Star Odyssey

The Cruiser’s expression quickly changed, and he became exceedingly humble.

And with that, Hai Qiqi’s fishing dream was crushed.

Not just anyone was allowed to fish in the Astral River. Even with Lu Yin’s strength, Old Gu De had felt that Lu Yin had a relatively high chance of being dragged off and dying. Without becoming a Cruiser, the chances of one dying while fishing were very high. Even after becoming a Cruiser, one could only persist for less than ten hours. This showed just how dangerous the Astral River was. 

Upon knowing that Hai Qiqi was somebody important from the Sea King’s Dome, there was no way the envoy on the ark would allow her to fish. What she would be fishing for would not be fish, but rather his life. This was why Hai Qiqi had no chance of being allowed to fish.

However, that was not the only thing. All of her movements on the ship started being monitored at all times so that she could be constantly protected.

This was why Lu Yin had been so lenient and accepted her request. The Astral River Envoy would be more worried about her safety than anyone else. 

Lu Yin spent all of his time on the situation in Frostwave Weave. Huo Qingshan reported to him practically every day. During this time, the Second Grade Hall had surprisingly stopped their acts of aggression, sending no more experts to Frostwave Weave, and they’d even withdrawn the experts they had sent before. 

Such a move made no sense to Lu Yin. 

In the Outerverse, at the border between Northcastle Weave and Frostwave Weave, there were dozens of gigantic beasts flying about. Each beast was an Explorer level creature, and every single one of them carried an expert from the Second Grade Hall. Even further away, there was a fortress-looking warship floating through space, carrying a whole group of people from the Second Grade Hall. 

In order to secure a cache of pyrolyte, the Second Grade Hall had sent out quite a few powerhouses. The person who had been ordered to attack Frostwave Weave was a Hunter known as Anfield. Powerhouses like him were referred to as commanders within the Second Grade Hall. 

Anfield somberly studied the star chart. He never would have imagined that a tiny place like Frostwave Weave would be able to defend against his attacks. It was only when he skimmed through the history of Frostwave Weave that he discovered that the Great Yu Empire, which covered most of Frostwave Weave, had previously managed to fend off an attack from the Ross Empire. It was then that he realized that the Great Yu Empire was more than it appeared to be. 

He had fought against a strange-looking Hunter, and to his shock, he had been at a disadvantage. Such a situation caused him to order the assault on Frostwave Weave to halt, especially since it had seemed like that Hunter hadn’t even gone all out during their battle. 

While the Second Grade Hall was an organization from the Innerverse, it was ranked at the bottom within the Beast Tamers Flowzone, and they could not afford to squander their strength on needlessly attacking Frostwave Weave. 

Just the day before, Anfield had received word that the Great Yu Empire’s Royal Regent, Lu Yin, might become the Sea King’s son-in-law. Such news had been shocking to him and had made him even more reluctant to lay hands on Frostwave Weave. 

However, as long as Lu Yin did not truly become the Sea King’s son-in-law, they could not give up on Frostwave Weave. They also weren’t the only ones with such thoughts. After all, it was not easy for someone to truly become the Sea King’s son-in-law. 

Currently, it was not in any of the many organizations’ best interests to reveal themselves. Hence, they’d chosen a method that many organizations often used: they had recruited a batch of mercenaries and paid them to attack Frostwave Weave. At this moment, numerous mercenaries from across the Innerverse were heading to the weave. 

At this moment, the chaos in Northcastle Weave had become very dangerous. Many large organizations in Northcastle Weave had already disappeared or were now under the control of organizations from the Innerverse. Wars were a constant occurrence and powerhouses could be seen everywhere. There were no less than ten Hunters who had been deployed, and Northcastle Weave was currently knee-deep in strife. 

After one passed through Northcastle Weave, they would come to the Astral Wilderness. The Astral Wilderness was a place with no network connected and had no wormholes that could be used to expedite travel. It was filled with danger and beasts. Even if there were catastrophic natural disasters, there would be no way for someone to avoid them. This was the true universe where the threat of death was everywhere. 

Since no wormholes had been built in this region, traveling through the Astral Wilderness was an extremely lengthy journey, and it would take one several times longer to travel the same distance compared to the Human Domain. 

Only the speed of a Radiant-grade Aurora, at the least, would allow one to somewhat be able to explore the Astral Wilderness. Otherwise, a great amount of time would be wasted on just traveling. 

There were nearly ten Hunters fighting in Northcastle Weave, but there were even more in the Astral Wilderness. Just the Souldream Tribe alone had sent three Hunters. 

Most of these experts were not trying to fight against others, as they were actually exploring the Astral WIlderness. It was incredibly dangerous there, and every year, at least ten Hunters died there. This was a terrifying number, because a single weave in the Outerverse might not even have that many Hunters. 

Of course, the profits that they gained were also sizable. As the explored area of the Astral Wilderness increased, the Outerverse itself expanded. After a while, the region to the north of Northcastle Weave would become a new weave, and the seventy two weaves of the Outerverse would become seventy three. 

As techniques to find pyrolyte became increasingly sophisticated, the various organizations had finally found a large amount of pyrolyte on a gigantic planet in the Astral Wilderness. The planet was a dull red color, and there would occasionally be loud explosions on the planet, which might very well be caused by pyrolyte. 

Above the planet, battleships hovered in space as many people closely observed the planet. The Daynight clan, Souldream tribe, Sword Sect, and other large organizations in the Innerverse had all appeared, but none of them had descended onto the planet yet. 

Far in the distance, powerful undulations swept out every once in a while. These were caused by battles between Hunters, though they quickly died down after appearing. 

At this moment, a personal spacecraft rocketed out from the planet and charged towards a battleship. Halfway to the battleship, however, the tiny spacecraft was halted, and it soon exploded, revealing the frightened pilot. 

Dozens of people suddenly appeared in outer space, and every single one of them was a Hunter. 

“This is a disciple from my sect. Please do not hurt him.” An elder stood in front of the boy and spoke in a long-suffering tone. The elder was a Hunter as well, but he was only an elder from an ordinary organization in the Innerverse. Surrounding him were the people of the Daynight clan, Sword Sect, and Wen family, and none of them were people whom he dared to confront. 

A Hunter from the Daynight clan moved forward and said with a cold look in his eyes, “There’s no need to be afraid. We just want to know what’s happening down on that planet.” 

The elder heaved a sigh of relief and then gestured towards the youth.

The boy answered in terror, “After- after I entered the planet, my star energy was completely suppressed, and I couldn’t sense any ambient star energy on the planet.” 

“We already know about that. Tell us something that we don’t,” the powerhouse from the Daynight clan ordered in an icy voice, sounding annoyed.

The boy became even more terrified. “I was lucky enough to arrive not too far away from some pyrolyte ore when I landed. I didn’t go too far from my landing site and left right after I retrieved it.” After saying that, he produced an ore the size of a fist from his cosmic ring and passed it to the elder. 

The Hunters around him looked incredibly disappointed. It was no wonder why the kid had left the planet so quickly. 

“But I did see an Explorer who landed not too long ago self-destruct,” the boy whispered. 

The surrounding Hunters’ eyes went wide like saucers. “What did you say? They self-destructed?!” 

“Yes,” the youth answered in a small voice as he ducked his head.

It didn’t take long for all of the large organizations to receive the news that any cultivator who was an Explorer or above would self-destruct upon landing on the planet; there were no exceptions. 

After discovering this planet, Hunters from different organizations had tried to investigate the planet themselves, but they had soon discovered that the moment they passed through the atmosphere, there would be violent explosions on the planet. This planet contained a large amount of pyrolyte, which any Hunter’s power would set off. That was why all of the Hunters were unable to enter; they were afraid of destroying the entire planet with their mere presence, and if that happened, everybody present would be done for. 

It was, however, a large surprise to everyone that even Explorers were unable to explore this planet.

After many days of research, the organizations finally came to the realization that there was a large amount of aerosolized pyrolyte suspended in the planet’s atmosphere. Not only did it repel star energy, but it also entered the bodies of breathing creatures. Those who had not yet become Explorers were fine, but anyone who was at the Explorer realm or higher had a body that was intrinsically connected to the universe, so once the pyrolyte entered their body, it would start circulating through their body just like their star energy. 

Pyrolyte was incredibly unstable, so once a certain amount of it built up in one’s body, it would explode. Just one gram could detonate with a power level of over 10,000. If an Explorer stayed on the planet for a while and ended up accumulating more than a gram of pyrolyte inside their body, then they would suffer from an internal explosion. Even a Cruiser would not be able to handle such an event. 

In other words, only cultivators who were not Explorers yet could safely explore this planet. And of them, the best choice was Limiteers. 

This theory was tested rigorously and confirmed by the cultivators who left the planet periodically. They each stayed on the planet for a few days, and all of the Limiteers had their bodies examined. Although they’d all inhaled quite a lot of pyrolyte, it had naturally been discharged from their body and did not accumulate. 

“It has been confirmed that only Limiteers can explore the planet. Contact the clan and have them send over a large number of Limiteers.” 

“Inform the sect to send Limiteers over.”

…

The exploration of the Astral Wilderness typically had nothing to do with Limiteers, but right now, thanks to this planet’s unique environment, Limiteers had turned into the main force of this particular expedition.

From far above the planet, numerous spacecraft dropped down. These ships carried troops of mostly Limiteers from various large organizations, though they were primarily freelancers or mercenaries who weren’t actually affiliated with anyone. However, by having such people explore the planet first, the organizations would gain a basic understanding of the planet’s various regions. 

For several days, Hai Qiqi was incredibly depressed. Wherever she went, there would be people following her. It seemed that coming outside with Lu Yin was nowhere near as fun as she had expected it to be. She couldn’t use violence to get her way since she wouldn’t be able to beat Lu Yin. Thus, with no other choice, Hai Qiqi decided to change her attitude. 

“For some reason, you seem really handsome today, Lu Yin!” Hai Qiqi beamed at Lu Yin, looked delighted and adoring.

Lu Yin immediately became cautious. “I don’t have any money.”

Hai Qiqi grew furious. “You said that you were rich before—no, I’m not asking for money! Besides, I’m richer than you.”

Lu Yin sighed. “Great, then go outside and play. Didn’t you want to go fishing?”

Upon hearing his words, Hai Qiqi’s fury returned in full force. “What kind of stupid place is this? There isn’t even a fishing rod! I said that I’d do it myself, but those guys told me that they want to protect the environment, and so, fishing isn’t allowed. They even put up a sign that reads ‘Protecting the environment is everyone’s responsibility.’ This place is killing me!”

Lu Yin was speechless. This Astral River Envoy was a lot more entertaining than Old Gude had been.

Hai Qiqi’s eyes shifted. “Hey, do you wanna fish, Lu Yin?”

“Nope.”

“Boring. Annoying. Irritating.” Hai Qiqi tapped her gadget to call someone.

Soon enough, a voice replied from the gadget, “You’ve left the Starfall Sea already, Qiqi?”

Lu Yin glanced towards the girl. The person she had called had a nice voice.

Hai Qiqi looked glum. “Baobao, I need to tell you something. There’s a rotten guy here. His looks are barely average. On top of that, he has a terrible personality, a potty mouth, and a bad attitude…” 

Lu Yin was struck speechless. He couldn’t believe the nonsense she had suddenly started spouting.