Lu Yin was unaware of Fatesand’s value, but just from these two points, he was certain that its value surpassed his imagination. He did not hesitate to slice open the skin on his left arm and fuse a second grain of Fatesand into his body.
The intense pain from before still had not vanished yet, but Lu Yin was already starting a second round. The renewed suffering was so intense that it could cause one to lose their mind, but fortunately, it was not Lu Yin’s first time experiencing such agony. The backlash from consuming the improved strengthening fruits had been nearly as severe as assimilating the Fatesand grains. Actually, those fruits might have even been more painful. There was also how the formcast model helped one break through realms, which was an extremely agonizing process.
Some said that cultivators cycled between progress and pain, which was a view that Lu Yin shared.
The second grain of Fatesand successfully suppressed his physical body’s strength by another level. When Lu Yin tested his strength again, he was rendered speechless yet again. His current physical strength still surpassed what he had before this, and a random punch was about as strong as one of his old Five Stacks attacks.
Mister Mu’s eyes flashed, and shock appeared in their depths. At his level, there was not much that could surprise him, but Lu Yin’s talent in his physical body was still enough to astound him; it seemed limitless. Such a physical body was like an innate gift in and of itself, and he had never seen a youth’s body reach these levels before. This kid’s future accomplishments might end up being even greater than he had originally thought.
A third grain of Fatesand appeared. “Fusing with the third grain could reduce your physical strength to below your original condition, and it will also consume an enormous amount of your vigor and star energy. You can decide yourself whether or not you wish to merge with it.”
Lu Yin did not hesitate; since he had started, he might as well go all the way. In any case, he could definitely handle the third grain’s suppression.
Even as he thought about it, he directly sliced open the skin on his right leg and placed the third grain of Fatesand within the wound. As the grain fused with his body, another round of intense pain wracked him once more.
There were very few even within the entire universe who could withstand three grains of Fatesand, which Lu Yin realized when he saw amazement in Mister Mu’s eyes.
If not for the extreme improvement that his physical body had just undergone, he would have only been able to withstand one grain of Fatesand at most.
Mister Mu was right; the three grains of Fatesand had caused Lu Yin to become incomparably weak, and his physical strength was now less than before all this. His star energy had also diminished, and even with the Cosmic Art’s ninefold increased absorption rate of star energy, it barely allowed him to withstand the consumption of the Fatesand.
He was completely unable to battle in such a state.
“Master, how long will it be before the Fatesand is awakened?” the pale-faced Lu Yin asked.
Mister Mu replied, “It varies. There are many objects in the universe with no fixed patterns, just as there are no two perfectly identical leaves. Perhaps it will be one day, perhaps a year, or perhaps never. This is the aspect of the sand that is up to ‘fate.’ You will never be able to use it if it does not awaken, and the consumption of your vigor and star energy will be extremely overbearing as long as it does not. After it awakens, you’ll be able to use the Fatesand to battle, and when you do, your physical strength will also explode while its consumption of your strength and star energy will decrease.”
Lu Yin forced a smile. “There must be some people who were dragged down to death by Fatesand.”
Mister Mu’s eyes flickered. “That’s correct. Some have never been able to awaken it and were forced to bear with the Fatesand’s effects their entire lives. Those people were never able to even compare to a regular person, and even a genius can suffer from such a fate. There’s not just one such example of that either.”
Lu Yin was speechless. “Your disciple understands. Thank you, Master, for clearing up my confusion.”
“It took you three months to increase your physical strength and one month to climb the mountain. With the amount of time that you spent here before that, you’ve been in this space for nearly five months. It’s time for you to leave.” Mister Mu cast a gentle look at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin was surprised, as he had not realized that he had remained in this space for so long. He was a little anxious now, as the Great Yu Empire, San Dios, and Astral-10 all would have been unable to contact him this entire time. Would they assume that he was dead? And the Daynight feast as well… Lu Yin suddenly felt powerless. That gathering must have already finished by now.
“This disciple must trouble Master to send me off,” Lu Yin spoke deferentially.
Mister Mu looked at Lu Yin with a complicated expression. “Roaming the universe will force you to choose between life and death many times. Master hopes you will stay true to your heart, as only in that way will destiny come knocking. Perhaps in the future, we’ll meet again as true master and disciple.” He then tapped out, tearing the void apart. Lu Yin watched the strange scene, as the way that Mister Mu tore the void was different from the spatial tears that occurred during battle.
It only lasted for a moment, but Lu Yin quickly felt the scene change before his eyes as he suddenly saw a blue sky with white clouds. And nearby him was something that was very familiar: a grenade.
Boom
An enormous explosion erupted in the high altitude, and the pressure tore through the layer of clouds and swept downwards towards the ocean’s surface. From a distance, the entire sky became distorted, and the center of the explosion reached a temperature that was high enough to melt metal.
“Experiment number one: the super grenade has been perfectly detonated. The power reading has been completed and completely matches the predicted theoretical outcome. Experiment is a success.” A group from the military stared at the ocean’s surface from a distant island, their faces filled with excitement. Cold clacking mechanical sounds rose up from the underground base at the center of the island. They had finally manufactured a super grenade that could threaten the entire planet, and with it, they could now defeat any country. They had just become the most powerful nation on the planet.
Lu Yin felt miserable in a distant part of the sky. He had been tossed next to this super grenade by Mister Mu. But fortunately for Lu Yin, while this toy packed a decent punch, it was limited to being used in planetary warfare by primitive civilizations. At best, it could rival a Melder’s full-force strike, so such a thing was of no threat to him. However, it was nevertheless unpleasant to be unexpectedly blasted in the face.
Lu Yin dispersed the heat wave and casually moved towards the sea, though his action created a tsunami that engulfed the distant island.
It was a small scale rogue wave and not enough to drown the island, but it was still large enough that it would drench everyone there, which was a small revenge.
As he flew into the sky, he reduced his aura and looked at his gadget. He finally had reception to the universal network, and his body vanished as he started looking for a place where he could browse through his messages.
This planet’s civilization was only at the initial stages of development, and they had only just touched upon aviation research. There were more than a hundred countries of various sizes, and the situation was rather similar to Earth’s back when Lu Yin first arrived there. Even the degree of technology was comparable.
The ocean was large, but with Lu Yin’s speed that allowed him to tear through the void, he quickly reached the shore, where he entered a cafe-like building. He ordered a beverage that the locals considered very refined. He took a taste and found that it was decent.
Unexpectedly, during the five months that he had been stuck in that isolated space, he had received many messages—from the Great Yu Empire, San Dios, the other Astral-10 students, the Ten Arbiters Council, and even from Nightking Yuanjing.
The Ten Arbiters Council had not sent him any missions and had only commended his previous report concerning the events in the Northline Flowzone, as he had not humiliated the Ten Arbiters Council. Most of his kudos came from him fighting Northgate Lie to a standstill within the centipede’s body. This action had been witnessed by many people who had then spread the news that Lu Yin was powerful enough to challenge the Top Hundred Rankings.
Aside from those messages, the Divine Fist and Scholar Wen Sansi had also tried to contact him, but unfortunately, Lu Yin had not been able to pick up.
The Great Yu Empire’s Huo Qingshan, Gavin, Pi Lu, and quite a few others had tried to contact him as well, and they had also transmitted various reports about the Great Yu Empire’s conquest to him. Lu Yin casually browsed through the reports and frowned when he saw that the Frostwave Weave had been embargoed by the surrounding weaves. Fortunately, Watermoon Villa was helping to boost a bit of their economy, or else there would have been no way for them to continue fighting.
Finance was not Lu Yin’s strong suit, or else he would not be constantly lacking money himself. Fortunately, even if the weave’s trade was sealed off, the Frostwave Weave was self-sufficient. It was just that the war could not be continued.
War was too complicated, and it consumed too many resources. Some of these resources were not available within the Frostwave Weave and had to be imported in. This was what the economic embargo had affected the most, as the war could not be maintained purely through the efforts of space-exploring powerhouses. Also, there were not enough of them readily available either since the Frostwave Weave covered a rather considerable area.
There was nothing much from San Dios. After Wendy Yushan had returned, Lu Yin’s position there had become much more awkward. Thus, there was very little difference if he was present there or not.
There was the Daynight Feast as well, and Lu Yin quickly discovered that it had already ended, just as he had anticipated. Lu Yin saw this news on the network, and along with the information regarding the Daynight Feast, there was another message that caused Lu Yin to feel helpless. The network had frantically publicized news of his death, and they had even shown a simulation of how his route through Tempest Flowzone had overlapped with the storm’s route, along with a small animated scene of him being swallowed by the storm.
Few had believed it at first, but as Lu Yin continued to remain out of contact, more people had started to believe that he had been consumed by a storm. For an entire five months, no one had been able to get in touch with him, which had led many to believe that Lu Yin had indeed perished.
It was very normal for a youth to die while traveling the universe, and it was not something that would typically create much of a sensation. However, Lu Yin’s titles and status were too large, so his death had caused some waves, though they were quickly settled.
In the countless years of the universe’s development, it had seen too many geniuses. Some had even been focused upon from the time they were born, and there were many who had been even more dazzling than Lu Yin himself. Thus, it was natural that not all of the universe’s attention would be focused on just him.
It had been almost a year since the Astral Combat Tournament had ended, and that topic had already long faded from the public’s mind. Some people might still recognize Lu Yin if they saw him, or perhaps they would only feel that he looked familiar. However, no one would be as shocked as they would right after the Astral Combat Tournament had ended.
Moreover, the Astral Combat Tournament had been hosted rather abruptly. Even though the entire Human Domain’s network had been connected so that, in theory, everyone could view it, in reality, only specific regions in the Innerverse and Outerverse had been able to view it. The network’s connection was intermittent in other areas, so the people in those regions had not been able to properly watch the tournament.
There was nothing too important from the Astral-10 students who had tried to contact Lu Yin, aside from them being concerned about him. However, Lu Yin noticed that in the last month, Xia Luo had frequently tried to contact him.
Given Xia Luo’s personality, he would not have relentlessly tried to contact Lu Yin like this unless there was something urgent. Lu Yin opened Xia Luo’s most recent message, and his expression drastically changed. It turned out that Big Pao and Little Pao had landed themselves deep in trouble in the Chaos Flowzone.
Big Pao and Little Pao had initially been orphans from the Chaos Flowzone who were adopted by Astral-10, but their true identities should be heirs of some vanished power. They had returned to the Chaos Flowzone, presumably for revenge, but they had gone missing a month ago and were still unreachable. Xia Luo suspected that the two had either been captured or killed by an organization called the Deep Crimson Hall. Thus, all of Astral-10’s students were currently rushing to the Chaos Flowzone.
Lu Yin immediately tried to contact Xia Luo, but he could not reach him. He tried Michelle next, who had gone with Xia Luo, but he could not connect to her either.
Finally, he managed to contact Old Cai. “Old Cai, what happened to Senior Big Pao and the others?”
Old Cai studied Lu Yin in amazement. “Pretty good, little brat. You’re not dead.”
Lu Yin was anxious. “This student was very lucky.
“Old Cai, what happened to the Seniors and the others?”
“They’re fine for now. Deep Crimson Planet is sealed, so they can’t leave.”
“What about Big Pao and Little Pao? Xia Luo said he hasn’t been able to contact them.”
Old Cai shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
Lu Yin frowned. “Does the academy not care?”
