Star Odyssey

Kui Luo sat back down. "By the way, you just said that you had to become a Progenitor in order to bring back the Lu family. Is that what Xia Shenji's clone told you? Why did you say that?"

Lu Yin replied, "Xia Shenji's clone is able to sense the direction of the Lu family, but he can’t bring them back. Before I become a Progenitor, how can I possibly charge into the unknown and bring my family back?"

Kui Luo casually commented, "Then just let them come back on their own."

Lu Yin locked eyes with Kui Luo, his expression becoming less than friendly. "Are you telling me that all of my hard work over all these years was for nothing? That the Lu family can return on their own whenever they want?"

Kui Luo coughed. "Don't get upset and start thinking down those lines. Don’t you think that you’ve underestimated the ancestor of the Lu family?"

"Ancestor Tianyi?"

"The oldest ancestor."

"So, are you telling me that my ancestor is able to return on his own, as long as he wants to?"

"That's not it. He’s been asleep this whole time, but you can wake him up."

Lu Yin blinked and stared at Kui Luo. "If you keep spouting bullshit, I’ll toss you into the Astral River as bait."

Kui Luo pursed his lips. "Kid, you need to be patient. There was no point in telling you before, as it would have been useless. The more anxious you become, the harder it will be for you to succeed, but it’s finally time."

Lu Yin stood up and grabbed Kui Luo, who started shrieking, "Stop! Stop! Stop! Isn’t there a seal on your back?"

Lu Yin froze and glared down at Kui Luo. "Are you saying that my family gave me this seal?"

"There was no other way! You can’t wake up your ancestor unless you reach a certain level." Lu Yin's eyes had such an intense look that the young man seemed ready to kill someone, so Kui Luo had no choice but to reveal the truth.

Lu Yin gritted his teeth. "The details."

Kui Luo exhaled and coughed. "Relax, I came over to tell you about this. After all, you’re a peak Envoy now, and it won’t be long before you become a Semi-Progenitor. With your combat strength, that will be enough."

"Hurry up!" Lu Yin shouted, feeling depressed.

Kui Luo did not dare to waste any time, and he quickly shared all the details of what he knew.

A long time later, Lu Yin drove away Kui Luo and sat on the shore by himself, finally feeling extremely calm.

He had already known that his family was difficult to deal with. They could confer the living as gods, and anoint the dead as champions. On top of that, their ancestor was a Dao Monarch. How could it be easy to destroy such a family?

The Great Sovereign had personally isolated Ancestor Lu Yuan so that the Dao Monarch would not know that his family was being pushed out of the Origin Universe by the Python Ancestor. During this state of emergency, no one in the family had been able to wake their ancestor, not even Ancestor Tianyi. There had been no choice but to send Lu Xiaoxuan away. Both his memories and cultivation had been sealed, and he had been cast into the Fifth Mainland. The family had bet that Lu Xiaoxuan could rise to the peak again, and even climb higher than ever before even without the support of the Lu family’s resources.

The Lu family had a tradition that, whenever a member of the family’s direct line who had awakened the Investiture of the Gods broke through to become a Semi-Progenitor, they could awaken Ancestor Lu Yuan and receive a gift from their founding ancestor. This had continued from one generation to the next, and this was also the only means that the family had to overcome the Great Sovereign's efforts and awaken their ancestor.

Lu Xiaoxuan was the only member of his generation who had awakened the Investiture of the Gods, but not become a Semi-Progenitor yet. For that reason, while the Lu family was cast out of the Origin Universe, the family had done their best to send Lu Xiaoxuan to the Fifth Mainland so that he could cultivate there. Upon becoming a Semi-Progenitor, his blood would awaken their ancestor. Furthermore, because the family knew that they were being banished to a distant location, they feared that not even Lu Xiaoxuan’s breakthrough to the Semi-Progenitor realm would be enough to rouse their ancestor’s notice. Thus, they had placed a seal on the young man. Only if he managed to break through every layer of the seal, and especially the fourth and final layer, could they be certain that he would succeed.

Everything had been done because Lu Xiaoxuan becoming a Semi-Progenitor was the Lu family’s only hope.

If Lu Xiaoxuan could not break through the final layer of the seal, then the Lu family would prefer that he not even attempt to break through, as he would lack the strength needed, even if he did become a Semi-Progenitor.

However, Lu Yin was capable of fighting against Progenitors as a mere peak Envoy, which more than qualified him to awaken Ancestor Lu Yuan after becoming a Semi-Progenitor. Regardless of how far the Lu family had been banished, Lu Yin would be able to awaken Ancestor Lu Yuan. All that remained was for Lu Yin to break through one more time and become a Semi-Progenitor.

As long as Ancestor Lu Yuan awakened, he would be able to bring the Lu family back, and there would be no need for Lu Yin to search for his family.

In the simplest of terms, by breaking past the final layer of the seal on his back and successfully becoming a Semi-Progenitor, Lu Yin’s blood would awaken the distant Ancestor Lu Yuan, which would allow the Lu family to return.

As an additional precaution, the Lu family had also left a back-up plan, which was the series of numbers that Elder Luo[1] had asked Lu Yin to memorize before the old man’s death.

On Driftcharge Planet, Elder Luo had asked Lu Yin to memorize two things: the full text of the Stonewall Scripture, and a string of numbers.

The Stonewall Scriptures had been the Origin Progenitor’s Sutra, only scrambled, while the numbers were the code for accessing the sealed area where Ancestor Lu Yuan was in seclusion. Once the fourth layer of the seal on Lu Yin’s back was broken, his blood still might not resonate with the secluded Lu Yuan, but the numbers could be used, as they were a special code that Ancestor Lu Yuan understood, which increased the chances of awakening the man.

This was the true reason why the two old men who had been Kui Luo had stayed behind.

Lu Yin burst out laughing. So this was what had happened? It was no wonder why the seal had not only impeded his breakthroughs, but also saved him in times of grave danger.

Additionally, Kui Luo had cleared another mystery for Lu Yin, which was the question of why Elder Luo had not recognized the seal on Lu Yin’s back on Driftcharge Planet.

It was not just Elder Luo—as Kui Luo also had not recognized the seal. Both men had merely been aware of the seal’s existence, but the universe was too vast, and there were too many powerful cultivators capable of leaving behind a similar seal. On Driftcharge Planet, Elder Luo had been badly injured, to the point where he could not escape from the planet and had been killed by a battleship whose attacks could have been above a power level of even 10,000. How could the old man have seen through a seal left by the Lu family?

It could only be said that fate had determined that the Lu family’s back-up plan had allowed Lu Yin to survive Driftcharge Planet, as well as the fact that he had successfully become a peak Envoy. The Origin Sutra had allowed Lu Yin to survive the challenges that he had faced in the Fifth Mainland, and while the effect was diminished outside the Fifth Mainland, it would always be extremely useful in the Fifth Mainland.

Additionally, Lu Yin had memorized the string of numbers.

Destiny was like a revolving cycle that always returned to the origin.

Kui Luo had never shared any of this information with Lu Yin out of fear that the knowledge would place additional pressure on the young man and that he would force himself to quickly become a Semi-Progenitor. Barely breaking the final layer of the seal and completely shattering it would produce drastically different results, and Kui Luo had not wanted to take any risks. There would only be one chance, and if that failed to awaken Ancestor Lu Yuan, then there was no telling how long it would take to awaken the man and see the Lu family return.

Ancestor Lu Yuan had slept for countless years since the days of the Heavens Sect, and the universe had completely changed since then. While the Lu family’s founding ancestor could afford to wait, the rest of the family could not.

On top of that, they needed to get revenge for what had been done to them. The four ruling powers were a minor issue. The person who only Ancestor Lu Yuan could take revenge on was the Great Sovereign.

Of course, Kui Luo had not known about these details, as before the Sixverse Association had come into contact with the Fifth Mainland, Kui Luo had not even known about the Great Sovereign or the connection between that great being and the Lu family’s exile.

This had caused the old man to always question things. The Lu family was unquestionably powerful to the extreme, and Ancestor Lu Tianyi had been the most powerful of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, capable of standing up to even True God Yi Wei. Even if Lu Tianyi had not been able to save Lu Xiaoxuan, he should have at least been able to awaken Ancestor Lu Yuan, but the Lu family had still been suppressed and exiled. This simply had not made any sense to Kui Luo, but learning of the Great Sovereign had cleared all of his doubts.

Lu Yin released a drawn out roar. The knot in his heart had been unraveled. Semi-Progenitor. As long as he reached that level, he could awaken his ancestor. When Ancestor Lu Yuan woke up, the Lu family would return. At that time, what would he, Lu Yin, fear?

He would have the Lu family, Mister Mu, all of his senior disciple brothers, and even the seniors from the Heavens Sect. What in the entire megaverse would remain an insurmountable challenge?

Destiny? To hell with Destiny! Lu Yin refused to believe that with both Mister Mu and Ancestor Lu Yuan behind him, he was doomed to kill his loved ones as the divination had predicted.

He also did not believe that Ancestor Lu Yuan could not save Yan’er when he returned. In fact, Ancestor Lu Yuan would not even be needed, as Ancestor Tianyi would be enough!

Yan'er would recover, and all of Lu Yin’s problems would be resolved. He would settle matters one by one, with the Sixverse Association, Sovereign Shao Yin, and even Aeternus.

Semi-Progenitor! I just need to break through one more time and become a Semi-Progenitor!

Lu Yin let out a long breath. How should he go about facing his next stellular tribulation?

He was well aware that the tribulation that he would face for his Semi-Progenitor breakthrough would be something rarely, if ever, seen throughout all of human history. Even with all his power, Lu Yin was not fully confident in his chances of success.

There were times when being too powerful could actually be a problem.

With the unification of the various energies and powers in his chest, Lu Yin was walking down a path that had never been seen before, and he could not even guess what sort of stellular tribulation he would trigger.

Mister Mu had once said that the Great Sovereign's tea might be helpful to Lu Yin. With that thought, Lu Yin stretched his arms and flexed a bit of his strength. The Great Sovereign's tea ceremony? I'm really looking forward to it!

...

The Astral Combat Academy was essentially where Lu Yin had first started his path of cultivation. It had been the start of his legendary rise to power, as it was in the Astral Combat Academy that Lu Yin had first risen to the top, and most of his experiences had been in Astral-10.

Astral-10’s headmaster had been insane for many years, including when Lu Yin had been a student at the academy. However, when the man had reset his cultivation during a stellular tribulation, rejecting cultivating with star energy and instead using memories and the mortal world as a basis for his cultivation, he had reached the level of a Semi-Progenitor and regained his sanity. Since that day, countless people sought to speak with the headmaster and receive his advice, including even the occasional Semi-Progenitor.

The headmaster did not refuse such people. His cultivation path was that of mortality and worldly affairs, and he saw both the good and evil in the world, as well as right and wrong. He had gone from being a normal person, to a madman, and then from madness to enlightenment. He enjoyed viewing all people’s lives and learned from everyone’s experiences, as those things were what the man used for his cultivation.

The headmaster greatly enjoyed Astral-10’s Rain Observatory. Watching the endless rainfall calmed the man.

"Headmaster, Lu Yin is here," the Rainmaster whispered. A massive tree stood before him, and on it was a viewing platform that let one have a panoramic view of countless massive trees in all directions.

High up on that tree, the headmaster opened his eyes. "Let him come."

A short while later, Lu Yin arrived at the Rain Observatory. Looking at the distant tree, he bowed. "Student Lu Yin greets the headmaster."

The headmaster walked into the rain and slowly descended upon the Rain Observatory to face Lu Yin. "Dao Monarch Lu, you need not be so polite."

Lu Yin said, "This is merely how things should be as a student of the Astral Combat Academy."

The headmaster smiled. At this moment, the man seemed like a complete stranger to Lu Yin, as he was not accustomed to this man. Lu Yin was familiar with the insane headmaster, and this sane one was a stranger.

Lu Yin had first encountered the mad headmaster during his breakthrough to become a Melder, and at that time, he had almost been killed by the headmaster. He still clearly remembered the pressure that he had felt on that day, the scene as clear as if it had taken place but a day ago.

Despite his insanity, the headmaster had helped Lu Yin on several occasions, including breaking a layer of the seal on his back, modifying the Cosmic Art so that Lu Yin could continue cultivating the technique, and even forcing Xia Meng back and protecting the Stargazing Deck. Despite his years of insanity, the headmaster had carried out his duties as headmaster, and he deserved Lu Yin's respect.

"Each person’s experiences create something like a unique universe, and, Lu Yin, your life is very exciting," the headmaster stated calmly.

Lu Yin replied, "The greatest lives are never lonely."

The headmaster smiled and then raised a hand, catching a bit of rainwater on his palm. "You once trained here on the Rain Observatory. Now that you have returned, how do you feel?"

Lu Yin looked around. "As though I was only here yesterday."

1. Just a reminder, but "Kui Luo" was originally 2 Semi-Progenitors named Kui and Luo. The current Kui Luo adopted his best friend's name and became the full "Kui Luo." ☜

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