Chapter 1306: Lighting The Joss Stick

In the entire universe, across both the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands, countless people had their eyes focused on one broadcast. The various screens above the mountain had merged into one, and there was only one scene being shown. It was the peak of Zenith Mountain, the place directly beneath the giant statue.

At this moment, the plaza symbolized the most elite stage in the entire universe.

This was a stage that not even the Ten Arbiters’ Liu Tianmu and Ling Gong, or one of the Daosource Three Skies, had managed to step onto.

Everyone was so nervous that they held their breaths. The top ten of ZENITH had been decided, so now, the Pinnacle Youth would be determined. Whose face would be branded on that statue?

Ordinary people were simply planning to enjoy the exciting battles as they watched the ten finalists duke it out. However, the high rollers were biting their nails since the outcome of this final round would determine their fate.

The fact that Lu Yin had entered the top ten had already bankrupted an entire group of gamblers, and the same had happened when Bu Kong had been defeated. The gambling scene of ZENITH had already led to quite a number of murders outside of the competition itself.

The results of ZENITH were tied to many people’s fates.

Everyone expected the next round to be the competition that determined ZENITH’s final champion, and guesses were flying everywhere as to what form this round would take.

However, against everyone’s expectations, a joss stick suddenly appeared above the peak of the mountain, and at the same time, another one appeared behind the ten finalists. The joss sticks ignited and started giving off smoke.

The audience was confused.

“Those who remain at the top of Zenith Mountain after the joss sticks have finished burning will be crowned the top ten.” A loud voice resonated throughout Zenith Mountain, the same voice that had been heard at the start of ZENITH. At this moment, people were hearing the voice for the second time.

At that moment, no matter if they were at the foot of the mountain, at the bottom of the stairs, or on the first, second, or third layers, everyone understood what the voice meant: this was another chance for them to charge up to the mountain’s peak and replace the ten who were already there.

Lu Yin took a deep breath. He had already known that it would not be this simple to become one of the top ten. ZENITH’s top ten would all receive some sort of fate-altering reward, and clearly, that reward would not be easily given. Without an extreme level of strength and luck, one would not be able to go against their fate. Thus, they should not even dream of grabbing hold of this opportunity without the ability.

This simply meant that ZENITH’s top ten would not be determined simply by slowly fighting to the peak of the mountain.

ZENITH’s top ten had to possess true power that separated them from all others. In earlier rounds of the competition, luck had played a factor as well. For example, if Bai Mai had not faced Liquor Hero, but rather someone else, then the top ten might have been different. ZENITH’s top ten had to be invincible.

The time that it took a joss stick to burn? That was neither too long nor too short an amount of time.

If one looked down from the peak of the mountain, then all the people across the mountainside were aiming to replace those at the top, but the most dangerous opponents were those already at the peak. No one at the peak was forbidden from making a move against their peers on the mountaintop.

The plaza at the top of the mountain was large, and each of the ten had taken their own section.

All ten of them were able to see the excitement and anticipation in the eyes of those down below, but not all of them were targets of those further down the mountain. For instance, Shang Qing was someone who no one dared to challenge or even look at, and the same was true of Wang Yi, Yao Xuan, and Lu Yin.

There were a few youths who had already shown that they possessed unfathomable power.

Shang Qing was the most intimidating of all, as just the name “Progenitor Chen” was enough to scare the crowd into silence.

Lu Yin was the person who had shown the most exciting performance so far; both Yuhua Mavis and Liu Tianmu had been extremely strong opponents, but Lu Yin had still managed to defeat them. Surely no one still dared to challenge him after his string of impressive victories.

Qiu Shi struck first. She had made no attempt to fight against Shang Qing when they had been paired up at the bottom of the staircase. Instead, she had been waiting for this moment. After all, she was the Cosmic Sect’s top disciple; how could she just give up without a fight?

Her target was Zhi Yi. Qiu Shi immediately attacked this member of the Daosource Three Skies.

On the first layer, Star Devourer opened his eyes and growled angrily at the sky before ferociously dashing up.

Yuhua Mavis also looked up at the mountain peak. She had no intention of abandoning the opportunity that would be given to ZENITH’s top ten. With this thought, she leaped up and charged up the mountainside. Her eyes were locked onto Wu Taibai. She had seen him do the same as Lu Yin and grab the Eleventh Sword. Watching him throw that attack to the side had piqued her interest.

On the second layer, Toolwielder began his dash towards the top as well. He felt indignant over his defeat at Wang Yi’s hands.

As for the third layer, Lan Si made his move, as well as White Silkworm.

Not everyone had the courage to challenge the ten who had already reached the peak of the mountain, and only a handful were daring enough to do so.

At the foot of the mountain, Bu Kong looked up to glare at Xiao Qing. How dare that sly wench ambush him!

Elsewhere at the bottom of the mountain, Bai Mai had finally finished consuming the drop of wine, and he started flying straight at the mountaintop with a buzzing noise.

Qiu Shi was the first person to make a move against a participant on the mountain peak, and her target was Zhi Yi.

No matter what former grudges might have existed in the past, at this moment, the entire universe was watching Zenith Mountain, and certain matters had already been made clear: Qiu Shi would choose either the Astral Beast Domain’s Yao Xuan or one of the Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Three Skies as her target.

Zhi Yi was not surprised that she had been targeted, though she was not certain why the three Progenitors would allow ZENITH to be held in this system that was clearly disadvantageous for the Sixth Mainland. Regardless, there was nothing that she could do about it at the moment.

As 932 stars emerged and revolved around Qiu Shi’s body, they gradually surrounded the entire mountaintop. Not only Zhi Yi, but Lu Yin and Shang Qing were also within range of the stars.

Zhi Yi did not hold anything back either. She released her Vitality Qi in a surge that swept across the peak of the mountain.

As Vitality Qi and the Cosmic Art clashed atop the mountain peak, the collision dragged in the others who had not been involved in the fight.

Unseen Light, Xia Jiuyou, Xiao Qing, Liquor Hero, and Wu Taibai all retreated one after another.

At that moment, Shang Qing raised a hand and sent out a stream of qi at Xia Jiuyou. Shang Qing had mentioned earlier that he wished to see the true power of the Nine Clones Secret Technique for himself, and he had meant it.

Xia Jiuyou raised his blade and unleashed a powerful slash that tore the qi stream apart. However, the stream of qi quickly reformed and continued on shooting towards Xia Jiuyou.

Below them, Yuhua Mavis was still climbing up the mountain. When she got close enough, she cocked her right arm back and threw a powerful punch in Wu Taibai’s direction, her attack causing the entire mountain to tremble.

Wu Taibai instantly moved to evade the attack instead of taking it head-on.

The shockwave of Yuhua Mavis’ punch brushed past Wu Taibai and continued on towards Qiu Shi and Zhi Yi, who were already caught up in a heated battle. Fearing Yuhua Mavis’s power, both women quickly dodged the shockwave.

A terrifying roar was ahead across all of Zenith Mountain. It was Star Devourer. Judging from his drastically smaller size, it was clear that his fight against Shang Qing had left behind lasting damage. Combined with when Star Devourer had been struck by Bu Kong’s Time Reversal Technique, it seemed that Star Devourer had come to understand the disadvantages of a massive body.

Star Devourer opened four of his eyes, and a large amount of power emerged before forming a tornado that raged towards Lu Yin. Apparently, Star Devourer had taken interest in Lu Yin long ago.

Lu Yin frowned. After defeating strong powerhouses like Yuhua Mavis and Liu Tianmu, he had not expected anyone outside of the ten who had reached the mountaintop with him to have the courage to move against him.

He was surprised by the power in Star Devourer’s attack. As expected of the most physically powerful creature of the Astral Beast Domain, even Lu Yin felt that his strength paled in comparison. The power that the beast wielded after opening four eyes was practically the same as what Lu Yin could use after unsealing all of his fatesand. However, the beast was still able to grow exponentially stronger by opening his fifth and sixth eyes.

It was common sense to counter an opponent’s shortcomings with one’s strengths, which was how Shang Qing had easily defeated Star Devourer. He had not used power, but rather a terrifying technique that had summoned Progenitor Chen’s clone. The power of that blade technique was enough to make a person’s scalp go numb, as it represented the invincibility of Progenitor Chen.

Lu Yin was aware of his own skills, and he knew that he did not have an invincible technique like Shang Qing’s. However, Lu Yin also had no intention of trying to overpower Star Devourer. With Star Devourer’s violent attacks approaching, Lu Yin chose to retreat.

To engage in a contest of strength with an astral beast was nothing glorious, but losing would be absolutely embarrassing.

Lu Yin managed to avoid the tornado formed from Star Devourer’s power, and it raged into the distance, affecting almost half of the youths atop the mountain as it passed.

Zhi Yi was furious. First, she had almost been struck by the shockwave from Yuhua Mavis’s punch, and now, this dumb beast was about to ruin things for her.

Liquor Hero was caught up in the chaos as well. She sprinkled out some drops of wine, which absorbed the tornado that was passing by. The whole thing looked truly magical.

With a loud bang, the mountaintop cracked open. Star Devourer opened his fifth eye and roared at the sky once again as he swung his enormous tail at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin raised a hand and instantly attacked Star Devourer’s body with a Vacuum Palm. For creatures that were shaped like wolves, the abdomen was usually the softest part. Thus, one hit should send Star Devourer off of the mountain and below the stairs.

Lu Yin felt a pair of cold eyes glare at him from behind, causing him to immediately abandon all thoughts of attacking. He felt a blade approaching him, and it was from Xia Jiuyou. Before Lu Yin could recover and take a defensive position, his vision had changed, and he was greeted with a sword attack from Zhi Yi composed of her Vitality Qi. Lu Yin cursed under his breath; he had swapped positions with Qiu Shi due to her Star Transference secret technique.

Zhi Yi had not expected Lu Yin to suddenly appear, but it did not matter, as both Lu Yin and Qiu Shi were Zhi Yi’s enemies. Actually, Lu Yin was an even better target for her.

Upon seeing the approaching sword attack formed from Zhi Yi’s Vitality Qi, Lu Yin raised a hand. It was immediately shrouded with lines of nine lined battle force. Then, with a clanking sound, he forcefully received the sword attack head-on with his arm, the impact cracking the ground beneath his feet. He then threw a Vacuum Palm at Zhi Yi with his right hand

The Vacuum Palm struck the Sky Dipper barrier that covered her body, and the attack sent Zhi Yi flying off of the mountain. Her organs had been deeply stirred by the attack, and she was overwhelmed with shock. What a terrifyingly powerful attack!

Not many people in all of ZENITH could disregard Lu Yin’s Vacuum Palm. Even though Zhi Yi had managed to protect her body with Sky Dipper, his Vacuum Palm still was not something that she was capable of simply enduring.

When Qiu Shi swapped positions with Lu Yin, she appeared right where Lu Yin had been standing. She had timed it very carefully, making sure to use her secret technique right after Star Devourer was subdued by Lu Yin. At that moment, Qiu Shi had immediately swapped places in order to take the upper hand in her fight while also getting revenge on Lu Yin for dragging her down back in the Mountains and Seas Zone’s tablet world. A woman’s vengeance was something that could fester for a long time.

However, she had underestimated Lu Yin’s bad reputation. Right after Star Devourer was defeated, Qiu Shi was attacked by Yao Xuan’s spiritual force when she took Lu Yin’s place.

Yao Xuan had fully intended to attack Lu Yin. However, he had not expected Qiu Shi to suddenly swap places and take the spiritual force attack in Lu Yin’s stead.

Yao Xuan’s spiritual force could be acknowledged as the strongest in all of ZENITH, and although Qiu Shi did not exactly have weak defenses towards spiritual force, she still almost lost her footing from the attack that came out of nowhere, and her face went pale.

Off in the distance, Yao Xuan felt slightly confused; what had happened to his target?

Qiu Shi looked up to stare at Yao Xuan. The surrounding stars gathered to form the Celestial Sword, and she began to resolutely attack Yao Xuan.

Yao Xuan thought that Qiu Shi was aiming her sword at him, and that was indeed what she was doing. However, the instance before the Celestial Sword struck, Qiu Shi once again used Star Transference to swap places with Lu Yin. A moment ago, Lu Yin had sent Zhi Yi flying with a Vacuum Palm, and now, he had returned to his original position.

He was extremely upset, as he felt like he was being manipulated like a puppet.

Speaking of which, that Star Transference secret technique was too convenient.

The round had only just begun, but the intense battles that had erupted everywhere completely terrified the audience watching the livestream. Almost simultaneously, they saw the strongest physical attack, the strongest spiritual force, the Cosmic Art, Vitality Qi, secret techniques, and even more. Even if Enlighters from the older generations joined in this battle, they might not be able to hold their ground against these young monsters.

Those who had chosen not to fight, such as Unseen Light or Xiao Qing, also scrambled to get out of the messes that they kept being dragged into.

Beneath the statue, the faint image of a celestial demon appeared above the mountain peak and released a horrifying scream at Lu Yin. Yao Xuan was once again trying to attack Lu Yin, and the spiritual force attack covered all of Zenith Mountain.

Lu Yin had seen Yao Xuan’s attacks before, and he had always been on guard against the Celestial Demon’s spiritual force attacks. The moment the image of the celestial demon appeared behind Yao Xuan, Lu Yin had already set up the Inception Array. This sourcebox array protected a person’s spiritual force and kept it as sturdy as a boulder.

When Yao Xuan had defeated Xin Nü by using his Celestial Demon’s Howl, not only had he crushed her, but the attack’s peripheral effects had also injured a large number of other people. No one was capable of disregarding Yao Xuan’s spiritual force.

A ripple of waves instantly spread through the area. It was materialized spiritual force, and the sight of it stunned even Mu En and the other senior powerhouses. The Celestial Demons were truly terrifying.

The battle atop the mountain instantly stopped. Qiu Shi’s stars, Zhi Yi’s Vitality Qi, and Yuhua Mavis’ punch that had just been about to be thrown all froze in place. Everyone was suffering from the effects of Yao Xuan’s spiritual force eruption.

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