Elder Lohar was stunned by Lu Yin’s revelation. “What did you just say?”
Lu Yin somberly answered, “The Sixth Mainland has asked the Technocracy for an army of tens of millions of androids to reinforce them. This is a power that the Innerverse has no hope of stopping, and even the entire Fifth Mainland would struggle to resist it. Elder Lohar, you should now understand why we need to abandon Ironblood Weave.”
Elder Lohar finally realized that Ironblood Weave was not being abandoned just for Lu Yin’s sake, but in order to get the Sixth Mainland to fight against the Astral Beast Domain so that the Human Domain would be able to relieve some of the Sixth Mainland’s pressure. This was the real big picture to consider.
Losing one stronghold would give them the hope of prospering in the future.
“Tell me, do the protectors of Ironblood Weave only dream of defending the weave and to stay there? Elder, pass along a message for me to everyone in Ironblood Weave: I, Lu Yin, promise to one day lead them out of Ironblood Weave and into the Primal Zone. We will force our way into the Astral Beast Domain and into the heart of the Celestial Beast Empire!” Lu Yin shouted.
Elder Lohar had cultivated for many, many years, and he tended to be dispassionate towards most things. However, Lu Yin’s declaration instantly ignited the old man’s passion. He felt that he could see a human army forcing its way into the Primal Zone one day in the future, leaving the Astral Beast Domain powerless to stop them. The dream of Ironblood Weave’s defenders? Lu Yin had just given voice to the dream of countless cultivators!
“I see. Alliance Leader Lu, you can be assured that there will be no group in Ironblood Weave resisting the retreat orders,” Elder Lohar solemnly vowed.
Lu Yin ended the call.
Nearby, the Second Night King and Liu Huang both stared at Lu Yin as though they were looking at a stranger. Both of them had altered their appearance in order to avoid being recognized by Yuan Shi.
Both of the powerhouses had heard Lu Yin’s words to Elder Lohar, and they could not believe that an old man had been roused into a blazing passion with just a few words from a youth. This was the charm of a born ruler. If anyone else had tried to tell Elder Lohar the same exact words, the old man would have slapped them before they even finished speaking. However, he had had a different reaction when Lu Yin had spoken.
Everyone believed that Lu Yin could actually accomplish what he had claimed. Even the Second Nightking was confident in Lu Yin’s abilities, as the youth had already accomplished too many legendary shocking feats, which made his claims all too convincing no matter what he declared he would one day do.
The Cloud Valley Master only gave Lu Yin a month, but after calculating things, Lu Yin knew that it would be enough.
This month would give the cultivators in Ironblood Weave enough time needed to leave, and the Celestial Beast Empire would quickly see the opportunity and enter the Outerverse.
There was absolutely no possibility of reconciliation or cooperation between the Sixth Mainland and the Astral Beast Domain. After all, the Sixth Mainland had not only invaded the Human Domain, but also the Astral Beast Domain. The hatred between the two was not small either, and more importantly, Lu Yin intended to quickly add more fuel to the fire.
With the remaining time and the distance that needed to be covered by the retreating cultivators, Lu Yin needed to wait at least nine days before speaking with the Cloud Valley Master again.
At that time, the ball would be back in Lu Yin’s court.
Nine days passed in a flash, and Lu Yin glanced at his gadget to see a message from Emperor Luo: time was up.
Lu Yin stepped out and entered space. “Tell the Cloud Valley Master that I’m here.”
Across from Lu Yin, many of the people from the Sixth Mainland glared fiercely at Lu Yin with expressions that seemed to say that they wanted to tear him apart.
The Cloud Valley Master emerged from the void and stepped forward. He was accompanied by several other old powerhouses.
“Alliance Leader Lu, have you made a decision?”
Nong Laohan stood next to the Cloud Valley Master and observed Lu Yin with a great deal of interest.
Lu Yin and the Cloud Valley Master stared at each other, and Lu Yin casually replied, “I’ve made a decision. We’ll leave.”
The Cloud Valley Master sneered. “You were given a month, which means that you only have half a month left.”
Lu Yin nodded. “That’s enough.”
The Cloud Valley Master was taken aback at the relaxed response. That’s enough?
“They can completely evacuate Ironblood Weave with just six days, so that’s enough,” Lu Yin explained.
The Cloud Valley Master was stunned for a moment, but then his expression changed drastically. “You moved the defenders of Ironblood Weave out? You dare to collude with the Astral Beast Domain?!”
Lu Yin blinked. “What collusion? This junior really can’t understand what Senior is talking about.”
“Lu Yin, you pulled out Ironblood Weave’s defenders, which is no different from allowing the Astral Beast Domain to invade the Outerverse! You have betrayed humanity!” Ancestor Autumnfrost shouted fiercely.
Nong Laohan frowned; this kid was ruthless.
Lu Yin shrugged. “The Ironblood Weave is also a part of my Great Eastern Alliance, so what’s wrong with having the people there retreat?”
The Cloud Valley Master was truly furious. He had never even considered that Lu Yin would evacuate Ironblood Weave. While it was true that the weave technically belonged to the Great Eastern Alliance, that was merely a formality as the alliance could not control the weave at all. If necessary, the Great Eastern Alliance could even be forced to support Ironblood Weave, as it was a special region that was under the direct control of the Fifth Mainland’s Hall of Honor.
The Ironblood Weave’s purpose was to prevent the Astral Beast Domain from invading the Outerverse, and the Cloud Valley Master had never thought that Lu Yin might do something this ruthless. He actually preferred to give human territory to those beasts than to the Sixth Mainland!
“Alliance Leader Lu, if you do this, how will you explain yourself to humanity when this information is released?” the Cloud Valley Master asked coldly.
Lu Yin gave a small smile. “I haven’t done anything. You told me to have the Great Eastern Alliance leave the Outerverse, and that’s what we’re doing, so what’s the issue? Actually, that reminds me—the fortresses in Ironblood Weave haven’t been completely evacuated, so we need at least six more days to pull them out. That should be enough for you to send someone over.”
The Cloud Valley Master turned to look at Ancestor Autumnfrost. “Get your Autumnfrost family to Ironblood Weave as soon as possible. You must arrive within six days.”
Ancestor Autumnfrost’s expression grew ugly. His Autumnfrost family had settled in the area in the furthest north in the Outerverse. “Elder, Ironblood Weave should not be given to my Autumnfrost family-”
Nong Laohan interrupted before the other Cosmic Imprinter could finish talking. “Just move your family there as temporary guardians. You’ll be replaced eventually, so you don’t need to worry about being stuck there forever.”
Taking control of Ironblood Weave meant protecting the border against the Astral Beast Domain. While the Sixth Mainland was not afraid of the Astral Beast Domain, it also did not want to go to war. The Astral Beast Domain was too desolate, and they had learned from their previous attempted invasion that the gains from invading the Astral Beast Domain would not equal their losses.
No one would willingly take on a thankless task like fighting against the Astral Beast Domain.
Naturally, Ancestor Autumnfrost did not want to accept this task either, but the fact remained that the Autumnfrost family was the closest to Ironblood Weave out of anyone else in the Sixth Mainland. Ironblood Weave could not be left undefended.
There was a clear hierarchy among cultivators. Even if powerful Progenitors could easily end a war, they would not make moves lightly. As far as Progenitors were concerned, wars were nothing more than games. By the same token, as far as the Cloud Valley Master and others at his level were concerned, the possibility of the Astral Beast Domain invading the Outerverse was something rather petty that needed to be handled, and the Autumnfrost family was a qualified candidate to handle the matter. Thus, there was no need for the other powerhouses to make a move.
Unless, of course, the Celestial Beast Empire launched an all-out assault.
Wait, the Celestial Beast Empire?
The Cloud Valley Master suddenly stared at Lu Yin. “Does the Celestial Beast Empire know about what you’ve done in Ironblood Weave?”
Lu Yin was surprised by this question. The Cloud Valley Master was far from stupid, as he had actually guessed this matter.
Given the strength of the Astral Beast Domain’s forces in the Primal Zone, Ancestor Autumnfrost could clean out the entire place out by himself, which would defeat the entire purpose of Lu Yin’s plot. This was why Lu Yin had tried to find a way to leak the information to the Celestial Beast Empire before he returned to speak with the Cloud Valley Master at the border. Only if an expert from the Celestial Beast Empire moved out would there be a threat to the Sixth Mainland.
The Sixth Mainland, the Fifth Mainland, and the Astral Beast Domain could all clearly see what Lu Yin was aiming at, but none of them could back down from it.
The Astral Beast Domain could not resist the temptation of gaining access to the Outerverse, and neither could they eliminate their hatred for the Sixth Mainland. It was also impossible for the Sixth Mainland to allow Ironblood Weave to fall into the control of the Astral Beast Domain.
There could only be a single reason why LU Yin’s plan might fail, which would be if he had underestimated people’s hearts. People were born with a propensity for both good and evil, and Lu Yin was treating the Astral Beast Domain and the Sixth Mainland as the same sort of evil. If both sides were better than Lu Yin believed, the Astral Beast Domain would not enter Ironblood Weave, and the Sixth Mainland would not end up fighting with the Astral Beast Domain. That was the only way that his plan could fail.
However, was that even possible? Lu Yin never even considered it. All he thought of was adding fuel to the fire.
The fire had to be a blazing bonfire before Ancestor Autumnfrost reached Ironblood Weave.
Also, the Autumnfrost family was effectively gone now.
“I’ll ask you again: does the Celestial Beast Empire know anything about what is happening in Ironblood Weave?” The Cloud Valley Master’s voice was like steel, and a terrifying pressure radiated from the man. The oppressive aura of an expert with a power level of more than a million was not something that Lu Yin could handle.
Fortunately, Yuan Shi quickly appeared to block the pressure for Lu Yin.
“They know,” Lu Yin said while staring back at the Cloud Valley Master. “That’s my guess.”
The Cloud Valley Master’s gaze bore through him, and killing intent flashed through his eyes as he nodded. “Well, this was certainly a ruthless enough move. You deserve your position as the leader who united the Outerverse. Still, I’ve seen through your scheme. Do you really believe that this will work? Even if my Sixth Mainland and the Astral Beast Domain engage in an all-out war, just the Autumnfrost family, the Nong family, and a few others will be enough to block the Astral Beast Domain’s invasion. Or do you believe that the Astral Beast Domain actually dares to fight against the full power of my Sixth Mainland?”
Lu Yin smiled. “All I know is that it’s not smart to try to grab food from a beast’s mouth. When have you ever seen a beast spit out meat that’s already in its mouth?”
The Ironblood Weave was meat in the mouth of the Astral Beast Domain, as Lu Yin had personally given it to them.
Elder Hua and others were obsessed with Ironblood Weave, but the Astral Beast Domain’s obsession was at least just as strong. In the same way that Elder Lohar yearned to push into the Primal Zone, the Astral Beast Domain also desired to conquer Ironblood Weave.
How could they give up such a wonderful opportunity?
Lu Yin had already presented his conditions to the Primal Zone, and the other party had immediately agreed. He knew that a war was about to break out between the Sixth Mainland and the Astral Beast Domain.
For this second conversation, the Cloud Valley Master was not nearly as calm as he had been the first time. He had completely underestimated Lu Yin’s ruthlessness.
The man was also clueless as to the fact that this plot had not been hatched by Lu Yin, but rather Wei Rong’s. If the Cloud Valley Master learned of this, he would absolutely make his way to the Innerverse and personally kill Wei Rong.
A weak, non-combatant had forced the Cloud Valley Master into a passive position.
Even though the Sixth Mainland did not particularly care about the Astral Beast Domain, once a war started, it would consume manpower and physical resources that were already in somewhat short supply.
Wei Rong had set up a battlefield in Ironblood Weave for the Sixth Mainland to use, and Lu Yin wanted to also do the same between Sky Creation Academy for the Sixth Mainland.
While Lu Yin had been making his way to the Great Eastern Alliance’s Outerverse border, he had reached out to a cyborg that the Technocracy had left at their border. Through this person, Lu Yin had gotten in touch with First Edition City, and he had requested for First Edition City to try their best to coerce the Sixth Mainland into attacking Sky Creation Academy. This had to happen as soon as possible, and in exchange, Lu Yin had agreed to Disassemble rare materials for First Edition City for half a year.
At the moment, Lu Yin was currently waiting for First Edition City to make their move. The moment that the Sixth Mainland was pulled into two different war fronts, they would no longer have the time to pay attention to the Great Eastern Alliance, and that would give the Great Eastern Alliance enough time to cleanly pull out of the Outerverse.
Lu Yin really wanted the Great Eastern Alliance to stay in the Outerverse, as he felt that the Outerverse was his territory, but he could not stop the flow of the times. The Sixth Mainland was not something that Lu Yin could resist, and the overseers, the Interstellar Supreme Court, and even Arch-Elder Zen could not do anything to repulse the Sixth Mainland.
…
In Ironblood Weave, above Brokenblade Fort, Charon reached out to touch the dark-red stone before looking out at the endless starry sky.
“Charon, it’s time to go.” Linley appeared and looked over at Charon before quietly informing the man that they needed to leave. Linley was a senior disciple of the Myriad Swords Peak, and he had once fought alongside Lu Yin in Ironblood Weave. At the time, Linley had been a Cruiser, but he had already become a Hunter.
