Star Odyssey

Wei Rong laughed. “I don’t have any good shows to share with Brother Lu, so you will be disappointed.” 

“Brother Wei, don’t tell me that you’re just going to stay there and watch over just your own territory. With how ruthless Aegis has been acting, Brother Wei will definitely meet some sort of impediment when stepping out of Armament Weave. Since they were willing to make such a move against me, then they will definitely move against Brother Wei as well. I know that you have had some dealings with Aegis, but it is yet to be seen if you’ve established a strong enough relationship to have reliable benefits,” Lu Yin replied. 

Wei Rong laughed. “Is Brother Lu trying to incite discord?”

“That’s right. I’m stirring up a conflict in Brother Wei’s relationship with Aegis. I believe that Brother Wei will put on a show sooner or later, and I don’t think it’s too far off,” Lu Yin said jokingly.

Wei Rong smiled gently. “Then we’ll just have to wait and see. But until then, I hope that Brother Lu will stay safe and sound.” 

“Thanks, Brother Wei, for your kind wishes.” Lu Yin smiled and quickly disconnected from the call. 

A few days had already passed since Aegis’s attack, and there was still no news of Poisonmaster attacking Frostwave Weave, but neither was there any news of Smoker killing Poisonmaster, which made Lu Yin a little uneasy. Poisonmaster presented far too great of a threat. He was also very difficult to track down, which was very unsettling for those he targeted. 

Lu Yin had not been able to rest well for several days. 

One night, he was standing inside the courtyard of King Zishan's palace while staring into the distance. The three mainland rings cast shadows onto the capital planet, but the shadows of the mainlands were not able to darken the lights of the capital. 

That same small tavern was still open, and although the owner had saved up enough money to update the business to a more modern appearance, he didn’t. He continued to maintain the same small pub. 

Lu Yin suddenly felt a shiver go down his back as an icy wind pierced him to the bone. Lu Yin’s gaze trembled, and he saw a terrifying number of rune lines manifest in his vision until they extended to his feet. This was a familiar feeling to Lu Yin as he had felt it once before: Blackless God of the Seven Skygods had arrived. 

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, as Ku Wei had told him about the terror of the Seven Skygods, and Lu Yin had learned that these powerhouses were the masters of the Neohuman Alliance. They were terrifyingly powerful experts who had immeasurable strength, and Lu Yin could not understand why this pinnacle expert had appeared in the Outerverse, much less why they would seek out some measly Explorer. Regardless, it was indisputable that Lu Yin was completely petrified, as anyone would be when facing such an absolute powerhouse. 

Nobody was fearless in the face of death, and he was no exception.

Mister Mu had Told Lu Yin that the youth had not spoken to Blackless God’s true body and that it had actually been nothing more than a strand of spiritual force. Even so, Lu Yin had no ability to mount any resistance at all. 

Fortunately, Mister Mu had also given Lu Yin a jade talisman that could protect him.

“Sir Lu Yin, we meet again.” He heard a sinister voice that sounded like grating metal. It was a sound that caused people to shudder with fear.

Lu Yin did not move, and he answered in a gloomy tone, “You are not Blackless God. There’s no way he would appear in the Outerverse.” 

“It would appear that Sir Lu Yin tried to learn a bit about the Seven Skygods. I am indeed Blackless God, though I am also not Blackless God. I came here this time to find out if Sir Lu Yin has experienced any changes in your thinking. As long as Sir Lu Yin gives his approval, Aegis will immediately be eliminated, and we can even help Sir Lu Yin easily unite the Outerverse.” 

Lu Yin ridiculed, “It’s still that same piece of bait. If everyone turns into zombies, what will it matter if I unify the Outerverse.” 

“Then your desperation will continue, Sir Lu Yin. I look forward to meeting you next time.” The sinister feeling vanished, and the hubbub of the capital once again filled Lu Yin’s ears. 

Lu Yin let out a long breath and looked around, but he could not find any trace of Blackless God’s rune lines. 

Aegis and Blackless God had both let Lu Yin realize that rune lines were not all-powerful and that there were still some people out there who could conceal themselves. 

What exactly was it about Lu Yin that the Neohuman Alliance had taken a fancy to? They had even said that they were willing to help him unify the Outerverse and that there was no one in the Outerverse more suited for it than him. This seemed very strange. 

The current situation made his head hurt a little. There was Aegis, the Yu bloodline, the Neohuman Alliance, as well as Wei Rong and the central weaves.. Even with the Outerverse cut off from the Innerverses, the situation still was not simple. It could be said that when the Astral River cut off the complexities caused by the Innerverse, it had also liberated the Outerverse. 

The Outerverse had never been simple; it had merely been suppressed by the Innerverse.

Right, he was still broke! Lu Yin had suddenly remembered a very serious problem: being broke meant that he could not improve his own strength, which was unacceptable. He had to think of a way to earn some money. 

Another ten days quickly passed by, and during this time, various rumors never stopped circulating outside the Great Eastern Alliance, especially in the central weaves. Countless people spread rumors claiming that Lu Yin was afraid of Aegis and that he did not even dare to make a sound after being attacked by Aegis just once. 

Lu Yin indeed had not made any appearance at all during this time, and his absence allowed countless rumors to propagate.

Even within the Great Eastern Alliance, there were still many people slandering Lu Yin, and some had even organized protests calling for Lu Yin to abdicate from the position of Alliance Leader. These demonstrations were quickly put down, but just their existence showed that Lu Yin’s reputation within the Great Eastern Alliance had fallen quite low. 

Aegis intended to use these sorts of methods to demonstrate their power. Each day that Lu Yin did not give in was another day that Aegis would not give up. Lu Yin had unified the Great Eastern Alliance, and that accomplishment had raised his reputation to a high standard throughout the Outerverse, which was exactly the type of individual that Aegis needed at this time. Only by suppressing such a person could they demonstrate Aegis’s might to the Outerverse. 

The various organizations made no movements during this time, and Amethyst Exchange also did not take any actions. They only silently watched the situation develop. 

Lu Yin nervously waited for news from Smoker, but he was also afraid that he would instead receive notice that Poisonmaster had killed many of the Great Yu Empire’s citizens. 

Then one afternoon, a bit of news rapidly spread throughout the Outerverse that shocked many people: Poisonmaster was dead.

Poisonmaster had been a legend, and even if he had been infamous, he had still set the record for killing the most people in the shortest amount of time, which was a numbing figure in the hundreds of billions. All of them had died at his hands, and it had even led to the Innerverse and Outerverse both sending bounty hunters after him. Even the Hall of Honor had spoken up. 

But despite all of that effort, no one had ever found Poisonmaster.

Poisonmaster’s strength in a direct fight may not have been as high as some of the other assassins, but his ability to hide and stay alive had been too impressive.

Although the bounty hunters at that time had not managed to take care of Poisonmaster, their efforts had forced Poisonmaster into hiding for decades, with him not making a reappearance until the Outerverse was isolated from the Innerverse. Recently, Poisonmaster had been reemployed by Aegis, and he had wanted to use the Great Yu Empire to set a new record. 

Aegis had not merely been trying to scare Lu Yin, as they had truly intended for Poisonmaster to act against the Great Yu Empire. He should have completed his task a few days ago, but he had instead been targeted by Smoker and forced to try to escape through all sorts of methods. But in the end, Poisonmaster had not been able to escape and had died in space. 

News and images of Poisonmaster’s death shocked the Outerverse, while also allowing countless people to see Poisonmaster’s true appearance. He had been a very ordinary-looking short little old man. But despite his unassuming appearance, no one questioned the identity of the corpse because this person had died at the hands of the top ranked assassin: Smoker. 

When news of Poisonmaster’s death reached Lu Yin’s ears, he finally was able to completely relax. 

He was not worried about the other assassins, as no matter how powerful they were, there was a limit to how many people they could kill. Poisonmaster had been the only one to possess such massacring abilities of that magnitude, so his death allowed Lu Yin to completely relax. 

Poisonmaster’s death caused countless to guess who might have hired Smoker. Aegis grew even more furious, and the company tried its best to contact Smoker. 

Lu Yin immediately had some people secretly release the rumor that he had been the one to employ Smoker. 

This sort of situation of him hiring an assassin to deal with another was quite embarrassing, and Lu Yin was not willing to openly announce it. However, he still needed to let others know his stance, so his only option was to do so in a round-about manner. 

It didn’t take long for Smoker to contact Lu Yin and demand his payment of natural treasures. 

Lu Yin sent Smoker the coordinates of a location where he had preemptively stored twelve natural treasures that had reached the point of evading danger. The price of killing Poisonmaster was five. He had added another five to pay for him to take out the Magistrate, and the final two extra treasures were due to Lu Yin’s goodwill. In much the same way that the various major organizations worked to join Aegis’s second level management to avoid being targeted by Aegis’s assassins, Lu Yin wanted to find a way to dissuade Smoker from accepting assassination jobs on him. 

A person who was confident enough to try to assassinate the master of the Blaze Realm was not someone whom Lu Yin wanted hunting him. Who knew what sort of methods Smoker had available. 

The fact that one was on the Outerverse Assassin Rankings was proof that they had not reached the Enlighter realm, but Smoker had still been able to successfully escape from the Blaze Realm despite that, which showed that this killer had mysterious methods. Lu Yin had no confidence in being able to protect himself from Smoker, especially since he could not constantly wear his universal armor. 

“Too many.” White smoke formed two words on Lu Yin’s screen.

Lu Yin softly answered, “The next target is the Magistrate, and there are two extra for you.”

The white smoke floated across the screen, forming the word, “Membership?”

Lu Yin blinked and then rubbed his eyes. Had he just seen wrong? Membership?

“Membership? What membership?” The Ghost Monkey was astonished.

Lu Yin was puzzled. “What membership?”

The white smoke wafted across the screen, writing out, “For the price of ten natural treasures that have reached the point of evading danger, you can enjoy my top service. Missions issued by you will be given top priority. A member’s targets will be prioritized, and if someone posts a bounty on a member in the underworld, I will inform that member and provide the services of a reverse assassination. If a member encounters a threat, then within a certain distance, I will make allowances to help. If…” 

This number of benefits made Lu Yin go dizzy, and the white smoke formed so many words that he was stunned. This Smoker had a knack for business and was actually providing membership privileges. 

“How many members do you have?” Lu Yin felt like something was still strange.

The white smoke drifted about the screen for a while before finally forming a number. “0.”

Lu Yin was completely speechless to discover that Smoker actually didn’t have even a single member in his program, though that actually made sense. Not just anyone had such a high number of natural treasures that had reached the point of instinctively avoiding danger. There were very few people who were able to give out ten such natural treasures at the same time. However, this membership service seemed very suitable for Lu Yin. He might not have much, but he certainly had plenty of natural treasures. 

“Alright, I’ll join. I’ll add another ten natural treasures,” Lu Yin said generously. He felt like he no longer needed to be so serious when conversing with Smoker, as this person did not seem to be completely inflexible. 

“Thank you, Boss.” The white smoke spelled out.

“Go and take care of the Magistrate as quickly as possible,” Lu Yin said.

“Rest assured. It will be done very quickly.”

The screen disappeared, leaving Lu Yin  in a good mood. Assassins turned out to not be as  inflexible as he had thought, and this Smoker would be very useful for the moment. Who would have thought that the top ranked assassin actually had something like a membership program.

News of Lu Yin hiring Smoker to assassinate Poisonmaster gradually leaked out, and many people looked to Lu Yin for him to verify the information, but Lu Yin would neither admit nor deny anything. 

Aegis also contacted Smoker, wanting him to stop taking out their members, but the assassin’s reply left Aegis without a choice. Assassins were used to take things from others and to avoid a calamity, which was something that Aegis understood. If possible, the company wanted to either eliminate Smoker or lure him into their ranks, but both of those options were beyond their abilities. 

Even while Aegis was considering how to best take care of this new issue, news was released announcing the Magistrate’s death. A large number of high quality pictures appeared on the Outerverse’s network, and once again, Smoker took credit. 

The Magistrate’s death created an even larger commotion than Poisonmaster’s.