Star Odyssey

The man’s gaze terrified the trio, and suddenly, one of them seemed to remember something. Then, he turned to flee. “Run! He’s a survivor from the Fifth Mainland!”

The other two were overwhelmed at these words, and they both turned to escape at the same time. The Fifth Mainland was known to be extremely weak, and the Sixth Mainland could invade it at any time since the Fifth Mainland had already suffered a crushing defeat during the ancient war. However, anyone from the Fifth Mainland who was able to appear within the ruins of the Daosource Sect was an absolute monster. Xing Kai had killed a Realmling, and no one had ever managed to defeat anyone from the Fifth Mainland inside of the Daosource Sect. In the Sixth Mainland’s youth’s minds, any survivor who appeared in the Daosource Sect was a freak who rivaled the Realmlings.

This assumption was evidently incorrect because Lu Yin could not compare to those apex powerhouses. However, at this moment, the three youths had made the sensible choice of trying to escape as the person who had appeared in front of them was none other than someone on the same level as Xing Kai: Nightking Zhenwu of the Ten Arbiters.

But wanting to escape and being able to escape were two entirely separate things, and the three youths had clearly overestimated their own abilities, as they were all decapitated in a single move.

Nightking Zhenwu stepped through their fresh blood and gazed at the entrance to the land of the buried bow. “The Starfall Sea has suffered a bitter defeat, and the Starsibyl Sect believes that the best plan is for us to massacre the Sixth Mainland’s younger generation and divert the pressure from the battlefield. These youths from the Sixth Mainland are definitely not weak, especially those Daosource Three Skies.

“Still, just moving around will be beneficial for us. As long as the Daosource Three Skies don’t come out, the rest are nothing more than ants.”

***

The Daosource Sect had a primary shrine that was easy to find since it towered high above the peak of the Daosource Sect. No one could even arrive there directly through a pillar of light, but normally, nobody visited that place as there was no inheritance, power vessels, or anything else worth taking note of there. It was merely the ruins of what had once been a grand shrine.

Occasionally, cultivators would visit the place to spruce it up, but that was also because there was not much danger in this place.

At this moment, there were at least ten cultivators at the shrine, and they appeared to be excitedly discussing something. There were certain terms that were vaguely mentioned: battlefield, Mara River, Starfall Sea, and so on.

Not a single one of the youths realized that a futon had abruptly appeared behind the shrine. A man was sitting on it with his eyes closed, and he slowly stood up after he appeared.

Evidently, those who entered the Daosource Sect with their futons did not only appear in the plazas outside of the mountain gates.

The man with the closed eyes slowly stepped into the shrine, causing the dozen or so people to look over. Although they were taken aback by the man’s tightly closed eyes, they did not really care. After all, there were many strange battle techniques and arts.

One person approached the newcomer, and he waved a hand before the man’s eyes. “Brother, what’s this technique that you’re cultivating? Can you really not see?”

“Second bro, he clearly can’t see with his eyes closed. Maybe he’s cultivating some kind of unbeatable technique! Don’t disturb him, haha,” someone joked.

Another youth joined in on the fun. “I heard that once someone reaches the peak in a certain aspect, they have to pay a price for that strength and are forced to suppress their body somehow. Maybe he’s cultivated something to the extreme and keeps his eyes closed to suppress his strength, haha!”

Many others laughed as well.

The man with the closed eyes turned to face the heckler. “How did you know that I’m suppressing my domain?”

This one sentence made the group laugh even harder.

“Bro, in this day and age, who still cultivates a domain? Comprehending one is good enough, but cultivating it is just a waste of time. Instead, you can use that time to train your body and improve how much support you can receive from a more advanced Imprinter. That’s the right way to cultivate! Domain? That’s only what those unsophisticated bumpkins from the Fifth Mainland cultivate, haha!”

“I heard that those trash from the Fifth Mainland praise domains as if it’s something that’s a top-notch cultivation path, haha! Those idiots just don’t understand imprints, what a bloodline is, or even martial imprints.”

…

The man with shut eyes sighed. “I see. It looks like my path of cultivation is wrong.”

The surrounding people became even rowdier.

“But I still want to test the limits of a domain. Perhaps it is still a true path.” As he finished speaking, the air suddenly grew dim, and everyone in that place felt their breath slow. An indescribably overbearing strength suppressed them, and it was so powerful that even the air visibly solidified. It took just an instant for the youths’ bodies to explode, scattering their flesh and blood across the shrine.

With his eyes still shut, the young man’s lips bent upwards. “It seems that it is not the path of the domain that is wrong, but rather you all, who are too narrow minded.”

He stepped across the ground and out of the shrine. “Ancestors, I’ll sacrifice the blood of these people as an offering to you.”

***

Lu Yin spent ten days at Heaven's Pit. At the end, he helplessly opened his eyes, as he still had not comprehended even a trace of enlightenment. But that was still fine, as this was something left behind by a Progenitor. If it took only someone ten days to achieve comprehension, that would be a bit too easy. However, the average person was only able to stay in this place for slightly more than ten days whereas Lu Yin could remain here for more than twenty days. Still, that was not nearly enough time to comprehend this palm imprint.

If Lu Yin could remain here for a year and a half, then that would be wonderful.

He turned to glance to the side and saw that both Shang Rong and Butcher had left. They had studied the palm print for seven days and then decisively left once they felt that they could not grasp anything from this place.

“Our time is too short, and comprehending this print requires destiny as well as even more time. Let’s go,” Miss Qing suggested grudgingly.

Mr. Bai nodded. “That is indeed true.”

Huang San had long since wanted to leave this place, as he had felt like someone had been covetously eyeing their pillar, wanting to seize control of it.

The stone pillar at the tip of the middle finger where Shang Rong had once sat was currently occupied by five people. They had also sat there for several days while studying the palm print, but none of them had reaped anything. One of the five impatiently said, “We might as well go to the Scripture Pavilion. At least there’s some hope of studying those ancient characters.”

“Shut up! Things are so chaotic there right now, and quite a few people have been killed over the last few days. Rumors have it that it’s all being done by people from the Fifth Mainland and that those people have gone crazy. What’ll we do if we meet them out there?”

Lu Yin’s heart leaped, and he made sure to listen attentively.

“Those guys from the Fifth Mainland have really gone berserk, and I’ve heard that dozens of people have already died. Flesh and blood were found covering the main shrine, a dozen burnt corpses in another area, and decapitated bodies left elsewhere to rot. It’s too cruel.

“Also, I can’t make sense of it. Our Sixth Mainland can obviously suppress the Fifth Mainland, so why can’t we suppress the Fifth Mainland’s cultivators who are hiding in the Daosource Sect?”

“What do you know? The frontline at Mara River has verified these people’s identities, and they’re actually the strongest people in the Fifth Mainland’s younger generation, and they’re known as the Ten Arbiters. That Xing Kai, who killed a Realmling, is apparently one of the Ten Arbiters, the War King.”

“He actually killed a Realmling? What a monster! Weren’t those people always hiding? So why are they showing up now?”

“I heard that they’re trying to divert our attention away from the battlefield. Who knows? Maybe we’ll just wait here in peace until our futons’ time is up and then never come back to these Daosource Sect ruins. In the future, this place will become a battlefield between the Fifth Mainland’s Ten Arbiters and our Sixth Mainland’s Realmlings.”

…

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. So his guess was right—the Ten Arbiters could indeed appear in this place. Was the pressure that the Innerverse was facing that intense? They had actually mobilized the Ten Arbiters and ordered them to slaughter the Sixth Mainland’s younger generation in an attempt to split the Sixth Mainland’s focus. Still, the Sixth Mainland’s younger generation were not that weak, and from Shang Rong’s strength, Lu Yin could tell that the Realmlings were no weaker than the Ten Arbiters. And that wasn’t even mentioning the fact that there was still the even more terrifying Daosource Three Skies. Where had the Innerverse found the confidence to use these ruins to alleviate the pressure from their battlefield?

Still, it was a good thing that the Ten Arbiters had shown up. Since the Innerverse and Outerverse were isolated, if Lu Yin could meet up with one of them, they could relay information back and forth, and he could also ask about his friends. Though, that all depended on whether or not any of the Ten Arbiters would even bother with him.

The group left Heaven's Pit, and the few of them turned to Mr. Bai, as he seemed very familiar with the various sites in the Daosource Sect.

Mr. Bai opened his folding fan and waved it about in a confident manner. “Fat Bro should be leaving this place in about four days.”

Huang San grudgingly agreed, “Yeah, four days. You guys don’t need to bother with me.”

Mr. Bai muttered. “This is the Daosource Sect, and there are many places that we can visit. There are more than just places like Heaven's Pit or the Scripture Pavilion—there are even locations where the sect’s disciples originally cultivated, and those places may yield some opportunities for us. The greatest inheritance should be in the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas.”

“The Nine Mountains and Eight Seas?” The fatty was completely lost.

“Legends say that during the peak era of the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect, there were Nine Mountains and Eight Seas and that only Progenitors were able to cleave the mountains apart and split the seas. In other words, at that time, the Daosource Sect had nine Progenitors,” Miss Qing said.

The fatty was speechless. “Nine? How is that possible? If they really had nine Progenitors, then how could the Fifth Mainland have been defeated?”

Mr. Bai smiled. “In the end, this is nothing more than a legend, and the truth may be different. Also, the records show that these Nine Mountains and Eight Seas do not actually exist, though it is true that only Progenitors are capable of splitting the mountains and seas, as this detail is the same with our Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Sect. Hence, the greatest inheritance from this place must be within those mountains and seas. It is a pity that we only have a short amount of time remaining, as it will be difficult to even find the mountains or seas, not to mention being acknowledged by them.”

“Let’s ignore the mountains and seas for now. Where else can we go?” Miss Qing asked.

Mr. Bai enquired, “Miss Qing seems to be fairly well informed concerning the Daosource Sect, so do you have any suggestions?”

Miss Qing was just about to speak when they all felt a sudden fluctuation from the sky. A giant cauldron appeared, though it was merely a phantom image. It only appeared for an instant, but that square cauldron seemed to cover the entire sky, and Lu Yin and the others had seen it all.

“What was that? That scared Fat Bro shitless!” the fatty screamed.

Mr. Bai closed his fan with a slap. “That was one of the Daosource Sect’s Nine Cauldrons, which is also the greatest inheritance area. There seems to have been changes to the Nine Cauldrons, so let’s go there. It is possible that we may obtain a inheritance.”

After speaking, he rushed off in a particular direction with Lu Yin and Miss Qing close on his tail.

“Eh? Wasn’t the greatest inheritance in the mountains and seas?” The fatty hurriedly chased after the other three.

“They are not the same. The inheritances of Progenitors may exist in the mountains and seas, and while those inheritances are indeed the greatest, no one has obtained them thus far. However, the Nine Cauldrons are different. According to the ancient legends, there’s a certain type of battle technique that exists within each cauldron. The Nine Cauldrons represent nine battle techniques, and these nine battle techniques can be merged together to form a truly unrivaled technique.”

“There’s really something like that?”

It was not just Mr. Bai, Lu Yin, and the other two who had seen the phantom image of the cauldron in the sky. Clearly, many other cultivators had seen it as well, as they were all currently dashing towards the area with the Nine Cauldrons.

The legends typically exaggerated the truth, but each legend had an undeniable basis in reality, which might then be further exaggerated or changed. However, no one would completely deny the origin of those legends, especially the ones that were related to inheritances.