Midway through their journey to Zenyu Star, Cai Jianqiang left to head toward Planet Hydrotink. He expressed his gratitude once again to Lu Yin before leaving. Despite not knowing where this overpowering sense of gratitude came from, Cai Jianqiang could not control it.
Lu Yin suddenly thought of pulling this person into the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons as another captain. If he succeeded, then the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons’ strength would be completely replenished.
Cool Sis and Ku Wei had both joined, so currently, only the Second and Thirteenth Squadrons were still captainless. Phantom Sting had died and Liuying Zishan had become the Allied Forces Commander, so he needed to seek new people to fill these last holes.
He already had someone in mind to become the Second Squadron’s captain: Smoker. However, Lu Yin was not confident in being able to recruit that old assassin.
As soon as he returned to Zenyu Star, the first thing Lu Yin did was visit the Enlighter who had been sent over by the Hall of Honor: Akira.
Akira had been staying within the mountains that lay on the outskirts of Zenyu Star’s capital city, and he had sealed off the area with star energy so that nobody could approach.
When Lu Yin arrived, Akira hurriedly greeted the youth while exhibiting an exceptionally respectful attitude. It seemed that Elder Lohar must have informed his disciple about Lu Yin possessing the blood-red bell.
“Has Senior become accustomed to living here yet? Please share any requests if you would like anything, and Junior will get someone to take care of it,” Lu Yin offered courteously.
Akira smiled. “There’s no need. It’s very good here.”
The two chatted a while, but Akira hesitated a few times during their conversation.
Lu Yin could tell from the Enlighter’s eyes that he wanted to see the blood-red bell. The fact that Elder Lohar had directly sent this person to Zenyu Star indicated that the Hall of Honor elder must have some intentions of verifying whether the bell was true or fake. Although Lu Yin had shaken the bell and countless people had heard it, Elder Lohar must still want a Hall of Honor personnel to check the bell. This was the only way he would feel reassured without seeing the bell for himself.
Lu Yin retrieved the blood-red bell from his cosmic ring. “Senior, do you recognize this?”
Akira looked at the blood-red bell, and his pupils abruptly shrank as his expression became very respectful. “This- this is it, definitely.”
Lu Yin was curious. “Senior recognizes this?”
Akira hurriedly said, “I ask that Alliance Leader Lu to please keep it safe.’
Lu Yin put it away and then looked at Akira. “Senior, what is it? The person who passed it to me didn’t say anything.”
Akira replied, “If that person didn’t say anything, then that is more than sufficient reason for me not to say anything either.” He then looked at Lu Yin with a solemn expression. “Alliance Leader Lu, this bell must be kept safe, as it will definitely be useful in the future.”
Lu Yin had already learned from Aden that this bell was the Chief Justice of the Interstellar Supreme Court’s emblem. That man was a supremely important figure who stood at the top of the universe, and he was not someone who these Enlighters could contact. In Akira’s eyes, Lu Yin’s own status was probably through the roof!
“Since Senior Akira is unable to easily tell me, then Junior will make head out first. If Senior has any requests, please let me know.” Lu Yin smiled.
Akira respectfully saw Lu Yin out before immediately contacting Elder Lohar. “Master, it’s real.”
Elder Lohar was not surprised. “He shook it once, and everyone within Frostwave Weave felt the Chief Justice’s supreme might, so it must be real. But why does he have it?”
Akira took a guess. “Master, this person has only been cultivating for about seven years, yet he is already so powerful. Could it be…?”
Elder Lohar quickly thought of something. “Are you saying…? The Cosmic?”
Akira nodded.
Elder Lohar inhaled deeply as his face grew solemn. “That’s possible. Alright, there’s no need to keep guessing. No matter what, he has the Chief Justice’s emblem, and the Chief Justice must have given it to the youth himself, as no one can possibly take that emblem from the Chief Justice. You must keep his identity secret while also ensuring his safety. We absolutely can not risk being negligent.”
Akira respectfully replied, “I understand, Master.”
After leaving Akira, Lu Yin looked up at the sky. He was walking along a road that he could not turn back on. Once the Innerverse and Outerverse reconnected, this bell could mark the end of his life.
Forget it, he would not think about this matter any longer since he could only leave future matters to the future. He still had Mister Mu behind him, and it was difficult to say when the Innerverse and Outerverse would rejoin.
After returning to Zenyu Star, Lu Yin formally appointed Cool Sis and Ku Wei to their new positions before going back to King Zishan’s palace, where Gavin and the others were already waiting for him.
Although he had not been away from Zenyu Star for too long, there were still many matters that required his attention.
Lu Yin spent half a day listening to reports from Gavin, Huan Sha, and others. He settled what he could and then finally saw Bei Qing.
Bei Qing handed 50,000 star essence over to Lu Yin, which were the profits from the auction.
Lu Yin took them with a satisfied look on his face. “There weren’t any mishaps, right?”
Bei Qing respectfully answered, “No sir, everything went smoothly. Nobody dared to make a scene on Zenyu Star.”
Lu Yin grunted in acknowledgement. “How’s the investigation going regarding the pyrolyte seller?”
Bei Qing replied, “This is precisely the matter that I wanted to report to Your Highness. We have determined the origin of the pyrolyte that we received—it was leaked from those Innerverse powers that mined pyrolyte.”
“So it was ill-gotten,” Lu Yin stated.
Bei Qing replied, “Currently, all the great powers are required to transport their mined pyrolyte to Ironblood Weave, after which the Hall of Honor compensates them. However, the great powers are not allowed to build up a stash of their own, and trace amounts of pyrolyte trickle out from time to time. They are generally small amounts that the disciples mining the pyrolyte smuggle out. As the quantities are too small, nobody pays attention. For example, the pyrolyte ore that was auctioned this time would produce a few grams of pyrolyte at most after being refined.”
The true value of pyrolyte was in its ability to endlessly scale its power with its quantity. For example, the explosion of 100 grams of pyrolyte had a power level of 1,000,000. Although the actual power of such an explosion could not compare to a powerhouse who also possessed a power level of 1,000,000, the explosion’s overall power would be at the same level, which made it a strategic military resource that was absolutely terrifying.
Ever since the Outerverse had been isolated from the Innerverse, the great powers of the Innerverse, such as the Daynight clan, the Sword Sect, the First Grade Hall, and so on, had continued mining pyrolyte. However, during the defense of Ironblood Weave, Elder Lohar had discovered the value of pyrolyte and had ordered all pyrolyte to be delivered to Ironblood Weave. None of the great powers of the Innerverse dared to resist the Hall of Honor, they were still helping the Hall of Honor mine the pyrolyte ore even now.
Lu Yin did not know exactly how much pyrolyte Ironblood Weave had stockpiled at the moment, but because of his auction, he had gained close to five grams of it.
“Your Highness, what should we do?” Bei Qing asked.
Lu Yin quietly replied, “There’s no need to release this information. Instead, leak out news that the pyrolyte offered in the previous auction was obtained before the Outerverse’s isolation. It was coincidentally obtained by someone roaming the Astral Wilderness more than two years ago, and it has no connection to the present mining operation in the Astral Wilderness. Go and contact the person who sold the pyrolyte and have someone make a deal with him. I want their entire pyrolyte stash, and we’ll base the price off of how much the pyrolyte sold for in the auction price.”
“Based off of the auctioned price? Then the price will be very excessive,” Bei Qing exclaimed.
Lu Yin waved a hand. “If the money is not enough, then those disciples will desperately continue to hide pyrolyte. This pyrolyte is more important than money.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Bei Qing acknowledged his orders.
“Remember, do not reveal our identity. We definitely cannot provide the Hall of Honor with any information that could be used against us,” Lu Yin solemnly emphasized. Although he could basically do as he wished with his current status, he still had to maintain a low-profile and could flagrantly break the rules that had been set in place. Otherwise, if the Hall of Honor’s prestige fell even further, then Lu Yin would actually be the one to suffer despite the Hall of Honor not holding the same status that it had in the past.
“I understand, Your Highness. Also, when should we hold the next auction?” Bei Qing asked.
Lu Yin thought about it. “Hold on for a while. This last auction should have attracted quite a few clients, so I’ll pass you some more treasures in a while.”
Bei Qing was delighted. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
The battle at Millions City was the only notable piece of news in recent days, and aside from that incident, the Outerverse had been very calm.
Lu Yin calculated the time and realized that it had been about six months since he had left the Daosource Sect’s ruins. He decided to first find another escape tool like the Void Thunderbeast’s flesh before his next visit. He had to obtain the battle technique of the Nine Cauldrons. If the Nine Cauldrons’ nine battle techniques could be merged into one, then it would be unrivaled; these thoughts continually pushed him onwards.
He did not know how the war in the Innerverse was proceeding. The Sixth Mainland had said that their Progenitors would act, but the Innerverse couldn’t have fallen already!
The Innerverse was spread throughout the countless flowzones, and each one was separated by the Astral River’s tributaries. When the universe had changed, the Astral River must have also become more volatile, likely isolating each flowzone as well. However, that place was still the Innerverse, and he could not even estimate the strength of the powerhouses living there. They were on a completely different level from the Outerverse.
The Outerverse was not able to break through the Astral River’s berserk energy, but that did not mean the Innerverse could not.
When Lu Yin had previously Possessed Tong Chou’s body, Tong Chou had not had any impression of the Innerverse’s various flowzones being completely isolated. Instead, he had known that the various great powers of the Innerverse had united.
This showed the difference between the Innerverse and Outerverse.
Lu Yin was a little worried about the Innerverse.
If the invasion into the Innerverse did not go smoothly, then the Sixth Mainland would simply go to another battlefield, which was exactly what Lu Yin had heard with regards to their plans to use the Technocracy as a springboard to invade the Outerverse. At this moment, there was nothing abnormal going on with the Technocracy, but did this mean that their invasion into the Innerverse was going smoothly?
Lu Yin hoped that the Yu family’s elder was right and that the Sixth Mainland would be at a disadvantage in their invasion. Otherwise, once the Innerverse and Outerverse reconnected, the Outerverse would end up being the one down on its luck.
“Your Highness, Lord Gavin requests an audience,” Kayze reported.
“Let him in,” Lu Yin responded softly.
Soon, Gavin entered the palace and bowed to Lu Yin, though he had a solemn expression. “Your Highness, there’s a situation in the western weaves. Various pharmaceutical companies have significantly lowered their prices in a small amount of time.”
Lu Yin’s gaze trembled, as someone was taking action against Shamrock Enterprises.
All this time, the prices for medications in the Outerverse had been controlled by Shamrock Enterprises, and their prices set the industry’s benchmark. Every pharmaceutical company had been forced to follow Shamrock Enterprises’ example, which did not allow prices to fluctuate too greatly, and this safeguarded the stability of the market. But now, the prices of pharmaceuticals in the west had suddenly dropped, which meant that Shamrock Enterprises was no longer able to control the market.
“When did this happen?” Lu Yin asked.
“Not long after you returned,” Gavin replied.
Lu Yin activated his gadget and quickly looked up any news concerning Shamrock Enterprises in the western weaves. However, he quickly saw that the various publications there were mainly covering news of Hoffman’s death.
Hoffman had been the Western Chairman of Shamrock Enterprises, and his death would have a great impact on the company. Precisely because of his death, there were some people who could not resist testing this financial behemoth.
“Your Highness, aside from this matter, many spacecraft-manufacturing companies in the universe have slashed the prices of their vessels while raising the prices of various materials,” Gavin said.
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, as this indicated that not only was Shamrock Enterprises facing difficulties, but also Aurora Enterprises.
Upgrading an Aurora required materials. A surge in price for raw materials implied that the price for an Aurora would fluctuate drastically while the prices of ordinary vessels would drop. This move was obviously meant to disrupt Aurora Enterprises’ market power.
Shamrock Enterprises and Aurora Enterprises were both put under great pressure at the same moment, not to mention what had happened to the Mavis Bank not long ago.
There had to be someone pulling the strings behind the scenes. Otherwise, just the organizations of the Outerverse themselves would not be able to do such a thing, let alone gather the courage to make such a move.
Lu Yin suddenly thought of Wei Rong, as he had orchestrated the collapse of Sourcepeak Planet, and he had also been the one who had broken up the Outerverse Lockbreaker Society, initiating a very bad trend. In that case, could the events this time have also been arranged by the youth?
Although Lu Yin had such thoughts, it was not too likely, as Wei Rong did not have such overwhelming capabilities.
