Chapter 299: a.s.sa.s.sination
Xueshan Auna emotionally received the register and took a deep breath. He was truly moved by Lu Yin’s response. “It’s Jenny’s loss to not be able to marry the Royal Regent. This is also my Auna family’s loss.”
Lu Yin faintly smiled. “This matter still hasn’t concluded yet. We can discuss things again once Jenny returns.”
Xueshan Auna’s eyes widened. “Your Highness, please attack the Firesmelt Planet! His Imperial Majesty had already drawn up plans to invade the Firesmelt Planet back then, but he was delayed by the Ross Empire. If Your Highness attacks the Firesmelt Planet, then I, Xueshan Auna, will be the first to charge forward.”
Lu Yin nodded. “Alright. With Senior Xueshan’s words, I’ll be able to rest a.s.sured. Please, return home. I’ll have to think over your suggestion.”
Xueshan Auna bowed to Lu Yin once more, and then left respectfully.
Lu Yin’s eyes twinkled. Xueshan Auna, this chess piece, would continue to stay on the board for now. His existence would balance the Huo family’s power, and he could even be used to help deal with the Firesmelt Planet. Lu Yin could also use the Auna family’s strength to stabilize the Great Yu Empire. Although the incident with Jenny had displeased Lu Yin, it was still tolerable. However, she would have to pay the price in the future.
The Thirteen Imperial Squadrons and top families like the Huo and Auna family held all of the true power within the Great Yu Empire. Thus, Lu Yin had to settle his case with them first before he could truly begin to command the Great Yu Empire.
Back in the royal court, Lu Yin gave out a new set of orders. With Huo Qingshan and Rocky Auna leading the army, the empire would begin reclaiming its lost territory and also start recruiting external candidates to replace the fallen captains of the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons. Each candidate had to at least be at the Cruiser realm. Lu Yin also appointed five cabinet ministers to oversee the Great Yu Empire once he left, as he had a nagging feeling that he would not be able to stay here for too long.
Sure enough, after a week pa.s.sed, San Dios sent a message to him, urging him to check in and report. The person who had urged him was actually Puyu. This councilor had overstepped his bounds by acting to represent Wendy Yushan and using her authority within her jurisdiction.
Lu Yin’s face dropped when he saw Puyu’s name. This person had finally shown himself; he was the one behind Bazeer.
Wendy Yushan’s power level was very formidable, and she was among the top twenty of the Top 100 Rankings. Still, she could not compare to Puyu when it came to scheming. He was no weakling either; Wendy Yushan was ranked nineteenth while Puyu himself was ranked thirteenth. In terms of pure strength, he was one of the top three super powerhouses in the entire Outerverse Youth Council.
As a newcomer, Lu Yin could not beat Puyu, but he did not intend to challenge Puyu at this time either. Without a solid foundation, rushing into battle was nothing more than courting death. Lu Yin only wanted to make his presence briefly known before taking a step back and waiting for his family’s arrangements and for Wendy Yushan to appear.
Puyu had not contacted Lu Yin this entire time, but he must know that Lu Yin was also the Lockbreaker, Brother Seven. Lu Yin thought that Puyu probably hated himself very much for wasting all those resources.
“Your Highness, Captain Liuying is seeking an audience,” Bronsen politely announced.
Lu Yin nodded. “Send her in.”
Liuying Zishan soon arrived before Lu Yin and urgently said, “Your Highness, we just received intelligence that Firesmelt Planet’s young master Yan Feng may be promoted to become a council member of the Outerverse Youth Council in the near future.”
Lu Yin was stunned and stood up. “What did you say? Yan Feng will be promoted to become a councilor?”
Liuying Zishan solemnly answered, “Yes, this information was relayed to us by a spy we planted on the Firesmelt Planet. Although Yan Feng has not yet entered the Top 100 Rankings, there are too few councilors on the Outerverse Youth Council. Thus, the Ten Arbiters Council has decided to promote a bunch of people, one of whom will be Yan Feng.”
Lu Yin became downcast. He had not mentioned this person not because he did not care, but rather because he currently had no time to deal with Yan Feng right now. After all, this person had s.n.a.t.c.hed away Lu Yin’s supposed fiancée—how could he not care? But with this new piece of news, Lu Yin could no longer afford to ignore Yan Feng. Once he became a councilor, his status and position would change greatly, and it would become very difficult to deal with him at that time.
“There’s another bit of news, though we cannot verify it at this time.” Liuying Zishan had an ugly expression, as if she was abnormally furious.
Lu Yin frowned. “What’s the news?”
“Yan Wujiu plans to have Yan Feng marry Jenny Auna once he is appointed as a councilor,” she coldly answered.
An overflowing amount of killing intent flashed through Lu Yin’s eyes. This move was directly targeted at him, as the object of Yan Feng’s desires was originally Wendy Yushan; he simply had no desire to marry Jenny Auna. Firesmelt Planet was doing all of this to forcibly rope the Auna family in and to embarra.s.s Lu Yin. Also, this meant that the Auna family would no longer be able to cast their relationship with the Firesmelt Planet aside. It was a vicious move, one aimed to make the Great Yu Empire crumble from within.
Once the Auna family defected, the Great Yu Empire would definitely suffer a heavy loss.
Even if Xueshan Auna had previously made his intentions known, that was before this recent news. If Yan Feng really did become a member of the Outerverse Youth Council, then the situation would completely change, and Xueshan Auna’s original intentions may not be preserved.
If Lu Yin had obtained this information, then Xueshan Auna definitely would as well. This Yan Feng had to be quickly taken care of, or else he would bring great trouble to Lu Yin.
“I got it. I’ll resolve this quickly,” Lu Yin replied indifferently.
Liuying Zishan looked at him with a worried expression, but she left King Zishan’s palace afterwards.
Lu Yin’s eyes glittered. He could not interfere with the Ten Arbiters Council no matter how high his status was. He then considered those around him, but there was only one person who could intervene in this matter—Nightking Yuanjing. He was perhaps the only one who could delay Yan Feng becoming a councilor.
But Lu Yin could not take the initiative to contact Nightking Yuanjing. The more Lu Yin reached out to him, the more likely it was that he would lose the ability to contact the Nightking. He could only wait for the Nightking to initiate contact, and Lu Yin hoped that it would be within the next two months.
“Yan Feng, that brat, really doesn’t know how to behave! Not only does he want to s.n.a.t.c.h Seventh Bro’s wife, but he even wants the councilor position! Go kick his a.s.s!” the Ghost Monkey cried out indignantly.
Lu Yin indifferent replied, “I’m in a bad mood, so don’t bother me.”
“Seventh Bro, I’m on your side!” The Ghost Monkey felt wronged, but Lu Yin didn’t care about his feelings. For now, he had to report to San Dios and then secure his position in the Outerverse Youth Council. After that, he would wait for his family to reach out before considering his next moves.
One day later, Lu Yin sat down in his Aurora and left the Great Yu Empire, heading straight for San Dios.
This Aurora had been gifted to him by the Great Yu Empire, and it had also been upgraded to a radiant-grade craft. The newly appointed finance minister had wanted to upgrade it one more time for Lu Yin. However, this s.p.a.cecraft was not a personal ship but rather a large s.p.a.cecraft. Lu Yin had rejected the offer since the empire’s financial situation was so shaky that they didn’t even have enough funds to cover the military’s expenses. The price to upgrade an Aurora to the blackhole grade was just too terrifying, and Lu Yin could not be seen openly embezzling money. Thus, the s.p.a.cecraft had only been upgraded to the radiant grade.
Still, radiant grade was not bad. Lu Yin’s lost s.p.a.cecraft from before had been at the same grade, which meant that it was about ten times faster than a normal s.p.a.cecraft and st.u.r.dy enough to withstand Cruiser-level attacks.
There were twelve weaves separating the Great Yu Empire from San Dios. The journey normally took two and a half months to complete, but with the speed of a radiant grade Aurora, it would only take Lu Yin eight days.
San Dios did not refer to a single area but rather the entire Outerverse Youth Council headquarters, which included both East and West San Dios.
There were seventy two weaves in the Outerverse, and it was extremely vast. The Councilors could not possibly all congregate in one area. Hence, the council had been split between East and West San Dios.
Wendy Yushan and Puyu were based in East San Dios while the other three councilors met at West San Dios.
And since Wendy Yushan was missing, all of the authority of East San Dios was currently in Puyu’s hands.
Lu Yin looked at the map of the Outerverse and felt slightly strange. With the disposition of the Ten Arbiters, they would not possibly allow Puyu to grasp such great power alone. Promoting Yan Feng might be one way they were restricting him, or perhaps they would soon implement other measures soon to control Puyu. Hold on. Lu Yin suddenly thought of Wen Sansi. Will he personally appear to restrain Puyu? Otherwise, why would one of the Ten Arbiters personally appear in the Outerverse?
Lu Yin continued muttering under his breath, and he eventually concluded that this theory was indeed possible. If Wen Sansi was personally restricting Puyu, then Puyu’s control over East San Dios was not as solid as Lu Yin had thought it was; he should still have an opportunity to uproot him.
Suddenly, Lu Yin’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt a strange chill overcome him. A loud sound rang out within the s.p.a.cecraft and the internal alarm started flickering incessantly.
Lu Yin’s eyes widened, and he looked up. A face filled with cold killing intent had appeared, and then a sword stabbed out at him. Lu Yin did not move and only coldly stared at the sword as it stabbed into the s.p.a.cecraft. There was a loud bang as an intense impact pa.s.sed through the body of the s.p.a.cecraft and headed straight at Lu Yin.
This was an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt. An a.s.sa.s.sination attempt from two s.p.a.ce-exploring powerhouses.
Lu Yin’s body jolted, but the vibration based attack from the s.p.a.ce-exploring powerhouse was useless against him. The attacker was only at the Explorer realm, and as such, Lu Yin calmly raised his right hand and placed it against the Aurora’s roof. His palm vibrated as a complimentary force was sent through the s.p.a.cecraft towards the Explorer standing on the roof.
That Explorer only felt his legs go numb before a terrifying force with multiple stacks and folds almost crippled his legs. He immediately leapt off of the vessel and into the starry sky.
In front of the s.p.a.cecraft, the other Explorer’s sword attack had not damaged the Aurora at all. The second a.s.sa.s.sin cried, “Radiant-grade s.p.a.cecraft!” He then immediately left without a second thought.
The two Explorer a.s.sa.s.sins both left without achieving their goal.
From start to end, Lu Yin had not panicked in the slightest, as a radiant-grade s.p.a.cecraft could withstand even Cruiser-level attacks. He had nothing to be afraid of, but who would dare to send a.s.sa.s.sins after him? It couldn’t be the rebellious powers contesting against the Great Yu Empire, as none of them had the guts to kill a Lockbreaker. If Lu Yin died, not only would the Lockbreaker Society investigate the situation, but the Ten Arbiters Council would appear as well.
Could it be a great hostile power from the Innerverse? Or maybe the Daynight Clan?
“An a.s.sa.s.sination attempt? Could it be that you’ve been placed on the Celestial Vanquisher’s List?” the Ghost Monkey wondered.
Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. “Do you think I can get on that list with my current strength?”
“Bulls.h.i.t, but if you reveal what you told Huo Qingshan to the entire universe, I guarantee that you will enjoy a luxurious experience of an endless buffet of a.s.sa.s.sinations as befitting of someone on the Celestial Vanquisher’s List.”
Lu Yin frowned. Being monitored by an entire star domain would spell nothing but trouble. Forget Lu Yin, even the Ten Arbiters themselves would feel troubled by such a hindrance.
The reason why the Ten Arbiters did not publicly reveal their ident.i.ties might be to protect their authority, but there was also a chance that it was a precaution against the Celestial Vanquisher’s List. If the Astral Beast Domain had its own list, then what about the Technocracy? They must have a similar list of a.s.sa.s.sination targets. Were his actions too high-profile?
“It shouldn’t be an a.s.sa.s.sination resulting from the Celestial Vanquisher’s List. They wouldn’t be so stingy as to only send two Explorers,” the Ghost Monkey guessed.
“You’re right, that’s too stingy,” Lu Yin mumbled, deep in thought. Whether it was an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt from someone targetting people on the Astral Beast Domain’s Celestial Vanquisher’s List or from a great Innerverse power, neither group would not send just two Explorer. Those who understood him also knew his power, and two Explorers were nowhere close to being able to take care of him. If that were the case, then who could be behind this attempt?
Lu Yin had forgotten one crucial point. The rebellious powers contesting the Great Yu Empire may be afraid of the Lockbreaker Society and the Ten Arbiters Council, but they were even more afraid of imminent death.
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