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Wang Wen was one of the few people in Ironblood Weave who was qualified to meet with the Hall of Honor’s Elder Lohar.
Wang Wen was on the astral beasts’ hit list, which meant that, no matter how badly the Astral Beast Domain wanted to kill the brilliant Limiteer, Ironblood Weave would respond by increasing their protection of him. General Fei had once said that he could die, but Wang Wen could not.
“These Lockbreakers abuse their privileges and still refuse to come. I’ve sent them a warning, and if they still refuse to accept the draft, then they will be treated as traitors,” Wang Wen staunchly said. He wanted to punish the Lockbreaker Society, which was a highly privileged organization, but his tone made it sound as simple as punishing a normal person.
General Fei replied in a deep voice, saying, “The Lockbreaker Society is also a subsidiary of the Hall of Honor, and they have used their identity to reject Ironblood Weave’s draft notice on multiple occasions already. Now that the Innerverse and Outerverse have been separated, no one can take responsibility for their decisions. If they decline the draft yet again, then we’ll invite Elder Lohar to step forward.”
Wang Wen nodded. “That’s right. The higher one’s position is, the more they will fear death.”
He then aimlessly flipped through the Ironblood Points rankings, but as he did so, his eyes flickered. No matter what he did, his mind was always moving and calculating. His intellect could predict his opponents’ actions, and this was something that the Astral Beast Domain had become well aware of.
No matter what level the experts had achieved whom Ironblood Weave recruited, they were all nothing more than chess pieces in his eyes, chess pieces to maneuver against the Astral Beast Domain. Even Nightqueen Qiuyu was no exception, as the Enlighters’ arrangements had all been made by Wang Wen.
“This Lu Yin is very interesting. He’s killed three Enlighters, which is unfortunate,” Wang Wen commented with interest. As long as a creature was human, no matter what schemes they may have made in the past, in Wang Wen’s eyes, they were all chess pieces for him to pit against the astral beasts’ invasion, which was why he felt that it was a great pity for three Enlighters to have been killed.
General Fei’s expression remained calm. “He relied on foreign objects, and one day, his power vessel will be depleted.”
“But even by himself, he’s an unrivaled Limiteer. How interesting. He’s someone from the Outerverse, and his surname is ‘Lu.’” Wang Wen continued, but his voice grew softer at the end until not even General Fei could hear him.
Lu Yin spent two quiet days in Seasons Fort. During this time, it was very peaceful without any battles breaking out. He and the reinforcements from the Great Yu Empire settled down on a mainland, which was not too far from the space station where they had first docked.
The fort was not strictly supervised, and when there was no battle taking place, Lu Yin was allowed to walk around as he pleased, as long as he did not leave the zone that he was guarding.
Since they were stationed this close to the space station, Lu Yin was able to see the reinforcements from the other weaves arrive, and at this moment, he saw someone familiar: Charon.
Back at the Astral Combat Academy,  Lu Yin had been chased around by the people of the Blaze Realm. At around that same time, he had rolled six pips on his die, Possessed Charon’s body, and thus discovered the man’s secrets. Lu Yin had then used Charon’s reputation to protect himself, but it hadn’t taken him long to gain the power and reputation to survive in the trial zones on his own.
Charon himself was a genius from the Timor Weave, and when he had been in the Astral Combat Academy, he had been a five-star Discerning Elementary Lockbreaker as well as the Area Master of the Dao of Purgatory’s Whitebones Gorge. By now, Charon had long since broken through to the Explorer realm, and he had probably reached the standard of a Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker. What Lu Yin remembered the most about the man was that he had an ancient object that he had obtained through lockbreaking: the Unveiled Sword.
The Timor Weave was located rather far away from Ironblood Weave, and logically, it should have been isolated by many energy barriers, preventing it from sending any reinforcements to Ironblood Weave. Charon’s appearance surprised Lu Yin, and he delightedly stepped forward to greet the alumni from his academy.
Charon stared at Lu Yin like he had seen a ghost, and his expressions went through the full spectrum, from feeling stifled, anger, shock, dumbfounded, to envy and more. In any case, Lu Yin saw all sorts of extreme human emotions in an incredibly short span of time as he approached Charon.
“What? Aren’t you happy to see an old friend?” Lu Yin teased the man.
Happy enough that I want you to die, Charon inwardly cursed. His innermost secret was known only to three people in the universe: himself, the bastard in front of him, and his even more shameless master that had initially discovered Charon’s secret. If possible, Charon did not want to bump into this asshole ever again for the rest of his life.
But wishes were just wishes, and now that they had met, Charon had no choice. Lu Yin’s battle records quickly flashed through Charon’s mind, and a smile quickly broke across his face. “So it’s Brother Lu. What a coincidence.”
“Seventh Bro, this fellow’s smile is ridiculously fake.” The Ghost Monkey was bewildered.
Lu Yin had also noticed this, but he wouldn’t be happy either if he was talking to somebody who had uncovered all of his own secrets. However, Lu Yin was very happy at the moment because he wanted to see how much Charon’s lockbreaking had improved. There wasn’t a single Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker in the entire Seasons Fort, which had made Lu Yin feel rather sullen. Most Lockbreakers were afraid of dying, so none of them had come to the battlefield.
Now that Charon had broken through and become an Explorer, logically, he should have also become a Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker.
“Brother Charon, are you very tired? Your expression doesn’t seem quite right,” Lu Yin asked with feigned concern.
Charon smiled wryly. “I am indeed tired. That… Brother Lu, I’ll go and rest for now. We’ll have to catch up next time.”
Lu Yin hurriedly grabbed Charon. “Let me ask you something.”
Charon grew suspicious.
Lu Yin continued, “Your sister-in-law-”
He was only able to get those words out when Charon turned to leave with a darkened face.
Lu Yin quickly shouted, “I wasn’t finished. I’ll keep going.”
Charon whirled around to stop Lu Yin from saying anything more, and he asked through gritted teeth, “What the hell do you want?”
“It’s nothing much. I’m just concerned about your emotional wellbeing. After all, we are fellow students, and I’m also a member of the Council of Astral Academy. Thus, I have a certain administrative duty concerning the students,” Lu Yin said with a smile.
Charon angrily growled, “I’ve already graduated.”
“Have you forgotten your roots?”
“It’s got nothing to do with forgetting my roots. I’ve already graduated, so the Council of Astral Academy cannot oversee me anymore.”
“It’s not about overseeing. It’s about my concern. Don’t get confused.”
“Lu Yin, you’re too much! I’ve already broken through to the Explorer realm.” Charon’s eyes were flushed red, and his veins were practically popping out of his skin.
Lu Yin’s lips rose as he raised a hand and clenched a fist. “You’re threatening me.”
Charon’s heart skipped a beat and he suddenly remembered that this bastard could kill even Cruisers, and there had even been recent rumors of him killing Enlighters. Charon didn’t quite believe those rumors, but they must have started somewhere, which meant that this bastard did have some capability. Charon knew that he could not beat Lu Yin.
Charon was terrified, and finally, he grudgingly asked, “Lu Yin, what do you want?”
Lu Yin smiled. “Nothing much. It’s just that, recently, I’ve become a bit lost on the path of lockbreaking. Thus, I wanted to ask for some pointers.”
Charon sullenly let out a long breath. “Fine, I’ll tell you everything I know about the path of lockbreaking, but you cannot use that secret to threaten me ever again.”
Lu Yin’s eyes brightened. “Deal.”
That night, Lu Yin and Charon chatted and drank merrily, or at least that was how Lu Yin saw it. However, from Charon’s expression, he was quite obviously not enjoying himself.
Charon was a genius Lockbreaker while Lu Yin was confident that his abilities allowed him to see more clearly than any other Lockbreaker. However, he was lacking in quite a bit of experience when it came to actually lockbreaking, and he needed to make up for that gap.
Charon had not become a Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker when he broke through to the Explorer realm as Lu Yin had assumed. It was not that simple to become a Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreaker, and now that the Outerverse had been cut off from the Innerverse, there were not many Perceptive Intermediate Lockbreakers left in the entire Outerverse, which meant that they could not promote Charon. Hence, he was forced to remain as a five-star Discerning Elementary Lockbreaker.
“Do you have any confidence in being able to patch the holes in the formless danger field of those sourceboxes in space?” Lu Yin asked.
Across from him, Charon rolled his eyes. “Dream on! If I could do something like that, then I would have been sent here to Ironblood Weave a long time ago. Every stronghold has its own sourcebox defenses and their associated dangers, but unfortunately, they’re all useless. Wang Wen has attempted many different methods to transfer Lockbreakers over to Ironblood Weave and fix the holes, but he hasn’t succeeded.”
“Wang Wen?” Lu Yin felt that the name was familiar and checked the rankings. He found the name belonging to the third Enlighter on the Ironblood Points rankings. Hold on! Lu Yin’s eyes went wide. That person wasn’t an Enlighter, but rather a Limiteer!
“You don’t know about Wang Wen?” Charon exclaimed.
Lu Yin stared at Wang Wen’s name on the list in disbelief. How was this possible? How could a Limiteer surpass so many other Enlighters and be ranked third on the list? How had he done it?
“Tell me more about him,” Lu Yin prodded.
Charon was just about to speak when the sky rumbled and massive alarms rang throughout the fortress.
Lu Yin’s face changed. “There’s another battle.”
After just three days of quiet, battle had descended upon the stronghold yet again. But to the veterans of the fortress, this was something that they were already accustomed to. Lu Yin had also visited Erudite Flowzone’s border warfront, so he was able to adapt quickly. Charon was actually the same since he had been sent to the border warfront as well.
The Astral Combat Academy had an agreement with the battlefields, and the various branches regularly sent their students there to participate, which had given Lu Yin and some others a bit of wartime experience.
Many sourceboxes dropped down from space, and multiple batches of Void Wanderers suddenly appeared. They were mowed down by countless firearms as blood poured down from the sky in a scarlet rain.
One Void Wanderer appeared near Lu Yin and Charon and tried to take advantage of their momentary inattention. The beast tore through the void as a large number of beasts poured out.
Formless ripples radiated outwards from Charon’s body, which gave him an exceptionally valiant aura. This feeling was Charon’s domain, and Lu Yin was surprised to see that Charon’s domain was much stronger than his own. The Unveiled Sword appeared in Charon’s hand, and when he slashed with the sword, it carried the strength of his domain with it. The group of Limiteer beasts ahead of him were sliced apart, and even the two Explorer realm beasts were eliminated.
Smug with his results, Charon looked at Lu Yin, as he was very confident of his attack.
Lu Yin glanced at him appreciatively, which disgusted Charon. This was how a senior looked at a junior. Charon spoke up, “Brother Lu, it’s time to demonstrate your skills. I heard that you’ve even killed Enlighters.”
When he finished speaking, an astral beast dropped down from above them. It was as large as a mountain, and it directed its immense pressure downwards. The pressure was enough to crush the entire mainland to pieces, and Charon’s face warped. “Cruiser, RUN!”
Astral beasts were not humans, and astral beasts’ defenses were generally stronger than their human counterparts. Even if Charon was able to cross realms to challenge Cruisers, he was not quite confident against a Cruiser realm astral beast.
Lu Yin looked up. “Decent artillery shells.”
Charon was lost. “Artillery?”
Lu Yin had a serene expression as he suddenly dashed upwards. He raised both of his hands towards the beast and violently slammed against it.
Charon’s mouth fell open. Was this guy crazy? Was he trying to compete in strength against an astral beast?
Boom!
The void shuddered and almost distorted as a powerful shockwave swept through the sky and across the ground. Charon felt his breathing slow down as his entire body was forced underground. It wasn’t just him, as a large portion of the mainland that he was standing upon was pressed down.
When Charon looked up at the sky, he saw an unforgettable scene. Lu Yin had actually forcibly restrained that Cruiser beast before throwing it towards a group of astral beasts, treating it just like an artillery shell.
Lu Yin’s previous words rang through Charon’s mind. Decent artillery shell… Decent artillery shell…
So he actually meant those words? Is that bastard really even human? How can a human be so strong? Even a Hunter probably wouldn’t be able to do that!