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In three days, Lu Yin spent his time soliciting bribes. By the end of three days, he had made quite a harvest: he obtained five Mebius Bank crystal cards, twelve Imperial Bank crystal cards, and two hundred cubic units of star energy crystals. Xu San stared in disbelief, while Bronson's face twitched uncontrollably. It was his first time witnessing such shamelessness—a person who shamelessly came knocking for money.
Lu Yin grinned widely, almost ear to ear. Over the three days, he visited over a dozen courtiers. Each courtier didn't give much and dared not give too much either. But collectively, it was quite a decent sum. This kind of thing should be done more often, yes, yes. Unfortunately, quite a few courtiers refused to see him, but there was no rush; there would be plenty of opportunities in the future.
Oh right, it's time to exchange some money at Mebius Bank. It feels like something is missing without money on hand.
"Brunson, set the course for Mebius Bank," Lu Yin said confidently, exuding a sense of nouveau riche.
Inside the imperial palace, several courtiers jointly petitioned to the emperor, "Your Majesty, Prince Zishan Lu Yin, relying on his status, is shamelessly demanding bribes. We request Your Majesty's intervention."
Undying Yushan wearily took a sip of tea and leisurely asked, "Did you give it to him?"
One courtier exclaimed excitedly, "No, Your Majesty, we ministers did not meet him. We have no money to bribe him."
"If you didn't give it, how do you know he's soliciting bribes?" Undying Yushan questioned.
Another courtier replied, "We heard about it. Lord Bailey, Lord Sika, and Elder Piro all have been asked for bribes."
"Heard about it? My imperial ministers are accusing Prince Zishan based on hearsay? Did Sika admit to it?" Undying Yushan asked sharply.
The courtiers trembled in fear and dared not say more. How could Sika and the others possibly admit to it?
Undying Yushan chuckled and opened a screen. It displayed some information about the Earth trial, emphasizing Lu Yin's capture of dozens of students and the looting incident.
"Such a fondness for money—this isn't the style of the Zishan family. In the end, he's still youthful," Undying Yushan shook his head, smiling without concern.
Mebius Bank was not far from the imperial palace in the capital. Despite being a vast corporation spanning domains, its influence far exceeded that of the Domain Empire. To show respect to the Great Yu Empire, Mebius Bank's building wasn't overly tall and didn't rank in the top five of the capital's tallest buildings. Still, no one dared to underestimate it.
Only absolute dignitaries could enter and exit Mebius Bank.
From a distance, Lu Yin could already see the iconic tree-shaped building.
The architecture of Mebius Bank was modeled after a giant tree trunk covered in cosmic coins, densely packed with tens of millions—genuine cosmic coins that could sometimes flutter down in the wind. Therefore, the land prices around Mebius Bank were exorbitant, even surpassing those around the imperial palace. Every day, countless people strolled around hoping to pick up cosmic coins.
Mebius Bank had bought up a thousand miles of surrounding land, planting exotic flowers and grasses unseen in the outer cosmos. There were specialized military defenses and occasional powerful beings strolling through. Rare and exotic beasts would also run by, and atop the tree, there was an exclusive space station belonging to the Mebius family. In short, the place exuded an unmistakable aura of immense wealth.
As Lu Yin descended from his spacecraft, a service attendant—a beautiful young woman with a respectful demeanor—was there to assist him.
The young woman briefly introduced Mebius Bank to Lu Yin and escorted him to a counter.
Lu Yin surveyed his surroundings. In the center was the trunk of the giant tree, which extended straight to the top. Dozens of counters were distributed around the trunk, but it wasn't particularly busy.
Xu San was already dazed. He had just picked up a cosmic coin from the ground—money could be picked up so casually here? This was too extravagant!
The counter service was completely automated. The beautiful young woman stood not far away, already holding beverages and various other items, waiting for Lu Yin's needs.
Lu Yin first checked the crystal cards given by various courtiers. The total amount was just over a million. Converted into Yu currency of the Great Yu Empire, it was about over ten million—ten times the amount. It wasn't much, but it wasn't little either. As for the crystal card given by Undying Yushan, the amount wasn't much either—three hundred thousand. In total, he had close to one and a half million cosmic coins.
Lu Yin pursed his lips. It was too stingy. Generally speaking, one cubic unit of star energy crystal could be exchanged for a million cosmic coins. The total cosmic coins he had on him weren't even enough for two cubic units of star energy crystals.
But considering it, courtiers didn't dare to have too much money on hand to avoid detection by the empire. Star energy crystals, however, were different. No one could track them, and even if they were tracked, they could be crushed to destroy evidence.
"Alas, it took three days to get this little. It seems all those people's money has been converted into star energy crystals. I should find a way to get a bit more," Lu Yin muttered to himself.
Stepping out of Mebius Bank, Xu San cautiously asked, "Boss, where are we going next? Are we going to extort more?"
Lu Yin glared at him, "Don't talk nonsense. Those were meeting gifts."
Xu San chuckled awkwardly.
Lu Yin contemplated stopping for now. Even if he sought those ministers again, it would be futile—they wouldn't open their doors again. It was time to cultivate his combat skills.
Just then, a cosmic coin drifted down from the sky and landed in Lu Yin's hand.
Made from a special material, cosmic coins had unique starry patterns woven with star energy threads on them. They looked exquisite and felt soft to the touch. Lu Yin looked up at the massive tree-shaped building with countless cosmic coins fluttering on its branches. His eyes burned with passion. If he were to rob Mebius Bank, he wondered how much money he would get.
Suddenly, Lu Yin remembered Lulu Mebius. He wondered if she was here.
Back at the Zishan Prince's Mansion, Lu Yin informed Bronson that he would be in seclusion for five days and that no one should disturb him.
Bronson inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief, deciding not to bother anymore. "Yes, Your Highness."
"Boss, what should I do?" Xu San asked, looking at Lu Yin expectantly.
Lu Yin casually gave Xu San an Imperial Bank crystal card. "Buy some furniture and figure it out yourself. No cultivation."
Although Xu San was puzzled why Lu Yin wouldn't let him cultivate, he didn't ask further.
Lu Yin contemplated whether to report Xu San's talent to the empire. If he reported it, Xu San could get a chance to be reshaped. However, at the same time, Xu San wouldn't belong to him anymore. But if he didn't report it, would he keep supporting Xu San forever? He couldn't stop him from cultivating forever.
At this moment, Lu Yin remembered the five points he had wasted before. Xu San also had talent and could use it. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about him at the time.
It was also his fault. He had always focused on Bai Xue and only remembered one natural talent, forgetting the other two kinds of talents.
Currently, the universe categorizes talents into three types: natural talents, creature talents, and strange talents.
Natural talents, as the name suggests, involve mastery over natural forces like ice, fire, and other natural phenomena in the universe. There were rumors of someone awakening a black hole talent, becoming invincible for a while.
Creature talents were related to creatures. With countless species born in the universe, there were rumors of someone awakening a talent like the Stellar Phoenix, burning the cosmos.
Strange talents encompassed everything imaginable, from eyes, ears, and other human facial features to strange items like Lu Yin's awakened dice. In short, everything unexplainable fell under this category.
Xu San's talent was a type of strange talent.
Among the three types of talents, it was hard to say which was stronger or weaker. Any one of them, if used well, could dominate a region. That was also why the Youth Evaluation Council of the universe was willing to let talented cultivators directly join. Among a million people, there was hardly one talent cultivator, showing immense potential.
Lu Yin had originally planned to sell Xu San to a powerful force. But thinking about it, it was too much of a loss. He had brought Xu San all the way to the Great Yu Empire. It seemed a bit of a waste to let go of a talent cultivator for free. Money could be obtained in many ways, but talent cultivators were different.
Moreover, once Xu San had more contact with the outside world, he would understand the importance of talent cultivators.
Thinking this through, Lu Yin sent a message to Undying Yushan, informing him of Xu San's situation.
Not long after, a message came back. Undying Yushan agreed to let Xu San be reshaped and join the Yutang, and at the same time, the Seventh Court of the Imperial Court expressed interest in Xu San joining.
Lu Yin pondered. The
Seventh Court of the Imperial Court—Bronson had introduced him to it before. The captain of the Seventh Court was named Bateson, wielding an ancient firearm from ancient times. It was a very old weapon. Was he interested in Xu San's talent?