The silver-haired man retreated and praised, "As expected of the strongest of the Seven Sages, we'll meet again if we're fated to meet."
Zhang Dingtian turned around and slashed out, but he was shocked to find the silver-haired man rushing towards Bai Xue.
Bai Xue aimed a single hand at the silver-haired man, a cold aura enveloping the sky as ice spread out from the void.
The silver-haired man sneered.
The butterfly knife easily tore through the ice and stabbed towards Bai Xue's neck. Bai Xue couldn't block it and could only watch helplessly. At the critical moment, Lu Yin used the Roving Step to appear in front of Bai Xue and struck out with a palm. The silver-haired man was shocked.
The butterfly knife turned towards Lu Yin, the white light clashing with Sirius's palm once more. The void trembled as the stars exploded, and the terrifying shockwaves sent Bai Xue flying. The ground instantly crumbled as countless shockwaves shot out in all directions.
Smoke and dust covered the land.
When the dust settled, Lu Yin was the only one left. The silver-haired man had disappeared.
The attack had been quick; it had taken less than ten seconds from Zhang Dingtian's injury to the silver-haired man's departure. The surrounding troops hadn't even had time to react before everything was over.
Bai Xue was shocked; she had felt the sensation of death in that moment.
The butterfly knife had easily torn through her defenses, and that cold glint had truly killed her. She had never experienced such danger since becoming one of the Seven Sages.
Lu Yin walked out of the shallow pit and looked at Bai Xue, "Are you alright?"
She shook her head, a complicated look in her eyes, "Thank you."
Lu Yin turned to Zhang Dingtian, "You're injured."
Zhang Dingtian rubbed his neck, "It's fine."
Only then did the surrounding troops appear, shocked to find that Zhang Dingtian had been injured. How could the strongest of the Seven Sages be injured?
No one could believe it.
"Why are you here?" Zhang Dingtian asked, looking at Lu Yin suspiciously.
Lu Yin looked at his palm, "I'm curious. I want to know who the killer is."
Zhang Dingtian calmly replied, "That's him."
"I know," Lu Yin replied. He glanced at the wound on Zhang Dingtian's neck and frowned. He had seen how Silver had tried to assassinate Zhang Dingtian, and he could not deny that Zhang Dingtian was indeed very powerful. Even without any footwork techniques, he had been able to retreat from Silver's attack at such close range. Lu Yin had to admit that if he had been in Zhang Dingtian's shoes, he would not have been able to do any better.
What Lu Yin wanted to know the most right now was how Silver had managed to hide his aura. Normal students could hide their aura and block the detection of their gadgets, but Zhang Dingtian had been so close and yet still hadn't been able to detect him. This was terrifying. It could be said that there weren't many who could survive an assassination like that.
"Why did that person try to assassinate you?" Bai Xue asked curiously.
Zhang Dingtian narrowed his eyes. "I'm not sure. I've never met him before. There's only one possibility: he doesn't want the corpse tide to be massacred."
Lu Yin's heart sank, as today's assassination had confirmed his previous suspicions. Silver had something to do with the Corpse King. Silver had not cared about the mission, but he cared about the Corpse King, which was incomprehensible. This person was truly unfathomable.
Although Zhang Dingtian had guessed a few things, there was no way for him to know more than that. A single assassination would not yield any useful information.
"Pass down my orders. Exterminate the corpse tide twenty-four hours a day," Zhang Dingtian suddenly ordered.
There was no way to capture someone like Silver. Zhang Dingtian had sealed off any news of the assassination attempt, but the encirclement of the corpse tide only grew more intense. Many cultivators who had not joined the Chinese camps were forced to leave the city to exterminate the zombies.
Time passed quickly, and there was only a month left before the second batch of trialtakers arrived.
Europe was in a state of frenzy during this time, but there was no trace of the fugitive. Just as there was a full month left before the second batch of trialtakers arrived, the gadget in Lu Yin's left hand beeped as he forcefully received an email.
"Students, the safe period has passed, and the trial has officially begun. From now on, your gadgets cannot be turned off, and your location will be displayed on the astral network map. Please complete the mission as soon as possible. I wish you all good luck." The email made the trial even more brutal.
It had been two months since the first batch of trialtakers had arrived, and these two months were the so-called safe period. As long as they were willing, they could hide their strength or secretly excavate precious minerals and herbs in exchange for points. However, once the safe period was over, everyone's location would be clearly displayed unless they threw away their gadgets.
Lu Yin exhaled and looked up at the sky. This was a true trial, where no one could hide. These two months were a safe period for the students, but it was also an opportunity for the Earthlings to snatch the resources of the students. This was fairness, the so-called fairness of the universe.
When Vesta had died, his gadget had been unable to connect to the astral network, but now the astral network had set up a local network for him. This network was a model of Earth, and the locations of the first batch of trialtakers were displayed on Earth.
"There's quite a lot of people," Lu Yin muttered to himself. The dozens of meteors he'd seen in Jinlin were only a portion of the total. There were hundreds of students from all over Asia, Europe, Africa, America, and even Antarctica.
Europe had the most people, and there were more than a hundred of them gathered in a small area near the Mediterranean Sea.
At this time, a line of words appeared at the top of the local network map: "Earth's Indian Monk defeats Hayden."
Lu Yin was shocked. Even the results were announced?
At the same time, many of the trial students were shocked. Hayden was not a weakling. He was the strongest in the academy, yet he had actually lost to an Earth native. This shocked many students, especially those at Jeraldine's level. To them, the strongest in the academy was almost invincible. However, someone had already been defeated at the beginning of the real trial. This made them take the trial seriously like never before.
The Great Yu Empire held trials every once in a while, but it was rare for the strongest in the academy to be defeated. If Earth had evolved normally, the strongest in the academy would never have reached the Sentinel realm, let alone be defeated. This was why many found Hayden's defeat hard to believe.
However, another announcement soon appeared: "Eddy defeats Earth's Indian Monk."
Lu Yin was puzzled; why had Eddy and Hayden appeared in India?
Jeraldine hurried over to him, "The trial has officially started. Not only can you see your location on the local network, you can also contact each other. You should know that, right?"
Lu Yin's heart sank, "We can contact each other?"
Jeraldine nodded, "The trial students come from all over the Great Yu Empire. The Great Yu Empire is huge, and we don't know each other, so we rarely contacted each other in the first two months. But now that the local network has been activated, we can contact each other. Just now, there was news that the fugitive left something important in the capital and will definitely return to look for it."
Lu Yin's gaze turned cold, "Who released the news?"
Jeraldine shook her head, "I don't know, the local network can only detect the location of the gadget, but not the user."
Lu Yin quickly ran through the information in his mind. Only the Seven Sages knew that the fugitive had left something in the capital. Even Eddy didn't know, so Zhang Dingtian and Bai Xue would definitely suspect him.
Suddenly, a surge of energy swept across the land, and Lu Yin immediately flew up to see Zhang Dingtian and Bai Xue.
"I didn't release the news," Lu Yin said.
Zhang Dingtian stared at him, "Make me believe you."
Lu Yin narrowed his eyes and barked at Jeraldine, "Release the news anonymously, saying that the fugitive is hiding in India. That's why Eddy and Hayden are here and why the Indian Ascetic Monk can defeat Hayden."
Jeraldine nodded and quickly did as she was told.
Zhang Dingtian spoke in a low voice, "This won't last long."
Lu Yin stared at him, "I'm just showing my sincerity, it's up to you to believe me or not."
Zhang Dingtian took a deep breath and tightened his grip on his sword; Lu Yin was the only outsider who knew the secret. He wanted to control this person, but he wasn't weak.
Bai Xue spoke up, "Lu Yin, let us check your gadget."
Lu Yin was furious, "Who do you think you are? Come and take it yourself if you can."
"You!" Bai Xue was furious; she had only wanted to prove Lu Yin's innocence since he had saved her life, but he was too infuriating and didn't know what was good for him.
"There are nine people who know this secret, and I'm in the capital right now. Even if I have disloyalty, I'll keep it to myself. Only an idiot would release the news. Think about it, don't be stupid enough to cause trouble for me," Lu Yin said coldly.