Chapter 42: Arrival
Everyone was stunned by Eddy’s defeat. This was the exceptional student who had been accepted into Yu Academy, the strongest of them all who could match up to Zhang Dingtian. Yet he was destroyed in a single strike? The Bladesage himself was similarly shocked; Lu Yin was much stronger than before, to the point that he had no confidence that even he could take on that strike.
Lu Yin looked at his right palm; with the third star revolving around it, the Cosmic Palm was much stronger than expected. This wasn’t simply an attack of individual explosions; each blast layered the damage, so the power of three stars far exceeded that of two. He had once guessed that he would be able to match Zhang Dingtian when he mastered the third star, but this attack was clearly more powerful than anything he had seen the man accomplish.
“3700!” a distant student stared at his gadget in shock, “He’s a realmbreaker!”
The entire group felt their scalps go numb; all realmbreakers were freaks, and only those with strange innate gifts could accomplish the task. For a fringe planet to produce two such people was unfathomable, and there was even someone else with an innate gift. Was this really a normal planet?
Watching on, Jeraldine was also stunned by the new might of the scoundrel, who clenched his fist before glancing over all the students who had tried to attack the capital. He then grinned widely and charged towards another student. That student was also an elite in his school, but the student was so frightened by the mere sight of Lu Yin charging towards him that he didn’t even think of resisting. However, his escape was cut short as Lu Yin grabbed his shoulder, crushing the ring armor with ease.
“Shut up and stay still!” Lu Yin knocked the youth unconscious with a fist to the forehead, leaving him behind as he chased the other students. It was like a wolf had charged into a herd of sheep; his Cosmic Palm was unrivalled, while his armor protected him completely and left the students helpless. He had knocked eight of them out before the group even started to disperse amidst the chaos, giving up on their participation entirely. Their attacks were meaningless and they couldn’t hope to defend; what was the point in trying?
Hayden was the first to run, but was held back by Bai Xue who was watching him from the start. “Scram, woman!” he shouted, not wanting to be rendered unconscious. He had the feeling that the scoundrel definitely had a reason for knocking them unconscious, and recalling the fate of Parlie and Veron, he drew a breath of cold air. That idiot couldn’t possibly be trying to kidnap all the trainees!
Still, by the time he broke through the ice and tried to escape, a terrifying energy slash stopped him in his tracks. Blade in hand, Zhang Dingtian was staring coldly at him, “Did we say you could leave?”
Hayden was stunned, but a sharp pain in the back of his skull was all he felt before he fell to the ground. Bai Xue’s eyes sparkled as she withdrew her hand, feeling like she was the coolest person in that moment, but Zhang Dingtian just stared blankly at her. This was the first time he’d seen her knock someone unconscious like that, and suddenly felt tempted to try the same.
In the distance, Gerlaine felt numb as she stared at the capital, “I have to be blind. Is that bastard catching students?”
Balaror smiled bitterly, “No, he’s indeed kidnapping them. The elites of various academies across the universe are being caught like rabbits; this should be the first time something like this has ever happened in history.”
In every trial, students were like almighty deities that could look down upon all other life on the planet. They would only compete among themselves, but now these elite trainees were being captured one after the other. They were even running away, but only five evaded capture. When silence returned to the capital, the vicinity was ruined and nineteen unconscious students lay miserably on the ground.
Lu Yin wiped the sweat off his brow; it had been exhausting, but it was finally over. Those that managed to escape had done so quickly to avoid capture, and unfortunately all had footwork techniques that helped them slip away. Moving quickly to loot them all, he started counting, “Nineteen here, plus Parlie and Veron makes 21. Eh, Zhou Shan brought those two from Blue Mountain Academy, right. So that’s 23, not too bad.”
These actions were just too practiced, leaving Zhang Dingtian and Bai Xue speechless. The near-unconscious Eddy’s eyes went wide, “You’re the planetary thief!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, these are just the spoils of war. I can’t fight for free,” Lu Yin dismissed the accusation, leaving the youth indignant.
It was only at this point that Jeraldine came over, helping to organize the loot, but Lu Yin didn’t blame her for the lack of participation. After all, she was a student herself; it was good enough that she hadn’t sided with the attackers. In fact, she was now very useful. While the “borrowed” armor had blocked quite a few attacks for him, the exhausting battle had left all his internals shaken up and he needed some rest to recover. Zhang Dingtian and Bai Xue were obviously tired to the point that they could barely move, while Zhou Shan and Wu Sheng were badly injured. She tended to all the wounded while he returned to the city’s military camp to recover, allowing the cultivators of Earth to clean up after the battle.
Two hours later, the last of the captive students woke up to find that they had been kidnapped. Furious glares were leveled at Lu Yin, and someone even shouted, “You’re the bandit that robbed Ian!”
“Hey, don’t use me as your example; it’s embarrassing!”
“Yeah, you’re definitely the one that robbed Ian, and you even want to rob us now? You damned native thief!”
Sitting right next to all of them, Ian was left speechless. However, Lu Yin just sneered and walked over, frightening all the students into silence by just raising his palm. He then turned to Zhang Dingtian, about to say something, but before he could open his mouth his gaze focused and he looked to the sky. Countless people all over the globe did the same, as another batch of meteors streaked down from the heavens. One such meteor shot across Beijing’s horizon.
“Why are they so early?” he turned to Jeraldine in confusion.
“I don’t know, it’s already rare for there to be a second batch of students in a trial.”
“They must have calculated the time from when the second batch set off, not from when the students received the message.” Bai Xue walked over, her expression solemn. Zhang Dingtian also studied the sky, focusing his gaze as he saw three spaceships zooming in their direction.
“Quickly, bring everyone into the capital!” Lu Yin shouted immediately.
Soon after, a distant rumble terrified many of the survivors in the capital, bringing them to more despair than the day of the Apocalypse itself. Dozens of experts in the Realm of Sky were battling over the city, and now even more meteors were landing. Was this the end for the Earth?
As the city walls were destroyed completely, Lu Yin and the rest stood atop some ruins and watched another spacecraft plummet from the sky. This one landed only a few kilometers away from Beijing, and they could actually see the spacecraft within the blaze. BOOM! The ground trembled as a massive fissure shot towards the capital, but Zhang Dingtian split the earth tangentially with a wave of his hand to redirect the damage.
A blistering shockwave sent a dust storm across the city as everyone felt the pressure descending on them. When it cleared out, those atop the walls saw a pod that was only about three meters across, the same size as Vesta’s landing craft. A steep crater was formed in the ground as a deafening rumble rang out in the distance, and Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed as he watched three more ships land. They were here. The second batch of students, those who aimed to enter Astral-10 using their exceptional results in the trial, had arrived.
The captive Eddy eagerly stared at the spaceships, ‘Come on, show these savages what a real freak is. Show them true power!’
The ship’s door clicked open, shooting out hot air and white smoke. A hand reached out to grab the door frame for support, followed by a handsome figure that walked out into the sun and lifted its head with a smile. The man slowly floated out of the crater, observing his surroundings like an explorer, but he completely ignored all the people present.
Lu Yin’s gaze sharpened when he saw this man; he felt extreme danger from the newcomer. He looked down at his gadget and saw that the man had a battle power of 3000, a peak Sentinel like himself, but that didn’t explain it. He wasn’t alone in this feeling either; Zhang Dingtian, Bai Xue, Jeraldine, and even Eddy could feel the danger he was radiating. His gentle appearance hid formidable strength.
“Who is he?” Lu Yin tapped Eddy on the head and asked.
Eddy stared blankly at the man and shook his head, “I don’t know.”
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed; even now, the man had not once looked at any of them. It showed the arrogance deep in his bones. Was no one worthy of his attention?