A Turtle in a Jar

Outside the grand hall, Su Yu had a moment of clear realization. He felt delighted, thrilled, and deeply excited. So many opportunities! It was just a pity he had been kicked out so quickly. Still, biting off more than one could chew was never wise; he understood that principle well enough. That was enough for this trip. The grand hall wasn't going anywhere. His strength was insufficient for now, but once he grew powerful enough, he could always return, and perhaps more opportunities would await him. It wasn't any different from the Pavilion of a Hundred Dao—both required strength. He turned and walked away without lingering. He was already more than satisfied! With every step and movement, the breathing technique continued to work, tempering his physical body and accelerating the absorption of origin qi. At this moment, Su Yu's physical body was far sturdier than before. Within his mind, each divine character gleamed with crystal clarity. The "Shock" character vibrated through his sea of will and his divine apertures, steadily expanding the expanse of his sea of will. As the divine character advanced, Su Yu's Mind Expansion Hammer grew even more powerful. His willpower, meanwhile, was threatening to break through again, growing increasingly difficult to suppress. He had suppressed multiple breakthroughs before. This time, it showed clear signs of advancing straight to the second stage of Lingyun. He had reaped a bountiful harvest! Even more important were the three jade talismans that allowed him to leave the ancient city at any time. That was truly extraordinary. …… Su Yu had originally intended to pay his respects to Tianhe, but Tianmen walked over and directly escorted him outside. As they walked, Tianmen said, "The City Lord is occupied and cannot entertain guests. Once you step outside, if you have a way to leave the city, leave as soon as possible! More and more experts are rushing toward the ancient city right now, and powerful figures may already be guarding the outer city gates." Run while the crowds are still thin. He added, "The city gates won't remain sealed forever. Once the Sun Moon dead spirits depart, the gates will reopen." Su Yu pondered for a moment and asked, "About how long will that take?" "Around three days or so." Su Yu understood. No wonder the traversal talismans only lasted three days—after three days, the city gates would open automatically. Walking along, lost in thought, Su Yu asked after a short silence, "General Tianmen, which ring of ancient houses can Sun Moon dead spirits break into to kill people?" "That depends on their cultivation stage within the Sun Moon Realm." Tianmen thought for a moment before explaining, "To be honest, I haven't seen Sun Moon dead spirits appear many times up to this day. Every time they emerge, it brings massive upheaval and terrible disaster! Those in the first three stages of Sun Moon can probably enter the ancient houses between the eighteenth and twelfth rings. Those between the fourth and sixth stages can likely enter between the twelfth and sixth rings. To breach the inner six rings, it requires a dead spirit at least in the high stages of Sun Moon." Su Yu nodded in understanding. "Then the three dead spirits outside shouldn't be high-stage Sun Moon." "Indeed." Tianmen concurred. They certainly weren't. Although quite a few dead spirits had been slain, summoning high-stage Sun Moon dead spirits wasn't that easy. If that ever happened, it would mean astronomical trouble. Unless someone went and slaughtered those Sun Moon dead spirits right now, which might provoke even stronger ones to appear. Su Yu asked again, "General Tianmen, there's something I've been curious about. Where do these dead spirits come from? Could they be underground? I noticed that earth tunneling is impossible here. Also, did the dead spirits form from the deaths of ancient residents?" Tianmen considered it before speaking. "As for where exactly they reside... I am not entirely sure either. As for how dead spirits are formed... let's put it this way: ancient dead spirits are a minority, likely converted from ancient residents. But these weak dead spirits nowadays... are actually converted from modern residents." "Hmm?" Tianmen sighed. "As you've seen, quite a few living beings in the ancient city choose to convert into residents. After those beings die, they have a high probability of transforming into dead spirits. Hence, that is why there are so many weak dead spirits today." With a touch of melancholy, he said softly, "We are no exception. Converting into residents does allow one to survive here without fearing death qi too much, but living beings like us are permanently surrounded by death qi, slowly transforming. When the day of our death arrives, we become dead spirits! Ancient city residents leave behind no corpses when they die. Death is simply the end." He shook his head—a tragic reality. Some residents knew they would turn into dead spirits after dying, so they chose to detonate their physical bodies instead. Others chose to step outside the city to die. Only now did Su Yu begin to grasp the operating mechanism of the ancient city. So that was it! Those countless dead spirits were actually converted from residents. This place was practically a dead-spirit factory. Massive numbers of living beings, forced by one circumstance or another, had no choice but to convert into residents, only to die soon after and turn into dead spirits. Su Yu asked again, "Is there any way to be freed from it?" Tianmen shook his head. "None. Once all the origin qi in your body turns into death qi, your death arrives! You can only delay it. Before the death qi completely overtakes you, you can devour some Heaven Yuan Qi or other treasures to slow down its invasion." Su Yu hesitated before asking, "Are there Immortal race residents here?" As if reading his thoughts, Tianmen smiled. "Are you referring to the Immortal race's longevity arts? Indeed, their techniques paired with Heaven Yuan Qi can significantly slow the rate at which death qi devours the body, but it cannot eradicate it. Once you become a resident, the transformation is irreversible!" Death qi would continuously spawn, turning the origin qi within your body into death qi. Unless you died and ceased cultivating altogether. Su Yu looked thoughtful. "If an ancient city resident leaves the city, will they stop suffering from the invasion of death qi?" "Of course not!" Tianmen said flatly, "If it were that simple, this wouldn't be an ancient city! Even if you leave the city, you'd better return as quickly as possible. Otherwise, as time drags on, the death qi will spread even faster, hastening your demise!" Su Yu sighed inwardly. Just as I thought, this isn't an ancient city at all—it's an ancient coffin! A coffin built to bury everyone! Anyone who came here and became a resident was doomed to die sooner or later. Of course, Su Yu wondered about the dead spirits' aperture reversal technique. If that technique were given to them—say, to Tianmen—when Tianmen was completely overtaken by death qi and on the verge of dying, could reversing his origin apertures allow him to break free from the ancient city? It was merely a fleeting thought. Su Yu wasn't generous enough to hand such a thing over to others. First, he couldn't explain where he got it. Second, their relationship wasn't close enough. Third, there was no benefit in it for him. The two chatted as they walked. After a while, Su Yu asked again, "General Tianmen, what are the requirements to become a city lord or general? What conditions must be met? And what benefits does it bring?" If there were no benefits, why bother becoming a city lord or general? Tianmen smiled but didn't answer. Su Yu was surprised. Did this involve confidential secrets? Fine, he wouldn't press further. Soon, they drew near the gates of the Prefecture Lord Manor. Tianmen suddenly spoke: "Actually, there are quite a few benefits. Not fearing ordinary dead spirits is one, and being able to control a portion of them is another. As for one more... after becoming a dead spirit, perhaps... one might retain a sliver of consciousness." Su Yu jolted and looked at him. Tianmen kept his eyes forward, his tone tinged with bleakness. "Generals and city lords are groups of people who contribute to the operation of the ancient city. Perhaps out of pity from the ancient city, or perhaps because effort always yields a reward, upon dying and becoming a dead spirit, one might retain a shred of consciousness... Though it's only a possibility." "Why do you say that?" Tianmen said calmly, "I once encountered a dead spirit who might have been a friend of mine. He entered the city with me back then, died, and likely turned into a dead spirit. One time, I seemed to cross paths with him. He stared at me for a long time. I recognized something familiar in him and wanted to walk over and take a closer look... But when he saw me approaching, he quickly ran off. That look in his eyes... was different from ordinary dead spirits." Su Yu thought of those Sun Moon dead spirits and remarked, "I felt that the Sun Moon dead spirits might possess some intellect. Was your friend in the Sun Moon Realm?" "No, he was in the Shanhai Realm," Tianmen replied. Tianmen chuckled. "It's normal for Sun Moon dead spirits to possess a little intelligence. The stronger you are, the more intellect and consciousness you might retain after death when converted into a dead spirit. I don't know the full details yet. Once I reach Sun Moon and die, turning into a dead spirit, if I ever run into you again, I'll tell you!" "..." Su Yu was speechless. What a grand dream you have. Reversing origin apertures... Su Yu muttered inwardly. This dead spirit race could be considered an actual race. The answer provided by the golden atlas was that they were formed from dead people. Did that count as a race? Well, that had nothing to do with him. Su Yu thought for a moment and asked, "Right now, many people are trapped in the deeper ancient houses where death qi is dense. Since the city gates won't open for three days, aren't those fellows dead for sure?" "Not necessarily." Tianmen said with a light smile, "Experts and prodigies from each race all have a few tricks up their sleeves. Even if they truly can't hold out, as long as they don't become residents, the death qi can still be reversed. If they really can't endure it, they can just choose to convert into residents. That's still better than dying." Su Yu nodded, understanding. Within three days, the city gates would not open. Still uneasy, Su Yu asked, "If an Invincible arrives, could the city gates be breached by force?" "Breached by force?" Tianmen replied with deep meaning, "In this ancient city... Invincibles have died before!" Feel free to try forcing it open. With that, Su Yu realized the truth once more. Understood—even Invincibles couldn't force their way in. Excellent! Within three days. Alright, three days it is. During these three days, I'm going to hunt down some fellows. Of course, Su Yu actually wanted to test whether these traversal talismans were genuine. If they were fake, he would be completely finished. But if they were real, testing them back and forth would waste two of them. If push came to shove... he could run a test while using the opportunity to scout the situation outside. Being prepared was always better than being caught off guard; who knew whether these traversal talismans would actually work? If they didn't, and he foolishly assumed he could walk away whenever he pleased when the gates opened and a horde of Sun Moon experts flooded the city, he would be a total idiot walking straight into his own grave! "Did the grand hall give me three traversal talismans precisely for this reason? To let me test them? Maybe the mysterious expert in the hall thought they might have expired, so he handed me three to try out?" Otherwise, why give three? As for the little fur ball, it didn't need one. The fellow was practically equivalent to Su Yu's divine character and didn't need to be counted separately—no one counted a divine character as an individual person. Its race was remarkably unique. For all he knew, its species might have been formed from ancient divine characters. Of course, that was just an idle thought. Su Yu felt he had figured out the intentions of the expert who gifted him the talismans. Indeed, everything had been considered for his benefit. The expert was probably worried the traversal talismans had expired and lost their potency. This way, testing one would allow Su Yu to prepare rather than gambling on luck at a critical moment. …… A short while later, Su Yu stepped out of the manor's gates. The surroundings remained deserted. Dead spirits were scarce near the Prefecture Lord Manor. Su Yu glanced around and called out loudly, "Why don't you all come out for a stroll? Let me see what you're capable of! Dao Cheng, where are you hiding?" Arrogant! Su Yu wasn't being arrogant just for the sake of it; he wanted to see if he could lure a few people out and kill a bunch of them while the Sun Moon dead spirits were still roaming the city. Whether by transforming into a dead spirit or using a traversal talisman, Su Yu currently had the means to protect his life. As long as he could lure them out, he would find a way to finish them off. No one answered. Su Yu didn't mind. Exercising caution, he surveyed the area, transformed into a gust of astral wind, and vanished from the spot. Time to find a hiding spot! First, he would shake off anyone who might be tailing him, then transform into a dead spirit and reemerge... Then, kill more dead spirits. I'll make sure dead spirits never stop appearing in this ancient city! Dead spirits everywhere, death qi everywhere. Some fellows might not be able to endure it and would want to become residents, and then he could pick up the jade talismans they threw out—just like he did to Fen Kai—and wipe them all out! If possible, he would kill a few more Shanhai dead spirits to summon more Sun Moon dead spirits and prolong the city's lockdown. I'm going to trap these bastards to death! Ruthlessness flared in Su Yu's heart! Hardly any of the people left in the city were decent. Refusing to leave even under these circumstances meant none of them harbored good intentions. The truly timid and cautious had fled long ago; who would wait until now, when the city was locked down? …… Wandering around, Su Yu soon found a house and slipped inside. He set the little fur ball down once more. The little fur ball went completely limp, thoroughly depressed. Forced to act as cover again—and worse, they hadn't brought a sub-ranking this time. Without a sub-ranking, it couldn't chat with anyone. It was dreadfully boring! "Yummy, take me with you! No one knows where we're hiding anyway..." The little fur ball was bored out of its mind and didn't want to hide in the house all by itself. Su Yu considered it and realized it made sense. He nodded. "Fine, I'll take you along. That way I can squeeze you to death whenever I need to use you as a trump card!" True enough, keeping the little fur ball with him had its uses. The little fur ball didn't care; it had heard that line dozens of times. As long as you feed me divine characters, we can negotiate anything. "Yummy, when are we going to rob the Heaven Hunting Pavilion? They must have lots of delicious divine characters!" "No rush!" Su Yu didn't think there was anything wrong with the idea. It was only natural—the Heaven Hunting Pavilion was so corrupt, who else would he rob once he had the strength? More importantly, he wanted to snatch the Heaven Hunting Ranking. Su Yu had realized that once his aura was locked onto, even disguising himself was difficult. Unless he could erase his aura from the Heaven Hunting Ranking right now. Even though he was disguised as Cui Lang, it was useless; his origin aura remained Su Yu's. The Heaven Hunting Ranking was definitely beyond a Heaven armament, tracking his aura across the entire All-Heavens Battlefield. Unless Su Yu could alter his origin aura, there were only two ways to conceal his identity: First, find the Heaven Hunting Ranking and control it himself. Second, alter his origin aura. Yet even transforming into a dead spirit hadn't changed it—the dead spirits couldn't detect him, but the Heaven Hunting Ranking still tracked him, which was utterly frustrating. Putting on an alternate identity on the All-Heavens Battlefield was just too difficult! Therefore, Su Yu would inevitably have to deal with the Heaven Hunting Pavilion sooner or later. Regardless of what happened, he couldn't keep letting his identity be exposed like this; he needed a proper cover so that killing someone wouldn't immediately trigger changes on the ranking. Of course, there was another method. Fight his way to number one on the Heaven Ranking! Then push his battle record to a point where it could no longer rise—for instance, achieving a record of slaying an Invincible right now. At number one on the Heaven Ranking, no matter how many people he killed afterward, it wouldn't create any further stir. Of course, that was just wishful thinking. The difficulty was immense! …… Su Yu lingered briefly in the small house. Soon, he transformed back into a dead spirit and vanished, taking the little fur ball along to avoid leaving it behind if he had to flee in a hurry. Scattered dead spirits drifted through the city, though not many. Su Yu began his hunt once more! This time, he was much more cautious, because three Sun Moon dead spirits still roamed the city, possessing faint traces of intelligence. When Su Yu slew the first dead spirit, a Sun Moon dead spirit arrived, but its intellect was limited. It merely glanced at Su Yu before wandering off through the city again. Kill one, and two would take its place. Gradually, the dead spirits in the city multiplied once more. The death qi grew increasingly thick. …… Inside an ancient house. Qin Fang wore a helpless expression. This was troublesome. He was currently in an ancient house within the sixth ring, where the death qi was already dense. It had eased slightly a moment ago, but now it was beginning to permeate the area again. Qin Fang's armor was struggling to hold up. If this continued and the gates remained closed with no reinforcements, even he would find it hard to escape. "Could this be Su Yu's doing again?" Qin Fang grumbled inwardly. If he had known this guy was so ruthless and fierce, he wouldn't have bothered coming to check on the situation at all. Now look what happened—he had almost trapped himself here! Truly ruthless! If Su Yu was behind this, Qin Fang could already see what he was planning: to trap everyone to death. More dead spirits meant denser death qi, while the ancient city gates remained shut. What could anyone do? In the end, everyone would probably have to wait for Invincible experts to arrive in person and force the city gates open. And not just one—without multiple Invincibles, no one would dare try. It might even trigger a clash between Invincibles. Troublesome! "What a ruthless character!" "No wonder he dared to venture into the All-Heavens Battlefield alone. I'd heard of him before, and he truly lives up to his reputation!" Qin Fang couldn't help but marvel. Truly impressive. The Xuan Armor race hunted him, and now look—wiped out! The Immortal race targeted him, and Jiu Xuan died. Even Dao Cheng, someone Qin Fang wasn't confident in handling, had been forced to turn against his own allies just to boost his strength. There were at least a dozen prodigies from the Heaven Hunting Ranking trapped in the city. Other experts numbered over twenty, perhaps even more. There was a good chance all of them would fall at Su Yu's hands. If he wiped out everyone on his very first trip to the All-Heavens Battlefield, the all-heavens would be shaken to the core. …… While Qin Fang was thinking of Su Yu, Su Yu was actually thinking of him as well. He hasn't died, has he? The fellow might have come here with the intention of helping him. Screwing Qin Fang over wouldn't be good; if Qin Fang died, Su Yu could forget about ever returning to the human race. King Daqin was the foremost expert among humans. Besides, Qin Fang was Qin Zhen's son. Su Yu had met Qin Zhen, talked with him, and had a decent impression of him. Getting someone's son killed would leave a bad taste in his mouth. "It shouldn't come to that. As the descendant of an Invincible, he should have some means to protect himself!" Su Yu pondered inwardly. At worst, if they ran into each other, he could offer some Heaven Yuan Qi. Beyond that, he was powerless to help. As for the traversal talismans... there was no way he would give one away. If he gave one and Qin Fang fled first, Qin Fang's fame was so great that everyone would recognize him. Seeing him escape, people would immediately suspect Su Yu had escaped as well, which would cause endless trouble. Between his own safety and Qin Fang's, Su Yu naturally chose his own. He continued drifting down the streets. By now, the inner rings were crowded with dead spirits as well. Just then, a jade talisman was tossed out from a house. Su Yu smiled. He had been hovering around inhabited areas specifically for this. Killing without spilling blood! Su Yu dropped swiftly, snatched the jade talisman, stepped forward, and began scribbling on the wooden plaque. Su Yu had caught a glimpse of the one who threw out the plaque—it was an eagle-beaked beast. Soon, half a head appeared on the wooden plaque. The plaque was somewhat peculiar; Su Yu had noticed that it could only be carved using death qi. No wonder he hadn't seen anyone else replicate his trick—it was difficult to forge. Su Yu, however, had no such concerns. After scribbling for a bit, he resumed his patrol. At this moment, resembling an ordinary dead spirit, he doomed as many as he could. Some individuals had calculated that they could hold out for three days and threw out their jade talismans today. In reality, having missed today, throwing the talisman tomorrow meant that by the third day, when they expected their conversion to succeed, they would discover it hadn't, leaving them stranded for an extra day—and facing total doom. …… While Su Yu continued trapping and killing the experts in the city, the fourth day since his arrival had already begun. Night fell. Outside Tianmie City. By now, powerful figures had arrived, their silhouettes materializing in the void around the ancient city. "The city is sealed!" "Sun Moon dead spirits must have appeared inside!" "What does the Heaven Hunting Pavilion say?" Experts communicated through the void. Soon, someone spoke chillingly: "Chaos reigns within the city. The ancient city is locked down, and three Sun Moon ancient dead spirits have appeared. The gates won't open for at least three days! Tianhe has sealed the Prefecture Lord Manor. Few survivors remain, and those who are still alive are hiding in the inner ancient houses awaiting rescue." "This is all Su Yu's doing! That fellow can somehow avoid the pursuit of dead spirits and secretly slaughtered a massive number of them. Jiu Xuan used Immortal King Xuanhe's immortal talisman and wiped out another horde... Now that Jiu Xuan is dead, Immortal King Xuanhe certainly won't come!" "So we just wait here for three days? I'm worried our race's prodigy won't last that long!" "Indeed!" "..." Right at that moment, in the distance, a colossal dragon manifested—a nine-clawed white dragon of the Heavenly Dragon race! Seventh stage of the Sun Moon Realm! They had no choice; the Heavenly Dragon prodigy Long Zhan was still inside, along with Long Wuyou, the descendant of the Golden Dragon race's First Elder. The Dragon race had to send rescue. Shortly after, another overwhelmingly powerful figure descended. Seventh stage of Sun Moon! Frost energy enveloped heaven and earth—the God race had arrived, specifically the Ice Snow God race, the clan to which An Mintian belonged. The next instant, an ethereal, immortal figure touched down—the Immortal race. Dao Cheng of the Immortal race was still inside. As soon as the Immortal arrived, someone called out in greeting, "Fairy Minghe has arrived as well!" A disciple of the Dao King! A great powerhouse at the seventh stage of the Sun Moon Realm. All the major races had dispatched high-stage Sun Moon experts this time. Upon arriving, Fairy Minghe looked toward the sealed city gates, her brows furrowing slightly. Suddenly, her crisp voice rang out: "Lord City Lord Tianhe, Minghe of the Immortal race requests an audience. Please open the gates to meet!" "Bing Hong of the God race requests an audience!" The God race powerhouse spoke up as well. "Na Dazhi of the Demon race requests an audience!" Experts from the major powerful races chimed in one after another. Yet the city gates remained tightly shut. After a moment, a faint voice echoed out: "Everyone, forgive me, but I cannot open the city gates. When ancient dead spirits emerge, the gates seal automatically—this is the rule of the ancient city. As for me... I am merely a puppet. If I open this gate today, I fear I won't even be able to remain city lord!" In the void, the experts knit their brows. "Lord City Lord Tianhe, a descendant of an Immortal King from our race is inside. If the gates remain sealed for several days, I fear they won't be able to endure it..." Tianhe said faintly, "The gates will open automatically after three days. I believe... three days should not be a major problem! If you think I am making excuses, feel free to breach the gates yourselves. I care nothing for that. I am entering secluded cultivation; you may decide for yourselves!" Leaving behind those words, he fell silent. Do as you please! If you have the ability, break the gates down. Opening them for you... not a chance. He could open them! However, he wouldn't. Forcing them open would inflict backlash upon him. Besides, what need was there to open the gates? I never invited you into the city in the first place! Whether Dao Cheng or Su Yu, they all entered of their own accord. Did I drag them in? Powerful races might be formidable, but that had nothing to do with him. If you truly have the guts, attack the city and breach the gates—just be careful not to get an Invincible killed and trigger a revolt across the other ancient cities. …… Outside the city. Silence fell. Tianhe's refusal to open the gates had been expected, but his outright rejection still left them displeased. Yet displeasure achieved nothing! Were they truly supposed to force the gates open? None of them entertained that thought. Unless pushed to the absolute brink, it was best left to Invincibles. If Sun Moon experts tried to force the gates, they could easily get themselves killed. Just then, an expert asked, "Has anyone from the human race arrived?" "Not yet. Zheng Ping from the Great Xia Prefecture is nearby, though, and seems to be heading this way." "Zheng Ping?" Someone sneered. "Having just entered Sun Moon, he certainly carries immense bloodlust. I heard he killed Jin Kai of the Xuan Armor race earlier. Does he want to join the commotion, or is he looking to die?" Before the words had even faded, a beam of saber qi ripped across heaven and earth! Boom! "Courting death!" The speaker roared in fury as a massive golden lion manifested, blotting out the sky. Meanwhile, not far away, Zheng Ping slowly stepped forward. "Do you want to die?" The golden lion glared at him, its eyes freezing cold. "Zheng Ping, are you provoking me?" "Provoking you?" Zheng Ping sneered. "That's right! What about it? Do you want to die? Who are you to pass judgment on someone from my Great Xia Prefecture? You've got quite the nerve. Don't think being part of the top hundred races gives the Vajra Lion race any right to act arrogant... Do you want your Lion King to taste the blade of King Daxia?" Silence fell. The blood-red hue in the golden lion's eyes slowly receded as it said coldly, "Zheng Ping, stop making powerful enemies for your Great Xia Prefecture! This isn't twenty years ago!" Zheng Ping chuckled. "Right, you're not wrong! The Manor Lord is on the verge of attaining the Dao, so people like us have become tigers without claws and teeth... You lot have certainly grown arrogant. Still... no matter how powerless we might be, wiping out your Vajra Lion race wouldn't be much trouble!" Zheng Ping then barked coldly, "Do you want to die? Does your Vajra Lion race wish for extinction? Lower than dogs! Since when did weak races like yours have the right to swagger before humanity?" He cast his gaze around and sneered, "And the Xuan Armor race—very good. Cling tightly to the Immortal race's backside, or else... just you wait!" In the void, figures appeared one after another. Fairy Minghe of the Immortal race looked toward him and said indifferently, "Zheng Ping, watch your words. The alliance between humans and Immortals is not something you and I can decide!" "Greetings, Fairy Minghe!" Zheng Ping showed a modicum of politeness and laughed. "I wasn't talking about you, but the Xuan Armor race. They have immense nerve. It looks to me like King Xuan Armor has no intention of ever leaving the Xuan Armor Realm in this lifetime—King Tianzhu will be waiting for him forever!" Minghe ignored him, while the experts of the God and Demon races turned their eyes toward Zheng Ping. Zheng Ping showed no fear and chuckled. "What are you staring at me for? Going to kill me? Kill me, and the Great Xia Prefecture will go to war right now! Sneakily ambushing people is one thing, but go ahead and try killing me right now!" With that, he gritted his teeth and said, "I've been feeling that the Great Xia Prefecture isn't iron-blooded enough lately! Go on, kill me today! Let me use my blood to remind the Great Xia Prefecture that only through battle can we survive! Compromise will never be a way out!" He didn't fear death! He was profoundly dissatisfied with the Great Xia Prefecture's current policies! Cowering was never an option! If the gods and demons dared to kill him openly right here—killing the head of the Great Xia War Academy—the Great Xia Prefecture would draw its blades no matter what! If they didn't, Great Xia's blade would become a broken blade! Kill me, then! Use my blood to awaken the Xia family, to awaken the Great Xia Prefecture, and shatter those unrealistic illusions—there could never be compromise with gods and demons! The experts of the God and Demon races didn't move. Killing Zheng Ping right now wouldn't be difficult, but... slaying him without cause meant the gods and demons would be initiating war. At this juncture, there was no need; initiating conflict would only provoke a fierce backlash from the Great Xia Prefecture. Of course, if a battle truly broke out and Zheng Ping died in the chaos, no one could say anything. Yet the two sides hadn't completely fallen out just yet. Zheng Ping snorted softly, knowing they wouldn't dare strike him first. As for provoking them into killing him... that would be another story. He wouldn't cross that line needlessly either. Looking toward the sealed city gates and watching the death qi engulf heaven and earth, Zheng Ping sighed inwardly. It was over. Su Yu couldn't escape. These people likely wouldn't dare kill Qin Fang, but when it came to Su Yu... they would slay him without hesitation. Even if he wanted to intervene, what could a first-stage Sun Moon like him change? Just as he was thinking, someone broke the silence and spoke: "Another prodigy has died! News just came from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion: dead spirits have overrun the city, and Dou Hai of the Blood Crocodile race, ranked 312th on the Yellow Ranking, has fallen!" Dead silence. No one said anything. Another prodigy was dead; in truth, quite a few had died over the past few days, so a few more wasn't unexpected. After a moment, someone asked, "Killed by dead spirits, or by someone else?" "Unclear." The speaker replied, "Could have been dead spirits, could have been Su Yu, or someone else. The Heaven Hunting Pavilion stated that Su Yu went to seek an audience with Tianhe earlier, but was likely rejected, given no opportunity to leave the city." "As long as he hasn't left, that's all that matters!" Someone replied, their voice dripping with amusement. In that case, they could just wait three days—no, two days might suffice. Once the city gates opened, they would enter and surround Su Yu! With so many experts present, including several at the seventh stage of the Sun Moon Realm... With Tianhe staying out of it and the Sun Moon dead spirits gone, killing Su Yu would be effortless. As for the human race... how many humans were truly willing to stand up for the Multiple Divine Characters Faction? The Great Xia Prefecture could barely protect itself, and the Great Qin Prefecture lacked the power to shield Su Yu here. Could anyone possibly count on that slacker Zhu Tiandao from the Great Ming Prefecture? With the Invincibles of other races blocked, human Invincibles shouldn't even dream of coming. Right now, Su Yu was already a turtle in a jar—doomed beyond doubt!