Madam Nalan flashed a mesmerizing smile as she passed the cosmic ring to Lu Yin. When their hands touched, Lu Yin felt a silky smoothness. Her hands were very comfortable and soft, as if they were boneless.
It was only then that he noticed how beautiful her hands were. They were fair and slender, and there were no scars at all. They were like white jade.
"Madam, you didn't come here to see if I'm missing an arm or a leg, right?" Lu Yin joked as he forcefully shifted his attention away from her hands.
Madam Nalan sat back down and smiled. "That's what I meant. You were able to return alive from Ironblood Weave and receive much praise. Your Highness' reputation in the Outerverse is growing."
Lu Yin was helpless. "It's all just a false reputation."
"Countless people spend their entire lives desiring a false reputation, and Your Highness has already achieved that. I actually came here to discuss the Nalan family's cooperation with the Great Yu Empire."
Lu Yin's eyes lit up, as this was a good thing. The Nalan family was one of the wealthiest corporations in the entire Outerverse, and no one knew exactly how much money they had. Although the Outerverse did not produce star essence in abundance, the Nalan family was still able to give away tens of thousands of star essence, which showed just how wealthy they were. They were not inferior to even the most powerful corporations in the Innerverse, and their wealth far exceeded that of an empire.
"Madam, how do you want to cooperate?" Lu Yin asked with interest.
Madam Nalan's lips curled up beautifully. "Full cooperation. Agriculture, industry, commerce, and even weapons development, space travel, resource decomposition, and so on. My Nalan family is willing to cooperate with the Great Yu Empire in everything that is involved."
Lu Yin was stunned. "Madam, are you serious?"
Madam Nalan nodded. "Absolutely."
…
An hour later, Madam Nalan left, and Lu Yin fell into deep thought as he watched her leave.
If the Nalan family wanted to cooperate with the Great Yu Empire, there would be plenty of people in the Outerverse who would be willing to do so. Even the powerful organizations that ruled over a weave would fight to the death. The only reason she would choose the Great Yu Empire was because of Lu Yin.
When the Nalan family had asked for protection, they had mentioned economic cooperation with the Great Yu Empire, but Lu Yin had thought that it would only be cooperation in a certain area that would at most alleviate the Great Yu Empire's economic problems. He had never expected that it would be such a comprehensive cooperation, which was much better than the Northline Flowzone's or Watermoon Villa's economic cooperation.
Now, the problem was that the Great Yu Empire was at a disadvantage in every aspect when compared to the Nalan family. If not for Lu Yin's dazzling strength, then the Great Yu Empire alone would not be able to match up to the Nalan family.
It seemed like it was time to increase the Great Yu Empire's strength. Cooperation was a matter of equality, and Lu Yin did not wish for the Great Yu Empire to be led by the nose by the Nalan family.
With that in mind, he summoned Gavin, the finance minister.
"The Nalan family wants to cooperate fully with the empire?" Gavin was pleasantly surprised.
Lu Yin nodded. "Make the necessary arrangements. Find someone to liaise with the Nalan family in all aspects."
"Yes, Your Highness. With the Nalan family's help, the empire's economy will definitely recover quickly," Gavin said happily.
Lu Yin looked at him. "What I want is not recovery, but growth."
"Yes," Gwen quickly replied.
"There's one more thing." Lu Yin looked at Gavin. "While we're working together, try to use the Nalan family's channels to contact the other weaves and arrange for our people to go over. You can discuss this with Captain Shalosh."
Gavin thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes, Your Highness."
Lu Yin tossed a cosmic ring to Gavin. "The things inside were sold to the empire by me. Take a look and see how much they're worth."
Gavin was puzzled, and he looked at the cosmic ring. When he saw the 300 tons of polarium essence inside, he was stunned.
Polarium essence was something that two Enlighters, Elder Wu and Topmist, would fight over, as it was extremely valuable. Generally speaking, even a planet that produced polarium would not be able to produce so much polarium essence in one go. "Your Highness, this subject is unable to give you an estimate for the time being."
"310 tons of polarium essence, plus the star crystals from the Nine Stacks Sect, I'll take it as 50,000 star essence. This is what the empire owes me, and I'll have to repay it in the future," Lu Yin said.
Gavin nodded. "Yes, Your Highness. This subject will remember."
The Nine Stacks Sect had a huge batch of star crystals, but they were worth at most 20,000 star essence. Lei Long had not touched them because they were all crystals, which were inconvenient to carry and absorb. Lu Yin did not want to let the Nine Stacks Sect benefit from this batch of crystals, so he had shipped them all back to the Great Yu Empire. As for the polarium essence, Lu Yin did not know how much it was worth.
The prices of many items would change according to the market. This polarium essence might not be worth 30,000 star essence, but Gavin did not care. Even if Lu Yin sold it for 300,000 star essence, Gavin would still agree. After all, Lu Yin was the ruler of the Great Yu Empire, and it would not be good to be too serious about it.
The polarium essence was given to Gavin so that the Twelfth Imperial Squadron could be made into equipment for the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons. Lu Yin wanted to turn the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons into an invincible Outerverse army, and the criteria for joining the Thirteen Imperial Squadrons had to be changed.
Gavin left, as he was just a delivery man. The polarium essence had to be delivered to the Twelfth Imperial Squadron's captain, Ban Jiu.
A few days later, Lu Yin sat down below the emperor's throne and began his routine court session.
He did not participate in court sessions often, and when he was not around, the court session was usually hosted by the cabinet ministers.
Huan Sha and En Ya were already standing in the court session. Although they were at the back, everyone knew that their positions would surpass those of the cabinet in the future.
"Due to the death of the Meke family's head, the Meke family has fallen into internal strife. After some discussion, the cabinet has decided to suppress the situation to prevent unrest among the citizens."
"The war in Ironblood Weave has caused many pharmaceutical companies in the empire to raise their prices without restraint. Shamrock Enterprises has been sold out, and after some discussion, the cabinet has decided to punish the companies that raised their prices without restraint."
"The Starry Sky Bank has officially declared bankruptcy and is being taken over by the empire. According to our estimates, this will cause some losses to the empire's economy."
…
The ministers continued to report on the situation, and it took more than an hour.
Too many things had happened during this period of time, but even so, the court session only selected a few important matters to report. Many of the smaller matters were dealt with by the four ministries and the cabinet.
Lu Yin listened calmly, but there was only one word that could describe the situation: chaos. The main reason was that he did not have enough money. If he had enough money, he could suppress the prices of medical products and pacify the citizens. He could also bring jobs to many people and relieve some of their stress. Madam Nalan's offer to cooperate with him was truly a timely help.
"Your Highness, your subjects have completed their reports," Garope reported respectfully.
Lu Yin grunted in acknowledgment and then glanced at the ministers before muttering to himself.
Everyone waited patiently.
After a while, Lu Yin said, "Actually, I've always had an idea. During the war in Ironblood Weave, the eastern weaves worked together to bring about a great effect. They had more than ten Enlighters and dozens of Hunters. However, this is definitely not the peak strength that the various weaves can bring out. If we can unite the various weaves and combine their strength, what kind of effect would that have?"
The ministers were all confused, as they could not understand what Lu Yin was talking about.
En Ya's eyes flashed, and she looked at Lu Yin in shock. What great ambition! There were seventy-two weaves in the Outerverse, and no single power could rule over more than three weaves. At most, they could rule over two weaves.
Lu Yin laughed when he saw everyone's expressions. "Alright, it was just a joke. You may leave now."
The ministers respectfully acknowledged the order and slowly left the court.
En Ya did not leave. She waited for everyone to leave before stepping forward. "Your Highness."
Lu Yin looked at her. "Is something the matter?"
"Is what Your Highness just said true?" En Ya asked solemnly.
Lu Yin thought about it. "Perhaps. Do you have any suggestions?"
En Ya solemnly replied, "Actually, the commander once proposed a similar idea. He wanted to link the Outerverse's seventy-two weaves together and use the entire Outerverse's strength to enter the Primal Zone through Ironblood Weave and restrain the Celestial Beast Empire. The Innerverse would then attack the Celestial Beast Empire from the Erudite Flowzone. The commander once said that the Outerverse is too vast, and a single weave isn't terrifying. However, once the weaves are united, the combined strength of the weaves is terrifying.
Lu Yin was interested. "It seems that many of my ideas coincide with Commander Shui's."
En Ya nodded. "Many of Commander's ideas were rejected by the Innerverse, and the Hall of Honor did not agree either."
"Times have changed, and the Innerverse and Outerverse have been separated. As long as Elder Lohar doesn't appear, I can use the Hall of Honor's name to do whatever I want without anyone restricting me." Lu Yin's eyes lit up. Just yesterday, his new gadget had been delivered, and the number of Honor Points beside his personal status had increased to six.
Although it had only gone from two to six, it represented a change in his status. As long as he did not do anything too excessive, he would stand at the top of the Hall of Honor. The Innerverse and Outerverse had not been separated, and it was very likely that someone with more Honor Points than Lu Yin would appear. However, such a person was practically nonexistent now.
En Ya's eyes lit up. Lu Yin had never seen her this excited ever since she had joined the Great Yu Empire. "En Ya is willing to assist Your Highness in unifying the Outerverse."
Lu Yin laughed. "Unifying the Outerverse?
You're overthinking things. You just want to unite the eastern weaves. Since Commander Shui originally had this idea, did you have a direction in mind? "
En Ya nodded. "An alliance."
Lu Yin's eyes flashed. "Give me a direction. An alliance? Not a bad idea."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Shui Chuanxiao was the most strategic commander in human history, and his thoughts and plans were not something that the current Lu Yin could compare to. He wanted to unite all seventy-two weaves of the Outerverse, but Lu Yin only wanted to unite the eastern weaves, and if possible, he wanted to add more.
Even if there were no Enlighters in the Outerverse, and even if the Hall of Honor fully supported him, the possibility of unifying all seventy-two weaves was not high. The Outerverse was too vast, and it would take the Great Yu Empire's army a long time to traverse it, let alone unifying it.
Unless he could reach Mister Mu's level of strength one day, then he would be able to traverse half the universe as he pleased.
The days returned to normal, and on this day, a shadow entered King Zishan's palace without Kayze noticing. The moment she stepped inside, the shadow revealed itself to be a bespectacled woman.
She walked step by step to the guest hall of King Zishan's palace and stood there.
Not long after, Lu Yin appeared.