Star Odyssey

Chapter 3061: The Gaze

Wu Tian hung above the Wu Tian Observatory from the chains. They pierced into his bones and flesh, and he hung there like a slab of meat.

Lu Yin stared at the man. He did not even notice that the sky had grown dark. Above the Aeternus Kingdoms, glowing orbs floated to provide light. Where there was light, there would also be darkness.

Once the darkness fell entirely, Lu Yin stepped onto the viewing platform.

The moment his foot touched the platform, Heaven's Sight activated outside of his control, and he stared at Wu Tian.

At the same time, Wu Tian’s eyes opened, and he looked back at Lu Yin. Their eyes met, and they each saw astonishment in the other's eyes.

Lu Yin had thought that Wu Tian was dead. Not the slightest hint of life could be felt from the man, and Lu Yin doubted that Undying God had truly intended to kill Wu Tian.

As for Wu Tian, he was shocked to see Heaven's Sight.

Lu Yin just stared at Wu Tian.

Wu Tian's murky eyes suddenly grew crystal clear for a moment, and Lu Yin saw his own figure reflected in Wu Tian's eyes. That lasted for less than a moment, and then Wu Tian closed his eyes again. Once more, his body gave off the same rotting, decaying aura that made him seem dead.

What was he relieved about? Did he recognize that I’m not part of Aeternus?

Before Lu Yin could consider the matter any further, someone approached the platform from another direction. They moved as silent as a shadow and slowly drew close.

Lu Yin looked over to see a woman with long black hair pulled back in a braid. She had delicate features, and while she was not as stunningly beautiful as the woman with fiery red hair, the black-haired woman had an indomitable spirit and a firm determination that Lu Yin could sense at just a glance. This woman’s resilience was practically written on her face.

The woman arrived at the Wu Tian Observatory and immediately stepped onto it. She ignored Lu Yin and walked over to stand directly beneath Wu Tian. "Do you think that you can survive this time?"

Wu Tian’s eyes opened, but he said nothing. He simply looked at the woman.

She continued in a cold voice, "Let's see if you can stay alive."

At that moment, a thin, curved sword appeared in her hand, and she thrust it at Wu Tian.

Lu Yin instinctively wanted to block the attack, but Wu Tian's eyes suddenly flitted over to Lu Yin, freezing him in place.

Lu Yin watched as the woman's sword pierced Wu Tian's neck, but no blood appeared or leaked from the wound. It seemed as though all of Wu Tian's blood had dried up long ago. The tip of the sword emerged from the back of the man’s neck, and the attack tore the sky apart. The resulting distortions spread across the Third Scourge.

A great distance away, Di Qiong’s eyes opened, and his gaze pierced the void to look at the Wu Tian Observatory and the woman who was stabbing Wu Tian, as well as Ye Bo who was standing nearby.

Unconcerned, Di Qiong’s eyes slowly closed again.

Wu Tian would not be so easily killed.

The thin sword was pulled back. The woman continued to stare upwards, but Wu Tian remained the same as ever. It looked like he might die at any moment, and yet he continued to live.

"You still can't die. You deserve to suffer here, but I will continue to do everything I can to kill you." The woman’s voice was frigid, but it elicited no response from Wu Tian. Her thin sword disappeared, and she turned to leave.

Lu Yin called out, "Wait."

The woman turned back to look at him. "Why do you want to kill him?"

The woman was unruffled. "Who are you?"

"True God Guard Captain Ye Bo."

"One of the First Scourge’s True God Guard Captains?" The woman's eyes flickered, and she briefly sized Lu Yin up Lu. Without another word, she stepped forward, ready to vanish into the twisted void.

Lu Yin also stepped forward, instantly arriving at the woman's side. She casually threw a palm strike at him. It looked gentle, but the attack had compressed layer after layer of the void. It was in no way inferior to Vacuum Palm, and most peak powerhouses would not be able to endure it.

Lu Yin used his divine energy to dodge the attack, and as he did so, he reached out and grabbed the woman's arm.

She allowed Lu Yin to grasp her arm, but then her eyes instantly changed, taking on an intense crimson color—Red Eyes Transformation.

A terrifying force transmitted down the woman's arm, and Lu Yin was flung away. The thin sword reappeared in the woman’s hand, and the blade twisted to stab at Lu Yin from an inexplicable angle. Somehow, the thrust managed to seal off all of his possible escape routes.

Lu Yin had faced many sword masters over the years, and he was quite accomplished with the sword himself. In particular, after acquiring Heaven's Sight, he had found that it was extremely easy for him to break down any sort of weapon technique. Despite all that, this sword thrust gave him a different feeling. This did not seem to be a sword technique, but rather something alive.

He could not clearly see the edge of the sword and could only barely dodge the attack. Both of his arms and stomach were cut by the sword, and blood trickled down.

The woman had not tried to deliver a fatal attack, or else she would have aimed the sword at Lu Yin's head.

He understood this, and it was also why he had limited the level of strength that he had used to try to evade the attack.

"Is that all there is to a True God Guard Captain?" the woman said as she sheathed her sword, her eyes as indifferent as ever.

Lu Yin let out a breath. "Your sword technique is quite special."

"Why did you try to stop me from leaving?" The woman stared at Lu Yin. She only spoke to him in an icy tone. Most people who lived in the Scourges were rather aloof and indifferent, with Mu Ji being an exception.

"Is that man really Wu Tian?" Lu Yin asked.

The woman was surprised. "You’ve heard of Wu Tian?"

"I’m from the Sixverse Association’s Origin Universe. Wu Tian is a legend in our universe," Lu Yin explained.

She stared at him for a moment. "And?"

"If possible, I want to kill Wu Tian," Lu Yin declared.

The woman looked away. "You betrayed your universe?"

Lu Yin’s voice grew cold. "I have always been their enemy."

"I’ll have to disappoint you. That man really is Wu Tian, but you cannot kill him."

"Why not?"

"If I can't kill him, how could you?"

Lu Yin's voice dropped, "Why do you want to kill him?"

The woman stared off at the horizon. "Most people from the Aeternus Kingdoms want him dead, and I-"

The woman hesitated, and then she looked back at Lu Yin. "I’m conducting an experiment."

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. "An experiment?"

"Killing Wu Tian will mean that I’ve reached a certain level. Unfortunately, despite him being half-dead, I still can’t kill him," the woman casually explained.

Lu Yin did not reply, and he simply stared at the woman.

"There are many people in this Scourge who do the same. He frequently suffers from various attacks. It’s no surprise that a once legendary figure like him has survived till now. However, he will one day die by my hand!" the woman declared. The void then warped again, and she vanished.

Lu Yin watched as the woman entered the void and then slowly responded, "Well said."

The woman might not have even heard him, as she had already disappeared.

Lu Yin turned back to stare at Wu Tian. Nothing was said, and Lu Yin soon walked away.

Atop the Wu Tian Observatory, Wu Tian’s head hung down again, and he let out a sigh.

Lu Yin's expression was cold as he left. He soon arrived back at the Corpse King Monument. He looked around at the corpse kings and humans who were all trying to practice the Corpse King Transformation. He then grabbed a random person and asked them how to use the monument.

The man was only as strong as a Semi-Progenitor, and he did not dare to resist. He readily answered all of Lu Yin’s questions.

The man was quickly released, and he raced away, not daring to even look back.

Lu Yin stood where he was and stared at the distant Corpse King Monument. He took a step forward and walked towards it.

On the ground surrounding the Corpse King Monument, there was a designated area for people to transfer their consciousness into the Corpse King Monument. Within it, practitioners could attempt to use the Corpse King Transformation with the myriad corpse king bodies left within the monument—this was the Corpse King Monument’s primary use.

With the Corpse King Monument, there was no need for someone to practice the Corpse King Transformation with their own body. They could instead let their mind enter the monument and use an endless number of corpse king bodies. With this, there were no personal consequences for failing to learn the Corpse King Transformation.

Even so, not everyone could master the technique.

Di Qiong had created the Corpse King Monument specifically so that all creatures in the Third Scourge, both corpse kings and humans, could learn the Corpse King Transformation. With this arrangement, the chances of successfully mastering the technique increased exponentially.

However, anyone who failed to master the Corpse King Transformation would be expelled from the Third Scourge, which was why every creature in the Scourge visited the Corpse King Monument.

Beside the monument was a ranking list, with the names of those who had achieved the greatest level of mastery in the Corpse King Transformation.

Given his formidable strength, Lu Yin was able to push through the ranks of corpse kings and move right in front of the Corpse King Monument.

While most individuals needed to wait their turn to reach such a location, powerhouses like Lu Yin enjoyed certain privileges, given how few of them there were in the Third Scourge.

"Was it you?" A man turned around when he noticed Lu Yin approaching.

Lu Yin looked at the man, but he did not recognize him.

"You must be from another Scourge. You just offended Lord Xin Wu, but now you're here? What, do you want to practice the Corpse King Transformation?" the man asked curiously.

Lu Yin remained silent and gave no answer at all.

The man scoffed, "The Corpse King Transformation isn't easy to master. Without a solid foundation, even ten or eight years aren’t enough. I took five years just to get started after I joined the Third Scourge. It took me ten whole years to succeed. After all, we are humans, not corpse kings.

"The earlier you start training in this technique, the better. Being as strong as us actually makes it more difficult to learn the technique. If I didn’t have such a high level of comprehension, I wouldn’t have succeeded even after fifteen years. Look around. Some of these people have spent a hundred years here, and they still can't get it right. Lord Di Qiong will soon send them to another Scourge."

Lu Yin ignored the man. Could he be a human traitor? Such traitors deserved to be targeted.

Lu Yin looked at the ranking list that stood beside the Corpse King Monument. This list had the names of the Third Scourge’s powerhouses who had mastered the Corpse King Transformation, which meant that it was essentially a list of the strongest beings in the Scourge.

First on the list was someone named Di Xia. It was a name that carried some significance, given that the Third Scourge was ruled by Di Qiong. Did Di Xia mean to only be beneath Di Qiong?[1]

The second on the list was the name Fei. There was only a single character, and Lu Yin was immediately reminded of the woman who had tried to kill Wu Tian. The fact that she had been able to injure Lu Yin when he revealed the strength of Ye Bo meant that she was clearly stronger than the True God Guard Captains. As such, she deserved to be on this list.

The third name was Zhong Pan.

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. So, Zhong Pan originally came from the Third Scourge. It was no wonder why his physical strength was so impressive, not to mention how the Corpse King Transformation made him even stronger. Still, Lu Yin had already eliminated the corpse king.

Ranked fourth was Xin Wu, the lesser giant who had beaten Chong Gui.

The fifth name was…

The rankings for the Corpse King Monument only included the top ten peak powerhouses. There was no indication of how many Semi-Progenitor-level cultivators or corpse kings were in the Third Scourge.

"Just forget it. Getting on that list is practically impossible. You’re better off thinking about how to master the Corpse King Transformation. However, since you're from another Scourge, there's no need for you to even bother." The man spoke up again. He seemed to be rather talkative.

Lu Yin finally looked over. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Aren't you on the rankings?"

"Are you mocking me?"

"No."

"It sounds like you’re making fun of me."

"Suit yourself."

The man's face twitched. "The Third Scourge has no less than twenty peak powerhouses, and that’s not including the corpse kings with a matching level of strength, though with no intelligence. All in all, there should be about fifty peak powerhouses, but out of all of those powerhouses, only ten can make it onto this list. You should also know that all ten of those people have always lived here in the Third Scourge, so none of them have ever dealt with a situation like ours. People like us simply can't make it onto that list."

1. Di Qiong (帝穹) = Imperial/Royal + Dome/Sky

Di Xia (帝下) = Beneath/Below/Inferior + Di ☜

OMA's Thoughts

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA

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