Chapter 257: Fallen Ring

Lu Yin was startled. “The entire universe?”

“That’s correct. You should know that the Council of Astral Academy’s position is equal to the Outerverse Youth Council. Did you believe that this position is just for show? The Astral Combat Academy is the Innerverse’s top institution and is equivalent to the Outerverse Youth Council in its ability to handle the Innerverse’s matters. You can treat the Council of Astral Academy as the Innerverse Youth Council, as it supervises the younger generation of the smaller Flowzones aside from the eight great Flowzones.”

Only now did Lu Yin understand just what sort of privilege had been bestowed upon him. The Innerverse contained eight large Flowzones that occupied a large area of the Innerverse. However, there were also many smaller Flowzones, and although the Council of Astral Academy had no authority over the eight larger Flowzones, their authority over these smaller Flowzones was enough to elevate the student council’s position to the point of it rivaling the Outerverse Youth Council. This was, after all, the Innerverse, and there was a fundamental difference between it and the Outerverse.

Dao Bo spoke up, saying, “Don’t get carried away, though. We’re only administrators. We hold these positions, but we’re ultimately unable to make any real decisions. If there’s a problem, we still have to report it to the Ten Arbiters Council. Just us students alone are not able to handle the Innerverse’s matters.”

Nightqueen Yanqing sneered. “Even though we are only administrators, our authority is not small either. Those bumpkins from the fringe weaves can never understand the concept of our sort of authority.”

Lu Yin had no time to bother with her. He now held a clearer understanding of the Ten Arbiters Council in his mind.

There were two major subsidiary councils under the Ten Arbiters Council. The first was the Outerverse Youth Council, and it supervised the Outerverse’s younger generation with its members being assigned to different weaves or even different powers, such as the Great Yu Empire Youth Council which had been set up to oversee the Great Yu Empire.

The other subsidiary was the Council of Astral Academy, which aided the Ten Arbiters Council in supervising the Innerverse, and their domain was everything aside from the eight great Flowzones. This council could only supervise the younger generation of the other Flowzones and could not take any independent actions.

The Ten Arbiters Council itself focused on the eight great Flowzones of the Innerverse.

The three combined formed the terrifying Universe Youth Council that was ruled by the Ten Arbiters.

“Any other questions?” Starsibyl asked Lu Yin.

“What should I do?”

Starsibyl smiled. “By the order of the Ten Arbiters, you, Lu Yin, a member of the Council of Astral Academy, are to supervise the Astral Combat Academy’s students as well as the younger generation of the Northline Flowzone.”

“The Northline Flowzone?” Feng Shang was astonished by the appointment and gave Lu Yin a strange look.

Lu Yin felt something was off from Feng Shang’s attitude and was puzzled as well. “Where’s the Northline Flowzone?”

Starsibyl replied, “The Northline Flowzone lies between the Blazing Mist Flowzone and the Beast Tamers Flowzone. It’s similar in size to the Frostwave Weave, and the flowzone is controlled by seventeen clans and a military school, the Shangwu Academy. You can look up the other details.”

Lu Yin nodded, but then glanced at Feng Shang and then at Starsibyl. “I have another question.”

“Go ahead.” Starsibyl seemed to treat Lu Yin well, although Nightqueen Yanqing appeared dissatisfied by it.

“By joining the Council of Astral Academy, am I still able to join the Outerverse Youth Council?”

The rest looked at him in shock, and Nightqueen Yanqing took the opportunity to mock him. “Such ambition! A bumpkin will always remain a bumpkin. Do you think that the Outerverse Youth Council is the same as the Council of Astral Academy? The Ten Arbiters may have given us similar statuses, but in terms of combat power, all of the members of the Outerverse Youth Council are space-exploring powerhouses in the Top 100 Rankings. What can you offer to stand beside them?”

Dao Bo spoke, “It’s theoretically possible, as long as you have the strength.”

Lu Yin grunted before then asking, “Can I meet the Ten Arbiters?”

Everyone fell silent.

Han Chong finally responded, “Not for now. Even we haven’t met them yet, so there’s no need to think about this.”

Lu Yin felt helpless as he knew that this was how the Ten Arbiters maintained their secrecy. He had not thought that, even after joining the Council of Astral Academy he would still not be able to meet the Ten Arbiters. Even now, he could not know of their identities.

Starsibyl gave Lu Yin a series of numbers, which was how he could contact her through her gadget. The rest gave him their numbers as well, though Nightqueen Yanqing left right after.

Kuang Wang patted Lu Yin’s shoulder and sympathizing said, “Brother, you shouldn’t provoke women. Especially a woman from such a powerful family.”

“Take care.”

Starsibyl politely nodded at Lu Yin and then left the Tilting Tower.

The rest left one after the other. Feng Shang walked over to apologize to Lu Yin again before leaving as well. In the end, the only one remaining was Liu Xiaoyun.

“Did you receive the invitation from the Sword Sect?” she asked in astonishment.

Lu Yin was caught off guard, but after thinking about it for a moment, he remembered that Elder Cai had indeed told him about such an invitation after the tournament. “Yes, although I’m not planning on going to the Sword Sect for the time being.”

Liu Xiaoyun did not say much, but there now seemed to be a trace of approval in her gaze. Not everyone could bring themselves to resist the Sword Sect’s allure, especially when they offered to treat Lu Yin as well as Liu Shaoqiu along with other great conditions. If the first Flowzone was considered a dynasty, then Lu Yin would have become its crown prince. It was scary that he was actually able to resist this, which made Liu Xiaoyun admire him.

“Right, out of curiosity, do the student leaders usually stay at the academy all year long?” Lu Yin asked.

She shook her head in response. “Not most of the time. We’ll generally find an agent to handle academy matters for us.”

“Then what about the Flowzone assigned to us by the Ten Arbiters Council?”

Liu Xiaoyun looked at Lu Yin seriously and thought to herself for a moment before answering. “I don’t know how to tell you this, as each person has their own preferred methods and personality. You can figure it out yourself, or you could wait for orders from above.”

Lu Yin watched Liu Xiaoyun’s figure vanish into the distance and fell deep into thought. There seemed to be no strict guidelines on how the Ten Arbiters Council wanted them to handle their responsibilities. His current impression of the Ten Arbiters Council was that their authority seemed to be positioned in the middle of the universe’s power structure and that they were directly controlling the younger generation so as to gain control of the universe in future. 

It was amazingly bold that ten youths would dare to do such a thing.

Lu Yin breathed deeply and smiled. He raised his head as he realized that he had finally reached this step. One paper with the name “Lu” on it had sent seventy-two others to their graves, and this had been a result of the Ten Arbiters’ ruling. There would come a day when he confronted those ten for that matter in the past.

In the distant skies, a giant spacecraft rushed to the north while carrying the Great Yu Empire’s younger generation elites. These people were on their way to undergo training, and those who passed would be eligible to join Yu Academy. This was the Yu Academy’s selection method.

After watching the Astral Combat Tournament, the younger generation of the Great Yu Empire had become extremely excited, and all of them were looking forward to joining the Astral Combat Academy. They all hoped to step onto the glorious stage of the wider universe, as King Zishan had already become a role model who they wanted to emulate.

Jenny Auna hugged her knees and sat down in her room. She was at a loss for what to do, and her eyes were unfocused while her long hair hung lank. She did not know if she wanted to wait for Lu Yin to return to marry her, or to boldly go out and search for the happiness that she had once longed for.

Ever since she had returned from the Fireforge Planet, she had been unable to forget that blazing king of a man. Those two scorching eyes had thawed her heart, and she now often dreamed of reuniting with him. She longed to marry him, and she didn’t even mind that the Fireforge Planet’s environment was not suitable for Auna clan members.

But right now, she was further from her dream than she had ever been. Lu Yin was like an untraversable mountain obstructing her path. This feeling had only intensified ever since the Astral Combat Tournament, as everyone worshipped him while being envious of her for being his future wife. But all of this supposed glory was just an intense nightmare for Jenny. The more brilliant Lu Yin became, the deeper she sank into the nightmare.

She sighed with complicated emotions as she took out an exquisite ring. This ring had been given to her by Lu Yin, and although it was beautiful, it was hideous to her.

She walked outside and paused at the corridor, where she saw meteorite after meteorite streak past her.

At that point, her gadget beeped with a new notification.

Jenny Auna looked at it and her eyes widened as she grew ecstatic. “Yan- Yan Feng, is that you?”

Not too far away from Jenny, Jeraldine was distressed and frowning. For this Yu Academy’s selection test, she held no confidence in herself and did not know if she would be able to join it. Although she was a top student in the First Military School, she was too far behind those elites. Whenever she stared at the sky, she remembered that bastard, that repulsive bastard who had hoodwinked, threatened, and blackmailed her. And yet, somehow, he had managed to walk onto the most dazzling stage of the entire universe. How was this possible?

“Mm, Brother Yan Feng, I’ll leave now.” A nearby excited voice sounded out, causing Jeraldine to pause as she peeked around the corner. Jenny Auna was excitedly running to her room while she had left an exquisite ring on the floor behind her.

Jeraldine grew curious since she knew this woman was Lu Yin’s fiancée. She had been paying attention to her ever since she had boarded the spacecraft. Thus, she knew that Jenny had originally been worried and pensive, but now, she had suddenly turned happy. Yan Feng… Who is that?

Jeraldine was still mulling things over when a gust blew past her, as Jenny Auna had quickly sped past her and off into the distance.

Jeraldine walked up and picked the ring off of the ground. It was beautiful, and she sighed as she inspected it more carefully. A great clan was indeed a great clan, and they could even afford to disregard such a beautiful piece of jewelry. She could even sell this ring for a pretty profit. Hold on, this is exactly what that scoundrel would do! A vile feeling welled up when she realized that she was also having such crooked thoughts.

One day later, on the Great Yu Empire’s Zenyu Star, in an office of the Auna clan, Xueshan Auna violently threw his teacup to the floor. “That fool actually dared to do something like that! Bring her back!”

Rocky Auna had an ugly expression on his face. “Brother, this is a delicate situation. We can’t forcefully capture her and gather too much attention to us. Otherwise, our Auna clan will become the laughingstock of the entire Frostwave Weave.”

Xueshan Auna gasped for air and closed his eyes before speaking again in a pained manner. “I never thought that I, Xueshan Auna, would have lived such a shrewd life only to have it be ruined by this brat. She actually dares to abandon us and elope with that Fireforge youngster! It’s too absurd!”

“Jenny’s too young and naive. Yan Feng’s target has always been Princess Wendy, so why would he be suddenly willing to elope with Jenny? But brother, why would Yan Feng coax Jenny away from us? What good does that do for him? Has His Highness’s plan to attack Fireforge Planet been leaked?” Rocky Auna made some guesses at what had happened, but he was bewildered by what could have possibly motivated Fireforge Planet to do this.

Xueshan Auna shook his head. “That can’t be. Only a few know about these military plans, and they would not be leaked that easily. Besides, His Highness will not abandon his invasion plans just for Jenny.”

“If that’s the case, then what are Yan Feng’s goals?”

Xueshan Auna thought about it for a moment, trying to recall who was associated with Jenny. He suddenly thought of something. “Try to contact Schutz and ask him if anything has happened recently at the Astral Combat Academy.”

“Brother, do you think that this might have something to do with King Zishan?”

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