Star Odyssey

Chapter 4564: No Choice

The cubes froze in front of the gate, one after another. Their thoughts upon seeing Lu Yin flee through the gate were the same as the Lepidarch’s. Furthermore, as they were not a fishing civilization, the cubes were even less willing to make contact with the unknown.

Previously, the technological fishing civilization had immediately sent their ships through a gate, which had led the civilization to be repeatedly used by Lu Yin. That was also partially because technological fishing civilizations already waged war everywhere. They needed ever increasing amounts of resources, far surpassing cultivation civilizations’ needs. A technological civilization had no choice but to fight.

In fact, it would be rare for any normal civilizations to have the courage to pass through a mysterious gate. Fishing civilizations might be willing to test things out, but the Lepidarch was worried that the gate might be connected to the Death Megaverse, so it had refused to pass through.

This was precisely the most difficult obstacle to overcome. One side was too suspicious to pass through the gate while the other was too afraid of the unknown.

If the two sides did not even meet, how could they be used?

Lu Yin passed back through the gate and saw that the Lepidarch was leaving. It had given up on hunting him down.

Furball's voice arrived. "That Lepidarch isn’t stupid. It won’t be easy for you to use it. What about your target civilization? Can you lure it over?"

Lu Yin shook his head. "No one is stupid."

"Then what are you going to do? Let me make this clear: I cannot help you, or else you will fail the assessment," Furball warned.

Lu Yin stared at the Lepidarch traveling away. "I have my own way."

After saying that, he turned to look at Furball. "Fu—"

He cut himself off and immediately corrected himself. "I probably have a way."

That was close. He had almost called Furball out by name. As soon as that word was spoken, everything would be over.

Furball did not suspect anything. "What is it?"

"You are unable to help me by attacking, right?"

"Right."

"Then just passing by shouldn’t be a problem, right?"

Furball was confused. "?"

Soon, a furious shout suddenly rang out across the darkness, "Lepidarch, come back here!"

The Lepidarch abruptly looked back. Again?

As expected, that skeleton wanted to lure it over.

The four Immortal butterflies on the Lepidarch's back all grew furious. They flew out and looked into the distance.

Stillness pierced the cosmos. Stream after stream of energy spread out, only to merge as they approached the Lepidarch. This was yet another battle technique from the Death Codex: Dead End.

The Lepidarch responded with its cosmic law, but a wave swept out from Lu Yin, abruptly collapsing the Lepidarch’s train of thought.

Far away, Lu Yin attacked with a palm strike: Endless Recall.

Useless. The Lepidarch was within Lu Yin’s range, but its law of Infinite Expansion could also force Endless Recall back. As long as a battle technique had to move through space, it could also be constrained by space. Endless Recall was no exception.

But this palm strike suddenly gave Lu Yin another thought.

Endless Recall unleashes a single thought, trapping a creature within a single thought. As the saying went, a person was like kindling and flame, as long as the flame did not go out, the person would not forget. Similarly, the technique would not break.

Since the attack had been launched, it meant that a thought existed. But if that thought failed to hit its mark, where did it go?

Flowers blooming had withering as a result. Launching this thought was likewise a result. If the result is predetermined, then where was the cause?

For a moment, Lu Yin was somewhat dazed. That lasted until a deafening roar echoed across the Aevum Inch with enough force to rattle his bones.

From another direction, a huge green figure madly charged through the cosmos, looking like an out-of-control astral phenomenon crashing down.

The Lepidarch was badly startled. That being again?

They immediately attacked, releasing a wave of its cosmic law. As long as the newcomer attacked, space would endlessly stretch out. At the same time, streams of Myriad Metal Qi were continuously released, and they all shot at the green figure.

The newcomer angrily roared, "Why are you attacking me?"

The Lepidarch was just as furious. "I have already left your megaverse, so why are you still chasing me?"

"I am only passing by!" the green figure roared back.

The Lepidarch was stunned, thinking that it must have misheard. Pass- passing by?

Suddenly, another voice rang out. A butterfly had just been captured.

The Lepidarch looked over. While Furball was charging at the Lepidarch with unmatched momentum, Lu Yin had suppressed his aura and moved onto the Lepidarch’s back while using nothing but his physical strength. He forcefully endured having his power absorbed by the marks of Butterfly Bloom long enough to grab one of the Immortal butterflies before running off.

The Lepidarch was enraged; a feint to the east and an attack to the west. That green being must have deliberately drawn its attention so that the skeleton could act. This was a coordinated ploy.

The Lepidarch attacked in fury, but Lu Yin had already rushed back to Obscura’s gate. The attack destroyed the gate, leaving the cosmos empty. All that could be seen was Furball’s figure fading into the distance. They moved as though they had really just been passing by.

The Lepidarch wanted nothing more than to kill Furball, but Furball was not weak. If they truly fought to the death, even if the Lepidarch could win, it would have to pay a steep price.

Hateful! Despicable!

Actually, the butterfly could not be blamed. Furball's momentum while charging through space had simply been too intimidating. Their arrival had felt no different from the charge of an irreconcilable enemy. No matter how one might have looked at the situation, Furball had seemed prepared for mutual destruction. Because of that, they had attracted all of the Lepidarch’s attention, and the four Immortal butterflies had also raised their guards. Only when they were all distracted had Lu Yin been able to find an opportunity. If not for that, he would have never been able to capture a butterfly.

With a butterfly captured instead of dying, the Lepidarch had finally suffered a genuine loss. It had to think of a way to fix this.

The Lepidarch stared at Furball's departing back, and then out at empty space. Finally, it turned to leave.

On the other side of the destroyed gate, outside of the megaverse that was home to those cube beings’ civilization, Lu Yin maintained a tight grip on the butterfly. The Immortal desperately struggled, and it was even still absorbing Lu Yin's strength. However, the draining of a single Immortal butterfly was not enough to threaten Lu Yin.

He casually flung the butterfly away without harming it. It stared at him warily while also examining its unfamiliar surroundings.

Lu Yin pointed at the civilization up ahead. "Destroy that civilization for me, and I will grant you a path to survival. Refuse, and I will slaughter you right now."

The butterfly sharply replied, "What do you mean?"

Lu Yin's voice grew icy. He clenched a skeletal fist, and a monstrous amount of Stillness shot upwards, placing tremendous pressure on the colored butterfly.

This was the pressure of someone who had already killed four Immortal butterflies and who dared to attack the Lepidarch itself. "I said, destroy that civilization and reset the megaverse, and I will let you live. Don’t, and I will slaughter you."

"Are you truly willing to let me go?" The butterfly glanced at the distant civilization.

At this moment, the cubic Immortal within the megaverse had also noticed the monstrous amount of Stillness in the distance and sensed that something was wrong. It immediately charged into the Aevum Inch and fled, decisively abandoning its own civilization.

Lu Yin saw this and sternly shouted, "I will count to three! Destroy that megaverse, as well as the fleeing Immortal being, and then I will let you go. Refuse, and I will kill you first. That isn’t difficult for me.

"Three."

"Why should I trust you? Just what are you trying to do? With your strength, destroying that civilization should not be difficult, right?"

"Two."

"Where is the Lepidarch?"

"One."

A Duality Seal appeared in Lu Yin's palm. The butterfly turned and rushed after the cubic Immortal. It had no choice in the matter. Even if Lu Yin's demand was unreasonable, the butterfly had no chance to think or refuse.

This was Lu Yin's method. Since it was not possible to lure the Lepidarch through the gate, he had decided to simply capture an Immortal butterfly and drag it over. After all, the cubic Immortal was very weak and should not be a match for any of the Immortal butterflies. No matter what, the butterflies were part of a fishing civilization.

Obscura would have no grounds to fail his assessment. This was his method of using a civilization to destroy another. As long as he did not personally act, anything would be fine.

The butterfly and the cubic Immortal started fighting a great battle. The cubic Immortal was completely baffled by the situation, and it tried every possible means to communicate. It was desperate to not fight, but it did not hold the initiative.

Lu Yin watched calmly. The butterfly was indeed stronger. Butterfly Bloom and Bloomdance Transfers were enough to wear the cubic Immortal down and kill it.

Of course, things took longer than that. Their battle lasted a full half-year before the butterfly finally managed to kill the cubic Immortal, and then it reset the megaverse.

Lu Yin showed no mercy. There was no need for mercy in the Aevum Inch. If the roles had been exchanged, his human civilization would have also been exterminated. This was perfectly normal.

This was survival, and survival was not easy.

The butterfly flew out from the megaverse and warily eyed Lu Yin.

He took out a gate. This one was connected to the Qi Megaverse, and Furball had given it to him. "Go. Don’t worry, I keep my word. Since I said I won’t kill you, I won’t. However, finding the Lepidarch will depend on you alone."

Having said that, he dispersed the Cosmic Art and passed through the gate.

What happened next would involve Obscura. He needed to disperse the Cosmic Art to avoid being seen through.

The butterfly slowly flew through the gate. It knew that Lu Yin would not have any trouble killing it, so there was no reason to lie.

Sure enough, the gate led to the Qi Megaverse. The colored butterfly flew out and immediately saw the enormous green figure that seemed to overshadow the megaverse.

It was horrified to see Furball. Lu Yin had indeed promised not to kill the butterfly, but that did not mean that no other creature would kill it. The butterfly had actually forgotten this detail.

Furball abruptly leaned down to stare at the colored butterfly. It was terrified and kept retreating. Furball just laughed. "Go on, little thing."

Terrified and nervous, the colored butterfly hurriedly flapped its wings and fled into the Aevum Inch.

Still in the megaverse, Lu Yin watched on in silence.

"Are you just going to let it leave like this?" Furball asked. "I can actually kill it. Doing so wouldn’t violate your agreement."

Lu Yin shook his head. "Don’t kill it. Although, it’s not like we have simply let it go. It has its own uses."

After the butterfly was far away, Furball looked back down at Lu Yin. "Your assessment is over. You can now join Obscura. Come, follow me to Vestigium."

"Do I need to go?" Lu Yin suddenly asked.

Furball looked at him, and suspicion entered their voice. "You don’t want to go?"

Lu Yin shook his head.

"Why not?" Furball stared at Lu Yin. At this moment, the human skeleton suddenly overlapped with that despicable fellow in their memories. That fellow also had not wanted to go to Vestigium.

Lu Yin replied, "I don’t want to die just yet."

Furball did not understand. "Explain yourself."

Lu Yin shrugged. "Even if there’s no evidence, judging by Thousand Machinations' attitude, I am almost certain that the Death Megaverse has spies inside of Obscura. As soon as I reveal myself, you should know what will await me when I return to the Death Megaverse. The reason why you want me to join Obscura isn’t that you value my strength, but rather my identity, right?"

Furball was surprised. "Does the Death Megaverse really have a spy within Obscura?"

"If you’re saying that, it means that you’ve considered it as well, haven’t you? That’s right, Thousand Machinations doesn’t care at all about me making contact with Obscura. That isn’t the attitude that an Abyssal should have. Also, if Obscura can invite me, it can invite other beings to join as well. Of course, the Death Megaverse could have arranged for other creatures to join Obscura. That is perfectly normal," Lu Yin slowly explained.

Furball took a moment to consider things. "Wait here."

They entered Vestigium and delivered Lu Yin's suspicions and reasons to Ba Se.

Lu Yin waited quietly. It did not take Furball long to return. "Come. Enter Vestigium with me."

Lu Yin remained nervous. "Aren’t you afraid that I’ll be recognized?"

Furball replied, "Ba Se can guarantee that you will not be recognized."

Since this was being stated so directly, Lu Yin had no more reasons to refuse. He took a deep breath. He was finally going to enter Vestigium. Although he was only doing so with a clone, this still counted as him entering Vestigium.

He had always been reluctant to go to Vestigium. That was Obscura’s headquarters, as well as the location of the Divine Tree. Many different members of Obscura might be there at any given time. It was an unfathomable place. Should even the slightest mishap occur, he would not be able to escape.

Now, he no longer had any choice.