When Lu Yin thought about it, he realized that Liquor Hero’s method of using her Creation level star energy control to defeat the carrion beetle in ZENITH was really the only way to deal with these creatures. Not even Lu Yin’s God of Death Transformation could hurt the bugs.
Anyone would be terrified to know that they were being targeted by carrion beetles.
“Boy, I’m not joking! Give me Progenitor Wushang’s hide!” the carrion beetle said threateningly.
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “Go ahead and try it if you want to make trouble for me. Not even a Semi-Progenitor was able to kill me, so what are you bugs going to do?”
“I hope that you live long enough to leave the battlefield.” The carrion beetle’s voice turned cold.
Time passed, and Lu Yin could not sense any trace of the astral beast in the area. It should have finally left.
He heaved a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground. The trap that Xu Qing had set for Lu Yin had been completely ruthless, and Lu Yin had nearly died. On top of that, Elder Su had not been a reliable ally. If Lu Yin had known how things would turn out with Elder Su, he would have taken the Sea King along to fight against the mantis instead. The weak link in Lu Yin’s plan had been Elder Su. Fortunately, Jiang Chen had randomly appeared.
Lu Yin was also surprised to learn that Jiang Chen still had not caught the rabbit after all this time.
Lu Yin lifted his hand and activated his gadget to call Shui Chuanxiao.
“Alliance Leader, how are you?” Shui Chuanxiao asked anxiously.
“I’m fine now. How are things on the battlefield?”
There was only one thing that Shui Chuanxiao could say. “We’re still slowly but steadily retreating.”
“The giant praying mantis ambushed me here, so you should have the upper hand on the battlefield right now. Why are you still being forced back?”
“The sable escaped.”
Lu Yin frowned. If he had known that this would happen, he would have simply killed the Karmic Flame Sable instead of capturing it. “This war should end soon if Xu Qing set a trap for me.”
“Alliance Leader, you are too reckless,” Shui Chuanxiao said bluntly, “I understand Xu Qing, and his traps almost always succeed. On top of that, the sable’s escape was timed too precisely.”
Lu Yin started to get nervous. “He really is a terrible threat. We should find a way to eliminate him during this war.”
Shui Chuanxiao countered, “But he is also one of the rare few in the Celestial Beast Empire who’s capable of logical thought. If he dies, the replacement general may not have that same trait.”
Lu Yin realized that this was quite accurate after thinking about it. Xu Qing and Lu Yin had tacitly agreed to minimize the losses on both sides during this war, which had worked very well for the Great Eastern Alliance. If a new general stepped in, the Great Eastern Alliance’s fleet might be completely wiped out.
It was not that Xu Qing’s tactics were wrong, but rather that he wanted to minimize his own losses in preparation to deal with either the Sixth Mainland or the Hall of Honor’s hidden strength next.
The more intelligent the individual was, the warier they would be, and Xu Qing’s wariness worked to the Great Eastern Alliance’s advantage.
Lu Yin gained a headache as he thought of such matters. “I’ll be back soon.”
He then hung up.
Lu Yin soon arrived at Jinling and met with Zhou Shan, who was overjoyed to see Lu Yin. “Are you alright?”
Lu Yin nodded, though his face looked solemn. “Earth has suffered because of me, but don’t worry. This sort of thing won’t happen again.”
Zhou Shan shook his head. “If not for you, Earth’s population would have been forced to become cannon fodder long ago, so don’t overthink things. Everyone here feels grateful to you.”
Lu Yin sighed. “I need to leave now, but I’ll come back after the war’s over.”
As he watched Lu Yin leave, Zhou Shan said in a kind yet bitter tone, “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. We keep causing trouble for you.”
While a crisis had been dealt with, Lu Yin was not optimistic about the situation. Xu Qing had caught hold of Lu Yin’s weakness.
After threatening Lu Yin with Earth once, Xu Qing could certainly do it again.
The fighting stopped on the battlefield, though the Great Eastern Alliance fleet continued to retreat southwards, leaving behind countless corpses littering outer space. Innumerable astral beasts let out roars.
Lu Yin’s expression was dark when he returned to the fleet.
His fleet could not endure many more battles. It was time to call in the other divisions of the Allied forces from the Innerverse. This was a war that involved the entire Great Eastern Alliance, and there were still many of the Allied Forces’ divisions in the Innerverse.
This would deal with the problems of the weakening fleet, but Lu Yin’s biggest problem at this time were the Envoys, especially Mountain God and those like him. Such people had no intention of even fighting, and they simply gave ground the entire time they were on the battlefield.
The more he thought about this, the more annoyed Lu Yin became. He wanted to just kill an Envoy to set an example, but he was worried that doing so would rebound and create even more complications in the Innerverse.
Lu Yin stared at his gadget and could not stop himself from calling Wei Rong. “How long do you need?”
“It’ll take another three months, at the earliest.”
“I can’t wait that long. Pick up the speed,” Lu Yin ordered. He had told Wei Rong that there was no real hurry, but Lu Yin had ignored both human nature and the Astral Beast Domain’s reinforcements in his previous calculations.
From Lu Yin’s original predictions, this part of his plan would only be implemented after the astral beasts’ third round of reinforcements arrived. He had not expected to be forced to reveal all of his cards after the first batch of reinforcements. In fact, Xu Qing even had the freedom to set traps for Lu Yin. If the Great Eastern Alliance fell back any further, they would enter Frostwave Weave.
Most of the people living in Northcastle Weave had already been evacuated and sent to Frostwave Weave, but due to the time constraints, there were still many people who had not yet escaped.
This thought caused Lu Yin to worry even more.
“Understood,” Wei Rong replied.
Lu Yin ended the call, but as soon as he lowered his hand, the gadget beeped. It was a call from Xu Qing.
“Alliance Leader Lu, congratulations! You’ve managed to escape a catastrophe.” Xu Qing’s voice sounded quite relaxed.
Lu Yin sneered. “Commander Xu Qing, why do you sound so happy? Two of your Envoy-level powerhouses have disappeared. I wonder how you’ll be able to explain that loss to the Celestial Beast Empire?”
“Simple. It’s actually why I reached out to you, Alliance Leader Lu. I heard that you are in possession of a piece of Progenitor Wushang’s hide. Give it to me, and I will use that to retreat and offer an explanation,” Xu Qing said.
Lu Yin’s eyebrows rose. Was the carrion beetle actually that close to Xu Qing? Had that bug actually told the Void Thunderbeast about Progenitor Wushang’s hide? That should be impossible!
“The carrion beetle told you?” Lu Yin asked.
Xu Qing was taken aback. “The carrion beetle found out about it? Then it is true. Alliance Leader Lu, you are truly blessed. Progenitor Wushang’s hide has always remained within the Celestial Beast Empire, so I wonder, how did you come to possess it?”
“How did you find out that I have it, Commander?” Lu Yin wondered.
“You used it to save yourself on the battlefield, and I saw it then.”
Lu Yin immediately understood that he had been spotted when he had blocked the giant praying mantis’s attack. At that time, Lu Yin had used the corpse to block the mantis’s attack while simultaneously using Progenitor Wushang’s hide to stun the astral beast. It turned out that his actions had been seen by Xu Qing, as he was always observing Lu Yin.
“I’m sorry to cause you so much trouble, Commander Xu Qing. You actually have to make time to keep an eye on me even on the battlefield,” Lu Yin mocked.
Xu Qing smiled. “Alliance Leader Lu, I’ll be straight with you: give me Progenitor Wushang’s hide, and I can spare the humans who haven’t evacuated from Northcastle Weave yet.”
Lu Yin laughed. “Are you threatening me with the lives of those insignificant people?”
“Insignificant? If I remember correctly, the entire reason why you stepped into this war was to save those insignificant people,” Xu Qing retorted with a smile.
Lu Yin casually replied, “Yes, it was indeed to save them, but it’s impossible for me to sacrifice myself for them. Progenitor Wushang’s hide is a Progenitor item, and yet you want me to trade it for their lives? What gave you the confidence that this was a good idea?”
The truth was that Xu Qing was not confident in offering this deal. After all, as far as Xu Qing was concerned, trading Progenitor Wushang’s hide for the lives of regular humans was an absurd deal. The universe was a cruel place, and who would sacrifice themselves for others?
“In that case, what about Earth?” Xu Qing pressed.
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “What? Do you want to set another trap for me?”
Xu Qing’s voice grew cold. “Earth and Zenyu Star are both places in the Outerverse that you care deeply for. Give me Progenitor Wushang’s hide, or I’ll have the carrion beetle destroy both Earth and Zenyu Star.”
Lu Yin had knowingly stepped into an obvious trap without any hesitation for the sake of Earth. Xu Qing had already caught hold of this weakness. Because of this, there was also no reason for Lu Yin to hide anything, as Xu Qing was not foolish enough to believe such lies.
“The carrion beetle is already on Earth. Do you want to test me?” Xu Qing said lightly.
Even an Explorer could destroy a planet like Earth, let alone something as powerful as the carrion beetle.
“One year,” Lu Yin stated softly.
Xu Qing grew puzzled. “What?”
Lu Yin answered in a low voice, “My conditions are that you do not resume fighting this war for a year. You must give up on the Outerverse for this time, and you must also stop threatening me with the lives of ordinary humans. Only then will I give you Progenitor Wushang’s hide.”
“That’s impossible. A year is too long. Even if I agreed, the Celestial Demon Emperor will not. A month is the best I can do,” Xu Qing replied, “That’s the best that I’m authorized to do with my position as the general.”
“Half a year,” Lu Yin pressed.
Xu Qing shook his head. “I can push it to two months, but you don’t seem to understand: this is not a negotiation. You don’t have a choice but to agree.”
Lu Yin fell silent for a moment. “We will make the trade in ten days as I need that time to recover. We’ll make the trade in Flaxen Weave. I’ll give you the exact coordinates when it’s time.”
“Flaxen Weave? Why have the trade there?” Xu Qing wondered.
“How else can I make sure that this isn’t just another trap?” Lu Yin asked warily.
Xu Qing stared at a star chart for a moment, but he saw nothing wrong with the border between Flaxen and Northcastle Weaves. “Deal.”
Progenitor Wushang’s hide was not actually very useful to Lu Yin. If not for the fact that his blood-red bell had been shattered, Lu Yin would have never bothered to use Progenitor Wushang’s hide. However, it was completely different for the Astral Beast Domain.
Progenitor Wushang had been the Astral Beast Domain’s Progenitor, and the astral beasts practically worshiped the Progenitor in much the same way that the Human Domain revered Progenitor Chen. Xia Ji had done everything that he could to steal the Skystar Jade Wall, and it was entirely because of Progenitor Chen’s inheritance. Progenitor Wushang’s hide might have a connection to Progenitor Wushang’s inheritance.
The Ghost Monkey had told Lu Yin that Progenitor Wushang’s tomb could be found through his hide. Lu Yin had not believed that claim before, and even now, he still did not believe it. However, that did not mean that creatures from the Astral Beast Domain did not believe it.
The fact that Xu Qing had agreed to the deal showed just how important Progenitor Wushang’s hide was to the astral beasts.
After Lu Yin finished speaking with Xu Qing, he accessed his gadget again and brought up Qing Hua’s contact information.
The man’s voice was soon heard. “Alliance Leader Lu.”
Lu Yin looked very serious as he looked at the display. “Senior Qing Hua, how have you been recently?”
The man lazily answered, “Not very good. After all, I’m someone from the Progenitor of Secret Arts’ Territory.”
The Progenitor of Secret Arts had betrayed humanity, and the entire Progenitor of Secret Arts’ Territory was being investigated by the Sixth Mainland. Even Master Qing Hua, who was an Empyrean Imprinter, could not escape this investigation, and he had instantly lost his status as one of the Four Empyreans.
Upon hearing this, Lu Yin’s first thought was that the Four Empyreans were gone.
Of the Sixth Mainland’s Four Empyreans, Bluedome Elder had died, Mr. Lifeview had been trapped inside Burial Garden, and the last two had both been from the Progenitor of Secret Arts’ Territory. If Qing Hua had been stripped of his position, there was no way that Herb Immortal had kept his.
At the Sixth Mainland’s peak, the Four Empyreans and Ten Venerables had been enough to intimidate the Fifth Mainland, but the Sixth Mainland had fallen greatly since that time.
“Since you were able to answer my call, you must have passed the investigation, Senior,” Lu Yin commented.
Qing Hua took a sip of wine. “Doesn’t matter. What do you want? Let me tell you, regardless of what you want, I can’t help you since I’ve lost my position.”
There was no need for the man to say that he had lost his position, as he would not have been able to help Lu Yin with anything even if he were still one of the Four Empyreans.
Lu Yin had initially believed that exposing Bluedome Elder’s plan to suppress Qing Hua would cause the man to confront Bluedome Elder and incite some conflict in the Sixth Mainland. That way, Lu Yin would have had a bit more leeway to work with. However, Lu Yin had never expected Qing Hua to do nothing at all. The man’s image represented him perfectly: a lazy, alcoholic slob.
