Star Odyssey

Chapter 3184: Progenitor Ku Awakens

Xuan Jiu remained silent for a moment, but then he gave the waiter an admiring look. "You truly have seen the universe and become as steady as a mountain."

The waiter was left speechless. "There isn't really anything extraordinary about me."

"I’ll introduce you to a beautiful and gentle woman who will be your wife. I'm her ninth grandfather, so as long as I give the word, she’ll agree to marry you without any hesitation. However, you have a rival, and I’m not sure whether or not you have the courage to face him."

The waiter blinked. "Our boss treats me well. I'm not afraid of rivals."

"You really have seen the world. My granddaughter’s name is Starsibyl."

"That’s a nice name, Uncle. You should come on out first. The ground here is cold."

"You’re such a good child—Uncle appreciates your efforts. By the way, your rival's name is Lu Yin, though some people call him Lord Lu."

"Boss! This bastard’s trying to trick me!"

"Who dares to try to take advantage of someone from our restaurant? I'll cut them down!"

There was a bang as Xuan Jiu leaped through the window and out of the restaurant. He was still holding a roasted haunch in one hand, and he muttered to himself even as he ate it, "I’d better go find that brat Lu Yin. Grandpa Jiu can't be beaten! Let's see who’s got worse luck! Brat, grandpa's coming..."

...

After returning to the Heavens Sect, Lu Yin decided to roll his die.

It was not going to be easy to deal with the Boundary Guardians, and on top of that, Lu Yin wanted to use his die to check on the current situation of the Aeternas.

Aeternus was doing everything possible to get the Boundary Guardians to act against the Heavens Sect. On the surface, the guardians seemed to be wary of the Heavens Sect, but Lu Yin was not certain what their true intentions were.

Aeternus was not run by fools. Lu Yin could not help but suspect that they were laying a trap, given that the Aeternals were acting so weak.

Aeternus had destroyed the ancient Heavens Sect with overwhelming power.

Only knowing both his enemy and himself would reassure Lu Yin.

Seizing the consciousness of the Purple Emperor had allowed Lu Yin’s cracked star of consciousness to mostly recover, which meant that he should be able to break through the barriers in the strange dark space that separated different parallel universes. Lu Yin was not going to target any of the Seven Skygods or the Three Pillars and Six Skies with his Possession; otherwise, he might run into True God again. The best option was to merge with some other peak powerhouse within Aeternus so that Lu Yin could determine the state of the Scourges.

He lifted his head as his die appeared. He used divine energy as he tapped the die and rolled it. He watched as it slowly stopped spinning. It showed one pip, and Pilfer caused something useless to fall out. Again.

Ten days later, Lu Yin rolled his die again. His first four rolls had not given him Possession once.

Once, twice, thrice, four times. Still, not once did Lu Yin roll Possession. This was pretty bad luck, so he waited again. However, even after another ten days, he still failed to roll Possession.

It was highly unusual for Lu Yin to have so much trouble getting a specific roll, and he could not believe his luck.

Finally, as he watched the die come to a stop, it showed six pips, and Lu Yin's consciousness appeared in the strange dark space.

He looked into the distance. The dark space was vast, and he could only see a few dim orbs of light far off in the distance. They clearly represented individuals who were much weaker than Lu Yin. His consciousness wandered about, and soon enough, he saw a slightly brighter ball of light. From the brightness, he judged that it should represent a peak powerhouse.

There was also a barrier between him and the light.

Lu Yin's consciousness shot towards the orb, and he smashed through the invisible barrier to merge with the orb of light.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a familiar landscape surrounding him. He was back in the Scourge. Memories quickly surged into Lu Yin’s mind, and he raised a hand as he realized that he was Possessing Chong Gui.

Chong Gui was one of the True God Guard Captains, and Lu Yin had first learned of the man’s existence when he had attacked the Heavens Sect. That was also when the Lu family had returned from exile, and as a result, Chong Gui had been captured by Lu Tianyi and then imprisoned within the death energy beneath Aeternus Nation. When Di Qiong had invaded Aeternus Nation, Lu Yin had been forced to release Chong Gui and Dual Bladeform in order to return to the Scourge as Ye Bo. That had allowed Lu Yin to continue infiltrating Aeternus.

Chong Gui was not human. Lu Yin had previously received reports about him, and the Heavens Sect had interrogated him, but Chong Gui had never said anything.

However, from the memories he could see, Lu Yin learned that Chong Gui had indeed been born a human, though he had lived a truly tragic life.

Chong Gui had been born as an ordinary human, but later on in life, he had been captured by a cultivator who specialized in experimenting with insects. That cultivator had used insects to attack enemies, and he had used people to feed his bugs. Chong Gui’s childhood had been miserable, and he had barely survived. As for the cultivator, he had eventually been devoured by his own insects with nothing left behind. Chong Gui, due to having spent so much time with the bugs, had gained the ability to control them. Thus, he stepped onto the path of the cultivator who had captured him.

While the cultivator had only ever managed to become the equivalent of an Envoy, Chong Gui successfully became a peak powerhouse by following the man’s path.

Because he used insects to fight, Chong Gui had been regarded as an evil individual, and he had never bothered to explain himself. He had mercilessly killed all invaders and committed heinous massacres in his native civilization. Eventually, he had been taken away by Aeternus and made a True God Guard Captain.

As for the man’s strange manner of speaking, that all stemmed from his childhood interactions with insects, during which time he had created an alternate personality.

Chong Gui's memories left Lu Yin feeling very uncomfortable. The man’s tragic childhood and the slaughters that he had committed after becoming a cultivator both opened Lu Yin's eyes.

The man had lived a pitiful life. Everything about his existence had been tragic, but he had also delivered tragedy to countless others.

He had killed many innocent people.

In front of Chong Gui, a river of divine energy flowed through a crack in the ground. The First Scourge was in shambles after the multiple battles and invasions.

Mu Ji approached from the distance. "Chong Gui, why are you staring at the divine energy river?"

Lu Yin looked over at Mu Ji. The Arborean was the reason why Hui Wu had become a frenzied corpse. Mu Ji was one of Lu Yin’s must-kill targets, though the man had not yet told Aeternus that Ye Bo was actually one of Lu Yin’s alternate identities, nor had the man’s suspicions regarding Wang Xiaoyu been shared. Just what was Mu Ji thinking?

Mu Ji observed Chong Gui with open curiosity. "What's wrong with you? You don't seem like yourself."

Lu Yin's consciousness withdrew from Chong Gui's body. He did not need to be cautious any longer. Even if he was discovered, what of it? True God already knew that Lu Yin could Possess people with his die. The Three Pillars and Six Skies and the Seven Skygods most likely knew about the matter as well.

It was not impossible for Mu Ji and the other captains to have been informed, so it would not be unreasonable for them to be suspicious if Chong Gui acted in an unusual manner.

When his consciousness returned to his body, Lu Yin let out a breath. Chong Gui's memories were still weighing heavily on Lu Yin’s heart. A person needed to be able to control their own fate. Lu Yin had also experienced something terrible in the past, and he had nearly become white meat. Fortunately, his luck had not been completely terrible, and he had ultimately reclaimed everything that should have belonged to him from the beginning.

After steadying his mind, Lu Yin continued to roll the die.

After another ten days passed, Lu Yin rolled Possession again. He quickly found another appropriate orb of light, and he immediately merged with it.

Upon opening his eyes, his vision was completely filled by a dark-red light. Was he in a river of divine energy?

Memories entered his mind. Lu Yin had Possessed a frenzied corpse. There were a great many memories he could access, as the frenzied corpse had once been a peak powerhouse.

Lu Yin had no interest in the cultivator’s memories. After all, they had been reduced to being nothing more than a frenzied corpse.

Not far away, he could see another frenzied corpse. It was Hui Wu.

Lu Yin stared at Hui Wu. The man’s eyes were closed, and he was locked in a cage. There was no hint of life or vitality.

The last time that Lu Yin had led an invasion into the First Scourge, Hui Wu had charged out of a lake of divine energy and dragged Shao Yin over to the black Mother Tree. At the time, no one had understood Hui Wu's actions; had he been trying to help or harm Shao Yin?

Regardless, Hui Wu had been thrown back into the lake of divine energy, destined to eventually become a frenzied corpse.

Lu Yin wanted to call out to Hui Wu, but suddenly, the divine energy of the lake swirled, and a four-sided seal appeared in front of Lu Yin’s vision. At the same time, he heard True God’s voice. "You’ve recovered so quickly?"

Lu Yin immediately ended the Possession and returned to the mysterious dark space.

The seal chased after him, trying to attack Lu Yin's consciousness.

Fortunately, Lu Yin had reacted quickly this time, and he avoided being struck by the seal. Once his consciousness returned to his own body, he was breathing heavily.

I’m fine. I dodged it.

True God was trapped within the Great Sovereign’s Six Paths of Reincarnation Realm, but he was still able to attack Lu Yin by using a mirebound artifact. As expected, True God was prepared for Lu Yin.

He put his die away. For him to obtain information about Aeternus, his best targets were the Three Pillars and Six Skies or the Seven Skygods, but unfortunately, they were all most likely on guard against him. There were finally restraints to Lu Yin’s die.

He felt a sense of loss.

He stayed on the mountain behind the Heavens Sect for a few days as he tried to find a way to bypass the Boundary Guardians and fight against Aeternus directly.

One day, news came from the Lu Sanctum: Progenitor Ku had awakened.

Lu Yin was thrilled with the news, and he instantly left to visit the Lu Sanctum.

Progenitor Ku had been one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas during the Daosource Sect era. The Nine Mountains and Eight Seas had been nothing more than a title, but Progenitor Ku had been terrifyingly powerful.

Lu Yin would never forget the vision of Progenitor Ku passing by Undying God, instantly shattering half of the Skygod’s body. Lu Yin had witnessed that scene while traveling through time and space in the Daosource Sect’s main hall.

Progenitor Ku had forced his way into the First Scourge, where he had directly confronted True God himself, and survived.

Progenitor Ku was the first powerhouse from the Origin Universe to have received Sovereign Dou Sheng’s respect. They had exchanged techniques at that time, and later, Sovereign Dou Sheng had gone into the First Scourge on several occasions, searching for any traces of Progenitor Ku.

There were very few legends about Progenitor Ku in the Origin Universe, but any who truly knew about the man were amazed by him.

There was no doubt that Progenitor Ku had been Progenitor Chen's equal.

In the depths of some mountains that were part of the Lu Sanctum, chains stretched across the sky. Progenitor Ku sat at one end of a chain. His head was bowed, and he seemed to be lost in thought.

At the other end of the chain stood both Ancestor Lu Yuan and Ancestor Lu Tianyi.

When Lu Yin arrived, he saw Progenitor Ku’s bowed head. "How is Progenitor Ku doing?"

Lu Tianyi replied in a low voice, "He's been like this since he woke up. He hasn't spoken to either of us. Let's wait. He should still be recovering."

Lu Yin stared at Progenitor Ku as he waited in silence.

Some time later, the Progenitor slowly raised his head to look at the three men. He first looked at Lu Tianyi, who he addressed in a hoarse voice. "Senior Tianyi."

Lu Tianyi sighed in relief. "Ku Jie, how are you?"

Progenitor Ku looked down at his body. "I still need time to recover. This is quite troublesome."

Kui Jie then looked at Lu Yuan in surprise. "Dao Monarch?"

Ku Jie had never met Lu Yuan, due to the extended period of time that Lu Yuan had been sleeping for.

"I’ve heard of your feats. You even invaded the Scourge on your own. Ku Jie, thank you for everything you've done for humanity," Lu Yuan praised.

Ku Jie frowned. "I forgot."

"Senior, did you forget what you did?" Lu Yin could not stay silent.

Ku Jie then looked at Lu Yin, and the older man’s eyes lit up at the sight of the young man. "Extremes Must Be Reversed!"

Lu Yin bowed low to Ku Jie. "This junior, Lu Yin, thanks Senior for leaving behind the inheritance of Extremes Must Be Reversed. This technique has saved this junior countless times."

Ku Jie scrutinized Lu Yin more carefully. "You’re quite strong, though you’re still just a Semi-Progenitor. That’s quite unusual."

Lu Tianyi explained, "His name is Lu Yin, and he is the current Dao Monarch of the Origin Universe’s Heavens Sect. The Daosource Sect is gone now, and my Lu family was also exiled for a time. A great deal has happened since you disappeared, but we’ll tell you everything."

Ku Jie nodded. "The future is always unpredictable, which is as things should be. Humanity will always rise up from the ashes, reborn and shining brightly."

As the man spoke, a sharp glint flickered in his eyes. "I remember now: rebirth. There was a butterfly. I was nearly killed by a butterfly once."

Lu Yuan and the other two were shocked. "A butterfly?"

Ku Jie lowered his head to his hands and clutched it. He seemed to be in pain, and his pupils fluctuated as he remembered something.

Lu Yin and the other two exchanged glances. A butterfly? Tian En?