The Inverse Star Alliance

"Senior! Please spare the Po family! I swear I'll serve you like an ox or a horse to repay you for sparing our lives."

Seeing Lu Shang kill the Core Formation Stage cultivator in less than a quarter of an hour, the Po family patriarch and several elders immediately came out and fell to their knees, begging for mercy.

The other Po family members nearby hurriedly knelt as well.

Lu Shang calmly flew above them, looking down on everything beneath him with a gaze of absolute supremacy.

The aura Lu Shang radiated frightened everyone until their limbs went weak, yet a few youngsters who knew neither the height of heaven nor the depth of earth still dared to face the pressure of someone far above them.

But this was reality. No powerful figure would take a liking to them for their defiance.

All that awaited them was Lu Shang's icy gaze.

A tiny handful of the family's youngsters still could not suppress their curiosity and tried to raise their heads for a look at Lu Shang.

Their eyes met his cold gaze head-on.

Those who had dared to look up immediately lowered their heads even farther, as though they meant to bury them in the ground.

"Inside!"

Lu Shang barked a single command.

The family elders and patriarch did not immediately grasp his meaning.

Only a moment later did they realize what Lu Shang meant, and several elders hurriedly rose to welcome him.

"Senior, please come inside!"

As he spoke, an elder gestured for the others to move aside, clearing a path into the house.

Yet none of them dared to lift their heads.

After all, they had not merely slighted Lu Shang earlier. They had deliberately hoped that the Core Formation Cultivator would kill him.

Those crafty old foxes never once dared to look Lu Shang in the eye.

They simply led him into the house.

Once inside, Lu Shang found that although the interior did not look particularly lavish, a closer inspection revealed that almost everything in it was expensive.

It seemed the Po family was quite wealthy by the standards of the Guluan Islands.

Lu Shang decided that if their reactions and answers satisfied him, he would extort their Spirit Stones.

If not, wiping out the Po family and taking all their Spirit Stones would serve just as well.

It would merely take a little more time and would cause Lu Shang no trouble.

What Lu Shang most wanted to know now was why cultivators in such a remote region had any connection to this Core Formation Stage Demonic Cultivator.

There was clearly not a single Core Formation Cultivator here, so how had they established ties with someone at middle Core Formation?

Had Lu Shang not appeared, the man could simply have seized anything he wanted. No one in the entire Guluan Islands could have opposed him.

Even if every Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivator in the Guluan Islands attacked together, they might not have been able to stop this middle Core Formation Demonic Cultivator.

The thought only deepened Lu Shang's puzzlement.

After entering the house, Lu Shang found a chair in the very center of the room and sat down, regarding the Po family members with an icy expression.

"Tell me exactly what relationship you have with this Core Formation Stage Demonic Cultivator!"

"I certainly don't see anything you possess that could persuade a Core Formation Cultivator to befriend you!"

With that, Lu Shang picked up a cup from the table and gestured for them to fill it.

One of them quickly rose and filled the cup.

Lu Shang brought the brimming cup to his lips and slowly savored its contents.

To his surprise, however, they merely exchanged glances in response to his questions. Not one of them spoke.

Lu Shang flicked a few drops of wine from his cup, sending them through several of the family's youngsters before anyone could react.

Then Lu Shang released a little of his Core Formation Stage pressure.

Under that pressure, the dozen or so people in the room were pinned in place, unable to move.

"I am not asking. I am ordering you! If you won't talk, I have plenty of ways to make you!"

As he spoke, Lu Shang's aura grew even colder, as though the temperature around him had dropped.

Some of those present had already collapsed flat on the floor.

"S-S-Senior! It... it isn't that we don't want to tell you. We can't!" An old man at the very front raised his head slightly and spoke in a trembling voice.

"Heh!" Lu Shang gave a scornful laugh.

"Oh?" he said softly. "Do you think you can stay alive by refusing to tell me?"

His threat terrified the Po family members, and they hurriedly kowtowed, begging him to spare them.

"No, Senior! But..."

"But what?" Lu Shang raised his voice slightly.

Like the countdown to their deaths, his words struck them a blow straight to the head.

Only then did the Po family elders seem to remember that the man sitting before them could kill Qi Refining cultivators with a casual flick of a few drops of liquid.

"Senior, if we tell you, will you spare us?" one elder pleaded.

Lu Shang did not answer. Instead, he flicked out three more drops of wine.

In an instant, three more family disciples collapsed to the floor, never to rise again.

Faced with such a Core Formation Cultivator, some of the younger family members at the back tried to flee.

Seeing this, several elders at the front cried out.

Some of those elders clearly could not bear to see the family's youngsters die so miserably and immediately rose, turning toward those behind them.

"Don't run!" one shouted.

Sure enough, they had barely taken a few steps before something like fine strands of rain pierced their bodies.

Watching their clansmen fall one after another, some of the family elders could finally no longer turn a blind eye.

"We'll die either way. We might as well tell him."

"Senior, I'll talk!" An elder with a withered face rose to his feet, a faint glimmer in his eyes as he looked toward Lu Shang.

"You mustn't tell him!" someone beside him urged.

Lu Shang smiled faintly.

He had no intention of stopping them.

Instead, he wanted to see how this would unfold.

"What is there that we can't say? If we still refuse to talk, the Po family may vanish from the Chaotic Star Sea forever."

"But... but...!"

"Ah!" Several of the elders finally could not sit still any longer.

"Tell him!"

At that point, two or three elders turned toward Lu Shang. "Senior, after we tell you, please spare some of the youngsters!"

"At last, some of you have a little sense!"

Lu Shang set down his wine cup and sat quietly before them.

"Senior, allow me to explain! I am the Po family patriarch." An aged, decrepit old man bowed toward Lu Shang.

"Get on with it!" Lu Shang said impatiently.

"It happened like this. A little over ten years ago, a group of Demonic Path cultivators suddenly discovered this place."

"We later learned that they were all cultivators of the Inverse Star Alliance."

Lu Shang raised a hand and rubbed his chin. "The Inverse Star Alliance, then!"

The old man continued, "Just like that, we became part of the Inverse Star Alliance's sphere of influence. The north and south were no different."

"But because this place is remote and has few resources, members of the Inverse Star Alliance rarely come here. Only one or two visit occasionally."

"This one only arrived two or three days ago."

The Inverse Star Alliance! Lu Shang thought.

Although Lu Shang had had no dealings with the Inverse Star Alliance, he felt certain they would not end up on good terms.

Especially since he had killed one of their Core Formation Cultivators on his very first encounter with them.

"That's all?" Lu Shang demanded.

"That's all. We only became part of their sphere of influence and had no other dealings with them. We had no choice," the elder explained.

"Enough!"

Seeing that the man still wanted to say something, Lu Shang cut him off.

Lu Shang had no interest in hearing anything else. He knew that an archipelago without even a single Core Formation Cultivator could hardly have any useful information.