Star Odyssey

Chapter 4425: Lu Yin's Warning

That prince thought for a moment. "Everything so far has been merely speculation on our part. As long as nothing is certain, we must confirm the truth. A civilization with four or five Immortals would strengthen us, and losing one vessel is no great loss. Also, that Immortal is being forced to come. If it really does belong to the human civilization, then they are effectively down one Immortal themselves. That is not a bad trade."

The stone monster no longer knew what to do. In order to prevent the technological civilization from growing suspicious, it could only make its way towards the coordinates that Lu Yin had given it. If Lu Yin was not able to teleport, the stone monster would have rather run away.

But in the face of teleportation, there was nothing that the stone monster could do.

The ovoid light and the Immortal stone monster departed. The enormous king vessel remained where it was before continuing to advance toward the Trio.

Lu Yin's expression remained calm. As expected, this technological civilization was not easy to deceive.

He teleported in front of the stone monster, using its size to block the technological vessel behind it from detecting him. At this moment, the ship should not be focusing on the stone monster, since their communication had ended for the time being.

"What did they say?"

The stone monster repeated its conversation. "I told them everything the way you told me to. I didn’t try to conceal the existence of your human civilization and even deliberately exaggerated its strength, but they are not afraid."

A glint flashed in Lu Yin's eyes, and he teleported away. When he reappeared, he was directly in front of the king vessel, which was still not too far away.

He had guessed correctly. The technological civilization had definitely seen through the stone monster or at least suspected that it was connected to human civilization. Since they did not understand the Trio’s true strength, Lu Yin would give them a demonstration. Regardless, they already had the coordinates, so there was no need to continue hiding.

Inside the king vessel, alarms blared. "Warning! Unknown lifeform approaching. Warning! Unknown lifeform approaching. Warning..."

"What’s happening?"

"We failed to detect anything in advance again? Is there something wrong with the king vessel's detection systems?"

"Your Highness, look!"

The prince looked at the screen and saw a familiar figure: a human. They were looking at Lu Yin.

"Warning! Human detected. Warning! Human detected."

"As expected, that Immortal was sent by the human civilization."

"Your Highness, what is this human trying to do?"

"Fire Cosmic Shear immediately!" That prince barked the order without hesitation.

Space stretched out endlessly. The instant that Cosmic Shear was fired, the entire cosmos seemed to reel backward, crushing space inward. The endless pulling transformed distance itself into an illusion.

The stone monster was stunned. What the hell is this?

The entire cosmos seemed to be collapsing, as if space was a curtain being furled by a giant. Near and far lost all meaning. Never before had the stone monster felt so lost, as though the Aevum Inch itself was no longer the cosmos.

Was this the technological civilization's strongest attack?

There was a thunderous boom as the vessel behind the Immortal simply exploded. It was utterly incapable of even defending itself.

The stone monster hurriedly led its kin to race into the distance. Lifeforce boiled out of the creature and was compressed tightly to shield it. Immortal matter surged out without any restraint. All of this was for the sake of surviving this one attack.

Directly in front of the king vessel, Lu Yin unleashed his inner universe and underwent a tri-color divine energy transformation.

The cosmos opened anew. With Lu Yin at the center of the originally turbulent Aevum Inch, a long arc of tri-colored divine energy shot upwards like a pillar holding up the firmament, forcefully pinning the twisted and torn cosmos in place.

The sight left the prince frozen in shock. In fact, every creature of the technological civilization was stunned. They had seen forces withstand their Cosmic Shear directly, but they had never seen anyone nail Cosmic Shear in place. At this moment, their attack had been literally fixed in place. What kind of power was that?

The cocoon of divine energy slowly closed. Cosmic Shear was split into two. It still warped reality, pulling and tearing at the void, but because it had been pinned down by the tri-colored divine energy, its power was dramatically reduced.

The stone monster let out a breath of relief as it stared at the cocoon of divine energy. Fear rose from the depths of its heart, increasing its desire to flee. There was a true monster present.

Inside the king vessel, the amount of alarms going off were enough to drive anyone mad. Never before had the vessel let out such intense warnings. "Your Highness, retreat! Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!"

There was no need for anyone to even do anything, as the king vessel retreated on its own after sensing an unimaginably powerful threat. The cocoon of divine energy split open to reveal Lu Yin, having completed his tri-colored divine energy transformation. The surging sea and overwhelming waves of divine energy caused those within the king vessel to feel as though their vessel had plunged into an abyss, and they shook nonstop.

Even the defenses of the king vessel felt unbearably fragile.

Lu Yin stepped out of what looked like a sea of blood. Red light rippled outward, causing the tri-colored lake of divine energy to expand. He slowly raised an arm and pointed at the king vessel.

Inside the vessel, the prince was staring at the screen. They felt a chill of terror and trembled.

Their gaze met Lu Yin's. In that moment, Lu Yin planted the seed of fear within the prince’s heart. Never before had it experienced such harrowing danger. This was a king vessel, a vessel that dared to fight against even a fishing civilization. Just how strong was this human?

Lu Yin's tri-colored divine energy transformation absolutely could not threaten a true fishing civilization, but the prince's understanding of the cosmos had not reached the level of a true fishing civilization’s either. It was the entire technological civilization that was the fishing civilization, not just a single king vessel.

An arc of divine energy pierced the void and shot across the cosmos. It brushed past the king vessel, shattering space and causing countless spatial fissures to open up throughout the surrounding void, and they began to devour everything.

The king vessel lurched through one tear after another. This time, it was the occupants of the king vessel who tasted the despair of facing a giant. Every moment was filled with danger. The king vessel endured the spatial fissures again and again as it pressed onward. It had to get out. It absolutely had to get out.

No one knew how much time passed; perhaps it was only an instant, or perhaps it was a very long time. But at last, the surroundings grew quiet once more.

The king vessel floated in the Aevum Inch, unharmed. Inside it, the prince stared at the screen again, but Lu Yin was already gone.

"Your Highness, are you alright? Your Highness?"

"How could there be anything wrong with a body like this? Why did he not attack the king vessel?"

"Could it be because of his karmic chain?"

The prince stared at the empty cosmos. Karmic chain? That was a possible explanation, but the king vessel's analysis indicated that this human was not actually an Immortal being.

Only then did the alarms within the vessel start to fade away. They had just survived a life-and-death crisis.

"Your Highness, this was a warning from human civilization. We should withdraw."

The prince spoke with a heavy tone. "Perhaps the human civilization really is as powerful as that scavenger Immortal claimed, and perhaps there truly is a fishing civilization backing it."

"Yes."

"Submit a report to the empire and request an analysis. My recommendation is that, if we go to war, an imperial vessel should be dispatched."

"An imperial vessel!"

"Only an imperial vessel can withstand that attack head-on."

Elsewhere, Lu Yin ended his divine energy transformation and returned to his normal state.

His strike was enough to make that technological civilization wary. He did not attack the warship; there was no need. Leaving it intact would serve as a warning. Moreover, the beings within that civilization would not die with those oval lights. Those lights were likely nothing more than carriers. Destroying them would be meaningless.

What he wanted was their wariness, or even their fear.

What happened next depended on what the technological civilization chose to do next. If it still insisted on seeking out his human civilization, it would indicate that it possessed the means to deal with Lu Yin. He had just displayed the combat power of a two-law Immortal. In theory, a fishing civilization should be able to deal with such an opponent. The real question was whether it would find the cost to do so worthwhile.

But this was already the limit of what Lu Yin was capable of.

He hoped that the coordinates the Immortal stone monster had given them would be able to divert the technological civilization's attention and push them to directly clash against the Divine Realm.

Right, Cosmic Shear destroyed the vessel that was supposed to follow the stone monster to the coordinates. Does that mean that the technological civilization can no longer find the Divine Realm? That won’t do at all.

Lu Yin peered into the distance. The stone monster had been somewhat injured, but because Lu Yin had managed to suppress the Cosmic Shear in time, its injuries were not severe. If they had been more serious, it could not have continued moving.

Under Lu Yin's coercion, the stone monster returned and sought out the king vessel yet again.

Seeing the stone monster reappear on the screen, the prince grew confused. This Immortal should have been sent by the human civilization to threaten them into leaving, and they had left after the human’s demonstration of power. That should have meant that the human civilization did not want to go to war.

So why was the stone monster back again?

"Your Highness, is it possible that this stone monster is not actually working with the human civilization?"

"Let us hear what it has to say."

Far away from the king vessel, the stone monster angrily started hurling accusations at them and furiously condemning their previous use of Cosmic Shear. It had been injured by Cosmic Shear, not Lu Yin's actions.

"Either this Immortal truly has nothing to do with the human civilization and is furious because it was dragged into things for no reason, or that human civilization has another plan. It is possible that they do not merely want to threaten us into retreating, but rather to use us for something else. I lean toward the latter."

"Your Highness is wise. I also lean towards that explanation. This human civilization has used gates to take advantage of us more than once. If what this Immortal said is true and these gates come from Obscura, which is backing this human civilization, then this perfectly matches how Obscura was said to deal with other civilizations. That gate should be their fishing method, and they will not abandon it lightly. We have already been targeted."

The prince said in a low voice, "They did not attack us not because they are unable to, but rather because they do not want to."

"Then what about this Immortal?"

"Ignore it. Whether it truly has anything to do with the human civilization or not, we will first wait for the empire's analysis report."

"Yes."

The king vessel gave no response, even as the stone monster continued to hurl curses at it. There was simply no reaction at all.

Of course, the Immortal did not dare to attack at all. After having witnessed Cosmic Shear once, the idea of attacking felt wrong, especially since it had not attacked even when previously hit by Crystal Fall.

Even farther away, Lu Yin continued to observe the king vessel. It had to be waiting for something. This oval light was definitely not the entirety of the technological fishing civilization’s forces. At most, it was an expeditionary force. They were most likely waiting for a reply from the civilization itself.

If that was the case, then did the technological civilization have the means of communicating across vast distances?

Lu Yin's eyes lit up. Anyone could understand how important communication was. If this technological civilization truly had a way to communicate across distances that Immortals needed hundreds of years to traverse, it would be of immense value.

Humanity had a few people with the innate gift of teleportation, but teleportation could be obstructed. Compared to that, a method that allowed distant locations to communicate with each other was something that every civilization dreamed of having.

The only question was how long it would take the vessel to establish contact with the technological civilization.

Lu Yin waited patiently. The stone monster also did not leave. It had not yet delivered the coordinates, so it could not go.

In this way, all sides waited in silence.

The stone monster's decision to wait made the prince absolutely certain that it was connected to the human civilization. A scavenger who had previously immediately retreated when facing just a mere Crystal Fall and who had already endured Cosmic Shear had no reason to stay here. For the sake of a mirebound artifact? Impossible. There was only one explanation: the human civilization needed this Immortal to do something.

The king vessel simply allowed the stone monster to wait and did not make any moves to attack it.

More than a year later, a fluctuation appeared on a screen inside the king vessel. "Your Highness, the empire's reply has arrived. Conclusion: Retreat."

The prince was not surprised. "Then we withdraw."

That single word represented the empire's decision. Retreat. There was not the slightest room for debate.

"What about that Immortal?"

"Ignore it. Even if it attacks, we will only defend. We will retreat first and talk later," the prince replied.