Chapter 711: Tong Chou And The Skybeast Claw
Chapter 711: Tong Chou And The Skybeast Claw
Lu Yin felt helpless when he discovered that a Limiteer’s ball of light could be so bright. A bright ball of light meant that either their cultivation or some other certain area should have similar attainments, so what could he share with this Limiteer? He walked to a window and looked out as he recalled his situation. This person lived on a nameless floating mainland, but everyone here simply called it the Mara River battlefield’s frontline. That’s right—he had possessed Tong Chou, who was a person from the Sixth Mainland. This place was the Sixth Mainland’s warfront against the Fifth Mainland, and this was where they had invaded the Innerverse.
Lu Yin never thought that he would have come to this place, as the Mara River was the name the Sixth Mainland used for the Starfall Sea. Nobody knew where the source or the mouth of the Starfall Sea lay, but Lu Yin now knew the answer. The source was in the Sixth Mainland, and the water flowed back into the Sixth Mainland from the bottom-up, which formed the Mara River.
Thus, the Sixth Mainland had invaded the Innerverse by traveling down the Mara River. This mainland was just one of the invasion’s battlefields, and Tong Chou was a disciple from the Grand Martial Realm. The Tong family was a Cosmic Imprinter family that was extremely formidable, and it could dominate an entire mainland.
According to Tong Chou’s memories, Lu Yin learned that the war between the Sixth Mainland and the Innerverse was currently at its peak.
He had previously thought that the Sixth Mainland would easily route the Innerverse during their invasion and that their forces would be unstoppable. However, the truth was that the Innerverse had many hidden trump cards, and it had been able to temporarily withstand the invasion. The Sixth Mainland had sent out Imprinters and World Imprinters, and in response, the Innerverse had sent out Envoys and old freaks with power levels in the hundreds of thousands.
Although the Innerverse had halted the Sixth Mainland’s advance for the moment, the casualties that the Innerverse had suffered were very harsh, and even Tong Chou was aware that quite a few Envoys whose power levels were over 500,000 had already perished. Some planets within the Starfall Sea had been destroyed, and each one of them had been protected by an old freak whose power levels were in the hundreds of thousands.
At this moment, a certain memory surged into his mind, and Lu Yin saw the scene of a certain battlefield where it looked like the apocalypse had struck. He felt as small as an ant caught in a hurricane when, suddenly, he saw a strange figure—a horse burning with flames was trotting through the void. It glanced at him from a distance, and just that glance had caused Tong Chou to be frightened to the point where he had nearly collapsed.
Lu Yin had seen this figure before, as it had traversed through the void and terrified him before. It had been this exact same figure.
There were all sorts of people scattered across the battlefield, and Tong Chou was just a Limiteer, so the figure had merely glanced at him from a distance before leaving. Lu Yin wanted to learn some more information about this familiar figure, as he himself was not sure about who they were.
The only thing that Lu Yin knew was that this battle had tilted in favor of the Sixth Mainland.
In the distance, a cool wind blew by, and Lu Yin felt his brain sober up even as more memories continuously surged forth. He suddenly knew why he had Possessed this person’s body; Tong Chou had actually cultivated the Skybeast Claw.
The Skybeast Claw had been left behind by the Great Yu Empire’s Undying Yushan, and the Great Yu Empire’s version had 108 forms, all of which Lu Yin had learned. On the Stargazing Deck of the Astral Combat Academy, he had seen incomparably huge warships traveling through space, and one of their hulls had borne scars from the Skybeast Claw. This battle technique was evidently not as simple as Lu Yin had initially thought, and he was even more certain of that now, since the Skybeast Claw was a technique that was also present in the Sixth Mainland.
Tong Chou’s Skybeast Claw had been unintentionally found, much in the same way that Ruky Mathers had learned the Shattering Strike. He had found a simple claw imprint on a stone, and derived the technique from studying it from a young age. The strength of his technique was even greater than the Great Yu Empire’s 108 forms. The claw imprint contained a deep intent from the Skybeast Claw.
Although it was nothing more than a memory gained through Possession, Lu Yin raised his hand and formed a claw with his hand. The resulting beast howl that sounded out from the void was enough to shock hearts, and there was an ancient aura that seemed to seeped out from the past.
Lu Yin’s eyes lit up, as the power of this technique would be incredible if he used it in his own body. He had already branded this technique into his memory, and he lowered his hand. Lu Yin would not forget this technique, and he would already consider his gains sufficient if he just went back now and practiced it. He wondered how powerful it would prove to be.
He stepped out of the room and saw some people shuttling through space. They were cultivators from the Tong family who were participating at the warfront and had helped the Tong family plunder resources.
At present, Tong Chou was aware that the Tong family had pillaged two planets within the Starfall Sea, seizing billions of slaves and more importantly, quite a large amount of resources. They had even found inheritances from powerhouses whose power levels were in the several hundreds of thousands, which had made the Tong family rather excited.
The Tong family’s main battlefield was within the Starfall Sea, but in reality, the Sixth Mainland’s invasion into the Innerverse was mainly made up of cultivators from the Blackblood Realm. The scope of the invasion had enveloped the entire Mara River, and the realm had dedicated nearly all of its power to invading the Innerverse. They had already conquered the Starfall Sea, and next was Chaos Flowzone.
“Tong Chou, come here,” a crisp voice called out from the distance.
Lu Yin turned around and saw a young lady. To his surprise, he actually knew her from his own memories.
He still remembered how, on his second visit to the Daosource Sect’s ruins, he had traded blows with a girl in the plaza outside of the First Divine Gate. The girl in front of him now was the same one. Right, now that I think about it, that girl’s surname is also Tong. What a coincidence.
When he saw her, Lu Yin was astonished due to the coincidence, but he also sensed panic, hate, and helplessness from Tong Chou. Lu Yin quickly scanned through his host’s memories and realized why. This girl, Tong Tong, took particular delight in bullying Tong Chou, and this she had already treated him like a dog for several years. His hatred for her was very strong, but he didn’t dare to do anything to her because she was the daughter of the Tong family’s patriarch, and she was also the strongest member of the Tong family’s younger generation. Her cultivation had actually reached the Grand Martial Realm, which was second only to the Realmling’s, and she was also the younger sister of Tong Zhan.
“Tong Chou, didn’t you hear me call for you?” Tong Tong shouted again in the distance.
Lu Yin still did not move, and someone kicked at him from behind. His expression changed, and he reflexively dodged aside, as it was very simple for him to evade such a kick with his seasoned battle awareness. The person who had kicked at him had not expected him to dodge, and that person’s missed kick incited guffaws from everyone in the area.
Tong Tong also smiled, but she continued to shout.
That person felt as if he had lost face, so he glared fiercely at Lu Yin. “Alright, it seems that you’ve finally grown some balls after coming to the battlefield. Try to dodge my kick again! I’ll let you try.”
The person then kicked again, this time using star energy to significantly increase the speed of his attack compared to before.
Lu Yin had not planned on causing any trouble, and it would have been fine for him to take a single kick. However, in the innermost depths of Tong Chou’s heart, his hatred and panic made Lu Yin instinctively resist, and he responded to the man by similarly raising a leg and lashing out with a kick. His kick struck the man’s knee and sent him crumbling to the ground.
The surrounding people fell silent, and they looked at Lu Yin in shock. What was going on?
In the distance, Tong Tong was also astonished. “This guy’s just too lucky, isn’t he?”
A young man had appeared behind her at an unknown time, and he stared at Lu Yin with a smile on his face.
That man who had been kicked to the ground by Lu Yin’s face flushed red, and he leaped up with an icy look on his face. “I’ll make you regret being born!”
This time, the man swatted out with a palm. This person was an Explorer, and Tong Chou’s Limiteer realm body felt an intense natural suppression against such an expert. Lu Yin was only able to dodge due to the heavy suppression caused by the difference in star energy. In the past, Tong Chou had never dared to retaliate when he was being bullied by others due to his timid and weak personality. However, in reality, the power of his Skybeast Claw made him quite powerful.
Tong Chou did not dare to retaliate whereas Lu Yin did not want to as he did not want to expose the Skybeast Claw.
Without it, even with his superior battle ability, he would not be able to fight against a clearly elite Explorer of the Tong family with Tong Chou’s physical body. However, evading this person’s attacks was of no issue. His understanding of star energy was all in the mind, and his ability in this would not disappear just by changing physical bodies.
By sensing and analyzing the flow and trajectory of star energy, Lu Yin was able to dodge every single one of the man’s attacks, seemingly by coincidence. Doing so once or twice could be passed off as chance, but it was unlikely to happen for dozens of consecutive strikes. The surrounding crowd gradually stopped talking, as this could not happen due to just mere chance.
Even Tong Tong started to feel that something was amiss, and she looked at Lu Yin strangely. “This fellow’s ability to dodge is rather good.”
“No, it’s that his awareness towards star energy is quite strong, which allows him to predict his opponent’s attacks in advance,” the man behind Tong Tong clarified.
Tong Tong turned around and was astonished to see the man. “Brother, why are you here?”
This man was Tong Zhan, and he moved forward several steps to observe Lu Yin dodging the attacks of his Explorer ream opponent. He blandly said, “If I hadn’t come, how else would I have been able to see something so interesting? It won’t be too long before he comprehends a domain.”
Tong Tong pursed her lips. “What’s so outstanding about a domain? I can do it too. It’s very simple for us of the Sixth Mainland to comprehend one, but what we really value is spiritual force. Only by upgrading our spiritual force can we withstand the pressure of an imprint and become more powerful. If I could display our ancestor’s imprint more clearly, then my strength would increase multiple times over.”
“Don’t underestimate a domain, as they can be very terrifying when cultivated to the extreme. It’s just that nobody in our Sixth Mainland is willing to spend the time cultivating one,” Tong Zhan replied.
After watching Tong Chou repeatedly dodge all of his attacks, the Explorer’s embarrassment turned into anger, and a fuzzy image appeared behind him, which was his imprint.
Lu Yin’s heart sank, as this was not good. Once someone activated their imprint, their attack power and intensity would increase drastically, and it was not very realistic for him to dodge such attacks with Tong Chou’s body as the disparity between the two of them was too vast.
“Go to hell!” The Explorer raised a hand and swatted down as a martial imprint also appeared on his forehead, improving his strength by another level. This attack caused even the void to tremble and ripple.
Lu Yin was helpless; was he going to die here? He would end up letting this Tong Chou down since he had caused the youth’s death.
At that moment, a strong gust swept past everyone, and a violent aura sent everyone flying backwards. The attack from Lu Yin’s opponent was diverted by this pressure, causing it to land to one side of Lu Yin and create a deep pit in the ground.
Lu Yin turned around. That had been a terrifying pressure just now.
The surrounding people all bowed as one. “Greetings, Young Master.”
The person attacking Lu Yin frantically moved forward as well. “Greetings, Young Master.”
Tong Zhan glanced at Lu Yin and then at the others. “A great battle is imminent, so don’t allow others to think of our Tong family as a joke. No internal strife is allowed.”
“Yes, Young Master,” the crowd answered.
“Prepare yourselves well. The Martial Progenitor may move soon,” Tong Zhan said blandly, shocking everyone.
“Young Master, are you saying that the Martial Progenitor is going to act against the Fifth Mainland?” Someone was stunned by this news.
Tong Tong also looked at Tong Zhan in surprise.
Tong Zhan looked up. “The Martial Progenitor is not satisfied with the current results of our war against the Fifth Mainland. A large group of powerhouses from the Fifth Mainland have emerged, and there are a bit too many of them. In addition, the elites of their younger generation have been wantonly massacring our Sixth Mainland’s elites in the Daosource Sect’s ruins. Thus, the Martial Progenitor may bring the Daosource Three Skies out, and the Fifth Mainland will definitely crumble at that time. I hope that you guys can make sufficient preparations before that time so that you can seize the destiny that belongs to you.”
“Yes, Young Master,” the crowd responded.
Lu Yin’s scalp turned numb. Martial Progenitor! That meant that a Progenitor was about to act. How could the Innerverse possibly resist that? There shouldn’t be any Progenitors left in the Fifth Mainland while there were still three of them in the Sixth Mainland. This was a deep, inescapable despair. Even if he had not witnessed a Progenitor’s power himself, Lu Yin had heard of it many times, as they had reached the extreme boundary of cultivation.
If cultivators were considered deities to normal people and Imprinters deities to cultivators, then Progenitors were deities to Imprinters. And Imprinters were already terrifying characters to begin with!