Nobody Believes the Truth

At the same time Su Yu was bringing the All-Races Cult under his heel, Nanyuan City was crowded with powerhouses, flooded by an influx of geniuses. Su Yu's home, meanwhile, had been completely cordoned off by the Dragon Martial Guards, stirring discontent among myriad powerhouses. And now, with the arrival and settling in of Hong Tan and his group, that resentment flared even higher. Outside the residential compound where Su Yu lived, an exasperated powerhouse shouted, "Does the Xia family intend to monopolize the Nanyuan ruin? It's true that Nanyuan is in the Great Xia Prefecture, but the ruin belongs to all humanity! It isn't the private property of any single clan!" Above the compound, Zhao Rui sat cross-legged with spear in hand, not uttering a word. Who dared intrude? Step inside, and die! "Cross this boundary by a single step, and you will be executed without mercy!" a Dragon Martial Guard officer barked sharply. This was Xia territory. Since when was it an outsider's place to make demands? The Xia family hadn't interfered much earlier simply because no ruin had surfaced yet. Now that the Heaven Hunting Pavilion had verified the location and confirmed its authenticity, as the military wing of the Great Xia Prefecture, the Dragon Martial Guards certainly had no intention of handing over the ruin on a silver platter. "Nanyuan is Xia territory! No one may flout the rules of the Xia family!" One Dragon Martial Guard officer after another stepped forward. The Dragon Martial Guards were not vast in number, divided into Overt Guards and Covert Guards. For the Overt Guards: Wanshi were common soldiers, Tengkong were decurions, high-stage Tengkong were centurions, Lingyun were chiliarchs, and Shanhai were myriarchs... well, the Overt Guards didn't even number ten thousand men to begin with. Before this, the Overt Guards had only possessed a few chiliarchs, while Vice General Zhao Rui publicly claimed to be at the peak of the Shanhai Realm. Now, the Covert Guards stepped into the light. Six great commanders, all Sun Moon Realm powerhouses. Including Zhao Rui, a total of seven Sun Moon powerhouses from the Dragon Martial Guards stood guard over this place. Nanyuan had become a focal point of vital importance. Seven Sun Moons hovered in midair, their aura intimidating all directions. One commander bellowed, "Dragon Martial Guards, assist the residents of Nanyuan in evacuating! Even if Nanyuan is leveled to the ground today, we will never allow these outsiders to challenge the might of our Great Xia Prefecture!" "Understood!" Squads of Dragon Martial Guards moved swiftly. Many people had already evacuated Nanyuan, yet many others still refused to leave. Now, the Dragon Martial Guards forcibly evacuated the populace. Old men and women soaked their collars with tears. Leaving home... a person far from home was treated cheap! In their twilight years, they wished only for fallen leaves to return to their roots. These were chaotic times! Chaos across the heavens! Turmoil reigned everywhere. Yet no matter how turbulent, there was no place like home. Once they left Nanyuan, however grand the outside world might be, it was not their home. Generations of Nanyuan people had lived and survived here, fighting demons and warring across the heavens, all to protect this small, remote city. And now, they were forced to leave the city that had birthed and raised them. Their home! The Great Xia Prefecture had made up its mind: even if Nanyuan was flattened, they would not allow others to seize the ruin. The decision was set, and the civilians had to leave. Otherwise, once a Sun Moon clash erupted, they had zero chance of surviving. "Nanyuan... Nanyuan!" A crowd of elderly folk and aging veterans wept, brandishing their weapons—the weapons with which they had once fought across the heavens—and roared at the top of their lungs! "Nanyuan!" "Nanyuan!" Chant after chant pierced the clouds. Leaving home, leaving this familiar city for an uncertain foreign land. No matter how fine that other place might be, it was not where their hearts belonged. Tears soaked their collars. The Dragon Martial Guard experts felt their eyes redden with suffocating indignation. Today, countless powerhouses gathered in Great Xia to claim their homeland. To survive, the people of Nanyuan were forced to abandon their home and depart. In the city, countless powerhouses were gathered. One sneered and remarked coolly, "A pack of ants!" Ants they were. Qianjun and Wanshi—what kind of cultivators were those? Tragic and heroic? If not for the lingering deterrence of the Xia family, the populace of this entire city would have been slaughtered long ago. At this moment, someone even murmured chillingly, "Among the residents of Nanyuan, perhaps someone has entered the ruin before. It would be best to inspect them and see if anyone took items from the ruin..." BANG! A thunderous blast echoed. A Dragon Martial Guard general, a peak Shanhai Realm powerhouse, blasted that Shanhai to pieces with a single punch. Bristling with fury, he roared, "You bastards want war? Then war it is!" "War!" "War!" "War!" Furious shouts rose like an echo of the past. A veteran bellowed, "War! General, weak though we are, we are willing to fight across the heavens once more!" The Great Xia Prefecture possessed tens of millions of veterans who had fought across the heavens for years. Murderous intent soared into the sky! Tiny Nanyuan had tens of thousands of veterans. Though they were not strong, they could still fight. They would rather die in battle here in Nanyuan than leave like wandering ghosts driven from their home. Up in the air, Zhao Rui's eyes were bloodshot. Among those veterans were men he had once led—retired soldiers from the Demon Suppression Army, retired Dragon Martial Guards, retired prefectural troops, city guards... The Great Xia Prefecture had campaigned for centuries, reaching a peak after Xia Longwu became prefecture lord. Fighting all four directions, slaughtering across all four directions! The heavens held no joy because of me! And the majority of these veterans were men who had followed Xia Longwu across the battlefields in his era, fighting their way out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the All-Heavens Battlefield, just like Su Yu's father. They were not strong! They were very weak! Some were Qianjun, some were Wanshi; many were not even Tengkong. Yet they had witnessed mountains of corpses and seas of blood. They had marched through the Eastern Rift Valley, traversed the Plain of Desires, stormed ancient cities, slaughtered gods and demons, and campaigned for decades, never shrinking from death! At that moment, Zhao Rui's heart bled. Three hundred and fifty-one years since the founding of Great Xia, when had it ever come to this! "Everyone!" Zhao Rui yelled. "Depart today with peace of mind! The Marquis has prepared everything for you! In due time, we will return! What belongs to us, no one can steal! What does not belong to us is still ours within the Great Xia Prefecture! Once we slaughter every jackal coveting our home, you will surely return to your homeland! I, Zhao Rui, swear here and now: Nanyuan will always remain Nanyuan, the Nanyuan of our Great Xia Prefecture! Any person, any living being who covets our Nanyuan shall be killed—must be killed!" "Mighty is the Commander!" Cheers erupted from all directions! Commander of the Dragon Martial Guards, Zhao Rui! His murderous intent shook the heavens, causing the humans blocking the entrance to blanch. Spear in hand, Zhao Rui looked down upon the crowd and bellowed, "Fall back!" Sun Moons blanched; Shanhais trembled. This was a top powerhouse who had followed Xia Longwu in conquering the heavens, who had slain gods and demons and slaughtered myriad races. And he was only one of the generals under Xia Longwu's banner. There were several other generals of the Xia Family Army who had not appeared: some stationed in minor realms, some holding the fort in the All-Heavens Prefecture, some guarding the Three Seas... Zhao Rui was not the only Sun Moon general. …… "The Dragon Martial Guards, the Xia Family Army!" Within the city, many sighed in admiration and melancholy. A powerhouse from the myriad races murmured, "The Dragon Martial Guards... what a terrifying elite legion. Back then, they clashed with our race's Thousand God Guards. The two sides fought bitterly for three days. With less than a tenth of their numbers remaining, the Dragon Martial Guards still annihilated the Thousand God Guards that shook the heavens!" Were the Dragon Martial Guards strong? Not overwhelmingly so. The Covert Guards only had six Sun Moon commanders, a pitifully small number compared to the powerhouses across the All-Heavens Battlefield. What was more, those Sun Moons had not started out at that realm. Years ago, at their direst point, they only had one or two Sun Moons. Yet such an army had swept across the heavens, repeatedly crossing the Eastern Rift Valley to charge out of the Human Realm's sector, stealing even the missions of the Vanguard Camp. The spears of Great Qin, the sabers of Great Xia! When spears and sabers were drawn together, the heavens trembled. Today, the sabers of Great Xia were raised once again! Seven Sun Moons faced dozens of Sun Moon powerhouses around them without a hint of fear or change in expression. Whoever dared make a move, kill them! The Blood Slaughter King, a quasi-Invincible who carved out the renown of an Invincible—Xia Longwu was one of a kind throughout the ages! Ironically, powerhouses within the Human Realm did not truly understand Xia Longwu. Powerhouses of foreign races, however, feared Xia Longwu to their bones. They had been slaughtered into terror! Within the Human Realm, Xia Longwu was merely one of the thirty-six prefecture lords, not much different from the others, and possessed even less seniority than many. Outside the Human Realm, however, every race knew that Xia Longwu was utterly ruthless. From the moment he entered the Demon Suppression Army, he had carved a path of unending bloodshed, slaughtering across the heavens. At this moment, with the Dragon Martial Guards flaring up, the myriad races were wary. The humans present were startled and frightened, yet they lacked the visceral dread felt by the foreign races. …… In midair, Zhao Rui's gaze turned chilling. Right now, human powerhouses stood at the very front, while the foreign races had retreated to the back. He gritted his teeth. *Don't push me! The blades of my Dragon Martial Guards are meant only for foreign races and traitors, but... if you force my hand, our blades can fall on your necks as well!* Stalemate! Still, some were unwilling to accept the Xia family claiming the ruin. Someone yelled furiously, "Does this ruin belong to the Xia family? Zhao Rui, the ruin belongs to all humanity! It's all down to chance! Even if the Xia family monopolizes it, they won't share it with you, Zhao Rui!" Zhao Rui's eyes grew icy. Right then, a fist descended from the sky. With a thunderous boom, a half-moon crashed and shattered. The next moment, a fat figure strode forth, brimming with murderous fury! "Keep running your mouth, I dare you!" Black cloth was bound around Marquis Xia's arm in mourning for his son—his deceased, pitiful son. Marquis Xia, who had always greeted people with a smile, was chillingly cold today. "Zhao Rui, are you useless? If they flap their gums again, kill them all!" Marquis Xia glared down at everyone, roaring in towering rage, "Audacious! How daring of you all! You murdered my son, and now you dare provoke my Xia family? Do you truly take my Xia family for pushovers? Try squeaking another peep today, and see what happens!" Silence fell in all directions! The moment Marquis Xia arrived, he obliterated a Sun Moon with a single punch—a human Sun Moon! He had gone mad! Someone stammered in horror, "Marquis, you... you killed the Great Zhao Prefecture's army commander... you..." BOOM! Marquis Xia unleashed another punch, blasting this Shanhai to pieces. Cold as frost, he snarled, "So what? I killed him! What can you do to me? My son is dead, and every last one of you is guilty!" Madness! The human powerhouses retreated in droves, terror-stricken. Insane! Marquis Xia had lost his mind! It wasn't them who killed his son, it was the Heaven Hunting Pavilion! Yet Marquis Xia threw all caution to the wind; now, he would kill anyone who defied him! The Xia family was indeed bloodthirsty to the bone, even Marquis Xia, who normally put on an affable front! Marquis Xia said coldly, "Go on, keep talking! Keep pressing us! Keep surrounding my Dragon Martial Guards and see what happens!" Quiet! Absolute silence! Moments later, a human powerhouse spoke in a low voice across the void: "Marquis Xia, everyone merely hopes for fair competition, where each relies on their own fate. Isn't the Xia family... being overly overbearing?" Divine light flared in Marquis Xia's eyes. Glancing into the distance, he sneered, "And what can you do about it? We're just this overbearing! What, you going to bite me? Yun Wuwei, I'm standing right here today! Come kill me! If you can't kill me, I'll slaughter your Yun family! Do you dare come?" "Unreasonable!" The powerhouse in the void let out a soft sigh and stopped arguing with him. Xia Xiao'er was truly insane! Xuan Jiu had slain his son, and now the man didn't even bother pretending anymore. The Xia family had clearly been driven over the edge. He fell silent, but another powerhouse spoke up: "Does the Xia family truly have the ability to defend this ruin? This time, the human Invincibles granted the myriad races entry into the realm, and we exchanged slots for the Star Residence Mansion to get it! For the Xia family to be so tyrannical, do you truly believe the myriad races are powerless against you?" That was a ninth-stage Sun Moon peak powerhouse from the god race. He stood proudly in the void, expression cold and indifferent. The god race had arrived! At the same time, Zhan Wushuang and several other god race geniuses had arrived as well, hovering around that ninth-stage Sun Moon. Some sneered, while others looked on impassively. Could the Xia family truly stop everyone? The ruin did not belong to the Xia family right now. King Daxia could not return. Now that the human Invincibles had all left the realm and granted permission for the myriad races to enter, could the Xia family, relying on an eighth-stage Sun Moon like Marquis Xia, possibly hold back so many? "Overbearing we are, so what of it?" A moment later, the auras of several late-stage Sun Moon powerhouses surged. Chief Hu had arrived, accompanied by several top late-stage Sun Moon experts who had previously guarded various minor realms. "Hu Dehao!" "Wang Qiping!" "Lan Pingyue!" "..." Figures were recognized one after another, leaving onlookers shaken and grave. Was the Great Xia Prefecture staking everything on defending this ruin? If these people were wiped out, nearly four hundred years of the Xia family's foundation would be ruined. Yet this was precisely the depth of the Xia family's heritage—the heritage of one of the top three prefectures of humanity. Multiple late-stage Sun Moons! Right now, Marquis Xia, Zhao Rui, Hu Dehao, plus three late-stage Sun Moon minor realm guardians—a total of six late-stage Sun Moons were present. Add in the six Sun Moon commanders, and twelve Sun Moons covered the void with their overwhelming auras. Thousands of Dragon Martial Guards formed a grand battle array, standing firm on all sides. Murderous intent shook the heavens! Such a lineup made powerhouses from all races look grim. The Xia family... truly was insane. The Great Xia Prefecture's powerhouses were terrifyingly numerous. Twelve Sun Moons had gathered here, and many had not even arrived yet. There were five minor realms, guarded by five late-stage Sun Moons, but only three had come, leaving two behind. Furthermore, the guardian stationed at the All-Heavens Prefecture was also a late-stage Sun Moon. The commander of the Demon Suppression Army was a late-stage Sun Moon. The Great Xia Civilization Academy also possessed a late-stage Sun Moon White Dragon. Among late-stage Sun Moons alone, there were at least five known experts who had not come! Add Xia Longwu to that, and the Great Xia Prefecture had twelve known late-stage Sun Moons, rivaling the number of Heaven Hunting Pavilion elders who had entered the realm this time. So many late-stage Sun Moons laid the bedrock for Great Xia's position among the top three prefectures. It laid the foundation for warring across the heavens and sweeping through the realms. And this was even after generations of powerhouses had fallen! The Great Xia Civilization Academy alone had lost five generations of headmasters, all of whom had been late-stage Sun Moons! Now, the arrival of so many late-stage Sun Moons left all onlookers shaken and alarmed. Insane—the entire Great Xia Prefecture had gone mad. Were they throwing away their future? Among the crowd, some began to back away. Just now, Marquis Xia had killed a Sun Moon and a Shanhai in succession, both of them humans. Clearly, the man had cast all caution aside. With a cold face, Marquis Xia said no more. Indeed. Sometimes, if you endured for too long, people assumed you were easy prey and came to take a bite. Since when was the Xia family subject to pressure from these people? Before the myriad races had even spoken up, the ones who pressed the Xia family first were these humans. Marquis Xia was actually not angry. In fact, he was rather pleased! He had not entirely agreed with some of Wan Tiansheng's ideas, but Wan Tiansheng had his own plans. And now... he felt it didn't matter anymore. Perhaps Wan Tiansheng was right after all. Even if Wan Tiansheng ended up reviled for ten thousand years after this, it would still be worth it. At that very moment, thunder suddenly boomed. Rumble! In the sky, a half-moon expanded rapidly. The next instant, accompanied by a resounding shout, a figure floated into the air from Su Yu's home. Hong Tan's aura surged at a rate visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, with a thunderous boom, the half-moon swelled considerably. His aura rippled across all directions! Second-stage Sun Moon! Hong Tan was immersed in his breakthrough. After a short while, a jade stele faintly materialized in the void—a white jade stele faintly bearing the characters "Civilization Tomb." "The Civilization Tombstone!" someone cried out! The powerhouses who had just quieted down stepped forward in succession, and even powerhouses of the myriad races could no longer hold back. A powerhouse hissed, "The Civilization Tombstone! It's the Civilization Tombstone!" As expected, it truly had ties to the multiple divine character faction. Hong Tan had only entered a short while ago, and he had already broken through? Other powerhouses shot rays of divine light from their eyes, peering into the residential compound. They saw the members of the multiple divine character faction sitting cross-legged. None had entered any ruin, yet the onlookers saw something: surging auras rising out of thin air within Su Yu's house—the aura of Heaven Yuan Qi, the aura of Sun Moon Xuanhuang Liquid, and a unique resonance of divine characters. "The ruin—they're merely outside the ruin!" "And it already has such an astonishing effect!" The powerhouses were shaken. The ruin hadn't even opened yet! That rich Heaven Yuan Qi and dense aura of Sun Moon Xuanhuang Liquid told them that this ruin was extraordinary and mind-boggling. Experts grew intensely excited. Some quickly sent secret transmissions: "Don't be rash! The ruin hasn't opened yet, and I haven't found its location. Wait, wait for the multiple divine character faction to draw it out further. The ruin should be opening soon!" "Don't be impulsive! Right now it's just minor squabbling. This isn't the main event. What matters comes later, when the ruin opens!" "Let the Great Xia Prefecture guard it for now while our experts arrive!" "..." The powerhouses conversed without acting rashly. Even if they wiped out the Xia family right now, it would be of little use; the time might not be ripe for the ruin to emerge. Right then, someone shouted, "Three-Eyed Demon Race, open your Demon Eyes and look!" "Heavenly Eye God Race, open your Heavenly Eyes and see!" "Did anyone from the Demon Pupil Race come? Check if the ruin is over there!" "..." Those who couldn't see were burning with impatience, urging those gifted with special sight to open their spiritual eyes. Soon, a demon race powerhouse stepped out from the void and laughed heartily. "The Xia family won't let us look, so we simply must! Let's see what this ruin is all about! Our thanks to the multiple divine character faction for opening a crack for us!" With that, a beam of demonic light shot toward the area. BOOM! Marquis Xia obliterated the demonic light with a punch. Instantly, several ninth-stage Sun Moon auras surged. "Xia Xiao'er, don't push it too far! We didn't intrude, only looked. Are you going to stop even that?" "Must you force us into a fight to the death with your Xia family?" "The Xia family might intimidate others, but can you intimidate us?" "..." Powerhouses barked out in low tones, threatening the Xia family. Marquis Xia's face turned livid! At that moment, several powerhouses opened their heavenly eyes in unison and gazed toward the area. BOOM! Suddenly, an image was projected across the void. It was a small city, an ancient small city. Upon the gate tower outside the city, two large characters were etched: Civilization! As if traveling through time across flowing ages, ancient figures could faintly be seen walking about, chatting and laughing freely. Soon, these figures vanished one after another. As though tens of millions of years had passed, the small city quickly grew desolate. A group of people gathered together. Their faces could not be discerned, and little could be made out, save that they soon vanished as well. In their place remained a white jade stele! Civilization Tomb! At this moment, even Marquis Xia's mouth fell wide open! Holy shit! What is going on? Is this real or fake? Why does it feel completely real to me?! If even he thought this, one could imagine how the surrounding masses reacted. Silence reigned in sheer shock! It was real! A real ruin! They saw the Civilization Tombstone; they saw what appeared to be many carrier vessels left behind, scattered across the ground as those figures vanished; they saw a near-withered Heaven Yuan Fruit tree—they saw it all! This was a genuine ruin! A ruin left behind by perhaps more than one Invincible! At this moment, no one doubted its authenticity anymore. Someone murmured, "The heavenly eyes brushed against the River of Time! The collision between the River of Time and space stimulated the temporal imprint here—this is a projection from countless years ago!" "Yes! Countless years ago, a small city stood here... right in Nanyuan! Later, it retreated into the void, becoming a ruin of its own!" "The Civilization Mansion!" "The imprint left behind by an overwhelmingly powerful Civilization Master, or perhaps a group of mighty Civilization Masters!" "..." The powerhouses deduced all this on their own: the imprint must have brushed against the River of Time, evoking a scene from countless ages past and leaving behind a fleeting projection, rather than a depiction of the present. Yet this also proved beyond doubt that the ruin truly existed. Someone muttered, "This is real. Unless someone tampered with the River of Time, what we saw is genuine—it truly happened here in the past!" "Tampering with the River of Time? Are you joking, or are you trying to help the Xia family prove this is fake?" someone scoffed! Meanwhile, Marquis Xia's expression shifted repeatedly as he shouted, "It's fake! It's all fake! It was my father who garrisoned here back then, and out of boredom, he intentionally left these traces behind! It's not real..." *It's fake!* *It's all fake, believe me, it's really fake!* Someone sneered, "What grand mettle King Daxia has! What incredible skill! Going so far as to craft a fake ruin specifically for us, leaving behind a Civilization Tombstone and carrier vessels—King Daxia's magnanimity is truly unrivaled throughout history!" A joke! Fake? Did you, Xia Xiao'er, take everyone for fools? Even at this point, you're still denying it, still putting on an act! The Xia family wants to swallow this ruin whole, but do you even have the strength and capability for it? Marquis Xia fumed, "Even if it's real, it belongs to my Xia family! Just try snatching it! I told you, it's fake! It isn't real! It's just some things my father left behind back then for the Xia family descendants to inherit! That's right, it's a trial my father deliberately set up for our lineage! Huyou... someone, bring Huyou to Nanyuan! This is an inheritance his great-grandfather left for him, not some ruin!" "..." Around him, countless powerhouses watched him, sneering incessantly. Xia Xiao'er was truly mad with greed! To concoct such an excuse—wasn't it utterly ridiculous? He was treating all the myriad races of the heavens as utter fools! King Daxia left behind so many treasures, and instead of giving them directly to his descendants, he set up a ruin for them... To hell with that! People were ready to curse out loud. Xia Xiao'er was dragging their intelligence through the mud. Seeing it with their own eyes, stimulating a temporal imprint—how could this possibly be fake? What brazen nerve! …… At this moment, not a single soul believed it was fake, including powerhouses hiding in the dark, and including several quasi-Invincibles! In the void, the Third Elder and a group of elders watched and observed. The Third Elder nodded slightly. "It is real. Everything Xuan Jiu saw was accurate! Just now, the temporal imprint here was triggered. This is an image from countless years ago, left behind after the powerhouses of that ancient small city perished... The ruin is right around here!" An elder asked in a low voice, "Third Elder, could someone have tampered with the River of Time?" The Third Elder chuckled. "Tampering with the River of Time... that person's strength would have to be mind-bogglingly terrifying! Are you suggesting King Daxia? King Daxia created this ruin and placed so many treasures inside—even including the Civilization Tombstone—just to draw us in, divert our attention, and create conditions for Xia Longwu to attain Dao?" "It's not impossible!" an elder whispered. "I think there's a chance. Of course, not very high, but... it's not entirely out of the question!" "What you say is true... but is it truly worth it? In order to reduce a few Invincibles disrupting Xia Longwu's Dao attainment, creating such a fake ruin in the Great Xia Prefecture, and having Great Xia battered to ruin—all so Xia Longwu can succeed? King Daxia would abandon his own son? Xia Xiao'er is right here! The entire foundation of the Xia family is right here! What a joke! Even if King Daxia agreed, Xia Longwu wouldn't!" Quit joking! To let Xia Longwu attain Dao by burying the entire Xia family and all of the Great Xia Prefecture's high-end combat power? Even if King Daxia could bring himself to do it, Xia Longwu never would. Many elders nodded. Another elder said, "Third Elder, now that the ruin is confirmed to be genuine and on the verge of opening, the competition will be intense! Furthermore, other powerhouses are lurking in the shadows, and we don't know how many have arrived..." "Let Xuan Jiu handle this. He'll do a fine job!" "Xuan Jiu?" An elder hesitated. "Can he manage?" The Third Elder smiled. "He can. Xuan Jiu has courage, knows how to stir up trouble, and acts decisively. Aside from being a bit too audacious, he's solid in other respects!" The Third Elder added with a grin, "Rest assured! Even if Xuan Jiu fails and we lose Xuan Jiu, Xuan Jia, and a few white masks, it won't be that great of a loss to us!" The Heaven Hunting Pavilion was split into two groups. Xuan Jiu's side was merely the weaker contingent; the true elite forces were all gathered here. Twelve elders had entered: one dead, one turned traitor, leaving ten. Aside from Xuan Jia, the remaining nine were all here, and along with the Third Elder, that made ten late-stage Sun Moons—with the Third Elder being a quasi-Invincible! Such strength was even greater than the Xia family's! Several elders nodded, and one laughed. "Let Xuan Jiu stir things up! Drawing attention is good too. Let everyone think Xuan Jiu runs the show for our Heaven Hunting Pavilion. With him pulling all the focus, no one will pay attention to us!" It was great! Let Xuan Jiu raise hell with a bunch of white masks. Their side wasn't weak either, with the Eighth Elder and Xuan Jia present, plus quite a few Sun Moon white masks—already a formidable force. "Third Elder, what is our target?" "The Civilization Tombstone! And carrier vessels... Of course, if we can't get the vessels, no matter, but the Civilization Tombstone is our priority!" The most crucial piece was the Civilization Tombstone! Without it, truth be told, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion might not have mobilized such immense force, shifting from neutral intermediaries into active participants. The Heaven Hunting Pavilion rarely joined in such scrambles, but this time, they were fully prepared to partake! Even at the cost of heavy casualties, they would plunge into the fray! "Actually, Xuan Jiu should have kept this information hidden. If the ruin never showed up after a long time, people might have let it drop!" "They wouldn't. Because of Su Yu, everyone was certain Nanyuan had a ruin. Do you think people would believe it if the Heaven Hunting Pavilion said there wasn't one? When all is said and done, Su Yu simply lacked the fortune to fully inherit the ruin. Otherwise, how would anyone else have a chance?" "That's true. Still, that fellow... is living quite comfortably in the ancient city right now. Aside from not having long to live, having a ruin or not doesn't make much difference to him!" Someone chuckled. Su Yu was still incomparably tyrannical. In Xinghong Ancient City, his domineering manner was unmatched. Just these past few days, word had it he threw a punch across space at powerhouses from the Nine Realms who tried poking their heads out, forbidding them from creating land. He claimed it was his turf and banned the Nine Realms from rising; if they created more land, he would invite the ancient stone statue to smash the Nine Realms to bits! Domineering indeed! Pity the Nine Realms: of all places to open their passage, they opened it next door to Su Yu, and now the passage couldn't be moved, leaving their powerhouses cowering in frustration. Speaking of Su Yu's tyranny, everyone laughed. Better not provoke that guy. He was a nuisance to deal with! As for Xuan Jiu... there was nothing they could do. In truth, they still valued him, but unfortunately, he had converted in Xinghong Ancient City, which made things exceedingly tricky. The Third Elder and the others were helpless: even if they severed his death qi passage, they would still have to slay the dead spirit who converted him! Yet that dead spirit was inside the city! At this point, unless Xuan Jia stepped up on his behalf to kill that dead spirit, who would dare march to their death? That fellow Su Yu was completely unreasonable! Before, people could buy their lives with money, but now he had probably amassed enough wealth. Even when the Nine Realms' powerhouses offered money for peaceful coexistence, it was useless—Su Yu just punched them again. How pathetic! …… Su Yu paid no heed to the turmoil in Nanyuan, though he sensed it. He simply ignored it! He was waiting for Cult Master Golden Wing to arrive! The ruin hadn't opened yet, so what was the rush? Of course, when Su Yu inadvertently caught wind of news from the All-Heavens Battlefield and recalled his death qi flaring up earlier, he put two and two together and couldn't help cursing under his breath! *Addicted, are you?* *Boss Stone Statue, be a little more reliable!* *Are you hooked on this?* *Speak up!* *Do you have nothing better to do? You guarded the ancient city for countless years without a hitch, never moving an inch, so why are you constantly moving around lately?!* Su Yu grumbled internally. *If I were a normal person, I'd have been tormented to death by you long ago! No wonder my death qi flared up for an hour the day before yesterday, wasting an hour of my time reversing it.* …… At the same time. In the rear palace of the City Lord's Manor in Xinghong Ancient City, the stone statue of Xinghong opened its eyes and gazed into the distance. *The sea far away is so beautiful!* *The world is so big, I want to go take a look!* *See if the Sea of Stars after all these countless years is still as beautiful as it was back then!*