Chapter 983: Provocation

Lu Yin looked at the nearby Starlight Island as bloodthirsty cries filled the air. At that moment, during this savage atmosphere, Lu Yin finally found an opportunity to sneak a glance at the person from Burial Garden. What exactly did this power stand for and represent?

The assault against Starlight Island went exceptionally smoothly, as only some tens of thousands of Sixth Mainland cultivators had been left behind to form a meager attempt of resistance. Although it sounded like there were still a lot of people on the island, the vast majority of the cultivators had already left.

Even a fool would be able to realize that something was not right. Even stranger, the poles had been left behind on Starlight Island.

If the other poles had not been left on the island, then White Knight and the others would have actually heaved sighs of relief, as that would be proof that the Sixth Mainland had not given up on the thunder region yet. However, the presence of the other poles on Starlight Island indicated that the Sixth Mainland had completely abandoned the thunder region—this couldn’t have been stated any more clearly. Since the Sixth Mainland had abandoned this region, that could only mean that there was something else that was even more important to them.

The moment Starsibyl stepped foot onto Starlight Island, she started calculating her divinations while Unseen Light and the others retrieved the two final poles. When they returned, her face was pale. “We’ve stepped into a trap.

“Zhi Yi has abandoned the thunder region, and she went that way.” Starsibyl pointed to the southeast.

When everyone looked at where she had pointed, many of them exchanged glances. Everyone was stunned.

“Whitecliff Region,” White Knight blurted out.

Starsibyl’s expression turned ugly. “It’s possible that Zhi Yi might have only come to the thunder region as a distraction from the very start and that her true target was the Whitecliff Region the entire time. There’s no way that only one of the Daosource Three Skies will show up there—the Whitecliff Region is in danger.”

“As far as the Sixth Mainland is concerned, there’s no need to conquer the entire Cosmic Sea. As long as they manage to gain control of a single passageway that’s connected to a place that’s free of the cosmic phenomenon’s suppression, that’s enough for them. At that point, the members of their older generation will be able to take action,” Unseen Light observed gloomily.

White Knight continued, adding on, “They’re willing to pay an extremely steep price for this plan. If they fail, then not only will they lose the Whitecliff Region, but they will also lose their grip over nearly the entire Cosmic Sea. This means that they almost definitely intend to charge out of the Cosmic Sea in one go, so there must be many powerful Imprinters supporting them, and even an Empyrean Imprinter is likely.”

“And not just one,” Starsibyl concluded.

After listening to this conversation, the entire crowd’s morale dropped.

Lu Yin frowned tightly. He did not know if Zhi Yi had planned everything from the start or if this plans had only been put into motion after they lost control of three poles in the thunder region. No matter what, she should have left the region long ago. Just a single one of the Daosource Three Skies was enough to flip the battlefield’s balance, and not every member of the Ten Arbiters was strong enough to stand against one of those three. If Zhi Yi really did not care about her reputation and used her Sky Dipper to force her way through, then there really wasn’t anyone who could stop her.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Even more terrifying was the possibility that she might not be the only member of the Daosource Three Skies who would appear, and there was even a chance that all three might show up. Unseen Light and White Knight had been delayed in the thunder region, so there were certainly other Ten Arbiters who had been delayed in other areas. The Whitecliff Region was in danger.

At this time, a short man moved over next to Lu Yin and quietly said, “Seventh Bro, there’s a mailfish.”

Lu Yin looked at the man in a doubtful manner. “Who are you?”

The man smiled back at Lu Yin. “I’m from Leon’s Armada.”

Lu Yin’s eyes instantly lit up. “Really?”

Uncle Reuben had told Lu Yin that he was a member of Leon’s Armada, and Lu Yin still felt quite grateful to the pirate crew, though he was also curious and apprehensive towards them. He did not know what kind of people were in this group, as they were pirates after all. Still, no matter what, they had taken Lu Yin in and made him a part of their family—even Big Sis and the others were from Leon’s Armada.

Also, Lu Yin had supposedly been rescued by Highsage Leon himself. It seemed that Lu Yin had not originally appeared in the Innerverse, but rather in the Cosmic Sea and then simply awakened within the Innerverse. Thus, Highsage Leon was Lu Yin’s benefactor.

“Seventh Bro, check it out! These mailfish are a unique species in the Cosmic Sea, and they can relay information throughout the entire Cosmic Sea.”

Lu Yin nodded and read the message, but his expression immediately changed afterwards. “The Whitecliff Region is in trouble.”

The others all looked over as well.

White Knight looked at the mailfish in Lu Yin’s hand and immediately grabbed the message. “The Whitecliff Region has been defeated, and the people there have retreated to the border. They’re now asking for support through these mailfish that have been sent out to nearby waters. In short, they’re asking us to reinforce the Whitecliff Region. Two of the Daosource Three Skies have appeared—the Progenitor of Secret Arts’ heir, Bu Kong, and the Progenitor of Bloodlines’ heir, Zhi Yi, have both appeared in the Whitecliff Region.”

Before anyone could recover from the shock of this information, White Knight continued, reading out, “The War King of the Ten Arbiters has been defeated, and Honor Chosen Shu Jing was also defeated. The Champions' Stage has been taken by Bu Kong. With the title of the Daosource Three Skies, the two have challenged all experts from the same generation in the Fifth Mainland.”

The crowd was overwhelmed to learn that another member of the Daosource Three Skies had appeared, and this new person had even stolen the Champions' Stage.

Shouldn’t the Champions' Stage be something that was held by the Hall of Honor? The Champions' Stage was used to motivate all of the Fifth Mainland’s youths, but it had just been stolen by the Sixth Mainland, which would have a terrible impact on the Fifth Mainland cultivators’ morale.

Unseen Light raised his head and turned to face the Whitecliff Region. He felt a strong pressure from that direction.

Only those who had traded blows with one of the Daosource Three Skies before would feel such pressure. Although Unseen Light had been able to force Zhi Yi into a helpless situation, he had been unable to defeat her, and this was all when the suppression of the cosmic phenomenon was taken into account. If that suppression suddenly disappeared for some reason, Zhi Yi would be able to display even greater strength than an Enlighter, which was a power level that Unseen Light could not easily contend with.

And if Zhi Yi was already that powerful, then what about the Progenitor of Secret Arts’ heir? That Progenitor was even reputed to possess the greatest number of secret techniques!

Secret techniques were always difficult obstacles to overcome, as average cultivators could not even deal with a single one of them. Since the Progenitor of Secret Arts possessed the largest number of secret techniques, that automatically made their heir the most mysterious of the three heirs.

At this moment, they received information that the Progenitor of Secret Arts’ heir had stolen the Champions' Stage, and not even Unseen Light knew how they could reclaim it. It might be possible, but only if all Ten Arbiters united. However, they could not leave the thunder region. The Sixth Mainland was still invading them, and there were many paths that they could take to victory. However, for the Fifth Mainland, there was but one: they had to protect their home to the death, not abandoning even a single region. Anything else would simply lead to the Fifth Mainland’s crushing defeat.

Everyone fell silent.

Lu Yin glanced around the area and saw everyone’s ugly expressions. If the Sixth Mainland established a path through the Cosmic Sea by way of the Whitecliff Region, then those older experts would be able to pass through unchallenged, and the situation would degrade to nothing more than a contest of absolute might. At that time, even if the Fifth Mainland did not completely collapse, both the Cosmic Sea and the Neoverse would both be crushed. Nobody could even imagine how fearsome those Empyrean Imprinters were, and nobody dared to gamble with a battle involving such powerhouses.

Although just the remnant spiritual force of a Progenitor had acted, the Innerverse and half of the Cosmic Sea had been affected by its phenomenon. Even though an Empyrean Imprinter was greatly inferior to such overwhelming might, just one of those powerhouses could destroy a vast amount of territory.

“Whitecliff Region is requesting aid, but Unseen Light and I cannot leave, as the thunder region will be in danger if we do,” White Knight explained. She then looked over at Lu Yin and Starsibyl. “You guys go ahead.”

Lu Yin did not refuse.

Starsibyl quietly replied, “Hopefully, with the two of you around, you’ll be able to hold back the two Realmlings in this region.”

White Knight frowned, as that was truly just a hope since they had no other option. Once they left the thunder region, Shang Rong and Nan Yanfei might reappear and snatch away all five poles of the thunder region. Of course, it was also possible that the two Realmlings might have moved to the Whitecliff Region, in which case there was no reason for the Arbiters to stay behind. However, they could not gamble on such a possibility.

“Try and divine the situation.” Lu Yin could not stop himself from speaking up, and he looked over at Starsibyl.

She calmly replied, “Divination is not omniscient, and the diviner merely selects one of myriad possibilities that approaches the closest to reality. These two must stay behind. Otherwise, those two Realmlings will likely create chaos in the thunder region.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. “Then why don’t you try Heaven's Enigma?”

Starsibyl’s eyes went wide as she stared at Lu Yin. “Where did you hear about that?”

“Your Grandpa Jiu,” Lu Yin replied.

Unseen Light, White Knight, Hua Xiao, and the others all gave Lu Yin very strange looks—why was Lu Yin suddenly scolding others?

Starsibyl’s face twisted into an ugly expression. “I already told you to never mention him again.”

“But he knows Heaven's Enigma, so why don’t you?” Lu Yin asked.

Starsibyl was irritated. “There’s no such thing as Heaven's Enigma. He simply made the whole thing up!”

“Is that so?” Lu Yin did not know who to believe. Xuan Jiu had tried to divine something about Lu Yin’s family, and he had immediately spat out blood afterwards. If his technique was truly fraudulent, then the old man’s dedication to his craft was certainly worthy of respect. For one, Xuan Jiu had not asked for any money or any sort of repayment, making him seem less like a scammer.

Tai Yuanjun walked over, stood next to Starsibyl, and stared at Lu Yin. “Don’t ever mention Xuan Jiu, that liar. That damn old stick just goes around taking advantage of people.”

Hearing of Xuan Jiu had apparently thrown Starsibyl out of sorts, and White Knight glared at Lu Yin. “You guys should leave.”

Lu Yin did not want to delay unduly, as Zhi Yi had clearly gained the upper hand in this situation. If the Fifth Mainland allowed the Sixth Mainland to establish a path through the Whitecliff Region, then they would be nothing more than a laughingstock.

Lu Yin and Starsibyl were not alone, as Tai Yuanjun also wanted to go with them, regardless of if he lived or died. He also kept a constant watchful eye on Lu Yin as though the youth was a thief. There was one other person who wanted to go along, which was that short man from Leon’s Armada. The short man was actually the one leading the way.

The way Tai Yuanjun stared at Lu Yin was eerily similar to how Zhu San had stared at Lu Yin in the past. Lu Yin even wondered if he should tell Tai Yuanjun about Zhu San as a reminder that the more tightly one pursued something, the faster they would lose it.

There were many cultivators in the thunder region, but there were only a few true powerhouses who had at least earned a title of General.

The rest of the people remained in the thunder region, and only Lu Yin’s small group moved out towards the Whitecliff Region.

No one knew where Ling Que had disappeared to, as he had slipped away as soon as Zhi Yi had appeared, and he had left exceptionally quickly as well.

The Cosmic Sea was very large, but the thunder region was not too away from the Whitecliff Region. Still, it was impossible to complete the journey in a short amount of time, and that wasn’t even factoring in their chances of running into bad weather along the way.

The Four Pirate Crews had spent many years traveling about the Cosmic Sea before they had discovered the safe routes within this area. With the short man’s guidance, Lu Yin’s group was able to travel to the Whitecliff Region at the quickest speed possible, but it still took them several days to arrive.

At this same time, the battle in the Whitecliff Region grew even more intense. The large Champions' Stage should have originally contained the carved names of the Fifth Mainland’s elite young experts, which was a supreme honor. However, at this moment, the Champions' Stage had been stepped on by Bu Kong and Zhi Yi, causing the eyes of countless cultivators from the Fifth Mainland to go bloodshot from anger.

Bu Kong was a man with a jade-like face, and at first glance, he seemed rather good looking, but when one observed him a bit closer, his mien was actually rather immature, as if he had just come of age. His eyes radiated an insufferable arrogance and a terrible ambition for the future.

In truth, Bu Kong was only twenty years old, which was even younger than Lu Yin. However, Bu Kong possessed an incredible innate gift, and he had also comprehended all of the secret techniques given to him by the Progenitor of Secret Arts, which had created quite a commotion in the Sixth Mainland.

Throughout the countless years, Bu Kong was the only person who had been able to comprehend all of these secret techniques at such a young age. In the past, very few of the Daosource Three Skies had been able to completely master all of the Progenitor of Secret Arts’ secret techniques.

The unending flattery that followed had eventually led Bu Kong to grow arrogant and live up to the meaning of his name.

Still, he deserved to be this arrogant—aside from Wu Taibai and Zhi Yi, who were also a part of the Daosource Three Skies, there was no one else within the same generation who was Bu Kong’s peer.

He had actually seized the Champions' Stage by complete accident, as he had never dreamed that the stage would be protected by such flimsy security measures. Zhi Yi’s sudden appearance had allowed Bu Kong to achieve an incredible military achievement.

The Champions' Stage was a powerful motivator for the youths of the Fifth Mainland, and Bu Kong’s accomplishment was correspondingly just as large. He intended to engrave his own name into the history of the Fifth Mainland by becoming a stain that blemished the entire mainland.

[1] In this case, [Bu = not] and [Kong = empty]. The author is making a pun about how Bu Kong is puffed up with arrogance/full of hot air.