Star Odyssey

Chapter 4605: Dependence

It was not exactly accurate to say that the sword-testing stone had fallen onto Lu Yin. It had merely tilted slightly so that its head just happened to touch Lu Yin's arm.

He looked at the sword-testing stone, and an indescribable feeling came over him. It felt like a child who had been away from home for a very long time and was seeking comfort.

It was like a child who had found its parent.

“Back then, the Divine Swordsman often cleaned dust off of you, didn't he?” Lu Yin commented, as that thought had just occurred to him.

Just wearing away at a stone with a sword was not enough to give this stone a spirit. The birth of its spirit had come from both sword intent and the emotions of the one who had wielded the sword against the sword-testing stone.

If the Divine Swordsman had not been affectionate towards the sword-testing stone, sharing a bond like that between brothers, then the sword-testing stone would have never developed a sense of dependence. After the Divine Swordsman disappeared, it would not have continued grinding itself with swords, transforming itself to share his likeness while also protecting any humans nearby.

It did not know if the humans that it protected were traitors or not; it only knew that it should protect them. It protected the beings that were like the Divine Swordsman.

Lu Yin had not expected to actually feel this sort of support from a piece of stone.

How long had it waited? Even if it had no concept of the passing of time, it had still been a very long time.

For a stone, the years when it had first become a sword-testing stone until the present might truly make it no more than a child, and for a child, the most important thing was companionship.

The sword-testing stone acknowledged Lu Yin and stopped being so cold towards him. It no longer guarded him like some kind of machine. Most notably, the way it attacked itself with its sword changed.

Lu Yin had watched it grind its form with sword attacks before, and it had always used a single slash that appeared instantly. This attack had once left Old Sixth utterly miserable and helpless, but while the attack boasted exceptional power, it was also very easy to dodge. Its only distinguishing feature was pure power.

Now, it was using a second technique against itself. This was another one that had been used against the toad. It could be called Sword Observation.

Sword Observation used sword qi to create something similar to an Immortals unseen world to isolate an area. Within that area, it used sword qi to grind at its body. The key was that Lu Yin was also enveloped within the area, which forced him to directly withstand the sword qi.

Fortunately, his skeleton clone’s bones had already been tempered with Myriad Metal Qi, which made it extremely tough. Not even the Lepidarch had been able to easily shatter his bones. Although the sword-testing stone was formidable, its strongest aspect was its defense, which was sufficient to directly withstand the Divine Swordsman’s attacks. As for the power of its sword qi, that was not enough to overcome Lu Yin's defenses.

The sword-testing stone had become active. Lu Yin could clearly sense that it had become much more active. It was as if it had been sleeping before this moment.

This excessive activity allowed Lu Yin to see a third sword technique. This happened when he unintentionally touched one of the sword scars on the sword-testing stone while within the sword-testing stone’s Sword Observation. That allowed Lu Yin to experience the sword technique that had left the scar behind.

That scar absolutely had not been left by the sword-testing stone itself. It had to have been left by the Divine Swordsman.

The instant he touched it, it was as though Lu Yin could see a streak of sword intent descending from above. At that moment, he became the sword-testing stone and faced the Divine Swordsman's sword head-on.

There was no way to avoid it. He wanted to move, but movement was impossible. He could only watch as the slash flashed by and left a mark on his body.

Removing his hand, Lu Yin stared at the sword scar on the sword-testing stone. He had not been able to avoid that slash. Truly worthy of the title Divine Swordsman.

The Nine Ramparts had produced the Wargod, and they had also produced the Divine Swordsman. In terms of mastery of the sword, none surpassed him.

Lu Yin also practiced the sword. He had learned the Sword Sect's Thirteen Swords, inherited Wu Tian's entire mastery of weapons, mastered the Tri-Azure Sword Intent, and even learned Obscura's Sword Nurturing, Sword Planting, and more. His mastery of the sword was also extremely high, if a bit jumbled.

However, the feeling that he received from the Divine Swordsman's sword was simply purity. That sword was just a sword. There was nothing else, no other power that had been cultivated. No mastery of time, no mastery of space, nothing at all. It was as if that sword represented the sword and the sword alone.

Yet he was precisely unable to dodge that sword.

Lu Yin could not understand that sword, so he reached out to touch the sword scar again.

Sword Observation enveloped him once more. The sword-testing stone had experienced the Divine Swordsman's sword techniques too many times. Only through Sword Observation could that technique reappear. Without it, not even touching the sword mark would do anything.

Lu Yin experienced that sword attack again and again, repeatedly trying to see it clearly, but in the end, there was only the sword scar. He could not see the technique clearly.

That sword gave him the sense of returning to simplicity and truth, of stripping away all embellishments. That was what Lu Yin pursued.

Decades passed as he continuously experienced the sword. The sword-testing stone never grew impatient, always helping him with Sword Observation.

Then, finally, one day, Lu Yin suddenly turned sideways. He had avoided that sword.

He looked at the sword scar on the sword-testing stone. He avoided the slash, but not by relying on his own strength. He had relied on instinct.

That was it; what he had relied on to avoid that slash had been pure instinct. It was his body's instincts built up from so many years of constantly observing that sword technique. Without decades of observation, it would have been impossible for him to avoid it.

Everywhere he could see, there was sword intent. This was the sword.

Everything in existence could become a sword.

How had the Divine Swordsman done it? It was only sword intent, and yet he had forcibly cultivated it into something similar to an unseen world. This had nothing to do with resonating with a cosmic law, but wherever Lu Yin looked, the same sword would inevitably descend, and it was always just as difficult to avoid.

This was a slash that was purely a sword.

There were no legends of the Divine Swordsman to be found. Too little was known about him.

Lu Yin had experienced the Path of Dispassion, seen the wonder of Heaven's Sight, felt the power of heart techniques, and confirmed that the Star Fist was invincible. However, he felt that the Divine Swordsman’s sword was not even the slightest bit inferior to any of those techniques or abilities.

Disregarding everything else, even his true body would struggle greatly to evade the Divine Swordsman's sword. Of course, the final result could only be known by truly facing it, but Lu Yin predicted that, even if he avoided this sword technique, it was nothing more than a casual slash from the Divine Swordsman.

The gap was still too great.

“How I wish I could see the Divine Swordsman for myself. If he appeared, what kind of powerful sword technique could he unleash?” Lu Yin muttered to himself while staring at the sword scar on the sword-testing stone.

The sword-testing stone abruptly spun around, staring at Lu Yin as it raised a stone arm. Its sword moved, unleashing a single slash.

As the stone arm rose to release the slash, the Nethersea was sliced apart. When the stone arm fell, everything was split apart.

Lu Yin was horrified. This was terrible! The sword-testing stone had taken his comment seriously! Where had such a powerful slash come from?

“Don't!”

The sword fell.

Lu Yin saw nothing more than a flash of light pass by and disappear past his side. The universe fell silent at this moment.

His eyes could see nothing aside from the sword and a cold gleam. It was as if the slash had come from some point in the distant past to clash with him across time and space.

He stood rooted in place, stunned. Suffocating. All he felt was a sensation of suffocation. Not even being inundated with the Nethersea had given him such a powerful sense of suffocation.

The universe vanished entirely. All that remained was a single sword, eternal.

The entire Nethersea, as well as the Abyss, had been cut open. Lu Yin slowly turned his head to look outside the Abyss. For the first time, he saw outer space while in the Nethersea.

Countless skeletons in the Abyss were terrified and hid.

In the depths of the Nethersea, the creatures of the Death Megaverse all fell silent. That sword had fallen like the heavens themselves.

Lu Yin averted his gaze and looked back at the sword-testing stone. How could it release such a terrifying sword slash? That had clearly been a move that only the Divine Swordsman could have released, so why had it come from the sword-testing stone?

Also, how was he supposed to explain this matter to Nethersea Suppression when it returned?

Complex thoughts flashed through Lu Yin’s mind before vanishing. He had no chance to consider things any further, because in that single moment, something in his body had changed. The pressure of that sword had caused the divine energy and the Stillness within his bones to actually twine together for a split second. Although it only lasted for a moment, it was enough for Lu Yin to see a possibility of merging the two powers.

He had never known how to start fusing them, and not even Thousand Machinations had any clues.

However, in that brief instant, the sharpness of the Divine Swordsman's sword had seemed to tear some kind of gap open. Although Lu Yin had not been struck, his instinctive desire to live had allowed the two powers within him to make a breakthrough.

This was not something that he could achieve by himself. Rather, it was due to the wonder of life itself. When death approached, the desire to live could enable living beings to accomplish the inconceivable.

That was exactly what had just happened to Lu Yin. Under ordinary circumstances, this kind of change was absolutely impossible. The terror that he had felt when facing that sword strike had caused his very life to react.

The sword-testing stone stood quietly in place, not moving at all as it simply stared at Lu Yin.

Time passed, day after day. Lu Yin continuously tried to merge divine energy and Stillness again. As long as Nethersea Suppression was gone, it was fine for him to make such attempts. Aside from Nethersea Suppression, no one in the Nethersea could see what he was doing.

After some time, Lu Yin opened his eyes and directed a bitter smile at the sword-testing stone. “Take it easy the next time you lash out with that sword. You nearly killed me.”

The sword-testing stone did not move. It was as if it did not understand.

“Speaking of which, how were you able to unleash such a terrifying sword?” Lu Yin was curious about that, as the attack was clearly more powerful than anything the sword-testing stone itself could unleash. It could be said that not even peak two-law Immortals like Devouring Trace or Death’s Dominion were capable of inducing such terror in Lu Yin. That was a peerless sword.

Seeing that the sword-testing stone still did not react, Lu Yin just smiled. “Don't worry, I'm fine.”

He looked down at himself. Divine energy and Stillness still could not be fused, but he had found the correct feeling. The two could not fuse, but they could be intertwined. It was as if, when there was no hope of survival, the two powers could temporarily cooperate with each other, twining together. It was as though his life’s instincts believed that this could save him.

Having found that feeling, Lu Yin could try to use it to twine the two powers together again. He did not know how powerful such a merging would be, but since it was a result of life’s instinctive reaction, it should not be weak.

The only problem was that the twining was brief, lasting for less than a full second. Using such a thing against enemies would be rather difficult.

For something that lasted such a brief amount of time, the merged power was best suited for an arrow technique.

In examining himself, Lu Yin knew that he was best at using a scythe or a sword. While he had dabbled with other weapons, he was not proficient.

The weapon mastery that he had received from Wu Tian was much too outdated to be used against Immortals. Lu Yin needed an arrow technique that could enable him to unleash a destructive power beyond his limits even before he merged divine energy and Stillness.

He stayed in the Nethersea for more than another ten years, and only then did Dark Prisonbone arrive. Lu Yin knew that it was time for him to leave.

Dark Prisonbone was quite rude, and it simply seized hold of Lu Yin. Just like when it had delivered him to the Nethersea, they instantly arrived at Thousand Machinations' Abyss, and the bird threw Lu Yin at the ground.

He turned around, dispersing his momentum and gently landing on the ground.

Dark Prisonbone did not say a word before it disappeared.

Lu Yin looked over and saw Thousand Machinations. “Senior.”

“You cannot make any moves in this war.”

“This junior understands. You have already said this, Senior.”

Thousand Machinations stared at Lu Yin for a long moment. “I truly hope that you will not move. There are some things that you should have considered. The less you interfere, the better things will be for you.”

Lu Yin bowed low and then stepped into the underground space beneath the Abyss.

Thousand Machinations watched as Lu Yin disappeared. The bear did not place any seal on the skeleton, acting as if they believed him.

Lu Yin stayed beneath the Abyss and looked up, as though staring at Thousand Machinations through the earth.

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