Star Odyssey

Chapter 4009: Watching

A flick of a finger sent the die spinning again.

In the East Domain, on a street outside the East Command Sword Sect, Lu Siyu was leisurely strolling along with her maid. Wherever she went, people called out to her, each one with a smile in their eyes when they saw her.

“Good morning, Uncle Nan. Your porridge tastes better every day.”

“Thank you, Miss Siyu. If you like it, have some more.”

“Of course.” Lu Siyu’s eyes shrank into crescents as she laughed.

“Miss Siyu, try some of this old woman’s flower cakes.”

“Wow! Flower cakes? Thank you, Granny!”

“If you like them, take some more home.”

“Thank you.”

“Miss Siyu, here we have—”

The region surrounding the Four Commands Sword Sect was home to both cultivators and ordinary people. Life in this area was peaceful, and the people were content, as the Four Commands Sect had never oppressed the common people.

From the shadows, a pair of eyes followed Lu Siyu. The gaze was initially cold, but it quickly softened.

Lu Yin had not expected to Possess a Netherfiend just outside the East Command Sword Sect. A short distance from the gates, he could see the beloved Lu Siyu roaming about the street, carefree and smiling brightly.

As memories began to pour in, Lu Yin’s eyes grew wide in shock, his expression growing solemn.

This Netherfiend had not been given a mission to gather stolen spirit seeds. Rather, his only assignment was to watch Lu Siyu. To what ends was unclear, as his only order was to keep his eyes on the young woman.

Although the man himself did not know the reason for his assignment, Lu Yin already had a guess. It was possible that the Netherfiends already knew that Qi Xu’s seven emotions were attached to the Seven Fairies. That might be why someone had been sent to watch Lu Siyu.

If Lu Yin’s suspicion was correct, then all of the Seven Fairies were being watched. Of course, no one was capable of spying on Deathmound’s Great Master. Attempting to do so would be suicide.

In contrast, Lu Siyu was much too easy of a target.

The Netherfiend had been watching her for a very long time.

In the man’s memories, Lu Yin even saw himself when he had helped Lu Sizhan claim the title of Four Commands Grand Swordmaster. The observer had watched Lu Yin spar with Lu Sizhan, as well as when Lu Sizhan had entered Dukkha.

He stared at Lu Siyu’s carefree for a long time as she moved about the street before ending the Possession.

His mind returned to his body, and he immediately called Greater Sancte Awe Gate over.

“I’ve found another Netherfiend. He’s watching Lu Siyu.”

Greater Sancte Awe Gate was caught off guard. “Watching Lu Siyu?”

“That’s right. His only task is to keep an eye on her, nothing more. While his purpose is unclear, all he has to do is keep watch.”

Greater Sancte Awe Gate was silent for a moment. “I understand. Tell me where.”

“Obscura must have received word of Qi Xu’s death. What will happen to the Seven Fairies?”

“When Greater Sancte Green Lotus returns, we’ll remove Qi Xu’s emotions from them. They won’t be personally affected, but that will allow Obscura to clearly sense that Qi Xu is dead.”

Lu Yin nodded. There was no longer any point in saving those seven emotions.

He then thought of something. “Can you give me those seven emotions?”

“You?”

“To strengthen my karma.”

“Very well. I’ll speak with Greater Sancte Green Lotus.”

“Thank you, Senior. I’ll continue now.” With that, Lu Yin put his communication device away and rolled his die again.

He needed to rest for another ten days, but he immediately continued afterwards.

Over the course of another month, Lu Yin managed to roll Possession three different times, and each time, he Possessed a Netherfiend who was gathering cultivated spirit seeds. He carefully made a list of every person and faction that worked with the Netherfiends, supplying them with spirit seeds. Deathmound kept careful track of everyone that Lu Yin reported, and they were prepared to take them all out at a moment’s notice.

Most people had no idea that they were working with Netherfiends, but even so, plundering cultivated spirit seeds was strictly forbidden. No matter who it was for, the crime and punishment remained the same.

Lu Yin also found the locations of two storage boxes. He believed that both were sealed with the same Heaven (天) character that blocked off Spirit Search, just like the box in the Autumnspring Slip. Who knew how many spirit seeds might be in those boxes?

The boxes had been buried for higher-ranking Netherfiends to collect later, and they never contained too many cultivated spirit seeds. Normally, they would be emptied once every 100 years.

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed.

During that half year, Lu Yin had done nothing but hunt for Netherfiends.

Because of that, the rest of the world grew much quieter.

However, when Deathmound finally pulled in its net, there would surely be a massive uproar.

Lu Yin had discovered a large number of people who were actively stealing cultivated spirit seeds. They kept to themselves, and their actions were hidden too well. They might only plunder a cultivated spirit seed once in a while, which meant that, even if they were discovered by Deathmound, they could simply claim that they were taking revenge, which was easy enough to cover up. What made things worse was that the stolen seeds were almost immediately delivered to the Netherfiends, which made it nearly impossible to find them

Lu Yin also managed to Possess several cultivators who were spying on the Seven Fairies. There was one hiding among the Jue family in the West Domain, another in Everchange Valley, and one more watching Qiunan Hongye within her family.

That meant that he had identified four Netherfiends who were observing the Seven Fairies. He had not taken action yet, as he was waiting until he could deal with all of them at once.

For six months, aside from uncovering Netherfiends, Lu Yin had also managed to acquire a great deal of red energy from them. More importantly, he had obtained firsthand experience of what it felt like to use multiple spirit seeds.

Not every Netherfiend qualified to receive multiple spirit seeds. In fact, only a rare few had the requisite skill to succeed.

Two months had passed since Lu Yin had entered the strange dark space and seen a bright ball of light. While it had still been dimmer than his own light, it belonged to a Dukkhan. That ball of light had belonged to a Dukkhan Netherfiend, and that person had even received two spirit seeds, just like Jie Zun.

When Lu Yin Possessed the man, he had repeatedly recalled the memories of the process of receiving the second spirit seed and how it felt to use both of them at once. He had even seen the place where the Netherfiends had tried to force cultivators to fuse with multiple spirit seeds. Unfortunately, everything had already been moved away.

The Dukkhan had been asleep for far too long. Most of the Netherfiends in the upper echelons were in cryostasis and never went out unless they received a mission.

From the memories that he gleaned, Lu Yin experienced what it felt like to fuse with a second spirit seed. With Awe Gate’s assistance, Lu Yin brought the Possessed Netherfiend to the Frightened Sparrow Terrace and had it use multiple spirit seeds before Greater Sancte Awe Gate, obtaining firsthand experience of the sensation.

Greater Sancte Awe Gate had seen Netherfiends use multiple spirit seeds before, but to witness it happen so close and in a manner where she could carefully observe it was a new experience. Lu Yin’s abilities were constantly overturning her expectations, and she had been caught off guard time and time again.

That Possession also granted Lu Yin some profound insights. He had sensed that, since the Netherfiends’ power allowed them to fuse with multiple spirit seeds, it might be possible to use it with other powers as well. He was determined to find a method. Once he succeeded, the overall strength of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse would experience a complete transformation.

They would have a much easier time against foreign civilizations.

However, the price for that knowledge was steep. The red ring around the star of divine energy in his inner universe was nearly exhausted by now. Fortunately, he had managed to extract a great deal of red energy from that Netherfiend, which had offset part of the loss.

After experiencing what it felt like to fuse with multiple spirit seeds once, Lu Yin longed to experience it again.

As for Blackmarsh City, Lu Yin had not returned since leaving more than half a year ago.

Little Lotus King and the others had waited the entire time, but eventually, when Lu Yin still did not return, they started to search for him, and they eventually tracked him to where he had fought against Zhi. One by one, people left Blackmarsh City and started moving towards Lu Yin.

Yu Xiang'er did not join them. She could not be bothered.

If Lu Yin had returned to Blackmarsh City, she would have confronted him, but since he was not there, she simply could not be bothered to travel to him. It was too exhausting.

During these six months, Blackmarsh City had been far from peaceful.

After Silent Death was discovered beneath the Blackmarsh, Greater Sancte Awe Gate had gathered every single Spirit Treasure Formation Grandmaster in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse to study the formation in the underground chamber. Countless experts had gathered here, as all of them knew that whoever succeeded in unraveling the mysteries of the formation would earn a connection with Greater Sancte Awe Gate.

At the very least, success would be regarded as an incredible merit to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, and that would be enough for anyone to walk about unchallenged. They would be as untouchable as those who ascended Whither Peak.

Such temptation was irresistible.

The West Domain had sent the most people .

Blackmarsh City was livelier than ever.

On the surface, more and more formation masters were constantly arriving. They kept their distance from the spirit treasure formation while studying it and performing intense calculations.

At the very front stood the five Spirit Treasure Formation Grandmasters, who were the most accomplished in their field in the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Li Guo, Jue Ling, and Yu Jing were among them, as well as two unaffiliated Grandmasters.

Behind those five stood other formation masters, including members of the Jue and Yu clans.

Skyveil City’s three great clans were at the forefront of spirit treasure formation research in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, and they had raised more than a few formation masters.

The Spirit Nidus had also sent some formation masters over. Grandmaster Yu Ran was one of the people standing behind the first five Grandmasters. She was one of the Spirit Treasure Society’s nine Grandmasters, and she practically ran the society.

She had not followed Su Shidao to the Tianyuan, as the Spirit Treasure Society could not be left leaderless.

Grandmaster Yu Ran stared at the distant spirit treasure formation, and her heart was still shaken by the vast complexity and magnificence of the formation, as well as what she had learned about Lu Yin.

Who could have imagined that the Grandverse Manor’s Third Boss would become the strongest individual beneath the Immortal realm? He was the man whose word could decide the fate of both the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the Spirit Nidus?

It was nearly impossible to believe all that he had accomplished.

When she thought back to what Grandmaster Su Shidao had said before leaving, Yu Ran released a heavy breath, her emotions growing conflicted.

She wondered when she would see the Third Boss again.

“These juniors are too foolish. If even we are unable to see through the formation, their presence here is nothing but a waste of time.” She could hear the ongoing debate around her. She turned and saw a spirit treasure formation master from the Nine Odysseys Megavese sitting nearby.

The Spirit Nidus had sent about ten formation masters over. It was said that the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had gathered almost as many from just Skyveil City’s three great clans. That was not even considering the various other factions.

There were no fewer than thirty Grandmasters.

The gap between the two megaverses was far too great.

“Let them try. They might be able to spark some inspiration for us.” Another person chuckled in a good-natured manner.

“Hmph! They’re just noisy, deluded fools!” The first speaker frowned as he glanced behind himself, instantly silencing many people. He then turned to look at Yu Ran and her companions, his brow furrowing even deeper as scorn and disdain filled his eyes.

The Spirit Nidus had sent three formation Grandmasters, all of whom belonged to the Spirit Treasure Society. They had been specifically brought over by Greater Sancte Awe Gate.

No matter how strong the Spirit Nidus formation masters might be, the fact that they were from a different megaverse meant that they had different insights and understandings that could lead to new discoveries.

Even so, many in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse looked down on the Spirit Nidus no matter what.

Grandmaster Yu Ran looked away, exchanging a weary smile with her two companions from the Spirit Treasure Society. They said nothing and simply turned around to resume studying the distant spirit treasure formation.

Even if the formation masters from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse were disdainful of those from the Spirit Nidus, they held their tongues. There was no denying that those people had been brought by Greater Sancte Awe Gate herself.

At that moment, someone at the very front spoke up. “I heard that Grandmaster Min is coming.”

Li Guo’s eyes snapped open, and he looked over. “Is Grandmaster Min still alive?”