Star Odyssey

Lu Yin crouched down and looked at the ancient character that he was standing upon. It was glinting with a faint gold radiance, and when he reached down to touch it, he could not really feel anything. It was as if it was nothing more than an illusion. When he looked at these ancient characters, an intense feeling of primordial ages washed over him. 

“Eh, Seventh Bro, these ancient characters look familiar,” the Ghost Monkey said.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve seen them before?”

“In the centipede's body… No, these might actually be even more ancient than that bit of writing in the centipede's body. Right! The Literary Prison. Do you remember how, back in the Ironblood Weave, when you were being chased by an Enlighter beast, that old guy Wen Qichen rescued you with his Literary Prison? Doesn’t this look very similar?” the monkey cried out.

Lu Yin stared at the numerous ancient characters and felt that there was indeed some similarity between the two. He hadn’t seen the Literary Prison just once, as he had also seen it back at the Erudite Flowzone’s border warfront. At that time, Wen Sansi had used the Literary Prison to entrap Yao Gu, and these characters in the Scripture Pavilion did indeed look rather similar to those that made up the Wen family’s Literary Prison. 

“The more I look at them, the more similar they seem. Rumor has it that the Wen family’s inherited Literary Prison is formed of nine by nine characters. If these truly are the same ancient characters, then you’re in luck, Seventh Bro! The characters here won’t just form a nine by nine array—there might be thousands of them here! If you can learn them all, then the Wen family can just call you ‘ancestor,’” the monkey said with a laugh. 

Lu Yin was not as happy as his tamed beast. Learn them? How was that possible? If it was that easy to comprehend these characters, then people with backgrounds like the fatty would have long since learned this technique. He had not seen anyone use these characters in the battles here so far, and he hadn’t heard Autumnfrost Qing mention anything about learning them either. It should be extremely difficult to learn these characters. 

Lu Yin leaped up and dashed to somewhere else nearby, landing on another ancient character. He then jumped up again and headed for the next character. 

The fatty hurriedly followed after him, as he didn’t dare drift too far away from Lu Yin.

There was a loud crack, and suddenly, a man who had been standing atop an ancient character about a hundred meters to the fatty’s right split into half, and his blood spilled onto the character before dripping onto the ground. 

The fatty’s face paled. 

Lu Yin was also overwhelmed, as he could not figure out how that person had just died. 

Autumnfrost Qing’s caution about the aftershocks from the ancient battle that had destroyed this sect had not been false. 

Even further ahead, someone suddenly felt something jolt in his heart, and he laughed heartily from where he was sitting cross-legged atop a character. This person had not come with their group and should have already been in this place for a few days, and his reaction seemed like he had finally achieved some comprehension at this time. 

Quite a few people’s attention were drawn to the man, and they gazed over at him with fervent gazes. 

That person quickly immersed himself in his comprehension, but then, his expression suddenly changed after half an hour. He spat out a mouthful of blood as his consciousness fell into chaos. After that, he started dancing around like an idiot until he fell off of the ancient character and crashed into a river below. He floated down the river towards an unknown location. 

Quite a few people rejoiced at his misfortune, but there were also quite a few who were horrified. That person had clearly gone insane after thinking that he had comprehended something. The truth was that there were numerous characters in this place, and there were thousands of combinations. Many battle techniques could cause someone to go mad if even one word was off, so finding the correct combination of ancient characters to learn a battle technique or a cultivation art was too difficult. 

Since ancient times, only a select few had managed to gain one of these inheritances. But of course, those who did always became famous. 

Over the next two days, Lu Yin didn’t gain any harvest whatsoever, but he did manage to witness a battle. Someone’s stars had aligned perfectly, and they had managed to arrange dozens of characters in order. It seemed like they had been comprehending something, but their opportunity was snatched away by others. That person had the misfortune of being killed, and they were not the only one to die. The ensuing chaos claimed the lives of at least five people, including a few who had come to the Scripture Pavilion with Lu Yin and the fatty. Finally, even Autumnfrost Qing took action, but those arranged characters did not cause any battle techniques or arts to appear. 

It was too difficult to obtain any sort of an inheritance in this Scripture Pavilion. Many people came here just to try their luck, but they would generally not spend too much time here. 

Lu Yin saw Mr. Bai leave. 

There was a cry, and Lu Yin turned to see that the ancient character under Fatty’s legs had started flickering with radiance, and the surrounding characters were drawing closer as well. Many people were not unfamiliar with this scene, as these ancient characters were coming together to form a prison. Once one was trapped within, they would only be able to leave once their futon’s time was up, and they would not be able to break free at all. 

Being trapped by the characters signified that one’s exploration of the Daosource Sect was temporarily over. Fortunately, there was no deadly danger to the prisons. 

Lu Yin suddenly streaked across the region and yanked the fatty out from within the characters. Right after, the final one fell into place, completing a prison-like structure, but the fatty had fortunately been pulled out in time. 

Huang San panted heavily while patting his chest. “Fortunately- fortunately- Thank you, Bro! You’re really like my own flesh and blood.” 

Lu Yin stared at the trap that had been formed from the characters and thought that they looked extremely similar to the Literary Prison. If that was truly the case, then the Literary Prison that the Wen family had inherited was formed from nine by nine characters, which meant it had eighty one ancient characters. 

Those around them who had witnessed the scene stared apprehensively at Lu Yin. This person’s speed was so fast that they had not been able to clearly see it. He was definitely a hidden expert. 

Once they realized this, the people surrounding the two young men slowly started to move away from Lu Yin one after another. No one wanted to be close to someone who could threaten their lives. 

Autumnfrost Qing had taken Yan Xiaojing further away, so he did not see this incident, but Sister Kui did. She stared at Lu Yin in astonishment; how was this person so fast? 

After another day passed, Autumnfrost Qing brought Yan Xiaojing back. The two’s intimacy had gone up by yet another level, and Yan Xiaojing even looked at Autumnfrost Qing with a very tender light in her eyes. 

The fatty felt a stabbing pain in his heart. “Bro, let’s go.” He pointed towards the exit of the Scripture Pavilion. 

Lu Yin followed the fatty and left, as he was no longer interested in the Scripture Pavilion. He felt that he would not be able to obtain anything from that place no matter how long he spent there. 

After they left the Scripture Pavilion, the two youths used the light pillar to return to their previous location, only to see white clothes flit past before them as Mr. Bai rushed straight over to them. The three men exchanged glances. 

“This is perfect. I was hoping to run into you guys!” Mr. Bai said to the fatty and Lu Yin. 

Huang San was curious. “What’s the deal?’ 

Mr. Bai smiled. “I found an interesting place, and there’s likely a bloodline there.”

The fatty shrieked, “A bloodline? Are you for real!” 

Mr. Bai spun the folding fan in his hand around and confidently answered, “Yes, but I cannot obtain it alone. So, I wanted to ally myself with the two of you.” He pointedly looked at Lu Yin. 

“Why don’t you go look for Autumnfrost Qing? Aren’t the two of you very close?” the fatty ridiculed. 

Mr. Bai shook his head. “That person’s intentions are not in the right place, and I don’t care for it.” 

“That’s pretty blunt, but Fat Bro likes it!” The fatty grinned and gestured at Lu Yin.

This fatty had always assumed that Lu Yin could understand his gestures, but in reality, Lu Yin could not make any sense of what he was trying to convey. If he were truly deaf and mute, then he definitely would have sent this fatty flying with a kick. 

He pretended to understand the fatty’s gestures and nodded.

The fatty grew excited. “Lead the way.”

Mr. Bai smiled and led them along.

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. This place had existed for such a long time, so how could a bloodline have been so easily discovered? He wondered what this Mr. Bai’s true motives were. 

The Daosource Sect was very extensive but also very dangerous. Even casually flying in the sky could result in one dying from unknown causes. The trio followed along a shattered path leading towards another light pillar, encountering more fright than actual dangers along their way. Eventually, they appeared in a destroyed city. 

“This should be a subsidiary city where the kin of those who were once a part of the Daosource Sect lived, and they likely specialized in providing services for the Daosource Sect.” Mr. Bai walked forward, causing the ground to break apart into multiple fissures that extended a great distance along the ground. 

Lu Yin and Huang San looked around. 

The city was large, and the architectural style was very old.

“This place has already been explored countless times, so no one comes here anymore. The place that I mentioned earlier should have only shown its abnormalities recently, which led to its aura leaking out and being discovered. Gentlemen, be careful along the way, and try not to destroy the buildings here wherever possible.” Mr. Bai gave them a cautious reminder. 

“If this was just a subsidiary city of the Daosource Sect, then how could it have anything good?” the fatty wondered. 

Mr. Bai smiled. “Don’t underestimate this place. The Daosource Sect was no holy place, and not all of its members were saints. Some members may have exchanged the resources within the Daosource Sect for other benefits. This is the best method to find fortuitous opportunities. There is even a rumor that, 10,000 years ago, someone took away numerous treasures from this place that were intended to be auctioned off in the ancient past. That incident has since become a legend. Ah, you should have heard of that person before—Nong Laohan.” 

Lu Yin was stumped, and his expression turned queer. Nong Laohan? What a next-level name. 

“Nong Laohan?1 The mysterious farmer?” the fatty cried out.

Mr. Bai made a shushing gesture. “Be careful with your volume. You might destroy the buildings nearby.” 

Huang San instantly lowered his voice. “Really? Nong Laohan?”

Mr. Bai nodded. “That is indeed what I have heard.”

“That’s a damn lucky family. They’ve risen and fallen so many times. Last I heard, once, only a single person out of their entire family managed to survive, but they still managed to make a comeback. Their luck is really explosive,” the fatty spoke enviously. 

Mr. Bai smiled. “Don’t spout such nonsense once we return. Senior Nong is currently a Cosmic Imprinter, so be careful with your words. Otherwise, he might catch wind of them.”

The fatty clapped a hand over his mouth. 

After seven or eight more turns, Mr. Bai escorted the two to the dead end of an alley. “Gentlemen, the location I shared with you is just ahead. Stay careful.” 

Lu Yin moved his gaze over and unleashed his domain. The space ahead distorted, and he suddenly perceived quite a few peculiar energies entwined together. Since his eyes could not see any rune lines, and since he also could not access his lockbreaking tool from his cosmic ring, he was not able to clearly sense the energies. 

“There’s nothing at all.” The fatty was dubious. 

Mr. Bai slowly walked over. “The space here is broken, which has caused the defense of this house to gradually crumble, until it completely collapsed over the course of the last few days, allowing me to discover it. But for us to enter, we are required to neutralize these complex energies.” 

“Lockbreaking?” The fatty was stunned.

Lu Yin’s heart moved. Lockbreaking? So it exists here too? This place really is connected with the part of the universe that I know.

Mr. Bai did not say anything else, and merely put his folding fan away. He then raised a hand as a gentle fluctuation of star energy manifested above his palm before slowly entering the house. Suddenly, Lu Yin’s perception saw the originally calm energy within the house surge. Even the fatty could sense it, as ripples suddenly appeared in the void that was directly ahead of the three youths. Quite a few surrounding houses directly collapsed and turned to dust. 

The fatty cautiously backed away. He was not a Lockbreaker, but he knew that it was a very troublesome process, so he pulled Lu Yin along with him as he retreated. 

However, Lu Yin did not move. The composition of energy that had enveloped the house was not too complex, and there was no hidden danger either. At most , this energy belonged to a five-star Discerning Elementary sourcebox, which meant that Lu Yin could also successfully unlock it. 

Mr. Bai’s lockbreaking technique was very gentle, but it was also very effective. He didn’t have a single trace of hesitation, and he acted as if he could see the tangled energy very clearly. 

If Lu Yin’s eyes were able to see the rune lines, or if he was able to retrieve his lockbreaking weapon, then he might be able to perform just as well. However, in his current situation, he could not. Mr. Bai’s lockbreaking ability greatly surpassed what Lu Yin was capable of on his own. 

Less than ten minutes later, a gentle breeze blew past the three youths, and the house in front of the trio seemed to change, as though it had become more solid. Only by comparing it to before could they notice that the house seemed to have previously been shrouded by something. 

“Alright, we can enter,” Mr. Bai informed them. 

“Hold on,” the fatty suddenly said. He cautiously looked over at Mr. Bai. “Since you can enter by yourself, why did you bring us here?”

1 This name literally means "farmer."