Star Odyssey

Chapter 1950

"That’s a foundation stone," the Second Nightking said in a low voice.

A certain thought flashed into Lu Yin's mind. "The foundation stone that’s needed to make a hidden world?"

Tian Dou answered, "Yes, but more accurately, this doesn’t allow you to create a hidden world, but rather determine its location. It takes hundreds of millions of different materials to make a hidden world, and it needs to have a perfect ecosystem. A foundation stone simply allows you to find the location of the space around the hidden world. In fact, my Specter clan once owned one of the 3,000 hidden worlds."

Lu Yin did not know very much about the 3,000 hidden worlds, and that wasn’t only because of his limited time researching them. The 3,000 worlds were not allowed to leave the Honor Zone, and thus, they had very little influence on the rest of the universe.

"My lord, in ancient times, the universe was absolutely full of parallel universes. Most of them were hidden worlds or pocket dimensions, such as what the ancient sects used to hide themselves in space. Aeternus Nation, which you’ve visited, can actually be considered a hidden world," Tian Dou explained, "The Hall of Honor rules the entire Fifth Mainland, and to make overseeing easier, all the known hidden worlds are required to remain in the Honor Zone. Any who do disobey will be destroyed when found, but there are naturally far more than a mere 3,000 hidden worlds.

"Still, the 3,000 hidden worlds in Mt. Microcosms are not allowed to move away, and the Hall of Honor actually oversees the production, sales, and administration of the hidden worlds. They even have a department called the World League, which supervises the self-government of the 3,000 hidden worlds. The World League essentially has the same responsibilities as the Interstellar Supreme Court, but only over the hidden worlds, rather than the entire Fifth Mainland.

"That place is also referred to as the Hall of Honor’s money-maker."

Lu Yin was stunned, as this was his first time hearing about this department despite his multiple trips to Mt. Microcosms. Why had he never heard of it?

While wondering about this, Lu Yin opened his gadget and accessed the information pages available to the overseers. Sure enough, he quickly found a page explaining the function of the World League. He simply had not paid any attention to this organization before, but there really was such a department within the Hall of Honor.

"It seems that you were not aware of this, my lord, but that doesn’t really matter, as the World League is not able to influence the rest of the Fifth Mainland. After all, even when all 3,000 hidden worlds are taken together, there will not be many Envoys, and thus they have a very limited amount of influence in the Hall of Honor. You don’t need to be too concerned with them, my lord," Tian Dou said.

Lu Yin let out a long breath, but he was still quite curious. "Why is it called the Hall of Honor’s money-maker?"

Tian Dou was not at all surprised that Lu Yin had focused in on this comment. "That’s because selling hidden worlds is an exclusive business of the Neoverse, and it is even the most profitable business here. Even the most common and smallest hidden world is still worth hundreds of millions of star essence. Larger hidden worlds with better environments can be sold for hundreds of millions of star essence, or even multiple billions."

"In that case, who buys the hidden worlds? Who can gather up that much money?" Lu Yin was amazed.

Tian Dou smiled as he explained, "Typically, only the largest sects and organizations will buy a hidden world, and virtually no one else will. For example, my Specter clan bought a hidden world before our fall, and it cost us 700 million star essence. Most Innerverse powers can gather this sum if they sell their various resources. It’s not even close to an impossible sum.”

Lu Yin understood. When he had conquered the Blaze Realm, he had only acquired 500 million star essence, but the resources that he had claimed were worth far more than that. Additionally, the Blaze Realm had only controlled about a third of the Blazing Mist Flowzone. If a larger power controlled an entire flowzone, they could easily sell off a large portion of their resources to gather the necessary funds to buy a hidden world.

"On top of that, the Mavis Bank also provides loans for organizations to buy a hidden world," Tian Dou added.

Lu Yin stared at the foundation stone in his hand. "If I provide you with the necessary materials, could you create a hidden world?"

"Of course, but the Hall of Honor has declared that hidden worlds cannot be formed or moved outside of the Honor Zone. If you are discovered to have done so, my lord, you will be punished for committing a crime no less severe than colluding with the Neohuman Alliance. After all, it is simply too difficult to oversee the hidden worlds, and some are no larger than a speck of dust. The Hall of Honor would never be able to find such a place, and they are also unwilling to spend the effort needed to find those places."

"If the Neohuman Alliance holes up in a hidden world in the Innerverse or the Outerverse, we would never be able to find them at all, would we?" Lu Yin asked.

Tian Dou replied, "That would be very unusual. The Neohuman Alliance is very aggressive while hidden worlds are typically desired by those who are more passive and focused on their own protection and survival. The Neohuman Alliance constantly needs to create more corpse kings, and they also need to stir up trouble for the Human Domain. They have a need to fight, so hidden worlds really don’t suit them. Hiding for a while is fine, but they will always emerge and reveal themselves sooner or later.

"There are indeed hidden worlds that belong to the Neohuman Alliance scattered throughout the Innerverse, Outerverse, and even the Cosmic Sea. Even if the Hall of Honor did manage to find all of them, they would not attack them. Actually, while your Great Eastern Alliance was fighting the war against the Astral Beast Domain, the Human Domain started a massive campaign against the Neohuman Alliance, and no fewer than ten hidden worlds were destroyed. Aeternus Nation was one of them even though they had remained hidden from the Hall of Honor for so many years."

Lu Yin nodded, as he understood that the massive seal in Aeternus Nation was basically one of these foundation stones, which essentially made Aeternus Nation a hidden world, though it could not be moved around.

"Senior Tian Dou, if I one day become a public enemy of all of humanity, will you still help me?" Lu Yin stared at Tian Dou as he asked one last question before leaving.

The Second Nightking glanced at Lu Yin. A public enemy of humanity?

Tian Dou and Lu Yin stared at each other for a moment, and then the older man smiled. "You are the lord of my Specter clan."

Lu Yin arched a brow, smiled, and then shook his head. He had actually forgotten that the Specter clan had already joined the Neohuman Alliance, which meant that they were already considered humanity’s enemy. If Lu Yin became an enemy of humanity, wouldn’t that actually be better for the Specter clan?

"Let me reword that question." Lu Yin looked at Tian Dou with a smile. "If the day comes when I face certain death, will you still stand up to help me?"

Tian Dou's expression grew solemn. "Eventually, the death energy present in the universe will be exhausted, and that day will be the end of my Specter clan. Instead of simply waiting for that day to come, it would be better to fight with you, my lord."

The man then offered another deep bow. "I look forward to the day when you become the next God of Death, my lord, and when you replace stellular energy with death energy, changing the very universe."

After Lu Yin walked out, the palace gates slammed shut, generating a breeze that blew through his hair. Xie Ahua and the other two Xie family members were still standing in front of Lu Yin and respectfully waiting for him. The attitude that they now demonstrated was completely different from what they had displayed when escorting Lu Yin to the underground palace.

Lu Yin looked at the three people with a strange expression. "Thank you for your hard work. You must be very tired."

Xie Ahua answered respectfully, "It is my Xie family's honor to serve our lord."

Lu Yin shook his head, pitying the people.

The Xie family had been mortal enemies with the Specter clan, and yet they had become the Specter clan’s vassals, enslaved for all future generations. They had essentially become the Specter clan’s doorkeepers. Their fate was truly pitiful.

Who could have imagined that the Xie family, one of the powerful members of the Seven Courts, would actually be in such a miserable situation?

Xie Ahua escorted Lu Yin back into outer space. This was the conclusion to Lu Yin’s visit to the Seven Courts. He stared in the direction of the Technocracy. He felt as though his vision was able to pierce through space, and he seemed to see Sky Creation Academy and the New Corridor. Peering through the New Corridor, he felt as though he was looking into that pair of murderous, hostile eyes.

He had to create a force to counter the Perennial World’s invasion as soon as possible. There was no way to avoid this war.

Beep beep beep!

His gadget beeped with a call request from Wang Wen.

Before visiting the Xie family, Lu Yin had already updated Wang Wen on the current situation, and he had also asked Wang Wen to find a way to deal with the situation. Wang Wen was calling Lu Yin back right after he left the Xie family.

Lu Yin answered the call with a bit of excitement.

"Are you certain about what you told me in your last message?" Wang Wen's voice sounded unprecedentedly serious.

Lu Yin was in no hurry to resume traveling, and he also did not try to send the Second Nightking away, as the old man was right beside him. Instead, Lu Yin simply and calmly replied, "Absolutely sure."

"What about the timing?"

"We might have as much as half a year."

"Might?"

Lu Yin's eyes grew firm. "We have half a year."

Wang Wen fell silent for a bit. "When you first came back from that place, you said that they were your enemies and that we would have to fight them sooner or later. Still, I didn’t expect it to happen so soon."

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"Is there a way?" Lu Yin asked.

Wang Wen shrugged. "I'm not a god, and we’re looking at facing at least four Semi-Progenitors, dozens of Envoys, and a force that can challenge the entire Fifth Mainland. We might even have to deal with a Progenitor. This is completely incomparable to dealing with the Astral Beast Domain. The level of this next war is too much of a spike for us to handle."

"I know, and that's why I asked you about this."

"Even though I want to tell you there’s no chance, even the most desperate of situations can be survived if they’re handled correctly," Wang Wen answered.

Lu Yin listened in silence.

"There’s only one way for us to fight against an invasion force with four Semi-Progenitors: we either get a Progenitor to take action or use the full strength of the Fifth Mainland. Our Fifth Mainland has six Semi-Progenitors, and there’s also another one that supports you. Seven Semi-Progenitors is definitely enough. In that case, we need to find a way to unite the entire Fifth Mainland behind you and be willing to die together." As Wang Wen continued to speak, his voice started to take on a higher pitch, and clear excitement could be heard.

"That’s naturally something I’ve been thinking about, but how am I supposed to get the Fifth Mainland behind me? Arch-Elder Zen might be rather favorable towards me, but that doesn’t mean that he’ll support this war. He told me a long time ago that humans cannot fight amongst ourselves. Honestly, it’s possible that not even Eversky Island’s Semi-Progenitor will be willing to fight for me. And although I have got some leverage over the Cosmic Sect, if they end up facing possible annihilation, they’ll dump me faster than anyone else." Lu Yin had a headache from the whole thing.

Wang Wen replied, "You can’t be na?ve. I’ll run through this again, but as long as we can gather the overall interests of the Fifth Mainland, we’ll be fine. If you die, the entire Fifth Mainland will suffer, so we’ll see just who won’t be willing to protect you."

With that, Wang Wen hung up and ended the call.

Lu Yin's heart weighed heavily as he lowered his hands.

He had expected to eventually face this day after he fled to the Fifth Mainland from the Perennial World, which was the reason why he had never once dared to slack off for even a moment. He had constantly tried to improve and increase the strength of the Great Eastern Alliance, and this was also why he had fought against the Astral Beast Domain. The alliance had become incredibly strong, but a threat like the Perennial World was still a terrifying prospect.

The Perennial World could simply mobilize too powerful a war force. Even while manning the rear battlefield, they were able to spare four Semi-Progenitors to assault the Fifth Mainland.

Compared to the Perennial World, the Fifth Mainland truly was a forsaken land.

Even with half a year, Lu Yin still had no idea how he could establish a united interest for the Fifth Mainland. Especially not now that Arch-Elder Zen and the other Semi-Progenitors knew Lu Yin’s other identity and what that implied. After all, the Fifth Mainland’s Semi-Progenitors were far from stupid.

Lu Yin was not naive enough to think that the Fifth Mainland would unilaterally protect him. In fact, he felt more comfortable believing in the protection from the Neohuman Alliance’s plot or the expectations that the Specter clan claimed to have for him.

There were times when people did not want to lower themselves, but were rather forced to.

What should Lu Yin do if he was truly cornered? Chased by the Perennial World, abandoned by the Fifth Mainland, and the Great Eastern Alliance utterly defeated? He wanted to get revenge. He wanted to bring his Lu family back. He wanted to destroy the Aeternals. He wanted to protect those whom he cared about. Lu Yin had too many desires.

Thus, he could not allow himself to die.

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