Star Odyssey

Chapter 2378: Food Paradise

Was Liu Shaoge truly capable of dealing with Lu Yin? Lu Yin had planted the Death Seal in Liu Shaoge’s body. That was because, while Lu Yin might not care about Semi-Progenitors or even fear certain Progenitors, he remained extremely wary towards intelligent and conniving opponents such as Liu Shaoge or Bai Xian’er.

Lu Yin believed that it would only be a short while before Liu Shaoge reappeared in Shenwu's Sky.

Lu Yin’s wireless jincan trembled. It was a message from Jiu Zizai.

Lu Yin immediately checked the message.

"Dao Chosen, there are people stopping us. We can’t even get close to the New Corridor," Jiu Zizi reported.

Lu Yin sent back, "How many people have been stopped?"

"Hundreds, and that is only in the direction that I traveled in. There should be more people who have been stopped along other routes, and this is just in the Higher Realm. Many people are unable to even reach the Higher Realm from the Middle Realm," Jiu Zizai replied.

Lu Yin disconnected. Apparently, many people from the Perennial World were quite interested in visiting the Fifth Mainland, but they were all being stopped by the four ruling powers. Many people were arriving in the Perennial World, but no one was visiting the Fifth Mainland, which meant that no true interactions could take place between the two places.

Lu Yin’s intention was for the Perennial World and the Fifth Mainland to be integrated rather than separated and isolated.

After considering the matter, Lu Yin sent a message to Wang Wen with his wireless jincan.

"So the four ruling powers are stopping anyone from the Perennial World from visiting our Fifth Mainland, huh? Alright, that’s one more thing to deal with. I just arrived here myself, so what do you say? Do you want to meet up with me and catch up?" Wang Wen sent back. It appeared that he was in a good mood.

Lu Yin asked, "You’re already in the Perennial World?"

"Yeah. I don’t want to admit it, but this place feels pretty good, and the Mother Tree is absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, this Higher Realm is too depressing, and I feel stifled when I look up. It’s not pleasant.”

“Oh, there’s also a bunch of people that we know here. I’ve seen Wen Sansi and a bunch of those from his group. There was also an overseer from the Hall of Honor who wanted to speak with the Wang family’s patriarch, but she was driven away because of her attitude," Wang Wen sent back as he smiled.

"I almost forgot. The four ruling powers are trying to recruit some of us to humiliate you."

Lu Yin replied, "No one from this first group will agree. None of them would dare."

"You're wrong on that. There was someone who was begging to join the Wang family," Wang Wen replied. "Wait, isn't my surname also Wang? Do you think that I’m from this Wang family? Maybe I can trace my roots back to their family tree and find my ancestors. Wang Wen, haha."

Lu Yin's expression turned stormy. "Who was asking to join the Wang family?"

The first group of people sent to the Perennial World had been strictly checked. All of them had close connections to Lu Yin, and none of them should have ever been willing to betray the Fifth Mainland. Joining the Wang family would indeed humiliate Lu Yin, and while it would not be anything more than an embarrassment, Lu Yin did not want to lose face in this manner.

Whoever had asked to join the Wang family had to die.

Wang Wen replied, "Xuan Jiu."

Lu Yin was caught off guard. He pursed his lips. "Did he actually join?"action

"No. The Wang family didn’t want him. They thought that he was a liar," Wang Wen replied.

As soon as Wang Wen sent the reply, Xuan Jiu rushed over, and he stared at Wang Wen with bloodshot eyes. "Boy, Grandpa Jiu has been watching you for a long time! Don’t think that Grandpa Jiu doesn’t see what you’re saying! Who did you just call a liar?"

Wang Wen stared at Xuan Jiu, who was panicking. The old man’s reaction left Wang Wen rather speechless, so he sent another message to Lu Yin, "The man himself just came to me."

"Pass the jincan over to Xuan Jiu," Lu Yin replied.

Wang Wen handed the wireless jincan to Xuan Jiu. "Why don't you talk to him?"

Xuan Jiu warily eyed the wireless jincan. He knew Wang Wen, which meant that Xuan Jiu also knew whom Wang Wen had been messaging. It was definitely that rotten trash, Lu Yin.

Xuan Jiu really wanted to curse Lu Yin, but after a moment’s thought, he realized that he did not dare to do such a thing. This was not because Xuan Jiu was afraid of Lu Yin, but rather because the old man was afraid of influencing Destiny. The more involved one became with Lu Yin, the more contaminated by Destiny one would become. “Grandpa Jiu doesn’t want to waste time speaking with him. Just tell him that if he dares to trigger Destiny again and make Grandpa Jiu vomit blood once more, this old man will spend the rest of his life blessing that rotten trash!"

Wang Wen rolled his eyes. While it sounded like Xuan Jiu was being kind, he was actually cursing Lu Yin. "Got it."

Xuan Jiu snorted disdainfully before turning around and leaving.

Wang Wen informed Lu Yin about what had happened, and there was nothing that Lu Yin could do. "Tell him that if he really wants to join one of the four ruling powers, I'll give him an introduction."

Wang Wen rolled his eyes again. An introduction? If someone was introduced to the four ruling powers by Lu Yin, they were guaranteed to be torn apart by the four ruling powers. These two men were amazing at cursing each other with good sounding words. Wait a minute, has he ever cursed me like that before?

"By the way, where's Wei Rong?" Lu Yin had just been about to end the conversation when he suddenly remembered something that he had wanted to ask.

Wang Wen looked over at where a group of people was being sent down to the Middle Realm. There were multiple groups of people being separated and sent to different locations in the Middle Realm, just as Wang Yan had explained, and Wei Rong and Wang Wen had been separated. "He plans to join one of the four ruling powers after a bit of time."

"Got it. Don’t let him join the Celestial Frost Sect." Lu Yin sent a single reminder before ending the conversation.

Wang Wen and Wei Rong had already arrived in the Perennial World, and only more and more people would arrive from the Fifth Mainland. Things were going to start getting exciting in the Perennial World.

Lu Yin put his wireless jincan away and turned to look forward. He had not even realized that he had already arrived at Mount Mei. This was the place that the old servant had mentioned before his death. He had told Lu Yin that he had personally seen Food Paradise fall to Mount Mei.

Mount Mei was absolutely massive, and it was actually an entire mountain range that was large enough to conceal the Astral River.

Lu Yin released his domain, and it spread out further and further, distorting the void as it spread. Lu Yin was trying to find Food Paradise by seeing through all the space here.

Surprisingly, Food Paradise was not difficult to find. He found a small pocket dimension in a lake on Mount Mei Lake and quickly entered it.

…

There were too many strange things in the universe, too many unique places, and all kinds of bizarre astral phenomena. Zhi Yi had thought that she could accept anything, but then she had arrived at her current location.

She was on an island that was composed entirely of food. It was not entirely accurate to call it an island, but that was the impression that it gave off. It looked like an island floating in a sea of some sort of delicious fruity drink. Everything was colorful, and there were entire lakes of various beverages. Rainbows frequently appeared in the sky from the light of the sun, but the sun was not an actual star, but rather some kind of jelly.

The jelly glowed and provided heat while also being delicious. She had tried a bite.

The soft ground underfoot was made of cookie crumbs that had a slightly bitter taste. At the edges of the lakes where the waves lapped at the shore, the crumbs formed complete cookies, and those cookies were incredibly tasty.

Each of the trees on the island were made of barbecued meat that each had a unique taste. The branches were covered with different snacks, such as potato chips. The grass occasionally released bubbles into the wind. Some held roasted meat, while others held fruit. There were even some that contained drinks.

The distant mountains changed in accordance with the seasons. What had impressed Zhi Yi the most was summer, during which the mountains were covered with ice cream.

Behind the mountains appeared to be a desert, but it was formed from various kinds of fried rice and noodles, which all smelled amazing.

When it rained, the raindrops were colorful candies. Many different species of delicious-looking fish lived in the lakes, and as soon as they were removed from the lakes, they would transform into grilled fish without the need for any preparation at all.

Even the wind that blew across the island had a unique effect, and it made people want to eat more food even if they had just finished eating.

Zhi Yi had absolutely no idea how the island had come into existence. Regardless of how strange things could be in the universe, something like this island should never exist. The fried rice and fried noodles clearly looked man-made, but she had not seen anyone else on the island.

More importantly, Zhi Yi had never been able to leave the island. She had been trapped on it for decades, and while her cultivation had improved greatly, she was still unable to leave. All she could do was cultivate, eat, and grow fat. There was so much food on the island that Zhi Yi was not at all surprised that she had not eaten everything even after so many years, as it was simply impossible to consume all of the food. There was even a flower that was able to somehow summon various dishes as though by magic.

She let out a heavy sigh. "How long are these days going to last for?"

She stared out at a lake. It was stunningly beautiful and illuminated with colorful lights. Unfortunately, even this magnificent beauty had grown rather dull in Zhi Yi’s eyes after staring at it for decades. The only thing that had broken the monotony of the decades was the one person that she could occasionally speak to, but that person very, very rarely visited.

What should Zhi Yi do if she was never able to leave the island?

As she stared out at the lake, she was suddenly overcome with ecstasy. Without even realizing when, she was staring at a person standing on the lake with some sort of box floating behind him. After a short while, Zhi Yi walked closer to the lake, approaching the person. Once she was close enough, Zhi Yi blinked. Lu Yin?

She smiled wryly. Why would she suddenly think of him? It seemed that she had finally started hallucinating after spending decades living through the exact same day over and over again. Zhi Yi had known that she would eventually lose her mind if she was unable to leave the island.

As soon as Lu Yin entered Food Paradise, the first thing that he saw was Zhi Yi sitting on the edge of the lake, staring at him, clearly dumbfounded. Lu Yin was shocked. What was Zhi Yi doing in Food Paradise?

He glanced around and instantly felt that the place seemed incredibly familiar. Between the smells and the look, memories instantly started to appear in his mind, only to instantly vanish once again.

Lu Yin remained standing in place for half an hour as he hoped to recover some of his old memories, but it never happened.

"You’ve been in Food Paradise? Is this where you appeared when we were sent to the Perennial World from the Fifth Mainland?" Lu Yin finally walked over and spoke to Zhi Yi.

Zhi Yi was still staring blankly at Lu Yin. "Wait, you can talk?"

Lu Yin looked at Zhi Yi's dull eyes, casually reached over, and patted her. The woman instantly came to her senses. She leaped to her feet, clearly overcome with excitement, and she grabbed Lu Yin's shoulders. "It's you! Is it really you?"

Lu Yin looked at Zhi Yi oddly. "Have you lost your mind?"

Her excitement mounting, Zhi Yi gripped Lu Yin's arm tightly, as though terrified that he would suddenly disappear. "How did you get here? Can you leave?"

"Don’t be ridiculous," Lu Yin replied. He stared off into the distance. The feeling of familiarity from Food Paradise was growing stronger and stronger. Already, Lu Yin had lost any sense of curiosity regarding where all of the food came from.

Zhi Yi had no desire to learn how Lu Yin had managed to arrive on the island. All she wanted to know was how to leave.

Lu Yin frowned and looked back at Zhi Yi. "Let go."

Zhi Yi replied, "Take me away from here! I don't want to stay in this damn place any longer."

Lu Yin did not even move, but Zhi Yi was thrown back. "This damn place?"

He looked around, his emotions in turmoil. "For some people, this place is the most beautiful place imaginable."

He then started walking towards a specific location, moving across Food Paradise.

Zhi Yi had not been injured at all. Lu Yin would not harm her at all, though that was out of respect for the Progenitor of Bloodlines.

Zhi Yi shot back to her feet and quickly chased after Lu Yin. "You came here on purpose? There’s nothing here except for food."

Lu Yin ignored the woman. He followed the feeling of familiarity, and they guided him deeper and deeper into Food Paradise. He passed through a forest, breaking off branches as he walked by a tree. He ate the potato chips that had replaced the branches’ leaves and happily devoured the barbecued bark of the trees. When bubbles appeared, he reached out and took a drink from one. He sipped it, and the taste was of pure nostalgia.

After leaving the woods, he stared up at the tall mountains off in the distance. He breathed in the rich fragrance deeply. More and more, this place felt familiar to him.

Zhi Yi was taken aback by Lu Yin’s actions. This was his first time visiting this strange island, so why did he appear so familiar with the place? Could Lu Yin have been to his place before? Also, was the Champions’ Stage that the youths of the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands had fought over so many years ago floating behind him? What was Lu Yin doing with the Champions’ Stage?