Chapter 2318: Arrangements

"Greetings, Dao Chosen Lu." Skymender the others all arrived before the jiao. They felt the terrifying pressure from the massive beast, and they bowed as one.

The jiao felt quite proud from all the attention, and it raised its claws and brandished them in an impressive manner.

Lu Yin picked up Yao Di and tossed him over.

Yao Xuan hurried forward and caught the emperor before glaring up at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin happened to be looking at Yao Xuan as he looked up, and Lu Yin’s expression grew cold when he saw the animosity in Yao Xuan’s eyes. The jiao let out a tremendous roar, and the aura of a Progenitor filled the Celestial Beast Weave. The rings of the tributary Astral Rivers churned, and mountains collapsed. Even entire cities collapsed.

Countless astral beasts quivered and abandoned hope of survival.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Skymender was badly startled. "I beg Dao Chosen Lu to calm himself."

Terror filled Yao Xuan's eyes, and he slowly dropped his head as Lu Yin watched. Yao Di was still breathing heavily. Resigned, Yao Di rose to his feet, faced Lu Yin, and bowed in the same manner as all of the other astral beasts. "I beg Dao Chosen Lu to calm himself."

"I beg Dao Chosen Lu to calm himself." Many other astral beasts bowed and implored Lu Yin.

As far as Lu Yin could see, there was not a single astral beast who dared to look up at him. He stood above all of the astral beasts. It felt quite satisfying. This must have been the same sensation that the Lu family had enjoyed in the past.

"Who set up the Celestial Beast Weave in this manner?" Lu Yin asked.

Skymender's eyes flickered and he stepped forward. "I did, Dao Chosen."

Lu Yin looked at Skymender. "I don’t understand. How is it that, even after so many years, no one from the Human Domain has noticed that this is set up exactly the same as the Starsibyl Sect? Has no human visited the Celestial Beast Realm?"

Skymender answered in a respectful tone, "No one was concerned with how the Celestial Beast Weave was arranged."

Lu Yin stared at Skymender. The truth was very clear from this message; even if humans had visited the Celestial Beast Empire, no one had paid attention to the layout of the Celestial Beast Weave due to the superiority that humans felt towards the astral beasts. They were viewed as nothing more than animals.

"Let's go. Your Majesty Yao Di, show me to your throne," Lu Yin commanded with clear interest.

Soon, Lu Yin was led inside an ancient and oppressive palace. Both humans and astral beasts would be intimidated by such impressive construction.

Yao Di’s palace openly displayed arrogance and superiority, and it was enough to awe any and all visitors.

At the moment, Lu Yin was sitting atop Yao Di’s throne, and before him was Skymender and the rest of the astral beasts’ representatives.

"Dao Chosen, the Astral Beast Domain’s Celestial Beast Empire is offering a complete surrender. Additionally, there are twenty six different alliances throughout our Domain, and all of them have surrendered…" Skymender solemnly delivered a report that informed Lu Yin of everything concerning the Astral Beast Domain.

Lu Yin listened in silence. He had conquered the Astral Beast Domain, and at the same time, gathered a vast army and many powerhouses under his command.

The Astral Beast Domain had no fewer than thirty creatures with the strength of Envoys, and there were over 300 creatures with the strength of Enlighters. As for creatures comparable to Explorers, Cruisers, and Hunters, there were many thousands of them. These were the forces that had survived the endless years of war. It was no wonder why the Celestial Beast Domain had been able to stand up to the Human Domain for so many years.

Aside from powerful astral beasts, Lu Yin’s top priority was to learn about the resources available in the Astral Beast Domain. He had previously heard that it was a region with sparse resources. After all, they had been invaded by the Sixth Mainland as well, but the invaders had gained nothing for all their efforts.

While the entire Astral Beast Domain had been written off as poor and lacking in resources, Lu Yin did not believe that there was nothing but poverty. At the very least, the Celestial Demons who ruled the Astral Beast Domain should have gathered a large amount of star essence.

Just the thought of new wealth caused Lu Yin's eyes to light up.

The Technocracy had never cared about gathering star essence, and yet they had been able to provide Lu Yin with about a trillion. He was certain that the Astral Beast Domain had to have much more.

Lu Yin listened to Skymender’s report, and then those of the others who were inside the imperial palace. Countless astral beasts restlessly waited outside the palace, nervously awaiting to learn their fate.

While the Astral Beast Domain had little knowledge or history, the appearance of the humans from the Heavens Sect era had also initiated the spread of a great deal of information regarding the Heavens Sect era, including information concerning the Fourth Mainland.

The Heavens Sect era had been the darkest moment in history for astral beasts. They had been enslaved by humans and forced to act as mere mounts. These facts were not something that the astral beasts were willing to face. Even though during the Heavens Sect era, the Fourth Mainland had powerful astral beast Progenitors, there had been no way of changing that.

One of the cities in one of the rings of the Astral River’s tributaries that circled the Celestial Beast Weave had been split in half by the jiao’s might.

Yao Gu stood at the fissure, calmly observing the break. Everything had changed within just a few decades.

He simply could not accept the fact that the Astral Beast Domain had already been conquered, and even worse, it had been conquered by that human.

Lu Yin was not some unknown stranger to Yao Gu. When he had been a guest in the Human Domain, he had obtained a Mavis Bank bank card, but it had been stolen away from him by Lu Yin. He had sent a Void Thunderbeast into the Human Domain to punish Lu Yin, but the Astral Combat Academy had stopped those efforts. Back then, Lu Yin had been a mere ant who could have been squashed by Yao Gu like a bug. It was unbelievable that the former bug had brought such a terrible disaster upon the Astral Beast Domain.

"Don't bother dwelling on it. The fact that the emperor himself wasn’t able to change anything means that all of our stewing and thinking are completely useless." Cursewind arrived at Yao Gu’s side and let out a sigh.

Yao Gu glanced over. "If you were given a chance to return to Ironblood Weave back then, what would you do?"

Cursewind's eyes instantly grew cold with a terrifyingly dangerous glint, but it lasted for less than a moment. "Contemplating such things is pointless. Things are how they are, and all that matters is what arrangements he makes next."

Cursewind had once fought against Lu Yin during a battle in Ironblood Weave, but Lu Yin had used power vessels to fight back. Cursewind had truly not taken the human very seriously, and he had not put forth anywhere near his full efforts.

Given another chance, Cursewind would have made sure to kill Lu Yin, even if it meant dying with the human.

It was unfortunate that it was impossible to turn back time. Even if such a thing was possible, it was completely out of reach of individuals like Cursewind and Yao Gu.

There were numerous individuals throughout the Astral Beast Domain with similar thoughts, such as Tian Hou, who had been the most powerful participant during the Tournament of the Strongest and who had faced Lu Yin in the finals. There was also Xu Qing, who hated himself for not using his full strength. He regretted not dying with Lu Yin. Lilac Snow, who had led the Astral Beast Domain’s team of participants into the Human Domain for the Tournament of the Strongest. If she had taken action back then, she would have been able to crush Lu Yin with a single finger. There were also individuals like Feng Jiu, Loach Monster, the Void Wanderer ancestor, and many more.

Countless astral beasts had crossed paths with Lu Yin over the years, and all of them regretted their previous actions.

Of course, Lu Yin was well aware of this.

At the moment, he was suppressing the Astral Beast Domain with the jiao, though Lu Yin was not using the jiao’s actual power. Instead, he was relying on the astral beasts’ instinctual fear and submission towards the jiao. With the passing of time, their submission would waver. Lu Yin did not have true control over the Astral Beast Domain yet.

Naturally, that meant that the next thing Lu Yin needed to do was completely integrate the Astral Beast Domain with the Human Domain.

For integration to occur, Yao Di and Skymender absolutely could not be allowed to remain in the Astral Beast Domain, which meant that Lu Yin needed to send someone to oversee the place. Who should that be? Hen Xin was automatically disqualified, as giving such an untrustworthy person such authority would be no different than providing him with the means to escape from Lu Yin’s control.

This meant that there were only a select few who were qualified as candidates.

It was a pity that Progenitor Chen's power could not be spread into the Astral Beast Domain. If that were possible, Lu Yin would be able to send absolutely anyone to oversee the astral beasts, as just a thought from him would be enough to erase any and all unstable factors.

The instant defeat of the Astral Beast Domain created huge waves throughout the Human Domain. Countless people excitedly looked to the east. With the Astral Beast Domain conquered, humanity’s territory would double. Also, this meant that, for the first time, humanity had truly united the Fifth Mainland.

Inside the Heavens Sect, atop the main mountain, the Ghost Monkey became utterly silent after he learned that Lu Yin had upended the Astral Beast Domain with the jiao. No one could find the Ghost Monkey.

Lu Yin spent several days straight listening to Skymender’s report regarding everything in the Astral Beast Domain.

During this time, Lu Yin developed a very clear understanding of the place.

In truth, while it was said that the Celestial Beast Empire ruled the Astral Beast Domain, the Celestial Beast Empire did not control the Astral Beast Domain.

In essence, the empire carried out the same role as the Human Domain’s Hall of Honor. Just because everyone made it a show to obey the Hall of Honor, it did not mean that the Hall of Honor had ever truly ruled the Human Domain.

The Astral Beast Domain also had various alliances. When Lu Yin had fought on the border warfront the first time, the Human Domain had been fighting against the Wilderness Beast Alliance. It was an alliance that had been formed by seven Enlighter-level astral beasts, and they were led by an astral beast who called itself the Soaring Firebeast Emperor. But while he was a Soaring Firebeast, the species considered him a traitor and hated how he referred to himself.

The Astral Beast Domain had a total of twenty six alliances, but all of them had already surrendered to Lu Yin.

The fear and pressure that the jiao gave all the astral beasts was too severe for any of them to overcome.

"Stop." Lu Yin suddenly interrupted Skymender, who instantly stopped while warily eying Lu Yin.

Lu Yin leaned forward. "Does the Celestial Beast Empire’s imperial advisor have any interest in going to the Heavens Sect to act as a teacher?"

Skymender calmly stared at Lu Yin. "If that is your order, Dao Chosen, I will obey."

A smile spread across Lu Yin’s face, and he turned to look at Yao Di. "Jue Yi betrayed me, and so he will never be allowed to appear again. The Heavens Sect has eight Heavenly Gates, and I don't want to change that. Would you be willing to take command of one of them, Yao Di? We would change the Undying Heavenly Gate to the Beast Heavenly Gate."

The rest of the astral beasts present all glanced at each other, as Lu Yin was taking away their two most powerful individuals. This meant that, no matter what happened in the future, the Astral Beast Domain would have no one who could resist Lu Yin at all.

Yao Di understood that he had no choice in this matter. Lu Yin’s comment about how Jue Yi would never appear again was also a warning; if Yao Di did not agree, he would also disappear.

"If that is the Dao Chosen’s decision," Yao Di agreed dejectedly.

Lu Yin was satisfied with the two astral beasts’ acceptance of the situation. "Don't worry, both the Heavenly Gates’ gatemasters and the Heavens Sect’s teacher are among the highest positions available in the Heavens Sect. Given your strength, you naturally need to be given a fitting position."

Having concluded matters with the two Semi-Progenitors, Lu Yin turned his attention to the rest of the astral beasts. "I intend to form another army within the Heavens Sect that I will call the Astral Beast Army. There will be 5,000 astral beasts in the army, and my goal is for them to support the tens of millions of human soldiers in the other armies."

There were no arguments. Ever since the jiao had released a Progenitor’s aura across the Astral Beast Domain, they had known that they were doomed to this outcome. In fact, if the Astral Beast Domain had instead conquered the Human Domain, their actions would have been no different.

"As you will it, Dao Chosen," the various patriarchs agreed.

Yao Xuan was unwilling to accept such an outcome, and he could not help but glance at Lu Yin once again.

Lu Yin smiled as he said, "Also, I know that there are many unaffiliated astral beasts throughout the Domain who have no allegiances and are difficult to control. The twenty six alliances are a perfect example. They’ve surrendered to me for now, but that does not mean that they will continue to submit in the future. For this reason, someone will need to remain here in the Astral Beast Domain to oversee things. I wonder, what do you think about the Blade Heavenly Gate?"

Skymender spoke up, "Dao Chosen, are you referring to Gatemaster Leng Qing?"

Lu Yin nodded.

Skymender answered respectfully, "Gatemaster Leng Qing is a Semi-Progenitor who was one of the gatemasters of the Twelve Heavenly Gates during the Heavens Sect era, and he has an excellent chance of eventually becoming a Progenitor. If he is placed in charge of the Astral Beast Domain, no one will have the courage to revolt."

"I’m glad to hear the imperial advisor’s approval! In that case, it's settled. There are still many things to deal with, but there’s still one matter that is too important to hand over to anyone else.” Lu Yin’s eyes grew hard. “I would like the imperial advisor to show me to where the humanoid sourceboxes are all stored."

Skymender and Yao Di were both badly startled, and they stared at Lu Yin in a daze. "How do you know about that, Dao Chosen?"