Star Odyssey

“What’s our valiant leader so stressed out about?” A voice sounded from behind Lu Yin, and when he turned around, he saw a cold foxy face in front of him.

Lu Yin’s heart jumped when he saw Silver appear out of nowhere, “The Daynight clan is going to attack the Great Yu Empire. Are you guys not planning to do anything?”

Silver feigned shock. “Attack? Is this because you offended the Nightking clan?”

Lu Yin did not answer, but that alone was tantamount to a tacit acknowledgement.

Silver’s lips curled up. “This isn’t an easy situation to resolve. That’s the Daynight clan that you’re talking about, and you even offended their Nightking bloodline. That spells trouble.”

“If the Great Yu Empire is wiped out by the Daynight clan, then your people will be in trouble too. Or at the least, your schemes in the Great Yu Empire will end.”

Silver leisurely stretched out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I do have some interesting information that I can sell you, although I’m not sure if you can pay the price or not.”

“What information?” Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed.

Silver beamed. “Payment first, then the information.”

Lu Yin took out a crystal Mavis Bank card. “There are 450,000 star energy crystals in here.”

Silver smirked. “That’s not what I want. I need information from you.”

“Information?” Lu Yin was astonished, but he could vaguely guess at what Silver was hinting towards.

“Since you were able to get in touch with a Nightking elder and even get that old fart Nightking Yuanjing to protect your little girlfriend, I want to know what price you paid to do so.” Silver’s smile faded as he spoke seriously.

Lu Yin considered the proposition; could he give Silver the information about the Third Nightking? This person was from the Neohuman Alliance and was an enemy of all humans. The Third Nightking was indeed from the Nightking clan, but he was still a human who had bravely charged into the Astral Beast Domain on behalf of the Human Domain. Would telling Silver be akin to betraying the human race?

“Hey, why aren’t you telling him?” The Ghost Monkey’s voice rang out in Lu Yin’s mind.

Lu Yin was at a loss for what to say.

“It looks like this brat isn’t some virtuous person either. Only a few people know about the matter with Nightking Yuanjing, and apart from those directly involved, only the upper members of the Nightking clan would know. And yet, this brat actually knows about it as well. Isn’t that basically insinuating that he has ears in the Nightking clan? That would be terrifying. Kid, is that what you’re worried about?” the Ghost Monkey asked.

Lu Yin gently grunted.

Silver’s eyes widened. “So, is this price too high? Or would you rather sacrifice your Great Yu Empire to keep the price that you paid to the Nightking clan secret? Or have you actually cast your lot in with the Nightking clan?” Silver’s voice was especially cold when he uttered the last sentence; Lu Yin had never heard him so icy before.

“This brat isn’t easy to deal with. Just tell him about the Third Nightking,” the Ghost Monkey urged

Lu Yin frowned, but he still refrained from answering.

“Relax, even if the news about the Third Nightking’s tracks spreads into the Human Domain or even through the universe, no one will be able to save or harm him. The Astral Beast Domain has not managed to do so after so many years, so do you really think that your Human Domain can somehow do so? No one will be able to save or harm him, and the Third Nightking does not have a good character either. You can ask around—that guy wiped out many clans back in his days. The Nightking clan’s ruthlessness was in some part started by him,” the monkey explained.

Lu Yin made his choice and looked at Silver, “I gave Nightking Yuanjing a piece of information.”

Silver’s eyes widened a bit more.

“The Third Nightking is in the Profound Void Realm of the Astral Beast Domain,” Lu Yin slowly explained. This sentence caused Silver’s smile to completely vanish as a frigid coldness and a deep killing intent started surging forth from him.

“How do you know the location of the Third Nightking?” Silver asked solemnly.

Lu Yin had never seen Silver like this before. “I’ve given you my side of the deal. You can tell me your information now.”

Silver inhaled deeply and slowly calmed himself down. He then seriously answered, “The Nightking clan wants to extend their influence into the Outerverse and has decided to send experts to participate in the Outerverse trial. This trial is how the Outerverse Youth Council selects their members, and many people from both the Outerverse and Innerverse will participate, including dark powers like the pirates from the Astral River and the Chaos Flowzone. Even the Technocracy and the Astral Beast Domain may send their experts to participate.”

“What?” Lu Yin was flabbergasted by this information. The Outerverse Youth Council had been established for many years, but this round’s selection seemed to be exceptionally important.

Silver shook his head. “I don’t know all the details, but many Innerverse clans want a foothold inside of the Outerverse Youth Council. They don’t want one of their people clan members to be just a subsidiary member, but rather an actual Councilor.”

“Councilor? What about the original ones?” Lu Yin was puzzled.

Silver’s lips quirked up in a disturbing manner. “Half of the original ten are dead.”

Lu Yin was badly shocked by this news. The Outerverse Youth Council’s Councilors were all experts among the Top 100 Rankings, just like how Wendy Yushan was among the top twenty. There were members both weaker and stronger than her, but every last one of them was an absolute expert. Now, however, half of them were dead.

“Is this shocking news to you? Don’t pay it too much attention—this is a very normal matter. The universe is wonderful like that. No matter how strong you are, you can fall at any time, just like how the Third Nightking went missing and stunned the entire universe. Yet not long after that, everyone came to accept it. This is simply how the universe works,” Silver said with a grin before leaving .

Lu Yin felt that Silver had specifically approached him to give him the news about the Daynight clan. Why? Was it to provoke Lu Yin into stirring up trouble for them? The Neohuman Alliance already had someone in the Outerverse Youth Council, so why would they want to infiltrate it again?

Lu Yin did not know what Silver’s goals were, but he had at least received information that was useful to him. Right now, his plan was indeed to make trouble and divert the Daynight clan’s focus away from the Great Yu Empire.

Still, there would be quite a few space-exploring powerhouses vying for the members’ positions. This was a troubling matter, and although Lu Yin was not afraid of battling against normal Explorers since he was a Realmbreaker, he might not necessarily be able to challenge an Explorer realm expert from the Daynight clan.

As he thought over everything he had just learned, Lu Yin contacted Mira. He wanted more accurate news, as he needed to figure out the baseline of the people participating in this upcoming Outerverse trial. If the participants were all going to be Explorers, he would simply forget about it. He was looking to cause trouble, not die.

Mira was a graduate of the Astral Combat Academy, so Lu Yin was able to directly contact her.

“A rare caller. If I recall correctly, this is the first time that you’ve ever called me of your own volition.” Mira’s gorgeous face appeared on the screen, and she smiled at him.

When he saw her, Lu Yin was reminded of the moment when he had teased her on Planet Conan; this woman had a troublesome, mischievous personality. “Senior Mira, do you remember the matter that you promised me?”

Mira raised her face and revealed an innocent expression. “No, did I promise you something before?”

Lu Yin grudgingly said, “You promised to recommend me for the Outerverse Youth Council.”

Mira said, “Oh, sure, but you must think about this carefully. If you join by my recommendation, then you’ll be marked as being in Wen Sansi’s camp.”

If this had happened before the Astral Combat Tournament took place, then Mira definitely would not have told Lu Yin this information because he would not have been qualified to choose and would have had no choice in the matter. Becoming the subordinate of any one of the Ten Arbiters was an unequaled privilege. But it was different now since Lu Yin was a member of the Council of Astral Academy as well as an extremely gifted young expert. He was now qualified to have a choice.

“Is that how it has to be?” Lu Yin felt helpless.

Mira smiled. “Of course. Consider things carefully.”

“What if I join on my own? Such as through the Outerverse trial?” Lu Yin probed as he watched Mira closely.

Mira’s eyes flashed. “The Outerverse trial? Who told you about that?”

Lu Yin did not answer.

Mira’s lips bent upwards. “Was it your fiancée? Princess Wendy?”

Lu Yin shrugged, but he did not admit or deny anything.

“Indeed, there's been an Outerverse trial that was recently scheduled. If you don’t want to be tagged by one of the Ten Arbiters when you join the Outerverse Youth Council, then this would be the opportunity to do so.”

Lu Yin curiously asked, “Is this a trial to select Councilors?”

Mira shook her head, “There are only five Councilors on the Outerverse Youth Council right now. An election should be held, but it won’t be by this trial. That’s because no one in the Outerverse currently qualifies to become a Councilor.”

“Outerverse? Even the people from the Innerverse don’t?” Lu Yin felt that this was strange.

Mira smiled. “Joining the Ten Arbiters Council requires not only prestige, but also warmth and support. And as for support, you’ll need to solicit it. Since this is the Outerverse’s matter, it should be handled by the Outerverse. Although all ten previous Councilors trained in the Innerverse, they were all originally from the Outerverse, which is why they served as its members. Right now, no one from the Outerverse is qualified to take on the post of a Councilors. Since there are insufficient numbers, we can only rely on our subordinates to make up for the loss in manpower, hence this trial.”

Lu Yin fell into thought. Since Innerverse powerhouses could not become Councilors of the Outerverse Youth Council, then what was the Daynight clan competing for? Could they really only be recruiting subordinate members?

“Of course, if the Outerverse is unable to produce qualified Councilors, then we’ll have to select them from the Innerverse. However, we’re not considering that at this moment.”

“What qualifications are required to become a Councilor?”

Her lips curled up as she simply replied, “Get your name into the Top 100 Rankings.”

Lu Yin nodded. So it was the Top 100 Rankings after all. This was the base standard of the Ten Arbiters Council, who had two subsidiary groups underneath them. The first was the Outerverse Youth Council and the second was the direct subordinates of the Ten Arbiters. Almost everyone in these two groups were among the Top 100 Rankings, as the Ten Arbiters had gathered practically all of the top talents in the younger generation.

“So in other words, this trial has nothing to do with electing Councilors, and is just to find some subordinate members?”

Mira nodded. “That’s right, but you’ll still have a chance to join. Although there’ll definitely be some Explorers who participate, there won’t be too many. The council wants to limit the Innerverse’s meddling in the Outerverse as much as possible in order to prevent the Outerverse from boycotting them. Hence, there will be extremely few Innerverse Explorer powerhouses participating. There are also only a few from the younger generation in the Outerverse who have become Explorers, so the trial should end up mainly being a contest between Limiteer cultivators.”

Mira’s eyes brightened at this point, and she looked at Lu Yin curiously. “I must ask, if you manage to pass this trial and join the Outerverse Youth Council, then whose camp will you choose to join? Your fiancée’s?”

Lu Yin had not considered this question yet, and it caused him to frown. “Even with my status as a Council of Astral Academy member, I can still only become a subordinate member?”

Mira tilted her head. “That is indeed a problem. There’s never been a member of the Council of Astral Academy who has participated in an Outerverse Youth Council subordinate trial since their position is already equal to that of a full Councilor. Basically, there’s no need to fight to become a subordinate member. You’re quite the strange person—others fight to climb upwards while you charge downwards.”