At that moment, two black dots appeared in the distance and flew closer. Two more men had arrived, both descending rapidly.
When Ede saw them, he cried excitedly, "Senior Ras, I'm here! Senior Ras!" Smack! Lu Yin slapped Ede on the head again. "What are you shouting for? Who's here?"
Ede glared viciously at Lu Yin. "Your doom has arrived! Student Ras is a powerful fighter from Yu Tang. You're no match for him. Let me go, and I can ask Senior Ras to go easy on you."
Lu Yin looked at the two men who had just arrived, his expression grave. Yu Tang? It was where the Great Yu Empire's true elites gathered. It could also be considered an academy, one devoted to cultivating the finest young fighters.
Outside Capital City, the first man to arrive still stood on the ground, surveying his surroundings. The two newcomers hovered in the air, looking down at Lu Yin and the others. One stepped forward and looked down arrogantly. "Ede, you've really brought shame on Yu Tang. You got captured by natives? Useless."
Ede's face darkened. He gritted his teeth as he glared at the man, then lowered his head.
The other man waved a hand and calmly looked down. "Who captured Ede? Let him go, and I'll spare his life."
"Is he the Senior Ras you mentioned?" Lu Yin asked.
Ede said excitedly, "That's right! Senior Ras isn't just any powerful fighter from Yu Tang. His father is Sika, the Great Yu Empire's Vice Minister of Finance. Lord Sika has gathered all kinds of battle techniques for him. Senior Ras is invincible among his peers, even in Yu Tang. He's second only to an Integrating Realm powerhouse."
Lu Yin's eyes lit up. "Vice Minister of Finance? Is his family rich?"
Ede froze. That wasn't the point!
Lu Yin gazed eagerly at Ras. He was badly in need of Star Energy Crystals. The students had just contributed eight cubic meters' worth, but it was nowhere near enough. Perhaps Ras could surprise him. As for Ede's claims about Ras's strength, Lu Yin didn't care much. Ras seemed far gentler than the first man who had arrived. That man was the truly dangerous one.
"That man feels different now," Zhang Ding Tian suddenly said.
Lu Yin turned to look at the man still standing on the ground. His expression changed. The man now seemed utterly ordinary, just like an average person. The dangerous feeling he'd given off earlier had vanished completely. He had changed the moment Ras and the others approached.
High above, Ras furrowed his brow. "Well? Are you going to let him go, or do you think you can somehow protect this place?"
"Senior Ras, the fugitive left something in this city. If we take control of it, he'll definitely come here!" Ede shouted. His defeat and the arrival of the second group of Trial Takers had completely dashed his hopes of completing his mission. He might as well do Ras a favor and gain a powerful backer for the future.
Ras's eyes lit up, and a smile touched his lips. "Is that so? Looks like I got lucky. I landed in just the right place."
At that moment, the man standing behind Ras glanced to the side, his eyes sweeping over the spaceship. He whispered something in Ras's ear. Ras turned his gaze toward the man who had first appeared here. "Friend, my name is Ras. Let's get acquainted."
On the ground, the man crouched and picked up some dirt, holding it beneath his nose to smell it. "The scent of blood."
High above, Ras's expression darkened. "Friend, let's get acquainted. My name is Ras, son of Sika, Vice Minister of Finance of the Great Yu Empire."
The man stood and looked up at Ras, smiling faintly. "Xia Luo. Nobody of consequence. I wouldn't presume to make your acquaintance."
Ras frowned. Xia Luo? He'd never heard that name before.
Lu Yin said to Zhang Ding Tian, "We can't let them keep talking. If they reach an agreement, we'll be in trouble. I'll go capture Ras. You keep an eye on Xia Luo."
Zhang Ding Tian nodded and tightened his grip on his long blade.
Ede had heard him. He looked at Lu Yin as if he'd gone mad. Capture Ras? Was he insane? Setting aside Ras's strength, his background alone was enough to keep every Trial Taker from laying a finger on him. The guy had to be crazy.
Lu Yin glanced at the starry sky. This was only the beginning. He had waited so long, and now he was finally getting close. With that thought, Lu Yin shot toward Ras. To everyone's shock, he struck out with his palm, and the air twisted.
Ras had been pondering Xia Luo's identity and hadn't expected Lu Yin to attack outright. He didn't move. The man behind him stepped forward in a fury. "How dare you attack Young Master Ras!" He thrust out a palm, transforming it into a claw. An invisible beast's roar echoed through the air. Lu Yin seemed to see a giant claw blotting out the stars. It felt much like Ede's Beast King Fist, but carried even greater force.
Lu Yin didn't underestimate him. As his palm struck, stars appeared. Two revolved and burst forth with power. Boom! The two collided in midair, sending a curved shock wave rippling outward. Then an invisible force crushed the ground. The man was hurled back a hundred meters by Lu Yin's palm and spat out blood, staring at him in shock.
His strength was about the same as Ede's. Lu Yin had crippled Ede with the full force of his Heavenly Star Palm. A Heavenly Star Palm backed by two stars was enough to injure this man.
Ras narrowed his eyes. "No wonder you managed to capture Ede. You've got some skill." He raised his right hand and transformed his palm into a claw, just like the man before him. But Ras's claw was far more powerful. A phantom claw truly appeared in the air, as if it had descended from the cosmos to seize Lu Yin.
Lu Yin's expression shifted. Ede, the man who had just attacked him, and Ras all used techniques from the same source, but each was stronger than the last.
Below, Xia Luo's eyes brightened. "Yu Tang's supreme battle technique, the Heavenly Beast Claw. It has 108 forms. This man has mastered only five, but that's still enough to overpower most Probe Realm cultivators. Not a bad technique."
Behind him, Zhang Ding Tian stared wide-eyed. Bai Xue, Granny, and the others were equally shocked. They'd never even heard of such a battle technique. It was terrifying. This was the Great Yu Empire's true foundation.
Two stars revolved in Lu Yin's palm. Then a third appeared. He clashed with Ras's claw, and everyone's expressions changed. A massive wave of force swept in every direction. The three stars exploded at once, and the terrifying impact of their combined power shocked Ras. The phantom above his right claw shattered. Ras's pupils contracted, and he vanished. Lu Yin used his Roaming Step at the same time, and both figures disappeared in midair.
The next instant, they reappeared together. Lu Yin struck again with his palm. Wary of him, Ras knew his Heavenly Beast Claw had been broken and couldn't defend against the blow. He dodged to the side, crushed a Gale Crystal, and wrapped a gray whirlwind around his left index finger. He jabbed it toward Lu Yin. This was his strongest battle technique, the Yin Wind Finger, which Sika had obtained for him at enormous expense.
Lu Yin sensed danger. Ras's finger made his whole body turn cold—not the chill of ice, but a bone-deep cold that seemed capable of freezing star energy. His gaze hardened as he circulated the Heavenly Star Art. Three stars faintly appeared around him. The gray gale around Ras's Yin Wind Finger weakened continuously as it neared Lu Yin. Ras was stunned. How was this possible?
Lu Yin easily evaded the Yin Wind Finger and pressed his left palm against Ras's abdomen. "Void Splitting Palm!" Boom! His immense force smashed Ras into the ground. Ras hadn't even had time to put on his Ring Armor.
Nearby, the man who had followed Ras shouted furiously and charged at Lu Yin again, striking with a claw. Lu Yin's eyes flashed. As he circulated the Heavenly Star Art around himself once more, the man's claw suddenly slowed as it neared him—so much that Lu Yin could see every detail of the technique. Lu Yin used his Roaming Step to dodge, then raised his right hand and transformed his palm into a claw. To everyone's astonishment, he struck at the man with it. Boom! The man's right shoulder was clawed open, and he crashed to the ground.
Ede stared blankly at the scene. What had he just witnessed? That man had used the Heavenly Beast Claw—the supreme battle technique passed down by Yu Tang. One had to join Yu Tang to learn it from the stone wall. How could that man possibly use it?
Ede wasn't the only one shocked. Everyone was astonished, including Lu Yin himself.
Earlier, after defeating Ede, Lu Yin had captured a large number of students and been attacked countless times. Though Gulles's armor had protected him, his body had still been injured. It was then, as he circulated the Heavenly Star Art to recover his star energy, that he'd accidentally discovered another use for the technique. It didn't just accelerate star energy absorption. It could also form a strange defensive field around him, weakening enemy attacks.
He had originally thought that was the Heavenly Star Art's greatest strength, but now he realized he still didn't understand the technique. It could do more than defend him. It could also perfectly display an enemy's battle technique before his eyes. If he wished, he could learn it. Even he hadn't expected that.
Lu Yin clenched his fists, his gaze brimming with excitement. When he'd first obtained the Heavenly Star Art, he'd known it was astonishing. But now he realized he'd still underestimated it. It was more than astonishing—it shouldn't even exist. It was a technique that mimicked the workings of the universe, and it was incomparably powerful.
On the ground, Xia Luo looked surprised, then the corners of his mouth curved upward. "Interesting."
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