Star Odyssey

Whoosh! A figure streaked past Lu Yin. It was a space-exploring powerhouse.

Figure after figure rushed by as various Explorers hurriedly charged towards the interior of the centipede.

Lu Yin carefully examined the buildings. “Monkey, can you tell which period these structures are from?”

“Seventh Bro, you must really think of me as an archaeologist. I only read the records of some powerhouses. I haven’t researched anything at all about whatever periods.”

Lu Yin casually pressed his hand against a wall, only for it to collapse to the ground and turn to dust. Nothing could be preserved forever, and even the words on the buildings had long since faded.

“This civilization must have been rather powerful if they settled down in such an enormous centipede's body. Their construction materials must also have been different from what we use. But despite all that, this building can do nothing but turn to dust today. The time that has passed since they were first built can only be imagined.”

Lu Yin felt like something was strange. “So why is this centipede’s body perfectly preserved? Why hasn’t it disappeared after all this time?”

“I don’t know about that. Logically, this thing should have indeed vanished.”

“Right Seventh Bro, you can put that spacecraft in your cosmic ring,” the Ghost Monkey suddenly suggested.

Lu Yin frowned. “It won’t fit.”

“You’re thinking about a normal cosmic ring. The one you have now is from Northgate Lie, so the thing might actually fit.”

Lu Yin’s eyes gleamed, and he hurried back to where he had parked the spacecraft to try the monkey’s suggestion out. Unfortunately, the vessel still could not fit since it was too big. The ring’s maximum storage size was a cubic meter, so the only way he might be able to store the spacecraft would be by tearing it apart.

“Forget it. We’ll try again after getting a better cosmic ring.”

At that point, a spacecraft landed heavily nearby. Lu Yin’s heart jumped, and he slowly approached the vehicle.

It was a small-sized spacecraft that could hold up to a hundred people.

The hatch opened, and the occupants walked out one after another. They all wore similar uniforms, and it was clear from just a glance that they were mercenaries, though not particularly strong ones.

The last one to walk out was a middle-aged man with thick muscles and a stern gaze. He looked at Lu Yin who was walking over. There was still smoke in his mouth, and as he exhaled, he puffed out a smoke ring that slowly vanished.

“Go, bring him over here,” the man ordered.

Several mercenaries immediately moved to surround Lu Yin and escorted him back to the middle-aged man.

“When did you enter?” The man only glanced at Lu Yin before casually asking him this question with a relaxed attitude.

Lu Yin looked at him. “You should have a set of universal armor.”

The man frowned. “Answer the question. When did you enter?”

“Give me a set of universal armor.”

The people surrounding him all gave Lu Yin strange looks.

The leader of the group became furious. “I’m asking you a question! Answer me honestly, or I’ll kill you!”

Lu Yin frowned, and a gust of air swirled around his body, sweeping everyone aside. An intense pressure enveloped everyone, and even the muscular man who was an Explorer felt it. Despite his realm, he was pushed back several steps by the pressure. He looked at Lu Yin in shock. How can a Limiteer be so powerful? Hold on, this person looks familiar.

“I said, give me a set of universal armor, and I won’t make things difficult for you,” Lu Yin said without any rush.

The middle-aged man immediately tossed a set to Lu Yin without any hesitation or words.

Lu Yin examined it before nodding in satisfaction and turning to leave.

The man relaxed after he saw Lu Yin leave. It was absolutely terrifying that a Limiteer could have such strength, and he must be some great power’s freak genius. Such a person could not be provoked, no matter how familiar he might seem.

“Captain, what do we do next?” one mercenary asked.

The captain waved a hand. “Let’s head in. I doubt that there will be freaks like him all over the place. With the strength of our group, we should be able to get some good stuff, and it’ll be good for us to gain some experience as well. Right, make a record of the surroundings along the way too. It might be valuable.”

“Yes, captain.”

After acquiring a set of universal armor, Lu Yin was no longer worried about being exposed to outer space in any further accidents. With that issue sorted out, he proceeded into the depths of the centipede's body.

This centipede's body was too massive, and no one knew what was inside, so everyone was making their way forward very cautiously.

“Monkey, do you think that there will be any living creatures in here?”

The monkey muttered, “It’s not easy to tell. Maybe, maybe not.”

“There shouldn’t be any, since the centipede died a long time ago. No living creatures should be able to survive here.”

The Ghost Monkey didn’t interrupt, since everything they were saying was nothing more than conjecture. After enough time passed, any object could undergo unimaginable changes.

And regardless of what guesses they made, it was all pointless since they could only forge on ahead.

Not long after, Lu Yin ran into a corpse that caused him to feel rather gloomy. The corpse belonged to a man who had recently died. Although death was common for cultivators, this corpse was very strange; the man seemed to have been scared to death!

Both of the man’s eyes were wide open, and his pupils were dilated to the extreme. His face had even turned green and rigid. There was not a trace of injury anywhere on his body, but he had still died in such a strange manner. It almost felt like this was an empty shell that had been stripped of its soul.

A chill ran down Lu Yin’s spine as he stared at the strange corpse on the ground. This person was an Explorer, someone who could be considered a powerhouse since Cruisers and above were not allowed inside. Even if Lu Yin had wanted to kill this person, he wouldn’t be able to avoid leaving some trace of injury on the person’s body, so how had this man died? 

“Seventh Bro, do you feel scared to the point of being panicked?” the monkey asked in a sinister manner.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “Cut the crap or I’ll block you.”

“Hehe, there’s no need to try and scare me. You can’t block me in a place like this since it would mean crippling your right arm. After seeing this corpse, you still want to handicap yourself?” the monkey asked confidently.

Lu Yin didn’t bother replying as he took a closer look at the corpse. Through the influence of his domain, he found that the person truly had no injuries, but his spiritual force had been depleted. This meant that there was still vitality within the corpse and that it was his soul that had perished.

Did humans really have souls? Countless people in the universe had pondered this question. Some believed that spiritual force was the human soul, others believed that the soul was an uncontrollable form of energy, while still others were certain that humans could reincarnate as long as they were able to completely merge their entire spiritual force into another body. If they could accomplish such a thing, then that person would have successfully reincarnated. 

Such discussions and debates hadn’t stopped even after countless years. Lu Yin leaned towards the soul side of the debate, since didn’t his die’s Possession ability essentially strip away his soul and merge it with someone else’s body? Also, the Daynight clan’s techniques that attacked the spiritual force were basically targeting one’s soul.

On Driftcharge Planet, the unnamed elder had told him that humans were split into body and spirit. Was the spirit that the old man had mentioned the same as a soul? Lu Yin could not understand what had happened to this Explorer, but it seemed apt to describe it as the man’s soul being wiped out. In other words, his soul had been obliterated.

The monkey was right; Lu Yin had indeed panicked out of terror. He had never encountered an attack that could directly wipe out a person’s spiritual force. Even the Daynight clan’s battle techniques could only harm it, and Hunters could only pressure someone’s spiritual force. If there wasn’t some battle technique similar to the Daynight clan’s that was able to wipe out one’s soul, then had this person died by someone’s hand or some existence in the centipede's body?

“Monkey, have you ever heard of a soul attack?”

“Soul attack? Seventh Bro, do you really believe in that stuff? It’s just a superstition.”

Lu Yin slowly walked forward. “Then how do you explain the Daynight clan’s battle techniques?”

“The human body has spiritual force, and their battle techniques target that. That does not mean that the spiritual force is one’s soul. Spiritual force is more akin to an energy that’s produced within the human body, and that humans just haven’t discovered it yet. Seventh Bro, you’re thinking too much into it. There are no souls, no ghosts, no reincarnation. Otherwise, how would Progenitor Wushang have died? He would have achieved eternal life.”

Lu Yin let out a light sigh. Something that the ancestors had futilely researched for countless years was truly worthy of discussion.

Whoosh!

High above him, another Explorer hurriedly streaked past with a few more Explorers behind, apparently with some vendetta.

Lu Yin was walking on the ground, and he occasionally picked up his speed. Ever since he had seen the corpse of the person who had been scared to death, he had become a bit more apprehensive about this place. 

An unknown amount of time elapsed before Lu Yin’s gadget informed him that a day had already passed. More and more people rushed past Lu Yin, though he also discovered more and more corpses as he continued on his way. Most of the people here had died to other cultivators, but he also found another two people who had been frightened to death.

Lu Yin wasn’t sure if anyone else had noticed these oddities, but he was becoming more and more afraid of what lay ahead of him.

Even after a long period of traveling, it still seemed like he had not walked out of the centipede’s broken leg. This showed the enormous size of the centipede's body, and it was enough to shock the universe.

There were more than just buildings within the leg, as there were also many shells that were covered with mud and other substances. Walking over them felt just like walking on solid ground. 

Gradually, Lu Yin caught up to the majority of the other cultivators who had entered since the people ahead of him had dramatically slowed down for some unknown reason. The people had even formed a small-scale bazaar where resources were being exchanged. 

Lu Yin did not greet anyone. He quietly minded his own business and sat in a corner to rest. He quickly discovered why the others were not advancing; it was because some living creatures had appeared: white earthworm-like creatures. 

These worms were huge, and their defenses were impressive as well. The slippery surface of their bodies were able to neutralize a large portion of any force directed at them. Although they did not have much of an offensive capability, there were simply too many of them. As soon as someone fell into the sea of worms, they would quickly be squashed to death. Quite a few Explorers had already died, and the worms had devoured the corpses in a terrifying manner.

“Those things should be parasites,” the monkey said solemnly.

Lu Yin’s brows leaped up. “This centipede's been dead for countless eons. Where could these parasites have come from?”

“You’ll have to ask someone here about that: who let these parasites out? You should know that some parasites can basically seal themselves, undergoing a cryptobiosis process that allows them to essentially survive eternally. They’re different from humans, and there are some beings that can naturally truly attain immortality,” the monkey explained.

The people gathered here were definitely waiting for more cultivators to arrive before attempting to charge further in together. Lu Yin changed his appearance to help him keep a low profile. He did not want to be recognized and forced into joining the vanguard that would charge the worms in the first wave.

The area was very wide, and the group near Lu Yin was gathered in one section, while Northgate Lie and the rest of the Northline Flowzone’s younger generation had gathered in another, distant section. They were all travelling forward together.

Northgate Lie was the leader of the group, and although they were not from the same family, the Northline Flowzone’s group was very united. This was all according to the Northline Flowzone’s rules: they were unanimously united against all foreign powers. Lily Anne, Northgate Gang, and the rest were all on this team.