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Lu Yin suddenly moved and aimed an attack behind Coco. His strike pierced the void and scattered upon impact with the Ocean of Death, leaving no waves whatsoever.
Kuang Wang looked at him, shocked. “Did you see an illusion?”
Lu Yin did not know how to explain it, as he had not seen an illusion exactly. Rather, he had sensed the gathering power right before an illusion manifested, and that was also what he had just destroyed. “I can sense the appearance of the illusions.”
“Impossible. No one has ever been able to sense the illusions before they appear.” Kuang Wang immediately denied Lu Yin’s claim. “Perhaps you saw what the illusion wanted you to.”
The others agreed with Kuang Wang’s thoughts.
Lu Yin could not explain himself. The Ocean of Death had a similar origin to the Sky Platform, and his eyes had changed after he climbed it. He had long since seen the rune lines that made up the Ocean of Death, and they were definitely not an illusion. However, he had no way of explaining all this to Kuang Wang.
“You don’t have to bother about it. In any case, don’t be worried. I can take care of the illusions in advance, so just focus on sailing across the Ocean of Death.” Lu Yin was adamant in this statement.
Kuang Wang seemed to want to rebut, but he was interrupted by Xia Luo. “It doesn’t matter if Lu Yin is right or not. We can’t change anything. Let’s listen to him, and we’ll just act whenever we see an illusion.”
Kuang Wang nodded, as Xia Luo had laid out a sound plan. “Alright. Everyone, remember: attack as soon as you see an illusion.”
Zora was still panicking even while Coco was trying to comfort her. Kuang Wang and Feng Shang both had uneasy expressions as well.
Only Xia Luo remained calm, as he seemed to believe Lu Yin.
“Seventh Bro, this place is haunted,” the monkey said. He hadn’t spoken for a while and could no longer endure the silence.
Lu Yin looked around and unleashed another attack, dispersing some more converging rune lines. This time, they had appeared beside Kuang Wang. For a second, he even believed that Lu Yin was attacking him and nearly retaliated.
Their side was alright for now, but Shamrock Enterprises and the spirit hunters’ boats had just entered the region with the illusions.
Lu Yin turned around and squinted. The spirit hunters’ boat was currently enveloped by the rune lines, to the extent where he could not even see the people inside, which indicated that a disaster had struck them.
Sure enough, the spirit hunters’s boat quickly capsized.
Now, only the Shamrock Enterprises team remained behind Lu Yin’s team.
Not much later, the Shamrock Enterprises’ students also vanished from the Ocean of Death.
Finally, only one boat remained.
Their boat sailed deeper into the Ocean of Death, and soon, two more days passed. Xia Luo eventually became unable to endure it any longer, and Kuang Wang replaced him. Compared to Feng Shang, Kuang Wang could not display as much of his strength in the Ocean of Death.
At present, they had been sailing for around five days in total, and the speed of the star energy boat was neither slow nor fast. They had traversed quite an impressive distance during these five days, but the end was still not in sight.
The water grew more turbid, and looking into the ocean gave one a feeling of being engulfed.
Lu Yin maintained the star energy in his eyes as he vigilantly observed the surroundings, taking action from time to time.
Kuang Wang and Feng Shang were now certain that Lu Yin truly could sense the illusions as they formed. This puzzled Kuang Wang to no end, as not even Starsibyl could do this; Lu Yin’s success had toppled his understanding of the world. He nearly asked about it several times, but he managed to control himself.
“Brother Xia, you’re very tired. Do you want Coco to give you a jab?” Coco looked at Xia Luo with concern.
Xia Luo shook his head with a smile. “There’s no need, Coco.”
Even Xia Luo, who was always calm, did not dare to allow Coco to stab him with her syringe. Coco, who still had not managed to test out her method of treatment on anyone in the Astral Combat Academy, felt rather sullen.
Zora couldn’t stand it anymore. “Coco is from the Windrift Hall. Even though her syringe is rather large, it won’t pierce your body. It uses the meridians to treat injuries, which then allows the body to recover faster. It’s an innate gift that’s famous for its treatment in Windrift Hall.”
Coco immediately nodded and then expectantly looked back at Xia Luo.
Feng Shang could not endure it either. “Actually, your explanation makes things even more horrifying.”
Zora had already made her best case for Coco.
The cute little girl fell silent, as she had not been able to treat anyone in a long, long time.
“Careful, there’s something abnormal up ahead,” Lu Yin suddenly spoke as he stared into the distance. It was the first time such an expression had appeared on his face since the group had started their venture across the Ocean of Death.
Feng Shang and the others looked in the direction that Lu Yin was staring in. They shockingly saw a figure walking atop the Ocean of Death, heading straight for them.
Coco screamed in fear as she stared at the distant figure in terror, while Zora’s face was also deathly white, as if she had seen a ghost. This was the Ocean of Death, but someone was actually walking on it.
Lu Yin stood up. “That should be a war spirit, but it’s not an ordinary one.”
“It might be an illusion,” Kuang Wang commented.
Lu Yin could not determine which one it was, because the figure had appeared in the distance and not materialized within his range of vision. It already had a solid figure when he first saw it, and since its rune lines had already appeared before he had noticed it, he could not tell its origins.
“How do you guys think the illusions are formed? The same way as a war spirit? Are they birthed from former students who came here before?” Xia Luo asked as he stared at the approaching figure.
“Maybe,” Kuang Wang replied uncertainly.
“If so, then doesn’t that mean that the illusion has the battle strength of someone who once visited the trial zones, along with a spiritual force attack?” Xia Luo continued.
His words caused the others to shudder, as they were currently already rather deep into the Ocean of Death. Those who could reach this point had practically all been academy leaders, which meant that their strength was at least that of a Realm Master. A Realm Master powerhouse with a spiritual force attack; they looked involuntarily at Lu Yin. That was basically describing Liu Shaoqiu’s Third Sword.
Lu Yin had also thought of that possibility. “Everyone, be careful. From now on, no matter what we meet, whether it’s a war spirit or an illusion, treat it as if you were confronting the strength of Liu Shaoqiu’s Third Sword.”
“How can we even confront that? We might as well just die!” Kuang Wang was rendered speechless. Aside from Lu Yin, no one else could stand up to Liu Shaoqiu’s Third Sword.
The figure slowly approached them, and they finally made out that it was a war spirit.
It suddenly attacked and targeted the entire group. Its finger shook, and the void suddenly split open to form a sharp edge that sliced forward.
Feng Shang felt numb. “An innate gift of space—be careful!”
Lu Yin waved a hand and tore the void apart, horizontally separating the space in front of him and clashing against the spatial crack of the war spirit’s attack. A cross-shaped spatial crack appeared above the boat formed from star energy as an enormous pressure descended upon the occupants.
Lu Yin shouted, “Take care of yourselves!” He leaped up using Flash to get close to the war spirit with startling speed. He then raised a hand and slammed it out.
This war spirit actually had the rare innate gift of space. Although its exact nature was still unknown, any innate gift that involved space was bound to be annoying, like Darkvoid’s spatial explosions that had even defeated Michelle’s innate gift of the red lotus. Lu Yin had to hurry and destroy this war spirit.
The war spirit had no thoughts, nor did it know what retreat was. As it watched Lu Yin attack, its hands waved again, and the many layers of the void in front of it ruptured to form a mountain range-like forcefield. Lu Yin twisted his body to evade it before appearing behind the war spirit with Flash. He then pressed down with an open palm.
Suddenly, Lu Yin felt a sense of crisis overcome him, and he quickly used the Secret Sidestep to change his body’s trajectory. A long spear pierced through the void, striking at where he had just been. Another war spirit appeared close behind him.
Lu Yin had unleashed his domain and Cosmic Art together. Now that he could enhance his vision, he no longer needed to use the Giant Emperor’s third eye to use the Secret Sidestep, which was extremely fortunate. Otherwise, he would have been struck by that spear.
There are actually two war spirits- No. Lu Yin’s gaze slid past the two war spirits, and he looked back at Feng Shang and the rest. War spirits had appeared inside the boat as well. Coco and Zora had already died, though there were no superficial injuries on their bodies. They had died similarly to those people back in the centipede's body. It was a death resulting from the extinguishing of one’s spiritual force. These figures were war spirits, but also illusions.
Lu Yin clenched his fists and used the Secret Sidestep to approach the two war spirits closest to him. The void before him peeled back again, layer by layer. The innate gift of space was difficult to deal with. However, it was not enough to stop Lu Yin when he used the Secret Sidestep. The spear tip stabbed out at him once again, but this time, Lu Yin did not dodge the attack. As long as he wasn’t caught off guard, these two war spirits were not enough to threaten him.
Lu Yin quickly took care of the two war spirits. After all, they were just Limiteers, and Limiteers could no longer be Lu Yin’s opponents.
Feng Shang and Xia Luo each faced a war spirit, and Feng Shang was performing well. Although Xia Luo was evidently not as strong as the rest of them, he could still barely hold out. Meanwhile, Kuang Wang was trying his best to maintain control of the boat.
After Lu Yin dealt with the two war spirits in front of him, the battle on the boat no longer held any suspense. The other war spirits were similarly eliminated in short order by Lu Yin.
Kuang Wang relaxed. “Four appeared in an instant, and they each had the strength of Realm Masters. That’s just too ruthless.”
On the boat, Zora and Coco’s bodies had already vanished. They would appear at the coast whenever they reentered the Dao of Heaven.
“It’s a pity. We shouldn’t be too far from the other side,” Xia Luo sighed regretfully.
“The closer we get, the greater the danger. I believe that that won’t be the greatest crisis and that there will be more up ahead,” Kuang Wang replied.
Lu Yin agreed. If the difficulty in crossing the ocean was just this degree, then it would not have been enough to prevent the various monsters of the Astral Combat Academy from crossing over the years. For the Ocean of Death to have become a legend, the danger could not be limited to just these current war spirits, there had to be stronger ones up ahead.
On the other side of the ocean, Wu Da hurriedly recorded what had transpired on the Ocean of Death—not only his own experience, but Lu Yin’s and the others as well.
Before the advent of the Wu Da’s tabloid, anything that involved crossing the Ocean of Death had always been very mysterious, and news of it had only ever been shared through word of mouth between friends. But now, his tabloid would remove the veil covering the Ocean of Death’s secrets.
“Not enough, it’s still not enough! We know nothing about what’s in the deeper regions. This info won’t be enough to attract the notice of the stronger students.” Wu Da was distressed.
While he was standing on the coast of the Ocean of Death, he suddenly noticed Coco and Zora. His eyes lit up, and he immediately ran over to them. “Hello, fellow students. I’m Wu Da.”
The two girls had endured the headaches caused by their deaths and forcibly reentered the Dao of Heaven. They had appeared at the coastline, just like Kuang Wang had said.
Coco looked at Wu Da curiously.
Zora blocked him from approaching Coco. “You’re the founder of the tabloid, Wu Da. We’ve heard of you before. What do you want?”
Wu Da kneaded his hands in embarrassment. “That
 How far did you two make it across the Ocean of Death before you died?” After he spoke, he saw Zora’s face sour, and Coco revealed an uneasy expression. He instantly knew that he had misspoken. He immediately changed his tune. “No, I wanted to ask the two of you how far you reached and what you saw. Please rest assured, I won’t take your information for free. If you need anything in the future, you can always come look for me.”
Zora calmly replied, “I’m sorry, but we were taken along by our academy’s student leader. Unless he agrees, we cannot divulge anything that happened there.”
Wu Da licked his lips. “You’re talking about Lu Yin, right? I’m very familiar with him. Rest assured, he definitely won’t have any objections towards you talking to me.”
Zora did not believe him.
Wu Da continued, saying, “Lu Yin’s the strongest student in the Astral Combat Academy, and he can ruin my life if I lie to you. Tell me, and in future, the two of you will be Wu Da’s younger sisters—No, elder sisters!”
Zora frowned; this person was really thick-skinned.