This many high-leveled support items was enough to protect anybody, but the condition was that Lu Yin needed money to obtain them. The Nalan family was in the perfect position to support Lu Yin in this matter.
For Lu Yin, having more money was directly equivalent to increasing his power. The more powerful he became, the more money he needed. He was planning to fight so that he could fight even more. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to gather enough money to upgrade the gun, the universal armor, and so on and so forth.
“Great. You can come to the Great Yu Empire if you ever run into trouble. I can’t say for sure if I’ll be able to protect you, but I can promise to do my very best,” Lu Yin guaranteed.
Madam Nalan was delighted. “Thank you very much. We’re actually already on our way to Frostwave Weave and will reach Zenyu Star in about a month. At that time, please take care of us.”
Lu Yin nodded and disconnected from the call.
Now that the Innerverse and Outerverse had been separated from each other, the pressure exerted by the Innerverse’s large organizations in the Innerverse had vanished. Lu Yin was feeling incredibly confident, and he wanted to take advantage of this period of isolation. At the very least, he wanted to build up a power that would make the Blaze Realm’s organizations fear him. His goals stretched far beyond just Frostwave Weave.
Elsewhere, Madam Nalan disconnected from the call, and her face turned grim. The pressure that she was facing was far worse than what she had showed Lu Yin. The moment the Innerverse and the Outerverse had been blocked off, she had known that the situation was dire, and she had immediately contacted the Enlighter of the Nalan family. However, her call had not been able to go through. Tyrannical Weave had also been blocked off, and the Nalan family had therefore lost the protection of their Enlighter.
As one of the wealthiest organizations in the Outerverse, she knew what the consequences of losing their best protection was. Hence, after finding out that Lu Yin had managed to stop Huo Houye and had even killed Karthika, she had immediately decided to head towards Frostwave Weave to receive his protection.
She was not entirely certain that Lu Yin would protect them, but he was her only hope. It was much better than placing her hope in those greedy Enlighters. She had interacted with Lu Yin a few times before, and she’d also saved his life in the past. She was even betting on the fact that he wasn’t an ungrateful person.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get through this.” Madam Nalan gazed up into the darkness of outer space. The future of the Nalan family was now wholly dependent on Lu Yin. She smiled wryly. Who could have known that there would come a day when she would be forced to rely on that youth. The person whom she had saved in the past was now the one doing the saving; this had to be fate.
On Zenyu Star, during the palace’s daily morning meeting, all of the ministers who held sufficient authority had gathered. Only the throne where Undying Yushan had once sat remained empty. Lu Yin slowly sat down on a chair that was placed near the throne as he surveyed the ministers.
After killing Karthika, his status in the Great Yu Empire had changed. If one said that Undying Yushan had controlled the empire through his prestige as the emperor, then Lu Yin was controlling the empire through his undeniable strength, which was more than Undying Yushan had managed to do. The decisions that Undying Yushan had made might have received some voices of dissent, but the decisions that Lu Yin made were indisputable. Even if people objected, their protests were pointless.
The creation of the Lu Ministry of Staff, for instance, had received objections from all five of the primary ministers, but Lu Yin had completely ignored them all. This was the power that came from absolute strength, and it was a stark contrast to how Undying Yushan had governed.
By the time the routine report was finished, the meeting was mostly over, but then, Garope stood up. “Your Highness, I speak on behalf of the Imperial Cabinet when I call for the dissolution of the Lu Ministry of Staff.”
“Please have the Lu Ministry of Staff dissolved,” the other four ministers from the Imperial Cabinet said in unison as they bowed towards the regent.
Lu Yin coldly replied, “We’re not discussing this. You may go.”
Garope was at a loss. The Royal Regent was too overbearing, but there was nothing that they could do about his behavior.
The creation of the Lu Ministry of Staff had weakened the authority of the Imperial Cabinet, and its effects were already showing. Thankfully, the girl who was a part of the Lu Ministry of Staff, Huan Sha, still did not have the right to participate in the morning meetings. The Lu Ministry of Staff was more like the regent’s aide, and Huan Sha wasn’t a key member of the palace yet, so this was still something that the ministers could accept.
After Garope spoke, nobody else had anything to report. Lu Yin then asked, “That’s all you have to say? You’re done, right?”
Everybody remained silent.
“In that case, it’s my turn.” Lu Yin surveyed the room and focused on Huo Qingshan and the other captains of the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons. “In one month, I need to conquer Frostwave Weave.”
That one sentence was enough to alarm everyone in the room, and all of the ministers gaped at Lu Yin.
Actually, the Great Yu Empire had already conquered most of Frostwave Weave. There were a total of 125 filaments in the weave, and the Great Yu Empire had already conquered a hundred of them and assigned them to various people. However, they had been forced to withdraw from some of those filaments due to financial restraints. The Great Yu Empire was not able to keep up with the costs, and if the empire tried to retain control over those filaments, then it might cause the empire’s economy to collapse, which would result in serious consequences.
And after that, organizations from the Innerverse had taken over Northcastle Weave, and the Great Yu Empire’s military became even more afraid of overextending. This had continued on until the present moment.
“Your highness, we lack the financial resources to support the unification of Frostwave Weave,” the finance minister, Gavin, said nervously.
Lu Yin replied, “Focus all of our money on the military. Everything else can wait. Somebody will pay for it in a month.”
Gavin was shocked. “Are you saying that somebody else will be bearing the cost, Your Highness?”
Lu Yin did not deny the question. “Enough. We’ll go with Undying Yushan’s initial plan. We’re going to unify Frostwave Weave in one month. Any questions?”
“Not at all, Your Highness.” Huo Qingshan was the first to make his stance known.
After that, all of the other captains stated their approval. Even Peach looked serious, which made for quite a funny expression on her face.
In the eastern region of the Outerverse, wars raged in over a dozen weaves. Enlighters were doing as they liked and plundering resources at will, which had led to a public outcry. However, the organizations controlling those weaves were helpless given the current situation. In comparison, Frostwave Weave was very peaceful.
However, after Lu Yin’s orders were delivered, Frostwave Weave was also filled with war. The Great Yu Empire’s imperial army set off and swept through the area.
They’d already conquered a hundred filaments in the past, so now, they were basically just leisurely traveling around. The imperial army had an easy time.
Meanwhile, Lu Yin summoned Tianming.
After Tianming admitted to his crimes, Lu Yin had restricted him to the Yu Academy which was located on the first ring that encircled Zenyu Star. Tianming had thought that he’d be imprisoned there for a long time, but just a few days after his sentence was handed out, Lu Yin summoned him.
“Greetings, Your Highness.” Tianming bowed to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin gazed down at him from above. “I’ll give you the chance to make up for your crimes. If you do well, you will become a citizen of the Great Yu Empire and whatever you have done in the past will be forgotten.”
Tianming looked up in excitement. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“Don’t be in such a rush to thank me. This isn’t an easy task.” Lu Yin had Tianming stand up and then continued, saying, “I need you to summon the surviving experts of the Nine Stacks Sect using your status as the successor of the sect. You’ll start a war to take over the sect.”
Tianming was shocked. “Your Highness, do you mean…”
Lu Yin stared right at him. “The one who destroyed the Nine Stacks Sect was Lei Long from the Dire Barbarian Clan. I need you to take revenge and regain control of the Nine Stacks Sect. Of course, I know that you can’t do that alone, so I’ll be helping you.”
Tianming was no fool, and he immediately understood what Lu Yin was insinuating. The Royal Regent wanted Tianming to gather the people from the Nine Stacks Sect and unite them to take care of Lei Long. In other words, Lu Yin intended to use Lei Long to wipe out the remnants of the sect. Then, with Tianming’s position as the successor of the Nine Stacks Sect, he’d be able to publicly request Lu Yin for help. This would truly eliminate everybody from the Nine Stacks Sect while also giving Lu Yin an excuse to meddle in Grandtop Weave’s affairs.
Lu Yin was basically using someone else in order to achieve his goals. He’d use Lei Long and have the Enlighter kill the stubborn disciples of the Nine Stacks Sect who were in Grandtop Weave and then he would use that as an excuse to invade Grandtop Weave.
If Tianming followed Lu Yin’s orders, then he would become a sinner of Grandtop Weave. He would be the one who let Lu Yin into Grandtop Weave and would also be the one to personally help Lu Yin find and destroy the surviving remnants of the Nine Stacks Sect. IN other words, Tianming would be the one who destroyed any hope of revival that the Nine Stacks Sect still had.
Tianming looked sullen, never having expected Lu Yin to ask him to do such a thing.
Lu Yin carefully observed Tianming. “So? You’re not willing to do this?”
Tianming looked like he was struggling with the decision and hung his head.
“The Nine Stacks Sect has already been destroyed. You know this, or else you wouldn’t have admitted to your crime. I’m helping your sect get revenge, so you should be thanking me,” Lu Yin stated.
Tianming took a deep breath and eventually agreed. “Yes, Your Highness.”
Lu Yin smirked and patted him on the shoulder. “Great. I’ll teach you Nine Stacks. With this, nobody will doubt that you’re the successor of the sect.”
A while later, Tianming left for Grandtop Weave. Lu Yin was not at all worried that the youth would betray him, because where else could Tianming go? There was no place for him in Grandtop Weave or Frostwave Weave. Admitting to his crime had proven that he could not give up on Frostwave Weave, and he had only admitted to his status as a spy because he had been afraid that he might be found out in the future. Someone like Tianming would never turn their back on Lu Yin.
What he needed to consider now was how to deal with Lei Long.
Killing Karthika hadn’t been enough for Lu Yin. The benefits that he had received from killing that guy had stoked his greed, and Lei Long was probably more wealthy than Karthika. After all, Lei Long had stolen years worth of resources from the Nine Stacks Sect. With what he gained from killing this Enlighter on top of the support that he would soon receive from the Nalan family, Lu Yin felt confident in being able to soon take on a powerhouse with a power level over 300,000. Of course, that was only if somebody with such strength even existed in the Outerverse.
In other words, once Lu Yin killed Lei Long, not only would he gain control over Grandtop Weave, but he would also make all the other Enlighters fear him enough to purposefully avoid provoking him. Not to mention that he would also be increasing his own strength. He was essentially killing many birds with this one stone.
However, since Lu Yin had already killed Karthika, then Lei Long was sure to be on his guard. Lu Yin raised his gadget: it was time to have a certain someone make good on their promise.
Most of the Enlighters who had taken part in the events at Planet Pyrolyte had been left stranded in the Outerverse. Granny Chan from the Lily family was one of them, and she was the person Lu Yin intended on contacting.
During this time, the people that the Great Yu Empire had sent out had discovered that Northline Flowzone’s Granny Chan now wielded control over Flaxen Weave after she had annihilated that weave’s controlling organization.
Flaxen Weave and Frostwave Weave were only separated by Lars Weave, so they weren’t too far from each other.
Lily Anne had already returned to the Innerverse, so Lu Yin could not get into contact with her. However, it wasn’t that difficult for him to contact other people of Northline Flowzone.
Half a day later, Lu Yin tapped his gadget, and a screen appeared before him that showed Granny Chan’s wrinkled face.
“Apologies for disturbing you, Granny Chan,” Lu Yin said respectfully.
Granny Chan looked at Lu Yin in admiration. She had heard about how he had killed Karthika and stopped Huo Houye. While this youth was still only a Limiteer, he was already somebody who could be considered as equal to them, even if he had used external tools to achieve this feat.
“There’s no need to be so polite. I made a promise to you back at Northline Flowzone. If you need help, I’m willing to lend my aid so long as it’s something that I’m capable of. Are you planning to call in that promise now?” She asked without beating around the bush.
Lu Yin nodded and spoke grimly. “Lei Long from the Dire Barbarian Clan has taken over Grandtop Weave, and his next target is my Frostwave Weave. I would like to ask you to work with me to get rid of him so that Frostwave Weave will no longer have anything to worry about.”
She looked grim. “You want to get rid of Lei Long?”
Lu Yin nodded and stared straight into her eyes without backing down at all.
