Even though he was heavily injured, Zhang Dingtian smiled. Bai Xue looked at Lu Yin expectantly; she had never felt so helpless before either.

Qingyu huffed, “You’ve been hiding your true strength?”

Lu Yin stretched his shoulders, “Not really. Some people just burst forth with potential when they’re forced to their wit’s end.”

“Ha, so what if you burst? You’re only a maggot.” Qingyu pointed a finger at Lu Yin, the same one that had defeated Zhang Dingtian, Yan Gang, Munoor, the other students, and even Lu Yin’s older Cosmic Palm. An apprehensive Lu Yin raised his own hand, four stars spinning within as he struck out.

“Courting death!” Qingyu shouted. The Daynight Clan was invincible amongst others at the same level.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Four explosions rang out in quick succession. Qingyu didn’t even bother about the first three, but a terrifying pressure descended upon him with the fourth that finally bent his finger. A palm landed on his chest at the same time, flinging him back ruthlessly. Tornado-like winds crushed the earth, leaving everyone deaf for a moment as their visions blurred with smoke and dust. When everything settled, they were shocked to see that Qingyu had been defeated.

Lu Yin was panting heavily, his right palm throbbing as blood dripped down broken skin. Opposite him, a pale Qingyu gritted his teeth from the pain of his crushed finger, shuddering with wrath, “What battle technique was that?”

“A technique to kill you!” Lu Yin grunted, using Roving Step as he charged forward again. His palm was raised for a deadly strike; while the others didn’t understand the terror of someone withstanding the Cosmic Palm, he knew that this opponent could return one day and bring great trouble.

“Maggot, I’ll show you the power of Daynight!” Qingyu snarled, and the entire mountain buzzed as Lu Yin was forced back, leaving a dozen footprints down below. He barely raised his head in time to see Qingyu rushing out of the smoke, “Do you think I only have one battle technique? My clan might not have much, but that’s the one thing don’t we lack!”

Enduring the impulse to vomit blood, Lu Yin met a new claw attack with the seventh form of the Skybeast Claw. The earth rocked once more as a terrifying shockwave buffeted the ground, boring into the mountain rock. Seeing the battle through the veil of smoke, everyone was shocked; could Sentinels really fight at such a level?

……

Outside Earth, Sigmund and the rest were similarly astonished, “How did this person become so strong? That’s the Skybeast Claw, looks like the seventh form. Isn’t that a battle technique of Yu Academy?”

“The real power is in that strike that withstood Qingyu’s finger. That was his greatest battle technique, but it lost.”

“This person isn’t simple; we must investigate further.”

While everyone posited their own opinions, Mira’s eyes gleamed as she watched Lu Yin. They were all focused on his battle technique, but she was looking at his fully-recovered hand. There was obviously a finger-sized hole through it before, but it had mysteriously vanished.

……

Shock after shock seemed to explode in the audience’s hearts, leaving many pale. The two figures retreated simultaneously after another explosion, with Qingyu panting heavily as he glared at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin’s hands were currently shaking. He had healed from his injuries, recovered his stamina, and even rested during his five days in the Timestop domain, but he was still hard-pressed to match up with Qingyu. Not even the four-star Cosmic Palm seemed to be able to cause any serious injuries; this man truly lived up to the reputation of an Explorer and member of the Daynight Clan. Even a Melder wasn’t likely to be able to withstand his full strike with just their physical body.

“I’ll take care of him, Master!” Liu Shaoge suddenly claimed, jumping forward with light blossoming on his palm. Zhang Dingtian roared in anger, but Lu Yin barely spared a glance as he lifted his left hand. A bestial howl rang out as the Skybeast Claw crushed the light, swatting the man down into the ground.

“Trash, do you think you can interfere in my battles?” Qingyu barked.

Liu Shaoge spat out blood and feebly replied, “Sorry, Master.”

Lu Yin was quite amazed. He had intended to kill Liu Shaoge with that attack, but the man hadn’t just survived, he could still speak! He was clearly much stronger than believed.

“I never dreamed that this backwater planet could house someone like you who wields such power as a Sentinel!” Qingyu exclaimed, “Even in the Innerverse, you would be considered outstanding.”

Lu Yin clenched his fists, “I have no need for your approval.”

Qingyu grinned, “I’ve seen too many geniuses fall and too many powerhouses die before my Daynight Clan. You won’t be able to escape either, and don’t count on the Great Yu Empire rescuing you. Every trial is supervised by the Youth Council, so unless every one of you loses your determination and causes the trial to fail, no one will interfere and the trial will continue. I’ll slaughter you before that happens!”

Chaotic star energy drifted over his body, but instead of being released, it wrapped around him and twisted around his legs to make it seem like he was stepping on the clouds. “Die!” was the only word people heard as his body suddenly vanished, only to reappear in front of Lu Yin with the index finger stretched out to attack.

This was an extreme speed technique of the Daynight Clan, so powerful that not even Yan Gang could make out Qingyu’s movements. The man was trying to take Lu Yin out with a single blow, but the still-panting Lu Yin activated the Cosmic Art once more. He could make out every movement of the finger that drew close; while the Cosmic Art’s range was quite small, that distance was scaled to the stars. Just as when Raas, Munoor, and the others had attacked with the Skybeast Claw, Lu Yin could make out every change in Qingyu’s attack. Carefully analyzing the approaching strike, he moved down and to the side, countering with a Cosmic Palm that contained every last bit of his rage.

Qingyu was completely caught off guard; he had never expected Lu Yin to be able to dodge his finger, let alone counter attack. His absolute confidence in his footwork technique was crushed, but he was left with no time to react. Most importantly, Lu Yin made sure his Cosmic Palm struck the exact same point where the unsealed Melder had previously struck. Already injured from the beginning, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. A mangled body crashed to the earth, forming a cone-like crater as rocks shattered with tremendous explosions. Lava scorched the air, drowning out all sound.

To the onlookers, Qingyu had blinked out and in before immediately being slapped to the ground by Lu Yin. It looked terrifyingly simple, but the victor alone knew how perilous that moment had been. Anyone in his place—even an unsealed Huo Xiaoling— would have been unable to dodge that strike. Only someone like Lulu with her own speed technique could avoid it. While Lu Yin had no comparable speed techniques, his Cosmic Art was the counter to them all.

Liu Shaoge’s eyes glinted as he looked at the ground. The others followed his gaze, looking towards the figure buried deep below, wasn’t he dead? Lu Yin stood beside the pit, gasping for breath in the furnace-like heat created by the lava. Qingyu had brought this moment upon himself with his carelessness. He had been so confident that Lu Yin wouldn’t be able to dodge that last finger attack that he hadn’t considered or prepared for any type of counter. The only regret was that he had been unable to learn the extreme speed technique even after studying it with his Cosmic Art. All of the Daynight Clan’s techniques had a unique aspect that reflected the name of the clan itself; day and night. If one couldn’t grasp the rhythm, even seeing every change and development of the technique was useless. He had initially thought that he could use the Cosmic Art to be able to learn all battle techniques in the universe, but now he realized this was impossible. Some techniques required special conditions to be acquired and learned.

Crack! The surface of the conical pit cracked and gave way, and Qingyu slowly pushed himself off the ground with one hand and glared at Lu Yin with red eyes, “You maggot, you’ve really pissed me off now!”

Lu Yin frowned, knowing full well how precarious this situation had become. This man was worthy of his status as one who had reached the realm of Explorer. Even while he was unable to manifest his full strength, his body was extremely tough and he had taken on a full-powered attack from an unsealed Melder on top of Lu Yin’s strike. Qingyu also was showing a scary rate of recovery, and Lu Yin knew that he would lose if things continued.

“You won’t win no matter what method you choose, maggot. Give up!” Qingyu growled and charged, but Lu Yin’s expression suddenly changed as he looked towards the crowd of students watching from below. Qingyu coughed up some blood, but forced himself to endure and pursued, “There’s no escape.”

Lu Yin’s mad dash frightened many students into fleeing. One of them even cried out, “This bastard wants to drag us down with him! Quick, escape! And don’t get caught!”

The students all rushed away, but Lu Yin didn’t care about most of them. He had a single target that he chased after; Munoor, a sealed Melder.

“What are you doing?!” All color drained from Munoor’s face.