Many students grew excited when Lu Yin appeared. People could form teams to cross the Ocean of Death, and many wanted to stay close to Lu Yin in order to reach the fabled island.
As Lu Yin stood on the shore of the Ocean of Death, he stared into the distance. The water and sky were the same color, a vast, dark yellow. It was eerily reminiscent of the Yellow Springs that buried the living; it was a chilling scene.
Was there really an inheritance on the other side of the Ocean of Death?
Was the Arbiter who had ascended the Sky Platform and the Arbiter who had crossed the Ocean of Death the same person? Or had more than one of them succeeded? Lu Yin was very curious about all these things.
“Brother Lu, it’s been a while.” Kuang Wang walked over as he casually waved away the various students who were trying to chat with Lu Yin, behaving in an overbearing fashion.
Lu Yin looked at Kuang Wang and smiled. “It has been a while. Senior is more refined every time we meet.”
Kuang Wang smiled. “Everyone wants to cross the Ocean of Death with you, but they aren’t qualified.”
Lu Yin didn’t deny Kuang Wang’s words. He wasn’t a bad person, but he was not the kind of person who would try to please everyone either. Bringing along one more person could very well increase the danger for the rest of the party, and there was no need to risk it for no reason. Aside from Coco and the others from Astral-10, anyone else who wanted to team up with Lu Yin needed to have the necessary power, such as the person currently in front of them, Kuang Wang. His appearance at this time clearly indicated that he wanted to cross the Ocean of Death with them.
“Brother Lu, I’ll cut to the chase. I wish to cross the Ocean of Death with you. You can state any conditions you may have.” Kuang Wang was extremely direct.
Lu Yin was moved, and he looked closely at Kuang Wang, who should be rich. He thought about it and then answered, “I heard that senior is from the Beast Tamers Flowzone’s Divine Grade Hall.”
“That’s right.” Kuang Wang was proud of his background.
Lu Yin continued looking at him. “Is the Divine Grade Hall very wealthy?”
Kuang Wang was stunned, and he looked at Lu Yin with a dumbfounded expression. He had never dreamed that Lu Yin would ask him such a question.
He saw Lu Yin’s genuine interest in his answer, so Kuang Wang hoarsely replied, “It should be rather wealthy. I’m not sure.”
“Ok,” Lu Yin acknowledged. After that, his right fingers snapped against the void while three of his fingers rubbed together. With every snap, he would rub them together, just like Elder Cai’s action from before. It was a very elegant, noble, but mysterious method of asking for money.
Kuang Wang stared at Lu Yin, waiting for his reply. However, he found that Lu Yin was no longer speaking. He heard a strange rapping from the quivering void, and then he looked down at Lu Yin’s moving hand. His lips grew stiff. “Brother Lu, how much would you like?”
Lu Yin’s lips rose. Sure enough, this method was both obvious while appearing to be elegant, stylish, and noble. “That depends on how much senior thinks it’s worth.”
Kuang Wang nodded and stared blankly at Lu Yin. “Alright, I’ll transfer the money to you after we get out.”
Lu Yin was excited as he gave Kuang Wang his Mavis Bank account number, as he once again had money. Of course, it was not much, but it was still better than nothing.
As for Kuang Wang, his emotions were rather complicated. He hadn’t expected the strongest student in the Astral Combat Academy to be like this. Wasn’t it too tacky to ask for money? Shouldn’t an expert have the bearing of an expert? When he saw Lu Yin’s excited expression, Kuang Wang had to turn around. He might have misunderstood what truly powerful experts were like.
Before much time passed, Xia Luo arrived, followed by Coco and Zora soon after.
“Senior, how did you guys attempt to cross the ocean before?” Lu Yin asked.
Kuang Wang replied, “The Ocean of Death has a special property that gradually dissolves star energy and living beings, but at an even faster rate. Hence, you can only use star energy to form a boat, and the main challenge is seeing whether or not your star energy can last all the way until the end. Also, illusions will appear.”
“Illusions?” Lu Yin and the rest were caught off guard by this, even Xia Luo. None of them had ever attempted to cross the Ocean of Death before.
Kuang Wang explained, “The illusions are the most troublesome. You’re actually fully aware that they’re illusions, but you’ll still believe that they are real despite that. More importantly, the illusions can destroy a person’s spiritual force.”
Lu Yin and Xia Luo exchanged glances, as they could not guarantee anything when spiritual force was involved. With their current strength, they were not yet able to learn any techniques that could defend them against spiritual force attacks. When Lu Yin recited the Stonewall Scriptures, he would gain an imperceptible defense against spiritual force attacks, and Liu Shaoqiu had acquired a spiritual force attack through learning the Thirteen Swords. Many of the Daynight clan’s battle techniques carried a spiritual force attack, but all of these were passive in nature.
Actually, with their true strength, they did not yet qualify to contact such battle styles.
Lu Yin did not know if his current defense against spiritual force attacks could withstand the illusions, and his only hope was that the illusions’ strength did not surpass the phantom pike’s in the centipede’s body.
Lu Yin felt that anything related to spiritual force was not something that should be easily provoked.
At this point, another figure flew over. It was actually Feng Shang.
“Hello everybody, can I join you in crossing the Ocean of Death?” Feng Shang had come of his own accord.
They all looked at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin looked at Kuang Wang.
Coco and Zora were lost; what did this look mean? Did Kuang Wang hold the power to decide?
The corners of Kuang Wang’s lips stretched, as he knew what Lu Yin meant. He hurriedly pulled Feng Shang aside and muttered to him in hushed tones.
After Feng Shang heard what Kuang Wang had to say, he looked at Lu Yin in shock.
Lu Yin acted in a cavalier manner. A gentleman who loved money must procure it in moral ways. If he put in the effort, then he should get his just rewards. After all, he would not take them across for nothing, as he was not their caretaker.
Soon after, Kuang Wang and Feng Shang returned, and Feng Shang nodded towards Lu Yin with a face still showing surprise. “Shall we?”
Lu Yin nodded. “We’ll use star energy to form the boat and then take turns maintaining it. Zora, you can go first.”
Zora acknowledged his words, and her star energy surged out before forming a small boat that floated atop the Ocean of Death.
“Senior Kuang Wang, why can’t we fly across?” Coco asked.
Kuang Wang replied, “Because the further in you fly, the greater the restrictive force you feel. Given that, we can only sail across.”
Coco grunted and then looked at Zora with some concern. “Sister Zora, will you be able to endure this?” The others also looked at Zora.
Everyone’s strength was different, and the strength of their star energy varied as well. Thus, the Ocean of Death’s star energy dissolution rate was also naturally different for each person.
Zora seriously studied her star energy and then her expression turned ugly. “At the most, three days.”
“Alright, we’ll switch to someone else after three days,” Lu Yin said. They then boarded the small boat and headed into the depths of the Ocean of Death.
Many students watched the group from the shore, and quite a few of them soon decided to team up and follow behind Lu Yin.
Wu Da was among them. After he had reported on the Astral Combat Tournament and the Tournament of the Strongest, his newspaper had become very successful. Although he still ended up being chased around on certain occasions, the external funds were pouring in now. Also, quite a few students had joined the newspaper as his subordinates. There were now more than ten of them who had decided to team up and attempt to cross the Ocean of Death.
Aside from Wu Da’s group, there were also a few others that joined hands, as they perhaps felt that there was a greater possibility of them reaching the other side of the Ocean of Death if they followed behind Lu Yin’s group.
Lu Yin’s small group remained silent as they sat on their star energy boat.
Star energy appeared at Lu Yin’s fingertip as he touched the water. He frowned, as what he had been told was not right. This water did not dissolve his star energy. Rather, it would be more accurate to compare it to the Sky Platform, which rejected the star energy from the area.
Star energy converged in Lu Yin’s eyes as he looked far across the water. The entire Ocean of Death was filled with rune lines while the runes that represented Zora’s star energy was just the small boat, like a skiff in an angry ocean that could break down at any moment. The further in they went, the more rune lines Lu Yin saw. He could not even assess how many there were, as the number greatly surpassed the runes that had represented Avery.
This was the Ocean of Death’s true colors. He looked around again; right now, the entire trial zone consisted of rune lines, and he was now able to see that it was not naturally created. The quantities that he was observing were enough to cause him to feel dizzy.
The rune lines formed by a natural environment could never be so numerous.
The Ghost Monkey had said that when the Rune Technology civilization was flourishing, their battle style had been very obscure, as they would directly wipe out their opponent’s rune lines. This was a fundamental erasure of something. If Lu Yin wanted to wipe out the Ocean of Death, then he just had to directly erase the rune lines.
However, Lu Yin did not know how to erase other peoples’ rune lines since he did not understand how to utilize this strength.
He removed the star energy from his eyes, causing everything to return to normal.
The small boat steadily sailed towards the depths of the Ocean of Death with over ten small boats following behind them.
After a day of travel, while they were resting, Coco suddenly cried out, “Ah, if we die in the Ocean of Death, then won’t we reappear here when we return to the Dao of Heaven?”
Kuang Wang was startled by Coco’s exclamation, and he rolled his eyes. “No, the Ocean of Death is unique. If you die here, then when you reenter the Dao of Heaven, you’ll simply reappear at the coast.”
“That’s good.” Coco patted her chest in reassurance.
Lu Yin looked at Zora and saw that she had an ugly expression on her pale face. He filled his eyes with star energy and looked at her again. Zora’s star energy would at most last for another half day.
A day and a half? That was less than half of what she had predicted, which meant that the strength of the Ocean of Death’s star energy rejection had doubled in this location compared to the coast.
Lu Yin looked back and saw that none of the boats were lagging behind and that they were all still following him.
“Be careful!” Feng Shang barked as he released his green domain. He raised a hand and slapped to the left. Everyone looked over and saw a war spirit stabbing at them with a spear.
Feng Shang’s palm struck the war spirit’s spear, and the boat shook. The war spirit’s spear broke, and Feng Shang’s eyes flashed as a ripple of air revolved around his palm. “Cyclone Strike.”
There was a cry as the void shattered along with the war spirit. It was instantly killed by the Cyclone Strike.
Zora relaxed, but Coco cried out in alarm, “There’re war spirits here?”
Kuang Wang nodded and solemnly replied, “That’s right.”
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” Zora had an ugly expression.
Kuang Wang grudgingly answered, “Forgot.”
They were left speechless.
“A war spirit appearing means that the person who birthed it once sailed across the Ocean of Death. Be careful; if our luck is bad, we could even meet the war spirits of the Ten Arbiters,” Feng Shang said as he licked his lips.
Coco grew afraid. “Senior, don’t try to scare us.”
Feng Shang forced a smile onto his face. “I’m not. It’s just that no one knows how war spirits are formed. You might form a war spirit in the next second as well. Remember the Astral Combat Tournament? In the middle of Brother Lu and Liu Shaoqius battle, their war spirits suddenly materialized and escaped.”
Lu Yin recalled that scene, as war spirits had indeed formed during his battle with Liu Shaoqiu.
“Hehe, I heard that quite a few students have already died to the Thirteen Swords, which should be Liu Shaoqiu’s war spirit. I wonder who’ll have the bad luck of meeting up with Brother Lu’s war spirit.” Kuang Wang rejoiced at the thought of others’ misfortune.
Feng Shang glanced at him. “No matter who it ends up being, they’ll be completely out of luck, even if it turns out to be you.”
Kuang Wang pursed his lips. Feng Shang was right. With the strength that Lu Yin had displayed during the Astral Combat Tournament, his war spirit could easily crush them.
“If we meet the Ten Arbiters’ war spirits, then this trip still won’t have been in vain,” Xia Luo spoke with a bit of excitement.
Lu Yin’s lips curled up, and he looked out at the Ocean of Death. He was hoping to run into the Ten Arbiters’ war spirits so that he could get a sense of their strength from when they were Limiteers. He did not believe that the disparity between him and their past selves was that great.
