“Don’t be so naive. Once you reach a certain level of strength, race ceases to matter. Progenitor Wushang’s inheritance is something that both beasts and humans can obtain. You know, the moment any information about it spreads, the entire universe will be intrigued. I’m talking about the entire universe, including your Human Domain and even the Technocracy!” the Ghost Monkey exclaimed.
“Regardless of how tempting it is, for now, it really doesn’t interest me. On the other hand, I am quite curious about Yao Gu. Tell me more about him,” Lu Yin said.
The Ghost Monkey was surprised. “You’re interested in Yao Gu? Right, that Void Thunderbeast before had its sights on you, and it even said that you carried their aura. What did you do? Logically speaking, a human Melder shouldn’t have had any dealings with Yao Gu.”
Lu Yin’s tone grew chilly as he threatened, “If I order you to do something, then just do as I say. Listen up, your life is in my hands, so the moment you cease to have any value, I’ll destroy you without hesitation. Also, you’d better pray that I get strong, because if I die, you die as well.”
The Ghost Monkey could only meekly reply, “I know, I don’t need a reminder. You want to know about Yao Gu right? He’s a Void Thunderbeast, which is ranked third on the Celestial Beast List. He’s also a fully mature Void Thunderbeast. That’s all anyone knows, though any intelligent beast could have told you that.”
“What’s the Celestial Beast List?” Lu Yin was confused.
“The Astral Beast Domain has a terrifyingly powerful organization known as the Heavenly Fiend Empire. There was once a great scholar from the Celestial Beast Empire who went by the name of Skymender. He was a very mysterious beast. Nobody knew his true form, and the only aspect of his that was verified was that he could foresee the future by calculating the power of the universe. In some ways, he was quite similar to your Starsibyl.
He came up with the Celestial Beast List that ranks the top races in our Astral Beast Domain. Any species that is on that list will have tremendous fame throughout the Domain, and even the entire universe.” After a pause, the Ghost Monkey continued explaining, saying, “The Skymender List is similar to your Ten Arbiters; only the strongest beasts in the Astral Beast Domain’s younger generation can enter it. Yao Gu is on this list and is naturally someone who can fight against a Ten Arbiter on equal footing.”
Lu Yin now understood. The Skymender List was the astral beasts’ way of measuring their younger generation’s strength while motivating them at the same time. Large organizations, academies, and even the astral domains and territories; all of them had similar ranking lists. It was a fact that these rankings lists were very effective, to the point where even the Astral Beast Domain had copied the idea.
“By the way, there’s something else you need to know. Before you become an Explorer and are able to protect yourself, it’s best that you don’t stand out too much. Otherwise, you might end up on the Celestial Vanquisher’s List,” the Ghost Monkey suddenly said.
Lu Yin was baffled again. “The Celestial Vanquisher’s List?”
“Skymender once said that the entire universe shares a single sky. The beasts were given life with the power of the heavens. Thus, we astral beasts are the children of heaven, while you humans rebel against the heavens or even consider yourselves to be the heavens. That’s why you all are described as ‘celestial vanquishers.’ The word ‘celestial’ refers to humans, and the Celestial Vanquisher’s List is a list of the humans who pose the greatest threats to the astral beasts as a whole. Regardless of whether the people on the list are of the older or the younger generation, they’re all threats. Each and every beast will try to kill any human on the list even at the cost of their own lives. That means that the moment you are put on the Celestial Vanquisher’s List, you’ll have an endless number of enemies targeting you,” the Ghost Monkey explained.
Lu Yin pondered it over before asking, “Can Skymender really make such divinations?”
“Nobody knows for sure. It’s like the Starsibyl Sect of you humans. Just one sentence from the Starsibyl back then resulted in many people freezing and sealing themselves so that they could take full advantage of the coming change in the universe. This even included many beasts from the Astral Beast Domain, but nobody knows for sure whether or not it’s truly accurate.”
Lu Yin had heard of this before. A Starsibyl from many generations ago predicted that there would be a huge change within the universe in the future, and that single prophecy had led to many people freezing and sealing themselves, waiting for the huge change that she had spoken of. Many years had since passed, and her prophecy had ultimately come true, and the appearance of the Ten Arbiters was the best proof of it.
In the past, the younger generation had not been able to contend against the older generation no matter how hard they worked or how wondrous their innate gifts were. This was because cultivation was a steady accumulation that took time. However, when formcast models appeared, one’s cultivation time became greatly reduced. This was a huge change. The great power that the Ten Arbiters grasped was an indescribably huge change in the universe. These two matters were supposedly proof that the universe had undergone a huge change, but Lu Yin felt that it had merely been a coincidence. Could people actually predict the future?
Planet Conan’s command center had been completely destroyed during the battle, and only the war drums remained unharmed.
During this battle, Lu Yin had gained the respect of numerous people; war drummers had always held one of the most respected positions at the warfront. And that wasn’t even mentioning the fact that he’d also found the method of locating Sheng Aos, which had prevented countless losses. This achievement had even granted him the right to meet Shui Chuanxiao.
Within a warship, Lu Yin gazed up into space. During this last battle, five of the thirty seven planets on the right side of the defensive line had been destroyed. All of the troops on those planets had been sacrificed, and it was difficult to even calculate the number of deaths. It was devastating.
The brutality of the warfront was unimaginably cruel. Lu Yin now understood why his family and the pilot who had sent him here had all told him to be careful. Even with his great strength, he had still nearly died. If Mira hadn’t been there, then he would have been in grave danger.
Of the students who had come from the Astral Combat Academy, Tasha, Lanke, and Xue Liuyun had all died.
Xue Liuyun’s death was quite a surprise to Lu Yin. An academy student leader had casually died in such a cruel manner. Xue Liuyun had essentially died while taking down a few powerful astral beasts with him. This included the two Guais and a Sheng Ao. After the battle was over, the army had not been able to find Xue Liuyun’s body; all that remained of him was a puddle of blood. News of his death was sent to the Astral Combat Academy.
A Realm Master was able to look down upon everyone else in the Astral Combat Tournament, but they were so fragile here at the warfront. Perhaps only the Ten Arbiters could be assured in their own safety here.
“Hey, how did you get that beast skin?” the Ghost Monkey suddenly asked.
Lu Yin answered, “Call me Seventh Bro.”
“Seventh Bro? Do you have six other siblings?” the Ghost Monkey was slightly confused.
Lu Yin simply ignored him.
The Ghost Monkey could only change his form of address. “Fine, how did you get that beast skin, Seventh Bro?”
Lu Yin raised a hand and rubbed his cosmic ring. The Ghost Monkey quickly stopped him. “Don’t take it out! Please, don’t take it out!”
Lu Yin’s eyes flashed as he glanced at the adorable tattoo on his right arm. “Why not?”
“No matter what, you shouldn’t take it out. My life is in your hands now, and everything I do or say is for your own good,” the Ghost Monkey hastily said.
Lu Yin snorted derisively. “I’m going to take it out if you don’t tell me why.”
“Ugh, why are you so stubborn? Fine, I’ll tell you. At least then you will know what it means to obtain Progenitor Wushang’s inheritance. Do you know why this massive, decisive battle suddenly took place? It’s because of that beast skin,” the Ghost Monkey sternly said.
Lu Yin was surprised. “It was because of that?”
“Yes! I already told you that it’s related to Progenitor Wushang’s inheritance. The moment it’s taken out, anyone else who possesses a similar beast skin will be able to sense it. Yao Gu also has a beast skin like this. Why else do you think it appeared at the frontier? It’s looking for others like it. I’ve hid from it so many times and never revealed that skin. I only took it out to save myself because I didn’t have any other choice.
“It sensed the beast skin, which is why it started a decisive battle and continuously targeted Planet Conan.
“Do you finally realize how important this thing is? You shouldn’t take it out before you become a Hunter or else you’ll be in great danger! It doesn’t matter if you’re in the Astral Beast Domain or the Human Domain; after your strength reaches a certain level, race won’t matter anymore,” the Ghost Monkey explained.
Lu Yin slowly processed this new information. It seemed that he’d gotten ahold of something pretty incredible, but who had he stolen that beast skin from? It was a quite large piece, and the person who possessed it before him must be even stronger than Yao Gu.
With a sudden jolt, the spacecraft docked onto an ultra-large warship. This was the Erudite Flowzone’s border command center where Shui Chuanxiao stayed.
Ten minutes later, Lu Yin met the person who was known as the best strategic mind in human history: Shui Chuanxiao.
His appearance was nothing special, but he emanated an unforgettable demeanor. His aura contained some kind of unique charisma that could be seen in every action, and especially when he interacted with other people. Whether male or female, he could befriend everyone.
Charisma was oftentimes the determiner in who held the upper hand, and Shui Chuanxiao’s charisma was the kind that allowed him to handle anything with just one word.
“I’m Lu Yin, the war drummer from Planet Conan. It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Lu Yin politely greeted as he bowed.
Shui Chuanxiao nodded and smiled. “Lu Yin, eh. I knew that you were going to do well here as soon as I saw your battles in the Astral Combat Tournament, and you indeed didn’t let me down. There really are very few people who are able to beat the battle drums as a Melder.”
“Thank you for the praise, sir,” Lu Yin graciously responded.
Shui Chuanxiao made a sound of acknowledgement, “Anybody who makes a huge contribution in the frontier will be rewarded accordingly. This is a reward given to you by the entirety of humanity. Take a look and see what you’d like.” After saying this, Shui Chuanxiao motioned towards someone, and a screen flickered on. There was a whole variety of rewards displayed on it, including star essence, cultivation skills, battle techniques, gems, weapons, all kinds of authority, and even territories. At the bottom of all these rewards was something called honor points. Lu Yin could only get one point.
Lu Yin looked at it all in admiration. There were at least a hundred different possible rewards on the screen, and the sheer variety of choice had left him bewildered.
Shui Chuanxiao smiled at Lu Yin. He had seen many people reacting this same exact way multiple times before. Even that future member of the Ten Arbiters had reacted this way back then. Humanity gave the warfront an endless amount of resources, and as the commander of the frontier, Shui Chuanxiao was very generous with his rewards. From the get-go, Lu Yin’s contribution surpassed even what that person had done, and Lu Yin’s current options were only the basic ones. The commander was quite curious as to what Lu Yin would choose.
Lu Yin took a deep breath. He wanted to take everything, but that was obviously impossible.
“I’ve made my choice, sir. I’ll take this,” Lu Yin pointed at the bottom-most option that only contained three words: “Honor Points: One.”
Many people were surprised, and Shui Chuanxiao was similarly astonished. “This is what you want?”
Lu Yin nodded. “Yes. I would like the Honor Point.”
Shui Chuanxiao steeled himself and looked Lu Yin up and down. “Why?”
Lu Yin did not answer.
Shui Chuanxiao nodded even without an explanation. “Fine. Since you’ve made your decision, then it’s yours. En Ya, inform the Hall of Honor and add Lu Yin’s name. From now on, he is somebody who has an Honor Point.”
En Ya nodded and threw a curious glimpse at Lu Yin before she left and got to work.
Lu Yin stared at Shui Chuanxiao in confusion, wanting to ask something but not actually saying it.
Shui Chuanxiao gazed back at him. “One Honor Point isn’t difficult to obtain, but getting a second point is quite difficult. You’ve still got another month here, and you’ve just finished a battle. There won’t be another one anytime soon, so you won’t be gaining any more military contributions. In other words, you won’t be getting a second Honor Point here at the warfront.”
Lu Yin nodded. “I understand, sir.”
Some time later, En Ya reported back. “Lu Yin’s name has been added, sir. He now has an Honor Point to his name.”
