Chapter 1710: Route

Chapter 1710: Route

"The Specter Clan?" The First Protector and Lu Yin both reacted at the same time. Regarding the Specter Clan, the two had very different thoughts: one was jealous while the other was merely curious.

The Warden stared out into the swamp as he held a broken chain in one hand. Suddenly, the giant smashed a hand down onto the ground, causing Gaia’s Swamp to tremble and startling the prisoners and many of the guards awake, including Lord Piggy and Lǜ Cha.

Many of the prisoners were overjoyed when they discovered that their chains were broken, and they immediately tried to race out of the swamp in an attempt to escape. However, the First Protector just glared at them, and a terrifying wave of power swept through the void and caused all of the prisoners to fall unconscious.

"Sir Warden, Sir Warden, are you alright?" Lord Piggy shouted. Even though he clearly saw the Warden sitting upright, the pig still made a point of shouting his concern.

Lu Yin released his domain, and it spread across all of the unconscious prisoners. Suddenly, his expression froze. He had found Lǜ Yan, but the man was already dead.

Out of all the prisoners in Gaia’s Swamp, only Lǜ Yan had died. The situation could not be any clearer: this was the Neohuman Alliance’s revenge. Their headquarters for the Innerverse and Outerverse had been destroyed, which was far from a small loss for them. They could not directly retaliate against Lu Yin, so they had gone after Lǜ Yan instead.

Lǜ Cha also learned that her father had died, and she silently wept.

The Warden remained silent.

The First Protector just frowned and glanced around. "I don’t sense just death energy. Was Burial Garden here as well?"

The Warden was surprised at this question. "Burial Garden?"

The First Protector nodded. "There’s no way I’m wrong about this. I’m sensing that someone from Burial Garden was here, and it was actually one of the Death Regiment Captains, but I can’t tell which one came here."

Burial Garden was one of the Three Dark Hands of the Human Domain, and they were actually the most mysterious one. In Lu Yin’s entire life, he had learned almost nothing about Burial Garden, and he rarely ever encountered people from that place. He had not learned anything about Burial Garden even in the Perennial World, though he had found a few mentions of them there.

Burial Garden, Burial Garden. It sounded like it was a true garden where the dead were buried, and the cultivators from Burial Garden were all odd and unpredictable. For example, one person from Burial Garden who had once appeared in the Cosmic Sea who had been nearly as strong as the Ten Arbiters and who had been able to change his own body into a five-meter-long knife. There was also Yōu Qi, who possessed an innate gift that allowed him to use the abilities of powerhouses long dead, including even the Thirteen Swords.

As for the captains of the Death Regiment that the First Protector had mentioned, there were four such people, and each one was an incredible powerhouse with terrible reputations in the outside world.

“The suona summons forth hell.”

“The dead travel on sedans.”

“A paper thin life.”

“Rice straws protect tombs.”

Each sentence described a leader of the Death Regiment.

"What was Burial Garden doing here? Were they cooperating with the Specter Clan and the Neohuman Alliance?" the Warden asked.

The First Protector shook his head. "No. While Burial Garden is also one of the Three Dark Hands, it is impossible for them to cooperate with those two. Their very foundations are different, though I do not know why one of them came here."

Lu Yin looked at the Warden. "Have people from Burial Garden visited Gaia's Swamp before?"

The Warden shook his head. "Never."

"First Protector, how strong are the Death Regiment Captains?" Lu Yin asked out of curiosity.

The First Protector solemnly replied, "Each has a power level of over a million."

Lu Yin's face twitched. These people were far more powerful than he had expected. Fortunately, none of Burial Garden’s experts had shown up during the prison break. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for Lu Yin to have taken the Second Nightking and the others away from Gaia’s Swamp. Still, why had someone from Burial Garden appeared at Gaia's Swamp? Could it have been a coincidence? Or had they come with the powerhouse from the Specter Clan?

The Warden had no idea why anyone from Burial Garden would come to Gaia's Swamp either, and the others had even less of an idea.

The Warden immediately reported what had happened at Gaia's Swamp to the Hall of Honor, and the First Protector also contacted someone. While Lu Yin did not know who the First Protector was calling for certain, he assumed that it was Arch-Elder Zen.

Lǜ Yan had died, and the person who grieved his death the most was naturally Lǜ Cha. After all, she had been willing to stay at Gaia's Swamp for her father.

Lu Yin sighed. He was actually somewhat responsible for Lǜ Yan's death. Lǜ Yan had probably already thought about the possibility of this outcome when he told Lu Yin to attack Basong Flowzone. Lǜ Yan had not cared about his life or death, and he had only wanted to escape from Gaia’s Swamp for the sake of Lǜ Cha. Lǜ Yan had even joined the Neohuman Alliance in order to save his daughter, which involved betraying the Hall of Honor and even his own morals. It was possible that Lǜ Yan had been waiting for this day for a long time.

Lǜ Yan had sacrificed too much for the sake of his daughter, but he had also ended up as a burden for her. This father had loved his daughter too dearly.

With Lǜ Yan’s death, there was no longer any need for his body to remain in Gaia's Swamp.

After checking and confirming that Lǜ Yan was truly dead, the Warden agreed to Lǜ Cha's request to take her father’s body back to his hometown, which was also where Lǜ Cha had been born.

Lǜ Cha made no mention of whether or not she would return. It was possible, but it was also possible that she would never set foot in Gaia's Swamp again.

Lord Piggy was very sad to see Lǜ Cha leave. The two of them had worked together for a very long time, and if she did not return, there would only be Lord Piggy and the Warden left in Gaia’s Swamp, which would be too lonely for the pig.

Lu Yin had no worries that Lord Piggy would reveal the truth about what had happened during the riot and the prison break. The pig had already urinated on the Warden’s head, so he would naturally behave even with Lǜ Cha’s absence.

All of the other prisoners were fine, but the damage to the sourcebox array proved to be very troublesome.

"Shang Yang, the Innerverse president of the Lockbreaker Society, is on his way to fix the sourcebox array, so it should be repaired quite soon,” the Warden reported. He already knew that, regardless of whether or not he was at fault, he would be blamed for this incident as well.

However, it did not really matter to the Warden even if he was blamed. No one wanted to be sent to Gaia’s Swamp, not even to run the prison. A transfer from the prison to any other location in the universe was considered a promotion, so it was very unlikely that the Warden would be transferred anywhere at all.

"Alliance Leader Lu, do you want to take Emperor Luo away from here?" the Warden asked once he finally had an opportunity to speak with Lu Yin.

Lu Yin nodded. "I'm here to take Emperor Luo to help me with an important task."

"The Emperor Luo is an Envoy, so it is possible that he will be questioned by the Hall of Honor about if he saw the person from the Specter Clan." The Warden felt awkward mentioning this.

Of the prisoners who were still in Gaia's Swamp, the only ones with any possibility of having seen the person who had attacked the prison were the Envoys.

"Then let’s question him now. The mission that Emperor Luo is needed for is very important, and it can't be delayed. We’ve already been held up here in Gaia's Swamp for some time, and the First Protector is here only because of this mission," Lu Yin explained.

The Warden understood the seriousness of the situation, and he immediately ordered Lord Piggy to fetch Emperor Luo.

Lu Yin had requested that Emperor Luo be locked up in Gaia's Swamp partly because he did not trust the Envoy, but also because Lu Yin was afraid that Emperor Luo would be assassinated by Liu Qianjue or another person from the Innerverse. Thus, at the time, sending Emperor Luo to Gaia’s Swamp had been the best choice. Lu Yin had simply not anticipated retrieving the man from the prison so quickly.

The Warden questioned Emperor Luo, but the man had not seen anything during the attack. Just like the Warden and the other prisoners, Emperor Luo had also suffered from the wave of death energy and fallen unconscious.

"Since you didn’t see anything, you should head out with Alliance Leader Lu," the Warden stated.

Emperor Luo was startled. Leave? So soon? He had expected to remain as a prisoner for at least a few years. He knew that his greatest value was his knowledge of a route into the Technocracy, but he had thought that the route would most likely not be used anytime soon. Even if it was eventually used, it would only happen after a great deal of time, so Emperor Luo had been prepared to be a prisoner for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Gaia's Swamp lay at the border of the Cosmic Sea and the Innerverse. To the west of the Innerverse was the Technocracy, but that route lay too close to the Starfall Sea. The horizontal blackhole that protected the Fifth Mainland was in the Starfall Sea, and the Sixth Mainland’s three Progenitors stood in that barrier’s hole to defend humanity. It was impossible for Lu Yin and the others to use that route to travel to the Technocracy.

It was also impossible to access the Technocracy through Endless Weave in the Outerverse, as it no longer existed. After the Sixth Mainland’s invasion of the Outerverse, Endless Weave had been completely occupied by the Technocracy.

The Sixth Mainland had relocated the Daosource Sect to where the Outerverse and the Technocracy had once bordered, Southside Weave.

Even if the First Protector moved carefully, he would never go near the Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Sect, as there were simply too many powerhouses in that place.

The First Protector led Lu Yin, Emperor Luo, and the three Envoys to the Astral River Ark, and then they traveled to the western region of the Outerverse as they made their way towards Southside Weave. As they traveled, Emperor Luo traced out his secret route into the Technocracy.

At first, Lu Yin kept the star chart that Hui Kong had shared with him hidden, just to verify the veracity of Emperor Luo’s route.

After comparing the two routes, while they were different, they likely went through the same region.

"This route leads right in between First Edition City and Sky Creation Academy. The two each control half of the Technocracy, and they are almost constantly at war with each other, though their strength is almost completely equal. I’ve participated in their wars before, and I fought for First Edition City," Emperor Luo explained while pointing at different portions of the star chart. "Because of their constant fighting, this route is different from the others leading to the Technocracy. As long as you are careful and pay attention, it should be possible to evade all the border surveillance."

"Are you certain?" the First Protector asked solemnly.

Emperor Luo shook his head. "I was lucky enough to make my escape right after the war, so it’s possible that much of the surveillance equipment at the border was destroyed. I’m not completely certain what will be there if I go back."

The First Protector frowned.

Lu Yin then asked, "Why do First Edition City and Sky Creation Academy constantly fight each other?"

Emperor Luo shook his head. "I don't know, but it seems to be similar to how my Ross Empire started fighting against the sylvan dragons as soon as the Blaze Realm was destroyed."

Lu Yin also felt that that was a reasonable guess. Since the two shared control of the Technocracy, it made sense that each power wanted to gain total control.

"First Edition City is supported by the Sixth Mainland, so how can Sky Creation Academy stand up to them?" Lu Yin asked. This question had been bugging him for a long time, though he also had his own guesses about the reasons.

Emperor Luo shook his head. "I don't know."

"The Sixth Mainland shouldn’t have sent any of their people over to directly participate in the battle," the First Protector interjected.

Lu Yin looked up. "That doesn’t seem realistic. If I was making decisions for the Sixth Mainland, I wouldn’t abandon control of the Technocracy. Back then, if Sky Creation Academy had joined forces with First Edition City to attack the Outerverse, we wouldn't have been able to fend them off. The threat that the Technocracy poses is too great for the Sixth Mainland to ignore and abandon controlling."

"That is quite odd." The First Protector was also intrigued.

Lu Yin believed that the Perennial World was actually the one suppressing the Sixth Mainland and preventing them from gaining control of the entire Technocracy, or rather, the Wang family.

The Sixth Mainland was the one backing First Edition City while the Wang family was the power behind Sky Creation Academy.

Wang Yun had participated in the Tournament of the Strongest by representing the Technocracy, and she had fought against students from the Astral Combat Academy. Later on, Wang Yi had participated in ZENITH as the Technocracy’s representative. Both of them had participated as members of Sky Creation Academy. Even Wang Shang had entered the Technocracy through Sky Creation Academy in order to hunt Lu Yin down.

The Wang family was definitely the power supporting Sky Creation Academy, which was also Lu Yin’s driving motivation to travel to the Technocracy.

He was quite clear on First Edition City’s situation, but everything related to Sky Creation Academy was very hazy.

However, the Fifth Mainland was more than ready to cooperate with Sky Creation Academy, as Sky Creation Academy had not shown too much hostility towards the Human Domain throughout the years.

After quietly passing through Southside Weave, Lu Yin and the others let out sighs of relief, as none of them wanted to draw the Sixth Mainland’s attention.

They had no confidence of being able to escape if the Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Sect pursued them as they naturally had hidden powerhouses.