Before long, the Mad Viper Knight arrived at a dim alley that was beside the rail. Two figures who were hiding in the dark appeared in front of him.
Lu Yin leaned against the wall and concealed his aura.
“The location for the tribute payment this time will be Malu Planet, 723rd Zhongxing Street. You better be prepared,” a low voice called out.
The Mad Viper Knight replied, “I was prepared since long ago.”
“Of course, our region won’t be surpassed by others again this time,” the other person replied.
“Alright, the captain won’t tolerate failure. You should know that by now.” And with that, one of the figures turned to leave.
The other person eyed the Mad Viper Knight. “Are you really prepared?”
“Yeah, don’t worry.”
“The Innerverse is incomparable to the Outerverse. It’s very difficult to get a hold of a piece of it with your strength. You’d best watch out for yourself.” Then, that person also left.
The Mad Viper Knight did not wait around, and he also quickly left.
Lu Yin did not move. Malu Planet, 723rd Zhongxing Street. This address had piqued his interest. What interested him even more was the word “tribute.” Doesn’t that mean money? He connected the word with the Mad Viper Knight’s status as a pirate and realized that the words were likely related to paying tribute to a more powerful pirate group.
This was interesting news, and he might possibly wait to fish for something bigger.
Lu Yin left, and as he made his way back, he tried to remember the emblem that he had seen on the Mad Viper Knight’s clothes. He had caught a glimpse of it, so he tried to search it up on the network through his gadget, but he couldn’t find anything.
It didn’t take long for Lu Yin to return to his spacecraft. Once there, he searched the network again, only this time, he used the status that his Honor Points gave him. With that, he was able to find the emblem; it was the insignia of the Blackbeard Pirate Group, a powerful band of pirates.
Since the universe had a righteous side, there was naturally a darker side as well. Pirate groups were one facet of that dark side, and the Blackbeard Pirate Group was definitely one of the more well known representatives of them. Chaos Flowzone was already a territory filled with the Innerverse’s dark side, and the Blackbeard Pirates were actually the unofficial king of all the pirate crews within Chaos Flowzone. Any pirate group that sought to make a living in Chaos Flowzone had to pay tribute to the Blackbeard Pirates.
After receiving the tribute, the Blackbeard Pirates would provide a certain degree of protection to the smaller pirate groups, but, of course, the amount of protection corresponded with the size of the tribute.
Lu Yin had never thought that the Mad Viper Knight would actually join something like the Blackbeard Pirates, or that he would qualify to bear their emblem. The man must have given them something extraordinary. It was a pity; if Lu Yin had managed to capture him back then, then that object would have been his.
The Blackbeard Pirates were the Chaos Flowzone’s unofficial king of the underworld, and their power was evident for all to see.
Pirates were generally a relaxed bunch, and Highsage Leon could rely on just his reputation to control a portion of all pirate groups, such as those who had attacked the various Outerverse powers that supported Puyu. However, he definitely could not manipulate all the pirate groups in the universe. This so-called Pirate King was nothing more than a title representing him being the strongest; it didn’t actually hold any sort of authority.
This Blackbeard Pirates obviously did not answer to Highsage Leon, which meant that Lu Yin had no reason to resist plundering them.
Lu Yin was emotionally moved; he was lacking in money, and it was being offered in spades right here. However, he had to be careful. It would be alright if his opponent was an Explorer, but if a Cruiser appeared, then he would be rendered unable to act, or else he could be easily surrounded.
These Blackbeard Pirates could unify all the pirate groups within Chaos Flowzone, and they might even have an almighty Enlighter among their ranks, whose power level would surpass 200,000. Even if Lu Yin acted, he definitely had to make sure to not leave any trails that would cause him trouble in the future.
Lu Yin was greatly anticipating this matter, and he grew very excited.
When the Tributary Ark stopped, and its rail extended out, Lu Yin quickly changed the warship’s route and headed towards Malu Planet. He had done his due diligence and knew that Malu Planet’s location did not deviate far from his original path towards Deep Crimson Planet.
At the same time, the Mad Viper Knight’s spacecraft also started heading towards Malu Planet.
Malu Planet was just a planet with a basic civilization that had just reached the initial stages of exploring the universe. It was even more primitive than the planet where Lu Yin had been teleported to by Mister Mu. Malu Planet had not even established contact with any higher civilizations yet, so there was no space station there.
Lu Yin took a personal spacecraft and found a landing site before leaving the warship with a rumble. When he entered Malu Planet’s atmosphere, the warship continued on its original route since they were not needed on the planet below.
The personal spacecraft crashed into the giant hill. The hatch opened up, and Lu Yin casually drove the spacecraft another hundred meters underground before covering the area up with soil.
The landing of the spacecraft had created a great disturbance that had definitely attracted attention. He did not want his spacecraft to be towed away by someone else.
He checked his location since he had looked at Malu Planet’s map before landing. He quickly disappeared, leaving nothing but a spatial crack that continued to extend out for a few seconds after he left.
The planet’s civilization gave Lu Yin a sense of one whose technology was still budding. The people here had only recently learned to manufacture firearms, which was very primitive. 723rd Zhongxing Street was located within a city, and the building looked like a church.
Lu Yin did not know if any experts from the Blackbeard Pirates would be present, so he concealed his aura and found some clothes in the planet’s style. He stood some distance away from the meeting place and filled his eyes with star energy. He saw an enormous convergence of rune lines; there was a Cruiser there.
Lu Yin averted his gaze and did not dare to observe that person anymore. Who would have imagined that the Blackbeard Pirates would assign Cruisers to collect this tribute. This made things troublesome, since he could not deal with so many powerhouses by himself. It was even possible that stronger crew members would arrive later. These Blackbeard Pirates were truly powerful.
Lu Yin did not dare to stick around. Even though his Invisible Aura Technique and his domain were concealing his aura, he still did not feel at ease. His physical body was extraordinarily tough and it greatly surpassed what the natives of this planet could achieve. Even something like the strength of his heartbeat could give him away, but fortunately, he had kept his distance out of caution and had avoided being discovered.
He distanced himself from the meeting place and sighed. It was impossible for him to plunder from an existence like the Blackbeard Pirates, and it was an even greater pity since the tribute definitely surpassed his wildest dreams.
Hold on—robbing here might not be possible, but what about other places? Like the landing site.
Lu Yin activated his gadget and scanned through the surrounding regions. He had chosen to land in a hilly zone, and any cultivators coming here would likely choose something similar. Also, since these people would be in a rush to deliver the tribute, they would definitely choose the closest landing site to the city.
Around the city, there were plains, hills, and even a forest a bit further away. These were the three most likely spots for another cultivator to land their spacecraft.
Most people would not pick hills, and the forest was a bit more likely compared to the plains since the trees were good for hiding.
Lu Yin’s eyes flashed, and he made some calculations centered around the city. His gadget’s ability to detect power levels did not extend to the forest, which meant that any battle in the forest would not cause any reaction from his gadget.
As long as there was no reaction, things would be alright. He thought about it for a moment and then quickly sped off.
After some time, Lu Yin approached the fringes of the forest, where he was expecting some people to arrive with a spacecraft. He struck out at the void with a palm, only using a normal Limiteer’s strength. He was trying to probe whether or not those Cruisers back at the meeting place would react. If they didn’t, then it meant that he would not attract any attention if he made a commotion here. If they did, then he would still be able to escape since if he used his Invisible Aura Technique, the Cruisers would not be able to find him as even the average Hunter might not be able to detect him.
The worst case scenario was being discovered, but Lu Yin could defend himself as long as a Hunter did not show up. If he was unlucky, and a Hunter actually did show up, then Mister Mu’s token was not just for show. Although it could only be used once, it was an object that could save his life. This plan was foolproof.
He waited, but there was no reaction from the Cruisers. Lu Yin mulled over this result and then made another attack, this time with enough power that it surpassed what a normal Explorer was capable of. He waited for another period of time, but there was still no reaction.
He released a breath; this area was safe. Even if a battle broke out, it would not attract the attention of those Cruisers.
None of them comprehended a domain; they were just average Cruisers.
Not much time passed before Lu Yin excitedly looked up from the top of a large tree within the forest. Several red dots were approaching him, which were descending spacecraft. One of them was headed towards the forest while the other spacecraft descended in other directions.
Fortunately, several spacecraft landed at the same time in various directions in order to avoid attracting the Cruisers’ attention.
Those who were appearing on Malu Planet right now were likely making the trip in order to deliver their tribute to the Blackbeard Pirates.
Lu Yin hurriedly concealed himself and stared at the skies as he prepared to mount his sneak attack. After all, these pirate groups that made a living in Chaos Flowzone were not weak; a direct confrontation would be a serious fight.
Rumble
The ground shook, and an enormous air wave burned the forest in all directions.
A small spacecraft crashed into the ground, and the hatch opened. A formidable-looking middle-aged man stepped out, quickly followed by a dozen other people. They were mostly Limiteers, but there were even some Scouts and Melders among them. Lastly, there were also two Explorers.
That middle-aged man was a Cruiser.
“Captain, we’ll wait for you here.”
The man nodded and headed out towards the city.
Lu Yin did not hesitate; this person’s rune lines did not amount to much, and he could not compare to the Cruiser who had been thrown into the storm with Lu Yin. Thus, he was confident in being able to deal with this person.
The fierce-looking male had just stepped out of the forest when he ran into many natives who were carrying water over to extinguish the fire. The Cruiser paid them no heed and was about to go around them when one native blocked him and fearfully asked, “My lord, could you tell us if this forest fire is large? Please, help us put it out.”
The man stared at the native. “Scram.”
The native was anxious, but he wanted to keep the man from moving past him.
Bloodlust flashed in the Cruiser’s eyes, and he casually waved a hand. According to his understanding, this native should have died, but in the very next instant, he felt that something was amiss. His arm had been grabbed by an opponent with an abnormal strength, and he immediately realized that things were bad. His first reaction was to retreat, but it was already too late. His chest took a solid palm strike, and a strike with multiple Overlaying Stacks crushed his organs and flung his body into the forest.
The man spat out a mouthful of blood, and his eyes turned bloodshot. He flipped around and immediately donned his ring armor.
Lu Yin used Flash to appear behind the man and struck out again. Thirty Stacks crashed into him, giving the man no chance to call for help.
The man was overwhelmed by the force and tried to dodge, but his organs had already been heavily injured, and he could no longer move his body dexterously. He was once again struck by a ruthless palm and blasted into the ground. Fortunately, he had put on his ring armor, or else that palm strike would have killed him.
Within the forest, two attacks were launched towards Lu Yin, but he effortlessly dodged them both. He then used the Skybeast Claw to quickly take care of the two Explorers, while the rest of the group could not withstand Lu Yin’s star energy pressure and simply fell unconscious.
