Chapter 303 – Third-Stage Star Martial Artist vs Second-Stage Grandmaster!

“…This time, the Elephant Deity Secret Realm has been jointly explored with Javier. They have provided some of the keys.

I just checked, and Javier’s team is led by Coyle, who is ranked among their top ten and holds the 76th overall ranking in the supernova list…”

“Higher than your historical highest ranking by one place?”

“That’s not the point.”

Yin Muqing casually swiped across the virtual light screen in front of her, and soon, a new document appeared.

On the screen, a young man’s image was displayed.

With deep-set eyes and a high nose bridge, his gaze was sharp and cold. A knife scar about three centimeters long adorned his right brow bone.

Yin Muqing looked at the man on the screen and lightly tapped the send button.

A few seconds later, a faint gasp came through the communicator.

“Xilin?!”

“Yes.”

Yin Muqing murmured with a complex expression, “An expert ranked among the top three in Artistan, holding the 66th overall ranking in the supernova list…”

The supernova rankings are the most accurate and fair assessment of each member’s comprehensive qualities.

The gap between each ranking can be very small or quite large.

But regardless of the situation, a gap of more than twenty rankings speaks volumes.

Even though Yin Muqing was proud, she had to admit that this opponent named “Xilin” was far stronger than her.

She already had a significant strength gap with the opponent, and there were two more such competitors.

Yin Muqing’s previous statement about the situation being “not optimistic” now felt like a form of self-consolation.

“…Xilin is Artistan’s ‘National treasure,’ how come he’s here?”

A puzzled voice asked from the other side of the communicator.

Yin Muqing rubbed her temples and exhaled, “Who knows. He seems to be getting along quite well with Javier’s Sleepless team. It looks like they’ve reached some sort of agreement, and they’re aiming to outshine us in this secret realm exploration…”

“Didn’t you report this to the higher-ups?”

“Of course I did,” Yin Muqing replied.

At this moment, Yin Muqing noticed a shuttle approaching in the sky not far away. The shuttle bore the emblems of Xia State and Yellow Bear.

The shuttle stopped nearby, and a young man dressed in black combat gear, with a tall and slender build and handsome features, stepped out.

Yin Muqing glanced at him, and the virtual projection screen automatically popped up with his information.

Seeing the sparse resume on the screen, Yin Muqing frowned slightly.

However, her brow soon relaxed. She shifted her gaze away, her expression indifferent as she casually dismissed the inconsequential information.

“…Even the higher-ups didn’t expect this.”

Continuing the conversation with her companion, Yin Muqing said, “It won’t be long before we enter the secret realm. It’s definitely too late to recruit more experts now. Besides, aren’t all the strong ones on your side?”

“Yes.”

There was a note of coldness in her companion’s voice as they responded, “Javier seems to have been making a lot of small moves recently.

We got tricked by them once during the Extraterrestrial drills, and now with you, this makes it the second time.

Don’t worry, I’ll make sure everyone knows about this…”

Yin Muqing nodded and continued, “The only good news at the moment is that because we provided more keys to the secret realm, Sleepless agreed to let us enter ten hours earlier…”

…

Lu Yuan said a simple goodbye to Xiao Rui and disembarked from the shuttle. The first thing he saw was the massive black vortex surrounded by numerous shuttles.

There was no need to ask; this was undoubtedly the entrance to the Elephant Deity Secret Realm they were about to explore.

The size of this entrance was much larger than the entrance to the Wailing Ruins he had explored last time.

Judging by its dimensions, it could probably even accommodate a shuttle.

Just before getting off the shuttle, Xiao Rui had mentioned that the entrance to Embers Mountain was even larger.

Exploration teams from various countries had indeed driven their shuttles and Mechas straight in.

They would first clear the area with several rounds of energy cannon fire, creating a vast flat space, then set up camp, and gradually send in troops and experts to advance slowly.

This was the exploration method of a legendary-level secret realm, a large-scale joint exploration operation.

Lu Yuan found the whole idea thrilling.

Lu Yuan slowly approached the camp of Yellow Bear, with a Golden Bear emblem and just a pair of wings on his left chest, making him look quite unremarkable.

His noticeably youthful appearance attracted a few curious glances, but they quickly looked away after just a moment.

Lu Yuan surveyed the people waiting in the area. Most of them were Twin-winged Bear Generals just like him.

There were four individuals at the Four-Winged Flying Bear level.

Lu Yuan looked at each of them in turn, and information about each Fei Xiong-level individual popped up before his eyes.

Suddenly, his gaze stopped on one of the Fei Xiong-level figures.

Ordinary-looking, dressed in black, with a demeanor as cold as an iceberg.

Who else could it be but Han Xun, who had sparred with him for over half a month in the Consciousness Space?

Ever since Lu Yuan was rescued by Han Xun during the Wailing Ruins exploration, the two had added each other as friends. Although they had barely chatted since then.

Still, he counted Han Xun as an “old friend.”

With all these factors combined, Han Xun instantly became someone Lu Yuan naturally felt a sense of “familiarity” with.

He pulled up his contact list, considering whether to send Han Xun a message.

Unexpectedly, Han Xun also noticed him and proactively walked towards Lu Yuan.

“Lord Han.”

Lu Yuan’s eyes were bright, and he greeted the approaching Han Xun with a smile and enthusiasm.

Han Xun softly responded with a “hmm,” his gaze slightly softening.

It was clear that he wanted to smile at Lu Yuan, but this expression seemed a bit difficult for his face, as if it were frozen by ice.

“I saw your name on the exploration members list. Your timing is just right; any later, and we would have already gone in…”

Han Xun’s look at Lu Yuan was somewhat complicated.

If he remembered correctly, this was only Lu Yuan’s second secret realm exploration.

Even though the memories of what he saw in the Wailing Ruins were still fresh, the young Twin-winged Bear in front of him seemed a bit inexperienced in terms of both strength and experience when compared to the rest of the exploration team.

But…

Seeing as the other party was someone favored by “that lord,” it was enough reason for him to go out of his way to build rapport.

The fact that the other party appeared in this team likely meant that the lord wanted him to gain some solid experience.

“Are we about to enter the secret realm?” Lu Yuan blinked at Han Xun’s words. “But I heard it was supposed to be tomorrow.”

“It’s been moved up by ten hours,” Han Xun didn’t offer much explanation. After a brief pause, he said seriously to Lu Yuan, “Once we enter the secret realm, you and I will act together.”

Lu Yuan was taken aback for a moment but quickly smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Lord Han.”

It was clear that Han Xun intended to look after him.

Although Han Xun had used him as a sparring partner in the Consciousness Space, it was still quite considerate of him to offer this.

Ever since aligning himself with Lord Tong, he had encountered nothing but “good people” wherever he went.

Lu Yuan exchanged a few more words with Han Xun, gathering a lot of useful information.

Han Xun was second only to Yin Muqing in terms of expertise in the group and attracted a lot of attention.

Han Xun talking to Lu Yuan also drew more eyes toward him.

“So, that’s Yin Muqing,” Lu Yuan thought.

Once Han Xun left, Lu Yuan’s attention immediately shifted to a woman in a silver combat suit at the forefront of the group.

The woman had a cold demeanor and was not particularly beautiful, but there was a natural hint of arrogance in her expression.

Lu Yuan could understand.

Every member of the supernova organization was a genius, one in a million or even one in a billion.

They were true “lucky ones” who had stood out in fierce competition.

If it were him, he’d be proud too.

“Let’s see what the Starry Sky martial arts that has successfully entered the gate can actually do!”

Lu Yuan shifted his gaze away from Yin Muqing and found a secluded spot, pretending to rest with his eyes closed, then quickly shut his eyes.

[Grandmaster Meditation Battle] Activated!

In no time, Lu Yuan found himself in the Consciousness Space.

The imaginary enemy, Yin Muqing, stood not far from him, looking at him coldly.

Instead of rushing to attack, Lu Yuan chose-Consciousness Invasion!

In an instant, Lu Yuan’s consciousness entered Yin Muqing’s body.

“Hmm?!”

The moment he entered, something felt off to Lu Yuan.

Instinctively looking down at his chest, a somewhat perplexed expression crossed his face.

“Padded, huh… Even the women in the supernova organization care about their figures?”

He muttered to himself, then quickly focused his mind.

Yuwen Tong’s power was too overwhelming; even now, he couldn’t comprehend what was concealed within the brilliant star river inside Yuwen Tong.

Yin Muqing, however, was a suitable subject for study.

Lu Yuan observed that there were two fist-sized silver vortices within Yin Muqing’s body.

Numerous brilliant light spots were continuously released from the vortices, merging into various parts of her body, tempering each and every cell.

“So this is the star acupoint after activation. Yin Muqing has activated two star acupoints…”

Lu Yuan pondered.

He thought that the energy flow within Yin Muqing’s body was far less perfect than his Grandmaster physique, which was dominated by the blood sphere.

Of course, it could also be because her current strength was not sufficient; she had only activated two star acupoints and hadn’t illuminated a complete star diagram.

“Let’s test the combat power.”

“Third-stage mental light, plus two star acupoints…”

Lu Yuan’s consciousness returned to his own body, his eyes glinting with light as he murmured softly, “Let’s see how it compares to me, a second-stage martial arts Grandmaster… which one is stronger?”

After speaking, Lu Yuan looked at the chest area of the Yin Muqing in front of him, a disdainful expression on his face.

Sensing his gaze.

In an instant, Yin Muqing’s eyes… filled with a surge of killing intent!