Stellar Steps

Chapter 10 - Stars Revealed by the Palm

That Night in Zhongshan

After sending Xu San away, Lu Yin returned to the large tree outside the military tent and looked up at the sky.

The apocalypse had cleansed Earth's air, allowing him to see more stars.

For days, he had been practicing the Celestial Star Technique. Imitating the movement of celestial bodies was no easy task, and Lu Yin initially had no idea where to start. But today, after touching the marks left by Zhoushan's strikes, he faintly sensed the power of Zhoushan’s battle with Auden, and this gave him an inspiration as he gazed at the night sky.

As time passed, the surrounding noise faded away, and one by one, the other stars in his vision gradually disappeared. Only the bright light of the moon remained.

This glow illuminated the night sky and Lu Yin himself, filling his eyes until nothing else remained.

Without realizing it, he raised his hand, creating ripples in the air as he absorbed energy into his body, almost visible to the n***d eye. In his palm, a faint star glowed—it was the moon, revolving around his hand. A star appeared in his palm—this was the **Celestial Star Palm Technique**.

Lu Yin's body swayed as he returned to his senses, gazing in awe at the star in his hand. He could feel how terrifyingly powerful it was. Although he had no direct comparison, he felt that this one move might even astonish Zhoushan.

Lu Yin casually dispersed the star and felt the vigorous energy coursing through his body. This was the energy he had absorbed, unrestricted by energy crystals—he could absorb it anywhere, anytime. Additionally, he absorbed it at twice the speed of Asda and the others. This was the Celestial Star Technique, and he had finally reached its initial stage.

Just as Lu Yin dispersed the star in his palm, Zhoushan suddenly opened his eyes. For a moment, he felt a hint of unease, but it quickly faded. "An illusion? I guess today’s battle was exhausting."

The Next Day

Lu Yin received a notification—Zhoushan had personally ordered him to support the northern front.

The northern front was the battlefield where Jinling was attempting to open a path to the northern capital. Zhoushan had always aimed to link Jinling with the capital and then connect with the other six saints to reclaim China together. The plan was sound but incredibly challenging. Just a small stretch of road had taken months, and they hadn't even covered a tenth of the route. Communication lines had long been severed.

The front was crucial to Zhoushan; no matter how difficult, he focused his attention there. Of the fourteen commanders in the Penal Corps, nearly half were stationed at the front, showing Zhoushan’s determination to connect Jinling and Beijing.

This time, Lu Yin would travel with Kang Dafeng and Luo Yun, a commander known for his alluring appearance who had always been curious about him.

Leading a force of ten thousand, Lu Yin and the others departed from Jinling, heading north.

“Honestly, this is more of a road repair mission than a front-line support,” Luo Yun sighed wearily.

The army had been moving for an entire day with minimal rest; no wonder Luo Yun was complaining.

The journey was rough, with frequent stops for vehicle repairs and road leveling, which slowed their progress.

In another armored vehicle, Lu Yin closed his eyes to rest, occasionally glancing up at the sky. As he looked at the glaring sunlight, he wondered if he could one day replicate the sun’s orbit. If successful, his energy absorption rate would double, and he could sense that he was close to reaching the Discovery Realm.

But simulating the sun’s orbit wasn’t easy. Perhaps he should start with Earth itself. He didn’t necessarily need the night sky; he could try using star maps and videos from the peaceful era.

What he sought was a sense of harmony with the universe’s movements, something he would keep practicing continuously.

As they passed through a city, flames burned on either side, and zombies roamed, occasionally attacking the convoy, only to be swept away by gunfire.

“Control yourselves! We only have so many bullets!” Kang Dafeng yelled, and immediately the gunfire slowed.

In the armored vehicle, Xu San chuckled, “The longer the apocalypse lasts, the less useful hot weapons are. If we don’t use them now, when will we? Before long, these guns will be nothing more than scrap metal.”

Lu Yin looked out the window, frowning as more and more zombies gathered. “Tell them to pick up the pace. Don’t get surrounded by a zombie horde in the city—it’s a waste of time.”

“Got it, Boss,” Xu San replied as he left the vehicle.

Soon, the convoy sped up.

After defeating Zhao Yu, Lu Yin’s status among the commanders was high. Kang Dafeng and Luo Yun didn’t dare argue with him.

Speaking of Zhao Yu, Lu Yin genuinely admired her. She’d dared to cross hostile territory alone and made it to Jinling safely; not many people had that kind of courage.

Before long, the convoy came to a halt—the road ahead had been destroyed, and repairs were underway.

Lu Yin closed his eyes, tapping the air with his fingers and occasionally twisting them, imitating the trajectories of celestial movements.

Suddenly, there was a loud shout. Kang Dafeng had started slaughtering zombies, cursing as he went.

Annoyed, Lu Yin glanced over, but he didn’t pay much attention.

Xu San praised, “As expected of a commander. Those zombies fled at the sight of him.”

“Tell Kang Dafeng to get back here so we can move. There are too many zombies to kill them all,” Lu Yin said coldly.

Xu San nodded and was about to leave the vehicle again but turned back helplessly. “Boss, Kang Dafeng has chased the zombies into that abandoned building.”

**Lu Yin Looked Up**

Lu Yin looked up and studied the scene for a while before stepping out of the armored vehicle with a grave expression on his face.

"Boss, what's wrong?" Xu San asked.

Lu Yin squinted his eyes. "There’s no sound."

Xu San thought for a moment. "Yeah, there's no sound of fighting from the building."

"Brother Lu, where did Kang Dafeng go?" Luo Yun approached and asked.

Lu Yin said in a low voice, "Stay here, I’ll go check it out." After that, he drew out an iron rod and walked toward the abandoned building.

Asta's short knife was still in Jinling, and Lu Yin hadn’t expected the Penal Corps to return it to him. He had also rejected the steel knife Zhoushan offered him, opting to use the iron rod instead.

The outer perimeter of the abandoned building was burning with flames, making the place look eerie even under the sunlight.

Lu Yin slowly entered the building, and inside, he saw Kang Dafeng’s knife, but there was no sign of him.

Taking a few steps into the building, Lu Yin took out Asta’s personal terminal from his Space Ring and tapped a few times to check the combat power readings. At the terminal, an arrow pointed to the rear right, followed by a set of numbers—900.

Suddenly, Lu Yin’s body shifted sideways as a white thread cut through the air, crashing into the wall and leaving a massive c***k.

He looked over to see a huge mutated spider, its six pairs of blood-red eyes glaring ominously. There was a piece of bloodstained cloth at the corner of its mouth—it was from the Penal Corps.

Lu Yin sighed. Kang Dafeng was dead, eaten by the mutated spider. He had arrived too late.

The mutated spider had 900 combat powers, equivalent to the peak of the Earth realm. Kang Dafeng had just entered the Earth realm, so he was no match for it.

Lu Yin gripped the iron rod tightly and charged forward. He swung the rod, and the mutated spider’s eight legs sprung up in an attempt to evade, but in the next moment, Lu Yin vanished and reappeared behind the spider. With a swift strike, he cleaved through the spider’s body, causing Kang Dafeng’s half-digested corpse to fall out.

The scene was disgusting, and Lu Yin frowned as he turned and walked away.

---

**Back at the Convoy**

When Lu Yin returned to the convoy, he instructed Xu San to announce that no one was to leave the convoy without permission. Anyone who did would be expelled from the Penal Corps.

"Kang Dafeng is really dead?" Luo Yun asked, shocked.

Lu Yin replied indifferently, "You can go check the building. His body hasn’t been fully digested; you can still make out his form."

Luo Yun’s face turned pale. The commanding officer, a proud leader, was dead without even making a sound. If Lu Yin hadn’t intervened, Kang Dafeng would have been fully consumed by the spider. This was the brutal reality of the apocalypse—no one, not even a commander, was safe.

Xu San also turned pale and immediately got into the armored vehicle, deciding not to leave Lu Yin's side no matter what.

Luo Yun also boarded Lu Yin's vehicle, unwilling to leave.

Lu Yin sighed, "As long as you stay in the convoy, you’ll be fine."

Luo Yun rolled her eyes at him. "Easy for you to say. Who knows what other mutated creatures are out there? It’s safer here with you."

Lu Yin didn’t reply to Luo Yun and gave the order for the convoy to continue.

---

**The Road Ahead**

"Boss, should we report this to Jinling? After all, the death of a commander isn’t a small matter," Xu San asked.

Lu Yin responded indifferently, "There’s no rush. We’ll report when we reach the front. We might not even make it to the front line."

His words caused Xu San to turn even paler.

Luo Yun licked her lips and unconsciously inched closer to Lu Yin.

"It can’t be that bad. We should be able to safely reach the front," Xu San tried to comfort himself.

Lu Yin stared out the window as the convoy slowly moved forward.

"On the other hand, Kang Dafeng was really unlucky. He just had to chase after that building; otherwise, he wouldn’t have died," Xu San muttered, thinking that talking more would make him feel safer.

His words were said without much thought, but they caught Lu Yin’s attention. He suddenly looked up. "What did you say? Say that again?"

Xu San froze. "I said Kang Dafeng was really unlucky. He just had to chase after that building; otherwise, he wouldn’t have died."

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. Chase? Zombies? The building? Wait—zombies didn’t have consciousness, but they did have instincts. They could avoid danger. That mutated spider was clearly very dangerous, and the zombies shouldn’t have approached it. Yet they still fled into that building. Why?

Having experienced many dangerous situations in the past six months of the apocalypse, Lu Yin knew zombies well. Even if they were afraid of Kangs Dafeng, they wouldn’t have run into a place with a far more dangerous creature.

---

**End of Chapter**