Within the large spacecraft, the middle-aged man was deep in anguish. The Leo Clan that had existed for so many years was done for, and it was all because of some random person who had come out of nowhere. The clan head refused to take this lying down, and he turned to look outside the spacecraft, just in time to see Lu Yin fleeing inside a personal spacecraft.

The middle-aged man’s eyes were filled with bloodlust. “If we’re going to die, then don’t even think about surviving.” As he shouted, he aimed a weapon at Lu Yin’s spacecraft.

Lu Yin felt his scalp go numb as a desperate chill overcame him. He sensed extreme danger, the same feeling that he had felt moments before he was struck by that light beam back at the pirate port. He turned around, and his gaze seemed to pierce through space to see the crazed head of the Leo Clan.

“DIE!” the middle-aged man shouted, and like a madman, he fired the cannon.

Rumble!

All of a sudden, the first explosion struck the ultra-large spacecraft, causing the entire vessel to sway slightly and the weapon to lose aim. The beam of light brushed by the personal spacecraft that Lu Yin was in and shot off into empty space. Shortly after, the ultra-large spacecraft burst into flames and the entire spacecraft was consumed by a final explosion.

While Lu Yin had not been directly hit by the beam of light, it had nonetheless still damaged the hull. He could feel an extreme force pulling at him as the small spacecraft started rattling dangerously. Air was being rapidly sucked out, and the low pressure made it difficult for Lu Yin to breathe. Things were bad and this personal spacecraft was done for.

As the ominous clanking sounds intensified, Lu Yin frowned. So, in the end, I still wasn’t able to escape from the calamity on Driftcharge Planet. My death is imminent.

As his spacecraft broke apart, Lu Yin found himself drifting through outer space. The huge pressure differential nearly caused his body to explode, but fortunately, thanks to his body’s astounding physical strength, he did not die right away. He tightly held onto the hatch door. When the shockwaves from the ultra-large spacecraft’s explosion reached them, the hatch door was mercilessly launched deeper into space like a comet.

By this point, Lu Yin had already lost consciousness. He was merely a Melder and could not survive in space on his own. Death was just a matter of time, and in this situation, he unconsciously activated the Arcane Art - Fatal Revival.

Not too far away, another ultra-large spacecraft was cruising through space. Within the control room, someone exclaimed, “Sir, there’s been an explosion on our starboard. I think that a spacecraft exploded!”

“Ignore it. We’ll keep going.”

“Yes, Sir.”

But then, there was another sudden shout. “S-Sir, look! There’s someone floating through space!”

Everybody in the control room looked at the display in shock as it revealed the image of a spacecraft’s hatch door drifting by, on which clung a young man dressed in rags. He looked to be quite young and was gravely injured.

“Zoom in!” the pilot said as he frowned.

The image on the screen expanded until everyone could see who the young man was.

The pilot was surprised. “It’s him?! Save him immediately!”

Meanwhile, inside a luxurious lounge, a beautiful woman was looking at a star chart, deep in thought. The pilot’s voice suddenly came through from her gadget. “Madam, please take a look at this.”

The woman looked at her gadget and the displayed image. Her expression changed quickly as she commanded, “Save him immediately! I’ll be right there.”

Not long after, Lu Yin was secured and brought into the spacecraft. Someone quickly transported him to the sickbay, and a number of doctors began treating him.

“Madam, this child’s injuries are too serious. It’s a miracle that he’s even alive.”

“What a powerful body. It’s comparable to an Explorer’s.”

“His innards are seriously injured, and his injuries seem to be getting worse. It’s as if his regenerative abilities are being repressed.”

“Huh? He’s only a Melder? It’s a miracle that he even managed to survive in space.”

…

“I didn’t think we’d end up meeting him again so soon, madam,” the pilot whispered.

This woman was Madam Nalan. As she watched the doctors discussing amongst themselves, she had a strange look in her eyes. “It’s fate. In this vast universe, it’d be unlikely to run into an entire planet even with your eyes closed, and yet, we have managed to run into this same person twice. And on top of that, each time was at a moment when he needed help the most.”

“You’re his benefactor,” the pilot said with a grin.

Madam Nalan watched as Lu Yin was being treated, and the corner of her lips quirked up. “His benefactor? Perhaps I am.”

There was still about half a month left before the Astral Combat Tournament started, and currently, Lu Yin was being treated by Madam Nalan.

For seven consecutive days, every doctor on the Nalan Family spacecraft did everything in their power to treat Lu Yin, and they barely managed to keep him alive. The price that they had to pay was immense, and many precious herbs from the Innerverse had been used on him.

“How is he?” Madam Nalan inquired as she observed Lu Yin lying naked in the nutritional fluid without even blinking.

A doctor whispered back, “The child’s injuries are quite serious, and he doesn’t have the ability to heal himself. However, despite all that, he’s managed to remain alive. After all of our efforts, he’ll live, but it’s hard to tell when he’ll wake up.”

Madam Nalan acknowledged his report with a nod.

At this moment, the door opened, and a girl in a long white dress with refined features walked in. The most attention-grabbing aspect about her was the sword on her back. It wasn’t an ancient, detailed sword like those from Ten Thousand Swords Peak, but rather, it was attention-grabbing in its simple design. One could even say that it had no style.

“Who is this person?” the girl asked. She also looked straight at Lu Yin, as if she didn’t even acknowledge that he was of a different gender.

Nalan smiled. “He’s your classmate from Astral-10, Lu Yin.”

The girl was surprised. “Astral-10? I thought that it had disappeared.”

“You really don’t know much about the Outerverse. This child is much more than he seems. He’s the leader of Astral-10, just like how you are the leader of your academy,” Madam Nalan said.

The girl was surprised and eyed Lu Yin once more. Regardless of what state Astral-10 was currently in, becoming a leader was no easy feat. However, he was a mere Melder.

“Since Astral-10 still exists, I don’t need to rush back to the Innerverse anymore. I’ll go straight to Astral-10,” the girl firmly stated.

Madam Nalan’s eyes lit up, “Of course! How could I have forgotten? Astral-10 is closer, so I’ll contact them.”

Meanwhile, within Astral-10, the Sandmaster stood quietly in the sand while sizing up Big Pao and Little Pao. The two brothers were exchanging glances.

“You know, Little Pao, I’m getting old. Why don’t you give the position of Astral-10’s seed to me? I’ll remember it forever.”

“No, I want to be the seeded student.”

“Don’t you know anything about humility?”

“That’s what I should be saying. You shouldn’t be bullying someone younger than you! Don’t think that I haven’t noticed this: you just want everyone’s eyes on you so that you can become famous. The top ten will be up on that platform, and there’ll be a huge commotion about them.”

“You’re heartless.”

“If you keep arguing, I won’t let you listen to Xi Yue’s albums anymore.”

“You…!”

…

The Sandmaster grew irritated at their bickering. “Shut up, you useless things.”

Big Pao and Little Pao immediately shut their mouths.

At this moment, the Sandmaster’s gadget rang, causing him to frown. Truthfully, he hated this thing, but he had been put in charge of running Astral-10 team as the other old men couldn’t be bothered with such things.

“Who is it?” The Sandmaster sounded like he was in a terrible mood.

On his gadget’s display, a girl frowned and said, “Greetings, Sandmaster. I’m the leader of Astral-7, Liu Xiaoyun.”

The Sandmaster was astonished. “The leader of Astral-7? Why are you contacting me?”

Big Pao and Little Pao were just as shocked by this call. If she was the leader of Astral-7, then wouldn’t that make her a Realm Master? And a member of the Council of Astral Academy as well? This was someone who possessed real authority, and it had been a long time since anyone from Astral-10 had talked to someone this important.

“I would like to enter the tournament from Astral-10. Please approve it,” Liu Xiaoyun said.

The Sandmaster was confused. “Why not enter from your own academy?”

“I’m currently not in the Innerverse, but rather the Outerverse,” she explained.

The Sandmaster made a sound of understanding. “Alright then, just come over.”

“Thank you very much, sir. There’s one more thing. The leader of your academy, Lu Yin, is currently with me. We’ll head over together,” Liu Xiaoyun casually added on.

The Sandmaster was shocked. “Lu Yin? He’s still alive?”

“He’s alive, but very badly injured. However, he should be able to recover in time for the tournament.”

“When are you arriving?”

“Based on our speed, it’ll take us about ten days to arrive. The tournament starts in seven days, so we’ll most likely only arrive when the drawing of lots actually begins.”

The Sandmaster said in a low voice, “Got it. Hurry over.” With that, he ended the call and looked up to see Big Pao and Little Pao, completely bewildered.

“There’s no need to fight over it anymore. The seeded position is going to Lu Yin’s. He can’t make it before the competition’s start, so he can only be a seeded student. He’ll be in time for that, at least,” Sandmaster explained.

“He’s not dead? That’s amazing! It’s a miracle that he managed to survive after being struck by that beam of light,” Big Pao said admiringly.

Little Pao also said, “Let him be the seeded student then. But he’s pretty unlucky to have to stand next to the Realm Masters from the other nine academies. Hehe, it’s gonna be stressful.”

The Sandmaster started to get annoyed by them again. “Okay, enough of this. Scram.”

When the tournament started, each academy had to pick a seeded student who would take part in the section of drawing lots. Usually, the leader of each academy would take this position, but Astral-10 only had a leader among its new students, and he wasn’t actually the leader of all of Astral-10. However, when Astral-10 submitted Lu Yin’s name, it stirred up quite a ruckus. News of Lu Yin being killed at the pirate port had already spread far and wide, but Astral-10 had still submitted his name, so this shocked quite a number of people.

Everywhere, there were people wondering if Astral-10 was trying to confuse everyone with this. However, neither Astral-10 nor Lu Yin received news of this.

Seven days later, within Zenyu Star’s palace in the Great Yu Empire, a huge screen had been erected. This was connected to the universal network and would be livestreaming the entire Astral Combat Tournament.

This occurred not only at the palace, but also on almost all of the screens in Zenyu Star. Almost everybody would be watching this tournament as it was a huge event for the entire universe.

Within the Huo Family’s mansion, Huo Xiaoling looked at the screen with a complicated look in her eyes. She had participated in the entrance exam for Astral-10 but had failed. Otherwise, she would be among the people on that screen. While she thought about this, Huo Xiaoling recalled Schutz and Lu Yin. One was the most powerful of his generation in the Great Yu Empire while the other was King Zishan. These two would probably appear in this tournament!

The Auna Family was also watching their screen. They were going to view the full tournament.

A list of the seeded students from the ten academies appeared, and the tenth seed was Lu Yin.

“There are rumors that he died, but not only did he not die, he even became a seeded student!” Rocky Auna told Xueshan Auna in excitement.

Xueshan Auna watched the screen with just as much excitement and exhaled happily. “That’s great to hear. I’m just glad that he didn’t die.”

Not too far away, Jenny Auna stared at the screen in surprise.

Within Yu Academy, Gerbach, Tian Ming, and the others were all crowded around a screen. Everyone was watching for fun, but they were also watching to see the difference between them and the students of the Astral Combat Academy. This was an order from Wendy Yushan. The Astral Combat Tournament was a battle between the strongest of their generation, and Wendy Yushan wanted them to see just how far they were away from them.

“I didn’t think that King Zishan would be Astral-10’s seeded student. That’s terrifying.”

“Right. Schutz isn’t even seeded. Does that mean that he’s stronger than Schutz?”

“He can’t be. Schutz is the strongest in our Great Yu Empire.”

…

In the Sixth Squadron’s hall, Peach kept smacking her lips as she shoveled in snacks by the handful and stared wide-eyed at the screen. Hurry up! I’ve been waiting for ages for this. Good luck, Lu Yin!

A spacecraft floated through space. Inside, the second prince, Duke Yushan, intently watched the screen. At this moment, he was not as relaxed as he had been on Zenyu Star. He exuded fatigue from every pore of his body, and he seemed rather upset.

On another spacecraft, an armed mercenary group was also looking at a screen. During this Astral Combat Tournament, all civil strife was forbidden in the entire human star expanse so that everyone could watch in peace.

“Ian, pour the wine,” Dana commanded with crossed legs.

Behind Dana, Ian stared dumbfoundedly at the screen. Lu Yin? That shameless looter? How the hell did he climb all the way up there?!