Star Odyssey
Chapter 3692: Willbound Expanse

Chapter 3692: Willbound Expanse

A few days later, Old Chief and the five other Luminaries arrived. They stared at Boundless’s massive form in the distance. "This unknown battleship might be the Spirit Nidus’s trump card. Everyone, act now."

Endless Road used consciousness to extend its target’s consciousness without limit.

Once Endless Road was used, it became very difficult to break free from it.

When Blackless God had used it, Progenitor Hui had managed to break free because Blackless God's consciousness had not been extremely powerful, and it had not reached the Universe realm. However, with Old Chief and five other powerful conscients working together, Boundless would only be able to break free if Lu Yin worked with the Origin Progenitor and others. However, after devouring Xing Jue’s consciousness, Lu Yin had left, which meant that Boundless could only remain frozen in space.

At this same time, Lu Yin was looking at Willbound Expanse.

This was the most carefully hidden place in the Consciousness Megaverse, as well as the home of the Thirteen Luminaries. It was a stretch of land that lay shrouded in moonlight. The dappled sunlight shining through the trees swayed with the breeze, and what looked like white dandelion seeds drifted across the sky. It was a beautiful, peaceful sight with hidden paths winding endlessly about. Yellow flowers lined both sides of the paths, and in the depths of the land, waterfalls fell from overlapping mountain ranges. Crescent moons hung above white clouds with stars creating dots of light across the sky. A breeze blew through, carrying the sound of cicadas with it. Down below, fish leapt from the streams of water, splashing droplets onto the grass, leaving it even more lush and charming.

No matter how one looked at the place, it barely held any resemblance to what one expected of Willbound Expanse. This place looked like an idyllic haven.

Yet this was indeed Willbound Expanse, which was also a Broken Realm. It was the only Broken Realm that possessed color.

Only the Thirteen Luminaries were permitted to enter this Broken Realm.

Lu Yin stared at it from a distance. From Wu Wei’s memory, he knew that the High Seraph had once come close to finding Willbound Expanse. In the following battle, five of the Thirteen Luminaries had surrounded the High Seraph. They had not fought him with the intention of killing or even defeating the man, but simply to give Willbound Expanse time to move.

Willbound Expanse did not have a fixed location. If there was a chance of it being found, it would be moved.

It was also the only Broken Realm that could be actively relocated.

One of the Thirteen Luminaries had stayed in Willbound Expanse. His name was Shuangdao, and he was widely recognized as second to only Old Chief within the Thirteen Luminaries. Shuangdao was both older and more powerful than the others, which was why they acknowledged his position.

This was also why Shuangdao was allowed to protect Willbound Expanse.

Lu Yin could easily enter Willbound Expanse, but to reach the Willbound Spire, he needed to overcome Shuangdao, which would not be an easy battle.

While Lu Yin was confident that his own consciousness was stronger than Shuangdao’s, each of the Thirteen Luminaries had their own unique way of using consciousness.

Hua Manyi had feared Shuangdao, and his fear had affected Lu Yin, which resulted in him pondering how to get in.

If the High Seraph had truly lured the Thirteen Luminaries away from Willbound Expanse, then he also had to be considering how to deal with Shuangdao at this moment.

Just as this thought crossed Lu Yin’s mind, a massive shadow swept over from the distance, approaching Willbound Expanse at an incredible speed.

When Lu Yin saw the shadow, his eyes bulged, and he exclaimed, "Emperor Slayer?"

Sure enough, Emperor Slayer was hurtling through space towards Willbound Expanse, propelled by a terrifying power that rendered him unable to turn aside even if he wanted to. Just as he was about to smash into the land, he could not hold back a curse. "High Seraph, you despicable, shameless bastard!"

Boom!

While Willbound Expanse was vast, Emperor Slayer’s impact was a significant disturbance, especially since this place was a Broken Realm. Once disturbed, the entire Broken Realm trembled.

However, this Broken Realm was not dangerous. All it contained was an overwhelmingly beautiful landscape.

Emperor Slayer slammed into the ground with enough force to shake the entire Willbound Expanse, immediately drawing Shuangdao’s attention.

Shuangdao had the form of a burly man with an extremely robust physique, and he was carrying a long blade. He shot to his feet, staring in the direction of Emperor Slayer. Has he really come now?

It was clear that Genesis had not reached Willbound Expanse yet, while Old Chief and the other Luminaries had left.

Emperor Slayer rubbed his head as he stood up and surveyed his surroundings. Aside from the beautiful scenery, there was nothing else here. A stream babbled nearby, and fish leapt out of the water, splashing him.

He looked out from Willbound Expanse and towards a pair of eyes that were staring back at him intently, radiating an intimidating killing intent.

While Emperor Slayer wanted to say something, he was rendered speechless by what he saw.

Suddenly, a powerful consciousness roared over. The sound of crashing thunder instantly disturbed the peace of Willbound Expanse, and a powerful aura appeared, blazing with bloodlust. "Damn you all, Spirit Nidus!"

Emperor Slayer clenched his jaw at the sight of this Universe-realm conscient, and he shouted back, "You're seeking death! I, Emperor Wu Slayer, will cut you down!"

Shuangdao’s eyes flared. Emperor Wu Slayer? So it’s him.

Emperor Slayer’s name had resounded throughout both the Consciousness Megaverse and the Spirit Nidus. While he was hated in the Spirit Nidus as an eight spirit criminal, he was also a renowned Dukkhan as powerful as a Seraph to the Consciousness Megaverse. For that reason, the Thirteen Luminaries sought to exterminate him.

“Show me!” Shuangdao shouted back. He had long wanted to face Emperor Slayer. While conscients who had taken on a fixed human form still lacked emotions or bloodlust, they did possess strong desires for battle, and this was especially true of Shuangdao.

His consciousness pressed down with his full force.

Emperor Slayer had no desire to fight at all, but that petty High Seraph was forcing him to lure Shuangdao away. Clearly, there was something that the High Seraph did not want Emperor Slayer to know about. So, he had been left with no choice but to fight Shuangdao. Still, Emperor Slayer was only willing to briefly face the conscient, as he did not want to end up surrounded by the Thirteen Luminaries.

The ground split apart and trembled, and the moonlight was hidden as the sky was overturned. As the surge of consciousness descended, Emperor Slayer struggled to endure it while he roared at the sky, releasing a beam of black light that shattered the void.

A figure leapt down from the sky. A sharp blade in his hand fell, slashing at Emperor Slayer.

The beast raised his claws, a black gravity aura connecting them as they met the blade.

Clang!

The impact rang out in all directions as Emperor Slayer was pushed back to the ground by this solitary blade strike. The attack not only cut through his flesh, but also through his consciousness.

Emperor Slayer’s eyes momentarily lost focus, though he clenched his claws tightly. Suddenly, he grabbed the hilt of the blade and flung it aside. He then used his overwhelming strength to push Shuangdao to the side before opening his mouth. Once again, a black beam of light shot out, piercing the void and annihilating everything in its path.

Shuangdao barely avoided the attack, and he glided past the black gravity beam. His blade sliced across horizontally as he muttered, “Frozen Skyblade.”

As the blade fell, snowflakes scattered across the sky, freezing everything within thousands of miles, including Emperor Slayer. The blade then slashed through the snowflakes, a cold glint reflecting off of it.

Outside Willbound Expanse, Lu Yin watched the battle in astonishment. What an impressive consciousness technique! This surpassed merely using consciousness and was a consciousness technique, similar to Wu Wei’s Heaven's Blade. This attack froze consciousness itself, and it was powerful enough to freeze even Emperor Slayer’s manifested thought. Any consciousness would almost certainly be obliterated in an instant by this attack.

While the two combatants had only clashed for a mere instant, it was enough time for either to have ended an ordinary Dukkhan.

Shuangdao truly was the Luminary second only to Old Chief. His blade was powerful enough to subdue even Emperor Slayer.

As the battle unfolded, the High Seraph did not even glance at it. Instead, he headed into the depths of Willbound Expanse.

Lu Yin also stepped forward, entering the Broken Realm, though he did not move too quickly. He needed to avoid the High Seraph. If the High Seraph noticed Lu Yin, it might become impossible for him to enter the Willbound Spire.

Shuangdao’s blade sliced down, cleaving Emperor Slayer in two while also freezing him. However, no blood appeared. It was like a mirror shattering, Horizon’s Mirror. This was Emperor Slayer’s Transcended Sequence, and it had allowed him to freely escape from his pursuers in the Spirit Nidus. This was what made him so difficult to catch, and he had just avoided Shangdao’s blade.

A short distance away, Emperor Slayer panted as he caught his breath. He kept a wary eye on Shuangdao. This conscient was terrifyingly powerful, and even Emperor Wu had only barely survived that attack.

Shuangdao turned to stare at Emperor Slayer. “Why have you come here?”

Emperor Slayer’s eyes darted about as he replied, “I’ll just leave...”

He immediately fled.

Shuangdao was momentarily stunned, but then his consciousness instantly pursued the fleeing beast. Escape would not be easy, especially since the Luminary had not noticed that the High Seraph had already reached the depths of Willbound Expanse.

As far as the conscients knew, the High Seraph should be ignorant of the trap prepared for him in Willbound Expanse. He also should not have considered the possibility that the Thirteen Luminaries would move out to deal with Boundless. The Thirteen Luminaries believed that they held the initiative, but in truth, the advantage that they believed they held was nothing. The High Seraph had simply allowed the deception to continue unfolding.

Emperor Slayer had already completed his task, so he was determined to escape with his Horizon’s Mirror.

Shuangdao’s consciousness was not enough to restrain the beast.

However, something completely unexpected occurred; Horizon’s Mirror suddenly shattered.

Emperor Slayer was stunned. He was absolutely certain that Shaungdao could not shatter Horizon’s Mirror and that it would be enough to protect Emperor Slayer. This was fair, as what had shattered the mirror was actually a shockwave from a finger attack. Emperor Slayer blankly turned to look to the side, where he barely made out someone rushing into Willbound Expanse. While the figure was indistinct, it was familiar, extremely familiar. Lu Yin, you unscrupulous bastard without any sense of shame!

From behind, a blade slashed at the beast. Shuangdao had already arrived.

Emperor Slayer could only grit his teeth and fight back. Horizon’s Mirror had shattered twice, wasting too many sequence particles. It would be difficult to use it again. Those two bastards were undoubtedly up to something within Willbound Expanse, and they had both used Emperor Slayer as bait. It would not be fair to leave them such an advantage.

If the High Seraph alone had taken advantage of Emperor Slayer, he would have been helpless. However, since Lu Yin had also used him, the beast had no hesitation to betray the two infiltrators.

"Shuangdao, someone has snuck in."

Shuangdao instantly turned to peer into the depths of Willbound Expanse, and his expression changed drastically. This is bad!

He immediately abandoned Emperor Slayer and hurried away.

Emperor Slayer was breathing heavily. He initially wanted to simply leave, but after a bit of thought, he decided to follow along. There had to be some great profits to be gleaned in this place, and he needed to claim his own share. After all, the virtuous rose up, and his own virtue was unrivaled throughout the three megaverses.

Wind blew through the reeds, brushing over the short grass. It dissipated as it reached a large tree, and it barely shook the door of a thatched hut.

A fence surrounded the hut, giving it a peaceful, quaint appearance.

Lu Yin took a step, reaching the outside of the hut, and then another step took him inside. He did not hesitate at all.

Within the thatched hut was the Willbound Spire.

No one would imagine that the Consciousness Megaverse’s greatest secret was a simple, thatched hut. Even if outsiders managed to enter Willbound Expanse, almost no one would suspect this place.

Lu Yin had only managed to learn the truth from the memories that he had gleaned from Wu Wei and Hua Manyi. As for how the High Seraph had learned of it, that piqued Lu Yin’s curiosity. He had seen the High Seraph similarly hurry into the hut without any hesitation, which indicated that the man had known beforehand that the quaint structure was where the Willbound Spire was located.

After entering the hut, Lu Yin’s eyes were met by dim lights. Gray currents swept through the air, and occasionally, what looked like clouds drifted by. Lu Yin felt like he had entered outer space, but that was not the case.

He frowned, as this was not what Wu Wei or the others had seen, according to their memories.

From the memories of the Thirteen Luminaries that Lu Yin had Possessed, the moment they entered the hut, they had found themselves at the bottom of a steep cliff, looking up at a palace that intermittently appeared at the top. It seemed to be very close, yet it was forever out of reach.

Why had Lu Yin appeared in a different place? Also, where was the High Seraph?

The gray currents wrapped around his fingers, and in an instant, his surroundings shifted. It felt as if countless memories that were not his had been layered over his mind. Yet, at the same time, they seemed to be his own. He saw the primordial expanse of the megaverse, watched the passing of time, saw stars shatter, and witnessed the birth of species. These memories were so vivid that they created an illusion, and Lu Yin was left questioning who he truly was and what experiences were actually his. For a brief moment, he was unable to differentiate between illusion and reality.

He waved his hand, dispersing the gray currents, his eyes filled with unease.

The fact that he had lost track of what was real and what was illusion meant that these gray currents could not be mere memories. Even if they were, then whose memories were they? A person’s? A creature’s? Or perhaps an entire megaverse’s?