Star Odyssey

Chapter 4435: The Unseen Path

At this moment, Lu Yin's sole consciousness was inside his clone. Since the clone only possessed a very small fragment of his total consciousness, Lu Yin could still shift his focus over to his original body.

But what if the two were separated by a vast distance? That would leave him unable to transfer his consciousness on his own. He needed someone to disturb his true body and awaken his primary consciousness so that his sense of self could return to it. What he needed to do next was see what happened to the clone's consciousness after his self-awareness returned to his main body.

Long Xi blinked, raised a finger, and poked Lu Yin’s cheek.

His main body opened its eyes, and Long Xi quickly withdrew her finger, pretending to curiously observe the clone.

At the same moment, the clone's consciousness dissipated. The instant Lu Yin’s mind awakened in his main body, it was like a switch had been flipped: one side had turned on, causing the other to turn off.

That was a real problem. If the clone was sent far away and something in the Trio awakened his main body, the clone would simply collapse where it was. That could lead to disaster. Anyone could see the problem.

Before attempting to modify the Nine Clones Secret Technique, he had already known that this would be the greatest obstacle. Now, he had to resolve it. This was the only way he could break free of being surrounded by enemies on all sides.

These enemies had once crushed the mighty and seemingly invincible Nine Ramparts; how could the current Trio possibly break free? Even if Ancestor Shan were still alive and willing to help with all his heart, Lu Yin still did not think that it was possible. Obscura alone was already far too unfathomable.

He could only keep trying.

“Long Xi, wake up my main body after ten breaths.”

“Alright.”

Ten breaths later, Lu Yin opened his eyes to see Long Xi's curious gaze. “This time, wait one day. Wake me after a day.”

“Alright.”

A day later, Lu Yin opened his eyes. Long hair drifted past his face, and a distinct fragrance lingered in the air. Long Xi calmly stood by his side. “Half a year. Wake me after half a year.”

“Mhmm.”

Lu Yin kept testing various methods related to his consciousness, trying to ensure that his clone could retain even the slightest trace of awareness after his main body awakened. Even just a glimpse of its surroundings would be enough. As long as it could see what was around it, he could teleport there with his main body and retrieve the clone. His clones could not be lost. No matter what, they still needed to be infused with his own powers.

Time rolled on. The intervals between Lu Yin's attempts grew longer and longer, but Long Xi never grew tired. There were far more smiles on her face during this time. Sometimes, Lu Yin did not even know how he was awakened. As he was experimenting, Long Xi was also experimenting, testing all different manners of waking him.

Several decades passed, and Lu Yin was far away from the Trio. Judging by his progress, it should not be long.

The next instant, the scenery changed before his eyes. His main body had awakened.

Hm? At the same time, an image of the Aevum Inch flashed through his mind. It was his clone’s vision. While the image vanished almost instantly, it meant there was finally a gap between his main body awakening and the clone's consciousness dissipating.

Lu Yin grew excited. All along, the distance between his clone and his main body had presented the greatest obstacle in maintaining a singular consciousness. He had always feared that, once his main body awakened, his clone would instantly collapse. But to his surprise, distance itself might not be the problem at all.

He tried again, and this time, he moved even farther from the Trio. He continued until he was a full 600 years’ travel away.

He waited for Long Xi to wake him, and before long, Lu Yin opened his eyes. Again, an image of outer space flashed through his mind. It still vanished in an instant, but he was now certain: when his main body awakened, while the consciousness within the clone would quickly dissipate, there would be a small delay due to the distance between the two being too great.

It was just like how light, sound, and other things required time to travel, but what was the medium that consciousness traveled through?

Lu Yin fell deep into contemplation as Long Xi quietly stood at the side, waiting. Her gaze was gentle, and a faint blush lingered on her face.

These past decades had been the happiest of her life. Lu Yin had spent his time conducting experiments, but his body had remained in place the entire time, which meant that she had stayed alone with him for all those years.

If the experiments succeeded, then Lu Yin’s main body would remain in the Trio even longer, and they would have even more time together. Lu Yin refused to let anyone else wake him, choosing only her. The thought made Long Xi quietly happy.

Lu Yin had no other choice. He had originally wanted Ming Yan to be the one to wake his main body, but she was inside his Mind Manor, which belonged to his main body. That effectively meant that she was in seclusion as well, so it was impossible for her to know when she needed to wake him. Only Long Xi stayed in the Heavens Sect at all times and could be clearly aware of outside events. Everyone else would only be able to reach Lu Yin through her.

Not long afterward, Lu Yin was 1,000 years’ travel away from the Trio. So far, aside from the unknown location that Obscura's conscripted war had been fought at and the unknown location of Black's star chart, this was the farthest that Lu Yin had ever been from the Trio.

When his main body awakened, he found that the delay before the clone's consciousness dissipated had increased to nearly a second.

The farther apart the two were, the longer it took for the clone's consciousness to fully dissipate. Clearly, there was a path of transmission. Since his consciousness was singular, then no matter how far the clone and the main body were from each other, they could still sense one another. In that case, what exactly was the path by which his consciousness was transmitted?

This reminded Lu Yin of the Plume Immortals' control over the Immortal Lord. No matter where the Immortal Lord had been, those birds had still been able to sense them.

A similar example was how, during Obscura’s wars, Ba Se was able to send a gate anywhere, anytime.

There were some paths that Lu Yin could see clearly while others remained invisible to him. It was as if the Aevum Inch contained countless paths, of which he could only see a few.

Since there was a means by which consciousness was transmitted and linked, then so long as it remained whole, could there exist, just like the main stream of the River of Aeons and the great Dao of karma, a primary path of consciousness?

Lu Yin did not know, but suddenly, the scene that he had witnessed after cutting through the Plume Immortals’ great tree resurfaced in his mind. The Aevum Inch was not nearly as simple as it appeared.

Thinking back to the first time he had left the Tianyuan aboard Boundless, making his way to the Spirit Nidus, Lu Yin remembered all the various speculations he had once considered regarding the Aevum Inch. At the time, he had thought his ideas to be wildly imaginative, but now, he realized that the human imagination was still far from sufficient to match reality.

No matter. There were many things that he could not see clearly for the moment, but someday, he definitely would. Breaking through to the Immortal realm meant stepping onto an entirely different plane of existence. At that time, he would surely understand a great deal more.

For now, his experiments could be considered a success. When his clone was close to his main body, the attempts actually failed. The farther apart they were, the better.

“Thank you. My experiments are over, but I will continue my seclusion,” Lu Yin told Long Xi.

She was a bit disappointed but still nodded and left. Although Lu Yin’s experiments were done, the memories she had of these years would never disappear.

After Long Xi left, Lu Yin raised a hand, and his die appeared. It was time to roll it.

If the power of Stillness enabled him to Possess Zhu, then it could also allow him to Possess other creatures from the Death Megaverse. What disturbed him the most was not knowing where the Death Megaverse was.

He would see if he could find it in this manner.

***

One day, the Lu Sanctum welcomed a special guest. He was special because of his identity, but he was also not all that special because everyone knew who he was.

He was Tuo Lin.

Tuo Lin was Lu Yin's disciple, which effectively made him half a member of the Lu family. But over the course of so many years, he hardly ever visited the Lu Sanctum, which was why his sudden arrival surprised everyone.

“Ancestor, why has Tuo Lin come? Doesn't he usually wander the megaverses or stay in the Heavens Sect? He rarely ever sets foot in the Lu Sanctum. The last time he came was a very long time ago, wasn't it?” One junior from the Lu family asked Lu Buzheng, who stood at the front.

With Tuo Lin's arrival, Lu Buzheng personally stepped out to welcome him.

Even if Tuo Lin's status was high, within the Lu family, even Lu Yin himself was still a junior. Above him stood his father, Lu Qi, as well as Ancestor Lu Tianyi and Ancestor Lu Yuan. Technically, Lu Buzheng's seniority also far surpassed Lu Yin's, so the man should not need to personally welcome Tuo Lin, but many people respected Lu Yin’s disciple. Lu Buzheng had met Tuo Lin on several occasions within the Heavens Sect, and while they had not spoken much, he quite liked the boy. On top of that, the matter of the Lu family acquiring the innate gift of teleportation was connected to Tuo Lin, which was another reason for Lu Buzheng to step out.

The old man replied, “Whether he comes or not has nothing to do with you. Just focus on your own matters and worry less about everything else.”

“Yes, Ancestor,” the juniors of the Lu family answered in unison. Despite their response, none of them left. They were all curious about why Tuo Lin was visiting the Lu Sanctum.

Of Lu Yin's disciples, Ku Wei was boisterous and carefree. He enjoyed showing off and flaunting himself everywhere. Over the years, he had thoroughly enjoyed the prestige of being Lu Yin's disciple. Still, he had never gone too far; he simply enjoyed his status.

Hui Can was fierce and quite cunning, as his personality was shaped by his life experiences. He had seen all of the evils of the world and did not easily trust others. Still, his heart was not bad. He was simply very good at protecting himself no matter what.

Chu Songyun was the strongest. With just one more step, he would become an Immortal. He had greatly distinguished himself during the war against the Plume Immortals, having been one of the few powerhouses truly qualified to participate in that battle. Despite cultivating the Path of Dispassion, he still distinguished right from wrong and good from evil. He was someone who took responsibility.

Tuo Lin was the simplest of all of Lu Yin’s disciples. He had no desires at all, and his respect for Lu Yin had been carved deep into his bones. As Lu Yin's disciple, Tuo Lin would be highly respected no matter where he went, and yet he regarded such treatment as unimportant. He had never used his identity to achieve anything. Even so, no one could ignore him because he was precisely the kind of disciple that a master favored the most. Many people believed that Tuo Lin was Lu Yin's favorite disciple.

On top of that, an invisible Verdant Sage named Yan Ruyu accompanied Tuo Lin everywhere. She was far from weak, and she had also performed a great service to humanity during the war against the Nest Civilization. The Lu family only possessed their innate gift of teleportation because of Yan Ruyu and Tuo Lin, so the family treated Tuo Lin with the greatest respect.

The youths of the Lu family were curious why someone like Tuo Lin had suddenly come to visit the Lu Sanctum.

Tuo Lin himself did not cultivate much at all, and his realm was extremely low. It was said that he had once lacked meridians, and although they had eventually been restored, he still preferred reading, which seemed rather backward. Reading was regarded as an aid to cultivation, and yet Tuo Lin had given up on cultivation for the sake of reading, which people struggled to understand.

In the Lu Sanctum, Tuo Lin seemed a little restrained. “Little Ruyu, they are too enthusiastic. I'm not used to this.

“Then again, this is our home. Master's home is our home, so I shouldn’t treat it like a stranger's place.

“I think I've seen that person before... Little Ruyu, he smiled at me.

“Alright, yes, everyone is smiling at me. There really are more good people. We've wandered the universes, walking all of the paths that Master once walked, and yet it feels like we've never run into bad people at all.

“That's right, Master already drove away the bad people before we arrived. Since we simply retraced Master's path, of course we wouldn’t see any bad people. You're so smart, Little Ruyu.”

As he spoke, Tuo Lin noticed Lu Buzheng, and he quickly stepped forward to offer a bow. “Junior Tuo Lin greets Senior.”

Lu Buzheng smiled and helped Tuo Lin to stand. The old man glanced around, but he was still unable to see the Verdant Sage called Yan Ruyu, which gave him the chills. “There’s no need to be so polite. Coming to the Lu Sanctum means that you are coming home. Come, I'll show you around.”

“Wouldn’t that trouble you, Senior?”

“What you will be seeing is the same scenery that Lord Lu once saw.”

“Then I will have to trouble you, Senior.”

Lu Buzheng laughed heartily and proceeded to show Tuo Lin around the Lu Sanctum. It was an enormous place and seeing everything would take a great deal of time, but Lu Buzheng only led Tuo Lin to the places that Lu Yin had visited, particularly the Lu family’s cemetery.

There, Tuo Lin bowed, showing a great deal of respect as he said something. Only after quite some time had passed did he leave again with Lu Buzheng.