The sylvan dragon was at a loss as to how it should react. It had clearly hidden itself quite well while being ready to flee at a moment’s notice. This area was secret, but it had suddenly been bombarded by a group of birds launching a suicide attack.

The next instance, the ground collapsed as the lava burst forth. The sylvan dragon roared and dashed underground, its body battered and its giant eyes still dazed. However, it was quickly overcome by rage as it roared at the sky.

Coincidentally, when it dashed into the sky, it emerged right where the Sixth Mainland’s Elder Yuan was fighting against some other cultivators from Grayweed Continent.

The sylvan dragon snarled, which frightened quite a few people who saw it.

Bai Ling was puzzled. She had clearly attacked Lu Yin, so why had this strange creature emerged from the explosion?

“Where did this creature come from? Get away!” Elder Yuan barked as he casually swatted at the sylvan dragon.

The dragon was caught off guard by this attack, and its bloodshot eyes searched the area for its assailant. When Elder Yuan attacked, he coincidentally stood out and became the ideal target for the dragon to vent its rage. Countless phantom sylvan dragon images suddenly flew out of the sky, showing that the dragon had reached a shocking speed. Elder Yuan was unable to distinguish between the phantom images, so he was struck by the sylvan dragon and sent flying.

Underground, Lu Yin was stunned. The sylvan dragon tribe had an innate gift of speed that allowed them to form three phantom images at the Sentinel realm, five as a Melder, nine as a Limiteer, and dozens once they reached the Explorer realm. Lu Yin had seen what felt like thousands of dragons just then, which indicated that this sylvan dragon should be an Enlighter realm expert.

The dragon had been so timid that it had hid in a cave when battle broke out, but its cowardly nature belied its true power.

The sylvan dragon clashed with Elder Yuan, and after venting its rage, it subsequently calmed down a bit and glared downwards. It was able to guess that the stupid human from before had lured in those strange birds and then even hid behind its back. “Human, you’re too despicable!”

Lu Yin did not bother quibbling with the dragon, as he had suddenly noticed a large amount of rune lines surging toward him from the corner of his eye. As long as there was sound, Bai Ling would be able to endlessly create those sound wave birds.

He could only watch on as countless birds rose into the sky and rushed at him.

Lu Yin grew flustered. “Lan Si, you can’t even stop a woman?”

Lan Si’s eyes turned cold, as he truly wanted to tie Bai Ling down. However, he could not do anything about the girl’s attacks, as they were simply too numerous.

Countless birds flew at Lu Yin, and he could tell that Bai Ling was determined to deal with him. Even so, he firmed his determination before leaping up and running towards Lan Si.

Bai Ling frowned, as she had never expected Lu Yin to actually get closer to her.

Lan Si shouted, “Get away! There’s no need for you to get involved over here.”

“If you were able to deal with this, then I wouldn’t need to come.” Lu Yin took a slight detour to evade the path of the birds, but he continued charging towards Bai Ling. As he did so, he raised a hand reinforced with eight lined battle force and swung out with Seventy Stacks.

Lan Si’s gaze trembled, but he similarly attacked, though he targeted the flock of birds chasing after Lu Yin.

Bai Ling’s lips curled upwards, as this kid was definitely overestimating himself. She could tell that Lu Yin’s Overlaying Stacks Path was powerful, and it was even being reinforced with his battle force. However, so what? Not even Lan Si’s Overlaying Stacks Path was enough to defeat her quickly, let alone some mere Explorer’s, regardless of how strong this Explorer might be.

Even under the cosmic phenomenon’s suppression, most of the younger generation could freely use their full power. Only those who had reached the level of the Ten Arbiters would be able to unleash full strength attacks that exceeded a power level of 200,000. This was just like back in the Daosource Sect's ruins when Nightking Zhenwu had completely crushed Lu Yin. The disparity between them had been so vast that Lu Yin had been unable to resist in the slightest.

Right now, under the power level suppression of the cosmic phenomenon, Lu Yin was unafraid of fighting against powerhouses whose power levels were above 500,000. Thus, he was quite confident in his ability to fight against this Realmling.

There was a thump, and an explosion shook the sky. However, a strange sound wave accompanied the shockwave that swept out in all directions. Lu Yin and Bai Ling both were forced to retreat, but Lu Yin was only blown back a hundred meters whereas Bai Ling was forced back several hundred meters as fresh blood trickled down from her lips. She had been injured.

Lan Si’s expression changed; how was this possible?

Bai Ling stared at Lu Yin in disbelief. She was able to block Lan Si’s attacks, which were even stronger than Lu Yin’s maximum power. Thus, she should have no problem defending herself against this person. However, at the moment that they had clashed, her strength had been mysteriously sapped away. Could that be a secret technique?

Lu Yin’s palm had forced Bai Ling back, and he immediately moved forward to continue the fight. Since he was capable of defeating a powerhouse like Elder Song whose power level was at 300,000, then he could also defeat this Bai Ling.

When Bai Ling saw Lu Yin approaching her, she let out a long breath. “Interesting.”

Then, the battlefield’s noises condensed into the manifested form of her martial print. At that moment, everything fell silent in Lu Yin’s ears. It was as if all sound had been absorbed by that martial print, including the flock of birds. The world became deathly silent.

In the distance, Lan Si seemed to be shouting something, but Lu Yin could not hear anything. He could only see that the martial print was radiating visible sound waves that formed a single line shooting towards him.

Lu Yin waved a hand and activated the Yu Secret Art. The line was diverted, but it still glanced past his shoulder, and the void was sliced completely open along its path. Then, Lu Yin could hear once more, but his brain had been jostled. An incredible spiritual force had entered his body through the wound on his shoulder and then invaded his brain, causing it to ring like a morning bell.

Lu Yin spat out a mouthful of blood and fell down, quivering.

He had vastly underestimated the strength of a Realmling. Each Realmling was the strongest powerhouse of their realm’s younger generation, but there were multiple Enlighters in each realm. Only top-notch powerhouses could break through the limit of the Enlighter realm and step into the ranks of Imprinters, but the Realmlings were destined to become the strongest Imprinters in the future, and each one would dominate an era.

As the Grand Martial Realm’s Realmling, Bai Ling’s methods, abilities, and innate gifts were incomparable to those of a typical Enlighter. Even without the cosmic phenomenon’s suppression, Bai Ling would not be any weaker than Elder Song. She was someone who stood on the same level as the Ten Arbiters.

The Ten Arbiters were not opponents who Lu Yin could deal with yet, as he was still inferior to them by a level—nay, an era.

Bai Ling pressed down, and her martial print moved towards the ground as she attempted to crush Lu Yin.

Lan Si appeared to block the martial print, and he glanced down at Lu Yin. This person was indeed quite strong; if Lu Yin had attacked Lan Si, even he would have had to exert some effort to defeat this person. Lu Yin’s exchange with Bai Ling had been enough to win Lan Si’s respect, but Lu Yin was still lacking one step if he wanted to go toe to toe against them. However, this single step was actually a vast chasm.

With a thump, Lu Yin crashed to the ground, where the fire-red dirt roasted him.

Lu Yin’s hearing returned to normal, and he tried to shake his head and clear his senses. That had been a very powerful spiritual force attack, and not even he had been able to withstand it. This was the true strength of someone who had reached the level of the Ten Arbiters. He had still underestimated them.

Lu Yin raised his head just as Lan Si appeared to block Bai Ling. However, Lu Yin was certain that, the moment an opportunity arose, Bai Ling would target him again.

There were people fighting all around them, and Lu Yin stood up with some difficulty. He checked his right arm, but fortunately, he had only suffered a slight abrasion.

A trace of astonishment flickered in the depths of Bai Ling’s eyes when she saw Lu Yin get up. She had not been that surprised during her first confrontation with Lan Si, but Lu Yin had truly shocked her. She was very clear on just how powerful the spiritual force contained within that last attack had been, but this person seemed to be fine.

While Lu Yin was contemplating what he could do to deal with Bai Ling, another figure suddenly shot towards the ground at high speed and was smashed underground just a few meters away from Lu Yin.

Lu Yin wanted to evade the figure, but the meteoric form came with an oppressive pressure that locked him down. When the person who crashed into the ground finally stopped, Lu Yin noticed a streak of cold light. He instinctively glanced over at it and saw a very familiar weapon. Was that the Sea King's Trident?

Lu Yin turned to look at the place where the person had landed underground. The man held his head up high as he stood up, and then he looked at Lu Yin as the two of them exchanged glances.

The atmosphere was a little awkward, as he was indeed the Sea King. This man, who had always maintained a dignified and assertive appearance, now looked as miserable and beaten up as Lu Yin.

“Get away,” the Sea King ordered in a low voice. He then looked up at Madam Hong, who was looking at them with some interest from her position high in the sky.

Lu Yin’s scalp went numb, and he hurriedly tried to leave, but it was already too late. If Bai Ling had noticed Lu Yin’s power on the battlefield, then so would Madam Hong. She had intentionally smacked the Sea King in this direction, as she intended to take care of both him and Lu Yin at the same time.

A red mist rose up all around them, and Lu Yin tried to take a few steps away, but his ankles were entangled by the mist. No matter how much strength he exerted, he could not break free from its grasp. Even more terrifyingly, the red mist actually started to enter his body through his skin. He could feel his muscles being rapidly dissolved, and an intense pain seared his nerves.

The Sea King grabbed Lu Yin’s shoulder and waved a hand, causing the Sea King's Trident to shoot out and dissipate the red mist with a gust of wind. “Kid, get away from here. Don’t make my daughter a widow.”

He then threw Lu Yin away. However, the Sea King had underestimated how determined Madam Hong was to kill Lu Yin, as the red mist rapidly took on the shape of a formless net that covered the entire area. The Sea King had just thrown Lu Yin out, but the youth was immediately pulled back, and the Sea King’s expression turned ugly. “Madam Hong, why are you dragging a junior into our battle?”

Madam Hong cackled. “Our battle? Do you qualify to battle against me?”

The Sea King looked very depressed.

“That’s enough playing around. I rather admire you, so come with me to the Sixth Mainland. There will be better opportunities for you to develop there.” Madam Hong stared at Sea King and did not conceal her interest in him.

Lu Yin blankly watched on; what aspect of the Sea King had attracted this woman? If it were looks, then even though Lu Yin was nothing exceptional, he still outclassed the Sea King by several leagues. And in terms of power, the woman herself far surpassed the Sea King.

The Sea King tightly gripped his trident and looked up at Madam Hong. “I hate the color red.”

Madam Hong’s expression turned cold. “Senseless.”

Her figure then vanished before suddenly reappearing directly in front of the Sea King and Lu Yin. The stunning woman stretched out a hand that was covered with red mist, and it suddenly enlarged several times until it completely embraced both the Sea King and Lu Yin.

“This doesn’t bode well. Kid, if you survive, then take care of Qiqi.” The Sea King had a serene expression as he raised his trident and stabbed out with it.

Just as the Sea King's Trident was about to stab into the red fog, blood flowed from Lu Yin’s eyes, and the Sea King’s attack was actually able to successfully pierce through the red mist and stab Madam Hong’s hand. Fresh blood flowed down onto the tip of the blades.

The Sea King was astonished; had he actually wounded her?

Madam Hong felt an intense pain radiate from her hand, and she looked down in disbelief. She was an almighty World Imprinter, and her power level was more than 900,000. Even if she had been forced to suppress her power level to less than 200,000 due to the cosmic phenomenon’s suppression, those below her realm were still unable to contend with her. She had already attained perfect control of her own innate gifts, and she should have been able to block the Sea King’s attack easily. However, she had actually been stabbed.

Something was wrong, and at that instance, Madam Hong stared at Lu Yin. “Kid, was this your contribution?”

Lu Yin squinted as blood flowed from his eyes and he became muddle-headed. This was the backlash he was suffering for his actions. He had actually wanted to use the Yu Secret Art to divert the red mist, but those efforts had been useless as Madam Hong’s control and strength were too far above Lu Yin’s. Hence, he had been forced to rely on Truesight to wipe away a portion of the red mist’s runes. Luckily, he had managed to succeed, but his efforts had left him injured.

The Sea King did not waste this opportunity, and he attacked with his trident once again, this time with the goal of stabbing Madam Hong’s arm.

Madam Hong snorted, causing the red mist swirling around the two men to transform into a world that suddenly crashed down onto them, crushing the Sea King and Lu Yin underground. The Sea King's Trident was even yanked from his grasp and left stabbed into the ground on the surface.