No matter what Qiu Shi considered, she could not think of an explanation for how Lu Yin had used his secret technique again. On top of that, Qiu Shi was shocked to see that the half of Lu Yin’s body that had been almost entirely shattered was now fully recovered.

Lu Yin used the Ce Secret Art twice in a row to move in front of Qiu Shi, and then he turned around to wave goodbye. 

He was even able to use the Ce Secret Art once more to escape.

Qiu Shi’s gaze trembled. “Lu Yin, have you heard of my Cosmic Sect’s secret technique?”

Lu Yin hesitated, and he turned back around.

Qiu Shi calmly continued, “The Cosmic Sect’s secret technique, Star Transference.”

As she spoke, her body vanished. Then, she suddenly appeared right where Lu Yin had been standing while he appeared in her previous position.

Lu Yin was overwhelmed; what kind of secret technique was this? Trading positions?

Qiu Shi smiled softly, and stars revolved around her body as she picked up her pace.

Lu Yin gritted his teeth, and the Astral Chessboard reappeared beneath his feet, as he wanted to escape. However, right before he could do so, a claw shot out from underneath him. This was the Skybeast Claw, and the howl of an ancient beast echoed through the void, sounding like it was emerging from the river of time.

When the beast howl reached Lu Yin, the chessboard beneath Lu Yin’s feet actually shattered apart. This Skybeast Claw carried an incomparably overbearing strength, as it was even able to destroy even a secret technique. From Lu Yin’s memories, he had only ever encountered a single battle technique that had been able to affect secret techniques—a Progenitor’s battle technique: Nightking Zhenwu’s unnamed arrow technique. Was the Skybeast Claw also a battle technique from a Progenitor? 

Regardless of whether or not the Skybeast Claw had been created by a Progenitor, at this moment, Lu Yin could only endure the attack. He did not even have time to use the Yu Secret Art.

Fortunately, he still had his Fatesand and nine lined battle force. 

Lu Yin curled up as his nine lined battle force shot into the sky and wrapped around his entire body. There was a loud explosion, and Lu Yin was smacked away like a ball. His back took the brunt of the attack, and the sheer power drove his Fatesand back inside his body while his nine lined battle force instantly shattered. The power of this attack absolutely surpassed a power level of 300,000, possibly even one of 350,000. Fortunately, it was still still within Lu Yin’s tolerance, as this attack had not carried with it the full power of the Skybeast Claw. 

Blood dripped out of Lu Yin’s mouth, and he used the momentum from the Skybeast Claw to fly out of the city, though in a different direction than Qiu Shi.

Lu Yin had assumed that some of the grey humanoids would chase after him after he was struck by the Skybeast Claw. However, when he turned to look, he saw that countless grey figures were still chasing after him. One of them raised a hand, using the Skybeast Claw once again.

Lu Yin’s expression changed tremendously, and he pushed his body to its limits to use the Ce Secret Art once more. His body was relocated a vast distance away, and he arrived outside the city.

When he appeared, not even a hundred meters away, Lei Nü was staring at him in astonishment. 

The two exchanged glances, and Lu Yin blinked before taking off again. He shot past Lei Nü as he fled the city in the direction where Black and White were located. 

Lei Nü had thought that Lu Yin would attack her, but he had simply gone past her. However, this did not make her relax, and on the contrary, she grew even more cautious. She soon saw the endless number of grey figures off in the distance that were racing towards her.

Even with Lei Nü’s mental resilience, she was a bit intimidated by the sheer number of grey figures, and she immediately fled without another thought.

Lu Yin had left her far behind. There were only a few cultivators who had remained outside the city, and among them was God Taiyi. Lu Yin raced towards Black and White. “Hurry! Leave the tablet world!”

Not only were the twins quick on their feet, but their responses were also quite fast. They instantly realized that Lu Yin was in trouble based on his panicked behavior, so they immediately pulled out the stone tablet, pressed their hands to it, and were sucked into the tablet.

God Taiyi and the others soon saw the countless grey figures chasing after Lu Yin, who passed them all in an instant. When he did, God Taiyi could not stop himself from cursing. “Damn that ass!”

God Taiyi turned tail and ran. Some others also pulled out stone plaques to make their escape while others fled into the distance. 

God Taiyi was one of the ones who fled into the distance, as he had not found a stone plaque.

Coincidentally, he saw Lu Yin’s trio leave the tablet world, and he felt sullen.

Suddenly, he saw Qian Zou.

As a person who had developed a habit of multiple escape routes, Qian Zou had developed a habit to first secure an escape route wherever he went. Hence, after entering the tablet world, the first thing that he had done was shake off Lu Yin’s trio while the second thing had been to visit that brothel. The third, then, had been to find a stone plaque that would allow him to leave the tablet world whenever he wanted.

Qian Zou had made the right decision with his actions, and when he saw the endless cloud of grey figures that filled the sky, he frowned. He calmly cursed Lu Yin, and, satisfied with his own foresight, pressed a hand to his stone plaque. His expression was proud; who cared how many ghosts there were? He would simply leave. 

However, the next moment, right before Qian Zou disappeared, a hand clasped his shoulder. God Taiyi had arrived. “Bro, let’s go together.”

Qian Zou was rendered speechless. Why was he always the unlucky one?

As the scenery changed before their eyes, Lu Yin, Black, and White all appeared on the seabed, exactly where Qian Zou had entered the tablet world. People would always exit from where they entered—this was another one of the tablet world’s rules.

Although God Taiyi had taken advantage of Qian Zou to leave the tablet world, when he emerged, he appeared right where he had entered. 

Just as Lu Yin’s trio emerged, Qian Zou appeared right behind them, and he immediately saw the small group. He almost failed to stop himself from cursing out loud, but when he remembered the difference in their strength, he stifled the urge.

Lu Yin’s behavior was truly hateful. The cycle within the tablet world had been that of the battle over the city, which contained countless battle techniques. This scene had been beneficial to many cultivators, but because of Lu Yin’s actions, many of the cultivators had been forced to flee, and many of them were cursing him at this moment. 

Lu Yin knew that he had created trouble for many people, but he had had no other choice. There was no way he could take any of the grey humanoids away, and he had also wanted to survive. Thus, the other people could only be considered as unlucky.

“Eh, your expression isn’t very friendly.” Black stared at Qian Zou in a provoking manner.

Qian Zou blinked, but then he forced out a smile. “Everyone, if there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave first. Goodbye!”

Lu Yin smiled and watched as Qian Zou left.

Lu Yin was very interested in Qian Zou’s movement technique, but it was not something that Lu Yin could really take, especially since many members of the older generation were watching everything. Forget it, there would definitely be an opportunity to learn a good movement technique in the future.

Also, the Ce Secret Art made up for Lu Yin’s lackluster speed to a certain extent.

Lu Yin then remembered Qiu Shi and the Cosmic Sect’s secret technique, Star Transference. What a good secret technique! 

“Let’s go and look for a current,” Lu Yin said. There was no time limit to the Astral Tower contest, and it was mostly determined by when people reached the golden screens. Once people appeared there, it meant that the final part of the contest had begun. No one had moved there thus far, which meant that most people had not started climbing the mountains yet. 

Lu Yin did not want to become everyone’s target. Lei Nü was an Enlighter, which meant that Shang Qing was definitely one as well. However, what about the others Neoverse heirs? Who knew how many people in the Mountain and Seas Zone were actually Enlighters? Thus, Lu Yin did not want to make the first move. 

The Mountain and Seas Zone had inheritances within the seas, so there were naturally some on the mountains as well. 

Many people searched the seas for inheritances, but others went to climb the mountains. 

The mountains were so tall that normal mortals would never be able to climb any of them, much like the mountain in the space with the golden ocean. Back then, Lu Yin had only managed to climb the mountain by relying on the strength of the Stonewall Scriptures. Fortunately, these mountains did not seem to be the same as the mountain in the space with the golden ocean, as that mountain had been able to make people vanish. 

The five mountains in this zone were all difficult to climb, but none of those who were able to participate in the Astral Tower contest were simple.

At the bottom of one mountain, there were several cultivators making their way up with great difficulty. 

Each of these mountains had been created by Progenitors, and thus, each one had its own prestige. They had a pressure that was not intentionally released, but was rather one that came from the might of a Progenitor. Those with weak spiritual forces could not even approach a mountain, let alone ascend it.

Each mountain had varying degrees of ascension difficulty, so the obstruction that the climbers faced would clearly differ. 

This particular mountain was special in that a boulder would occasionally roll down it. These boulders were not real rocks, but were rather objects formed from star energy that had coalesced into boulder-like forms. If anyone was struck by these boulders, they would definitely suffer.

The higher one climbed, the larger the boulders that they would encounter.

These cultivators had climbed for more than ten days, but they had not even made it a fifth of the way up the mountain. 

“If I had known that it would be this difficult earlier, I wouldn’t have chosen to climb this mountain. It’s easier to find a current in the seas, and I might have been able to enter the tablet world and watch an ancient battle,” one person complained. 

Some distance away, a girl sharply retorted, “When we made this decision together, you didn’t voice any objections to climbing this mountain, so what’s the use in complaining now? Keep climbing. There are definitely more inheritances on the mountains than in the seas.”

“That’s right! Stay strong and keep climbing,” said an unflustered man who was the furthest ahead.

…

About an hour later, a boulder came crashing down, and the small group joined forces to shatter it. Beneath them, there was a person who was quickly ascending the mountain, and this boulder did not delay him even the slightest.

The few cultivators stared at the approaching man in surprise. “It’s Xia Jiuyou from the Xia family.” 

“One of the top heirs. It’s no wonder why he’s so fast.”

Soon after, Xia Jiuyou had overtaken the few of them as he headed toward the peak.

As they watched Xia Jiuyou leave them behind, the cultivator who had been complaining suddenly groaned. “What’s he so happy about? Ever since he’s entered the Mountain and Seas Zone, I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve beaten him. Even the Seven Courts won’t care about him much anymore after how he’s embarrassed the Xia family.” 

The others did not respond, but they all held similar thoughts.

Since ancient times, the heir of the Seven Courts’ Xia family had always been a pinnacle expert. Even if the family’s heir could not measure up to Shang Qing’s Tri-Yang Technique, they should still at least be comparable to the Second Honor Chosen, and they definitely would not be any weaker than the top youths of the Cosmic Sect or the Mavis family. However, the current generation’s Xia Jiuyou was truly too lacking when compared to these other top figures. 

As these people thought about this, another figure sped past them. This person’s body was wrapped about with three qi flows, and he chased after Xia Jiuyou.

The group of cultivators was overwhelmed. “That’s the Tri-Yang Technique! That was Shang Qing!” 

“Shang Qing is actually here?”

Up above them, Xia Jiuyou helplessly looked down to see the stream of qi rocketing towards him. “Brother Shang Qing, there are no grudges between us, so there’s no need to chase me.”

Shang Qing waved a hand, causing a flow of qi to whistle through the air that Xia Jiuyou barely managed to dodge. “During this contest for the Cosmic Five, there’s no place for your Seven Courts. Give up.” 

Xia Jiuyou repeatedly dodged the attacking qi stream, though it was a terrible struggle for him. It was not that his reactions were slow. Rather, he also had an impressive physical strength, and he had comprehended several powerful battle techniques. But in the end, Xia Jiuyou failed to dodge the qi stream, and he was struck directly in the chest and cast off from the mountain.

Shang Qing watched as Xia Jiuyou fell down, and he shook his head. The current generation’s Xia family heir was too weak. He had not even cultivated the Xia family’s secret technique.

The Xia Secret Art, Nullify, was the most domineering of all of the Seven Courts’ secret techniques. Xia Jiuyou did not deserve his surname since he had not cultivated the secret technique. 

Outside the Mountain and Seas Zone, there was a group of older powerhouses observing a screen. There were many scenes of what was taking place during the Astral Tower contest, but most of them were focused on the most powerful Neoverse heirs. 

The Cosmic Sect’s Elder Yuan Ke, Eversky Island’s Highsage Shenwei, the Hall of Honor’s Mu En, the Mavis family’s Qinmei Mavis, and many other powerful figures were all observing the contest. This tiny place in outer space hosted a gathering of multiple experts with power levels exceeding 500,000, and there were even some whose power levels exceeded 900,000. Among them was the Xia family’s Xia Meng, who was considered a goddess, as she had once entranced the entire Neoverse with her beauty and style.

Translated By: Choco

Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox

TLC'ed By: OMA