Star Odyssey

Chapter 1987

action

Yan Chen believed that he had just insulted the Wen family, and the Wen family was a power that reigned over one of the Innerverse’s eight great flowzones. It should be a given that the Wen family had a closer connection to Lu Yin than Yan Chen, which was what worried the young man.

Still, the Wen family had not joined the Great Eastern Alliance, which was the only reason why Yan Chen had dared to push them around as he had.

The middle-aged man was currently standing behind Yan Chen, and the other people from the World League were all growing nervous, as they were terrified that they might have accidentally offended Lu Yin.

One sentence from Lu Yin could shake the entire World Alliance.

"…didn’t do too badly," Lu Yin finished in a casual tone.

Yan Chen's eyes lit up, and he grew excited. "Thank you, Alliance Leader Lu, for your praise. Your little brother knows what to do."

Lu Yin nodded and patted the man’s shoulder.

Yan Chen was truly excited, as he understood that Lu Yin was encouraging him to move against the Wen family.

The Wen family was the only remaining power in the Innerverse that had not yet joined the Great Eastern Alliance. It appeared that Lu Yin was not very happy about the situation.

Grandini quietly watched the exchange take place, feeling that Lu Yin had just sentenced the Wen family to death. They would need to either join the Great Eastern Alliance, or else they would no longer have a place in the Innerverse.

As long as Lu Yin voiced dissatisfaction towards the Wen family, there would be countless people from the Outerverse, Innerverse, Cosmic Sea, and even the Neoverse who would be willing to act as his pawns to deal with the Wen family. The Wen family would essentially become an enemy of the entire Human Domain with a word from Lu Yin. Grandini was a member of the Mavis family, and she needed to assess the risks associated with what she had just seen and submit a report to her family. They needed to settle the Wen family’s accounts as soon as possible to prevent the Mavis Bank from suffering losses when the Wen family was destroyed.

In business, it was important to bet on people rather than transactions. The more savvy the businessman was, the more they understood how to read people and the better they were at communicating and seeing the flow of the times.

Only by being able to see the overall current of the entire universe was it possible to generate a profit.

Was Lu Yin frustrated with the Wen family? Of course he was. As long as the Wen family did not join the Great Eastern Alliance, the Innerverse could not truly be considered united. Lu Yin had no time to deal with the Wen family, and that had not changed. So, he would just leave that task for others to handle.

Once the Wen family's path was blocked, where would they be able to turn?

"Are you also here for a withdrawal, Prince Yan?" Lu Yin asked.

Yan Chen quickly answered, "Yes. This little brother is planning to take out some star essence to serve as an emergency stash."

"This is quite embarrassing, but you won’t be able to. I’m a step ahead of you, and I’ve already taken out all the star essence that this branch has right now," Lu Yin said.

Yan Chen was startled, as he had heard that this particular branch of the Mavis Bank had made it a point to pad their coffers extensively, and it was said that they had around a billion star essence here. Had Lu Yin taken everything?

Grandini spoke up as well. "I apologize, Prince Yan. Please wait for just a few days. At this moment, all of our star essence has truly been taken by Alliance Leader Lu."

Yan Chen answered with a smile. "In that case, I’ll just wait a bit. I’m not in any particular hurry.”

The young man’s eyes then moved back to Lu Yin. "If you need help with anything, Alliance Leader Lu, just let me know. I have some star essence with me to use.”

Lu Yin looked at Yan Chen with greater appreciation in his eyes. "There’s no need for that, as I have enough for now. I appreciate the offer. Put in greater effort after you enter the Tower of the Fifth so that you can gain a greater inheritance."

Yan Chen quickly gave a bow. "This little brother understands and will never let down Alliance Leader Lu's expectations."

The young man left soon after that, and everyone else from the World League left with him. The moment they exited the Mavis Bank, Prince Yan asked the middle-aged man to make more trouble for the Wen family. Yan Chen did not try to hide what he said, which made it clear that he intended Lu Yin to overhear.

Lu Yin showed a slight smile. "He's pretty interesting."

Grandini responded with her own little smile. "If he wasn’t speaking with you, he would have been a completely different person."

Lu Yin glanced over. "It’s useful to have such an ability, isn’t it?"

Grandini gave Lu Yin a long look.

She had not had many interactions with Lu Yin after they both left the Astral Combat Academy, but it seemed that he had changed a great deal since that time. He actually gave the impression that he had become a new person.

The energetic youth who had once been a student had now risen to become a powerful figure at the top of the Human Domain. He had risen to a level where even her Mavis family had taken the initiative to form an alliance with Lu Yin.

"By the way, where’s Yuhua Mavis? Did she not come?" Lu Yin was curious.

Grandini Mavis replied, "Sister Yuhua is in seclusion right now. My Mavis family has our own cultivation art, so we don’t need to bother other people about getting anything from the outside world."

These words reminded Lu Yin of the Ancestor Tortoise. The Mavis family held many secrets.

It was at this moment that Lulu returned. "Elder Yunying said that in addition to the 20 billion star essence that you can borrow with that crystal card, she’s also willing to lend you an additional 80 billion star essence, interest free."

Grandini was not surprised to hear this. Their family had already formed an alliance with Lu Yin, so how could they charge him interest on a loan?

However, Lu Yin was considering a different detail: he could borrow 80 billion star essence without having to pay back any interest. This indicated that handing out 80 billion star essence would not put any pressure on the Mavis Bank.

What did this mean? It meant that the Mavis Bank’s funds were beyond ridiculous. Ridiculous enough that they could lend out 80 billion star essence as a mere favor.

Lu Yin was able to casually receive 100 billion star essence from the Mavis Bank. That was the same amount as the profits that Shamrock Enterprise had accumulated from years of profit.

Sure enough, the Mavis Bank was the richest organization in the universe.

Lu Yin's eyes lit up. "When will I be able to collect the money?"

This was even Lulu’s first time facilitating such a large transaction. "The clan will send someone to deliver it to you, but it will take a while."

Lu Yin smiled. "I understand. I won’t be leaving the Cosmic Sea anytime soon."

With that, he left.

Grandini was stunned ever after Lu Yin was gone. "Lulu, why do you think he wants so much money?"

Lulu mouth curled upwards to show a smile. "I have no idea, but from what our family’s calculated, from the time he first started cultivating until now, he’s publicly obtained more than ten billion star essence, but it’s also clear that most of his income has not been recorded. There’s speculation that he’s gathered hundreds of billions of star essence, and yet he’s still trying to get more from us. Who knows what he wants with it?"

Naturally, it was impossible for anyone to guess what Lu Yin did with his wealth.

The Perennial World was in the process of launching a massive attack in a bid to force the Fifth Mainland to hand Lu Yin over. Naturally, Lu Yin was doing all he could to reap every benefit he possibly could in the event that his efforts to prevent that from happening proved fruitless and the Fifth Mainland really did try to give him to the Perennial World.

Wang Wen was the only other person in the entire Fifth Mainland who was aware of the crisis facing Lu Yin at this time.

It was also time to speak with Wang Wen, as he was the one responsible for designing the tests for the Tower of the Fifth’s inheritances.

After the display popped up on Lu Yin’s gadget, he saw Wang Wen wearily opening his eyes. It looked like the man had just woken up. "Alliance Leader, you really know how to pick the times you call me."

Wang Wen was clearly exhausted, and Lu Yin apologized to him. "You’ve been working hard for a long time."

Wang Wen rubbed his eyes and then quickly flashed a bright smile. "Hard work is just hard work. This has been an interesting and challenging task."

Lu Yin leaned forward. "How have things been going?"

"Are you asking about the Tower of the Fifth or about the preparations for the upcoming fight?"

"The Tower of the Fifth."

"Hey, aren’t you interested in our war preparations?"

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. "Our enemy is hidden while we’re out in the open. I gave you an opportunity to prepare as much as possible, and there’s no reason to expect you to disappoint me, and there’s also nothing that I can add to what you’ve been doing. Are Wei Rong and Shui Chuanxiao aware of things?"

Wang Wen let out a long breath. "I haven’t let them in on it yet. Wei Rong’s too cunning and manipulative, and I don’t think he’s actually changed at all over all these years. I can’t be sure of what he’s thinking. As for Shui Chuanxiao, he’s too worried about the bigger picture, so we can’t tell him. All I can tell either of them is what you told me from the beginning: an enemy will show up from Sky Creation Academy."

Lu Yin nodded. "What about the trials for the inheritances of the Tower of the Fifth? Construction’s almost done."

Wang Wen lifted his head high. "There are numerous tests that need to be created, but I won’t bore you by going over them all. I’ll just make a few points instead.” Wang Wen paused for a moment as he organized his thoughts and planned out what he wanted to say. “The Tower of the Fifth is going to be our last resort, which is why it’s so important, but only you and I know about this. The most obvious purpose behind building it is to improve the overall strength of the Fifth Mainland’s cultivators, so the tests can’t be overly hard. Still, we can’t make things too easy.”

"After considering everything, regardless of who enters the tower, anyone who wants to take an inheritance needs to leave one as well. It doesn’t need to be something of the same value, as it’s impossible for most people to have anything comparable to what’s in the Tower of the Fifth. My reason behind wanting this exchange is because I don’t want anyone to feel like they’re getting something for free, or that they’re taking advantage of our Great Eastern Alliance. If they get used to receiving hand-outs, once we stop doing so in the future, we’ll create a massive amount of resentment.”

Lu Yin understood this aspect of human nature. If people were freely given things for a long time and then were suddenly cut off, not only would the recipients feel entitled an as though they no longer needed to repay the favor, but they would also resent and hate the ones who stopped the hand-outs. After all, those gifts had been too easy to acquire.

"Also, while the Tower of the Fifth can be a means of improving the strength of the entire Fifth Mainland, we can also use it as a means of strengthening our Great Eastern Alliance. I plan to send the Lu Elite Troops into the tower to act as a part of the trials for some of the inheritances. To get those inheritances, a person will need to defeat one, two, or multiple soldiers in the Lu Elite Troops, though they will all be fully decked out in their new equipment, which includes the new universal armor with the white smoke, microarray technology, the wireless Gu, and even the Money Bombs.”

"A fully-equipped member of the Lu Elite Troops is able to easily defeat even geniuses at a comparable cultivation level, and they can even surpass their cultivation realm to defeat those stronger than them," Wang Wen explained.

Lu Yin's eyes lit up as he heard this. "Not only will this help train our troops, but it will also help us recruit more people."

Wang Wen clapped his hands. "Exactly! Anyone who sees the Lu Elite Troops’ equipment will become envious, and joining the Great Eastern Alliance will become something that they want and yearn for."

Lu Yin was impressed. "Smart."

Wang Wen just rolled his eyes. "This will only make people intrigued and consider joining the Great Eastern Alliance. It might not be enough to cause that many people to enlist. After all, any of the disciples from powerful organizations won’t be interested, so don't have too high a hope. This will really be nothing more than an opportunity to train our troops a bit, though we will likely be able to recruit a few people with some potential."

Lu Yin smiled. "There are too many cultivators in the Fifth Mainland, and all of them from every part of the universe are going to make their way to the Tower of the Fifth. Just getting there will cause them to suffer and endure. All of them will become elites during the journey, so all of them will be worth recruiting."

Wang Wen nodded in agreement. "There’s one more important detail.”

He leveled a focused gaze onto Lu Yin. “You established the Tower of the Fifth, so there needs to be a statue of you outside of it. This isn’t optional. You’re the one providing the core inheritances on each floor of the Tower of the Fifth, and you’ll be viewed as half a master to anyone who acquires those inheritance."

Lu Yin was stunned. "Half a master?"

Wang Wen nodded. "That's right. This statue will be built to show you as a partial teacher for those who obtain an inheritance, so it’s not just to glorify your achievements."

Lu Yin had never considered being thought of as half a master to anyone. He had cultivated for years, and despite his strength, he had never acted as a teacher. While Ku Wei was technically Lu Yin’s disciple, Ku Wei was really just a lackey whom Lu Yin had never taught a thing.

As for his own teachers, Lu Yin had only ever recognized Mister Mu as his master. Still, Lu Yin could count his interactions with Mister Mu on two hands, so he did not have a profound understanding of a master-disciple relationship.