C16

A beam of light suddenly shot towards the skies from Nanjing's west wall, aimed right at Orton. He deflected it with his blade, but the impact still caused an explosion in mid-air. This prompted a sneer on his face, but such things were the exact reason they had attacked within the city itself. Even this native planet possessed the technology to enter the skies, and their old weapons posed a significant threat.

Jeraldine and Lu Yin landed within Nanjing, the former speaking up in shock, "He actually brought Terence?!"

"Terence?" Lu Yin was puzzled.

"Top three in the First Military School, combat level over 2,500."

Lu Yin's heart sank, "Can you stall him for a while? I'll deal with Orton."

"Hmm… Yes, but not for long."

Lu Yin nodded and ran towards Zhou Shan's position, watching as more beams of energy shot towards the alien from Nanjing's walls.

"I'll pay you guys a visit once I slaughter this one," Orton said impatiently, dashing towards Zhou Shan on the ground. The Executioner gritted his teeth and prepared to deflect with his axe; he could have been a challenge even for Terence, but with Orton on top, he'd quickly lost control of the battle. The swordsman was quickly right next to him on the ground, rendering Nanjing's ballistics useless.

Lu Yin grabbed a fire crystal from his cosmic ring as he approached the battle, tossing it high into the sky. It was quite eye-catching, but Orton and Zhou Shan were too busy doing battle to notice. Terence glanced over and his eyes started to water, but even he didn't have time to wonder about it before he felt a sharp pain in his back. He turned around quickly, figure swaying like a leaf in the wind as he dodged Jeraldine's second strike, "You?"

Jeraldine did not reply, simply retrieving a fire crystal from her cosmic ring and crushing it. "Flame Palm!" she barked as her surroundings were burnt, condensing the fire within her hand for an attack.

"You're dead!" Terence growled as he spat out some blood, his own right palm grabbing the air around for a Shockwave Palm. The blaze and winds engulfed the earth as both hands slapped against each other, destroying all buildings within a hundred-meter radius. The giant flames were swept upwards by the airstream, just like a dancing fiery snake.

Jeraldine retreated a few steps with a pale face. Terence's Shockwave Palm was much stronger than Lu Yin's and was difficult to withstand even if she used her battle techniques. However, her opponent didn't have an easy time either. Fire techniques were already on the high end of the power scale, and the help of a fire crystal left her attack no less harmful than his. He roared once more, "Jeraldine, this is my territory!"

She did not reply, the ring armor covering her body and reflecting the red light of the blaze. Terence clenched his jaw and did the same; he wouldn't have bothered at the start, but now he felt pressure from her, and more importantly, was injured.

"Jeraldine? Why are you here?" Orton looked back in shock, but his attention was forced back into the battle as Zhou Shan bellowed. He quickly blocked another sweep of the axe, the shockwave from the collision splitting the earth below.

Lu Yin suddenly dashed out, approaching Orton in an instant with Roving Step. His own palm shot out, the moon appearing within. Neither combatant had expected this, and while Zhou Shan only hesitated, Orton's gaze blanked out. The Cosmic Palm crashed down on his chest the next instant, leaving him unable to utter a single word as his heart was crushed. The boundless energy even bored a hole through his chest and continued into a residence behind, bringing it down to the ground. Even the ground crumbled under such pressure.

"You," Zhou Shan was dumbstruck at the sight.

Lu Yin turned his body and swept his leg towards him, ensuring that his back faced Jeraldine and Terence as he hissed, "Attack me!"

The Executioner's gaze flickered, but he attacked without mercy as he used Storm Slash directly. Lu Yin used Roving Step to dodge the attack, but made sure that his clothes were torn apart before continuing, "Push me over there."

Zhou Shan roared, and flung his axe forward. Borrowing the strength of the explosive attack, Lu Yin let himself be thrown towards the battle in the distance. Jeraldine was already deathly pale, and her right hand was trembling from the injury. While Terence's armor had been torn apart by the inferno, he was at least marginally better.

Lu Yin's body crashed into a wall that wasn't far from Terence, and he slowly fell to the ground. This finally caught the youth's attention, and he quickly glanced at the other battle where Orton lay dead. His expression warped and he was about to say something, but Zhou Shan suddenly flew off into the distance.

"You're not escaping!" Terence leapt after Zhou Shan, turning his back to Lu Yin. It was at this point that Lu Yin dropped the act and jumped off the wall, palm spread out without bothering to conceal the Cosmic Palm. The moon spun around as he connected firmly with his target's back; Terence felt the danger moments before he was hit, but was too late to dodge.

The moon exploded and threw Terence to the ground, the impact creating a large crater. Lu Yin himself was sent flying by the counter-attack Terence had managed just in time, his armor shattered by the impact before he flew into the wall once more.

Jeraldine held her injured arm as she walked over to the pit and looked within, finding a pallid Terence constantly coughing up blood. Astonished, she turned around to look at Lu Yin who had fallen in the distance, she couldn't imagine just how that one attack had caused such great injury. That line of thought was quickly cut off as the dying Terence suddenly opened his eyes once more, whipping out a strange gun and firing a shot towards her. The energy blast bore a hole through her shoulder, and she instinctively reacted with a Flame Palm right on the other side of Lu Yin's original impact. This devastated Terence's internals, finally ending his life.

Jeraldine fell to the ground on the spot, staring in awe at Terence's corpse while her back turned cold. Although there wasn't a limit on casualties during planetary trials, an abundance of deaths would still draw some ire. This was especially true with Terence who was in the top three of her school; many hoped had been pinned on him, leaving her a little nervous at his death.

Lu Yin dragged his injured body over and said weakly, "Don't worry. Worse comes to worst, I'll have my grandfather transfer you to the Pagoda Planet."

Jeraldine cast a cold glare his way, "What's with that palm attack you used on him? Even a doubled Shockwave Palm could not have injured him like that."

He shrugged, "You're thinking too much. He was already wounded, and I managed to hit the same spot."

However, she clearly didn't believe him. Terence's combat level was an enormous 2,500; even stacking attacks, it was difficult for a Seeker to cause such injury. However, she was cut off again as a loud shout rang behind them, with the escaped Zhou Shan having reappeared to finish the job. His axe slammed down once more, but as she instinctively grabbed Lu Yin to use as a meat shield, he promptly diverted his attack. Lu Yin himself turned around and landed another palm attack; while he'd sustained heavy injuries himself, she was weak enough for this strike to be effective. Her face paled as she kicked him away in a knee-jerk reaction, falling back into the pit herself. Zhou Shan roared and hacked towards her again, but she grabbed Terence's gun and fired. The energy beam shot a hole through the Executioner's axe and shoulder, throwing him a dozen meters away with an unknown fate.

It was only then that the scene went quiet, leaving only the constant crackling of the flames all around. Four Sentinels and a Seeker had crushed almost half of Nanjing amidst their battle, burying the district in a sea of fire.

Jeraldine retrieved some medicine from her cosmic ring and swallowed it, alleviating some of her injuries. Hearing voices from every direction only minutes later, her expression changed and she struggled out of the pit. Dragging her wounded and pierced body through the battlefield, she stumbled towards Zhou Shan who was lying motionless on the ground.

The Executioner's troops soon had her surrounded, staring at her injured body warily as they prepared to attack. Feng Hong and Qin Xuan, the researcher with glasses, stepped forward, "Surrender immediately, and we can spare your life."

"You natives want to spare my life?" Jeraldine asked with disdain as she pointed her gun at Zhou Shan's head, "Don't you want this one to live?"

"Let go of the Executioner!" Feng Hong barked.

"Ten miles back, or I kill him now."

Feng Hong and the other captains looked at each other but didn't move. A cold glint flashed past Jeraldine's eyes, however, and she picked up a nearby stone and smashed it against Zhou Shan's head. Seeing the blood starting to flow, Feng Hong finally shouted, "Stop! We can move away, but we have to treat the Executioner or he'll die."

Jeraldine nodded, allowing a doctor to walk over and provide first aid. It took a full twenty minutes to just staunch the blood, after which he spoke up, "His injuries are too severe, we need to take him to treatment immediately."

"Ten miles back right now and wait; I'll leave in three hours. Or I'll just kill this native now."