Living Quite Comfortably

Near Nine Stars Island, intense battles raged without pause. Tianxia Island was comparatively quieter, though cultivators still continuously departed toward the Sea of Stars region to gamble on a chance, an opportunity. More often than not, those who went never returned. Perhaps they died, fell into a minor realm, or became trapped in some ancient pocket dimension, only to reemerge years later—things like that had happened before. Inside Mingguang City. Su Yu had finished all his preliminary preparations. The ancient armament had been forged and disguised well enough; now, all he lacked was the corpse. Extracting blood essence from an eighth-stage Sun Moon corpse inside the city was too risky—Su Yu was worried the immense pressure would draw unwanted attention. He was ready to leave. He would find a deserted spot to extract the blood essence! And while he was at it, forge the corpse! He had consulted the archives. The Tianyi God race had existed in the ancient era as well and had produced peak experts. Legends told of an ancient Tianyi God powerhouse who wielded a recurve bow and had shot and slain an Invincible. Since that was the case, an ancient Tianyi God appearing would raise no eyebrows. "Time to leave the city!" Su Yu had lingered here for several days. By human reckoning, it was already July 25. On August 1, the new academy term would begin. This time, the Multiple Divine Characters Academy would open, heralding chaos. He did not have much time left. Even if Su Yu did not fully grasp the broader situation, he knew that the moment the academy opened, the Great Xia Prefecture would enter the prelude to troubled times. "I need to hurry!" Su Yu muttered internally as he stepped out of the small building. Outside, the streets remained as bustling as ever. The noise of the crowds boiled. This was the closest island to Nine Stars Island, so everyone closely followed the developments over there, with some people even traveling back and forth specifically to deliver news. "Last night, a massive battle erupted in the waters near Nine Stars Island! Zhan Wushuang of the god race fought Xuan Wuji of the immortal race. Good grief, are they even still in the Shanhai Realm? The sky collapsed and the earth tore open, fighting until the sun and moon lost their light. Both of them are stronger than regular Sun Moons, aren't they?" "They're strong, but if you ask me, Ming Yue of the Nether Realm is even more terrifying! Only at the sixth stage of Shanhai, yet early yesterday morning, he fought a peak Shanhai expert from the Celestial Dragon race. His Death Nether Divine Art unleashed its might, and he slaughtered that Celestial Dragon expert outright! That brought out Long Yingyue, and the two traded three hundred blows before parting ways!" "That fierce? A peak Shanhai from the Celestial Dragon race can already fight above their grade against Sun Moons, right? Doesn't that mean Ming Yue can kill Sun Moons? Wouldn't that make him stronger than Zhan Wushuang? Ming Yue is only at the sixth stage of Shanhai..." "Hard to say. The two have never clashed, so who knows!" "..." Discussions buzzed everywhere, the spectators thoroughly excited. Paragons—every last one of them an unrivaled paragon! The fighting never ceased! Ming Yue of the Nether Realm, currently ranked fourth on the Heaven Ranking and an expert of the sixth stage of Shanhai, had directly slain a peak Shanhai Celestial Dragon yesterday. Keep in mind that this was the Celestial Dragon race, a supreme race on par with the Archdemon, Primordial God, and Ancient Immortal races. An expert from such a pinnacle race had been slain by someone three minor realms below, jumping from the sixth stage of Shanhai to topple the peak. That drew even more attention than the clash between Zhan Wushuang and Xuan Wuji. "Qin Fang of the human race is quite formidable as well. Having advanced to the seventh stage of Lingyun, two evenings ago in Raging Waves Gorge, he speared a first-stage Shanhai expert of the Thunder God race to death. He also crossed realms to slay a peak race's expert—no wonder he made it onto the Heaven Ranking before!" "Qin Fang? He's still lacking compared to Zhou Hun of the Tianyuan race. Zhou Hun is at the third stage of Shanhai, and he recently cursed and killed the genius of the Suanni race ranked twenty-sixth on the Earth Ranking, who was already at the fifth stage of Shanhai!" Battles raged continuously, and prodigies fell! Lately, the Heaven Hunting Ranking had seen drastic changes. Masses of prodigies had been killed! Likewise, after slaying these prodigies, the victors reaped tremendous benefits and enormous harvests, their strength constantly surging forward. Yesterday, an opponent might have fought you to a standstill; a day later, they could surpass you entirely. Battles among prodigies were perilous in the extreme. Slaughter was the best vehicle for a prodigy's advancement. You kill me, I kill you—either you die, or I perish. Su Yu listened silently, and soon, he caught wind of an acquaintance. "Huang Teng of the human race has been pursued since the day before yesterday. That guy's luck is rotten again—he actually provoked the madmen of the Blood Fire Demon race! Three mid-stage Shanhai experts from the Blood Fire Demons went after him. Wonder when he'll kick the bucket." "On the human side, Su Yu hasn't shown up. With Su Yu absent, the highest-ranking one left is Qin Fang..." "Who said that? Isn't there still Liu Wenyan?" "Nonsense, that guy's getting on in years and is still hiding back in the human realm." "..." Huang Teng was on the run again! Su Yu was utterly exasperated. *Why the hell are you getting chased down every single day?* The Blood Fire Demons were indeed unhinged—Su Yu knew that much—so just how had Huang Teng crossed paths with them? Su Yu chuckled silently at these madmen. Killing or being killed! The pursuits of prodigies were truly different. Slaughtering peers of the same caliber was perhaps the fastest way to progress, erupting through bloodshed and rising through battle. He also heard news about Moduona. That former rank-one prodigy on the Heaven Ranking had run off over the past two days to cause trouble for Xuan Wuji and Zhan Wushuang... The two were at the sixth and eighth stages of Shanhai, while he was merely at the ninth stage of Lingyun. Running over to pick a fight with them, who knew if he would be beaten to death. None of that concerned Su Yu! In short, the battles around Nine Stars Island never paused, and it mattered little whether Su Yu was there or not. The prodigies on the rankings were all clashing and campaigning. Furthermore, opportunities had been plentiful there lately. With the Star Astral Mansion about to open, massive amounts of yuan qi leaked out and willpower surged. Someone had even fished an ancient dragon blood tree out of the sea. That item was of immense help to the dragon race. Dragon blood fruit provided tremendous aid to a dragon's Lingyun-level yuan qi transformation, allowing them to undergo the highest tier of transformation. To secure this ancient tree, the dragon race dispatched Sun Moon experts in pursuit. However, the fellow who retrieved the tree had long anticipated the danger and sold it directly to the Archdemon race for the price of ten drops of Sun Moon Xuanhuang Liquid. The Archdemon experts were currently haggling back and forth with the dragon race. This stirred Su Yu's interest. If even an ancient dragon blood tree could be picked up, then stumbling across a fractured space would seem perfectly ordinary. However, one needed the strength to keep it! One needed an imposing enough identity! Look at the dragon race: they had immediately tried to rob the guy who found the tree. Word had it the finder was a Shanhai Realm expert, yet it had done him no good; he could only sell it to the Archdemons. Meanwhile, the Archdemons had been willing to spend the money only to quickly secure the tree and gain leverage over the dragon race. Otherwise, they might not have spent the money either. As for the fellow who received the ten drops of Sun Moon Xuanhuang Liquid, nobody knew where he was hiding now, or if the Archdemons had killed him afterward. The Archdemons and dragons had not come to blows, only trading words—that was the confidence of power! The Archdemon race was formidable. Did the dragon race dare tear off all pretenses and start an all-out war with them? Prodigies killing one another was normal, but once a clash between two races' Sun Moons erupted, it could swiftly trigger even fiercer warfare. Thus, the dragon race now had to obediently open their coffers and buy it. Unless they paid ten times the price, would the Archdemons agree? A hundred drops of Sun Moon Xuanhuang Liquid were worth three hundred strands of Mystic Light of Heaven and Earth. It was only an ancient tree. Powerful though it was, could it be better than his ancient quasi-Invincible? Could it be worth more than the corpse of his ancient quasi-Invincible? As expected, the major races were wealthy! Except for humanity! Their foundations were too shallow. The human race had only stabilized a little over three hundred years ago and had developed for too short a time, having to fight and plunder even for Heaven Yuan fruit trees. Look at the immortal race—any random person walked out the door carrying Heaven Yuan fruits. There was simply no comparison! Su Yu listened with envy burning inside. *Damn it all!* *They are all so rich!* Even strategic resources like Xuanhuang Liquid were being casually traded. The ancient dragon blood tree was a treasure that aided the dragon race's yuan qi transformation. Once he finished forging his physical body, he would also have to consider what resources to use to assist his own yuan qi transformation. Of course, that was still a ways off. Currently, Su Yu had only completed twenty-seven body refinements, though the twenty-eighth was close at hand. Over the past few days, he had consumed a fair amount of Heaven Yuan Qi, and combined with his breathing technique, his cultivation progressed at a decent pace. Logically, each refinement became harder the further one went, but for Su Yu, there was little difference beyond the heavy consumption of Heaven Yuan Qi. If this continued, by the time he finished the twenty-eighth refinement, he might run completely out of funds. A portion of the Heaven Yuan Qi had also been used to nurture that ancient divine character, restoring its strength and nurturing its growth. It had to recover at least to the Shanhai or Sun Moon level to reflect the corpse's formidable might! Even after countless years, his divine character would still remain in the Sun Moon Realm! One could well imagine how powerful the owner had been back then! The cost of forging this fake was growing steeper. Su Yu spared no expense for the sake of the con. In truth, it could barely be called a fake anymore: an authentic eighth-stage Sun Moon corpse with residual blood essence, an authentic ancient high-stage Earth armament, and an authentic ancient seventh-stage Sun Moon divine character... This could hardly be considered counterfeit; at most, it had merely received a bit of packaging! Not dwelling on it any longer, Su Yu soon stepped out of Mingguang City. Exiting the gates, he sneered inward! *Someone is tailing me again!* Likely, those fellows had picked up his trail while he spent money purchasing dossiers and intelligence over the past few days. Combined with his earlier purchase of the monkey's ancient weapon and renting an expensive private residence, Su Yu had indeed spent a substantial sum over these days. It was only natural for these hyenas to target him. A Mountain-Breaking Ox in the Lingyun Realm, even from a top-hundred race, could at best unleash the combat power of a fifth- or sixth-stage Lingyun. Did a Lingyun count as an expert here? Yes, but not a top-tier one. While this area was less intense than Nine Stars Island, Shanhai experts were still around. Su Yu continued forward, heading toward the estuary. Gradually, he ascertained just how many people were following him. Three groups! The first group had three members: two late-stage Lingyuns and one mid-stage. The second group had four, all late-stage Lingyuns. The third group consisted of a single individual—because this one was a Shanhai. They were not working together; Su Yu discerned this using his resonance jade. These groups kept their distance from one another and likely had not spotted each other. Alternatively, the Shanhai might have sensed the others and was staying concealed with the intention of wiping them all out together. *Second-stage Shanhai. Not weak!* *Unfortunately... still not enough!* Su Yu scoffed internally. *Works out fine. I was just running out of blood essence to extract Heaven Yuan Qi from, and you deliver yourselves to my doorstep. Spares me the trouble of hunting for prey myself.* In the Sea of Stars, doing this sort of dirty work was hardly rare; plenty of people did it, and it was entirely par for the course. ... With his tails in tow, Su Yu entered the sea! The Sea of Stars remained a panorama of azure ripples and rolling waves. The yuan qi grew increasingly dense. Near Tianxia Island, one could often spot Tengkong Realm cultivators battling demon beasts under the guidance of their elders. Su Yu steered clear of them, rapidly flying toward the open sea. He put on a show of vigilance, stopping several times along the way to look around and project his willpower, as if checking for pursuers. He flew for roughly an hour, covering several hundred li. Only then did Su Yu come to a halt, thinking to himself that these fellows were remarkably patient. They were all still following him! Yet none of them had made a move. There was no one else around here, yet they still held back. He had no idea what they were waiting for. Had they discovered one another's presence and hesitated to strike rashly? Su Yu had no time to waste with them. He still needed to find a deserted place to extract blood essence and forge the corpse. Above the sea's surface, Su Yu barked, "Those following me, come out already! How much longer do you plan to trail me? What insolence! My Mountain-Breaking Ox race is a top-hundred race with an Invincible holding down the fort. Daring to tail me, aren't you afraid my race will come looking for trouble?" No one answered. Su Yu shook his head. *Still think I'm just bluffing to test the waters?* *Fine, I won't play around with you anymore.* He checked with his resonance jade once more. Within a radius of a thousand meters, there was no one else, and beyond that, there likely was no one either. His 'Calamity' divine character remained utterly tranquil; even with a Shanhai tailing him, it showed no disturbance! *All right, this spot will do!* He would kill the Shanhai first; the remaining Lingyuns could never outrun him. Su Yu's physical body had reached a strength close to thirty thousand acupoints. This meant his speed, explosive force, and resilience had all roughly reached that level—formidable in truth, comparable to a Shanhai. It was only because he usually clashed with prodigies from the dominant races that he felt pressed. Suddenly, Su Yu tore through the air! His speed was astonishing! The void trembled, and in the next instant, a massive fist descended from above! *Rumble!* A leopard materialized, entirely pitch-black, its movements exceptionally swift as both claws tore toward Su Yu! *Boom!* Su Yu threw a punch, shattering the leopard's claws on impact. "Impossible!" The leopard recoiled in shock and fury. It was at the second stage of Shanhai, while the other was merely in the Lingyun Realm. How could this be? Its claws were sturdy, yet they had been crushed by a single punch. This was no Lingyun—no, this fellow didn't seem to be from the Mountain-Breaking Ox race at all! Wait, that strike just now had indeed looked like a Mountain-Breaking Strike! "Fur ball, get to work! Quick, don't let anyone escape!" Su Yu could not be bothered with the leopard. Inside his mind, the little fur ball shot out at boundless speed, disappearing from his sea of will in the blink of an eye. It was an ancient race at the Lingyun Realm, an exceptionally unique ancient race at that; handling peers in the same realm was child's play. Muffled shrieks echoed in the void, cut short before anyone could make out the sounds. Meanwhile, Su Yu unleashed another punch. Just as the leopard attempted to flee, a massive hammer crashed down upon it! *Boom!* A deafening roar erupted within the leopard's sea of will. Su Yu's fist descended. With a thunderous boom, the head burst open, blood spraying in all directions. "Trash!" Su Yu shook his head. He recognized this race: a Shadow Leopard, ranked within the top one thousand. Their race had a ninth-stage Sun Moon powerhouse holding the line, but no Invincible. A trash race through and through! Killing this second-stage Shanhai was easier than killing Lei Jue. As expected, the gap between strong races and weak ones was vast. "Trash that hasn't even opened a hundred acupoints!" Su Yu shook his head again. This was roughly what passed for a weak Shanhai, wielding the force of perhaps twenty thousand acupoints. Aside from decent speed, it lacked powerful arts, a sturdy body, formidable armaments, and combat prowess... Bullying ordinary Lingyuns was fine, but against Su Yu, he could have bludgeoned it to death with physical strength alone! He had merely spared the effort and shattered its sea of will with a hammer strike. He stored the corpse away. Not even a storage ring on it—trash, a pauper! Aside from its flesh and blood, it had nothing of value. Su Yu rapidly flew toward the other directions. By now, a new batch of vegetables had appeared. Seven in total, not one missing. The little fur ball reappeared, parading its accomplishment. It had stacked the seven unconscious Lingyuns in a pile, its round face beaming with satisfaction! It had contributed as well! Not wasting breath, Su Yu unleashed his willpower. With a boom of erupting killing intent, the seven comatose husks perished one after another! The next instant, the accumulated rewards manifested as a cloud appeared between heaven and earth. A larger portion drifted toward Su Yu, while a smaller wisp landed on the little fur ball's head. The reward was actually quite respectable! Slaying a second-stage Shanhai meant crossing an entire major realm. However... at Su Yu's current level, a "respectable" reward was merely adequate. In truth, killing prodigies yielded far richer rewards. For instance, if he killed Moduona, even though the demon was only at the ninth stage of Lingyun, the benefits Su Yu gained might surpass those from killing a Sun Moon. Such were the rules of heaven and earth, which was why everyone on the All-Heavens Battlefield relished hunting prodigies. The reward was decent enough: the portion allocated to Su Yu was Heaven Yuan Qi, roughly ten portions, which was truly a substantial haul! Moreover, rewarded Heaven Yuan Qi was absorbed much faster. Su Yu's physical body swiftly absorbed, digested, and refined it. His flesh grew stronger, accelerating the progress of his twenty-eighth refinement. The little fur ball, on the other hand, wore an expression of disdain. It had received a bit of willpower, which felt meager to it. Reluctantly, it swallowed the willpower, finding it entirely unappetizing! Su Yu paid it no mind, cleaning up the battlefield and purging the residual blood qi. Killing in the Sea of Stars was silent and traceless. For those not on the rankings, no one would ever know; the vast, boundless Sea of Stars was the greatest graveyard of all! Everything would soon be washed away. Still, Su Yu swept the area clean to ensure nothing remained. In passing, he singed the little fur ball slightly and snatched it back into his mind. "Don't leave your aura behind for the Heaven Hunting Ranking to capture. That would cause no end of trouble—those Heaven Hunting Pavilion fellows are everywhere!" The little fur ball had avoided making the ranking largely because its aura had never been recorded by the Heaven Hunting Pavilion. The pavilion was completely oblivious to its existence. As for the Heaven Hunting Ranking itself, whether due to insufficient power, damage, or something else, it relied on the Heaven Hunting Pavilion capturing an aura and inputting the information to identify someone before it could detect them on the All-Heavens Battlefield. In fact, according to Su Yu's assessment, the Heaven Hunting Ranking was terrifying. When he had killed in the ancient city while it was sealed off, the ranking had still detected it. Logically, there should have been no need for the pavilion to painstakingly capture every individual aura and input it. Names might require it, but an aura shouldn't have. Perhaps some malfunction had damaged its automatic aura-harvesting function. Inside his mind, the little fur ball asked expectantly, "When are we going to rob the Heaven Hunting Pavilion?" "No rush!" Su Yu chuckled. "What's the hurry? If worse comes to worst, we'll have your Big One go rob them!" "Big One doesn't rob people! Big One is a good person!" *Good person, my ass!* Su Yu did not buy that for a second! A race that devoured divine characters, willpower, and seas of will—could that be called good? Well, they weren't human anyway, so good or bad hardly mattered. "Let's go. Time to find a safe place to forge the corpse!" Su Yu shot away through the air. Shortly after he left, several masked figures appeared. All wore masks—the ubiquitous Heaven Hunting Pavilion. "Living beings perished here!" "A Shanhai must have died. There were fluctuations of Shanhai aura earlier..." The masked figures exchanged words briskly, bringing out an instrument to capture any lingering traces. Soon, however, one of them shook his head. "The aura is gone, likely cleared away. The victor was very cautious..." The white-masked leader nodded. "Very cautious indeed. It's unclear who did the killing. If it were someone on the rankings or someone who previously appeared on them, it would show. No telling if the killer is on the rankings." The Heaven Hunting Pavilion kept backups of every aura they collected; testing would trigger certain mechanisms to verify identities. "Things are too chaotic right now with so many ranked prodigies arriving. Otherwise... the killer might very well have been Su Yu. But as things stand, there's no way to tell!" The white mask shook his head again. It was impossible to determine. Otherwise, Su Yu would be the prime suspect; after all, that fellow had a ferocious thirst for slaughter and would certainly kill the moment he arrived here. Yet nowadays, there were far too many people just as bloodthirsty as Su Yu. "The pavilion ordered us to find Su Yu and deliver the sub-ranking to him. That fellow still owes our pavilion a sixth-stage Shanhai Xuan Armor corpse!" "He also holds several Sun Moon corpses in his hands, all prime goods for trading. What a shame... the man has vanished!" The pavilion operatives sighed with regret. He was a massive client! Trading was one thing, but on top of that, every major race was paying exorbitant prices for Su Yu's intelligence and whereabouts! Not just one race, but many! If they could sell that information, Su Yu alone would fetch a sky-high fortune! Yet that fellow was exceptionally shrewd and had discarded the sub-ranking long ago! Not only had he thrown away the sub-ranking, he had likely purged all external items as well. Otherwise, certain Invincibles might have been able to trace his location. As a result, even when they tried to divine the whereabouts of the deceased Sun Moons, they found nothing. A powerful interference persisted continuously! Little did they know that the items they were trying to divine were in Heaven-Severing Valley. Not only was that place situated in the Plain of Desires, it was also the battleground of two mighty Invincibles. Everything there was scrambled; let alone an Invincible's divination, even a Half-Emperor would struggle to locate them. ... Having traveled far, Su Yu knew nothing of this. Nevertheless, he guessed that Heaven Hunting Pavilion agents were nearby. Those pests appeared and vanished like ghosts! Next time he encountered them, he would slaughter a few first. Su Yu was far from the first to think of baiting and killing Heaven Hunting Pavilion operatives. In fact, many pavilion members died every year; for instance, Shadow had recently crushed a Shanhai member to death. The pavilion generally paid it little mind. When you sold out people's whereabouts, it was only natural for them to kill you. When needed, they were vital. When not needed, fishing for them and killing them was a common pastime. ... After flying for another stretch, distancing himself from both Tianxia Island and Nine Stars Island, Su Yu plunged into the water to scout around. Finding an entrance to a minor realm would spell trouble. Entering the water, he transformed into a Water Person. Su Yu swiftly swept his senses outward, encompassing a radius of ten thousand meters. Guided by his resonance jade and the 'Calamity' divine character, he confirmed there were no living creatures and no realm entrances before rapidly diving toward the seabed. He descended tens of thousands of meters until the crushing pressure became immense, only then halting his descent. *This should do!* In truth, if one had nothing else to do, secluding oneself at the bottom of the sea to cultivate was not a bad idea. The next moment, Su Yu retrieved a corpse! The corpse was colossal. The instant it appeared, a roar erupted as the seawater boiled! The tremendous pressure of the surrounding waters was forced back instantly. Eighth stage of Sun Moon! To surround and slay Xia Longwu, the Tianyi God race had staked an enormous price. Knowing Xia Longwu's prowess, they had dispatched a full five high-stage Sun Moon experts back then, plus the Tianyi Sect Master—six high-stage Sun Moons in total. An eighth-stage was not even the strongest among them; there had even been a ninth-stage present! Such a formidable force, so many mighty experts, yet in the end, they had failed to singe even a single hair on Xia Longwu! The Tianyi God race had suffered devastating losses. Xia Longwu had been strong before, but not to the extent of slaying so many high-stage Sun Moons without taking a scratch. Looking at the massive corpse before him, Su Yu was equally awed! *He really is damn terrifying!* Even in death, its qi was razor-sharp, repeatedly buffeting Su Yu's body and slicing bloody gashes across his flesh. Su Yu's physical body was currently comparable to a Shanhai's, yet it was still cut by the residual qi of this dead expert. Had this being been alive, it would have been horrifying! Last time with Ming He, the immortal had been wounded by Su Yu detonating two peak Sun Moon divine characters and had subsequently been besieged by Sun Moon dead souls, so Su Yu had not felt the disparity so acutely. Looking back today, he felt a lingering chill! *Too dangerous!* If not for that stroke of luck last time, Ming He could have easily snuffed him out. "So strong!" Su Yu sighed in amazement and swiftly channeled his Heaven-Cleaving Blade qi. This corpse could not be handled recklessly; Xia Longwu had slain it, and his blade qi lingered within. Anyone mishandling the corpse without knowing the Heaven-Cleaving Blade risked being struck down by that internal blade qi. The moment Su Yu circulated the Heaven-Cleaving Blade, a sliver of blade light from the corpse's perimeter swirled harmlessly around him without erupting. ... At that exact moment. Beyond the Sea of Stars. Xia Longwu suddenly looked toward the Sea of Stars, somewhat surprised. *What reckless courage—he actually went to the Sea of Stars!* As the killer, he could naturally sense where his blade qi was. The instant Su Yu retrieved the corpse, Xia Longwu felt a faint resonance. Once Su Yu circulated the Heaven-Cleaving Blade, the sensation became even clearer. *What is he using an eighth-stage Sun Moon corpse for?* At this moment, even Xia Longwu felt puzzled. *Can he even make use of it?* An eighth-stage Sun Moon possessed boundless might. At most, the boy could fight Shanhais right now. As for slaying Sun Moons, that had been an anomaly not worth dwelling on. So what was he doing with that corpse? *Strange!* He did not ponder further. Let the boy do as he pleased! The kid possessed audacity that reached the heavens. It seemed Xia Longwu had underestimated him in the past; he would leave him to his own devices. Soon, Xia Longwu descended into a dilapidated city. It was heavily ruined, not situated in the Plain of Desires and not an ancient city. Rather, it was a city built several centuries ago that had fallen near total abandonment. Following his senses, he stepped into a vast hall in the blink of an eye. Two people were currently inside. One was Uncle Liu; the other was Liu Wenyan, who was heavily wounded and suffering severe backlash. Uncle Liu had not sensed anyone approaching and was startled, but upon recognizing Xia Longwu, he breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Greetings, Manor Lord Xia!" Xia Longwu looked at the elderly man and sighed. "You are too polite! Had it not been for that mishap... we would have been in-laws! Huyou is still unmarried. If the Liu family still has descendants willing to marry into the Xia family, Huyou can wait indefinitely!" Uncle Liu murmured softly, "Forget it, let us not hold the child back. The main branch of the Liu family now has only Wenyan and myself left." Xia Longwu sighed, then looked at him with surprise. "Mr. Liu... you have recovered to the Sun Moon Realm?" Uncle Liu smiled. "Tolerably well. The physical wounds have mostly healed, though my sea of will still carries minor damage that needs time to mend. For now, I have recovered to the first stage of Sun Moon. In my prime, I was at the third stage, so there is still ground to make up." Xia Longwu said in astonishment, "Your injuries back then were exceedingly severe..." Uncle Liu chuckled. "This... one must credit Wenyan's discerning eye..." Liu Wenyan said weakly, "My uncle recovered to Sun Moon because of a cultivation method and some Heaven Yuan Qi Su Yu provided, likely tied to the immortal race's vital energy stimulation. But never mind that—I am in deep trouble. I detonated four of my divine characters, and my sea of will is in utter turmoil..." "Hmm?" Xia Longwu said with surprise, "Your injuries haven't healed? I assumed you were fine. Su Yu detonated three, and wasn't he completely fine?" "..." Liu Wenyan was ready to weep! *To hell with you!* *Dammit!* *You're comparing me to him?* Granted, his sea of will was stronger and sturdier than Su Yu's, but detonating peak Sun Moon divine characters caused horrific trauma! As for Su Yu... *damn it, there is definitely something wrong with that brat's sea of will!* He had actually scampered off lively and kicking! By Liu Wenyan's estimation, given the baseline strength of Su Yu's sea of will, even if he were in the Shanhai Realm, he shouldn't have dreamed of running around without lying in bed for a month or two. Liu Wenyan had only slipped away ahead of time because he saw Shadow and the others present, as well as Ye Hongyan. He had assumed Su Yu would flee alongside them, but... the boy had slipped away entirely on his own! Not only had he run, but according to Ye Hongyan, he had done so far more effortlessly than Liu Wenyan! Ye Hongyan had watched with her own eyes as Su Yu transformed into a breeze and vanished! Ye Hongyan was his master's paternal aunt. She had come to Liu City to visit him recently and had not held back her scorn, claiming he had disgraced his master. Just look at Su Yu: after detonating divine characters, he had not only fled, but slipped away so cleanly that no one knew his whereabouts. As for Liu Wenyan, his state was so wretched that after fleeing back to Liu City, he had to rely on an Invincible to protect his life, spending all these days bedridden! Truly pathetic! Xia Longwu was surprised as well. He had not given it much thought previously—or rather, he simply assumed that since Su Yu was fine, Liu Wenyan had even less reason to suffer. Now, facts proved that this man was in dire straits. Meanwhile, that Su Yu brat... was actually scheming with an eighth-stage Sun Moon corpse, gallivanting around the Sea of Stars not far from Nine Stars Island. Comparing people truly invited exasperation! Liu Wenyan could not be bothered to dwell on it. "What did you come here for? Be careful not to be spotted. Leave quickly and attend to your business!" Xia Longwu smiled. "No rush! I came to see you, and to ask: now that you've dismantled the Fifth Generation's divine character battle art, when will you be able to step into the Sun Moon Realm on your own?" Liu Wenyan calculated for a moment. "Half a year! I still have seven divine characters left. I'll keep one and shatter the rest for cultivation. In half a year, I should be able to step into the Sun Moon Realm!" Xia Longwu asked in surprise, "You've thought it through? You're truly going to shatter them to cultivate?" "I've thought it through!" Liu Wenyan said placidly. "Master passed his divine characters to me so that I could carry on his legacy, not to keep my hands and feet bound forever. Keeping one as a keepsake is enough; after all, there are still plenty of people waiting for me." "Sigh, a bit late!" Xia Longwu shook his head. If he had done this earlier, how wonderful it would have been. Stepping into Sun Moon half a year from now was slightly tardy. Liu Wenyan retorted irritably, "Once I enter Sun Moon, with one of Master's divine characters in hand, I can unleash nearly all of its might. I'll be able to contend at least with a ninth-stage Sun Moon of the single divine character faction. Even if I had poured all my effort into cultivating from the start, that's about the best I could achieve. And you call that late?" *Your standards are absurdly high!* "A ninth-stage Sun Moon of the single divine character faction..." Xia Longwu shook his head. "You are no Zhou Polong; you're still far off. You might contend with the others, but you cannot beat Zhou Polong..." *Get lost!* *This guy's demands are ridiculous!* Liu Wenyan ignored him and asked, "Any news of Su Yu?" "None. I haven't been shadowing him constantly." Xia Longwu quickly added, "Rest assured, though—he's living far better than you. Just now, he brought out that Tianyi God corpse I killed back in the Great Xia Prefecture. God knows what he's planning, but he's brimming with energy!" If he weren't full of vigor, he wouldn't be hauling out corpses. Xia Longwu glanced once more at the bedridden Liu Wenyan. *You should spare yourself the worry. Forget others and worry about yourself!* *That kid is certainly having an easier time than you.* Liu Wenyan felt utterly helpless! *Damn it!* Comparing oneself to others was truly infuriating. Just what was going on with that brat's sea of will? Detonating three divine characters and emerging virtually unscathed—one simply had to yield to that! Even earlier, when he had forcibly subdued his master's divine character, it had been terrifying. Xia Longwu said no more, quickly stating, "Rest and heal in peace. I have other matters to attend to. Half a year, was it... We will speak again in half a year. I'll be waiting for you!" "All right!" Xia Longwu vanished instantly, leaving not even a ripple for Uncle Liu to sense. The elder sighed with feeling, "The foremost expert beneath the Invincibles..." "My master was!" "..." Uncle Liu was speechless. Fine, whatever he said went. His nephew was still so fiercely protective of his late master's honor!