Star Odyssey

Chapter 2206: Entrust

"Haha, it's rare for someone to dare to speak about a Semi-Progenitor like that, hahahaha." Headmaster Wen laughed happily.

Lu Yin was unconcerned. "I've lived through many things, the evidence of which can be seen. What’s the difference between ordinary people and Semi-Progenitors? Or even Progenitors? In the end, we’re all human, and all of us worry about life and death. This fear makes us hesitant when forced to face those feelings. Since we’re human, the worst that can happen is merely death. So, why should I be afraid?"

Headmaster Wen looked at "Yu Hao" with open admiration. "Only those who have faced death multiple times can have such insights. My presence was unnecessary just now. As long as you showed no fear, he would not do anything to you at all. It’s said that Grandmaster Gu Yan is not easy to fool."

Lu Yin did not like lying to Headmaster Wen, but he had not done so deliberately. When speaking with Xia Ziheng, Lu Yin had never actually claimed Gu Yan was his master; instead, he had gone off of what others had said. People were too confident in their beliefs. They saw themselves as clever and insightful in analyzing the situation, clueless to the fact that they had been deceived by their own cleverness.

Of course, Lu Yin was not including Headmaster Wen in his thoughts. This old man had no desire to harm Lu Yin, and at worst, he had simply been mistaken in his guess.

"After the Lu family disappeared, the four ruling powers grew more and more overbearing in their behavior. Decades ago, that man would have never dared to try to intimidate me inside Virtue Archives, but that has changed. If the agreement between you and Xia Ziheng hasn’t been completed, then it would be best for you to not visit Shenwu's Sky. It will be too dangerous," Headmaster Wen warned Lu Yin again before allowing the young man to return to his own residence. Not once was Yu Hao mentioned between the two men.

There were certain matters that Headmaster Wen simply did not care about, though he did want to protect certain people. Even then, he could only do so much, and if Lu Yin left Virtue Archives, the headmaster would be helpless.

After Lu Yin returned to his residence, he happened to see Mr. Tang, and he greeted the man.

The flames of the Dark Undying Bird filled the sky, leaving it dark and illuminated with just a few stars.

Lu Yin sat at a stone table. He dipped his fingers in some water, and then he used the water to write a few words on the table: Star Alliance, Crimson Garden, Nine Clones, Food Paradise, Restriction, and a few more. These matters could shake the entire Perennial World, and they were all matters that Lu Yin needed to deal with.

How could he obtain the restriction method that was used the control the members of Star Alliance? How could he rescue the people in Crimson Garden? How could he learn the Nine Clones Secret Technique?

Every single task that Lu Yin had assigned himself would be extremely difficult for even Semi-Progenitors to accomplish, and yet Lu Yin wanted to complete them all before his identity as Yu Hao was exposed as fake.

But at this moment, Lu Yin’s mind was a mess.

He unconsciously stretched his hand out once more, and this time, he wrote Hidden Earth Society. After a bit more thought, he also wrote the Dealcut Association and Realmless.

Wait, Realmless?

Lu Yin’s head snapped up. If others could use Realmless to target him, then why could he not use Realmless to go after his own targets?

Realmless had even attacked the sect master of the Celestial Frost Sect. As long as one could afford it, they were willing to do anything.

Lu Yin personally controlled the entire Fifth Mainland’s resources, so how could he be incapable of paying Realmless enough to do a job? Even if he currently lacked the means to pay them, he could always Enhance a treasure.

Yes, Realmless. Lu Yin stared at the name that he had written on the table and sank deep into thought.

In a room in his home, Lu Yin pulled out the mirror. Due to his worry that Progenitor Smoke would suddenly pop out to look around without warning, Lu Yin had kept the mirror stored in his cosmic ring whenever he was in Virtue Archives. However, he needed to do something right now, and he could not risk being observed by one of the academy’s Semi-Progenitors, even if the chances of that happening were very low.

After the mirror came out, Progenitor Smoke did not appear, so Lu Yin had no choice but to enter the pocket dimension himself. "Senior?"

Progenitor Smoke's voice carried from within the fog. "What's wrong?"

"Senior, could you come speak with me for a moment?" Lu Yin put on an ingratiating smile.

Progenitor Smoke was actually upset. "You come find me whenever you need something from me, but you leave the mirror in your cosmic ring whenever I’m unneeded. I’m not your babysitter!"

Lu Yin quickly tried to appease the woman, and he started spewing out all kinds of absurd flattery. Even then, it took him a long time to coax Progenitor Smoke out.

After emerging from the mirror, Progenitor Smoke glanced around. "No one’s watching you. Go ahead and do whatever you want."

She then went right back into the pocket dimension inside the mirror.

Lu Yin followed the woman. "Senior, there are three Semi-Progenitors here in Virtue Archives, and more Semi-Progenitors can pop up at any moment in the Perennial World. If you suddenly reveal yourself without knowing what’s happening outside the mirror, you’ll put this junior in a very difficult position."

"Without knowing what’s happening? Are you really talking about me?" Progenitor Smoke raised her voice.

Lu Yin quickly tried to calm the woman. "No, no! This junior spoke poorly. I’m not trying to say that you don’t know what’s happening. Rather, Senior Progenitor Smoke is the master of one of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, and even Progenitor Chen and Progenitor Ku looked up to you in the past. While Bai Wangyuan and Wang Fan are still here, they would still be respectful and refer to you as ‘Progenitor Smoke’ if they see you here."

"Hmph! I won't go wandering around," Progenitor Smoke said before completely ignoring Lu Yin.

Lu Yin heaved a sigh of relief, but he did not put the mirror back in his cosmic ring. He was worried that doing so would upset Progenitor Smoke, and she might not help him again in the future. It was worth it to take some risks with her.

Since he had already received confirmation that no one was watching him, Lu Yin stepped out into his residence’s courtyard, brought Zenith Mountain out, and jumped in.

He immediately went to speak with Yu Chen. "I want to get in touch with Realmless."

Practically everyone on Zenith Mountain kept to themselves, and Yu Chen was alone in a valley on the mountain. Lu Yin’s sudden appearance startled the woman, and she instantly became worried that he would do something to her.

"Realmless? Are you back in the Perennial World?" Yu Chen quickly grew excited.

Lu Yin was blunt. "I can't let you leave for now."

Yu Chen’s voice dropped low. "Realmless is the largest assassination and intelligence gathering organization in the Perennial World. They have members all over the place, so it’s not difficult to get in touch with them. What is difficult is getting in touch with someone from Realmless with a high enough status, but luckily, I have some of their contact information."

She then immediately shared the information with Lu Yin.

Lu Yin clearly understood what Realmless was in the Perennial World, as the group was happy to either conduct assassinations, or gather information. However, Realmless had a fuzzy relationship with the four ruling powers. When Lu Yin had been acting as Long Qi, he had claimed to have received his information from Realmless instead of Kui Luo as an excuse for how he had received so much information on Redbacks.

Supervisor Qing Chen had believed his explanation, which meant that Realmless was fully capable of uncovering the identities of Redbacks and traitors.

Since Realmless was so capable, then Lu Yin intended to let the four ruling powers experience it for themselves.

After putting Zenith Mountain back away, Lu Yin pulled out his communication crystal and tried to connect with the contact Yu Chen had shared. First, though, Lu Yin used the Mask of Death to alter his appearance.

Soon, a pair of dark, narrow eyes appeared on the display. "What do you need?"

"Are you a part of Realmless?" Lu Yin asked.

The eyes stared at Lu Yin. "If you can contact me, why act the fool?"

"I want to ask you to do a job. How do I pay?" Lu Yin asked. As he spoke, he felt a sense of deja vu. Right, this was similar to when he had communicated with Smoker long ago. That assassin had always demanded to be paid in natural treasures of sufficient quality. Lu Yin had used Smoker extensively, and eventually, the assassin had formally joined the Great Yu Empire.

"Identify the target first. Will you provide the necessary information, or do you need us to gather that for you?" a cold voice asked.

"The target is someone rather important and quite strong. I’m not sure if you’ll be willing to accept this job."

"Your concerns are irrelevant." It was clear that the person Lu Yin was speaking to did not care at all. Realmless’s claim to glory was that they had once attacked the sect master of the Celestial Frost Sect within his own sect. They had actually infiltrated the Celestial Frost Sect itself, which was absurd. The accomplishment fully warranted their instant fame.

Lu Yin's eyes grew cold. "The sect master of Shenwu's Sky, Xia Xing."

The cold eyes in the display went a bit wide as the person looked at Lu Yin with a bit of shock. They stared at Lu Yin intently for a moment, as though trying to get a read on him.

Lu Yin was unconcerned. He had changed his appearance with the Mask of Death, which was a technique that not even a Semi-Progenitor could see through, let alone someone interacting with him through a communication crystal. Realmless would never know the true identity of who was hiring them for this job, especially since Lu Yin was not using the communication crystal that he used as Yu Hao. Thus, he could not be traced even through that.

"Agreed," the cold voice replied, though it was no longer emotionless like before. Instead, there was a more dignified ring to the voice. "The payment will be a Progenitor’s item, while the initial deposit will be a Semi-Progenitor level treasure."

Lu Yin's eyes flashed. "What do you mean?"

"Make a deposit first. If the assassination is successful, then you will also pay the Progenitor’s item, while the deposit will be returned. If the job is a failure, your deposit will be retained, but further payment will not be required," the cold voice explained.

"What sort of Progenitor item?" Lu Yin asked.

"This is up to you, but you must provide a Progenitor item that we are willing to accept. If you require the attack to be carried out inside Shenwu’s Sky, then the payment will increase to three Progenitor items," the voice clarified.

Lu Yin thought for a while. While he had items from Progenitors, he would never be willing to give them to Realmless. One was the weird slipper, and the other was the God of Death’s left arm. Right, there was also the mysterious corpse, but it was impossible for Lu Yin to give any of those three treasures to Realmless. Besides, he did not actually want Realmless to kill Xia Xing, but simply to serve as a cover. After all, if Xia Xing died, how would Lu Yin get ahold of Shenwu’s Sky’s portion of the restriction used on the members of Star Alliance?

"You have ten more seconds. If you cannot offer a satisfactory Progenitor-level item, we will end negotiations."

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. "Would a tribulation crystal be acceptable?"

The cold eyes narrowed sharply. "You have a pillar of tribulation crystals?"

Lu Yin immediately pulled a pillar out. He had initially had two: one from the Forgotten Ruins in the Dominion Realm, and the other from Progenitor Long. Both had been acquired during his time as Long Qi, and while one of them had been given to Ming Yan, Lu Yin still had the other pillar.

The cold eyes grew contemplative for a moment as they stared at the pillar of tribulation crystals, and the person said nothing. Suddenly, something occurred to Lu Yin. "There are rumors that Realmless has ties to the four ruling powers, but it seems that you don’t have any connection to Xia Xing."

The cold voice replied, "Even if Xia Xing is part of Realmless, as long as payment is received, we will kill him."

This was a shocking bit of news.

"You have requested the life of Xia Xing, the sect master of Shenwu's Sky. Even if he is connected to Realmless, he must be attacked. This concerns the reputation of my Realmless."

Lu Yin was quite impressed. "That's good to hear. So? Will the pillar work as payment?"

"It’s agreeable. As for the Semi-Progenitor level item for the deposit, place it somewhere and provide us with the location. We will collect it, and after confirming it, we will start planning the attack on Xia Xing. There is no guarantee as to when the attack will happen, but follow the agreement. After all, you only have one pillar of tribulation crystals," the cold voice instructed.

Lu Yin said, "Xia Xing should be coming to the Middle Realm quite soon."

"We will make our own plans."

"I need him to be attacked while he’s in the Middle Realm, and I also need you to give me advance notice of when the attack will take place."

"That violates our rules."

"You can keep the deposit of the Semi-Progenitor item."

There was only silence for a moment. "Agreed."

After ending the call, Lu Yin searched through everything that he had. The only Semi-Progenitor level item that Lu Yin possessed was the needle-like weapon, but he was not willing to give that to Realmless. His only other option was Enhance.

Lu Yin was not willing to part with the Withered Bark in his possession, as he felt that there was something important regarding the power of time that Progenitor Ku had left in the power vessel. The Netherworld River could be given away, as long as he Enhanced it to the Semi-Progenitor level. After all, Lu Yin still had Progenitor Smoke.

The Netherworld River needed to be upgraded a bit, as it was still a step away from reaching the Semi-Progenitor level. Still, that last step would be quite expensive.

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