Chapter 1799: Numbers
Lu Yin looked at the odd man with surprise. "Are you a merman?"
The man stared back at Lu Yin. "Identify yourself."
Lu Yin looked away from the man and glanced around. "Lu Yin."
The man frowned. Lu Yin? This was a very familiar name.
All of the guards felt the same way, and then one of them suddenly exclaimed, "Lu Yin? The leader of the Great Eastern Alliance? The champion of ZENITH?"
The moment they heard these words, everyone made the connection, and they all stared at Lu Yin in disbelief. Lu Yin could see curiosity, fear, and nervousness in their eyes.
The leader’s eyes went wide. "You- are you Lu Yin?"
Lu Yin nodded. "Where am I?"
At the moment, the name Lu Yin was recognizable the moment it was spoken. Naturally, everyone had heard his name and had some impression of him, as long as they were in contact with the universe as a whole. Both regular humans and cultivators knew of Lu Yin.
The man gulped. The name Lu Yin did not only represent a person, but also conflict and the Outerverse and Innerverse. How many wars had been fought because of Lu Yin? One had even been fought in the Cosmic Sea.
"This is the Cosmic Sea," the man nervously replied.
Lu Yin was not surprised. "So do you belong to a particular island, or are you a part of a crew?"
A booming voice shouted from the distance, “Unyielding Corps!”
Lu Yin turned to look and was surprised to find that he actually recognized the man. He was Ye Xingchen, who had once been one of the four peerless Limiteers along with Lu Yin.
At that time, Lu Yin had fought against both Ling Que and Mu Rong, but he had never faced Ye Xingchen. The Sixth Mainland had invaded before an opportunity came up. By the time that Lu Yin finally met Ye Xingchen, a gap had already opened up between them. Ye Xingchen had later partic.i.p.ated in ZENITH, and by that time, the gap had only widened. At the moment, it was completely impossible to compare the two young men.
During ZENITH, Ye Xingchen had fought against Fan Shun.
Lu Yin was surprised that exiting Burial Garden had led him to a gate in the Unyielding Corps’ territory.
Ye Xingchen had not expected to see Lu Yin appear from the gate. They had only recently discovered Burial Garden’s Gate, and they had still been debating over whether or not to enter when Lu Yin came out of it.
"Alliance Leader Lu, it"s a pleasure to finally meet you," Ye Xingchen spoke loudly, but he remained calm as he looked at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin smiled. "It"s a pleasure to meet you as well. I’ve long heard of you, Ye Xingchen."
Ye Xingchen showed a small smile. "I can’t compare with Alliance Leader Lu, and my Unyielding Corps can"t compare with your Great Eastern Alliance."
"I didn"t expect to come out in the Cosmic Sea. Can you welcome an uninvited guest like me?" Lu Yin asked with a smile.
Ye Xingchen made a gesture of welcome. "This is something that I couldn’t have asked for more. I’ve wanted to speak with you as much as ten years ago, Alliance Leader Lu."
"I’ve felt the exact same way myself," Lu Yin replied.
"Please."
…
The Unyielding Corps was a very small crew within the Cosmic Sea. In addition to the Four Pirate Crews, there were also many smaller crews in the Cosmic Sea, such as the Arcadian Arrow Crew. However, the Unyielding Corps was much smaller than even the Arcadian Arrow Crew.
When Lu Yin had first heard about Ye Xingchen, Lu Yin’s first thought had been to wonder how Ye Xingchen managed to roam about the Cosmic Sea with his strength. It was a question that Lu Yin had never been able to answer.
"The Cosmic Sea is dangerous, and it"s really not a good place to wander around. If you’re unlucky and run into another crew, then it’s highly likely that one of the two will be wiped out…" Ye Xingchen played host to Lu Yin and shared a great deal of information about the Cosmic Sea.
Lu Yin had to ask, "In that case, why does Brother Ye stay here?"
Ye Xingchen shrugged. "Honestly, I didn’t create the Unyielding Corps. It was created by my father."
Lu Yin arched a brow, as this was something that he had not known; he had only ever heard that Ye Xingchen had put the Unyielding Corps together.
"My father founded the Unyielding Corps and became good friends with the mermen, so he managed to leave me with a crew. I took over the crew in order to not let my father’s hard work go to waste after he died. The only reason why I’m able to move about the Cosmic Sea is thanks to the mermen," Ye Xingchen explained.
"Many different crews move about on the surface of the Cosmic Sea and compete with each other there, but the truth is that the mermen are the ones who actually control the Cosmic Sea. They’re able to read the weather, find new routes, and avoid danger. Unfortunately, they don’t have any true powerhouses, or else the Cosmic Sea definitely would not belong to humans."
Lu Yin commented, "I remember that Leon’s Armada has a merman crew."
Ye Xingchen nodded. "Their Merman Regiment is led by Brother Hao. He’s the most powerful merman in the universe, and he’s also the reason why I was able to meet with his captain, Highsage Leon."
Ye Xingchen glanced over at Lu Yin at this moment, as no one actually understood what the exact relationship between Lu Yin and Leon’s Armada was.
"Brother Ye, feel free to say whatever you want," Lu Yin said.
Ye Xingchen continued, "Highsage Leon’s always wanted to incorporate the Unyielding Corps into his armada, but I’ve never been interested in joining them. This crew is the result of my father’s efforts, and he was a proud man who would never bow, not even to the Longevity Brigade or if it killed him. That att.i.tude was what led to his death.”
"Was your father killed by the Longevity Brigade?" Lu Yin was surprised.
Ye Xingchen nodded. He then rose to his feet and formally said to Lu Yin, "Alliance Leader Lu, I, Ye Xingchen, would like to express my immense grat.i.tude for the destruction of the Longevity Brigade."
Lu Yin helped the young man back up. "I didn’t destroy the Longevity Brigade to avenge your father, so there’s no reason for you to thank me."
Ye Xingchen’s voice turned bitter. "If not for Alliance Leader Lu, I would have never been able to get revenge in my entire life. Regardless of whether you agree or not, I, Ye Xingchen, owe you a favor."
After spending some time chatting with Ye Xingchen, Lu Yin learned that while there were quite a few of Burial Garden’s gates in the Cosmic Sea, the gate that the Unyielding Corps had found had not been revealed to the rest of the universe, and no one knew that there was an exit in this place.
"Actually, it’s quite dangerous to stand guard at this gate. If it hadn’t been you, Alliance Leader Lu, who came out, but instead an enemy, we would have been in quite a bit of trouble." Ye Xingchen sighed. He was an ambitious man. The Unyielding Corps had originally refrained from joining Leon’s Armada because of Ye Xingchen’s father’s pride, but later, it had remained independent because of Ye Xingchen’s own arrogance.
However, many years had pa.s.sed, and when Ye Xingchen saw the heights that Lu Yin, who had also once been one of the four peerless Limiteers, had risen to, Ye Xingchen was forced to face reality. He had even been willing to verbally admit that he could have never gotten revenge for himself. A decade before, such words would have been impossible for Ye Xingchen to speak.
Lu Yin was in no hurry to leave the Unyielding Corps, though he did call w.a.n.g Wen.
Before Lu Yin entered Burial Garden’s gate, he had asked w.a.n.g Wen to tally up the number of gates that had appeared throughout the Great Eastern Alliance, and they should have a rough number by now.
"There are 89 gates in our Great Eastern Alliance’s territory, sixteen of which are exits. This is the most recent data that’s been gathered by the top powers like the Sword Sect, the Lingling clan, and more," w.a.n.g Wen explained.
Lu Yin asked, "How many exits do we control outside of the eight great flowzones?"
"Six."
"So there are ten exits out of Burial Garden that are controlled by the powers that control the great flowzones, right?"
"At the moment, yes, but there should be more in the future. It’s also possible that there are some gates that haven’t been discovered yet."
Lu Yin voice dropped low, "Try to destroy three of the Burial Garden gates that are exits and then have Chen Huang and some others stand guard outside the other three. Stop everyone who comes out and capture them in my name. If some powerhouse comes out, then just pull back."
"Are you sure? Those gates are Burial Garden’s, and we might provoke Burial Garden by destroying their gates." w.a.n.g Wen was quite worried, as he knew that it was not wise to antagonize any of the Three Dark Hands. While he knew that it was inevitable that they would face off against those powers in the future, that was not right now. Even if the Great Eastern Alliance had united both the Innerverse and the Outerverse and had twelve Envoys, they still could not stand up to any of the Three Dark Hands.
There was no need to even mention the Neohuman Alliance, as the Sixth Mainland was afraid of the Seven SkyG.o.ds taking action, and not even the Hall of Honor could suppress the Neohuman Alliance. Burial Garden was also one of the Three Dark Hands.
The power of the Seven Courts and the Neohuman Alliance was apparent to see, but Burial Garden was completely shrouded in mystery.
Although the Great Eastern Alliance’s power was expanding every single day, they were still far from being able to measure up to any one of the Three Dark Hands.
Lu Yin replied, "That’s out of my control, but if one of the Sixth Mainland’s powerhouses comes out of one of those gates, we’ll suffer a huge disaster. We can’t leave such weaknesses exposed. Three exits is a number that we can handle as we’ll be able to control and manage the people coming out of Burial Garden.”
"What about the eight great flowzones?" w.a.n.g Wen asked.
Lu Yin"s eyes flashed. "I"ll talk to them."
While Lu Yin did not know the real reason why Burial Garden had opened, at the moment, it was a place that held numerous opportunities. There was no way that old foxes like Liu Qianjue would easily let go of such an opportunity, and they most likely hoped to control as many exit gates as possible so that they could filter the people who came out from Burial Garden. It was possible for them to reap the rewards of many people by taking those opportunities away as they came through the exits.
As far as the major powers were concerned, this was the best way to acquire Burial Garden’s lucky opportunities.
However, Lu Yin needed to wake these powers up to reality.
One display after another appeared, showing Liu Qianjue, Ling Qiu, Mountain G.o.d, and King Qing Li. Lu Yin had called everyone at once.
"You’ve only recently joined the Great Eastern Alliance, and although we had originally planned to hold our first official meeting for the united Innerverse in the future, current events have changed things, especially Burial Garden’s opening. This is why I called to speak to you all earlier than planned." Lu Yin spoke in a casual manner as he held his hands behind his back.
Ling Qiu said, "What does Alliance Leader Lu have to say?"
She did not sound very friendly. After all, these people had been forced to join the Great Eastern Alliance.
"Is this about Burial Garden’s gate?" Liu Qianjue asked.
Lu Yin nodded. "I know that Burial Garden’s gates have appeared in all of your territories and there are both entrances and some exits. I also know that the best way for you to profit from this is to pick cultivators clean as they come through the exits."
"Alliance Leader Lu, we don’t pick them clean, but rather conduct an exchange." Ling Qiu rolled her eyes.
Lu Yin smiled. "Regardless of whether it"s robbery or a business arrangement, I already know your intentions, so please find a way to destroy the gates and only leave one exit in each of your territories."
Towards the end, Lu Yin’s voice grew firm.
Liu Qianjue and the others glanced at each other, and Mountain G.o.d spoke up in his deep voice. "The things acquired in Burial Garden are able to improve the strength of each of our powers, and they can even improve the overall strength of the Great Eastern Alliance. What are Alliance Leader Lu’s concerns?"
Lu Yin grew extremely serious, "I just came out from Burial Garden, and I came out in the Cosmic Sea when I went through the exit."
The others were all surprised.
"How was it?" Ling Qiu quickly asked.
Lu Yin said, "It’s true that there are many opportunities in Burial Garden. That place is clearly ancient and has existed for an incredible amount of time, and it’s possible to find unexpected rewards. However, these opportunities can also invite disasters. The exit I came through had people guarding the gate from outside, but they’re all so weak that I could have easily wiped them all out. None of you want to die like that.”