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The Silver-haired man retreated and praised him. "As expected of the strongest of the Seven Saints. Until we meet again." With that, he suddenly charged into the distance, trying to escape.

Zhang Ding Tian turned and slashed, but to his shock, the Silver-haired man was charging toward Bai Xue. He abruptly stopped his blade.

Bai Xue aimed one hand at the Silver-haired man. Frost shrouded the sky as solid ice spread from thin air. She intended to seal this entire area in ice.

The Silver-haired man scoffed. His Butterfly knife effortlessly tore through the ice and thrust toward Bai Xue's neck. She couldn't defend herself and could only watch the blade come at her. At the critical moment, Lu Yin used Roaming Step to appear in front of Bai Xue. He raised his palm and struck. The Silver-haired man was startled, and his Butterfly knife turned toward Lu Yin. White light clashed with Heavenly Star Palm once more. The void shuddered, stars shattered, and the terrifying shockwave sent Bai Xue flying. The ground split apart in an instant, and countless blasts of energy shot in every direction.

Smoke and dust shrouded the land.

Soon, when the smoke and dust cleared, only Lu Yin remained. The Silver-haired man had vanished.

The assassination had happened quickly. Less than ten seconds had passed from the moment Zhang Ding Tian was injured to the Silver-haired man's escape. The surrounding troops hadn't even reacted before it was all over.

Bai Xue stared in shock. For a moment, she had felt what it was like to face death. That beautiful Butterfly knife had easily pierced her defenses. That flash of cold light would truly have killed her. Ever since becoming one of the Seven Saints, she had never experienced such a crisis.

Lu Yin climbed out of a shallow crater and looked at Bai Xue. "Are you all right?"

Bai Xue shook her head, her gaze complicated. "Thank you."

Lu Yin turned to Zhang Ding Tian. "You're injured."

Zhang Ding Tian touched his neck. "It's nothing."

Only then did the surrounding troops rush over, stunned to find that Zhang Ding Tian had actually been injured. That was Zhang Ding Tian, the strongest of the Seven Saints, and he had been wounded? No one could believe it.

"How did you end up here?" Zhang Ding Tian asked, looking at Lu Yin in confusion.

Lu Yin glanced at his own palm. "I was curious. I also wanted to know who the culprit was."

"That person," Zhang Ding Tian said flatly.

"I know." Lu Yin glanced at the wound on Zhang Ding Tian's neck and frowned. He had witnessed Silver's assassination attempt. Zhang Ding Tian was undeniably formidable. Despite not having a movement technique, he had managed to escape even with Silver attacking at such close range. Lu Yin admitted that, in the same situation, he couldn't have done any better.

What Lu Yin most wanted to know now was how Silver had concealed his presence. Ordinary students could hide their auras and block detection by personal terminals, but Zhang Ding Tian hadn't noticed him even at such close range. That was terrifying. Few people could have survived an assassination attempt like that.

"Why did that person try to kill you?" Bai Xue asked in confusion.

Zhang Ding Tian narrowed his eyes. "I'm not sure. I've never met him. There's only one possibility: he doesn't want the zombie tide wiped out."

Lu Yin's heart sank. Today's assassination had confirmed his earlier suspicions: Silver was connected to the Corpse Kings. He didn't care about the mission, but he cared about the Corpse Kings. Lu Yin couldn't understand it. The man was impossible to read.

Zhang Ding Tian had guessed at some of the truth, but he couldn't learn anything more. A single assassination attempt wouldn't yield any useful information.

"Pass down the order. Wipe out the zombie tide around the clock, day and night," Zhang Ding Tian suddenly commanded.

There was no way to capture someone like Silver. Zhang Ding Tian concealed the assassination from the public, but the campaign against the zombie tide grew even more intense. Even many evolutionaries who hadn't joined the Chinese Camp were forcibly recruited to leave the city and exterminate zombies.

Some time passed, and only one month remained until the second batch of Trial Takers arrived.

The fighting in Europe was intense during this period, but there was no sign of the fugitive. Exactly one month before the second batch of Trial Takers was due to arrive, Lu Yin's personal terminal on his left hand began beeping. An email had been forcibly delivered.

"Students, the safe period is over. The trial officially begins now. From this moment on, your personal terminal locations can no longer be hidden and will be displayed on the starry sky network map. Please complete your missions as soon as possible. Best of luck in battle." The email made the trial even more brutal.

The first batch of Trial Takers had landed two months ago. Those two months had been the so-called safe period. Anyone who wanted could keep their strength concealed and hide, or secretly mine precious ores and gather medicinal herbs to earn points. But once the safe period ended, everyone's location would be clearly marked unless they threw away their personal terminal.

Lu Yin exhaled and gazed up at the stars. This is what a trial should be. No one could hide. The two months had been a safe period for the students, but they had also given the people of Earth a chance to seize the students' resources. That was fairness—the kind of fairness the universe believed in.

When Asta died, his personal terminal could no longer connect to the starry sky network. But now, the network had created a local area network for Asta's personal terminal. This local network was a model of Earth, and the locations of every member of the first batch of Trial Takers were now visible across the planet.

"There are quite a few," Lu Yin murmured. The dozens of shooting stars he'd seen in Jinling had only been a fraction of the total. There were more than a hundred Trial Takers across Asia, with others in Europe, Africa, and the Americas. There were even students in a place like Antarctica.

At the moment, the largest group was in Europe, with more than a hundred people gathered in a small area near the Mediterranean Sea.

Just then, a line of text appeared at the top of the local area network map: "Earth's Tian Zhu: Ku Seng defeats Heidian."

Lu Yin was surprised. Were their records being announced, too?

At the same time, countless Trial Takers were shocked. Heidian wasn't weak; he was the strongest in the academy. Yet he had lost to a native of Earth. Many students were shaken, especially those at Granny's level. They could hardly imagine it. To them, the academy's strongest was practically invincible. Yet barely had the trial truly begun, and someone had already been defeated. It made them take the trial more seriously than ever before.

The Great Yu Empire held trials every so often, but it was rare for an academy's strongest student to be defeated during one. If Earth had undergone normal planetary evolution, its strongest person wouldn't have reached the Probe Realm, let alone defeated someone. Heidian's defeat was therefore hard for many to believe.

But soon, another notice appeared: "Ede defeats Earth's Tian Zhu, Ku Seng."

Lu Yin was puzzled. Why were Ede and Heidian in Tian Zhu?

Just then, Granny hurried over to Lu Yin. "The trial has officially begun. The local area network can show everyone's locations, and we can also contact one another. You know that, right?"

Lu Yin's heart sank. "We can contact one another?"

Granny nodded. "The Trial Takers come from all over the Great Yu Empire, which is enormous. We don't know one another, so hardly anyone got in touch during the first two months. But now that the local area network is online, we can contact each other. Just now, someone posted a message saying the fugitive left something important behind in the Capital City of China and would definitely come back for it."

Lu Yin's gaze sharpened. "Who posted the message?"

Granny shook her head. "I don't know. The local area network can detect the location of a personal terminal, but it can't tell who's using it."

Lu Yin quickly ran through the possibilities. The only people who knew the fugitive had left something in the Capital City were the Seven Saints, Dean Lian, and himself. Even Ede didn't know. Now that the message had been made public, Zhang Ding Tian and Bai Xue would definitely suspect him.

Suddenly, surging energy swept across the land. Lu Yin immediately shot into the air, where he saw Zhang Ding Tian and Bai Xue glaring at him.

"I didn't post the message," Lu Yin said.

Zhang Ding Tian stared intently at Lu Yin. "Give me a reason to believe you."

Lu Yin narrowed his eyes and snapped at Granny, "Post an anonymous message saying the fugitive's things are hidden in Tian Zhu. That's why Ede and Heidian went there, and why Ku Seng was able to defeat Heidian."

Granny answered and immediately did as he asked.

Zhang Ding Tian said gravely, "That won't buy us much time."

Lu Yin stared at Zhang Ding Tian. "I'm just showing my good faith. Believe me or not, that's up to you."

Zhang Ding Tian took a deep breath and gripped his long blade. Lu Yin was the only outsider who knew the secret. He wanted to control him, but Lu Yin was no weakling, and Zhang Ding Tian wasn't confident he could do it.

Bai Xue spoke up. "Lu Yin, let us inspect your personal terminal."

Lu Yin flew into a rage and replied coldly, "Who do you think you are? If you have the guts, come take it yourself."

"You!" Bai Xue was furious. She had only wanted to clear Lu Yin's name. After all, he had saved her life. But the guy was infuriating and had no idea how to appreciate kindness.

"Only nine people know this secret. I'm here in the Capital City. To put it bluntly, even if I had ulterior motives, I'd keep them to myself. Only an idiot would make the message public. Think it through carefully instead of coming after me without using your brains," Lu Yin said icily.