Many others had the same thought as Nan Yanfei. Nobody wanted to suffer the same fate as Little Arrow Saint, who had been left either dead or crippled.
Xia Luo rushed past the group of competitors and approached Lu Yin.
Lu Yin did not move when he saw Xia Luo.
Xia Luo brushed past Lu Yin. “Later.”
Lu Yin smiled. “I hope that you can make it past Shang Qing’s checkpoint.”
Xia Luo smiled and continued on his way.
Ling Que was right behind Xia Luo. He had kept a low profile up until this point, which was very surprising considering his personality. However, he had no choice in the matter, as all of the participants in ZENITH were powerhouses. Even the Ten Arbiters were among his competitors, so he had no choice but to keep a low profile.
Ling Que approached Lu Yin, and Lu Yin looked at him.
Ling Que suddenly panicked. “Bro- Brother, you’re not going to attack me, right? Can I offer you my cheerleaders?”
His cheerleaders? Lu Yin remembered those girls and felt disgusted. He turned to look somewhere else.
Ling Que continued on his way and sighed. “Oh, right. I heard a conversation between my matriarch and Ling Gong. She wondered if Ling Gong would be willing to marry you. Congrats, haha!”
Ling Que then fled.
Lu Yin was stunned. Marry him? Ling Gong?
He still remembered the woman that he had seen in the Daosource Sect’s ruins with the adorable face. She was stubborn, proud, and assertive, but she had also helped him multiple times.
Lu Yin smirked and shook his head. Why was he thinking about such things right now?
After seeing Xia Luo and Ling Que make it past Lu Yin, the other competitors felt a bit more hope.
“He can’t stop everyone, and at best, he can only stop half of us. Let’s just rush him, and maybe we’ll make it past,” a person spoke softly to the girl next to him.
The girl was frightened. “But he looks so scary! Look at that arrow guy—he was badly hurt and even became older. Is the gatekeeper’s attack related to time? I don’t want to get old! I’m not going to participate anymore! You go ahead.”
The man gulped. “I don’t think that’s the case. He’s probably just badly injured, which is why he looks older.”
The girl shook her head with firm determination. “I’m not going! You can go by yourself. Anyway, I just came to try my luck. Do you really want to fight him? You could die.”
The man was torn—should he stay or leave? Stay or leave? That was the all-important question.
Regardless of what decision the man made, the girl had already left the mountain, and many of the other girls who had been on the eastern face of Zenith Mountain forfeited the competition as well.
Most women were very concerned about their appearances, and after seeing how much Little Arrow Saint had aged, many of them thought that it was because of Lu Yin’s move, and so they did not dare remain in ZENITH any longer. If they tried to continue through the mountain pass, their fate would be up to Lu Yin, and they did not want to sacrifice their physiques.
A tremendous number of people left Zenith Mountain because of their fear of Lu Yin.
On the other hand, the fact that Xia Luo and Ling Que had both made it through the pass excited other people.
Nan Yanfei gulped and steeled himself. He no longer cared—he would try to make it past the checkpoint, and in the worst case scenario, he would just forfeit the competition. He was a Realmling, and everyone from the Sixth Mainland was watching him. People would see him as a coward if he did not at least try, and he did not want that to happen.
He did not want to humiliate himself.
He gritted his teeth and rushed towards the mountain pass.
On the western side of Zenith Mountain, the Sixth Mainland elders carefully watched a screen. They were worried that Lu Yin would specifically target the youths from the Sixth Mainland, and that would create a great deal of trouble for them. Since Little Arrow Saint had already been defeated by a single palm, none of the Sixth Mainland’s youths on the eastern side of the mountain were capable of defeating Lu Yin. Whether or not they would be able to proceed past the checkpoint depended on Nan Yanfei.
A Nong family elder, Nong Laohan, was the most anxious person present. Nan Yanfei was the Blood Homage Realm’s Realmling, and the Nong family naturally belonged to the Blood Homage Realm. If Nan Yanfei succeeded, then Nong Zaitian would also be able to proceed through the mountain pass. Then, there was a chance that Nan Yanfei would be able to take care of Nong Zaitian during the latter portion of ZENITH.
In the western region of Chaos Flowzone, many of the Sixth Mainland’s cultivators anxiously watched the competition. They had been angry and frightened when they saw what had happened to Little Arrow Saint. So, everyone clenched their fists when they saw Nan Yanfei rushing towards the checkpoint. They all hoped that he would not end up like Little Arrow Saint.
In the eastern pass, Lu Yin’s brows rose when he saw Nan Yanfei.
Nan Yanfei grew increasingly nervous when he saw Lu Yin arch a brow. The Realmling instinctively slowed down, but then he remembered that everyone was watching him. He had no choice but to keep moving forward. He met Lu Yin’s eyes and tried to look as friendly as possible, even squeezing out a smile to make himself look harmless.
Lu Yin was amused. He had not planned on attacking Nan Yanfei. There were many different things to consider given the fact that the Outerverse would soon belong to the Sixth Mainland.
Nan Yanfei was not Little Arrow Saint. Lu Yin had a grudge with Little Arrow Saint, but he did not particularly care about Nan Yanfei. Shang Qing could just deal with him later!
Lu Yin turned to look elsewhere.
Nan Yanfei was overjoyed; Lu Yin’s reaction clearly showed that he would not attack.
Nan Yanfei immediately sped up and rushed past Lu Yin. “Thank you.”
Lu Yin’s eyes flashed; it was too early for Nan Yanfei to offer thanks. Lu Yin was merely planning for the future.
The Sixth Mainland grew excited when they saw that Nan Yanfei had succeeded. They all felt that it was a miracle that Lu Yin had not attacked.
Many of the people from the Fifth Mainland’s Innerverse were confused; why hadn’t Lu Yin attacked? However, they also could not blame Lu Yin, as it was entirely his decision whether or not to block someone from proceeding up the mountain. They could not simply rely on Lu Yin to eliminate all of the Sixth Mainland’s participants.
People in different positions naturally had different things to consider.
If Lu Yin were just a normal cultivator, then he could happily target everyone from the Sixth Mainland without any further thought. However, he was the Alliance Leader of the Great Eastern Alliance, and he held even greater ambitions for the future. Although the Hall of Honor had allowed the Sixth Mainland to take over the Outerverse, it did not mean that they did not care about the Outerverse at all. They simply had their own considerations while Lu Yin had his own concerns.
Given his difference, Lu Yin’s concerns were much different from those of the Hall of Honor. His initial goal had just been the Innerverse, but he had recently felt that he should harbor an even more ambitious goal.
No matter what, he still held a grudge against the Sixth Mainland for their invasion, and he would never forget that.
Nan Yanfei’s thanks had been offered way too early.
After seeing Nan Yanfei, Xia Luo, and Ling Que clear the checkpoint, many people grew hopeful. Was Lu Yin perhaps not a ruthless person after all? Was it possible that he had only attacked Little Arrow Saint because they were enemies?
Some of the people who had left the mountain returned after seeing these few successes, as they felt that they still had a chance to continue onto the later stages of ZENITH.
Apart from the challenging terrain of the mountain and the bizarre weather phenomenon, the greatest challenge when climbing the mountain were other participants.
There were millions of people climbing the mountain at this time, and they were forced together in order to funnel through a mountain pass that had a limited size.
Once the competitors began crowding together, there was a higher chance of fights breaking out.
Yuhua Mavis and the others had been the first group to pass through the checkpoint, which was because of their strength. Liu Tianmu, Unseen Light, Bai Ling, Xin Nü, and a few others had also been part of the first group. As long as no competitors at the same level tried to hold them back, they were all capable of quickly reaching the first checkpoint.
After the first group cleared the checkpoints, it was time for the other competitors.
After Lu Yin allowed Nan Yanfei to clear the mountain pass, many people grew more hopeful, and some of the people who had thought about leaving ZENITH gained renewed confidence. They had initially wanted to give it a try, but they felt that they would only have a chance to do so after the first group of contestants made it past the first checkpoint, as these weaker people did not want to be caught up in the battles of these powerhouses.
This was especially true regarding the battle between Liu Tianmu and Xin Nü. The clashing of the two women’s swords had forced many people out of the competition. Nobody dared to go near them.
Also, the battle between Bai Ling and Unseen Light had enveloped a huge area, and every attack that they threw out affected tens of thousands of people, forcing many of them to abandon the competition.
Most people were just waiting for the four powerhouses to pass through the first checkpoint.
In his mountain pass, Lu Yin saw a black and a white silhouette rushing towards him.
He smiled. The twins had been hiding the entire time, but they were finally showing themselves.
Black and White were very smart, and they had hidden themselves as soon as Bai Ling had started fighting against Unseen Light. There were too many powerhouses participating in ZENITH, and the twins had not wanted to be targeted down.
After the various fights had slightly calmed down, they both immediately rushed towards Lu Yin and stopped right in front of him.
Lu Yin looked at both of them with a smile on his face. “Why are you two suddenly being so well behaved?”
White panted heavily as she glared at Lu Yin. “That’s because of Senior Shenwei! He kept scaring us. So annoying!”
Black looked at Lu Yin and informed him, “If Shang Qing stops us, you have to help.”
“How am I supposed to help you?” Lu Yin asked.
White retorted, “Stupid! You can attack the people below you, so why can’t you also attack Shang Qing?”
Black laughed. “Don’t tell me that you’re scared.”
Lu Yin straightened up. “You’re just teasing me. Why would I be scared? Just go for it, and I’ll keep an eye on you two.”
Black and White looked at each other sneakily. “Bye!”
“Let’s go.”
Lu Yin grinned as he watched them move past him. Shang Qing definitely would not target the two since the five passes only needed to eliminate half of the competitors. The two girls were quite powerful when they worked together, and they could even annoy Ku Lei. If Shang Qing eliminated the two, then it would mean that he was targeting Eversky Island, which would create a great deal of friction.
The twins had no need to worry about Shang Qing at all.
Lu Yin looked around the mountain’s eastern face and settled his gaze onto Tong Zhan.
Lu Yin was surprised to see Tong Zhan among the competitors on the eastern side. Lu Yin had crippled Tong Zhan, and he was stunned to see that the youth had actually recovered, though, unfortunately, Tong Zhan had not managed to increase his strength at all.
As Lu Yin looked at Tong Zhan, Tong Zhan paused and met Lu Yin’s gaze with a murderous eyes. Tong Zhan was certain that nobody from the Sixth Mainland hated Lu Yin more than he did, and he wanted to fight against Lu Yin just once, even if it meant his own death.
Tong Zhan had already seen Little Arrow Saint’s fate and was fully aware that he stood no chance of defeating Lu Yin. However, Tong Zhan was already a cripple who would never improve beyond his current level of strength. The Tong family had already given up on him, and his only wish was to fight to the death with Lu Yin.
Lu Yin simply ignored Tong Zhan and checked the rune lines of the various competitors strewn about the eastern face of the mountain. The person with the most runes was Unseen Light, but the Arbiter made no attempt to move past the checkpoint since he was keeping a close eye on Bai Ling. He had been constantly suppressing Bai Ling, as her innate gift was capable of eliminating everyone else on the eastern side.
Bai Ling did not continue her attacks and instead rushed towards the checkpoint. She kept a careful watch on Lu Yin; would he stop her?
Lu Yin did not stop her and simply allowed her through the pass, which caused many cultivators from the Sixth Mainland to heave sighs of relief.
