“Are you able to contact Madam Hong?” Lu Yin asked.
Cang Yi briefly hesitated before nodding. “Yes.”
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed; since Cang Yi could contact Madam Hong, he would prove to be incredibly useful.
Madam Hong had been the one to capture the Sea King, and Lu Yin had never forgotten that detail.
Cang Yi’s existence provided Lu Yin with the best candidate to maintain secret control of Chaosgod Mountain. Anyone who was allowed access to the black dome were elite members of Chaosgod Mountain. It was normal for people from Chaosgod Mountain to go into seclusion to train, and their entire inner sect was closed to the outside universe. Cang Yi was in a position to become the ambassador of Chaosgod Mountain.
Still, this would only be a temporary arrangement, as if it continued for too long, Cang Yi’s connection to Lu Yin would be discovered.
There were hundreds of underground groups that were directly or indirectly controlled by Chaosgod Mountain. They had millions of direct disciples, but there were also countless other cultivators who followed Chaosgod Mountain’s orders.
Before ZENITH, Chaosgod Mountain had managed to cleanse an entire flowzone.
Cang Yi led Lu Yin through the mountain, and Lu Yin obtained 2.2 billion star essence that had been gathered by Chaosgod Mountain over many years.
The greater the power, the greater their operation costs. So far, Chaosgod Mountain possessed the greatest power and wealth out of everywhere that Lu Yin had observed. Their wealth and power were directly related to their control of the underworld forces of the Innerverse.
With 2.2 billion star essence, Lu Yin’s breathing started to accelerate; he was rich! Rich! His wealth had accumulated to over 3 billion star essence!
Only when his funds were sufficient was Lu Yin able to feel any sense of relief.
If not for his concern about creating tremendous confusion, Lu Yin would gladly have gathered up all of the materials, natural treasures, and power vessels that had been stored in Chaosgod Mountain’s treasury with the star essence in order to sell it all. Actually, he had also gained control of all of the Innerverse’s underworld powers, and their tributes would amount to a great deal of wealth.
Despite his reluctance to do so, the fisherman asked to see Lu Yin. The man wanted to leave Chaosgod Mountain. He had personally witnessed the change of power controlling the place, and even if he was an expert with an impressive power level of more than 300,000 who had witnessed many things throughout his life, he still could not believe what he had seen.
The Innerverse’s eight great flowzones were controlled by the most powerful organizations in the entire Innerverse, and yet one of those powers had fallen under control of another. This revelation caused the fisherman to view Lu Yin with uncontrollable apprehension and nervousness.
Lu Yin patted the fisherman on the shoulder. “Leave? Isn’t Chaosgod Mountain beautiful? Why would you leave? By the way, the Astral River was recently closed, so there’s no reason for you to leave.”
The man bitterly replied, “I won’t go fishing for now. I just want to go home.”
Lu Yin smiled. “There’s no hurry! Just stay here for now. Actually, why don’t you do me a favor? You can keep an eye on these people here in Chaosgod Mountain. My followers here are all giants, so things should be easy for you.”
The man wanted to refuse, but Lu Yin’s hand pressed firmer and firmer upon his shoulder. The man quickly realized that staying was his only option.
The fisherman also realized that it would not be easy for him to leave. Lu Yin had secretly gained control of Chaosgod Mountain, so how could he possibly allow anyone out who could leak news of this event?
The man left, and Lu Yin spoke with Cang Zhou alone.
Cang Zhou felt humiliated at this time. In order to prevent the master of Chaosgod Mountain from escaping, Sister Fei Hua had badly injured the Envoy, and he looked half-dead.
“Senior, I’m truly sorry. If possible, I didn’t want to do this, but it was the only option available to me,” Lu Yin casually “apologized” to Cang Zhou.
Cang Zhou sighed. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as he stared at Lu Yin. “I already told you that no one from my Chaosgod Mountain fears death. Even if you capture all of us, you still won’t be able to keep this matter hidden. Chaosgod Mountain can’t go even a day without its master.”
“That’s true, and that’s also why Cang Yi is the new master of Chaosgod Mountain,” Lu Yin reported with a smile.
Cang Zhou’s expression changed. “Cang Yi?”
Lu Yin showed a small smile. “Senior, didn’t you know? Cang Yi’s been working under the Technocracy’s capital city for many years. He’s a traitor to the Fifth Mainland.”
“Impossible! My Chaosgod Mountain doesn’t have anyone who would do such a thing!” Cang Zhou shouted.
Lu Yin shook his head. “It doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. Regardless, Cang Yi is now working for me, and he’ll be obedient in his management of Chaosgod Mountain, so no one will learn anything at all.”
Cang Zhou’s face turned red, and veins erupted across his forehead as he angrily demanded, “Where is Cang Yi? I want to see him!”
“There’s no need for that. Besides, you now don’t have to worry about how I control Chaosgod Mountain. I actually just came here to say hello to Senior and reassure you,” Lu Yin said as he stared into Cang Zhou’s eyes.
Naturally, Lu Yin was not bored enough to visit Cang Zhou without a reason. Lu Yin had wanted to speak with the Envoy to see if he had missed anything. After all, given the size of Chaosgod Mountain, it was possible for Lu Yin’s schemes to be incomplete.
At this moment, Ku Wei approached. “Master, there is someone from the Longevity Brigade here. They say they’re looking for Cang Zhou.”
Lu Yin wondered, “The Longevity Brigade?”
He looked back at Cang Zhou. “What’s the Longevity Brigade looking for you for?”
Cang Zhou replied, “They’re wanting to use my Chaosgod Mountain to find some cultivators who are foolhardy enough to use them to explore the Cosmic Sea. We periodically supply them with a group of such people.”
Lu Yin knew that the Cosmic Sea was dangerous, and naturally the Four Pirate Crews would not use their own people to explore. Chaosgod Mountain controlled Chaos Flowzone, and there were many criminals in the flowzone, so it was perfectly natural to find such people to work with the pirate crews. “Have Cang Yi send a group of people to the Longevity Brigade. Also, tell them that Chaosgod Mountain is currently sealed.”
“Understood, Master.” Ku Wei hurriedly back out.
Lu Yin was unable to learn anything useful through his conversation with Cang Zhou, so he soon left the Envoy alone.
***
Elsewhere in Chaos Flowzone, there was a spacecraft making its way towards the Cosmic Sea. The vessel belonged to the Longevity Brigade, and it was transporting hundreds of captured criminals.
Inside the vessel, a man made a call to the Cosmic Sea. “Captain, I wasn’t able to meet with Cang Zhou, but he did send us a signal indicating that something’s happened to Chaosgod Mountain.”
As the man spoke, he glanced over at the group of cultivators.
“I see,” a deep voice replied, and the call was ended.
…
Two days passed from the time that Cang Zhou had been captured. During these two days, aside from the people who had been captured in the black dome, everything remained normal for Chaosgod Mountain. Once Cang Yi stepped into power, even if there were some people who had their doubts about the matter, they were quickly shushed.
Twenty-nine colossal giants stood above the black dome listening to Ku Wei. Each of them was obedient towards Ku Wei and had heart-felt respect for him.
Lu Yin happily watched the scene. Colossal giants were not weak.
Beep beep beep
His gadget beeped, and Lu Yin answered the call. Wang Wen instantly reported, “We forgot something very important.”
“What’s wrong?” Lu Yin frowned. It was very unusual for Wang Wen to speak with such worry.
“The Innerverse is only really second tier in the Fifth Mainland. While the forces there are able to easily overpower the Outerverse, not one of the Innerverse powers is able to go against the powers in the Cosmic Sea, let alone the Neoverse. The powers controlling the various flowzones rarely change. Even if you are able to gain control of Chaosgod Mountain, the Cosmic Sea and the Neoverse, the factions residing in the eight great flowzones are still ultimately the rulers here.”
“What are you trying to say?” Lu Yin asked as an ominous feeling overcame him.
“There’s a certain stability inherit to every ecological environment, and the same holds true for the Innerverse. Don’t look at the eight great flowzones as being hostile towards each other and constantly fighting between themselves. I can promise you that there are connections between them that we are completely ignorant about. Those other organizations will soon learn about what happened, as if they weren’t able to do so, it would be too easy to seize control of them each, one by one. If that were possible, the Innerverse powers would already have become subordinate to some other, greater power, and they would not have their independence,” Wang Wen explained.
Lu Yin tapped a finger as he silently listened.
“The entire reason that the Great Eastern Alliance was able to be created in the very beginning was entirely because we controlled the secrets of the powers directing the various weaves and managed to easily control those powers as well. Also, do you remember the excuse that was used to tell the various alliance members for initially creating the alliance?” Wang Wen asked.
Lu Yin remembered that he had initially told the Vastdearth Sect, Millions City, and other major Outerverse powers that the Great Eastern Alliance was being formed to protect the Outerverse from pressure from the Innerverse powers. It was an alliance to allow the Outerverse to stand up to the Innerverse. Naturally, the Innerverse wanted the same ability, but towards the Neoverse.
“The Great Eastern Alliance was established to stabilize the Outerverse and prevent the Outerverse powers from becoming mere puppets of the Innerverse forces. If not for the Hall of Honor, the Outerverse’s top powers would have disappeared long ago,” Wang Wen continued.
“The Innerverse may not fear the Neoverse because of the influence of the Hall of Honor,” Lu Yin countered.
Wang Wen shrugged. “That’s impossible. While the Outerverse isn’t very important, the Innerverse is different. Even the Hall of Honor may want to control that place, so there’s no need to mention the monstrous entities in the Neoverse. The universe is not a peaceful place, and the Innerverse has to have some form of stability in order to prevent any accidents from occuring to the various major powers. Whenever something happens, the other top powers have to quickly learn about it in order to ensure countermeasures are put into place as soon as possible. This has to be a secret that only the controlling powers of the eight great flowzones are privy to.
“You’re already running out of time. You have to find out from Cang Zhou how to keep the recent events on Chaosgod Mountain from leaking, or else I’m sure that the other flowzones will unite. The war in Blazing Mist Flowzone will stop, and everything will become peaceful. Our entire plan will die a quick death.”
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Lu Yin angrily demanded. He had felt that things had progressed too smoothly, and he had always felt that something was off. This was why he had met with Cang Zhou on his own, as he had wanted to probe the matter, but Cang Zhou was too cunning and Lu Yin had not been able to determine anything at all.
Wang Wen felt helpless. “It really is my fault this time, as it simply didn’t occur to me. I was careless, and you moved too fast.”
Lu Yin ended the call and went straight to see Cang Zhou.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cang Zhou sneered. He closed his eyes and would not even look at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin frowned. “You have to have a way to let the Sword Sect and other Innerverse powers know when something happens to Chaosgod Mountain.”
Cang Zhou casually replied, “There indeed is a means to do so, but it’s impossible for me to tell you.”
This was a problem. Chaosgod Mountain’s people were cultivators who were capable of enduring all kinds of hardships, and they constantly dealt with underworld organizations. They were accustomed to seeing various means employed to force people into things, and their ability to endure could not be compared to ordinary people. Lu Yin could not think of anything that would be of use in this situation.
“I can destroy your stellular energy vortex,” Lu Yin indifferently commented.
Cang Zhou opened his eyes and stared at Lu Yin. “That’s still better than my Chaosgod Mountain being controlled by you. Since you’ve already guessed that there’s a connection between us, you should also have guessed that we have an agreement. Even if my stellular energy vortex is destroyed, the situation in the Innerverse will remain unchanged. I’m fighting for my Chaosgod Mountain; so what if I don’t have stellular energy?
“Harming me will only make the Sword Sect and the others more afraid of you.”
Lu Yin was really in trouble at the moment, and Wang Wen was facing his own troubles: the Autumnfrost family was finally knocking on the door.
The Autumnfrost family had sent Uncle Hua and others with Di Fa to find Aegis, but they had all been captured by Lu Yin before arriving. To cover Yu Mu’s tracks, they were all being held captive on Zenyu Star. However, news of them being held there was going to leak out sooner or later, and the Autumnfrost family had finally arrived at Zenyu Star, demanding for their people.
Fortunately, Frostwave Weave had Envoys, as without them, the Autumnfrost family’s Imprinters would have employed a brute force approach.
OMA’s Thoughts
Translated By: OMA
Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox
TLC’ed By: OMA
