Lu Yin’s body vanished, and he quickly reappeared at the base of the mountain. He then punched and caused the ground to split apart. This punch had surpassed the power of a Cruiser, and he shattered the base of the mountain, revealing a box made out of Spiritual Thread.
Lu Yin was delighted. Apparently, having a lockbreaking tool was also advantageous when searching for sourceboxes. If he could use these methods to search for abnormal spatial fluctuations, then other people would have their own methods as well: domains, innate gifts, or even battle techniques. This round of the competition was all about evaluating a Lockbreaker’s searching abilities.
He thought that that made sense, as the Lockbreaker Society could not completely rely on others unintentionally stumbling upon sourceboxes. They needed to organize specialized Lockbreaker teams to search for sourceboxes, or else they would not have this many stocked up.
Lu Yin retrieved the chest, but before he could open it, he looked behind him and saw two figures charging towards him at top speed. They attacked him without saying a single word, and Lu Yin’s gaze trembled. The roaming star energy in the air suddenly froze. The two competitors had used their star energy to display battle techniques, but they only made it halfway to Lu Yin before the star energy went out of control. “No good, it’s a domain! Back off.”
Lu Yin did not have a habit of taking a beating without retaliating, and his domain directly crushed down upon the area like an evening bell, causing those two Lockbreakers to crash into the ground. They each spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted.
This sort of environment where people had to forcibly take control of the ambient star energy allowed the more powerful individuals to become even stronger while the weak completely lost control of their star energy. They were like ordinary humans.
This was just the first round, but there were only three days to this round. Thus, the Lockbreaker Society would not have brought out sourceboxes that were too advanced for this round. Lu Yin slowly opened the Spiritual Thread case, revealing a leaf-green stone inside that emitted the sound of the tide. He slowly reached forward, and as he approached it, his palm was struck by an unhindered strength. He pulled his hand back, as the strength that he had just felt was the formless danger of this sourcebox. However, it was just at the level of a Limiteer.
He directly reached forward to grab the leaf-green stone with his hand as he endured the bombardment of that tidal strength. After studying the sourcebox, he determined that, with his current lockbreaking ability, it would take him roughly two hours to finish unlocking this stone. It was only a three star Discerning Elementary sourcebox, so it was not too advanced.
Lu Yin placed the stone back inside the chest and stored it in his cosmic ring. He looked up at the Hall of Insight, as those old fogeys were definitely observing him. It was impossible for him to take this sourcebox for himself, but there was no hurry to unlock it either. He should first get a hold of a few more.
While Lu Yin was obtaining his first sourcebox, some distance away from him, in another area of the mountain range, there was a brightly-colored python swimming out of a lake. Its body was wrapped around a spiritual thread case, and it swam to the shore of the lake where the Serpent Queen was standing. She was only partially dressed as the lake water occasionally splashed onto her, which made for an extremely alluring sight. She did not care about the countless audience members who were watching her from outside.
The python placed the chest beside the lake and hissed before sinking back into the lake.
Some distance away, a pair of eyes covetously swept over the Serpent Queen, the person resisting the temptation to rush over to the chest and grab it. Suddenly, a snake’s tail stabbed out from underground and entwined around the person. The snake then exerted some force and split the person’s body in two. Fresh blood splattered onto the ground beside the lake as a mist of blood pervaded the region.
Anyone who saw this scene went numb, as this was actual murder. Normally, few killings occurred during the Lockbreaker Competitions, as all of the participants had high statuses.
In the Hall of Insight, Mr. Jun sprang to his feet with a gloomy face.
Saul looked at him discontentedly. “What is it?”
Mr. Jun replied, “Vice president, the Lockbreaker Competition is supposed to be a contest of one’s lockbreaking ability, but this woman used her beast to kill a Lockbreaker, breaking the rules.”
Saul indifferently replied, “A Lockbreaker’s experience far exceeds that of other cultivators. Many Lockbreakers perish every year while lockbreaking, and some even die while searching for sourceboxes. Are you going to act just because of this?”
“But this is a competition,” Mr. Jun protested.
Fiend Li spoke up. “Although these competitions don’t promote killing, they don’t prohibit it either. If you intervene, then you will cause the other competing Lockbreakers to feel as though they are being protected, and their actions might become even more unrestrained, which isn’t fair to the Lockbreakers who have already found sourceboxes.”
“So are we simply going to allow this woman to use her beast to freely kill others?” Felynn could not help herself from speaking up.
Saul calmly replied, “Lockbreakers are not killed that easily. That person died because of his greed, which is not to be pitied. This season’s competition did not have a great lineup to begin with, so it’s almost a good thing to have some deaths occur. At least this way it will stand out a bit from previous competitions.”
These few people and the sentences that they spoke set the tone for this Lockbreaker Competition.
Beside the lake, the Serpent Queen looked up, and her brows rose. Since no one had intervened, it seemed like she could act even more ruthlessly.
Hiss!
The python swam across the lake as its massive head neared the Serpent Queen and then rubbed up against her. Her lips curled up, and she reached out towards the python. “Good job. Let’s go.”
Half of the python’s body rose up, and the Serpent Queen retrieved the case from the serpent’s body before moving in another direction.
In another region, Xi Qi had also found a sourcebox, though it was due more to luck than anything else. The sourcebox had actually appeared beneath her feet, and it had almost caused her to trip and fall.
“Hehe, now you must know Lord Fish’s power, two-legged beast!” The fish atop Xi Qi’s head patted her head with its tail.
Xi Qi was taken aback. “What does it have to do with you?”
“Stupid! If not for Lord Fish’s profound fortune, then do you think you would have been able to get this sourcebox that easily? It really is true that two-legged beasts have no vision at times.” The fish swatted her with its tail even harder.
Xi Qi pursed her lips, and then rolled her eyes despite not retorting. Her past experiences told her that such a thing was useless, as the fish dwelt in its own fantasy world and could not free itself.
Suddenly, the fish barked, “Don’t move! There’s someone there.”
Xi Qi stared at the wide area in front of her. This person could not be simple if the fish had made a special comment about them.
Quickly, Xi Qi saw who had arrived: it was Ku Wei.
Ku Wei and Xi Qi met by coincidence, and he stared dumbly at the fish atop the girl’s head. He slowly raised a hand. “How much for the fish?”
Xi Qi blinked. “I’ll give it to you.”
Ku Wei was instantly delighted. “Really? Lady, you’re wonderful! Since you’re so obedient, I’ll allow you to call me Brother Wei. From now on, whenever you’re outside, just say that Brother Wei is protecting you, and nobody will dare to bully you. Alright, great. Pass that fish to Brother Wei. Brother Wei thinks that it will be delicious regardless of whether it’s steamed or simmered.”
Xi Qi covered her mouth in surprise and her eyes rolled upwards.
Atop Xi Qi’s head, the fish glared at Ku Wei, and it was only a long while later that it reacted. Simmering? Steaming? The fish felt that this fellow was malicious, and it grew exceptionally angry, as though its dignity had been challenged. “Brat, you’re making a huge mistake! Lord Fish will explicitly tell you right now that you have made a huge mistake, and Lord Fish will fight you to the death in this life!”
Ku Wei was shocked. “It can speak? There’s a fish like that? Lady, where did you buy this thing?”
Xi Qi pursed her lips.
“Brat, Lord Fish is speaking to you! You are in such a huge mess right now! Hurry up and dig up your ancestors’ tombs and then kowtow before Lord Fish in apology! After that, you must be a mount for Lord Fish!” the fish shouted angrily.
Ku Wei was shocked, and he rubbed his chin as he fell deep into thought. “It can speak, so it can’t be eaten, and it’s also pretty rude. It’ll probably be a bother to take it along… Forget it, I don’t want it anymore.”
The fish became even more angered by these words, and it slapped its tail against Xi Qi’s head as it demanded, “Two-legged beast, go! Beat him! Help Lord Fish thrash him!”
Xi Qi pondered the fish’s orders for a moment. “I’m no good at fighting.”
“Lord Fish will teach you! Hurry up and kick him! That brat’s about to run!” The fish was growing flustered.
Ku Wei’s eyes lit up. “Fish? Right, fishing? Haha, Brother Wei is such a genius that I came up with such a thing! Great, fishing!”
He then pulled out a case and lifted it high into the air before flying away. He made his way through the sky, dragging the case along with him in plain view.
The screens in the outside world coincidentally managed to capture this scene. Xi Qi was one of the most anticipated Lockbreakers in this event, and so, her every action was being observed. Due to this, they were able to watch Ku Wei and the scene of him interacting with the fish.
“What’s he doing? That seems to be an empty chest,” someone mentioned.
“That brat was screaming like mad just now. Could he have been tricked by that fish? I heard that Xi Qi’s fish is rather crass.”
“No, he’s luring out others to act against him.”
“He’s baiting others.”
***
In the Hall of Insight, Saul was disappointed, as he had assumed that Ku Wei would act against Xi Qi, and he had not expected him to leave so simply.
“Interesting, to be able to think of such a method to attract others. He’s either a lunatic or extremely confident,” Felynn commented with a smile.
Fiend Li replied, “On the other hand, it proves that he has no confidence in finding sourceboxes on his own.”
“His attackers might not have any sourceboxes themselves. This sort of method won’t be very efficient.”
The crowd in the hall all nodded.
Behind the Hall of Insight, inside the mountain range, Lu Yin happened to see Ku Wei and was slightly caught off guard. What was this fellow doing?
“Seventh Bro, that guy’s gone crazy,” the Ghost Monkey said.
Lu Yin’s eyes flickered, and he then laughed. “He wants to use that method to bait others into trying to rob him, after which he’ll counter-rob them. Interesting.” He had once done something similar, which was why he had figured it out so quickly. But as Fiend Li had already mentioned, Ku Wei was of no threat anymore, as he could not come up with any ways to search for sourceboxes himself, which meant that his lockbreaking ability was not too impressive. Although this method might work once or twice, its efficiency would not be too high, and those who tried to rob him would mostly be others who had not been able to find any sourceboxes, which meant that Ku Wei’s success rate would plummet.
This sort of method had a low chance of success, but it was very effective in drawing people’s attention. In just a few minutes, someone tried to steal Ku Wei’s chest and ended up being counterrobbed. Even the would-be thief’s underwear was peeled off, but despite that, Ku Wei did not find a sourcebox.
“Trash! You don’t even have a sourcebox, and so, you came to snatch Brother Wei’s? Go and find a sourcebox. Then come back and try to snatch Brother Wei’s after you find your own!” Ku Wei threatened.
The few thieves scrambled away.
What followed next was Ku Wei raising the case high above him like he was flying a kite to bait others into trying to rob him. His actions were rather self-confident, and he also believed himself to be a man of principles. Thus, he would not go about blatantly robbing others. However, he had no such qualms about stealing from those who tried to rob him first. It was like the situation with the spacecraft’s captain and that Nosehair Man, as they had all technically willingly helped him.
Xi Qi was scolded by the fish for half a day. She was scolded for not having enough courage, for being useless, and other various things. Its abuse caused Xi Qi to feel very wronged. “I’m not good at fighting.”
The fish looked up in the sky at Ku Wei, and muttered, “Strange, there’s always a familiar smell on this kid. Who is it? Lord Fish must have met him before.”
Off in the distance, Cai Jianqiang did not bother looking at the sky. He minded his own business as he searched for sourceboxes in a very diligent manner without using any cheap tricks. He forcefully spread his star energy across an entire area to search for sourceboxes.
He wanted to tell those old fogeys of the Lockbreaker Society that, with perseverance and hard work, he could also reach the same heights as his brother.
