Star Odyssey

Chapter 3645: Balance

One day, Emperor Wu left the Primal Beastland, though he did so in secret, preventing anyone from knowing of his movements. He made his way to the Hundred Grasses Domain, arriving swiftly, though he departed just as quickly.

In the middle of a universe, a dark expression painted Emperor Wu’s face. He was holding a young girl in a hand; she was none other than Bian Xiaoxiao.

No one would have ever imagined that the mighty Emperor Wu would go to such lengths to hide himself and sneak into the Hundred Grasses Domain to capture a girl who had essentially no cultivation whatsoever.

Even though Emperor Wu was still gravely injured, by concealing himself, he had succeeded in capturing someone at the edge of the Hundred Grasses Domain without being detected by Boundless.

It was impossible for even the Origin Progenitor to constantly observe all the corners of the Hundred Grasses Domain.

Suddenly, Emperor Wu stopped moving, and he stared in front of himself. A silent figure was standing there, staring at Emperor Wu with a complicated expression. "I never expected you to fall to such a level. Do you intend to capture this child just to threaten Seraph Lu? Why? The battle at the source of the Fu River was fair and proper. You should not be doing this, woodpecker."

Emperor Wu stared at the figure before him. "Old man, how did you know where to find me?"

"A dead man does not need to know anything," the old man sighed. "Woodpecker, I will help you keep this matter a secret. The title of Emperor Wu cannot be tarnished by you."

With that, the old man attacked, his cane falling upon Emperor Wu. Old Salamander had found him.

Emperor Wu let go of the girl, tossing Bian Xiaoxiao aside while transforming into his beast form. His aura condensed upon his body, suppressed, rather than unleashed. Old Salamander did the same. Neither wanted anyone else to witness their battle.

There was a deafening crash, and Old Salamander’s cane shattered as he soared upwards and took on the form of the Five-Clawed Sky Salamander. Sharp claws sliced into Emperor Wu’s body, causing him to cough up blood. Emperor Wu retaliated, swinging his serrated blade and severing Old Salamander’s claws. Sequence particles surged around Old Salamander, flowing through his severed claws as he unleashed his Transcended Sequence.

The Eight-Gate Seal Transcended Sequence could seal an opponent’s power, and Old Salamander had sealed the serrated blade, Emperor Wu’s innate gift, and even his sequence particles.

A cube appeared behind Emperor Wu, and Old Salamander struck it with a full-powered attack.

There was a sickening sound, and Emperor Wu spat out blood as cracks slowly spread across his entire body.

"You are far too injured, and you have also lost Heaven's Seal. The only thing that could let you defeat me is the Nine Heavens Transformation, so why aren’t you using it?" Old Salamander’s claws tore through Emperor Wu’s arm, and his claws grabbed hold of his head.

The red line that ran down Emperor Wu’s face was dull and lifeless. He kicked out with a foot, but his efforts were useless. His power had been sealed, and he could not even force Old Salamander’s sequence particles out from his body.

Old Salamander held Emperor Wu. “Woodpecker, you are asking to die.”

Emperor Wu said nothing. Old Salamander gave a heavy sigh. “I shall succeed you. Regardless of your reasons for doing such things, you are still worthy of the title of Emperor Wu.”

“To protect the Primal Beastland,” Emperor Wu spoke, though his voice was so soft that it was nearly inaudible.

Old Salamander’s sharp claws swept out, completely destroying Emperor Wu’s body.

A generation’s Emperor Wu had met his end in the middle of outer space.

Old Salamander incinerated Emperor Wu’s corpse, and then he turned to look into the distance. Bian Xiaoxiao was still being protected by Emperor Wu’s power, which had protected her from the entire battle.

Old Salamander reverted to his human form and carried Bian Xiaoxiao back to the Hundred Grasses Domain.

At the edge of the domain, Bian Ji and Yan Xiang'er woke up. They were initially confused, but then they quickly remembered something. “Xiaoxiao!”

“I’m right here.” Bian Xiaoxiao’s voice came from nearby.

Her parents raced over and embraced Bian Xiaoxiao while carefully examining her.

Bian Xiaoxiao was already an adult, so being cradled by her mother in such a fashion was quite uncomfortable.

“What is this?” Bian Ji looked at a slip of jade that he saw beneath Bian Xiaoxiao. He picked it up, and saw an inscription on it that read, Seraph Lu, respectfully.

A key was tied to the bottom of the jade slip.

None of them dared to delay for even a moment, and then the two parents raced back to Boundless.

They had been attacked and completely unable to mount any sort of resistance. They had absolutely no idea what had happened.

Bian Xiaoxiao was just as ignorant, having been unconscious from start to finish.

As soon as the couple returned to Boundless, they handed the jade slip and the key over to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin stared at the key. This was the second key that he had given to Yong Heng. Why had it returned to Lu Yin?

He quickly examined the jade slip, and the contents caused his expression to grow stern.

The jade slip was from Old Salamander, and it detailed all that had just transpired. Lu Yin found it difficult to believe what had happened.

Had the mighty Emperor Wu actually kidnapped Bian Xiaoxiao? Why would he do such a thing? That did not match with Emperor Wu’s personality at all. On the other hand, Old Salamander had no reason to lie. He had stated that he was on his way to the Primal Beastland to take the role of the ruler of the domain.

With Emperor Wu gone, there was no one in the Primal Beastland who could compare to Old Salamander.

Emperor Wu had also already been slain by Old Salamander.

Additionally, Old Salamander even clarified matters and explained that he was not Stillstorm. The reason for the resemblance was that Old Salamander had once seen Stillstorm.

Stillstorm had once visited the Spirit Nidus. Old Salamander had not intended to pursue a beast-form Spirit Rebirth, but after coincidentally seeing Stillstorm, he had been deeply influenced. That encounter had left such a deep impact on Old Salamander that he had taken on Stillstorm’s appearance during his Spirit Rebirth.

Old Salamander revealed all of this information to Lu Yin, and he also sent the key to the Gate of Laws to him as a demonstration of his submissive attitude. This was the price that he was paying for Lu Yin to not take action against him.

The old man had indeed killed Ba Liu and Yi Yao, but he had also saved Bian Xiaoxiao. He was using Bian Xiaoxiao, the key to the Gate of Laws, and his own history as a payment to ensure that Lu Yin would not act against him.

Behind Old Salamander, Lu Yin could sense Yong Heng’s presence.

With so much offered to him at once, Lu Yin truly had no grounds with which to take action.

There was one last note in the jade slip; as the new ruler of the Primal Beastland, Old Salamander promised that the domain would never be Boundless’s enemy.

The ancient beast had lowered himself as much as possible, while also leveraging the threat of Yong Heng. It was all in a bid to ensure his own safety as Old Salamander claimed the position of ruler of a domain.

Setting aside Old Salamander’s details, Lu Yin was more interested in why Emperor Wu had kidnapped Bian Xiaoxiao. She was an ordinary girl, and there was nothing particularly noteworthy about her, aside from the fact that she belonged to Boundless and had once been rescued from the Bifrost Palace by Lu Yin in a highly public manner. In that case, just how had Emperor Wu intended to use Bian Xiaoxiao to threaten Lu Yin?

However, Lu Yin still could not believe that Emperor Wu had done such a thing.

Emperor Wu had always been outrageously arrogant and domineering. His fierceness and personality did not seem to belong to a man capable of such sneaky actions.

At that moment, Lu Yin’s spirit cloudstone trembled. There was a call from Zhan Ming.

Lu Yin frowned and answered the call.

"Seraph Lu, you are too conniving. Just how did you manage to get the key out of the box?" Zhan Ming asked in a reproachful tone, clearly upset. He could not help but feel as though he had been repeatedly manipulated by Lu Yin.

First, it was Zhan Yan’s key. Even if Lu Yin had given that key to someone else, Lu Yin had never informed Zhan Ming of that matter. The Seraph had only learned of the exchange from another. More recently, it was the key in the box. It was clear that the key had been taken some time ago, but Lu Yin had used that key to threaten Zhan Ming into cooperating. It was nothing but bullying.

Lu Yin looked down at the key in his hand and understood that Yong Heng was not yet ready to confront the High Seraph. That was why the key had been returned to Lu Yin: one key for Yong Heng, one for Lu Yin, and one for the High Seraph. Things had been returned to their original tripartite state with no singular point of conflict.

Lu Yin had considered this exact scenario to be a possibility. Yong Heng would refuse the second key until he was ready to face the High Seraph. Only then he would accept it.

Lu Yin had given the second key to Yong Heng both as a peace offering after inciting karmic backlash and as a test to examine Yong Heng’s state and confidence in confronting the High Seraph.

Lu Yin had believed that Yong Heng had accepted the second key, indicating that he was in control. But to Lu Yin’s surprise, they had been returned to him.

Should he let out a sigh of relief?

However, if Yong Heng had chosen to return the key, why had he accepted it in the first place?

"Seraph Lu, do you have nothing to say? Shall we continue this charade?" Zhan Ming mocked.

Lu Yin slowly smiled. "Can you believe it? That key has returned to me once again."

The call fell silent.

"What? You don’t believe me? Why don’t you go ask the person who told you about this? I’m sure that he’ll be more than happy to share further news. By the way, you don’t even need to do that, as I’m certain that the entire Spirit Nidus will learn of this very soon," Lu Yin casually replied.

Zhan Ming was left speechless. Had he been used again?

Throughout his whole long life, he had never expected to be repeatedly manipulated by some junior, and now he was learning that someone hiding in the shadows was toying with him. All of them were also from the Tianyuan Megaverse, which was infuriating.

Zhan Ming hung up. He knew that Lu Yin would not bother trying to deceive him in such a matter. On top of that, Lu Yin’s last comment had given Zhan Ming a better understanding of the situation.

He had been used the entire time. He had already understood that much, as why else would anyone have bothered to take the trouble to inform him about the key? Still, such thorough exploitation far exceeded Zhan Ming’s expectations. He had first been used by Lu Yin, and then by Meng Sang.

Meng Sang was the one who had informed Zhan Ming that Lu Yin possessed the key, which indicated that whoever was behind Meng Sang was looking to establish some kind of balance.

At this moment, Zhan Ming’s greatest concern was not a balanced situation, but rather his own Zhan family’s duty to protect the Gate of Laws.

A key without a lock was as useless as a door without a key.

As long as the Zhan family controlled the gate, there would be a four-way balance.

Lu Yin put his spirit cloudstone away and then clasped his hands behind his back and stared off into the distance. Things had changed greatly. The sudden incident with Emperor Wu had shown Lu Yin that he was no longer able to clearly see through the Spirit Nidus. Since things had grown clouded once again, he decided to wait.

Soon, news from the Primal Beastland spread that Old Salamander had reappeared and was looking to become the ruler of the domain, taking Emperor Wu’s place as the beast-form Spirit Rebirth’s Seraph.

The moment Old Salamander appeared in the Primal Beastland, news of Emperor Wu’s death spread.

The Primal Beastland could not believe it. Jiu Weihu and the powerhouses who had hidden themselves underground in the Primal Beastland fought against Old Salamander, but none of the beast-form Spirit Rebirths were even close to Old Salamander’s equal. The ancient powerhouse was strong enough to contend with Emperor Wu, at least before he used the Nine Heavens Transformation. Old Salamander had also fought against Lu Yin, and not everyone had as many different powers and abilities as Lu Yin. After being sealed by Old Salamander’s Transcended Sequence, it was very difficult for most cultivators to break free.

Old Salamander single-handedly suppressed the Primal Beastland. He then broke open Emperor Wu’s place of seclusion, revealing that he was no longer there.

No one could compare to Old Salamander. If Emperor Wu was truly dead, then who else could lead the Spirit Nidus’s beast-form Spirit Rebirths?

There was only Old Salamander.

The only complication was that Old Salamander had already been defeated once by Lu Yin. If the Ascendant Hall took issue with that loss, Old Salamander would be barred from ever becoming a Seraph.

Still, whether or not he became a Seraph was irrelevant for the time being. After all, even if Emperor Wu was still alive, he would no longer be a Seraph. The most important thing was that the beast-form Spirit Rebirths were led by a peerless powerhouse and also that they did not end up in trouble with Lu Yin.

Lu Yin making an appearance was the Primal Beastland’s greatest fear. Old Salamander had schemed against both Emperor Wu and Lu Yin, which made his position tenuous at best.

Ultimately, Old Salamander successfully returned to the Primal Beastland. Regardless of if the domain accepted him, the inhabitants could only come to terms with his presence.

After a bit of time passed and it was confirmed that Emperor Wu was dead and that Lu Yin would not stir up any trouble, only then would Old Salamander be accepted as the ruler of the domain.

In the Primal Beastland, Old Salamander quietly stood beside a green lake. He retained his aged appearance, and Little Salamander stood nearby, supporting his ancestor with an expression of pure admiration on his face.

Little Salamander had genuinely believed that his ancestor was close to death and simply waiting for his lifespan to expire. Never had Little Salamander imagined that his ancestor had devised such an elaborate scheme. He had outmaneuvered Emperor Wu and eventually succeeded in replacing him. It was absolutely incredible.

“Is Emperor Wu really dead?” Jiu Weihu and Yi Die asked. They were standing a short distance away, staring at Old Salamander.