Star Odyssey

The cultivators who inhabited Planet Ominion often faced life-threatening situations, and many had come to accept that it was only a matter of time before death came for them. However, all humans retained an instinctive fear of overwhelming power. The only beings who would not lose their composure when faced with the jiao were Aeternus's corpse kings and those stronger than the beast.

"I killed him," answered Lu Yin. He instantly appeared directly in front of Feng Lan, causing the man to step back in surprise.

Lu Yin took another step forward, which put him within five meters of Feng Lan, and the man was quickly Possessed.

Lu Yin had Possessed Feng Lan once before during the three years that he had spent in seclusion in the Fifth Mainland. Thus, Possession triggered again as soon as he was close enough.

This time, Lu Yin merged his mind with Feng Lan’s body to see if there were any new memories regarding Nutjob Lu.

The others looked at Feng Lan in shock, though no one dared to speak.

At this moment, Liquor Hero stepped out of Ominion Temple and looked up at the jiao. Her only reaction was to take a swig of wine.

The jiao looked down at the woman and instinctively bared its fangs. It enjoyed seeing creatures react to its presence with terror.

Unfortunately, the jiao was disappointed. Liquor Hero was completely drunk, and thus she had no concept of fear. To her, the jiao might as well be an illusion.

Lu Yin's consciousness returned to his own body, and at the same time, Feng Lan woke up. He stared at the young man before him in confusion.

"Everyone, you may return." Lu Yin also turned to leave. These people had almost nothing to do with Nutjob Lu. Their growth and cultivation had never been supported by the madman, as it was instead a result of natural selection.

Cultivation on Planet Ominion involved seizing ominion energy from other living creatures. These people were like raised like gu; the losers perished, while the winners were allowed to join Ominion Temple and serve Nutjob Lu.

Only Liquor Hero had ever held any true value in Nutjob Lu's eyes.

Hiccup!

The loud sound reverberated in the area.

Lu Yin watched as Liquor Hero stumbled towards him. "How much have you drunk?"

Liquor Hero laughed. "When you're happy, you have to drink more."

"Are you happy that Nutjob Lu is gone? I thought that he treated you well," Lu Yin said.

Liquor Hero tossed her gourd of wine over to Lu Yin. "He did treat me well. Drinking buddies are hard to come by, and he was one."

Lu Yin looked at the wine gourd and sloshed it around.

The Lu Sanctum's treasury had been a trap that had been laid out for him at the very beginning. The four ruling powers had used Lu Xun to entice Lu Yin and encourage him to try to access the treasury. Of those involved, Lu Xun had been a traitor, but Lu Gong was not. For this reason, Lu Yin intended to rescue the man from the Celestial Frost Sect. The key to the treasury had been acquired by Liquor Hero, but what had her role been in the entire scheme of things?

Lu Yin had first contacted Liquor Hero three years ago. In theory, Liquor Hero had helped Lu Yin, but it was also possible that she had been acting entirely on the four ruling powers’ orders, just like Lu Xun.

Pa! Liquor Hero slapped herself in the head to clear her mind. "Oh, Lu Yin, you're here."

Lu Yin tossed the gourd back. "How did you manage to get this drunk?"

"You should drink when you're happy!" Liquor Hero said with a laugh as she grabbed the gourd and shook it. She offered it to Lu Yin again. "Do you want some? This is Planet Ominion’s specialty. It’s super spicy and has a strong aftertaste. Even an Envoy can get drunk off of this. I guarantee it!"

Lu Yin shook his head. "No, thanks."

Liquor Hero took a big gulp.

"Are you happy that Nutjob Lu is gone?" Lu Yin repeated.

Liquor Hero wiped her mouth. "He was a rare drinking buddy, so of course I'm not happy he’s gone, but it also means that I can finally leave this hellhole, and that makes me happy."

As she spoke, she put the gourd of wine away. "He also knew that I passed you the key."

Lu Yin arched a brow but said nothing.

"After I gave you the key, he stopped treating me as well," Liquor Hero said with a chuckle, "Still, he didn't do anything to me. We're nothing more than drinking buddies. It's hard to survive in this hellhole without at least a friend or two."

Lu Yin grew curious. "Drinking buddies? Isn't he your master?"

"Of course not. He doesn't accept any disciples, but he did tell people that he's my master. He was just looking out for me.”

"He knew that we were in contact when you first contacted me, but he didn't say anything about it. He tacitly allowed me to pass you the key, so I’m guessing that the whole thing was probably a trap. I'm glad that you're alright."

Lu Yin nodded. "I'm fine. You've suffered a lot, living on this planet for so many years."

Liquor Hero grinned. There were few women as straightforward as her. "As long as there's alcohol, it's all good. If there's no alcohol-" She kicked the ground. "I would've been buried here."

For some reason, Lu Yin believed her, though it was only based on a gut feeling.

"What did the two of you talk about when drinking?" Lu Yin asked. "I’d like to learn more about him."

Liquor Hero rubbed her head. "Let me think… He never talked much, and he always seemed like a rather taciturn person. He always just started cursing whenever he got drunk, especially about someone surnamed Lu."

"Who did he curse at?" asked Lu Yin.

"’That old Lu geezer, the senile bastard,’" Liquor Hero replied.

"Why did he curse him?"

"He ranted about wanting to destroy the Lu family or something. They told him not to do something, so he wanted to do it even more. They disliked someone, so for that reason, he helped them and even became a test subject. It was all stuff like that. He was basically cursing at people to vent his anger."

Lu Yin frowned. This was quite similar to what he had already heard from Nutjob Lu. The madman held a deep hatred for the entire Lu family, and the person who had used him as a test subject had probably been Gu Yizhi. Lu Buzheng and the others had said that the Fifth Mainland and the Third Mainland had been at odds with each other because the Lu family’s senior Progenitor had disliked Gu Yizhi.

Nutjob Lu's decision to become Gu Yizhi's test subject should have primarily been fueled by his desire to spite the Lu family.

It was no wonder why Progenitor Chen's colossal giant clone had not been tolerated within the Fifth Mainland. Colossal giants were Gu Yizhi's creations, which meant they were from the Third Mainland. For that reason, the Fifth Mainland had seen the colossal giant clone as an outcast and had hunted Progenitor Chen down for it, at least before he received the Lu family’s forgiveness.

Lu Yin felt himself breaking a sweat for Progenitor Chen. If the enmity between the Lu family and Third Mainland had run any deeper, then that clone might not have survived.

In that case, who was this "Old Ghost Lu" that Nutjob Lu had referred to? What was the reason behind Nutjob Lu's intense hatred toward the Lu family?

The jiao soared into the sky and circled Planet Ominion.

Lu Yin entered Ominion Temple. Following the information that he had pulled from Feng Lan's memories, he stepped into a simple courtyard behind the temple.

The courtyard looked like the home of an ordinary human. Lu Yin stepped over the two divots in the ground and looked over at the corner where the Champions' Stage and the Investiture of the Gods had once lay. However, Nutjob Lu's Champions' Stage and Investiture of the Gods had both been destroyed, having vanished with the destruction of the Lu Sanctum's treasury.

After walking through the courtyard, he arrived at the house and pushed the door open.

Compared to the small cottage that Lu Yin had built for Bai Xian'er and himself in Food Paradise, the interior of this house was even simpler.

It appeared that Nutjob Lu had been completely immersed in his own world and had paid no attention to anything else at all.

The back of the small house opened up to a desolate, dark-red garden that had an occasional strange-looking bug crawling about.

Lu Yin walked to a specific corner and raised a hand. The tips of his fingers touched something, and ripples spread through the air.

These ripples revealed a hidden pocket dimension, similar to a hidden world.

Lu Yin entered it.

He had seen this place in Feng Lan's memories. Nutjob Lu had not been afraid of others seeing him enter the pocket dimension, and Feng Lan had never even thought of touching it. Everyone on Ominion Planet held an innate fear of Nutjob Lu.

Lu Yin entered Nutjob Lu's pocket dimension, and his eyes were met with the sight of countless star essence glittering brightly.

His mouth fell open. This, this is-?

He had suspected that Nutjob Lu had been hiding something incredible in his back garden, but he had never expected to discover such a vast amount of star essence.

Where had Nutjob Lu gathered so much star essence from? From what Lu Yin was seeing, there was more here than what had been on the Junior Progenitor Planets, possibly several times more.

Lu Yin's face lit up as he suddenly understood what he was seeing. This actually made sense. Since Nutjob Lu had known that Liquor Hero would pass the key to the Lu Sanctum's treasury to Lu Yin and had still done nothing about it, the man must have already known about the location of the key. Thus, this was probably the original contents of the treasury.

The more he thought about things, the more likely his suspicions seemed. Nutjob Lu had only ever wanted to destroy the Lu family, not help the four ruling powers.

It made perfect sense for the madman to have taken the resources from the Lu Sanctum's treasury after the Lu family was banished.

The four ruling powers also had no idea about this, as if they had, they would have never agreed to give the man control of Planet Ominion.

Lu Yin grew ecstatic. He had thought that the treasury had never been anything more than a trap, but it had truly held incredible wealth.

There were no less than 10 trillion star essence in front of his eyes.

He swallowed. He was finally rich. With so much wealth, not only could he repair the Origin Progenitor's sword, but he would even have some star essence left over. Would it be possible to further Enhance the slipper?

No, the slipper had already been exposed, and his opponents would surely be wary of its appearance against him. No matter if he fought against Nutjob Lu, the four ruling powers, or even Aeternus, all of them would remember the slipper. He needed a new weapon, but what would be a good replacement for the slipper? The needle-like weapon? That was no good, as it had also been publicly exposed.

Lu Yin felt a growing headache appear. He needed an inconspicuous weapon that could rival the slipper’s power.

Having used the slipper so many times before, he was aware of just how useful it was, and he had not forgotten how many times it had saved him.

It would be difficult to take this much star essence away, so he decided to repair the Origin Progenitor's sword right here in the pocket dimension.

Lu Yin retrieved the Origin Progenitor's sword, but then he instantly froze. The images that he had seen suddenly reappeared in his mind.

He saw himself wielding the sword with crimson eyes, mercilessly slaughtering his family and friends.

Lu Yin stared at the Origin Progenitor's sword while feeling conflicted. Just moments ago, he had been completely determined to alter his future, but the cold touch of the sword in his hand seemed to chill his heart.

He took a deep breath, and his eyes grew determined. No matter what lay in his future, he would definitely change it from what he had witnessed. No one could control his future.

With a flick of his finger, his die appeared and started spinning.

Things proceeded smoothly, as he managed to get three pips on his first roll.

The Origin Progenitor's sword was placed on the upper screen, and then mountains of star essence were thrown out.

Whether a person’s expenditure of resources was considered exorbitant or not depended on how it was spent.

For Explorers, dozens of star essence were enough to last them until they became a Hunter.

For Hunters, several thousand star essence was a considerable sum.

Enlighters could spend tens of thousands, or even more, but after becoming an Envoy, the amount of star essence that a cultivator needed dropped significantly, as Envoys cultivated with stellular energy.

Those were the expenses of an average cultivator, but for Lu Yin, tens or even hundreds of millions of star essence was not nearly enough even when he had only been a Hunter. Now that he was an Envoy, his expenses had risen to the trillions.

The star essence in the isolated space reduced at a visible rate as the Origin Progenitor's sword moved closer and closer to the bottom.

By the time the sword finally fell out of the lower light plane, more than half of the star essence in the hidden dimension had disappeared.

It had taken a total of 12 trillion star essence to fully Enhance the sword. It was a truly staggering amount.

It was a mind-boggling number, as it surpassed even the total sum that Lu Yin had acquired from the entire Astral Beast Domain.