Chapter 246: Shenwu Continent
Lu Yin smiled wryly. It was no wonder why he had been drawn to this person; they were both Melders on the verge of becoming Limiteers. However, why hadn’t he gotten someone stronger? Someone who was just a peak Melder would not be of any help to him.
Lu Yin slowly stood up and caught a glimpse of Wu Xia’s appearance in the reflection of the copper mirror. The man had a pale face and narrow eyes, giving him a slightly gloomy appearance. He seemed to be around thirty years old and had a butler’s demeanor, which made sense as that was his job in the Crown Prince’s residence.
The Shenwu Empire was the Shenwu Continent’s sole empire. After assimilating Wu Xia’s memories, Lu Yin slowly gained an understanding of his current environment.
He eventually became quite surprised when he realized that this empire was much more than it initially seemed. It had gone to war against some other civilizations, and once, a formidable cultivator from this very empire had used five planets to shield the entire continent, sealing it off from the other civilizations.
While parsing through Wu Xia’s memories, Lu Yin was astonished to discover that this continent definitely contained cultivators who had the ability to travel through the universe without a spacecraft. The five planets that sealed this continent were huge, and their arrangement reminded him of the Human Domain’s border planets. The fact that this continent had birthed someone who had accomplished the same concept with only five planets was something that no ordinary Explorer could achieve.
Knock knock knock!
However, Lu Yin wasn’t given much time to review his new host’s memories, and a voice sounded out from behind the door. “His Highness would like to see you in the study, Butler Wu.”
Lu Yin grunted in acknowledgement but was left speechless. He had Possessed the body of a servant and now had to attend to others. This was quite a novel experience for Lu Yin.
After leaving Wu Xia’s room and breathing in the fresh new air, Lu Yin looked up to see the vague outline of the five planets, the same ones that were shielding the Shenwu Continent. The emperor, Ming Zhaotian, lived on the central planet. Wu Xia did not know exactly how powerful the emperor was, but he was able to travel through the void, and the space in this continent was abnormally stable. Even Martial Emperors, which was what this civilization called Explorers, could not tear space and move through the void, so the emperor of this continent had to at least be at the Cruiser realm.
The crown prince, Ming Hao, was a Martial Emperor, which meant that he was an Explorer.
After taking a deep breath, Lu Yin followed Wu Xia’s memories and entered the crown prince’s study.
Along the way, various servants that he ran into greeted him, as Wu Xia held a relatively high position. Despite technically being a servant, he still was the crown prince’s trusted aide, and even the governors of the various territories would have to be polite to him.
This was Lu Yin’s first time experiencing something like this, and everything felt new to him.
The crown prince’s residence was extensive, and there were many experts present here. Lu Yin knew that Wu Xia regarded these people as experts, but from Lu Yin’s point of view, at most only one or two of these so-called “experts” could compare to an Area Master of the Astral Combat Academy. The rest were essentially the same as ordinary Limiteer students from the Astral Combat Academy.
If they were all young people, then such a group of geniuses would be terrifying. However, most of the experts in the crown prince’s residence were past the age where one would consider them a part of the younger generation. Many of them were middle-aged or even elderly.
In Wu Xia’s memories, there were at least a hundred people in the crown prince’s residence who were at the Martial King realm. In other words, there were over a hundred Limiteers here. This was quite a terrifying amount of strength to congregate in one location.
Lu Yin finally understood how the Shenwu Continent had managed to defend themselves from the other civilizations’ attacks; there were an incredible number of experts on this continent.
Before long, he passed by a pavilion and arrived at the entrance of an elegant study. “Your loyal servant, Wu Xia, has arrived, Your Highness.”
“Come in.” Ming Hao’s voice called out from within the study.
Lu Yin gently pushed the door open and entered the study, not even daring to lift his head. His every action was purely based on Wu Xia’s memories. Lu Yin absolutely could not reveal that he was not truly Wu Xia. Who knew if a Hunter or another such terrifying existence could harm Lu Yin through Wu Xia’s body. Lu Yin had no understanding of what kind of power such people wielded.
“Besides you, who else entered my study yesterday, Wu Xia?” the crown prince asked while staring straight at Wu Xia.
Lu Yin kept his eyes on the ground as he recalled what had happened the previous day. At that moment, he felt a chill crawl down his spine as he remembered something horrifying from the day before. Wu Xia had seen something terrible then.
Ming Hao’s eyes remained trained on Lu Yin, and he noticed his strange reaction. Lu Yin did his best to calm down and fearfully answered, “Nobody entered other than me, Your Highness.”
Ming Hao stared at him. “Raise your head.”
Lu Yin felt his heart quiver and slowly did as ordered. Before him was a pair of eyes that held wisdom and exerted a pressure that seemed able to crush everything.
A terrifying, mountainous pressure crushed down on Lu Yin. Wu Xia’s cultivation was not enough to block any of it, and he was forced to the ground. It felt like the world itself was trembling. Lu Yin was shocked, for he’d encountered Explorers and even Hunters before, but Ming Hao’s pressure was definitely stronger than what an ordinary Explorer possessed. Were the Martial Kings on this continent even more powerful than the Explorers in the rest of the universe?
As another wave of pressure washed over Lu Yin, and the extreme fear that Wu Xia held for Ming Hao manifested itself and unconsciously made Lu Yin kneel on the ground.
The sight before Lu Yin’s eyes changed again; first, he saw the dark place with the floating lights, followed shortly by the image of Astral-10 after he experienced a brief feeling of travelling through a vast distance.
He opened his eyes, still shocked by what he had just experienced. The pressure that Ming Hao had exerted was so immense that Lu Yin still felt fearful at the thought of it. Ming Hao was definitely as powerful as a Cruiser, and shockingly enough, he had been able to awaken Wu Xia’s subconscious and forcefully eject Lu Yin from the body!
Lu Yin took a look at his cosmic ring and found that three star essence had been used up, which was the equivalent of 300,000 star crystals. The rate of consumption was astounding. If he’d continued Possessing Wu Xia just a little longer, then even ten star essence might not have been enough to cover the cost.
After moving on from the heartache of consuming so much star essence, Lu Yin immediately searched the universal network for any information regarding the Shenwu Continent.
He discovered that it was a continent that floated in an alternate dimension near the Darkmist Weave. It wasn’t a planet but rather a continent that drifted through space with planets orbiting around it. A millennium ago, a powerful being had been born on the Shenwu Continent who tore through the alternate dimension with astounding strength. His actions had exposed the continent to the universe and thus triggered a long war.
There were countless organizations in the Darkmist Weave that tried to take over the continent, but they had all failed and suffered massive casualties in the process. They had been left with no choice but to seek help from the Innerverse.
There wasn’t much information online about the battles between the various organizations of the Darkmist Weave and the Shenwu Continent, which meant that some powerful organizations must have buried things. However, the powerful being who had maneuvered the five planets to reseal the alternate space had appeared again at a later time, which brought the Shenwu Continent peace once again. Though it seemed that this being had died in the process.
Even after all these years, some organizations in the Darkmist Weave and the Innerverse still wanted to get their hands on Shenwu Continent and were still attempting to do so. However, they had been stopped by the Ten Arbiters, and thus, the continent had become one of the Outerverse’s examination trial zones.
Lu Yin raised his head from the screen. He never expected that the Shenwu Continent would have such a storied history. The foreign civilizations in Wu Xia’s memories must have been the Darkmist Weave’s organizations. For a mere continent to contend against the powerful organizations from the Darkmist Weave and the Innerverse was an amazing feat.
Needless to say, the Shenwu Continent was one of the most difficult exam trial zones in the Outerverse. There were only two ways to pass the exam: one was to find out where that powerful being’s bones were kept, and the other was to find the node of the five planets seal and destroy it. Destroying the node would reopen the continent to the rest of the universe.
This examination had been conducted multiple times already, but no one had succeeded so far. Those who had gone through this exam all had a surprisingly similar evaluation of the Shenwu Continent; the martial power that the continent’s locals trained in was more powerful than the star energy that was commonly cultivated throughout the universe.
After reading so much, Lu Yin turned his gadget off and blinked. He actually knew where the node was located, for Wu Xia had unwittingly seen it. And after assimilating Wu Xia’s memories, Lu Yin now knew about it as well. It was quite surprising that it was located where it was. It would be a wonder if any of the examinees had actually discovered where it was.
The mortality rate of the examinees who participated in the trials at the Shenwu Continent was rather high. Many did not understand why, but Lu Yin now knew that the martial power that the continent’s cultivators trained in was denser than star energy and easily distinguishable.
Ever since some examinees had been captured and interrogated, the Shenwu Continent had gained a certain level of understanding of the greater universe. They had even formed departments that were dedicated to finding invaders and foreign weapons.
“If I sell the information regarding the node’s location, I’ll definitely get quite a lot of money,” Lu Yin muttered to himself, but then he chuckled bitterly. Sell it? That was impossible. First, there was the question of who he could sell it to, but the moment he did so, the five planets of the continent would be doomed to destruction, and the continent would suffer an incomparable bloodbath. Lu Yin had no desire to become such a sinner. While he did not especially care about morality since the universe was a dog-eat-dog world, he still needed to weigh the pros and cons behind his actions.
The Darkmist Weave wasn’t too far away from Frostwave Weave. Lu Yin’s eyes gleamed as he recalled something interesting.
Lu Yin reset the die and rolled it again.
He rolled a one this time, and a basic firearm fell out. It was useless, so he threw it away without a second thought. He rolled the die again and ended up with two pips. Lu Yin was left speechless because he didn’t have anything he needed to disassemble either. He tried again.
When the die stopped spinning this time, four pips appeared before his eyes: Time Stop.
As he watched the familiar greyish white space appear around him, Lu Yin used a few star crystals to change the environment as well as increase the time limit to a month. Now that he had money, he was free to do as he wished.
In this one month, he was planning to go review all of his battle techniques and become a Limiteer. He’d been a Melder for quite awhile now, and his breakthrough was long overdue.
At this time, there was a warship that had stopped outside a gigantic planet within the Frostwave Weave.
Countless cries could be heard from the planet. With a roar that echoed into space, a man tore through the void and glared at the spacecraft. “Do you seriously want this war to affect the entirety of Frostwave Weave, Duke Yushan? The various organizations in Frostwave Weave won’t let you off easily!”
The spacecraft responded by firing a weapon. Batson used a finger to flick at his cap and blew at the smoking muzzle while a bloody hole appeared in the middle of the enraged man’s chest. An Explorer had been killed with a single shot.
As the former seventh captain of the Great Yu Empire’s Imperial Squadron, Batson had the strength of a Cruiser and a power level of at least 60,000. He was not someone who an Explorer could match up to.
Duke Yushan stood on the balcony and looked into space. “There’re so many beautiful planets here. They should have all belonged to my Great Yu Empire, but unfortunately, we were suppressed by those people from the Innerverse for so many years.”
Batson smirked. “The Frostwave Weave doesn’t have many people who have reached the Cruiser realm. There are even fewer who are as powerful as us. With your current strength, it’s certainly possible for us to conquer Frostwave Weave.”
Duke Yushan smiled. “Father has set his sights not on Frostwave Weave, but rather on the Innerverse itself. Taking over just Frostwave Weave isn’t that difficult. Those bastards from the Innerverse are on the verge of being expelled, and I’m guessing that Father might already have some plan in store for them. Where do you think he’ll aim? Grandtop Weave? Larso Weave? Or… us?”
“None of those. He’s aiming for Firesmelt Planet,” the former captain of the eighth imperial squadron, Shalosh, interrupted as he walked over from nearby.
“Firesmelt Planet?” Duke Yushan was confused by his answer.
Shalosh nodded. “While it’s just a planet, it’s managed to raise geniuses like Yan Feng, who entered the Outerverse Youth Council. The leader of the planet, Yan Wujiu, is a Hunter and is one of the few powerhouses in Frostwave Weave who can hold his ground against His Majesty, Undying Yushan. If he’s not taken care of, then His Majesty won’t be able to focus on taking over any of the other weaves.”
Duke Yushan nodded in agreement. “Yes, Firesmelt Planet it should be. Come to think of it, Yan Feng wants to woo my little sister. I hope that she doesn’t kill him.”