Chapter 193: A Planet’s Final Stage
A few others had also been thrown down from the sky along with Lu Yin, and they were all alive for the moment. Or rather, they were soon-to-be dead people as they had been thrown out as food for those miner slaves below.
Lu Yin grit his teeth and looked at his arm. His cosmic ring and gadget were both missing, leaving him with nothing. There was only a meager amount of stray star energy in the atmosphere, though fortunately, his body still had some star energy stored within it. He could not allow himself to fall to the ground in his current condition. Even if he managed to survive the fall, he would be eaten; he had already heard those crewmembers talking about the “cannibals.”
The distant ground drew closer and Lu Yin’s gaze grew malevolent when he saw the appearance of those slaves; they could not even be considered human. They had beast-like mouths that they used to pick up mangled corpses and directly swallow them whole.
This was not the first time that Lu Yin had seen such a scene; he had witnessed a similar one during Earth’s trial. But at that time, he had been removed from it as he had held a powerful position. Now, he was the one waiting to be eaten.
He approached the ground at a dizzying pace, and just as those slaves were about to grab Lu Yin, he growled, forced a palm in front of his body, and released a Shockwave Palm.
Bang!
The ground was sundered by his palm strike, and a shockwave spread in all directions for dozens of meters, crushing all of the slaves within its range. Lu Yin tried to preserve his life by using Roving Steps, but he nonetheless tumbled to the ground, panting heavily while his body was wracked with intense pain. The nearby slaves tried to escape as they stared at Lu Yin in horror. They were merely regular humans and not a single one of them was a cultivator. Even with his severe injuries, they didn’t dare to approach him.
Lu Yin did not dare to faint, as he knew that he would die if he fell unconscious. He tried to move his body, but he didn’t even know when he had last eaten, and he had no strength. All he could do was twitch his fingers.
He looked around and realized that all of his hair had been burnt off and that he wasn’t wearing any clothes. It was possible that the people from before had stripped him so that it would be easier for the slaves to eat him. Regardless of the reason, Lu Yin was now lying on the floor, naked, and glaring in all directions to scare all the slaves away.
A pungent smell wafted up from the dusty ground. This planet was unsuitable for habitation, and only strange bugs crawled out from the dry dirt. Lu Yin was starving and forced himself to swallow one of the bugs. It was disgusting, but it was all that was available. If Lu Yin didn’t go to such extremes to survive, he would starve to death and become food himself.
He had never imagined that he would one day experience such a thing. This was an indescribable and inhuman torture.
Lu Yin faced off against the slaves in this manner for days. Despite his critical condition, Lu Yin remained awake and desperately kept his bloodshot eyes open.
On the fifth day, all of the slaves surrounding Lu Yin mysteriously dispersed as a skinny, hunchbacked old man appeared before Lu Yin. This old man slowly stepped up to Lu Yin, one foot at a time, until he reached Lu Yin, where he slowly squatted down.
The old man was so close to Lu Yin that he could even smell a rotten stench. “Scram,” Lu Yin tried to growl as star energy sparkled on his fingertips and he tried to form flames to scare the old man away. A strand of battle force even appeared along his hand, though it quickly vanished.
The elder was shocked and said in a hoarse tone, “Battle force? Kid, are you a disciple of one of the great powers?”
Lu Yin did not answer and stared at the elder in desperation. His heart sank; this person was definitely not a common person if he had recognized battle force. The old man was most likely a cultivator, so Lu Yin wouldn’t be able to scare him away either. Was he finally going to be eaten? Lu Yin felt aggrieved as he had never expected to end up dying as a sacrifice in a contest between the great powers. He did not even know which group had been behind what had happened to him. He was just like a pawn that could be easily disposed of.
“Do you want to eat?” the elder asked, his two skeletal eyes flashing with a bright light.
The elder’s words shocked Lu Yin, and he continued to stare at the old man while desire filled his bloodshot eyes.
The elder’s lips quirked up and formed a strange expression in tandem with the two deeply sunken eye sockets on his sinister face. He approached Lu Yin some more and hoarsely said, “Human meat, also called white meat... do you want some?”
Lu Yin fiercely growled, “Get lost.”
The elder let out a mischievous laugh and sat down in front of Lu Yin. He did not do anything, but he did not leave either.
Another strange bug crawled out of the ground. This one was about the size of a palm, and its tail even had a green reverse hook. Lu Yin bit down again. Even though the reverse hook pierced his lip, nothing was more terrifying than starving to death.
Green liquid dribbled down his lips while he continued to stare intensely at the elder.
The elder did not move, but he continued staring at Lu Yin, waiting for the young man to run dry and completely collapsed. Lu Yin did not know if he was dying or fainting, but this might be the last time he ever closed his eyes.
The moment Lu Yin lost consciousness, the elder stood up, walked behind Lu Yin, and then tapped his back with a finger. His two hands then wandered around Lu Yin’s body in a strange route, accompanied by star energy. It seemed as if he were tracing the operational routes of the star energy within Lu Yin’s body.
Half an hour passed before the elder stopped. He then fell to the ground as he continued to stare at Lu Yin. “Your life and death now depends on how good your luck is. If you don’t die, then my clan will have a glimmer of hope.”
At this same time, an announcement was finally released, stating that the Astral Combat Tournament would begin in three months. The Astral Combat Tournament was the biggest event that the ten academies hosted, but it did not have much effect on the outside world. At most, it would attract some of the great powers looking to recruit talented youths, but even that could not be considered a great effect as almost all of the geniuses who could enter the Astral Combat Academy already belonged to the various great powers. But this specific Astral Combat Tournament was related to the star expanse war and was a recruitment scheme put forth by some significant characters of the universe. Hence, they wanted to spread the news throughout the entire universe, causing it to have a very big influence on the entire universe.
This time, the Astral Combat Tournament would be broadcasted to people of all walks of life, regardless of their status.
Due to the far-reaching influence that this Astral Combat Tournament would have, the originally hidden geniuses of the great powers had come into the light and joined the Astral Combat Academy in anticipation of the great tournament three months later.
However, Astral-10 was overcast by a new shadow. Elder Cai looked at the scene on his gadget and sighed. He then shook his head as he forced a smile onto his face. The screen displayed the moment that Lu Yin was struck by the beam of light in the pirate port. It was just a clip without any followup, but no one had any hope that Lu Yin had survived, since he had been hit by a weapon that was designed to kill Cruisers. Even Explorers would find it hard to survive a direct hit, let alone a mere Melder.
“Why did that brat have to coincidentally appear in the pirate port?” he sighed.
Michelle stood beside the Elder and watched the video of Lu Yin being struck. She frowned and said, “He’s Astral-10’s leader. In any case, we can’t let him die for nothing.”
“Revenge can’t be exacted in that place.”
Michelle didn’t understand.
“That’s the pirate port. Those who are killed there are forever stained with the reputation of being a pirate. No matter who it is, they will bear that reputation, which is why these people were able to kill without restraint on that planet.”
Michelle was furious, “So that’s it then?”
Elder Cai wrung his hands as he replied, “Of course not. Rest assured, someone will do something about this.”
Lu Yin was a Lockbreaker, and he even had acquired contributions. His death would definitely incite the wrath of the Lockbreaker Society. The society would not let those who had killed him off, unless they discovered he really was a pirate.
Soon, all Astral-10’s new students heard about Lu Yin’s matter as Elder Cai did not conceal it. The Astral Combat Tournament was quickly approaching, but Lu Yin was the student leader of Astral-10. News about him could not be hidden.
“What? Brother Lu’s dead?” Coco was saddened and she took out her large syringe. “It’s my fault for not being beside him. Otherwise, I would have saved him with one jab.”
Zora was dumbfounded. “Coco, this is completely unrelated to you.”
Coco worriedly said, “That’s right, Brother Lu met with some of our seniors on that planet, right? Are they okay?”
“Relax, they’re fine.”
Xia Luo looked at the display and a rarely seen expression of helplessness appeared on his face. “He died that easily? Such a pity.”
Lulu became depressed. She treated Yin as one of her closest friends since they had walked to this point together after Earth’s trial. Who would have thought that he would suddenly die now? Life was too fragile.
It was rare to see Silver without a smile, but there was an endless iciness in his eyes. Lu Yin’s death had clearly disrupted his rhythm.
Astral-10 wasn’t the only place that had obtained the footage of Lu Yin’s supposed death, and the other academies could as well. This was, after all, a student of the Astral Combat Academy, and his death was more than sufficient to attract the attention of the other branches.
“We thought that Astral-10 was about to rise from the ashes, but their leader died so easily and in the pirate port too. Haha!”
“The people of Blaze Realm are going to be happy. Hey, could they have been behind this?”
“That’s impossible. They don’t have the guts to plot against an Astral Combat Academy student. This fellow was just too unlucky and was caught in the crossfire while other powers were trying to eradicate the pirates.”
“We didn’t guess wrongly before, then. This person was definitely used by Astral-10 to distract the other academies.”
“Don’t be deceived—the strongest in Astral-10 isn’t this Lu Yin, but rather the others like Xia Luo and Lulu Mavis.”
“Wrong, it’s got to be Big Pao and Little Pao. They joined forces to challenge the Dao of Heaven’s Realm Master and are definitely top experts equal to the Area Masters.”
…
In Astral-6, Charon was excited beyond limits. “He’s dead! Really dead! Great. Wait, what does this bastard’s death have to do with me? His uncle’s more important, that bastard.”
In another corner, Liu Ji frowned. “He was even a Lockbreaker, but he actually died in a pirate port. This matter will not be dropped by the Society.”
In Astral-8, a smile was plastered across Jared’s face, as Lu Yin’s death had freed him of his worries. “Go and inform Xi Yue of this news. She will be pleased.”
Meanwhile, in the Innerverse’s Soul Seal Flowzone’s Souldream Tribe, Xi Yue watched the scene of Lu Yin’s death, but somehow, she was not happy. She kept reminiscing about the events that had taken place in the Sand Ocean’s second layer as a melancholic sadness filled her heart.
At the same time, when Master Wusheng received the news, he became furious. “Go and check who dared to touch a member of my Lockbreaker Society! I don’t care if it’s the Leo clan or whoever—check all their details. My society must receive an answer for this.”
Because of Lu Yin’s supposed death, the massive entity that was the Lockbreaker Society began to move. Any Lockbreaker was a treasure of the universe, and they would not allow a single one of them to simply die. If a Lockbreaker’s death was not investigated, then the Lockbreaker title itself would lose its prestige, which was unacceptable to the 630,000 registered Lockbreakers. Even a Lockbreaker without any contributions would have their deaths investigated vigorously, let alone a one star Junior Lockbreaker. This was the terror of the Lockbreaker Society.