After walking a short distance away from Northgate Mansion, Lu Yin stopped and called out, “Come out.”

A skinny person walked out from behind him. It was nighttime, and the man’s silhouette could only vaguely be seen. However, Lu Yin had comprehended a domain, which dramatically heightened his senses. Despite that, even though he could clearly see the person in front of him, Lu Yin had no idea who the man was. “Who are you?”

The person had started tailing him the moment he exited Northgate Mansion, but Lu Yin had never felt any bad intentions from the man.

The silhouette approached Lu Yin, stopping about ten meters away from Lu Yin. “I’m Ah Fan. You might not know me, but I’ve fought you before. You should have some recollection of that.”

Lu Yin was confused. “We’ve fought? When?”

Ah Fan seriously answered, “We fought in a ported battle. At the time, you had a red name.”

Lu Yin was shocked. “You’re the one who I won the teleportation stone from?”

Ah Fan reluctantly nodded.

Lu Yin didn’t know how to respond. He had never thought that he would run into this person here. A ported battle could be between any two people who were in the younger generation and had access to a teleportation stone. This person had been extremely unlucky to have met Lu Yin when he had a red name. Moreover, Ah Fan was from the Northline Flowzone, giving Lu Yin the extremely awkward opportunity to meet this person in real life.

They looked at each other without speaking.

Although Lu Yin felt awkward, he wasn’t too affected by it, as teleportation stones were meant to be fought over. When the crazy headmaster had ruined Astral-10, many of the academy’s teleportation stones had been robbed, and this was a normal occurrence.

“What? Are you planning to get revenge?” Lu Yin asked.

Ah Fan stared at Lu Yin and seriously stated, “I want to fight with you again.”

Lu Yin frowned. “You should already know that you won’t be able to defeat me.”

A trace of bitterness appeared within Ah Fan’s eyes. “I know that, but I’m still a top student from Shangwu Academy. I really can’t accept that I was defeated in a single move. At the very least, I hope to be able to withstand a second move.”

Lu Yin raised his brows. “Withstand a second move? That’s ambitious.”

Ah Fan was stunned; it was withstanding two moves from Lu Yin. Was that really that ambitious?

Ah Fan didn’t know that Lu Yin now used Thirty Stacks as a standard attack. There were only a few Limiteers in the entire universe who could withstand Thirty Stacks, and even some Explorers would be instantly killed by such an attack. This was why Lu Yin had said that Ah Fan was ambitious in his goal; even a grey-eyed Corpse King from the Neohuman Alliance had been defeated by that move.

Hang on, Shangwu Academy, Ah Fan? Lu Yin felt like he had heard this name before.

“Lu Yin, I, Ah Fan, personally challenge you to a duel,” Ah Fan declared loudly.

Lu Yin finally recalled where he heard this name before. Ah Fan was one of the nominees from San Dios, and the records had shown that he was from Shangwu Academy.

“Did you participate in the Outerverse trials?” Lu Yin asked.

Ah Fan nodded. “Yes.”

Lu Yin nodded in understanding. Since this person had been nominated by San Dios and he had also exited from Northgate Mansion, he definitely had some background. This was the exact kind of person Lu Yin wanted to recruit. “You want to challenge me?”

“Yes,” Ah Fan replied seriously.

Lu Yin paused for a moment. “I can accept your challenge, but I have a condition.”

Ah Fan clenched a fist. “It’s just a battle, so why do you need a condition?”

Lu Yin smirked. “I only battle for personal gain or for self defense, so why should I battle with you? There are risks associated with battle, and I need to protect myself.”

“Fine, what’s your condition?” Ah Fan exasperatedly asked.

Lu Yin’s eyes gleamed. “I’ll give you two options. The first one is to join San Dios and become a subordinate member under me if you’re defeated.” Lu Yin paused at this moment since he didn’t know how to set a price. Back in Astral-10, when Craynor had challenged Lu Yin over Xi Yue, he had set a price of twenty thousand star crystals.

Twenty thousand had been a considerable amount to him back then, but now, he already owed fifty star essence just to Lulu, which was equivalent to five million star crystals.

Once he remembered that he still owed such a large amount to Lulu, Lu Yin steeled his gaze. “The second option is one star essence. You can choose either one.”

Ah Fan was stunned. “What- what did you just say? A star essence?”

Lu Yin nodded, but he had a bad feeling after seeing how stunned Ah Fan appeared. “You… don’t have that much?”

Ah Fan shook his head. “Star essence is way too precious. Normally, only the direct heirs of the larger families have access to such a thing. I don’t have any.”

“Star crystals are fine too. You can just convert it,” Lu Yin continued.

Ah Fan thought about the two options for a moment. “I’ll choose the first option.”

Lu Yin arched a brow. “Why? Don’t you have ten thousand star crystals?”

Ah Fan shook his head and bitterly answered. “It’s not that easy to save up so much money. My family gives me a normal amount of resources, and star crystals are allocated based on our cultivation rate. Between absorbing star crystals to cultivate and using them to train battle techniques, there’s not much left over. I simply don’t have that kind of money.”

Lu Yin could hear the bitterness in Ah Fan’s answer. It turned out that life wasn’t as good as he had thought it was for children from large families. Meanwhile, he was borrowing star essence from people. Wasn’t that discrepancy a bit too big?

However, Lu Yin wouldn’t have reached his current strength without money.

If he gave those same families an opportunity to spend hundreds of star essence in order to grant their heirs the power to become the champion of the Tournament of the Strongest, they would probably be overjoyed. Money served a different function for everyone. Although Lu Yin was always in need of money, Ah Fan just needed enough to continue training.

A penniless pauper—that was Lu Yin’s new impression of Ah Fan.

“Fine, since you have no money, it’s natural that you would accept the first condition and join San Dios if you lose,” Lu Yin said.

Ah Fan didn’t reject the condition. He wouldn’t have that great a future if he stayed in Shangwu Academy anyways. He was still considering what to do in the future, and going to San Dios wasn’t a bad option. Besides, he would be able to interact with Lu Yin more often and also be able to challenge him anytime.

Their current location wasn’t in plain sight, but it wasn’t very secluded, either.

“Do you want to go to another place?” Ah Fan asked.

Lu Yin slowly lifted his right palm. “It’s just one move. It’ll be faster here.”

Ah Fan widened his eyes; Lu Yin was just too arrogant! “Fine! I’ll attack now!” An oddly shaped weapon formed from star energy appeared in Ah Fan’s palm, and he slashed out at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin disappeared only to instantly reappear in front of Ah Fan with his palm stopping mere inches above Ah Fan’s head.

Ah Fan’s face turned pale. His attack had been completely dissolved! On the other hand, even though Lu Yin hadn’t used his full power, Ah Fan could still feel the overwhelming strength behind Lu Yin’s attack.

Ah Fan had been defeated by Lu Yin in the ported battle after Lu Yin had used multiple stacks. But in this exchange, Ah Fan had seen the difference between the two of them even more clearly.

Lu Yin said, “You’re too focused on your own attack. The gap between us is too large, so your attack is something that I can ignore. You should have been thinking more about how you could dodge my attack instead.”

Ah Fan smiled bitterly. “So what if I can dodge one of your attacks? If this had been a fight to the death, then I wouldn’t have been able to avoid your second attack anyways. The gap between us is just too vast.”

Lu Yin didn’t know how to console the youth. After all, Lu Yin’s speed, strength, battle techniques, experience, and every other battle-related aspect far exceeded what Ah Fan possessed.

“Actually you’re not too bad. There aren’t that many people in this generation who can stay alive after taking a Seven Stacks attack from me, but you’re one of them.” Lu Yin was referring to their ported battle, when Ah Fan had only died after Lu Yin used all Nine Stacks. Although he hadn’t been using battle force at the time, it had still been an attack that was strong enough to kill an Area Master from the Astral Combat Academy. This showed that Ah Fan was at least comparable to an Area Master of Astral Combat Academy.

Ah Fan was stunned. Is he trying to comfort me? Ah Fan was well aware that he wasn’t that bad. He was one of the top students in Shangwu Academy. However, he was still resentful; Lu Yin and he were at about the same age, so why was there such a huge gap between them? He had always been considered a prodigy, and even though he had been defeated in previous ported battles besides facing against Lu Yin, he had always consoled himself with the fact that his opponent was someone much older than him. However, his defeat to Lu Yin had been a harsh wake up call, and his perspective was no longer limited to the Northline Flowzone; instead, it now included the entire universe.

Ah Fan was still full of resentment.

“Seventh Bro, you’re too cruel! You could have cut him some slack,” the Ghost Monkey complained.

Lu Yin nonchalantly replied, “What’s the point? It’s not like he doesn’t realize that there’s a gap between us.”

“He’ll be your subordinate in the future.”

“It doesn't matter. I just want him for his background. He can’t even compare to Yue Xianzi, and he’s probably worse than An Shaohua.”

“You’re so ruthless! Even I feel bad for that guy! By the way, Seventh Bro, are you confident that you’ll be able to beat Northgate Lie?” the monkey asked.

Lu Yin thought about it before replying. “I think so. The Divine Fist from the Ten Arbiters told me that he was able to defeat people on the tail end of the Top 100 Rankings after he achieved Thirty Stacks, so I should be able to do the same.”

“The universe is huge, and there are countless people who are included within the younger generation. You can imagine how powerful some of those people must be to be ranked within the top hundred. These people have to have amazing battle techniques and experiences, so you can’t compare them to those two idiots whom you defeated in San Dios.”

Lu Yin was obviously aware of this. After all, he had sparred with Wendy Yushan before and had been instantly defeated.

His planned battle with Northgate Lie was arranged to be held a few days after the Northline Platform Competition, and there were only a few days left before the large gathering.

The news of Lu Yin’s upcoming battle with Northgate Lie was soon heard by everyone. The rumors had definitely been circulated by Northgate Gang since he wanted the entirety of the Northline Flowzone—no, the entire universe, to know about Lu Yin’s defeat.

“Lu Yin is one of the Ten Arbiters’ subordinates! Do you really believe that you can challenge someone like him whenever you want? Besides, he’s from Astral-10 as well!” the clan leader of the Northgate clan, Northgate Kong, shouted.

Northgate Lie and Northgate Gang both stood in front of him in a submissive manner.

“But Father, Lu Yin was way too arrogant! How dare he try to sit at the head of the table! He was clearly looking down on my brother!” Northgate Gang whined.

Northgate Kong roared, “Then let him have the seat! You’ve offended the Ten Arbiters with this move! This is different from a student challenging Astral-10. Lu Yin is currently representing the Ten Arbiters. It wouldn’t matter if he’s defeated and there’s no connection with us, but how will the Ten Arbiters feel about this mess? Do you realize what everyone else is saying about this? They’re saying that the Northline Flowzone is trying to kick the Council of the Ten Arbiters out!”

Northgate Lie frowned. “Father, it can’t be that serious, right?”