Star Odyssey

Chapter 1448: Mass Upgrade

Lu Yin stared at the power vessel that looked like an aquatic plant. He had taken this from Xia Taili, and he had been quite impressed by its strength and utility. After all, he had been bold enough to take advantage of its protection.

This was the one. Lu Yin placed the power vessel on the upper light screen and then quickly threw out a great deal of star essence.

There was also the knife that he had taken from Wang Su, the puppet from Xia Shenfei, the Karmic Flame, and the froststone. Anything and everything that could be Enhanced was repeatedly upgraded. Still, some, like the froststone, could be Enhanced without limit, and he only upgraded those peculiar items a few times. He would continue in the future if he had the opportunity. After all, he was in no rush.

Lu Yin used up all of the star essence that he had picked up from the Junior Progenitor Planet to Enhance his items, which was a tremendous expenditure. Still, the expenditure had allowed Lu Yin to become armed to the teeth at the cost of nearly two billion star essence. This outrageous sum would shock anyone, and even wealthy powers like the four ruling powers could not wantonly spend their resources in this manner.

Lu Yin quietly estimated that he had most likely used more of the Junior Progenitor Planet's resources than all four of the Junior Progenitors combined. No, he had probably used more resources than all of the people who trained on the planets combined, which he found very impressive.

Although the amount of money that he had just used left Lu Yin feeling slightly dizzy, he continued to roll his die.

***

Half a day later, on a mountain in a certain region of the Middle Realm slightly to the south of the center and close to the Mother Tree's trunk was the place where Qing Chen resided and cultivated.

The little old man had delivered a report regarding Ren Qing's interrogation to Qing Chen, and it made Qing Chen grow serious. "Send Cai Shu to me."

Before long, an elegant-looking, middle-aged man approached Qing Chen and slowly bowed. "Master."

This man was Cai Shu, Qing Chen's eldest disciple. He was also the person who oversaw the administration of Qing Chen Mountain and the Middle Realm's Nine Gates in Qing Chen's stead. In other words, he was the supervisor's right hand.

Qing Chen tossed over the report from the interrogation.

Cai Shu looked it over with clear surprise. "So he still had additional information to share. This disciple thought that he had already given up everything."

Qing Chen replied, "This information has nothing to do with him. Rather, he most likely was not able to endure the interrogation any longer, so he tried to remember anything helpful. What are your plans regarding this?"

Cai Shu grew solemn. "The Guan brothers' records are very important. Those monsters have long since used various identities to hide among us humans. Since someone was able to recruit the Guan brothers as Redbacks, their recruiter must have a very high status. This goes for both sides; this individual must have a high status among both us humans as well as those monsters."

Qing Chen nodded, but then he frowned. "There is something very strange about this situation. Ren Qing clearly gave us this information, but then he seemed to regret saying it and even refused to admit that the information ever came from him."

Cai Shu also felt puzzled. "Why would he do that? He's already shared everything he knows, so why would he refuse to tell us this information?"

"I don't know. It's certainly a mystery. Regardless, we can't let him die, though we also need to continue interrogating him. What are your thoughts about these records?" Qing Chen asked.

Cai Shu replied, "Long Qi was the one who exposed the Guan brothers as Redbacks, and he was also the one who uncovered the evidence proving his accusation. We could ask him to help us with this."

Qing Chen shook his head. "Ren Qing said that the records were stored in the Guan brothers' secret base. I checked that place myself, and there's no way Long Qi could have accessed that place."

"Master, since Ren Qing mentioned the records but nothing was found in the Guan brothers' hidden location within the Huaiyuan Gate, then does that mean that those records were destroyed long ago? After all, Ren Qing never saw them," Cai Shu guessed.

Qing Chen nodded helplessly. "That's certainly possible. If that's the case, then this information is worthless."

"There's another possibility," Cai Shu suddenly said, his eyes flashing. "The evidence that Long Qi used to back his claim that the Guan brothers were Redbacks was something that he took from Guan Yun's hiding place. Since Guan Yun secretly hid one piece of evidence, then is it possible that it wasn't just that? Could he have also hidden those records?"

Qing Chen's eyes snapped wide open. "Contact the White Dragon Clan right now. I, Qing Chen, as Supervisor of Humility's Gate's nine Middle Realm Gates, order Long Qi to come to Qing Chen Mountain in order to assist with this investigation."

"Understood."

***

On the White Dragon Clan's Junior Progenitor Planet, Lu Yin lowered his hand. He had rolled his die two more times after Enhancing everything in his cosmic ring, but he had failed to roll Possession both times. He had even prayed before the rolls, but it had not helped. Still, he did not feel frustrated. During this cultivation session, he had already achieved his goal, and right now, he would only use Possession to dredge up further information regarding the Lu family, so this string of failures was acceptable.

When he thought of the Lu family, Lu Yin's heart grew heavy.

The four ruling powers had exiled the Lu family in order to usurp their position, which meant that Lu Yin's enemies were the four strongest powers in the entire Perennial World. Each and every one of them had powerful Progenitors, which was terrifying. Any one of the four could casually destroy the Fifth Mainland.

Lu Yin could still hear echoes of Bai Shaohong's words from right before his death. One sentence in particular had bothered Lu Yin: 'So what if you amass the entire Forsaken Land to attack this universe? You can't even go up against the Celestial Frost Sect alone!'

Bai Shaohong's confidence had been based on the Celestial Frost Sect's Progenitors, as well as the powerhouses who were second only to the Progenitors.

However, the Fifth Mainland was not a simple place either. The Forsaken Land that the Perennial World ignored had the inheritances of Progenitor Chen, Progenitor Hui, the Rune Progenitor, as well as those of the first four mainlands. Lu Yin did not believe that the Fifth Mainland could not stand up to the Celestial Frost Sect with those hidden inheritances, so he wanted to at least try.

He had already become the master of the Outerverse, so he might as well become the master of the entire Fifth Mainland.

As this thought ran through Lu Yin's mind, he tapped his die for the third time. It slowly spun before eventually stopping. Six pips. Lu Yin was completely shocked. This was too unexpected. He had actually managed to roll Possession two times out of his five rolls.

His consciousness returned to that dark space. Since Lu Yin had just Possessed Ren Qing's body earlier, he did not have much star essence remaining. Thus, Lu Yin immediately merged with the closest orb of light. It was not exceptionally bright, but it also was not that dim.

Lu Yin opened his eyes, only to see the snow-white neck of a girl whose back was facing him. He was also able to see what the young woman was doing.

Yu Chen? Lu Yin was stunned. Isn't she Yu Chen?

Countless memories poured into Lu Yin's mind, and his face twitched.

Yu Chen turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Lu Yin replied as he slowly bowed to her.

Yu Chen did not think much of the matter, and she returned to her current task. This was why she had missed the moment when the eyes of the old man behind her flickered with confusion, bewilderment, excitement, worry, and every other sort of emotion.

By the time Yu Chen turned around again, the old man was back to normal, as Lu Yin's consciousness had already returned to his own body. After all, he was currently very short on star essence.

At the moment, Yu Chen was on the Celestial Frost Sect's Junior Progenitor Planet, which was not far from the White Dragon Clan's Junior Progenitor Planet. The close range of the Possession was enough to demonstrate just how few star essence Lu Yin had left.

Lu Yin's eyes opened wide. There was an incredible amount of worry welling from deep within his eyes. The old man that he had Possessed was Yu Chen's guardian. This man had protected her since childhood, and he was the person that she trusted most. The information that Lu Yin had gleaned from the old man's memories was certainly enough to thrill him, but a certain person had also appeared within those memories: Liu Shaoge.

Lu Yin had never considered that he might run into Liu Shaoge in the Perennial World, but that person had somehow appeared close to Yu Chen. This was unbelievable. How had Liu Shaoge managed to get to the Perennial World? How had he joined the Celestial Frost Sect?

Had he also gone through Jupiter? This was the only reasonable explanation, but if Liu Shaoge had also entered via Jupiter, then another question naturally came up: had his journey been made intentionally, or by accident? If it had been an accident, then everything was fine, but if it had been intentional, then that changed everything. That meant that Liu Shaoge had previously known about the Perennial World, or at least about the Primeval Surnames Alliance as well as the existence of the Hidden Earth Society.

If Liu Shaoge knew about the Perennial World, then what about Bai Qian? What about the rest of the Hidden Earth Society?

Lu Yin frowned. Discovering Liu Shaoge's presence in this universe had completely disrupted Lu Yin's thoughts. He had nearly forgotten about Liu Shaoge, and his most recent impression was that the Daynight clan had sent an Enlighter to Earth to chase after Liu Shaoge. Clearly, Liu Shaoge had been improving this entire time, as he had managed to enter the Celestial Frost Sect.

Lu Yin was certain that Liu Shaoge had already seen Lu Yin's information, but he clearly had not mentioned anything to Yu Chen. Why?

Lu Yin could not see through Liu Shaoge's motivations.

According to Lu Yin's impression, Liu Shaoge was a despicable person who would do anything to achieve his own goals. In that sense, Liu Shaoge was actually quite similar to Lu Yin, but there was a crucial difference in that Liu Shaoge had no bottom line. Liu Shaoge had not yet exposed Lu Yin, but that did not mean that the same would be true in the future. It was possible that Liu Shaoge was simply waiting for the proper opportunity, one that would allow him to expose Lu Yin and ascend into the sky.

Of course, the most important detail was that if Liu Shaoge exposed Lu Yin, Liu Shaoge would also lose all of his protection.

The Perennial World was very antagonistic towards trespassers. Bai Shaohong had offered to vouch for Lu Yin's status, but Lu Yin had not trusted the Junior Progenitor. The moment Liu Shaoge exposed Lu Yin as a trespasser, all of Lu Yin's efforts would become worthless. It was not simply a case where trespassers could sell out their own people and their life would turn around, as otherwise some of the previous trespassers would have done so long ago.

There was no way that such a method would work. Liu Shaoge would not expose Lu Yin, and it was precisely for this reason. Unless, of course, Liu Shaoge could also return the moment that he exposed Lu Yin.

For the moment, Lu Yin set aside his concerns over Liu Shaoge's presence. Liu Shaoge had done everything he could just to enter the Celestial Frost Sect and get close to Yu Chen. It was impossible for him to sacrifice all of that effort just to take Lu Yin down.

Liu Shaoge assumed that he was watching Lu Yin from the dark, but unexpectedly, Lu Yin had preemptively discovered Liu Shaoge's presence. Now it was time to see who could outplay the other!

Suddenly, Lu Yin wanted to know what was happening in the Fifth Mainland and the Outerverse.

Although Unseen Light had shared some recent news, Lu Yin was still worried.

Lu Yin wondered if it was possible, given enough star essence, to use his die's Possession to send his consciousness back to the Fifth Mainland and Possess someone there. This possibility intrigued Lu Yin, so he jumped up and left the pool of dark magma. He deliberately avoided the middle-aged man as he collected another large amount of star essence. Although he did not have any more items to Enhance, Lu Yin could never have enough star essence. However, he could not hide this star essence in his cosmic ring, and it was already clear that there was a great deal of star essence missing from the Junior Progenitor Planet. Trying to hide the star essence would just draw the attention of the various powerhouses, so it was best to simply use the star essence while it was available.

Lu Yin could not hide his actions from the middle-aged man. The man frowned, but he did not say anything. As he had already mentioned, all of the resources on the Junior Progenitor Planet had trackers on them, so nothing could be freely taken away.

Although the middle-aged man knew this, it was still rather distressing to see Lu Yin throw so much star essence into the dark magma, and the man could not stop himself from speaking up once more. "You can't take any resources away from this place, and your cosmic ring can't even hold that much."

Lu Yin gave the man a polite smile and then continued on his way.

The man frowned and snorted derisively before falling silent. Although he had decided to follow Junior Progenitor Long Tian, this man was not originally from the White Dragon Clan. Even if Lu Yin's status within the clan had fallen due to Long Xi's disappearance, Long Qi was still a member of the White Dragon Clan himself. The man knew that he could not touch even a branch member of the White Dragon Clan, which forced him to just ignore the matter. Besides, Long Qi would definitely be punished once the Junior Progenitor returned.