Chapter 144: Enhance   “Do you know me?” Lu Yin narrowed his eyes as he stared at the two in front of him.

A strange look appeared in their eyes and they snorted, “No, so go away. Spear Mountain isn’t a place for people like you.”

Lu Yin was now certain that they had recognized him, which simplified the situation greatly. They were clearly deliberately causing trouble for him.

“And what if I don’t leave?” Lu Yin’s voice turned cold as he checked the back of the two students’ hands. Even though they tried to cover their hands, Lu Yin still managed to see what he was after—there were two large “eights” on the back of their hands. Astral-8? If he remembered correctly, Xi Yue was from Astral-8, and many of the Blaze Realm’s powerhouses were also from Astral-8.

The faces of the two students grew serious. “So you won’t be accepting our help, then. Beat it, or else we’ll get Frankfurt and he’ll teach you a lesson himself.”

Lu Yin looked at them with a scornful expression. “You should know who I am, so you must be aware that you’re no match for me. However, you still mentioned Frankfurt in an attempt to frighten me. I can’t believe that Astral-8 has such cowards as you among its students.”

“How dare you!” The two students were infuriated by Lu Yin’s taunts, and they simultaneously attacked. Two spears flew forward at strange angles, sealing the space around them. But Lu Yin merely disregarded their attacks. These two were just Melders, and their control over star energy and ability to solidify it was even worse than Craynor’s. Lu Yin simply raised an arm and grabbed the spears without even trying to dodge the attacks. His Nine Stacks Shockwave Palm shook the area and immediately injured the two’s hands.

Both of the students retreated with looks of astonishment on their faces. They had known from the very beginning that they were no match for Lu Yin, which was why they had tried to chase him away from Spear Mountain so that they could call for reinforcements from Blazing region Limiteers. Unfortunately, they had been goaded into attacking just now and were shocked to learn that Lu Yin was even more powerful than they had imagined. There were rumors that Craynor had been defeated in one attack by this person. But just now, Lu Yin hadn’t even used a full attack to defeat the two of them.

Lu Yin took one step forward and appeared right before the two of them. He used his star energy to seal the area so that the two of them weren’t able to use any battle techniques or escape. He then lifted his palm and pressed downwards.

Rumble!

Shockwaves spread out, distorting the very air.

The girl who had passed by had already travelled quite far, but the sounds of battle still reached her. She looked behind in shock at Lu Yin. He must be incredibly powerful to be able to defeat two people at his level. He might even be one of the top Melders in his academy.

All of a sudden, the girl’s heart lurched and she peered upwards. She heard a whistling sound coming from the top of Spear Mountain. It was a spear, piercing through the air and towards the ground.

It only took Lu Yin a single move to smash the two students into the ground, but just as he was about to use another move to send them flying out of the training zone, he suddenly felt his scalp go numb. He spun around to look upwards and saw a spear diving toward him. The spear wasn’t exactly traveling quickly, but the air was being forcibly displaced by it. Lu Yin knew that he was in a tight spot without any way to escape. This attack was beyond terrifying and it was vastly more oppressive than his star energy; rather than just sealing the area, the attack sealed the void, preventing anyone from blocking.

Lu Yin’s pupils shrank and he raised a hand, planning to fight back with his strongest attack. But then, he stopped. He allowed the spear to pierce through his chest and destroy his organs. His body naturally disappeared from the Dao of Purgatory.

The two Melders from Astral-8 stared at the scene in awe. As they watched the spear gradually disappear before their eyes, they felt a chill crawl down their spine.

“I helped you because of Jared. Tell him that we’ll meet again at the Astral Combat Tournament,” said someone with a bright voice that resounded throughout Spear Mountain. Quite a few people looked up in shock; this was Area Master Frankfurt’s voice while Jared was an Area Master from Astral-8.

The two Melders quickly got up and bowed at the waist before heaving a sigh of relief. They exchanged a look of excitement due to what had just happened; technically, they had taught Lu Yin a lesson on behalf of the Blaze Realm. This was something that they could report back to Area Master Jared with pride.

Back at Astral-10’s mountain, Lu Yin opened his eyes with the accompaniment of a splitting headache that took some time to dissipate. This was a side effect of being killed in the trial region. Whenever someone died in the trial region, they would be mentally injured and would have to spend a significant amount of time recovering before they could enter again. Of course, it was possible to rush back inside immediately, but if they were killed yet again, then the consequences would be even worse. There had even been cases in the past where someone had become an idiot after returning to the trial region too soon after they died.

Even though Lu Yin had been killed, he wasn’t very angry. This was just the law of the jungle. Once he became stronger, he’d be able to fight back and take revenge.

Lu Yin actually had the ability to block the attack that had killed him, but he had purposefully chosen not to. He could tell that the attack was not a battle technique and that it was actually nothing more than a casual attack. Such a terrifying attack could have only been launched by Frankfurt. Additionally, Jared from the Blaze Realm was also an Area Master, and it would be strange if the two didn’t know each other. Lu Yin had thought it out. Even if he had managed to block the first attack, he wouldn’t be able to block the second attack. Thus, the best course of action was to just give up completely. There was no need to reveal all his cards now, and he had no desire to attract another Area Master’s attention.

Jared was the real problem in the current situation. People from Astral-8 had tried to cause problems for Lu Yin as soon as they saw him, which meant that Jared must have specifically pointed him out. While Lu Yin couldn’t take on all of the students from Astral-8, the ones from just the Blaze Realm wouldn’t be a problem as there weren’t that many of them. However, there would always be a risk of hidden danger when he moved against someone this powerful. Jared also definitely had friends who were likely as powerful as him. The moment Lu Yin entered a territory belonging to one of his friends, he would likely be identified and targeted. What a hassle…

Astral-10 had always been very noticeable, and after Lu Yin had teased Xi Yue and offended the entire Blaze Realm, many students wanted to beat him up the moment he entered the trial regions. It seemed that, at this point, he needed to find someone who was strong enough to protect him. Otherwise, he’d be hounded to the ends of time if he continued to only rely on himself.

“Who should I go to?” Lu Yin muttered to himself. His first thought was of Lulu. The Mavis family was very terrifying and definitely had extremely powerful people within the Astral Combat Academy. They might even have Realm Masters. However, after thinking it over some more, he ultimately decided not to contact her. Why would the Mavis Family help him? Lulu obviously didn’t have a lot of power within her family anyway.

What about Xia Luo? That wouldn’t work either. While he was very powerful and mysterious, his lackadaisical attitude meant that trying to borrow his influence would be a complete waste of time.

What about Michelle? No, that girl didn’t even want to see him. Darkvoid? Shamrock Enterprises? Lu Yin might not even receive an answer. Hui Daynight? Forget it, Lu Yin was already lucky that the Daynight clan wasn’t targeting him. Zora? Coco? Windrift Hall? Nope, none of them were very good at fighting. Zhao Yilong? There was no point in bothering him.

After going through almost everyone that he kenw, Lu Yin realized that his last hope was Silver.

Silver had unknown ties to the Neohuman Alliance, and other than Lu Yin, nobody else knew this secret of his. The Neohuman Alliance was something that the entire Human Region feared, which showed just how powerful the organization was. Would it be possible to use this knowledge to threaten Silver? Lu Yin’s eyes shone as he estimated his likelihood of success.

After mulling it over for a long time, he ultimately decided to give up. Just the thought of Silver’s wolfish, cunning grin gave Lu Yin an uneasy feeling. If he worked with someone like Silver, it meant that he would have to completely subdue him. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time until he threw Lu Yin under the bus.

After leaving the mountain, Lu Yin passed through the invisible screen and reappeared at the trial zone entrance.

The Trialmaster looked up and glanced at Lu Yin. “You died already? So you still weren’t good enough to survive. It seems that a hundred victories is too little. I should increase the number.”

Lu Yin was speechless. Increase the number? If it got out that he was the reason why the number to enter the Three Daos Six Realms had increased, then he’d definitely become the common enemy of the other Astral-10 students. “Um, Sir, you can’t blame me. An Area Master attacked me.”

The Trialmaster was surprised. “An Area Master? You’re pretty good at causing trouble, kid! Even an Area Mastor wanted to kill you.”

Lu Yin was at a loss for what to say. “I may have offended a lot of people in the past.”

“That makes sense. You look like the type,” the Trialmaster mumbled.

Lu Yin’s face twitched a little as he answered, “I’ll be off then.”

The Trialmaster just ignored him.

A similar scene occurred in the treasury. Old Cai looked at Lu Yin as if he were judging a piece of trash. “You got killed that quickly after you went in, huh. Don’t ever tell anyone that you’re the leader of Astral-10. It’s too humiliating.”

Lu Yin rolled his eyes in annoyance. It really wasn’t his fault! The number of people who could contest an Area Master within the entire Astral Combat Academy was too few. There probably wasn’t even anyone in Astral-10 who could do so!

“Enough. Go replenish your star energy. There’s a huge difference between someone who just became a Melder and someone at the peak stage,” Old Cai said in disdain.

“Yes, Sir,” Lu Yin said before turning around to leave.

“Wait, do you have any star crystals? It’ll take ages for you to reach the peak stage with the stray bits of star energy in the universe,” Old Cai said.

Lu Yin’s eyes lit up and he immediately looked at Old Cai excitedly. “No.”

The man nodded and did not say a word.

Lu Yin blinked before repeating, “I said, I don’t have any, sir.”

Old Cai shouted, “If you don’t, then go earn some! Why are you wasting your time talking to me? Do you want an old man like me to do it for you?!”

Lu Yin immediately fled. He knew this infinity-bearded man couldn't be trusted. Why would he ever think that this old man would be generous enough give him some crystals?

After finding an isolated area, Lu Yin placed a circle of natural energy crystals around him and began to absorb the star energy. He wanted to use Time Stop to do this, but he decided against it in the end. Absorbing star energy took time, and if he became a peak Melder in less than a second, then even an idiot would suspect that something was off. He also couldn’t be sure that no one would see him. Thus, he could only cultivate normally like everyone else.

Lu Yin took out over a thousand cubes of star crystals and crushed them in his hand. As he felt the turbulent star energy wash over him, he activated his Cosmic Art. The effects of a seven-fold increase in his absorption rate was very obvious, and the star energy was sucked in as if he were a tornado. He rapidly absorbed everything.

There was a large difference between a Melder and a Sentinel, but the most apparent difference was the amount of star energy that one could store. It could be said that a Sentinel contained enough star energy reserves to satisfy their needs, even if one’s needs were relative. A Melder’s reserves, however, were more like a vast sea.

Over the next seven days, Lu Yin absorbed star energy at seven times the standard speed. He used up a hundred thousand cubes of star energy, but it still wasn’t enough to bring him to the peak of the Melder realm.

Lu Yin opened his heavy eyes and felt a wave of fatigue wash over him. Absorbing so many impure elements meant that it would be difficult to remove them. He had never expected his cultivation to require so much star energy, where even a hundred thousand cubes wasn’t enough for him at this level. Most people didn’t need that much. A hundred thousand was quite a terrifying number. If Xi Yue hadn’t caused so much trouble for him, then Lu Yin wouldn’t have been able to gather such a large quantity in such a short period of time. But despite his vast stores, it had all disappeared in an instant.

He still had twenty thousand star crystals stored in his cosmic ring and another two hundred and fifty thousand in the form of a Mavis Bank crystal card… He should find some time to withdraw some.

For now, though, Lu Yin raised his hand and looked at the die in his palm. It was time to roll it again. The skin that he’d retrieved before had scared the wits out of him, but hopefully, he’d be luckier this time and roll three pips. He still had no idea what that roll could do.

He ended up being pretty lucky. On his first roll, the die stopped on the “three” that had never appeared before.

Lu Yin’s breathing turned rough as he watched two golden rays of light appear; one on top and one on the bottom, like two golden screens. They were very dazzling and, a moment later, he discovered their use. He could place items on top of one of the screens and raise its “level.”

As soon as the information on what this roll did appeared in Lu Yin’s mind, his breathing became even more ragged, and his eyes shone like never before. He first thought about his Cosmic Art—if it was possible to upgrade the crystal for Cosmic Art, then what would have happened? He also had battle techniques, weapons, materials, potions, and much more. Right, and there was also the formcast model…

Lu Yin immediately took out the formcast model from his body. This was the one that the crazy director had given him. He assumed that the Rainmaster had made this precious formcast model so that he could go through his fourth round of reshaping.