Chapter 344 – Not Someone Who Is Greedy

Lu Yuan, clad in his extremely striking Crow Deity Armament, moved through the battle group as if it were empty.

He encountered an Earth level Mecha with roaring engines in mid-air…

The gaze beneath the Red Spider Lily mask met the one in the cockpit below for a fleeting moment.

One was icy and indifferent.

The other was astonished and confused.

In the end…

They passed by each other.

“Swish-“

Lu Yuan streaked across the sky like a black lightning bolt, narrowly avoiding various battle groups in the air.

At each place he passed, the sound of gunfire would momentarily halt, followed by puzzled and astonished glances. People used their communicators to inquire about him, but the answers only made them more perplexed.

In the end, no one stopped him.

In fact, after Lu Yuan casually freed a Cyborg with a single sword strike, no one on the battlefield cast a suspicious glance his way anymore.

All that remained were speculations and inexplicable reverence.

“It went even smoother than I imagined…”

Lu Yuan had prepared himself for intense battles all the way to the altar, even outlining over a dozen different countermeasures in his mind to deal with various interception scenarios.

Unexpectedly, he didn’t use any of them. He advanced straight and unimpeded.

He even encountered two Earth level Mechas on the way, but neither stopped him.

Lu Yuan speculated that it might be related to his advanced underworld garment’s appearance and the similarity of his exoskeleton armor.

They probably mistook him for someone piloting a new type of mecha from their own side.

“This ruse won’t last long. I’ll be discovered soon. I need to finish this quickly…”

Lu Yuan extended his mental power, trying to locate the cuckoo bird in the chaotic battlefield.

But that guy had no idea where it had gone, and Lu Yuan couldn’t pinpoint its location.

“Never mind, forget about it.

Once I get what I came for, I’ll have a reason not to share it with the bird…”

Lu Yuan quickly made up his mind, his gaze locking onto the altar below.

He saw that the brown-haired man who had previously ventured deep into the Phoenix Bloodline territory alone had now easily taken down the second sorcerer of the Phoenix Bloodline.

He heard the sound of the second lava giant collapsing behind him with a thunderous crash.

The brown-haired man was far stronger than these indigenous people; none of them could match him.

Step by step, he advanced towards the altar.

Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered, and three pairs of black wings behind him emitted a series of rapid cracking sounds before sharply flapping.

“Boom!”

Accompanied by a torrent of death energy, Lu Yuan plummeted from mid-air like a black lightning bolt.

“Bang!”

Just tens of meters from the altar, Lu Yuan’s figure abruptly appeared, slamming into what felt like an invisible, transparent barrier, halting his descent.

“A mysterious barrier surrounding the Oak Tree? No wonder the cuckoo bird needed my help…”

Just as Lu Yuan frowned, a sharp whistling sound pierced the air.

Countless silver threads shot out like arrows. Lu Yuan spun swiftly, summoning a surge of death energy around him.

The dense silver threads struck the thick mass of death energy, making “thunk thunk thunk” sounds as if piercing through wooden planks, followed by the crisp clinking of “Clink Clank.”

Half a breath later, a plume of black smoke stealthily descended.

As the thick black fog dissipated, Six Wings unfurled, revealing a tall figure draped in majestic armor, reminiscent of an ancient king, stepping out from within the fog.

In his hand, he clutched a tensioned cluster of silver threads. Beneath the sinister Red Spider Lily-patterned Crystal Mask, a pair of deep, dark eyes silently observed the brown-haired man in front of him, “I’m one of your own, here to help you.”

The brown-haired man narrowed his eyes at him, a strong sense of distrust evident, though he didn’t immediately attack.

“I don’t recall any ‘Hidden Star’ involvement in this operation?”

It wasn’t surprising that the brown-haired man didn’t recognize him as part of the Crow Deity Armament. The underworld garment was entirely composed of death energy, devoid of any technological components. A close mental power scan would reveal it easily.

Being mistaken for Hidden Star was commonplace.

However, it was the language the brown-haired man spoke that intrigued him.

The Cyborg he’d encountered earlier had spoken the common language of the Distant Star Federation, leading Lu Yuan to believe this unmarked group hailed from there.

But this powerful, seemingly leading, brown-haired man was speaking Javier’s language.

“It seems like this is a multi-organization operation. I wonder if there’s any involvement from Xia State…”

Countless thoughts flashed through Lu Yuan’s mind, but outwardly, he remained calm and replied nonchalantly, “Just because you don’t remember, doesn’t mean I don’t exist.”

Thanks to his rigorous language training back then, even without the aid of a smart translator, he could effortlessly switch between the languages of the Distant Star and Javier.

“I need your code name for this operation.”

The brown-haired man glanced at the silver threads still clenched tightly in Lu Yuan’s hand and frowned, “Otherwise, I won’t acknowledge your identity.”

“That’s reasonable.”

Lu Yuan nodded and casually released the silver threads.

He looked steadily at the brown-haired man in front of him and then spoke calmly.

“What?” The brown-haired man didn’t catch it at first and instinctively tilted his head.

“I said…”

Lu Yuan took two steps forward.

“My code name for this operation is…”

Two syllables in the Xia language were clearly enunciated through the mask: “Three Flowers!”

Before his words had fully settled.

“Boom!”

[Three Flowers] bloomed simultaneously!

The Flesh Flower, Qi Flower, and Divine Flower flourished in different parts of his body.

Lu Yuan’s aura surged abruptly, with death energy billowing like plumes of smoke ascending to the sky.

Before the brown-haired man’s shock and fury could fully manifest, Lu Yuan’s eyes turned a pure black, a single point of scarlet in the center expanding like a vortex. Powerful and eerie mental waves transmitted through his gaze.

[Underworld Sight], activated!

“Buzz!”

The moment the brown-haired man locked eyes with Lu Yuan, his eyes lost focus instantly. In less than a millisecond, he fell into a state of dazed stiffness.

Taking advantage of this moment, Lu Yuan raised a clawed hand towards the brown-haired man.

As he moved, platinum-colored Qi surged from his body, manifesting a gigantic, menacing raven claw behind him.

The claw was then dyed pitch black by the rising death energy.

This black claw of the underworld raven existed in a liminal space between illusion and reality.

When it reached out, it was silent, with only slight ripples, but everything it passed seemed to rapidly quiet, wither, decay, and die…

The process was quite remarkable.

Lu Yuan felt his death energy and Qi combining orderly, as if pure martial arts and evil energy had truly unified in some meaningful way.

In his mind, the light from the Divine Flower swirled, and the Hundred-eyed Nether Crow Feather in his chest pulsed vigorously.

The core aspect of the Underworld Crow Style martial arts was “intent.”

After Lu Yuan ascended to Grandmaster, this aspect was magnified to its utmost.

“Swish-“

Lu Yuan emerged from the sublime state, his eyes reflecting the sight of the brown-haired man falling to the ground, seemingly uninjured.

“His mind has suffered severe trauma…”

Lu Yuan was certain because just now… it felt as if his claw had pierced directly through the brown-haired man’s “soul.”

With the obstacle before him felled, Lu Yuan wasted no time. He turned sharply and struck the altar behind him with a powerful palm.

The massive Dharma Form of the claw of the underworld raven synchronously mirrored his motion, effortlessly tearing through the barrier enveloping the altar.

Lu Yuan swiftly leaped onto the altar, gazing at the mysterious Oak Tree and the five extraordinarily tempting cyan-golden acorns hanging from it. The overwhelming aura of the evil deity factor almost made his heart leap with joy.

Just as he was about to reach out and pick them,

Suddenly, a shadow of orange swept past him.

One acorn was missing from the Oak Tree before his eyes.

“Curse that cuckoo bird!”

Lu Yuan cursed inwardly.

Despite being on guard, his speed was not enough, and the cuckoo bird managed to snatch one of the acorns first.

But fortunately…

He had prepared an extra plan-

Among the four remaining acorns on the mysterious Oak Tree was one acorn of pure golden color.

“Using the Grandmaster’s Domain to distort perception and senses, causing some sensory misalignment, getting the bird to pick the wrong fruit-isn’t that just fair play?”

Lu Yuan sneered in the direction where the cuckoo bird had vanished, waved his hand, and collected all four remaining acorns from the mysterious Oak Tree.

Left behind was a lush, vibrant Oak Tree.

Lu Yuan reached out to grasp the trunk of the Oak Tree, attempting to uproot it entirely.

However, despite his efforts, this seemingly small Oak Tree was deeply rooted into the altar. Who knew how far and deep its roots extended into the ground? Even with his Grandmaster Exertion, it wouldn’t budge an inch.

“Forget it.”

Lu Yuan ultimately decided to abandon the attempt. After all, he wasn’t someone who would take more than he needed.

Half a second later, Lu Yuan leaped into the air.

Beneath him, the once lush and verdant mysterious Oak Tree had become completely bare, not a single leaf remaining.

Following the cuckoo bird’s trail, Lu Yuan quickly headed towards the nearest exit from the valley.

…

“Bang!”

A large hand heavily slapped the metal table.

In the meeting room, a big shot stared at the light screen in front of them, cursing in a low voice, “Are these people idiots? Allowing an outsider to sneak in so brazenly without anyone checking his identity?”

Someone tried to console him, “We couldn’t have predicted this…”

“That’s no excuse for failing the task!”

The big shot cursed again and slammed the table forcefully.

Only then did he realize the odd atmosphere; everyone around him was looking either coldly indifferent or oddly intrigued by his outburst.

He remembered that this wasn’t their home command; among the twenty-seven people seated here, at least half had powers comparable to his own.

Quickly, he composed his expressions and actions.

“Alright, the mysterious acorns were just taken, not irretrievable. Why the rush?”

The Distant Star Federation’s representative gave a cursory glance at the table-slapper, who hastily explained, “Just a moment of urgency…”

The representative paid him no mind and instead turned his attention back to the light screen. The screen displayed a figure now surrounded by numerous Mecha and human shadows. He spoke with keen interest, “I’m quite curious about this person’s identity.

To take down Silver Fang Haines so swiftly, his combat power must be at least sixth-stage, and he used Hidden Star’s power.

There are only a few sixth-stage Hidden Stars in the world, but none that match this one based on abilities…”

“I recall that the fifth-stage Hidden Star from Xia State also emerged out of nowhere. Do you think this person could also be from Xia State?” someone in the room speculated.

“The likelihood is low that Xia State would produce both a fifth-stage and a sixth-stage Hidden Star all at once. Besides, if this person were from Xia State and they were aware of our plans, why wouldn’t they just confront us directly instead of sending someone to act covertly?”

“Maybe they want to monopolize the benefits themselves…”

“Alright, that’s enough.”

The Distant Star Federation’s representative raised a hand to halt the discussion and turned towards Javier’s side.

“Dean Cassel, what’s your take?”

Dean Cassel shook his head and responded, “…Haines isn’t easy to defeat, and there were also three Earth level Mecha on-site.

Even a typical sixth-stage expert wouldn’t escape so easily. We’ll have to capture him first to make a definitive judgment.”

The Distant Star Federation’s representative nodded, agreeing, “Dean Cassel is right, once we catch him, we’ll naturally learn who he is.”

Everyone then shifted their gaze back to the light screen in front of them.