Su Yu's Ultimate Weapon

Marquis Xia fell silent. Yet someone else did not keep quiet. Hong Tan stepped forward, looked at Zhang Qi, and said softly, "Zhang Qi, you are a veteran expert. You know what it means for our fellow disciples to gather in Nanyuan this time. Right now... no one is beyond killing! Zhang Ying was struck down by my senior brother... she had it coming! Must your King Fenhai lineage stick its neck out at this very moment?" Zhang Qi looked at him and remained silent for a moment. "I am myself, and my father is my father. I know what you wish to accomplish, but... Liu Wenyan killed my beloved daughter. Zhang Ying only sought to apprehend him in accordance with the rules. What wrong did she commit?" What did it mean for the multiple divine character faction to gather in Nanyuan? To draw out that traitorous Invincible! It was practically an open secret by now! And now, the Zhang family stepping forward inevitably made people question their stance. Yet would a traitorous Invincible truly be so foolish? Hong Tan and Liu Wenyan both frowned, saying nothing more. Marquis Xia opened his eyes, let out a sigh, and spoke: "Speak plainly. What do you intend to do, and what do you want?" "A carrier." "..." A terrifying silence descended upon the surroundings. Even Liu Wenyan froze for an instant. He had killed Zhang Ying solely to intimidate everyone present—to deter those people from the Quest Realm. When Zhang Qi showed himself, Liu Wenyan had assumed war was about to erupt and had braced for battle. Yet... what was Zhang Qi saying? Zhang Qi said calmly, "Liu Wenyan, my daughter was merely acting according to the rules, without overstepping in the slightest. Those rules were established jointly by the Eight Great Families, not by my daughter alone! Had you killed anyone else, the Quest Realm sanctioning you would have been entirely justified. Yet you struck her down instead... Your multiple divine character faction has its own agenda, and the Zhang family has no interest in getting involved. The Zhang family was merely following the rules. But now... you have broken them!" Utterly astonished, Liu Wenyan stared at him and could not help but snap in anger, "You were here all along?" Zhang Qi had been nearby the entire time? Zhang Qi said nothing. All around them, Yuan Qingdong and the others felt a chill run down their spines! Were... were these people insane? To attain the Dao, they had truly lost their minds! Zhang Qi was on the verge of reaching the ninth stage of the Sun Moon Realm. Once he broke through, he would need a carrier before having any hope of attaining the Dao. And now, what was he doing? A deep chill gripped the hearts of Yuan Qingdong and his peers! When Liu Wenyan had killed earlier, they had been frightened, but not like this. Right now, they were truly terrified, truly chilled to the bone! If Zhang Qi was like this... what about their own elders? This time, those sent from their families were all in the early stages of the Sun Moon Realm; not a single person in the middle or late stages had shown up. Where were their fathers and forebears? Yuan Qingdong swallowed hard, an overwhelming coldness welling up inside him! Madmen! They had all gone mad! To attain the Dao, these people had become raving lunatics. Zhang Qi must have arrived long ago. He had done this deliberately, waiting purposefully for Liu Wenyan to kill his daughter. Perhaps... he had even instructed Zhang Ying via voice transmission. Otherwise, would Zhang Ying truly have dared to speak those words? *** At that moment, they were not the only ones shivering in dread. All around, the experts from the various races felt deeply unnerved. These human fellows were far too ruthless! Marquis Xia sighed as well. He looked at Zhang Qi, and after a long silence, he asked in a heavy voice, "You want a carrier?" "Yes!" Zhang Qi said calmly, "My Fenhai lineage is no traitor! We are meritorious contributors to humanity! My father has achieved tremendous feats for the human race, and I have fought for humanity for many years. I am no traitor, nor was my daughter. Liu Wenyan killed her... Even if you truly lure out the traitor and execute them, it has nothing to do with us! Because we are not the traitors. And if we are not... Liu Wenyan, your crime is immense!" With an expression between laughter and tears, Marquis Xia asked, "So you are agreeing to settle this privately? Is that it?" Zhang Qi fell silent. "Hahaha!" Marquis Xia felt both helpless and sorrowful. "I understand what you mean!" Zhang Ying was not a traitor, and neither was the Zhang family. Of course, it was hard to say for sure right now. Yet Zhang Qi had not come here because he was a traitor. He wanted to sell out his own daughter in exchange for a carrier. This... was something Marquis Xia could hardly fathom. However, Zhang Qi was right. In the end, Liu Wenyan had broken the rules by killing her. Unless Liu Wenyan died during this ordeal, then as long as King Fenhai proved not to be a traitor... the Zhang family would never let this go. Even if King Daqin and King Daxia personally intervened, they would never let the matter rest! Zhang Qi was ruthlessly coldhearted! All because he wanted to attain the Dao! Thus, he had stood by and watched his daughter get killed, solely for the sake of a carrier. Marquis Xia sighed. Soon, an enigmatic smile returned to his face. "Fine, I will give you one. If my Xia family or Liu Wenyan obtains a carrier, we will give you one! Zhang Qi, you have truly made me look at you in a new light. I only wish to know: does King Fenhai know about this?" Zhang Qi said calmly, "He does not. I believe my father is a good man, though naturally, I cannot be certain. Lure him out as you please. If my father is indeed the traitor... then this carrier is no longer needed, as I would be the descendant of a traitor. But if my father is not... should the Xia family and Liu Wenyan obtain a carrier, you must give me one." "..." At that moment, the surrounding experts truly had their eyes opened! Liu Wenyan wore a look between laughing and weeping. What a ruthless fellow. Liu Wenyan did not regret killing her. Yet after striking Zhang Ying down, Zhang Qi's eventual appearance made Liu Wenyan feel a chill from the bottom of his heart. Was this man wrong? If this man was neither a traitor nor the descendant of one, he was technically not in the wrong. His daughter had been killed, and he chose to settle it privately, naming the price of a single carrier! Would they give it to him? Or kill him as well? None of this unfolded as Liu Wenyan had anticipated. Behind him, Elder Wang looked at Zhang Qi with mixed emotions. After a long while, he let out a sigh and murmured, "Most heartless of all... are the royal and noble clans!" A mournful sigh! Trading an unremarkable daughter for a carrier—was it worth it? It was worth it! Yet human beings had emotions! Not everything could be calculated in terms of cold value, and Zhang Qi's ruthlessness was frighteningly frigid! Yet he was not at fault; he was not the one who had murdered his daughter. The killer was Liu Wenyan. He had merely chosen to settle the matter privately! He was technically in the right, yet his callousness bordered on monstrous selfishness. Even so, neither the Xia family nor Liu Wenyan spoke another word. The Quest Realm... how had it degenerated to this point? The Xia family could have refused, and so could Liu Wenyan. Neither cared about their future anymore, so what did they have to fear? Yet at this moment, they agreed. They did not refuse again. Zhang Qi was a madman, so utterly unfeeling that his cold detachment was perverse. They had no desire to waste further words on him. Zhang Qi remained entirely composed. Collecting his daughter's corpse, he vanished from the spot in an instant. It was as though he had come solely to collect his daughter's body. *** In the distance. "How heartless!" Su Yu sighed with complex feelings. "Can someone like that truly attain the Dao? Does someone like that even deserve to?" Beside him, Xuanjia said coldly, "He can, and he does deserve to! Across all races of the heavens, such Invincibles are not unheard of; they are simply not quite so brazen about it! Zhang Qi... the son of King Fenhai... Even I have had my horizons broadened. Of course, who knows, perhaps Zhang Ying wasn't even his biological daughter... maybe his wife gave him a cuckold's horns. Someone of his nature might well turn out exceptionally strong. I only hope... not too many people follow his example!" Zhang Qi had taken coldheartedness to the absolute extreme, unfeeling to the point of scarcely resembling a living being. Naturally, across the myriad realms, with its boundless sea of creatures, such people certainly existed. But for Su Yu, witnessing this was no small shock. The shock made him want to simply kill the man and be done with it. If a person like that truly became an Invincible, would he protect humanity? Would he fight on behalf of the human race? He had abandoned even his own daughter, pursuing strength purely for the sake of power. In the end, he would just as easily sell out humanity. Everything had a price to him! *** Su Yu's feelings were turbulent. Even human cultivators felt sickened, yet among the experts of the myriad races, someone laughed: "Splendidly done! Zhang Qi... son of King Fenhai, truly formidable! What a brilliant maneuver, I am impressed! Perhaps we should take a leaf out of his book, hahaha!" Another said in an eerie, frigid tone, "King Fenhai... perhaps he is the traitor! Like father, like son. In my view, there is no need to keep searching. Whatever trump cards the Xia family has, bring them out and fight King Fenhai to the death!" The various races of the heavens were all assessing whether the Xia family held any hidden cards. Perhaps it was the Primordial Sect Master! Of course, perhaps there were more. The reason the myriad races dared not charge recklessly into the ruins right now was tied precisely to this suspicion: the Xia family might possess other hidden reserves. As for fanning the flames, that was only natural. The foreign races would love nothing more than to see humanity tear itself apart in extreme internal strife, fighting their own people to the bitter end. The son of King Fenhai had truly been an eye-opener. Seizing the chance, why wouldn't they add fuel to the fire? They smiled with deep, mocking implications. Someone glanced toward Yuan Qingdong's direction and sneered softly, "The Eight Great Families have planned well. No wonder those who came aren't that strong. Could it be that all of you harbor the same scheme? Liu Wenyan, kill a few more! Seize eight carriers so every family gets one!" "Hahaha!" A chorus of powerful experts roared with laughter. Marquis Xia ignored them, looked back at Liu Wenyan, and sighed, "Come back!" Liu Wenyan said nothing more. Escorted by Ye Hongyan and the eldest uncle of the Liu family, he walked toward Nanyuan City. Marquis Xia said calmly, "Any of you wishing to die, feel free to stop him! The Xia family might not be able to deal with the others, but killing you lot... is well within our power!" Someone laughed in an eerie voice, "Of course, of course! Rest assured, Marquis. So long as that traitorous Invincible of your human race does not show himself, we won't enter, even if you seize the ruins for yourselves, hahaha!" "The myriad races will watch your Xia family go fishing. We also want to see who that person truly is!" "Whether your Xia family hooks a big fish or the fish is so massive it drags you into the water, we shall all be waiting to see!" "..." Expert after expert laughed heartily. The Xia family's scheme was an open trap. They too wanted to wait and see what trump cards the Xia family held, and whether the traitorous Invincible of humanity would truly appear. Of course, the prerequisite was that Liu Wenyan could truly inherit the ruins and possess a genuine chance of attaining the Dao. Otherwise... that individual might not necessarily reveal themselves. The grand drama was about to unfold! Grins spread across the faces of the crowd. Those who dared to remain naturally possessed some confidence in their survival; those who lacked it had already retreated from the area to keep watch from the outer perimeter. These ruins were growing more and more intriguing. The crowd waited patiently! Waiting for the ruins to open, waiting for that Invincible to emerge. *** Liu Wenyan entered the city. He entered without a hitch! Meanwhile, Su Yu and the others from the Heaven Hunting Pavilion remained stationed on the outer perimeter. Su Yu gazed toward Nanyuan, his emotions roiling. After a long while, he spoke: "Elder, discarding everything just to attain the Dao... is it truly worth it?" Xuanjia pondered for a moment before shaking his head. "Don't ask me. That question... is difficult to answer! Some find it worthwhile, while others do not. In the dark, there is no atrocity people haven't committed: abandoning wives and children, murdering their own sons and fathers... Across all living beings, there are far too many such creatures, and it is far too common. Zhang Qi... is merely someone seen by many. The ones you haven't seen probably outnumber what you can imagine." Su Yu nodded. After a thought, he sent a voice transmission: "Elder, do you think he deserves to die?" "He does! But..." Xuanjia transmitted back, "he cannot be killed. Unless he is proven to be a traitor, on what grounds could you execute the direct son of an Invincible? His father has fought for humanity, and he has fought for humanity as well. By what right would you strike him down?" Su Yu fell silent. At that moment, a thought struck him. A slight ripple stirred in his heart. Someone had once said... he might well leave a foul name for ten thousand years! Did he... think the same way as Su Yu did? Had he foreseen all of this? If... whether he succeeded or failed, his reputation was truly ruined for ten thousand years, then at the very least, the Human Realm would have no place left for him! Su Yu felt a strange pang of sorrow. Was what you set out to do the very same thing I am thinking of? You lured so many people here, and even laid the groundwork long ago, just to await this single moment? *** At that moment, Su Yu looked north toward the provincial capital of the Great Xia Prefecture. There stood the Xiuxin Pavilion. *** Inside the Xiuxin Pavilion. Wan Tiansheng looked south. Across a thousand li, he looked toward the south, gazing upon Nanyuan. The moment Zhang Ying was killed, a faint smile seemed to touch his lips. When Zhang Qi made his choice, that smile became even more pronounced. "The human heart... human nature..." Murmuring softly, Wan Tiansheng smiled, withdrew his gaze, and looked up at the sky, as though peering toward the All-Heavens Battlefield. *You all have far too many reservations!* *You all carry far too many entanglements.* *I am the scavenger.* *The darkness of this world, I shall sweep away.* *I hope that all your resentment and all your hatred will focus upon me alone. I shall bear it, and I hope that the dragon slayer will not become the one who is slain.* *As for heroes, go on being your heroes.* "Gathering in Nanyuan, perishing in Nanyuan... Nanyuan truly is a fine place!" Sighing with emotion, Wan Tiansheng returned to his rattan chair, opened a book, and began to read. The old rattan chair creaked softly. Bathed in the sunlight, Wan Tiansheng appeared somewhat frail, yet his expression was thoroughly content. In the end, the sunlight would dispel all this darkness. *** Inside Nanyuan City. Following Liu Wenyan's entry, the full might of the Great Xia Prefecture began to assemble, and vast numbers of experts continued to pour into Nanyuan. In the Nanyuan City Lord's Manor. Marquis Xia gently tapped the table. After a while, he asked, "When can the ruins be opened?" Beside him, Hong Tan said in a deep voice, "In about three days!" Marquis Xia nodded slightly and said nonchalantly, "Now, everyone is playing their moves out in the open, board against board! I want to lure him out, and he... is likely observing right now! No, he is definitely observing!" Marquis Xia smiled. "Have Chen Yong return and advance to the Sun Moon Realm! I want that person to know that if he does not stop us now, the multiple divine character faction will sooner or later find him, and sooner or later take revenge!" "Understood!" Hong Tan nodded. "Do you think he will show himself?" "He will! As long as Liu Wenyan can truly manage to step directly into the late stages of the Sun Moon Realm in an instant—middle stage works too—I only fear... that fellow might not deliver! And you, begin openly teaching the divine character battle technique disassembly art right now. I want every Civilization Master in the Human Realm to practice multiple divine characters! Today, teach the Soaring Realm disassembly art; tomorrow, Lingyun; the day after, Shanhai..." "The Shanhai stage won't work yet!" Marquis Xia snapped impatiently, "If I say it works, it works!" "Fine then!" Hong Tan had no choice. "I will teach it publicly. Does the Xia family have any other preparations? That fellow isn't stupid. Without other safeguards, he might not take the bait with ease..." "We do!" Marquis Xia gave a profoundly meaningful smile. "Of course we do. Without the confidence to battle an Invincible, how could the Xia family stake everything on a single throw? Right? Don't worry, there will be preparations. That person will know, and everyone else will know as well!" Hong Tan chuckled. "Then that will do!" The two ceased speaking and turned their gazes toward Su Yu's old home. Liu Wenyan was there right now; they did not know how long it would take for him to break through to the Sun Moon Realm. As for Zhang Qi, neither of them even brought him up. There was no point! As for whether the Xia family would truly hand over a carrier if they seized one... they would. Yet Marquis Xia had his own thoughts on the matter. He might give it... but Zhang Qi had to have the life to enjoy it! If someone like Zhang Qi truly became an Invincible, he would be nothing but a menace. At worst, the Xia family would completely discard their reputation! When they were prepared to discard their very lives, what did reputation matter? *** Heaven Hunting Pavilion branch. Su Yu returned, no longer watching the events unfolding over Nanyuan. Liu Wenyan was inside the city! At this stage, the preliminary plans were virtually complete. To be honest, Su Yu was of little use now; he could easily depart and return to the All-Heavens Battlefield, which would be the safest course. Yet... could he? He could not! Liu Wenyan, Bai Feng, Hong Tan, Chen Yong, Xia Huyou, Marquis Xia, Ye Hongyan... So many people, whether he knew them well or barely at all. Some had protected him; some had helped him. These people were preparing to march toward death. Su Yu had no desire to walk away. Could the plan succeed? Su Yu did not know! What if they failed to draw out that person? All their efforts would come to naught. Could Ji Hong, Chen Yong, and the others truly confirm the traitor's identity? Su Yu felt it was difficult. Even if their suspicions eventually narrowed down to a single target, suspicion was merely suspicion without ironclad proof. "What was his motive for killing Ye Batian?" "Did he not want to unlock the Human Realm's suppressive power?" "Or was it truly just a personal grudge?" No one could tell, and no one could prove it. The best-case scenario right now was for Liu Wenyan to make the enemy feel threatened, to make him sense an imminent breakthrough to the Dao, prompting him to appear. But... what if he still didn't show? "In the multiple divine character faction, the most talented one isn't Teacher Liu Wenyan—it's me!" Su Yu smiled. Yes, it was him. He was the one with the greatest hope of attaining the Dao! If Teacher Liu failed to lure him out, what about himself? Could he do it? He... surely could! How long had he even been cultivating? He was even burdened by the death qi of an ancient city, yet... what if he could battle experts of the late Sun Moon Realm? "When the yang aperture opens, the origin qi from the apertures pours endlessly into it, never stopping... I don't have that much origin qi, but... I have an inexhaustible supply of death qi!" "Can this even still be called a yang aperture? It's practically become a death aperture!" "Am I going to ruin my yang aperture like this?" Su Yu chuckled. A moment later, he reversed his origin apertures, transforming origin qi into death qi. The death qi surged continuously into his half-opened yang aperture. The previously bright yang aperture grew dark, brimming with death qi. "It really works!" Su Yu smiled once more. Open the yang aperture! If it were fully opened, what kind of spectacle would that be? Bai Tianhao of the Bai family had opened his yang aperture and slain a seventh-stage Shanhai cultivator while only at the ninth stage of the Lingyun Realm. Across the myriad realms, scarcely anyone had ever achieved such a feat. Was the ancestor of the Bai family a peerless monstrosity? Had he opened three hundred and sixty apertures? Had he forged his body more than thirty-six times? Neither! Yet he had reached such an astonishing level; the boost from the yang aperture was definitely far from trivial. Of course, up until now, Su Yu had only ever opened a small fraction of the yang aperture, never experiencing what it was like when fully unsealed. He had not dared, for once opened without the yin aperture, it could not be shut and would remain perpetually active! Yet at this moment, Su Yu realized an intriguing point: death qi... was an endless resource! The death qi inside his body was constantly replenishing. In that case, as his yang aperture devoured power continuously, would the yang aperture eventually suck all the death qi dry, or would the death qi completely gorge the yang aperture? Was the yang aperture more formidable, or was the death qi more overpowering? Su Yu grinned! What a fascinating question! It was still too early to open the yin aperture, but Su Yu was in no rush. By slaughtering more Civilization Masters this time—the Civilization Masters of the foreign races—he would naturally acquire a massive number of divine aperture locations. He was in no hurry. As a living dead man, what did he have to be anxious about? The yang aperture opened wider and wider. Inside his body, death qi poured in without cessation. Su Yu only felt his own strength expanding continuously. Incredibly powerful! The power of that yang aperture was vastly greater than before. *** Just as Su Yu was experimenting. At this moment, in Xinghong Ancient City. Beneath the passage. Inside a colossal world, within a palace boiling with death qi, Sovereign Xingyue was jolted awake! Inside her body, death qi churned violently. It was draining away continuously! More and more of it! A conduit, an invisible passage traversing worlds, was channeling the death qi out of her body in ever-increasing torrents. Someone, like a bottomless abyss, was devouring death qi relentlessly. The scale of this consumption was astounding! Xingyue was thoroughly alarmed. Rising, she vanished instantly from her spot. The next moment, she appeared beneath the passage and demanded in a heavy voice, "Where is Su Yu?" She looked toward the city. Where was Su Yu? Xinghong ignored her. He kept his eyes closed. As if sensing something, Xinghong suddenly opened his eyes. "You... your death qi is fluctuating rather violently." "Where is Su Yu?" Xingyue said coldly, "Where is he? He isn't in the All-Heavens Battlefield. Where did he go?" Damn it! What on earth was he doing? He was absorbing death qi with insane frenzy at a terrifying pace. Xingyue had no idea what he was up to. Xinghong was also somewhat surprised. What was Su Yu doing? That kid seemed to be devouring death qi like mad. Could he be using that technique to reverse his apertures? Why be so wasteful? Are you that desperate for death qi? Reversing a modest amount should be enough. You have no way of severing the channel entirely; the death qi flows endlessly. Did you actually think you could suck a death spirit sovereign dry? What a joke! She was an Invincible, while you are barely getting started! If you were this capable... had I known earlier, I would have gone out for a stroll a bit longer! Xinghong paid no heed to Xingyue, but suddenly, the stone statue shifted. Xingyue froze. Xinghong had actually stepped away from the passage. At that moment, massive amounts of death qi surged toward the stone statue. Xinghong uttered no sound, yet that death qi vanished instantly. Xingyue was dumbfounded! "You... do you want to kill him?" Otherwise, why would you redirect your death qi onto Su Yu as well?! The stone statue ignored her. *Let me test it out.* *That kid is remarkably capable!* *Since you're devouring the death qi she sends with such insane vigor, I might as well throw some of mine your way too. Does this brat feel he has too little death qi?* *** At this moment, Su Yu's physical body jolted slightly. Even more death qi came flooding in! Su Yu's mind stirred. *Did the stone statue do this?* *Whatever!* *What do I have to fear?!* Right now, his yang aperture had turned completely pitch-black as boundless death qi poured inside. The yang aperture possessed the trait of continuous absorption, as though determined to drain Su Yu completely dry. Yet inside Su Yu's body, the death qi seemed to have locked horns with the yang aperture! Who was afraid of whom?! Sovereign Xingyue poured death qi in relentlessly. She refused to believe that an exalted death spirit sovereign like herself could not handle a mere Su Yu. *You want to convert it, do you?* *You want to neutralize it, do you?* *Let's see how long you can keep neutralizing it!* *Trying to pick a fight with me?!* So long as the death qi did not dissipate, she could not continuously pump it in; she could only transmit it according to the established rules. But since Su Yu was continuously consuming and counteracting it himself, she had no qualms about increasing the dosage! The yang aperture and the death qi clashed head-on! Meanwhile, Su Yu was experiencing an overwhelming sensation of sheer power. His yang aperture was not yet completely unsealed, but a large portion of it had opened, absorbing death qi at an astonishing speed. Su Yu's three hundred and sixty apertures had fused into nine, and at this moment, these nine apertures encircled the yang aperture like ten dark moons. All of them were black! From within the nine apertures, death qi poured steadily toward the central yang aperture, forming a complete, unified system between the yang aperture and the nine major apertures. Su Yu felt his physical body growing stronger and stronger by the second! Even that was not all; when the nine apertures and the yang aperture showed faint signs of fusing, the unleashed power grew even more terrifying! Su Yu pondered: if he fully opened his yang aperture while possessing a physical body forged sixty-two times, just how strong would he become? This yang aperture was continuously accumulating power! Incredible! "Old Master Bai..." A figure suddenly crossed Su Yu's mind! Bai Feng's grandfather! He had certainly opened his yang aperture completely, but right now, he was probably on the verge of being drained to death. That man... was the perfect candidate to become an ancient city resident! Of course, the prerequisite was knowing the aperture reversal technique. Otherwise, with too much death qi, he would perish on the spot, unable to absorb it into the yang aperture. *If he transforms into a resident, masters the aperture reversal technique, and opens his yang aperture, the yang aperture's drawback will be resolved, completely unleashing his combat prowess!* Su Yu thought to himself, though the only risk was whether the death spirit converting him would be strong enough—or if it would be sucked dry instead! *I should be fine, right?* *I ought to be fine!* The one converting him was a death spirit sovereign. At this moment, Su Yu felt immense gratitude toward Xingyue. Fortunately, it was her; had it been an ordinary Sun Moon death spirit subjected to this kind of devouring, wouldn't it have been sucked dry on the spot? That would have been a terrible shame! With these thoughts, Su Yu continued cultivating, forging his body, opening his yang aperture, and absorbing that death qi. In any case, it was inexhaustible, so he might as well accumulate plenty of it first. As the yang aperture stored immense power, his physical body would grow stronger. If he consumed sixth-stage Sun Moon blood essence and fully unsealed the yang aperture, he might even be able to swallow eighth-stage Sun Moon blood essence. By that time, with an Invincible supplying him with endless death qi, he would possess the strength to fight anyone. Moduona? Those fellows had ancient emperors possessing them? Heh, I have one too—I'm possessed by a death spirit sovereign! Why should I fear you? Bring it on! If your bodies can take it, so can mine. My physical body is definitely not weaker than yours. If your ancient emperor possession is powerful, my death spirit sovereign possession is just as formidable. Who fears whom?! If Teacher Liu cannot lure him out, then I will! If even an unrivaled genius like me fails to draw him out, then that traitorous Invincible can simply wait to die as we attain the Dao one by one, investigate everyone, and finish him off. *** Su Yu felt delighted with himself, marveling at his own whimsical method. Meanwhile, in the ancient city, Xinghong was dumbfounded. *Still absorbing?!* *Holy crap!* *You're still draining Xingyue?!* *I already transferred more than half of my own death qi over to you, yet you still haven't had enough?!* Down in the passage, Sovereign Xingyue was equally shaken. *Can I... can I truly convert this guy?* *Forget it!* *I'll keep pumping it in! I'll make you regret this yourself!* Xinghong sneakily redirected all of his death qi toward Su Yu as well. Nothing went wrong! Su Yu seemed completely unbothered! He was still continuously devouring Xingyue's death qi. Xinghong stood frozen in disbelief. *Even this works?!* *Fuck!* *This is actually possible?!* *Damn it all, I underestimated this brat in the past. I was always worried he wouldn't be able to convert it, terrified that if I stayed away for too long, he would die.* *Yet...* *What is this situation?!* Xinghong stretched his limbs and suddenly looked toward Xingyue. "Don't cause trouble for me. I'm going out to take a look, you hear?" Xingyue stared at him blankly. Ignoring her, Xinghong vanished from the spot. *I'm going out to roam free... cough, to visit some old friends!* *How liberating!* There was no death qi burdening him at all. That madman Su Yu was doing who-knew-what, absorbing death qi with insane ferocity. Even after Xinghong left the ancient city, he didn't sense the slightest leak of death qi. Bizarre! In a flash, within moments, he appeared in the sky above another ancient city. Inside Tianmie Ancient City. Tianmie froze, opened his eyes, and rubbed them. *Am I seeing a ghost?* He actually rubbed his eyes. Above, Xinghong smiled. "Tianmie, the outside world has changed so much. It's truly beautiful. I'm going to take a look around. You... go ahead and stay put!" "Xinghong..." The figure was gone! Xinghong had vanished. Tianmie's eyes went wide. *Holy shit!* He came? And he left? His true body actually came here! What in the world—where was the death qi?! Without someone to bear the death qi, they could not leave; otherwise, the passage would be forcibly breached. Where had that death qi gone? For stone statues like them, stepping away for a fleeting moment was fine, leaving the city lord and residents to bear the burden. But with the death qi so ferocious, the entire city might be wiped out in three to five seconds! Yet for Xinghong to travel from his city to this one must have taken at least a little while, right? And he was actually planning to roam elsewhere! "No... Su Yu... that's right, Su Yu..." At that moment, Tianmie seemed to go mad. Suddenly, he threw a punch. With a thunderous boom, a fist slammed into the back of Tianhe's head in the front hall, nearly shattering him entirely! "What the... fuck!" What happened? Tianhe collapsed into unconsciousness! At this moment, he was thoroughly devastated. Inside the city, nobody could knock him unconscious with a single blow except that stone statue! What was this about?! A tale of the ages! Was he the first city lord ever to be knocked unconscious by his own stone statue?! Tianmie glared down at the unconscious Tianhe, roaring in utter fury, "Why didn't you yield your seat to Su Yu?!" "..." In his daze, Tianhe faintly heard those words. His mind spun. *What is going on?* *Whom did I ever offend?!* *** On that day, a stone statue wandered the ends of the earth, unseen by anyone. In the Sea of Stars. Xinghong stepped into the ancient city that Su Yu had nearly encountered that day, smiling. "Old brother, still sleeping?" Inside the city, the stone statue that had once warned against recklessly reversing death qi opened its eyes. It observed Xinghong for a moment, then closed them again, speaking in an ancient, hoarse voice: "Did you change city lords? Do not act recklessly. The death qi is too heavy; it might be the person I saw last time... Reversing death qi carries risks—if the death qi becomes too overwhelming, beware of opening another passage!" Xinghong shuddered slightly and nodded. "Understood!" Pausing, he asked hesitantly, "Can I go take a look at the Human Realm?" "No. Do not bring a death qi passage into the Human Realm!" "My city lord is in the Human Realm!" The ancient stone statue fell silent for a moment before speaking: "Get him back as soon as possible. And do not wander about recklessly yourself!" "Understood!" Xinghong nodded and vanished in an instant. The ancient stone statue glanced in the direction of his departure, shook its head, and returned to slumber. *Idiotic Xinghong with nothing better to do. Roam all you want, but if you slip up and a death qi passage opens in the Human Realm, as the guardian connected to your city lord... you can go guard the passage in the Human Realm yourself!* *If a passage to the Human Realm truly opens, with the ancient emperors of humanity... heh, within the Human Realm's death spirit world, you can expect to be beaten half to death every single day!* *Foolish Xinghong!* *Actually letting your city lord run off to the Human Realm. Who knows what massive trouble this will stir up!* *Time to sleep. Leave him be!*