Lu Yin hurriedly dodged. "Elder Tong, there's no need for that. Qiqi is my friend, so this is what I should do."
Elder Tong stood up and solemnly said, "You helped Qiqi, so I naturally have to be grateful. However, you harmed her in the process."
Lu Yin fell silent.
"The Innerverse has changed greatly, and there are dangers everywhere, especially in the Starfall Sea. The Tong family's strength is too terrifying, and even with the Starfall Sea's combined strength, we can't resist them. Little Brother Lu, you shouldn't have brought Qiqi here."
Lu Yin was helpless. "If I hadn't come, she would have come by herself."
"Then tie her up. No matter what, we can't let her come here to die," Elder Tong said agitatedly.
Lu Yin understood Elder Tong's feelings, but that did not mean that he could accept it. "I accept your gratitude, but I won't accept this blame."
Elder Tong looked at Lu Yin for a while and then sighed. "My apologies, I was too agitated."
Lu Yin did not reply.
Elder Tong asked, "Is Elder Ren's corpse with you?"
Lu Yin nodded and waved his hand, causing Elder Ren's corpse to appear.
When he saw the corpse, Elder Tong's expression became sorrowful. "I didn't think that this old man wouldn't be able to rest in peace even after death."
Lu Yin did not know what to say.
Elder Tong bowed deeply once more. "Little Brother Lu, thank you again. Thank you."
Lu Yin did not avoid him, as he had to accept this gratitude. Otherwise, Elder Tong would not be able to rest easy.
Elder Ren's corpse was hurriedly buried in the Lightning Dojo's mountain range, and it would be moved to the Sea King's Dome in the future after the Sixth Mainland was expelled.
Hai Qiqi's eyes were red, and she silently wept.
Around them, many cultivators from the Sea King's Dome lowered their heads, their expressions sorrowful and angry. Their hatred for the Sixth Mainland was overwhelming.
"We have to retreat. We have to give up on this dojo," Elder Tong lamented as he stood in front of Elder Ren's grave.
Lu Yin was shocked. "Retreat?
To where? "
"Mount Chong Dojo," Elder Tong said. "Right now, we only have thirteen dojos left, and the Thunderbolt Dojo is located at the outermost perimeter of the thirteen dojos. Now that we've forced the Sixth Mainland to retreat, we'll definitely attract an even more intense attack, and it's even possible that Imprinters will appear. We won't be able to hold them off on our own, so we can only retreat to Mount Chong Dojo. And that's not all.
"Zhongshan Dojo is located at the center of the Grayweed Continent. If we retreat there, won't we be giving ourselves up to the Sixth Mainland?"
Elder Tong said bitterly, "If we don't retreat to Chongshan Training Hall, we won't be able to go anywhere."
Lu Yin's eyes narrowed, as he finally understood. In reality, the entire Grayweed Continent was like a turtle in a jar to the Sixth Mainland. Lu Yin wasn't sure about the other places, but in the Starfall Sea, the Grayweed Continent simply couldn't withstand the Tong family's power. The only reason the Sixth Mainland had been able to hold on was because the Tong family had yet to truly make a move. Or rather, there were other reasons why they couldn't truly make a move.
The second possibility was more likely because the Tong Clan had asked the Galloping Horse Manor for external help. However, even without external help, the cultivators of the Grayweed Continent would still be forced to a dead end step by step.
Even though they knew that this was a dead end, they still had to follow the Tong Clan's wishes. How sorrowful was that? Since ancient times, the Starfall Sea had never encountered such a sullen war.
What was the Sea King doing when he knew he was going to die?
There was also Taoist Master Lan of the Great Mountain Dojo and so on.
"By the way, Elder Tong, do you know what happened to my two seniors?
Are they Big Pao and Little Pao? "Lu Yin asked. When he had left the Starfall Sea, he had left Big Pao and Little Pao behind because he was worried that Feng Mo would continue to pursue them.
Elder Tong didn't recognize Big Pao and Little Pao. To someone at his level, Big Pao and Little Pao weren't even considered cannon fodder.
He summoned the others to ask them, but the war was too intense, and no one was in the mood to pay attention to them.
"Don't worry, they should be fine. When the Sea King's Dome was breached, a portion of the people fled here. The rest were placed on a planet not far from the Sea King's Dome by the Sixth Mainland, so they weren't killed. After all, the Sea King's Dome has such a large population that even the Sixth Mainland wouldn't dare to massacre them," Elder Tong consoled him.
Lu Yin felt helpless, as that was only true for ordinary people. Big Pao and Little Pao were cultivators, and they could even be considered outstanding cultivators.
He could only hope that they were as smart as they had been in the Astral Combat Academy and that they would be able to avoid this calamity.
As a series of glowing objects descended from the sky, a day passed in the Grayweed Continent. That night, Elder Tong and the Thunder Dao Master took advantage of the darkness to lead the remaining people towards the Chongshan Training Hall, directly abandoning the Lightning Training Hall.
With so many cultivators moving, it was impossible for them to leave without a trace. Fortunately, the rear of the Lightning Training Hall had not been occupied by the Sixth Mainland. Even if there were cultivators from the Sixth Mainland, they would only be a small group, and they would be easily exterminated.
The next day, Elder Yuan and Elder Song appeared outside the Lightning Training Hall with even more cultivators. Among them was a scholarly middle-aged man. Although he didn't have an intimidating aura, both Elder Yuan and Elder Song respectfully stood behind him, not daring to make the slightest sound.
This middle-aged man was an elder of the Tong family, Mister Yi. He was an Imprinter with a power level of over 600,000. Among the countless cultivators in the Tong family, he could be ranked in the top three.
"Mister Yi, there's no one. They've abandoned the Lightning Training Hall," Elder Song carefully reported after checking the situation.
Mister Yi frowned. "Decisive. That's the style of the Sea King, Elder Tong." He looked around before finally looking in the direction of the Chongshan Training Hall. "Elder Yuan, Elder Song, gather twenty people and follow me. Even if we can't capture everyone, we have to capture the leader."
"Understood."
For two consecutive days, the Thunder Dao Master led the way without stopping. All of the cultivators followed in silence.
Lu Yin and Hai Qiqi were in the middle of the group, with Elder Tong at the very back.
Hai Qiqi's mood was heavy, and Lu Yin felt sullen as well. After all, it did not feel good to be hunted down. He had only wanted to send Hai Qiqi to the Sea King's Dome, but now that he had come to the Grayweed Continent, he did not know when he would be able to return.
He had no idea how long that crack would last, and the more he thought about it, the heavier his heart became.
Hai Qiqi shook Lu Yin's hand. "Thank you."
Lu Yin patted the back of her hand. "Don't worry, it'll be fine."
Hai Qiqi nodded, her gaze resolute. She was much stronger than when she had left the Starfall Sea, and she could quickly adjust her state of mind.
Lu Yin did not ask her about the Sea King's situation, and since Hai Qiqi did not take the initiative to tell him, it proved that the Sea King's situation was a secret. Perhaps whether or not they could leave the Grayweed Continent would depend on the Sea King.
Right now, Lu Yin was looking forward to meeting the Divine Fist. The Ten Arbiters were now on the same continent as him, and they were definitely not far from each other. The day of their meeting was fast approaching.
Just as Lu Yin thought that they would be able to smoothly head to the Chongshan Training Hall, the void in the distance tore open, and a foot stepped out. A scholarly middle-aged man appeared in front of everyone; it was Mister Yi. As he appeared, the void behind him expanded, and Elder Yuan, Elder Song, and twenty other experts from the Sixth Mainland all appeared, standing tall in the sky.
The Thunder Dao Master sighed; they had indeed been caught.
Without further ado, the battle immediately began.
The Thunder Dao Master charged at Mister Yi and attacked with lightning. The entire sky was filled with lightning that condensed into a bolt of lightning that shot out.
Mister Yi smiled and waved his hand, causing the lightning to dissipate.
Everyone was stunned.
Elder Tong's expression turned ugly, as this was an Imprinter. Only an existence with a power level of over 500,000 could ignore star energy attacks. This was the suppression of a higher level.
Even though there were tens of thousands of cultivators on the Grayweed Continent, they were still completely suppressed by Mister Yi's twenty-two subordinates, as none of them were ordinary cultivators.
Elder Song found Lu Yin and sneered, "You won't be able to escape, kid!" His imprint appeared behind him as he spoke. He raised a hand and flicked his fingers, causing five oblate spheres to shoot out. They pierced through dozens of cultivators along the way, creating a bloody mist as they headed straight for Lu Yin.
Lu Yin flung Hai Qiqi out of the way and quickly dodged as well.
The five oblate spheres exploded, transforming into tree branches that instantly spread out and bound over a thousand cultivators, including Lu Yin.
Elder Song charged over. "Junior, you won't have a chance this time."
Lu Yin saw Elder Song approach, and his eyes flashed. Fatesand appeared in front of him. Elder Song struck out with a palm, but he was unable to disperse the Fatesand. He quickly followed up with a second palm strike, then a third, until the Fatesand automatically returned to Lu Yin's body. Elder Song then raised his palm and pressed it down on Lu Yin's head. He wasn't trying to kill Lu Yin, but rather knock him out and take him away so that he could interrogate him about the secret technique.
Elder Song had already made up his mind. He planned to take Lu Yin away from the main group and return to the Tong family after interrogating him about the secret technique.
Elder Song had already suppressed his astral phenomenon and was using the greatest amount of power he could muster. He was using his exquisite control over star energy to isolate the cultivators around him. This level of control was completely different from a Lockbreaker's control over star energy. One was control, while the other was control. The difference of a single word was like the difference between heaven and earth.
An Enlighter like Elder Song had great control over star energy, but he didn't understand star energy at all. Lockbreakers, on the other hand, were able to control star energy and view it as their own world.
Although there was a huge difference, it was roughly the same in the early stages. Even Lu Yin would find it difficult to completely break free from Elder Song's control over star energy.
However, he didn't hesitate to break free because he hadn't been bound in the first place.
Elder Song's palm struck down, but Lu Yin's body flashed and disappeared from where he had been standing. The tree branches that had been binding him were actually illusions of his domain. They were his forcefield, and they looked very similar to Elder Song's tree branches.
Elder Song hadn't expected Lu Yin to be faking his capture, and he hurriedly tried to dodge, but it was too late.
Lu Yin appeared behind him, and his eyes flashed with runes. Elder Song's rune lines had been weakened, and he could feel it at this moment, but he couldn't resist it. Star energy gathered in Lu Yin's right hand as cauldron qi fused into it. "First Sun."
The scorching sphere smashed towards Elder Song's head.
Elder Song felt a life-threatening crisis. His strength was still being weakened, and there was no way for him to reverse the situation.
He growled and couldn't help but erupt with all of his strength. This was a subconscious reaction when one was on the brink of death.
A terrifying aura with a power level of over 300,000 swept through the area, transforming into a gale that could be seen with the naked eye....