Lu Yin gave a small laugh. “Does Elder Li intend to have a match with junior Lu Yin?”
Elder Li arched a brow. “Is there anything that you’re looking to learn from me?”
Lu Yin’s lips curled up. “I wouldn’t dare. Excuse my impudence, but out of everyone here, who else has the strength to take a move from me aside from Elder Li?”
All the disciples of the Liu family, including Liu Ling, were thoroughly enraged. This was too arrogant!
Long Yun was also taken aback; this rascal had indeed grown even cockier.
Liu Shen had not expected Lu Yin to reply with such conceited words, as the youth had been a pleasant conversationalist up until this point.
Elder Li locked eyes with Lu Yin, but he shook his head after a moment. “If word gets out that I had a match with you, I would be ridiculed.” He then turned to Long Yun and ordered, “You, go.”
Long Yun was stunned for a moment, but he had no choice but to step forward. The only youth present who was capable of going up against Lu Yin was indeed Long Yun, though his defeat was also a foregone conclusion. Long Yun was not sure why Elder Li was so insistent on making Lu Yin reveal his strength.
Lu Yin was also uncertain as to what Elder Li was planning, but since the elder wanted Lu Yin to make a move, then Lu Yin was fine with it. He was even willing to face off against Elder Li. If it came down to it, then Lu Yin could simply use some of his items, as it was completely impossible for Elder Li to force Lu Yin to reveal his full hand.
If Lu Yin’s opponent was Long Yun, then the fight would be a contest of battle force, or at least, that was what everyone assumed.
Lu Yin still remembered his last match against Long Yun on Planet Pyrolyte, though at that time, Lu Yin had only been a Limiteer.
Eight years had passed since the two had met, and many things had changed in that time. Upon seeing each other again after so long, Lu Yin was no longer the weaker of the two, as that position had fallen to Long Yun.
As much as Long Yun did not want to fight with Lu Yin, there was no other choice. So, if it was bound to happen, Long Yun would not pull any punches. “Brother Lu, give it your all. I don’t want you to go easy on me.”
With a solemn expression, Lu Yin replied, “Out of respect to you, I wouldn’t.”
“Thank you,” Long Yun said calmly. After a moment’s thought, he continued, “But don’t take things too seriously. I still want to be able to take part in ZENITH.”
Lu Yin laughed. “Sure.”
The other Sword Sect disciples all grew nervous. From Long Yun’s words, it was clear that he was feeling hesitant.
Long Yun held a high position within the Sword Sect’s disciples. It could be said that, out of all of the younger disciples, Long Yun was only eclipsed by Liu Tianmu and Liu Tianmu alone. Despite that, he was already showing signs of fear before the fight even started. This caused Lu Yin to become an even more mysterious person in the eyes of the other youths, and at the same time, they also began to revere him even more.
Long Yun clenched both of his fists, and a blue aura slowly covered his body. Purple lines streaked across the blue, revealing it as eight lined battle force. The powerful aura emanating from Long Yun astounded the spectators, and the Sword Sect disciples grew excited as they admired their senior.
Cultivating battle force was not easy, and neither was comprehending it to begin with. Only a handful of youths were capable of cultivating their battle force to eight lines. Even within the Sword Sect, there were no peers who had reached the same level of mastery as Long Yun, not even Liu Tianmu. Long Yun was the sole disciple with such an accomplishment.
With his eight lined battle force, Long Yun had solidified his position as right below Liu Tianmu. Even though Liu Shaoqiu had inherited the Thirteen Swords and was able to surpass realms with ease, he still found it difficult to challenge Long Yun.
Eight lined battle force was the sign of a powerhouse.
On the opposite side, Lu Yin let out a slow breath, and purple lines appeared and shrouded his body. However, they didn’t envelop his entire body. Instead, they merely wrapped around a finger. Red lines appeared on the purple, revealing it as nine lined battle force.
Upon seeing Lu Yin’s nine lined battle force, many of the Sword Sect disciples went as pale as a sheet as they stared at him in confusion, as though they had just realized that he was a monster.
He was so young, so how had he managed to cultivate nine lined battle force?
The disciples were not the only ones confused, as even Elder Li could not comprehend how Lu Yin could have possibly accomplished such a thing.
There was no way it was that easy to cultivate battle force!
For ordinary cultivators, it was normal to take decades or even centuries to improve their battle force, so the thought of someone improving to this level in just a few years was out of the question. It was common sense that each level of battle force became sequentially and more more difficult to reach, but Lu Yin had managed to improve his battle force from six lines to nine in just a mere eight years. This went completely against the face of common sense.
Upon seeing that Lu Yin’s nine lined battle force was only twined about a finger, Long Yun’s brows furrowed, and he asked, “Brother Lu, just a finger with battle force won’t be enough, will it?”
Lu Yin raised his finger and retorted, “It’s plenty.”
Long Yun’s eyes narrowed. He had a good temper though he was a bit lazy and generally not fond of fights. He had also intended to back down before the fight truly began, but that did not mean that he was without any sense of pride. The idea that Lu Yin intended to fight him with just one finger was utterly humiliating.
Elder Li scowled; wanting to defeat Long Yun with one finger was too much even if Lu Yin was one of the Ten Arbiters unless Lu Yin was going to use one of his fingertip battle techniques with the finger wrapped in battle force. Those techniques were on the same level as the Thirteen Swords, and a power that could match the First Sword would indeed be enough for this match.
Long Yun nodded. “Since Brother Lu is so confident, then I’ll move first.”
As he finished speaking, a sword materialized in his hand, and he grew resolute. He used a basic sword technique, Sword Slash. It looked like an ordinary slash attack, but it was still formidable and fierce. This attack was different from the Thirteen Sword’s First Sword which traveled through the void, as this slash seemed to have exchanged speed for a heavy and domineering aura.
Lu Yin was surprised, as this was very different from the attack that he had witnessed before, though it still was not enough to do anything to him. With that thought, he ran forward with light steps and struck out with his finger.
It was not impossible for Long Yun to change the trajectory of his attack, but he was still angered by Lu Yin’s actions, so Long Yun directed his sword straight at Lu Yin’s finger. So what if Lu Yin had nine lined battle force? Long Yun would just break the finger! His Sword Slash fearlessly shot forward.