Chapter 973

In the end, Hua Xiao could not hold himself back, and he looked at Lu Yin curiously. “Who are you?”

“Lu Yin.” He did not hide his identity, as there was no need to hide it. This time, he had come to the Innerverse as a result of the Sixth Mainland’s Ancestor Tong and Ancestor Sightless.

Lu Yin? Hua Xiao was puzzled, as he had not heard of this name before.

To Hua Xiao, the only powers outside of the Neoverse that deserved his notice were powers such as the Daynight clan, the Four Pirate Crews, and the strongest heirs to those powers. Even if Lu Yin had not been stuck in the Outerverse, his reputation as an unequalled Limiteer was not enough to reach Hua Xiao’s ears.

“That girl should be Starsibyl,” Hua Xiao commented.

Lu Yin nodded. He then directed his attention towards the bottom of the sea. Down there, he could see that Nan Yanfei’s rune lines had not diminished in the slightest. The Realmling had endured two rounds of battle, but he had not actually been injured.

“How many Starsibyls does the Starsibyl Sect have?” Hua Xiao asked, but Lu Yin suddenly barked out, “Incoming!”

Hua Xiao stared at the surface of the sea.

Nan Yanfei appeared from the water and slowly rose into the sky, the fierce barbs covering his face giving him a chilling appearance. He gave Lu Yin a cold glare. “Who are you?” 

“Take a guess,” Lu Yin casually replied.

Nan Yanfei squinted as he looked back and forth between Lu Yin and Hua Xiao. The Realmling shook out his arms and stretched his neck. “Two Kings, nice.”

He then pulled out a massive beast leg and began to gnaw on it.

In the distance, Starsibyl’s lips began to twitch. 

Lu Yin and Hua Xiao acted as one; one moved forward while the other fell back. Hua Xiao activated his Cosmic Art once again while Lu Yin’s pupils transformed into runes. Across from him, Nan Yanfei consumed the rest of the beast’s leg in one bite. He then clenched a fist and punched at Hua Xiao, who instantly dodged the attack. In response, Lu Yin raised a palm, and a fiery First Sun blazed into existence that suddenly appeared behind Hua Xiao and clashed against Nan Yanfei’s attack. The resulting shockwaves distorted the void before shattering it. The two sides were evenly matched. 

Nan Yanfei was stunned, as he had just experienced the same sensation as before; his attack had been weakened. At the same moment, Hua Xiao’s palm shot out towards Nan Yanfei’s back, and the Realmling retaliated with his own punch. Lu Yin seized this opportunity to advance while Hua Xiao once again evaded Nan Yanfei’s attack. Then, Lu Yin’s palm fell onto the Realmling’s back. Even though an attack with One Hundred Stacks was unable to break apart Nan Yanfei’s defense, it still rattled his internal organs and made him feel truly miserable. He screamed as he turned around to attack Lu Yin, only to be ambushed by Hua Xiao once again. 

Whoever Nan Yanfei targeted would withdraw, while the other would step forward to attack. With Hua Xiao’s participation in the battle, trying to use speed against him was pointless, and Lu Yin was also fast enough to contest Nan Yanfei in terms of speed. 

The three youths fought for over twenty minutes, but even after all that time, Nan Yanfei still had not managed to harm either of his opponents in the slightest. Starsibyl was able to see through every single one of the Realmling’s moves, and she calmly directed the two young men’s actions without fail. 

Lu Yin fully experienced the thrill of coordinating with Starsibyl in battle at this moment, and it was entirely too enjoyable—even a Realmling could be toyed with. 

Starsibyl was even able to stall an Imprinter; clearly, it was not too difficult for her to see through a Realmling’s moves. 

Nan Yanfei grew more and more sullen as the fight progressed. Although his Taotie bloodline empowered his defense and strength, he could do nothing but endure Lu Yin and Hua Xiao’s attacks. The Realmling had not actually been injured, but suffering in such a stifling manner only caused his resentment to grow deeper, especially since he was being watched by millions of cultivators. Finally, he could no longer endure the humiliation, and his imprint appeared behind him. His imprint was an image of a kind old man who seemed to have tremendous vitality. The moment the image of the old person appeared, Nan Yanfei calmed down. 

Countless stared at Nan Yanfei’s imprint, and the image of this old man caused all of the Sixth Mainland cultivators to become excited. That old man was Bluedome Elder, an Empyrean Imprinter. 

Nan Yanfei’s imprint appeared, but it also vanished very quickly. 

To the many people of the Sixth Mainland, there was not much meaning in whether or not an imprint remained visible, as their mere existence was enough to bolster their strength. However, due to the suppression of the cosmic phenomenon, many did not use their imprints since they were already suppressing their strength. Nan Yanfei was one of those people, as he was already lowering his strength, and nothing would really change even if he did manifest his imprint. 

Still, the appearance of his imprint helped him calm down a little, and he took several deep breaths as he readjusted himself. Nan Yanfei’s gaze suddenly shifted to Starsibyl, and he fiercely charged towards her. 

The Realmling was no fool, and Starsibyl had been constantly helping his two opponents coordinate even though she hadn’t said anything. Still, he could tell what was going on due to the remnant traces of star energy; it was just that he had not paid any attention to the star energy until this moment, as he had wanted to crush his opponents with absolute power. However, his thoughts had changed; as a Realmling of the Sixth Mainland, if he could not be victorious in battle, then it would have a terrible impact on the current campaign. 

Starsibyl was not surprised to see Nan Yanfei moving against her, and she remained calm.

Lu Yin and Hua Xiao hurriedly chased after Nan Yanfei.

Nan Yanfei sneered at his pursuers. He then opened his mouth and released an angry roar. The phantom image of the Taotie reappeared, and it chomped down at Starsibyl. 

However, only an afterimage of Starsibyl could be found, as she had long since left.

Nan Yanfei searched all around by tracking the trace of star energy he had sensed, and his eyes suddenly turned to look at the seabed, as that was where Starsibyl had hidden herself.

Lu Yin and Hua Xiao arrived at this time, and they attacked Nan Yanfei together.

The intense fight between these three youths was the deciding point of this battle.

Starsibyl looked up from the seabed, but her attention was not wholly focused on Nan Yanfei. Instead, she was looking at Lu Yin. She still could not divine anything about this person; just what was it about him?

There were millions of cultivators fighting and massacring each other in the island’s intense battle, but not a single person from the Sixth Mainland dared to interfere with Nan Yanfei’s battle. It would be useless even if they tried, as the aftershocks from the battle between the three youths were enough to prevent anyone else from drawing close. 

A short distance away from the fierce conflict, at the center of the island, blood flowed across the ground, forming rivers that swam around the pole. Since neither Hua Xiao nor Nan Yanfei were around, Sixteen and some other elite Sixth Mainland cultivators had become the main assault team trying to seize the pole, and they had become embroiled in a battle of their own. A shockwave swept at them from a distance, and it threw Sixteen and the others away. 

Lu Yin suddenly dashed through the area and grabbed at the pole that was about as tall as a person. In the distance, Sixteen’s eyes went wide; was this fellow actually someone from the Fifth Mainland? At that moment, many thoughts flitted through Sixteen’s head, most of them about Xu San. Could he actually be a spy who had been planted within the Sixth Mainland’s forces by the Fifth Mainland? 

However, right after that thought, Sixteen remembered that he was the one who had led these three youths to this battlefield. Even though he had acted under Xu San’s orders, Sixteen would not be able to shirk from his responsibilities. The truth was that Sixteen had practically welcomed any and all positive feedback from Xu San after flattering him. With how Sixteen had supported Xu San, once Xu San married He Xiang, even though Sixteen would not inherit the position of patriarch, with the support of Xu San and He Xiang, Sixteen would likely become one of the  clan’s leaders. 

Numerous thoughts spun through Sixteen’s head at that moment, but he ultimately decided not to say anything. As long as he could become one of the leaders of the  clan, he did not care if Xu San was a spy from the Fifth Mainland or not. 

Millions of cultivators from the Sixth Mainland attacked Lu Yin, and he detonated a First Sun, causing terrifying shockwaves to sweep out and tear through the bodies of quite a few enemy cultivators. Nobody was able to get anywhere near him. 

As soon as Lu Yin seized the pole, the lightning began to target him, bolts raining down from the sky. Luckily, there were not that many lightning bolts, and what did strike him was unable to cause him much harm.

Nan Yanfei shot over from the distance and attacked Lu Yin. “Hand it over!”

Lu Yin seemed to be frightened by the Realmling’s rush, and he tossed the pole over to Nan Yanfei, who was astonished at Lu Yin’s response. When Nan Yanfei grabbed a hold of the pole, Hua Xiao slapped out with both palms, unleashing a Cosmic Palm, and at the same time, Lu Yin also attacked with a strike containing both One Hundred Stacks and his eight lined battle force.

A sinister look appeared on Nan Yanfei’s face, and he turned around to defend against the two attacks. There was a thump as the Realmling was sent flying, and he even spat out a mouthful of blood as he soared through the sky. However, he intended to borrow the force of these two attacks to make his escape, as the Sixth Mainland would be victorious here as long as they held the pole. 

After fighting for so long, Nan Yanfei had finally seen the light—it would be too difficult for him to beat these three people. Additionally, more and more Fifth Mainland cultivators would start showing up the longer the battle dragged out, and it would be very troublesome if any of the Ten Arbiters arrived. 

Nan Yanfei forcibly endured an attack from the two of them, and cracks appeared on his skin once more as fresh blood flowed out. However, he used the momentum of this attack to cover a great distance. 

He believed that he had gained control of the pole, but Lu Yin waved his hand, causing the pole to vanish and reappear in Lu Yin’s hand. 

In the distance, Nan Yanfei quickly stopped himself and turned around. He looked at Lu Yin in utter disbelief. “Secret… technique…”

Lu Yin held the pole aloft and arrogantly stood tall within the void. “You can’t take the pole away, and you can’t leave either.”

He then threw the pole towards the bottom of the sea, passing it over to Starsibyl. Then, he and Hua Xiao charged forward in unison.

Lu Yin had deliberately given Nan Yanfei the pole earlier as he had been betting that Nan Yanfei would allow their attacks to land on him for a chance to escape with the pole. This had been all a part of Lu Yin’s plan, and if not for the Yu Secret Art, the pole would have truly been stolen away by Nan Yanfei. However, with the Yu Secret Art, Lu Yin was completely unruffled.

Nan Yanfei had endured their attacks and been injured for nothing; the pole had been lost in the end.

Nan Yanfei’s expression turned fierce, and he glared at Lu Yin. “Who the hell are you?”

Lu Yin tapped out with a single finger, and beside him, Hua Xiao raised a palm that had 999 stars revolving around it to form a Cosmic Palm. The two were joining forces once more.

Blood dripped down from Nan Yanfei’s lips, as he had endured a simultaneous attack from the two of them. Even if his defense was tougher, at this moment, he could no longer withstand another beating since his disadvantage had grown larger and larger as the fight went on. His presence in the assault team had been a secret, so there were no other experts present to support him. 

He had been confident in grabbing the pole on this battlefield, but who could have expected that Lu Yin and Starsibyl would appear out of nowhere. 

Without any support, Nan Yanfei knew that he would not be able to beat these two youths who were working together. How revolting! Nan Yanfei turned to look up at the sky; without the suppression of this cosmic phenomenon, how could those two possibly match up against him?

He turned to make his escape despite his unwillingness to accept this outcome. He had failed to grab this pole, which meant that he needed to find Zhi Yi and come up with another means. The thunder region could not be lost. 

As they watched Nan Yanfei leave, Lu Yin and Hua Xiao simultaneously heaved sighs of relief.

The two had coordinated with each other through Starsibyl’s guidance and defeated Nan Yanfei, but this was also due to the suppression of the cosmic phenomenon restricting Nan Yanfei from displaying his full strength. Otherwise, if the Realmling had been able to unleash his full power, the three youths might not have been able to do anything, not even with the full support of Starsibyl.

Hua Xiao’s face turned pale, as he felt that he had been too arrogant just now. At the moment, he really could not contest a Realmling, and Ten Arbiters were no different. He was one of the Cosmic Sect’s true disciples, but he was merely the third ranked disciple. Perhaps the second disciple would be capable of fighting against a Realmling. 

Beside him, Lu Yin averted his gaze and looked over at Hua Xiao with passionate eyes. Lu Yin had desired the Cosmic Art for so long, and the person right next to him was someone from the Cosmic Sect. 

Hua Xiao sensed Lu Yin’s emotions and felt a little awkward. “May I ask where Brother Lu is from?”

He was very curious about Lu Yin. The Sixth Mainland had invaded and waged war against them for more than five years, and if this person was someone from the Innerverse, then there was no way he would be unknown. If Lu Yin was someone from the Neoverse like Hua Xiao, then he would also be aware of him. This person was so young and was merely a Cruiser who had completed five cultivation cycles. However, he was strong enough to rival Hua Xiao himself, so it was impossible for him to be some nobody. 

Lu Yin smiled. “I’m rather embarrassed, but I’m from the Outerverse.”

Hua Xiao was surprised. “The Outerverse?”

Lu Yin nodded.

Hua Xiao felt a bit strange. “Isn’t the Outerverse blocked off? How did Brother Lu get here?”

Lu Yin then shared the story of how Ancestor Tong and Ancestor Sightless had torn through the Astral River, which shocked Hua Xiao. He could imagine how bitter the battle in the Outerverse had been, as two Cosmic Imprinters would have been able to unleash their full strength. Despite that, however, the Outerverse had managed to drive the invaders back.

In Hua Xiao’s heart, the Outerverse was a savage wasteland, and there were not many experts in that place. He had never imagined that there would be a powerhouse who could resist Cosmic Imprinters there, not to mention a freakish genius like Lu Yin. This new information completely transformed Hua Xiao’s impression of the Outerverse.