Star Odyssey

Chapter 4087: Overcoming Dukkha

In that moment, the light pierced the deep darkness of outer space to shine upon every face.

Countless eyes turned to face the Shenwu Continent. What’s happening?

At that moment, people’s hearts grew warm.

An indescribable joy and delight overturned all scheming and deceit, scattering countless shadows that lurked in the dark.

That one smile stirred innumerable souls.

To lead people toward goodness—that had been Lu Yin’s great vow. Now, beneath the pure smile, even the universe grew bright.

In the Heavens Sect, Lu Yuan and the others were staring up in shock. Even they could not suppress the feeling of pure joy from rising up from the depths of their soul. There was a sense of relaxation and carefreeness. It was as though they had returned to their childhoods.

“Is this... a phenomenon?”

“How could a phenomenon like this appear? What was that single beam of light that illuminated the entire universe? Where did it come from?”

“It’s Pillar.”

Boom!

The megaverse roared. As countless eyes stared in disbelief, a figure appeared in the sky, cross-legged, yet looking as if they covered the entire bounds of the megaverse. It was vast beyond comprehension while still visible to everyone.

That figure was Lu Yin.

At that moment, he looked like he had replaced the Tianyuan Megaverse, even as the megaverse seemed to enter his body.

...

Threads of light pierced the megaverse’s various parallel universes, and one shone upon the faces of Forgotten Ruins God and those with her. They glanced at one another in fear. What was this?

Skydog howled, feeling quite good. It felt as though he had seen Stillstorm.

Right at that moment, someone appeared, and a jade-white pale hand reached out to stroke Skydog’s head. “Don’t howl. We’ll be found.”

“My lord, this is...?” Forgotten Ruins God was shaken.

“Only a few can trigger a phenomenon like this when they enter Dukkha. The struggles faced during that period are one’s personal obstacles, and yet he’s making everyone feel the same emotions as him. Lead people to goodness—what a terrifying vow. If such a person manages to overcome Dukkha, who can say just how dreadful they’ll become? It’s a chilling thought.”

Forgotten Ruins God’s eyes flickered. “Is this... Lu Yin?”

“You saw him for yourself. He has merged his vow with the entire Tianyuan. Within this megaverse, he is now truly a match for an Immortal. I never thought thaht I’d witness such a thing.

“To earn the recognition of a megaverse’s entire civilization... What was considered a joke throughout the entire Aevum Inch has just become reality.

“His future is truly frightening.

“The Tianyuan’s potential just increased as well.”

Forgotten Ruins God tensed. “So... has Lu Yin’s strength increased?”

When he first left the Tianyuan on his expedition to the Spirit Nidus, Lu Yin had only been a Progenitor. When he returned, he had been an Ortuser. Now, he had just entered Dukkha, officially stepping onto the path towards the Immortal realm. Once he finished walking that road, no one could imagine what he would become.

No matter how strong Lu Yin might have become, regardless of whether he was capable of fighting against Immortals, the fact that he was not yet an Immortal himself remained.

At this moment, people were finally able to see a real possibility of Lu Yin attaining that realm. The possibility felt ever more real than ever before.

“His strength... Both yes and no. In short, don’t cross him while within the Tianyuan. That would be a problem.”

...

In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, Greater Sancte Green Lotus peered across the distance. His Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm allowed him to clearly sense the changes taking place in the Tianyuan.

“You’ve finally taken this step. May you see your true Dukkha and step into Immortality. That will be the start of humanity’s metamorphosis.”

...

In the Tianyuan, on the Shenwu Continent, Lu Yin was sitting on the bamboo raft. He opened his eyes to meet Ming Yan’s gaze.

His own gaze was far clearer than before, and Ming Yan smiled. “Congratulations, Brother Lu.”

Lu Yin exhaled, his entire body light. He had not expected his Dukkha to emerge in such a manner.

The truth was that he had already half-entered Dukkha the moment he released Ming Yan after viewing Green Lotus’s mural. However, it was only after understanding that he could let go that he understood his Dukkha and formally entered it.

Still, entering Dukkha did not mean overcoming it.

Everyone’s Dukkha was unique; Lu Yin’s was letting go. But after years of attachment, how could letting go be easy? Overcoming that challenge meant letting go bit by bit, but as for what finally overcoming his Dukkha meant, Lu Yin did not know.

Would he have to truly stop caring about everything that he held dear?

If so, he would never be able to overcome Dukkha, as he would refuse to become such an Immortal.

If those that he cared for were not by his side, what meaning would his life have?

But that was also the reality of Immortality. Those whom a person cared for could not all become Immortals and accompany them forever.

That thought caused Lu Yin’s heart to ache, and the faces of those he cared about appeared in his mind, accompanied by Little Xiaoxuan. He had been so real, and yet the child had never even existed.

How can I overcome such pain? Is it only possible to do so by cutting off all attachments? If that’s the case, then I’d rather not do it.

He exhaled heavily. Ascend to the Origin realm. Overcome Dukkha. Gain immortality. He had just taken the second step. As for the last step, he could only let things take their course.

Letting go meant not only releasing the attachments that he held for those he cared for, but also releasing his own obsessions.

Entering Dukkha did not cause Lu Yin’s combat power to increase. Strictly speaking, his biggest improvement from entering Dukkha was mastering the karmic wall. And the biggest change was attaining the state where a single thought contains all things.”

As the Wordless Heavenly Book floated in the sky, Lu Yin looked up at it. The names written in it had become streams of those people’s life stories. In a single instant, he experienced a great many lives.

This was the greatest change for him upon entering Dukkha.

While Greater Sancte Mi Jin and Qing Yun had to slowly observe life in all its forms, Lu Yin could see them all with but a single thought.

He was able to understand countless people’s lives.

There was also another change: he could take the place of the megaverse.

It was a hard to describe feeling, but he knew that, within the Tianyuan, he was essentially an Immortal.

If that Immortal monster returned, it might not be able to escape again.

The Tianyuan had become indistinguishable from Lu Yin.

It was wondrous and also mind bending. The megaverse responded to him, because he was the megaverse.

Lu Yin looked back at Ming Yan and her familiar gaze. “Yan’er, have you regained your memories?”

Ming Yan nodded with a smile. “Brother Lu, you wanted my consciousness to be able to roam about and experience joy. I’ve felt that happiness. The pain of the past that brought about my white-haired version has been blown away. Brother Lu, Yan’er is happy.”

Lu Yin smiled. “Both the consciousness body of Ming Yan and the white-haired Ming Yan were still you. Lu Xiaoxuan was me, and so is Lu Yin. There’s no need to make a fuss about appearances. Let go and take things as they come.”

Ming Yan beamed. “Exactly. Letting go isn’t giving up. Brother Lu, you should be happier than anyone.”

Lu Yin looked at her. “Let me restore your physical body.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to.”

“Why not?” Lu Yin asked in confusion.

She twirled on the raft, attracting butterflies. It was beautiful. “This feels so liberating! While you want to let go, if I am fully revived, I could then die. If that happens, could you truly let go?”

Lu Yin looked at her, feeling conflicted. “You have a right to live. You’re not my possession.”

Ming Yan chuckled. “And yet I wish to be yours; to live for you, to exist for you. If you don’t want me to die, then I won’t. I’ll always be by your side.”

Lu Yin could not hold back a wry smile. “Yan’er, I was selfish before, but I’ve learned to let go.”

“Then wait until you’ve truly let go before you completely restore me,” Ming Yan stated, blinking her eyes. “Besides, this kind of existence feels like I’ve leapt to a higher level.”

Lu Yin frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know... This just feels completely different from life with a physical body. Others likely can’t do this, because my consciousness comes from your consciousness. Without yours, I can’t exist independently.”

Back when Lu Yin had manifested Ming Yan’s consciousness in its own body, he had indeed used his own consciousness as the basis. Without that, Ming Yan’s consciousness could never have taken form.

It was not easy to free a person’s consciousness from their physical body in a manner that would allow it to roam about freely.

After all, if someone could remain in cryostasis long-term while their consciousness acted independently in another body, the person would essentially be immortal.

Lu Yin suddenly thought of something. Consciousness body, physical body, a higher tier of life... Is it really an evolutionary leap, or is it just another means of existence?

If another means of existence can be attained, would that bring about a metamorphosis for civilization?

The Consciousness Megaverse had been inhabited by creatures of pure consciousness. Conscients were not human, but rather an entirely different species. If humans could also exist in a form of pure consciousness, there would be greater diversity of life.

One’s physical body died, but their consciousness could live on as its own body.

That seems like a viable path.

But how can consciousness become Immortal?

Taking Ming Yan as an example, she could have never appeared without Lu Yin’s own consciousness. Thus, for people’s consciousnesses to exist independently of their physical bodies, they would require some sort of vessel that could bear consciousness.

When it came to consciousness, no one in the entire human civilization surpassed Lu Yin, not even the Immortals.

Immortal consciousness... Immortal consciousness. It seemed impossible to grant an entire civilization Immortal-level consciousness, and yet... Why don’t I try to deduce the possibility with karma?

Lu Yin released his Karmic Dao and immediately merged it with the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm so that he could speak with Greater Sancte Green Lotus.

“Senior, please lend me your support to deduce something with karma.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus did not know what Lu Yin was currently up to, but every time he performed such deductions in the past, the entire human civilization had benefited. Thus, Green Lotus agreed to help.

His Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm shuddered, and its rumble echoed throughout the Tianyuan.

The people of the megaverse had already become accustomed to this commotion, and they knew that there had to be a connection to Lu Yin.

Spirals of karma connected the sky to the ground. Karma was frantically consumed as Lu Yin used his Inner Clarity Technique to try to see if the path that he had thought of was even feasible.

In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, Greater Sancte Green Lotus stared at the Tianyuan, his expression quickly changing. What is this? Why is so much karma being consumed so quickly?

Astonished, he wondered what on earth Lu Yin was attempting to deduce.

In the Tianyuan, Lu Yin watched as Karmic Lines filled the sky, only to dissipate like vapor. This... was far too much. It was consuming far more karma than anything he had attempted before. Even looking into Word Manifestation and the Nirvana Tree Path had not consumed karma this quickly.

How is this possible?

Speechless, he stared at the sky. He felt overwhelmingly grateful that he was not using his own karma. His Karmic Dao would have already disappeared.

Hopefully Greater Sancte Green Lotus won’t mind too much.

In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, Greater Sancte Green Lotus continued to watch on in silent shock, feeling as though he was using karma to fight against another Immortal. So much was being consumed, and yet Lu Yin still was not done.

At last, the deduction finished, and Greater Sancte Green Lotus and Lu Yin both took form above the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm.

The two faced each other, and Lu Yin offered an awkward smile. “Uh... I don’t know why that used so much.”

“What were you doing?” Greater Sancte Green Lotus asked.

“I was deducing... well, I’m not sure if it should be considered a cultivation method or a form of existence and life,” Lu Yin replied.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus’s eyes bulged. “A form of life? Is that what you were deducing?”

Lu Yin nodded.