Chapter 1652: A Mysterious Sword

Yuan Qiong informed Elder Jiu Shen of everything that had recently happened, and he even told the elder about how the Cosmic Sect had helped Lu Yin deceive the Lingling clan, which had greatly upset the sect master. “Elder, Lu Yin is only getting worse. He’s using that treasure on his foot to force our Cosmic Sect to take part in unspeakable acts, and now, he’s even requesting that you go and protect him.”

Elder Jiu Shen frowned. “Did you say that there are rumors claiming that Lu Yin is working with the Sixth Mainland to deal with the Sword Sect?”

Yuan Qiong nodded. “We initially assumed that they were mere rumors, but with Lu Yin now asking for protection, it looks like he really might be working with Master Qing Hua.”

Elder Jiu Shen grew solemn. This was a matter that now involved one of the Sixth Mainland’s Empyrean Imprinters, and with the innate suppression that those from the Fifth Mainland suffered from those from the Sixth Mainland, the elder was not confident that he could defeat Master Qing Hua.

Why had Lu Yin gotten involved with such a person?

“Oh right, Elder, Lu Yin is asking you to make your way to the Sword Sect,” Yuan Qiong continued.

Elder Jiu Shen’s face twitched. “Does he want me to help him settle matters with the Sword Sect?”

“One of the Sword Sect’s disciples challenged Lu Yin, and he chose the Sword Sect as the location for their match,” Yuan Qiong explained.

Elder Jiu Shen immediately felt that Lu Yin was a troublemaker. Why else would someone purposefully choose to fight someone on their home turf? Elder Jiu Shen was truly tempted to go look for Elder Gong and have the elder forcefully retrieve that pattern from Lu Yin. They could not just blindly listen to Lu Yin! However, the elder soon abandoned the thought, as if it were possible, they would have done so long ago.

Everyone in the Cosmic Sect, including Elder Shan and all the others, felt stifled by Lu Yin’s behavior, and Elder Jiu Shen suffered the most. The worst part was that he could not refuse Lu Yin as the Cosmic Sect would lose their treasure if Lu Yin was killed.

Five days passed, which meant that there were only two days remaining before the battle.

On this day, Wen Sansi received an invitation to go to the Sword Sect. Many people had been invited to be the Sword Sect’s guests, such as Little Mountain God, Ling Gong, Ling Que, Xing Kai, and many others. As soon as they learned of Liu Tianmu’s challenge, they had all rushed over to the Sword Sect.

Wendy Yushan had also made the trip with Ling Gong, and they were already waiting at the Sword Array Plaza.

There were even some powerful independent cultivators that had been invited into the Sword Sect.

Starsibyl arrived on the sixth day, and she saw many familiar faces.

Outside the plaza, millions of spectators had gathered. All of them were able to clearly see the plaza despite the vast distance.

Liu Tianmu was quietly waiting within the plaza. Her white sword had been stored in her cosmic ring, and she was instead holding Liu Guai’s black sword.

Many people felt curious about the black sword, as they had never seen Liu Tianmu use it before.

Wen Sansi and the others asked the Sword Sect disciples about the sword, but all of the disciples refused to say a single thing. All that anyone was able to learn was the name “Liu Guai.” No one was able to learn anything else regarding the sword.

“Starsibyl, what do you think about this battle? Can you use divination to determine anything?” Wen Sansi asked. He was close to Starsibyl, and both Xing Kai and Ling Gong were nearby as well. A lot of people were looking at the small gathering, as several of the people had once been Arbiters.

At the moment, another batch of youths had already replaced the Arbiters on the Universe Youth Council, but they had not received the title of Arbiter. The Ten Arbiters were unique unto their era, and they had completely dominated their generation.

However, Lu Yin retained his status as one of the Ten Arbiters. Despite that, the other nine former Arbiters did not interact with him, and none of them dared to contact him, as they all felt as though Lu Yin was someone from another generation despite him being about the same age as them.

Starsibyl continued to watch Liu Tianmu as she calmly answered, “There’s no need for divination.”

“Does Liu Tianmu stand no chance at all?” Wen Sansi asked.

Starsibyl smiled. “You know that very well.”

“Even with our help?” Ling Gong suddenly asked.

Ling Que was startled. “You want to jump in?”

Wendy Yushan turned towards Ling Gong.

Ling Gong clenched her fists. She would never forget Lu Yin’s words after he had returned. He had said that he wanted to challenge all of the former Arbiters at the same time. Even though there was no chance of her defeating him, she still wanted to beat him up.

“That would be interesting, but there’s still no need to do a divination. The gap between him and the rest of you is too large.” Starsibyl laughed.

Ling Que pouted. He had once thought that Lu Yin was weaker than him when they had both been referred to as candidates to replace the Ten Arbiters. However, even if all of the Arbiters worked together now, they still would not be able to defeat Lu Yin. The man was an absolute monster.

Ling Que wondered where Mu Rong was at the moment.

Lu Yin arrived on the seventh day, accompanied by Liu Ye and Fei Hua.

Everyone watched as Lu Yin entered the Sword Array Plaza. He sat down a hundred meters away from Liu Tianmu, and the spectators all quietly watched the two.

Liu Tianmu’s eyes opened, and she met Lu Yin’s gaze.

“You should know my strength, so why did obtaining that sword give you the confidence to challenge me?” Lu Yin asked as he stared at the black sword with interest.

Liu Tianmu answered calmly, “Tomorrow is the scheduled day for our battle. I thought that you wouldn’t arrive until then.”

Lu Yin glanced around. “I wanted to show up early so that I could take a good look around the Sword Sect since this place will soon be mine. I was in a rush when I was here last time, so I only managed to get a look at the plaza and the pond where Senior Liu was fishing.”

Liu Tianmu was stunned.

Lu Yin had mentioned such things in a perfectly normal tone of voice and made no attempt to hide his words. He both astonished the spectators and enraged the Sword Sect disciples.

Elder Li instantly wanted to kill the youth.

Liu Qianjue’s face turned stony. This Lu Yin was too arrogant! He really did not care about the Sword Sect at all.

Liu Shaoqiu clenched the hilt of his sword. During the Astral Combat Tournament, he had been comparable to Lu Yin, but the difference between them had become inconceivable since.

Ling Que was similarly stunned. “He’s really becoming more and more arrogant! I was almost killed by the Great Eastern Alliance when I was in Blazing Mist Flowzone.”

Ling Gong kept a close eye on Lu Yin. His demeanor had changed. Something must have happened when he had gone missing, as he no longer cared about even the Sword Sect.

“You’re targeting the Innerverse,” Liu Tianmu commented.

Lu Yin was caught off guard. “I can’t believe that you have any interest in that.”

Liu Tianmu’s hand settled onto the black sword. “I will do my best in tomorrow’s battle, and I hope that you will do the same.”

Given the difference between them, it sounded as though Liu Tianmu was trying to die. Master Qing Hua was a huge source of pressure for the Sword Sect; otherwise, Liu Tianmu would never take the risk to challenge him.

Lu Yin looked around, seeing many familiar faces. He noticed Wendy Yushan and immediately thought of Undying Yushan. That man was a problem that Lu Yin really needed to deal with.

Lu Yin sensed a challenging gaze and turned to look at Ling Gong, who was standing next to Wendy Yushan. Lu Yin’s eyes swept past her without any interest, causing Ling Gong to clench her fists. A grating sound emanated from her white armour, and she reflexively stepped forward to attack Lu Yin.

Ling Que immediately dragged her backwards. “Calm down, calm down.”

Ling Gong snorted and glared at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin looked at Starsibyl, Xing Kai, and even Liu Qianjue, who was standing elsewhere.

The sect master of the Sword Sect currently viewed Lu Yin in a completely different manner. The man had once seen Lu Yin as a junior as Lu Yin truly had not been able to compare to the sect master at that time. However, Liu Qianjue’s eyes now held both wariness and killing intent.

Lu Yin was certain that Liu Qianjue would love to personally kill Lu Yin while he was at Sword Mountain even if he was criticized by the public, but the man was not able to do so.

There were also many people from the Innerverse’s eight great flowzones, and Lu Yin had no idea how many of those people were actually working for the Sixth Mainland.

However, there likely were not many, as this battle would be thought of as a game to such people.

The next day soon arrived, and sword qi shot up from beneath Lu Yin’s feet. He felt like there was more sword qi present than before.

Liu Tianmu opened her eyes and stood up. She put the black sword away and used star energy to form the familiar white sword that she usually used.

Lu Yin stood across from her and raised a hand. “This will end with this attack.”

Liu Tianmu clenched her sword and remained silent.

“Still, I’ll give you a chance to attack, which I’m pretty sure you already expected.” Lu Yin stared at Liu Tianmu. “I’m very curious about your current strength, but even if Liu Guai himself came back to life, he probably wouldn’t be able to defeat me. Despite that, you seem to think that you can do so after spending just a few days with that sword. I really am very curious about this.”

Liu Tianmu remained calm. “I’ll show you.”

Lu Yin smiled and lifted his hand. While everyone watched in amazement, Lu Yin used star energy to form a sword of his own, which shocked even Liu Qianjue.

Lu Yin’s sword was green, and the hilt was half the length of the sword. The blade of the sword itself was covered with spirals that looked like wild beasts, though some also looked like water droplets. The sword was very realistic, and everyone who saw it felt as though they had returned to an ocean of the primordial era.

Liu Qianjue was utterly stunned, and he looked at the sword closely. How was this possible? How could this youth know about that sword?

Elder Lianxin frowned, as the sword seemed very familiar.

Only the two elders paid any particular attention to the sword’s appearance, as everyone else was merely interested in the fact that Lu Yin was using a sword,

Lu Yin rarely ever used weapons when fighting, and most people only remember the scythe that he used during the final battle of ZENITH. However, he had chosen to use a sword in a fight against one of the Sword Sect’s disciples. This was simply an insult to both his opponent and the entire Sword Sect.

Ling Que’s mouth fell open. “That- that’s too humiliating.”

Ling Gong’s eyes blazed as she watched Lu Yin. He really had changed, and he was blatantly insulting the Sword Sect.

On the other hand, Wendy Yushan felt confused. This did not seem like something Lu Yin would do; was he trying to intentionally humiliate Liu Tianmu?

This was what most people thought after seeing Lu Yin create a sword. Many people quietly cursed at Lu Yin, as they already knew that he was much stronger than Liu Tianmu; did he really have to humiliate her in such a manner? It would be incredibly humiliating if Lu Yin defeated Liu Tianmu with a sword.

Not even Starsibyl could understand what Lu Yin was trying to do.

Liu Tianmu slowly pulled out her sword. “You want to defeat me with a sword?”

Lu Yin smiled and glanced over at Liu Qianjue. He saw the sect master’s expression and knew that the man recognized the sword that Lu Yin had formed. He had replicated Liu Huang’s sword that had gone missing when the man had been locked up in Gaia’s Swamp by the Hall of Honor. Lu Yin’s entire goal was for Liu Qianjue to recognize this sword.