Star Odyssey

Chapter 3067: Why?

Mu Shen's words had shaken Mu Ji to his core. His greatest desire was to achieve Immortality, and yet he had been told that it was something beyond humans while the leader of Aeternus might be able to accomplish it. This information had come from Mu Shen’s master himself, but if this was true, then what was the point in staying with humanity?

A seed had been planted, and Aeternus's later words had made it sprout. "Whether one is human, a corpse king, or an astral beast, they are all just variations of life in the megaverse. Why cling to one of them?"

This had led Mu Ji to betray the Arboreal Realm, and his name had been struck from the Arboric Scriptures. Mu Shen had been furious, as the Arboreal Realm had lost a cultivator with an unparalleled innate gift. Aeternus, on the other hand, had gained a True God Guard Captain.

When Lu Yin saw the memories, the first thing he thought of was how Ancestor Lu Yuan had not mentioned anything about overcoming Dukkha. Lu Yuan had thought that telling Lu Yin too soon could affect his cultivation. At the time, Lu Yin had not paid much attention to the matter, but it seemed that his ancestor had some foresight.

There were certain things that should not be learned too early.

Mu Shen had cared too much about Mu Ji and had wanted to guide him in every aspect. In doing so, Mu Shen had cultivated Mu Ji's desire to transcend and achieve Immortality, but he had failed to guide him onto the right path.

Mu Ji was a traitor. There was no question about it. However, he did not fully support Aeternus. Rather, he wanted to transcend. Since he had been able to betray the Arboreal Realm, he was just as capable of betraying Aeternus.

All that Mu Ji truly wanted from the Aeternals was True God's ultimate techniques, and that was because those techniques could lead to transcendence. Mu Ji’s purpose was very clear.

At his core, Mu Ji held no loyalty to Aeternus, which was why he had casually insulted True God. He was arrogant because his starting point was much higher than others’. How many people had spent their entire lives without even knowing about the existence of peak powerhouses? Mu Ji had only started cultivating when his name was added to the Arboric Scriptures and he had learned about Immortality.

His arrogance was why he was determined to find a way to obtain True God's ultimate techniques on his own, rather than expose Lu Yin and Hui Wu and receive the Aeternals’ rewards. Everyone had their own unique personality. If Shao Yin had suspected Ye Bo, then Lu Yin would have been exposed long ago. How long would Mu Ji be able to endure for?

Lu Yin had also discovered that Mu Ji had purposely been put beneath the lake of divine energy. He had made sure to be sent there so that he could search for True God's ultimate techniques beneath the lake. Before that, Mu Ji had already searched through the three rivers of divine energy that flowed across the First Scourge. After that, he had thought that the lake was the only other location where the ultimate techniques could be hidden. However, that lake was where the frenzied corpses were kept, and no one was allowed into the lake.

Mu Ji had spent hundreds of years in the lake of divine energy for the sake of searching for True God's ultimate techniques. In order to transcend, Mu Ji had readily betrayed the Arboreal Realm, and he would also gladly join forces with Lu Yin and even curse True God. This was Mu Ji. He was a man with nothing but his own goals. He was emotionless, extraordinarily arrogant, and utterly amoral.

He was completely insane.

Lu Yin understood why Mu Ji would not share his suspicions about Ye Bo with Progenitor Xi. He had also remained silent about Hui Wu and Wang Xiaoyu because he wanted there to be a few people within Aeternus who could potentially work with him. For him, spies for humanity were the best options.

Mu Ji did not trust people who had defected to Aeternus by betraying humanity, and corpse kings were completely impossible to cooperate with. Ye Bo and the others were Mu Ji’s only options. There was another even more important point: Mu Ji had his own ambitions. It was fine for him to betray humanity, but his goal was to eventually obtain True God's ultimate techniques and then return to humanity.

In order to return to humanity, Mu Ji knew that he would have to pay a price. For that reason, he wanted to establish his own power within Aeternus. This goal was even more insane than wanting to obtain True God's ultimate techniques, but it was still part of Mu Ji’s thoughts and goals.

While Lu Yin was uniting various human forces on one side of the war, Mu Ji was doing the same within Aeternus.

However, there was one detail that allowed Lu Yin to breathe a sigh of relief; Mu Ji was not nearly as confident about his suspicions as he had made it seem to Ye Bo. The evil that Mu Ji could see was merely a general impression. The reason why Mu Ji had acted so certain about Ye Bo being Lu Yin was simply because Mu Ji had been stalling for time and the entire thing had been a bluff. The only thing that Mu Ji was certain of was that Wang Xiaoyu possessed very little evil. After Hui Wu left the First Scourge, Corpse God had been gravely injured, which had led to Mu Ji’s guess about that man’s identity, but everything was nothing more than a bluff.

The man was incredibly shrewd.

Lu Yin stared off into the distance, thinking about the best way to use Mu Ji. Unfortunately, if not for the time constraints caused by how little of the Arboreal Realm's power Lu Yin had cultivated, he would have tried to commit suicide while Possessing the man and simply dealt with him in that manner. Suicide was not easy during Possession, and there were certain powerhouses who found it difficult to die. With such a brief Possession, Lu Yin had no way to force Mu Ji to successfully commit suicide.

The following day, Di Qiong returned, but there had been no reaction from the Sixverse Association. They appeared to be unaware of any impending attack, which meant that neither Ye Bo nor Mu Ji were spies.

On the First Scourge’s side, Dual Bladeform, Marquis Wu, and Marquis Wang were also cleared of being spies.

Lu Yin had known that the attack was a fake, but he had still made it a point to tell Wang Wen about it for another reason: he had been worried that Hui Wu would also be tested.

Aeternus most likely intended to test all the True God Guard Captains since they were already testing Ye Bo. If Hui Wu had told the Sixverse Association that they were going to be attacked, he would have been exposed. However, if the Sixverse Association knew the truth of the matter, then even if Hui Wu managed to warn them, the Sixverse Association would not react, as they were aware that the news of the attack was a test.

With the test over, the next major event would be the attack on the Five Spirits Alliance and the Luna Alliance.

Lu Yin's eyes narrowed. While he had made preparations for this attack, he was still nervous.

He had no idea how Wang Wen and the others would prepare for it.

Another day passed, and again, Di Qiong and Di Xia left the Third Scourge. Lu Yin left his tower and moved towards Mu Ji. After all, Lu Yin already knew where Mu Ji was.

It did not take long to find the man.

Mu Ji looked at Ye Bo. "Ye Bo? What's wrong? Have you figured things out?"

…

Figures appeared in the Luna Alliance’s universe. Among them were Di Qiong and Di Xia. The Aeternals had expected their attack to be a ruthless slaughter, but they were not met by the Luna Alliance. Rather, Mu Shen, Lord Xu, and other peak powerhouses from the Sixverse Association appeared.

It was clear that something was very wrong.

At the entrance of the First Scourge, Sovereign Dou Sheng raised his golden cudgel and slammed it down. "Let’s go again, First Scourge!"

Sovereign Dou Sheng then invaded the First Scourge.

At this same time, in the Third Scourge, Lu Yin walked towards Mu Ji. "You want to find True God's ultimate techniques?"

"What? Are you going to be open about things?"

"I don't know what you were talking about before, or who the person you think I am is, but I also want to find True God's techniques. I have a map of the divine energy lakes and rivers, which might be helpful," Lu Yin said. He was already about eight meters away from Mu Ji.

The man frowned. "Such a thing is useless. It’s impossible for True God's ultimate techniques to be in some corner that you can make out with a map. You shouldn’t even say something like that."

"What if the map covers the lakes and rivers of all six Scourges?"

"What did you just say? A map of all six Scourges?" Mu Ji was surprised.

Lu Yin remained calm, "Since True God has apparently hidden his techniques under divine energy, there has to be some sort of pattern to it. Only True God can see where the lakes and rivers of divine energy are across all six Scourges, but with this map, we can see it as well."

A burning desire lit up in Mu Ji's eyes. He did not care about a map of the flow of divine energy across one Scourge, but one that showed it across all six Scourges was something different.

"Show me."

Lu Yin took a step forward. He was only five meters away, and his vision shifted. He took control of Mu Ji's body, brought out the Roulette of Life and Death, and spun it. At the same time, Mu Ji grabbed Ye Bo, who seemed unable to resist. His neck was held by Mu Ji, and Ye Bo was unable to move.

While Possessing Mu Ji, Lu Yin tore through the void. At that exact moment, his consciousness returned to his own body, and Mu Ji woke up. He felt terribly confused; why was he grabbing Ye Bo’s neck?

Before Mu Ji could react, Lu Yin threw a palm strike, pushing Mu Ji into the spatial tear.

Everything happened in an instant. Lu Yin had played things out in his mind many times before. He wanted the exchange to be seen by others so that it would be reported to Di Qiong.

From an outside perspective, Mu Ji had suddenly attacked Ye Bo, and Ye Bo had not expected anything and had been unable to resist for a moment. By the time he reacted, Mu Ji had used Ye Bo's attack to flee into the spatial tear.

Everything played out smoothly. Mu Ji had been the one to tear through the void, which made it look like he had planned to escape in advance.

After Mu Ji disappeared through the tear in the void, someone raced over, arriving the very next instant. It was the woman whom Lu Yin had seen at the Wu Tian Observatory. She was Fei, the Third Scourge’s most powerful expert after Di Xia.

Di Qiong really had left someone behind to watch Ye Bo.

"What's going on?" Fei shouted as she stared at Ye Bo.

Lu Yin coughed. "I don't know! He suddenly attacked me and stole my cosmic ring."

Fei looked and saw that Ye Bo’s finger was bleeding. His cosmic ring? She was about to ask something else, but at that moment, a terrifying aura descended in the distance. "Not good!"

In the center of the Third Scourge’s Aeternus Kingdoms, a cosmic door activated, and Lu Yuan stepped through. He appeared right after Mu Ji left, and he even used Ye Bo’s cosmic door, which had been stolen by Mu Ji.

As Lu Yuan emerged from the cosmic door, he saw the chained form of Wu Tian. Despite already expecting this sight, seeing Wu Tian's current condition forced a roar from Lu Yuan. "Wu Tian!!"

Above the Wu Tian Observatory, Wu Tian's eyes snapped open, and he let out a hoarse sound of utter surprise, "Loam?"[1]

Lu Yuan was instantly right in front of Wu Tian. "I'll take you back."

"Wait."

Wu Tian wanted to say something, but Fei tore through the void and arrived from the distance. The moment she appeared, she kicked at Lu Yuan. The man casually knocked her back, but then Ye Bo appeared. A surge of divine energy erupted as he also attacked Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan showed no mercy, raising a hand and slamming it back down.

The sky and ground below both froze as Ye Bo’s body was slammed down by the hand. Fei raced to intervene, and she barely managed to drag Ye Bo out of harm’s way. The Aeternus Kingdom within range of the attack was reduced to dust, and the entire Third Scourge trembled beneath Lu Yuan's might. No one could stop him.

The man casually tore the chains apart and prepared to take Wu Tian away.

Wu Tian fell, and his skin tore open. At the moment, his body was extremely fragile, and yet he could not die for some reason.

Lu Yuan grabbed Wu Tian, but Wu Tian clutched at Lu Yuan's arm, and bloodshot eyes looked up at Lu Yuan. "If I could leave this place, I would have done so long ago, Lu Yuan. I am bearing fate. Leave."

Far away, Fei's two pupils vanished as she underwent a Pupilless Transformation before charging straight at Lu Yuan.

The man did not even look at his attacker as a Hidden Needle appeared in his hand before it pierced the void. Fei tried to dodge, but she was unable to do so. The Hidden Needle ignored the distance, and it pierced Fei's body and pinned her to the ground. Blood stained the earth.

"What are you saying?" Lu Yuan stared at Wu Tian in disbelief.

Wu Tian pushed Lu Yuan away. "Go!"

At this moment, the divine energy from all of the lakes and rivers in the Third Scourge rose up and surged towards the Wu Tian Observatory.

Lu Yuan released Wu Tian and then clenched his fists. The void tore open, but Lu Yuan looked back. "Don't die."

With that, he stepped through the spatial tear and vanished.

A short distance away, Lu Yin felt incredibly puzzled. Why had Lu Yuan not saved Wu Tian? This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so why had Wu Tian not been rescued? What was Ancestor Lu Yuan doing?

1. 沃土 = fertile soil. Given the context, Loam fits for the name that Lu Yuan was given by the Origin Progenitor. ☜

OMA's Thoughts

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA