Star Odyssey

Chapter 2212: Suspicions

Even though Lu Yin’s answer had no holes in it, the fact remained that Xia Xing had only traveled to the Middle Realm because of Yu Hao. The youth had even requested the sect master by name. This was something that Xia Ziheng was unable to get past, as the spark that had triggered everything was Yu Hao insisting that he needed the sect master’s word, as a Semi-Progenitor’s word was not good enough.

"Yu Hao, it's time for you to meet with someone. This is to show my Shenwu’s Sky’s sincerity to you," Xia Ziheng said before pulling out his communication crystal and sending a message. "Let’s go. You’ll want to go see this person."

Headmaster Wen was instantly on guard. "Are you going to take Prof. Hao Yu away?"

Xia Ziheng indifferently answered, "Just to meet with someone. Don’t worry, it's just outside Virtue Archives."

Headmaster Wen and “Yu Hao” glanced at each other and then moved together, following Xia Ziheng out of the academy. Once they arrived in a forest beyond Virtue Archives, they saw a tired looking old man.

Lu Yin’s expression changed the instance he saw the old man, and he moved forward and called out, "Old man!"

Naturally, this old man was Yu Chuan, the former city lord of Yu City who Yu Hao’s father had betrayed and turned in to Star Alliance.

Lu Yin had not expected Xia Ziheng to bring Yu Hao’s grandfather to meet him.

Xia Ziheng paid close attention to “Yu Hao” as he greeted Yu Chuan, though the Semi-Progenitor was not sure what he was searching for. In the end, Xia Ziheng felt both a bit confused and relieved at seeing Yu Hao greet his grandfather.

The old man looked up at Lu Yin, and his eyes flickered briefly before he grew excited. "Xiao Hao!"

Lu Yin became emotional as he approached Yu Chuan. "Old man, you really aren’t dead? I knew that you couldn’t be dead! Hahahaha."

Yu Hao had always referred to Yu Chuan as “old man.” When Yu Hao had rescued Kui Luo, even though the young man had been an introverted person, he had shared some things with just Kui Luo, which meant that Kui Luo knew Yu Hao better than just about everyone. Because of this, not only had Kui Luo shared Yu Chuan’s appearance with Lu Yin, but the old man had also shared a few details about the relationship between Yu Hao and his grandfather with Lu Yin. While it was not much, it was enough.

Numerous thoughts raced through Lu Yin’s mind when he saw Yu Chuan. At this moment, Lu Yin truly regarded himself as Yu Hao, which was why Yu Chuan felt that nothing was out of place or wrong as he greeted his grandson.

While giving the two men a moment to greet each other, Headmaster Wen was looking at Xia Ziheng. "Don't try to tell me that you brought that man here out of the goodness of your heart. You’re testing Yu Hao."

Xia Ziheng shrugged. "I still find it unbelievable that a trash cultivator could rise up to become an Envoy in such a short amount of time, let alone an Array Master, even with Grandmaster Gu Yan’s guidance."

"That's understandable, but why do I feel like there’s something very strange about you today? It feels like you’re eager to prove something." Headmaster Wen felt a bit surprised.

Xia Ziheng looked over at Headmaster Wen with narrowed eyes. "I might as well tell you since you’ll find out soon enough: Xia Xing is missing."

Headmaster Wen's eyes instantly went wide. "What?"

Xia Ziheng repeated, "Xia Xing, the sect master of Shenwu’s Sky, went missing after arriving in the Middle Realm…"

Headmaster Wen was a highly intelligent person, so he instantly understood the implications, "So you suspect Yu Hao?"

Xia Ziheng looked back at where “Yu Hao” was talking to Yu Chuan. "It’s impossible for someone to know where someone with a status like Shenwu’s Sky’s sect master goes before he makes a decision, and he was on his way to Virtue Archives. Why wouldn’t I be suspicious?"

Headmaster Wen could not deny that Yu Hao was indeed the most suspicious person.

"Wen Lai, regardless of your personal opinion of me or the four ruling powers, you must understand that, with Xia Xing missing, Shenwu’s Sky and I will never let this matter drop, not even if we are forced to overturn the entire Perennial World to find the culprit. If there is anything at all wrong with Yu Hao, then you better tell me, or else things will go very badly for your Virtue Archives," Xia Ziheng spoke in a manner that was half persuasive and half threatening,

Headmaster Wen replied, "I haven’t seen any problems."

"I hope that that’s true," Xia Ziheng said casually as he refocused on Lu Yin and Yu Chuan. There was no telling what was going through the man’s mind.

Lu Yin did not hear what passed between Xia Ziheng and Headmaster Wen, as he was entirely focused on Yu Chuan.

Kui Luo had shared a bit of information about Yu Chuan with Lu Yin, but it was not very much, and everything had originally come from Yu Hao. Yu Hao’s grandfather had already been captured and forced into Star Alliance by the time the young man had rescued Kui Luo. So, there had been no way for Kui Luo to learn much about the old man.

Fortunately, Kui Luo had managed to learn one very, very important detail, which had naturally been passed on to Lu Yin. The truth was that many things had been a trick.

In order to placate the four ruling powers, Yu Hao's father had betrayed Yu Chuan, which was why the old man had been arrested and forced into Star Alliance. It was a desperate plan, and it had sacrificed Yu Chuan, but the four ruling powers had always been suspicious that it might all be a ploy. It was only because he knew the truth of the matter that Lu Yin had made it a point to show his excitement at seeing Yu Chuan. After all, if Yu Chuan had truly been betrayed, then Yu Hao would not have been so excited to see his grandfather, who had been betrayed by Yu Hao and his father.

"Xiao Hao, you’re too reckless! You’ll get caught, acting like this," Yu Chuan whispered.

Lu Yin responded with a wry smile. "Old man, Xia Ziheng brought you here to see me, which means that they already know the truth.”

There was a moment of hesitation. "Do you know about what happened to our family?"

Yu Chuan's fingers trembled at the question, his face contorted into a hideous expression. "I'm so sorry for you!"

Lu Yin exhaled. "It was only because I'm so worthless that our family’s been humiliated. But don't worry, old man. I won’t spare anyone who acted against our family!"

Yu Chuan glanced at Lu Yin in surprise, but then silently nodded. "Regardless of how much you can accomplish, make sure to take care of yourself. I shouldn’t need to tell you that grandpa can’t help you anymore, so you can only rely on yourself."

Lu Yin stared at Yu Chuan, and the old man stared back. With their eyes locked, Lu Yin could see the pain and warring emotions in Yu Chuan's eyes. Lu Yin’s heart dropped, as he could see that this old man had somehow discerned that Lu Yin was an imposter, yet he had not done anything to expose the fact.

Xia Ziheng had underestimated Yu Chuan's hatred for the four ruling powers. The Semi-Progenitor had thought that by bringing Yu Chuan to meet with Yu Hao, if any issues were detected in Yu Hao, the old man would speak up. Xia Ziheng believed that nothing was more important to the old man than his grandson, but Yu Chuan had already learned about his family’s fate while in Star Alliance, and his hatred had risen to unspeakable levels.

As long as even the slightest possibility arose, even if he was hacked into pieces, if there was a chance to make the four ruling powers bleed even just a bit, then Yu Chuan was willing to accept this imposter in front of him as Yu Hao. The old man could sense that his grandson was not in front of him, but so what? This imposter’s presence would only hurt the four ruling powers, and there was nothing in the remaining possessions of the Yu family that could entice this person.

As for the real Yu Hao, Yu Chuan had already heard the rumors of the youth’s death decades ago. There should be no connection to this imposter.

Yu Chuan was being controlled by the restriction placed on him, so he was willing to let this imposter do as he wished.

“Yu Hao” stretched out a hand to hold Yu Chuan's arm. "I understand, old man."

Lu Yin was only given a short bit of time with Yu Chuan. As soon as Xia Ziheng saw that Yu Chuan showed no unusual reaction to meeting Yu Hao, the Semi-Progenitor had no more reasons to linger any longer, and he wanted to take Yu Chuan away.

"Semi-Progenitor Ziheng, can you let my grandpa stay with me?" For the first time, “Yu Hao” sounded almost as though he were pleading with Xia Ziheng. This was an appropriate response for a grandson to show, and on top of that, Lu Yin pitied the old man.

Xia Ziheng’s expression improved a bit, as Yu Hao was showing proper behavior. Still, while it was not possible to control Yu Hao through Yu Chuan, keeping Yu Chuan around would slightly weaken the Celestial Frost Sect’s position. Besides, winning over Yu Hao was not a priority at the moment. The most important thing was to find Sect Master Xia Xing.

"We were never ignorant of your Yu family’s ploy, and part of the reason why Yu Chuan has managed to survive is not only because of luck, but also because we kept an eye out for him. Xia Zhitong was sent to your family as punishment, but I can assure you that if you are sincere in joining Shenwu’s Sky, your grandfather will return to you safe and sound. Think about your actions carefully, but for now, the two of you can stay together," Xia Ziheng said. He was trying to use both the carrot and the stick at the same time.

“Yu Hao” whispered his thanks.

Yu Chuan never said a word throughout the entire exchange. His years in Star Alliance had allowed him to see through matters of life and death. If he was unlucky, he would die on the rear battlefield or at the hands of a Redback. It was even possible to be killed due to some conflict between the four ruling powers. So if possible, Yu Chuan was more than willing to leave Star Alliance.

At this moment, Xia Ziheng's communication crystal vibrated, and he answered a call. "Speak."

"Ancestor, we’ve found evidence of the Lu family's Lifeseizer Palm at the scene where the sect master was attacked."

Xia Ziheng's eyes instantly flared, and powerful bloodlust surged from him.

"This means that this attack has to have been orchestrated by some remnant of the Lu family. They weren’t confident about their chances of success, so they hired Realmless as well."

Xia Ziheng had not initially considered the remnants of the Lu family as possible culprits, as only trash that had not raised their heads up in many years remained. If they truly had such capabilities, they would not have remained so quiet for so many years.

Also, the Celestial Frost Sect had their Celestial Suppression.1

When the Lu family was exiled, some of their resources and techniques that had been left behind had been split between the four ruling powers, but the Celestial Suppression had not been acquired at that time. The Celestial Frost Sect had acquired some of the Lu family’s techniques long before that.

There were fundamentally no differences between the Lifeseizing Palm and the Celestial Suppression.

Xia Ziheng's expression turned extremely sour, as this meant that the Celestial Frost Sect was behind this attack. Something had to be done to the Celestial Frost Sect in return.

Lu Yin noticed the sudden change in the Semi-Progenitor’s expression, and while Lu Yin had no idea what news had just been delivered, it most likely had something to do with the Lifeseizing Palm that he had purposefully used at the battle site. Lu Yin had done that entirely because the Celestial Frost Sect had the same technique as the Lu family’s Lifeseizing Palm.

"Old man, are there a lot of people in Star Alliance?" Lu Yin suddenly asked. He spoke in a normal tone and made no attempt to hide his words.

Yu Chuan replied, "Not too many, but also not too few. Still, all of them are Envoys."

"Are there a hundred?" Lu Yin was quite curious, though he sounded like he was just casually chatting.

Headmaster Wen spoke up, "There are more than a hundred members of Star Alliance."

Yu Chuan nodded. "Yes, there are more than a hundred people."

Lu Yin sighed. "That’s really a powerful army. Whoever controls Star Alliance will instantly obtain hundreds of perfectly loyal Envoys."

Xia Ziheng heard “Yu Hao’s” comment, and it was like lightning flashed through the old man’s mind. Star Alliance? Control Star Alliance? Xia Xing, Yu Hao, Grandmaster Gu Yan…

It felt like various pieces had instantly fallen into place, and something was explained. Xia Ziheng left without saying another word.

“Yu Hao” appeared completely calm. Sometimes the smarter the person was, the more easily they could be misled. Lu Yin preferred dealing with smart people, as idiots were more difficult to control.

"Headmaster, can my grandfather live within the academy?" “Yu Hao” asked.

Headmaster Wen was facing a dilemma. There would be absolutely no problem allowing a normal person to live in Virtue Archives, but Yu Chuan was a part of Star Alliance.

Even if Yu Hao was ignorant of certain matters, Headmaster Wen knew full well that every member of Star Alliance had a restriction placed on them. Even with Shenwu's Sky promise, Yu Chuan would never truly be free. He would forever be controlled by the four ruling powers, which meant that he was no different from the four ruling powers’ spy.

"Xiao Hao, Virtue Archives isn’t a suitable place for someone like me to live. You stay safe in the academy. There’s no need to worry—Xia Ziheng has already promised that I’ll be safe," Yu Chuan said.

Headmaster Wen looked at Yu Chuan with great sympathy. "If you want to live within the academy, you may. After all, we are already a tainted land."

Lu Yin acted confused. "What does that mean, Headmaster? My grandfather-"

Yu Chuan interrupted. "The headmaster means that if I move in, the four ruling powers might send other people in to monitor my actions."

There was nothing that Lu Yin could do.

[1] Updated name. Was previously referred to a "Gap Between Heaven and Human," which, while accurate, sucks. ☜

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