Divine Character Advances, Power of Shanhai

Lei Jue was not the only one who suspected there was something amiss about Cui Lang. He wielded the Heaven-Cleaving Blade, possessed terrifying combat strength, and radiated murderous intent... Truth be told, no one would believe such a man was an armamentsmith or a native of the Great Ming Prefecture. Huang Teng's claim that he was from the Xia family was far more plausible. The Heaven-Cleaving Blade, the Expanding Will Art, multiple divine characters... In truth, by this point, only those who knew next to nothing about Su Yu harbored no doubts; otherwise, suspicions would have already arisen. On the All-Heavens Battlefield, whether as Su Yu or Cui Lang, he was a newcomer. He was unlike seasoned veterans like Huang Teng. The myriad races knew too little about him. Yet as intelligence continued to gather, Su Yu knew full well that he could not stay hidden for long. His identity as Su Yu would be exposed sooner or later. ... Underground. Beneath Heaven-Severing Valley, saber qi surged as well, and there were even creatures lurking below. Beings like Fu Tuling loved staying underground. Still, it was slightly better than on the surface. Right now, Su Yu was hiding subterranean. In his sea of will, the divine character granted as a worldly reward had been shattered, and the reward intended for the little fur ball had also been snatched by Su Yu. At this moment, within his sea of will, the "Thunder" divine character absorbed it continuously. Lei Jue was still searching for him. Su Yu could only cultivate for brief moments before having to relocate rapidly. That fellow was truly infuriating. The "Thunder" divine character was an offensive character; advancing it consumed massive amounts of resources. Before the divine character could advance, Su Yu's body trembled. His physical body, which had been just on the verge of advancing, completed its breakthrough right now—the 14th casting! The 14th casting was complete! In truth, this speed was remarkably fast. Su Yu had only advanced his physical body to the Tengkong Realm at the end of February. Now, it was only early July. In under five months, his physical body had completed fourteen castings. Yet to Su Yu, it still felt a bit slow. Previously, his physical body had been exceedingly strong, feeling even more potent than his willpower. Whenever Su Yu fought others, his physical body always crushed his opponents by a tier. Yet now, the gap was significant. Because he had opened enough divine apertures and possessed powerful enough divine characters, willpower advancement faced almost no difficulty other than his willpower level not having caught up; reaching the ninth layer of the Lingyun Realm would be almost effortless and could likely be achieved soon. His physical body, however, was growing increasingly difficult to temper. On the day he broke through to Tengkong, he had completed three castings. In other words, across more than a hundred days, Su Yu had only completed eleven castings. On average, even with Heaven Yuan Qi, it took nearly half a month per casting. This speed was truly swift; some cultivators only cultivated up to nine castings, which at Su Yu's pace might only take three or four months to finish their entire Tengkong Realm cultivation. But that was not what Su Yu was after. He still had to reach seventy-two castings! Having completed the 14th casting, Su Yu's physical strength was now close to seven thousand apertures' worth of power. Factoring in his half-opened yang aperture and the amplification from the "Strength" divine character, bursting with full strength would allow his physical power to exceed seven thousand apertures, perhaps even approaching eight thousand. Such strength was something many Lingyun cultivators could never achieve. Some weak Shanhai cultivators only possessed ten thousand apertures' worth of power. Yet Su Yu was not facing weak races, but gods and demons, including primordial gods and demons. To them, a Lingyun cultivator with less than ten thousand apertures of power was pure trash. Top-tier primordial gods and demons could reach ten thousand apertures of power at the peak of Tengkong. "Fourteen castings!" Still too weak! Su Yu gave a slight shake of his head. Counting on his physical body to blast Lei Jue to pieces was extremely unrealistic; he still had to rely on his divine characters and willpower. Furthermore, he held no advantage in speed. That fellow transformed into lightning and was exceedingly fast. During their brief clash earlier, Lei Jue had suppressed him completely, which was quite frustrating. "I can't even kill a single Lei Jue!" Su Yu sighed inwardly. As for Lei Jue having killed Shanhai cultivators before... that was none of his concern. The rumble of thunder sounded once more. That bastard was using the Thunder God race's investigative art to search for people again. What a nuisance! Without getting rid of this guy, hiding in Heaven-Severing Valley would be difficult. Su Yu continued to flee underground, waiting for the "Thunder" divine character to advance. Once it advanced, a tier-four Thunder divine character could weaken the enemy's thunder offensive power by at least seventy percent. When that time came... fighting Lei Jue would be vastly easier. At this moment, Su Yu did not know that he was not the only one running. Many people were on the run! Huang Teng and Wu Qi were fleeing; Qin Fang was fleeing; even across the Desire Plain, various other geniuses were fleeing; and Liu Hong, who had entered not long ago, was also fleeing with a sullen face. The moment he arrived, the Desire Plain had erupted into a frenzy of hunting down human prodigies. On the Desire Plain, where Tengkong cultivators had usually been able to survive, a huge influx of geniuses from the Heaven Hunting Ranking was appearing. This had been exceedingly rare in the past. The Heaven Hunting Ranking had only so many names, and the All-Heavens Battlefield was vast. It was impossible for everyone to flock to the Desire Plain. Ordinarily, gathering twenty to thirty ranked geniuses was already considered a lot. Right now, there were over a hundred Heaven Hunting Ranking geniuses on the Desire Plain! A herd effect! Because of Huang Teng, Qin Fang, and their ilk, because of Su Yu, and because of figures like Tianduo, massive numbers of geniuses were converging here—some wanting to watch the show, some joining the commotion, and some hoping to fish in troubled waters. Killing geniuses here drastically increased the probability of receiving worldly rewards. ... Bang! As he fled all the way, Su Yu felt remarkably unlucky. Midway through his underground escape, he ran into big trouble. A stone man! Upon encountering Su Yu, without a single word of disagreement—no, without speaking at all—the fellow blasted the earth with a punch, shaking Su Yu right out of his earth escape state. "Earth escape art?" "I hate earth escape arts the most!" This stone man was precisely the fellow Fu Tuling had almost run into earlier. He despised earth escape techniques. Detecting Su Yu's presence and seeing he was using earth escape, he showed zero courtesy, smashing the ground with a punch and forcing Su Yu out. Su Yu had encountered other figures along the way; some had not noticed him, and even those who did quickly steered clear. Only this guy had actually taken the initiative to attack him. Su Yu was annoyed as well. Bolstered by the "Strength" divine character, his physical body soon clashed with the opponent. It was not that he had not thought to use divine characters and willpower, but he discovered... this stone man seemed rather peculiar. His sea of will appeared solidified; a few hammer strikes failed to shake his sea of will in the slightest. Boom! As fists and kicks collided, Su Yu found himself outmatched. Even with his half-opened yang aperture and the boost from the "Strength" character, he was forced back repeatedly by the blows. This stone man gave Su Yu the impression of only being at the Lingyun seventh layer. Yet his physical power was likely over ten thousand apertures. After a flurry of strikes, Su Yu's entire body ached with sharp pain. He could not help cursing inwardly. Behind him, Lei Jue was about to catch up again. Just as Su Yu prepared to unleash his multiple divine character battle technique and give this fellow a blade strike, the stone man also noticed Lei Jue approaching. Suddenly abandoning Su Yu, he leaped into the air and bellowed, "Lei Jue, I've finally found you!" With that, he tore through the air and hurled a punch from afar straight at Lei Jue! Lei Jue's expression changed slightly as well. "Shi Zun, it's you!" "You're dead!" The stone man was only at Lingyun seventh layer, yet facing Lei Jue at the ninth layer, he was domineering beyond measure, showing not a shred of fear. The stone race had a unique trait: lightning could damage them, but they possessed a natural resistance to it. Thus, when the power gap was not massive, he countered Lei Jue. Without another word, the stone man charged aggressively toward Lei Jue. Boom! In midair, the power of thunder and the power of giant rock collided. The two experts instantly engaged in a chaotic aerial melee; they clearly had an old score to settle. Below, Su Yu was taken aback for a moment. What was this supposed to be? He was just about to go up and join forces with the stone man to kill Lei Jue, his hands itching to strike, when an earthy head suddenly poked out beside him and sent a voice transmission: "Brother of the human race, why aren't you running yet?!" "..." Su Yu looked at Fu Tuling, somewhat speechless. How had this fellow followed along? "Don't even think about teaming up with that stone block!" As if seeing through his thoughts, Fu Tuling said helplessly, "That stone block's head doesn't work right. He hates everyone and attacks anyone on sight. If you jump in, he'll think you're interfering and turn right around to beat you instead!" "..." Su Yu was speechless. There were people like this? No, there were stones like this? Forget it! That stone block was indeed strong. Though not a Civilization Master, he seemed to have a natural edge against them; his sea of will was so solidified that Civilization Masters could hardly shake it, and since Su Yu's physical body was not his match, Su Yu was almost certainly at a disadvantage. It was rather depressing! Encountering a succession of formidable foes whom he could not overpower—none of whom were even at Shanhai—left Su Yu thoroughly disheartened. After offering his warning, Fu Tuling quickly asked, "Fellow Daoist, you know earth escape arts?" That was what truly interested Fu Tuling! He had noticed that the other's earth escape art was shockingly fast—terrifyingly fast, almost catching up to his own. Su Yu replied indifferently, "I do. What advice does Fellow Daoist of the Earth Spirit race have?" "None, none, none..." Fu Tuling let out a chuckle. "Fellow Daoist, this isn't a good place to chat. When that stone block fights, he only goes crazy for a short while before retreating once his yuan qi is overly depleted. Why don't we find another place to talk?" Su Yu was slightly taken aback. Oh? From the sound of it, that stone block was not stupid after all—he knew enough to retreat when his energy ran low. Glancing up toward the sky, Lei Jue did not bother offering the stone man any explanation at all, simply focusing on trading blows. He knew there was no reasoning with Shi Zun. Without a fight, Shi Zun would not let him off. And since Shi Zun held the elemental counter, Lei Jue could only fight him to a draw, even appearing slightly on the back foot. Of course, in terms of endurance, Shi Zun was likely inferior to him. Taking a look, Su Yu swiftly used earth escape to leave with Fu Tuling, transmitting his voice as they traveled through the soil: "Fellow Daoist of the Earth Spirit race, is there something you wish to say?" "Nothing much, just wanted to ask... why does your earth escape art look so similar to my Five Elements race's escape arts? Have you studied the escape techniques of the Five Elements race?" Su Yu did not deny it, stating bluntly, "Yes, my escape art was learned from the Five Elements race. Over many years, I've outlined multiple divine characters, including an Earth character. Fellow Daoist Tu isn't planning to seize my divine character, are you?" "Don't misunderstand!" Fu Tuling clarified, then quickly asked, "Fellow Daoist, can you use water escape as well?" Su Yu answered, "I can. Why?" "..." Fu Tuling abruptly stopped. Beneath the soil, a pair of eyes faintly surfaced, looking toward Su Yu. "You know water escape?" "Of course!" Su Yu asked, puzzled, "What's so strange about that? I know all Five Elements escape arts!" Saying so, he did not transform into water, but merely condensed a puddle of water and phased through it. That was standard water escape; as for transforming into water to escape, that was an innate racial talent, distinct from ordinary escape techniques. "..." Fu Tuling was somewhat perplexed. Standard water escape was not unusual. He had merely held a faint suspicion about whether that Water Spirit cultivator he met earlier was connected to this fellow. Hearing that he knew water escape, Fu Tuling had harbored some notions. Yet seeing it with his own eyes... he felt he had overthought things. How could a human possibly impersonate a Water Spirit? Su Yu added, "If Fellow Daoist Tu has nothing else, we had better part ways. Lei Jue will keep hunting me down—gods and demons are all like that. Fellow Daoist of the Five Elements race wouldn't want to get dragged into this, right?" Fu Tuling had only accompanied him to gauge the situation and had no interest in taking the fall for Su Yu. At this point, he did not press further. Just as Su Yu was about to flee, Fu Tuling suddenly said, "Fellow Daoist is about to reach the top ten of the Earth Ranking. Congratulations, congratulations!" "The Earth Ranking?" Su Yu was not aware of this yet. Fu Tuling said in surprise, "Fellow Daoist doesn't have a sub-ranking of the Heaven Hunting Ranking?" "You have one?" Su Yu spoke frankly as well: "I was worried that thing possessed tracking abilities. You carry it around without fearing being hunted by the Heaven Hunting Pavilion?" "..." Fu Tuling was utterly astonished. "Why fear it? Carrying this is precisely to wait for Heaven Hunting Pavilion people to come knocking so we can hunt them!" "..." Su Yu froze for a moment. He felt like his thinking had gone astray somewhere! Fu Tuling was also surprised. "This is the Desire Plain. The chances of top experts running into us are very slim. Even if they can locate us, it's easy for weaker ones to find us, but when weaker ones show up... they're just delivering rewards to our door! Besides, the sub-ranking lets us keep track of current developments, so why not carry it? Worst case, toss it away after leaving the Desire Plain, or take it back to our stronghold. Could the Heaven Hunting Pavilion actually assault our base?" He found it strange: had they not all come to the Desire Plain to slaughter? The Heaven Hunting Pavilion showing up was a good thing! What was there to worry about? Fear of being tracked? Let them track! In this godforsaken place, even if high-level experts knew your location, they might not make it in time. There was nothing to fear. Su Yu exhaled! His perspective had been warped! He had not anticipated that the geniuses here all thought this way: Track me if you want—you come, I kill! What sheer confidence! At this moment, Su Yu experienced a glimmer of realization. This was the All-Heavens Battlefield; this was an operation of slaughter; this was a graveyard for hunting geniuses. Everyone knew exactly what they were doing. It was all to strengthen themselves! Therefore, they did not fear danger. Every single one of them! Including Fu Tuling before him. From his surprised tone, it was easy to tell that being afraid of being tracked made Su Yu the anomaly. "Why didn't Fellow Daoist Tu make a move on me?" Su Yu asked. Fu Tuling replied, "Fellow Daoist is extremely powerful, and I have no certainty of victory. The Five Elements race are also Civilization Masters, so I have little countering advantage against you. I prefer hunting warriors. Does that answer satisfy you?" He did not claim he had no desire to kill him; he merely judged killing him to be difficult, barely worthwhile, and dangerous. Both were perceptive people, so there was no need for hypocritical pleasantries. "Understood. I've learned something today!" Leaving those words behind, Su Yu departed swiftly. Fu Tuling's words had given him a lot of insight. This was a cohort of geniuses who knew what they wanted, what they were striving for, and what they were scheming to seize. Everyone had their own goals; no one came here just to pass the days, for sluggards would not come here at all. Su Yu worried about being tracked, yet these fellows could not wait to carry one, waiting for Heaven Hunting Pavilion experts to arrive: if they could win, they killed; if they could not, they fled. Slaughter and escape were the defining melody of the Desire Plain. The Heaven Hunting Pavilion was hunting them, but were they not also hunting the Heaven Hunting Pavilion's experts? "A sub-ranking... that thing is like bait for fishing. It all comes down to whether the angler or the big fish is stronger!" An angler being swallowed by a fish was normal, and a fish being killed by the angler was just as normal. Su Yu thought no more of it and escaped further. Taking advantage of Lei Jue and Shi Zun battling, he would first find a place to hide. As Lei Jue swept forward with his investigation, he was bound to run into other adversaries sooner or later; finding Su Yu would not be easy. Scanning so recklessly, Lei Jue had almost forced out everyone in hiding. If he continued like this, being besieged and killed by multiple foes would be completely expected. His detection technique did not just target Su Yu alone. It targeted all hidden cultivators. Offend enough people, and someone would beat him to death sooner or later. Heaven-Severing Valley was not actually that long—about one to two hundred li in total length, and only one or two li across. For experts, they could slaughter from the south end to the north in an hour or so. However, under the influence of the saber qi and that sacred energy, everyone's sensory range was severely curtailed. Combined with the fractured fissures crisscrossing the terrain, even in this relatively small valley, one could only detect combat when approaching closely. This also gave people opportunities to escape; taking detours through the various fissures still made it possible to shake off pursuers. Right now, Su Yu was hiding in a small fissure, continuing to absorb willpower. Even if Lei Jue wanted to detect him, he would have to probe inch by inch. Finding someone was far harder than hiding. "Lei Jue..." Murmuring the name once more, Su Yu felt the "Thunder" divine character churn within his sea of will, showing signs of advancement! Finally nearing completion! Su Yu let out a soft sigh of relief. Having absorbed so much willpower and the residual aura of worldly divine characters, if it still did not advance, he would go mad. There were not that many people left to slaughter. Having just killed An Mintian's assistants, his situation was likely known to many by now; pulling off another ambush like that would be tough. After waiting another half hour or so, with a great rumble, lightning flashed and thunder roared endlessly inside his mind! This divine character—the second one he had ever outlined, derived from the Thunder Yuan Saber—had finally advanced to tier four! A Shanhai-tier divine character! Su Yu had outlined quite a few tier-four divine characters. With his Lingyun-level willpower, bearing them was becoming somewhat difficult. His willpower was still a bit too frail and not sufficiently robust. With too many divine characters and insufficient willpower, continuing like this could burst his sea of will. Of course, present Su Yu did not have that worry just yet. Wasting no time, he swallowed a pill the next moment. The Soul Refining Pill, a reward previously bestowed by heaven and earth. Used for expanding the sea of will! Su Yu did not know how effective it would be, but decided to take it first. The moment the pill entered his mouth, it quickly dissolved into an energy current that surged into his sea of will. In the blink of an eye, the energy spread outward in all directions like shockwaves... Su Yu sensed it and roughly understood the pill's effects. The energy carried an oscillatory force that was relatively gentle, similar in effect to the Expanding Will Art. The Expanding Will Art, however, was far more violent. It forcefully expanded the sea of will by hammering it; someone with a fragile sea of will could easily hammer themselves to death! The Soul Refining Pill's effect was gentler, but its expansion was not as direct as the Mind Expansion Hammer. Su Yu examined it and shook his head slightly. It did expand the sea of will, but... shockingly minutely. For weaker cultivators, it might provide substantial expansion, but for Su Yu, his sea of will was already vast. Whether the golden atlas, the divine character battle technique, or the Mind Expansion Hammer, all possessed strengthening and expanding effects, making this pill somewhat superfluous for Su Yu. "I have plenty of good stuff. To others, this is a treasure, but not to me. What I lack most is divine characters and willpower!" "Maybe I shouldn't waste them, but trade them with someone..." Were there willpower treasures? Or treasures like Heavenly River Sand? There had to be. Worldly rewards could also yield pills that boosted willpower, but warriors had little need for them. He could look for a chance to ask where trading was done. He could not squander these fine items! He had slain quite a few experts this time and seized numerous storage rings, lacking even the time to catalog his spoils. As Su Yu mulled this over, the pill's effects faded in his mind, and the "Thunder" character officially settled into tier four. It crackled with lightning, eager to unleash its power. Su Yu let out a breath! A tier-four "Thunder" divine character! Lei Jue, I'm finally ready for you. Naturally, he was in no hurry now. He was not eager to seek out Lei Jue; his divine character had advanced, and if his physical body could undergo a few more castings, that would be even better. He would simply wait for Lei Jue to deliver himself to his doorstep! Ideally, some other fellows would stumble into him in the meantime, get slaughtered, and yield more rewards. That golden light from earlier had been fantastic—shining upon him, it had rapidly forged his bones and tempered his body, feeling even more effective than Heaven Yuan Qi. Furthermore, he might consider acquiring a copy of the sub-ranking. The ranking was constantly fluctuating now. The list Curator Liu had given him might no longer be accurate. The Great Ming Prefecture's intelligence was always a step behind, so the previous list was not necessarily dependable. ... Su Yu began to wait. While waiting, he used Heaven Yuan Qi to temper his body regardless of cost. Even though much Heaven Yuan Qi was wasted, Su Yu did not care, letting the Heaven Yuan Qi envelop him completely rather than absorbing it bit by bit. His entire person was cloaked within the Heaven Yuan Qi. Absorbing it without blind spots! He still had quite a bit of Heaven Yuan Qi on hand. He had given some to his dad, some to Liu Wenyan, and some to Liu's elder uncle. By now, he still held around five hundred portions. Around five hundred portions of Heaven Yuan Qi, five hundred thousand merit points, plus countless spoils of war... this was Su Yu's entire fortune at present. "My physical body has reached fourteen castings; taking a drop of Shanhai blood essence might be possible now!" Fourteen castings was far from weak. Su Yu felt that consuming Shanhai blood essence would not necessarily burst his body. It was just a single drop of blood essence, not the entirety of a Shanhai's power. If so, temporarily unleashing Shanhai-tier power would make killing Lei Jue much simpler and easier. He did possess Shanhai Realm blood essence; when leaving the Great Ming Prefecture, Zhu Tiandao had prepared some for him. He just was not sure which race's Shanhai blood essence would be best to consume. It could not be too strong—gods and demons were out of the question. Otherwise, erupting with the Shanhai power of a god or demon, even if he could activate the atlas page, would easily cause his physical body to explode. "Gods and demons won't work, and the top one hundred races are risky. Races below the top hundred should be fine!" "Ideally one with formidable physical strength and explosive power..." Su Yu pondered and brought out a drop of blood essence. After a moment's hesitation, he gritted his teeth and swallowed the drop! Boom! Yuan qi erupted and the blood essence's power spilled out. Su Yu's physical body vibrated, his vital blood boiling. Cracks appeared one after another across his flesh. Soon, the destructive force dissipated. Su Yu swiftly circulated the Primordial God Art. In the next moment, a sacred power gathered from the surroundings, helping mend his body, while King Daxia's saber qi followed like a shadow, slashing relentlessly at Su Yu. Su Yu paid it no mind; after taking a barrage of slashes, he promptly switched to circulating the Heaven-Cleaving Blade, causing the saber qi to disperse on its own. Right now, he had no time to worry about that. This was the first drop of Shanhai blood essence he had ever consumed! He wanted to see if there would be any other changes. At that moment, the golden atlas opened a new page. "Xiongba (Shanhai First Layer) Racial Skills: Earth Split Strike (unlocked via blood essence), Blood Rupture Berserk (unlocked via blood essence) Basic Yuan Art: Sky Splitting Art Basic Body-Casting Art: Sky Splitting Eighteen Castings Basic Nine Transformations Art: Sky Splitting Nine Transformations Basic Aperture Rounding Method: Sky Splitting Aperture Rounding Art" There was an extra line! Basic aperture rounding method! Su Yu grew thoughtful. This was likely an art for the Shanhai Realm, essentially the same concept as an aperture fusion method. Of course, aperture fusion methods primarily targeted the Wanshi Realm and were not very effective for Shanhai cultivators. "Aperture rounding method... probably an advanced version of aperture fusion. My 36-aperture fusion method might not be inferior to these races' aperture rounding methods." Su Yu made an internal assessment: these basic aperture rounding methods were likely aperture fusion methods adapted from their racial cultivation arts. They probably had some effect for Shanhai cultivators, but it was bound to be limited. He did not harbor excessive expectations. Of course, it would likely help him upgrade his aperture fusion method in the future, but that would still depend on his own combination and refinement. The Xiongba beast! This was a race with formidable physical combat strength, ranked around 300th among the myriad races—not low at all. Su Yu let out a soft breath. Fortunately, he could absorb it; no major issue. He just did not know whether his body could hold up when unleashing Shanhai power. Fourteen castings might still be slightly lacking; sixteen or more would probably be better. Being able to absorb blood essence, unlock skills, and erupt with power matching the blood essence's level was Su Yu's ultimate trump card. Many times, he had relied on blood essence power to turn the tables and slay his foes. He was indeed inferior to the Shanhai Realm; even unleashing his physical strength to the limit, he was under seven thousand apertures of power, unable to match even the weakest Shanhai. Yet he could unlock Shanhai power and burst with it temporarily! That was enough! Lei Jue had apparently slain Shanhai cultivators, but they were likely from weak races. While the Xiongba were not considered a powerful race, Su Yu possessed Heaven-rank cultivation arts—many of them. With Xiongba Shanhai power, amplified by mighty arts and supported by willpower... Could Lei Jue still match him? If he still could, the guy would not be on the Profound Ranking, but rather near the top of the Earth Ranking. Lei Jue was merely a genius on the Profound Ranking. "Phew!" Su Yu took a deep breath. Thinking it through, he decided to test another drop of blood essence so that when the real fight broke out, swallowing it and erupting with Shanhai power would not cause him to blow himself up. He needed at least some familiarity with how it felt. He swallowed another drop of Xiongba blood essence! Activating the Earth Split Strike talent! Boom! His body shook, his vital blood boiled, and his flesh began cracking once more! Tremendously potent! Su Yu could feel that his body was struggling to hold together. He swiftly circulated the Primordial God Race art, drawing the surrounding sacred energy toward him once again! Su Yu secretly rejoiced that he was in Heaven-Severing Valley. Otherwise, this would have been truly difficult to manage. Now, he absorbed a great deal of that sacred energy again to help repair his body and keep it from breaking. Meanwhile, his speed of absorbing Heaven Yuan Qi accelerated, quickening his body-casting progress. After all, this was Shanhai-tier power. Running the Iron-Eating Seventy-Two Castings right now, Su Yu's efficiency was remarkably high. Massive amounts of sacred energy were siphoned away by him! ... Just as Su Yu siphoned off the sacred energy, Huang Teng's expression shifted, turning somewhat peculiar. Manipulating the surrounding saber qi seemed to have become slightly easier. What was going on? The power entangling with the saber qi seemed to have diminished. Had someone from the Primordial God Race arrived? Originally, Heaven-Severing Valley had two entangled powers. Of course, the saber qi was stronger and suppressed the sacred energy, but they were still intertwined, meaning that manipulating the saber qi was subject to interference from the sacred energy. Yet now, that interference had lessened. Even if not by much, Huang Teng still felt it. Only those cultivating the Primordial God Art or the Heaven-Cleaving Blade could sense this subtle difference; anyone else would notice almost nothing. "Where did that sacred power go?" Huang Teng was surprised, glancing back in a certain direction. Had it been destroyed by that Cui Lang? Or had an expert from the Primordial God Race entered? Yet if an expert from the Primordial God Race had entered, the saber qi should have flared up in response. The reason no Primordial God experts had entered Heaven-Severing Valley this time was precisely because the saber qi suppressed them, stifling their strength. Back then, King Daxia had slashed an expert of the Primordial God Race, so the saber qi was specifically attuned against them. Su Yu, however, was not merely running the Primordial God Race art. Once too much saber qi gathered, he quickly switched to the Heaven-Cleaving Blade, thereby dispersing the saber qi and preventing it from amassing to the point of chopping him to death. Huang Teng did not understand, but that did not matter—it did nothing to dampen his delight. Not bad! With less interference, he could wield more saber qi and exert greater strength, doing him a massive favor! Beside him, Wu Qi's eyes were glazed over. Having lost too much blood, her willpower was on the verge of collapsing. Huang Teng sighed. Whether this woman could survive this time... he could not guarantee. At this stage, life and death were up to fate! Huang Teng cursed Qin Fang once more. Unreliable bastard! Not a single bastard from the Great Qin Prefecture was reliable! If he survived this time, he was definitely settling scores with Qin Fang! The saber qi had grown stronger! He hardened his resolve. In a moment, he would land a slash on Tianduo; even if he could not kill him, he would inflict heavy injuries so the guy would not have the leeway to chase him again. Without Tianduo, he was not particularly afraid of the others. In Heaven-Severing Valley today, very few could defeat him cleanly. ... Su Yu felt it as well. Having absorbed some of that sacred energy, he noticed that gathering saber qi had become simpler and more potent. Su Yu's eyes flickered slightly as he kept running the Primordial God Art. At this moment, the Primordial God Art proved immensely useful! Su Yu was thrilled. With so much sacred energy depleted on his end, once he unleashed the Heaven-Cleaving Blade, it would likely be devastatingly powerful. Coupled with Shanhai power, if he withstood a blow from Lei Jue head-on, could he kill him in a single strike? The prerequisite was enduring a strike without dodging or evading, ensuring a swift resolution. Otherwise, Lei Jue was remarkably fast; the moment he realized he was outmatched and fled, Su Yu might not be able to catch him. Su Yu bared his snow-white teeth, grinning brightly! Lei Jue, you're dead!