Star Odyssey

Chapter 2779: A Tacit Understanding

Given the abilities that Xuan Qi had demonstrated so far, how could he hide his absence from someone as powerful as Xu Wuji?

Lu Yin’s expression grew ugly. "When did this happen?"

"It was a while ago..."

Lu Yin spat on the ground. He had been careless. He had not thought that someone would try to approach Xuan Qi during his seclusion, let alone Xu Wuji. There was no way the Void Suprema had not noticed Xuan Qi’s absence.

Truthfully, it did not really matter if Lu Yin had been careless or not. Xuan Qi was nothing more than Xuan Qi, a cultivator who was not even a Void Morphora. Xuan Qi was not Lu Yin, and there was no way that Xuan Qi could hide anything from a peak powerhouse. Any powerful cultivator could have approached Xuan Qi’s place of seclusion if they had wanted to. It was just a matter of whether they wanted to.

"Acting Bureau Director, do you want to head out for a bit? Arrest a few spies? We’ve only managed to uncover a few minor ones," Skinner asked.

Lu Yin replied, "Not right now. I need to speak with the Bureau Director about something. You all head out on your own."

Soon, Skinner, Boss Guan, and the other team captains left the Red Zone to arrest some spies. At the same time, Lu Yin reached out to Xu Wuji.

The Void Suprema was not far from the Red Zone. He was casually drifting through outer space with his sunglasses on. It was impossible to know if the man was sleeping or merely resting.

Lu Yin arrived a short distance away. "Bureau Director."

Xu Wuji pushed his sunglasses up. "Xuan Qi, are you out of seclusion already? How’d it go? Evernight can’t be easy to control."

Lu Yin nodded. "Not at all."

"Haha, how long were you in seclusion for? Forget Evernight—no Immemorial card can be mastered in such a short amount of time," Xu Wuji said with a smile.

Lu Yin stared at Xu Wuji and asked, "Bureau Director, I heard that someone tried to attack me. Is that right?"

Xu Wuji took a sip of his drink. "I didn’t know what he wanted, so I drove him away."

"Thank you, Bureau Director."

"You're welcome. You’re one of my people, so if I don’t take care of you, who will? If you want to go back into seclusion, you can continue doing so. There’s nothing that the Bureau is actively dealing with right now, at least, not in my Voidforce Universe."

Lu Yin could not tell if Xu Wuji knew that he had not actually been in seclusion, but the man should know.

However, it was not easy for Lu Yin to bring up such a matter.

"Speaking of that, you already managed to arrest quite a few spies hidden in the Voidforce Universe, and you’ve scared even more of them away. Xuan Qi, you really are the best in the entire Sixverse Association when it comes to rooting out spies. Keep up the good work," Xu Wuji said before putting his sunglasses back on.

Lu Yin stared at the man. Keep up the good work? Was it because Xuan Qi had captured so many spies that Xu Wuji did not care?

"Bureau Director, you once told me you became the Voidforce Universe’s Bureau Director because you lost a bet. If you could go back, would you still choose to join the Bureau?"

Xu Wuji did not respond, but after Lu Yin waited for a while, the man finally said, "If I had known that someone like you would show up, I absolutely would have still joined the Bureau."

Lu Yin smiled, understanding the man’s meaning.

"Right, we should head back to the New Inn. You need to give them an answer. It’s not enough to speak words without showing some action as well. Do you want me to help you deal with a Void Morphora-level corpse king?" Xu Wuji mentioned.

Lu Yin shook his head. "That’s not necessary. I have Evernight, and I only need to deal with opponents as powerful as Void Morphoras."

"Then go take care of that."

Lu Yin left. It was indeed time for Xuan Qi to return to the New Inn. He had promised to trade four Void Morphora-level corpse kings for Old Dian's life. A good bit of time had passed since then, but given everything that had happened, Lu Yin had never had the opportunity to return to the New Inn.

It was important to demonstrate his determination to them.

The New Inn was right at the Voidforce Universe’s frontlines. When Lu Yin had first visited this place, Xu Wuji had led the way, but this time, Lu Yin was making the trip alone.

Less than half a month later, he was close to the frontlines. Lu Yin stepped forward and saw the voidforce energy before him form a massive vortex of energy at the border of the Voidforce Universe’s frontlines. This was where the New Inn was located.

When Xu Wuji had first led Lu Yin here, they had quickly found the New Inn, but on his own, Lu Yin discovered that it was not as easy.

Lu Yin had been on far too many battlefields throughout his lifetime, and the battlefield at the border of the Voidforce Universe was nothing impressive to him. As long as no one at the Progenitor level was participating, Lu Yin was invincible.

As soon as he arrived on the battlefield, he went to where he sensed fighting.

Lu Yin swept across the battlefield, wielding his voidforce energy and causing his bone spur to dart about. With it, he was untouchable.

As he moved along, he approached many different people to ask them for directions to the New Inn, which allowed him to gradually approach it.

Before long, Lu Yin found a Semi-Progenitor-level corpse king on the battlefield.

The raging voidforce energy on the battlefield inhibited the corpse kings while greatly aiding the Voidforce Universe’s cultivators.

A peak Void Brillium was facing off against the Semi-Progenitor-level corpse king, relying on his voidforce puppet to endure. Even so, the corpse king was at a clear advantage.

The cultivator's puppet was a pink ball that kept bouncing around and striking the corpse king. Voidforce energy was continuously being pulled over from all over the battlefield, which meant that the cultivator’s reserves were not lowering in the slightest. This was only possible on this particular battlefield; anywhere else, the man would not be able to stand up to the corpse king. After all, even voidforce puppets had limited energy reserves.

Lu Yin appeared next to the man in an instant, startling him badly. "Brother, how did you move so fast? Don't scare me! I almost attacked you with my ball!"

Lu Yin raised his hand, causing his bone spur to flick out before disappearing and almost instantly reappearing. At the same moment, the Semi-Progenitor-level corpse king’s head fell off.

The man was stunned, and his pink ball stopped moving as he blankly stared at Lu Yin.

He had put his entire strength into fighting off the corpse king, and it was quite an impressive achievement that he had managed to stand up to a corpse king stronger than himself. On the other hand, this newcomer had almost instantly killed that same corpse king! How long had it taken, seconds? What the hell?

Lu Yin stepped forward and grabbed the corpse king's head before vanishing once again.

In total, he had taken just three seconds.

If not for the corpse king’s headless body, the cultivator would have thought that he was dreaming.

When had such a monster arrived on this battlefield?

Lu Yin felt that there was no real reason to hide his capabilities in the Voidforce Universe. Lord Xu was already aware of Lu Yin’s identity, so there was little point in trying to remain hidden.

A day later, Lu Yin finally saw the New Inn.

He barely attracted any attention when he pushed the door open. The dining room was quite full, mostly populated with cultivators who fought on the battlefield.

Only the establishment’s servers recognized Xuan Qi.

"If it isn’t Acting Bureau Director Xuan Qi! What a rare guest!" The same woman with heavy makeup moved forward to happily welcome Lu Yin into the inn.

He smiled at her. "Big Sister, have you still not married Boss Chou Bao yet?"

"Hey! How can you mention something so embarrassing like that? Please stop teasing me, Acting Bureau Director, haha."

"It’ll happen sooner or later."

"Hey, old man! Bring some tea over here for the Acting Bureau Director.

“By the way, I hope that Bureau Director Wuji hasn’t come with you. He’s not very welcome here." The woman casually sat down across from Lu Yin, her voice lowering as she sat down. It was a lovely sight, and Lu Yin could not help but appreciate the eye candy.

No, he could not look at her like that. The people of the New Inn were not what they appeared to be, and to use Xu Wuji's words, none of them were good people.

"The Bureau Director is currently occupied, so I came alone," Lu Yin answered with a smile.

"I’m glad to hear that he didn’t come! Next time, I’ll dump the tea on him!" An old man arrived behind Lu Yin, delivering some tea. He shot a smile to the woman, revealing large yellow teeth.

Lu Yin knew that this man had a grudge against Xu Wuji. Even though he was only a Void Morphora, he still dared to insult Xu Wuji. All that could be said was that the server did not value his own life.

All of the people who worked in the New Inn were indifferent to the matters of life and death. While they might have entered the New Inn to survive, they would never be allowed to leave the battlefield alive. It was destined to be their grave.

After taking a sip of his tea, Lu Yin glanced around, finding that many people were also observing him. Not all of the inn’s guests were qualified for that woman to greet them.

"Where's Boss Chou Bao? I’ve brought a gift," Lu Yin said.

The woman's eyes lit up, gleaming as though she was about to shed tears. "Is that the gift that you promised to deliver, Acting Bureau Director?"

"Just one, not all of them. I’ll continue to send more when I have the opportunity in the future," Lu Yin explained.

The woman smiled. "That’s impressive, Acting Bureau Director. I heard that you’ve received one of the Lost Clan’s most powerful cards. Is that true? Could you indulge this little girl and show her?"

Lu Yin smiled. "Of course."

"Really?" The woman had only asked on a whim, and she had not expected Xuan Qi to actually agree.

"First help me out by calling Boss Chou Bao out."

The woman smiled and left. Soon, Chou Bao entered the dining room.

Everyone in New Inn looked at the man with respect, and some did not even dare to look directly at him.

Lu Yin looked at the man and rose to greet him. "Senior, I’ve only brought you one this time. I’ll take care of the remaining three as soon as possible."

As Lu Yin spoke, he pulled out the head of the Semi-Progenitor-level corpse king from his cosmic ring.

The people nearby were all taken aback by the sight. While Semi-Progenitors were nothing in Lu Yin’s eyes, most people regarded them as powerful existences that were far out of their reach. Many people dreamed of reaching that level for their entire lives, and they did not even consider the possibility of ever reaching the true peak.

They all stared at Lu Yin. Could such a young man really kill such a powerful corpse king?

"That’s Xuan Qi! I remembered now!"

"Xuan Qi? The Bureau’s Acting Director? The Xuan Qi who’s also the Bureau Director in the Three Monarchs Universe and the Transcendent Universe?"

"That’s right, it’s him."

"I’ve heard that he’s incredibly talented, even comparable to the Junior Sovereign, and that he managed to get one of the Lost Clan’s most powerful cards. It’s no wonder that he’s able to kill such a powerful corpse king."

...

Chou Bao glanced at the head and then looked back at Xuan Qi. "Not bad, but you still have three more to go.

"Take a break for now!"

Lu Yin asked, "Where is Old Dian?"

Chou Bao pointed to a corner.

Lu Yin had not scanned New Inn with his domain out of respect for Chou Bao, but when he looked over where the man was pointing, he saw Old Dian cooking and staring intently at Lu Yin.

When the old man saw Xuan Qi look over, he grew excited.

"Can I talk to him?"

"You’re in an inn. Of course you can."

Lu Yin let out a breath. "Thank you very much."

Chou Bao was right. They were in an inn, so Lu Yin ordered some food. It would be rude to visit an inn without doing at least that much.

His food was then delivered by Old Dian.

"Bureau Director, how are things going?" The old man was anxious, but also excited to see Xuan Qi.

Lu Yin solemnly replied, "The Bai clan was killed by Chen Le."

Old Dian was confused for a moment before he remembered that name. "Are you talking about the Three Monarchs Universe’s leader of the Mo Courtyard? That Chen Le?"

"He’s broken through and is now a peak powerhouse. I can’t deal with him for now," Lu Yin replied.

Old Dian fell into despair. "So, the powerful expert ended up becoming a peak powerhouse..."

The man did not blame Xuan Qi. After all, what could be done against a Monarch?

Even if Lu Yin were not using Xuan Qi's identity and was acting as himself, it would not be easy for him to deal with someone as powerful as a Progenitor. There were many details that needed to be considered, not to mention the fact that Chen Le was cooperating with Lu Yin for the time being. It was impossible for Lu Yin to attack just to get revenge for Old Dian.

Xuan Qi had promised to protect Old Dian, but keeping the old man alive by purchasing his life with the lives of four Semi-Progenitor-level corpse kings was already more than enough. It was impossible for Old Dian to avenge the Bai clan, and that clan had no connection with Lu Yin at all.

Chen Le was right when he had said that the Peaks and Rivers Rock was not something that the Bai clan had inherited from their ancestors, but rather something that they had stolen from others. This was the cruel reality of cultivators.

The essence of cultivation was fighting, stealing, and risking one’s life while competing for resources, obtaining treasures, and raising one’s realm. This was what it meant to cultivate.

Old Dian bitterly stated, "You were able to learn that Chen Le was the culprit, and I want to thank you for that, Acting Bureau Director."

Lu Yin said nothing and instead took a sip of his tea while quietly enjoying his food. Being able to enjoy a meal was a rare experience on a battlefield.