Star Odyssey

Lu Yin's response briefly stunned Sage Yajna. "I thought that you knew for sure that she is a traitor."

Lu Yin replied, "That’s just a logical deduction."

"And if she isn't?"

Lu Yin looked over at the older man. "Then she isn’t. So what?"

Sage Yajna wanted to say something, but ultimately, he just gave a bitter smile. Yes, so what? Would Lu Yin apologize? That was impossible. Who would even dare to suggest that Lu Yin apologize? There would be no need for Lu Yin to say anything to such a suggestion, as countless people would stand up and do it for him. Lu Yin was alive, and as long as he lived, no one would dare to act recklessly towards him.

Even Aeternus had only taken action because they had thought that Lu Yin was dead.

That was the measure of Lu Yin's influence.

There were times when being forceful was necessary. There was no denying that Yao Lan had fought on the Endless Frontier and done much for humanity as a whole, but that did not excuse her actions.

Her failure to prevent Sovereign Lotus’s disciples from antagonizing the Heavens Sect and creating a rift was more than a mistake. Had Lu Yin not returned, the situation could have escalated quickly, and there had to be consequences.

When she saw Lu Yin, the Great Sovereign was quite surprised. "Child, what happened to your strength?"

Lu Yin remained solemn. "What is happening with Sovereign Shao Yin? If you don't explain things, I’ll create an opportunity to kill him."

…

While Lu Yin was meeting with the Great Sovereign, Bi Teng was at the Merchant Exchange’s headquarters. The man felt as though his heart had been set on fire. He had first felt a sense of schadenfreude when he heard that the Heavens Sect had been attacked by Aeternus, but then news had quickly arrived; Lu Yin had appeared and single-handedly driven Di Qiong off. Bi Teng was still stunned from hearing that report. Lu Yin was not dead? How had he managed to return?

Bi Teng immediately sent people to investigate matters in the Origin Universe.

Their subsequent reports caused Bi Teng’s blood to run cold. Lu Yin had returned and was indeed alive. The man had not died.

This news sent Bi Teng into the abyss. He’s not dead… Not dead?

Bi Teng stared out into the Decaying Diablo Universe from the Merchant Exchange’s headquarters but saw nothing. Lu Yin wasn’t dead? This was bad. Very bad.

More reports were soon delivered, and Bi Teng quickly learned that Lu Yin had gone to make trouble for Sovereign Lotus. The man had single-handedly suppressed the Lotus Realm and overpowered Sovereign Lotus, Yao Lan, Chu Jian, and Arrow Sage at the same time before arresting a large number of Sovereign Lotus’s disciples, including Sage Yao Lan.

Bi Teng grew terrified. As soon as the Heavens Sect had dealt with their own crisis, they had started arresting people from the Sixverse Association. Even Yao Lan had been captured, and right in front of Sovereign Lotus and in the Lotus Realm at that.

Bi Teng did not even consider whether Yao Lan was a traitor. The man was absolutely certain that Lu Yin was simply taking revenge for the fact that Sovereign Lotus’s disciples had antagonized and insulted the Heavens Sect.

If Sovereign Lotus’s disciples received such treatment, then what would happen to Bi Teng and the Merchant Exchange?

He had fired Liu Fuxue and announced that she would never work with the Merchant Exchange ever again. What was Bi Teng supposed to do after Lu Yin returned? What should he do?

“Hurry! Send Bi Lan to see me,” Bi Teng urgently ordered.

Bi Lan quickly arrived, her expression also quite grim. As a member of Merchant Exchange, news of Lu Yin’s return concerned her as well. While she admired Lu Yin for the many victories he had won for humanity against Aeternus, Bi Lan was well aware that the Merchant Exchange had irredeemably offended the Heavens Sect.

As soon as Bi Lan arrived, Bi Teng suppressed his nervousness. When he spoke, his voice was quite hoarse. "Have you heard about Lord Lu?"

Bi Lan felt disgusted. Bi Teng had previously referred to the man as "Lu Yin" while firing Liu Fuxue. But as soon as Lu Yin returned, Bi Teng called him "Lord Lu." Bi Lan had never realized how revolting her boss was.

She then suddenly remembered that Bi Teng was nothing more than one of Lord Bi Rong’s servants. The man was just a servant, and he was not the true master of the Merchant Exchange.

"I've heard," Bi Lan replied flatly.

Bi Teng stared at the woman. His eyes were filled with anxiety and stress, no matter how calm he tried to look. "What should we do?"

Bi Lan pretended not to understand the question. "What do you mean?"

"About Liu Fuxue."

"Liu Fuxue? Wasn't she fired? What does she have to do with us anymore?" Bi Lan responded bluntly.

Bi Teng twitched, he snapped back. "Lord Lu is back, and he’s not dead as was previously reported. Liu Fuxue is one of his people, and yet we fired her. How do we explain ourselves to Lord Lu?"

Bi Lan corrected the man, "Not 'we.' You. You fired Liu Fuxue and announced that she would never work with us again. That matter has nothing to do with me or the rest of the Merchant Exchange."

Bi Teng gritted his teeth. "It has nothing to do with you? Don't forget that you are also a member of the Merchant Exchange! If Lord Lu decides to destroy us, neither of us will escape unscathed. Besides, why didn’t you stop me back then? You could have stopped me from firing Liu Fuxue, but you didn’t. You wanted to fire her too, didn’t you? You’re just as responsible as I am."

Bi Lan was furious. "Don't try to twist things around! I did try to stop you, but you refused to listen to me!"

Bi Teng glared at the woman as his features warped. "Regardless, if Lord Lu decides to destroy the Merchant Exchange, neither of us will escape. Don’t you know that Lord Bi Rong disappeared long ago?"

The moment the words slipped out, Bi Teng regretted them. How could he have revealed that information to anyone?

Bi Lan was startled. "What did you just say? Lord Bi Rong has gone missing?"

Bi Teng took a deep breath, though he refused to meet the woman’s eyes.

Bi Lan pressed, "Is that true? Is Lord Bi Rong really missing?"

Bi Teng let out a long breath before nodding. "Yes. Long ago, Lord Bi Rong disappeared."

"Why didn’t you ever say anything?"

"How could I? If word got out, how would our Merchant Exchange still be standing?"

Bi Lan’s face paled. She could not recover from her daze.

Bi Teng continued. "In fact, I wasn’t even the first to discover that Lord Bi Rong disappeared. Rather, it was the Lord of Lightning.

"Lord Bi Rong has remained in seclusion for too long, and the Lord of Lightning noticed that something was wrong. He went and checked, only to find that Lord Bi Rong was missing. The Lord of Lightning searched for a long time, but he couldn't find him anywhere. How can we hope to find him?"

Bi Teng looked up at Bi Lan. "With Lord Bi Rong missing, we lost our leverage with Whitecloud City. The Lord of Lightning might help us once out of respect for Lord Bi Rong, but that will not continue indefinitely. That’s why I’ve never asked Whitecloud City for any help, but now it’s too late. This is my fault, but we need to get through this, or else the Merchant Exchange will be done for.

"You know how Lord Lu is. He didn’t even spare the Lotus Realm! How could we hope for him to spare the Merchant Exchange? Bi Lan, if I go down, so will the Merchant Exchange, and you too! Do you understand now?"

Bi Lan stared at Bi Teng. “What do you want me to do? Things have already happened. No one can stop Lord Lu from doing something to us. Not even the entire Sixverse Association can stop him.”

Bi Teng felt weak, and he collapsed into a chair. This was very accurate; no one could stop Lu Yin. Bi Teng had been hoping that Bi Lan could help somehow.

Bi Lan had gotten to know Lu Yin somewhat, though they had never gotten close. They were essentially acquaintances. How could she hope to stop Lu Yin?

After a long silence, Bi Lan turned to leave, and Bi Teng looked over at the woman. “Where are you going?”

Bi Lan did not turn around. “I’m going to go find Liu Fuxue.”

“Find her?” Bi Teng felt confused.

Bi Lan retorted, “Who else? If she doesn’t say anything to Lord Lu, then maybe we can still have a chance.”

Bi Teng’s eyes lit up. “Right! Find Liu Fuxue. Agree to whatever conditions she gives, as long as she’s willing to return.”

Bi Lan felt bitter. Return? That was easier said than done. Bi Lan could clearly remember Liu Fuxue’s expression when she had left the Merchant Exchange, as well as what the woman had said. It turned out that Liu Fuxue had been right all along. She had already planned out her actions and had simply been waiting for the Merchant Exchange to approach her.

It was ridiculous for Bi Teng to still believed that he could turn things around. He had no idea what was coming for him.

…

In the Heavens Sect, Lu Yin remained on the rear mountain after returning from the Cyclic Universe, mulling over what the Great Sovereign had told him.

If the Great Sovereign’s plan regarding Shao Yin succeeded, it could be crucial in the war against Aeternus. It all depended on how things played out.

Given this new information, Shao Yin's position was extremely important.

One reason why Lu Yin had never suspected that Sovereign Lotus of being a spy was because she knew that the Great Sovereign had plans for Shao Yin. If the woman was a traitor, Shao Yin would not still be alive.

Even if Progenitor Xi and the others were confident in themselves, they would never dare to simply ignore the Great Sovereign’s plans.

Yao Lan and the rest of Sovereign Lotus’s captured disciples had been taken back to the Heavens Sect. While Yao Lan refused to admit to being a spy, it did not matter. Her recent behavior was more than enough for the Heavens Sect to detain her for some time.

In addition to Sovereign Lotus’s disciples, tens of thousands of other people had been arrested in various parallel universes that were part of the Sixverse Association. Most of the captured people had been swayed by traitors to cause trouble for the Origin Universe. Of course, anyone who had fallen for the manipulation so easily had already had some level of dissatisfaction with the Origin Universe. Why else had they been influenced while others had not?

After the round of arrests, the Sixverse Association grew much quieter.

The publication of the list of traitors attributed to Cheng Feng proved to be a great boon, and it served as a gift to humanity that marked Lu Yin's return from the dead. If Aeternus had not thought that sacrificing hundreds of traitors could lead to the destruction of the Heavens Sect, the spies would not have been exposed.

While most of the traitors did not have high cultivation, they had been immensely useful to the Aeternals.

In just the Heavens Sect alone, more than ten spies were arrested. These were the people who had been surveilling the Heavens Sect for Aeternus.

With the traitors eliminated, the entire Sixverse Association became a much safer place.

As for Lu Yin, his prestige soared to even greater heights than ever before. He had single-handedly fought Di Qiong off before suppressing the entire Lotus Realm, with even Sovereign Lotus unable to resist. His new strength, in combination with his reputation, granted Lu Yin a peerless authority within the Sixverse Association.

It was finally time.

Wei Rong approached from behind Lu Yin. “Dao Monarch, we can start at any time.”

Lu Yin continued to stare off into the distance. “Aeternus has made their move, so now it’s our turn. However, I don’t want to repeat their failure.”

Wei Rong remained confident. “There won’t be any issues with the portion that I’m responsible for, though the most important parts remain with those few people. As long as you can persuade them, everything else will fall into place.”

Lu Yin turned to face Wei Rong. “Then let’s begin. Let me see the fruits of your labors after all these years.”

“Yes, Dao Monarch.” Wei Rong left.

Ever since the Origin Universe had first started interacting with the Sixverse Association, Wei Rong had been given the task of infiltrating every corner of the Sixverse Association, just like what he had done with the Perennial World. The goal was to take control of the rumors and propaganda throughout the Sixverse Association in order to steer the public’s thoughts and opinions. This was not something to be underestimated. After all, a great deal of Lu Yin’s current reputation had come from such efforts. Without that, even if Lu Yin had suppressed Aeternus and led the Sixverse Association to victory, his reputation would not have grown nearly this quickly.

However, everything up to now had merely been practice. This was the time for Wei Rong’s efforts to have a real impact.

A few days later, news spread across the Sixverse Association at an astonishing speed, much like how the rumors that Aeternus had incited had spread. The current message was so important that no one from the Sixverse Association dared to try to suppress it.

OMA's Thoughts

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA

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