Star Odyssey

Chapter 2703: Seeing The Big Tree Again

Lu Yin's scalp went numb, and he found himself in the air once again. He was being targeted by Cheng Kong. The Aeternal did not care about Jiang Qingyue at all, possibly because they did not want to offend the Lord of Lightning. Dragonturtle was also not attacked, though more because doing so was useless. Dragonturtle's holy light was too effective, and he was clearly skilled at protecting himself.

Not only was Cheng Kong targeting Lu Yin, but it was likely that the Aeternals did not want to let Lu Yin do anything. Cheng Kong had likely observed the entire battle between Lu Yin and the Progenitor-level corpse king, which meant that Cheng Kong knew that Lu Yin was capable of escaping, given the opportunity.

"You will die," overlapping voices echoed in Lu Yin's ears. It was Cheng Kong’s voice.

"Despicable bastard!" Dragonturtle roared.

Jiang Qingyue closed her eyes. She could sense Cheng Kong’s presence.

Lu Yin kept his power in his chest. If he brought it out, Cheng Kong would instantly attack, preventing Lu Yin from tearing through the void and escaping. The corpse king’s attacks were incredibly powerful, but Cheng Kong’s attacks were fast and almost unavoidable, which made them even more difficult to deal with. When fighting against the corpse king, there had been a few windows of opportunity for Lu Yin to escape, but against Cheng Kong, there were no chances at all.

Lu Yin looked around, observing the chaotic lines of space. "Senior Dragonturtle, how long can you endure for?"

Dragonturtle was struggling. "Not too long. That one corpse king is simply too strong."

Lu Yin frowned. He needed to find a solution as quickly as possible.

"Don't listen to him—he can definitely hold out for a long time still," Jiang Qingyue suddenly said, "He’s also able to use absolutely domineering fusion to cover his shell. Even Father said that that state’s difficult to break through."

"Little Yue, just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's impossible! What are we going to do if one of the Seven Skygods shows up? Cheng Kong is already here, and you know how terrifying that one is." Dragonturtle felt helpless.

Lu Yin suddenly dodged to the side. Cheng Kong was keeping an eye on Lu Yin and would brook no escape attempts. Lu Yin needed to find some way to deal with Cheng Kong so that he could have even a moment to work with. Just that, and he could escape, which would resolve the entire situation.

"Cheng Kong, do you remember Tu Shuangshuang?" Lu Yin called out.

There was no answer. Cheng Kong did not speak.

"I have her.

"I was the one to ruin your plans, and I also exposed Yun Wu as a spy. I’ve even found a way to expose your Bubble Fantasy."

As he spoke, Lu Yin took Tu Shuangshuang out from the Zenith Mountain in his cosmic ring, and he tossed her to the side. He instantly used the power within his chest, but faced a dangerous attack so quickly that he was forced to first evade it.

Tu Shuangshuang looked around in confusion. "Where am I?"

She looked over at Lu Yin and saw bubbles around him. The sight filled her with joy, and she called out, "Master? Is that you? Master? Master?"

There was a sudden bang, and her head exploded from an invisible force. She was instantly smashed to death.

Lu Yin's pupils shrank. Tu Shuangshuang had been attacked by Cheng Kong. When even one of Cheng Kong’s own disciples got in the way, they would be killed without any hesitation. This demonstrated just how the Aeternals handled things.

Jiang Qingyue thrust her sword forward, but she struck nothing at all.

"Forget it, Little Yue. You may be able to sense Cheng Kong's aura, but the gap between the two of you is too big. How could you possibly hurt them? For Cheng Kong, you are moving so slowly that you will never be able to touch them," Dragonturtle said.

Outside of the shell, Yi Ren was still talking, begging Dragonturtle to take Jiang Qingyue away and leave Lu Yin behind. This matter had nothing to do with the two of them.

However, Dragonturtle's shell remained in the way, blocking everything that approached for days.

Jiang Qingyue was right; the shell was incredibly tough. Dragonturtle blocked all the attacks from outside, and he did not even need to use the purplish-black substance. If not for the threat of Cheng Kong, Lu Yin would have escaped long ago.

"I strongly suggest that you leave—the Lord of Lightning already knows that we are in danger. When he arrives, no one will be able to save you," Dragonturtle threatened.

The threat scared Yi Ren, but it also made him work even faster. He absolutely had to kill Lu Yin.

Cheng Kong was also obsessed with killing Lu Yin.

The trap had been laid perfectly. If not for Jiang Qingyue and Dragonturtle, Lu Yin would have already died. This trap had been prepared years ago, and since Lu Yin had been caught, they refused to let him go.

Lu Yin continued to observe the spatial lines around him. The moment they appeared even a bit stable, he would tear the void open and leave. He could not stick around and die. After all, he did not believe that Dragonturtle was capable of resisting one or two of the Seven Skygods, if those powerhouses appeared.

Hey, what’s that?

Lu Yin stared in a particular direction. He was still observing the spatial lines, and he peered past the turtle shell into the distance. The spatial lines in that area were beyond the influence of the sourcebox array, which should have meant that they were stable.

However, as he stared, he watched the lines bend and straighten, again and again, as though someone was walking across them.

Lu Yin instantly grew wary. He was not looking at a place that most people could walk through, and the first thing that came to mind was Shaman God. If that Skygod appeared, they would be in grave danger.

Realizing the potential threat approaching them, Lu Yin shot over to the edge of the turtle shell and stared into the distance. There, above the spatial lines, in a place that no one else could see, was a large tree. It was the big tree that had escaped.

That big tree was actually in the Sixth Mainland? Was it just passing by?

Lu Yin felt danger. Cheng Kong was attacking again. Lu Yin evaded once more and then asked Dragonturtle to charge towards the big tree.

Dragonturtle could only say, "I can't escape! All I can do is block them. If I could escape, I would have done so immediately."

Lu Yin took out a Lotus Artifact. "Use this."

Dragonturtle was caught off guard.

Quickly, a fourth-grade Lotus Artifact appeared around the turtle shell, protecting Dragonturtle. The creature then charged out in the direction Lu Yin had indicated.

Still inside the shell, Lu Yin gave another Lotus Artifact to Jiang Qingyue. With the fourth-grade Lotus Artifact, it did not matter if Cheng Kong landed an attack. Lu Yin held onto the shell as Dragonturtle moved according to Lu Yin’s directions.

Cheng Kong did not understand what Lu Yin was trying to do, but they did not hesitate to attack. Something must have triggered Lu Yin’s sudden change in behavior.

A fourth-grade Lotus Artifact was only able to endure a single attack from Cheng Kong. Lu Yin had originally had a total of twelve Lotus Artifacts, but one had already been used up by Jiang Qingyue, which left Lu Yin with eleven. He had then given another to Jiang Qingyue, and six to Dragonturtle, while leaving four Lotus Artifacts for his own use. He could only endure six attacks from Cheng Kong, while Dragonturtle would be able to endure six attacks from outside.

As for the Lotus Artifacts that Lu Yin had that could transport them to the Sixverse Academy, those were impossible to use. None of them could find any parallel universes within the sourcebox array, which meant that they were completely dead and useless right now.

Dragonturtle’s body was massive, and every time he moved, he covered a vast distance, which was enough.

In outer space, one fourth-grade Lotus Artifact after another bloomed, while inside the turtle shell, the same thing was happening on Lu Yin's body.

After Dragonturtle moved three times, Lu Yin shouted, "Get out here!"

As he shouted, Cheng Kong's fourth attack landed, and Lu Yin rushed out of the turtle shell and grabbed something invisible from the void. It was a branch.

The big tree strolling through the void reacted like a rabbit whose tail had been stepped on. It was badly startled, and it fled in a panic.

Lu Yin grabbed hold of Jiang Qingyue, and Dragonturtle shrank down and landed on her shoulder, just before they were all instantly dragged away by the big tree.

When the big tree was grabbed by Lu Yin, it was briefly exposed, and Yi Ren and the Aeternals all saw it.

"Is that that big tree?" Yi Ren exclaimed.

The big tree swung its branches and fled. Its branches whipped around wildly as it tried to throw Lu Yin and the others off.

Yi Ren angrily shouted, "Chase it!"

However, right as they started to move, the big tree vanished.

Lu Yin might not dare to carelessly wander about on the spatial lines, but the big tree was different. It constantly roamed about in the void, and it was also very good at escaping. It had remained safe and free for many years, which meant that they should also be safe while being carried by it. On top of that, Lu Yin was quite curious about where the people who had been taken by the big tree went.

The sourcebox array was completely unable to restrain the big tree, and the attacks from Yi Ren, the corpse kings, and Cheng Kong were all knocked away by the branches.

The big tree was known to be fearless on even the most dangerous battlefields. It had even appeared during battles involving the Seven Skygods to take several people away, let alone the opponents who had been attacking Lu Yin and the others.

In the blink of an eye, the big tree disappeared.

Yi Ren stared. "Why did that tree appear?"

A short distance away, the two corpse kings stood in place, similarly unable to catch up to the tree. They could not even able to see where the big tree had gone to, and even if they could, there was nothing that they could do.

"It's fine if they were taken by that big tree," Cheng Kong said, still sounding as though there were several voices overlapping.

Yi Ren heard the voice but was unable to locate Cheng Kong. The Progenitor’s eyes flickered.

Despite spending so much time inside the turtle shell with Lu Yin, had Cheng Kong still been unable to kill Lu Yin? Yi Ren did not believe that at all.

...

At this same time, within the void, Lu Yin was clinging to the big tree’s branches. He had no idea if Cheng Kong and the Aeternals were giving chase, as Lu Yin had no chance to look back. He was too busy trying to avoid being thrown aside by the big tree.

The tree was desperate to get rid of its passengers.

"This is the big tree that Master is looking for!" Dragonturtle was surprised.

These words caught Lu Yin off guard. "The Lord of Lightning is looking for this tree?"

"I need to catch it for Master!" Dragonturtle said excitedly.

The big tree heard this, and it grew even more frantic. As it flailed its branches, flames blossomed on the branches like flowers. It was both beautiful and dangerous.

Lu Yin stared at the slowly blooming flames. What was this?

"Let go!" Dragonturtle grabbed Lu Yin and suddenly pulled away from the tree. The three retreated from the tree just as the branch that Lu Yin had been holding onto burst into flames. If he had been just a moment slower, those flames would have touched him.

The big tree was blazing as it quickly disappeared, awkwardly running away.

Lu Yin and the other two fell and landed on a meteorite.

Lu Yin looked into the distance, but the big tree had already vanished.

"It’s good that you reacted quickly, as you would have been doomed otherwise. You can’t touch those flames. Master warned me about them." Dragonturtle looked afraid. "It's just a pity that I couldn't catch it."

"You scared it." Jiang Qingyue had clearly seen the tree’s reaction.

Dragonturtle shrugged. "I had no idea it was so timid. That thing has appeared on countless battlefields without fearing anyone, and yet it behaves so timidly. It’s such a strange tree."

Lu Yin looked down at his hand. Those flames should be the same ones that had burned the Books of Destiny. Those three books had been burned because he had wanted to seek information about the Immemorial Citadel.

He had previously assumed that those flames had come from the Immemorial Citadel itself, but he now realized that they had actually come from the big tree. In that case, the big tree had to be related to the Immemorial Citadel.

Lu Yin remembered how Undying God had mentioned that Ce Wangtian had tricked Progenitor Yōu Ming and gone to the Immemorial Citadel himself instead.

The big tree had taken Ce Wangtian away while Progenitor Yōu Ming and others had fought in the War Of Turtledove River on the Third Mainland.

By putting the various pieces together, it was not difficult to come to the conclusion that the big tree was able to take people to the Immemorial Citadel.

With that, it became clear to Lu Yin why the Lord of Lightning was searching for the big tree; he wanted to also go to the Immemorial Citadel.

Just what was the Immemorial Citadel? Mister Mu, the Lord of Lightning, and the powerhouses from the ancient Heavens Sect era had all wanted to go to that place.

What about the Great Sovereign? Did he also want to go to the Immemorial Citadel? He should be able to get to that place.

What about the Aeternals? What did they think about the Immemorial Citadel?

The more Lu Yin learned about the megaverse, the more questions that appeared. It seemed that there were people trying to conceal the truth.

"This is not the Sixth Mainland," Dragonturtle stated, "However, it's also not a dangerous place."

Jiang Qingyue looked over at Lu Yin and said, "I’m sorry."

Lu Yin was taken aback. "Sorry for what?"

"I led you straight into a trap."

Lu Yin laughed. "Nothing about that was your fault. Aeternus set that trap for me, and I would have gone with or without you, eventually. The truth is, the two of you helped me survive this encounter."