Star Odyssey

Lu Yin’s head hurt, as he had already confirmed that quite a number of independent cultivators had been hired to invade the Great Yu Empire.

He could not ascertain just how many there were, but the ones on this vessel were just a portion of them.

He opened a star chart and looked at the areas around the Great Yu Empire that might have already been invaded.

When Lu Yin had learned that there were cultivators about to attack the Great Yu Empire on the Astral River Ark, he had informed Huo Qingshan so that the Great Yu Empire could prepare themselves in advance. However, the number of cultivators that the empire could mobilize was limited, and it was very possible that they wouldn’t be able to defend against all of the attackers.

Since that was the case, then Lu Yin could not be blamed if he made a ruthless move. His gaze trembled, and he contacted Huo Qingshan once again to tell him a few things.

Huo Qingshan was shocked when he heard Lu Yin’s words. “Got it.”

Lu Yin disconnected and looked at the dark space passing them by. The universe could sometimes be very cruel, but it was just as cruel to others as it was to Lu Yin.

He had ordered Huo Qingshan to have a bunch of people disguise themselves as unaffiliated cultivators and then launch surprise attacks on Woori, Grandtop and Russell Weaves since all three of them lay close to Frostwave Weave. Lu Yin had also leaked information that the various great powers of the Innerverse were preparing to carve a path from the Innerverse straight to the Astral Wilderness in order to more easily gather pyrolyte.

Not only did Lu Yin reveal the existence of pyrolyte, but he also leaked news that the Second Grade Hall had hired independent cultivators to surreptitiously attack some of the surrounding weaves in order to drag them into the mess.

This would cause the various mercenary groups to be targeted by the surrounding weaves, even if their sole target was Frostwave Weave. If there were cultivators targeting the nearby weaves, then it didn’t matter what their true target was.

Only by muddying the waters could Lu Yin gain an advantage in this crisis.

Someone wanted to hide in the darkness and let the Second Grade Hall struggle with the Great Yu Empire before getting the greatest catch. Thus, Lu Yin had responded by dragging them all down together; not a single one of them could expect to escape now. Due to the incoming targeted attacks against the surrounding weaves, the independent cultivators might not even be able to even approach Frostwave Weave.

Even if his plans were ruined, and even if Frostwave Weave faced everyone’s wrath, Lu Yin still held a final trump card: the Sea King’s Dome. And if the Sea King’s Dome didn’t want to take action, then he could also rely on Leon's Armada, as that was a power that even the Daynight clan was afraid of. The various great powers would not provoke such powerful organizations for just a mere Great Yu Empire.

The pirate king’s monstrous reputation wasn’t just because of his strength, but also because of how he handled his matters. He represented the universe’s dark side.

Right now, Lu Yin wanted to take care of this spacecraft full of mercenaries. He did not need to know who employed them, and he might not even be able to uncover that piece of information from them, so there was no need to worry about it.

The two Cruisers were in a lounge on the top level of the spacecraft, as that room was restricted to only the two of them.

Lu Yin donned his universal armor that had been upgraded five times and retrieved the gun that he had bought at the auction before slowly making his way towards the top level.

Along the way, everyone he encountered was easily dispatched. It wasn’t disgraceful that these cultivators were unaffiliated with any organization, as not everyone could obtain backing in the cultivation world. However, accepting employment with the sole purpose of inciting war was more in line with a mercenary’s job. It was also clearly not the first time these people had accepted such a job, or else they would not have gathered together so quickly.

Every person here had bloodstained hands, and Lu Yin did not show them any mercy while dispatching them.

At the top level, within the captain’s room, more than ten operating crew members stared at a screen in terror. The display showed an image of Lu Yin crushing an Explorer against the wall with a single palm. A jolting pulse of energy shot through his hand and crushed all of the Explorer’s internal organs, and even the metal wall behind the man cracked.

“Hurry up and immediately report that there’s an intruder onboard!” The next moment, an ear-piercing alarm reverberated through the spacecraft.

The ranks of those within the spacecraft were obvious. Lu Yin watched as the life slowly bled out of the Explorer in front of him. This man had been the last Explorer on the vessel, and now, of the space-exploring powerhouses originally onboard, there were only the two Cruisers left.

The ear-piercing alarm startled everyone, and one of the Cruisers quickly went to the captain’s room and took a look at the screen. However, his first reaction was to frown. “This person is using universal armor and isn’t even an Explorer. How bold.”

The man then tore through the void, headed straight for Lu Yin.

Lu Yin had not walked far from where he had killed the last Explorer when the Cruiser appeared in front of him, the man’s eyes gleaming with a cold killing intent. “I don’t know who you’re trying to make trouble for, but since you’re here, just die!”

The Cruiser slapped out at Lu Yin. As far as he was concerned, even if Lu Yin was a Realmbreaker, he still wouldn’t be able to defend against a Cruiser’s attack. Such a person would have to be one of those universally renowned freaks, and those people found it below themselves to make life difficult for mercenaries such as them.

However, this Cruiser had forgotten that Lu Yin came from the Great Yu Empire.

The Cruiser’s hand slapped against the universal armor, but there was no damage whatsoever. The man’s eyes immediately went wide with disbelief; he had never seen a set of universal armor that could withstand an attack with a power level of 50,000.

The universal armor was originally intended to help those who were not yet Explorers survive in outer space. Many people wanted to explore secret areas, but they did not want to brave the dangers themselves. Hence, they would give their subordinates or slaves a set of universal armor and have them brave the dangers in their stead. Generally, universal armor did not have very sturdy defenses and was only used to survive in outer space.

However, Lu Yin’s universal armor had originally been merged with metal from the Cosmic Sea and was so sturdy that it could withstand a Hunter’s attacks. After buying it, Lu Yin had even Enhanced it five times. At this point, not even Lu Yin himself knew how strong of an attack the armor could withstand, but at the very least, a Cruiser whose power level hadn’t even reached 100,000 could only dream about penetrating this armor’s defenses.

With this universal armor, Lu Yin even dared to tussle with a Hunter.

Lu Yin raised his gun and aimed it at the Cruiser. “Poverty has limited your imagination.”

With those words, he pulled the trigger. An ancient physical bullet struck the Cruiser’s chest, and a terrifying strength distorted the void before exploding within the Cruiser’s body. It pierced through his body, pulverizing a good half of it in the process.

Lu Yin stared at the scene in shock. Even though he already knew that this gun could fire bullets that were equivalent to an attack with a power level of 80,000, he still had not expected them to instantly kill a Cruiser. When did Cruisers become so weak?

The universal armor complemented the gun perfectly, and the current Lu Yin was almost ready to challenge the Cruisers on the Top 100 Rankings. These tools had been bought by large amounts of money, and this realization caused Lu Yin to suddenly feel truly fearful of those wealthy powers. Perhaps they used similar methods, as this was different from cultivation; this was a method that purely focused on killing.

The Mavis family was the wealthiest power in the universe, and Lu Yin could not even imagine how many similar methods they had.

There was an explosion as one side of the spacecraft exploded; the final Cruiser had just escaped into outer space. When he saw this exchange between Lu Yin and his comrade, he had realized that he was not Lu Yin’s opponent, and so, he had immediately fled. But so what if he was a Cruiser? He was still just an independent cultivator whose access to cultivation techniques was extremely limited. When Lu Yin noticed that the man was about to escape, he released the grain of Fatesand around his heart, causing his full physical strength to erupt. He then used Flash Step to its limit, causing a giant spatial crack to extend out from the spacecraft.

Lu Yin appeared in front of the fleeing Cruiser, coldly looking down on the man as they both stood in the vacuum of space.

With his current physical strength, the speed behind his Flash Step was not something that could be contested by some random Cruiser.

“Wh- who are you?” the Cruiser asked in a trembling voice.

Lu Yin coldly replied, “Haven’t you guessed yet?”

The Cruiser’s eyes shrank. “Not an Explorer, but able to easily kill a Cruiser. You must be Lu Yin!”

“If I’m the first person that pops into your head, then it seems that your target really is the Great Yu Empire.”

The Cruiser begged with his eyes. “Please, let me go! I promise I will never accept such a job again.”

“Sure, but then you’ll need to tell me who hired you.”

Without any hesitation, the Cruiser answered, “The Second Grade Hall. The Beast Tamers Flowzone’s Second Grade Hall.”

“Is that so? What’s your mission?”

“To attack the Great Yu Empire and destroy an inhabited planet to cause the Great Yu Empire and the Second Grade Hall to start an all-out war.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. “That simple?”

“That simple,” the Cruiser spoke with certainty, though he continued to look at Lu Yin with pleading eyes. “Stu- student Lu, I’m actually from the Outerverse as well. You can’t imagine how difficult it is for us to enter the Innerverse and cultivate! And we had no choice in this either. Please, let me go! I promise that, in the future, if I hear of any independent cultivator who has designs on the Great Yu Empire, I’ll be the first to act.”

Lu Yin sneered, but then he sighed. “Though I knew that you wouldn’t be honest, I still carried a glimmer of hope. However, it looks like you're really not honest. In that case, just die.”

Lu Yin raised his gun, and the Cruiser’s pupils shrank as he bolted off in another direction. A knife appeared in his hand as he fled while slicing out behind himself. However, Lu Yin’s figure had already disappeared, reappearing past the various knife slashes.

The barrel of the gun lightly pressed against the Cruiser’s back.

Bang!

Lu Yin looked at the vague image of the Cruiser’s body’s remaining half that slowly disappeared as he put the gun away. He had used his own gadget to contact the first Cruiser before, and he had already found out that there was a mysterious employer behind this group. This second Cruiser had not mentioned such a detail, but there was no reason to pursue the matter any further since the mysterious employer had definitely hidden their identity. Otherwise, this Cruiser would have instantly revealed any possible information out of desperation.

No matter who that mysterious employer was, Lu Yin no longer cared since he had enemies throughout the entire universe.

He returned to the spacecraft, where there were more than a hundred cultivators looking at him in fear. The fresh blood had already scattered throughout the top level of the spacecraft. They had discovered the Cruiser’s corpse, and did not know what fate awaited them.

Lu Yin found Hai Qiqi, who had a pale face, though she did not say anything as she stared blankly at him.

He probed her, “Have you never seen anyone being killed before?”

Hai Qiqi pursed her lips and gritted her teeth before answering, “No.”

Lu Yin sighed. The Sea King had protected his daughter well, too well, as she had never witnessed such matters before. But despite that innocence, the Sea King had allowed Qiqi to travel through the universe with Lu Yin at this time. It must have been in part to expose the girl to the cruelty of the universe.

As he thought of this, Lu Yin retrieved the collapsible spacecraft from his cosmic ring and let Hai Qiqi board it. They soon appeared in outer space before turning to face that universal spacecraft. “You must grow accustomed to such scenes sooner or later. I’ll treat this as helping the Sea King educate his daughter.”

Lu Yin then put his universal armor back on, exited the vessel, and flew back towards the silver spacecraft. He placed a hand against the hull. “Thirty Stacks Fiftyfold Shockwave Palm.”

Boom!

The next moment, the spacecraft exploded and disappeared from the universe. There was not even a single survivor. Everyone onboard had been an independent cultivator, even the ship’s crew. Their objective had been to go to the Great Yu Empire and instigate a war, unleashing great harm upon the people of the empire. A war would not just bring about the deaths of the soldiers, but also that of numerous civilians. Lu Yin did not know how many people on this spacecraft had accepted their secret employer’s mission to destroy a planet, but he would not take any risks.