Chapter 1112: Golden Screens
Lu Yin still remembered when he had first met Xia Luo during Earth’s apocalypse. Back then, he had given Lu Yin an indescribable feeling that he was both mysterious and immeasurable. At this moment, Lu Yin still had that same feeling.
A primeval surname from the Court of Seven Names; this was the Xia family.
“Do you still remember the first time we met?” Lu Yin asked.
Xia Luo thought about it. “You want to reminisce on our youth?”
Lu Yin laughed. “Why not?”
“Then we can’t skip one person.”
“Silver?”
Xia Luo nodded. “I’ve already told you that I feel a strange hostility towards him and that it’s a terrible feeling.”
Lu Yin said, “So do you know why now?”
Xia Luo looked at Lu Yin. “It’s very simple. It’s because he belongs to the Neohuman Alliance.”
Lu Yin was not surprised that Xia Luo knew this, as Silver was indeed a part of the Neohuman Alliance, and Lu Yin had also known for a long time. “But he’s not a corpse king.”
“He’s worse than a corpse king,” Xia Luo said.
Lu Yin grew curious. “How so?”
Xia Luo shook his head. “I don’t know, but the feeling that he gave me was something very treacherous, indescribably so. It was pure evil, and I have a foreboding feeling that we’ll meet again sometime in the future.”
“Perhaps it’ll be this time,” Lu Yin said.
Xia Luo was stumped, but he then looked seriously at Lu Yin, “Perhaps.”
“Do you really think that he’ll come to the Mountain and Seas Zone?” Lu Yin had only been joking, but it seemed that Xia Luo was not.
Xia Luo calmly answered, “Brother Lu, I know that you don’t really believe it, but trust me—Silver’s evil is so dark that it makes me want to vomit. This is absolutely true, so be careful. We’re currently at the highest stage of the entire Human Domain, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he does appear.”
Lu Yin nodded. “You evaluate him very highly.”
Lu Yin had cultivated for over twelve years now, and he had met Xia Luo at the beginning of that journey, as well as Silver. The destinies of this trio were interwoven, and Lu Yin had always felt that these other two were very mysterious. Now that Lu Yin’s status had risen and his understanding of the universe had broadened, he had gradually come to understand Xia Luo a bit better, but Silver was still a complete mystery to him.
Although Lu Yin had been slightly surprised to see Xia Luo, he was rather happy about it as Xia Luo was a friend of more than ten years.
Xia Luo was also happy, and he chatted with Lu Yin for a whole day.
In the afternoon of the following day, the Mountain and Seas Zone suddenly quivered. Then, golden screens rose up from the five mountains in five directions, one after another.
Lu Yin looked around, as these golden screens seemed to be setting up the final stage; they had formed a tower-like structure that illuminated the entire Mountain and Seas Zone with a golden hue. Wherever people looked, it was golden.
“This is the Astral Tower.” Xia Luo sighed, his gaze fervent.
Lu Yin observed the area; so this was the Astral Tower?
“Brother Lu, do you see that final stage? If you can ascend there, then as long as you can stand at the highest stage, you’ll be one of the Cosmic Five, but five is simply the highest number. In the past, there’ve been three, two, or even one sometimes. If only one person ascends to that stage, then there won’t be a Cosmic Five, but rather a single person standing at the pinnacle of the Human Domain’s younger generation. It’s rumored that one of the seniors in the Hall of Honor has done it before,” Xia Luo said.
Lu Yin clenched his fists and looked up. This was the Astral Tower contest, and it represented the highest stage of the Human Domain’s younger generation. The golden screen at the top was where everyone wanted to reach, and standing on it meant rising above everyone else.
“There’s no need to hurry to ascend the screens, as the Mountain and Seas Zone is focused on the inheritances. The seas are not easy to cross, and the mountains are not easy to climb either. Take it slow, Brother Lu. I’ll go first,” Xia Luo said.
Lu Yin looked at him. “Not together?”
Xia Luo’s lips curled upwards, and he turned to look at the final golden screen. “We can meet up there.”
Lu Yin looked at Xia Luo in a serious manner. “Alright, I’ll wait for you.”
“Perhaps I’ll be the one waiting for you.” Xia Luo waved a hand as he left.
Lu Yin stared at the distant mountains and seas; mountains that were difficult to climb and seas that were difficult to cross?
At that moment, a black and a white figure sped over from the distance. “Lu Yin! It’s Lu Yin! Little Lu, we’re here!”
Lu Yin rolled his eyes as Black and White flashed over to his sides. Lu Yin grabbed hold of one of them with each hand. “Don’t call me Little Lu. Call me Seventh Bro.”
White’s lips curled up. “No.”
Black groaned.
Lu Yin smiled. “You won’t? Fine then, I won’t take you two around to play.”
Black and White’s eyes lit up, and they looked at him with bubbling excitement. “Play? Play what?”
Lu Yin’s lips bent upwards, and he pointed at the distant mountains. “We’ll cross the seas and climb the mountains to seize the inheritances.”
Black and White immediately became excited. “Seventh Bro!”
“Seventh Bro!”
Lu Yin laughed as he grabbed a hold of the two girls and leaped up. He jumped towards the center of one of the seas.
Before he had arrived at the Mountain and Seas Zone, Cosmic Sect Elder Yuan Ke had mentioned that the contest for the inheritances would be very difficult and that it was not possible to fly over the seas. After all, this place held the Mountain and Seas inheritances, and regardless of if it was the mountains or the seas, any of them could hold an ultimate inheritance.
Since they could not fly over the seas, the only ways to cross them were to either swim across or use star energy to form a small boat and sail across.
When Lu Yin had first heard of this, he had been immediately reminded of the Astral Combat Academy’s trial zones, and specifically, of the Dao of Heaven’s Ocean of Death. Back then, Lu Yin and some others had used their star energy to cross the sea, but the seawater had constantly corroded their star energy.
This place should be quite similar, though the star energy corroding water would not affect them that much and was much more like ordinary seawater.
Lu Yin wondered if there was some connection between the Ocean of Death and this place.
The five mountains were located in five different directions, and those who were partic.i.p.ating in the Astral Tower contest would separate and set off towards these five mountains.
There were dozens of others headed in the same direction as Lu Yin, and he saw Mu Ziying, Hua Xiao, and Yao Ji among them.
Mu Ziying’s trio also saw Lu Yin, though Yao Ji felt revolted and also a little nervous.
The three of them were aware of how strong Lu Yin was, and they would struggle to obtain anything if he was nearby.
However, at this time, the Mountain and Seas Zone was filled with nothing but the top experts of the younger generation. Thus, this direction was actually the better choice for their trio, and the other choices contained either the Hall of Honor’s Shang Qing and Lei Nü, the heirs of the Seven Courts, or the Innerverse’s Ten Arbiters. There were even mysterious experts like Burial Garden’s top disciple, and the three were very unwilling to be caught up with such people.
In comparison, although Lu Yin might be more powerful than the others, he would not be too hard on them.
Lu Yin saw Shu Jing, and this person moved the fastest as he dashed towards a distant mountain in a straight line.
Lu Yin also saw Qing Longlong, and she similarly saw Lu Yin. She was rather surprised, but she did not greet him. After all, they were opponents at this time.
What concerned Lu Yin the most was two very powerful cl.u.s.ters of rune lines. One of them belonged to a person with a cold feel to them. Lu Yin could also see traces of white air flowing around his body, which occasionally froze the void solid; this one look was enough for Lu Yin to see that this person had recently come out of cryostasis. It was unknown how long ago this person had been born, but he had definitely only recently been released.
The other person looked normal, but their rune lines were by no means weak, and they were comparable to Ku Lei’s.
These two people were Hunters.
People with this level of strength would be at the level of the Ten Arbiters in the Innerverse or Outerverse, but at this time, there were quite a few such powerhouses in the Mountain and Seas Zone. The only unknown was whether or not there were any Enlighters among the compet.i.tors.
Lu Yin led Black and White along as he used his star energy to form a boat and sailed towards a mountain. While traveling, Lu Yin was not looking off into the distance, but behind the cold-looking man was another person: the stutterer. He looked at Lu Yin with excitement, and opened his mouth. “The me- me- meat’s here!”
As he spoke, he used his star energy to form a boat and chase after Lu Yin.
Suddenly, a grey fog appeared over the ocean and enveloped everyone.
Lu Yin’s gaze trembled. Just like Elder Yuan Ke had warned, illusions would attack anyone sailing over the seas, just like the Dao of Heaven’s Ocean of Death.
The stutterer chased after Lu Yin, but a face covered with open sores suddenly appeared in front of him. The ugly face startled the stutterer, and he felt like even his soul had jumped in fright. But when he looked back, the face had disappeared.
The stutterer’s face was deathly pale, and he vigorously rubbed at his eyes. “Gho- ghost!”
Up ahead, Lu Yin raised a hand and released a palm strike, causing a gust to sweep out and tear through the fog, dissipating all the illusions.
He could also discover the illusions in advance by observing the runes.
Black and White were both afraid. “There really are ghosts! I want to go home.”
“White, don’t be afraid. The ghost is gone.”
“How terrifying!”
Elsewhere on the sea, Mu Ziying’s trio were panting heavily. They had just encountered an illusion, and they had nearly attacked each other.
Hua Xiao was quite embarra.s.sed as he looked at Yao Ji. “I’m sorry, junior. I didn’t know that it was you.”
Yao Ji was in agony, as he had just been struck by Hua Xiao’s palm, and his internal organs had nearly shattered. He bitterly replied, “It’s alright, Senior, but let me rest a while.”
Hua Xiao pursed his lips.
Mu Ziying calmly said, “There are illusions here, so be careful.”
The one who was the furthest ahead along this path was Shu Jing, as his innate gift was Linear Movement. No matter what attack he used, it would always form a straight line, and he was moving towards a distant mountain in a straight line as fast as possible, and he had already thrown Lu Yin and the others far behind.
Just as he approached the mountain, a streak of blade light sliced by, tearing through the void as it approached him.
Shu Jing’s expression changed drastically, and his star energy swept out in a straight line. There was a bang as the blade light disappeared, but Shu Jing was still forced back, and the collision caused seawater to swell into a wave that surged back at where Lu Yin and the others were traveling.
Lu Yin raised a hand to dispel the seawater, but then he frowned; the distant blade light had vanished.
That attack had not been something as simple as an illusion; rather, it had been a war spirit.
This place seemed to be exactly the same as the Dao of Heaven’s Ocean of Death, so was there an island at the end of this ocean as well?
Could this place actually be related to the Sixth Mainland?
Shu Jing was forced back, and his setback showed the rest of the people that this sea would not be traversed that easily, and it would not be simple to obtain an inheritance.
The Astral Tower contests had existed for countless years, and there were ancient records that allowed all of the great Neoverse powers to have at least some understanding of the Astral Tower compet.i.tion. Thus, Lu Yin looked over at Black and White. “Did Senior Shenwei say anything to you guys about this Astral Tower contest?”
Black and White seriously considered Lu Yin’s question, and both of them nodded. “Yes.”
Lu Yin looked at them expectantly.
Black and White simultaneously spread their hands with blank, silly looks. “Forgot.”
Lu Yin was speechless, and he suddenly felt that these two brats deserved to be beaten.
Suddenly, Black and White pointed behind Lu Yin. “There’s a treasure over there!”
Lu Yin turned around to see that a ma.s.sive whirlpool had appeared on the surface of the sea, and he remembered something that Elder Yuan Ke had mentioned aboard the s.p.a.cecraft. The inheritances in the Mountain and Seas Zone were usually accompanied by phenomena, and the most commonly seen phenomena were vortices that appeared in the seas. Normally, there would be something at the bottom of each vortex.
In the distance, Shu Jing used his Linear Movement to charge straight towards the bottom of the whirlpool.
The others who were nearby also raced forward.
Black and White desperately wanted to follow suit, but they were held back by Lu Yin. “Just watch.”
White was upset. “Watch what? That’s a treasure, so let’s take it!”
Black was also getting anxious. “Lu Yin, you’re really timid.”
Lu Yin was staring at the bottom of the whirlpool, as he could only see that there was a large number of runes all tangled upthere. Clearly, a battle had broken out down there, and he leaped up to rush over towards the vortex at the same time as many other cultivators. One large man shouted, “Scram!”
He then unleashed a punch in an attempt to force Lu Yin to back off.
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