Chapter 184: Battling Against an Area Master
Lu Yin appeared in front of Uro with a Flash. “Sorry, but please give up the Fathomless Pool to us.” He then slapped out with a palm that had stars revolving around it and battle force flowing over it. Uro’s gaze changed sharply as he blocked the attack with both arms. There was another loud bang, and his body was hurled against the mountain wall, causing him to barrel straight through it before finally slamming heavily into the ground. Uro pushed himself to his feet even as an intense spike of pain shot through his shoulder.
He was infuriated and gritted his teeth in rage. A battle force user! How does Astral-10 have so many talents?
Suddenly, a shadow flitted above him as another palm pressed down upon him. It was Xia Luo’s turn.
Uro growled and raised his palm to use a battle technique of the Blaze Realm—the Heavenly Sea of Flames. He used flames composed of star energy to engulf Xia Luo and the area a thousand meters around him in a sea of fire, as if he wanted to burn the entire valley down. Uro had targeted Xia Luo with his attack, but as his palm neared Xia Luo, his star energy was inexplicably dissolved.
If he were from another academy, then Uro would have been stumped as to what had happened. But he was a student of Astral-6, which was home to nearly all of the Astral Combat Academy’s Lockbreakers. He was familiar with this scene, as this was how a Lockbreaker dissolved star energy. So these challengers even had a Lockbreaker among their ranks.
Uro was once again forced underground.
The five continuously attacked this peak Limiteer with a never ending barrage of attacks. Even if they were surpassing realms to challenge him, any Area Master would find it difficult to deal with this onslaught of attacks. In some sense, it was very impressive that Uro had not already perished.
Lu Yin and his group stood silently as they all looked at the hole in the ground. Uro had a strange biological innate gift, and they had just felt him activate this power.
Uro’s Huan Qi manifested into a mutant beast with red fur that looked similar to a fox. Its body was covered with licks of flames, and it also had a third eye on its forehead. Extremely high temperatures radiated from its body, and it was clearly very powerful.
There was a piercing cry as the earth split asunder and flames leapt up from within the cracks. Uro’s hair was even more dishevelled than before as he rushed up to the surface with a sinister look on his face. His huan qi formed a phantom behind him.
“You Astral-10 trash! I’ll slaughter all of you!” he cried as his one line of battle force became even more distinct around him. He then ferociously charged at Lu Yin since he could tell that Lu Yin was the person who wanted to snatch the training ground.
Lu Yin’s vision shook, but he still countered with his Cosmic Palm that had nine revolving stars and his battle force winding around it. He clashed head-on against Uro. When their battle forces collided, a shock wave rippled across the earth and traveled far into the horizon, shredding the black ground wherever it went.
Wu Da stared at the scene before him in shock, even though he was more than ten kilometers away from the center of the battle. A crack had appeared below him, and he was excited at the prospect of reporting on a huge battle, so he immediately charged over.
Bang!
The earth collapsed, and Lu Yin was forced underground along with Uro. Lu Yin’s battle force was inferior to Uro’s by one level, but his Cosmic Palm made up for that difference and more. In the end, Lu Yin’s attack was actually stronger than Uro’s.
Uro’s organs shuddered as he forcefully endured the force of Lu Yin’s attack. His eyes grew serious as, behind him, the third eye of the huan qi phantom closely followed Lu Yin’s figure. Lu Yin felt threatened by the huan qi and tried to escape with Flash, but Uro grabbed onto him, refusing to let go.
Just as the huan qi phantom shot out a red beam of light at Lu Yin, Silver’s butterfly knife flickered again, sending a brilliant white attack at Uro. He didn’t target Uro directly and instead aimed towards the red beam, slicing at it and causing its trajectory to deviate by several inches. It swept past Lu Yin’s forehead and into the ground, causing the black earth to directly melt away.
Uro was furious that his attack had been interrupted and sent a palm strike towards Silver.
Another red lotus arrow was fired at Uro from behind. Its scope of attack was aimed not only at the Area Master, but also Silver. Silver did not retreat, but rather endured Uro’s palm while he held onto him tightly. He smiled faintly as he whispered, “Let’s die together.”
Uro’s pupils shrank. What a lunatic.
The huan qi phantom behind him turned its head so that its third eye’s red beam of light shone upon the red lotus arrow, melting it. Uro then kicked Silver away, but at the same time, Lu Yin’s palm smashed into Uro’s abdomen. Lu Yin’s battle force was blocked by Uro’s battle force, but the explosion of the nine stars revolving around the palm heavily injured Uro.
Uro’s body was sent flying once again. This time, he spat out a mouth of blood in midair before crashing onto the ground.
Xia Luo and Lulu simultaneously appeared at Uro’s side and attacked with all their might. Uro’s mouth was filled with blood again, and he growled angrily. The phantom image made from huan qi exploded behind him, causing an extremely high temperature bubble to distort the space around him and show signs of cracking, forcing Xia Luo and Lulu to retreat. Uro quickly absorbed this extreme heat as his body burst into flames. He raised his hands into the air and condensed a fireball that melted the ground away.
Wu Da had just arrived and was shocked by the scene. He easily recognized Uro, the Fathomless Pool’s Area Master and someone who ranked within Astral-6’s top five students, and yet, he was being beaten this badly.
“You all are not qualified to kill me,” Uro howled as he flung the fireball in his hands towards Xia Luo and Lulu.
The fireball condensed by Uro’s innate gift had reached an extremely high temperature, and it even scorched the void as it flew forth, causing cracks to appear in its wake as all the water in the air evaporated away. This was Uro’s full powered strike, and there were even some traces of battle force twisting around the fireball, compressing its power even further. Only someone who was truly at the level of an Area Master could withstand this attack.
Wu Da was shocked to witness an Area Master’s full force attack.
Xia Luo expression turned grave as he jumped up to face the fireball with a palm. His arm seemed to move randomly, but his actions immediately slowed down the fireball a great deal. At the same time, he disintegrated the battle force revolving around the fireball while he himself was forced backwards several hundred meters by the fireball. But by ceding this distance, the fireball shrank substantially.
Uro was stunned as even a normal Lockbreaker could not disintegrate his attack that easily. This person was definitely not normal. Is he really from Astral-10?
A green figure flashed past Xia Luo as Lulu appeared in front of Uro. She then raised her leg up and slammed it down fiercely in an axe kick.
Uro had depleted most of his strength and battle force in his previous attack. His reaction speed was also delayed, and he couldn’t dodge Lulu’s kick, which left him with no choice but to raise both of his arms in an effort to defend.
With a bang, the fissure in the ground widened again. Uro was sent even deeper underground as the surrounding valley shattered.
Wu Da was nearly buried alive by the attack, but he still stared excitedly at the scene. A battle at the Area Master’s level was rarely seen, and yet, he had managed to observe the contest over Blackwater Lake’s Area Master title, not to mention this battle now.
The moment that Uro was pushed into the ground again, Silver reappeared near him, and his butterfly knife flashed radiantly as he crossed by Uro’s body, causing a trace of blood to appear around his neck. This blade had not been excessively fast, and Uro had seen it, but he was still unable to defend against it for whatever reason. Silver had completely seen through Uro’s weaknesses. At the same time as when Silver attacked, a beastly howl traveled through the void as a Skybeast Claw pressed down upon him while a red lotus arrow shot from the distance blasted the ground, causing the entire area to tremble.
By this point, Xia Luo had completely dissolved Uro’s full strength fireball after retreating 300 meters.
The battleground fell silent as they all looked underground and inhaled in unison. Uro could not have survived that last combination attack, even if he was an Area Master.
Even though they were all only Melders, every one of them could challenge cultivators above their rank, and it was not a normal sort of bypassing ranks. They were all crazy geniuses, and while they may not individually be an Area Master’s match, their combined force could not be underestimated.
The Sandmaster had once said that Astral-10 had recruited a batch of true geniuses who would fare excellently even in other academies.
At this point, in a sunken area somewhere on Astral-6’s trial zone mountain, Uro opened his eyes, his eyes bloodshot with rage. In a frenzy, he howled, “Astral-10, Astral-10…”
Uro’s cries shocked many on the trial zone mountain as they looked up.
There were unwritten rules for the trial zone mountain; the stronger one was, the higher they could go. Only the strong could climb above the rest.
Uro was one of the strongest students in Astral-6, and he was actually second only to the Realm Master. He ranked among the top five in Astral-6, and thus, his position on the mountain was naturally among the highest.
Not far below Uro, Gus rolled his eyes; such an insane reaction had startled him. He once again calculated how much time had passed and happily noted that he would be able to reenter in a little while. He had been unlucky and had actually died during the chaotic battle at Blackwater Lake.
In the valley surrounding the Fathomless Pool, all of Astral-10 students confirmed Uro’s death. Lu Yin could finally relax. Fortunately, he had been smart enough to gather all these people together as, in the end, he had not needed to do too much in this assault. If he had recruited students like Schutz and Coco, then he would have had to be the primary attacking force himself.
“Brother Lu, what’s next now we’ve snatched the Fathomless Pool? Uro won’t accept this lying down,” Xia Luo said with a normal expression. He gave off the impression that he hadn’t used much of his strength during the battle against Uro.
The rest also turned to look at Lu Yin.
In general, snatching a training ground had to be done as an individual, and it was rare for students to band together to do such a thing. Even if an Area Master was defeated, they could return any time for revenge. Even if a group snatched a training ground, they would not be able to stay together forever, rendering their accomplishment meaningless.
Lu Yin shrugged aimlessly. “Old Cai’s mission was just for me to snatch it. He never said that we had to defend it. If Uro returns, then we can just give it back.”
Silver grinned. “Then all of our efforts would go down the drain.”
Lulu snorted before declaring, “There’s no logic in giving away what belongs to me.”
Michelle didn’t speak, but her attitude was obvious; she also had no intention of returning the training ground.
These few were proud elites. Since they had snatched this place, it would be embarrassing if they meekly returned it afterwards.
“Since it’s like this, then the only way is to leave some people here to guard the Fathomless Pool. Who’s willing?” Lu Yin asked.
Xia Luo smiled. “I can, since I wanted to comprehend battle force anyways. It’s very useful.”
Lulu held her head high. “I’ll stay. The Fathomless Pool is suitable for me as well.”
Silver smiled. “I can stay too.”
Michelle looked at Lu Yin and merely said, “Honor your deal.”
“I’ll go report to Old Cai and whoever wishes to stay, can. This is now our territory,” Lu Yin simply said as he waved his hands before exiting the Dao of Purgatory.
Michelle immediately left as well.
Xia Luo and the rest looked at each other before walking towards the Fathomless Pool that now belonged to Astral-10.
In the distance, Wu Da was excited beyond belief. He constantly muttered words under his breath, as if he was reciting and repeating the quotes that he was about to publish. He made sure to memorize everything down to the letter, as the results of this battle for the Fathomless Pool would definitely cause a stir. These people even hailed from Astral-10, and now it was time to check out their backgrounds.
In the treasury of Astral-10, Old Cai raised his brows. “You snatched the Fathomless Pool?”
Lu Yin nodded. “Yes.”
Old Cai grunted. “Good, it looks like you’ve completed the mission.” He then stared at Lu Yin and asked, “Brat, do you know why we gave you this mission?”
Lu Yin shook his head.
“The Astral Combat Tournament is not just about fighting. Besides determining the strongest students of the ten academies, it also serves to determine the rankings of the ten academies themselves.” Old Cai saw that Lu Yin did not understand and continued explaining. “The Astral Combat Academy is, at its foundation, still an academy. It’s not just a fighting organization. The most important thing for an academy is education, and that encompasses not just an individual, but rather the entire group. An academy’s education can only be considered successful if it produces a sufficient number of successes.”
Old Cai nodded. “Of course. Even if you are publicly recognized as the strongest in the ten academies, you won’t even be able to reach the final battle without the other students’ help.”
Lu Yin mulled over this new revelation.