Huo Shiqing had already obtained Teles's Body Shaping Technique, so breaking through the Fusion Realm was no longer a concern. He could stay for the time being, but once there was any news about that corpse, he would leave immediately. Nothing was more important than that corpse.
Smoke rose straight into the sky over the Jinling land, and the battles showed no sign of stopping. Every few days, a wave of beasts surged in from the west, coming unpredictably.
In the sky, mutated flying beasts charged in groups toward the gathering area.
Granny soared through the air, flames swirling into a blazing Fire Palm that shook the sky, sparks flying everywhere, drawing admiration and reverence from countless onlookers.
Lu Yin stood atop the city wall, gazing westward. The beast waves had become unusually frequent these past few days. Could there be a powerful mutated beast appearing?
"Granny, support the southwest!" Lu Yin shouted loudly.
In the sky, Granny felt annoyed. She was a favored child from the stars, yet was ordered around like this. She wanted to refuse, but seeing Lu Yin's cold eyes, she wisely obeyed. A scene from a few days ago flashed through her mind.
It was the day after visiting Zhou Shan when Lu Yin suddenly proposed a sparring match, promising not to use the Wave Palm. Granny agreed, but the bastard actually used the Rift Palm—almost crippling her with a single strike. Furious, Granny swore never to spar with him again.
Of course, she was also shocked by Lu Yin's strength. If the Wave Palm wasn't too rare, the Rift Palm was completely different. Among her peers, only one other person could use the Rift Palm—the strongest warrior of the Empire's First Military Academy, Willow. Lu Yin was the second.
Boom!
The Fire Palm slammed into the ground, shattering several powerful mutated beasts. Granny exhaled deeply.
She found it strange. After the apocalypse, mutated beasts had increased, but not all would attack humans. Beasts had their own nature—if their territory was undisturbed, they rarely came out. This was a key reason so many survivors remained. But now, the waves of beasts were becoming unusually frequent.
A roar!
Two giant mutated beasts charged forward to attack Granny. She unleashed the Fire Palm again, killing both instantly.
On the city wall, Lu Yin frowned. This woman relied too much on battle techniques, which limited her growth. Without using the Fire Palm, her combat power dropped by half. In the academy, she would only rank as mid-level—far behind Teles, just slightly stronger than Aoton.
Suddenly, Lu Yin's eyes snapped open. He shouted angrily, "Stop!"
Raising his palm, he pressed down into the air, causing ripples to spread. Then, it exploded like an air cannon toward Granny.
Granny turned in shock, eyes widening as Lu Yin's Rift Palm came at her. This bastard was crazy to attack her! Suddenly, Granny felt a chill on her back—a sneak attack! She reacted quickly, bending down instinctively. The Rift Palm swept past her and slammed into a man behind her with a bang. The air shook as Granny was pushed aside by the powerful force.
Behind, a man spat blood and flew backward, crashing into the ground.
Lu Yin leapt up and flew swiftly toward Granny, glaring at the fallen man. He landed in front of Granny.
Granny exhaled in relief, thankful to Lu Yin. Without him, she would have been ambushed. The attacker was also at Fusion Realm strength. If the sneak attack succeeded, she didn't know how badly she would be injured—maybe even killed.
The ground split with a huge crack. The man clutched his chest, staring at Lu Yin in shock. "R-Rift Palm? Impossible!"
Lu Yin stared coldly at the man but glanced around with his peripheral vision. Then his gaze hardened as he vanished with a flash into the beast tide.
The man shouted, "Run!" but it was too late.
A mutated beast's belly was slashed. A young man looked at Lu Yin's single palm rushing toward him, drew his long knife and chopped—but with a clang, the knife snapped. Lu Yin smashed the broken knife with one palm, sending the man flying.
The ground within dozens of meters cracked, air currents swirling, tearing apart countless mutated beasts.
Lu Yin defeated two Fusion Realm warriors with just two strikes, leaving Granny dumbfounded.
She was sure these two were students—not from the Empire's First Military Academy, but strong enough to enter the trials. Yet they were so easily defeated. This was Lu Yin's true power—far beyond what his battle stats showed.
With the two defeated, the beast tide strangely retreated.
Lu Yin immediately realized these two had caused the recent beast surges.
"Who are you?" Granny shouted angrily. She had nearly been ambushed.
The two men eyed Lu Yin warily but said nothing.
Lu Yin waved off the soldiers and stared coldly at them. "If you don't speak, I'll chop you up and feed you to the beasts."
"We're all students! You can't be so cruel," one man said fearfully, his face pale.
Lu Yin shrugged. "Sorry, I'm not a student. I'm from Earth."
"Impossible!" the two shouted, then looked at Granny.
Granny fell silent.
They were shocked. "How could a mere native defeat us so easily? And use Rift Palm?"
"Enough nonsense. Speak now or die," Lu Yin said coldly.
Ten minutes later, Lu Yin ordered the two detained. His eyes darkened in thought. These two were from the Blue Mountain Academy of the Great Universe Empire. Blue Mountain Academy was located on a beast-infested planet, so they knew some beast taming, but only weak mutated beasts. As for attacking Jinling, just like Granny and the others, they wanted to take over Jinling.
But unlike Granny, these two had backing—and they were not far from Jinling, just in Anhui.
Granny said angrily, "Why not just kill them? They're scheming to seize Jinling."
Lu Yin looked at Granny. "You go kill them."
Granny was shocked and turned her head away. "I can't bring myself to do it."
Lu Yin said coldly, "The trial doesn't forbid life or death, but if you kill too many, it won't be good either. Don't try to be clever in front of me next time. This is the first and last warning." With that, Lu Yin turned and left.
Granny looked at Lu Yin's back and sneered inwardly. What a pity. She wanted to push Lu Yin into a position where everyone would be hostile to him so she could escape control—but it didn't work. This bastard was smarter than she thought.
"Boss, the beast tide has retreated!" Xu San said excitedly to Lu Yin, his small eyes shining brightly.
Lu Yin glanced at him and immediately knew what he was thinking. "Have you used up your energy crystals?"
Xu San replied sheepishly, "Used them all. I've gotten a lot stronger."
Lu Yin said, "Don't rush to break through to the Heaven Realm. You don't have the ability for that yet. Try to settle down and refine the energy inside your body."
"Okay, boss." Xu San felt Lu Yin's care.
As for Lu Yin himself, he didn't want this guy to waste his potential by absorbing too many impurities. That would make him worthless. Many big powers have ways to disperse energy and then retrain, and Xu San now was worth that investment. But the higher the strength, the greater the cost, and thus the price drops. So the stronger Xu San gets, the less Lu Yin will gain later. Earth Realm strength is just right—it keeps him alive.
Zhou Shan's injuries had recovered quite a bit. Lu Yin used Granny's healing medicine on him.
"What do you plan to do with those two aliens?" Zhou Shan asked.
Lu Yin said, "Keep them locked up for now. They will be useful. You can interrogate them and learn more about the aliens."
Zhou Shan nodded. "I heard they're from Anhui?"
Lu Yin said, "Exactly in the direction we're heading. We might as well deal with them together."
"Heading west? I've always wondered, why do you want to go west so badly?" Zhou Shan asked, puzzled.
Lu Yin looked at Zhou Shan. "Want the truth?"
"Of course."
"I'm going to Hubei. To see someone," Lu Yin said calmly.
"Hubei? Your relative?" Zhou Shan asked, surprised.
Lu Yin smiled. "Sort of."
Zhou Shan nodded. "Alright, you saved Jinling, so if you say go west, then go west. By the way, if you really reach Hubei, that's good. It connects with Liu Shaoge's Martial City. You can team up against the aliens."
Lu Yin's eyes flashed. "Liu Shaoge? The Light Saint? How's he?"
Zhou Shan asked, "How, what do you mean? Strength or personality?"
"I'm curious about both," Lu Yin smiled.
Zhou Shan said, "Honestly, I don't know him well either. Although we worked together before, not much contact. The person who knows Liu Shaoge best should be Luo Sheng Bai Xue. From what I've heard, they seem to have a thing going on."
Lu Yin frowned, then relaxed. "A thing? Married?"
"No, just mutual feelings, I think," Zhou Shan said uncertainly, then smiled at Lu Yin and grinned. "Have you met Bai Xue?"
Lu Yin shook his head.
Zhou Shan looked up to the sky and pointed at the clouds. "Bai Xue is like that."
Lu Yin followed Zhou Shan's gaze and looked puzzled.
"Bai Xue is like a lotus emerging from clear water, natural and unadorned, the goddess of Luo River, breathtakingly beautiful," Zhou Shan said emotionally.
Lu Yin stared at Zhou Shan like he'd seen a ghost. "You actually use idioms?"