Star Odyssey

No matter how much the three Progenitors tried to convince themselves that they were only facing a summon, terror still gripped their hearts.

Over many years, each of them had developed a deep-seated fear for both Lu Tianyi and Progenitor Hui.

Specter Progenitor felt his teeth ache in frustration. Why was every single Progenitor-level powerhouse from the Fifth Mainland so freakishly powerful? Lu Xiaoxuan alone counted as three people, and this old guy who had just become a Progenitor was able to use the Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique to summon other Progenitors, and shockingly enough, Lu Tianyi was among them. This was essentially another three Progenitors. How were they supposed to win?

For the first time ever, Specter Progenitor felt that Bai Wangyuan's group was the weaker of the two sides. He even considered possibly helping the four ruling powers.

"Junior brother!" Mu Xie shouted.

Lu Yin and Arch-Elder Zen looked up at the same time to see rays of light falling down towards each of them. These attacks were from Ceaseless Impetus. When the Seven Skygods had tried to rescue Undying God three years ago, Bai Wangyuan and the other Progenitors had only managed to stop the Seven Skygods from wreaking havoc with the assistance of Ceaseless Impetus, as well as the support of the Divine Eagle. At this moment, Ceaseless Impetus was targeting Lu Yin and Arch-Elder Zen.

Progenitor Smoke became absolutely furious. "Stop!"

As she shouted, a hazy mist swept forward. At the same time, Nong Yi took action.

Ceaseless Impetus was a sourcebox array intended to be used to deal with Aeternus, but at this moment, it was being used against other humans. Humanity had turned one of their greatest weapons against themselves. This was a truly despicable act.

No one would ever be allowed to use Ceaseless Impetus against another human. This time, the four ruling powers were going too far.

Wang Fan shouted sternly, "Stop! Ceaseless Impetus cannot be used against our own people!"

Bai Wangyuan also yelled angrily, "Stop!"

At this moment, every Progenitor present was trying to block Ceaseless Impetus's attacks from striking Lu Yin and Arch-Elder Zen. Bai Wangyuan, Wang Fan, and Progenitor Long were more proactive than anyone else, even going so far as to launch their own attacks against the descending beams of light.

At first glance, they appeared to be protecting Lu Yin.

In truth, that was exactly what they were doing: protecting Lu Yin. They had already achieved their goal, as Nutjob Lu had managed to break through the blockade put up by Lu Yin and Arch-Elder Zen and escaped from the treasury. At this moment, the madman was racing towards Bai Wangyuan and the other two.

Not only had they managed to rescue Nutjob Lu, but they had also maintained a certain distance, absolving them of any responsibility for this particular matter. No matter who was controlling Ceaseless Impetus to attack Lu Yin and his companions, it could not be blamed on Bai Wangyuan and the other two, as they were protecting Lu Yin from it.

Lu Yin watched as Nutjob Lu shot past him, a mocking smile on the man’s lips. Lu Yin’s eye twitched, and he reached into his cosmic ring. Out came the God of Death's scythe and left arm. Lu Yin wielded the scythe in his left hand.

Instantly, an endless flood of death energy covered the entire sky, shadowing a portion of the Middle Realm. Darkness fell from the heavens, shrouding the earth. Space was nearly severed apart as the death energy connected with the God of Death's left arm.

This was a scene that Xia Shenji had witnessed once before, as had Bai Sheng, but none of the other Progenitors from the four ruling powers had.

Despite this being their first time witnessing this attack, they were overcome by an indescribable sense of danger that overwhelmed the minds of everyone present. They were all left completely horrified.

Specter Progenitor's mouth hung open as he sensed the surge of death energy. That direction… Specter Abyss?

The man’s head whipped back around to stare at Lu Yin, and Specter Progenitor saw the young man using the God of Death's left arm while holding the scythe and summoning Specter Abyss’s death energy. He hurriedly yelled, "Stop! That death energy belongs to Specter Abyss!"

Lu Yin had no time to pay attention to the man at this moment. Death energy instantly covered the vast distance, moving at a speed beyond even Progenitors. It was as though the energy simply ignored any concept of distance. Focusing on Nutjob Lu, Lu Yin slashed his scythe across.

Death energy swept through the sky, shattering space as an endless darkness engulfed the Upper Realm. Everyone looked up at the sky, witnessing a mass of what looked like black air. It was as if the apocalypse had arrived.

An indescribable darkness pierced the void, trapping Lu Yin and Nutjob Lu within the shadows and cutting off everyone else's vision. Within the darkness, Nutjob Lu opened his scarlet eyes, madness distorting his features. As the God of Death's attack fell, those scarlet eyes suddenly changed color. They shifted to gray, then green, then red, before finally shifting into ghost eyes. Ultimately, the eyes transformed into pupilless eyes, which was the pinnacle of the corpse king transformation technique.

Each level of the corpse king transformation was accompanied by a tenfold increase in physical strength, as well as a corresponding improvement in Nutjob Lu’s Wielder - Indestructible that used physical strength as its foundation.

Once the pupils vanished from the man’s eyes, Lu Yin could not even begin to imagine how physically powerful Nutjob Lu must have become.

Specter Abyss boasted a well of death energy that was far greater than the one in Gaia's Swamp in the Fifth Mainland. The amount of death energy that Lu Yin was pulling also far surpassed what he had used in the attack against Xia Shenji. Despite the increased power, Lu Yin still lacked the confidence that his attack could actually slay Nutjob Lu.

Lu Yin stared at Nutjob Lu's terrifying pupilless eyes and saw the man smile as he moved his lips. Lu Yin's pupils shrank, and a dark aura billowed about him as he instantly completed the God of Death Transformation while the scythe fell.

A crazed, hate-filled smile covered Nutjob Lu's face as he stared intently at Lu Yin and mouthed, "You will share the same fate as the Lu family."

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. Kill! This man had to be killed! If this opportunity was missed, Lu Yin would have no chance to do so again in the future. Kill, kill, kill!

A fierce surge of killing intent overtook Lu Yin’s mind, and his eyes turned red. He was unaware of the change, but a red dot had appeared inside his pupils. It was the same red dot that sat in the energy within his chest.

Lu Yin could not see the light in his own eyes, but Nutjob Lu could.

At this moment, only the two of them were within the flood of death energy. Nutjob Lu stared at the red dot in Lu Yin's pupils. Could that be… divine energy? How… is that even possible?

This was the first time that Nutjob Lu had felt such horror. He had not been this shocked during any one of the countless dire situations that he had faced previously, or even when Lu Yin had revealed his own Wielder-realm battle force. What the madman felt at this moment was beyond horror; he felt as though the heavens and earth themselves were collapsing. It was as though the entire Lu family had joined forces with Aeternus. It was simply an unimaginable concept.

Lu Xiaoxuan, a direct descendant of the Lu family, actually cultivated divine energy? Was Nutjob Lu the madman, or had the rest of the Lu family gone mad? Or was it possible that Lu Xiaoxuan was the true madman?

The scythe descended, swift and decisive. Death energy flooded the void, tearing open spatial cracks that filled the sky above the Upper Realm. Everyone in the Upper Realm looked up at the all-consuming darkness that filled the fissures. This was something that they had never seen before, but their instincts were screaming that, if they touched this darkness, they would die without even leaving a corpse behind.

A massive cut appeared on Nutjob Lu's body, starting at his forehead and extending downward. The wound was filled with lingering death energy.

The dark flood of death energy started to recede.

All eyes were fixated on the two reappearing men.

Nutjob Lu appeared, looking like he had just been fished out of a pool of blood. His head hung low, and his body had been nearly severed.

As for Lu Yin, he gasped for air. The red dot had disappeared from within his pupils, returning to their normal appearance.

What just happened? He looked at the God of Death's scythe. The last thing that Lu Yin could remember was hearing Nutjob Lu's laugh. That laughter had utterly disgusted Lu Yin, and he had been overcome by the desire to kill. Thoughts of frenzied slaughter had suppressed his mind to the point where he had no memory of wounding Nutjob Lu.

Nutjob Lu had used the corpse king transformation. Lu Yin’s previous attacks with the God of Death's power would not have even been able to scratch Nutjob Lu, so just what had wounded this heavily?

Both Lu Yin and Nutjob Lu lifted their heads at the same time. The two locked eyes.

Lu Yin had confirmed that Nutjob Lu was a Redback and that he could even use the corpse king transformation, but no one else had seen it.

As for Nutjob Lu, he had witnessed divine energy appear in Lu Yin's eyes. Just what sort of creature was this child? He certainly was not just a direct descendant of the Lu family, but what exactly was going on?

Blood dripped.

An uncontrollable tremor swept through Nutjob Lu's body due to his severe injuries. He was no longer able to even control his own body.

Bai Wangyuan and the others approached, examining the wounds covering Nutjob Lu. Even for a Progenitor, these injuries were quite severe, and they would require hundreds or even thousands of years to fully recover from. This was the power of the God of Death, and it would take a long time for it to dissipate, unless someone with the same level of strength aided Nutjob Lu’s recovery.

Lu Yin clenched the God of Death's scythe so hard that his knuckles turned white. Death energy continued to flow towards him from Specter Abyss. He had not depleted their reserves yet, but he had already used all that he was capable of.

Not enough, it's still not even close to enough! One more attack, just one strike will be enough to end his life!

Mu Xie and Arch-Elder Zen arrived at Lu Yin's side and studied him.

"Junior Brother?" Mu Xie spoke, sensing that something was not right about Lu Yin. The intensity of the killing intent in the youth’s eyes was far too strong. Something was very off.

Lu Yin responded in a deep voice, "Senior Brother, I'm not willing to let things end like this."

Mu Xie's expression softened. He looked over at Nutjob Lu and Bai Wangyuan. "I feel the same."

It might not be possible for just Lu Yin and Mu Xie to deal with Nutjob Lu by cooperating, but at this moment, they also had Arch-Elder Zen, who wielded the power of the Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique and had just become a Progenitor. Even so, Nutjob Lu had managed to escape in the end. This was what made Lu Yin so reluctant to accept this outcome; they had clearly had an opportunity to kill Nutjob Lu.

"Lu Xiaoxuan, it's over. No matter how this matter started, it's over now," Wang Fan stated.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. "Nutjob Lu achieved Wielder - Indestructible, the highest level of battle force that only a handful of people have ever achieved. One of them is Gu Yizhi, who was once the Dao Monarch of the Third Mainland and created battle force. Another is Hen Xin, one of the gatemasters of the Heavens Sect’s the Twelve Heavenly Gates. I learned it from Hen Xin, who learned it from Gu Yizhi. Where did Nutjob Lu learn it?"

Bai Wangyuan and the others looked back at Nutjob Lu, as they were also curious about Wielder - Indestructible. This was their first time hearing the term, but as Nutjob Lu had just demonstrated, it was an incredible power. Nutjob Lu had used that power to face off against Mu Xie and break free from the encirclement formed by E Chi and the other Progenitor-level figures. Without that power, Nutjob Lu would have never survived the battle.

Nutjob Lu looked at Lu Yin, "Whose Champions' Stage is that?"

Lu Yin glanced at the Champions' Stage that floated next to him. "It belongs to Lu Jian."

"Lu Jian? I remember him. He’s the guy who wasn’t able to cultivate the family's power, so he went to cultivate someone else's power. If he could do it, then why can't I do the same?" Nutjob Lu asked in a deep voice.

Lu Yin shouted back, "Don't try to change the subject! I'm asking you how you learned Wielder - Indestructible! You're a Redback, and you've met with Gu Yizhi more than once before. Gu Yizhi is the leader of the Seven Skygods, Ancient God. Only he could have helped you achieve Wielder-realm battle force. You've been following him since the Heavens Sect era."

Nutjob Lu broke out with crazed laughter, which aggravated his wounds and caused them to bleed more. The ground around the man was stained red. "I did learn Wielder - Indestructible from Gu Yizhi, but it was soon after that that I was imprisoned by the Lu family. If I have been conspiring with Gu Yizhi, how could the Lu family have allowed such a thing to happen? That would mean that they intentionally allowed it. How could Gu Yizhi have taught me without the Lu family's knowledge? Now, you've also learned this power, so who can guarantee that you weren’t also taught by Gu Yizhi?

"Lu Xiaoxuan, the Lu family has already been banished, but you have still managed to gather power in the Forsaken Land and reach your current level of power. Even if you had all of the resources of the entire Lu family at your disposal, such a thing would be impossible, so how did you pull it off? There's something fishy about your growth. You're the Redback!"

Lu Yin remained silent. Without evidence, any accusation meant absolutely nothing. Nutjob Lu could only plant a seed of doubt in people’s hearts.

"Lu Xiaoxuan, how do you explain your manipulation of theSpecter Abyss's death energy just now?" Specter Progenitor jumped in and also accused Lu Yin.

Lu Yin fixed a cold stare at the man. "Are you the God of Death?"

Specter Progenitor grew agitated. "The God of Death disappeared long ago, and death energy is the blessing that he left for all the cultivators who follow his path. Even if you are the God of Death’s heir, you are not allowed to touch Specter Abyss’s death energy. You must give me an explanation."

Lu Yin calmly replied, "Alright, I’ll find a chance to visit Specter Abyss and offer you an explanation."