Star Odyssey

Chapter 1993

Han Lao and Lu Jing were left at a loss. Celestial Frost Sect? They had never heard of it.

On the other hand, Wen Zizai's expression changed drastically. He knew that the Celestial Frost Sect had once ruled Daynight Flowzone, and it had also been one of the top powers in the Fifth Mainland during the Daosource Sect era. While the patriarch did not know much about the sect, he had access to many of the Wen family’s ancient records.

"Are you sure it was the Celestial Frost Sect?" Wen Zizai asked solemnly.

Wen Zhaocheng nodded. "Absolutely. Those three words kept repeating over and over in my head."

"Patriarch, what is this Celestial Frost Sect?" Lu Jing was quite curious.

Wen Zizai did not explain anything, and instead asked the two other men to leave. Wen Zhaocheng was completely under the control of the poison, and so he was not acting of his own free will. The young man who had poisoned Wen Zhaocheng was also dead, so Wen Zizai needed to look into exactly what had happened to Wen Zhaocheng.

As soon as he was alone again, Wen Zizai called the Lost Radiance Academy’s Dean Han.

"The Celestial Frost Sect?" Dean Han was stunned. "Didn’t that sect disappear long ago? How could it have returned?"

Wen Zizai answered quietly, "They didn't disappear, but went elsewhere. They went to that place that Lu Yin mentioned before."

Dean Han said, "I know that, but since they’re in that place, why have they suddenly popped back up here? How could that young man have been a Celestial Frost Sect disciple? Why bother trying to control Wen Zhaocheng?"

"That’s what I don't understand, either. It’s possible that the young man stumbled upon some sort of inheritance from the Celestial Frost Sect, but that’s quite far-fetched. Also, there was no way for him to survive his mission. He was carrying out someone’s orders, and the most likely culprit is the Celestial Frost Sect."

"Could Lu Yin be behind this?"

"That’s unlikely. There’s no reason for him to frame the Celestial Frost Sect since they don’t even have a presence here in the Fifth Mainland."

The two men fell silent for a bit. "Regardless, I need to examine my Wen family to find out exactly what Wen Zhaocheng did while he was being controlled. All we can do about that mention of the Celestial Frost Sect is lock it down."

"That's all we can do about it. Who would try to frame the Celestial Frost Sect since they don’t even exist here in the Fifth Mainland?"

Elsewhere, Wen Zhaocheng had returned to his own home, though Han Lao and Lu Jing kept an eye on the young man at all times.

Wen Zhaocheng was nervous. Had he been controlled? What had happened? If he were just a normal member of the Wen family, he would not be concerned in the slightest, as he would not be capable of doing almost anything to the Wen family no matter what he tried. However, though he was not an elder, Wen Zhaocheng did have a unique identity: he was a traitor to humanity loyal to the Technocracy, and he was terrified that he might get found out by the Wen family.

What had gone wrong?

...

In the Cosmic Sea, in a place far away from the Abyss of the Sea, there was a group of people sailing across the water.

"Miss Xi Shuang, the weather here in the Cosmic Sea is chaotic and can change without warning! Please move into the cabin," someone called out.

Xi Shuang was calmly standing on the deck of the ship, staring out at the calm sea. She was occasionally surprised by bizarre fish she watched swim by. “Stop worrying. I can take care of myself."

There was a squad from the Expeditionary Army on the deck of the ship, as well as the young men who had accompanied Xi Shuang to Skyraiser City when she had run into Lu Yin. These youths had been ordered by their families to stay with Xi Shuang wherever she went. If any of them could manage to win the girl over, it would be a massive benefit to their family.

The Fifth Mainland did not have many Envoys, so gaining a connection to an Envoy, even through marriage, would elevate a family to a higher status.

Xi Shuang had long since become accustomed to being surrounded by such a group, but when she looked at her hangers-on, all she could think of was Lu Yin. He had been so commanding, and he had sent all of these men running with just a single look. None of them had been able to summon the courage to speak back against Lu Yin, and even Xi Shuang’s grandfather was intimidated by Lu Yin. The young woman still felt a bit lost by such thoughts.

Suddenly, the void twisted, and a cold-eyed woman stepped out. She looked straight at Xi Shuang. "Come with me."

The woman clapped her hands, which pushed back everyone around Xi Shuang who had moved to protect the girl. "My Wang family’s Four Arts are not something you can fight back against."

The woman then reached out to grab Xi Shuang.

Xi Shuang's face grew pale, but just as the woman was about to capture the girl, the void was torn open again, this time in front of the woman, and a sharp blade slashed out. The woman was no weakling, but she was still just a Hunter. The old man who had suddenly appeared managed to stab the woman, and she fell into the sea.

The old man who had just appeared stared down at the woman. "How dare you attack Miss Xi Shuang! Who are you?"

The woman held her wounded shoulder. Blood was spilling into the sea as she glared up at the old man. "Tell Xi Gu to follow my Wang family's orders! We can make him a three-tribulation Envoy and allow him to rule this Forsaken Land as its master!"

The old man felt completely confused. "Who the hell are you?"

The woman turned around and fled.

The old man wanted to stop the woman from escaping, but she pulled something out and vanished into the true universe, which badly startled the old man.

He quickly called Xi Gu to give a report.

Xi Gu was furious at the news. "Why didn't you capture her?"

The old man remained respectful. "I wasn’t able to. She managed to break into the true universe and escape."

Xi Gu's expression instantly changed. "She was an Envoy? No, you wouldn’t be able to injure any Envoy."

The old man repeated the woman's message, but Xi Gu was also confused. "The Wang family? They can make me a three-tribulation Envoy? Which Wang family?"

...

Similar episodes struck more than just the Wen family and Xi Shuang, as many people throughout the Innerverse, Outerverse, Cosmic Sea, and even the Neoverse were contacted by the four ruling powers. However, none of the events was serious, so no real waves were made despite the numerous incidents.

Most powers in the Fifth Mainland were completely ignorant of the four ruling powers’ existence, as well as the truth of why the primeval surnames were universally reviled. After all, the primeval surnames were no longer based in the Fifth Mainland, so there was no real way to target them or act against them within the Fifth Mainland.

Wei Rong was the puppeteer behind all of these events.

Lu Yin had publicly created a shining reputation for himself in the Fifth Mainland, but in secret, he had ordered people to incite conflicts between the Perennial World and the Fifth Mainland.

There was nothing to show for these efforts yet, but once the Perennial World arrived in full force to intimidate the Fifth Mainland into giving them Lu Yin, everything would come together and it would be impossible for anyone to unravel the truth of these various little incidents. This would permanently color all impressions people had of the Perennial World.

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Lu Yin had already done everything he could think of to unite the Fifth Mainland to fight against the Perennial World. Wang Wen, Wei Rong, and others had also worked their hardest to come up with various ploys to use as well. It was impossible to predict how everything would turn out.

At the moment, Lu Yin was just waiting for the Perennial World to emerge from the Technocracy and confront the Hall of Honor.

…

One particular day, Lu Yin suddenly received a report that one of the black crystals he had been searching for had been quietly found, and it was the size of a planet like the others had been.

No one knew if there were more of these black crystals elsewhere in the universe.

The Hall of Honor and the Great Eastern Alliance had never stopped searching for the black crystals, but they had not been able to find any traces for a long time. It was easy to see just how secretive the Neohuman Alliance had been to cover up all traces of the black crystals.

In fact, only a coincidence had led to them discovering the black crystal this time, though it was also rather inevitable.

There was a small flowzone in the Innerverse that the natives referred to as just Yan, but which everyone referred to as Chroma Flowzone. It was in the easternmost region of the Innerverse, close to the section of the Astral River that separated the Human Domain from the Astral Beast Domain. There was a certain place within this small flowzone that no one had visited for hundreds of thousands of years.

The flowzone was controlled by the Yan family, and they had always been the dominant power in Chroma Flowzone.

The person who had stumbled upon the recently discovered black crystal was the bastard son of the Yan patriarch who had been born from the patriarch’s maid. Yan Xiao had always been bullied, and had finally run away after reaching his limits, and he had accidentally joined the Great Eastern Alliance.

Each large family would have their own rules and internal factions. Yan Xiao was the child of the family’s patriarch and a mere maid, which had caused him to be hated and bullied from childhood. This was not something unique to the Yan family, but was true of countless families throughout the entire universe. No one cared about the son of a maid.

After reaching adulthood, Yan Xiao had no longer been able to endure, and he had run away from his family after his mother had died. Due to his fear, he had fled all the way to the Outerverse, and after cultivating for a hundred years, he had become an Explorer. He had eventually become the number three in the Allied Forces’ Seventh Division, answering only to the commander, Duane Daynight, and the deputy commander.

Yan Xiao had been in high spirits as he had led the Seventh Division into Chroma Flowzone, eager to get revenge on those who had oppressed him. Yan Xiao had immediately gone after the family’s patriarch and taken the position of the family’s heir.

After becoming the heir, Yan Xiao had gained access to the Yan family’s income sources, as well as some of their secrets. The secrets of a family like the Yan family held no value to the Great Eastern Alliance, as they were nothing important, yet Yan Xiao found one bit of information that made him incredibly excited: the location of a black crystal.

He had never dreamed that his Yan family would know where a black crystal was hidden. This information came from records from the family’s ancestors.

The black crystal was in the Astral River that separated the Human Domain from the Astral Beast Domain. It was held in place by massive metal chains that extended into the Innerverse from the planet-sized crystal.

The place where the chain lay in the Innerverse was the sole forbidden region in Chroma Flowzone. Anyone who entered that region died.

Yan Xiao had no idea how his ancestor had managed to see such a thing, but he sent a report to Wang Wen as soon as he found the family record, and Wang Wen passed the information on to Lu Yin.

Upon seeing the report, Lu Yin immediately stood up and looked towards the Innerverse. "Second Nightking, take me to Chroma Flowzone."

The Great Eastern Alliance had extended its influence everywhere. They had first stopped the Astral Beast Domain from invading the Outerverse, and then built the Tower of the Fifth. At this moment, they had managed to locate another black crystal.

Many cultivators in the universe hated the large organizations and believed that so long as they climbed to the peak they would be able to erase everything. After all, an expert with a power level of a million, or even a single Envoy, could determine the outcome of a major interstellar war.

However, power was not only determined by power level, but also by influence.

Lu Yin would never have been able to locate this black crystal without the Great Eastern Alliance. Not even the Hall of Honor had been able to find it. This was the importance of influence.

Naturally, Lu Yin still needed to verify the report and investigate it.

Yan Xiao remained in Chroma Flowzone, and was waiting for Lu Yin to arrive.

If the Innerverse was pictured as a city, then Chroma Flowzone would be the neighborhood closest to the city walls that were furthest from the gate to the city. It was a place no one ever visited.

The Yan family’s strength was not on par with the rest of the Innerverse at all, and they were greatly inferior to Northline Flowzone. Lu Yin had never before considered visiting this tiny flowzone.

It was not long before Lu Yin arrived at the location where he had agreed to meet with Yan Xiao.

Yan Xiao was a middle-aged man with a stoic face. He stood alone in space while maintaining a very respectful attitude.

The Second Nightking escorted Lu Yin right over to the waiting man.

"You’re Yan Xiao?" Lu Yin said.

Yan Xiao bowed as soon as he saw Lu Yin. Fanaticism and reverence could be seen in the man’s eyes. "Yan Xiao of the Allied Forces’ Seventh Division greets the alliance leader!"

Lu Yin nodded. "Lead the way."

"Yes, Alliance Leader." Yan Xiao was very respectful as he led Lu Yin through the flowzone. Chroma Flowzone was quite small, and it did not take them long to reach the forbidden zone.

Lu Yin stared off into the distance, but all he could see was a dark region of space that looked no different than anywhere else. Far off, he was able to see the massive Astral River that marked the border of the Human Domain. So long as he crossed it, he would be in the Astral Beast Domain.