Chapter 1770: Infernal Zone

Lu Yin had witnessed some of Progenitor Chen’s memories in the memory bubbles in Progenitor Chen’s Mausoleum. Most of the memories had been about fighting, but there had occasionally been some memories of peace, and Lu Yin had witnessed one of the Progenitor lying drunk in a sea of flowers.

Nine stars surrounding a small white flower was Progenitor Chen’s emblem.

Lu Yin stared blankly at Yuan Miaomiao. Why did she have Progenitor Chen’s emblem on her face, let alone hidden beneath the image of the love flower?

Lu Yin was staring at Yuan Miaomiao’s face, and she believed that he was smitten with her beauty. She lowered her head, blushing all the way down to her neck. "Alliance Leader Lu…"

Lu Yin woke up from his daze, and he gave Yuan Miaomiao an appraising look. When she looked back up at him, he glanced away, as he did not want her to see the look in his eyes at the moment.

Yuan Miaomiao was confused at his behavior. "Alliance Leader Lu?"

Lu Yin steeled his expression and returned to normal before he faced Yuan Miaomiao again. He felt rather embarrassed by his reaction. "Sorry, I got a little lost for a moment and embarrassed myself."

Yuan Miaomiao looked down once again. This was not a comment that was easy to respond to.

"By the way, Miss Miaomiao, is that love flower on your face a jincan?" Lu Yin asked.

Yuan Miaomiao nodded. "The love flower poison can also be thought of as a jincan. It’s quite famous in the Divine Venom Dynasty, but my love flower jincan has been altered by Yuan Taishi, and it’s completely different from the original one. He can use it to control me, and I don’t want to live under his oppression anymore. My life is one of fear and worry. I beg you, save me!”

As she spoke, she dropped to her knees once again.

Lu Yin quickly helped the young woman up, and then continued to hold her by the wrist. Her hand felt silky and was quite comfortable to hold. However, given her incredibly low cultivation, why would she bear Progenitor Chen’s emblem?

This could not be a coincidence. Lu Yin was completely certain that Progenitor Chen’s emblem was hidden beneath the love flower. While the love flower supposedly controlled her life and death, it also seemed possible that it had been put on to hide Progenitor Chen's little flower.

Lu Yin carefully observed Yuan Miaomiao for a moment before saying, "Don't worry, I’ll definitely find a way to save you."

Yuan Miaomiao felt incredibly grateful. "Thank you, Alliance Leader Lu!"

"Alright, we still have some time, so take a seat, and we’ll talk," Lu Yin said. When he looked into Yuan Miaomiao's eyes, there was a hint of obsession that clearly showed that he did not want to separate from her.

Yuan Miaomiao felt rather embarrassed by Lu Yin's stare. "Mhmm."

The two remained in the restaurant for a long time, until they were disturbed by the appearance of a man who was obsessed with Yuan Miaomiao. He was tossed out by Lu Yin, but the two’s time together had already been disrupted.

Lu Yin did not escort Yuan Miaomiao home. It was what Yuan Miaomiao wanted, and Lu Yin did not want to start up any rumors.

Lu Yin stared at Yuan Miaomiao’s back as she walked away, and a burning question filled his eyes: just what was the connection between this woman and Progenitor Chen? No matter how he looked at it, Yuan Miaomiao had Progenitor Chen’s emblem on her face.

On top of that, there was also the issue of Yuan Taishi colluding with the Neohuman Alliance, as well as Qing Shaohuang’s plans to move against Lu Yin. Things were quite busy in the Divine Venom Dynasty for Lu Yin.

Lu Yin returned to the palace that he had been lent, only to be informed that he had guests waiting for him. When he made his way to a sitting room, he was surprised to see Yuehua Mavis waiting for him.

The two were old acquaintances. Yuehua Mavis had once been the most powerful expert that the Mavis family had stationed in the Outerverse. Lu Yin had even watched the woman use the Mavis family’s techniques to briefly hold her own against an Envoy.

That incident had left a deep impression on Lu Yin, as it had shown how many extraordinary abilities and items the Mavis family possessed.

Upon entering the room, Lu Yin saw that Yuehua Mavis’s strength had greatly improved since they had last seen each other.

"Alliance Leader Lu, it's been a long time." Yuehua Mavis politely greeted Lu Yin when he entered the room.

Lu Yin smiled. "It has indeed been a long time, Senior."

Yuehua Mavis replied, "When speaking with Alliance Leader Lu, other than age, I have absolutely no qualifications to be referred to as a senior. Given your current strength, Alliance Leader Lu, I believe that a single palm would be enough for you to deal with me."

Even without a palm, just spiritual force or my domain would be enough, Lu Yin thought to himself. However, he would never say such a thing out loud. "Senior, you are being too modest. Please, have a seat."

Yuehua Mavis nodded and sat down.

Lu Yin looked at her. "Is there something troubling you, Senior?"

He had noticed a slight sad expression flicker over her face out of the corner of his eye.

Yuehua Mavis grew serious. "I sought you out at this time, Alliance Leader Lu, to officially offer you an invitation: my Mavis family would like to invite Alliance Leader Lu to be our guest."

Lu Yin was surprised. "Why this sudden invitation?"

Yuehua Mavis replied solemnly, "The Mavis family has invited you several times in the past, but you’ve never visited our home. This time, my Mavis family wanted to officially extend an invitation in hopes that Alliance Leader Lu would accept."

This was an official invitation that was being formally extended from the Mavis family to the leader of the Great Eastern Alliance. Not accepting the invitation at this time would be too disrespectful to the Mavis family.

Lu Yin grew solemn as he accepted the invitation card. "Very well. Once I’m done with my visit here in Venom Flowzone, I’ll be sure to make a visit."

"The Mavis family will await your visit, Alliance Leader Lu." With that, Yuehua Mavis left.

Lu Yin looked at the invitation. The Mavis family’s actions were very formal this time, which was completely outside his expectations. He had wanted to visit the Mavis family for a long time, but it had never been a priority for him. After all, the Mavis family was far more powerful than any other force that Lu Yin had ever considered visiting, which meant that Lu Yin had far less to gain from them. While Lu Yin loved money and the Mavis family was the wealthiest power in the universe, that was not enough of a reason for him to visit the Mavis family.

However, why was the Mavis family being so formal about inviting him? Could it be…? Lu Yin suddenly had a guess.

That night, the Second Nightking went to visit Lu Yin in his quarters.

Lu Yin gave the man an image of a person. "Look into anything at all regarding this person in the entire Divine Venom Dynasty."

The Second Nightking looked at the picture on the screen of an ordinary-looking old man. "Is that all?"

"He’s already dead, and I need you to keep your investigation secret. No one can know about this, but go ahead and use your full power to check the entire Divine Venom Dynasty," Lu Yin solemnly ordered.

The Second Nightking left. Given his strength, no matter how odd the Divine Venom Continent might be, it was impossible for anything to remain hidden from the powerhouse.

Lu Yin wanted to take advantage of the Second Nightking's powerful spiritual force to track down any and all information regarding the old man who had tried to sell the expensive piece of information in the secret auction. That way, Lu Yin could potentially unearth some clues related to the information itself. The knowledge that Yuan Taishi was collaborating with the Neohuman Alliance and that he had also eliminated the old man’s information made Lu Yin very curious as to what that information was, as well as whether it was true. No matter if the information was true or not, Yuan Taishi had deliberately destroyed the information and all of its traces.

The Second Nightking was truly capable. While he did not care about anything that Lu Yin did, the old man’s information was dug up within a single day, and the Second Nightking delivered a report to Lu Yin on the afternoon of the second day, catching Lu Yin by surprise. He had not expected results to come so quickly; even if a specialist had investigated, they would not have been able to accomplish anything this quickly.

"The Divine Venom Dynasty already investigated the person, and he’s also a celebrity," the Second Nightking explained as he delivered the report.

Lu Yin skimmed the information about the dead old man. The man's name was Shui Pai, and he had been a Hunter. However, he had cultivated a jincan that had the power of an Enlighter.

In the Divine Venom Dynasty, anyone with the power of an Enlighter had to be recorded down, and Shui Pai had been infamous for slaughtering several families in an act of revenge. However, he had later been chased down and killed, which had created quite a stir in the Divine Venom Dynasty for some time.

This incident had even caught Qing Shaohuang’s attention.

Shui Pai had been constantly watched, as practically half of the Divine Venom Dynasty had been hunting after him. His revenge had offended too many people.

Lu Yin glanced through the list of Shui Pai's accomplishments with admiration. This person’s life was the model blood feud that came after a successful revenge. Unfortunately, everything had happened in Venom Flowzone, so even after the man had achieved his revenge, there had been no place for him to hide.

Many times, Shui Pai had completely disappeared without anyone able to locate him. He had been an expert at hiding himself and avoiding his enemies. Still, all the information that had been gathered about the old man was compiled into the report Lu Yin was given. Even after glancing through it all, Lu Yin saw no mention of a special hideout. Either one had never been discovered, or it had held nothing of value when found.

One thing of particular importance was that he had managed to escape from Venom Flowzone’s forbidden region in his youth. He had kept himself hidden for decades, and he had only become famous once he had become a Cruiser. At that time, he had wiped out an entire family and had embarked down his path of revenge. Everything had started when he had left that forbidden zone.

The forbidden region that Shui Pai had escaped from in Venom Flowzone was a place known as the Infernal Zone. It was a deadly place that was filled with crimson mist, and anyone who entered it could only rely on luck to leave with their life intact. Two of the Divine Venom Dynasty’s emperors had died in the Infernal Zone, and Qing Shaohuang did not dare to enter the place. His ancestors had only entered when their lives were reaching the end, desperate to find something within the Infernal Zone that could save their lives.

Shui Pai’s family had been exterminated, and everyone had assumed that he was dead when he fled into the Infernal Zone. No one could have imagined that decades later, the same person would get his revenge and kill everyone who had participated in his family’s eradication. Shui Pai’s accomplishments had encouraged many people to go into the Infernal Zone, only to die.

Lu Yin looked away from the report; could Shui Pai’s hideout be in the Infernal Zone?

…

The next day, all five of the imperial palace’s gates leading to Venom King City were opened. A mighty bell was rung, and the entire city shook.

There were very few instances throughout the entire history of the Divine Venom Dynasty when outsiders had been invited into the imperial palace. This time, Qing Shaohuang had invited cultivators from all over the Fifth Mainland to visit Venom King City, which was something to be recorded down in history.

King Qing Li arrived at Lu Yin’s guest residence to personally escort him to the imperial palace.

One by one, high-ranking officials from the Divine Venom Dynasty escorted representatives from various major powers of the Fifth Mainland.

Countless members of the Divine Venom Dynasty watched in excitement from outside the imperial palace. Balsam, Wen Yao, Wen Sansi, Yuehua Mavis, and more were led by the officials to enter the imperial palace through one of the five gates.

The palace’s central square was surrounded by clear water, and Qing Li gestured to Lu Yin. "Alliance Leader Lu, please be seated."

Lu Yin had been given a position that was nearly equal to that of Qing Shaohuang himself.

Of the Innerverse’s eight great flowzones, Qing Shaohuang was the master of Venom Flowzone, which put him on the same level as Liu Qianjue, Ling Qiu, and the other leaders. Lu Yin was the master of Blazing Mist Flowzone, so he was technically the only one of Qing Shaohuang’s peers to attend the banquet.

Across from Lu Yin, seated at the same level, was Mr. You.

The man was an overseer and represented the Hall of Honor, which meant that he had a very high status. If they were anywhere outside of Qing Shaohuang’s empire and palace, Mr. You would actually hold a position above even Qing Shaohuang.

As Mr. You took his seat, his gloomy eyes swept over to glance at Lu Yin before stopping.

The corners of Lu Yin's mouth curled into a smile. He had no worries about Mr. You at all, as he was someone who was about to lose his position. Instead, Lu Yin looked at the Mt. Microcosms Protector who stood behind Mr. You. The Protector noticed Lu Yin’s attention, and his face grew pale as he felt his heart drop.

Lu Yin was sitting next to Qing Li, as every single guest from outside the Divine Venom Dynasty was accompanied by a member of the empire. King Qing Li accompanied Lu Yin while Yuan Taishi accompanied Mr. You.

When Yuan Taishi arrived, Lu Yin reflexively looked around for Yuan Miaomiao, only to see that she had already taken a seat. She was actually staring right at Lu Yin. When she noticed his gaze, she quickly ducked her head.

Lu Yin then looked over at Yuehua Mavis. A member of the Mavis family could reasonably be given a higher position than Lu Yin, but Lu Yin was quite special, and so Yuehua Mavis was accompanied by Qing Longlong.