Chapter 812: Threat
“Help me remind Endless Borders’ headquarters that this is a war. Since Bach has partic.i.p.ated, then there’s no need to discuss his life and death. If this Bach ends up dead, then don’t blame me.” After saying that, Lu Yin directly ended the call with Di Nuo and reached out to Smoker. He paid five natural treasures for the top a.s.sa.s.sin to take out Bach.
Bach’s strength may not be as impressive as top ranked a.s.sa.s.sins like The Magistrate, but he had a very high status, and his location was also a secret. Thus, so five natural treasures was not an excessive price.
In fact, Lu Yin had considered employing Smoker to a.s.sa.s.sinate Wei Rong at one point, but in the end, he had decided against it. He did not know precisely why, but he felt that there were some things that required a bottom line. Wei Rong was a worthy opponent, and although they had only met a few times, Lu Yin found it hard to bring himself to deal with Wei Rong through using underhanded means.
“Your Highness, the Sixth Squadron asks to join the fight.” Peach fidgeted from her eagerness.
Nearby, Gong Ke, who was acting as Peach’s bodyguard, exclaimed, “No! The battlefield is too dangerous! You can’t go.”
The Neo-Vestige Sect expert then stared at Lu Yin with a blatant warning shining from his eyes.
Lu Yin did not care about the Hunter, and he told Peach, “Go ahead if you want. Just take care of yourself.”
Peach became excited. “Thank you, Your Highness!”
She then flew out of the s.p.a.cecraft and headed towards the battlefield.
Gong Ke was taken aback, and he glared at Lu Yin. “If anything happens to her, Neo-Vestige Sect will not let you off.”
Lu Yin frowned. “My mood isn’t very good right now, so watch your tone.”
Gong Ke wanted to protest, but he swallowed his words when he saw Lu Yin’s cold eyes. It would not be wise to provoke this person as Lu Yin clearly could not be controlled. With no other choice, Gong Ke reluctantly rushed towards the battlefield himself to protect Peach. As he flew over, he made sure to contact Neo-Vestige Sect as well.
In Neo-Vestige Sect’s main hall, Master Bei grew furious. “This Lu Yin is too bold! He actually dares to allow Little Peach to partic.i.p.ate in this battle! Who’s going to be held responsible if anything happens to her?”
He was not actually concerned about Peach’s well being. Rather, if the arrow that she carried was lost on the battlefield, it would not be easy to recover.
Gong Ling immediately called Lu Yin.
As soon as Peach had headed for the battlefield, Lu Yin had already guessed that the Neo-Vestige Sect would reach out to him.
“Sect Leader Gong Ling, is there anything that I can do for you?” Lu Yin smiled.
Gong Ling’s expression was stern. “Alliance Leader Lu, if anything unexpected happens to Little Peach on the battlefield, do you know what the consequences will be?”
Lu Yin adjusted his expression. “Is Sect Leader Gong Ling threatening me?”
“Of course not. Alliance Leader Lu is a formidable person within his generation, and even my Neo-Vestige Sect must show respect to Alliance Leader Lu. However, Little Peach is very important to my Neo-Vestige Sect. If anything happens to her, then no matter who might be responsible, my Neo-Vestige Sect will not let them off,” Gong Ling said coldly.
Lu Yin nodded. “I understand what Sect Leader Gong is saying, but war is upon us, and Peach is, after all, the captain of the Sixth Imperial Squadron. She even requested to enter battle of her own initiative. I should not reject her, as otherwise, what would the others think? That I’m giving her preferential treatment? As the leader of an organization, Sect Leader Gong should understand that being in such a position is not simple.”
“I hope that Alliance Leader Lu understands what my Neo-Vestige Sect has relied on to obtain its current status,” Gong Ling said before finally ending the call.
Lu Yin put his gadget away and looked back towards the battlefield.
The battle had become very intense, and there were already more than five Cruisers partic.i.p.ating. The next to make a move would be the Hunters.
They were still too far from the peak of the battle.
“Your Highness, your subordinate requests to join the battle,” Xueshan Auna requested respectfully as he walked out.
The Auna family had thoroughly become Lu Yin’s blade. After the family weeded out a ma.s.sive number of corrupt officials, they had become universally hated by everyone within the Great Yu Empire, and they had suffered huge losses. However, they had also achieved their objective, and the Auna family now had Lu Yin’s trust. This time, Lu Yin had even specifically brought Xueshan Auna with him, and Hill Auna was still the Imperial Cabinet’s Foreign Secretary, which allowed the Auna family to feel at ease.
Lu Yin calmly answered, “This battle does not need you, as we are relying on the Allied Forces.”
Then, Lu Yin sent out new orders to the Allied Forces, prompting the two Hunters to directly join the battle. As soon as they made a move, Armament Weave suffered horrible casualties. They had purposefully chosen to not send out their Hunters all this time, as they did not want to escalate the situation. However, they were forced to respond since the Allied Forces had taken the initiative.
A single Hunter was enough to change the entire battlefield, let alone two.
From afar, a light beam shot through s.p.a.ce.
This attack had a considerable amount of energy behind it. Armament Weave had discovered the location where Lu Yin and the others were observing the battlefield, and they had directly attacked them.
However, this light beam was easily blocked by Aden.
Peach was effortlessly suppressing an enemy Cruiser, which forced Armament Weave to send out more people to hold her back.
Lu Yin constantly paid attention to Peach, as he had never seen her use any battle techniques from Neo-Vestige Sect. It was impossible for her to not know any, so it simply meant that n.o.body had been able to force Peach to show her true power, though this battle should be able to do so.
More than ten days pa.s.sed, and reinforcements continued to endlessly pour into Armament Weave, all of them being brought by Endless Borders transport services.
Lu Yin continued to wait for news from Smoker.
During these ten days, neither side stopped fighting. Although the Allied Forces continually held the upper hand, they were unable to completely suppress the forces of Armament Weave from beginning to end.
There were five Hunters who were on Armament Weave’s side, and Lu Yin was forced to dispatch Xueshan Auna and Aden to the battlefield, though he still did not expose the Rapid Response Team.
Countless people were observing the endless battle during these ten past days, and they weren’t just from the eastern and central weaves. There were even news outlets from the western weaves that were covering this war, and it had become the focus of the entire Outerverse.
In Millions City, Qiong Xi"er had remained focused on this battle for an entire month, which was essentially the entire duration of the war.
The combined strength of the entire Great Eastern Alliance was still unable to take down Armament Weave, which showed that Wei Rong was indeed quite skilled.
Millions City was still in the process of rebuilding, and although the reconstruction efforts were expensive, it was just a drop in the ocean for the Qiong family.
Qiong Shanhai did not pay much attention to this war, though he was rather interested in the two youths Lu Yin and Wei Rong. In his heart, Qiong Xi"er’s achievements were his focus.
Still, no matter if one was talking about Lu Yin or Wei Rong, neither of the two had any thoughts of joining their wife’s family. These two people possessed great ambitions, particularly Lu Yin. For such a person to join his wife’s family, the conditions would have to be sufficient to appease him. Still, Qiong Shanhai remembered what Qiong Xi"er had mentioned before, and truthfully, he did not dare to allow Lu Yin to join his family. This would be less like recruiting a son-in-law and more like inviting a ravenous wolf in.
"Xi"er, what do you think of this war?” Qiong Shanhai asked.
Qiong Xi"er felt puzzled. “Father, you’re watching it too?”
Qiong Shanhai replied, “After all, those two youths did partic.i.p.ate in the Qiong"s Family Banquet. Naturally, I’m curious about them.”
Qiong Xi"er casually closed her gadget. “If nothing unexpected happens, then the Wei family will be finished.”
“You’re that certain? Wei Rong is someone who can even make you wary, and everyone else says that this kid is able to find advantages in chaos and that he is quite adept at finding opportunities. But despite all that, you’re saying that he isn’t Lu Yin’s opponent?” Qiong Shanhai asked in astonishment.
Qiong Xi"er replied, “Hence why I said if nothing unexpected happens. Wei Rong is adept at doing the unexpected, but Lu Yin is even craftier. n.o.body knows what sort of methods he has available. It’s just like this war, which started mysteriously. Everyone had previously a.s.sumed that Lu Yin would only deal with the central weaves after uniting all of the eastern weaves, but he started fighting before that, and he doesn’t even seem to be afraid of a counterattack from the rear.”
“What if he has to fight?” Qiong Shanhai asked profoundly.
Qiong Xi"er’s eyes flashed. “Father, do you know something?”
Qiong Shanhai laughed. “There’s no need to act—how could you not already know? You should have guessed it already. The Qiong"s Banquet gave Wei Rong a platform through which to contact the Dark Phoenix family, and with his personality, how could he not have contacted them? Sall Phoenix claims that Lu Yin is responsible for Taylor Phoenix’s death, and the Dark Phoenix family hates Lu Yin, which has provided Wei Rong with a great opportunity.”
Qiong Xi"er nodded. “That’s right. Since Sall Phoenix pushed the blame for Taylor’s death onto Lu Yin, this war is unavoidable. Even if Wei Rong did not contact the Dark Phoenix family, Lu Yin would still not just sit around. Clearly, he is trying to use this period when the Dark Phoenix family is still unable to intervene in this war to quickly eliminate Wei Rong. Unfortunately, the war has dragged on too long for Lu Yin. Wei Rong has managed to delay things long enough, and now, there will be certain effects. The Armament Weave will survive for now, but their future survival all depends on whether or not the Dark Phoenix family will partic.i.p.ate in this war. Once the Dark Phoenix family moves, it won’t be easy for Lu Yin to eliminate the Wei family.”
“So what if the Dark Phoenix family partic.i.p.ates? The Great Eastern Alliance is also difficult to deal with,” Qiong Shanhai reb.u.t.ted.
Qiong Xi"er disdainfully replied, “Just the Dark Phoenix family alone isn’t enough to deal with Lu Yin. Although all of us lost our memories of the underground battle, Lu Yin seemed to be the only one who was perfectly fine when we emerged. Even Yuehua Mavis had been roughed up, so clearly, Lu Yin’s methods must be impressive. Moreover, he has the Hall of Honor supporting him, so it’s difficult for the Dark Phoenix family to deal with him. And that’s not even mentioning Neo-Vestige Sect, which still needs to be considered.”
When she mentioned this other great power, Qiong Xi"er looked at Qiong Shanhai. “Father, it would be better if you don’t get involved in this conflict. There are no benefits for us no matter which side we choose.”
Qiong Shanhai replied, “Relax, Millions City is still in the process of rebuilding, and I don’t have the spare energy to partic.i.p.ate in other people’s projects.” He was not in a bad mood, as despite the Neohuman Alliance’s efforts to seize Millions City, their operation had failed, which meant that there should not be any other power in the Outerverse that could act against Millions City for the time being. Since the Zhu family’s ancestor had died, the Zhu family was no longer any threat to them either, and Millions City seemed to have been secured.
Qiong Xi"er looked at Qiong Shanhai’s relaxed expression, but she could not relax herself. She leaned towards supporting the Wei family in this conflict, as she hoped that they would be able to block the westward expansion of the Great Eastern Alliance. Otherwise, after Lu Yin conquered all of the central weaves, their Millions City would enter his sights.
Although Millions City had the ability to protect themselves, if the surrounding region became Lu Yin’s territory, they would be no different from a turtle trapped in a jar. How long would they be able to last in that situation?
Lu Yin was not a member of the Neohuman Alliance, and he had a brain. More importantly, he had the Hall of Honor’s support, and he was much more dangerous than Wei Rong.
There was another detail as well; Qiong Xi’er felt that the memories they had lost about their time underground was actually very important. She had lost a huge amount of blood at that time, but after everyone left, she had not been able to find any traces of her own blood. So just where had all that blood gone? This was the answer that Qiong Xi"er was most desperate to uncover. She was worried that her blood might have been taken away by someone else, and that was extremely worrying.
In the distant Suna Weave, a radiant-grade Aurora sped towards Armament Weave. This s.p.a.cecraft belonged to Endless Borders, and within it was one of Endless Borders’ expedition crews, whose captain was Bach.
Endless Borders did not have many expedition crews, and becoming a captain and joining the company’s board was not as simple as what outsiders would imagine. Bach’s contributions included three secret routes, which was what had given him his current position.
Any captain of an expedition crew had a high status in Endless Borders.
Bach had maintained a high profile ever since he had become an expedition crew captain, and there were always people fawning over him no matter where he went. Of course, he did not slack off either, and he was constantly looking for more ways to discover new routes. The more routes he contributed to the company, the higher his status in Endless Borders would be.
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