With the newly upgraded bracer, Lu Yin would be able to double his physical strength. That meant that he could now blow away an ordinary peak Hunter with a single punch. The upper limit of this bracer should now be close to the physical strength of an Enlighter with a power level of 300,000. Lu Yin was curious if one of his punches with this bracer would be enough to break through Aden’s thunder shield. He was really looking forward to finding out!

He had 50,000 or so star essence remaining, so he retrieved a certain box without any hesitation. This box contained a pearl that was about the size of a palm and had a transparent luster. He did not know what this toy was called, but it was something else that he had taken from Old Gu De’s collection, and it was another power vessel.

Old Gu De had not cared about this pearl. Its ability was to absorb and then reflect an opponent’s attack, but unfortunately, the most it could absorb was an Explorer’s strength. It was worthless to someone like Old Gu De, which was why he had not mentioned it to Lu Yin before his death. Still, he had felt like it would be a pity to throw such a unique item away.

Fortunately, Lu Yin had noticed it when he was sorting through everything that Old Gu De had left behind.

It had been useless to Old Gu De, but it was very useful for Lu Yin. Something that was able to absorb attacks and then reflect them back at the attacker was a very beautiful ability.

He named the pearl the Backlash Pearl before starting to crazily upgrade it.

He was more fond of the pearl than the bracer or the pike, namely because, if this pearl was used well, it could make an opponent question their life. Thus, Lu Yin unrestrainedly upgraded it eleven times, using up 35,000 star essence in the process. He wanted to upgrade it one more time, but that would have taken 20,000 star essence. That was all he had left, which meant that he could not upgrade the pearl any further at this time.

Still, after he upgraded the Backlash Pearl eleven times, it was now able to reflect attacks from someone with a power level of around 200,000, which was an Enlighter level attack. The twelfth upgrade would probably only increase the amount it could handle to around 220,000, which was not much of an upgrade. Once Lu Yin’s funds recovered, he was planning on upgrading the pearl until it could reflect attacks with a power level of 300,000, which would allow him to wander the Outerverse unhindered.

However, he would have to leave it alone for now since there was one more item that needed to be upgraded.

The Ultra Flash Tear Bomb. He looked down at a ball in his hands, which was the final item that Lu Yin needed to upgrade rather urgently.

Ordinary people used flash bombs as a common weapon, and even if they had a great effect against other ordinary people, they weren’t of much use against cultivators. However, while cleaning out one of Aegis’s bases, the Allied Forces had suffered losses when Aegis forces used an improved Flash Tear Bomb on them that was able to cause even Explorers to lose their sight for a moment. Just a single attack had caused the Allied Forces to lose multiple Explorers.

This event had piqued Lu Yin’s attention, and he felt that this item could be very useful. He had then made Ban Jiu manufacture an Ultra Flash Tear Bomb with polarium essence. If used well, this toy could save his life, and because it was a basic weapon, it did not cost too much star essence to upgrade. Thus, he started right away.

Although this Flash Tear Bomb wasn’t a power vessel and did not take too many star essence to upgrade, it still needed to be upgraded quite a number of times before it could have any sort of effect on Hunters or Enlighters.

Lu Yin used a total of 6,000 star essence to upgrade a single Flash Tear Bomb twenty two times. He felt that it could currently temporarily blind even peak Hunters and make them shed some tears. His remaining funds were enough to allow him to upgrade two more bombs, which meant that he would have three upgraded Ultra Flash Tear Bombs in total. Although that was not a lot, each one would have an extraordinary impact if used at a crucial moment.

And with that, he was broke again.

Lu Yin looked at the empty space within his cosmic ring. At his peak, he had possessed almost 200,000 star essence. Rolling six pips: Possession had burned through a bit more than half of that, and he had just used up the rest. At this moment, he only had a bit more than 2,000 star essence on him.

Lu Yin could not help himself from wanting to force the Great Yu Empire to repay its debt to him, as it currently owed him 80,000 star essence.

He sighed, as he had two days left in the Timestop Space. He spent the remaining time resting and silently revolving the Cosmic Art to absorb a bit of star energy.

***

In the Sourcepeak Weave, a giant spacecraft was floating through space, and inside it, Wei Rong was sitting in front of five screens, each one showing a different person. There were both men and women being shown, and though they were all human, minute differences could be seen among them.

These five people each represented a different guiding power of five of the central weaves.

Even if Wei Rong despised their attitudes, he could not afford to act too impudently in front of them. He reduced the arrogance that normally blazed in his eyes and replaced it with modesty and resentment.

“Are you saying that the Great Eastern Alliance is targeting our central weaves?” someone asked in a deep voice.

Wei Rong nodded, and there was an edge of anger in his voice as he replied, “All of you should understand this person, Lu Yin. He has always been arrogant, and he even dared to provoke the Daynight clan when he was in the Innerverse. Now that he’s established this Great Eastern Alliance, it’s clear that his ultimate objective is to unify the entire Outerverse. Our central weaves will definitely be his next target.”

Someone sneered. “Unify the Outerverse? What a joke. Forget about Lu Yin—not even an enormous Innerverse power like the Daynight clan could accomplish that. You overestimate this Lu Yin. He’s just a youth who’s overly ambitious, keke.”

Wei Rong replied, “What if he’s supported by the Hall of Honor?”

The few people there all had a change of expression. “He has the Hall of Honor behind him?”

“It hasn’t been verified yet, but while working to establish the Great Eastern Alliance, he repeatedly received assistance from the Hall of Honor, and their attitude towards him could not be any clearer. Or, perhaps unifying the Outerverse is what the Hall of Honor desires.”

The five people all sank into silence.

“So what if the Hall of Honor is behind him? Now that the Outerverse is cut off from the Innerverse, the Hall of Honor’s strength is not as fearsome as we previously imagined. Moreover, the Great Eastern Alliance is currently battling against Aegis, and the eastern weaves are very remote. The people there may not have a clear understanding of Aegis’s strength, but what of us? We all know that Aegis is extraordinary,” one person said.

“That’s right. We’ll talk again if the Great Eastern Alliance is able to survive their confrontation with Aegis, but I think this is all baseless at this junction.”

“Aegis has Enlighters.”

…

Wei Rong did not interrupt the five, and he instead silently observed them as they discussed the matter. Their responses were all within his expectations; if an alliance could be established so easily, then the seventy two weaves of the Outerverse would not have remained fragmented for all these countless years.

Wei Rong found it quite believable that the Hall of Honor was supporting Lu Yin, and as long as there was even a trace of a possibility, he would make sure to prepare for the worst case scenario.

The central weaves were not the eastern weaves, and the situation concerning Ironblood Weave was rather unique. The eastern weaves had always been more remote compared to the rest of the Outerverse, and more than half the Outerverse’s powers simply didn’t dare to step foot there out of fear that their stronger members would be drafted into Ironblood Weave. This had led to the current situation, where they did not quite understand the eastern weaves, and thus, they simply did not give any weight to the situation concerning the Great Eastern Alliance.

In fact, Wei Rong had once been the same, and when he had roamed about the Outerverse in the past, he had also avoided the eastern weaves. One reason had been his apprehension towards Ironblood Weave, but besides that, he simply did not fancy the eastern weaves in any way. Many experts had left that region, moving towards either the Innerverse or the western half of the Outerverse.

These people holding a discussion in front of Wei Rong were no different.

Wei Rong had not expected them to be apprehensive of the Great Eastern Alliance, as his goal for this discussion was just to leave an impression upon these five. Nothing would be a problem if the Great Eastern Alliance ended up worn down by Aegis. However, if even Aegis was not able to deal with the Great Eastern Alliance, these people’s attitude towards the Great Eastern Alliance would experience an abrupt change, and that would work to his advantage in his efforts to unite the central weaves.

After a period of discussion, the leaders all disconnected from the conference call.

Wei Rong stood in place and stared into the darkness of space. Some believed that the eastern weaves had a limited future, but in truth, they were the ones who were lacking in potential. Wei Rong had a feeling that Aegis would not be able to defeat Lu Yin, and nobody knew for certain who was hiding behind Lu Yin. Even Amethyst Exchange did not have a good understanding of this person, which left Lu Yin shrouded in mystery with many hidden secrets.

“Young Master, we’ve arrived at Planet Aykar,” someone reminded Wei Rong.

Wei Rong looked at the slowly rotating planet in front of them and adjusted his expression.

Ayker Planet was home to one of the stronger clans in Sourcepeak Weave, and only by roping them in could he hope to pull Sourcepeak Weave to his side.

Felynn had been in contact with the Ayker clan recently, and Wei Rong had naturally learned of this matter. He had spoken with Felynn about it, intending to intimidate her into stopping her meddling in Sourcepeak Weave. However, during his most recent call with her, Felynn’s attitude had been quite unyielding. Wei Rong did not know what Lu Yin had promised Felynn, but she had clearly set her heart on pulling Sourcepeak Weave into the Great Eastern Alliance, which was something that Wei Rong absolutely could not allow to happen.

As such, he had personally traveled to Sourcepeak Weave to stymie Felynn’s efforts.

Half a month quickly went by, and now, it had been a full month since Lu Yin had left the Daosource Sect's ruins. He had no plans on returning anytime soon, as all of his life saving items were useless against an Arbiter or a Realmling, and he had no intention of wasting his treasures.

He would wait a while longer!

He did not know where Wendy had gone with Ku Wei, as he had not heard anything from either of them.

Hai Qiqi, on the other hand, actually occasionally sent him messages to let him know that she was safe.

Shenwu Continent’s situation had gradually stabilized, as Ming Zhaoshu had sacrificed his own reputation to purchase a period of temporary peace and stability for Ming Yan. Ming Yan had not let her father down, and she had stabilized the Shenwu Empire. This in part due to the white-haired Ming Yan’s contributions, and Shenwu Continent was peaceful at the moment.

Lu Yin had wanted to send some people to help Ming Yan with her administrative duties, but he had eventually given up on that thought. Ming Yan had not gone to the Great Yu Empire with him so that she could live up to Ming Zhaoshu’s expectations. If Lu Yin helped Ming Yan too much, it would just make things difficult for her.

During this time, Lu Yin had also been secretly monitoring Liuying Zishan, though the only information he obtained was that the light ball never appeared again. He still felt very uneasy about the light ball, as he did not know where it had come from. However, none of the other captains exhibited any similar situations, though that might be because the person who had influenced Liuying Zishan had been scared by Lu Yin absorbing the ball of light. The lack of activity may just be the other party’s cautiousness.

This matter was constantly bugging Lu Yin in the back of his mind.

The further everyone progressed, the less Lu Yin was able to observe Liuying Zishan. She had been appointed as the Allied Forces’ Commander, so she could not stay on Zenyu Star.

After she became the Allied Forces’ Commander, the Thirteenth Squadron had been left without a captain.

Lu Yin had considered appointing the Nine Stacks Sect’s Lan Wu, but he was not satisfied with her. Ideally, his captains should all be at least at the level of Huo Qingshan or the blind monk. Even if they could not match up to Aden and the other captains, there could not be too large of a disparity between the captains. Lan Wu was just an ordinary Hunter, and she was nowhere near close to Huo Qingshan’s match, let alone Aden and the others.

Aegis had been very peaceful in this period, disturbingly so.

The quieter his enemies were, the greater the schemes being laid, which made Lu Yin feel uneasy. The reports that he received from the bespectacled Mistchild also made him wary of Aegis at all times. Aegis had a training method that allowed its top assassins to conceal their rune lines, which was the greatest source of Lu Yin’s worries. If even he wasn’t able to detect Aegis’s assassins, then there was no way anyone else would be able to.

Constantly being alert to assassins had taken a toll on his mental energy.

Lu Yin also wanted to take the initiative to act, but he could not think of any way to do so.

He had gone to the Amethyst Exchange a second time, but Zi Xianxian had told him that Aegis had relocated all of its remaining bases out of the Great Eastern Alliance’s territory. Its associate organizations were also continuously moving around, so Lu Yin couldn’t even find any targets to act against.

Aegis’s comprehensive shifting of its assets could only mean one thing: they were preparing for a blitzkrieg attack that would far outdo Feng Zi’s previous assassination attempt.