Star Odyssey

Chapter 1907: Nan Yuan's Removal

After Herb Immortal posed his question, Lu Yin stared blankly at the man and blinked several times before finally managing to form a response. "Senior, what are you asking?"

Herb Immortal smiled. "After that old man fought off Yao Di in the Primal Zone, he mentioned that he wanted to introduce Lan Xian to a talented young man. I was merely assuming he was referring to you, Alliance Leader Lu. That's why I wanted to ask if you truly do have any interest in Lan Xian?"

Lu Yin was completely speechless. Just what exactly had Kui Luo said while he had been in the Primal Zone? Herb Immortal had heard such a thing, which meant that Lan Xian must have heard as well. Given Kui Luo's obnoxiously big mouth, it was possible that even the Sixth Mainland's foot soldiers had heard about this and that the matter would soon spread across the entire Fifth Mainland. Lu Yin simply prayed nothing would reach Ming Yan's ears.

Lu Yin had only wanted to convince Kui Luo to enter the Primal Zone. How could Lu Yin actually harbor any feelings for Lan Xian? She was one of his enemies and she wanted him dead!

"Senior, you must have misunderstood. There's no way that old man was referring to me," Lu Yin quickly denied the allegations.

Herb Immortal looked amused. "I don't think it's a bad thing. From the time she first started cultivating, Lan Xian has never had a partner. If you like her, you can certainly try to win her over. Age isn't any big deal for cultivators. What do you think?"

Just as Lu Yin was about to shoot the offer down, Kui Luo appeared and stared at Herb Immortal with eyes that were overflowing with excitement. "She's never had a partner? Her body's untainted?"

Herb Immortal had already expected Kui Luo to make an appearance. "Of course. Her body is absolutely pure, I can assure you of that."

Kui Luo gazed at Herb Immortal with open admiration. "You're pretty good. Come, tell me more about that baby-doll. After all, this is a big deal. I need to learn more about her: are her elders still alive? What's her family background? Don't worry about it, as family background doesn't actually matter too much, but I do need to know how many brothers and sisters she has."

"As an elder, it's perfectly normal to worry about such things. I know a bit about Lan Xian's situation, so I can share that with you. However, you can't mention anything to Lan Xian about this coming from me," Herb Immortal said.

"Of course! Do I look like someone who would do such a thing?"

"Of course not, sir."

"Hahahaha, you have good eyes! You and I are really hitting it off."

"Why don't we discuss this over some wine?"

"Lead the way."

Lu Yin opened his mouth to call the two men back, but the words remained stuck in his throat. He could not bring himself to tell the two that he had completely feigned all interest in Lan Xian, as how would he be able to get Kui Luo to take any action in the future? However, Lu Yin was similarly confused by Herb Immortal's motivation. The old man seemed to care a great deal about playing matchmaker to Lu Yin and Lan Xian. However, Lan Xian was one of the Sixth Mainland's Semi-Progenitors, so how could the old man be comfortable betraying his own people?

Herb Immortal had always been someone unconcerned with worldly affairs, and he had maintained his low profile attitude even after becoming a Semi-Progenitor. Even Qing Hua, another of the Four Empyreans, had been uncertain as to Herb Immortal's exact level of strength, let alone other people. Whenever the Daosource Sect had responded to major events, Herb Immortal had remained almost completely hands off and had preferred to allow others to handle such matters. However, at this moment, he was deliberately being proactive in this matter, and his actions had destroyed the impressions Lu Yin had of the old man.

…

From the first moment that the Great Eastern Alliance had been forced to take action to defend the eastern weaves, everything had proceeded according to Lu Yin's plans, despite the inherent risks that had been involved. He had also underestimated the Astral Beast Domain and overestimated the Sixth Mainland, but fortunately, the results remained unchanged.

For the next 10,000 years, the Outerverse's eastern weaves would remain under Lu Yin's control. In order for the Sixth Mainland to take the region back, the only option was war. However, if a war broke out, Lu Yin would not need to fight alone, as the entire Fifth Mainland would become involved.

This was all from the same line of reasoning as how after the Hall of Honor had reached an agreement with the Sixth Mainland to hand over control of the Outerverse, the Great Eastern Alliance would have needed to go to war if they had insisted on taking back the Outerverse. The Fifth Mainland as a whole would never have stepped up to bear the burden of participating in such a war.

The results of the Astral Beast Domain's invasion were the best that could have been hoped for. The Sixth Mainland had not only driven the invading astral beasts out, but had also learned of the secret route through the Astral Wilderness, which provided them with the knowledge that such a path might be used in the future. On top of that, humans had taken control of the Primal Zone, which meant that Ironblood Weave was no longer the border warfront. The battle lines had been shifted into the Primal Zone.

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These were not only the best results for the Sixth Mainland, but also for Lu Yin.

Since the Sixth Mainland had taken up the task of protecting the border to the north of the Great Eastern Alliance, the alliance no longer needed to maintain their forces there. Lu Yin was able to instead return his attention to the Innerverse and beyond.

"While this war was being fought in the Outerverse, the Hall of Honor conducted a massive purge throughout the entire Fifth Mainland. Most of the Neohuman Alliance's strongholds were wiped out, and more than a thousand organizations that had been cooperating with the Neohuman Alliance in the Innerverse were purged. All of them were from the minor flowzones..."

Lu Yin stared up at the stars as he listened to Huan Sha's report. Most of the Neohuman Alliance's influence in the Fifth Mainland had been eliminated, though they still had some hidden bases. What left Lu Yin truly nervous was Aeternus Nation. Just where could it be located?

"As for the Starfall Sea, the Hall of Honor has drafted a billion cultivators, a million warships, and fifteen Envoys from the Innerverse, Cosmic Sea, and the Neoverse to hold the defensive line. The Sixth Mainland's Daosource Sect is also sending an additional 200 million cultivators, 300,000 warships, and twenty-two Envoys," Huan Sha continued.

Lu Yin was caught off guard. "A billion cultivators? A million warships?"

This far surpassed anything the Great Eastern Alliance could mobilize. The Hall of Honor was showing its true strength. Once they drafted cultivators from the entire Human Domain, they were able to summon a truly massive army.

At the moment, the Great Eastern Alliance was able to gather hundreds of millions of cultivators to join a war effort, if they were really pressed to do so. The Allied Forces' ten Divisions also amounted to similar numbers, and these were forces that did not consist of weaklings and cannon fodder. However, a million warships was something that was still far out of Lu Yin's reach.

All the Great Eastern Alliance's warships added together totaled less than 30,000, yet the Hall of Honor had managed to requisition far more than the alliance could even touch. The Hall of Honor had not requisitioned every last warship in the entire Innerverse, right?

"Your Highness, 5,000 of the Allied Forces's warships are among those that have been requisitioned," Huan Sha stated. "Additionally, transport ships in the amount of 200,000 have been requisitioned..."

Unsurprisingly, the Great Eastern Alliance had been included in the draft notice, but due to their war efforts in the Outerverse, only a few people had been conscripted, none of whom were cultivators.

The number of draftees recruited from the Innerverse had exceeded everyone's expectations.

Together, the Hall of Honor and the Daosource Sect had mobilized more than a billion cultivators and thirty-seven Envoys. All of these people were being sent to the Starfall Sea just to defend against a potential invasion.

Furthermore, the conscriptions were not over, as both the Daosource Sect and the Hall of Honor were continuing to search for ways to increase their manpower in the Starfall Sea.

If the Progenitor of Combat and the Progenitor of Bloodlines failed in the Starfall Sea and Aeternus initiated an invasion, no one would be able to escape. If it could help them avoid the worst-case scenario, both the Hall of Honor and the Daosource Sect would gladly exhaust all their resources.

In particular, the Daosource Sect had very recently experienced the despair of having the Sixth Mainland overrun and destroyed, and they had no intention to experience such a loss again. They no longer had any path to escape. If they were defeated again, all of their people would either die or end up as slaves.

Beep beep beep

Lu Yin's gadget started beeping, so he had Huan Sha to pause her report after glancing down and seeing that Xu Qing was calling.

"Congratulations, Alliance Leader Lu. You've finally gained control of the eastern weaves," Xu Qing said. He sounded calm, and no emotions could be heard in his voice.

Lu Yin smiled as he answered, "Commander Xu Qing, you're being too polite. This is merely a coincidence."

"Is that true? Or was everything planned by you from the beginning?" Xu Qing countered.

"Of course not. Why would you give me so much credit, Commander? No one could have predicted this outcome. I, Lu Yin, do best when taking things as they come. I have to thank you for your mercy, as without it I wouldn't be alive right now," Lu Yin replied.

"If no Semi-Progenitor had appeared to stop Yao Di, I would believe you. However, the fact that you managed to bring out such a powerful Semi-Progenitor indicates that you never would have suffered any defeat from the very beginning. I've learned an important lesson from you, Alliance Leader Lu. However, there is one thing I need to remind you of: we will never be the true enemy of you humans." Xu Qing then immediately hung up.

Lu Yin grimaced. Of course, this was something that Lu Yin was already aware of. While the astral beasts could conduct massive slaughters, and humanity could be defeated, they could not be conquered by the Astral Beast Domain. This was a key reason as to why Aeternus remained humanity's greatest enemy.

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However, why had Xu Qing specifically called to mention such a thing?

Lu Yin fell into deep thought.

Huan Sha was in no hurry to continue her report.

Soon, Lu Yin's gadget beeped again, but this time to give a summary of an overseers' meeting. As Lu Yin read the summary, his eyes grew cold. Nan Yuan had proposed to conscript the Great Eastern Alliance's cultivators to stand guard at the Starfall Sea. Both the alliance's ordinary cultivators and its Envoys fell within this conscription. Furthermore, the Envoys from all of the Innerverse's eight great flowzones would be drafted as well.

If this proposal passed, Lu Yin would retain control of less than a third of his powerhouses.

Also, chances were very high that this proposal would be passed.

While Lu Yin did control the overseers' council, there were certain proposals that simply could not be vetoed, and this was one of them.

It was not wrong to conscript experts to protect against an invasion from the Starfall Sea, so how could Lu Yin refuse? Even if he tried to do so, at least half of his forces would be forced to go to Starfall Sea, unless someone specifically said otherwise.

Nan Yuan had been wanting to cull the Great Eastern Alliance's experts for quite some time, and he had deliberately waited for the war in the Outerverse to end before bringing up his proposal. He had done so deliberately in an attempt to aggravate Lu Yin.

It was undeniable that the man had succeeded. Lu Yin could not veto this proposal, though he could delay it. After all, the Great Eastern Alliance had just fought one war, and they needed to recover from their losses.

He called Wei Rong.

"Your Highness?"

"Eliminate Nan Yuan." There were only three words spoken before the call ended.

Nan Yuan was like a bug that had been irritating Lu Yin's skin for a long time already, and he was done with putting up with the annoyance.

After the call ended so suddenly, Wei Rong was momentarily surprised, but he soon chuckled. It seemed that Nan Yuan had finally gone too far. In that case, it was time to get rid of him.

There were certain people who were able to piece together seemingly ordinary information to forge an intangible weapon. Wei Rong was one of them.

In the Neoverse's Black Street, Ming Yu received a call that surprised her. After considering what she heard, she quickly reported the matter to Ming Yan.

"He asked you to do this? Then just do it," Ming Yan replied.

Ming Yu hesitated. "Should we report this to the Alliance Leader?"

Ming Yan shook her head. "There's no need. This isn't a big deal."

Ming Yu was skeptical of that. How could anything related to overseers not be a big deal? However, it seemed that from the Alliance Leader's position, this was not anything to be overly concerned about. Lu Yin was able to control the overseers to some degree, and he already wielded an impressive amount of influence.

It was not long before a vessel left Black Street on its way to the Honor Zone. There was a child on the vessel, and he stared out at the starry sky in confusion. There was an old woman accompanying the child. "Don't worry, Bo. You'll soon be reunited with your grandfather."

The child was Bo; San Shang's grandson.

However, Bo's mood did not improve after hearing the old woman's words. Was it even possible for him to be reunited with his grandpa? Five years had already passed since he had started living on Black Street, and he had matured during that time. He was no longer naive enough to believe others would help him out of the goodness of their hearts.

Bo was well aware that he was nothing more than a tool. Whoever got their hands on him would be able to control his grandfather, who was one of the Hall of Honor's overseers. Bo was leaving Black Street, but where would he end up next? The child glanced at the old woman's reflection in a mirror and was overcome by a wave of sadness. He did not believe a word the old woman said.