Chapter 1085: Great Qin King (1)
Su Yu was terrified. He didn't know what he could do about the sudden growth of his death qi.
Ultimately, he gritted his teeth and decided he needed to grow stronger. Yes, that might result in further growth of his death qi, but he believed that he would be fine as long as he grew faster than the death qi could grow.
On the eighth day, he completed his fifty-second forging. He had also improved in other aspects. For example, his willpower cultivation had dropped to the seventh-stage Cloudbreach Realm from the eighth stage. Yes. This was considered an improvement as his willpower had increased in purity and stability.
He had been tempering his willpower a lot with his hammer recently. Thinking about it, he noticed that he had reached Zhao Li's previous level or maybe even higher. Zhao Li had spent nearly a hundred years to reach that level while Su Yu had spent only a year.
He had also formed a new character from all the reading he had done recently, the seal character. This character came from a founding king as well, an Invincible from one of the eight leading families of the Knowledge Seeking Realm. This founding king was known as Heavenly Seal King.
He was famed for his sealing abilities. Through the willpower text of this Invincible, he had formed the new character. This new character was also a supportive character. It was said that this character could seal the heavens above and the earth below. It sounded incredibly impressive. However, it was only a second-tier character for now so through his tests, it was rather ordinary in strength.
But it would probably be a lot more helpful at higher tiers. This was Su Yu's twenty-sixth character. What a pity that he had crushed the beast character not long ago or he would have a total of twenty-seven characters by this point.
He had also confirmed the theory he heard from Teacher Jin back when he was in Great Ming. Human characters would increase in strength the higher the number. Forming a new human character would also increase the strength of his existing human characters.
Previously, he could stun a first or second-stage Mountainsea with a single hammer strike when he was an eighth-stage Cloudbreach. Now that he had dropped to the seventh stage, he could stun a third-stage Mountainsea with a single hammer strike.
His strength was increasing even when his cultivation was dropping. But strictly speaking, it wasn't that his cultivation had dropped. Rather, he had merely solidified it. This was a power he gained through compressing his willpower.
He was compressing his willpower to purify it, remain low profile, and increase the heavenly rewards he could receive through killing. There was no reason to refuse better rewards, right?
Even if he were to lose all his physical cultivation right now, he would still be a super genius with his willpower cultivation alone. After all, he was a seventh-stage Cloudbreach capable of hammering third-stage Mountainseas to death. He could punch an entire realm above him.
Previously, Qin Fang had entered the Heaven Index by killing a third-stage Mountainsea as a sixth-stage Cloudbreach. Meanwhile, with what Su Yu could do and his younger age, he would have no trouble entering the index even without relying on his physical cultivation.
Of course, he no longer cared that much about the index. For him, characters were very good at support, but nothing could be more reliable than his physical strength. Just look at how much stronger he would grow with each body forging.
***
Not only had Su Yu grown stronger, he had even earned a lot of money.
Over the past few days, he had been selling heavenly source qi nonstop through the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. But at this point, he was stopping as he was worried that he would invite the jealousy of the late-stage Sunmoons. It would be annoying if they decided to rob him instead.
After all, the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had left an impression on the people in the city that they had a massive supply of heavenly source qi.
Su Yu decided that it was time for him to hide away and wait for these people to start dying. He wouldn't give them any chance to rob him in desperation.
It was already the eighth day. For more chapters visıt novel-fire.net
In truth, the people inside the city were finally starting to panic. The minor race experts, in particular, were in terrible condition. Not only had they spent all their wealth buying heavenly source qi from Su Yu, they had also exhausted the heavenly source qi they bought while trapped in the city. They now had nothing.
This had lasted eight days. Some of them were going mad. Wasn't Su Yu supposed to die in three days? Why was he still alive? In their desperation, some people started considering conversion into residents. This was their only option if they wanted to keep living.
They wouldn't be able to last three more days. Thus, they had to start their conversion immediately or bet that Su Yu would die before then.
***
In front the mayor's residence.
With Red Soil's departure, seven late-stage Sunmoons were left. In fact, out of the thirty Sunmoons in the city, a decent number of them had left after Su Yu's previous warning. For some people, he was still an extremely dangerous individual.
Ultimately, only the seven late-stage Sunmoons, six middle-stage Sunmoons, and four early-stage Sunmoons were left in the city. Around half of the Sunmoons had left after the warning.
The remaining Sunmoons had prepared a decent amount of heavenly source qi before entering the city. They had also bought some heavenly source qi from Su Yu during the past few days. Thus, they could still survive for some time in the city. Even so, they were starting to grow agitated.
The late-stage Sunmoon from the silkwyrm race was one of the experts who was starting to feel uneasy. He asked, "Lord Zimo, how much longer can Su Yu last?"
The strongest expert present was the ninth-stage Sunmoon devil called Zimo.
His name was not on the Dao Affirmation Ranking, but he was still undeniably powerful. He came from the blood fire devil race. It was impressive just how many Sunmoons this race could produce.
Zimo stayed silent for a long time as his long hair fluttered about. Suddenly, he said, "Get ready and find a chance to leave. If the gates remain sealed for three or five more days, prepare to run."
"..."
All the surrounding Sunmoons were stunned. What?
A blood fire devil...running?
Zimo did not explain himself. It was smarter to run when they still had the strength to do so. If Su Yu could last three or five more days, they should run. He swore to not join something like this ever again.
It was too boring. There wasn't even a fight to be had. Instead, he had to watch the gate like a fool. His target was still nowhere to be seen yet death was already approaching them. What else were they supposed to do except run?
Who knew just how long Su Yu could last? The blood fire devil race had lost a decent number of experts because of Su Yu.
Originally, he had believed that Su Yu would show up. But he was clearly wrong. Su Yu was not going to even show himself. He only needed to lock the gates and all of them would die.
Yes, as a ninth-stage Sunmoon, he was very strong. He also had a decent amount of heavenly source qi on him. But it was pointless to keep this going. If he wanted, he could last two more weeks or even one more month. But at that point, he would be in such a poor shape that fleeing would no longer be possible. Thus, it was far better to run when he was still in a good condition.
The others said nothing. They knew that they had underestimated Su Yu. If they failed to kill Su Yu this time, nobody would dare to try this anymore. Just look at how he had quietly kept the city sealed for eight days.
If he could trap them all to death this time, the major races would start weighing their options and consider the feasibility of further targeting Su Yu. Would the price be worth it? He was already dying. Was it worth losing so many late-stage Sunmoons for someone who was going to die soon? If this failed, no other late-stage Sunmoon would want to do this anymore.
Nobody wanted to die. It wasn't easy for them to reach such a high cultivation level. Their strength did not seem to matter here as Su Yu could make them suffer without even showing his face.
The immortal expert spoke softly, "Let's wait for one more week. That will mark the end of our second week here. If Su Yu is still alive then, we can start fleeing. As long as Invincibles stay outside, things will be fine. We only need them to blast the gate open for us and we'll flee before the city can react."
"We only need one Invincible for this."
"That will probably spawn a death sovereign. Zimo, we'll need you to slow that death sovereign down for a bit so that we can all escape..."
"..."
The blood fire devil merely stared at the person who had spoken silently. Did this guy think that all blood fire devils were brainless? As a ninth-stage Sunmoon who had yet to fuse with any tri-life body, he was supposed to block an Invincible?
Yes, blood fire devils loved fighting. But they loved even fights or fights they could win even more. They did not love being beaten to death. This guy must be joking.
After a long while, Zimo said, "During the escape, the immortal should be the last to leave."
The immortal expert blanked out. Zimo continued, "What the fuck are you looking at? Yes. You heard right. You will be the last to leave. If you disagree, we will join hands and kill you."
"..."
Silence descended.
Nobody said anything.
The divines and devils were open enemies of the humans. The silkwyrms had a grudge against the humans as well. Meanwhile, the nethers and immortals did not really get along that well. As for the other two late-stage Sunmoons, one was a heavenly spirit ape while the other was a dragon. Neither of them had a friendship with the immortals.
In fact, the immortals were officially allied to the humans. That remained true even if the immortals had been very enthusiastic in acting against the humans as of late.
Zimo was a ninth-stage Sunmoon. He was the strongest expert present. The nether and divine Sunmoons were at the eighth stage while the immortal Sunmoon was only at the seventh stage. Naturally, his words held the least weight here.
The immortal's expression changed slightly. Soon, he laughed and said, "Lord Zimo, you must be jesting. I'm too weak to deal with a death sovereign..."
Zimo coldly said, "Cut the crap. The immortals have strong life force. You have a high resistance against death qi. Everyone knows this. If you leave last during the escape, all of us have a chance of surviving. If not, we might as well accept death."
The immortal hurriedly said, "Lord Zimo, we're here for Su Yu. We shouldn't bicker among ourselves."
"Immortal, do you take all of us for fools?" Zimo coldly said, "Cut the bullshit. How dare you try to set me up? Who do you think you are? Sure, you can choose to create trouble and refuse my demand. Feel free to try it. I dare you."
He looked at the others and said, "Everyone, remember this. When fleeing, all of us will probably die if nobody stays behind to slow down the death sovereign. If we're all going to die, I'll die last. Silkwyrm and heavenly spirit ape, your races are weaker than the divine, devil, and immortal races. If he refuses to leave last, you guys will have to take on the task instead. This isn't that complicated. Think carefully. Do you want to take the risk or do you want him to take the risk?"
Nobody said anything.
Chapter 1086: Great Qin King (2)
The silkwyrm was alarmed. His race was the weakest here. If the immortal refused to leave last, the task would definitely fall on him. In that case, the choice was obvious. Of course it was better for the immortal to do it.
Zimo snorted coldly and stopped talking. Naturally, the best result would be Su Yu's death. But if that didn't happen, they would have no choice but to leave. If they waited one more week, they would still have enough strength to attempt an escape. If they waited longer, even escape would be hard.
The expert from the divine was an icy woman from the snowfrost divine race. She glanced at the immortal with a sneer on her face. The immortals were strong. But they were also incredibly treacherous.
Back when the humans were weak, they sided with the humans. But they did not do that to help the humans. Rather, they were only trying to prevent the divines and devils from reaping all the benefits from the destruction of humanity.
Now that the humans were starting to grow strong and a genius from the multiple character faction had appeared, the immortals had rapidly changed their attitude. In fact, they were even more enthusiastic about killing Su Yu than the divines and devils, the so-called open enemies of humanity.
Both the divines and devils looked down on their lack of principles. However, the strength of the immortals was undeniable.
Strictly speaking, they might even be stronger than the divines and devils. Why? Because they had a lot of undying old geezers who were still alive. The divines and devils were aware of the rich life force the immortals enjoyed. It was likely that a lot of their ancient experts were still around.
Perhaps these experts had yet to achieve dao affirmation, but a lot of them were definitely Pseudo Invincibles who had fused with their tri-life bodies. This was an advantage brought upon by age. Both the divines and devils disliked the immortals.
The nether Sunmoon finally spoke, "Let's not talk about that for now. Su Yu might not even survive that long. Back then, when the mayor of Battledome City sealed the city, the mayor died after twelve days even as a ninth-stage Sunmoon. At the time, his backlash wasn't even that bad. Su Yu was far weaker with far higher backlash. I doubt he can last that long."
"I really hope you're right."
The silkwyrm sighed with regret. If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have joined. The silkwyrm race wasn't even that strong. They only had a strong Invincible, the Silkwyrm King. Having learned that Su Yu cultivated the Time technique of Silk Destroying King, their king had ordered this silkwyrm Sunmoon to come and kill Su Yu.
The silkwyrm race didn't have that many seventh-stage Sunmoons to offer. In fact, the silkwyrm race as a whole was only as strong as a single human prefecture. But their legacy was far older than the current human race's legacy. Thus, they were comparable to a stronger human prefecture.
They had about twenty late-stage Sunmoons in total. Thus, if he ended up dying here, the entire silkwyrm race would feel the pain. Back in the Silkwyrm Realm, he himself was also someone with the seniority of an ancestor.
If he died before even seeing the face of the person he was supposed to kill, his death would create shockwaves back home. The target was only a Cloudbreach. How embarrassing would that be? He was really regretting this.
In truth, he wanted to leave when Su Yu issued the warning previously. But he didn't want to invite the displeasure of the Silkwyrm King. When he saw that so many powerful Sunmoons were staying, he decided to stay as well, thinking that it would be fine.
But that was not the case at all. He had lost a majority of his savings buying heavenly source qi from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. And now, he had to think of a way to escape without having achieved anything during this trip. Why was he even here? He really regretted not leaving with the earth elementals earlier.
***
While the Sunmoons were wallowing with regret.
Outside the city.
Red Soil was feeling extremely lucky. It had been eight days yet the city was still sealed. He looked at Topsoil Spirit and said, "Your instincts are right. You really can't judge Su Yu with common sense. If this continues for a few more days, an Invincible might be forced to come and blast the gate open. The people inside will have to attempt an escape." ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel⟡fire.net
Topsoil Spirit said nothing. He didn't even feel any pride from being praised. What was there to be proud about? It wasn't like he was the one doing something so impressive.
After a long silence, he sighed, "Elder, let's go. The show is over. I don't know how many people will die this time. But I'm sure nobody will dare to try this anymore. Su Yu is doing this to teach them fear."
Su Yu most certainly wouldn't enjoy being targeted all the time. With this lesson, the others would not dare to provoke him anymore. Sending weaklings they could afford to lose would be the same as delivering free lives to Su Yu.
Sending those strong enough would be too risky as Su Yu could simply seal the city or spawn more death spirits to deal with them. Nobody could withstand such massive losses repeatedly.
It was not worth risking the lives of Sunmoons for someone who was already dying anyway. Thus, this would most certainly be enough to stop the myriad races from further attempts on his life. As long as he was still alive, he would be the tyrant of his city.
It did not matter if he was going to die soon. His cultivation level did not matter either. His status would be elevated to the same level as Tian He and the other mayors. Or to be precise, he would be an even more dangerous mayor than the rest of them.
Topsoil Spirit was confident Su Yu wouldn't do something that would guarantee him death. Since Su Yu had decided to seal the city, he naturally had a way of surviving it. It was also unlikely that he would compromise again. That would only make him look weak.
He must have prepared to kill when he decided to seal the city again. And he definitely had a way of doing so or he wouldn't have bothered.
"Let's go."
The show was over. Su Yu would be able to last for at least seven more days or longer. As for the coming show involving Invincibles, Topsoil Spirit had zero interest in that. A show he might die watching was not a show he wanted to watch.
Now, Red Soil was fully confident in Topsoil Spirit's judgment. Thus, he left without any hesitation. How fortunate. How fortunate that he had trusted Topsoil Spirit. He would be one of the Sunmoons suffering in the city otherwise.
***
At the same time.
Numerous experts were collapsing mentally. The Invincibles of the divine and devil races were also on the verge of losing their mind. It was already the eighth day. Why was Su Yu not dead yet? Wasn't he a Cloudbreach?
After refining the mayor's medallion and sealing the city for eight consecutive days, how was he still alive? How did he survive the backlash? What was happening? There were seven late-stage Sunmoons in the city. Additionally, there were some other Sunmoons of different levels in the city as well. Were they going to lose multiple Sunmoons yet again?
If this continued, they would have no choice but to open the gate by force. Naturally, some of them also considered suing for peace. But this was too embarrassing so nobody suggested it.
Again and again, they had targeted Su Yu. Again and again, they were forced to negotiate. The myriad races were watching as they turned themselves into clowns. Were they supposed to forget about their dignity as major races?
In truth, even if they wanted to negotiate, Su Yu wouldn't waste his time. He no longer lacked money. That would remain true for the foreseeable future.
He had plenty of treasures. Why should he release them? If he gave them the impression that he would spare them as long as they paid him a little bit of money, they would only continue challenging him.
He did not care how many people he could kill this time. He needed to teach them that the mere act of challenging him in an ancient city was fatal. They should learn to stay far away from him.
***
Meanwhile, Su Yu was busy thinking about an entirely different matter.
Would any of the Sunmoons convert into residents? It would be nice if he could get a few Sunmoons to share the burden. He could even try making them his underlings. Of course, he would still not hand out the city gate medallions easily. At this point, he had realized that the commander in charge of the gates could only be a trusted underling of the mayor.
After all, someone with that medallion could easily sabotage the mayor with their authority over the gates. In that case, Tian Men of Heavendoom City was most likely a trusted subordinate of Mayor Tian He. No wonder he had the authority to lead Su Yu to the inner hall.
Su Yu continued forging his body in a leisurely manner.
***
The ninth day passed just like that.
By the tenth day, the people in the city started panicking.
It was the tenth day! The gates were showing no signs of opening. The late-stage Sunmoons were still doing relatively fine, but the early Sunmoons were starting to suffer from death qi erosion. They were terrified, not knowing if they should keep waiting or convert into residents.
Chapter 1087: Great Qin King (3)
Outside. Thıs text ıs hosted at novel{f}ire.net
Eastrift Valley.
The human Invincibles were still gathered there. Things had been very tense as of late so most of the Invincibles were forced to keep watch over there. Once again, they talked about Su Yu.
Silk Destroying King, who had just arrived from the Human Realm, exclaimed with admiration, "How incredible. It's the tenth day. That kid is still alive. I'm very impressed. Looks like the major races are going to start crying again. How many Sunmoons have they lost so far?"
The number of losses was already approaching what they would lose in battles over a period of decades. Of course, this only referred to the official numbers. Those who were killed in assassinations were not counted.
Great Ming King smiled, "Su Yu alone has probably caused as many Sunmoons to die as any of us. Don't forget about the Sunmoons he schemed to death back in the Human Realm as well. He is starting to catch up with us Eternals in terms of kill count alone."
Not far away, someone indifferently said, "Killing Sunmoons does not mean anything. An Invincible's worth does not lie in the number of Sunmoons killed. Instead, an Invincible's greatest function is a deterrent. If we really want to, we can kill as many Sunmoons as we want."
Great Ming King grinned, "Is that so? How about ten Xia Longwu and ten Ye Batian? Will you kill them or will they kill you?"
"..."
This guy was being ridiculous. The Invincible decided to ignore Great Ming King. That fellow was being argumentative. He was talking about regular Sunmoons, not those two. If that fellow wanted to talk about them, he might as well talk about those on the Dao Affirmation Ranking as well.
Soon, Great Ming King's smile faded as he said, "Everyone, are we going to keep watching? The myriad races have been trying to kill him repeatedly. Meanwhile, humanity has been ignoring that repeatedly. Is this proper? The first time it happened, we used the excuse that we weren't able to arrive in time. The second time it happened, we claimed that we couldn't help. What excuse are we going to use next?"
He sighed, "Has the human race...fallen this low?"
That sigh of his caused the hearts of some Invincibles to tremble. Yes. Su Yu was still not dead. He was still alive, but humanity was ignoring his fate. The myriad races were watching.
Again and again, they targeted Su Yu. Apart from Great Xia King and Great Ming King, nobody had helped. Humanity could only watch helplessly. What of their reputation? Did they still have any prestige left?
Silence descended.
After a short while, Great Ming King laughed again, "So be it. Let's see what will happen next. Let's see how long Su Yu can last before dying. No matter how many Sunmoons he kills, it will have nothing to do with us. After all, he can no longer be considered a human anymore, right? Yeap. We need to stop viewing him as a human. Let's expel him officially. From now on, he won't be a human. We can continue doing this in the future. The moment one of our geniuses attracts the attention of the myriad races, we can expel them as well. Maybe we should expel people like Xia Longwu and the others as well. Kick them all out and embrace peace."
"Great Ming King, it's not that we don't want to help. But—"
"But we don't have the ability to help?" Great Ming King laughed, "Yes, I understand. Don't worry. It's not worth losing our experts for a mere Su Yu. He's as good as dead. We need to keep this tradition. If any of us encounters danger, nobody should try to help. You're going to die anyway so you might as well die without causing us further losses, right? Right, if anyone attempts to affirm their dao in the future, they can probably pray they get lucky. We should not help. If they're going to die, they die. It's not worth risking Invincibles for someone fated to die. Why bother?"
Great Ming King grinned, "From now on, let's expel any human in trouble. They are going to die anyway. We can't risk anything saving them since that might cause more deaths. It's not worth it. When a human army loses a battle, just let them be. They will die anyway. Just let them die. Don't risk higher casualties to help them. If the Human Realm is under invasion, let it be. We can't fight. That might cause further casualties. It's not worth it.
"Am I getting this right? As long as we think it's not worth it, we can ignore it. This is correct, right? Is anyone going to tell me I'm wrong?"
Someone said with an overcast tone, "Great Ming King, that's different..."
Great Ming King asked, "Oh? Tell me. How is it different? I only want to ask one thing. Is Su Yu a human? Is he a genius of the human race? Is he dead? After causing the deaths of so many enemy Sunmoons, is he not a hero? Has he been targeted by the myriad race experts for a while now? If you want to say that he has provoked the Invincibles of the divines and devils, answer this. If Mo Duona were to kill dozens of human Sunmoons and you decided to take revenge on him, would the devils say that Mo Duona deserves death? Would they let him be because he provoked the human Invincibles with his actions?"
"Heh." With a sneer, Great Ming King stood up and said, "I'm going back to visit my son. Things have been quite peaceful here anyway. It will be fine. Everyone is focused on Su Yu. Just call me when something happens. But I'll need to think about helping. Maybe I won't help if it's not worth it, you know?"
"..."
Silence descended.
Great Qin King remained expressionless, allowing Great Ming King to leave. He said nothing.
After Great Ming King left, Great Qin King said, "Great Zhou King, Great Xia King, Silk Destroying King, and Great Han King. Invade the Silkwyrm Realm and exterminate them."
"Old Qin..."
Someone was shocked to hear that order. Great Qin King nonchalantly said, "We can only bully the weak and avoid the strong. We can't do anything to the divines and devils, but are we also helpless against the weaker races? Go. Wang Hu, you have been wanting your revenge. You can finally fulfill your wish. Silk Destroying King shall take point. The others will follow his lead and exterminate the silkwyrms."
Silk Destroying King was overjoyed, "What a surprise, Old Qin! Hahaha! I've been wanting to do this for a very long time! Hahaha! Come, let me show the way. I know the way to the Silkwyrm Realm very well. I can't handle the Silkwyrm King alone in his realm, but things are different this time!"
Great Qin King said, "Go. Complete the task and return as soon as possible. Watch out for any interference from the divines and devils. Since everyone is paying attention to the ancient city, try to wait for an opening. Wait until an Invincible appears at the ancient city and causes another chaos. That will be the best timing for you to invade and exterminate the silkwyrms."
"Yes!"
The powerful Invincibles accepted their order, as though they were soldiers. Here, Great Qin King was the chief commander. They had to respect that.
Some Invincibles had more to say, but Great Qin King merely glanced at them and said, "It has been decided. The human race might be weak, but we're not so weak that anyone can bully us. Heavenly Forge is keeping the mystic armor race trapped in their own realm. But the divine, devil, immortal, dragon, ape, and nether races are very strong. For now, we can't fall out with them. In that case, we will make the silkwyrm race our target. The myriad races need to know that the human race is not so weak that even minor races can step on us."
His voice turned frosty, "Great Ming King was right. If we keep stepping back, eventually, humanity will face destruction. The major races, ancient races, and top 100 races will look down on us more. They will believe that we are weak.
"I believe four of our more powerful Eternals are enough to exterminate the silkwyrms. Use the life of one Eternal to warn the myriad races. They must have forgotten that Eternals can die. We will remind them of that."
The four Invincibles stepped through space and vanished. The other Invincibles sank into silence. Gazing into the distance, Great Qin King's eyes had a look of melancholy. He was right. This was merely an act of fearing the strong and bullying the weak.
The divines, devils, immortals, dragons, nethers, and apes were too strong. Just the apes alone could muster more than ten Invincibles. They were ranked twelve among the myriad races.
Attacking such a race would simply trigger a massive war between the major races. Thus, they could only settle with the silkwyrm race. They had to uphold their dignity in front of the minor races, even if this little dignity of theirs was akin to a joke.
The divines, devils, and immortals were the main culprits. Yet this was as much as the humans could do. This was as much as they dared to do. Great Qin King found this entire thing laughable. Behind that was a strong sense of helplessness.
Helpless as he was, he still had to show a strong and confident front. He could not afford to show his weak side. He could not afford to show the sense of loss he was feeling.
He was helpless. This was all he could do. He could only show that the humans could still kill. They were totally helpless. He could do nothing else. He had to keep watch over the borders.
As for Su Yu, he could only apologize inwardly. He was too helpless to change anything. He couldn't do anything. The entire humanity was on his shoulders. Millions upon millions of lives were on his shoulders. He didn't know what to feel.
He had been keeping watch over this place for over four hundred years. He had never felt so helpless before. No, this was the second time he was feeling so helpless. The first time he experienced such helplessness was during Ye Batian's death. At that time, he was caught by complete surprise.
But this time, it wasn't surprising at all. Su Yu had been trapped in the city for quite some time. This entire thing had dragged on for over a month. Even Topsoil Spirit had been unsealed yet Su Yu was still there.
That was more than enough time for these human Invincibles to make a trip there. But Su Yu was still there. He was still trapped and surrounded by enemies. Even though Great Qin King could easily kill all those Sunmoons, he still couldn't do anything. He felt extremely helpless.
Shutting his eyes, he prayed that this was the last time he felt so helpless. He hoped that this would never happen again.
During Xia Longwu's dao affirmation...
His spear would taste blood once again.
Great Qin King told himself that they could no longer afford to step back. There was no longer any path behind them. If they took another step back, the little bit of fight humanity still had would evaporate away.
Behind him, some Invincibles remained taciturn, some remained sullen, some were feeling incredibly murderous, and some were completely indifferent.
When one of the Invincibles tried to move, Great Qin King's frosty voice rang out, "Do not move. Do not leave. Do not send any messages. Do not use the index copy. Nobody can leave before the Silkwyrn Realm is destroyed. Otherwise...I wouldn't mind staining our war banner with the blood of some human Invincibles."
If news of their operation leaked, the four Invincibles they sent might end up surrounded and killed. As of this moment, Great Qin King was fully revealing the little bit of distrust he had toward his fellow human Invincibles.
Silence.
Nobody said a single word.
An unprecedented silence descended.
The backbone of humanity.
The strongest human.
Great Qin King.
He had finally ripped the curtain of denial everyone was hiding behind apart.
He was making one thing clear. There was a traitor among humans. There was a traitor among the human Invincibles. The traitor could be one of them. Great Qin King made it clear that he wouldn't mind killing that person. If that person was exposed.
That was his stand. If he found out who the traitor was, he would not hesitate to kill. He was no longer ignoring it. He was no longer feigning ignorance. He was no longer trying to preserve the number of human Invincibles through compromise.
Chapter 1088: Stone Statue Leaves The City (1)
Ancient city.
Twelfth day of lockdown.
Some of the Sunmoons were finally reaching their limits.
This had continued for twelve days. Even the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had stopped selling heavenly source qi while Profound Nine had gone missing. Thɪs chapter is updated by novęlfire.net
In front the mayor's residence.
There were no death spirits around.
If it wasn't for the death qi, ancient cities could be really safe.
Numerous Sunmoons had arrived, including those from the minor races. One of them pleaded, "Lords, why don't we attempt the escape today?"
These late-stage Sunmoons were planning to leave only after the city was sealed for half a month.
But twelve days had passed. The weaker Sunmoons could no longer hold on for much longer. Sure, they could survive three more days of this, but if they failed to escape then, they wouldn't even have enough time to convert into residents anymore.
The late-stage Sunmoons looked at them. The divine Sunmoon thought about it and spoke, "It's not that we don't want to attempt an escape. Rather, the Invincibles have yet to decide on it. This is a big decision to make. Without the help of an Invincible, we won't succeed."
She could see that some of these Sunmoons really couldn't last much longer. But...they had yet to receive any confirmation from their Invincibles. Were they supposed to urge the Invincibles to be quick and save these minor race Sunmoons? Dream on. Not even late-stage Sunmoons were qualified to rush those Invincibles into a decision.
There were three more days before the end of the half a month period. This was what the Invincibles had told them. If Su Yu was still around then, the Invincibles would come and break the gates down for them. Were they supposed to tell the Invincibles to change the plan for some minor race Sunmoons?
The minor race Sunmoon begged, "Lord, do...you have extra heavenly source qi? Can we borrow some? If we really ended up dying here, we might cause the appearance of Sunmoon death spirits. That might make things worse."
They were greatly regretting this. They shouldn't have done this. They shouldn't have followed the major races. Were the previous lessons not enough? How could they be so forgetful?
Everyone was always wishful that they wouldn't be the next unlucky person, but alas, reality had decided to reject their wish. Of the twenty-two Sunmoons who had died in Heavendoom City, more than half of them were from the minor races.
Of the eleven Sunmoons who had died in Grandstar City so far, almost all of them were from the minor races. Of the thirty-three dead Sunmoons, at least eighty percent of them were from the minor races. Meawhile, the major races hadn't even lost that many Sunmoons.
They were deeply regretting this. They shouldn't have stayed just to fawn on these major races. At this point, the major races wouldn't change the plan for their sake.
Heavenly source qi...
They did have some heavenly source qi left, but what if they gave their heavenly source qi away only to fail during their escape attempt? With that in mind, the late-stage Sunmoons remained silent.
After thinking about it, the nether Sunmoon spoke, "I'll contact the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion for you and see if they have any stock left. You only need to last three more days. It's not that we're unwilling to leave now, but the Invincibles are not here yet. There is no guarantee that Su Yu can last three more days. Who knows? He might be dead before that."
But the minor race Sunmoons were no longer taking those words seriously. These people had been saying the same thing since twelve days ago. But Su Yu was still alive. If this continued, could they even survive?
They felt terrible.
Sigh.
Not a single fight had broken out. Not a single enemy had been killed. They would die simply to the passage of time. How regretful. They greatly regretted not leaving with the others. Why did they decide to stay?
What were they in the eyes of the major races? So what if they were Sunmoons? For minor races without any Invincibles, Sunmoons were everything. But for these major races, minor race Sunmoons were nothing. They lacked both strength and ability to threaten their enemies.
As far as the major races were concerned, these minor race Sunmoons only existed when their assistance was required. The rest of the time, they might as well not exist in the eyes of the major races.
They couldn't resist the major races. They lacked the ability to resist. What could they do to the seven late-stage Sunmoons? There was even a ninth-stage Sunmoon among the group. Even if they decided to kill each other and spawn Sunmoon death spirits, would that even be a threat to these major race Sunmoons?
In any case, they didn't want to die. They could still move around for now, but if they had to wait three more days, that might change. Should they convert into residents? They were unwilling. After converting, they would become the living dead.
A middle-stage Sunmoon yelled, "Mayor Su Yu, we are not involved in blockading the mayor's residence. We are innocent. Why must you involve us in this quarrel? Please open the gates and let us go."
A middle-stage Sunmoon was actually pleading for mercy from a Cloudbreach.
Twelve days ago, they were all viewing Su Yu with disdain. All their disdain had vanished.
Twelve days ago, they had decided to stay with zero fear.
They even laughed at Su Yu's warning.
Giving them a day to leave? What could Su Yu even do if they refused to leave?
And now, reality had taught them that Su Yu didn't even need to show his face to get them all killed. Major race Sunmoons? So what? They were still forced to wait for help from their races instead of doing something themselves. Meanwhile, they hadn't been able to harm even a strand of hair on Su Yu's body.
There wasn't even a guarantee that all seven of the late-stage Sunmoons would survive the escape.
A different expert shouted, "Mayor Su, we are willing to buy our freedom with heavenearth profound light."
The major race Sunmoons remained silent. They couldn't force too much desperation into these minor race Sunmoons. When they got too desperate, a bloody battle might ensue. That would be annoying to deal with.
If Su Yu agreed, they might even take advantage of this to leave as well. Thus, they were more than happy to let the minor race Sunmoons negotiate. Suddenly, Su Yu's laughter rang out in the city.
"Buying your life with money? My apologies. I'm rich enough. As a dying man, why do I even need that much money? If you want to leave, I have a simple term. Kill one late-stage Sunmoon and I'll allow you to leave. The race of the late-stage Sunmoon does not matter. It can be a dragon, an immortal, a silkwyrm, or a heavenly spirit ape. These are all seventh-stage Sunmoons. There are ten of you. If all of you join hands against one of them, killing will be possible. If you can do that, I'll let you go."
Su Yu continued, "As for the major races, of the seven late-stage Sunmoons, each of you can kill another one of you for freedom as well. Why don't you consider my proposal?"
"..."
Silence descended.
After a short moment, the expression of the silkwyrm Sunmoon changed as he warned, "Su Yu, don't even think of inciting an internal struggle between us. Open the gates or three days later, the Invincibles will arrive. You will die a miserable death."
"Heh." Su Yu's voice rang out all over the city, "Me? Dying a miserable death? Invincibles? Sure. Bring it on. Tell them to come. They're cowards if they don't come. I'll be waiting for them in the mayor's residence. If they don't come, I'm their granddaddy. Do they have the balls to come? How dare a mere silkwyrm make such a boastful claim?"
The silkwyrm merely cursed inwardly.
Su Yu was going to hide in the mayor's residence while the Invincibles would certainly not enter the city. This damn bastard should show his face if he was really so incredible. The silkwyrm swore that if Su Yu showed up, he would instantly beat that damn Su Yu to death.
Nobody else said anything.
The expressions of some of the minor race experts started changing. Finally, the ninth-stage Sunmoon devil frowned and said, "Enough. Do not listen to the nonsense Su Yu is saying. You won't be able to escape even if you can kill us. Even if you can somehow escape, Invincibles will be waiting outside."
The little bit of light in the eyes of the minor race Sunmoons dimmed.
Yes. Some of them had been tempted earlier.
But the devil had destroyed their hope with those hopes. Once again, they despaired.
Yes. They wouldn't be able to prevail over these late-stage Sunmoons.
The devil spoke again, "I'll contact the devil king from my race and see if we can bring the plan forward. Stay calm."
He had to try. It wouldn't do them any good to force all these people to the brink of desperation. No matter what, some of them were still the experts from their vassal races. Before long, Zimo got in contact with a devil king through the index copy. And a reply was given shortly after.
Facing the hopeful looks of the Sunmoons, Zimo sank into a short silence before saying, "The devil king advises all of you to stay calm. They are getting ready."
"Getting ready?" A fifth-stage Sunmoon asked, "Lord Zimo, will it happen today?"
How long would they take to get ready? Every second they waited was a second closer to death. Zimo sank into silence. Noticing that, the Sunmoons sank into despair yet again. It was clear that wouldn't happen today.
They exchanged gazes, wondering if they should really convert into residents. They...really didn't want to. Did they cultivate for hundreds or thousands of years just to end up as living dead? But were they going to give up on the chance to keep living? Should they wait three more days and try to escape alongside these late-stage Sunmoons?
They weren't even sure if they could still muster as much strength at that time. The attack of an Invincible would spawn an Invincible death spirit. The late-stage Sunmoons might be able to escape successfully, but how about them?
At that point, they would be in a much more terrible condition. Could they still escape?
Su Yu's voice rang out again, "Are you thinking of converting into residents? You'll need my permission to do so. Or perhaps you believe that I can't do anything to you after you become residents? Perhaps you are even thinking of replacing me as the mayor."
Nobody replied.
Su Yu continued, "If you really think so, stop dreaming. You should just calmly wait for death. Even if you convert into residents, you won't survive for long if the mayor wants you to die."
Finally, a Sunmoon roared madly, "Must you force us?"
"How idiotic. How are you still so stupid at your age? You must be a minor race Sunmoon. The weak are prey to the strong. This is the natural order of things. You are the vassals of the major races. You are here to kill me. Why are you accusing me of forcing you? I gave you the chance to withdraw. You refused. I can't even be bothered to waste more time on you anymore. Grandstar City does not accept worthless residents. That applies to Sunmoons. Even after becoming residents, you will die unless you prove your worth to the city."
The same Sunmoon snorted, "You might be the mayor, but you're only a Cloudbreach. Sealing the city is the only thing you can do. The moment that stops working, what can you still do us?"
When they stopped fearing death qi, was there still a need for them to fear Su Yu? What a joke. He was a fourth-stage Sunmoon. Was he supposed to be afraid of a mere Cloudbreach? Even the red toad Su Yu had killed was weaker than him.
Chapter 1089: Stone Statue Leaves The City (2)
"Wow. He's very cocky."
Su Yu grinned. At the moment, he was playing with the mayor's medallion in a building far away from the Sunmoons. How arrogant. Then again, if they became residents without holding any special medallions, there really wasn't much he could do to them.
Sealing the city would no longer do anything to them. Even death spirits would leave them alone as long as they hid indoors. Thus, there was a good reason for that Sunmoon to be so arrogant.
If they really reached a point where they had to give up everything and convert into residents, why should they still fear Su Yu? Su Yu was not like the other mayors who were strong enough to contend against Invincibles while inside their cities. Meanwhile, Su Yu was probably only strong enough to deal with early Sunmoons inside his city.
"They're not strong enough and they're going to die soon yet they're still so arrogant."
Su Yu sighed. He was not far away from completing his fifty-third body forging.
Upon completion, he could surpass the strength of 280,000 acupoints. But that was only comparable to trash early Sunmoons like the red toad. He would still be quite far away from fourth-stage Sunmoons.
Su Yu wasn't very sure about the amount of strength one could gain through each stage advancement during the Sunmoon Realm. He only knew that late-stage Sunmoons were unreasonably strong.
After thinking about it, Su Yu shook his head. Fine, fine, he would allow those people to stay arrogant for now. He would forge his body a few more times before trying to consume middle-stage Sunmoon blood essence. Only then would he consider dealing with these arrogant bastards.
***
The fourth-stage Sunmoon was pleased to see that Su Yu was left speechless.
He was right! If he had to convert into a resident, was there still a need for him to fear Su Yu? He did not recall any special authority the ancient city mayors held over the residents. Sure, they knew that the mayors could unlock the ancient buildings, but so what?
He would be more than happy to see Su Yu doing that to him. Was a mere Cloudbreach going to kill a middle-stage Sunmoon like him? At that thought, he reached a decision. He was going to convert. There was no need to fear Su Yu!
***
Su Yu did consider pretending to be a death spirit and collect their bloodstained talismans.
But after thinking about it, he decided to not do it. He would allow them to convert. He couldn't risk revealing that he was actually outside the mayor's residence. Furthermore, they could share more of the burden with him after becoming residents. He would make good use of them and only deal with them when he felt like doing so. At that time, he could even farm some heavenly rewards off them.
***
And thus, some of the Sunmoons started converting.
There were six middle-stage and four early-stage Sunmoons left in the city. Among them, the two sixth-stage Sunmoons did not choose to convert. The remaining four middle-stage Sunmoons and the four early-stage Sunmoons started converting.
They were left with no choice. If they waited three more days, they would be in a terrible condition. Attempting to escape in such a situation was the same as throwing their lives away. The major race Sunmoons noticed that, but they said nothing.
So be it. They did not care. Converting would turn those people into the living dead. This was good as well. That way, those people wouldn't place all the blame on them even if some of them were already blaming these major race Sunmoons.
***
At the same time.
The stone statue and Death Sovereign Xing Yue saw each other yet again. As the Sunmoons started converting, several Sunmoon death spirits appeared in the city. Naturally, they weren't there to kill. They were only there to handle the conversions.
Death Sovereign Xing Yue smiled, "Looks like my death army will welcome a few more Sunmoons in the future."
The stone statue did not answer. Prior to death, these people would be his good citizens in charge of suppressing the death qi under the city.
Just by being in the city, these Sunmoon residents could curb the death qi emitted by the Sunmoon death spirits. Additionally, they could help wear down the death qi in the city through cultivation.
During cultivation, the source qi a resident produced would wear down a corresponding amount of death qi in their body. The only reason they didn't feel their death qi dropping was because new death qi was constantly entering their body. Just by cultivating, they would lighten the burden on the city.
Thus, having more Sunmoon residents was a good thing for the stone statue. At the very least, that was the case while they were alive. After dying, they would increase the strength of the Death Realm. But that was inevitable. This was how things worked. Both the dead and the living were given ample opportunity for growth. Hope was not fully severed for either side.
In fact, the stone statue wasn't even worried about the strength of the Death Realm anymore. Hadn't Su Yu been killing a lot of death spirits? Why did he need to worry about the potential new death spirits the Death Realm might gain in the future?
Su Yu should keep killing. Wasn't Xing Yue looking forward to having Su Yu as a death spirit? Even if Su Yu started killing Sunmoon death spirits, Xing Yue wouldn't bear to kill Su Yu in advance.
It had been so many years. The Death Realm had never stopped growing strong. Suddenly, the stone statue felt that Su Yu's addition into this ecosystem was a very good thing. Thanks to Su Yu, the Death Realm's trajectory of constant growth might finally change for a period of time.
As far as he knew, Su Yu had also killed a decent number of Sunmoon death spirits in Heavendoom City.
***
On the thirteenth day of lockdown, Su Yu completed his fifty-third body forging.
He was left with only 1,100 strands of heavenearth profound light.
Nineteen body forgings to go.
Meanwhile, more and more people were paying attention on the city. According to the rumors, an Invincible would arrive to attack the city on the fifteenth day. Would Su Yu die before that? Or would the Invincible be forced to interfere, resulting in the appearance of death sovereigns or even the stone statue?
Which Invincible would be the one to arrive? Or perhaps multiple Invincibles would arrive? It was unlikely that the same Invincibles from before would come. They were all busy dealing with all sorts of troubles.
For example, the nether Invincible from before was still hidden somewhere unknown. Even if his son was in the city, he wouldn't show up. Yes. The nether Sunmoon in the city was the first son of that nether Invincible.
***
Outside the ancient city.
Invincibles had indeed arrived.
Yes. There were several of them. An Invincible had arrived from each of the immortal, devil, dragon, and divine races. Nobody from the nether and ape races was present. This was also the case for the silkwyrm race.
The four Invincibles were overlooking the city from above. Nobody knew they were here. Nobody could even sense their arrival. The massive city stood silently below them. Even with twelve Invincibles, the city had remained unshaken during the previous incident.
After a long while, the devil king spoke, "We can't attack together. One of us will blast the gate open. One will grab the ones inside. One will send a slap to the mayor's residence from afar..."
"Hmm?" The dragon Invincible frowned, "Are we attacking the mayor's residence? Lade, are you trying to lure that ancient statue out?"
The dragon Invincible clearly disagreed with that. The devil king was Lade, the ancestor of Tianduo, and a devil king from the original devil race. He was incredibly powerful. The divine and immortal Invincibles also frowned slightly.
The devil king calmly said, "Su Yu is an uncontrollable variable. He is the source of trouble. He can last thirteen days without dying. This is not in line with our previous prediction. How bad is his death qi erosion? Can he recover from the backlash? He's already so strong as a Cloudbreach. He's already capable of creating massive chaos involving the Myriad Realms. What if he manages to free himself from the dead? What are we supposed to do then?"
He volunteered, "I'll do it myself. I'll attack the mayor's residence. I'll destroy the entire building with one hit. Even the stone statue might not be able to do something in time."
He was determined to kill Su Yu. He wasn't doing this just to avenge Tianduo. That was pointless. He wanted to eliminate Su Yu. He could feel that Su Yu was extraordinary. He was confident in his instincts. He was willing to risk himself and eliminate this potential threat in advance. With him volunteering, the others had nothing to say.
Lade said, "The divine will break the gate, the dragon will help them leave, the immortal will withstand the death sovereign, while I'll attack the mayor's residence. We will retreat after a single move."
They only had the chance to make one move. If they stayed longer, more death sovereigns would appear. The stone statue or more stone statues would take action as well. That would be truly troublesome. Chapters fırst released on novel~fire~net
The other Invincibles nodded. That was acceptable. With the Life Trigger ability, the immortal could handle death qi very well. The tasks had been allocated fittingly. Of course, Lade would take the biggest risk in the operation.
Nobody was worried about that. He was not a regular devil king. He was one of the strongest devil kings. He would be able to take care of himself well.
The dragon Invincible reminded, "Even if you fail to destroy the mayor's residence in one hit, we need to retreat. I'm not interested in losing a tri-life body in this shitty place."
They still remembered well what happened not long ago.
"Of course."
Lade agreed readily. He wasn't that interested in dying either. Were they supposed to destroy the ancient city with only four Invincibles?
"Do we move the day after tomorrow?"
"No. We move tomorrow." Lade said, "They all think we'll move the day after tomorrow. Must we follow their expectations? Perhaps even that stone statue is thinking that as well. We'll act tomorrow and catch them all by surprise."
"We need to get them to gather near the gate..."
"It's fine. It doesn't matter. They should start gathering near the gate about now anyway."
"What if Su Yu leaves the mayor's resident after they leave the vicinity?"
"Just have the silkwyrm stay behind and keep watch."
"Will he agree?"
"Just tell him we're doing it the day after tomorrow. He only needs to keep watch for one day. If he disagrees, we can make them do it in shifts. The nether, silkwyrm, and ape will take the first shift."
The Invincibles were completely indifferent to the three Sunmoons. Since their Invincibles weren't around, why should the other Invincibles care about them? If they were to die, they could only blame their luck. None of the Invincibles objected.
This was acceptable. With those three, they could even slow the death sovereign down slightly. The three could only blame themselves for not being important enough to have their own Invincibles sent over.
After reaching an agreement, the four Invincibles sank into silence again. There was nothing else to say. For now, they only had to wait. Early tomorrow, at the moment when the death qi of the city was at its weakest, they would make their move.
Chapter 1090: Stone Statue Leaves The City (3)
Outside the Silkwyrm Realm.
A faintly discernible portal could be seen. No army had been deployed outside the portal, but a ninth-stage Sunmoon silkwyrm was standing guard there. The power of the Silkwyrm Realm was spread slightly around the portal, giving the ninth-stage Sunmoon the ability to contend against any potential invader, including Invincibles.
At that moment, four powerful experts had arrived nearly, remaining in a concealed state. With a wave of his hand, Great Zhou King manifested a character large enough to cover the sky itself. However, the Sunmoon did not notice anything.
Then, the four powerful experts stepped out of the void not far away from the Sunmoon. Great Xia King, Great Zhou King, Great Han King, and Silk Destroying King. Two were from the War Shrine and two were from the Knowledge Seeking Realm.
Great Xia King and Great Zhou King were the publicly acknowledged top three human Invincibles. Great Han King was also a powerful expert ranked among the top ten. As for Silk Destroying King, he was not a founding king. However, he was also a king who had affirmed his dao in the same era as the founding kings.
Silk Destroying King's exact strength was hard to determine, but his Time technique was very famous among the myriad races. He had never killed an Invincible before. But he was famed for his ability to deal massive damage to Invincibles. For example, he was an expert in destroying the past bodies of Invincibles.
And that was something he had done before. That was why he was assigned to this mission as well. With him, they could prevent any of the Silkwyrm King's tri-life bodies from escaping.
The four Invincibles hovered near the Sunmoon. None of them said anything. There were a few times when Silk Destroying King wanted to say something, but he shut his mouth whenever he noticed the cold expressions of Great Xia King and Great Zhou King.
Great Han King remained completely indifferent. Everyone knew that Great Xia and Great Zhou did not get along well. In truth, the two prefectures enjoyed a warm relationship prior to Ye Batian's incident. Great Zhou King's younger brother wouldn't have been there to help Ye Batian otherwise.
The four Invincibles waited in silence. They were waiting for the chaos to start. They were waiting for the perfect opportunity to act. They were getting ready to eliminate the Silkwyrm Realm. Perhaps the silkwyrm race would be no more in two days. A top 100 race would be reduced to history.
The other races wouldn't be able to kill the Silkwyrm King so easily. Without seven or eight Invincibles, they wouldn't be able to do much to him when he was hiding in the Silkwyrm Realm. But that was not the case for the human race.
Even sending four Invincibles could be considered an overkill. Humanity was immune to the suppressive force of realms. This was both an advantage and a disadvantage.
***
Waiting.
Everyone was waiting.
More and more gazes landed on Grandstar City. The time was approaching. It was the night of the thirteenth day. The city gates were showing no signs of opening. The fourteenth day would arrive soon.
The countless stars in the sky gradually turned bright as morning approached. The four Invincibles were ready to move. They would act at the first ray of light.
The major race Sunmoons had already arrived near the gate. They didn't know the plan as not even the Invincibles had informed them about it. They were only told to wait near the gate.
***
Meanwhile, Su Yu was still cultivating in a random building.
He was also of the opinion that the enemy Invincibles would attack on the fifteenth day, but he didn't care. Whatever.
Morning was arriving. In that case, would the attack arrive the next day? So be it. Even if he failed to kill even one Sunmoon, they wouldn't dare to do this anymore. His main goal was to warn the myriad races, not to kill all the Sunmoons in the city.
As for the Sunmoons who had left the vicinity of the mayor's residence, he was unbothered as well. He wasn't even planning to return to the mayor's residence, so why should he even care about that place?
Nobody had ever said that a mayor could only stay in the mayor's residence. Right at that moment, the first ray of light shone upon the city.
Morning had arrived.
***
The four Invincibles looked at each other. Next, they moved at the exact same moment.
Boom!
The rumble reverberated throughout the city. The city gate was instantly blasted apart. Immediately after, Death Sovereign Xing Yue appeared with their fluttering black cloak and threw a punch filled with death qi toward the Sunmoons near the broken gate.
The dragon Invincible was already on standby. His massive claws swept forth and grabbed the Sunmoons. At the same time, the immortal Invincible released a sword attack toward Xing Yue.
But at the exact moment, several death sovereigns appeared. With a sneer, one of them clawed at the silkwyrm Sunmoon. With a pop, the Sunmoon was torn into pieces.
Next, a moon that was nearly full fell from the sky.
Dead.
The death sovereign wanted to attack others when Xing Yue spoke, "Get over here. Kill these people."
A wave of death qi swept out, creating numerous explosions all over the city. The immortal's sword was instantly corroded by death qi, turning into a sword of death. A different death sovereign released a blast of death qi toward the dragon's claws...
A battle between death spirits and Invincibles unfolded.
Lade, who had remained still, released a sudden palm attack toward the distant mayor's residence. The sky itself was covered by the massive palm. The palm was so powerful the world seemed to fade into the background, leaving the palm as the only thing visible in existence.
Fast, decisive, and powerful.
The palm pierced through space itself and instantly reached the mayor's residence.
Inner hall.
The stone statue was ignoring the battle. He was only in charge of watching over the holy city. Nothing concerned him. But the instant the palm descended upon the residence, he opened his eyes as his face turned frosty.
"Audacious!"
The stone statue was furious. How dare they attack the mayor's residence? The mayor's residence did not belong to Su Yu. Rather, it belonged to him. This was a direct provocation toward him.
Rumbling sounds rang out repeatedly as the entire city shook violently. The mayor's residence crumbled apart, revealing a stone statue.
Su Yu was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he was dead.
***
Not far away.
Su Yu had just opened his door when his jaw dropped.
Holy shit!
Was that really possible?
Was this a joke? This was an ancient city. Yet the mayor's residence had been destroyed? His heart thumped nervously. Holy shit! If he had stayed in the mayor's residence, wouldn't he be dead by now?
Holy shit!
That was close. This was way too dangerous. That stone statue was too unreliable. Wasn't the stone statue...a tad bit too weak? How could the statue allow the mayor's residence to be destroyed?
Who did it?
He was just wondering inwardly when a voice rang out in his mind, "Take the burden for a moment. I'll be back soon."
Suddenly, the burden of death qi on him multiplied. Waves of thick death qi surged out of his body.
At the same moment, the expressions of the death sovereigns changed.
At that moment, reality shattered into pieces.
At that moment, a stone statue appeared. The stone skin around the statue faded away, revealing an ancient Invincible.
It was a man.
He looked simple and unassuming, yet he was incomparably powerful.
"How dare you attack the holy city's tunnel? Not even your Pseudo Emperor dares to do this."
Under the shocked gazes of Xing Yue and the others, the ancient stone statue walked right out of the city. Yes. He had actually walked out of the city.
One punch.
Reality faded away. Only a single fist existed.
Devil King Lade stared at the descending fist in shock. How could this happen?
How could a stone statue leave the city?
How could the stone statue turned into a living form?
Impossible! ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel⁂fire.net
This was not what the ancient records said! According to the ancient records, these stone statues could not leave the ancient cities!
Fear was the only thing he felt. He hurriedly split time and space apart, revealing a long river amid the void. Sounds of flowing water rang out. That was the River of Time. Devil King was feeling an unprecedented sense of crisis.
Run!
Alas, it was too late. A boom rang out.
The river snapped and faded into nothingness. A second punch followed. More punches followed. In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of punches were thrown. All that had happened in a split second. Everyone only saw a fist before the sky broke apart alongside deafening rumbles.
Devil King Lade was still in the middle of throwing his first punch when countless explosions erupted on his body. Numerous fist marks appeared on his body. Next, his entire body exploded into pieces.
A younger Devil King Lade appeared. But almost immediately, countless punches rained down again. Finally, the younger Devil King Lade was replaced by an old Devil King Lade. Fear and desperation could be seen in his eyes.
"No...mercy!"
The stone statue said nothing and threw another punch.
Right at that moment, the River of Time reappeared from the boundless void. A voice containing boundless power rang out, "Guardian Grandstar, the devil race regrets this. Please have mercy..."
Grandstar ignored those words and threw a second punch. The River of Time rippled as a crowned silhouette appeared from it.
Grandstar glanced at the silhouette coldly and said, "Don't force me to summon the thirty-six guardians and slaughter our way into the Devil Realm."
With a cold snort, he turned and threw a punch at the three fleeing Invincibles. Instantly, a tri-life body was destroyed. With an odd look in his eyes, the silhouette reached out and grabbed Devil King Lade's future body and vanished into the River of Time with a sigh.
Grandstar did not give chase. Without his past and present body, Lade was akin to a tree without its roots. Any carelessness would result in total damnation. The Devil Pseudo Emperor had personally appeared with his future body. Grandstar had no choice but to concede.
Naturally, the Pseudo Emperor wouldn't dare to push the stone statue too much either. It would not benefit the devil race to actually start a fight against the thirty-six guardians.
"If you dare to invade the ancient city ever again, no mercy will be shown."
As his voice reverberated all over the Sea of Stars, the stone statue vanished. Not a single person was left in the region. The three Invincibles were long gone. The nine realm entrances had been tightly sealed. Even with the seals, their entrances were shaking intensely, scaring the experts inside the nine realms witless.
An Invincible...no, four Invincibles had nearly died. The Devil Pseudo Emperor had personally appeared. More importantly, the stone statue...the stone statue was actually capable of leaving the city! This was world-shaking. This was terrifying.
Numerous experts everywhere paled with fear. The ancient cities...were not to be provoked. This was too terrifying. An ancient Invincible had actually walked out of the ancient city. This...was unbelievable. Something like this had never been described in any records.
This was not possible. Countless people were in disbelief. But nobody could deny what happened. Devil King Lade had lost his past and present bodies. He would have died if the Devil Pseudo Emperor had not made an appearance.
Chapter 1091: Fall Of Silkwyrm, World In Chaos (1)
The battle between Invincibles had ended as suddenly as it had started. But the shock was still spreading everywhere.
Of the four Invincibles, multiple tri-life bodies had perished. Devil King Lade had two of his bodies destroyed. Ultimately, the Devil Pseudo Emperor appeared from the River of Time. The multicolored light heralding his appearance could be seen all over the Allheaven Battlefield.
An ancient expert like that had actually opted to keep the peace instead of fighting the stone statue. Just the thought of that was enough to terrify countless people. This was also the very first time an ancient stone statue had ever walked out of an ancient city.
Unlike their previous appearances where only their projections were present, this stone statue had actually walked out with his actual body, demonstrating his terrifying might.
***
Inside the city.
The silkwyrm Sunmoon was dead. Since even the Invincibles had suffered miserably, the Sunmoons had naturally not survived. All of them had perished.
Or to be precise, only two late-stage Sunmoons had survived. The nether and ape Sunmoons were hiding in ancient buildings while trembling with fear. Even now, they couldn't stop trembling.
Everyone else was dead. The Invincibles had fled for their lives. Even after appearing personally, the Devil Pseudo Emperor was only able to leave with Lade's future body. It was hard to say if Lade's future body would also break down due to the loss of his past and present bodies. It would depend on whether the Pseudo Emperor could help him.
Most of the time, the future body would not last after the loss of the past and present bodies. The past and present were akin to the roots of the future.
An eerie silence enveloped the Sea of Stars.
Grandstar's appearance had shocked, terrified, alarmed, and surprised countless experts.
Just one of these stone statues was already so powerful One should not forget that there were thirty-six of them in total.
Inside the city.
Xing Yue and the other death sovereigns were also greatly alarmed. As for the stone statue, he returned to the mayor's residence and glanced at Su Yu, who was madly reversing death qi, before looking at the death sovereigns. He coldly demanded, "Return."
The death sovereigns vanished without any hesitation.
By the time all the other death sovereigns were gone, Xing Yue returned to the inner hall and stopped before the stone statue. Looking at Su Yu, they asked, "Just what is he? No, just what cultivation method is he using? Why can he do this?"
The stone statue coldly demanded, "Return." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Xing Yue looked furious, "You must be messing with me, right? You guys must have found a way to deal with death qi. After teaching him this method, you baited me to convert him. Right?"
The stone statue's eyes turned cold, "Return. Don't make me repeat myself again. The Eternals have left. You should leave as well. Do not challenge the laws."
Xing Yue was unhappy.
They furiously said, "I'll increase the flow of death qi into his body! I refuse to believe he can reverse even the death qi of a death sovereign!"
The stone statue said, "You are free to try."
That was most certainly against the laws. The ancient laws. The stone statue was but an enforcer of the laws. Even his exit from the city earlier was in accordance with the laws. Lade was the one who had attacked him first.
Naturally, even adding the burden on Su Yu was in accordance with the laws. A mayor was meant to reduce the burden on the stone statue. Since this mayor was so capable, he naturally could help reduce even more of the burden.
This had never happened in the past because not a single past mayor was as capable as Su Yu. There was no hard requirement that these stone statues could only remain in their cities and withstand the death qi. If someone else could take the burden for them, they weren't prohibited from offloading the burden to someone else.
Xing Yue's death qi started surging. The stone statue stared at the death sovereign silently. Would they do it? Would they go against the laws? The Death Realm might be powerful, but it still couldn't break free from the holy cities.
After a short moment, Xing Yue withdrew their death qi with great indignance and walked into the tunnel while coldly saying, "Fine. I'll wait for him to grow. I refuse to believe he can smoothly progress until the Eternal Realm. As long as he can't reach the Eternal Realm, I'll still be faster. It is only a matter of time before he becomes a death spirit under me."
They refused to believe that Su Yu would be able to keep growing smoothly. According to the laws, Xing Yue would be allowed to keep the death qi flowing at a speed above his cultivation speed. He could grow, but the flow of death qi would also increase accordingly.
As long as this trend continued, it was only a matter of time before Su Yu became a death spirit. It didn't matter if it would take a long time. It was inevitable. The stone statue said nothing. Whatever.
Su Yu was still busy reversing the death qi he received earlier. Speaking of, that guy was still alive even after taking the entire burden for a short period of time. What a reliable mayor! The stone statue started thinking of a new idea.
Perhaps...he should let Su Yu further adapt to death qi. Perhaps he should give Su Yu more pressure. How would one have the motivation to cultivate without pressure? Rather than stirring trouble all the time, wouldn't it be better to cultivate and become a good mayor?
The stone statue was already missing the sensation of leaving the city. It had been too long. He had completely forgotten how it felt. That...was indeed a splendid feeling. He started savoring what he felt earlier.
When would he be able to leave again? Would more Eternals come and give him a slap? He...had to obey the laws. He couldn't leave without any reason. He started looking forward to future conflicts.
Could anyone give him a slap, a punch, or even a slash? If that happened, he would be able to leave yet again. Earlier, he had ended the fight quickly as he was worried that Su Yu wouldn't be able to last too long.
Everything had ended too quickly. He didn't even get to see more of the beautiful world yet. How regretful.
Seeing that Su Yu was still well and alive, the stone statue realized that this was not Su Yu's limit. Just look at how energetic Su Yu was as he cursed while reversing the death qi. He should be able to last much longer than that.
The stone statue regretted returning so early. He should have given chase to the fleeing Invincibles earlier.
***
While the stone statue was thinking about Su Yu.
Su Yu was busy cursing.
He finally realized why the death qi had increased greatly in intensity. It was related to the stone statue. What was this? When the death qi had erupted out of nowhere earlier, he nearly had a heart attack from the scare. He even felt like he was going to die.
A large amount of death qi came pouring in, forcing him to start reversing it in panic. Fortunately, the death qi had dropped to regular levels with the return of the stone statue. That was too scary.
Su Yu continued cursing. The sudden destruction of the mayor's residence had also given him a scare. With a single palm attack from afar, an Invincible could completely destroy the mayor's residence, a building even Sunmoons could hardly damage.
"Also, did that Invincible lose his tri-life bodies? Carrier treasures!"
Su Yu roared inwardly and worked even harder at reversing the death qi in his body. The first carrier treasure he had ever seen had been taken away by Xing Yue. Back then, he had no idea what that thing was.
But he now knew that a carrier treasure was something capable of bearing the weight of one's past or future bodies. It was extremely valuable.
A lot of ninth-stage Sunmoons were stuck below the Pseudo Sunmoon Realm precisely because they lacked such a treasure. How could he leave a treasure like that lying on the ground? He had to pick it up!
He could even sell it through the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion if he managed to get his hands on such a treasure.
Naturally, for a treasure of this level, things like money or heavenearth profound light would no longer be sufficient. Such a treasure could only be traded for another treasure.
"Reverse!"
Su Yu roared madly. So many tri-life bodies had been destroyed. Several carrier treasures were waiting for him outside! He had to get his hands on them! He couldn't let the people outside the city steal those treasures from him!
Of course, he was worrying too much. At that moment, not a single life form dared to move anywhere near the city. The incident earlier was simply too terrifying. Four Invincibles had lost their tri-life bodies and numerous Sunmoons were killed. Even a Pseudo Emperor made an appearance. Only an absolute fool would dare to approach the city at this time.
Only someone absolutely tired of living would try something like that. People would only flee further away from the city, not go near it.
***
Outside Silkwyrm Realm.
At the first punch launched by the stone statue, the four Invincibles looked in the ancient city's direction. All of them looked greatly surprised. Then, they saw the River of Time unfurled across the sky. Silk Destroying King exclaimed, "Psedo Emperor! From the devil race!"
Heavens!
Even a Pseudo Emperor was making an appearance. What was happening there?
"Stone statue!"
"The statue from the ancient past!"
The Invincibles exclaimed in shock. A stone statue had stepped out of an ancient city?
Suddenly, Great Xia King swung his saber without saying anything. With a pop, a moon fell from the sky.
"What are you looking at? Get to work. Time to kill some people."
After saying that, Great Xia King snorted. With a smile, Great Zhou King swung his hand casually, layering an illusion in the area, making everything look normal. Even the falling moon from the sky was completely covered by the illusion.
The four Invincibles here were the truly powerful Invincibles, much stronger than even the four Invincibles who had appeared before the ancient city not long ago.
Great Xia King showed no interest in the things happening at the ancient city. Not even the appearance of a Pseudo Emperor caught his attention. He knew very well that he was not the match for a Pseudo Emperor. In fact, he had fought the Devil Pseudo Emperor before. He lost, but he wasn't exactly someone a Pseudo Emperor could kill easily. He would have died long ago otherwise.
Great Xia King had a look of derision when he saw Silk Destroying King gawking like some country bumpkin. Yes, yes, the Devil Pseudo Emperor looked incredibly cool emerging from the River of Time. But that also showed that the Devil Pseudo Emperor was still trapped in the confines of the Eternal Realm. He had yet to step beyond that realm.
If that Pseudo Emperor had ascended to a higher level, he wouldn't have needed to travel through the River of Time anymore. Rather, he would gain the ability to appear anywhere anytime without using something else as the vehicle of travel.