Chapter 437: Acquaintance

The pretty maidservant was not thrown off guard by Lu Yin’s question, as this was not the first time she had been asked that question. “Of course, it’s a technique that’s well known in the Starfall Sea’s legends, but no one has ever obtained it.”

“Not even the Sea King?” Lu Yin was astonished.

She rolled her eyes at Lu Yin. “Hold on, let me just ask the Sea King for you.”

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, and Lu Yin choked again. He was irritated with the woman. “Thanks, please help me ask him to lend me some money as well.”

She stared at Lu Yin, and Lu Yin stared back. After a moment, the two laughed together.

“You’re very interesting. The other people participating in the selection are either feigning nobility or trying to get off of their high horse to flatter us. You’re pretty good—you even dare to annoy me.” She pursed her lips.

Lu Yin replied, “Marriage is something that’s determined by fate. What’s destined for you will be yours, and what isn’t can’t be forced.”

She snorted. “It just sounds like you have no confidence, so you gave up. Or perhaps you’re here hiding from an enemy?”

Lu Yin’s heart stopped for a moment, and he subconsciously glanced towards Feng Mo’s personal spacecraft behind them. This brat was rather sharp.

“Looks like I guessed right. You are hiding from an enemy.” The pretty maidservant was pleased with herself.

“So what? I’m still qualified.”

She nodded. “That’s right. You are indeed qualified, and I personally verified it. To prove that my insight is correct, you’ll have to give your all during this selection process. Don’t let yourself be easily defeated by those from the other qualification sites, or else I’ll lose face.”

“Based on what?” Lu Yin rolled his eyes.

Her lips perked up. “I can tell you about what you want to know, such as information about the Undying Manual.”

“Didn’t you just say that you don’t know anything?”

“I lied. I know some.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. “Fine, I’ll do my best.”

She replied, “That’s better. Alright, I’ll tell you now: the Undying Manual does indeed exist, but, unfortunately, it was most likely taken away.”

“Why are you so certain?” Lu Yin was flabbergasted.

The beautiful maid replied, “There are many legends about the Starfall Sea, and though some are baseless, a few are based in reality and were not randomly concocted. The Undying Manual is no different. There is indeed some basis for the legends regarding that manual, but such legends have vanished in recent years, so the Sea King came to the conclusion that it was taken by someone.”

“When did that happen?”

“How would I know? Such rumors aren’t based on anything substantial, and no one knows how they come to be or why they go away, so no one knows when it might have been taken away. The Undying Manual supposedly disappeared a long time ago, and the Sea King believes that it wasn’t taken away recently, but rather a few centuries ago.”

Lu Yin fell silent. The Undying Duo had been roaming the Starfall Sea a few centuries ago. Could Undying Yushan really have taken it? But that wasn’t very likely since the old emperor would have passed the manual down before his death. This was further supported by the fact that he had left the Yu Secret Art behind, so there was no reason why he would have destroyed the Undying Manual. Thus, the most logical conclusion was that it had actually been taken away by someone else.

“Of course, it’s also possible that it wasn’t taken away. Perhaps one day, one year, or one century later, the original source of the legends about the Undying Manual will reappear.”

“You’ll be old by then,” Lu Yin remarked with a sigh.

The pretty maidservant became furious, and her eyes seemed to send out endless flames.

Lu Yin smiled and waved his hands as he backed away from her.

She was furious. “Ugly, disgusting ghost, blockhead, idiot…”

Many looked at Lu Yin from a distance with reverence on their faces. This guy was amazing; he had actually angered this girl in such a way. There were many back at the entrance of the Starfall Sea who would celebrate if they heard about this incident.

Over the next few days, Lu Yin’s group only saw one underwater planet as they sailed across the sea. It was just like what the handsome man had said; there were very few planets in the Starfall Sea, and there were no uninhabited planets. Those had been destroyed by rogue waves long ago.

Atop the deck, Lu Yin was enjoying the sea breeze when an alarm sounded from the ship. Everyone was ordered to return below decks since a rogue wave had appeared.

In the distance, the soaring sea reached towards the sky, snarling towards them like a heaven-devouring beast.

The passengers seeing a rogue wave of the Starfall Sea for the first time paled. They felt a despair akin to when regular humans faced a thousand meters tall tsunami; there was a feeling of helplessness and despair that could not be suppressed, and even the handsome man was trembling in fear.

Lu Yin stood in the hold and watched on in shock as the towering rogue wave rushed over. His eyes were filled with star energy, and he saw an unimaginable number of rune lines. Blood dripped down from both of his eyes, and Coco screamed from beside him.

Lu Yin hurriedly lowered his head and let the star energy flow out of his eyes. When he wiped the blood away, he saw the same scene as everyone else: the rogue wave had arrived.

When Lu Yin looked at mountains, rivers, or buildings, he had noticed that they all possessed a limited number of rune lines. This was because these things could not really exert any influence on the universe with just their own power. But when Lu Yin had looked at this raging rogue wave, the force that it produced was just too incredible. Just like how a normal tsunami could tear a steel ship apart, the rogue wave before their eyes could rip an entire planet apart.

It was no wonder why each planet had to have a powerhouse with a power level of over 300,000 to protect it. Only a person with such strength would be able to withstand the scouring power of such a rogue wave.

The boat from the Sea King's Dome bobbed up and down among the waves as it was buffeted by the rogue wave. Everyone inside grabbed a hold of something that was fastened down in order to stabilize themselves. Many people trembled in terror; could the ship withstand such a powerful force?

Outside of the boat, a transparent membrane warped under the heavy pressure, but strangely enough, even though the membrane did not have a powerful defense, it was able to withstand the rogue wave’s strength. The whole thing was very mysterious.

It was not only the large ship that was struck by the rogue wave, but many of the spacecraft behind it were also hit hard by it. Fortunately, every one of them had received a special coating at the entrance to the Starfall Sea, so they all safely survived the rogue wave.

It took a full hour for the rogue waves to subside, and afterwards, people could see that the sea level itself had changed. The ship from the Sea King’s Dome no longer floated atop the surface of the water. Instead, it was now sailing within the sea, just above the seabed.

Everyone relaxed at this time since it was clear that they were now safe.

A pale-faced Coco patted her chest. “That was so scary! I thought that I was going to die.”

Zora hugged Coco’s shoulders to comfort her.

Michelle looked out and her eyes lit up. Her sister had passed through this place before, and now it was her turn.

“This is a no man’s land, but people can actually survive in this wretched place. How impressive,” Big Pao remarked with a sigh.

Little Pao immediately motioned for his brother to shut up, but the pretty maid was already glaring at Big Pao.

He smiled in embarrassment and turned to leave.

Bleargh~

Suddenly, a strange yet familiar sound was heard by everyone: someone had vomited.

The beautiful maid’s face changed. “Quickly get out! No one’s allowed to vomit in the hold.”

The person in question had gone completely limp and could not move. So, he was carried away by some of the soldiers from the Sea King’s Dome.

The crowd was surprised; a cultivator could become seasick?

The pretty maid was grossed out and quickly left.

Not only could the membrane withstand the violent rogue waves, but it could also prevent the seawater from flooding in, which let the passengers still go up to the deck of the ship and enjoy the scenery of the Starfall Sea even though they had dove underwater.

Lu Yin went to the deck, but he saw the same person still vomiting frantically there. He then silently turned around and headed to the ship’s stern.

There were quite a few people already there. When Lu Yin arrived, he brushed past a man. Then, he suddenly reached out and tapped on the man’s shoulder. The man whipped around in irritation, but his face changed as soon as he saw Lu Yin. “Lu Yin?”

Lu Yin pulled his hand back. He had not expected to bump into an old acquaintance on this voyage. “I seem to recall that you’re Xun Jiong.”

In the past, in the Shenwu Continent, Lu Yin had forced a group of trial takers to write promissory notes, and this Xun Jiong had been one of those people. However, Xun Jiong’s note had been torn up long ago, as the Xun family had helped the Great Yu Empire by denouncing the Ross Empire for instigating a war. Thus, Xun Jiong no longer owed Lu Yin anything.

In fact, Lu Yin had just been thinking of how he could obtain more of such contracts when he had coincidentally bumped into Xun Jiong.

Xun Jiong was not at all happy to see Lu Yin. The scenes from the Shenwu Continent still occasionally surfaced in his mind, and he knew that this person was not easy to deal with. “Brother Lu, I never thought that I would bump into you here.”

Lu Yin smiled. “I’ve been on the ship for a few days. Why haven’t I seen Brother Xun during this time? Have you been in the hold?”

He nodded coldly. “Yes, I’ve been to the Starfall Sea before, so this isn’t a new experience for me. I was staying within the hold to cultivate. Why is Brother Lu here in the Starfall Sea? Also, I heard that you got swallowed by a storm. However, it appears that you didn’t die.”

Lu Yin squinted. “Those are rumors, just rumors put together to deceive others.”

“Since that’s so, why did Brother Lu not attend the Daynight Feast?” Xun Jiong asked. He then sneered slightly before saying, “Oh, Ling Que was there, so it’s understandable why Brother Lu didn’t attend. I have something else to take care of, so I’ll take my leave first.” He then walked away without looking back.

Lu Yin’s brow rose as he watched Xun Jiong leave. This person had a vile attitude, and it was a pity that his promissory note had already been used. This person had not held back in the slightest just now.

“Seventh Bro, that bastard needs a beating! When that group was forced to write those contracts, An Shaohua and Yue Xianzi didn’t kick up a fuss, but this brat had a problematic attitude. Even now, he was extremely sarcastic towards you!” The Ghost Monkey was quite annoyed.

Lu Yin felt no resentment, as everyone had different views on various matters. He activated his gadget to look up some information about the Xun family.

He was rather surprised after taking just one glance. The Xun family was based in the Ascension Flowzone, which he already knew. However, he had not known about their most famous, and peculiar, battle technique. It was known as the Gear Construction Technique.

This so-called Gear Construction Technique was different from technology, since technology held boundless possibilities through its never ending development, though everything still relied on external energy. Even the Technocracy that had access to ancient technology and countless advanced technologies could not replace the cultivation process that all living creatures went through. Becoming stronger necessarily required one to undergo transformations.

The Gear Construction Technique was different, as it focused on building up one’s strength from small components. The technique used star energy to create refined mechanical parts, which the user would then assemble into complex devices.

Simply put, most used star energy to battle by using their star energy to simulate other forms, such as wind or fire. The Xun family used their star energy to simulate refined mechanical parts. The theory was similar, but their battle style was completely different from that of most cultivators.

And this was just one use of their Gear Construction Technique. The Xun family’s Gear Construction Technique was famous throughout the universe, as not only could they battle with it, but they could also construct other things such as defensive mechanisms or even traps like the ones found in tombs meant for raiders. Their technique could be applied extensively in all kinds of situations, and it was completely different from technology.

This Gear Construction Technique piqued Lu Yin’s interest, but unfortunately, in order to keep this Gear Construction Technique safe, the Xun family minimized all of their contact with the outside world, and they rarely sent their members out. They were not interested in the conflicts of other universal powers, either, which was something that Lu Yin could not really understand.

So why was Xun Jiong trying to participate in this selection process for the Sea King’s son-in-law? Lu Yin had taken particular note that Xun Jiong was very handsome, so he definitely had received a token.

Thirteen days quickly passed by. During this period, two more rogue waves appeared, and the ship had passed by three planets. When they passed by the third planet, they had coincidentally encountered a rogue wave, which gave the crowd a chance to see a powerhouse whose power level surpassed 300,000 in action.

That boundlessly terrifying wave had shocked Big Pao, Meng Yue, and the rest, rendering them all and had rendered them speechless.

It was not Lu Yin’s first time encountering such a powerhouse, and he had even experienced being killed by an elder from the Seven Courts once, so he had a rather deep impression of such power.