Star Odyssey

Chapter 1701: There's A Problem

Hui Kong then continued to say, "Forget that I asked anything if you don't want to say. Just let me know if you need anything. Your brother might not have any other skills, but I'm good at fighting, and I can at least support you with that. Though, I can only support you as my brother, and I can't represent the entire Hui family."

Lu Yin smiled. "I know."

"By the way, there is one other thing." Hui Kong pulled out two memory chips from his cosmic ring that he threw over to Lu Yin. "Find a technician to analyze these. They have some confidential information regarding some cities in the Technocracy, including First Edition City. This big brother of yours took a lot of effort to get this, but I don't know if it's worth anything."

Lu Yin became curious. "Brother Hui, were you in Technocracy for so many years because of this?"

"Of course not. This is just a little something extra. Brother Lu, I was actually forced out. I lost a lot of resources during my fight with that old man Wang Shang. Everything that I had accumulated during my many years in the Technocracy was used up, so I would have suffered if I had tried to stay in the Technocracy. They aren't looking for trouble, and the people entering this place will definitely be making more trouble," Hui Kong said.

Lu Yin felt apologetic. "Thank you, Brother Hui."

Hui Kong patted Lu Yin's shoulder. "Forget about it. For now, let's focus on other things. Your brother is actually in a hurry to get home. I haven't been back there in so many years, and I have no idea how many descendants the family has had by now."

Lu Yin arched a brow. This was not going to be a blessing for the Hui family. They were going to suffer terrible luck now that their ancestor was about to return home.

The most suitable person under Lu Yin's command to analyze the memory chips that Hui Kong had give him was Huan Sha, as her innate gift was simulation analysis.

Lu Yin immediately had Huan Sha transferred over to the Ross Empire's mobile fortress, but even at the fastest available speed, it would take her a few days to arrive.

"Brother Hui, let's go eat something and drink some wine. By the way, I picked up some wine from a colossal giant."

"The colossal giants' wine giant? Interesting. Let's give it a try."

"It's not very tasty."

"That's fine."

…

Bang!

There was a loud noise, and Lu Yin stepped back. In front of him, Hui Kong attacked with a single hand. "Again! For an Enlighter to have this kind of combat strength, it's possible that only Progenitor Chen could compare to you."

Lu Yin shook an arm. "Brother Hui, be more gentle."

"Come on, I'll show you how the Hui family fights!" Hui Kong laughed. Lu Yin emerged from the true universe and attacked from a strange angle with a Vacuum Palm.

Still, no matter how many Vacuum Palms Lu Yin launched, they were all useless, and this was when Hui Kong was restricting his power level to be close to Lu Yin's.

Lu Yin was surprised, as it was the first time that someone had ever managed to overcome his Vacuum Palm in such a manner. "Brother Hui, how are you doing it?"

"The Hui family's secret art: Omnibreak. It allows a person to see through any battle technique and find its weaknesses. While your Vacuum Palm is extremely powerful and is even too fast to be seen, the way you move your hand is too obvious. Also, haven't you noticed that your palm technique can never change direction?" Hui Kong responded loudly.

Lu Yin pursed his lips. Vacuum Palm was nothing more than a powerful palm attack, and there was no way for it to change directions. It relied solely on power and speed to overwhelm opponents, but Lu Yin had not expected Hui Kong to be able to see through the technique so clearly.

In fact, many people were able to see how Lu Yin's hands moved when he used the technique, but very few were able to dodge the attacks even though they knew where the strike would land. In contrast, Hui Kong did not avoid the attacks, but rather sneakily shifted about. He was always able to find the weakest point of each Vacuum Palm, and that knowledge allowed him to push the attacks aside.

This was how the Hui family fought.

Each of the families in the Court of Seven Names was adept at defeating powerful opponents from a position of weakness.

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Lu Yin had seen Hui Santong fight many times in the past during the Astral Tower competition, ZENITH, and other such events. He himself had even fought against the Hui family's inheritor. However, while Hui Santong seemed to be nothing special, if he was placed in a battle against others at the same level of strength, Hui Santong would be a terrible enemy. He was able to see through his opponents' battle techniques and find his enemy's weaknesses. Not to mention, he also had the Hui family's inherited battle technique, Golden Meteors, which was so powerful that it had forced Wang Shang to retreat before Hui Kong left the Technocracy.

The members of the Hui family were all very intelligent.

Hui Santong had never been anything special, but that was simply because Lu Yin and Hui Santong's other opponents were all too strong, and they would never give him a chance to win from a weaker position.

"Brother Hui, the Hui family is descended from Progenitor Hui, right?" Lu Yin asked as he attacked again, this time using the Thirteen Swords.

"That's right." Hui Kong was startled to see the technique Lu Yin had used. "Brother Lu, you've mastered the Sword Sect's techniques?"

"Almost," Lu Yin replied.

Hui Kong was speechless. "Have you learned the Sword Sect's entire Thirteen Swords?"

He then glanced over at Liu Huang who was some distance away. "Doesn't he care?"

Lu Yin smiled. "He created the Fourteenth Sword by himself, though I also learned it."

Hui Kong was momentarily stunned from the surprise he felt at Lu Yin's revelation. "Fourteenth Sword? He created one?"

When Lu Yin had told Hui Kong about Liu Huang and his identity, as well as the Second Nightking, Lu Yin had not mentioned the Fourteenth Sword, and he had merely mentioned that Liu Huang had been imprisoned in Gaia's Swamp. This was the first time that Hui Kong was hearing about the Fourteenth Sword.

"Hurry up and show it to your brother! I want to check it out." Hui Kong's interest was instantly piqued.

Lu Yin felt troubled.

Hui Kong said, "Don't worry, your brother will be fine. Given your strength, you can't hurt me at all."

Lu Yin answered in a serious tone, "Brother Hui, the Fourteenth Sword is called Misery, and it causes a person to relive the worst experiences of their life, so be careful."

Lu Yin then raised a sword that he had formed from star energy and swung down.

Due to the massive difference in strength, Lu Yin was well aware that it was impossible for him to actually injure Hui Kong with the Fourteenth Sword, but what made this particular sword technique so terrible was not its power, but rather the intent behind the attack. It was similar to why Liu Tianmu had believed that she could cause Lu Yin to lose his mind with Liu Guai's version of the Thirteenth Sword despite the difference in their strengths. That sword technique could drive people insane regardless of their strength, and in much the same way, the Fourteenth Sword could make people suffer.

Hui Kong stood still. Regardless of if one considered the Thirteenth or the Fourteenth Swords, the most terrifying aspect about them was how they were unavoidable.

The sword swung out, and Hui Kong's expression went through various emotions. He clutched at his chest and let out a long breath.

Lu Yin stared at the older man.

From the distance, Liu Huang was also watching. If he were at his peak strength, he would be able to wound Hui Kong badly with the Fourteenth Sword or even kill the old man, but Lu Yin was too weak to pull that off.

Hui Kong looked up, sadness filling his eyes. "I really shouldn't have left the Technocracy."

Lu Yin felt helpless. "Brother Hui, I know that its hard."

Hui Kong showed a bitter smile. "Yeah, I just remembered something."

"Let me show you Sapling," Lu Yin suggested.

Hui Kong shook his head. "Let me be alone for a bit."

The man then left.

The star energy sword dissipated from Lu Yin's hand. This attack should have reminded Hui Kong of his determination.

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The man had stayed in the Technocracy for so many years, and although Lu Yin did not know why, the fact that Hui Kong had abandoned the Hui family and stayed in the Technocracy all alone for so many years required a determination that few could understand.

The Second Nightking had hid in the Celestial Frost Pond and cultivated primarily to avoid the attention of the monstrous powerhouses in the Neoverse, but also because he hoped to be able to protect himself after emerging.

It seemed clear that Hui Kong should be in a bad mood after being forced out of the Technocracy after so many years, but he had never shown any sign of that.

The next day, Hui Kong had already recovered, and he continued training with Lu Yin. Sparring with Hui Kong was a novel experience for Lu Yin, as he rarely met people who fought by relying on cleverness. Typically, Lu Yin either crushed his opponent or was crushed by them. It was very rare for him to encounter such a unique opponent.

While visiting Gaia's Swamp, Lu Yin had trained with the Warden, but that was nothing more than him getting beaten by the giant. On the other hand, Hui Kong was helping Lu Yin find the weaknesses in his battle techniques.

After two days, Huan Sha arrived. Lu Yin immediately gave her the memory chips and asked her to analyze them. He then continued training with Hui Kong while occasionally visiting Sapling.

The large tree that had been given to Lu Yin continuously tried to escape from captivity, and the strange plant tried every means to do so, but unfortunately, it was destined to fail. Sapling really liked the larger tree, and it constantly sat atop of the larger tree and jumped about.

Even more strange plants had been added to Sapling's area over the last few days, and there were even bizarre ones that ate rocks.

Hui Kong was very interested in Chen Huang, or, to be precise, Hui Kong was interested in the colossal giants. Hui Kong made a point of sparring with Chen Huang, and just like when he had sparred with Lu Yin, Hui Kong suppressed his strength.

"It's no wonder why some people claim that battle force is a cultivation method that was originally intended for giants! The power that giants can exert with battle force is quite terrifying," Hui Kong commented with evident emotion.

"Humans can also comprehend battle force," Lu Yin said.

Hui Kong smiled. "But not like these colossal giants. Even Progenitor Chen appreciated the power of the colossal giants, and one of his nine clones became a colossal giant that eventually achieved an unparalleled size."

Lu Yin knew this, as he had seen Progenitor Chen's memories while in Progenitor Chen's Mausoleum. The giant clone had been large enough to play with planets like they were marbles. Actually, how far had Progenitor Chen cultivated his battle force? Had he also achieved aurelian force, or had he reached an even higher level?

Lu Yin longed to reach that level.

Before long, Huan Sha reported to Lu Yin that she had concluded her analysis.

Lu Yin took Hui Kong to go meet with Huan Sha.

Hui Kong looked at Huan Sha with a bit of curiosity. He had merely been slightly curious about the information on the memory chips, and had not considered it very important. The reason why he was in the Technocracy was not related to these things, and he had just randomly grabbed these chips without knowing if they would be of much use or not.

Huan Sha returned the memory chips to Lu Yin and respectfully reported, "Leader, the information on these is about the consumption of materials, battle damage, funding for research and development, and other data for First Edition City and Sky Creation Academy, and the records go back many years. The Technocracy is not like our Human Domain where we have a great deal of trade and culture. Instead, they seem to only care about developing warfare-related technology."

Lu Yin looked over at Hui Kong.

Hui Kong nodded. "That sounds right. I stayed in the Technocracy for many years, and no matter if it's another city or First Edition City, life is very monotonous for the people there, and the research teams only focus on R&D. There's really not much creativity compared to the Human Domain, and there's much less culture. They also don't even trade, as the Master Brain runs everything.

"There are some cities that are very strange and hard to even describe. If you go there, you'll understand, as they will defy your imagination."

Ordinary people would not be able to last a day with such a lifestyle.

"So are you saying that the resources listed in this chip aren't very useful? Is this just a recording of the Technocracy's most mundane affairs?" Lu Yin asked.

In the Technocracy, technological research and the usage of materials for warfare was much like the consumption and production of food within the Human Domain. In fact, even the usage of training resources that the Human Domain required was considered a trivial matter in the Technocracy.

Hui Kong lamented, "I didn't have much hope when I grabbed it. If it's useless, it's useless."

Huan Sha interjected, "Alliance Leader Lu, there's a problem with the data on these chips."

Lu Yin and Hui Kong looked over, as even Hui Kong was surprised. "A problem? What's the problem?"

Huan Sha spoke earnestly, "After completing my analysis, I found discrepancies between the various smaller cities and First Edition City in the consumption of various materials, research developments, and wars. In particular, I found the greatest discrepancies to be related to warfare. Any battle will always result in a great deal of resources being lost, but that's not close to being enough to account for the losses recorded in here. These materials have simply disappeared, which is not normal. Even when a primitive nation in the Human Domain goes to war, many materials will be recycled, and things don't simply vanish into thin air.

"However, in every battle that's fought between Sky Creation Academy and First Edition City, a large amount of resources simply disappear."