The number of strong contestants in this Astral Combat Tournament made the other strong organizations that had long held desires of taking over the Astral Academy feel a deep sense of despair. They had belatedly discovered that even the strongest of their younger generation was only at the level of a regular Area Master, and none of them had reached the current stage of this Astral Combat Tournament. This was the sad reality of the situation.
The most outstanding participants in this tournament weren’t monsters like Liu Shaoqiu who had only recently joined the academy, but rather, it was those from Astral-10. Ever since the director of Astral-10 had gone crazy a thousand years ago and nearly destroyed Astral-10, that branch of the Astral Combat Academy had lost its splendor. But now, three of the sixteen people who had reached the sixth round were from the previously fallen academy. This was simply a jaw-dropping result.
Even during the fifth round, a lot of students had started looking at the students of Astral-10 strangely, which frightened Coco so much that she had immediately left.
Silver smiled as he surveyed his surroundings. His unsettling grin made a shiver run down everyone’s spines.
Xia Luo’s expression was just as gentle as always, and he had even captured quite a few girls’ hearts during this tournament.
Up on the peak overlooking the fields, Lu Yin stood up. He wasn’t that tall, but he still managed to dominate the atmosphere. “I’ll see you all during the battles of the final sixteen.” After that, he disappeared.
Feng Shang stretched out lazily as he commented, “Did you hear that? He’s challenging us, haha.”
Nightqueen Yanqing narrowed her eyes. Although Lu Yin had shown that he had four-lined battle force, she still did not see him as someone who could truly rival her. At most, she felt a bit of caution towards him. The opponents who she was the most concerned about were Starsibyl and Han Chong.
The sixth round of the elimination battles would start after a day so that both the participants and spectators would have ample time to rest.
Lu Yin opened his eyes on the trial zone mountain and was immediately greeted by a crowd of surprised faces. “What’s wrong?”
“‘What’s wrong?’ What do you mean, ‘what’s wrong?!’ Dude, tell us if you have some secret way to train your battle force!” Big Pao exclaimed in an exaggerated manner. Everyone stared at Lu Yin with a curious expression.
Lu Yin nodded and simply replied, “Yup.”
Everyone was shocked. Was he being serious?
“What is it?” Big Pao asked.
Lu Yin smirked. “Die.”
Everyone rolled their eyes as they thought that Lu Yin was joking. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a joke. His hellish experience on Driftcharge Planet was what had allowed him to transform and reach his current state. When he used Arcane Art – Fatal Revival for the first time, it had dug out his huge potential and raised his battle force to three lines. He had only gained the fourth line after he used the technique for a second time. He had died, and that was a fact. Unfortunately, there was no way to safely replicate those experiences. He had suffered true deaths, and even Lu Yin had no idea how he’d managed to survive both times.
“You’ll need to protect me from now on, Brother Lu.” Coco drew close and looked up at Lu Yin with an adorable smile on her little face. Lu Yin burst into laughter and fondly patted her on the head.
Lulu raised her fist. “After I raise my battle force to four lines, let’s fight again.”
Off in the distance, Michelle looked at Lu Yin, the awe in her eyes yet to dissipate. She saw him in a completely different light from when she had first entered the academy. At that time, she had truly wanted to recommend that the academy be expelled, but now, she really did approve of Astral-10, especially after realizing that many of its students weren’t weak. Even the weakest students, Coco, Schutz, and the rest, were no weaker than the average student from the other academies, and that wasn’t even mentioning the mysterious Xia Luo, Silver, and the strongest of them all, Lu Yin.
Liu Xiaoyun walked down from the peak of the trial zone mountain, her presence shocking everyone.
“Why’s there another living person here?” Zora yelped in shock.
Liu Xiaoyun frowned as Zora’s phrasing hadn’t been very nice. She looked at Lu Yin and quietly said, “I apologize for looking down on you before.”
Lu Yin smiled. “It’s alright.”
Liu Xiaoyun then matter-of-factly said, “The trial zone mountains are the entrances to the trial zones. The higher you are on the mountain, the higher your position. I’ll let you have the peak.” After that, she quietly walked away.
Lu Yin casually glanced at the peak. It was high, but he didn’t really like it. It felt too arrogant to occupy that position, and it wasn’t time for such things yet. “Take the peak if you like it. Astral-10 doesn’t have any rules about stuff like this.”
Nobody here really cared about their appearances. Astral-10 only had fourteen students in total, so who cared about who sat at the top of the mountain?
Meanwhile, at the border of the Erudite Flowzone, Grand Marshal Shui Chuanxiao clasped his hands behind his back and looked out into space. Numerous planets had been lined up to form a net, and outside this line of defense was the Astral Beast Domain, where humans had difficulty stepping foot into. It was vast and mysterious.
“We only need to show two more battles. There’s no need to reveal all of our cards to the entire universe in one sitting. They’ll be the future heroes of the human race, and we don’t need them to get on the Heaven-Devouring List already,” Shui Chuanxiao said.
Behind him, an officer respectfully said, “I’ll let the Astral Combat Academy know right away, sir.”
“Wait.” Shui Chuanxiao suddenly turned towards the huge map and pointed at one of the lines of defense. “Who’s the guardian for this point?”
“He’s from Culture Flowzone’s Lost Radiance Academy, and his name is Qu Ao.”
“What about here?”
“The Beast Tamer Flowzone’s First Hall’s Sir Gloria.”
“What about here?”
…
As he studied the map, Shui Chuanxiao suddenly said, “Notify the Astral Combat Academy that all top sixteen participants are to come to the Human Domain border, with the final four being the groups’ leaders. They’ll be in charge of guarding our line of defense.”
The officer was shocked. “Sir, it’s way too dangerous out there. The academy won’t agree to this.”
Shui Chuanxiao snickered as he replied, “That’s a direct order from me. I don’t need their approval for this.”
“Yes, sir.”
“By the way, is there another powerhouse on the other side right now?”
The officer sternly answered, “Yes, Yao Gu. He’s a Void Thunderbeast who’s third on the Beast Region’s Heavenly Beast List.”
Shui Chuanxiao was shocked. “Yao Gu? You mean the one who got on the Skymender List and was able to fight evenly against Serati Phoenix of the Ten Arbiters?”
“Yes, sir.”
Shui Chuanxiao frowned. This was a troublesome matter, as Yao Gu was someone who was able to single handedly reverse the course of the entire war. “Inform the Ten Arbiters Council right away. We’ll need the Ten Arbiters for this as well. Let them know about Yao Gu.”
“Yes, sir,” the officer answered, but then he hesitated. “Since Yao Gu’s here, the borders will be even more dangerous. Those students…”
“Do as I said.”
“Yes, sir.”
…
Elsewhere in space, a spacecraft drew close to Astral-10. The people aboard had been ordered by a girl from the Daynight Family to deliver a cosmic ring to the leader of Astral-10, Lu Yin.
As it neared Astral-10, the spacecraft jolted before quickly steadying itself. The people inside did not mind this small disturbance, though nobody noticed that there was now another individual in their hold—someone very important as well.
The spacecraft successfully docked in Astral-10, and Little Pao came out to welcome them.
“Please tell the leader of the academy, Lu Yin, that Miss Zhao Daynight has asked us to return this cosmic ring to him,” a person courteously told Little Pao.
Little Pao accepted the ring and nodded, but just as he was about to respond, a figure suddenly appeared in the space station. It was the Rainmaster.
Little Pao was shocked. “Rainmaster?”
Nearby, Madam Nalan was able to see Rainmaster from her spacecraft.
The Rainmaster had a serious expression as he scanned the space station. A cold gleam suddenly appeared in his eyes. “I sense a familiar aura.”
As he spoke, the star energy within the space station started going crazy until the outline of a huge being rejecting the star energy could be seen. This activity made it impossible for him to hide, so he took a large step forwards, attempting to charge out into space, but it was all in vain.
The Rainmaster mockingly taunted, “Since you’re here, don’t leave, Void Thunderbeast.”
Void Thunderbeast? The rest were startled. They’d heard of this creature’s name before. It was the number three race on the Beast Region’s Heavenly Beast List. Each one was a powerful astral beast. Was this mysterious creature a Void Thunderbeast?
Roar!
An earth-shattering cry filled Astral-10. Sparks of electricity arced into the void, trying to destabilize space so as to carve out a path of escape. This was a Void Thunderbeast that had attained the power of a Cruiser.
The Rainmaster was not at all surprised; the reason why these beasts were ranked third was because every mature Void Thunderbeast would naturally gain the ability to traverse the universe without a spacecraft. It was a very powerful race. “Stay here.”
“You can’t make me stay here, human!” the Void Thunderbeast exclaimed furiously. A bolt of lightning zigzagged through the air, and the beast disdainfully glared at Astral-10 before charging into the void.
This was a Void Thunderbeast’s survival method, which made them quite difficult to kill. For example, even though this beast was merely a Cruiser, he had mysterious escape methods that even a Hunter could not stop.
But the Rainmaster suddenly raised his hand and tapped the space before him. The void distorted as the previous tear reappeared once more. Then, a shower of blood and a huge beast in a pitiful state suddenly emerged from nowhere. This was the true form of the Void Thunderbeast.
The Void Thunderbeast was bewildered. “That’s impossible! This is just a human academy and the worst one out of them all at that! How can Astral-10 possibly force me to use my true strength? This is impossible!”
“Don’t kid yourself. Even your ancestors don’t have the guts to come to Astral-10. How dare you?!” Rainmaster exclaimed.
The Void Thunderbeast trembled as he realized something, “You’re an Enlighter! A human Enlighter! No! I don’t want to die! Yao Gu is my master! You can’t kill me! I’m just searching for something that he lost at his request. Please don’t kill me…”
Boom!
The Void Thunderbeast exploded without receiving a response, and his huge body disappeared into space.
Little Pao, Madam Nalan, and the rest all looked on in shock. This was a battle that they could not understand at all. Everything had taken place in the void, which was an alien environment they could not comprehend at all. The beast had died so quickly, and the Rainmaster hadn’t even asked him anything.
Little Pao had never seen the Rainmaster with such a grim look before.
Madam Nalan looked at the Rainmaster gravely. At some point, everyone had assumed that Astral-10 was a just regular academy and that the mentors who had stayed behind were nothing more than Hunters. Now, however, the Rainmaster had displayed a strength that definitely superseded that of a mere Hunter. Right before his death, the Void Thunderbeast had said that this man was an Enlighter. That meant that the mentor was an Enlighter, which was an entire realm above Hunter.
Why was there an Enlighter in an academy that had been chased out of the Innerverse? Could the rumors be true? After the director had gone crazy a thousand years ago, had Astral-10 actually been turned into a prison?
The Rainmaster watched the twisting void settle down as he regained his calmness. He turned towards Little Pao and then left without saying a word.
Little Pao let out a pent up breath. That was terrifying! That power, which was able to destroy the void with just a tap of the finger, was horrifying.
That Void Thunderbeast had been pretty unlucky as well. He had been ordered to look for the bank card that Yao Gu had lost, but he had just ended up being killed for its efforts.
The bank card itself wasn’t all that important, but its owner’s identity was. Yao Gu was the one who had lost it, and he was an Astral Beast powerhouse comparable to the Ten Arbiters of the Human Domain. Thus, someone who could steal his bank card without him noticing had to be more than they seemed. Yao Gu had initially just wanted this Void Thunderbeast to investigate in secret, but his lackey had underestimated Astral-10 and tried to barge straight in, resulting in his very pitiful death.
Within the Human Domain, there were very few who were able to kill a Cruiser realm Void Thunderbeast. It was just this beast’s rotten luck that he’d run into one.
Not long after, Lu Yin excitedly accepted the cosmic ring from Little Pao; he never thought that he’d be able to get it back.
“Apparently, a woman from the Daynight clan got someone to send it to you,” Little Pao said.
Lu Yin grunted in acknowledgement. “Thanks, LIttle Pao.”
Little Pao nodded and then went back to get some rest.
