Subjugation

Late at night. The Primordial Spirit Research Institute was brightly lit. Inside the records room, Wu Lan, Wu Jia, Hu Qiusheng, and the others were all hard at work, browsing through reference materials volume by volume. Busy, but deeply fulfilling. Enriched! Striving together for a noble cause! Even if only Wu Lan might have truly harbored that thought, none of them stopped, diligently flipping through various records one by one. "I found one!" Wu Lan suddenly exclaimed in delight. "Senior Sister, write this down! This book mentions that the Heavenly Dragon Race is born in the Qianjun Realm and opens one hundred and forty-four apertures. Their Wanshi aperture-merging takes as little as half a year, and at most a year. Merging one hundred and forty-four apertures that quickly definitely means there's a trick to it!" Yawning, Wu Jia walked over to record the finding. She could not help admiring the girl. Reading this late into the night, wasn't she tired at all? Wu Jia herself was already on the verge of falling asleep. The moment she looked at books, her eyelids drooped! "Heavenly Dragon Race..." Wu Jia noted it down and said between yawns, "We've already found eighteen races that might possess such techniques. On the human side, there are roughly thirty-seven cultivation methods that could suppress the repulsive force during aperture-merging. However, for those eighteen foreign races, we can't obtain their manuals... We'll have to rely on Junior Brother Hu to find a way to track them down." Hu Qiusheng nodded and continued leafing through manuals. To the side, Jiang Mu suddenly chimed in, "Something just occurred to me, you should jot this down! In a book titled *Travels in the Myriad Realms*, I once read a theory claiming that all living things are born with a single aperture. Postnatal development causes the apertures to divide and separate, which is why the myriad races all strive to merge them—a single aperture at the Sun Moon Realm, a single aperture at the Invincible Realm..." He explained at length before concluding, "Because these apertures were originally one whole, their eventual division causes them to behave like magnets—once severed, they naturally repel each other! That is the principle behind the origin of the repulsive force." Wu Jia quickly scribbled it down and asked in haste, "Does it say how to resolve this repulsive force?" Jiang Mu's words made quite a bit of sense. Of course, none of this was certain at present. Born with a single aperture? None of them had ever experienced such a thing, nor had anyone formally proposed it. Even if someone had, it was likely just an offhand remark in a travelogue. Jiang Mu thought back and said, "Well... I can't recall clearly, but it should... let me think... Oh, the author made a passing comment. Since the aperture shattered into so many fragments that repel one another like positive and negative magnetic poles, where like poles repel, then one must look for the corresponding connections between the two poles..." "What does that mean?" Wu Jia failed to grasp the concept. Hu Qiusheng understood. He chuckled and said, "He means that if a complete building block shatters, you have to locate the matching piece before you can continue piecing it together..." "Still don't get it!" Wu Jia muttered under her breath. Outside the door, Su Yu walked in with a light laugh. Picking up a scrap wooden board, he effortlessly shattered it into dozens of fragments. Gathering two pieces that fit together, Su Yu smiled and explained, "It's like a jigsaw puzzle! What Jiang Mu means is that when a board breaks, haphazardly forcing random pieces together will never assemble the whole picture. In the end, the repulsion will only grow stronger. You must assemble them in proper order, according to how they originally fit, and only then will you reconstruct the original board." With that, he fitted the fragments in his hand together and tossed them to his senior sister. Looking at Jiang Mu, he smiled and said, "Jiang Mu, that information is quite interesting! Putting aperture-merging aside for a moment, it actually gives me an idea regarding the primordial spirit aperture. Tell me, if all apertures originally formed a single circular board, could this primordial spirit aperture be the center of the circle?" Su Yu grabbed another piece of wood, quickly shaved it into a disc, and drew a red dot in the middle. "This is the center of the circle, which represents our hypothesized primordial spirit aperture! The front side contains the yuan apertures, and the back side contains the divine apertures!" Sketching as he spoke, Su Yu smiled. "Assuming both yuan and divine apertures reside on this board... separated only by front and back, then the primordial spirit aperture is the midpoint, the core, and the key junction for merging them into a single aperture in the future!" Hu Qiusheng's eyes gleamed. "You mean that in the future, the primordial spirit aperture could serve as the unifying point between a Civilization Master Invincible and a physical body Invincible? No, or rather, the key point for unifying the paths into one!" Su Yu nodded. "The possibility exists! If it's true, then once an expert reaches the peak of the Sun Moon Realm, merging the divine apertures into one and the yuan apertures into one, and subsequently unearths the primordial spirit aperture, wouldn't connecting both sides through the primordial spirit aperture allow them to step directly into the Invincible Realm? Regardless of whether they are a Civilization Master or a warrior?" The more Hu Qiusheng listened, the more plausible it sounded. He quickly added, "It's possible, but there's no way to verify it! Truth be told, warrior experts at the peak of the Sun Moon Realm who also simultaneously cultivate the Civilization Master path to the peak of Sun Moon are virtually nonexistent right now..." "Which is why we can't find anyone to test it for us!" Su Yu chuckled. "No rush!" He truly wasn't in a hurry; that was still far off. Dropping the topic, Su Yu said briskly, "Record everything discussed each time, seal it, and treat it as top-secret data! Setting the primordial spirit aperture aside, how is the aperture-merging auxiliary method coming along?" Wu Jia hurriedly handed him the notes she had just written. Su Yu looked them over. There was truly strength in numbers! Impressive! In just one evening, they had identified so many races and manuals that might pertain to aperture-merging cultivation. After a moment's thought, Su Yu looked around and asked, "Where's Xia Huyou?" "He got sleepy... and went to bed!" Wu Jia complained, slightly irritated. *A lazy fat guy who doesn't work—no wonder he's so fat.* Su Yu chuckled. Without wasting words or using a voice transmission talisman, he promptly retrieved his communication device and dialed him. On the other end, Xia Huyou answered helplessly, "It's this late, aren't you sleeping?" "I'm sending you a list. Tomorrow, help me purchase blood essence from every race on it. They don't need to be strong; Qianjun or Wanshi Realm will do!" "Is it expensive?" "No idea. Estimate the price yourself!" Su Yu genuinely didn't know, but it certainly wouldn't be cheap. After all, even the Heavenly Dragon Race was on it. He knew they were among the top one hundred races—or rather, the top ten. 'Dragon Race' was a collective term for a colossal race that ranked in the top ten. The Heavenly Dragon Race was among the top three branches of the Dragon Race. Their strength was formidable in the extreme! Whether Xia Huyou could procure it was uncertain. In any case, Su Yu had never consumed Heavenly Dragon blood essence before, nor did he recall ever being killed by a Heavenly Dragon. As for some of the other races, he had already unlocked their pages in the golden album. Yet without blood essence, he couldn't unlock their cultivation arts. He still needed blood essence! Furthermore, Su Yu needed to translate the text on the corresponding album pages to understand what it meant. Hanging up the call, Su Yu quickly addressed the room, "Everyone, could you also look up the innate skills and basic cultivation techniques of these races?" With that, Su Yu grumbled, "After all these years, why hasn't anyone in the academy built a translation machine for the myriad races' languages?" If such a device existed, he could translate whatever he pleased and clearly understand the innate skills and basic techniques he unlocked. "Unless it involves divine characters or willpower, you'd have to look to the scientific research academies for that kind of invention," Hu Qiusheng explained. "Our academy usually doesn't manufacture such machines. It's outside our field!" Su Yu complained, "A translation device, though! Isn't that something we need? With so many languages among the myriad races, do people really have to consult old pedants every single time they need a translation?" "Not necessarily!" Hu Qiusheng explained again. "Actually, it's because the academy doesn't place much emphasis on it. As the academy puts it, it's best to master the language yourself to better understand and study it, rather than relying on translations. Translations aren't direct, and certain nuances can easily get lost in translation. "When it comes to cultivation, one cannot afford haphazard translations. Often, a single mistranslated word can cause massive deviations!" Su Yu understood that point. Cultivation was unlike anything else; a translation error could cost someone their life. In that light, it wasn't that the academy lacked capability, but that they had considered the risks and worried that translations wouldn't convey the true meaning. Even so, Su Yu still grumbled, "Even if it doesn't translate cultivation techniques, just translating basic everyday vocabulary would be fine. Even if a mistake is made, the impact wouldn't be huge as long as one gets the general gist. Does something like that exist?" "Probably?" Hu Qiusheng was not entirely certain. Jiang Mu chimed in, "It does. Do you need one? If you do, I can get one for you later!" "That would be wonderful!" Su Yu was overjoyed. There really was such a thing! Excellent! With that, things would be much more convenient. At the very least, he could translate the writing on the pages he had unlocked. As for the ones he hadn't unlocked, that naturally was out of the question for now. Su Yu once again felt the benefit of having a large team. See? The moment a need was mentioned, someone stepped up to solve it. How refreshing. Otherwise, working all by himself, who knew how long it would take to deduce the required techniques? "Thank you for your hard work, everyone. You can rest for today and continue tomorrow!" At these words, Wu Jia breathed a huge sigh of relief. Wu Lan, however, said in dissatisfaction, "What time is it right now? The Breakthrough Team is meant to tackle hard challenges. Can't we even overcome this minor difficulty? Keep working!" "..." The entire records room fell silent. Hu Qiusheng and the others looked toward Su Yu. *Did you dupe her so thoroughly that she lost her mind?* Su Yu cleared his throat lightly and said, "Well, Wu Lan, this isn't a job for just a day or two. It's a marathon. We need proper rest to have the energy to continue tomorrow! I know you want to do your part for everyone and for the human race, but balancing work and rest will let us perform better tomorrow!" "You guys go ahead, I'll read a bit longer..." Wu Lan ignored him. *No perseverance, no grit! As scientific researchers, pulling all-nighters is what we're supposed to do! What do you people know!* "..." Su Yu felt helpless and secretly worried. *If you drop dead from exhaustion, will your grandaunt kill me? If your grandaunt doesn't kill me, will your elder sister kill me? If your sister doesn't kill me... I heard your Wu family has another powerhouse, Wu Yuehua's mother, a Sun Moon Realm expert. Will she kill me?* *What a headache!* *Come to think of it, what do you even call your grandaunt's mother?* Su Yu's mind wandered. Wu Yuehua was the sister of Wu Lan's grandfather, meaning Wu Yuehua's father was Wu Lan's great-grandfather. Understood—that Sun Moon expert was her great-grandmother! Lost in thought, Su Yu suddenly asked, "Wu Lan, does your great-grandmother like you?" "Huh?" Wu Lan froze for a moment, then looked up at him with a huff. "Of course! When Great-Grandmother wasn't in secluded cultivation, she doted on me the most! Even more than she doted on my sister!" "..." *Then you definitely can't drop dead here. If nobody cared about you, so be it, but with a Sun Moon Realm powerhouse doting on you, I'm truly terrified of the trouble.* Su Yu offered a few more words of persuasion, marveling inwardly. There were so many people with powerful backgrounds around here. Hu Qiusheng—his grandfather was a Sun Moon. Wu Lan—her great-grandmother was a Sun Moon. Ji Xiaomeng—her father was a Sun Moon. Wan Mingze—his granduncle was a Sun Moon. Xia Huyou—his father was a peak Sun Moon, his granduncle was a Sun Moon, and his great-grandfather was an Invincible. Zhao Shiqi—his grandfather was a Sun Moon. The Great Xia Prefecture truly had no shortage of powerhouses. …… After making the necessary arrangements, Su Yu did not linger and returned to the Wen Tan Research Center. He had to depart early tomorrow morning and needed to make preparations. Although he was only going to the city outskirts this time, and incidents rarely occurred within the prefectural capital, that didn't mean nothing could happen. The detention area. Su Yu stepped inside once more. Ignoring the other great demons, he looked at Shadow. "You and Water Person are both skilled at concealing your tracks. I need to head outside and require a bodyguard. Which of you is willing to take the job?" Water Person, seventh-stage Lingyun! Shadow, third-stage Lingyun. At these words, White Civet spoke up quickly, "Lord Su, though I am merely in the Tengkong Realm, I am also adept at concealing tracks and disguising myself, and I am extremely fast..." Fire Crow grew even more anxious. "Lord, I am small in stature. Even without a disguise, ordinary people won't notice me. While I cannot deal with warriors, if I spit a mouthful of my natal flame at a Civilization Master, even a Shanhai Realm expert would be injured..." Seeing those two grow desperate, Mountain-Boring Ox and Suanni became even more frantic. What did this mean? Just because they wanted someone skilled in disguise, were rough-skinned, thick-fleshed demons like them being cast aside? Mountain-Boring Ox urged in a hurry, "Lord, when you travel, do you need a mount? I travel both swiftly and steadily!" Su Yu couldn't be bothered with them and brushed them off casually, "No need for now! Furthermore, tomorrow I'll be bringing along Manor Lord Xia's son. You do know Xia Longwu's son, don't you? Don't pull any tricks on me. While in human territory, if you can injure him or capture him to threaten Manor Lord Xia, he might just send you straight back to the All-Heavens Battlefield!" The great demons were shaken. *Stop joking around!* Injuring Xia Longwu's son in the Great Xia Prefecture... Digging a hole to bury themselves alive would probably yield a better outcome. *That's courting death!* Without another word, Su Yu brought out his communication device again and dialed Xia Huyou. Xia Huyou replied impatiently, "Something else?" "Accompany me to the All-Races Pit tomorrow. You don't even have to go inside; just trailing behind me is fine. Help me intimidate a few great demons. I have several fellows locked up here and plan to have them escort me tomorrow, but I'm worried they might revolt." "Shanhai demons? Then I can't handle that. I'll find someone to shadow you..." "No, the strongest is Lingyun." "Damn it!" Xia Huyou snapped in annoyance. "Just slaughter Lingyun ones, why keep them around? Are they from the Primordial God Race or the Archfiend Race? Lingyun demons are useless. Su Yu, don't blame me for speaking bluntly, but where is your foresight? Unless they're cubs, old coots like that should just be butchered and sold for parts. They aren't useful, and cultivating them has no value!" With that, Xia Huyou complained, "And for that, you want me to act as your bodyguard? To intimidate someone? Aren't you taking me too lightly? Given my status, even among the myriad races, even among the gods and fiends, I'd still be considered an imperial prince..." "In the dead of night, you keep calling me over trivial matters like this?" "Cut the nonsense!" Su Yu said bluntly. "At worst, once my research yields results, I'll give you another copy of what I gave you last time!" "..." The line went silent for an instant. The next moment, Xia Huyou's chuckle grew sickeningly sweet. "Brother Su, call on me anytime tomorrow! Damn it, a few puny demons dare cause a fuss? I'll have the Longwu Guards raze their ancestral nests and wipe out their entire races!" At these words, the great demons inside the cages fell utterly silent. Xia Longwu's son! An Invincible great-grandfather, a father on the verge of the Invincible Realm... Just as Xia Huyou had claimed, in any other race, his status would place him among the imperial princes. If the Longwu Guards were truly deployed in full force, wiping out their races might be a stretch—after all, these great demons belonged to high-ranking races—but they could definitely inflict crippling damage. Naturally, Xia Huyou was mostly boasting. Yet when it came to the madmen of the Great Xia Prefecture... it was hard to say. "Fine, that's settled then. Hanging up..." "Wait, Brother Su, do you really have more?" "We'll talk later!" Su Yu hung up directly. Xia Huyou... If Su Yu truly intended to hand out a second cultivation method, Xia Huyou would be the first person he considered. In the Great Xia Prefecture, life would be exceedingly difficult if one didn't maintain good ties with the Xia family. If Xia Huyou were an enemy, that would be one thing, but right now, they were friends. Giving it to Xia Huyou would provide Su Yu with an extra protective umbrella. After hanging up, Su Yu looked toward the great demons and said placidly, "Shadow, Water Person, which of you is willing to step forward?" Shadow let out a faint sigh! "Lord Su, I am willing to serve as your Dao Protector!" It truly had not anticipated that Su Yu would establish a connection with the Xia family prince so quickly, and judging from their tone, they were quite close. As for whether Su Yu was lying to them... there was little point. Whether that boy was Xia Longwu's son would naturally become clear in due time. Inside Cage No. 1, Water Person condensed into a physical form and said gently, "I am willing to serve you, Lord!" At this point, they had no other choice! Either die, or surrender. Su Yu stroked his chin and said, "I'm still a bit concerned. Your lives aren't worth much, but my life is far too valuable! What if you disregard your lives and strike me down the moment you step out? Even though you'd be dead for sure, I would suffer too great a loss..." With that, Su Yu smiled. "Hand over your core divine characters so I can control them! Though losing your core divine characters will weaken your strength slightly, it offers me some assurance." Water Person replied softly, "If that is truly your wish, Lord, I have no objections. However, the Beast Taming faction should possess binding methods. Why choose an approach that weakens our strength..." Su Yu smiled. "For now, I don't want others to know of your existence! I'll ask around later to see if there are other means to restrain you. For now, hand over your core divine characters!" Both Water Person and Shadow sighed softly. When under another's roof, one had no choice but to bow one's head. Once a core divine character was destroyed, the sea of will would suffer severe backlash, crippling the user's strength. This was an inherent vulnerability shared by all Civilization Masters across the myriad realms. Mountain-Boring Ox grumbled in a muffled voice, "Their divine characters are Tier-3. Lord... can you suppress them? How about handing them to me for safekeeping... Take me along as well, Lord! I swear I won't betray you!" Hearing this, Fire Crow hurriedly chimed in, "Lord, you can give them to me for safekeeping! I'll suppress them with my natal true fire. Unless they wish to die, they will never dare rebel!" Shadow and Water Person were nearly beside themselves with rage. When disaster struck, it truly was every demon for itself! Even the two strongest Lingyun demons had chosen to surrender, to say nothing of the others. They had surrendered! Otherwise, they would truly just be waiting for death! Bai Feng was gone and no longer needed them for experiments, and Hong Tan had long ceased caring about them. At this point, they truly had no way out. If this continued, once Su Yu no longer needed them, would there be another feeder? Likely not! Su Yu was their final caretaker. This was an outcome all the great demons understood perfectly well! There was nowhere else to go! Su Yu stroked his chin. "Fire Crow, what you said makes some sense! How about this: give me your core divine character, and you suppress theirs. I won't let you out, but the moment I tamper with your core divine character, you'll know they're attempting to revolt and immediately shatter theirs. How's that?" "..." The great demons were struck dumb. Fire Crow felt a surge of grief and indignation. *I want to go outside!* *I don't want to stay in here!* *I've been so obedient and sincere, yet you still won't let me out? I'm going crazy!* Despite the bitterness in its heart, Fire Crow answered dutifully, "Lord is wise! The moment you disturb my divine character, I will incinerate theirs with my true fire!" Shadow said faintly, "Lord, this... If you accidentally graze its divine character... wouldn't we... die for nothing?" It felt terribly precarious! Su Yu replied nonchalantly, "Fire Crow's character is at least a Tier-2 divine character. For it to remotely sense damage, I would have to suffer at least heavy injuries. That would mean I was ambushed before you managed to act. A failure in your duty to protect your master—dying in that case is only fitting, isn't it?" Shadow fell silent. Su Yu did not bother wasting more words. "Hand over your core divine characters now... Actually, wait a moment. I'll notify my martial uncle to come supervise, lest you play any petty tricks!" "..." The great demons felt utterly exhausted once again. This person was terrified of dying to the utmost degree! *We've already surrendered, genuinely surrendered! Can't you show a sliver of trust? This hurts our demonic hearts too deeply.* …… Su Yu couldn't care less about their feelings. Everything he said was the truth: his life was vastly more important than those of these demons. Caution was never a mistake! If not for his current lack of manpower and strength, he wouldn't use these demons at all. Who knew if these demons were unhinged lunatics who, feeling mistreated after years of captivity, would rather take someone down with them than live? If they didn't fear death, wouldn't he be the unlucky one? A few minutes later. Chen Yong arrived. Glancing at the demons, he wasted no time and unlocked three of the cages. Water Person, Shadow, and Fire Crow emerged. Upon hearing Su Yu's plan, Chen Yong said with an amused chuckle, "That works too. How about this: I'll take Fire Crow with me to Cangshu Pavilion. If anything happens, I'll sense it immediately. As for their core divine characters, there's no need to give them to Fire Crow; just hand them to me. With their core characters in my grasp, escaping death will be impossible for them!" In other words, Fire Crow was acting as a communication device. This was far more reliable than a voice transmission talisman. With a talisman, if one was ambushed, there might not even be time to send a message. But a core divine character resided within the sea of will; even if ambushed, one could still mobilize the sea of will, and if one suffered severe injury, Fire Crow's character would be gravely damaged as well. It truly had become a tool crow! Amidst its indignation, Fire Crow also felt a glimmer of joy. *This crow can finally leave this godforsaken place!* *As long as I don't have to stay here, anywhere is fine!* *Cangshu Pavilion... Cangshu Pavilion is great too.* Even though facing Chen Yong terrified it. Chen Yong continued, "Doing it this way actually hampers their combat strength. Later on, I'll head over to the Beast Taming Academy and fetch a restraining ring for you. That's what the human race uses to tame mounts. The only reason your grandteacher never got one was because... they weren't worth it." As he released the demons, Chen Yong explained, "A restraining ring meant for a Lingyun demon costs over a thousand merit points! With that kind of money, it's far better to just keep them penned up for blood essence. It simply wasn't cost-effective." Yes, it was that simple. These great demons weren't worth Hong Tan spending money on restraining rings! As for the Shanhai demons... those were even more expensive, and restraining a Shanhai was extraordinarily difficult, requiring purchases from the Quest Realm. Hong Tan lacked the funds on one hand, and had never counted on these demons being of much help on the other. Neither Water Person nor Shadow uttered a peep! Naturally, no one knew the grief and indignation in their hearts! The reason they had never been restrained or subjugated was simply that in the eyes of Hong Tan and his peers, they weren't even worth the price of a restraining ring! Where could they possibly seek justice? *Had we known earlier... we would have chipped in to cover the difference!* *Even without human currency, we could have sold some of our own blood to buy the restraining rings ourselves.* *Why didn't Hong Tan say so sooner!* *If you told us earlier, wouldn't we have produced more blood to raise the funds?* *Being a demon is so hard!* *To become a mount, one even has to pay out of pocket to buy the ring used to enslave oneself. There's no justice in this world!* …… Naturally, Chen Yong and Su Yu paid no heed to their despair. Chen Yong took possession of the three divine characters. Each was a character written in the script of their respective races! Shadow's core divine character was "Shadow," Water Person's was "Water," and Fire Crow's was "Fire." Curious, Su Yu asked, "Without your core divine characters, can you still conceal yourselves?" Shadow sighed faintly. "Yes. We are born masters of concealment. Losing our core characters merely means our concealment won't be as flawless as before. At the third stage of Lingyun, I previously could deceive certain Shanhai experts. Now... I might only be able to fool ordinary Lingyun cultivators. Moreover, after all these years, our strength has deteriorated; even my innate skills have degraded..." With that, its form flickered. The next instant, Su Yu noticed something peculiar about his own shadow. Looking down, he saw his shadow rippling. After a moment, it settled back into tranquility, showing no abnormal signs whatsoever. Shadow's voice drifted out: "In the past, I could attach myself to the shadow of a Lingyun expert without them noticing. Now... if I attach myself to a Tengkong cultivator's shadow, there is a risk of discovery." Such was the reality of depleted strength and regressed innate skills. Water Person also dissolved into a droplet of water, landing on Su Yu's hand. Its voice resonated, "The same applies to me; my strength has suffered severely. My innate skill is Water Attachment—attaching myself to water, any water source will do. Yet now... it is easily seen through. In the past, even Shanhai experts struggled to pierce it!" Su Yu could actually use the Water Attachment innate skill as well! The prerequisite was Water Race blood essence! He did not say much. It felt sufficient; as long as it worked, that was enough. Without further ado, he picked up the "Fire" divine character. This was written in the Fire Crow script; Su Yu also possessed a "Fire" divine character, but his was human script. After examining it briefly, Su Yu drew it directly into his sea of will. Fire Crow blurted out anxiously, "Be careful not to injure..." The next instant, its voice cut off. Su Yu was completely unaffected. After assessing it, he smiled and remarked, "Quite effortless. This Fire Crow is too weak; suppressing this character isn't difficult at all!" It truly was effortless! Although it was a peak Tier-2 divine character... Su Yu's "Blood" divine character was essentially at a comparable tier. Within Fire Crow's own sea of will, it would have been stronger than Su Yu's, but out of its native environment, it posed little challenge! Su Yu suppressed it with ease! He didn't even need to employ the golden album or the small hammer. *Thump!* Su Yu suddenly struck it lightly with his small hammer. With a dull thud, Fire Crow collapsed to the ground, knocked unconscious! Su Yu blinked. "I barely used any force. Get up!" Fire Crow lay motionless! Chen Yong chuckled, pinching Fire Crow. The crow let out a sharp screech as it regained consciousness, squawking in panic, "Lord, please don't... I haven't betrayed you, stop hitting me..." It was terrified! What was that? All of a sudden, its core divine character had felt as if it suffered a catastrophic blow! Su Yu chuckled. "You're far too fragile! I truly didn't use any force, I swear! I was just testing the effect casually..." A single tap had nearly shattered the divine character! *And you call yourself a Tengkong Realm cultivator! Trash!* At this moment, the great demons were dead silent. A monster! A genuine monster! Suppressing a peak Tier-2 divine character without showing the slightest strain, subduing it effortlessly—it was terrifying. *This is Tempering Realm? Stop kidding me!* Chen Yong was not surprised in the least. Su Yu in the Tempering Realm? What a joke! He didn't believe it either! This was a pseudo-Tempering cultivator; that willpower was practically solidifying. Could this really be called the Tempering Realm? It was sturdier than the willpower of an ordinary Tengkong cultivator! How many divine apertures Su Yu had opened was hard to say. Thirty-six? Nonsense! Even if someone claimed the number was doubled, he would believe it! Suppressing Fire Crow's Tier-2 divine character was naturally effortless. Thus, of the six great demons, three were subdued. The remaining three—Suanni, Mountain-Boring Ox, and White Civet—wore resentful expressions. And Su Yu's subsequent words filled them with dread. "Martial Uncle, from now on I'll be spending most of my time at the Primordial Spirit Research Institute. Of these three demons, I'll take two and leave Fire Crow with you... As for the remaining three..." "Just slaughter them!" Chen Yong said nonchalantly. "I'm quite busy and don't have time to feed them. "Starving them to death is a waste. Just kill them and sell their corpses..." At these words, the three great demons trembled with genuine terror. *They're going to butcher us!* "Lord! Lord! Have you forgotten the Heaven-rank cultivation method I presented to you earlier..." Suanni was beside itself with panic! *They're going to kill me!* Su Yu chuckled. "Forget it, let's not kill them. We've developed some sentiment after all. Leave them here. If I have time, I'll come feed them; if not, so be it. They're just too weak..." He sighed with lamentation. *Only in the Tengkong Realm!* Lingyun cultivators could still be counted as powerhouses. Tengkong, however, felt rather mediocre. *Even though I'm not in the Tengkong Realm myself yet!* The three demons were on the verge of tears. *We're going to starve to death!* Su Yu couldn't be bothered with them. Walking out, he instructed, "Shadow, attach yourself to my shadow. Water Person, hide on my person and don't make a sound! I'll obscure you with a shadow barrier. Can Shanhai experts detect you?" "Yes, they can!" Shanhai experts would be able to spot them. Of course, during their peak, even Shanhai cultivators would have found it difficult. Not anymore! "If Shanhai experts notice, then so be it." In reality, aside from the various academies and the Great Xia Army, Shanhai experts were rarely seen elsewhere. Unlike the academy, they were not lurking around every corner. Take Nanyuan, for instance: let alone a Shanhai, one couldn't even find a single Lingyun cultivator. Having subdued two great demons, Su Yu felt far more at ease. This way, his safety when stepping outside was reasonably guaranteed. Wan Tiansheng had promised him that no Shanhai expert would strike against him; whoever did would die. Shadow and Water Person were both in the Lingyun Realm. Although their power had deteriorated, they could still hold their own if they encountered upper-stage Lingyun opponents. "Everything is set!" Su Yu felt completely reassured now. Chen Yong walked out alongside him, holding Fire Crow in his grip, and asked with a smile, "Heading out? Need me to accompany you?" "No need, Martial Uncle. If you follow, it'll only invite more trouble," Su Yu replied with a smile. "If you come along, people will wonder what we're up to. This way is just right." "If anything happens, damage Fire Crow's core divine character. I'll arrive in no time. It can sense the location of its own character..." "Understood!" Su Yu nodded. Fire Crow remained silent. *I'm just a tracking crow now; I've accepted my fate! Talking as if my core divine character can just be shattered at will... How miserable!*