Cursewind’s bone chilling wind slowly dissipated, though some of it scattered onto the ground where it injured some unlucky participants.
Lu Yin had overwhelmed that bone chilling wind by just flicking a finger and sending out a small breeze, which terribly confused both Cursewind and Feng Liu. Cursewind was an Enlighter, and even though his bone chilling wind was not his most powerful move due to its ability of corroding his enemies to the bone, it still should not have been so easily overpowered.
The only explanation was that Lu Yin was far more powerful than the others.
“His pure strength has reached a level that only Star Devourer can overcome,” Feng Liu said solemnly as she kept a wary eye on Lu Yin. She recalled how upset Feng Jiu had looked after returning from her defeat during the Tournament of the Strongest.
Fortunately, Feng Jiu had not come to ZENITH, as she would have been in huge trouble if she had impulsively challenged Lu Yin.
Lu Yin had improved tremendously, and if he was truly just as strong as the other gatekeepers, then it would be hard for them to accomplish the mission that their master had given them.
Cursewind stood in the sky, unable to go any further without being forced down to the ground like Yuhua Mavis.
“Cursewind, don’t attack yet. Don’t forget Master’s mission.”
Cursewind was unwilling, but he ultimately stopped challenging Lu Yin. He descended to the mountainside, his landing causing the mountain to shake.
Gu Xiao’er had been secretly watching the astral beasts from a distance. When he saw that the two beasts had tried to challenge Lu Yin, he had been surprised by their guts. After all, Lu Yin was an absolute genius.
Of the millions of people on Zenith Mountain’s eastern side, there were not that many Explorers, as most of the competitors were from the Fifth Mainland’s Innerverse and Outerverse, and most of them were Limiteers.
Liu Tianmu continued to fight against Xin Nü. Countless shockwaves spread throughout the area, causing most of the competitors to hastily retreat, and some unlucky ones were even instantly killed.
Even Lu Yin at his peak power when he had been a Limiteer would not have been able to endure the shockwaves from Liu Tianmu’s battle, let alone the Limiteers participating in ZENITH.
Liu Tianmu represented the Fifth Mainland and the Innerverse’s Ten Arbiters. And since most of the participants were also from the Fifth Mainland, they naturally hoped for Liu Tianmu’s victory. However, Lu Yin was actually rooting for Xin Nü.
Xin Nü had helped him multiple times, and he always felt a familial connection whenever he met with Xin Nü. Regardless of which side people were on, Lu Yin cared more about who treated him well.
Liu Tianmu had rarely interacted with Lu Yin, and the Sword Sect had actually become one of his adversaries.
Liu Tianmu stood across from Xin Nü on a corner of the mountain’s eastern face. Xin Nü frowned, as Liu Tianmu wasn’t an easy opponent. She had fought against Zhi Yi with just a sword, and even Zhi Yi had been unable to secure a quick victory.
Liu Tianmu was also very wary of Xin Nü. Xin Nü was able to dissolve the swordswoman’s attacks, and she was clearly a Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker.
Before the start of ZENITH, nobody had known that there would be five Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker among the participants—the only publicly known Boundless Advanced Lockbreakers were Bu Kong, Qiu Shi, Wu Dan, and Lu Yin.
Every Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker presented a huge threat, as their control of star energy was terrifying for their opponents to have to deal with.
Liu Tianmu had exceptional skills, but she was also feeling frustrated due to how her star energy was being suppressed.
She unleashed her domain before suddenly contracting it. She then launched an attack—the Thirteen Swords’s Fifth Sword, sword and domain as one.
Xin Nü’s expression changed slightly as she could tell that this particular attack was unavoidable. Every move that she made was being monitored by her opponent’s domain, and Xin Nü had a feeling that she would be injured when the sword drew close.
Lu Yin’s eyes widened, and he instinctively wanted to help Xin Nü.
Xin Nü raised a hand, and her palm met the tip of the sword, slightly diverting the attack. At the same time, her left hand shot forwards towards Liu Tianmu.
Liu Tianmu instantly dodged aside while using the Sixth Sword, which was a defensive stance.
Xin Nü’s attack did not strike Liu Tianmu, though the shockwave did hit an unlucky individual.
At the same time, Liu Tianmu’s attack traveled a vast distance and struck numerous people.
The two girls were not injured by the two attacks, but the people nearby had. For example, Xun Jiong had been unfortunate enough to be in the way.
When ZENITH had commenced, all of the competitors had been randomly assigned to one of the four mountain faces, and Xun Jiong had been assigned to the eastern face.
When Xun Jiong saw that Lu Yin was the gatekeeper for his side, he had been devastated. He had hoped to rush through the mountain pass along with a large group of people so that Lu Yin would not notice him.
With Xu Jiong’s ability and position in the Xun family, his family would never let the matter go if he was unable to even pass the first checkpoint of the competition.
Thus, he had always kept a low profile, not even talking back when random people had challenged him. By doing so, he had simply followed along the crowd, but the group that he had been a part of had been suddenly implicated by Liu Tianmu’s attack.
Xun Jiong was quite powerful. He was only an Explorer, though not even a Cruiser or a Hunter could endure Liu Tianmu’s Fifth Sword. Thus, Xun Jiong’s left arm was sliced off, and he was eliminated from ZENITH.
Nearly a hundred people were affected by the attack, and all of them were immediately eliminated.
These were just the people who had been affected by Liu Tianmu’s attack; Xin Nu’s attack had struck Hart Phoenix. He was Arbiter Serati Phoenix’s younger brother, and he had once fought against Lu Yin back when they had both been students at the Astral Combat Academy. Ever since Hart Phoenix had become an Explorer, he had hoped to make a name for himself. Although he recognized that he was not as strong as Lu Yin or the other Arbiters, he still felt that he could break into the Top Hundred Rankings.
However, he suddenly fainted because of Xin Nü’s attack. What did it matter if he was an Undying Bird? The attack that struck him far exceeded his limit, and he was instantly eliminated.
Both Xun Jiong and Hart Phoenix possessed the strength to join the true competition of ZENTIH and clear the first checkpoints. Both of them had enough strength where the gatekeepers should not cause too much trouble for them, and they should have been able to easily pass the first checkpoints.
However, they had both been very unlucky.
Another unfortunate person was Young Master Zhi. Most people did not know much about him, but if people knew about his background, they would be shocked.
He was the heir to Aurora Enterprises and had participated in the battle for the Cosmic Five. Although he had not done much at that time, he had still been qualified to participate in the battle.
He had been eliminated by the Little Arrow Saint when the Little Arrow Saint had unleashed a wave of arrows, eliminating thousands of contestants at once. If not for the Little Arrow Saint wanting to catch up to Yuhua Mavis, then he would have continued eliminating more contestants.
Yuhua Mavis still held the lead on the eastern face.
The people from the Sixth Mainland did not want to allow someone from the Fifth Mainland to clear the checkpoint first. And since Lu Yin was the gatekeeper, the Little Arrow Saint felt certain that Lu Yin would not cause trouble for Yuhua Mavis. Thus, the Realmling focused his attacks on her.
From the peak of Zenith Mountain, larger waves crashed down like ocean waves.
Countless screams rang out as the waves eliminated tens of thousands of contestants.
Although they were quite powerful, Coco and Zora had also already been eliminated. Neither of them had been able to endure the waves cascading down the mountain or the ambushes from the Sixth Mainland cultivators. Thus, they had eventually been eliminated.
Typically, people would not continue attacking anyone who had already given up and was voluntarily descending the mountain. After all, nothing was more important than continuing with the competition.
Coco and Zora’s elimination attracted Lu Yin’s attention. He had been watching the battle between Liu Tianmu and Xin Nü closely, but he had not expected Coco and Zora to be eliminated so soon. He saw excited expressions on the faces of the Sixth Mainland cultivators who had eliminated them and frowned before gently flicking his fingers.
Several winds struck the cultivators who had eliminated Coco and Zora, instantly crippling them. Hong Ying looked up at Lu Yin and then turned to look at the Sixth Mainland cultivators who he had attacked. She ignored them and even distanced herself from them.
However, Lu Yin had not forgotten about her. The other cultivators from the Sixth Mainland had just been random people to Lu Yin whereas the people he actually felt the need to eliminate were those like Hong Ying.
As Lu Yin turned to Hong Ying, nine lined battle force appeared over his fingertip, which caused many people to shout out in surprise.
It was extremely rare for someone so young to cultivate nine lined battle force. That, when coupled with Lu Yin’s physical strength, meant that this blow would be enough to eliminate half of the competitors.
Although Lu Yin was close to the bottom of the list of forecasted finalists, nobody could deny his strength. It was just that the people rated above him were truly insanely powerful.
When Lu Yin’s nine lined battle force appeared, Hong Ying raised her head and met Lu Yin’s gaze. She saw him bend his finger, causing her to panic and race in another direction. She would much rather move to another side of the mountain than face Lu Yin.
Even in the Starfall Sea, she had not been his opponent, and Lu Yin had improved far too much in the short time since then. Thus, Hong Ying was absolutely terrified.
However, it would not be so easy for her to escape.
Lu Yin flicked his finger. This time, the wind tore the sky apart and created a spatial crack that appeared in front of Hong Ying.
Lu Yin had not held back at all. Hong Ying had also not held back when killing countless Fifth Mainland cultivators in the Starfall Sea, and her victims had even included Lan Si’s younger brother, Lan Yu.
Hong Ying was shocked, as this finger strike was very threatening to her. Madam Hong’s image instantly appeared behind the young woman as Hong Ying counterattacked. Her martial print appeared as she had been forced to use her full strength to contend with the breeze that Lu Yin had casually sent towards her.
Hong Ying’s spear snapped in half as the wind shot through the red spear and shattered her martial print. It struck Hong Ying heavily and continued on through her shoulder before entering the ground.
Hong Ying spat out a mouthful of blood as her imprint disappeared. A massive force flung her away, and she fell down the mountain.
At the same moment, in Chaos Flowzone’s western region, countless people from the Sixth Mainland were left stunned.
Hong Ying, the heir to the Grand Martial Realm’s Flying Horse Manor, someone who was second only to their Realmling Bai Ling, had just been eliminated. She had recently become a Hunter, and she could almost stand on par with Bai Ling. But despite all that, she had been completely defeated by a mere breeze.
Most of the Sixth Mainland cultivators who were on Lu Yin’s side of the mountain had not initially cared much about him. They had heard of his background and assumed that he had only been given his position as a gatekeeper due to his reputation. Although they all knew that he was powerful, they still felt that he did not qualify to be a gatekeeper. Even after he had merely flicked his finger and used a breeze to defeat Cursewind, they had not been impressed.
However, at this moment, all of them fell silent; Lu Yin had just defeated Hong Ying by flicking a finger. Could a Realmling do that?
Countless people across the universe watched Lu Yin in awe; he turned out to be much stronger than they had expected.
Bai Ling saw what had happened and threw a cautious eye to Lu Yin. Her voice rang out. “Everybody hide—don’t reveal who you are and just try to get past this checkpoint.”
She also felt threatened. Bai Ling was well aware of Hong Ying’s strength, and although Hong Ying was weaker than Bai Ling, she definitely could not defeat Hong Ying by flicking a single finger. The fact that Lu Yin could do so meant that he was much stronger than what they had assumed. Bai Ling did not want the Sixth Mainland’s cultivators to be singled out and eliminated by this gatekeeper.
