The silver-haired man stepped back, admiring, "As expected of the first among the Seven Saints. Until we meet again," and then he dashed into the distance, attempting to escape.
Zhang Dingtian turned to slash at him, only to be shocked as he saw the silver-haired man heading toward Bai Xue. Zhang Dingtian forcefully stopped his blade mid-swing.
Bai Xue extended one hand towards the silver-haired man, cold air enveloping the sky, and ice spread from the void. She intended to freeze the entire area.
The silver-haired man sneered, his butterfly knife easily tearing through the ice, and thrust towards Bai Xue's neck. Bai Xue couldn't defend against it, watching helplessly as the knife approached. At the critical moment, Lu Yin appeared before Bai Xue with his traveling step technique, raising his palm and striking out. The silver-haired man was surprised, and his butterfly knife shifted towards Lu Yin. The white light clashed with Lu Yin's Sky Palm again, causing the void to tremble, stars to shatter, and terrifying waves to blast Bai Xue away. The ground instantly cracked, sending countless qi waves flying in all directions.
Dust and smoke covered the ground.
When the smoke cleared, only Lu Yin remained; the silver-haired man had vanished.
The assassination process was swift. From Zhang Dingtian's injury to the silver-haired man's departure, no more than ten seconds had passed. The surrounding troops hadn't even had time to react before it was all over.
Bai Xue's eyes were filled with shock. Just a moment ago, she had felt the sensation of death. The beautiful butterfly knife had easily torn through her defenses, and that glint of cold light was genuinely intent on killing her. Since becoming one of the Seven Saints, she had never experienced such a crisis.
Lu Yin stepped out of the shallow pit and looked at Bai Xue, "Are you alright?"
Bai Xue shook her head, her gaze complicated, "Thank you."
Lu Yin turned to Zhang Dingtian, "You're injured."
Zhang Dingtian touched his neck, "It's nothing."
Only then did the surrounding troops arrive, shocked to find that Zhang Dingtian was injured. This was Zhang Dingtian, the first of the Seven Saints, and he was injured? This was beyond belief for everyone.
"Why are you here?" Zhang Dingtian asked, looking at Lu Yin with a puzzled expression.
Lu Yin glanced at his hand, "Curiosity. I wanted to know who the assassin was."
Zhang Dingtian said lightly, "It was that person."
"I know," Lu Yin replied, glancing at the wound on Zhang Dingtian's neck and frowning. He had seen the process of the silver-haired man's assassination attempt on Zhang Dingtian. There was no denying that Zhang Dingtian was indeed very strong. Without any movement technique, he managed to retreat unscathed from such a close-range assassination by the silver-haired man. Lu Yin admitted that he wouldn't have done any better if it had been him at that moment.
Now, what Lu Yin wanted to know most was how the silver-haired man concealed his presence. Ordinary students could hide their presence and block personal terminal detection, but Zhang Dingtian hadn't noticed him even at such close range. This was terrifying. One could say that surviving such an assassination attempt was incredibly rare.
"Why did that person try to assassinate you?" Bai Xue asked, puzzled.
Zhang Dingtian narrowed his eyes, "I'm not sure. I've never met him. There can only be one possibility: he doesn't want the corpse tide to be eradicated."
Lu Yin's heart sank. Today's assassination confirmed his previous suspicions. The silver-haired man was related to the corpse kings. He didn't care about the mission but was concerned about the corpse kings. It was incomprehensible. This person was elusive.
Although Zhang Dingtian had some guesses, he couldn't know more. One assassination couldn't yield useful information.
"Pass down the order: eliminate the corpse tide without rest for twenty-four hours," Zhang Dingtian suddenly commanded.
People like the silver-haired man couldn't be captured. Zhang Dingtian sealed the news of the assassination and intensified the eradication of the corpse tide, even forcibly recruiting many evolvers who hadn't joined the Hua camp to go out and eliminate zombies.
Another period passed quickly, leaving one month until the arrival of the second batch of trial takers.
During this time, battles raged in Europe, but there was no trace of the fugitive. Just as one month remained until the second batch of trial takers' arrival, Lu Yin's personal terminal emitted a beeping sound, forcibly receiving an email.
"Dear students, the safety period is over. The trial officially begins. From now on, personal terminal locations cannot be turned off and will be publicly displayed on the starry sky network map. Please complete your tasks as soon as possible. Good luck." An email made the trial even more brutal.
The first batch of trial takers had landed for two months. These two months were the so-called safety period. Anyone who wished could restrain their power and hide, or secretly excavate precious minerals and herbs to earn points. But with the safety period over, everyone's locations would be clearly marked, unless they discarded their personal terminals.
Lu Yin exhaled, looking up at the starry sky. This was a trial. No one could hide. The two months were both a safety period for the students and an opportunity for Earthlings to seize the resources of the trial students. This was fairness, the so-called fairness of the universe.
At the moment of Yasta's death, his personal terminal couldn't connect to the starry sky network. But now, the starry sky network had established a local network for Yasta's personal terminal. This local network was a model of Earth, displaying the locations of all the first batch trial takers on Earth.
"There are quite a few people," Lu Yin murmured. The dozens of meteors he saw in Jinling were just a part of it. There were over a hundred trial students in Asia alone, and there were also students in Europe, Africa, the Americas, and even Antarctica.
Currently, the highest concentration of people was in Europe, with over a hundred gathered in a small area near the Mediterranean.
At this moment, a line of text appeared at the top of the local network map: "Earth's Tianzhu monk defeated Heidian."
Lu Yin was surprised. They even announced battle achievements?
At the same time, many trial students were shocked. Heidian wasn't weak; he was one of the academy's strongest. Yet he was defeated by an Earth native, which shook many students, especially those at Granier's level, who couldn't imagine it. For them, the academy's strongest were almost invincible, but at the start of the real trial, someone had already been defeated. This made them take the trial more seriously than ever before.
The Great Yu Empire had trials periodically, but it was rare for the academy's strongest to be defeated in a trial. If Earth had evolved normally, its strongest wouldn't have reached the Exploration Realm yet, let alone suffered defeat. Thus, Heidian's defeat was hard to believe for many.
But soon, another notification appeared: "Erd defeated Earth's Tianzhu monk."
Lu Yin was puzzled. Why were Erd and Heidian in Tianzhu?
At this moment, Granier hurriedly found Lu Yin. "The trial has officially started. The local network not only shows our locations but also allows us to contact each other. Did you know that?"
Lu Yin's heart sank. "Contact each other?"
Granier nodded. "Trial students come from all over the Great Yu Empire. The empire is vast, and we don't know each other. So, in the first two months, few people contacted each other. But now that the local network is active, we can communicate. Just now, a message was released saying the fugitive has something important in Huaxia's capital and will definitely return to retrieve it."
Lu Yin's eyes sharpened. "Who released the message?"
Granier shook her head. "I don't know. The local network can only detect personal terminal locations, not who is using them."
Images flashed through Lu Yin's mind. Only the Seven Saints, the principal, and himself knew about the fugitive's possession in the capital. Even Erd didn't know. Now that the message was out, Zhang Dingtian and Bai Xue would certainly suspect him.
Suddenly, a powerful energy swept across the land. Lu Yin immediately soared into the sky, seeing Zhang Dingtian and Bai Xue with sharp eyes.
"I didn't release the message," Lu Yin said.
Zhang Dingtian stared at Lu Yin, "Make me believe you."
Lu Yin narrowed his eyes, shouting to Granier, "Release an anonymous message saying the fugitive's item is hidden in Tianzhu. That's why Erd and Heidian were in Tianzhu, and the Tianzhu monk could defeat Heidian."
Granier responded and quickly followed his instructions.
Zhang Dingtian said in a low voice, "This method won't hold for long."
Lu Yin stared at Zhang Dingtian, "I'm just showing my sincerity. Believe it or not, it's up to you."
Zhang Dingtian took a deep breath, gripping his long knife. Lu Yin was the only outsider who knew the secret. Zhang Dingtian wanted to control him, but this person's strength wasn't weak. Even Zhang Dingtian wasn't confident.
Bai Xue spoke, "Lu Yin, let us check your personal terminal."
Lu Yin was furious, arrogantly saying, "Who do you think you are? If you have the guts, come and take it yourself."
"You—" Bai Xue was furious. She was only trying to prove Lu Yin's innocence out of goodwill, since he had saved her life, but this guy was too infuriating, completely ungrateful.
"Nine people know this secret. I'm in the capital city. Frankly, even if I had ill intentions, I would keep it to myself. Only an idiot would release that message. Think it over yourselves and don't come bothering me without reason," Lu Yin said coldly.