The monkey cried out, “Seventh Bro, did you hear that?”
Lu Yin didn’t even have a chance to reply as he quickly left the canyon. His eyes were immediately met by the sight of corpses littered everywhere, reduced to nothing more than white bones. The area was also decorated with the tattered remains of fluttering banners.
Lu Yin’s arrival came with a small squeak, but that tiny noise was enough to turn everything within a ten kilometer radius of him to dust. It was just like what had happened inside of the centipede’s body, where nothing was able to resist the ravages of time over countless eons, except for the pikes that had been left stuck in the ground.
Lu Yin stared in shock at everything before him—the entire island was filled with corpses. How many people had died here? It could not be any less than 100,000.
Explosions rang out in the skies as countless voices rumbled, ‘I can’t wait. The future generations are hopeless, so how could I be willing to wait?’
“I am six, all fives must be killed.”
“The sky has changed, the sky has changed. This sky will be six from now.”
…
Lu Yin crouched down and forcibly endured the explosion of the successive voices howling out. Blood leaked out from his eyes, ears, and nose, dripping onto the island.
The Ghost Monkey had stopped speaking by now, probably because he had fainted.
Lu Yin panted heavily and opened his mouth in an attempt to reduce the intensity of the voices, but his efforts were for naught. He didn’t even hesitate to rupture his own eardrums, but the voices seemed to be directly transmitted into his brain, which left him at a loss for how to handle the situation. Although the sounds were not attacks, the power that the voices innately contained was enough to harm Lu Yin’s spiritual force despite them coming from ancient times. He could not even imagine the strength that these ancient powerhouses must have wielded.
Lu Yin could not endure the voices any longer, and his body started trembling. He was truly at his limit. No! His gaze turned firm, and he charged ahead. Even if he died, he wanted to see what secrets the depths of the island held.
As he ran forward, the ancient items that he passed by turned to dust. This was a trial zone, but life in here mirrored reality.
Lu Yin quickly reached deep into the island since it was not that large. When he arrived at the deepest point of the island, his pupils constricted when he saw five pikes pinning a dried corpse to the ground, the exact same scene as what he had seen in the centipede’s body.
What is this? Some sort of sacrifice ritual?
Lu Yin could not make sense of what he saw, but before he could get a better look, a ferocious voice entered his brain. The countless noises caused him to spit out even more blood, and then his body vanished from the island.
Not far from where Lu Yin vanished from the trial zone, another set of footprints could be clearly seen. The tracks looked exactly the same as the footprints on the beach, and though they had reached the same location, the outcome was unknown.
Atop Astral-10’s trial zone mountain, Lu Yin suddenly opened his eyes. A splitting headache immediately hit him as he instinctively clutched his head, almost falling over.
Coco, Xia Luo, and the others were nearby, and they all rushed over when they saw Lu Yin open his eyes.
“Brother Lu, are you alright?” Coco asked.
The few gathered students all looked at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin took several deep breaths and stared at the ground. He gradually recovered and shook his hands. “I’m alright. Just let me rest for a bit.”
“Ok,” Coco acknowledged. Then, the few students there left the trial zone mountain and waited for Lu Yin outside. They were very curious to learn about what lay in the furthest reaches of the Ocean of Death. They were also certain that the recent abnormal changes within the Dao of Heaven were related to Lu Yin, precisely because only Lu Yin had not been kicked out at that time.
Lu Yin spent an entire day resting at the trial zone mountain before leaving. He was in very low spirits. The Trialmaster glanced at him. “Little brat, did you reach the end of the Ocean of Death?”
Lu Yin nodded, and then he looked at the old man. “Mentor, do you know something?”
The Trialmaster shook his head. “Nope.”
Lu Yin did not believe him, but he didn’t ask any further questions since Coco and the others had just shown up.
“Brother Lu, did you really reach the end of the Ocean of Death?” Coco hurriedly asked. Xia Luo, Zora, and Michelle were there. Even Darkvoid, Meng Yue, and the others had shown up, and they were all staring at him.
Lu Yin took a deep breath. “Yes.”
They were shocked; even if they had guessed at the truth, they still hadn’t dared to believe it without confirmation. Even with Lu Yin verifying it now, they could still hardly believe it.
“What’s at the end? Is it as the legends say? Is there an island filled with corpses of powerhouses and an ancient inheritance?” Meng Yue asked anxiously.
Lu Yin forced a smile onto his face. “If there was an ancient inheritance there, I wouldn’t be like this right now.” He surveyed the crowd and then explained a bit more. “There’s indeed an island at the end of the Ocean of Death. And the island is indeed littered with corpses of powerhouses, but aside from that, there’s nothing else there.”
The group obviously didn’t believe him.
“Liar. There’s an inheritance at the end of the Ocean of Death! That was verified a long time ago!” Coco was completely straightforward.
Lu Yin shook his head. “I’m not lying, and I don’t even have a reason to lie to you. Perhaps others received some kind of inheritance, but I didn’t.”
The crowd sighed. However, regardless of whether they believed him or not, they could not get any more information from Lu Yin.
Xia Luo enquired, “Were there any signs of someone else besides you reaching the island?”
Lu Yin nodded. “Yes. Their tracks were quite obvious, and didn’t seem to be from that long ago.”
“That should be the rumored Arbiter,” Xia Luo said. He then left, seemingly holding no interest in the inheritance.
The others left as well, allowing Lu Yin to rest.
Lu Yin did not know whether or not they believed him, but there had indeed been no inheritance on the island. Anyway, when he combined what he saw with what he had seen inside the centipede’s body, the only logical conclusion was that those pikes were from some power. And then there were those loud voices—Five? Six? Changing the sky? Rebel? Fake? Massacre?
These words reverberated through Lu Yin’s mind for a long time, but he did not know what they meant.
The Trialmaster might, but the old man did not plan to tell Lu Yin.
During the more-or-less ten days that he had spent sailing across the Ocean of Death, Lu Yin’s greatest reward had to have been that opportunity to observe the finger and its details. Right, the Stargazing Deck.
After resting at the trial zone mountain for another day, Lu Yin felt ready to head over to the Stargazing Deck, so he impatiently made his way there.
The Astral Combat Academy was split into ten branches, but one common feature that they all had was that they had their own Stargazing Decks. Many said that this was the most important feature of the ten combat academies, not the trial zones.
Lu Yin had not understood why people would say this before, but now, he was gradually coming to understand. It was because one could witness the past at the Stargazing Deck.
He could even use his lockbreaking tool to perceive the details more clearly, which made the viewing experience even more immersive. The Stargazing Deck’s abilities far surpassed the trial zones’.
“Student Lu Yin requests to ascend the Stargazing Deck,” Lu Yin spoke in a clear voice from beneath the Stargazing Deck.
The Starmaster opened his eyes. “In principle, each person has only one opportunity to ascend the Stargazing Deck. I’ve already allowed you two visits, so no more.”
Lu Yin loudly replied, “Mentor has said that the scene at the top of the Stargazing Deck will not change and that it will be the same image for each person, which is why students are not allowed to return. However, this student is confident that, even if it’s the same scene, something more can be seen. Will mentor please give this student another chance.”
The Starmaster calmly answered. “Kid, do you think that the academy should make an exception for you?”
Lu Yin was stumped. “I wouldn’t dare.”
The Starmaster looked at Lu Yin. “Since ancient times, there have been no lack of powerhouses with unique innate gifts. There have been many people in Astral-10 who were as accomplished as you are today. Even the Ten Arbiters, during their time in the academy, have had their requests to reascend the Stargazing Deck rejected by me. You may leave.”
Lu Yin could only comply, as even the Ten Arbiters had not succeeded. “Mentor, could you give this student a chance? The Ten Arbiters are the Ten Arbiters and were not students of Astral-10. This student has dedicated his time and effort to the academy, and has also shed blood for it.”
The Starmaster merely replied, “Leave.”
Lu Yin sighed. This elder was exceptionally stubborn.
“If this student wishes to ascend the Stargazing Decks of the other academies, will mentor stop me?” Lu Yin suddenly thought of something and had to ask.
The Starmaster replied, “I have nothing to do with the other academies’ Stargazing Decks, but I must remind you that no academy will allow their students to ascend a second time.”
“That means that students can ascend other decks, but not the same one, just like Astral-10,” Lu Yin clarified expectantly.
The Starmaster did not reply.
Lu Yin now understood. There were ten academies, which meant that there were nine more Stargazing Decks. This meant that he could ascend nine more times to comprehend that finger, but also that he only had nine chances.
Lu Yin respectfully bowed to the Starmaster and then left the Stargazing Deck.
He could not wait to view that finger in the other academies’ Stargazing Decks, as he was truly lacking powerful battle techniques that could be used as hidden trump cards.
Before he could leave Astral-10, Lu Yin was summoned by Old Cai. He learned that Astral-10 was planning on recruiting students in the Innerverse and that it would happen soon. Old Cai wished to find out when Lu Yin was going to return. After all, Lu Yin was the poster child of Astral-10.
Lu Yin calculated the time, but then he shook his head. “I don’t have any specific plans to return in the near future. The Daynight Feast is about to start, and I’ve received an invitation.”
Old Cai was astonished.“The Daynight Feast?”
Lu Yin nodded.
Old Cai had a strange look on his face, and his expression soon became even stranger. He muttered to himself, “Since you’ve accepted their invitation, then declining it wouldn’t be good. Alright, we won’t need you at Astral-10’s recruitment.”
“Thank you, Old Cai,” Lu Yin said before turning to leave.
Old Cai suddenly called out, “Right, the Daynight Feast is very grand, so keep a low profile, kid.”
Lu Yin felt awkward, but he still decided to acknowledge the advice. “Sure thing. I’ve always kept a low profile.”
Old Cai’s mouth twitched, as he had never seen this brat act low-profile. “If someone mentions Astral-10, just say that you aren’t familiar with it.”
Lu Yin blinked. “But I’m from Astral-10.”
“Just say that you aren’t familiar with it. It’s for your own good.”
Lu Yin squinted. This old bat must have some issues, as Lu Yin had felt the atmosphere turn strange the moment he mentioned the Daynight Feast. Could this guy have possibly stolen something from the Daynight clan!?
Old Cai felt uneasy under Lu Yin’s gaze. “Alright, it’s time to hurry up and go where you need to go. I still need to make more Money Bombs and have no more time to waste on you. Right, under no circumstances should you use the Money Bomb while you’re in the Daynight clan’s territory. Remember that—under no circumstances!”
Lu Yin was now certain that this old fart had offended someone in the Daynight clan. This was damning evidence, and Lu Yin simply hoped that he would not be implicated in the matter!
He had no hope of prying any more information out from Old Cai, so he immediately sought out the Sandmaster to obtain some more information. However, the Sandmaster refused to answer, and his words were even similar to Old Cai’s. “Keep a low profile in the Daynight clan. Remember, a low profile is the way to go.”
“But, mentor, you’ve mentioned that we must conduct ourselves with boldness, as boldness is the fundamental key to upgrading our battle force,” Lu Yin answered seriously.
The Sandmaster rolled his eyes. “That also depends on your timing. Anyway, this is for your good. Follow whatever that old fart told you. He won’t harm you.”
“Then please tell me what happened.”
“You don’t need to know about what happened to us of the elder generation. Remember, never, ever use the Money Bomb!”
“I-”
“Alright, enough talk. Get moving now.”
Lu Yin was chased away by the Sandmaster, but he refused to give up, mainly because Old Cai’s attitude was just too sneaky. Lu Yin would not be dragged into someone else’s mess without rhyme or reason, and this even involved the Daynight clan. Even if he had the backing of Pirate King Highsage Leon, that man would only take revenge if Lu Yin died—Lu Yin could not be resurrected.
