Star Odyssey

Liu Shen's eyes flickered as he looked back and forth between Li Zimo and Lu Yin before finally commenting, "Alliance Leader Lu, you've got a good eye."

Lu Yin was surprised. "What do you mean?"

Liu Shen laughed. "That disciple is known as Li Zimo, and during the Sword Sect's recruitment assessment, he placed first. At that time, Elder Lianxin took him in as a disciple, and he immediately inherited the Inner Peace Sword Arts. Out of the tens of millions of the Sword Sect's disciples, he's always managed to retain a place at the very top."

Lu Yin responded in a knowing manner. "It looks like my luck's pretty good."

Upon seeing that Lu Yin had selected Li Zimo to be her opponent, the girl from the Liu family frowned. Li Zimo had already built quite the reputation for himself in the sect due to him becoming Elder Lianxin's only disciple and creating quite a commotion when he joined the Sword Sect. On top of that, Li Zimo had always been very strong, and it had to be acknowledged that he had even created his own sword techniques. The Liu girl had no confidence of victory, but since she had already agreed to Lu Yin's conditions, she had no choice but to face Li Zimo.

"Li Zimo, come!" The girl from the Liu family grabbed her sword as she moved out of the crowd and stared at Li Zimo.

Li Zimo did not move.

The girl from the Liu family pointed her sword at him. "Li Zimo, come at me!"

Li Zimo raised his head to look at the girl. "My sword is not a performance to be watched."

Liu Shen spoke a warning in a low voice, "Li Zimo, since Alliance Leader Lu has made a request, just have a duel with Liu Ling. You only need to go through the motions."

Li Zimo furrowed his brow, but he still stood up. He stretched out his right arm, and a sword materialized. The tip of the blade was pointed at Liu Ling.

Everyone else retreated to leave space for the two fighters.

Liu Ling's eyes narrowed and she said, "I've always wanted to see just what you've learned from Elder Lianxin and also to witness your self-created, so-called 'Silent Sword.'"

After speaking, she conjured forth countless shadows with her blade, which looked quite similar to the Myriad Swords Sect's Ten Thousand Swords as One, but at the same time, there were key differences. The core idea of the Ten Thousand Swords as One technique was to merge the various blades to form one large sword that would cut through everything to unleash the most powerful sword. In contrast, Liu Ling's skill locked the void with the countless sword shadows that she had conjured.

Neither of the two sword techniques were necessarily better than the other, as it truly depended on how the user wielded them.

Lu Yin praised, "Impressive sword skills."

In the face of Liu Ling's aggressive assault formed from countless void-locking shadows, Li Zimo unhurriedly raised his sword and stepped forward. His sword fell down, and his body moved with the sword. A light "clank" sound was all that anyone heard, but Liu Ling remained frozen in place, dumbstruck. The sword in her hand cracked, and Li Zimo suddenly appeared behind her.

At this moment, Lu Yin felt like he was once again seeing Li Zimo defeat Tang Si from the Reverent King's Residence. Lu Yin remembered being utterly amazed by just one slash of Li Zimo's sword, and he had been unable to decide whether Li Zimo or Liu Shaoqiu was stronger. Currently, Li Zimo's sword skills had progressed much further. He was still as precise as ever, and he left no traces behind when moving his sword. That was the essence of his Silent Sword, and its power was comparable to the Thirteen Swords' First Sword.

Most of the people watching this match had never seen Li Zimo's Silent Sword before, and they were stunned by his skill.

Even Liu Shen was taken back, and he could not help but exclaim, "The First Sword?"

However, he came to his senses immediately after his unbidden outburst. Although the Silent Sword closely resembled the Thirteen Swords' First Sword, the two were not the same. The First Sword was a ranged slash that struck from a distance whereas the Silent Sword demanded that the swordsman's body move with the sword.

Liu Ling could not believe that she had been defeated in just one move. She was an elite from the Liu family, but she lost after her opponent moved his blade a single time.

Li Zimo glanced over at Lu Yin with cold eyes before returning to his place where he leaned against the wall. He acted as if the match had never even happened.

At that moment, despite how unruly the Sword Sect disciples from the Liu family were, they all looked at Li Zimo with respect and fear.

The Sword Sect's top expert within the younger generation was undoubtedly Liu Tianmu followed by Long Yun and Liu Shaoqiu. Liu Shaoqiu had a particularly certain air of superiority to him even though he only ranked third even after inheriting the Thirteen Swords.

Li Zimo's sword skills had silenced the crowd. They felt that it might even be possible for him to challenge Liu Shaoqiu.

Clap, clap, clap!

Lu Yin applauded the exchange. "As expected of the Sword Sect. One can pick out any disciple, and they'll find someone with amazing sword skills." After that, he looked over at Liu Shen and asked, "You said that that disciple's name is Li Zimo?"

Liu Shen averted his eyes from Li Zimo and replied, "That's right. He's Elder Lianxin's only disciple. Have you taken an interest in him, Alliance Leader Lu?"

"Elder Lianxin?" Lu Yin questioned.

Liu Shen explained, "Elder Lianxin is an elder only below the Sect Leader. She's an Envoy."

Lu Yin was surprised. "So she's an Envoy! It's no wonder that she raised such an impressive disciple. I, Lu Yin, openly admit my admiration."

Liu Shen laughed and looked back at Li Zimo.

Lu Yin looked over at Li Zimo as well and said, "I hope to see you in ZENITH. The technique that you used was fascinating."

Li Zimo met Lu Yin's eyes, but he looked unhappy and threatened, "Do you want a taste of it?"

The atmosphere immediately grew tense.

Liu Shen instantly scolded Li Zimo. "Impudent! How can someone at your level even dream of challenging Alliance Leader Lu? He's one of the Ten Arbiters, and he defeated Divine Fist Lan Si as well as Arbiter Zhenwu. Even in the Neoverse, his accomplishments are absolutely outstanding. He's someone who has actually stood upon the highest stage of all humanity, but you want to challenge Alliance Leader Lu? Not in this lifetime!"

Lu Yin shot a look at Liu Shen. The man was essentially stirring up Li Zimo's animosity against Lu Yin. Most people would not take such words well, and this man was indeed someone who hid daggers behind a smile.

"If you wish to challenge me, I'll be your opponent anytime," Lu Yin replied with a smile.

Li Zimo stared at Lu Yin for a long moment before lowering his head and withdrawing.

Liu Shen turned to apologize to Lu Yin. "Alliance Leader Lu, I'm to blame for his lack of discipline. When we return to the Sword Sect, I'll make sure to report this matter to Elder Lianxin and have her punish him."

The other Sword Sect disciples left one after another.

Liu Ling was the only one who remained in place, dejectedly standing still. Though, she was soon dragged away by the other Liu family disciples.

Just before all of the disciples left, Elder Li, who was the elder with crimson robes, appeared.

Everyone from the Sword Sect immediately bowed. "We pay our respects to Elder Li."

"We pay our respects to Elder Li."

…

Elder Li calmly looked at Lu Yin. "Alliance Leader Lu, since you've had the opportunity to see a demonstration put on by my Sword Sect's youths, then why don't you give us a demonstration of your own?"

Upon hearing Elder Li's words, all of the Sword Sect's disciples grew excited. It was almost impossible to get the opportunity to witness one of the Ten Arbiters unleash their power.

Li Zimo turned back towards Lu Yin.

Lu Yin gave a small laugh. "Does Elder Li intend to have a match with junior Lu Yin?"

Elder Li arched a brow. "Is there anything that you're looking to learn from me?"

Lu Yin's lips curled up. "I wouldn't dare. Excuse my impudence, but out of everyone here, who else has the strength to take a move from me aside from Elder Li?"

All the disciples of the Liu family, including Liu Ling, were thoroughly enraged. This was too arrogant!

Long Yun was also taken aback; this rascal had indeed grown even cockier.

Liu Shen had not expected Lu Yin to reply with such conceited words, as the youth had been a pleasant conversationalist up until this point.

Elder Li locked eyes with Lu Yin, but he shook his head after a moment. "If word gets out that I had a match with you, I would be ridiculed." He then turned to Long Yun and ordered, "You, go."

Long Yun was stunned for a moment, but he had no choice but to step forward. The only youth present who was capable of going up against Lu Yin was indeed Long Yun, though his defeat was also a foregone conclusion. Long Yun was not sure why Elder Li was so insistent on making Lu Yin reveal his strength.

Lu Yin was also uncertain as to what Elder Li was planning, but since the elder wanted Lu Yin to make a move, then Lu Yin was fine with it. He was even willing to face off against Elder Li. If it came down to it, then Lu Yin could simply use some of his items, as it was completely impossible for Elder Li to force Lu Yin to reveal his full hand.

If Lu Yin's opponent was Long Yun, then the fight would be a contest of battle force, or at least, that was what everyone assumed.

Lu Yin still remembered his last match against Long Yun on Planet Pyrolyte, though at that time, Lu Yin had only been a Limiteer.

Eight years had passed since the two had met, and many things had changed in that time. Upon seeing each other again after so long, Lu Yin was no longer the weaker of the two, as that position had fallen to Long Yun.

As much as Long Yun did not want to fight with Lu Yin, there was no other choice. So, if it was bound to happen, Long Yun would not pull any punches. "Brother Lu, give it your all. I don't want you to go easy on me."

With a solemn expression, Lu Yin replied, "Out of respect to you, I wouldn't."

"Thank you," Long Yun said calmly. After a moment's thought, he continued, "But don't take things too seriously. I still want to be able to take part in ZENITH."

Lu Yin laughed. "Sure."

The other Sword Sect disciples all grew nervous. From Long Yun's words, it was clear that he was feeling hesitant.

Long Yun held a high position within the Sword Sect's disciples. It could be said that, out of all of the younger disciples, Long Yun was only eclipsed by Liu Tianmu and Liu Tianmu alone. Despite that, he was already showing signs of fear before the fight even started. This caused Lu Yin to become an even more mysterious person in the eyes of the other youths, and at the same time, they also began to revere him even more.

Long Yun clenched both of his fists, and a blue aura slowly covered his body. Purple lines streaked across the blue, revealing it as eight lined battle force. The powerful aura emanating from Long Yun astounded the spectators, and the Sword Sect disciples grew excited as they admired their senior.

Cultivating battle force was not easy, and neither was comprehending it to begin with. Only a handful of youths were capable of cultivating their battle force to eight lines. Even within the Sword Sect, there were no peers who had reached the same level of mastery as Long Yun, not even Liu Tianmu. Long Yun was the sole disciple with such an accomplishment.

With his eight lined battle force, Long Yun had solidified his position as right below Liu Tianmu. Even though Liu Shaoqiu had inherited the Thirteen Swords and was able to surpass realms with ease, he still found it difficult to challenge Long Yun.

Eight lined battle force was the sign of a powerhouse.

On the opposite side, Lu Yin let out a slow breath, and purple lines appeared and shrouded his body. However, they didn't envelop his entire body. Instead, they merely wrapped around a finger. Red lines appeared on the purple, revealing it as nine lined battle force.

Upon seeing Lu Yin's nine lined battle force, many of the Sword Sect disciples went as pale as a sheet as they stared at him in confusion, as though they had just realized that he was a monster.

He was so young, so how had he managed to cultivate nine lined battle force?

The disciples were not the only ones confused, as even Elder Li could not comprehend how Lu Yin could have possibly accomplished such a thing.

There was no way it was that easy to cultivate battle force!

For ordinary cultivators, it was normal to take decades or even centuries to improve their battle force, so the thought of someone improving to this level in just a few years was out of the question. It was common sense that each level of battle force became sequentially and more more difficult to reach, but Lu Yin had managed to improve his battle force from six lines to nine in just a mere eight years. This went completely against the face of common sense.

Upon seeing that Lu Yin's nine lined battle force was only twined about a finger, Long Yun's brows furrowed, and he asked, "Brother Lu, just a finger with battle force won't be enough, will it?"

Lu Yin raised his finger and retorted, "It's plenty."

Long Yun's eyes narrowed. He had a good temper though he was a bit lazy and generally not fond of fights. He had also intended to back down before the fight truly began, but that did not mean that he was without any sense of pride. The idea that Lu Yin intended to fight him with just one finger was utterly humiliating.

Elder Li scowled; wanting to defeat Long Yun with one finger was too much even if Lu Yin was one of the Ten Arbiters unless Lu Yin was going to use one of his fingertip battle techniques with the finger wrapped in battle force. Those techniques were on the same level as the Thirteen Swords, and a power that could match the First Sword would indeed be enough for this match.

Long Yun nodded. "Since Brother Lu is so confident, then I'll move first."

As he finished speaking, a sword materialized in his hand, and he grew resolute. He used a basic sword technique, Sword Slash. It looked like an ordinary slash attack, but it was still formidable and fierce. This attack was different from the Thirteen Sword's First Sword which traveled through the void, as this slash seemed to have exchanged speed for a heavy and domineering aura.

Lu Yin was surprised, as this was very different from the attack that he had witnessed before, though it still was not enough to do anything to him. With that thought, he ran forward with light steps and struck out with his finger.

It was not impossible for Long Yun to change the trajectory of his attack, but he was still angered by Lu Yin's actions, so Long Yun directed his sword straight at Lu Yin's finger. So what if Lu Yin had nine lined battle force? Long Yun would just break the finger! His Sword Slash fearlessly shot forward.