Chapter 1127: A Spectator Watching The World Burn (1)
While Rainbow One was hiding nearby, Su Yu was doing the same. In fact, the other white masks were doing the same thing. After a long wait, someone asked through their communication channel, "Is everyone not there yet?"
"..."
There was no reply.
At this moment, understanding dawned on everyone.
They had arrived. But nobody dared to show up first. After entering the Human Realm, they had all turned extremely cautious, constantly worried about being stabbed in the back.
"Profound Nine, you're the boss. Are you not there yet?"
That was Yellow Nine.
Su Yu cursed inwardly. He decided to really remember this fellow. Just wait. One day, he would hammer that bastard to death.
"Yellow Nine, you go there first. I'm the boss here so you need to obey me."
"..."
This time, it was Yellow Nine's turn to curse inwardly. Why must he be the one to go first? How dangerous would that be?
And thus, they continued waiting patiently. After a while, a figure appeared. Rainbow One had shown himself. He was feeling quite helpless. Damn it. Everyone was being stubborn. He had no choice but to show himself first.
There was a reason why the Great Xia branch was able to start operating so quickly. Just look at how cautious and crafty the four white masks were.
"Come on out."
Rainbow One urged the others to reveal themselves as well. They should stop wasting time.
A short while later, the four white masks appeared almost at the same time. Since they were all masked, none appeared awkward since their expressions couldn't be seen.
Su Yu was the first to speak, "Greetings, Enforcer. There was a traffic jam earlier..."
"Yeah. Same here. I also met a group of Martial Dragon Guard soldiers on patrol so I had to take a detour."
"Yeah, it's the same for me!"
"..."
Rainbow One was left quite speechless. Enough already. If these fellows were going to be so insincere about it, they shouldn't even bother trying to come up with excuses.
"Enough!" Rainbow One coldly said, "Profound Nine, you're the first person to start operating in Great Xia. Tell us about how you escaped pursuit when you first arrived."
Su Yu indifferently said, "I was sent right into Nanyuan. I exchanged one move with a Martial Dragon Guard commander before retreating. The commander did not give chase. I was able to hide somewhere before encountering Bai Feng's cousin, Bai Junsheng near Starfall Mountain. Everyone here knows the rest."
"How about you, Yellow Nine?"
"I got lucky. I was sent to the wilderness. Nobody noticed me. After putting a disguise on, I joined a traveling merchant convoy to gather more information."
"I was sent to a mountain. There was nobody there."
"I was sent into a river. Someone saw me, so I killed that fellow before leaving."
Of the four white masks, Profound Nine's history was the easiest to track. After all, he had shown up openly among the humans to market himself.
Rainbow One did not ask anything about their stories. Instead, he looked at Su Yu and said, "Profound Nine, you're attracting too much attention."
Su Yu coldly replied, "We're new here. Are we supposed to hide like rats instead of attracting attention? Great Xia is going to be in massive chaos soon. The moment the Nanyuan ruin is discovered, the chaos will erupt. Are we supposed to wait patiently and remain idle? Opportunity is not something that will drop from the sky. It is something you create yourself. Enforcer, you don't seem to understand how things work. As pioneers, we need courage if we want to develop a new market. The Profound Department is supposed to be a department specializing in trades. You must have stayed as an enforcer for so long that you've forgotten how to do business." ⱤÄɴỌβЁș
Rainbow One showed no anger at those provocative words. Rather, he nodded, "You might be right. I don't intend to involve myself too much in the affairs here. But...you're playing a dangerous game. The four of you are only Mountainseas."
"Therefore..." Su Yu grinned, "I hope the enforcer can transfer more experts here. What's the point of keeping so many people in those minor prefectures? Great Xia is where we should prioritize. Recently, we have received too many requests. Due to a lack of manpower, we have no choice but to reject a majority of them and ruin our reputation. If we have enough white masks, we can totally accept more requests."
"I'll consider submitting this request to the higher-ups." Rainbow One nodded and said, "We'll stop talking about this. For now, we need to find a proper place to talk about our coming mission."
After saying that, he left. The white masks all followed behind him.
***
When Su Yu noted how familiar Rainbow One was with the route they were using, he snorted inwardly. Clearly, this fellow had arrived long ago. He was too cautious.
Through his Perception Jade, Su Yu noted that this person was a fifth-stage Sunmoon. This was a powerful cultivator, but if Su Yu consumed blood essence and fought with all his strength, he could still put up a fight. Furthermore, this was the Human Realm. He had a backer here. There was nothing for him to fear.
After a while, they landed in a village near an unknown mountain. They had landed right in the courtyard of one of the buildings there. The villagers did not notice anything. After all, even the weakest among them was a Mountainsea. These ordinary people wouldn't be able to notice them so easily.
They walked toward the building. Someone was already there.
An old man walked over. He showed no surprise. Rather, he bowed and said, "I'm a gray mask from the East Chamber. Welcome, Lords."
Someone from the East Chamber!
The two chambers were in charge of information gathering in the various realms. Clearly, this person was one of them. He was only an Infinite Strength cultivator, so he was probably among the weakest members in their ranks.
Naturally, this was not a job suitable for someone too strong. In a small village like this, even an Infinite Strength cultivator was already considered a decent expert. Rainbow One nodded and stepped inside the building without saying anything. The old man followed them respectfully. In his eyes, these were all big shots.
Inside, Rainbow One sat down while the four white masks stood beside him. The old man stood in front of them nervously as he awaited his order.
After a short silence, Rainbow One said, "Are there any Martial Dragon Guard soldiers nearby?" ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ NoveI-Fire.ɴet
"No. Some Great Xia Army soldiers are in charge of patrolling the area, but there aren't that many of them."
"Route, time, location, number, and strength. Tell me about them."
"Yes."
"..."
The old man started reporting all the information he had gathered.
Rainbow One nodded, "I have a mission for you. Can you complete it?"
"Please give your order, Lord!"
"Leak the appearance of a white mask accidentally to a villager. You need to be clueless about what you saw, but that villager must be someone knowledgeable to realize the significance of what you saw. That villager must also be someone who will report this to the authorities. Is there such a person in the village?"
"Yes."
"Can you leak the information without incurring suspicion?"
"Yes."
Rainbow One nodded, "If you can complete this mission, I'll help you step into the Skysoar Realm."
"Thank you, Lord!"
The old man was overjoyed.
Su Yu wasn't too bothered about what he was seeing. There were too many humans in existence. All sorts of people existed among them, and not all of them would be righteous and honorable. In fact, he was not a very righteous person himself, so he did not judge.
Furthermore, he was currently playing the role of a white mask.
He understood what Rainbow One was trying to do.
Rainbow One was trying to use a villager to lure Yuan Qingdong over.
After thinking about it, Su Yu spoke, "Lord, are you trying to lure that person over? Will this be too obvious? Why don't we launch a surprise attack directly instead?"
Rainbow One said, "No. That's too risky. Don't forget we're in the Human Realm. The moment a battle between Sunmoons breaks out, it will be detected promptly. This place is too near several major cities. If the battle attracts more people over, things may turn very troublesome for us."
"But will our target suspect this?"
Rainbow One answered with a question, "Who will suspect a random villager? As a Sunmoon, he can easily sense the surface thoughts of someone below the Skysoar Realm. Put yourself in the same scenario. Will you suspect a random villager?"
Su Yu answered earnestly, "Yes. That's too coincidental. Just as I'm looking for someone, that someone appears before a random individual. Then, that random individual reports the encounter to me. How can I not suspect this level of coincidence?"
Rainbow One was left speechless. He wanted to tell Profound Nine that not everyone was that paranoid.
"No, the villager won't go straight to him. There are soldiers garrisoned nearby. But since the target is in charge of searching this area, the information will ultimately be reported to him. He will be the one requesting to meet the villager, not the other way around."
"But this way, too many people will know about this. We might end up luring someone stronger over. In that scenario, can we handle the stronger individual?"
This guy was being ridiculous.
But Profound Nine made some sense. Thus, Rainbow One stayed patient and said, "Great Xia does not have too many Sunmoons at the moment..."
"What if this is a trap?"
At this point, Rainbow One was losing his patience. He said, "If you're really so worried, why were you so brazen when you killed the military commander right inside the capital previously?"
Su Yu replied calmly, "I was confident in that operation. I never do anything I'm not confident in. And I don't have the same confidence in this operation. I've seen too many Invincible descendants. I've seen how easily some of them can take out Invincible talismans. That will be very troublesome to deal with. He's an Invincible descendant so it is natural for me to worry. You're a Sunmoon, but not us. You can flee when something goes wrong, but we can't."
"I was never keen on accepting this mission." Su Yu looked at one of the white masks and said, "Earth Eighteen, this is your mission. I did some investigation on Wu Yuehua before. She has a deep connection with multiple character faction's Liu Wenyan and Xia Family. It is reasonable for me to suspect that you are actually colluding with Xia Family."
"Profound Nine, you're accusing me baselessly!"
Earth Eighteen was furious, "I only accepted this mission for the pavilion. I was following your order to establish our fame here!"
Su Yu said, "Sure. Let me make myself clear. Earth Eighteen, you will take point for this mission."
"Why? I'm only a seventh-stage Mountainsea! The target is a Sunmoon!"
Earth Eighteen was furious.
Yellow Nine interrupted, "Profound Nine, Earth Eighteen did this for the pavilion. There is no need to be suspicious of everyone."
Chapter 1128: A Spectator Watching The World Burn (2)
Su Yu indifferently said, "I actually prefer working alone. To speak the truth, I have to constantly worry about betrayal when working with all of you. Working in a team is annoying. Trust requires time. I have zero trust in any of you. I don't even know if there is a human among you."
He looked at Rainbow One and said, "Lord, do I have the authority to check the information of these subordinates of mine?"
"That won't do." Rainbow One said, "Only their direct superiors can do that. Since their direct superiors have not objected to their participation, it is unlikely for any of them to be problematic."
"I hope so."
Su Yu was doing this to remove all suspicion from himself right at the start. He believed that this mission would end in failure. And he was not interested in taking the blame for it. Thus, he made it clear that he did not agree with accepting this mission. He was only here because they insisted on taking it. If it failed, they could only blame themselves, not him.
Su Yu said, "In that case, I'll be following your orders. Lord, you're strong enough to take the target down alone. You don't even need our help. We can only help with the cleanup after the main task is completed."
"Not at all. You have a very important task." Rainbow One said, "I won't show up right away. The moment the target senses danger, he might flee or ask for reinforcements. You need to keep him occupied for a bit and buy time for me to appear. I'll stay further away in the beginning to avoid his detection."
"..."
Silence descended.
Su Yu furiously said, "Lord, you're telling us to keep a Sunmoon who is also an Invincible descendant occupied?"
"Profound Nine, this is something you're capable of. You need to know that the Martial Dragon Guard commander you fought previously was no weakling. Since you can put up a fight against that commander, you are definitely capable of keeping Yuan Qingdong busy."
Su Yu inhaled deeply, looking like he was trying hard to control his anger as he said, "Is this an order or a suggestion?"
"A suggestion."
Rainbow One said, "You're an ancient city resident. After completing this mission, you can receive an additional 100 heavenly hunt points as the reward. With that, you can purchase some heavenly source qi to deal with the death qi in your body."
With a hundred heavenly hunt points, he could purchase ten portions of heavenly source qi. That was actually a decently large amount.
Su Yu sank into thought. From what he had done so far, he had earned eighty heavenly hunt points. And that was only after the reward was multiplied ten times since they were operating in the Human Realm.
Su Yu said, "Apart from that, I want one-tenth of the payment offered by Wu Yuehua for this mission. That is my minimum requirement to accept this mission."
"That is acceptable."
For assassination missions, the executor had always been allowed to take half the payment while the pavilion would take the other half. But since Rainbow One was the main executor for this mission, a tenth of the payment was actually a lot to ask for. After all, Su Yu would only be assisting in the mission.
Rainbow One added, "The rest of you will also receive a tenth of the payment. I'll take half the payment while the remaining ten percent will be allocated to the Great Xia branch. It will be under your control."
This was a very generous offer. The pavilion would not take anything from the payment. The white masks looked at each other before nodding. This was acceptable. РÁNΟβƐŞ
They only needed to keep the target busy for a short while. Profound Nine was someone capable of contending against Sunmoons. None of them could see his actual cultivation level, but that did not matter. They only needed to know that he was capable of fighting such an opponent.
With a fifth-stage Sunmoon like Rainbow One around, they wouldn't have any issue killing Yuan Qingdong.
With things finalized, Su Yu looked at the old man and said, "Sunmoons are all mistrustful in nature. When the target arrives, he will definitely look for you before rashly going after us. He might even summon you to his place. When that happens, there is a risk of exposure."
The old man's expression changed.
Rainbow One remained silent. He seemed to have neglected this possibility.
Su Yu continued, "Also, this village is located halfway up a mountain. The landscape is too open. It is highly unlikely for a white mask to appear here even if the white mask is a fool."
Rainbow One remained silent. It felt as though someone was indirectly calling him a fool.
Su Yu said, "Tell me. Are there any villages deeper into the forest? We need a villager who is greedy and disliked by many in one of these villages. This villager also needs to be someone relatively well-informed about recent events. The village also needs to be somewhere near a good hiding place."
The old man looked impressed as he said, "You're wise, Lord. Yes, there is such a place. But I need some time to properly scout the area. Please give me some time. I'll give you an accurate answer shortly."
Su Yu nodded, "Profound Seventeen, go with him. Stay safe and report to us promptly."
"Yes."
Profound Seventeen was very impressed as well. None of them had noted anything wrong with Rainbow One's plan. But now, that was indeed a plan filled with holes. It wouldn't be too hard for someone to see through the original plan. What were they supposed to do if the target decided to summon the old man over first?
Also, this village was indeed not a good hiding place. But this was a proper place to deploy an undercover agent. It would be much harder for a spy to gather information in a village that was too remote.
***
Rainbow One proceeded to report everything to the higher-ups through his mask.
Before long, he received a reply from an elder.
"Pay more attention to Profound Nine. His quick thinking is important in increasing the survival rate of our people. Take note of his strength as well. When things get dangerous, prioritize escaping safely with him."
"Yes."
Rainbow One continued recording the conversation happening around him. This was one of his tasks as an enforcer. He was not offended when Su Yu pointed out the holes in his plan. After all, that wasn't what he specialized in.
In terms of assassinations, those from the two chambers were better. The Profound Department was only in charge of trades while he was in charge of enforcement. Shortly after, the old man and Profound Seventeen returned.
Profound Seventeen reported, "He did nothing suspicious. He only asked the locals some simple questions after leaving..."
Su Yu and the others listened silently.
Next, it was the old man's turn to make his report.
There were indeed more villages deeper into the forest.
One of them had a village chief known to be miserly and greedy. His son was serving in the military, so that would be the connection he could use to report his discovery without attracting too much attention. Due to his identity, he was also relatively well-informed of recent events.
And thus, they decided that the village chief would be the one discovering and reporting them to the authorities. As for whether that would be successful in luring their target over...that was something for them to worry about later.
Su Yu felt like the target would definitely arrive. But probably not alone. Yuan Qingdong was not the kind of person who would courageously risk himself capturing potential Heavenly Hunt Pavilion members.
They shouldn't overestimate him too much.
Then again, Su Yu wasn't too concerned about the mission. It did not matter to him if Yuan Qingdong was dead or alive. His main goal was still showcasing the great ability of Profound Nine.
At that thought, he spoke again.
"These Invincible descendants might be arrogant, but they are also greedy and cowardly. As someone who had fought a Sunmoon without suffering a loss, I might not be an opponent he dares to face alone. He might secretly ask for the help of other Sunmoons. Or maybe he will simply report his findings to his higher-ups instead of coming himself.
"Lord Rainbow One, think carefully. If something goes wrong, we should retreat speedily. There is no need to sacrifice four white masks for a mere Yuan Qingdong."
"I agree." Rainbow One nodded, "Profound Nine, you will take charge of this mission and make the arrangements. I'll only be in charge of killing."
Su Yu had successfully formed the image of a competent member. In the eyes of others, he was a prudent and dependable companion when it came to preserving lives. Thus, they were also more inclined to follow his arrangements.
Su Yu did not refuse the offer. He said, "We have already agreed on the general outline of the plan. As for the smaller details, we will make adjustments when required. The village chief must discover me, but it can't be too obvious. It doesn't make sense for a white mask to be so careless. With my cultivation level, it is not possible for the village chief to actually escape my detection. It's better to let him suspect my presence nearby through some clues instead of actually seeing me with his own eyes. We also need some people to provide us with the information and whereabouts of the other Sunmoons of Great Xia."
After saying all he had to say, Su Yu concluded, "Finally, all of you should stay with me from this moment until the conclusion of this mission. Do not attempt to communicate with anyone out of the group during this time."
"Follow Profound Nine's arrangements."
With Rainbow One's backing, nobody had anything to say.
Inwardly, Su Yu was curling his lips. He was tempted to sell them off. But he decided that they weren't worth it. There was only one fifth-stage Sunmoon and three Mountainseas. These people weren't worth risking his disguise.
If these were elders instead, he might actually do it.
***
Before long, they set their plan in motion.
Inside a certain mountain village, a chubby village chief suddenly sensed some minute source qi undulations. These undulations seemed to be a product of a cultivating expert. Of course, that was not enough to arouse any suspicion.
But shortly after, when the village chief noted the presence of some source qi in the spring water he gathered, the wise village chief suddenly realized something. The traces of source qi in the water were extremely weak. A regular person would not notice anything.
It was likely that an expert was cultivating somewhere near the source of the spring water. The ambient source qi of this mountain was rather low in density. Generally speaking, no expert would bother cultivating here.
In Great Xia, even a normal villager in a remote region would possess a keen sense of danger. The village chief immediately concluded that this hidden expert would either be a cultist or a member of the recently famous Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. In short, that was most definitely a criminal.
Why would a normal person choose such a place to cultivate? Even if he was wrong, he wouldn't be faulted for making a false report. Great Xia had a policy of encouraging the reporting of suspected cultists. And each accurate report would be rewarded. In the event of an error, nothing would happen. Thus, this was an act with no risk and high reward.
Therefore, the village chief did not even bother to investigate himself. Rather, he left the village to look for his son who was serving in the army.
***
Deep in the woods.
Yellow Nine returned and exclaimed with admiration, "Amazing, Profound Nine. How did you know that he would report you to his son directly instead of investigating the matter himself?"
Su Yu rolled his eyes inwardly. Why? Because he came from Great Xia as well. He naturally understood the people here well.
When the locals detected something suspicious, they would first judge if they stood a chance at winning the fight. If the answer was yes, they would fight. After all, they would be rewarded for every cultist killed. Thanks to this policy, the people of Great Xia were very willing to fight when they stood a chance at winning. That was also how the people of Great Xia became known as a bunch of bloodthirsty lunatics by the other prefectures.
And if they judged that they couldn't win the fight, they would naturally look for someone who could actually win to fight. It was completely unsurprising that the village chief would look for his son instead of entering the woods himself. The most update n0vels are published on NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Of course, Su Yu couldn't tell them all that. Thus, he nonchalantly said, "You're so surprised because you lack understanding of the Human Realm. You need to learn more about the Human Realm. That will be very helpful in making your disguise in the Human Realm more believable."
The white masks had no response to that. What could they say when his words made so much sense?
Chapter 1129: A Spectator Watching The World Burn (3)
Beifeng City.
Before long, the local Great Xia Army received the report. As of late, Great Xia had been on the hunt for Profound Nine. Thus, the army had been receiving numerous reports on suspicious individuals or incidents as of late.
A Cloudbreach personally headed to the village to perform a deeper investigation.
He did not act rashly. Rather, he stayed a night in the village. After sensing the barely detectable source qi undulations and tasting the spring water, he concluded that this was source qi of incredibly high quality.
The unknown cultivator would not be weaker than the Mountainsea Realm. An unknown Mountainsea expert in the woods. The Cloudbreach immediately thought of Profound Nine. Instead of investigating further, he withdrew from the village and reported the matter to his superiors.
An unknown individual suspected to be at least a Mountainsea had appeared in the woods.
***
Before the end of the day, Yuan Qingdong, who was pretending to be busy in Beifeng, received the report.
He was left quite speechless as he questioned, "Nobody saw this unknown expert with their own eyes. Why are you here telling me that this might be Profound Nine? Are you making this conclusion through some vague source qi undulations? Perhaps it was a beast cultivating in the woods. Perhaps it was a natural phenomenon. Instead of investigating the matter properly, what are you doing here?"
The commander replied, "Vice Principal Yuan, we need to be cautious. If that was really Profound Nine, we might risk alerting him in advance by investigating ourselves. Even if that wasn't him, it won't take you long to check the area. In Great Xia, we are required to maintain the highest level of alert for such encounters. We can't give any enemy the opportunity to escape."
Yuan Qingdong cursed inwardly. Why were they bothering him for such a trivial matter? They didn't even see the so-called expert with their own eyes. Relying on only the report of a random villager, they were telling a Sunmoon like him to do something? Did they think that he was an errand boy or something?
How annoying.
He felt terrible.
Screw Great Xia! What a terrible prefecture.
Actually finding Profound Nine was the last thing he wanted to do. There was no point in risking himself like this.
But with the commander standing in front of him, he could no longer feign ignorance. Thus, he said, "You guys should investigate further. When you're certain—"
"Lord, if that was really Profound Nine, nobody here would be his match. You are the only person capable of contending against him. The people we send will die pointlessly and he might flee after noticing that he has been discovered. It won't be easy to find him again after this."
Yuan Qingdong was furious, "You can't be serious. I'm a Sunmoon. Am I supposed to investigate every small matter personally? Is this what you expect of all your Sunmoons?"
"Lord, this is a military operation, not a normal operation. Great Xia considers this a war. For killing a military commander of Great Xia, Profound Nine must die. Please don't hinder the fulfillment of a military objective."
Holy shit!
Yuan Qingdong cursed inwardly again. A mere Mountainsea was actually threatening him.
Left with no choice, he coldly said, "Fine. I'll find some time to go there."
"Please don't tarry. Try to be careful when you're there. Profound Nine was able to escape unscathed after fighting a Sunmoon previously. He is extremely strong. If you do manage to find him, you may contact the Martial Dragon Guard. Their experts can join you and kill the enemy together."
Yuan Qingdong snorted inwardly. What nonsense. If that was really Profound Nine, he naturally wouldn't put himself at risk and fight personally. He wasn't even a citizen of Great Xia.
He would be more than happy to leave the job to the Martial Dragon Guard. Meanwhile, he would continue to look busy without actually trying his best.
***
Finally, Yuan Qingdong departed from Beifeng City.
Naturally, he was very careful when he moved.
First, he went to the army headquarters to ask about the village head. Then, he questioned the Cloudbreach in charge of investigating the village earlier. He even consumed some of the spring water collected from the village. He verified that there was indeed some source qi in the water. Some time had passed since the water was collected so even the little bit of source qi remaining was on the verge of fully dissipating away.
Even so, Yuan Qingdong found nothing suspicious about it. What was so suspicious with some source qi in water? Why were these people so surprised by that?
Wait, was water not supposed to come with source qi?
Yes. Yuan Qingdong was not aware that regular water did not come with source qi.
Someone with his prestigious background lived in a place filled with source qi, including the water there. It wasn't like he had been completely sheltered all his life. He had tempered himself in the Allheaven Battlefield before as well, but the Allheaven Battlefield was also a place filled with source qi. Thus, the water there was naturally filled with source qi as well.
Only a true commoner would understand that regular water did not come with source qi. This would only happen in places with a high density of ambient source qi. And these remote regions in the Human Realm were naturally not places with high source qi density.
Someone like Yuan Qingdong who had grown up in the Knowledge Seeking Realm would not be aware of this. Apart from the Knowledge Seeking Realm, he had only been to the three major seas of the Human Realm, the major cities, the various grottos, and the Allheaven Battlefield. These were all places with high source qi density.
After all, someone of his status had no reason to visit a place with low source qi density. Even if he had participated in demonic beast hunting missions before, these demonic beasts would only appear in areas with considerable source qi density.
Carrying his doubt, he left the city and set off to the village.
***
Near the mountain.
Yuan Qingdong withdrew his presence. Instead of rushing into the woods rashly, he stayed outside and sensed the air around him.
Then, he took a jade talisman out and tossed it into the sky.
After a series of investigations, he frowned.
The flow of source qi in the air was indeed rather chaotic. This aligned with what would happen after someone cultivated in the area.
"Is there really an expert here?" Check latest chapters at novel⁂fire.net
Yuan Qingdong cursed. How unlucky of him.
Why must he be the one to discover Profound Nine?
"Profound Nine...someone capable of fighting Sunmonns, exact cultivation level unknown. He might actually be a Sunmoon."
Profound Nine had not shown any common signatures of Sunmoons during his previous combat such as manifesting suns and moons in the sky. But that did not mean that he was not a Sunmoon.
Yuan Qingdong sank into thought. Should he proceed with the investigation? Would Great Xia actually make things difficult for him if he refused?
At that thought, he took a voice transmission talisman out and sent a message, "Profound Nine might be hidden here. I require reinforcements."
After a moment, he received a reply, "Wait there. Director Ji Hong will be there shortly."
Yuan Qingdong exhaled in relief.
Good. Ji Hong might be a new Sunmoon, but he had already broken through into the second stage. With Ji Hong around, he no longer had anything to worry about. With another Sunmoon by his side, his safety would be much more guaranteed.
***
Yuan Qingdong proceeded to wait instead of heading into the woods.
Meanwhile, the white masks were waiting in a random cave.
Bored, Su Yu started speaking through voice transmission, "Lord Rainbow One, please hurry over when Yuan Qingdong arrives."
"Of course."
The reply was short and concise.
Moments later, Rainbow One, who was waiting somewhere else, received a message from the two chambers.
"Lord, there seem to be some movements in Great Xia. Director Ji Hong of the Talent Fostering Bureau has departed the bureau not long ago."
"Ji Hong?"
Rainbow One frowned. Did Profound Nine get it right? Was Yuan Qingdong really so cowardly that he asked for reinforcements before he saw an enemy? Rainbow One didn't even know what to say anymore. That was a Sunmoon. And an Invincible descendant. How could he be so cowardly?
"Ji Hong is likely a second-stage Sunmoon. There is...nothing to fear if I have to deal with both him and Yuan Qingdong at the same time."
Then again, things had gotten a lot more dangerous for Profound Nine and the others who were acting as bait. After thinking about it, Rainbow One decided to stick with the plan. Nor did he warn them about it.
He was actually looking forward to kill even Ji Hong as well. Recently, the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had received a request with a massive reward promised for completion. The reward had not been made to any of the branches. Rather, it was a request made directly to their headquarters. The reward for killing Ji Hong was unbelievably generous.
After checking his database, Rainbow One found the records pertaining to Ji Hong.
"A hundred drops of profound yellow liquid!"
Rainbow One was very tempted. Previously, he had not paid much attention to this request. It was actually made quite recently. Just who did Ji Hong offend to get such a massive bounty placed on him?
How could Rainbow One miss out on such a handsome reward? As a fifth-stage Sunmoon, he shouldn't have much issue killing a second-stage Sunmoon.
Nevertheless, he still decided to be prudent. Thus, he sent a message, "Black One, I need your help. If nothing happens, so be it. If something happens, I'll owe you a favor for this."
After a short while, a reply came, "Where?"
"Near Great Xia's Beifeng City. Be careful on your way."
"Sure. Did you encounter a big fish, Rainbow One?"
"I'll tell you more later."
"Alright."
***
Su Yu was completely unaware that both parties were asking for reinforcements at the same time. Apart from the four of them, four Sunmoons would also arrive at this nameless mountain soon.
***
At the same time.
In Heart Cultivating Pavilion, Wan Tiansheng was smiling with satisfaction. Sure enough, Su Yu was a lot more reliable when it came to completing tasks.
Ji Hong was already on his way. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion might deploy more people as well. Good. All eyes should converge on Great Xia. What could be more interesting than Great Xia? He had to lure even the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion experts over to achieve this goal.
"If I can attract dozens of Sunmoons into Great Xia, things will become even more interesting. Their deaths will be the best opening for the coming show."
As for Su Yu...Wan Tiansheng was certain that kid would not die. A bastard like that would always live a long life.
Wan Tiansheng started humming an unknown song as his mood improved.
He had been worried about the issue of attracting more attention to Great Xia. But after this, several Knowledge Seeking Realm Sunmoons would come. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion would also send more of their Sunmoons over. He could then try to lure even more Sunmoons into Great Xia. It would be great if he could gather over a hundred of them.
He had been inactive for fifty years. Now that he was finally going to make a move, how could he settle with killing only some small fries?
"Ji Hong..."
Wan Tiansheng laughed with amusement. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to teach that fellow a lesson. That fellow needed to understand that not everyone could be investigated without repercussion.
A hundred drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid as a bounty. That would be enough to etch that lesson into his head.
Chapter 1130: I Have A Big Secret (1)
Somewhere on the nameless mountain.
Su Yu's tribulation character pulsed slightly. He maintained the same expression, but he also wondered if this was starting to get dangerous.
Had Yuan Qingdong arrived?
He walked out of the cave. Behind him, Earth Eighteen said, "Don't roam around. Be careful lest someone is waiting in ambush."
"It's fine."
Su Yu answered nonchalantly. These white masks were the ones who should be careful, not him. It wouldn't be so easy to kill him.
Outside the cave, Su Yu looked around. The air felt rather stiff. He was unsure if he was imagining this.
Suddenly, his heart thumped as he roared, "Leave!"
Right after saying that word, he vanished with a flicker. The three white masks in the cave said nothing and moved immediately. One rammed through the wall and flew into the sky. One phased underground, and one left through the cave entrance.
At that moment, a massive seal dropped from the sky.
Boom!
The seal dealt massive damage to the landscape.
In the sky, Ji Hong had appeared.
With an indifferent expression, he remarked, "So he's really here. And he's not alone. Principal Yuan, stop wasting time. If capturing them alive proves difficult, just kill them all."
Not far away, Yuan Qingdong nodded and unleashed a palm attack.
Boom!
The ground cracked as underground, a white mask started coughing blood. But the white mask continued going deeper underground, not daring to wait even one moment.
There was more than one Sunmoon here. There were two of them!
The battle instantly flattened the area.
***
Su Yu, who was in the middle of fleeing, cursed inwardly.
Two Sunmoons.
How unlucky.
Fine, he should have expected this. But that Wan Tiansheng was indeed unreliable. That fellow had not given him any reminder. If he had not detected that seal in advance, he would have been crushed to death by it.
Suddenly, a half-moon appeared in front of him.
His vision swam as the half-moon shot toward him.
As a response, Su Yu threw a punch. Source qi rippled out while the air around him shook violently. With a rumble, the half-moon shattered.
"Hmm?" Up in the sky, Ji Hong exclaimed in surprise, "Profound Nine?"
Was that the famous Profound Nine? Impressive indeed.
"Vice Principal Yuan, deal with the others. I'll kill this guy."
"Alright."
Yuan Qingdong was naturally pleased with this arrangement. He was also relieved. Sure. Ji Hong could deal with the more difficult opponent. He could deal with the rest. If he had arrived alone, he might not have been able to do anything to Profound Nine. Sure enough, he was right. This was going to be a dangerous mission.
Instantly, a massive battle broke out.
As for Su Yu, he roared, "Don't split up. Work together against him. He's only a fresh first-stage Sunmoon. Join hands against him!"
At that, the three white masks grouped up.
"Die!"
All of them were late-stage Mountainseas. They were no weaklings.
Yellow Nine attacked with a sword, Earth Eighteen slammed an entire mountain onto Yuan Qingdong, while Profound Seventeen vanished into thin air, leaving countless transparent threads around Yuan Qingdong.
The three Mountainseas were actually able to put up a fight against Yuan Qingdong.
***
As for Su Yu, he was faced with a large incoming seal.
Su Yu had seen this seal before. It was Director Ji Hong's weapon of choice. It was quite an impressive weapon. Instead of revealing his characters, Su Yu fought only with his physical strength. He threw a punch.
After a loud collision, the seal was sent flying away. But Su Yu's fist was also bleeding due to the impact.
"Not bad. You have a decent physique."
With a laugh, Ji Hong sent his seal flying toward Su Yu again. With a roar, Su Yu's aura surged. Utilizing both death qi and source qi, he threw another punch. Ji Hong's expression changed as his seal continued shooting forward.
But when the seal came into contact with the death qi, hissing sounds rang out as the death qi started corroding it.
"Ancient city resident?"
Ji Hong was surprised to learn that Profound Nine was actually an ancient city resident. Was he not afraid of death? How brazen of him to actually travel so far away from his ancient city.
There were actually benefits to becoming ancient city residents. For example, they could utilize some death qi in combat. And death qi was not something a regular person could withstand.
Boom!
Once again, the seal was sent flying. With a cold voice, Su Yu spoke, "Ji Hong? Yuan Qingdong? Why waste your effort fighting here? If the two of you are interested, I can invite both of you to the pavilion. I can even apply to make both of you white masks as well."
"Heh."
Ji Hong merely sneered as his seal transformed into a sword before shooting toward Su Yu again. Su Yu was not sure if Ji Hong was a warrior or a cultural researcher. But Ji Hong did feel like a cultural researcher from the way he fought.
Su Yu was able to barely put up a fight against Ji Hong. As for the three white masks, they were suffering under Yuan Qingdong's attacks.
No matter what, Yuan Qingdong was an Invincible descendant. He was also a Sunmoon and a cultural researcher. With a break character, he was able to break Earth Eighteen's mountain, Profound Seventeen's threads, and Yellow Nine's sword.
As he fought, he sneered. How could three mere Mountainseas be his match? How fortunate. They had actually encountered four white masks. Ji Hong should not have much issue dealing with Profound Nine, right?
Fortunately, he had not arrived alone. Once again, he rejoiced the wisdom he displayed by not coming alone.
Not far away, the sword was flying all around Su Yu, leaving wound after wound on his body. Abruptly, he roared as his eyes lit up brightly.
Whoosh!
A beam of fire shot out, threatening to render everything to ashes.
"Fiery eye race?"
This was a racial ability Ji Hong knew. He took a step back, but the air around him started burning and cracking. This was a very powerful ability.
Even the three white masks were alarmed. Finally, they knew something more about Profound Nine. So this was someone from the fiery eye race. This race did not rank that highly among the myriad races. They also lacked an Invincible. But they did have a decent number of Sunmoons.
How surprising that Profound Nine was actually so strong. If he wasn't a member of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, he would have advanced to the higher echelons of the fiery eye race.
Su Yu naturally wasn't bothered about what they were thinking. The previous Profound Nine was a fiery eye. He was unsure if that information was known by others, but he decided to play his role well. The fiery beam threatened to burn everything in its path.
Su Yu was not planning to fight with all his strength. Rainbow One should be near already. He only needed to keep Ji Hong busy for a short while.
***
Meanwhile, Rainbow One was on his way over. When he scanned the area, he confirmed that there were no other hidden enemies.
He was also quite surprised at the strength Profound Nine had displayed. Profound Nine was actually able to put up a fight against Ji Hong. He was also happy. This seemed to be his opportunity to earn a massive profit. He hid himself in the void and withdrew his presence as he started sneaking toward Ji Hong.
Ji Hong had just recovered from his shock at witnessing Su Yu's strength. Just as he was about to launch another attack, his heart thumped as he instantly vanished with a flicker. At almost the same moment, a sword stabbed through his dissipating afterimage.
"Lord!"
Su Yu was relieved. Good. He was not too worried about Ji Hong's safety. Since Wan Tiansheng was already aware of what was happening here, he reckoned Ji Hong would be fine.
Rainbow One said, "Deal with Yuan Qingdong. I'll be there after taking Ji Hong down."
"Yes!"
Yuan Qingdong was a much better opponent for him. As for Ji Hong, that was an opponent best left for Rainbow One to enjoy. And thus, Su Yu flew toward Yuan Qingdong without any hesitation.
As for Yuan Qingdong, he felt greatly threatened. The three white masks were suffering greatly in his hands. He was sure that he would be able to obtain victory soon. But he still unhesitatingly decided to withdraw.
A strong opponent had arrived. Perhaps this whole thing was a trap in the first place. Damn it. Fortunately, he had called for backup before coming. Otherwise, things would have gotten really bad for him.
Just as he turned to leave, a character exploded right beside him.
Boom!
That was his defensive character. It had blocked a punch from Su Yu. Yuan Qingdong was still sent flying away, but thanks to the character, he was fine. When he stabilized himself, the defensive character reappeared beside him.
With a cold snort, he glanced at Rainbow One and Ji Hong. He did not plan to stay any longer. Looking at the approaching Profound Nine, his eyes flickered. Instantly, Su Yu's vision blurred.
An illusion?
Su Yu was surprised. Was Yuan Qingdong good at illusions? How lucky. Su Yu himself was also rather proficient at illusions.
His blood force surged as he blasted through the illusion with his powerful physique. Then, he roared, "Surround and kill him!"
The three injured white masks said nothing and started approaching Yuan Qingdong again.
Before Yuan Qingdong could leave, Su Yu threw another punch at him, causing yet another explosion. Yuan Qingdong cursed inwardly. That warrior was too strong.
Strictly speaking, that warrior was actually slightly stronger than him. As a member of a minor race like the fiery eye race, this person was surprisingly strong. Was this a first-stage Sunmoon? Or a second-stage Sunmoon? Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novel•fire.net
With the white mask blocking all scans, it was hard for Yuan Qingdong to see through the actual cultivation level of Profound Nine.
Chapter 1131: I Have A Big Secret (2)
Su Yu was unconcerned with what Yuan Qingdong was thinking. He didn't even care what Wan Tiansheng intended to do here. He only had one thought in mind: if nobody arrived to help Yuan Qingdong, he would kill Yuan Qingdong.
Why should he care if Yuan Qingdong was dead? It wasn't like they were friends. In fact, they could be considered enemies.
After charging forward, Su Yu threw yet another punch, followed with even more punches.
Yuan Qingdong's defensive character started shaking repeatedly as he was assaulted by illusions and a break character. Meanwhile, Su Yu continued raining punches at him relentlessly.
After about a hundred punches, Yuan Qingdong was finally sent flying. He crashed into the ground loudly with blood seeping out of his mouth.
Su Yu did not relent and shot toward the crater created by Yuan Qingdong's fall. With a furious roar, Yuan Qingdong took out a talisman. Su Yu reacted immediately and started withdrawing instead. At the same time, a golden beam shot out of the talisman.
All of Su Yu's hair stood on end the moment he saw the golden beam. What a powerful talisman. It was powerful enough to even make him feel threatened. Yuan Qingdong was indeed an Invincible descendant. One should never underestimate him. His talisman was actually stronger than even the talismans Topsoil Spirit used previously.
Su Yu's instincts were telling him that this was an attack capable of taking his life. Thus, he withdrew in Rainbow One's direction without any hesitation.
Not far away, the previously overbearing Ji Hong was receiving a terrible beating from Rainbow One. At this point, his hair was dishelved while his entire body was already dyed red with blood. Just as it felt like all hope was lost, Su Yu suddenly rushed over.
Noticing that, Rainbow One cursed inwardly. But he had no choice but to lend Su Yu his support. A slender sword shot toward the golden beam, creating a massive explosion
That explosion turned an entire hill into fine powder.
The battle had just started not long ago, but it had immediately devolved into a battle to the death. None of them was holding back. Or to be precise, Su Yu was the sole individual holding back.
He was only here to act out a play. Why should he risk himself facing Yuan Qingdong's talisman? When danger arrived, who else should step forth apart from a stronger expert? And since Rainbow One was so strong, it was only natural for Su Yu to pick him as the expert to step forth.
While Rainbow One was dealing with the golden beam, Ji Hong took the opportunity to throw a punch with a roar. Rainbow One believed that Profound Nine had his back. Alas, he was too naive. In the blink of an eye, Su Yu had flown far away.
He had zero interest in joining that fight. While fleeing, he shouted, "Lord, we will keep Yuan Qingdong busy! Please assist us after killing Ji Hong!"
Once again, Yuan Qingdong found himself in the encirclement of four white masks. He cursed inwardly yet again.
That white mask fighting Ji Hong was very strong. Even the attack of his talisman had been blocked with one strike.
Yuan Qingdong started withdrawing while fighting his opponents. Instead of Su Yu, he focused on the other three white masks. After several massive attacks, the three white masks finally dropped from the sky, powerless to fight any further.
Su Yu greatly suspected that they were feigning weakness. Unfortunately, he couldn't prove it. So be it. It was normal that they weren't willing to fight further. Which Mountainsea would be keen to fight a Sunmoon? Unless one had no choice, one wouldn't do something like this.
Su Yu continued fighting Yuan Qingdong. This was a way for him to temper himself. The last Sunmoon he fought was the red toad Sunmoon in the ancient city. Ultimately, he had prevailed by relying on blood essence consumption. ṟàΝՕβĘṤ
With so many people here, he did not intend to do the same thing. He didn't even use any of his characters. Rather, he fought with only his physical cultivation. He didn't even use any punching techniques that were too powerful.
He would only use a racial ability every now and then. Even so, he was able to put up an intense fight against Yuan Qingdong. In fact, as the fight progressed, he started gaining the upper hand. The intense fight caused Yuan Qingdong to cough blood again and again.
At the same time, Rainbow One was also holding the absolute upper hand against Ji Hong. With a snort, he unleashed yet another sword strike, aiming to kill Ji Hong and finish the fight.
Right at that moment, Ji Hong roared, "Stop! I have an important piece of information I can use to buy my safety. I know who's trying to kill me. I'm your target, right? Don't you want to know the reason for that?"
Su Yu sneered, "We're only here to kill Yuan Qingdong. You think too much—"
Rainbow One interrupted and asked, "What information do you have?"
He was very interested in this.
Just what information was worth such a large bounty?
While coughing blood, Ji Hong demanded, "Pull back and I'll tell you."
"Speak or die." Thɪs chapter is updated by novel{f}ire.net
Information peddling had always been Heavenly Hunt Pavilion's main line of business. An important piece of information could be sold to countless people for massive profits. Meanwhile, an assassination mission would end once the mission was completed.
These days, selling information was much more profitable than killing. That was why Rainbow One was so interested. But he also knew that he had to end this quickly or something unexpected might happen. Thus, he decided that if Ji Hong tried to buy time, he would finish Ji Hong off immediately.
After coughing yet another mouthful of blood, Ji Hong said, "This information is related to an Invincible. It's related to the human traitor. I—"
Right after those words were said, Rainbow One's expression changed. The expressions of Su Yu and Yuan Qingdong changed as well.
Invincible?
The human traitor?
That was massive!
In truth, after learning about the existence of a traitor among the Invincibles, even Yuan Qingdong was starting to wonder if his grandpa was that traitor. If not, it would likely be one of the Invincibles behind the eight families. Yes. Even Yuan Qingdong believed one of them was the traitor.
Ji Hong was actually investigating this matter? No wonder. No wonder the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion's Sunmoon was targeting Ji Hong instead of him. Understanding dawned on Yuan Qingdong. Someone must have issued a bounty for Ji Hong's life in the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.
Suddenly, Su Yu threw another punch at Yuan Qingdong. This punch was much stronger than all the previous punches, instantly crushing Yuan Qingdong's arm and breaking his bones.
Then, Su Yu expressionlessly gathered the chunks of bones and blood in the air. Meanwhile, Rainbow One was still immersed in his shock. Invincible? The human traitor? This would be an incredibly valuable piece of information! He couldn't even imagine how much it was worth!
The human race would probably be willing to pay even ten thousand drops of yellow profound liquid for this information! And Ji Hong knew this information? Why didn't he reveal it, then? Or was this a lie to buy time?
"Who is it?"
Rainbow One switched to voice transmission. While gasping for breath, Ji Hong spoke through voice transmission as well, "I don't know the exact identity of that traitor, but the possibilities have already been narrowed down to only three Invincibles. One of them is definitely the traitor..."
"Who are they?"
Inside, Rainbow One grew greatly excited. Since the possibilities had been narrowed down to only three, it wouldn't be too difficult for them to determine who the actual traitor was. With the wide network of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, they could continue the investigation and easily find out the identity of that Invincible.
But right at that moment, the air around them rippled.
Suddenly, space was torn apart as an incomparably powerful individual stepped out of the opening. The newcomer said, "Audacious! The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion is courting death!"
Rainbow One's expression changed.
Su Yu's expression changed as well.
"Are you waiting for him?"
Out of nowhere, an old man appeared. Hovering in the sky, his usual gentle bearing was nowhere to be seen. His back was perfectly straight as he radiated an intense presence akin to an overbearing demon.
Administrator Hu!
Su Yu had seen how Administrator Hu was when he was raging. Back during the battle between the single and multiple character factions, Administrator Hu had demonstrated his strength, easily crushing a Sunmoon character clone. Once again, Administrator Hu was showing his violent side.
An individual was grabbed in his palm.
Black One.
Caught in Administrator Hu's palm, Black One struggled madly, but he was unable to break free.
"Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, Black One, and Rainbow One. How brazen of you. Do you think Great Xia is a place you can come and go as you please?"
Boom!
As Administrator Hu tightened his grip, blood and flesh splattered everywhere, followed by a falling moon from the sky. Rainbow One unhesitatingly ignited his blood essence and fled.
"Can you even run?"
After throwing a casual palm strike at Su Yu and the others, Administrator Hu vanished as he went after Rainbow One. The faces of Su Yu and the others fell.
After throwing yet another punch at Yuan Qingdong to break more bones, Su Yu roared, "Withdraw! Damn it!"
Then, he threw another punch. If this punch landed, it would kill Yuan Qingdong. Right at that moment, Administrator Hu's palm arrived. Su Yu was forced to withdraw his punch and started fleeing instead.
The other white masks had started fleeing even before him, but the pressure of the palm strike proved too much for them to handle. With a rumble, Profound Seventeen was crushed and killed.
As for Su Yu, he started fleeing while punching the transparent palm. When he finally punched through the palm, he prepared to make his escape. But right at that moment, the injured Ji Hong sent his seal flying toward Su Yu.
With a loud rumble, the seal struck, causing blood to splatter everywhere. With a roar, Su Yu's eyes lit up as he sent a burning beam toward Ji Hong. At the same time, he burned every single drop of blood he left in the area.
After doing that, he vanished into the distance.
Yellow Nine also grabbed the opportunity and fled through the hole Su Yu created on the palm. Behind them, the gravely injured Yuan Qingdong was still recovering from his shock at nearly dying. Just as he was about to say something, Ji Hong struck Earth Eighteen down with a single palm strike. Out of nowhere, Yuan Qingdong felt a killing intent directed toward him.
Alarmed, he turned his head with fear in his eyes. It was Ji Hong!
"Director Ji! What are you planning to do?"
Yuan Qingdong was terrified. What was Ji Hong thinking?
Ji Hong coldly asked, "You...heard what I said previously, right?"
"Nope. I heard nothing!"
Realization dawned on Yuan Qingdong. Ji Hong wanted to silence him. Fear gripped his heart. Yes. Since he found out what Ji Hong was investigating, he naturally needed to be silenced.
"Director Ji, the two escaped white masks know this as well..."
"They don't know enough. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion will not expose anything without knowing more. It's not worth it."
One step at a time, Ji Hong started approaching Yuan Qingdong. Desperate, Yuan Qingdong said, "I know nothing as well! Trust me! I know nothing! Director Ji, you can't kill me! The Yuan Family won't spare you! They will find out the truth!"
Suddenly, a miserable wail rang out from afar. Then, a deafening explosion rang out as a moon fell from the sky.
Rumble!
Source qi flooded the area.
Chapter 1132: I Have A Big Secret (3)
Ji Hong's expression changed. Before he could react, Administrator Hu reappeared nearby. Blood could be seen on his body. He looked at the two and frowned, "What are you doing here? Why are you not giving chase? Damn it! You allowed the two rats to escape!"
Instead of giving chase, these two were wasting their time with internal strife. Damn it!
Ji Hong's expression changed slightly as he said, "I only stopped to check Vice Principal Yuan's injuries. I'll start the pursuit."
Right after saying that, he vanished into thin air.
As for Yuan Qingdong, his expression changed repeatedly before he finally spoke, "M-my injuries were too heavy. Director Ji was worried so he stopped to check my condition..."
"Rest well." Still frowning, Administrator Hu said, "That Profound Nine is quite impressive. He must die."
After saying that, he vanished into thin air as well.
At this point, Yuan Qingdong was already completely drenched in sweat. Both his arms had been broken, but he couldn't even be bothered to worry about his injuries anymore. Rather, he took out a voice transmission talisman, swallowed, and vanished into thin air as well. He did not have the courage to stay there any longer.
"Father!"
He started calling for his father.
Before long, he received a reply, "Yes?"
"Father, something big happened! I was nearly killed!"
"Are you fine?"
"I'm seriously injured, but I'm still alive. But...this is big! Several Heavenly Hunt Pavilion experts ambushed me and Ji Hong earlier. To preserve his life, Ji Hong tried to sell his secret to the pavilion. He claimed that he knew something about the traitor Invincible. I don't know more since they proceeded to talk through voice transmission. Hu Dehao arrived too quickly. Two middle-stage Sunmoons and several white masks of the pavilion were killed, but two white masks managed to escape. Father, this is big!"
"..."
In the Knowledge Seeking Realm, the expression of Great Yuan King's youngest son changed as he replied, "Ji Hong? What does he know?""
"I don't know. But Father, Ji Hong tried to kill me! Hu Dehao might not be aware of this. He returned right as Ji Hong was about to kill me, forcing Ji Hong to give up. Father, I'm in great danger. Ji Hong...Ji Hong...Father, I want to go home! I'm gravely injured!"
Yuan Qingdong was losing his composure. He did not want to stay in Great Xia anymore. He already knew that things were getting more and more dangerous in Great Xia. And finally, this ticking bomb was going to go off.
Ji Hong might have discovered something, but he had been patiently staying silent. But that unknown Invincible might have learned of this. Thus, a bounty was issued for Ji Hong's life. But Ji Hong had survived.
Regardless of whether this remained a secret, this was a major matter. Furthermore, who knew if that traitor Great Yuan King, the backer of his Yuan Family? Yuan Qingdong did not dare to guarantee that his grandfather was not the traitor. After all, there was no need for an Invincible to tell them about his business.
"You can't leave. You're now the vice principal of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. Return to the academy and stay inside. I'll send help. Great Xia...is going to sink into chaos."
Yuan Qingdong's father was also greatly shocked. He warned, "No matter what, stay in Great Xia. You are not allowed to leave. At this moment, there are a lot of opportunities in Great Xia. Of course, there are also many variables. But if you remain in the capital, your safety will be guaranteed."
"No. Father, not even the capital is safe!"
Yuan Qingdong cursed inwardly. His father had no idea. Whatever. He decided that he could no longer rely on his father. His father could only see the opportunities, but his father was also completely unaware of how dangerous things were becoming. A single misstep might cost him his life. He stopped conversing with his father and contacted someone else instead.
"Big Brother Zhang, the Nanyuan ruin is going to open soon. Are you interested in taking a stroll at Great Xia?"
"Big Brother Wang, a lot of fights have been breaking out in Great Xia recently. I just killed a few Heavenly Hunt Pavilion experts not long ago, including a Sunmoon. Things are really bustling over here. Are you interested in having some fun here? Maybe you can come with Big Brother Zhang and the others. With enough manpower, we can even vie for the ruin!"
"..."
Yuan Qingdong started contacting his friends. This was too dangerous.
Since he did not have his father's permission, he couldn't leave. This position as the vice principal had transformed into his personal prison. If he left, he would be punished for dereliction of duty. 𝘙åΝ𝐎Β̧
Since that was the case, he might as well call all his friends over. All of them were Sunmoons. He would feel much safer with more Sunmoons by his side. Things would be less dangerous with so many Sunmoons operating together.
Those fellows back in the Knowledge Seeking Realm had no idea just how dangerous Great Xia was.
***
At the same time.
Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. Human Realm's branch.
White One was frowning.
He was staring at a screen. One message after another flooded the screen.
"Requesting for reinforcements!"
"Requesting for reinforcements!"
"Enforcer Rainbow One has been killed! Reinforcement required! We have important information! Assistance required!"
Before long, the enforcer elder arrived. With a gloomy voice, the elder said, "Black One is dead. Rainbow One has died not long ago as well. Prior to that, he reported that he had something important to report. That information is related to Ji Hong..."
Rainbow One had been killed before he could even finish his report. As for Black One, he had been killed before he even knew anything. They had also lost two white masks. Both Profound Seventeen and Earth Eighteen had perished. Only Yellow Nine and Profound Nine survived. And both were madly calling for help.
The elder thought about it and said, "Ask Profound Nine about the information."
"Yes."
White One was taking this very seriously. They had actually lost two enforcers. Damn it! Those were both middle-stage Sunmoons!
"Profound Nine, what is this information you're talking about? What happened?"
"Save me! I'll tell you after you save me! A Sunmoon is coming after me! It's Great Xia's Hu Dehao! He's a late-stage Sunmoon! If I die, this secret will die with me!"
The look in White One's eyes changed as he contacted Yellow Nine instead, "Yellow Nine, how are things over there?"
"Danger! Absolute danger! I'm fleeing separately from Profound Nine! I require assistance!"
"Do you know about the secret Profound Nine discovered?"
"Yes! Save me and I'll tell you!"
"..."
White One cursed. Both of them were treating the secret as the bargaining chip. What should they do now?
"Elder, what should we do about this?"
The elder frowned and said, "Ask around and see if any elder is nearby. Get that elder to help."
"What if this is a trap?"
The elder said, "Great Xia does not have their top experts at the moment. Even if this is a trap, the elder will be able to stay alive."
"Yes."
White One was worried, but he did as told and contacted the nearest elder. The elder was requested to help. And then, they waited silently. Even as they were waiting, they couldn't stop feeling anxious. Just what happened?
How did they lose two Sunmoons? Wasn't everything progressing smoothly? They did check Rainbow One's previous reports. Everything seemed to be progressing smoothly. But out of nowhere, they started dying. Was this a trap?
***
As for Su Yu, he was cursing inwardly while fleeing madly.
Was Administrator Hu not aware of his identity? That damn administrator was actually not holding back!
An attack was launched from far behind him.
Boom!
Su Yu felt like his entire body was about to break apart. Holy shit! That damn administrator was really trying to kill him!
Su Yu had the urge to consume blood essence to further fuel his escape. He was unsure of Yellow Nine's status, but he was too busy to care. After a while, his expression changed abruptly as he threw a punch with a roar.
Boom!
A barrier appeared ahead of him as a surprised faceless elder appeared. "No wonder you can survive until now."
The elder was impressed with Profound Nine's strength. This level of strength was already comparable to a second-stage Sunmoon of a minor race. He never knew Profound Nine was this strong.
"Leave. I'll stop the pursuit."
"Thank you, Elder!"
Su Yu was quite surprised. This was an unknown faceless elder. But it did not matter. He ignited his blood essence and continued fleeing at a rapid pace.
Noticing the unstable aura of Profound Nine, the elder realized that Profound Nine had suffered serious injuries. He said nothing and placed a massive formation down. Moments later, two powerful auras erupted in the area.
And after some time, the faceless elder fled while coughing blood.
As for Administrator Hu, he stepped forth from the void with dishevelled hair and unstable aura.
"Martial Dragon Guard, heed my command. Search Great Xia and hunt down all those rats."
"Yes!"
Numerous experts soared into the sky and split in various directions.
Looking around him, Administrator Hu spoke coldly, "Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. How audacious. Hand Profound Nine over or Great Xia won't let this slide. How dare you cause chaos in Great Xia?"
There was no reply. Administrator Hu did not mind the silence, but he couldn't help frowning. Something felt off about everything that had happened today. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel※fire.net
He felt as though he was missing something. Why were there suddenly so many Heavenly Hunt Pavilion experts here? After losing two middle-stage Sunmoons, they actually sent a late-stage Sunmoon over. Was that only for the sake of saving that white mask? Was Profound Nine that important?
Also, what was wrong with Ji Hong and Yuan Qingdong? If the two had joined hands, it wouldn't be hard for them to kill Profound Nine. In order to deal with Rainbow One, he had to ignore Profound Nine. He had thought that Ji Hong and Yuan Qingdong would be enough to deal with Profound Nine, but they had actually allowed Profound Nine to escape.
He had numerous questions. Furthermore, the marquis wasn't even back yet. In that case, how did the marquis know that Ji Hong was in danger? Administrator Hu cursed inwardly. He felt like a fool that was being used by someone as a tool.
Chapter 1133: Profound Nine Becomes Famous (1)
Great Xia was in chaos.
Seven experts from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion were discovered. Four of them perished, with two being Sunmoons.
Yuan Qingdong nearly died. Ji Hong was injured gravely.
Hu Dehao, who had been keeping a low profile, took action and personally killed the two middle-stage Sunmoons before injuring a faceless elder, displaying an incredible level of strength.
The old timers in Great Xia were revealing their strength one after another. It was as though there was no end to the surprises Great Xia could provide.
That day, Great Xia issued a kill order, targetting not the faceless elder but Profound Nine. Profound Nine had challenged Great Xia's dignity. Thus, he could not be tolerated. Even Heavenly Hunt Pavilion itself was classified as an enemy organization at the level of Myriad Race Cult. Every member of this organization could be killed without trial.
And every human with an index copy in hand must declare it to the authorities. Anyone caught with an undeclared index copy would be punished severely. After returning to the capital, Administrator Hu issued a series of orders regarding the pavilion.
At the same time, a large number of experts started heading toward Great Xia. Some were the people called over by Yuan Qingdong and some were Heavenly Hunt Pavilion members. Something big was about to happen in Great Xia. They naturally had to be there when it happened.
Profound Nine and Yellow Nine had gone missing. Both had severed contact with the pavilion. According to Profound Nine's final message to the pavilion, he suspected that there was a human in the pavilion. The human had betrayed them.
Yes. Su Yu, the actual spy, was shouting loudly that there was a spy. At the moment, he was hiding atop a random tree. His white robes had been replaced with green robes for better camouflage.
Inwardly, he was swearing up a storm.
Suddenly, his mask shook.
"Where are you?"
That was First Profound. Su Yu asked straightforwardly, "Why do you ask? Are you trying to track my location?"
"No. An enforcer elder has arrived. He is telling me to inform you that an investigation on whether we have a traitor is underway."
With a complicated expression, First Profound continued, "You claimed that Yellow Nine might be the spy, right?"
"Yes. That fellow has been pretending to fight all along. He didn't contribute much during the fight but somehow he was able to escape as a mere Mountainsea. He's definitely a spy planted by the humans!"
"..."
First Profound was left speechless. If he wasn't already aware of who Profound Nine was, he would have believed that as well. How was this guy saying all that so confidently? He was Su Yu! He was a human, and only a Cloudbreach! If even he could survive, why was he complaining about a Mountainsea surviving?
Su Yu continued, "In fact, I even suspect Yellow Nine's direct superior, First Yellow. Elder First Profound, something is fishy about them, right?"
"..."
Right his ass!
First Profound didn't even deign to give that question an answer. He asked, "What happened? The headquarters issued an order to capture Ji Hong alive with two hundred drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid as the reward. This is a reward normally offered for late-stage Sunmoons. Ji Hong is only a second-stage Sunmoon."
Su Yu wasn't sure if Ji Hong was speaking the truth during the battle. Also, was Wan Tiansheng aware of this? Did Ji Hong really know something about the traitor? He wasn't sure.
Ji Hong shouldn't have mentioned that so easily. Then again, if he knew he was going to die for sure, it was logical that he would try to let Heavenly Hunt Pavilion know about it. Even if the pavilion would profit massively from it, the results of his investigation would still be revealed. Eventually, humanity would find out as well.
Thus, there were many reasons for Ji Hong to reveal the truth. It might not necessarily be due to his fear of death. It was also possible that he only said all that so that the secret would not die with him. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NoveIꜰire.net
Su Yu was unsure. Was Wan Tiansheng aware of this? Initially, only Ji Hong was sent over. Was Old Wan not aware that Rainbow One would be present? That was not possible since Su Yu had informed Old Wan about it. In that case, Ji Hong's appearance might also be a part of Wan Tiansheng's arrangements.
"Wan Tiansheng might know something. This might be deliberate. He might be in contact with Ji Hong. Or maybe he had simply judged that Ji Hong would reveal the secret in such a situation."
This was starting to feel confusing. Why did these geezers scheme so much? How annoying.
Also, there was also Administrator Hu. Su Yu decided to remember that administrator. That fellow had attacked without holding back and injured him heavily. If it wasn't for his powerful physique, numerous trump cards, and ability to regrow his flesh, he might have died from that encounter with Administrator Hu.
At the time, Su Yu was already getting ready to reveal his identity since the alternative was getting beaten to death by Administrator Hu. Fortunately, an elder had arrived in time so he did not need to resort to that.
How lucky.
First Profound said, "The enforcer elder is ordering both you and Yellow Nine to report to him and tell him about the entire event in detail."
"No thanks."
"If you refuse, you will be declared a traitor."
Su Yu rolled his eyes. After a long while, he replied, "I'm not going, but I can agree to talk about this in a voice channel. Also, I need you, the enforcer elder, Yellow Nine's direct superior, and two other enforcers to all be in the room."
"I'll pass the message."
"Sure."
"..."
The conversation ended there.
Su Yu rubbed his chin. Things had gotten really dangerous this time. Old Wan was truly too unreliable. Fortunately, he was already aware that Old Wan was unreliable and had been on high alert. Otherwise, he would have died right after encountering Ji Hong.
Recalling that Yuan Qingdong was not dead, Su Yu thought of the blood he gathered. He intended to extract some blood essence from the blood he gathered and try to read some of Yuan Qingdong's memories.
He wanted to read the memories etched deeply in Yuan Qingdong's being. Did Yuan Qingdong know anything important? But since Yuan Qingdong was still alive, his blood might not be as effective in revealing his deepest secrets.
Next, Su Yu recalled his reputation as the ferocious Profound Nine. He had to uphold that reputation.
"I need to take my revenge for this incident."
As a new idea emerged in Su Yu's mind, he sent a message, "Little Fatty Xia, give me a list of names. I need to kill some people as revenge."
"Are you Profound Nine or Yellow Nine?"
"Guess."
"No thanks. I reckon you're Profound Nine. Yellow Nine is not popular enough to be you."
"Wow. You're so smart."
"No. You're simply too good at climbing the ranks."
Xia Huyou was left quite speechless. He had initially thought that Su Yu was simply a nobody in the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. But it turned out that Su Yu was actually quite a big deal in the pavilion.
Even Yuan Qingdong had nearly died in his hands. Incredible.
"You can't kill too many of them or they will start suspecting you." Xia Huyou said, "So you're trying to create the image of a crazy and petty man, right?"
"Yes. You're so smart and talented. That's exactly what I have in mind."
Su Yu proceeded to praise Xia Huyou. That was indeed what he was planning to do.
This was the time for him to start killing like a lunatic to take revenge for his recent losses. He had to let everyone know that Profound Nine was a madman. He would madly attack Great Xia. At that time, would anyone still think that he was a traitor to the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion?
"Also, don't keep killing those unimportant individuals. It won't be convincing enough. Kill a few important individuals who are not too strong. Hmm...right, I have a good idea. Why don't you kill my uncle..."
"Huh?"
"Xia Xinyi. Do you know him? Xia Chan's father. You should have seen him before."
"What? Are you crazy? I get that you people are fighting for the throne, but is there a need for this? Or are you saying that even someone like him has betrayed Great Xia?"
Su Yu was greatly shocked by this proposal. This guy was telling him to kill Xia Xiao'er's son. Was this guy crazy? That was too cold.
"It's fine. My uncle encountered some issues during his cultivation. I believe that the best choice for him is to destroy his body and cultivate from scratch. The issues are too serious to be worth fixing. This will be a good way for him to safely withdraw from the coming chaos. Just destroy his body and leave a tiny bit of his sea of willpower behind. Don't kill him for real. That feat alone will be enough to shake the entire Human Realm. That way, everyone will truly understand how crazy you are."
"Won't Great Xia go crazy and start hunting me down after that?"
"Of course. But you're not worried about this, right? This is what you want, right? You want to be seen as a madman so this is your best option. My uncle has always maintained a low profile. Even Xia Yuwen is more well-known than him. He has always been quite secretive with his schedule. After blasting his body apart, my second granduncle will return. He will have the excuse to flip out and pull some experts back without arousing suspicion. Without a proper excuse, pulling those experts back will only make it clear that we're planning something."
"Wait. So Great Xia has more experts to spare?"
"What do you think? We still have two Sunmoons at Allheaven Prefecture. One of them is a late-stage Sunmoon. We also have more Sunmoons in the Devil Subduing Army. The chief commander of the Devil Subduing Army is also a late-stage Sunmoon. There are five minor realms under Great Xia's rule. We have twelve Sunmoons standing guard inside those realms. Five of them are late-stage Sunmoons."
Su Yu swallowed.
Holy shit!
Was that real?
He was not aware of all that.
Was Great Xia actually that powerful?
Recently, he had slowly come to believe that Great Xia was actually weaker than even Great Ming.
"Does Great Ming have so many hidden experts as well?"
"Not really. They have some, but most of their main experts love staying home. The three minor realms they conquered are being left to run autonomously. They don't even bother to station a late-stage Sunmoon there. Great Xia is different. Almost all the minor realms under our control are being watched over by a late-stage Sunmoon."
Understanding dawned on Su Yu.
He said, "So you mean I should blast your uncle apart to give Marquis Xia the excuse to summon those experts back?"
"Yes. That's his only son. Such a reaction is completely reasonable. We can't call those experts back without a proper excuse as that will look too suspicious."
"This better not be a lie, Fatty. If you're trying to use me as a tool in your scramble for power before unleashing your Xia Family after me!"
Su Yu was doubting this plan. Could he really do this? Would things really be fine after blasting Xia Xinyi apart? He had to blast Xia Xinyi's body apart and leave only a tiny bit of sea of willpower behind. Any mistake would result in death.
"Shut up! Don't worry. Trust me!"