“I’ve heard of you—you’re the Arbiter from the Sword Sect, Liu Tianmu. Was that the Thirteenth Sword that you used just now?” Zhi Yi asked as she looked at Liu Tianmu.
Liu Tianmu’s gentle face looked up as she directed her gaze towards Zhi Yi. “That was the Eleventh Sword.”
Zhi Yi was shocked. “So that was merely the Eleventh Sword, and yet you could block me? Let me see how powerful the Thirteenth Sword is.”
Liu Tianmu raised the white longsword in her right hand and replied, “I do not know it.”
Zhi Yi squinted.
Atop the Champions’ Stage, Xing Kai stared at Liu Tianmu, who was off in the distance, before looking back at Zhi Yi. He felt that the Daosource Three Skies did not believe Liu Tianmu when she said that she did not know the Thirteenth Sword. In reality, Liu Tianmu truly did not know how to use the Thirteenth Sword, as she had only mastered up to the Eleventh Sword, though she likely knew how to partially use the Twelfth Sword.
Before participating in this battle, Zhi Yi had never imagined that a member of the Fifth Mainland’s younger generation would be able to stop her. The appearance of Arbiter Unseen Light had already been a surprise, as that man was full of mystery. He possessed a very powerful domain and was able to predict attacks before they even occurred. That being said, Zhi Yi was confident that the man could not break through her defenses, as the presence of her Sky Dipper ensured her invulnerability. However, Liu Tianmu was different. Her sword’s killing aura, combined with the Thirteen Swords, made this woman a danger whose power was impossible to determine.
A cold glint appeared in Zhi Yi’s eyes. No matter how powerful Liu Tianmu was, Zhi Yi did not believe that anyone in the Fifth Mainland’s younger generation could actually defeat her; that was impossible in her mind. She was one of the Daosource Three Skies, and they were invincible. Right when she finished thinking and was about to speak, the vile object from before appeared right in front of her face.
Lu Yin had struck, and his sole intention at this moment was to disgust Zhi Yi.
Zhi Yi had been focused on Liu Tianmu just now, but the return of the foul item brought her right back to her former nightmare. Her entire focus latched onto that horrid item, and she glared at Lu Yin. “Qiu He, kill him.”
Above the sea, Qiu He immediately took to the sky to attack Lu Yin after hearing these orders, abandoning Gu Xiao’er whom he had been chasing around.
Xia Tian instantly shot up to intercept Qiu He with Gu Xiao’er, the two of them teaming up to deal with Crimson Servant.
Zhi Yi danced through the sky as she tried to evade the teleporting vile item, but all her efforts were in vain. Her voice echoed through the sky, “Whoever can capture Lu Yin alive, I, Zhi Yi, swear upon the name of the Daosource Three Skies that I will guarantee you an audience with the Progenitor of Bloodlines. Thereafter, you will receive the chance to inherit the bloodline of the Progenitor of Bloodlines. Even if you fail, you will still gain the chance to train under an Empyrean Imprinter.”
Above the sea water, millions of cultivators from the Sixth Mainland were roused by these tempting words. Countless people became motivated, and their eyes started to burn with a fervent light as they all looked at Lu Yin.
Zhi Yi had just made a huge promise; even if they were unable to become the Progenitor of Bloodlines’ disciple, they would still have a chance to become an Empyrean Imprinter’s disciple. Realmlings were disciples to Empyrean Imprinters, so this promise was the equivalent to offering everyone the chance to walk down the same path as the Realmlings.
In an instant, numerous people took to the sky and charged at Lu Yin. At the minimum, there were tens of thousands of cultivators approaching him from every direction, and many of them were from various Imprinter clans. There were even some descendants of Cosmic Imprinters and World Imprinters that joined in.
Each large clan had at least a hundred thousand members, and those were just the direct family members. Once distant relatives were included in the count, a clan might have upwards of a hundred million members. Those who had managed to become the heirs of such clans were all the cream of the crop, having been sifted out from a hundred thousand disciples. They were blessed with a wealth of cultivation resources, and they were not weak by any measure of the word. In one on one battles, they were capable of easily crushing their Fifth Mainland peers.
At this moment, hundreds of thousands of such people simultaneously attacked Lu Yin, which sent chills running down his spine.
Countless attacks filled the sky, blocking everyone’s sight as the void shattered.
Lu Yin immediately tried to dodge aside, though he was forced to directly block any attack that he could not evade.
It was a good thing that Lu Yin himself was rather powerful, as the most powerful of these attackers were no stronger than Autumnfrost Qing, which was a few levels below the Realmlings’. Otherwise, Lu Yin would have been in a very precarious situation. That being said, their relentless onslaught still left him frightened.
As the Sixth Mainland cultivators besieged Lu Yin, the Fifth Mainland cultivators could no longer restrain themselves. Lu Yin was so powerful that he had dared to offend one of the Daosource Three Skies and force her to react in this over-the-top manner. They quickly formed a cohesive defensive stance, and among this group, there were some cultivators who simply wanted to gain favor with Lu Yin. In an instant, the entire Whitecliff Region was plunged back into battle, and this time, it was centered around Lu Yin.
Zhi Yi heaved a sigh of relief, finally free from the teleporting stinky fruit. Liu Tianmu watched the scene below her where Lu Yin frantically tried to escape, her eyes full of astonishment. She had heard of this man before as Liu Xiaoyun, Long Yun, and Liu Shaoqiu had all spoken of Lu Yin before. Liu Fuxue, who had married into the Nalan family, had also mentioned him.
Liu Tianmu had also seen this man’s image during the Tournament of the Strongest, and his talent had shocked her. This man had come from the Outerverse and entered the Astral Combat Academy. He clearly lacked sufficient cultivation resources, had inherited no powerful battle techniques, but despite all that, he had comprehended battle force and withstood Liu Shaoqiu’s Thirteen Swords. She had long since known that this man would eventually become a shockingly influential figure in the universe, but she had never expected him to become an unparalleled Limiteer so soon after that, let alone play a key role in such a large-scale battle now.
This person was a true genius, and even though Liu Tianmu had never met Lu Yin before this, she had always kept her ears open for news about him.
During these past few years with the Outerverse being isolated, the Innerverse had become a gigantic, chaotic battlefield. Conflicts broke out all the time, and everyone was constantly improving themselves. Due to this, most people had simply assumed that Lu Yin had fallen silent after the separation. They could have never imagined that he had always been active and that he had actually become even more lively than before. At this moment, he stood far above Liu Shaoqiu and the others.
Lu Yin suddenly seemed to have become a ray of hope for the Fifth Mainland, and it shone down on all of the cultivators in the Whitecliff region. All of the Sixth Mainland cultivators wanted to capture him while the Fifth Mainland cultivators could not just stand around and let that happen. The two sides’ reactions had caused the entire battlefield to become even more chaotic than before.
Zhi Yi did not expect the pursuing crowd to successfully capture Lu Yin, as they were simply too far below him, and the difference in power between them was not something that could be made up for with sheer numbers. All she wanted to do was distract Lu Yin and prevent him from teleporting that vile thing around with his secret technique, which would give her an opportunity to concentrate on her battle with Liu Tianmu.
There weren’t many people from the Fifth Mainland who could go against one of the Daosource Three Skies head on, and any such people had to be destroyed immediately.
Zhi Yi raised a hand as her Vitality Qi formed a sword in her hand. Then, she took a step forward and thrust it towards Liu Tianmu.
Liu Tianmu looked at her opponent with a bizarre expression. It was common knowledge even in the Outerverse to never casually draw a sword when fighting against someone from the Sword Sect. But apparently, such knowledge had not made its way to the Daosource Three Skies. Even though Zhi Yi had not particularly focused on her swordsmanship, that simple training was enough to polish her sword skills to be on par, or even better than, the elites of the Sword Sect.
Her power stemmed from Vitality Qi and her unbreachable Sky Dipper. Aside from Lu Yin, there was nobody else here who could ignore her Vitality Qi. Even Unseen Light had been forced to use his domain to isolate the Vitality Qi. Needless to say, Liu Tianmu could not disregard this powerful weapon that originated from the Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Sect.
The Arbiter was not bothered about Zhi Yi’s skills with the sword, but what did concern her was the Vitality Qi.
As Zhi Yi brought her sword down, Liu Tianmu raised her own to block the attack, using the Sixth Sword.
Vitality Qi encircled Liu Tianmu’s Sixth Sword, but it was completely isolated. Zhi Yi was shocked to see that her attack had been blocked.
The Thirteen Swords had both offensive and defensive moves. The Sixth Sword was a powerful defensive sword technique.
Shortly after using the Sixth Sword, Liu Tianmu unleashed a close range attack. She became one with her sword, which had also become one with her domain. All of these components had merged together into one. This was the Fifth Sword.
When Liu Shaoqiu was at Pyrolyte Mountain during the contest for pyrolyte ore, he had been suddenly enlightened about the Fifth Sword. This technique did not only hurt one’s opponent, but it also injured the user themselves. However, Liu Tianmu had long since mastered this sword.
Off in the distance, even though Lu Yin had been surrounded by countless cultivators from the Sixth Mainland, he still made sure to pay attention to the battle between Zhi Yi and Liu Tianmu. He saw Liu Tianmu’s defensive move, her deployment of the Fifth Sword, as well as the other myriad sword techniques that she used. Her usage of sword techniques was completely different from Liu Shaoqiu’s style, and it was almost as though the two had learned two completely different techniques.
Although the two had learned the same battle techniques, the results of their efforts were completely different. Liu Tianmu’s Thirteen Swords were the real deal, and even though Zhi Yi was carefully reacting to the swordswoman’s attacks and fully confident in her Sky Dipper, she did not dare to take the attacks head on. Sword techniques were far too deadly to casually ignore.
Even though it was just a battle between just two people, this fight between Liu Tianmu and Zhi Yi was even more important than the one taking place atop the Champions’ Stage.
On top of the Champions’ Stage, Bu Kong’s eyes burned as he looked down at Liu Tianmu. Her sword techniques were unrivaled in this Fifth Mainland, and the Sword Sect truly lived up to its reputation. He also wanted to experience the Thirteen Swords.
Zhi Yi became more and more shocked as time passed; even though she could still maintain her untouchable Sky Dipper, if Liu Tianmu was an Enlighter like Zhi Yi and possessed the same power level, then it was possible that her Sky Dipper might not have be able to handle the power of the Thirteen Swords.
At this thought, Zhi Yi’s eyes filled with killing intent. She had to eliminate this troublesome woman or else she would become a terrible enemy for the Sixth Mainland in the future.
Zhi Yi was not just a master of Vitality Qi, as her status of being one of the Daosource Three Skies had not been given to her just because she had become an Enlighter at a young age. Even among Enlighters, the Daosource Three Skies were unequaled. Right when Zhi Yi was about to make another move, the vile fruit suddenly appeared in front of her, causing her to stumble. At that moment, Liu Tianmu attacked with her sword. Although it was only the First Sword, any sword technique would become extremely powerful when used by Liu Tianmu.
Her First Sword alone was enough to crush Liu Shaoqiu’s most powerful sword technique even if the two were in the same cultivation realm.
This sword struck the Sky Dipper, and although it was not powerful enough to completely break through it, the force still caused Zhi Yi to fall back.
Zhi Yi angrily surveyed the area, and she just so happened to lock eyes with Lu Yin.
Lu Yin managed to give her a provocative look despite the countless attacks raining down on his head. He was then forced to flee.
Unseen Light and Liu Tianmu were both able to fight evenly against Zhi Yi, and it seemed that the two Arbiters really were capable of duking it out with the Daosource Three Skies. However, if one carefully thought about it, then even if the both of the Arbiters teamed up against Zhi Yi, there was nothing that they could do to her as her Sky Dipper was still unbreachable.
Lu Yin was concerned that Zhi Yi would use some hidden method to win, and even though he was confident in Liu Tianmu’s abilities, this battle was far too important to be complacent.
Zhi Yi had wanted to fight one on one with Liu Tianmu, but she had been disrupted by Lu Yin’s vile object yet again. Not only did this anger Zhi Yi, but even Liu Tianmu became unhappy, prompting her to shoot a glare at Lu Yin and say, “Don’t interfere.”
Lu Yin pursed his lips, but he decided not to interfere any further since his assistance had been rejected. With that in mind, he waved a hand, causing the horrible item to disappear, only to reappear in front of Bu Kong.
Bu Kong was able to tolerate the stench of the vile fruit no matter how bad it smelled, but Lu Yin did not merely redirect it into Bu Kong’s embrace—the stinky fruit smashed straight into Bu Kong’s face.
Bu Kong was naturally repulsed by the fruit. Although very few things could withstand his secret technique, this vile object was one of them. It was completely unaffected by his secret technique, and it constantly released a pungent, foul smell that could affect even the most stoic person.
Across the battlefield, Tai Yishen felt rather strange. He had never fought against an opponent in such a manner, and it felt rather despicable. However, given the situation that they were facing, there was no other choice. Tai Yishen was simply no match for Bu Kong.
If, at this moment, all the Sixth Mainland cultivators were asked who their most hated enemy was, they would undoubtedly answer “Lu Yin.” He had disgusted two of the Daosource Three Skies as well as the entire battlefield with his stinky fruit.
Lu Yin also had to endure the stench himself, but he had still contributed greatly to the battle and was being chased around.
This absurd battle continued on for a bit more than a day, and in the distance, the color of the sea started to become a shade lighter; the Champions’ Stage was about to leave the Whitecliff Region.
As Lu Yin looked into the distance, he could see where the Rune Progenitor’s remnant spiritual force’s cosmic phenomenon ended. Lu Yin grew solemn. If the Sixth Mainland was allowed to break away from the suppression of the cosmic phenomenon, then they would suffer a calamitous defeat. However, it was a good thing that, just past the border of the phenomena, Lu Yin could see countless rune lines; the Fifth Mainland’s powerhouses were there as well.
