Star Odyssey

Chapter 2531: Battle Strategy

"What do you say? I’ll agree to fight you if the prize is that calligraphy scroll," Lu Yin suggested.

Jiang Xiaodao paused and fell deep into thought. He was usually brimming with self-confidence and would have immediately accepted, but his recent defeat in the card searching competition left him feeling a bit uncertain. He was not an idiot, and Lu Yin's swift agreement had roused some suspicions.

"Then it's settled, Brother Xiaodao. Bring out the calligraphy scroll." Little Lian arched a brow at Jiang Xiaodao while extending a fair and tender hand for the scroll.

Jiang Xiaodao felt like he was just about to cry. "Little Lian, why do you keep supporting him? Are you starting to feel something for him?"

Little Lian's face flushed red as her temper snapped. "Wha- how ridiculous! If you say that again, I won't talk to you anymore!"

Jiang Xiaodao quickly apologized and handed the calligraphy scroll to Little Lian.

She smiled at Lu Yin again and raised a dainty fist. "Seventh Bro, beat him up!"

Lu Yin chuckled. This little girl was absolutely adorable.

Jiang Xiaodao decided to vent all his anger onto Lu Yin. "Come, Xuan Qi! Watch how I beat you up!"

"Wait!" Lu Yin shouted.

Jiang Xiaodao, who had been just about to attack, instantly froze and glared at Lu Yin. "What kind of trick are you trying to pull?"

Lu Yin rubbed his head. "Let me think about how I should try to deal with you."

Jiang Xiaodao thought that this had to be a joke. "What did you say?"

Zhi Xiao and everyone else who was watching were similarly stunned. Xuan Qi needed time to think? What kind of request was that?

Little Lian threw a punch at the air and said, "Seventh Bro, take all the time you need! Brother Xiaodao, you're not allowed to move."

A twinge of pain struck Jiang Xiaodao’s heart. "Little Lian, he's plotting against me!"

Little Lian shot an angry glare his way. "With the massive gap between you two, just let Seventh Bro do whatever he wants."

Lu Yin felt that the little girl was entirely too cute.

The truth was that he was waiting for the voidforce puppet to arrive.

He wanted to defeat Jiang Xiaodao without exposing his true strength, which meant that his only option was to pull over a voidforce puppet. All of the voidforce puppets were in the Voidforce School, which was quite far away. Given Lu Yin’s reserves of voidforce energy, it was very difficult to lure a puppet from so far away. However, with his experience using Truesight, he was able to convert many of his skills related to manipulating runes over to voidforce energy, which provided him with an absurd level of control over his voidforce energy. With this, he was able to trigger another Voidforce Tide.

However, this time, it was not a surge of energy being pulled towards Lu Yin, but rather voidforce puppets.

He manipulated a trace of voidforce energy that stretched across two schools’ continents so that he could drag the village over to him.

At this moment, at the border of the two schools, Xu Xiangyin had just caught up to Zhi Bing. "Old man, what are you up to?"

Zhi Bing looked puzzled. "What nonsense are you bringing up now?"

Xu Xiangyin stared at Zhi Bing. "You're thinking about Xuan Qi, aren't you?"

Zhi Bing nodded. "That’s right, I am thinking about him. To be honest, it's quite rare for a cultivator from a foreign universe to find a seven-star Ancient card on their first search attempt. It’s something that even few within our Lost Clan can accomplish, though Zhi Xiao was one. Xuan Qi’s talent is truly astonishing.”

"Still, his talent for your culture’s methods isn’t as extreme as his talent for voidforce energy. Do you realize that, the first time he tried to absorb voidforce energy, he actually triggered a Voidforce Tide? He was even able to attract the village in just a bit more than two months! The very first time he tried to manipulate a puppet, he was able to draw one that had twenty times his voidforce energy. His accomplishments are so stunning that he’s even caught the attention of Lord Xu," Xu Xiangyin rambled on excitedly.

Zhi Bing raised a hand to stop his colleague. "I understand what you're saying. Don't worry. While Xuan Qi clearly has the talent to master our Lost Clan Universe’s power, and his talent is indeed quite eye-catching, it's not so extreme that I’ll try to compete with you for him. He still belongs to your Voidforce Universe."

Zhi Bing's words finally allowed Xu Xiangyin to let out a sigh of relief. "I hope that you stand by those words."

Zhi Bing shook his head. He was not too concerned about the level of talent that Xuan Qi had demonstrated. Even if the youth displayed a greater level of talent, could he possibly surpass the entire Lost Clan? They valued cards first, and then people.

"Ah, a Voidforce Tide?" Xu Xiangyin looked at the sky above the Voidforce School in astonishment. He then happily exclaimed, "Could there be another genius who’s triggered a Voidforce Tide?"

Zhi Bing was also impressed. "It seems that your Voidforce Universe has uncovered many geniuses. Congratulations."

As Xu Xiangyin hurried into the Voidforce School, he suddenly felt that something was wrong. What he was seeing was not a Voidforce Tide; rather, all the ambient voidforce energy within the school was being drawn away by some force. And it’s headed… There?

Zhi Bing also noticed the anomaly. "What's going on?"

Xu Xiangyin looked up and saw a trace of voidforce energy spanning the two institutes. Because the voidforce energy was too weak, he hadn’t initially paid any attention to it. But now, he realized that the Voidforce Tide was being pulled by this trace of voidforce energy, and above the Voidforce Tide was the village.

The moment he realized this, Xu Xiangyin whirled around and rushed back to the Lost Clan School.

Zhi Bing's expression turned solemn, and he also returned to the Lost Clan School.

The two men quickly arrived back at where Lu Yin and Jiang Xiaodao were about to have their match. At this moment, Jiang Xiaodao was still talking to Little Lian, a pained expression on his face. As for Lu Yin, he was pretending to be lost in deep contemplation. Meanwhile, his voidforce energy stretched past the Lost Clan School to pull the village to him.

None of the students who were present cultivated voidforce energy, so none of them were able to notice what was happening.

Xu Xiangyin was yet again blown away by Xuan Qi’s talent. After cultivating voidforce energy for such a short amount of time, he was already able to use a delicate strand of voidforce energy to attract the village from such a great distance. The youth’s control over his voidforce energy had grown even stronger.

While impressed, this was still within reasonable bounds for Xu Xiangyin. After all, the Taiyi Universe was small, and although the six continents were quite large, they were spread across a distance that an Enlighter could cross in practically no time at all.

If Lu Yin's strand of voidforce energy could cross the entire Taiyi Universe, then Xu Xiangyin would have been truly shocked. That was something that only experts at the Envoy level could achieve.

Lu Yin's cultivation with voidforce energy had not reached the Envoy level yet, but the village that he was attracting certainly possessed that much energy. This was the reason why Xu Xiangyin had been so shocked when Lu Yin had first drawn the village to him. In the Fifth Mainland’s terms, it was no different from an Enlighter defeating an Envoy.

Zhi Bing looked up at the sky. "Is that little guy drawing a voidforce puppet over?"

He was already able to see the village.

Xu Xiangyin nodded in approval. "Impressive, isn't it? He’s been cultivating for less than three months."

Zhi Bing nodded. "A true prodigy."

The man then looked at Jiang Xiaodao and shook his head. "The foolish child is still waiting. If he had taken action sooner, it would already be over by now. As it is, he's in for a rough time."

A sinister smile spread across Xu Xiangyin’s face. "To be honest, I've never liked that brat. He's been constantly causing trouble, and it’s time that he’s taught a lesson."

"Unfortunately, even though that village is rich in voidforce energy, defeating him in a single blow won't be easy. After all, he is Sage Jiang's son," Zhi Bing remarked.

Xu Xiangyin did not deny it. He was already prepared to save Lu Yin. Sage Jiang’s son couldn't be defeated in an ambush, because his power level was equivalent to the voidforce energy enveloping the village.

Jiang Xiaodao finally managed to coax a hearty laugh out of Little Lian. He heaved a sigh of relief and turned to look at Lu Yin. "Hey, have you made up your mind yet? Are you going to fight or not? Stalling for more time isn't going to help you."

"What- what is that?" someone exclaimed.

Everyone looked up and saw the distant form of the village quickly approaching.

Jiang Xiaodao, Zhi Xiao, and the others all looked over. What on earth was that?

Zhi Xiao's expression turned cold. "A voidforce puppet."

While he had not yet visited the Voidforce School, he was quite knowledgeable of their cultivation methods. He already heard about the village from the Voidforce School’s students.

Suddenly, Jiang Xiao recalled the same thing. He slowly turned to stare at Lu Yin, his mouth wide open.

Lu Yin laughed and said, "Thanks for waiting. It turns out that stalling for time was very useful."

He then raised a hand and pressed it down.

The village came crashing down. Voidforce energy fell first, sealing off a large region of the void, which made it difficult for Jiang Xiao to escape.

He shouted angrily, "How despicable!"

Both of his arms rose upwards. "Heavenly River!"

As he shouted, his hands moved so quickly that one could make out their movements. At the same time, a gentle power rose up from below. A roaring Heavenly River swept upwards toward the village.

The village clashed with the Heavenly River in a breathtaking collision before everyone's eyes.

The void shattered, and spatial cracks spread out in every direction.

The students fled without stopping.

Zhi Xiao grabbed hold of Little Lian and dragged her away.

After creating more distance, Mu Duo was stunned. He had previously seen Shi Hong's voidforce puppet, but compared that to Xuan Qi's, Shi Hong had been using a mere toy.

Mu Xinxin was shocked. Was this the true power of a voidforce puppet?

Countless tremors reverberated throughout the Lost Clan School, causing the very air to vibrate. The gentle force and invisible voidforce energy swept through the surroundings, and the onlookers could barely withstand it.

Finally, the village completely fell down with a resounding bang, burying Jiang Xiaodao beneath its weight.

"Brother Xiaodao!" Little Lian exclaimed, her face turning pale.

Zhi Xiao stared at the ground, his brow furrowed. With the tremendous power of this attack, even Jiang Xiaodao had been suppressed.

Off in the distance, a few people peeked back in terror, looking at the trembling ground in fear.

Lu Yin stood by the broken ground. "I'm sorry, but the gap between us is too big. This was the only move that I could use to deal with you."

Little Lian looked at Lu Yin, clearly upset with him. She pursed her lips and looked at the bottom of the village. "Brother Xiaodao, it's Little Lian's fault that you didn't take action earlier."

Lu Yin heard the comment and looked over at the girl. "Don't worry, Little Lian. He's fine."

Little Lian's eyes lit up. "He's fine?"

Lu Yin nodded and smiled. "How could I let anything happen to him? After all, he’s your friend."

At that moment, a disheveled figure rose up from a fissure. It was none other than Jiang Xiaodao. He shot a furious look at Lu Yin and raised a hand that he instantly thrust forward. The water in the palm of his hand transformed into a river that surged towards Lu Yin. However, Lu Yin just pointed behind Jiang Xiaodao. "Watch out!"

Jiang Xiaodao trembled as he turned around. There, he saw that a card had mysteriously appeared. It was… Hidden Mountain?

The next thing Jiang Xiaodao knew, he was being dragged into the Hidden Mountain card. At the same time, Lu Yin also disappeared. The river smashed into a distant, empty region of the Lost Clan School.

Everyone stared at the place where the card had vanished. Jiang Xiaodao had just fallen into a trap.

Lu Yin had used the village as a distraction to prepare the Hidden Mountain card and drag Jiang Xiaodao inside. This was a perfect example of the Lost Clan’s standard battle strategy. Seeing it be executed so well caused Zhi Bing's eyes to light up. "Not only does he possess impressive talent, but his fighting style also perfectly fits our Lost Clan. It's such a pity that he's from a foreign universe, or else I’d happily take him as my own disciple."

Xu Xiangyin instantly grew wary. "Old man, you promised me."

Zhi Bing reassured Xu Xiangyin, "Don't worry, my Lost Clan won't steal him from you. I just find it to be a bit of a shame."

Xu Xiangyin let out a sigh of relief. From the moment Xuan Qi had entered the Lost Clan School, he had constantly been on edge, worried that someone would steal his genius. It was utterly exhausting.

"What about that Hidden Mountain card? Can Xuan Qi win inside there?" Xu Xiangyin asked.

Zhi Bing shook his head. "To be honest, only someone with Jiang Xiaodao's level of strength can actually use an Ancient card. The fact that Xuan Qi managed to find it and even use it is already quite impressive. It just goes to show that he has exceptional talent for my Lost Clan Universe’s power, just like his talent for voidforce.

"Of course, there are people who are capable of using cards beyond their level, but the power that they can unleash still depends on the individual. Jiang Xiaodao's strength means that he won't be defeated by anyone who’s using a card above their level for the first time. We'll see the results soon enough."