C14

The girl was exasperated by Lu Yin's claim that his grandfather could get him into Astral-10. Not even powerhouses beyond the Explorer realm could affect the Astral Combat Academy, and that knowledge caused her to hesitate, "Wait, how can I be sure you're not a native?"

Lu Yin raised his hand and his right palm vibrated, compressing the surrounding air tightly before launching it towards the ground. The girl was caught off-guard as the resulting explosion left a large crater, "Shockwave Palm?"

"So does that count?" Lu Yin asked smugly.

The girl's eyes narrowed as she pondered. She knew that although Shockwave Palm was a common battle skill, it wasn't something everyone could learn. It required the user to have a body even stronger than her own; it was astonishing for any Seeker to be able to use it. Feeling the slightest of threats herself, she responded slowly, "Alright, that makes you at least a little useful. Help me capture Nanjing, and I'll share some of the glory with you."

Lu Yin was shocked, "You want to capture Nanjing? I heard that there's someone called the Executioner there who's a very powerful Sentinel."

"I know. I heard even Orton was humiliated by him, but I'm not that pathetic. If we work together, we can beat that native," she replied coldly.

"Huh? How did you find out?"

"Because we're from the same school. We had a deal to work together if we landed nearby, same as most other people. I guess no one looked to make a deal with you because you're so weak."

Lu Yin felt relieved that he hadn't impersonated Vesta. Since this woman knew Orton, she might have known Vesta as well. Could she be the reason why Orton had fled north after Zhou Shan had defeated him? So then why had he suddenly changed his direction and headed east? He really wanted to know, but kept himself from asking. The more ignorant he appeared, the more likely it was for his fraud to be exposed. Since this woman wanted to team up with him, she clearly had some kind of grudge against Orton or Orton had found a different ally. No matter which option was right, Nanjing was in danger.

"Okay. I'll help you, but I need to strengthen myself first," he finally answered her question. The formcast model he'd recovered from Vesta was limited to three uses, and Vesta had used it twice before he used it to become a Seeker. That was why he'd approached the girl in the first place, but she was too strong to beat.

"No need," the girl frowned.

"I at least need to heal from my injuries!" he protested. This brought a glare his way, but she still flew towards the assembly point with him in tow. Lu Yin saw about 200,000 survivors on the way, and a large proportion of them were cultivators. Most of the soldiers wore the uniform of Zhou Shan's camp; this woman had likely taken control of the frontlines.

"That Executioner guy in Nanjing is pretty impressive. He managed to keep 80,000 cultivators with him and was still able to order another 20,000 to the frontline to try to open communications with another region. There were six Seekers in this group, but I killed two and another one died to a mutant beast, so I only have three left for now," the woman readily shared information about the troops as she led him to the top of a villa within the camp.

"Oh. Right, I still don't know your name," Lu Yin mentioned.

"Jeraldine," the girl replied as they landed.

"Master, another detachment of the Executioner's troops are encamped about 30 kilometers away."

Lu Yin turned to the newcomer and saw who it was. The man was visibly confused when he saw Lu Yin as well, but Lu Yin rushed the man instantly and struck his chest with a Shockwave Palm before Jeraldine could even move. The man spat out a mouthful of blood as the force of the attack pushed him off the roof, his fall creating quite a stir in the crowd below.

"What the hell was that for?" Jeraldine raged.

"That's the bastard who ambushed me when I first landed. He's the reason I was injured in the first place!" Lu Yin answered righteously.

"When was that?" she asked coldly.

"The day we landed," he answered without hesitation.

"Where?"

"Around a hundred kilometers to the south," Lu Yin replied, looking at her with indignation, "What? Are you doubting me, or do you care about that man?"

"Careful with your words!" Jeraldine snorted, "I couldn't care less about a mere native, but you can't just kill my followers."

"Just a native," Lu Yin clearly didn't care.

"He's still one of my subordinates," Jeraldine said angrily.

Lu Yin was annoyed, "Fine, I get it, I won't do it again. By the way, the troops 30 kilometers away are mine, should I bring them over?"

Jeraldine ignored him and turned around, glancing at Nanjing and then her watch. Lu Yin glanced towards the ground and breathed a sigh of relief. The man he had attacked was Li Hongliang, who had seen him in the aftermath of Vesta's death. The man knew that he was the one who'd killed Vesta; if he'd been allowed to speak up, things would have gotten complicated. A sneak attack likely wouldn't work on this girl, so he had to bide his time.

Jeraldine's appearance had wreaked havoc on the frontlines, and the soldiers had either escaped or fallen under her command. Since Lu Yin hadn't been able to contact Nanjing all day, he was growing concerned and tried to take appropriate measures. He brought Luo Yi, Xu San, and all of the soldiers to Jeraldine's gathering point and also met with the two captains under her command and warned them to keep quiet before looking for her at night.

"You want what? Star crystals?" she looked at him with shock as he asked her a question.

Lu Yin nodded, "Don't worry, I'll return you 10 times the amount when we return."

Jeraldine was doubtful, "You have fire crystals, but no star crystals?"

"I used them all up," Lu Yin replied.

Jeraldine was hesitant; energy crystals could be recovered from the mutant beasts on Earth, but star crystals were different. Every planet and ecosystem had its own unique energy that led to various training methods, but no matter the person or location, the star energy that star crystals contained could be absorbed and used for all training. These crystals could only be produced in places that resonated with the ecosphere of the universe itself, whereas Earth could currently only produce specialized energy crystals like those for fire and ice. However, the students here actually needed those kinds of energy crystals as well.

"You don't believe me? Fine, then let's trade," Lu Yin said.

Jeraldine looked at Lu Yin, "With what?"

Lu Yin took out a pile of fire crystals from his cosmic ring, "These."

Jeraldine's eyes gleamed and she started considering how much she would pay for them. The exchange rate varied depending on where one was, and Lu Yin was clearly out of star crystals so she had the advantage in this negotiation. She eventually came up with a number, "I can give you five."

Lu Yin's eyes widened, "That's ridiculous! These fire crystals could be exchanged for at least 20 star crystals, that's a 300% profit!"

"Your choice," Jeraldine replied arrogantly.

"You… Ugh, fine, but then I have another condition. Help me practice my battle techniques."

"Sure, anytime."

Accepting five translucent crystals the size of his thumb, Lu Yin left to go train. Jeraldine stowed the fire crystals with excitement once he left; these things were far more important to her than to most other cultivators. She was someone who used fire-based techniques, so her gains from this deal was a bigger win for her than Lu Yin had thought. She started to wonder, The Pagoda Planet? Why have I never heard of it? Could these crystals come from there?'

Lu Yin started grinning as soon as he left Jeraldine. Although the exchange rate was terrible, he had picked up the fire crystals for free. No one on Earth apart from the arriving students had even a single star crystal. Vesta had not even carried a cosmic ring, but Jeraldine clearly came from greater wealth so he could perhaps get more useful things from her. He arrived at an abandoned villa and buried some fire crystals around to keep people from sneaking up on him before heading to the living room, clearing out all the furniture and crushing a star crystal to flood the room with energy.

A cultivator would be capable of directly absorbing star energy from their surroundings after using a formcast model, but the speed was dependent on their skills. For this reason, many would collect star crystals and then let the energy erupt in a small space and drastically increase their cultivation speed; many powerful groups fought over deposits of these things.