“If people suspect that Undying Yushan and Undying Zishan found the manual, then why hasn’t anyone attacked them yet? Eliminating Undying Yushan should be as easy as turning over a hand for any major Innerverse organization.” Lu Yin was confused by this news.

“That’s because Undying Yushan isn’t the only one suspected of having the manual. Anyone who’s ever been to the Fallen Sea Waters is also under suspicion, and there’s simply too many of them. Also, it’s not as if no one’s ever tried to attack Undying Yushan before. How else do you think he received his injuries? It’s precisely because he’s so seriously injured that many organizations’ suspicions about him were lifted. Even we don’t really know if he has the Undying Manual; we just want to verify the information. There are still many people in the Innerverse with similar suspicions,” Reuben answered.

Lu Yin nodded as this made sense. He had heard of the Starfall Sea before. It was an ancient place and a great number of people had visited it in the past. No matter how powerful the organizations in the Innerverse were, it was still impossible for them to check every single person that had ever been there. There were also many people much more powerful than Undying Yushan who were also suspected of possessing the Undying Manual. So since Undying Yushan was just one of many suspects, he was mainly watched closely by many people.

“That’s everything that you should know. Go to the Great Yu Empire’s Zenyu Star and attempt to find the Zishan Clan’s treasure before Undying Yushan passes away. There are some powerhouses from the Innerverse who seem to be preparing to make a move, so don’t take any needless risks. This isn’t the only reason why we set you up with the identity of King Zishan. With this position, you’ll be able to keep climbing the social ladder, so don’t waste it.” After speaking his final thoughts, Reuben cut the connection without waiting for a response.

Lu Yin still had many questions in his mind and quickly called back, but he was informed that the ID no longer existed, which meant that there was nothing more he could do. The people back home were abundantly cautious, so much so that he didn’t even have any way to contact them from his end.

It took at least ten days to travel from where Lu Yin had met the Irven Merchants to the northern part of the Frostwave Weave’s first region since it included traveling past the battlefield. With this much free time on his hands, Lu Yin continued flipping through the books that Mr. Wusheng had given him.

Quite a few days passed uneventfully. Then, one day, all of the merchant spacecrafts stopped as the space ahead of them had been sealed off. Past the seal, Lu Yin could see an extensive battle taking place.

The void of space was filled with light as planets exploded with enough energy that spatial distortions rippled out all around them as black holes consumed everything that neared them.This was Lu Yin’s first time seeing a large-scale space battle. The technological weapons used were as astounding as a powerhouse cultivator; a single beam was enough to destroy an entire planet. This was beyond the abilities of even most Explorer realm experts.

The universe was vast and the battle here was merely one of many, but it was still mind-numbingly shocking to Lu Yin. Weapons fired and bombs exploded as powerhouses fought in space, a perfect combination of power and technology. This was modern warfare.

Lu Yin’s spacecraft jostled. A number of planets had just been destroyed in front of him, and the destruction had caused the space to become unstable.

Not much time passed before Lu Yin noticed a large, burly man floating above a reddish planet with a knife and a miserable expression. The man looked around bitterly at the dozens of war spacecrafts that were surrounding the planet and merely sighed.

The weapons on those spacecrafts were immensely powerful and strong enough to take out Explorers. However, they needed a long windup time before they could fire. Thus, most Explorers could attack before these weapons were ready and easily destroy the spacecraft. Because of this, there were always protectors placed around these slow-firing spacecraft.

The burly man was completely lost as to what he should do; he wanted to destroy the spacecraft before him, but the two explorers would definitely stop him. It seemed as if there was nothing he could do besides wait for the spacecrafts’ weapons to obliterate him and his home. It was a great tragedy.

Any space battle that included Explorers among its combatants were sure to be large campaigns, and this battle was an enlightening experience for Lu Yin. However, he did not grow excited to see it. Instead, he only felt sorrow as this battle reminded him of his experiences in the Innerverse. The universe followed the law of the jungle, and he was hyper aware of this pervasive law.

Quite a few spacecraft fired their weapons, and the Explorer who was protecting his home yelled out to the heavens in despair before ultimately disappearing along with the planet. Everyone who saw this scene went quiet. To many people, Explorers might seem invincible since they had the ability to travel freely throughout the universe. However, despite this man’s strength, he still had no option but to die in this situation. Cultivation had no final destination.

Not too long after, the spatial seal in front of the merchant fleet was released and they continued heading north.

When Lu Yin passed by the siege spacecraft, he inadvertently locked eyes with one of the Explorers who was protecting a spacecraft. The Explorer had a cold and merciless look in his eyes and emanated a strong, powerful aura. He was clearly a veteran of the battlefield and not some average powerhouse. Where did he come from? Was he with the second prince? Or the Great Yu Empire?

The Irven Merchants were very lucky that the Great Yu Empire’s war spanned a very large area. The wide-spread battles had caused most of the space pirates to retreat back into hiding, so after just a few days, the merchant fleet reached the first region without any trouble.

After bidding the obese boss farewell, Lu Yin collected some payment for his escort. It wasn't much, but it was still better than nothing. After programming his next destination into his spacecraft, he set out towards Zenyu Star.

Compared to his last visit to Zenyu Star, the current security was extremely strict. There were three large armies constantly patrolling the region, and the soldiers checked every spacecraft that approached the planet.

Lu Yin saw that numerous spacecraft that didn’t belong to the Outerverse were entering the planet—among them must be quite a few looking for the Undying Manual. As expected, with Undying Yushan on the verge of death, the powerhouses of the Innerverse no longer bothered hiding themselves and had all appeared to collect any benefits that they could. They were all planning to scour the Great Yu Empire for treasures as soon as Undying Yushan died. Fortunately, no one here was actually that strong, which indicated that the Innerverse didn’t hold very high expectations for Undying Yushan’s treasures. It made sense. After all, the Undying Manual was rumored to bestow immortality to its practitioner, so it should be an incredible art. Despite that supposed power, Undying Yushan was now in such a pathetic state. Given what the situation was like, Lu Yin was of the opinion that Undying Yushan probably hadn’t obtained the Undying Manual. Rather, the many powerhouses of the Innerverse simply did not want to give up on their centuries of hard work and saw this as their very last attempt to recoup their losses.

Looking at the various-colored spacecraft neatly arranged in a long, single-file line, Lu Yin took advantage of his position as King Zishan to find the name of the person in charge of the security checkpoint. After seeing who it was, he chuckled. It was someone he knew—Long Chu. He was the person who had initially schemed against Lu Yin when he first entered the capital star. However, Lu Yin had managed to take care of it, and now, Long Chu was affiliated with Sicar, though Sicar should have left with the second prince, Duke Yushan. Lu Yin was quite surprised to see that Long Chu was still hanging around.

“Your lowly servant Long Chu greets your highness, King Zishan.” The guards around him bowed as well. “Greetings to your highness, King Zishan.”

Lu Yin casually grunted and looked at Long Chu with a twinkle in his eye. “You’re still in the third round of the capital?”

Long Chu had a serious expression on his face. “Yes. Please enter Zenyu Star using this alternative route.”

Lu Yin gave him another glance before following the soldiers to Zenyu Star.

Long Chu watched as Lu Yin left on his spacecraft with a glint in his eyes.

The entire mood of the capital star was much different from before; there was a feeling of desolation and it was rare to see a smile anywhere. Regardless of the era, whenever an imperial family collapsed, there would be great upheaval within the empire. Now that the second prince had betrayed the empire, many predicted that the Great Yu Empire was about to enter a time of calamity. It was clear that war was imminent.

Lu Yin used his position as King Zishan to enter the palace. After multiple security checks, he arrived before Undying Yushan, only to see the Emperor half-immersed in a liquid bath. Lu Yin took a deep breath. “Greetings to Your Majesty.”

There were numerous doctors rushing around Undying Yushan as well as multiple powerhouses guarding him in secret, including the captains of the Third and Fifth Imperial Squadrons. Jue Lang and Huo Qingshan stood nearby and attentively watched every single person that entered.

Undying Yushan slowly opened his eyes, and after seeing Lu Yin, he said in a frail voice, “Come closer, Lu Yin.”

Lu Yin took several steps forward and bowed. “Your Majesty.”

Undying Yushan took a few deep breaths and moved his head slightly. Perhaps it was because he was overly exhausted, but he soon shifted back to his original position and smiled wryly. “Sorry for looking so terrible, Lu Yin. I’m dying.”

Lu Yin frowned and said in a low voice, “You aren’t! You’re a powerful hunter and will live for at least a thousand years!”

Undying Yushan smiled, shook his head, and sighed again. “The Innerverse is merciless. So what if I was in the top twenty on the Star Battle List? Those people are all monsters.

“Are you doing well in Astral-10, Lu Yin?”

Lu Yin earnestly answered, “I’m the leader of Astral-10.”

Everyone in the room was startled. Being a leader was not a position that just anyone could obtain. Even though Astral-10 had been forced out of the Innerverse, it was still an academy that would attract many geniuses. Some Innerverse geniuses should have joined the academy as well, so his becoming the leader even with all of these geniuses around might be a first in the Outerverse!

Undying Yushan burst into laughter, but then quickly coughed vigorously; scaring all the doctors as they rushed over to help him.

Lu Yin stood there helplessly as there was nothing he could do. He had been planning to say that he had also become a Lockbreaker to raise his status and hopefully make it easier to find the Zishan clan treasure, but with how weak Undying Yushan was, there was no way he could say something that stimulating. What if the man died from the shock?

A while later, Undying Yushan recovered and said bitterly, “Congratulations, Lu Yin. Every branch of the Astral Combat Academy has its hidden geniuses and Astral-10 is no different. Y-You’ve got to treasure this position. The director especially is-is… cough, he was once an peak powerhouse.”

Lu Yin nodded. “I understand, Your Majesty.”

“A-Also,” As he spoke, Undying Yushan’s look turned even more solemn. “Hurry back to the academy and don’t interfere in the matters of the empire. Remember, don’t interfere and leave as soon as you can.” After that came another round of violent coughing.

Next to Lu Yin, Huo Qingshan spoke up. “You’d best leave, King Zishan. His Majesty needs treatment.”

Lu Yin bowed to Undying Yushan and slowly retreated.

Lu Yin looked back as he began to walk around the palace. The imminent death of the emperor was even more of a tragedy than he had expected. The first prince, Dorren Yushan, was waging war against his brother, Duke Yushan, while Wendy Yushan was far away in the Innerverse. The Emperor of the Great Yu Emperor didn’t even have any of his children or grandchildren around to bid him farewell. Dorren Yushan was already a few centuries old and had quite a few children and grandchildren of his own; however, not a single one was allowed to come close to Undying Yushan. Right now, for the emperor, the people he wanted to see the most were his children.

Everyone was focused on Undying Yushan’s condition and nobody cared that Lu Yin was wandering through the palace. His actions were all excusable as long as he did not disturb Undying Yushan.

The palace was massive and Lu Yin did not manage to find anything even after searching for a long time. He had no idea where to even begin looking for the Zishan clan’s treasure. Did Duke Yushan know? Was that why he had suggested to Lu Yin that he find it? Lu Yin didn’t know, but it wouldn’t matter even if he did—he had had no way to contact the Duke. Lu Yin also wasn’t naive enough to think that no one was watching him. He knew that, from the first moment he stepped foot inside the palace, his gadget had been put under surveillance.

It gradually grew dark and Lu Yin could no longer wander around in the palace as he pleased, so he headed outside.

There were countless officials waiting to be summoned by Undying Yushan in front of the great entrance. Lu Yin saw two from whom he had sought bribes from in the past. Lu Yin even considered them acquaintances to some extent.

All of the officials saw Lu Yin leaving the palace and he noted that everyone’s expression changed when they saw him. His two “acquaintances” had a particularly glum look on their faces.