Tian Hou slightly raised his body when he saw Starsibyl appear. This woman was his only opponent in this tournament.
On the west side, the Technocracy’s Yun glanced at Starsibyl. This woman had given her a very strange feeling, and she felt strangely hateful towards her.
Starsibyl’s opponent was Yar Pater, a competitor from the Technocracy. It was not a humanoid, but rather a wolf-shaped machine that followed closely beside Yun, like a docile pet.
Many spectators became angry when they realized that Starsibyl’s opponent was actually only that arrogant woman’s pet; they could not accept such a match.
Yun sneered coldly. These people don’t even deserve to be called pets.
Starsibyl showed no such reaction and only silently observed the wolf-shaped Yar Pater before taking action. She suddenly shifted to her left, and sharp claws bore through where she had been standing just moments earlier. The void collapsed, and a second Yar Pater appeared after boring through it. Only then did the original Yar Pater gradually vanish.
This was an extreme speed that surpassed even Hua Yishou’s, and it shocked a large portion of the audience members as they had completely missed the wolf’s movements.
Lu Yin’s heart also skipped a beat upon seeing such speed, but what was even more staggering was Starsibyl, as she had actually dodged the mechanical wolf’s attack. No, that was incorrect. She had not dodged the attack, but rather, she had stepped away in advance. How did she do that?
Lu Yin was not the only one astounded, as many others were similarly perplexed at how Starsibyl had been able to avoid Yar Pater’s attack that had been launched at such incredible speeds.
Yar Patar’s first strike missed, and it immediately turned around to attack again. But before it could move, lightning flickered around its body, followed immediately by an explosion. Its body then vanished from the Lifeseek Realm.
The audience fell completely silent, and this even included the spectators watching on the screens throughout the universe, such as those on Zenyu Star, East San Dios, the various powers of the Innerverse, Sword Sect, etc. They were all shocked that Yar Patar had been defeated so inexplicably, as no one had even seen Starsibyl attack. But if she hadn’t attacked, then how had the mechanical wolf been defeated?
Yun had a solemn face, and her expression quickly changed as she stared at Starsibyl. She seemed to be deep in thought about something.
Tian Hou stepped forward and raised his body. “The power of divination, to take action before the attack. This is the Starsibyl Sect.”
Everyone was completely astounded by Starsibyl’s showing, including Lu Yin.
He had never believed in this so-called “divination,” but there was no other explanation for Starsibyl’s movements at this moment. Yar Patar’s speed had been so fast that not even Lu Yin had been able to discern the wolf’s movements at that moment. If Lu Yin had been in that battle, then he would have had to forcefully receive the attack, but Starsibyl had managed to sidestep it as it came out. What could it be besides divination? And Lu Yin had not even been able to see the attack that had defeated her opponent, which was just like what had happened during the Astral Combat Tournament battle from before. This woman always won in an incomprehensible manner, and it was very astounding every time.
“Fifth match. Victor: Starsibyl.”
Many were taken aback again. Starsibyl? She’s Starsibyl? It wasn’t just the foreign participants in the tournament; even many students of the Astral Combat Academy had not realized that this girl was Starsibyl.
Disregarding the audience’s shock, Starsibyl walked out from the battlefield and smiled gently at Lu Yin. Her gaze was clearly tender, but Lu Yin only felt his back turn cold. Divination was such a mysterious and unfathomable ability. Could it really exist? But then how had she attacked? Even with his current comprehension of his domain, he had not been able to see it at all. He would have to also activate the Cosmic Art and use Giant Emperor’s third eye to even have a chance of observing it. How would he fight against her if he had been in Yar Patar’s place?
Many were thinking this same question; how could they fight against Starsibyl? How could they defend? There was no answer!
While everyone was still lost in their shock, the next battle had already begun. It was the Cosmic Sea expert, Zi Jun, facing off against the Astral Beast Domain’s Embermane.
As for Embermane, this sable was not unknown to the students from Astral-7. Not only had he defeated Dai Ao, but he had also defeated Astral-7’s student leader Liu Xiaoyun, dazzling all of Astral-7.
Meanwhile, although someone like Zi Jun seemed normal, no one understood her identity or strength besides the fact that she clearly represented the Cosmic Sea.
The original two who were going to represent the Cosmic Sea in the Tournament of the Strongest had both withdrawn. Zi Jun and Liu Shaoqiu had appeared afterwards.
From the audience’s perspective, despite Zi Jun being an unknown power, she should not be a match for Embermane, as the sable had easily defeated Liu Xiaoyun. However, the battle ended up exceeding their expectations, and Zi Jun easily dealt with Embermane’s inferno that could burn everything.
Lu Yin felt puzzled when he saw Zi Jun’s familiar-looking movement, which seemed to be something one learned after living in the Cosmic Sea all year round. Silus, the previous competitor from the Cosmic Sea, had also used the same technique. Was this woman really from the Cosmic Sea as well?
The most upset person at this moment was Embermane, as he had believed that his blazes would burn everything down and could even ignite the void. However, every time he attacked this woman, a green radiance would stop him in his tracks. It was very perplexing, but he could not break through the strange radiance no matter what he tried.
Whoosh!
Embermane’s tail fiercely swung out towards Zi Jun, as he was trying out a different attack pattern.
In his previous battle against Dai Ao, Embermane’s tail had sent Dai Ao stumbling in retreat. But against Zi Jun, his tail could not even make her move. The shockwaves from their collisions rippled out, tearing the ground to pieces and scattering the clouds. Zi Jun’s hands were covered with a green aura, and they moved in an odd manner only to slam against Embermane’s body, causing him to be swatted away.
Embermane adjusted himself in midair while an incomparably scorching heat wave filled the void. Countless glittering sparks filled the air, as if another sun had appeared in the sky.
Many students felt defenseless; first, they had witnessed freezing cold, and now, they were experiencing unbearable heat, neither of which the audience members could resist. These competitors were all Limiteers who had reached the peak of strength within their realm, and their battles were terrifying beyond belief to the regular students.
Flames flashed across Embermane’s eyes before he opened his mouth to release a strand of fire that tore through the void as it shot straight at Zi Jun.
From afar, Liu Xiaoyun’s heart skipped a beat. This was the firestorm attack that had melted her sword, burned her battle technique away, and nearly burned her to ashes as well.
In another area of the crowd, Jared’s breath was also snatched away. How is this possible? This inferno could not be any more familiar to him, as this was the conflagration that was unleashed from the inherited battle technique, the Karmic Flame Sword. Why did this fire sable have this flame?
Zi Jun’s face changed slightly when she saw these extreme flames that could burn everything heading towards her, and seemed to be a bit surprised. Her right foot took a step forward as the dark green radiance extended from her entire body and dispersed the heat. The next moment, everyone felt a groundbreaking change as the entire battlefield was transformed into dark-green jade.
Starsibyl, Lu Yin, Tian Hou, and the others were all stunned, as well as many of the spectating powerhouses like Liu Xiaoyun and Kuang Wang, whose faces all quickly drained of color. This was a forcefield, and it was something that could only be displayed after one’s comprehension into their domain reached such a high degree that they could change the natural environment to better suit themselves at will. The fact that Zi Jun had a forcefield was proof that this woman was currently the most outstanding domain user in this competition.
Many powers similarly stared at the screen in shock. It was terrifying that a Limiteer had unleashed their own forcefield.
From the movements of a single hand, Embermane’s flames were solidified and then transformed into jade. They fell to the ground, appearing quite lifelike, almost as if they were a sealed sourcebox.
All of the onlookers were stunned and speechless as they stared at the battlefield.
Embermane’s pupils shrank as he could only look on in horror. His flames had been solidified into jade, and even though he could not exhibit the true power of his flames with the strength of a Limiteer, his flames still should not have been able to affected that easily. While still frozen with shock, he was enveloped by a jade finger. Embermane could no longer think of anything else, as he had also been turned into jade.
This was an innate gift that could turn everything into jade, and it showed off Zi Jun’s strength; she was able to release her own forcefield to change the environment around her. She was also the only one to date who had achieved such a thing at the Limiteer realm. She had greatly surpassed the domains of all the other competitors that had been displayed during the Astral Combat Tournament.
“Sixth match. Victor: Zi Jun.”
Zi Jun calmly stood within the battlefield and raised her head to scan across everyone present. “I’m Zi Jun of the Longevity Brigade of the Cosmic Sea.”
Countless people were astonished once again, as “great regiment” referred to one of the Four Pirate Crews of the Cosmic Sea. The unparalleled Four Pirate Crews were the four strongest regiments, and the great Longevity Brigade was one of them.
Lu Yin was astonished to hear that she truly was from the Cosmic Sea. The Longevity Brigade? Her power was far beyond Silus, and more importantly, she was about the same age as the other competing students. Lu Yin had exchanged blows with Silus before, but that person was significantly older, and strictly speaking, was not of the same generation as him. However, this woman was an expert from the same generation as the Astral Combat Academy students. This showcased the true top-notch power of the Cosmic Sea’s younger generation.
Lu Yin suddenly recalled Ye Xingchen, who must be even stronger than this woman. He was the publicly recognized Ten Arbiters’ candidate from the Cosmic Sea.
There was one battle left for this first round of the drawn lots. The last competitors were Tian Hou from the Astral Beast Domain and Ben [1] from the Technocracy.
Both of these two had eye-catching appearances. Tian Hou was clad entirely in black and not much of him could be seen. Ben’s appearance was even stranger, as it was just a book that floated around. Many were interested in this battle, and people’s attention quickly shifted from the previous battles of Starsibyl’s and Zi Jun’s to this next match.
Few knew that this black-garbed Tian Hou was the strongest competitor from the Astral Beast Domain, but Ben was one of the few who were privy to this information. This wasn’t because the book had insider information, but rather because it had been informed as such by Yun right before the match. “You’re not his match.” These words caused Ben to firmly believe that it was no match for Tian Hou.
Outside the battlefield, Starsibyl, Yun, and Lu Yin all watched Tian Hou with serious expressions. This was a strong person, and even the arrogant Yun viewed Tian Hou in a different light, similar to how she viewed Starsibyl.
Amongst the observing students, one’s face turned particularly pale the moment they saw Tian Hou. He was from Astral-7, and was coincidentally the student who had initially ridiculed Tian Hou before being paralyzed by just one look. This had left a traumatic psychological shadow that lasted to this day and the student didn’t dare to even look towards the battlefield.
Tian Hou did not act first, and only faced Ben quietly.
Ben wobbled in mid-air and watched with vigilant eyes while a strange fluctuation flashed around the book.
From where he was watching in the east, Lu Yin quietly asked. “What’s this Tian Hou’s power?”
“I’ve already said that I don’t know. I know the strengths and weaknesses of all the other students from the Spiritual Academy, but I couldn’t find out anything about this Tian Hou. He’s Skymender’s disciple, which means that he can rival Starsibyl with just his status alone. I couldn’t find out anything else about him,” the Ghost Monkey replied.
Lu Yin looked at the battlefield and watched Ben attack first. Since it was just a book with neither hands nor legs, it was not so much attacking as releasing a undulation that enveloped the entire battlefield without the onlookers’ notice.
One student curiously touched the mentors’ barrier that isolated the battlefield to feel the undulations. The next moment, he started to bleed dreadfully from his seven orifices before quickly disappearing from the Lifeseek Realm.
“It’s a fantasy realm; don’t touch the barrier,” someone loudly called out to remind everyone.
Everyone felt slightly numb; this fantasy realm was a terrifying attack that was both invisible and formless. No matter how strong someone may be, they could end up helpless against this fantasy realm. The majority of people would be frightened by the mere prospect of facing this sort of fantasy realm.
[1] “Ben” means book.
