Star Odyssey

Chapter 2944: Forbidden

"Who are you?" A hoarse voice entered Yu Huo's ears.

Yu Huo turned around and looked back. He saw a blurry figure that could not be clearly made out.

"A fish. A fish with intelligence. You must be the one the Lu family is searching for," the hoarse voice continued.

Yu Huo stared at the indistinct figure and then demanded, "Are you Ye Bo?"

The figure moved closer, but Yu Huo was cautious and pulled back.

"Who are you?" The hoarse voice continued. Of course, the blurred figure was Lu Yin.

He had felt an uncomfortable sensation when he arrived on Lu Qi's island. It had been a feeling of absolute revulsion. This feeling did not come from Lu Yin himself, but rather from the Origin Universe. The feeling had lasted throughout his conversation with Lu Qi, and Lu Yin had spent that time searching for the source of the feeling, eventually landing on the fish.

While Lu Yin had seemingly been chatting with Lu Qi about the White Dragon Clan, Lu Yin had actually been studying the fish. He had noticed that the mention of the White Dragon Clan had caused the very human emotions of ridicule and anger to appear in the fish’s eyes, which was very odd. At that moment, Lu Yin had started to have the ridiculous suspicion that Lu Qi had accidentally caught Yu Huo.

Yu Huo had been badly wounded by Ancestor Tianyi's finger, and he had been forcibly reverted back to the form of a fish. Currently, very few places in the Middle Ocean had any sign of peace and quiet, one of which was very clearly the region surrounding Lu Qi's island. No one would dare to disturb Lu Qi, so it was not particularly surprising that Yu Huo would end up in that part of the Middle Ocean.

Just in case his suspicions were correct, Lu Yin did not rush to deal with the fish. Something else had occurred to him instead, and that idea had led to the current scene. Lu Yin was impersonating Ye Bo in order to try to learn more about Aeternus from Yu Huo.

The fish warily eyed the blurred figure. "Are you Ye Bo?"

"If you’re not going to answer, then you can just die," Lu Yin spoke in a hoarse voice while releasing a surge of killing intent.

This development startled Yu Huo. "Wait! We aren’t enemies!"

"You aren’t human, and neither am I, but how does this mean that we aren’t enemies?"

"I’m from Aeternus."

The killing intent faded, and a smile spread across his face as he continued in the hoarse voice. "Aeternus?"

Yu Huo released a sigh of relief when he saw that “Ye Bo” did not continue to be aggressive. "You should already know that I am part of Aeternus. I’m the fish that the Lu family is looking for."

"A fish claims to be from Aeternus?" Lu Yin asked in obvious disbelief.

Yu Huo became anxious, "I am Yu Huo, one of Aeternus’s True God Guard Captains. You’ve met Cheng Kong before, who’s also from Aeternus."

"Cheng Kong? I do seem to remember meeting someone with that name before. Are you really from Aeternus?"

"I am from Aeternus, which means that we aren’t enemies. There’s no reason to be hostile."

"Is that all? How boring. I’m going." With that, Lu Yin moved to leave.

"Wait!" Yu Huo grew anxious.

Lu Yin stopped.

"What are you doing now?"

"None of your business."

"You want to go after the people in this universe, right?"

"I told you, it’s none of your business."

"I can help you."

Lu Yin acted confused. "I won’t join Aeternus."

Yu Huo was curious. "Why not? Aeternus can help you deal with the humans in this universe. On your own, you can't even deal with the Lu family."

Lu Yin pretended to hesitate.

"After all these years, you should perfectly understand just how powerful the Lu family is. This universe has the Heavens Sect, which has too many Progenitors for you to deal with," Yu Huo cautioned.

Lu Yin mocked the fish, "Didn't you also fail? I might not have done anything recently, but I still saw how you Aeternals were kicked out of this universe. You so-called True God Guard Captains have a high status, but you were nearly grilled and eaten. Be serious. You want me to cooperate with you? How ridiculous."

Yu Huo gritted his teeth. "You have absolutely no understanding of Aeternus! This is merely one universe that we have to deal with. We have the Seven Skygods, the True God Guard, and more Progenitor-level powerhouses. Once all of them appear, this universe won’t be able to last for even a moment!”

"I don't believe you," Lu Yin retorted.

Yu Huo secretly cursed Cheng Kong, as well as the fact that Yu Huo had no idea what Cheng Kong might have said to this Ye Bo. "In that case, why don’t you and I first find a safe place for us to stay, and I’ll explain Aeternus’s situation to you. Besides, since your ambush failed, we shouldn’t stick around here for long. If you decide to attack again, you won’t lose out by learning about Aeternus. Even if you don’t join us, we can treat you almost like an ally, just like in the past."

Lu Yin acted as though he was considering the suggestion. "Alright."

Soon, Lu Yin led the fish to a hidden location. "No one will find us here."

Yu Huo felt relieved at finally finding a safe place. He had been tricked by the White Dragon Clan, and his luck had been terrible from that moment on.

"I’m not joining Aeternus," Lu Yin repeated.

Yu Huo replied, "I understand that, but please first listen about us Aeternals so that we can cooperate against the humans of this universe."

"Start talking."

Yu Huo pondered for a bit and then started sharing various information about the Aeternals.

Lu Yin was already aware of most of what Yu Huo shared, which was essentially exaggerating the numbers of True God Guard, boasting about the strength of the Seven Skygods, and giving excessive numbers for how many parallel universes the Aeternals occupied, how many corpse kings they had, and the various advantages that they enjoyed in the war against the Sixverse Association.

Lu Yin was not phased by what he heard, though he had to put on a show of learning all this information for the first time.

While he was slightly surprised, he did not hear anything too concerning.

Several days passed as Yu Huo tried to recruit Ye Bo into Aeternus, but he showed no indications of being convinced. Not only that, but Yu Huo was unable to even see Ye Bo’s face.

"That's it. I'm leaving. Cooperating with you is good enough." Lu Yin acted as though he was about to leave.

At this exact moment, the aura of a Progenitor dropped down and swept over the region.

Its appearance startled Yu Huo. "Didn't you say that no one knows about this place?"

“Ye Bo” was also confused. "There’s no reason for anyone to search this place, but that doesn’t mean that no one knows about it. It’s possible that someone might have just come through here. The Heavens Sect has too many Progenitors, and some of them don’t really do anything."

Yu Huo was panicking. "Don't leave me! I won’t survive without you!"

"I have no obligation to save you."

"Wait a minute! Can’t you just wait? Just wait until I get picked up by someone and taken back before you leave."

Lu Yin was intrigued. "Is it one of Aeternus’s spies?"

"Yes! Just wait a little while longer."

Lu Yin refused. "Forget it. In this situation, even if your mole is a Progenitor, they’ll have a hard time getting to you here."

"It will just be a short while before he arrives, and it’s impossible for the Heavens Sect to know about it. Ye Bo, since you intend to cooperate with Aeternus, then help me this once. I promise that, when I return, I will lead my division of the True God Guard to help you. Ten Progenitor-level corpse kings plus me will be more than enough to help you."

Lu Yin acted as though he was feeling swayed, but unwilling to say anything.

Yu Huo rolled his eyes. "I'll let you in on a secret, but you absolutely can’t share it. It’s a secret big enough to convince you to join Aeternus."

Lu Yin's eyes lit up. "Tell me."

Yu Huo was about to speak, but suddenly hesitated. He was clearly worried about sharing this information, and Lu Yin saw fear in the fish’s eyes.

This was a secret that even one of the True God Guard Captains did not dare to share, which meant that it had to be something shocking.

This could possibly be Lu Yin’s greatest gain from posing as Ye Bo. There was also the Redback who was on their way to help Yu Huo, which was another bonus.

After a moment of silence, Yu Huo gritted his teeth. "I need you to promise me one thing! You’ve spoken to Cheng Kong before, so if anyone learns that you know what I’m about to tell you, you need to tell them that you learned it from Cheng Kong."

"Fine, that doesn’t matter," Lu Yin replied while staring intently at Yu Huo. It seemed that this was a truly important secret, if one of the True God Guard Captains needed someone else to take the blame.

Yu Huo exhaled. "We, the Aeternals, have an absolutely terrifying weapon which is known as the Ossis Ark."

Lu Yin's pupils shrank. The Ossis Ark?

During the crusade to conquer the Endless Frontier, Shao Yin, Yi Ren, and a few of the Aeternals’ other Progenitor-level combatants had attacked the third battalion. Before the end of the battle, Yi Ren had betrayed the Aeternals, only to be incinerated by flames of divine energy. This punishment from True God had been a fate worse than death, and Yi Ren had felt the need to accelerate his death. He had done so by mentioning the Ossis Ark.

After the crusade ended, Lu Qi and a few others had told Lu Yin about the incident, and the words “Ossis Ark” had a deep impression on him.

The flames of divine energy had slowly burned Yi Ren to nothing, inflicting a pain worse than death. Yi Ren had feared that pain so much that he had begged for death. To ensure that the pain would end, he had shouted out the words “Ossis Ark,” and the fact that the True God had indeed instantly killed Yi Ren after that was proof that the Ossis Ark was a great secret of Aeternus.

Lu Yin had wanted to learn more about this "Ossis Ark," but he had not been able to find any clues yet.

Unexpectedly, he had received a surprise from Yu Huo.

"What’s the Ossis Ark?" Lu Yin suppressed his excitement and probed for more information while acting completely calm.

Yu Huo stared at the blurry figure before him. "Human beings have flagbearers. On a battlefield, as long as that flagbearer doesn’t fall, their army will not lose morale. We Aeternals also have something similar to a flagbearer, which is the Ossis Ark. The difference between us and humans is that, when the Ossis Ark appears, it means that things are over.

"The Ossis Ark does not herald battle, but rather utter destruction. Right now, there is a consensus within Aeternus. When the True God emerges from seclusion, along with the Seven Skygods, he will fall upon the Sixverse Association with the Ossis Ark, completely destroying it all, including this universe."

"So, what exactly is this Ossis Ark? Some kind of weapon?" Lu Yin asked softly in his hoarse voice.

Yu Huo shook his head. "It is forbidden to speak of it. All I can tell you is that the Ossis Ark represents the strength of Aeternus and that it is fully capable of destroying the Sixverse Association. As for what the Ossis Ark actually is, I can't say anything. Speaking further will kill me."

Lu Yin was irritated. "You haven’t told me anything at all! This Ossis Ark and flagbearer comparison tell me nothing other than their symbolism. How am I supposed to trust that?"

Yu Huo replied, "I swear that the Ossis Ark is undoubtedly able to destroy the entire Sixverse Association. If you want to truly understand what the Ossis Ark is, then you must join Aeternus, and I can even ensure that you get a special exception. Once you learn about the Ossis Ark, if you still doubt that it can destroy the Sixverse Association, you will be allowed to leave Aeternus, and we will resume our current relationship of cooperation."

"It’s possible to leave Aeternus after joining?"

"You won't want to leave. The Ossis Ark’s mere existence is enough to guarantee that the Sixverse Association can be destroyed." Yu Huo was completely confident.

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. The Ossis Ark? Yi Ren had mentioned this before dying, and Yu Huo was bringing it up again. Since the Ossis Ark was a forbidden topic for the Aeternals, it had to be incredibly important. But how could humans learn more about this threat?

"What do you say? Come with me to Aeternus’s territory, and I promise that you won't regret it," Yu Huo tempted.

Lu Yin answered in a hoarse voice, "Ye Bo is not a solitary existence. You should know this."

"I do," Yu Huo replied. This was not a secret. The Perennial World was aware of it, and so were the Aeternals. However, no one knew for certain what exactly Ye Bo was. Was it a team? Or a cloning technique?

"I will go with you to Aeternus’s territory, but if I feel that your Ossis Ark might not be enough to destroy the Sixverse Association, I can abandon this body at any moment."

Yu Huo was taken aback. Was Ye Bo really someone who used clones?

"That’s not a problem." Yu Huo’s goal was to safely return to Aeternus. As for the secret of the Ossis Ark, it was still up in the air whether he would say anything more to Ye Bo. Even a True God Guard Captain like Yu Huo would not carelessly speak about the Ossis Ark.

The only option was to ask Aeternus for further instructions.