star odyssey
Every cultivator had some specific breakthroughs that were of far greater importance during their cultivation. The first would take place when an ordinary human became a Seeker. The second was when one became a Melder. The third occurred upon becoming an Explorer. The fourth happened when a person became an Enlighter. The fifth happened when one became an Envoy. The sixth took place when a person faced their sixth stellular tribulation.
Passing one’s sixth stellular tribulation meant that the person would experience a qualitative change in their strength. For this reason, the breakthrough triggered a far stronger rejection from the true universe, which resulted in the most terrifying stellular tribulation an Envoy would experience up to that point in time.
The stronger a cultivator was, the more desperate the true universe would be to prevent them from completing their breakthrough.
For someone like Lu Yin, Bai Wangyuan and the rest of the people observing his tribulation believed that it might be even more powerful than what most people faced when breaking through to become a Semi-Progenitor.
The true universe would never allow someone like him to have an easy breakthrough.
Lu Yin looked up at the ever-expanding black vortex that had appeared above his head. It was finally about to begin. Wait a moment, will the Mother Tree be alright?
He quickly tore through the void and moved away to the Yinshan District. Lu Yin was quite worried that his stellular tribulation might regard the Mother Tree as an external aid and thus grow even more powerful.
The Yinshan District was the largest of the Middle Realm’s nine districts, but it was also the most sparsely populated.
Lu Yin was also quite familiar with the district, as he had stayed there for some time when he had been a member of Humility’s Gate.
At this moment, Zhuo Si was leisurely sipping on a bit of wine within the Humility’s Gate headquarters for the Yinshan District. The four ruling powers had recently given him some trouble, due to Lu Xiaoxuan’s actions when he had been disguised as Long Qi. Thankfully, Supervisor Qing Chen had stepped in and saved the gatemaster. After that, no one else had tried to cause any further trouble for him. After all, Lu Xiaoxuan had been strutting about the Perennial World with his head high.
While Zhuo Si was indeed a former vassal of the Lu family, he had no plans to jump into Lu Xiaoxuan’s camp. The man needed to repay his debt to Humility’s Gate, as well as its commander. Furthermore, the commander was Lu Xiaoxuan’s senior brother, and Humility’s Gate had always had a close relationship with the young man.
“These relationships are such a complicated mess,” Zhuo Si muttered to himself. He took a long swig of wine, basking in a feeling of contentment.
Suddenly, a short fat man approached him. “Gatemaster, the sky just turned dark. Is it about to rain?”
Zhuo Si rolled his eyes. “Since when does our Yinshan District have any rain? Go find someone else to bother. Your gatemaster is busy reminiscing.”
“Oh, alright.” The little fatty left.
Zhuo Si snickered. “Rain? These brats are getting dumber by the day.”
He then looked outside, only for his jaw to drop at the sight. Isn’t that a stellular tribulation? F**k my life!
Zhuo Si quickly gathered all of his people, and evacuated along with them.
“Pardon my intrusion, Gatemaster Zhuo Si. I’ll have to trouble you for a bit,” Lu Yin called out.
For a moment, Zhuo Si just stared blankly at Lu Yin. “You brought your stellular tribulation here?” ｂｅｄ𝚗ｏ𝚟𝚎𝚕.𝚌𝚘ｍ
“I didn’t have a choice. The Yinshan District is massive, and it only has a few people. It’s the perfect place to face a stellular tribulation,” Lu Yin said with a shrug.
Zhuo Si continued to curse under his breath. He thought that he had seen the commander for a brief moment, but he quickly shook his head. Whatever was happening, Zhuo Si would consider it after escaping. Still, isn’t this stellular tribulation a bit too big?
The same thought was on everyone’s mind. The size of this stellular tribulation was a little too much.
Lu Yin finally stopped moving. Even he felt that his tribulation was getting excessively large. It was already even bigger than the one he had faced to become an Envoy.
The Yinshan District exceeded the size of a dozen of the Outerverse’s weaves, but Lu Yin’s stellular tribulation shrouded the entire district, and it continued to expand from there.
The sky above the Middle Realm grew dark.
The stellular tribulation’s vortex contained an indescribable darkness in its depths, and it left many people quivering in terror.
Lu Yin squinted up at the black darkness, but he was unable to see anything. He could only wait for the attacks to begin.
Countless people looked toward the Yinshan District after sensing the oppressive aura that spread out from the region.
Many guessed that a Semi-Progenitor’s stellular tribulation had been initiated, while others believed it to be a Progenitor’s tribulation.
Lu Yin appeared to be calm, but he was actually quite anxious.
After all, he possessed four stellular energy vortices, which he had created during his first stellular tribulation. After they were formed, his tribulation had retaliated by sending down an unstoppable attack. If not for the corpse, he would have died at that time.
Since he was able to use an external item like the corpse to block the attack, it seemed that it was not part of the tribulation, but rather a form of punishment.
At the moment, Lu Yin had unsealed all four of his vortices to face this tribulation. Given the situation, he had no idea what he might face, and he ?was feeling rather apprehensive.
As he waited, the darkness within the depths of the vortex suddenly changed. Absolutely all sound disappeared; not only that, but all air, stellular energy, and everything else vanished. Lu Yin was surrounded by a perfect vacuum. He stared off into the distance and looked at a sea—no, it was a layer of clouds—no, it was neither. It looked like a sky had been formed by the gathering of stellular energy. It filled an enormous region and shadowed everything down below.
Beyond the reaches of the stellular tribulation, Mu Xie and the other Progenitors were all frozen in shock. Why was this thing appearing during Lu Yin’s sixth stellular tribulation?
“Isn’t this the field of destruction that only appears during a Progenitor’s tribulation?” Progenitor Smoke gasped in shock.
All kinds of different expressions could be seen on the faces of Bai Wangyuan and the others from the four ruling powers. Some looked delighted, and others worried. Such a sight would only ever appear when the true universe tried to attack a truly powerful cultivator, such as those attempting to break through and become a Progenitor. A field of destruction had appeared during Lu Yin’s sixth stellular tribulation, which was completely unprecedented.
A field of destruction was the culmination of everything that a universe could throw at a cultivator. It was something that had slaughtered countless Semi-Progenitors, stopping them from ever hoping to see the Progenitor realm.
Having faced a field of destruction during their own tribulations, none of the Progenitors had expected to see it appear during Lu Yin’s sixth stellular tribulation. This meant that the true universe evaluated the threat posed by Lu Yin’s existence as no weaker than a Progenitor’s.
It was important to remember that Lu Yin was not using any sort of tool or equipment, or receiving any form of assistance whatsoever. He was not using the Champions’ Stage, the jiao, or even the slipper. He was facing this stellular tribulation entirely alone.
Was Lu Yin on his own really able to threaten the true universe as much as a Progenitor? That did not seem possible.
One by one, eyes in the Outer Realm were drawn to the sight of the stellular tribulation.
Only Progenitors could understand the true meaning of what Lu Yin was facing.
Mu Xie wanted to warn Lu Yin, but he knew that if he tried to send his voice into the field of destruction that surrounded Lu Yin, it would induce a backlash. Lu Yin was truly on his own at this moment.
People could seek advice during their tribulation to become an Envoy, just like how Lu Yin had once guided Da Qiu. Such was also normally true of a person’s sixth stellular tribulation, but the field of destruction that had appeared made such assistance impossible. This went far beyond anything that could appear in a normal cultivator’s sixth stellular tribulation.
While Lu Yin did not understand the trial that he was facing, he was able to sense its immense power. Stellular energy was being pulled out from all four of his stellular energy vortices and drawn into the field of destruction that encompassed the sky.
Without stellular energy, how could anyone pass this particular tribulation?
“It begins. First, all the stellular energy will be stolen from Lu Xiaoxuan’s body. Then, the sky formed from stellular energy will unleash a powerful attack. If he can’t overcome this trial, it will show that he doesn’t qualify to become a Progenitor. Progenitors stand at the peak of humanity. Each one is an existence capable of creating new powers from nothing. It’s very, very difficult to rely on just stellular energy to become a Progenitor,” Wang Fan said.
Progenitor Smoke watched with a complicated expression. “This doesn’t seem fair to Lu Xiaoxuan. He’s not trying to become a Progenitor right now, so why is this the trial that he’s facing?”
Mu Xie watched on in awe. Their master’s conditions to accept someone as his disciple was for the person to possess exceptional talent and an incredible work ethic. On top of that, an Envoy needed to be capable of challenging Semi-Progenitors, and a Semi-Progenitor needed to be powerful enough to fight a Progenitor. That was Mister Mu’s standard. Despite that, not even Mu Xie could have passed this challenge during his sixth stellular tribulation. This trial was normally only given when cultivators tried to become Progenitors. How monstrously talented was his junior brother?
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed as he released his unique power from within his chest. His own power created a small, starry universe that held back a section of the field of destruction.
At this time, Lu Yin stopped leaking stellular energy from his four vortices. The power in his heart had managed to isolate him from the pulling force of the true universe.
Many people watching were shocked by Lu Yin’s success.
“He actually blocked it?”
“How can that be? Has he created his own unique power?”
“Only Semi-Progenitors who have created their own cultivation method and formed inner worlds from that are able to stop the true universe from taking back its stellular energy, but Lu Yin somehow managed to accomplish the same feat as a mere Envoy.”
“Come to think of it, four Semi-Progenitors once worked together to fight him in the past, but he managed to ignore the suppression of their inner worlds and even killed one of the four. He must have created his own power long ago.”
…
Several Progenitors were actively discussing Lu Yin’s stellular tribulation. Semi-Progenitors and below were unable to even see what was happening.
A thunderous roar echoed through the sky and across the Middle Realm. It was as though the sky itself was being crushed, and the earth below started splitting apart. How insignificant were humans in comparison to the vastness of the sky and earth? How could humans ever hope to overcome the power of the sky?
The power that you cultivate was granted to you by the sky. How can you resist the sky?
You are nothing more than an ant. Beneath this sky, all shall be destroyed.
Don’t resist. Die.
Die.
Die.
Numerous voices swirled through the air, each one encouraging Lu Yin to give up and give in to the embrace of death. The true universe was trying to destroy Lu Yin’s will to resist.
Even as the field of destruction that filled the sky continued exerting an oppressive pressure on him, Lu Yin still arrogantly raised his chin. “You want me to give up? What a joke! Since you are the sky, then I will—Flip the Sky!”
He raised a hand, causing dirt to manifest in the sky and form a landmass beneath the sky that had formed from the field of destruction.
It looked as though a landmass had been added beneath the new sky. It looked quite similar to how the Middle Realm sat far above the Lower Realm.
Numerous people watched from outside the Yinshan District, and they gaped in awe at the sudden appearance of a new mainland. Was the Perennial World about to gain a fourth Realm?
The sight stunned everyone who saw it.
There was no battle technique that could override the sky formed by this field of destruction, but the soil that appeared was from a Mainland. The true universe was not an actual universe, but rather a phenomenon caused by the Origin Progenitor’s power, and it had been created from a Mainland. Therefore, the true universe could not stop the movement of the soil that came from a Mainland.
“The ground below and the sky above. Today, the ground shall dominate the sky. I will flip the sky!” Lu Yin turned his hand over and swung his hand downwards. The mainland that appeared in the sky suddenly swapped places with the field of destruction that had formed a sky.
Both the sky and ground shook violently as the field of destruction was flipped over. Tremors spread through the ground across the Middle Realm and further across the entire Perennial World. The tremors continued even further and even affected the Fifth Mainland. Countless people looked up in despair. Everyone felt helpless when the sky was overturned.
Who could stop the sky from flipping over?
Bai Wangyuan’s eyes flickered. This technique was not particularly powerful, but Flipping the Sky was actually able to overcome the field of destruction. It was absolutely shocking to see.
“So is this the Flipping the Sky that Lu Xiaoxuan created back then? How did he do it?”
“It’s a technique that no one else is able to learn. There’s a reason why it’s regarded as one of the Lu family’s top techniques.”
Awe filled Progenitor Smoke’s eyes. “This is a conception technique that relies entirely on comprehension and will. The strength of the user doesn’t matter at all, but they can still potentially release a peerless display of strength. It’s hard to imagine how such a young man created this. I wonder how he managed to develop such extraordinary willpower.”
Mu Xie was equally awestruck. His junior brother could flip the sky as a mere Envoy. If others could learn this technique, then the field of destruction would no longer pose a threat to those who tried to become Progenitors. It was no wonder why this Flipping the Sky was regarded as one of the Lu family’s best battle techniques, as well as why its creation had drawn the attention of the Lu family’s senior Progenitor.