Star Odyssey

Ye Wu’s body was practically overlapping with Blackless God’s. The man was forced to endure both the black flames and the destruction of the Hollow. Even so, the toughness of Ye Wu’s body astonished Blackless God, as not even he could survive such an assault.

"With this strength, if you join Aeternus, you would qualify for the Divine Selection and be granted an audience with True God. You would easily become one of our top powerhouses," Blackless God offered.

Ye Wu's expression turned grim. "Nonsense."

Suddenly, everything around the man twisted. The void was completely annihilated, and even the Hollow quivered. In an instant, Ye Wu separated himself from Blackless God.

The Skygod’s eyes flickered with surprise.

At that moment, several red ribbons fluttered, and sword qi suddenly appeared behind Ye Wu as an attack slashed at him. Ji Luo had arrived.

The attack was fast, shockingly so. The attack nearly moved at the speed of time itself, demonstrating Ji Luo's incredible speed.

It looked like Ye Wu was unable to respond to the attack, and the slash severed his arm as it passed by. However, right after that, the edge of Ji Luo’s sword suddenly exploded, shattering the void once again. Ji Luo was flung back by the destruction, and he slammed into the rubble of the destroyed mountain range.

Ye Wu grabbed his severed arm and shot upwards into a cosmic door in the sky.

Blackless God glared at the man, and a great number of black lines instantly filled the sky. There were far more than the initial three lines, and the sight of many dozens of black lines caused Ye Wu's expression to change for the first time.

"You will remain here. How can my Fourth Scourge allow you to leave so easily?" Blackless God declared.

Ye Wu's eyes focused on Blackless God. The man’s solitary arm rose up and swirled around in a circular gesture, as though representing both the earth and sky.

Right after that, Blackless God looked up at the sky above, which was filled with countless black lines and saw a furnace take form. It looked as though the entire sky was being compressed and refined. The lid of the furnace was positioned directly above Blackless God.

"Heaven’s Furnace?" Blackless God was startled, as this should be impossible. Heaven’s Furnace was Xia Shang’s innate talent. How could Ye Wu possess the innate gift of someone from the Origin Universe?

As the furnace took shape, an unimaginable pressure fell. It seemed as though the furnace was going to destroy the entire Fourth Scourge.

The first thing to suffer from the pressure were the black lines and flames that filled the sky above the Scourge. The pressure of Heaven’s Furnace instantly eliminated all of them.

Ye Wu seized the opening that he had created and shot across the sky to escape through the cosmic door.

As soon as he was gone, Heaven’s Furnace shattered.

Blackless God stared at the sky in a daze. Just who was that man? Could he be Xia Shang? No, that was impossible. While Xia Shang had the Nine Clones Secret Technique, the clone with Heaven’s Furnace had already died.

There were no two identical innate gifts in existence, and yet Blackless God had clearly just seen Heaven’s Furnace.

Ji Luo emerged from the rubble on the ground, and he lifted his sword in a confused manner.

"What just happened?"

As soon as Ye Wu had passed through the cosmic door, he had destroyed it. It was the only connection between his universe and the Fourth Scourge, and Ye Wu had kept it as a threat to Kong Ji. However, it could no longer be used.

The man looked down at the severed arm, but there was no blood from the wound. Ye Wu had no blood.

Still, a severed arm was undoubtedly an injury, but the man who had attacked Ye Wu had done so too quickly for the man to react. On top of that, the ruler of the Fourth Scourge had possessed a level of strength that Ye Wu could not fully comprehend. If his escape had been delayed any further, he was not confident that he would have survived the encounter.

Exhaling, Ye Wu tightly held his severed arm and started making his return.

It was not long before he saw the dark and eerie mountain range. Almost immediately after that, his eyes grew sharply focused, and he stared at the mountains.

Simultaneously, Lu Yin and Mu Ke both looked up from the mountain where they waited. They had both sensed Ye Wu's arrival.

After a moment of silence, Lu Yin spoke first, "Uninvited guests have paid you a visit. Please meet with us, Senior."

Ye Wu glanced at Lu Yin and then shifted his focus over to Mu Ke. This man gave Ye Wu a similar feeling as the one who had severed his arm; both men were cultivators who were obsessed with their weapon, and they also both possessed a fierce and powerful aura.

Having just lost his arm, Ye Wu was even more cautious at this moment.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

Lu Yin answered, "I once encountered the Totem Civilization. I happened to recently discover that it was destroyed, and I also found your disciple nearby, so I came here to check things."

Ye Wu looked over at Ye Sheng and Ye Xiaoxiao. "Come here."

The man was testing Lu Yin, checking if Lu Yin would use the disciples as leverage.

Ye Sheng could not stop himself from glancing over at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin remained standing where he was, his hands clasped behind his back. He made no move to stop the disciples.

Ye Sheng gathered his courage and then walked towards Ye Wu, taking Ye Xiaoxiao along with him.

Once Ye Sheng and Ye Xiaoxiao were next to him, Ye Wu visibly relaxed a slight bit. "What happened?"

"Master, you're hurt? What happened to your arm?" Ye Xiaoxiao exclaimed in shock.

Ye Sheng noticed the same thing. "Aeternus?"

Ye Wu frowned. "You don't need to worry about that. What happened here?"

Ye Sheng explained all that had transpired. As Ye Wu listened, his eyes flickered.

It appeared that the two men were not enemies, or at the very least, they were not part of Aeternus.

"Master, when I mentioned that you went to make trouble for Aeternus, this guy even considered going to help you," Ye Xiaoxiao whispered.

Ye Sheng snapped, "Don’t be ridiculous! When did he ever say that he wanted to help Master?"

Ye Xiaoxiao stuck out her tongue. "He didn't say it, but I could tell that he was thinking it."

"Be quiet! Master has his own concerns." Ye Sheng glared at the woman. He had developed a strong dislike for Lu Yin, especially after being reprimanded. However, Ye Sheng also did not dare to risk offending the stranger.

Lu Yin remained standing on the mountain, unmoving, as he waited patiently.

He had also noticed that Ye Wu's arm had recently been severed, and he was already speculating about who the man might have encountered.

Logically, the Fourth Scourge should not have had any truly strong powerhouses left, unless Blackless God himself had returned.

Lu Yin knew very little about Blackless God. In fact, he knew almost nothing about the Skygod’s past or his abilities. He only knew that the Skygod seemed to have a power related to his eyes, as Lu Yin had once been trapped by three black lines before being nearly burned to death.

Ye Wu descended down the mountain and landed a short distance away from Lu Yin and Mu Ke. Ye Sheng and Ye Xiaoxiao had already been sent away.

"What do you want of me?" Ye Wu asked as he stared at Lu Yin. While the man was wary of Mu Ke, it was clearly Lu Yin who made the decisions.

Lu Yin responded with a question of his own, "Senior, are you the Aeternals’ enemy?"

"We are not the same kind, but we are neither enemies nor friends."

"If they are neither friends nor enemies, why did you go to make trouble for Aeternus?"

"The Totem Civilization was destroyed, and those people were kind to me. I warned Aeternus not to touch them. This was also a matter of face."

Lu Yin understood. "Our civilization is also at war against the Aeternals. I've been searching beyond the universes we know of, seeking strong allies to fight against Aeternus with us."

Ye Wu glanced at Mu Ke. "I only answered your questions because you didn't kill Ye Sheng. I don’t enjoy playing host. You can leave now."

Mu Ke continued to stare at Ye Wu. "I’m not the one who can make that decision."

Ye Wu frowned. He had assumed that Lu Yin was merely Mu Ke's spokesperson. He looked back at Lu Yin. "Are you the one in charge?"

Lu Yin smiled. "He is my senior disciple brother. Neither of us are in charge of the other—it’s just that my senior brother just doesn't like to talk.

"Senior, what happened when you went to visit the Fourth Scourge?"

Ye Wu's eyes glinted sharply. "You know that I went to the Fourth Scourge?"

"It seems that you are also aware of some details, Senior." Lu Yin was not surprised at Ye Wu’s knowledge. The Great Sovereign stood at the top of the Sixverse Association and was aware of Aeternus’s six Scourges. Ye Wu was apparently the most powerful individual of his own universe, and he was even strong enough to have fought against Kong Ji. It made sense for such a person to know of the six Scourges.

Kong Ji had joined Aeternus for the sake of improving his strength. Despite betraying humanity, he might have also revealed some of Aeternus's secrets to Ye Wu, which would have raised the man’s wariness of Aeternus.

Ye Wu’s voice dropped low, "I have no interest in you, nor do I wish to speak more. Leave."

Lu Yin sighed inwardly. Every solitary expert he had encountered seemed to have a very strong personality. First there had been the Abandoned, and now there was Ye Wu.

However, this also made sense. If such people were hospitable, they might not have survived for so long, given how insidious and pervasive the Aeternals could be.

"Aren't you worried about the Aeternals’ retaliation?" Lu Yin asked. He had no intention of leaving just yet.

Ye Wu glanced at Lu Yin and then again at Mu Ke, but he said nothing.

"Senior, don't you want to know who destroyed the Totem Civilization?" Lu Yin continued.

Ye Wu’s eyes instantly locked onto Lu Yin. "You know?"

Lu Yin nodded. "It seems that you are aware that Kong Ji died some time ago and that he couldn’t have been the one to do this. The ruler of the Fourth Scourge, Blackless God, is usually absent from his own Scourge. There is no one else from the Fourth Scourge who is capable of destroying the Totem Civilization. Thus, the one who devoured all of the human consciousnesses that made up the Totem Civilization wasn't someone from the Fourth Scourge. Rather, it was someone from the Second Scourge."

Ye Wu's eyes remained fixed on Lu Yin. While the man’s eyes remained as cold as ever, there was something new present as well.

Ye Wu had not given up on avenging the Totem Civilization.

While there was no denying that the man’s cultivation method was quite peculiar. But, judging by his attitude toward Ye Sheng and Ye Xiaoxiao, Lu Yin felt that he had gained a good sense of Ye Wu’s personality.

Such a person would not allow the destruction of the Totem Civilization to go unpunished.

The dark mountains were eerily silent. Corpses hung from the trees, and when the wind blew, the bodies swayed back and forth. It was a scene from nightmares.

Lu Yin met Ye Wu's gaze. "I can tell you who destroyed the Totem Civilization, but I first need you to answer a question of mine."

Ye Wu’s expression never even twitched. "Speak."

The man was a cold-blooded cultivator, not some merchant. While Lu Yin had managed to gain the upper hand in negotiations, Ye Wu was not someone to consider such things.

Lu Yin pointed at the corpses hanging from the trees. "What's with all of these bodies? Also, what’s with your so-called symbiotic corpses?"

Ye Wu’s eyes flickered. "I didn’t make these corpses. I simply gathered them. As for symbiotic corpses, I was the one who created it. I was born to a family of coroners, but by the age of six, I had already surpassed my elders’ understanding of corpses. Ultimately, my family was persecuted and destroyed, but my master guided me, and I became a cultivator. Eventually, I created symbiotic corpses, and after overcoming countless hardships, I managed to reach my current level."

"What are symbiotic corpses?"

Ye Wu answered without hesitation, "it’s a method of coexisting with a corpse. One becomes both a person and the corpse that they fuse with."

"And what is your view on humanity and the Aeternals?" Lu Yin pressed.

Ye Wu continued to stare at Lu Yin. "As soon as a person starts cultivating, the line between right and wrong grows blurry. I merely distinguish between those who are kind to me and those who are hostile. For those who are kind to me, I return their kindness, and to those who show me hostility, I am their enemy."

OMA's Thoughts

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA