Wei Rong realized that he had been forced to expend all of his efforts and resources when using his intelligence and strategies to duel with Lu Yin. However, if Lu Yin stepped into the ranks of the strongest in the Outerverse, then that one step would cause everything Wei Rong had to vanish like smoke.
And the probability of Lu Yin taking that step and joining the ranks of the strongest was very high.
Perhaps Wei Rong had guessed wrong from the start. Perhaps it was not that the Hall of Honor wanted to support Lu Yin, but rather that they had to support him, as his future was too unpredictable.
After witnessing Lu Yin’s battle, Wei Rong had suddenly come up with quite a few questions, and a few of his schemes had been instantly destroyed.
Besides Lu Yin, the other reinforcements from the various lavazones had all arrived as well. Suddenly, the Greatwood Lavazone had gained a dozen additional Hunters, which temporarily stabilized the battlefield.
The battle had started quickly, and it ended just as quickly. The Sixth Mainland and the Technocracy’s invading forces temporarily retreated.
Countless heaved heavy sighs of relief.
Lu Yin had spent a brief amount of time at Erudite Flowzone’s border warfront as well as some time defending Ironblood Weave. Thus, he was not unfamiliar with border wars. However, the bitter state of the Greatwood Lavazone still left him slightly surprised.
Across the region, at least twenty Hunters had died, which was a heavy toll. Not even the entire Great Yu Empire had that many Hunters.
The number of Explorers’ corpses floating through space was even higher.
At this time, the commander of the Greatwood Lavazone was the Arrow Mountain Elder since the previous commander, Commander Cao, had died along with Lord Egret who had come to reinforce the region. Akira had managed to survive through the assault, and he was now the only Enlighter in the Greatwood Lavazone whose power level was over 200,000. However, his injuries were also quite severe.
Lu Yin met with the Arrow Mountain Elder after the battle.
The Arrow Mountain Elder had undergone great changes. Back in the Neo-Vestige Sect, he had looked like nothing more than a leisurely old man, but at this moment, there was a heavy stench of blood clinging to his body, and his expression radiated both dignity and suppression.
Lu Yin had believed that the Arrow Mountain Elder’s power level would be around 400,000 at best, but after arriving at the border warfront, Lu Yin had discovered that the elder was actually an Envoy and that he had already killed an Imprinter with an arrow.
“We meet again so soon, little one,” the Arrow Mountain Elder said gently as he looked at Lu Yin appreciatively.
Lu Yin bowed. “Is Senior alright?”
The Arrow Mountain Elder sighed. “A little injured, but it’s nothing much. How is Little Peach?”
“She’s in Frostwave Weave, living a good life,” Lu Yin replied.
The Arrow Mountain Elder nodded, and his expression became complicated. “The desperate situation of this battlefield has far surpassed my predictions. It doesn’t seem too optimistic.”
Lu Yin frowned. “What has Senior discovered?”
The elder answered in a low voice, saying, “The Sixth Mainland’s Bloodburn Realm has an expert with a power level that surpasses even Ancestor Mojiang.”
“How does Senior know this?” Lu Yin was puzzled.
The Arrow Mountain Elder looked towards the sky. “The imprints of their strongest cultivators are all the same, and even Ancestor Mojiang revealed this imprint when he fought with Yuan Shi before. The imprint is of an old man, and he should be the strongest person among the Sixth Mainland’s forces. In order to sway our loyalties, quite a few cultivators from the Sixth Mainland have revealed that old man’s name: the Bluedome Elder.”
Lu Yin was not surprised, as he had already known of the Bluedome Elder, as well as the fact that the man was an Empyrean Imprinter.
The Arrow Mountain Elder sighed after a while, and he looked rather drained. “The three arrows that have been passed down since ancient times in my Neo-Vestige Sect may not necessarily be able to be protected this time around. I have already lost one.”
Lu Yin was surprised. “Could that have been what Senior used to kill the Imprinter?”
The Arrow Mountain Elder nodded. “Master Bei’s arrow ended up being seized by the Sixth Mainland’s Imprinter, which is my fault.”
Lu Yin subconsciously looked at his cosmic ring, as there was another one of the three arrows in his possession. What did this old man mean by these words? Did he know that an arrow was in Lu Yin’s possession?
Lu Yin did not speak up.
“Arrow techniques are different from other battle techniques. With a divine arrow, the power of an arrow technique can be raised limitlessly. What a pity.” The Arrow Mountain Elder sighed for a moment and then focused his deep eyes onto Lu Yin. “If us old folks need to be sacrificed to save you guys, then it will be worth it. However, this time, it is possible that no one will be able to escape. Little one, I know that you are very smart, so do your best to protect yourself. There might be a change in destiny when the Innerverse reconnects to the Outerverse. But of course, it might also bring about greater desperation.”
Lu Yin bade farewell to the Arrow Mountain Elder and ruminated over the old man’s words. The elder either knew that the arrow was with Lu Yin or had simply guessed at something else. For example, it might be related to the divine arrows that the Lu’s Grand Auction had auctioned.
The Neo-Vestige Sect paid the most attention to arrows, and Lu Yin’s Lu’s Grand Auction had sold off three powerful arrows, all of which had been purchased by the Neo-Vestige Sect. It would be strange if the Arrow Mountain Elder was not aware of this purchase, and he was likely hoping that Lu Yin could provide the Neo-Vestige Sect with more divine arrows.
It was no problem for Lu Yin to provide powerful arrows, as he could upgrade them. However, Lu Yin suddenly thought of something even better.
Within the Technocracy, inside one of the mechanical fortresses, Autumnfrost Qing was surprised by a piece of news. “Butcher’s dead?”
Someone in front of Autumnfrost Qing responded. “Yes. When the battle to invade the Greatwood Lavazone ended, Butcher did not return.”
Autumnfrost Qing was puzzled. “With Butcher’s strength, it would have taken at least a peak Hunter to kill him, and if he was intent on escaping, then not even a peak Hunter would be able to chase him down. That guy’s life-preserving methods were not weak, so he should have been fine unless he bumped into an Enlighter. But the Greatwood Lavazone only seems to have one of them. Was he killed by a hidden powerhouse?”
“The actual situation is unclear, though Ancestor Yan has sent word for Young Master to be more careful. Additionally, you should not delve too deeply into the Lavazone, as the Fifth Mainland may be hiding some powerhouses.”
Autumnfrost Qing nodded. “I understand.”
He was just about to say something, when he suddenly thought of a person: Lu Yin. That person was someone who was capable of killing Butcher, and since he was just an Explorer, most people would not be wary of him. Could Lu Yin have gone to the Greatwood Lavazone?
Regardless of whether or not Lu Yin had moved to that region, Autumnfrost Qing had no plans to make any moves, as the battlefield had become too dangerous.
Butcher had been quite famous throughout the Sixth Mainland, and his death created quite a commotion, causing quite a few powerhouses to feel afraid.
From the beginning of the invasion to the present moment, the Sixth Mainland cultivators’ sense of superiority towards the Fifth Mainland cultivators had steadily decreased. The people of the Outerverse had not been routed as easily as the invaders had expected.
It was no wonder why the invasion of the Fifth Mainland’s Innerverse was so difficult.
In the Greatwood Lavazone, Lu Yin was assigned a specific area to guard.
Lu Yin ranked within the top three fighters in the Greatwood Lavazone at the moment, and even Akira might not rank higher than the youth.
Lu Yin sent the others away and found a rather secluded location. He then raised a hand and caused his die to appear. It was time to upgrade some items that could potentially change the situation. Lu Yin had already considered many options, but in the end, he decided to use the poison.
Something like poison had a great range of uses, and its effects could be rather terrifying.
Normal poisons would naturally not be enough, even if they were strong enough to threaten Enlighters. The Sixth Mainland and the Technocracy did not lack methods to counter poisons. However, if he upgraded a poison until it posed a threat to experts with power levels of 300,000 or 400,000, then that would be a different story.
Even if these poisons could not harm Imprinters, they would still have to spend some time to eliminate such a potent toxin.
If possible, Lu Yin did not want to use poisons, but in this situation, he had no choice. The battle had already progressed to the present stage, and if they lost their current position, then the Outerverse would face an absolute calamity, and that was something that he could not accept no matter what.
As he thought about the future, he tapped out, causing the die to slowly spin. Finally, it stopped on… Six pips.
Lu Yin had a feeling that something was wrong, and he instantly remembered that he had not removed his cosmic ring. The moment he remembered this, the scenery before his eyes changed, and he appeared in a dark space with multiple balls of light floating around him.
Terrified of wasting his star essence, Lu Yin merged into a random ball of light, and the scenery changed once again. He was now in front of a massive Astral River Tributary Ark.
At the same time, a flood of memories rushed into his mind, and they left Lu Yin speechless. He had Possessed a Sixth Mainland’s cultivator’s body, and the person was a Cruiser. This person was working with others to surround and attack a person, who happened to be Lu Yin’s old acquaintance: Ling Que.
Lu Yin was in Chaos Flowzone’s Astral River Tributary that separated Chaos Flowzone from a smaller flowzone. Currently, all of them were moving across the tributary via the Flowzone Ark.
When the Innerverse and Outerverse had first been separated, the energy of the Astral River had surged, and this tributary river had similarly separated the two flowzones. However, an expert with a power level of 400,000 from Chaos Flowzone had forcibly broken the energy barrier, reconnecting the two flowzones once again.
This was the method that many in the large flowzones of the Innerverse had used, as they did not suffer from a lack of super powerhouses. Thus, it had been easy for them to reestablish connections.
When the Sixth Mainland had first invaded the Innerverse, the Innerverse had united to resist the attackers. Of particular note was the Martial Progenitor’s battle with Progenitor Chen’s remnant spiritual force, which had caused the Innerverse’s environment to change drastically. Suddenly, all attacks with power levels exceeding 200,000 had been restricted. This meant that all of the battles in the Innerverse had to be limited to those under the Enlighter realm, and even if Enlighters acted, they would have to limit their strength to remain below a power level of 200,000.
This was exactly as what Lu Yin had heard in the Daosource Sect’s ruins.
The Innerverse had established a Champion’s Stage, and anyone who accomplished military achievements could be granted a title from the following: General, Marquis, Monarch, and Arbiter. This was how the Innerverse was encouraging their younger cultivators to fight against the invaders from the Sixth Mainland, and the Sixth Mainland had similarly targeted the Champion’s Stage and created their own system of granting rewards. Specifically, anyone who killed a Title Holder would receive a great number of rewards and benefits.
These generous rewards had attracted countless cultivators from the Sixth Mainland to join the invasion, and almost nobody visited the Daosource Sect’s ruins any longer.
Before Lu Yin’s eyes was a scene of a dozen cultivators from the Sixth Mainland surrounding a Title Holder. Lu Yin had coincidentally possessed one of the surrounding attackers at random, who actually turned out to be one of the strongest attackers. The one whom Lu Yin had Possessed had led a dozen other cultivators to conduct this siege, and the one whom they had surrounded was Ling Que, who had been granted the title of General Ling.
Lu Yin looked up to see a Sixth Mainland cultivator clutching at his neck as he slowly fell.
Ling Que was panting heavily, and one of his arms was drooping unnaturally. He was giving a death stare to the person whom Lu Yin had Possessed. Ling Que’s eyes were flashing with killing intent, and even his hair was matted with blood. His sword was still stuck in someone’s abdomen, as he had not even returned to a stance yet as his Que’s Mighty Slash revolved around him and sliced through the void.
Lu Yin was excited, as he had not expected to encounter Ling Que under such circumstances.
Through the Possessed person’s original memories, Lu Yin learned that Ling Que had become slightly more famous on the battlefield, and he had even killed a powerful expert from the War Martial Realm. He had also escaped from a cultivator who was second only to the Realmlings and made great contributions to the Innerverse’s efforts. That cultivator had been on the same level as the likes of Autumnfrost Qing and Butcher. Hence, Ling Que had been granted a title from the Champion’s Stage: General Ling.
Ling Que had once been known as a peerless Limiteer, and now that he had broken through to the Explorer realm, his strength had leaped to new heights. He relied on the Lingling clan’s innate gift and inherited battle technique, so it was not strange for him to have attained such a formidable strength.
His strength was now equivalent to the top forty of the Top 100 Rankings.
Back when Butcher had instantly eliminated three cultivators in the Daosource Sect’s ruins, each one of those cultivators had been able to rival experts ranked in the top sixty of the Top 100 Rankings. Additionally, anyone who was able to enter the Daosource Sect’s ruins had a futon, which meant that every person in that place either had an astounding background or had encountered amazingly lucky opportunities. This had actually caused Lu Yin to mistake the average strength of the Sixth Mainland as being extraordinarily high.
In fact, the Sixth Mainland cultivators that Lu Yin had seen thus far had all been elites among elites.
