Star Odyssey

Chapter 1592: Transience

Just as the prince was about to leave, a figure appeared behind him. He and the others in his group were all startled, as they had not noticed when this person had arrived.

"Looks like Mr. Lu’s invited a few people." Liu Ye had shown up next to the people. He and Fei Hua had noticed the group when they had taken the Babybud, and they had reported their presence to Lu Yin, who had asked Liu Yu to bring the people over.

Liu Ye made his move, and the prince and the others were completely unable to resist. All they could do was watch as they were taken to the Greenlight Forest.

Some distance away, they saw the massive Babybud had shrunk down to only the size of a mountain range. Still, despite its diminished size, it still radiated a shockingly powerful aura.

Lu Yin was standing rather close to the Babybud, watching as Fei Hua muttered something. The prince and his entourage appeared behind Lu Yin.

Lu Yin turned around and observed the prince.

The prince grew embarrassed and after realizing that he had been discovered. “So the leader of the Great Eastern Alliance has returned? I had heard that you had disappeared, and my Divine Venom Dynasty had constantly worried over the safety of Alliance Leader Lu."

Lu Yin smiled. "Thank you. In that case, who might Your Highness be?"

"Prince of Divine Venom Dynasty, Qing Li."

Lu Yin respectfully greeted the man, "So you’re His Highness the prince. I’ve been rude. What might have brought Your Highness out to the border between Venom Flowzone and Fennel Flowzone?"

"The poison tide. My Royal Brother is worried about the safety of the many cultivators in Fennel Flowzone, and so I brought some antidotes with me to help people resist the poison."

Lu Yin found the prince highly entertaining, as he did not even blink as he blatantly lied. Lu Yin glanced over at the Babybud. "Your Highness should know that even though this creature’s poison has no intelligence, it can still compare to an attack from an expert with a power level of more than 400,000, and the creature should have no difficulties distinguishing an enemy or recognizing who threw it out of Venom Flowzone."

Qing Li's expression suddenly changed and he stopped talking.

Lu Yin smiled. He had merely been randomly talking, as he had no evidence to support such a claim. Even if the Divine Venom Dynasty truly had tossed the Babybud out into Fennel Flowzone, it was certainly within their rights.

After seeing that Qing Li did not say anything more, Lu Yin suddenly said, "It’s said that the Divine Venom Dynasty is unmatched when it comes to poisons. Is there a poison that is completely undetectable to cultivators and that after poisoning, their body will paralyzed and their reactions slowed?"

Qing Li's pupils shrank, and he took a little while to respond. "There are many poisons that are undetectable to cultivators, and there are quite a few that my Divine Venom Dynasty possesses. Why does Alliance Leader Lu ask?"

Lu Yin was surprised. "Quite a few? Can Your Highness bring some out?"

Qing Li grew awkward. "Alliance Leader Lu may not know, but poisons are the most common methods of attack in my Divine Venom Dynasty, so just like a cultivator's battle techniques, people are unwilling to casually reveal their poisons."

"What about buying them?" Lu Yin asked.

Qing Li grew increasingly uncomfortable. "Well, we don’t usually sell poisons."

"You little old man, do you realize just who you’re talking to? My master is the leader of the Great Eastern Alliance, peerless within his generation! He is an Honor Chosen of the Hall of Honor, and the Cosmic Sect’s first disciple! He’s been named a disciple of Eversky Island, and is even a two-star Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker. He’s supported by Leon’s Armada and a member of the crew, and a frequent guest of the Seven Courts. He’s a top tier VIP of Aurora Enterprises, and a top VIP of the Mavis Bank. He’s stepping down by offering to do business with you; can’t you even recognize when someone’s giving you something good?” Ku Wei jumped out of nowhere and started shouting.

His volume startled Qing Li. He was a prince of the Divine Venom Dynasty, so when had he been yelled at in such a manner?

One of the people standing behind Qing Li shouted, "Impudence!"

"You’re arrogant! You don’t even see who you’re talking to! My master offered to buy your poison out of pity; can’t you see a good thing when it’s in front of you?" Ku Wei roared.

Lu Yin looked at Ku Wei with an approving gaze. Sometimes people like him were needed to give off a desirable effect. However, Lu Yin realized that it was extremely hard for him to say these lines while it seemed like a natural thing for Ku Wei to say, as if he had recited the same lines a million times.

Qing Li's expression turned ugly, and he stared at Ku Wei. Stupid lackey.

"If you don’t want to sell it, could you at least let me take a look?" Lu Yin asked. His tone of voice had soured a bit.

Ku Wei grew impatient as he stared at Qing Li. "Hurry up and take it out! Do you still want us to do it for you? Look at that poisonous creature; if you don’t pull out what you were told to, you’ll end up in that thing’s mouth."

Qing Li was infuriated by Ku Wei, but the prince merely snorted and retrieved some poison from his cosmic ring. “This is a poison that I personally developed that’s called Five Steps Dispersal. If a cultivator below a Hunter is infected with this toxin, they will die after taking a single step without fail."

Ku Wei quickly stepped forward to grab the poison, and he then carefully handed it over to Lu Yin with a smile. "Master, look at this."

Lu Yin said nothing as he observed the poison. However, he was looking at the poison’s runes, and saw that it basically matched a power level 100,000, which aligned with what Qing Li had said. "Your Highness the Prince must be joking; what’s the meaning of bringing out this poison?"

"You little old man, you’d better realize what’s good for you!" Ku Wei roared.

Qing Li glared at the youth. Still, after gritting his teeth, he took out another poison. While he claimed it was a poison, it looked more like a live snake. It was brightly colored, but was as small as a fingernail. "This is snake venom that my Divine Venom Dynasty researched. This one’s effective on even Hunters, as it’s able to infiltrate a body faster than a human can react, and even Enlighters will struggle to deal with this poison."

Lu Yin's eyes grew colder. "I'm asking about a poison that’s essentially undetectable to any cultivator and that will paralyze a person after they’re struck by it."

Qing Li took out a few more poisons, but even the most powerful toxin was something that was only difficult for Enlighters to detect, not impossible.

"It seems that Your Highness is playing with me. I’m able to easily see whether or not everything that you’ve brought out is poisonous. I was hoping that Your Highness would bring out a poison that I could not see through," Lu Yin spoke slowly.

Ku Wei instantly started spouting threats, "Do you want to play in the Babybud’s mouth?"

Qing Li did not know how to respond. "Alliance Leader Lu, there are several other poisons that are kept by the Dynasty that even Enlighters struggle to detect, but my imperial brother is the only one with access to those."

"Has Your Highness heard of runes before?" Lu Yin asked.

Qing Li’s expression instantly changed. "The method developed by the legendary Rune Progenitor?"

Lu Yin lifted his head and stared off into the distance. "In this Fifth Mainland, absolutely everything has runes, and the poisons you just showed me that are supposed to be hard to detect all show runes revealing their strength. What I am needing is a poison that has no runes, much like a curio."

Qing Li's expression revealed no change. "That, our dynasty doesn't have anything like that."action

"And yet I heard that Nightking Zhenwu received such a poison from the Divine Venom Dynasty, and I even suffered from it myself," Lu Yin casually mentioned.

Qing Li immediately denied the possibility, "That’s impossible. Nightking Zhenwu's poison must have come from somewhere besides my Venom Flowzone."

Lu Yin stared at the prince. "Qing Longlong told me."

Qing Li was startled. "How did she know?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he realized that he had been tricked. He looked up at the smug glint in Lu Yin’s eyes, and Qing Li’s heart sank.

"Your Highness, how long do you want to try to keep this matter hidden? You are welcome to stay as my guest here or in the Great Eastern Alliance. I believe that your Emperor Qing Shaohuang will find it difficult to stop me. How about for a year, or a hundred, or maybe even a thousand years?" Lu Yin ‘s voice remained light.

Qing Li's face twitched, and he visibly struggled with something internally. "Send away your people."

Lu Yin waved a hand, and everyone retreated to leave him alone with Qing Li.

Qing Li grew somber as he stared at Lu Yin. "Alliance Leader Lu, my Divine Venom Dynasty holds no hostility towards you."

Lu Yin stayed silent and calm.

"The poison that Nightking Zhenwu received from my Divine Venom Dynasty is called Transience. It’s a poison that my imperial brother has occasionally been able to develop from a strange flower. It is absolutely colorless and tasteless, and it is even comparable to a curio. Even if a person cultivates the Rune Progenitor’s technique, they will not see any runes. It is my Divine Venom Dynasty’s most precious poison.

"The reason why I gave it to Nightking Zhenwu is because when my Divine Venom Dynasty was first established, an ancient powerhouse from the Daynight clan provided great assistance, which caused my Divine Venom Dynasty to owe the Daynight clan a favor. We had no intention of helping the Daynight clan work against Alliance Leader Lu," Qing Li explained.

It was only at this moment that Lu Yin learned that the poison that he had been afflicted with on Nightking Planet was known as Transience. At the time, Lu Yin had not been able to detect any trace of the poison, and if not for his die and the withered Root of Intelligence he had possessed, he would have died on Nightking Planet.

"Back then, I nearly died," Lu Yin said, his face sullen. Even though the Divine Venom Dynasty had little connection to that particular incident and held no animosity towards Lu Yin, he was unable to look past what had happened to him.

Qing Li also understood this detail. "What is it that you want, Alliance Leader Lu?"

Lu Yin stared at the prince. "I want Transience."

Qing Li frowned. "My imperial brother won't agree. Transience is something that no one other than Nightking Zhenwu has ever received, not even the emperor's own daughter, Qing Longlong, let alone me."

"I want to talk to Qing Shaohuang."

"Unfortunately, the emperor is currently in seclusion to develop a poison. If Alliance Leader Lu does not believe me, you are welcome to try to contact the emperor."

Lu Yin's eyes flashed. "What do you think about the Fifth Mainland?"

Qing Li grew confused, as he could not understand such a sudden change it topic. "What does Alliance Leader Lu mean by such a question?"

"Your Highness, if you wish, I, Lu Yin, can help you go anywhere you would like without needing to be trapped in Venom Flowzone," Lu Yin said.

Qing Li shook his head. "Alliance Leader Lu is overthinking things. Those born in Venom Flowzone all have dealt with poisons their entire lives, it is difficult for any of us to leave and try to adapt to the outside world. This is part of the reason that the Hall of Honor has not paid much attention to my Divine Venom Dynasty; it is precisely because the Divine Venom Dynasty has no interest in the outside world."

Lu Yin felt stuck, as he was hoping to be able to place a contact within the Divine Venom Dynasty, but such a thing did not seem like it would be easy.

"Those various poisons you just saw are a gift for Alliance Leader Lu as compensation for the Babybud. Alliance Leader Lu, I understand your desire to get your hands on Transience, and honestly, anyone who knows of the poison wants it. Unfortunately, no one is able to get it, and so I must suggest that you set aside this desire," Qing Li said.

Qing Li left shortly after that, as Lu Yin did not make things difficult for the prince.

This was not the time to create a bad relationship with the Divine Venom Dynasty, and Lu Yin had no reason to move against the prince.

As for Transience, Lu Yin was determined to find a way to get it. A poison that was comparable to curios was simply too useful. If he also managed to Enhance it, there would definitely be a use of the poison.

However, this was not an appropriate time for Lu Yin to visit the Divine Venom Dynasty. Lu Yin was rather ignorant of the empire, though he had already been cautioned about the difficulty of getting Transience from Qing Shaohuang. Lu Yin was not able to use threats and violence everywhere he went.

Also, Qing Shaohuang would not particularly care about Lu Yin’s status.

Lu Yin’s purpose in Fennel Flowzone was to wait for the Wen family. He did not know what he might be able to get from the Wen family, so he intended to first speak with them.

***

In the Outerverse, on a planet that belonged to Shamrock Enterprise, Yu Mu was gasping for air. He was kneeling on one of his knees, and blood streamed from his mouth to drip on the ground. Both of his eyes were crimson, though one was even blind.

A pair of long, snow-white legs strode in front of the man. They belonged to a young girl who had bright eyes and white teeth. She was quite beautiful, but her eyes gave her a bit of a cheeky demeanor. She raised her head and looked up into the sky. "I honestly prefer acting like an average person, and the position of Outerverse president is nothing I want, but who forced you to make such a grave error, Master."