In another area of the State House, Gibu successively visited the members of the Great Yu Empire’s Imperial Cabinet’s upper levels as well as the four ministries, including the Huo family and the Auna family. Gibu had not said much during these visits, as his main purpose was to meet these officials and introduce himself.
During this entire time, Lan Wu stared at King Zishan’s palace, eagerly waiting for Lu Yin’s return.
Bei Hong and the others casually strolled along the streets of Zenyu Star, excited to experience more of the wider universe.
Each weave’s delegation had its own plans.
Traveling through outer space, Lu Yin sat in the lounge of his vessel and rubbed his head. He had used the status granted by his Honor Points to search for more information regarding the four pirate crews, but he had not found much.
The Cosmic Sea’s Four Pirate Crews were known to many, but very few people actually knew anything substantial about them. This made it so that it was not too realistic to search the network for public information on them.
Lu Yin had also asked the Limiteer Mistchild about the four pirate crews, but she was completely ignorant of them. She was only an assassin who had started cultivating on the Outerverse’s Mafioso Planet. She had never even been to the Innerverse, so there was no way for her to know anything about the Cosmic Sea’s Four Pirate Crews.
Lu Yin thought about it and decided to stop searching for more information. The Outerverse had been cut off from the Innerverse, so there wasn’t actually a reason for him to continue searching. He would try again in the future!
When Lu Yin returned to Zenyu Star, the Outerverse Lockbreaker Society arrived at Planet Hydrotink at almost the same time.
Planet Hydrotink was not very far from Zenyu Star, as they were in the same filament. This was so that Lu Yin could visit the Lockbreaker Society headquarters at his convenience, and the planet had been chosen for this specific reason.
Planet Hydrotink had native inhabitants, and the planet also had not been overly transformed by technology. However, despite its rusticness, it was rather connected to the rest of the universe as it had a space station and also a network for gadgets.
The Lockbreaker Society’s arrival had initially faced opposition from the planet’s natives, but that had been quickly resolved.
To prevent the Outerverse Lockbreaker Society from being disturbed by the native inhabitants, Huan Sha had specially ordered the two parties to be segregated, and she used an ocean to act as a buffer between the two groups. They could still interact with each other, but they would not share territory.
With their current technology, it would not take them too much time to build a city, much less basic residences for Lockbreakers to live in. There were only a few thousand Lockbreakers that had immigrated to Planet Hydrotink with the society, so it was easy to make arrangements for all of them.
Lu Yin was concerned about the various treasures of the Lockbreaker Society. Many objects had been stolen from the Hall of Insight, but Lu Yin did not believe that the attackers had managed to grab all of the Society’s treasures, as it definitely possessed many more sourceboxes.
At the moment, only Felynn knew where those treasures were hidden.
The most unfortunate part about the relocation was that the four tree-shaped sourceboxes could not be removed and transported, and thus, they had been left behind on Sourcepeak Planet.
Sourcepeak Planet was already about to collapse, and it would definitely completely vanish in just a few more years, at which point it would become a blackhole. The loss of those four tree-shaped sourceboxes was a pity.
The Lockbreaker Society had just started settling on Planet Hydrotink when Cai Jianqiang arrived.
Felynn was very surprised to learn of his arrival, and she immediately met with him.
“What happened to Sourcepeak Planet?” Cai Jianqiang asked sternly.
Felynn sighed and then briefly described the events that had occurred on Sourcepeak Planet, though she intentionally left out how she had been played by the Wei family and Lu Yin. “The other party must have wanted to steal the items that were in President Geoffrey’s secret room, which is why they mounted a raid on the Hall of Insight. Fortunately, Senior Li and Lu Yin cooperated to protect those items, or else we would have let down President Geoffrey.”
Cai Jianqiang frowned and secretly regretted his earlier decision. He would not have left the competition so early if he had known that something like this would happen. He had not thought that so much would happen right after he left.
Felynn looked at the young Hunter and said, “You don’t need to blame yourself—only Saul should be blamed for using such despicable methods. If hadn’t participated, then the other Lockbreakers and Lu Yin would have been able to prevent Sourcepeak Planet from falling into such a desperate situation, and at the very least, we would have been able to protect Hall of Insight.”
“I will look for Saul, and I will make him pay for what he did,” Cai Jianqiang stated coldly in a very determined voice.
Felynn’s heart leaped in her chest, and she looked at Cai Jianqiang in surprise. Had this person’s battle strength reached such a high level that he was confident in dealing with Saul? Saul was able to fight against Enlighters!
“Will you all remain here in Frostwave Weave in the future?” Cai Jianqiang asked.
Felynn nodded and then looked over at the busy Lockbreakers. “Lu Yin has promised that the Great Eastern Alliance will protect us, and you should know that President Geoffrey is currently stranded in the Innerverse. Meanwhile, Saul has defected, and Senior Li is dead. Yi Feng and Mr. Jun have both left, so I am not able to protect everyone on my own. Lockbreakers have too lofty of a status, and we have likely offended many people in the past. Thus, we now need someone to protect us.”
“Could those people who attacked Sourcepeak Planet be related to Lu Yin?” Cai Jianqiang voiced a guess, as Lu Yin was the one who had gained the most from this entire situation.
Felynn shook her head. “It had nothing to do with him. If he had been involved, then the items stored in President Geoffrey’s secret room would have been stolen, as our foe’s primary objective had been to grab those things. From start to end, Lu Yin stood against the attackers, and because of him, many treasures were recovered, and many Lockbreakers did not die in vain.”
Cai Jianqiang’s eyes flashed, as these reassurances were still not enough to cement his trust in Lu Yin. As soon as he had learned that the Outerverse Lockbreaker Society’s headquarters was being relocated to the Frostwave Weave, he had immediately started looking into Lu Yin. There was not a small amount of information about this youth, and when everything was looked at together, Cai Jianqiang felt that Felynn’s excuses were not enough to completely exonerate Lu Yin.
“I want to meet Lu Yin,” Cai Jianqiang said calmly.
Felynn grew worried. “Don’t mess around. I can swear and promise you that this matter is unrelated to him and that he just coincidentally happened to be participating in the competition.”
Cai Jianqiang snorted. “As long as everything turns out to be unrelated to him, I won’t do anything to him.”
Lu Yin was very busy at this moment, and he was too occupied to make a trip to Planet Hydrotink.
When he returned to King Zishan’s palace, Lan Wu visited Lu Yin, as she had been staring at his residence ever since she had arrived.
“Greetings, Your Highness.” Lan Wu bowed respectfully.
Lu Yin acknowledged her. “Have a seat.”
Zhao Ran brewed some tea for Lan Wu.
“What’s the matter? If it’s related to the Alliance Conference, we can speak about it in two days,” Lu Yin said, as he did not have enough leisure time to privately meet with each representative one by one.
Lan Wu took a moment to gather some words together. “Your Highness, you once offered to allow me to become a captain of the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons. Is that offer still valid?”
Lu Yin was stumped, as he had long since forgotten about that. After he had killed Lei Long, he had indeed made such an offer to this woman, as the Great Yu Empire had been severely lacking in experts at that time. They had not had Phantom Sting, Aden, or Yan Yan at that time, and he had always hoped that his captains would be Hunters, which was why he had extended such an offer. However, there were now many more experts in the Great Yu Empire, and his previous craving for recruiting Hunters had died down. Although the Fifth and Tenth Squadrons were still captainless, he wanted to find absolute powerhouses such as Aden or Yan Yan to lead them, not some ordinary Hunters.
The Thirteen Imperial Squadrons held a very important place in his heart, though he wanted to change out all of the old captains such as Peach, Shalosh, Rocky Auna, Ban Jiu, and Liuying Zishan. He wanted to change them out not because he was heartless, but rather because they could not keep up in terms of strength. However, this was not the time to make such changes.
Lan Wu grew flustered when she saw how Lu Yin was considering her question. “Your Highness, this subordinate truly wishes to serve you, so please give me a chance.”
Lu Yin glanced at Lan Wu and thought about her request. “Fine. If you can find a Hunter to oversee the Nine Stacks Sect and assist Tianming, I can allow you to become a captain in the Great Yu Empire.”
Lan Wu was delighted at this answer. “Thank you, Your Highness!”
After Lan Wu left, Gibu, Lü Ran, and Jake Shamus each came to see him as well. They had nothing much to discuss, and each one simply wanted to meet him.
After they left and when the skies had darkened, Lu Yin received Elder Huaqiao.
Elder Huaqiao adjusted his expression when he saw Lu Yin, and he bowed deeply. “Greetings, Your Highness.”
Lu Yin smiled. “Elder Huaqiao doesn’t need to be so polite. The fact that the Vastdearth Sect was able to join the Great Eastern Alliance is in large part thanks to you.”
Huaqiao smiled, “I dare not neglect Your Highness’s instructions.”
Sometimes, manipulating someone did not mean that you needed to learn their deepest secrets. All humans had emotions and desires, and as long as one was human, they would also have weaknesses, and Huaqiao was no exception.
Cheng Yan had been exposed by the Xun family and killed, leaving the Great Yu Empire without an insider in the Vastdearth Sect. It looked like their losses had been rather great, but nobody knew that Cheng Yan had merely been their surface contact. Lu Yin did not like letting other people seize the initiative, and to him, the secrets that he had learned had all come from Mafioso Planet. Whoever learned of this information would be able to control these people, so they were not very dependable from Lu Yin’s point of view.
Having someone who was only in his palm was the most dependable way to proceed.
Huaqiao was one such person, and nobody knew that he was the Great Yu Empire’s true mole that they had placed within the Vastdearth Sect.
“I will remember your contributions, and I will satisfy your requests, so rest assured.” Lu Yin smiled.
Elder Huaqiao felt grateful with this acknowledgement, “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“I will have to depend on Elder Huaqiao to report back on Meng Tianlong’s actions in the future,” Lu Yin said.
Huaqiao replied with a serene voice, “Rest assured, Your Highness. I will definitely do my best for you.”
“Right, did Meng Qing truly die?” Lu Yin suddenly thought of this matter and asked about it. Meng Qing was the only Enlighter who had come from the Vastdearth Sect, and he had not appeared even a single time after going into seclusion. Meng Tianlong had been waiting in front of Meng Qing’s quarters for a long time, which made Lu Yin feel uneasy, as an Enlighter could change certain situations.
Huaqiao answered awkwardly, “Your Highness, nobody knows the answer to this question. Elder Meng’s status is a mystery to all.”
Lu Yin muttered something to himself.
“Your Highness, Meng Tianlong has been waiting around Elder Meng’s area of seclusion every day, and it’s likely that Elder Meng is not dead yet. Please be prepared for that, Your Highness,” Huaqiao advised respectfully.
Lu Yin grunted in acknowledgement. “Alright, you may go.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Vastdearth Weave had two Enlighters: Granny Zhuo, and Meng Qing.
Granny Zhuo was still in Ironblood Weave at the moment. She was not a part of the Vastdearth Sect, and although it was possible that she had some relations with them, she was not qualified to meddle in the Great Eastern Alliance’s matters. However, Meng Qing was different, as he could singlehandedly decide whether or not the Vastdearth Sect would stay in the alliance. Once he emerged, he would be able to look for Granny Zhuo’s cooperation, and it would be rather troublesome to face two Enlighters at once.
On one hand, Lu Yin hoped that Meng Qing would not emerge, as the enlighter might disrupt Lu Yin’s plans. On the other, he was hoping that Meng Qing would emerge, as it was likely that the Sixth Mainland would invade the Outerverse with the Technocracy’s support. If that happened, then the Outerverse would absolutely need experts with higher power levels.
It was a dilemma.
Of the major powers’ various representatives that had joined the Great Eastern Alliance, only Darkmist Weave’s Bei Hong and Bard Weave’s Elder Meiya had not visited Lu Yin thus far. He therefore summoned them, as he might as well finish seeing all of the major representatives on the same day.
When Elder Meiya met with Lu Yin, her attitude was identical to Elder Huaqiao’s, because she was the mole that the Great Yu Empire had planted in Evenground Palace, and her secrets were in Lu Yin’s hands.
Doro was not summoned. She truly wanted to meet with Lu Yin, as it had only been a few years since she had seen Lu Yin, but he had changed so much.
When Lu Yin had first contacted Evenground Palace, he had asked for their assistance in pressuring the Ross Empire to pull back its troops. But now, he was able to force many of the eastern weaves to submit. With the power that Lu Yin currently possessed, there was no reason for him to ever be afraid, even if the Ross Empire invaded again!
In just a few years, his power had risen to the point where he could rival the Innerverse’s great powers. This person was a legend.
Elder Meiya stepped out from her meeting with Lu Yin, and Doro curiously asked her, “Elder, what did you discuss with Lu Yin?”
Elder Meiya glared at the girl. “Watch your attitude when you speak of him. In just two days, he will become the Alliance Leader of the Great Eastern Alliance, and he cannot be referred to by name.”
“Oh,” Doro acknowledged. She looked at King Zishan’s palace, and her eyes filled with curiosity.
