Star Odyssey

Chapter 2932: Five Seconds

"A universe is not a living thing, but neither is it completely dead. They are able to give birth to countless laws, and in some aspects, the universe can almost be regarded as a type of law itself. Obtaining that law is equivalent to being acknowledged by the universe," Lu Tianyi explained.

Lu Yin understood. "So, as long as I receive a universe’s recognition, I won't be rejected when I use the power of time?"

Lu Tianyi nodded. "It stands to reason, so you might as well try. You won’t lose anything even if you fail."

Lu Yin thought of the pole-shaped lifeforms in the fifth universe. They did not look like creatures that could recognize him, and yet those Pole Nodes filled that universe. Lu Yin could only be acknowledged by the universe if he received those Pole Nodes’ acknowledgement.

How was he supposed to do that?

Ancestor Lu Tianyi attached great importance to any matter regarding Lu Yin's cultivation. In order to avoid any possible mishap, the matter was also passed along to Ancestor Lu Yuan, despite the fact that their ancestor was still in seclusion. Lu Yin expected it to take a while to get a response, but surprisingly, Ancestor Lu Yuan responded the very next day. That response only consisted of a few words: unite all sapient creatures to conceal the truth from the universe!

...

Lu Yin returned to the fifth universe again. This time, he immediately felt a sense of danger, as though the universe was threatening to fall upon him at any moment.

The universe’s space was about five times more stable than the Origin Universe’s. Normally, this stability would have no effect on Lu Yin; let alone a fivefold increase, even if the universe was fifty times more stable, Lu Yin would still be able to easily tear through the void.

However, his ability to control the power of space had been impacted significantly. Since the space here was five times more durable than what he was used to, Lu Yin found it difficult to adapt to the change. In addition to that, whenever he tried to do so, he would be threatened by the universe. It was all very frustrating.

Lu Yin had returned to test out the advice he had received from Ancestor Lu Yuan; unite all sapient creatures to conceal the truth from the universe.

These words were easy enough to understand, and Lu Yin had already learned as much from his conversation with Ancestor Lu Tianyi. Lu Yin needed to be recognized by the fifth universe, in the same manner that the Fifth Mainland had recognized him.

The Fifth Mainland had acknowledged Lu Yin because of everything that he had done for humanity, earning universal respect and admiration. Unfortunately, replicating that process would take far too long, and Lu Yin could not spend that much time on another universe.

In that case, how could he make the universe recognize him?

Lu Yin felt a bit confused, but he could only try to form a connection with the Pole Nodes.

He quickly found them again and moved closer. This time, Lu Yin remained hidden as he observed them.

The pole-like creatures’ lives were completely different from a human’s. The Pole Nodes seemed to be a combination of beast and bamboo. They jumped around, hunted various beasts, and ate them. Their method of eating was also very strange, and Lu Yin's scalp went numb every time he observed the process.

They communicated with each other primarily through tapping.

Lu Yin watched the creatures for a full month before he finally managed to understand what their taps meant. This was only because he was a cultivator. If he were an ordinary human, he would have never been able to unravel the meaning of the Pole Nodes’ language, even if he spent an entire lifetime studying them.

"It’s grown cooler recently. We’ll need to replenish our food soon."

"We don't have enough water in our bodies, and the rivers will freeze. We need to dig out a place where we can collect enough water before it freezes."

"I’ve received news that the Three Nodes Tribe was torn apart by that fog wolf and that there are none left."

"Are there fog wolves around here?"

"Some."

"Then we need to relocate. We can’t handle fog wolves. They can tear us apart with just one claw..."

...

The Pole Nodes that Lu Yin was observing soon began migrating. Hundreds of thousands of the creatures leaped across the ground, moving in another direction.

As they traveled, they occasionally encountered a fog wolf. Fog wolves were ten times larger than any of the poles, and they could shred the poles apart with a single swipe of their claws. Additionally, the wolves moved much faster than the poles.

The Pole Nodes were completely helpless against the fog wolf, and they could only try to escape by outlasting the wolf. With the fog wolf’s higher speed, the poles could only hope to escape after exhausting the fog wolf. However, as soon as the fog wolf recovered, the Pole Nodes would continue being massacred.

Lu Yin did nothing to help the creatures. Beasts did not attack without reason, and they only pursued either food or revenge.

These Pole Nodes were clearly not something that fog wolves ate, which meant that the beast was pursuing revenge.

Such actions of revenge were all too common among humans.

All of the Pole Nodes were terrified whenever the fog wolf appeared. They tried to leap in the same direction, hoping to lose the fog wolf, but after catching sight of the poles, the wolf would never stop until all of the Pole Nodes had been torn apart.

"This is all the Nine Nodes Tribe’s fault! If they hadn't eaten that little fog wolf, the beast wouldn’t have gone mad and started massacring us."

"We would never antagonize a creature as terrifying as the fog wolves."

"Who can save us?"

"It would be great if we could find that creature we ran into before. It has something like invisibility or evasion."

"If we can find it, our chances of survival would improve greatly."

Lu Yin was surprised to discover that the Pole Nodes were talking about him. There were no other cultivators in the entire universe. Bi Lan had told Lu Yin that no one from the Merchant Exchange ever visited the fifth universe, and they only maintained it in case of an emergency.

Clearly, the Merchant Exchange understood that the more people who entered the universe, the faster it would degrade and collapse.

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. He continued to watch the group of poles migrate, while also observing their fear of the fog wolf. Finally, he decided to give things a try.

Down below, rage filled the fog wolf’s eyes. A paw rose up, and sharp claws swept out to tear at a pole before the beast.

The group of poles continued to flee. Days passed as they were hunted down, and tens of thousands of poles were torn to pieces. A fear of fog wolves had already been deeply engraved into their hearts. Their only chance was to escape, but they were not nearly as fast as the fog wolves.

Just as the wolf leaped forward to resume slaughtering the Pole Nodes, Lu Yin stepped out with an upraised hand. He grabbed the wolf and trapped it in mid-air.

All the Pole Nodes were frozen in shock. Despite having no eyes, ears, mouths, or noses, Lu Yin knew that all the poles were observing him in their own manner.

His other hand stretched out and started tapping.

"Do you need help?"

All of the Pole Nodes felt confused. This was the first creature that was not one of their own kind that was capable of communicating with them. Immediately, many of the poles started tapping, most of them asking what kind of creature Lu Yin was, why he was able to communicate with them, and why he was able to subdue the fog wolf.

Lu Yin casually tossed the wolf aside, making sure to not kill the beast. There was nothing wrong with the fog wolf seeking revenge.

The fog wolf fell to the ground, where it looked up at Lu Yin fearfully before turning around and escaping. It felt that it was utterly impossible to go against Lu Yin.

The beast's intuition was quite accurate.

After seeing the fog wolf flee, all of the tribe members relaxed. They continued to stare at Lu Yin with open curiosity.

Lu Yin used the Pole Nodes’ own language to communicate with them, and he grew increasingly familiar with them. His purpose was to teach these poles how to cultivate, thereby becoming a god in their hearts. Guiding them and being misconstrued as a god would make it easier for them to accept whatever Lu Yin told them.

After half a year, Lu Yin left the planet and moved on to another to teach another group of Pole Nodes.

The Pole Nodes that Lu Yin had left behind were all grateful to him, as they had received a cultivation method from him that they spread to the other tribes. With the cultivation method, Lu Yin’s image and reputation were also spread.

As far as the Pole Nodes were concerned, Lu Yin was a god.

What Lu Yin had given them was not a cultivation method that used star energy, but rather something that he had quickly put together based on the creatures’ unique traits. It was not particularly good, but it was enough to allow them to fight back against the fog wolves, which was enough for the Pole Nodes.

As time passed, some of the creatures might even be able to improve the cultivation method.

Lu Yin had spread the initial sparks of the fire of cultivation in the universe.

In a flash, ten years had passed in the universe, while only two years passed in the Origin Universe.

For ten years, Lu Yin had stayed in the fifth universe. During that time, he had guided no less than thirty tribes of the native Pole Nodes. Among them were several super tribes that took up entire planets, though only in terms of numbers. Whenever the Pole Nodes were confronted by the fog wolves, they had no choice but to flee.

The fog wolves were just one of the disasters that the Pole Nodes faced. There were many, many more dangers that the Pole Nodes could not survive.

However, obtaining a cultivation method changed that, and they now had infinite possibilities for the future.

Over the course of ten years, countless Pole Nodes had started worshiping Lu Yin, and many of them regarded him as a god. Such worship was closer to that of faith, which gave Lu Yin the confidence to try to touch on the power of space again. He could not be sure if his intuition was nothing more than an illusion and that he still needed to spend a great deal more time in the fifth universe, but Lu Yin felt that the universe’s animosity had faded.

Standing in an empty region, Lu Yin stared straight ahead. Ten years. He had endured this place for ten years. He had not tested the power of space even once, but now, he was about to try again.

His expression suddenly changed, and he observed the spatial lines in front of him. Lu Yin stretched out his hand to touch the lines, and his body disappeared. Instantly, he reappeared in another location. The transition was smooth, which caused his eyes to light up.

Lu Yin could not wait to use Lightstream. His inner world had the appearance of a beam of light that constantly swirled about. Sure enough, there was no threat. Lu Yin nearly laughed aloud, as Lightstream was moving about much quicker and smoother than before. It no longer felt like it was stuck in a quagmire.

Lu Yin quickly returned to Aeternus Nation, and with a wave of his hand, Lightstream moved around. He watched as time reversed around him, and he saw the moment of when he had arrived in the small parallel universe. He could also see that, before he arrived, no one had been present. One, two, three, four, five. Sure enough, he could see five seconds into the past.

Lu Yin laughed, knowing that he could now see five seconds into the past. It really did work exactly like he had suspected.

Right, he needed to test out reversing time as well.

Lu Yin made the attempt, but this test did not go as well as the first. He was still only able to reverse time by one second, not five seconds like he had expected.

Something was wrong. There had to be something wrong. Why could he not reverse time by five seconds?

He stood there, thinking about it.

Even after mulling over the matter for a long time, he still failed to figure anything out. He shook his head, deciding to not bother focusing on it if he could not understand it. Being able to see five seconds into the past suggested that he might one day also develop the ability to reverse time by five seconds. That was good enough for him.

Cultivation was something that needed to be done one step at a time.

Lightstream was the power of space, and it was able to chase time to manipulate both time and space. Strengthening the power of space in Lightstream by five times allowed Lu Yin to see five seconds into the past, but Lu Yin wanted more. Five seconds was not good enough. He wanted to increase that time to one minute, one hour, one day, even one year, and eventually, an entire era.

The main hall of the Daosource Sect had been able to shuttle people through time to observe the Heavens Sect era, but that was only possible because of the Origin Progenitor’s sword. That ability proved that the sword possessed an incredible power of time as well as spatial toughness. Since the Origin Progenitor’s sword could do such a thing, Lu Yin would one day be capable of doing the same.

His time in the fifth universe had come to a close. He had successfully seen five seconds back in time, so next, he needed to find another parallel universe.

In fact, he needed a universe with an even more exaggerated rate of time flow.

Having time pass five times faster was not particularly important. The Merchant Exchange definitely had access to universes with much faster flows of time.

Lu Yin returned to the Heavens Sect and asked the Merchant Exchange to visit him again.

However, Lu Yin did not know how to go about asking the Merchant Exchange for access to another parallel universe. The company did not want money, which meant that it was impossible to buy that information from them. Even so, he needed to get it.

Progenitor Hui had been quite accurate; there were indeed things that ordinary people cared about greatly that those who held high positions were completely unconcerned about.