Star Odyssey

Chapter 1785: A Strange Face

He Xiang's words caused Xu San's heart to drop. He stared out into the distance, Master, you have to endure!

Ancestor Lingtong stared up above with a heavy heart. The blood-red cones were crushed by an invisible power, and one after another vanished, only to quickly reappear in a never-ending cycle.

The massive eyes in the distance continuously created the red cones that attacked Ancestor Lingtong, and at the same time, the Cosmic Imprinter erased the cones with some invisible power.

Shockwaves from the battle swept out again and again, and soon, one of the Imprinters was caught off guard. The shockwave hit him directly and tore his body open. He instantly fled.

Suddenly, another pair of eyes appeared above Ancestor Lingtong, and they also manifested double pupils and began to stare at the man.

Everyone's hearts sank; this stellular tribulation was extremely terrifying.

The second pair of eyes did not manifest any visible attacks or power, and yet Ancestor Lingtong suddenly spat out blood. An imprint appeared behind him, and he let out a roar. Both pairs of eyes disappeared from above him at the same time.

Xu San got excited; it was over!

However, space broke apart once again in the very next moment, and eyes appeared with dual pupils that were ten times the size of the eyes that had appeared before. This time, the eyes did not appear by themselves, as there was also a human face.

Even though the face was not very clear, Ancestor Lingtong’s face changed to a completely different color. This was because the dual pupils in the eyes of the massive face had split. This was no longer the innate gift of double pupils, but quadruple sight, and this revelation left the powerhouse at a loss of breath. This was a huge obstacle.

"Lie Tiandi…" Ancestor Lingtong was actually horrified.

Given his innate gift of double pupils, Ancestor Lingtong had long since studied all of the cultivators throughout history with this same innate gift. No matter if the person had been a powerhouse from the Fifth or Sixth Mainlands, or even from the destroyed four Mainlands from the past, he had some knowledge of all of them.

For example, Brightstone had been someone from the Fifth Mainland who had possessed the innate gift of double pupils, and Ancestor Lingtong was quite knowledgeable about the ancient expert. He was similarly familiar with whose innate gift he was facing at the moment. It was his knowledge that left Ancestor Lingtong stunned at the sight before him.

Lie Tiandi had been a peerless expert from the Third Mainland who had faced the entire universe with his quadruple sight. He had once vowed to challenge the masters of all of his peers, and yet had never lost. He had truly been invincible within his cultivation realm.

Unfortunately, the man had eventually died to his stellular tribulation. In fact, Ancestor Lingtong was facing the same breakthrough that Lie Tiandi had died to, the stellular tribulation faced when one attempted to surpass a power level of a million.

Ancestor Lingtong had never imagined that he could one day face Lie Tiandi’s horrifying innate gift.

Lie Tiandi’s innate gift had been quadruple pupils, and its characteristics were double that of the double pupils innate gift, which made him more than twice as terrifying an opponent.

The four pupils in each of the eyes above Ancestor Lingtong’s head stared down at the Cosmic Imprinter. The eyes flickered, and an indescribable pressure struck the man. He attacked the eyes with his Aurora Beam, but it was useless. A counter appeared and clashed with his attacks. Space shattered completely, and a terrifying shockwave swept out in all directions.

Most of the entire weave twisted and boiled, and countless planets simply exploded, which led to a tremendous amount of mourning and despair.

At this moment, another pair of eyes flickered into existence above Ancestor Lingtong. Xu San and the others watching the tribulation all stared blankly as space collapsed, crushing Ancestor Lingtong. The pressure was so powerful that the Imprinters arranged in front of the gathered audience all grew pale. No one dared to move any closer at all.

Ancestor Lingtong then triggered his bloodline ability, which caused his body to mutate, and yet even then he was unable to withstand the pressure.

This pressure was actually his own double pupils ability, but he was feeling double the pressure, as this was an attack from Lie Tiandi’s innate gift that doubled what it copied.

Puff

Ancestor Lingtong spat out blood. Even though the Progenitor of Bloodlines’ imprint behind him reinforced his strength, the man’s face was twisted from the effort he was exerting. His clothes were torn, and his body was covered with blood. His eyes looked about ready to burst.

Everyone could scarcely breathe, as it was clear that Ancestor Lingtong had reached his limits.

Ancestor Sightless appeared off in the distance. He shook his head and sighed; it was all over.

The more powerful one’s innate gift and talent, the stronger their stellular tribulation. Ancestor Lingtong’s tribulation had actually brought about a recreation of a peerless ancient powerhouse from the Third Mainland. If the man could survive and pass this stellular tribulation, it would be an event that would shock the entire universe, and he would absolutely create a legend of his own. However, Ancestor Lingtong was unable to succeed. He had failed.

Xu San's face grew ashen, and his nails were digging into his hands. Breakthrough! Master, breakthrough! You have to!

He Xiang bit her lips. She had already started to consider the future of the Swifteyes clan if Ancestor Lingtong failed his tribulation.

A bit further away, Sixteen and many others were thinking similar thoughts. From what everyone could see, Ancestor Lingtong had already lost. Sixteen glanced over at Xu San with a coldness that started to well up in the depths of his eyes.

Xu San felt it, and he felt a tingle down his spine. He had always been very sensitive to danger. He instinctively lifted up his gadget, as he wanted to reach out to Lu Yin. He watched as space was compressed in front of him, and countless fissures ran through the void like massive pythons. Ancestor Lingtong propped the space that had threatened to crush him within

Xu San could not stop himself from shouting, "Master, hold on!"

"Xu San!" Ancestor Lingtong roared back at the top of his lungs.

Xu San was stunned. He had never expected his master would call out his name at such a critical moment. Was Xu San really so important to his master?

He Xiang, Sixteen, and everyone else looked at Xu San with strange expressions; could this guy be Ancestor Lingtong’s bastard child? That should be impossible, but why else would the man think of this person at such a time?

"Xu San, look at me!" Ancestor Lingtong shouted as he turned his head to stare at Xu San.

Xu San reflexively responded in kind, as this was a very familiar action. From the moment that Xu San had first been accepted as Ancestor Lingtong’s disciple, his master had helped him train his innate gift of double pupils. They had spent days, months, possibly even years at this exact training.

Over the years, any time that Xu San and Ancestor Lingtong looked at each other and their eyes met, and their eyes would perfectly mirror the other’s.

At this moment, the enormous eyes above Ancestor Lingtong suddenly shifted to stare at Xu San. The unmatched pressure fell, encompassing everyone around Xu San and He Xiang.

These people watching the stellular tribulation stood no chance of even reacting to this sudden attack, but fortunately, Ancestor Sightless was present and protected everyone. Ancestor Lingtong seized the opening, and he looked up at the eyes in the face up above. Blood leaked from the Imprinter’s eyes as he stared at the eyes with four pupils that snapped back to Ancestor Lingtong. However, the pressure from before did not return, and instead, the eyes slowly disappeared.

The stellular tribulation was over.

Ancestor Lingtong immediately let out a long breath and closed his eyes as he worked to suppress something.

A great distance away from the man, Xu San and the others were still feeling confused, as none of them even knew what had just happened.

Ancestor Sightless had a terrible expression on his face. This was not because Ancestor Lingtong passed his stellular tribulation, but because Ancestor Sightless had been used.

Ancestor Lingtong had actually come up with a means of redirecting a stellular tribulation, which was an incredible achievement.

Stellular tribulations could not be avoided, transferred to another, or stopped with items or equipment. Others could not even be brought in to help resist a tribulation, and yet Ancestor Lingtong had come up with a method to accomplish just such a thing. Still, how had it been done? It clearly had something to do with Xu San.

At this thought, Ancestor Sightless turned to look at Xu San, the old man’s mind racing.

A short ways away from Xu San, Sixteen and many others rushed towards him in a doting manner. "Brother San, are you all right?"

"Brother San, it's great to see you’re fine. You’re quite lucky, and you can’t risk meeting any accidents."

"Brother San, even though we were only apart for a short while, it felt like endless years for your younger brother. Brother San, you can't abandon your little brother again!"

…

While Xu San had no idea what had just happened, he was quite happy with the results. Ancestor Lingtong had survived his stellular tribulation, and Xu San would remain the disciple of a true powerhouse. Xu San would still not be considered an average member of the younger generation.

"Hahaha, when did Brother San abandon you? You’re overthinking! It’s just that Brother San wants to chat with his fiancée and you’re too annoying to have around all the time!" Xu San returned to his normal arrogant manner.

Sixteen heaped on the flattery, "It's us small ones who were blind! Brother San, Sister-in-law, let's take some time to catch up."

"Brother San, Sister-in-law, let's take our time to catch up."

…

He Xiang was left speechless and she stared at Xu San for a while. This guy was the same as ever.

Ancestor Lingtong’s success meant the Sixth Mainland had gained another Empyrean Imprinter, and not just one of average strength. This became more apparent than ever when Ancestor Lingtong opened his eyes back up, as everyone could see that his eyes had changed. There was greater depth to them from before, and they felt far more terrifying.

Nong Laohan was present, and more of the Sixth Mainland’s top powerhouses appeared one after another to offer their congratulations to Ancestor Lingtong. Even Arrow God of the Wilderness appeared. It was unexpected that another Empyrean Imprinter would arrive.

Ancestor Lingtong had also not expected Arrow God of the Wilderness to show up, and Ancestor Lingtong’s eyes tightened for a moment before returning to normal.

***

In the Ross Empire’s mobile fortress, Lu Yin stared at the numerous raw materials arrayed before him. They were the results of using his Blackhole Disassembly on all of the items he had been given by First Edition City. While Lu Yin did not recognize a single thing, that did not matter. No one would notice if he kept a small bit of each substance, and it had not been any effort at all on his part to extract all of these materials.

Since he had already finished up with all of the ancient items that First Edition City had sent to be recycled, Lu Yin continued to roll his die. This time, it landed on four pips. Since he was entering the Timestop Space, it meant it was time to train.

While Lu Yin had been in the Technocracy, Kui Luo had said that he would not tell Lu Yin anything about the Lu family until Lu Yin became an Envoy himself, so Lu Yin was eager to raise his cultivation.

His biggest headache was that he no longer had any flames stored in his Skyblaze Stone, which meant that his only option was to directly absorb star energy on his own.

Some time later, Lu Yin’s eyes opened. He was very frustrated, as without any heat stored in the Skyblaze Stone, he was forced to cultivate in a normal manner, and even if the Cosmic Art was miraculous, Lu Yin’s progress was still very slow.

The more stars he could simulate with the Cosmic Art, the faster he would absorb star energy. However, Lu Yin had discovered that after reaching the fourth level of the Cosmic Art, even if he absorbed a great amount of star energy, most of it was used to maintain the simulated stars revolving around his body instead of being absorbed into his body. The Cosmic Art did not allow for as absurd a cultivation speed as Lu Yin had imagined.

He had once assumed that members of the Cosmic Sect would continue to cultivate at an incredible speed even as their cultivation rose due to the multiplicative effect of the Cosmic Art as one simulated more stars. However, he was learning that the truth was that the cultivation art was not as broken as he had assumed.

There were no true cheats when it came to cultivation.

Since it was so difficult for him to improve his cultivation, then he would improve something else!

Lu Yin raised his hand and brought his die back out. He tapped it, hoping to roll three pips.

His first roll was Pilfer, and his second roll was Possession, neither of which were useful at the moment.

His third roll ended up being Enhance, and Lu Yin pulled out the Samaritan Tears from his cosmic ring and immediately placed it on the upper screen of light. This was the most toxic poison in the entire Divine Venom Dynasty, and Lu Yin had obtained it in Yi's Emporium. This poison was actually much more powerful than even Transience, but because of how easy Samaritan Tears was to detect, it was far less valuable than Transience.

Samaritan Tears was supposed to be a toxin capable of killing even Envoys with power levels of 700,000. Lu Yin already had several power vessels capable of the same, but he needed more powerful methods of attack, which made Samaritan Tears his first choice to Enhance.

His eye twitched as he watched the vial of Samaritan Tears fall through the lower screen. He had already used up 30 million star essence just to Enhance the poison once. Still, he continued.

Twice. Thrice. Four times. Five times. Finally, he completed the sixth upgrade.

After the sixth Enhancement, the nearly transparent Samaritan Tears twisted in an odd manner, and though Lu Yin was not sure if he was seeing some sort of illusion, he felt that he could make out a vague face that smiled at him.

A cold feeling hit the back of his head, and he focused intently on the Samaritan Tears. However, it was simply transparent no matter how he stared at it.

Still, Lu Yin could not forget what he had just seen. This bit of poison had undergone some very strange change.