"Why go to the capital? The apocalypse has arrived, all places are the same," Zhou Shan said, puzzled.
Lu Yin didn't mention the mission, only saying, "I must find the truth of the apocalypse, and that corpse."
Zhou Shan shook his head, "There's no need. That massive explosion turned an area of over ten miles outside the capital into dust. Although the apocalypse descended after the explosion, some people immediately went to the scene to investigate, and found nothing. Do you think it's still useful to investigate there after so long?"
Lu Yin said in a deep voice, "Regardless of whether it's useful or not, I must go."
Zhou Shan sighed, looking complicatedly beyond Jinling City, "I can't stop you if you want to go, but I hope that if you don't find anything, you can return to Jinling."
Lu Yin nodded, "I understand."
Zhou Shan took out a certificate from his pocket, "This is my credential in the national military's name, and also my token. The seven saints had an agreement back then: seeing this is like seeing me. Take it with you to the capital and find Zhang Ding Tian; ask him to help you."
"Zhang Ding Tian? One of the seven saints?" Lu Yin was puzzled. He didn't know much about the seven saints. Communication during the apocalypse was intermittent, and his attention had been focused on Liu Tian Ge. If he hadn't come to Jinling, he wouldn't even know that the Martial Saint's name was Zhou Shan. As for the saint in the capital, he only knew him as the Blade Saint.
Mentioning Zhang Ding Tian, Zhou Shan's face showed an inexplicable expression, "Lu Yin, I know you are very strong now, capable of suppressing aliens, but I still want to tell you something: do not underestimate the seven saints, do not use my strength to measure the seven saints, especially the top three saints. Zhang Ding Tian is one of the top three saints, recognized as—the foremost of the seven saints."
Lu Yin was surprised. The foremost of the seven saints? This was no ordinary title.
Zhou Shan said solemnly, "Ever since that corpse was brought back to Earth, Huaxia secretly selected countless people attempting to receive some inheritance. The ones who finally succeeded were the seven saints. And Zhang Ding Tian is recognized by the seven saints as the strongest. His blade can suppress everything. Those students are indeed strong, but I absolutely don't believe that anyone of the same rank can defeat Zhang Ding Tian. Even the arrogant Luo Saint Bai Xue would not compare herself to Zhang Ding Tian. Many call him the Blade Saint, but his full name is—Berserker Blade Flower Saint. He is the Flower Saint."
Listening to Zhou Shan, an image of a blade and a majestic man inexplicably appeared in Lu Yin's mind—one man, one blade, suppressing the capital.
"How do you compare to him?" Lu Yin asked; he wanted a direct comparison.
Zhou Shan smiled bitterly, holding up one finger, "Aside from the top three saints, others facing him will only last one strike."
Lu Yin's eyes changed. Defeating Zhou Shan with one strike was absolutely terrifying. Zhou Shan's true strength surpassed Aodhan and Granny; he could fight Tres. In other words, Zhang Ding Tian could defeat someone of Tres's level with one strike. According to Yego's statement, he should be in the tier of the strongest individuals from all major academies. Earth clearly still had such people.
Lu Yin believed he could also defeat Zhou Shan with one strike if he used Void Palm or Heavenly Star Palm. So, who was stronger between himself and Zhang Ding Tian?
Receiving Zhou Shan's certificate, Lu Yin carefully put it away. Zhou Shan had done him a favor, hoping he would return to Jinling in the future. However, Lu Yin was destined to disappoint him; his future lay in the Starry Sky.
There were still two months until the second batch of trial participants descended. Lu Yin hoped to find and identify the corpse within these two months. His time was quite tight.
"What? Make me go to the capital with you? Impossible!" Granny exclaimed, immediately refusing.
Lu Yin said coldly, "You have no right to refuse."
Granny hastily cried out, "Didn't you hear Yego? Those who go to the capital are the strongest people from those academies; they're abnormally strong. I witnessed Willow crush Tres with my own eyes; he couldn't be defeated by a sneak attack."
"I said, you have no right to refuse," Lu Yin said.
Granny fell silent, reluctantly pleading, "Yatta, no, Lu Yin, you simply don't understand what 'the strongest person in an academy' means. During the academy competition, Tres challenged Willow and was severely injured by a single palm. The difference was too great."
"Yego was also severely injured by one of my palms," Lu Yin said calmly.
Granny wanted to retort, but then suddenly realized that it was true. She had always positioned herself in a tier below Tres, and unconsciously, this also lowered her assessment of Lu Yin's combat power. But thinking back today, the guy in front of her also seemed abnormal. A Glimpse Realm injuring Tres, and severely injuring Yego without activating Star Energy. Granny stepped back a few paces, assessing Lu Yin. She suddenly felt that this guy might indeed be comparable to the strongest people in the academies.
Lu Yin had never used his full strength against Granny, so Granny had no idea of Lu Yin's true combat power, but even what he had shown was enough to leave her awestruck.
"We leave tonight, for the capital," Lu Yin said indifferently before leaving, giving Granny no room to refuse.
Granny was helpless. The boundless universe, countless academies, even the Great Martial Empire had many academies. The so-called trial missions were fundamentally not something her tier could access, but at this moment, she was forced to move towards another circle, the so-called inner circle of the strongest.
Hebei, within vast mountains, blood-colored smoke signals soared into the sky, dyeing the valleys red. Blood covered the rivers, and the pungent smell attracted more and more mutated beasts, which quickly turned into groans and were completely slaughtered.
The stream was dyed red. A short man stood in the river, washing his body. Several wounds on his back had already scabbed over, and his firm muscles bulged.
On the bank, a man and a woman quietly observed him. "Bailey, if you keep playing, this entire mountain range will be out of mutated beasts."
The short man glanced at the bank, saying coldly, "There are two Fusion Realm mutated beasts I haven't provoked. I'll go back and slaughter them first."
The woman calmly said, "It's time to go to this country's capital. The chances of finding the fugitive there are highest. The corpse that this planet brought from Neptune is very likely the fugitive."
A chilling glint flashed in the short man Bailey's eyes, "Willow, where are the other two teams?"
The man on the bank was indeed Willow, the strongest person from the empire's First Military Academy, and the woman was Paris, the strongest person from Blue Mountain Academy. These three were the elites Yego knew of.
Willow replied, "Based on our estimated positions, Gules and his group are on the grasslands, which is north of the capital, and Erde and his group are in Shanxi, both not far from the capital."
Bailey walked to the bank, his body vibrating with energy, and he instantly dried off. "Let's go, to the capital."
The three left, leaving behind countless corpses of dead mutated beasts, many of which were Heaven-tier mutated beasts.
North of Huaxia, vast grasslands swayed under a fierce wind, looking like green ripples under the sunlight from above, exceptionally beautiful.
On the grassland, a woman raised both hands high, breathing deeply, "So refreshing, this is the smell of the grassland."
Not far away, a green-skinned, 2-meter tall man glanced at the woman, saying in a rough, pottery-like voice, "A good smell of human feces. You're sick."
"Ballaro, what did you say?" The woman's sharp ears had heard him, and she immediately glared.
The green-skinned man Ballaro quickly laughed, "Nothing, it smells good, it smells good."
The woman looked smug, "Consider yourself clever. Let's go, to the capital. I heard that the people of this planet received a corpse from the primitive planet; it must be the fugitive."
"Good," Ballaro replied, looking up. Ahead, the endless stretches of distant grass suddenly parted, as if sentiently moving aside.
Shanxi, two figures cloaked in black walked slowly. Ahead lay endless yellow earth. Occasionally, bizarre and ferocious mutated beasts would rush out from the yellow earth, then disappear again.
Beneath the black cloaks, one of them, a man with scales on his forehead, had ice-cold eyes. With each step he took, the yellow earth became incredibly dry, as if all its moisture had been absorbed. A hundred meters behind, all the earth he had passed turned cracked and crumbled into dust, and the mutated beasts within were reduced to mere husks, all moisture in their bodies completely drawn out.
"I don't like this place. We should have landed in the ocean earlier."
"No choice. To complete the mission, we have to go to the capital. I know you were born in the deep sea, just endure a bit, you'll be out soon."
"I've sacrificed so much. Anyone who dares to hinder me from completing the mission will be slaughtered, even if all the natives on this planet die, they cannot impede me."
"Of course, no one can impede us."
Northeast, endless snow and ice obscured vision, a vast white world.
Within this boundless whiteness, a pair of red long boots slowly tread, turning their back to the wind and snow to reveal a devastatingly beautiful face. Her eyes, bright as stars, almost melted this frozen world.
She was Bai Xue, the Luo Saint of Huaxia, by the Luo River, captivating and peerless.
This was Lan Ying, Luo Saint Lan Ying.
On the snowy ground, three figures knelt, their faces contorted, looking extremely pained. One of them barely managed to lift his head, looking in terror at the stunning beauty before him, his lips trembling, "You, you're just a native. How can you be so strong?"