Star Odyssey

Chapter 3747: Against The Mortal World

While everyone’s attention was on High Seraph, the Origin Progenitor’s Verdant Arsenal attacked Old Chief. Caught completely off guard by the unexpected attack, the conscient was struck directly and wounded.

Taking advantage of Old Chief’s injuries, Lu Yin inverted the control of the Heaven and Earth Lock and released the seal’s restrictions outwards in every direction.

The first people touched by the seal were Yanbo Haomiao and Yue Ya, who both shouted, “Mo Shang, work with us to slaughter these two!”

Yanbo Haomiao used the Nine-Rulers: Heaven-Defying Art to endure the Heaven and Earth Lock, and Yue Ya spread out his manifested thought, cooperating with the technique and helping the ruler grow larger. Simultaneously, Yue Ya‘s manifested thought blasted towards Lu Yin, momentarily freezing the younger man’s mind.

The High Seraph glanced at Lu Yin, only wanting to return to Willbound Spire, but after a moment’s hesitation, Mo Shang gritted his teeth and attacked Yanbo Hongli, who was the closest to him.

The High Seraph’s expression was grim. He was certain that Lu Yin was behind why he had been swept out of the Willbound Spire. The High Seraph had already been certain that Lu Yin would never willingly allow him to stay above the cliff alone. If Mo Shang refused to help at this moment, he could forget about ever making another attempt to reach the palace.

How could the High Seraph possibly help Yue Ya and the others deal with Lu Yin? Mo Shang’s own plans for Lu Yin had not been accomplished yet.

The High Seraph had never felt so suffocated before.

This was much worse than the earlier four-way balance. Lu Yin firmly held the advantage this time.

“How do you know the Heaven and Earth Lock?” Old Chief shouted in shock as he glared at Lu Yin.

No one had even considered the possibility that Lu Yin could take control of the technique and use it to push Yanbo Haomiao and Yue Ya back, forcing the pair to combine their power and resist the Heaven and Earth Lock with the Nine-Rulers: Heaven-Defying Art.

Lu Yin’s consciousness was as vast as an abyss. When he used the consciousness that the various conscients had merged with the Heaven and Earth Lock, the same technique that had once succeeded in briefly restraining the High Seraph also succeeded in restraining Yue Ya and Yanbo Haomiao.

Old Chief shouted, “All conscients, fall back!”

Their trap had failed.

Yanbo Haomiao was immobilized, and the Origin Progenitor released Old Chief. However, instead of attacking Old Chief, the Origin Progenitor moved forward, following Lu Yin’s directions and grabbing a Celestial-realm conscient.

The conscient was terrified, and it tried to retaliate, but the Origin Progenitor effortlessly dissolved the attack.

From behind, Shuangdao’s Frozen Skyblade fell down, along with the Middle Heaven’s Blade. Behind Lu Yin, the Upper Heaven’s Blade sliced out, slashing straight at Shuangdao and Xi Wen and forcing the two to hastily defend.

The Origin Progenitor grabbed the Celestial-realm conscient and flung it away.

The following moment, a dazzling radiance lit up the sky, seemingly shattering the Willbound Expanse. The High Seraph had taken action with his Everlasting Will.

Everlasting Will stabbed straight through both Yue Ya and Yanbo Haomiao.

Yanbo Haomiao peered down at his body before spitting out a mouthful of blood. He could not believe his eyes. How could he have been wounded so easily? Was the Nine-Rulers: Heaven-Defying Art actually useless?

The battlefield fell silent.

Lu Yin exhaled. As expected, the High Seraph had marked many Celestial-realm conscients as targets for his Everlasting Will. Lu Yin could still clearly remember what had happened when he had tried to devour a conscient. The High Seraph had too many tricks to guard against. Even Yong Heng had failed to do so, and Lu Yin had nearly been caught. This time, the man’s preparations had wounded both Yanbo Haomiao and Yue Ya.

Yue Ya’s dark-gold manifested thought quivered. High above them all, the dark-gold radiance was instantly snuffed out as the Voidheart Mirror vanished.

The High Seraph’s eyes were as heavy and cold as still water as he stared at Yue Ya. Lu Yin also seemed to fall within the man’s gaze.

At that moment, the dazzling radiance returned: Everlasting Will.

“Impossible,” Yue Ya muttered softly.

The High Seraph replied in a frosty tone, “When the heart becomes like Everstone, even when heaven and earth cannot move, thought can.”

These words granted Lu Yin a flash of insight as he turned to look at the High Seraph. So that’s it.

Just as he was about to share his discovery with the Origin Progenitor, an irresistible pressure caused Lu Yin to spit out a mouthful of blood. Karma scattered within his inner universe, and he saw countless scenes flash before his eyes. Karmic backlash? How?

A short distance away, the Origin Progenitor also coughed up blood at the same time, equally incredulous. Where had this wound come from?

At that exact same time, bloody cracks opened up across the High Seraph’s body in the sky. He looked down, his pupils contracting. What was this?

Emperor Slayer nervously watched from the distance. The balance of the situation was reversing too quickly and abruptly for him to keep up.

Lu Yin and the other two men had no idea how they had instantly gone from cooperating in an attack against Yue Ya and his group, leaving Yue Ya and the old man gravely injured, to spitting out blood and suffering injuries at least as severe as Yue Ya’s. What was going on?

Not even a Dukkhan like Emperor Slayer could make sense of the situation.

Lu Yin’s vision spun, and he clenched his teeth to resist the karmic backlash while turning to stare at Yue Ya.

Yue Ya slowly stated, “You underestimated this Lesser Sancte. Did you truly believe that manifested thought was my only ability?”

The High Seraph’s eyes flickered. “Against the Mortal World.”

Yue Ya glanced over. “You know about that?”

The High Seraph gave a wry smile. “I only just remembered it. There’s a legend that you possess a supreme comprehension technique known as Against the Mortal World. The combination of your manifested thought and comprehension technique earned you the position of a Lesser Sancte. Still, legends are legends, and you’ve never used any comprehension techniques before, so I didn’t recognize it at first.”

Yue Ya’s manifested thought had been shattered, indicating a grave wound, but in return, he had been able to simultaneously wound the High Seraph, Lu Yin, and the Origin Progenitor, making it worth the price. “Against the Mortal World reverses all that has just occurred.”

He glanced at Lu Yin. “You had the worst luck of all. The comprehension technique takes hold without a sound, and you happened to use the power of karma right after I used it, triggering karmic backlash. Without that, I truly would have never caught you.”

Lu Yin’s sight blurred. So this was a supreme comprehension technique. This was Yue Ya’s trump card.

The conscients’ trap and the mirebound belt artifact had both been decoys. It was possible that even Ruler Garden had forgotten about Yue Ya’s hidden trump card. This was why Yue Ya had been so confident that he could capture Lu Yin.

“Why didn’t you use that the first time you attacked me?” Lu Yin asked in confusion.

The comprehension technique could have gravely injured him at any time.

Yue Ya replied in a low voice, “Peerless geniuses do occasionally appear in the three megaverses, and for someone as young as you to have achieved such strength, you must be favored by fate. How could I use my comprehension technique before I was absolutely sure of victory?”

With that, the manifested thought surged towards Lu Yin.

The current situation was far from certain. It was the High Seraph’s heavy blow that had forced Yue Ya to expose his Against the Mortal World.

If even his comprehension technique failed to capture Lu Yin, then there would be little chance of Yue Ya ever succeeding.

Lu Yin’s eyes glinted dangerously. He tried to attack, but he could not stop himself from coughing up more blood. The karmic backlash originated from within, which meant that he could not suppress it with his Karmic Dao. At this moment, he was in no condition to fight.

Sequence particles enveloped Lu Yin. They were the Origin Progenitor’s, but even those sequence particles were unable to heal karmic backlash.

Struck by the manifested thought, Lu Yin was hurled backward, eventually smashing into the ground.

The cloud that was Yue Ya’s true body shot straight for Lu Yin. Yue Ya’s opportunity was right before his eyes.

The Origin Progenitor let out a shout as he moved to help, but Shuangdao and Xi Wen blocked his path.

The High Seraph was obstructed by Yanbo Hongli.

No one could save Lu Yin at this moment.

He pulled out a Zenith Mountain and released Yi Nan.

“You get just one chance.”

Yi Nan had been imprisoned in the Champions’ Stage Purgatory and tortured to near insanity. Because of how he had cultivated his Dire End technique, the man had witnessed the world’s suffering and endured far more than the other prisoners. Yi Nan had been promised that if he helped Lu Yin just once, he would be freed from hell.

Yi Nan had agreed without hesitation, exactly the same as the Worryless Elder and the others.

Unfortunately, Yi Nan had not been given any idea of just how terrifying an opponent he was about to face.

The dark-gold cloud shot forward, and Yi Nan reflexively raised his skeletal hand to grab hold of the manifested thought. First, his expression grew blank, and then it showed absolute terror. “A manifested thought body?”

“You are seeking death!” Yue Ya raged. The dark-gold cloud, which was his true body, had just been grabbed by Yi Nan’s skeletal hand.

Yue Ya had never experienced such a thing before.

Even when he had fought against the High Seraph and Lu Yin, Yue Ya’s true body of manifested thought had never been grabbed. At worst, it had been merely dispersed.

Being grabbed in such a manner was a colossal humiliation.

The Voidheart Mirror reappeared, and dark-gold manifested thought swept out.

Yi Nan had never dreamed that he would encounter an entire body of manifested thought. This was something that he had dreamed of achieving, as it meant freedom from physical constraints and existing as pure thought. It was a transformation that would have elevated his strength to an entirely different level.

Yin Nan’s spirit weapon was able to grab hold of manifested thought, and Dire End allowed him to perceive the world’s suffering, leading to the creation of Inverse End. He had always believed himself capable of fighting against even the High Seraph, yet his ultimate goal had always been to achieve a body of manifested thought.

At this moment, Yi Nan had finally seen someone who had achieved his lifelong goal.

The impact of the Voidheart Mirror made Yi Nan’s mind go blank for an instant, and then his manifested thought dissolved.

Merely passing by had been enough for Yue Ya to reduce the previous master of the Phantom Reach, a powerful Dukkhan, to a mindless husk.

Lu Yin took the opportunity to run away. His vision had already cleared considerably, and he focused on Old Chief, chasing after the ancient conscient.

Old Chief was staring at Lu Yin as he unleashed the Lower Heaven’s Blade.

From behind Lu Yin, the Upper Heaven’s Blade sliced out.

The two blades met in the sky. There was little sound as the edges slid past each other, yet dozens of black gouges were carved into space.

“How do you know the Heaven and Earth Lock?” Old Chief demanded, a dark suspicion already in his mind.

Lu Yin did not reply at all. Behind him, Yue Ya’s manifested thought was falling like a descending monster. Lu Yin turned around, his hand upraised to execute Linked Palm.

The manifested thought attack was deflected, which startled Yue Ya. What kind of battle technique was this?

Linked Palm was able to borrow any power, including manifested thought, consciousness, and even sequence particles.

Lu Yin turned around, which redirected the manifested thought attack towards Old Chief.

At that moment, Yanbo Haomiao appeared, and the ruler of his Nine-Rulers: Heaven-Defying Art twirled around as he shielded Old Chief. “Leave this to me.”

Old Chief took a breath of relief as he released his consciousness, once again using the Heaven and Earth Lock.

Lu Yin dodged in advance. Only by knowing the technique was it possible to evade the Heaven and Earth Lock. Otherwise, escape was impossible, and if Lu Yin was held for even an instant, Yue Ya would close in on him.

The Origin Progenitor wanted to break free from Shuangdao and Xi Wen so that he could help Lu Yin. Even a single misstep on the young man’s part would mean his doom.

Unfortunately, the Origin Progenitor could not break free. Individually, neither Shuangdao nor Xi Wen were a match for the old man, but they could still hold him back without much difficulty when they worked together.

“Emperor Slayer, attack!” Shuangdao snapped an order.

After being ejected from the Willbound Spire, Emperor Slayer had hidden himself in a corner, where he had been watching the battle. He had absolutely no intention of joining the fray. Everyone participating in this battle had been so focused on their opponents that no one had even noticed the hidden beast.

With Lu Yin being pursued by Yue Ya, Shuangdao needed to ensure that the Origin Progenitor remained pinned down. The pressure had been mounting, so when Shuangdao noticed that Emperor Slayer still had not joined the battle, the Luminary had been infuriated.

Exposed, Emperor Slayer had no choice but to take action, and his claws swung at the Origin Progenitor.

With three experts blocking him, the Origin Progenitor had absolutely no chance to support Lu Yin.

Yue Ya raced after Lu Yin, whose path was being blocked by Yanbo Haomiao’s Nine-Rulers: Heaven-Defying Art. At the same time, Old Chief’s consciousness was attacking, and Lu Yin was still grievously wounded. Things were growing increasingly perilous.

Emperor Slayer occasionally glanced over, finding the situation increasingly odd. While Lu Yin seemed to be in grave danger at every step, he also gave the appearance of a kite flying through the air; he led Yue Ya’s body of manifested thought around by utilizing a dazzling set of footwork.

Who else could kite a peak Dukkhan powerhouse around in such a manner?

Lu Yin really was leading Yue Ya around, though Lu Yin also felt rather helpless at this moment. He simply could not find the right opening.

When Everlasting Will shot across the battlefield again, startling Yue Ya and Yanbo Haomiao and forcing them to dodge, Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. He had found his opportunity. One step took him within five meters of Yanbo Haomiao and Old Chief, and the conscient was instantly Possessed.

As his point of view changed, Lu Yin deftly executed the Heaven and Earth Lock.