Star Odyssey

Chapter 1642: Burden

Liu Tang's words caused Liu Ling to frown. "They're not even Explorers, so they can't enter the void. They're relying on nothing but luck while participating in this war."

Liu Tang replied, "Most of the people who participate in war contribute nothing. I'm actually quite curious: why are you here?"

Liu Ling was Liu Shaoqiu's cousin, and she enjoyed a very high status within the sect. She was able to scold elders and could even meet with Sect Master Liu Qianjue himself. Her status could not compare to other disciples', and she should have never been sent to the battlefield where she could die.

Even though she was merely watching the battlefield from a great distance, it was still very dangerous.

Liu Ling frowned. "Someone messed up their job, and my name was put down on the list. There are so many disciples that it's not easy to fix. Still, I'll be back within a couple days at worst."

Liu Tang nodded, as this made sense.

"Despicable! Despicable Ross Empire!" the sylvan dragon continued to rant. It had been sent to protect the Sword Sect's disciples, and it had also reached the peak of the Hunter realm. As long as no one approached the battlefield, everything here should be safe.

Also, neither Liu Tang nor Liu Ling were weak themselves.

Still, accidents were always liable to happen. The massive warship suddenly started to move, and instead of remaining in place to attack from a distance, it started charging towards the sylvan dragons' basecamp.

Even the Ross Empire's commander on site was startled. "Stop now! What's happening?"

"Commander, there's an error in the ship's command system."

"Fix it! ASAP!"

"Yes!"

The Ross Empire's commander on this battlefield was Angelo, who had once directed the empire's efforts against the Great Yu Empire. During that excursion, the blind monk had destroyed the three of the Ross Empire's fleets and had even killed five Explorers and three Cruisers from the Ross Empire. When Angelo finally returned to the Ross Empire, he had been judged and punished. Only recently had he managed to reclaim his former position.

When the Sixth Mainland attacked the Innerverse, Angelo had technically held the position of a commander, but he had not had the authority of one. This was his first battle since regaining his status and authority as a true commander. His opponents were the sylvan dragon clan.

The huge warship had been formed from all the vessels in two whole fleets. Whether one looked at the vessel's defenses or attack power, it surpassed an average Hunter's and could even compare to a peak Hunter.

Another round of attacks were fired out, and again, several sylvan dragons were killed.

As for the dragon protecting Liu Tang, Liu Ling, and the other privileged disciples, he could no longer sit still. "Wait here. I'm going to destroy that thing."

The dragon then shot off. Despite his massive size, the enormous warship could not target the dragon due to his speed, and the dragon smashed into the huge warship.

For a moment, the warship lost control and was not able to launch any attacks.

The peak Hunter dragon laughed wildly and returned to the meteorite.

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Angelo's expression turned ugly.

The peak Hunter dragon returned to the meteorite feeling very proud of himself, only to find that Liu Ling was dead and that Liu Tang's life was hanging on by a thread. The dragon was completely shocked, and he quickly took the two humans away in a panic.

Both of these people were very important to the Sword Sect, which meant that this was troublesome. Very troublesome for the sylvan dragons.

The war in Blazing Mist Flowzone was not only raging on that one battlefield, but also on an even larger one. On this battlefield, not only were the sylvan dragons and people from the Ross Empire participating, but also various cultivators from the other regions of the Innerverse and even other flowzones. Some forces, such as the Sword Sect, were more open about their involvement.

Even though this war could not compare to the scale of the war that had just erupted in the Cosmic Sea, various powers from the Innerverse had been dragged in one after another.

At the edge of Blazing Mist Flowzone, a huge astral beast flew into the distance. Little Mountain God was sitting on the massive creature. He also should not have been sent to Blazing Mist Flowzone's war, but because the Divine Hall's mission location had changed, Little Mountain God had arrived. He had no need to participate in the war itself, and he intended to return right after completing the mission that he had been given. He was actually already on his way back.

As he looked at his gadget, Little Mountain God was startled by what he saw; the Sword Sect was crazy to risk antagonizing the Sixth Mainland's Flying Horse Manor! Had they really taken the Sea King away from Flying Horse Manor? Did they not feel that there was already enough chaos in the Innerverse as things were?

While Little Mountain God was still thinking about what he had learned, space froze beneath his astral beast, startling Little Mountain God. This was not good; someone was attacking him!

Elder Tie emerged from behind Little Mountain God, and on the opposite side, Ye Gui appeared. He used his innate gift and froze the void, leaving Little Mountain God unable to move.

The astral beast quickly died, but Little Mountain God managed to escape, despite suffering grievous injuries.

Elder Tie's expression showed his frustrations. "He actually managed to escape."

"That's impossible for him alone. He had to have used some sort of power vessel or something else must be protecting him. Also, he is an Enlighter, so it's not easy to kill him. Still, this should be enough, as such a serious injury should drive Beast Tamers Flowzone crazy," Ye Gui replied.

Far away, Little Mountain God took the form of a stone and fell onto a planet.

Fortunately, he had been given a special treasure by his master. Otherwise, he would have died just then. But who was it? Who would dare to attack him? This was a planned assassination attempt, and even if he was in the Innerverse, Little Mountain God should not have run into such a dangerous situation. Someone was working against him, but who?

In the Outerverse, on Zenyu Star, Lu Yin stared at the floral tea that Zhao Ran had prepared. Were more and more creatures appearing in her teas? He really did not know how to react to what he was seeing, but when he managed to take a sip, he found that, once again, it tasted surprisingly good.

Half a month had passed since Lu Yin had spoken with Wang Wen, and the plan had been officially in action for that amount of time.

Names were constantly being crossed off of the list. Each one represented a very important organization such as the Innerverse's Sword Sect, Wen family, Lingling clan, Beast Tamers Flowzone, and more. There were even elites such as Ling Que and Little Mountain God listed on there.

Lu Yin had not expected Ling Que to step onto the battlefield in Blazing Mist Flowzone.

He had also made the decision to remove Ling Que from the list. Otherwise, he would have already heard word of his death.

One by one, the names were crossed out. Each line indicated that someone had died, and with each death, the nature of the war in Blazing Mist Flowzone changed drastically. The Sword Sect, the Wen family, and all the other organizations started to send more and more people into the war. Lu Yin had no idea who was being blamed for each assassination, but he was certain that the various Innerverse powers were blaming each other.

The seeds of hatred had already been sewn, which meant that they only needed to wait for those seeds to sprout and take root.

More than ten days went by, and now that the disciples from the Sword Sect and other major powers were direct participating, the war had changed from a fight between the Ross Empire and the sylvan dragon clan to a war between the eight great flowzones. Wang Wen went to look for Lu Yin. "Now's the best time. For at least a hundred years, there is no way they'll be able to move beyond the hatred that has formed between them."

Lu Yin looked up at the mainlands surrounding Zenyu Star. "Tell me, are we evil?"

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Wang Wen was taken aback at Lu Yin's sudden question, but after a moment, Wang Wen replied, "Is the Hall of Honor despicable?"

Lu Yin considered the question.

"The Hall of Honor rules over the entire Fifth Mainland, but at first, they were not alone—there was also the Daosource Sect. After the Daosource Sect collapsed, it became the Hall of Honor alone. The Hall of Honor was not an organization that was born, but rather one that was created. It was brought about by a countless amount of blood and fire. But now? The Hall of Honor is the force that ensures stability for the entire Fifth Mainland. Without the Hall of Honor, when the Sixth Mainland invaded us, the Innerverse would have never been able to work together to fight back.

"Unsupported self-doubt and regret at your actions will only make you weaker," Wang Wen uttered as he stared at Lu Yin in a solemn manner.

Lu Yin looked back up and showed a smile. "In another hundred years, there will be such a passage in the historical records stating how the leader of the Great Eastern Alliance, Lu Yin, was kind-hearted. He hesitated to start a war but was bewitched by his subordinate, Wang Wen, into inciting a war that swept the entire Fifth Mainland into it. The blame should be carried by Wang Wen alone." With that, Lu Yin walked away with a big smile on his face.

Wang Wen was left in a daze as he stared blankly at Lu Yin's back. How was this okay? That was just plain nasty! The bastard had thrown the moral burden straight onto Wang Wen! What a jerk! The worst part was, Wang Wen could not find any reason to refute Lu Yin's words.

***

The Ross Empire was a unique force within the Innerverse. They focused strongly on technology, but still far from what the Technocracy had achieved. Emperor Luo had a firm conviction, and everyone in the empire had come to accept his view that cultivation was an illusion and that it was merely a self-glorification propagated by higher civilizations. Emperor Luo hoped to shatter the illusion and reveal the real face of the universe.

Long ago, he had wanted to use the Astral Combat Academy's Three Realms Six Daos to achieve a breakthrough, but he had never managed to accomplish anything.

He was destined to defeat the sylvan dragon clan, not only because of the support of Beast Tamers Flowzone and the Wen family, but also because of the Astral Beast Domain.

The sylvan dragon clan had once betrayed the Astral Beast Domain, and during the Ross Empire's war against the dragons, some experts from the Astral Beast Domain had arrived and offered to help them deal with the sylvan dragons. The entire species would be eliminated, and their demise would wash away a stain on the Astral Beast Domain.

Of course, Emperor Luo had welcomed the offer. He was singularly focused on gaining control of all of Blazing Mist Flowzone. As for Beast Tamers Flowzone and the Wen family who were supporting the Ross Empire, Emperor Luo was hostile towards them as well. He was already aware that the two powers were only supporting him with the intention of secretly dividing Blazing Mist Flowzone or even taking control, if at all possible.

Emperor Luo was far more willing to work with the Astral Beast Domain, even if they were a foreign power that was enemies with the Human Domain. Everything would be fine as long as no one learned about the truth.

The Ross Empire's capital was not a planet, but rather a mechanical city that was as large as one. It also did not remain in a fixed location, as it was able to move and even be used as a mobile fortress.

It was somewhat similar to Aurora Fortress, but far inferior. In fact, the Ross Empire's capital could not even compare to Millions City. While their capital was able to defend against an Envoy's attack, it was not capable of launching an attack with that much power.

Warships and entire fleets departed the Ross Empire's capital and made their way towards the warfront. There were also various cultivators from the Ross Empire, as well as androids and cultivators that had surrendered to the empire.

However, there were even more cultivators who were secretly from Erudite Flowzone, Beast Tamers Flowzone, and other nearby small flowzones.

Emperor Luo stared out into outer space. Everything had started half a month ago with the deaths of several people. Those deaths had propelled the war in an uncontrollable direction. Beast Tamers Flowzone's Little Mountain God had been badly injured, the Wen family's Wen Ran had died, and many people from the Sword Sect and the Lingling clan had also died. The oddest thing was that all of the people had been important within their own organization, but had apparently been deliberately targeted.

Emperor Luo was not the only one who had noticed the pattern, as many others had seen it as well. However, the people who had been targeted were simply far too important, so unless the mastermind hidden behind the curtain was revealed, there was no way to justify these events. After all, everything had happened on the battlefield.

Still, these recent developments did not matter. Emperor Luo looked at a certain corner; it was time for him to ask those experts from the Astral Beast Domain to make their move. As long as the sylvan dragons' patriarch, Long Yi, was eliminated, the dragon clan would lose their leadership. Even if they continued to be supported by the Sword Sect and the Lingling clan, their struggles would be useless.

Additionally, Emperor Luo was more than willing to believe that the Sword Sect and the Lingling clan would readily divide the sylvan dragon clan once they fell and use the beasts as mounts.

Emperor Luo moved out and approached a certain section of the mobile fortress. He opened a door and walked straight into the room.

The room was dark, and Emperor Luo's eyes became alert. Suddenly, a black shadow flickered, and something stood in front of the emperor. "It's me."

The shadow hesitated and then shattered into countless smaller shadows. They looked like countless giant pythons circling around the emperor, and it was an extremely terrifying sight.

Emperor Luo looked straight ahead and saw a group of dark aquatic plants that had a pair of eyes hidden within them. This was actually the expert that had been sent by the Astral Beast Domain. It was a creature known as Dark Beast, and the creature actually used that as its name as well. Whether this was the true name of the creature or its species was not known, as there were no records of Dark Beast in the entire Human Domain.