“You’re alive?” Zhang Dingtian and Bai Xue stared with similar disbelief.

Liu Shaoge smiled and bowed respectfully to Qingyu, “Master, I have all 72 captured students; that should be enough.”

Qingyu nodded and stared at the sky in cold arrogance, “Your trial has ended. Let me go if you want to save these lives!”

“SHAOGE, WHY?” Bai Xue screamed from the distance.

Liu Shaoge smiled once more, “The Earth is too small, my dear. I’m heading to the heavens.”

“YOU BETRAYED US! WHAT ABOUT WANG YOU? TONG ZHAN?”

“Eh, they’re really dead. Those who can’t appreciate the greater world don’t deserve sympathy,” he looked at her gently, “But you, you should come to the heavens with your innate gift. Give up this planet; someone with your talent shouldn’t have their future restricted like this.”

An enraged Zhang Dingtian bit his lips to control himself, while Lu Yin gazed upon the scene coldly. Even the pain that Qingyu had brought to this planet and himself couldn’t compare to what Liu Shaoge had done. A city of countless survivors had been set on fire at the start of the Apocalypse, himself among them. He still carried the scars of that painful day upon his body, and knew that he would never forget that experience. He’d thought it would be difficult to enact his vengeance, but now Liu Shaoge was alive and in front of his face.

Qingyu was still waiting for the heavens to answer, while Liu Shaoge was facing Bai Xue. Lu Yin closed his eyes and formed the die in his right hand, crushing star crystals and allowing it to absorb the energy rapidly. This was his only chance, and he hoped for the right luck.

……

Within the giant spacecraft outside Earth, Sigmund sighed, “It has ended. The trial is a failure.”

No one refuted. Qingyu had incomparable power at his level, and was practically undefeatable.

Torry tutted, “If that girl from the Mavis Family had gone over, she might have been Qingyu’s match.”

Shalosh sneered, “The Mavis Family isn’t the Great Yu Empire. So what if they defeated Qingyu? Would that glory be ours?”

There was no disagreement.

Sigmund turned towards Mira, “Lady Mira, I’m sorry you had to see such failure.”

“Failure?” Mira’s eyes shone a faint red as she looked at the screen with a smile, “Has it ended?”

Sigmund nodded helplessly, “Apologies.”

She continued to grin, “Wait a little, the tables might be turned yet. A trial is meant to see how the trainees find a way out of predicaments, is it not?”

Torry Auna had a pained expression, “Qingyu comes from the Daynight Clan. Even if his own family put out the warrant for his arrest, his power far surpasses his contemporaries. Forget Sentinels, he is practically matchless on Earth.”

Even Mira seemed to be weighed down by the mention of the Daynight Family, “How do you plan to handle him?”

Sigmund answered, “The Daynight Clan wishes for him to be captured alive if at all possible. Even dead, his entire corpse must be sent back along with their inheritance stone.”

Mira nodded, “That means it’s not a matter of whether he’s alive or dead.”

Everyone fell silent as they considered whether to kill him. He had schemed to exchange the lives of 72 students for a chance at escape, but it was impossible for any number of students to outweigh the Daynight Clan’s warrant.

“Wait a little more. The Youth Council’s rules state that as long as there are trial takers who have not lost their determination, the trial cannot be considered complete. Just look, someone is still trying his best.” Mira kept looking at the display that showed Lu Yin crushing more star crystals.

“LIU SHAOGE!” Zhang Dingtian bellowed and struck out with his blade, mouth and clothes stained crimson.

“You’re not dead?” Liu Shaoge was astonished, but he gently lifted his hand and a ray of light launched towards the Bladesage. This attack shattered the strike effortlessly and continued towards Zhang Dingtian himself, but Bai Xue appeared in front of him and blocked it with thick walls of ice. Even then, both High Sages were pushed back into a retreat.

Gerlaine and Balaror had both woken up, intent on retaliating, but stopped upon seeing Liu Shaoge’s attack. This native was clearly very powerful.

“Don’t injure that woman too badly,” Qingyu said coldly as he surveyed the scene.

Liu Shaoge responded with a bow and a grunt, then looked towards Zhang Dingtian and Bai Xue with indifference, “The so-called Seven Sages are nothing but a joke. I captured Wang You and Tong Zhan because they were just too weak. Zhang Dingtian, you might possibly be my match if you recover completely, but as you are right now, you’re pathetic. None of you ever managed to fathom my true power.”

Zhang Dingtian spat out a mouthful of blood, now too weak to even keep a hold of his blade. Bai Xue stared at Liu Shaoge with an icy glare, her eyes deep red.

Not too far away, Lu Yin was growing frustrated. The first roll had landed on Blackhole Disassembly, and despite an immediate retry he’d landed on Gift Copy. Seeing the gloating faces of Qingyu and Liu Shaoge after the Radiance had defeated the two High Sages, he took a deep breath and crushed more crystals. This time, the die stopped spinning and the surfaces faded away until only the four-pip face remained. This was the one!

Lu Yin immediately entered the Timestop domain, excitedly taking out all of the star crystals he had left in his cosmic ring and throwing them at the countdown. The number jumped from 259,200 to 436,800; using all his wealth had gotten him two more days in this space.

He immediately started to treat his injured body, even as he pulled out his star chart and started studying. He had five days to finish the fourth star. Just how strong would that be? Would it be able to stand up to Qingyu? He could only test that conjecture out in battle.

The five days in the ashen room felt endless, with no sound nor sight in that boundless solitude. Lu Yin’s hand had recovered dramatically by the third day, and the fourth star of his Cosmic Art had grown more defined. By the end of the fourth, it was fully formed. When the fifth day ended and the countdown dropped to zero, the scene before him changed once more as he returned to the outside world, back at the exact time he’d left. Qingyu was still looking at the sky arrogantly, while the calm Liu Shaoge appeared as conceited as before. Bai Xue and the others were still helpless to act on their hatred, and there were injured students scattered across the ground.

“Are you not going to answer me? Are you trying to leave me here to die?” Qingyu shouted, his body disappearing and reappearing in front of the captured students. He grabbed Huo Xiaoling’s long red hair and sneered, “She’ll die with me.”

Huo Xiaoling was enraged and an overwhelming strength started swirling around her as she started to break her seal, but Qingyu coldly remarked, “Trying to break your seal? Consider it carefully, a Melder who failed a Sentinel-level trial. Do you think you would ever be allowed into the Astral Combat Academy?”

Huo Xiaoling paled at those words. She had already heard them many times from Qingyu, and it was the primary reason that she had been willing to remain a captive. A great Melder who also had an innate gift couldn’t fail in a mere Sentinel trial mission. She would be nothing but trash in the eyes of the Astral Combat Academy. It wasn’t just them; none of the higher academies of the universe would accept such a student. Breaking her seal here would end up the greatest stain on her record.

She closed her eyes and constrained her star energy again. She would not break her seal even if she died.

Outside Earth, Sigmund grew more anxious, “Lady Mira, we can’t wait anymore. Huo Xiaoling must not die.”

Torry Auna and Shalosh were also focused on the screen; if Huo Xiaoling died on Earth during this trial, the wrath of the Huo Family would shake the Great Yu Empire; all involved would be out of luck. However, Mira didn’t even notice; the scions of random families in the Outerverse weren’t worth her attention. She was still focused on Lu Yin, having sensed something off as he suddenly changed. His injured hand had healed so quickly! Was that an innate gift? Or was it that die? All of the observers had seen Lu Yin’s innate gift but thought little of it; gifts could look like anything and were only worth attention if they proved to be extraordinary.

“Lady Mira...” Sigmund continued, but Mira raised her chin and pointed at the display. Everyone turned to look, only to be stunned at what they saw.

On the battlefield, Qingyu suddenly was suddenly ten meters away from Xiaoling, having just been knocked back. He was staring at Lu Yin with incredulity, an emotion shared by everyone else; how had he been pushed away?

“Seems you forgot about me,” Lu Yin stated from in front of Huo Xiaoling, retracting his hand. Gerlaine choked on her spittle, while Jeraldine was shocked once more by the youth who had destroyed her preconceptions again and again. Qingyu had eclipsed every student only moments ago, but Lu Yin could now force him back.