Lan Si looked at Lu Yin intently. “So? Do you dare? If you beat me, you’ll become an Arbiter.”
Lu Yin sneered. “Do you think that I would agree to your challenge so rashly? However, if you agree to let me use my items, then I can agree.”
Lan Si shook his head and laughed. “Just forget about it if you want to use your items. Between the Ten Arbiters, foreign objects have never been used in any of our contests, as this is actually a rule: you’ll have to compete with your own abilities. Of course, I know that this battle is unfair to you, and so, you can choose the time. I can wait for you to choose when you want to challenge me, and the bargaining chips will remain as a position as one of the Ten Arbiters and the Honored Chosen. Do you dare, or do you not?”
Lu Yin’s eyes locked onto Lan Si. “I’m already an Honored Chosen whereas your position as one of the Ten Arbiters is not very valuable to me. That’s because, as soon as I am able to, I can challenge any one of you Arbiters at any time and win the position of an Arbiter. Don’t forget that I’m already a member of the Council of Astral Academy, so I am already one of the higher members of the Ten Arbiters Council. Actually, my position is second only to the Ten Arbiters.”
Lan Si nodded. “So what do you want?”
Lu Yin seriously replied, “I’ll choose a time, and we can have a fair battle then. If I win, you have to support me unconditionally from that point onwards, and that will include your Lan family.”
Lan Si’s eyes grew sharp, as this condition was too presumptuous.
“An Honored Chosen—you should be very clear about what that position represents: the possibility of stepping onto the level of a legend. Without that status, even if you make it to the Neoverse, you still won’t be able to reach the Astral Tower. Consider this carefully, “Lu Yin tempted the Arbiter.
Lan Si was amused at Lu Yin’s behavior. “Alright, I agree. Choose a date.”
Lu Yin’s eyes opened wide. “Let’s have our battle before the Innerverse and Outerverse are reconnected.”
Lan Si raised his hand and stuck out his palm.
Lu Yin similarly raised a hand and grasped his palm.
The wind generated by the two clasping hands sent shockwaves through the void, which warped as the shockwave gradually dissipated. This handshake signified their agreement.
Countless people from various media outlets recorded and took pictures of this scene. Ever since the initial rise of the Ten Arbiters, this was the first time a challenge had ever been issued. Before this, there had never been anything even close to a challenge, and most people had not even known what any of the Arbiters looked like.
Lan Si had gambled quite a bit for this chance to win the position of an Honored Chosen.
After obtaining Lu Yin’s agreement, Lan Si left East San Dios, as he actually did not care about the Outerverse Youth Council.
Lu Yin stared at Lan Si’s back as the Arbiter left and considered things. The Arbiter seemed to be very confident that the Innerverse would be able to defend against the Sixth Mainland.
After Lan Si left, the various reporters also left. Lan Si had achieved his objective, and there would be no more breaking news to be had at this place. As for Lu Yin, none of the media members were willing to push him for too much information.
“Are you confident?” Wendy Yushan asked as she moved next to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin’s opponent was Lan Si, the Ten Arbiters’ Divine Fist. He was a genius with a powerful innate gift and was an expert on the same level as the White Knight. Although Wendy had never exchanged blows with Lan Si before, she knew that she would be easily defeated even if she used her secret technique. Similarly, despite Lu Yin being extremely powerful and improving at a blinding speed, he was still quite far from being able to challenge one of the Ten Arbiters.
Lu Yin smiled. “Relax. There’s a great deal of time left before the fight. I’ve already reached this level after less than ten years of cultivation. With just a few more years, my strength will definitely increase much further.”
Wendy Yushan frowned. “The Ten Arbiters’ fame has been earned through many battles, and nobody knows the depths of their true strength. Be careful—you might have a secret technique, but he may have one as well.”
Lu Yin nodded. In the Starfall Sea, there were only two youths who had been able to exchange blows with Imprinters. One had been the Grand Martial Realm’s Realmling, Bai Ling, and the other had been the Divine Fist, Lan Si. Lu Yin had been the final exception, and so there were a total of three youths with such accomplishments including Lu Yin.
It was precisely because he had challenged Imprinters that Lu Yin better understood their terror, as star energy was essentially useless against such powerhouses. Whether it was their battle experience, reactions, understanding of star energy, or even their control of time and space, an Imprinter was simply too terrifying in all aspects. Lu Yin had been forced to rely on his Truesight to barely hold on, which was a true Progenitor’s inheritance. It could only be imagined what level of strength was required to battle against an Imprinter on equal footing.
Lan Si was capable of doing so, and it was definitely not only due to the Overlaying Stacks Path.
Unfortunately, Lu Yin had not been able to observe the Arbiter during the intense battle on Grayweed Continent. Otherwise, he would be better informed of the Arbiter’s strength.
Of course, Lu Yin was not afraid of Lan Si either. With the Yu Secret Art, Truesight, Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation, and his spiritual force that could rival what the Ten Arbiters themselves possessed, Lu Yin was absolutely confident in facing Lan Si with just a few more years’ time.
Lu Yin could not avoid this fight. If he tried to dodge it, then he would lose all credibility, and that would disrupt his future plans. And that wasn’t even mentioning how he would also lose the various benefits that he had built up over the years while also gaining a new enemy in the form of Mt. Stacks Dojo, which would be troubling.
He then turned around to see Liu Shaoge’s beaming smile. This person was a wily fox, and it felt as though he was becoming more and more like Silver. Nobody knew what this person was thinking, and Lu Yin was very wary of him.
Next, Lu Yin strongly reminded Barley once again to not let Liu Shaoge leave East San Dios by himself before leading Wendy Yushan back to the Great Yu Empire.
Liu Shaoge did not talk to Lu Yin throughout this entire process, and he appeared to just be watching the show.
Lu Yin had been away from Zenyu Star for more than half a year, and he had rather missed the capital planet. Perhaps it was because the fighting in the Innerverse had been too bitter, or perhaps it was due to the narrow escape. However, something had made him miss those peaceful days on Zenyu Star.
He immediately returned to King Zishan’s palace, where Bei Qing had been waiting for Lu Yin for quite some time.
Lu’s Grand Auction had not conducted any auctions with premium goods for more than half a year now, and many people were getting impatient.
As such, Lu Yin passed the cosmic ring that he had gotten from Gui Bing to Bei Qing, as there were quite a few good items within it. This person had been an Imprinter’s disciple, and he had possessed some quite valuable items. Still, Lu Yin had not fancied any of them, and they just so happened to be suitable for being auctioned. Of course, Lu Yin also passed over three pills that he had upgraded earlier to Bei Qing. The rune lines on these pills nearly matched those of an Enlighter, and they possessed an extremely efficacious healing effect. He had spent 20,000 star essence to upgrade each pill, and now that he was auctioning them, he naturally set the starting bid at 30,000. He did not actually care if anyone bought these pills.
Bei Qing left in high spirits, and he also delivered the profits from the last auction to Lu Yin.
Lu’s Grand Auction had become widely regarded as the top auction house in the entire Outerverse, especially since it only accepted payments in the form of star essence, which greatly set it apart from any other auction house. Every time an auction was held there, there was a full house, which delighted Bei Qing every time while also lining Lu Yin’s pockets.
The Mavis Bank had the toughest time because of the auction, and the Mavis Bank branch on Zenyu Star was forced to frequently transfer star essence over from other branches, which left the manager very unhappy. They had already spoken with Bei Qing several times, hoping to convince Lu’s Grand Auction to accept star energy crystals. However, all of their requests had been rejected by Bei Qing, as he did not dare to make such a decision on his own.
Lu Yin checked his own finances and saw that he had 3,289,000 star essence, which was simply too wealthy. If he used it all on the die’s six pips: Possession, he had no idea who he would end up Possessing. It might even take him outside of the Upper Three Gates, and he was rather looking forward to seeing what would happen.
After Bei Qing left, Zhao Ran happily entered the room and poured a flavored tea for Lu Yin. “Your Highness, this is the flavored tea that you drank before, but I’ve improved it. Would you like to try it?” She then looked at Lu Yin with clear expectations.
Lu Yin looked with curiosity at Zhao Ran who was holding onto a red invitation card. He could not help but ask, “Whose invitation letter is that? Is your friend getting married?”
Zhao Ran looked down at the letter. “Oh! I nearly forgot. There was a girl that wanted this delivered to Your Highness.” She then hurriedly took the invitation card and passed it over to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin accepted the card and opened it. His expression slightly changed as soon as he saw the contents. This invitation letter was from Amethyst Exchange, as Zi Rong and Zi Xue were about to be married.
His eye twitched, as Zi Xue was actually going to get married to Zi Rong. He did not know what emotions he was feeling, but Zi Xue was definitely Bai Xue. Lu Yin and Bai Xue did not have any sort of intimate relationship, but Bai Xue was clearly not alright. Thus, this marriage made him feel uncomfortable, and he also felt a bit nervous.
Eh? Lu Yin’s gaze trembled, as he saw that there was a second layer to the letter, and he quickly tore it open. There was another piece of paper, and written on it were the words, “Save Bai Xue.”
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, and he looked at Zhao Ran. “Who delivered this invitation?”
Zhao Ran scratched her head and thought about it, but she could not remember.
Lu Yin immediately called Kayze inside.
Kayze respectfully answered, “It was the Goddess, Luo Shen.”
Lu Yin was surprised by this answer, as he had never expected her to be the one to deliver the letter. This meant that the secret letter had been placed by Luo Shen, and that she was also aware that Zi Xue was Bai Xue. Did that mean that Luo Shen was asking Lu Yin to save Bai Xue? He guessed that there might also be another possibility, which was that perhaps Bai Xue was using Luo Shen to ask Lu Yin for help.
Lu Yin remained silent, but he left King Zishan’s palace and headed towards Amethyst Exchange to speak with Zi Xianxian.
She was still in the same office, sitting leisurely on a pink sofa and browsing the network with her door open when Lu Yin arrived.
Zi Xianxian glanced over at him. “You’re back?”
Lu Yin’s brows rose. “You knew that I left?”
“Of course. Don’t underestimate Amethyst Exchange’s intelligence.” Zi Xianxian was pleased with herself.
Lu Yin was amused, but he did not contest her comment. “Your second brother is about to marry Zi Xue, correct?”
Zi Xianxian grunted. “If not for you, I would have already left. It works well that you’re here now, so let’s call Cai Jianqiang and get moving.”
“I recall that their relationship seemed very casual at the border defense. Why are they getting married so quickly?” Lu Yin was puzzled.
Zi Xianxian rolled her eyes and stared at Lu Yin. She just stood there, staring at him without speaking.
Lu Yin started to get uncomfortable. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Zi Xianxian snorted. “What do you mean by that? Are you hoping that my Second Brother won’t marry Zi Xue? I’ve already told you this: Zi Xue is not that whatever-Bai Xue you knew.”
Lu Yin replied, “I know. I’m just curious.”
However, Zi Xianxian clearly did not believe him. “I’m debating over whether or not I should talk with my family about uninviting you.”
Lu Yin arched a brow. “That’s not really up to you.”
Zi Xianxian rolled her eyes, as she truly could not make such a decision about this wedding. Given Lu Yin’s current status in the Outerverse, if Amethyst Exchange did not invite him, then it would be no different than looking down upon the entire Great Eastern Alliance, and the repercussions of doing so would be too severe. Such an insult would lead to a conflict at least as severe as what Aegis had had with the Great Eastern Alliance in the past. Aegis had clashed with the alliance over conflicting interests whereas uninviting Lu Yin to this wedding would simply be slapping the entire Great Eastern Alliance’s face.
“I’m warning you, don’t make a scene when you get there. My brother and Sister Zi Xue are really in love, so don’t even dream of trying to break them up,” Zi Xianxian warned sternly.
Lu Yin shook his head. “I have no interest in Zi Xue. Rest assured, there is someone else who I like.”
“There’s no law dictating that you can only marry one person,” Zi Xianxian mumbled. She then seemed to think of something before suddenly looking at Lu Yin with a bit of interest. “I heard that you confronted the Divine Fist and even made a bet with him?”
Lu Yin casually sat down near the girl. “Sell me all the information that you have regarding Lan Si. I can pay you well for it.”
Zi Xianxian shook her head. “I can’t make that kind of decision.”
“Who can?” Lu Yin asked.
“Nobody, because that information will forever remain rotting in our belly. Releasing such information would only bring disaster upon us. But I can remind you of one thing, and of course, in exchange, you have to promise not to make a scene at my brother’s wedding ceremony,” Zi Xianxian said.
Lu Yin nodded. “I promise.”
