Lu Yin liked hypocritical people, as they were more likely to know how to behave.
Lu Yin had his own methods for dealing with men of honor, but it was much simpler to deal with hypocrites, as such people were usually afraid of death.
After he settled the situation with the Moke Sword Sect, the Shadowsword Sect was simple. If they were unwilling, then Lu Yin could simply cause the Shadowsword Sect to vanish from the universe. Gui Wuzong’s greatest desire right now was to be healed, to the point where he had no other thoughts. Thus, he agreed without even thinking any further.
All of the people who had been captured quickly agreed to Lu Yin’s conditions. Most of these powerhouses were the masters of various guiding powers of the central weaves. After all, these people were all capable of competing for Gu Yue’s inheritance, so everyone who had come to the ruins were all outstanding characters. Their surrenders also came with the surrender of the allegiance of the powers that they led.
After all, humans only had one life, and not many people would rather die than surrender. Moreover, they were only joining an alliance, not offering their complete and total allegiance to Lu Yin. These people had originally refused the idea of an alliance because they did not want there to be anyone above them who could order them about. However, when their lives were on the line, who would care about such things?
The wooden figures were stored away, and Ke Yun was very self conscious as he bowed to Lu Yin.
That old Enlighter woman had also surrendered. In truth, she was an independent cultivator, and the fact that she had been able to reach the Enlighter realm as one showed that her talent was extraordinary. This time, she had been employed by the Central Coalition, which was the same situation as the three Enlighters who had attempted to assassinate Lu Yin in the past. The old woman did not personally care about the Great Eastern Alliance or the Central Coalition; and she simply had no opinion on the matter.
As the curtains of the ambush slowly drew to a close, under the supervision of Wang Wen, Wei Rong, and En Ya, the news of this incident sent shockwaves throughout the entire Outerverse.
Half a month later, nine of the weaves in the Outerverse’s central area announced that they were joining the Great Eastern Alliance and that they would cooperate with the alliance to create a peaceful environment for the universe.
When this news was released, it astounded many, their scalps going numb. Nobody could understand how the Great Eastern Alliance had suddenly coerced nine weaves to join them. And that wasn’t even mentioning how they were all weaves that had previously been some of the Great Eastern Alliance’s most ardent opposition members, such as the Suna Weave and the Umbral Butterfly Weave.
No matter what the others thought, after the Great Eastern Alliance accepted those nine weaves from the central region into the fold, the number of weaves in the alliance had reached thirty one. The Outerverse had seventy two weaves in total, and thirty one was nearly half of the entire Outerverse.
It was also at this time that Lu Yin received a new nickname: Half-King Lu. This title had been given in recognition that he was essentially king of half of the Outerverse.
The Outerverse seemed vast and boundless, with each and every weave containing countless large and small powers as well as the more powerful guiding powers. While it might be difficult to subdue all of these powers, it was not completely impossible.
It was basically the same as running a business. Some people only looked at the products, but the most successful businessmen looked at the humans. Since business was conducted by humans, as long as one addressed that aspect, everything else could be negotiated.
Wang Wen and Wei Rong were both experts at toying with the human hearts. Their abilities combined with the support of Aegis, Amethyst Exchange, and Thousand Eyes’ intelligence network, not to mention Lu Yin and the Hall of Honor’s influence as their foundation, meant that it was not at all surprising that the alliance had reached such a step.
In the past, when Lu Yin had first unified a third of the Outerverse, the alliance had caused some powers to become rather apprehensive, and that nervousness had led to the Central Coalition’s establishment. During this time, even the forces from the western weaves had lent the Central Coalition a hand by sending them money, resources, and manpower. At this time, Lu Yin had unified nearly half of the Outerverse, and the remaining half started to panic even more.
Lu Yin had never concealed his ambition of uniting the Outerverse, and it could even be said that everyone was aware of his goal. The day that nine weaves announced that they had joined the Great Eastern Alliance was the day that Lu Yin’s goal had nearly reached the halfway mark. However, this did not indicate that Lu Yin was only 50% of the way towards completing his goal. Even though he only controlled about half of the Outerverse’s territory, his odds of success had soared to as high as 90%.
***
The Southside Weave hea become a bit unstable due to Lu Yin’s actions, as quite a few experts at the border who were from the western weaves wanted to leave.
Elder Daggs had a headache, as he was currently experiencing the full scope of Lu Yin’s influence. Even if the youth was not waging any wars, he still had the ability to leave everyone helpless.
Quite a few experts from the western region sought out Elder Daggs, requesting for the Hall of Honor to restrict Lu Yin’s actions.
The patriarch of the Dark Phoenix family, Tanno Phoenix, also went to find Elder Daggs. He requested the Hall of Honor to step forward, as they could not allow Lu Yin to unite the Outerverse.
The Dark Phoenix family had slaughtered their way out of the Innerverse, and although the family had lived in the Outerverse for many years now, they still had an arrogant bearing towards the people of the Outerverse, especially since they were one of the three unprovoked powers. When the Dark Phoenix family members faced anyone from the Outerverse, they demonstrated a certain arrogance, and they could not accept being ruled by Lu Yin.
The Southside Weave did not only have people who were opposed to Lu Yin’s actions; there were also many people still stationed at the border who supported Lu Yin. Their weaves had joined the Great Eastern Alliance, and so, these experts naturally sided with Lu Yin.
A battle broke out within the Southside Weave, but it was quickly suppressed by the Hall of Honor.
Helpless, Elder Daggs went to look for Yuan Shi to seek his guidance on the current situation.
Yuan Shi opened his eyes. Although he was very old, and his eyes were a bit murky, they remained quite bright. At this moment, they were filled with admiration. “The Outerverse’s seventy two weaves cover an extensive territory, but the powers and resources within it are completely scattered. These are old issues that are common knowledge. In the past, there were some who hoped to incorporate the Adventurers’ Guild, as they were eyeing the various undiscovered routes that the guild had discovered. Those people’s goal was to use those routes to connect the Outerverse and shorten the travelling time. However, all of their efforts were rejected by the Adventurers’ Guild.
“But now, Lu Yin is working to unite the Outerverse, and he has already established an express military transit network, which is the same as condensing the Outerverse and reducing the travel distance between humans. This is very good—a unified Outerverse can erupt with a power that cannot be estimated. Da Gu, you must help him a bit more, and put some pressure on the Adventurers’ Guild, as those secret routes will be very useful to the Outerverse.”
Elder Daggs was left speechless. He knew that Yuan Shi would side with Lu Yin, but this attitude was simply too blatant. Elder Daggs had approached Yuan Shi with the intention of asking if the Hall of Honor should restrict Lu Yin, but Yuan Shi had instead ordered the elder to help Lu Yin. This was simply too unreasonable. If anyone in the outside world learned of this conversation, then they would probably lose all hope.
“Yes, Yuan Shi.” Elder Daggs bowed deeply, as he had no choice in this matter. His status was too far below Yuan Shi’s, and just a single sentence from Yuan Shi was enough to cause the elder to commit suicide, let alone assist Lu Yin. Besides, if helping Lu Yin was Yuan Shi’s will, then Elder Daggs could only do as he was told.
The Adventurers’ Guild? They had long since changed names and become Endless Borders.
Elder Daggs did not deliver any good news to the remaining fractured half of the Outerverse. Not only would the Hall of Honor not intervene, but between the lines, he also suggested that the protesting people should support Lu Yin.
These people were not fools, and they had long since suspected that Lu Yin’s foundation was the Hall of Honor. With Elder Daggs’ attitude, everyone felt their hearts grow cold, and they all silently decided to not ask the Hall of Honor for help anymore.
At this time, the organizations in the western region no longer acted from the dark, but rather openly. On one hand, they contacted En Ya to determine Lu Yin’s base line, and on the other, they actively gathered together, similar to the Central Coalition of the past. They also pulled in different assassination organizations, intelligence networks, and other groups. In fact, any power that could help them resist the Great Eastern Alliance was happily accepted.
The remainder of the Outerverse was determined to resist Lu Yin to the very end.
Nobody held any desire for there to be someone above them, giving them orders. Although the Great Eastern Alliance was just an alliance and joining it was not true submission, none of the various forces of the western region could accept such a thing.
Lu Yin knew that he likely would not be able to move against the remaining half of the Outerverse any time in the near future. The people leading these powers were all quite intelligent, and they were aware of the methods that Lu Yin had used against the powers of the central region and how he had subdued places like the Suna Weave. The western weaves were determined to not make the same mistakes. Even if Lu Yin ended up being severely injured, these people would most likely not attempt to seize any initiative.
The various forces were determined to not provoke the Great Eastern Alliance. In the past, they had held lofty aspirations of destroying the Great Eastern Alliance, but now, those goals had completely disappeared.
Lu Yin did not plan on moving against any other powers at this time. Since he had united half of the Outerverse, the alliance needed some time to adjust themselves. They needed to establish the military expressway, reorganize their resources, arrange the Allied Forces, and much more. All of these details required time to handle, but Lu Yin did not need to do anything himself. Wang Wen, En Ya, Wei Rong, and Huan Sha would take care of all this for him, and all Lu Yin needed to do was cultivate.
No matter what, cultivation was still Lu Yin’s highest priority. He could not allow himself to forget the essence of the universe, which was that the strong preyed on the weak.
A few months passed, and it was soon time for him to return to the Daosource Sect’s ruins.
The outside world had entered a frenzy, and the entire Outerverse was excited. Lu Yin calmly returned to the secret room in King Zishan’s palace, took out his futon, and sat down on it. As the scenery changed before his eyes, he arrived in the Daosource Sect’s ruins’ futon plaza once again.
There seemed to be a bit more people this time compared to when he had last visited the ruins, but it was still quite deserted compared to when he had first visited the Daosource Sect’s ruins.
Lu Yin quickly walked past the First Divine Gate and entered the Budding Terrace before heading straight for the space with the Nine Cauldrons.
As soon as he entered the region, Lu Yin was surprised to discover that there were two groups of people confronting each other, and his sudden appearance drew a bit of attention.
“Which realm are you from?” someone loudly questioned him.
Lu Yin reflexively replied, “The Bloodburn Realm.”
“Over here,” someone else called out gleefully.
Lu Yin blinked, headed over to the person who had called to him, and stood in the middle of a group of people.
“You guys can’t possibly think that Mojiang Xiao will really be able to do anything. He might be an heir of a World Imprinter’s family, but their ancestor is dead. He can’t go against two heirs of Cosmic Imprinters families. Even a fool knows what the outcome will be,” someone in the opposing crowd said in a taunting tone.
Someone in Lu Yin’s crowd spoke up. “Di Luo will arrive soon. Not only is he the heir of a Cosmic Imprinter’s family, but he’s also the younger brother of Realmling Di Fa.”
“So what? Can he alone go against our Tong Zhan and White Silkworm?”
“Mojiang Xiao is not weak either.”
“He doesn’t even have an imprint anymore!”
…
Lu Yin nudged a person next to him. “Bro, what’s going on?”
That person impatiently answered, “Tong Zhan and White Silkworm have sealed the space with the Nine Cauldrons, and they are not allowing anyone else to enter. Thus, we are currently trying to negotiate with them.”
“Who’s White Silkworm?” Lu Yin automatically asked. He also felt a bit puzzled; wasn’t Tong Zhan in the Starfall Sea? Where had he found the time to enter the Daosource Sect’s ruins?
That person was astonished, and he looked at Lu Yin with a strange expression. “You don’t know about White Silkworm?”
Lu Yin forced a smile. “I just came out from seclusion, which lasted for a long time.”
That person put on a look of understanding. “It looks like you were in cryostasis. You must not have been unsealed too long ago. White Silkworm is the heir of the Sightless Clan from the Blackblood Realm. You should at least know of the Sightless Clan—they’re a Cosmic Imprinter’s family.”
Lu Yin grunted in acknowledgement. “So he’s from the Sightless Clan.”
That person stopped paying any attention to Lu Yin.
When Lu Yin glanced into the inner region of the space with the Nine Cauldrons, he could see that the first cauldron had shattered. Thus, Tong Zhan, White Silkworm, and Mojiang Xiao should all be in the second cauldron. That was troublesome, as it looked like he would have to wait even longer before he could come back and absorb more cauldron energy.
He wanted to leave this area, but he was also curious about why Tong Zhan had entered the Daosource Sect’s ruins at this time. After thinking about it, Lu Yin finally decided to stay behind.
The two sides did not stand there for long, and an intense battle quickly broke out within the second cauldron, causing the crowd to look over. In that place, they could see that Mojiang Xiao had been beaten out of the cauldron.
“Scram! If you come back and disturb us again, you’ll die without any question,” a stern voice called out.
Mojiang Xiao’s entire body was flung out of the cauldron, and he crashed to the ground as he was forced to retreat a dozen steps. Blood dripped down from his lips, and his expression was fierce. “Tong Zhan, don’t assume that my Blackblood Realm can be bullied that easily!”
