Watching Gul's body slowly disappear from the ground, Lu Yin looked up at the dark sky, his expression complicated. If Old Gourde hadn't intentionally stalled them back then, they wouldn't have ended up so miserably. This debt would have to be repaid, sooner or later.
Because of Gul, Lu Yin's mood was heavy. He randomly found a student to ask for directions and learned that it was a two-day journey from here to White Bone Valley.
The Trial Zone was strange: if you died and re-entered, you would appear in a random location. But if you left normally without dying, you would reappear in the same spot. A two-day journey. Lu Yin didn't overthink it and continued toward White Bone Valley.
As far as the eye could see, the Purgatory Path was entirely black. Staring at it for too long caused visual fatigue.
Actually, the Purgatory Path was very suitable for Lu Yin. If he just revealed his identity as a Lockbreaker, no one in the Purgatory Path would dare to be his enemy. This was because the Purgatory Path's Zone Master was Dobo, who himself was a genius Lockbreaker, surpassing even Karon. Therefore, in the Purgatory Path, Lockbreakers had more privileges than in any other Trial Zone.
But Lu Yin didn't want to reveal too many of his trump cards. The Ten Academies Tournament was approaching, and he didn't believe it would be completely fair. Before the tournament, many experts would be analyzed. Just as Lady Nalan had introduced Liu Shaqiu to him, if his own strength was too exposed, he would also be analyzed and targeted, perhaps even by underhanded means.
A Lockbreaker's status was high, but in the universe, it was all too easy to assassinate someone without being discovered.
Lu Yin felt that before the Ten Academies Tournament, he should try to keep a low profile and not attract outside attention.
But the mission Elder Cai gave him—to seize a Trial Site—was tricky. Any Domain Master of a Trial Site was strong enough to rank in the Top 10, or even Top 5, of the Academy. This kind of person was definitely a prime target of interest for the Ten Academies Tournament. If he fought such a person, let alone won, it would be a huge hassle.
What to do? Lu Yin had a headache.
Half a day later, Lu Yin sensed no fewer than 30 students streak past, all heading in the same direction.
That direction was different from Lu Yin's, but he couldn't restrain his curiosity and headed that way as well.
Before long, a vast, black lake appeared before Lu Yin's eyes. The water was also black, yet strangely clear. A dozen students were hiding around the lake, staring intently into it. In the water, five figures were battling, churning the Blackwater Lake. The aftershocks even cut into the lake's shore, and space faintly tore.
Lu Yin was surprised. This was a battle at the Domain Master level, or at least a battle between experts approaching that level.
The only Domain Master-level expert Lu Yin had ever fought was Van Kleed. The power of that spear strike was still unforgettable, especially since that man was also a Two-Pattern battle-qi expert. Lu Yin was confident that with his physical toughness and Flash-Step, he could avoid defeat at Van Kleed's hands, but winning was highly unlikely. The people fighting now were probably a bit weaker than Van Kleed.
Looking around, he found a student and asked some questions. Of course, the inquiry process wasn't exactly smooth, but under Lu Yin's powerful fist, the student talked.
This Trial Site was called the Blackwater Lake. Its former Domain Master had broken through to the Explorer realm and left the Academy, leaving the place ownerless. Those people were fighting for the Domain Master position.
Lu Yin's eyes lit up. Elder Cai had told him to seize a Trial Site, but he never said he had to defeat a Domain Master. Right in front of him was an ownerless Trial Site.
The trouble was, too many people were fighting for it. He wasn't afraid of a one-on-one, but stopping everyone would be difficult. These people were, after all, extremely close to the Domain Master level and were all peak Limiteer experts. They would suppress him severely.
Just as Lu Yin was getting a headache, a strange vibration and a faint "Sanskrit" chant emanated from the bottom of the Blackwater Lake.
His expression changed as he looked toward the lakebed.
At the same time, everyone around the Blackwater Lake heard it. Their eyes lit up as they looked at the lakebed. This was an anomaly! Ancient anomalies often appeared in the Trial Zone, like an inheritance from time immemorial. Many people had obtained powerful techniques or cultivation methods this way. This was the Trial Zone's greatest value. Today, an anomaly was right in front of them.
Everyone dove into the lake without hesitation.
Lu Yin did the same.
In the lake, the five who had been fighting also dove in. But unlike the others, they seemed to have an agreement and immediately attacked the other students.
In the Trial Zone, the fewer people in an area, the clearer an anomaly became, and the more one could sense and hear. The first time Lu Yin came to the Purgatory Path, he was driven away for this very reason. Today, for the same reason, everyone was being driven away by those five experts.
One after another, figures either died or were thrown from the lakebed. The five near-Domain-Master-level experts were simply too much for the other students to handle.
Behind Lu Yin, someone attacked. A long spear pierced through the water, stabbing at him.
Lu Yin frowned, using Flash-Step to dodge. He grabbed the spear's shaft with one hand. The attacker sneered, and the spear suddenly became scorching hot, boiling the surrounding water. A flow of qi swirled around it, attempting to push Lu Yin away.
Lu Yin was shocked. Battle-qi! This person also had battle-qi, and at the same initial level as him. As expected of an expert who dared to fight for a Domain Master position.
Bang!
The lake water was blasted away, creating a momentary vacuum. Lu Yin and the attacker were both pushed back.
The attacker was a man in grey robes. He looked at Lu Yin in surprise, likely not expecting a Melder to be able to block him.
Lu Yin flexed his tingling hand. Taking on the opponent's battle-qi with just his physical body was indeed a disadvantage, but it wasn't unblockable.
The grey-robed man stared at Lu Yin and attacked again. The spear, wrapped in battle-qi, thrust out at extreme speed, tearing space. Lu Yin's calf muscles tensed. The instant the spear tip approached, he used Flash-Step to dodge. His body brushed past the spear, and he raised a palm to strike the grey-robed man. The man immediately retracted his spear, holding it horizontally to block.
Lu Yin raised his palm. When the palm emerged, the stars appeared. Nine stars revolved—a perfect Heavenly Star Palm.
Boom!
The bottom of the lake erupted with a massive shockwave. The pressure pushed everything away, including the other four experts, who all retreated with shocked expressions.
The grey-robed man's spear was bent by the Heavenly Star Palm's pressure, and his body was smashed directly into the lakebed.
A long moment passed before the water flowed back to cover the spot.
The other four looked at Lu Yin in shock. A Melder who could fight them. Another prodigy.
Just then, a cold aura rushed down from above. The group looked up, and their vision was filled with white ice crystals.
"Oh no, it's Xuan Ice! Those two twins are here!" someone shouted, furiously attacking the Xuan Ice that was freezing the lake's surface. The others did the same.
From the lakebed, the grey-robed man shot out angrily. Lu Yin's Heavenly Star Palm was strong, but it couldn't one-shot an expert approaching the Domain Master level.
"Stop fighting! Let's get out first!" one of them shouted.
The grey-robed man gave Lu Yin an unwilling glare and thrust his spear at the Xuan Ice.
Lu Yin also attacked. He had a bad feeling. When he was fighting the grey-robed man, the anomaly at the bottom of the lake had disappeared.
Furious impacts echoed across the lake, but the attacks of the six near-Domain-Master experts couldn't break the Xuan Ice on the surface. They were completely frozen over.
After attacking for a while, the group finally stopped. At this moment, on top of the ice, two beautiful and captivating women appeared. One wore a white dress, the other a pale white dress. What surprised Lu Yin was that their figures were identical. Twins?
"Haha, you big brothers are fighting so energetically. How is it, is it cold underwater?" the woman in the white dress said with a smile.
Not far from Lu Yin, the man with the crew cut said angrily, "Can Xue, the anomaly at the bottom of the lake was your doing!"
No one was stupid. The anomaly disappeared, and the Xuan Ice appeared. They all guessed it. The anomaly was man-made, designed to lure them to the lakebed, and the masterminds were this pair of twins.
Can Xue giggled. "Big Brother Gass, don't wrong us. We just saw you all fighting so energetically and were afraid you'd ruin the scenery of this Blackwater Lake, so we helped to seal the aftershocks."
"If that's the case, let us out now!" the grey-robed man said in a deep voice.
Can Xue smiled without a word. Beside her, the woman in the pale white dress spoke. She was Can Mei, and her tone was much colder. "We can let you out, but you must leave Blackwater Lake. This place is being given to our Young Sect Mistress."
"Your Young Sect Mistress? The Moon Fairy? She didn't join the Starry Sky Academy, did she?" another man, not far from Lu Yin, asked.
"She just joined. This is our gift to the Young Sect Mistress," Can Mei said coldly.
Lu Yin frowned. The Ten Academies Tournament had indeed drawn in a batch of experts. Liu Shaqiu from the Sword Sect, and now this "Moon Fairy," the Young Sect Mistress of the sect before him. Besides them, there were definitely many other monstrous prodigies.
Just these twins alone, by working together, could create Xuan Ice that the six of them couldn't break.
Over there, a pale man with cold eyes spoke up. "Your Young Sect Mistress needs you to give her gifts? She could just seduce a Zone Master and get a Trial Site. Isn't that what your Han Yue Sect is best at?"
Can Mei looked at the man. "So, it's the failure who was exiled by the White Night clan. No power to get revenge, just a sharp tongue."
"That's not right! If you've got the guts, let him out and fight him for a few hundred rounds!" Gass immediately interjected, fanning the flames.
Can Xue smiled sweetly. "Big Brother Gass, don't waste your breath. Either leave Blackwater Lake, or stay frozen. If you want to get out, you can just kill yourselves."
"Suicide? I'm not an idiot. By the time I get back to Blackwater Lake, it'll have a new owner!" Gass rolled his eyes.
At this moment, the grey-robed man spoke, "Your Han Yue Sect has some nerve, daring to attack a Lockbreaker in the Purgatory Path."
Everyone was stunned. A Lockbreaker? There was a Lockbreaker here?
Lu Yin saw the grey-robed man looking at him. His eyes turned sharp. This man shouldn't know he was a Lockbreaker.
"You're Lu Yin from the Tenth Academy, aren't you? I saw you... at Shang Mai's place." The grey-robed man said in a cold tone.
The others all looked at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin's eyes narrowed.
"Lu Yin... that name sounds familiar. I think I've heard it," Gass mumbled.
On the ice, the expressions of Can Xue and Can Mei suddenly sank. They glanced at each other. They remembered! Wasn't Lu Yin the person Karon swore to protect? This was trouble. They had actually dragged Karon into this. They didn't care about the others, but Karon was a Lockbreaker. That group was not to be trifled with; provoke one, and a second or third might appear. Most importantly, the Purgatory Path's Zone Master, Dobo, was a Lockbreaker himself. And that guy was extremely protective.
"I remember! Karon's 'lover'!" Gass shouted.
The surrounding people all looked at Lu Yin with strange expressions.
Lu Yin's face immediately darkened. He glared at Gass. "Karon is my friend! Stop talking nonsense!"
Gass looked embarrassed. "Sorry, slip of the tongue... no, I spoke too fast... that's not right either. I misspoke. Sorry, haha."
Lu Yin clenched his fist. This guy's mouth was asking for a beating.