Chapter 1773: Provocation

Little Leaf King smiled at Qiong Xi’er. "These stellular energy pills have been improved from what was shared before, and we are selling them to the entire Fifth Mainland. Before sales begin, batches are being given as gifts to the Great Eastern Alliance, the Sword Sect, the Wen family, the Lingling clan, and more as an expression of my Shamrock Enterprise's friendship."

Qiong Xi'er understood. Quite simply, Shamrock Enterprise was looking to establish better relationships and increase goodwill with the various powers. While this was not necessary, given the company’s size and power, it was always beneficial to have good relationships. This was an unspoken rule. Still, for some reason, Qiong Xi’er kept feeling that something was wrong. During their conversations, the topic that had come up the most frequently had been whether or not Lu Yin had used the stellular energy pills he had been given.

This did not seem very normal. What was wrong?

Given Qiong Xi'er's keen instincts that had been honed by her time working in finance and with various companies, she believed that if she felt there was a problem, then there had to be one somewhere. Thinking quickly, she said, "Thank you, Little Leaf King, for extending such kindness to us. We accept these stellular energy pills, but unfortunately, our alliance leader is not here at the moment, as he was invited to be Venom Flowzone’s guest. However, as soon as he returns, he will be sure to visit Shamrock Enterprise personally to express his gratitude. Also, our alliance leader is very interested in studying eternal life with Shamrock Enterprise, so we can discuss that matter then as well.”

Little Leaf King's eyes flashed. "Very well."

He then hesitated for a moment. "Besides the task given to me by my father, I would actually like to wait here for Alliance Leader Lu to return. We were competitors during the Astral Tower, and his strength amazed me. I’ve recently had a breakthrough of my own, and I was hoping to be able to ask Alliance Leader Lu for some advice. Please, rest assured that I would never want to disturb him.”

Qiong Xi’er felt this was a problem.

Little Leaf King frowned. "Is there something about my stay that puts Miss Qiong at an inconvenience? Could it be that outsiders are not allowed to stay here on the Ross Empire’s mobile fortress?"

Naturally, there was no way for Qiong Xi'er to actually refuse Little Leaf King, especially since people kept arriving from a distant space station and the fortress. "Of course not, Mr. Little Leaf King. Please enter."

Little Leaf King smiled and nodded before following Qiong Xi’er.

Little Leaf King had a unique status that qualified him to gain access to certain areas that most people were not allowed to visit. "I heard that Alliance Leader Lu enjoys collecting unique plants. This is actually also my own hobby. Could you show me his collection?"

Qiong Xi'er reflexively wanted to refuse. Even though she could not figure out what was wrong, since this was something that Little Leaf King clearly wanted, it only seemed right to deny the request.

There was a sudden shout from off in the distance, and when people turned to look, they saw a large tree wildly charging forward, straight towards the group with Little Leaf King and Qiong Xi’er. The tree’s limbs moved like those of a human, and they took large steps as the tree careened forward without a care. Chaos was left in the tree’s wake.

Though many cultivators from the Great Eastern Alliance were right behind the tree, they did not dare attack it out of fear.

"Hurry up and grab it! Grab the escaped tree! That’s the alliance leader’s pet!" Balaror was racing after the tree and shouting as he ran.

With his shouts, nobody dared to attack the tree, even if they wanted to, as they were worried about hurting the plant.

Zhao Ran next appeared, running right behind Balaror. "Don't run so fast! Big Tree, stop! Stop!"

Little Leaf King had a blank expression on his face as he watched his scene. The big tree drew closer and closer, and it approached with a momentum that made it clear it intended to break through all obstacles.

Qiong Xi'er was utterly speechless. She had already heard about the big tree in Lu Yin’s private park. It was supposedly a large, mobile tree that unflaggingly tried to escape, and it had become quite famous. Qiong Xi’er had not expected the tree to actually escape.

"Mr. Little Leaf King, I'm sorry to have allowed you to see such a scene," Qiong Xi'er helplessly apologized.

Just as Little Leaf King was about to reply, all of the stellular energy pill that he was carrying shot off, tearing straight through his clothes as they flew towards the big tree. Little Leaf King's expression changed dramatically, but he did nothing to try to stop the pills. He allowed them to approach the big tree, as as they did, a little sapling popped out and grabbed all of the pills and devoured them.

Little Leaf King's pupils shrank instantly as he blankly stared ahead.

Qiong Xi'er also saw what happened, and her heart sank. This was the problem she had been concerned about, though she also had no idea how or why it was a problem. Still, the look on Little Leaf King’s face and watching all of the pills be devoured by the sapling had all been indications of a huge problem.

"Little Leaf King, what's the matter?" Qiong Xi'er shouted quickly as she moved her body into a position that blocked Little Leaf King’s line of sight.

However, he stared straight through her, his eyes locked onto the canopy of the big tree that was still approaching. He was focused on the sapling that had suddenly grown significantly that was perched atop the big tree. Little Leaf King casually replied, "It's nothing. This is very interesting."

***

At Venom King City’s imperial palace, the banquet was still continuing. There was a seemingly endless stream of congratulatory gifts from all of the guests. Still, overall there was nothing that stood out as special aside from Shamrock Enterprise’s stellular energy pill.

The banquet soon ended.

Suddenly a scream rang out that startled everyone.

Everyone turned to look for the origin of the screams, and they saw that blood was splattered all over the floor, as well as a man who had been beaten beyond recognition.

Qing Shaohuang frowned. "What's this?"

Attendant Yi delivered a quiet report. "Your Majesty, this person was wandering about just outside the palace, and I felt he had evil intentions when I saw him, so I arrested him and questioned him. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Qing Shaohuang waved a hand, dismissing the chief attendant in disgust. "Drag him away."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Wait." Lu Yin suddenly spoke up.

Everyone turned towards him, and everyone’s expressions suddenly changed. This was because there was a terrible expression on Lu Yin’s face, and it looked like he was ready to commit murder.

This was something that was rarely seen from Lu Yin, and seeing it left even Wen Sansi and others who were more familiar with Lu Yin completely shocked. Ling Que reflexively wanted to sneak away.

Qing Shaohuang also looked at Lu Yin and asked, "What's the matter, Alliance Leader Lu?"

Attendant Yi looked at Lu Yin with a cold stare.

Lu Yin looked back at the man. "That person is Chang Wu."

"Chang Wu?" Qing Shaohuang was puzzled, and so he looked over at Attendant Yi, who looked to be similarly confused.

"How does Alliance Leader Lu know this person? It’s true, after interrogating him, we learned that his name is Chang Wu, but what is his connection to Alliance Leader Lu?"

Lu Yin's voice chilled, and a strong killing intent could be seen in his eyes as he glared at Attendant Yi. "From the moment I first started cultivating, many people have crossed me, including even the unofficial leader of the Innerverse’s youths, Nightking Zhenwu. However, every last one of those people has died.”

Attendant Yi sneered, "Why are you bringing this up to this lowly servant? This slave would never dare antagonize Alliance Leader Lu."

Qing Shaohuang spoke up, "Is there some sort of misunderstanding, Alliance Leader Lu?"

Lu Yin's eyes flared, and he suddenly attacked. A Vacuum Palm shot through the void, headed straight for Attendant Yi. The man did not react, as he was not even able to perceive Lu Yin’s attack. Instead, Qing Shaohuang raised a hand and blocked the Vacuum Palm.

The emperor’s cultivation exceeded a power level of 700,000, and his jincan gave him a power level of more than 800,000. Despite this, blocking the Vacuum Palm had left his hand numb, badly startling the Envoy. Lu Yin was not even an Envoy, and yet his physical strength was absolutely incredible. Even if Qing Shaohuang was not someone who had focused on improving his physical strength, he was still an Envoy and should be able to easily deal with anyone who was not.

However, there was still a significant gap between the two, and even if Qing Shaohuang’s hand was left slightly numb, he had not moved a single step.

As for Attendant Yi, he did not even react until after Qing Shaohuang had blocked the Vacuum Palm. The chief attendant had not expected Lu Yin to attack so suddenly. If not for Qing Shaohuang taking the attack, Attendant Yi would surely have died.

For a moment, Lu Yin's icy eyes and killing intent forced an unprecedented level of fear upon Attendant Yi. He was a powerhouse himself, and enjoyed an elite status within the Divine Venom Dynasty, so this was a new experience for him. He felt a burgeoning and unfathomable fear for Lu Yin from the depths of his heart. He realized that this youth really, really wanted him dead.

Anger filled Qing Shaohuang's eyes, and he shouted, "Alliance Leader Lu, no matter what may have happened, this is still my Divine Venom Dynasty as well as my imperial palace! Your actions show that you are not taking me seriously!"

As he shouted, he shattered Lu Yin's spiritual force.

While Lu Yin had been glaring at Attendant Yi, he had also lashed out with his spiritual force to overwhelm Attendant Yi with fear.

Lu Yin and Qing Shaohuang stared at each other. "If we were not in your Divine Venom Dynasty, you would no longer be alive."

Lu Yin then moved, and collected Chang Wu from the distance. The man was half-dead and was completely unconscious.

While Lu Yin would act ruthlessly and had often been cruel while uniting the Outerverse, he had seldom allowed others to be implicated by his actions. Chang Wu had been targeted because of his association with Lu Yin. The young man had been negligent and had not taken care of matters as soon as possible, which had allowed Chang Wu to suffer so terribly.

Everyone at the banquet watched as Lu Yin took out a medicinal pill and fed it to Chang Wu while speculating over the two’s relationship.

"Alliance Leader Lu, I demand an explanation for this." Qing Shaohuang was very solemn. Even though the emperor had not stopped Lu Yin from saving Chang Wu, regardless of the reason, Lu Yin had tried to kill Qing Shaohuang’s chief attendant right in front of him, which was no different from publicly slapping the emperor. Such actions had to be accounted for.

Lu Yin turned to stare at Qing Shaohuang. "Your Majesty Qing Shaohuang has been keeping track of my whereabouts since I arrived, so you already know that this is the person who showed me around Venom King City. He is the person in your city who I have spent the most time with. He is a timid person, and thus would never dare approach the imperial palace in a suspicious manner to be caught and tortured by your servant. This behavior is showing me no respect at all."

Qing Shaohuang turned back to look at Attendant Yi, and sternly asked, "Is this true?"

Attendant Yi wanted to quibble, but seeing Lu Yin’s eyes, an endless fear welled up in the man’s heart. He was so frightened that he instantly caved. He could not muster the courage to argue, and he even started to tremble.

Many people present felt disappointed; this chief attendant was simply too useless! If he had publicly denied Lu Yin’s allegations, there was no way that Lu Yin could force a confession from him in front of so many people? They were in the Divine Venom Dynasty, not the Great Eastern Alliance. As long as there was no evidence and they held their stand, things would not necessarily turn out badly.

This was so unfortunate; many people sighed inwardly.

When the Great Eastern Alliance had entered the Innerverse, the Sword Sect and other Innerverse powers had cooperated and acted against the Great Eastern Alliance because none of the great or minor flowzones wanted to join the Great Eastern Alliance. A large number of the guests attending Qing Shaohuang’s banquet came from those great and minor flowzones, ans so most of them hoped to see Lu Yin and Venom Flowzone become irreconcilable enemies.

However, after seeing Attendant Yi's cowardly behavior, many people just shook their heads. This matter was already over.

Qing Shaohuang glared at Attendant Yi and roared, "You overstep yourself! How dare you offend Alliance Leader Lu? He is one of my Divine Venom Dynasty’s honored guests! How can you redeem yourself for such inexcusable actions?"

As the emperor shouted, he waved his hand and smacked Attendant Yi's body far away. No one knew what sort of poison or jincan was used, but upon landing, Attendant Yi let out a shrill scream and began frantically scratching at his skin.

Lu Yin watched from the sidelines, as this was all just an act. Anyone else would have already been killed, but Qing Shaohuang genuinely doted on Attendant Yi. All of this meant that Qing Shaohuang had been the one to arrange this entire act.

Lu Yin took a sip of his wine.

The shrill screams continued, and Qing Shaohuang returned his attention to Lu Yin. He rose to his feet and apologized, "Alliance Leader Lu, my leniency with my servant has led to such an incident. I must apologize to Alliance Leader Lu."

Lu Yin responded indifferently, "That’s unnecessary. There’s another one right here who has been provoking me."

Mr. You’s brows rose sharply, as this was clearly referring to him.

Prince Qing Li was speechless; Lu Yin was too aggressive with his words.

"Regardless, I’m the one who is responsible for this matter. As an apology, Alliance Leader Lu is welcome to select one thing from my treasury as compensation for what has happened. Please don’t refuse," Qing Shaohuang spoke in a sincere manner.