Longyu Linji had both his hands up pointed up to the sky. His fingers were numb. He couldn’t feel any warmth of cold. His eyes were shot straight ahead while his four limbs failed to respond to anything. Each time a passing breeze touched his skin, a wave of electricity pulsated through the young man’s veins.

Linji had been beaten… Quite convincingly as well. Shin continued to pant with both his palms glued to the ground. Sweat dripping down his rapidly contracting chest, the young man took a few seconds to settle down before looking at the judicator. “Could you announce the results of the battle?”

Shin tried to be as polite as he could, but the ferocity of the match still pulsated through his veins. Unknowingly, Shin showed the useless referee an expression similar to that of an angry lion educating his pride.

“W-Winner! Shin Iofiel!!!” The judicator tripped on his words as he declared Shin the victor. Jumping to his feet, Shin took two deep breaths and walked over to Linji. He knew that the Luminary would fight until the very end. So, Shin had to make sure that the match was truly over before he unsealed Linji from the Divine Needle Binding.

“OOOOOOOORRRRRRYYAHHHH!!!” The crowd erupted into thunderous applause for both parties. Well, mainly for Shin, who was the victor.

“Did you see that?! He copied Substitute!!!” One spectator cried out, his face flushed from all of the yellings he did before. “Fucking hell! He can even copy the other Luminary’s spiritual abilities too? How can anyone beat him?!”

It was a question that had been asked many times. How was Shin able to do this? Of course, what the spectators were witnessing was the best face that the young man could put forward. They couldn’t see the hundreds of failures, the thousands of hours put into crafting the person Shin was today. The suffering, pain, setbacks… Everything was hidden under the Prince of Water’s exterior. But they didn’t know that. All that they saw was the celebrity that Shin had shown.

It was the same for Longyu Linji. He was possibly the best martial artist among the five Luminaries. In a straight martial arts sparring session, Shin would lose ten times out of ten. Shin knew that. He also knew how much work Longyu Linji must have put in to get to his position because he too had spent thousands of hours perfecting his craft. So, even though they were fighting just moments prior, Shin still felt a tremendous amount of respect for the young Luminary. Alas, there could only be one top dog in the entire Longyu Clan.

Slowly, Shin took out the Golden Dragon Needles that stuck out of Linji like a porcupine. With his meridians freed, Linji was able to breathe again. He fell to his knees, and all ten of his fingers dug into the ground. The mana circuits that had been frozen up were now intact as his spiritual energy began to stabilise. From an outsider’s perspective, it looked like Linji was finally submitting to the true Prince of the Longyu Clan.

“Senior Linji, are you alright?” Shin asked, concerned that the Divine Needle Binding might have crippled the Luminary’s mana flow.

“...” Linji didn’t respond. His face was hidden, staring straight at the concrete floor, while his entire body was pulsating. The noises from the crowd didn’t matter to him as all he could hear was the distinct sound of his heartbeat. After a few seconds, the Luminary finally gained the strength to look up and stare Shin in the eyes.

“Y-you… Used Substitute?”

“Ah… Yeah, I did...” Shin was taken aback by the sudden question but quickly scratched behind his ear with a reply. “I have to apologise. I have talked to many of your superiors, and they taught me how you developed Substitute. What inspirations you had, what books were available and they even showed me a recording of you using that ability. When I was coming up with a plan to counter Substitute, I accidentally comprehended the concept and tried using it myself.”

It really was a Shin-thing to do. Accidentally mastering something that would take others ages to do. “It’s actually quite hard. I can only use it once per battle, and even then, I never perfectly used it. I didn’t plan on using it since it was an incomplete technique, but you really forced me into a tight corner there, Senior Linji!”

Shin knew the importance of keeping peace in the family. In the Frie Clan, every single day was a struggle. The First Elder would fight the Second Elder, the Instructor would challenge any bullies that came the orphans way. It was tiring. Furthermore, in the future, Linji might become a great ally to have on Shin’s side when he was trying to get something done in the Longyu Clan. Thus, even though Linji had attacked Shin with the intent to kill, the young man buried the hatchet quite quickly and extended a helping hand.

“You learnt Substitute in less than one month… And even used it to defeat me...” Linji threw his head back and stared at the heavens. Everything was fruitless. The battle had been won even before they stepped into the arena. Shin was just on another level. In terms of talent, comprehension ability, wits, maturity… Compared to Shin, Linji was just… Inferior.

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“HAHAHA!!! What have I been doing?!” The Luminary jeered, pressing his palms against his forehead. Fighting for who the top dog was? What lunacy! There was a reason why Longyu Tian personally dragged Shin back from the Himmel Empire. There was a reason why the Longyu Clan wanted Shin more than him. The answer was simple. Shin had always been the top dog in the Longyu Clan. Even if Shin didn’t beat Linji now, the youth was almost a decade younger than himself. Given enough time, Shin would become powerful enough to decimate anyone that stood in his path, even without prior planning.

All of Longyu Linji’s hate was wholly misplaced. It was all so laughable. Concerned, Shin muttered out. “Senior Linji? Are you alright?”

“HAHAHA!!!” Linji continued to laugh. Shin wondered if he had accidentally knocked a screw loose in the man’s brain and wanted to treat him, but the healers from the Lantis Republic had already rushed onto the stage with a stretcher. As much as Shin wished to help the man he had just beaten, there were still three more Luminaries to worry about. So all he could do was helplessly watch as Longyu Linji was rolled away into the medical tent, all while the hundred thousand spectators watched.

“The Prince of Water actually defeated two of the Luminaries already! He even injured Linji enough to be escorted out! What a monster!” One overly frenzied audience member screamed.

“Wait… Didn’t they say that he hasn’t taken the Trial of the Celestial Dragon yet? My god, what would happen if he actually had a Spirit Evolution?! How powerful would he be then?”

Slowly but surely, the crowd began to shift their views. Initially, they were here to have a good time, watch some Luminaries fight it out and most importantly, assess the man who was thought to become a future Spirit Saint of the Lantis Republic. The changed minds were a good thing for the Longyu Clan, who wanted to sway the general public so that the High Council would be pressured to give Shin what he was entitled to. The High Elders spectating within Yingxiong Amphitheatre weren’t at all pleased at the direction that the match had taken. They wouldn’t show it, but if possible, they would have Shin yanked out of the stadium immediately.

‘Time to rest...’

Shin wasn’t thinking about all of those complicated matters. For the moment, all he wanted to do was prepare for his next match. Jingyu Taiyi was a tough opponent, not inferior to that of Xunyu Feifei or Longyu Linji. Shin needed every single ounce of mana he could recover. Not to mention, he was physically fatigued as well. The next fifteen minutes were crucial for the youth. However, just before he could step off the stage, a jubilant cry echoed through the audience as loud resonant claps halted Shin’s steps.

“Bravo! Bravo! As expected of the Prince of Water!!!” Jingyu Taiyi ignored all protocol and leapt into the arena, forcing Shin to stay for a while longer. The judicator wanted to stop the Luminary from proceeding into the sacred ground, but a whisper from an Elder of the Jingyu Clan stopped him.

‘Don’t interfere,’ it said. Not willing to stake his life over a poor decision, the referee took a step back and allowed the jester to do whatever he wanted.

“Junior Brother Shin is truly a dragon among dragons!” Taiyi continued to pour praise after praise on the youth. “I really admire you!” Each step the joker took increased the heart rate of Shin. On the stands, Meijing Bingying was also dripping down buckets of sweat. No one knew what the young man was thinking. All they knew was, whenever Taiyi was in a playful mood, bad things would go down.

Shin was getting flashbacks to the Summit, where with just one move, Jingyu Taiyi have brought Kanari and Shin to the arena, even though they were only meant to be spectators. Dealing with the clown was agonising, but Shin had to do it all the same.

“You flatter me, Senior Brother Taiyi,” the youth replied, trying to be as polite as possible.

“I’m not!” Taiyi shot back, his lips heightened so wide that it touched his ears. “I truly am in awe of your abilities. Let’s face it! No one wants to see a long-drawn battle where we feel each other out for ten, fifteen minutes before you use those epic finishers that you had developed. SO!!! I have a proposal!”

‘There it is...’

Everyone in the audience had mixed reactions. Some were amused, others were sighing with their palms attached to their heads. The famous ‘I have a proposal’ by Jingyu Taiyi had been played. Whenever Taiyi shouts out those four words, things would go south rapidly.

“Why don’t I use my most powerful spiritual ability and see if Junior Brother Shin can break out of it? As all of you may know, my Colossal Leviathan specialises in creating illusions! If Junior Brother Shin can break free of my illusions, I’ll take it as my loss.” It was no secret that Taiyi uses illusions to battle. He was proficient in a few weapon arts and had a spiritual ability that releases vast amounts of damage to victims that fell to his mirage. However, the one true profession that Taiyi focused on was the Illusory Arts.

After Jingyu Taiyi completed the Trial of the Celestial Dragon, he had awakened an additional Mind-Element to his Spirit. For the jester, who loved to joke around, it was the perfect tool. In fact, those close to him had even said that the Mind-Element was Taiyi’s true element, reflective of his inner self. And the Luminary didn’t disagree with that assessment.

Shin pondered about that proposal for a bit. As crazy as it might sound, it was precisely what Shin needed. He had fought two long matches with two of the brightest Luminaries in the Lantis Republic. Escaping an illusion didn’t rely on the physical or spiritual side of a cultivator. So long as Shin had a sound mind, he would be capable of resisting Jingyu Taiyi’s powers. “That sounds great, but could I take some time to rest?”

“Do you really need one?” Jingyu Taiyi raised his brow. His face was smiling, but there was a notable change in the atmosphere as if the winds of winter had set in. “Don’t worry, your body won’t be harmed in the slightest. As long as you escape my illusions, you’ll win.”

There must have been some discussion between Taiyi and the Jingyu Clan’s High Elders. Based on how Shin had beaten Xunyu Feifei and Longyu Linji, the young man must have researched and created countermeasures that would trump Jingyu Taiyi as well. Therefore, to increase the likelihood of Shin failing, they had to strike while the iron’s hot. Shin had just come out from an epic battle with Longyu Linji. Not only was he physically fatigued, but his mental state must have taken a significant toll as well.

Shin was a healer, and his recovery rate was second to none. If they gave him fifteen minutes to rest, the youth would quickly balance his mental condition, and he would be well-prepared to execute his plan to beat Taiyi. The Jingyu Clan Elders couldn’t have that. So, they decided to throw a wrench in his plans through that odd proposal.

“Just sit down… I’ll cast my illusions when you’re ready...”