"Were you willing to assassinate me even with the risk of being completely annihilated? Who gave you the reassurance to do such a thing? They must have been able to promise your Xun family guaranteed safety and the chance to reach heights that you’ve never touched before, so who was it?" Lu Yin took another drink as he stared at Xun Baitao.

"If you don't tell me, I’ll immediately erase your entire Xun family."

Xun Baitao smiled miserably. "If I tell you, will you not attack my Xun family? Lu Yin, I know you very well. Ever since the Innerverse and Outerverse reconnected,the entire family knows about the matter with Xun Qianye, and I knew that you would target us one day. This matter was delayed because you needed to make preparations but I knew that, as soon as you made your preparations, we would not be able to escape.

"And now that we’ve failed to kill you, you will definitely destroy my Xun family. There’s no other outcome."

Lu Yin lightly commented, "As long as you tell me who ordered my death, I can leave a remnant of your Xun family behind so that your name will at least continue on."

Xun Baitao laughed loudly. "Do I need that from you? The moment I decided to try dealing with you, I made all of those preparations. I haven’t lived until now just through sheer luck."

Lu Yin frowned. "So you don’t want to live?"

Xun Baitao shook his head, helpless. "Everyone wants to live, but that’s not in my future."

"You sought refuge from the Technocracy to raise your family to new heights?" Lu Yin asked.

Xun Baitao closed his eyes. "So was what I saw when I attacked you your creation? Lu Yin, you’re quite clever, and I never even saw how you managed to avoid the poison. However, the brighter you shine, the more people will start targeting you. Sooner or later, you will follow down the same path as my Xun family.”

After he spoke, Xun Baitao’s stomach began to swell.

Lu Yin's expression changed. This was not good—the Enlighter was blowing himself up!

There was a massive explosion, and the entire planet shattered.

Off in the distance, Wendy Yushan and others looked over with worry-filled eyes.

Lu Yin stood in space, an ugly expression on his face. He had actually intended to take Xun Baitao's cosmic ring, and he had not expected the man to directly blow himself up. Even the patriarch’s flesh and blood were gone.

Who had ordered the Xun family to take out Lu Yin?

It was common knowledge that the Xun family had a grudge against Lu Yin and that he was eager to take action against them as well. So who was confident enough to go against the Great Eastern Alliance, Leon’s Armada, and even the Hall of Honor, who all stood behind Lu Yin?

Wait, the Hall of Honor?

Lu Yin's mind flashed, and he suddenly remembered something as he looked to the west.

Xun Baitao had died, and all of the nearby ships belonging to the Xun family had been destroyed, but Xun Jiong had been captured by Lu Yin’s people.

Back inside his vessel, Lu Yin calmly sat down with Ku Wei behind him. In front of them, Xun Jiong was kneeling on the floor with a pale face and his head hung in terror. He was even shaking.

Wasn’t Lu Yin poisoned? How can he be okay? Xun Jiong had believed that the matter had already been settled, but reality had turned out completely different from expected.

"Pick up your head," Lu Yin slowly said.

Xun Jiong trembled.

"Look up! Didn’t you hear what the Alliance Leader said?" Ku Wei shouted.

Lu Yin was startled.

Xun Jiong’s shaking became worse, though he was still intimidated into raising up his head, and he hesitatingly met Lu Yin's calm, cold eyes.

"Who ordered your Xun family to attack me? Or, let me rephrase the question, which VIPs has your Xun family recently hosted?" Lu Yin asked.

Xun Jiong was terrified. "No, no, no, I don't know! I don't know anything! My father asked me to invite you to an apology banquet! That’s all that I knew about any of this."

Lu Yin laughed. "You didn't know that I would be poisoned?"

Xun Jiong opened his mouth, intending to lie, but upon seeing Lu Yin's cold eyes and smiling face, Xun Jiong laughed in complete despair. "Father… Father told me about that, but I don't know who ordered it. I thought that this was all because of that list, and I really don’t know about anything beyond that."

Lu Yin stared at Xun Jiong and saw nothing in Xun Jiong's eyes aside from fear and despair.

Lu Yin let out a long breath. "Hand over all of the Xun family’s resources and possessions."

"So can I- I- I live?" Xun Jiong asked in a trembling voice.

Ku Wei shouted, "You still want to negotiate terms?"

Xun Jiong shuddered, terrified, but he gritted his teeth and looked at Lu Yin with a determined expression. "I’ll give you everything that the Xun family has, but you have to promise not to kill me."

"How bold!" Ku Wei shouted once again. He had fully adopted his self-appointed role as the fox with the tiger’s power.1

Lu Yin raised a hand to put a stop to Ku Wei ranting. "Yes, I won't kill you."

Xun Jiong gasped. "I’m not talking about just you, but also everyone following you or related to you."

Lu Yin's face fell.

Xun Jiong hurriedly continued, saying, "I’m the only one who can access all of my family’s resources. We have more than 200 million star essence, as well as various power vessels and natural treasures. I only have one condition: no one from your side is allowed to take action against me, and that includes hiring hitmen."

Lu Yin was surprised; the Xun family had more wealth than the Blaze Realm?

However, after thinking about it for a moment, that made sense. The Blaze Realm had been one of the three major powers of Blazing Mist Flowzone, and they had many disciples and costly expenses. On the other hand, the Xun family needed to spend less, and they also sold many items that they made with their Gear Construction Technique. Their income would not be any worse than the Blaze Realm’s. Thus, with these lower expenses, the Xun family’s wealth would naturally surpass that of the Blaze Realm.

200 million star essence! This was a huge fortune.

At this time, news came in that Xun Jiong's brother, another direct descendant of the Xun family, had died. This was not related to Lu Yin's actions, but rather an unexplainable death.

Something stirred in Lu Yin’s heart, and he turned to look at Xun Jiong. "Were you the one to kill your brother?”

Xun Jiong released a heavy breath as he nodded. "I saw Elder Xun Ye die, and so I took care of it then."

"So you personally killed your brother just to make sure that you would be the only one who could access the Xun family’s resources? Then, you would become the most important bargaining chip during negotiations," Lu Yin dryly commented.

Ku Wei was surprised; this guy was smart and incredibly ruthless. Why was it hard to see that?

Xun Jiong did not deny anything, as Lu Yin had spoken the truth.

Lu Yin commented, "I didn't see it earlier, but you’re actually pretty smart, and you are certainly vicious enough. Alright, I’ll agree to your conditions, but I have a condition of my own."

Xun Jiong looked forward to hearing Lu Yin’s condition, as he was not afraid of anything that Lu Yin could propose. As long as the conditions were given, it would be an assurance that Xun Jiong could survive.

"You can't stay in the Fifth Mainland. I'll give you a chance to survive and achieve something commendable: go to the Upper Realm and survive. If you can find someone from the Xun family, I can even let you back into the Fifth Mainland and will even support you. Then, you can rebuild the Xun family," Lu Yin said.

Xun Jiong felt confused. "What Xun family?"

Lu Yin laughed. "Your father, Xun Baitao, sent out members of your Xun family before trying to deal with me, just to ensure that your family’s lineage would not die out. You didn’t know about this?”

Xun Jiong's expression changed drastically, and a deep-seated hatred appeared in his eyes. He had truly not known about this, but this meant that his father had been willing to allow him, Xun Jiong, to die while ensuring that the others survived. As of this moment, the hatred Xun Jiong had for Xun Baitao, was more than his hatred for Lu Yin. This was just how some people were—selfish without limit, always thinking for themselves. His hatred grew from Xun Baitao to all the members of the Xun family who were being protected.

Xun Jiong knew that his father must have sent out an illegitimate child, but he also realized that this meant that an illegitimate child was more valuable than Xun Jiong’s own life. Hatred clouded the youth’s eyes.

Lu Yin felt very satisfied with what he saw in Xun Jiong's eyes, and he waved a hand. "Go and gather those resources. Then, you can head out. Remember, if you are able to accomplish something worthwhile, I’ll support you in rebuilding your Xun family, and you will even be allowed to follow under my command."

Xun Jiong quickly replied, "Thank you, Alliance Leader Lu. I understand. I will definitely find the members of my Xun family who were sent out. Alliance Leader Lu can rest assured."

After Xun Jiong finished speaking, he was led away by Cool Sis.

Lu Yin stared at Xun Jiong's back as he left, but he did not harbor much hope. Still, it was better than nothing, and Xun Jiong was like a mad dog. Thus, it was not actually a bad thing to send out such a creature out to attack others.

The Xun family had colluded with the Technocracy, and they had even been supported by the Sixth Mainland. Thus, the Sixth Mainland seemed to be the most likely culprit for sending down the orders for Lu Yin’s assassination. Only the Sixth Mainland was unafraid of the Hall of Honor.

During ZENITH, the Progenitor of Combat had personally intervened in the competition to stop Shang Qing from fighting against everyone else all at once. That had allowed Lu Yin to see the Progenitor of Combat's fear and hatred towards the Fifth Mainland.

Lu Yin would not be at all surprised if the Sixth Mainland was confirmed to have ordered the Xun family to assassinate him.

Lu Yin was just hoping that the Progenitor of Combat had not given the order himself. If that was the case, then the next one to be sent after Lu Yin would not be a power on the level of the Xun family, but rather an Envoy realm powerhouse at the very least.

The cruelty of the universe could be seen every second. As Lu Yin’s vessel continued on its way to Blazing Mist Flowzone, it was backlit by the Xun family’s homeplanet. Cracks appeared across the planet as it was destroyed, along with the entire family.

Xun Jiong then took the Xun family’s entire wealth and delivered it to Lu Yin. As he had said before, the amount of star essence in the family’s possession had been 200 million. As for the rest of the family’s valuables, they had been stored in a cosmic ring, and they would be sold along with the treasures that Lu Yin had gained from the Blaze Realm.

The whole universe was aware of Lu Yin’s love of money, but no one had ever seen how he spent his wealth. All that was known was that Lu Yin acted as though he never had enough funds.

After suddenly coming across such a large influx of money, Lu Yin was in a wonderful mood, and Ku Wei was feeling greatly relieved.

Ku Wei was not sure why Lu Yin was not in any sort of hurry, but it made Ku Wei feel quite nervous. After seeing Lu Yin come across such a large amount of money, Ku Wei felt that he could finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Seventh Bro, why did you let that kid go? That wasn’t good. You need to keep him in order to get your revenge," Ku Wei mentioned.

Lu Yin stared out into space. "Someone from the Xun family escaped, and he can find them for us. He doesn’t care about blood or family, and he even killed his little brother. He only cares about himself, and he hopes to become the next patriarch of the Xun family, especially if he can rebuild his family, as that would be enough for him to leave his name in history. That’s a temptation that he can’t resist."

"Seventh Bro is so wise! This means that he can find the mastermind behind the Xun family’s assassination attempt. Seventh Bro is so smart—you take one step to move three steps forward!" Ku Wei immediately began to wildly flatter Lu Yin.

The destruction of the Xun family was not some minor bit of news for the Innerverse. When major powers discovered that Lu Yin was the one behind it, they all fell silent.

Even the powerful families that had been close to the Xun family would not dare to try touching Lu Yin's head at this point in time.

However, Lu Yin did not want to give off the impression that he had become tyrannical, unreasonable, and cruel. Thus, he had Xun Jiong cooperate and provide a recording of the evidence before the youth left, and Lu Yin used that recording as an explanation.

Anyone who climbed too high could easily suffer from being targeted by everyone. Lu Yin preferred to silently gather a fortune, but unfortunately, this was never possible for him. Still, he would rather not become everyone’s universal enemy.

Even in the Innerverse, the Xun family was not considered weak, and their destruction could easily cause people to panic. Providing the public with a reason why he had moved against the family was enough to appease many people, and it also help prevent various parties from looking to make trouble for the Great Eastern Alliance.

Lu Yin’s gadget beeped a notification; Huan Sha was calling him to share some recent good news with him.

Lu Yin had taken first place in ZENITH, and he had proved his invincibility within the younger generation. He was truly peerless. The seventy-two territories of the Outerverse had been congratulating each other, and they had sent Lu Yin congratulatory gifts with the total value coming out to be more than 30 million star essence.

[1] This is an idiom that comes from a story OMA shared:

A tiger caught a fox while it was searching food in the forest. When the tiger was just about to eat it, the fox suddenly spoke, “Mr. Tiger, no hurries. Please listen to me. I was sent by Heaven to rule the animals. By eating me, you will violate the command of Heaven. ” The tiger was half in belief and half in doubt. The fox then continued, “If you don’t believe me, just follow me to see whether the animals are afraid of me.” The tiger thought it was better to give it a try, so it followed the fox through the forest.

Two spotted deer immediately ran away on seeing them; Rabbits and sheep also disappeared at once when they say the fox and the tiger; Even the wild boar and bear hid. The tiger didn’t realize that it was him that the beasts were really afraid of and let go of the fox.

This idiom (狐假虎威) is a story about "The Fox Assuming the Majesty of the Tiger." It is used to refer to those who bully or frighten others by relying on other people’s power.

So Ku Wei was just borrowing Lu Yin's authority to assert his position. ☜

Translated By: OMA

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA