Star Odyssey

Chapter 1807: Hollow Palm

Aside from the pillar of tribulation crystals, the Enlighter had less than 10 million star essence and a piece of jade that held a cultivation art. However, it was not one from the ancient era, and it was actually worthless.

Wait, what was that?

Lu Yin was shocked to find out that the man also had a sourcebox, and it was actually a humanoid sourcebox that was tied to a string.

"Where did you get this humanoid sourcebox?" Lu Yin instantly grew somber.

The Enlighter was quite resentful of his situation. "I got it from a young man. I asked him about it, and he said that he accidentally pulled it out of the ground."

"Where?" The moment Lu Yin asked this question, he regretted it. How could anyone know where anything was inside Burial Garden?

The middle-aged man had no idea how to even answer, so he just stared at Lu Yin with a fearful expression.

Lu Yin was very uncomfortable after discovering the humanoid sourcebox, and he quickly put it away. He kicked the Enlighter away and passed through the gate to leave Burial Garden.

Lu Yin was very vigilant as he left Burial Garden. Despite his confidence in his own strength, he had no idea if he would run into some old freak with a power level of a million as soon as he passed through the gate, especially since Burial Garden’s gates had also appeared in the Outerverse as well. The Sixth Mainland had numerous powerhouses, and there was no way they would simply ignore the gates.

Due to his caution, Lu Yin moved very carefully and even held the blood-red bell in his hand. The moment he detected anything off at all, he planned to ring the bell and return to Burial Garden.

Fortunately, his wariness was unwarranted. Let alone a powerhouse, he found no one at all after exiting Burial Garden.

He glanced around and saw trees towering high into the clouds all around him. He was clearly in a dense forest. Lu Yin’s pupils transformed into runes, and his expression instantly changed; there were no runes at all. Was he not in the Fifth Mainland?

Lu Yin kept a tight grip on the blood-red bell as he released his domain and slowly spread it out to its furthest limit.

His domain was able to cover an incredibly large area given his current strength, but he still did not find a single trace of another human being. What was even more bizarre was that he had the distinct feeling that he had been to this place before, as there was something familiar about it.

This sensation couldn’t be wrong, so he stood right next to Burial Garden’s gate and reviewed his memories, trying to find the reason why this location felt so familiar.

However, no matter how much time passed, he could not come up with anything at all.

The only thing that he knew for certain was that no one was nearby at all.

With no one standing guard at the gate he had exited, could it be an undiscovered gate? That should be impossible.

Lu Yin’s mind raced, and he spread out his domain once more. This time, he was searching the area more carefully, as he simply wanted to find traces of anything that was not natural to the forest.

There was no way that he was the only person who had passed through this exit gate, so where had all the others gone? Before long, Lu Yin found traces of blood. After following them in a particular direction with his domain, he soon found a body.

Lu Yin approached the corpse, intending to check its cosmic ring.

Suddenly, something clicked in his mind, and he understood why the forest felt so familiar. He had escaped to this place once before.

Back when the Sixth Mainland had invaded the Fifth Mainland and the Starfall Sea had been essentially conquered, Lu Yin had happened to end up on Grayweed Continent. There, he had passed through this particular forest to travel from Thundercharge Dojo to Mt. Stacks Dojo. No wonder why this place felt so familiar.

Since Lu Yin was on Grayweed Continent, it meant that he was in Aeternus’s territory. Of course there were no runes here.

This sudden thought sent chills down Lu Yin’s spine, and he reflexively wanted to dart back into Burial Garden’s gate to escape.

However, after considering his situation, he looked towards the east, which was where Mt. Stacks Dojo was located. Could he go and check the palm prints that Lan Si had mentioned?

Vacuum Palm’s importance to Lu Yin as his primary attack method was readily evident, and yet Vacuum Palm was the technique that Lan Si had received from just the Ten Stacks palm print.

Lu Yin excelled at the Overlaying Stacks path, and his physical strength was unmatched. So, the techniques that used the Overlaying Stacks Path naturally suited him best.

However, Grayweed Continent was part of Aeternus’s territory, and if Lu Yin was being careful, he knew that it would be best to immediately return to Burial Garden instead of trying to get to Mt. Stacks Dojo. After all, what would happen if he was discovered?

Lu Yin was torn with indecision. On one hand, the most suitable technique imaginable for him was within reach, but on the other, safety was right next to him. He really did not know what to choose. He also knew that, when he had touched the palm prints during his previous visit to Mt. Stacks Dojo, he had not even sensed any techniques from the Ten Stacks palm print. Not a single other disciple from Mt. Stacks Dojo had ever sensed the existence of Vacuum Palm aside from Lan Si himself.

Some battle techniques could only be obtained through luck, with nothing to do with ability. Even if Lu Yin was able to get to Mt. Stacks Dojo and visit the palm print, there was no guarantee that he would be able to sense a new battle technique, let alone comprehend one.

After contemplating the two options for a long time, Lu Yin eventually decided to travel to the dojo. Even if it was a very low possibility of comprehending a battle technique, he still wanted to at least attempt it. After all, such a battle technique was really too perfect for him.

Just because Aeternus had taken over the Starfall Sea did not mean that the region was completely full of corpse kings. That was actually impossible. This was much like how Lu Yin and the other people from the Fifth Mainland had managed to escape from Grayweed Continent even when the Sixth Mainland had taken over the Starfall Sea.

The Grayweed Continent was massive, and there had been no corpse kings anywhere near Burial Garden’s gate that Lu Yin had exited from. It was possible that there would not be any near Mt. Stacks Dojo either.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this trip to Mt. Stacks Dojo was feasible. Lu Yin took a deep breath and mustered up his courage to make his way across Grayweed Continent.

The forest that he was in was not that far from Mt. Stacks Dojo.

As he traveled, Lu Yin did not come across any corpse kings. He soon saw the stack of platforms of increasing gravity that stood tall above Mt. Stacks Dojo. There were twenty different levels to the tower, and each one was connected to the next by a hundred steps.

Lu Yin did not move very quickly, as he was concerned about attracting unwanted attention if he traveled too fast. Fortunately, even when he was just outside Mt. Stacks Dojo, he still had not found any traces of a single corpse king.

Mt. Stacks Dojo seemed to have been abandoned for a long time, as weeds had sprouted everywhere. Lu Yin approached the tower of platforms with increased gravity, and he simply leaped up to instantly land on the first level, which was where the first palm print was located.

In the past, Lu Yin had only been able to walk up to the first level, as he had only been an Explorer. At the present moment, the increased gravity was not able to affect him at all.

On the tenth level, Lu Yin went straight to the palm print, and he pressed his hand against it while feeling a bit anxious.

Time passed, but Lu Yin could not sense anything aside from the Overlaying Stacks Path. He felt disappointed, as he had been hoping that he simply had not noticed the presence of the Vacuum Palm technique when he had last touched the palm print. But even now, he still was not able to sense anything.

Could it be that Lan Si was the only person who was able to sense anything besides the Overlaying Stacks Path from the palm print?

Lu Yin refused to believe that. He stretched out his hand once more and placed it against the palm print, but there was still no reaction.

Suddenly, he had an idea, and he used Vacuum Palm on the palm print as he touched it. He felt a strange vibration in response, and with it, Lu Yin immediately saw the image of a palm print, and it struck him, passing a palm technique to him.

He retreated a few steps and stared at his hand as he reviewed the information that had appeared in his mind: Hollow Palm.

The successor technique to Vacuum Palm was called Hollow Palm.

Vacuum Palm was the culmination of the Overlaying Stacks Path’s method of superimposing one’s strength, and it was an invisible, powerful, and very fast attack.

Hollow Palm took everything one step further, as it not only included the Overlaying Stacks Path, but also battle force, domain, and spiritual force—anything that a person might have mastered was compressed into a single palm attack. This technique was even more difficult to detect than Vacuum Palm, and it was also an all-inclusive technique. Even if an opponent had superior physical strength, if they did not also have a domain, battle force, or spiritual force that matched that of the wielder of the Hollow Palm, they would still suffer injuries.

In essence, Hollow Palm was the purest attack that incorporated all of an individual’s strengths, including the previously learned Vacuum Palm.

Hollow Palm was even more direct and powerful than Vacuum Palm.

Lu Yin could not stop himself from looking up at the highest level of the gravity platforms. At that level, there was a palm print that recorded a full 1,000 Stacks. Lu Yin had no idea what technique that palm print held, but could it be even more powerful than this Hollow Palm?

There was no reason for Lu Yin to linger any longer, as he had already learned Hollow Palm, so he turned around to leave. The moment his back turned around, he was overcome by an indescribable terror that caused him to reflexively use the Ce Secret Art to flee. Right after he moved, a pair of slitted scarlet eyes appeared, and a terrible gust of wind sliced through the void and tore the sky apart.

Lu Yin reappeared a hundred meters away, and he turned to see a corpse king standing where he had just been. When had it arrived?

The corpse king stared at Lu Yin with its scarlet eyes, bent its legs, and then charged forward to release a punch.

Lu Yin's eyes flared. Although he did not appear to move, a palm print suddenly shot away from him: Hollow Palm.

Boom!

A shockwave erupted that shattered the void. Both the corpse king and Lu Yin tore into the true universe simultaneously, and the terrifying power of a Hollow Palm erupted once again and met the corpse king’s fist. Lu Yin was forced back five steps, his sleeve was shredded, and his arm was numbed to the point where he could not even move it.

As for the corpse king, it was completely unscathed.

This corpse king definitely possessed a power level of over 600,000, and its physical strength actually exceeded Lu Yin’s expectations. Against this particular corpse king, Lu Yin’s domain was his best tool. Spiritual force had little effect on corpse kings, and even though the Hollow Palm had already incorporated Lu Yin’s battle force, it was still not enough to injure this corpse king.

It was a very unusual one.

The creature stared at Lu Yin and then slowly raised an arm. Lu Yin saw the creature’s muscles started to twist and squirm as though they were alive, and the corpse king’s arm took on a darker color.

Lu Yin's face paled, as this was an innate gift. This corpse king had an innate gift. That, combined with its power level of more than 600,000, meant that its attacks would be even more terrifying than if it underwent a corpse king Transformation. This was a problem.

The creature let out a roar as it moved forward to attack Lu Yin. The attack was simple and brutal.

Lu Yin kicked a foot upwards while throwing out another palm attack. As he spun around, stars appeared around his left hand, and they coalesced to form a sword. He struck out with the Fourteenth Sword, but just as the edge of the sword made contact with the corpse king, the star energy dissipated. Lu Yin was facing a crisis as this corpse king was suppressing his star energy.

It was rare to encounter a corpse king that would suppress star energy. After all, they were not human, and Lu Yin had no idea how they could reach the level of an Envoy. Regardless, his star energy had been suppressed, which meant that this creature had a stellular energy vortex.

This meant that none of Lu Yin’s battle techniques that employed star energy could be used.

He quickly pulled back, but the corpse king immediately caught up. It threw its right hand forward once again as all the muscles in its arm twisted and squirmed, including the ones in its hand. It was a disturbing and frightening sight, but it also radiated an incomparable power. Still, Lu Yin was confident in enduring this attack with his bodysuit armor.

Boom!

The corpse king’s fist struck Lu Yin in the chest, though he managed to counter with an Hollow Palm.

Lu Yin’s attack forced the corpse king back, but Lu Yin was also knocked back. His chest ached, but fortunately, the bodysuit armor had been able to block the attack.

The corpse king was not pushed very far back, and it instantly bent its knees and charged forward once again. Its right arm twisted itself in a ghastly manner and the muscles bulged several times larger.