Star Odyssey

While Wang Wen and Lu Yin sat on the back of the terrorphant, the creature seemed to be completely unaware of their presence. It swung its huge trunk as it cleared a path and trampled the many creatures in its way to death, trumpeting like an overlord all the while.

"Actually, before this, the Blaze Realm was not actually my goal—it has too much influence. After all, it is in one of the eight great flowzones. However, you moved too fast," Wang Wen commented.

Lu Yin replied, "Leader Hong ended up being seriously injured, which presented a rare opportunity. I just couldn't resist seizing it."

"True. But trying to occupy the Blaze Realm will only result in two possible outcomes: will you either be beaten back to the Outerverse, or you will be beaten while you stay in the Innerverse," Wang Wen said.

Lu Yin shrugged. "So then why fight?"

"You have to. If you don't fight, then others will force you to," Wang Wen replied helplessly.

Lu Yin thought about this for a while. "If war breaks out, then we stand absolutely no chance of winning unless all of Leon's Armada joins the Great Eastern Alliance. We really don't have any other means of stopping the Innerverse's forces."

"They're also not united. We can always provoke a bit of infighting."

"They're also not stupid. The Sword Sect alone can send out enough powerhouses to deal with us."

"The best method is to deter them in a manner where they won't dare make a move. Then, we can secretly set the situation up so that they'll break apart in one fell swoop."

"How do we deter them?"

Wang Wen looked at Lu Yin with a serious expression. "When you came back from the Technocracy, I asked you if you were confident about dealing with Nightking Zhenwu. You said yes, and Nightking Zhenwu died shortly after. Now, I'll ask you one more question."

At this moment, Wang Wen grew more serious than ever before. "Are you confident about ZENITH?"

Lu Yin and Wang Wen looked at each other, and then their mouths broke into smiles. "What kind of confidence?"

Wang Wen pointed to the terrorphant beneath them. "Like this."

As soon as Wang Wen finished speaking, the terrorphant seemingly responded to his words, letting loose a deafening cry that tore apart the clouds in the sky and caused the distant volcano that had just erupted to collapse as the soundwave swept out in every direction.

Lu Yin held his head and let out a long breath as he stared off into the distance. "Do you know that this beast isn't the overlord of this planet?"

He pointed at himself as he stared at Wang Wen and smiled. "I am, because I'm here."

Wang Wen laughed. "Alright, I believe you."

"Just make your plans, and I'll do something to stun them all. This ZENITH will be my stage," Lu Yin confidently declared with a smile.

Wang Wen was happy with this response. "I love shameless confidence."

Lu Yin laughed.

After Wang Wen left, En Ya visited the planet.

En Ya stopped by to give a report on the current situation in the Blaze Realm. The matter of dealing with the captured disciples was a major problem. Those disciples were not weak, and their average strength far exceeded that of the Allied Forces' troops. There was also the matter of reorganizing the Blaze Realm, as it was now a part of the Great Eastern Alliance's territory.

Lu Yin did not want to hear about all of these administrative matters, as it gave him a headache. Thus, he quickly cut En Ya off, "Figure all of this things out with the Lu Ministry of Staff. Don't bring it to me."

En Ya felt helpless, but she had already become accustomed to how Lu Yin handled matters.

"Your Highness, what about Grand Marshal Shui?" En Ya hesitantly asked.

Lu Yin's heart skipped a beat, and he remembered Zi Jing's attitude regarding Shui Chuanxiao atop CyNet's tower. "I'm going to try."

En Ya was instantly thrilled. "Thank you, Your Highness."

Lu Yin had no way to get in touch with Arch-Elder Zen, so he instead called Yuan Shi.

It was difficult to get a hold of Yuan Shi, and Lu Yin usually had to first call Elder Daggs and ask the elder to help connect him with Yuan Shi.

Elder Daggs felt rather helpless and aggrieved. He was the Hall of Honor's elder who had been sent to defend the border of the Human Domain, but lately, he seemed to have become Lu Yin's messenger. The elder considered refusing the request outright, but after a moment's thought, he did not dare to offend Lu Yin. Technically, Elder Daggs was also Lu Yin's subordinate.

"Junior Lu Yin greets Yuan Shi." Lu Yin spoke with great respect to the old man from the back of the terrorphant.

Yuan Shi was one of the most respected ancestors within the Human Domain. He was a top expert with a power level of over a million, but he did not care about fame or fortune at all. Instead, he merely stood guard over the Outerverse. Although Yuan Shi did not voice his support of Lu Yin often, he made his position known in other ways. The fact that Yuan Shi had helped give Lu Yin a voice within the Hall of Honor had already been a huge sign of support, and Lu Yin was very grateful to the old man.

There were times that Lu Yin felt great regret. If Yuan Shi would simply show his support from the chariots and horses,1 let alone the nine overseers, not even the Judicial Commissioner Mu Tianlan would have dared to move against Lu Yin.

Yuan Shi was a transcendent elder.

"You've stirred up a great deal of trouble." This was Yuan Shi's greeting to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin felt embarrassed. "It would seem that I've bothered Senior."

Yuan Shi softly replied, "It's fine. I didn't help you very much."

Lu Yin solemnly countered, "Without Senior's influence, this junior would not have had such an easy time of things."

"Eversky Island was the one that helped you, as well as Arch-Elder Zen. I'm merely the old man who protects the Outerverse, and even then, I haven't even been able to protect it." Yuan Shi's voice sounded rather bleak.

Lu Yin knew what Yuan Shi was thinking about. The old man had stood guard over the Outerverse for eons, but in the end, the Outerverse had been handed over to the Sixth Mainland. It would be difficult for anyone in Yuan Shi's position to accept this outcome.

The fact that Yuan Shi was willing to express such an emotion in front of Lu Yin proved that he regarded Lu Yin as one of his own, as a junior who could be spoken to.

"Senior, don't be too obsessive about certain things. You have been protecting all of humanity and the Fifth Mainland, not just the Outerverse," Lu Yin said.

Yuan Shi smiled gently. "That's true, though I needed you to remind me of it. Alright child, why did you seek me out?"

Lu Yin glanced over at En Ya and respectfully asked, "Senior, are you familiar with Gaia's Swamp?"

Yuan Shi wondered, "The Hall of Honor's prison?"

"Yes. This junior would like to have one of the prisoners released," Lu Yin said.

"Their sentence?"

"Ten thousand years."

"Ten thousand years?" Yuan Shi was taken aback. "What's their name?"

Lu Yin answered quietly, "Shui Chuanxiao."

Yuan Shi did not answer, as he was likely looking into the situation. So, Lu Yin waited quietly.

A growing unease filled En Ya's heart, and her eyes revealed all sorts of complicated emotions, though the most prevalent was anticipation. Even her hands were clenched white with stress.

She was aware of who Lu Yin was speaking with, Yuan Shi. She was not qualified to reach out to such a powerhouse, but she had long since known of him, as he was the protector of the Outerverse who Grand Marshal Shui had told her about.

Although En Ya did not know a great deal about Yuan Shi, she was aware of his position due to Shui Chuanxiao. If Yuan Shi spoke up, then the Grand Marshal would definitely be released.

Lu Yin glanced back over at En Ya, and he grew even more curious about Shui Chuanxiao. What sort of charm did this person with the greatest military mind in all of history have that his former subordinates would still do their best to save him, even after he planned the fall of half of Endless Weave? Why did these people continue to trust the man without any hesitation and still speak up for him?

It almost felt like brainwashing, but people like En Ya who had survived the cruelty of a border warfront would have a strong mentality resistant to brainwashing.

"Tell me about Grand Marshal Shui," Lu Yin suddenly said.

En Ya did not have the presence of mind to speak at this moment, but since Lu Yin had been the one to ask, she had no choice but to respond. She whispered, "What would Your Highness like to know about the Grand Marshal?"

Without any hesitation, Lu Yin replied, "What about him makes it that you would die for him?"

En Ya looked at Lu Yin in surprise, but she seriously considered his question for a while. "The Grand Marshal didn't do anything on purpose, but he has a certain charm about him that causes people to feel that, as long as they follow him, they'll win."

Lu Yin raised his eyebrows; was it that extreme?

"Does Your Highness think that you saw everything at the border with the Astral Beast Domain? That our only enemy was the Wilderness Beast Alliance?" En Ya said.

Lu Yin shook his head. "Of course not. The Astral Beast Domain is comparable to the Human Domain, so how could the Wilderness Beast Alliance possibly be enough to contest us when they only have seven Enlighter realm astral beasts?"

When Lu Yin had still been a student of the Astral Combat Academy, an Enlighter had been an incomparable powerhouse to him. But from his current perspect, he alone was enough to deal with seven Enlighter realm astral beasts.

"Your Highness witnessed the border warfront in both Endless Weave and Ironblood Weave, so how could the Wilderness Beast Alliance be the only power at the border of the Astral Beast Domain? Originally, that was not even the Wilderness Beast Alliance's territory. Countless giant beasts were evacuated from the area while the Wilderness Beast Alliance was actually forced there by both the Celestial Beast Empire and Grand Marshal Shui."

"Grand Marshal Shui was able to force the Wilderness Beast Alliance?" Lu Yin was surprised to hear this.

Additionally, the information that he had received concerning the border warfront in the Erudite Flowzone was nothing like what En Ya was sharing.

En Ya murmured, "The Grand Marshal and the Celestial Beat Empire both have a tacit understanding with the Wilderness Beast Alliance at the border of Erudite Flowzone. The alliance was put there as a buffer zone so that the two great powers would not directly share a border. It's possible that the Wilderness Beast Alliance might actually be unaware of this, as Grand Marshal Shui played them from the beginning, all to change the border situation. The true border stretches from the Innerverse's Erudite Flowzone, across the Cosmic Sea, and all the way to the Neoverse. That is the true border line.

"The Grand Marshal of the border is also the border commander of the entire Human Domain, and he possesses authority over all of the other borders, including Endless Weave and Ironblood Weave. Even a powerhouse like Yuan Shi is considered a part of the Grand Mashal's resources, and Grand Marshal Shui had the authority to mobilize everyone at a critical moment, even Yuan Shi."

En Ya's words completely shocked Lu Yin.

There was a certain universal rule that was common sense: strength was greater than everything else. A cultivator could easily seize authority, and the greater their strength was, the more authority they could receive.

A powerhouse like Yuan Shi was capable of slaughtering everyone in the Innerverse and the Outerverse without anyone stopping him. That was the privilege possessed by the powerful.

The reason why Yuan Shi was so respected was not only because of how many people he had selflessly taught, but also because he had never oppressed others with his amazing strength.

Power was greater than authority, and power also enhanced authority. This was the way of the universe.

However, this common sense was turned on its head with Shui Chuanxiao. He was only a Hunter realm cultivator, but he actually had the authority to command a powerhouse like Yuan Shi. This situation destroyed Lu Yin's common sense.

Yuan Shi's mere existence was something that few people in the Innerverse were even aware of, let alone the Outerverse. Despite that, Shui Chuanxiao had actually been able to issue commands to such a powerhouse.

Lu Yin did not believe that Shui Chuanxiao had been given this authority by others, and the only possibility that Lu Yin could come up with was that Yuan Shi had voluntarily agreed to be commanded during a battle. Whether it was Shui Chuanxiao or someone else, Yuan Shi would follow the Grand Marshal during times of war. This could only happen with Yuan Shi's willingness, as he could not be forced into such a thing.

Yuan Shi could easily eliminate Shui Chuanxiao if he cared to since Yuan Shi was a peak expert. Thus, he could only be commanded if he was willing.

Someone had forsaken half of Endless Weave, causing countless deaths and delivering despair to countless more. However, the guilty party was not sentenced to death, but instead merely incarcerated. This also showed the privileges that Shui Chuanxiao had earned due to being the Grand Marshal who had been in command of all of the Human Domain's borders.

[1] This is simply a Chinese expression that I liked, so it got left. It literally means to openly place the chariot and horse pieces in Chinese chess, and it means to do things in an open and blunt manner. ☜