Chapter 6: The Die And The Cosmic Ar (2/2)
……
In the depths of the universe was a massive mountain surrounded by a dozen stars, its flaming summit making it look like a cigarette butt that pulsed bright and dark every few seconds. The smoke shooting out from this peak seemed like a ribbon sent to wrap around the world.
“You WHAT?” a voice roared within the massive mountain, “You stupid brat, how could you have lost the technique? Did you give it to some wench? Get over here!”
In the darkness, a young man could be seen fleeing in a pitiful state as he covered his buttocks and cried, “Master, please! This is an unjust accusation, it wasn’t me! It just disappeared!”
“Do you take your master as a fool? Who could steal something from right under my eyes, come out at once.”
“Master, please! Damn it!”
……
Lu Yin had little success with the Cosmic Art over the course of the night. As the sun started to rise, he eventually made his way back towards Zhongshan with tired steps. At the highest point of Zhongshan, many people were seated inside a meeting room. Once again the seat for the chief was left empty, but as Lu Yin entered the room he became the center of everyone’s attention. Some people looked at him with curiosity, other looks were friendly, while still more were suspicious.
“Brother Lu, come sit over here,” Feng Hong called out, an invitation that Lu Yin accepted. He ended up sitting between Feng Hong and the beautiful woman he’d seen the night before, and across the other side was the woman with glasses whom he’d met out south. Although most of the people here were captains, some researchers were also present.
When Zhou Shan finally entered the meeting room, he scanned through it and paused on Lu Yin with a hint of suspicion before taking his seat and smiling, “Let me introduce you all to Lu Yin, our newest captain.”
Lu Yin rose from his seat nodded his head in greetings to the other individuals in the room before sitting back down. The meeting quickly moved on to actual issues the camp was facing, forcing him to listen for more than half an hour before it finally ended. Even then he wasn’t dismissed, being asked by Zhou Shan to stay behind for a private conversation, “It felt like you had never trained with energy crystals yesterday. I wanted to ask you about that, but it looks like you were just completely spent.”
Lu Yin nodded solemnly, “That alien was very powerful. Even severely wounded, fighting him forced me to use all my energy.”
“I could tell. He was someone in the Realm of Sky, so killing him was clearly no easy feat,” Zhou Shan laughed. Lu Yin laughed but otherwise stayed quiet, so the Sage spoke up once more, “I heard you wanted to leave the camp yesterday, why is that?”
“I like my freedom, and the atmosphere of the military camp was too stifling for me,” Lu Yin answered
Zhou Shan nodded his head and sighed, “Many people feel the same way, but when faced with annihilation, we humans should unite together. That requires some sacrifices.”
“I understand, Executioner.” Lu Yin replied.
Zhou Shan grunted in acknowledgment, “How are your injuries?”
“Nothing serious, I’ll heal quickly.”