Great Turmoil

At the entrance, two Sun Moon experts presided over the gate. Positioned to the left and right, they stood flanking either side of the main city gate. There were nine city gates in total, none particularly far from one another. Aside from these two Sun Moon experts, a number of Shanhai powerhouses were also on guard. With the Castellan Manor's personnel absent, these newcomers had taken over the duties once held by Tianmen and the other gatekeepers. At that moment, heavily injured geniuses and experts whose bodies had been severely eroded by death qi were emerging from the city depths in steady streams. As for fighting, nobody was in the mood for it anymore. Having reached this point, getting rid of the death qi eating away at them took priority over everything else. The city lockdown alone had lasted three full days. Most had arrived even before the lockdown began, meaning some had lingered inside for five or six days. Compounded by how dense the death qi had grown in recent days, their plight had become all the more agonizing. Now, because of the heavy death qi clinging to them, practically everyone was shadowed by a few dead spirits. Dead spirits tracked their targets entirely through death qi. On the very first day Su Yu arrived, he had encountered dead spirits, and Tianmen had warned him not to let death qi taint him, lest the creatures pursue him endlessly. Presently, dead spirits trailed every single cultivator. Fortunately, none of these dead spirits were very strong, so everyone simply ignored them. Killing them was out of the question anyway. Kill one, and two more would take its place—an endless nuisance. In fact, quite a few cultivators shared Qin Fang's line of thought: *Just wait until I get outside. I'll stab you all to death then!* As for whether killing them outside might cause more dead spirits to spawn inside the city, that was no longer their concern. It wouldn't affect the Sun Moon experts in the slightest anyway. It was under these circumstances that Su Yu followed Qin Fang toward the city gates. At the entrance. A great demon whose entire body had been corroded pitch-black pleaded loudly, "My lords, please let me out first! I can't take this anymore! I really am not Su Yu..." The two Sun Moon experts refused to let anyone leave. Remaining stuck inside the city meant enduring the continuous assault of death qi. It was sheer torture. The two guardians hailed from powerful races: one from the Immortal race, and one from the god race. Only Sun Moon experts from the major races possessed the stature to intimidate all sides. Hearing the great demon's pleas, the god race Sun Moon expert snapped coldly, "Stay where you are and stop your clamoring! You won't drop dead anytime soon!" Even if the creature did die, so what? Leaving the city would not be that simple. Meanwhile, the Immortal race Sun Moon paid no attention to the demon at all. He was busy manipulating a massive mirror, steadily adjusting and charging it with energy. After a moment, he declared, "Before anyone is permitted to depart, you must all pass before the Form-Breaking Mirror!" Several faces paled, and someone could not help asking, "My lord, will this Form-Breaking Mirror pry into our seas of will?" The Immortal Sun Moon replied impassively, "It will not. It merely scans the approximate number and rank of your divine characters by reading energy feedback. The specific nature of your divine characters and the interior of your sea of will cannot be detected." That was more than enough. As a disciple of the Multiple Divine Characters Faction, Su Yu possessed at least ten divine characters. No matter how he disguised his appearance, possessing that many divine characters remained an immutable fact. Even if he could conceal himself from a Sun Moon's senses, what of it? He could never hide the sheer number of divine characters he carried! Amid the crowd, several experts wore grim expressions, but none dared voice an objection. The situation made it crystal clear: without undergoing this inspection, no one would be leaving. "My lord, I am willing to be inspected! Once the check is complete, may I leave immediately?" The Immortal Sun Moon said calmly, "Wait your turn. Once all checks are concluded, everyone will depart together. Do not be impatient. Our sole purpose is to execute Su Yu, who has brought havoc upon the myriad realms. The death qi eating away at you was brought about by Su Yu as well. I presume everyone wishes to see the culprit brought to justice, so let us not grant Su Yu any opportunity to slip away, correct?" "Indeed!" Voices in the crowd murmured in agreement. Since they had endured this much already, they could bear it a little longer to ensure Su Yu had nowhere to run. From the side of the crowd, Qin Fang drawled, "Since when does the Immortal race openly hunt down human geniuses in broad daylight? My lord, has the Immortal race joined hands with the gods and demons as well?" The Immortal Sun Moon showed no anger, answering mildly, "We have not. However, Su Yu was the first to violate our alliance by slaying Jiu Xuan. That boy is of the bloodline of Immortal King Xuanhe. Since Su Yu instigated the conflict, putting him to death... is precisely to preserve the alliance between humans and immortals!" Qin Fang retorted coldly, "It was Jiu Xuan and Dao Cheng who ambushed Su Yu first!" "Who said they tried to kill Su Yu?" The Sun Moon expert replied indifferently, "As far as I am aware, their invitation was merely to have Su Yu as a guest. They never spoke of slaying him. Many can attest to that!" Qin Fang fell silent. Arguing was futile. He peered toward the exterior of the gates, but saw nothing. The several Sun Moon experts confronting each other outside were locked in a standoff high in the void. He sighed internally. It seemed the human race truly had not dispatched reinforcements this time. Otherwise, the ancient city gates would not be garrisoned by these foreign entities. ... Meanwhile, Su Yu circled along the outer perimeter of the crowd. Two Sun Moon experts. The glowing dots on his resonance jade revealed that one was a second-stage Sun Moon, while the other was around the fourth stage—formidable adversaries indeed. Furthermore, they hailed from the Immortal and god races, naturally outmatching ordinary Sun Moon cultivators of lesser clans. The two stood remarkably close to each other. If he struck, he had to kill both at once. He also had to prevent them from fleeing outside the city. Killing these two would spawn at least two Sun Moon dead spirits. If those two dead spirits were slain in turn, at least four Sun Moon dead spirits would appear, likely reaching the mid to late stages of the realm. A city lockdown, four dead spirits... and if those were eliminated, eight late-stage Sun Moon dead spirits might manifest... Every wave would double in number and escalate in power! *Just how potent are the Fifth Generation's divine characters?* Su Yu was not entirely confident. When Liu Wenyan unleashed those divine characters previously, even self-detonating several of them had only slain a single Sun Moon—and that target had merely been a divine character clone of an Invincible expert. Was that Sun Moon divine character clone extraordinarily strong? Su Yu could not say for certain, though it was likely immensely powerful. After all, he had witnessed Chief Hu and General Zhao joining forces only to barely subdue a single divine character, while Marquis Xia himself had stepped in to claim another... Of course, Xia Longwu was an anomaly who had effortlessly slain several. Those figures were beyond comparison. Su Yu roughly estimated that the Sun Moon divine character clone Liu Wenyan had destroyed back then possessed combat strength around the fifth or sixth stage of the Sun Moon Realm. It had to be at least that strong! Otherwise, Chief Hu and General Zhao would not have struggled so mightily to bring down one on their own. However, Liu Wenyan had possessed a robust sea of will and had unleashed multiple divine characters at once. Su Yu's current sea of will was undoubtedly inferior to Liu Wenyan's at that time. As thoughts raced through his mind, Su Yu activated his "Quiet" character alongside his "Calamity" character, suppressing any intuition of danger the targets might otherwise perceive. In an ancient city, sensing a faint hint of danger was entirely normal. Even if these two felt a subtle prickle of unease, they would dismiss it as routine. It would only arouse suspicion if the premonition grew overwhelming. *There are Sun Moon experts outside the city... I wonder if they can break in before the gates seal, or wait until after the lockdown to surround and slaughter Mo He and the rest on the outside!* At present, there were quite a few human Sun Moon experts stationed outside. Counting them up, there were eight in total, not even knowing whether the Great Qin Prefecture had sent anyone. Surrounding and killing Mo He and his companions shouldn't be much of a problem, right? No matter! Su Yu was itching to act. Inside his sea of will, three mighty divine characters churned with power. One of them was slated for self-destruction. The concussive shock of its detonation would be immense, and simultaneously unleashing two Sun Moon divine characters would push Su Yu to his absolute limits. His sea of will was bound to sustain damage. Su Yu could only place his faith in the resilience of his sea of will—a confidence bolstered by the presence of the golden booklet. *Whatever. If my sea of will gets hurt, I'll just shatter another of the Fifth Generation's characters to mend it!* Su Yu had borrowed three divine characters, and he had never intended to return them. Nor had Liu Wenyan ever expected to get them back. In fact, had Su Yu been willing, Liu Wenyan would have gladly passed on his entire inheritance of characters. *Calm down!* Su Yu forced himself to stay composed. Facing two Sun Moon experts, the opportune moment had not yet arrived. He needed to find the ideal opening, preferably when the two moved even closer together. *Use the 'Suppress' character to pin down that fourth-stage Sun Moon for an instant, then use the 'Slaughter' character to immediately butcher the second-stage Sun Moon, before turning around to finish off the fourth-stage one...* The Immortal expert was at the fourth stage, while the god race expert stood at the second stage. Su Yu calculated the sequence again and again. He avoided staring directly at the two. Even though he could mask their sense of danger, they were still Sun Moon experts; looking straight at them was an unnecessary risk. At this juncture, he could only pray that Ye Batian's divine characters were truly as terrifying as legends claimed! The Fifth Generation's reputation was so colossal. Even though the man was dead, his divine characters couldn't possibly be useless, could they? They had to be strong! Su Yu silently prayed as his chance gradually materialized. The Immortal Sun Moon barked once more, "Those seeking to leave the city, form a line over here for inspection!" The god race Sun Moon added sternly, "All of you, over to that side! You are the pride of your respective races; I trust none of you wish for an unpleasant altercation!" Only because these youths were geniuses and elites of various races were the guardians speaking with any shred of courtesy. Otherwise, they wouldn't have bothered with inspections at all—slaughtering every last one would have better served their interests. Both Sun Moon experts focused their attention on the geniuses and the massive mirror. Reluctant though they were, the geniuses had no choice but to herd toward the mirror. At the same time, several dead spirits drifted in that direction as well. "Stop shoving... These dead spirits are insufferable!" Someone grumbled in exasperation. *Just wait until I get outside, I'll butcher every last one of you!* How thoroughly annoying! Why were the dead spirits crowding in too? Couldn't they see everyone was already on the verge of being corroded to death? Su Yu scanned the crowd. Several geniuses had yet to arrive, perhaps still trapped in the inner ring. He recognized very few among those present. On the Primordial Demon side, he spotted Tianduo, but not Modona. On the god race side, he saw An Mintian, but none of the other prominent god prodigies. As for the Immortal race's Dao Cheng, he remained nowhere in sight—perhaps breaking through inside an ancient house, or having stumbled upon some fortunate encounter? From the Dragon race, neither Long Zhan nor Long Wuyou was present, perhaps held up by opportunities of their own. None of that mattered now! Su Yu pushed his way forward, edging closer to the god race Sun Moon expert. Inside his sea of will, the three divine characters spun with increasing fury. The "Rain" character began to slowly fracture, disintegrating at an unhurried pace. The god race Sun Moon seemed to sense something amiss. He swept his gaze around, and seeing the crowd of geniuses jostling forward, he barked, "What are you crowding for? Spread out! Clustering together concentrates the death qi—are you trying to summon a powerful dead spirit?" The concentration of death qi was indeed rising! Chastened, the geniuses were forced to queue up obediently like schoolchildren. Su Yu drew closer and closer to the god race powerhouse. The god race Sun Moon cast a brief glance at Su Yu, frowning slightly. These dead spirits truly lacked all intellect; even with his Sun Moon aura flaring, a mere Tengkong-level dead spirit dared to approach him. Quite bold. He didn't bother striking it. A puny Tengkong dead spirit couldn't corrode him even if it clung to his back. Killing it would only invite trouble, causing the ancient city's spirits to swarm him. They couldn't be killed without consequence, which was precisely why powerhouses like him rarely visited ancient cities—the sheer annoyance of the dead spirits was endless! Just as the thought crossed his mind, a prickle of alarm flared within him. Divine light burst from his eyes as he looked around. A sense of danger? From where? Had a powerful dead spirit or something else appeared? Frowning with doubt, he peered into the surroundings. As for the dead spirit nearing him, he paid it no heed... The danger he sensed did not stem from Su Yu directly, but from the shattering of the divine character. The moment the "Rain" character fractured, an overwhelming surge of power was unleashed within Su Yu's sea of will! Only then did the premonition of doom truly manifest. And in that very instant, Su Yu waited no longer! His sea of will trembled as if struck by a cataclysmic earthquake. The colossal willpower and residual essence of the shattered character churned a violent tempest across his entire mental realm, sending towering waves crashing in all directions! Not uttering a single sound, Su Yu struck! The "Slaughter" divine character devoured a vast ocean of willpower in a fraction of an instant, unleashing its strike! Simultaneously, the "Suppress" character blasted toward the Immortal Sun Moon on the opposite flank! Only at that precise moment did a terrifyingly potent aura skyrocket within the city! Overwhelming and boundless! Su Yu's sea of will violently roiled, hairline fractures spiderwebbing across its boundaries. His 180 divine apertures instantly wove into an intricate web, straining to keep the entire sea of will from collapsing. Both divine characters fired at the exact same time. The god race Sun Moon stood directly before him, his expression morphing into sheer horror! *What?!* All he could see was an expanse of crimson blood. In the haze, a colossal battleaxe seemed to materialize, held by a figure striding toward him. "You... Ye..." Ye Batian! He recognized that axe; he had seen it before! That was Ye Batian's axe! His spirit was shattered by terror. Impossible! Ye Batian was dead! The moment that divine character emerged, unadulterated fear paralyzed him. Because he felt as if Ye Batian himself was marching forward! Years ago, the moment he had laid eyes upon that axe, it had cleaved a ninth-stage Sun Moon expert of the god race in two—his own senior, struck down in a single blow! "No..." He was petrified! At the same time, Su Yu's own "Calamity" character flared with power, plunging everyone present into blinding panic! Imminent doom! Everything unfolded far too quickly. It happened with jarring suddenness! There had been no warning of an approaching enemy; the eruption came out of nowhere. The Immortal Sun Moon only sensed the crisis when the "Suppress" character descended upon him. His face twisted in horror, and he roared at the top of his lungs, "To me!" Yet in that very heartbeat, high in the air, the "Slaughter" character manifested as a colossal axe, descending with peerless momentum! While the crowd remained utterly dazed, the axe crashed down. The god race Sun Moon was paralyzed with terror, unable to budge. He had been scared witless, and only when the axe was inches from his skull did he let out a frantic, desperate howl. His origin qi erupted, his apertures detonating in a frenzy! "No!" A despairing shriek tore from his throat. *It's not Ye Batian!* *He is dead!* *He was besieged and slain!* *Boom!* A deafening explosion reverberated between heaven and earth. Under the weight of that single axe stroke, the god race Sun Moon was split completely into pieces. With a thunderous boom, a half-moon plummeted and shattered! Slain in a single strike! Swift, vicious, overwhelming! Even Su Yu had not anticipated that a single swing would split the Sun Moon expert apart! In that instant, the ancient city shuddered! Abruptly, the city gates showed signs of sealing shut. Over by the Castellan Manor, the three Sun Moon dead spirits that had only just dispersed suddenly re-emerged—not one, but three! The very three that had just returned. They had barely left, yet now they reappeared. The turn of events came too swiftly. Before anyone could even register what was happening, a half-moon had fallen from the sky—signaling the death of a Sun Moon expert! ... At that moment, the Immortal Sun Moon turned pale with fright! "Die!" His willpower surged, sweeping through the surroundings. Divine characters manifested one after another as four half-moons coalesced into a radiant longsword to strike at the "Suppress" character. At the same time, he bolted toward the outside of the city! Even now, he had no idea what had just occurred! All he knew was danger—lethal, absolute danger! The shadow of death enveloped him entirely! Just then, Su Yu leaped into the air, reverting to his true form. Clasping the "Slaughter" character like a colossal battleaxe, his physical frame swelled, his blood qi roared, and his Yang Aperture cracked half-open as he swung the axe toward the other targets! That swing carried boundless might. While the "Suppress" character kept the Immortal Sun Moon pinned down, Su Yu would slaughter these troublesome bystanders first. An Mintian, the god race prodigy, didn't even have time to flee. Before the axe even reached him, he let out a desperate, enraged roar—*Boom!* With a thunderous crash, he and several nearby experts were pulverized into ash! *Rumble!* The ancient city shook violently as the stone flagstones cracked. In a flash, countless non-Sun Moon dead spirits materialized. Death qi instantly flooded the entire ancient city. Deep within the inner ring, powerhouses finally reacted. In the blink of an eye, several figures tore through the air, someone bellowing in fury, "Insolence!" Curse it all! A Sun Moon had actually fallen! Su Yu couldn't care less. Before the shout could even reach his ears, his axe cleaved down once more. Meanwhile, the "Suppress" character forcefully crushed the Immortal Sun Moon downward. The man was merely a single step away from the city gates, yet he found himself entirely unable to move, his heart seized by absolute dread! "Ye Batian!" *Is this Ye Batian?!* *Ye Batian has revived!* The cry echoed outward. The moment they heard that name, the powerhouses rushing from the inner ring froze dead in their tracks—literally halting mid-air! Be it Ming He or the Blood Fire Demon powerhouse... Every single one of them skidded to an immediate stop. *Ye Batian!* *Impossible!* Dread, panic, horror, inner turmoil... *The killer is Ye Batian?!* *Impossible!* *Ye Batian is dead!* *How could it possibly be him?!* During the brief instant they froze, Su Yu had already brought his axe crashing down several times! *Rumble! Boom! Boom!* One genius and powerhouse after another had no strength to resist. No matter how desperately they fled or struggled, none could escape being cleaved into oblivion by a single swing! Suspended in the air, Su Yu ignored the survivors and brought the axe down toward the Immortal Sun Moon! "No!" Crushed beneath the "Suppress" character like a man shouldering a mountain, the Immortal Sun Moon roared. His origin apertures ruptured, his divine characters fractured, stripping away every ounce of his transcendent, ethereal grace. He did not want to die! He refused to die here! He wanted to run! Yet it was too late! *Boom!* The axe cleaved downward. With a staggering explosion, his body was cleaved cleanly in two. In a single blow, even his sea of will was shattered to dust! Up to this point, the Heavenly Rewards had yet to descend. Everything had happened too fast! Perhaps the heavens were still calculating the appropriate rewards. Su Yu paid it no mind. Having cleaved his foe to death, he hastily gathered the blood and remains. At that exact instant, over by the Castellan Manor, where three Sun Moon dead spirits had just emerged, an even more terrifying dead spirit manifested—a mid-stage Sun Moon dead spirit radiating an overwhelmingly oppressive aura. Four Sun Moon dead spirits! Outside the Castellan Manor, Liu Wenyan clicked his tongue. *Holy crap, four at once, and one of them is at the mid-stage. This is getting a bit out of hand!* ... At the very same time. Outside the city gates. Mo He and the others outside saw the two half-moons crash down within the city, their hearts jolting in sheer shock! He also caught sight of that colossal axe! "Ye Batian?" "No... It's not him!" After his initial shock, Mo He swiftly caught on. Standing close to the gates, he moved to storm into the city and execute the axe-wielding figure. That wasn't Ye Batian, but someone borrowing Ye Batian's divine characters! "Bing Hong, that's not Ye Batian! Get in there and kill him!" Mo He roared! He tried to move, but found himself pinned down—Ye Hongyan! Though Mo He held the upper hand against Ye Hongyan, shaking her off in an instant was no simple task. Even as he roared, his expression twisted in disbelief! "Impossible!" *The humans have gone mad!* Thirteen powerful auras suddenly descended. An Ying moved with blinding speed, appearing in the blink of an eye and lunging with a sword thrust aimed straight for Bing Hong! Meanwhile, Zheng Ping... was entirely dumbfounded. What in the world was happening? Ye Hongyan bellowed, "Shanhai experts, slaughter everyone on the perimeter to silence them! Sun Moon experts, surround and kill these two! Quick!" Seven peak Shanhai experts charged outward without a word! Every lingering onlooker in the area had to be silenced! Meanwhile, An Ying and his companions converged on Bing Hong. Bing Hong was aghast with horror. *Impossible, so many Sun Moon experts?!* There were even high-stage Sun Moon experts of his own caliber! Including Zheng Ping, seven Sun Moon powerhouses in total! "Do you humans truly intend to start a war?!" An Ying and the others didn't spare him a word of reply. War? So be it! One radiant Sun Moon after another rose into the sky. An Ying shouted, "Zheng Ping, kill! What are you standing there gaping for?" Kill! With so many Sun Moon experts striking simultaneously, kill them first and ask questions later! Dead men tell no tales! Truth be told, An Ying was just as bewildered inside. *What just happened?* *The city gates look like they're about to close!* *Weren't we supposed to fight our way inside?* *Why are we fighting out here instead?!* Below, the seven peak Shanhai experts unleashed a swift, brutal slaughter. The strongest had already entered the city; those remaining outside were merely weak spectators, with scarcely a handful of ordinary Shanhai cultivators among them. How could they possibly withstand seven peak Shanhai experts? *Squelch! Squelch!* The sickening sound of blades biting into flesh resounded in rapid succession! Carnage! Kill! Ye Hongyan fought with manic ferocity, clinging to Mo He like a burr and bellowing, "Hurry! Finish off Bing Hong and come help me!" If seven Sun Moon experts couldn't kill Bing Hong, they were utterly worthless! Of the four Sun Moon experts originally guarding the perimeter, two had entered the city gate, leaving only these two outside. And the two inside were already dead. If these two fell as well, the Sun Moon experts deep within the ancient city could forget about escaping. An Ying was equally shaken and disoriented, yet this was no time for contemplation. He roared, "Form the array! Kill!" The Sun Moon experts quickly assembled their formation. Zheng Ping was left outside it, staring blankly. Just then, a figure was sent flying out from inside the city with a resonant kick, tumbling through the air with a crash. "Principal Zheng, take him and get out of here, he's just in the way!" "..." Qin Fang coughed up blood. *Fuck!* *Fuck! What is going on?!* Zheng Ping caught Qin Fang in a daze. Putting everything else aside, he watched dumbly as the city gates steadily closed, then looked down at Qin Fang, murmuring blankly, "Should we... leave or not?" The two of them felt utterly useless! Standing here, they were literally just getting in the way! That person inside the city was Su Yu, wasn't it? Su Yu had just slain Sun Moon experts, and outside, so many Sun Moon powerhouses from the Great Ming Prefecture had shown up—some of whom Zheng Ping didn't even recognize. All at once, they were ganging up to slaughter two high-stage Sun Moon experts. *Holy crap, what on earth happened?* *The Great Ming Prefecture feels even more savage than our Great Xia Prefecture!* At that exact instant, over by the Castellan Manor inside the city, a beam of axe light illuminated heaven and earth, as if only a single battleaxe existed in all of creation! "Die!" Liu Wenyan made his move! Four Sun Moon dead spirits were enough. In that very instant, his axe slashed forth with an earth-shattering boom! Three early-stage Sun Moon dead spirits were cleaved apart by his axe in a single blow! In the blink of an eye, the ancient city shuddered, and the city gates snapped shut. Above the Castellan Manor, six Sun Moon dead spirits instantly materialized. This time, half of them were mid-stage Sun Moon dead spirits; combined with the one from earlier, there were now four mid-stage and three early-stage Sun Moon dead spirits hovering in the sky. Liu Wenyan roared, casting all caution aside as he directly detonated one of his divine characters. *Boom!* Another Sun Moon dead spirit was blown apart. Utterly berserk, he brandished his giant axe and began hacking left and right! Axe light blazed across the void! Death qi flooded the entire ancient city! *Rumble!* More and more Sun Moon dead spirits spawned. Kill one, and two appeared in its place, each stronger than the last. In practically the blink of an eye, seventeen or eighteen Sun Moon dead spirits had materialized, including two late-stage Sun Moon dead spirits. Meanwhile, Liu Wenyan fled frantically! The Castellan Manor was situated in the inner ring, an area teeming with foreign Sun Moon experts. As he fled, he casually swung his axe. With a deafening boom, the Xuan Armor powerhouse who had managed to escape Ye Hongyan's pursuit earlier failed to evade this strike and was split clean in two! A Sun Moon crashed down! At this moment, Ming He and the Blood Fire Demon powerhouse finally sensed the mortal crisis. They roared in unison, "Quick, kill them! They're detonating Ye Batian's divine characters—they aren't truly this powerful!" The two split up instantly: one charged toward Liu Wenyan, while the other rushed toward the city gate. Disaster had struck! The ancient city was locked down! Worse yet, nearly twenty Sun Moon dead spirits had spawned, including late-stage entities. This was an absolute catastrophe! They couldn't afford to kill the spirits, but if left alone, these dead spirits could force open any building. Late-stage Sun Moon dead spirits could breach even the innermost ring of houses, leaving them with nowhere to hide. Madness! Over the coming days, they would likely face a relentless struggle between life and death until the ancient city unlocked once more. Meanwhile, Liu Wenyan scrambled to find living targets to chop down! At this moment, he seemed invincible. Whoever crossed his path was slain! In a flash, the high-stage Sun Moon expert of the Blood Fire Demon race closed in. Without a second thought, Liu Wenyan rocketed straight upward. An intangible barrier barred the airspace, but he paid it no heed. He whipped out a jade talisman, and with a resounding blast, it breached the barrier, hurling him outside the city. The Blood Fire Demon expert, however, slammed headfirst into the sealing barrier. Liu Wenyan couldn't have cared less. Coughing up mouthfuls of blood, the moment he breached the barrier, a massive cloud descended upon him. It was the reward for slaying a Sun Moon. Slaying dead spirits yielded no rewards, but he had conveniently dispatched a third-stage Sun Moon expert earlier. He didn't pause to absorb it! The instant he emerged, the axe in his grip was on the verge of fading away. Without hesitation, he hurled the axe. *Boom!* Bing Hong, who had been locked in bitter combat against An Ying and the others and battered to a pulp, had his head blown to bits by the flying axe! "I..." An Ying nearly went mad with rage. *We were the ones killing him...* Yet that axe strike had blown the target into pieces. A modest cloud descended toward Liu Wenyan once again. Because he had not dealt the majority of the damage, despite landing the killing blow on a seventh-stage Sun Moon expert, the reward was smaller than what he had received for the Xuan Armor cultivator. Liu Wenyan didn't care. The power of the divine characters was completely depleted. Wasting no words, he didn't linger for a single second, vanishing into the distance in a flash! Heading home! As for Su Yu... no need to worry about him. That kid was far better at surviving than he was. Liu Wenyan made his getaway. An Ying and the others had no time to stew over it, turning their collective fury toward Mo He. In that moment, half-moons tumbled from the heavens as Sun Moon experts fell one after another! The Heaven Hunting Ranking trembled violently. At the same time, inside the ancient city, the stone statue opened its eyes once more. A look of resignation crossed its gaze. *Ye Batian!* *Even in death, you won't let this stone statue have some peace and quiet!* *And Ye Batian's successors are just as ruthless, blowing up every single one of his divine characters!* ... Back inside the city, Su Yu, having slain two Sun Moon experts and kicked Qin Fang out of harm's way, was rapidly hunting down the fleeing experts. Kill! Wielding the giant axe, he engaged in relentless slaughter! Meanwhile, over by the Castellan Manor, one Sun Moon dead spirit after another began to roar, rampaging wildly toward all directions! This had become a realm of dead spirits! Kill! "Ahhh!" Bloodcurdling shrieks rang out instantly as a late-stage Sun Moon dead spirit tore through a Sun Moon expert in a matter of seconds! Chaos! Utter and absolute chaos! At this moment, nearly twenty Sun Moon dead spirits roamed the city, while over a dozen foreign Sun Moon cultivators were trapped inside. And worse, none of these dead spirits could be killed! Killing them would only spawn more. Just then, Ming He hurtled toward Su Yu, her rage reaching the heavens. "Su Yu?!" Su Yu looked at her and grinned. "That's me!" A jade talisman appeared in his grip. "Farewell, Fairy Ming He..." "You deserve to die!" Ming He recognized what that talisman was—Liu Wenyan had just used one to escape. In her fury and madness, she tore through the air to execute Su Yu! Her speed was blistering! She intended to kill him before he could depart! Yet Su Yu's eyes were filled with chilling cold. Two divine characters appeared. "Suppress" and "Slaughter." Originally, he had planned to keep them for his own cultivation. Never mind, he would gift them to her. *Since you've come, Ming He, consider this your parting gift!* In the next instant, before Ming He could even close the distance, both divine characters abruptly blazed with blinding brilliance. *The Fifth Generation caused endless misery for our Multiple Divine Characters Faction!* *In that case, let your divine characters kill a few more enemies before they go!* *Boom!* A deafening explosion rang out—the first—followed immediately by a second cataclysmic roar. In that moment, countless dead spirits materialized throughout the surroundings! Scores of ancient houses were obliterated, only to reconstitute themselves an instant later. Dead spirits spawned anew, their numbers packing the entire ancient city. Two peak Sun Moon divine characters had been detonated directly by Su Yu! He had not hesitated, nor did he feel the slightest remorse! Ming He retreated desperately, yet the innate power of the "Suppress" character pinned her in place for a fraction of an instant. Immediately after, the "Slaughter" character detonated, blanketing the world in pure, murderous malice—*Rumble!* Ming He's immortal body was battered and torn. Coughing blood relentlessly, she was hurled backward. "Su Yu!" A shrill shriek tore through the air. Su Yu, that wretched beast, deserved a thousand deaths! He truly deserved to die! She was grievously injured. Sustaining severe wounds in an ancient city crawling with dead spirits spelled utter catastrophe for her. Meanwhile, Su Yu gritted his teeth and swallowed a drop of blood essence. His physical body swelled almost to bursting! Blood sprayed violently from his pores, while several clouds drifted down from the heavens. Su Yu grinned! "Just in time!" Heaven and Earth Profound Light once again—his favorite! It could repair his battered flesh! He swallowed several more drops of blood essence, roared furiously, and slashed his saber toward Ming He! *Tough bitch!* *Two peak Sun Moon divine characters couldn't finish you off, so let me do it myself!* At this moment, Su Yu unleashed the combat strength of a sixth-stage Shanhai cultivator, howling as his blade cleaved forth! Saber radiance blotted out the sky! *Slash!* Ming He's arm was severed. Yet in that same instant, a colored ribbon lashed out toward Su Yu. Even grievously wounded, she was not an opponent Su Yu could easily contend with. What did a sixth-stage Shanhai amount to before her? She was going to kill this bastard! Su Yu sighed inwardly. Truly hard to kill! A severely wounded high-stage Sun Moon expert, and he still couldn't finish her off even after bursting forth with sixth-stage Shanhai strength! Time had run out! If he didn't leave now, Ming He would turn around and kill him instead! He felt a tinge of reluctance, but quickly dismissed it. *Forget it, I'll kill her next time. Survival comes first!* *Since I grievously injured Ming He, if she dies later... I ought to get some reward, right?* *Maybe it'll count toward my record?* No matter! In that moment, the jade talisman activated, and he vanished! At that exact instant, the stone statue opened its eyes, sorely tempted to intervene and cancel the shifting power on the jade talisman. *Go ahead, keep making waves! I hope you drown in them!* *Forget it, just piss off.* The stone statue closed its eyes, choosing out of sight, out of mind!