Plan in Motion, the Zhu Family Arrives

Inside Mingguang City, Su Yu continued to wander. Now that he had set his mind on pulling off a scam, he paid special attention to ancient artifacts. Out here by the Sea of Stars, ancient pocket dimensions or mystic realms collapsed fairly often, yielding a respectable haul of ancient relics. Most people who stumbled across these small dimensions only took the practical items, rarely bothering to haul away the rest. Stalls crowded the city streets, and the ape was far from the only vendor hawking ancient weapons. Most of the merchandise, however, was fake—laughably obvious fakes at that. In Su Yu's estimation, his own forgery skills were far superior to theirs. Especially when it came to weapons! As an Earth armamentsmith, Su Yu truly looked down on these peddlers. *Do you take me for a fool? You dare pass off any piece of junk as an ancient divine weapon!* Su Yu purchased a few inexpensive yet authentic artifacts from the ancient era. For instance, he bought a cloak—cheap and genuinely produced in ancient times, though low in rank. He also bought several cultivation methods, which were likewise authentic ancient manuals. Flipping through them, Su Yu noticed that some were written in the languages of various races, while a few were penned in a peculiar script. It was similar to places like Tianmie City: the moment you looked at the city name, you understood its meaning, even if you did not actually recognize the written characters. "This is worth studying!" Su Yu mused over this. Methods recorded in a specific racial language invariably carried limitations, restricting them to that particular race. However, those recorded in this special script tended to enjoy universal applicability. Of course, the few manuals he had purchased were practically useless—merely obscure little tricks that modern cultivators had long since rendered obsolete. Not everything ancient was superior. *** After finishing his shopping, Su Yu asked a patrol of Brightlight Birds for recommendations on a decent place to lodge. Before long, he was heading toward his destination. Mingguang Tower. It was one of the more renowned lodgings in the city, boasting picturesque surroundings and composed of standalone private cottages. The only catch was the steep price: fifty drops of yuan qi liquid a day was far beyond the means of ordinary folk. Those staying here were all influential powerhouses from various races. Su Yu rented a cottage for ten days, paying a full five hundred drops of yuan qi liquid without batting an eye. He certainly possessed the wealth to back it up! He had accumulated plenty of yuan qi liquid, and having slain so many foes, he had no reason to worry about incriminating ties; across the myriad heavens and realms, yuan qi was identical everywhere. Led by a humanoid Brightlight Bird, Su Yu stepped into the cottage. Once inside, Su Yu shut the door, sank into a chair, and pondered his plan. "If the plan succeeds, I'll need to figure out an escape route..." When the time came, drawing out a few Sun Moon Realm experts was inevitable! As for Invincibles... it would be best to conduct the transaction around Nine Stars Island. Invincibles would not venture there. If one did, all nine realms would grow wary of them, shattering the balance and provoking a unified backlash. "Furthermore... I might have to demonstrate the method on the spot. If that happens, plenty of eyes will be watching me... "Should I just hire an organization to handle the auction, like the Heaven Hunting Pavilion? "The Heaven Hunting Pavilion's discernment seems exceptionally sharp..." Su Yu sank into thought. Perhaps he could cooperate with the All-Heavens Myriad Treasures Tower instead. That organization was by no means weak, and more importantly, it had been established by the great races like the gods and demons, bearing no connection to humanity. When the deception was finally exposed, anyone unable to find Su Yu would naturally direct their fury at the All-Heavens Myriad Treasures Tower. "As long as I guard against being double-crossed and secure a foolproof retreat, I can put the plan into motion!" After mulling it over, Su Yu decided to examine the ancient weapon he had acquired before taking action. In the next moment, the fork appeared in his grip. Su Yu inspected it, furrowing his brow slightly. It would not be easy to dismantle. "It's completely seamless, with the formation embedded inside. Forcing it open might ruin the weapon entirely." With that in mind, Su Yu quickly surveyed the cottage. He swept his "Calamity" divine character across the premises to confirm no one was spying on him, then strode into the cottage's cultivation chamber, preparing to take the weapon apart. If finesse failed, he would resort to brute force! Even if it broke, it was no great loss. *** Inside the cultivation chamber, Su Yu proceeded with utmost caution. His smithing arts were fairly sophisticated, having inherited two formidable human smithing lineages: the Heaven-Forging lineage and the Zhao family armamentsmithing arts. Had Zhao Li's father not fallen in battle, he would likely have attained the rank of Heaven armamentsmith long ago. Later on, Zhao Li and Zhao Tianbing had further refined the original Zhao family techniques, allowing Zhao Tianbing to reach the peak Earth armamentsmith rank at an early age. Having absorbed both lineages, Su Yu's smithing prowess was remarkably solid. His "Fire" divine character manifested. After a brief hesitation, Su Yu began burning the metal. Before long, the weapon began to soften slightly. Su Yu produced his Mind Expansion Hammer and tapped away rhythmically... He spent the entire night hard at work. Gradually, the fork yielded to his efforts, eventually separating into two primary components: the outer shell and an internal formation. The sole remarkable feature of this weapon lay within that formation. By now, Su Yu had grasped its underlying purpose: it was designed by the original owner for personal soul-binding, quite different from modern armaments. Because of this formation, only the original master could wield it; anyone else who seized the weapon would be unable to use it and could only destroy it. The outer shell, however, could still function as a weapon. Su Yu extracted the formation's core and began tinkering with the shell. Moments later, he reassembled a brand-new fork. Channeling his yuan qi into it, he found no obstacles now that the formation was gone. Ninety-seven gold inscriptions soon surfaced across the weapon, though more than twenty of them were fractured. Su Yu was astonished. "Ninety-seven gold inscriptions!" It truly exceeded his expectations. This meant the fork had once been a high-stage Earth armament! "What an extraordinary weapon..." Su Yu was thoroughly taken aback. Seventy-three inscriptions denoted an Earth armament, eighty-two marked a mid-stage Earth armament, ninety-one made it a high-stage Earth armament, and one hundred represented a peak Earth armament. Back in the day, this fork had been on the verge of the peak Earth rank! "A fine treasure! At the very least, it belonged to a mid-stage Sun Moon expert!" Shanhai Realm cultivators typically used early-stage Earth armaments—and only the wealthy ones at that. Early-stage Sun Moon cultivators generally wielded mid-stage Earth armaments. Mid-stage Sun Moon cultivators used high-stage Earth armaments, while late-stage Sun Moon experts were the ones most likely to possess peak Earth armaments. Even then, it all depended on whether one had the funds! "If this fork could be repaired and properly nurtured for a time, it might regain its former glory. But... the trouble is immense. It requires ancient materials; modern ones might not suffice. Besides, it hasn't seen any maintenance in tens of thousands of years, so the interior has begun to decay..." Su Yu scanned it and shook his head slightly. Maintaining and repairing it simply wasn't cost-effective—the price was far too high! Had he not been an armamentsmith, spending tens of thousands of merit points to hire an Earth armamentsmith for repairs might have been worthwhile. But since he was an Earth armamentsmith himself, repairing it held little practical value. "A high rank is a good thing!" Su Yu was delighted. A shell bordering on the peak Earth rank would do nicely. Even if it had decayed, it didn't matter! Whether it was usable was irrelevant—it only needed to look the part! "That makes things much simpler. When grafting inscriptions onto it, I don't need to add too many... to avoid raising suspicions, weaving one counterfeit inscription into every ten genuine ones will suffice." Su Yu calculated the process; it was well within his capabilities. He soon set the shell aside. It was already a magnificent find—the shell alone was worth more than ten times the ten drops of trash Shanhai blood essence he had paid! In fact, far more than ten times! Yet that was not what Su Yu was after. Before him hovered a tiny point of light: the core of the fork, a miniature formation. Su Yu extended his willpower to probe it. *Boom!* A streak of black light shot straight toward him! Su Yu's gaze flickered. Just as before, the formation was doing its job. It was genuinely still operating. In its prime, its retaliatory force must have been far more terrifying; now, it packed only enough punch to match the Tengkong Realm. "A power source!" Su Yu did not sense the formation drawing ambient yuan qi from the surroundings. Something had to be sustaining that black light, which must have possessed immense retaliatory power in antiquity. Su Yu studied it intently, trying to discern its structure. His knowledge of formations was limited, and he worried that dismantling it recklessly might destroy whatever lay within. Furthermore, he intended to reuse the formation itself. "Formations... the principles behind formations are actually similar to divine character battle techniques. They consist of interconnected nodes. Deactivating a single node might do the trick!" As for the possibility of failure... if it broke, so be it. Su Yu cast his worries aside, an itch of curiosity gnawing at him. He was dying to know whether the power source was blood essence or a divine character. Only those two could sustain a formation's operation for so long, and both carried an intimate connection to the original master. The likelihood of blood essence was slim, as expending that much blood essence harmed one's vitality. Embedding a divine character, on the other hand, was quite probable—Old Zhao had done the exact same thing. Su Yu sent strand after strand of willpower into the node, constantly triggering retaliatory bursts of black light. *** After laboring for several hours, drenched in sweat, Su Yu let out a low chuckle. Pushing his willpower inside once more, he forcibly extinguished one of the glowing nodes within the miniature formation. *Boom!* A muffled explosion echoed through the chamber, and the formation abruptly dissolved! The next instant, the object it had concealed was revealed! A divine character! Indeed, a divine character. At that moment, Su Yu confirmed his suspicion. It was a divine character that was simultaneously immensely powerful and utterly frail. Its power lay in the wisps of coercive aura it radiated. To Su Yu, its original tier felt only a notch below Ye Batian's, stronger than anyone else's he had ever encountered. "At least seventh-stage Sun Moon..." Su Yu examined it, then shook his head. "Far too depleted!" Having drained its energy over countless millennia, the hovering character felt so fragile that a mere touch might shatter it! Su Yu swiftly produced some Heaven Yuan Qi to envelop the character. As if drinking in sweet rain after a drought, the character ravenously devoured the Heaven Yuan Qi, its aura visibly swelling. Moments earlier, it had barely matched the strength of a Tengkong Realm character. Taking a closer look, Su Yu felt a twinge of regret. It was actually a divine character of the god race! *Damn it!* Had it belonged to the human race, he could have nurtured it back to health and used it as a temporary explosive trump card, just like last time. But if a character of the god race entered his sea of will, it would instantly be pulverized! In its weakened state, the best it could do was help nourish his own divine characters. *"Repel."* That was the character's meaning. It stood for counterattack! That explained why his earlier probes had triggered bursts of retaliatory black light. "The primary function of this divine character wasn't binding ownership, but... damage reflection!" Su Yu's eyes lit up. He had to admit, the ancient master had been an ingenious individual. Damage reflection! When weapons clashed, contact was inevitable. With this character embedded, anyone striking the weapon would suffer retaliatory force from the formation. Originally a high-stage Sun Moon character, its reflective power must have been terrifying! Facing an opponent of equal rank, a clash of weapons could subject the foe to double the damage. "Now this is interesting!" Su Yu studied it further. Even if he couldn't use it himself, he could certainly take inspiration from its properties. Moreover, he wanted to see whether ancient divine characters differed significantly from modern ones. He had seen characters of the god race before; Hong Tan's laboratory back in the Human Realm possessed some. Examining it thoroughly, Su Yu noted that, if nothing else, this character carried a distinct ancient resonance passed down through countless ages. One glance made it obvious that it hailed from a distant era! "If this thing were fully restored, it would make for a formidable character! "Putting it to use is the tricky part. First, it could be used for self-detonation... provided the compatibility is high enough. Second, perhaps it could open a new mystic realm—a damage-reflecting mystic realm?" Su Yu shook his head. Given its attributes, using this character to open a mystic realm seemed rather pointless. Restoring it remained feasible, either by nurturing it with willpower or feeding it Heaven Yuan Qi. Su Yu sank into thought. Perhaps he could nourish it slightly to bolster its strength. That way, embedding it into a corpse or a weapon would yield far greater results. "A corpse..." Su Yu murmured. It would be best to fashion a fake corpse... no, an authentic one would work too, preferably a Sun Moon Realm god... "Wait, don't I have the corpse of an eighth-stage Sun Moon god?" Su Yu muttered to himself, but quickly shook his head, reluctant to part with it. "No... it's actually doable. I should be able to extract its blood essence now. If I siphon out most of it—say, ninety percent—it'll look like an utterly depleted peak Sun Moon expert whose flesh retained eighth-stage Sun Moon strength after countless ages, while its divine characters degraded to the Shanhai or Lingyun Realm. That makes complete sense..." Su Yu was truly ready to invest heavily! Perhaps he could use up the corpse of that eighth-stage Sun Moon god! You couldn't catch a wolf without sacrificing the cub! All he needed was the blood essence. Once he extracted ninety percent, the remaining ten percent would still radiate the pressure of an eighth-stage Sun Moon expert. To maintain an eighth-stage Sun Moon physical form after countless millennia—what an incredible feat that would be! In its heyday, it must have been a peak Sun Moon existence at the very least! "The corpse needs aging, though..." It looked far too fresh! Furthermore, once it was aged... A thought struck Su Yu. Aging it was simple: corroding it with death qi for a time would naturally weather the remains while obliterating the original owner's discernible aura. Did death spirits exist in antiquity? If they did, it would make the story even more convincing! This expert could have perished in an ancient battle against death spirits. "An eighth-stage Sun Moon Tianyi God... weathered with death qi, fitted with an ancient divine character, matched with an ancient weapon, and paired with some complementary items..." Su Yu tallied the costs. He was genuinely sparing no expense! Such an ensemble would cost over twenty strands of Mystic Light of Heaven and Earth to assemble! The main expense was the eighth-stage Sun Moon corpse. Su Yu had to leave at least the equivalent of one drop of blood essence inside. A single drop of eighth-stage Sun Moon blood essence could easily fetch ten drops of first-stage Sun Moon essence. Add in the divine character, the ancient weapon, and an ancient method... *Damn it!* If he couldn't sell it for at least two hundred strands of Mystic Light of Heaven and Earth—a profit of over tenfold—Su Yu would consider it a robbery! Since he was going to swindle people, having invested so much capital, poured in immense effort, and risked his life... what was the point of forging artifacts if he didn't pull in a tenfold profit? Su Yu rubbed his hands together. Under such conditions, would anyone still doubt its authenticity? What a joke! A corpse corroded over countless millennia that still possessed the power of an eighth-stage Sun Moon expert—how could that possibly be fake? Who would forge an artifact using an eighth-stage Sun Moon corpse? More importantly, where would anyone even find an eighth-stage Sun Moon corpse? Anyone capable of slaying such an entity wouldn't bother with petty swindles! Would an Invincible go through the trouble of staging an elaborate con just for a few hundred strands of Mystic Light of Heaven and Earth? No one was that bored! Preparing a complete set of accompanying relics would give even an Invincible a headache. Ancient divine characters weren't something just anyone possessed, nor did powerful ancient weapons grow on trees! Thoughts flashed rapidly through his mind, filling Su Yu with growing excitement. The more he refined the scheme, the more airtight it became, and the higher its credibility climbed! An eighth-stage Sun Moon corpse corroded by death qi, accompanied by an ancient city token, paired with an ancient character and weapon, and topped off with a formidable ancient method... If anyone still doubted that, there was no justice left in the heavens! "Now, all I lack is an escape route!" How to pull off the scam, how to guarantee his safety, and how to make a clean getaway? Once those issues were resolved, he would have nothing to fear. Pushing those thoughts aside for the moment, Su Yu promptly began reforging the fork. Its appearance had to be altered; that ape recognized the fork, and just to be safe, he couldn't risk anyone spotting it. Did the ancient Tianyi God race exist? They probably did. He needed to verify that. If they didn't, he would simply destroy the corpse's Tianyi God traits. What weapon did that race favor most? Bows? Indeed, their archery skills were renowned. "I need to look into the historical records of the Tianyi God race. The Primordial God Race has always existed, but the Tianyi God race might not have. It would be disastrous to make such a glaring blunder..." *** Before long, Su Yu tidied up and stepped out of the cottage. He intended to look up records, consult documents, and purchase intelligence! Along the way, he might establish contact with the All-Heavens Myriad Treasures Tower or the Heaven Hunting Pavilion. Those scoundrels had ripped him off for quite a few treasures last time with their outrageously extortionate prices; swindling them in return would be sweet justice. Additionally, was his current guise as a Mountain-Breaking Ox truly reliable? That remained an open question that required further evaluation. If someone bought his dossier from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion and the pavilion couldn't provide any information... wouldn't his identity immediately become suspect? It would be far better to assume an existing identity! Moreover, that person couldn't be dead; ideally, he would capture them and briefly impersonate them. "A dragon, immortal, god, or demon would do. But since they're selling the items publicly... they had better be a rebellious, headstrong rogue who refuses to hand the treasure over to their own clan..." Countless thoughts surfaced. Or perhaps someone from a powerful race who lacked resources and thus decided to sell it off. At that moment, several figures sprang to Su Yu's mind. Any of the figures on the Heaven Ranking would fit the bill! Those individuals were thoroughly accustomed to doing whatever they pleased! For them to sell off treasures publicly would surprise no one. Even if the items were precious, such arrogant geniuses wouldn't hesitate to sell them if the mood struck! "Capture a Heaven Ranking powerhouse and impersonate them?" Su Yu cursed softly under his breath. The difficulty was absurdly high! Strictly speaking, among the Heaven Ranking figures, he was either the weakest or near the very bottom. Zhan Wushuang had slain Sun Moon experts. Xuan Wuji was in a similar league. Moduona might be relatively weaker due to his lower cultivation realm, yet he too could trade blows with Sun Moon powerhouses. "If the Heaven Ranking is out of reach, someone on the Earth Ranking works too. Preferably someone whose Invincible ancestors won't meddle..." Several names quickly flashed across Su Yu's mind. First, Foutuling! A member of the Five Elements race. The Five Elements race was strong, but Foutuling was wandering out in the world, and their Invincibles might not bother micromanaging him. Even if he obtained treasures, the Five Elements race lacked the clout to hoard them privately. Selling them off would be entirely normal. Second, the Little Golden Dragon. A descendant of an Invincible, visibly arrogant and intensely vindictive. If he found good treasures, he wouldn't necessarily hand them over to the dragon race—provided his Invincible ancestor didn't personally show up to force his hand. Third, Tianduo! A genius of the Origin Demon race, also an Invincible's descendant. However, the Origin Demon race was currently throwing its full support behind Moduona, leaving Tianduo somewhat sidelined within the clan; even his own ancestor didn't pay him much heed. Word had it that during the recent ancient city turmoil, his ancestor hadn't even shown up—the Demon King who arrived had come solely to rescue Moduona. Still, his status remained intact. If he chose to sell something, no other Demon King could easily rob him unless his own ancestor intervened in person. These were acquaintances he was familiar with, and all of them were suitable candidates. Of course, the ideal choice was Moduona; if that fellow decided to sell something, not even the Demon Kings would object. "Nine Stars Island... those guys have probably all gathered there! "Capturing one won't be easy, though. People are likely keeping watch over any anomalies there, and if a genius goes missing, it'll cause serious trouble! "I need to head to Nine Stars Island!" He would capture one alive rather than kill them! Snatching one would provide an avenue of escape; by borrowing such an identity, no one would dare lay a hand on him in the short term. The plan grew increasingly comprehensive! While executing it would be difficult, greater difficulty meant greater security and believability! As for whether impersonating them would reveal his ability to transform into other races... what nonsense, everyone already knew! Ever since he had disguised himself as Cui Lang, his knack for disguise was common knowledge. He possessed divine characters capable of altering his appearance and aura to fool Sun Moon experts—hardly a secret to anyone. Knowing it was one thing; exposing it was another entirely. The only drawback was that his previous plan of impersonating a genius to prepare for his future Dao attainment would be harder to execute. "Off to Nine Stars Island to find my old friends! "Let's see who ends up alone—I'll bag them on the spot!" Su Yu was confident he could take down Tianduo, the Little Golden Dragon, or Foutuling! The dragon race held territory nearby... on second thought, the Little Golden Dragon was his lowest priority, lest a dragon Invincible appear directly. As for Foutuling and Tianduo, even if their Invincibles decided to come, it would take them time to arrive! "I also need to find a safe location to take out that eighth-stage Sun Moon corpse, extract the blood essence, and weather it with death qi." *** Over the next few days, Su Yu stayed within Mingguang City, poring over records, consulting literature, and purchasing intelligence. He burned through a fair amount of money. He also worked on restoring that ancient divine character. The little fur ball tried to eat it several times, only to be smacked around by Su Yu. *Eat, eat, eat—is that all you know? If you eat it now, it's just a foul-smelling old character. Once I trade it for a massive haul of Mystic Light of Heaven and Earth, will you ever lack food?* Mystic Light of Heaven and Earth wasn't all that expensive! It was only worth a drop of first-stage Sun Moon blood essence a strand. Slaying a single first-stage Sun Moon demon beast would net at least ten strands. Shouldn't a complete set of relics from an ancient peak ninth-stage Sun Moon powerhouse sell for the equivalent of several dozen first-stage Sun Moon experts? If he didn't net three to five hundred strands, he would consider it a loss! An ancient peak ninth-stage Sun Moon expert was surely worth thirty to fifty first-stage Sun Moon experts, wasn't he? Besides, harvesting Mystic Light of Heaven and Earth didn't require killing anyone; it was gathered directly from the boundless void. It merely took Sun Moon experts a bit of time, and powerhouses from the great races had time to spare. Su Yu threw himself into preparation. *** Meanwhile, nearly ten thousand li away from Tianxia Island, Nine Stars Island was buzzing with excitement. Peerless prodigies appeared one after another! Rumors that Su Yu might show up here had sparked widespread discussion, prompting many to scour the area for clues. Outside Nine Stars Island, numerous Sun Moon experts kept watch over the geniuses without setting foot on the island itself. Over the past few days, skirmishes had erupted constantly as the young talents clashed, yet Su Yu's trail remained completely hidden. Across Nine Stars Island, prodigies roamed about, issuing challenges left and right. These challenges were no mere sparring matches; they were life-and-death struggles. Walking away alive was a matter of luck; perishing meant one's fortune had simply run out. Since Su Yu had yet to appear, the geniuses didn't pay it too much mind—they weren't bound to fixate solely on him! While Su Yu was scheming his grand deception, this area was a hotbed of nonstop battles. Off the coast of the island, across the open waters, a fierce clash was unfolding. There was little shouting, only the relentless clang of clashing armaments! *Boom!* A flash of saber light illuminated the void, instantly pursued by a thrusting spear shadow! Ahead, several figures were pierced clean through! An instant later, accompanied by a furious roar, a fist shattered the saber light, only to be struck by the spear shadow and sent flying, pierced through the chest! "Huang Teng... Qin Fang!" Tianduo spat a mouthful of blood and glared at the pair across from him. Huang Teng chuckled. "Not bad, Tianduo! You've made progress—you can actually fight me to a near-draw now. Impressive!" Tianduo was at the seventh stage of the Lingyun Realm. Huang Teng had now stepped into the sixth stage. As a renowned human genius who had previously slain a second-stage Shanhai expert while at the fifth stage of Lingyun, the fact that Tianduo could hold his ground against him was genuinely commendable. Of course, Tianduo was one stage higher at the seventh stage of Lingyun. Beside him, Qin Fang remained composed. Ignoring Tianduo, he cast a wary, slightly shaken glance toward Moduona in the distance, forcing a calm facade. "Moduona, you want to kill us? Feel free to try!" Moduona glanced over with supreme indifference. Kill you? You flatter yourself! Chasing you last time was merely a diversion. Qin Fang had indeed broken through to the seventh stage of Lingyun, making him perhaps thirty percent stronger than before and potentially capable of matching a fourth-stage Shanhai expert, but to Moduona, he was still far too weak. He hadn't been interested in fighting him before, let alone now. He paid Qin Fang no mind and completely ignored Huang Teng, turning instead toward the space behind them and remarking blandly, "Your Excellency, care to have a round with me?" At that moment, the void rippled, and a figure emerged. He looked relatively young, though in truth he was well along in years—a human powerhouse. Qin Fang glanced sideways, his heart stirring. "Brother Zhu!" Zhu Guangshen! Grandson of King Daming, and the eldest son of Zhu Tiandao. By human standards, he was no longer young, and he currently possessed peak Shanhai cultivation. This was a direct descendant of an Invincible at the pinnacle of the Shanhai Realm, whereas Moduona was merely at the peak of the Lingyun Realm. Stepping out of the void, Zhu Guangshen chuckled. "Moduona? I've long heard your illustrious name! As for fighting, count me out—our Great Ming Prefecture isn't known for combat! If you're itching for a fight... fine, take it on!" With those words, another figure materialized: a chubby, round ball of fur with black circles around its eyes. An Iron-Eating Beast! He had brought Zhu Hongliang's Iron-Eating Beast with him. Zhu Guangshen smiled amiably. "We from the Great Ming Prefecture only came to look around and perhaps find Su Yu. If we run into him, we'll urge him to surrender and apologize to the immortal race. We come in peace, not for war!" Saying so, he tossed out a dark, spherical object. Moduona instinctively took a step back, and moments later, countless gigantic ants swarmed out from the void! All around, figures of powerhouses manifested. A Sun Moon expert snapped coldly, "You from Great Ming, put those things away!" Zhu Guangshen chuckled. "Don't panic, these are third-generation ants; I can still keep them under control. Moduona was itching to hit me, after all! I had no choice but to defend myself. I can't beat him—don't let my peak Shanhai realm fool you, it was entirely piled up with resources from my grandfather..." He sighed and added, "To ensure my safety, our Great Ming Prefecture sent along some experts. I won't fight, so you geniuses carry on with your battles!" As soon as he spoke, more figures stepped forward! Someone cursed under their breath. *Damn it!* The Heavenly Dao Army commander! That wasn't all. An instant later, another person appeared: the Great Ming Prefecture's Iron Cavalry Guards commander! Moments later, yet another emerged: Shadow! Three high-stage Sun Moon powerhouses! Indeed, all three were high-stage Sun Moon experts: the Heavenly Dao Army commander, the Iron Cavalry Guards commander, and the Shadow Guard commander... If these three were wiped out in one fell swoop, the Great Ming Prefecture's military would practically be left leaderless! Madness! Had the people of the Great Ming Prefecture grown this terrified of death? Just to protect a hereditary prince, the commanders of several major military divisions had been deployed! Zhu Guangshen smiled. "We truly have no intention of making enemies of anyone. I'm no genius, so you geniuses go ahead and fight—just leave me out of it. Moduona, you're a genius, but I'm not. Your family has an Invincible, and so does mine; there's no need to pick a fight with me..." Moduona offered no response, turning on his heel to leave! *Get lost!* Traveling with three high-stage Sun Moon experts—you couldn't find another like him in all the heavens! What was there to fight? Just as Zhu Guangshen had said, he wasn't a genius and had no need to take risks; he had brought three supreme generals along, so who would dare strike him? Had his father not been required to oversee the prefecture, he might have dragged his old man along too! All around, the spectators dispersed one after another. Before long, Huang Teng and Qin Fang exchanged glances, cupped their fists toward Zhu Guangshen, and swiftly departed. They hadn't come here to borrow Zhu Guangshen's prestige and throw their weight around; they had come to kill and risk being killed. With three high-stage Sun Moon experts standing guard, what was the point of fighting? Zhu Guangshen chuckled. "Good grief, they run fast. Just as well, no one will bother me. I only came to check on the situation and scout out when the Star Astral Mansion will open... "Thank you for your trouble, generals!" The three high-stage Sun Moon experts said nothing, swiftly fading back into the void. Who could fail to be impressed? That was simply how the Great Ming Prefecture operated. With no geniuses to send into battle, what was wrong with the hereditary prince bringing three high-stage Sun Moon experts when he stepped out? King Daming had been away recently; otherwise, would you believe he might have brought King Daming himself? Someone had actually done that before—namely, Zhu Tiandao. Back in the day, when a certain someone roamed the All-Heavens Battlefield, he had brought his father along for the ride. The fact that the myriad races dismissed Zhu Tiandao and deemed him hopeless for Dao attainment was largely due to such antics—an old family tradition! He had been even more shameless than Zhu Guangshen, genuinely using his father as a bodyguard. Throughout the myriad races, hardly anyone feared death more than he did, earning him the utter disdain of foreign powerhouses!