Chapter 985: Clinging On
Miss Qing suddenly attacked Lu Yin. “You’re quite the hot commodity right now. Still, although I don’t want you to make it easy for others, you should make it easy for me. After all, we do know each other.”
Lu Yin evaded Miss Qing’s attacks as he replied, “Do you know who Mr. Bai really is?”
Miss Qing shook her head as her palm shot past Lu Yin. He felt the light breeze caused by its passing movement and realized that although the attack seemed quite powerful, there had been almost no strength behind it.
“He’s Wu Taibai,” Lu Yin said.
Miss Qing was surprised. “Wu Taibai? One of the Daosource Three Skies? No wonder why he was so impressive.”
“What about you? What’s your real identity?” Lu Yin asked with a searching gaze.
Miss Qing flew back about a hundred meters. “I’m just an ordinary Sixth Mainland cultivator.”
Lu Yin was amused by her response. “You aren’t one bit weaker than a Realmling.”
Miss Qing was stunned at his compliment. “Don’t spout such nonsense! Someone might hear you.”
Lu Yin’s gaze grew sharp, as he was not spouting nonsense. He had fought against many Sixth Mainland cultivators during his time in the Innerverse, and his opponents had mostly consisted of Realmlings, Enlighters, and sometimes even Imprinters and World Imprinters. After trading blows with all of these people, the moment he had exchanged blows with Miss Qing, he had been able to tell that the woman’s strength was quite decent; she was in no way any weaker than Nan Yanfei. This woman had hidden herself quite deeply.
“Forget this. There’s no point in fighting with you since I can’t win. I’m leaving.” Miss Qing turned to leave.
After she left, quite a few other cultivators from the Sixth Mainland who had been nearby moved over to encircle Lu Yin once again.
High in the sky, Sword Scholar slashed his sword down yet again, but Lu Yin could not tell if the attack was aimed at himself or at the sea below him. Regardless, each time Sword Scholar attacked, Lu Yin was within the range of his attacks.
Lu Yin frowned and looked up at the sky again. An Undying Bird was currently fighting against Sword Scholar, and for this member of the Phoenix family to be able to fight against Sword Scholar, he had to be the Ten Arbiters’ Serati Phoenix. As the Undying Bird spread its wings, flames filled the entire sky.
Lu Yin casually swung his hand out and unleashed an attack that contained One Hundred Stacks, which sent dozens of Sixth Mainland cultivators flying. In fact, quite a few of them instantly died.
Lu Yin continued to suffer from constant harassment from the Sixth Mainland cultivators. Then, in the distance, he saw a cloud of fog spreading out, and he charged towards it with a single leap.
After he dashed into the cloud, he realized that it was not fog, but rather smoke. Also, the smoke was rather suffocating.
When he entered the cloud of smoke, he also lured in a group of Sixth Mainland cultivators.
Countless arrows flew in all directions within the smoke cloud, and all of the Sixth Mainland cultivators quickly fled back out. “Hurry, RUN! It’s Little Arrow Saint.”
“This is Little Arrow Saint’s battlefield.”
…
One of the arrows shot at Lu Yin, and he simply grabbed it out of the air. The power behind the arrow was quite impressive, but even more terrifying was the fact that it was reinforced with nine lined battle force.
There were very few people in the younger generation who could cultivate battle force to nine lines. Even when age was disregarded, Lu Yin had encountered very few experts who had managed to accomplish such a feat. He had never expected to run into such a person on this battlefield.
The white smoke split apart, and a young man carrying a bow and arrow stepped out. He stared at Lu Yin in surprise as he exclaimed, “It’s you?”
Lu Yin did not recognize this young man, but anyone who had been in the Cosmic Sea and possessed some strength would recognize his face since he had cultivated his battle force to nine lines, which meant that he was on the level of a Realmling.
The Realmling did not bother saying any more words, and he directly raised his bow and shot an arrow at Lu Yin that was reinforced with nine lined battle force. This arrow tore through the void and directly appeared in front of Lu Yin’s eyes. It was extraordinarily powerful, and the arrow’s force was in no way inferior to that flash of sword qi that Lu Yin’s group had encountered the moment they arrived at the Whitecliff Region. However, this arrow could not do much to Lu Yin, and he was confident that he could deal with the arrow. However, the man quickly loosed a second, third, and fourth arrow until an endless barrage was falling upon Lu Yin.
Each arrow was faster than the previous one, so they all arrived in front of Lu Yin almost simultaneously. The power of each arrow approached the power level limit of 200,000 imposed by the suppression of the cosmic phenomenon. Thus, blocking all of these arrows at once would force a person to use a strength that went far beyond what was normally possible within the limit of the cosmic phenomenon’s suppression. This attack had almost reached the level of a suppressed Imprinter.
Lu Yin felt his scalp go numb, as he had to face an extremely powerful attack right from the start without even a chance to prepare himself. Fortunately, although these arrows contained an impressive strength and destructive power, they were not able to seal off Lu Yin’s movements. Thus, he simply dodged them. The moment he moved, the void where he had been standing exploded as a massive spatial tear reached out in all directions. The white smoke filling the area was quickly swallowed by the spatial crack.
Lu Yin had assumed that the white smoke would be swallowed by the tear, but strangely enough, the smoke sealed off the spatial crack instead.
A strong wind blew past Lu Yin’s ears, and he whirled around to see a youth standing in the air behind him. The young man looked like he was about to pat Lu Yin’s shoulder, but then he stopped and stared at Lu Yin in astonishment. “Bro, your reflexes are pretty good.”
Lu Yin stared at the youth. “Who are you?”
The man grinned at Lu Yin. “Let’s get to know each other! I’m Gu Xiao’er of Smoke Eater Peaks.”
Lu Yin was lost. “Smoke Eater Peaks?”
Gu Xiao’er explained, “It’s a power in the Neoverse. This bro should be Lu Yin. I’ve heard about your accomplishments. The Daosource Three Skies place so much importance on you that even the Ten Arbiters and people like us can’t compare to you. And you were even a peerless Limiteer, hehe.”
At this moment, another round of arrows descended upon them, aimed at both Lu Yin and Gu Xiao’er.
Gu Xiao’er immediately became irritated. “You damn fox! Can’t you see that we’re becoming new friends over here? We’ll fight later!”
The white smoke then moved to block the arrows before they could land, and shockingly, the wispy-looking smoke was actually able to block the arrows.
Lu Yin looked at Gu Xiao’er more seriously. This person had to be an heir to one of the strongest powers in the Neoverse, and he was someone who could rival the Ten Arbiters.
“Don’t worry. This sly fox has been trapped in my smoke for quite some time, and he can’t even gather his bearings. If not for the fact that you coincidentally stepped in, he wouldn’t have even found a target to attack.” Gu Xiao’er was quite pleased with himself.
Lu Yin was puzzled. “He can’t leave?”
“Well, he can, but he’s very tough, and he’s also determined to beat me. Still, he doesn’t even use his brain! He can’t even find my shadow, but he still wants to defeat me somehow. In a direct confrontation I may not be his match, but if it’s just evading him, then I haven’t been afraid of anyone in many years. Even those true disciples of the Cosmic Sect haven’t been able to find me for a few years, hehe.” Gu Xiao’er seemed very proud of himself.
Lu Yin surveyed the surroundings, and he saw the rune lines from the archer constantly move about. “He’s about to get close.”
Gu Xiao’er looked at Lu Yin in surprise. “How do you know?”
Lu Yin blinked. “I just saw it.”
“Impossible. The Smoke Eater Peaks’ smoke can block sight, domain, and all sorts of other methods. Aside from those divinities from Gods’ Origin, no one else can see through this smoke. Hold on, are you somehow connected to those ‘divinities’ from Gods’ Origin?” Gu Xiao’er sized Lu Yin up and down while muttering to himself.
Lu Yin really wanted to tell the man that that was indeed the case, as Gods’ Origin had been constantly searching for remnants of the Rune Technology Civilization, and these so-called “divinities” must have cultivated Truesight if they were able to see rune lines. Lu Yin had also cultivated Truesight, so they could be considered as having a common origin, but he ultimately decided not to divulge anything. “My eyes are very good, and I’m able to see what others can’t.”
“Is that so?” Gu Xiao’er was very suspicious.
No matter how many people entered Gu Xiao’er’s white smoke, they would lose all sense of direction unless it was a large-scale attack. The white smoke was very peculiar, and the larger the scope of an attack, the faster its power would deteriorate. In theory, Gu Xiao’er could even control the direction of his enemies’ attacks with the white smoke, and even Realmlings could not do much to him.
In the distance, Zhi Yi observed the white smoke from where she stood atop the Champions’ Stage. The moment Lu Yin had appeared on the battlefield, Zhi Yi had been informed of his arrival. She had also been told that Lu Yin had entered the white smoke, and her eyes flashed with a cold light.
She absolutely had to capture that person, but that white smoke was a bit of a problem. The Fifth Mainland’s Neoverse was filled with many strange things, and this white smoke alone had been able to stall a powerful Realmling.
But no matter how mysterious that white smoke might be, Zhi Yi refused to believe that it could overcome her Vitality Qi.
After thinking about it, Zhi Yi stepped off of the Champions’ Stage and tore through the void, her movement causing countless gazes to lock onto her. She appeared just outside of the white smoke cloud before raising both hands and unleashing her endless Vitality Qi to infiltrate the smoke.
At this time, Gu Xiao’er was currently merrily chatting away with Lu Yin, but his white smoke suddenly surged, and his expression changed. Lu Yin and Gu Xiao’er both looked in the same direction, which was where Zhi Yi was using her Vitality Qi to disperse the white smoke to reveal them.
Gu Xiao’er was stunned. “Hey lady, don’t mess around! It’s hard for me to get this much white smoke!”
Zhi Yi’s expression was solemn, as she had underestimated the white smoke. She had assumed that she would be able to tear through it by using an equal amount of Vitality Qi. However, it turned out that she had to use multiple times more Vitality Qi to disperse the smoke. This white smoke was very peculiar, as it was even able to obstruct Vitality Qi.
“You won’t be able to run this time.” Zhi Yi stared at Lu Yin seriously as she instantly raced over toward him. Her Vitality Qi congealed into a longsword that slashed down, and at the same time, Little Arrow Saint appeared from another direction and fired multiple arrows at Lu Yin.
The two-pronged attack from the Daosource Three Skies and the Realmling caused both Lu Yin and Gu Xiao’er’s expressions to change, and they hurriedly moved to flee. They were able to evade Little Arrow Saint’s arrows, but Zhi Yi’s attacks were more difficult to escape from. Her attack was extremely fast, and the sword passed through the void as it sliced down. The sword of Vitality Qi seemed to cause the sky and earth to collapse, and it was accompanied by a mysterious fire that burned the void itself.
This desperate situation only lasted for an instant—when Zhi Yi acted, she had unleashed her attack as if she was facing White Knight. Conveniently, Zhi Yi’s attack also targeted Gu Xiao’er.
Gu Xiao’er cried out, “I am innocent!”
Lu Yin gritted his teeth and waved a hand to activate the Yu Secret Art. One of the arrows that Little Arrow Saint had fired was diverted towards Zhi Yi, and Gu Xiao’er did not remain idle either. The white smoke continued to wrap itself around him as he attempted to hold the flames back.
Little Arrow Saint’s arrows were not able to break through the Sky Dipper, but Zhi Yi was too lazy to even block such a thing. Her sword continued to slice down mercilessly, and sword qi streaked across the sky to slash open the sea’s surface. Perhaps she had been too arrogant, or perhaps she was too focused on capturing Lu Yin, but Zhi Yi did not notice that her sword attack did not only have Lu Yin and Gu Xiao’er within its range, but there was also another woman. She was someone from the Sixth Mainland, though she had always treated Lu Yin very well: Xin Nü.
Xin Nü had arrived on the battlefield rather recently, only a day before Lu Yin. The moment Lu Yin had arrived at the Whitecliff Region’s battlefield, Xin Nü had felt his presence. She had no interest in the war between the two mainlands, but she was very concerned about Lu Yin’s safety, and she was prepared to help him at a moment’s notice. However, Lu Yin had never been in any danger until Zhi Yi took action. At that moment, Xin Nü had been unable to hold herself back, though she did not know why. She was obviously someone from the Sixth Mainland, but she instinctively moved to help Lu Yin.
As Zhi Yi’s sword fell down, it was stopped by a pure white hand. Then, star energy adhered to the sword formed from Vitality Qi as its form began to dissolve away until only Vitality Qi remained. Xin Nü had used a lockbreaking method to dissolve Zhi Yi’s star energy.
Zhi Yi’s gaze trembled, and she turned to look at Xin Nü. “What’s the meaning of this?”
Xin Nü replied in an icy tone, “Are you trying to kill me?”
Zhi Yi frowned. “This is none of your business, so move aside.”
Xin Nü’s expression turned cold. “I won’t let off anyone who tries to kill me.”
Zhi Yi glared at the other girl. “How bold.”
She had recognized Xin Nü as someone from the Rock Realm, and she knew that this girl was strong enough to rival a Realmling. However, Zhi Yi did not view the Realmlings with any sort of importance, let alone a woman who was not even a Realmling. Zhi Yi raised a hand, and her Vitality Qi sword swept over, this time aimed at Xin Nü.
Xin Nü calmly asked the other woman, “Why are you trying to kill me?”
She then raised her hand again and continuously dissolved Zhi Yi’s star energy. However, Xin Nü could not cope with the Vitality Qi, and she ended up being overpowered.