Chapter 21

Teres has already obtained the body-shaping decision, and there's no need to worry about breaking through the Fusion Realm. He can stay for now, but once there's news about that corpse, he will leave immediately. Nothing is more important than that corpse.

The land of Jinling is shrouded in smoke, and the battle never ceases. Every few days, a wave of beasts surges from the west, for no apparent reason.

In the sky, flying mutant beasts swarm towards the gathering place.

Granny flies into the air, her flames condensing into a fiery palm, shaking the sky and showering sparks, earning the admiration and reverence of countless people.

Lu Yin stands on the city wall, looking westward. The beast waves have been too frequent these past few days. Could a powerful mutant beast have appeared?

"Granny, support the southwest," Lu Yin shouts.

In the sky, Granny is frustrated. She is a star-born prodigy, yet she is being ordered around. She wants to refuse, but seeing Lu Yin's cold eyes, she wisely follows the command. Her mind can't help but recall a scene from a few days ago.

The day after visiting Zhou Shan, Lu Yin suddenly proposed a sparring match, promising not to use the Fluctuation Palm. Only then did Granny agree. The devil used the Sky-Cleaving Palm, nearly crippling her with one strike. Enraged, Granny vowed never to spar with him again.

Of course, she was also shocked by Lu Yin's strength. If the Fluctuation Palm wasn't too rare, the Sky-Cleaving Palm was a different story. Among her peers, only one person could use the Sky-Cleaving Palm: Willow, the strongest at the Empire's First Military Academy. Lu Yin was the second.

Boom

The fiery palm strikes the ground, shattering several powerful mutant beasts. Granny catches her breath.

She also finds it strange. After the apocalypse, mutant beasts are numerous, but not all of them attack humans. Beasts have their nature; as long as no one invades their territory, they rarely come out. This is the key reason so many survivors have managed to survive. But the beast waves have been too frequent lately.

Roar

A loud roar echoes, and two mutant beasts charge towards Granny. Granny uses the fiery palm again, killing the two beasts with one strike.

On the city wall, Lu Yin frowns. This woman relies too much on combat techniques, which limits her development. Without using the fiery palm, her combat power drops by half. She is probably only mid-level in the academy, far behind Teres, and only slightly stronger than Alden.

Suddenly, Lu Yin's eyes widen, and he shouts, "Stop!" He raises his palm and presses it down, the air rippling and forming a shockwave that blasts towards Granny.

Granny turns in surprise, seeing Lu Yin's Sky-Cleaving Palm approaching. Her eyes widen in shock. This devil is attacking me? Suddenly, she feels a chill on her back—someone is ambushing her. Granny reacts quickly, bending down instinctively. The Sky-Cleaving Palm passes over her, hitting the person behind her. With a loud bang, the air shakes, and Granny is pushed away by the force. Behind her, a man spits out blood and flies backward, crashing to the ground.

Lu Yin leaps up and flies towards Granny, his eyes fixed on the fallen man as he lands in front of her.

Granny exhales, relieved to see Lu Yin. If not for him, she would have been ambushed. The attacker was also a Probing Realm practitioner. If the ambush had succeeded, she might have been seriously injured or even killed.

A huge crack appears in the ground. The man clutches his chest, staring at Lu Yin in shock. "Sky-Cleaving Palm? How is that possible?"

Lu Yin glares at the man, his eyes scanning the surroundings. His gaze then focuses, and he disappears, rushing into the beast wave. The man shouts, "Run!" But it's too late. A young man inside a mutant beast's belly looks in surprise as Lu Yin's palm grabs him. He draws his long sword and slashes, but the sword breaks with a clang. Lu Yin's palm shatters the sword and strikes the man, causing the ground to crack and a shockwave to rip through the area, tearing apart countless mutant beasts.

Lu Yin defeats two Probing Realm practitioners with just two strikes, leaving Granny speechless.

She is certain these two are students, not from the Empire's First Military Academy, but strong enough to participate in the trial. They were defeated so easily, showcasing Lu Yin's current strength, which far exceeds his combat rating.

As the two are defeated, the beast wave mysteriously retreats.

Lu Yin immediately realizes the beast waves have been caused by these two.

"Who are you?" Granny shouts, nearly ambushed.

The two men glance at Lu Yin warily and remain silent.

Lu Yin waves away the soldiers and glares at them. "Speak, or I'll cut you up and feed you to the mutant beasts."

"We are students, you can't be so cruel," one man says fearfully, his face pale.

Lu Yin shrugs. "Sorry, I'm not a student. I'm an Earthling."

"Impossible," the two men exclaim, looking at Granny.

Granny is silent.

The two men are shocked. "How could a mere Earthling defeat us so easily? And use the Sky-Cleaving Palm?"

"Enough talk. Speak or die," Lu Yin says coldly.

A few minutes later, Lu Yin orders the two men to be imprisoned. He ponders, realizing they are from the Blue Mountain Academy of the Da Yu Empire, located on a planet filled with beasts. Thus, they know some beast-taming techniques, but can only control weak mutant beasts. Their attack on Jinling, like Granny's, was to seize control of the city.

Unlike Granny, these two have backers, and they are not far from Jinling, in Anhui.

"Why didn't you kill them? They want to take Jinling," Granny says angrily.

Lu Yin looks at Granny. "You kill them."

Granny is startled and turns away. "I can't do it."

Lu Yin says coldly, "The trial doesn't forbid killing, but too much killing is bad. Don't play games with me. This is the first and last time." He then turns and leaves.

Granny pouts, disappointed. She wanted to push Lu Yin into a position where everyone would be against him, so she could escape his control. But it didn't work; this devil is smarter than she thought.

"Boss, the beast wave has retreated," Xu San says excitedly, his eyes gleaming.

Lu Yin knows what he's thinking. "Did you use up the energy crystals I gave you?"

Xu San sheepishly admits, "Yes, I've become much stronger."

Lu Yin says, "Don't rush to break through to the Heaven Realm. You're not ready yet. Focus on refining the energy within you."

"Got it, Boss," Xu San says, feeling Lu Yin's concern.

As for Lu Yin, he doesn't want Xu San to lose his potential by absorbing too many impurities. Many powerful factions have methods to disperse and retrain energy, and the current Xu San is worth it. But the higher the strength, the greater the cost, and the less value he will have. The Earth Realm is just right; it's enough to save his life.

Zhou Shan has recovered a lot, thanks to the healing medicine from Granny.

"What do you plan to do with those two aliens?" Zhou Shan asks.

Lu Yin says, "Keep them for now. They must be useful. You can interrogate them to learn more about the aliens."

Zhou Shan nods. "I heard they are from Anhui?"

Lu Yin says, "It's on our way forward. We might as well take care of them."

"Forward? I've always been curious, why do you always want to go west?" Zhou Shan asks.

Lu Yin looks at Zhou Shan. "Want to hear the truth?"

"Of course."

"I'm going to Hubei to see someone," Lu Yin says calmly.

"Hubei? A relative?" Zhou Shan asks.

Lu Yin smiles. "Sort of."

Zhou Shan nods. "Alright, you saved Jinling. If you want to go west, we'll go west. By the way, if we really reach Hubei, it's not bad. We can connect with Liu Shaoge's Wu City and join forces against the aliens."

Lu Yin's eyes flash. "Liu Shaoge? Guangsheng? How is he?"

Zhou Shan says, "What do you mean, how is he? His strength or his character?"

"I'm curious about both," Lu Yin smiles.

Zhou Shan says, "I don't really know him well. We worked together before, but didn't interact much. The person who knows Liu Shaoge best is probably Luo Sheng Baimo. From what I've heard, they seem to have a thing."

Lu Yin frowns, then relaxes. "A thing? Are they married?"

"No, just mutual attraction," Zhou Shan says uncertainly, then smiles at Lu Yin. "Have you met Baimo?"

Lu Yin shakes his head.

Zhou Shan looks up at the sky, pointing to the clouds. "Baimo is like that."

Lu Yin follows Zhou Shan's gaze, puzzled.

"Baimo, like a lotus emerging from clear water, naturally beautiful, the goddess of the Luo River, stunningly beautiful," Zhou Shan sighs.

Lu Yin stares at Zhou Shan as if he's seen a ghost. "You know idioms?"

Zhou Shan laughs. "Of course."