Star Odyssey

Lu Yin continued down the steps. The murals were like a piece of living history. He wanted to know what had happened to that young man.

He touched another mural, and an indescribable loneliness and helplessness filled his heart. It made even Lu Yin want to stop looking and not continue.

The way everyone looked at the young man had changed. Even the senior brother who had once taken him out to play had started looking at him with loathing and jealousy, as though the man’s very existence was a mistake.

"Senior Sister."

"Do not call me that, You Che. I am not worthy of being your senior sister."

"Senior Brother?"

"You Che, I am going into seclusion. Please go back."

The young man grew even more bewildered. What had he done wrong?

“Senior Brother You Che, I finally found you. May I ask, Senior Brother, how should this line be understood: ‘In the sea of the heart, one is like an island, yet also like a boat that may capsize’?”

"I have not learned that yet."

"Senior Brother You Che, we are all fellow disciples, so please stop keeping things to yourself. Tell me, and from now on, I will follow your lead in everything."

"But I really do not know."

"Hmph! No wonder all of the senior brothers and sisters speak of you the same way. Our fellow disciples are helping each other prepare for the Nine Ramparts Grand Competition, and yet you treasure your own small knowledge, refusing to share it. Martial Uncle was right. Those not of our own kind invariably have different hearts."

You Che was at a loss. Not of our own kind?

Not the same species...

That was true, he was not human. He was different from them. He had forgotten that he was not human.

He was a piece of green seaweed. That was true. Back when he had still had the form of a green seaweed, his senior brothers and sisters had liked him very much. What did being human or not have to do with anything?

It was as though he saw the sky grow clear. His body slowly lowered, and he changed back into a bit of green seaweed and then went to his senior sister. "Senior Sister, look at me. Senior Sister, I am Little Grass."

His senior sister did not answer.

He went to find his senior brother again, but there was still no answer.

Quite a few people who saw him secretly laughed instead.

"Ah, Little Che, come back with your master."

"Go where? Master, are we not already home?"

"Yes, this is our home, but we have another home as well."

"I do not want to go back, Master. My senior brothers are here, my senior sisters, as well as many other friends and the Rampart Warden."

"All right."

Lu Yin’s hand touched empty space, and then touched another mural. He paused. The heart power in this mural was different from before. This one was completely different.

It was not that the one who painted the mural had changed, but rather that the person within the painting had changed.

Lu Yin was sent back to the ancient era again. You Che sat cross-legged atop a high mountain. Compared to before, there was a bit more understanding and even a sense of some transcendence to him.

What had changed was his cultivation, and more so the fact that he had mastered the Formless Heaven Art.

That was right. He had already mastered Formless Heaven Art but had told no one, not even his master.

He would always remember everything that he had experienced after pushing his senior sister back. He now understood very clearly that the gazes directed his way were called jealousy. Because he had gained greater comprehension, no one would play with him anymore. He wanted to hide his accomplishments but could not. In the past, whenever his senior sister and the others defeated him, they had comforted him, so he had subconsciously maintained that situation, only for his actions to be misinterpreted as him concealing his ability.

In that case, he would truly hide it. Not a single one of them should think of seeing his true strength.

He had gained many friends, both in the Fifth Rampart and throughout the Nine Ramparts. Those people called him Young Master Che and would drink and laugh with him. They did not mind, or rather, they put on a show of not minding the fact that he was not human.

He also did not need to care what those people truly thought. It was enough that they put on a show of benign friendliness with him.

His senior sister had also reconciled with him. After being defeated by him in one move during a sparring match, she had taken the initiative to make peace with him in order to improve her cultivation through him. That was also fine. At least he could still hear her call him Little Grass again and again. Although the feeling had changed, he could treat it as a memory of the past.

As for that piece of paper, it was never given to her.

His mental state had broadened, and his heart techniques had also improved. Everything was moving in a beautiful direction.

When reaching the next mural, Lu Yin frowned slightly. Anger, unwillingness, and all sorts of emotions appeared within the power that had painted this mural. These were You Che's emotions.

He had been refused entry to Manifest City.

Xiang Xue had announced that he would lead a group of people into Manifest City. You Che’s senior brothers and sisters were all going. He alone had been rejected.

Seeing the faintly mocking gazes drifting his way from those around him, You Che raised his hand and asked, just as he had when young, "Rampart Warden, I also want to enter Manifest City."

Xiang Xue looked at You Che. The man’s tone was gentle, yet it carried no room for any sort of argument. "You cannot."

You Che was confused. "Why not?"

Xiang Xue did not answer. He only shook his head and led everyone else to Manifest City.

Only You Che was left behind.

He was confused, angry, and frustrated. All sorts of emotions filled his mind. Why? Why was he the only one who could not go? His useless senior brothers and sisters could go, despite not being even the slightest bit useful. What heart techniques would they be able to learn? Could they learn the Formless Heaven Art? Letting them enter Manifest City was a pure waste. They could never possibly find the Heartbond Nonduality.

Why? Why?

Lightning streaked across the sky. You Che looked up at the sky that slowly grew black and stared in a daze. Right.

He had forgotten again. He was not human. Not of the same kind.

Yes. He was not human. Why did he keep forgetting? Those people had never truly considered him as one of their own, and that was why they could enter Manifest City but he could not.

This Manifest City belonged to them. It belonged to human civilization.

You Che sat down, powerless. He stared at the ground. Rain fell. For some reason, this rain carried a dirty blackness, and he happened to be sitting at the edge of where the rain fell. Half of his white robe was dyed black.

Half black, half white. You Che spread out his hands, looked at them, and then smiled. It looked rather good.

Lu Yin’s hand touched empty air. He continued down the steps, but before he even managed to touch another mural, Lu Yin opened his eyes. Is that all?

Looking back, from the top to the bottom, he had witnessed the first half of You Che's life. From his original carefree innocence to becoming black and white, from being Little Grass to becoming Young Master Che, no one had truly helped him. When the rain had dyed his long robe black, there had no longer been any room to turn back.

At that moment, even You Che himself probably had not known whether he was happy or mourning.

Ahead of Lu Yin, words had been carved into the stone wall. There were only a few words, yet they shocked him greatly when he read them.

Grand Clarity. Those two large characters immediately entered his eyes.

He immediately walked over and stared at the stone wall. At the very top were the two words "Grand Clarity," but there was another line beneath them that had been erased. Judging from what remained, quite some time had passed since that line had been removed, and even reversing time would not reveal anything.

However, there was one more line at the very bottom.

"The process of war is the process of lockbreaking!"

Lu Yin looked at this line of words, and an inexplicable chill rose within him. Could this be the mentality of the Grand Clarity civilization?

War and lockbreaking were two completely unrelated things, and yet they were being equated here.

For Lockbreakers, lockbreaking was their calling.

The Grand Clarity Civilization undoubtedly stood at the pinnacle on the path of lockbreaking. Even though Lu Yin had never seen the civilization, he was aware of that much.

If this civilization truly equated war with lockbreaking, then they were far too terrifying.

Lu Yin looked around. There was nothing else. You Che had actually left nothing behind except these few murals and a few lines of writing.

Lu Yin stared at those murals. He always found You Che's death to be too unbelievable. He was very strong. Even with his current strength, Lu Yin was not confident that he could win. Similar to Wang Wen, You Che was rather unfathomable. On top of that, both had cultivated in the Nine Ramparts, which made them extremely intimidating to Lu Yin.

You Che had actually died. Even now, Lu Yin still could not accept it. Although dying at the hands of the Death Megaverse was reasonable, he still could not accept that You Che was dead.

Lu Yin remembered Wei Rong's warning: seizing control of Manifest City still could not be rushed.

After taking another long look around, Lu Yin vanished. When he reappeared, he was already in the Aevum Inch. Looking back, Void Mountain was in the distance.

Just as he was about to teleport away again, Lu Yin suddenly clutched his chest. His pupils abruptly flared, and his vision blurred. He looked down. At that moment, his body seemed to change. It suddenly gave him the feeling that he could no longer control it.

How could this be?

His heart beat once, and his body trembled. His vision grew even more blurry.

Lu Yin struck his chest with a palm, forcefully suppressing the tremor and restoring his vision. He then sat down cross-legged.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The heartbeat was exceptionally clear, though it was different from the powerful heartbeat that had appeared during his breakthrough. This heartbeat was very unfamiliar. This was not Lu Yin’s, but rather You Che's.

Before his eyes, a familiar figure appeared, seemingly somehow both real and illusory. It was You Che.

He smiled at Lu Yin, and as he smiled, the heartbeat grew louder and louder.

A greater sense of numbness ran through Lu Yin's body. The heartbeat was so loud, and yet he was becoming less and less able to control his body.

"I did not expect it to be you, Lu Yin. I originally left this move for Withered Requiem, but you are not bad either," You Che said. He was not outside, but rather inside of Lu Yin’s heart. It was as though You Che had entered Lu Yin's body and was speaking from inside of him.

Lu Yin punched the area above his own heart.

"That is useless. Even if the heart shatters, it is still your own. Have you ever heard of the Heartswap Gate?"

"Heartswap Gate?"

"Correct. The reason why the Formless Heaven Art is called an invincible technique second only to Heartbond Nonduality is because of this final profundity: the Heartswap Gate. It can allow you to live once more." You Che's voice was very clear and did not interfere with the sound of the beating heart at all.

"You exchange your own heart gate with your enemy's, use the will of your heart gate to reverse the essence of life, and allow your own personality to reappear. This is the Heartswap Gate.

"The heart gate is a heart technique, using heart power and the most essential thoughts of one’s life. When the heart gates are exchanged, the lifeform remains the same lifeform, but its will is no longer the will that it possessed before."

"You want to be reborn in my body?" Lu Yin asked.

You Che replied, "You can think of it that way. I am sorry, Lu Yin. If I had a choice, I would not have chosen you because you still have to help me control Manifest City. Once I become you, I will merely be another version of myself that has changed its form. In essence, I will no longer be you.

"To control Manifest City, what matters is not the form of life, but rather the essence, the comprehension, understanding, and cognition of Manifest City. Therefore, if I obtain your body, I still will not be able to control Manifest City. What a pity."

Lu Yin did not understand. "So is it you speaking to me now, or is it just your heart power?"

"I am already no longer myself. The original me has truly died, and Withered Requiem’s karmic chain has increased because of that. The slight awareness that currently exists will inevitably dissipate, but after using the Heartswap Gate, this awareness will one day return. To reshape the self through awareness is the highest level of mastery of the Formless Heaven Art."

"If you recreate yourself with heart power, will you still be you?"

"Of course."

"Then you never truly died. Did Withered Requiem’s karmic chain really lengthen because of you?"

"You do not believe me?"

Lu Yin frowned. "I don’t."

You Che's tone grew relaxed. "Whether you believe me or not, I will recreate myself in your body, and you will completely disappear. Belief or disbelief no longer has any meaning."

As he spoke, Lu Yin's heart beat faster and faster, giving him the feeling that it was about to leap out of his body.

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