It could only be said that the value of polarium was too great. The Nine Allied Nations was supported by a considerable amount of polarium production, and Shuta Planet happened to produce the most polarium in the Darkmist Weave. Without Shuta Planet, the Nine Allied Nations’ economy would collapse, which would lead to unimaginable outcomes.

Lu Yin released a breath as he watched the news on his screen. Darkstar Gorge was now entangled with all the powers connected to the Nine Allied Nations, which would temporarily lessen the danger that the Shenwu Continent was facing, which would buy him some time.

Opposite Lu Yin, Barley looked at the instigator of the current fiasco. Although nobody else knew this, Barley was fully aware that Lu Yin was the mastermind behind everything. However, he could not think of a single reason why Lu Yin would want to start a war between Darkstar Gorge and the Darkmist Weave. Had everything been done just to deal with Puyu? That was impossible, as the two sides would not go all out for just a single Shuta Planet. They would merely go through the motions, and that wouldn’t be enough to deal with Puyu. Barley just could not fathom Lu Yin’s motives.

Whether one considered Darkstar Gorge or the powers of the Darkmist Weave, a war could not be easily triggered. In other words, both sides were just wasting time at the present.

In the eyes of the powers related to the Nine Allied Nations, Lu Yin was an obnoxious brat who had set Darkstar Gorge up to confront them, only to then turn around and make a stand for righteousness on humanity’s behalf. This last bit left them unable to vent their bitter suffering, which in turn caused them to be sullen.

“You want to know my strength?” Wendy Yushan looked at Lu Yin in astonishment.

Lu Yin solemnly replied, “I really want to know the disparity between me and the top twenty in the Top Hundred Rankings.”

Wendy Yushan’s eyes flashed. “Top twenty? I’ll be higher than that soon.”

Lu Yin was stunned. “You’ve already learned it?”

She shook her head. “It’s not that easy, but I’m confident that it won’t take me much more time.”

“Impossible! A secret technique can’t be learned that easily! Otherwise, those terrifying powers with secret techniques would have been mass-producing experts since a long time ago!” The Ghost Monkey quickly refuted Wendy’s claim.

Lu Yin also felt that it should be impossible. After all, he had never heard of anyone who had possessed the secret technique even now. If such a thing was so easily learned, then such techniques would have spread out a long time ago. However, this was Wendy Yushan. She had originally just been an insignificant being from a fringe weave in the Outerverse, but by relying on her innate gift, she had managed to force her way into the top twenty of the Top Hundred Rankings. More importantly, she was Undying Yushan’s daughter and a descendant of the Court of Seven Names’ Yu family, so it might actually be possible for her to learn the Yu Secret Art relatively quickly.

Lu Yin studied Wendy Yushan. “Some advice if I may. Even after you learn it, you shouldn’t overly flaunt it. You won’t be able to withstand the backlash. Despite the Great Yu Empire’s obvious power, it only managed to rule over thirteen filaments. Remember His Majesty’s fate in the Starfall Sea all those years ago.”

Wendy Yushan replied, “I know.”

She then raised her hand while holding her sheathed longsword. “You can feel it with just one sword.”

Lu Yin grew serious, took a deep breath, and adjusted his condition. His muscles swelled, and his right hand pulsed like a heart. The air rippled as it settled into multiple layers, and even the void started to warp.

Wendy Yushan’s eyes narrowed at this sight as she silently marveled to herself. It was no wonder how he had overcome the combined attack of Bazeer and Yan Feng; this power could even rival the tail-end of the Top Hundred Rankings! Even she had not been this powerful when she was at Lu Yin’s age. This was the power of a true Ten Arbiters’ candidate.

“You can attack first,” Wendy Yushan told him.

Lu Yin did not hesitate and used Flash to appear beside her. A dark-gold radiance flickered around his body as he released his five-lined battle force without any hesitation. He raised a palm and then unleashed a Thirty Stacks Fortyfold Shockwave Palm. Wendy Yushan did not move as Lu Yin’s palm approached her, but he nonetheless kept a close eye on her as nine stars revolved around his body and his domain was completely released. He wanted to experience the disparity between Wendy Yushan and himself in his peak state.

The palm continued to approach Wendy, growing closer and closer with each passing moment. Right when Lu Yin was about to hesitate and consider stopping his attack, he heard a whooshing noise. An endless amount of sword qi appeared before him that rushed through the void and turned into a white sword light that sliced through his domain, causing his dark-gold, five-lined battle force to collapse. One sword had split apart his Overlaying Stacks, and the tip was suddenly at Lu Yin’s neck, exactly the same as a couple of days before.

Lu Yin was still in his attacking posture, but his attack had been forcibly stopped due to an instinctive response to the crisis. He had a feeling that, as soon as he acted, his hand would be gone. That was how extreme the danger that was currently emanating from Wendy Yushan felt.

The two exchanged glances, and the shock in Lu Yin’s eyes slowly dissipated. He grimaced. “Just one sword. I can’t even take one sword from you.”

Wendy Yushan put her blade away and gracefully stood before Lu Yin. “The Myriad Swords Peak’s sword technique is very simple: all the swords combine into one. What I just displayed was Ten Thousand Swords as One, which simplifies a complex path to return to a natural state.”

Lu Yin did not understand her explanation.

Wendy Yushan spoke again. “Our Myriad Swords Peak does not have as many sword techniques as the Sword Sect since we only seek one path: a single sword. To face any opponent, only one sword is required. If that one sword is defeated, then we’re defeated as well. If that one sword wins, then we win. It’s that simple.”

“Was that one sword your strongest attack?”

Wendy Yushan looked at him, and a crafty glint passed through her eyes. “What do you think?”

He had always assumed that Wendy Yushan was an ice princess, and he had yet to see any sign of emotion in her eyes besides disdain. He was momentarily stunned, since he seemed to see a fairy-like charm and beauty in her eyes at this moment.

Wendy Yushan adjusted her expression and calmed down again.

Lu Yin pursed his lips, and thought of the sword that he had just seen. Could that attack really have been her strongest?

Impossible. She ranked within the top twenty of the Top Hundred Rankings. Even a fool would not believe that someone could possibly reach such a level without comprehending either a domain or battle force. And yet, that sword truly had neither. Right, there was still the matter of an innate gift. Lu Yin didn’t even know if this woman had one. That sword only represented Myriad Swords Peak, not Wendy Yushan at full force.

The Top Hundred Rankings became more terrifying the further one climbed. At this point in time, Lu Yin could consider himself as having experienced the strength of someone at the top of the list, but he had been defeated by a single sword. The crux of the matter was that he still did not know the disparity between himself and Wendy. His thinking had been too naive, believing that he could perceive the difference between them if he simply dueled her.

Wendy Yushan looked at Lu Yin seriously. “Ever since the Top Hundred Rankings were created, there have been very few tail-end powerhouses who were able to rise to the top fifty purely through training longer. This is because every single person in the higher ranks is horrifyingly strong, so it’s not something that time can compensate for unless one awakens an innate gift or obtains a tyrannical technique. However, those sorts of opportunities are not easily encountered.”

Lu Yin probingly asked, “How high do you think I’ll be able to climb in the Top Hundred Rankings after I become an Explorer?”

“Top fifty to start, and perhaps top thirty after a year or so. You’ll eventually end up within the top ten,” Wendy Yushan answered without any hesitation.

Lu Yin was astonished. “You’re that confident in me?”

“You are a true Ten Arbiters’ candidate. The Ten Arbiters stand far above the Top Hundred Rankings, so what I’ve said is already a conservative estimate. The changes that everyone experiences after breaking through to the Explorer realm is different. If you maintain your current talent for cultivating, then one day, you’ll surpass the Top Hundred Rankings.”

Surpassing the Top Hundred Rankings... Just that thought was alluring in and of itself.

“Seventh Bro, congratulations! Your fiancée has finally acknowledged you!” the Ghost Monkey shrieked.

However, he then quickly changed topics. “But if even your fiancée, who’s such a powerful woman, thinks that you have the potential to surpass the Top Hundred Rankings, then others such as the Astral Beast Domain will definitely have similar thoughts. Maybe our previous estimation of your position on the Celestial Vanquisher's List is a little too low. It’s possible that you’re ranked higher than what we initially thought.”

These words caused Lu Yin’s good mood to be dashed to bits. He instantly screened the monkey off before asking Wendy, “Is the Ross Empire very powerful?”

Wendy Yushan silently nodded before turning to look outside. “After all, it is one of the three great powers of the Blazing Mist Flowzone, and they definitely have a powerhouse with a power level of over 200,000. You’re right, I was too impulsive.”

Lu Yin was stunned. “You’re actually admitting that?”

Wendy Yushan frowned. Yes, she had admitted it, but why? There was no way she would have admitted such a thing just a few days ago, and no one was qualified to demand an answer from her. So why had she just admitted such a thing to this man? What was so special about him?

The two did not get bogged down in this question, and Wendy soon returned to her seclusion to practice the secret technique. Lu Yin, meanwhile, focused on the dispute between Darkstar Gorge and the Darkmist Weave, prepared to exacerbate the situation at any opportune moment.

In another part of the Outerverse, at the Great Yu Empire’s Zenyu Star’s space station, Schutz had finally returned to the empire.

He stared at Zenyu Star and the three mainlands above him as he took a deep breath. He had finally returned, which caused him to feel vaguely homesick. Although he had not been gone for that long, the vast distance made it feel like time had dragged on endlessly, giving him the misconception that he had been gone for a long time.

Schultz wondered how Yu Academy was doing at the moment. When the second prince, Duke Yushan, had betrayed the empire, he had taken a portion of Yu Academy’s elites away with him. Were his friends and rivals from the past still around?

As he walked out of the space station and prepared to visit home, a sharp gale swept out across the area. Someone was about to launch a sneak attack on him, and his eyes twitched as he dodged to the side. Schultz then turned around to look behind him, only to see another lightning arrow being shot at him.

He knew who it was as soon as he saw the lightning arrow, and a slight smile appeared on his face. He raised a hand and lightly tapped forward, shattering the arrow into multiple pieces as it fell to the ground.

“Gerbach, get out here!” Schutz yelled out loudly.

“Hahaha, I knew that you would not forget your opponent!” Gerbach stepped out from a corner as Logan, Huo Zhong, and Tianming all appeared behind him. The former five Hall Masters of Yu Academy had all gathered here.

Schutz smiled while looking at them. “Judging from your looks, it seems like you guys want a fight?”

“We can’t wait!” Huo Zhong barked even as he raised a hand, immediately releasing a Skybeast Claw. On the other side, Logan and Tianming did not act politely, since even when he was at Yu Academy, Schutz had been the strongest among them. Now, he was someone who had even studied at the Astral Combat Academy, so none of them believed that they would be able to deal with him on their own, even if they had all become Limiteers.

Schutz smiled, as he missed this sort of feeling. During his time in the Great Yu Empire, he had been extremely inexperienced and had not even encountered a domain or battle force. His control of star energy had only been at the most primitive level, which he was reminded of as he watched Gerbach retrieve a flickering lightning fruit. As expected, these old friends of his still weren’t able to imitate natural phenomena with their star energy. They were just too weak, and if he had not walked out back then, then he would have been just like them today.

It was right for the Fifth Princess to look down on them. Schutz had only truly understood her disdain for the younger generation of the Great Yu Empire after he entered the Astral Combat Academy.

“Too weak.” Schutz raised a hand and easily crushed the Skybeast Claw. Next, he caught Huo Zhong and tossed him aside while simultaneously using a single palm to counter Tianming. Although Lu Yin had already helped Tianming upgrade his Overlaying Stacks to Five Stacks, it was still instantly disintegrated by Schutz's attack. Next, Logan was sent flying in a similar manner by Schutz’s kick, and the freshly returned Yu Academy student dodged a lightning arrow as he whirled around to face Gerbach.

Schultz raised his hand as a flash of lightning twinkled past his fingers and took on the form of a bow. He then used star energy to manifest a lightning arrow before loosing it. It grazed past Gerbach’s cheek and left behind a thin trail of blood.

In an instant, the four Hall Masters of Yu Academy, who had been able to duel evenly with Schutz in the past, had all been defeated beyond a sliver of doubt.