The amount of strength that the fire lion possessed was quite shocking to Lu Yin. The lion had four lines of battle force covering it, which distorted the air around it. Further away, the elder in charge of the group from the Blaze Realm raised a hand as his flames turned into another furious fire lion that was surrounded by four-lined battle force.
The two flame lions covered in four-lined battle force cornered Lu Yin, ready to kill him.
Lu Yin had never underestimated those elders of the older generation. While older cultivators might have been average when they were younger, as time passed, some of them would become rather powerful and even become comparable to their peers who were geniuses. Additionally, they also had the advantages that came with time that the younger generation lacked, and that advantage culminated in the form of terrifying battle strength.
The void around Lu Yin was incinerated by the flames, and there was no way for him to dodge this attack. He lifted his arms and grabbed a flaming lion with each of his hands. With a frown, he exerted some force and caused the four-lined battle force surrounding the lions to explode. With a boom, the two lions dissipated, though less than a moment later, the two elders had closed the distance. “How dare you attack our people from the Blaze Realm!? DIE!!”
Lu Yin moved his arms in front of him to block their attack, and there was a huge boom as he was sent flying by a ridiculously high temperature heat wave. The two elders were used to working together and quickly attacked Lu Yin once again. However, Lu Yin did not fight back. He was well aware of their abilities and knew that it would be difficult for him to beat them without exposing himself. Therefore, he borrowed the momentum of their attacks to quickly flee the scene.
If Lu Yin wanted to leave, the people from the Blaze Realm were incapable of stopping him. All they could do was watch as he disappeared.
Some of the Blaze Realm’s disciples helped Jared up as he coughed out some more blood. He was still shaken since he’d nearly died just now. Thankfully, he had donned his armor beforehand.
The two elders went over to check on Jared while looking serious. “Who was that? He was able to leave you gravely injured and even escaped from us. He must be a monster amongst Limiteers.”
Jared’s eyes lit up. “It’s Lu Yin. It has to be him.”
The elder in charge shook his head. “It shouldn’t have been him. If that person was Lu Yin, then you’d already be dead.”
Jared wanted to retort, but there was nothing that he could actually say since the elder’s words were true. Given Lu Yin’s abilities, he absolutely could kill Jared in one attack. But if that person wasn’t Lu Yin, then who could he be? Jared was an Area Master from the Astral Combat Academy and a genius amongst Limiteers. The two elders with him were also cream of the crop Explorers and were even more of a force to be reckoned with when they teamed up. They were actually powerful enough to contend with a few cultivators at the bottom of the Top 100 Rankings. Jared could not think of any other Limiteer who was powerful enough to escape from these elders.
“That person might still have been Lu Yin, since he could have not gone full force in order to conceal his identity. That would have been enough to allow Jared to survive,” one of the elders guessed.
Jared shouted, “Yes! That has to be what happened! He has to be Lu Yin!”
The rest of the Blaze Realm disciples were busy exterminating all the parasitic worms around them, so the two elders did not waste any more time on random guesses. The attacker was already gone, and so what if he had been Lu Yin? It was just a huge pity that they hadn’t been able to stop him from escaping.
It was necessary that they move cautiously from now on. If Lu Yin decided that he was going to attack them in secret, then even the two elders were not certain that they would be able to hold their own against him.
Jared shamelessly stole a ring armor from one of the other disciples. He was now terribly frightened after having such a close encounter with death. On top of that, he was currently gravely injured. Even the medicine from the Shamrock Enterprises would not allow him to heal fast enough. A part of him wanted to leave right now.
Far off in the distance, Lu Yin revealed himself and glanced back in shock. Those two elders were very powerful. They had four-lined battle force, battle techniques from the Blaze Realm, and ring armor. It would be impossible for him to take them out without exposing himself, so he would currently forget it. This matter could wait, because he was sure that they would not leave. There would be more opportunities to attack them in the future.
He didn’t want to waste too much energy in a place like this, as who knew what kind of dangers were waiting for him in this centipede.
“You’ve finally experienced how incredible those huge organizations are, eh, Seventh Bro? Those two old dudes were probably just ordinary disciples when they were young, or else they wouldn’t be merely at the Explorer realm at their current age. However, they’ve been cultivating for so many years and can even use battle power, which means that they’re powerful enough to hold their own against you when they team up. That’s how powerful large organizations work. There are quite a number of disciples like them in those places,” the monkey exclaimed, excited at the predicament that Lu Yin was currently in.
Lu Yin calmly looked up. “It doesn’t matter. When I get stronger, it won’t matter how many disciples like them there might be.”
“What I’m saying is that you can’t keep fighting alone. If someone else had helped you just now, then that guy would have died already,” the monkey firmly stated.
Lu Yin’s interest was piqued. “What are you trying to get at?”
“I know that you want to rule the Great Yu Empire and slowly expand it so that you’ll become more powerful. That’s a big picture goal. However, you can’t just go adventuring around the universe all by yourself—you need to find some teammates,” the monkey explained.
Lu Yin muttered to himself. The monkey was right. He really should find some helpers.
“Don’t you want to visit the Cosmic Sea? Do you plan on going there all alone? Seriously? Even the Ten Arbiters wouldn’t travel there alone.”
“What kind of teammates should I look for?” Lu Yin asked.
The monkey rolled his eyes. “How should I know? They can’t be annoying, and they also have to be strong I guess. You know, sometimes, I think that you’re too focused on titles. All you pay attention to are those disciples from big organizations. There are a bunch of other cultivators who aren’t weak and also aren’t restricted by any organizations. Your Top 100 Rankings isn’t only made up of disciples from huge organizations—quite a lot of them are independent. They’ve got to be pretty lucky and have built up a lot of life experience.”
What the monkey said seemed to open up new doors to Lu Yin. He’d always focused on people with important identities, but if he could convince those who trained on their own to his side, they would be even more valuable. When all of the cultivators in the universe were considered as a whole, most of them had no real backing. Mercenary groups, for instance, were mostly formed from independent cultivators.
The best thing about such people was that they weren’t restricted by any sort of organization at all. There were no outside interests influencing them, so they were more easily controlled.
“You’re being very helpful today, Monkey,” Lu Yin said.
The monkey was incredibly proud of himself. “Of course, Seventh Bro! I’ll even give you a suggestion. If you listen to this piece of advice, it’ll be very advantageous for you, and it’ll be great for when you go to the Cosmic Sea.”
Lu Yin excitedly replied, “Go on.”
“Get some girls with huge boobs! Nobody will want to kill them. Not only will they look pretty, but they’ll also lower the enemy’s desire to kill them. Also-” Before the monkey could even finish speaking, Lu Yin blocked him off. This monkey was rarely ever serious.
Though it was a fact that his first suggestion was quite tempting.
After a few days, the parasitic worms had been more or less eliminated. At this time, even the people from the Blaze Realm were exhausted, but nobody was willing to take a rest; everyone continued to move further into the centipede’s leg.
They were still near the cracked portion of the creature’s leg, but they weren’t too far away from the joint that connected it to the main body.
Before too long, the crowd of cultivators ran into another group of people, and everybody headed deeper in together. Along the way, more and more people started to appear. These people had been very lucky and avoided the worms entirely.
Although they didn’t run into more worms, more and more people were killed by the phantom pikes. The further in they went, the more people who died of mysterious causes there were. Quite a few started to consider leaving.
Half a day later, the group passed by a huge pile of parasitic worm bodies and saw Northgate Lie and a few others up ahead. Northgate Lie and the others seemed to have stopped there for quite a while already and not headed any further in.
One could deduce that this was the end of the leg, so if they continued any further, they would be in the centipede’s body.
The people from the Blaze Realm pushed past the others as Jared walked out. While he seemed a bit pale, he appeared to be in much better shape than before. Although it was impossible for him to be fully healed anytime soon, speaking wouldn’t be a problem.
“It’s been a while, Mr. Lie,” Jared said politely to Northgate Lie.
Northgate Lie looked at him, confused. “Who are you?”
Jared did not get upset and simply answered, “I am the disciple of Poison Flame from the Blaze Realm, Jared.”
Northgate Lie made a sound of realization. “So you’re Lord Poison Flame’s disciple? I remember now. We met in the Blazing Mist Flowzone before.”
Jared smiled. “That’s right. I still remember how awe-inspiring you were at that time. I didn’t expect for us to meet again here.”
Northgate Lie nodded and looked past Jared to see the rest of the group from the Blaze Realm. His gaze lingered on the two elders before he continued, saying, “Why are you here, Jared? Did you run into the worms?”
Jared laughed bitterly and told the young master of the Northgate family about how they’d encountered the worm wave.
“I was actually just thinking that there weren’t a lot of worms, but I guess most of them went your way and slowed you down,” Northgate Lie commented.
Jared felt confused. “Why didn’t you continue on?”
Northgate Lie moved aside and waved his hand, indicating that the people up front should step aside. Everyone from the Blaze Realm looked over and saw that a pike had been erected in the ground a distance ahead. Around it there were about a dozen bodies, and they all seemed to have died from fright.
Upon seeing the bizarre scene, the newcomers were shocked. “What’s that?”
“I’m sure that you’re all aware that there have been people mysteriously dying along the way. It’s actually because of that pike. The closer you get to it, the more likely it is that you’ll die strangely. It’s an attack that can’t be seen,” Northgate Lie said, at a loss on how to proceed.
Around the two young masters, Lily Anne and the others were similarly out of ideas on how to proceed. The pike released attacks could neither be seen nor avoided, and of all places, it had to be placed right where the leg and the body were connected. There was no way to enter the body from this leg, which made things rather complicated.
It was only now that they understood the reason for the mysterious deaths, and many could not help but shudder in fear. Invisible attacks meant the attack was based around spiritual force. Such attacks were the most terrifying.
“How can we get past here, Mr. Lie?” Jared asked.
Everyone was trapped in the leg with nobody able to enter the body. The most powerful person present was Northgate Lie, and even though there were quite a number of older Explorers here as well, he was not somebody who could be easily surpassed even with time. After all, he was somebody on the Top 100 Rankings. It would only be possible for an older Explorer to beat him if they had also been a genius in their younger years.
The two elders from the Blaze Realm could only contend with Lu Yin when they worked together, and that was also the case for Northgate Lie. Being in the Top 100 Rankings was symbolic in and of itself as it indicated that one was sure to become an expert in the future. With the influence that Northgate Lie held, most people were unwilling to offend him.
Northgate Lie pointed at a middle-aged man in a corner and said, “This person is a Lockbreaker. Only lockbreaking techniques are able to handle the invisible attacks of the pike.”
Jared was shocked. “Do we really need to bother a Lockbreaker for this? Is there only one lockbreaker here?”
Northgate Lie nodded. “One Lockbreaker won’t be enough. We’ll need at least a Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker or several Discerning Elementary Lockbreakers. They can’t be new Discerning Elementary Lockbreakers either.”
“Are we unable to get past here without Lockbreakers?” Jared did not like the current situation.
Northgate Lie didn’t bother answering, which was an answer itself. It was impossible to block the pike’s attacks with an Explorer’s strength. Only lockbreaking techniques would work on it.
“We’ve already sent some people back to fetch some. The closer they are to outer space, the better the network connection. We’ll request for some Lockbreakers to come in, but it might take them some time,” Northgate Gang replied.
Jared excused himself and started discussing something with the other people from the Blaze Realm.
Everyone was waiting for Lockbreakers to arrive. Unfortunately, Lockbreakers were just too rare. Even though there were thousands of people present, there was only one Lockbreaker out of all of them.
