Lu Yin did not bother responding to Xuan Jiu’s condescending words; he was too excited right now at this moment. On the five pips face of his die, which was Gift Copy, there was now an additional lightning symbol. Gift Copy allowed him to borrow others’ innate gifts by making physical contact with a cultivator with an innate gift within ten seconds of rolling a five. This allowed Lu Yin to store their innate gift within his die and use it some time in the future. He had just managed to borrow the lightning rabbit’s innate gift.
The lightning rabbit had been so strong that it had knocked the nine-headed ape unconscious with a single stomp, which spoke volumes about its power. However, the power of its lightning was even more unimaginable. Even though Lu Yin had only come into contact with a trace of it, he was looking forward to seeing the power of this lightning.
Borrowing an innate gift was, after all, just borrowing. Lu Yin was not able to use it at the lender’s power level. Even though Lu Yin had only borrowed the innate gift of lightning from the rabbit, he was still looking forward to using it. He felt that this lightning was not just any run of the mill lightning. His only concern was if his own body could withstand it.
“Mr. Lu, thank you again for saving me.” The lady who had been saved by Lu Yin spoke up.
Lu Yin smiled. “You’re welcome.”
She gave Lu Yin a row of numbers. “I am Leng Yan, one of the Outerverse managers of Brightstar Corp.”
Lu Yin was stunned. “Brightstar Corp.?” He had heard Yue Xianzi mention this company before they arrived at Nine Peaks Mountain; it was a rather wealthy corporation.
“It looks like Mr. Lu has heard of Brightstar Corp. before,” Leng Yan said with a smile.
Lu Yin nodded. “It’s a major corporation that’s famous throughout the universe, so of course I’ve heard of it. I never expected that Miss Leng Yan would already be a manager at your young age. Very impressive.”
“I can’t compare to Mr. Lu, who’s a champion of the Tournament of the Strongest and a two star Discerning Elementary Lockbreaker. With the successful lockbreaking of this gathering, you’ll certainly earn even more stars. Your future is limitless. I’ll ask Mr. Lu to take care of this girl’s business in the future.” She smiled courteously as she spoke.
They could not stay on the Savage Ape Planet any longer, so Lu Yin brought Yue Xianzi and Zhao Ran away despite Casanova’s strange gaze.
It had taken them several days to reach the location of the tree-shaped sourcebox. But on their return trip, Lu Yin used his extreme speed to pierce the void, and it only took them a few hours to return to their spacecraft’s landing site.
As he looked at the crack on the ground, he saw that his spacecraft had started to fall in, and he involuntarily released a pent-up breath. On the way back, he had been worried that his spacecraft might have been destroyed. After all, the entire Savage Ape Planet was on the verge of collapsing.
Not too long after, two personal spacecraft entered outer space.
Lu Yin looked back and was stunned. The planet’s appearance was drastically different compared to when they had first arrived; it now sported the addition of massive cracks across its surface.
They seemed like giant cracks from the sky, but from the surface of the planet, they were endlessly deep faults. The nine-headed ape had almost shattered the entire planet.
Lu Yin had barely managed to survive after a narrow escape during this gathering on Savage Ape Planet. He had nearly been finished.
He looked at his cosmic ring, wondering what the white fruit’s uses were. He would ask someone when he returned to the academy.
“Seventh Bro, what did that fortune-teller actually mean? He’s certain that you exchanged looks with the deceased, but when did that happen? Actually, how can the dead even look at you face-to-face?” the Ghost Monkey asked.
Before Lu Yin had left the planet, Xuan Jiu had repeated to Lu Yin that the young man had exchanged looks with the dead. Lu Yin had heard the line properly this last time, and it clearly wasn’t ‘royalty’ but rather ‘deceased,’ which meant dead people.
And Xuan Liu had even added on one more sentence; Lu Yin was an ominous person. The whole exchange was rather depressing, and it had caused Lu Yin to feel uncomfortable, so he was currently in a bad mood. “So even you believe that old fart’s nonsense!”
“Of course I know that he’s spouting nonsense, but he’s still from the Starsibyl Sect. Some of what he says might actually be right.”
Lu Yin was not overly bothered since he could not recall when he had exchanged looks with a deceased person. The dead could not even see. Even if their eyes were opened, it was still useless. Having no soul meant that one was unable to look, unless the person could resurrect.
Hold on, Lu Yin suddenly recalled something; could the old man’s words be linked to the Arcane Art—Fatal Revival?
But even then, that still wouldn’t work. Lu Yin was the one who had comprehended that technique, not someone else. Did it mean that he had looked at himself?
Lu Yin shook his head and put the strange words out of mind as he inputted San Dios into the spacecraft’s auto-navigation features. He then closed his eyes and silently recited the Stonewall Scriptures since he had decided to take a break.
More than ten days later, at East San Dios, one personal spacecraft steadily approached and docked at the Prairie Flame Continent’s space station. The hatch opened, and a youth exited with a smile as he surveyed the surroundings.
From inside the space station, Puyu stepped forward with flashing eyes. His movements were rather energetic.
The youth stepped down and walked towards Puyu.
“Representative Liu, welcome.” Puyu spoke first with a faint smile.
The youth smiled and respectfully replied, “I’m just a newcomer, and will require much of Councilor Puyu’s guidance.”
Puyu laughed, very pleased with the youth’s attitude. The last trace of worry in his heart vanished.
Just as he was going to say something, two more personal spacecrafts docked at the spacestation from outer space, and Lu Yin exited from one of them.
Lu Yin saw an unforgettable figure the moment he stepped into the space station. “Liu Shaoge?”
The youth who had greeted Puyu was indeed Liu Shaoge, the same person who had received Nightking Zhenwu’s orders to come to San Dios. His objective was to thwart Lu Yin’s development while serving the Nightking Clan.
Liu Shaoge turned to Lu Yin and raised a hand. “Long time no see, Brother Lu.”
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, and his body suddenly vanished only to reappear right in front of Liu Shaoge. Lu Yin slapped out with a palm, aiming directly at Liu Shaoge’s head. He held nothing back in his strike. Since Lu Yin had noticed Puyu, he intended to kill Liu Shaoge before Puyu could even react.
Liu Shaoge’s eyes went wide, but then his lips quirked up as a black-and-white gust of air revolved around him. He retreated upon receiving Lu Yin’s full strength attack backed by Thirty Stacks, and the black-and-white air shattered and dissipated into the surrounding void. His body was like a leaf dancing in the wind as he easily dodged the entire force behind Lu Yin’s attack. He ended up retreating about a hundred meters and landed directly behind Puyu.
The void collapsed at the point where Lu Yin’s palm had connected with nothing but air. His hand released thirty streaks of air that compressed the air and released a suppressive force throughout the space station that caused many to have difficulty breathing.
Puyu stepped forward and glared coldly at Lu Yin. “Representative Lu, what is this about?”
Lu Yin stared in amazement at the now empty spot before turning around in disbelief. He looked at Liu Shaoge, unable to understand how this man had dodged his attack. Thirty Stacks would solidify the void even before Lu Yin’s palm arrived. Even Limiteers such as Dao Bo and Liu Xiaoyun would not be able to dodge that attack very easily, unless they were at the same level as Lu Yin. However, there were only a few publicly recognized true Ten Arbiters’ candidates. Liu Shaoge was definitely not among those elite few, so how had he dodged Lu Yin’s attack?
It wasn’t just Lu Yin; even Puyu was astonished by what had just taken place. He had received news that Nightking Zhenwu was sending someone here to take the role of acting councilor. He also knew that the substitute was someone who also came from the Great Yu Empire and that he held a grudge with Lu Yin. However, Puyu had never expected the new arrival to be able to actually match Lu Yin’s strength. As much as Puyu hated Lu Yin, he was fully aware of the Limiteer’s almost matchless power, so he never expected a similarly perverted Limiteer to suddenly appear out of the blue.
“Brother Lu, it’s been so long since we’ve last seen each other, but your attitude towards me hasn’t changed one bit.” Liu Shaoge smiled at Lu Yin in a relaxed manner.
Lu Yin withdrew his palm and looked at Liu Shaoge. “I haven’t seen you in a few years, but you’ve changed so much.”
Liu Shaoge shrugged. “You’re the same. How about a drink to celebrate our reunion?”
“So that power is what gives you the confidence to be close to me?” Lu Yin squinted.
Liu Shaoge smiled. “You could say that. I’m actually afraid that you’ll kill me with one slap.”
Lu Yin glanced at Puyu. “Why’s he here?”
Puyu leisurely replied, “Arbiter Zhenwu has ordered for Liu Shaoge to come and stand in as an acting councilor and to exercise the authority of the Outerverse Youth Council as a councilor.”
Arbiter Zhenwu… Nightking Zhenwu. Lu Yin’s eyes emanated bloodlust. Liu Shaoge had betrayed Earth during the trials and left the planet with Nightking Qingyu. Now, he was somehow connected to Nightking Zhenwu, and his power had also grown monstrously. He had clearly used a Daynight Clan battle technique just now just used to dodge Lu Yin’s palm. It seemed that Liu Shaoge was taking full advantage of his new position.
With Liu Shaoge’s temperament, Lu Yin had never doubted that he would win a high position in the future, but he had never expected this man to be so efficient; his backing was actually Arbiter Shenwu!
Yue Xianzi brought Zhao Ran alongside Lu Yin.
“Let’s go.” Lu Yin took the two girls away.
Still within the space station, Puyu watched Lu Yin’s retreating figure. He could not shake off the mental image of the countless pirates attacking his allies, not to mention the strength of the person who had split Darkstar Gorge in two. He no longer dared to go overboard when dealing with Lu Yin, so it was fortunate that Arbiter Zhenwu had sent someone with a deep grudge against this person whom he could use. Thinking of this, Puyu turned to glance at Liu Shaoge. This person was not simple either, and the strength that he had displayed was enough to cause even Puyu to feel a bit apprehensive.
In San Dios, Lu Yin used his status of a Representative to allow Zhao Ran in. The brat could not recall her past, but Lu Yin would not feel right if he simply threw her aside, so he had no choice but to bring her inside with him.
Yue Xianzi had been inconvenienced since the two females had been crammed together within a single-person spacecraft, making the trip back an unpleasant journey.
Zhao Ran was very curious about San Dios, and constantly craned her neck to take in the new sights. She clearly had no concerns about her amnesia.
“Do you fancy her?” Yue Xianzi asked Lu Yin.
“I just sympathize with her circumstances. Just help me find a place for her for now.” Lu Yin then walked away, as the current events had left him uneasy.
Initially, when he was still on Earth, his biggest foe had been Liu Shaoge, but that had been when they were still regular humans. Countless Earthlings had been turned into zombies, which caused Liu Shaoge to make the decision to bombard an entire city, which had given Lu Yin unforgettable scars. Although they had since vanished because of his cultivation training, he would never forget the suffering that he had gone through.
One of Lu Yin’s greatest regrets was that he had not killed Liu Shaoge back on Earth, and once again, he could not kill him today. This failure caused Lu Yin to be extremely depressed. He had trained so hard all these years in order to reach a higher level, but Liu Shaoge had not fallen behind one bit. His strength was actually at a similar level.
Liu Shaoge’s appearance not only brought out a deeply-seated hatred from within Lu Yin, but it also increased his longing to see the others, such as Zhang Dingtian, Bai Xue, Seruzen, and Xu San—the other four who had left Earth with him but had all gone missing. Lu Yin did not know if they had died, but even if they were still alive, where could they be?
Lu Yin stood at the edge of San Dios, staring down at the clouds below. He stood far above so many, but that was just a comparison. When he compared himself to the Ten Arbiters, he was still nothing more than an ant. And the Ten Arbiters themselves were nothing more than ants compared to those old freaks with power levels in the hundreds of thousands. However, were those old freaks really standing at the apex?
On his way to the border warfront, Lu Yin had seen something that he would never forget. It was a group of people who had just stepped foot into the universe but were completely unaware that they were being observed by a higher civilization. The distance separating those people and their observers was nothing more than a step, but that step was so vast that those people would never be able to take it and see the truth. That was the tragedy of a civilization whose technology developed slowly, and they cultivators had their own version of that struggle.
