After Elder Li left, another elder by the name of Liu Shen approached Lu Yin. He was much more polite and friendly to Lu Yin. “Alliance Leader Lu, I’ve heard a great deal about you. I am Liu Shen.”
“Junior Lu Yin pays his respects to Elder Liu.”
“Please, there’s no need to be so formal, Alliance Leader Lu. You are the master of the Outerverse, and your status is much higher than a mere elder like me,” Liu Shen said with a light laugh.
Lu Yin remained humble. “Elder Liu, you’re too kind. Despite everything else, I am still your junior.”
The two exchanged a few more niceties with a backdrop of the Charm Mountain Sect’s total annihilation. To these two people, the countless deaths that came with a sect’s extinction was a rather typical occurrence.
In the distance, a certain man observed Lu Yin with surprise, but he only took one glance before charging straight at the survivors of Charm Mountain Sect. The man was Li Zimo, and he had joined the war efforts against the Charm Mountain Sect as a Sword Sect disciple.
Lu Yin had also noticed Li Zimo, but it was impossible for them to acknowledge each other in the current situation. Thus, they simply pretended that they had not seen each other. Lu Yin even avoided looking at Li Zimo in order to prevent anyone from the Sword Sect from learning that the two knew each other. Lu Yin felt that it was enough to know that Li Zimo had successfully joined the Sword Sect.
With Li Zimo’s talent for the sword, he should be able to climb quite high in the Sword Sect in the future.
Liu Shen was a polished and discerning individual. He used polite words to test the waters with Lu Yin before trying to sweet-talk Lu Yin. His adulation was so excessive that it even seemed like Liu Shen was worshiping Lu Yin.
Lu Yin had never been one to fall to flattery, and Liu Shen’s skills at the verbal arts were severely lacking compared to the journalists from the Outerverse who had gone all out to praise Lu Yin. Even Ku Wei was better at flattery than Liu Shen, though that was mostly due to the fact that Ku Wei lacked any sort of shame when doing so.
At this time, Ku Wei was standing behind Lu Yin and staring at Liu Shen with a look of contempt; this fool did not even know how to properly bootlick! Ku Wei had tossed away his shame, and he felt that this Liu Shen would do well to learn from him.
Liu Shen tried his absolute best to demonstrate the Sword Sect’s good will towards Lu Yin while Lu Yin did his best to show Liu Shen the same in return.
Before long, the assault on the Charm Mountain Sect calmed down. Not only had the Sword Sect eliminated the vast majority of their foes, but most of their opponents during this battle had also been core members of the Charm Mountain Sect. The survivors were captured by the Sword Sect, though Lu Yin did not know why.
Liu Shen and Elder Li escorted Lu Yin back to the Sword Sect’s headquarters.
During the trip back, Lu Yin saw someone familiar aboard the Sword Sect’s vessel: Long Yun.
In the past, when they had both been on Planet Pyrolyte, Lu Yin had only been able to comprehend six lines of battle force due to Long Yun’s assistance. Lu Yin had a strong impression of Long Yun, and he was also aware that Long Yun was someone who excelled at hiding his true power.
“It’s been almost eight years, hasn’t it? Many things have changed since then, and you’re already the leader of the Outerverse,” Long Yun spoke with nostalgia as he sat down in front of Lu Yin.
Lu Yin smiled. “You’ve almost surpassed the Hunter realm, right? What about your battle force? You’ve probably already passed eight lines by now.”
Long Yun let out a small laugh. “Isn’t it embarrassing for me to speak of battle force with you? Back then, you used my help to raise your battle force to six lines when I was still at seven. But what about now? You’ve already reached nine lines while I’m still stuck at eight. I went from standing in front of you to lagging behind. Ah, how quickly do the tides turn.”
Lu Yin chuckled. “I heard that you received the title of Marquis.”
Long Yun nodded. “The Sixth Mainland invaded us, and I nearly lost my life.”
“Me too,” Lu Yin replied.
Long Yun turned his head to look straight at Lu Yin. “But you’ve already gotten your revenge. Nightking Zhenwu was someone who dominated our entire generation, but you actually managed to kill him. Honestly speaking, I didn’t quite believe it when I first heard the news, though I had no reason to doubt it either.”
Lu Yin had a deep understanding of the position that the Ten Arbiters occupied in the hearts of Long Yun and many other youths; to them, those ten were truly invincible. Lu Yin had first defeated Lan Si, shocking both the Innerverse and Outerverse, but then, he had proceeded to also defeat Nightking Zhenwu, which had created an even bigger commotion due to the various forces behind Lu Yin and Nightking Zhenwu.
Suddenly, Lu Yin really wanted to know what sort of expressions Long Yun, Liu Shaoqiu, and the other Sword Sect disciples would have if Lu Yin also defeated Liu Tianmu. Would Liu Shen still be all smiles? Lu Yin started looking forward to finding that out!
“Who’s the next Arbiter that you’re going to defeat? Oh, right, you’re already a part of the Ten Arbiters now, so there’s probably no reason for you to fight them now. The people you should be aiming for should be those guys from the Neoverse and the people who will be in ZENITH,” Long Yun remarked.
Lu Yin’s eyes flashed at the words, and he asked, “Speaking of ZENITH, how many people from the Sword Sect will go?”
Long Yun shook his head. “I’m not too sure, but there’s no limit to how many people can join, so probably a lot.”
“What about you? Will you be joining?” Lu Yin asked.
Long Yun sighed. “At first, I didn’t want to because I know that there’s no way I can make it into the top ten no matter what. However, those old farts in the sect forced me to join. I didn’t have a choice.”
Lu Yin did some mental calculations. Liu Tianmu, Liu Shaoqiu, and Long Yun were all participating from the Sword Sect, and Liu Xiaoyun should also be going as well. That meant that there were already four people without taking anyone else into account. Lu Yin felt that a safe guess was that around ten people from the Sword Sect would go, and the other Innerverse powers would probably send a similar number. And that wasn’t even mentioning how many people from the Cosmic Sect’s top rankings would want to join. The same was also true of the other Neoverse powers like the Seven Courts, and this was still just the Human Domain.
The number of competitors that would compete at ZENITH would be astronomical.
“I don’t even understand why the Hall of Honor is holding ZENITH. There’s going to be so many people taking part, and I heard that they’re planning on having some elimination round to cut the number of the participants in half right away. If they’re going to do that, then why not just let the Ten Arbiters and the best youths from the Neoverse go at it? Why bother dragging everyone else in?” Long Yun complained. He hated troublesome things.
Lu Yin had a bit of insider information concerning the competition, but he was not able to share it with Long Yun.
They heard a distant commotion, and both Lu Yin and Long Yun looked towards the noise. Ku Wei had arrived, and he was gloating over what had happened. “Seventh Bro, there’s some sort of internal fight within the Sword Sect.”
Curious, Lu Yin moved closer to the commotion.
The Liu family had stood at the top of the Sword Sect for generations. In addition, all of the sect masters had been from the Liu family. This was why the members of the Liu family were considered elites compared to the rest of the Sword Sect.
Even though Liu was a primeval surname, the Liu family was widely recognized as the most powerful family in the Sword Sect.
Since the Liu family essentially controlled the Sword Sect, they were naturally able to cultivate their family’s disciples to a level above the rest. They had reserved a large portion of the Sword Sect’s resources for themselves, and they often oppressed the more average disciples. Most of the Sword Sect’s disciples had already become numb to the situation, but newcomers were the exception.
On a spacecraft, some disciples of the Liu family had gathered together along with some of their followers. Across from them were standing some disciples who had recently joined the Sword Sect.
For someone to be able to enter the Sword Sect, they had to have exceptional talent with the sword, and they had also all been elites before joining. Thus, many of them had impressive backgrounds and were not afraid to confront members of the Liu family.
Besides, there were only a few members from the Liu family’s main branch who were actually valued. The rest were from various side branches.
When Lu Yin, Long Yun, and Ku Wei arrived, they were met by the sight of many disciples arguing with each other.
“Give up your resources like we told you. In the Sword Sect, the Liu family calls the shots,” one man arrogantly ordered.
On the other side, another man stubbornly retorted, “If Liu Shaoqiu were telling me this, then I wouldn’t dare to disobey, but you? I’m not scared of you!”
“How brazen! The Liu family stands as a single entity yet you dare to resist our orders? It’s ridiculous that you didn’t bother finding out what happened to all the other disciples who joined right before you. Some of them were just as cocky as all of you are right now, but now, they know how to behave.”
“Swordsmen are known to openly display their skills, but within the Sword Sect, you’d better know your place! We’re the Liu family.”
“Know your place.”
“So what? I doubt that the sect will make things difficult for us new disciples just because of you guys.”
“The sect won’t back you guys either.”
…
Long Yun just shrugged. “Don’t pay them any mind, Brother Lu. This happens frequently. They’re from the Liu family, after all, and they all expect to receive some special privileges in the Sword Sect.”
Lu Yin responded, “The Liu family members that I’ve met were never like that.”
Long Yun said, “The higher you stand, the clearer you are of what lies before you. It’s lonely at the top, and everyone is constantly trying to pull you down. Rather, the ones at the bottom are more prone to behaving arrogantly, but they won’t take things too far.”
“Did Brother Long also experience something like this when you first joined the Sword Sect?” Lu Yin asked curiously.
Long Yun responded with nothing more than a smile.
Soon after, Liu Shen arrived and scolded everyone.
All of the disciples from the Liu family were unafraid of Liu Shen, and they were already used to him scolding them. Instead, it was the new disciples who did not dare to make any noise and instead suppressed their grievances.
Lu Yin scanned the area and noticed Li Zimo standing behind the group of new disciples. However, he stood some distance away and had not participated in the skuffle.
Most of these disciples who had recently joined the Sword Sect were only Limiteers, and only a handful were Explorers. On the other hand, the Liu family members seemed to have higher quality members, as there were several more Explorers in their group.
The battlefield for most of these people should have been at the Charm Mountain Sect, not in outer space.
“Just you guys wait! We’ll teach you guys a lesson when we get back to the sect!” someone from the Liu family threatened.
Liu Shen shot a fierce glare at the instigator.
At that time, a dainty-looking girl from the Liu family asked, “Elder, in the past, you’ve always had us send representatives from each side to fight it out with the winner getting the last say. Why don’t you do that this time as well?”
In a low voice, Liu Shen answered, “Can’t you see that we have a guest with us today? You’re embarrassing yourselves! Leave now.”
Many of the people looked over at Lu Yin and Ku Wei.
Ku Wei felt pleased with himself, and he looked down at the crowd with blatant contempt. His rude expression had thoroughly angered the Dark Phoenix family in the past, and it had actually triggered a fight between him and them at that time. At this moment, even though he was around people from the Sword Sect, Ku Wei actually had not toned down his behavior at all. Instead, he had kicked things up a notch! His ability to incite hatred and hostility had caused even Liu Shen to become upset.
Ku Wei was not even doing this on purpose. Rather, as someone from the Neoverse, there was an immense sense of internal arrogance that was hard to cast aside, even if he had separated from the Ku family.
“Elder Liu, please don’t pay me any mind. Since the girl wishes for a fair fight, I’d also like to see the abilities of the Sword Sect’s talented disciples.” Lu Yin encouraged the two parties.
The girl who had spoken stared at Lu Yin and furrowed her brow as she said, “You look familiar.”
Long Yun chided the girl, “Don’t be rude. This is Arbiter Lu.”
Everyone felt a bit confused, and some of them even gasped. “The Lu Yin who defeated Arbiter Zhenwu? The leader of the Outerverse’s Great Eastern Alliance?”
As soon as one person recognized Lu Yin, everyone else did as well, and they all stared at him in disbelief.
Regardless of if they were from the Liu family or recently members of the Sword Sect, everyone stared at Lu Yin in complete shock. It was like they were meeting a person straight out of a legend.
The dainty-looking girl from the Liu family blurted out, “You’re the Lu Yin who defeated Brother Shaoqiu?”
Lu Yin made eye contact with the girl and asked, “Are you Liu Shaoqiu’s little sister?”
“I’m his cousin! Lu Yin, I challenge you!” the girl cried out.
“Shut your mouth and leave right now! How embarrassing!” Liu Shen loudly reprimanded the girl.
She felt indignant and continued to stare at Lu Yin.
Ku Wei laughed. “Little girl, why don’t you let Brother Ku play with you?”
Lu Yin instantly scolded Ku Wei, “Zip it and back off.”
Ku Wei retreated without question.
“Lu Yin, if you’re really that strong, then accept my challenge!” the young girl goaded.
Lu Yin found the matter quite amusing, as the girl had not even broken past the Explorer realm, yet she still wanted to challenge him. While thinking of this, he looked across the new Sword Sect disciples. He pointed at them and said, “Your opponents are over there.”
The girl dismissed them all and said, “They’re all way too weak for me.”
Liu Shen wanted to scold the girl once again.
Lu Yin countered, “Why don’t I choose your opponent? If you can defeat him, then I’ll accept your challenge.”
The girl was thrilled. “Really? Who is it? The vulgar man behind you?”
Ku Wei glared at the girl in annoyance.
Lu Yin found the whole thing quite entertaining, but he simply pointed at Li Zimo and said, “Him.”
Everyone turned to look at Li Zimo.
Li Zimo remained perfectly calm as he met Lu Yin’s eyes.
Lu Yin continued to smile, though it was hard to tell what he was thinking.
