Star Odyssey

Chapter 4574: Release

"The fourth level? No one knows about it. It is just a legend. Thousand Machinations will probably be disappointed if they want to see the fourth level from me, even though I also want to work to reach it. As soon as I reach the fourth level, I will kill them, and I will kill you too."

Lu Yin was dumbstruck. "We’ve been getting along pretty well in this conversation. Why kill me?"

Chang Tian answered in a low voice, "I do find you rather pleasant to get along with, even if you are an enemy. If you had not been granted Bone Script, then even if you hated human civilization, you would at least not be our enemy. It is not easy for humans to survive in the cosmos. Every one of us who can live should live. Unfortunately, you are already dead."

"Then why talk with me so much?"

"All of this is unimportant. None of this matters."

...

"Actually, I rather admire the Ninth Rampart. Senior Chang Tu said that each person of the Ninth Rampart was more upright than the next, and they cared about their civilization the most. They were the good people within the Nine Ramparts."

...

"The guardian artifact? I know, but I won’t say anything. That is relatively important. Have Thousand Machinations ask me instead. I will curse them to death."

Lu Yin shrugged and looked back. Thousand Machinations turned around and left.

"By the way, you’ve talked about most of the Nine Ramparts. What about the First Rampart?"

Chang Tian looked up and stared at Lu Yin. Through the flowing water, Lu Yin's skeletal face was distorted. "Have I talked about most of the Nine Ramparts? I’ve only mentioned a few. Are you very curious about the First Rampart?"

Lu Yin nodded. "Very."

Chang Tian looked away. "I do not know."

Lu Yin sighed. "We are just chatting. Just tell me what you know, at least about the unimportant details."

Despite everything that Lu Yin had learned about the Nine Ramparts, he had never once heard any information about the people, events, or details regarding the First Rampart. The only thing that he knew was that the First Rampart's guardian artifact was called Single Character, but no one had told him what Single Character was, what the First Rampart specialized in, who the Rampart Warden was, or anything that had happened to it. Lu Yin did not even know which civilization had fought against the First Rampart. He knew absolutely nothing.

The fact that it had become the First Rampart was enough to represent its importance. Perhaps it was the first among the Nine Ramparts. Of course he wanted to understand it.

Chang Tian still gave the same answer. "I do not know."

Lu Yin shook his head. "If you won’t say anything, just forget it."

Chang Tian looked over at the human skeleton again. "Go ask Thousand Machinations. It definitely knows something. Then, come back here and tell me. Consider it repayment for everything that I’ve shared with you so far."

Lu Yin was taken aback. "You really don’t know?"

"I really don’t. Regarding the First Rampart, my clan has no records at all, and my seniors never mentioned anything," Chang Tian said.

Lu Yin stopped questioning. Regardless of whether Chang Tian was lying, since he would not say anything, there was nothing that Lu Yin could do about it.

Several more decades passed. During this time, Chang Tian shared almost everything he knew about various events from the Nine Ramparts era, which gave Lu Yin a much better understanding of the Nine Ramparts. Of course, everything that he mentioned was trivial matters. Chang Tian only knew details that had been shared with him by his seniors. Those people had shared what they considered to be stories and memories.

"Do you know of the Nine Ramparts’ Wargod?" Lu Yin asked.

Chang Tian remained silent for a moment. "I do. One man and his horse fought alone, defending one entire side of the battlefield. He was considered invincible throughout the Aevum Inch. He was known as the Wargod.”

"His horse was called the steed of time. It is now in the Death Megaverse and has been granted Bone Script."

Chang Tian trembled. His gaze suddenly sharpened, his eyes filling with overwhelming bloodlust. "Like you?"

Lu Yin shook his head. "Different from me. The steed of time has always been upside down. Other than Wargod Pan, no other living being can sit on its back. It has refused to ever turn over."

Chang Tian clenched his fists and looked out into space. Refused to ever turn over? How long has it been?

From the time that the Nine Ramparts had been destroyed and Pan had fallen in battle, endless ages had passed. Had the steed of time actually remained upside down this entire time, never turning over?

Chang Tian could feel the steed of time’s pride and loyalty to Pan.

"Why tell me this?" Chang Tian's voice had turned hoarse.

Lu Yin looked at the ripples on the surface of the river. A fish swam past, playfully flicking the river water with its tail. Right after that, another fish swam over from the distance, following the first one. One in front of the other, they swept past Chang Tian, right in front of his eyes.

"You told me so much, so I had to return the favor," Lu Yin calmly stated.

Chang Tian stopped speaking.

"By the way, there is another one. Have you heard of the Divine Swordsman?"

"The Rampart Warden of the Eighth Rampart."

"The Divine Swordsman had a sword-testing stone. It is also in the Death Megaverse. Over the course of countless years, the Death Megaverse has wanted to test swords on it, but they have not been able to. Anyone who tries will be attacked. There is only one kind of creature that is able to test a sword on that stone, which is human skeletons," Lu Yin spoke slowly, "The sword-testing stone will attack any creature of the Death Megaverse, but not human skeletons. Rather interesting, isn’t it?"

Chang Tian closed his eyes, not uttering a single word.

His silence lasted for several decades.

Years passed, and Lu Yin returned to speak with the man, but Chang Tian remained silent.

A full century later, Lu Yin returned yet again, but Chang Tian never opened his mouth again.

Thousand Machinations returned and studied Heaven's Sight, but even when the pain reached its peak, Chang Tian never let out so much as a suppressed scream again.

Even after 200 years had passed and it was time for the Abyssal Displacement again, Chang Tian still had not said a single word.

Thousand Machinations blamed Lu Yin for saying things that he should not have.

Lu Yin bluntly replied, "If I hadn’t said those things, he would have only ever spoken meaningless nonsense. Only by forcing him to see reality will there be any progress. The steed of time and the sword-testing stone are both examples of how, no matter his resistance, it will always be useless."

Thousand Machinations did not argue with Lu Yin. Instead, the bear led him into the Abyssal Displacement.

Upon entering the Stillness of Abyssal Displacement again, Lu Yin's first comment was, "Dark Prisonbone won’t ambush me again, right?"

Thousand Machinations flicked a paw. "See if it has the courage."

The appearance of this Abyssal Displacement meant that all the necessary branches of the River of Aeons had been gathered.

Thousand Machinations had Lu Yin absorb Stillness right there, saying that they would talk further after his reserves were replenished.

Lu Yin did not hesitate. He used the Cosmic Art and proceeded to absorb Stillness.

Before joining Obscura, he had replenished his Stillness directly from Thousand Machinations. What had consumed most of Lu Yin’s reserves was his battle against the Lepidarch. Truthfully, he had not consumed all that much.

Thousand Machinations had clearly seen just how much Stillness Lu Yin could store, so they did not give him the chance to absorb any more than that. There was no need to waste time.

Lu Yin finished very quickly, and afterwards, at Thousand Machinations' lead, he used the Abyssal Displacement to shuttle across the Aevum Inch and eventually arrive in an unfamiliar region of the cosmos. This was not one of the endpoints of the Abyssal Displacement. They had simply stopped midway.

When they arrived, they found that Ruinfall was already there. This was Lu Yin's first time seeing the Abyssal.

It was a creature shrouded in currents of pure black energy, much like the creatures of the Death Megaverse. After all, it was the Death Megaverse’s ferryman of the River of Aeons, and it was very common for ferrymen to resemble the native creatures of their megaverse.

Materials from primal talismans were placed all around Ruinfall, completely concealing its aura.

Not too far away from the Abyssal were nearly 100 other creatures. Most of them were skeletons of the Death Megaverse, but there were also some flesh-and-blood beings and some pure black creatures. Each one had roughly similar cultivation levels, all being peak Dukkhans.

Their strength was not impressive, but it was also nothing to ignore.

There were three experts surrounding Ruinfall, forming a triangle. They were the sword-testing stone, a pure black creature, and a blood-stained skeleton. Each of the three was an Immortal being, and judging from their strength, it was very likely that all three had competed in the earlier competition to determine the seventh Abyssal.

The blood-stained skeleton had most likely been defeated by the sword-testing stone, which was why it had not reached the final destination of that competition.

However, it had still been luckier than Great Golden Wings, who had been killed outright by Lu Yin.

Thousand Machinations pointed to the final empty corner around Ruinfall. "Your position."

Lu Yin grew puzzled. "I’m not to follow you?"

"No need," Thousand Machinations replied.

Lu Yin nodded and moved to his assigned position.

With him, Ruinfall was now surrounded by four experts standing in a square. The nearly 100 creatures who were gathered farther away should be the ones responsible for releasing the 100 branches of the River of Aeons.

They were not the creatures who had captured the branches; they were merely responsible for releasing them.

Thousand Machinations waited for a while. Eventually, a familiar figure jumped out from the Abyssal Displacement. Shockingly, it was the Seven-Treasure Anura, Old Sixth. The toad was already an Abyssal.

Seeing Thousand Machinations, Old Sixth grinned in greetings.

Thousand Machinations raised a paw and snapped their claws.

Old Sixth was stunned. Their eyes swept the area, and eventually landed on Lu Yin.

Lu Yin met the toad’s stare. "You have a very formal appearance today. This is your first appearance as an Abyssal. Do not embarrass me. Do not show your teeth when you smile.

"Polish your weapon better. Do not get beaten to death before Ruinfall dies. This is not a game."

Old Sixth stared at Lu Yin, glanced back at Thousand Machinations, and then finally looked back at Lu Yin again. "Brat, are you messing with me? They only snapped their claws. Even if they said something, it couldn’t have been all of that."

Lu Yin shrugged. "That’s not what it said, but what I said."

Old Sixth snarled. "You think that you are qualified to lecture me? Be careful, or else I will kill you."

Lu Yin turned his head to look at the sword-testing stone. Old Sixth followed his gaze and instantly felt a pang of regret. Why is that lousy stone here too? Can this thing even distinguish friend from foe?

As soon as the bait was lured over, a great battle was inevitable. After all, anyone who dared to scheme against Ruinfall absolutely could not be weak.

The Death Megaverse was fully prepared for battle.

Thousand Machinations snapped their claws again. Lu Yin's heart stirred, and he looked over at the toad. "This side is in your hands."

Old Sixth shot a fierce glare at Lu Yin. "Who said that?"

Lu Yin pointed at Thousand Machinations. Old Sixth looked over, and Thousand Machinations nodded, a very serious expression on the bear’s face.

The toad let out a long breath and hoisted their steel fork onto a shoulder. "Understood."

Thousand Machinations leaped back into the Abyssal Displacement. No one knew where it went, but the bear definitely had something to do with Old Man Hehe.

Lu Yin did not know what method the Death Megaverse was using to lure that old fellow over, but what would be drawn out would not be just Old Man Hehe, but all of Obscura.

A great battle was about to break out.

"Kid, how does it feel to reach the limit of your potential?" Old Sixth moved closer and studied Lu Yin carefully.

Lu Yin shrugged. "Just so."

Old Sixth stared at him for a while, then glanced at the other three corners. "Tsk, tsk. None of these three are easy opponents. The Death Megaverse is really willing to pay a steep price. If everyone here dies, there won’t even be any experts left who qualify to become an Abyssal after this."

Ruinfall's voice rang out. "Stop talking. This bait is very troublesome."

Old Sixth sneered. "Watch me skewer it dead!"

Lu Yin remained calm as he waited for the moment to arrive.

After an unknown amount of time passed, the 100 figures in the distance seemed to receive an order, and they released the branches of the River of Aeons in unison.

It was a truly magnificent scene. 100 branches of the River of Aeons soared into the Aevum Inch at the same time. Lu Yin did not know what had happened to the ferrymen of these branches.

A gray color spread across the cosmos, settling like a mist. It looked as though the entire Aevum Inch was going to be shrouded in it. Lu Yin and the others were enveloped in the blink of an eye.