Star Odyssey

Chapter 1485: Mutation

 

A moment after the slitted scarlet eyes appeared, a massive triangular shadow also appeared in the sky, to the south.
Another triangle appeared after that, and then another until there were five rotating triangles.
Each one was several times larger than the pair of scarlet eyes, and it looked as though the Higher Realm was equipped with gears that were slowly turning.
Each time a triangle turned a side, the entire Higher Realm trembled.
Lu Yin could tell that each triangle was unbelievably large, and all five together was almost comparable to the Higher Realm itself in size.

“The array’s been activated! This isn’t good.” Qing Chen gritted his teeth and grabbed Lu Yin.
The two then disappeared.
Lu Yin had never seen such fear on Qing Chen’s face before, and he noticed that the supervisor was not alone in his horror.
There was also a nearby Envoy, though Lu Yin and Qing Chen quickly left that cultivator far behind.

Qing Chen traveled as fast as he could, searching for a certain place.
Once he found what he was looking for, he pressed a hand down, shattered the earth, and tore open the void.
The hole grew larger and deeper until Lu Yin could not even see how far down the hole went.
After Qing Chen was done, Lu Yin saw that the supervisor had revealed a huge, square platform; it was a sourcebox array.

Lu Yin had no time to be surprised, and Qing Chen quickly spoke up.
“We need to replenish the stellular energy that powers the base of this sourcebox array.
If anyone appears and tries to destroy this platform, then we need to do whatever it takes to stop them.”

He then leaped down into the hole and sat down cross-legged on the square platform.
A wave of stellular energy swept out, but it quickly disappeared into the sourcebox.

An old man appeared at this moment, and he moved down to the platform without even glancing at Lu Yin.
This man sat down cross-legged, the same as Qing Chen, and started pouring his stellular energy into the square platform beneath the ground.

Soon after, two women appeared.
They were both stunningly beautiful, and they had bewitching eyebrows and faces that could captivate a person at only a glance.
However, both of the women looked very serious at this moment.
One of the two glanced at Lu Yin, said something to the other woman, and then leapt down to the square platform to pout her stellular energy into the sourcebox array as well.

The remaining woman looked worried as she stared at the five triangles to the south, as well as the pair of slitted scarlet eyes.
Trepidation filled the woman’s eyes.

After a moment, she looked towards Lu Yin with a bit of curiosity.
But that was all she did.
She remained floating high in the sky, silent.

Lu Yin said nothing as well.
He could sense that the situation was dire.
The square platform in the ground and the triangles in the sky to the south were apparently the Perennial World’s largest sourcebox array, and it had been specifically designed to ward off those monsters.
The appearance of the scarlet eyes had triggered the sourcebox array.

Lu Yin felt that the owner of those scarlet eyes had to be a powerful Progenitor.
Could the Perennial World’s Progenitors stop this attack?

Another Envoy arrived.
This powerhouse was leading a large number of people, and all of them were riding atop vessels formed from folded paper.
They landed on the ground, clearly nervous.
None of them dared to even look towards the scarlet eyes off in the distance, and worry was readily apparent on all of their faces.

Qing Chen, the old man, the beautiful woman, and the man who arrived last all sat down on the platform.
Qing Chen was far more powerful than the other four Envoys, and although all of them were pouring their stellular energy into the platform as quickly as they could, no one could compare to Qing Chen’s contribution.
Qing Chen was a Semi-Progenitor, and Lu Yin could not even imagine how terrifyingly powerful the old man truly was.

Soon, an entire day passed, but the pair of slitted, scarlet eyes remained floating overhead.
They were cold, dead, and completely devoid of all emotions.
On the other hand, the five triangles had started turning faster and faster.
They worked together to release a strange force that constantly pushed the scarlet eyes back.

Lu Yin guessed that this effect was due to the efforts of the stellular energy provided by Qing Chen and the others.

At this time, another man arrived, and he also charged straight for the square platform.
The beautiful woman who had arrived the day before instantly reacted.
She shouted, “Stop him!” as she raised a hand.
A multi-colored handkerchief swirled and slashed out at the man, but he easily grabbed it with a sneer before directly throwing the piece of cloth back at the woman.

The woman was stunned.
The handkerchief had been thrown at her with so much strength that she could not dodge aside.
She stared on in horror as it drew closer, but then, a powerful blast of air came from the side and blew the piece of cloth to bits.
At the same time, another gust of wind attacked the man from the same direction that the previous gust had come from.

The man frowned and took out a sword from his cosmic ring.
However, the incoming blast shattered his sword when he retaliated against, and that didn’t even diminish the incoming attack’s power.
The attack struck the man straight in his chest, passed through his body, and struck the void, causing ripples to appear.

The beautiful woman was left stunned, and when she turned to look at where the attacks had come from, there was only Lu Yin.

Lu Yin pulled his finger back.
That had been all that he had used.
The man was an Enlighter with a power level of around 300,000 while the woman was not even a Hunter.
Naturally, she had been unable to stop the man’s attack.
However, the man’s strength was negligible to Lu Yin, and he had not even been able to stop a finger flick from Lu Yin.

Lu Yin had already revealed to many people that he had recently become an Enlighter, so the strength that he had revealed was acceptable, though still shocking to the woman who had been saved.
Lu Yin’s strength also stunned the group of people who had arrived with last Envoy.

The man's body fell to the ground.

The beautiful woman gritted her teeth as she flew over to Lu Yin.
“I’m Luo Fan.1 Thank you for saving me.”

Lu Yin was taken aback by her manner of speech.
He had assumed that a woman with such heavy and vibrant makeup would speak in a more overbearing manner, or at least be similar to Madam Nalan.
He had not expected her to have such a soft voice.
“Long Qi.”

It was the woman’s turn to be surprised.
“The White Dragon Clan?”

“A branch family.”

The woman snorted.
Worry still clouded her eyes.
“Master and the others are still passing stellular energy into the sourcebox array to hold the monsters back, but this means that more and more traitors hidden in the Perennial World will try to destroy the bases of the array.
I’ll have to trouble Big Brother Long Qi to help us hold them back.”

Lu Yin nodded, as this explained why Qing Chen had asked him to stand guard.

“How long will this take?” Lu Yin asked.
He regretted his question the moment he spoke it, as how could this woman have any idea?

Sure enough, she shook her head and stayed silent.

Lu Yin heard some people in the crowd below speaking.
“Isn't she Mistress Luo Fan from Misty Rain Pavilions? Why is she here?”

“She came with her master, of course.
Didn’t you see Mu Yu?”

“I was wondering why she looked so familiar.”

“Have you been to Misty Rain Pavilions?”

“…I’ve heard about it.”

…

An courtesan? That was not a common occupation.
Lu Yin looked at Luo Fan again, this time with more interest.
Aside from the heavy makeup, the woman had a truly refined appearance.
What a pity.

Naturally, Luo Fan said nothing, and she simply stared down at the square platform with worried eyes.

“Head on down.
I’ll stand guard,” Lu Yin offered.
The woman was not even a Hunter, so she really was not able to help defend the platform.
She would only get in the way.

Luo Fan blushed.
“Thank you.”

She then dropped down to the ground.

After half an hour, another traitor appeared, trying to destroy the platform, but this person was an Enlighter with a power level of just over 200,000.
Lu Yin destroyed the cultivator with a wave of his hand.

Over the next few days, several more traitors appeared, but none of them possessed any real strength.

However, on the fourth day, a blue fish showed up, and its appearance caused Luo Fan to have a very strong reaction.
“Big Brother Long Qi, be careful! That’s Lan Gui! He’s on the cusp of becoming an Envoy!”

When the other people on the ground heard the name “Lan Gui,” they were all terrified.
This person clearly did not have a good reputation.

Lu Yin kept a wary eye on the fish.

Suddenly, the fish began to transform, and it took the form of a man covered with scales.
He looked down at Luo Fan with a grin.
“Girl, what are you talking about? Do you think that I’m a traitor? What a joke!”

Luo Fan's face grew pale.

Lu Yin’s gaze sharpened as he stared at the newcomer.
Did this person’s innate gift allow him to transform into a fish? Suddenly, he had flashbacks of the fish that rode on top of Xi Qi's head.

“What are you looking at? I'm here to protect you guys.
I’ll gouge out the eyes of whoever dares to look again!” Lan Gui shouted threats at Lu Yin, who was still staring at the newcomer.

Lu Yin's eyes remained calm.
He was clearly unafraid.

Lan Gui was caught off guard, and his eyes turned ferocious.
“Kid, aren't you afraid? I’m Lan Gui! I’ve killed countless people and been repeatedly kicked out of the Higher Realm.”

“What's that got to do with me?” Lu Yin asked.

Lan Gui’s eyebrows climbed high.
“Boy, you’re cutting it close.
Watch out, or else I’ll kill you.”

Luo Fan quickly sent a message over to Lu Yin.
“Big Brother Long Qi, don't provoke this person! He’s insane, and while you might think that being a part of the White Dragon Clan would stop him from killing you, he has absolutely destroyed some of the Celestial Frost Sect’s disciples, though he stopped right before killing them.
The sect never retaliated, merely posting a mission for their disciples for them to deal with the matter themselves.
Despite that, nothing’s happened to him yet.”

“How is that possible? Their Junior Progenitor didn't move?” Lu Yin was so surprised that he had to ask Luo Fan this.
Even if there were no other Celestial Frost Sect disciples who could defeat this person, there were always power vessels, and that was not even mentioning Yu Chen.
If that woman made a move, she would only need a few minutes to lay out a scheme to deal with Lan Gui, let alone if a Junior Progenitor moved against him.

Luo Fan explained, “Whenever the Junior Progenitor tried to do anything, this person would just escape.
He’s very slippery and difficult to pin down.”

“Boy, I'm talking to you!” Lan Gui shouted angrily.
It looked like he was about to attack Lu Yin.

Lu Yin suddenly turned to look at the ground, and at the same time, Lan Gui's expression changed as he also switched his focus towards the ground.
He smiled.
“There’s a mouse.”

With that, he transformed back into a fish and disappeared.

Lu Yin was stunned, and he stepped forward himself.
Before he had become an Enlighter and opened his upper meridian point, he had needed to use gemspring water to see into the true universe, but that was no longer the case.

The Junior Progenitors were able to briefly enter the true universe with their extreme speed, and Lu Yin was capable of the same now.

As soon as he moved, his vision changed.
He no longer saw just the universe that normal people saw, but also the true universe.
He saw that the blue fish was swimming rapidly through the true universe, making its way to the ground.

This sight explained why the youths of the four ruling powers had not been able to catch Lan Gui.
As it turned out, his innate gift allowed him to travel freely through the true universe.
This was a truly impressive innate gift.

Lan Gui shot through the true universe and quickly reached the ground, where he smashed into someone.
This person was wearing a mask that hid their face.
The void twisted around this person, and they were obviously using a power vessel.

Lu Yin did not even react to this sight; there were simply too many power vessels in the Perennial World.

Lan Gui tried to hit the person hard enough to knock them out of the true universe.
As long as this person had not ascended past the Enlighter realm, there should be no way for them to avoid his attack.

However, the blue fish that Lan Gui had transformed into ended up being caught.
The masked man easily grabbed Lan Gui.
“Get lost.”

The man then squeezed, and cracks covered the body of the blue fish.
Lu Yin’s expression drastically changed.
This was not good—they were an Envoy! Lu Yin instantly threw out a Vacuum Palm.

Just when the masked man was about to crush Lan Gui to pieces, a sense of danger filled his head, and he instantly retreated.
The Vacuum Palm brushed past the man’s head and slammed into the ground.
Lan Gui’s fish form was caught up in the aftermath of the attack, and it knocked him around.
He eventually transformed back into a human and coughed up blood.
His face was pale, and he sank to the ground.

Luo Fan and the others were startled by this sight; what had just happened?

Back in the true universe, the masked man looked up and saw Lu Yin.
Lu Yin took out some gemspring water and dripped it into his eyes so that he would be able to observe the true universe even without moving.

[1] This name means “descended + mortal,” which is similar to a fairy. ☜