The Fall of Hei Mo

With the Heaven Hunting Pavilion assigning him a mission so quickly, Su Yu felt this identity would prove quite useful after all. One hundred portions of Heaven Yuan Qi. "Heaven Yuan Qi... I don't have much left myself. I'll need to prepare some!" Soon, Su Yu wrote in the Heaven Hunting Atlas: "Have Hei Mo wait a moment. I need to evade the Sun Moon dead spirits roaming the city!" "Understood! Xuan Jiu, deliver it as quickly as possible! In addition, submit the branch's inventory list promptly; we still need to cross-check it against Bai Yi's records." "Understood!" Su Yu now had a general grasp of how the Heaven Hunting Pavilion operated. It seemed he would have to report the local inventory upward. With that in mind, he contacted Xuan Jia through his mask again. "Elder, what if our inventory is gone—plundered by someone? Would I be held responsible?" "..." Xuan Jia was chatting with other elders and felt somewhat speechless. He quickly replied, "Of course you would be held responsible! If the inventory is lost and there is evidence proving who did it, you bear ten percent of the liability. If there is no evidence, you bear one hundred percent of the liability and must compensate for the full amount!" "Oh... What if our inventory was robbed by Su Yu? I have evidence, video recordings and all. If our branch is out of stock, I only need to compensate ten percent, right?" "..." Xuan Jia froze for a moment. Robbed by Su Yu! Damn it, aren't you Su Yu?! Oh, I see! This kid wants to rob his own vault! He blatantly intended to rob himself. If Su Yu robbed Xuan Jiu, what did that have to do with Xuan Jiu? Was that his angle? "You... there isn't much in the inventory right now!" Su Yu understood in an instant. Ah, got it: when inventory is plentiful, pull a robbery once. When inventory is scarce, robbing it isn't worth the trouble. After all, if it happens too many times, people will get suspicious and the cover might be blown. Doing it once, however, could be written off as an accident. After all, everyone knew Su Yu was inside the city. Understood! Su Yu sighed in admiration. What a good guy! Elder Xuan Jia was truly a benevolent soul, teaching him yet another useful trick. Judging from this, Elder Xuan Jia was a genuinely decent person who looked out for his subordinates. A superior like this was more than acceptable. Xuan Jia didn't dwell on the matter and quickly added, "Xuan Jiu, I'm warning you: the Xuan Division has specialized monitoring branches directly subordinate to our department head. As you know, the Cai branch reports straight to the head and bears supervisory duties. Everyone under the Xuan Division is subject to surveillance by the Cai branch. Don't go fooling around on my watch!" The heads of all four divisions possessed directly subordinate branches, and the Cai Division belonged to the Xuan Division. Su Yu realized what was going on. So that was it. He had wondered why the Heaven Hunting Pavilion gave its operatives such vast freedom and authority; it turned out someone kept watch after all. *** Paying no further mind to Elder Xuan Jia, Su Yu quickly made his way into the branch. He picked up the catalog Xuan Jiu had handed over earlier and checked the inventory. There was not much in stock, though drops of blood essence and Yuan Qi liquid were relatively plentiful. There were also a few Heaven Yuan Fruits, albeit in limited quantities, along with various armaments—plenty of Profound armaments, and surprisingly, even a single Earth armament. They claimed the stock was low, but that was strictly relative. Practically speaking, it was still a considerable fortune. As for the vault, it was situated right inside the branch. Every branch had a restriction set up by a Sun Moon expert specifically to serve as a warehouse, under the sole control of the branch head. Which meant it was now under Su Yu's control! Su Yu didn't inspect it further. He quickly switched cultivation techniques and began extracting Heaven Yuan Qi. With his body brimming with death qi, could he still extract Heaven Yuan Qi? Come to think of it, would the death qi taint the extracted Heaven Yuan Qi? Su Yu promptly extracted a small batch to test it out. It worked. The technique ran smoothly, the extraction was successful, and the qi was not contaminated by death qi in the slightest. Whenever death qi touched Heaven Yuan Qi, it simply melted away. That dashed Su Yu's passing thought of poisoning Hei Mo with death qi. He had nearly forgotten that the two were inherently diametric opposites. "Hei Mo... needs Heaven Yuan Qi. That means he can barely suppress the death qi within him any longer. Otherwise, as a ninth-stage Sun Moon, he wouldn't bother requesting aid from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion. "Looks like his injuries last time were genuinely severe!" Thoughts raced through Su Yu's mind. Hei Mo was currently his greatest adversary. It wasn't purely a personal vendetta; it was a struggle for power! Su Yu wanted control over the ancient city, yet every move was hampered by fear that Hei Mo would discover and kill him. The moment Hei Mo emerged from secluded cultivation and found the city sealed under Su Yu's control, he would mercilessly eliminate Su Yu to reclaim his authority. After all, the ancient city was his only reliance. Their conflict was fundamentally irreconcilable! Earlier friction could still have been smoothed over since it didn't touch core interests. Now, the conflict between Su Yu and Hei Mo had reached an absolute impasse—unless one of them voluntarily abandoned Xinghong Ancient City. How could that ever happen? Su Yu had no way of stepping outside. If he walked out, dozens of Sun Moon experts might be lying in wait for him. "So how do I kill him?" Su Yu pondered as he extracted Heaven Yuan Qi. The process steadily consumed some of the Heaven Yuan Qi as it clashed with the death qi in his body, but Su Yu didn't mind. The death qi inside him was slightly reduced as a result, which was a minor bonus. "If I hand this Heaven Yuan Qi to Hei Mo, the fellow will be able to neutralize a significant amount of death qi. I can't afford to shoot myself in the foot and help him recover from his wounds..." That would make him an absolute fool! Yet a ninth-stage Sun Moon would have no trouble discerning whether Heaven Yuan Qi was genuine. Counterfeiting it was simply too difficult. Once Hei Mo took the goods, he would undoubtedly inspect them thoroughly. Nobody took the Heaven Hunting Pavilion's reputation seriously; that organization observed integrity when eyes were watching, but double-crossing clients behind closed doors was hardly a rare occurrence. They had attempted to consume Su Yu whole just the other day. Naturally, there was no concrete proof! Still, everyone knew how they operated. In short, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion could never be fully trusted. "Counterfeiting the Heaven Yuan Qi won't work. As for an outright ambush, there's no way I can kill him directly. Even heavily injured, a ninth-stage Sun Moon is far beyond my match, even if I erupt with the strength of a first-stage Sun Moon." Moreover, the other party was bound to stay on guard against Xuan Jiu. Su Yu's head ached. What a headache! An enemy teetering on the edge of death, yet virtually impossible to finish off. What should he do? "Rely on the dead spirits? Dead spirits don't kill residents unless the residents kill dead spirits first..." So long as residents refrained from slaughtering dead spirits, the dead spirits wouldn't trouble them. Unless Hei Mo slaughtered a massive horde and provoked powerful Sun Moon dead spirits, Su Yu stood no chance of borrowing their hands to kill him. Hei Mo was no idiot either. Why would he butcher dead spirits? Burdened by death qi, he would want to stay as far away from them as possible. Idea after idea arose, plan after plan formed, only for Su Yu to discard them one by one. Against a ninth-stage Sun Moon, these schemes were simply too crude and reckless. "What a hassle!" It was a pity he had no more of Ye Batian's divine characters left. Otherwise, detonating one for a temporary surge in might might have offered a genuine chance at finishing off a severely wounded Hei Mo. "Forget it. I'll go probe him first and see how things stand!" Spending roughly three hours, Su Yu extracted enough Heaven Yuan Qi. The death qi circulating through his body was incidentally reduced by about ten percent, though it soon began spreading outward again. Su Yu didn't pay it much mind. Let it spread; the speed of its spread could never outpace the rate of his growth in strength. He couldn't even be bothered to reverse it! *** The Castellan Manor. Su Yu returned once more. He had donned the white mask and the white robe. With the mask on, he activated the "Change" divine character, the "Shade" divine character, and the "Silence" divine character. Combining those with the xuan turtle race's breath concealment technique and the newly outlined "Endure" divine character, Su Yu seemed virtually nonexistent whenever he stood still. His strength had grown, his divine characters were more formidable, and his willpower and Yuan Qi had reached new heights. Coupled with this specialized mask, as long as he refrained from moving or attacking, even a quasi-Invincible expert would likely detect nothing amiss. They would merely conclude that operatives of the Heaven Hunting Pavilion were truly unfathomable. Su Yu manifested before the entrance of the Castellan Manor in an instant. Modulating his voice to resemble Xuan Jiu's, he called out, "Castellan, an envoy from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion requests an audience!" A moment later, an overbearing wave of willpower swept out, washing over Su Yu in a cursory inspection. Without a word, the estate gates slowly parted. "Enter!" Su Yu floated inside. He had noticed that Heaven Hunting Pavilion operatives favored moving like that, drifting to and fro like phantoms. So he drifted in as well! The entire Castellan Manor was dead silent. A substantial number of guards had entered earlier, yet now... not a single one remained! Hei Mo had overseen the ancient city for countless years and amassed numerous guards beneath him, but by now they were almost certainly dead! Su Yu paid it no mind. Along both sides of the pathway lay several ancient city tokens, likely left behind by the deceased guards. A jade walkway led directly to the central hall. Su Yu drifted along it, shrouded in an air of mystery. Inside the hall, Hei Mo sat upon the high throne in humanoid form. His face wore a faint dark cast, the unmistakable stain of death qi coiling around him. None of the tyrannical arrogance Su Yu had witnessed before remained. Su Yu floated inside. "Greetings, Castellan!" Hei Mo ignored the greeting, his gaze sweeping over him with slightly furrowed brows. "You are the branch head who has been stationed in this city all along?" "Yes!" "Xuan Jiu, correct?" "Yes!" Hei Mo gave a slight nod. He was not well acquainted with the Heaven Hunting Pavilion—or rather, he preferred to keep them at arm's length. Out of sight, out of mind. Those fellows spent their days snooping for intelligence; he avoided them whenever possible, lest he be sold out while happily counting their coins for them! He had only reached out to them this time because he had run out of options. "Did you bring the Heaven Yuan Qi?" "I did not!" Su Yu replied calmly, "Where is the item you promised in exchange, Castellan? Furthermore, the Heaven Yuan Qi is not on my person at the moment. I feared you might seize it by force!" "Hmph!" A cold snort reverberated through the hall, rattling the spirit. Hei Mo's gaze turned chilling as he stared at Su Yu. "Xuan Jiu, since when have the Heaven Hunters of your pavilion grown so cowardly?" "You flatter me, Castellan!" Hei Mo cast him a frigid glance. In truth, a fleeting impulse had crossed his mind earlier: kill the fellow, pay nothing, and take the goods outright! Now, however, striking was no longer an option. After a brief silence, Hei Mo produced a black tome. "This is the Hei Mo Canon I agreed to trade with your pavilion. It is considered a Heaven-rank cultivation method, usable by both the Fiend and Dragon races..." His gaze turned venomous as he continued, "However, this manual is far more precious than a mere hundred portions of Heaven Yuan Qi! Thus, as agreed, once the city gates open, you must provide me with an additional three hundred portions!" Without wasting words, Su Yu promptly brought out his Heaven Hunting Atlas to confirm the details. Soon, he received an affirmative reply. That was indeed the arrangement. Once the city gates opened, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion would dispatch someone to deliver the remaining Heaven Yuan Qi to Hei Mo. Naturally, one-quarter of this tome's value would belong to Su Yu. Is this fellow really so destitute? Su Yu ridiculed him inwardly. With his current strength, he had no fear of a Sun Moon eavesdropping on his thoughts. Shortly after, he spoke: "What you say is true, Castellan. However, I must first inspect the technique to ensure there are no issues!" Hei Mo didn't argue and tossed the tome over, his tone indifferent. "Don't try any tricks. Within this city, I can enter nearly any ancient house at will. If you dare deceive me, I will slaughter you!" "I wouldn't dare!" Catching the manual, Su Yu skimmed it rapidly. It was indeed a potent technique, though it held little appeal for him. He had plenty of Heaven-rank methods. Moreover, this one had restrictions: it was limited to the Fiend and Dragon races. Their acupoint structures differed, but Hei Mo was a hybrid breed, so the manual made clever compromises, synthesizing the acupoint traits of both races. Members of either race could cultivate it, though neither would likely achieve the same results Hei Mo did. The Hei Mo Canon offered no extraordinary specialties; Su Yu's interest was genuinely mild. After leafing through it, his experience told him it was almost certainly genuine. He could hardly be bothered to look at the wretched thing further, largely because he feared accidentally outlining a divine character on the spot... Unimpressive though the method was, it remained a text of will penned by a ninth-stage Sun Moon expert. Even though it was written in the Dragon tongue and any outlined character would soon shatter, Su Yu had no desire to attempt that right in front of Hei Mo. "Shattering it to temper my willpower wouldn't be half bad, though," Su Yu mused. Stowing the Hei Mo Canon, he spoke up: "The Heaven Yuan Qi you requested is hidden inside an ancient house..." He hesitated deliberately. "I originally assumed you still had guards who could accompany me to fetch it. I didn't expect you... to have no guards remaining." Hei Mo felt suffocated! Bringing that up was rubbing salt into his wounds! This Heaven Hunting Pavilion fellow was pouring salt right onto his raw flesh. Every subordinate he had recruited over the years had been wiped out! Hei Mo said coldly, "Go fetch it yourself!" "Castellan... well... how about this: keep the manor gates open. I will go retrieve it, pack it into a storage ring, and toss it inside to you..." Hei Mo flared with irritation. "Since when has your Heaven Hunting Pavilion become this spineless?" "Castellan, the city has been perilous lately, all thanks to Su Yu's rampage!" "Su Yu!" Hei Mo snorted coldly. True enough; who wasn't terrified of stirring up trouble right now? He had nearly lost his own life. "Very well. Go retrieve it, seal it in a storage ring, and toss it inside!" "Thank you for your understanding, Castellan!" Su Yu offered his thanks and departed swiftly. Hei Mo silently watched him leave, not overly concerned. The Heaven Hunting Pavilion was an enormous organization, after all; if they dared swallow his possessions while he still drew breath, they would answer for it! *** Having stepped out of the Castellan Manor, Su Yu confirmed his suspicion: Hei Mo was indeed heavily burdened by death qi. A few more Sun Moon dead spirits would almost certainly finish him off. How could he lure Sun Moon dead spirits to do the deed? "Heaven Yuan Qi, a storage ring... what if I blow it up?" A simple explosion wouldn't kill him. Su Yu grimaced. A ninth-stage Sun Moon was absurdly tough. A starved camel was still bigger than a horse; no matter how badly injured Hei Mo was, swatting Su Yu would be trivial. The only path was to trigger the death qi inside him! "In that case, I can only pack the ring with death qi and detonate it. That would definitely agitate the death qi in his body... "Better yet, if he ends up killing several Sun Moon dead spirits, that might lure even stronger ones to finish him off... "Come to think of it, can a storage ring hold dead spirits?" Su Yu pondered. If it could, what if he stuffed a few hundred inside, letting Hei Mo swat them dead upon opening it? Had anyone ever tried that? Dead spirits were already dead; did they count as living beings? Would there be an issue storing them inside? Worth a shot! Su Yu swiftly moved away from the Castellan Manor, turning down alleys to shake off Hei Mo's senses. Soon, he casually snatched a dead spirit and attempted to shove it into a storage ring... Reality proved he had indulged in wishful thinking. It wouldn't go in! Dead spirits could actually yield blood essence—Su Yu had sold some previously. What if he gathered a massive batch of dead spirit blood essence and detonated it all at once? He wondered if dead spirit blood essence could attract other dead spirits. Su Yu felt an urge to test it! He possessed a small reserve of dead spirit blood essence. Living beings' blood essence could lure dead spirits, but what about their own kind's? Moreover, dead spirits couldn't enter the Castellan Manor unless they were top-tier entities. How could he draw Hei Mo outside the gates? One notion followed another. Before long, Su Yu dispatched a dead spirit. Once dead spirits perished, their bodies dissolved rapidly. Previously, Su Yu hadn't bothered to extract blood essence from dead spirits. Their blood essence was rather tricky to use; it worked fine as an explosive, but using it to extract Heaven Yuan Qi was out of the question. Naturally, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion didn't sell it cheaply, as preserving and harvesting it was quite troublesome. Su Yu quickly extracted a drop of dead spirit blood essence and tossed it near a newly materialized dead spirit. Sensing the droplet, the dead spirit grew mildly frenzied, yet it didn't attack Su Yu—likely because the death qi permeating Su Yu's body was of an exceptionally high tier. "There is a reaction..." There were no living people left in the city. Using living blood essence to lure dead spirits would have been optimal, but under the circumstances, he had to make do. Dead spirits were everywhere; gathering a vast amount of their blood essence ought to yield decent results. Su Yu moved swiftly, slaughtering a swarm of weak dead spirits and drawing out a cluster of Shanhai dead spirits. He refrained from killing the Shanhai dead spirits, wary of summoning Sun Moon dead spirits that might alert Hei Mo to something amiss. After a round of slaughter, he had extracted over a thousand drops of dead spirit blood essence. He swiftly stowed them into a storage ring and began drawing in the ambient death qi throughout the city. The city lacked many things, but death qi was never in short supply. He harbored no illusions about blowing a ninth-stage Sun Moon to pieces; that was pure fantasy. His sole objective was to spark a violent backlash from the death qi inside Hei Mo's body—either killing the fellow on the spot or leaving him mortally wounded. Before proceeding, Su Yu tested the effect on himself. He was also a resident; if it produced no reaction on him, the entire effort would be wasted. He detonated a single drop of blood essence along with a burst of death qi. The external death qi enveloped him and quickly provoked a slight tremor in his internal death qi, though it was faint and barely noticeable. Su Yu frowned. It seemed a thousand drops wouldn't suffice. No matter; he would gather more. Dead spirits were endless; he just needed to keep killing. Su Yu resumed slaying dead spirits and gathering death qi at blistering speed. Against him, these dead spirits possessed almost no means of resistance. After a prolonged slaughter, he sensed the number of dead spirits in the city swelling dramatically. He had dispatched at least five hundred dead spirits and harvested several thousand drops of blood essence. *** At that very moment, in the rear hall of the Castellan Manor. Beneath the Stone Statue, within the passage, three powerful Sun Moon dead spirits materialized. Their eyes flickered with sparks of intellect, clouded with rage. "It's him again!" "The one the Monarch converted personally!" "I truly wish to tear him apart!" The dead spirits conferred, bristling with anger and revulsion. His repeated slaughters were multiplying the dead spirit population. Some dead spirits couldn't detect the culprit, while those who did were powerless to retaliate, suppressed by the sheer hierarchy of his death qi. Under these circumstances, several dead spirit generals had caught wind of the disturbance and appeared near the passage in fury. Throughout the entire city, Su Yu was the sole individual who could butcher dead spirits without facing retaliation! And he was someone the Monarch had converted herself! All three Sun Moon dead spirits possessed immense power; otherwise, they would have lacked sapience entirely. The fact that they could converse proved their intellect was far from trivial. "If he continues his slaughter... we shall strike. Even if we cannot kill him outright, we will induce a fatal eruption of the death qi within him. He brought this upon himself!" "Indeed. This conforms to the rules. Other dead spirits dare not strike, but we may intervene to trigger his internal death qi!" The dead spirits conferred, occasionally glancing at the Stone Statue suppressing the passage above, quietly testing its stance. The Stone Statue remained silent. Evidently, this aligned with the ancient rules. The dead spirits breathed a sigh of relief! Excellent. Should Su Yu dare wage another massive slaughter, they would undoubtedly strike, triggering the death qi within him to finish him off! *** Meanwhile, Su Yu remained oblivious to all of this. Having prepared everything, he packed a tremendous volume of death qi and dead spirit blood essence into the storage ring. In the next instant, he sprinted straight toward the Sun Moon dead spirit near the Castellan Manor. A moment later, he entangled himself with that Sun Moon dead spirit. Su Yu's speed was astonishing, yet he appeared hopelessly snared by the Sun Moon dead spirit! In truth, the Sun Moon dead spirit had little interest in bothering with him. It was simply that Su Yu was far too obnoxious, constantly provoking and attacking it. Possessing faint intellect, the Sun Moon dead spirit sensed the Monarch's aura and originally had no desire to cross him. Yet the fellow badgered it relentlessly! Even the Sun Moon dead spirit was growing irritated. Right then, Su Yu suddenly roared at the top of his lungs, "Castellan, I have been entangled by a dead spirit! Might I trouble you to come retrieve the storage ring in person?!" His voice thundered across the area! A moment later, Hei Mo strode out of the main hall, floating up to the top of the Castellan Manor's perimeter wall. He peered into the distance. In midair, Xuan Jiu was locked in combat with the Sun Moon dead spirit; this Heaven Hunting Pavilion operative's strength was surprisingly decent. Hei Mo frowned! The Sun Moon dead spirit was right there. Damn it all, more hindrance than help! "Bring it over yourself!" Hei Mo's tone was utterly frigid. The death qi inside him was flaring at an alarming rate; he refused to approach a Sun Moon dead spirit, lest it induce a death qi backlash straight to his heart. He had paid for door-to-door delivery, not to fetch the goods himself—especially when danger lurked! *** Su Yu cursed under his breath! Coward! This bastard used to act so arrogant; how had he turned into such a spineless weakling? Did that mean his death qi backlash was truly catastrophic, to the point where he dared not near a Sun Moon dead spirit? Left with no alternative, Su Yu continued harassing the Sun Moon dead spirit, deliberately dragging it toward the Castellan Manor. At that moment, in the rear hall, the Stone Statue abruptly opened its eyes! The three top-tier dead spirits turned their gazes toward the commotion as well. Though their spectral visages revealed little, strange expressions seemed to flit across their features. They knew this was Su Yu. Naturally, not by sight, but by sensing the surrounding dead spirits' reactions. This was Su Yu without a doubt. What was he doing, dragging a dead spirit straight toward the Castellan Manor? Meanwhile, Hei Mo didn't seem to recognize the intruder as Su Yu. He appeared to be conducting some sort of transaction with him... In a flash, the three dead spirits realized what was happening. The Stone Statue, in fact, had realized it long before. Its eyes open, the Stone Statue silently watched Su Yu in the distance. It could see clearly that this brat intended to orchestrate Hei Mo's demise. His audacity was beyond reckless! It was monumentally insane! A ninth-stage Sun Moon—a reserve candidate for Invincible status—and inside the ancient city to boot. Even those quasi-Invincibles who had fused a past life wouldn't dare dream of slaying Hei Mo within these walls. Yet Su Yu... dared. His nerve had breached the very heavens. What boundless audacity! Hei Mo... The Stone Statue looked toward Hei Mo. The death qi surging inside Hei Mo was volatile; if subjected to an external shock, he might truly be undone by it. It glanced back at Su Yu, its stony gaze turning peculiar. Its left eye watched Hei Mo; its right eye watched Su Yu. If Hei Mo was truly killed by him, would that be a blessing? If Hei Mo fell, the realm of the dead would gain another ninth-stage Sun Moon dead spirit. Even if Hei Mo survived today, he was unlikely to hold out much longer anyway. Down below, the three dead spirits swiftly communicated. "Does he intend to slay our commander to summon an even stronger presence and trigger Hei Mo's death qi?" "Does he dare? Can he even kill it?" "Let him try! If he kills it, we will have every justification to strike. We can kill two birds with one stone—triggering the death qi in both him and Hei Mo, wiping them both out in one fell swoop!" The three quasi-Invincible dead spirits promptly reached a consensus. Kill them together! If Su Yu dared slay that Sun Moon dead spirit, they would strike against him, igniting his internal death qi while taking Hei Mo down along the way. Splendid—the Monarch would likely be pleased. In one stroke, they would gain a new dead spirit general, along with a reserve general highly valued by the Monarch. Excellent! They quickly turned toward the Stone Statue, one dead spirit speaking with a hint of wariness: "Lord Guardian, we shall act strictly according to the rules. The moment Su Yu slays that Sun Moon commander, we will take action!" By rights, the death of an early-stage Sun Moon would not warrant their personal intervention. However, hadn't Su Yu butchered countless dead spirits already? With all those deaths accumulated, their intervention would be entirely justified. The Stone Statue gazed down upon them, seeing right through their petty schemes. They wanted to kill two birds with one stone and wipe out both! "Hei Mo has committed no offense. So long as he does not step outside the Castellan Manor, you shall not attack him!" The Stone Statue's voice rang cold and brittle. The dead spirits nodded in haste. That was perfectly acceptable. So long as he didn't leave the manor... Whatever. At worst, they would emanate more death qi into the air. Hei Mo wouldn't survive much longer either way. *** At the same time. Su Yu drew the Sun Moon dead spirit closer, flying toward the Castellan Manor. "Castellan... help me knock it back for an instant... I will offer you extra Heaven Yuan Qi..." Su Yu cried out in anguish. Hei Mo remained unmoved, responding indifferently, "Come closer and toss the storage ring inside!" As for whether you live or die, what does that have to do with me? I am merely purchasing goods, not providing a rescue service. "Castellan..." Su Yu called out frantically, "The death qi within me is spreading out of control! If this continues... I... I will be forced to consume this Heaven Yuan Qi!" "You dare!" Hei Mo was furious! You dare embezzle goods I bought?! He scrutinized Su Yu once more. The death qi rolling off the fellow was indeed staggering. Hei Mo frowned. At this desperate juncture, would this madman truly consume the Heaven Yuan Qi? That was his Heaven Yuan Qi! Yet if the fellow was on the brink of death, wouldn't he naturally use whatever was on hand? Hei Mo felt an overwhelming surge of irritation! Nothing was going right! Damn pest! Su Yu was infuriating, and this Heaven Hunting Pavilion scum was just as obnoxious. He could have brought the goods directly, yet insisted on stashing them away, retrieving them later, and then had the sheer misfortune of running into a Sun Moon dead spirit... Hei Mo cursed inwardly, swiftly sizing up the situation. He subtly probed his sense of danger. It seemed manageable; so long as he didn't slay the Sun Moon dead spirit, the peril shouldn't be catastrophic. A ninth-stage Sun Moon possessed acute danger perception. Seeing Su Yu actually draw out a wisp of Heaven Yuan Qi and begin absorbing it, Hei Mo flew into a rage. "Stop! Damn you, does your Heaven Hunting Pavilion dare break faith and embezzle a client's property?!" "Castellan... I will return the Hei Mo Canon to you afterward! Under the pavilion's rules, when a mission cannot be completed, I have the right to cancel the transaction..." Su Yu's voice was laden with helplessness and agony. "Castellan, I have no hope of reaching the manor! Before I even arrive, my death qi will completely detonate!" "You..." Hei Mo was beside himself with fury! Glancing at Su Yu again, the death qi churning around the envoy was thick beyond measure. The fellow genuinely looked at death's door! Rotten luck! He had no choice; he would have to step out and fetch it himself. Were it not inadvisable to provoke dead spirits right now, he would have stepped out, grabbed the goods, and slapped Xuan Jiu to death on the spot. But for now, he would spare his life. He still needed this pawn to communicate with the Heaven Hunting Pavilion and arrange for more Heaven Yuan Qi to be delivered later. The next instant, Hei Mo flew out from the Castellan Manor. *** At that very moment, in the rear hall, the Stone Statue closed its eyes. A faint sigh echoed in its heart! Hei Mo was finished! Had he stayed inside the Castellan Manor, no matter what tricks Su Yu had up his sleeve, killing him would have been nearly impossible. Yet he had stepped outside! The three dead spirit generals below had been waiting for precisely this opportunity. Now, Hei Mo had only the slimmest sliver of hope left: if Su Yu failed to kill the Sun Moon dead spirit, the three dead spirit generals would have no pretext to emerge! The statue would never allow them out! However, if Su Yu could kill it—if he truly struck down that Sun Moon dead spirit—the statue would have no legitimate grounds to stop them. Not only would Hei Mo perish, but Su Yu himself... could he hold out? The Stone Statue felt Su Yu's predicament was even more dire than Hei Mo's! Was this brat genuinely unafraid of courting his own doom? Did he believe that no matter how much he slaughtered, no dead spirits would ever appear to claim him? A pretty delusion indeed. Have it your way; if you torment yourself to death, so be it. In just a few days, you've turned this sacred city into a city of ghosts! The three dead spirits were beside themselves with excitement, waiting for the opportune moment. As for whether Su Yu could kill the Sun Moon commander... surely there was a chance? The three dead spirits reasoned that since this Sun Moon dead spirit was only at the early stage, possessed weak intellect, and was somewhat suppressed by the Monarch's aura, if Su Yu unleashed his full power, he stood a decent chance of striking it down. The dead spirit generals waited in eager anticipation. If Su Yu didn't kill it... things would become complicated. *** Right at that instant, Su Yu's eyes gleamed. He came out! Hei Mo had stepped out of the Castellan Manor—a stroke of luck! Earlier, Su Yu had resolved that if Hei Mo refused to come out, he would simply detonate the storage ring without bothering to kill the dead spirit, as doing so would serve little purpose. Now that Hei Mo was out, however... of course he had to kill it! Could he kill it? Naturally! With his physical body having completed forty-eight castings, Su Yu's physical might exceeded the power of one hundred and seventy thousand acupoints. Supported by his Yang acupoint and divine characters, his personal burst alone approached two hundred thousand. Just before this, he had found a secluded spot, swallowed a drop of Sun Moon blood essence, and unlocked the first-stage Sun Moon page in his atlas. Swallowing another drop to unleash a single devastating strike would easily crush this mindless dead spirit. He was effectively on the same tier, and being a living cultivator endowed with endless tricks, taking down an early-stage Sun Moon dead spirit posed no real difficulty. Come to think of it, the random Sun Moon blood essence he had consumed belonged to the Mountain-Breaking Ox race. Su Yu couldn't help but marvel at how popular the Mountain-Breaking Oxen were; both the auction deposits handed to him and the two hundred drops of Sun Moon blood essence he had acquired later contained numerous samples from that race. How had this race managed to survive extinction all this time? Shoving the stray thought aside, Su Yu paid it no further heed. As Hei Mo drifted closer and came to a halt, Su Yu yelled, "Castellan, knock it back from afar with a single strike, and I will toss the goods to you! You don't need to risk coming any closer!" Hei Mo looked at him impassively. I had no intention of taking risks anyway; I don't need you to tell me that! He threw a punch from a distance! Boom! The Sun Moon dead spirit was sent tumbling through the air. Su Yu broke away instantly, flinging a storage ring toward Hei Mo. The "Silence" divine character was pushed to its absolute limit; otherwise, Hei Mo might have sensed the encroaching danger. Su Yu prayed fervently: May that old turtle King Dazhou's divine character pull its weight—keep it masked for just an instant! It must stay masked! Hei Mo frowned faintly. A subtle premonition tugged at his senses, but with the Sun Moon dead spirit right beside them, the feeling was fleeting and indistinct. After a moment's hesitation, he brushed it aside. And in that precise split second, the storage ring detonated with an earth-shattering boom! Countless drops of dead spirit blood essence ruptured simultaneously! Accompanied by a boundless tempest of death qi, the explosion engulfed Hei Mo in an instant. Hei Mo's expression twisted in shock. With blinding speed, he recoiled, yet his body suddenly staggered as the death qi within him erupted violently, churning without restraint! "You court death!" Hei Mo was enraged. A mere Shanhai operative from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion dared plot against him? He was asking to die! Just as he moved to strike Su Yu down, a flash of blade light illuminated the heavens and earth! Boom! A Sun Moon aura surged upward, overwhelmingly fierce. With a resonant hum, the blade descended, instantly cleaving the battered Sun Moon dead spirit in two! At that sight, Hei Mo's face drained of color! Fuck! This fellow... this fellow knows the Heaven-Cleaving Blade?! No, this isn't Xuan Jiu... This... is this Su Yu?! Impossible! Su Yu isn't this strong—this is the Sun Moon Realm! No, wait... In that single breath, countless thoughts swirled through Hei Mo's mind. He knew he had walked into a deadly trap. Without another word, he roared at the heavens, enduring the agonizing corrosion of death qi as he bolted toward the Castellan Manor. He gave up on killing the assailant; it was pointless. If this fellow was at the Sun Moon Realm, killing him would only summon more Sun Moon dead spirits, plunging Hei Mo into catastrophic peril where he might truly meet his end. Yet in the very next instant, despair gripped Hei Mo's heart! Su Yu, meanwhile, had initially grinned with delight. I did it! Even if Hei Mo doesn't die, he's in deep trouble. After this, he won't have a prayer of recovering—he's a dead man walking! Yet a heartbeat later, Su Yu's expression changed just as abruptly! What the hell? Weren't they supposed to leave me alone?! Right then, three terrifyingly immense auras surged into the sky. Death qi instantly blanketed the entire ancient city, dense enough to terrify the soul and plunging the city into pitch darkness! Su Yu felt a crushing wave of death qi sweeping straight toward him! The death qi inside his own body began roiling uncontrollably, churning like a stormy sea! Holy shit! I'm being targeted too?! Su Yu was shocked. What happened to the Monarch's death qi suppressing everything?! Liars! Without hesitation, Su Yu sprinted toward an ancient house below. Damn it all, he had to neutralize this death qi immediately, or it would consume his heart! At the same time, Hei Mo let out a roar of utter despair! "You fool! Do you intend to die with me?!" He had lost his mind! Was this idiot Su Yu? Even now, he couldn't be sure! If it was, the boy was brainless beyond measure. Right now, he could feel that the attacker's condition was hardly any better than his own. If Hei Mo was doomed to perish from death qi corrosion, the other party was certainly going down with him. Where had this maniac come from, hell-bent on mutual destruction?! Hei Mo sank into profound despair and helplessness. He looked toward the direction Su Yu was fleeing; a quasi-Invincible dead spirit was already in hot pursuit, trailing death qi so immense it defied belief! You're dead! And I'm dead too! Hei Mo broke down completely. Who on earth was this lunatic?! It couldn't be Su Yu, could it? Why would Su Yu throw his life away just to drag Hei Mo into the grave? Was it just because Hei Mo had demanded thirty percent of the spoils, or because he had mentioned the moat might be an exit...? Filled with indignation, despair, and a strange sense of resignation, he gazed ahead. From the moment he became the castellan, he should have known this day would come. It was inevitable; it had merely arrived a little early! With a heavy sigh, Hei Mo let out a wry laugh and ceased his struggle. Turning to look in Su Yu's direction, he chuckled weakly. If I die, having you buried beside me isn't a bad end! Yet at that exact instant, an absurdly massive shroud of Heaven Yuan Qi enveloped Su Yu. Hei Mo's eyes widened, blazing with fury. In the next breath, he found solace again. Good thing—no matter how abundant the Heaven Yuan Qi was, that quasi-Invincible dead spirit remained right on his heels. All the qi in the world wouldn't save him. Right then, a brilliant radiance suddenly burst from Su Yu's frame. The death qi smothering his entire body instantly melted away, and Su Yu let out a fierce roar! Reverse! Reversing origin acupoints! If you think death qi alone can kill me, you're dreaming! I'm not afraid of death qi; I'm only afraid of a quasi-Invincible dead spirit tearing me apart with its bare hands! Hei Mo's eyes widened once more. What was that?! Still, the quasi-Invincible dead spirit was chasing him down. No ancient house would offer protection; the creature could easily batter it down. He watched Su Yu dash into an ancient house and curled his lips into a sneer of ridicule. It's useless! It can smash the house and slaughter you where you stand! Idiot! Yet in the following moment, Hei Mo was utterly dumbfounded. Just as death qi fully consumed his body, the dead spirit suddenly ground to a halt right before the doorway. The quasi-Invincible dead spirit pursuing Su Yu furrowed its spectral brow, turned to its companion who was blasting Hei Mo with death qi, and transmitted its voice: "Is it really appropriate to breach the house and kill him?" "Indeed. We will be colleagues in the future, and he is favored by the Monarch. Besides... it might not strictly conform to the rules... Perhaps we should let it be?" "Let it be, then!" The dead spirit at the entrance chose not to breach the house. Instead, hovering outside the door, it steadily emanated waves of death qi, transmitting: "Perhaps we can extinguish him with death qi alone. That should suffice; killing him directly is uncalled for..." "Agreed!" The three dead spirits conferred calmly, while Hei Mo's eyes bulged with despair and outrage! Charge in! Why aren't you charging in?! Go in and tear him to shreds! Why?! Even though he knew Su Yu was doomed to die inside the house anyway, he wanted nothing more than to watch them tear the brat limb from limb before he drew his final breath! Why didn't you charge inside?! Hei Mo was overcome with grief and fury. Why?! Amidst boundless despair and grievance, a colossal tide of death qi tore through him, surging into the heavens and earth. Boom! His sea of will crumbled. Hei Mo roared in agonizing despair, "Tell me... are you Su Yu?!" Even in his final moments, he remained uncertain! No one answered! The next instant, a colossal sun and moon plunged from the sky, shattering completely! At that moment, outside the ancient city, cultivators hundreds of li away bore witness to the scene and were struck dumb with shock! That was... a ninth-stage Sun Moon falling?! Who?! No, there was no need to ask: Hei Mo, Castellan of the ancient city! He... died?! At that moment, around the entire perimeter of the ancient city, every living soul who witnessed the descent stood frozen in horror. What in the world was happening lately?! Even a ninth-stage Sun Moon had fallen. At this rate, the only thing left to die was an Invincible!