Star Odyssey

Madam Nalan smiled seductively and passed the cosmic ring back to Lu Yin. Their hands brushed against each other, and Lu Yin could acutely feel the softness of Madam Nalan’s skin.

He suddenly noticed that her hands were very beautiful. They were fair and flawless, as if they had been sculpted from white jade. 

“Madam, are you here to check whether or not I broke my limbs?” Lu Yin joked, forcibly shifting his attention away from Madam Nalan’s hand. 

Madam Nalan sat down and smiled at him. “That’s not wrong. You’ve managed to survive through Ironblood Weave, and I have heard many praises for your performance. Your Highness’ reputation is spreading throughout the Outerverse.” 

Lu Yin reluctantly replied, “They’re all just exaggerations.”

“Many people spend their entire lives trying to become renowned, but Your Highness has already achieved it. I’m actually here to talk about the Nalan family’s plan to cooperate with the Great Yu Empire,” Madam Nalan explained.

Lu Yin’s eyes gleamed, as that would be a great thing for the empire. The Nalan family was known as the wealthiest family in the Outerverse, and no one knew just how much money they actually had. Although star essences were not commonly seen in the Outerverse, the Nalan family could still easily fork out tens of thousands of them, which showed how wealthy they were. They were nearly comparable to the tycoons of the Innerverse, and they were far richer than an empire, or even an entire weave of the Outerverse. 

“Madam, how do you picture our collaboration working?” Lu Yin asked.

Madam Nalan smiled. “It would be very comprehensive, ranging from agriculture, industrial, and business support to weapons development, space travel, and recycling. As long as it is a field that the Nalan family is involved in, we would be willing to work with the Great Yu Empire.” 

Lu Yin was stunned. “Madam, are you serious?”

Madam Nalan nodded her head. “Of course.”

…

Madam Nalan left an hour later, and Lu Yin fell deep into thought as he watched her leave. 

Anyone in the Outerverse would want to work with the Nalan family, and even the major forces that ruled an entire weave would fight over the chance to work with them. The only thing that was motivating Madam Nalan to work with the Great Yu Empire was Lu Yin himself. 

Initially, when the Nalan family had requested protection, they had mentioned that they would collaborate with the Great Yu Empire. However, Lu Yin had thought that they would only want to collaborate in some small capacity and would merely help stimulate the Great Yu Empire’s economy. He had never expected that they would offer such a comprehensive collaboration, and this arrangement was far more useful than the Great Yu Empire’s collaborations with Northline Flowzone or the Watermoon Villa. 

The current problem was that the Great Yu Empire held the disadvantage in all aspects compared to the Nalan family. If not for Lu Yin’s extraordinary abilities, then the Great Yu Empire definitely wouldn’t be able to match up to the Nalan family.

Lu Yin decided that it was time to increase the empire’s strength. He wanted this collaboration to be equal to both sides. Also, he didn’t want the Great Yu Empire to fall under the Nalan family’s control, as that wasn’t his style of doing things. 

Lu Yin quickly summoned Gavin, the minister of finance.

“The Nalan family wants to collaborate with the empire?” Gavin grew excited at this news.

Lu Yin nodded. “Go and arrange for someone to coordinate with the Nalan family, and remember to do so for all aspects of the collaboration.” 

“Yes, Your Highness. With the help of the Nalan family, the empire’s economy will recover very quickly,” Gavin said happily.

Lu Yin glanced at him. “I want to see growth, not just recovery.”

“Understood,” Gavin agreed.

“One more thing.” Lu Yin looked at Gavin. “While you are working with them, try and network with the other weaves more, and then send some of our people out. You can go and discuss the details with Captain Shalosh.”

Gavin nodded. “Yes, Your Highness.”

Lu Yin tossed a cosmic ring over to Gavin. “Here’s some stuff that I want to sell to the empire, so please evaluate the value.”

Gavin looked confused, but when he looked into the cosmic ring, he saw more than three hundred tonnes of polarium essence, which left him stunned. 

Polarium essence was extremely valuable, and even Elder Wu and Topmist had fought over it in the past. Generally, even an entire planet that contained polarium ore wouldn’t yield this much polarium essence. “Your Highness, I’m unable to give you an estimate at this moment.” 

“For the 310 tonnes of polarium essence and the star crystals from the Nine Stacks Sect, I’ll calculate the value as 50,000 star essence. This is a debt that the empire owes me, and it will need to be repaid in the future,” Lu Yin said. 

Gavin nodded. “Yes, Your Highness, I have made a record of it.”

There had been a huge amount of star crystals in the Nine Stacks Sect, but they were only worth about 20,000 star essences in total. A major reason why Lei Long hadn’t used any of the crystals from the sect was that they were way too bulky to carry around. However, Lu Yin also didn’t want to leave the star crystals for the Nine Stacks Sect, so he had shipped all of them back to the Great Yu Empire. As for the polarium essence, Lu Yin wasn’t sure of the price either. 

The prices of most items would fluctuate due to market conditions, and so, the polarium essence might not actually be worth 30,000 star essence. Despite that, Gavin didn’t object to the price that Lu Yin had given. Even if Lu Yin had stated the polarium essence was worth 300,000 star essences, he would have to agree to it since Lu Yin was the one in charge of the Great Yu Empire. 

The main reason why Lu Yin had passed the polarium essence to Gavin was so that they could equip the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons with it and make them into a powerful force throughout the Outerverse. It was also time to change the requirements for joining the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons, as Lu Yin wanted to prioritize quality over quantity. 

Before much more time passed, Gavin left. The polarium essence had been immediately sent over to Ban Jiu, the captain of the Twelfth Squadron.

A few days later, Lu Yin sat down at his typical seat below the throne for a morning meeting.

He didn’t have many opportunities to attend the meetings, and most of the meetings were now being hosted by the ministers when he wasn’t present. 

Huan Sha and En Ya were already at the meeting. Although they were standing at the back of the hall, everyone knew that they would be more powerful than the Imperial Cabinet in the future. 

“The Meck family is in chaos following the death of their patriarch. Following some discussion, we have decided to intervene in order to prevent further issues.” 

“Many medical companies in the empire have increased their prices due to the war in the Ironblood Weave, and all of the medications from Shamrock Enterprises have been sold out. After some discussion, we have decided to punish the medical companies that raised their prices.” 

“The Galaxy Bank has declared bankruptcy and will be taken over by the empire. We estimate that this will cause a certain amount of loss to the empire’s budget.”

…

The ministers reported their updates one after another, and all in all, it took more than an hour to go through everything.

Too many things had happened during this period, but the ministers only chose to report the major incidents as most of the minor issues had already been settled by the Imperial Cabinet and the four ministries. 

Lu Yin calmly listened to the reports and only felt one thing: chaos. The main problem was that he didn’t have enough money. With money, he would be able to take care of the medications’ high prices and placate the citizens. He could also create more jobs and relieve some of the pressure placed on the people by doing so. Madam Nalan’s proposal to collaborate had truly been a godsend. 

“Your Highness, I’ve finished my report,” Garope respectfully informed him.

Lu Yin nodded, and his gaze swept over the ministers as he fell deep into thought.

Everyone stood and waited quietly.  

Moments later, Lu Yin spoke up, “Actually, I have an idea. When the eastern weaves joined forces and sent reinforcements to the war in Ironblood Weave, they were able to gather nearly ten Enlighters and dozens of Hunters, but that wasn’t the full power of those weaves. If we joined forces with the other weaves and combined our power, then what would happen?” 

The ministers present were confused, as they couldn’t understand what Lu Yin was hinting at.

En Ya’s eyes glinted, and she looked at Lu Yin in shock. This was an ambitious question. There were seventy two weaves in the Outerverse, and no force had ever taken control of more than three weaves at a time. At best, a single force had held full control of two weaves at a time.

Lu Yin laughed heartily when he saw the expressions on everyone’s faces. “It’s fine. I’m just joking. We’ll end the meeting here.” 

The ministers agreed and left the great hall. 

En Ya stayed behind and moved forward after everyone else had left. “Your Highness.”

Lu Yin looked at her. “What’s the matter?” 

“Does Your Highness really mean what was just said?” En Ya asked seriously.

Lu Yin answered after a moment’s thought. “Maybe. Do you have any suggestions?”

En Ya answered, “Actually, Grand Marshal Shui had this idea in the past as well. He wanted to connect the seventy two weaves of the Outerverse and use their combined power to attack the Primal Zone in order to take back some control from the Celestial Beast Empire. At the same time, he wanted to launch another attack from Erudite Flowzone against the Celestial Beast Empire. Grand Marshal Shui once said that the Outerverse was too scattered and that each weave was negligible on its own. However, if the weaves were to join forces, then their combined power would be immense. It’s possible that the reason why the Celestial Beast Empire hasn’t sent an enormous force to the Primal Zone is because they were concerned about the possible retaliation from the Outerverse.” 

Lu Yin was interested in her words. “It would seem that most of my ideas are in line with Grand Marshal Shui’s thoughts.” 

En Ya nodded. “Many of Grand Marshal Shui’s ideas were rejected by the powers of the Innerverse, and the Hall of Honor didn’t support him either.” 

“Times have changed. Since the Innerverse and the Outerverse have been separated, as long as Elder Lohar doesn’t object to my actions, then I can do anything with the Hall of Honor’s support. Nobody will be able to stop me,” Lu Yin said. He had just received his new gadget the previous day, and there were currently six Honor Points on his profile. 

Although it might seem like a small change to go from two to six Honor Points, Lu Yin’s entire status had transformed. As long as he didn’t do anything overboard, the Hall of Honor would stand on his side. Also, since the Innerverse and Outerverse had been separated, there weren’t many people around who had more Honor Points than him. 

En Ya’s eyes shone, and Lu Yin had never seen her this excited throughout her entire time in the Great Yu Empire. “I am willing to help Your Highness rule the Outerverse.”  

Lu Yin laughed. “Rule the Outerverse? You’re overthinking things. I just want the eastern weaves to unite. Since Grand Marshal Shui had this idea in the past, then do you have any suggestions?”

En Ya nodded. “An alliance.” 

Lu Yin’s eyes lit up. “Draft a plan for the alliance. That’s a good idea.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Grand Marshal Shui Chuanxiao was the best tactical mind in the history of humanity. The scope of his ideas was not something that Lu Yin could compare to. The Grand Marshal had wanted to unite all seventy two weaves of the Outerverse, but Lu Yin merely wanted to try joining the eastern weaves together, as well as a few other weaves if it was possible. 

Uniting all seventy two weaves was almost impossible even without any Enlighters active in the Outerverse and the full support of the Hall of Honor. This was because the Outerverse was too vast, and it would take a tremendous amount of time just for the Great Yu Empire’s troops to traverse the Outerverse, let alone unite all the weaves. 

It would only be possible if Lu Yin had Mister Mu’s ability to travel across half the universe in an instant. 

One day, a shadow entered King Zishan’s palace without even being noticed by Kayze The shadow revealed itself when a bespectacled girl stepped into the manor. 

The girl walked into the sitting room of King Zishan’s palace and stood there silently.

Lu Yin soon joined her.