The Stargazing Deck could allow a person to see both the past or the present. This was not something that Lu Yin had paid much attention to in the past, but as more time passed, he had gradually realized that the Stargazing Deck was very mysterious.
It was also not a trivial matter that all of the other eight Starmasters had disappeared at the same time.
“Uncle, let’s go. Will you go with Xixi to the Stargazing Deck?” Zhou Xixi asked as hope filled her eyes. She was actually quite afraid of what would happen if she were discovered on her own. So, she wanted to drag Lu Yin along in order to feel safe.
Lu Yin nodded, as he also wanted to go see the Stargazing Deck again.
How many times had Lu Yin visited the Stargazing Deck? After thinking about it, he felt that this was his fourth time. He had used the Stargazing Deck twice and been refused access once.
Zhou Xixi was disappointed to see the Starmaster present at his post. “He’s really here… Forget it, I won’t be able to use it today.”
“Xixi, there’s something that I need to speak with the Starmaster about, so head on back first,” Lu Yin said.
Zhou Xixi looked at Lu Yin. “Uncle, you’ll definitely see Xixi’s next match, right?”
Lu Yin nodded with a smile. “Of course. Now go on.”
Zhou Xixi snorted, but it only took her three steps to leave after she turned around.
After the girl left, Lu Yin respectfully greeted the Starmaster. “Student Lu Yin would like to enter the Stargazing Deck.”
The Starmaster looked at the young man. “This is your fourth time asking, and the answer is no this time as well.”
Lu Yin shrugged. “This student still hasn’t graduated, and my strength is completely different from before. Could Starmaster make an exception? This student is confident that I’ll see a different vision from before.”
The Starmaster responded in a relaxed tone, “In that case, what should I do if all the Enlighters and Envoys ask to enter the Stargazing Deck?”
“This student still has not graduated,” Lu Yin protested.
“It’s because you are a student that you cannot repeatedly use the Stargazing Deck.”
Lu Yin changed tactics. “This student was asked to become a guest instructor by the headmaster.”
“But you haven’t agreed to accept that position yet,” the Starmaster retorted.
Lu Yin spoke loudly, “This student agrees to the headmaster’s request.”
The Starmaster stared intently at Lu Yin, and Lu Yin stared back just as intently.
After a while, the Starmaster simply said, “Guest Instructor Lu, you can enter the Stargazing Deck, but only once.”
Lu Yin was thrilled. “Thank you, Starmaster.”
Lu Yin thought back to the scene that he had witnessed when he had first used the Stargazing Deck. He was absolutely confident that he would be able to see deeper and further than back then, getting a different picture.
Lu Yin stepped forward and moved to the top of the Stargazing Deck. Suddenly, his body froze midstep. After a moment, his chest became hot, and all the fatesand inside his body suddenly appeared. The Stargazing Deck remained the same as ever, but in Lu Yin’s sight, Astral-10 had completely disappeared. The scene outside of Astral-10 started trembling violently. Images flashed by Lu Yin, but he could not get a clear look at any of them. It was as if he was watching time fly by, but it also felt like he was seeing imprints of events that had been left in time.
He tried his best to see any of the images clearly but failed.
At this same time, far away in another part of the universe, Xuan Jiu was eating a delicious meal when he suddenly vomited blood, and his face grew pale. He could not stop himself from clutching his head and screaming.
In the Astral Beast Domain, Skymender also spat up blood and slumped to the ground.
In the distant Perennial World, there was a woman who suddenly started bleeding from her mouth. Her eyes opened to reveal a piercing gaze filled with coldness and dignity as she spat out blood and muttered, “Everything has come to naught. Who? Who is it that is inviting Destiny?”
Lu Yin was clueless about all these events. The only thing occupying his mind was his attempt to see one of the scenes that flickered across his vision. He concentrated so hard that his eyes began to bleed.
Finally, the flickering images converged onto a single scene that Lu Yin could clearly observe. He saw a random Champions’ Stage set within a courtyard that has not been cleaned for a long time. There were bloodstains on the Champions’ Stage, and there was also a man kneeling on the ground close by.
The man looked uneasy as he knelt on the ground. It was impossible to know how long the man had held that position for. When Lu Yin saw the man’s face, it seemed extremely familiar, but at the same time, he could not recognize him.
Suddenly, the vision vanished, and Lu Yin felt as though he was falling through endless time and space to return back to Astral-10. His mind was spinning, and he almost collapsed. At the same time, his fatesand dispersed in all directions.
He wanted to stop it, but at this moment, his strength was completely gone and he could only watch as the fatesand scattered in every direction.
Fortunately, he was in Astral-10, and the scattered fatesand did not make it far before the Starmaster caught and suppressed it.
Lu Yin was gasping for air, and sweat was pouring down from his forehead. His entire body felt weak for a while, especially his chest. All of the death energy that he had accumulated from Gaia’s Swamp had completely vanished.
What had happened? He stared at the Stargazing Deck. Was there a connection? Lu Yin had possessed fatesand in the past when using the Stargazing Deck.
Could it have been the Starmaster?
Lu Yin raised his head and looked over at the Starmaster.
The Starmaster was staring at Lu Yin, he and solemnly stated, “I had nothing to do with any of it.”
Lu Yin was confused. “Starmaster, what just happened?”
The Starmaster shook his head. “I don’t know what you saw, but-” The man raised his hand to reveal the thirty nine pieces of fatesand that had left Lu Yin’s body. “It’s possible that possessing this caused you to trigger Destiny.”
Lu Yin was even more confused than before. “Trigger Destiny?”
The Starmaster returned the fatesand to Lu Yin, and the youth absorbed them back inside his body. Fortunately, nothing bad had happened.
“People from time immemorial often entrusted their unfulfilled wishes to the gods, and according to the legends, Destiny was the god that was trusted with those wishes. The Stargazing Deck is a place that the ancient people built to worship the gods,” the Starmaster slowly explained.
Lu Yin listened quietly. Destiny. It was Destiny again.
“However, this is just according to the legends. What relationship might exist between the Stargazing Decks and fatesand? No one knows, but both are related to Destiny in the legends. It’s possible that Destiny actually existed, or that there is some other connection between fatesand and the Stargazing Deck. The truth remains that nothing can be proven and that all we have to go on are myths and legends.”
Lu Yin asked, “Starmaster, do you believe in the legend?”
The Starmaster stared at Lu Yin. “Whether I believe in it or not makes no difference, as it has nothing to do with me.”
“Why does every branch of the Astral Combat Academy have a Stargazing Deck?”
“Humanity’s development and inheritances are inextricably tied. The Astral Combat Academy holds an inheritance that no one can destroy unless a catastrophe appears that humanity cannot withstand.”
Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. As far as he understood, each of the nine headmasters of the Astral Combat Academy’s branches was an Envoy, and even though Astral-3 had been destroyed, their headmaster had still killed the Sixth Mainland’s Imprinters. Not to mention, Astral-10’s mad headmaster had even forced back Xia Meng.
Every headmaster of the Astral Combat Academy was a very powerful Envoy.
This was a terrifying level of power.
It had to be acknowledged that, even at their peak, the Daynight clan had only possessed two or three Envoys. Not even the monstrous powers in the Neoverse possessed more Envoys than the Astral Combat Academy.
The Starmaster had spoken truly: the Astral Combat Academy contained an inheritance that could not be destroyed. Even if every power in the Innerverse joined together, they still would not be able to destroy the academy. The only reason why Astral-3 had been destroyed was because the Sixth Mainland had invaded and brought disaster upon the entire Fifth Mainland.
“The Stargazing Deck and the Three Realms Six Daos are both unique inheritances that were placed in the Astral Combat Academy. Is there no history regarding the Stargazing Decks?” Lu Yin was very curious about this fact. He felt that, as he accumulated more and more fatesand, his connection to Destiny had become more and more complicated. Thus, he was very eager to learn more.
He still remembered Xuan Jiu’s caution to not become involved with Destiny, but in the end, it seemed that Lu Yin had still influenced Destiny.
“No. Legends are just legends in the end. Those things are too old, and the Stargazing Deck is only used to guide new students when they first enter the academy now. When you first arrived, you also received this guidance, and that’s enough.” The Starmaster then sat down and closed his eyes.
Lu Yin shrugged and looked back at the Stargazing Deck. Too many images had appeared when he stepped onto that place; were each of the scenes that had flashed by guidance from Destiny? Why would Destiny guide him at all? He had seen a Champions’ Stage in one of the images, so did that mean that Destiny somehow knew that he was a part of the Lu family? Could the connection have been perceived through blood? His innate gift? Or even time?
Aside from the Champions’ Stage, there had been too many other scenes. What were the other ones? Did they also have a connection to Lu Yin? Or was it possible to see images that were related to other people? Was this Destiny’s power?
Everyone was entitled to their own privacy, but the scene that Lu Yin had just witnessed caused him to suddenly tremble. Was it possible that Destiny could freely spy on everyone?
Although the thought left him terrified, Lu Yin still wanted to see it again. He let out a long breath and looked up. “Starmaster, the Stargazing Decks are very important to the Astral Combat Academy, right?”
The Starmaster said nothing.
“Are the Stargazing Decks really nothing more than a guide? In that case, why did all of the other eight Starmasters leave their posts? If I’m right, they should be out searching for the Stargazing Deck that was lost when Astral-3 was destroyed,” Lu Yin theorized.
The Starmaster still remained completely silent.
Lu Yin knew that the man would not say anything, so without any other options, he simply bowed and turned to leave.
After Lu Yin was gone, the Starmaster’s eyes opened once again, and they contained conflicted emotions this time. “Triggering Destiny? I did not expect that there could be such a person. This might not be a bad thing.”
After Lu Yin left the Stargazing Deck, he visited Astral-10’s other mentors, hoping to learn more about the Stargazing Deck. However, no one could give him a real answer.
Old Cai’s response was simply lazy. “The Stargazing Deck? Who knows what’s going on with that. Anyways, when I got here, that thing was already here. If I knew how the hell it works, I’d be able to know everything.”
The Rainmaster showed surprise. “The Stargazing Deck? I don’t understand it, but it is found nowhere else in the entire universe. They are only located in my Astral Combat Academy.”
The Sandmaster smacked a student into the sand sea with a punch. “The Stargazing Deck? How should I know? I’ve never visited it. Curious? Of course I’m curious about it. The Stargazing Deck, the teleportation battles, and the Three Realms Six Daos are all mysteries. Are you going to explain them all to me?”
The Trialmaster opened his eyes. “The Stargazing Deck? Is there something like that here?”
Lu Yin was stuck. After he said his goodbyes to Big Pao and Little Pao, he left Astral-10 with Emperor Luo.
The Astral Combat Tournament was still going on, but Lu Yin intended to visit Gaia’s Swamp to replenish his death energy.
Without any death energy, he would not be able to use the God of Death’s Transformation. He also did not have any easy means of getting more death energy, which left him feeling very nervous.
At this moment, he knew of two different places where he could replenish his death energy: Gaia’s Swamp and the pocket space in the Outerverse on Aegis’s headquarters where the Bizarre Sect’s ruins were located.
Aegis’s headquarters was in the Outerverse, on the border between the Sixth Mainland and the Great Eastern Alliance. While it was rather inconvenient to travel to Gaia’s Swamp because of the distance, it was still a much better choice than returning to the Outerverse.
As for the Stargazing Deck, although Lu Yin could not understand it, it was clearly connected to Destiny. Also, since the God of Death had been a real figure in history, then Destiny must have existed as well.
They were both Ancient Progenitors, and it was possible that one really could access Destiny’s inheritance by accumulating all the pieces of fatesand in the universe. Lu Yin started to get some ideas. After all, even though he was afraid of Destiny, the urge to see those mysterious scenes of the future again was too strong.
There was also the scene of the Champions’ Stage and the person kneeling beside it. Thus, there had to still be people of the Lu family, and Lu Yin really wanted to know where that person was.
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