Chapter 41: One Palm   The air suddenly distorted as a terrifying energy slash tore through it, heading straight for a dozen students. Shocked by its power, all of them quickly acted to counter the strike. Zhang Dingtian rose into the air in the distance, gaze cold and hands holding tightly onto his long blade. They had all received information about him, but these trainees felt a sense of numbness when actually facing the Bladesage for the first time. For the natives to have a realmbreaker like him was abnormal to say the least.

An arrow whizzed across the sky, drawing blood from one of the students who had just attacked the capital. It came from Wu Sheng, the Wolf Sage. Originally the overseer of the plains, he had received information about the attack on the capital from a gadget he had won over and came to help.

Despite such displays of power, the four Sages were still facing over twenty students; even Zhang Dingtian could not make up for that deficit. Not even a quarter-hour had passed before he was starting to spit out blood, his body riddled with cuts. Wu Sheng’s flank had been pierced only a few minutes ago, and was now leaking blood onto the ground. Thousands of cultivators were fighting on the Chinese side, but they were mowed down like weeds and unable to even approach the students.

Sitting on one side, Jeraldine was horrified by the scene. As someone who wasn’t from Earth, she had no plans to give up her life for it. With her power, she couldn’t stop even one of the other students here anyway. A strong wind drew her attention to a patch of ice on the ground, where quite a few students were gazing at the ruins of the city walls. Two of them had actually been frozen there, and Hayden had a bewildered look on his face, “Innate gift, you actually have an innate gift!”

The two words shocked anyone, drawing many looks of incredulity towards Bai Xue. She was already beautiful beyond comparison, and the value of an innate gift made her even more memorable. However, her lips were a plump red as blood trickled down her chin to the floor. The air was fogging over with every heavy pant; she had already reached her limits.

The Water Sage’s innate gift was a secret she held close to her chest; not even all seven Sages knew about it. Still, there was simply no choice but to reveal it against Hayden and the other top students, whose gazes were promptly filled with greed. Everyone here knew the importance of innate gifts; if they managed to procure such a person for their backers, their status would rise greatly.

The student who had been grappling with Wu Sheng threw him aside, laughing as he charged towards the Water Sage. The one that was about to kill Zhou Shan smiled and did the same. A dozen idle students acted simultaneously from the sky; at that moment, Bai Xue was even more important than the capital or even the criminal.

Jeraldine sighed, this was the tragedy of being weak. Having exposed her innate gift, Bai Xue could only be captured. No one would squander away cultivators with innate gifts, and she would be arranged to marry into some influential family to raise the odds of birthing future generations with such talent.

Eddy, who was facing off Zhang Dingtian, also watched Bai Xue greedily. He rushed over, but Zhang Dingtian was a step ahead and unleashed countless strikes in all directions, “Scram!”

The dozens of students were blown backwards by the strike, stunned by the Bladesage’s power. However, their resolve to snatch Bai Xue could not be extinguished; her allure was just too great. Eddy landed a punch square in Zhang Dingtian’s gut, throwing him ten meters away. He managed to slash in return, however, and despite a rapid retreat, blood arced through the air.

“Water Dragon Punch!” Hayden shouted as he crushed a water crystal, a tornado forming around his fist and shooting towards Zhang Dingtian. It was complemented by a barrage of other attacks as well, leaving the Bladesage wide-eyed as he clenched his teeth until his gums bled. Howling softly himself, he thrust his sword into the ground before swinging it up with force; stones blasted everywhere and a giant fissure spread all the way from outside the city to just past the wall, swallowing many people.

Zhang Dingtian had countered the wave of attacks, but it had taken everything to do it. Many of the students observing idly so far suddenly charged forward, two of them attacking him while a third moved to capture Bai Xue, “The one with the gift is ours!”

This time, there was no way to dodge. Zhang Dingtian’s body was pushed into the ground with so much force that he nearly lost his grip on his sword. Meanwhile, Bai Xue glared at the student who had rushed towards her and raised her hand. A Frost Palm sent a shockwave through the sky, freezing the student and the ground around him solid. That was the price for belittling one of the three High Sages of China; she was truly comparable to a school leader in terms of power, and not even Hayden had any way to approach her right now.

Seeing that the Bladesage had been injured, Eddy himself charged towards Bai Xue to capture her; a cultivator with an innate gift was almost as valuable as the criminal himself. Two more students rushed out at the same time, each one as powerful as Hayden.

“Is this the end? Such a pity,” Bai Xue’s face paled. Three students were charging at her, and even the Sage of China was too wounded to help. However, a familiar figure suddenly appeared right in front.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Three tremendous explosions rang out, followed by an equal number of broken bodies shooting out from the rubble. The entire battlefield froze and stared at the man who had appeared out of nowhere and defeated three school leaders in one exchange. Who was that?

“He actually came back.” Hiding in a corner, Jeraldine’s eyes widened. Zhou Shan spat out a mouthful of blood and smiled bitterly from his own position within the city, while Bai Xue was utterly shocked. This wasn’t a large back, but it had kept her safe. He’d actually returned as promised, and even seemed much stronger than before.

Of course, this was Lu Yin. He still had no gadget, so he had no way to know that the capital was already under attack, but fortunately he’d returned just in time to save Bai Xue. He looked back at her, “I said I’d be back.”

“Be careful, there’s too many of them,” Bai Xue said weakly.

Lu Yin nodded and grew serious; there truly were too many opponents. Although he was now a peak Sentinel and his Cosmic Palm was at least as strong as Zhang Dingtian’s attacks, even the Bladesage had been beaten up. The upcoming fight was certainly going to be difficult. However, a coughing Zhang Dingtian climbed up from the ground, leaning against his sword as his focused gaze scanned through the area with resolution. Lu Yin tossed him some healing ointment, “Treat yourself.”

Zhang Dingtian grabbed the ointment, but instead of applying it he just swallowed it like a boor. This left Lu Yin speechless; this was a topical ointment! Still, it was a product from Shamrock Enterprises, so it would likely be somewhat effective even when ingested.

From a distance, Eddy’s trio rose up and stared at Lu Yin, “Who are you?”

Lu Yin didn’t bother with small talk and simply donned Gerlaine’s armor, the lightning sparking across his body. This shocked Hayden, “This is Gerlaine’s armor, why do you have it?!”

“She gave it to me,” he answered.

““Impossible!”” Eddy, Hayden, and a few others responded simultaneously. Gerlaine was a famous youth in the Great Yu Empire, mostly due to her powerful and protective brother Gerbach who left other elites feeling helpless. Gerbach was a monster whose reputation prevented anyone from daring to bully his sister; if she really had given her armor to someone, it would end up troublesome. Did this youth have some sort of connection to them? Wait, it couldn’t actually be her boyfriend, could it? Everyone looked at Lu Yin with bewilderment.

Lu Yin inhaled deeply, putting on an authoritative tone as he spoke to Eddy, “Get lost.” One had to catch the leader to tame the herd, and he was planning to do just that as he shot forward.

Eddy was still occupied with unraveling Lu Yin’s identity when he was forced to retreat once more. He had already witnessed Lu Yin’s power in the previous attack, and didn’t dare face it directly. Lu Yin used the Roving Step to appear in front of Hayden right after, but despite being startled this youth actually reacted with a Water Dragon Punch. The water flow wrapped around him and blocked the attack, but Lu Yin simply smiled and pointed his palm in the direction Eddy was fleeing.

“Spacerender Palm?!” Eddy recoiled in shock, using a palm of his own. Loud shockwaves blew everything away as Lu Yin whirled around for another attack, prompting him to grit his teeth, “Bastard, don’t go overboard!”

Lu Yin smiled once again, raising his palm towards Eddy who grunted as he sensed the incoming danger. A vague bestial roar rang out as he clenched his right fist, the sign of the battle technique that had allowed him to defeat thirty other school leaders to enter the famed Yu Academy—the Beast King Punch. He had only used it once each against the criminal and Zhang Dingtian ever since arriving on Earth, but now he was forced to use every means at his disposal.

Three stars twinkled above Lu Yin’s palm, exploding upon impact. Eddy was shocked to see his Beast King Punch being stopped completely with only the first of the three; the second sent excruciating pain through his fist while the third ruptured skin and sent him flying backwards. Blood spilled from his mouth and hand as he crashed into the earth, sending dust flying everywhere. Without holding back. Lu Yin had removed Eddy from battle with a single palm.