Chapter 1318: Unknown Innate Gift

Lu Yin’s mouth suddenly curled into a smile. Shang Qing’s body abruptly moved to appear right behind Lu Yin. This was completely outside of Shang Qing’s control. When Lu Yin had nearly connected with his Seventh Bro Finger, he had also arranged a Teleportation Formation in anticipation of this moment.

Shang Qing was now behind Lu Yin, directly standing in the path of the knife from the summoned Progenitor Chen that had been aimed at Lu Yin. At the same time, Lu Yin’s Seventh Bro Finger switched directions and once again flew at Shang Qing.

There were attacks both in front and behind Shang Qing.

Lu Yin had mastered a wide variety of battle techniques, secret techniques, and sourcebox arrays. There were infinite options available to him during his fights.

Shang Qing was caught off guard, as he had not noticed anything when Lu Yin had set up the sourcebox array. By the time he had reacted, it was already too late. Against these simultaneous attacks, Shang Qing reacted in a manner that no one expected—he turned to face Lu Yin’s attack.

Lu Yin had also not expected such a reaction. Rather, Lu Yin had assumed that Shang Qing would use his third strand of ancestral qi to block Lu Yin’s Seventh Bro Finger. After all, the summoned Progenitor Chen could simply be reverted back to a strand of qi, so Shang Qing did not really face any threat from that direction.

Did he want to use the secret technique Discipline? This was the only possibility that Lu Yin could think of.

However, Lu Yin was not afraid of that possibility, and his Seventh Bro Finger boldly continued forward to strike Shang Qing’s body.

An invisible shockwave shot out in all directions, and Shang Qing froze for a moment. Behind him, the knife-wielding Progenitor Chen reverted back to a strand of ancestral qi before instantly reforming. The knife fell down from above Shang Qing’s head and targeted Lu Yin.

Lu Yin was completely stunned; had his Seventh Bro Finger done nothing to Shang Qing at all? How was this possible?

There was a bang as Lu Yin’s fatesand moved in front of him to block the knife. The tremendous force behind the knife jostled Lu Yin’s body and forced his fatesand back into his body, but the summoned Progenitor Chen relentlessly continued attacking with the knife.

Lu Yin was still absorbed in the mysterious outcome of his attack. Shang Qing had clearly been struck by his Seventh Bro Finger, and yet he had emerged completely unharmed. How? Even if it had been Star Devourer, Yuhua Mavis, Wang Yi, or Wu Taibai, each and every one of them physically powerful, they would have been able to come out without any injuries at all. This attack combined overlaying stacks, battle force, and spiritual force into a single, compressed attack. This was Lu Yin’s most powerful attack.

This finger was even powerful enough to shatter the summoned Progenitor Chen’s knife attack, so why could it not cause even the slightest bit of damage to Shang Qing? Did Shang Qing himself possess more strength than everyone else?

Lu Yin was not alone, as everyone was stunned, and even Wu Taibai’s face fell. He could not understand this either.

Wang Yi once again evaded the illusory Progenitor Chen’s finger attack. He was also staring at Shang Qing. Wang Yi’s eyes flickered, but he still could not understand what had happened.

Originally, everyone had assumed that Shang Qing would rely on the power of Progenitor Chen, regardless of how powerful Shang Qing himself was. They had just discovered that this assumption was wrong.

None of the eliminated contestants were confident in being able to escape from Lu Yin’s finger attack, but Shang Qing had actually endured one without taking any damage. This destroyed their preconceptions.

Had Shang Qing really reached an untouchable level? Wang Yi and Wu Taibai were both stunned. Could anyone under this starry sky truly reach that level? No. If Shang Qing had actually reached that level, then he would not have been injured before.

An astral chessboard appeared beneath Lu Yin’s feet, and he shifted himself a thousand meters away before staring at Shang Qing.

Shang Qing remained standing in the air, and he turned to look at Lu Yin. “You’re very good.”

Lu Yin’s gaze grew sharp. The Seventh Bro Finger was Lu Yin’s strongest attack, as it was the combination of everything that he possessed. Despite that, it was useless against Shang Qing. How?

Lu Yin perfectly remembered what he had felt when he had hit Shang Qing. There had not been any strong resistance, and Lu Yin had also been sure that Shang Qing’s rune lines had not been enough to block his Seventh Bro Finger. So why had he emerged completely unscathed?

Lu Yin was certain that his combination attack had managed to force out some sort of ability that Shang Qing had managed to hide deeply, but Lu Yin simply did not understand what it was.

On Zenith Mountain, all of the eliminated contestants were rendered speechless.

Ku Wei also had no words, as this was simply too freakish. Seventh Bro’s attack had been useless, so how could the fight continue? It was no wonder why Wu Taibai had directly given up.

The power that Shang Qing had revealed up til now was enough to leave people absolutely horrified. He had the Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique, the two secret techniques that he had mastered, and the ability to defend against Lu Yin’s Seventh Bro Finger. This clearly made him the most difficult opponent in all of ZENITH by a large margin.

The Cosmic Art was considered to be the nemesis of speed, but the secret technique Banishment was speed’s true nemesis. No matter how fast Wang Yi moved, he would always be knocked back.

“It looks like you’ve reached your limits, so let’s end this.” Shang Qing’s words were overflowing with an indescribable sense of disappointment. Both of the summoned Progenitor Chens retreated to stand in front of Shang Qing. Then, as everyone watched in awe and stupefaction, the two merged.

Off in the distance, Xia Jiuyou’s body trembled. This was the Nine Clones Secret Technique.

Down below, Xia Luo’s eye twitched as he watched the two clones of Progenitor Chen fuse together. After endless years, their generation was the one to actually witness the fusion of Progenitor Chen’s clones.

Everyone felt chills run down their backs. Each of the clones on their own had been strong enough to fight evenly against Lu Yin and Wang Yi, and after the two merged, the people watching the battle could no longer see any path to victory.

Even Wang Yi’s heart fell. He could not even guess at how strong Progenitor Chen would become after merging.

Lu Yin had a strange expression on his face as he watched the clones merge. Lu Yin had used a secret technique against one of the summoned clones because he had believed that Progenitor Chen had not yet created the Xia Secret Technique when he had just been an Enlighter. That was why Lu Yin had been comfortable carrying out such an attack. However, there was also no way that Progenitor Chen could have created the Nine Clones Secret Technique when he had been a mere Enlighter. This also meant that the Nine Clones Secret Technique had not actually been created by Progenitor Chen!

Upon thinking of this, Lu Yin realized that he was right. When Lu Yin had been in Progenitor Chen’s Mausoleum and had seen the Progenitor’s memories, Progenitor Chen had already had nine clones at the Enlighter realm. This meant that the ancient Progenitor had learned the technique, not created it.

Xia Jiuyou’s Nine Clones Secret Technique was understood to have been inherited from Progenitor Chen through the Xia family or possibly coincidentally awakened through Xia Jiuyou’s blood. This was just like how Zhuo Daynight had comprehended Night’s End, Daybreak, and it was clearly possible.

However, even if that possibility was true for Xia Jiuyou, then what about Starsibyl? Where had she learned the Nine Clones Secret Technique?

All these thoughts went through Lu Yin’s mind in an instant, and as the implications ran wild, the clones finished merging.

An overwhelming illusory flame spread across the ground as it covered the sky and blocked out the sun.

Lu Yin and Wang Yi both immediately shot into the sky filled with illusory flames in all directions as the fused summoned Progenitor Chen stepped into sight. It was holding a blade formed from star energy, and it stared at the two youths. There was clearly no intelligence within those eyes, but that gaze still chilled their hearts.

Wang Yi clenched a fist and disappeared.

At the same time, Lu Yin heard Wang Yi say, “Take care of Shang Qing.”

Wang Yi held no hope of defeating Progenitor Chen after the two clones merged. That was Progenitor Chen, and he had always been invincible within his own realm. There was no possibility of him losing.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, and he stared at Shang Qing: Daynight Praises.

The speed of both Daynight Praises and Wang Yi’s movement formed the most effective means of attacking Shang Qing, and this was the only way to injure him.

However, the two had still underestimated the fused Progenitor Chen’s power. Lu Yin’s spiritual force tried to envelop Shang Qing and drag him into an illusion, but Lu Yin’s spiritual force attack was actually cut short by Progenitor Chen, and Wang Yi was similarly stopped. The fused Progenitor Chen attacked with a blade that emerged from the void, and the blade flashed as it appeared right in front of Wang Yi with a horizontal slash.

Wang Yi’s pupils shrank, and he immediately released an attack: Four Arts: Bear Stalwart.

There was a deafening bang as a shockwave spread out. The pressure shattered the ground and struck everyone around the arena as well as those at the bottom of the flights of stairs, those on the first layer, the second layer, the third layer, and even the foot of Zenith Mountain.

At this moment, the entire mountain shook, and huge cracks spread down from the peak.

In outer space, outside Zenith Mountain, countless spatial cracks also appeared as a result of this collision.

For the first time, one of Wang Yi’s Four Arts had been suppressed. The fused Progenitor Chen’s blade sliced Wang Yi’s hand open, and he started to bleed. This blade also contained an unstoppable cold, and it quickly invaded through the wound in Wang Yi’s palm and froze his blood.

Wang Yi’s face went pale, and he quickly stepped back. The knife did not pull back, and it continued to slash forward. Suddenly, the blade shifted, and it aimed at the sky. The entire sky was torn open, and the spatial tear extended off into the distance. It was impossible to tell how far it had gone.

Lu Yin had made his move, the Yu Secret Art diverting the blade. Numerous Vacuum Palms shot out, each of them branded with nine lined battle force and the greatest power that Lu Yin was capable of unleashing.

The fused Progenitor Chen raised a hand, and a long knife spun in its hand. The battle force was sucked into the spinning blade as the flurry of Vacuum Palms approached it, striking down the knife blade. The fused Progenitor Chen was forced back a few steps, and one Vacuum Palm after another rained down upon it. The Vacuum Palms managed to push Progenitor Chen back, but that was all that happened.

On the other side, Wang Yi disappeared as he moved to directly attack Shang Qing.

The blade in the fused Progenitor Chen’s palm suddenly stopped spinning, and the long blade slammed into the ground. The very next moment, wisps of knife qi rained down, targeting both Wang Yi and Lu Yin. The audience felt their scalps go numb, as these attacks were clearly able to seriously wound the two youths.

Lu Yin hurriedly evaded the attack, but it enveloped the entire mountaintop. Some distance away, Wang Yi had managed to move within a single meter of Shang Qing, but he was also forced to start dodging the rain of knife qi.

The moment Wang Yi turned to retreat, he spread his fingers and attacked the fused Progenitor Chen. Four Arts: Pearl.

The summoned Progenitor raised its knife and slashed down in response. This time, there was no flash from the blade, as Wang Yi had caused the summoned Progenitor Chen to lose control of its knife.

Shang Qing was surprised that Wang Yi was still able to seal the fused Progenitor Chen. Wang Yi used battle techniques that had never been seen before, though they seemed to have been inherited from ancient times.

The fact that the summoned Progenitor Chen had lost its knife meant that a great deal of the threat facing Wang Yi and Lu Yin had disappeared.

One of the two raced for Shang Qing as fast as possible while the other suddenly appeared behind Shang Qing with a sourcebox array. Both of them attacked at the same time.

Despite the approaching flanking attacks, Shang Qing still did not move. Illusory flames rose up from below, separating him from his two opponents as the summoned Progenitor Chen suddenly appeared and attacked with a hand. Although it had lost its knife, it had not yet used the power of the illusory Progenitor Chen after merging.

Earlier, Wang Yi had sealed off the illusory Progenitor Chen’s ability to turn immaterial, but he had also just sealed the summon’s blade. Thus, the immaterial ability appeared once again.

Lu Yin struck the flame with a palm, and a palm print distorted the flame. He then changed his hand position to a pointing finger, attacking with his Seventh Bro Finger once again. Lu Yin did not believe that Shang Qing could ignore this attack for a second time.

On the opposite side, Wang Yi clashed against the summoned Progenitor Chen with a Four Arts: Bear Stalwart, but the massive power of his attack was absorbed. Wang Yi was knocked back, leaving him completely shocked.

This was a fight against Progenitor Chen, and he certainly deserved his reputation as being invincible within his own cultivation realm. Progenitor Chen had long since been famous even beyond this world, and it was known that he had been the absolute strongest.

This was the power of a Progenitor.

Any Progenitor would be seen as invincible among their peers, and Progenitor Chen had been seen as invincible even among Progenitors.

Before ZENITH had even started, even the Sixth Mainland’s three Progenitors had been forced to admit that Shang Qing was the only youth capable of receiving the title of Pinnacle Youth, and it was entirely because he was able to summon Progenitor Chen.

At this moment, Shang Qing was about to earn the title of Pinnacle Youth.

Lu Yin pierced through the illusory flames with a finger, and for the second time, his attack hit Shang Qing.

Lu Yin experienced the same sensation as before, and Shang Qing even had the same expression.

The illusory summoned Progenitor Chen phased through Shang Qing, his hand stretched out to grab Lu Yin. A dark light flashed at the fused Progenitor Chen’s hand, and the sight of it made Lu Yin go cold. His pupils flickered as he erased some runes from Progenitor Chen, and at the same time, an astral chessboard appeared beneath Lu Yin’s feet as he shifted himself.