Star Odyssey

Although Elder Lohar tried to reassure everyone that the Astral Beast Domain would stop trying to invade the Outerverse, the fortresses maintained their defenses to play things safe. Furthermore, the news of the invasion ending was not publicly spread, so only a few people were aware of the truth.

After resting for two days, Lu Yin sat on the edge of a region of broken land and watched the people collecting the corpses in the distance. He didn’t know why Elder Lohar was so sure that the Astral Beast Domain wouldn’t attack anymore, and he couldn’t think of any power that could threaten the Astral Beast Domain even after discussing it with the Ghost Monkey. He was worried that Elder Lohar had been deceived. 

Crack! 

He heard footsteps from behind him, and he was able to perceive a woman in a red dress approaching him through his forcefield. It was the woman next to Wang Wen whom he had saved during the most recent battle. She had a sexy appearance, and she should be from the Blaze Realm. 

He noticed an enticing scent that caused him to frown. 

“Brother Lu, can I sit here?” Lilyrose stood behind Lu Yin and gazed at him with a smiling face. A gentle breeze caused her red dress to gently graze against his hand.

Lu Yin nodded. “Sure.” 

Lilyrose didn’t care about the dirt on the ground, and she directly sat down next to Lu Yin before turning her head to look straight at him. 

Lu Yin curiously looked into her eyes. The woman had an alluring aspect to her that was different from the breathtaking charisma of Mira or Madam Nalan. Her allure, combined with her red dress, could easily stir any man's desire. “Why are you looking at me?” 

Lilyrose smiled bashfully. “Brother Lu, thank you for saving me.”

Lu Yin turned around. “No problem. I would have saved anyone in that situation.”

“I know, but still, you saved me, and I have to thank you.” Lilyrose inched closer to Lu Yin. “Brother Lu, let’s have a drink.”

Although Lu Yin wasn’t very experienced in the matters of the heart and had quite impulsively entered into a relationship with Ming Yan, he could still understand the clear motivation of this beautiful woman who “wanted to have a drink” with him. He knew that she was trying to seduce him. 

Lu Yin stood up and straightforwardly said, “I’m busy, so I’ll be leaving first.” He didn’t like this kind of woman, especially since she was being so forward in her attempts to seduce him. 

Lilyrose watched Lu Yin walk away and smiled. “Brother Lu, you have contributed greatly during this battle. Would you be interested in joining the Blaze Realm?’ 

Lu Yin didn’t hesitate at all to respond, “With the Innerverse and Outerverse currently separated, you might not even be able to return to the Blaze Realm ever again. Be more realistic.” 

“In that case, has Brother Lu ever thought about how you’ll face the upcoming dangers?” Lilyrose asked loudly. 

Lu Yin paused and turned to look at her. “Dangers?” 

Lilyrose smirked. “Brother Lu, your gun is now broken.” 

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. “Are you threatening me?” 

Lilyrose replied, “Of course not. I would never threaten my savior. However, there are a lot of people that now know that your gun is broken. Even though you have become an Explorer and have your universal armor, you still don’t have any methods that can stand up to an Enlighter’s attack. I’m also aware that you have quite a number of enemies.”  

She was clearly implying that the greatest threat to him was Huo Houye from the Blaze Realm. 

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t use the gun to kill Karthika.” He left after giving her those words. 

Lilyrose was shocked. If he hadn’t used the gun, then could it be that he actually had other methods to deal with Enlighters? If Lilyrose knew that Wendy Yushan had also managed to injure the Scholar Newmoon at San Dios, she wouldn’t have been as surprised by Lu Yin’s words. 

However, Lilyrose’s words also served as a reminder to Lu Yin that he had to find a weapon that could threaten Enlighters. Otherwise, he would face a distinct disadvantage against someone like Huo Houye. 

He wasn’t naive enough to think that his universal armor would be sufficient enough to protect him.

Lu Yin spent the next month updating the locations of the holes in the sourceboxes’ invisible danger zones, but there were no subsequent attacks from the Astral Beast Domain. 

On the same day that Lu Yin stopped updating the locations of the gaps, Elder Lohar left the weave. He returned after just one day with a bit of exciting news: he had managed to destroy the hole in the Primal Zone’s energy stream. 

This piece of news inspired Ironblood Weave, and the news regarding Elder Lohars achievement soon spread across the entire weave as they slowly recovered without any more attacks from the beasts. 

The destruction of the gap in the energy stream meant that the Primal Zone couldn’t receive any further reinforcements from the Celestial Beast Empire. Thus, this signified that the war was truly over for the time being. Otherwise, the Astral Beast Domain would have never allowed Elder Lohar to destroy the gap, especially since there had been a Void Thunderbeast guarding it. 

Lu Yin activated the communications feature of his gadget, and Wendy Yushan appeared on his screen. He hadn’t seen her for quite some time, and she had become much thinner during this arduous period. “We’re both alive.” 

Lu Yin touched his head. “Yes, we’re alive.”

Initially, neither of them had known much about Ironblood Weave aside from the fact that many people died there, and neither of them knew anything about its true horrors. As they participated in more and more battles, they had slowly begun to understand what Ironblood Weave truly stood for, and they had witnessed for themselves the frontline battles where both sides fought to the death. This was a place where even Enlighters could die. 

Lu Yin had faced imminent death several times in Ironblood Weave, and he would have died if not for his good luck. 

Of the people that the Great Yu Empire had sent to Ironblood Weave, only Lu Yin, Wendy Yushan, Huo Qingshan, and Aden had survived. Everyone else had perished. 

This could already be considered as a good outcome, as other weaves such as the Lars Weave and Northcastle Weave didn’t have even a single survivor. 

Coincidentally, the day that the war in Ironblood Weave came to a conclusion marked the sixth anniversary since Lu Yin had started cultivating, and it also marked a year since the Innerverse and Outerverse had been split apart. 

Ironblood Weave was left with just five forts since the Ironblood Fort and the three middle forts had all been completely destroyed. Elder Lohar, on behalf of the Hall of Honor, ordered all of the Eastern weaves to send more resources to Ironblood Weave so that the destroyed strongholds could all be rebuilt. Topmist, Nightqueen Qiuyu, Granny Chan, Huo Houye, and the other Enlighters were also tasked with staying behind and helping rebuild the forts.  

As for Lu Yin and the rest of the reinforcements, they were all allowed to leave.

Lu Yin had contributed greatly to the final battle as he had saved Wang Wen from being taken away by the astral beasts. Elder Lohar gave Lu Yin two Honor Points, which was equivalent to 40,000 Ironblood Points, and that was just for saving Wang Wen. The elder also gave Lu Yin an additional 20,000 Ironblood Points to commend his performance during his time in Ironblood Weave. That, combined with the Ironblood Points that Kong Shi had given Lu Yin and the subsequent points he had been awarded, meant that Lu Yin now had a total of 70,000 points. He had initially wanted to convert all of his points to star crystals, but he was stopped by Aden. 

Aden had always been very mysterious, and Lu Yin didn’t probe any deeper into his past.

Lu Yin had mentioned in passing that he was going to convert his points to star crystals while visiting Aden, but Aden suggested that since Lu Yin already possessed four Honor Points, he should exchange for two more points to have a total of six points. 

“Having six Honor Points is completely different from having four Honor Points,” Aden commented solemnly. 

Lu Yin asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Aden looked at Lu Yin in a serious manner. “Do you think that there’s no one from the Hall of Honor left in the Outerverse?”

Lu Yin shook his head. “That’s impossible. Although most people don’t know about the Hall’s existence, they are still able to influence the entire Outerverse.”

“That’s right. Although I’m not too familiar with the degree of the Hall of Honor’s influence in the Outerverse, I do know that having six Honor Points grants you some degree of immunity, and it even lets you borrow power from the hall,” Aden said.

Lu Yin grew even more confused. “What do you mean, ‘borrow power?’”

“Basically, with six points, you are able to represent the Hall of Honor to a certain extent. For example, when people are debating, if one party has the moral high ground, then what they say will be more convincing to people. With six Honor Points, you will have the high ground provided by the Hall of Honor, and so as long as the Hall of Honor remains in power, you will enjoy a tremendous amount of influence in the Outerverse,” Aden explained. 

Lu Yin finally understood. This was the advantage that was given by the Hall of Honor. He remembered that En Ya had once told him that the Hall of Honor would provide a custom-made gadget for him with numerous special benefits once he reached six Honor Points. It seemed that borrowing power from the Hall of Honor was one of those unspoken benefits, and although he couldn’t command others by using the name of the Hall of Honor, it nonetheless still meant that the Hall of Honor would be on his side, and that alone would be a huge support for him. 

Despite that, since the Innerverse and Outerverse had been separated, Lu Yin was unsure how much influence the Hall of Honor still wielded in the Outerverse. 

“Don’t underestimate the Hall of Honor. They have powerhouses who can affect all of humankind,” Aden said. 

“How do you know?” Lu Yin asked, but Aden didn’t answer.

Lu Yin quickly apologized. “I’m sorry. I asked too much.”

Aden went back to go rest, and Lu Yin was left thinking about Honor Points, star crystals, the Hall of Honor, the ability to borrow power… Currently, he was the most uncertain about what borrowing power meant as he didn’t know how useful that could be. If the weaves in the Outerverse decided to ignore the Hall of Honor due to the Outerverse being isolated from the Innerverse, then it would be basically useless. 

After considering his options for quite some time, Lu Yin finally decided to trade his Ironblood Points for more Honor Points. Even Undying Yushan had been unable to pardon Sigmund Mathers’ alleged crime, and even if the Hall of Honor’s influence in the Outerverse waned from the separation, it would still take some time for that to be realized. Just from how many reinforcements Elder Lohar had managed to draft, Lu Yin could tell that the Hall of Honor still enjoyed a certain amount of authority over the major weaves. Thus, as long as he could put his newly acquired influence to good use, it wouldn’t be a waste. 

Moreover, it didn’t matter even if those Honor Points did nothing. Lu Yin already had 160,000 star essence on him, which seemed sufficient to him. 

To obtain the Honor Points, he needed to go through Elder Lohar. This would be the second time where Lu Yin met Elder Lohar, and it was a one-on-one meeting.

“Two Honor Points for forty thousand Ironblood Points. Young man, you’re not too bad.” Elder Lohar truly admired Lu Yin and immediately gave him the two Honor Points. “Someone will go to the Great Yu Empire and deliver your new gadget there. I hope that you’ll put your new status to good use.” 

Lu Yin respectfully answered, “Yes, I will. Don’t worry, senior. I won’t disgrace the Hall of Honor.”

Although being awarded Honor Points didn’t mean that one had joined the Hall of Honor, Lu Yin could still be considered as a part of the Hall of Honor. 

Elder Lohar was fond of Lu Yin, especially since no one had been willing to trade for Honor Points after the Outerverse had been isolated. Everyone seemed to think that the points were useless, and only this young man still showed respect to the Hall of Honor.

“It’s a shame that the Innerverse and Outerverse have been separated. If not, you definitely would have been given a position with your abilities,” Elder Lohar said with a sigh.

Lu Yin was confused. “A position? What position?”

Elder Lohar waved a hand. “Forget it. What’s done is done, and unless the Innerverse and Outerverse can be rejoined before you reach the age of forty, you won’t be able to gain that position. What a shame.”