Star Odyssey

Chapter 4377: Suppression

Scenes that Lu Yin had once witnessed and stories that he had heard in the past swirled through his mind. The Plume Immortals were a mortal enemy that human civilization had to eradicate, just like Obscura.

Ahead of him, a feather tore through the void. Lu Yin dodged. It was another Godplume Spear, the Plume Immortals’ killing technique. Originating from the cosmic law of All Paths Return to One, it could break through any power and even merge with the opposing force of the bird’s enemy before redirecting that force through the bird’s own All Paths Return to One.

That was why Ku Deng and the others had been completely unable to block that strike.

Throughout the Aevum Inch, Plume Immortals could absolutely be called a miraculous species. All of the birds had the same abilities and techniques, but the Plume Immortals still had individual differences. Each possessed their own unique combat style. Ba Se had told Lu Yin about several Plume Immortals and their distinctive cosmic laws and methods, but Ming Yu had not been among them.

Obscura knew nothing about Ming Yu, so Lu Yin could only deal with it himself.

During this war, Lu Yin’s goal was to kill as many Plume Immortals as possible.

Another Godplume Spear.

Lu Yin evaded, but this time, he did not teleport away. He remained standing in place and peered into the distance. He watched as Ming Yu instantly drew close, its talons falling upon him. Behind Lu Yin, the Investiture of the Gods appeared, its golden radiance illuminating the cosmos. One Tri-Azure Sword Intent after another emerged, forming a river of sword intent.

The talons tore through the sword river with ease, their sharpness completely undiminished.

Lu Yin’s eye twitched. This attack felt no different from Ni Ren’s attacks. Both were terrifying and had the power to tear through his sword river with ease. Ming Yu was not any weaker than Ni Ren had been, and the bird might even be stronger.

The seemingly chaotic flurry of talon strikes were actually a battle technique, which brought about a sense of returning to simplicity. It was as though Lu Yin had been dragged into a savage arena of beasts.

He retreated again and again. Raising his hand, he unleashed his Dao Sword, attacking.

Bang!

Ming Yu’s talons froze, and its vision momentarily grew blurry. Taking advantage of that opening, Lu Yin shot forward. The power that he had absorbed through Extremes Must Be Reversed erupted in a punch that slammed into Ming Yu.

The bird was blasted away by the fist. Lu Yin held his scythe and brought it down in a vicious slash.

Bang! Talons blocked the scythe. Ming Yu stared at Lu Yin in astonishment. “Have you also comprehended karma?”

“Just a bit,” Lu Yin shouted in response. His Karmic Dao formed and a Thousand Faces of Karma: Karmic Heavenwheel appeared.

Ming Yu flapped its wings: Godplume Spear.

Lu Yin’s pupils shrank, and he instantly withdrew. He could not meet a Godplume Spear head on. In terms of overall power, he was far inferior to Ming Yu.

The Godplume Spear brushed past his ear, and Lu Yin spun around, releasing his Dao Sword.

Ming Yu teleported away. It was wary of karma. As it flapped its wings, the cosmos began shrinking. It was as if an invisible hand was compressing space.

Lu Yin immediately teleported far away.

Ming Yu grew furious. It finally understood the helplessness of trying to fight against someone who could teleport. In the past, it had always been the one to frustrate and infuriate others. No matter how its opponents had attacked, if the situation ever turned unfavorable, it could simply escape by teleporting. Now, Ming Yu was facing an opponent who employed those exact same methods against it, rendering its attacks useless.

After him. This human must die!

Only the Plume Immortals could have the ability to teleport.

In the distance, Lu Yin saw another battlefield. There, a Plume Immortal was flying about non-stop while attacking a pure black space. Surrounding that darkness were layers of black halos. If Lu Yin was not mistaken, that should be the member of Obscura known as Black.

He tried to get a closer look, but Ming Yu had already caught up, its talons slashing and slicing through the void. Its attack spread out endlessly, and Lu Yin teleported away again.

Ming Yu grew enraged and continued its pursuit.

In the distance, the Plume Immortal attacking the black space expressed surprise. Teleportation?

It looked in a specific direction and raised its wings. They then formed a phantom that covered the sky in an instant.

Lu Yin looked up. What is that?

He thought that Ming Yu was attacking him, but the next moment, a wisp of darkness devoured the phantom wings. When he looked back, only Ming Yu was in pursuit of him.

Lu Yin could see unease in the bird’s eyes. Those wings must have been another Plume Immortal’s attack against Lu Yin. They had given him chills, as that creature was likely no weaker than Hong Xia.

Lu Yin gritted his teeth. The Plume Immortals Civilization was capable of waging a full scale war against Obscura. They had their own unimaginable powerhouses. He needed to get farther away from their great tree.

Lu Yin dragged Ming Yu into a frenzied series of teleports. Behind him, Godplume Spears pierced the void, tearing apart the cosmos and even ripping open an unlucky megaverse that they encountered.

The Mother Tree was pierced by a Godplume Spear and collapsed.

Lu Yin changed directions. He could not escape from Ming Yu’s sight. If he were being chased by Yue Lu, he would have already finished the battle. Unfortunately, against Ming Yu, even the brief opening that Crow Immobilization could create would not be enough.

If Lu Yin could not see his opponent’s limits, he could not kill it.

At that moment a vast River of Aeons appeared above. Lu Yin looked up in shock. The main stream of the River of Aeons? So Old Man Hehe is also on this battlefield.

No matter how many times he saw it, the immensity of the main stream of the River of Aeons remained astonishing. He had always wondered whether Old Man Hehe was able to truly draw down the entire main river or only a portion of it.

Lu Yin was not the only one shocked. Ming Yu also looked up at the sky, and its expression grew tense. Every member of Obscura was an absolute monster.

“Lu Yin, go to the crown of the Plume Immortals’ tree and set up a sourcebox array to block Gao Tian’s perception.” Old Man Hehe’s voice rang out.

Lu Yin’s expression changed. “What?”

Gao Tian was a terrifying existence. According to the information that he had received from Ba Se, Gao Tian was one of the most powerful Plume Immortals, and that bird was one of the supreme experts that had once besieged the Nine Ramparts.

And Obscura wanted Lu Yin to face such an ancient monster?

“Hehe, do not be afraid. Gao Tian has not awakened yet. He must not awaken during this war, or else everything will spiral out of control. Go!” As the ancient voice spoke, a cubic box appeared in front of Lu Yin. “Find Gao Tian’s egg. Open that box, and it will release a shielding sourcebox array.”

Lu Yin fled without hesitation. He teleported away, not even taking the box.

Is that a joke? Asking me to block Gao Tian? That’s suicide! Forget whether the assignment was possible or not—Lu Yin would never attempt such a thing. What if the sourcebox array trapped him together with Gao Tian? If he were eaten, there would be nowhere for him to complain.

Old Man Hehe was not surprised to see Lu Yin flee. However, Ming Yu suddenly appeared and reached for the box.

“Hehe, little one, that is not something that you can take.” As the voice spoke, the box vanished. The only evidence of its existence was a bit of gray mist that slowly spread out.

Ming Yu looked up and launched a Godplume Spear at the main stream of the River of Aeons.

“Ming Yu, kill that human!” A voice descended from another Plume Immortal. That deep voice reached not only Ming Yu, but also Lu Yin, who had moved far away. He glanced back. This was yet another old freak. Just the voice alone was enough to tell him that this bird was not one that he could provoke.

The war across the cosmos was growing more intense, and gates continued to open.

Lu Yin could not even begin to guess how many civilizations Obscura was able to use, but after this war, at least several dozen cosmic civilizations would be destroyed.

What was appearing on the battlefield must have been accumulated by Obscura over countless years.

According to Lu Yin’s understanding of things, civilizations in the Aevum Inch could be categorized into tiers. The lowest were weak civilizations which had not even fully unified their megaverse, similar to what the Tianyuan had once been. Such civilizations were completely ignorant of the Aevum Inch.

Next came unified megaverses with some knowledge of the Aevum Inch, but no Immortal beings or only one. Those civilizations merely sought self-preservation.

After that were civilizations similar to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, which destroyed other civilizations on sight to avoid being discovered. They possessed multiple Immortals and were extremely wary of the Aevum Inch.

Next were quasi-fishing civilizations, such as the Seven-Treasure Anuras. Such civilizations did not fear fishing civilization despite not yet reaching that level themselves.

Then, there were true fishing civilizations. Lu Yin had actually encountered a number of them. Weak civilizations were either destroyed or ignored, so number held no meaning. Only civilizations powerful enough to be considered a fishing civilization were truly remembered.

Beyond that existed civilizations similar to Obscura, ones which freely used other civilizations, destroying or exploiting them as they pleased.

The Plume Immortals Civilization was similar. They hunted Immortal beings and cared nothing for other civilizations, destroying or ignoring them as they wished.

Whatever the motivations that fishing civilizations had for destroying others, for a civilization at Obscura’s level, it was extremely simple to destroy the vast majority of cosmic civilizations. All they needed to do was discover a civilization and then wait for the right moment to use them.

If an even stronger civilization existed above the level of Obscura... Lu Yin could only think of the Nine Ramparts of the past or the mysterious springboard civilization that he knew of but knew nothing about.

That civilization fished for all other civilizations, and their springboards were laid out across the entire Aevum Inch. How arrogant.

He suddenly wondered if the springboard civilization had also participated in the siege of the Nine Ramparts. That was certainly not impossible. The Nine Ramparts had been incredibly powerful at their peak, and it was highly unlikely that the springboard civilization had been unaware of the human civilization.

As Lu Yin considered such matters, several birds struck a gate before him. He casually eliminated them, as they were merely Dukkhans.

Suddenly, the cubic box fell in front of him. Lu Yin’s expression changed. When did this appear?

The cube was accompanied by a small gray strand that was completely incompatible with the endless darkness of the Aevum Inch. It was the power of time. “Child, you owe me a life.”

Lu Yin looked up, but he did not see the main stream of the River of Aeons anywhere. How did Old Man Hehe lock onto me?

“That doesn’t mean I need to pay you back with my life! I refuse!”

“Hehe, do not worry, I will not take your life. However, if Gao Tian awakens, nothing remains certain. Both you and I might die.”

Lu Yin frowned. “I don’t want to face Gao Tian.”

“No one wants to, but only you alone can do this. Do you see the Plume Immortals’ tree? One of them is guarding that tree, while all of us are tied down and cannot break free. You alone can teleport inside, place the sourcebox array there, and then leave before anyone can stop you.”

Lu Yin fell silent.

“Accomplishments on the battlefield are rewarded accordingly. This is but a trivial matter for you, but if you complete this, you will receive a five-star mission reward.”

Lu Yin’s brow shot up. “A five-star mission reward?”

That made him even more reluctant to agree. If the task were truly as simple as Old Man Hehe made it sound, the reward would not be anywhere near that rich.

“Hehe, of course. That I promise you: I will help you complete a five-star mission, and you may choose any reward.” The old man spoke casually as though enemies did not even exist.

“This is Obscura’s war. Why would you pay such a price?”

“Is that a steep cost? Perhaps. But whenever Obscura wages war, they cannot afford to lose. That is Obscura’s bottom line.”

“If Gao Tian awakens, will Obscura lose?”

“Gao Tian is not invincible, but stopping that one would cost too much. Both you and I might die, and child, your human civilization would also perish in that case. You have not forgotten that the Plume Immortals know that you can teleport and also know the location of your Human Trio, have you?”