The Ghost Monkey felt powerless. “Seventh Bro, I’ve already told you everything that I know. Basically, this guy’s very hard to deal with, and from what I know, no one in history has ever defeated a Cosmic Hou while in the same realm as one. When they killed that first Cosmic Hou, it was because they launched a group attack, just like when the Astral Beast Domain assassinated the Daynight clan’s Technique of Immunity years ago.”

Lu Yin was puzzled. “Not even those almighty human powerhouses who far surpass Tian Hou can kill it?”

“Do you think that a Cosmic Hou is bred? They are the Astral Beast Domain’s treasures, and every single one of them is protected by other powerhouses. Historically, every time a Cosmic Hou has made an appearance, they have all ended up dying after suffering from the weird plots you humans come up with. They’ve all died strangely.”

Lu Yin felt that something was odd. “If that’s the case, then the Astral Beast Domain must be very bold to send this Cosmic Hou here.”

The Ghost Monkey agreed. “It really is strange! It’s as if the powers in the Astral Beast Domain are completely certain that the humans won’t act against Tian Hou. Could this have been predicted by Skymender? It’s too crafty.”

Not long after, Lu Yin arrived at the Lifeseek Realm’s Mirror of Clarity, and he looked around. There was nothing too mysterious about this place; it was just a glossy mountain wall that looked just like an unblemished mirror that could perfectly reflect one’s appearance. However, this same place had been contested over by countless experts. Whoever controlled this wall was the Lifeseek Realm’s Realm Master.

It was rumored that the Mirror of Clarity could simulate a cultivator’s battle techniques to the next level and help perfect them, but it was unknown if this rumor was true.

Even if it was true, Lu Yin could only spend a single day here, so he did not expect to improve by much.

It would be great if he could bring this wall into his Time Stop Space. Then, he could endlessly simulate his techniques. It was a pity that his die could not appear in the trial zones.

He walked in front of the Mirror of Clarity and saw his reflection appear. The next moment, the image changed, seemingly becoming real, and then it attacked.

It felt as if Lu Yin had entered the Mirror of Clarity and was now battling against his reflected self. The Cosmic Art, Overlaying Stacks Technique, Multiple Shockwave Palm, Flash Step, and even the Skybeast Claw technique, Daynight Punch… He witnessed all of the techniques that he had learned before.

He was able to observe his own battle techniques from the perspective of his opponent, allowing him to better understand his own techniques. It was a very bizarre feeling.

Two hours later, Lu Yin’s body jolted as he unconsciously stepped out of the Mirror of Clarity. He looked at his own palm. While observing his battle techniques from an external viewpoint, he had realized that there were a few incorrect timings when he used Flash Step, and his utilization of the Overlaying Stacks was too wasteful, and…

“Seventh Bro, what happened? You’ve been lost in thought for two hours. Have you gone crazy?” the monkey shouted.

Lu Yin frowned. How annoying. He did not even spare a thought before immediately screening the monkey off. Then, he took another look at the Mirror of Clarity, only to reenter it and fight with his reflection once again.

Just as he had predicted, if he could train in the Mirror of Clarity for an extended period of time, his power would definitely improve drastically. It was a pity that he could only stay here for one day; this short time span was not enough to allow him to qualitatively metamorphose. When Lu Yin stepped out of the Mirror of Clarity for the third time, this issue was foremost in his mind.

There were less than fifteen hours until the final competition began, and he also needed to spend a few hours resting as well. He had less than ten more hours to spend here, which was insufficient.

Could his attacks overcome Tian Hou’s defenses? Lu Yin did not know, and neither did anyone else, mostly because no one knew how much Tian Hou could withstand.

Wait a second. Lu Yin’s eyes brightened just when he felt like he had run into a dead end. Why did his offense need to surpass the upper limits of that Cosmic Hou’s defenses? Was there no way to counter the creature’s absurd defenses and directly strike at his body? His body is a vortex, vortex, vortex... Lu Yin fell deep into thought and involuntarily looked at the Mirror of Clarity. He saw the Cosmic Art revolving around his body and was reminded of that scene from long ago of nine stars being swallowed by a vortex. His own Cosmic Art held infinite possibilities.

Over ten hours later, the screen that isolated the tournament’s battlefield vanished. At that moment, everyone from the Astral Beast Domain, Technocracy, and the people from the Innerverse and Outerverse, focused on the battlefield. The finals of the Tournament of the Strongest were about to begin.

Tian Hou was already standing in the battlefield when Lu Yin’s figure appeared. He also stepped onto the battlefield, just a hundred meters away from Tian Hou.

Everyone’s breath halted as they looked at the two of them. Many were nervous.

“Lu Yin is strong, but even Starsibyl lost to Tian Hou. Can he win?”

“Here’s how I see it, and I even asked an elder from my clan to specially go and check on the legend of this Cosmic Hou. In single combat, it’s practically impossible to beat that creature.”

“That’s right, we’ve looked into it too.”

Tian Hou had defeated Starsibyl, and the legends about his species’ abilities and powers had gradually spread. The Cosmic Hous were originally considered to be top secret information, but Tian Hou’s reputation had spread due to the Tournament of the Strongest. Anyone who had heard about these creatures’ history did not hold any hope for Lu Yin, partially because the legends were too exaggerated. One sentence was enough to describe a Cosmic Hou: unrivalled in single combat. This was because no powerhouse in the same realm as a Cosmic Hou had ever broken through a Cosmic Hou’s defense.

One girl lost her patience. “You guys are all such downers. Lu Yin’s been predicted to ‘definitely lose’ every one of his battles, but he’s always won.”

The people around her were about to retort, but then they suddenly realized that they could not refute the girl’s comment. Her words were actually true.

“It’s different this time. His opponent is a legend.” Kuang Wang had suddenly appeared in the crowd.

Even Astral-5’s student leader had said the same thing, causing all the students to grow even more worried. But no matter what their thoughts were, it would not affect the two already in the arena.

“Seventh Bro, are you feeling confident? Speaking of which, why do you block me off every time you upgrade your power? Is the process that shameful?” the monkey shrieked.

Lu Yin’s brows wrinkled. “Shut up.”

“Hehe, if you have the ability, then block me now! Seal off your right arm! Haha!” the Ghost Monkey laughed in an odd tone.

Lu Yin took a deep breath and moved forward, exchanging glances with Tian Hou.

Tian Hou did not bother spouting nonsense, and he directly merged with the void before appearing right before Lu Yin. Tian Hou felt no need to evade Lu Yin’s attacks, as he was confident that no one could break through his defenses. He directly tried to grab Lu Yin, just like what he had done with Starsibyl.

Lu Yin’s eyes widened; his ability to deal with Tian Hou depended entirely upon whether or not his theory was correct. With a flash, he appeared behind Tian Hou and stretched out his own hand, perfectly mimicking the way Tian Hou had just reached out towards himself, and then grabbed at Tian Hou’s body.

Everyone felt strange when they saw this scene. What is this, a mutual grappling match?

Tian Hou’s eyes also revealed a trace of puzzlement, but he did not feel any vibrations. Had this human not attacked? An instant later, Tian Hou’s eyes changed, and the black vortex that made up his body suddenly stopped rotating. Lu Yin’s lips curled up, and he raised his left hand, only to slam it down atop his own right hand. “Twenty Stacks Thirtyfold Shockwave Palm.” Bang! A shockwave erupted forth and tore through the earth and the void, twisting everything apart in an instant.

Tian Hou’s black robes were shredded, and his entire body was sent flying before he crashed into a nearby mountain. Twenty stacks had exploded consecutively, causing the ground to be blasted into smithereens, the void to warp, and countless spatial cracks to shoot outwards in all directions.

Stunned, countless viewers stared at the battlefield in disbelief.

On the Astral Beast Domain’s side, Feng Jiu’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

During the Tournament of the Strongest, Tian Hou had faced several opponents, including Starsibyl, but he had not been injured in the slightest in any of his battles. And yet, he had been sent flying the moment today’s battle began; what a joke!

It wasn’t only those from the Astral Beast Domain who had trouble wrapping their heads around what they had just seen, but everyone in the audience. How had Lu Yin managed to do such a thing?

Starsibyl’s eyes brightened, as the results of her divination seemed to be drawing closer and closer to fruition.

Nightqueen Yanqing, Kuang Wang and the rest all stared closely at the battle, but they could not understand what was happening.

In the sky above the battlefield, the Astral Combat Academy mentors vaguely appeared, and Lilac Snow’s figure also appeared even further away as she looked at Lu Yin in astonishment. This human actually injured Tian Hou. Is he the variable that Teacher talked about?

Smoke filled the sky, and Tian Hou was forced below ground.

Lu Yin looked into the distance and then down at his hand. He had guessed correctly, but he was taken aback by the actual results. He had assumed that Tian Hou’s body itself was a vortex, so he had used the revolution of the stars in his Cosmic Art to forcefully restrain that vortex’s revolution to directly attack Tian Hou. The results had been successful, but it seemed that the Cosmic Hou was not just a vortex; the essence of their strength was actually devouring.

Also, there was only a slight moment where Tian Hou could actually be damaged. Lu Yin could not afford to let anyone see him using the Cosmic Art, so he could only place his hand within Tian Hou’s body and use his body to block anyone from seeing the nine stars. However, this also meant that, when Lu Yin attacked, his hand would come out of Tian Hou’s body and that he would no longer be able to restrain the vortex. At that moment, his own right hand would be completely exposed, and he would not be able to use the Cosmic Art to restrain the vortex anymore. Hence, even though he had attacked with the strength from Twenty Stacks exploding, only the first stack had actually caused any damage. The rest had all been wasted.

Devouring through a vortex; these two aspects were both parts of Tian Hou’s strengths, and it was indeed very difficult to break through the creature’s defenses even after Lu Yin pushed his strength to the absolute limit. With his current strength, it was still impossible for him to overcome the Cosmic Hou’s defenses, so Lu Yin could only use this method to slowly break down his opponent step by step and damage Tian Hou’s body while the vortex was disrupted.

Luckily, Lu Yin’s previous strike had been rather heavy, and Tian Hou should not be able to deal with this method that easily.

A gale swept around, dispersing the smoke and revealing Tian Hou’s vortex body underground. He stared at Lu Yin in shock, but then an intense excitement overtook him.

Before his arrival, his master, Skymender, had mentioned that aside from Starsibyl, no one else would be able to force out his true strength. And yet, during yesterday’s battle, Starsibyl had turned out to be disappointing. As such, he could only wait for the supposed variable to appear. This man before him now was that variable and was also the opponent that Tian Hou had been waiting for.

“You are the variable that Master mentioned!” Tian Hou exclaimed in an excited manner.

Lu Yin was puzzled. “Variable?”

Tian Hou stared at Lu Yin. “You being able to damage me means that you are the variable. I look forward to experiencing your strength!” He then merged with the void and appeared behind Lu Yin again. This time, however, he did not carelessly attempt to grab Lu Yin as he had before; instead, he attacked with a battle technique. It was not that Tian Hou did not know any battle techniques, but rather that no one had ever been able to force him to use any, and that included even Starsibyl.

Tian Hou’s battle techniques were from the Spiritual Academy, and his black arms took on a phantasmal appearance as shadows of multiple palms were seen, the scene sending out a chilling fluctuation.

“Phantom Soul Strike! Seventh Bro, be careful! This technique is like your Shockwave Palm and can be endlessly strengthened,” the monkey warned in Lu Yin’s mind.

Lu Yin did not dare to be careless and immediately retreated. The void where he had been standing suddenly ruptured, and the images of countless palms spread out and enveloped a wide area. Lu Yin was trapped within the palms, but even though endless palm shadows descended upon him, he did not retreat. Instead, he flung both arms out and slammed his left hand forward. “Thirtyfold Shockwave Palm.” With a fierce shout, Lu Yin’s left hand clashed against Tian Hou’s palm images. However, there was no shocking collision, as Lu Yin’s attack silently vanished into nothingness. His attack had been swallowed.

The next moment, an excruciating pain erupted in Lu Yin’s chest, and he was sent flying. Tian Hou’s Phantom Soul Strike had squarely struck Lu Yin, sending him flying underground.

Many felt their hearts jump, as Lu Yin had lost this exchange. He had clearly dealt Tian Hou a solid blow before, but he had been overwhelmed just now.

Boom!

The earth rumbled as Tian Hou did not hesitate to rain down endless palms upon the ground, viciously striking at Lu Yin.