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“Elder Luke, there are reports that your Six-Fingered Tribe has been plagued by misfortunes,” Lu Yin commented.
Luke Shamus replied with a pained expression, “Your Highness must find it rather amusing. For some unknown reason, every 10,000 years, my Six-Fingered Tribe will experience a sharp drop in our population due to a disaster. Fortunately, we have always been able to persevere and survive through them.”
“Do you know the reason?” Lu Yin was curious.
Luke Shamus shook his head. “I don’t know. More than 10,000 years ago, the clan spent a huge sum and requested that the Starsibyl Sect’s Master divine an answer. However, the price that we paid was not enough.”
“The Starsibyl Sect? You guys have that much faith in them?” Lu Yin was curious.
Luke Shamus felt that this question was rather strange. “Does Your Highness not believe in their abilities? The Starsibyl Sect has the ability to divine the past and future, and this is something that is universally acknowledged.”
“Perhaps,” Lu Yin ambiguously replied, as he recalled how the Starsibyl Sect had divinated that the Sea King had been the one who had stolen the pyrolyte from everyone.
Some matters were unexplainable, and the Starsibyl Sect was indeed very mysterious.
“Your Highness, we’ve arrived,” Luke Shamus respectfully informed Lu Yin as they came to a specific location underground. This area was rather spacious, but there was only one stone slab in the center, and it was covered by a sheet of cloth.
Luke Shamus walked over to the stone slab and reached out to pull the cloth away. Lu Yin looked over, and his eyes narrowed. Is that
? Scarlet eyes with vertical pupils?
Scarlet eyes with vertical pupils. This was not a sight that was foreign to Lu Yin. Back on Earth, he had picked up a pair of scarlet eyes with vertical pupils that had been left behind by Silver, which were items belonging to the Neohuman Alliance.
Lu Yin shot a sharp gaze towards Luke Shamus as he reflexively donned his universal armor. His eyes filled with star energy as he checked his surroundings. There were no changes to the rune lines, which meant that there was still no threat to him.
“You’re from the Neohuman Alliance?” Lu Yin asked coldly, and the Blind Monk took a step forward as he also stared intensely at Luke Shamus.
Luke Shamus smiled bitterly. “Your Highness, if I was from the Neohuman Alliance, I would never have shown this to you.”
Lu Yin squinted, and although his eyes flickered, he didn’t speak.
Luke Shamus bent over and wiped the scarlet eyes. “This stone slab has been passed down through the generations of the Six-Fingered Tribe. We know that this is a symbol of the Neohuman Alliance, but this stone slab has existed for even longer than the Neohuman Alliance has been known.”
Lu Yin’s brows furrowed at that comment. “What do you mean?”
Luke Shamus replied, “The Six-Fingered Tribe is naturally cursed, as we are each born with six fingers. Additionally, every 10,000 years, there is some type of unpleasant change that nearly destroys our population. These disasters have been imprinted into our genes and will never change. Even Enlighters born from our clan were unable to change this fact. This stone slab is like a disaster that accompanies our clan, and it has existed ever since the very beginning of our tribe’s records.”
As he spoke, Luke Shamus looked at Lu Yin. “The clan once brought people over to appraise this stone slab, and they were able to verify that it has existed for many ages, to the point where it cannot be dated. Its age even surpasses the furthest point that my clan’s lineage records date back to, and it definitely surpasses the amount of time that the Neohuman Alliance has existed for.”
Lu Yin bent over to touch the stone slab. The scarlet eyes with vertical pupils sent chills running down his spine. This thing was clearly the symbol of the Neohuman Alliance, but then, why was it even older than that organization? This thing was an object that had existed since time immemorial, and Lu Yin had seen a few such items before, like the Daynight clan’s stone of inheritance or the objects in the ancient centipede's body.
Could it be that this symbol had not been created by the Neohuman Alliance? Or could this symbol represent another existence, which the Neohuman Alliance was just a part of?
“Seventh Bro, look. There’s writing on the stone slab,” the Ghost Monkey softly pointed out.
Lu Yin swiped his hand across the stone slab and quickly saw some protrusions, which were indeed some sort of ancient writing that he did not recognize.
“This style of writing is different from what we saw in the Daosource Sect or the Wen family’s Literary Prison. Those two styles are from another era, whereas this one’s style seems even more ancient. They look as if they’re from the era when symbols were still being developed into characters, which would make these the most ancient words possible,” the monkey mumbled.
“Your Highness, your subject is willing to offer this stone slab to Your Highness.” Luke Shamus bowed respectfully and nervously waited for Lu Yin’s response.
Lu Yin stood up and replied quietly, “Do you know that on my way here, I encountered an assassination attempt from five Hunters?”
Luke Shamus’s expression changed drastically. “Your Highness, that matter is unrelated to your subject, who definitely did not leak any details concerning Your Highness’s whereabouts.”
Lu Yin turned around and looked at Luke Shamus. “This stone slab does not have much value to me. Taking it might even cause others to denounce me by using this as evidence that I have collaborated with the Neohuman Alliance.”
Luke Shamus bent his head and did not speak, but his expression became even more unsightly.
After a short moment of silence, Lu Yin continued on, saying, “Although the value of this stone slab is not that great to me, this is still an item that your Six-Fingered Tribe has passed down for countless years. Offering it to me demonstrates your loyalty, and I accept your sincerity. From today onwards, as long as you don’t make mistakes, the Lu Ministry of Administration will always have a spot for you that can be handed down to your heirs.”
Luke Shamus was delighted. “Thank you, Your Highness. Your subject pledges his life to you.”
Lu Yin acknowledged the man. He then took the stone slab and left the sacrificial grounds.
Since he was not on an official visit, Lu Yin merely informed Bach Shamus via his gadget before leaving Lars Weave.
Back aboard his spacecraft, Lu Yin took the stone slab out, and then he also brought out the scarlet eyes that he had picked up on Earth. He compared the two pairs of eyes, and aside from the difference in size, the scarlet eyes were nearly identical. The main difference was that one pair of eyes sat atop an ancient stone slab with rudimentary writing etched on it whereas the eyes that Lu Yin had picked up on Earth were placed inside a smirking skull.
“Seventh Bro, don’t overthink things. Many things will slowly vanish with the passing of time, and there’s no need to get worked up over ancient matters like this.”
Lu Yin replied, “Monkey, you should know about the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands.”
The monkey was stumped. “I don’t know much, but in some powerhouses’ journals, I’ve seen some references to the fifth and the sixth. However, these two terms are pretty common, so I didn’t pay any attention to them.”
“Is that so,” Lu Yin casually replied, as he had not forgotten the monkey’s words back in Ironblood Weave. During the fight with the Shadowbeast, the Ghost Monkey had mentioned that this sky was false. This stupid monkey definitely knew something, but he was not willing to speak about it.
Lu Yin was glad that he had always screened the monkey off every time he rolled his die and not allowed the astral beast to discover his greatest secret. There must be some reason why the stupid monkey was still concealing certain matters from Lu Yin. If the two of them were truly joined in life or death, then there would be no need to conceal such things.
It seemed like he needed to find a way to gain more knowledge about tamed beasts.
As for the stone slab, Lu Yin stored it away, as there was indeed no need to consider it too deeply for the moment. With the endless passage of time, even the history of the buildings in the centipede's body had disappeared, let alone that of a simple stone slab.
Agreeing to Luke Shamus’s conditions had merely been Lu Yin recruiting a talented person who would also bring benefits to the alliance in the future.
Beep beep beep beep!
A soft sound came from his gadget, and the screen soon changed to show the bespectacled Mistchild. “Your Highness, I found it.”
“That was fast.” Lu Yin was stunned.
She replied, “In the Outerverse, Hunters receive quite a bit of attention, and there are incredibly few of them in each weave, so it’s easy to discover who’s not present in a specific time frame. From there, it’s easy to follow the clues back.” She paused for a moment before continuing on, saying, “Of the five Hunters that attacked you, one is from Flaxen Weave, one is from Adonis Weave, one is from Darkmist Weave, and the other two can be considered non-affiliated as they have no foundation.”
“Flaxen Weave, Adonis Weave, and Darkmist Weave?” Lu Yin’s eyes flickered.
“Yes. Their backers are Flaxen Weave’s Tri-Banner Federation, Adonis Weave’s Darkstar Gorge, and Darkmist Weave’s Nine Allied Nations. They were all contacted by someone from your Great Yu Empire, and the person who led them is coincidentally the person who you mentioned to me before,” the bespectacled Mistchild smiled.
Lu Yin’s brows lifted. “Orchid Planet’s parliament chairman, Logan?”
“Exactly,” she replied.
Lu Yin’s expression turned cold. He knew that the followers of the Yushan bloodline had always wanted to overthrow him, but he had never thought that they would be so radical to the extent of hiring five Hunters. This Logan was considerably capable as well.
“Actually, Logan only managed to gather three Hunters, as the Tri-Banner Federation and Darkstar Gorge went of their own volition. So it really was a combined operation.”
Lu Yin nodded. “I got it. Thanks for the hard work.”
She smiled sweetly. “It wasn’t hard. Please inform me if there’s anything else, Your Highness.”
“Logan must not have done this alone. Do you know who his partners were?”
“I’ve already looked into this, and they are all followers of your Great Yu Empire’s Yushan bloodline. These people paid a considerable price for the Hunters.”
“Send me a list of all their names.”
“Alright.”
Lu Yin disconnected and immediately contacted Phantom Thorn, who was also Mafioso Planet’s Hunter Mistchild. Lu Yin had spared his life and then forced the man to temporarily take on the position of the Second Imperial Squadron’s captain as well as train qualified individuals in espionage and intelligence skills. “I ordered you to monitor Logan, but he has already sent someone to kill me. Your supervision is completely useless.”
Phantom Thorn bowed his head and said in a deep voice, “Your Highness, Logan has been behaving normally over the recent days. It’s either not him, or he planned this before I tried to assassinate you. He could not have planned anything during this time that I’ve been watching him.”
“Look into this, and hurry. Use whatever methods you can,” Lu Yin commanded.
“Understood.”
The second possibility seemed more likely, as the Melder Mistchild would not lie to Lu Yin about such a small matter.
After only half a day, Phantom Thorn contacted Lu Yin once again. “My apologies, Your Highness. This was due to a lapse in my efforts.”
“What are you talking about?” Lu Yin asked.
“The Logan that we tried to assassinate back then was a fake,” Phantom Thorn informed Lu Yin in a deep voice.
Lu Yin was stunned. “He has a doppelganger?”
“Yes. He himself has always been hiding in the dark to plan, and he often swaps places with his double. This time, we quickly acted to capture him, and we were fortunate that it was actually him. He has confessed to everything.”
Lu Yin had not thought that Logan would have used such methods, to the point where even Phantom Thorn had been hoodwinked. Since this was the case, then Logan must have been using a double for quite some time, and he must have also been constantly changing places with the double, which was rather smart. Unfortunately, Logan’s luck was not that great; otherwise, even if Phantom Thorn acted again, he would have been able to escape.
Capturing Logan was akin to alarming the other supporters of the Yushan bloodline. Lu Yin ordered the Sixth and Ninth Squadrons to act, and they quickly captured everyone on the list that Lu Yin had received from the bespectacled Mistchild. These people had all played a part in the assassination attempt on Lu Yin.
There were eight names on the list, and they were all authoritative figures in various areas of the Great Yu Empire, and three were even a part of the military who led soldiers. Fortunately, Lu Yin had established the Lu Office of Defense and Lu Ministry of Administration to redistribute and supervise the troops, and he had also sent out heavyweights like Sigmund Mathers and Hill Auna to oversee the troops. Otherwise, capturing these people would absolutely have led to a rebellion.
When Lu Yin returned to Zenyu Star, everyone on the list had already been captured and imprisoned.
Lu Yin planned to completely eliminate all of these participants, but just as he returned to King Zishan’s palace, he ran into Wendy Yushan.