Chapter 3042: The Infinity Empire
Lu Yin saw a familiar astral beast charging at the armada of s.p.a.cecraft. 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 s.p.a.ce.
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 s.p.a.cecraft 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 s.p.a.cecraft, 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 pa.s.sage 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 s.p.a.cecraft?” 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 s.p.a.ce.”
“Deliberately?”
“Yes, deliberately.”
Lu Yin looked away. This was a civilization that actively tore through s.p.a.ce 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 a.s.sociation 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.
...
In the Astral Beast Domain, a ma.s.sive rift continued to expand in a dark part of the universe where it had opened up. A series of shielded vessels were lined up on either side of the rift, facing every direction. This was where the Infinity Empire had connected to the Astral Beast Domain, and it was not far from its border with the Erudite Flowzone. It was quite far from the Celestial Demons’ territory.
One day, an endless horde of astral beasts arrived at the rift.
A large number of the Infinity Empire’s vessels activated and moved to head the astral beasts off. More s.p.a.cecraft arrived through the spatial rift, bringing an incredible pressure with them.
“The Void Thunder Beasts represent all of the astral beasts in our civilization to negotiate with the Infinity Empire. Send out someone who can make decisions,” Xu Qing stated, using his true form of the Void Thunder Beast. He stared at the spatial rift, flanked by the patriarch of the previously defeated Soaring Firebeasts, as well as the representatives of a variety of other astral beasts. None of them were too powerful or intimidating, as they wanted the Infinity Empire to lower their guard.
On the other side, several vessels were clearly blocking the path forward, and one of them broadcast a message. “By the order of the Infinity Empire, this universe’s civilization must not resist or escape. Violators will be exterminated.”
Xu Qing sternly shouted, “We are able to speak for our civilization. Even if you demand our surrender, someone with authority must come and speak to us.”
The astral beasts waited for some time, but there was no response from the invaders.
Xu Qing was in no hurry. Interactions between unfamiliar civilizations never proceeded smoothly, and both sides would always be wary of the other. Even if the Infinity Empire was unbelievably confident, that confidence had to stem from a sense of caution regarding the unknown, which was universal. If such caution did not exist, then a Progenitor like Leng Qing would have already attacked.
So far, the Infinity Empire had not revealed any sort of combat power equal to a Progenitor.
Some time later, a huge mecha emerged from the spatial rift. This mecha was familiar to the Soaring Firebeast patriarch, as it was the one that had defeated him.
The mecha was blue, and it had sleek lines that formed a humanoid shape. It basically looked like a mechanical version of a colossal giant.
This was not unique, as the Heavens Sect could produce a similar mecha if they wanted to. The technology was not particularly difficult, though acquiring the necessary materials was a different story.
This mecha was strong enough to fight against a creature with a power level of over a million, which meant that it had been constructed from extremely rare materials. The amount of materials used to produce such a ma.s.sive mecha seemed extravagant.
The mecha was even larger than the surrounding battleships.
“They’re just a bunch of animals. If they don’t surrender, just kill them. Who do they think they are to demand a negotiation?” a voice inside the mecha asked. The person sounded young and arrogant. While they spoke in an unknown language, the voice emitting from the mecha was translated so that Xu Qing and the others could understand what was being said.
Xu Qing shouted back, “Do you possess authority in the Infinity Empire?”
“I possess authority over you,” a haughty reply came from within the mecha.
“Arrogant!” Xu Qing barked.
The mecha raised an arm, and it transformed into a ma.s.sive sword that pointed straight at Xu Qing. “No surrender, no mercy. That is the rule of my Infinity Empire.”
As the mecha swung the sword, a barrier appeared around the blade, and it sliced through s.p.a.ce with a strength close to that of a peak Envoy.
Xu Qing and the gathered astral beasts were all stunned by the formidable power bearing down on them.
This was surely not the full power of the Infinity Empire. Xu Qing knew that Lu Yin had told the Astral Beast Domain to feign surrender in order to draw out the true powers of the Infinity Empire so that they could learn just how powerful the Infinity Empire was. Unfortunately, the one controlling the mechas was simply too arrogant.
“Fine, we surrender,” Xu Qing stated gravely.
“You have no choice,” the mecha replied in an arrogant tone. It then turned back to face the spatial rift. “I told you that this was simple, but you didn’t believe me. Come over here and choose your mounts. These astral beasts aren’t very impressive, but they’ll serve as mounts.”
The gathered astral beasts grew furious. If not for Lu Yin’s orders restraining them, they would have already attacked.
Far away, at the border of the Erudite Flowzone, Lu Yin was calmly watching everything. The Infinity Empire was ruled by humans.
Soon, mechas of various colors and shapes pa.s.sed through the rift. There was red, white, yellow, and other colors. Some were large, others small, and more than a dozen appeared, all quickly pa.s.sing through the rift.
The various mechas were around the same size as colossal giants, and such giants stood out in outer s.p.a.ce. They dwarfed the battleships, making the vessels look tiny in comparison. Even the enormous astral beasts appeared insignificant beside the mechas.