Star Odyssey

After hearing Wang Fan and Bai Wangyuan's thoughts, Xia Shenji spoke up. "That’s possible. Why would their master have not shown themselves this entire time? If they are someone with a similar level of strength to E Chi, then they would not be able to compare to us at all."

"That’s indeed possible. Although, it is also possible that Mu Xie and the other two simply invented a shared master to sow confusion. Don't forget about Lu Xiaoxuan’s greatest skill," Progenitor Long said.

Ugly expressions appeared on the other three men’s faces. What was Lu Xiaoxuan’s greatest skill? Tricks, lies, and false intimidation. If not for that, they would have never been forced to make a deal with him.

"Unfortunately, we only had this one chance. Another attempt in this same manner will never succeed, as Lu Xiaoxuan will be far more cautious from now on." Wang Fan sighed.

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Bai Wangyuan shrugged. He genuinely had no idea what to even say. How were they having so much trouble with a three-tribulation junior?

The failed attack created multiple complications for many people, including even Lu Yin. Despite his vigilance towards the powers of the Perennial World, he had come to realize his own weaknesses.

Lu Yin undeniably had many tools that could be used against enemy Progenitors, and while he might not be able to actually defeat a Progenitor, it should not be too difficult for him to keep himself alive, or at least stall for some time. However, all of Lu Yin’s methods required him to be able to react. If he could not react in time, or if he simply failed to respond to an attack, he would be in grave danger.

For a Progenitor to lower themselves to launch a sneak attack was about the most they would go. No one would be bold enough to claim that they could calmly handle a sneak attack from a Progenitor.

Lu Yin knew that he was far from the level of the masters of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, but he still did not want to leave the Perennial World. There were still many things that he was waiting on in the Perennial World, such as the Mountain and Sea that Virtue Archives had hidden, the various surviving vassals of the Lu family, the fourth array base, and Food Paradise. He needed to find a way to regain his confidence despite being targeted by a Progenitor. 𝘣𝘦𝑑𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝑙.𝘯𝑒𝘵

Power vessels and equipment could certainly be useful, but they also had too many limitations. The best option would be for Lu Yin to improve his own strength.

Ideally, he wanted to raise his defenses to a level where not even a Progenitor could instantly kill him with a single attack.

This was a dream that only Lu Yin would dare to consider. Not even a normal Semi-Progenitor would ever think that they could improve themself until they were able to withstand an attack from a Progenitor. Lu Yin could already single-handedly fight against four Semi-Progenitors. In fact, his real combat power was already quite high, so he was qualified to think so.

There was only one way in which Lu Yin could attempt such a thing: battle force.

Who was better qualified than Hen Xin when it came to the mastering and improving the human body? The Third Mainland’s ancient Dao Monarch had been famous for creating ways to improve the power of the human body, and he had even created battle force, domains, and spiritual force as means for humans to further their potential. Similar to Wu Tian, Gu Yizhi had been known for teaching others. His teachings had been known to let powerhouses cross realms and challenge Progenitors. Aside from the powers created by the ancient Dao Monarch, Lu Yin could not think of any other means that would strengthen himself to the standard he desired.

He returned straight to the fourth array base to speak with Hen Xin.

People from both the Nong and Liu families wanted to speak with Lu Yin, but they were all blocked by the four ruling powers' people, either intentionally or unintentionally.

Mu Shang stared at Lu Yin’s back as the young man left. Would he really return for him after officially becoming an Array Grandmaster? Mu Shang could only wait to find out. He refused to believe that Lu Xiaoxuan could surpass him.

The Progenitor’s surprise attack had caused everyone to forget about Mu Shang's disastrous defeat, but the results of the challenge would still certainly spread out. Lu Yin’s victory was guaranteed to shake the entire Perennial World yet again.

Despite not yet officially becoming an Array Grandmaster, many people had started thinking of Lu Yin as a quasi-Array Grandmaster. His lockbreaking abilities were widely regarded as quite possibly being on the same level as Mu Shang’s, though a single game of Stable Zone was not enough to prove Lu Yin was truly at the Array Grandmaster level. The deciding factor in becoming an Array Grandmaster was creating an original sourcebox array. This was a requirement that existed in both the Perennial World and the Fifth Mainland.

Lu Yin’s original intention had been to officially become an Array Grandmaster as soon as possible, but the surprise attack had changed his priorities. Increasing his personal strength had become his most important goal for the moment.

The jiao let out a loud roar as it landed on the fourth array base, which only made Lu Yin stomp on it from atop of the beast. "You’re so useless! All you did was sit there and watch as I was attacked! Why should I even want you?"

The jiao felt quite offended, and its claws drooped while its head hung low. It turned its huge eyes to stare at Lu Yin, clearly terribly confused.

Lu Yin frowned. "Do you really think that I don’t know what’s going through your head? I’ll tell you right now—even if I die, someone else will just take control of you. You may seem dense, but you sure have a lot of thoughts running through your head."

He did not believe that the jiao had been unable to react earlier. It had clearly seen the Champions’ Stage, and it had even noticed the planet even before Lu Yin. However, the beast had deliberately done nothing. While there was no guarantee that the jiao could have successfully blocked the attack, it had simply watched from the side.

Lu Yin was not actually angry with the jiao. The beast had been tamed after being beaten by the slipper, so it was only natural for it to want to betray Lu Yin. The jiao simply required further training.

"Dao Chosen, what was that just now?" After Lu Yin returned to the fourth array base, Yao Di approached and asked about the pressure that they had all felt.

Arch-Elder Zen also approached, and he quickly examined Lu Yin. "Are you all right?"

Lu Yin solemnly answered. "A shameless old freak tried to assassinate me, but everything worked out all right. Where’s Hen Xin?"

"Further down the base," Yaod Di replied.

Lu Yin walked over to the headquarters. "Send him over to see me."

Yao Di and Arch-Elder Zen glanced at each other. Neither were certain what Lu Yin wanted this time.

Hen Xin soon arrived at the headquarters and met with Lu Yin. "Dao Chosen, were you looking for me?"

Lu Yin stared at Hen Xin while thinking of how to word his request.

While Hen Xin and the other ancient powerhouses technically belonged to the Heavens Sect and were even gatemasters of the Heavenly Gates, that did not mean that they were loyal to Lu Yin himself. Whether Hen Xin would remain a part of the reestablished Heavens Sect was still open to debate, as well as whether he would try to pull Lu Yin down and replace him. No, Lu Yin was actually completely confident that Hen Xin would try to pull him down if the opportunity arose.

Despite the man’s lack of loyalty, Lu Yin had no complaints. All that mattered was learning how to train his battle force so that it could reach the highest level possible.

"You were taught by the Third Mainland’s Dao Monarch. Dao Monarch Gu Yizhi’s research into battle force and domains remains the best throughout all of history. Given that my battle force has reached the level of aurelian force, can you tell me how to proceed further?" Lu Yin asked.

When Lu Yin mentioned Dao Monarch Gu Yizhi, Hen Xin already had a guess as to what Lu Yin was going to ask, which meant the man had already expected such a request long ago.

The moment Hen Xin had revealed the power of the purpleish-black substance, many people had asked him about it over the years, hoping to learn its secret from him. However, not even the members of Team Resolution possessed the same ability, let alone anyone else.

Hen Xin had already come up with a prepared answer for Lu Yin’s request.

"Dao Monarch Gu Yizhi’s research into battle force and domains is indeed unmatched. From his studies, he found that there was a level of battle force above aurelian force, and he called it Wielder - Indestructible," Hen Xin replied.

Lu Yin's eyes brightened. Of course, he had already learned of the Wielder realm, though it was a name that very few people in the current era had heard of before. It was a level of battle force that had been created by the Dao Monarch Gu Yizhi. The fact that Hen Xin was willing to share the name indicated that, even if he was going to try to deceive Lu Yin, most of what the gatemaster was about to say would be true.

Lu Yin had never expected Hen Xin to obediently tell him the cultivating method to bring battle force to the next level.

"Given my understanding of the man, Dao Monarch Gu Yizhi should have never become the Skygod that he is today. The entire reason why he studied battle force and domains was to provide people with no innate gifts, resources, or background a way to catch up to those who were born with such things. That was also why my Team Resolution was created. The Third Mainland had a level of respect for Dao Monarch Gu Yizhi that did not exist in the other Mainlands with their Dao Monarchs. Dao Monarch Gu Yizhi spread his knowledge of cultivation methods, and the knowledge of how to cultivate a domain provided countless untalented people with the opportunity to grow," Hen Xin said as he reminisced a bit.

"I'm not the first person who was taught how to reach Wielder - Indestructible. Thousands of others were taught before me, but all of them failed. The lucky ones had their cultivation completely destroyed, while the unlucky ones,” Hen Xin paused as his eyes locked onto Lu Yin before continuing, "Were completely torn apart."

Lu Yin arched a brow as he looked at Hen Xin. "Are you telling me that all of those people had mastered aurelian force?"

"Yes. Dao Monarch Gu Yizhi’s teachings meant that many battle force experts appeared over the course of many years. His ultimate goal was to have those people reach the Wielder realm and arrive at the peak of battle force. Unfortunately, not one person ever succeeded aside from me. Not one," Hen Xin stated.

Lu Yin grew quite curious. He did not doubt Hen Xin’s words. Even if the story sounded a bit exaggerated, it was likely entirely true. Lu Yin had previously asked Lu Buzheng and others from the Heavens Sect era about the purple-black materialized version of battle force, but no one had known anything about it. Battle force had not been a very popular cultivation method.

"How did you succeed?" Lu Yin asked.

Hen Xin smiled wryly. "If I told you that I was just lucky, would the Dao Chosen believe me?"

"Yes," Lu Yin stated bluntly.

Hen Xin shrugged. If Lu Yin had paused for a bit before replying, Hen Xin might have believed him. However, seeing that Lu Yin had immediately answered yes, it was obvious he did not believe Hen Xin at all.

"The thing is, cultivating battle force to the Wielder realm is something that relies on luck. It is a level that essentially integrates battle force and a person’s physical body at the most fundamental level. Dao Monarch Gu Yizhi even theorized that it might be possible that Wielder - Indestructible doesn’t even require a person to have attained aurelian force, as long as their battle force can be fully integrated with their body.

"For example, a Sentinel can achieve two or three lined battle force, at best, but if that same person manages to fuse their battle force with their body through some miracle, then they would also be able to reach the Wielder realm of battle force.

"Rather than saying that Wielder - Indestructible is the pinnacle of cultivating battle force, it would be more accurate to say that the Wielder realm opens up an alternate path of cultivating battle force. According to what Dao Monarch Gu Yizhi said, Wielder - Indestructible is the true path to cultivating battle force, and it can even be considered the true path of human cultivation."

This conjecture shocked Lu Yin. The true path of human cultivation? That sounded rather extreme. Did that suggest that anyone who did not cultivate battle force was essentially a false cultivator? How did this claim not essentially invalidate the Origin Progenitor himself? After all, the Origin Progenitor had created the true universe and stellular energy, but the man had not cultivated battle force.

Hen Xin observed Lu Yin's reaction. "I know that you don’t believe that, Dao Chosen, but I do. Compared to astral beasts—no, even compared to some mere animals with no cultivation at all, humans are simply born too weak. While we have been able to rely on our combined efforts and intelligence to become masters of this universe, there is no denying that we are innately too weak. If we lose our cultivation, how could humanity ever hope to fight against powerful enemies?

"Battle force is a power that comes from within people, from their core. It is rooted in the essence of the human body. There is no need for any sort of external energy to improve one’s battle force. Even if the Fifth Mainland’s true universe is depleted and empty, it is still possible to cultivate battle force and reach the Wielder realm. That level of battle force can compare to the greatest power that humans have ever achieved, but without relying on any outside influences. Battle force is something that comes from the individual themselves."