Star Odyssey

Chapter 3045: Style

The woman's expression was extremely grave as she stared intently at Lu Yin. "You’re human."

"Obviously."

"What is your relationship with those astral beasts?"

"They’ve submitted to me," Lu Yin replied, a smile tugging at his lips.

Fei Sui's pupils shrank. "Has that ten-ring creature on your shoulder also submitted to you?"

Lu Yin looked up at the woman. "A third question. Once I answer you, it's your turn to answer me. Yes, it has submitted to me."

The woman's heart dropped. This answer implied that the jiao was a pet.

She tried to evaluate the man’s strength with her mecha’s sensors, but they were not able to detect anything at all.

"Now, it's your turn to answer my questions. However, before that, I’ll give you a chance to defeat me. Go ahead and attack. I won’t dodge," Lu Yin stated as he stared at the mecha before him.

Fei Sui did not hesitate at all. His mecha’s arm rose high while transforming into a sword. The blade then fell in a fierce slash.

As he attacked, the woman and the other two pilots carefully observed. They were all eager to gain some understanding of Lu Yin's capabilities.

Lu Yin stood still. The sword falling down upon him cut through the void, carrying enough power to leave the entire planet trembling beneath Lu Yin’s feet.

As the sword fell in a terrifying attack, Lu Yin merely raised a hand.

Silence fell upon the entire region, and the wind stopped. The ground no longer quivered, and everything calmed. There was not a single ripple on the distant lake.

As for the massive sword, it was frozen mid-air. Lu Yin had stopped it with a single finger, and it was not able to move at all.

Fei Sui stared on in stupefaction. Sweat beaded along his forehead.

The woman closed her eyes. Sure enough, just as expected, a man who could have a ten-ring creature as a pet was not someone they could contend against.

The man had merely wanted to establish his authority in preparation for his upcoming questions.

However, that was completely unnecessary, as there was no need for the pilots to hold back any information regarding the Infinity Empire. They were allowed to disclose any information they wanted. It was their right when encountering mortal danger.

There was a clang as the sword smashed to the ground.

The cyan mecha opened up, and the woman stepped out.

Fei Sui was startled. "Little Qing!"

The woman remained calm. "These mechas are useless. Do you really think they can protect us?"

Fei Sui was momentarily speechless. He was overcome by a wave of weakness.

Lu Yin observed the woman with interest. She was quite striking, and her demeanor reminded him a bit of Wendy, as well as Jiang Qingyue.

This was a decisive woman. She had not hesitated to expose herself after clearly recognizing her situation.

She approached Lu Yin and offered him a graceful bow. Her long hair fell forward, exposing a pale neck. "Bu Qing greets you, my lord."

Lu Yin's eyes flicked past the woman to look behind her.

Fei Sui stepped out of his own mecha, and the other two pilots quickly followed. They struggled down to the ground and then stepped forward to bow to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin studied the four people in front of him. Conveniently enough, there were two men and two women.

"You are able to make bold declarations, and yet restrain yourselves when necessary. You’re quite adaptable, proving yourselves to be among the best of your generation," Lu Yin praised.

Fei Sui's face twitched. He was clearly irritated. He had already become accustomed to acting in an utterly domineering manner in the Astral Beast Domain, and he had even boasted that he would wash the entire universe in blood. The current situation was incredibly humbling.

The power of the man who stood before them exceeded Fei Sui’s imagination.

Bu Qing respectfully asked, "May I ask how we should address you, my lord?"

"You have no cultivation at all," Lu Yin commented while avoiding the question.

"No," Bu Qing confirmed.

Lu Yin nodded. He found this quite curious. These people completely lacked any sort of cultivation, and yet they were able to control such formidable mechas. He was reminded of the Transcendent Universe’s energy converters. However, energy converters needed the users to have some level of ability to control the energy, even if that requirement was minimal.

In contrast, the four mecha pilots were completely ordinary humans, which was decidedly odd.

After that, Lu Yin spent some time learning about the Infinity Empire from the four mecha pilots.

The Infinity Empire used a type of energy they called ring energy to power everything. It permeated every corner of the Infinity Empire, and they used it to create both their protective shields and to power their mechas.

Even the technology that they utilized to tear through the void and maintain the spatial rifts relied on ring energy.

By relying on the ubiquitous presence of ring energy, various weapons had been developed.

The Infinity Empire’s ring energy was their equivalent to the Origin Universe’s stellular energy. Early on, almost everyone in the Fifth Mainland cultivated star energy, and as they grew stronger, the more talented individuals would go on to forge their own paths. No matter what, stellular energy was the foundational resource for cultivation in the Fifth Mainland.

As for how ordinary people were capable of tapping into ring energy, the Infinity Empire had developed its own methods. They primarily took on a survival of the fittest approach, as not everyone could control ring energy.

The Infinity Empire possessed a vast fleet of battleships, as well as a considerable number of mechas. Each mecha was exorbitantly expensive to manufacture, as they required a plethora of rare materials. The empire's native universe possessed far more resources than most parallel universes, which was what had initially steered them towards developing mecha manufacturing. Later, they had pushed their way into various parallel universes to mine the necessary rare materials to continue producing more mechas, and with each conquest, the empire grew stronger.

The ruler of the Infinity Empire was known as Emperor Shang, and he piloted the Supreme Mecha, which was a twelve-ring mecha. Ring energy was quantified by the number of rings, and both Bu Qing and Fei Sui piloted eight-ring mechas, which were as powerful as a peak Envoy. Nine rings was equal to the Semi-Progenitor level, while ten rings matched Progenitor-level strength, as did eleven and twelve rings. The difference between those levels was unknown to the youths, as they had never seen Emperor Shang in action.

This explanation caused Lu Yin to become more somber. If ten rings was equal to the strength of a Progenitor, then eleven rings most likely corresponded to the peak of an ordinary Progenitor, which was Xia Shenji’s level of strength. It was possible that twelve rings was equal to a sequence powerhouse.

Lu Yin gained a new understanding of just how strong the Infinity Empire might be. He could not afford to underestimate this civilization.

Bu Qing and Fei Sui did not try to conceal anything from Lu Yin. Staying alive was their top priority, and the Infinity Empire did not care if their people spread information. Strength was undeniable.

However, their willingness to share practically every detail made Lu Yin grow suspicious that something was off about the Infinity Empire. Such freedom of information was not at all normal.

His eyes swept over the four pilots. Of them, Bu Qing enjoyed the highest status, as she was the daughter of Bu Wu, who was the Infinity Empire’s Marshal. She possessed the decisiveness and flexibility of a good commander. Next was Fei Sui, who was the son of the Infinity Empire's General Fei Yan. Despite his arrogance and superiority, he was not the type of person to pathetically beg for his life when facing death.

The other two pilots were different, and their demeanor and behavior were drastically different from Bu Qing and Fei Sui's, which suggested they came from a completely different sort of background.

Lu Yin separated the four people, and he first chose to speak with the other woman alone.

"I see that you have something you want to say," Lu Yin observed as he stared at the woman.

She was frightened and quickly offered a bow. "My lord, I have a request."

"You're not in any position to make any requests," Lu Yin replied indifferently.

"I am aware of that, but considering your strength, my lord, as well as the fact that you did not immediately attack the Infinity Empire when you were invaded, you must have your own reasons. I am willing to share some information about the Infinity Empire that will grant you a much better understanding of it, so that you might be able to develop strategies to counter them." The woman spoke quickly while presenting her offer.

Lu Yin was intrigued. "Go on."

The woman swallowed nervously. "The Infinity Empire rarely suffers defeat when invading universes, but it has happened before. Many years ago, the empire opened a rift to a parallel universe, only for the rift to be instantly repelled. Emperor Shang participated in that very invasion. Right when the spatial rift was about to close, he used ring energy to force it to stay open and then he pushed his way into that universe.

"Two other Infinity Mechas, each possessing a strength of eleven rings, accompanied him.

"No one knows what happened in that universe, but the Supreme Mecha returned alone. The other two disappeared forever, which was a significant loss for the Infinity Empire. With that one battle, Emperor Shang abandoned ever trying to conquer that parallel universe."

While it sounded like a minor and unremarkable anecdote, Lu Yin understood the woman’s implication: as soon as the Infinity Empire realized that a universe could not be conquered, they would abandon the invasion, and they would also abandon people like Bu Qing and Fei Sui.

If the empire had been willing to abandon eleven-ring mechas, then they would undoubtedly abandon a few young prodigies like Bu Qing.

Lu Yin reassessed the woman. "What's your name?"

The woman respectfully answered, "I am Hong Yi. My father is the minister of the Infinity Empire’s armory, Hong Nian."

"Minister of the armory?"

"He oversees all of the empire’s equipment, which includes the battleships, mechas, and part of the ring energy distribution."

Lu Yin was surprised. "That sounds like a very important position.”

Hong Yi nodded. "It is, and that is also why I am somewhat familiar with certain details of the empire. If you need information, my lord, feel free to ask me."

Lu Yin stared at Hong Yi. The woman was not particularly beautiful, but she was certainly not ugly. She had a delicate appearance and was clearly insightful. She had only mentioned a single incident, but by doing so, she had provided Lu Yin with a direction to proceed. Her ability to understand the essence of the situation was impressive. There was no doubt that she was an intelligent person.

"Why tell me this? You don't know me," Lu Yin asked.

Hong Yi remained extremely respectful. "You are very young, my lord."

Five simple words were enough to express a sense of shock that Bu Qing and the others were unable to voice. It was true that Lu Yin appeared very young, and his youthfulness was not an act. Youths and the elderly possessed different auras, and some people could see through such things with a glance.

Hong Nian held the position of minister of the Infinity Empire’s armory, which could not be done by most people. There was no question that Hong Yi's insight had been influenced by her father’s guidance.

She could see things too clearly.

Even so, she was mistaken.

Lu Yin’s youth made the woman assume that there had to be an incredibly powerful person behind Lu Yin, and that that person was the one who truly controlled the universe. Hong Yi would have never guessed that Lu Yin was the genuine master of the Fifth Mainland.

Even so, the woman had correctly deduced Lu Yin’s intentions. He wanted to draw out the full power of the Infinity Empire, which was why he had sent the jiao to toy with the invaders.

Lu Yin also understood why Bu Qing and the others had been so careless with information concerning the Infinity Empire. If it proved impossible for the empire to conquer the Fifth Mainland, the youths would be abandoned. They could only rely on themselves to survive, and the empire would not fault them for taking such actions.

The civilization possessed clear objectives.

In order to draw the Infinity Empire into the Fifth Mainland, Lu Yin could not expose too much strength too soon. "What is the name of the civilization that drove Emperor Shang out and forced the Infinity Empire to give up on their invasion attempt?"

The Infinity Empire was clearly not weak, and any civilization capable of such invaders deserved Lu Yin’s attention.

Hong Yi thought for a moment. "It’s called Go- God’s Domain."

Lu Yin stared blankly at the woman. "God’s Domain?"

"Yes. The name isn't recorded in the empire's history, so I only happened to hear my father mention it," Hong Yi explained. She did not dare to look at Lu Yin at this moment, as his response had made it clear that he was familiar with God’s Domain.

They invaded God’s Domain? Could they really be that unlucky?

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