Cang Yi carefully asked, “What if Lu Yin still refuses to come?”
The ugly woman sneered, “I heard that he has a good relationship with the Fifth Mainland’s Sea King’s Dome and that he even nearly became the Sea King’s son-in-law. Tell him that the Sea King is here and that if he doesn’t come rescue the man, we’ll expose the entire affair. The Innerverse will become wary of him, and the Sea King’s Dome will also be offended. No one will ever be willing to rely on him ever again in that case.”
Lu Yin’s eyes grew frosty; Flying Horse Manor clearly knew a great deal about him, and it was information that could not have been gleaned in a short amount of time either. Just what exactly was Madam Hong hoping to accomplish?
“What are the conditions offered to him?” Cang Yi repeated.
The ugly woman suddenly lashed out and seized Cang Wing’s neck with a hand. The blue veins on the back of her hand transformed into ferocious little snakes that hissed as they stared at Cang Wing. Fear sprouted in his eyes, and Lu Yin felt revolted as he unconsciously took a step back. It was impossible to know just how many of these miniscule snakes were hidden on this woman’s body.
“Is that a question you should be asking? Call Lu Yin and tell him to come to Flying Horse Manor. This is a very important matter,” the ugly woman said coldly.
Cang Yi quickly nodded as he stared at the tiny snakes moving closer and closer to him. He was afraid of these hideous and disgusting creatures.
Lu Yin glanced over at Liu Ye, and Liu Ye waved a hand. At the same time, star energy filled Lu Yin’s eyes, and Truesight weakened the old woman.
Her heart suddenly skipped a beat as a sense of danger welled up within her heart, but there was no time for her to react before she was trapped within a storm of willow leaves and immobilized.
After being trapped, the ugly woman was struck by a Vacuum Palm. She spat out a mouthful of blood, and some small snakes fell out with the blood, which just made her even more disgusting.
Sister Fei Hua frowned, and stellular energy swept out to eliminate the ugly woman’s blood.
The woman stared up at Lu Yin in disbelief, but she was unable to make any sound.
Lu Yin stared back at the woman and reverted to his true appearance.
The ugly woman’s pupils shrank and she turned to look at Cang Yi, her eyes full of murder and resentment.
Her gaze startled Cang Yi and he quickly pulled back.
Lu Yin said, “Let her speak.”
After he spoke, the ugly woman was again able to speak, and she let out a shriek, “Cang Yi, you dare betray Madam Hong and Flying Horse Manor? Madam Hong will not let you go! You will surely die!”
Lu Yin snapped back, “Doesn’t Madam Hong want to talk to me? What does she want to talk about?”
The woman gritted her teeth and turned to stare at Lu Yin. Her expression was ferocious, and a small snake moved about in the air in front of her. The visual was enough to cause nightmares in most people.
Lu Yin had rarely encountered such a disgusting cultivator. “Where are the giants?”
The ugly woman snorted coldly. “No.”
Lu Yin frowned and flicked a finger. Wind shot forward where he pointed and pierced the woman’s body, leaving heavy injuries and causing her blood to leak into the willow leaves that had her trapped. “Where is the Sea King?”
“No!” the ugly woman growled. She then started threatening Lu Yin, “Lu Yin, this is Flying Horse Manor! As soon as Madam Hong returns, you will never be able to escape.”
Lu Yin laughed. “Isn’t Madam Hong already trying to guarantee my safety? I am already here, and you can talk to me on her behalf. Let’s see if I can accept the conditions she is offering.”
“Don’t even think about it!” the ugly woman roared. It was clear that Lu Yin had arrived for the giants. With Madam Hong absent, it was likely that the giants would be taken away. At a time like this, stating any conditions would only weaken their position in future negotiations.
“This person is able to cultivate such a vicious battle technique. To be ruthless to others, one must be even more ruthless to themselves. Alliance Leader Lu, interrogating her will be useless. It would be better to investigate this matter for yourself,” Liu Ye commented.
Lu Yin frowned and looked at the ugly woman. “You really have nothing at all to say?”
The ugly woman suddenly opened her mouth as an imprint of Madam Hong appeared behind her. The woman spat out a giant python in an attempt to bypass Liu Ye and attack Lu Yin. However, the woman had underestimated Liu Ye, and he sliced the snake in half. The ugly woman was reduced to pus and blood at the large snake’s death.
They were struck by a putrid stench, and Sister Fei Hua could not help herself from cleaning up the area while commenting in disgust, “How can such a person exist?”
Lu Yin’s expression suddenly changed, and looked outside the room they were in. Someone was coming.
Liu Ye, Fei Hua, and Lu Yin grabbed Cang Yi and fled into the true universe.
Soon after, two people entered the room; a man and a woman. The woman was Hong Ying, Madam Hong’s disciple. Lu Yin had fought this woman a couple times, and the most recent had been in ZENITH when she had been badly wounded by the wind from Lu Yin flicking a finger.
Within the true universe, Lu Yin was startled to see the identity of the other person; was that Xun Jiong?
Xun Jiong was a member of the Innerverse’s Xun family. When the Xun family had tried to poison Lu Yin after ZENITH, the entire family had been wiped out, with Xun Jiong being the lone survivor. At the time, he had been determined to find traces of his father in the Higher Realm where the Sixth Mainland had briefly stayed in the Innerverse. Xun Jiong had wanted to find his father’s illegitimate child, but Lu Yin had not expected to see him in this place after several years.
“Strange, where are they?” Hong Ying wondered as she glanced around. They were in Flying Horse Manor’s main hall, which was where guests were welcomed.
Xun Jiong stood behind Hong Ying. His face was lowered, and there was a begging expression on his face. “Maybe they went somewhere else.”
Hong Ying frowned. “That shouldn’t be the case. No one leaves so quickly after arriving, as it’s been a very short amount of time.”
“Are you looking for me?” Lu Yin spoke up and revealed himself, startling Hong Ying. She turned and saw a familiar face, as it belonged to someone she would never forget for her entire life. “Lu Yin?”
As she shouted in exclamation, she reflexively pulled out a spear with a red tassel on it. She instantly stabbed the weapon at Lu Yin as an imprint appeared behind her.
The tip of the spear stopped a meter in front of Lu Yin. With the suppression of his domain, Hong Ying was unable to move at all. She stared at Lu Yin in horror. “Why are you here?”
Lu Yin casually replied, “I’ve already spared your life several times. Things are over now.”
Hong Ying’s face grew pale, and she pulled something out of her cosmic ring, but the next moment, Lu Yin’s domain contracted sharply, causing Hong Ying to spit out a mouthful of blood. Her muscles had been torn, and her mind had been jolted. She lost all strength, and the spear fell from her hand. The weapon struck the floor with a ringing sound. Hong Ying was already completely dead.
When the Sixth Mainland had invaded the Innerverse, Flying Horse Manor had built up too great of a blood debt. They had destroyed Astral-3, and Hong Ying had slaughtered many people. She had even used Astral-3’s students to lure out other Innerverse cultivators who had been desperate to rescue the students.
Finally, the debt had been collected.
Staring at Hong Ying’s body on the floor, Xun Jiong shuddered. He looked up at Lu Yin in terror as he slowly dropped to his knees. “Lu- Alliance Leader Lu, I- I-“
Lu Yin calmly looked at Xu Jiong. “Have you found anyone from your Xun family? Your father’s bastard?”
Xun Jiong swallowed and shook his head. “No, I didn’t find anything.”
“Then why are you here in Flying Horse Manor?” Lu Yin asked.
Xun Jiong started to panic. “The Xun family was in touch with the Technocracy for a long time, and Flying Horse Manor was behind them. When the Sixth Mainland invaded the Innerverse, Madam Hong personally reached out to my Xun family, so I came here seeking asylum.”
Lu Yin already knew this, as just like Cang Yi, before the Sixth Mainland had invaded, none of the traitors had known that Madam Hong had been behind their connections to the Technocracy. When the Sixth Mainland had first launched their invasion of the Fifth Mainland, Madam Hong had personally contacted the various traitors. Wen Zhaocheng and everyone else on the list that Lu Yin had discovered had been the same, as none of them had known that Madam Hong had been behind the Technocracy they had been dealing with.
Clearly, it was impossible for just Flying Horse Manor to have managed to gain control of half of the Technocracy’s authority, but Madam Hong had another status: she was also one of the Daosourse Sect’s guardians, and she had far more powerful people backing her.
Lu Yin thought of Bluedome Elder. Qing Tan had been sent to the Neoverse to control an overseer, and she was one of Bluedome Elder’s disciples. However, that did not add up to Lu Yin, as Bluedome Elder was from the Progenitor of Bloodlines Territory, while Madam Hong was from the Progenitor of Combat Territory.
However, the connection could still hold up if one ignored the various territories and realms of the Sixth Mainland and looked at the position both people had within the Daosource Sect.
Lu Yin stared at Xun Jiong as the man knelt on the floor and trembled from fear. He was absolutely terrified that Lu Yin would destroy him.
Lu Yin asked, “Where’s the Sea King?”
Xun Jiong shuddered. “He’s here, on another planet.”
“Take me there,” Lu Yin commanded.
Xun Jiong did not dare refuse, though he glanced at Hong Ying’s body once again.
At the moment, there were no Envoys in Flying Horse Manor, which gave Lu Yin and the others the freedom to come and go as they wished.
Even if there were some defensive measures in place, they meant nothing to Liu Ye and Fei Hua’s strength.
Xun Jiong led Lu Yin and the others to a planet close to Flying Horse Manor’s headquarters. Lu Yin saw a majestic number of runes, and saw that they came from the colossal giants, which left him pleasantly surprised. He had not expected to discover that the giants and the Sea King had been incarcerated on the same planet.
“Madam Hong likes to collect strong people to be her slaves, and some people are imprisoned on this planet if they aren’t obedient,” Xun Jiong explained quietly.
Lu Yin asked Liu Ye and Fei Hua to rescue the giants while he made his way to the center of the planet. There, he saw the imprisoned Sea King.
Magma filled the entire area at the planet’s core, and there was a thick rock formation overhead. Wind blew through the area to create a whistling sound, and there were also odd insects flying about.
Lu Yin made his way to the center of the planet, and he saw chains that led off into the distant magma.
He released his domain and used it to push back the sea of magma to two sides. He followed along the chains, and soon revealed a miserable figure.
The magma was pushed back further, and at the end of the chains, Lu Yin saw an ugly bald man whose skin was burnt and had festering sores. He was lying on the sea of magma, and it was impossible to know if he was dead or alive.
Lu Yin dropped to the ground and approached the man. He looked at the man calmly. “Are you still alive?”
Suddenly, the man’s eyes snapped open and he grabbed hold of Lu Yin. At the same time, Lu Yin raised a hand and met the man’s attack. There was a bang, and a shockwave swept out that distorted the void and created spatial cracks that tore through the magma sea. Overhead, the rock formation was struck, which caused the entire planet to tremble.
“Despite not seeing each other for seven years, the Sea King has the same personality as ever,” Lu Yin commented while squeezing the Sea King’s hand and not giving an inch.
The Sea King was a powerhouse who was comparable to Highsage Leon. At the man’s peak, Lu Yin would never have dared face him. However, the man had been weakened greatly, and Lu Yin could see from the Sea King’s runes that his strength did not even amount to a power level of 500,000. The man was incapable of hurting Lu Yin.
The Sea King stared at Lu Yin, and finally got a clear look at Lu Yin’s face. The older man’s hand suddenly went loose and an incredulous expression covered his face. “You?”
A smile crept across Lu Yin’s face. “Senior Sea King, it’s been a long time.”
Over their heads, the rock started to shatter and pieces fell down. The planet’s core started to collapse.
The Sea King stared at Lu Yin, but then suddenly remembered something, and his eyes grew dark. “You betrayed the Fifth Mainland?”
Lu Yin shrugged. “I’ll led Madam Hong elsewhere so that I could save you.”
The Sea King’s eyes flickered, and he stared at Lu Yin. Madam Hong was a terrifying figure, so how could this mere child possibly do anything to distract her?
Lu Yin casually cut the chains binding the Sea King, causing the older man’s eyes to twitch. These chains had imprisoned him, which meant that they could withstand an Envoy’s attacks, and yet this kid had just sliced through them?
“What’s with your strength?” The Sea King was quite startled by what he had seen.
OMA’s Thoughts
Translated By: OMA
Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox
TLC’ed By: OMA
