Chapter 235: Ghost Monkey
Lu Yin and the rest of the soldiers had been thrown into a veritable ocean of astral beasts. This base originally had tens of thousands of soldiers, and their numbers had swelled to almost 80,000 after the addition of the soldiers who had escaped from the destroyed base. However, they were hardly worth a mention when compared to the group of astral beasts swarming them, especially when each individual astral beast was stronger than multiple soldiers and had strong defenses. Without weapons to restrain the astral beasts, the troops would have been quickly routed.
One after another, warships rose into the air as their laser cannons strafed the earth. At this point, they could no longer afford to care about collateral damage; they simply targeted the areas with the densest packed astral beasts.
These warships didn’t have any weapons that could threaten an Explorer, but even so, they were able to massacre Limiteers effortlessly. The raw power of the weapons and the resulting explosions killed many human soldiers, but they managed to somewhat hold back the tide of astral beasts.
Lu Yin and the rest had also caused considerable damage to the astral beasts, especially Liu Shaoqiu. His sword was like a meat grinder that continuously tore a bloody path through the crowd of astral beasts with each strike, greatly surprising the others.
Suddenly, a few warships exploded in the sky from an invisible attack that destroyed all of the spacecraft.
In the sky, Zi Tie and Nappa were still battling. Aside from the two Explorers, the strongest on this battlefield had been Lu Yin’s group, but now, another Explorer had now appeared: an astral beast that had been hiding in the shadows.
The Astral Beast Realm had an academy known as the Spiritual Academy. It ranked its students based on the amount of territory that they controlled. There were five strong astral beasts that dominated the Spiritual Academy, and one of them was a Ghost Monkey.
Lu Yin and the rest did not know that an astral beast that could rival a Realm Master from the Astral Combat Academy had joined the battlefield until Chao Zhi was heavily injured. Her four-lined battle force was nearly shattered by a single strike, and she almost died when the Ghost Monkey finally revealed itself.
“You’re worthy of being called a human elite. You actually survived one of my strikes,” the Ghost Monkey said in an eerie tone from the shadows.
Chao Zhi had a cold look on her face as a grey flow of air swept out in all directions from her body, corroding everything in its path. Even Xue Liuyun, who was the closest to her, had to avoid it.
The Ghost Monkey was not fast enough to evade the Wind of Seasons, and its hiding spot was revealed. Chao Zhi’s gaze turned frosty and four-lined battle force covered her body again as she struck at the Ghost Monkey with a palm.
The Ghost Monkey’s true form was revealed; it was a short monkey with a terrifying face and faintly red fangs. As it watched Chao Zhi attack it, it did not retreat. Instead, it swatted out with a claw.
The palm and claw collided, causing the ground to sink and a shockwave to sweep out in all directions, clearing the surroundings for a hundred meters around them. Chao Zhi and the Ghost Monkey were both blown back at the same time. The difference was that Chao Zhi was repelled with fresh blood dripping from her palm while the Ghost Monkey seemed to borrow the strength of the clash to merge back into the shadows. In this confrontation, Chao Zhi had been at a disadvantage.
Lu Yin noted the brief confrontation from a distance and was shocked at the Ghost Monkey’s power, but it ended there, as Liu Shaoqiu had turned his focus towards the short monkey.
While the Ghost Monkey hid in the shadows, it closely evaluated the strength of the human students. It believed that, as long as it could sneakily attack from the shadows, it could wipe them out one by one. It had done the same in the Spiritual Academy as, even though it was the weakest of the five Academy Masters, it was also the hardest to track down due to its innate gift.
But then, the Ghost Monkey suddenly felt its body go numb and it stared into the sky. Its expression changed in an instant as sword qi filled the skies. What is this?
The Second Sword of the Thirteen Swords expanded into a domain and completely disregarded speed and stealth as it sliced through the void. Its attack range could extend endlessly as long as Liu Shaoqiu desired it. He could strike out with an attack that covered the entire battlefield.
Although the Ghost Monkey was hiding in the shadows, it was the most afraid of precisely this sort of large scale attack. Generally, the more scattered an attack was, the weaker its power. However, the Thirteen Swords did not follow this general rule. It seemed to cover an endlessly expanding area with a fearsome sword qi that powered every strike with terrifying sharpness. The Ghost Monkey escaped at extreme speed, but it could not completely avoid the endless sword qi.
The attack encompassed an area over a thousand meters in radius as the void ruptured and the earth was sundered. The sea of astral beasts was reduced to blood. Fortunately, there were no soldiers in the area, as no one could withstand Liu Shaoqiu’s attack aside from Lu Yin.
This sword even attracted Zi Tie’s attention in the skies. The beast scanned the lower battlefield, and sure enough, it was another human freak. It had to kill them all!
As smoke rose into the air, countless astral beasts looked on in horror at the destroyed land, not daring to approach it for fear of death. In the void, there was still flashes of remnant sword qi that could easily wipe out a Melder.
It was Lu Yin’s first time seeing the Second Sword in the real world, and it was even more terrifying than what he had seen in his battle against Liu Shaoqiu within the Lifeseek Realm. If Liu Shaoqiu had completely displayed the Fourth Sword, then the outcome of that battle would have been undecided, even if Lu Yin revealed his five-lined battle force.
There was an explosion as everyone raised their heads to see another giant crack in the sky.
Nappa’s pupils shrank. “Another Explorer realm astral beast.”
Zi Tie roared excitedly and viciously slammed one hoof into Nappa’s abdomen, sending him crashing into the ground while its other hoof smashed towards the spatial crack to help the reinforcing astral beast come out. The two Explorer realm astral beasts emitted a terrifying might as they both glared at Lu Yin’s group on the ground below them. A moment later, the two astral beasts charged downwards.
Lu Yin’s back was drenched with sweat, and he clenched both fists. It was time to risk it all.
Liu Shaoqiu also had a cold gleam in his eyes and he tightly gripped the hilt of his sword. A vague, indescribably terrifying fluctuation swept out through the battlefield, though the energy was not foreign; it was the Fourth Sword.
Silver continued to smile, but his smile had taken a sinister turn.
Against two Explorer astral beasts, even Lu Yin felt that things were about to turn disastrous.
At this moment, a red arrow pierced through the void and directly soared towards Zi Tie. It yelped in surprise and tried to dodge, but it couldn’t evade the arrow as even the void had been frozen. The red arrow directly pierced through Zi Tie’s body without any difficulty and continued traveling through the sky without slowing down at all.
This scene shocked everyone. Zi Tie was too strong for even Nappa to fight, but this beast had just been pierced through by an arrow.
Lu Yin was moved. He knew who had arrived due to the red lotus arrow—the Red Lotus Witchbow, Mira.
Lu Yin had joined the Astral Combat Academy and learned of her terror there. Mira was a graduate of Astral-6, and she had fought against Dao Bo in the past, proving that her strength at that time had been at the level of a Realm Master. She had long since broken through to become an Explorer, and her power now could possibly compare to a Cruiser or even surpass that level. This woman was among the Astral Top 100.
A charming figure appeared in the distant heavens and stepped through the sky, barefoot, with white hair cascading down to her heels. Short bangs adorned her forehead, giving her an adorable appearance. She looked exactly the same as before and was dressed in revealing summer clothes that exposed her sparkling skin. A smile could occasionally be seen on her face while her hands held her characteristic red lotus bow as she approached.
Nappa sighed in relief when he saw Mira, and he peacefully lay down on the ground, awaiting rescue.
Zi Tie endured its intense pain, aghast at the new developments. “The Red Lotus Witchbow from the human’s Astral Combat Rankings. Retreat!”
The other astral beast was even quicker to retreat; it had torn the void open the moment it had seen Mira.
Mira’s lips curled upwards mockingly, making her beautiful face appear even colder. She raised her Red Lotus Witchbow and fired a second arrow. It was even faster than the first arrow and similarly froze the void, trapping both Zi Tie and the other astral beast. They were forced to combine forces to block the second arrow.
“Red Lotus Witchbow, we’ve lost this battle, but no matter what, we’re still Explorers. It’s two against one! Don’t force us to fight you,” Zi Tie bellowed fiercely as blood dripped down from its giant body, scattering onto the ground below. The other astral beast ferociously glared at Mira as well, seeming ready to give its all.
Mira spoke in a contemptuous manner. “Does that mean that we’re fighting to death? I like it.” She then released her third arrow.
The battle between the three Explorers in the sky drew the attention of many on the battlefield below, and even the astral beasts paused as they gazed upwards.
The Ghost Monkey was panting heavily underground, as its body had been torn apart by the many wounds it had suffered. Its body was powerful enough to rival even four-lined battle force, so even the Fourth Sword had not been enough to kill it.
When the Ghost Monkey raised its head and saw that Zi Tie and the others would not be able to hold out for much longer, its gaze turned sinister as it knew that it was time to leave. However, it could not allow the battle to end like this, with an Academy Master of the Spiritual Academy not being able to kill even a single student of the Astral Combat Academy. That was just too embarrassing! The Ghost Monkey looked upwards again, immediately skipping over Liu Shaoqiu and Chao Zhi as it knew from personal experience that these two would not be easy to defeat. It eventually fixed its gaze on Lu Yin; this person was the furthest away and only had a faint aura, so he should be the weakest.
Lu Yin was calmly observing the fierce battle in the sky when a chill ran down his spine. The Ghost Monkey had emerged from the shadows and thrust its claws at him.
Lu Yin merely turned around and struck out with a casual palm. The Ghost Monkey was stunned as his palm also had four-lined battle force. Still, the Ghost Monkey did not pay it any mind and directly met Lu Yin’s counterattack head on. In that instant, it discovered that there were differences within four-lined battle forces. Chao Zhi’s battle force had been about the same as the Ghost Monkey’s physical strength, but Lu Yin’s had an unstoppable feeling to it. Just a palm from him sent the short monkey crashing into the ground. The attack had even carried Nine Stacks. It spat out a mouthful of blood and looked at Lu Yin in horror. What’s going on? This person was the most terrifying all along?!
Lu Yin was amused by the monkey’s expression. This idiot had almost been killed by Liu Shaoqiu. But instead of trying to escape, it had actually tried to sneak attack Lu Yin. However, this monkey was extremely powerful, and it could actually rival one of the Astral Combat Academy’s student leaders.
However, the Ghost Monkey could not be blamed. To many astral beasts, humans could only be differentiated by gender, height, and girth. They couldn’t make out any other distinguishing features, and most humans appeared to be more or less the same to them. Humans had a similar difficulty when it came to differentiating between astral beasts.
At this point, the Ghost Monkey had finally guessed Lu Yin’s identity as the most powerful student present from the Astral Combat Academy, a freak who had fought his way into the top four of the Astral Combat Tournament.
“Get over here,” Lu Yin barked as he made a grabbing motion towards the Ghost Monkey. Only an Explorer could escape from Lu Yin at such a distance. Although Lu Yin did not dare to say that he was invincible beneath the Explorer realm, he was nearly at that point.
The Ghost Monkey stared hatefully at Lu Yin before suddenly smiling. It bared its fangs and revealed a terrifying appearance. “Human, I guess that you’re just unlucky.”
The monkey then pulled something out of its cosmic ring and fiercely swatted at Lu Yin with it. Lu Yin watched closely, but his pupils suddenly constricted as his mind was struck numb. The item that the monkey had swatted at Lu Yin with was a piece of skin that had some words written on it. Those words were like a heavy attack that hit Lu Yin.
At the same time, outside the human’s line of defense in outer space, a pair of eyes opened on a giant meteoroid. They were so deep that it felt like they could swallow even the void. “How could this aura be here?”
Lu Yin wasn’t fast enough to defend himself and was struck by the attack, giving the Ghost Monkey the opportunity to grab a Void Wanderer and tear through the void while dragging Lu Yin along, capturing him. The entire process took no more than three seconds. The intense battle continued raging in the skies, and Liu Shaoqiu and the rest were still absorbed in watching the battle. Nobody noticed what had just happened to Lu Yin as no one imagined that the Ghost Monkey, who had been suppressed by Liu Shaoqiu, could actually defeat Lu Yin. And yet, that was exactly how things had ended up unfolding; Lu Yin had been captured by the Ghost Monkey.
When the group finally reacted, all they saw was an empty patch of ground.