Lu Yin spent a few days wandering around the Ross Empire with Sapling so that it would no longer be so scared by everything. At the same time, due to Ku Wei’s advertising, Lu Yin’s interest in collecting unique plants had been revealed to the public, and a lot of people sent unique plants over to the Ross Empire as a result.
There were suddenly a great many more plants in the Ross Empire, and the whole region had become much greener.
There were even some unique plants that could occasionally be seen moving about.
Also, half a month had passed since Shui Chuanxiao had started infiltrating Basong Flowzone. Once the Lu Elite Troops successfully infiltrated the area, they would start attacking Basong Flowzone.
Whoosh whoosh!
Sapling kept happily shaking its leaves as a beautiful blue flower gave off a blue glow that enveloped the sapling. The plant hopped about excitedly, and there was also a small shrub nearby that kept producing dew.
Birds flew overhead, creating a picturesque scenery of natural beauty.
“Alliance Leader Lu, the Ordnance Mercenaries sent someone over with a tree that can run,” someone reported.
Lu Yin said, “Send them over.”
Sapling was more comfortable with plants than people. Ku Wei had visited twice recently, but Sapling was still scared of him. However, it was unafraid of all the plants. One of the plants was even very aggressive, but it acted timidly whenever Sapling was around.
The captain of the Ordnance Mercenaries, Qi Jin, soon arrived, followed by a huge tree.
Lu Yin had a strong impression of the Ordnance Mercenaries; Shalosh, the captain of the Eighth Imperial Squadron, was the mercenaries’ vice-captain. Also, Ian, who was a part of the Allied Forces, had spent quite a bit of time as part of the crew. Finally, the Ordnance Mercenaries had worked for Lu Yin in the past.
“I’m Qi Jin. It’s good to see you, Alliance Leader Lu.”
“It’s been a long time, Captain Qi Jin. How are the Ordnance Mercenaries doing?” Lu Yin asked.
Qi Jin answered in a respectful tone, “Thanks for asking, Alliance Leader Lu. Everything is going well.”
He set the tree that he had been carrying down and warily grabbed one of its branches before turning to Lu Yin. “Alliance Leader Lu, I heard that you’re collecting unique plants, and this tree is quite strange. You can see for yourself if you’re interested in it.”
Lu Yin curiously looked at the tree. It looked quite normal and did not seem special at all.
Sapling, who had still been playing with the blue flower, suddenly rushed over and jumped up on top of the tree. The tree instantly started moving, and it raised up all its branches in a show of anger.
Lu Yin was shocked.
Qi Jin had no time to react before two thick branches appeared from between the tree’s roots, and the tree took off running.
Qi Jin anxiously chased after the tree, and Lu Yin grinned. He could see that the tree had a few runes, about the same number as the blue flower or the shrub that produced dew.
However, the tree was clearly much stronger than the other plants as Qi Jin, who was almost a Cruiser, was unable to drag the tree back to Lu Yin. Instead, Qi Jin was dragged along by the tree like a rag.
In the end, Lu Yin was forced to drag the tree back. Sapling happily leaped about, and Lu Yin Lu Yin could sense its delight.
The big tree was scared of Lu Yin, and it was also annoyed that it had been dragged back. So, it turned to escape in another direction but failed again. Regardless, the tree instantly tried to flee in yet another direction.
Qi Jin blushed in an awkward manner, as this was humiliating.
Lu Yin just laughed. They were in a place that had been built for Sapling, and it was already filled with other unique plants. The big tree fit right in.
“Captain Qi Jin, you’ve done well,” Lu Yin praised.
Qi Jin smiled. “I’m sorry for the embarrassing incident.”
Lu Yin rewarded Qi Jin with some items before sending the man away.
There were many strange things in the vast universe, and countless unique plants were sent over with every passing day. Lu Yin also spent some time playing with Sapling, and he even gave it his other stellular energy pill. Sapling was thrilled, and it grew a bit taller after absorbing the pill.
Lu Yin’s eyes gleamed after seeing that Sapling could grow by absorbing other stellular energy pills. How interesting.
Some time had passed since Lu Yin had left Gaia’s Swamp, so both Liu Huang and the Second Nightking had regained a bit of their former strength.
At the moment, the Second Nightking’s power level had returned to around 700,000 while Liu Huang’s had reached around 600,000. If not for the Warden’s attacks, the two would have recovered much more quickly, especially since they had been given Enhanced pills by Lu Yin.
“Alliance Leader Lu, when can I return to the Sword Sect?” Liu Huang asked.
Lu Yin calmly answered, “It’s still too early. We’ll talk after your power level breaks through 900,000. The current sect leader, Liu Qianjue, isn’t someone who’s focused only on swordsmanship but is someone ambitious and quite capable. If you return now, you’ll just end up as a mere elder.”
Liu Huang was not the Second Nightking, and Lu Yin had never planned on permanently keeping the swordsman around as a bodyguard. Rather, he wanted to use Liu Huang to control the Sword Sect and force them to join the Great Eastern Alliance. This was the deal that the two had made in Gaia’s Swamp.
As long as Liu Huang was present, Lu Yin had absolutely no worries regarding the Sword Sect. If Liu Huang tried to renege on their deal, Lu Yin would have a perfectly valid reason to attack the Sword Sect. He might not even need to do so, as Liu Huang had previously been secretly captured by the Hall of Honor, and the man would never dare to publicly reveal himself. This was a crucial secret that Lu Yin could use to threaten the man. However, Lu Yin had no intention of actually exposing Liu Huang, as doing so would stain the Hall of Honor’s reputation, and Lu Yin had no wish to do such a thing to one of his strongest supporters.
Also, all of this made Madam Hong’s excuse of the Sword Sect imprisoning the Sea King seem pointless.
Actually, that was quite strange; why was there still no news at all from Madam Hong?
Lu Yin had expected Madam Hong to cause some trouble for him after Master Qing Hua left. Instead, he had heard basically nothing from the World Imprinter despite so much time passing. He almost wanted to reach out to Xun Jiong.
Lu Yin’s gadget beeped while he was watching Sapling playfully leap about. He glanced down and saw that there was a call request from an unknown contact.
A voice spoke up. “This thing is pretty useful. Why didn’t I use it last time? The network isn’t bad either. There’s actually information about divination that’s even quite detailed. I wonder if it’s useful. I should try it out one day.”
Lu Yin realized who was calling as soon as he heard the voice: Xuan Jiu.
“Xuan Jiu, the position of national advisor is still waiting for you to fill it. Why haven’t you come over yet?” Lu Yin asked.
Xuan Jiu seriously answered, “I’m not going.”
Lu Yin’s brows rose high. “You don’t want to be the national advisor anymore?”
“No.”
“You were the one who asked me for the position. Why did you change your mind? The Great Eastern Alliance is only becoming more and more powerful as time goes by.”
Xuan Jiu hesitated. “You have offended too many people, and-” He hesitated before continuing. “You bring misfortune to people.”
Lu Yin felt curious about this. “What do you mean?”