Each with Their Own Schemes

On Su Yu's end, after he finished reading through the materials and consolidated his cultivation realm, the night passed. During the day, Su Yu sensed his surroundings and took out some heavenly origin qi. He was somewhat surprised. In broad daylight, there was actually no death qi here. What was the meaning of this? Did death qi follow a schedule? Did the dead spirits not coming out during the day have something to do with this? "Does their strength weaken during daylight?" "They really have become like ghosts!" Su Yu muttered to himself, not overly concerned. While dead spirits were deceased living beings, that didn't mean similar forms of life didn't exist among the myriad races. Beings whose power depended on their environment were quite common. The Five Elements race was a prime example; the Water Spirit race was supremely powerful in bodies of water, but away from water, they were just ordinary. With fewer dead spirits active during the day and their strength waning, people in the ancient city dared to step outside. Su Yu adjusted his appearance, transforming into a handsome middle-aged man. He didn't care whether others could guess his true identity—that wasn't important. What mattered was finding a suitable room to inspect. In the ancient city, one could not resort to violence casually. Of course, if one wasn't afraid of dead spirits, fighting was still an option; Su Yu understood this well. *As long as I have enough heavenly origin qi, I don't fear dead spirits!* Su Yu mused inward. He had around four hundred portions of heavenly origin qi left—a considerable amount. Add to that plenty of blood essence on hand, and encountering dead spirits wouldn't be all that terrifying. Provided they weren't too overwhelmingly strong, of course, or they could kill him in a single blow. ... He stepped out of the house. The streets that had been desolate the previous night were now filled with quite a few beings. On both sides of the street, some shops had actually opened for business! Su Yu was astonished. People actually dared to open shops here? On second thought, it made sense. Everyone had to cultivate and survive. Even local residents needed to cultivate. In the All-Heavens Battlefield, peaceful places were rare. The ancient city was actually a rather good neutral trading post. At least here, due to the deterrence of the dead spirits, the chances of violence breaking out were far lower. Unlike other places where you might set up a trading post only to be plundered by some powerhouse a few days later. Seeing Su Yu walk out of the house, the passersby paid him no mind. A large bird strutted along with pompous strides, glanced at Su Yu, and remarked deliberately, "A human? Still not running? Lingering around here, aren't you afraid of the Xuan Armor race making trouble for your people?" "..." Su Yu glanced at the large bird and smiled. "Thank you for the warning, Fellow Daoist. But the Xuan Armor race's strength is mediocre—what is there for my human race to fear? Besides, within the city, what could they dare to do?" "Old human lad, refuse a bird's advice and you'll be done for sooner or later!" The big bird swayed along, walking in the same direction as Su Yu, and said casually, "The Xuan Armor race has been garrisoned in Tianmie City for hundreds of years; their influence here is quite formidable. Quite a few members of the city guards belong to the Xuan Armor race. Those fellows are ruthless—to open certain ancient houses, their own clansmen converted into ancient city residents! If they really want to target humans, you humans won't stand a chance. The city guards can sometimes manipulate dead spirits!" Su Yu's heart stirred slightly. *The Xuan Armor race.* The Night Patrol last night had been wearing armor; he hadn't paid too much attention and hadn't dared to probe deeply, but could that guy have been from the Xuan Armor race? "Thank you, Fellow Daoist!" Although Su Yu found the large bird's swaggering gait comical, its warning came from good intentions. Curious, he asked, "Would the Xuan Armor race really dare to act against humans inside the city? It's not as if they run this place!" "You don't understand. Our Tianmie City Lord is known for minding nothing—doesn't care about this, doesn't care about that, doesn't care about anything!" "..." Su Yu froze momentarily. The big bird bobbed its head and added, "Anyway, as long as it has nothing to do with him, he won't get involved! Unless you fight all the way to the City Lord Manor, all he cares about normally is the city's revenue; he couldn't care less about the rest." "Is that so?" Su Yu was surprised. Living as a city lord like that... the Heaven Hunting Pavilion calling him a puppet city lord was well justified. Still, this worked out! If he didn't care to manage anything, he wouldn't go out of his way to target Su Yu either, right? As for the Xuan Armor race... Su Yu thought for a moment and said, "Brother Bird..." "Who are you insulting?" The big bird suddenly flared up with annoyance. Su Yu was speechless. *I wasn't insulting you; what's wrong with calling you Brother Bird?* The large bird swayed as it said, "I am not of the avian bird race! This bird is actually... an offshoot branch of the Phoenix race! You must call me Brother Feng!" Su Yu nodded, scoffing inwardly. *An offshoot of the Phoenix race? Give me a break! Do you really think I don't recognize you? Aren't you just a member of the Ground Ostrich race?* A bird race, technically, but the kind that couldn't fly high. Fast runners, pseudo-flyers. "Brother Feng, why do you say the Xuan Armor race will make a move on humans?" A smile appeared on the big bird's face, suddenly looking vaguely sly. It stopped speaking aloud and transmitted its voice: "Human Dao Brother, I saw kindness in your face, which is why I gave you a few words of warning. Wanting to learn more, however, involves risk..." With that, it gestured slightly with its decorative wings, two flight feathers forming a gesture recognized across the myriad realms: rubbing fingers together for money. Su Yu understood! *Damn!* *And here I thought I stumbled upon a kind-hearted bird the moment I stepped outside—turns out it's here to peddle intelligence for cash!* *No wonder it sidled right up to me as soon as it saw I was human.* Su Yu was rendered speechless. He transmitted back, "How much?" "No merit points. We wouldn't dare go to human territory to exchange human merit points. Origin qi liquid is the universal currency—just give me a hundred drops. The price is modest." "..." That wasn't bad; it really wasn't much. A hundred drops was only a few hundred merit points in the Human Realm. Of course, objectively speaking, it wasn't a small amount either, but Su Yu was rolling in wealth right now. He hesitated slightly, feigning struggle before transmitting, "A hundred drops is quite a bit. Does Brother Feng have top-secret intelligence?" "You could say that!" "And if it isn't worth the price..." "Full refund if it's not worth it!" Su Yu pondered, nodded, and without wasting words, opened an adjacent empty house and pulled the bird inside. He had learned this from watching others; observing earlier, he had noticed some beings conducting deals like this—just pulling each other into an unoccupied house. Sure enough, the old bird didn't mind. It wasn't afraid of this guy attacking it inside the house anyway. ... Inside the house. Su Yu retrieved a hundred drops of origin qi liquid, gave half to it, and said promptly, "Speak first. If there are no issues with what you say, the rest is yours! Why do you say the Xuan Armor race will act against humans?" The big bird said casually, "Does that even need saying? Your human race's Su Yu killed Qing Kai and Hong Kai; of course they're going to retaliate. They only had those two make it onto the Heaven Hunting Ranking, and both were slain. If they don't take revenge, how can they save face? Of course, the Xuan Armor race might not normally be bold enough to target humans outright, but yesterday..." At this point, a smile returned to the bird's face. "Yesterday, the Xuan Armor race escorted two humanoid beings back to their garrison station. Humanoid beings! And from what I saw, the Xuan Armor experts treated them with considerable respect. It's simple: only the Human, God, Demon, and Immortal races could warrant such deference from them. It just so happened that yesterday Su Yu stirred up trouble, and the Great Xia Prefecture killed their garrison powerhouse. If they aren't looking to cause trouble for your human race, that would be the real surprise!" The big bird had no concrete proof, only deduction, but that was plenty. It continued, "They must be from the Demon, God, or Immortal races. The Demon race is overwhelmingly domineering and rarely acts so sneaky. In my view, it's either the Immortal race or the God race. Early this morning, some Xuan Armor experts garrisoned outside the city were recalled as well. If they aren't targeting humans, could they be targeting our Phoenix race?" "..." Speechless. It made so much sense. For a bird, its analysis was remarkably thorough. "Brother Bird... ahem, Brother Feng, what you mean is that the Immortal or God race has hooked up with them, preparing to use the Xuan Armor race's influence in the city to conduct a search and strike at humans?" "Nine times out of ten!" The big bird chuckled. "No worries, just run! Don't be scared! This happens all the time; in a few days it'll blow over. This time they're probably searching for that Su Yu of yours. That guy was loitering outside the city yesterday. Geniuses usually can't resist the allure of the ancient city; he might well have sneaked in last night, which is why they redeployed forces to hunt him down!" "..." Once again, Su Yu was speechless. *So geniuses are guaranteed to succumb to the temptation of the ancient city?* *Not necessarily!* *All right, at least I did come, so it didn't guess wrong on that.* Su Yu pondered and asked, "Brother Feng, are you saying the Xuan Armor race holds some ancient city tokens?" "Of course!" The big bird said as if stating the obvious, "They've been stationed here for so many years; of course they have them! They'll buy some intelligence from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion to roughly pinpoint where Su Yu is, then open an occupied ancient house nearby—and that Su Yu is a dead man!" Su Yu took a deep breath. "Aren't they afraid of arousing public outrage?" "What's there to fear?" The big bird replied nonchalantly, "What is there to be scared of? Those who come to the ancient city are usually people with nowhere left to turn. The Xuan Armor race has an Invincible backing them—why would they fear them? What good is public fury? No matter how furious you get, you can't withstand a single word from an Invincible!" "Then which ring of ancient city tokens do they possess?" "That, I don't know." The big bird shook its head. "However, if you pay a high price, I can help you inquire. Practically speaking, it doesn't matter much. Whichever ring it is, it's more than enough to deal with you lot. You can't enter the deeper areas anyway! In the past, the Xuan Armor race seemed to have opened an ancient house on the 20th ring, so they must hold at least an ancient city token for the 20th ring!" The 20th ring! The higher the ring number, the closer to the outer edge. The City Lord Manor could be counted as within the 1st ring. They had opened houses within the 20th ring. At this thought, Su Yu didn't dwell on this point right away, but asked, "Brother Feng, do you know how to obtain the ancient city's opportunities?" "..." The big bird stared at him, only speaking after a long silence: "I do! You want to grab opportunities? Go to the City Lord Manor? Go to an ancient house? Or snatch ancient city tokens by slaying dead spirits?" "..." Su Yu paused. After a long while, he ground his teeth. "Thank you, Brother Bird!" *Damn your ancestors!* *Heaven Hunting Pavilion!* *Screw your uncle!* *So bloody predatory! The so-called grand opportunities were common knowledge that even a bird knew—freely given away!* The big bird seemed to pick up on something and suddenly grew wary, keeping a straight face as it said, "Um, the deal is done, I'm taking my leave. The remaining fifty drops of origin qi liquid, you can keep them. In business, I set my asking price a bit high, and you didn't haggle, so I shouldn't take dirty money!" The big bird was muttering internally: *Could this guy be a customer of the Heaven Hunting Pavilion?* When Su Yu asked that question, it hadn't thought much of it at first. But looking at Su Yu's expression... he'd been scammed, ripped off! Nine times out of ten, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion had charged him an extortionate price. The Heaven Hunting Pavilion's typical trading partners were either apex experts or peerless geniuses, because those people had money. They rarely dealt with ordinary folk. The fellow before it was either a top powerhouse or a peerless human genius. And Su Yu... might well be inside the city right now. In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through the bird's mind! *Maybe I should just run?* *To strike up a chat and do business with any random person and hit the primary target—what kind of luck is this!* Su Yu said nothing, casually tossing the remaining origin qi liquid over. His liver ached from pure rage. *Information given away for free, and those bastards dared to charge me five peak Profound rank armaments!* *I'll settle scores with you sooner or later!* Seeing him toss the origin qi liquid, the big bird hesitated before advising, "You'll get used to it. Shop around. Brother, you bought intel from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion, didn't you? That's normal. Their information... how should I put it, is a bit pricey, but authentic. On our end, frankly speaking, some of it is mere speculation and gossip. Don't take it to heart!" It gave a word of counsel: *Don't get worked up, don't get angry, and don't pick a fight with me.* This kind of thing was normal; after suffering a few losses, one would learn. As for the Heaven Hunting Pavilion's information, it wasn't purely malicious; their credibility was guaranteed. "If it's false intelligence, you can claim compensation, and the Heaven Hunting Pavilion usually pays out!" Su Yu nodded, looking at the big bird. "Has Brother Feng guessed who I am?" "Nope!" The big bird denied it, hurriedly saying, "I run a small-time business—why would I guess such things?" "Brother Feng won't turn around and sell me out, will you?" "Absolutely not!" The big bird hastened to say, "Small fry like us, even if I went up to the Xuan Armor race and said I found so-and-so here, I wouldn't even get an audience! Even if I did, they wouldn't believe me. If they failed to find anyone and took their anger out on me, I'd be finished! Making a bit of pocket change only to lose my life—who would be so stupid, right?" Su Yu nodded slightly, then thought for a moment. "If the Xuan Armor race can't find Su Yu, will they target other humans?" "Hard to say." The big bird became much more cautious as it explained, "The Xuan Armor race alone might not have the guts, but with powerful backers, they would. The Xuan Armor race and humans have never been on good terms anyway. Your human race's Lord King Tianzhu has always wanted to slay their ancestor, so relations aren't great... just like the Dragon Silkworm race. Your race's King Miecan has also been wanting to kill the Dragon Silkworm King. Given the chance to kill humans, they won't pass it up." Su Yu remained silent. Those two Invincibles were no gentle souls either; they had earned the human race two bitter enemies. "Does the Xuan Armor race currently have no Sunmoons in the city?" "None. Sunmoons are major figures after all. There was only one, and he was killed, so naturally there are none left now." "Are you sure the City Lord won't intervene?" "Nine times out of ten!" "Besides the City Lord, are there many Sunmoons in the city?" "Not many, maybe two or three. They're all Sunmoons from minor races; Sunmoons from major races rarely come to the ancient city." Su Yu understood and smiled. "Thank you, Brother Feng!" "You're welcome. Then... I'll be off?" The big bird muttered curses internally: *Rotten luck!* Fortunately, geniuses were wealthy and didn't care about a hundred drops of origin qi liquid, otherwise it might have been troublesome. "Suit yourself, Brother Feng!" Su Yu watched the big bird exit, and soon followed it out. Depressed, he thought: *They all deduced I came. If I hadn't come, wouldn't all their efforts be in vain?* *On what basis did they determine I entered the city!* *Maybe I should just leave the city!* *And would the Xuan Armor race truly dare to search rooms and target humans?* "Are the Immortals or Gods backing them from behind the scenes?" The Demon race... the big bird said Demons were unlikely. Someone living year-round in the All-Heavens Battlefield shouldn't be wrong about that. So it was either the God race or the Immortal race. Humans really didn't have it great in the All-Heavens Battlefield; even minor races dared to meddle. Had they not been beaten into fear yet? "What should I do?" Su Yu rubbed his temples. He wasn't actually scared—worst came to worst, he could flee. The sky was high and the world wide; catching him wouldn't be easy. The key issue was: what about the humans in the city? Some came here to rest, others to take refuge. To be frank, many who stayed in the ancient city instead of returning to the Human Realm were fugitives or criminals. Leaving them to their fate wouldn't normally matter, but if they were implicated because of him, it would leave a bad taste in his mouth. "A pity I don't have Moduona's strength. Otherwise, with no Sunmoons around, I'd beat them to death!" Su Yu sighed. In the end, his strength was still lacking. Moduona was formidable; below the Sunmoon Realm, even if he couldn't win, he could put up a fight. As for killing someone and drawing dead spirits, that wasn't overly terrifying either. At this thought, Su Yu suddenly reached out and grabbed a passerby. Amidst the other party's shock and surprise, he asked, "A question, brother—can you answer it?" "...Sure!" Having been grabbed so easily, this fellow raised no objection: *Ask away!* "I heard that dead spirits appear because of blood. If I sprinkle blood everywhere, will dead spirits appear?" "..." The captured bull-headed man stared at him as if looking at a lunatic. Only after a pause did he say, "No. Dead blood doesn't work, but living blood does. For instance, if My Lord spills your own blood, you can draw them out... At that point, the dead spirits will haunt My Lord relentlessly!" *You can go throw your life away, just don't drag me with you.* Thoughtful, Su Yu asked again, "Has anyone ever done that? Luring dead spirits out to trap and kill an opponent?" "Yes!" The bull-headed man replied obediently, "Powerhouses have done the blood-spilling trick before. Dead blood is useless, only living blood works! Normally, before they can kill their opponent, they get wiped out themselves! So hardly any living being does that now. If My Lord wishes to experiment... best not test it on yourself!" He had seen plenty of madmen, so the bull-headed man wasn't terribly shocked, but *don't drag me into it, I'm just passing by.* Su Yu asked nothing further and released him, letting him scurry away. Soon, Su Yu found another empty house, slipped inside, took out his sub-ranking, and stated directly: "I want to purchase intelligence on the strength of the Xuan Armor race in Tianmie City, including the strength and locations of the Immortals who arrived yesterday!" As for whether it was really the Immortal race... it didn't matter, he was just throwing it out there. Mere negotiation technique! If it wasn't the Immortal race, they naturally wouldn't be able to sell him that intelligence, which would mean it was the God race. With a fifty-fifty chance, guessing one was fine. If he guessed correctly, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion wouldn't know how much he already knew and might lower the price. Sure enough, the sub-ranking remained quiet for a moment before text appeared: "Acceptable, but the location is not precise. Additionally, at this moment they are most likely within the Xuan Armor garrison. Do you wish to purchase real-time location updates?" "Yes. Price!" Su Yu cursed inwardly. *It really is the Immortal race?* *Damn!* The ranking hesitated again, then promptly displayed: "Intelligence on the Xuan Armor race's strength is included complimentary. Intelligence on an Immortal genius costs one drop of Sunmoon blood essence per profile. Location intelligence costs one drop of Sunmoon blood essence per hour of tracking..." *Go rob someone!* If a Sunmoon was slain, extracting ten-odd drops of blood essence was the absolute limit. *So to you, it's worth practically nothing!* "Do you accept merit points?" "Yes. 50,000 merit points per drop of first-tier Sunmoon blood essence!" He knew they would take them; after all, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion seemed to have an intelligence network within the human realm as well. Fifty thousand per drop—highway robbery again! How could it be that expensive! An Immortal genius... Su Yu pondered, browsing the rankings from top to bottom, and soon wrote again: "I want to purchase all information on Xuan Wuji, fourth on the Heaven Ranking, including location intel. What is the fee?" "..." The ranking remained silent, giving no reply. Su Yu snorted and wrote again: "Not doing business anymore?" The ranking was quiet for another moment before text appeared: "We are. However, Su Yu, this conflicts with your previous request for intelligence." The other side wasn't stupid either. Different geniuses naturally carried different price tags. Depending on what tier of genius one drop of Sunmoon blood essence could buy information on, if Su Yu went down the list asking prices, he could quickly deduce on his own who from the Immortal race had arrived. Su Yu continued to write: "I don't care about that. Aren't you fair, impartial, and doing honest business? Since I want to buy and am asking the price, how can you do business if you refuse to answer?" ... While Su Yu was continuously writing, inside a grand hall drifting somewhere across the All-Heavens Battlefield, a masked figure looked up toward an elder not far away and said, "Elder, I made a mistake! Please come take a look!" A faceless expert walked over briskly, glanced at the display device before the masked figure, and chuckled. "Interesting! Tell him! A deal is a deal; since he asked the price, give it to him!" "Elder, but... he'll be able to deduce who the Immortals in Tianmie City are on his own..." The faceless elder dismissed the concern: "They might not even be on the Heaven Hunting Ranking. While you're at it, give him some additional information: inquiries on Sunmoon Realm figures start at one drop of Sunmoon blood essence. Whether they are Immortal geniuses or Immortal Sunmoons, let him deduce it himself. If he isn't afraid of misjudging or dying, let him decide whether to buy or not!" "The elder is wise!" The faceless elder didn't dwell on it, adding swiftly, "Don't repeat the same mistake next time! I looked over the logs—you mentioning 'Immortal genius intelligence' earlier was foolish! Even Su Yu's prior inquiry might have been a shot in the dark. Regardless of whether he guessed correctly, never give him a definite answer until he pays!" "Understood!" The masked figure replied tremulously. Unbothered, the faceless elder said indifferently, "Quote him the price. If the Immortal race or Xuan Armor race tries to purchase intelligence on him, mark up the price to three times the normal rate!" "Elder, this..." "Do as I say!" The faceless elder said coldly, "Furthermore, inform Su Yu that in Tianmie City, he can hire experts as Dao protectors. As long as he can pay the price, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion accepts any business. If he wants to hire Moduona, even that is fine—so long as he pays!" "Yes!" The masked figure dared not argue further and hurriedly resumed communicating with Su Yu. The faceless elder watched for a moment, let out a faint chuckle, and returned to his seat. Right at that moment, another masked figure called out, "Elder, someone wants to purchase the location of Chen Yong from the multiple divine character faction inside the Human Realm. Do we have Chen Yong's whereabouts?" The masked figure lacked sufficient clearance and could only ask his superior. "Chen Yong?" The faceless elder walked over briskly, took a look, returned to his seat, entered Chen Yong's details, and initiated a search. After a moment, he said, "We do not have it currently. Recently, several Eternal Realm experts in the Human Realm have been patrolling everywhere, increasing the difficulty of gathering intelligence. We cannot pinpoint Chen Yong's exact location." The masked figure asked again, "The client asks if we can provide an approximate location—just within a prefecture!" The faceless elder reviewed the available intelligence, then said after a pause, "Acceptable. Fifty thousand merit points. We can only provide the prefecture where Chen Yong is most likely located; we cannot guarantee its authenticity!" "Yes!" The masked figure resumed communicating with the buyer. Meanwhile, the faceless elder smiled faintly. *Interesting.* The multiple divine character faction of the Human Realm had boosted their business performance quite a bit recently. Requests regarding these multiple divine character Civilization Masters were increasing. It seemed they needed to deploy more personnel to track information on these individuals. Just as he was pondering this, the masked figure communicating with Su Yu called out again, "Elder, Su Yu asks if he can hire several Invincibles to exterminate the Xuan Armor race..." "..." The elder was stunned for a moment, then cursed, "Tell him yes! As long as he can afford the price: five Invincible ruins or ten intact Invincible corpses!" "..." The entire hall fell silent, everyone struck speechless. This Su Yu... having too much free time on his hands, what did he take their Heaven Hunting Four Rankings Department for? What audacity! ... Inside Tianmie City. Su Yu clicked his tongue. *Forget it.* Five Invincible ruins? Not only did he not have any, even if he did, he wouldn't spend them like that. *Are you kidding me? Fine, I was teasing you first anyway.* He stopped asking questions. His mood was actually pretty good. He had saved a lot of money! "Dao Cheng, Jiu Xuan..." Su Yu glanced at the rankings. Two figures on the Earth Ranking. Of course, he couldn't be a hundred percent certain, but according to the pricing tier, these two were the most probable candidates—unless it was a Sunmoon Realm expert. Yet if it were a Sunmoon, the other side slipping up and mentioning "Immortal genius" earlier wouldn't fit. "Dao Cheng, ninth on the Earth Ranking, ninth-tier Lingyun, has slain a fifth-tier Shanhai..." "Jiu Xuan, sixteenth on the Earth Ranking, seventh-tier Lingyun, has slain a first-tier Shanhai..." Both were top-tier geniuses, especially Dao Cheng, who had slain a fifth-tier Shanhai powerhouse—truly terrifying. Ranked ninth on the Earth Ranking, lower than Huang Teng and Qin Fang, solely because his cultivation was slightly higher and he was a bit older. But to cross a major realm and slay a fifth-tier Shanhai meant he was stronger than Lei Jue, who had only killed a first-tier Shanhai. If this guy had been a little younger, he would probably be on the Heaven Ranking. "Jiu Xuan... a little fairy lady!" Having slain a first-tier Shanhai was rather standard; Su Yu could kill one too. A little fairy lady... and she hadn't died at the hands of the Great Qin Prefecture? Didn't the Great Qin Prefecture love killing little fairy ladies the most? Qin Fang actually hadn't killed this little fairy! There were quite a few Immortals on the Heaven Hunting Ranking, but only these two on the Earth Ranking. The Mystic and Yellow Rankings didn't have such high price tiers, and while there were two on the Heaven Ranking, the fee to purchase intelligence on them was astronomical. On the Heaven Hunting Ranking's 630 slots, the Immortals occupied nearly twenty in total, demonstrating their formidable prowess. They had many geniuses! And there were likely many genius powerhouses active only within the Immortal Realm who had never set foot on the All-Heavens Battlefield. "Target... eliminate the little fairy!" Dao Cheng wouldn't be easy to kill; Su Yu was not necessarily his match, or rather, was most likely inferior to him. But that little fairy—he could kill her. Without rhyme or reason, instigating the Xuan Armor race to search for him—what was the Immortal race playing at? In truth, Su Yu had a good idea. It was largely due to his identity—his identity as a member of the multiple divine character faction. That was the crux. Otherwise, even landing on the Heaven Ranking wouldn't attract so many mortal enemies. People like Qin Fang made the Heaven Ranking and killed plenty of geniuses, yet they didn't seem to have drawn such an overwhelming number of foes. Or perhaps Su Yu simply didn't know enough about them. Strike first to gain the upper hand! The prerequisite was scouting the inner rings first to find a room he could hide in. It would be thoroughly awkward if he couldn't get inside when the time came. The Xuan Armor race could open rooms on the 20th ring, but could they open rooms on the 18th? Could they open rooms on the 16th? If he brought along plenty of heavenly origin qi, there should still be hope of entering, right? And once inside, he could stay a few more days, couldn't he? The nine halos he earned passing through the main city gate had yet to break. Backed by heavenly origin qi, he could grind them down until they were forced to leave after three days, couldn't he? At night, would they dare wander the streets at will? "If all else fails, I can spend money to hire guys from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion to save my life!" It was just that the price was terrifyingly steep. To hire a Sunmoon to rescue someone in the ancient city, the daytime price started at 100,000 merit points, while nighttime... started at 500,000! Ask yourself if that didn't scare you! The Heaven Hunting Pavilion was outright robbing people. Who knew what they even needed so much money for? Su Yu was no pushover either. If they wanted to kill him, he would strike first and eliminate them before they had the chance. Without a Sunmoon Realm expert on their side, he wasn't terribly frightened. The divine characters on him, his cultivation arts, and that divine talisman Old Niu gave him could all mask his identity and conceal his movements. If he couldn't win, he would simply flee. "First, find a room I can enter—preferably scout out several as safe havens. Furthermore... if they hold an ancient city token for the teens and can forcibly open houses, I must be careful and leave a retreat route..." Arriving in the All-Heavens Battlefield, Su Yu was fiercely bold. In the Human Realm, he had been suppressed daily and dared not make a move. Here, he had far less fear. If push came to shove, he had a trump card left, though the cost was immense! Open all his Yang acupoints! Simultaneously, consume peak Shanhai blood essence to unleash peak Shanhai combat strength... Of course, afterward, his physical body would be ruined, and the Immortal race's flesh rebirth technique might not even work. No matter; as long as his sea of will wasn't destroyed, he could recast his physical body and start anew! With heavenly origin qi, opening acupoints was fast anyway. Since he had this fallback, worst case, he would pay a heavy price to wipe those bastards out. If no Sunmoon showed up and he unleashed peak Shanhai power, what was there to fear? Naturally, unless pushed to the absolute brink, Su Yu wouldn't do this. Look at how much effort and resources he had expended to temper this physical body! He had painstakingly completed 16 casts and was approaching the 17th. If it truly were ruined, even Su Yu would weep. Precisely because he possessed this confidence, Su Yu dared to be so bold and reckless. With peak Shanhai strength, even if he couldn't match a Sunmoon, there was still hope of escape. If his physical body was trashed, preserving his life was enough. "Little fur ball, if I really reach the point where my physical body explodes, you have to carry my sea of will and flee, understand?" "Understand." The little fur ball yawned and went back to sleep. *Of course. There are tasty, fragrant things inside your sea of will.* *If I don't run with it, I'd hate to lose out.* Su Yu was suddenly taken aback. *This guy is inside my sea of will... When I entered the city gate, did that count as one person or two?* Dazed for a second, he brushed it aside. Whatever, no point thinking about it—he was already inside anyway. First scout out the terrain, then prepare to pull off something big. Killing an Earth Ranking Immortal might raise his ranking. That didn't matter. What mattered was that there would definitely be heaven-and-earth rewards; hopefully, it would bestow some orbs of willpower. Perhaps he could even provoke dead spirits to give him some death qi to assist in his body casting. Having thought everything through, Su Yu headed out to scout locations. In the city, there seemed to be more armored warriors about. Whether they were true suits of armor or the true forms of the Xuan Armor race, Su Yu didn't investigate. Soon, Su Yu drew closer to the inner rings. Here, living beings were sparse, though not nonexistent. The ancient city was immense. After entering the 20th ring, Su Yu discovered that empty houses were much more numerous, with hardly anyone living in them; almost all were vacant. He searched only for houses that looked more tailored to humans; entering those, the death qi should be comparatively weaker. Stealthily opening several houses, he found that, indeed, in the inner rings, death qi appeared even during the daytime. When he found a house on the 18th ring and stepped inside, Su Yu's flesh immediately began to sizzle. Truly terrifying! In this place, one had to expend massive amounts of heavenly origin qi to survive. Otherwise, one would soon be corroded by death qi and become a corpse. Moduona had been able to enter the 18th ring long ago, and he might not have had vast amounts of heavenly origin qi. That guy's physical body truly was terrifyingly robust. Scouting, constantly scouting. Su Yu spent the entire day scouting. Meanwhile, within the city, the Xuan Armor race was also scouting. Daytime was not ideal for striking, because people could run anywhere along the streets. But at night, nearly everyone was holed up inside houses, not daring to step out. That was the time to wait by the stump for the rabbit, to catch a turtle in a jar. Both sides were making intense preparations. Simultaneously, atop the City Lord Manor, that ninth-tier Sunmoon City Lord looked down from on high, sipping wine as he gazed over the entire ancient city with a faint smile, as if awaiting the rise of the curtain on a grand drama. Right at this moment, a figure materialized before him. The newcomer glanced first toward the hall behind before turning his gaze to the City Lord of the ancient city, saying coldly, "Tianhe, stop watching the show. I'll be coming to collect the debt soon!" The ancient city's City Lord glanced at him and smiled. "If you've settled things with the other few, I have no problem! Besides... aren't you going to look after that little human fellow?" The newcomer looked down at the city and said impassively, "Everyone has their own fate! The Immortals are getting restless; killing a few to teach them a lesson isn't a bad idea!" "Quite confident, aren't you? Can that little fellow handle them?" "If he can't handle them and doesn't flee, then he's an idiot!" He added indifferently, "Didn't you have that big bird warn him? If he still doesn't run, he must be confident. If he isn't confident... then he's a fool. If he dies, so be it; the human race has no need for such idiots!" "Did you arrive long ago?" "No! Just got here." Hearing this, Tianhe sighed with feeling: "It seems your strength... is no weaker than an Invincible's. Xia Longwu, I actually look forward to your success. However... the odds are too slim. If you fail, the Xia family must give me one of the minor realms under its control. Don't you dare break your word!" "When I speak, I never break my word!" Xia Longwu's expression was frosty as he looked at him, saying flatly, "Don't drop the ball on me! I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave first!" With those words, his figure dispersed into nothingness. Once he vanished, City Lord Tianhe let out an emotional sigh. Truly formidable. Still... what reckless courage, not even fearing that the one behind might open his eyes and glare him to death!