The Beginning of Chaos

Su Yu's name had vanished from the Heaven Hunting Ranking! Shock, disbelief, utter astonishment… Too many turbulent emotions welled up in everyone's hearts. *** Outside the city. King Daxia and King Daming received the news almost immediately. Their expressions turned grim, their brows knit tight. Dead? How did he die? Corroded to death by dead spirits? Or killed by some lucky chance or deadly trap hidden within an ancient house? He probably hadn't been slain by another cultivator. If someone had killed Su Yu, there would certainly have been a Heaven and Earth reward. As the first on the Heaven Ranking, even if a Sun Moon killed him, a reward would have descended. If a reward had appeared, people inside the city would know by now. Yet no one had reported such news. Was he really dead? People might hold grievances against the Heaven Hunting Ranking, but that didn't mean it was inaccurate. Nearby, the White-Haired God King was also frowning deeply. He turned to look at a Faceless Elder standing not far away. The Heaven Hunting Pavilion had a Faceless Elder stationed right here. Though not in the Invincible Realm, these elders were all high-stage Sun Moons. "Heaven Hunting Pavilion, what happened? Is Su Yu dead?" The Heaven Hunting Pavilion elder hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly. "There are two possibilities. First, he is dead. Second, he may have converted into an ancient city resident." "Hmm?" The Heaven Hunting Pavilion elder said uncertainly, "It has been many years since something like this happened to a genius on the Heaven Hunting Ranking. I cannot say for certain! But whether he is dead or not… Su Yu is finished!" A sigh escaped him. The White-Haired God King paused, slightly taken aback. "Transformed into a resident?" After a moment's hesitation, he muttered, "Transformed into a resident… would he really choose that? If he did, given his talent, he won't have long to live…" There was no helping it; the greater the genius, the faster they perished. This was intelligence they all possessed. The dead spirit realm seemed exceedingly impatient to claim such geniuses, causing death qi to spread through them with terrifying speed. In other words, whether he had truly died or become a resident, Su Yu would not live much longer. Even if he survived, he was utterly ruined. To fight off the invasion of death qi, residents could barely cultivate at all. Thus, ancient city residents remained frozen at whatever strength they had possessed upon conversion until the day they died. Whether he was dead or turned into a resident, what choice should they make now? If he was dead, everything was settled once and for all. If he had converted… there were plenty of residents in the city. Dead spirits would not attack residents—not even the strongest dead spirits would—unless someone was dispatched specifically to hunt him down. But among so many residents, where would you find him? If you tore down every ancient house in the entire city… even Invincibles would die! Outside, the Invincibles fell into hesitation. Their earlier plan to breach the city now seemed pointless. Breaching it or not led to the exact same outcome. While they were still hesitating, a world-shattering blade light flared into existence. The blade came crashing down with a deafening roar, shattering a massive stretch of the city wall, though the stone instantly began to restore itself. Ignoring everything around him, King Daxia swung his blade a second time! Boom! At the same moment, a dead spirit materialized. Draped in a black cloak, its face was veiled in death qi, yet its eyes burned with brilliant light. An overpowering aura of death qi swept over the entire ancient city. The dead spirit cast its gaze toward the Invincibles outside the city, saying nothing, simply staring at them. King Daxia's face was cold and impassive as he said bluntly, "No peace talks. Slaughter every living being in the city!" "…" The expressions of the White-Haired God King and the others changed drastically! King Daxia had gone mad! With Su Yu dead—or transformed into a resident—he had simply abandoned Qin Hao and the others, choosing instead to make the geniuses and Sun Moons of the gods, devils, and other mighty races accompany them in death! Now, it was the other races who refused to accept this! Trading so many late-stage Sun Moons and various racial geniuses for four human late-stage Sun Moons plus two Invincible descendants, Qin Fang and Zhu Guangshen—it simply wasn't worth it! To the side, King Daming cursed under his breath! Fuck! Without another word, he charged straight into the ancient city, forcing his way in! At that exact instant, another incomparably terrifying dead spirit materialized. "Xingyue, I'm here to help you!" The newly arrived dead spirit chuckled. The first dead spirit replied coldly, "You talk too much. Kill them!" The newcomer immediately gave chase toward King Daming, monstrous death qi blanketing the entire heavens and earth. Two dead spirit monarchs! King Daming charged forward at full tilt, roaring, "Qin Hao, Guangshen, hurry over! Ignore everything else—kill anyone who blocks your path!" He had to save them! Meanwhile, King Daxia did not enter. Outside the walls, slash after slash of blade light rained down. Now that things had reached this point, who was afraid of whom? Rumble! Massive sections of the city wall collapsed and rapidly restored themselves. Inside the city, dead spirits emerged in ever-increasing numbers—Sun Moons, and even those in the Invincible Realm! The first dead spirit to appear, the dead spirit monarch named Xingyue, stared coldly at King Daxia. By this point, the White-Haired God King and the others finally came to their senses, their faces darkening. In the next moment, Invincibles from the Five Elements race, Devil race, God race, Nether race, and various other factions rushed into the city. One of the Invincibles roared furiously, "All living beings in the city, get out! Hurry, fight your way out!" Damn it! King Daxia was crazy! No, King Daxia had done precisely what he had to do. Far more experts from other races were trapped in the city than humans. Since those Invincibles no longer wanted to breach the city, King Daxia had obliged them. King Daming was immensely powerful; he still had a fair chance of escorting Qin Hao and the others out. As for the Invincibles rushing in behind him, that was another story entirely! Dead spirit monarchs appeared one after another! At this moment, the auras of Invincibles shook heaven and earth. On the perimeter, the Sun Moons from the Nine Realms paled. One Sun Moon roared madly, "Retreat! Fall back to our realm!" One with a bit of a conscience left roared desperately, "All living beings on Nine Stars Island, evacuate immediately! Quick!" The ground began to crack open! The sky buckled and fractured under the crushing pressure of multiple mighty auras! Time fell into chaos! There were too many of them, and death qi began to spread, spilling beyond the ancient city and rolling toward Nine Stars Island. King Daxia remained cold and expressionless, swinging his blade again and again! Su Yu was dead, or completely ruined. The human race had lost a peerless prodigy. He didn't know if his choice was right. He didn't know what to think or say, so he said nothing at all. He would simply make some of them serve as funeral sacrifices! Boom! The White-Haired God King hurled an attack toward him, shouting, "Stop him!" He called to the other god kings for assistance to pin down King Daxia. Otherwise, catastrophe loomed. King Daxia stared at him coldly. "Does your God race wish to wage war against my human race right now? This is no longer about Su Yu. I am attacking the ancient city. You are attacking me—attacking an Eternal of the human race, the leader of the War God Hall! This is a formal declaration of war!" Targeting Su Yu was different; a genius remained merely a genius, not an Invincible. King Daxia, however, was one of the top three strongest figures in the human race. Attacking him was tantamount to declaring war on the entire human race. Whether human Invincibles were pleased or disgruntled, they would have no choice but to fight. Otherwise, if another Invincible were surrounded and attacked in the future, no one would step up to help. Slaying Su Yu did not infringe upon their core interests, but attacking King Daxia demanded a fierce counterstrike! The White-Haired God King's expression shifted repeatedly. King Daxia said coldly, "I haven't laid a finger on you. If you dare strike me… then the God race and the human race go to war right here and now!" "King Daxia… you…" "Shut up!" King Daxia said chillingly, "Whether I break this ancient city is my business and has nothing to do with you. Does this ancient city belong to your God race?" "…" There was no reply. King Daxia's blade flashed once more! Meanwhile, within the city, Invincible-level dead spirits manifested one after another. One dead spirit laughed wildly, "Hahaha! Kill! Slaughter these invaders! How exhilarating! King Daxia… human King Daxia… hahaha, thank you!" They finally had an opportunity to emerge! In that instant, the city erupted into utter chaos. Boom! Boom! Fierce shockwaves tore through the entire vault of heaven. Time blurred and distorted as over a dozen Invincibles instantly clashed, smashing everything in their path. The entire ancient city seemed to cross into an entirely separate spatial dimension. Scores of ancient houses shattered, only to rapidly reconstruct themselves. Those unlucky souls sheltering within were obliterated on the spot, meeting the exact same fate whether they were residents or ordinary cultivators. The further out toward the periphery, the easier the houses were to destroy, whereas those in the inner rings were vastly sturdier. At this moment, hordes of experts were attempting to break out in all directions from the Castellan Manor. Everyone was utterly bewildered! How could things have escalated to the point where Invincibles entered the city? And not just one or two, but a whole crowd of them! "Fu Tuling!" The Earth Spirit Invincible of the Five Elements race let out a voice that reverberated in all directions, sweeping across every ancient house. His voice seemed to travel from an endless void, shaking the surroundings so violently that the very ground beneath the ancient city was upturned. Before long, an Invincible dead spirit charged at him, and an explosive battle erupted. They fought from the ancient city's space straight into an unknown void, only to battle their way back out moments later. Swaths of ancient houses that even Sun Moons couldn't scratch were instantly blown apart. Whoever was inside perished in an instant. Such scenes played out across multiple locations. The army of dead spirits had already flooded the entire ancient city. Boom! A half-moon crashed out of the sky—a Sun Moon cultivator had been slain! Meanwhile, King Daming was displaying terrifying might, his relentless onslaught beating back a Sun Moon dead spirit. Catching sight of Qin Hao and the others, King Daming bellowed, "Hurry over! We have to leave the ancient city, now!" That turtle bastard Xia Wushen was truly ruthless—after all, none of his own kids were down here! Zhu Guangshen was his grandson! Rumble! Shockwaves from repeated clashes swept across the ancient city. Aside from the houses in the innermost three rings, which remained relatively safe, the other houses were shattering one after another. More and more dead spirits were manifesting, and another Invincible dead spirit appeared directly before King Daming. It was Xingyue, the dead spirit monarch beneath Xinghong Ancient City. Xingyue looked at King Daming and said coldly, "You think you can take people away in front of us? Keep dreaming!" Death qi surged outward! In the next instant, a fist rose to shake the heavens! This was no longer mere corrosion from death qi. This strike shook heaven and earth. The ancient city shattered, instantly restored itself, shattered again, and restored itself once more… Countless fists rained toward King Daming! King Daming muttered under his breath. Divine characters surfaced, swiftly forming a ring that expanded to envelop the two Invincible dead spirits! Boom! Another half-moon plummeted! Far away, the experts of the God race, Devil race, and other factions were swallowed by despair. Hadn't they been told the Castellan Manor could shelter them? Of course, that assumed Invincibles wouldn't force their way in. Now, Invincibles had broken in—and more than just one! Back at the Castellan Manor, the Dark Magic Dragon was entirely dumbfounded. Invincibles had broken inside! Pseudo-Invincible dead spirits were beginning to appear as well. Possessing some degree of intellect, they looked toward the Dark Magic Dragon. Some hesitated, while others produced mechanical, rasping voices: "Audacious. Harboring the living without cause. Death!" In the next moment, dead spirits charged straight into the Castellan Manor! These were no ordinary dead spirits. Even seventh- or eighth-stage Sun Moon dead spirits had shown no inclination to force their way into the Castellan Manor. Yet now, several peak Sun Moon dead spirits seemed to reach a silent consensus and stormed inside! In the rear hall of the Castellan Manor, the Stone Statue looked on with detached coldness! He hadn't helped Su Yu, and he wouldn't help anyone else. This Dark Magic Dragon was the acting castellan he had chosen, but the beast had harbored a massive horde of living beings, concentrating too many powerful experts in one place and drawing out even stronger dead spirits. The consequences were his alone to bear. If the Dark Magic Dragon hadn't chosen to shelter these people, perhaps none of this city-breaching madness would have happened. More and more dead spirit monarchs were appearing! The entire ancient city was being engulfed in the turmoil. The Stone Statue watched in silence. After a brief wait, a faint pressure erupted from him, settling over the ancient houses one by one. He would not intervene in the appearance of dead spirits, nor did he care to stop Invincibles from breaching the city. However, protecting the residents… was his duty. If weak residents died, he, as the guardian, could choose to care or not. Strong residents, on the other hand, were his people, and he was obliged to protect them. The moment his aura settled over the ancient houses, several dead spirit monarchs promptly veered away from those structures. This signaled that the guardian had intervened to protect the residents! At that moment, a Nether race Invincible paid no heed to the aura and smashed an ancient house that was under protection. In the very next instant, all that could be seen between heaven and earth was a single fist—the fist of the Stone Statue! That punch shattered heaven and earth, tearing through time and space! With a thunderous crash, an enormous crater opened directly across the Nether race Invincible's physical body! His entire body had nearly been pulverized! An Invincible shouted in warning, "Stop destroying the ancient houses!" Simultaneously, ancient cities began to manifest between heaven and earth, as if piercing through layers of space. Tianmie, Yunxiao, Didang, Haizang… Stone statues manifested one after another, casting cold glances at that Nether race Invincible, then looking toward Xinghong, who had just thrown the punch. Xinghong ignored them. With another punch, he blasted a Sun Moon apart. In the next instant, another punch obliterated a Sun Moon dead spirit… Whoever touched the houses under his protection—living or dead—was met with a punch from his fist. Even King Daxia outside the city changed countenance at the sight, shouting, "Old Zhu, don't touch those ancient houses!" He was genuinely shocked! The ancient cities had manifested! As city after city projected into view, the stone statue of Tianmie Ancient City appeared above its walls. In truth, Tianmie Ancient City remained in its original location, but with the city's projection present, the stone statue seemed to have truly descended upon this place! The Tianmie stone statue swept his gaze across the area. Not spotting Su Yu, he didn't dwell on it; this wasn't his territory, and he couldn't see through the ancient houses anyway. Looking toward Xinghong, he chuckled. "In trouble?" Xinghong ignored him, continuing to slaughter every being—living or dead—that dared touch the houses under his protection. Furthermore, the range of his protection was steadily expanding. The inner three rings, the fourth ring, the fifth, the sixth… More and more radiance spread out, cloaking an increasing number of ancient houses. Punch after punch descended. Beneath the Invincible Realm, anyone who made contact was killed instantly. As for the Nether race Invincible, he was already fleeing for his life. Not only was an Invincible dead spirit glaring at him, but that punch from the stone statue had nearly caused his physical body to collapse. Terror gripped him as he recalled the tragic fates of Invincibles who had attacked ancient cities in the ancient past! Stone statues… these stone statues were terrifyingly powerful! Xinghong paid no attention to his thoughts, hurling another fist toward the fleeing Nether race Invincible before narrowing his gaze slightly and speaking in a cold voice: "Xinghong Sacred City has suffered an invasion. Calling upon the Thirty-Six Sacred Cities—slay all incoming foes!" Boom! In the void, fists, palms, and massive feet came crashing down, striking out at the Invincibles! The guardians of the Thirty-Six Sacred Cities were taking action simultaneously. Heaven fell and earth cracked! The entirety of Nine Stars Island began to fracture. Experts from the Nine Realms fled frantically as the settlements collapsed and countless cultivators died instantly. Hordes of powerful experts bolted toward the distance. Bloodcurdling shrieks resonated across heaven and earth. Everyone couldn't help but look back, only to witness an incomparably mighty expert having his head smashed in by a fist, his physical body crushed under a descending foot, and his sea of will pierced through by a sword… Horrifying! What on earth was inside that ancient city? They couldn't see clearly, only catching glimpses of someone suspected to be an Invincible being butchered in the most gruesome manner. That was an Invincible of the Nether race! "Flee!" an Invincible roared desperately. "Forget everything else! Find an ancient house to take refuge in! All Eternals, get out of the ancient city immediately!" They were in massive trouble! Twelve dead spirit monarchs had appeared, and the masters of the sacred cities had shown up—some as projections, others in true form. At this moment, the sheer number of Invincible-level entities was terrifying. If this went on, no matter how precise an Invincible's control was, battling other Invincibles made it impossible to guarantee that not a single house would be caught in the crossfire! Because of Su Yu's death, King Daxia had forcefully assaulted the city. With his strength, he had drawn out dead spirit monarchs. If that were all, it might have been manageable, but King Daming—whether by accident or design—had charged straight into the ancient city, luring out even more dead spirit monarchs! In the end, this had provoked the ancient city guardians into action! Innumerable mighty combatants clashed, tearing the void to shreds and churning time itself. The Nether race Invincible was battered to the brink of death. Letting out an enraged roar, he reversed time, restoring himself to his youthful, peak condition! Without another word, not even caring for the Nether race geniuses, he fled! The moment he escaped, a corpse identical to his own materialized on the spot. His future self had fallen! Invincibles possessed past, present, and future selves! Losing his future self meant he had no future. By reversing time to return to his past, he had also forfeited his present self… If he died again now, it would be true, permanent death! His losses this time were devastating! He fled, burning a drop of blood essence. One drop wasn't enough, so he burned a second, and then a third… Swatting a dead spirit monarch aside with a palm strike, he roared, tore through the void, and vanished on the spot! He was in deep trouble! Though he hadn't died, with such catastrophic injuries, he would be weaker than every other Invincible if an Invincible war broke out. A severely wounded Invincible was in the greatest danger. He didn't even dare return to the Nether race! Yet the ancient city guardians did not pursue him. Had they truly pursued him, that Nether race Invincible would certainly have died. Instead of chasing him, the guardians swiftly switched targets the moment he escaped, turning their attacks toward King Daming! King Daming was currently blanketing the sky with one hand, scooping Qin Hao and the others into his grasp. His eyes widened at the sight. Facing this many Invincibles, he was in deep trouble! "Trap Heaven!" Two divine characters surfaced, shattering in an instant as countless fists and feet came crashing down upon him. Right at that moment, a streak of blade light illuminated heaven and earth, repelling several of the limbs. King Daming seized the opening and fled at top speed. King Daxia had already cleaved open the void with a blade strike, stepping into the rift alongside King Daming. King Daxia cast a backward glance at the battered yet rapidly restoring ancient city, a complicated look in his eyes. Suddenly, he called out, "If you aren't dead… I'll find a way!" Leaving behind those words, he tore through the void, fleeing rapidly while dragging along King Daming, whose divine characters had shattered! Even he—even he and King Daming together—could not hope to rival so many mighty experts right now. The moment they departed, another fist blasted apart the spatial rift. Inside the ancient city, Xinghong hadn't moved an inch. Seeing them leave, he didn't pursue them either. He continued slaughtering the dead spirits and living beings nearby. Whoever touched the ancient houses under his protection, regardless of identity, met with death. Geniuses and experts alike were swallowed by despair! Someone swiftly dropped into an unoccupied ancient house and scrambled inside. In the next breath, shimmering radiance enveloped the house. Seeing this, another cultivator was ecstatic and roared, "Quick, get into the ancient houses to take shelter!" Only now did they understand: the protection of Invincibles, the shelter of the Castellan Manor—none of it meant anything! In the ancient city, only these ancient houses offered true safety! Meanwhile, within the city, the ancestor of the Five Elements race was spitting blood. Seeing the state of things, he didn't hesitate for a second, fleeing immediately. He couldn't care about anything else; Fu Tuling was probably safe inside an ancient house, but if he didn't leave now, he would lose his life right here! Yet escaping was no simple matter! At that crucial moment, the void fractured. Four or five Invincibles from the Five Elements race intervened across the spatial distance, bellowing as they pulled the Earth Spirit ancestor out. Shortly after, one void rift after another opened as various Invincibles were rescued. An Invincible of the Dragon race personally arrived to retrieve their people, while Invincibles of the God race and Devil race tore through the void to extract their own… Meanwhile, Nine Stars Island had been thoroughly obliterated, completely gone. All that remained was a single ancient city and nine points of light representing the passages to the Nine Realms. Unfortunately, Nine Stars Island existed no more; there were only nine stars orbiting the ancient city. As long as the intruders retreated, Xinghong and the others paid them no further attention. Yet every Invincible who managed to retreat was wounded, draped in lingering death qi. In the void, corpses of Invincibles tumbled down—either future selves or present selves. Inside the city, Sun Moons fell one after another. They hadn't managed to flee in time! Stars plunged from the sky! The ancient city, meanwhile, rapidly returned to its original state, showing not the slightest trace of damage. Aside from the city full of dead spirits, it was as if none of this had ever occurred. In the next instant, Xinghong said coldly, "Dead spirits, withdraw!" Twelve dead spirit monarchs stood suspended in the void, gazing at the stone statue. In the surrounding space, stone statues manifested one after another, opening their eyes to stare back at them. The dead spirit monarchs exchanged glances. One dead spirit said with dissatisfaction, "We didn't kill those Eternals!" Xinghong couldn't be bothered to engage, repeating coldly, "Dead spirits, withdraw!" In the next breath, the stone statues suspended in the void spoke in unison: "Withdraw!" The twelve dead spirit monarchs sensed the impending danger. After a brief pause, eleven of them vanished. Only Monarch Xingyue in the black cloak remained behind, and Xinghong didn't mind. Xingyue was the dead spirit monarch beneath Xinghong Ancient City, the executor of rules for this entrance to the dead spirit realm. "Xinghong…" At that moment, the stone statue belonging to Tianmie Ancient City spoke up from the void: "Is that kid dead?" "No!" "Transformed into a resident?" "Yes." Tianmie let out a sigh. "What a pity… Hopefully he'll be fine so he can go on causing trouble… ahem, saving other people next time!" Leaving those words, he vanished before the other stone statues could speak. The remaining stone statues disappeared one by one as well. *** The ancient city fell silent! Aside from the hordes of dead spirits that had yet to disperse, the entire city was dead quiet—an eerie, terrifying silence with not a single sound. Outside the walls lay a vast, boundless ocean. Nine Stars Island was gone! The island that had stood for so many years had been utterly wiped from existence. No one emerged from the nine passages either; it seemed the gates had been sealed from the other side. *** The entire Sea of Stars fell quiet. No grand demons surfaced; no living beings showed themselves. The residual auras of the Invincible clashes continued to ripple through the air. *** Meanwhile, the myriad realms were shaken to their core. The Heaven Hunting Pavilion immediately began selling the news. Invincibles had stormed Xinghong Ancient City, prompting the emergence of dead spirit monarchs. Nine Sun Moons had fallen, and Invincible three-incarnation bodies had been slain. The most concrete report confirmed that the future and present incarnations of Nether King Kuhai from the Nether race had both been obliterated, leaving only his past incarnation; most of his blood essence had detonated, leaving him severely wounded and hovering on the brink of death! Seven or eight names had disappeared from the Heaven Hunting Ranking. Not a single genius on the Heaven Ranking was lost. However, quite a few names had vanished from the Earth Ranking and Profound Ranking. The root of it all was Su Yu's disappearance from the Heaven Hunting Ranking. One human Invincible had crazily attacked the ancient city, drawing out Invincible dead spirits, while another had acted even more recklessly by barging directly inside, forcing other Invincibles to enter in order to rescue their own clan's geniuses and experts. This sequence of events had provoked the ancient city guardians into intervening, nearly slaying several Invincibles on the spot. Now, the ancient city was sealed once more. A large number of Heaven Ranking geniuses and high-stage Sun Moons were trapped inside, their fates unknown. Worse still, probably not a single Invincible dared attempt a rescue now. Losing Sun Moons and geniuses was far better than losing Invincibles. Too many years had passed since anyone dared trespass upon an ancient city. The ancient tale of an Invincible falling within an ancient city had almost become myth. Today, the Invincibles who had forgotten that peril were forcefully reminded: an ancient city was still an ancient city, not a playground they could casually enter. Unless an overwhelming number of Invincibles stormed it together—at least thirty, perhaps even more! On this day, the appearance of thirty-six stone statues sent chills through countless experts. These ancient cities truly were interconnected! Furthermore, the relationship between the ancient city stone statues and the dead spirit monarchs appeared remarkably intricate. The dead spirit monarchs did not attack the statues, and as long as the dead spirits did not violate the rules, the statues did not strike them either. Today's upheaval, triggered by Su Yu, drew the eyes of the myriad realms. Nine Stars Island was gone! Many living beings had died on the island, including numerous Sun Moons and Shanhais. Was Su Yu… truly dead? No one knew for sure. *** Naturally, Su Yu wasn't dead. He was inside an ancient house in the innermost ring—the sturdiest of them all, and the very first to receive Xinghong's protection. Even so, like everyone else, Su Yu was caught in a whirlwind of shock, fear, and dread. Holy crap! Terrifying! The clash between the Invincibles had lasted only a brief moment, and they had largely exercised restraint. Even so, there were simply too many Invincibles present. They had shattered the ancient city's barrier and instantly pulverized countless ancient houses into dust. Even though the structures quickly reconstructed, the residents and living beings inside had genuinely perished. Su Yu had witnessed the fall of nine Sun Moons! The celestial bodies had visibly plummeted! One of them seemed to be a high-stage Sun Moon, given the near-perfect fullness of the fallen orb. Yet in that chaotic instant, nobody gave a damn about the death of a high-stage Sun Moon! Su Yu felt a lingering dread. Holy shit! By now, his mood had completely recovered from the disappointment of turning into a resident, replaced entirely by shock and speechlessness. As for becoming a resident… so what? He could reverse a bit of the death qi. The speed was slow, but that didn't matter. In the short term, that death qi wouldn't be able to kill him anyway. Once he grew stronger, his reversal speed would likely increase. Paired with large amounts of Heaven Yuan Qi, it might be even faster. Su Yu hadn't taken it too seriously to begin with; he had merely felt a bit down earlier. Now, he was actually in fairly good spirits. Of course, what shocked him even more was how ridiculously vexing—how utterly disastrous—those two human Invincibles were. A massive pitfall! He had heard it clearly: King Daxia had attacked the city, and King Daming had stormed inside, sparking the entire chain of disasters! Su Yu shuddered, then wasted no time stepping straight out of the house. The bold feast while the timid starve! I'm already in this miserable state anyway. That speaking dead spirit said it would come escort me once I die, and haven't I survived? Why step out of the house right now? Nonsense! Corpses, of course! Corpses of Sun Moons, maybe even corpses of Invincibles… Fine, it seemed no Invincibles had died. He had heard that their deaths caused enormous commotions, and having felt nothing of the sort, an Invincible probably hadn't fallen. Besides, he could scavenge some ancient city tokens! During that massive brawl earlier, those experts had slaughtered countless dead spirits along the way. Su Yu squeezed directly into the ranks of dead spirits that packed the streets. In truth, ancient city residents could come outside right now; their danger was minimal. Yet no one possessed the sheer guts to do so. As for other living beings, none dared step outside at a time like this. They were all hiding! Stepping out would genuinely cost them their lives. Su Yu had no such worries. After becoming a resident, the corrosive death qi of the dead spirits had little effect on him. The death qi he currently had to worry about was what generated from within his own body. "Jackpot!" Su Yu shoved a dead spirit aside with a palm. Damn it, don't let it go to waste! This was the corpse of a Sun Moon—a colossal shark whose head had been obliterated by someone, its body steeped in death qi. Didn't matter; good stuff! The creature had died so fast that no one had looted its storage ring. It was just a bit too large! Su Yu quickly stowed it away, picking up several ancient city tokens along the way. Beaming with joy, he thought to himself: jackpot! He was already loaded, but who ever complained about having too much wealth? A Sun Moon corpse, looking to be at the second or third stage—quite decent, even without the head. He swaggered through the streets, boldly shoving aside any dead spirits blocking his path. His courage had ballooned considerably. I'm a resident now, what do I have to fear? Since I'm a resident, doesn't this ancient city belong to me? I'm a local now! Isn't this place mine to run? This counts as my home! And these dead spirits are practically our house guards! Su Yu was in an exceptionally great mood, overflowing with optimism and delight. Looking at the dead spirits crowding the streets, they appeared surprisingly endearing. He even patted one on the head. What a fine guard! Splendid work! *** Castellan Manor. Monarch Xingyue and the Stone Statue watched in silence. A moment later, Monarch Xingyue remarked casually, "He was born to be a dead spirit!" Fuck! It was the first time she had ever seen such a brazen resident. He actually ran outside to scavenge loot, and even patted a dead spirit on the head—leaving the dead spirit utterly dazed! Since ancient times… had anyone ever treated a dead spirit like that? They were the embodiment of death! Not your pet cat or dog! Xinghong remained silent, having nothing to say. This was the first time he had encountered such a peculiar resident as well. Monarch Xingyue glanced at the battered, wounded Dark Magic Dragon inside the Castellan Manor and let out a faint smile. "This Su Yu… aren't you planning to groom him as the next castellan?" Xinghong still said nothing. The Dark Magic Dragon had nearly been killed this time. Though he survived, death qi had invaded his heart. At this rate, the day he converted into a dead spirit was not far off. Perhaps… he truly did need to groom the next castellan. Yet was Su Yu truly suitable? If that kid became castellan, wouldn't he bring even greater trouble to Xinghong Ancient City? Xinghong wasn't sure. He felt a rare helplessness, even a touch of trepidation. This whole fiasco had left even him thoroughly speechless.