Poaching talent? Aiming for the higher realm

"This is fucking..."

That was a mid-level student from the Eternal Source Realm standing on the east side of the square.

He wore a dark green scale armor robe, with several dark blue scales on his forehead. His vertical pupils were wide open, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly before finally uttering, "What the hell is this? Everyone else hasn't even started, and he's already finished?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it immediately sparked a buzz among the crowd.

"Did you see that? It's at least level six!"

Another voice followed, belonging to a female student clad in dark red armor. Two fist-sized red crystal cores were embedded in the shoulder of her armor, spinning rapidly due to her intense emotional fluctuations. "Sixth rank! Ten thousand Epoch ago, Lin Yi was only at the fourth rank of the Eternal Source Realm. Ten thousand Epoch later, he jumped two ranks! This speed..."

"Don't even mention the sixth level of the Eternal Source Realm. I'd believe you if you said his attack just now was a surprise attack from a Perfected Eternal Source Realm."

A tall, thin male student from the Extreme Ice Race beside him shook his head with a wry smile. "One-hit kill? That's a seventh-tier Eternal Source Realm trial body, not some nobody! His four red and three yellow attributes are exactly the same as mine, yet he couldn't even last a single move against Lin Yi. In other words... if he wanted to take me down, it would only take him this much..."

"Don't you think it's absurd?"

The intermediate-level Eternal Source Realm student who had spoken first spoke again, his vertical pupils reflecting the darkened light screen. His voice carried an emotion that was hard to describe—a mix of excitement and despair. "Those Eternal Source Realm Perfection experts are still strategizing, talking about cooperative challenges and tactical coordination. If you ask me, don't make Lin Yi laugh. It's just a matter of a moment, is it really necessary to have three trial-type teammates as spectators? Why not just go for it?"

His words drew a chorus of laughter in agreement.

But the laughter was mixed with more helplessness and self-deprecation.

Just then, someone tugged at the sleeve of their companion.

She was a young woman wearing a light blue battle robe with a delicate silver star pinned to the collar. Her hair was braided into fine braids in a very special way, with a few crystal beads emitting a faint blue light at the ends of the braids.

"What just happened?" she asked, puzzled. "I only turned my head to say a few words to you, and when I turned back, I saw Lin Yi stab his opponent to death. Did you see it? How did he do it?"

Her tall companion, whose sleeve she was tugging at, looked somewhat embarrassed.

"Well... to be honest," he coughed, "I didn't see it all either."

"You didn't see it all either?" The woman in the light blue battle robe was taken aback.

"Yeah, right." The tall, high-ranking student shrugged helplessly. "Didn't you notice too? I just turned to look at He Mingyu's side to check the odds, and then, in the blink of an eye, I saw Lin Yi pull his sword out of the trial subject's chest, piercing through it, and the trial subject was disintegrating..."

His voice trailed off as he spoke.

The expressions on their faces changed from blank to speechless almost simultaneously.

The two spoke softly, but the other students around them, who had also not seen what was happening, all nodded in agreement.

After all, everyone here is from the inner island, so freely unleashing Soul Power is obviously inappropriate and impolite.

So everyone relies on their eyes to see, which results in a significant number of trainees not seeing what happened at the beginning if they're not paying attention.

Those students who didn't see it clearly felt speechless, while many who did see it clearly felt even more speechless.

On the south side of the square, a figure sitting against the edge of a crystal pillar slightly raised his eyes.

It was a young man wearing a dark purple robe.

"My father used to say that my talent was nothing special, and that it was only because there were no other geniuses of my generation at the Dao Lord level that I learned my place..." He slowly began, his expression complex. "I used to think he was deliberately suppressing me, afraid I would become arrogant, but now... I understand."

His words silenced the several students who had been whispering among themselves.

After a long while, a voice finally spoke up, "Indeed, let's not discuss what will happen to Lin Yi after he reaches the Constant Source Realm. The path of cultivation is long, and who can guarantee that they will reach the end? But judging from his current performance, he is in no way inferior to those Dao Lord level experts in their early stages."

He spoke very cautiously, but the meaning was quite clear.

The early stage of Dao Lord- level prodigy.

This evaluation, within the Inner Island of Constant Island, is almost equivalent to the highest level of recognition.

North side of the square.

A woman dressed in a silver-white fitted battle robe stood quietly, her pale blue eyes reflecting the darkened light screen.

Suddenly, she turned around and spoke to her companions who were also in a daze.

"No. I need to find Brother Lin Yi's clone and get together again. I thought it would be more fun to drink with the Main Body before, but now I realize that if I don't have a few more drinks, I might not have the chance again."

At this point, she shook her head and sighed, "Once he returns from the Eternal Source Ring, it will probably be much harder to get him to go out for drinks as easily as we do now."

Behind her, several companions exchanged glances and then nodded in unison.

"That's right."

Another young man in a dark blue battle robe also spoke up. He was one of the top fifty students on the inner island and usually didn't talk much, but at this moment he unusually expressed his opinion.

"I'm not looking for any benefit from him. To be honest, making friends with a Dao Lord- level prodigy is meaningful in itself." He paused, seemingly choosing his words carefully, and finally said, "If he can remember me when he reaches a high position someday, that would be quite good."

After saying this, the group turned and walked out of the square.

This kind of thing also happens in various corners of the square.

Of course, not everyone was immersed in marveling at Lin Yi's talent.

Those seasoned veterans who have been in the betting world for years, after the initial shock, didn't immediately have pure thoughts in their minds.

For example, adding a bet.

At this moment, the area around the slightly raised crystal platform in the center of the square was already crowded with people.

He Mingyu was still half-reclined on his dark jade-colored stone chair, which he had somehow moved there, his right hand playing with the jade-shaped folding fan, and his left hand resting on the edge of the betting screen.

His expression appeared calm and collected, but a closer look at his eyes would reveal a subtle, almost imperceptible smile gleaming within them.

Because just now, while everyone else was still in shock at Lin Yi's sword strike, he had already made his move.

Almost the instant Lin Yi sheathed his sword on the screen, he swiftly opened the betting screen and adjusted Lin Yi's odds from third to first.

Yes, first.

The person who was ranked first before him Eternal Source Realm Yuanman, had now been ruthlessly pushed to the second row by him.

After he adjusted the odds, the quick-thinking students swarmed over, eager to increase their bets.

The first to rush over was a tall man wearing light gold armor.

He was incredibly fast; almost as soon as He Mingyu finished adjusting the odds, he had already pushed his way through the crowd to the betting screen.

"Raise the bet! I'm raising my bet on Lin Yi!"

Upon hearing this, He Mingyu smiled and raised his head, gently tapping the edge of the betting screen with the rib of his fan.

"Of course, please check the odds."

The tall trainee looked up and his expression was as if he had swallowed a live fly.

At the very top of the light screen, Lin Yi's name was prominently displayed as the first one.

A string of numbers follows the name.

1:1.00001.

The tall student stared at the string of numbers for a full three days, as if trying to confirm whether he had misread it.

Then he suddenly turned his head and glared at He Mingli.

"He Mingyu, you're really ripping me off! 1.00001? What's the point of buying that?"

He Mingyu maintained his smiling expression, snapped open his folding fan, and slowly fanned himself twice.

"I'm doing fair business. Lin Yi was able to kill someone in one hit even in the second level of the challenge; with that kind of strength, is there any doubt that he should take first place? Lowering the odds is only fair."

The tall student was speechless after hearing that.

Because what He Mingyu said does make sense.

Given the strength Lin Yi just demonstrated, winning first place in all three rounds solo is practically a foregone conclusion.

These odds are just too unfair.

"You clearly ranked Lin Yi third just now!" A female student who had just squeezed in couldn't help but voice her accusation.

Upon hearing this, He Mingyu turned his head to glance at the female student, then smiled slightly.

"I'm not stupid."

The female trainee's lips twitched, then she turned around and shouted to the crowd behind her, "Disperse, disperse! Everyone, disperse. He Mingyu has already promoted Lin Yi to 1.00001, what's the point of buying anymore?"

A chorus of wails erupted from the crowd.

"What? 1.00001?"

He Mingyu, you're really dark-skinned!

"Damn it, I'm too late!"

I should have bought it right after the first level ended!

He Mingyu ignored these complaints.

He simply leaned back in his chair, idly playing with the folding fan in his hand, his gaze passing over the bustling crowd and settling back on the hundred enormous light screens above the square.

On the other ninety-nine light screens, the battle had only just begun.

E Lan continued to use his bluish-gray afterimages to stretch the formation, You Na was still enduring damage from the Furnace Special, Tai Huan was steadily advancing the battle line.

Meanwhile, those trial participants at the High Order of the Eternal Source Realm were still cautiously exploring the combat patterns of the trial bodies during the first round of probing attacks.

Everything was exactly like the scene from the first level.

Outside the Eternal Source Ring.

This place has become a giant vortex.

Endless Black Silence Beast were drawn from the depths of the Black Mist Sea, surging towards the Eternal Source Ring from all directions like gray tides.

Looking down from above, the boundary between the dark gray beast tide and the black mist was blurred, making it almost impossible to distinguish where the black mist ended and the beast bodies began.

Countless low-ranking Black Silence Beast swarmed together like locusts, weaving through the black mist and shrieking as they jostled each other.

The first-tier Black Silence Beast were like reefs in a tide, howling and roaring as they crashed into the defensive light barrier of the Eternal Source Ring.

Although these Black Silence Beast were endless like a tide, they posed no real threat to the defensive line built by the dozen or so Constant Lord.

That layer of shimmering white light was an ancient inscription array set up by Constant Lord Eric with twelve special purple beads at its core. It reached the peak of the Eternal Source Realm. Each purple bead had been carefully refined and adjusted. The inscription circuits of the twelve beads were interlocked and nested with each other, forming a solid barrier.

The full force of the Black Silence Beast Tide could only create extremely faint ripples on the surface of the light barrier.

Of course, this doesn't mean the defensive light barrier isn't sturdy. If necessary, even Second-Order Black Silence Beast wouldn't be able to budge it in the slightest.

The reason for the ripples is that these ripples are quickly absorbed and transformed by the energy flow circuit, which in turn strengthens the light screen itself, making the shield even more robust.

The impact of a first-order attack is at most slightly more powerful than those of inferior opponents; the ripples spreading across the light screen become the size of a fist, but that's about it.

As for the occasional Second-Order Black Silence Beast, they were killed by the Constant Lord before they even hit the light barrier.

They only start to pay a little attention when encountering Third-Order Black Silence Beast.

But this attention did not come from the Constant Lord.

Because once Third-Order Black Silence Beast appears within the perception range, one of the two blurry figures suspended in the void above will make a move.

The Dao Lord the Ming Chi sat upright in mid-air, his deep brown eyes half-closed.

His body was shrouded in an extremely faint red-black halo. Whenever a Third-Order Black Silence Beast roared and charged out from the depths of the black mist, he would stretch out his hand, casually raise his fingers, and flick them lightly in the air.

The Black Silence Beast suddenly exploded in the void; before its flesh and blood could even scatter, it was instantly vaporized into nothingness by an invisible force.

After doing all this, the Dao Lord the Ming Chi withdrew his hand, his eyelids still half-closed, as if he had just casually swatted away an annoying mosquito.

The Dao Lord Xi Mo didn't even open his eyes.

She sat cross-legged in a higher position, her deep purple robe fluttering silently in the air, surrounded by a faint, deep purple mist that enveloped her in a hazy and profound aura.

She didn't make a single move from beginning to end.

Therefore, with the two Dao Lord in charge taking action to kill the Third-Order Black Silence Beast, the Constant Lord did not face much defensive pressure.

This level of exertion isn't even considered a warm-up for a Constant Source Realm expert.

Therefore, in addition to maintaining defense, the Constant Lord were not only able to watch the trial students' progress in the Eternal Source Ring, but also had the leisure to chat.

At this moment, atop the ruins of an ancient tower on the north side of the Eternal Source Ring.

Three figures were hovering above the tower's spire, maintaining their defenses while simultaneously monitoring the real-time footage within the trial space.

Standing on the far left is a Constant Lord.

He wore a dark blue robe, embroidered with some kind of ancient totem pattern in silver thread. On his shoulder perched a bird phantom woven entirely of blue light threads. The phantom was preening its wings with its beak, and with each preen, countless extremely fine light threads fell from the bird's wings and merged into the void.

"That Lin Yi," the Constant Lord spoke slowly, his voice carrying undisguised admiration, "You all saw that sword strike just now, right? Although it was still a bit rough for Constant Lord, it was quite good for the Eternal Source Realm cultivator."

The woman in the red robe in the middle Constant Lord upon hearing this, "Indeed, quite impressive. His combat awareness is strong; he remains calm and composed, and his attacks are always deadly. This kind of judgment and execution cannot be cultivated through talent alone."

"Judgment, execution, talent..." The Constant Lord standing on the far right slowly repeated these three words, then sighed, "If you ask me, with the talent he's shown so far, the threshold of the Constant Source Realm probably won't be a problem for him, and... it might even be more than just the Early Constant Source Realm."

The Constant Lord the Dark Blue Robe nodded slightly. The little bird with shimmering silk on his shoulder was jolted by his movement, chirped twice in dissatisfaction, and then continued to preen its feathers.

"If he doesn't perish along the way, he should be a shoo-in for the Mid Constant Source Realm. The only question is whether he'll get stuck at the step of breaking through from the mid-stage to the high-stage of the Constant Lord."

"Yes...

The Crimson-Robed Constant Lord sighed softly, "Which one of those who broke through to the Constant Source Realm wasn't a prodigy in their youth? But how many have truly reached this point?"

As she spoke, she turned her gaze to the side, "Kroen, didn't you always boast about how powerful you were back in the Eternal Source Realm?"

Upon hearing this, the Constant Lord on the right, named Kroen, burst into laughter.

"I'm not bragging, but my cultivation speed back in the Eternal Source Realm was only slightly slower than Lin Yi's!"

Upon hearing this, the Constant Lord the Dark Blue Robe rolled his eyes.

The shimmering bird on his shoulder rolled its eyes, though it didn't have any whites in its eyes.

"Only a hair's breadth?" He bluntly exposed him. "Kroen, can you stop trying to make yourself look good? I remember clearly that it took you nearly 1.2 million Epoch to cultivate to the sixth level of the Eternal Source Realm, right? 1.2 million Epoch versus less than 200,000 Epoch, how dare you say it's only a hair's breadth away?"

Kroen wasn't annoyed at being called out so openly. He just scratched his short, burning dark red hair and chuckled, "Hehe, weren't we all so-called Dao Lord- level geniuses back then? As long as we didn't become Dao Lord, it was all the same, right? And what happened? Now we're still stuck at the threshold of the Late Constant Source Realm, unable to move forward."

The woman in the red robe shook her head helplessly upon hearing this.

"You..." She glared at Kroen with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, but deep in her eyes was a hint of deep-seated agreement.

Yes, when you think about it, which of these Constant Lord hasn't had a past?

Who among those sitting here isn't a prominent figure of their respective era?

That's how the path of spiritual practice is; the further you go, the fewer people you can walk with.

Of those once high-spirited and ambitious individuals, how many actually made it to the end?

Just as the three were sighing, a voice drifted over from the side.

"Oh, it's a real shame."

The sound came from the west side of the ancient pagoda.

It was a tall, thin middle-aged man wearing a dark gray robe, with three palm-sized blue jade talismans fluttering along the edges of each sleeve.

"This Lin Yi is an exchange student of the Constant Guard, not a formal student of Constant Island."

These words silenced the surrounding chatter for a moment.

The Constant Lord exchanged a glance without making a sound.

The three Constant Lord standing atop the ancient tower also stopped their conversation.

After a moment, an elderly man wearing a light blue robe coughed softly.

"This old man thinks..."

"Hey, stop thinking about it."

Kroen interrupted the old man's opening remarks, "Trying to poach people from the Constant Guard is possible, but it's not something we can do..."

At this point, he gestured upwards with his chin.

The meaning of that action couldn't be clearer.

Only the intervention of the Dao Lord can resolve this.

Although Constant Island holds a superior position, it cannot simply poach core talents from the Constant Guard; at the very least, the Constant Lord is not qualified.

Therefore, the group of Constant Lord subconsciously looked up at the two seated figures above.

But I only glanced at it.

Everyone then looked away.

Because the Dao Lord Xi Mo remained seated cross-legged, his eyes slightly closed.

She sat there, like an ancient statue, without any superfluous movements or expression of emotion.

The Dao Lord the Ming Chi Blaze sat suspended about an arm's length to her left, his body slightly turned to the side, his deep brown eyes half-closed, and his hands casually resting on his knees.

Just now, a Third-Order Black Silence Beast let out a hiss deep within the beast tide. He merely twitched his fingertip almost imperceptibly, and the Black Silence Beast exploded into a cloud of blood mist in the void.

Apart from that, he, like the Dao Lord Xi Mo, showed no fluctuations whatsoever from beginning to end.

Clearly, these two have no interest in what's happening on the training grounds.

Eric stood atop an ancient tower on the outskirts, taking in the entire scene.

Actually, he thought it was quite normal. In the eyes of the Dao Lord, no matter how well a genius in the Eternal Source Realm performed, they were still only in the Eternal Source Realm.

What the Dao Lord value is whether these geniuses can reach the Constant Source Realm, whether they can stand out in the Constant Source Realm, and ultimately touch that threshold.

He could understand the expectations of the various Constant Lord in the trial field. If a new Dao Lord could emerge from an Constant Island, it would be of great significance to the Constant Island and even the entire Seventh Constant Domain.

But, after all, the Dao Lord is the Dao Lord.

Those who have reached this point are all geniuses who have dominated almost an entire Constant Domain.

Back when the Dao Lord Xi Mo was in the Eternal Source Realm, he swept through everything in his path, from the initial stage to the perfect stage and then to the Eternal Constant Source Realm, crushing countless so-called geniuses.

The same goes for the Dao Lord the Ming Chi Blaze, a formidable figure who had already slain a powerful expert at the Constant Source Realm during his Eternal Source Realm era.

Although Lin Yi's current performance has far exceeded the scope of ordinary geniuses, it is still far from enough to move beings of this level.

Eric silently withdrew his self-light and refocused his attention on the slowly rotating Inscription Array in front of him.

"The Dao Lord's thoughts are beyond my comprehension... at least not yet."

He sighed inwardly.

Meanwhile, within the Eternal Source Ring, Lin Yi had already returned to the rest area.

It was still that pale golden, independent space, still that warm, luminous membrane suspended in mid-air; everything looked exactly the same as after the first level.

The only difference was that the chaotic atmosphere in the air was even more intense than before.

Lin Yi stood suspended in the center of the rest area, slowly dispersing the Eternal Silence Sword, which was burning with the Nine Nether Fire, and the inky black flames turned into wisps of silk and retracted back into his body.

He looked down at his right hand; after the sword had vanished, a faint Silverblue afterglow lingered in his palm.

"Using the Nine Nether Fire to control the Light of Eternal Silence, and then using the Awakening Radiance to find the weakness, the attack was indeed successful, with outstanding results!"

He silently reviewed the battle in his mind.

That trial body, at the seventh level of the Eternal Source Realm, was no pushover.

Although his opponent was caught off guard, he still managed to unleash two divine-grade seals in the blink of an eye.

One attack, one defense, both erupting simultaneously.

The first one was an offensive divine-grade seal. A beam of blackish-purple light shot out from the palm of the trial subject, and wherever it passed, even the laws and patterns of the trial space itself were corroded, creating countless fine spatial cracks.

The second one is a defensive divine-grade seal. A thick, dark green shell grows from the chest of the trial subject, and the surface of the shell is covered with spiral-shaped inscriptions.

This approach would be completely ineffective against a normal sixth-level Eternal Source Realm cultivator, or even against the High Order of the Eternal Source Realm.

However, he is not a normal Eternal Source Realm sixth-order.

The dark purple beam of light was almost 60% of its power absorbed after it struck the burning Nine Nether Flames on his body.

The remaining 40% of its power, like a spent arrow, crashed into the Voidless.

Then, they simply passed right through.

The maximum increase in the value of the Voidless is 27 times, and even the Void Contract version has a 9-fold increase.

A mere 40% of the power of a divine item's burst is nowhere near the upper limit of the Voidless.

As for that dark green defensive shell...

He directly broke through it with a triple attack. "Awakening Radiance discovers the weak point + Nine Nether devours to weaken the defense + Eternal Silence finishes off the final blow".

This series of attacks and defenses, in fact, took less than a single breath to recount.

But Lin Yi knew in his heart that he had used seven virtual contracts to achieve this effect.

"But it was worth it. Seven illusory contracts for a clean and decisive kill is much better than a war of attrition. Besides, this second level is a challenge against a higher level. Being able to take it down at this cost means that my combination of seals and illusory contracts has been fully formed."

Lin Yi silently muttered a sentence to himself, then raised his head and looked at the pale golden light membrane above the rest area.

"Two hurdles have been cleared, only one remains. My understanding of the laws is currently stuck at 50%, just one step away from reaching the advanced stage of the Eternal Source Realm... It is said that the advanced stage of the Eternal Source Realm Eternal Source Realm is a major hurdle, extremely difficult."

19

Thinking of this, he remained silent for a moment, then a smile slowly appeared on his lips.

"However, for me, 100,000 Epoch should be enough."