Lu Yin saw a familiar astral beast charging at the armada of spacecraft. It was a Soaring Firebeast, one of the seven most powerful members of the Wilderness Beast Alliance, which had been stationed at the border of the Human Domain’s Erudite Flowzone. When Lu Yin first encountered the beast, it had possessed the strength of an Enlighter, and after so many years, its strength had not changed much.
Lu Yin had gone to the border warfront of the Erudite Flowzone back when he had just been a Melder. That was also when he had first encountered Yao Gu, who had sent a Void Thunder Beast to kill Lu Yin. Those matters now felt like a distant memory.
The Soaring Firebeast charged at a vessel, spewing black, white, and red flames that filled outer space.
There were several other astral beasts with the strength of Enlighters charging at the armada right alongside the Soaring Firebeast.
One of the beasts tore a spacecraft apart, leaving some debris in its wake. Before anything could be seen, the vessel exploded. The explosion filled the area, and it completely enveloped the attacking astral beast.
The Soaring Firebeast’s tri-colored flames only managed to distort the protective shield of a spacecraft, but it failed to break through. After that, a beam swept out, piercing into the Soaring Firebeast’s body and killing it instantly.
The rest of the battle did not last long, and it ended with all of the astral beasts from the Wilderness Beast Alliance being killed.
“Dao Monarch, this happened during the first year of your seclusion. The Wilderness Beast Alliance was completely annihilated, and the attacking civilization left an announcement,” the Second Nightking softly said.
Lu Yin was quite interested. “Go on.”
“The Infinity Empire left a decree stating that the civilizations in this universe must not resist or hide. All violators will be exterminated.”
Lu Yin was taken aback by the decree, but then he burst out laughing.
The Second Nightking also laughed.
“Interesting, very interesting. The Infinity Empire? Even the name is interesting.” Lu Yin chuckled.
The Second Nightking continued in a low voice. “So far, the Infinity Empire has attacked on three different occasions. During their first attack, they exterminated the Wilderness Beast Alliance. In the second incursion, they wiped out the Xushui Alliance. The third time they appeared, the Soaring Firebeast race took action, and they attacked the spatial passage that the Infinity Empire opened to connect to the Astral Beast Domain. That first Soaring Firebeast was one of theirs, and even if they considered him a traitor, the species couldn’t swallow the insult, and their patriarch got directly involved.”
“So there have been three invasions, and the Astral Beast Domain lost every single time?” Lu Yin asked.
The Second Nightking silently agreed.
Lu Yin fell deep into thought. He had previously met the patriarch of the Soaring Firebeasts. The creature had possessed a power level of over a million, making him one of the most powerful astral beasts in the Astral Beast Domain. The Soaring Firebeasts ranked tenth on the Celestial Beast List, so of course their leader was extremely powerful.
In the current Heavens Sect, a power level of over a million would not attract any attention. The sect had multiple Progenitor-level powerhouses. However, just a few decades earlier, when Lu Yin had first started cultivating, a power level of a million had been considered supremely powerful. At that time, there had been no Progenitors in the Fifth Mainland, only Semi-Progenitors. The entire Astral Beast Domain had only had two Semi-Progenitors: Yao Di and Skymender. In addition to those two, there had been a handful of astral beasts with power levels over a million.
“How did the Soaring Firebeasts lose?”
“There’s no recording of that battle, but supposedly, they fought against something that looked like mechas.”
Lu Yin was caught off guard. “Mechas?”
“Yes. Little Bear, the vice city master from the Technocracy’s First Edition City, is currently studying some fragments of one of the Infinity Empire’s destroyed vessels.”
“Send him to see me,” Lu Yin calmly ordered. He did not have any understanding of this Infinity Empire.
No civilization that dared to challenge an unknown parallel universe could be simple.
Little Bear soon arrived, his android form still that of a bear.
“Little Bear greets the Dao Monarch.”
Lu Yin looked at the cute mechanical bear who stood before him and chuckled. “You really seem to like this appearance.”
Little Bear answered respectfully, “That is mostly because this is the form that the Dao Monarch first saw, and I don’t dare to change it casually.”
Lu Yin nodded. “Tell me, what have you learned about this Infinity Empire?”
Little Bear remained extremely respectful. “From what we’ve been able to learn so far, they are a technological civilization. Both their defensive and offensive measures are powered by some unusual energy sources. Beyond that, I really can’t say, given that I have nothing more than fragments of a vessel to work with.
“However, there is one point that is worth noting: this civilization possesses an incredible amount of material wealth. They use incredibly rare materials in their vessels. Such materials are used for our core technologies, yet the Infinity Empire uses such substances for their common vessels.”
“Common spacecraft?” Lu Yin arched a brow.
“Yes. They have only sent nothing more than average battleships here. Trump cards won’t be revealed right at the beginning, so I suspect that battleships are not their primary form of offense. However, the power source for their vessels is very odd, so I need to continue researching it.”
Lu Yin asked, “How did they enter our Fifth Mainland?”
Little Bear replied in a grave tone, “By tearing through space.”
“Deliberately?”
“Yes, deliberately.”
Lu Yin looked away. This was a civilization that actively tore through space and instigated wars by issuing ultimatums the moment they encountered a new civilization. They must be incredibly confident in their power.
“Dao Monarch, my current estimate is that the Infinity Empire most likely relies on their mechas as their primary means of attack,” Little Bear stated.
Lu Yin looked back at the android. “Like the ones that they used to defeat the patriarch of the Soaring Firebeasts?”
“That’s right. Typically, technological civilizations struggle to cultivate, and they instead focus on developing technology to achieve similar effects. My Technocracy does this, as does the Transcendent Universe. Given the Infinity Empire’s vast material wealth and peculiar power systems, they are very likely the same as well,” Little Bear explained.
Lu Yin nodded. “I understand. Continue your research.”
“Understood. I will take my leave,” Little Bear replied.
Lu Yin then had the Second Nightking replay the recording of the battle. “I was in retreat for three years, which means the Infinity Empire has been attacking the Astral Beast Domain for more than two years.”
“Two years and three months,” the Second Nightking clarified.
“Three attacks. While they won all of those battles and even issued an ultimatum demanding surrender, they haven’t pressed their attacks. Either they’re waiting for something, or they’re merely feigning confidence while observing our universe,” Lu Yin murmured. “Has Leng Qing put any countermeasures in place?”
The Second Nightking replied, “Lord Leng Qing was waiting for your seclusion to end so that he could receive your instructions.”
No civilization that dared to arbitrarily tear through parallel universes and attack as soon as they arrived could be simple. Leng Qing must have already realized this. While the Sixverse Association currently held an advantage in the war against Aeternus, there was no guarantee that another civilization equally as powerful as Aeternals would not appear. Leng Qing did not dare to act on his own.
“Send orders to the Astral Beast Domain and have them feign surrender. I want to see what the Infinity Empire will do next,” Lu Yin instructed.
The Second Nightking promptly relayed the orders to the Astral Beast Domain.