The middle-aged man answered with a smile. “Alliance Leader Lu, please forgive me. This is just how I am whenever I meet anyone, even if it’s an elder.”
Lu Yin’s brows rose high. “How should I address Senior?”
The middle-aged man raised a hand as he continued to smile. He then wrote a single character in the air: Zhu.
Lu Yin felt bewildered. “Zhu? Senior Zhu?”
The middle-aged man nodded. “Yes.”
Lu Yin felt that this was strange, as zhu was also the word for pig.
“The words are not the same, as they are different homonyms. One is an object while the other is a creature,” the middle-aged man explained with a smile.
Lu Yin felt horrified. He had only had the thought, not saying a single thing. “Can you see what’s in my mind?”
The man just laughed. “That’s just a normal reaction, as everyone has the same thought. It’s nothing complicated.”
Lu Yin looked at the man strangely. “I’m not sure as to the reason why Senior invited this junior to visit. Is there some bit of advice that you would give me?”
The man grew serious as he looked at Lu Yin. “You took first place in ZENITH and are the top of the entire younger generation. Everyone would want to meet such a person.”
“Is it really so simple?” Lu Yin wondered.
The man replied, “I lead the Starsibyl Sect, and I wish to establish a good relationship with Alliance Leader Lu, and possibly even give you some advice. In the future, I may receive your help in turn.”
“What kind of advice?” Lu Yin had grown curious.
The middle-aged man’s eyes flickered, and Lu Yin could tell that the man was performing a divination, so he calmly waited.
Starsibyl’s divinations could not calculate Lu Yin. Xuan Jiu had once done a divination for Lu Yin, but it had caused the old man to shed tears and blood, and the old man had even sworn that he would never do another divination for Lu Yin. Thus, Lu Yin was interested in seeing the abilities of the master of the Starsibyl Sect.
“I can see traces of Heaven’s Enigma on you, Alliance Leader Lu. It appears that my incompetent junior brother has made trouble for you,” the man commented.
Lu Yin was surprised. “You can see that? Wait, you said Heaven’s Enigma. Are you saying that Xuan Jiu really cultivated Heaven’s Enigma?”
The man nodded. “Naturally.”
Lu Yin blinked, unexpectedly happy. So it turned out that Xuan Jiu really did practice Heaven’s Enigma, just as he claimed. Everyone had believed that the old man was just bragging, and not even Lu Yin had expected this to be true.
At this realization, Lu Yin suddenly felt that having Xuan Jiu as the Great Yu Empire’s imperial advisor would not be a bad idea.
“Is there anything in particular that Alliance Leader Lu wishes to know? The only thing that my Starsibyl Sect can offer is divination,” the middle-aged man suggested.
Without any hesitation, Lu Yin answered, “Family. Can you tell me where my family is?”
The man’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin grew nervous. After seeing what had happened to Xuan Jiu when he performed a divination for him, Lu Yin felt uncomfortable. A touch of sadness filled Lu Yin’s eyes, as the thing that scared him most was the possible answers to this question.
After a while, the man’s body suddenly bent over and twisted. His originally elegant appearance changed to something rather anxious, and his face revealed a bit of disbelief.
Lu Yin’s heart sank, and he clenched his hands into fists.
The middle-aged man shifted his eyes back to Lu Yin and lowered his head. His eyes were still flickering.
“How’s it going? Have you been able to see anything yet?” Lu Yin quickly asked.
The man looked up and stared into Lu Yin’s gaze with a strange expression. This was different from the sadness and sympathy that Xuan Jiu had shown for Lu Yin. The sect master looked at Lu Yin with—how to describe it? Lu Yin could not actually interpret what his expression meant.
“I can’t give you any answers related to your past, Alliance Leader Lu,” the man said.
Lu Yin frowned. “Why? Can’t you see it?”
The middle-aged man looked away, thinking about something.
Lu Yin continued to stare.
After a while, the man responded, “This is not as simple as performing a divination, as your past has been buried.”
The man then raised his hand and drew an image in the air—it was a finger.
Upon seeing the finger, Lu Yin’s pupils instantly constricted; this was the finger from his dreams!
Immediately afterwards, the middle-aged man drew another image. This time, he drew the Champions’ Stage.
“One attacks, and another defenses. As long as Alliance Leader Lu can uncover these two truths, you will be able to uncover your own past, though it will be very difficult. Someone managed to cover up your past, and even I can’t see through it. This may involve an innate gift related to time, as that is the only thing that can cover the flow of time.”
At this moment, the sect leader looked at Lu Yin with a very serious expression. “There is only one piece of advice that I can give to Alliance Leader Lu: this upcoming competition for opportunities of destiny must succeed, and you cannot fail.”
Lu Yin watched as the drawings in the air disappeared. He then turned to look at the middle-aged man once again. “What about divination regarding others?”
“No.” The man just shook his head.
Lu Yin did not believe that it was not possible, but he could not force someone to speak. This man had drawn an image of the finger that had appeared in Lu Yin’s dreams, and this had given Lu Yin a new understanding of divination.
The Champions’ Stage was Lu Yin’s second innate gift, and it had to be related to his bloodline. It made sense that, if he managed to uncover the truth regarding the Champions’ Stage, he would also be able to uncover his past. Lu Yin had already come to this conclusion long ago.
The finger in his dreams also seemed to have something to do with the Daynight clan, and Lu Yin wondered if he should revisit the Daynight clan.
“Thank you for performing a divination, Senior. Lu Yin is very grateful,” Lu Yin said.
The man looked at Lu Yin. “Remember my advice—this opportunity must be obtained, and it is also the key to unlocking the mystery of your past.”
“What is the opportunity?” Lu Yin asked. Even though he had placed first in ZENITH, no one had been willing to explain what exactly Lu Yin and the others had been competing for.
The man shook his head. “It can’t be spoken of in advance, and since it can’t be mentioned, then just wait.”
Lu Yin asked one more question, “That finger, what did Senior see?”
The man shook his head. “It’s already gone.”
Lu Yin felt helpless. “If that’s the case, then this junior will take my leave. In the future, if there is anything that you need, this junior will not refuse you.”
The man nodded and watched as Lu Yin left.
After Lu Yin left the hut, the man frowned. “So that place is actually involved with him. No wonder the girl’s divinations can’t see anything about him. This child has a difficult path to walk, harder than anyone else. He needs to climb up from the very bottom despite his supreme status, but that path is even more difficult than Progenitor Chen’s. Ah…”
Even after walking away, Lu Yin was still absorbed in the conversation that he had just had.
“Brother Lu, how are you doing?” Starsibyl asked.
Lu Yin looked at her and replied, “That’s quite the magic trick.”
Starsibyl did not know if Lu Yin was speaking honestly or not, so she simply changed the subject. “Brother Lu, it’s rare for us to have visitors, so how about trying some of our Starsibyl Sect’s special dishes?”
Lu Yin smiled and said, “I’d be happy to.”
He had not come to this place just because he had been invited. Rather, he actually had an important task to perform, which was to ask the Starsibyl Sect to find out what the power behind the bookkeeper. Lu Yin was still incredibly upset over this matter. What did 900 million star essence mean? That was more than the combined wealth of the Blaze Realm and the Xun family!
For Lu Yin, this was enough money to allow him to improve a mountain of power vessels and items, and he would not have to worry about gathering any more funds for a long time. Thus, how could he give up on getting his money back?
At Starsibyl’s invitation, Lu Yin enjoyed the sect’s food and spent the day seeing the sect. The following day, he asked Starsibyl to use her divination to find out which hidden power had scammed him.
Starsibyl grew rather embarrassed.
Lu Yin said, “I know that it’s not a simple matter to ask a Starsibyl for a divination, so please tell me what conditions need to be met.”
Starsibyl answered, “It’s not that we don’t want to do this, but rather that revealing certain things can easily offend certain people.”
Lu Yin replied, “Naturally it all depends on whether or not it’s worth it, and I won’t press you. You can do your divination, and if it turns out to be someone who you really don’t want to offend, then it’s fine for you to just not tell me. I’ll keep investigating on my own in that case.”
Starsibyl sighed. “Alliance Leader Lu, please wait a moment.” After speaking, she went away.
Lu Yin remained standing in place and waited for more than half an hour for Starsibyl to return.
Lu Yin was anxious to hear the results.
Starsibyl was serious when she returned. “The name of the person who borrowed the billion star essence from the Mavis Bank is Nan Yuan.”
“Nan Yuan?” Lu Yin thought that something was odd, as this was a very familiar name.
Starsibyl casually explained, “One of the Hall of Honor’s nine overseers, Nan Yuan.”
Lu Yin then remembered. Yes, Nan Yuan was one of the Hall of Honor’s nine overseers. It was no wonder why the Mavis Bank had approved a billion star essence loan, as Nan Yuan was actually backed by the Seven Courts. More specifically, the Xia family.
The Hall of Honor’s nine overseers represented various interests, and two of them were even from the Innerverse: one from the Sword Sect and the other from the Daynight clan. Two others were from the Cosmic Sea, of which one of them was Xin Jiao. As for the other five, they were all from the Neoverse, and one of those five was Nan Yuan.
Lu Yin had not expected to be involved with another one of the Hall of Honor’s overseers, but it seemed that he was fated to have a relationship with them.
“Brother Lu, Overseer Nan Yuan is different from Bu Laoweng. Bu Laoweng represented many powers, but there was no true power protecting him. Overseer Nan Yuan is supported by the Seven Courts, and if you try to proceed, then things will likely be much more difficult than before,” Starsibyl explained, hoping that Lu Yin would give up.
Lu Yin was also aware that Nan Yuan served the Seven Courts’ interests.
The Seven Courts did not have a large number of powerhouses, and Xie Xiaoxian, Ku Lei, Hui Santong, and most of their other youths had performed quite poorly in ZENITH, but that did not mean that they could be casually provoked. Every single one of the families had their own secret technique, which was something that not even the Daynight clan or the Sword Sect possessed. The Seven Courts’ foundation was unimaginable to Lu Yin.
With the strength supporting Lu Yin, he had been able to suppress Daynight Flowzone, but if he tried to go up against the Seven Courts, he would not even know how he died.
Lu Yin was self-aware and was not arrogant enough to ignore the Seven Courts.
However, the crux of the issue was 900 million star essence, and he was not willing to simply give up on that.
Starsibyl did not bother Lu Yin anymore. He spent a long time thinking, but he still could not come up with any way to take his 900 million star essence back from Overseer Nan Yuan. This was a very difficult issue, and even if the truth was revealed, Overseer Nan Yuan was certain to have a way out prepared.
Since he could not think of what to do for the time being, Lu Yin could only say goodbye to Starsibyl.
She then told him, “If Brother Lu is not in a hurry, there is one more reason why I invited Brother Lu here.”
Lu Yin wondered out loud, “What would that be?”
Starsibyl and Lu Yin looked at each other. “Brother Lu, do you know of the Hidden Earth Society?”
Lu Yin’s expression instantly changed, and he stared at Starsibyl in shock over what she had just said. Of course he had heard of the Hidden Earth Society, as they were the mysterious organization hidden within Jupiter that had never had any contact with the outside world. Once someone left that place, they would never be able to return to that place inside Jupiter. They were a mysterious organization that had carried out its mission after Earth’s civilization was destroyed each cycle.
Lu Yin had first heard of this name and about the organization from Huo Qingshan, and the man had known of the organization because he had actually come from the Hidden Earth Society himself. That had been Lu Yin’s introduction to the organization and also how he had learned a bit about Earth’s mysterious history.
