Kong Shi fell silent for a moment when she heard Lu Yin’s question before finally saying, “I don’t know. The strength that you showed today is enough to prevent her from defeating you, but neither are you able to defeat her.”
And with those words, she left.
Lu Yin let out a breath. He had not been confident about his chances of defeating Kong Shi. After all, she was a peak Hunter, and she had not used a single battle technique or innate gift during their spar, only her raw strength as a Hunter. On the other hand, Lu Yin had used his full physical strength, Fatesand, and domain. Due to this discrepancy, he believed that his current strength was not enough to defeat a peak Hunter like Kong Shi who surely had an excellent innate gift.
He might be able to defeat an average Hunter, but his chances of beating Kong Shi were slim. At the very least, he would not be defeated by her, though that was not due to his universal armor, but rather the Yu Secret Art. With the secret technique, Kong Shi’s attacks could be easily negated, and Lu Yin had also comprehended the Secret Sidestep technique.
Kong Shi had also indicated that Cool Sis, who was ranked tenth on the Top 100 Rankings, was able to rival Kong Shi herself. So was Cool Sis a Realmbreaker then? This also seemed to imply that she was not a regular Realmbreaker either and that there was a large gap between those in the top ten of the rankings and those below them.
If Lu Yin faced off against Nightking Gu again, then it would not be too difficult for Lu Yin to win. Even so, Kong Shi believed that Lu Yin was not capable of defeating Cool Sis, which showed that the disparity between them was great.
Lu Yin had previously guessed that, once he broke through and became an Explorer, it might be possible for him to enter the top fifty, whereas Wendy Yushan had estimated that he would be able to enter the top thirty. Reality had proven both of them wrong; Lu Yin was actually able to rival the top ten, and this was when his domain was not completely unleashed. Moreover, he still had one hidden move left up his sleeves, though he didn’t know if it could actually be used. Once it was activated, its might would likely be very terrifying. It was the finger from his dreams.
Once again, Lu Yin stepped into the top ten of the Ironblood Points rankings. The moment his name reappeared, it left An Shaohua speechless, who was currently stationed in another one of the five lower strongholds. He felt like Lu Yin was just playing around; why else would he keep jumping up and down through the rankings unlike anyone else.
Yue Xianzi had a complex expression, as this person only became more unfathomable.
Wendy Yushan smiled; everything else was fine as long as he was still alive.
Another battle broke out again unexpectedly. When the astral beasts appeared in the gaps of the sourceboxes’ formless danger zones, a huge wave of attacks burst forth. However, they were all blocked by an Enlighter realm Amethyst Beast. The creature already had an impressive defense to begin with, and despite it only having a power level of around 200,000, Elder Lohar was the only person in Ironblood Weave who could fight against it.
Countless attacks smothered the Amethyst Beast, but they were all to no avail.
Then, a large group of Void Wanderers appeared.
At the command center, Wang Wen gave the order, “Smash them.”
The next moment, dozens of grams of pyrolyte were thrown towards the invading astral beasts. This pyrolyte had belonged to the Blaze Realm.
Explosions with a force that could rival attacks with power levels in the hundreds of thousands shook the region, tearing space apart as if it was a curtain, creating countless blackholes.
With a furious roar, the Enlighter Amethyst Beast smashed its way directly towards Brokenblade Fort. At the same time, Monster Loach appeared and erupted with the full force of its power level of 300,000 as it also crashed towards Brokenblade Fort.
Elder Lohar shot up into the sky and pushed the Amethyst Beast back before attacking Monster Loach.
Countless Void Wanderers were eliminated, but more continued to appear in an unceasing wave, and each one of them carried numerous groups of beasts with them, many of which were space-exploring powerhouses.
Experts like Topmist, Huo Houye, Posion Flame, Anfield, Kong Shi, Liu Miaomiao, and Huo Qingshan all dashed into outer space.
Lu Yin donned his universal armor and similarly leaped up as seven lined battle force erupted from his body. Nearby, Long Yun also charged upwards, though he was a bit stunned when he saw Lu Yin’s battle force. Not much time had passed, but this kid had already upgraded his battle force. What a monster!
There were five Enlighter beasts among the invaders. Han Fei, Topmist, and Huo Houye took on three while Elder Lohar single-handedly dealt with the Amethyst Beast and Monster Loach. The Hunters, like Kong Shi, along with Poison Flame, restricted one while Wang Wen had Lu Yin take on the final one.
Wang Wen had his own plan of defending while the astral beasts similarly had their own invasion strategy. This was especially so after encountering someone as unconventional as Lu Yin, a human who had all sorts of sneaky tricks. One particular Enlighter beast had already made preparations for him, and it formed a mass of shadow that attacked the new Explorer.
“Seventh Bro, be careful! That’s a Shadowbeast!” The Ghost Monkey became frantic.
Lu Yin subconsciously dodged, but his head was still hit by a strong force, and his entire body was sent flying.
“What’s that?” Lu Yin asked.
“A Shadowbeast! It’s an astral beast that can hide in the shadows and launch attacks from there. It has no material body, so they’re very difficult to face,” the monkey said solemnly.
Lu Yin frowned, “A Shadowbeast? How do we deal with it?”
“Let me think,” the monkey replied.
There was another thump as Lu Yin was struck once again. The Shadowbeast was unlike the other Enlighter realm beast, as most of them could only unleash sneak attacks by hiding in the void. But this particular beast only needed to hide within Lu Yin’s shadow, and its fighting style would be a problem for any Enlighter to face, not just Lu Yin.
During this invasion, the Shadowbeast’s combat strength surpassed even that of Monster Loach and the Amethyst Beast.
The beasts had made their own preparations by bringing the Shadowbeast to deal with Lu Yin.
If not for his sturdy universal armor, Lu Yin would have been doomed at the beginning of the fight and wouldn’t have even been able to take a single hit.
“I got it! Seventh Bro, find a place without any light sources! As long as there are no shadows, that thing won’t be able to get close to you,” the monkey shouted.
“You don’t say,” Lu Yin cursed, as he had thought of that long ago. But the heavens were huge with light sources everywhere. How could he find such a place?
“BLACKHOLE!” the monkey screamed.
Lu Yin looked up. Many blackholes had been created by the detonated pyrolyte, and there was definitely no light to be found within them. Thus, no shadows could be produced there either. However, Lu Yin was too scared to enter a blackhole.
“Relax, Seventh Bro, those aren’t real blackholes. The sky in this place is false.” The monkey paused briefly before hurriedly continuing to say, “A destructive strength with a power level in the mere several hundred thousands isn’t enough to create a true blackhole that can swallow everything. In fact, the blackholes created from a planet’s explosion isn’t real either. They all belong to the surface layer. Don’t forget—even a blackhole-grade Aurora can pass through these blackholes, let alone you.”
Lu Yin ferociously dashed towards the blackholes. According to the rune lines that he could see, they were not much of a threat to him.
A shadow appeared before him, and Lu Yin casually waved a hand and activated the Yu Secret Art. At the point directly in front of him, the shadow attack missed, and it only managed to shatter some layers of the void.
The Shadowbeast clearly wanted to stop Lu Yin from entering a blackhole. However, Lu Yin managed to rely on the Yu Secret Art and the Secret Sidestep Technique to shake off the Shadowbeast. He then directly charged into one of the blackholes.
In an instant, the gravity nearly caused him to lose control of his body. He thought of Tian Hou, as that freak was essentially a living blackhole.
The Shadowbeast’s rune lines neared Lu Yin, and the creature dashed into the blackhole right behind Lu Yin. It had no intention of letting Lu Yin off.
There was not a single ray of light in the blackhole, and it incessantly tried to pull Lu Yin into an unknown space. He filled his eyes with star energy and looked around him, only to see that even rune lines were distorted in this place. He could not track the Shadowbeast’s position at all.
“Seventh Bro, think of a way to attack the Shadowbeast, or else it’ll just toy with you until you die!” The monkey was flustered.
Lu Yin was similarly anxious. He was in a position where all he could do was evade the Shadowbeast’s attacks. However, with the size of this blackhole, he would eventually be hit.
Any attack from Lu Yin would be too weak to do anything to an Enlighter, and only his gun would be effective. “Monkey, aren’t you a shadow as well? Can you hide in its shadow?”
The monkey was stumped. “I- I don’t know.”
“Try!” Lu Yin then dashed out of the blackhole since it was useless to keep hiding within it, especially since he could not remain hidden for long.
After Lu Yin emerged, the Shadowbeast left the blackhole as well. Its boundless rune lines immediately vanished, only to suddenly strike at Lu Yin. The beast had hidden itself within Lu Yin’s shadow again.
At this moment, the Ghost Monkey appeared. While Lu Yin was being attacked, the monkey locked onto the Shadowbeast’s position. Lu Yin fired his gun, but the Shadowbeast had already disappeared. It was aware of how dangerous the gun was, so it was very cautious. However, the monkey also turned into a shadow and latched onto the Enlighter’s shadow. So, when the beast reappeared, Lu Yin waved a hand and activated the Yu Secret Art. The bullet vanished, only to reappear and strike the Shadowbeast. The Enlighter had been hit. Even though its body was immaterial, that did not mean that it couldn’t be hit. As long as its shadow was hit, it would be similarly affected.
The Shadowbeast did not expect for Lu Yin to have a tamed beast in his body, much less one that could follow and reveal its location.
That shot wasn’t enough to kill the beast by itself, but it was certainly enough to scare it off, and the beast immediately distanced itself from Lu Yin.
The Ghost Monkey reintegrated into Lu Yin’s body afterwards. “Seventh Bro, I never thought that there would come a day when this monkey would help you deal with an Enlighter!”
Lu Yin stored his gun away and sighed. There was only one shot left. “That Shadowbeast won’t give up. Get ready to stop it again.”
The monkey was excited. “Alright!”
Lu Yin glanced at the monkey, and his eyes flashed. This monkey still thought that Lu Yin had not caught on to what he had said about the false sky. The monkey clearly knew something, but he had never elaborated.
Battles were erupting in every corner of Brokenblade Fort, and Lu Yin could not afford to wait for when the Shadowbeast came looking for trouble again. He still had one bullet left in his gun, and he wanted to use the Yu Secret Art to help the Enlighters deal with the beasts. However, at that moment, he saw that Wang Wen was surrounded by beasts and two Hunter beasts at that.
Lu Yin quickly dashed over.
“SAVE ME! SAVE ME!” Wang Wen shouted urgently.
The two giant Hunter beasts were angrily trying to smash the coffin apart, but they quickly realized that they couldn’t do a thing to it. Then, one of them opened its mouth and moved to swallow the coffin whole.
Wang Wen’s face turned deathly white.
Two attacks landed on the beast from above: one was sword qi and the other was a blaze of fire. They came from the Myriad Swords Peak’s senior disciple Linley and Lilyrose, respectively. The two had acted to deal with the Hunter beasts, which allowed Wang Wen to breathe easy again.
Linley wasn’t able to hold out for long before being sent flying by one of the beasts’ tails; his sword qi had not been able to harm the beast in the least.
“Fiery Lilies—Karmic Flame Sword.” Lilyrose released a fierce shout as flames that looked like a hundred blossoming lilies appeared and enveloped the two Hunter realm beasts. After that, sword qi streaked by to pierce the two Hunter beasts before tearing through the void.
Linley spat out a mouthful of blood from where he was laying on the ground. He then watched on expectantly.
Lilyrose was panting heavily as she glared in front of herself.
As the burning lilies dissipated, the two Hunter beasts reappeared and howled at the sky.
The burning light in Lilyrose’s eyes dimmed, as her attack had ended up being ineffective. She was still a little lacking since she did not have much of the Karmic Flames.
Linley looked devastated. Were they going to die?
Wang Wen screamed, “Get away! You guys can’t stop them.”
Lilyrose’s body swayed. Her last attack had been made with all of her strength. Run? She couldn’t escape, and the most unfortunate part was that she still had not tasted enough men!
There was a deafening howl as one of the Hunter beasts snapped at Lilyrose, Linley, and Wang Wen, looking like it wanted to swallow all three of them in one gulp.
The giant shadow shrouded the three of them, and Lilyrose looked up into the beast’s mouth. It had a horrible stench. She had never imagined that she would die like this.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of them and raised a fist to release a punch.
Boom!
An intense shockwave swept out, blasting Lilyrose and the others back. The coffin flipped end over end nonstop until it finally crashed into a wall in the distance.
