Chapter 1619: War Preparations

The discovery of pyrolyte had caused all of the top powers in the Outer and Innerverses to compete for it, and even the Neoverse had sent people for it. If not for the Sea King stealing all of the pyrolyte, it would still have a hidden presence and influence in both the Innerverse and Outerverse.

Given its ability to release an unlimited force based on the amount used in an explosion, pyrolyte was truly quite useful. Still, for those old monsters who had power levels of hundreds of thousands, it was quite worthless.

It would actually make quite a bit of sense for every stellular energy pill to have pyrolyte among the ingredients.

As for who had the most pyrolyte, it was actually Lu Yin. After the Outerverse had been cut off from the Innerverse, Lu Yin had gained control of all of the teams mining pyrolyte in the Astral Wilderness. After the Outerverse had reconnected to the Innerverse, all of the pyrolyte gathered had been stored on Zenyu Star. While it was not much, it was still better than nothing, as more mines had never been found in the Astral Wilderness.

Lu Yin flicked a finger as he held a stellular energy pill in a hand. The pill shot away from his finger and pierced the void, where it erupted with a mysterious power that tore open the true universe. Lu Yin leaped through the crack, and it quickly recovered after he passed through. Even though everything returned to normal quickly, the brief moment that Lu Yin had disappeared had allowed him to travel a great distance. He had actually crossed almost the entire territory controlled by Giant Consortium.

This was what had allowed Yu Mu to escape death when he had first been targeted by Shamrock Enterprise.

Though Lu Yin was still unable to see why the stellular energy pill managed to open the true universe, but he just shook his head and stopped studying the things for the moment. Since he was unable to see it himself, he would simply need to cooperate with the people who researched it in the first place. The greatest use of the stellular energy pill was not escape, but to interfere with stellular energy.

The Wen family once again reached out to Lu Yin, and it was still Patriarch Wen Zizai himself. The man was quite persistent.

"Senior, this junior's conditions will not change," Lu Yin said bluntly.

Wen Zizai felt helpless. "I have already obtained that painting you demanded. You can come to my Wen family’s home to see it, but you can’t take it with you. This is the best my Wen family can offer you."

Lu Yin indifferently replied, "It looks like Senior has no intention of cooperating with me, so this junior can only sell Wen Diyi to another, such as the Sword Sect."

Wen Zizai's expression froze. He clearly wanted to say something, but he restrained himself. Lu Yin was no longer someone the patriarch could threaten. Forget the current Lu Yin, even before ZENITH Lu Yin had managed to trash Daynight Flowzone, and the Daynight clan was a power that stood at the same level as the Wen family.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Alliance Leader Lu, you need to know that the painting actually belongs to the Han family, not my Wen family. We have merely borrowed it for the time being," Wen Zizai had no choice but to explain the situation.

Lu Yin shrugged. "That has nothing to do with this junior. In short, my conditions remain the same as ever."

He then hung up.

Right after his call with Wen Zizai, Lu Yin led Liu Ye and Fei Hua straight to Little Millennium Flowzone. He wanted to see if divination could be used to find any clues.

He had not originally believed in divination, but the results of what someone had divined about him had been proven accurate when he had been in the Perennial World, which had slightly changed his views.

"Master, your disciple will go, too! Take your disciple with you! Your disciple doesn't want to leave you!" Ku Wei wailed his desire to remain with Lu Yin.

Lu Yin laughed. "Alright, you can tag along."

Ku Wei was stunned for a moment, as he had not expected Lu Yin to agree. Ku Wei actually grew embarrassed, as he did not actually want to leave! Giant Consortium was like no other place Ku Wei had ever been. In this place, those colossal giants all treated him like he was their ancestor. It felt amazing, especially after being yelled at by Lu Yin and acting like a loyal dog. After seeing the difference, only an idiot would leave to tag along with Lu Yin.

Lu Yin simply ignored Ku Wei, as he had instantly seen through the man’s intentions. “Stay here at Giant Consortium and keep an eye on the giants. Let me know the moment anything happens. Chaosgod Mountain won’t dare do anything to the consortium for the time being, but there’s no way that Cang Zhou will be able to hold himself back for too long, so be on alert."

Ku Wei hastily agreed.

Liu Ye and Fei Hua led Lu Yin to the east. Little Millennium Flowzone lay between Venom Flowzone and First Flowzone. In comparison to Giant Consortium’s location, Little Millennium Flowzone was closer to both the Cosmic Sea and the Outerverse.

While Lu Yin was at Giant Consortium, Cang Zhou reached out to Liu Qianjue, the sect master of the Sword Sect.

No one knew what they spoke of, but after the call ended, Liu Qianjue ordered the entire Sword Sect to prepare for battle.

Waves swept through the Sword Sect. Aside from when the Sixth Mainland had invaded, it had been an exceptionally long time since the sect master had personally given orders for the sect to prepare for war.

Every member of the Sword Sect tried to guess who their target might be.

Li Zimo's sword was placed horizontally. There was a huge waterfall behind him, and birds and insects chirped in the nearby forest. There was the occasional disciple training with a sword, but there was nothing that could affect Li Zimo at all. He was training in the Inner Peace Sword Arts.

After he had returned from ZENITH, Li Zimo had become one of the most prized disciples in the entire Sword Sect. His position had risen to be below only Liu Tianmu and Liu Shaoqiu. His status had completely transformed.

The moment Liu Qianjue sent down orders for the sect to prepare for war, Elder Lianxin appeared in front of Li Zimo. "The Sword Sect is preparing for war, and you must do the same. This war will not be some minor battle; it won’t be much worse than when the Sixth Mainland invaded."

Li Zimo opened his eyes and stood to bow to Lianxin, "Master, who will we face in this war?"

While others still did not know, Lianxin was a powerhouse who was second only to Liu Qianjue in the Sword Sect, and so she naturally had been told. "The Cosmic Sea."

She only spoke three words, but there was no need to say anything further.

After Elder Lianxin left, Li Zimo accessed his gadget and, for the first time since joining the Sword Sect, he sent a message to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin's gadget beeped, and he glanced down. He was surprised to see a message from Li Zimo. Even though Lu Yin had sent the other man into the Sword Sect, it had not been time to make use of Li Zimo, and so Lu Yin had never initiated contact. Despite that, Li Zimo had taken the initiative to send a message to Lu Yin.

'The Sword Sect prepares for war. Target: Cosmic Sea.' The message was just a short nine words, but they sent Lu Yin’s mind racing. A thought suddenly occurred to him, but the possibility was terrifying.

When Chaosgod Mountain had encountered a mishap, the Ignition Crew and a mysterious master had moved to rescue the mountain. This was not merely because of the connection regarding the Leo family, but because of Big Sis’s mercenary crew and Leon’s Armada that stood behind the crew.

Lu Yin was eager to uncover the truth of the matter from the past, but Cang Zhou was at least as eager to make sure that the truth remained buried. If that was impossible, if Lu Yin were in Cang Zhou’s position, he would immediately move to have a full confrontation. Sure enough, their goal was Leon's Armada.

On Chaosgod Mountain, someone from the Ignition Crew had appeared to rescue Cang Zhou, as had a mysterious expert. It seemed like Lu Yin might have guessed correctly and that there was some connection to the Longevity Brigade.

After all of that, Lu Yin had just received word that the Sword Sect was preparing for war, and their target was also the Cosmic Sea.

Despite everything being mere speculation, Lu Yin still immediately called Highsage Leon to ask if there was any connection to the Sword Sect. However, Lu Yin was disappointed in the answer. He had been hoping that the Sword Sect would cooperate with Leon’s Armada, not target them. This was unfortunate. Since the Sword Sect would not be moving to reinforce Leon’s Armada, they had to be moving out to attack the most powerful of the Four Pirate Crews.

Chaosgod Mountain, the Ignition Crew, and the Sword Sect were all very dangerous. Lu Yin's eyes grew focused as he started thinking. After a moment, he accessed his gadget and called Wen Zizai.

Wen Zizai was speaking with Dean Han, and was suffering from quite a headache. When he saw Lu Yin’s call request, the old man’s eyes lit up and he answered. "Mr. Lu, have you changed your mind?"

Lu Yin knew that by taking the initiative to call the Wen patriarch that he had lost the initiative in the negotiations, but there was no other option, as time was running out and Cang Zhou was forcing Lu Yin’s hand.

"Senior, this junior really wants that painting quite badly," Lu Yin said.

Wen Zizai's expression twisted. "I can't give you that. You can see it at my Wen family’s home, as I told you."

"You don't want Wen Diyi anymore? Liu Tianmu returned with this junior, and she already knows that I have Wen Diyi. In fact, someone from the Sword Sect has already made contact," Lu Yin said.

Wen Zizai's expression changed yet again, and his voice grew much more stern. "What conditions did they offer you, Alliance Leader Lu?"

"It would have made problems to tell them that this junior has been speaking to Senior. I called you not only as a reminder, but also for Wen Diyi's sake. In that place, Wen Diyi helped this junior somewhat, and he hopes to join the Wen family. This junior is also willing to see that happen for him," Lu Yin said.

Wen Zizai let out a sigh of relief. "That would truly be for the best, but that painting really can’t be given to you, Alliance Leader Lu."

Lu Yin fell silent for a bit, and Wen Zizai did the same. After living for so long, how could he not hear the words that Lu Yin had left unspoken? The old man could tell that Lu Yin’s conditions had changed, as there was no other way for Lu Yin’s tone to change so drastically. The old man intended to simply wait. If it was a matter of patience, the old man was more than confident that his patience was greater than a youth like Lu Yin, or else his many years would have been lived in vain.

"It seems that Senior really can't give this junior that painting. Since that’s the case, I can agree to your suggestion and visit your home to see the painting," Lu Yin said.

As Wen Zizai had expected after Lu Yin had taken the initiative to reach out, Lu Yin had agreed to Wen Zizai’s proposal. At this moment, Wen Zizai was simply waiting to hear Lu Yin's other conditions.

"However, this junior is not making a concession. After all, this painting was a prerequisite for our negotiations to make a deal. This junior’s plans have recently changed," Lu Yin stated.

"Please tell me, Alliance Leader Lu."

Lu Yin's expression grew more somber. "The Sword Sect is preparing for war. This junior believes that they will be targeting my Great Eastern Alliance, so I hope the Wen family will put some pressure on the Sword Sect so that they are unable to do so."

Wen Zizai was taken aback. "The Sword Sect is preparing for war? When did this happen?"

It was almost as soon as the Sword Sect had received orders to prepare for war that Li Zimo had sent Lu Yin a message. Naturally, the Wen family had their own people in the Sword Sect as well, and the Wen family had also received a report. However, the report had not yet reached Wen Zizai, as the patriarch was at the Lost Radiance Academy rather than the family’s home planet.

"They just started making preparations. This junior refused to give them Wen Diyi, and that might have offended them, which is why this junior suspects that their target is my Great Eastern Alliance and Fennel Flowzone," Lu Yin said.

Wen Zizai was truly speechless, and he wanted to curse. This was the most fake excuse ever! How could the Sword Sect possibly start a war with the Great Eastern Alliance over such a matter? There had to be something else behind this war, and this nasty little bastard intended to push the Wen family into the mix while also gaining favor.

"Alliance Leader Lu has been overthinking; how could the Sword Sect start a war with the Great Eastern Alliance? That’s impossible," Wen Zizai said. He had no desire to get involved in this matter. He was already looking over reports regarding the Sword Sect’s war preparations, and Wen Zizai saw that Liu Qianjue had personally given the orders this time. This proved that the war was not being waged over some trivial matter, and the Wen family could not rashly get involved.

"Life is precious, and it’s good to be cautious. I am asking the Wen family to help by putting some pressure on the Sword Sect. This replaces the painting as my prerequisite to negotiations," Lu Yin said.

Wen Zizai frowned. "Alliance Leader Lu, my Wen family can guarantee that the Sword Sect will not instigate a war with the Great Eastern Alliance."

"How? Since when has your Wen family become master of the Sword Sect?"

"The Wen family and Sword Sect are both part of the Innerverse. How could my Wen family not know about a war being launched against the Great Eastern Alliance? There’s no need for you to worry, Alliance Leader Lu."

"This junior hopes that the Wen family will put some pressure on the Sword Sect, though I don't know if Senior will agree or not." Lu Yin's tone became much more forceful.