Lord Egret’s expression was icy, but it suddenly changed as he turned around to see the space behind him shatter. An incomparably berserk star energy surged out in a wave, as if a massive beast had descended in the distance.
Lord Egret’s face looked grave.
Aden and the others also felt the disturbance, as this berserk strength had shocked them all. The most astonishing thing about this strength was that it had not surpassed the realm of a Hunter, which meant an absolutely incredible person was about to arrive.
Lord Egret was about to speak up when the newly arrived person greeted him with a punch. There was a profound light at the center of the fist where an incomparably berserk energy converged. Lord Egret instinctively wanted to avoid this attack, and he quickly evaded away. A deep darkness appeared at the fist’s point of impact, and the void was scattered. The aftershocks rippled away and struck Lord Egret, and they made his eye twitch. That had been a ferocious attack.
“Are you the Lord Egret who fought against Saul before?” Cai Jianqiang revealed himself as he asked from nearby.
Lord Egret stared closely at the Hunter. “So it’s you.”
Cai Jianqiang kneaded his right palm. “If not for you, Sourcepeak Planet might not have been reduced to such a terrible state. I’m going to make you pay the price for your actions on that day!”
Nine lined battle force burst forth from his body, and Cai Jianqiang’s figure vanished with an explosion.
Lord Egret shouted, “Arrogant junior!”
A white light radiated from his body, and the phantom image of an astral egret appeared above him. This was his innate gift. He had not used it against Aden earlier, but that was because this egret’s nature was not offensive, but rather defensive.
Cai Jianqiang pressed down with a palm. “Heart-Dipping Palm.” This palm had a violent force to it, and the surrounding space could not endure its strength. The palm compressed space itself as the hand swatted out and engulfed an entire region. It pressed down upon Lord Egret’s head, but it was stopped by the white light. “Junior, you underestimate me. I’m an Enlighter with a power level of 260,000 who came here after cultivating in the Innerverse. You cannot compare me to those Outerverse Enlighters who only just broke through!”
A bird’s crowing was heard as the egret flew out from the Enlighter’s hand and rushed towards Cai Jianqiang.
The bird landed with the force of a thousand mountains, and Cai Jianqiang was sent flying away by the enormous strength.
Lord Egret’s gaze turned cold, and he raised a hand. One bird after another spread its wings and shot through space, streaking towards Cai Jianqiang, Aden, and also Zenyu Star.
This was Lord Egret’s true strength, as Cai Jianqiang had made the man feel threatened.
Cai Jianqiang turned around and shook off the force of the birds’ impact. He then stared at Lord Egret as a smile crept onto his face.
Lord Egret saw Cai Jianqiang smile and felt that something was off. The next moment, he let out a dull groan, and his expression changed. He hurriedly merged the phantom image of the astral egret back into his body, but a trace of fresh blood dripped down from his lips.
“What sort of battle technique is this?” Lord Egret stared at Cai Jianqiang. His heart had been damaged.
Cai Jianqiang dodged another flying bird. “Heart-Dipping Palm. It’s a technique with ancient roots. How many palms can you take?”
Lord Egret wiped the blood from his lips. “I underestimated you, but it’s a pity that just this sort of battle technique cannot defeat me.”
Aden dashed forward again, his thunder shield expanding without end. The birds crashed against his thunder shield one by one, forcing him to continuously retreat.
Cai Jianqiang streaked over in front of the thunder shield and raised his hands before pressing down with both hands and releasing countless Heart-Dipping Palms that exploded towards Lord Egret.
The birds flew forth from Lord Egret’s palm and crashed towards Cai Jianqiang, yet they were all stopped by the thunder shield, which strangely did not block Cai Jianqiang’s Heart-Dipping Palm. This shield was a unidirectional obstruction, and Lord Egret either had to evade or block the attacks headed his way.
Evidently, Lord Egret was unwilling to take the Heart-Dipping Palm straight on, and he was forced to helplessly evade them.
Cai Jianqiang took the position of the berserk spear while Aden acted as the durable shield. The combination of this spear and shield was enough to leave even Lord Egret helpless. Before long, Lord Egret vanished and left.
In the distance, Huo Qingshan stared on in astonishment. He had been constantly observing the battle taking place in outer space. He was stunned to see that, even without Lu Yin, Zenyu Star still had the strength to repel an Enlighter. The Great Yu Empire had truly risen in power.
Lord Egret’s retreat signified that the surprise attack had ended. Aden was free to return to Zenyu Star, and he soon arrived inside the ice seal that surrounded the mall.
He was one of the few powerhouses who could change the situation of the entire battlefield.
Aegis apparently had some understanding of Aden’s strength. As soon as he appeared, the assassins from Aegis all prepared to flee.
Zi Rong was thrilled to see that Aegis’s assassins were trying to escape, as it gave him some degree of relief. However, Lu Yin saw that there was a large number of rune lines hidden in the void, but they were still moving to envelop Luo Shen. This wasn’t the poison gas, as it was instead an illusion. Peerless Beauty was making a move on Goddess Luo Shen by dragging her into a fantasy.
Lu Yin fiercely charged over, grabbed a hold of Luo Shen, and threw her to the side for a third time. After that, he turned and rushed towards the source of the rune lines, where he saw Peerless Beauty. This person had actually disguised themselves as one of the corpses that the Magistrate had drained of life force, and they had always been lying near Luo Shen and the other women.
Lu Yin’s hand turned into a claw as he unleashed his Skybeast Claw. Peerless Beauty were unable to remain disguised any longer, and she stood up as she glared coldly at Lu Yin. At the same time, a giant python emerged from beneath the ground that moved to snap at Lu Yin. The python’s body was strangely connected with the human body of Peerless Beauty. She had two heads: one human and one snake.
Lu Yin did not bother evading, and he calmly allowed the python to swallow him.
Peerless Beauty was stunned, as she had never expected to swallow Lu Yin so easily.
But the next moment, her expression changed drastically, and she wailed mournfully. The body of the python began to corrode from within. She had been poisoned.
Lu Yin tore through the python’s body and poured the remaining bit of poison from one of Elder Wu’s bottles onto Peerless Beauty .
Peerless Beauty’s python body had been corroded by the poison. She could not escape it, and her human body had similarly been struck by the poison, her body quickly eroding away.
Her wails echoed throughout the entire mall.
Zi Rong and the others watched the events unfold, staring indifferently as Peerless Beauty was reduced to a puddle of blood that finally evaporated, leaving nothing at all behind.
Another top ranked assassin had perished.
The remaining Aegis assassins suddenly gathered together under orders from some unknown person, and they all attacked the ice seal in unison. With the Magistrate’s hair combined with Poisonmaster’s poison, the ice seal was not able to endure as a hole was torn open, though which the various attackers charged out of the ice seal.
Yan Yan tried his best to hold them back from escaping, but multiple assassins still managed to succeed.
Poisonmaster left the ice seal, releasing his gas the entire way, and it rapidly pervaded the surrounding area.
Lu Yin grew anxious, and he hurriedly used the Backlash Pearl to absorb all the poisonous gas. Meanwhile, Aden and the others were still exterminating the remaining assassins that were in the mall. After a bit more time, everything calmed down, leaving only a huge mess behind.
Zenyu Star’s most bustling street had been completely destroyed. The ice seal melted, and the cold water trickled down, diluting the blood as it flowed into the sewers.
The remaining 20,000 odd people had escaped with their lives, and many of them were bawling and rejoicing that they were still alive.
On the ground, piles of corpses were strewn about in disorder.
The venue for the performance had devolved into this macabre scene.
Lu Yin floated calmly in the sky. Unexpectedly, he was not furious, and there were no other emotions within him either. He was already enemies with Aegis, so being attacked by an opponent was nothing unexpected. This debt would have to be paid back some day.
On the other hand, Zi Rong was exceptionally angry. Aegis had carried out an assassination attempt within Amethyst Exchange. They had not just merely destroyed the mall, as they had repeatedly tried to assassinate Goddess Luo Shen. This would have harmed Amethyst Exchange’s reputation. Aegis had gone overboard this time.
Gavin, Garope, and the other high officials from the Great Yu Empire quickly arrived to pacify the masses.
There were many spacecraft wrecks and cultivator corpses scattered throughout space, and all of this had to be taken care of.
Lu Yin gave out some orders and also commanded them to not publicize this attack.
Aegis would definitely disseminate information about this attack, and they might have even secretly recorded it, which was something that Lu Yin could not control. He could only reduce his side’s casualties to the minimum.
He looked towards the ruins of Amethyst Exchange’s mall, coincidentally exchanging glances with Zi Xue in the process. Lu Yin’s gaze trembled, as at one point during the chaotic battle, Luo Shen had been protected by a wall of blue ice. That blue ice was Bai Xue’s innate gift. He was now completely certain that Zi Xue was Bai Xue, and Lu Yin descended to the ground, wanting to talk to Zi Xue.
Zi Xue saw that Lu Yin was approaching her, and she quickly turned to leave.
Lu Yin wanted to chase her, but he was stopped by Zi Rong.
Zi Rong’s expression was not good, but he could not be angry at Lu Yin. During the attack, if not for Lu Yin, Luo Shen would have died. However, this attack had also been because of Lu Yin’s grudge with Aegis. Zi Rong did not quite know what to say. “Alliance Leader Lu, our Amethyst Exchange has always refrained from getting involved in the struggles between the various powers. This time, because of your conflict with Aegis, this mall was completely destroyed. I wonder, how are you planning on compensating us?”
Lu Yin apologetically answered, “I’m sorry. I will take responsibility.”
Zi Rong nodded, but he did not say much more. He rather appreciated Lu Yin and had even pleasantly drank wine with him before, which was not common for the Hunter.
Lu Yin still wanted to look for Zi Xue, but Zi Rong blocked his way.
Lu Yin had no choice, so he turned to leave.
As Lu Yin left, Goddess Luo Shen was nearby. She wanted to hurry over to thank Lu Yin, but she was similarly stopped by Zi Rong.
“Brother Zi Rong, I wish to thank Alliance Leader Lu,” Luo Shen delicately said, and as she looked over at Lu Yin, her eyes spun. They seemed to be filled with curiosity along with a hint of something else. She had just been saved by this man thrice, and she had also been embraced by him thrice. From a young age, nobody had ever held her in such a fashion, but it had been very comfortable.
“You’re not permitted to go over there, and you are not allowed to have any relations with him.” Zi Rong rejected her request without mercy.
Luo Shen grew sullen. “Brother Zi Rong, he saved me three times. Shouldn’t I thank him?”
“This attack also happened because of him, and keeping you safe is a must. There’s no need to thank him,” Zi Rong replied.
Luo Shen pursed her lips and looked over Zi Rong’s shoulder. She watched as Lu Yin’s figure gradually vanished, and her heart sank.
Lu Yin immediately returned to King Zishan’s palace and activated his gadget to contact Madam Nalan.
She quickly answered his call.
“Aegis launched a surprise attack on Zenyu Star.” Lu Yin got right to the point.
She was not surprised. “This matches with Aegis’s style, so it’s not unexpected. Didn’t Your Highness already know that Aegis would attack Zenyu Star?”
“Yes, but I never expected the scale of their forces would be so great. Four of the top ten assassins of the Outerverse came, and there were at least 100 other assassins scattered across Zenyu Star, placed there solely to slaughter commoners and create chaos. On top of that, there were mercenaries that attacked from space, hired independent cultivators, as well as Lord Egret. That wasn’t something as simple as a raid. That was war,” Lu Yin explained in a low voice.
She smiled. “It looks like Your Highness is not injured. Are you angry? How can I help?”
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “Give me a brief introduction of Aegis. I need to know some deeper secrets about them.”
Her eyes flashed. “Your Highness, the four great corporations of the Outerverse will not interfere in each other’s affairs. These are the rules. If you want information, you can look towards Amethyst Exchange. Selling information is just another part of their business, so Aegis cannot do anything even if they tell you everything.”
“Looking for Amethyst Exchange will cause Aegis to become wary, and they will definitely cover up the secrets that Amethyst Exchange tells me, so there’s not much meaning in going to them. I wish to obtain some information from your side that even Amethyst Exchange may not necessarily be aware of,” Lu Yin said.
