Lu Yin looked down at his heart, and he was pleasantly surprised to see that the rest of his fatesand had all merged together, which now completely hid the black and white mist in his heart.
He immediately used his fatesand. Although his fatesand still took the form of a clod of dirt, it was much larger, and its durability should have increased correspondingly.
Lu Yin still had not forgotten about he had used his fatesand to block a Hunter’s attack in the past. At that time, his fatesand had been too small to be of much use, and most of his enemies had been too powerful. Thus, his fatesand had not been very useful. However, things had changed now. His fatesand was now large enough to protect half of his body.
However, there are not many situations where he would be forced to use his fatesand, simply because his physique alone was extremely robust.
Eh? As he looked at the fatesand in front of him, Lu Yin felt like something was a bit off; it seemed as if his fatesand was starting to take a specific shape.
Mister Mu looked at Lu Yin’s actions and casually said, “At the moment, your fatesand is not very useful. It may become useful in the future, or it may become completely useless. It depends entirely on chance.”
Lu Yin remembered something and looked over at Mister Mu. “Master, um, your disciple has already become a Hunter, but it seems that my physical strength has not reached the limit for my current cultivation yet.”
Mister Mu knew what Lu Yin was about to ask. “After becoming an Explorer, you can only cultivate by relying on yourself. Using the strength of others will only become an obstacle in your future, and you must remember this.”
Lu Yin felt helpless. “I understand, Master.”
Mister Mu raised his hand, and something familiar entered Lu Yin’s vision, and his eyes lit up. “A Root of Intelligence?”
Mister Mu had just taken out a Root of Intelligence. This was something that Lu Yin was familiar with. However, this root was not withered, but rather a normal Root of Intelligence. It looked just like the one that Lu Yin had gained after upgrading the withered one that he had found.
“This is the only thing that can help you as a guide. Borrowing outside assistance is never the right path. You must know that, in the future, if you want to improve your strength, you can only rely on yourself,” he said as he handed Lu Yin the Root of Intelligence.
Lu Yin was ecstatic as he received it. As far as he was concerned, even being taught a battle technique or a secret technique by Mister Mu could not compare to receiving a Root of Intelligence. The moment Lu Yin saw this Root of Intelligence, he had already decided how to use it.
“Master,” Lu Yin looked up, about to speak, but everything had already returned to normal. The spacecraft shot away, the sea churned, and chattering voices filled the air once again. It was as though everything that had just happened had been nothing but an illusion.
Lu Yin was annoyed, Mister Mu had walked away too fast. He still had a lot of questions to ask, and he didn’t even have time to ask him for a piece of jade. Without that jade, he couldn’t take the initiative to contact Mister Mu, which was a pity.
Shaking his head, Lu Yin sighed. He thought about what Mister Mu had just said while staring at the Root of Intelligence. Lu Yin’s eyes lit up; it was time for him to improve once again! ZENITH—his only goal at the moment was ZENITH.
***
At the same time, in another place in the Innerverse, Lu Yin’s image was still prominently displayed atop the stone plaque in the Daynight clan’s ancestral grounds. No one could challenge his position. On top of that, the image directly below Lu Yin’s was that of Zhuo Daynight, followed by Zhanlong Daynight.
These three people were the Daynight clan’s most hated individuals at this time. Having one’s image displayed on the stone pillar was one of the most respected positions possible for the members of the Daynight clan. And yet, the highest positions were all held by their enemies and traitors. This was a humiliation to the entire Daynight clan.
All of the Daynight clan members were working hard at their cultivation, and they were completely unconcerned with what was happening in the outside world.
Nightqueen Yanqing was no longer in the ancestral grounds. Nightking Dijiang had taken her away in order to help her prepare for ZENITH. The Daynight clan was still one of the greatest powerhouses of the Innerverse, and ZENITH was an opportunity that could not be missed.
Nightqueen Yanqing was currently ranked fourth on the ancestral plaque. Everyone in the Daynight and Nightking clans believed that she would soon replace Zhanlong Daynight and become one of the top three on the plaque before eventually overtaking Zhuo Daynight as well. As for Lu Yin, the Daynight clan subconsciously ignored him. He was an absolute freak, and unless Nightking Zhenwu was somehow resurrected, they had no one who could compete with Lu Yin.
Suddenly, a cry split the air. “Who’s that? They’re rising so fast!”
Many of the Daynight clan members opened their eyes and looked up at the ancestral plaque, searching for what had triggered such an exclamation. They watched as an image suddenly jumped from a place in the teens to fifth place, right beneath Nightqueen Yanqing. The image looked very unfamiliar.
The appearance of this person’s image on the stone plaque not only caused numerous clan members to start talking about it, but it also aroused the attention of the elders protecting the ancestral grounds. They quickly asked whose image had appeared, but there was no answer, as no one in the Nightking clan knew.
At this moment, a youth from the Daynight clan approached the elders protecting the plaque, and he tremblingly said, “Seniors, this junior knows who that person is.”
One of the guardian elders, Zuocheng Daynight, stared at the youth. “Who is he?”
“Liu- Liu Shaoge,” the youth answered in terror.
Zuocheng Daynight and Dwayne Daynight, one of the other elders protecting the plaque, looked at each other. “Liu Shaoge? Why does this name sound so familiar?”
Dwayne Daynight’s eyes narrowed as he looked over at the last inheritance stone. “One of the three inheritance stones was taken from Zhenwu by Lu Yin and never returned. The other inexplicably disappeared after that entire fiasco. Nightking Qingyu may have taken it away, but he disappeared long ago.”
“The last person to see him was Liu Shaoge!” Zuocheng Daynight blurted.
Dwayne Daynight nodded. His expression was dignified as he looked up at the tall plaque. “He is indeed Liu Shaoge. I’ve investigated him before. He was brought here from the Outerverse by Nightking Qingyu, but there was nothing special about him, and at first, no one cared about him. I never even considered that he might have been the one to steal the inheritance stone from my Daynight clan. How despicable.”
Liu Shaoge’s image had appeared on the plaque, and it was obvious that he had an inheritance stone with him. The disappearance of the second inheritance stone suddenly made sense.
“But how could such a child steal an inheritance stone from you and me? And he is not from our Daynight clan, so why is he able to enter the inheritance corridor?” Zuocheng Daynight was puzzled.
Dwayne Daynight solemnly replied, “Perhaps Nightking Qingyu is working with him.”
Zuocheng Daynight nodded. “Yes. Nightking Qingyu was able to steal the inheritance stone before, so he could have done so again. However, his image has long since disappeared and is no longer anywhere to be seen on the stone plaque. He should already be dead.”
Dwayne Daynight could not understand this matter. “If he was already dead, then how could Liu Shaoge have stolen an inheritance stone from you and me by himself? Not even Lu Yin could have managed that.”
“Unless…” Zuocheng Daynight seemed to have thought of a possibility.
Dwayne Daynight grew far more serious. “Unless he happens to have the same innate gift as Nightking Qingyu and can ignore space.”
Zuocheng Daynight solemnly said, “Liu Shaoge should still be in the Outerverse at East San Dios. I will immediately send someone to capture him.”
Dwayne Daynight nodded. They now had conclusive evidence that Liu Shaoge had stolen the Daynight clan’s inheritance stone, so how could they simply let things go?
Back when Nightking Qingyu had first stolen one of the Daynight clan’s inheritance stones, the Daynight clan had been completely unbothered by the matter as they had been utterly confident that no one in the entire universe would dare to try to take away one of their inheritance stones. However, things had changed, and they now needed to send someone out to retrieve the stone, though they could not be too public about it. After all, the Outerverse was closed to the Daynight clan, and if news of the Daynight clan sending someone into the Outerverse leaked out, then the Great Eastern Alliance would definitely stop them.
Lu Yin had already become their mortal enemy.
Neither of the two elders mentioned this detail, and they both acted as though the other was ignorant of the matter. Neither of them wanted to admit how far their Daynight clan had fallen.
***
In the Blaze Realm, after Mister Mu disappeared, Lu Yin began his last session of secluded training before ZENITH started. This time, he really did enter into seclusion, because ZENITH was right around the corner.
Although Lu Yin was no longer paying attention to matters regarding ZENITH, he did know that the outside world had already erupted. ZENITH had created a commotion in both the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands.
Mister Mu’s words continued echoing in Lu Yin’s ears. An unseen opponent, an unseen enemy… in ZENITH?
He lifted his head, and his die appeared. Lu Yin took a deep breath and tapped the die. It slowly spun in place before finally stopping at five pips: Gift Copy. It was useless, as there was no one within ten seconds of him who had an innate gift. Thus, Lu Yin simply rolled the die again, and this time it landed right on four pips: Timestop.
Upon entering the space, Lu Yin calmed himself down. His current assets were enough for him to stay in this space for a long time, and he casually waved a hand to add two hundred and forty days to his time in the space before taking out the Skyblaze Stone.
Although he could not become an Enlighter before ZENITH started, there would be no issue if he completed a few more cultivation cycles by utilizing the high temperature flames that the Skyblaze Stone had absorbed along with the star essence that he had accumulated in his cosmic ring.
At present, the Skyblaze Stone had absorbed the flames from the sixteenth layer of the darkflame barrier protecting the Dark Phoenix Clan, Monster Chi’s Fire Spirit, Madam Lan’s Blazing Sun, and finally, Leader Hong’s Fire Spirit. Lu Yin had used up all of the flames that had been previously absorbed.
Lu Yin held the Skyblaze Stone as lines appeared on his arm due to the high temperature. The pain of his flesh being burned assaulted him continuously , and the star essence that he had brought out was quickly incinerated by the high temperature, forming a red shroud that wrapped around Lu Yin.
This fire was from Leader Hong’s Fire Spirit, as that was the greatest heat that the Skyblaze Stone had absorbed, and it was on a similar level as the sixteenth layer of the Dark Phoenix family’s darkflame barrier.
The heat from these two flames was comparable to the heat of a burning star, and all across Lu Yin’s body, his skin suddenly cracked apart, though that actually accelerated the speed at which he absorbed star energy.
Even when a shortcut appeared, it would not be something that everyone could use. For example, using the Skyblaze Stone’s heat to speed up one’s cultivation speed in this manner. Even an average Enlighter would be consumed by this heat, and Lu Yin was only able to withstand the heat due to his freakish physique. Still, such a torturous shortcut yielded great returns.
Lu Yin had relied on death energy to break through to the Hunter realm. After the death energy had merged and formed the strange black and white fog, it had started consuming the star energy within Lu Yin’s body, and thus, it needed to be constantly replenished. Additionally, he had used up far too much star energy when summoning the Giant Emperor as his champion to fight against Leader Hong. Lu Yin had not even managed to complete even a single cycle after becoming a Hunter.
He needed almost 1.2 million star essence to complete a single cycle.
However, Lu Yin’s star energy reserves had also started replenishing themselves much faster after he became a Hunter.
The combination of the Skyblaze Stone, the Cosmic Art, and Worldliness realm star energy control allowed Lu Yin to absorb star energy incredibly quickly.
After just a few days, Lu Yin had replenished his depleted star energy, and so, his next step was to complete his eleventh cultivation cycle, which cost him nearly 1.45 million star essence. This was far more than what other cultivators needed, but it worked perfectly with Lu Yin’s second innate gift.
After several days of roasting himself within the high temperature, Lu Yin acclimated to the temperature, and he even began to grow numb to it
He had no idea how long it would take him to complete this cycle, but Lu Yin only opened his eyes again after completing his eleventh cycle. There were only eight cycles left until he became a peak Hunter. Then, he would need to break through once again in order to become an Enlighter.
Breaking through to the Enlighter Realm seemed like it would be a massive obstacle, but Lu Yin was still far from that step.
After thinking about it, Lu Yin continued to absorb star energy by relying on the Skyblaze Stone.
…
