Star Odyssey

Chapter 1253: Challenge

Xia Jiuyou was very upset and he glared at Yuhua Mavis.

Yuhua Mavis glared straight back.

They were both among the forecast top ten and ranked fifth and sixth. It would be difficult for them to determine a winner if they fought.

Lulu gloated, “Thanks, Sister Yuhua.”

Xia Luo was also grateful. “Thank you.”

Coco sighed in relief, and Zora was feeling the same way at the moment.

Xia Jiuyou put away his sword and looked at Xia Luo. “ZENITH is about to begin, and I don’t believe you will always have someone protecting you.” He then turned and left.

Xia Luo’s arm was still bleeding. His eyes flashed, but nobody knew what was going through his mind.

Yuhua Mavis turned back to look at Xia Luo. “A rebellious personality. That’s the flaw of the Nine Clones Technique.”

Xia Luo agreed, “The more powerful the battle technique, the greater the flaw.”

“It’s a flaw, but also a motivation. He can fuse with you, but you can also fuse with him in turn,” Yuhua Mavis said meaningfully.

Xia Luo smiled. “Thank you.”

Not many people managed to see this exchange, and even those who did only saw it from a distance, so they were unable to fully understand what had happened.

A great distance away, a woman muttered to herself, “The Nine Clones Technique’s flaw… Interesting. Back in the day, Progenitor Chen fused with his eight clones to become invincible, but it seems like Xia Jiuyou isn’t able to do the same. This Xia Luo is interesting.”

This woman was Zi Jing, and she was from CyNet World in the Neoverse.

Countless people had gathered at Zenith Mountain, and most of the youths were being protected by their elders.

At this time, most of the people who had gathered on Zenith Mountain’s western side were from the Sixth Mainland.

The Sixth Mainland’s invasion of the Innerverse had created too much hatred, and everyone from the Innerverse despised these people. Besides that, the people from the Sixth Mainland looked down on anyone from the Fifth Mainland.

With both groups gathered at Zenith Mountain, there were an increasing number of fights breaking out.

The verbal conflicts soon escalated into a massive battle.

Hundreds of people joined the fight, and someone died moments later while others suffered fatal injuries. At this rate, the area would end up as a graveyard for both sides before ZENITH even began, especially since more and more powerhouses kept flocking towards the battle.

Everyone was focused on this fight, and there were even livestreams being broadcast as though it were a war.

However, everything was soon stopped as the Fifth Mainland’s Shang Qing and the Sixth Mainland’s Zhi Yi separated the cultivators from each side.

“This planet will serve as a divider, and the western side will belong to the Sixth Mainland, while the eastern, northern and southern sides will belong to the Fifth Mainland,” Shang Qing calmly ordered.

“Why do you guys get three sides!” someone from the Sixth Mainland called out.

Vitality Qi erupted from Zhi Yi and swept over the planet, forcing all the cultivators from the Sixth Mainland down. “I command you, as one of the Daosource Three Skies: remain silent.”

The cultivators from the Sixth Mainland all went quiet as nobody dared to oppose this woman.

The Daosource Three Skies stood at the top of the Sixth Mainland’s hierarchy among their peers, and any of the Daosource Three Skies was invincible. This was a simple fact to people of the Sixth Mainland.

In the same manner that the Ten Arbiters were allowed to pass judgement on anyone from the younger generation in the Innerverse or Outerverse, the Daosource Three Skies had the same authority in the Sixth Mainland and could even execute anybody who defied them.

Zhi Yi suppressed the cultivators from the Sixth Mainland and then cautiously looked over at Shang Qing. “I agree.”

Shang Qing was solemn as he looked at Zhi Yi. This was his first time understanding what it meant for someone to be one of the Daosource Three Skies. Although Shang Qing was the Hall of Honor’s First Honor Chosen, he was definitely unable to suppress the Fifth Mainland’s youths as casually as Zhi Yi had done for her own people. This showed how the Sixth Mainland operated.

Shang Qing was impressed by the respect Zhi Yi’s peers gave her, whereas Zhi Yi was impressed by Shang Qing’s abilities.

When she had been separating people, she had intentionally allowed her Vitality Qi near Shang Qing’s Tri-Yang Technique, and she had been stunned to realise that her Vitality Qi was completely ineffective against ancestral qi.

Her Vitality Qi was supposed to isolate the ancestral qi, yet it had been ineffective. This reminded her of Lu Yin, who had also been unaffected by her Vitality Qi.

Just this one interaction had given Zhi Yi an understanding of why Shang Qing had been the only person who had been named to represent the Fifth Mainland; their legends claimed the Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique to be completely invincible.

Zhi Yi felt that it was a shame that this guy had not participated in the defensive efforts during the invasion, as that way she would have been able to learn more about him.

“I have wanted to meet one of the Daosource Three Skies for a long time,” Shang Qing said.

Zhi Yi answered, “I’ve also wanted to observe the legendary Tri-Yang Technique.”

“You will,” Shang Qing replied before turning around and calmly leaving. He behaved as though he did not care at all about Zhi Yi’s abilities.

Zhi Yi’s eyes narrowed and she grew a bit more wary. The Tri-Yang Technique was indeed very mysterious.

After Shang Qing had left, Zhi Yi turned around to look at the cultivators from the Sixth Mainland and saw how unsatisfied they all appeared. “Did all of you hear what the three Progenitors said? The disaster striking our Sixth Mainland is only temporary and we’ll return soon. So what if the Fifth Mainland hosts this ZENITH? So what if we only have one side of the mountain? Everyone believes Shang Qing will win the competition, but we’ll see what happens during the actual competition. I hope all of you are able to defeat their Fifth Mainland and turn ZENITH into an internal battle for our Sixth Mainland.”

“Sky Zhi, don’t worry. These people from the Fifth Mainland can’t defeat us.”

“ZENITH will definitely become an internal competition for the Sixth Mainland.”

“The only winners will be the Daosource Three Skies.”

…

Many other conflicts broke out around Zenith Mountain, and countless articles were posted daily, with the conflicts between the Sixth Mainland and the Fifth Mainland and the skirmishes between the Innerverse and the Great Eastern Alliance being the most common stories.

There were also some personal grudges that came out.

Lu Yin was browsing the network while Ku Wei was cursing under his breath at the Innerverse. “Seventh Bro, after we get to Zenith Mountain, we have to teach these people a lesson and let them know how powerful Seventh Bro really is!”

Ku Wei was referring to the people from the Innerverse who had tried to fight against the Great Eastern Alliance. Lu Yin had seen the video and remembered who the people were. They thought they could do whatever they wanted because of their numbers, but they did not realise that numbers were actually meaningless to certain people.

Lu Yin was the most interested in the video of Xia Jiuyou trying to kill Xia Luo. The Nine Clones Technique’s critical flaw was that each clone had a unique personality, and none of them would want to disappear. Instead, each would want to become the primary individual.

Xia Luo was clearly unwilling to fuse with Xia Jiuyou, and had even managed to escape, though it had taken the help of the Mavises. Regardless, Xia Luo’s mere existence was Xia Jiuyou’s greatest weakness. Xia Jiuyou’s power would improve drastically after fusing with Xia Luo, but without that, Xia Jiuyou would still be quite limited.

Xia Jiuyou would also have a much more difficult time trying to fuse with Xia Luo, as the other competitors in ZENITH would do their best to not let him succeed.

It would be practically impossible for Xia Jiuyou to complete the fusion after moving to Zenith Mountain. Both because of ZENITH itself and because Xia Luo had been Lu Yin’s classmate, there was no way that Lu Yin would allow Xia Luo to disappear.

He also wondered if Silver would be hiding among the contestants.

“Wendy should be arriving at Zenith Mountain soon,” Cool Sis shared from nearby Lu Yin.

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. “What’s her cultivation realm now?”

Cool Sis answered, “She’s still a Cruiser, but I can’t tell how strong she’s become.”

Lu Yin looked at Cool Sis. “Do you remember our first fight? You used some battle technique that I wasn’t even able to understand.”

Cool Sis did not respond and instead turned to stare out at space. Suddenly, a ball of light flashed by, and Lu Yin immediately looked in front of their vessel. He saw an incredible number of runes that could compare or even surpass Northgate Taisui. This was an expert with a power level of more than 400,000.

The spacecraft quickly stopped and an alarm rang. A soldier reported, “Your Highness, there’s someone blocking our way.”

Ku Wei shot to his feet. “Who dares block Seventh Bro?”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed and he looked at a screen in front of him that displayed what lay in front of their ship.

There was a familiar looking ball of light directly in front of them.

Lu Yin remembered the Light World he had seen in the Neoverse, and this orb of light looked exactly the same. Could this be the Light World?

The light twisted and a smaller orb of light detached and transformed into a golden silhouette. Although Lu Yin was unable to clearly see the face, the person was clearly a young man. He turned to look at Lu Yin’s spacecraft. “I am Lightson, from Light World. Lu Yin is in there, correct?”

Lu Yin emerged from the vessel and stood in space across from Lightson. “You’re Lightson?”

Lightson raised his head. “You’ve heard of me?”

“I once saw the Light World,” Lu Yin answered.

Lightson said, “Lu Yin, the Hall of Honor has given you the position of gatekeeper, and the master of the Light World also met you in the past. He told me that you’re an elite who’s second only to Shang Qing, and even told me that I am not your opponent, but I don’t believe it.”

Lu Yin carefully observed Lightson and saw the youth’s face. He was an average looking young man, but the light surrounding him made him appear quite intimidating, and some people might even think he was a god.

“So you want to fight me during ZENITH?” Lu Yin asked.

Lightson snorted. “We don’t have to wait for ZENITH, we can fight now. Let me see if you qualify to be a gatekeeper.”

A spear appeared in his hand and the halo surrounding him intensified as he launched an attack on Lu Yin.

The Light World was in the Honor Zone and was one of the few major forces that Mu En acknowledged did not rely on protection from the Hall of Honor.

As the representative of the Light World, Lightson was arrogant and completely self-confident. His sudden challenge also showed that he looked down on the Outerverse, as he would not have done so if Lu Yin were an elite from the Neoverse.

Lightson thrust his spear at Lu Yin, and the runes from this attack indicated a power level of 250,000. It was actually comparable to Lan Si’s Vacuum Palm, and it gave off a sensation that space was about to shatter.

Lu Yin remained calm and simply raised a hand to grab hold of the spear. Lightson’s eyes went wide. “You’re insane!”

With that, his spear suddenly grew illusory.

Light was something that could be seen, but not touched. It could take various forms, and though light could not be touched, it could still cause injuries. This was similar to the ability shown by Burial Garden’s Yōu Qi. However, he had used illusory flames that made him look like someone not of this world, while the other was pure light.

Lu Yin tilted his head to the side, and the spear shot past him, taking away a few hairs from his head. The speartip tore space apart and extended as a lightray that shot through the universe.

Cool Sis and the others still inside the spacecraft were all shocked. That had been a terrifying attack that none of them would have been able to defend against.

Ku Wei was stunned. “That ball of light is so arrogant.”