“Yes, that’s right. With the empire’s current technology, we are unable to refine those materials,” Ban Jiu explained helplessly while also clearly a bit embarrassed. He was a scientist, but he was actually unable to process these materials. He had actually studied the problem for several days before deciding to report his failure to Lu Yin.

“The melting point of those materials is simply too high, and they cannot be melted through conventional processes. In fact, only an Enlighter-realm expert can create temperatures high enough to melt them,” Ban Jiu explained.

Lu Yin nodded, as this was similar to what he had learned about the Scarlet Ancient Copper he had obtained from a sourcebox. Regular methods were not enough to do anything to these precious materials, and they would have to search for an alternate source of extremely high temperature.

Lu Yin could find an Enlighter without much problem, but it was not so easy to find one who had an innate gift of flames. However, simply having an Enlighter simulate a fire with their star energy should also work. It was a pity that Akira had not returned to Zenyu Star yet and that he was still stationed in the Greatwood Lavazone. For the moment, Lu Yin could not find any Enlighters.

“Pass down instructions for people to take note of any ancient tinders or any sourceboxes that emit high temperatures,” Lu Yin ordered.

Ban Jiu acknowledged the command and then left.

This news was unfortunate, as Lu Yin’s goal had been to use those materials to reinforce his universal armor so that he could upgrade it several more times. It seemed that he could only put those plans on hold for the moment.

If he could not upgrade his universal armor, then he could still upgrade other items, such as his cosmic ring. He had never thought of trying to upgrade his cosmic ring, but he should try this time around.

After thinking about it, Lu Yin entered the palace’s secret room, screened the Ghost Monkey off, raised his hand, and caused his die to appear. After tapping out, it gradually began to spin.

He did not intentionally put his cosmic ring aside, as it would be fine even if he rolled six pips: Possession at this time. In fact, he was even feeling a little bit of anticipation towards doing so. There had always been an unexpected harvest whenever he had rolled six pips, and whoever he Possessed, he would later be able to probe their thoughts and even borrow their line of sight, which was a very practical ability.

The die slowly stopped on one pip: Pilfer, and from the space channel dropped a ball of paper.

Lu Yin was aghast, as who would put paper trash in their cosmic ring?

He picked it up and slowly opened it, but it only contained a few delicate handprints, which had obviously come from children of varying sizes.

As soon as he saw the handprints, Lu Yin’s mind jolted, and his eyes went slack. A hazy memory appeared in his mind as a crisp child’s voice rang out in his mind.

‘Second Bro, Second Bro, someone’s bullying me!’

‘Who? Who’s so ballsy that they would dare to bully my Third Bro? Come on, let’s go beat him up.’

‘Big Sis, someone’s bullying Third Bro.’

‘What? How outrageous!’

‘Big Sis, Second Bro, the other group has many brothers and sisters. What if we can’t beat them?’

‘Don’t worry, just call for others.’

‘Beat them, go and beat them. They only have seven, but we have thirteen!’

‘Beat them! Even if we are seven, we’ll still fight all thirteen of them.’

‘How outrageous! How dare you gather a crowd and cause a scuffle? All of you, go and stand still as punishment. You seven, come over here! Look at you! All badly beaten up. Who’s the leader?’

‘Me.’

‘Me.’

‘Me.’

…

‘Alright, since you’re still talking about brotherhood, just stand still for three days. No eating, no sleeping, and no talking.’

…

‘Big Sis, I’m hungry.’

‘Third Bro, don’t be scared, and don’t let Master look down on you. Our Lu family’s Three Elites are unyielding.’

‘What “Lu Family Three Elites?” Then what about us four?’

‘Right, what about us? Did we fight for nothing?’

‘Right? Right? Not the Three Elites, but the Seven Elites.’

‘Why don’t we become sworn siblings? From now on, we are the Seven Elites, and we will all share the same fate.’

‘Alright, let’s become sworn siblings, and we’ll all share the same fate. Let’s combine our handprints.’

‘Third Bro, you’re the smallest, so from now on, you’re Seventh Bro. Come, talk to your elders!’

“Big Sis, Second Bro, Third Bro, Fourth Sis, Fifth Bro, Sixth Sis, hello.’

‘Good, Little Seven. Whoever bullies you from now, we’ll all help you get revenge.’

‘You’ll be called Little Seven from now.’

‘Little Seven, are you happy? You have so many older siblings watching over you, so nobody will dare bully you.’

‘Your elder siblings will take care of you.’

…

‘Little Seven, hurry and go! Relax, we won’t die. We’ll meet again one day, so hurry up and leave!’ A sharp voice awakened Lu Yin.

Unbeknownst to himself, as his memories resurfaced, Lu Yin’s eyes had grown hazy and filled with tears, but they had also declined like the tide. At this moment, Lu Yin’s back was suffering from intense pain, and his seal had reappeared. His entire body was sprawled on the floor as he tightly gritted his teeth.

In his hand, he tightly clenched the ball of paper.

After some time, the seal on his back faded away, and Lu Yin looked as though he had been pulled out of the water due to the sheer amount of sweat dripping from his body. The ball of paper in his hand had also been soaked through by his sweat.

Whose memory had that been? Was it from the ball of paper? Or had it been Lu Yin’s own memory? His die’s one pip could pilfer something from anyone’s cosmic ring. There were billions of cosmic rings scattered throughout the universe, and could Lu Yin really have acquired something that was related to his past? Could this be a coincidence, or…?

Lu Yin suddenly thought of Xuan Jiu. If there was something strange, then it had to be related to Xuan Jiu, as he had conducted a divination. Could that divination have been fulfilled just now?

Lu Yin was puzzled, and he rubbed his eyes. Had he actually been crying?

He walked out of the room and entered the courtyard, where he found Zhao Ran humming a tune as she sorted some flowers.

Lu Yin sat down on the stone bench and looked at the drenched paper in his hand while those various tiny voices replayed themselves in his head. Little Seven, Seven?

All along, Lu Yin had been very attached to the number seven, and he had encouraged people to call him Seventh Bro while elders were asked to call him Little Seven. He had always been very happy with this nickname. For some reason, whenever someone called him Little Seven, it felt as if they were saying that they would protect him forever.

“Seventh Bro, what happened to you?” The Ghost Monkey was puzzled.

Lu Yin refocused his thoughts and stored the ball of paper away. “Nothing much.” That clump of memories had caused him to lose all interest in rolling the die any more.

“You seem rather down, so come on, share your thoughts! Let me be happy, haha.” The monkey sniggered.

Lu Yin looked over at Zhao Ran, who was another person who had lost her memories. Zhao Ran was rather simple-minded, and while Lu Yin still thought about his past at times, Zhao Ran did not even think about it. She was just like what Xuan Jiu had divined for her: she was rotten goods.

“Ah, Your Highness, you’re here! Would you like to drink some scented tea? It’s made from flowers that were planted in our own home.” Zhao Ran happily greeted him.

Lu Yin forced a smile onto his face for the girl. “Alright.”

Zhao Ran became even happier, and she quickly brewed a cup for Lu Yin.

Lu Yin took a sip, and nodded at Zhao Ran’s expectant eyes. “It’s not bad. It’s a nice drink.”

“Thank you, Your Highness!” Zhao Ran felt encouraged and became very cheerful, and she suddenly started picking the flowers in a frenzy. After a while, the area was completely devoid of flowers, and the courtyard seemed to have become rather barren.

Lu Yin’s lips twitched slightly, and he silently left.

After half a day, Lu Yin had stabilized his emotions, and he decided to continue rolling his die.

At this time, his gadget beeped softly, and when Lu Yin looked at it, he was surprised to see that Hai Qiqi was calling him. This girl had not contacted Lu Yin in quite some time, as she had constantly been searching the Astral River for a way to get back to the Innerverse.

“How’s it going?” Lu Yin asked as soon as the call connected.

Hai Qiqi’s answered in an excited voice. “I’ve found a way into the Innerverse!”

Lu Yin’s eyes went wide. “What did you say?”

Hai Qiqi lost her impatience. “You’re deaf! I said, ‘I’ve found a way back into the Innerverse.’”

“Where?” Lu Yin asked urgently. This was not good news, because as soon as the Innerverse and Outerverse were reconnected, he would be in trouble.

Hai Qiqi sent him a set of coordinates.“Are you coming? If not, I’m going to go alone.”

“Hold up, just give me a few days, and I’ll meet up with you there,” Lu Yin hurriedly told her.

Hai Qiqi grew anxious. “Then hurry! If I wasn’t concerned that you’d be worried, I would have already left. Let me tell you—I can feel Father’s strength from here! He’s not dead yet!”

“I told you that it wouldn’t be easy for anything to happen to the Sea King. Alright, you just wait there, and I’ll head over soon.” Lu Yin then disconnected from the call. Hai Qiqi’s discovery had disrupted his plans. He had wanted to stick to his routine, join Aegis’s first level of management, use Aegis’s information to infiltrate the rest of the Outerverse powers, and then slowly nibble his way into the weaves of the central region step by step. However, this plan would have to be shelved for the moment.

If the Innerverse truly reconnected with the Outerverse, then there would be no point to anything he did. Any great sect or power from the Innerverse would bind his hands, and more importantly, the Sixth Mainland might even invade the Outerverse from the path across the Astra River. At this time, they weren’t just facing the Bloodburn Realm, but rather all three realms, and that difference between the two was significant.

He checked a star chart and found that the coordinates that Hai Qiqi had shared with him were rather far away. In fact, they pointed to a place called the astral cemetery that was on the border of Endless Weave. Lu Yin’s eyes lit up when he saw this location.

Usually, no one would head to the astral cemetery, and it would be easier to hide oneself there.

Hai Qiqi was adamant about wanting to return to the Innerverse, and Lu Yin could not stop her from doing so. If a passageway truly existed, then he might really have to send her off. To prevent any accidents from happening, Lu Yin immediately summoned Huan Sha, the Imperial Cabinet, En Ya, and the rest. He gave them some instructions before chatting with Wendy Yushan for a while.

Finally, he called Starfox.

“Alliance Leader Lu, have you thought about what you would like to contribute?” Starfox asked casually. He did not believe that Lu Yin would be able to produce anything comparable to what the original creators had done by establishing Aegis.

Lu Yin answered in a low voice, “Aegis must be finding it tough to survive.”

Starfox was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Lu Yin continued, “On the surface, Aegis is one of the Outerverse’s four great corporations. It possesses an endless amount of resources, has ties with countless powers, and is very stable. In reality, the greater an assassination organization’s size, the more danger it faces as time passes.”

“What is Alliance Leader Lu trying to say?” Starfox asked.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why was there a calamity that targeted the Outerverse’s assassins in the first place?” Lu Yin asked.

Starfox indifferently answered, “I don’t have the idle time to be chatting with Alliance Leader Lu.”

Lu Yin said, “Alright, then I’ll be direct. An assassination organization cannot survive for too long, unless it’s like an organization like Mafioso Planet that only deals with a small territory. Aegis cannot possibly do the same, and it will likely cause some powers to grow wary sooner or later and be targeted. I can allow this possibility to be delayed endlessly and perhaps even reduce it to nothing.”

Starfox frowned. “I still don’t understand where Alliance Leader Lu is going with this.”

“I’m saying that I can request for Aegis to join the Hall of Honor and become one of its subsidiaries,” Lu Yin said solemnly.

Starfox was stumped, but then he laughed. “Is Alliance Leader Lu joking? Let’s not talk about the Hall of Honor not lacking for powerhouses. Even if they were truly willing to do such a thing, do you think that our Aegis will accept being supervised by the Hall of Honor? What a joke!”

“What if you can join the Hall of Honor, but not be monitored?” Lu Yin asked slowly.

Starfox’s eyes flickered. “Alliance Leader Lu, can you explain?”

Lu Yin replied, “I, Lu Yin, with the status as one of the Hall of Honor’s Chosen, can incorporate Aegis. Thus, from now on, Aegis will be my subsidiary. It will belong to the Hall of Honor, but it will listen to only me, Lu Yin, alone.”

Starfox was confused. “What Chosen?”