Foutuling's voice drifted out from behind the door.
Joy surged through Su Yu. This had been the greatest flaw in his scheme. Once he dealt with Foutuling, the only remaining threat he truly feared was the personal descent of an Invincible. Yet within the Nine Stars Island, unless something of earth-shattering proportions occurred, an Invincible would never descend upon this place.
*Thud, thud, thud!*
Su Yu knocked on the door once again.
Inside, Foutuling grew irritable. *Again? How annoying!*
"Who on earth are you? What do you want? Aren't you afraid of dying?"
He barked out a low warning, already retrieving the small golden sword and aiming it straight at the entrance. *Believe it or not, I'll run you through with a sword!* Even a Sun Moon Realm would have to scramble to save themselves against it. To be sure, killing someone in an ancient city was never a wise choice, and unless pushed to the brink, he had no desire to fight here. But something was knocking outside in this city of death, and he could not help feeling a prickle of dread.
Outside, Su Yu stopped knocking and took out an ancient city token.
He held quite a few ancient city tokens in hand, though the highest among them granted access only as far as the sixteenth ring.
Fortunately, the house Foutuling had occupied was right in the sixteenth ring!
If the fellow would not open the door, Su Yu would break in, shut the hound inside, and beat it to death.
With the token in hand, Su Yu channeled death qi into it. Outside the doorway, the invisible barrier seemed to part, tearing open a gap. Inside the room, Foutuling's sense of imminent crisis flared violently!
Even with Su Yu utilizing his "Silence" divine character, Foutuling still sensed a thick, suffocating danger!
The little sword in his hand poised ready to strike!
At that very moment, Foutuling felt the doorway tremble and hissed, "Who the hell are you? Do you have a death wish? Think you can withstand a strike from an Invincible?"
*Damn it all!*
The door was opening—someone was forcing it open.
The intruder was either a formidable dead spirit or someone wielding an ancient city token—and a high-grade token at that.
Noticing the commotion of the opening door had softened, Su Yu's mind stirred. *Perhaps... I could swindle one of those things from him... but I might not be able to endure it.*
*It should be possible, shouldn't it?*
The Five Elements Art was exceedingly formidable and seemed to share the same origin as those items. Last time, he had forcibly absorbed that wooden thorn. This time, however, the distance was far too close, and Su Yu worried he would not have enough time to absorb and digest it.
After a split-second's hesitation, Su Yu swiftly resolved his mind.
He had to get inside!
In his sea of will, he instructed the little fur ball, "If I can't endure the absorption, take a bite out of it. That thing counts as a willpower attack, so you can absorb it. Did you hear me?"
"Smells so good... but so dangerous," the little fur ball mumbled. It did smell delicious, but it also sensed the peril. Last time, it had not dared to eat it.
"As long as it smells good, that's enough. Better to burst from eating something delicious than get killed outright, right?"
The little fur ball looked thoughtful and bobbed its squishy body. *All right, that makes sense.*
After instructing the little fur ball, Su Yu continued opening the door.
The door parted, revealing a sliver of a crack.
At that exact instant, a potent surge of five-elements power swept out from behind the door. Foutuling was still reluctant to unleash the little sword right away, choosing to test the waters first.
Su Yu immediately reverted to his flesh body, shoved the door wide open, and threw a punch straight out!
A thunderous boom echoed!
In a single, fluid motion, Su Yu burst through the doorway and slammed the door shut behind him. Shutting the door to beat the hound was a trick he knew well; he had pulled the exact same move back in Tianmie City.
Foutuling's Five Elements Purgatory erupted in an instant, engulfing the intruder!
The intruder felt powerful, yet not to the point of being insurmountable. Once the Five Elements Purgatory trapped him, Foutuling immediately identified him.
"Tianduo..."
*Wait, no!*
Shock seized him. The demonic qi was fierce and overbearing, looking every bit like Tianduo, but Foutuling was a genius of the Five Elements race who had previously engaged in a life-and-death clash with Su Yu. In an instant, he shrieked, "Su Yu!"
*Holy shit!*
It was this guy! How on earth had he tracked him down here?
Without a second thought, the little sword manifested. At the same time, Su Yu's eyes lit up—only for a tiny flame to appear an instant later, followed immediately by a clod of earth...
Su Yu was startled. *Damn, are you out of your mind? Unleashing so many Invincible divine talismans all at once?*
He had not left this possibility entirely unconsidered, however.
In an instant, a formidable corpse materialized before Su Yu.
Yes, the eighth-stage Sun Moon Realm corpse.
Su Yu used it as a shield. Though dead, the cultivator had possessed immense strength in life, more than capable of withstanding a blow or two. This corpse was sturdier than ordinary Earth armaments.
Foutuling immediately felt the pressure, the crushing aura nearly driving him to his knees.
Terror struck his heart!
*What the hell is that?*
Holding the several talismans aimed straight at Su Yu, he shouted, "What the hell do you want? Do you have to throw your life away? Do you honestly think a mangled corpse can shield you from me?"
Su Yu furrowed his brow, remaining silent for a long moment before asking, "Why don't you unleash them one by one?"
"..."
*Screw you!*
*Do I look like an idiot? Last time I used the wooden thorn, you absorbed it! Now that I know it's you, why would I use just one?*
*What if you absorb it again?!*
Holding up three divine talismans aimed at Su Yu, he hissed, "Even with that wretched corpse blocking the way, at least two of these talismans will pierce right through it! Can you survive that? I still have another one left... Su Yu, do you truly want to force us into mutual destruction?"
He had four divine talismans in total, but all of them were life-saving trump cards. Using them all at once would devastate him. Besides, even if he exhausted every single one, could he truly kill Su Yu?
It was hard to say!
Su Yu was an anomaly. His raw cultivation was not overwhelmingly high, yet he seemed to counter these divine talismans—or rather than counter, he appeared to assimilate and accommodate them.
This left Foutuling utterly at a loss!
Could it be Su Yu's five-elements divine characters?
Unable to figure it out, he found himself riding a tiger with no way to dismount.
Su Yu was equally helpless. This fellow refused to unleash them one by one, which made things exceedingly difficult.
Maintaining his composure, Su Yu kept the corpse raised before him as a shield and smiled. "Foutuling, how about this? Let's make peace. Hand over two of those divine talismans, and I'll stop troubling you."
"..."
"Su Yu, do you take me for a fool?"
Foutuling answered sourly. *Do I look stupid to you?*
*And what is this bastard doing impersonating Tianduo anyway?*
At that moment, the man and the spirit of earth stood less than ten meters apart. Su Yu was wary of the several divine talismans, while Foutuling feared that exhausting his talismans still would not finish the job. For a time, both were hesitant to strike, each wary of the consequences.
Within his sea of will, Su Yu urged repeatedly, *Fur ball, can you swallow one?*
If it could devour one, Su Yu's chances of subduing Foutuling would rise drastically.
*I'll burst!* the little fur ball refused. It really would burst. The power was simply too immense!
Su Yu felt helpless. *You ancient Lingyun creature, what a useless thing.*
*Then stealthily eat all his willpower. Activating a divine talisman requires power—it requires willpower. If you devour his willpower, he won't be able to trigger them at all...*
No divine talisman activated on its own; all required their master to trigger them. The little fur ball might just be capable of interfering.
The little fur ball pondered for a moment and decided it was worth a shot.
*Eat his willpower! Just the portion around the divine talismans!*
Su Yu continued, *Just devour the willpower surrounding his talismans so he can't activate them instantaneously. Be quick, and we'll take him down together...*
*All right!* The little fur ball agreed to take the risk. If it succeeded, delicious feasts awaited!
Man and ball reached an agreement in an instant.
Meanwhile, Su Yu spoke aloud, "Foutuling, don't get worked up. You might not be able to kill me, and I might not be able to handle you either. I came to find you today because I have something to discuss."
"I don't want to hear it! Back off and get out!" Foutuling said warily. "I have already contacted the Invincibles of my race, and they will arrive shortly. Su Yu, don't walk into your own destruction!"
Su Yu smiled. "This is an ancient city!"
Last time, all those Invincibles had not dared set foot inside the ancient city; rumor had it they only lingered on the periphery. Would an Invincible of the Five Elements race dare enter? Who was he trying to scare?
Foutuling fell silent for a moment before grunting, "You've been hunting me down all this time. What do you actually want?"
"To cooperate!"
"Cooperate?"
"That's right. It's like this: I intend to trap and kill Moduona, and I need your help..."
*Total nonsense!*
Foutuling nearly spat blood. *Are you kidding me?*
Granted, if this guy still possessed Ye Batian's divine character, he might genuinely be capable of killing Moduona. But why on earth would he kill Moduona out of the blue? Did they harbor some blood feud?
Between geniuses, battles were mostly fought through their own genuine capabilities. Otherwise, who did not have a few hidden trump cards? Even if Su Yu unleashed Ye Batian's divine character and killed Moduona, what would come of it? The benefits would not be that immense, yet it would lead to the Demon race's Invincibles relentlessly hunting him down.
While they spoke, the little fur ball crept out without making a sound.
Foutuling suddenly felt a jolt of alarm. An instant later, he let out a low growl and moved to activate the divine talismans to eliminate Su Yu without another word. His sense of danger remained extraordinarily sharp; the moment the little fur ball emerged, he detected the peril. Though he saw nothing, he felt a faint ripple.
*Hum!*
An incomparably sharp sword qi manifested, followed an instant later by a surge of raging flames...
Just as Foutuling moved to activate the third talisman—the earthen lump—he was shocked to find that the clod refused to trigger!
Terror gripped him. Without hesitation, a water divine talisman activated within his mind, instantly cloaking his body in a shroud of liquid. Immediately following that, he threw a punch that sent the invisible little fur ball flying!
The next instant, the earthen lump finally flared to life, rapidly transforming into a expanse of yellow loam. Driven half-mad and with no other recourse, Foutuling leaped straight into the yellow soil.
The yellow loam and the liquid fused together in a flash!
Meanwhile, Su Yu had no time to worry about him.
As the flames surged and the sword qi sliced forth, Su Yu operated the Five Elements Divine Art. Relying on the eighth-stage Sun Moon Realm corpse, he absorbed a portion of the lethal force, while the remainder pierced through, the flames instantly scorching his flesh.
Su Yu roared, releasing a massive surge of Heaven Yuan Qi.
Flesh and blood regenerated!
A portion of the sword qi was forcibly drawn into his sea of will, churning up monumental waves inside.
*This bastard is too sharp!*
By then, Foutuling had completely solidified into a clump of hardened earth. He had not told Su Yu that not all of his five-elements divine talismans were offensive; both the water and earth talismans were defensive in nature. Otherwise, he would have unleashed all four at once long ago.
With the remaining water and earth talismans activated, they formed a massive defensive casing of wet clay, and Foutuling sheltered directly inside.
This was a choice made purely out of desperation!
Yet he had sensed lethal peril, leaving him no other option.
Foutuling had petrified himself!
In this state, even if Su Yu survived, there was nothing he could do against him unless an upper-stage Sun Moon Realm expert arrived to shatter the defense.
Having exhausted so many divine talismans, the ancestor of the Five Elements race had likely sensed it and might come to rescue him. Of course, since he was inside an ancient city, an Invincible might not necessarily come.
Helpless, Foutuling sealed himself within the clay and peered outward, eager to see whether Su Yu had died!
*Two divine talismans—could they really fail to kill you? I don't believe it!*
Well, he soon believed it.
They truly had not killed him.
Su Yu's flesh and blood were charred, yet they continuously regenerated. Not only that, Su Yu swiftly backed out of the house and pulled the door shut, shielding himself from part of the burning flames.
Outside on the street, Su Yu continuously drew in and devoured the residual energy using the Five Elements Divine Art. His 180 divine apertures greedily absorbed the power, swallowing the sword qi and consuming the flames...
At some point, the little fur ball slipped back into his sea of will, looking somewhat dispirited. Foutuling's punch earlier had caused it considerable pain. Now, it cautiously nibbled on a tiny wisp of flame, only to roll around in agony shortly after.
It was delicious, but it hurt!
Su Yu steadily ground down the rampaging energies. Taking advantage of the empty surroundings, he slipped back inside the house before anyone noticed the massive dissipation of energy and came to investigate.
The flames and sword qi battered and seared his flesh and his sea of will alike!
Yet his 180 divine apertures shone with ever-increasing radiance!
Absorb! Devour!
Massive amounts of willpower were consumed by him, and several of the Immortal race divine apertures he had discovered earlier began opening in rapid succession.
Devour!
His physical body also grew steadily stronger.
Of course, this came at the cost of consuming vast reserves of Heaven Yuan Qi. Su Yu had not possessed much Heaven Yuan Qi to begin with, and under such severe expenditure, his stash was on the verge of exhaustion.
Inside the room, the clod of earth remained.
Foutuling was trapped inside it, having sealed himself off.
This time, no ancestor reached out to communicate with him. Because this was inside an ancient city, an Invincible could not traverse time and space to pierce straight through, nor could they spy within, unless an Invincible arrived in the flesh.
...
Roughly two hours passed.
Su Yu opened his eyes and gave a raspy chuckle, looking toward the hardened earthen lump. "You failed to kill me!"
Foutuling's face materialized upon the surface of the earth clod. He let out a sigh. "You don't just possess five-elements divine characters. You practice a special technique, a power that likely shares the same origin as ours... Su Yu... am I right?"
He had lost his gamble!
Su Yu had not dispelled the attacks through five-elements divine characters, but through an extraordinarily peculiar cultivation method!
As Su Yu circulated that technique, Foutuling had caught glimpses of its nature. Perhaps... it was a divine art related to the five elements.
He said nothing more. Su Yu was severely injured, but none of the wounds were fatal; they could all be healed. Foutuling, on the other hand, was in deep trouble!
Even so, Foutuling refused to concede defeat just like that, speaking up, "You cannot kill me! Two Invincible divine talismans, fusing water and earth, have formed the most unyielding defense under the heavens. Only an Invincible can break this defense and slay me... Su Yu, if I die, the Invincibles of the Five Elements race will all move against you. Killing me gains you nothing and will only draw the vengeance of the entire Five Elements race. I am the hope of the Five Elements race—you should be able to see that..."
At this point, he could no longer hold back and asked, "Why must you kill me?"
*Damn it all, what deep-seated blood feud do we even have?*
To kill him, this lunatic had taken immense risks and specifically pursued him into the ancient city. He was bearing far too much of a grudge!
Su Yu thought for a moment and rasped, "I'm not hell-bent on killing you. It's just that you might expose my identity!"
"..."
*Fuck!*
*Screw you!*
Foutuling was on the verge of a breakdown. *Are you serious? If you were only worried about that... how bloody wronged am I?! Stop giving me this crap!*
"Aren't you coveting my Heart of the Five Elements?"
"What is that?"
Foutuling felt like screaming. *You don't even know what the Heart of the Five Elements is, yet you came to kill me?!*
"Then are you jealous of my talent?"
"Heh!"
"Or are you coveting my heroic bearing?"
Su Yu ignored him. *The guy's sick in the head. Covet you? Envy you? I only came after you to keep my identity from being exposed.*
At that moment, within his sea of will, the two remaining forces were still churning, though Su Yu had already worn down the vast majority of them. The eighth-stage Sun Moon Realm corpse had suffered considerable damage, but an eighth-stage Sun Moon corpse retained some self-healing capacity even in death.
Su Yu did not mind it much. In fact, such wounds were quite useful; they helped conceal the solitary blade wound from Xia Longwu. Later, he could corrode it further with death qi to make it look even more authentic.
This time, his physical body had not seen massive improvement, as there was no life-force surge like the wooden thorn from before. However, Su Yu's greatest harvest lay elsewhere: his sea of will had been forcibly blasted open and expanded.
Among the thirty-two divine apertures from the Immortal race cultivation technique, sixteen were now unlocked—a full half—and the original 180 divine apertures all felt significantly stronger.
They also carried a touch of piercing sharpness and scorching flame.
Naturally, that residual aura had to be worn away completely, lest an ancestor of the Five Elements race track and hunt him down.
The benefits gained by his sea of will were substantial, though it had sustained some injuries and required time to mend.
His physical body had not gained as much, having merely completed its thirtieth cast.
Nothing miraculous!
Su Yu realized that his wishful calculations had missed the mark. Unless Foutuling had used wooden thorns packed with rich life force to aid his body casting, among the Five Elements race, perhaps only the Wood Spirit race was truly beneficial to his physical refinement.
A thirty-cast body...
All told, his physical strength formally surpassed the power of thirty thousand apertures, but it had not met his expectations. Four divine talismans had been deployed: two used by the fellow himself for defense, and two that merely granted him a single cast's worth of strength.
Of course, once his sea of will fully healed, his willpower would soar.
Moreover, if Su Yu's sea of will had previously only rivaled the peak Lingyun Realm, this expansion genuinely pushed it to the level of the Shanhai Realm.
It was roughly comparable to Zhao Li before his breakthrough.
And Zhao Li had spent countless years achieving that.
Su Yu silently absorbed the final dregs of power. A moment later, he rose and threw a punch at the earthen lump, producing not the slightest tremor.
Su Yu was not surprised, merely asking with some curiosity, "Foutuling, you've trapped yourself completely, and Invincibles cannot enter the ancient city. Aren't you simply sealing your own doom?"
Foutuling said nothing.
*Mind your own business! I do as I please!*
*Damn it, if you hadn't pushed me into a corner, why would I have resorted to such a desperate measure?*
He soon spoke up, "What on earth was that thing devouring my willpower? A divine character, or a demonic beast?"
A bizarre entity!
It was precisely because he had sensed the threat posed by that creature that he had been forced to trigger the divine talismans immediately. A moment later, and he feared he would not even have possessed the strength left to activate them!
At least now he had sealed himself away.
At the very least, Su Yu could not break through this defense!
Su Yu ignored him and made another attempt. Five-elements divine characters manifested, bombarding it with fire and slashing it with blades... yet none could breach the barrier.
He then tried using his 180 divine apertures to absorb the two powers...
However, once water and earth fused together, he found himself entirely unable to absorb them.
Foutuling said calmly, "Knowing you might have the ability to absorb energy, I intentionally used the power of water and earth to seal myself. With the power mutated in this way, you cannot touch me!"
Su Yu laughed. "You talk big! You've been reduced to this state, yet you remain so arrogant!"
With a chuckle, he continued, "I can tell, roughly, that you cannot break this seal yourself either. However, it won't last forever—it will probably dissipate on its own in about a month..."
Foutuling kept silent. *You guessed right.*
*In a month, I will be able to leave.*
*And within that month, experts of the Five Elements race are bound to come rescue me. Even if an Invincible does not come, Sun Moon cultivators will.*
Su Yu sneered. "Wishful thinking! Before any experts from your Five Elements race can come to your rescue, I'll dump you into a death trap first!"
"A death trap?"
Foutuling replied leisurely, "You cannot take me out of the city. The moment you leave the city, the Invincibles of the Five Elements race will arrive in short order. Without leaving the city... where can you possibly send me?"
"Where can I send you?"
Su Yu grinned. "To the Castellan Manor! Inside the Castellan Manor, that Dark Demonic Dragon is quite overbearing. If I hurl you at him, do you think he won't beat you to death?"
A clod of earth made an excellent projectile!
Foutuling remarked with composure, "You wouldn't dare, nor would you do it! Su Yu, the sole reason you pursued me all this time was the fear that I would expose your identity. If I am brought out into the open, this seal may bind my body, but it cannot bind my voice. In no time at all, everyone will know you are Su Yu!"
"Even that Dark Demonic Dragon lacks the ability to slaughter me instantaneously. The brief moment it takes to shatter the seal will be more than enough for me to scream so loudly the whole city hears!"
Su Yu nodded. He had a point.
This fellow was indeed troublesome.
Currently, he could neither break the shell nor carry him away easily; it was quite a headache.
However, locking him inside a house was entirely feasible.
Once the door was shut, people of the Five Elements race would not be able to get in either. Of course, he had to guard against someone using an ancient city token to unlock it.
Unless... he moved this fellow into an ancient house located further inward and locked him there.
Su Yu's mind stirred. "Foutuling, do you want to live or die?"
"You cannot kill me!"
Foutuling was on guard. Su Yu smiled and said, "Are you sure? I still have a fifth-generation divine character. Are you certain I can't kill you?"
"..."
Well, he was not entirely certain anymore.
Foutuling felt helpless. He actually suspected Su Yu had none left, but he could not guarantee it.
After a brief silence, he asked, "What do you want to do?"
"Nothing much. Just stay in seclusion obediently for a while!"
Su Yu beamed. "You are someone of immense providence; you are difficult to kill, which I have already sensed! Slaying you might draw the hostility of the entire Five Elements race, which I have also gathered. People from your race will likely come to rescue you... but trapped inside an ancient house, they won't be able to enter either, so you can only save yourself."
"Once the sealing power dissipates, you can open the door and leave on your own. I've checked: even death qi struggles to seep through this barrier, right?"
Foutuling felt sullen. *Is that truly all? Just keeping me from stepping outside? What on earth is Su Yu up to?!*
Su Yu could not be bothered to waste more words. "I'm going to move you into an ancient house in the inner rings. When you are moved, I will seal off all sound transmission around you, so don't even think about calling for help; it will be futile. Foutuling, if you want to live, be sensible. How about it?"
Foutuling responded promptly, "Su Yu, we have no inherent grievances. It has always been you causing trouble for me... If you don't wish for mutual destruction, naturally, I don't want to die either!"
"That would be for the best. As I said, killing you isn't my goal... I only need you to remain in seclusion for a month!"
Su Yu smiled, though he remained vigilant inwardly. Risks still existed.
What if this fellow broke the seal on his own?
Although it appeared he could only seal himself away for now, who knew if he was merely feigning helplessness?
Ideally, having the little fur ball stand guard would be best.
Yet if the little fur ball stayed behind, Tianduo's sea of will would remain in this ancient house, making it easy for the Demon race to detect abnormalities if they came looking.
Su Yu glanced at the earthen clod and pondered. Perhaps he could add a layer of sealing of his own.
At the very least, he needed to ensure this guy could not break out for several days!
Once those few days passed and his own business was concluded, who cared what happened?
Without further words, Su Yu swiftly constructed a Five Elements Purgatory, followed by an enveloping shadow barrier. Deploying various methods in quick succession, his immediate priority was to relocate the fellow.
Move him to the inner rings!
Even if the Five Elements race knew he was somewhere in the city, they would have no way of locating or rescuing him.
Besides, they likely only had a rough sense of his whereabouts. Inside an ancient city, they could not pinpoint his exact location anyway; let them search all they wanted!
Foutuling undoubtedly possessed tremendous providence—or so Su Yu believed.
Even at this juncture, the fellow had managed to protect himself. Such people were simply too difficult to kill.
Likely figures like Moduona were equally hard to eliminate!
Who among them lacked life-saving tricks?
Su Yu did not brood over it, however. Being difficult to kill was only relative; before an Invincible, no Lingyun or Shanhai cultivator was difficult to kill.
In the final analysis, it came down to a lack of sheer strength.
If his strength were sufficient, he would simply shatter the seal and swat this fellow to death with a single palm!
Soon, Su Yu transformed the sealed clod of earth into a large black sphere.
The next moment, carrying this massive black orb, he stepped out of the ancient house and swiftly made his way toward the inner rings.
In the dead of night, not a soul walked the streets, despite the considerable commotion Su Yu had generated earlier.
Pressing continuously toward the core, Su Yu soon entered the first ring.
He tested door after door. Some houses could not be entered even when empty, while others gave way under a shove. Those that opened were generally residences that had already been inhabited by others, which carried a high probability of holding no opportunities.
Such houses offered only danger and death qi.
After testing several dozen houses, Su Yu finally found one that opened to his push—completely unoccupied.
Locking Foutuling inside meant that unless Foutuling opened the door from within, no outsider could enter.
Unless, of course, someone possessed a first-ring ancient city token.
Hiding the large black orb deep within the ancient house, Su Yu laid several simple tripwires and traps around it, including several armaments. The moment the black orb broke apart, the weapons would detonate, alerting him immediately.
This way, he could prevent the fellow from escaping without his knowledge.
Enclosed within the shadow barrier, Foutuling could not transmit any sound outside. He felt thoroughly helpless. *What in the world is this guy doing?*
He had been left completely in the dark regarding his location and the dangers surrounding him.
Furthermore, this maniac had hunted him down, impersonated Tianduo, and produced an immensely powerful corpse just now—what was going on?
Unable to gather further information, a ruthless resolve hardened in his chest. *If I make it out alive this time, the next time I run into this guy... I'm running instantly!*
*And those divine talismans from the Five Elements ancestor are useless! From now on, having strictly offensive talismans is the only way to go.* Previously, he had assumed having defensive options was safer, but now Foutuling felt genuine regret. If all four divine talismans had been purely offensive, Su Yu might well have perished!
Of course, just as Su Yu found him hard to kill, he considered Su Yu equally unkillable. Even if all four had been offensive, they might still have failed to finish him.
*What a headache!*
And that bizarre thing that had abruptly devoured his willpower—what on earth was it?
He recalled certain legends, though he could not be entirely sure.
*Has that race... not gone extinct? Could the inheritance of that race have reemerged? And has it teamed up with Su Yu?*
What else could silently devour his willpower other than the God-Devouring race?
He drew in a sharp breath inwardly. That race was the natural predator and mortal enemy of the Five Elements race. Because the Five Elements race were Civilization Masters, even if their ancestors encountered an Invincible of that race, their only option was flight. Against the God-Devouring race at the same cultivation realm, members of the Five Elements race were practically doomed, utterly defenseless.
...
Su Yu paid no heed to any of this. Having swiftly arranged everything, he stepped out of the ancient house with a trace of helplessness and pulled the door shut behind him. By now, even he could no longer enter.
Earlier, when stepping inside together, he had been able to enter.
Now that someone was inside, unless Foutuling opened the door himself or someone forced it open, entry was impossible. And Su Yu clearly lacked the power to forcibly break open an ancient house in the innermost ring.
"Everything is in place!"
Taking a deep breath, he knew that, as of this moment, every detail had fallen into alignment.
The grand deception could officially begin.
He had to wrap everything up and make his escape before Foutuling broke free.
*It's been two days; the pot should have simmered enough by now!*
Su Yu pondered. There were branches of the Heaven Hunting Pavilion and the All-Heavens Myriad Treasures Tower in the city... Perhaps holding the auction directly inside the ancient city would be best?
Here, no one could openly fight, making it the safest venue of all.
He had not planned to conduct the auction within the ancient city before, but now it seemed the ancient city was far better suited to his purposes.
...
Dawn broke.
Few paid any mind to the events of the previous night; in the darkness, any commotion within an ancient city was hardly unusual.
Yet as dawn arrived, the ancient city was thrown into an uproar!
At the city gates, Su Yu strode inside openly and without hesitation. Various residents and refugees caught sight of Su Yu—or rather, they saw Tianduo!
By now, the entire Nine Stars Island knew he had obtained tremendous benefits and was searching for him everywhere!
Su Yu had actually fled into the ancient city. Had he come seeking refuge?
At that moment, without Su Yu needing to seek them out, several powerhouses from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion, the All-Heavens Myriad Treasures Tower, and the Thousand Domains Alliance arrived in swift succession.
Su Yu wasted no words, stating coldly, "Tell everyone that I am putting the corpse of the ancient Invincible up for auction, along with the cultivation technique, ancient divine characters, and ancient Heaven armaments—everything is going on the block! I want nothing else, only resources and all manner of natural treasures! The day after tomorrow, I will conduct the auction here in the ancient city. If anyone believes they can slay me inside the ancient city, feel free to try!"
At that moment, a figure wearing a white mask suddenly spoke up: "Is that truly the corpse of an ancient Invincible?"
Su Yu replied indifferently, "Whether it is or not, judge for yourselves! However, let me make one thing clear: this time, the most critical element is not the corpse itself. To me, what matters most is the ancient cultivation technique! I have uncovered a tremendous secret: the cultivation method this ancient Invincible practiced requires no apertures whatsoever—it relies purely on breathing and respiration. That means any race can cultivate it..."
"An ancient breathing technique?!"
In that single instant, ragged, breathless gasps escaped the throats of the several spokespersons!
A breathing technique!
The expressions of the several powerhouses warped drastically.
The very next moment, figures shot out of the city gates, urgently transmitting messages to the outside world!
The lost ancient breathing technique had resurfaced!
Even Su Yu was slightly surprised. *So agitated? You guys actually know about it?*
*All the better. Knowing about it is far better than not knowing!*
Su Yu took a deep breath. Whether he could reap a massive fortune now hinged entirely on the upcoming auction!
Chapter 416