Star Odyssey

Chapter 1384: Stubborn To The End

“Are you trying to say you knew him better than me?” Guan Hai scoffed.

Lu Yin smiled and replied, “I don’t know about that, but while Guan Yun seemed rude and rash, he was actually thorough and cautious. He hid the second insignia in-” Lu Yin whispered the name of a certain place.

Upon hearing the name, Guan Hai acted as though he had been struck by lightning. Lu Yin had mentioned a place that only the three brothers had ever known about. There was nothing there and it was a useless place, except for the fact that the brothers had decided to use it as a place to flee to in the event they were ever discovered as Redbacks. It was their plan for the worst future, though they had never even had the opportunity to use the hideaway. They had not thought to hide before everything had been revealed, let alone the possibility of Guan Yun hiding a second insignia in that place.

Still, Guan Hai had no choice but to believe Lu Yin, given that he knew of a location that only the three brothers had ever known about.

Guan Tong closed his eyes. He had had nothing to say at all from the moment the evidence had been discovered.

“Even if you did manage to find where our third brother hid the insignia, how were you ever able to find the hiding place in the Gate? It’s impossible you did that on your own.” Guan Hai still could not accept his situation, and he just wanted to drag Lu Yin down with him. At this moment, all of Guan Hai’s hatred had been put onto Lu Yin, as there was no way the brothers would have suffered such a miserable downfall without Lu Yin.

Lu Yin laughed. “You really don’t give up! Alright, since you’re so stubborn, I’ll tell you.”

He waved a hand. “Come on.”

Yuhua Mavis stepped forward from nearby. She walked over next to Lu Yin and bowed to Qing Chen. “Yu Hua, of the Huaiyuan Humility’s Gate, greets the supervisor.”

Even an idiot would understand that Yuhua Mavis had worked with Lu Yin when they saw this.

Guan Hai’s eyes went wide as he stared at Yuhua Mavis in disbelief. “Yu Hua, you- you betrayed us?”

Yuhua Mavis frowned. “I’m a human, so how could I be loyal to Redbacks like you?”

“Well said,” Zhuo Si praised.

Guan Hai became so enraged that his blood backed up in his heart. He spat out a mouthful of blood and nearly passed out.

Learning of Yuhua Mavis’s betrayal had made Guan Hai irrational, and so he never even considered how the girl might have found their hidden location. Lu Yin had not actually answered Guan Hai’s question directly, but no one was going to press the issue. Everyone was aware of Long Qi’s accomplishments, and they all knew that there was someone supporting him.

Qing Chen appraised Long Qi. This child had purposely agreed to a bet with the three Guan brothers in order to keep them in Red Orchard City and away from Huaiyuan so that he could retrieve the insignia that Guan Yun had hidden. Long Qi had searched for evidence, and by doing so, he had thrown the three Guan brothers into the abyss. Long Qi had been in control of the entire situation from the start, and he had led the Guan brothers by their noses.

Such scheming was not bad, but the most important matter was just how had Long Qi managed to discover where Guan Yun had hidden the insignia?

Qing Chen had his own suspicions, and so did everyone else who was listening; all of them assumed that the White Dragon Clan was supporting Long Qi. After all, everything he had accomplished were matters that only one of the four ruling powers could possibly pull off, such as the White Dragon Clan.

As far as everyone was concerned, Lu Yin was nothing more than the White Dragon Clan’s puppet.

Was it possible that this was the accomplishments that Long Tian intended to give to Long Qi? Qing Chen considered this possibility, but instantly dismissed it. Long Tian had not even seemed to know of Long Qi’s wager with the Guan brothers. Long Tian had only wanted to arrange for his brother-in-law to retire from Humility’s Gate a bit quicker, but arranging for Long Qi to capture Redbacks was too much. How could anyone give up credit for such an achievement to this child.

Qing Chen had too many questions regarding what had happened, but it was not yet time to start digging into things.

Long Qi had arranged for Redbacks to be captured, which was a massive accomplishment. It could even be said that Long Qi had surpassed the record set by Shu Yuan. If Long Tian again addressed the matter of allowing Long Qi to retire from Humility’s Gate, Qing Chen would not be able to refuse.

Long Qi had gathered a tremendous number of accomplishments in the very brief time since he had joined Humility’s Gate. No matter who was behind Long Qi’s achievements, the fact was that everything had been done to the benefit of Humility’s Gate and the entire human race. Qing Chen did not want Long Qi to retire so soon.

There was an old man off in the distance who was quietly watching events unfold. He was the old servant Long Tian had ordered to retrieve Lu Yin. The old man had borne witness to an incredible scene when he had arrived, and he stared at Lu Yin with pure amazement.

The old man was completely confident that the White Dragon Clan had not been behind anything that Long Qi had accomplished, so who had been? Was there another power behind this youth? Was it an unknown player? The Junior Progenitor was very wary of an unseen hand interfering in matters, as it was impossible to know if this mysterious power was friend or foe.

Also, even though Long Qi had clearly been helped by an unknown force to uncover the truth about the Guan brothers, it was still true that he had handled the brothers and cooperated with Zhuo Si to get the supervisor involved. These were things that could be accredited to Long Qi and no one else. This showed a decent ability, and there was nothing to be ashamed of.

As the old man was lost in thought, Qing Chen’s eyes swept over to the old servant.

The servant slowly bowed.

Qing Chen looked away and focused back on Lu Yin. He praised the youth, “Long Qi, you revealed the three Guan brothers as Redbacks, which is a tremendous benefit for Humility’s Gate. After I go back and consider this matter, you will be given appropriate rewards. For the moment, you can return to the Yinshan Mountains to wait.”

Lu Yin replied in a respectful tone, “This subordinate only wishes to serve Humility’s Gate, and I don’t need any credit. I simply wish to do what I can for Humility’s Gate and resist the foreign enemies.”

Yuhua Mavis rolled her eyes. This guy was still disgusting.

Zhuo Si pursed his lips. This was going overboard.

Unseen Light’s brows rose up.

Qing Chen’s eyes lit up. “You wish to do what you can for Humility’s Gate? You want to help humanity?”

Lu Yin was accustomed to making such flowery phrases, and so he replied out of reflex, “This subordinate will never give up!”

“Hahaha, well said! My Humility’s Gate doesn’t have enough motivated youths like you. Well, after I go back and consider the matter, I’ll assign you a new task that will definitely satisfy your desires.” With that, Qing Chen immediately left with Guan Tong and Guan Hai.

Lu Yin felt taken aback; why had Qing Chen looked so happy? Wait, had Lu Yin said something wrong? He thought about it, but his response seemed perfectly normal!

Zhuo Si gave Lu Yin a strange look. “Long Qi, don’t you want to retire?”

Lu Yin suddenly remembered his situation; damn, he had forgotten! Long Xi had told Lu Yin that he would be able to retire from Humility’s Gate after making some contributions. While his earlier achievements had likely not been enough to warrant an early retirement, this latest matter had been too much. If Long Tian spoke up, it might even be possible for Lu Yin to immediately retire from Humility’s Gate, but his words to the supervisor had closed that door. Qing Chen would refuse to let Long Qi go from Humility’s Gate no matter what Long Tian said.

Lu Yin licked his lips. He felt rather speechless; he had spoken too quickly.

“Serves you right,” Yuhua Mavis mocked.

Unseen Light smiled. “This is interesting.”

Lu Yin was helpless. He suddenly thought of something terrible: he had accepted the wager without Long Xi’s knowledge. Once she learned that Lu Yin had managed to block his own retirement, Lu Yin could not even imagine the woman’s anger. Lu Yin thought of Guan Hai and then Mo Gaohe. Had Lu Yin developed a stronger ability to infuriate people?

“Let’s head back to the Yinshan District. Other people will come to handle things here in Red Orchard City,” Zhuo Si said.

Lu Yin looked over at Yuhua Mavis. “You can’t go back to Humility’s Gate in Huaiyuan, so why don’t you go with us to the Yinshan District?”

Yuhua Mavis nodded. “Okay.”

Unseen Light smiled as he commented, “The Wang family invited me to meet their Junior Progenitor, Wang Su.”

Yuhua Mavis’ eyes flashed. “Looks like you’re a step ahead of the rest of us.”

“Not necessarily,” Lu Yin interjected. “Fatty invited Unseen Light just because he was strong enough to fight you. If you come back with us, you might get invited as well.”

Yuhua Mavis’s eyes lit up.

Unseen Light thought for a bit. “That should work; the two of us will be able to take care of each other. It’s said that even the Junior Progenitors are at risk of dying in that place.”

The trip to the Dominion Realm was the goal of everyone from ZENITH’s top ten. They had all come to the Perennial World to travel to the Dominion Realm in order to find something called Origin Matter.

This was their most important goal.

Lu Yin felt that he was the one furthest from the opportunity that everyone was chasing. Everyone else was allowed to reveal the strength in order to reach the Dominion Realm, but what about him?

No, he had to find a way to reach the Dominion Realm. Strength was still the foundation of everything, and Lu Yin could not forget his roots.

…

A great deal of time had passed since the last time such a major event had rocked Humility’s Gate. One of the nine gate masters in the Middle Realm was actually a Redback! This news left countless people feeling like they were hearing a story, despite the information being true.

This matter was a slap in the face to Humility’s Gate in the Middle Realm, as well as the entire organization.

After it was discovered that the three Guan brothers were Redbacks who had infiltrated Humility’s Gate, the supervisor was absolutely furious and he ordered an internal investigation throughout the entire organization. Everyone, no matter if they were a gate master, a captain, or a grunt, they all needed to be investigated so that the entire Humility’s Gate could be proven clean.

Naturally, the name Long Qi spread throughout Humility’s Gate.

***

In the Higher Realm, the Celestial Frost Sect’s Yu Chen had cut all lines of contact she had had with the three Guan brothers. After that, she studied the information in front of her, in particular, she went over the details of the events from the moments leading up to the wager being agreed upon, up to when Guan Tong and Guan Hai had been taken away by Qing Chen..

The more Yu Chen read, the more wary she became.

If an ordinary person discovered that the Guan brothers were Redbacks, it would be a challenge to expose them, and yet Long Qi had taken advantage of a bet to reveal the brothers’ true colors. This was not a simple scheme, as there was much more to it that could be readily seen.

It seemed that Yu Chen would need a long-term plan in order to deal with Long Qi.

However, Long Qi had accomplished something massive, and the White Dragon Clan had clearly not paid a small price for this matter, so Long Qi would soon be able to retire from Humility’s Gate.

This thought put a bit of a frown on Yu Chen’s face. Things would become quite tricky once Long Qi retired from Humility’s Gate.

“For the moment, there’s no need to even think about the White Dragon Clan. The trip to the Dominion Realm is fast approaching, and though there’s no problem with me going, I still need some people who can handle certain matters for me. Find me two companions as soon as possible.” A gentle voice spoke from behind Yu Chen.

Yu Chen gave a small bow. “Yes, Junior Progenitor.”

***

Lu Yin felt a change after returning to the Yinshan District, particularly the way that the people around him looked at him. He could see caution, vigilance, envy, and many combinations of emotions that he had never seen before. These people all saw themselves as being ignorant in the past.

Lu Yin could only imagine how big of a commotion this incident would raise within Humility’s Gate, and it was certain that many people would start to put eyes on him.

The fatty had been waiting outside the Yinshan District Gate for a long time. As soon as Lu Yin and the others returned, the fatty was ready to drag Unseen Light to the Higher Realm, and he was clearly excited.

“My Junior Progenitor wants to see you, so let’s hurry up!” the fatty said anxiously.

Unseen Light turned to Lu Yin. “Then I’m leaving.”

Lu Yin nodded.

Finally, the fatty saw Yuhua Mavis, and he asked, “What’s she doing here?”

Unseen Light smiled. “She’s the one who found where the Guan brothers hid the evidence Brother Long used. That’s also why she can’t go back to Humility’s Gate in Huaiyuan.”

The fatty stared at Yuhua Mavis, clearly thinking about something.

“Brother Wang, should we go?” Unseen Light pressed.

The fatty asked Yuhua Mavis, “Would you like to go visit the Wang family with me and meet our Junior Progenitor?”

As he spoke, he quickly turned to Unseen Light, and said, “Brother, don’t worry about her. We need several people, so there’s no risk of her replacing you.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Unseen Light reassured the fatty.