An Expert at Climbing the Ranks

"Fuck!" Could a guy get a moment of peace to cultivate or what?! Right now, Su Yu was furious. Not far from him, two fellows were staging a whole drama. The first to arrive was a lion-headed creature that had been lying in ambush by the valley edge for nearly an hour. The second fellow, who perhaps thought this was a prime ambush spot as well, had also been lying in wait there for half an hour. That first lion-head had been inching forward slowly for over ten minutes just to get a little closer to the big rabbit that arrived later. Were the two of them ever going to finish? With them lingering here, Su Yu couldn't focus on cultivating at all! Two fellows who had barely stepped into the Lingyun Realm—what was even worth ambushing?! One glance told him they were from weak races. Lingyun wasn't considered weak in the grand scheme, but they ought to check where they were! This was Heaven-Severing Valley, flooded with top geniuses. What were the two of them dawdling around here for? Who were they even trying to ambush? Su Yu was growing thoroughly impatient watching them! Silently, the broken blade floated up and drifted over to the lion-head's side. The lion-head was currently being meticulously cautious, inching forward centimeter by centimeter toward the rabbit-head. The two were roughly a dozen meters apart. Looking at this, the lion-head was preparing to strike. Any closer, and concealment would become impossible. Talk about patient! In truth, Su Yu rather admired these fellows from minor races. To make themselves stronger, they possessed ample patience and ample daring. It was just a pity they lacked sufficient strength. Their concealment ability wasn't half bad, but in Su Yu's eyes, it was nowhere near enough. Besides, he had arrived here first. The moment the two of them showed up, he had spotted them immediately. The lion-head crept onward, closing the gap, gathering force to erupt. Just as it prepared to unleash its strike, Su Yu was about to casually hack it down when he suddenly paused. Up ahead, the seemingly oblivious rabbit-head abruptly kicked out backward with terrifying ferocity! The kick packed incredible momentum! Clearly, this was no spur-of-the-moment reaction. It had discovered the lion-head long ago and had been waiting for the fellow to take the bait! "Holy crap!" Su Yu was taken aback. This rabbit had some skill. These fellows were scheming against each other. The lion-head wanted to ambush the rabbit-head, while the rabbit-head had noticed it all along. Keeping completely still, it delivered a fatal kick the very instant the lion-head lunged! That kick was extraordinarily fierce, unmistakably an all-out strike! The lion-head had just burst out when—bang!—its head was kicked clean apart in an explosion of flesh! "Seeking death!" Ahead, the rabbit-head whipped around and slashed down with a blade. With a squelch, it cleaved the headless corpse in two. Delight filled its heart, and a grin spread across its rabbit face, exposing two large buck teeth! It had been waiting for that fellow to strike for quite some time. The guy was ridiculously slow. Having slain the lion-head with a single slash, the rabbit-head beamed with joy and prepared to mutilate the corpse further... when its expression suddenly froze. Suspended in midair was a broken blade. The rabbit-head was terrified! Before it could even utter a word, squelch! The broken blade pierced through. With a bang, its sea of will blew apart. The broken blade flew back, darting back and forth through the rabbit-head several times, dicing it into multiple chunks. Su Yu resumed his human form and sighed with feeling. "Vigilant enough. Pity... you're not strong enough!" Plenty of schemes, just a bit too weak. He felt a slight pang of emotion. What good was scheming so much? That rabbit-head was shrewd, having realized early on that the lion-head wanted to kill it. It might have deliberately hidden here from the start just to wait for the lion-head to bite. Perhaps it had spotted the other party from the very beginning. And the result? Just as he was thinking this, a small cloud appeared. Having killed enough, the accumulated total earned him another reward from the worldly rules. The cloud drifted down. This time, it wasn't Heaven Yuan Qi, nor was it a worldly divine character, but an object. Su Yu caught it and looked... slightly surprised to find a pill. Packed neatly in a jade bottle! Su Yu looked bewildered. It even gave out pills? Where did this pill come from? What kind of place was the All-Heavens Battlefield, really? Was this a trial ground set up by ancient experts back in the day? So if you killed enough, you received rewards, and all these rewards were stored somewhere by someone in the past? Where was the source of the worldly rules? If one could find that source, could they sweep away all the treasures in one go? Innumerable thoughts flashed through Su Yu's mind! As the pill settled in his hand, a wisp of consciousness surged into his mind. "Soul Refining Pill, expands the sea of will, high-grade Profound rank!" A high-grade Profound rank pill! Su Yu had barely ever consumed pills because his cultivation speed was already blazing fast. He didn't need pills to achieve the same effects. Yet right now, this Soul Refining Pill genuinely intrigued him. Expands the sea of will? A Profound rank pill... If he took a Profound rank pill himself, it ought to be effective, right? He had killed quite a few people before finally accumulating enough for this reward. Killing Qing Kai and Red Armor had each yielded individual rewards, but killing other foes hadn't. That indicated ordinary kills were insufficient on their own and had to be accumulated to a certain threshold before granting a reward. Red Armor's reward was probably the best: a worldly divine character. Qing Kai's was some Heaven Yuan Qi. In the eyes of others, that might have seemed better than a pill, but Su Yu felt this pill was far superior to Heaven Yuan Qi. "Is it edible?" Holding the pill, Su Yu hesitated slightly. Wouldn't it be expired? He had never heard of rewards from the world being poisonous, but these were ancient rules—who knew if it had passed its shelf life? At this moment, he faintly sensed people approaching in the surrounding area. He quickly cleaned up the battlefield, stowed the two corpses, and vanished from the spot with the pill in the blink of an eye. Shortly after he left, a figure arrived as fast as lightning, appearing instantaneously. Lightning! Indeed, the newcomer was a humanoid being, but upon his forehead was a lightning emblem crackling with arcs of thunder. His aura was overwhelmingly formidable. He belonged to one of the more powerful branches of the god race: the Thunder God race. Beneath the Primordial God Race, the Thunder God race was considered one of the branches with the greatest offensive power. In the entire God Realm, they were an overlord faction. This member of the Thunder God race possessed strength bordering on the Shanhai Realm, at the ninth layer of the Lingyun Realm. Incredible speed! His offensive power was also exceptionally terrifying! Arcs of lightning flashed, rumbling with thunder. In the surrounding area, the rocks beneath his feet were ground to powder. In the air, blade qi slashed toward him, but lightning erupted from the Thunder God expert with a thunderous roar, shattering the blade qi to pieces. Ignoring the reconverging blade qi, he swiftly probed the surroundings. Some blood on the ground had already been obliterated by his strike, yet traces of aura still lingered. "Berserk Lion race, Moon Rabbit race..." Murmuring to himself, the Thunder God expert silently sensed the residue, reenacting the combat scene. "Instant kills!" "Who killed them?" A worldly reward had descended, which meant the killer's strength might have been inferior to these two, or at least at a lower cultivation realm. He quickly pulled out a branch ranking scroll and checked it. Right now, the rankings of several experts in his memory hadn't moved much, while a few others had climbed. Soon, his eyes locked onto a name. Cui Lang! Ranked 17th on the Profound Ranking! He had advanced by one spot! "Cui Lang?" That fellow must have killed again. From the moment he entered until now, he hadn't spotted Cui Lang once. He had run into An Mintian once, and Huang Teng seemed to have clashed with Tianduo and the others, yet this Cui Lang had been completely silent after entering. Could it be Cui Lang? Harboring a bit of uncertainty, he quickly gave chase in a specific direction. While others fought over killing Huang Teng, he held little interest in Huang Teng. That man was dangerous, and too many people were vying for him. He had set his sights on Cui Lang long ago. That guy was an Earth armament master. Moreover, he commanded a formidable divine technique! A divine technique might very well be usable by the god race as well. As an Earth armament master, he had to carry plenty of civilized armaments, right? Plenty of materials, too, surely? Killing Cui Lang might not yield fewer spoils than killing Huang Teng. Besides, he would be easier to kill, posed less of a threat, and faced far less competition, since most people were targeting Huang Teng. The Thunder God expert departed swiftly. …… Having fled some distance, Su Yu soon sensed something amiss. The "Calamity" divine character pulsed continuously. Su Yu frowned. This persistent pulsing indicated someone was tailing him. He was keeping such a low profile, yet someone was still targeting him? Since the Calamity divine character was pulsing, it meant there was genuine danger. What a pain! He was minding his own business—why were they still trying to kill him? Weren't Huang Teng and the others inside? Go kill Huang Teng! Su Yu thought irresponsibly. He needed to cultivate right now; how could he have time to bother with others? Killing weaklings was pointless, and he couldn't beat the truly powerful ones—it was just a waste of his time. He rapidly concealed his presence, morphing into a piece of rubble that settled into a corner of the valley. Not long after he hid, a burst of lightning flashed and swept across the area. Su Yu was alarmed. That thunder swept directly across the ground. The earth didn't shatter, but any obstacle with powerful energy was tossed aside. This was... a detection technique! "A detection technique of the Thunder God race!" Su Yu recognized it at once, feeling a jolt of shock. He had only heard of it before and never seen it in action; neither had he absorbed the blood essence of the Thunder God race, so he didn't know the technique. Cursing under his breath, he quickly used Earth Escape to slip away. This kind of detection technique was thoroughly obnoxious. It swept the surroundings and probed the spatial fabric itself. Whether it was invisibility or stealth techniques, they would all be disrupted. Once disrupted, one was easily exposed to the tracker. Was a powerful expert from the Thunder God race hunting him down? He quickly racked his brain, recalling the intelligence he had seen. The Thunder God race... which Thunder God individuals had been active on the Desire Sea Plain recently? "On the Heaven Hunting Ranking, there are three fellows from the Thunder God race!" A fair number—three of them! One each on the Earth, Profound, and Yellow Rankings. But the one on the Yellow Ranking was only in the Tengkong Realm; the display of might just now certainly didn't belong to the Tengkong Realm. It might even match the Shanhai Realm. "The one on the Earth Ranking is at the Shanhai Realm, while the one on the Profound Ranking is at the ninth layer of the Lingyun Realm. Which one is it?" Su Yu couldn't be entirely sure. Unless he closed within a thousand meters and probed with sensory jade, it was hard to tell at times. Regardless of which one it was, he was most likely no match for him. A Lingyun ninth-layer cultivator from the god race possessed formidable combat prowess, especially from a battle-hardened branch like the Thunder God race. To be on the Profound Ranking meant he had at least killed opponents above his realm. He might have slain first- or second-layer Shanhai experts, and was only placed on the Profound Ranking because the gap in realm wasn't massive. "Frustrating!" Su Yu cursed inwardly. Such opponents were extremely troublesome. With sufficiently powerful physical strength, their power might exceed fifty thousand acupoints. A top-tier Lingyun cultivator who truly reached the ninth layer could easily possess a power of one hundred thousand acupoints, which was completely beyond the reach of ordinary Lingyun cultivators, and even difficult for Shanhai experts. Encountering such a fellow, it was best to keep one's distance. Su Yu actually dared to fight a Shanhai cultivator from a weak race. Against a high-layer Lingyun cultivator from a powerful race, he had to weigh the consequences carefully. As he fled, the lightning flashed again, sweeping toward him. Su Yu sped away. Just then, someone shouted in the distance, "Lei Jue! Stop recklessly probing around! What are you trying to do?" In the distance, a formidable silhouette materialized, enveloped in lightning, and replied coldly, "Cease your noise. I can't be bothered with you lot. I'm tracking Cui Lang's trail. Keep barking, and you might just lose your life!" "You..." To the other side, an expert with an eagle beak snorted in irritation. A pair of wings sprouted from his back, and he took flight, vanishing instantly into the distance. He was still wary! The Eagle race expert knew his limits; he might not be a match for Lei Jue even though he had already stepped into the first layer of the Shanhai Realm. He had only yelled out of sheer annoyance. Lei Jue sneered! He was also concerned about getting tangled in a protracted battle with the fellow and drawing attention, which was why he had refrained from attacking. Otherwise, slaying a Shanhai expert would have yielded considerable spoils. …… "Lei Jue?" Su Yu understood now. As expected, it was the fellow on the Profound Ranking—seventh on the Profound Ranking, Lei Jue, ninth layer of the Lingyun Realm. He had once killed a first-layer Shanhai expert, which was how he earned his spot on the Profound Ranking. "Thunder God race..." Su Yu cursed again under his breath. His "Thunder" divine character hadn't advanced to the fourth tier yet; otherwise, he wouldn't fear this guy nearly as much. If the Thunder character could advance, the threat posed by the Thunder God race would plummet. The opponent's strength lay in the devastating destructive power of lightning. Once that could be weakened by thirty to forty percent by his divine character, he could beat this guy to death! Su Yu cursed silently, pondering how to advance his divine character. This fellow had actually latched onto his trail, which was a massive headache. How could he cultivate without killing him? "Advancing the divine character..." "What a nuisance!" Going from the third to the fourth tier was exceedingly difficult. Unless he had another Sun Moon divine character to consume, or the worldly rules rewarded him with divine characters three or four times, only then could he hope to advance the "Thunder" divine character. Otherwise, he would have to shatter his own divine characters and absorb them. For instance, shattering characters like "Blood" for the "Thunder" character to absorb would also work. Characters of the same origin were even better for absorption. Su Yu gritted his teeth. What a bastard. With him searching like this, even hiding was difficult. The detection technique of the Thunder God race was too potent! Across the All-Heavens Battlefield, the myriad races possessed far too many methods. In the Human Realm, you could barely find anyone capable of such a detection technique, yet practically every member of the Thunder God race knew it. "Slaughter!" He would keep slaughtering to obtain worldly rewards—ideally worldly divine characters a few times so he could shatter them for cultivation. That way, he stood a chance of advancing his divine character, and then he could turn back and beat that bastard to death! "Lei Jue... Good, it's you!" Su Yu focused his mind. That would be his target this time. Strive toward the target! Time to slaughter! A massive hammer appeared in Su Yu's hand. Who cared who they were? As long as they were weaker than him, he would smash them to death with a single strike. Aside from humans, whom he couldn't kill haphazardly, anyone else was fair game. That included allies of the human race—once here, there was no talk of allies; even the Immortal race could be killed. Beneath his feet, his boots gleamed with light. Operating Time, Su Yu stepped through the void at astonishing speed. Activating the "Quiet" and "Shade" divine characters, his movements made negligible noise. Su Yu sped forward. Up ahead, a being of considerable strength was present. Hearing a faint disturbance, it didn't look back; it swiftly retreated to the side of the canyon before turning to face Su Yu. The moment it saw the hammer in Su Yu's hands, realization struck. Cui Lang! This fellow had appeared as well! Just as it prepared to speak, killing intent erupted from Su Yu's eyes. The "Kill" divine character caused his killing intent to overflow, while the "Battle" divine character stoked his fighting spirit to the peak! A kick lashed out through the air. The "Slow" divine character combined with the "Time" art, further amplified by the illusions of the "Blood" character. As the kick descended, the yak-like creature's vision blurred, and it let out a roar! "Cui Lang, there is no grudge between us!" "Naive!" Su Yu barked coldly. A grudge? Among those gathered here, how many had personal grudges? None of them did! Yet the moment they stepped foot here, everyone was an enemy. "Roar!" With a long bellow, the yak creature's acupoints erupted, origin qi stacking layer upon layer. A thunderous roar resonated. With the strength of the Lingyun third layer, its explosive power right now was no weaker than Qing Kai's, whom Su Yu had encountered previously. And Qing Kai had been at the seventh layer of the Lingyun Realm. Right now, this yak was staking its life! Rotten luck! This guy had far too many tricks. To this moment, its vision remained pitch-black, and its danger perception was terribly faint—no, sometimes faint, and sometimes so intense it made its heart tremble. That was the Calamity divine character at work! Fluctuating between strong and weak, it completely threw off the creature's state of mind. Sometimes it felt an extreme crisis from behind and none from the front, only for Su Yu's hammer to come crashing down—not from behind, but right from the front, nearly shattering its sea of will with a single blow. The yak had grievances it couldn't voice! How could he be this strong? Moreover, he scrambled all of its predictive abilities and danger perception, rendering it effectively blind. Even with Su Yu right beside it, its sensory capability was drastically dulled. The battle unfolded at blistering speed. Su Yu wielded the massive hammer, leaving the opponent dizzy with each strike! After two strikes, its sea of will was in turmoil. Shaking incessantly! Furthermore, Su Yu used both hands and feet, his steps relentless. As Time operated, every kick carried a disorienting sensation of twisted spacetime. This was merely him; had King Miecan been here, a single kick might have reversed time for the yak, swiftly reducing it to its infancy. King Miecan's feat of battering the Invincibles of the top hundred races until they retreated back into their home realms was no empty boast. After about thirty seconds of combat, Su Yu's technique suddenly shifted—Heaven-Cleaving Blade! The next instant, surrounding blade qi converged. Su Yu's hammer transformed into a blade, and he slashed down! This slash was more than thirty percent stronger than his usual swings. Going all out, Su Yu's physical combat power was also terrifyingly formidable. With his Yang Acupoint half-open and reinforced by the "Strength" divine character, a deafening boom rang out! A brilliant blade light illuminated the surroundings! With a squelch! A massive head tumbled down! Su Yu panted heavily and quickly closed the Yang Acupoint. In that instant, a small cloud appeared and swiftly merged into his body. "Trash!" Su Yu cursed aloud! Heaven Yuan Qi again! This Heaven Yuan Qi rapidly strengthened his physical body, but he wasn't lacking in Heaven Yuan Qi. Of course, the worldly reward fused much faster, but he didn't need it; he wanted willpower or divine characters. He quickly collected the corpse, then ignited a blaze that burned away all traces! The Heaven-Cleaving Blade was still best kept concealed. Su Yu circulated a god race art. In the blink of an eye, crisscrossing blade qi assailed the area, making it seem as though Su Yu had triggered the blade qi just now, provoking its counterattack. Su Yu hastily fled! And at this very moment, another name dimmed on the Yellow Ranking. Desolate Ox race, Basile, Lingyun third layer. A Yellow Ranking genius's name dimmed and vanished in the blink of an eye. Simultaneously, Su Yu's ranking on the Profound Ranking climbed once more—16th on the Profound Ranking, Cui Lang. …… At this moment. Several individuals carrying branch ranking scrolls took them out, expressions full of strange shock! Great Ming Prefecture's Cui Lang again! In just a single day, several geniuses from the Yellow and Profound Rankings had been slain by him one after another. The Heaven Hunting Ranking across the myriad races only had 630 spots in total—how many had he killed by now? Qing Kai, Red Armor, Basile... Now, not only did the Desire Sea Plain stir, but some powerful experts and geniuses stationed in their home bases also began marching toward the Desire Sea Plain. Was another monster about to emerge from the human race? Did he intend to slaughter his way onto the Earth Ranking? Naturally, as names vanished, new ones appeared. Over the past few days, the rankings had shifted frequently. Long Wuyou of the Gold Dragon race began entering the rankings, Tianduo of the Primordial Demon Race began entering the rankings... These geniuses who hadn't previously been on the rankings now posted battle achievements, charging onto the lists. …… In an ancient city on the Desire Sea Plain. Tianmie! Heaven sought to destroy it, yet the city stood indestructible. Right now, inside a massive hall within this ancient city, a group of people gathered. In the center of the hall, an old man stood with his back to the crowd, looking at the shifting rankings. He gave a mild laugh. "Humanity's Cui Lang, at the first layer of the Lingyun Realm, has killed multiple ranked geniuses in succession. This is quite rare. Of course, in past years, some geniuses across the realms have stormed onto the All-Heavens and caused similar disruptions, but this Cui Lang had no reputation for peerless combat prowess in the Human Realm before..." After making his assessment, he quickly instructed, "Heaven Hunting Four Divisions, investigate swiftly! Dispatch personnel into the Human Realm to look into Cui Lang's past!" "Investigate everything about Cui Lang!" "Furthermore... this Cui Lang is a top-tier armament master with peerless combat prowess. Though currently a genius on the Profound Ranking... something doesn't add up..." The old man murmured, "Geniuses on the Profound Ranking can slay opponents above their realm, but not to this degree, and every single one he killed was a ranked expert. Go, investigate thoroughly. See if he truly is Cui Lang, or if someone has assumed his identity!" "Understood!" Someone in the hall promptly acknowledged the order. Soon, another spoke up, "My Lord, should the Heaven Hunting Four Divisions probe Cui Lang further? Or perhaps test him..." "No need. He is currently in Heaven-Severing Valley, where chaos reigns. The Heaven Hunting Pavilion will not send people to their deaths!" "By your command!" Someone soon withdrew to arrange the investigation into Cui Lang's past within the Human Realm. The old man remained silent for a moment before asking, "On the human side, is the Evil Cleansing Army still hunting our Four Divisions' experts?" "Yes!" "Have the Four Divisions' members pull back. The Evil Cleansing Army has been conducting massive purges lately; the Human Realm might be preparing for war. Withdraw as quickly as possible!" "By your command!" "..." After issuing a series of orders, the old man turned around, but his face was completely featureless, a blank slate. He seemed to be gazing at something. Soon, the white-haired elder spoke once more: "Cui Lang... Cui Lang... Great Ming Prefecture... Humanity's Great Ming Prefecture has been causing quite a stir lately. Does anyone know of Su Yu from Great Ming Prefecture?" "This subordinate knows!" Below, a masked individual whose eyes alone were visible replied. The old man said indifferently, "Go investigate Su Yu's movements. Several months ago, he fought Shan Xiong, and afterward there was total silence from him, only for a Cui Lang to emerge shortly after..." The old man sounded somewhat hesitant and uncertain, then quickly added, "Look into it. Utilize some of our deep covers in the Human Realm! The Heaven Hunting Ranking must remain authentic and reliable. If errors occur, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion's reputation will suffer, our credibility will decline, and the name of 'Heaven Hunting' will no longer ring true!" "Understood!" Another person withdrew. The old man said no more, and the others below also retreated silently and swiftly. Once they were gone, the grand hall suddenly vanished from the spot. Leaving no trace behind, as though it had never existed. In its place, a courtyard compound emerged. Inside the courtyard, people were living their ordinary lives as always, utterly oblivious, having sensed nothing of the grand hall that had just appeared and overlaid them. …… Meanwhile. Within a massive, magnificent palace in Tianmie City, a stone statue abruptly opened its eyes. It looked toward the direction where the hall had just vanished, its lips parting slightly. "Heaven Hunting Pavilion... get out of Tianmie City!" "We are leaving now. City Lord Tianmie, please quell your anger; we were merely passing through!" A voice drifted from the void. The stone statue closed its eyes, returning to its original state, sitting cross-legged as if it had been there for all eternity. And the Heaven Hunting Pavilion, too, seemed to have existed between heaven and earth since ancient times. All returned to calm. No one knew that within this palace that had endured for countless years, that stone statue was actually alive. Of course, the statue had existed for so long that it had fused with the palace. Those who later seized control of the place had simply ignored it; after several failed attempts to destroy it, they had given up. City Lord Tianmie... If the Heaven Hunting Pavilion's response were leaked, it would likely strike people as bizarre and surprising. City Lord Tianmie was not this stone statue, but a ninth-layer Sun Moon expert from a minor race who had seized the area. Since the Invincibles didn't interfere, he had become the overlord of this place. …… At this moment, Su Yu couldn't be bothered with matters so far away. Slaughter! Flight! Lei Jue gave chase relentlessly, his voice echoing through Heaven-Severing Valley. "Cui Lang, come out!" "You cannot escape!" "Ahead lies the territory of An Mintian and the others. Are you looking to die?" "..." Lei Jue's voice reverberated. He was furious as well. Hunting a single Cui Lang, he had lost the trail several times, only managing to reacquire him whenever the fellow killed someone and gave away his presence. Yet Cui Lang's strength was genuinely formidable. In every encounter with an opponent, he ended the battle swiftly, slaughtered his foes, and fled at once. If this continued, he really would bump into An Mintian and his group. When that happened, all his tracking up to this point would be rendered pointless. He was no match for An Mintian. Though both were from the god race, they belonged to different branches. The Ice Snow God race to which An Mintian belonged was exceptionally powerful, and An Mintian was in the Shanhai Realm. Lei Jue knew he couldn't compete with him. …… Up ahead. Su Yu remained hidden, refusing to get worked up. Silently absorbing the reward he had just received, joy bubbled in his heart. Finally, he had received a willpower reward! It was infuriating—he had slaughtered seven or eight fellows along the way before finally accumulating enough for a single reward. Fortunately, it was willpower. The little fur ball wanted to eat it, but Su Yu swatted it away with his massive hammer. All of this willpower was channeled into the "Thunder" divine character. However, once the absorption ended, the divine character still hadn't advanced. Su Yu was thoroughly depressed! Fourth-tier divine characters were absurdly difficult to attain. To this day, he only had a handful of fourth-tier characters: Shade, Blood, Fire, and Change. The others hadn't reached it. With so few fourth-tier characters, the advancement of his divine characters was simply too slow. He had already absorbed a whole pile of Sun Moon divine characters! "Without reaching the fourth tier, the lightning won't be weakened by much. Clashing with that guy, I could easily get numbed and paralyzed by his lightning!" His willpower wasn't strong enough either; that fellow was at the ninth layer of the Lingyun Realm. He didn't need immense willpower; sheer force could crush all finesse. A single strike would shatter Su Yu's willpower, and Su Yu had no desire to be electrocuted to death by Lei Jue. "Fourth-tier divine characters..." "It would be best to find a few Civilization Masters to kill!" Killing Civilization Masters, shattering their divine characters, and absorbing the residual resonance worked as well. Yet up to now, Su Yu hadn't killed a single Civilization Master. He didn't know whether the Civilization Masters of the myriad races simply didn't venture outdoors, or if he just hadn't run into any. Of course, everyone from the Five Elements race was a Civilization Master—that was certain. That Fu Tuling, for instance—if he bumped into him and took him down, he might be able to extract some divine characters. "Lei Jue..." Su Yu glanced back and cursed under his breath. Just you wait! Wait until my divine character advances! If there were no worldly rewards, he would hunt Civilization Masters. Honestly, were the Civilization Masters of the myriad races too cowardly? Why couldn't he run into a few? Look at the human Civilization Masters—how daring they were! He was running around, Wu Qi was running around—why were the rest of them cowering in their home bases? And with his relentless slaughter, his ranking had climbed to 13th on the Profound Ranking. Su Yu was still unaware of this, nor did he care to know. Even if he found a branch ranking scroll of the Heaven Hunting Ranking, he wouldn't carry it on him for fear of being tracked, which was far too dangerous. Yet the speed at which Su Yu climbed the ranks left countless people stunned. From start to finish, he had only been on the Desire Sea Plain for three days. In three days, he had slaughtered his way from the very bottom of the Yellow Ranking to 13th on the Profound Ranking, vastly outpacing geniuses who had mingled here for years. Su Yu didn't dwell on it. Any further forward, and he really might run into An Mintian. That fellow was stronger than Lei Jue! He needed to be careful. However, An Mintian's detection ability fell short of Lei Jue's, so he might be able to slip past. In Su Yu's eyes, the greatest threat in Heaven-Severing Valley wasn't An Mintian, nor was it Tianduo, but this Lei Jue. Specialized skills mattered. An overbearing detection ability posed a massive threat to Su Yu. As for whether killing Lei Jue would propel him straight onto the Earth Ranking... Su Yu hadn't even considered that. What he considered was that by killing Lei Jue, he might be able to consume his blood essence and learn that detection technique. That would be tremendously useful. Combined with his sensory jade, no one within a thousand meters would ever hope to sneak up on him again. Boom! Right then, a tremendous crash echoed from behind. A streak of blade qi cut across the sky, cleaving through the great canyon! Su Yu looked across the distance and saw a flash of blade light shattering a massive phantom of a god and demon. Huang Teng! Su Yu's eyes flickered, and he quickly concealed himself. He hid motionless on the spot. Less than a minute later, a figure flew across the sky—An Mintian! Currently, the white-haired An Mintian was rushing toward that direction, having no time to probe anyone. Huang Teng was over there! Killing Huang Teng, the number one on the Earth Ranking—that was his true objective. As for others, none were worth as much as Huang Teng. Once he was gone, Su Yu revealed himself, secretly overjoyed. Beautifully done, Huang Teng! Making such a massive racket drew everyone away, clearing the path ahead! "Wait, no... Didn't An Mintian bring people with him?" Su Yu's heart leaped. Holy crap, he ran off, but what about the people he brought? Could I... go on a slaughtering spree? At this thought, he dared not delay and sprinted forward. How Huang Teng ran was none of his business right now; he needed to make himself stronger first. That An Mintian sure ran fast, but the people he brought couldn't possibly keep up with his speed, right? As for Lei Jue... who knew whether he had headed toward Huang Teng or was still tracking him? He was probably coughing up blood, because with An Mintian gone, the powerful roadblock ahead of Su Yu had completely vanished.