Star Odyssey

Chapter 1307: Fairness?

This was the power of the Celestial Beast Empire’s Crown Prince. Yao Xuan was capable of stopping everyone’s attacks for a moment all by himself.

However, Lu Yin had not been affected by Yao Xuan’s spiritual force. His Inception Array along with his own strong spiritual force allowed Lu Yin to completely disregard Yao Xuan’s Celestial Demon’s Howl. In a flash, Lu Yin vanished and reappeared right in front of Yao Xuan. Under Yao Xuan’s shocked gaze, Lu Yin stretched out a hand. He was not going to unleash his Vacuum Palm this time; Yao Xuan was a creature of pure spiritual force, so a Vacuum Palm would not have any effect on him. Instead, Lu Yin wanted to get closer to Yao Xuan’s body and verify some thoughts that he had. Lu Yin did not believe that Yao Xuan was actually able to attack without a physical form.

Lu Yin’s hand went straight through Yao Xuan’s body, and the moment he made contact with the crown prince’s body, even Lu Yin’s Inception Array started quaking. Piercing his hand through Yao Xuan’s body was no different from being attacked by a massive amount of spiritual force, and it nearly caused the Inception Array to crumble.

Yao Xuan’s pupils instantly constricted, and he stared at Lu Yin, who was no more than half a meter away, in surprise. How was it possible for a human to defend themselves from his spiritual force attack?

Yao Xuan believed that he had already rated Lu Yin’s spiritual force quite highly, but it appeared that the Celestial Demon had still underestimated the human.

Lu Yin’s hand went right through Yao Xuan, but it was of no use. Next, Lu Yin looked up and used Daynight Praise.

An immeasurable amount of spiritual force assaulted Yao Xuan, causing his vision to change to the familiar sight of the Celestial Beast Empire. Yao Xuan saw all of the astral beasts respectfully kneeling before him in a limitless crowd. Somewhere far away, an incredibly enormous astral beast quietly slept; was that Progenitor Wushang?

All of a sudden, Progenitor Wushang’s eyes opened, and his claws struck down. It looked as though he wanted to tear Yao Xuan to shreds.

Yao Xuan’s pupils shrank to pinpricks, and he said, “I remember now. This is one of the Daynight clan’s battle techniques. To think you, Lu Yin, have managed to cultivate one of the Daynight clan’s techniques.”

As he spoke, Yao Xuan’s body vanished. Right after that, a large celestial demon appeared in the air and let out a prolonged howl that filled the sky. The vision of the Celestial Beast Empire, the countless massive beasts, and even the sight of Progenitor Wushang disappeared at this moment.

Lu Yin retreated multiple steps back across the mountain peak, and his face went pale due to the failure of Daynight Praise. He had managed to drag Yao Xuan into an illusion, but the crown prince’s spiritual force was simply far too strong, and he had eradicated Lu Yin’s battle technique. In other words, Lu Yin had gained nothing from his attack at all.

If Lu Yin’s spiritual force had been at the same level as Yao Xuan’s, then Daynight Praise would have been enough to severely injure the crown prince or maybe even finish him off.

It was not that Daynight Praise was lacking as a battle technique, but rather that Lu Yin’s insufficient spiritual force had given Yao Xuan an opportunity to extricate himself from the technique.

Yao Xuan had broken out of Daynight Praise, but it had not been easy for him either. He had used up a large amount of his own spiritual force.

As the crown prince stared at Lu Yin, Yao Xuan’s face betrayed his wariness. “If you’ve even managed to learn the Daynight clan’s battle techniques, then you really are the most talented of all humans.”

After speaking, he opened his mouth once more to unleash his Howl.

Spiritual force rippled out in waves that spread through the area. Lu Yin continued to protect himself with the Inception Array, but the others were not so lucky.

The most unfortunate person was Zhi Yi. She had ended up being dragged into everyone else’s battles. Meanwhile, Qiu Shi quickly evaded the attack. Speed was meaningless against cultivators of the Cosmic Art; Qiu Shi had almost instantly evaded Yao Xuan’s spiritual force attack.

A countless number of people beyond the mountain were shocked senseless when they saw the chaotic battle that had broken out atop the mountain top. Any one of the attacks that had been unleashed was easily able to eliminate the powerhouses that many in the audience admired and held great hopes for.

Anyone able to persevere through this chaotic brawl and secure their position among the top ten would have thoroughly convinced everyone watching ZENITH. Those few would be the true top ten.

ZENITH was not an ivory tower, just like the battle for the Astral Tower. This was a place where the future leaders of the universe would be decided, and the victors would be true powerhouses forged through blood and hellfire.

Yao Xuan continued to stare at Lu Yin in confusion and shock; that man had once again blocked his spiritual force attack. He had never expected any one of his peers to be able to fend off his spiritual force, much less a human. Yao Xuan’s beliefs had been completely overturned at this moment.

Another unlucky person was Toolwielder. The moment he had reached the top of the mountain, he had immediately moved to launch an attack against Unseen Light. Toolwielder had been injured so badly by Wang Yi’s attack that the Realmling had almost been forced to drop out of ZENITH. Still, no matter what it took, he still wanted another try at entering the top ten.

However, Toolwielder had run into Yao Xuan’s spiritual attack right when he reached the peak. By coincidentally passing by behind Lu Yin, Toolwielder had essentially become a target for Yao Xuan’s spiritual force attack, with the same focus as Lu Yin. Thus, Toolwielder had simply collapsed.

After Toolwielder passed out, a dark shadow enveloped the peak of the mountain. Star Devourer had appeared once again, and this time, all six of his eyes were open. His immense strength was so absurd that the surrounding space was warped, and countless spatial tears spread out into the void in all directions, affecting everyone nearby.

Zhi Yi and Qiu Shi both moved to avoid Star Devourer’s destructive power.

The giant astral beast raised both of his front legs high, preparing to aggressively stomp at Lu Yin. Lu Yin was incredibly annoyed, and his eyes slackened as he unleashed Daynight Praise once again.

The scenery changed before Star Devourer’s eyes, and he suddenly saw one planet after another appear. Excited, he dashed towards them to devour them. However, the planets ended up transforming into numerous Star Devourers that were far larger than him, and they all charged forward with bared fangs.

This was the first time that Star Devourer had ever felt fear, but he had no time to fully reflect on this new emotion, because at that same moment, his body was being torn to pieces. His blood formed a river that flowed through outer space.

Star Devourer let out a pained cry. The leg that had been just about to stomp down on Lu Yin did not land, and the giant astral beast’s body wobbled before collapsing to the ground.

Oh no, Yao Xuan thought to himself. He lifted a hand, and a large amount of spiritual force materialized in front of Lu Yin before immediately exploding. “Force Explosion,” Yao Xuan muttered under his breath.

An astral chessboard appeared beneath Lu Yin’s feet, but just as he was about to move away, he felt all of his strength suddenly leave his legs. His vision began to spin, and the Inception Array shattered. Lu Yin felt dizzy, and he almost lost his footing. A large celestial demonappeared behind Yao Xuan once again, and it released its shrill Howl to resonate across the entire mountain peak.

Lu Yin turned around with cold eyes. His body suddenly vanished as he used his Teleportation Formation. When he reappeared, he was next to Zhi Yi and Qiu Shi, where the Celestial Sword was clashing with Zhi Yi’s Vitality Qi.

Yao Xuan’s spiritual force attack rang across the mountain peak once more.

In response, the Progenitor of Bloodline’s imprint appeared behind Zhi Yi, and her Sky Dipper moved to block the spiritual force attack. Across from her, Qiu Shi disappeared and traded places with Yao Xuan in order to escape from the Howl.

Lu Yin’s icy gaze scanned the bottom of the steps leading to the plaza at the top of the mountain. He had been about to evade Yao Xuan’s spiritual force attack with the Ce Secret Technique, but his runes had weakened at the most crucial moment. Jin He had ambushed Lu Yin.

Seeing Lu Yin looking at him, Jin He was all smiles, and he just mouthed two words. “Take care.”

Suffering a sneak attack in the middle of such a chaotic mess, not to mention one that had weakened him, had essentially forced Lu Yin into the abyss.

Lu Yin had always wanted to find an opportunity to deal with Jin He. His one chance so far had slipped through his fingers in the Mountains and Seas Zone, but he intended to get rid of this problematic guy once and for all here.

Yao Xuan had traded places with Qiu Shi, and he had ended up being struck by his own spiritual force attack. However, that was not an issue for him. Rather, the fact that Qiu Shi had swapped positions with him had pissed him off.

However, Yao Xuan still saw Lu Yin as his most important target. Lu Yin had been marked as a special target by Skymender himself, and all the astral beasts had a mission to eliminate Lu Yin. Even if Yao Xuan was the Celestial Beast Empire’s crown prince, he had no desire to disobey Skymender’s order.

Suddenly, countless strands of hair stabbed through the void from the side. Tiny martial imprints were branded into each strand of hair as they shot across the mountaintop.

Yao Xuan frowned, and he twisted to the side to avoid the attack. There were far too many strands of hair. Xiao Qing had launched this attack at Starsibyl. However, Starsibyl’s divination had allowed her to evade the entire attack before it had even been launched. Thus, the hair strands had missed their target, instead raining down upon the other contestants.

When Lu Yin saw Yao Xuan avoid the strands of Xiao Qing’s hair, an idea sprouted in his mind. Logically speaking, since Yao Xuan was an embodiment of spiritual force, he should have been able to remain in place and allow the hair to pass through him. So why had he deliberately avoided them?

If Yao Xuan had only moved aside once, then it could have been attributed to instinct, but seeing him repeatedly dodge meant something else entirely.action

Bu Kong had finally arrived at the top of the mountain, and he glared straight at Xiao Qing with bloodshot eyes. Xiao Qing simply shrugged and told Starsibyl, “Someone tougher’s shown up, so you should go and find another opponent.”

Starsibyl also saw Bu Kong, and apprehension flashed across her eyes.

The moment he arrived, Bu Kong summoned the imprint of the Progenitor of Secret Arts and raised a hand to use the Time Reversal Technique. A horrifying aura filled the entire area, even causing the fierce collisions between Vitality Qi and the Cosmic Sect’s various techniques to destabilize.

No one had expected such an intense fight to break out atop the mountain.

Star Devourer once more reached the top, which caused Lu Yin to arch a brow. Surprisingly, the creature was still able to move after being struck by Daynight Praise. It was no wonder why the beast was a unique lifeform; he was incredibly resilient.

Having learnt his lesson, Star Devourer had become far more cautious of Lu Yin, and unlike his usual silence, he spoke to Lu Yin. “Human, fight me with your strength!”

Just as Lu Yin was about to respond, a towering tree appeared some distance away. Its shadow enveloped the entire mountaintop, and it even sheltered the massive statue. But the next moment, the tree disappeared, and an emblem of green leaves appeared on Yuhua Mavis’s forehead. This was the Mavis family’s battle technique: Infinite Power.

With a pang, Yuhua Mavis punched at Wu Taibai, acting particularly aggressively.

Wu Taibai had activated his secret technique the moment Yuhua Mavis threw her punch out. An incredibly large power crashed down upon Wu Taibai’s Mountains and Rivers Imprint, creating large waves of clouds that rolled out in all four directions. The impact between the two attacks was about to explode across the mountain’s peak, and the effects would even spread outside of Zenith Mountain.

The various planets surrounding Zenith Mountain started to turn unstable, and some of the spacecraft even directly disintegrated.

At the bottom of Zenith Mountain, the surge of power formed a falling wave that caused everyone beneath the Explorer realm to instantly cough up blood.

If Yuhua Mavis and Lu Yin had fought with pure physical strength, then Wu Taibai fought with his battle techniques. Infinite Power was a battle technique that constantly sucked in star energy and ravaged the area around the user without restraint. It dragged everyone else who had been in the middle of their own battles atop the mountain into its effect.

Lu Yin waved his right hand through the air. He was very familiar with this particular power, but unfortunately, it was weaker than his own. Compared to Star Devourer, the strength of this technique was actually an entire level weaker.

Star Devourer’s body size had shrunk even more, and he was now no more than a few meters tall. He was still aggressive as ever, and he charged towards Lu Yin with all six eyes open. The sky and the ground both trembled as a surge of energy came from Infinite Power. Star Devourer’s matchless strength was indeed superior to Yuhua Mavis’s.

However, Lu Yin did not plan on fighting against Star Devourer with just strength. Although Star Devourer was very fast, his speed was not so overwhelming that Lu Yin could not dodge.

After Lu Yin easily evaded Star Devourer’s attack, Howl swept over the entire mountaintop once again.

This howl echoed across Zenith Mountain, forcing a large number of people to cover their ears as they groaned from the pain. The spiritual force attack even diffused out of the mountain itself and into outer space.

Enlighters from everywhere appeared to block the attack.

However, when an elder with a power level of 400,000 spat out blood after being struck by the spiritual force attack, the other Enlighters all went pale.

This was just a fierce battle among youths, but would an Envoy actually have to step up to take the collateral damage from their attacks?

Yao Xuan, Yuhua Mavis, Star Devourer, Wu Taibai, and Lu Yin were all powerhouses who possessed the power to affect participants on other parts of the mountain, and they were the ones who had truly stirred up ZENITH.

Jin He no longer had any time to try to launch sneak attacks against Lu Yin, as God Taiyi was busily hunting Jin He down. God’s Origin had sworn to eliminate all traitors.

Unseen Light had also made a move, and he was targeting Zhi Yi. The animosity between the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands ran deep. Thus, all the Fifth Mainland cultivators like Unseen Light were looking to eliminate all of the Sixth Mainland cultivators from ZENITH.

In the Upper Realm, in the western region of Chaos Flowzone, countless people from the Sixth Mainland expressed their rage.

“They’re actually ganging up on us! Those people from the Fifth Mainland are truly shameless! They don’t dare to take on our Daosource Three Skies in a one-on-one.”

“What would the three Progenitors think of this? We ask the Three Progenitors to step forward and keep the Fifth Mainland in check.”

“We ask the Three Progenitors to keep the Fifth Mainland in check.”

…

Zhi Yi was not the only one being besieged. People had also ganged up on Lu Yin and Xiao Qing, who was facing a joint attack from Starsibyl and Bu Kong. Xiao Qing was in imminent danger, and were it not for Starsibyl taking Bu Kong’s grudge against Xiao Qing into consideration, then Xiao Qing would have been eliminated right then and there.

In the Neoverse’s Honor Zone, Arch-Elder Zen scoffed with a complicated expression. “A joint attack is unfair? How laughable! Being ganged up on is commonplace in this sort of competition. Only those who possess the ability to break out of such a siege qualifies to fight for Destiny. Otherwise, they’ll only face a tragic end.”

This was a logic that many did not understand; only those like Arch-Elder Zen, Highsage Grandmaster, and the Three Progenitors would.