After hearing Lu Yin’s response, Zhu San sighed. “I know. Lu Yin, this is the last thing that I will ever help you with, so don’t contact me again.”

“We’ll see. You’re still my brother, and you also still owe me a red envelope.”

Zhu San hung up in frustration.

When Zhu Jie heard of the news, he frowned. “Lu Yin definitely won’t let us off. He will continue to use us to deal with the Qiong family in the future.”

“Father, are you sure that Lu Yin wants to deal with the Qiong family?” Zhu San asked.

Zhu Jie firmly answered, “Definitely. He’s too ambitious, and he won’t stop until he controls the entire Outerverse. It won’t be easy to deal with him, and unless the Hall of Honor stops him, nobody will ever be able to truly rein him in.”

“Then what should we do?” Zhu San asked worriedly.

Zhu Jie massaged his temples. “Nobody like him has ever appeared in the Outerverse before. He’s talented, covets power, and above all, is very meticulous. How did someone like him even appear in the Outerverse?”

“Father, should we follow his requests?” Zhu San asked.

Zhu Jie nodded. “Yes, go ahead with what he asked you to do. Although he’s ambitious and ruthless, he also treats his followers very well. He became enemies with the Zi family just to save Bai Xue, and he even fought against the elders of the Neo-Vestige Sect for Peach. He has principles, and he protects his followers. He will accomplish great things in the future.”

Zhu San’s eyes went wide. “Are you saying that we should follow him?”

Zhu Jie looked at Zhu San with a serious expression. “Our family’s status in Millions City is rapidly waning because our power decreased substantially after our ancestor died while the Outerverse remains cut off from the Innerverse. At this rate, we face only two possible outcomes: we will either be forced to leave Millions City or be destroyed by the Qiong family. I don’t want either of those outcomes to happen, especially since we need to contact the Ce family as soon as the Outerverse reconnects with the Innerverse. Thus, we cannot leave Millions City before then.

“Lu Yin is extremely protective of his followers, and once we are under his wing, the Qiong family won’t dare to do anything to us.”

Zhu San felt torn. “But he wants to deal with the Qiong family and take control of Millions City, which is also our goal.”

“We won’t be able to achieve that goal anymore, so we can only give up on that objective. At least we’ll be able to use him to intimidate the Qiong family and allow us to stay here until we can contact the Ce family,” Zhu Jie explained firmly.

Zhu San nodded. They would have to follow Lu Yin if they wanted to survive. However, he did not know that Felynn, Starfox, and many other people had also been forced to follow Lu Yin, though none of them had realized that this was becoming a trend.

Ten days later, some people from Mt. Stacks Dojo arrived in Millions City. They blockaded the entrance to the city master’s estate and demanded that Wei Rong come out.

Qiong Shanhai walked out of the property and activated Millions City’s shield. The ground trembled as if a beast was about to awaken.

Elder Tie’s expression instantly changed. He had heard that Millions City was a mobile fortress that had even been able to intimidate Envoys during Endless Weave’s border defense. It was a major power in the Outerverse, and he had been very impressed by the stories of Millions City’s power.

“I’m City Master Qiong Shanhai of Millions City. Is there anything that I can help you with?” Qiong Shanhai asked. He looked over at Elder Tie, who was far stronger than him.

The arrival of Lan Si and the others in the Outerverse had been a huge surprise to many, but most people were actually unaware of who these newcomers were. This was in line with the Hall of Honor’s plans as these people had all come from the Innerverse.

Their arrival had raised many questions among the general public, and many people from all parts of the Outerverse had started roaming about the Astral River, trying to find a way back to the Innerverse.

Nobody from Mt. Stacks Dojo or the Sea King’s Dome had mentioned anything regarding the war in the Innerverse since they didn’t want anyone in the Outerverse to learn that the Innerverse had been invaded. This was also the reason why Yuan Shi had sent the cultivators from Grayweed Continent away, as he wanted to prevent the Outerverse from descending into chaos. Although some people were already aware of the war in the Innerverse due to the previous border invasion, most were still in the dark.

“I’m an elder from Grayweed Continent’s Mt. Stacks Dojo. You may call me Elder Tie.”

Qiong Shanhai politely asked, “Is there anything that Millions City can do for you, Elder Tie?”

Elder Tie coldly responded, “I heard that there’s a young fellow from the Outerverse by the name of Wei Rong. It seems that he is known for being highly intelligent, but he made a mistake when he took advantage of the incident at East Dios to instigate a fight between my young master and the Great Eastern Alliance’s Lu Yin. Please hand him over to us, city master.”

Qiong Shanhai’s expression grew dark. “Could there be some kind of misunderstanding here?”

Tie San walked out from behind and rudely interrupted, saying, “There’s no misunderstanding. That Wei Rong guy is claiming to be the smartest person in the Outerverse. He’s too arrogant! Please hand him over to us, city master.”

Qiong Shanhai frowned. “I’m sorry, but Wei Rong isn’t in Millions City.’

Elder Tie shook his head. “City Master Qiong, I respect you as the master of Millions City, but you should show me some respect as well. You shouldn’t create enemies to support that young man.”

Qiong Shanhai’s determination began wavering.

Qiong Xi’er walked out and looked at Elder Tie. “I’m sorry, but Wei Rong truly isn’t in Millions City.”

Tie San roared, “Someone confirmed that he’s in the city master’s estate.”

“Truly? I live in the city master’s residence, but even I am not aware of Wei Rong being here, so who could possibly know such a thing? May we ask that person ourselves?” Qiong Xi’er retorted sharply.

Elder Tie glared at Qiong Xi’er in anger.

Qiong Shanhai snorted, and the ground shook even more intensely. “This is Millions City. Please keep that in mind.”

Elder Tie clenched his fists and smirked. “Fine, since City Master Qiong is unwilling to hand this person over, then we will simply wait here. Pass down my orders—surround Millions City! Nobody is allowed to leave the city without my permission.”

Qiong Shanhai was infuriated. “Elder Tie, don’t think that you can bully us so easily. If not for that Envoy from your Mt. Stacks Dojo, you wouldn’t be able to defeat Millions City.”

Elder Tie left with a smug expression on his face.

There were hundreds of Mt. Stacks Dojo disciples who had accompanied Elder Tie here, and their numbers included a dozen Hunters with the rest of them being either Explorers or Cruisers. On top of that, Elder Tie was a powerhouse whose power level was greater than 300,000. Thus, Millions City was unable to do anything to them unless they wanted to wage war with Mt. Stacks Dojo.

Qiong Shanhai did not dare to declare war against such a group, as he was unaware of how many experts Mt. Stacks Dojo possessed. Divine Fist Lan Si was one of the Ten Arbiters, and he was extremely influential, which was another reason why Qiong Shanhai did not know how to handle this problem.

“Xi’er, we should hand Wei Rong over if there’s no other option,” Qiong Shanhai reluctantly messaged.

Qiong Xi’er firmly responded, “No. If we actually hand him over, then nobody will believe us in the future. Also, you have to remember that Lu Yin is constantly keeping an eye on us as well.”

Qiong Shanhai’s eyes glinted. Lu Yin was the actual problem at this time. No matter how arrogant the people from Mt. Stacks Dojo behaved, they would not be able to do anything to Millions City even with the help of their Envoy. However, Lu Yin was different, as he had the support of the Hall of Honor and was capable of executing many strange plans. The moment he discovered that Wei Rong was hiding in Millions City and being protected by the Qiong family, he would instantly gain a real reason to deal with them.

The person whom Qiong Shanhai was most wary of in the entire Outerverse was Lu Yin.

Lu Yin had already expected that Mt. Stacks Dojo would become enemies with Millions City. That had been his intention when he ordered Zhu San to spread the rumors concerning Wei Rong hiding in the city. Lu Yin wanted to pressure Wei Rong and let him know that there was nowhere for him to go.

As for the feud between Mt. Stacks Dojo and Millions City, Lu Yin was certain that the Qiong family would not hand over Wei Rong. What’s more, the people from Mt. Stacks Dojo were from the Innerverse and naturally looked down upon the Outerverse cultivators. Thus, it would be very normal for the two sides to become enemies.

Lu Yin’s current issue was that he had to find a way to bring Wei Rong to his side while also leaving a way for him to deal with Millions City in the future. Lu Yin was not concerned about Mt. Stacks Dojo, as Lan Si would not allow his forces to become enemies with the Great Eastern Alliance. Lan Si only wanted the position of Honored Chosen, so he would not create any trouble for Lu Yin before achieving that goal.

The feud between Mt. Stacks Dojo and Millions City would not last for very long, and the Hall of Honor might even interfere if it continued for too long.

Lu Yin looked up at the three mainland rings. Was this the right thing to do? His initial motivation to unite the Outerverse was so that it would be more powerful when the Sixth Mainland invaded.

The Sixth Mainland was ultimately their greatest enemy.

Their battle had already raged on for four years now, but there was still no end in sight. Lu Yin did not know what would happen to the Innerverse and the Outerverse in the future.

On the other side, Wei Rong felt very uncomfortable at this moment, as he was aware that he had been duped. He could already tell that everything had been orchestrated by Lu Yin.

Wei Rong didn’t care about the people from Mt. Stacks Dojo, but Lu Yin had completely crushed any hope Wei Rong had held about joining Lan Si’s side.

In fact, this miscalculation stemmed from how Wei Rong had forgotten that while he had always been the one playing dirty during his skirmishes with Lu Yin, Lu Yin was also capable of employing such schemes.

Wei Rong had truly been outwitted this time around.

Even if Wei Rong tried to tell the people from Mt. Stacks Dojo that Lu Yin was just using them, they still would not change their behavior as Wei Rong actually had instigated the conflict between Lan Si and Lu Yin.

In reality, he had only asked Qiong Xi’er to spread some rumors and then relied on the media to make the whole thing blow up. However, he now had to bear the consequences of those actions.

The only thing that he could do at this time was wait.

Wei Rong was aware that Lu Yin would not let him off that easily and that there had to be something else coming.

Without any other moves, Wei Rong could only try to think of a solution, as he did not want to lose in this manner.

A few days later, another piece of news was released that shocked the entire Outerverse and drew everyone’s attention to the Great Yu Empire.

The five weaves bordering Armament Weave had formally announced that they were joining the Great Eastern Alliance.

This announcement stunned the Outerverse, and soon, everyone heard of it.

Before this moment, the Great Eastern Alliance had only consisted of ten weaves, including Armament Weave, which had made it a major power in the east. With the addition of five more weaves, the alliance’s power had almost doubled, which terrified many people.

After Armament Weave’s fall, the Outerverse’s central weaves had immediately realized that they were in trouble, as the Great Eastern Alliance had gained a stepping stone that would allow them to invade the central region. Despite that, no one had expected the Great Eastern Alliance to have secretly gained control of five other weaves.

The Great Eastern Alliance’s express military route now spread through the five new weaves, and this caused a significant public reaction comparable to when the Great Eastern Alliance had first been established.

However, a second piece of news was announced a few days later that rendered everyone speechless yet again.