Everyone was frozen when they saw a student tear through the void.
There were few who would go so far during the initial tournament stage of Three Academies Guarding the Gate. The stronger students would usually breeze through unprovoked as attempting to stop them would only prolong the battle. Dai Ao’s one attack made many truly understand the power of the Astral Combat Academy’s top students.
The student was unfortunately eliminated. It was because their actions had been deemed an attack even though they had held the strength of an Area Master.
Dai Ao sighed when he realized that he had actually tried to go all out against an Area Master.
At this time, only about a hundred students had been eliminated. Most of them had died to Chilian Daynight’s poison, but some had also died to Dai Ao’s gravity field.
It seemed that this first round was doomed to be a repeat of the previous Astral Combat Tournaments. In that tournament, the three guarding academies had all been eliminated, and from what everyone could see, this year’s first round seemed to be going the same way. No matter how strong a student from Astral-10 was purported to be, was it possible for him to stop so many students?
Many of the students from Astral-7 had fallen into despair.
Nightqueen Yanqing had a cold look on her face. This was the one Astral Combat Tournament that everyone was focused on, but she might not even have the right to participate. What a bunch of fools.
At that moment, on a spacecraft in space, Liu Xiaoyun was also frowning as her eyes flashed with helplessness.
Madam Nalan sighed. “Forget it, Xiaoyun. You’ll get plenty of opportunities in the future.”
There was nothing that Liu Xiaoyun could do.
“Do you honestly believe that Silver can’t hold his own?” Lu Yin asked.
Liu Xiaoyun glanced at him coldly, not even bothering to reply.
Madam Nalan’s eyes lit up at Lu Yin’s words. “Do you think that he can do it?”
Lu Yin shrugged as he replied, “I can’t say for sure, but it’s definitely possible.”
Lu Yin did not know how deep the Neohuman Alliance’s strength went, but he knew that Silver was more than he appeared to be. Even now, when Lu Yin looked at the screen, Silver’s sly, wolfish grin had yet to disappear from his face.
Outside the valley, the people from Astral-10 were similarly at a loss. They also thought that Silver was helpless.
There were people chatting amongst themselves not too far away. “Look at that disgusting smile on that Astral-10 bastard’s face. I wish that I could tear his face off and smash it.”
“Right? His smile is so sneaky. It’s horrifying.”
“He’s obviously not a good person.”
…
The people from Astral-10 silently took several steps backwards.
Within the valley, four hundred or so students excitedly charged towards the end. When they saw that the last guard, Silver, was nonchalantly leaning against a hill, their excitement peaked. Did he give up? Awesome! That’ll save us a lot of energy.
Among the crowd, Liu Ji instantly paused the moment she saw Silver. It’s him? He’s the person who made my scalp go numb and who made me realize that Astral-10 had secrets in it! Liu Ji remembered this person well and was sure that he was very powerful.
“What’s wrong, Liu Ji? Let’s go!” Gus tried to hurry her along. Liu Ji’s eyes flashed, but she did reply.
The first batch of students had already charged over to Silver. Many were furious and had started cursing Astral-10 for sending this piece of trash over; this student was about to be defeated, but he still didn’t have the courage to attack them.
Outside the valley, Wu Da’s eyes widened. A piece of trash? That person is definitely extremely strong despite him being only in the Melder realm.
Wind blew by as dozens of students rushed past Silver. Someone even mocked him as they passed him, calling him a piece of garbage.
At that moment, Silver’s eyes completely opened. An indescribable chill that penetrated all the way to the bone spread out in all directions around him. All of the students felt a shiver creep down their spines from the startling change in Silver. Everyone who had run past Silver had died without a sound or struggle. All they had seen was a flashing butterfly knife stained with blood.
How quickly had Silver killed all of those people? Out of all of the numerous students in the immediate vicinity, only the Area Masters were able to tell. Most hadn’t seen anything, and even the dead had only been able to grasp the moment they died when they saw the butterfly knife slide across their necks. The only evidence of Silver’s attack was a light redness on their necks afterwards. There were no other signs of injury on their body.
In just ten seconds or so, at least twenty people had fallen. Silver, meanwhile, was still standing in the middle of the valley as he smiled at the rest of the students with his same horrifying, wolfish grin.
If Chilian Daynight’s attacks were glamorous and Dai Ao’s attacks were shocking, then Silver’s attacks that were delicate and left no trace were the most startling.
The valley was smothered in silence now. All of the students stared at Silver in shock. In just an instant, he had killed more people than Chilian Daynight or Dai Ao, and he had done it without batting an eye.
Atop the peak to the south of the valley, Nightqueen Yanqing’s eyes lit up. “How interesting. His attacks were extremely fast—even most Area Masters can’t reach his level of speed. Is this the level of power in Astral-10? Not bad.”
Kuang Wang was shocked as well. “I thought that only those two senior students who remained in Astral-10 despite its scandal were powerful, but he’s pretty good as well.”
“I’m very excited to see what kind of person the leader of the tenth academy is.” Far away, the man in the eighth seat mentioned Lu Yin with curiosity. His name was Feng Shang, and he was the leader of Astral-8 and the Realm Master of the Dao of Illusion. He was also one of the people whom Jared feared.
After making this comment, Feng Shang glanced at the person on the ninth seat. A man with a huge pair of headphones sat there, bobbing his head. He was the leader of Astral-9, the Dao of Change’s Realm Master, Liu Yin.
“Can you hear me, Liu Yin?” Feng Shang shouted.
Liu Yin continued obliviously swaying his head about, leaving Feng Shang speechless.
Silver’s ability to kill so many people so quickly had shocked everyone, including the ten academies’ students and mentors who were all watching the tournament. They had never imagined that there could be somebody this outstanding in Astral-10.
Within the spacecraft, Madam Nalan looked at Lu Yin in shock. “This student is amazing.”
Liu Xiaoyun was surprised as well.
Lu Yin merely smiled in response. “He’s definitely very good. Even I don’t know how powerful he truly is.”
“Aren’t you the leader of Astral-10?” Madam Nalan asked curiously.
Lu Yin burst into laughter. “My title came out of nowhere. He might have even been the one who gave it to me.”
“Is that so?” Madam Nalan refrained from asking any more.
Within the valley, Liu Ji’s eyelids continuously twitched. She knew it! She knew that this guy was more than he seemed.
Even though Silver had revealed a surprising strength when he killed all those people incredibly quickly, the other students were still Astral Combat Academy students that had enrolled based on their own merits. Silver was still merely a Melder, which meant that his strength wasn’t terrifying enough to freeze all the other students in place. Before long, they resumed the charge forwards.
Silver grinned as he watched the tide of students approach. His butterfly knife twirled around like a dancer, and with each glint of light that it reflected, more people died. He was killing people way too quickly, and his attacks seemed to always completely disregard his targets’ defenses.
However, the people that Silver chose to attack were never Area Masters. He wasn’t crazy enough to think that he could stop everyone. Chilian Daynight and Dai Ao had adopted the same tactic, all of them choosing to avoid obstructing the Area Master-level students.
As the butterfly knife flashed out again, Gus clutched at his neck. He had nearly reached the level of an Area Master, and yet, he had also been killed. Beside him, Liu Ji also grew pale. She was weaker than Gus, and when she looked up, she found herself staring straight into Silver’s icy gaze.
Silver smiled at her, and after that, his butterfly knife flashed.
Liu Ji grit her teeth as her eyes flitted around. With the help of her innate gift, she was able to see the trajectory of the butterfly knife, but she still was not able to block his attack.
With a clang, the butterfly knife was blocked by a palm that suddenly appeared in front of Silver; Charon had stopped his attack.
“I’m sorry, but she’s not someone who you can touch,” Charon said coldly.
Silver smiled and fluidly transitioned to attack another nearby student. The butterfly knife struck his neck, and the unfortunate student collapsed in disbelief before disappearing from the Lifeseek Realm.
The rear of the valley was now the site of a gigantic massacre. For Silver, killing was an art form, but in the eyes of the general populace, he was a terrifying murderer. This became even more true when his butterfly knife wondrously split from one blade into two, and then from two into three. Everyone felt a chill run down their spines. “It’s a domain! That guy has comprehended a domain!”
Quite a few were shocked by this scene. Not just anyone could comprehend a domain, and even a genius Lockbreaker like Charon had only just begun comprehending his own.
At this moment, everyone understood why this Melder had been able to cut down everyone in his path with ease, even those above his level. For those who had comprehended a domain, battling above their realm was not a problem.
A lucky few students managed to slip through the valley while many others collapsed. Though Silver was the last line of defence, he killed more people than even Chilian Daynight and Dai Ao combined. His domain was extremely suited to slaughter.
As the audience watched Silver, even the Realm Masters seated atop the peak looked grim. Anybody who had comprehended a domain was not to be underestimated, even if they were only a Melder.
On the sixth seat, Dao Bo’s eyes twinkled; he was interested in all variations of domains.
To the south of the valley, there were ten large battle drums. There was one person standing in front of each one. They were the students who had been selected for the second section of the tournament, one from each of the ten academies. These battle drums had ten arenas marked out behind them, and at this moment, the first students were beginning to arrive.
The first arrivals were all Area Masters from the various trial zones, and they were all very powerful. The three students guarding the valley had not attacked them, which was why they’d managed to reach this point without much difficulty. When the rest of their fellow academy branch students who passed through the valley arrived, they could immediately start striking their drum.
In front of Astral-10’s drum, Lulu was looking up at the screen, shocked. She never expected that Silver, who had never revealed his skills, would actually be this amazingly powerful. He had activated a domain of all things, and he could even easily kill those who were a realm above him. He was definitely no weaker than Lu Yin—no, he might even be stronger. While Lu Yin had indeed comprehended battle force, his was still only at the elementary level. Silver’s domain was clearly not something recently comprehended, which made him terrifying. It was no wonder why he was always grinning in such a disturbing manner.
With this in mind, Lulu glanced at the war drum that was the furthest away. That was Astral-1’s war drum, and a girl stood in front: Grandini Mavis, someone else from the Mavis family.
Perhaps she felt Lulu’s gaze on her, but Grandini turned around to smile at Lulu.
Lulu pursed her lips pensively and scanned the rest of the students standing in front of the war drums. They were among the strongest of their respective academies, and they might even be second only to the realm masters. This was because it took an inordinate amount of strength to make these war drums sound out. Only those with the strength of an Area Master had the required power.
The other students standing by the drums didn’t really stand out, but the person from Astral-5 caught Lulu’s attention. It wasn’t that he seemed particularly powerful; rather, he seemed far too weak. This man gave Lulu the impression of extreme frailty. Could someone like him even strike the war drum? It required great physical strength.
Lulu looked away and glanced to the side. Astral-9 had chosen a grim young man with a pale face. He emanated coldness from every pore of his body. If his eyes were closed, Lulu might have even assumed that this person was a corpse. The Astral Combat Academies really took in all sorts of people.
In the middle of the valley, Dai Ao managed to stop a hundred or so students; his innate gift of gravity had reached the limit. These students were all powerful, and even if they did not fight back, they had all kinds of different methods to save themselves. Dai Ao had a menacing expression as the gravity covering the middle part of the valley vanished. Right after, he pushed his speed to the maximum and even applied antigravity to himself to increase his speed even further.
Without the gravity holding them back any longer, a new wave of students immediately charged forward.
