The Hall of Honor had given Lu Yin a position as one of the five gatekeepers, which should have been enough for him to be listed among the top ten predicted finalists. However, his cultivation was simply too low, and all of the people predicted to emerge in the top ten had been recognized for their strength. Lu Yin’s dazzling performances had been recognized by even the Hall of Honor, but there were simply too many people in the universe who did not acknowledge Lu Yin’s strength, especially those from the Sixth Mainland, the Astral Beast Domain, and the Technocracy. It was impossible for them to acknowledge Lu Yin’s power.
There were many reasons why Lu Yin could only be ranked thirteenth. In fact, even if the creators of the list personally believed that he should be ranked in the top ten or even the top five, they could only rank him thirteenth.
After all, for a ranking list predicting the finalists to be acknowledged, most people had to accept the accuracy of the list.
The only people who recognized Lu Yin’s true strength were the Innerverse and the Outerverse. There were many people even in the Neoverse who did not acknowledge Lu Yin’s power. While it was true that Lu Yin had stepped upon the highest stage within the Mountain and Seas Zone, afterwards, he had been beaten down while Wen Sansi and others had remained fighting on that golden stage.
Similarly, Yōu Qi had been defeated by Lu Yin, and he could not even be listed among the predicted fifteen finalists.
Wu Dan was right below Lu Yin.
If not for the ranking list, Lu Yin would have almost forgotten about Wu Dan and his arrogant declaration about showing everyone the strength of a Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker. Still, it was true that he was a young genius who had mastered a sourcebox array at a young age.
Wu Dan did not have much information attached to his name, just that he was from the Lockbreaker World.
Not many people knew of the Lockbreaker World, and there was no public information available on it. Still, the reason why Wu Dan was ranked fourteenth was because he had mastered a sourcebox array. He was an Advanced Lockbreaker who had comprehended a sourcebox array, which was certainly enough for him to enter the predicted list of the fifteen finalists.
This showed that most people still viewed Lockbreakers as elites, as Wu Dan did not even have any videos available.
Finally, the last of the predicted fifteen finalists was Starsibyl.
Starsibyl had been ignored for a long time; whenever anyone thought of the name “Starsibyl,” they would think of fortune-telling. She looked like she had a frail body that was unsuited for fighting.
However, Lu Yin could never forget the scene of when he had still been in the Astral Combat Academy and seen how Starsibyl had used divination to predict her opponent’s movements and preemptively launch her attacks. During the battle in the Mountain and Seas Zone, she had also fought right up until the end. If not for her and Unseen Light, the Ten Arbiters might not have been able to hold out until the very end.
Starsibyl’s divination was only one of her strengths, as she also had quite the impressive combat experience.
Still, the foundational reason for why Starsibyl was ranked fifteenth was because she also cultivated Progenitor Chen’s Nine Clones Technique.
Progenitor Chen’s invincible technique had been acquired and learned by two people: Xia Jiuyou and Starsibyl. No one knew how they had managed to do so, but the Nine Clones Technique alone qualified Starsibyl to be ranked fifteenth.
These were the names of the people who were predicted to make it to the end of ZENITH, and the last five people were also acknowledged to have a high chance of placing in the top ten.
Out of everyone, Lu Yin was the one who was looked down upon the worst. He was a gatekeeper, but people were not even optimistic about his chances of entering the top ten. However, his true goal was to take first place.
“What a bunch of blind idiots! Seventh Bro, let’s make our own list! You will definitely take first place. What is this Tri-Yang Technique? Bah!” Ku Wei shouted angrily, as he was the most infuriated person in the room.
Lu Yin did not actually care. Back when he had defeated Lan Si and Nightking Zhenwu back to back, it was true that he had stirred up quite a commotion throughout the universe. But at that time, everyone who he had faced had only been Hunters. In the Mountain and Seas Zone, Lu Yin truly had been more of a spectator, so it was quite normal for people to ignore him. If the Hall of Honor had not selected him to be a gatekeeper, then he would have never qualified to even be listed as one of the fifteen predicted finalists.
Who among the fifteen listed youths was not some well known figure? Even if the Celestial Beast Empire’s Prince Yao Xuan and the Technocracy’s Wang Yi had almost no information listed about them, their origins were enough to speak for them.
Not a single one of the Ten Arbiters had made it onto the list of the predicted ten finalists. This was enough to reveal the strength of the young geniuses participating in ZENITH.
Lu Yin’s eyes slightly paused on the name “Wu Taibai” as he remembered Mr. Bai. That young man had actually been Wu Taibai. At one point, Wu Taibai had fought against Nightking Zhenwu in the ruins of the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect while Lu Yin had almost been burned to death.
After that, his eyes lingered on the name “Wang Yi.” Lu Yin remained quite focused on this name. He had almost forgotten about the primeval surnames, but each time that happened, another person with such a name would appear in an unforgettable manner.
Cool Sis stared at the name “Shang Qing” at the top of the list and asked in surprise, “Is that Tri-Yang Technique’s ancestral qi really invincible? Is just that really enough to put him above all these people?”
“Bullshit! How can a technique really be invincible?” Ku Wei rolled his eyes.
Ku Wei’s words were not technically wrong, as there was no truly invincible technique in the universe, but his next words left Cool Sis unhappy.
“Whoever believes that Tri-Yan Technique is invincible is an idiot. Our Seventh Bro is the invincible one! The word ‘invincibility’ was specially made for Seventh Bro.” Ku Wei was proud.
Cool Sis glared at him, and his words actually convinced her that the Tri-Yang Technique was indeed invincible.
Zhuo Daynight casually said, “Nightqueen Yanqing is also participating in ZENITH. She’s actually the only person from the Nightking clan.”
Lu Yin looked at where both Zhuo Daynight and Zhanlong Daynight were looking at a screen. This screen showed the statistics of all of the contestants. On the list, there was a single Nightqueen Yanqing from the Daynight clan. She was the only person that the clan had sent out.
“I’ll deal with her,” Zhanlong Daynight said solemnly.
Zhuo Daynight shook her head. “Nightking Dijiang has made his move, and Yanqing is the only person in the entire Daynight clan who has a chance of having a good showing in ZENITH. They must have put their full efforts into raising her up, and she will not be the same person as before.”
Zhanlong Daynight’s eyes narrowed, and a trace of fear appeared.
Only someone from the Daynight clan could truly appreciate just how terrifying the clan’s foundation was.
Even ordinary people were aware of how important ZENITH was, and there was no way that the Daynight clan would allow such an opportunity to slip away from them. They might be desperate or had given up if they were only sending Nightqueen Yanqing, but she would absolutely have undergone a complete transformation when they met again.
The ranking list that they had all read through was simply the one acknowledged as the most accurate one available on the network. There were still countless other lists compiled by qualified individuals, and Lu Yin’s name was on every such list. He was a Hunter, but everyone acknowledged that he deserved a place on the predicted rankings. This proved that he was not someone to be underestimated, but his competitors were just too powerful.
Ku Wei browsed through the network, but the more he saw, the angrier he became. “Seventh Bro, someone’s claiming that the Hall of Honor designated you as a gatekeeper in order to keep the stronger people hidden away. They’re saying that, because you weren’t able to stay on the golden stage in the Mountain and Seas Zone back then, you aren’t even as powerful as Lei Nü. In fact, some accuse you of using back-handed methods to sneak in. These people are going to hear it from Brother Wei!”
Lu Yin was also browsing through the network, though he was not checking the predicted rankings, as they were meaningless. Would the contestants actually reveal their greatest strengths? It was possible, but regardless, he was not interested in these rankings. Rather, what had captured his interest were the battle videos that CyNet had released. These videos not only featured the people who were listed on the ranking lists, but also many unknown powerhouses.
For example, there was a girl named Feng Liu1 from the Celestial Ice Phoenixes. Their race was also listed on the Celestial Demon List, and she was a substitute representative for the Astral Beast Domain. She was only a Hunter, but she was not weak at all.
Also, Luo Yu from the Jasper World stood out. She had used a needle attack to kill an Enlighter while only at the Hunter realm.
Also, there was someone known as Lightson, who was from the World of Light. Lu Yin had actually seen this hidden world when he had been traveling with Mu En, and the Judicial Commissioner had spoken with the leader of this hidden world.
These were also other unknown powerhouses that Lu Yin managed to casually find. As far as he knew, there was still Xiao Qing from the Sixth Mainland as well as the Brahman Realm’s Realmling who had never shown themselves. There were simply too many unknown experts.
“Your Highness, there’s a Northline Flowzone vessel up ahead,” a voice alerted.
Lu Yin looked up ahead and saw a large spacecraft also en route to Chaos Flowzone that was traveling in the same direction as them. It was also a radiant-grade Aurora, but it seemed to be purposely slowing down. The symbol of Northline Flowzone could be seen on the hull, as well as the Barthe Jacques family’s emblem.
It was not unusual to see a ship from Northline Flowzone at the intersection of Blazing Mist and Northline Flowzones.
Northline Flowzone had a complicated relationship with Lu Yin.
They had initially helped him sneak onto Planet Pyrolyte, and he had in turn helped protect their forces on that planet. Based on this event, it would seem that Lu Yin was a friend of Northline Flowzone. However, he had later killed one of their Enlighters, Granny Chan. She had grown jealous of him and betrayed him, which had nearly led to Lu Yin’s death.
Her death had ended any grudge that Lu Yin held against them, but he had recently occupied Blazing Mist Flowzone, and Northline Flowzone had been one of the powers to immediately jump out and oppose Lu Yin’s actions. Still, Lu Yin felt that it was only right for them to declare their position. After all, the two flowzones shared a border, and they were worried about becoming the Great Eastern Alliance’s next target. But then again, they had tried to block Lu Yin’s path, and that meant that, for the moment, they were enemies and not friends.
“Your Highness, the Northline Flowzone vessel has sent us an invitation. They request that you move to their ship for a meeting,” someone on the ship reported to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin had originally wanted to simply pass by the Northline Flowzone spaceship, as he did not want to get involved with them. After hearing the report, he considered the situation for a bit before answering, “I got it.”
Ku Wei approached and sneakily said, “Seventh Bro, do you want to kill them? They’ve been the fiercest opponents to you occupying the Blaze Realm.”
Lu Yin glared at Ku Wei. “Stay here.”
He wanted to leave after that, but then he looked back at Ku Wei once again. “Actually, come with me.”
Ku Wei’s eyes lit up. “Yes, Seventh Bro.”
The Northline Flowzone vessel belonged to the Barthe Jacques family. They were an extremely wealthy family that supported the economy of the entire Northline Flowzone all by themselves.
Although the Barthe Jacques family had no powerhouses, they used money as a weapon. They had used their wealth to hire Tie Sa, a powerful Enlighter, as well as the entire Scarlet Mercenaries. Thus, the Barthe Jacques family was just as famous as the Lily family or the Northgate family.
If one looked at both the nearby large and small flowzones, the Barthe Jacques family was the best representative of wealth around.
Upon boarding the Northline Flowzone spaceship, Lu Yin was greeted by Northgate Taisui, whom he had met before.
Northgate Taisui was an expert with a power level of over 400,000, and he was the strongest member of the Northgate family. It was expected for him to be the guardian of Northline Flowzone’s youths as they made their way to ZENITH.
Northgate Taisui had been the first powerhouse with a power level of over 400,000 who Lu Yin had ever seen. Initially, Lu Yin had been terrified of Northgate Taisui, unimaginably terrified. A powerhouse on his level could lock down an entire region of space and render it impossible for Lu Yin to escape.
At that time, Lu Yin had been dragged back by Northgate Taisui and had been utterly helpless.
It could be said that Northgate Taisui had opened Lu Yin’s eyes.
However, only ten years had passed, but now, Lu Yin’s impression upon seeing Northgate Taisui had completely changed. This old man was no longer scary, and he actually just seemed ordinary.
As Northgate Taisui looked at Lu Yin, who was boarding the vessel, the complexities in the old man’s eyes were beyond words.
He still remembered the first time that he had seen this little guy. Back then, this youth had been nothing more than an ant before him. If not for the Daynight clan intervening, Lu Yin would never have qualified to even speak to Northgate Taisui.
How many years had passed since that incident? For a powerhouse like Northgate Taisui, it was around the time needed to take a nap, but the child had already climbed to a level where the Northgate family’s ancestor had to meet with Lu Yin in person and show him the proper respect.
[1] Name literally means Phoenix 6. ☜
