Someone off in the distance watched on with an indifferent expression as Tai Yuanjun collapsed.
Shang Qing approached Tai Yuanjun step by step. Once he was next to Tai Yuanjun, Shang Qing looked down at him.
At this moment, Tai Yuanjun realized that he was not even touching the ground. Rather, he was hovering about a centimeter above it.
“Now, can you take me to the Ten Arbiters?” Shang Qing calmly asked. It was as if defeating Tai Yuanjun had been as simple as crushing an ant for him.
Tai Yuanjun struggled to even lift his head. “I- I don’t know where they are.”
“Then let’s move out together, and you can point them out when you see them,” Shang Qing said indifferently.
Tai Yuanjun nodded as he panted heavily. He now looked at Shang Qing with an intense fear in his eyes. This person was too terrifying.
The Mountain and Seas Zone’s continent was very large, but even if it was twice as large, one would still eventually run into other people while traveling across it.
About an hour later, Shang Qing suddenly stopped and turned to look to his right, at a man walking past.
Tai Yuanjun was puzzled.
Shang Qing stared at the man. “Stay there.”
The man looked over, confused. “What’s the matter?”
Shang Qing had a calm expression. “Try to escape from me.”
He then waved a hand, causing one of the streams of air circling around his body to whistle out and disappear in an instant. It shot through the void before reappearing in front of the man who had been passing by.
Tai Yuanjun glared when he saw this scene, as he had just been crushed by this stream of air.
The stream of air descended, and the man’s expression instantly changed. He immediately unleashed his forcefield, which manifested as a giant ruler that covered the void. The man then jumped on the ruler and moved a thousand meters away.
Shang Qing’s eyes flashed, and his stream of air vanished once again only to reappear behind the man and firmly slam against him.
The man frowned and he raised a hand, causing the ruler to flit about. At his fastest possible speed, he used multiple battle techniques, attempting to destroy the stream of air. The sight of each battle technique overwhelmed Tai Yuanjun, as not a single one of them was inferior to his Gentleman’s Eulogy. Still, the stream of air was not distorted or even stalled for a moment, and it ruthlessly passed through the void to crash into the man.
The man snorted, and in an impossible manner, he suddenly disappeared. He did not reappear, and the stream of air spiraled at the place where the man had been standing before eventually returning to Shang Qing’s body.
Tai Yuanjun was confused. What just happened? Where had that person gone?
Shang Qing calmly commented, “So he was someone from the Ce family. The Ce Secret Art, Astral Chessboard. Next time we meet, you won’t escape.”
He then continued walking along as before.
Tai Yuanjun was stumped. That was actually a secret technique? The Ce family? Aren’t they a part of the Seven Courts?
One of the Seven Courts’ heirs who had comprehended a secret technique had been beaten into retreat that easily? Tai Yuanjun suddenly looked at Shang Qing with even more fear than before.
Another hour or so passed. In this location, lightning ripped through the sky as a figure coldly stared into the distance.
Shang Qing raised his head and waved a hand. The stream of air circling around his body moved through the void and forced the lightning aside, attempting to sweep the man away.
This man was Ku Lei. He had already defeated quite a few cultivators himself, and his lightning meant that there were no opponents within the same realm who he did not dare to provoke. But despite his power, he had just been inexplicably struck by an attack.
This stream of air was extremely strange, and Ku Lei’s lightning had been completely unable to block it, making him feel that something was off. He immediately reacted by raising his hand and tapping out with a finger, causing a giant finger to descend: Finger Tap.
The Finger Tap successfully struck the stream of air and pierced through it, but the stream instantaneously fused back together and hit Ku Lei.
He felt his chest grow stifled, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. Then, Ku Wei looked down in disbelief; what the heck was that?
Below him, he saw Shang Qing with two more streams of air twining about his body, and Ku Lei’s pupils shrank. Is that…?
Shang Qing waved his hand, which caused the stream of air that had struck Ku Lei to grow larger and larger until it covered the sky. Then, it started pressing down.
Ku Lei gritted his teeth, and his nine lined battle force shot into the sky as his lightning twisted about before striking out at top speed.
Not even Shang Qing was able to react to this speed.
Ku Lei vanished into the distance, and Shang Qing called back the flow of qi. “The Ku family’s heir. Interesting.”
He then continued on his way.
Tai Yuanjun was stupefied after seeing this scene. He and Shang Qing had already run into two of the Seven Courts’ heirs while walking along, but both of them had been easily sent running. Who the hell was this person?
If the encounters with the Seven Courts’ heirs had not given Tai Yuanjun a terrible shock, then the third powerhouse whom Shang Qing ran into definitely would. It was someone even more astounding: Wen Sansi.
Shang Qing looked at Wen Sansi with blatant curiosity. “Are you the Ten Arbiters’ Scholar?”
Wen Sansi seriously observed Shang Qing, particularly focusing on the three streams of air that gave off an untouchable feeling. Practically no one within the younger generation could make Wen Sansi feel like this, and this was actually the first time he had ever encountered such a situation.
“And you are?” Wen Sansi asked.
Although the Ten Arbiters were overwhelmingly famous throughout the Innerverse and the Outerverse and were privy to many secrets themselves, their knowledge was still quite limited when it came to the Neoverse. Additionally, even in the Neoverse, not many people knew about Shang Qing’s existence.
Those who could participate in the Astral Tower’s contest and enter the Mountain and Seas Zone’s continent were all top elites of the Neoverse, and their backgrounds were impressive. But despite that, not all of them were able to recognize Shang Qing, though they had all received news of him.
“The fame of the Ten Arbiters has spread past the Innerverse and Outerverse, even reaching the Honor Zone. Thus, I want to experience your strength for myself.” Shang Qing then waved a hand and caused a stream of air to shoot out. He only relied on a single battle technique, and he was even more specialized than Lan Si. Aside from the Overlaying Stacks Path, Lan Si still had his Vacuum Palm whereas Shang Qing used nothing aside from the streams of air around him.
However, this unique attack method caused Wen Sansi’s hair to stand on end, and he fell back at top speed while congealing the void and forming ancient characters. He instantly used a 7×7 Literary Prison to trap the stream of air while he fled without looking back.
The next moment, the Literary Prison began to crack before completely shattering, and the stream of air struck the void with a force that caused it to ripple. They quickly reached ten kilometers, then a hundred, thousand, and eventually ten thousand.
These ripples impacted many people, and every single one of them was stunned, as the ripples emanated an unstoppable power. The people were completely awed by its power, and they were struck by an irrepressible desire to worship this power.
In the distance, Wen Sansi had an extremely grave look. He had always been a cautious person, and this moment where he had exchanged blows with someone from the same generation could be considered his most cautious moment yet. However, he felt that he still had not done enough. “In the future, whenever I meet that person, I must immediately leave. Think before acting, think before acting.”
In the same place as before, Shang Qing retracted his qi flow and sighed. “Sure enough, they are at the same level as the most powerful heirs from the Neoverse. He was actually able to safely retreat. For that, he should be proud of himself.”
Tai Yuanjun was completely stunned. He had never even dreamed that one of the Ten Arbiters would be driven back so easily. Although Wen Sansi had not been defeated, that clash had looked even worse than a defeat; it had looked like Wen Sansi did not even dare to trade blows with Shang Qing.
In some sense, Wen Sansi had been able to clearly see that Shang Qing was possibly—no, definitely the strongest person participating in this Astral Tower contest. Shang Qing absolutely was not just “one of the strongest.”
Before long, news of the Hall of Honor’s first Honor Chosen, Shang Qing, consecutively defeating the Seven Courts’ heirs as well as one of the Ten Arbiters spread out. This news quickly reached every corner of the Mountain and Seas Zone, and the entire place was thrown into an uproar.
The Tri-Yang Technique was the most powerful technique in the entire Human Domain, and even the ancient legends had said as much. However, nobody knew just how powerful this technique really was. Now, everyone finally had a comparison to make, allowing them to fully understand that when the Tri-Yang Technique was used, it was unparalleled and truly unrivaled within the same generation.
In the Cosmic Sect, within the Skystar Jade Wall, Lu Yin had been there for an entire month now, and the number of stars that he could simulate had already reached 402. Even if he was fully confident in himself, he would never have imagined that just one visit to the Skystar Jade Wall would allow him to simulate so many more stars, as he had already surpassed Mu Ziying. Out of everyone in the Cosmic Sect’s younger generation, Lu Yin was currently only inferior to the All Rounder Fairy, Qiu Shi.
As Lu Yin looked at the stars moving about in the sky, he was only afraid that the outside world would start to suspect him of something. Thus, he had no choice but to leave.
At this moment, outside the Skystar Jade Wall’s valley, Yao Ji’s anger had already reached the heavens. However, this anger also came with an indescribable mix of admiration, jealousy, hatred, and other various emotions.
He hated Lu Yin for cutting in line and going into the Skystar Jade Wall first to cultivate, but Yao Ji was also overwhelmed by how long Lu Yin had stayed within the mirror.
There were only a few people in the history of the Cosmic Sect who were able to stay within the Skystar Jade Wall for more than a month, and Lu Yin had already been there for that long. If he was able to remain inside for a bit longer, then he would enter the Cosmic Sect’s historical records. No—he was already in those records.
Mu Ziying had a look of admiration on his face, as he felt that he was witnessing this generation’s blessed child of the heavens when he looked at Lu Yin.
Recently, some news from the Mountain and Seas Zone had leaked out, and Mu Ziying had heard of many rumors. Most of them were about Shang Qing defeating various experts along his way, cementing his reputation of being utterly peerless.
“Shang Qing, the Mavis family’s Treeheart Descendant, and our Grand Senior should be the most powerful participants taking part in this contest. It’s not clear if any of the Ten Arbiters have hidden their strength, and as for Lu Yin…” Mu Ziying could not judge this person very well, as Lu Yin’s strength was something very rarely seen in the younger generation, and on top of that, he was from the Outerverse, which meant that his accomplishments thus far had been limited. No matter how gifted Lu Yin might be, those places would restrict his future.
Even if the Ten Arbiters were stronger, it was impossible for them to surpass the Neoverse’s top youths. The Arbiters simply did not know how powerful their opponents were, and they would despair if they knew the truth.
“Someone’s coming out!” one disciple shouted.
Yao Ji and the others looked over and saw Lu Yin emerge.
Lu Yin reluctantly appeared from the underground space and exited the valley. He smiled towards Yao Ji. “Sorry to delay you.”
Yao Ji was furious, but he did not dare to reveal any of his anger, so he simply snorted before dashing underground.
Lu Yin pursed his lips. “How rude.”
The various Cosmic Sect disciples were left speechless, and they suddenly sympathized with Yao Ji. He was a proud child who had always bullied others to get his way, but he had been completely shut down by Lu Yin and actually been taken advantage of. It was a wonderful story.
Mu Ziying coughed and smiled at Lu Yin. “Congratulations, Brother Lu, for coming out. I wonder, how far has Brother Lu progressed in terms of the second layer?”
Lu Yin smiled. “Very successful. I wonder, can I reenter the Skystar Jade Wall later? I want to continue with the third layer.”
Quite a few disciples exploded in response to this. “He actually cultivated the entire second layer in just a month? What a monster.”
“If he weren’t, how could he have succeeded at using the third promotion method to become a true disciple? Aside from the Grand Senior, no one else in our sect can match up to him.”
“Freak.”
…
Mu Ziying was stunned by Lu Yin’s talent. “Brother Lu, you can simulate ninety nine stars already?”
Lu Yin nodded, and casually replied, “It’s not too difficult.”
He then immediately revealed ninety nine stars.
In an instant, Mu Ziying was rendered speechless.
At the same time, many of the Cosmic Sect’s older powerhouses glared at Lu Yin with wide eyes.
“This kid’s cultivation speed is too fast.”
“In just one month’s time, he’s managed to successfully cultivate the second layer. If he’s given another chance, then he might surpass even Hua Xiao, Mu Ziying, and the others. This child’s talen is exceptional.”
“Perhaps he’s simply very well suited to the Cosmic Art. What a pity.”
Within the Cosmic Sect’s grand hall, Sect Leader Yuan Qiong exclaimed, “Sure enough, his talent is truly astounding.”
He suddenly seemed to think of something, and he immediately contacted the True Elder.
“Brother Mu, I wonder, how can I return to the Skystar Jade Wall?” Lu Yin asked expectantly.
Mu Ziying answered, “Entering the Skystar Jade Wall isn’t simple, but it’s also easy in some sense. You just need to make some contributions to the sect. The sect nurtures the disciples not just as a blind investment, and the disciples also need to contribute back to the sect.”
Lu Yin felt helpless, as Mu Ziying had mentioned this detail of contributing to the sect. However, Lu Yin did not have the time to do such a thing.
“Brother Lu, before long, our sect will take us to the Mountain and Seas Zone. Thus, it would be best to preserve your energy right now, as the Mountain and Seas Zone is very busy right now,” Mu Ziying said. He then proceeded to share a few of the recent rumors about what had taken place in the Mountain and Seas Zone with Lu Yin.
