Chapter 527: Ringleader
“Elder-”
Hai Dashao wanted to say something, but Elder Ren interrupted him, slowly saying, “The Sea King's Dome can make them momentarily apprehensive, but not for very long. During this bit of time, they will definitely scout out about that little cutey and start sending their forces out. As soon as they become unable to resist the allure of the secret technique, they’ll take action.”
“Won’t she be in great danger at that time?” Hai Dashao could not help asking.
Elder Ren glanced at the youth. “Do you really like her?”
Hai Dashao nodded and proudly replied, “I want to marry her.”
Elder Ren smiled slightly. “That’s right. With the secret technique, she is indeed qualified to marry into the Sea King's Dome. Very well, I’ll let the Sea King know. If possible, he should make a trip over for his future daughter-in-law and son-in-law. Hopefully, those old folks have actually died, or else the universe will be thrown into chaos. It’s possible that even the Neoverse won’t be able to resist acting this time.”
They did not know that the Neoverse had already taken action long ago, but they had gotten lost while being led around in circles in the Cosmic Sea by Leon’s Armada.
After the seal around Planet Pyrolyte was removed, the various great powers quickly escorted their pyrolyte back to the Innerverse while constantly on guard against each other.
However, the Daynight clan, Sword Sect, Wen family, and other forces at a similar power were not too worried since no one dared to steal from them. It was instead the smaller forces who were robbed soon after they left the Astral Wilderness.
When the events at Planet Pyrolyte first started, there had been many people who had offered exorbitant prices to purchase pyrolyte. There was no shortage of criminals in the universe, and there were also powers such as Grandtop Weave and Lars Weave that coveted pyrolyte. Thus, it was actually very normal for the smaller forces to be ambushed.
However, when the Wen family’s pyrolyte was also stolen, things grew strange.
Nightqueen Qiuyu set down her gadget with a solemn expression. Who would be so bold as to actually rob the Wen family? Wen Qichen was no pushover, so they could have only been robbed by an Enlighter whose power level had reached 250,000 at the minimum, and that was also discounting the destructive power of the pyrolyte that they were carrying. The Wen family had obtained quite a bit of pyrolyte, and that in and of itself served as a deterrence. If Wen Qichen got the chance, then he definitely would have ignited their pyrolyte.
But surprisingly enough, their pyrolyte had been stolen, which could mean only one thing: Wen Qichen had not even gotten an opportunity to ignite their pyrolyte, which meant that the thief was someone with a power level that far surpassed 200,000.
“Faster!” Nightqueen Qiuyu immediately ordered the crew.
However, not long after she gave the order, the entire spacecraft—no, the entire region of space froze. Nightqueen Qiuyu’s expression changed, as only a super powerhouse had the strength to freeze such a large region of space.
Not a minute later, the spacecraft returned to normal once again. Nightqueen Qiuyu hurriedly tore through the void, moving towards where they had stashed their pyrolyte, but she was only greeted with empty space. The pyrolyte was missing.
The next to be robbed after the Daynight clan was the Sword Sect. Even with an Enlighter like Elder Viletree, the Sword Sect’s pyrolyte was still stolen.
Then, an even more astounding event occurred: Elder Ren from the Sea King's Dome was severely injured, and Northline Flowzone’s pyrolyte was taken just like everyone else’s.
Once news of this broke out, it shocked both the Innerverse and the Outerverse. Elder Ren was an old freak with a power level in the several hundred thousands. If even he had ended up severely injured, then the culprit had to be a terrifying powerhouse with a power level above 400,000 or even 500,000.
The various major powers had spent countless resources to obtain this pyrolyte, not to mention losing the lives of many of their disciples. And yet, despite all their efforts, everything had been stolen away at the last moment, and it thoroughly infuriated them all.
In the Daynight clan’s ancestral grounds, the earth ruptured, and a pair of eyes opened wide. They then peered through the void to see something an endless distance away. In that instance, the disciples in the area all felt their scalps go numb, and any gadget that was able to evaluate power levels exploded, even numerous Hunters’ gadgets. This happened because the devices had detected the power level of a frightening figure.
There was a pub in the Sword Sect that many swordsmen loved drinking at since many sword techniques were comprehended while drunk. At this moment, in the pub, an elder stood up after polishing off several dozen jars. He rubbed his drowsy eyes and sighed. He then grabbed a wine jar and vanished.
In the Wen family, the clear sounds of people reading aloud reverberated through the sky while students carried their scrolls around and tried to understand the contents. There was an elder with white hair who stood out in a rather eye-catching manner since he was sitting among the rest of the students. He had studied with this group for more than ten days, and during that time, their initial curiosity had gradually turned into sympathy before they had eventually stopped paying attention to the old man. They assumed that he was a scholar who had repeatedly failed the exams, but refused to give up and continued to study.
The elder suddenly set down his scroll, looked up, and then vanished.
This scene caused many of the students to be stunned, and some of them thought that their eyes had gone blurry.
Not long after, more news shocked the Outerverse and caused the Outerverse powers to grow nervous.
An old freak from the Daynight clan with a power level that surpassed 400,000 had moved out to investigate the matter of the stolen pyrolyte. The powerhouse had declared that whoever had perpetrated the crime would have their entire clan exterminated when they were discovered. This announcement vividly displayed the Daynight clan’s tyranny.
Not only the Daynight clan, but the Sword Sect and Wen family had similarly sent out powerful old experts. Of the three experts, the Sword Sect’s drunken elder first sought out Northgate Taisui from Northline Flowzone, as Northgate Taisui was indeed someone who could seize all of that pyrolyte without leaving a trace.
Northgate Taisui and the Sword Sect’s drunken elder fought in Northline Flowzone until space itself was damaged, but no one knew what the outcome of the battle was.
Lu Yin barely cared about what happened in the other regions of the universe, as he was only concerned about Wendy Yushan. Over the past few days, she had received many messages from various powerful organizations, and each one had offered astounding incentives as they invited Wendy Yushan to join them. Also, the Myriad Swords Peak had requested that she return to the sect.
These messages were just diplomatic maneuvers that served as a prelude to the impending violence. Even if these organizations were apprehensive of the Sea King's Dome and also of each other, Wendy Yushan might as well be another Planet Pyrolyte. She was like a luxurious dish that had been plated that was now merely waiting for the various powers to enjoy.
With the bright light of Wendy Yushan’s importance, Lu Yin disappeared into the shadows of obscurity.
It was only messages for the moment, but Lu Yin believed that, before long, someone would personally come and visit Zenyu Star. At the moment, there were already many spacecraft gathered outside of Zenyu Star, but they made no attempt to signal their origin.
Hai Dashao had also contacted Wendy Yushan during these few days, but Wendy Yushan did not answer his calls, which delighted Lu Yin.
Over the period of a dozen days, the three old freaks did not manage to learn much, though Elder Ren was certain that the culprit was someone from the Neoverse.
Finally, Wen Sansi made an appearance and requested the aid of the Starsibyl Sect.
Starsibyl had once mentioned that Wen Sansi’s reply to her question had convinced the Starsibyl to give him their support. When he had first heard about that, even if Lu Yin had known that the Starsibyl Sect’s support was important, he had not clearly understood what that meant until this moment. Now, he learned what it was to receive that sect’s support.
When they acted, they pointed directly at the Starfall Sea. More accurately, it was the Sea King.
When Hai Qiqi learned of this news, even her face changed.
Lu Yin also felt numb. Was this true? Could the Starsibyl Sect truly be this divine? Could they have calculated everything after people acted? Lu Yin did not believe in the powers of divination, but many others did, as well as the great powers of the universe.
Even if the Innerverse and Outerverse were both said to be apprehensive of the Sea King's Dome, that was because they were worried that the Sea King would lean towards one side or the other, not because they were truly afraid of the Sea King. When discussing pure strength, no matter if one considered the Daynight clan, Sword Sect, or Wen family, not a single one of them was any weaker than the Sea King's Dome. If they came together, then even the Sea King would not be able to face them head on.
The moment the Starsibyl Sect revealed that the perpetrator was the Sea King's Dome, the three great powers united along with quite a few other powers from the Innerverse and headed for the Starfall Sea. There were no less than ten old freaks who had power levels in the several hundred thousands, and even some Envoys went.
“I want to return! I want to look for Father.” Hai Qiqi was anxious as she spoke to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin tried to comfort her, and he immediately contacted Hai Dashao.
“Was it really your Sea King's Dome that snatched the pyrolyte?” Lu Yin asked.
Hai Dashao did not reply.
Hai Qiqi grew uneasy. “Brother, answer him.”
Hai Dashao softly replied, “Take care of Qiqi, and don’t let her get injured. This matter is none of your business.”
Lu Yin did not understand why the Sea King needed pyrolyte. After all, it was just a deterrent to the various great powers, and it wasn’t even enough to threaten the powerhouses whose power levels were in the hundreds of thousands. This was also the reason why the various powers had not sent their old freaks to Planet Pyrolyte. If there was a substance that could truly threaten them, then they would have personally moved out long ago, and Limiteers would have never taken the stage.
But it was extremely strange that the Sea King would want so much pyrolyte, and it was inconceivable that he would risk the wrath of the other organizations for such a thing.
“Brother, I want to return to the Sea King's Dome! I want to look for Father!” Qiqi shouted.
Hai Dashao stubbornly rebutted, “You don’t need to come back. There’s no one who would dare to wage war on my Sea King's Dome. Relax, even if all of the Innerverse powers unite, they still can’t defeat the Sea King's Dome within the Starfall Sea.”
And with that, Hai Dashao ended the call.
Hai Qiqi still wanted to return to the Starfall Sea, but Lu Yin restrained her. “Even with your collapsible spacecraft’s speed, it would still take you a long time to return to the Starfall Sea. By then, everything will already have been sorted out. Your brother is right. The various great powers won’t declare war on the Sea King's Dome just for pyrolyte. Also, don’t forget that, aside from the Sea King's Dome, the Starfall Sea still has Grayweed Continent and the other planets, each with an old freak with a power level in the several hundred thousands. Together, they can’t be touched by those Innerverse powers.”
Hai Qiqi’s body trembled. Then, she slowly knelt down and buried her head in her arms. At this time, she finally understood Lu Yin’s earlier feelings, and she thought of what he had once said to her. If the Sea King's Dome faced a war, then what would she do? Who would have thought such a day would come for her so fast.
The Sea King’s daughter was unpredictable, but she wasn’t foolish. She understood that pyrolyte wasn’t very important to the various Innerverse powers and also that they valued their reputation more. This time, the Sea King had practically slapped all of those forces across the face, which was something that neither the Sword Sect nor the Daynight clan could tolerate. A war was about to break out.
More importantly, Hai Qiqi had a vague feeling that her father was hiding something from her, which was the true source of her unease. She started carefully thinking things through; why had her father so readily agreed to let her out? It must have been because he had been afraid that she might be implicated. All of his arrangements had been made long ago.
“Lu Yin, can we go to the Sea King's Dome?” Hai Qiqi looked up pleadingly at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin had never seen her in such a state, and she looked like a completely different person. He reached out and patted her head. “Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to the Sea King's Dome. Have you forgotten about Elder Tong? Didn’t you say that his strategies are unbeatable? With him around, everything will be easily taken care of.”
Hai Qiqi buried her head back in her arms, completely miserable.
Lu Yin looked in the direction of the Starfall Sea. Sea King, just what are you trying to do?
Outside the Starfall Sea, an unprecedented scene was taking place. Countless experts were gathering at that place, and even Envoy-level powerhouses flitted about. Their mere presence caused the Starfall Sea’s entrance to shudder and the seaweed to break apart. Everyone stayed low as they looked up at the countless powerhouses littering the sky.
The Sword Sect and Daynight experts led the way, aggressively charging into the Starfall Sea.
It was possible that they had been waiting a long time for this moment, and the gathered organizations had all united for a variety of motivations. They were dealing with the Starfall Sea because of the pyrolyte, but that wasn’t all.
The Innerverse would not permit the existence of a power that was completely outside of their structure, so the Starfall Sea had no allies.
Countless people were observing this battle, and many watched on with worry, as no one knew what the outcome would be. Wen Sansi now regretted requesting the Starsibyl Sect to look into the matter, as he had never imagined that his request would create trouble on such a large scale.