Chapter 262: Initial Encounter

Chapter 262: Initial Encounter

Cang Yu was placed in a difficult position when he heard Arikar’s words. “That won’t do. Lord Tyrial has stated that, as soon five people gather, they must enter. This is one of the rules of this trial.” 

Arikar frowned, but he still followed behind Cang Yu and soon saw Lu Yin.

Lu Yin also noticed Arikar and smiled at him. “Are you the only one from the Blaze Realm who’s participating in this trial?”

Arikar had once dared to challenge a Realm Master, but when he faced Lu Yin now, there was not a single trace of arrogance on his face. Apart from some slight distaste, his expression was rather calm. “Just me.”

“Jared isn’t coming?”

“No.”

Lu Yin did not ask more questions. Although his conflict with the Blaze Realm was not as deep as the one that he had with the Daynight clan, it was by no means superficial either. However, this was not the time to provoke them, as the Great Yu Empire was already facing the assault of the Ross Empire. It would be troublesome if the Blaze Realm got involved as well.

For his part, Arikar similarly did not want Lu Yin to take revenge against him in the Shenwu Continent, so he stopped speaking as well.

Actually, the two of them did not have any conflicts between them, as Jared was the one who had started the dispute with Lu Yin. Arikar had been sullen about this, and he had cast countless curses upon Jared, hoping that the idiot’s grudge with Lu Yin would not end up implicating him.

Cang Yu saw that the two were not conversing, so he brought them to a room with transparent walls near the edge of the space station. “Could the two of you remove your gadgets and put on the clothes of the Shenwu Continent? We’ll leave once there are five people.”

Lu Yin and Arikar quickly donned the clothes. The long gowns had an ancient feel to them, and the two trialtakers would have had a very scholarly demeanor if they had had a fan. 

It was Lu Yin’s first time wearing such antique-looking clothes, and it felt rather novel.

Arikar seemed to be quite preoccupied with something, and he glanced at Lu Yin from time to time. He felt like a mouse that was trapped within the same room as a cat. He did not have the courage to resist Lu Yin, a freak of unknown origins who had five-lined battle force.

The time that they spent waiting for the others to come was not pleasant, and the space station did not allow the trialtakers to enter and leave as they pleased either. Thus, Lu Yin could only sit down, cross-legged, and begin to meditate.

Half a day later, someone else arrived and was stunned when they saw Lu Yin and Arikar. They recognized the two of them, but did not speak much and went to their own corner.

Another person arrived soon after; it was a girl with average looks and a large figure. She seemed rather detached, and only glanced briefly at the others before sitting down to meditate as well.

After some time, a chill swirled through the air. Lu Yin opened his eyes and glanced to the side. Cang Yu had brought an ashen-faced youth to the room, and Lu Yin stared closely at the newcomer. Lu Yin felt strangely apprehensive about this person, as they seemed to give off a similar vibe to Liu Shaoqiu.

Amongst the four people present, only Lu Yin felt this sensation from the youth, as Arikar and the rest did not pay too much attention to this youth.

“Lord Thalia will soon send the five of you to the Shenwu Continent. Let me give you all a final reminder; the Shenwu Continent is very dangerous and holds many experts. Although most of them are concentrated near the five sealing planets to defend them, you should not be careless. Countless trialtakers have died on this continent over the past thousand years, and we are not an unknown existence to the people there.” After Cang Yu finished speaking, he installed the dust-sized cameras for the five people before leaving.

Lu Yin kept observing the youth who had arrived last throughout this whole time, as he felt a slight bit of fear from this person.

The youth sensed Lu Yin’s gaze and turned around to face Lu Yin. His colorless eyes stunned Lu Yin; was this why was this expression and aura felt so familiar? His eyes was eerily similar to the Corpse King’s from the Neohuman Alliance that Lu Yin had encountered on the giant planet.

The youth casually glanced at Lu Yin before turning away again.

Lu Yin frowned. Was this person really a part of the Neohuman Alliance? They already had someone in the Outerverse Youth Council, so why would they attempt to send another person in? Logically, he couldn’t be from the Neohuman Alliance. And after all, there were many organizations in the universe whose members had similarly cold emotions to the Neohuman Alliance’s members. There were many techniques that could cause one to develop the same demeanor as well. Also, some people were just naturally very cold, and Lu Yin could not rely on just their aura to determine if someone was from the Neohuman Alliance.

At this point, the transparent room trembled slightly as a great strength descended. The five trialtakers’ hearts jumped; it had begun.

Outside the halo, a crack appeared. It was small but enough to accommodate a few people. “Go in now,” someone’s voice barked at them.

Arikar charged in without hesitation, as he was unable to remain patient. Lu Yin and the rest followed closely behind. Lu Yin only felt an intense tearing force when his body went inside the spatial crack. Truthfully, he was not fond of entering in this kind of manner due to the inherent dangers, but they had no other options.

Suddenly, a palm appeared in the void and swatted towards the trialtakers. The five people’s pupils shrank; a terrifying powerhouse had just arrived and they were suddenly thrust into a dreadful crisis.

“Ming Zhaotian, you can’t block me,” an angry howl sounded in the void. From Lu Yin’s side, a palm appeared and slapped against the first palm. At that instant, the void distorted, and one of the five youths was crushed in a flash. Lu Yin was also affected, as none of the five were powerful enough to withstand the blow.

“I can’t take this anymore! I’m going to go into hibernation for now. Be careful with yourself! Don’t die and drag me down with you,” the Ghost Monkey’s voice sounded out in his head.

A shockwave swept out when the two palms met. As it rippled outwards, it scattered Lu Yin and the rest apart and fractured the void into multiple cracks. No one knew which one was safe, but regardless, they had no choice which one they were thrown into. They couldn’t even lift a finger before the frightening shockwave separated them and they were helplessly swallowed by the spatial cracks. Before he vanished, Lu Yin managed to see an imposing man. He was the current emperor of the Shenwu Empire, Shenwu Emperor Ming Zhaotian.

Lu Yin temporarily lost consciousness when he passed through the spatial crack. As his consciousness returned, he opened his eyes. Is this water? There was a brilliant white scenery before him. Is this a person? Lu Yin lifted his head and was immediately stunned when an exquisitely beautiful face came into view. He became utterly immersed within the entrancing visage. He did not know if any artist could preserve this face, though it would be an everlasting regret if it could not be preserved.

Within the room, in a tub with soft petals sprinkled about, one man and one woman exchanged gazes. Both were stunned.

The man was enraptured in the woman’s beauty.

The woman was shocked by the man’s sudden appearance.

Both of them remained motionless for a few seconds, but then there was an alarming cry. The girl had finally reacted, and it was in the most normal reaction possible—she released a shrill cry.

Lu Yin immediately covered her lips and very awkwardly tried to say, “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-” 

Suddenly, a group of people charged into the room, shouting, “Mistress-” Lu Yin was about to do something when a loud boom sounded from above, and Arikar crashed down as well. Lu Yin hurriedly retrieved the girl’s clothes from a nearby rack, wrapped the girl up in them, and then used Flash while holding onto her tightly.

While still in midair, she gave him a rather blank look. Her beautiful, star-like eyes stared at Lu Yin’s face as petals fell around her.

“Outrageous! You actually dare to be indecent towards the young mistress!” There was an angry roar, and an enormous shockwave surged towards the falling Arikar.

Arikar was in a miserable state, as he did not know anything about a young mistress; he had simply been tossed out of a spatial rift and had happened to land inside the tub.

By now, Lu Yin had already wrapped the girl up tightly and thrown her onto a nearby bed. With a quick “Sorry,” he grabbed a scarf, covered half of his face, and then rushed out of the room.

“Who dares to barge into the Reverent King’s estate?” an angry shout sounded out as a terrifying force descended upon the area.

Lu Yin and Arikar were both stunned by this presence; this was an Explorer! They quickly evaded.

Thump! 

The void shuddered as a furious man appeared. He stared intently at Lu Yin and Arikar, who were escaping in either direction of him and raised both of his palms; one for each fleeing youth.

Arikar gritted his teeth. He was a top member of the Blaze Realm’s younger generation, and although he had been a Realmbreaker, fighting against an Explorer was different. It was too difficult for a Limiteer to jump realms and face off against an Explorer, but it was no issue for Arikar to preserve his life.

“Darkgold Palm.” A palm erupted with black flames and then struck out at the middle-aged man. The dark gold palm was instantly vaporized, but the middle-aged man’s palm strike remained strong and continued traveling through the void to viciously strike at Arikar. The Blaze Realm genius’s pupils shrank to pinpoints. How is this possible? This man is just a native! He spat out a mouthful of blood and then fell to the ground with a thump.

At the same time, Lu Yin clashed against the palm that had been sent after him. He responded with a Nine Stacks, Fifteenfold Shockwave Palm that was supplemented by five-lined battle force. The void rumbled intensely as the terrifying collision compressed the ground and caused many of those who were pursuing Lu Yin to be forcibly scattered. Lu Yin borrowed the strength of the man’s palm and retreated even faster.

The man was shocked that this person had actually directly received his palm. This child was not simple.

A large part of the estate had been ruined by their exchanges, causing many to gather.

The middle-aged man hurriedly rushed into the house to check on the girl and then dismissed the attendants.

“Father!” the girl cried out with reddened eyes and a wronged expression.

The man rushed to hug her. “Yan’er, are you alright?”

The girl nodded, tightly hugged her quilt, and then responded, “I’m okay.”

The man finally relaxed. “Everything is fine as long as you’re alright. Rest assured, father will definitely not let that person off.”

The girl responded with a soft sound of assent.

In another area, after directly receiving that man’s palm, Lu Yin quickly escaped by using Flash to flee into the woods. This was not the city, but rather the outskirts in the country. Apart from that single sprawling residence, there were only about a dozen peasant families’ homes.

Lu Yin was glad that he had not landed in the city, or else he would have faced the Ming Constables’ pursuit. That organization had a unique item called heavenly globes that could detect star energy. It would have been very difficult for him to escape from such a situation.

No one was pursuing Lu Yin, so he was finally able to relax. He removed the scarf that he had used to hide his face and thought of the girl who he had just encountered. She was too beautiful, and he had previously only ever seen that dazzling of an appearance in Bai Xue’s face. Even Mira, Michelle, and the beautiful Madam Nalan and Yue Xianzi were all lacking in comparison to this remarkably beautiful woman.

Furthermore, this girl had a pure appearance, and Lu Yin could not even imagine trying to be flirtatious with her. It was like seeing the world’s purest face, and it made him feel inferior.

He looked at the silky cloth in his hand, and his nose could still vaguely smell her fragrance. It was fresh, elegant, and also rather intoxicating.

Unaware of his own thoughts, Lu Yin carefully stowed the scarf away. He did not place it in his cosmic ring, but rather in his robes and by his bosom.

His most urgent task right now was to find some martial crystals, which were similar to the star crystals. They would allow him to conveniently and rapidly replace his star energy with martial power. After doing this, he would no longer be detectable by heavenly globes and would thus be able to enter the cities.

In the manor that Lu Yin had just fled from, Arikar was painfully curled up within some ruins. The surrounding soldiers had all left, and there was a lone young man towering over the tormented youth. He was Tang Si, a powerhouse at the Martial King realm, which was the equivalent of the Limiteer realm, and he belonged to the Reverent King’s residence. They were currently outside the main palace of the Reverent King’s estate. The person who had attacked Lu Yin and Arikar was Ming Zhaoshu while the girl whom Lu Yin had encountered was the princess of the Reverent King’s estate—Ming Yan.

“You’re an alien from outside the continent?” Tang Si’s voice was low as he stared at Arikar.