Star Odyssey

Chapter 3834: The Drifting Bamboo Raft

Lu Yin’s answer caused all strength to drain from Qian Shu’s body. He suddenly coughed violently, spitting out blood as he fell to one knee.

He could not accept it.

The mighty Autumnspring Slip, which had once floated across the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, sweeping its way across the cosmos, was gone? How was that possible? Sect Master Ying Mei, all the other Dukkhans, and even their mirebound artifact—was it all gone?

Qian Shu could not believe it. It was not an answer he could accept.

Boom.

A soft sound was heard as a stone box appeared before Qian Shu. When he saw it, all color drained from his face.

At that moment, all of his hopes were completely shattered.

Lu Yin looked down at Qian Shu. “Is there anything else you’d like to say?”

Qian Shu closed his eyes, a tremor wracking his body as he was consumed by despair. His vision grew dark, and he nearly fainted.

“I regret it. I regret allowing Granny Ya to take action at the Skyward Gate. If I could turn back time, I’d choose to never even leave the Scion Spire.”

Lu Yin nodded. “A simple, honest wish. It appears that you don’t want to die.”

Qian Shu quivered, but he said nothing.

At this juncture, most people would curse. Not out of fear, but rather because they would be unable to accept reality. Such a reaction would not necessarily even be directed at Lu Yin, but rather at the events themselves.

However, Qian Shu merely expressed his regrets, which indicated that he still wanted to live. Because of that desire, he did not dare to utter even a single curse or show the slightest hint of resentment.

Lu Yin was quite pleased with his attitude.

“You defeated the Everchange Valley while betting on pure luck. How did you alter luck?” Lu Yin asked.

There was no hesitation as Qian Shu answered, “We used the Autumnspring Slip and wrote the Luck (运) character.”

Lu Yin’s eyes lit up. “In that case, I need that Luck (运) character. Can you help me with that?”

Qian Shu looked up at Lu Yin. “Yes. Every disciple of the Autumnspring Slip learned to write it, though only extremely powerful cultivators can make their characters effective. I now possess the cultivation of a peak Dukkhan, so if I inscribe the Luck (运) character onto the Autumnspring Slip, I can definitely do that for you.

“However, the Luck (运) character is hard to draw—it can’t be completed with a single stroke. Only eight were ever drawn onto the sect’s mirebound artifact, and with time, nearly half of those were used. As for the others, they all lost effect after Sect Master Ying Mei’s death. If you want new ones, I’m the only one who can make them for you.”

Lu Yin slowly smiled. “Are you trying to prove your worth or simply threaten me?”

Qian Shu quickly replied, “It’s no threat. I merely fear that you might not believe me, or think that I’m being perfunctory, which is why I explained.”

Qian Shu had implied that Sect Master Ying Mei was dead, and Lu Yin had not denied it. This indicated that Qian Shu’s suspicions were correct, as well as that his sect was completely gone.

Lu Yin nodded. “You still have a bit of value, and since you’ve accepted a Seed Transfusion, you’ll never see any further progress, which means you’re not much of a threat to me. I can leave you with a sliver of hope and a chance to walk away.”

Qian Shu grew excited. “You want me to draw the Luck (运) character?”

Lu Yin held up a hand. “Five. Write five Luck (运) characters, and I’ll release you. I even promise that I will never make more trouble for you, provided that you don’t make trouble for me.”

Qian Shu agreed without hesitation.

After all, he was unable to refuse. No matter how long it took him to draw five Luck (运)characters, he had to at least try. It was his only hope of escaping from Lu Yin.

Qian Shu had not lived long enough yet. Becoming a peak Dukkhan meant reaching the absolute peak beneath the Immortal realm. Even if it was impossible for him to have another breakthrough, he could still improve his combat strength with battle techniques and other abilities. So long as he could survive, anything was possible.

As for Lu Yin, Qian Shu did not know what the future might hold, but for the time being, he absolutely did not dare to even think about seeking revenge.

Lu Yin hoped that Qian Shu would be able to quickly draw the Luck (运)characters so that he could see if they worked. He needed luck, as did everyone.

As for the stone box... When Lu Yin had used the power of karma to overcome Qian Shu’s ability, he had also investigated the stone box. Qian Shu had known nothing about the stone box’s contents.

That made sense. No matter how important Qian Shu might have been to his sect, he had been very young when he had gone into cryostasis in the Scion Spire. The stone box had undoubtedly been the Autumnspring Slip’s greatest secret, so how could they have shared it with Qian Shu? That was especially so given how mysterious the Scion Spire itself was.

Additionally, sending the young man to the Scion Spire indicated that the sect had planned for Qian Shu to eventually become a Lesser Sancte. In doing so, he would have had to formally sever all ties with the sect, yet he still would have been able to represent them. With that goal in mind, Ying Mei would have never revealed the secret of the stone box to him. She may well have been afraid that Qian Shu might eventually betray the sect for the sake of his future.

If Qian Shu could exchange the Autumnspring Slip’s support for the chance to become a Greater Sancte’s disciple, he would never refuse. Someone like Ying Mei would have never allowed herself to become trapped in a situation where her death was guaranteed.

“There’s one more thing,” Lu Yin said as he looked at Qian Shu. “Can you use Ying Mei’s Words Become a World?”

Qian Shu shook his head. “The sequence particles that Master Scribe Ying Mei comprehended was that every word creates a realm, each character a world. Her Words Become a World was the manifestation of her comprehension pushed to the absolute limit. You can consider it a Transcended Sequence from the Spirit Nidus. That power didn’t belong to our sect.”

Lu Yin was disappointed.

With Words Become a World, Ying Mei had tricked Lu Yin and even managed to banish him once. That experience had revealed something strange and unique to him.

Every character that was written, from the moment it was first created, carried a specific meaning.

Eat (吃) represented the act of eating.

Sleep (睡) represented the act of sleeping.

If that was the case, then before the character for “eat” had existed, how did people express the concept of eating?

Also, who created that character, and under what circumstances? Why did they call it “eat”?

That was also karma.

How many characters existed? What sort of karma did they represent? Lu Yin had always sought to understand karma, and the various aspects of life were karma, which included words.

In the Words Become a World, he had seen characters come to life, and they had conveyed concepts without limit. While others might have gone mad, Lu Yin had instead seen another world.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus had once mentioned that karma itself formed a world, one that no one in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse could see other than the Greater Sancte himself and Lu Yin.

The Everchange Valley believed that Heaven and Earth Aura formed a world, so why could the same not be true for written words?

It was simply that the Autumnspring Slip had never discovered that hidden world. They had only ever used their mirebound artifact as a crude cultivation tool.

The closest thing that they had ever achieved was Ying Mei’s Words Become a World, but not even she had grasped the same insights as Lu Yin.

Another example that had come close to that level was the Tianyuan’s ancient characters, which had appeared in the Daosource Sect. Each character contained a mystery, but who had left those characters behind? Had it been the Origin Progenitor? Lu Yin had never looked into it before, but he now etched the question into his mind. He would make sure to bring it up to the Origin Progenitor when they next met.

At the moment, Lu Yin had a strong desire to learn something through those characters.

People possessed karma, but words, which were born of people, were even greater expressions of karma.

It might be possible for him to glean something through them.

As for Qian Shu, he could stay in a Zenith Mountain and draw characters.

What a pity about the Autumnspring Slip; it still felt rather odd to be lying atop a mirebound artifact.

A clear river meandered around quaint stone houses as it peacefully flowed through a quiet city. There were embankments on either side of the river, covered with flowers, grass, and trees. Everything was accompanied by the chirping of birds and insects.

The city was perfectly ordinary, having been built on solid ground, and it was primarily inhabited by ordinary humans.

Oddly enough, such cities were often the safest places to live. There was an unspoken rule among cultivators, which was to not fight in places where mortals gathered. No matter how prosperous the cultivation world might become, the foundation of all cultivators remained the world of mortals. This led to such acts being considered taboo.

The longer a civilization’s history, the more such taboos would accumulate. In contrast, places like the Tianyuan Megaverse had no explicitly stated taboos.

Pa-pa-pa!

On the bank of the river, an elderly woman was beating a heavy cloth with a wooden rod. Water splashed about wildly whenever she struck the fabric, spraying droplets into the river.

A group of children played boisterously behind her, and they were occasionally chased off by the old woman so that no one would fall into the river.

One of the children was knocked over by a large goose and started to cry. The old woman drove the goose away with her stick, drawing a round of laughter from those watching.

A wooden raft lazily drifted down the river. A simple parasol hung over it, shading a young man who was reclining in a chair that slowly rocked back and forth. A small table stood beside him, carrying drinks and a tray of various fruits.

The raft quickly drew attention from both sides of the river. People pointed and started gossiping, intrigued by the odd sight.

Naturally, the person on the raft was Lu Yin. He lounged in the chair that lazily rocked back and forth, completely unfazed by the curious stares from the banks of the river. He was wearing sunglasses and was humming a cheerful tune.

More and more people turned to stare, and they muttered among themselves. “He must be a foreigner, but what’s that thing on his face?”

“It’s black and shiny, and it just flashed at me.”

“He’s drinking something green from that cup... Could it be poison?”

“Quick! Drive him off! We can’t let him die here. No one’s ever died in this river.”

“Get him out of here!”

“Chase him off...”

At that moment, an elderly man was pushed forward, and he shuffled unsteadily. He peered out at the raft drifting down the river and waved for everyone to be quiet. “In my youth, I saw a celestial being descend outside the city. That man must be one.”

“A celestial being? No wonder he can drink poison and is still fine.”

“Is Teacher really telling the truth?”

“Of course! Teacher would never lie!”

“Wait, who said that? You little rascal! Are you skipping class again?”

“Help! Teacher, don’t hit me...”

The people along the riverbanks grew increasingly noisy. Lu Yin lazily stretched and sat up, adjusting his sunglasses with a finger as he glanced at both sides of the river.

The people instinctively went quiet as they all stared at him.

The raft gently rocked with the waves. A fish leapt out of the water, scattering a fine mist that refracted an iridescent rainbow in the air. It was an enchanting scene.

Lu Yin smiled brightly. He picked up a bamboo pole from beside his feet. There was a cloth tied to it with writing on both sides. On the front, it read “Believe it or not,” and on the back, it read “Don’t believe it? Believe it anyway.” Confusion filled the crowd’s eyes as Lu Yin laid back down in his reclining chair and drawled, “Fortune-telling.”

People blinked and then burst into laughter before the crowd gradually dispersed.

Fortune-telling? Who still believed in such nonsense?

Ever since celestial beings had started appearing more frequently in various cities, ordinary humans had started to learn the difference between them and such otherworldly beings. Celestial beings had introduced many novel things that most people had never seen before, and they had also learned that fortune-telling was nothing more than a joke.

Someone had once asked if celestial beings were able to divine a person’s fate, but a celestial being had answered clearly: it was absolutely impossible, not unless Greater Sancte Green Lotus himself made the prediction.

While the people did not know who Greater Sancte Green Lotus was, they did know that, if not even celestial beings could predict someone’s future, then this man was undoubtedly a fraud.

“Hey! Are you a celestial being?” one laughing child called out.

A burly man behind the child stormed over, absolutely furious. “You little brat! You’re asking for a beating! Don’t talk to strangers!”

Lu Yin just chuckled as he replied, “Yes, I am.”

Another child shouted, “Then you must be the worst celestial being ever!”

Lu Yin grew curious. “And why is that?”

“You claim to be able to tell fortunes, so you tell us why! Haha!” another child jeered, drawing laughter from the crowd.