Star Odyssey

Chapter 784: Millions City

Lu Yin thought back to when he had spent nearly 10,000 star essence in the Sea King’s Dome by taking advantage of the Sea King’s token, and Lulu had also spent a fair bit. Even if the others in the selection had spent much less than the two of them, the total expenditure must have surpassed 100,000 star essence, but that was nothing much to the Sea King’s Dome. 

This was the foundation of a great power. The four great corporations spanned the entire Outerverse, and their accumulated wealth was probably far more than what Lu Yin could even imagine while those financial powerhouses like Shamrock Enterprises probably had even more, let alone the Mavis Bank which controlled the entire universe’s finances. Perhaps even they themselves did not know how wealthy they were. 

Lu Yin still needed to expand his worldview, and it had to be done continuously.

At this moment, pyrolyte appeared on the auction screen. 

When this item first appeared, quite a few participants in the auction were puzzled, as only a few people were able to recognize what was even being displayed. However, the people in the private suites were momentarily stunned, and even the people from the Mavis Bank were temporarily taken aback. 

Zi Xianxian was stupefied. “Lu Yin is crazy! He even dares to sell something like this? Isn’t he afraid that the Hall of Honor will cause trouble for him?” But then, Zi Xianxian suddenly remembered that the Hall of Honor was seemingly the one backing Lu Yin. She had only half believed the rumors before, but this made her absolutely certain in them. If the Hall of Honor didn’t create any trouble for Lu Yin even after this happened, then they must be supporting him. 

Zi Xianxian was not the only one with such thoughts, and an ordinary-looking man in another suite also let out a long breath. He was representing Aegis in this auction, and he had only bought one natural treasure so far as the competition had been too intense, rendering him only able to afford one. 

When he saw that pyrolyte was being auctioned off, his thoughts followed the same line as Zi Xianxian’s, and he quickly associated the sale of pyrolyte as proof that the Hall of Honor was behind Lu Yin. 

Although Lu Yin had caused Aegis to suffer great losses, they were actually rather grateful towards him. They had indeed wanted to occupy Northcastle Weave to gain access to pyrolyte, but they had belatedly realized that the Hall of Honor had placed extraordinarily strict controls around pyrolyte only after their struggle with Lu Yin. To their shock, quite a few powers had been extinguished because of this, and they actually rejoiced that they had dodged this minefield. 

People were also rather apprehensive of the hidden strength that the Hall of Honor might still have in the Outerverse. If they were supporting Lu Yin, then it was fortunate that Aegis had not continued to fight to the death. It would have been truly difficult to predict who would have come off worse in the end. 

The auction for the pyrolyte did not proceed very smoothly, as nobody dared to purchase it. In the end, one of Bei Qing’s employees bought it at a price that was 100 star essence higher than its starting value, so as not to embarrass the auction house. 

Due to pyrolyte being sold at his auction, Lu Yin suddenly seemed even more mysterious than before due to his hidden support becoming even more terrifying. 

However, many people who were hidden in the shadows also started paying more attention to Lu’s Grand Auction. If this auction house was willing to sell even pyrolyte, then what would they not be willing to sell? All of a sudden, many people started planning to sell off certain objects that were better off kept a secret. 

The auctioning of the pyrolyte was just a primer, as Lu Yin was not in a hurry to reach the final outcome. He had already ordered Bei Qing to track down the person who had sold the pyrolyte. If it was just someone who had accidentally come across a bit of the mineral, then that would be fine. However, if the seller had a steady means of obtaining more pyrolyte, that would be crossing the Hall of Honor’s bottom line, and they would have to be eradicated. 

The auction lasted for two more days, and when Lu Yin saw the total amount that Bei Qing had brought in, Lu Yin couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He was very happy, as the auction had actually netted him 50,000 star essence. The ten natural treasures had sold for 30,000. In addition, they had also sold Elder Wu’s poison, the five drops of gemspring water, King Zishan’s palace’s collection of artwork and other miscellaneous gifts, as well as all the commissions that he had received from the other auctioned items. All in all, the auction had brought in a small fortune for Lu Yin in just a short amount of time. 

Before the auction, he had had 52,000 star essence, and with the profits of the auction added on, his funds had now surpassed 100,000. Lu YIn suddenly felt a sense of security. 

100,000s star essence was enough for him to live rather extravagantly, but if he wanted to upgrade some items with his die’s three pips: Enhance, then it still was not enough. Also, if he rolled another six pips: Possession, he might potentially squander his entire fortune in one go. 

He still had to work hard to earn more money. 

With a new sense of financial security from his recent windfall, Lu Yin arrived at the border of Tyrannical Weave within his aircraft. 

This was not Lu Yin’s first time seeing the scene before him, as there was a boundless river of energy blocking his way. The Astral River was much more spectacular now than before. 

Once the energy dissipated, Tyrannical Weave would regain its connection to the outside universe. 

This energy barrier had isolated Millions City for over two years, and they would soon be able to see the light of day again. 

The inhabitable planets outside of Tyrannical Weave’s border were already filled with people. Lu Yin and Cool Sis went their separate ways, as Lu Yin went to meet up with Yan Yan. After a few inquiries, he learned that all of these people were waiting for Tyrannical Weave to be accessible again. 

Or more accurately, they were waiting for access to Millions City.

Millions City had gathered a considerable portion of the wealth of the Outerverse, especially star crystals. 

When Millions City had first been isolated, more than ten weaves had been affected by the plummeting number of available star crystals. Not only had the merchants suffered, but the cultivators had been even more severely afflicted. Without any star crystals, they could only slowly absorb the ambient star energy roaming about the universe, forcing their cultivation to slow to an extreme crawl. 

Countless people were waiting for Millions City to become accessible. 

Lu Yin had also learned that the Mavis Bank’s wealthiest Outerverse branch was located in Millions City. 

He looked above him, at space, and he could see the occasional rune lines streak by. The people waiting for the energy barrier to come down were not only merchants, and some of these people had likely come to this place with the intent of capturing Deng Pu. Lu Yin’s assumption was confirmed when he spotted Saul’s rune lines moving about as well. 

That old fogey had always been single mindedly focused on claiming True Insight. Once he obtained it and broke through to become an Enlighter, very few in the Outerverse would be his match. 

When he recalled the terror of that sourcebox array formed from those four large, tree-looking sourceboxes, Lu Yin shuddered in fear. 

He could not allow Saul to obtain those pages. Of course, he also could not allow any other Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker to obtain them either. 

“Where’s Phantom Sting?” Lu Yin asked.

Yan Yan softly replied, “Searching for Deng Pu.”

“Tell him to stop looking,” Lu Yin said.

The border of Tyrannical Weave was currently very busy, as there were merchants, cultivators, experts from various great powers who were looking for Deng Pu, and assassins and mercenaries.

If Deng Pu was not foolish, he definitely would not make any sort of appearance for quite a while. He had been able to hide himself for this long because he was a Lockbreaker, and there was no way for Phantom Sting to find him. Otherwise, he would have long since been discovered by members of Aegis. 

Two days later, a piece of news spread through the crowd gathered at the border of Tyrannical Weave: Deng Pu had escaped. 

No one seemed to know where this piece of information had originally come from, but the rumors seemed to have spontaneously sprung up everywhere. All of them were similar in that they claimed that Deng Pu was afraid of being captured and that he didn’t dare to head towards Tyrannical Weave. However, some claimed that Deng Pu had fled to the north while others said that he had fled to the east. Some even said Deng Pu had never come to the west in the first place and that he had immediately fled to the east. 

There were many rumors, and they all seemed to appear at the same time. 

Lu Yin firmly believed that Deng Pu had hired people to intentionally release these rumors so that the chaos would keep him safe. Still, these methods had some effect as many of the people and groups that were searching for Deng Pu moved out and headed in other directions to look for him. 

Lu Yin did not leave, as capturing Deng Pu was a matter of pure luck. For the moment, he only wanted to get a glimpse of the legendary Millions City. 

This city was just as famous as Neo-Vestige Sect and the Dark Phoenix family. These were the three great powers of the Outerverse that everyone knew could not be provoked, and Millions City was also the place with the greatest wealth. 

As for money, Lu Yin had always valued it highly, and he was constantly feeling its lack. 

After another few days passed, the energy barrier separating Tyrannical Weave from the rest of the Outerverse grew very thin. It had even reached the point where one could vaguely see the other side of the barrier. 

Crowds had not only gathered outside of Tyrannical Weave’s border; there were also countless people inside who were expectantly looking out, as they wanted to leave. 

Back when Tyrannical Weave had first been isolated, the four great corporations had coincidentally been holding a meeting. Various merchants and companies of all sizes had attended to look for business opportunities, and some of these corporations even spanned across several weaves. The appearance of the energy barrier had trapped a number of wealthy people from the Outerverse, including the Enlighter who supported the Nalan family. 

As that energy grew thinner, everyone became increasingly excited, as Millions City was about to open up again. 

In space, within his spacecraft, Lu Yin calmly watched on. As the opposing scenery gradually became completely clear, countless spacecraft shot forward towards Tyrannical Weave, along with countless cultivators. 

Lu Yin had never seen so many vessels coming and going through the same region of space before. 

The universe was vast, and the human eye could only see so far. Generally, when two spacecraft flew towards each other, it was extremely unlikely that the occupants would be able to see each other. However, most routes were pre-planned such that vessels would never draw close enough to be seen by the naked eye. 

It was indeed very rare to witness countless spacecraft weaving through one another like what Lu Yin was seeing.  

Cool Sis’s location was unknown, as she had not entered Tyrannical Weave with Lu Yin. 

Yan Yan and Phantom Sting were standing next to Lu Yin, and they entered Tyrannical Weave inside his spacecraft that steadily moved towards Millions City. 

At this point in time, the Outerverse’s news cycle was about to explode, and all of the reports were related to Tyrannical Weave reconnecting with the rest of the Outerverse. Millions City held too powerful an influence on the rest of the Outerverse. 

Millions City was situated slightly to the west of Tyrannical Weave’s center, and it took Lu Yin’s ship seven hours to arrive. During this time, Lu Yin read up on some information relating to Millions City so that he could develop a greater understanding of the place. 

It was a city of money-grubbers, and anyone who wanted to enter the city was required to pay an entry tax of 10,000 star crystals. This was just the entrance fee, and it could also be seen as the doorstop that kept the poor outside of the city. 

Not just anybody had 10,000 star crystals on them, as back during the trial on Earth, it had already been considered pretty decent if a participating student of the Great Yu Empire had a few fragments of a star crystal, which wasn’t even enough to form a complete crystal. 10,000 was an exorbitant price for such people, and that was just the entrance fee for Millions City. 

Not only that, but there was also a time limit for how long one could remain within the city. It cost a full star crystal to stay within Millions City for a day, and thus, it cost more than 300 star crystals to remain there for a full year. 

Being able to afford the entrance fee was not actually overly impressive, but there were simply too many people who wanted to visit Millions City. Since this fee was collected from all of them, the amount that Millions City raked in on any given day was unimaginable.  

Food and lodging within Millions City also cost money, and obtaining permanent residence within the city was a very lengthy and arduous process, though everything could be resolved with enough money. 

In short, everything could be settled with money within Millions City. If one wanted to discuss business with a certain person, then as long as they could afford it, the city owner would arrange an appointment for them. This was Millions City, a city where money was the answer to everything. 

Millions City also had a special characteristic, which was that each person had to authenticate their identity along with their wealth, and there were certain areas within the city that prohibited access to those who could not qualify, such as exclusive restaurants, libraries, entertainment centers, and so on. Many places required the clients to have a certain level of qualification, and the differentiation between classes was made very clear. Practically everyone had to declare their personal assets in order to participate in any business, and whether or not someone had money, as well as how much, could be readily found out through each person’s verified status. This was similar to how some people had to verify their assets before they qualified to purchase certain luxury spacecraft. 

There was no fighting allowed within Millions City. If any sort of fighting was discovered, the participating individuals would have to pay a fine for their actions or they would be expelled from the city. This was also the minimum punishment, as the rulers of the city had to guarantee the safety of everyone within it. 

Although it was a city founded on the concept of openness, Millions City was still one of the safest places in the entire Outerverse. 

The Qiong family was the master of Millions City, but despite their name,1 they had grasped complete control of the wealthiest city. 

As he had already seen Neo-Vestige Sect, Lu Yin assumed that he would not be too surprised when visiting Millions City. But the moment he saw it, he was completely astonished. This was because the rune lines that he saw from Millions City were overwhelming, and this city indeed possessed a hidden strength that could rival the power of Neo-Vestige Sect.

1 “Qiong” is a homonym for being poor.