Star Odyssey

Chapter 1257: Declaration

Xia Luo finally relaxed when he saw his enemies leaving.

Lu Yin turned around and smiled. “It’s been a long time. You’ve gotten much stronger.”

Xia Luo laughed. “You’re talking about yourself, right?”

Lu Yin smiled before turning to face Wendy Yushan. He gently asked, “Are you alright?”

Wendy Yushan nodded her head in assent.

Lulu punched Lu Yin’s back. “I knew you’d come!”

The punch actually hurt Lu Yin, and he turned to glare at Lulu. “Brat! Don’t you know how strong you are? Be gentler!”

Lulu clenched her fists. “I’ll get even stronger.”

“Brother- Brother Lu, are you injured? Do you need me to give you an injection?” a soft yet familiar voice called out.

Lu Yin laughed. “There’s no need, Coco. I’m not hurt.”

Coco was disappointed and turned to look at Xia Luo with hope-filled eyes.

Xia Luo’s eye twitched. “I’m fine now.”

Coco’s pout deepened, and she turned to look at Wendy Yushan with a pitiful expression.

Wendy Yushan just stared at Coco’s syringe in a daze; was that the girl’s innate gift?

Yuhua Mavis walked over and looked at Lu Yin. “I’m looking forward to comparing our strengths again.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. “I hope that you can withstand seven of my attacks.”

Yuhua Mavis did not even have a chance to reply when Grandini Mavis appeared. “You’re too smug! Sister Yuhua, he’s looking down on you.”

Lulu also stared at Lu Yin in shock. “Hey, are you crazy? Do you really want to compare your strength to Sister Yuhua’s?”

Lu Yin felt confident.

Yuhua Mavis looked at Lu Yin with a meaningful expression. “It looks like you’ve improved quite a bit. Becoming a Hunter’s made you arrogant.”

Lu Yin smiled. “We’ll find out soon.”

“I can’t wait,” Yuhua Mavis answered.

God Taiyi walked over. “Brother Lu, not bad. You’ve become much stronger than when you were in the Mountain and Seas Zone.”

Lu Yin turned to face God Taiyi and checked the man’s pupils. “You’ve also improved. What level are you at now?”

“Still the same—nothing much’s changed. Come and visit Gods’ Origin when you’re free.” God Taiyi waved a hand and left.

Off in the distance, Wu Da was still recording everything. Many of the most talented members of their generation had approached and greeted Lu Yin; he was like a lamp in how he attracted both friends and enemies like bugs.

Aside from reuniting with his friends, Lu Yin’s arrival also drew over everyone from the Great Eastern Alliance, as their backbone had finally arrived.

Meanwhile, the people who had been causing trouble for the Great Eastern Alliance all fell silent.

Lu Yin was one of the five gatekeepers, and he was also predicted to be one of the top ten finalists. If not for his lower cultivation realm, he would practically be guaranteed to end up in the top ten. Thus, despite the millions of participants gathered around Zenith Mountain, not a single person dared to challenge him.

To the west of Zenith Mountain, quite a few cultivators from the Sixth Mainland were also discussing Lu Yin.

The battle that Xia Jiuyou had triggered was the most intense battle to break out during this stewing period before ZENITH started, as the participants had included the Seven Courts’ inheritors, the Mavis family, and even Gods’ Origin. Videos of the battle had spread everywhere, and many people were shocked to discover that Lu Yin had been able to force Xia Jiuyou to retreat with just one attack.

The Little Arrow Saint was one such person, staring at the video in disbelief; was that really Lu Yin? The same Lu Yin whom he had chased for three days and had almost killed? How could he have improved so quickly? There had to be something wrong. Yes, it had to be because the people from the Fifth Mainland were too weak. There was no way that that guy could have become so strong so suddenly.

That Xia Jiuyou was probably just a weakling.

Xin Nü happily watched the video. Although she was not very good at expressing her emotions, she always had a feeling of wanting to protect Lu Yin whenever she saw him.

“It looks like you’ve been doing well, and you have a lot of friends too.” Xin Nü smiled, which was a rare occurrence.

Zhi Yi was the angriest. She was not as naive as the Little Arrow Saint, and she was perfectly aware that Xia Jiuyou had to be quite powerful since he was someone who cultivated the Nine Clones Secret Technique. But despite all that, Lu Yin had been able to overwhelm Xia Jiuyou with just one attack, which meant that Lu Yin’s strength had increased greatly.

That was a problem for Zhi Yi, as she had never given up on capturing Lu Yin because of his immunity to her Vitality Qi. That was why she had to take him away. However, this task had become increasingly monumental as it was far more difficult for Zhi Yi to do anything to Lu Yin now.

Many people from the Sixth Mainland had fought against Lu Yin in the past; Autumnfrost Qing, Tong Zhan, Hong Ying, and the others all grew frustrated when they saw the video. How had Lu Yin improved so quickly?

Elsewhere, many astral beasts atop the Astral Beast Domain’s massive skeleton were also watching the video.

An enormous blue lion took the form of a man and glared at the video. He had previously fought against Lu Yin in Ironblood Weave, and if not for Lu Yin, the Astral Beast Domain would have succeeded in their attempt to capture Wang Wen. The blue lion would never be able to forget how Lu Yin’s finger had pierced through a Yin Guai.

The blue lion had fought against Lu Yin when the human had been using external items to improve his combat ability. But in these few years, Lu Yin’s base strength had already surpassed the lion’s.

Some distance away, Yao Gu and a few other beasts were also watching the video.

Tian Hou was the one who paid the most attention to the video, and he immediately left the skeleton after finishing.

…

Lu Yin was like a magnet with the way that his arrival had attracted people’s attention.

Apart from Ku Wei and the others, Black, White, and Qian Zou all sought out Lu Yin even with Wu Dan still on their tail.

Lu Yin scolded the two girls and asked them to return Wu Dan’s property to him, so they reluctantly obeyed.

Qian Zou nearly wept as he thanked Lu Yin.

Wu Dan glared at Black and White before turning to face Lu Yin. “I’m not going to hold this against them on your account. Don’t embarrass us Lockbreakers during ZENITH.”

He then turned around and left.

Ku Wei grew annoyed, and he appeared in front of Wu Dan and said in a respectful tone, “I didn’t realize you were Grandmaster Xiu, Chairman of the Lockbreaker Society. I would like to ask you to teach me some lockbreaking skills.”

Wu Dan was stunned. “I’m not Grandmaster Xiu.”

Ku Wei’s eyebrows rose up high, and he shouted, “THEN WHY ARE YOU SO ARROGANT IF YOU AREN’T GRANDMASTER XIU!”

Wu Dan was astonished by Ku Wei’s outburst. In his rage, he attacked Ku Wei, but Ku Wei immediately ducked behind Lu Yin. Ku Wei was not dumb and knew that if Wu Dan dared to act disrespectfully in front of Lu Yin, then he had to be quite powerful himself. After all, Ku Wei was just a sycophant, not a bodyguard.

Wu Dan glared at Lu Yin. “Control your people.”

Black and White both laughed at Wu Dan.

Wu Dan snorted and immediately left, as he did not want to hang around these people a second longer.

Soon after Wu Dan left, Gu Xiao’er arrived. He immediately began complaining the moment he saw Lu Yin. “Bro, you’ve gotta help me! I was almost killed by that Starsibyl and stupid fortune teller…”

Ling Que also appeared, as he similarly wanted to catch up with Lu Yin.

After Ling Que, Ling Gong similarly showed up.

As soon as Ling Gong arrived, Wendy Yushan immediately appeared. She had been sent to Myriad Swords Peak by Ling Gong, and Lu Yin had once even suspected that there might be something going on between the two. However, he had later realized his suspicions were unfounded when he discovered that Ling Gong was a girl during their encounter in the ruins of the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect.

“Lu Yin, you need to be more serious! Don’t embarrass the Innerverse and the Outerverse—you’re publicly recognized as an Arbiter, so don’t associate yourself with just anyone!” Ling Gong was annoyed by the fact that random people were constantly surrounding Lu Yin. To her, everyone in this area was a random nobody.

Lulu arched a brow. “Hey, what are you saying? Are you too ugly to take off that mask?”

Ling Gong glared at Lulu. “Shut up!”

Lulu was furious, as nobody had ever shouted at her like that before. “Who are you?”

“Arbiter White Knight,” Ling Gong proudly replied.

Lu Yin pouted. “Fine, just stop complaining. Why are you here?”

Ling Gong snorted. “You shut up too. Don’t embarrass us.”

She then glared over at Ling Que. “Stop staring. Let’s go!”

With that, she dragged Ling Que away.

Lulu was enraged. “That person is so rude! She ruined my mood.”

Wendy Yushan felt helpless. “That’s just how she is.”

Lu Yin was just thankful that Ling Que had not told him that it was an order.

A few days later, Liquor Hero arrived. She had somehow gotten the idea that Lu Yin liked to drink, and so, she gave him a barrel of wine the moment she arrived. Lu Yin did not hate drinking, but he also did not want to get drunk at this time.

“Cheers!” Liquor Hero always looked drunk.

Lu Yin wanted to ask her where she had gone after the Mountain and Seas Zone, as he had not seen her even once.

This woman would probably get along very well with Geoffrey if the two ever met.

Thunder rumbled across the sky; Ku Lei was passing by.

When Ku Wei saw the lightning, his eyes flashed. “Hey, don’t you see Brother Wei? Get over here and greet me now!”

Ku Lei was furious; he had just been passing by, but he had still been mocked by Ku Wei.

“I’ll kill you!” Ku Lei was about to rush over.

Suddenly, Lu Yin’s voice rang out. “Go.”

This single word was followed by a terrifying domain that forced Ku Lei to retreat.

Although Lu Yin’s domain had not reached the level of Unseen Light’s where it allowed him to predict his opponent’s attacks, Lu Yin was still confident about fighting against Unseen Light, and Unseen Light was someone who was comparable to Yuhua Mavis.

Ku Lei warily glanced at Lu Yin and glared at Ku Wei before leaving.

Ku Wei was delighted; that was fun!

A young man observed Lu Yin from the distance. His face was expressionless, and nobody could tell what the man was thinking. His name was Wang Yi, and he was the only competitor from the Technocracy.

More and more elders began to appear around Zenith Mountain. “It’s about to start. Despite the passage of so many years, we’ve never been able to determine a champion from both mainlands. This is a truly rare event.”

“Only in Progenitor Chen’s and the Rune Progenitor’s era were there champions.”

“I can’t wait. I hope it starts soon.”

“Me too.”

…

In the Outerverse’s Frostwave Weave, there was a huge statue of Lu Yin on Earth.

When the people of Earth had heard that the Neohuman Alliance had captured Lu Yin, countless crowds had knelt before this statue to pray for him. When they had learned of his return, they had rejoiced and made the statue even taller in celebration.

At the moment, the statue had become the tallest monument on Earth, and it could even be seen from space.

The statue was taller than the clouds, and it was the structure on Earth that came closest to surpassing the atmosphere.

Everyday, people would pray before the statue. No matter if they were survivors from Earth’s apocalypse or recently born children, they all prayed to Lu Yin like a god.

Some thousands of meters away from the statue, a young man leaned against a wall with a drink. He muttered to himself, “That damned rabbit escaped again. Just you wait! I finally got the bead from dad that’ll let me travel across planes. I’ll definitely get you someday.”

After swearing, he choked on his drink and coughed a few times before chucking the bottle away in irritation.