Chapter 1813: Yang Kong
Gadgets were not forbidden in the Starfall Sea, but they were unable to connect to the Innerverse. Still, there were unrestricted communications within the Starfall Sea itself.
"What\'s wrong?" Lu Yin asked.
Si Xiao\'er\'s face was ugly, "Yang Kong has challenged my master."
Lu Yin had no idea what she was talking about.
Si Xiao\'er explained, "Yang Kong is the son of the Aeternal Kingdom’s East City Master. He’s an extraordinarily talented youth, and he’s already an Enlighter."
Lu Yin was surprised. "Wait, an Enlighter is challenging your master? Isn’t your master an Envoy?"
Si Xiao\'er nodded and quietly said, "My master only became an Envoy in recent years. This isn’t the first time that Yang Kong’s challenged my master, but every time he’s issued a challenge in the past, my master has refused and only promised a future match."
Lu Yin\'s eyes flickered. "Your master isn’t confident?"
Si Xiao\'er pursed her lips. "Yang Kong is just too powerful. Even though he’s still an Enlighter, even some Enlighters who are at the cusp of becoming Envoys can’t take more than a few moves from him. My master believed that she was no match for Yang Kong before becoming an Envoy."
"Becoming an Envoy is a qualitative leap forward. It’s too difficult to cross realms to defeat an Envoy," Lu Yin said.
Si Xiao\'er’s smile grew bitter. "It might be difficult for others, but not necessarily for Yang Kong. He’s already defeated too many older powerhouses, and no one dares to fight him any longer. Since he has the courage to challenge my master, he must be confident of victory. I know that Senior just came out of seclusion, but in recent years, the Human Domain hosted an incredible competition for members of the younger generation that was called ZENITH. People came from the Sixth Mainland, the Astral Beast Domain, and the Technocracy all came to participate.
"The champion ended up being a man named Lu Yin, who’s now considered peerless within his realm, but he’s nowhere close to being Yang Kong’s opponent. It’s simply that Yang Kong was in seclusion during ZENITH, as well as in the Starfall Sea, so he wasn’t able to participate. Otherwise, Lu Yin wouldn’t have ended up as the champion."
Lu Yin had to ask. "Did you watch ZENITH?"
Si Xiao\'er shook her head. "We weren’t able to see it."
"Then why do you think that Lu Yin isn’t Yang Kong\'s opponent?" Lu Yin asked.
Si Xiao\'er replied, "Can Lu Yin defeat an Enlighter at a vastly higher cultivation realm with just a single attack? Was Lu Yin able to become a Boundless Advanced Lockbreaker while still just a youth? Was Lu Yin able to master a sourcebox array? Can Lu Yin challenge an Envoy after only completing a bit more than thirty cycles? No such genius has ever appeared in all of human history.”
Lu Yin pursed his lips. This girl almost sounded like she was indirectly praising him. Could she have recognized him?
"So are you saying that Yang Kong’s able to do everything you just mentioned?" Lu Yin’s interest had been roused.
Si Xiao\'er nodded. "Yang Kong is capable of anything that Lu Yin is, and he can also perform feats that are beyond Lu Yin’s capabilities. Lu Yin may be praised as the most impressive of his generation, but Yang Kong is even able to challenge Envoys from the older generation. That is the gap between them.
"It’s possible that Lu Yin can’t even enter the true universe."
Lu Yin blinked. The people in the Starfall Sea were seriously underestimating him!
"If Brother Lan Si were here, maybe there’d be someone who could fight against Yang Kong, but unfortunately…" Si Xiao\'er muttered to herself as her expression turned gloomy.
Lu Yin arched a brow. "Lan Si?"
Si Xiao\'er quickly explained, "He’s one of the Ten Arbiters of the younger generation. Senior’s been in seclusion for so long that you would never have heard of them, but the top ten youths were given the title of the Ten Arbiters. Brother Lan Si was born in the Mt. Stacks Dojo and is one of the Ten Arbiters. He might be able to put up a fight against Yang Kong, but actually winning would be very difficult. After all, Brother Lan Si is someone who lost to Lu Yin.”
"With everything that you’ve said, are there any videos of Yang Kong\'s battles? I’d like to see." Lu Yin was becoming more and more interested, though he also had some rather serious doubts.
Si Xiao\'er instantly answered, "Yes."
She then pulled up her gadget and brought out a display that showed a battle. However, the camera was too far away from the battle, so Lu Yin was not able to see anything clearly.
"This is a video of Yang Kong’s fight against an Enlighter who’s completed forty two cycles, but he won in just seven moves," Si Xiao\'er explained.
Lu Yin stared at the video. The first five moves were nothing special, as Yang Kong was just letting his opponent play around. However, the sixth move was a serious attack from Yang Kong, and it dispersed his opponent’s star energy and allowed Yang Kong to easily win with his seventh move. There was nothing special to the entire fight.
A second video appeared, and this one was a bit clearer.
"This is from the fight from when Yang Kong challenged an Enlighter with forty nine completed cycles. Shockingly, he used the same seven moves as before," Si Xiao\'er said in a tone that betrayed how intimidated she was by this feat.
Lu Yin watched the video and saw that Yang Kong had once again managed to easily disperse his opponent\'s star energy. When Yang Kong turned around, his face was clearly seen in the video.
Lu Yin\'s pupils instantly shrank. Was that Bu Kong?
Lu Yin was certain that the man in the video was Bu Kong, who had been one of the Sixth Mainland’s Daosource Three Skies.
However, Bu Kong was supposed to be dead.
Lu Yin stared at the video, his eyes filled with disbelief.
How could this be possible? Was Bu Kong actually not dead? How could he possibly still be alive?
The video was not long, so Lu Yin said, "Alright, show me all the videos of his battles."
Si Xiao\'er did not understand why Lu Yin\'s tone had suddenly changed, but she simply continued searching for more of Yang Kong\'s battle videos.
There were many videos, as Yang Kong was a rather flamboyant person, and he made sure that everyone was aware of each of his fights. It almost seemed as though he was afraid that people would not learn about his feats, and this behavior fully demonstrated the pride and arrogance that a powerhouse of his age should have.
Lu Yin watched the videos one after another, and eventually, he was able to confirm that Yang Kong was indeed Bu Kong. There was no way he was wrong.
Even though Yang Kong never used the secret techniques Power Transfer or Resurrection, he did use his innate gift of Decomposition.
When the Sixth Mainland invaded the Fifth Mainland, Bu Kong had been the youngest of the Daosource Three Skies, and he had been a bit immature. The same had also been true during ZENITH, but in the videos that Lu Yin watched, Bu Kong’s appearance had changed. He had also become much taller, and even people who had watched ZENITH might not immediately recognize him.
However, Lu Yin had been quite impressed by Bu Kong, especially when he had used his own strength to knock back the most powerful youths of their generation during a battle in the Cosmic Sea. That scene was still perfectly clear in Lu Yin’s mind.
Bu Kong\'s death had been a tragic loss for the Sixth Mainland, and Lu Yin had also regretted Bu Kong’s death. If he had been able to go to the Perennial World, he might have been able to gain certain achievements there.
Who would have thought that Bu Kong was still alive.
However, if he was still alive, why had news of his death spread so thoroughly? Even the Progenitor of Secret Arts had invaded Aeternus Nation to get revenge for his disciple. What was all of that about?
Could the Aeternals have the ability to resurrect the dead?
Lu Yin suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.
"I\'ll go with you to the Aeternal Kingdom," Lu Yin informed Si Xiao\'er.
Si Xiao\'er was surprised. "You want to go with me?"
Lu Yin nodded. "It’s likely that there isn’t a single Burial Garden gate on Grayweed Continent, but there might be in other places in the Starfall Sea. There might even be one in the Aeternal Kingdom."
Si Xiao\'er\'s dryly replied, "You don\'t want to try to sneak into the Burial Garden gate that’s in the western city."
"There’s a Burial Garden gate in the western city?" Lu Yin was pleasantly surprised.
Si Xiao\'er nodded. "The portals started popping up everywhere just a few months ago, and two appeared in the Aeternal Kingdom. One of them was destroyed, but the one in the western city was left untouched. Still, I strongly suggest that you don’t go anywhere near it. There are too many powerful corpse kings in the western city, and it’s impossible to get close to the gate."
Lu Yin rubbed his chin. "Didn\'t you say that there’s no issue with humans going into the western city?"
"Yes, but we just don’t go there." Si Xiao\'er tried to make the fact that this was a bad idea clear. If Lu Yin failed, Water God Dojo’s people would end up in trouble. In fact, even if Lu Yin succeeded, the dojo would still suffer.
Lu Yin shrugged. "Alright, I get it. I can’t force my way into the western city, and even the eastern city has their city master who I can’t deal with. I certainly don’t want to die."
Si Xiao\'er heaved a sigh of relief.
"Still, I’ll go with you to the Aeternal Kingdom. Maybe we’ll find a gate on the way to your home," Lu Yin said.
Si Xiao\'er did not suspect anything, as it was merely common sense that it was impossible to cause trouble in the western city. Even though this senior from Skyblaze Dojo was an Envoy, even Envoys could be differentiated into the weak and the strong. This person would not walk to his own death.
After deciding to return to the Aeternal Kingdom, the two changed directions and started heading north.
The only way to get to Aeternal Kingdom was by using one of the Aeternals’ massive spacecraft, as no other vessels were allowed to be used within the Starfall Sea.
This was one detail that was completely different from the past.
The Aeternals did not stop the humans from doing anything, regardless of whether it was exploring, cultivating, or anything else, and they did not even interfere in any human conflicts. The humans living in the Starfall Sea were given almost complete freedom, though there were key areas where the Aeternals wielded absolute control, such as travel and communication.
Lu Yin and Si Xiao’er had not been very far from the northern coast to begin with, so as soon as they started making their way due north, they arrived at Grayweed Continent’s coast within just a few days.
This was not Lu Yin’s first time visiting Grayweed Continent\'s coast, as he had stopped there both when he had first arrived at on Grayweed Continent, as well as when his group had been chased after by Madam Hong.
Lu Yin still remembered that Elder Shan from the Sea King’s Dome had been waiting for them at the coast with a vessel to escape. Everything had changed since that time and now.
There were many people gathered at the coast. They were all waiting for the massive ship to arrive for them.
"Senior sister?" There was a shout of surprise, and a group of people surged towards Lu Yin and Si Xiao’er.
Lu Yin looked up to see a group of people from Water God Dojo.
Si Xiao\'er was surprised to see them. "You’re all here?"
An old woman immediately approached Si Xiao\'er, her eyes shining with excitement. "Xiao’er, you’re not dead?"
"Senior Sister, we all thought that you had died."
"Sister, how are you?"
The entire group of disciples, both male and female, were staring at Si Xiao\'er. All of them were waiting for the ship to arrive as well, which was why they had happened to meet.
Si Xiao\'er answered with a smile, "I\'m fine. The hot flames underground was not something that I couldn’t survive, but there was a terrible heat blocking the way out, so I was trapped and unable to leave."
"Was that the surge of heat that forced me back?" the old woman asked.
Si Xiao\'er glanced at Lu Yin before nodding. "Mhmm."
She had come to understand that the surge of heat was something that Lu Yin had done to prevent anyone from saving her.
Lu Yin had purposely dragged Si Xiao’er into the flames, so she had never actually slipped and fallen.
The old woman lamented, "I never even considered that it might have just been a barrier of heat. I thought that you had died, and so I was intending to return and admit to my guilt. However, everything’s better now, as you’re fine."
After speaking, the old woman uncertainly glanced over at Lu Yin, who was standing nearby. "Xiao’er, did you just arrive with him?"
The dojo’s disciples all turned to look at Lu Yin as well at that moment.
Si Xiao\'er quietly said, "Let’s first return to the eastern city before I explain anything. He has a special status."
The old woman\'s eyes flickered, but she just nodded and said nothing.
The rest of Water God Dojo’s disciples were all curious about Lu Yin, as his appearance was quite odd. His body seemed devoid of all water, and it reminded them of their own battle techniques.