“Good!” Longyu Dao slapped the young man on the back, his chest puffed out and cheekbones raised. Only those that dared to risk it all would go far in life. “I’m sure you’re tired. Take fifteen minutes to rest up, and we can begin the next match!” The bearded man bellowed. The Spirit Venerates that surrounded Shin all wore beaming smiles as well. Shin had just beaten three Luminaries, and he showed no signs of slowing down. Prodigies were rare, but geniuses with the discipline to never give up were basically unicorns. There was no doubt in their minds that the Longyu Clan’s new golden boy would be an excellent addition to the Lantis Republic.

Just before the Spirit Venerates departed, Shin held up his hand: “Wait!” he yelled.

“What’s the matter?” Longyu Dao turned around.

Shin looked up at the two remaining foes he had to face. One was a senior sister that had mentored him for four years, teaching him everything that he needed to know about the Celestial Water Mantra and how to cultivate. The other was a dominant Spirit Spectre, the oldest among all the Luminaries and was also given the dreadful moniker of the Tempest Hydra. He respected them both; however, his future and the fate of the twins lay in his hands.

“I can fight right now!” Shin exclaimed. Sucking in his breath, the youth calmed himself down before he made his next declaration. “Also, I want to fight both of them at the same time!!!”

“...”

The crowd went silent. A hundred thousand people were in Yingxiong Amphitheatre, yet none of them made a single noise. Someone dropped their viewing glasses, and a metallic clank echoed through the packed stadium. It literally was pin-drop silence.

“Sorry… You what?” Longyu Dao had to scratch the insides of his ear. The Clan Master doubted that he heard the youth right. There was a reason why Xunyu Feifei was placed the first, and Qilong Hu was placed the last. Shin was fighting the weakest Luminary to the strongest. Despite that, at the very end, Shin wanted to face the two most prodigious Spirit Spectres that the Lantis Republic had together? No one in their right mind could fathom that!

“I want to fight both of them at the same time!” Shin declared once again, his voice not faltering for a second. This move wasn’t a brash decision. He had calculated and analysed Meijing Bingying and Qilong Hu’s spiritual abilities meticulously. In the end, Shin found that the most efficient way for him to win. However, it was also dependent on his state at the time.

During the planning phase, he had expected to burn out sixty to seventy percent of his mana after the three rounds against Xunyu Feifei, Longyu Linji and Jingyu Taiyi. In the end, because of Taiyi’s out of left field proposal, Shin had absorbed a bunch of spiritual energy and was nearing his peak mana capacity. Essentially, Shin was in the healthiest state in his life.

Based on how variant his abilities were, Shin believed that he was capable of taking down the two remaining Luminaries, even if they joined their powers. It was arrogant to think so, yes… However, that was just how much faith Shin had in his own growth.

“You...” Longyu Dao squinted his eyes and stared at the youth’s forehead. He even wondered if Shin had been mentally impaired by Jingyu Taiyi’s illusions, and was still in Lalaland. The Clan Master continued to peer deep into the young man’s eyes. He was looking for some hesitation or even doubt, something that most people had when going against the odds. Alas, Shin wasn’t an average person.

Shin’s eyes continued to twinkle, resolute as can be. Eventually, after a good ten seconds, the Clan Master finally acquiesced. “Fine… Bingying, Hu’er… What do you think?” It wasn’t the man’s place to speak for the two Luminaries.

Meijing Bingying leapt off her seat. Descending like a fairy from the heavens, the Spirit Spectre quickly made her way onto centre stage. Her face was smiling, but her brows were twitching uncontrollably. Shin cringed a little and had to force himself to stand in place. Knowing the Pearl in the East for four years now, Shin was acutely aware of her mannerisms. Bingying was angry… Really, really angry…

“If Junior Brother Shin really believes that he can beat us both, why not let him try?” The maiden laughed. She couldn’t show her frustration in front of the High Elders, Spirit Saints and hundred-thousand strong crowd, so the most she could do was to be passive-aggressive about the whole fiasco.

Shin gulped. Meijing Bingying hasn’t called him by the term ‘junior brother’ for years now. Looks like the woman had taken the haughty challenge a little too personally.

Leaping down onto the arena, the man landed right next to Meijing Bingying and put on a warm face. Qilong Hu didn’t take Shin’s challenge to heart. At most, he looked at the young man as a silly boy that thought too highly of himself. All that he needed to do was to put Shin back into his place. “If Junior Brother Shin is fine with it, who am I to decline?”

The crowd all cheered out, voices booming out and cries of pure joy with fists raised high dominated the landscape. This was what they paid good money to see. The battle of the Titans. Shin had beaten three Luminaries back to back to back. It was time to see if he could defeat two of them at the same time.

“Alright then...” Longyu Dao shook his head. He didn’t want Shin to bite off more than he could chew, but the wheels had already started to turn. There was no backing out now. “Do you mind if I referee? At least we can stop the match should anything go awry.” The Longyu Clan Master asked the three Spirit Spectres.

“We don’t mind...” Qilong Hu didn’t consult the rest. Instead, he folded his muscular arms and answered the rest of them. “It would be an honour for the Longyu Clan Master to adjudicate our match.”

“Good! Everyone to your positions!” Longyu Dao barked, mainly at the pesky Spirit Venerates that stood in the middle of the arena. They were about to begin the match that would determine Shin’s fate, he couldn’t allow any more hindrances.

“Tian, your golden boy sure is a box of surprises!” Jingyu Han, the Saint of the Oceans, slapped his thigh and held onto his stomach. “Did you teach him your ways?!”

“Don’t look at me,” replied Longyu Tian. “I’m just as surprised as you are.”

Throughout the entire ordeal, the four Spirit Saints were no different than the rest of the audience around them. They couldn’t believe their ears when they heard Shin’s proposal. It seems that the youth had learnt a thing or two from the jester that he just defeated.

“Honestly, if Shin wins the next round, I don’t see how the High Council could block his participation anymore...” Heigui Zhengkang remarked, brushing on his white dragon’s beard. “Actually, I don’t even want to see what he does at the Trial… My old blood can’t take any more of this excitement.” A joke, of course. However, it showed how much Shin had pumped up the desires of the jaded Spirit Saints.

“If he’s able to absorb the Mind-Element… Maybe there’s something to it...” Shenshe Zemin hid her mouth with a fist and blurted out unconsciously. Then, she threw her head back and sighed. No matter what the result, once Shin had matured, the Longyu Clan was certain to gain a new Spirit Saint. “Congratulations, Tian. Looks like the next era would be the Longyu Clan’s...”

“Thank you...” The Saint of Time replied weakly. It would be in poor taste to gloat, but deep down, Longyu Tian thanked her past self for being so adamant on bringing Shin back to the Republic. Peering down at the arena, her eyes twinkled in absolute joy. Preparations were now readied. It was time for Shin to claim his throne as the Champion of Yingxiong Amphitheatre.

❖❖❖

The young black-haired boy took one last deep breath controlling his pounding heart. This was it. This was the final battle in Yingxiong Amphitheatre. There was no need for him to hold back anymore…

Closing his eyes, Shin dug deep into his Spectre Soul. The mana that had been lost over the past three matches had been restored entirely. No, there was even more than Shin started with. Power permeated through all his veins and filled him up all the way to his fingertips. Puffing his chest out, the young man roared as every single pore in his body opened up, sending crazy amounts of mana into the area and then...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Brilliant illusory lights broke free from the youth’s body, enveloping the entire arena with deep azure mana. An illusion of a full nebula engulfed the audience. Below Shin’s heels, a soft ripple spread through the calm and tranquil ground, making it seem like an entire lake had descended upon the vast stadium. Bits of white fluff trickled down from the skies, rapidly decreasing the overall temperature of the arena.

Many of the weaker cultivators who laid their eyes upon the Domain instantly felt their eyelids becoming heavier. The children who didn’t possess a single shred of cultivation all succumbed to their desires and dropped upon their parent’s shoulders. The barrier that was supposed to protect the audience had failed miserably, and there was only one possible reason why…

“N-No w-way!” Longyu Tian jumped to her feet. The other Spirit Saints didn’t have the same adverse reaction, but they held back their yells. Not even Jingyu Han, who was a spirited individual, had the words to react to what they’d just witnessed.

“Shin, he...” The Saint of Time scratched the side of her head and squinted. “Did he just use the Mind-Element?”

The Domain of Dreams had undergone a serious change after the Jingyu Taiyi fight. Instead of just boosting the water elements around Shin, it now also boasted the intrinsic quality that gave it its name. Shin was now capable of using the Mind-Element, even if it was just a little bit. Milky white specks twinkled over his head while the entire celestial night sky that he created was reflected by the illusion of the lake beneath his foot. It really was a sight for the ages.

“It’s faint, but there’s no doubt about it!” Heigui Zhengkang cried out. “That boy he… My god, can he stop surprising me for just one second?!”

It was almost a chore to continue jumping off their feet. Time and time again, someone would doubt Shin and time and time, the youth would prove them wrong. At this rate, it wouldn’t be surprising if the young prodigy really did knock the two Luminaries out in the one-versus-two match.

Sssssssssssssssssttttttttttttttttttt!!!

Shin continued to congregate his mana, blissfully unaware of the commotion that he’d caused. Toughened azure scales appeared all over his body as he simultaneously cast his spiritual body enhancement and increased his vitality using mana strengthening. The Golden Dragon Needles whizzed on by, as dozens of water structures formed behind Shin. The Spear of Aiglos made its return, piercing through the ground in front of him. Shin’s healing mist covered his back while over a hundred weapons of all shapes and sizes covered the celestial sky of his domain. The lake beneath Shin froze over with each ripple creating over a dozen icy Lily flowers. Water tendrils twirled around the man, ready to strike like a coiled serpent.

And finally…

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!

A sharp, resonant cry rang in the ears of every single soul in the Amphitheatre. Pebbles on the gravel floor rose up and splattered into dust. The familiar radiant shard reappeared above Shin’s head, creating heaps of dense mana particles and heavy spiritual pressure. The crowd went breathless, and so did the two Luminaries that were preparing to face off against Shin.

Shin’s two azure eyes, each one holding the radiance of a pristine lake in the middle of a summer’s day, glistened with spiritual light. Every single weapon that he had, every martial art, spiritual ability, spiritual armament… Everything that Shin had learnt was finally being utilised for the first time. Looking at the two frozen Luminaries, the youth spoke out.

“Shin Iofiel… Rank 40… Spirit, the Sovereign Koi… Please advise me...”