Zhou Shan gave Lu Yin an odd look, “It’s not just me. It’s well known that Bai Xue is the most beautiful woman in all of China. No matter which celebrity or model you look at, no one can compare. Heh, I didn’t believe it at first either, but once I met her I couldn’t help but agree. This woman was born to be worshipped; it’s no exaggeration to call her a goddess.”

Lu Yin laughed, “That’s not an exaggeration?”

“Goddess? Don’t flatter yourselves, natives will always be natives. If you ever see Starsibyl, you won’t be able to get off your knees,” Jeraldine interrupted with a tone of ridicule.

This immediately prompted a cold glare from Lu Yin, “I never want to hear you say the word native again. Go guard the door.”

Jeraldine snorted, but without the guts to challenge Lu Yin, she turned and left. Zhou Shan was embarrassed as he realized a woman had overheard such a discussion, but Lu Yin smiled, “Please continue, Brother Zhou.”

Zhou Shan coughed several times, “There’s actually nothing more. Liu Shaoge is handsome and Bai Xue is pretty. The two are a perfect match.”

Lu Yin’s curious eyes gleamed, “What about their power?” 

The Executioner shrugged his shoulders, “Liu Shaoge and I are part of the four Sages, while Bai Xue is one of the three High Sages. He’s supposed to be prudent and adept at hiding, but he can’t be much stronger than me.”

Lu Yin nodded in understanding. Zhou Shan did not seem to understand Liu Shaoge very well, but he could sense that the man’s impression of Liu Shaoge was pretty decent. The Radiance seemed to deserve the greatest praise, and Liu Shaoge’s external image did seem rather perfect. Only the dead and the one accidental survivor would know of the man’s dark side. He had assumed he only had one enemy amongst the Seven Sages so far, but if the Water Sage really was involved with Liu Shaoge, that assumption could prove false. And then there was a chance of a butterfly effect where all the Sages stood against him… Society worked in strange ways.

Drumming his fingers against a wall, Lu Yin sank deep into thought.

……

It took until night for the beast wave to retreat completely, and Lu Yin left Nanjing after dark; he was running out of fire crystals and needed to dig up a few more. Powerful gusts could be heard under the yellow moonlight illuminating the cold earth, forcing one to focus if they wanted to hear the constant chewing that sent chills down the spine.

When Lu Yin finally arrived at the fire crystal deposit beside the old canals, he saw a shadow standing there in silence. It was a man with short silver hair, looking up towards the moonlight with a vacant gaze. His expression changed instantly the moment he noticed this person; the long-haired zombie king, the fire crystals, and that fearsome head. Was this person here by coincidence or on purpose?

He hadn’t expected anyone to be around, so he hadn’t bothered to conceal himself while flying over. Before he could do so now, the silver-haired youth noticed him. Lu Yin focused his gaze and looked over with a guarded expression; he didn’t know how strong this person was, but he felt an extreme danger that made him want to keep his distance. His mind kept wandering back to that head, “Who are you?”

The corners of the youth’s mouth lifted up in a faint smile. Right at that moment, the wandering clouds covered the moon and plunged the entire land into darkness. Lu Yin felt his scalp tingling as he saw a flash of white amidst the darkness, and he used the Roving Step to retreat. His right palm struck out at the same time, the sole moon flying around within. He noticed astonishment flicker across a cold gaze under a flash of white light, the illumination changing directions to collide with his palm. He faintly made out the outline of a beautiful butterfly sword, slicing the very air with a speed almost indiscernible to the human eye.

The youth’s attack completely deflected the power of the Cosmic Palm, the air distorting as the resulting explosion sent both combatants flying backward. The moonlight peeked through the clouds once more, revealing expressions of surprise on both sides.

The silver-haired man rubbed his head and smiled, “Sorry, my bad. I thought you were a zombie and attacked by instinct.”

Lu Yin squinted as his own mouth curled up, “It’s alright, I only acted because I thought the same. Fortunately, I only used half my strength; I hope you weren’t injured.”

The silver-haired male’s eyebrows rose, “Ah it’s alright, how could that harm me? I only used a third of my strength, but that was more than enough to block your palm, haha.”

Lu Yin looked at his own palm then smiled, “I’m sorry, I was mistaken. That was only a quarter of the palm’s power, thankfully I did not injure you.”

The silver-haired man laughed, “That’s okay, I also remembered wrongly. I only used a fifth of my strength.”

“Oh? I find that hard to believe, want to try again?”

The silver-haired man quickly waved his hands, “No, I’m just an elegant gourmet, and hardly like fighting with others. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you here for?”

Lu Yin calmly replied, “Looking for a fellow student. I’ve set the meeting point here.”

The silver-haired man grunted, “Me too, actually. I recall this place is near Nanjing, but it’s been marked blue. Maybe that was done by your fellow student?”

Lu Yin nodded, “It was.”

The youth tutted, “Aww, I wanted to take a look. But forget it, you can keep waiting here, I’ll head out.”

Lu Yin stared at his watch as the youth flew away, only letting go of a breath once he confirmed that the person had left. He had never felt such a grave sense of danger before; someone had actually blocked the full-power Cosmic Palm! This was an all-out attack with his full Sentinel power behind it; where had that person even come from? Was there really someone so strong in the first batch?

He walked through the area and looked at the fire crystal deposit. That youth had been standing where he’d found the head with vertical eyes, so he could very well have been its owner. He thought back to that skull, still failing to come up with a connection to anything he knew of. When Lu Yin had first picked up that head, he had felt he may have come into contact with an incredible object. And now, this feeling grew even more intense. Though that silver-haired male was only a Sentinel, Lu Yin did indeed feel like he hadn’t used his full power in that attack. That was unfathomable.

On the other side, the silver-haired man was flying under the moonlight with a strange expression on his face. His infallible killing strike had actually been blocked! He chuckled to himself, “There’s actually someone among the Sentinels that could withstand that strike, interesting. I thought such people would only appear with the second batch.”

……

Yuxiang, the junction of the Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. Ever since Nanjing had focused its energies westward, it had become the major battle line for Lu Yin’s troops. Five prominent captains and 30,000 cultivators had set off to clear the path, saving many survivors and recruiting quite a few cultivators along the way. The camps at Yuxiang now had about 40,000 cultivators in total, and even had an added captain among their ranks. All these troops were under the command of Feng Hong, the captain Lu Yin was most familiar with.

The battle lines had originally been stable, but one day a figure appeared high in the skies above Yuxiang and looked down on Lu Yin’s troops. Tens of thousands of cultivators raised their heads from below.

……

In Nanjing, Lu Yin was staring at his map. The distance to Wucheng was far too great, and the two were also separated by Anhui in the middle, which had countless zombies, mutant beasts, and even cultivators who weren’t on friendly terms with Nanjing. It would be extremely cumbersome to pave a path all the way to Hubei, taking at least a few months, and now that the city was marked blue, he could very well end up meeting aliens instead of Liu Shaoge.

As he was wondering to himself, Luo Yi screamed and rushed over, “Hidden Sage, the barracks at the frontlines has been crushed, and everyone was captured including Feng Hong and the other captains!”

Lu Yin was shocked, “Did any aliens appear?”

Luo Yi nodded, “The soldiers who were allowed to escape were told four words: Blue Mountain Academy, Jaeger.”

“Call Jeraldine over, now.”

Lu Yin barked an order the moment Jeraldine arrived, “Use one of the Blue Mountain watches and contact a Jaeger. He’s captured our soldiers.”

Jeraldine nodded and retrieved the watches of the two students from her cosmic ring, clicking through it rapidly until a young man’s figure flashed on the screen. He smiled politely, “Miss Jeraldine, long time no see. I hadn’t expected we would meet in such a situation, but allow me to introduce myself. I am Jaeger, a student of Blue Mountain Academy.”

Jeraldine hesitated, “You recognize me?”

Jaeger smiled, “You’re the famous elite beauty of the First Military School. Our Academy is not very far, of course I recognize you.”

“So you’re the one who sent those two to ambush me?” her voice turned cold.