Chapter 971: No Peace Among Humanity (3)
While Su Yu was in the process of moving away from the valley.
Outside the ancient city.
Someone arrived. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on noⅴelfire.net
The newcomer was not an Invincible. Even Invincibles would need some time to reach. Some of the Invincibles were inside their respective realms, and some were under close watch of the human Invincibles. They wouldn't be able to reach the city so soon after they were called upon.
The newcomer stood in front of the city and stared at the gate in front of him. Then, his lips curved into a smile. Abruptly, a saber light appeared noiselessly and struck the city wall.
Boom!
A segment of the wall collapsed.
Instantly, about seven or eight powerful death spirits appeared above the wall. They stared silently at the individual outside the city. Death qi started spreading out of the city.
One of the death spirits, who looked very different from the other death spirits, spoke coldly, "Xia Longwu!"
The individual outside the city glanced at the death spirit and smiled.
"You know me? You must be one of the survivors from my massacre back then."
"Xia Longwu! How dare you damage the holy city!" The death spirit said, "You're courting death—"
"You're too noisy. It's not like you can even leave the city."
But right at that moment, a different voice rang out, "If you dare to damage the holy city further, I'll end you."
"..."
Hearing that voice, Xia Longwu's expression changed slightly. He withdrew immediately. While leaving, he said, "This is a misunderstanding. I was trying to cut something else, but my hand slipped and hit the city wall instead."
After leaving those words behind, he vanished. The stone statue had spoken. That thing was too bizarre and strong. There was no need to provoke such an entity.
As for the relationship between the stone statue and the death spirits, it was very complicated as well. They did not seem to get along well, but both sides existed for the sake of the holy city. It wouldn't be a smart idea to provoke the stone statue. The death spirits couldn't leave the city, but nobody could guarantee that the stone statue couldn't leave as well.
The collapsed segment of the wall was instantly restored.
As for the death spirit who had spoken, it gave one last glance at the direction Xia Longwu had vanished before vanishing as well. But the other death spirits who had appeared did not leave. Instead, they moved deeper into the city and joined the hunt for the surviving living beings.
Xia Longwu was gone. But there were other living beings in the city they could target.
***
The stone statue cursed. He was the one who had spoken earlier. That damn Xia Longwu was lucky he was already a stone statue. If it was back then, with his temper, he would have left the city to give that bastard a beating.
These damn bastards from the human race loved troublemaking too much. What if a death sovereign appeared because of all the trouble? Did they really think that a death sovereign wouldn't be able to touch them?
Of course, Xia Longwu was only here to give the city a cut and ensure the deaths of the experts in the city. He was gone, but furious roars rang out inside the city.
Boom!
Of the six Sunmoons, the golden lion had self-detonated to kill a large number of death spirits. Because of that, even more death spirits appeared. At that moment, the number of Sunmoon death spirits in the city reached forty.
That was a terrifying number.
***
Inside an ancient building.
Five Sunmoons remained.
Lei Huo suddenly spoke through voice transmission, "Those two can't last much longer either. They will definitely self-detonate to kill some death spirits before dying."
He was talking about the Sunmoons from the mountainbreak bull race and the silkwyrm race. It was very clear they were at their limits.
As for the young geniuses, the difference between them was also made obvious. Mo Duona still appeared completely fine. Topsoil Spirit was still calm and collected. Meanwhile, Tianduo, the little golden dragon, and Long Zhan were starting to look weakened. They were nearly out of heavenly source qi.
Long Dou glanced at the young geniuses and replied through voice transmission, "Do me a favor. Pin them down and let Long Zhan and Long Wuyou get the kill. Even getting a tiny bit of heavenly source qi as the heavenly reward is better than nothing. The dragon race is going to deploy two dragon kings here."
Killing experts who were pinned down would not generate any big reward. Even those killing gravely injured experts could earn a much bigger reward. But at this point, this was the only thing they could do. Getting a tiny bit more heavenly source qi was better than nothing.
Those two Sunmoons were dying. Before that, they would definitely self-detonate and attract more death spirits for the others. They might as well kill them. That way, only two additional death spirits would appear.
Lei Huo did not care that much since none of the geniuses was from the divine race. As for Na Dazhi, he thought about it and said, "Sure. Mo Duona probably looks down on this method. As for Tianduo, there is no guarantee his ancestor will come. We can ignore him. The ones with more elders coming can get the kills."
Long Dou proceeded to send a voice transmission to Long Zhan and Long Wuyou. The two young dragons hesitated slightly before agreeing. They couldn't last much longer. This was something they had to do. Even if they would only receive a small amount of heavenly source qi, it would still be helpful in withstanding the death qi.
Furthermore, killing Sunmoons will also fill the area with a large amount of source qi and character intent. All that would help them last longer here. In fact, that was how they had survived until now: by relying on the source qi and character intent of the Sunmoons who had died earlier.
Just as the three Sunmoons were about to make a move, the silkwyrm Sunmoon dashed out of the building and detonated himself. As his body burst apart, he looked at the people inside the building with a sinister smile.
"Do you think I don't know what you're planning?"
With that, shockwaves spread out and killed several Sunmoon death spirits. The three ignored the explosion and continued with their plan, instantly pinning the mountainbreak bull Sunmoon down. The mountainbreak bull roared, "What are you doing?"
The silkwyrm Sunmoon still had a tiny bit of his consciousness remaining. When he heard that, he had the urge to curse at the bull with his final words.
Fool!
Was this not obvious?
He had long noticed those fellows conversing through voice transmission, as though they were plotting something. He decided that even if he had to die, he would not grant them any benefits.
The dumb bull was the only clueless one. With that final thought, the consciousness of the silkwyrm Sunmoon fully dispersed.
A moon fell from the sky.
Of the initial twenty-one Sunmoons, only four remained.
Shortly after, the bull died with grief and indignation to the two young dragons. Then, a shining clump of cloud appeared.
Unsurprisingly, the reward came in the form of heavenly source qi. And the amount was pretty decent as well.
Under normal circumstances, this was not a valuable reward. The experts of the major races felt the same as Su Yu about heavenly source qi. The effort of killing a Sunmoon just for some heavenly source qi was not a worthy trade. But this was one of the rare circumstances where more heavenly source qi was actually a good thing.
Long Zhan and Long Wuyou started absorbing the rewarded heavenly source qi to deal with the death qi in their bodies. The number of living beings in the city had dropped to an incredibly low level.
There were only nine of them left. Three of them were high-stage Sunmoons, and they were desperately defending their shelter while waiting for the Invincibles to arrive.
When they first entered, there were a lot more of them. Dozens of Sunmoons, dozens of Mountainseas, nearly a thousand Cloudbreaches and Skysoars...but now, almost all of them had died. Even with such a large number of deaths, not a single Invincible had arrived yet.
It wasn't that none of them wanted to go. Rather, they were unable to go. The humans were also aware of the situation in the city. Thus, they were working hard to intercept the Invincibles heading toward the city. Unknown to most people, some skirmishes were already happening on the borders of the various territories.
***
North from the Eastrift Valley.
With a spear in hand, Great Qin King gazed at Dao King who had just arrived from the Immortal Realm. With a smile, he offered, "Dao King, let's grab a drink. The journey must be tiring. Take a break with me."
Dao King sank into a momentary silence before opening his mouth, "State your conditions."
Great Qin King laughed heartily, "I only have one simple condition. Keep War God busy during Xia Longwu's dao affirmation."
After a short silence, Dao King shook his head, "If that's your condition, I can give up on Dao Cheng's life. I am not capable of stopping War God."
Great Qin King nodded, "How about a different condition? You need to stop targetting Su Yu..."
"I can give up on Dao Cheng's life. His value is incomparable to Su Yu."
"..."
Great Qin King was left momentarily speechless. But that was understandable. Thus, he switched to a different condition, "Stop targetting Liu Wenyan. After destroying Ye Batian's characters, his potential has dropped considerably. Even if some of Ye Batian's characters are still around, at least ten of them have been destroyed so far. The remaining characters are not even enough to activate the character technique anymore."
After thinking about it, Dao King said, "My line will stop targetting Liu Wenyan."
Great Qin King smiled, "Glad to hear that. Have a pleasant journey, Dao King."
Dao King said nothing and vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile, Great Qin King could only shake his head. He couldn't do more than this. Su Yu was too crazy. He had killed too many people. In fact, he had killed enough people to reach the very top of the Heaven Index. And he was also too young. Unlike Liu Wenyan, he had boundless potential in him. It was very unlikely that the myriad races would agree to stop targetting him.
In fact, the myriad races would probably be willing to give up on killing Xia Longwu just to kill Su Yu.
"Sigh."
If he had known this, he would have kicked the damn brat back into the Human Realm after the brat reached the third rank of the Heaven Index. It would be too hard to do that now. Even the people of Great Ming had withdrawn. Su Yu was not among them. The brat had probably guessed what would happen and decided to flee alone instead.
Great Qin King couldn't help but admire Su Yu's ability to view the big picture. Returning to the Human Realm now would only give the myriad races an excuse to make demands of the human race. Thus, they needed to wait until the matter settled before thinking of returning.
Suddenly, Great Qin King flickered and appeared in front of a certain individual.
Looking at the sorry state of his once prideful grandson, he sighed and said, "Useless garbage. What an embarrassment. Get lost."
Boom!
Qin Fang wasn't able to utter even one word before he was sent flying thousands of kilometers away. In fact, he was sent straight into the portal to the Human Realm. He was only able to leave behind a miserable howl before vanishing into the portal.
Great Qin King sighed. How lamentable. Yes, Qin Fang looked fine. But how embarrassing was it that nobody had bothered to kill that kid even when he was right in front of them? Great Qin King would rather see his grandson becoming a target of the myriad races like Su Yu. That would bring a lot of pride to him.
Why? Because only fear would cause the myriad races to act that way. Fear toward a talent so incredible it defied the natural order.
But instead, his grandson commanded zero fear from the myriad races. In the past, he always felt that his grandson was quite decent. After all, his grandson had killed a decent number of Mountainseas. Qin Fang of Qin Family. Qin Fang of the humans. How proud. Even the other Invincibles were full of praise for Great Qin King's grandson.
But now...sigh. His grandson was so unthreatening that the myriad races couldn't even be bothered to kill him. And his grandson had even lost his first rank on the Earth Index. How embarrassing.
Great Qin King lamented bleakly. Each generation was getting worse than the previous. Well, to be frank, his grandson was not that weak at all. But...forget it. There was no point in comparing his grandson against that kid.
Was that kid so amazing? That kid had only accomplished those kills by destroying Ye Batian's characters. Yeah, what was so amazing about that? His grandson had never relied on crushing characters in fights.
Great Qin King continued comforting himself. Yes, his grandson was not that useless, after all. At the very least, his grandson was better than Dao King's grandson. As for the recent update in the index copy stating that Dao Cheng had killed a seventh-stage Sunmoon, that was total nonsense. Great Qin King was certain that the Sunmoon in question was Ming He.
At the very least, his grandson had never been forced to kill his own teacher.
"Peace...is no longer possible for humanity."
A realization hit Great Qin King. The myriad races would not stop before killing Su Yu. Where was that kid right now?
Chapter 972: End Of The Ancient City Incident (1)
The ancient city was in chaos. Sunmoons were dying in droves.
Massive armies started gathering near the borders, on alert against any potential aggression.
The central sector was ruled by the demonic beasts. But due to the Sea of Stars serving as the natural border, things were less tense between the various forces there. Furthermore, the demonic beasts were not united. Thus, the defenses for the borders of the central sector were quite slack.
The Allheaven Battlefield was relatively square in shape. Occupying the four directions were the divines, immortals, humans, and devils. As for the central area, the existence of the massive Sea of Stars rendered it inconvenient for most races to live in. Thus, it became a territory of the dragons, including numerous demonic beasts, despite its strategic location. The source of this content ɪs NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Of course, the demonic beasts as a whole were very powerful. That was especially true for the dragon race. But the dragons did not consider themselves demons. Thus, the other demonic beast races had been left in a disordered manner. None of them was capable of unifying all the demonic beasts.
The situation between the various demonic beast races was even more chaotic than the humans since the various human prefectures still had a joint military command. In truth, not a single race among the various races was truly united.
For example, the original devils ruled as the overlords over the other devils, suppressing them with strength. But the suppression wasn't easy and they still weren't able to obtain absolute power over the other devils. Furthermore, the more powerful sub-races under them, such as the blood fire devils, would always act independently, causing them countless issues. The divines were in a similar situation.
As for the immortals, the division between factions was not as clear. In fact, the immortals resembled the humans more than the divines and devils politically. However, there was a unique branch among the immortals known as the ancient immortals. It was rumored that the inheritance of this branch had not been severed since ancient times.
However, their dominance was not as obvious as the original devils and first divines over their respective races. For the most part, the factions within the immortals were split according to their immortal kings instead of their sub-races. This was how these races operated.
But despite the chaos among these races, they were all united against the humans. The single point they all agreed on was the fact that humanity could not be allowed to activate their suppressive force.
The human race was strong. It was the overlord of the myriad races during the ancient times. All the older races were well aware of this. But since humanity had lost their hegemony, there was no way the myriad races would allow them to return to their previous position. Not one wanted to be a vassal or subordinate of another race.
The human race had a decent number of Invincibles. It did not have a publicly acknowledged Human Emperor or Pseudo Human Emperor, but Great Qin King was absolutely not weak. Furthermore, the human race also had a large number of Sunmoons and Mountainseas.
And because of their immunity to the suppressive force of other realms, they posed a massive threat to all other races. If they were allowed to activate their suppressive force on top of all their other advantages, nobody would be able to stop humanity from once again reigning atop the myriad races.
Thus, each race assumed a unique stance toward humanity. They could tolerate humanity growing strong, but they would absolutely not tolerate the appearance of a cultural researcher Invincible among humanity.
That was the bottom line. That was the case fifty years ago, and that was still the case.
***
With Su Yu's ascension to the top of the Heaven Index, Liu Wenyan's ascension to the top of the Earth Index, and Hong Tan's preparations to disseminate the disassembly method in the Human Realm, the fifth principal's line once again became the focal point of the Myriad Realms.
The fifth principal's line, or to be precise, the original line of the multiple character faction, had six successors. They were respectively Liu Wenyan, Hong Tan, Chen Yong, Bai Feng, Su Yu, and Wu Jia. People like Xia Yunji, Zhao Mingyue, and Hu Ping were considered a part of the faction as well, but they were not the direct successors of the line.
Strictly speaking, only those from under Liu Wenyan and Hong Tan could be considered the direct successors. Furthermore, Xia Yunji, Zhao Mingyue, and Hu Ping were most certainly far less threatening or talented than those from the direct successors. After the incident in the ancient city, Liu Wenyan returned to the human territory.
He was already old. With the destruction of Ye Batian's characters, his level of threat had actually dropped significantly. Of course, he was still not completely unthreatening since several of Ye Batian's characters were still in his possession.
However, they were far less dangerous since they were no longer sufficient to activate Ye Batian's character technique. Basically, their line had caught the attention of the myriad races. And Su Yu was the one who had caught the most attention.
***
Su Yu had vanished from the public eye. Nobody knew where he was.
A lot of people were paying close attention to him, including some of the experts in the human realm.
Great Xia City.
Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.
Wan Tiansheng was looking at the latest copy of the Heavenly Hunt Index.
1st on Heaven Index: Su Yu.
2nd on Heaven Index: Mo Duona.
3rd on Heaven Index: Zhan Wushuang
4th on Heaven Index: Dao Cheng
5th on Heaven Index: Ming Yue
6th on Heaven Index: Xuan Wuji
7th on Heaven Index: Long Yingyue
***
The Heaven index had changed greatly, with the biggest changes being the additions of Su Yu and Dao Cheng.
As for the two dragons who had killed the pinned-down Sunmoon, they were not able to enter the Heaven Index despite their kill. Yes, their past combat accomplishments looked impressive due to that kill, but the index took a lot more factors into consideration when assigning ranks.
Su Yu was not assigned the top rank just because of the people he had killed. Rather, the Heavenly Hunt Index had measured his potential and gave him that rank. In short, the index believed that Su Yu had an extremely high chance of affirming his dao in the future.
As for Dao Cheng, his new rank was also not something assigned due to his kill. Rather, the Heavenly Hunt Index might have detected a certain change in him. This, it judged that among the young generation, Dao Cheng was the fourth most likely genius to eventually affirm his dao.
As for Liu Wenyan's new rank, it was a mystery how the index concluded that he deserved that rank. Furthermore, Liu Wenyan was no longer at the top of the Earth Index. Due to Dao Cheng's ascension, someone else had dropped from the Heaven Index, pushing Liu Wenyan one rank lower.
That individual was a member of the celestial chasm race. Like Ming Yue, the fifth ranker of the Heaven Index, this individual came from an ancient race as well. The celestial chasm was an ancient race, and it was extremely well-known. In fact, an Invincible of this race was the very person who had killed Ye Batian.
Back then, Ye Batian faced two Invincibles in battle. One of them was killed while the other killed Ye Batian before leaving with grievous injuries. The surviving Invincible was the one from the celestial chasm, the race known for their mastery over curses.
And today, a genius of such a powerful race was kicked out of the Heaven Index. Looking at the name, Wan Tiansheng sank into deep contemplation.
Killing a fourth-stage Sunmoon.
Yes, he was well aware this was a result brought upon by numerous factors colliding together. This was not repeatable.
Even so, this still showcased the massive growth Su Yu had undergone. He wouldn't have been able to withstand the prowess of Sunmoon characters otherwise. Wan Tiansheng concluded that at the very least, Su Yu's sea of willpower was already at the same level as a weak Mountainsea.
Powerful sea of willpower, characters, and physical body...
Su Yu, the one who would battle Mountainseas as a Cloudbreach...
Wan Tiansheng had thought that the battle would happen not long after Su Yu became a Cloudbreach. But that might not necessarily be the case. Contrary to what he had believed, the type of Mountainseas the kid would face might not necessarily be the weak Mountainseas. Rather, they might be the extremely powerful ones.
They might even be the truly crazy ones who were capable of defeating Sunmoons. That was such a terrifying thought.
Wan Tiansheng continued pondering. He wasn't too worried about Su Yu's well-being. The Allheaven Battlefield was massive. And it was filled with mysteries. Even Invincibles would have a hard time hunting down a single individual there.
Rather, Wan Tiansheng was more worried about Liu Wenyan. What was Liu Wenyan planning to do next? After all, he had crushed a majority of Ye Batian's characters. Would anything unexpected happen there?
As for Su Yu...Wan Tiansheng decided to let the kid run wild. Whatever. Go wild. He was certain that the kid would survive and return to the Human Realm. After all, he had seen the kid fighting Mountainseas as a Cloudbreach inside the Human Realm. Then again, that was the only thing Principal Wan could do: believe in the kid.
Principal Wan was comforted at the fact that his one hundred years of lifespan had not been sacrificed for nothing. At the very least, he knew that Su Yu would return alive. He also knew that when Su Yu started fighting Mountainseas, the massive battle he saw in the vision would be near.
"Liu Wenyan...Su Yu..."
Wan Tiansheng muttered, "Perhaps this incident is the spark of war. But the human race was still unable to make a firm resolution. Too many things are holding us back. A lot of voices are demanding that we hand over Su Yu and Liu Wenyan to the myriad races. A lot of people are also demanding that humanity abandon them."
Wan Tiansheng started pacing as he muttered, "Is it possible that the key to unleashing the chaos building up in Great Xia is Su Yu? Is he the one who will cause the turmoil among humanity?"
But would Su Yu return anytime soon? That seemed unlikely. Perhaps he would return in disguise? Wan Tiansheng was unsure. Fortunately, he had left something in Su Yu's body. Thus, he would be able to sense it the moment the kid returned. Perhaps...the next time Su Yu stepped foot in Great Xia again, that would be the signal that the battle wasn't that far away.
"Two paths...one in the Allheaven Battlefield and one in Great Xia. Xia Longwu is managing the path in the Allheaven Battlefield while I'm managing the path here."
Would the two paths activate at the same time? Or would the path in Great Xia activate first? His gaze landed on the Multiple Character Faculty and settled on Hong Tan. But even after a long time, he was unable to reach a conclusion.
Everything seemed to be slipping out of control. Su Yu had ruined a lot of his plans. Even Zhou Polong had caught a lot of attention due to Su Yu. All his plans were unraveling. That damn kid was a super troublemaker!
"I need Great Xia to become the center of attention again."
Attention...Su Yu currently commanded a lot of attention. Should he find a way to make the kid return, then?
"This is so troublesome. That damn kid probably believes that it won't be too late for him to return once the action starts. But he does not know that due to all his troublemaking, the action might not even start without his presence anymore."
Wan Tiansheng continued thinking. Soon, his gaze landed on Hong Tan again. Perhaps...he would have to trouble that fellow instead. If that fellow was on the verge of being beaten to death, that damn kid would return, right? If not Hong Tan, Bai Feng could be the one to take the beating instead.
"First on Heaven Index...what's the point? That's too eye-catching."
Then, Wan Tiansheng spread his senses over the city again. Xia Longwu was still not around. Marquis Xia had left for the Allheaven Battlefield with a group of people. And without a strong leadership, all sorts of individuals were coming out of the shadows.
Furthermore, the large number of experts accompanying the myriad race students had also settled down in the city, turning the city into an even bigger powder keg. Wan Tiansheng laughed with amusement. How brazen. Some of those people had even tried to pry upon his true strength. The experts from the divine and devil races had been trying to spy on him in recent days.
How audacious. Wan Tiansheng decided to note down all their names. Even the cultists who had established contact with these myriad race experts were noted down. The capital city had turned into a den of thieves. Excellent.
Right at that moment, one of his voice transmission talismans shook. Wan Tiansheng's gaze landed on the spot where he kept his talismans. There were about nine of them in total, and one of them was vibrating.
After taking a look, he replied, "Remain undercover."
Somewhere else, a certain chubby youth replied, "What? Old Wan, I don't know why I feel like my real identity has long been exposed. But for some reason, everyone has merely been keeping an eye on me instead of doing anything."
"No. Your cover is not blown. Don't worry."
"That's not true!" Jia Mingzhen said, "Old Wan, I have a very strong feeling that my cover is already blown. Maybe I should return. I feel like a bunch of wolves are staring at me hungrily."
"Don't worry. If they try to do anything to you, just lure them into the capital."
"Fine."
Jia Mingzhen ended the conversation helplessly and sank into thought. Was his cover really not blown? But why did he feel like his cover was already blown? He kept having a feeling that someone was observing him. Was Old Wan reliable or not?
He really wanted to go back. Life out here was too uncomfortable.
Sigh.
Chapter 973: End Of The Ancient City Incident (2)
At the same time.
Great Ming.
Zhu Tiandao and Niu Baidao were drinking tea together.
An index copy laid before them.
Zhu Tiandao took his time enjoying the tea. After a while, he finally spoke, "You're already aware of this. The kid has gone mad right after leaving. I doubt he dares to return any more."
Niu Baidao nodded and helplessly said, "I thought he would only take some time to expand his experience. At most, he would only visit his father. I did not expect him to actually be crazy enough to get so many people killed during his first trip out of the Human Realm."
"I should have seen this coming. After all, he got a bunch of people killed back when he left Great Xia as well."
Zhu Tiandao said, "I'm not even sure if I can really stop those Invincibles from handing him over if he returns. I guess it isn't a bad idea for him to stay away for now."
Niu Baidao nodded, "Are you betting on his success?"
"I'm still unsure."
Zhu Tiandao laughed, "Dao affirmation is too unpredictable. Even at Ye Batian's level, nobody can say for sure that he will succeed. At most, I can say that the kid has the potential to succeed. Also, his characters might be strong, but I feel like his physical cultivation is much stronger than his willpower cultivation."
Niu Baidao nodded, "What do we do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Should we continue sending reinforcements?"
"Who can we even send? You?" Zhu Tiandao laughed, "Old Niu, are you interested in an adventure?"
"Me?" Niu Baidao gave a hollow laugh and said, "Forget it. I'm such an old man. If I go, I might be unlucky enough to encounter an Invincible. That will be the same as throwing my life away. In fact, some of the current myriad race Invincibles are quite familiar with me due to our interactions back then. I'm not the right person for this job."
Zhu Tiandao sneered and said, "It's pointless even if you agree to go now. Can you even find him? He's not trapped anywhere. He can constantly be on the move."
After a short pause, Zhu Tiandao said, "This is not our current priority. Rather, we need to focus on the situation in Great Xia. Things are growing more and more volatile there. It is only a matter of time before it implodes. As their neighbor, we might be caught in the chaos as well..."
Niu Baidao nodded, "And what are you trying to say?"
"We can't slack anymore."
Zhu Tiandao stood up, clasped his hands behind him, and sighed. Facing north where Great Xia was, he sighed and softly spoke, "Prepare yourself. When Great Xia implodes, we will need to deal with the aftermath even if we somehow manage to not get involved in it. Those fools from Great Xia are too stubborn. In fact, Su Yu is just as stubborn. They want to solve everything themselves. They are unwilling to trust anyone. They are unwilling to seek help from anyone..."
Niu Baidao looked north as well and nodded, "I understand. By the way, are we really not doing anything for Su Yu?"
"What can we even do?"
"Should we invite his father into Great Ming?" Latest content publıshed on Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
"No. Great Qin King and the others are there. It's probably safer for him to remain there." Zhu Tiandao said, "Also, start making preparations for the Luminous Domain Mansion delegate. It's going to open soon."
Niu Baidao nodded, "Alright. One more thing. Are you really going to affirm your dao at the same time as Xia Longwu to catch everyone by surprise?"
"..."
Zhu Tiandao looked at Niu Baidao with an odd gaze and asked, "What are you talking about? It's still too early for me. I won't be affirming my dao anytime soon."
Niu Baidao nodded, "Yes, I understand. I already knew the secret when you were in diapers. By the way, how does it feel to wear diapers as someone more than two-hundred years old?"
"What?" Zhu Tiandao asked blankly, "Old Niu, what are you talking about?"
Niu Baidao laughed, "It's nothing. I'm merely curious. Don't worry. I'm just curious. Between you and Xia Longwu, who's stronger?"
"I don't even understand what you're talking about." Zhu Tiandao rolled his eyes, "What exactly are you trying to say? Have you finally lost your mind after growing so old?"
"Not really." Niu Baidao sighed, "Stop pretending. Can we be honest with each other? I'll admit that I'm already a ninth-stage Sunmoon. I've been concealing my true cultivation with looping turtle blood essence. In fact, that was why I raised so many looping turtles in the academy. Now that my secret is out, can you be honest with me? How does it feel to wear diapers as a two-hundred years old man?"
"..."
Zhu Tiandao stared at Niu Baidao for a very long time. Finally, he spoke, "It's very dangerous for you to act like this."
Niu Baidao nodded, "I know. But we're on the same side, right? I'm just curious. How did you do that? Why did Dizhu agree? Do you have a high chance of succeeding?"
"..."
Zhu Tiandao said, "Stop messing with me. Old Niu, I don't know what you're talking about. If you're really a ninth-stage Sunmoon, you should prepare for your dao affirmation. Stop indulging in these random imaginations."
Niu Baidao smiled, "They are definitely not random imaginations. I'm merely thinking that if there is a chance, I can probably make an attempt as well. But in truth, I believe you have a high chance of succeeding. Since you can enter the Great Strength Realm at nine, you are probably standing at the very peak even among the peak Sunmoons at your age of 340 years old. Can Xia Longwu even be your match?"
"Old Niu, I think you're really turning senile."
"No." Niu Baidao sighed, "I noticed many years ago. I've simply been keeping silent about it. I'm only saying all this today to offer myself. Since you're going to take this chance to attempt your dao affirmation, I can also serve as your second insurance. I will probably fail in my dao affirmation. But that's not the case for you."
Zhu Tiandao laughed, "Wake up. My elder brother was the one who had reached the Great Strength Realm at nine. I'm over two hundred years younger than him."
Niu Baidao nodded, "Sure. So be it. Perhaps you're really a baby of premature birth. I still remember how you were born merely seven months after your old man returned from the Allheaven Battlefield. That was probably a premature birth. Oh, coincidentally, your mother died right after giving birth to you. Also, after the death of your elder brother, a lot of things started going missing from the treasury. At that point, your old man had no other children. He has always been extremely stingy and protective of his belongings. But somehow, he did not seem to care about those missing items. How odd."
He shook his head, "So be it. Let's move on from the topic. I need to think of a solution regarding Su Yu's issue or the kid might really not return any more."
But Zhu Tiandao merely stared at him without saying anything.
After a long while, he said, "Old Niu, when did you become so talkative? Are you trying to retire because you're getting too old?"
"It's still too early for that." Niu Baidao smiled, "Don't think about something that will never happen. I did not harbor any other meanings. You are free to trust or doubt me. If you can't trust me anymore, you can just leave me out of your plans."
"You must be going senile. After all, you're someone from my old man's generation."
Niu Baidao nodded and stood up, "I'll be taking my leave. As for you...I have nothing else to say. Just do what you think is right."
"..."
Zhu Tiandao stared at Niu Baidao's departing in silence before shaking his head. With a smile, he vanished. Why did that geezer still enjoy running his mouth so much even at such an old age?
"My pitiful elder brother...sigh. He died at nine. The heavens must have been jealous of his heavenly talent."
A sigh rang out, filled with boundless sympathy for the dead elder brother. The death of his elder brother was a fact everyone knew. Old Niu must be turning senile. Why would he even think of such a weird possibility?
***
Everywhere in the Myriad Realms, people were talking about Su Yu.
Dao Cheng, Liu Wenyan, and the ancient city were also hot discussion topics.
Meanwhile, Su Yu had arrived at a familiar place.
An ancient city.
Yes. It was yet another ancient city.
He was aware that there were several ancient cities in the region. Previously, Huang Teng and Qin Fang had gone separate ways from him. Each had entered a different ancient city. There were three ancient cities in the Plain of Desires.
The Heavendoom City was the ancient city located in the middle. Since Su Yu had been escaping in a different direction, he reached a different ancient city.
"Empyrean Cloud."
This was the name of the city. Empyrean Cloud. Su Yu's heart thumped with excitement. He was in need of a safe space to cultivate. Perhaps...this would be a suitable place for him. This was an excellent choice.
Ancient cities were incredibly safe. At the very least, that was what Su Yu believed. As long as one didn't create trouble, one would be mostly fine in an ancient city. Even if an Invincible somehow discovered that he was here, the Invincible might not have the courage to actually kill him in the city.
What a nice place.
"Shall I?"
Chapter 974: End Of The Ancient City Incident (3)
The city was bustling. It did not seem affected by the events at Heavendoom City. In fact, the number of people here might have even grown as people searched for an alternative to the Heavendoom City.
"This time, I need to keep a low profile. I can't be so eye-catching anymore."
If that was the plan, he needed a disguise. But the mayor would definitely be an expert. He wondered if there was any taboo here. What if he accidentally disguised himself as a race disliked by the mayor? That would be unfortunate.
He glanced at the city gates. He decided to just disguise himself as one of the races he saw. That should be fine. After a while, he didn't notice anything unusual. Even humans were able to safely enter and leave the city.
After thinking about it, Su Yu's body swelled slightly. His face also changed to make him look slightly older. Before long, his transformation was complete. He had turned into a burly human.
It wouldn't be too out of place for a human warrior to seek shelter here. He also sealed his entire sea of willpower, giving off only the aura of a Skysoar warrior. That was his true physical cultivation level, anyway.
Before long, he started walking toward one of the gates while pretending to be injured. The familiar sight of armored guards greeted him.
Like Heavendoom, this was also a city with nine gates.
Su Yu did not even spare the main gate a glance. This time, he was going to keep a low profile. What was the big deal about going through the main gate? Furthermore, the nine defensive spheres he had obtained from Heavendoom City's gate trial were still around. To be precise, he had only used one of them.
As he moved nearer, he noted that the Empyrean Cloud City was slightly different from Heavendoom City. Perhaps the mayor here was a more domineering individual.
When the guards saw an unfamiliar face approaching, one of them said, "You can stay in any building between the 30th to the 36th rings for free. Entry is prohibited for all the other rings unless you pay the fees to enter. No killing is allowed in the city. Damage of property will not be tolerated."
With a cold tone, the guard warned, "This is especially true for humans. Do not create trouble in the city. Don't make the mistake of thinking that everyone can do what Su Yu did."
Clearly, the incident in Heavendoom had spread even here. Su Yu, the human who had caused massive trouble in Heavendoom. As a response, security had been tightened in Empyrean Cloud City, with warnings given to every human that they should never try to imitate Su Yu's actions.
Su Yu nodded, "That is only natural. I'm only going to rest a few days in the city before leaving. Sir, I heard about Su Yu's incident as well. How are things in Heavendoom?"
He was unaware of the events that had happened after his departure. Without an index copy, he did not have any source of information. However, the guard merely ignored him.
Someone who was passing by heard that and laughed, "What else? A bunch of people died. Some people saw a rain of moons from afar. But I think some Invincibles arrived. More news will probably arrive within the next two days. Brother, that genius from your race sure is ferocious."
Su Yu laughed, "Yeah. Then again, that has nothing to do with me. I'm a regular person while Su Yu is a genius. It's not a good idea for me to talk like he's one of us too much. I don't want to get implicated by his actions. For the past few days, everyone has been looking at me with odd gazes, as though every human is a lunatic like Su Yu."
The person who had spoken to him was a living being with about eight horns on his head. He laughed heartily upon hearing Su Yu's words and said, "True. Su Yu sure is ruthless. He killed so many people that his rank keeps changing in the Heavenly Hunt Index. It has been years since something like this happened. The last time it happened, Ye Batian was still active."
Su Yu smiled and nodded before stepping through the gate.
The odd living being with numerous horns followed him and said, "Brother from the human race, are you looking to buy something during your visit? I know the city quite well. I even know the buildings well. For example, I can introduce you to the empty buildings with a lower amount of death qi."
Su Yu laughed, "It's fine. I'm poor so I'll do the searching myself. Brother, stop following me. This might be my first time here, but I've been to other ancient cities. I'm quite experienced with ancient cities. Just stop targetting me."
"..."
The horned individual laughed awkwardly and said, "How am I targeting you? I'm only making a living. People from minor races like us have it really hard out here. Life is a lot more comfortable for those from a major race like you."
"That is only applicable to geniuses or those with good backgrounds. People without a good background like me will still live dangerously out here."
Su Yu shook his head, "Even after years in the Allheaven Battlefield, I have yet to accomplish anything. I only make enough to survive. I don't even know how long I can live. Perhaps one day, I will die to a random slap by an expert. Just look at Heavendoom. A bunch of people died in there. My heart chilled when I heard that. Sigh. But what can normal people like us do?" Google seaʀᴄh novel✶fire.net
After a short chat, the horned individual bid farewell and left the city again. Clearly, he was going to continue looking for customers. As for Su Yu, he was in no rush to find a place to stay. When he first visited Heavendoom, he had arrived at night. The stores of the city were all shut.
This time, he had arrived during the day. A lot of stores were open to the two sides of the streets. Some were opened by city residents and some were opened by the minor races operating in the city.
In fact, it was quite common to see the minor races opening stores in ancient cities to trade for the resources they required. The ancient cities might be classified as danger zones, but one would mostly be fine if one refrained from going too deep into the city, killing, or staying for more than three days. In fact, the city could be safer than anywhere else in the Allheaven Battlefield.
Su Yu took a look at the wares being sold by these stores, but he didn't find anything interesting. Before long, he found an unoccupied building. After checking the surroundings, he entered. Here, he was going to properly digest all his recent gains.
***
When Su Yu first stepped into the city.
Similar to Heavendoom City, the mayor's residence here was also split into inner and outer halls. And a stone statue could also be found in the inner hall. But this statue looked quite different from the one in Heavendoom City.
The stone statue in Empyrean Cloud City was actually the statue of a woman. The statue opened her eyes and stared in Su Yu's direction. Instantly, his figure appeared in her eyes. She saw him. She saw through him.
Su Yu could conceal himself from Sunmoons, but he couldn't conceal himself from Invincibles. After a short while, the stone statue shut her eyes in silence. Hopefully, that human would not cause trouble in the Empyrean Cloud City.
That was most likely the human known as Su Yu that those people had been talking about. Why was he here? The stone statue was feeling quite annoyed. This fellow should stick to creating trouble for that fellow in Heavendoom City. She prayed that he wouldn't create trouble for her as well.
After all, the human race had a good track record of creating trouble in Heavendoom City. She reckoned it was due to karma. After all, the city's name was too overbearing. The doom of heavens? In contrast, Empyrean Cloud was such a better name.
The stone statue continued thinking with her eyes shut. She did not intend to spend her time dealing with the death spirits like that fellow in Heavendoom City. What a boring life would that be.
***
While Su Yu was inside the ancient building.
Several imposing figures appeared outside Heavendoom City. They did not speak to each other. One of them was a devil with long, purple hair. His voice rang out.
"Open the gates."
Utter silence.
Tian He did not reply.
The devil spoke again, "Open the gates. Death spirits might be strong, but they can't stop us. Neither of us wants to destroy the city and give rise to disaster."
After saying that, he threw a punch. The gate he struck shook. Then, a unique death spirit appeared.
The devil said, "The Death Realm might be strong, but don't provoke the original devil race. An Eternal of the original devil race has transformed into a death spirit. He is also a death sovereign in the Death Realm. Our Emperor is in the process of bringing him back. Does the Death Realm intend to start a war with the original devils?"
The cold voice of the death spirit rang out, "The holy city is the place where the death spirits welcome their new brethren. The original devils do not run this place."
Purple devilish aura surged into the sky.
The devil said, "Do not force me to slaughter your people. Others don't understand this, but you know this well. Yes, the death spirits are numerous. But how many Eternals do you have? Do you want to test us and see if we can blockade all ancient cities and stop anyone from entering the city from now on?"
"The death spirits will persevere." The death spirit did not appear threatened, "That will not change even if the holy cities are blockaded."
"Impudent!"
With a roar from the purple-haired devil, the death spirit burst apart. But next, an even stronger death spirit appeared, carrying an incredibly dense wave of death qi. Next, a moon fell from the sky.
The purple-haired devil coldly said, "A death sovereign? Do you insist on pushing me to invade the Death Realm?"
One Invincible after another revealed themselves around the devil. Dao King was among them. The dragons were there as well.
"Immortals, devils, and dragons...The five elementals are here as well..."
With a hoarse voice, the death spirit spoke, "Two choices. The Sunmoons or the young geniuses. By the rules of the holy city, the death spirits can not return without seeing blood."
After a short silence, the purple haired devil said, "They are not the ones who had slaughtered the death spirits."
"I am aware of that."
The death spirit said, "But that is the rule. If the rules are broken, I won't be the only death sovereign to appear here."
The devil king coldly said, "Our Emperor will make a breakthrough soon."
The death sovereign paused slightly and said, "Two choices. Choose, or not."
"Who among them are still alive?"
"The dragon and divine Sunmoons. The blood fire devil Sunmoon was killed by me a moment ago."
"..."
Na Dazhi was dead?
After a short silence, the purple-haired devil king said, "Alright. I'll choose the young geniuses."
A king from the celestial dragon race said, "Mo Ge, Long Dou is still in there."
The devil king looked at the dragon and said, "You are free to enter and help him if you want."
"..."
The dragon king sank into silence.
Nobody spoke for the divine Sunmoon since no divine king was present.
The death sovereign said, "Since this is the first time, I will show some leniency to all of you. But it won't end so easily the next time it happens."
Then, death qi swept out and engulfed the entire city.
Rumble!
Two moons fell from the sky.
Meanwhile, the Invincibles watched in silence. Even the dragon king said nothing. Sunmoons or young geniuses?
Long Dou and Lei Huo were seventh-stage Sunmoons. They were incomparably strong. But...they were outsiders for these Invincibles. Meanwhile, the young geniuses were their descendants.
With that, all the Sunmoons had perished. The death sovereign smiled and started turning indistinct before eventually vanishing into thin air. All the Sunmoon death spirits in the city vanished as well.
Once again, the city gates swung open.
Twenty-one Sunmoons had arrived to kill Su Yu. Su Yu survived, while the city was reduced to a mess. The Invincibles did not take a single step into the city. They all waited outside.
A short while later, several dying young geniuses appeared.
Dao Cheng, Mo Duona, Tianduo, Long Zhan, little golden dragon, Topsoil Spirit.
These were the only survivors.
All of them had complicated expressions. They had all summoned the Invincibles backing them. The Sunmoons had been sacrificed in the deal with the death spirits. The Invincibles had not chosen to break into the city by force.
This was a setback that they would remember for life.
Chapter 975: Growth (1)
Empyrean Cloud City.
Inside a relatively small ancient building. As this was an outer ring building and it was still daytime, the death qi density was quite low. Su Yu was completely unaffected by the minuscule amount of death qi around him.
After many days of work, Su Yu was finally able to take a short break. He sat cross-legged on the ground and sank into thought. After a short moment, he stopped thinking and started focusing on his cultivation. It was time for him to digest all his gains.
Firstly, he had to properly digest the heavenearth profound light. That was an excellent resource for body forging. And it was a reward he had received for killing Sunmoons. He had twenty strands in total. Every single strand was invaluable.
For a regular cultivator, a single strand was enough to complete one round of body forging. Unfortunately, Su Yu was no regular cultivator. So far, he had completed twenty-two body forgings. Even the twenty-third body forging was near completion.
His twenty-two completed body forgings had granted him much more strength than what a regular cultivator could get from the same number of body forgings. Or to be precise, his twenty-two body forgings were a lot more powerful than even the thirty-six body forgings of a divine or devil warrior. But as a price, he required far more resources to complete his body forgings.
Even though his twenty-third body forging was near completion, he still needed an entire strand of heavenearth profound light to fully complete the process. His entire body shook.
Su Yu started using the breathing technique. He found that this breathing technique was extremely beneficial for body forgings. It felt even better than the Long Life Art of the immortals. How nice would it be if he didn't need the Long Life Art to hasten his absorption of heavenly source qi.
After all, the Long Life Art was quite...awkward to use. His Heaven Connecting Acupoint, the acupoint in his anus, would start working hard whenever he used the Long Life Art. It was fine to use this art privately. But it would be way too embarrassing to use it in front of others.
But the breathing technique was different. It felt like a natural part of life, as natural as breathing itself.
Of the cultivation methods Su Yu knew, two of them stood up from the rest. One was the breathing technique, and the other was the acupoint reversal method. The two methods did not require specific acupoints to work, as they would work for every race in existence.
One ought to know that there were barely any cultivation methods that could be used across races in existence. And Su Yu had actually gained two of them.
All the myriad race methods he cultivated previously had first been converted to a human version before he could cultivate them. Conversion was required before a different race could use them.
Thus, he was very pleased to obtain the two cultivation methods with no racial limitations. While in the process of body forging, Su Yu started wondering if a similar stone statue existed in the city.
If there was such a statue in the city as well, would he gain any benefits forging the statue? He had obtained the benefits from forging Heavendoom City's stone statue. But he had yet to obtain anything from this city.
"Forget it. I need to keep a low profile."
Su Yu reminded himself once again to maintain a low profile. Multiple Invincibles might be looking for him right this moment. He couldn't show off too much. The city would always be here. He could always do it in the future. He returned his focus to his cultivation.
Strand after strand of heavenearth profound light was used. At the same time, a large amount of heavenly source qi was also being used. He had exhausted a large portion of his heavenly source qi during his time in Heavendoom City. After all, he had given some to the injured Sunmoon from the Shadow Guard. He had also used a large amount of heavenly source qi in the inner hall.
In fact, he only had about a hundred portions with him. But he still had a decent amount of blood essence. He could always extract more heavenly source qi from the blood essence if he wanted. He was in no rush. There was no need to worry about a lack of heavenly source qi in the Allheaven Battlefield.
At worst, he only needed to slaughter a random team of divines or devils for some heavenly source qi. If that wasn't an option, he could even look for a random mountainbreak bull encampment. After all, the mountainbreak bull blood essence had a high quality-price ratio in terms of conversion to heavenly source qi.
Su Yu was in no rush. Slowly, he immersed himself in cultivation. With his newly mastered vibration method and breathing technique, he spread tremors across his entire body and tempered it.
About a few hours after completing his twenty-third body forging, he completed his twenty-fourth body forging after exhausting three strands of heavenearth profound light. The exhaustion was massive. His cultivation expenditure far surpassed that of a regular cultivator.
But he was not surprised. This was only natural since his physical body was so strong. He would be very happy if the remaining sixteen strands were enough for him to complete even five body forgings.
*** Fresh chapters posted on novel-fire.ɴet
Time passed slowly.
Night arrived.
According to the Anping Calender of the human race, it was the 17th of July of the year 351. About two months had passed since Su Yu left Great Ming.
When he first left Great Ming, he had only completed eight body forgings. His willpower cultivation was still at the Skysoar Realm. After two months, he had completed twenty-six body forgings and was well on the way to complete the twenty-seventh body forging.
A rumble rang out.
Death qi started seeping into the building as night arrived.
The final strand of the heavenearth profound light was finally exhausted. He was unable to reach his target of twenty-eighth body forging. He only had enough to barely complete the twenty-seventh body forging. Further forging would be much more difficult since he no longer had any heavenearth profound light on him.
Toward the end of his cultivation session, he actually had to use around five strands of heavenearth profound light just to complete a single body forging. He couldn't help but shook his head. The exhaustion was too great.
Five strands. According to Heavenly Hunt Pavilion's price, that was equivalent to five drops of Sunmoon blood essence. In short, the life of a Sunmoon was only enough to pay for two of his body forgings. This was getting ridiculous.
He still had forty-five body forgings to complete. And it would only get more expensive. He would probably need about twenty or thirty Sunmoons dead to complete his forgings. Of course, that number referred to only first-stage Sunmoons. Then again, he had indeed caused the deaths of so many Sunmoons in the latest incident.
That was a fact, even if he wasn't the one who had killed all those Sunmoons with his own hands. That seemed rather inefficient.
Su Yu had a self-mocking laugh as this was something that would cause the extinction of Sunmoons among the myriad races if everyone started doing that as well.
After all, dozens of Sunmoons needed to die just for him to complete his body forging. Thus, not even the extinction of all Sunmoons in existence would be enough to fulfill the demand of all the young geniuses in existence.
"Sigh."
Sure, there was a cheaper alternative. He could take his time. He could use heavenly source qi. But he was impatient. He needed strength fast. But he had only completed twenty-seven forgings.
In truth, Su Yu's strength had reached a terrifying level. His physical strength had reached about 23,000 acupoints. He was reaching 23,400 acupoints in strength. Including the half-opened yang acupoint and his strength character, he could reach 30,000 acupoints in strength.
Strictly speaking, he was already similar in strength to some of the weaker third-stage Mountainseas. Even relying only on his physical strength, he was confident in putting up a fight against those Mountainseas. But for geniuses like Su Yu, those weak Mountainseas were never a goal worth pursuing.
Mo Duona was the greatest example of this. His physical strength had definitely surpassed a hundred thousand acupoints. And that was when he was only a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. But what about now?
Also, that was the lowest estimate. He had killed a seventh-stage Mountainsea before. Was that one of the weaker Mountainseas? Was there really such a coincidence? Would a weak seventh-stage Mountainsea pop out of nowhere just for him to kill? It was never wise to judge one's strength based on the lower end of the spectrum.
"The gap between a Mountainsea and a Mountainsea can be as wide as the heaven and earth. The gap between Sunmoons is even bigger."
Su Yu shook his head. Ming He was a good example. She was a seventh-stage Sunmoon. Even after receiving grievous injuries from the detonations of two peak Sunmoon characters, Su Yu was only able to sever one of her arms after unleashing the strength of a sixth-stage Mountainsea.
With her serious injuries, she had probably been weakened by about ninety percent. Yet Su Yu had failed to kill her with all his strength. Just how strong was Ming He? Basically, that was a terrifying opponent.
In the past, Su Yu would think that a physical strength of about thirty thousand acupoints was very impressive. But that was no longer the case.
Without Sunmoon characters, he would no longer be Mo Duona's match even with the activation of sixth-stage Mountainsea blood essence. There was no comparing the two of them. Or to be precise, he was basically weaker than every single individual on the Heaven Index. Including Dao Cheng.
Dao Cheng was already strong enough to kill a fifth-stage Mountainsea when he was a Cloudbreach. With his advancement into the third-stage Mountainsea Realm, he would have grown a lot stronger even if his rapid advancement had weakened his foundation.
Of course, Su Yu was still unaware of Dao Cheng's latest status. After all, he did not have a copy index on him. The index copies issued by the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion were very convenient to use, but these copies were also quite annoying as they would act as constant trackers.
Su Yu did not stop after absorbing all the heavenearth profound light. He continued absorbing the heavenly source qi, willpower, and character intent he had accumulated. He was also taking this chance to repair his sea of willpower. It had been damaged heavily from the impact of destroying two Sunmoon characters.
Fortunately, it was sturdy enough after numerous temperings by the Soul Expanding Hammer. Coupled with the golden book acting as insurance, it was able to avoid destruction. After an entire night, Su Yu was finally done digesting all his gains.
He had also stepped into the second-stage Cloudbreach Realm. He could no longer further suppress his willpower cultivation. He didn't even want to break through. He had been busy tempering his sea of willpower when it stubbornly broke through to the second stage. Then again, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Willpower was still very useful. Disguise, anti-surveillance, and character activation required a powerful willpower as the base. Without powerful willpower, he wouldn't even be able to do something as simple as crushing a character.
In fact, with sufficiently strong willpower, he could have killed Ming He with the two peak Sunmoon characters instead of only dealing her some injuries. With the advancement of his willpower, his characters had also grown.
At the moment, he had a total of twenty-five characters.
Blood, lightning, break, battle, kill, deceit, wind, change, beast, death, tribulation, calm, meld, strength, fight, slow, saber, suppress, vibrate, fire of inheritance, and the five elemental characters.
Apart from the few who were still stuck at the second and third tiers, a majority of them had reached the fourth tier. His willpower and sea of willpower were very near the level of a regular Mountainsea.
Most of his frequently used characters had reached the fourth tier. Some of them had even surpassed some of the older characters. These included the calm character from Great Zhou King, the naturally formed tribulation character, and the eternally silent deceit character. All twenty-five of them were human characters.
Jin Sheng of Great Ming once speculated that the more human characters one gathered, the stronger they would all be. Su Yu could finally experience that with his own characters. He could feel that each of his characters was already comparable to divine and devil characters. Or to be precise, he even felt like his characters had surpassed those characters.
"My character technique is still lacking, though. I still need seventy-four characters. Those 25-character techniques are not as powerful as I imagined..."
Su Yu wondered if this was the weakness of human characters. They wouldn't be powerful enough without sufficient numbers. Would they be stronger if they were actually paired with the characters of other races?
But that would only remain a thought. It wasn't like he could actually form the characters of other races. After this cultivation session, Su Yu had grown much stronger than before.
Chapter 976: Growth (2)
Su Yu moved his attention to his other gains. While he was on the road, he had consumed some blood essence and activated some new pages in the golden book. He was able to verify some of his previous guesses. The golden book was truly an interesting item.
He stopped at the page of the immortal race. It had changed slightly. To be precise, it had been further perfected. He had always felt that the page was rather incomplete previously. But that feeling had vanished completely.
Immortal (Seventh-stage Cloudbreach Realm)
Racial ability: Immortal Possession, Life Trigger (activation with blood essence, applicable below as well)
Foundation source art: Immortal Source Art
Foundation cultural art: Heavenly Immortal Aperture Net Art
Foundation body forging art: Heavenly Immortal Thirty-Six Forge
Foundation nine transformation art: Ancient Immortal Nine Transformations
This was the result of consuming Jiu Xuan's blood essence. It was much better than before. Even the foundation cultural art had appeared, alongside the foundation nine transformation art.
All of those were not present previously.
Sure enough, his previous guess that the blood essence of cultural researchers would activate different things than the blood essence of warriors was correct. The most obvious difference was the addition of the foundation cultural art.
Warriors were different from cultural researchers. A complete page could only be obtained by combining the blood essence of both. And Jiu Xuan was an immortal cultural researcher. She had granted him the Heavenly Immortal Aperture Net Art.
Su Yu held high expectations to this art. He wanted to see if the apertures of this art would overlap with his opened apertures. From the five elemental race, he had obtained 180 apertures. There was no overlap between each of the five sub-races. What about the apertures of the immortals?
He consumed another drop of blood essence. It was still Jiu Xuan's blood essence. Jiu Xuan's blood essence was the sole blood essence of the experts he had killed in the ancient city he was still carrying on him. This was the reason for that.
Before long, the golden book absorbed the power of the blood essence. A short while later, an aperture diagram appeared in his sea of willpower. There were 108 apertures in total.
This art was much stronger than even the mainstream cultural art of humanity. The mainstream human cultural art only provided up to 72 apertures while the immortals were able to open up to 108 apertures.
When Su Yu checked the art, he was overjoyed. There were some overlaps. After some observation, he noted that there were 32 apertures that did not overlap with his apertures.
As for the cultural art of humanity, all of them overlapped with the cultural art of the five elemental race. Su Yu did not think too much about it, but there was a possibility that the five elemental races might have had a close relationship with the human race during the ancient past.
Regardless, the discovery of 32 new apertures verified one of his previous conjectures. There were most likely 360 apertures in total as well. He had only opened half of them, so they were naturally unable to form their natural circulation route. As a result, he was unable to discover the yin aperture and the complete source soul acupoint.
"Indeed. I was right."
The look in Su Yu's eyes changed. In that case, he should probably start focusing on divines, devils, and the cultural researchers of other races. Through their foundation cultural arts, he would discover all the unknown apertures.
After opening all of them, they would rearrange their circulation route automatically and present him with a brand-new cultural art.
"Cultural researcher..."
Cultural researchers were way too rare in the Allheaven Battlefield.
Su Yu sighed with regret. He had been in the Allheaven Battlefield for quite a while, and he had encountered a decent number of young geniuses from various races. But very few of them were cultural researchers. In fact, he only recalled meeting two cultural researchers thus far. Both of them were immortals.
Most of the other geniuses were warriors, with only a small number of them being cultural researchers. But these cultural researchers were rather weak in comparison. He had also consumed the blood essence of one of these weaker cultural researchers. But the cultural art he obtained was extremely weak, and all the apertures overlapped with his opened apertures.
"No, I need to remember that there are several races specializing in willpower. Among the ones I know, the fire crow race, the white civet race, and the shadow race are races with a large number of cultural researchers."
Su Yu started searching his brain for what he knew. He did kill a shadow before, but that fellow was a warrior instead of a cultural researcher.
A majority of the cultivators in this race were cultural researchers. The one he killed previously was probably a weak shadow with no status even among the shadow race. What a pity. He should have extracted a drop of blood essence from the shadow he left in Great Ming back then.
"Well, I'm not in a rush. I can try hunting the random cultural researchers of the other races when I'm only a few apertures away from completion."
All this while, Su Yu had felt that physical cultivation provided more power than willpower cultivation. But he now realized that he was most likely biased because he had opened fewer apertures than acupoints. His physical cultivation was only so powerful due to the 360 acupoints he opened.
He believed that if he relied only on his willpower and characters, he would only be able to put up a fight against eighth or ninth-stage Cloudbreaches. If he included his Soul Expanding Art, he could probably put up some fight against weak Mountainseas. But he wouldn't be able to punch too far above his level. Meanwhile, his physical cultivation allowed him to punch far higher than that.
"For now, my willpower cultivation has been relegated to the support role. My physical cultivation is my main source of power."
He had relied heavily on his physical strength during his recent battles. Then again, his willpower cultivation had also been exceptionally helpful. The various abilities of his characters were all effective trump cards, turning him into an extremely tricky opponent for many.
With all that taken into consideration, Su Yu concluded that his willpower cultivation was comparable to someone between the ninth-stage Cloudbreach and first-stage Mountainsea Realms.
As for his physical cultivation, it was comparable to someone between the second and third-stage Mountainsea Realm. All in all, he wouldn't have much trouble fighting third-stage Mountainseas. He would start struggling against fourth-stage Mountainseas.
Of course, that conclusion did not take blood essence consumption into consideration. And only the weaker Cloudbreaches and Mountainseas were used as the units of measurement. After all, the same calculation would not apply to the likes of Mo Duona, Dao Cheng, or the other geniuses.
At the moment, his body was already strong enough to withstand the blood essence consumption of a sixth-stage Mountainsea. It would slightly harm his body, but it would allow him to push his combat strength to the level of a sixth-stage Mountainsea from a middle-tier race.
In such a scenario, he would probably be able to somewhat put up a fight against a seventh-stage Mountainsea, but it was unlikely that he would emerge victorious.
"Without the characters of the fifth principal, killing Sunmoons is basically a dream for me. My true strength only allows me to fight against those at the sixth-stage Mountainsea and below." The rıghtful source is noⅴelfire.net
As for seventh-stage Mountainseas, fleeing would be the correct course of action. His combat strength had increased significantly after digesting all his recent gains. Compared to his strength when he first left Great Ming, he had grown massively.
He was now truly someone capable of contending against Mountainseas. In the past, he would need to rely on all sorts of tricks and sneak attacks to deal with Mountainseas. That was no longer the case. He inhaled deeply and smiled.
Not bad.
No, this was actually pretty good.
He was doing quite well. Furthermore, he still had ten drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid in his sea of willpower. This was also an invaluable resource. But it could only be used by Sunmoons. It was something capable of strengthening apertures.
Generally, those below the Sunmoon Realm would avoid using this resource because of the fear that their apertures would grow too strong for them to control. That would make it extremely difficult for them to fuse their apertures to progress their cultivation level. Su Yu was worried about this as well. He would only consider using it below the Sunmoon Realm during emergencies. The price of that was an increased difficulty of his future growth.
"I still have around a hundred portions of heavenly source qi and over three hundred thousand merit points..."
That was pretty much all Su Yu had on him at the moment. All his other items had been buried somewhere else. Oh, he also had some Mountainsea blood essence on him. The cloud tiger race was the majority contributor of his Mountainsea blood essence.
Great Xia had nearly eliminated the entire cloud tiger race. Ultimately, the cloud tiger race had submitted to the flying sky tiger race to avoid complete destruction. Eventually, Su Yu received a large amount of cloud tiger blood essence during his transaction with Great Xia.
Most of the blood essence he received had been converted to heavenly source qi, but the Mountainsea had been preserved. He still had about a hundred drops of them, varying between the first to the ninth stages.
"The blood essence in the first three stages won't be too useful. I guess I should convert it to heavenly source qi later. Only the blood essence above the third-stage is useful. I can keep it around as emergency sources of power..."
He had reached a point where he was starting to look down on early Mountainsea blood essence.
Estimating the value of one's gains, digest all the gains, and grow one's strength. Every single young genius operating in the Allheaven Battlefield was well-versed in these actions. Every battle was for the sake of being stronger during the next battle. A battle that would not help in one's growth was a waste of time.
If it wasn't for the sake of replenishing his heavenly source qi supply, Su Yu would have started ignoring those below the Mountainsea Realm by now. Exceptions would only be given to unique individuals whose blood essence might prove helpful.
This was also why Mo Duona couldn't even be bothered to go after Su Yu. He judged that killing Su Yu wouldn't grant him any benefits. Similarly, Su Yu would not be bothered to waste his time killing a weak divine or devil if doing so wouldn't bring him any benefits.
Unfortunately for them, even the weaker cultivators could still benefit him with their blood essence. Thus, he wouldn't hold back when there was an opportunity to kill. Done with dealing with all his recent gains, Su Yu sent a tremor across his body to remove the stench of blood stuck on him.
Yes. He had gained a way of ridding his body of the bloody stench. In the past, he needed to enter Great Jin to cleanse the stench with the spring there. But that was no longer the case.
He started reversing the flow of his acupoints. Death qi started flooding his body. In the blink of an eye, all his source qi transformed into death qi, cleanly removing the final bits of the bloody stench clinging to him.
Su Yu had discovered that this was an excellent way to protect himself from some tracking methods. Death qi was the most evil of power in existence. The dead would not be tainted by the bloody stench when they killed.
And thus, Su Yu found a brand new usage of death qi: purification. Yes, it sounded impossible. But that was indeed how he was using it. Death qi did not go along well with other types of power. It would repel all powers it encounter. Thus, it was the perfect tool to remove all tracking abilities that might have been placed on one's body.
However, Su Yu did not convert his entire body from the living to the dead. His heart was left untouched. As long as it remained beating, he would remain a living being. He was afraid that a full conversion would truly turn him into one of the dead.
After purifying his entire body, he started hesitating. His heart should be clear of any tracking shenanigans, right? He saw no reason for anyone to actually plant anything into his heart. Someone capable of planting something in his heart could have killed him easily. Why would an enemy bother to track him if one could kill him instead? Thus, he decided to leave his heart untouched by the death qi.
Unknown to him, when the death qi was inches away from his heart as he contemplated the matter, the miniature person hiding in there wiped his forehead as though he was sweating due to nervousness.
But soon, the miniature person returned to slumber. He would only wake up when he sensed danger. Just moments ago, he did sense something dangerous. But it had passed without anything happening.