Chapter 1744: Chance Encounter
The war that broke out in Ironblood Weave was completely within Lu Yin"s expectations. The Astral Beast Domain could not resist the temptation to gain access to the humans’ Outerverse, and the Sixth Mainland could not afford to surrender Ironblood Weave. War between the two was nothing more than a matter of time.
At this moment, everything depended on what First Edition City did. If they were able to force the Sixth Mainland to attack Sky Creation Academy, Lu Yin would have completely gained the upper hand.
There was no longer any need to speak with the Sixth Mainland. Lu Yin simply needed to wait for news from the Technocracy, but he would not just wait around.
Since he was already at the Great Eastern Alliance’s Outerverse border, he was not far from Aegis’s headquarters, which meant that he could go there and replenish his death energy reserves.
Lu Yin took the Second Nightking and Liu Huang with him as he headed towards Aegis’s home planet while Yuan Shi remained behind to stand guard at the border.
Many of the Sixth Mainland cultivators who had arrived to confront the Great Eastern Alliance left the border and moved towards Ironblood Weave.
The Astral Beast Domain had initiated a fierce attack. Because they had received advance notice from Lu Yin, the Celestial Beast Empire had sent many powerhouses. If they had not, Ancestor Autumnfrost would have been able to clear out the Primal Zone by himself.
At the moment, things had already devolved into a stalemate.
Aegis’s headquarters was not far from the border, so they made the trip in only half a day.
While Lu Yin referred to it as the border, the truth was that most places in the universe were somewhat inaccessible, and cultivators usually only traveled along the more developed routes.
While the route that Lu Yin took towards Aegis’s headquarters was not a secret, it was still quite remote and rarely used, which was why he had not expected to run into an acquaintance.
Ahead of Lu Yin, there was a rapidly approaching vessel that was shaped like a ma.s.sive claw. The ship was traveling along the same route as Lu Yin’s s.p.a.cecraft, and the two would pa.s.s by each other with a distance of no more than 100 kilometers.
100 kilometers was a negligible distance in the scope of the entire universe.
In order to avoid being noticed by the Sixth Mainland, Lu Yin had deliberately moved out incognito.
The ma.s.sive claw-looking ship that was approaching Lu Yin looked to belong to the Autumnfrost family.
Lu Yin felt that this was quite strange, as the entire Autumnfrost family should have already moved into Ironblood Weave, as the route to Ironblood Weave was far to the north of the Outerverse. It was not even close to this path at all.
Logically, if members of the Autumnfrost family were not making their way to Ironblood Weave, then they should have been trying to join the other people who were already at the border. However, Ancestor Autumnfrost had already left the border, so why would anyone else from the family be headed in that direction?
As the two vessels drew closer and closer to each other, Lu Yin suddenly felt his heart begin to race.
"There’s an Envoy on that ship," the Second Nightking commented.
"Strong?"
"No."
Lu Yin arched a brow. "Stop them."
To Lu Yin, it completely did not matter what this Envoy’s goal was, not even if they were simply making their way to the border to join the Cloud Valley Master and the other powerhouses there. No matter where this person was going, they would increase the strength of the Sixth Mainland. That meant that it was better to end them immediately.
The Second Nightking looked out at the approaching vessel, and his eyes focused for a moment before his spiritual force surged out with enough strength to make s.p.a.ce itself tremble.
The s.p.a.ceship that looked like a ma.s.sive claw instantly exploded, and a middle-aged man pulled a young man out of the wreckage and shot away, his face pale. In an instant, the Envoy had felt a terrifying spiritual force overwhelm him; they had been attacked by a true powerhouse.
This vessel clearly belonged to the Autumnfrost family, but they had still been randomly attacked. These people were definitely enemies who were also unafraid of the Autumnfrost family.
There was another bang as a wave of sword qi sliced at them from the true universe. The Envoy was startled; was there another powerhouse? He looked back at the ship that had attacked them to see a pair of cold eyes. There really was more than a single expert here.
An imprint appeared, but the Envoy’s left arm was still severed by the sword qi. The Envoy’s body was sent tumbling into the distance, and the young man had already fallen unconscious as he drifted through s.p.a.ce.
The middle-aged man was bleeding profusely, but he gritted his teeth and entered the true universe to try to escape, abandoning the young man.
The Second Nightking just sneered as he peered into the true universe. A fluctuation rippled out, and the middle-aged man spat out blood. His pupils dilated before instantly constricting as his body trembled while his mind sank into an illusion.
Only a few seconds had pa.s.sed after the Second Nightking’s attack, but an Envoy had already been seriously injured to the point of almost dying.
Lu Yin stared at the young man drifting away. It was actually Autumnfrost Qing!
Lu Yin was still standing inside his ship, his hands clasped behind his back. He stared at the middle-aged man who had collapsed with a bit of interest. Autumnfrost Qing was still unconscious, though he had been moved next to Lu Yin.
"I- I"m someone from the Nan family in the Blood Homage Realm." The middle-aged man struggled to speak. Blood dripped out of half of his body, staining the floor red. Sweat beaded on the man’s forehead as he glanced at the Second Nightking and Emperor Liu before finally shifting his attention to Lu Yin. At that moment, the man’s pupils shrank slightly.
Lu Yin indifferently asked, "Name?"
"Nan Qi."
"Do you know who I am?"
Nan Qi hesitated briefly before nodding. "Lu Yin, the leader of the Great Eastern Alliance."
Lu Yin studied the Envoy. "Where were you headed?"
Nan Qi calmly answered, "The border. All of the families have been ordered to send their Imprinters to the border to join up with the Cloud Valley Master and the other elders to suppress the Great Eastern Alliance. I was the one sent by my Nan family, and the rest of my family’s Imprinters are still en route. They shouldn’t be far behind and are likely almost here."
"You talk too much. Why? Did you come up with this story beforehand?" Lu Yin laughed.
Nan Qi grew a tiny bit paler, but he stayed silent.
Lu Yin looked over at Autumnfrost Qing. "I’m going to wake him up now. Tell me, do you think that he can remain firm if he’s trapped in an illusion created by the expert standing next to me? Do you think that he’ll say nothing? If he tells me something different from your story, I’ll make sure that you suffer until you die.” Lu Yin’s eyes were hard and cold as he stared at Nan Qi.
The man’s face grew even paler, and right when one of Autumnfrost Qing’s fingers twitched, the Envoy’s pupils shrank, and he looked back at Lu Yin. "We were going to Frostwave Weave."
Lu Yin"s smile disappeared, and his expression grew ugly. "Frostwave Weave?"
Nan Qi nodded, and he continued in a helpless manner. "I was given orders to go to Earth and Zenyu Star in Frostwave Weave."
"Why?" Lu Yin asked in a low voice.
Nan Qi shook his head. "I don"t know. Although I’m originally from the Nan family, I’ve joined the Autumnfrost family. The Autumnfrost family was given some orders, and I was to accompany Autumnfrost Qing on this mission. If you want to know what we were supposed to do, you’ll have to ask him."
Lu Yin then woke Autumnfrost Qing up. When he saw Lu Yin, the youth was absolutely dumbfounded. He would have never dreamed that he would happen to stumble into Lu Yin while on the way to Frostwave Weave to get revenge on Lu Yin! Somehow, he had been captured and imprisoned before he even drew close to his target.
If Autumnfrost Qing had known this would happen, he would never have left home, not even if doing so would have led to his death! However, the order for his mission had been given to him by his father: the Autumnfrost family’s patriarch.
Lu Yin had no interest in wasting time with Autumnfrost Qing, and he simply used Daynight Praises to instantly bewitch Autumnfrost Qing in an illusion, which quickly revealed the truth.
The order had come from Ancestor Autumnfrost, and he had ordered the Autumnfrost family to go to Earth and Zenyu in Frostwave Weave so that they could use those two places to threaten Lu Yin and force him to speak.
The Autumnfrost patriarch had initially wanted to complete the task himself, but Autumnfrost Qing had happened to hear of it, and Nan Qi had also recently arrived. Thus, the patriarch had asked Nan Qi to go to Frostwave Weave instead. Autumnfrost Qing had only asked to go because it was a chance to attack Lu Yin.
They had been truly unfortunate, as they had happened to run right into Lu Yin while still on their way over.
Lu Yin"s face was stony. Earth and Zenyu Star were two places that he dearly wanted to protect, and yet the Autumnfrost family wanted to use them against him. What could Ancestor Autumnfrost even want to ask Lu Yin?
The only possibility that Lu Yin could come up with was that Bluedome Elder was behind Ancestor Autumnfrost’s actions.
This incident had probably occurred because of the Origin Matter, as the reports all stated that Lu Yin had seen it when he visited the Sophic Rift. First Edition City had no idea why Lu Yin had known that the Origin Matter would appear, and Bluedome Elder along with everyone else was just as puzzled over this matter.
Origin Matter was the only thing important enough for Bluedome Elder to make such a move. After all, war had already broken out in Ironblood Weave, and no matter how hard they threatened Lu Yin, he could never drive the Astral Beast Domain’s forces back out. Thus, there was no way Ancestor Autumnfrost would threaten Lu Yin over that matter.
However, more importantly, the current Ancestor Autumnfrost was a fake, though Lu Yin had no idea who the imposter truly was. There was also no need for Lu Yin to be concerned, as there was no true value in using the Sixth Mainland to strike up a conversation with Lu Yin.
Unless, the imposter knew that his cover was blown.
Lu Yin"s thoughts suddenly shifted. The Autumnfrost family had already tried to attack him, so it would be better to settle this matter completely.
"Deal with them," Lu Yin casually ordered.
Nan Qi was startled. "Alliance Leader Lu, don"t! I can follow you! I can-"
Before the man could even finish speaking, he was silenced and killed by the Second Nightking’s spiritual force. Autumnfrost Qing did not suffer as painful a death, as he simply became lost in an illusion and died.
While Nan Qi had appeared to be a member of the Blood Homage Realm’s Nan family, he had actually left his own family to join the Autumnfrost family, and he had not hesitated at all to try to throw his lot in with Lu Yin. Even if the man was an Envoy, Lu Yin had no need for such a turncoat.
As for Autumnfrost Qing, an old enemy was gone. It was nothing much, but it could still be seen as Lu Yin doing a favor for Fat Bro.
"Alter our route. We’re going to the Autumnfrost family’s headquarters," Lu Yin solemnly ordered.
Since the Autumnfrost family wanted to attack him, he would move first. This was the best time to move against the Autumnfrost family, as Lu Yin did not have to worry about running into Ancestor Autumnfrost, let alone the Four Empyreans. Also, Lu Yin was very curious about the tool that the Autumnfrost family had been constructing, as he had never even heard of a construction that spanned a galaxy before.
He was even more curious about the true ident.i.ty of the fake Ancestor Autumnfrost, and he hoped to discover something in the Autumnfrost family’s headquarters.
The Autumnfrost family had settled down close to the Sixth Mainland’s border with the Great Eastern Alliance, and their headquarters was not far from Aegis’s.
Lu Yin and the other two raced towards the Autumnfrost family’s home as quickly as possible.
At the moment, the only Imprinter present was their patriarch, Autumnfrost Chen. Uncle Hua, the rest of the family’s Imprinters, and even the Imprinters who had joined the Autumnfrost family after the fall of the Mojiang family had all been sent to Ironblood Weave.
Back in the Sixth Mainland’s Bloodburn Domain, the Di family’s ancestor had been killed by Aeternus while Ancestor Mojiang had died during the invasion of Endless Weave. The Autumnfrost family was the Bloodburn Realm’s last family with a powerhouse.
The remnants of the Di and Mojiang families had all joined the Autumnfrost family, which had caused the Autumnfrost family’s power to skyrocket. Once Ancestor Autumnfrost finally became a Cosmic Imprinter, the family’s strength would instantly surpa.s.s even the Di family’s at their peak, and they would completely dominate the Bloodburn Realm.
This was also why the Autumnfrost family was qualified to be sent to Ironblood Weave to fight against the Astral Beast Domain.
At the moment, the Autumnfrost family home was very quiet, as most of their cultivators had been sent to Ironblood Weave, leaving their headquarters quite empty. No one had expected Lu Yin to suddenly visit at this time.
In one of the main home’s offices, Autumnfrost Chen was staring at a star chart, clearly exhausted. His family was fighting against the Astral Beast Domain, but things were not going well. The only upsides were that their ancestor might breakthrough while fighting in Ironblood Weave or the Daosource Sect noticing the Autumnfrost family’s efforts.
"Patriarch, I still can’t reach the young master," an old servant respectfully reported from outside the office.
Autumnfrost Chen frowned. "Keep trying."
"Yes."
Autumnfrost Chen was growing uneasy, and he already regretted sending his son away. After all, he had been sent to the heart of the Great Eastern Alliance, and Lu Yin was notorious for his ruthlessness. Once threatened, there was nothing Lu Yin would not do.
Autumnfrost Qing had to be reached and told to return. This task could be left to Nan Qi alone.
Autumnfrost Chen shook his head and waved a hand, dissipating the star chart. He was just about to leave his office when he turned to look in a certain corner. He had no idea when it had happened, but there was another person in the office with Autumnfrost Chen! It was a young man, and the young man’s face left Autumnfrost Chen stunned.
"Lu- Lu Yin?" Autumnfrost Chen stared at the youth in disbelief. How could he be here?
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