Star Odyssey

Chapter 873: Hostage

Chapter 873: Hostage

Even if an Enlighter suppressed their power level to less than 200,000, when they became serious, the full power that they were capable of unleashing was more than enough to make Lu Yin apprehensive.

Anyone who could cultivate to the Enlighter realm was not a simple cultivator. This elder was clearly not easy to deal with as Lu Yin had already used the Yu Secret Art, Ninesuns Cauldron Transformation, and Daynight Punch. However, despite that, he still had not been able to defeat this man.

Lu Yin grew wary, and the elder also became more vigilant at this time. He could tell that this kid was only an Explorer who had completed three cycles of cultivation. However, he was already capable of exchanging blows with an Enlighter. There were not many young people with such strength in the entire Fifth Mainland, and every single one of them was outstandingly famous. All of them were also people whom the Sixth Mainland had marked down to eliminate. This meant that the kid had the strength of someone who could receive the title of Monarch. Although he hadn’t reached the same level as a Realmling quite yet, he was not too far off, especially since he also had a secret technique.

A secret technique was a method that could turn something rotten into something mysterious, and rarely did an Enlighter, or even most Imprinters, have one.

Granny Gui stared fervently at Lu Yin from where she was standing in the sky. This kid actually had a secret technique, and she was determined to get her hands on it.

Outside of the mine, Hong Ying picked herself up with great difficulty as she shook her head. She had been knocked unconscious by one punch from Lu Yin, and she had only awakened at this moment. She looked at the elder and Lu Yin, who were exchanging glances, and then beckoned with her hand as her spear landed in her palm. She pointed the weapon at Lu Yin. “Just who are you exactly?”

Lu Yin had a headache, as this was getting annoying. The elder in front of him was being extremely cautious, and a cautious Enlighter was troublesome to deal with. Lu Yin would actually rather the cosmic phenomenon restricting people’s power levels not exist. That way, he would be able to use his various external items. With his universal armor, the bracer that doubled his attack’s physical strength, and the Yu Secret Art, he would be able to easily take care of this elder. However, instead of doing so, he discovered that the cosmic phenomenon’s power level restriction was actually disadvantageous to his personal style of battling.

Hong Ying let out a shout as she stabbed at Lu Yin with her spear. At the same time that she attacked, the elder slapped out as his imprint appeared behind him. This time, his palm contained a dark radiance that constantly flickered.

Lu Yin hurriedly dodged Hong Ying’s spear while grabbing the spear shaft at the same time. Just like before, his palm released violent vibrations that traveled along the spear, forcing Hong Ying to let go of her weapon. Once Lu Yin gained control of the spear, he stabbed it at the elder.

The elder pressed his palm against the spear tip, and the dark radiance in his palm shot along the spear towards Lu Yin, but Lu Yin gripped the shaft and slammed it back towards Hong Ying.

Hong Ying was shocked, and she did not know what to do. The tassels on the spear came to life just like those of the crimson spear power vessel from before, blocking the dark radiance. The elder smacked the spear aside and tried to grab Lu Yin. “Brat, give up!”

Lu Yin leaped up and raised his right fist. Then, another Daynight Punch descended upon the area.

The colors black and white interchanged as his spiritual force oscillated back and forth. Hong Ying once again fainted in a miserable fashion, as she could not resist these spiritual force attacks.

Multiple Hunters around the three combatants were similarly knocked unconscious.

The elder clenched his teeth, and fresh blood flowed down from his lips. He leaped up, and this time, the dark radiance completely covered his hand while both his martial print and imprint reinforced his attack. “Kid, this is your death.”

Star energy converged over Lu Yin’s right palm as almost half of the star energy in his body was consumed to form a sun that he then pushed forward with his hand.

The elder’s eyes flashed as he quickly retreated, but at the same time, a sharpness appeared in front of him. It looked as though it was being propelled forward by the air, and its appearance caused a chill to run down Lu Yin’s spine. He quickly turned around and pushed the sun before him right as an arrow appeared from the void and stabbed into his sun. A dazzling radiance illuminated the entire region, and the sun instantly collapsed.

Someone had launched a sneak attack against Lu Yin with an arrow technique, but Lu Yin continued to fend off danger after danger. He had used that one sun to push the arrow away, but now, the elder appeared behind Lu Yin, cackling. “Brat, let’s see how you take this.”

“Elder, there’s someone behind you!” Lu Yin barked as he pointed.

The elder was shocked, as the Ghost Monkey had indeed appeared from his shadow, and the shadows had formed a sickle that sliced at the elder’s head.

The elder shouted, “Scram!” as the star energy around him trembled and forced the monkey to withdraw.

The monkey was not a Realmbreaker like Lu Yin, and he could not even fight against a normal Hunter. It had only been able to distract the old man for a moment.

Still, that had been enough. Lu Yin’s Dream Finger had already congealed the void as he tapped at the elder’s head with his finger.

The elder’s pupils shrank, but he could not escape even if wanted to. The way the Dream Finger solidified the void was extremely terrifying, and the Enlighter’s best opportunity to dodge had been spent dealing with the monkey. Now, the old man could do nothing more than watch as the finger approached him.

Strangely, Lu Yin felt his scalp go numb at this moment, and he waved his left hand right as another arrow appeared in front of him, successfully using the Yu Secret Art to divert it into the mountainside, where it pierced through into the sea. The elder took advantage of this opportunity to hurriedly escape, managing to evade the Dream Finger.

Lu Yin looked up, as the Imprinter had indeed acted in the end.

The elder raised his head. “Granny Gui, give this subordinate a bit more time. I can do this!”

“Enough. There’s no need for you to try anymore.” Granny Gui’s voice was sinister, and she looked at Lu Yin with blazing eyes that left him chilled. Her lips curled upwards. “Little brat, you must be the one who killed Gui Bing.”

Lu Yin raised his head to lock eyes with Granny Gui. “I’ve killed too many, so I can’t remember.”

Granny Gui’s eyes narrowed as a cold glint flashed across them. “That’s okay. You just used a secret technique, so give it to me. If you do, then not only will I not kill you, but I will also accept you as my disciple to fill Gui Bing’s vacant position. Join the Tong family and become one of my Sixth Mainland’s cultivators! How about it?”

When the elder heard the old woman’s offer, his face turned ugly, as he also wanted to obtain Lu Yin’s secret technique.

Actually, all of the surrounding Sixth Mainland people were staring at Lu Yin with heated expressions, as who among them did not want to learn a secret technique?

And even further away, hundreds of thousands of miners were staring blankly at everything that had just occurred. They had never imagined that there would be such a powerhouse hidden amongst them.

Lu Yin’s lips curled upwards as he looked at Granny Gui. “Are there any benefits to joining the Sixth Mainland?”

Granny Gui laughed in an eerie manner. “I’m not negotiating with you! Either join my Sixth Mainland and become my disciple, or be captured and slowly tortured as you experience the true terror of my invisible needles. This will be the last decision you live to regret!”

Lu Yin slowly descended to the ground. “You seem to have forgotten something.”

Lu Yin pointed towards the outside of the mine, at the place where Hong Ying’s unconscious body should have laid. However, there was nothing there.

All of the Sixth Mainland cultivators were surprised to see this, as their attention had been completely focused on Lu Yin. In fact, they had forgotten about Hong Ying.

Granny Gui’s expression also changed when she focused on the inside of the mine. “There’s someone else.”

Lu Yin emerged from the pit and glanced inside the cave to see that Hong Ying had already been captured by Hai Qiqi.

He had risen into the sky specifically to divert the crowd’s attention, and that brat Hai Qiqi was still quite sharp.

Granny Gui waved casually a hand, and although the rune lines that emerged were not overly majestic, the mountain side was still split apart as a portion of it crashed to the base of the mountain with a tremendous rumble. After the mountain split apart, Hai Qiqi and Hong Ying were revealed, standing within the cave.

Lu Yin’s eye twitched, and he hurriedly moved to block the path between Granny Gui and the pale-faced Hai Qiqi before grabbing a hold of Hong Ying’s neck. He then glared at Granny Gui. “If you move again, this woman will die alongside us.”

He had always tried to overestimate an Imprinter’s strength, but at this moment, he learned that he had still underestimated their power. At that moment, although Granny Gui’s attack probably had not even reached a power level of 100,000, Lu Yin had been completely unable to react to it. She was on a completely different level compared to the elder from before.

This was an Imprinter, a powerhouse whose power level exceeded 500,000. Even if such a powerhouse suppressed their strength, they still were not someone who Lu Yin could go against.

He suddenly thought of Yuan Shi’s words: Imprinters did not use star energy, but rather, stellular energy.

He then wondered if the Ten Arbiters could fight against Imprinters, at least under the premise that these experts’ power levels were suppressed to below 200,000. Regardless, such a thing was currently beyond Lu Yin’s abilities.

“Junior, do you really think that you can leave this place alive just by using a hostage? You’re too naive,” Granny Gui said coldly as she stared at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin sneered. “She’s Hong Ying, a disciple of Flying Horse Manor’s Madam Hong. Flying Horse Manor was invited by the Tong family to help out with Grayweed Continent’s battles. Tell me, if Madam Hong’s disciple died because you did not rescue her, then what would she think? What would this incident make the other powers of the Grand Martial Realm think? Would the Tong family still be able to invite any other powers in the future? Use your brain.”

Granny Gui’s expression turned fierce.

The surrounding cultivators’ expressions changed, especially the dozen Hunters who were from Flying Horse Manor. They all shouted at Lu Yin to release Hong Ying.

Lu Yin did not care about them, and he focused his attention solely on Granny Gui.

He understood how important this girl was. The crimson spear power vessel had been cleanly destroyed before, but Hong Ying had already obtained another one, and the girl’s name was also quite similar to Madam Hong’s. Only a fool would think that this girl was not important. This girl was definitely someone very important to Flying Horse Manor, and her position was likely not any lower than Autumnfrost Qing’s standing in the Autumnfrost family.

“She’s awake!” Hai Qiqi cried.

Lu Yin exerted even more force through the hand holding the girl’s neck, and Hong Ying coughed twice. She saw that Lu Yin was behind her, and she also felt that her neck held in a vice grip. Her face went pale. “You dare to grab me?”

“Shut up! Just cry for help if you don’t want to die,” Lu Yin hissed at her.

Hong Ying gritted her teeth as she glared fiercely at Lu Yin, but she refused to say a word.

There was one problem, which was that such an arrogant girl would not be afraid of death. As he thought about his situation, he raised his head to look back at Granny Gui. “Old grandma, don’t get any wild ideas. You need to be careful of this girl dying with us.”

Granny Gui’s eyes were sharp, and she stared at him for quite a while before her expression finally turned milder. She then gently said, “Junior, I want to take you as my disciple, and I never intended to make things difficult for you. Don’t be stubborn. This Fifth Mainland will sooner or later have its cultivation systems severed, and nobody can stop that from happening. Join my Sixth Mainland, join the Tong family, and I can provide you with a bright future. With your talent, it might even be possible for you to marry into the Tong family in the future.”

Lu Yin sneered, and he suddenly waved a hand. A thin needle seemed to suddenly appear right next to him before changing directions to stab into the ground.

Hai Qiqi was stunned, and she looked sideways. That needle had come from the direction that she was looking in, and it had almost pierced through her.

Lu Yin had cold eyes, and he suddenly released some of his strength as he slapped a hand against Hong Ying’s belly. She violently spat out a mouthful of blood, and Lu Yin glared angrily at Granny Gui. “I already told you—don’t try any tricks. This secret technique is not something that you can understand.”

All around them, the Hunters from Flying Horse Manor shouted furiously, but there was nothing that they could do. Someone tried to contact Flying Horse Manor, while another hurriedly spoke to Granny Gui.

Granny Gui panted heavily, as she had never been threatened in such a manner before.

Lu Yin also felt some lingering fear. Fortunately, he was able to observe rune lines, or else he would not have even sensed this stupid grandma’s sneak attack. She was way too wiley.

Hong Ying spat out another mouthful of blood and glared fiercely at Lu Yin. “You can’t escape! Don’t have any wild dreams. I'd rather die than let you win!”

Lu Yin pinched her chin and moved closer to her before smiling in a sinister manner. “Die? Just try it. If you die, then I’ll remove all of your clothes and show everyone everything that Flying Horse Manor’s direct descendant has.”

Hong Ying’s pupils shrank. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Hai Qiqi’s mouth gaped open as she stared at Lu Yin, dumbfounded. This person was too horrible.

Many heard his words, and they bellowed in rage.

Granny Gui was also taken aback. If Lu Yin actually dared to do such a thing, then such an outcome would actually be even worse than Hong Ying dying. Granny Gui was certain that Madam Hong would tear her to shreds if that happened. “Junior, don’t mess around!”

Lu Yin did not want to do such a thing either, but he could only threaten them with such behavior if he wanted to save his own life. He ignored Hong Ying and her deathly pale face as he raised his head to look at Granny Gui. “Old grandma, have you thought things through yet? Are you still going to play your tricks?”