Xia Meng stood in outer space as he looked down at Astral-10. The massive, once battleship that had a glorious history had been reduced to being nothing more than an academy.
Xia Jiuyou entered Astral-10 while Xia Meng stood guard outside.
Inside Astral-10, someone had already started watching Xia Jiuyou.
Xia Jiuyou entered Astral-10, but he did not meet with any of the mentors. Instead, he immediately grabbed a student and sent them to find Xia Luo.
“Teacher Xia Luo? He’s not easy to find. He’s from the legendary class, and he’s not actually one of Astral-10’s mentors. Thus, he only gives guidance when he feels like it and he can’t be found in any specific area,” the student explained.
Xia Jiuyou smiled and said, “Then do you know where he can usually be found? My name is Xia He, and I’m Xia Luo’s brother.”
The student thought for a moment. “Maybe in the ruins. Over the past two weeks, Teacher Xia Luo has been frequently going to the ruins, though I don’t know what he’s been going there for.”
Xia He thanked the student and turned towards the ruins. Ruins? This is even better than expected. Now, there won’t be anyone to bother us.
Xia Jiuyou moved out.
Astral-10 had once been destroyed by the crazy headmaster. The ruins were just one part of the battleship’s deck. Every broken plank was no different from a mountain, each one forever burning and emitting a scorched smell.
Xia Jiuyou approached the ruins step by step, occasionally passing by a few students. He simply avoided the students and continued on his way.
A day passed, and the flames grew larger and larger until there was a sea of fire in all directions. This place was far too deep in the ruins for Astral-10’s students, as the heat of the flames was unendurably dangerous for them.
Xia Jiuyou raised a hand, and his star energy transformed into a stream of air that spread out in all directions. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he looked to his left—he had felt a fluctuation of star energy in that direction.
Before long, someone passed by outside of the flames. Xia Jiuyou looked at that person, and his eyes lit up. It was Xia Luo.
When Xia Luo saw Xia Jiuyou within the flames, his expression changed drastically. “Why are you here at Astral-10?”
Xia Jiuyou’s mouth stretched up into a smile, but his eyes were aggressive. “It was very hard to find you, but let’s see who can help you this time.”
Xia Luo turned and fled without saying another word.
Xia Jiuyou raised a hand and attacked with a Yōu Reinforced Palm. The attack burst through the sea of fire and froze a large area. Then, Xia Jiuyou’s innate gift of echo caused a second Yōu Reinforced Palm to appear that blocked Xia Luo’s path, but Xia Luo quickly evaded that attack.
“Xia Luo, you can’t escape, as you’re destined to merge with me! After all, you were originally split off from me!” Xia Jiuyou shouted as the star energy over his hand formed a knife. Then, he lifted a hand to unleash the Xia family’s Triple Blade Will.
During ZENITH, the manner in which the summoned Progenitor Chen had used the Triple Blade Will had inspired Xia Jiuyou into improving his use of the technique himself. He had actually managed to condense the aura of the technique, and while this did not increase the power of his attacks, the Triple Blade Will was no longer a technique that had a limited number of uses.
The closer he came to Xia Luo, the stronger Xia Jiuyou’s blade became.
Xia Luo felt death quickly approaching him. Xia Jiuyou’s Yōu Reinforced Palm reappeared in front of Xia Luo, and he raised a hand to dissolve the attack’s star energy, but a knife suddenly appeared behind him and sliced at him. Xia Luo collapsed to the ground.
The terrifying shockwave tore through the sea of fire and shredded the ground.
A group of more than a dozen students cautiously approached the edge of the sea of fire. They had used various items to protect themselves from the flames in order to explore the ruins.
Any student that joined Astral-10 wanted to explore the ruins and find ancient treasures. This group had made it the furthest in, and among them was the girl, Xiao Xuan.
“Will we burn to death? Teacher said that this place is very dangerous.” Xiao Xuan was afraid, and her face was very pale despite being baked by the roasting heat of the flames. She looked incredibly white.
A boy next to her whispered, “What are you afraid of? Teacher Xia Luo should be close by, and these flames are spreading so slowly that they can’t even hurt us.”
“That’s right, Xiao Xuan, don’t be afraid. I heard that this place used to house all of Astral-10’s ancient battle techniques. If we find any copies, we can take them.”
Xiao Xuan muttered to herself, “I don’t know if the Legendary Ones ever came here to look for things.”
“They must have. That year, there was Arbiter Lu, Lulu Mavis, and Teacher Xia Luo,” the male student commented.
Suddenly, the flames were blown apart, and a terrifying power tore through the void and erupted behind several of the students. They turned out to be incredibly lucky because the force of this shockwave had been enough to wipe all of them all out.
After they stared at the cracks in the ground for a moment and the spatial tears that had yet to recover, the students turned to look at where the attack had come from in a sluggish and terrified manner. They instantly saw Xia Jiuyou’s sharp and icy eyes, as well as Xia Luo.
“Teacher Xia Luo!” Xiao Xuan could not stop herself from shouting, though her mouth was immediately covered by her classmates who were next to her. The entire group stared into the distance.
Xia Luo evaded a blade and saw the students off in the distance. Xia Jiuyou also saw them, but continued to raise his blade and then brought it down. “Xia Luo, don’t resist.”
Xia Luo shouted, “Stop!” and he walked forward to meet the blade.
Xia Jiuyou sneered, “Stupid.”
As he spoke, he flipped his blade around and used the back of the blade to strike Xia Luo’s forehead.
Xia Jiuyou landed on the ground and looked down at Xia Luo, who had already passed out. “As soft-hearted as a little girl.”
He then reached down with a hand, and Xia Luo’s body slowly became transparent before gradually disappearing.
Xia Jiuyou’s eyes were filled with ecstasy; he had succeeded and had finally absorbed Xia Luo! A surge of power erupted from Xia Jiuyou’s body, and he tipped back his head and roared. Suddenly, everything he saw changed. By mastering how to condense the Triple Blade Will, he had achieved the same level of attack power as Progenitor Chen had shown during ZENITH.
After absorbing Xia Luo, both Xia Jiuyou’s battle strength and control of star energy had risen an entire level, and even more importantly, he had gained one more life. Only with this level of strength would he stand a chance at fighting for the upcoming opportunity, and he had to win that chance.
No matter who he faced, Lu Yin, Wang Yi, Shang Qing, or Wu Taibai, no one could stop Xia Jiuyou.
He had an even grander plan hidden deep in his heart, and it was a plan that could only be carried out by cultivating the Nine Clones Secret Technique.
Finally, everything was perfect.
Just as Xia Jiuyou was ready to leave, the flames in front of him changed. They suddenly transformed into a ghost-like Xia Luo who charged at Xia Jiuyou.
Xia Jiuyou’s expression changed dramatically. “You? What’s going on? You should be gone.”
The flames twisted, and then changed from Xia Luo to Lu Yin, then to Shang Qing, Wu Taibai. They transformed into Xia Jiuyou’s enemies, old friends, and even his relatives.
Xia Jiuyou’s face went pale and his breathing grew unsteady. What had just happened? What was going on?
There was a bang, and Xia Jiuyou felt like his brain was struck. He started bleeding from his seven orifices, and the massive shock caused his vision to blur. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, and he could not stop himself from spitting out a mouthful of blood as his body slammed down into the flames.
No, this is all an illusion, Lu Yin! Xia Jiuyou’s eyes opened up. “Lu Yin, I know it’s you!”
The first person to pop into his mind was Lu Yin, as only Lu Yin would cooperate with Xia Luo to ambush Xia Jiuyou while he was in Astral-10 and also had the ability to force Xia Jiuyou into an illusion.
Outside of Astral-10, the same moment Xia Jiuyou was injured, Xia Meng’s eyes went wide, and she moved out and tried to enter Astral-10.
However, there were invisible forces that isolated Astral-10, and there were also the academy’s mentors. The Sandmaster, the Rainmaster, the Starmaster, and Old Cai all appeared one by one.
Xia Meng’s body trembled as she looked at the people before her. “You’re looking to die! You actually dare to act against my Xia family?”
The Trialmaster raised his hand, and the Channeling Diagram appeared in front of the mentors.
It dispersed the power of Xia Meng’s attack, but she had a power level of more than 900,000. Even if the Trialmaster was able to disperse the attack a bit, it was not enough to stop the attack completely. All of the mentors worked together, only to still be injured by Xia Meng’s attack. “Out of my way!”
At this moment, a frantic laughter arose from within the academy. “You provoked the war! Hahahaha! You provoked the war, and you’ll suffer the consequences all by your own, hahahaha! Suffer the consequences…”
Xia Meng’s expression changed. This insane voice shot through her mind like a sharp blade and gave her a splitting headache. “Astral-10’s mad headmaster.”
The mentors looked at each other and then returned to Astral-10.
Xia Meng gritted her teeth and rushed towards Astral-10 once more. Down below, in the Rain Observatory, the crazy headmaster sensed something. He raised his head, once again completely mad.
“War, war—,” he shouted. He did not know what he was doing. He went from watching the rain from a platform, into space. The void changed in his passing, and space looked completely different, as though a different layer of the universe had been revealed.
An incomparable attack appeared in Xia Meng’s vision.
Xia Meng roared, “You old madman!”
She raised her hand, and there was a bang.
Fluctuations of invisible energy spread from Astral-10, sweeping out in all directions. At this moment, all of Erudite Flowzone trembled, and the tributary astral rivers were all pushed back.
All of the cultivators on the Wen family’s homeworld felt shocked when they sensed this terrifying power.
The Wen patriarch, Wen Zizai, dropped the broom he had been holding. The power he was sensing had completely erased his mood to sweep. He went pale and turned to look towards Astral-10. What had happened?
In the ruins of Astral-10, outside of the flames, Xiao Xuan and others all saw a strange sight.
They had first had a blade attack brush by them, and then they had seen the man who called himself Xia He attack Xia Luo. He had then gone still before starting to laugh maniacally, sounding just like the crazy headmaster. They had no idea where the attack had come from that had struck the crazed man, but then he had shouted out ‘Lu Yin.’
Lu Yin was a legend for the students of Astral-10. He was the reason that Astral-10 had managed to escape its period of decline and enter a time of prosperity. This place had once been known as the first of the ten branches of the Astral Combat Academy, and all of the student had joined Astral-10 because of Lu Yin.
Arbiter Lu Yin, are you here?
Xia Jiuyou was smashed into the flames by Lu Yin’s Vacuum Palm. He vomited up blood, feeling agony throughout his internal organs. However, he had also escaped the illusion, but then his vision went black once again. Night Advent had fallen.
Xia Jiuyou’s pupils shrank sharply, and he rushed forward, trying to escape Lu Yin’s spiritual force attack. Xia Jiuyou’s spiritual force could not compare to Lu Yin’s.
It was easy to escape Night Advent, and Xia Jiuyou leaped out of the flames. There was blood dripping from his mouth. He saw the students who were watching from a distance, and his eyes flashed with a fierce light as he raised a hand to grab for one of them.
He easily grabbed a girl by her neck. “Lu Yin, I’ll kill her if you attack again!”
“Who are you going to kill?” A familiar voice spoke from in front of Xia Jiuyou, and he looked at the girl, only to see that she had become his father, Xia Yi.
Xia Jiuyou’s scalp went numb. This was not good! He was in another illusion.
There was another bang, and a sharp pain erupted from his head. Lu Yin’s Vacuum Palm had landed square on Xia Jiuyou’s head and Xis Jiuyou’s feebly let go of his grip. His pupils dilated, and his vision blurred and started to grow dark. He could no longer tell the difference between reality and illusion.
The gap was too big. Xia Jiuyou was never even able to see Lu Yin, and he had been on the back foot throughout their entire exchange.
