Star Odyssey

Chapter 3029: Scarlet

The turtle shell shattered.

Lord Xu’s expression changed drastically as he raced towards the ground.

The steel trident shot through the turtle shell, piercing through the void and leaving behind a streak of indescribable darkness that stretched out without any end in sight.

Everyone was stunned. This was Astral Anura’s level of power. Just a single thrust of the toad’s trident had nearly skewered Lord Xu. Even the mighty Voidlord, ruler of the Voidforce Universe, was rendered powerless.

Lu Tianyi’s face turned solemn, as did Mu Ke and Big Sis’. All of the sequence powerhouses were more serious than ever before.

Ancient God moved down, bringing with him a heavy pressure. At this moment, people felt just as much pressure from Astral Anura as they did from Ancient God, if not more. There was an indescribable sense of crisis in the air. It was the threat of extinction, as there were two species trying to exterminate the other.

Even Ancient God looked very solemn at this moment.

Astral Anura was the only outsider powerhouse who was qualified to hold a conversation with True God, and yet the toad usually seemed perfectly unremarkable. However, once he became enraged, another skull needed to be added to those around his neck.

“Yaaaaaaa!!!!

“Humans, you are seeking death! You are seeking death...” Astral Anura’s bloodshot eyes glared as he searched for Lord Xu.

The Voidlord’s scalp went numb. He was finally seeing the true power of Astral Anura, a creature that had existed since time immemorial. The toad’s lifespan was a complete mystery. Lord Xu had always been nervous about fighting Astral Anura, and he had merely hoped to stall the toad, but as the fight proceeded, he had grown reckless. At one point, he had even thought that Astral Anura had already revealed his full strength, and he had used the Thermometer of Life in an attempt to kill the toad. However, that had only enraged Astral Anura, which had led to the current situation.

Lu Yin clenched his teeth. Lord Xu had truly enraged the toad. Lu Yin had been the one to ask the Voidlord to face the outsider powerhouse.

While Lu Yin had no idea of Astral Anura’s precise power level, Mr. Daheng had managed to repel Luo Shan with a single coin, which amply demonstrated just how wary Luo Shan was of Astral Anura. Luo Shan was far from weak, and yet he had run from a battle after seeing a single coin. That was a good indication of just how formidable Astral Anura had to be.

Lu Yin had known that Lord Xu was not as strong as the toad, but he had still hoped that Lord Xu would be capable of holding Astral Anura back. The sudden change indicated that Lu Yin’s wish had been rather wild.

Progenitor Xi quietly looked up into the sky. Astral Anura was finally fighting seriously, which made him an incredibly difficult opponent for anyone to handle.

Astral Anura raised his trident. “I found you, human! Meet your doom!”

Lord Xu felt a chill run down his spine.

As the trident dropped, a figure appeared at the entrance of the First Scourge. They waved a hand. “Wood.”

A piece of wood appeared out of thin air beneath the trident. The weapon pierced the piece of wood, but then another piece of wood appeared, and another after that. The trident pierced through each one, but it also slowed down with each impact. Eventually, it became stuck in the air and could not move any further.

Astral Anura turned his head and looked over. “Mu Shen?”

The newly arrived person moved closer, and everyone was able to see him. Mu Shen, ruler of the Arboreal Realm, had arrived.

Lu Yin sighed. In the end, he had had to show himself. Mu Shen had also been among the people chosen to invade the Scourge, but as a hidden force. Mu Shen had been ready to intervene in case the front lines started to falter.

Lu Yin had hoped that Lord Xu would be able to hold Astral Anura back and that they would be able to defeat the First Scourge and force Aeternus’s powerhouses from the other Scourges to reveal themselves before Mu Shen was forced to step forward. Unfortunately, things had developed in an unexpected direction.

No one had anticipated Ancient God’s arrival, but Ancestor Tianyi had proven capable of standing up to the former Dao Monarch. Similarly, Lu Yin had not planned on Progenitor Smoke’s sudden appearance, let alone the fact that she had managed to hold back Progenitor Xi on her own. That had proven to be an unexpected boon for the human forces. However, the situation with Astral Anura had the potential to greatly complicate their invasion of the Scourge.

No one knew if Mu Shen was capable of standing up to Astral Anura. The toad was someone in the process of overcoming Dukkha.

“Astral Anura, we meet again.” Mu Shen stared at Astral Anura as he spoke to the toad in an indifferent tone. There was no indication that the man was intimidated by the outsider powerhouse, which instilled some level of confidence into Lu Yin and others.

Astral Anura’s eyes were still red and bloodshot as he raised his trident. “Are you looking for trouble?”

“You’re the one who’s been making trouble for us humans.”

“I’m just conducting business.”

“We can also do business with you. Kill True God for us, and we will pay any price. You can run the calculations yourself.”

“There’s no need for that. What use is payment if I’m dead before I can spend it?”

Mu Shen’s voice dropped lower, “You’ve accepted payment from Aeternus and have been attacking us humans. Do you really think that you will be able to enjoy your new wealth?”

Astral Anura twirled his trident. “No human can kill me! This deal is reasonable.”

“Jing Zhe, the nine-headed bird, the Seven-Star Mantis, and the being of pure energy all had the same thought as you,” Mu Shen threatened.

Astral Anura’s mouth opened wide, and he released a horrifying cry once more. “Enough talk! That human has angered me! His head will hang from my neck! Mu Shen, if you interfere, I will make you into my second trident! No, you’ll become a wooden fork!”

“It seems that negotiations have failed.” Mu Shen’s expression fell.

Astral Anura’s trident suddenly shot forward at Mu Shen. It was a fast and ruthless stab that was intended to catch the man off guard. Mu Shen frowned, looking as though he had anticipated such an attack. His hand rose, and wood appeared in front of him, slamming into the trident.

This collision was comparable to when Lu Tianyi and his two summoned gods had worked together to attack Ancient God.

“There’s no need to worry for now. Mu Shen might not be able to defeat Astral Anura, but he can hold him off for a while,” Lord Xu commented.

Lu Yin looked over at the Voidlord. He wanted to say something, but Lord Xu cut Lu Yin off. “I know, this is my fault. I’ll handle one of the Aeternals for you.”

As he spoke, his voidforce energy surged towards the Purple Emperor. Originally, the Purple Emperor had been Big Sis’ opponent, but when Big Sis had attacked Progenitor Xi, Xu Wuwei had taken over dealing with the Purple Emperor. Their fight still had not concluded.

Lord Xu’s sudden attack badly startled the Purple Emperor.

Three of the outsider powerhouses who had ganged up to ambush Sovereign Dou Sheng had already died, and the Purple Emperor did not want to join them. He immediately fled in the black Mother Tree’s direction.

Due to his broken turtle shell and having had his battle rhythm disrupted, Lord Xu was desperate to eliminate an enemy, and his overwhelming voidforce energy surged towards the Purple Emperor ruthlessly. The Voidlord intended to bring his Thermometer of Life out again.

Lu Yin similarly wanted to find Wang Fan and settle that score, but Astral Anura’s sudden transformation had given Wang Fan a chance to escape.

Since Lu Yin was unable to find Wang Fan, he turned his attention towards someone else: Mu Ji.

Lu Yin had wanted to kill the man earlier, but he had been interrupted. He now had another opportunity to finish the job.

The Seven-Star Mantis unfurled its six pairs of wings. Lu Yin’s eyes were glued to Mu Ji, who was hiding behind the ruins of a tower.

Mu Ji was startled, as he sensed danger as soon as he was targeted by Lu Yin.

Just as the Seven-Star Mantis was about to fly towards Mu Ji, Lu Yin caught a glimpse of white light approaching from the direction of the black Mother Tree, and it sent a chill through him. “Watch out!”

The void was torn open, and an arrow suddenly appeared. Lu Yin moved at the speed of time with Inverse Step.

At that moment, the Seven-Star Mantis was pierced through, and the champion disappeared. However, the arrow did not dissipate, and it instead flew across the battlefield, piercing the Lightning Lord in an instant. Through Heaven’s Sight, Lu Yin saw that all of the Lightning Lord’s sequence particles shattered, but the arrow still did not lose any momentum as it shot straight for Chu Jian.

Chu Jian had no time to react before the arrow pierced him as well. It then flew across the desolate landscape of the Scourge before it eventually disappeared.

Everything had happened in a single moment. Lu Yin had only been able to dodge by moving at the speed of time, but it had been too late for the Seven-Star Mantis to take flight. The Lightning Lord and Chu Jian had both been instantly shot through without any chance to evade the attack.

Lu Yin was astonished. Who had fired that arrow?

Lord Xu was also startled. He and Lu Yin were the ones closest to the black Mother Tree, as the Voidlord had been pursuing the Purple Emperor and Lu Yin had wanted to deal with Mu Ji. Because of that, they had been the first to see the arrow.

Both men turned to look into the distance at a figure who was slowly walking over the ruins that were scattered across the Scourge. Dust swirled and divine energy howled through the air, giving things a scarlet tint.

As the figure slowly approached, they became clearer, and the expressions of both Lu Yin and Lord Xu changed.

What a beautiful woman!

The woman they were looking at had long scarlet hair, and her features were so exquisite that they seemed otherworldly. Her eyes were bright and lively, and every movement she made contained both a captivating charm and a sense of boldness that seemed to be at odds with her physical appearance.

As she moved closer, the world around her seemed to contract upon her. It looked like every step she took was measured, but despite the fact that she was walking slowly, she was approaching more quickly than she should.

The air twisted, blurring their vision as a gust of wind blew her scarlet hair about.

The Purple Emperor stood between Lord Xu and the scarlet-haired woman. He did not seem to recognize the woman, and he did not rashly move closer to her. Further away, Mu Ji was also staring at the woman in confusion.

She was approaching from the direction of the black Mother Tree, and given the arrow that had just appeared, this woman had to be one of Aeternus’s strongest powerhouses.

“Who are you?” Lord Xu asked.

The woman suddenly raised a hand and fired an arrow at Lord Xu. There was nothing fancy about her archery. The arrow flew straight, and there was no hesitation.

Lu Yin watched, but there were only a small number of sequence particles at the tip of the arrowhead. What could such a small number of sequence particles hope to do?

Lord Xu waved a hand. A piece of his turtle shell that Astral Anura had shattered moved up to serve as a shield.

There was a bang when the arrow struck the broken turtle shell, and the piece was pushed towards Lord Xu. Another shard rose to protect him, and the two pieces of turtle shell managed to stop the arrow.

The woman’s arrows were incredibly powerful, but not to the point where she could breach Lord Xu’s defenses. Lord Xu had successfully held back Astral Anura and nearly killed Shao Yin. Even if the woman’s arrows were capable of instantly killing a peak powerhouse and had shot through the Lightning Lord, she could not hope to do the same to the Voidlord when he was on guard.

The woman loosed a second arrow, and it pierced the first arrow and struck the fragments of the turtle shell. There was no deviation from the path of the first arrow, and the second one was also aimed straight at the turtle shell.

The fragments gave off a loud noise as they were pushed back towards Lord Xu, who frowned. This woman was clearly very powerful, and she could even threaten him. She was an expert on the same level as the Seven Skygods themselves, and yet her second arrow seemed to be no different from the first.

Lu Yin noticed this as well. There was no apparent difference between the two arrows, and they both only had a few sequence particles at their tips. What was this woman doing?

She raised a hand and fired a third arrow.

This third arrow pierced the second arrow and once again slammed into the broken pieces of the turtle shell, which were pushed back even further, though they still did not break.

Lu Yin carefully observed the woman with Heaven’s Sight. Something was off about her attacks. Even ordinary cultivators understood that repeatedly using the same attack against an opponent who could block it was useless. The woman was clearly a very powerful cultivator, so how could she make such a mistake?

What was she trying to do?

Lord Xu also felt that something was off about the attacks. To reach his level of strength, he had to be a cautious individual. Since he did not understand what the woman was doing, the Voidlord felt that it would be better to attack himself, rather than allow the woman to continue her own attacks. A surge of voidforce energy swept out, carrying an overwhelming pressure as it rushed towards the woman.

Her expression did not change as she fired a fourth arrow. This arrow pierced the third arrow, just as her previous attacks had done, and it also slammed into the fragments of the turtle shell. Aside from the powerful impact pushing the fragments a bit closer to Lord Xu, there was no effect at all.