Chapter 481: Changing Hands
Chapter 481: Changing Hands
When Kuang Wang was finally able to make out the design of the personal spacecraft landing nearby, he was certain that the Sword Sect had arrived. Only they and the Myriad Swords Peak, both of which viewed the sword with the utmost importance, would use spacecraft shaped like swords.
At the base of Pyrolyte Mountain, the emperor butterfly topgrass swayed while it created a star energy vacuum around Pyrolyte Mountain.
Within the range of the grass, a dozen Daynight clan members spread out as they vigilantly stared at the spacecraft landing all around them.
This mass landing consisted of at least twenty spacecraft, and their overall numbers were way smaller than the Daynight clan and the Second Grade Hall’s combined forces. However, these people were from the Sword Sect.
There were no pleasantries exchanged between the two groups, and the battle started almost immediately. The Daynight clan acted first, launching their attacks before the spacecrafts’ hatches even opened. The Second Grade Hall was not slow either, and their tamed beasts let loose a rallying battle roar.
One personal spacecraft was directly destroyed by the Daynight clan’s Limiteers, though a brilliant sword qi welcomed their attacks and tore through the earth.
The Sword Sect and the Daynight clan were both top-notch powers from the Innerverse. The Daynight clan was even able to have a flowzone named after itself, showing its tyrannical nature. On the other hand, the Sword Sect had directly christened the flowzone that they controlled “First Flowzone,” which was even more overbearing. The two powers approached each other right away. They had already battled against each other countless times in the past, and they were no strangers to each other.
There were many old Limiteers within the Daynight clan, as some were unable to break through while others had been disallowed from doing so since they were restrained by the Sealed Cage Technique. The breakthroughs of such members depended on the mood of the Nightking clan. One Daynight elder possessed a unique innate gift from birth that specialized in extreme destruction. He was very sensitive towards the ambient energy in the atmosphere, and he was able to leverage the free energy within the surroundings to display his strongest strength.
However, in his youth, this elder had offended the Nightking clan, and thus had not been allowed to break through until now. He had believed that his life was ruined, but he was finally of actual use this day.
The Sword Sect could not stop that Daynight elder, and two of them were instantly taken out.
The Daynight elder’s face revealed his malevolence. As long as he achieved some accomplishments on Planet Pyrolyte, he would be allowed to break through and become an Explorer, which would increase his longevity. That would increase his future prospects, and he would not give up such an opportunity.
The spacecraft hatch in front of him opened up, and the elder did not think twice before striking out with a punch. He could feel the pyrolyte in the ambient air, and his punch borrowed the power of the pyrolyte, increasing the strength of his attack while it was still in midair. It landed right in front of the spacecraft.
Inside the spacecraft, a pair of sharp eyes opened with a glare as the person grabbed their sword hilt and sliced out. The Daynight elder’s fist was sliced apart by a formless sword qi, causing his eyes to narrow and his scalp to go numb. He immediately retreated since he felt an intense sense of danger, but it was already too late. His body was split in two, and a massive spatial crack spread out from his body in all directions, shocking everyone.
The space on Planet Pyrolyte was very stable, so it was difficult for Limiteers to tear through the void. Only geniuses who had reached a certain strength threshold would be able to tear through it. This attack proved that an absolute genius had just appeared in this area.
This personal spacecraft was not able to withstand the sword qi’s force, and it broke apart to reveal a girl: Liu Xiaoyun. She was the person who had attacked just now, and with her attack that imitated the First Sword of the Thirteen Swords at that. It was her gains from the many years she had spent in the trial zone’s Tilting Tower. It was also her strongest attack, and that slice had ripped apart the strongest person in this group of Daynight clan members.
In another area around Pyrolyte Mountain, thunder was rumbling, signifying that Yan Hua had also arrived. He was second only to Liu Shaoqiu within the Sword Sect’s younger generation experts. His skill with lightning and the sword had even received the Cosmic Sea’s experts’ recognition, and so, he had naturally become a part of the Sword Sect’s main force during this competition on Planet Pyrolyte.
Each Sword Sect expert entered a stance as they suppressed all the Daynight clan members in an instant. One figure was exceptionally eye-grabbing among the group of Sword Sect’s experts; there was a little girl who appeared to be around eleven or twelve years old who was wearing a dark purple dress and had an adorable look. She was the Yōu Court’s little princess, Yōu Ye’er. She had followed the Sword Sect and come along to participate in the battles on Planet Pyrolyte.
This was Yōu Ye’er’s first time in the Outerverse, as well as her first time in the Astral Wilderness. She was extremely curious about everything as she stared wide-eyed at everything taking place about her. Battle and death were normal occurrences for her, so she did not care about those things at all.
Suddenly, an astral beast charged up from underground and snapped at her.
From nearby, Liu Xiaoyun’s expression changed, and she slashed out, releasing a sword qi that pierced through the void and tore apart the beast in front of Yōu Ye’er. A spatter of blood scattered onto the little girl’s dress.
She looked down and pouted; her clothes had gotten dirty.
“This is a battlefield, so take care of yourself.” Liu Xiaoyun’s tone was cold. She had not wanted to bring this little princess of the Yōu Court to this place. However, she had no choice in the matter, as those had been the elder’s orders; she could only obey the command to keep the little brat safe.
Yōu Ye’er’s face revealed a look of disdain, but she docilely acknowledged Liu Xiaoyun’s words and acted as if she were extremely obedient.
The battle around Pyrolyte Mountain ended quickly after the Daynight clan suffered a few casualties, prompting the others to escape. The Second Grade Hall had also suffered some casualties, and only Hui Chuan and a select few were left standing as they did their best to protect Pyrolyte Mountain with the strength of Kuang Wang’s emperor butterfly topgrass.
Above Planet Pyrolyte, Nightqueen Qiuyu flew into a rage, and she felt an impulse to execute all of those disciples from the Sword Sect.
A row of Sword Sect disciples started approaching Pyrolyte Mountain, but they stopped outside of the emperor butterfly topgrass’s range and faced Kuang Wang directly.
“I never thought that you would also come.” Kuang Wang reluctantly looked at Liu Xiaoyun and forced out a smile.
Liu Xiaoyun held an indifferent attitude towards most people, including Kuang Wang who had been a fellow student for many years. “Leave Pyrolyte Mountain, and I won’t make things difficult for you.”
Kuang Wang sighed, and waved his hand as he caused the emperor butterfly topgrass to vanish. He wasn’t an idiot, and he was aware that his grass was not enough to stop attacks from experts like Liu Xiaoyun and Yan Hua, who were elites of the Sword Sect. He was not afraid of one-on-one combat, but there were just too many people from the Sword Sect. If everyone attacked him at the same time, he would not be able to resist them even with the weakening effect of the emperor butterfly topgrass. Moreover, Liu Xiaoyun herself was stronger than him.
Kuang Wang left, which indicated that control of Pyrolyte Mountain had shifted from the alliance between the Second Grade Hall and the Daynight clan to the Sword Sect.
At this time, no one dared to claim that they had completely taken control of a specific area. Hence, whatever pyrolyte ore people managed to extract on a given day was sent up to their battleships on that same day. Liu Xiaoyun did not steal Kuang Wang’s cosmic ring, and only watched on as he left the mountain.
Although the Sword Sect did not have that many disciples, each and every one of them was an expert, and their overall strength surpassed even the Daynight clan’s. The Sword Sect was currently the strongest power on Planet Pyrolyte as they had the support of both Liu Xiaoyun and Yan Hua.
The Daynight clan did not give up, and they stationed many of their experts near Pyrolyte Mountain as they waited for even more Daynight clan experts to arrive.
Not long after, the Daynight clan received its own reinforcements; but instead of more Limiteers, a universally famous young powerhouse appeared on the planet: Moore. He was ranked twelfth on the Top 100 Rankings and was also a Councilor for the Outerverse Youth Council at West San Dios.
Moore’s appearance cast a shadow over the hearts of the various powers. He was ranked twelfth, and even though he was unable to participate in the battles on the planet, the situation would change as soon as the Daynight clan discovered a method to send Explorers or even Cruisers down. Just Moore alone was enough to cause a headache for the other organizations.
Moore’s appearance also made many powers remember the other parties such as the Dire Barbarian Clan and the Sword Sect. These powers possessed powerhouses who were in the very top of the Top 100 Rankings, and as soon as space-exploring powerhouses were able to enter Planet Pyrolyte, they would reap many benefits. However, such a change was terrifying for the powers without any high-ranked experts. People were very clear on just how powerful those top-ranking experts on the Top 100 Rankings were.
Just as the various great powers were considering their next move, the Graceful Mercenaries arrived. They had been hired by the Ross Empire, as the Ross Empire did not have any Limiteers who were strong enough to compete for Planet Pyrolyte. Naturally, they were not satisfied with just watching the others. Even though they had allied with the Blaze Realm, if they provided no contributions during the contest on Planet Pyrolyte, then they would lose out when the pyrolyte was distributed.
Everyone had placed their hopes on experts at the Explorer realm and above, and the Graceful Mercenaries were employed with that in mind. There was someone special within that group: the person ranked hundredth in the Top 100 Rankings, Slumber Lord.
The position of hundredth on the rankings was the absolute lowest ranking on the Top 100 Rankings. Many believed that the person holding that rank was not even as powerful as some Limiteers like Mu Rong and the other elites. However, Slumber Lord was an exception. From the first moment his name entered the Top 100 Rankings, he had always been ranked as a hundredth. No matter how the other rankings changed, he would always maintain the same position.
When Che Han had defeated Qin Chen, Che Han had replaced Qin Chen and had become ranked eighty eighth, and all those behind Qin Chen had been moved down on the rankings by one peg. Slumber Lord had been reasonably booted off of the list, but he had quickly challenged the person who had just taken over the hundredth position, the expert previously ranked ninety ninth, and then retaken the hundredth position.
The man always seemed to be at the hundredth rank, and many believed that his power far surpassed his ranking, and that he just liked that number.
No one knew what his actual strength was. An almighty expert had once said that Slumber Lord could possibly challenge experts in the top seventy, which was a rather high appraisal.
The Ross Empire had hired the Graceful Mercenaries, and the other powers did not intend to remain resigned to their fate either. Many of them had successively contacted other known powerhouses of the Human Domain. Even if space-exploring powerhouses could not currently participate in the contest on Planet Pyrolyte, it was better to take precautionary measures than lose out when the time came.
Lu Yin quickly learned that the various powers had hired outside experts, precisely because he himself also received many employment offers to fight on the planet, which he had all rejected.
It was an expected development for outside experts to be brought in considering the current state of affairs on Planet Pyrolyte. This was especially true for the alliances between powers from the smaller flowzones since they were currently being suppressed by the larger organizations. Regardless if one was a Limiteer or an Explorer, they could all be hired as long as they had some bit of reputation.
The contest on Planet Pyrolyte was growing even more intense with each passing day.
Hai Qiqi was beside Lu Yin, and she naturally learned about the contest and that the various organizations were hiring outside experts. She was rather interested in this development. “I wonder if Baobao will head there as well.”
Lu Yin cast a sideways glance at her. “‘Baobao’?”
“Lan Baobao—haven’t you heard of her?” Hai Qiqi rolled her eyes.
Lu Yin thought to himself for a moment before remembering the person ranked twenty fifth on the Top 100 Rankings: the Grayweed Continent’s expert, Lan Baby. Hai Qiqi had previously contacted this woman, and Lu Yin had heard that she had a very nice-sounding voice. “You have a good relationship with her?”
Hai Qiqi nodded, “There’s only a few people I’m able to play with since I’ve always been stuck in the Starfall Sea. Baobao’s my best friend.”
“What about Lan Yu?” Lu Yin asked.
“I’ve met him once, so I’m not too familiar with him.”
“He also participated in the Sea King’s son-in-law selection.”
Hai Qiqi rolled her eyes. “I know. Lan Si has asked Father several times, hoping for me to marry his brother, but he was rejected every time.”
“You’ve met Lan Si?” Lu Yin was shocked. Actually, such a thing was nothing to be shocked about since Lan Si was the Grayweed Continent’s top expert of the younger generation as well as one of the Ten Arbiters. It was not strange for them to have met.
“Lowly cultivators that toil at the bottom such as yourself will naturally not have met Lan Si, but I’m of a different breed,” Hai Qiqi said loftily.
“Then let me ask you something. Who do you think is more powerful: the current me, or Lan Si when he was a Limiteer?” Lu Yin asked Hai Qiqi.