Chapter 1056: Grade-Skipping Evaluation

Ku Wei could not describe what he was currently experiencing. When he waved a hand, he could see the star energy sweeping through his vision. It was very familiar star energy, but it felt as if he were viewing it through hundreds of millions of microscopes.

Ku Wei raised a hand and started casually fiddling with his star energy, and he instantly discovered that his flow of star energy was smoother than before. Then, he looked off into the depths of outer space and saw that everything was littered with star energy. It existed everywhere that he could see.

Lu Yin stared at Ku Wei the entire time, quite curious. The drop of gemspring water that he had given to Ku Wei had been upgraded fourteen times, and the truth was that Lu Yin was using Ku Wei as an experiment since he did not dare to use the drops himself. It seemed that the effects were pretty good.

“How does it feel?” Lu Yin asked.

Ku Wei was overwhelmed. “Your Highness, is this really gemspring water? This is way too mysterious.”

Lu Yin’s eyes grew brighter. “How does this compare to other lockbreaking tools?”

“This isn’t on the same level at all! Let me put it this way—I can see this area magnified countless times over, and I can clearly see the ambient star energy.” Each word Ku Wei spoke was emotional.

Lu Yin was satisfied.

“Even if a commoner used this water, they would still be able to clearly see star energy and begin cultivating. Any ordinary cultivator would be able to lockbreak with this, which is just too bizarre. It’s possible that not even the Cosmic Sect might have such a mysterious lockbreaking tool, and I feel like my control of star energy has entered the Divine Gaze realm,” Ku Wei excitedly shared as he looked at Lu Yin. “Your Highness, where did you get this gemspring water from?”

All Lockbreakers valued the level of their star energy control, and it was measured by the following realms: Intricacy, Cloudwalk, Skywise, Divine Gaze, Worldliness, and Creation. At best, Ku Wei had reached the Skywise realm so far, and possibly not even that. However, with just one drop of upgraded gemspring water, he had instantly entered the Divine Gaze realm.

“It was given to me by others,” Lu Yin said, feeling a slight bit of heartache. Such a good thing had been used up by Ku Wei. This gemspring water had been upgraded fourteen times, and it was a treasure that had taken 560,000 star essence to make.

Although he had used it for an experiment, this was still a good result. He had found that the water was a precious treasure that could increase his control of star energy to the Divine Gaze realm.

Lu Yin felt like he wanted to backpedal and take back this gift, and he even considered seeking reimbursement from Ku Wei.

Ku Wei was still immersed in his excitement from experiencing the gemspring water, and he did not notice Lu Yin’s regretful reaction.

When Lu Yin arrived on Planet Hydrotink, those like Saul and Felynn were naturally the ones to welcome him.

Yi Feng was also present. He had been Wei Rong’s hidden trump in fracturing the Outerverse Lockbreaker Society, as Yi Feng had once been a part of the Wei family. When Wei Rong joined Lu Yin, the Lockbreakers that he had taken away had also joined Lu Yin, all of them moving to Planet Hydrotink.

Nobody wanted to bring up the matter from the past.

The reason behind Lu Yin’s visit this time was to take an examination to raise his Lockbreaker grade.

He had never advanced past the one star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker level, so Saul and the others assumed that Lu Yin intended to take the two star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker evaluation. However, to all of their surprise, Lu Yin actually wanted to take the five star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker exam. Also, if they had correctly read his intentions, he also hoped to challenge the Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker level.

Lu Yin’s ambition scared Saul and the others.

“Alliance Leader Lu, since ancient times, almost nobody has ever managed to jump straight from the one star to the five star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker. This difference is not merely that of numbers. That’s going straight to the cusp of the Boundless Advanced level.” Saul felt like he had been placed in a difficult position.

Lu Yin replied, “Just because it’s never happened doesn’t mean that it’s not possible. I want to try.”

Saul, Felynn, Yi Feng, and the others all exchanged glances. In the end, they had no choice but to acquiesce.

Additionally, all lockbreaking evaluations were video recorded so that the results could not be falsified. Even if Saul and the others wanted to help Lu Yin, it would be useless, so there was nobody who was worried that he would cheat.

“Your Highness, what about me? Shall I start first?” Ku Wei was eager to begin lockbreaking with his dazzling vision.

Lu Yin felt sickened. “Go first.”

He had initially wanted to upgrade some more gemspring water, as he had only upgraded one drop, which had been used by Ku Wei.

“Young man, please show us your lockbreaking grade,” Saul courteously requested.

Ku Wei showed proof of being a five star Discerning Elementary Lockbreaker.

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

It was quite decent to be a five star Discerning Elementary Lockbreaker at his age, and Saul’s opinion of Ku Wei immediately rose.

“Felynn, arrange the one star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker examination for this young man,” Saul instructed.

Felynn acknowledged the instructions, but Ku Wei spoke up. “One star? That’s no good. I want to take the three star exam.”

Saul and the others were stunned, but then their expressions grew ugly as they stared at Ku Wei. “Little brother, don’t speak without thinking. A lockbreaking examination is not a simple task.”

Ku Wei shook his head. “It’s fine. Bring it on.”

Saul was irritated. First, Lu Yin wanted to immediately take the five star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker examination. This was already enough to make Saul disgruntled, but he did not dare to reveal his dissatisfaction to Lu Yin. But now this other kid also wanted to skip grades. What did these two treat the lockbreaking evaluations as?

Saul was not the only one with these emotions, as all the other nearby Lockbreakers were irritated as well. To them, taking a lockbreaking evaluation was a solemn and sacred affair. Many people went into seclusion to cultivate, burn incense, or even pray before taking an evaluation. They would do all sorts of things to improve their chances of success, but these two actually wanted to skip ahead in the evaluations.

“It doesn’t matter. Let him do it,” Lu Yin commented. He then had Yi Feng show him to a secure private room, where he started to roll his die in order to upgrade more of the gemspring water.

Felynn had a poor opinion of Ku Wei, and she deliberately chose a sourcebox that possessed a lethal danger zone for his test.

Ku Wei was very excited, as his current sight was completely different from anything he had seen before.

In the other room, Lu Yin had successfully managed to roll three pips: Enhance and fully upgraded five drops of gemspring water, which had cost him two million star essence. It was a lot of money, but it was completely worth it.

Lu Yin immediately dropped some of the gemspring water into his eyes, and when he opened them, he was shocked, as what he saw was indeed completely different. This was clearly the Divine Gaze realm.

He remembered the first time he had ever used the Giant Emperor’s third eye to view the universe. That experience had majorly shocked him. However, as time passed and as his cultivation improved, the effects of the Giant Emperor’s third eye had gradually diminished. Unfortunately, it could not be upgraded either.

However, he had once again encountered a situation where he could rely on items to help his lockbreaking abilities.

Lockbreaking evaluations forbade the usage of items, but there were some things that could not be stopped even if the evaluators wished to, such as gemspring water. Nobody could tell if it was being used.

Of course, relying on something temporary like gemspring water to improve one’s lockbreaking ability was not simple. The higher one’s Lockbreaker level, the more dangerous the sourceboxes that they would need to unlock, and few people would treat their lives so casually.

Lu Yin concluded that, as long as he could regularly use gemspring water, there would be no issues in relying on it for this lockbreaking evaluation.

Under Saul’s personal guidance, Lu Yin was escorted to a secure lockbreaking room, which was actually the largest lockbreaking room on Planet Hydrotink. It had been transported from Sourcepeak Planet completely intact, and they had even brought the ground beneath it to the new planet.

This room was specifically used to evaluate five star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreakers.

Technically, the Outerverse Lockbreaker Society did not have the qualifications to test five star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreakers. However, as long as they sent a request, under special circumstances, such examinations could still be arranged. For example, at this moment, since Lu Yin could not cross over the Astral River and travel to the Innerverse for his evaluation, he could only do it in this place.

Even though this was called a secure lockbreaking room, it was actually an underground space that had been sealed off. All of its surrounding walls had been covered with spiritual threads to prevent the sourcebox’s formless danger zone from leaking out.

Lu Yin stepped into the secure room and saw… a bit of dirt?

Although Lu Yin had mentally prepared himself before entering, and although Saul had also dropped some hints beforehand, when Lu Yin saw the sourcebox that he needed to unlock, he was still stunned. It was actually a piece of soil.

This was actually a five star Perceptive Intermediate sourcebox, and it was something that was only inferior to a Boundless Advanced sourcebox.

Lu Yin composed himself. Even though this sourcebox looked like a piece of dirt, he could see countless rune lines from it, and Lu Yin grew serious. This piece of dirt was actually pressuring him, and the sourcebox’s danger zone was strong enough to even threaten Enlighters.

This was just the sourcebox’s danger zone, and the complexity of its condensed energies surpassed those of any sourcebox Lu Yin had ever unlocked.

If he had encountered this sourcebox before he read Gu Yue’s journal and visited the Platform of Inception, then even if Lu Yin was able to navigate past the sourcebox’s danger zone, it still would have been incredibly difficult for him to successfully unlock it. However, at this moment, he was able to discern the pattern of the sourcebox’s energies in a single glance. Lu Yin already knew where to begin lockbreaking, and it was as if he had precisely planned things out in advance

***

At this same time, in the Innerverse, a girl with dark-green hair stepped out of a secure room, welcomed by echoing cheers and countless eyes filled with adoration. She was Mo Yu, a two star. Actually, that was no longer correct. She was now a three star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker, and she was one of the Lockbreaker Society’s Distinguished Five, someone who held the same status as Casanova.

News of Mo Yu successfully passing the evaluation to become a three star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker shocked the Lockbreaker Society. For someone of her age, it was incredibly difficult for anyone to become a three star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker, and she was a rare genius throughout history.

The older Lockbreakers were reeling in shock.

“It’s no wonder why she’s one of my society’s Distinguished Five. It’s no easy feat to pass the evaluation that smoothly.”

“Right, we have many talents in the society, haha.’

“True. When will Casanova take the evaluation?”

“Not sure.”

…

Mo Yu looked out at the cheers that welcomed her, but she did not feel any sort of elation, as she would never be able to forget what she had witnessed in the Cosmic Sea.

She had also been at the battle of the Whitecliff Region, and she had personally watched from above the Cosmic Sea as one of the Daosource Three Skies, Bu Kong, had used a sourcebox array to instantly defeat some of the Ten Arbiters and Neoverse’s experts. She was unable to contend with any one of those experts, but they had all been beaten off of the Champions' Stage by one attack.

At that moment, the power of a sourcebox array had left her incomparably shocked. Being able to comprehend a sourcebox array was the hallmark of a Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker.

Despite also being a member of the younger generation, Bu Kong had already become a Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker while Mo Yu was still taking the evaluation to become a three star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker. The difference between them was just too extreme.

It was not just Bu Kong either; the All Rounder Fairy, Qiu Shi, was similarly capable of using a sourcebox array, and her sourcebox array had thrown the Champions' Stage into space, where it could not be taken away by the Sixth Mainland. In the end, it had ultimately been seized by Nightking Zhenwu.

Those two people were both Boundless Advanced Lockbreakers, so what was there for her to be proud of?

Mo Yu closed her eyes and fell silent. Eventually, she opened her eyes. “Tutor, please begin the four star Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker exam.”

As she uttered those words, the people of the Lockbreaker Society were all astonished.

***

In the Outerverse, on Planet Hydrotink, Lu Yin took one step after another as he steadily approached the sourcebox that looked like a clump of dirt. The closer he got to it, the more pressure he felt. This sourcebox that looked like a pile of dirt was actually emanating a gravity field. At the same time, tiny particles of soil permeated the air, each one of them possessing an indescribable level of gravity. It was as if each particle was a miniscule planet, smashing at Lu Yin.

The closer he approached the sourcebox, the stronger the gravity that he was forced to endure. Nobody could clearly see what was happening, and only people like Saul were aware of the amount of pressure that Lu Yin was currently enduring.

Even a normal Enlighter might not be able to approach this sourcebox. Although it looked unassuming, and its danger zone was nothing too grand, the gravity field around it was not something that could be imagined.

It was just gravity, but Lu Yin felt as though he was struggling against entire continents, planets, and even the universe itself.

The piece of dirt had seemed to take root in the floor.