Star Odyssey

Kui Luo’s expression changed several times over the course of Lu Yin’s speech. The old man detested people with such selfless, self-sacrificing spirit.

“This old man thinks you’ve got a hole in your head. ?Opening the Fifth Mainland back up to Aeternus? That’s ridiculous,” he grumbled. Suddenly, his expression changed. Wait a second. 𝙗𝒆𝙙𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎

Kui Luo was well aware that Lu Yin was not a selfless person. Even if he was truly willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, there was no chance that he would ever sacrifice himself to save the four ruling powers. Something was not right. Kui Luo started carefully observing Lu Yin.

Lu Yin appeared to be completely composed at the moment. He brought out his wireless jincan and sent messages to several different Semi-Progenitors from the Fifth Mainland of importance; there was Arch-Elder Zen, Qing Ping, Elder Gong, the Sixth Mainland’s Jiu Yao, and the Astral Beast Domain’s Skymender. All of them were citizens of the Fifth Mainland. While Lu Yin had already made the decision to open the path to the Starfall Sea, he still needed these people’s support.

Lu Yin had seized the right to rule over the Fifth Mainland as its undisputed master, but that did not mean that he could make arbitrary decisions about matters that concerned the lives or deaths of the residents of the Fifth Mainland.

One after another, Lu Yin connected to the other wireless jincans. The results were within Lu Yin’s expectations. While almost everyone initially disapproved of Lu Yin’s decision, all of them eventually agreed. This was because of a single bit of news that he had shared: “The Seven Skygods have broken into the Perennial World due to Undying God. They will eventually be able to use the New Corridor to travel directly to the Fifth Mainland. Opening the entrance to the Starfall Sea now will allow us to take on some of the Perennial World’s burden. If the Perennial World is forced to face all of Aeternus on its own, both the Fifth Mainland and the Perennial World will be completely destroyed once they reach their limit.”

In the past, the Perennial World had been an unknown place to the Fifth Mainland. Practically no one had known that the Perennial World existed to hold Aeternus back and protect the Fifth Mainland. This was something that even most people in the Perennial World did not know. However, since Arch-Elder Zen and the other Semi-Progenitors had personally fought on the Perennial World’s rear battlefield, they had witnessed the cruelty and mercilessness of the war against the Aeternals, and they were quite clear on what would happen once the rear battlefield was breached.

For this reason, Arch-Elder Zen was the first to agree to Lu Yin’s proposal. However, he also brought up a few conditions of his own.“Opening the entrance to the Starfall Sea will allow for us to take on some of the pressure that the Perennial World is facing, but we cannot simply condemn ourselves to death. If the Aeternals decide to abandon their attempts in rescuing Undying God and instead focus their full efforts on invading the Fifth Mainland, then we will certainly be doomed. There needs to be a counter plan for that scenario.”

Naturally, Lu Yin already had his own plans. After he explained them to Arch-Elder Zen, the old man agreed.

The others agreed as well.

There was no need for Lu Yin to ask the opinions of the people from the Heavens Sect era. They, like himself, were not true residents of the Fifth Mainland. The only people who were qualified to make this decision on behalf of the entire Fifth Mainland were people like Arch-Elder Zen.

Having convinced the Fifth Mainland, Lu Yin reached out to Bai Wangyuan.

Xia Ziheng and the others from the four ruling powers had complicated expressions on their faces as they listened to Lu Yin convince the powers of the Fifth Mainland to agree to his plan.

They fully understood the massive risk the Fifth Mainland was about to take by carrying out Lu Yin’s plan. They had absolutely no idea why Lu Yin would be willing to go so far for their sakes.

Given the fact that Ceaseless Impetus would soon start to weaken and show effects from the crack in the Mother Tree’s trunk, the Seven Skygods’ assault on the Dominion Realm, and True God’s recent activity, the stability of the Perennial World was in serious jeopardy. Even the Mother Tree looked like it was just about to snap in half. Creating a new battlefield in the Fifth Mainland would absolutely help reduce the pressure the Perennial World was facing. If the Lu family was still in power, Lu Yin’s plan would have been a breeze to execute. But at the moment…

In the eyes of the Perennial World, Lu Yin’s appearance seemed to overlap with the spirit of Lu Xiaoxuan that they had known in the past. It was as though Lu Yin had completely retained the determination of a direct descendant of the Lu family. The optimistic, bright, kind spirit without any ulterior motives who had been heralded in his era as the Seventh Hero.

“What? You’re willing to open the path to the Starfall Sea in the Fifth Mainland?” Bai Wangyuan was completely stunned. While speaking with Lu Yin, the Progenitor was actively fighting against the Seven Skygods. Xia Shenji and the other human Progenitors could all hear the shock in Bai Wangyuan’s voice.

Xia Shenji could not believe his ears.

Wang Fan and Progenitor Long exchanged mutual looks of disbelief. Even if the Perennial World was potentially facing an even worse situation than its current state, they had never expected the scenario where the Fifth Mainland would take the initiative to share their burden. Given their knowledge of Lu Yin and his hatred for them on behalf of the Lu family, they would have expected that, even if the Fifth Mainland had suggested such a thing, Lu Xiaoxuan would vehemently reject it.

“Aeternus is doing everything that they can to rescue Undying God. He’s gone ahead and spread the Corpse King Transformation throughout the Perennial World, which has destabilized the unity of the Perennial World’s people. Their True God attacked the Mother Tree and might even follow up with another attack at any moment. No one can block his attacks. Given the current circumstances, keeping Undying God trapped here is not advantageous for us. Still, we absolutely cannot release him, or else we will lose all hope of facing Aeternus.

“Are you willing to become shackled by a prisoner of war?” Lu Yin asked.

Of course Bai Wangyuan was unwilling to accept such a situation. He had assumed that they would finally be able to finish off one of the Seven Skygods. However, the guaranteed kill that they had been anticipating had actually escalated the ongoing conflict and placed the entire Perennial World in a precarious position. What was happening now showed just how much Aeternus surpassed humanity by. Even when trapped in the heart of the enemy’s base, the Aeternals did not have to fear death.

“What do you plan to do?” Bai Wangyuan asked in a low voice.

“I plan to open up the entrance of the Starfall Sea and launch a counterattack on Aeternus. Regardless of whether they give up on saving Undying God, you will need to continue holding back the full force of Aeternus’ assault in the Dominion Realm, which includes the Seven Skygods and the Progenitor-level corpse kings. Right now, the war in the Dominion Realm has reached a certain balance, which means that we hold the advantage at the moment. In that case, I will open the entrance to the Starfall Sea and invade the New World through the Upper Three Gates,” Lu Yin explained.

“You want to use Undying God as bait so that you can recover your territory in the Starfall Sea while we prevent Aeternus from rescuing him?” Bai Wangyuan’s voice rose significantly.

Lu Yin replied, “If Aeternus wants to keep the Starfall Sea, they will give up on saving Undying God. Once the Aeternals gather enough power to break away from the battlefield in the Dominion Realm, you will need to arrange for Progenitors to make their way to the Starfall Sea. If nothing changes in the Dominion Realm, I can lead the Fifth Mainland to open a path straight into the New World. Even if we cannot share the burden that the Dominion Realm is facing, we can at least relieve some of the pressure from the rear battlefield.

“The Mother Tree has cracked, which will soon create problems with Ceaseless Impetus. Even if things go smoothly in the Dominion Realm, the Perennial World will be doomed if we don’t do anything to reinforce the rear battlefield.”

Bai Wangyuan and the rest had realized this issue long ago. The moment the Mother Tree cracked, they had all known that the situation had become very bad, and it had become a source of constant distraction for them. Even if the pressure of Aeternus’s invasion increased and the pressure that they were putting on Ceaseless Impetus was raised even higher, the sourcebox array would not have any trouble keeping the Aeternals out. However, if anything went wrong with Ceaseless Impetus, it meant that the entire array might malfunction and fail entirely. If that happened, the Perennial World would face the greatest disaster imaginable, and even dispatching Progenitors to the rear battlefield would not be enough to save them from Aeternus’s invasion.

“If Aeternus completely abandons their efforts to save Undying God and instead focuses their efforts on the Starfall Sea, it will mean that the battlefield in the Dominion Realm will be moved to the Starfall Sea. Are you asking all of us to stand guard outside the entrance to the Starfall Sea?”

Lu Yin replied, “While in the Fifth Mainland, I can use Progenitor Chen’s power. If the battlefield is moved from the Dominion Realm to the Starfall Sea, we will gain the upper hand.”

“Lu Xiaoxuan, only five of the Seven Skygods have revealed themselves so far, and True God has yet to step forward,” Bai Wangyuan responded in a gravelly voice.

If Aeternus managed to gain access to the Perennial World through the Forsaken Land, Lu Yin’s plan would cease to be about sharing the Perennial World’s burden and would instead force the Perennial World to deal with an additional battlefield. If the Perennial World’s forces went over and were trapped in the Starfall Sea, left unable to return to the Fifth Mainland, they would be completely doomed. Not even a powerful figure like Corpse God had been able to force open the path between the Starfall Sea and the Fifth Mainland, which meant that none of the Perennial World’s Progenitors stood the slightest chance.

Everyone had different opinions and perspectives.

From Bai Wangyuan’s point of view, Lu Yin’s proposal initially seemed to benefit the Perennial World while forcing Lu Yin to pay a steep price, but after a bit of analysis, there were actually many ways for Lu Yin to trap the four ruling powers. There was a possibility that this plan was not suggested out of selflessness, but rather due to insidious motives.

Lu Yin frowned. He had expected Bai Wangyuan’s excited endorsement for the plan. After all, the Perennial World would clearly reap all of the benefits while shifting the costs onto the Fifth Mainland. It was unexpected that Bai Wangyuan would be so wary of Lu Yin’s proposal. Not only was the Progenitor worried about Lu Yin abandoning them in the Starfall Sea, but he also questioning whether the Fifth Mainland’s defenses would hold.

Lu Yin had never intended to deal with Bai Wangyuan and the others from the four ruling powers by trapping them in the Starfall Sea. Still, it was true that, if Aeternus abandoned Undying God and the battlefield was shifted from the Dominion Realm to the Starfall Sea, Bai Wangyuan and the other Progenitors would end up fighting a defensive war in the Starfall Sea. If Lu Yin opted to use Mt. Microcosms to seal the path to the Fifth Mainland, the Progenitors would indeed be trapped outside.

It would actually be very similar to how the Lu family had been exiled.

Still, there was a right time and place for everything. This was clearly not the best time to have trust issues. Lu Yin was also afraid that the four ruling powers would simply panic and betray humanity and join Aeternus. If that happened, humanity would truly be doomed.

Lu Yin found it amusing, as without Bai Wangyuan’s reminder, Lu Yin would never have truly never even considered such a possibility.

Some distance away, Kui Luo was entirely focused on Lu Yin. There was no way that this young man was selfless enough to expend himself to help the Perennial World. Sharing the risk? There was absolutely some sort of loophole somewhere that Lu Yin planned to exploit.

“If True God and two more Skygods joined the current attack on the Dominion Realm, will you be able to endure?” Lu Yin suddenly asked.

Bai Wangyuan said nothing. Lu Yin had actually posed a rhetorical question, as there was no way the human Progenitors would be able to endure.

“You already know the answer to that. Since that’s impossible, why do you think Aeternus sent Progenitor-level corpse kings to attack the Dominion Realm to create the current stalemate instead of launching an all-out attack?” Lu Yin asked.

Bai Wangyuan’s pupils shrank. “What do you know?”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know anything for sure, but I can make a few guesses. The reason why True God has never taken personal action is because he can’t. The reason the Seven Skygods have never attacked all together in a concerted effort is that they can’t?either. This should be the limit of what the Aeternals can send against you.

“Regardless, there’s only one path forward. It’s up to you to take it.” Lu Yin hung up.

As Bai Xian’er and the others all stared at him, Lu Yin left, accompanied by Big Sis and Kui Luo. Lu Yin had chosen to not stick around any longer. “If this place can’t hold, I won’t hesitate to destroy the New Corridor to ensure our safety.”

A dark-red light illuminated Undying God’s broken body with a faint glow as he stared at the group of people in front of him. It was rather disturbing how he stared at them without making a single movement, and it gave them all chills.

…

Lu Yin led Big Sis and Kui Luo up to the Middle Realm, and then they rode the jiao to the New Corridor.

Once on the jiao’s back, Kui Luo muttered under his breath while occasionally shooting suspicious looks towards Lu Yin.

Lu Yin pursed his lips. “Just come out and say it.”

Kui Luo shook his head. “Something about this isn’t right. Kid, there’s something wrong with you.”

Big Sis also turned to face Lu Yin. “Just what happened to you?”

Lu Yin took a deep breath and turned to face the questioning faces. Slowly, he began to explain. “Big Sis, do you believe in parallel universes?”

Big Sis arched a brow. “What’s not to believe? They’ve always existed.”

Lu Yin glanced at Kui Luo.

“Of course they exist. However, being able to reach one depends entirely on luck. Even Progenitors who can shatter the void can’t necessarily travel between parallel universes, because they need to know the coordinates of the place they want to reach. Why do you ask?”

Lu Yin looked towards the rear battlefield. “There’s more than one battlefield like that one.”