Star Odyssey

Chapter 3007: Plan

“Your Excellency Divine Maiden, could we go up and look?” Arch-Elder Zen asked.

The Divine Maiden replied, “I’m sorry, but my residence is not open to visitors. Additionally, there’s nothing there worth seeing. It’s just an ordinary home.”

“What about those four elephants?” Lu Yin inquired.

The Divine Maiden responded, “The power of the four elephants is the protection of my God’s Domain. Any enemies who come here will face the power of the four elephants.”

Lu Yin was intrigued. “Could you tell me about these four elephants? They must be incredibly powerful if they can protect God’s Domain.”

Hearing the four elephants mentioned, and especially the respect in Lu Yin’s tone, greatly pleased the Divine Maiden. She looked over at the four elephants. “The four elephants of my God’s Domain are the Great Sage Elephant, the All-Dao Elephant, the Virtue-Erasing Reincarnation Elephant, and the Immovable Heavenly King Elephant.

“The Great Sage Elephant specializes in combat and is capable of overwhelming all enemies.

“The All-Dao Elephant can see through the void.

“The Virtue-Erasing Reincarnation Elephant can dispel all trouble.

“The Immovable Heavenly King Elephant is an unstoppable force.

“It is only because of the power of the four elephants that my God’s Domain has been able to enjoy this peace and eliminate all outside threats.”

Arch-Elder Zen felt this explanation was rather strange. The Immovable Heavenly King Elephant? Isn’t that the visualization method of the Lu family’s branch families?

He looked at Lu Yin in confusion.

Lu Yin did not shift his eyes at all. “Truly formidable. If I’m not mistaken, the power that you first drew upon to suppress us was the Great Sage Elephant.”

The Divine Maiden did not answer.

“Are all four of the elephants in God’s Domain right now? Can we visit them?” Lu Yin asked again.

The Divine Maiden stared at Lu Yin. “The four elephants never accept visitors.”

Lu Yin sighed. “Oh well, then I’ll just forget it.”

“Where are you from, and where are you heading?” the Divine Maiden asked. While they had spent a few days together, she had never probed into Lu Yin and the others’ origins. This was her first time seeking any information about their background.

Lu Yin did not bother concealing anything as he revealed the Sixverse Association.

The Divine Maiden had never heard of the Sixverse Association before. Given that Whitecloud City also had no knowledge of God’s Domain, it seemed quite likely that God’s Domain and the Sixverse Association had never interacted with each other.

Truthfully, the chances of two specific parallel universes interacting with each other was exceptionally low.

It was not unexpected for the Divine Maiden to be unaware of the Sixverse Association. However, when Lu Yin mentioned Aeternus, her expression changed. “Are you also enemies of Aeternus?”

Lu Yin was astonished. “You know about Aeternus?”

The Divine Maiden’s expression changed for the first time, and her voice grew solemn. “Our enemy is called Aeternus.”

Lu Yin and the others exchanged glances. How many parallel universes had Aeternus interacted with? If they were enemies of God’s Domain, then it meant that there might be even more universes fighting again the Aeternals. This could also explain why, despite having so many powerhouses, Aeternus had never gone all out in attacking the Sixverse Association; they simply were unable to because of the multitude of enemies they were always fighting against.

Of course, it was possible that there were other reasons as well.

“Tell me the details of your encounters with Aeternus,” the Divine Maiden requested very solemnly.

Lu Yin similarly wanted to know exactly which powerhouses from Aeternus God’s Domain faced as their enemy.

After both sides shared their information, they realized that neither of them had ever heard of the experts that the other faced. Even so, they were both completely certain that they faced the same Aeternus, given that they both fought against corpse kings and enemies who used divine energy.

“The Seven Skygods? I’ve never heard of them,” the Divine Maiden stated.

Lu Yin stated something similar, “So your most dangerous enemy is someone known as Di Qiong? We’ve also never heard of him.”

This was bad. Lu Yin had experienced the strength of God’s Domain for himself, so the fact that the Divine Maiden was scared of the powerhouses they faced suggested that Aeternus had sent a sequence powerhouse to this universe. Even if there was only one such powerhouse, the fact that they were able to intimidate the Divine Maiden so badly suggested that they were on the same level as the Seven Skygods.

Lu Yin was instantly reminded of the Three Pillars and Six Skies. This Di Qiong might be one of them.

The information they learned from the Divine Maiden made Lu Yin and the others nervous. They had mentally prepared themselves for news of the Three Pillars and Six Skies. However, the shock on the Divine Maiden’s face when she learned that the Sixverse Association did not just face only one or two terrifying enemies, but the Seven Skygods was evident. This was an entire group of sequence powerhouses.

She understood that the Sixverse Association was an alliance of many powerful universes, and yet they were still oppressed by Aeternus. Was her God’s Domain truly safe?

“Aside from Di Qiong, who else have you faced?” Lu Yin hoped to hear a familiar name from the Divine Maiden, as that would at least indicate that Aeternus was not a complete mystery to them.

However, the Divine Maiden shook her head. “There is no one else, just Di Qiong.”

“You told us that he’s your most dangerous enemy.”

“We have many enemies, while Aeternus is the most dangerous. We know that Aeternus has more powerful experts than just Di Qiong, but we’ve only dealt with Di Qiong.”

“How strong is this Di Qiong?” Arch-Elder Zen asked.

The Divine Maiden considered the question. “I am barely able to stop him with the power of the four elephants. Each time we face him, he is better able to endure the suppression of the four elephants. In a few more years, they might no longer be able to stop him.”

Arch-Elder Zen could not stop himself from speaking up, “If that’s the case, have you not considered using other ways to deal with this Di Qiong? Such as seeking help from other human civilizations?”

The Divine Maiden calmly replied, “We can simply leave. We do not need to face him.”

This answer took Lu Yin and the others by surprise. Humans always saw the war against Aeternus as one that needed to be won, rather than something that could be escaped. God’s Domain was so powerful that not even the combined efforts of the Heavens Sect would have been able to take it down before the Lu family returned. It was unexpected that God’s Domain would consider escape.

This was not a response that Lu Yin could understand.

It was possible that this was the mindset that the Divine Maiden had instilled into this civilization: tolerance towards both their own people and towards their enemies. Escaping when they would otherwise be overwhelmed might be considered normal by the Divine Maiden.

This manner of thinking sharply contrasted with that of Lu Yin and the others. That did not mean that the Divine Maiden was necessarily wrong, rather that their civilizations had taken different paths.

Lu Yin believed that, while God’s Domain was a peaceful place, it was a peace that could transform into utter destruction. If the civilization was unable to stop an external threat, or if something happened to their Divine Maiden, the entire civilization would collapse without putting up any resistance.

Everyone wanted to stay in God’s Domain, living carefree days, but someone needed to stand at the front lines.

In Lu Yin’s eyes, the Divine Maiden was not a qualified guardian. Her approach was too straightforward: expel any outsiders, regardless of whether they were enemies or not. If victory was deemed impossible, escape. It seemed possible that this mindset matched the entire civilization.

Philosophical disputes would not produce any results, and Lu Yin had no intention of arguing with the Divine Maiden. He was just a visitor in her universe.

At first, Lu Yin and the others assumed that the Divine Maiden would at least show them around a bit before allowing them to leave. But no matter how they looked at their situation, the Divine Maiden did not appear to be a very hospitable person. Surprisingly, she decided to allow them to stay a few more days.

While it might have just been a polite gesture, Lu Yin and the others took it seriously.

In particular, Lu Yin asked the Divine Maiden if she knew of any parallel universes where time flowed at a different speed. They had come to God’s Domain to use the compass, and it was possible that the civilization already had access to such universes.

The Divine Maiden readily shared with Lu Yin that their universe was indeed connected to other parallel universes where time flowed at different speeds, and more than one at that. These universes had been found by God’s Domain over the course of many, many years.

Furthermore, she generously allowed Lu Yin to visit a universe to cultivate there.

The contrast in her current attitude with her previous attitude towards Lu Yin and the others was so drastic that it made them feel rather uncomfortable. Lu Yin suspected that she held some ulterior motive.

However, what of it? The most important thing for him at the moment was to cultivate in parallel universes where time passed at different speeds.

As for being in danger, the Divine Maiden could not instantly overwhelm Lu Yin even with the power of the four elephants. Even if the elephants themselves appeared, between Lightstream, Inverse Step, and the ability to travel parallel to time, Lu Yin was confident that he could stay safe.

Before long, the Divine Maiden led Lu Yin and the jiao he rode upon to a parallel universe that was connected to God’s Domain.

This was one of the universes they controlled where time passed at a different speed. They used the universe for both cultivating and living space, though their cultivation seemed to be ineffective. There was not a single peak powerhouse in all of God’s Domain, and if the Divine Maiden had not received the recognition of the universe and was able to borrow the power of the four elephants, any Progenitor-level corpse king could have easily destroyed the universe without Di Qiong.

The time of the parallel universe that Lu Yin was led to flowed thirty-six times faster than the Origin Universe’s, which was quite valuable.

As for how to obtain the universe’s acknowledgement, Lu Yin would need some time to look into it.

Receiving a universe’s acknowledgement and becoming the ruler of the universe were quite different concepts. Lu Yin was the ruler of the Origin Universe, and he had been recognized by the will of the Origin Universe. That was why he could shun people from the Origin Universe and declare them as enemies of the Origin Universe.

The Divine Maiden held a similar status in God’s Domain, which was why she could use the power of the four elephants.

Being acknowledged by a universe could be thought of as simply no longer being rejected by it. Any foreign creature would automatically be rejected by a universe before receiving its recognition.

For that reason, even if the Divine Maiden was the ruler of the universe and could wield its will, Lu Yin could still be acknowledged by it.

The biggest issue was how much time it would take for Lu Yin to receive that recognition.

Twenty years later, Lu Yin finally received the universe’s acknowledgement, and that allowed him to look an additional thirty-six seconds back in time. During this same time, only a year and a half had passed in God’s Domain.

When Lu Yin and the others returned to God’s Domain, right when he was about to cheekily request to use another parallel universe where time flowed at a different rate, the Divine Maiden bluntly asked, “Was that already enough for you? Honestly, there’s no problem if you want to cultivate in that universe for hundreds or even thousands of years.”

Lu Yin stared blankly at the girl. How was that not a problem?

Even the foolish jiao was able to sense that something was off at this moment.

“That universe is no longer able to help me,” Lu Yin replied.

The Divine Maiden felt puzzled. Cultivators would routinely go into seclusion for a thousand or even tens of thousands of years at a time. Even if Lu Yin had cultivated in a parallel universe where time passed more quickly, he should have finished so quickly.

The Divine Maiden’s plan was quite simple. God’s Domain was threatened by Di Qiong, so she wanted to keep Lu Yin and the others in her universe for as long as possible, preferably stalling them until Di Qiong attacked again. At that time, joining forces with Lu Yin and the others would be the ideal response. If they could kill Di Qiong, things would be for the best, but if not, they could ensure that Di Qiong developed a fear of God’s Domain. Their universe was not without formidable powerhouses.

However, the fact that Lu Yin had ended his cultivation so quickly had caught the girl completely off guard. Since things had turned out this way... “Do you want to visit another parallel universe with a different flow rate of time?”

Lu Yin’s face twitched. If you had just waited a few more seconds, you wouldn’t have even needed to ask. I would have brought it up myself.

“Uh, well, that’s a bit embarrassing,” Lu Yin answered modestly.

Ghost Monkey secretly sneered, and Jiang Qingyue’s face looked odd.

The Divine Maiden’s expression remained as indifferent as ever, though her eyes relaxed a bit. It was clear that she felt rather relieved. “That’s fine. If you want to use another one, just tell me. Since you’re our invited guests, my God’s Domain will naturally treat you as well as possible. I’ll show you there myself.”

Lu Yin and the others exchanged glances. There seemed to be no reason for them to be polite. While they suspected the girl’s intentions, they were not bothered. In fact, they also wanted to discover just how strong Di Qiong was and what sort of position he held within Aeternus.

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