progenitor Smoke followed after Lu Yin. "You don’t need to look for them. There’s no one here."

Lu Yin's eyes were bloodshot. "That’s impossible! They have to be here! Where are they? Where are they?"

Progenitor Smoke glanced around, and then suddenly stared in a specific direction. A person walked out as Progenitor Smoke stared. It was a beautiful woman, and she walked towards Lu Yin and Progenitor Smoke.

Lu Yin slowly turned around to look at the stunning figure who had just appeared. He looked into the familiar eyes with a beautiful face. There was something almost sacred about the face, and it even radiated a faint light. The woman continued walking forward, her eyes never once shifting away from Lu Yin.

It was only natural for anyone who stood next to Progenitor Smoke to feel inferior due to her unmatched beauty, but this woman who had appeared did not even glance over. Her eyes were locked onto Lu Yin as she stared at him with a gentleness and unspeakable emotion filling her eyes. "You’re… back."

Her soft voice rang in Lu Yin's ear.

He stared blankly as the woman approached. She was stunningly beautiful, just like the enchanting red flowers that surrounded them. Her looks caused her to replace all sources of light wherever she went. No one could possibly take their eyes off of her, as she was the center of the universe.

Lu Yin had never before seen such a beautiful and flawless woman. Even Progenitor Smoke was inferior to this woman’s demeanor. It was not related to cultivation or strength, but was rather a sensation that the entire world was nothing more than a background to accentuate this woman’s existence.

Lu Yin did not speak a word. He simply watched as the woman approached him. She only stopped after drawing very close. She was extremely close to him, and he could even pick up the fragrance of her body. She possessed a charming fragrance that felt somehow both intoxicating and incredibly familiar.

She slowly stretched out a hand and touched Lu Yin's face, stroking it. "You’ve grown up. It looks like you’ve gone through a lot."

Lu Yin stared into the woman's eyes. Suddenly, his hand shot up and he grabbed her hand. His eyes gained an almost impossibly cold glint. "Bai Xian'er."

Progenitor Smoke stood to the side, watching the two young people with an odd expression.

Their position and posture screamed that they were two lovers, yet the look in their eyes clearly stated that they were anything but.

The woman gazed at Lu Yin with softness in her eyes, but her eyes also seemed slightly empty. It was as though she was not really focused on Lu Yin at all, but rather was seeing him as well as the entire world. There was a tremendous arrogance and aloofness to her.

Lu Yin was much easier to read, as his eyes blazed with the desire to kill the person in front of him.

Despite the looks in both people’s eyes, their actions only became increasingly ambiguous.

"You're back." The woman smiled, which caused her to look even more beautiful than ever. The delicate red flowers nearby let out a burst of fragrance, and then slowly spun around. It looked as though they were dancing.

Lu Yin slowly started to squeeze his hand harder and harder as time passed. He acted as though he wanted to crush what was in his grasp. "Where is everyone?"

The woman just smiled, clearly unconcerned with Lu Yin’s strength. He could not affect her at all. "Were there people here?"

"I'll ask you again: where is everyone?" Lu Yin's voice was icy, though his eyes were blazing.

The woman sighed. "You’ve changed. You didn’t talk to me like this before. You told me that you would protect me for the rest of your life."

"I want to protect others more than that now," Lu Yin slowly spat out each word.

A smile tugged the corner of the woman's mouth upwards. "Then what should I do? They could already be dying."

Lu Yin's pupils constricted, and he released the power that sat within his chest. There was an instant change in Crimson Garden, as stars appeared that let out a weak glow. A powerful force tried to invade the woman's body, but even then, her expression remained unchanged. She even took a step forward. Two people’s bodies started racing around Crimson Garden, shattering the void as they spun around, accompanied by a flow of something gray. The entire thing looked like a beautiful dance at first glance.

Lu Yin looked incredibly serious. He had already released the oppressive power that he cultivated within his chest. In the past, the energy had dissolved everything that it had encountered. Lu Yin simultaneously tried to crush everything and anything that Bai Xian'er attempted with Inverse Step, but she entirely ignored Inverse Step’s influence. Lu Yin could not understand how she did it.

He already knew that there was a massive gap between him and Bai Xian'er. He had not only lost his memories of the past, but also time. While it might not have been too long, it was enough for a qualitative change in strength for people like him and Bai Xian’er.

Lu Yin had lashed out not only to test himself against Bai Xian’er, but also because Progenitor Smoke was present. She was the reason for his confidence.

However, Bai Xian'er never attacked. All she did was render Lu Yin’s strength impotent. She did not even resist when Lu Yin grabbed her hand.

Suddenly, she closed her eyes and leaned against Lu Yin's chest while embracing him. "Brother Xiaoxuan, do you hate me?"

Lu Yin looked down at Bai Xian'er, not knowing how to react. Clearly, his strength was absolutely of no threat to the woman.

Bai Xian'er just hugged Lu Yin as the two of them raced around Crimson Garden at speeds that made them invisible to ordinary people. However, to Progenitor Smoke’s eyes, it was as though every movement of the two people had been slowed to a crawl, as the Progenitor was prepared to stop Bai Xian'er from attacking Lu Yin. A small bit of wei enveloped the two. It looked like a twirling ribbon, and it added to the appearance of two young people dancing through a garden. It looked like Lu Xiaoxuan and Bai Xian'er were performing their own unique dance.

A dance that sent them all around Crimson Garden.

"Brother Xiaoxuan, you’re too weak," Bai Xian'er muttered quietly. She pulled back the hand that Lu Yin had grabbed, and he was completely unable to do anything to stop her. Bai Xian'er then slapped Lu Yin’s chest, sending him flying and tumbling through the air.

Bai Xian'er smiled at Lu Yin. "Shenwu’s Sky is about to execute members of the Lu family vassals. Could they be the ones you want to save, Brother Xiaoxuan?"

Lu Yin instantly turned pale. Bai Xian'er knew. She knew everything! "Senior, stop her!"

Progenitor Smoke instantly reacted, and a white fog wrapped around Bai Xian'er, the Progenitor’s face solemn.

Truthfully, Progenitor Smoke did not feel that anyone who was not even a Semi-Progenitor could create even the slightest challenge. However, Bai Xian’er possessed a power that not even Progenitor Smoke could see through, so she could not truly understand Bai Xian’er’s strength.

Bai Xian'er allowed the fog to tangle her up, and then she looked at Progenitor Smoke for the first time. A smile touched Bai Xian’er’s eyes. "A master of one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas: Senior Progenitor Smoke."

Before Progenitor Smoke could say a word, Lu Yin had already rushed out of Crimson Garden. He had never dreamed that the replacements that he had asked Xia Xing to send to the execution in place of the members of the Lu family were actually the prisoners from Crimson Garden. This woman was too ruthless. If the people from Crimson Garden died, then the blame would lie solely on Lu Yin’s head. He would be the one responsible for them suffering agonizing deaths and being tortured for at least two months. The more he thought about it, the more Lu Yin lost his mind. He dreamed of being able to simply kill Bai Xian'er.

Still, he knew such thoughts were unrealistic. He rationally knew that Bai Xian'er would not be easy to kill, not even if Progenitor Smoke was helping him.

He had no idea how he had been exposed, or how Bai Xian'er knew what he had done. All he knew was that he was going to Shenwu's Sky and that he would save the members of his family and stop them from being tortured.

Before leaving Crimson Garden, Lu Yin looked back, murder in his eyes. Bai Xian'er’s expression was as bright as ever. There was a faint smile on her face. She seemed completely unpredictable.

"Senior, please take me to Shenwu's Sky as quickly as possible," Lu Yin asked sullenly.

Progenitor Smoke waved a hand. White fog wrapped around Lu Yin, and it quickly carried him through the sky towards Shenwu's Sky.