Chapter 1013: Return
Lu Yin had been able to feel Hui Kong’s sincerity through his interactions with him, and he naturally intended to repay the old man in kind. This was completely different from his relationship with Nightking Yuanjing. Even if Lu Yin called Nightking Yuanjing “Grandpa,” the old Nightking was merely a target for Lu Yin to manipulate, just like how he himself was a target to be manipulated by Nightking Yuanjing.
In contrast, Lu Yin’s relationship with Hui Kong was genuine.
But Lu Yin did not have that much time to think about such things. Up ahead of him, the void had split open, and there was a pulling force constantly sweeping through the region.
Lu Yin used his physical strength to rush forward at a high speed, evading the pull and shaking it off with some difficulty. Next, another attractive force swept through the area. Anyone weaker than an Enlighter would not be able to escape from it, as the strength of this force had almost reached a power level of 300,000.
Lu Yin was rendered speechless at this sight. Just who had said that as long as a person had the strength of an Enlighter, they would not need to be afraid of the various phenomena on this route? Even normal Enlighters might not be able to resist this force; had this phenomenon matured?
He had only made a casual guess that this route had changed, but Lu Yin suddenly saw a ma.s.sive spatial crack appear up ahead of him, seemingly splitting the universe in two. The appearance of this crack confirmed his theory that the route had changed from what was on the star chart.
The phenomena along this route were extremely varied after the change. But even before stepping foot here, when Lu Yin had first learned that this path could be used to travel to the Innerverse from the Outerverse by way of the Technocracy, he had held some doubts.
The Technocracy would not leave any loopholes in their border surveillance, and even if there were any, they should have been discovered long ago.
After rethinking things, Lu Yin realized that this route might not actually be an oversight of the Technocracy, but rather a path that could not be traveled. There was a chance that the exploration team that had successfully mapped out this route to the Innerverse had simply been lucky enough to encounter this route during a certain phase where the various phenomena had not been as powerful. However, now that Lu Yin was personally walking this path, he was able to clearly see the power of the phenomena along this route.
Just crossing the ma.s.sive spatial crack in front of Lu Yin required him to have a power level of close to 400,000. What’s worse, this was most likely not even the most dangerous part of the route.
The power of the cosmic phenomenon along this route was like an inflating balloon. At this moment, it might take someone with a power level of close to 400,000 to travel this route, but later on, even an Envoy or a monster with a power level of 1,000,000 might have difficulty traveling through this path.
Under normal circ.u.mstances, Lu Yin would have no way to travel this route, but fortunately, he had some powerful items in his possession.
He took out the beaded bracelet. He had already used two of the five beads, but there were still three left.
Lu Yin used up another pearl, but this time, he did not merge the overwhelming power into a battle technique. Rather, he fused it straight into his body to upgrade his physical strength.
With his body’s power level boosted by 300,000, Lu Yin let out a soft growl as he shot forwards. He easily tore through the spatial crack in the void and pa.s.sed over it. After that, he continued to charge towards the Outerverse at the fastest speed that he was capable of, following the path that had been mapped out.
Since his physical strength’s power level had been boosted to almost 400,000, his speed exploded, and he quickly neared the Outerverse.
Along the way, he forcibly swept aside all the cosmic phenomenon that obstructed his progress, but before he got out, the boost to his physical strength dissipated.
He was still some distance away from arriving in the Outerverse, but the cosmic phenomenon around him was constantly shifting.
Lu Yin gritted his teeth as he merged with another bead from the bracelet. An overpowering physical strength erupted from him once more as he continued to tear apart the cosmic phenomenon around him.
After the strength from the bead was depleted for a second time, he had gotten very close to the Outerverse, but there was still a boundless phenomena right in front of him.
Without any other choice, Lu Yin could only use the last bead in his bracelet to get past this obstacle, exploding with an unprecedented speed for the third time.
Once he slowed down for the last time, Lu Yin did not even know how far he had traveled. The only thing before him was an astral cemetery that extended far out into the distance and was filled with all sorts of s.p.a.ce debris. This meant that he had made it back to the Outerverse, as this was the astral cemetery that the Tong family and the Sightless clan had attacked when they had attempted to invade the Outerverse. He was not too far from Southside Weave—he had actually made it back.
Lu Yin let out a slow breath as he spread out his star energy and unleashed his domain. Suddenly, he started to laugh maniacally. He had indeed made it back alive.
At that moment, multiple figures streaked towards him at high speeds.
Lu Yin focused on them and saw that their group contained a few Explorers and even a Cruiser.
“Who goes there?” the Cruiser barked as he kept a wary eye on Lu Yin.
Lu Yin was quickly surrounded, but he just smiled. “You don’t recognize me?”
The Explorers all gaped at Lu Yin, and the Cruiser was a bit surprised at first, but he quickly became shocked. “You- you’re the Alliance Leader?”
Lu Yin’s lips curled up. “That’s right.”
It had been seven months since the Tong family had joined forces with the Sightless clan to attack the Outerverse, which meant that it had been seven months since Lu Yin had left the Outerverse.
Seven months was not a very long period of time, and the Great Eastern Alliance had not changed much during these few months, even if the invasion had caused the Great Eastern Alliance to suffer some losses. The Central Coalition’s military had similarly sustained heavy losses, but more importantly, Lu Yin’s contributions during the invasion were simply too tremendous. In fact, they had reached the point where the Hall of Honor had even publicly announced its support for the Great Eastern Alliance’s establishment, and it had also declared its support for the Great Yu Empire. The rewards that they had given Lu Yin were simply incomparable.
Everyone knew that the greatest contributor to their successful defense had been Lu Yin. Without him, n.o.body would have even known about the attack before it was too late. The Tong family and the Sightless clan’s invasion would have caught the Outerverse by complete surprise since n.o.body would have been at the Astral River to stop them. Even Yuan Shi could only stop a single powerhouse at best, and there was no need to even consider the rest of the invasion force. If the Sixth Mainland focus had not been ambushed, then it would have simply been a matter of time before the Sixth Mainland eventually destroyed the entire Outerverse.
In fact, Lu Yin’s information was just what the Hall of Honor had publicly announced as his contributions. His true efforts were actually even greater than that, as he had also given Yuan Shi Progenitor Wushang’s hide. Then, during the battle, Lu Yin had given Yuan Shi Peach’s inherited arrow from the Neo-Vestige Sect. That arrow had allowed Yuan Shi to contend against the two Sixth Mainland powerhouses who were in the same realm as him.
And even all that wasn’t his greatest contribution. The severe injuries of Venerable Tong was directly related to him, but this contribution was fated to remain unknown to everyone else.
Yuan Shi was the Fifth Mainland’s greatest contributor in that battle, as he had blocked two Cosmic Imprinters on his own. The person second only to that ancient powerhouse was Lu Yin.
The honor of a puny Cruiser obtaining such great contributions could only be imagined.
If the war had ended at that moment, then Lu Yin would have been rewarded handsomely by the Hall of Honor, and he would have smoothly entered the most resplendent time of his life. However, he had gone missing after the battle had moved into the Innerverse, which meant that he had died. Death gave him even greater glory, as n.o.body minded piling achievements and prestige onto a dead person’s name. In fact, even those who had opposed Lu Yin felt no different about the matter.
The combination of everyone a.s.suming that Lu Yin had died, Yuan Shi’s sincere appreciation for the youth, and w.a.n.g Wen and the others’ scheming behind the scenes meant that Lu Yin’s prestige had expanded endlessly throughout the Outerverse. He had been posthumously named as the Outerverse’s Allied Forces’ Commander who had resisted the Sixth Mainland’s invasion. This was a special privilege granted by the Hall of Honor, and it gave him the authority to command the entire Outerverse during wartime.
Such a privilege had never been given to anyone since the dawn of time. Lu Yin had received it only because he had died, as a dead person was incapable of using such absurd authority. Thus, no one had objected to such a thing.
However, everything became awkward the moment Lu Yin had not died.
A s.p.a.cecraft flew towards Southside Weave, and within it, the Cruiser occasionally threw weird looks at Lu Yin. The man’s eyes could not hide his astonishment—This person was actually not dead, which meant that, if there was a border war, Lu Yin would be the commander of the Allied Forces, as that position had been given to him by the Hall of Honor itself! That was just too much, as this youth would be able to order about the entire Outerverse’s troops during wartime. Just what kind of authority was that?
Not even the Hall of Honor’s own people had such extreme power. The closest person to such a position was Elder Daggs, who guarded Endless Weave’s border. The other was Elder Lohar, who was standing guard at Ironblood Weave’s border.
The authority that Lu Yin wielded during wartime was actually the sum of these two Hall of Honor elders.
Actually, his authority even went beyond that, as his authority was effective during wartime. Thus, if just the Astral Wilderness invaded the Human Domain, that would be considered a war, and Lu Yin would immediately become the commander of the entire Outerverse’s Allied Forces. He would have the unique authority to command all of their troops and distribute its resources. One person now stood at the peak of the Human Domain’s Outerverse, the first person to ever do so since the beginning of history.
Lu Yin himself was completely unaware that he had been given such authority, and he was simply curious about how Yuan Shi and the others had returned to the Outerverse after the battle.
He asked the Cruiser some questions, but the man was not very clear on the details. All that he knew was that the majority had managed to escape.
Lu Yin called Wendy Yushan, and she calmly answered, “I knew you weren’t dead.”
“You were that confident in me?” Lu Yin teased.
Wendy Yushan’s lips curled. She rarely smiled, but when she did, it was very pretty. “Bad people live longer.”
Lu Yin grinned. “How did you guys escape back then?”
“There were many imprisoned Innerverse cultivators on the transport continent, and they joined forces to escape. Of course, the losses were not small, and reportedly, even Yuan Shi was injured. When we escaped to the Outerverse, the top powerhouses resealed the Astral River behind us, and we’ve all been recuperating ever since,” Wendy Yushan explained.
Lu Yin was glad that he had stopped Starsibyl from taking her group away. Despite Yuan Shi’s impressive strength, he would not have been able to bring that many people back to the Outerverse.
After his call with Wendy Yushan ended, Lu Yin reached out to people like w.a.n.g Wen and Wei Rong in order to find out what the Great Eastern Alliance’s current situation was, and he quickly discovered that everything had remained calm. w.a.n.g Wen and Wei Rong had both been very confident in Lu Yin, and their former arrangement had continued despite Lu Yin’s reported death. During their call, w.a.n.g Wen informed Lu Yin of his new authority.
Lu Yin was amazed. “Commander of the Outerverse Allied Forces?”
w.a.n.g Wen smiled. “That’s right, congratulations. You’ve formally ascended to the highest peak of authority in the entire history of the Outerverse. Aside from the Hall of Honor that rules over the entire Human Domain, you’ve truly reached the peak of the universe now.”
Lu Yin had never even dreamed that he would suddenly obtain such authority.
“How did this happen?” Lu Yin asked.
w.a.n.g Wen smiled. “It’s quite simple: you were the one who mobilized everyone to fend off the invasion, and you also had the greatest performance during the battle. That led the Hall of Honor to have a wonderful impression of you, especially Yuan Shi. Just what did you do to cause the elder to be so active in your affairs? After that, we did a few things in the background, and suddenly, it was possible.”
Lu Yin’s brain flashed. “You must have been the one who spread the news that I was dead.”
“That wasn’t me, but rather Wei Rong. I was responsible for all of our dealings with the Hall of Honor while Wei Rong was in charge of public opinion. When someone is dead, n.o.body will say anything about rewarding them, not even if we had given you even greater authority. And with Yuan Shi supporting our idea, everything went according to plan,” w.a.n.g Wen explained.
Lu Yin rejoiced that he had taken the two geniuses under his wing. Otherwise, he would not have been greeted with such overwhelming authority at his return, and at best, he would have received some insignificant accolades.
“Although your position as the Outerverse Allied Forces’ Commander was only granted by the Hall of Honor after your supposed death, now that you’ve appeared alive, the t.i.tle still won’t be revoked. So, use it well,” w.a.n.g Wen said.
Lu Yin muttered to himself, deep in thought. Although the premise of this position as the Allied Forces’ Commander relied upon times of war, even if it was regarding pre-war preparations, he still had the Commander’s authority. However, it was not up to him whether or not war was declared. After thinking about his new situation, Lu Yin’s lips curled up. He then looked to the west, as the weaves in that direction seemed to have quite a significant amount of resources.
Lu Yin returned, and then he went to report the situation to Yuan Shi at the first opportunity.
News of his return spread out extremely quickly.
The first to obtain news of Lu Yin’s survival was, naturally, the western weaves.
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