Hearing Xia Ji's words, Xia Yi was terrified. "I was wrong. I didn't know that this child had cultivated the Nine Clones Technique."
Xia Ji turned around and stared at Xia Yi. "You don't even know what technique your son is cultivating? You're a joke. You're not qualified to be a father or a clan leader."
Xia Yi trembled and hurriedly knelt down. "Ancestor, please give me another chance. I won't make the same mistake again."
Xia Ji shook his head and looked up into the sky. "That Xia Luo isn't bad. Nine Nether's personality is flawed, and his personality makes up for it. Plus, he has a good relationship with Lu Yin, so he won't be completely helpless when it comes to competing for opportunities."
Xia Yi lowered his head and understood. When Xia Meng brought the Nine Nether out, the ancestor must have known, but he did not interfere. He would rather have the Nine Nether fused with Xia Luo.
In the eyes of the Old Ancestor, there was no difference between Xia Jiuyou and Xia Luo. They were both successors of the Xia Clan, and Xia Luo was far more suitable than Xia Jiuyou.
"Get up. Even if I remove you from the position of family head, no one can replace you for now. Unfortunately, the Xia family is getting worse with each generation. Once I die, the Xia family won't even be able to keep its position as the head of the Seven Courts," said Xia Ji.
Xia Yi heaved a sigh of relief and stood up. "Ancestor, there are too many geniuses in this generation. The appearance of the ancestral qi of the three suns can draw out Progenitor Chen and Progenitor Hui, as well as the Sixth Mainland and the Astral Beast Domain. There's also Lu Yin, who doesn't understand power. Even the Nine Clones won't be able to reach such heights.
Xia Ji said indifferently, "If I had known that this child was cultivating the Nine Clones Technique, I would have been able to help him. I would have asked some of my old friends to teach him in private. Once he had fused with them, his strength would have undergone an earth-shattering change. But now …" As he thought about it, he felt helpless. "We'll talk about it later."
After he finished speaking, his mind flashed back to the last battle of the Sovereign Tournament. Lu Yin's strange appearance made him feel like he had heard of something similar before, but where?
At this moment, Xia Yi's gadget rang. He looked down and was surprised. Was this Nine Nether?
No, it should be Xia Luo.
Xia Ji saw it too, but he did not react.
Xia Yi answered, "What's the matter?"
Xia Luo's voice came from the other side. "I'll have to trouble Father to tell Nan Yuan to give the one billion star essence stored in the Mavis Bank to Lu Yin."
"One billion?"
Xia Yi raised an eyebrow. Even though he was the head of the Xia family in the Seven Courts, he could not ignore a billion star essence.
"This is the gift I promised Lu Yin. I can't go back on my word." Xia Luo's tone was gentle, and he wasn't worried at all that Xia Yi would refuse.
After fusing with Xia Jiuyou, even if he was the main body, he would still be subconsciously influenced by Xia Jiuyou's past thoughts. He was Xia Jiuyou, and Xia Jiuyou hadn't truly disappeared. His impression of Xia Yi was naturally very deep.
At this moment, Xia Yi would definitely not refuse any of his requests because he was the only direct descendant of the Xia Clan.
Xia Yi would not go so far as to start a conflict with Lu Yin over a billion star essence.
Xia Luo's guess had not been wrong. A billion star essence was indeed a lot, but it was not enough to cause Xia Yi to fall out with Xia Luo. He did not wish for Xia Luo to become a second Xia Jiuyou. "Alright, I understand. I'll let Nan Yuan know."
"Thank you, Father." Xia Luo smiled and hung up.
Far away, Xia Meng was feeling very uncomfortable. She hated Lu Yin to the core. He had defeated Xia Jiuyou during the Supreme Tournament, and he had even caused Xia Jiuyou to disappear after the tournament. Even if Xia Luo was the main culprit, who asked him to be Xia Luo?
She had long since transferred all of her anger onto Lu Yin, and it was even more so.
Unfortunately, she couldn't do anything to Lu Yin. Otherwise, Xia Meng would definitely take action. Even if she couldn't kill him, she would still teach him a lesson.
"Stay away from Lu Yin in the future. He's obviously not a good person. He's a cultivator, but he doesn't focus on his cultivation. Instead, he engages in schemes and politics, and he's even trying to become the Master of the Outerverse. Not only is he wasting his time, but he's also lowering himself. This kind of person will bring disaster upon himself sooner or later," Xia Meng said coldly.
Xia Luo smiled. "I understand, Aunt Meng."
Every time Xia Luo called her that, Xia Meng's heart would soften, and she would look at Xia Luo with a doting gaze. It was as if she was looking at a younger Xia Jiuyou.
Lu Yin also left the Astral Combat Academy, but before he left, he left behind a million star essence for Old Cai. This amount of money was no longer important to him, but it was still very helpful to the Astral Combat Academy. This academy had once been so poor that it even had to sponsor its spacecraft.
Old Cai was already satisfied.
As soon as he left the Astral Combat Academy, Lu Yin received an invitation from the Wen family to visit them.
He declined, as there was no need for him to visit the Wen family at this time. He still had other matters to attend to.
Lu Yin's spacecraft headed towards the Blazing Mist Flowzone.
A day later, his gadget beeped, and Lu Yin received Nan Yuan's confirmation that he could withdraw a billion star essence from the Mavis Bank.
Lu Yin was ecstatic. A billion?
Wasn't it 900 million?
He had told Xia Luo that it would be 900 million, but he had never expected that Xia Luo would directly give him a billion.
Endless money might not be of much use to others, but to Lu Yin, it was a shortcut to increasing his strength.
He immediately ordered his spacecraft to find the nearest Mavis Bank branch. He wanted to withdraw all of this money just in case.
It was unrealistic to think that he could withdraw a billion star essence from a single Mavis Bank branch. No matter how rich the Mavis Bank was, it was impossible for any random branch to have so many star essence. Even if there were ten branches, they wouldn't have that much star essence, let alone one.
Lu Yin could only withdraw them one by one. Finally, he withdrew all of the money from the thirteenth Mavis Bank branch, and by then, he had already returned to the Blazing Mist Flowzone.
Lu Yin rubbed his cosmic ring. His current wealth had reached 1.712 billion star essence, which was a terrifying number. Even the leading powers of the Innerverse's Eight Great Flowzones would not be able to take out so much money in one go, let alone an individual.
If there was a Wealth List, he would probably be ranked on it.
Since he had money now, it was time to upgrade his external items.
After returning to the Blaze Realm, Lu Yin ignored everything and went straight into seclusion.
In the Outerverse, at the Shenwu Continent's palace, two groups of people were facing off. One group was made up of the natives of the Shenwu Continent who were guarding the palace, while the other group was made up of representatives from the Great Yu Empire who had been stationed on the continent. The leader was a woman who was a Hunter, and she had an ugly expression on her face.
"I'll say it again. Get out of the way! We must see the Empress today!" the woman shouted. Her strength as a Hunter caused the palace to tremble.
On the other side, the people from the Shenwu Continent all turned pale, as they did not have any Martial Gods who could contend against this woman. If not for the fact that she had been apprehensive about the Empress' prestige and had not forcefully attacked, they would not even have had the qualifications to stop her.
Bei Hong walked out and looked at the woman before looking back at the palace. "Get out of the way. The Empress hasn't shown herself in a long time. If this continues, no one will be able to control the situation."
The palace's guards heard this and helplessly retreated.
The woman rushed into the study, but she did not find any trace of Ming Yan. There was only a trembling maid.
The woman's face paled. It was over. She really wasn't here. How had she left?
She had not become an Explorer and had not been received by a Hunter, so she should not have been able to leave the Shenwu Continent.
It was precisely because of these two reasons that the woman had not cared about Ming Yan's absence. Now, however, the worst outcome had occurred.
Bei Hong had not expected Ming Yan to really leave.
The woman stared at Bei Hong. "If His Highness finds out about this, we will all die."
Bei Hong replied, "I know, which is why I cannot tell His Highness. Immediately send someone to contact the space station and see if they have received the Empress. If they haven't, then it means that the Empress has not left the Shenwu Continent. Send someone to look for her."
The woman nodded. She was already panicking, so she could only listen to Bei Hong.
Bei Hong's heart continued to sink. He thought about Ming Zhaoshu's death, as well as the kidnapping of Ming Yan, which had almost caused her to die from poisoning. Could those people still be alive?
Had they attacked Ming Yan?
That would be troublesome.
This matter could not be concealed for much longer.
In the Blaze Realm, Lu Yin raised his hand, and his die slowly rotated. He tapped out six pips.
Six pips consumed an endless amount of star essence. When Lu Yin appeared in that strange space, he subconsciously searched for the brightest ball of light and directly fused with it.
The scene in front of him changed, and he appeared in outer space. There was a battlefield all around him, and an intense pain swept through his body. Lu Yin looked down and saw that the person he had fused with had been sliced apart. A pair of scarlet vertical eyes appeared in front of him, and they were cold and emotionless. They stared at Lu Yin and reached out to grab him.
Lu Yin subconsciously wanted to use the Plan Secret Art to dodge, but this body was not his, so he was unable to use it. A hand pierced through his neck, and fresh blood dripped from the fingertips onto his back, forming a river of blood.
Lu Yin had not expected that he would die right after fusing with an Enlighter with a power level of over 300,000. Around him, too many people had died, and even space itself had been dyed red.
His vision darkened, and Lu Yin's consciousness returned to his body. He suddenly opened his eyes, and his pupils shrank to the size of needles. He had just died.
He had once again experienced the feeling of death. Everyone could only experience it once, but he had experienced it more than once.
Suddenly, the black and white fog in his heart throbbed and then slowly rotated as if it was pulling something, causing it to grow a bit stronger.
Lu Yin was puzzled. During the final battle of the Sovereign Tournament, he had used the power of the black and white fog to undergo the Reaper Transformation. After that, the fog had become much thinner, and it had shrunk by at least half its original size. If he used the Reaper Transformation again, the black and white fog might disappear.
Lu Yin had always been worried that this power would disappear, and he wanted to find a place where the death aura was produced. However, such a place was not easy to find. He had not expected that his experience of death would actually cause the black and white fog to grow a bit stronger. Even if it was only a tiny bit, it meant that it was useful, and he did not need to completely rely on absorbing death aura.
He did not know whether to be happy or worried, as experiencing death was not a good feeling. Back then, he had intentionally allowed Ling Que to kill him because he had no other choice, but just now, he had intentionally experienced death because he had not been able to react in time. Just thinking about it made him panic.
However, he had no other choice. If he wanted to maintain the power of the Reaper Transformation, he had to do so.