Although Northgate Lie wasn’t able to see the phantom pikes, he could still avoid them. It turned out that he had been concealing this ability.
“How much?” Lu Yin asked, though he did not slow down his mad rush towards the three pikes.
Northgate Lie was feeling anxious and had no time to say anything. He raised a hand to attack Lu Yin. Since he had reacted a tiny bit slower, he could only respond to Lu Yin by attacking. Lu Yin did not dare to act carelessly either, and he turned around to exchange palm strikes with the young Explorer. A terrifying gale swept out and blasted the ground apart, startling countless parasitic worms.
But at that moment, the two elders from the Blaze Realm rushed over and tried to rush past both Lu Yin and Northgate Lie to win the pikes.
Lu Yin and Northgate Lie pulled away from each other simultaneously as they each targeted one of the elders.
One of them anxiously shouted, “Northgate Lie, do you really dare to oppose the Blaze Realm?”
“Blaze Realm, do you dare to oppose the Ten Arbiters Council?” Lu Yin shouted.
The elder was furious, and he raised his hand, releasing a fire lion that was reinforced with four-lined battle force and causing the temperatures to soar.
In the distance, the rest of the crowd did not show any weakness as everyone rushed forward in a bid to take one of the three pikes.
From beneath the ground, the parasites squirmed and charged up, casting the battlefield into chaos.
Some hidden powerhouses suddenly revealed their concealed strength in an explosive burst. Aside from Lu Yin, no other Limiteer could even approach the area.
The intense battle caused the star energy in the area to turn chaotic, and in the distance, the five pikes trembled. Right after that, phantom pikes appeared one after another, killing a dozen people in a row.
Lu Yin seized the Blaze Realm elder’s arm, raised his hand that was covered with five-lined battle force, and then unleashed a Thirty Stacks palm strike.
When faced with Lu Yin, the two elders had to team up to stand against him. Now that this elder was alone, he was forced into retreating, but it was already too late. Lu Yin’s palm slammed into the old man’s back, and the elder spat out a glob of blood before dying.
The other elder was also defeated by Northgate Lie but not killed.
A phantom pike streaked forward, forcing Northgate Lie to hurriedly dodge it. When he looked up, he saw that Lu Yin had already made it to the three pikes and was about to pick them up.
Northgate Lie became very anxious.
Right when Lu Yin was about to collect the ancient weapons, danger suddenly surfaced. Before the two of them, a pair of emotionless, icy-cold eyes appeared alongside a ferocious wave of air that swept up from below, aimed straight at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin evaded with Flash, raised his leg, and then kicked out. There was a thump as his attack landed on a figure, launching him back a dozen meters.
Lu Yin focused his attention on the stranger, who was very strong.
Whoosh! The figure rushed forward again, completely disregarding Lu Yin’s attack.
Few people could disregard Lu Yin’s attacks. Even if he didn’t use any Overlaying Stacks, his raw physical strength was enough to overwhelm even an elite Explorer. However, this person seemed to be completely fine as he continued to battle with Lu Yin.
Lu Yin couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He used Flash again while preparing to use Overlaying Stacks with his kick this time.
The figure’s eyes were cold, and he growled softly. The next moment, his eyes turned scarlet as he unleashed a punch.
Lu Yin squinted—he was a Corpse King.
Bang!
The violent collision released an explosive, thundering sound as well as a massive spatial crack that snaked through the battlefield like a lightning bolt, affecting quite a few cultivators. Even Northgate Lie, who had just rushed over, was stunned and instantly stopped in his tracks.
Lily Anne and the rest were overcome with shock upon seeing this terrifying battle. Where had this powerhouse come from?
The Corpse King was once again sent flying by Lu Yin’s kick. As he flew away, he closed his eyes, determined to not let the others see through his identity. After this, he no longer tried to approach Lu Yin.
Lu Yin stared apprehensively at the Corpse King. Truthfully, he was a little afraid of the Neohuman Alliance, especially after he ran into the transformed, grey-eyed Corpse King whose strength had reached a new level. That confrontation had horrified Lu Yin, and it would definitely be bad for him if this Corpse King also mutated.
Cultivators died from mysterious deaths one after another as the phantom pikes continued shooting out incessantly, becoming more frequent by the second. Many people had already withdrawn from the area.
Northgate Lie was able to sense danger and quickly dodged a phantom pike. He panted heavily as he stared at Lu Yin with an unwilling expression. The next moment, Lu Yin waved his hand and swept all three pikes into his cosmic ring. He finally relaxed after successfully snatching them.
Deep underground, countless parasites surged up, and the trembling of the centipede’s body also became more intense.
Lu Yin did not want to stay here any longer, especially since he could not guarantee that Northgate Taisui would not kill him.
“Seventh Bro, let’s go! I’ve memorized it!” the monkey said. When Lu Yin had been trying to snatch the three pikes, he had instructed the Ghost Monkey to approach the corpse with his innate gift of shadow and record the black words down. Lu Yin had thought that it would be a fruitless endeavor, but the monkey had actually just finished writing down the last bit of writing.
Lu Yin glanced to the side. Eh, where are the words?
“Stop searching. I erased them.” The monkey sounded excited.
“What for?”
“If someone else also knows them, then the information will become less valuable. Don’t you understand the concept of scarcity?”
“No one noticed you, right?” Lu Yin asked. He completely approved of the monkey’s thoughts.
“Relax, these people will just assume that the words were destroyed by the battle. Other than me, no one else should have seen them.” The monkey was confident in its results.
“Let’s go,” Lu Yin barked as he rapidly retreated along their original path.
Northgate Lie shouted, “Brother Lu, you can’t hog everything for yourself! The Northgate family is willing to pay a high price for those pikes!”
Jared did not have the time to think about how Lu Yin had killed his elder, and he also called out, “Our Blaze Realm is also willing to purchase those things at a high price! We’ll also guarantee Brother Lu’s life and send you safely back to the Outerverse.”
“I…”
…
Many started to speak up as they all wished to obtain those pikes.
Lu Yin did not bother answering any of them as he continued his mad charge out, only turning around to look at the Corpse King. Oddly enough, the man had vanished without a trace.
Lu Yin felt a shudder go through his body, as the Neohuman Alliance’s Corpse Kings were craftier than any human.
The shaking ground intensified even further as the phantom pikes’ attack frequency shifted to a higher gear. Soon, more people began to die.
When Lu Yin ran at top speed, no one was able to keep up with him, not even Northgate Lie.
Before long, Lu Yin reached the joint where the leg and the main body met, and he saw that there were a bunch of people anxiously waiting around. He also saw the middle-aged Lockbreaker from before, who was nervously trying to unlock the pike.
When Lu Yin saw the scene, he was instantly delighted. Without his help, this bunch of people definitely would not be able to escape. Northgate Taisui had already taken care of the centipede’s body, so he would no longer permit anyone else to enter. In other words, Lu Yin was the only person who could let these people out.
The middle-aged Lockbreaker was elated when he saw Lu Yin. “Mister Lu, please help me quickly get everyone out.”
Lu Yin looked back as the boundless white wave approached them. Sure enough, parasitic worms had also appeared in the other directions. Not only that, but it was even possible for parasites to emerge from all parts of the centipede’s body.
“Sure, but everyone needs to accept my condition first,” Lu Yin shouted.
“Tell us,” someone urgently said.
Lu Yin had a solemn expression. “Everyone needs to swear to change their appearance to look like me, Lu Yin, when they leave this centipede’s body. No one can delay, and you will all have to rush to leave the Northline Flowzone as fast as possible.”
These people weren’t stupid and they all instantly realized that these conditions could only mean that Lu Yin had gotten ahold of something extraordinary that he was afraid the people of Northline Flowzone would seize. It was either that or he had offended someone. However, no one cared which one it was at this moment, and they all immediately agreed and quickly made their pledges.
Lu Yin moved up alongside the middle-aged Lockbreaker and started helping him unlock the pike.
Soon after, Northgate Lie arrived. As soon as he saw Lu Yin, he charged forward, only to be held back by the crowd. “Brother Northgate, no matter what happened back there, Lu Yin is currently opening a way for our predicament. Brother Northgate, please set aside your grudges for now!”
Northgate Lie frowned, and he tried to charge forward once again. No one could obstruct him from doing what he wanted.
But before he was able to move much further, he suddenly stopped and stared ahead of him in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
Lu Yin suddenly turned around, stopping his lockbreaking attempt to shift his gaze. Was there someone here who was able to stop Northgate Lie?
The others appeared similarly shocked. Northgate Lie was an expert on the Top 100 Rankings, but now, there seemed to actually be someone who could stop him, and the person was very young as well.
“Whatever grudges you have can be settled outside,” the youth who had stopped Northgate Lie coldly replied. He appeared to be extremely ordinary with simple clothes and no weapons. There was nothing about him that seemed outstanding in any way; he looked like a regular person in every sense of the word. But his appearance was actually enough to cause Northgate Lie to hesitate.
Northgate Lie’s expression turned solemn. “Do you think you can stop me? Qin Chen, you think too much of the Top 100 Rankings.”
Behind him, many cried out in surprise. They had heard of this name before. Number eighty eight on the Top 100 Rankings: Trapper Qin Chen.
Lu Yin was stunned upon realizing that there was actually another expert from the Top 100 Rankings present. There were more than a hundred Weaves and Flowzones in the Human Domain, so logically, not every area would produce someone in the rankings. Even if the Outerverse’s weaves were disregarded, the Innerverse still had more than a hundred Flowzones of various sizes. The chances of bumping into a Top Hundred expert was absolutely miniscule, but two of them had appeared here.
No matter what Northgate Lie said, he didn’t act. If the rankings were meaningless, then no one would bother fighting over them. Since Qin Chen was ranked above Northgate Lie, then there had to be some truth to it.
Soon after, Lily Anne and the rest arrived. When they learned that there was another Top 100 Rankings expert blocking their path, they were similarly shocked, and no one dared to act rashly.
“Brother Lu, think carefully. Even if you leave the centipede, you’ll still be in the Northline Flowzone, and our Northgate ancestor is out there. Do you really think that you can escape?” Northgate Lie was not afraid of exposing himself, so he shouted threats at Lu Yin. This was the Northline Flowzone, and the mere existence of Northgate Taisui gave him a great deal of confidence.
Lu Yin did not reply.
In another direction, the Tempest Flowzone’s He Zhong’s eyes gleamed. What had Lu Yin obtained?
“Lu Yin, some things are not able to be taken away. It’s better to be accommodating!” Northgate Lie yelled again.
Lu Yin frowned. “Everybody, the flood of worms is about to reach this point, but there are some people trying to interfere with your path to survival. They’ll be able to leave on their own strength, but the majority of you won’t be able to escape, so good luck to you all.”
Lu Yin’s words caused many hostile glares to be directed towards Northgate Lie’s group. Even those who had previously chased Lu Yin now stood to block Northgate Lie from approaching him.
“Brother Northgate, discuss your grudges outside. You don’t want all of us to die here, right?”
“That’s right, Brother Northgate. Please give us some face.”
“Brother Northgate…”
…
Northgate Lie’s eyes turned cold. “Fine, I won’t act against you inside the centipede’s body. Brother Lu, it’s best to be smart. We’re still inside the Northline Flowzone.”
To Northgate Lie, him seizing the pikes and presenting them to his family was completely different from his family seizing them. However, he was unable to take them since Lu Yin’s stubbornness and foolishness exceeded his expectations. He could only give up. As he had said, this was the Northline Flowzone, and he was certain that Lu Yin would not be able to escape.
Lily Anne did not understand Lu Yin’s behavior; he was no fool. He definitely could not escape, so why was he refusing to hand the pikes over?
Qin Chen looked over at Lu Yin curiously. What exactly had this person obtained?
“Seventh Bro, are you sure that we’ll be able to escape? There’s an old freak with a power level of several hundreds of thousands waiting outside,” the monkey nervously questioned.
“We won’t be able to escape. But handing them over to the Northgate family is an entirely different concept than handing them over to Northgate Lie.”
“What do you mean?”
Lu Yin didn’t bother explaining. If he could be that easily coerced to hand over those pikes, then no one would ever take him seriously in future. He wanted to let everyone know that he was no pushover. Even if he was walking along a futile path, he still wanted to try to find a way out of this predicament.
He could not count on Astral-10 to deal with an old freak whose power level was in the several hundreds of thousands, and he didn’t want to reveal his relationship with Highsage Leon either. So, he only had one other option remaining. But before he used that, he would try his best to escape. Even if he ended up being caught, that old freak would need to put in some effort. He was doing all this to let everyone know that he, Lu Yin, would not be cowed by intimidation, that he was amenable to discussion but not coercion.
