Star Odyssey

Chapter 4126: The Withered Remnant

One-Eye pitied the situation, but Lu Yin was delighted. There was no doubt that he could see the true value of this megaverse.

The Aevum Inch was dangerous, which was why humanity had chosen to hide. However, the better they concealed themselves, the harder it became to grow stronger. Only by venturing out across the Aevum Inch and encountering more civilizations could human civilization truly become stronger.

The Tianyuan had many ways to increase their cultivators’ power, but those ways were still too primitive.

Right now, the most direct and effective way to enhance humanity’s overall power was with Kang Tian’s Colored-Glass, which offered incredibly robust defenses. With the addition of living weapons, humanity’s offense would experience a similar increase.

He looked ahead. What a paradox.

The more that creatures feared the Aevum Inch, the more that they needed to enter it, so that they could grow stronger. The deeper that one explored the Aevum Inch, the more civilizations and powerful enemies that they would encounter, which would then force them to continuously gather greater and greater strength.

It was a vicious, ever-expanding cycle.

“Everything in this megaverse possesses Activeness, though not in equal measure,” Ku Deng observed as he bent down to scoop up a handful of soil. The dirt pulsed with energy. It seemed to be leaping with excitement, and it even started moving together to form something that could be forged into a weapon.

However, the soil’s energy was weaker than what even a single stone possessed, and any stone’s energy would be weaker than a mountain’s. Even mountains were weaker than an entire planet.

Lu Yin looked up at the sky. “If one dares to imagine it, this entire megaverse could be used as a weapon.”

One-Eye was dumbfounded. Who would be so ambitious? The most that it had ever imagined was using a single planet as a weapon, never the entire megaverse.

Only an Immortal could dream of doing such a thing.

Then again, perhaps an Aberrant could do the same.

They moved through the universe. Although One-Eye had said that there were no powerful indigenous creatures in this megaverse and that it had no unifying civilization, Lu Yin and Ku Deng still needed to verify that for themselves.

The main universe was small, and given the speed that they moved at, they quickly explored the entire thing.

As expected, there was no true civilization.

One-Eye gave a respectful bow. “I would never dare to deceive the honorable human civilization. So... may I leave now?”

Lu Yin and Ku Deng exchanged glances before turning back to One-Eye. “Do you really think that you can leave?”

The creature’s expression quickly changed.

Ku Deng calmly stated, “Stay here. We won’t harm you, but we also will not allow you to leave. You should already have realized this.”

One-Eye sighed helplessly. Of course it had known that escape was impossible. It had merely been testing the humans’ reaction.

“In that case-” it started speaking, only for its eyes to suddenly flare and fill with blood as its entire body swelled grotesquely in but a moment.

Lu Yin and Ku Deng’s bodies both changed color. Torrents of Activeness wildly surged into their bodies. It was as though air was flooding into a vessel already on the verge of bursting.

Through pure reflex, Lu Yin used Extremes Must Be Reversed.

Around Ku Deng, countless heart lamps instantly lit up.

Boom!

There was a deafening detonation. One-Eye was dead. Its body had burst apart due to the overwhelming surge of Activeness that had flooded it.

Everything happened in a single instant. It was over far too fast for Lu Yin or Ku Deng to even react, let alone save One-Eye.

What had happened?

“Senior?”

Ku Deng swept his hand through the air, sending out his Heartrift power to probe. At the moment, neither of the two men knew where their opponent might be.

Lu Yin’s skin was continuously withering and restoring itself as he relentlessly used Extremes Must Be Reversed.

They had time to leave the megaverse, but why should they do that? Fleeing without even seeing their attacker would be a joke, especially for an Immortal like Ku Deng.

Heartrift power spread farther and farther, eventually covering the Living Megaverse like a black veil.

But that veil had no effect. Their opponent remained completely undetected.

Activeness continued to flood into them from every direction, causing more and more of Ku Deng’s heart lamps to appear.

After several cycles of withering and recovering, Lu Yin flung a hand out, releasing the power accumulated through Extremes Must Be Reversed. The attack tore space apart as it shot through the universe and beyond, but still, no enemy appeared. It was a pity, as Lu Yin’s attack had been powerful enough to threaten even an Immortal.

The number of heart lamps kept multiplying, while Lu Yin’s body continued to wither and recover as the two men searched for their foe.

Despite that, the Living Megaverse remained unchanged. The Activeness flowed into them like living energy. After quite some time had passed, heart lamps had filled half of the universe. Having still found nothing, they reluctantly withdrew.

“It’s an Immortal,” Ku Deng stated gravely.

Lu Yin could also see that this was the case. Nothing short of an Immortal could threaten the two of them.

This was also not a direct attack, and yet the energy that flooded their bodies was no different from one. The worst part was that they were unable to locate where it came from. It was as though the entire megaverse was their enemy.

But a megaverse was just a megaverse. They could not truly come to life.

Lu Yin and Ku Deng stared at the megaverse before them.

Their opponent had done nothing to prevent them from leaving. The Activeness only invaded their bodies while they were within the megaverse.

They stood outside, frowning as they peered in.

“Why can’t we find where it’s coming from? Could they have merged with the will of the megaverse like I can?” Lu Yin wondered aloud. The fact that he had managed to do such a thing meant that it was not impossible for another to do the same. However, that would be a crazy coincidence, given that merging one’s will with that of a megaverse was considered a joke throughout the Aevum Inch.

Ku Deng shook his head. “No. This is different from you, Mr. Lu. This feels more like we’ve entered an opponent’s world.”

“Like the Heavenly Karmic Macrocosm?”

Ku Deng nodded.

Lu Yin did not act rashly. Without knowing their opponent’s strength, anything that they did might expose some weakness.

It was imperative to tread with the greatest caution when moving about the Aevum Inch.

“Could they have fused their world with this megaverse?” Lu Yin asked.

Ku Deng nodded. “That is how it feels... but why haven’t they shown themselves?

“Could it be because they’re not certain that they can handle us? Or is it something else? It’s strange, very strange.

“Let’s test things.” With that, Ku Deng struck the Living Megaverse. The Heartrift power formed a black beam that shot into the megaverse, collapsing space in the universe. Volcanoes erupted from the ground, but even the lava seemed alive, writhing and shifting as though it possessed thought.

The lava even deliberately flowed around rivers and trees, stunning Lu Yin.

So even the magma could serve as a living weapon.

Ku Deng launched several more strikes, but aside from causing a bit of damage, nothing happened.

He released his heart lamps, sending them deep into the Living Megaverse.

Lu Yin did not know what Ku Deng’s heart lamps were capable of doing, aside from allowing him to locate others. Every Immortal had their own world, and it was not polite to ask.

However, from what Lu Yin had seen, it appeared that Ku Deng’s heart lamps could help him share or redirect certain burdens or injuries.

The heart lamps entered the Living Megaverse without issue. They burned, giving off light that could not be extinguished by water or wind. However, there was a different problem; nothing struck them at all.

“Mr. Lu, please wait here. This old man will go back in again to investigate further.”

“Be careful, Senior.”

Ku Deng reentered the Living Megaverse, and the moment he did so, his heart lamps started to spread out again.

Lu Yin watched closely. As expected, the heart lamps helped Ku Deng by sharing some of the flood of Activeness. Too much was essentially an attack, and the heart lamps were indeed taking on a part of the strain.

Lu Yin kept a close eye on Ku Deng, ready to pull him out at any moment. At the same time, Lu Yin observed the Living Megaverse as a whole.

There were no visible changes to it. Only the vast, endless flow of Activeness continued to enter Ku Deng’s body, and yet, no source could be found.

After some time, Ku Deng exited the Living Megaverse to return to Lu Yin’s side. “I can’t locate the source.”

Lu Yin asked, “Senior, can your heart lamps sense the density of this energy?”

Ku Deng nodded. “They can. I already tried to use them to search, but the differences are extremely subtle.”

“It’s hard to judge such tiny differences while you’re inside the megaverse itself.” Lu Yin understood. “What if you tried to search from the outside?”

“Mr. Lu, you mean...?”

“Envelop the entire megaverse,” Lu Yin explained. “Use your heart lamps to sense where the energy is the densest. We can narrow our search down step by step.”

“Very good. I’ll try your suggestion, Mr. Lu.”

Heart lamps appeared around Ku Deng, and he sent them drifting out in an arc that soon surrounded the Living Megaverse. He then closed his eyes and quietly sensed the megaverse’s energy.

Days passed. The Living Megaverse might not be large compared to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, but it was still an entire megaverse. For normal humans, its size defied all imagination. Even with Ku Deng’s heart lamps, searching the megaverse was no trivial task.

Fortunately, Ku Deng was an Immortal. With his strength, distances within a megaverse barely counted as distances at all.

After several months, Ku Deng finally lifted a hand and drew some lines in front of him. He quickly drew a density map of the Activeness throughout the Living Megaverse.

He had finally found where the energy was the most intense. It was on a nameless planet in an ordinary ocean. There was nothing remarkable to be seen.

If not for searching from outside of the megaverse, they would have never thought to look in such a place.

“This old man will go check things,” Ku Deng stated while moving to go back into the Living Megaverse.

“Senior, should I go instead?”

Ku Deng smiled. “I am still an Immortal, after all. Mr. Lu, you can hold the line here.”

Lu Yin nodded. “Then I’ll have to trouble you, Senior. Be careful.”

It was quite possible that an enemy Immortal was hiding on the planet.

Ku Deng did not take the situation lightly. As soon as he reentered the megaverse, Heartrifts appeared and devoured the ocean. Ku Deng also entered the rift and slowly sank into its depths.

Even if an Immortal was hiding here, waiting in ambush, it would not be so easy to defeat Ku Deng.

In fact, if an Immortal needed to rely on an ambush, they were most likely not particularly strong.

If someone with the power of Greater Sancte Green Lotus were present... it would not even matter if Lu Yin and Ku Deng saw their opponent directly approaching them. Escape would still be impossible.

It did not take very long for Ku Deng to emerge from the sea and exit the Living Megaverse and return to Lu Yin.

“Senior, what did you find?”

Ku Deng frowned and glanced back at the distant ocean. “Down there is... something. I don’t know if it’s metal or stone, but it contains infinite energy, truly infinite. In this old man’s opinion, all of the Activeness in this megaverse comes from that one object. However, I cannot move it, as there is simply too much Activeness.”

Lu Yin looked toward the ocean. “It’s just one object?”

Ku Deng’s face grew solemn. “It actually resembles... a withered Immortal.”

Lu Yin didn’t follow. “What do you mean, a ‘withered Immortal?’”

“I am referring to the remains of an Immortal who has completely withered away to death, utterly dessicated, and ultimately reduced to an object.”

“An Immortal... that died?”

Ku Deng shook his head. “This old man is not certain about that. I haven’t been an Immortal for very long. It is possible that Greater Sancte Green Lotus knows more. Let’s go back. That object is able to release infinite energy, but neither of us can take it. Only Greater Sancte Green Lotus can make a decision about it.”

Lu Yin frowned. Humanity was standing at the precipice of another crisis, and they had spent a good bit of time to visit this megaverse. Were they supposed to just turn around and leave? Lu Yin could not accept walking away with nothing.