Past and Future Bodies

He had struck it rich! Su Yu was ecstatic. By now, he had already scavenged two Sun Moon corpses. One was a massive shark, and the other appeared to be the late-stage Sun Moon who had perished earlier. From the look of it, Su Yu had likely seen him before! It was a giant ape with a tuft of golden fur atop its head—a member of the Heavenly Spirit Ape race! They were overlords among apes, beings comparable to the Primordial God Race. The ancient fork Su Yu had purchased before had been bought from a Heavenly Spirit Ape. A late-stage Sun Moon! Ranked twelfth on the All-Races Ranking, this clan was immensely powerful, yet this giant ape had died here. Su Yu took a closer look, his eyes flickering with an odd expression. This ape didn't seem to have been killed by dead spirits, but rather by another person. As for who had done it, Su Yu had no way to investigate, nor did he care. Everything had been in utter chaos back then, with Invincibles charging in and dead spirit monarchs swarming everywhere. Anyone could have done it; the ape had probably provoked the wrong person and been struck down in passing. Su Yu had scavenged many ancient city tokens by now and didn't care about them too much anymore. This time, however, his luck was exceptional: he actually picked up a third ring token! It had likely been dropped after a seventh-stage Sun Moon dead spirit was slain, in all probability by an Invincible. A third ring ancient city token was a true treasure—one capable of forcefully opening houses in the third ring! Now that was something formidable! Su Yu picked and chose as he walked. He gathered more than a dozen Shanhai corpses and dozens of Lingyun corpses; whatever remained had likely been obliterated, leaving nothing behind. He continued walking for a while before coming upon a swarm of dead spirits gathered together. Curious, Su Yu edged closer. He spotted several powerful dead spirits among them, likely in the late Sun Moon Realm. At that moment, the dead spirits turned to look at him. Su Yu gave a dry laugh. *They seem to have a bit of intelligence… but hey, we're all family, right?* "Uhm… my lords, I'm an ancient city resident. What are you looking at?" His audacity was truly boundless! He dared to act like this because, throughout his walk, not a single dead spirit had raised a hand against him. Even the death qi invasion hadn't been severe; encountering Sun Moon dead spirits had only slightly increased the rate at which it seeped into him. Now, standing before late-stage Sun Moon dead spirits, he remained daring—though naturally, he didn't get too close. He craned his neck to look, casually pushing aside the heads of dead spirits blocking his view to see what lay at the center of the circle. It looked like a book, yet not quite. A treasure? Su Yu's heart stirred. Several dead spirits were guarding it and staring at it without daring to touch it. Could it truly be a rare treasure? He felt a sudden itch of greed! He loved treasures above all else right now! The dead spirits ignored him, neither bothering him nor acknowledging him. It was unclear whether they were incapable of speech or simply unwilling. He was quite possibly the boldest ancient city resident in existence; even the black dragon of the Castellan Manor grew uneasy whenever it saw them, terrified of having excessive contact with their kind. Su Yu thought nothing of it. Seeing that the dead spirits weren't causing him trouble, he breathed a sigh of relief. There might not be much good left elsewhere in the city, but the book surrounded before him—or perhaps a wooden board, or whatever it was—felt like a precious treasure. It was stained with a faint trace of nether qi, distinct from ordinary death qi, which Su Yu could clearly perceive. His mind raced. *Was this left behind by the Nether Invincible?* He had seen that Nether Invincible's physical body get pierced clean through by something in the ancient city. Could this be related to him? *If it's connected to an Invincible, it must be incredible!* Su Yu wanted to take it! However, with several Sun Moon dead spirits glaring right at it, he worried they would turn on him if he snatched it away. Just because they hadn't struck him down yet didn't mean they never would. Who could say for sure? Su Yu's palms itched with temptation. *What should I do if I really want it?* Just as the thought crossed his mind, a dead spirit draped in a cloak materialized. It looked vastly different from ordinary dead spirits. Su Yu's heart gave a violent jolt. He promptly lowered his head and turned to flee. *Damn it!* This dead spirit… he might actually recognize it. It looked remarkably similar to the one that had carved his wooden token earlier, the one capable of speech! It might very well be an Invincible entity! He was terrified! During the battle of Invincibles, his vision had been obscured, and he had only heard voices. This dead spirit was very likely the dead spirit monarch named Xingyue. It was best to steer clear of such an existence. While he had embraced an attitude of letting the chips fall where they may, he had no desire to turn from a living dead into a genuinely dead corpse! Just as he was about to slip away, the dead spirits in the inner circle dropped to their knees in veneration. Only the powerful Sun Moon dead spirits did so; the rest were too mindless to react. Cloaked in her mantle, Xingyue stood with her back to Su Yu, gazing at the object left behind by the Nether race. Her voice echoed directly in Su Yu's mind: "Do you know what this is?" Su Yu's heart skipped a beat! He didn't dare utter a sound. *She's not talking to me, right?* Clinging to wishful thinking was useless. The next instant, Xingyue spoke again in an indifferent tone: "This is a supreme treasure—one that bears the past and the future! Do you know what Eternity is?" Su Yu's eyes flickered. "The past, the present, and the future—the true self united as one! That is Eternity!" Su Yu's mind reeled. *This… is Eternity? That's what an Invincible is?* "Past, present, future…" Su Yu muttered under his breath. Lowering his head, he asked respectfully, "My Lord, was this left behind by an Eternal Invincible?" The dead spirit replied flatly, "This is the supreme treasure that the Nether race's Eternal used to bear his future body. From the river of time, one probes the future to locate their strongest future self, bears it with a supreme treasure, and merges them to achieve Eternity! That Nether Invincible had his future body severed and his present body slain. Only his past body remains. Though called an Eternal, he is practically half-ruined. As a past body… he is still an Eternal. He reversed time and returned to that preceding instant, yet he will remain forever frozen in that singular moment. His physical body will never progress or grow stronger, and he possesses neither future nor present…" Su Yu understood only half of it! He grasped two key points: first, this wooden board was an extraordinary treasure! Second, that Nether Invincible had been gravely wounded and was now frozen at the exact moment he had first entered the city. A past body? Had the Invincible Realm truly reached such an esoteric level of complexity? Su Yu asked, "My Lord, how much acupoint power can an Invincible unleash?" "Acupoint power?" The dead spirit muttered the words without answering or offering an explanation. To an Invincible, so-called acupoint power held little significance. After a moment, Xingyue said indifferently, "When you die, I will tell you!" "..." *To hell with that!* The thought flashed across Su Yu's mind before he swiftly suppressed it, not daring to let it linger. This woman was just itching for him to die! Yet she wouldn't kill him herself, likely due to some constraint. Su Yu didn't pry. In fact, he grew bolder. It wasn't that he was truly fearless, but rather that he knew taking precautions against an Invincible was utterly pointless anyway. Seeing that the dead spirit was willing to reply, Su Yu asked softly, "My Lord, then this supreme treasure… what use does it have?" "It bears the past and future bodies." The dead spirit didn't evade the question, explaining calmly, "From the river of time, one dredges up their strongest past and their strongest future, bearing them with supreme treasures. Once the past and future bodies are pulled from the river of time and merged with the present body, the three bodies unite as one to form Eternity!" After a brief pause, she added, "Supreme treasures capable of bearing the past and future are of utmost importance. Naturally, they can also be used to forge weapons, but that would be an utter waste!" Su Yu realized what she meant! So that was how it worked! It felt rather useless to him—or at least of minimal value at his current level. Yet through this, he gained a deeper understanding of the Invincible Realm. He thought of Xia Longwu. Was Xia Longwu also trying to dredge up his past and future to merge them and achieve the Invincible Realm? As he pondered, the dead spirit said calmly, "So-called quasi-Invincibles have generally merged two bodies, having dredged up either their past body or their future body… If one retrieves the past body, the strength gained from the past is limited. But if one retrieves the future body, such a quasi-Invincible can sometimes prove even stronger than a true Invincible!" "..." Su Yu was stunned. *That's possible too?* The dead spirit continued, "However, among the three bodies, the past body is far more vital than the future body. If the past body perishes, without a past, how can there be a future? Slaying the past body could cause you to perish completely!" Lose your future, and at worst, your cultivation could never advance. Lose your past, and you might die on the spot. Su Yu understood now; this made perfect sense. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Then if an Invincible reverses time and kills us in the past, wouldn't we die just the same?" "Reversing time?" The dead spirit let out what sounded like a sneer of contempt! "So-called time reversal falls into two categories. First, genuine reversal into the past. This is not something an ordinary Eternal can accomplish; it requires immense strength and supreme mastery over the Dao of Time!" "The second is merely a memory replay. That is simple—just a reenactment of memory, not genuine time reversal." "Only the first can slay your past body. The second cannot alter a single thing!" Su Yu's understanding broadened once more! In other words, not all Invincibles could genuinely travel back into the past. The dead spirit added, "Moreover, even if one truly reverses back to the past, they must not interfere with it. Otherwise, the backlash of time and space will cause them to perish in the past. Interfering with time, interfering with the myriad realms… If reversing time to kill people were truly so effortless, all the Eternals across the myriad races would have been slaughtered long ago!" It sounded simple in theory, but executing it was overwhelmingly difficult. Invincibles had pasts too! There had always been a time when they were weak! Of course, once their past, present, and future were united as one, attempting to kill them via time reversal was virtually hopeless. But even for a non-Invincible, such as a Sun Moon cultivator, reversing time to kill their past self remained exceedingly difficult. Su Yu nodded again. *It sounds terribly complicated.* Just as he was thinking this, the dead spirit suddenly shuddered slightly. *** At that exact instant, the dead spirit fell into a momentary daze. A new scene surfaced within her memory. A massive fur ball appeared before Xingyue and the stone statue. At that point in the memory, Xingyue was standing right beside the stone statue of Xinghong. It was as if time had wound back to the very beginning—back to the exact moment Su Yu was transforming into an ancient city resident! Right at that juncture, a large fur ball materialized before them. Looking somewhat bewildered, it glanced toward Su Yu, who was in the midst of turning into a dead spirit. "Am I dreaming again?" How strange! The big fur ball looked at Su Yu, feeling as though it had been dreaming constantly of late. It glanced at the stone statue, then at the dead spirit. Suddenly, a tiny paw popped out from its fluffy body. It reached out, patted the dead spirit's head, kneaded it, and then tapped the stone statue. "Did I dream my way back here again?" "..." Both the stone statue and the dead spirit froze in astonishment. The big fur ball pondered for a moment before saying, "Look after our young lad, will you? The Ancient God-Devouring Realm is too far away, so I won't come in person. Uhm… I'm not too late, am I?" Xinghong was dumbfounded. Xingyue was equally stunned. After a long silence, Xinghong finally spoke: "God-Devouring Half-Emperor!" The stone statue took a sharp breath. *How did this entity reverse time and space to come here?* The next moment, the big fur ball muttered in a daze, "You're all big rocks, looking just the same… Forget it. Uhm… take care of our young lad…" Such familiar words! The big fur ball wondered if it was dreaming again, constantly thinking of these things. It glanced over at Su Yu, looking slightly puzzled, and soon added, "This human lad seems to be in cahoots with our young lad. Is he turning into a dead spirit?" It watched for a moment, then concluded, "Shelter him a bit. I'm leaving!" *** The scene snapped shut. New memories had formed in Xingyue's mind. She fell into silent contemplation. In truth, this memory had already appeared earlier, but its resurgence right now signified something profound. It meant that the big fur ball had only just reversed time from the present! Right at this very second, in this very moment. That big fur ball had awakened from its slumber, reversed time from the present back to that earlier moment, and told them to look after the boy—anchoring the intervention to this exact juncture in time. She sighed inwardly. *This is true time reversal!* Only true reversal could implant memories in others. Otherwise, a mere memory replay left the participants completely oblivious. It was just like when King Miecan had reversed time with Feng Qi to review his past with Chen Yong; Chen Yong had felt nothing at all. Had it been genuine time reversal, Chen Yong would have gained a new memory and perceived King Miecan's presence. The God-Devouring Half-Emperor! Xingyue's pause lasted only an instant, and she said nothing. That God-Devouring Half-Emperor might very well be the ancient one. If so, it was truly terrifying. Beside her, Su Yu was entirely oblivious. Xingyue took the wooden board. Without handing it to Su Yu or lingering any longer, she vanished in a flash. Su Yu was left baffled. *Damn it, she just left like that? Not leaving a single reward?* *Forget it. Whatever a dead spirit gives, I might not even be able to stomach.* Besides, she wished for his death anyway, so it was better not to receive anything. It was just a pity that the wooden board had been taken. Otherwise, Su Yu felt it might have made an excellent material for forging a Heaven armament. *** In the rear palace of the Castellan Manor. Xingyue returned, holding the wooden board as she looked toward the stone statue of Xinghong. Xinghong opened his eyes to meet hers; both had sensed what had just transpired. "The God-Devouring Half-Emperor… is it that ancient one?" Xingyue asked, but the stone statue remained silent. Silence meant he either couldn't say or wasn't certain; in any case, he wouldn't speak. After a long while, the stone statue said indifferently, "You should leave!" Xingyue gave a faint smile, entirely unbothered. "I will emerge again soon enough. There are still many living beings inside the city, and Su Yu will inevitably strike. When slaughter descends once more, I shall return!" "Leave. Now." The stone statue spoke coldly. That was a matter for later; right now, she had to go! Xingyue smiled faintly, and her figure dissolved into the passage beneath the stone statue's feet. Xinghong suppressed the passage once more and turned his gaze toward Su Yu in the city. *The boy's audacity is truly beyond measure! He actually struck up a conversation with a dead spirit monarch!* *** Su Yu, on the other hand, gave it no thought at all. It wasn't as if he had never seen an Invincible before. What was wrong with exchanging a few words? If they wanted him dead, he was dead either way. As the death qi continued to spread, Su Yu quickly began to run the Acupoint Reversal Method to neutralize it. A portion was dispersed! Su Yu felt helpless. Life as a resident was going to be tough. He would have to dissolve death qi every single day! Ancient city residents truly lived in sheer misery. Without the Acupoint Reversal Method, anyone else would have to battle death qi day in and day out. No wonder people's cultivation stagnated once they became residents! It wasn't that they lacked the means to advance; they simply had neither the opportunity nor the time. Spending all day fighting death qi just to stay alive was hard enough—how could anyone dream of advancing? Even with Heaven Yuan Qi, using it for a day or two was fine, but relying on it year after year would bankrupt even gods and demons. Once death qi permeated the entire body, that was probably the moment one perished and transformed into a true dead spirit. *It's spreading so aggressively in me… Is it this fast for everyone? Wouldn't that mean dying in just a few days?* Su Yu was curious. His rate of spread seemed exceptionally rapid; without the Acupoint Reversal Method, he probably would have croaked right after converting! How had those people who lived in the ancient city for decades or centuries survived? It was baffling! Could they really be neutralizing it with Heaven Yuan Qi every single day? Even assuming a single portion a day, that was 360 portions a year, and 36,000 portions over a century! Give him a break! No family fortune could withstand such expenditure. If that was the case, how did the other residents stay alive? Su Yu's mind stirred as he recalled the dead spirits that had detonated while carving his token earlier: first Lingyun, then Shanhai, then Sun Moon… They had all blown themselves up until that dead spirit monarch finally intervened. *Do different dead spirits carving the token result in different rates of death qi invasion?* Su Yu formed a hypothesis. As it turned out, he wasn't wrong. Under normal circumstances, a Lingyun cultivator would have their token carved by a Lingyun dead spirit. The rate of death qi invasion was roughly equal to the speed of cultivation; regular practice could offset the spread, though any unexpected mishap would spell disaster. Su Yu, however, had been carved by a dead spirit monarch. This was a form of guidance, as well as a mark of respect accorded to geniuses—to ensure they died sooner! Once dead, they would be directly received by the monarch, treatment vastly different from that of ordinary cultivators. As a result, the death qi spread through Su Yu with astonishing velocity. An ordinary cultivator would have turned into a dead spirit during the carving itself. Yet Su Yu hadn't! Not only had he survived, but he also only needed to neutralize it in his spare time. Otherwise, the death qi couldn't even keep up with his reversal speed. Even Xingyue had been surprised by this, but it didn't matter. Geniuses were entitled to their advantages. Without such capital, Su Yu wouldn't have dared to convert into a resident in the first place. *** Su Yu completed another sweep of the area. A massive horde of dead spirits remained, showing no signs of leaving; they would stay for at least three days. At this moment, he was genuinely the only living person wandering the ancient city. He walked over to the city gate and peered outside… and froze. *I'm in the ocean?* Indeed, the ancient city was currently floating upon the sea. The land was entirely gone, surrounded by seawater on all sides. Terrifying! *Nine Stars Island is gone?* Su Yu shook his head, utterly speechless. Sitting on the city wall, he watched the dead spirits wandering nearby. Whenever they saw him, they hurriedly backed away. Su Yu paid them no mind, though a wave of loneliness washed over him. An entire city of dead spirits, yet not a single living soul in sight. What a pity! Well, there were living beings, but they were all cowering inside ancient houses, trembling in terror. None dared emerge! With hordes of Sun Moon dead spirits and perhaps even Invincible dead spirits roaming outside, who would dare step out? They could only pray that the ancient houses would continue to protect them and prevent the dead spirits from breaking in; once breached, they were finished. More critically, the death qi inside the city was intensely thick right now, and many were already on the verge of breaking! Su Yu strolled around again… and found the sight somewhat amusing. He actually found two blood-stained jade talismans on the ground. Some people couldn't hold on any longer and wanted to convert into residents. *Fine, I'll do you a favor and pick them up. Littering is very bad manners.* As for who was inside the houses, he didn't care. Whether they lived or died was none of his business. Those truly afraid of death had fled at the very first opportunity; those who remained weren't afraid of dying. In any case, they weren't humans—he could easily distinguish the scent of human blood. *** While Su Yu wandered freely throughout the ancient city, the myriad realms were already shaken to their core by this upheaval. The death of Su Yu had triggered far too great a ripple effect. At the human border. King Daqin looked at King Dazhou. After a long pause, he said, "Your calculations were accurate, yet… he didn't unleash an explosion or kill anyone. Tell me, is he truly dead?" "I already said, that was merely one among tens of millions of possibilities." King Dazhou shook his head. Whether he was dead or alive, he didn't know. According to the Heaven Hunting Pavilion's intelligence, he might have become an ancient city resident. Of course, he might genuinely be dead as well; during the clash of Invincibles, countless ancient houses had shattered, and even if Su Yu had become a resident, he might have perished in the crossfire. Now that his name no longer appeared on the Heaven Hunting Ranking, determining whether Su Yu was dead or alive was exceedingly difficult. King Dazhou said flatly, "Perhaps we could extract a drop of Su Long's blood to investigate." King Daqin gave him a deep look. "No need. Dead or alive, it is his fate!" There was no need to probe Su Yu's survival. Possessing Su Long's blood made it all too easy for someone to do something unsavory, such as using it to track down Su Yu. Whether Su Yu was dead or not didn't need to be debated right now. King Daqin glanced into the distance. Several mighty figures materialized far away, all of them Invincibles. King Daqin watched them for a while, his expression chillingly cold. This time, the Invincibles of all races had suffered losses. Twelve Invincibles had set out, and excluding the two humans, the remaining ten were almost all wounded. Some had even seen their past or future bodies perish. Those who had lost a future body were somewhat better off; those whose past bodies had fallen faced the peril of total demise if they failed to recapture their past body in time. Good. This relieved some of the pressure on the human race. With fewer Invincibles among their adversaries, humanity gained a few more rays of hope. As for King Daming and King Daxia, he wasn't particularly worried. Those two were immensely powerful; if they truly joined forces, even the divine and demonic Half-Emperors couldn't easily take them down without advancing. While there were many Invincibles this time, it hadn't been a fight to the death, so the likelihood of those two sustaining severe injuries was slim. Both King Daming and King Daxia were formidable enough to take on two opponents at once. Thus, even with just the two of them facing a siege of four or five Invincibles, they wouldn't necessarily come to harm. King Daqin gazed into the distance, murmuring after a long silence, "If a few more Eternals had gone this time, we might have had a chance to leave three or five Eternals behind permanently!" King Dazhou replied placidly, "Humanity's predicament cannot be altered by three or five Eternals." King Daqin turned his head, staring at him coldly. Only after a long while did he say, "It is still better than doing nothing! Today they slay Su Yu, tomorrow they can slay Zhou Potian, and the day after that, they can slay Xia Longwu!" "Su Yu… is different." King Dazhou said calmly, "I didn't want him to die either; no one wanted him dead. But he set up a monstrous deception on his own. Had he remained within the Human Realm, even if we were reluctant to step forward on his behalf, we would never have abandoned him! Yet he knew full well that the Multiple Divine Characters Faction was feared and targeted by all races, yet he insisted on going. He insisted on provoking one Eternal after another… Tell me, what could we have done?" King Daqin fell silent. After a long pause, he nodded and said no more. In some matters, right and wrong were difficult to judge. Had Su Yu remained in the Human Realm, no matter how many Invincibles the myriad races possessed, they wouldn't have invaded the Human Realm just to kill him. But Su Yu had come to the All-Heavens Battlefield… Once here, the only path was to kill or be killed. Dying on the All-Heavens Battlefield was simply fate. *** At the same time. In the Great Xia Prefecture. Wan Tiansheng remained composed, merely letting out a sigh. "He converted into an ancient city resident…" He didn't believe Su Yu was dead; if he had truly died, Wan Tiansheng would know. He wasn't dead, yet his name had vanished from the Heaven Hunting Ranking, which meant the boy had converted into a resident. Truly ruthless. To be frank, even he hadn't anticipated Su Yu making such a choice. With that being the case, could the boy ever break free from the ancient city? Once an ancient city resident left the city, the death qi invaded even faster! They would be forced to return, or else be consumed and slain by death qi in short order. Ancient city residents were like living puppets. How devastating a blow was this to Su Yu? Wan Tiansheng sighed. *Was everything I saw false? I saw it with my own eyes! But what about now? Could everything I foresaw at the cost of a century of lifespan have been an illusion? Can he still return to the Human Realm? Or was what I saw merely a dream?* Leaning back against his wicker chair, Wan Tiansheng stopped dwelling on it. Still, the outcome had its pros and cons. The upside was that several Invincibles were wounded and wouldn't dare emerge anytime soon; nursing their injuries would take all their time. The downside was that King Daxia had drawn his blade, breeding resentment among certain factions—including races that hadn't previously declared their stance. The Nether race, for instance, had stayed neutral before. But this time, King Daxia and King Daming had nearly gotten a Nether Invincible killed. How would the Nether race choose to act going forward? Wan Tiansheng rocked his chair gently, letting the thoughts fade. *It's a good thing too! The focus has finally shifted back. The myriad races are no longer fixated on Su Yu. If their attention remained pinned on him, it would only breed endless trouble.* *** Meanwhile, over in the Great Ming Prefecture, Zhu Tiandao was also sucking in a breath of cold air. "Utterly ruthless! Dozens of Invincibles went to kill him… How did he pull that off?" He looked toward Niu Baidao. "Tell me, when Xia Longwu proves his Dao, will dozens of Invincibles go to kill him too?" Niu Baidao considered it and nodded. "They will, but human Invincibles will step forward to intercept them. At most, only one Invincible will truly slip through to Xia Longwu…" Yet Su Yu hadn't sought out the human Invincibles. All on his own, he had lured away more than a dozen Invincibles. Incredible! Neither of them showed much sorrow. Zhu Tiandao said with certainty, "That kid isn't dead. He probably really became an ancient city resident!" Niu Baidao nodded. "In all probability. Scoundrels live for a thousand years! Besides, no one reported a Heaven and Earth reward. Slaying him would inevitably trigger a massive reward. Since none appeared, the chances of him dying are slim!" They were just that confident. The likelihood of Su Yu's death was small, but… even if he survived, he was in deep trouble. In all probability, he truly couldn't return to the human race. There had been humans who became ancient city residents before; none could stay away from the city for long. Within a day or two at the shortest, or a month at the longest, they would be swallowed by death qi. From then on, they were bound to the city. Zhu Tiandao sighed. "Damn it, I placed such a massive bet on that kid… If he truly became an ancient city resident, can he still work miracles?" Niu Baidao fell silent. He had no answer for that. At this point, neither of them knew how things would unfold. The two exchanged glances, and Niu Baidao couldn't help but curse, "Damn it all! He promised he was just going to the ruins to fetch some Heaven Yuan Qi! That troublemaking brat—how the hell did he end up inciting a clash between dozens of Invincibles? In the past fifty years, he's the first to pull off such a stunt!" It was truly exasperating! Hadn't he agreed he was just picking up a few items from a ruin? And now look! Wandering around recklessly! Making waves wherever he went! Disguising him as Cui Lang was meant to help him lay low, not to let him actually roam wild! Reaching first place on the Heaven Ranking hadn't been enough—he had to keep making waves, swindling, and robbing, and now he had backed himself right into a corner! Complete exasperation! Niu Baidao said, "If push comes to shove, I'll make a trip myself! I'll head to Xinghong Ancient City and see if I can find him…" "Difficult!" Shaking his head, Zhu Tiandao replied, "Even if he's alive right now, he's become a resident. Once he disguises himself, almost no one can see through him anymore—only an Invincible could. But this time, the Invincibles were frightened out of their wits. I doubt any Invincible will dare set foot in Xinghong Ancient City for years to come!" So if Su Yu disguised himself now, practically no one could see through him, because the Invincibles wouldn't dare go! On top of that, having become a resident, he would spend year after year inside the ancient city, blending in seamlessly with the other residents without needing to step out or guard against dead spirits. How could anyone hope to find him? Niu Baidao sighed, "I'll go take a look anyway. Maybe the kid will spot me and come find me himself! In any case, I should still go check; it'll give us some peace of mind. Ah, what a headache. Tell me… wouldn't it have been wonderful if everything had just gone smoothly…" "Gone smoothly?" Zhu Tiandao shook his head. "Then he wouldn't be a monstrous genius!" Niu Baidao glanced at him. "Didn't things go smoothly for you?" "Me?" Zhu Tiandao smiled faintly. "What nonsense are you spouting? How did things go smoothly for me?" Niu Baidao couldn't even be bothered to retort. *You roamed the All-Heavens Battlefield with your father watching your back—how is that not smooth enough?* The two said no more, having settled on the decision. Niu Baidao would still go check things out. Just as he was turning to leave, he asked, "Have you captured your past or future body yet?" "What?" Zhu Tiandao looked at him in surprise. "I'm only at the early ninth stage of the Sun Moon Realm. How am I supposed to capture one?" *Strange! Has Old Niu lost his mind again?* "..." Niu Baidao felt utterly exhausted and cursed under his breath. Soon, he added, "I'll go take a look this time. Once I'm back, I'll give capturing one a try. Also, I need some supreme treasures capable of bearing the past and future bodies. Do you have any? If not, I'm going to use the Pavilion of a Hundred Dao as my bearing treasure…" Zhu Tiandao said hurriedly, "How could you? That is the foundational treasure of our Great Ming Prefecture…" Niu Baidao said faintly, "Oh, so long as it's not *your* bearing treasure, that's fine. I thought you had already used it for yourself!" "..." Zhu Tiandao couldn't be bothered to entertain him. Niu Baidao pressed on, "By the way, did you bear your future body or your past body? The past body is vital, but it doesn't help much with boosting raw strength. The future body offers a massive boost to combat prowess, letting you wrestle with Invincibles in critical moments!" Zhu Tiandao stared at him in dead silence. *Are you bored out of your mind? How would I know! I don't know, and if you ask me again, I'll beat you to death!* *The old fellow is getting more obnoxious by the day!*