Star Odyssey

Chapter 4434: A Changed Attempt

"Give me the coordinates," Lu Yin stated.

Black was delighted. "Are you willing to make the trade?"

"We’ll talk about it later." After saying that, Lu Yin received the coordinates and left.

A trade? Things were nowhere near that simple. Black was bold enough to even kill Hong Xia, ignoring Ba Se’s existence entirely. What it was plotting definitely exceeded anything that Lu Yin could imagine. Before determining whether they were a friend or foe, there was no way that Lu Yin would rashly help them.

But that was also not quite right. It was almost certain that Black was an enemy. Aside from humans themselves, ninety-nine percent of all lifeforms found in the Aevum Inch were humanity’s enemies.

The reason why Lu Yin wanted these coordinates was to preserve one possible option, which he would only use if there was truly no other option in the future.

He still had the six-star mission reward from Obscura, and now he also had the reward that he could exchange with Black for a five-star mission. The number of cards in Lu Yin’s hand was increasing.

Though, the prerequisite was that he completed the star chart. The map needed for a five-star mission encompassed an area that far exceeded a map for a three-star mission. Not only that, but the coordinates for the center of the area to be mapped were also extremely far away from the Trio. This was a very dangerous mission, and no one knew what sort of dangers one might encounter while charting the Aevum inch.

Lu Yin went to Lu Huai and allowed him to make his own decision.

The man chose to go and create the map, showing not even the slightest bit of hesitation. He did not know the reason why this map was needed, but since Lu Yin was asking for it, this was a task worth doing.

Lu Huai was well aware of what Lu Yin carried on behalf of humanity, but their human civilization did not consist of Lu Yin alone. Once this mission was completed, Lu Huai would finally be able to openly call Lu Yin “Seventh Bro.” He would be fully qualified for that much.

Lu Yin went into seclusion. Ever since the Meteor Realm had been severed, he had wanted to go into seclusion so that he could carve out a path for human civilization to break free. However, too many things had happened since then, including multiple wars and other accidents. On top of that, Lu Yin had not even been certain if going into seclusion would enable him to accomplish his goals. All of those details had led him to delay until this moment.

However, with the Death Megaverse approaching, he had no choice but to try.

He wanted to attempt to learn the Nine Clones Secret Technique.

He still remembered when he first learned of that secret technique, that there was actually a power and technique that could allow a person to divide themself into nine individuals. At the time, Lu Yin had been utterly desperate to obtain that secret technique so that he, like Progenitor Chen, could divide into nine clones and cultivate nine different powers before ultimately fusing them to achieve invincible combat power.

But later, when Lu Yin had actually obtained the Nine Clones Secret Technique, he had hesitated. Due to Xia Luo’s experience, Lu Yin had developed misgivings.

While the idea of dividing himself into nine clones and having each one cultivate at the same time sounded alluring, as time passed, each one would gradually develop a sense of individuality. In better cases, such as Progenitor Chen’s, one would be able to suppress their clones’ consciousnesses and fuse them together. The most tragic scenario was experienced by Xia Jiuyou, who had been fused into his own clone, Xia Luo, ceasing to exist.

Even if both Xia Jiuyou and Xia Luo came about from the same individual’s consciousness being divided into nine parts, Xia Jiuyou and Xia Luo had not been the same person. They had different thoughts, different personalities, as well as different preferences. How could they be considered the same person?

It was precisely Xia Jiuyou’s fate that had pushed Lu Yin into setting aside the possibility of cultivating the Nine Clones Secret Technique.

In the years since then, he had occasionally thought of the secret technique. In truth, if one’s consciousness could be kept whole, then the secret technique could indeed be cultivated. However, if one’s consciousness was not split, then how would their clones cultivate? The greatest advantage of the Nine Clones Secret Technique lay in the possibility of dividing into nine individuals with each one cultivating on their own. While others would cultivate alone, someone with the Nine Clones Secret Technique could directly cultivate nine different powers. Even if all nine clones cultivated the same power, it would still be nine times more efficient than other people. That was the technique’s greatest advantage.

Without that advantage, what value would the Nine Clones Method retain?

Keeping the consciousness whole meant losing the greatest value of the secret technique, and that was also why Lu Yin had given up on cultivating it in the past. However, his purpose had since changed. He did not want clones to accelerate his cultivation, but rather to walk down another path, a path that was not directly beneath the gaze of so many enemies.

The Human Trio was too obvious, and Lu Yin himself was as well. Every movement that he made was being observed. This was why the Trio was permanently trapped in a cage. Just as Black had said, humanity could not break free, escape, charge out, or win.

Since the collapse of the Nine Ramparts, all human civilizations had been seen as a thorn in the side of every powerful civilization in the cosmos, and all humans were targeted wherever they went.

From the moment that Lu Yin had first stepped into the cultivation world, the path that he walked had produced dazzling results. However, the process itself had never drawn much attention. His current situation did not match his own nature at all.

That was why he urgently needed a way to slip free, both for himself and for human civilization.

That had led to the Nine Clones Secret Technique finally seeing a use. Losing the advantage of accelerated cultivation speed was certainly regrettable, but if this could help him slip free, the secret technique would be invaluable.

The Nine Clones Secret Technique was also simple to cultivate. One had to first sense their own consciousness and transform it into a nearly tangible state. After that, their consciousness needed to be divided into nine parts. Then, the cultivator would mold flesh, using their own blood to infuse eight of the separated consciousnesses into eight newly formed bodies. When the consciousnesses linked and merged with the flesh, that signaled that one had successfully cultivated the Nine Clones Secret Technique.

It sounded simple, but in the Tianyuan Megaverse of old, just the very first step alone had stumped countless people. How members of the Xia family had ever managed to learn the Nine Clones Secret Technique? Far too few.

Being able to sense one’s own consciousness and transform it required an extremely high degree of control over one’s consciousness or a natural ability for such control from birth. Most members of the Xia family who had succeeded in cultivating the Nine Clones Secret Technique had fallen into the latter category. Without that natural ability, completing the first step in the former Tianyuan had been as difficult as ascending to heaven. That was an age when even Semi-Progenitors had been rare.

Things had changed, and there were now too many cultivators who could accomplish that first step.

The difficulty of the Nine Clones Secret Technique lay precisely in the first step. That first step was the key to the secret technique, but what Lu Yin intended to do was erase that first step and do the reverse. He did not seek to divide his consciousness into nine parts, but rather to preserve his consciousness as one singular whole so that, throughout the entire cosmos, there would only ever be one stream of consciousness that belonged to him and no other.

If he had attempted to alter the Nine Clones Secret Technique in such a manner before, then even as a Progenitor, he would not have succeeded. Since then, though, things had changed, and the strength of his consciousness was rarely matched in the cosmos.

Creating his Mind Manor alone had enabled a group of cultivators to fight in foreign wars as consciousness lifeforms while their true bodies faced no risk of death. It could even be considered a type of civilizational cultivation path. If his Mind Manor could gather the consciousnesses of everyone in his human civilization, it could even evolve into an absolute means.

While Lu Yin remained in seclusion, his Karmic Dao enveloped the Trio. As long as his Karmic Dao remained, outsiders would know that Lu Yin was present.

For the time being, their human civilization was relatively peaceful. Lu Yin remained in seclusion for more than a decade. After more than ten years, he opened his eyes and raised his hand. A drop of blood appeared at his fingertip. It slowly fell, pressing upon the void while continuously splitting apart. As the blood fell, the point where it landed continuously condensed blood-colored threads, followed by bones and flesh. Ultimately, a figure stood before Lu Yin. It was another him, completely identical in appearance.

It was a clone that Lu Yin had shaped from his own flesh and blood. Its strength was far inferior to his true body’s; after all, the clone’s strength only came from a single drop of blood. However, even just one drop of Lu Yin’s blood surpassed anything that ordinary people could imagine.

At one point in time, Progenitor Chen’s blood had blasted open the gates that connected the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands. At present, Lu Yin’s blood was powerful enough to ignite the universe. A single drop of his blood contained more power than what even a Dukkhan could withstand.

Lu Yin was the strongest Aberrant in all of history, able to fight against even two-law Immortals. A single drop of his blood was powerful enough to be considered an Aberrant.

Staring at the copy of himself standing before him, Lu Yin felt that something was off. With a casual wave of a hand, the figure was turned back into a drop of blood that fell to the ground.

He condensed another drop of blood and used it to form another clone. This one also had Lu Yin’s figure, but he had altered the face slightly so that there was only a passing resemblance to him.

Lu Yin stared at the stranger before him. He was just experimenting for the moment. This clone only possessed physical strength whereas the Nine Clones Secret Technique could strip away a person’s innate gifts, techniques, and so on to grant them to a specific clone. Lu Yin had not yet decided what kind of power to give to his clone; that would change depending on the situation.

It was not difficult to form a clone from his own flesh and blood. The greatest difficulty was in maintaining a singular consciousness. With that restriction, as soon as the clone left the Trio, the main body would lose consciousness. The moment the main body’s consciousness awoke, the clone’s consciousness would dissipate. When that happened, what would become of the clone?

If Lu Yin could not handle this properly, this entire attempt would be nothing more than a joke.

In the past, he had relied on all kinds of disguises and his die’s Possession ability to move through various major factions with near-omniscience in regards to certain people. His knowledge had left his enemies spinning in circles. However, his current battlefield was the Aevum Inch itself, and Immortals were not easy to fool. Disguises would inevitably be seen through, and on top of that, Lu Yin himself could not leave the Trio.

Additionally, once a clone became entangled with other civilizations, the distance between it and the Trio would no longer be a simple matter. When considering a separation of such vast distances, how could a single stream of consciousness protect both sides?

He had to be able to awaken his consciousness in his main body, but his clone also needed to remain unharmed.

Lu Yin sank into thought. This would not be an easy problem to overcome.

He brought out his consciousness and infused a portion of it into the clone. In truth, placing his consciousness within the clone was like placing his consciousness within a pathfinding stone. With it, he could only perceive the clone’s surroundings; it had no ability to think for itself, unless...

Lu Yin closed his eyes and then opened them again. His vision had shifted. His awareness had moved to the clone.

He had become the clone. He looked at his hands. They were too weak. He truly was not used to feeling so weak. It felt like he had reverted back to the days when he had faced that humanoid Verdant Sage. At that time, his body had been about as strong as this clone. Lu Yin had struggled greatly against that humanoid Verdant Sage and the droplet-shaped Verdant Sage, and he had been forced to rely on all kinds of methods, especially Willforce, just to contend with the most ordinary of Immortals.

Fortunately, this clone’s body was not as weak as when Lu Yin had first encountered the hexagonal Immortal monster. If it were, he would be unable to fight against even the weakest Immortals.

As long as the clone was granted even one of Lu Yin’s powers, it would become powerful enough to be considered an Aberrant.

Looking at his main body and then at the clone, Lu Yin called Long Xi over.

She gave him an odd look and then looked at his clone. “The Nine Clones Secret Technique?”

Lu Yin shook his head. “I changed it. There aren’t as many clones, and there’s only a singular consciousness, so this won’t backfire on me.”

Long Xi let out a breath of relief. “That’s good. Although the Xia family’s Nine Clones Secret Technique is undoubtedly powerful, it also has numerous drawbacks. As far as I know, Xia Shenfei expended tremendous effort to suppress his own clones long ago. If not for Shenwu’s Sky’s help, he would have never been able to even find where some of them were hiding.”

Lu Yin had once fought against Shenwu’s Sky and even Xia Shenfei. At that time, Xia Shenfei had already fused all nine of his clones into one and had also wielded Divine Martial Armor. Lu Yin truly had no idea about anything that the man had experienced before that.

“But the greatest advantage of the Nine Clones Secret Technique is to cultivate with one’s clones. If you only have one consciousness, how will your clone cultivate?” Long Xi asked, puzzled.

Before this woman, Lu Yin had no reason to hide anything. “I just want to walk a different path.”

Long Xi pursed her lips tightly, and then nodded silently. She said nothing more.

“Help wake up my main body.”

“How do I do that?”

“Just shake it.”

Long Xi walked over to Lu Yin’s main body. Just shake it?