Star Odyssey

Every single one of the Seven Skygods was a powerhouse from a truly ancient era. Every last one of them was extremely difficult to deal with. Even Lu Yin himself had not expected his search for Realmless’s headquarters to lead to Undying God being drawn out.

He wondered just how many secrets the Perennial World held.

If Liu Song had been one of Undying God’s Semi-Progenitor avatars, then was it possible for some of the other Semi-Progenitors to be avatars of the other Seven Skygods as well? Could the Aeternal’s True God have an avatar active in the Perennial World?

When Lu Yin and Bai Xian’er returned, all of the Semi-Progenitors present turned their attention to them.

Lu Yin unhesitatingly used Extremes Must Be Reversed while also bringing out the slipper. He intended to smash Undying God apart. Hopefully, the Python Ancestor would agree to swallow the pieces.

Lu Yin successfully undid Undying God’s isolation with Extremes Must Be Reversed and then he started smacking the Skygod with the slipper. However, before the slipper could strike, it was blocked by a faint, dark-red power. Lu Yin was being blocked by divine energy.

His heart sank. Undying God had already accumulated enough divine energy to block the slipper.

Bai Xian’er’s face fell. “We’re too late.”

Qing Chen suggested, “Let’s attack together.”

“It’s useless.” Ce Donglai shook his head. “How can Semi-Progenitors like us deal any damage to him?”

Qing Chen became quite indignant.

Threads of the dark-red divine energy emerged from Undying God’s broken body. The threads pierced through different parts of his body, connecting all of them together. The process gave the body an internal red glow. “Did you seriously think that all the effort I spent gaining divine energy was just to recover my body? You are seriously underestimating True God! He is the only one who can rival the Origin Progenitor’s existence. Furthermore-”

Undying God was interrupted mid-sentence.

Lu Yin struck Undying God again and again. He continuously bashed at the evil energy, refusing to believe that Undying God’s divine energy could not be exhausted.

A thought suddenly occurred to Lu Yin, and he pulled out the Origin Progenitor’s sword once more. Since their True God was able to rival the Origin Progenitor, then that suggested that the Origin Progenitor’s sword was capable of dealing with divine energy.

.

Divine energy shone as bright as lightning when Undying God saw that Lu Yin was wielding the Origin Progenitor’s sword. “Is that the Origin Progenitor’s sword?”

The group of Semi-Progenitors stared at the sword in Lu Yin’s hand. Was that the sword that had been carried by the one and only ancient Origin Progenitor?

Lu Yin leaped forwards as the sword slashed. “Let’s see if the Origin Progenitor’s sword can deal with you!”

As he spoke the last word, the sword landed.

Lu Yin had always avoided using the Origin Progenitor’s sword out of fear that it would be recognized. Even when Xia Shenji had chased after Lu Yin and the two of them had fought in the Fifth Mainland, Lu Yin had always kept the Origin Progenitor’s sword hidden. At this moment, there was no longer a need to keep it a secret. As communication opened up between the Fifth Mainland and the Perennial World, the four ruling powers had to have learned that Lu Yin possessed the Origin Progenitor’s sword long ago. There would never be a better time to use it than at this very moment.

The Origin Progenitor’s sword had a particularly terrifying aspect: once someone touched it, they would be reduced to ashes. Forgotten Ruins God’s Semi-Progenitor avatar and Wang Si had both disappeared into nothingness in that manner. At this moment, Lu Yin wanted to see if Undying God would suffer the same fate.

From the Origin Progenitor’s perspective, there should not be much of a difference between a Progenitor and a Semi-Progenitor.

Undying God’s eyes remained fixed on the Origin Progenitor’s sword as it fell towards him. Everyone was staring, including the Python Ancestor. Lu Yin could even sense the eyes of the eagle far overhead.

Whoosh!

Wind blew, and the Mother Tree shook, which made the entire Perennial World tremble.

Where had a gale strong enough to shake the Mother Tree come from?

As the sword slowly fell, Lu Yin felt that it was taking a suspiciously long time. He even had enough time to consider where a blast of wind strong enough to shake the Mother Tree could have come from. Was time being extended for Lu Yin? Or had time stopped entirely?

Wait a second. Lu Yin turned to the side, only to see that falling leaves had frozen in the air.

He looked to the other side. Big Sis, Bai Xian’er, and everyone else present was completely frozen. Time had stopped, but the world had not turned gray.

Lu Yin’s vision turned dark red. Even the broken body of Undying God had been frozen. The only movement that he could see was the sword slowly falling bit by bit. However, Lu Yin had a feeling that, within the dark-red world, his sword would never actually reach Undying God.

Who was doing this?

Beads of sweat dripped down from Lu Yin’s forehead. The sword that he held had suddenly become much, much heavier.

“Let go. It’s too heavy for you. You cannot wield it.” A gentle voice entered his ears. Lu Yin wanted to turn around, but he found that he could no longer move. He could not even make a sound. What was happening? Was he being controlled?

His hands tightened on the sword’s hilt. Let it go? No. There was no chance of that happening.

“Why are you so stubborn? Life is nothing more than a coincidence of the universe. As soon as the universe changes, life changes as well. Humans are no longer human, but instead a different type of being. Of course, you can still call the new creature ‘human.’ Why is there a need to concern yourself with your current form?”

Lu Yin had been rendered completely immobile, and his vision began to fracture. This voice clearly belonged to an Aeternal. Was it one of the Seven Skygods? That should not be the case, as Lu Yin knew each of their voices. Besides, they were currently being held up in the Dominion Realm. Could it be…?

“Even after the essence of your life changes, you can still call yourself human. Or, you can give yourself any name you desire. You can grow stronger, better comprehend the mysteries of the universe, and even obtain eternal life. You will then acquire all the time in the world to observe the birth of new creatures. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Why would you want to live as a lower life form that is instead observed?”

Lies, that’s illogical. Lu Yin wanted to respond, but other than the slow descent of the sword in his hand, nothing else moved.

The power within his chest was raging to be unleashed, but within the dark-red space, there was nothing that Lu Yin could do.

“You are still too stubborn, but the day will come when you will finally be enlightened. When that day comes, you will kill everyone that you know and hold dear. You will let go of everything and transform into a new creature. You will expose the mysteries of the universe. On that day, you will no longer stubbornly cling to the word ‘human.’ You can still call yourself human, but at that time, you will no longer choose to do so.” Lu Yin’s eyes widened in disbelief as cracks started to appear in the Origin Progenitor’s sword. How was this possible? It was the Origin Progenitor’s sword!

It was not just the sword that was affected. At that moment, the Mother Tree itself started to creak as it swayed more and more. With a resounding echo, a fissure stretching further than the eye could see appeared on the Mother Tree’s trunk. The ear-deafening crack caused countless people to cough up blood.

Lu Yin was sent flying, tumbling through the Lower Realm. He even lost his grip on the Origin Progenitor’s sword as he fell.

He spat out a massive amount of blood. This blood had remained trapped in his heart for a long time, though only a moment had truly passed.

However, in that single moment, everything changed.

Seeing the crack open up in the Mother Tree’s trunk left Xia Ziheng and the others aghast. For them, it was as though their universe was breaking apart. Bai Xian’er stared at Lu Yin’s bleeding arm. There was no way to avoid reality; the Origin Progenitor’s sword had actually cracked.

Just a single moment had passed, but it felt as though eons had gone by.

Undying God’s eyes flitted upwards as he took in the break in the Mother Tree’s trunk. “Is True God here?”

“Little Seven, what happened?” Big Sis asked. No one understood what had just happened. They had only seen Lu Yin attacking with his sword before he was sent flying. Then, the sword fell from his hands, and a crack had opened on the Mother Tree’s trunk.

Lu Yin’s expression was grave. “Aeternus’s True God made his move.”

“True God?” Exclamations rose from the crowd. This name was all too familiar to Xia Ziheng and the others. True God Wei Yi was the sole ruler of Aeternus. He was to Aeternus what the Origin Progenitor was to humanity. An existence that completely eclipsed the Seven Skygods had taken action.

It was completely unheard of within the Perennial World for True God to take action. This was his first time.

Bai Xian’er’s expression was somber. “He cracked the Origin Progenitor’s sword and damaged the Mother Tree. Did he really do all that just to save Undying God?”

Lu Yin clenched his fists. Had True God really only intended to save Undying God? Lu Yin had a sinking feeling that the true reason for his actions was connected to the words that had been spoken to him.

True God had clearly told Lu Yin that he would one day kill everyone he knew and cared about before transforming into a new creature.

“Since True God has descended, I can no longer afford to be lazy,” Undying God casually said, “Do you know what our greatest weapon is against humanity?”

Everyone stared at the Skygod.

“It’s not battle techniques, massacres, or transforming them. Rather-” Undying God paused dramatically, “It’s the human heart.”

Undying God’s eyes grew large, and Lu Yin felt the same sensation that he had experienced earlier. Everyone felt a chilling presence behind them. It felt as though Undying God was staring at them from behind. “Tell me, what would it look like if all of humanity underwent a Corpse King Transformation?”

Lu Yin’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. This was bad.

Everyone felt their hearts plunge.

…

In the Middle Realm’s Blue Moon District, there was a grim expression on Liu Zhan’s face. Blood dripped down the sword in his hand, and behind him were several people from Humility’s Gate.

“Gatemaster, why don’t you enter first?” someone asked. 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝐧𝗲𝘁

“There’s no need,” Liu Zhan answered coldly. His eyes flickered downwards. “He’s in this area, so search carefully. He’s the key to many more cases, so he must be found.”

The cultivators from Humility’s Gate exchanged hopeless looks.

After it came out that the Liu family’s grand elder, Semi-Progenitor Liu Song, had actually been Undying God’s avatar, Humility’s Gate had quickly received a report. With that, the Liu family had quickly experienced drastic changes. Their territory had been shattered by the Python Ancestor, and the Sword Monument had been lost. They had not even been able to tally their death toll. While Liu Zhan was Humility’s Gate’s gatemaster for the Blue Moon District, he was also a member of the Liu family. Thus, they had requested his return to help settle matters. However, he had recently confirmed the existence of a traitor who was an Envoy, so Liu Zhan was unable to leave the Blue Moon District.

Given the current crisis and what his family was facing, Liu Zhan naturally wanted to return and help them, but his responsibilities prevented him from doing so. Thus, he could only hope that his clan would safely survive the crisis.

“What’s that?” someone shrieked.

Liu Zhan looked at where the person was pointing at, and his expression hardened. “One of the desiccated corpses. Capture it, but make sure not to destroy it.”

The four ruling powers and Humility’s Gate had already made public announcements to the entire Perennial World, explaining that the dried up corpses could not be destroyed and that they had to be captured. Although no one understood the reasons for these orders, they had been clear and were being strictly enforced.

The dried up corpse near Liu Zhan only had the strength of an Enlighter, so it was easily captured.

However, the moment it was captured, the mummy started erratically reciting something. It was the Corpse King Transformation.

The moment Liu Zhan realized the corpse was reciting the Corpse King Transformation, his expression changed drastically, and he immediately sent a message to Supervisor Qing Chen.

Far away, two figures were hiding underground. One was a man who was panting heavily. Fresh blood dripped from cuts across his back. The other figure was one of the desiccated corpses. The man had captured it, and as soon as he heard the chant for the Corpse King Transformation, the man’s eyes lit up.

After being exposed as a traitor, the man had already known that it was the end of the road for him. Since his path of cultivation had been severed, he decided to embark on a new path; he would cultivate with the Corpse King Transformation.

Ever since he had betrayed humanity, he had never had the opportunity to use the technique, not until this day. Once Aeternus took over the Perennial World, he would no longer need to try to explain his identity. The Corpse King Transformation would be the only explanation that he needed.

He was uncertain as to whether he actually required the corpse’s assistance to use the Corpse King Transformation, but he decided to grab one of the dried up corpses and escape as quickly as possible. The only thought on his mind was to successfully cultivate the Corpse King Transformation as soon as possible.