Star Odyssey

Chapter 3128: Dukkha

"It’s just a metaphor," Hongyan Mavis explained. "Have you ever thought about the fact that five of the six Mainlands came from Primaldust? Master created the Mainlands."

"I never thought about it, as I was scared to even consider it."

"When you first started cultivating, did anyone ever tell you that cultivating on the Mainlands makes it easier to become a Progenitor or to comprehend certain things compared to cultivating in the rest of the universe? The Mainlands are all extraordinary because they were created by Master. When you cultivate on a Mainland, it's like being in contact with Master’s Primaldust. Each Mainland contained a different cultivation method, and the one maintaining those methods is Master."

Lu Yin understood. He remembered hearing people mention this to him long ago, back when he had first entered the Neoverse. Many people there sought to cultivate on the land, and even the space in the Neoverse was more stable than anywhere else. The Sixth Mainland was still intact, and some cultivators would only cultivate while holding a handful of the Mainland’s soil. In the past, Lu Yin had neither understood the significance of this nor had he noticed any difference between cultivating on the Mainland or in outer space. However, the reason behind this had finally been explained to him.

The Mainlands all contained the power of Primaldust.

"If Mainlands can be created, then why not an entire universe?" Hongyan Mavis mused as she turned to stare off into the distance. "When you become a Progenitor, you should try visiting the Mirari Realm’s forbidden zones. You might find your worldview expanded."

Lu Yin changed topics. "Senior, what was your Progenitor's world? Can you get it back?"

If Hongyan Mavis could recover her full strength, it would be a monumental gain for all of humanity.

She smiled. "The Mavis family’s Divine Tree."

Lu Yin was astonished. "Your Progenitor's world is the Divine Tree?"

She nodded.

"But that tree still stands. The Mavis family still has it."

"That's just a tree that I planted with a seed from the original to ensure that the Mavis family would have a place to live in case anything happened to me. The real Divine Tree was destroyed. More importantly, the Divine Tree's imprint was taken by that giant from Aeternus. With my current strength, I can't take it back, and the Aeternals will never allow a human to betray them. Trying to get the tree back will mean war," she explained.

A confident smile spread across Lu Yin’s lips. "You're talking about Corpse God, aren’t you? That explains why we found evidence of the Divine Tree on his body. Don't worry. I'll get it back for you."

Hongyan Mavis was surprised. "You can get it back?"

"I can."

"But that will mean war. If I leave this place, Aeternus will likely learn of it, and they’ll be able to guess my intentions."

"Then we’ll get it back before your presence is exposed," Lu Yin stated confidently. Given his current strength, why would he not be confident? No matter if he ambushed or directly confronted Corpse God, the injured Skygod was no longer a match for Lu Yin. Besides, Lu Yin was already looking for a way to access the Sixth Scourge, and the key to everything was that none of the Aeternals were aware that Lu Yin’s strength had transformed. With the element of surprise, he was absolutely certain that he could take back the imprint of the Mavis family’s Divine Tree.

Hongyan Mavis was thrilled, "If we can recover that imprint, and if I can use the current Divine Tree as my Progenitor's world, then I’ll be able to restore at least half of my previous strength."

"Ha, then let’s do it! Oh, I should mention, Senior, I am the current Dao Monarch of the Heavens Sect."

Hongyan Mavis rolled her eyes. "Sure thing, Dao Monarch. I hope that your Heavens Sect can reach its previous peak again."

Lu Yin’s eyes sparkled. "I’ve had some thoughts about reestablishing the Three Realms and Six Daos."

"You should rest first."

Lu Yin was quite satisfied with the initial transformations that his inner worlds had gone through during his time in the Mirari Realm. Time passed, but Lu Yin did not cultivate at all. Instead, he simply sat by the River of Time and fished. He just wanted to see the moments of time that had been removed from the river, as each picture held something unique.

After some time, he felt that he had recovered, though his white hair did not regain its color.

He could force his white hair to turn black again, but there was no point in doing so. The new color would serve as a reminder to avoid recklessly anointing defeated foes in the future.

One day, while fishing in the River of Time, the droplet he pulled out for Lightstream revealed an image of a piece of paper. Puzzled, Lu Yin studied the image, but he could not make out what was on the paper, as the image only appeared for a brief moment.

He continued fishing and soon caught another droplet. Again, the image revealed the same piece of paper as before.

Lu Yin frowned. The second image also disappeared too quickly, but he had managed to make out a single word: "Kill."

"Kill?" What did that mean? Did the paper just have that one word?

Because of how quickly the image had disappeared, Lu Yin had only been able to make out the word "Kill," but he felt certain that there had been no other words on the paper.

He continued fishing.

Within just mere seconds, he pulled out another droplet. Such frequency was highly unusual. Normally, he would have to fish for quite some time before landing another moment of isolated time, so why were these droplets coming up so close together?

Again, the image that appeared was a piece of paper with the word "Kill," but this time, there was a clear smudge after that word. It looked like something had been erased from the page.

The image vanished, and Lu Yin continued fishing.

Time passed, and Lu Yin pulled out multiple droplets from the River of Time. Every one of them revealed the same image of a piece of paper with the word “Kill” followed by a smudge. The frequency made Lu Yin increasingly uneasy. He glanced upstream. Was it possible that these images were someone in the past trying to send a message to the future? "Kill"... followed by what? A name? A species? Something else?

Why had the following characters all been erased?

Who could have erased them?

These papers had been rejected by the River of Time, which suggested they had been written while time was frozen. To erase words from such papers would require immense power, as this was something that far exceeded merely freezing time.

Whoever was capable of stopping time and erasing what had been written on every single sheet of paper had essentially sliced away moments of time.

Lu Yin knew that this was beyond his own capabilities.

He continued fishing, but he did not pull up any more droplets. It was as if the images of the papers had all drifted downstream to appear at the same time so that they would be seen by future generations.

Lu Yin shared what he had seen with Hongyan Mavis.

She was shocked. "To do what you saw requires far more than merely touching upon the power of time. This would require being able to sever time and even traverse the River of Time, much like how you wish to travel upstream with your Lightstream boat."

"So, are you saying that someone has already accomplished what I’ve wanted to do a long time ago?" Lu Yin asked.

"More than one person. Only Ortusers and people who have focused intently on the power of time could have done this," Hongyan Mavis stated solemnly.

Lu Yin understood. He had never thought that transforming Lightstream would allow him to surpass an Ortuser. He knew that he needed to become a Progenitor himself before he could even think about surpassing such powerhouses.

"So, whoever erased the writing from those pieces of paper had to have been at least in the Origin realm," Lu Yin concluded.

Hongyan Mavis remained silent for a moment before slowly responding. "From what I am aware of, during our era, only a few individuals managed to reach the Origin realm, and I can’t think of any Ortusers who would have done such a thing, even if they were capable of it.

"Oh, there was one other person. She was originally at the same level as us, but then she had a breakthrough and became an Ortuser: Qingluo Jiantian."

Lu Yin was surprised. "Qingluo Jiantian became an Ortuser during your time?"

Hongyan Mavis nodded. "Do you know who put up that stone monument by the River of Time? Qingluo Jiantian. She became an Ortuser here in the Mirari Realm. That was what convinced everyone who knew about this place that the Mirari Realm holds a path to the Origin realm."

Lu Yin had always known that Progenitor Xi was incredibly strong, as she had once ended a massive battle with a single swipe of her sword. Even Astral Anura and the Great Sovereign acknowledged the woman. Even so, Lu Yin had not realized that Qingluo Jiantian was an Ortuser. Still, Progenitor Xi's strength did not seem to be much greater than a Progenitor’s. If she were much stronger, it would not have been so easy for the Lord of Lightning and the Great Sovereign to reach the black Mother Tree and go after True God.

Something must have happened to Progenitor Xi.

"By the way, Senior, there's something that I've always been confused about. What’s the difference between an Ortuser and a Dukkhan?" Lu Yin asked. He had first heard about the Origin realm and overcoming Dukkha from Ancestor Lu Yuan, but he had not given either cultivation level much thought at the time. Only afterwards, as Lu Yin had encountered more and seen more, had his confusion appeared and grown.

The Great Sovereign was clearly a Dukkhan, as was True God, but what about Jiang Feng? The Lord of Lightning had once referred to True God and others as monsters who were overcoming Dukkha, but the man was clearly stronger than a Progenitor. Progenitor Xi was not strong enough to stop the man, so what was he? An Ortuser? What about Ancestor Lu Yuan? He was not afraid to confront or fight the Great Sovereign, but he had never mentioned being an Ortuser or overcoming Dukkha. In fact, during the invasion of the Second Scourge, Astral Anura had clearly been the weakest of the four individuals fighting. While it was said that Astral Anura was overcoming Dukkha, the toad did not seem to have the strength of a Dukkhan.

Hongyan Mavis explained, "Ortusers have surpassed the Progenitor realm, and the Origin realm is a defined cultivation realm. Anyone who has reached that level is referred to as a Dukkhan, and this is because they are essentially undergoing a lengthy tribulation. Overcoming Dukkha is a process, not a cultivation realm. It’s much like flying—there’s a takeoff and a landing, but if you are unable to land, you fail.

"The only ones who can tell if someone is overcoming Dukkha is the person themselves. It's not a level with a specific level of strength. True God is incredibly strong, but he might have only barely lifted off the ground and started his flight. Tai Hong might not be a match for True God or for Master, but she might be about to land again. No one can be certain, which is why it is referred to as overcoming Dukkha, as all Dukkhans are facing a tribulation.

"Some who reach the Origin realm never want to become Dukkhans because of the suffering associated with overcoming Dukkha. Master once said that an Ortuser and a Dukkhan are like two different people.

"So far, the only thing that is known for certain is that no one has truly overcome Dukkha and achieve Immortality. That realm is nothing more than an idea. Since no one has ever reached it, all we have are speculations."

Lu Yin understood. It was no wonder why the Origin realm and overcoming Dukkha were regarded so differently; one was a cultivation realm, while the other was a process or a state of existence.

"How can you tell if someone is overcoming Dukkha?"

Hongyan Mavis thought for a moment. "There isn’t any way to know for sure. When a person surpasses the Progenitor realm, they go beyond common understanding. Only they truly know what they are dealing with. It’s important that you don’t allow your thoughts to get stuck in a rigid pattern. Everyone assumes that True God is overcoming Dukkha, but what if he isn't? What if he's still just an Ortuser? No one really knows.

"Some claim that overcoming Dukkha is a lie and that there's no such thing as Immortality.

"Others say that Immortality is tied to one’s species. As long as their species survives, so will the individual. For instance, if you become an Immortal, then as long as humanity survives, you will be able to appear or disappear at will.

"Some have even suggested that the megaverse itself is an Immortal. Who knows?"

Lu Yin felt amazed. "All of these ideas sound plausible."

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