Chapter 187: Robbed
Big Pao and Little Pao’s expressions were incomparably solemn. They had investigated Kuang Wang before this fight and naturally already knew about the Azure Dragon’s existence. But when they actually met this enormous creature face to face, they could not stop themselves from being shocked.
The Azure Dragon rose into the sky and settled into a coiled stance above the coast, its two massive eyes glaring at Big Pao and Little Pao as it cast a massive shadow over the duo.
Kuang Wang pointed his finger at them, causing the Azure Dragon to roar and smack its gigantic tail towards the two challengers. The onlookers went numb with terror and they all instinctively backed away, afraid of being smashed to pieces.
Big Pao and Little Pao both dodged to the side as a giant crack formed along the coast before quickly being filled with the waters of the Ocean of Death. The Azure Dragon brandished its claws and the air visibly condensed into a terrifyingly sharp blade that sliced towards the duo, tearing through the void as it did so. To the Azure Dragon’s claws, the void was just like paper.
Big Pao pointed his pike at the Azure Dragon and let loose. Countless bullets rained down upon the Azure Dragon’s body, causing it to tremble. However, the dragon merely snarled and turned to face Big Pao’s attack; its body was completely undamaged.
Kuang Wang laughed as he proclaimed, “Throughout the entire Astral Combat Academy, no more than twenty can hurt this Azure Dragon. This is what it means to be a Realm Master. Do you two understand now?”
Big Pao was still determined to win and desperately attacked the Azure Dragon. The beast was infuriated by his attempts and pushed down with its claws, causing the entire coast to quake.
Right at this moment, Little Pao appeared above Kuang Wang with a raised palm before smacking downwards with his Black Blazes Palm. This was the brothers’ strategy; one would hinder the Azure Dragon while the other dealt with Kuang Wang.
Of the nine Realm Masters, only Kuang Wang came from the Beast Tamers Flowzone. Cultivators from that flowzone typically concentrated most of their power in their tamed beasts’ thus, as long as the beast could be stalled, defeating the opponent would become much easier. The Azure Dragon should contain the majority of Kuang Wang’s strength, so Little Pao was confident that he could defeat the unaided Kuang Wang.
At this point, the spectating students also understood the duo’s strategy of one distracting the Azure Dragon while the other attacked Kuang Wang. These two from Astral-10 had come well prepared.
More importantly, Little Pao had still been hiding his true strength throughout the course of the battle. This Black Blazes Palm was accompanied by black veined lines that flowed across his body. These lines were battle force, and two lines of battle force at that. His battle force had reached the same level as Frankfurt’s.
Boom!
Little Pao’s Black Blazes Palm knocked Kuang Wang to the bottom of the coast once more, and Little Pao charged downwards to follow up on his strike. He seemed intent on determining victory and defeat right then and there.
“Little Pao! Watch out!” Big Pao suddenly shouted.
Little Pao’s face suddenly twisted and he instinctively changed his offense stance into a defensive one as he blocked with both of his arms. In the next instance, his entire body was struck by an enormous force, and even his two lines of battle force were directly shattered. A crack could be heard from both of his arms, and his pupils shrank. Through the smoke, he could make out Kuang Wang’s cold smile and the purple veins on his black battle force. It was three lines of battle force.
Little Pao had never expected that Kuang Wang would have actually cultivated his battle force to three lines—in fact, no one in the entire Astral Combat Academy was aware of this. Little Pao was directly tossed into the Ocean of Death by the terrifying force. No one could survive in the Ocean of Death, and falling into it meant certain death.
Big Pao’s face paled, and he used the force from the Azure Dragon’s claws to fly a hundred meters away before he turned around and stared at Kuang Wang in shock.
It wasn’t only Big Pao who was stunned but everyone. When had the Dao of Heaven’s Realm Master achieved three lines of battle force?
Kuang Wang slowly rose into the skies, his dazzling black battle force with its purple lines striking fear into everyone. This was a Realm Master, a frightening existence that far surpassed an Area Master. He was a member of the Astral Academy Council and a genius who was qualified to meet with the Ten Arbiters.
They did not know how strong the other Realm Masters were, but the Dao of Heaven’s Realm Master made them acutely feel the difference in power between them all. An unbeatable Azure Dragon and a cultivator with three lines battle force; how could anyone defeat such a terrifying combination?
Big Pao and Little Pao were very strong in their own right, and they would be top-notch even among the Area Masters. But even though they had joined forces, they still could not defeat a Realm Master.
Kuang Wang looked at Big Pao and marvelled, “You guys are pretty good. I don’t like hiding my strength, but it’s a pity that Astral-5 has nothing but trash. No one there was able to force out my true strength, but you people from Astral-10 have succeeded in doing so. Not bad at all.”
Big Pao replied in agony, “We’ve long known that Realm Masters were all freaks, but no one ever knew to what extent. Is this the true extent of your strength?”
Kuang Wang laughed. “Come find out for yourself if you can. You two are still too weak.” He then waved his hand, prompting the Azure Dragon to roar as it clawed a hole through Big Pao’s body.
Now, Astral-10’s Big Pao and Little Pao were both dead: they could not defeat a Realm Master. But no one belittled them for their attempt, as they had nonetheless forced the Realm Master’s hand to a never before seen extent. Not many students in the Astral Combat Academy could do this. It was clear to everyone that even if two, three, or even four students at Uro’s level worked together, they might still not be enough to force Kuang Wang to such an extent. These two “pieces of trash” from Astral-10 could obviously compete against the best of the Area Masters, and they had proved with their strength that Astral-10 still had talented fighters.
The dark void of outer space was as entrancing as it always was, and the beautiful scenery was only enhanced by meteorites streaking through it. Lu Yin was holding onto the Giant Emperor’s third eye, but he stored it away as he gazed at his surroundings.
After leaving Astral-10, he enveloped his body with battle force and activated the Giant Emperor’s third eye as he observed the cosmos. He was using this time to cultivate his battle force and further improve his understanding of the stars. His ninth star had also become more distinct from before, and it had already stabilized. The universe that he currently perceived was completely different from what others saw. He was confident that if he attempted to unlock something in this state, he would have a great chance of success.
Right now, he was headed to Darkmist Weave to complete a Lockbreaking mission there. He had a whole month of free time, and it would be ideal if he could improve his Lockbreaking abilities in this time.
What shocked Lu Yin the most during the most recent group battle against Uro was Xia Luo’s improvement. He had dissipated Uro’s all-out attack, and his control over star energy far surpassed Lu Yin’s own. While it was rather unlikely for Xia Luo to already comprehend a domain, he should be quite close with how precise his control of star energy was. His natural talent was monstrously high compared to Lu Yin, who had to Possess Da Lei before his control over star energy had reached the realm of infinite changes. But despite Lu Yin’s fortune, Xia Luo had still surpassed Lu Yin in the aspect of star energy control. His talent was truly terrifying, but Lu Yin still did not want to fall behind.
There was a medium-sized spacecraft ahead of Lu Yin that was slowly ambling along. There were hundreds of people on the spacecraft, though most were Seekers carrying weapons. There were only a few Sentinels, Melders, and a single Limiteer aboard.
“Captain, there’s a signal coming from up ahead. There’s a spacecraft approaching us at a fast speed,” a villainous-looking man excitedly reported as he leaned over the control panel in the control room.
The middle-aged man, the “captain,” had a fierce face. He held a machete in his hand and seemed to emanate a villainous aura. His eyes gleamed as he listened to the report. “How fast?”
“At least seven to ten times faster than our spacecraft.”
He was delighted by the anwer. “Alright, make preparations to rob him. Seems like we’ve landed upon a cash cow.”
“Yes, captain.”
After the orders were given, the hundreds of people in the spacecraft began bustling about. They were a recently formed group of pirates which had not even conducted five pirating raids yet. Although they were not even close to being experienced pirates, their strength was not bad, and they at least had a Limiteer among their ranks.
Generally, most small-scale interstellar pirates did not have any Limiteers, as only experienced, large-scale groups would have any Limiteer pirates. Sometimes, such groups would even have Explorer level powerhouses. Thus, for an inexperienced pirate group, their strength was not too bad. Of course, because they were not experienced, their knowledge was poor. At the very least, they did not recognize the Astral-10 insignia that was emblazoned on Lu Yin’s personal spacecraft.
“Warning, warning, the region ahead has been sealed. Warning, warning, the region ahead has been sealed. Please make preparations. Please make preparations.”
Lu Yin was astonished and looked outside the spacecraft. Did someone seal me in?
Pirates had a way to seal space, and many pirate spacecraft had undergone modifications to seal a large area. After all, they had to have some tricks up their sleeves if they wanted to plunder others for a living.
Through the spacecraft’s communications device, Lu Yin heard the middle-aged pirate captain speak. “Friend, give up and do not resist. You should know who we are by now, and as the captain, I guarantee that we will not hurt you so long as you cooperate. Listen, immediately fly your spacecraft into mine. And I do mean ‘immediately.’ Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Lu Yin was flabbergasted; he was being robbed! He looked into the distance to see a medium-sized spacecraft silently hovering in the middle of outer space. It seemed sinister on the outside, but there was also a strange design on it. It was a pirate ship.
A strange fluctuation filled the space around him. These were the fluctuations that were sealing the void. His ship would be damaged the moment he tried to barge his way through this area since these fluctuations would interfere with the spacecraft’s system and cause it to malfunction. Thus, he had no choice but to stop here.
“Friend, are you testing my patience? Immediately bring your spacecraft over.” The middle-aged pirate captain’s tone had become more stern.
Lu Yin inhaled deeply and guided his spacecraft towards the pirate ship.
His spacecraft swayed, but it landed firmly. When the cabin door opened, Lu Yin immediately saw dozens of star energy guns aimed at him. There were a dozen pirates ready in formation for him, and there were at least five Melders among them.
“Get out,” someone barked as they all fiercely stared at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin calmly walked out as a cruel-looking man approached to frisk him.
Lu Yin frowned. “Brother, I don’t have a habit of being touched by another man.”
“Behave yourself,” the man barked dismissively before reaching out towards Lu Yin while another man went to search the small spacecraft.
Lu Yin couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He lifted his leg, kicking the man approaching him and sending him flying before he turned around to kick another pirate. The next moment, the dozen surrounding star energy guns were trained on him. “Don’t move, kiddo, and don’t bother trying to resist.”
Lu Yin glanced at his personal gadget and saw that the highest local power level indicated was 7,000: a Limiteer, and not even a peak Limiteer at that. His lips rose arrogantly. “Sorry, but you only invited trouble onto your ship.” He then unleashed his star energy and knocked all of the pirates around him unconscious before heading straight for the control room.
At that moment within the command room, the middle-aged pirate captain stared at the screen in disbelief. The ruffian beside him was dazed as well. “Captain, this brat’s definitely not simple. It looks like you’ll have to intervene personally.”
The middle-aged captain’s face was twisted, as he had noticed a crucial detail; that brat had glanced at his gadget before acting. He must have been looking at the local power levels. The captain had not hidden his power level, so that meant that his opponent definitely knew his power level. If this kid still dared to act, then it could only mean that he was confident in his own abilities and that he was not afraid of a Limiteer. This brat was clearly only a Melder, but he was confident about battling above his rank? Those who could do so were known as Realmbreakers and were rarely seen, but each one was a genius.
The captain was regretting his actions as he realized that they should not have provoked such a genius. There was an adage in their pirate circles that said that they should not provoke any young or extremely old people who travelled alone. He had only remembered this saying now, but it looked like he had already angered one of those geniuses.
“Captain, he’s here!” the ruffian screamed in shock.
The captain grit his teeth and walked out of the control room. He had to defuse the situation that was on the verge of blowing up in his face. He did not have to wait for long before Lu Yin appeared in his sight, with a trail of unconscious pirates in his wake.