A Tough Battle

It took half a minute of constant explosions for Hart Phoenix and Lu Yin to separate, both left gasping for air. It was the first time that Lu Yin had faced such difficulty against a Sentinel, and Hart felt the same. It was a pity that he could not converse with his opponent here; he really wanted to find out where such a contender came from.

However, no one could be allowed to defeat an Undying Bird. Golden blazes soared once more, forming a much larger bird that soared in the void. Lu Yin was shocked at the realization that his opponent hadn’t been going all-out until now; the unbelievable surge of energy and the golden flames were worrying. The bird’s screech vaporized the shattered platform, its golden flames filling the air. Hart was now like an emperor of flames as he gestured both hands downwards, sending the flames to engulf Lu Yin.

Lu Yin grew serious and raised his palm, six stars spinning within. However, the six-star Cosmic Palm was clearly a little weaker than these golden flames, and he howled as they covered him. A seventh indistinct star slowly formed in his palm; it wasn’t revolving just yet, but even the trace burst forth with significant power. Lu Yin charged down towards Hart and struck out, the seventh star dispersing the fire in all directions. Hart’s eyes narrowed as his protective flames faded, and the earth all around them sank down from the impact.

Lu Yin’s Cosmic Palm had not managed to strike Hart, but it did disperse all the flames around. He raised his left hand and used the Six Stacks Shockwave Palm right at the opponent’s abdomen, drawing a mouthful of blood as Hart growled and kicked at his side. He retreated a few steps and flashed away, reappearing behind Hart and forming the Cosmic Palm once more.

Hart turned around and gritted his teeth. The flaming bird crowed from his body once more, refusing to accept defeat. The attack landed firmly on him and sent him flying, but the scattered flames quickly converged on him once more and started healing it rapidly.

Lu Yin was stunned by the sight, recalling Qingyu who was similarly difficult to kill. This would not do, he couldn’t give this opponent a break. He immediately flashed towards Hart once more, using the Cosmic Palm with both hands this time. The golden bird flew out and clashed with the attacks a dozen times, leaving Lu Yin a little overwhelmed, but Hart was the exact same. His innate gift was powerful, but it could not be used endlessly.

Eventually, Hart was the first to give in. He blanked out for a moment, and a just-as-exhausted Lu Yin noticed the gap and used the Six Stacks Shockwave Palm again to achieve victory. However, this one battle gave him an acute sense of how fearsome the geniuses of the Innerverse were. A mere Sentinel could actually push him this far; if not for his improved grasp of star energy and the lessons in stacking from the Rainmaster, this battle would not have gone his way at all. He finally realized that his assumption that he was unmatched in the Sentinel realm was too arrogant.

Lu Yin opened his eyes after the victory and looked outside, noticing Michelle’s curiosity and Meng Yue’s surprise at his having stayed in so long. However, he wasn’t done yet; one could continue so long as they were on a winning streak, and he entered once more.

At the same time, Hart stood up within the gloomy forest in Astral-5 with an ugly expression. He’d been defeated, and that too by someone in the same realm. This was utter humiliation! How was he to answer to his brother? He burned the codename Seventh Brother into his mind. He had to scrub away this shame.

Quite a few people came over as he stepped out of the teleportation stone’s domain. “How is it, Hart; you’ve got to have hit three wins this time.”

“There’s no need to ask, he definitely did it…”

Hart did not bother with the crowd and just left to train. That Seventh Brother had to be from one of the Astral Combat Academies; all the other powers that held teleportation stones had their own unique factors. He might face this person in the Astral Combat Tournament, and would definitely defeat him then.

When Lu Yin entered the ported battle once more, he arrived at a marsh. There was already someone waiting for him again, but he felt like puking the moment he saw their name. Big Windy Bro. The very first opponent he’d chanced upon in the ported battles, the absolute beast that had killed him instantly, was here again. Big Windy Bro’s star energy swept out the moment Lu Yin appeared, obliterating the void. Lu Yin was knocked out in an instant yet again just as expected. It was rather depressing that he couldn’t even block one hit.

Back in Astral-10, Lu Yin walked out just as the old man announced his results, “Lu Yin; one victory to seven defeats.”

“You actually won?” Meng Yue was shocked.

However, Lu Yin ignored him and turned to Michelle, “You’re from the Innerverse, have you heard of a Phoenix Clan?”

“You met a Phoenix?” Michelle was stunned, explaining when he nodded, “They’re one of the strongest families in the Innerverse. It makes sense that you were beaten.”

She stepped towards the stone before Lu Yin could tell her that he’d won. He wanted to call after her, but eventually dismissed it. Phoenix? They definitely lived up to their billing if a Sentinel could give him such a tough time. He couldn’t begin to imagine how powerful the clan’s Melders or Limiteers would be.

It was quite alluring to achieve a hundred victories and enter the Nine Trial Zones, but most of the new students knew their limits and were silently training. Only a handful were around the entrance at any time; when a dejected Meng Yue left as well, Lu Yin and Michelle were the only ones remaining. At one point, Lu Yin had won two out of twelve battles, a score that shocked Michelle. Her own win rate was about the same, but she was a Melder while he was only a Sentinel.

Sometimes, luck was a part of one’s achievements. Lu Yin met Sentinels consecutively in his thirteenth and fourteenth battles, and they seemed to be new students just like him. He dispatched them easily, but the fifteenth opponent was more troublesome: a sylvan dragon.

One of the three powers blocking the Sentinel paths during the Astral-10 assessment was a sylvan dragon, but Lu Yin had been on a different path and so did not recognize it. He was stunned by the sight of a beast in the ported battle, but there was indeed a codename on top of the creature’s head: Dragon Eight.

Dragon Eight huffed and charged at Lu Yin, crushing down with is claws. Its terrifying Melder star energy swept across and wrapped around him, intending to immobilize its target for the easy kill. Lu Yin would indeed have been trapped if it was a Limiteer, but his current star energy control allowed him to shake it off. The creature was stunned by the sight of a Sentinel breaking its chains, but it stretched out and its enormous body split into two. Four sharp claws moved in strange paths to block off all directions, forcing Lu Yin to confront it.

Lu Yin used the Six Stacks Shockwave Palm directly, giving rise to an explosion that split the earth. Both combatants crashed down to the ground from the impact, with Dragon Eight retreating a few steps to nurse its trembling claws. It was quite amazed by this blow, almost shivering at the thought that a mere Sentinel could injure it. Was this an heir of one of the best Innerverse clans?

Lu Yin jumped out of the marsh and stared at Dragon Eight, six stars forming on his palm. Six stars in the realm of infinite change far surpassed Gerbach and even Schutz, making Lu Yin the strongest youth in the Great Yu Empire, but he still had a losing record. In fact, it was extremely rare to score a single victory. He had to work under the assumption that this beast was no ordinary Melder. After all, Hart Phoenix was certainly stronger than Schutz despite only being a Sentinel. That showed how scary the geniuses of the Innerverse were. He had the feeling that the beast before him didn’t qualify for that term, but it was still fast enough to be terrifying.