Lu Yin looked up. “I, Lu Yin, am the Outerverse Allied Forces’ Commander, and behind me stands the Outerverse Allied Forces. If you attack them, then you’d be betraying the Fifth Mainland. Old man, have you considered how best to explain yourself to the Hall of Honor?”

The elder grew furious. “Junior, how dare you try to frame me! You’re asking for it!”

The fiery giant suddenly swatted down.

Lu Yin fiercely charged out to block the fire giant, but the elder merely sneered. This kid’s defensive armor was indeed capable of blocking his Fire Spirit’s attack, but its attacks did not rely solely on its flames. Rather, it focused more on its raw force. Even if the kid could block the flames, he would not be able to endure the strength of the attack.

The Outerverse Allied Forces were nervous as they watched Lu Yin dash into the inferno.

The Innerverse cultivators were also nervous, and only the people from the Blaze Realm grew excited at this sight. That giant was the Blaze Realm’s hidden trump card: Monster Chi’s Fire Spirit. Nobody had ever survived this attack in the past; in their minds, Lu Yin was already doomed.

At this moment, Lu Yin was actually very excited. He was not fighting against the Fire Spirit, but rather traveling through the gaps of the spirit’s rune lines. After that, he took out—the Skyblaze Stone.

That was right. In Lu Yin’s eyes, not only was this Fire Spirit not an enemy, but it was also a precious fire source.

Although the Fire Spirit’s heat fell short of the final layer of dark flames that had protected the Dark Phoenix family, it was not lacking in comparison to the first fourteen layers’. In fact, the fire spirit actually possessed an even higher temperature than the darkflames, which coincidentally meant that it was perfectly suited to be absorbed by the Skyblaze Stone.

Monster Chi frowned and raised a hand, causing the flames within the Fire Spirit’s form to surge and converge as lines of flame shot at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin relied on his ability to observe rune lines to continuously evade the jets of flames despite being able to endure the attacks even if they did occasionally land. The strength contained within the Skyblaze Stone exploded as it rapidly devoured the nearby flames.

Monster Chi was not able to sense the changes at first, but before long, his expression changed. His Fire Spirit was growing unstable. How was that possible? He quickly tried to dissipate the flames so that he could reform the Fire Spirit.

Lu Yin immediately took out the small mirror, disrupting the surrounding star energy. Monster Chi was a powerhouse whose power level was greater than 400,000, and in normal circumstances, he could not be disturbed. However, the small mirror had been upgraded thirteen times, and it could disrupt the star energy of someone whose power level exceeded 400,000. Monster Chi could only consider himself unlucky, and he was not able to stop his star energy from being absorbed by the one-way mirror, and since his star energy was being absorbed and disrupted, he could no longer affect the Fire Spirit.

Monster Chi could only blankly watch on as his Fire Spirit grew smaller and smaller before ultimately vanishing as it was absorbed into the Skyblaze Stone.

Lu Yin stored the Skyblaze Stone away, and he happily told Monster Chi, “Thanks!”

Monster Chi felt lost. He had cultivated for ages, but he had never encountered such a scene before. What had just happened? How had his flames been devoured?

“Junior, what did you just do?” Monster Chi sharply questioned.

Lu Yin shrugged. “Nothing much. Hey old man, you’re from the Blaze Realm, and that place is known to have a pinnacle battle technique called the Karmic Flame Sword. Do you know it?”

Lu Yin held high expectations as he asked his question, as he hoped to also absorb the Karmic Flames, which he was certain would greatly replenish the Skyblaze Stone’s heat. The might of the Karmic Flame Sword was almost entirely due to the Karmic Flames, and people like Arikar only possessed a slight trace of the flames. If this old fart had access to those flames, then he would have much more than a trace of the flames, and their power would be on an entirely different level. They might even approach a power level of 500,000.

Monster Chi warily observed Lu Yin, and the old man felt as though he was unable to continue fighting. Through this one demonstration, his fire-based battle techniques had been rendered completely ineffective against Lu Yin. It was actually worse than that, as Monster Chi’s flames were being swallowed. His other attacks would be just as ineffective as the Flame Spirit; was this kid destined to be the Blaze Realm’s nemesis?

“Old man, do you or do you not know the Karmic Flame Sword?” Lu Yin asked impatiently.

Monster Chi gritted his teeth. “Junior, what have you done?”

Lu Yin frowned. “Do you dare to use the Karmic Flame Sword or not?”

Monster Chi grew furious. “First, tell me what you just did!”

Lu Yin was left speechless.

The countless cultivators on both sides were at a loss for words, and they could not understand what was happening in front of them.

“They say that the older one gets, the wilier they become. Old man, you’re the definition of deceit,” Lu Yin said.

Monster Chi sneered. He had cast aside his own reputation in doing so, yet he still was not able to make any sense of what Lu Yin had just done. Thus, the old man simply stopped fighting. He felt like continuing the battle would only benefit his opponent, and Monster Chi felt very sullen about this development.

“Junior, it seems that you have some sort of innate restraint towards fire-based battle techniques. If that’s the case, then I will admit defeat this time. However, the next time, it won’t be just my Blaze Realm’s people looking for you,” Monster Chi said.

Lu Yin’s expression grew sharp. “Old man, you want to run?”

Monster Chi seethed, replying through clenched teeth. “There’s no need to push things, I’m long past the age of getting worked up by an opponent’s words. You are a junior, and I recognize your strength. However, since you have united the Outerverse, you have offended the entire Innerverse. Even if my Blazing Mist Flowzone doesn’t move against you, someone will appear to take care of you sooner or later.”

Lu Yin blinked, and a trace of respect for this Monster Chi burgeoned within him. Despite being a powerhouse from the older generation, he had readily admitted defeat, which was not easy at all. This old man was not concerned about losing face.

Monster Chi indeed did not care about saving face, and he quickly turned to leave. This entire trip had been a waste of his time.

The millions of cultivators from Blazing Mist Flowzone all fell silent, as just retreating like this was absolutely humiliating. However, they really had no other choice, as their opponent’s strength was no weaker than their own.

The dozen Innerverse Enlighters were even more reluctant, but what choice did they have? If Monster Chi had not blocked that punch, then they would have all been finished. It was clear that Monster Chi did not want to continue fighting, so they would only be asking for a beating if they stayed behind.

“We’ll allow you guys to escape this time, but it won’t be long before we return!” The sylvan dragon elder raged.

Lu Yin exhaled. “There’s no need for us to wait too long, as you guys can’t leave right now.”

He then raised his head. “Please, Senior.”

The universe suddenly became incredibly oppressive as an indescribable pressure descended that left everyone petrified.

Monster Chi’s eyes narrowed. This feeling...?

The next moment, a figure appeared in space right in front of Monster Chi and the others. The newly arrived man looked down at all of them. He was the Sea King’s Dome’s Elder He.

Lu Yin had asked Elder He to be the powerhouse keeping things under control during this encounter, as Lu Yin had not been confident in what sort of powerhouse Blazing Mist Flowzone would send on this mission. The only way for Lu Yin to feel reassured was if there was an Envoy keeping watch.

Elder He was an Envoy, and his arrival meant the end of everything.

Monster Chi’s face went from red to white as he stared at Elder He, overwhelmed. “Senior, why are you making things difficult for those of us from Blazing Mist Flowzone?”

The sylvan dragons, the people from the Ross Empire, the other Enlighters, and all the millions of cultivators from Blazing Mist Flowzone were stupefied at this moment. Who among them could have known that Lu Yin would even be able to make an Envoy move? If they had known, then they definitely would have brought an Envoy of their own.

Elder He did not say a single word.

Lu Yin commented, “Everyone here is a cultivator from the Fifth Mainland, so as long as you promise not to resist or cause any problems, this Senior will not do anything to you.”

Monster Chi stared at Lu Yin. “Junior, what do you want?”

Lu Yin’s lips curled up. “I’ll ask everyone to move to Darkmist Weave, and as for this Astral River Ark, Junior will kindly accept it.”

…

Half a month later, Lu Yin and Lan Si appeared in the Innerverse, at Daynight Flowzone’s border.

Lu Yin was rather moved as he looked at Daynight Flowzone.

Ever since he had first started cultivating, his fate seemed inextricably tied with the Daynight clan, and it had all started with Nightking Qingyu during Earth’s apocalypse. At this moment, Lu Yin had finally arrived at Daynight Flowzone.

Coincidentally, today marked almost twelve years since he had first started cultivating.

“Have you been to Daynight Flowzone before?” Lu Yin asked.

Next to him, Lan Si nodded. “Yes. This one and the first flowzone. That place has the Innerverse’s strongest power, the Sword Sect, but this flowzone has more than just the Daynight clan as the Phoenix family is also located here. This flowzone has given birth to two of the Ten Arbiters.”

If Lan Si had not mentioned anything, then Lu Yin would have nearly forgotten about the Phoenix family. This family had always remained quite low-profile, and aside from the universally shocking incident where they had chased the Dark Phoenix family away, they had not done much else. However, they had also given rise to one of the Ten Arbiters, which meant that they certainly were not a simple power.

“Daynight Flowzone, as you can tell from the name, is headed by the Daynight clan, the Phoenix family’s territory is considered independent of the Daynight clan. In short, it’s basically a small flowzone within Daynight Flowzone.”

Lu Yin was curious. “What about the Phoenix family allows them to do that?”

Lan Si shook his head. “I’m not sure. According to the rumors, the people of the Phoenix family don’t die very easily, or maybe they still have some ancient powerhouse. After all, they are the family of the Undying Bird.”

“For their family name to be the title of an entire flowzone, the Daynight clan is indeed terrifying.” Lu Yin sighed.

Lan Si mentioned, “I’ve heard that, in ancient times, this place was not called Daynight Flowzone, but instead something like the Immortal Frost Flowzone. The name was changed later on.”

Lu Yin did not really care about the details from ancient times, as he was busy making his way to Daynight Flowzone’s main planet: Nightking Planet.

The Daynight Feast was about to begin.

Last time, he had also been invited to the Daynight Feast, but that had been a long time ago. Back then, he had just encountered an expert with a power level of more than 400,000: Northgate Taisui. That was also when he had first seen an enormous creature from the ancient era, the giant centipede.

Unfortunately, Lu Yin had never arrived at the Daynight Feast. But this time, it was being held primarily for him.

The Daynight Feast was taking place less than four months before the Ten Arbiters and others would enter the Neoverse for the contest at the Astral Tower.

Nightking Zhenwu wanted to deal with Lu Yin before he headed out for the Neoverse, which was something that Lu Yin was well aware of. He similarly wanted to eliminate Nightking Zhenwu before the start of the competition and then do his best to qualify to head into the Neoverse for the contest at the Astral Tower.

That was the inheritance of the Mountains and Seas, and it represented the opportunity to obtain a Progenitor’s inheritance.

Lu Yin and Lan Si separated from each other upon arriving in Daynight Flowzone.

The location of Nightking Planet was kept well hidden, but when Lu Yin arrived in Daynight Flowzone, he had informed Nightking Yuanjing, and Nightking Yuanjing had already shared the planet’s coordinates with Lu Yin.

Lu Yin checked his location and then directly made his way towards Nightking Planet.

He was not afraid that Nightking Yuanjing would scheme against him, as the ancient stone of inheritance was still in Lu Yin’s possession, and that was something that the Daynight clan could not discard. Additionally, he was still the Outerverse Allied Forces’ Commander. Even if Nightking Zhenwu had accused him of being a traitor to the Fifth Mainland and was under investigation by the Hall of Honor, that status had not been revoked. This was also why Monster Chi had been repeatedly reminded to not kill Lu Yin before the old man had gone to the Outerverse. The Daynight clan similarly did not dare kill Lu Yin.

Daynight Flowzone was vast, and Lu Yin curiously glanced around. This region had been settled for countless years, and long before the Daynight clan had been born, this place had already existed. Too many events had occurred in this place’s history.

There were times when Lu Yin pondered over just how vast the universe really was. Could there be something beyond the six mainlands? Could there be an even more powerful civilization out there? A stronger human race that would lead to their utter destruction?

In front of Lu Yin, there was a dilapidated-looking spacecraft shakily flying along. It was not very large, and sparks occasionally burst out from it. It was obvious that it would not last for much longer.

Behind the spacecraft, there was another vessel quickly approaching it, and this second one had the Daynight clan’s emblem prominently displayed at the front.