“You’re just a bunch of trash waiting to die! So what if you’re an Enlighter? You’re just a crippled old fart who’s waiting to die before me.” The youth’s expression was sinister, and the phantom image of a gloomy, grandmother-looking figure appeared behind him, which was his imprint.
When he saw the imprint, the elder’s eyes opened wide, and he immediately took action.
The young man snorted as a martial print appeared in the center of his palm in response.
Martial prints were a unique power that existed within the Progenitor of Combat Territory, and they were able to rival the bloodlines of the Progenitor of Bloodlines. All of the cultivators in the Progenitor of Combat’s territory were able to cultivate these martial prints that integrated all of the battle techniques and arts that they had comprehended into this print or into their bodies to improve their power level. Besides that, they could also materialize these martial prints to suppress everyone around them, and this youth had clearly integrated his martial print into his palm.
There was a thump as the youth was forced back a dozen steps, and even a small crack had appeared in his martial print. The old Enlighter facing the youth had similarly taken a dozen steps back as a result of the clash.
By suppressing the strength of his attack and lowering its power level to beneath 200,000, the older Enlighter had ended up being severely injured. Additionally, the Sixth Mainland cultivators innately suppressed their Fifth Mainland peers, which caused the Enlighter to quickly fall to a disadvantage.
The elder had been severely injured to begin with, and his multitude of injuries began to surface as the confrontation with the youth dragged on. With a completely careless attitude, the youth approached the elder. “Invisible needles.” As the youth approached, the elder’s pupils shrank while countless delicate needles flew out from the youth’s palm and shot through the void. The elder tried his best to evade the attack, but the youth was already too close. The old man could not evade all of the needles, and he was struck several times.
These fine needles had been shot into the old man’s body in a strange manner, and they were also all smeared with a strong poison. As soon as they entered the old man’s body, extreme pain shot through his nerves.
The elder howled in pain and glared at the youth before unleashing his full strength. Suddenly, the Enlighter’s power level surpassed 200,000, and he revealed the full strength that an Enlighter should possess.
However, at that same moment, the boiling energy seething above everything was drawn down and covered the old man. In an instant, he was reduced to ash as he disappeared on the spot. It was as if his entire being had been erased by the mysterious energy.
The youth looked up above in apprehension, as this scene was not unfamiliar to him. If not for this terrifying sight playing out many times before, their Sixth Mainland would have long since entirely occupied the entire Innerverse. As he thought about it, the youth snorted. “Continue giving chase.”
With a whoosh, a spacecraft dashed out of the small gap in the Astral River. After four long years, Lu Yin and Hai Qiqi had finally returned to the Innerverse once again.
Hai Qiqi was practically bubbling with excitement.
At the first opportunity, Lu Yin looked up to see the boiling energy suppressing the Innerverse that he had heard so much about.
What entered his vision was an endless and boundless amount of rune lines that were very unfamiliar and different from the rune lines that he normally saw. This suppressive energy’s rune lines were not like what he saw from cultivators or their attacks. Instead, they looked like genuine runes.
Lu Yin had seen runes like these once before, at the top of the Astral Combat Academy’s Dao of Purgatory’s Sky Platform. When he had reached the top, he had seen similar runes, and that was also where his eyes had changed.
The Sky Platform was a leftover technological remnant from the Rune Civilization’s ruins, and it represented the most orthodox aspect of Rune Technology. In that case, then what of these runes? Could this energy be derived from Rune Technology? Didn’t that imply that the one who had battled against the Martial Progenitor was a remnant of the Rune Progenitor? Had it not actually been a remnant of Progenitor Chen as people claimed in the rumors?
If this was a remnant of the Rune Progenitor’s strength, then besides limiting attacks to power levels of below 200,000, this energy was also suppressing cultivators’ influence on this region of the universe.
Power level could be represented by rune lines, but rune lines did not necessarily represent power levels.
As he thought about this, Lu Yin hurriedly stored his universal armor away.
If he wore that armor, then as soon as someone attacked him, the amount of influence that the universal armor exerted upon the universe would surpass that of an attack with a power level of 200,000, and Lu Yin would be instantly finished.
On the Sky Platform, Lu Yin had already experienced the terror of the Rune Civilization. At that time, he had not faced an attack. Instead, he had faced something even more terrifying than an attack, as he had seen somebody be directly wiped out due to their rune lines being deleted.
“Qiqi, the Ultra Flash Tearbomb that I gave you absolutely can not be used here. Remember, definitely do not use it!” Lu Yin solemnly ordered Hai Qiqi.
Hai Qiqi was puzzled by Lu Yin’s warning.
If evaluated purely by power level, then an Ultra Flash Tearbomb was definitely not as terrifying as an attack with a power level of 200,000. However, the instant an Ultra Flash Tearbomb was used, the influence that it exerted on the universe would definitely surpass that of an attack with a power level of 200,000. In other words, in the instant that the flash bomb was used, its rune lines would surpass those of an attack with a power level of 200,000, which meant that using one was no different than chasing death.
Of course, all of these conjectures were based off of the premise that the roiling energy above them was created by the Rune Progenitor. It would be fine to use the flash bomb if the Rune Progenitor was not related to this suppressive energy.
However, Lu Yin was fairly certain that this energy was related to Rune Technology, which made it likely that it was also a part of the Rune Progenitor’s strength.
“Lu Yin, look! There’s someone up ahead,” Hai Qiqi cried as she pointed in front of them.
When Lu Yin looked ahead, he saw that there was a space-exploring powerhouse close by, and judging by their rune lines, the person was in the Explorer realm. “Let’s go and take a look. Right, for now, don’t call me by my real name when we’re in front of others. We can’t let others know of our true identities, or else the Sixth Mainland might pass through that gap and invade the Outerverse.”
Hai Qiqi understood the severity of the situation, and she quietly nodded, obediently accepting Lu Yin’s request.
As the figure approached the two youths, it quickly became apparent that they were the young master who had escaped from the Sixth Mainland’s pursuit.
Outer space was vast beyond description, but this youth had no place where he could rest. Whenever he looked back, he saw the enemy’s spacecraft drawing closer.
Up ahead of him was a pair of cultivators: one male and one female.
The young heir looked desperate, as the only people who would willingly appear in this place were those from the Sixth Mainland.
This youth had not expected to narrowly fail in his escape, but even if he died, he was determined to not die in vain. At the very least, he would drag down one enemy to death with him. As his thoughts reached this point, he gritted his teeth and charged forwards.
Lu Yin saw the man in front of them start charging over, and he felt that this man seemed a little familiar. Lu Yin was able to sense that this Explorer’s star energy had gone through two cycles, but the cultivator’s power level had already surpassed 20,000. This person was no ordinary cultivator, and he was actually a Realmbreaker.
The young man charged at Lu Yin, and he was able to similarly sense that Lu Yin was an Explorer who had completed three cycles while Hai Qiqi was an Explorer who had completed two cycles. If these two were Innerverse cultivators like him, then he would not be afraid, as he was the heir of Starphant Mountain. He dared to face any peer within the same realm, and he would even dare to fight against Cruisers. However, his boldness had been diminished in the face of the Sixth Mainland’s cultivators’ onslaught.
The innate suppression that he suffered from facing them and their imprints meant that fighting against the Sixth Mainland’s younger generation did not bode well for him, but so what? He carried an unyielding determination as he attacked the two youths.
“It looks like he’s going to hit us.” Hai Qiqi was puzzled.
Lu Yin moved forward, and the young master approaching them took out a long blade. Purple battle force then covered the youth, which was four lined battle force.
In the universe, there were very few who were able to comprehend battle force, let alone cultivate it to four lines, which was no simple feat. In the Astral Combat Academy, such a person would at least be on par with the Area Masters.
With a fierce bark, the shadow of a blade fell in front of them, and it carried a starry silver radiance with it alongside the purple battle force. The attack caused ripples to appear in the void, and this knife was enough to even make an ordinary Cruiser wary.
This young master had assumed the two people in front of him would definitely use their imprints, but the next thing that he saw caused him to doubt his senses.
His blade was caught. The bare hand of the young man before him had firmly grabbed a hold of the blade’s edge, and there wasn’t even a change in the young man’s expression. The young master’s full force blade thrust had not been enough to even force the youth back a single step.
With a loud crack, the blade fractured before shattering, its pieces scattering into space.
“Not a bad blade,” Lu Yin commented, as there was still a fragment of metal left in his hand.
The young master was stunned; how was such a thing possible? Could it be?
“Are you the disciple of an Imprinter?” he asked, sounding quite desperate.
Lu Yin looked past the youth and saw the chasing spacecraft slowly coming to a stop nearby. There were quite a number of rune lines aboard the vessel, and one person had even surpassed the Hunter realm. An expert had arrived.
The young master slowly turned around and closed his eyes. He had wanted to find a victim to drag down to hell with him, but he had even failed in that regard. He clenched the hilt of his shattered blade, unwilling to accept his fate.
Another youth exited from the spacecraft, and it was the person who had just killed the old Enlighter.
This youth’s gaze was arrogant, and he looked down at the young master before looking over at Lu Yin and Hai Qiqi. “Which realm are you two from? Show your imprint.”
After he spoke, the phantom image of the grandmother appeared behind him, which was his imprint.
Only Sixth Mainland cultivators had imprints, and this was the way Sixth Mainland cultivators verified their identities, as imprints could not be faked.
On the battlefield of the Innerverse, there was an unwritten rule that everyone from the Sixth Mainland followed. If they were unable to verify another’s identity, then they had to first reveal their imprints.
Everyone was waiting for Lu Yin to display his imprint.
Lu Yin blinked and replied, “You aren’t worthy.”
The young master was stumped.
That youth who had been pursuing the young heir was similarly stunned.
Hai Qiqi was surprised, as this sentence was full of ambition.
The youth’s expression fell, and his lips twisted into a cruel angle. “So it’s another Fifth Mainland native. I never thought that someone like you would actually still have the guts to openly appear in this area. For you to talk to me, Gui Bing, like this, you’ve got guts.”
That young master looked over at Lu Yin in surprise. “You aren’t from the Sixth Mainland?”
“Everyone, surround them! Don’t let any of them slip away,” Gui Bing ordered. He then charged at Lu Yin as his imprint grew clearer behind his back. He raised a hand, causing countless bizarre needles to shoot forward from his palm. They were all extremely delicate and were practically invisible if one did not focus on them. The youth’s rain of needles contained at least a hundred of them, much like when he had attacked that Enlighter elder before.
The young master was petrified. “Hurry up and dodge!”
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed when he saw that over a hundred fine needles were approaching him. Each one’s rune lines were equivalent to an attack with a power level in the several tens of thousands, but more importantly, each one was coated with a strong poison. This was a very malicious attack, as not even the average Cruiser would be able to withstand such an attack. However, this still was not enough to breach Lu Yin’s defenses.
Lu Yin allowed the hundreds of delicate needles to strike his body, but right before they made contact, battle force shrouded his body, covering it with red lines and blue veins. This was eight lined battle force.
As soon as eight lined battle force appeared around Lu Yin, the young master was stunned. He himself had cultivated his battle force to four lines, which made him very clear on the increasing disparity between levels the further one progressed. Eight lined battle force was not something that he could even dream of obtaining. According to a conjecture made by one of his sect’s ancestors, he would not be able to cultivate his battle force to eight lines even when he reached the Hunter realm, but this person had accomplished such a terrifying feat at such a young age.
Gui Bing was also surprised. Their Sixth Mainland did not care about battle force or domains, but that did not mean that they did not understand such techniques. Someone who was able to cultivate eight lined battle force was frighteningly strong.
Lu Yin did not give his opponent much time to consider this unexpected development. He instantly vanished from where he had been standing with Flash Step only to reappear right before Gui Bing the next instant, his hand already stretched out.
Gui Bing sneered as a peculiar imprint appeared in his palm. This was his martial print, and he similarly reached out with his hand towards Lu Yin.
With a thump, the youth’s palm that contained his full confidence was suddenly engulfed by an intense pain. His palm was tightly gripped in Lu Yin’s, and the martial print within his palm had been completely destroyed. He was being crushed in a head-on contest of strength.
The Sixth Mainland youth was stunned in disbelief. This was impossible! He was an Imprinter’s disciple who had an Imprint, a martial print, and also innately suppressed Fifth Mainland cultivators. How had this battle turned out like this?
“Who- who are you exactly?” Gui Bing shouted in fear as he lashed out with a foot, attempting to separate himself from his opponent.
But his body was already not under his control. Lu Yin flipped and twisted him around mercilessly until the youth was forced into a half-kneeling position, whereupon he spat out a mouthful of blood. At this moment, the surrounding Sixth Mainland cultivators hastened to act, but they could offer no resistance against Lu Yin’s domain, and they were directly crushed to death.
