Official Succession

Rumble! His sea of will surged. This time, the willpower Su Yu had reaped in the ancient city was immense. After absorbing it, his willpower shot directly from the seventh stage of Lingyun to the ninth stage. Now, Su Yu began forging it. He could not advance it any further! Of course, reaching Shanhai was virtually impossible for him at the moment anyway. He had previously consumed Sun Moon Xuanhuang Liquid, which significantly strengthened his divine apertures, leaving him with almost no hope of achieving aperture fusion under such conditions. Su Yu was not overly concerned. If there was no hope, then so be it; it wasn't as if he cared. Every bit of improvement counted! The Mind Expansion Hammer struck once more. Soon, his sea of will expanded further, and impurities within his willpower were hammered out. Su Yu continued hammering, forcibly pounding his willpower back down to the eighth stage of Lingyun before absorbing more from the sea of will. When it rose to the ninth stage again, he hammered it down once more. After repeating the cycle two or three times, the willpower granted as a reward was completely drained. The little fur ball had eaten its fill as well. It sprawled atop a divine character and fell asleep. Su Yu could not tell whether it was truly sleeping or on the verge of undergoing a metamorphosis, but he paid it no heed. Ever since reaching Lingyun, the little creature had feasted on countless treasures while accompanying him. There was no telling when it would finally break into the Shanhai Realm. ... Hovering in midair, Su Yu glanced around. Seeing that no one dared interfere with him, he smiled and swept the storage ring and the castellan token from the ground into his grasp. Aside from those, there were a couple of other things. One was the Red Frog's storage ring, and the other was its massive, thoroughly roasted tongue. As for the corpse, Su Yu had blown it to pieces! If he refined what was left, he might barely piece together a single drop of first-stage Sun Moon blood essence. But Su Yu could not be bothered to waste the effort. Fragments were scattered everywhere, and numerous dead spirits were already corroding the blood. Driving the dead spirits away would be too much trouble. It was merely a single drop of first-stage Sun Moon blood essence—he didn't need it! Rich and willful! Mainly, it was simply too tedious, as the blood was splattered far too widely. Hei Mo was dead, the Red Frog was dead, and silence fell over the city! Paying no mind to the quiet, Su Yu projected his voice in a clear, resonant shout: "From this day forth, I, Su Yu, am the castellan of Xinghong Ancient City! Whether you accept it or not makes no difference to me. Within this ancient city, my word is the absolute truth!" "Hei Mo and the others did not dare kill because they feared trouble from the dead spirits. I have no such fear! You saw it yourselves: when I slaughtered a Sun Moon of the Red Frog race, the Sun Moon dead spirit that emerged did not bother me in the slightest!" "If you try to kill me, beware the Dead Spirit Monarch striking you down. But if I kill you... I pay no price whatsoever!" Su Yu's voice turned icy. "Now that you have become ancient city residents, put away your fanciful notions. I don't know whether residents can move from this ancient city to another, but if you can, leave whenever you please. If you cannot... then resign yourselves to your fate. As long as I draw breath, don't even dream of overturning my rule!" Just then, the door of an ancient house cracked open, and someone asked cautiously, "Lord Su, I am of the human race. Now that your lordship controls the ancient city, will you be recruiting guards?" Divine light flickered in Su Yu's eyes as he glanced toward the speaker—a Lingyun Realm cultivator. After a brief look, Su Yu did not bother asking whether the man was a criminal hiding here. He replied indifferently, "Perhaps, but it is too early to say. Let me refine the castellan token first. If I fail... or end up dead from backlash, you may all celebrate. But if I truly become the castellan, be prepared: I will soon overhaul everything in this ancient city!" Another ancient house opened, and a formidable Demon peeked out. "Castellan Su, the Demon race and your Human race are locked in endless war. If you become castellan, will you target my kind?" Su Yu said coolly, "Obey me, and it will not matter. Disobey... and whether Demon or Human, death is the only outcome!" Hearing that, the Demon had nothing left to say. Evidently, Su Yu drew no distinction between Human and Demon. Or rather, while he despised Demons, he harbored no particular fondness for Humans either. That had nothing to do with them, so long as they were not singled out for slaughter. What difference did it make who held the castellan's seat? Besides, how many days could Su Yu even survive as castellan? Unless he kept the city gates sealed for the rest of his life! ... Paying them no further heed, Su Yu strode into the Castellan Manor. The manor's gates slammed shut behind him! Within the sprawling estate, not a single living soul remained apart from Su Yu. His first task was to conduct an inspection, ensuring no one was hiding on the grounds. Finding no one, he headed straight for the rear hall. Inside stood a stone statue. It looked entirely different from the one in Tianmie City. The statue in Tianmie City bore the likeness of a human giant, albeit with a tail. This one, however, was not human in appearance, resembling a sea beast instead. He thought of it as a sea beast because its surface seemed to bear scales; though humanoid in posture, its head was sharp and tapered. "Su Yu pays respects to Your Lordship!" Su Yu showed far greater deference this time, bowing respectfully before the stone statue with the poised manners of a scholar. By now, he had changed into clean white robes. He had reined in his death qi. Though slightly pale, he wore a faint, pleasant smile, gentle as a spring breeze. He was a Civilization Master! An elegant Civilization Master visiting a supreme expert needed to mind his decorum. Courtesy never offended anyone. Even though the stone statue appeared completely inanimate and motionless. That was unimportant! Proper etiquette had to be observed! This statue was alive, capable of slaughtering people and battling Invincibles—a terrifying entity. Within this ancient city, the stone statue was the true master, and he was merely second... Well, even if he had to take third place behind the Dead Spirit Monarch, that was fine too. In any case, neither of them usually showed themselves or intervened. Keeping his thoughts in order, Su Yu composed himself and spoke softly, "I once met a senior in Tianmie Ancient City who was in the same state as Your Lordship. May I ask whether Your Lordship shares friendship or grievance with that senior?" He glanced up; the statue kept its eyes closed. Su Yu continued cautiously, "I got along wonderfully with that senior. He even imparted to me a breathing technique and an oscillation technique, and gifted me three Shuttle Talismans. I am profoundly grateful. I hope that Your Lordship and I might also get along just as well. Should you have any commands, please inform me at any time, and I will do my utmost to fulfill them." The stone statue kept its eyes closed. *You got along wonderfully with Tianmie?* He did not know the details of what had transpired, but he did know that Su Yu truly seemed to know the breathing technique, even if only the barest rudiments. *Could Tianmie really have taught him?* The stone statue was genuinely somewhat surprised. Forget it. He chose not to dwell on it. Was Su Yu trying to curry favor? Unnecessary! He was an enforcer of the rules. There was no need for personal rapport; as long as actions complied with the rules, he would not interfere. Otherwise, he would have stepped in long ago. Su Yu waited for a moment, but the statue offered no response. Unsure whether it was unable to speak or simply unwilling, Su Yu did not take it to heart. He bowed respectfully once more. "Senior, I shall go refine the castellan token now. If you have any instructions, please summon me at any time!" With that, Su Yu slowly backed away. This time, he did not strike it. Though he sorely wanted to hit it once to see what would happen! Forget it. If he truly provoked this entity and took a fatal punch, there would be nowhere to plead his case. ... Returning to the front hall of the Castellan Manor, Su Yu retrieved the castellan token. Pitch-black and unremarkable in appearance, it was time to refine it! He already knew how the process worked, and he quickly sent his willpower surging into the token. Instantly, a surge of potent death qi seeped from the castellan token. Su Yu's physical body jolted! Death qi again! In this ancient city, every single thing was laced with death qi—what a nuisance. Anyone weaker would have been overwhelmed instantly by such corrosion; even Lingyun and Shanhai cultivators would perish on the spot. No wonder all castellans possessed formidable strength. A weakling would not even be able to refine the token. Su Yu promptly reversed his yuan apertures to neutralize the death qi. Immense death qi flooded him, and along with it, streams of information entered his consciousness and were captured by his perception. "The castellan token..." "Command of the ancient city!" Su Yu sensed and examined it in detail. An ancient city—or rather, a sacred city. This was Xinghong Sacred City! It had existed since ancient times! There were no records of who founded it or how many years it had endured. However, Su Yu learned several crucial facts: the sacred cities existed to suppress the passages to the Dead Spirit Realm and prevent death qi from spreading outward. All thirty-six sacred cities shared this single purpose. As castellan, Su Yu held responsibilities, duties, and authority. As the refinement deepened, more information flowed in. The castellan possessed numerous powers. For instance, he could unlock the vast majority of ancient houses, with the exception of a rare few that had once housed peak experts of old. The rest were nearly all accessible to him. Of course, forcibly breaching a house incurred a degree of backlash drawn from the death qi residing inside. Unlocking ancient houses was one privilege; secondly, he could forcibly shut or open the city gates. A similar incident had nearly occurred in Tianmie Ancient City when the Xuan Armor race sought out General Tianmen to seal the gates. However, any forced action—whether opening or closing—would incur backlash. The price of that backlash was an intensification of death qi, which accelerated the castellan's demise. Thus, under normal circumstances, no one would force the issue. The cost was far too great to be worthwhile. Thirdly, rumors held that a castellan at the ninth stage of Sun Moon could fight Invincibles within the city. Su Yu had not sensed this from Hei Mo before, but now he understood the secret. At critical junctures, the castellan could use the token to commune with the Dead Spirit Realm, receiving an enhancement through fusion with a dead spirit of matching strength, equivalent to integrating a past incarnation. Claiming this made one truly equal to an Invincible was an exaggeration. However, if a castellan who had already integrated a past incarnation communed with the Dead Spirit Realm and integrated another, he indeed stood a chance of exchanging blows with an Invincible. This was the secret behind the legend that castellans could contend with Invincibles. Naturally, if a true clash against an Invincible erupted inside the city... the castellan likely would not need to intervene at all. A Dead Spirit Monarch, or even the stone statue itself, would step in personally. Under normal circumstances, being able to handle quasi-Invincibles was sufficient. Thus, one did not have to worry excessively about being assassinated inside the ancient city. Invincibles dared not enter! If non-Invincibles entered, a ninth-stage Sun Moon castellan who had merged a past incarnation would hold the upper hand in a clash: the intruder would hesitate to kill for fear of consequences, whereas the castellan could slaughter intruders with little concern, as slaying trespassers carried minimal risk. Additionally, the castellan had to avoid interfering with the operational mechanism of the ancient city. This included scenarios like the one seen earlier: if dead spirits were out to kill, the Castellan Manor could not arbitrarily offer protection, as that violated the established rules. Dead spirits killing and the living slaying dead spirits was their own affair; the Castellan Manor could intervene, but it could not show excessive favoritism or shield them. These were the rights and obligations. Furthermore, the master of an ancient city had another requirement: he had to ensure that sufficient residents remained within the city to help share the burden of death qi. If there were not enough residents, the castellan would bear a heavier share. And if the castellan could not endure it or perished, the burden fell upon the stone statue. Su Yu was unaware that one ancient city was entirely devoid of people. When he was beneath the Sea of Stars, he had not been far from that very city. Its stone statue was terrifyingly powerful. It had not opened for countless years, and its death qi had long grown boundless, yet that single stone statue suppressed it entirely on its own. Evidently, that statue was stronger than many of the others. Even when the stone statues had gathered previously, that statue had only sent an avatar projection; its true body was likely still slumbering. Of course, Su Yu knew none of this at the moment. What he did understand now was why some ancient cities never barred outsiders from entering, cared nothing about visitors, and even let them stay freely. It was likely to recruit enough residents. With more residents, the death qi could be dispersed, meaning that everyone—all residents included—would suffer less erosion. Regrettably, far too few dared to convert into residents unless driven into an absolute dead end. Tianmie, Yunxiao, and Xinghong—these three ancient cities had relatively low populations, making recruitment difficult. Hei Mo's severe injuries had actually been tied to the deaths of numerous residents in the city, which forced him to bear a much heavier burden of death qi! Su Yu could not help cursing under his breath! He could feel the terrifying death qi constantly invading him. Now he understood why castellans died so quickly: waves of death qi assailed them nonstop. Sealing the city was truly a poor choice. Over time, relentless assaults of potent death qi would completely devour him. No wonder none of the ancient city castellans ever sealed their gates on a whim! No wonder they never charged organizations like the Heaven Hunting Pavilion entry fees! If they charged fees and drove people away, visitor traffic would plunge. With fewer visitors, fewer would convert into residents, and wouldn't that spell disaster? "So that's how it is!" Su Yu grasped the situation. Furthermore, becoming castellan brought another benefit: using the token to open certain ancient houses offered a chance to obtain opportunities. Of course, Su Yu had never seen such opportunities and did not take them too seriously. There was another detail: the castellan token held command over the ancient city tokens and various specialized tokens. For instance, the city gate tokens, warehouse keeper tokens, guard general tokens, and the like were all subordinate to it. Its greatest function was transferring the backlashed death qi within the castellan token over to them. Earlier, Su Yu had noticed that the guards here were far more heavily corroded by death qi than those in Tianmie Ancient City! Now he understood! Hei Mo had done it! To spare himself from backlash, Hei Mo had redirected vast quantities of death qi to his subordinates and guards, leaving them all on the verge of death. Seen in this light, Tianhe of Tianmie Ancient City was decent enough; his guards and soldiers were not severely plagued by death qi, meaning Tianhe bore the burden himself. These city gate tokens were not without advantages, either. Higher-grade tokens granted access to deeper ancient houses, helped ward off death qi, and allowed the bearer to command dead spirits—privileges ordinary residents did not possess! Consequently, recruiting powerful figures remained possible. Experts were willing to be recruited. Another point was that some cities levied entry fees that went to the Castellan Manor. The castellan kept a portion while using the rest to pay stipends to the soldiers, providing them with the means to sustain their cultivation. Otherwise, residents could not remain outside the city for long. Moreover, leaving the city while carrying a high-grade token suppressed the backlash of death qi, unlike ordinary residents, who might suffer fatal backlash within a day or two of departing! Hei Mo had previously dispatched a general leading guards to intercept and slay experts outside precisely because of these tokens. Now, all those tokens remained within the Castellan Manor; they would never be taken away. They could be bestowed upon subordinates without fear of rebellion. If anyone dared rebel, all that mattered was whether they feared death qi: the castellan could instantly redirect immense death qi into them, finishing them off in short order. After refining the token for a long while, Su Yu continually resisted and reversed the death qi. The pressure was manageable! Strictly speaking, however, the rate of death qi invasion was roughly a third faster than before. Where Su Yu previously needed an hour of reversal to maintain balance, it now took around an hour and a half. Furthermore, as the city's experts fell and resident numbers dwindled, leaving fewer people to share the burden, the invasion rate would only climb. The sacred city sat directly over the passage to the Dead Spirit Realm, through which vast amounts of death qi continually diffused. Only continuous absorption and neutralization could wear down the death qi. Thus, the residents' role was to disperse and grind away the death qi. By cultivating continuously, the residents caused that death qi to dissipate... This aligned with the stone statue's remark that residents lived to serve as suppressors. Through cultivation, the residents ground away that death qi, preventing the ancient city from being utterly swallowed by it! "So that's how it is..." Su Yu truly understood now. Residents served this purpose all along. Alive, they suppressed. Dead, they converted into dead spirits. The ancient city and the dead spirits were not on the same side; Su Yu sensed that clearly now. Yet the two were entangled, bound by mysteries he did not yet comprehend. "Does that mean if all the residents die, I have to bear all the death qi leaking from the Dead Spirit Realm by myself?" Su Yu bared his teeth! Damn it! He couldn't go around killing indiscriminately. Had he known earlier, he wouldn't have killed that Sun Moon resident; a Sun Moon from the Red Frog race could have shared quite a bit of death qi. And if he died, the burden would fall upon the stone statue. Thus, the castellan and the stone statue complemented each other. In truth, even now, the stone statue bore the lion's share of the death qi invasion, while the castellan and residents endured only a minor portion. When Hei Mo died, the death qi borne by the statue had surged dramatically. Now, as Su Yu refined the castellan token, the stone statue in the rear hall cracked its eyes open slightly and glanced toward the front hall with a touch of surprise. He had assumed that given Su Yu's weak cultivation, the statue would have to shoulder even more death qi once the boy became castellan. Yet the moment Su Yu became castellan, the death qi meant for him was borne almost entirely by him alone! The stone statue had to carry virtually no extra burden! The statue was genuinely taken aback. *Su Yu can endure this much death qi?* What kind of technique was that method of converting origin qi to death qi and vice versa? It seemed remarkably formidable! Could he... learn it too? Indeed, the thought suddenly crossed the stone statue's mind. If he mastered it as well, would he be able to suppress the dead spirit passage more effectively? After all, he was under immense pressure. The death qi of the entire Dead Spirit Realm was dispersed among the thirty-six passages, and they had suppressed it for countless years. Petrifying themselves was actually a means to resist erosion. Even so, petrification was beginning to falter, heavily corroded by death qi. The day they could no longer maintain petrification would mark the true crisis. It would mean their stone shells had been breached by the death qi! That was why it was said that once the stone statues ceased to be statues, an all-out war between the living and the dead would begin. Because the statues would no longer be able to hold the line! As for why the need to recruit more residents was never publicly disclosed, the statue did not say, and Su Yu had no desire to announce it either. Nonsense. Becoming a resident practically severed one's future, prospects, and everything else. Who would willingly accept such a fate unless backed into a corner? As for the threat of the dead spirits... who cared! The Dead Spirit Realm had posed no threat for countless ages, held in check by the stone statues and sacred cities, so nobody took it seriously. ... In the grand hall of the Castellan Manor, Su Yu finished fully refining the castellan token. With a thought, the token vanished. The next instant, a dead spirit materialized. A moment later, it merged into Su Yu's body. Within him, vast quantities of death qi roiled. In the blink of an eye, Su Yu's strength surged by a notch. He threw a punch... "Garbage!" Su Yu cursed aloud! Damn it all! A dead spirit at the eighth stage of Lingyun had appeared, matching his Civilization Master cultivation. Fusing with it gave him a boost, but to hell with this—this strength was vastly inferior to what he gained from consuming blood essence. What bloody use was this?! So using the castellan token didn't actually make him any stronger? Su Yu felt like spitting blood! He had thought that with the castellan token, he would become invincible! Turns out, even with the token, he was still a weakling! Su Yu felt utterly exhausted! What good was fusing with an eighth-stage Lingyun dead spirit? It only triggered an eruption of death qi without providing any meaningful effect. Purging the fused dead spirit, Su Yu sent it flying with a kick! Admittedly, the token had one perk: it allowed him to summon dead spirits inside the Castellan Manor, whereas they could never enter ordinary ancient houses. "Trash!" Depressed, Su Yu thought it over and hurried to the rear hall. Stepping inside, he looked toward the stone statue, whose eyes were closed once more. Su Yu said hurriedly, "Lord Castellan, though my realm is at the eighth stage of Lingyun, my true strength is immensely formidable, comparable to a Sun Moon. Fusing with dead spirits through the token offers me no help whatsoever. As a result, I cannot enjoy the token's greatest benefit. My lord, could you grant me some other form of assistance?" These words plunged the stone statue into contemplation. To be fair, this was indeed a problem! Fusing with dead spirits via the token was intended to empower the castellan. Under normal circumstances, castellans were at the ninth stage of Sun Moon; those who weren't had almost all perished, unable to withstand the death qi's assault. Yet Su Yu was unharmed, completely unfazed after refining the token. Normally, no Lingyun could have refined it successfully. For a Sun Moon cultivator, fusing with another Sun Moon dead spirit was equivalent to gaining an additional incarnation, providing a massive, terrifying boost! Hei Mo had not used this ability earlier because his death qi backlash was already too severe; fusing would have aggravated it further, killing him in an instant. Now, a Lingyun had refined the castellan token! Consequently, the dead spirit fusion became utterly useless! Su Yu's combat power was not something an eighth-stage Lingyun dead spirit could meaningfully enhance. To him, it was entirely chicken ribs—far less useful than swallowing a drop of blood essence. The stone statue had originally intended to ignore Su Yu entirely. Yet at this point, communication became necessary. Still, he did not let Su Yu see him speak. Just as Tianmie had done before, Su Yu's vision blurred as if slipping into a dream, and a thunderous voice echoed in his ears: "Dead spirit fusion carries both benefits and drawbacks! Yet your claim that it is useless to you holds true. Very well... I grant you three Sun Moon divine talismans. Take care of yourself!" With those words, Su Yu snapped back to awareness! Three divine talismans rested in his hand! Sun Moon divine talismans! He did not know what stage they represented. Looking toward the stone statue, he hastily voiced his gratitude: "Thank you, my lord! But the enemies I provoke are all Invincibles. These Sun Moon divine talismans..." They wouldn't be very useful! He was being greedy, or perhaps he simply thought Sun Moon talismans were mediocre. After all, he had seen Invincible talismans, and they were thoroughly underwhelming—they had failed to kill a weakling like him. Logically, an Invincible could blow him to death with a breath. Yet the talisman hadn't even killed him; it was far too shoddy! What Su Yu did not know was that Foutuling's Invincible talismans... were genuinely poor. It wasn't that Foutuling's elders were unwilling to give him good ones, but rather: if they gave him a talisman carrying the full-power strike of an Invincible, could he even activate it? Just as when Su Yu was in the Kaiyuan Realm, giving him a Shanhai talisman would have been pointless because he couldn't trigger it. Foutuling's Invincible talismans had indeed been crafted by Invincibles, but that did not mean they unleashed an Invincible's full strike. Had that been the case, Su Yu would have been obliterated long ago. Due to Foutuling's own limitations, the destructive power he could draw from the talismans barely reached the Sun Moon level. That was why the Wood Spirit Ancestor of the Five Elements race had told Foutuling that failing to kill a Sun Moon was normal. Otherwise, a genuine full-power strike from an Invincible talisman was certainly not something Su Yu could have withstood. What Su Yu held now were genuine Sun Moon divine talismans. This meant that upon detonation, they would truly unleash the full-power strike of a Sun Moon. Of course, Su Yu was unaware of this. He had been misled by Foutuling! The stone statue ignored him and remained silent. *Invincible?* *Did you actually want an Invincible talisman?* *Could you even activate it?* *No!* *Foolish boy. A child trying to wield a sledgehammer cannot even lift it, yet you greedily demand an Invincible talisman.* *If you give a child a hundred-jin hammer, he cannot lift it; what good is giving him a ten-thousand-jin one?* *Giving you a small dagger would be far deadlier than a massive hammer.* The stone statue paid him no further mind. Su Yu felt somewhat unsatisfied. He hadn't received much benefit, yet he was helping shoulder the death qi. Now that he was castellan, they were on the same side—couldn't the statue be a bit more generous? Su Yu sighed helplessly! Not adorable at all—nowhere near as cute or kind as the stone statue in Tianmie Ancient City. ... The Xinghong stone statue silently closed his eyes. Su Yu had underestimated Invincibles! Thinking such thoughts right before him—how could he fail to sense them? *Not as cute as Tianmie?* *Fine, leave such humiliating words to Tianmie. Let him be cute; I have no need for it!* *Tianmie... actually described as cute.* The Xinghong statue could not quite describe the feeling stirring within him. He wanted to tell Tianmie about this, just to see how Tianmie would react. For the first time in countless ages, a flicker of curiosity arose in him: would Tianmie be pleased, or enraged? ... Though his greed remained unsated, Su Yu walked out of the rear hall. Despite his dissatisfaction, he remained polite aloud: "Thank you for the reward, Senior. I will come chat with you often from now on. After countless years of loneliness, I think you could use a bit of vitality around here." Su Yu had grown a bit bolder; pushing his luck was his specialty. Since the statue hadn't grown angry and had even gifted him items, that meant there was room to build rapport. One had to have thick skin. With such a massive backer at hand, how could he let the opportunity slip away? ... On this day, Su Yu officially became the castellan of Xinghong Ancient City. The gates of the Castellan Manor remained tightly sealed! Within the vast estate, he was the sole occupant, accompanied only by a stone statue and a sleeping fur ball. Meanwhile, the entirety of Xinghong Ancient City remained under lockdown. However, Su Yu had no intention of locking it down again, nor did he wish to slaughter dead spirits once more. Keeping the manor gates closed, he began cultivating, intending to open the city gates first so outsiders could enter and share his burden. The Castellan Manor had a unique trait. For other ancient houses, once the occupant stepped outside, anyone could enter freely. For the Castellan Manor, however, unless the castellan granted permission, no one could open the manor doors without the castellan token, even if the castellan was absent. This was an enormous advantage! Su Yu had already planned it out: keep the manor sealed, and once enough people entered the city, slip outside under his identity as Xuan Jiu to wander the city as Xuan Jiu. As for Su Yu... he would remain in prolonged secluded cultivation inside the Castellan Manor to evade his enemies' pursuit. As for how long the secluded cultivation would last, that depended on when the identity of Xuan Jiu stopped being useful. ... Su Yu entered secluded cultivation. This time, he intended to remain in seclusion for a period to advance his physical casting realm; in any case, he had ample resources. While resources were plentiful, the process still took time. The later stages consumed immense resources, but worse still, the time required stretched longer and longer. Where he had initially completed a cast in about an hour, it now took over three days to finish a single cast. Three days for a single cast. This speed... was something probably only Su Yu would complain about! No one else would ever consider him slow! Meanwhile, in the Dead Spirit Realm, Monarch Xingyue was growing somewhat annoyed and speechless. Su Yu was only in the Lingyun Realm, yet the death qi Xingyue was funneling into him was now comparable to what a Sun Moon received, and it still couldn't suppress him! Had it not been for certain rule restrictions, Xingyue would have liked to pump in even more! Troublesome! That brat was an utter nuisance, forcing Xingyue to continually increase the output of death qi every few days. If Xingyue entered secluded cultivation and neglected him, the boy might completely suppress and purge the death qi by the time the monarch emerged! ... Under these circumstances, after being sealed for twenty days in total, Xinghong Ancient City finally opened its gates. Yet even after opening, not a soul dared enter. Indeed, no one dared step inside! They feared this was Su Yu's trap. With so few living beings left inside, Su Yu might need a batch of people to enter before slaughtering dead spirits again to lock down the city. In fact, populations in other ancient cities had plummeted recently as well. For no other reason than that people with blood feuds had learned the trick. They lacked Su Yu's resilience, but that didn't matter—they could drag their enemies down with them! While Su Yu's city was sealed, another ancient city located fairly close to the God race had also been locked down! A Shanhai cultivator had fought desperately to slay a peak Shanhai dead spirit, luring out a Sun Moon dead spirit to seal the city, trapping all his rivals inside. Afterward, he went on a mad slaughter of weaker dead spirits, causing dead spirits to proliferate and death qi to flood the city. Many perished! Of course, that fellow died quickly, failing to emulate Su Yu by slaughtering dead spirits again three days later, because he did not survive that long. Even so, ancient cities were no longer as safe as they once were. Many had been inspired by Su Yu: if they wanted to take an enemy down with them, doing it in an ancient city was the ideal choice! Thus, even though Su Yu opened the city gates, no one dared enter! Other cities were still manageable; after three days, the instigator was usually dead. Here, however... Su Yu wouldn't die! That was what made it terrifying! He could seal the city for thirty days straight if he wished! At this moment, Su Yu was unaware that the castellans of other ancient cities were cursing him to high heaven. If this bastard kept this up, the ancient cities would be emptied of people, and they would all be finished! By now, the other castellans were on the verge of begging for Su Yu to be escorted back to the Human Realm, willing to contribute money and effort to make it happen. Unfortunately, Su Yu had converted into a resident, driving the other castellans to despair. *Stop sealing the city!* Some could no longer afford the fallout. Several castellans declared outright that anyone attempting such tactics within their cities would be executed on the spot—marking the first time neutral castellans had issued such an edict! Coming from ninth-stage Sun Moon castellans within their own cities, the declaration immediately struck fear into many hearts. And at that moment, countless eyes turned toward Xinghong Ancient City! Other castellans would execute violators, but what about Xinghong Ancient City? He wouldn't, would he? Besides, Su Yu might not even dare emerge from the Castellan Manor! Perhaps this place would become the next haven—provided Sun Moons from the major races blockaded Su Yu inside the Castellan Manor first! That way, everyone could come and enjoy Xinghong Ancient City!