Chapter 523 Unlucky Kristin
Lin Shen was filled with immense confusion, regardless of his current location or what status and rank he held.
In the racial ranking battle, he could only represent the Human race.
Even if he kowtowed to Emperor Tianshu and became his godson, obtaining the identity of the Celestial Race, the racial rankings would not recognize him as part of the Celestial Race; his race could only be Human.
Representing the Human race in battle, whether or not he obtained a ranking had nothing to do with Emperor Tianshu, yet Emperor Tianshu insisted that he must secure a ranking—wasn't that being overly meddlesome?
Seeing the doubt in Lin Shen's mind, Tian Congyun said with a smile, "His Majesty means that you must at least secure a top five ranking. His Majesty has great expectations for you as Chief of the Heavenly Institute, but His Majesty also faces his own difficulties. He desires to provide you with more resources and authority to fully cultivate you and needs a justifiable reason that the entire race can accept. Only when you demonstrate enough potential can His Majesty offer you greater support without others raising objections. Moreover, with your capabilities as Chief of the Heavenly Institute, reaching the top five in the Ascension Level should not be too difficult."
"Steward Yun, you know my situation—without the boost from War Song, securing the top five won't be so easy," Lin Shen mused.
Tian Congyun smiled faintly, "Indeed, reaching the top five is not easy. If it's truly unattainable, you needn't force yourself excessively. However, you should also understand His Majesty's difficulty; he needs a legitimate reason to cultivate you. But if you really can't make it into the top five, there is a shortcut you can take."
"Please enlighten me, Steward Yun," Lin Shen promptly requested with a respectful bow.
"We are all brothers here. There's no need for such formality, Chief," Tian Congyun whispered. "Not making it into the top five isn't a big deal, but there is one person you must defeat. It would be best if you could slay him, or at least not be defeated by him. If you can manage this, His Majesty's cultivation of you would also be justified."
"It's not that I have to defeat Di Esi, is it?" Lin Shen realized this was Emperor Tianshu's true intention.
"Of course not. To defeat Di Esi would indeed be too difficult," said Tian Congyun in a lower voice. "The person I'm talking about is Kristin. Our race and the Di Man Tribe have always had many disputes, and calling them mortal enemies would not be an exaggeration. Kristin is currently the strongest among the Ascension Level of the Di Man Tribe. If you can defeat him, then His Majesty's cultivation of you will naturally be beyond any objections."
"Kristin?" Lin Shen was slightly surprised.
"Do not underestimate this man, thinking that because he performed poorly in the elimination round, his strength must be average. In fact, his strength is incredibly formidable, and his swordsmanship has reached an almost divine mastery, earning him the nickname 'Sword Demon.' Coupled with Tenth Turn Ascension and numerous other skills, defeating him is far from easy. The main reason for his poor performance in the elimination round was due to his lack of aptitude for team combat, but in one-on-one fights, that is his specialty—you must not take him lightly." Tian Congyun shared some information about Kristin with Lin Shen.
It was clear that Tian Congyun came prepared, undoubtedly carrying Emperor Tianshu's orders.
Read exclusive content at empire
Competing for the top five was merely a pretext, the real intention was to have him deal with Kristin.
However, Lin Shen wasn't certain whether the Heavenly Emperor wanted to deal with Kristin to gain some prestige for the Celestial Race or because of personal vendetta.
Of course, he couldn't possibly ask such a question. Since it was Emperor Tianshu's command, Lin Shen had no choice but to agree to enter the battle and do his best when the time came.
After Tian Congyun left, Lin Shen carefully went over Kristin's information, increasingly realizing that the Powerful Cosmic Races indeed were filled with talent, and there were far too many formidable geniuses.
Kristin had been taught by many famed swordsmanship masters since childhood, and none of these masters taught him for more than a year.
It wasn't because he was incorrigible, but because his talent for swordsmanship was simply too strong. In the shortest instance, after a month of teaching, there was nothing left to teach, and the longest any could endure was about a year before they voluntarily resigned, having nothing more to offer.
In his teens, Kristin had already created his own swordsmanship called "Absolute Echo," and after a king of the Di Man Tribe saw it, he exclaimed, "All swordsmanship in the world is naught before my eyes, only this sword is the Absolute Echo." Hence, the name Absolute Echo Sword Skill came to be.
Now, that Absolute Echo Sword Skill is still kept in the Imperial Library of the Di Man Tribe, displayed alongside many master-level sword manuals, only accessible to nobles or common tribespeople who have achieved great merit.
Latter, as Kristin's swordsmanship continued to grow, he challenged many swordsmanship experts and was undefeated until he was taken as the direct disciple of an Immortal skilled in swordsmanship, which tempered his aggressive aura.
However, it was said that his swordsmanship had ascended to a higher level, reaching a very high realm, where among his peers and even among those at Nirvana Level, no one was fit to cross swords with him. Therefore, Kristin had stopped challenging anyone.
Originally, Kristin was about to achieve Nirvana and had no intention of participating in this racial battle. However, the upper echelons of the Di Man Tribe wanted to make an impression in this racial war, which is why they asked him to join the fight.
The Di Man Tribe originally intended for Kristin to battle with Di Esi, but they faced significant setbacks in the elimination round, all of which were caused by Lin Shen.
Although Kristin did not post online, after Lin Shen went online and saw what happened to him in the elimination round, he greatly suspected that if he joined the battle, Kristin would definitely challenge him, perhaps even more urgently than challenging Di Esi.
"I hope the benefits the Heavenly Emperor gives me are worth my effort," Lin Shen studied for half a day and found that all the information about Kristin was about how powerful his swordsmanship was. However, there was little concrete content about the Evolution Skills he practiced or what kind of innate abilities he had—it was all guesswork and only mentioned it related to swords.
With his current strength, Lin Shen naturally would not be afraid of an Ascender, but he also would not want to waste his energy on a fight without benefits.
Online research and analysis on Lin Shen were becoming more detailed, and the methods to counter his various skills were abundant on the Heavenly Web.
After looking through them for a while, Lin Shen found that some of these people really had wild imaginations, and many of their counter-strategies were quite impressive.
"Eh, this technique seems really interesting, let me give it a try," unable to resist, Lin Shen tried some of the more bizarre ideas he saw online.
After trying them, Lin Shen discovered that these people were indeed geniuses; some of the wildly imaginative methods actually worked.
Lin Shen couldn't help but be moved to tears, thinking, "What kind people, if it weren't for their suggestions, I could never have come up with such ideas, and to think it could be played like this."
A person using the screen name "Sword Hand Who Cannot Use Swords" even proposed a theory called "Separation Method" to break Lin Shen's Finger Sand and claimed that they would use this Separation Method to counter Lin Shen's Pistol Air Strike Skill during the ranking battles.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Although this person only mentioned the theory of the "Separation Method" and did not have any practical techniques, Lin Shen's eyes lit up after seeing it: "This has got something."
Because this person was not famous online, the video didn't cause much stir. Such videos were all too common on Heavenly Web and most were not taken seriously.
After Kristin posted his video under a screen name, he waited for a long time and was utterly dismayed to find no response at all.
"Just wait. Once I break his Pistol Air Strike Skill with the Separation Method in the ranking battle, you will realize how ignorant you all are," Kristin sneered to himself.
What do you think?
Total Responses: 0