Star Odyssey

Feng Shang set his gadget down. He looked up and sighed at the sky. “Could he really have been unlucky enough to run into it? Brother Lu, your luck is just too unfortunate.”

Since ancient times, few people had ever managed to return alive after being swallowed by a storm of Tempest Flowzone. Of course, some survived, but everyone experienced different things. Some said that they fell into a bottomless abyss while others had ended up in a sealed space. Some had landed in a forest, and even more had dropped into a golden ocean. But when they were asked how they returned, everyone was the same: no one could answer, as if their memories had been erased. 

However, with the passage of time, people had come to discover one commonality shared by everyone who had survived falling into a storm; they were all good people. 

It was not possible to definitively quantify what made a person “good,” but everyone who had survived and escaped from a storm had kind hearts, and almost none of them had ever killed before. Not all good people would come out alive, but all those who did were good people. 

Lu Yin would not call himself a good person, so he had tried everything in his power to escape the storm. But in the end, he had still ended up being swallowed by the storm. 

When he came to his senses, Lu Yin saw a forest all around him. The trees in this forest were not very tall, only about two meters in height. Lu Yin had never seen such a forest before, and he rubbed his temples. He had grown too careless after becoming famous throughout the universe, and he no longer had the prudence and caution that he once possessed. With his previous caution, he would have never used that route even if the chances of encountering a storm were one in a billion.

Still, at least he was alive.

He looked around, noticing that it was completely silent. He then looked up to see a light shining in the distance. He did not know if he was looking at the sky or outer space, because the light was simply too bright, and it was even a golden color as well.

The golden radiance shining in the distance extended to cover the entire forest.

Lu Yin stood up and tried to talk to the monkey, but he received no response. The stupid monkey was silent once again; its defenses must have been too pathetic.

Lu Yin tried to fly into the sky, but he immediately realized that he was unable to. There was a suppressive force directed downwards, preventing him from rising more than half a meter up from the ground. He was unable to fly in this place. 

And since the trees in the forest were between two and three meters tall, that meant that he could not rise above them. 

Then, was the forest forced to grow like this because of this peculiar pressure?

Suddenly, there was a loud sound in the distance, and Lu Yin turned around to look. He thought about it for a moment, and then he decided to slowly approach the source of the sound. No matter what, he had to find someone first. He remembered that he had been swallowed by the storm before this. By all rights, he should be dead, but he had no idea where he currently was. 

He didn’t walk for long before the trees ahead started to sway. A wide section of the trees were pushed to either side as a panicked man appeared in front of Lu Yin, and the two stared at each other. 

The man looked at Lu Yin with delight and frantically pointed behind him. “The- there’s a ghost!”

Lu Yin felt nervous. “A ghost? Are you sure?”

The man nodded and looked behind him again. He hurried around Lu Yin and continued desperately running away.

Lu Yin turned around, and his expression changed. Could it be a war spirit? War spirit, war spirit… Yes, it’s definitely a war spirit. If war spirits exist here, then could this be a part of the Astral Combat Academy’s trial zones? No, that’s impossible. That man was clearly middle-aged and wouldn’t be allowed in the trial zones. Not to mention that he’s just a Seeker. That man hasn’t even set foot on the path of cultivation, so there’s no way he could enter the Astral Combat Academy.

If this place was not a part of the trial zones, then where was he? Why were there war spirits present?

The war spirit only had the strength of a Sentinel, so Lu Yin simply waved his hand and caused it to vanish into lines of runes. 

The nearby man looked on at the scene and was stumped. He then stared in disbelief at Lu Yin. “You killed the ghost?” 

Lu Yin simply replied, “It’s not a ghost. Alright, tell me. Where are we?”

The man was afraid. “Inside the storm.”

Lu Yin frowned. “Inside the storm? And there’s a forest?”

With a pale face, the man shook his head. “I don’t know! In any case, I was swallowed by the storm, and I woke up in this damned place. I haven’t seen anything else besides that ghost.”

The man looked at Lu Yin’s cosmic ring and hopefully asked, “Do you have anything for me to eat? There’s really nothing here, and I’ve been starving for a few days.” 

Lu Yin nodded, but just as he was about to take something out for the man, an earth-shattering pressure swept across then that caused Lu Yin’s expression to change. He instinctively used the Invisible Aura Technique to conceal his strength and then used his domain to merge into the surroundings. However, the man in front of him was directly smashed into a puddle of blood by the pressure. 

Lu Yin forced himself to remain silent and motionless. 

Not too far away, a war spirit streaked by without pausing.

Lu Yin didn’t dare to even look at it, as its pressure far surpassed a Hunter’s. A Hunter realm war spirit; this place was definitely not the trial zones. So, this place was actually inside of the storm? A formation of runes made up a war spirit, so was this place related to the Rune Technology Civilization?

Lu Yin sighed as he looked at the blood on the ground. If there were Hunter realm war spirits here, then it was possible that even more powerful war spirits would appear. He was in danger, and he had to be extremely careful. 

As he pondered his situation, he started heading in the direction of the dazzling gold radiance.

He did not know how far this forest went on for, but it was beyond the limits of his sight, and he could not see its end. 

Lu Yin walked through the forest for two days, encountering some war spirits every now and then. Fortunately, not many of them could threaten him, and those that could threaten him, he hid from.

However, he did not meet a single living person.

Given the storm’s speed, a Hunter might be able to outrun it, but a Cruiser would find it challenging to do so. Hence, there should be very few cultivators at the Hunter realm and above who had been swallowed by a storm, or it might have been an accident. 

Lu Yin also saw a few spacecraft of all different sizes within the forest. One large spacecraft was covered in signs of recent kills, as fresh blood stained the ground, seeping into the forest. 

The biggest difference between this place and the trial zones was that if someone died here, they would truly die, unlike the trial zones, where you would simply vanish. 

Lu Yin casually eliminated a war spirit and looked at the corpse on the ground. This person was only a Melder, and he had not died that long ago. A corpse normally would not be enough to attract Lu Yin’s attention, but this person was from the small spacecraft that he had fought with right before being sucked into the storm. 

Lu Yin could still remember some unique characteristics of these people’s clothes, which meant that it must have been specially made for their organization. If this person had appeared here, then it meant that the others from their vessel could not be too far away. 

Bloodlust filled Lu Yin’s eyes. If not for those two Cruisers, he would not have been stranded here. He had to take revenge for this. 

Anyone who fell into this forest would start heading towards the golden light, so Lu Yin believed that these people were no exception. 

As he continued on towards the light, he met more war spirits, but unfortunately, he still did not meet any living people. 

Along the way, Lu Yin eliminated more than twenty war spirits. This was only possible for him because of his fighting strength that rivaled a Cruiser, but death was a common fate for the majority of people who could not do the same. 

Before too long, Lu Yin saw smoke in the distance before it was quickly dispersed. His eyes gleamed, as this meant that there was someone else there. He charged ahead. 

In the distance, a small gathering of trees had been chopped down to make an open space where more than ten people had gathered. 

“What are you doing? There are so many ghosts here, so what are we gonna do if they all get drawn over here?” someone admonished in a low and gloomy tone.

The others around him all angrily glared at a youth.

The youth fearfully answered, “So-sorry.”

“Alright, less bullshit. Let’s get moving just in case,” someone suggested. 

A bystander was unhappy. “It was difficult enough to clear out this space, and now we have to leave already?”

“Then just stay behind and say hello to the ghosts.”

“Two of us should head back to the spacecraft and bring over the supplies. Who knows how much longer we’ll be stuck in this damned place for.”

“It’s rumored that only a few people can leave this storm alive, and those who did were all good people.” 

“Bullshit! There’s still good people in the universe? Don’t be so naive.”

…

The group quickly fled the clearing. 

After they left, multiple war spirits appeared. They were smart to leave, but they had no luck and ended up running into another war spirit just a kilometer away, and this one was at the Cruiser realm. 

The group was overcome with shock, and they all scattered, trying to escape in separate directions.

But against this Cruiser-level war spirit, these people could only dream of escaping. Just when the war spirit was about to eliminate them all, two figures appeared from different directions and attacked it.

Boom!

Bang!

There were just two loud sounds, and then the war spirit ceased to exist.

The two figures retreated several meters and looked at each other.

Lu Yin looked at the other person who had attacked the Cruiser war spirit, and his face changed. “It’s you.”

That person in front of him also looked at Lu Yin, and his face similarly changed. He was the Cruiser who Lu Yin had stunned with Progenitor Wushang’s hide before then being thrown into the storm. “It’s you!” 

The Cruiser was excited to see Lu Yin, and a fierce bloodlust lit up within his eyes. “Alright! I never thought that I would be able to run into you here. The heavens themselves must be allowing me to get revenge for my brother.” 

Lu Yin squinted, and he trembled with bloodlust as well. “You people tried to sacrifice others to pave the way for your escape. No matter if it’s your brother or you, death cannot atone for your crimes.” 

“It’s your turn to die!” the Cruiser bellowed, and his body changed as it became an incomparably firm stone. 

Lu Yin was stunned, as this change was actually an innate gift. This Cruiser had actually been concealing his strength.

Against a Cruiser with an innate gift, Lu Yin had no plans of fighting him head-on, and Progenitor Wushang’s hide once again appeared in his hand. This thing was a great killing tool. 

Abruptly, an earth-shattering pressure swept across both of them, causing Lu Yin and the Cruiser to exchange shocked glances. It was that Hunter level war spirit again, and the two cultivators charged straight at the golden light without hesitation. Any personal grudges were immediately thrown to the back of their minds. 

Lu Yin wanted to conceal himself with the Invisible Aura Technique, but he knew that the Cruiser would not allow him to hide himself that easily. Thus, he could only escape into the distance with the older man. 

The pressure grew even greater, and a chill ran down Lu Yin’s spine. He could sense the war spirit’s aura, and the number of rune lines congregating behind him was increasing as well. The war spirit was about to act, but Lu Yin gritted his teeth as he gripped Progenitor Wushang’s hide. He was in a dilemma, but he was hesitating about whether or not he should throw this thing out. 

He didn’t have much time to think, but then, the Hunter realm war spirit suddenly changed directions and headed for the Cruiser.

Lu Yin was stunned; why had it not attacked him? What could be the reason? Could it possibly be Progenitor Wushang’s hide?

Based on what the monkey had said, Progenitor Wushang and the Rune Progenitor had both reached the Progenitor realm. Perhaps at that level, cultivators had an innate reaction towards the strength that they had left behind, and that might have been what had helped Lu Yin to avoid this crisis. 

No matter the reason, Lu Yin could relax as long as he was not targeted. 

When the Cruiser saw the war spirit turn to pursue him, his soul left his body. He was not a Realmbreaker like his elder brother, so he could not challenge a Hunter. He desperately tried to increase his speed in order to escape again. 

Lu Yin’s eyes gleamed, and he did not leave the area. Instead, he maintained some distance from them and followed behind the Cruiser and the war spirit. 

Within the forest, a terrifying aura swept across and caused many trees to fall down. In front of the pressure, the Cruiser desperately fled for his life as a war spirit relentlessly chased after him. Even further behind them was Lu Yin. 

The space in this location was strangely firm, and not a single one of the three could move by tearing through the void, which caused the speed of all three people to be about the same. 

High above them, the golden radiance became even more dazzling.