On this day, the name of Cui Lang from the Great Ming Prefecture made its official debut before the myriad races of the heavens.
As for his previous placement at 360th, no one had paid it any mind. An armament forger was certainly important, but the Heaven Hunting Ranking mostly measured combat strength.
Now, his sudden leap to third place on the Yellow Ranking instantly drew the attention of geniuses across every realm.
Cui Lang!
In that single moment, the name became renowned far and wide.
Killing across six minor stages!
And he hadn’t killed just anyone, but a genius of the Xuan Armor race. Killing a genius and killing a mediocrity were completely different matters. If he had slain a genius on the level of Red Armor, Su Yu might have even made it onto the Profound Ranking this time.
If he had killed a genius of the god or demon races, he would have rocketed directly onto the Earth Ranking, or perhaps even the Heaven Ranking.
Even for a seventh-level Lingyun, it depended entirely on what kind of seventh-level it was.
……
Meanwhile, Su Yu was still tracking his targets. Highly vindictive by nature, in a place unbound by rules, he was determined to settle every single score!
He had exercised enough restraint in the Human Realm. Here, he had no desire to hold back.
As for whether the Xuan Armor race had a Dao Protector with them, it appeared they did not.
Under normal circumstances, Dao Protectors only accompanied geniuses who entered this place for the very first time to grant them an adjustment period.
Once they adapted, neither the Dao Protectors nor the geniuses themselves had any need for such protection.
They had come here to grow stronger, not to remain mama's boys.
If they simply wanted safe tempering and feared death, they never would have come to the Desire Sea Plain; training anywhere else was safer than here.
Reborn amidst adversity, growing through crisis—this was the universal principle all races followed when nurturing their geniuses.
A powerhouse coddled every step of the way was no powerhouse at all.
Without even a sense of crisis, how could one claim to be strong?
No invincible expert had ever reached the pinnacle by being spoon-fed. Every single invincible had endured great tribulations and mortal peril in their youth.
……
"Cui Lang?"
In a dense forest on the Desire Sea Plain, Huang Teng glanced down at his ranking chart, smiled, and said placidly, "Cui Lang of the Great Ming Prefecture... I met that fellow once. He doesn't possess the demeanor of a powerhouse. Him, reaching third on the Yellow Ranking? Even higher than you, Wu Qi? I don't buy it!"
He spoke with total confidence; he simply didn't believe it.
This Cui Lang was either an impostor or someone had seized his body through soul possession.
In any case, it couldn't possibly be the Cui Lang he had met!
Absolutely impossible!
It was the pride and conviction born of a true genius—they were not of the same breed. He had met the man and judged him with his own eyes.
Huang Teng hailed from a commoner background. He had seen far too many aristocratic geniuses, as well as prodigies who rose from humble beginnings. Each had a unique mark. Cui Lang was a vagabond rogue, but he certainly wasn't a ruthless killer.
He lacked the grit to venture into the Desire Sea Plain; Huang Teng was certain of that.
Unless the man had suffered some monumental catastrophe, turned over a new leaf, and charged into the Desire Sea Plain with indomitable resolve. Such people existed, but they were vanishingly rare!
As Huang Teng spoke, Wu Qi, blood trickling from the corner of her lips nearby, cast him a cool sidelong glance and said indifferently, "Does anyone need your belief? And do I need you to prove my worth?"
Huang Teng chuckled. "True enough. You're right, Wu Qi. But... I think we might need to run."
"Run?"
Wu Qi gritted her teeth and said coldly, "Go your own way. Don't stay with me. Moerba wants to kill me? He isn't qualified!"
"Listen to you. He didn't come alone, you know. He brought Tianduo, that genius of the Primordial Demon Race, along with him."
"That's none of your concern either!"
Wu Qi let out a faint snort. She had her pride; if Huang Teng continued to stick by her, he could easily end up dead.
Moerba had targeted her. After clashing several times, Huang Teng had sustained considerable injuries, as had she. Naturally, they had managed to kill a few demons as well.
However, both of them were now heavily wounded. If this continued, disaster would strike sooner or later.
They had to split up!
Wu Qi had no wish to owe anyone favors. Even if she fell in battle here, so what?
Back when she hadn't even reached the Tengkong Realm, she had dared to slaughter her way around the East Rift Valley. Let alone now—this wasn't her first time entering the Desire Sea Plain.
Here, where geniuses of the myriad races vied for supremacy, was her true battlefield.
She had killed others, and if she fell to someone else's blade, she harbored no regrets. The Heavenly Dao moved in cycles; those who killed would inevitably be killed. Coming here, she had long prepared for this fate.
Huang Teng merely smiled and paid her words no heed. He pulled out a jade talisman, activated it, sensed for a moment, and exhaled softly. "Let's go. Cut the chatter. They're closing in again—clinging to us like lingering ghosts!"
With that, he grinned. "I wonder if Qin Fang has arrived. If he has, we could join forces with him and turn around to butcher those bastards!"
Wu Qi ignored him, rising swiftly. After checking their bearings, she fled in a chosen direction.
Huang Teng shrugged, unbothered, and kept pace behind her.
As they moved, he laughed and said, "The Great Xia Prefecture actually has quite a few geniuses—Bai Feng, Xia Yuwen, Liu Hong, Hu Wensheng, and the rest. A pity none of them share the same heart. Everyone has their own agenda. Ah, our human race! Not to mention different prefectures, even members of the same prefecture can't unite."
"That's because of your own incompetence!"
Wu Qi didn't look back as she replied, "If you truly had the ability, you would naturally command everyone's respect! When you lack the skill, who would submit to you?"
"Makes sense!"
Huang Teng nodded with a chuckle. "That's the truth of it. So... I'm still not strong enough. Take Bai Feng, for instance. Stubborn as a dead duck. I beat him several times, yet he still refused to acknowledge me. There was nothing I could do."
Wu Qi remained silent.
Reflecting on it, she found it somewhat amusing. "Bai Feng has always been like that. Refusing to admit defeat to his dying breath. Even when beaten, he won't yield. Totally shameless!"
Huang Teng laughed, letting the subject of Bai Feng drop.
……
On the other side of the East Rift Valley.
At that moment, another figure was lingering near the gorge.
Looking back over his shoulder, Liu Hong sighed with endless melancholy. "Why bother!"
"I've already come all the way to the All-Heavens Battlefield, yet you're still relentlessly clinging to me. I only sold you a few hundred thousand merit points' worth of stuff, didn't I? Is this really necessary?"
"Following me around here won't let you kill me anyway."
Liu Hong felt truly helpless. Really, why go to such lengths?
A scam was a scam. Despite all his calculations, he hadn't expected these people to actually come settle accounts with him. They couldn't kill him, but the main issue was how utterly annoying they were! Tailing him all day long—how was he supposed to enter secluded cultivation?
Wherever he went, these bastards followed.
Behind him, several Shanhai experts caught up. One of them said coldly, "Return the money, and all will be well! Liu Hong, think carefully. Up ahead lies the Desire Sea Plain. You might be considered decent back in the Great Xia Prefecture, but here, you're nothing at all! Do you value money over your own life?"
"What money?"
Liu Hong replied sullenly, "Are you robbing me? One was willing to hit and the other was willing to take the blow—how do I owe you any money? I sold cultivation methods, and you bought cultivation methods. Was there any problem with that?"
The pursuers said nothing.
There was no problem with the transaction itself!
Even so, they still wanted the money back; their hearts simply couldn't swallow the loss.
Moreover, this was an order from their young masters and mistresses. Even if they couldn't recover the funds, they couldn't let Liu Hong have an easy time either—they had to make sure he suffered even with pockets full of wealth.
He had pushed things too far!
Treating the descendants of invincibles like utter fools!
And to their humiliation, they had genuinely fallen for it!
This kind of scandal couldn't be publicized, so they could only claim to the outside world that Liu Hong had swindled them in the black market and they were here to collect the debt. As for how he had swindled them and what had transpired, there was no need to elaborate.
Black market dealings had no legal protection.
Of course, no one provided Liu Hong with protection either.
They wouldn't kill him, nor would they beat him; they just trailed him incessantly. What could he do?
Liu Hong said with exasperation, "Stop following me, gentlemen! We're all on the same side! If you keep dogging my steps, I'll head straight into the Desire Sea Plain. Let me tell you, that place is peculiar. If mediocre Shanhai cultivators like you go in, you'll easily run into Dao Protectors. Geniuses run into geniuses, and mediocrities run into mediocrities. Beware running into a Sun Moon expert and getting wiped out!"
"You dare go in?"
The Shanhai expert behind him sneered, "If you enter and encounter enemy geniuses, you won't even leave behind a corpse! Liu Hong, return the money, and we can all part amicably. The Eldest Young Mistress said that if you truly refuse to pay, that's fine too—just kowtow to her and beg for forgiveness, and that money will be considered a reward bestowed upon you!"
Liu Hong sighed helplessly. "To tell the truth, for this many merit points, kowtowing wouldn't be an issue at all! The problem is, Her Highness took it too far—she insisted on recording it! I still have some face to preserve, damn it! In private, sure, but if that footage spreads, how will I ever face anyone again? Don't you agree?"
"……"
The Shanhai expert behind him was struck speechless. You would actually agree to that?
So as long as there's no recording, you'd happily do it?
Shameless scoundrel!
You call this caring about your face?
You want money over your life, and you don't care about your dignity in the slightest!
"Liu Hong, if you go to the Desire Sea Plain and die, what good is all that money?"
Liu Hong pondered for a moment, then nodded. "True. The main issue is... I don't really have much money left anyway."
He sighed and continued, "Look here, I purchased a full set of peak Profound-rank equipment, which cost me nearly a hundred thousand merit points! I bought a storage ring, bought god and demon essence blood, bought several Heaven Yuan Fruits, bought a bunch of texts of will, and even purchased a large quantity of Yuan Qi Metamorphosis Pills... Tallying it all up, the expenses were staggering. There really isn't much left. Big brothers, how about I share a tiny slice with you, and you stop following me?"
"……"
The group remained speechless. Damn it, he really dared to splurge!
With so much wealth, how much had he already blown through?
Using the money of invincible descendants to buy all these treasures, spending lavishly without the slightest hesitation—this fellow was far bolder than he appeared.
Liu Hong threw up his hands in defeat. "Forget it. Looks like you're determined to stick with me. In that case, let's go throw our lives away together. I'm heading into the Desire Sea Plain!"
With that, he stepped into the air and swiftly crossed the East Rift Valley.
The several Shanhai cultivators exchanged glances, utterly at a loss. He really went in.
The Desire Sea Plain was uncanny!
The greater a genius or powerhouse one was, the easier it was to encounter peers.
A Sun Moon expert could wander around and quickly bump into another Sun Moon, whereas a Tengkong cultivator might strut about openly without ever encountering one.
Helpless, they looked at one another before one of them spoke: "We'll wait around here. That fellow won't dare venture deep into the Desire Sea Plain; he'll come out soon enough!"
They exchanged knowing nods. Right, don't go in!
That place was truly dangerous!
……
At this moment, geniuses were flooding into the Desire Sea Plain from all directions.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was clinging to his targets like a vise!
I'm locking onto you bastards!
You Xuan Armor wretches!
Bullying me, are you?!
He continued his pursuit. At the same time, not far away, a golden dragon concealed within the clouds poked its head out now and then, keeping its eyes fixed on the armored figures ahead.
Occasionally, it would scan the surroundings.
It felt somewhat puzzled. Was the one who killed earlier really a human?
Why did its aura feel somewhat like the Five Elements race?
What a pity that fellow refused to cooperate with it. Otherwise, wouldn't striking together to eliminate the enemy have been so much better?
The dragon sneakily surveyed the area as well.
Must stay careful!
Those Xuan Armor fellows weren't pushovers either!
Underground.
Su Yu trailed behind, steadily closing the distance.
Suddenly, a gust of astral wind swept past.
Red Armor's tone shifted, switching from the universal tongue to the language of the Xuan Armor race as he shouted, "Watch out! Dammit, everyone stay sharp!"
He sensed someone approaching!
Just as the thought crossed his mind, his vision blurred—an illusion!
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, his Yuan Qi soared skyward, its sheer force battering the illusion and causing it to tremble.
The divine character "Blood" was now a fourth-tier divine character.
Its illusions were growing increasingly powerful!
Even with their explosive release of Yuan Qi, they failed to shatter the illusion immediately. Red Armor roared, "Armorification!"
The warriors activated their Armorification one after another!
Rumble!
The hue of the armor adorning their bodies deepened considerably, and their Yuan Qi surged with greater intensity. With a loud crash, the illusion shattered!
Simultaneously, Red Armor smashed a ferocious fist toward the ground beneath his feet!
Boom!
The earth cracked open, revealing dark soil.
Red Armor's expression shifted as he scanned the surroundings, speaking coldly in the universal tongue, "Human friend, what happened before was a misunderstanding. Must you keep hounding us? The Xuan Armor race and the human race are not enemies..."
Even as he spoke, Red Armor felt a jolt of alarm!
He broke through the air instantly, thrusting his spear forward!
In the sky above, a massive hammer came crashing down toward him!
Yet the moment the hammer descended, Su Yu's figure flickered into view behind one of the armored warriors. He delivered a swift kick as the divine character "Slow" erupted. That armored warrior's vision blurred, and both time and space seemed to decelerate.
Even his will fell into a momentary daze!
At that precise instant, the divine character "Thunder" detonated. With a resounding crack, lightning flared, scorching the armor pitch-black. Su Yu's kick struck squarely against the armor, and with a violent bang, the plates shattered into fragments!
Having landed the blow, Su Yu didn't linger for a fraction of a second, vanishing instantly into the earth without a trace.
Up in the clouds, the golden dragon had just poked its head out to dive downward when Su Yu had already fled.
In the next breath, Red Armor let out a furious roar and hurled his spear toward the golden dragon, bellowing, "Kill this dragon!"
A human and a dragon attacking from front and rear was far too infuriating.
They had to eliminate one before dealing with the other!
Su Yu fled too quickly and possessed too many tricks. Despite scanning multiple times, Red Armor had failed to locate his tracks. The dragon, however, had been spotted several times.
"Kill!"
The armored warriors, their fury smoldering, activated their Armorification once more. Their strength surged by another thirty percent, their defenses spiked, and they immediately clashed with the golden dragon.
The golden dragon cursed inwardly!
He runs so damn fast!
I didn't even have time to swoop down!
Cursing aside, the enemy had lost several members, so it harbored no fear. Roaring, its tail swept through the void, sending armored warriors flying backward. Its claws gleamed with razor-sharp sharpness.
Bringing its foreclaws together, it gripped a longsword and began slashing away.
Dragons knew sword techniques too!
Sparks flew in every direction with grating screeches. The armored warriors fought with desperate ferocity, battling the golden dragon in midair. Meanwhile, Red Armor fought while keeping utmost vigilance against another ambush from the human.
Fortunately, Su Yu launched no sneak attack this time.
He would never trust this golden dragon. None of the myriad races were benevolent; if they set a trap and surrounded him, he would be done for.
Enemies setting traps to encircle an opponent was hardly unprecedented.
He would kill on his own terms; if the dragon wanted to fight, it could fight on its own.
Killing the second armored warrior hadn't yielded a heavenly reward, but Su Yu sensed that slaying a few more of these fellows would likely trigger one. These warriors weren't as strong as Qing Kai had been earlier.
However, on the All-Heavens Battlefield, rewards seemed to accumulate.
At the very least, Su Yu had a vague inkling that killing roughly three such individuals would earn him a heavenly reward.
"They're putting on quite a lively show!"
Watching quietly from a distance, Su Yu shook his head after observing for a while. They were all putting on an act. Neither the dragon nor Red Armor's group was using their full strength, likely holding back out of caution against him.
Just as Su Yu guarded against them, they naturally guarded against Su Yu.
After a fierce exchange, the golden dragon swept Red Armor back with its tail and tore through the air to depart. The armored warriors didn't pursue.
Red Armor swiftly cleared the battlefield and led the remaining ten warriors in a hurried retreat toward a specific direction.
Su Yu, unhurried, tracked them while absorbing Heaven Yuan Qi to temper his physical body.
No rush!
Out of fourteen, three were dead.
Keep running all you like!
Let's see if this pursuit can advance my divine characters or forge my flesh one more time.
The divine character "Kill" was still only at the third tier. Su Yu felt that by killing a few more, it would reach the fourth tier sooner or later.
……
Pursuit and flight.
The golden dragon and Su Yu harassed the armored group relentlessly. Along the way, stopping and running, they encountered geniuses from other races. Yet seeing the Xuan Armor warriors battered and bleeding, those outsiders steered clear and departed.
Counting Red Armor, the eleven warriors dwindled further. After seven or eight hours of flight, only eight remained.
Su Yu absorbed another heavenly reward—rubbish Heaven Yuan Qi once more, which left him exasperated.
I'm not lacking this!
I need willpower! Bestowing a giant lump of willpower would be so much better than this.
After running for a while longer, the divine character "Calamity" in Su Yu's mind suddenly flickered.
The Sensing Jade showed no reaction whatsoever.
Yet without a second thought, Su Yu instantly fled through the void, showing no intention of lingering.
……
Up ahead.
Red Armor pushed forward, his mechanical-looking eyes blazing with rage!
A fierce resolve burned within him.
Keep chasing!
Soon, I'll make you regret it.
Just as the thought arose, a thunderous boom erupted behind them. A golden dragon shrieked in agony as a bloody gash tore across its tail. Not far away, a white-haired man executed a sword strike, carving another bloody wound into the dragon's body!
"God race!"
The golden dragon roared and tore through the void to escape without hesitation!
The white-haired man frowned slightly. Just as he prepared to strike with his sword again, he hesitated for a moment and abandoned the thought.
Red Armor flew over quickly, saying in haste, "Many thanks for your assistance, Brother An!"
The white-haired man gave a faint nod, glanced at them, and said indifferently, "Long Wuyou, a genius of the Golden Dragon race and grandson of their Grand Elder. Killing it is troublesome; don't provoke it without good reason!"
Red Armor was slightly startled. "The Grand Elder's grandson?"
"Yes."
The impossibly handsome white-haired man replied with effortless calm, "I have already entered the Shanhai Realm, so it isn't fitting for me to kill it, lest I incur the Grand Elder's displeasure. You, on the other hand... if you truly wish to slay it, wouldn't face much trouble."
He was, after all, significantly stronger than that fellow. Even if he did kill it, he wouldn't truly fear retaliation, but there was no need to offend an invincible expert for the sake of the Xuan Armor race.
Yes, an invincible!
The Golden Dragon race was not weak, boasting two invincibles: the Grand Elder and the Patriarch.
Among dragons, they were second only to the Heavenly Dragon race. Provoking them was utterly unnecessary.
Soon, the white-haired An Mintian spoke again: "That human... I caught a faint trace of him, but he moved exceptionally fast. Before I arrived, he had already fled, so I couldn't finish him off."
There was a trace of regret in his voice, but also surprise.
He had arrived swiftly and remained well-concealed, yet the moment he reached the area, that fellow had already vanished.
Red Armor said with fury, "Almost all of my clansmen fell by his hand!"
He too was thoroughly vexed.
An Mintian didn't care much; dead was dead, nothing extraordinary.
"Enough of that!"
An Mintian said calmly, "Right now, the demons are besieging Huang Teng and his companion. Qin Fang and Huang Teng are banners of the human race. Slaying them will surely disrupt the morale of the human geniuses. Come with me and join the encirclement!"
"Brother An..."
Red Armor hesitated. "Cooperate with the demons?"
"Not cooperate!"
An Mintian said indifferently, "It's taking advantage of the situation. Over on the demon side, if Tianduo falls into a disadvantage... I wouldn't mind reaping some easy benefits. Just follow me!"
"Very well then!"
Having just been rescued and liberated by the man, Red Armor found it hard to refuse now that An Mintian had made the request.
After a moment's thought, he added, "Brother An, if we encounter that golden dragon again, you don't need to kill it. How about helping me trap it? If we can capture it, our clan can fuse through Armorification, allowing me to possess Shanhai-level strength and contribute more on your behalf."
An Mintian considered this briefly and nodded slightly.
Fair enough!
As for killing the descendant of an invincible... slaying one here was no great shock, and he wouldn't be the one delivering the fatal blow anyway. So long as the Xuan Armor race wasn't afraid, it didn't matter.
……
Meanwhile, Su Yu cursed inwardly!
Fuck!
Another powerhouse. Good thing he had fled in time. He had caught sight of the golden dragon's miserable state—truly pathetic, its tail nearly severed clean off!
Who was that white-haired fellow?
He quickly flipped through his information dossiers. Only after quite some time did he find a portrait and profile matching the man:
"An Mintian, second level of the Shanhai Realm, expert of the Ice Snow God race, skilled in swordsmanship, warrior, ranked sixth on the Earth Ranking, has slain a fourth-level Shanhai powerhouse."
"Sixth on the Earth Ranking?"
Su Yu glanced over the entry and curled his lip. Slaying an opponent two minor stages above himself was quite impressive, but among the god race, he might not be considered absolute top tier. Of course, sixth on the Earth Ranking was hardly low.
At least he wasn't from the Primordial God Race.
"An Mintian!"
"Even if I go all out, half-open my Yang Acupoints, and devour essence blood, I might not be his match."
Su Yu sighed. Being capable of slaying a fourth-level Shanhai was truly terrifying. In any case, going all out right now would most likely end with him being killed. Best not to provoke him.
"Dammit!"
He felt thoroughly displeased!
He had planned to pick off the Xuan Armor fellows one by one, yet that guy had disrupted everything!
If he couldn't wipe them all out, leaving survivors would be troublesome.
They had witnessed several of his methods. If this continued, they might not realize it yet because information took time to spread, but sooner or later, his identity as Su Yu would be exposed!
Wind travel, earth escaping, illusions, lightning, and Time—he had used them all.
Right now, those fellows hadn't thought too deeply about it, but soon, they would likely realize something was amiss.
Still, Su Yu didn't worry overly much. He would slip away before his identity leaked, or simply adopt another guise. In any case, the persona of Cui Lang was growing somewhat unreliable.
"If I can't kill them, I'll go kill someone else!"
Along the way, Su Yu had picked up some tidbits of information. Though he lacked personal networks on the All-Heavens Battlefield, he had eavesdropped enough to learn that Huang Teng and Wu Qi were being hunted down.
He didn't care much about Huang Teng, but Wu Qi was Wu Lan's sister after all. If there was a way, he ought to lend a hand.
"Keep a low profile; don't be too flashy!"
Su Yu reminded himself silently to remain cautious. Failing to eliminate Red Armor and the others meant his identity risked exposure, so he needed to deal with them as soon as possible. Hopefully, those fools hadn't connected the dots yet.
After all, news concerning Su Yu was not known to every corner.
He had never set foot on the All-Heavens Battlefield before. Only top powerhouses among the myriad races knew details about him, mostly regarding his cultivation methods. As for other matters, those figures wouldn't bother paying attention to minor skirmishes, let alone deliberately inform their subordinates.
Regarding the exact methods Su Yu wielded, even invincibles probably didn't know the full scope, though they certainly knew about his cultivation techniques.
……
Three hours later.
Su Yu stabbed a tiger-headed great demon to death with a blade, extracted its essence blood, and frowned. "The Heaven Hunting Ranking actively updates combat records?"
Su Yu's brow furrowed. Only now did he learn that he had risen to third on the Yellow Ranking.
"My aura was captured and fed to the Heaven Hunting Ranking, and the ranking displays the name Cui Lang... meaning it was manually entered. In other words, someone must have captured my aura earlier!"
Reflecting on it, it was likely captured while he was still on human territory. Back when he had tracked someone and a Sun Moon expert arrived, he had instantly fled; his aura might have been captured right then.
"Is the captured aura the origin aura, or the outwardly displayed aura?"
Su Yu wasn't entirely certain. But since the name displayed was Cui Lang, he had a rough grasp of the situation. The Heaven Hunting Ranking wasn't as omniscient as people imagined. Most likely, operatives from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion scouted for individuals qualified to enter the rankings.
Afterward, they captured the aura, fed it into the Heaven Hunting Ranking, and created a profile.
Then, if that individual slew ranked experts, the Heaven Hunting Ranking would record the developments.
"If that's the case, things become rather troublesome!"
Su Yu had wanted to switch identities, but if he disguised himself—say, as a demon—and that demon was on the ranking and got killed, the ranking would show that demon had died.
He wouldn't even be able to impersonate anyone!
"No wonder Xia Huyou told me that impersonating someone here is exceedingly difficult!"
"It mostly has to do with this Heaven Hunting Ranking. Who on earth controls the Heaven Hunting Pavilion?"
This was a major headache!
For example, if Su Yu impersonated Huang Teng, even if Huang Teng remained alive, whenever Su Yu killed someone, no battle record would change under Huang Teng's name. Instead, Cui Lang's record would update. Any fool would realize he was an impostor.
"Heaven Hunting Ranking!"
Su Yu muttered under his breath. What a nuisance.
The Heaven Hunting Pavilion was no good thing either!
Unless he silenced all witnesses—killing someone without anyone seeing and without anyone noticing his updated battle record—only then could it work.
For instance, if he disguised himself as Huang Teng and killed someone, Huang Teng's record wouldn't change while Cui Lang's did. People would know Cui Lang had made the kill, but wouldn't know Cui Lang had adopted a disguise to do it.
"The name must be manually updated. Could there be people not on the ranking whose auras haven't been captured, or nobodies whose identities are completely unknown to them?"
Questions arose one after another in his mind.
Su Yu stopped dwelling on it. Slaying this tiger demon had yielded some useful intelligence: over at Heaven-Severing Valley in the west, people were gathering to surround and kill Huang Teng's group.
Su Yu harbored an intense dislike for the tiger race.
It was all because of that Cloud Tiger clan back then. That tigress from the Cloud Tiger clan had dared try to scheme against him, leaving Su Yu with sheer disgust for all tigers.
"Heaven-Severing Valley?"
Information regarding Heaven-Severing Valley surfaced in Su Yu's memory. Legend held that two invincibles had clashed here, and a single saber strike had split the earth open, carving out a chasm hundreds of li long across the plains.
Because it had been an invincible battlefield, saber qi still crisscrossed the ravine to this day, making the valley fraught with peril.
Without further thought, Su Yu shifted his physical form, transforming into a translucent water person. Now, I belong to the Water Person race!
Unless he struck to kill and onlookers noticed a change in his battle record, few would see through his altered form.
Humans were in a delicate position here right now.
Powerhouses from the god and demon races had flooded the area; one had to be careful not to draw their crosshairs.
Assuming the guise of a water person, Su Yu understood the Water Person race intimately. The Five Elements race was small in number anyway, so the odds of running into an actual member were minuscule.
As for the giant hammer, he wouldn't use it next time; switching to something else worked just as well.
The hammer had merely fit his forged identity better. Without it, his divine character battle technique was originally a blade.
On the All-Heavens Battlefield, Su Yu took to things like a fish to water!
Here, the appearance of any race was nothing out of the ordinary.
Here, you could transform into whichever race you pleased and no one would overthink it, because any of the myriad races could appear at any given moment. With the Primordial God Race and Primordial Demon Race already present, all other races congregating here was perfectly normal.
Having transformed into a water person, Su Yu traveled swiftly, drifting through the air like a mist before arriving at another location in the blink of an eye.
Along the way, other powerhouses were also rushing toward Heaven-Severing Valley.
Human geniuses Huang Teng and Wu Qi being besieged by the demons at Heaven-Severing Valley was major news. Huang Teng was the pillar of the Great Xia Prefecture's younger generation; if he died, the Great Xia Prefecture would weep bitter tears.
Several races caught wind of the commotion and hurried over.
Su Yu did the same.
Time to go watch the spectacle!
If he could rescue them, he would; if not, so be it. He had no intention of throwing his own life away just to save someone else. He wasn't that noble. If not for Wu Qi's presence, he wouldn't even have bothered going to look. If Huang Teng ended up killed, it had nothing to do with him.
They hardly knew each other!
……
Meanwhile.
Inside a colossal canyon, Huang Teng glanced left and right, laughing. "Don't worry, have no fear! This is the saber scar left behind when King Daxia battled someone back in the day. Here, anyone who knows the Heaven-Cleaving Blade will be like a fish in water! Those bastards dreaming of besieging me here are out of their minds!"
Indeed, it was a saber scar left by a battle of invincibles, and one of those invincibles had been King Daxia.
A single slash had carved a rift hundreds of li long, forming Heaven-Severing Valley.
Wu Qi, however, felt suppressed and stifled by the lingering saber qi of the Heaven-Cleaving Blade. Frowning, she said, "I told you, you can leave. Why do you insist on following me?"
"Life is too boring. Isn't it wonderful to take on a challenge and have a bit of fun?"
Huang Teng smiled. "Normally, killing people has to be done in secret. Now that everyone is gathering here, we can kill as many as we want when the time comes! Isn't that joyful?"
"If you die, the Xia family will probably weep!"
Wu Qi spoke flatly, but Huang Teng merely shrugged and laughed. "Hardly. Dead geniuses aren't worth a coin. It's just that the Xia family invested heavily in me—the Marquis will probably cry over the massive loss."
Wu Qi let out a laugh; that was certainly true.
Marquis Xia probably would weep!
The Great Xia Prefecture had staked a great deal on Huang Teng, investing heavily across the board, including opportunities to forge his body in the Heaven Yuan Holy Land. If Huang Teng kicked the bucket, the Marquis would surely ache to the marrow of his bones.
Huang Teng said nonchalantly, "Let the Marquis cry if he wants. The Great Xia Prefecture has plenty of geniuses; they can just nurture another one. I'm hardly unique."
Wu Qi said coldly, "The Xia family passed over many others just to invest in you. If you die, you will have failed them!"
"I won't shoulder such a heavy burden!"
Huang Teng walked along while comprehending the surrounding saber qi, chuckling as he spoke: "Everyone calls me the second Manor Lord Xia... but I don't really like that title. People who are called 'the second so-and-so' never meet a good end. I am who I am—Huang Teng!"
With those words, saber qi erupted from his body with immense ferocity. Huang Teng seemed to have gained some insight and sighed with emotion: "King Daxia was truly formidable. This saber qi... even after so many years, feels even more powerful than Manor Lord Xia's!"
He added, "Anyone who practices the Heaven-Cleaving Blade should take a stroll through this place. This was a strike executed with absolute intent to kill an invincible back then. A pity that invincible didn't die; otherwise, this place would have become a true dead land!"
Wu Qi ignored him; she wasn't a warrior.
Plenty of people practiced the Heaven-Cleaving Blade, but not everyone could master its essence. Just because he gained insights didn't mean others could. This fellow was simply far too gifted.
At this moment, with geniuses gathering outside, Wu Qi no longer cared. At worst, she would die here.
Huang Teng possessed formidable strength and was inside Heaven-Severing Valley formed by the Heaven-Cleaving Blade. Once she died and he was freed from her burden, he stood a decent chance of fighting his way out, so she didn't need to worry too much on his behalf.
*If I die, my generation... will depend entirely on that silly girl!*
Wu Qi thought to herself with a helpless sigh. *Forget it, you're better off sticking to research. That's good enough.*
*If the old Wu family has to count on you, there probably isn't much hope left.*
Chapter 365