Star Odyssey

Chapter 2693: Head Bureau Director

You Fang replied to Lu Yin, "The hyper-analysis mode is active here, and the ruler of this universe cannot monitor what happens here. You can speak freely."

Lu Yin was caught off guard. "Your family still has access to hyper-analysis mode? Lord Wei didn’t confiscate that from you?"

"Most of the Ziyou Realm no longer has access to that cultivation technology, and my You family has also lost control of all the bestowal art carriers. On top of that, I was kicked out of my former research lab and am no longer allowed to study any form of cultivation technology. Right now, our You family is on a path of decline," You Lele said.

Lu Yin looked at You Fang. "And yet I can see that you’re in a good mood. I'm curious, how did you manage to keep Lord Wei from executing you?"

You Fang stared at Xuan Qi. "Bai Qian didn't tell you?"

Lu Yin shook his head.

You Fang calmly explained, "You and Bai Qian have been cooperating for a long time, haven’t you? Bai Qian was the one who planted Luo Qian’s lens in my Ziyou Realm, and as for you, you are one of Lu Yin's people."

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. "Don't be ridiculous. The Origin Universe’s Lu Yin and I are completely at odds with each other."

You Fang sneered. "Possibly. How is He Ran?"

Lu Yin replied, "Isn't she missing?"

You Fang looked at Lu Yin with eyes filled with mocking. "Others won’t suspect you at all, but I’m certain that it was you. Xuan Qi, you’ve hidden yourself incredibly well. You started by approaching my You family and asking us to invite you to the Transcendent Universe. You’ve been scheming against me, my family, He Ran, and everyone else here. I don’t care how unreasonable it may seem, but I’m certain that you’re plotting against the entire Transcendent Universe."

Lu Yin said nothing as he stared at You Fang, wondering whether or not to silence the older man.

The most infuriating thing about this man was that his suspicions did not follow common sense, as they were based solely on the final outcome instead of evidence. Who could possibly endure such unreasonableness?

"Don’t bother trying to deny things. In fact, I believe that you’re helping Lu Yin work against more than just my Transcendent Universe, but possibly other universes as well. I’ve heard about how well you’ve been doing for yourself in the Three Monarchs Universe, where you have Chen Le's full support. Are you also planning something there? What I find hilarious is that Sage Yuan insists that the people of the Origin Universe are trapped there and that they know nothing about the other parallel universes. He obviously has no idea that his Cyclic Universe is already being targeted," You Fang continued to say.

Lu Yin’s eyes grew colder as he stared at You Fang as the man continued speaking. Without any evidence to support his theories, the man was blindly speculating based purely off of the current situation, and yet his guesses were rather accurate.

"Wasn’t I suspicious of you the day we first met? Do you know why I made sure to capture Bai Qian when you claimed that He Ran was a spy? It was simply for protection from you," You Fang stated, his expression solemn. "To be honest, if all my suspicions regarding you are true, then there is no one in the entire Transcendent Universe who can stop you from what you are doing. Well, Lord Wei and Sovereign Shao Yin most likely can, but I can’t go and tell them everything. My only option was to keep Bai Qian hidden from you, but that leverage is no longer available. As for the person who captured He Ran, I’m certain that it was you.”

Lu Yin stood up and started slowly making his way towards the location where the You family had been monitoring the entire Transcendent Universe. He said nothing, as he understood that You Fang truly had not told Sovereign Shao Yin that Xuan Qi was Shao Qingfeng’s murderer.

You Fang continued to talk. His speculations approached the truth, but there were certain details that were completely wrong. For example, he believed that Xu Heng and Xu Leng knew the truth and were helping Xuan Qi in the Voidforce Universe because of some agreement. The man also believed that there were people in each member universe of the Sixverse Association helping Lu Yin, and he had even went so far as to guess that Sage Yuan was helping Lu Yin and that he had deliberately made the Heavens Sect appear weak.

You Fang had a lot of speculations, and he carefully observed Xuan Qi the entire time he spoke.

However, the You patriarch was disappointed, as Lu Yin revealed nothing on his face. He remained completely calm and indifferent to everything he heard.

Once You Fang finally finished speaking, Lu Yin merely said, "You have no evidence."

In the past, the You family had not needed any evidence to make their accusations, but they were no longer even capable of leaving the Transcendent Universe. They had been completely isolated by Lord Wei, so who could they share their speculations with?

Even so, Lu Yin considered whether it might be best to silence You Fang.

"Xuan Qi, we entered a cooperative relationship before, and that hasn’t changed," You Fang suddenly stated.

Lu Yin looked at the man. "What does the You family have at this point in time that qualifies you to cooperate with me? What do you even want to cooperate on? Do you still want to scheme against Lord Wei?"

You Fang was completely serious as he replied, "In the past, my You family was capable of doing quite a number of things, but there were also things that we could not do because it would be too conspicuous. Right now, however, my You family can do some of those conspicuous things, as no one cares about us. Even so, we still have some leverage.”

"Such as?" Lu Yin was curious.

"Such as Shao Qingfeng’s death.”

"Such as the fact that, if you are from the Origin Universe, there are things you don’t know about the Sixverse Assocation.”

"Such as... this." You Fang took out Sovereign Dou Sheng’s emblem.

Lu Yin looked at the item and felt puzzled.

"Have you ever heard of Sovereign Dou Sheng?" You Fang asked.

Lu Yin's expression changed. "The person who’s recognized as the most powerful of the Three Sovereigns?"

How could Lu Yin not have heard of Sovereign Dou Sheng? The Cyclic Universe had their Three Sovereigns and Nine Sages, and Sovereign Dou Sheng was acknowledged as their leader. While no one knew the Sovereign’s name, he did have a second, unofficial title: Little Great Sovereign.

Great Sovereign was a title reserved for a single individual, but there was also the Little Great Sovereign, who was Sovereign Dou Sheng. He was hailed as invincible and utterly undefeatable in battle.

"This emblem signifies a promise from Sovereign Dou Sheng. No matter what the request, provided that it does not harm humanity as a whole, Sovereign Dou Sheng will fulfill one request made with this emblem. A request to Sovereign Dou Sheng is more valuable than any other promise, as it is considered as valuable as ten promises from ten other peak powerhouses," You Fang solemnly stated.

Lu Yin was stunned. Claiming that a single promise from Sovereign Dou Sheng was worth the promises of ten other peak powerhouses sounded like a bit of an exaggeration, but if the legends surrounding the Sovereign were true, then Sovereign Dou Sheng was absolutely on the same level as the Three Realms Six Daos. A promise from such a person was truly invaluable.

"Is this what you used to force Lord Wei to leave your family alone?" Lu Yin asked.

You Fang said, "Not only Lord Wei, but also Chu Jian and Sovereign Shao Yin."

"Chu Jian?" Lu Yin arched a brow. Why did this name sound so similar to Chu Yuan?

Yu Lele immediately looked disgusted. "That’s the name of the Cyclic Universe’s Junior Sovereign, the youth who people claim has an absolutely perfect cultivation talent. Even the greatest powerhouses are shocked by his talent, but he is also a despicable bastard. I can’t understand why the Great Sovereign accepted such a person as his disciple."

Lu Yin was unconcerned about the fact that Chu Jian was the Great Sovereign’s disciple, and he was instead preoccupied with the name itself. Why was he called Chu Jian? What did it mean? The Origin Progenitor’s disciple was Chu Yuan, while the Great Sovereign’s disciple was named Chu Jian. Just what was the relationship between the Great Sovereign and the Origin Progenitor? Why did both of their disciples have the surname Chu? What did "Chu" signify? The start of a new world?

Chu was an extraordinary surname, but the great Sovereign’s identity was even more extraordinary.

"Xuan Qi, while my You family has been defeated and we have lost all of our previous information sources, my understanding of this universe is incomparable to Bai Qian's, and I also have this promise from Sovereign Dou Sheng. This is not something that just anyone can obtain. Additionally, this promise cannot be transferred to anyone else. It was given to my You family alone. These are the reasons why I am qualified to cooperate with you," You Fang concluded.

Lu Yin stared at You Fang. "There’s nothing to cooperate on. Whatever your You family wants to do has nothing to do with me. I’m just here to deal with the Bureau’s affairs. I need your You family’s cooperation to capture spies in this universe, and there’s no need to discuss anything further."

Lu Yin soon left the Ziyou Realm to return to the Voidforce Universe.

While he had not openly said anything at all, You Fang was fully aware that his proposal had not been refused.

Lu Yin had not expected the You family to still possess such value.

Back in the Ziyou Realm, You Lele was worried. "Father, we promised Lord Wei that we would use Sovereign Dou Sheng’s promise for the Transcendent Universe as a whole, and Bai Qian also heard you make that promise."

You Fang looked over at You Lele. "I know."

He did not wait for any further reply from You Lele and instead just turned and left. There were times when it was best to shoulder certain responsibilities alone. As long as Xuan Qi could help the You family recover from their recent disaster, everything else would fall into place, and their previous promises would no longer matter. After all, the You family could not remain in the Transcendent Universe and just wither away.

Additionally, You Fang was not trying to cooperate with Xuan Qi, but rather with the Origin Universe.

After Lu Yin returned to the Red Zone, he met with Xu Heng and Xu Leng. The two had a very bad impression of the You family, as they believed that Xuan Qi had been forced to falsely accuse He Ran by the You family.

"I've said before that the You family has a terrible reputation and that you needed to be careful. You’re lucky that you’re smart enough and were able to see through their schemes, or else things would have been much worse for you," Xu Leng commented.

Lu Yin gave a bitter smile. "It's my fault that the two of you have been so worried. I never expected the You family to have such ambitions. They actually rebelled against Lord Wei himself and even pulled in Sovereign Shao Yin and Luo Shan. That’s practically the same as half of the Sixverse Assocation getting involved. I was never anything more than one of the You family’s pawns.”

Xu Leng snorted contemptuously. "Those guys can only make small schemes, but they’re unable to actually change anything. Do you really think that it’s this easy to deal with the ruler of the Transcendent Universe?"

Xu Heng sighed. "I still don't even understand how Lord Wei won. The truth is that the You family's plan should have been enough for them to win. With the help of Sovereign Shao Yin and Luo Shan, as well as the You family's own background, they had five peak powerhouses taking action, and Lord Wei even committed suicide and blew himself up in front of everyone. All that can be said is that there are some things that are destined."

As the man spoke, he looked at Lu Yin. "Junior Brother, please stay away from the Transcendent Universe’s affairs in the future. Lord Wei is not an ordinary person."

"He’s got that right." Xu Wuji arrived and also spoke to Xuan Qi. "If you hadn't warned us in advance, the three of us would gone to the Transcendent Universe, and that would have only benefited the Aeternals."

Xu Leng rolled her eyes. While she and Xu Heng would have certainly gone to the Transcendent Universe and avenged Xuan Qi, there was no saying what Xu Wuji might have done. It was impossible to know Xu Wuji’s thoughts.

After all, Xu Wuji had simply left after cussing out the You family.

"You should stay in the Voidforce Universe where it’s safe and spend some time focusing on your cultivation. You should also try to find a way to fulfill your promise to the New Inn," Xu Wuji continued.

Lu Yin shrugged. "That’s going to be really difficult to pull off, since I’m the new Bureau Director for the Transcendent Universe’s Bureau branch."

Xu Wuji was taken aback. "You’re the Transcendent Universe’s Bureau Director?"

Lu Yin suddenly said, "Director, do you think that it’s possible for me to become the head Director of the entire Bureau across the whole Sixverse Association?"

Xu Wuji sneered. "Don't say something so dumb. You sound like that You Xian guy who wanted to unite the entire Bureau to create a monstrous power outside of the Sixverse Association’s jurisdiction. It was a ridiculous idea, though we now know that he was only doing all that as an act for Lord Wei’s sake, as well as the fact that You Xian wasted almost all of his family’s wealth. Even his suicide was faked."

"But I’m being serious. If the day comes, will you support me, Bureau Director?" Lu Yin asked in a serious manner.

Xu Wuji thought for a bit. "If the day comes."

He looked over at Xuan Qi and smiled at the youth. "You should give your seat up to someone else. It doesn’t matter who."

Lu Yin laughed, and Xu Wuji also gave a happy smile.

The following day, another invitation from the Bureau Director of the Arboreal Realm’s branch was delivered to Xuan Qi. Once again, Xuan Qi was asked to visit the Arboreal Realm and help their Bureau hunt down spies.

Lu Yin refused this time as well, and he was also becoming increasingly wary of the Arboreal Realm’s Bureau.

They had known the moment he had returned to the Red Zone in the Voidforce Universe, which made it clear that they were keeping tabs on him.

If they truly wanted help uncovering spies, there would not be any problems, but if these invitations were connected to the Liberation Palace at all, Lu Yin would need to be very careful.

By all logic, there was no reason for the Liberation Palace to approach Xuan Qi. The Peaks and Rivers Rock had been given to Luo Shan, and that had also been done by Chen Le. At no point had Xuan Qi or Lu Yin had any visible connection to Chen Le or the Liberation Palace, but the Arboreal Realm’s Bureau was acting suspiciously, and Lu Yin was on edge.

Was it possible that Mr. Daheng had a divination-like ability similar to Destiny’s?