Chapter 205: Bright Stage (2/2)

Since the competition was temporarily on pause, everyone looked at the ten student leaders, as they were the ten strongest, or at least, so it was on the surface.

Aside from the first seat, all of the other nine seats received intense scrutiny, especially Lu Yin, who was sitting on the tenth seat. After all, he was the only Melder among them.

Many now held the opinion that Astral-10 had a gift for creating miracles. Silver had successfully defended the final section of the valley, Lulu had beat the battle drums, and Xia Luo had lit the ancient incense stick. These were activities that usually could only be accomplished by Limiteers, but Astral-10 had successfully sent out Melders to complete it all. But no matter how good they were at creating miracles, a Melder could not possibly compare to an academy leader. Throughout the history of the academy, only the Ten Arbiters had been able to do so. In that case, what qualifications did this person have to join the other leaders?

Lu Yin’s identity was revealed layer by layer, but there was nothing exciting to discover. The Great Yu Empire was just a weak power to the Innerverse, and no one had even heard of Earth before. Even so, countless people in the Great Yu Empire and Earth were cheering for him. However, there were just too few of them, and they were like specks of dust to the rest of the universe.

Despite all that, Lu Yin sat there with a clear conscience. He did not mind what others said, although he did feel that his chair was a little stiff.

Feng Shang looked at Lu Yin curiously. Lu Yin could feel his stare, so he turned around, smiled, and said, “Senior Feng, do you have any advice for me?”

Feng Shang smiled. “I had thought that I was ambitious, but I never thought that someone would surpass my drive. Junior, how does it feel to be seated here?”

Lu Yin nodded. “Not bad. Everything is great, aside from this stiff chair. Oh, and it would be nice if they provided some snacks for us.”

“Haha, how interesting,” Feng Shang said with a small laugh, speaking no further. He could not sense any significant power from Lu Yin, so this person was either extremely adept at concealing his strength, or he truly was just a distraction sent out by Astral-10. Regardless, only the Ten Arbiters had ever been able to stand besides the Realm Masters when they were mere Melders. It was impossible for this person to be the same as an Arbiter; Astral-10 was most likely just being too careful. They must be afraid that others would target them and destroy their dream of rising up again.

On the other side of Feng Shang, Liu Xiaoyun was intently focusing on a particular arena where a very young man was sitting. He seemed to be about the same age as Lu Yin, and he was sitting down, cross-legged, with a rusty iron sword on his lap. That sword was actually condensed purely from star energy. He only sat silently there, but Liu Xiaoyun’s attention never left him once; that person was Liu Shaoqiu.

Lu Yin’s gaze swept over Feng Shang and the other student leaders before it landed on Nightqueen Yanqing. Apart from the leader of Astral-1, Lu Yin was the most curious about Nightqueen Yanqing. This woman was from the same Nightking clan as Qingyu, and she was miles above the rest of the Daynight clan.

He still remembered the topmost name inscribed on the stone when he had walked into the Daynight clan’s corridor of inheritance, Nightking Zhenwu. He still wondered what sort of status that person held.

When Nightqueen Yanqing sensed Lu Yin’s gaze, she glanced over with a frown.

Lu Yin averted his gaze, closed his eyes, and quietly exhaled.

Nightqueen Yanqing snorted, disgusted that trash like him was actually allowed to be seated alongside her. It was a pity that they had not been allowed to wipe out Astral-10 back then and that they had only chased them out of the Innerverse: a true pity in her eyes.

Within the Innerverse, in the Erudite Flowzone, the massive Astral River’s tributary flowed through it, decorating the heavens. It looked beautiful beyond comparison, but it was a danger that could take even a Hunter’s life.

Outside of the Erudite Flowzone’s Astral River tributary, there was a giant protective net formed from planets. It extended out for an unknown distance and was one of the boundaries that separated the human star expanse and the astral beast star expanse.

Within the control room of a giant war spacecraft, a thin man of average height stood there. Although his height was average, his mere presence seemed to emit a boundless charisma that caused the surrounding soldiers to become more zealous. He was Shui Chuanxiao, the Grand Marshal of the warfront at the Human Domain’s border and praised as the best strategist in human history.

As he looked at the screen depicting the Astral Combat Tournament, he smiled strangely as thoughts that no one could decipher ran through his mind.

Three hours quickly passed by before the energy dividing the arenas dissipated, signalling that the second battle round was about to start.

At this point, most of the spectators had targets of interest that they were fully focused on. Feng Shang was staring intently at Arikar, Nightqueen Yanqing was looking at Cang Shi, and the crowd and spectating organizations watched the various well-known Area Masters that they supported.

Jared’s face was sullen, as Arikar’s appearance had stolen his limelight. The Blaze Realm had concentrated all its resources into Arikar when he emerged from hibernation, and even the Blaze Realm’s inherited battle technique, the Karmic Flame Sword, had been given to Arikar. Jared had been stripped of everything, but he was not resigned to this fate.

He looked at the student charging towards him, and his suppressed anger exploded. He waved his hands and sent out a peculiar ripple that phased through his Limiteer realm opponent. A mere instant later, the student’s eyes lost focus and they immediately dropped to the floor, dead.

Many witnessed this scene, especially Craynor. He had been watching Jared, and a chill ran down his spine when he saw that scene.. This was a battle technique that Jared had inherited while in the Dao of Illusion, and it was immeasurably strange and confusing.

Jared was not the first Area Master who revealed a hidden card in this round. The appearance of Arikar and other such hidden experts had caused the various Area Masters to feel a hint of danger. As more hidden experts began to reveal themselves, many commonly mentioned battle techniques were revealed, giving the eyes of the countless spectators a visual feast.

The Astral Combat Tournament’s effect was beginning to show as more and more people believed that, with so many powerful students in the Astral Combat Academy, the other star realms definitely would not be able to compare to them. Many others were even dreaming of one day showing off their own abilities on this glorious stage.