Star Odyssey

The elder disdainfully shook his head. “Green-eyed mutant. You won’t escape.” After that, both the Corpse King and the spacecraft, with Lu Yin still inside, all turned to ash, vanishing from the heavens.

Yōu Ye'er looked at the stunning scene with envy. “I don’t know when I’ll possess such strength.”

The elder scolded her. “Stop being so wilful and disobeying the orders to hide the secret technique. If the Corpse King wasn’t a Hunter but instead at the same level as me, then the secret would have been exposed.”

Yōu Ye'er lazily stretched out, revealing her exquisite curves. “Grandpa Fan, do you know the feeling of being imprisoned by the secret technique? Ever since I inherited it, my body can no longer grow. It’s very painful, and I need to be free from time to time.” 

The elder grunted. “Fortunately, the secret was kept this time. The Neohuman Alliance’s strength in the First Flowzone has been weakened, so it should be some time before they can act again. Take this opportunity to get close to Liu Shaoqiu so that you can borrow the Sword Sect’s protection.”

“I don’t want to be associated with those losers.” Yōu Ye'er wasn’t happy with the orders.

The elder put on a helpless expression. “The Thirteen Swords becomes stronger the further the cultivator goes. Although Liu Shaoqiu lost, few will be his opponent as soon as he becomes an Explorer. That Lu Yin and the person from the Technocracy are simply exceptions.”

“Ok...” Yōu Ye'er begrudgingly answered. 

In the distant Astral-10, Lu Yin suddenly opened his eyes. His forehead was beaded with cold sweat, as he had just experienced death at the hands of an old freak whose power level was in the hundreds of thousands.

He had never been that close to death before, not even when he had faced Northgate Taisui. He never imagined that he would meet such a freak so soon. 

But more importantly, he had discovered an incredible secret.

The First Flowzone’s Yōu Court had once been a part of the Seven Courts’ Yōu family. They had betrayed the Seven Courts and sought refuge under the Sword Sect’s wing, but the Sword Sect never found out that the Yōu family’s secret technique was always in the hands of the Yōu Court. The elder who had appeared at the end was actually someone from the Court of Seven Names. In other words, the Yōu Court had never actually betrayed the Seven Courts. Otherwise, that Yōu family elder from the Seven Courts would have never appeared to protect the little princess. 

Also, the Yōu Secret Art was passed down as a blood inheritance to a single individual each generation through their bloodline, and the current heir was the little princess. She should be called Yōu Ye'er!

That elder had destroyed an entire region of space with his boundless strength, and even the network communications had been crushed so thoroughly that not a single message could have been sent out. That elder had assumed that no one would learn of their secret, but Lu Yin had become one of the very few people who were aware of this secret.

In addition to that secret, he had also learned many matters relating to the Neohuman Alliance and the Specter Clan. The Specter Clan member who he had Possessed had been someone of a rather high level, and Lu Yin had been able to read through a great number of messages. He had not been able to properly digest everything at the time, but even just the portion of what he remembered would be enough to shock the universe. 

Lu Yin panted heavily for a moment as he tapped on his gadget. He wrote down some coordinates, which were where the Neohuman Alliance’s bases were located.

Right, there was also the Specter Clan’s secret.

Lu Yin opened the network and tried to search for information on the Specter Clan, but he could not find anything in the results. He then used his Honor Points privileges to search again, but even then, he couldn’t find any relevant information. The clan was very secretive, and almost no one knew anything about them. However, they had a distinctive feature, which was that all of their clan members innately had death energy within their bodies.

Lu Yin recalled what it had felt like when he was Possessing that person, but then grudgingly realized that he had been bombarded by too many messages. He had had no time to actually experience what it was like being an Explorer.

This Possession had revealed too many secrets to Lu Yin. He muttered to himself for half a day, wondering if he should divulge the locations of the Neohuman Alliance’s bases, but he eventually decided not to. No one would believe him, and even if someone did, the Neohuman Alliance would evacuate those bases long before they were searched. Lu Yin was certain that the Neohuman Alliance had spies within the upper echelons of humanity’s great powers.

Even the Seven Courts had been infiltrated, let alone the great powers.

Lu Yin massaged his forehead. The more he knew, the greater the pressure he felt in his heart. The universe was just too vast, and there were countless diverse powers. The more he interacted with such powers, the more he realized how insignificant the Great Yu Empire actually was. It was truly negligible.

The Outerverse had seventy two Weaves, and he estimated that there were no more than a hundred Enlighters among those Weaves. And what about the Innerverse? There were even those old freaks whose power levels were in the hundreds of thousands. Beyond that, there was still the Cosmic Sea in the depths of the Innerverse, as well as the Neoverse that no one knew anything about.

The various powers were like the numerous stars in the night sky, and the human lifespan also increased the further one cultivated. The more unfathomable the universe was, the greater the desire for exploration and expedition. 

However, the most urgent item on Lu Yin’s agenda was to check how much money he had remaining!

Lu Yin apprehensively accessed his cosmic ring, and his heart sank, and he had to suppress the urge to curse. The star essence that he had received from the Northgate family as well as whatever he had saved up from before had all vanished. Even the million star crystals were gone.

Lu Yin wailed in anguish, as he was broke once again. It had happened too fast; he had merely watched one scene and that had wiped out all of his hard-earned money.

At the moment, he only had 100,000 star crystals and two million in universal currency remaining.

He still intended to reach the peak of the Limiteer realm, but it would have to be delayed again, and he had no idea how long he would have to postpone it this time. Although the money-making opportunity in the centipede's body had been good, he could not find such opportunities at a moment’s notice. 

As Lu Yin looked at his empty cosmic ring, he suddenly felt an urge to sell off all the secrets that he had just uncovered.

But there was no point in lamenting about the missing money. Lu Yin calmed himself down and headed for the trial zone entrance. He recalled that there were many mysterious places in the trial zones that the Ten Arbiters had reportedly once visited. Now, he wanted to give them a try as well.

After greeting the Trialmaster, Lu Yin first headed to the Dao of Purgatory’s Sky Platform.

There was a saying in the Astral Combat Academy’s trial zones—cross the Dao of Heaven’s Ocean of Death and ascend the Dao of Purgatory’s Sky Platform.

Lu Yin had unintentionally overheard this saying in the past, but he had not understood what it meant back then. In the Three Realms, Six Daos, there were only legends concerning the Ten Arbiters in the Dao of Heaven and the Dao of Purgatory. This made the Sky Platform and Ocean of Death exceed the other training grounds in terms of mystery.

This was not Lu Yin’s first time in the Dao of Purgatory. When he had first entered the trial zones, he had chosen this Dao, and his first death had occurred here as well. He would always remember the Spear Mountain’s Area Master, Frankfurt. 

However, with how rapidly his power had grown, there was no longer any need to seek revenge, and Lu Yin’s attitude had also changed. Finally, back at the Tilting Tower, he had already thoroughly embarrassed Frankfurt. 

News of Lu Yin appearing in the Dao of Purgatory quickly spread, and as more Astral Combat Academy’s students heard the news, many of them started heading to the Dao of Purgatory together. They knew that there was only one area in that place that could attract Lu Yin’s attention—the Sky Platform.

Dao Bo had not returned to Astral-6, so Charon was currently representing Dao Bo in overseeing the Sky Platform. The moment Charon saw Lu Yin, his expression became as interesting as could be. His expression was sometimes fierce, sometimes respectful, sometimes remorseful, and sometimes panicked. It was very complicated.

Lu Yin laughed. “Senior Charon, we haven’t met in a while. Are you making a movie?”

Charon swallowed his saliva and forced a smile onto his face. “Where has Student Lu found the time to come to the Dao of Purgatory?”

Lu Yin shrugged and pointed ahead. “Rumor has it that the Ten Arbiters ascended the Sky Platform in the past, so I want to give it a try as well. Senior won’t deny my wish, right?”

Charon definitely would not. Even if Dao Bo were here at this moment, he would not be able to stop Lu Yin.

The Astral Combat Academy had nine trial zones, and Lu Yin was not concerned about any of the Realm Masters aside from Starsibyl. Of course, Lu Yin would not act arrogantly, as he would abide by the rules that must be followed. 

Charon did not want to talk to Lu Yin any further, and he was eager to leave for fear that Lu Yin might reveal his private matters.

Lu Yin was rather interested in Charon. Or rather, he wasn’t interested in Charon per se, but rather in the Unveiled Sword that Charon had unlocked from a sourcebox. It was rather valuable, especially after he had learned that even those pikes could be sold for a hundred star essence. Even if the Unveiled Sword was a bit cheaper, it would still be rather pricey.

The main value of the pikes lay in research, not the pikes themselves. The Unveiled Sword gave Lu Yin a very sharp feeling.

Lu Yin casually asked, “Senior, when will you show junior the power of your Unveiled Sword?”

Charon raised his brows. “There’ll be an opportunity in future.”

At this point, more and more students had gathered around them.

Lu Yin walked past Charon and then looked up above him. This was the Sky Platform.

The so-called Sky Platform was not made of stone steps like most people would assume, and it wasn’t some dignified and serene stairway to heaven either. It was just a series of spheres that were lined from the sky to the ground, and it appeared to be very normal. The higher up one went, the blurrier their vision would become, and eventually, the void would become distorted.

The Sky Platform’s name was derived from these spheres that resembled planets and the distorted void one saw at the top of the spheres.

Legend had it that sitting atop the Sky Platform would allow one to feel the strength of the ancient powerhouses. The higher up one climbed, the more clearly they would be able to sense it. Accordingly, one of the Ten Arbiters had reached the highest point of the Sky Platform, and their strength had undergone a huge and inconceivable transformation there. This was the legend of the Sky Platform.

Dao Bo had held control of the Dao of Purgatory for so long, but he had never been able to reach the top of the Sky Platform. At most, he would sit on a sphere to cultivate.

Each year, many students would receive Dao Bo’s approval to try and climb to the top, but none of them succeeded, not even Starsibyl.

Lu Yin was now publicly recognized as the strongest student in the Astral Combat Academy. Hence, him challenging the Sky Platform had attracted everyone’s attention.

“Who knows if Lu Yin will succeed. The higher up one climbs, the greater the chance of them vanishing. It’s too strange.”

“When Senior Dao Bo approached the top, he strangely vanished as well. No one knows what happened to him.”

“My senior’s second brother-in-law’s cousin’s younger sister doesn’t know either,” a fatty mumbled while those around him shot him unkind looks for spouting such crap despite not knowing anything.

…

Someone suddenly piped up, “Does anyone know which of the Ten Arbiters reached the top of the Sky Platform?”

No one replied, as even if they knew, no one would dare to speak about such a thing. It was taboo to randomly say the names of the Ten Arbiters.

Lu Yin walked to the bottom of the Sky Platform and looked up, observing where the void distorted at higher altitudes. He thought no further and stepped onto the first sphere, where he immediately noticed that his entire body suddenly felt different. An indescribable strength had appeared around him, one that was both invisible and intangible. It had no influence on his body, but for some inexplicable reason, it caused his heart to palpitate.

He muttered to himself briefly and then stepped onto the second sphere.

Just like that, one step at a time, he ascended to the higher spheres.

Everyone watched Lu Yin, and more students gathered—Feng Shang, Liu Xiaoyun, and even Starsibyl appeared.

The higher Lu Yin climbed, the more clearly he was able to feel this indescribable strength. It did not affect him in any way, but he did not know where this strength came from, and he couldn’t even tell what it belonged to.

Even when he was facing Northgate Taisui or other old freaks such as that Seven Courts elder. Even though their power levels were in the hundreds of thousands and even though they were monstrously strong, their strength still had small signs and traces of where they had come from. But right now, the strength that surrounded Lu Yin was completely traceless, which made him feel a bit of trepidation.