Chapter 1576: Bloodstains

These primitive race cars reminded Lu Yin of his early days on Earth. He had lived there for two years before starting his cultivation journey, and he had often raced against others in the suburbs of the city that he had lived in.

The city in Aurora Fortress had many bridges crisscrossing through the air, and the place was mostly illuminated by overhead lights that mimicked a sun. The lights lit up the cars and their drivers.

Countless people stood on both sides of a bridge, and even all of the nearby buildings were filled. The onlookers were shouting excitedly, and many beautiful women could be seen.

It was an exciting and public venue. The people at the center of it all were not afraid of being arrogant, but rather afraid of not being arrogant enough.

Each of the cars had four wheels, but their bodies’ shapes varied with some being far more impressive-looking than others. Some looked like beasts, others looked more like spaceships, and there were even some that looked like swords. The most ridiculous one was shaped like a beautiful woman, and it was extremely eye-catching.

A whistle split the air, and hundreds of race cars rushed forward, completely disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The city was more than large enough to accommodate these street races.

Young Master Zhi charged to the front of the pack. A beautiful woman sat next to him, who was screaming incessantly. Each of the racers was accompanied by a beautiful woman.

After a while, crashes started to occur. These cars were not designed or programmed to avoid accidents, though that did not matter. No cultivator would die even if their car exploded.

The continuous crashes created a sort of rhythm in the night that prodded the entire city into a boil.

These races had occurred many times, but only a few people had ever won. Young Master Zhi had won the most races, though there were also very few cars capable of competing against him.

"Kid, your legs are limp like jelly! You aren’t quick enough, hahahaha!" A car shot by, driven by a young man who was laughing arrogantly and wearing a tattered coat that had rust stains on it. He looked homeless.

Young Master Zhi became furious. "Wan Laoer, just you wait! I’ll beat you to death!"

"Go ahead and try!"

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

More crashes soon rang out, and the sound made Young Master Zhi’s companion even more excited. Several of the race cars crashed off-course as well.

Suddenly, a car crashed down from the sky. It smashed into another car and then shot forward to take the lead.

Chi Shao and the other drivers were all stunned. Since when did cars start flying? In particular, Young Master Zhi thought, Wait, why does that car look so familiar? Isn't it mine?

Young Master Zhi's eyes flushed red; someone had stolen his car!

Wan Laoer was startled. "Hey kid, wasn’t that the car that you won your last race with? Someone stole your car!"

"You dare to come in front of your daddy after daring to steal your daddy’s car? You clearly don’t want to live any longer! Your daddy even participated in ZENITH!" Young Master Zhi was furious and he pushed forward even faster.

Wan Laoer was also instantly worked up. Someone participating with a stolen car was definitely an interesting development.

A smile spread across Lu Yin's face. For him, these cars were moving too slowly.

His co-pilot’s chair was occupied by Luo Shen, and her face was flushed red with excitement. She flashed Lu Yin a brilliant smile, feeling amazing. No one else had ever done this with Lu Yin, which meant that this experience belonged to just the two of them!

"Boy, you better back down after daring to steal your daddy’s car!" Young Master Zhi had caught up to Lu Yin, and he glared at him from the side.

Lu Yin just turned to look at the other driver.

Young Master Zhi was momentarily stunned; why did this face look so familiar? The moment he made the connection, his expression changed completely. "You? Why are you here?"

Lu Yin smiled.

Suddenly, something struck the side of his car. He turned to see that Wan Laoer had caught up as well and was looking at Lu Yin from the other side. He gave Lu Yin a thumbs up. "Boy, you’ve done quite well! You actually stole this dude’s car while in Aurora Fortress?"

Lu Yin smiled indifferently, but just when he was about to reply, his pupils shrank. Right on Wan Laoer’s collar, Lu Yin saw a very familiar symbol: the Hidden Earth Society. Why did this person have that symbol on his clothes? Also, the symbol was dark red, and it looked like a bloodstain.

"Hey Bro, what's your name?" Wan Laoer asked loudly.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. "What's your name?"

Wan Laoer was caught off guard. "You don't know me? You actually don’t know who I am even though you’re in this race? You’ve got to be new."

Lu Yin carefully studied Wan Laoer, equally curious about why this person did not recognize him. Had this person not watched ZENITH?

"That’s right, I’m new."

"Kids, this brat’s new, so we need to teach him how things work around here! Hahahaha." Wan Laoer laughed as his car accelerated once again and shot forward.

Lu Yin turned the other direction to smile at Young Master Zhi. "I think I saw you on Supreme Mountain."

Young Master Zhi gulped. "Hello."

"This is quite a fun way to pass the time. I’ll be back tomorrow," Lu Yin said with a smile before speeding up to chase after Wan Laoer.

Young Master Zhi just stared at the back of Lu Yin's car. The woman sitting next to him shouted at him to hurry up, but Young Master Zhi did not move, even as the cars passed him from behind.

"Young Master Zhi, are your legs that limp? It looks like that chick from yesterday took all the strength from your legs." Someone laughed loudly.

"Young Master Zhi, you’re welcome to come back tomorrow!"

"Young Master Zhi, hurry up and modify your car."

…

It looked like Young Master Zhi heard none of the insults hurled at him. He searched to find Lu Yin, only to see that Lu Yin had already left.

"Master Zhi, what's the matter? Are ya stupid?" Wan Laoer stopped his car. He was very excited, as he had won that night’s race.

Young Master Zhi looked over at Wan Laoer. "Where'd that person go?"

"Who? The kid who stole your car? I didn't see. Actually, that’s pretty strange. Where did he go?" Wan Laoer wondered.

Young Master Zhi left immediately.

Aurora Enterprises was actually a collective interest. It was a giant company and was not owned by a single person. Director Zhi was merely the one at the helm of Aurora Fortress, and his position did not mean that Young Master Zhi was allowed to do whatever he wished. However, Young Master Zhi was not a wastrel, and his networking skills were very good, able to connect with people of different classes.

This night should have been one where Young Master Zhi was out partying and playing around, but he was not in the mood.

He went and found Director Zhi, the youth’s face solemn. "Lu Yin’s here?"

Director Zhi was studying a display, and he casually responded. “He arrived a few days ago. Have you seen him?"

"Lu Yin is not good news. Why is he here to see us?" Young Master Zhi asked.

Director Zhi was caught off guard, and he turned to look at Young Master Zhi. "Are you afraid of him? Are you worried about the company?"

Young Master Zhi sat down and took a sip of wine. His lackadaisical image was nowhere to be seen as he quietly said, “I don’t care about the Ten Arbiters or the Cosmic Five. No matter how powerful they might be, they will only ever inherit the powers that raised them. However, Lu Yin is different. He is too ambitious, and he even managed to dominate the entire Outerverse. Now that he’s returned, he’s definitely eyeing the Innerverse. He doesn’t do anything without a purpose."

Director Zhi dismissed the screen that he had been looking at and sat down across from his son. "You once asked me to give you some time to enjoy life. So, why are you asking about him now?"

"I'm afraid of us being swallowed by him," Young Master Zhi angrily declared.

Director Zhi laughed. "You don't know the foundation that Aurora Enterprises has! Let alone Lu Yin—even if the Seven Courts wanted to absorb this company, they would not have an easy time of it. While Lu Yin’s ability to influence the Hall of Honor makes me wary, he will never pose a threat to Aurora Enterprises unless he unites the entire Innerverse."

"In that case, what the hell is he doing here?" Young Master Zhi asked.

"He wants us to use some rare materials to make him some armor," Director Zhi stated. He stared at his son. "Maintain a good relationship with him. Even if you don’t become friends, absolutely do not become his enemy. He caused Shamrock Enterprise to lose their opportunity to move their headquarters to Mt. Microcosms."

"That's why I said that he’s too ambitious." Young Master Zhi rolled his eyes.

Director Zhi remained unruffled. "Just play with him. No matter how ambitious he may be or how he might be able to sway the Hall of Honor, he certainly is not able to deal with my Aurora Enterprises. In fact, we’ve reached an agreement to cooperate: he’ll provide us with rare materials, and in turn, we’ll design and build vessels exclusive to the Great Eastern Alliance. It’s just business."

Young Master Zhi nodded.

The next night, bright lights shot up all around the city on Aurora Fortress, illuminating the race cars once again.

Young Master Zhi, Wan Laoer, and the others were all waiting to start, and Lu Yin had also lined up. He was wearing a helmet.

ZENITH had publicized Lu Yin’s face throughout the universe, and although he had no idea why Wan Laoer had not recognized him, Lu Yin felt it would be better to be careful.

"Hey, kid, did you get a kick out of racing against us with a stolen car?" Wan Laoer laughed.

Young Master Zhi looked over at Lu Yin, a rare glint of challenge appearing in his eyes. He was not able to compare to Lu Yin in strength. Young Master Zhi had not qualified to participate in the competition in the Mountain and Seas Zone, and he had been eliminated by a single attack from Little Arrow Saint during ZENITH. However, Young Master Zhi had every intention of winning this race.

There was a loud roar as all the cars shot forward.

Several hours later, Lu Yin looked back to see that Young Master Zhi was the closest to him, but he was at least five minutes behind. This was Lu Yin’s level of ability.

Given Lu Yin’s strength, it took him no time at all to leave the other racers in the dust.

Lu Yin's overwhelming victory sparked everyone’s competitive spirit, and for seven consecutive days, there were races. But Lu Yin won every race, and no one could catch up to him.

Eventually, almost no one bothered challenging him anymore, as there was simply no hope of victory. The races ended with people getting bored of the competition.

During these seven days, Luo Shen was the happiest person, as she accompanied Lu Yin every night.

At the end, Wan Laoer returned home. He sat down, exhausted, and took a sip of water.

The door opened. "Did you go racing again? You aren’t allowed to go tomorrow. Come learn with me. We’re in Aurora Fortress! How will you ever survive without any practical skills?"

The person speaking to Wan Laoer was the craftsman who had recognized the Rucen Gold that Lu Yin had brought.

Wan Laoer unhappily returned to his room while muttering something.

Lu Yin watched everything from the distance. He had not been racing just to play around with these people, but rather to find out where the symbol on Wan Laoer’s clothes had come from. After this week, Lu Yin was certain that the clothes Wan Laoer was wearing belonged to his father; was that man a part of the Hidden Earth Society?

Lu Yin had stopped racing after figuring out where Wan Laoer’s clothes had come from.

There were still a few days left to go before the bodysuit armor was completed, and Lu Yin was studying a star chart of the nearby area when a burst of pressure suddenly hit the area. As it fell, Lu Yin heard an excited voice. "Not good! I’m going to break through to the Envoy realm!"

Lu Yin was startled. Breaking through to the Envoy realm? Who?

He looked up and saw Ah Da racing into space, leaving Aurora Fortress in a flash.

Ah Da wanted to break through and become an Envoy?

Breaking through to the Envoy realm meant going through the first stellular tribulation. Each tribulation’s strength was proportional to the amount of stellular energy that formed the tribulation. A stellular tribulation was a powerful event, and if Ah Da stayed on Aurora Fortress, the tribulation would most likely sense the nearby Envoys, causing the tribulation to grow even stronger. This was not something that Ah Da could afford to have happen.

It was impossible for Aurora Fortress to provide Ah Da with any assistance for him to survive his stellular tribulation. Even if the chances of another Envoy being detected by the tribulation were only one in ten thousand, that chance was risking total destruction.

Ah Da immediately left Aurora Fortress and stood in the emptiness of outer space. The void above his head warped and twisted into a circle. It gave off the impression that a massive beast was descending, and its suppressive aura was simply terrifying, as if it could shatter earth and sky.