“I’m An Shaohua of the Watermoon Villa, from the Soulseal Flowzone,” the trialtaker breathlessly replied. After speaking, he shifted his attention to the unconscious Zhanlong Daynight who had collapsed atop the energy seal. His pupils shrank, and when he looked back at Lu Yin, the expression on his face now included fear.

“Since you’re not trapped down here, why aren’t you leaving?” An Shaohua asked probingly.

Lu Yin smiled. “We’ll talk in a bit.”

An Shaohua gave Lu Yin an odd look, but he sat right down afterwards. It was pointless to think too much right now, as he had already been captured.

Soon enough, another man appeared, and he was just as shocked as An Shaohua to see Lu Yin above the seal.

“Who are you?” Lu Yin asked.

“I’m Alfonso from Chaos Flowzone’s Starphant Mountain.”

A few moments later, a woman appeared.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Doro from Bard Weave’s Evenground Palace.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Shi Sandao from the Suna Weave’s Moke Sword Sect.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Xun Jiong from the Ascension Flowzone’s Xun family.”

…

Anyone who dared to take part in the Outerverse trials was definitely not an ordinary person. Even so, Lu Yin did not expect so many people from so many organizations to have gathered here. There were at least ten organizations from both the Outerverse and Innerverse represented here, including both Han Chong’s Han Family and Yue Xianzi’s Frostmoon Sect. The Darkmist Weave would be in major trouble if these people died.

Lu Yin was now growing increasingly certain that there must be some kind of prearranged escape plan for these people, but he was also becoming even more certain that the defense of this place was far above their expectations. After all, this was Ming Taizhong’s tomb.

“Lu Yin, you didn’t leave?” Yue Xianzi exclaimed as she looked through the solid energy seal in surprise. She glanced over at Zhanlong Daynight, and her eyes widened in shock even more as she looked back at Lu Yin. This person became more terrifying every time she saw him.

Han Chong also appeared at this time, and he was just as surprised as Yue Xianzi when he saw the scene. He then smiled, “This is the second time that we’ve met in the Shenwu Continent, Lu Yin.”

Lu Yin nodded. “I never expected us to meet under these circumstances.”

Han Chong also caught a glimpse of Zhanlong Daynight. This person was incredibly strong, even more so than Nightqueen Yanqing. Han Chong wasn’t sure if even he could defeat Zhanlong, but he’d already been defeated by Lu Yin. Han Chong sighed and shook his head. “The Daynight clan did all it could to force the final four of the Astral Combat Tournament to come to the Shenwu Continent, all so that Zhanlong Daynight could defeat all of us. Unfortunately for them, they lost their bet. Your power was far above their expectations.”

“But I'm still just a Limiteer. In their eyes, I’m nothing more than an ant.” Lu Yin did not become arrogant and merely spoke the truth. There were too many powerhouses in the Daynight clan, such as Nightking Zhenwu. However, he only represented the peak of the younger generation; there were obviously much more powerful experts in the older generation. The clan held an inconceivable amount of power.

“Cut the crap and stop jabbering. Let us out already.” Not too far away, a man spoke up in an annoyed tone. He was from the Blazing Mist Flowzone, which had a good relationship with the Blaze Realm. This person had always found Lu Yin to be an eyesore.

The rest gave this person a strange look. He must be a moron!

Lu Yin’s gaze chilled. “Sorry to bother you, but could you please make this young man shut up, Brother Han.”

Han Chong did not answer, and instead merely smacked down with a hand. The person from the Blazing Mist Flowzone’s strength was only comparable to an Astral Combat Academy Area Master at the best. He was completely incapable of even attempting to counter Han Chong’s attack and was instantly knocked unconscious.

“Is there something that you’d like to tell everyone, Lu Yin?” Han Chong asked in a deceptively kind tone.

Lu Yin said, “First of all, all of you are sealed down there. Therefore, I have a proposal for you. I’ll do my best to help you all leave, but all of you have to in turn make a deal with me and help me do something as long as it’s something that’s possible for you to accomplish. Of course, I also won’t ask you to do anything that goes against your principles.”

Han Chong’s eyes flashed. “For example?”

Lu Yin shook his head. “I haven’t come up with anything yet.”

Han Chong fell quiet. Lu Yin was requesting a promise, and he was wary of rashly agreeing to anything too quickly.

The rest exchanged looks, and then An Shaohua spoke up. “Will you stop us from trying to find a way out of here ourselves?”

Everyone stared at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin chuckled. “You think too little of me. Please, do as you wish.”

Yue Xianzi blinked. Seriously? This didn’t seem like something Lu Yin would agree to. From what she knew of him, Lu Yin was no gentleman, and he would definitely take advantage of any situation that he could. He had even robbed quite a few people in the past. Right, he had also harassed Xi Yue. This guy was about as clean as a filthy piece of trash. He wouldn’t stop them? What a joke.

“Are you really not going to stop them, Seventh Bro? By the looks of it, they seem pretty confident in their chances of getting out,” the Ghost Monkey mentioned. However, contrary to all expectations, Lu Yin remained silent.

On the sixth level, An Shaohua took a deep breath and solemnly took an item out of his cosmic ring with a serious look in his eyes.

Everyone watched him closely, but when they saw what he took out, an expression of bewilderment overcame them all.

Lu Yin raised his eyebrows. “If I’m not wrong, that’s a trumpet that I see in your hands. right. Shaohua?”

An Shaohua chuckled and then took out something else. It was another trumpet, but a much larger one than the previous one. He connected the two together before taking out yet another trumpet.

After fitting all three trumpets together under everyone’s confused gazes, An Shaohua sighed. “It’s done.”

What lay before them was an ultra-large trumpet made up of dozens of smaller trumpets. It stood tall and had been erected with its bell directed upwards.

Doro from the Bard Weave was shocked. “Are you trying to call for help?”

An Shaohua was struck speechless by his assumption. “Of course not! My hometown, the Watermoon Villa, has a unique battle technique that can amplify sound. My brother is hidden somewhere within the capital, and after I amplify my voice with this instrument, I’ll be able to ask him to help and work together with us from the outside. He’s an Explorer, and he’s definitely powerful enough to break the seal.”

Everyone was surprised. This was quite an interesting battle technique.

Lu Yin was astonished as well. It seemed that all kinds of strange things existed in the universe; after all, even a battle technique like this had been developed.

“As we discussed before, you’ll take care of any Explorer realm powerhouses that appear. Right, Han Chong?” An Shaohua asked Han Chong as he glanced over.

Han Chong appeared quite solemn. “If the seal is destroyed, I’ll deal with any Explorers that come here.”

“Alright then. Here I go.” An Shaohua took a deep breath, and under everyone’s shocked look, blew hard into the trumpet.

A booming sound phased through the seal of materialized energy. It wasn’t some kind of offensive soundwave, but rather just pure sound. In other words, it was extremely loud. Even Lu Yin was startled.

The monkey was furious. “He scared the crap out of me!”

Outside the tower, as those trumpet “toots” rang out, the surrounding troops were just as surprised as the trialtakers, and they began to carefully observe the tower.

Meanwhile, a thousand meters away from the Tower of Resonating Light, a man who was lying atop a tree heard the sound, and his eyes flashed. He quickly opened his mouth and made the same sound in response. However, unlike what happened when An Shaohua made the sound, this time, an immense martial power swept through the sky and violently slammed into the Tower of Resonating Light.

In the imperial palace within the capital, Ming Hao’s expression changed. He then abruptly stood up and violently flung the cup in his hand at the floor. However, instead of smashing into the ground, it instead tore a hole through space and appeared right outside of the Tower of Resonating Light, heading straight for the man atop the tree.

The man paid this teacup no mind as the soundwaves mixed with his martial power before vigorously slamming against the materialized energy seal. There was a huge crash sound as the entire tower shook.

Lu Yin took several steps back as he looked at the point that had been struck in shock. The others did the same and focused on the seal, but the point of impact barely had a mark on it.

An Shaohua’s expression changed drastically. “How is this possible?”

“Do it again,” Han Chong stated. “We’ll attack at the same time, hitting it from both sides this time.”

“Okay!” An Shaohua answered.

Tooot!

Outside the tower, the man had been struck by the thrown cup, causing him to cough out a mouthful of blood. When he heard another “toot” come from inside the tower, he grit his teeth and responded in kind once again. His martial power swept out for a second time, this time taking the shape of a tornado that could be seen by the naked eye as it struck the Tower of Resonating Light.

Within the palace, Ming Hao snickered. “What an idiot.” This time, he flung a chopstick away.

Boom!

The Explorer had coordinated his attack with Han Chong and the rest of the trapped trialtakers, causing two immense forces to strike the exact same point on the energy seal. At this moment, Lu Yin grew slightly worried. Han Chong was definitely not weaker than an Explorer, and right now, he was also being helped by Yue Xianzi and the other trapped trialtakers. That meant that there were at least two attacks at the Explorer level striking coming from within the tower. With the attack from outside added in, there were essentially three Explorers attacking the seal at the same time. It was impossible to tell if the seal would be able to hold on.

Crack!

The seal cracked.

Lu Yin raised his eyebrows. It made sense that such a powerful combination attack would be able to crack the seal, but Ming Hao still hadn’t appeared, allowing that Explorer on the outside to attack. That was proof that he still had other cards hidden up his sleeves.

All of a sudden, five odd-looking sculptures rose into the air above the fifth level. Actually, they were right above Lu Yin.

The five sculptures were linked together, and they suddenly connected to the energy seal and repaired it, making it far more durable and powerful.

Lu Yin’s pupils shrank. This made him recall the five sealing planets. Could this seal be the same formation as the five planets seal? Those five statues are sourceboxes, which means that… Lu Yin suddenly came up with a terrifying idea. Could those five planets be five terrifying sourceboxes?! But that was impossible. How could a sourcebox of such a monstrous size exist, let alone five of them?

But before Lu Yin could consider this idea any more, the seal was fully mended, crushing Han Chong and the others’ hopes of escaping. Meanwhile, the Explorer outside had been impaled by a chopstick through his stomach. He crumpled to the ground and was quickly captured. He was nothing more than an ordinary Explorer and was even weaker than Ming Hao. Even without being physically present, Ming Hao was still able to finish off this man.

However, before the man was taken away, Long Yun appeared and rescued him. Ming Hao didn’t stop him, because the Tower of Resonating Light was the most important objective at the moment.

When he saw how everyone’s combined force was still unable to break the seal, Lu Yin sighed in relief and glanced down at the trialtakers.

Coincidentally, Yue Xianzi looked up at the same time and caught his gaze. After seeing him smiling, she felt her heart drop. What a bastard! she thought to herself. He’s delighted that we’re stuck in such a terrible situation.

“We can start discussing terms now, Lu Yin,” Han Chong kindly informed him, as if what had just happened was not a big deal.

An Shaohua pursed his lips. “Why him? Do you actually think that he can break the seal?”

Han Chong earnestly answered, “I believe that he can.”

Han Chong had spoken very sincerely. It wasn't just the other trialtakers; even Lu Yin himself was surprised by his candor. Before the five statues had repaired the seal, he had been quite sure that he could open the seal himself, but now, he wasn’t quite as sure anymore. However, Han Chong seemed to be even more confident than Lu Yin in his own abilities at the present moment.

“I’ve said this before. I’d like all of you to help me with something in the future. That’s my sole condition,” Lu Yin told them.

Shi Sandao from the Suna Weave’s Moke Sword Sect looked up. “What would this help entail?”

“Rumors in the Astral Combat Academy have it that you don’t have a good relationship with the Daynight clan, not to mention the fact that you just beat up Zhanlong Daynight and some other clan members. If you want to influence the organizations that we belong to into attacking the Daynight clan, I can tell you right now with absolute certainty that that’s impossible,” Alfonso from Chaos Flowzone’s Starphant Mountain apathetically stated.

Lu Yin smiled. “I naturally won’t ask you to do that. How about this—I will have you all do something for me that is possible for the organizations you represent. Does that work? Of course, I’ll need you to swear by it.”

Everyone fell silent. While swearing by something was merely a verbal agreement, cultivators typically considered such an action to be completely binding unless they were a pathological liar.