Star Odyssey

Arikar suddenly attacked, flames erupting from his palm as he aimed at Tang Si. His Darkgold Palm could defeat even Explorers, so he was sure that a Limiteer realm native definitely wouldn’t be able to withstand his attack.

Tang Si’s eyes glinted, and his spear darted forward, shattered the Darkgold Palm, and then pierced straight into Arikar’s abdomen. Blood splattered onto the ground from the spear’s shaft. 

Arikar turned pale. How is this possible? How could a Limiteer realm native be so powerful as to be able to shatter Arikar’s Darkgold Palm with a single attack? This native was so strong that he was comparable to the top students from the Astral Combat Academies. At that moment, Arikar remembered a warning he had received from a Blaze Realm elder—Do not underestimate the Shenwu Continent! This continent had been able to defy the entire Darkmist Weave, and even powerful forces from the Innerverse hadn't been able to defeat it. This was a very strong continent.

Splat! 

Arikar spat out a mouthful of blood and slowly crumpled to the ground. He was in great pain and had nearly fainted due to the wound in his abdomen.

The Reverent King, also known as Ming Zhaoshu, walked over and coldly looked at Arikar. “Revive him and then bring him to my study once he’s awake.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Tang Si replied respectfully.

When Lu Yin entered the Shenwu continent, a battle broke out in the Great Yu Empire when a mysterious powerhouse suddenly ambushed Undying Yushan. The battle caused half of the city to be destroyed, and even changed Zenyu Star’s weather, to the point where one of its three rings were slightly fractured. In the end, Undying Yushan was heavily wounded while Huo Qingshan and some of the other Thirteen Imperial Squadrons’ captains were slightly injured as well. Fortunately, there were no fatalities from this battle.

Not long after the battle, Undying Yushan announced that he would be going into seclusion to recover from his injuries and ordered Dorren Yushan, Wendy Yushan, and all of the other remaining members of the Yushan family to return to Zenyu Star.

The Great Yu Empire was thrust into a state of panic and rumors began circulating that Undying Yushan didn’t have long to live and that he would soon be passing his throne down.

Lu Yin was also included among the list of Yushan family members who were summoned; however, he had already entered the Shenwu Continent by that time and didn’t receive the message.

Back in Astral-10, Silver thoughtfully said to himself, “You old fox, this only proves that you are one of the seven. Yu, you cannot escape.”

The Cosmic Sea was formed from very similar elements as the Astral River and was filled with surging liquid energy. But compared to the Astral River, the Cosmic Sea was way larger, and many people believed that the Astral River actually originated from the Cosmic Sea.

In a corner of the Cosmic Sea, an old man walked across a warship that was surrounded by the aggressive energies of the sea. Roars rang out from within the inundating sea from time to time, and shadows of huge beings frequently swam past the ship.

If Lu Yin were here, he would have definitely recognized the man as Uncle You Ling.

“Undying Yushan might die after this last battle that took place within the Great Yu Empire. The person who attacked him hasn’t been identified yet,” You Ling muttered in a low voice.

“Do we actually have to investigate this? It must have been someone from the Neohuman Alliance—only they would keep investigating the Court of the Seven Names,” an icy voice responded from the cabin. It was the high pitched voice of a woman.

“Could it be the Daynight clan?” You Ling asked.

“That’s impossible. Little Yin’s actions aren’t enough to cause the Daynight clan to send out a Hunter realm powerhouse. Moreover, they are focused on their expansion into the Outerverse, so they won’t initiate any battles without a serious reason. The Ross Empire’s attack on the Great Yu Empire shouldn’t have been the Daynight clan’s influence either, since they wouldn’t be so nearsighted. Oh right, where is Little Yin?”

“He went to the Shenwu Continent,” You Ling replied.

“It seems that he still hasn’t forgotten his initial mission. We cannot give up on the Great Yu Empire. If he really is one of the Seven, then this is a huge matter. Once we discover the truth behind that issue, we’ll be able to return home.”

You Ling’s eyes gleamed. “Understood, captain.”

In the Shenwu Continent, crowds of people bustled about in the broad streets. Five planets covered the sky above the passersby’s heads while a huge sun radiated warmth, bringing life and energy to the continent.

The monotone chirping of cicadas was enough to cause drowsiness within anyone.

Lu Yin was lying under a tree and helplessly looking at his hand.

The Shenwu Continent had its own ecosystem, which would cause one’s star energy to gradually weaken and their combat ability to slowly decrease. Martial power completely suppressed star energy here, and Lu Yin had been able to feel that from his previous fight with the Explorer. The effect of the star energy suppression was actually quite significant here. If it weren’t for his five-lined battle force, then he would have suffered the same fate as Arikar.

He definitely needed to get some martial crystals as soon as possible.

He wondered how Arikar was faring. Information about Lu Yin would definitely be leaked now that Arikar had been captured by the natives. Lu Yin had immediately used star energy to change his appearance and also decided to assume a false identity. From now on, his name here would be Lu Qi.

Crack crack. 

In the distance, a convoy was slowly rolling through the streets. There were quite a few people following it, and apart from some laborers, the rest were mostly soldiers responsible for protecting the convoy.

The animal dragging the carts resembled cows, but they were much larger than any cow Lu Yin had ever seen. They had a gentle look to them, but they were probably quite strong since each of them was dragging a cart covered with white cloth towards the west.

Lu Yin’s eyes gleamed as he hid his aura and tailed the convoy from within the forest.

Half a day later, the convoy stopped when the sun set. “We will reach Taicang City in Qiong Zhou in half a day’s time, so let’s take a ten minute break for now. We’ll continue on after that,” someone from within the convoy ordered.

The group paused to take a break.

The soldiers automatically spread out and kept watch on their surroundings.

Lu Yin slipped into a cart while the guards weren’t paying attention. Since each cart was completely covered by a piece of white cloth, no one besides the animal pulling the cart would be able to notice him under the cloth.

A few tired laborers were eating their rations near Lu Yin’s hiding spot.

“This work is inhumane. It’s unpaid, and we even have to bring our own food! I hope that that damn city lord dies soon,” a laborer ranted.

Someone next to him sighed and replied, “We don’t have a choice. It’s just our rotten luck to have a city lord like this. Sometimes, I wish that these tributes would be stolen and cause some trouble for the city lord.”

“His Majesty’s birthday is almost here, and these are tributes for His Majesty. Who would dare to steal these things? Besides, we’re almost at Qiong Zhou and will reach Ming Zhou soon. That’s the empire’s capital, and it’s filled with powerhouses. No one’ll dare to touch this stuff.”

“You’re right.

“By the way, I heard that the people from Ming Constables were sent out again. It seems like there are more aliens running around nowadays. The world is too chaotic now.”

“I just want to get home quickly after we’re done with transporting this stuff.”

…

Lu Yin leaned against a crate while his eyes lit up. This convoy was carrying tributes! He was quite lucky with his find this time. There were probably some martial crystals in this convoy, and even if there weren’t, there would still be some precious items that he could trade for martial crystals. This wasn’t a bad haul at all; he hadn’t stolen anything for quite some time either, so it was a good opportunity to refresh his skills.

“Alright, let’s head out and try to reach Taicang City before curfew,” the leader shouted as the laborers all stood up.

At that moment, Lu Yin suddenly attacked, slamming his palm into the back of the leader’s neck. Although the leader was a Limiteer, he could not even begin to compare to Lu Yin. He fell unconscious from just one attack, causing everyone around him to be shocked before they all started attacking Lu Yin.

Lu Yin looked around him with disdain. He knocked all the guards into a daze within ten seconds, causing all the laborers to run away in fear.

Lu Yin walked to the first cart and pulled the white cloth away. He then opened the crates to reveal many gleaming metal items, which looked similar to the jewellery back on Earth. All of these items were useless to him. The second crate was filled with antiques, but the third crate was filled with martial crystals.

Lu Yin was overjoyed at the sight of the martial crystals; this was exactly what he had been hoping to find. There were more than ten carts, and the other carts were all filled with martial crystals. After all, it was the perfect item to offer up as tribute.

However, the more than ten crates of martial crystals only amounted to the equivalent of two star crystals, leaving Lu Yin sorely disappointed. Although it seemed like a huge amount, it was actually very little and it wasn’t even enough to reach the Sentinel realm. However, Lu Yin assuaged himself and decided to take it slow; this was just the tribute from one city. Furthermore, martial crystals were quite rare in the Shenwu Continent and were restricted items. It was already quite lucky that he had found this much already.

Lu Yin stored around two hundred martial crystals into his cosmic ring and ignored the rest of the items. He didn’t have time to trade all of them away, and it would probably be faster for him to just go and rob more people. However, Lu Yin still had his principles, and he would only rob those who had a bad reputation, such as the lord who owned this current convoy. He wouldn’t touch anything from people who carried a good reputation.

He could only start absorbing the martial power after he had around ten thousand martial crystals, as that would ensure that he could battle for a solid period of time. Otherwise, he would be forced to absorb stray martial power from the environment, which would just be too slow.

News of the robbery quickly spread, and troops from Qiong Zhou immediately blockaded the roads and started questioning the soldiers who had been robbed in hopes of finding some leads. However, Lu Yin was too quick, and between his speed and the dim light of dusk, no one had seen him clearly. Thus, the authorities could only blindly search for the criminal.

Lu Yin didn’t dare to enter a city, as he had learned some information about the heavenly globes from Wu Xia’s memories. Each city had its own heavenly globes that could sense star energy. Because of their existence, Lu Yin would definitely be detected as soon as he entered a city. He didn’t want to be chased around by the people of Ming Constables, as there were Martial Emperor powerhouses in that organization, which were equivalent to Explorers. It would be very troublesome for him if his identity as an alien was revealed, as those people from Ming Constables were very familiar with the greater universe.

It was completely dark when Arikar was led to the prince’s study within the Reverent King’s estate. His face was pale, and his abdomen had been bandaged, covering his heavy injury.

The Reverent King, Ming Zhaoshu, looked at him coldly. “Name, identity, and purpose.”

Arikar panted heavily and honestly revealed everything.

Ming Zhaoshu was surprised. “So you’re from the Blaze Realm. It’s been a long time. The last time the Blaze Realm sent anyone here was a hundred years ago.”

Arikar wasn’t surprised by this reaction. After all, he had been informed about this before arriving. The Blaze Realm had sent someone into the Shenwu Continent a hundred years ago and never heard from that person again.

“Who was the other person?” Ming Zhaoshu asked with a stern gaze. This was what he was the most concerned about, since there weren’t many people below the Martial Emperor realm who could withstand his attacks. That person had clearly been in the Martial King realm, and yet, he had been able to escape unscathed, which was proof that he was very powerful. Besides, that person had even done something unforgivable; he had seen the Reverent King’s daughter bathing and even emerged from her tub. If this incident ever spread, then the entire the Reverent King’s household would be humiliated.

Arikar betrayed Lu Yin without any hesitation and told Ming Zhaoshu everything he knew about Lu Yin. He was very detailed and even told him about Lu Yin’s battle style that had been shown during the Astral Combat Tournament.

Ming Zhaoshu was shocked. “He comprehended five-lined battle force while still in the Martial King realm? It’s no wonder he was able to stand my attack. What is his personality like?”

Arikar effortlessly slandered Lu Yin. “He’s despicable.”

Ming Zhaoshu’s gaze turned cold and a huge pressure suddenly descended upon the room, shattering the tables and chairs around them. Arikar was crushed to the ground as blood dribbled out of his mouth. He looked up at Ming Zhaoshu in fear.

“I don’t like it when people lie to me. Tell me the truth,” Ming Zhaoshu coldly demanded.