Haze

The Heaven Hunting Pavilion's sudden offer of cooperation came as a slight surprise to Su Yu. Mulling it over, another thought occurred to him. He walked to the rear hall. Xinghong opened his eyes; no longer deep in slumber, he did not act aloof upon seeing Su Yu, asking directly, "You have a question?" Su Yu nodded. "I was wondering—if I go to the Star Residence Mansion, it will stay open for a month. During that month, the sacred cities won't have a castellan to bear the death qi. Will you lords feel any pressure?" Xinghong said flatly, "You worry too much. When the All-Heavens Battlefield is sealed off, there are almost never castellans. For a short time, the guardians can easily bear it." It was nowhere near that dire! Su Yu was useful, but that hardly meant the ancient cities were doomed without him. Su Yu nodded, then added, "There's one more thing. I heard that once I enter the Star Residence Mansion, the death qi channel will be cut off. If that happens, I'll miss Monarch Xingyue terribly!" Su Yu sighed. "My yang aperture is fully open now. Without Monarch Xingyue constantly supplying me with death qi, my yang aperture will keep draining my origin qi, and it'll be hard for me to sustain that for long." How terrifying! I can't bear to be parted from Xingyue. She is my beloved! Without her, I'll have to satisfy the yang aperture myself, feeding it continuous energy just like Forefather Bai. How am I supposed to fight? What if my yang aperture sucks me dry in the middle of a battle? What then? That's a grave problem! Without waiting for Xinghong to speak, Su Yu quickly asked, "My Lord, is there any way I can carry Xingyue with me wherever I go?" She's a massive portable power bank! Without Xingyue, I'll suffer terribly. "Su Yu!" A bloodcurdling screech echoed through the passage. Xinghong's massive stone statue trembled violently. Down below, a monarch could no longer stomach the provocation and went wild, battering the passage. She wanted to break out and slaughter Su Yu! This was pushing a person too far—no, pushing a dead spirit too far! No dead spirit had ever been humiliated like this! Su Yu actually wanted to carry her around with him! Was that something a human would say? Was he even human? She, Xingyue, a monarch of the Necropolis Realm, an Invincible in the Realm of the Living, an overlord who held sway over an entire territory! And today, a mere Su Yu was frantically heaping humiliation upon her. She was about to explode! Su Yu shook his head helplessly as he watched the stone statue shuddering, jolting up and down. "My Lord, can't you seal the channel off completely?" She heard me again! What a pain! Xinghong gave him a look. You make it sound like it's my fault, when it was you who had the bright idea of strapping Xingyue to your belt. In all the countless years I've lived, I've never heard of such a notion. It was no surprise Xingyue was livid. Don't treat a dead spirit like a nonentity! She was an Invincible after all, and possessed intellect. This was far too provocative. Su Yu, however, said in all seriousness, "My Lord, I'm completely serious. Is there a way? Otherwise, if the death qi channel is severed, it'll cause trouble on my end, and I might truly be unable to enter the Star Residence Mansion." Seeing that Xingyue was still stomping with fury and pounding against the passage, Su Yu said testily, "Monarch, it's useless for you to come out. I haven't broken any rules, so you'd only be courting death! Besides, if I go to the Star Residence Mansion, you'll at least get a month of peace. If I really can't go in, I'll spend the whole month draining you like crazy. You wouldn't want that either, would you, my Lord?" "..." Xingyue went silent. Su Yu continued, "Does Monarch Xingyue have any way to help me solve this problem? Otherwise, with my yang aperture open, I can only keep draining you. Draining, mind you, not reversing! If I reverse the qi, you still have hope of finding life in death and being turned back into a living being by me. But if I drain you dry, you'll truly be dead." Hurry up and help me think of a solution! Stop throwing a fit! In the passage, Xingyue felt consumed by grief and indignation. Su Yu, a subordinate converted by her own hands, was now threatening her! And he was demanding that she find a way to solve his problem, or else he would drain her to death! I... Xingyue, have disgraced every dead spirit in the entire Necropolis Realm! Throughout all eternity, I might be the first monarch ever threatened by a living being turned into a living dead. What utter humiliation! Xingyue roared inwardly! After raging internally for a moment, her icy voice soon drifted up. "You could carry more treasures that replenish origin qi..." Su Yu said discontentedly, "That won't do. It treats the symptom, not the root cause!" "..." Xingyue screamed and cursed internally in a frenzy. A moment later, she offered another suggestion. "Then you... could go and return quickly, avoiding clashes with others. I believe it is possible to leave the Star Residence Mansion early!" "That won't work either. If I don't go, fine, but if I do, I must reap ample benefits." With that, Su Yu grumbled, "Monarch, your suggestions have zero constructive value!" Fuck! Xingyue went wild with rage. This was intolerable! Xinghong unleashed his aura to suppress the passage, casting an annoyed glance at Su Yu. Stop provoking this monarch—don't you have anything better to do? If you really drive Xingyue into an uncontrolled frenzy, I can suppress it, but the dead spirit passage below will riot. I don't want a monarch pounding on the channel endlessly. Su Yu was quite helpless himself. He had noticed that these dead spirits seemed remarkably easy to rile up. Hetu over at Hongmeng City had been the same! Was it because dead spirits possessed flawed intellects? There had to be some defect. Otherwise, how could an Invincible fly into a rage over a single sentence? Take the Invincibles among the myriad races—some of them wouldn't get angry even if you cursed them for a year straight, and if they did show anger, it was often part of some scheme. For instance, the Demon King who had come looking for trouble last time: Su Yu had hurled insults at him, and the fellow hadn't even uttered a squeak, simply biding his time to make trouble for the Blood Fire Demon race. And someone like King Dazhou—even if you cursed him right to his face, unless he wanted to kill you, he could act entirely as though he hadn't heard a word. With that in mind, Su Yu refrained from provoking Xingyue further and said earnestly, "Lords, please help me think of a way! Monarch Xingyue, don't be angry; fury harms the body! As things stand, I'm your subordinate now. We're on the same side, so why sweat the small stuff?" "..." Xingyue wore a frigid expression and said nothing, not that Su Yu could see her anyway. "Has Monarch Xingyue ever thought about returning to life?" Su Yu smiled. "I heard that once I become powerful enough, I can reverse death qi. If I can reverse it faster than the death qi you generate, I'll have a chance of turning you back into a living being. You don't need to treat me with constant hostility, my Lord. If I truly grow strong, you can be resurrected." Xingyue dismissed it out of hand, saying coldly, "By the time you become that strong, this seat will have already been drained to death by you!" Who are you trying to fool! Su Yu was rendered speechless. That actually made a lot of sense. By the time he reached that level, Xingyue might genuinely have been drained to death by him. Forget it, set that aside. Still, the problem desperately needed a solution. Su Yu had opened many apertures and possessed abundant origin qi, so he could barely satisfy the yang aperture's consumption, but without a source of death qi, not only would the drain be immense, but in a prolonged battle... well, an enemy wouldn't even need to kill him. Prolonging the fight alone would allow Su Yu's own yang aperture to suck him dry. There was a way to treat the root cause: open the yin aperture! Yet according to Su Yu's deductions, opening the yin aperture required perfecting at least 360 divine apertures. As of now, he had only opened 216, leaving 144 to go—far from enough. Blood essence... was something he could work on. Civilization Master blood essence was actually difficult to obtain. His request to Zhan Wushuang had been made offhandedly; the fellow might not actually procure any for him. If that failed, perhaps he could inquire with the Heaven Hunting Pavilion. They might possess some blood essence he needed. Nowadays, the golden manual didn't seem to be as helpful to Su Yu as before, and he had rarely activated it of late. While he was pondering this, Xinghong spoke up: "If there really is no other way, you can consult the Boss to see if he can temporarily seal your yang aperture! Now that it is open, you have no way to close it yourself. The Boss has harmonized with the Great Dao; perhaps he can seal it for you. I cannot. I am too unfamiliar with the yang aperture, and forcibly sealing it might cause complications." He could technically seal it, but he feared that doing so might kill Su Yu in the process. Su Yu reflected and found the suggestion reasonable. If there was no way to open the yin aperture, he could ask the Half-Emperor to seal it, though he didn't know if it would work. Once sealed, the worst that could happen was that he simply wouldn't use his yang aperture for the time being. Su Yu said further, "There is another issue. If I enter, everyone will probably want to kill me because my death qi is so dense. My only option is to reverse the death qi and revert to a living being! But once I do that, my name will likely appear on the Heaven Hunting Ranking, and everyone will know that Su Yu has returned to life. What should I do then?" A massive headache! Xinghong pondered for a moment before saying, "Negotiate with the Heaven Hunting Pavilion! They control the Heaven Hunting Ranking. The ranking itself seems to have developed an issue—it might even have entered dormancy, unable to actively capture auras and requiring the pavilion to search manually. As long as you get the Heaven Hunting Pavilion to remove your aura, your name won't appear!" There was indeed an issue with the Heaven Hunting Ranking! Otherwise, back in the ancient era, the pavilion never needed to collect auras at all; it would automatically register the auras of peerless geniuses and experts across the heavens and place them on the list. It wasn't like now, where the little fur ball still hadn't appeared on the ranking because its aura had never been gathered. Su Yu frowned. He wasn't fond of this method. He hesitated, then asked, "I don't want the Heaven Hunting Pavilion to know. My Lord, is there any other way?" "As for that... you'll have to ask the Boss. He knows far more about the ancient era than I do!" Su Yu grumbled internally. Don't you know anything? I used to think you were omnipotent, but now it feels like you barely know much at all. Could your memories be sealed or something? "Fine then!" Su Yu felt helpless. He hadn't gotten a single useful piece of information from the two of them. Xinghong probably also sensed that he hadn't been very helpful, so he quickly added, "From what I see, your physical body casting is nearing its peak, yet your origin qi transformation is somewhat flawed. The transformation is incomplete, as though you've only transformed a portion of your apertures. Still, your transformation medium and foundation are quite high-grade. Was it founded on the Xia family's saber qi?" "Yes!" Xinghong continued promptly, "This saber qi is close to the Eternal Realm! If you wish to transform the rest of your apertures, you'd best find someone of comparable strength to help you complete it. For your first transformation, it's best to use power of that level across all of them so as to thoroughly complete the first turn!" Su Yu nodded. Xinghong added, "Your transformation appears to be based on cultivation arts. The Xia family's saber qi completed the transformation of 144 apertures for you, so the other apertures had best follow suit. You might need powerhouses from great races like the Gods, Demons, Immortals, and Dragons to provide pure seed power to help you finish the first turn!" Su Yu nodded again, pleasantly surprised. Lord Xinghong wasn't bad after all; his discernment was quite sharp! Su Yu had calculated it himself: completing the first turn for all his apertures would require the aid of powerhouses from at least seven or eight major races, because the arts governing his apertures encompassed techniques from various clans. Xia Longwu's saber qi had only helped him transform 144 apertures, which corresponded to the circulation route of the Xia family's Heaven-Cleaving Blade. Xinghong let out a quiet sigh of relief. You brat, did you dare look down on me? Now you see that an expert is an expert! Xinghong quickly continued, "Transforming yourself like this is not only troublesome, but also ill-advised! You run too many arts, and the circulation routes are too tangled. Beware of clashes! Since you've opened the Heavenly Cycle apertures, you should ideally use the Method of the Heavenly Cycle to circulate them, turning all your power into Heavenly Cycle power..." "Method of the Heavenly Cycle?" Su Yu was stunned. Xinghong replied nonchalantly, "Yes, the Method of the Heavenly Cycle! Your current cultivation arts are too varied and chaotic! They don't constitute a coherent system at all—just a jumble. Even your strength cannot be applied in its entirety!" "You aren't the only one to have opened the Heavenly Cycle apertures. In the ancient era, did the geniuses who opened them piece together such messy techniques?" In truth, Su Yu's opening of the Heavenly Cycle apertures was a massive anomaly. How had he opened them? It should have been impossible! In this era, locating all 360 apertures was outright impossible. For Su Yu to open the Heavenly Cycle apertures in this age was countless times harder than in ancient times, because there was simply no cultivation art for it. A person without an art who nonetheless opened the Heavenly Cycle apertures—that was the greatest anomaly of all! Of course, Xinghong could see that he had stitched it together using countless different cultivation arts. But some of those arts didn't even belong to the human race. How had Su Yu managed to modify them, adapting them into arts suitable for humans? Several people had noticed this puzzle, yet none had voiced it. As for attributing it to extraordinary talent—that was out of the question. Unless Su Yu had dissected tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of specimens from each race, understanding them inside and out, it would be virtually impossible to adapt their cultivation arts for humans. Cultivation arts, after all, still shared certain universal principles. Su Yu felt somewhat dazed, muttering, "Right... the Method of the Heavenly Cycle! Since people could open the Heavenly Cycle apertures in the ancient era, that means someone possessed the Method of the Heavenly Cycle; otherwise, they couldn't have opened them! My Lord, such a cultivation art truly exists, doesn't it?" "Naturally!" "Do you know it, My Lord?" "I do not!" Xinghong answered with utter composure. Nonsense, of course I don't know it. He quickly added, "However, I suspect it might exist within the Star Residence Mansion! That place was once gloriously prosperous, and such arts may well be preserved there. Of course, you might not find it; even if it's there, it's likely on the highest floors." Su Yu was speechless. Then wasn't that just useless banter? Still, he didn't fret too much, soon smiling as he said, "No matter, My Lord. I believe that since predecessors could create cultivation arts, so can I! Having learned so many arts and knowing where every aperture lies, I can just keep testing circulation paths!" "Continuously recombining, ordering, and circulating 360 apertures... Let me see, there should be..." Su Yu did the math and gave a dry laugh. "Not that many combinations, really—just 360 factorial..." Calculated out, that number would take Su Yu an entire day just to write down—an astronomical figure of sheer terror. Su Yu gave a sheepish chuckle. Forget it. If he deduced it on his own by assigning one combination to every single human being, the entire human race wouldn't even be enough—they could all die off before deriving it. Of course, in practice, no one would be so foolish. Deducing a technique didn't mean randomly reshuffling apertures; aperture combinations followed discernable rules. Su Yu had deduced arts before and knew that the process often possessed a heavy underlying order. Xinghong said impassively, "Deriving it yourself? Highly doubtful. You should try searching for the ancient Method of the Heavenly Cycle. Your Heavenly Cycle apertures are best transformed as a single whole; otherwise, transforming one piece here and another there makes it hard to build a unified system. Later on, when you truly need to merge your apertures into one, the clashing forces will be immense! At that stage, advancing to the Sun Moon Realm will become immensely difficult unless you abandon some of those apertures." Su Yu nodded. This was indeed a real problem. The Method of the Heavenly Cycle... In that case, he truly had to make a trip to the Star Residence Mansion. Su Yu asked, "My Lord, does it definitely exist in the Star Residence Mansion?" "Not necessarily, but it is possible." Xinghong smiled faintly. "If it isn't in the Star Residence Mansion, then across the myriad realms, it would only be found within the territory of your human race! In the ancient era, opening the Heavenly Cycle apertures was almost an exclusive human trait. Of course, peerless geniuses among the Gods, Demons, and Immortals had achieved it as well, though... I am not entirely clear on the specifics. The apertures of each race differ, and their methods of opening them differ as well. Even if you find one, a human art would be best; one from the other races could only serve as a reference." Su Yu nodded, muttering, "I wonder if any such genius perished inside the Star Residence Mansion. If their corpse is still around, that would be wonderful!" After all, if a corpse remained, it wouldn't even matter if it belonged to another race—as long as blood essence was intact! The manual might be able to deduce the art, and that would be enough. Of course, the corpse couldn't be too powerful. Su Yu could only hope to stumble upon the remains of an ancient genius who had opened the Heavenly Cycle apertures. The Method of the Heavenly Cycle wasn't a basic art, but what if a genius who opened the apertures had converted it into their foundational technique? And if not, extracting their memories would work too! Xinghong said flatly, "Don't pin your hopes on a corpse. A genius who truly opened the Heavenly Cycle apertures wouldn't die easily. Even if they did perish, they might currently reside in the Necropolis Realm." Su Yu froze for a moment, then blurted out, "My Lord, can the living enter the Necropolis Realm?" "Hm?" Su Yu's eyes gleamed. "Well... from what you're saying, many powerhouses were actually revived in the Necropolis Realm. In that case, shouldn't they retain some memories? If there's a genius there who opened the Heavenly Cycle apertures..." Right at that moment, Xingyue let out a cold snort from below. "Even if there are, they are not for you to covet!" Su Yu instantly beamed. "Monarch Xingyue, I'm simply very curious about the Necropolis Realm! Sooner or later, I'll be your subordinate, fighting across the realms at your side. I'm just curious—what is the Necropolis Realm actually like? Are there many powerhouses there? Is it just you dead spirit monarchs, or are there even more?" At this moment, a sudden curiosity about the Necropolis Realm gripped him. It seemed none of the ancient Invincibles who died had left corpses behind—had they all turned into dead spirits? Were they all in the Necropolis Realm? That would be horrifying! Legend had it there were Emperors in the ancient era; if those Emperors had died, were they in the Necropolis Realm as well? Good grief! Before thinking about it, it didn't seem like much, but once he did, it was genuinely terrifying! Xingyue ignored him. Su Yu grinned shamelessly. "Monarch, don't be like that, we're on the same team! You're practically my direct superior. I'm really curious: is the Necropolis Realm vast? Are there many powerhouses? Are you the top boss in the Necropolis Realm? I noticed that Flame Demon didn't seem to respect you much, which was quite out of line. That Flame Demon is an ancient demon; I wonder which race you belonged to, My Lord? If you were human in life, that makes us even closer kin!" Xingyue continued to ignore him. Xinghong, however, gave a faint smile. "The Necropolis Realm... is vast, exceedingly vast! Powerhouses are many, very many! Of course, most of them are slumbering, or in a sealed state without concepts of time or space. Some simply dwell within the Dead Spirit Heavenly River. Dead spirit monarchs like Xingyue have recovered a portion of their memories, which is why they possess intellect and ambitions of hegemony. Weaker dead spirits have no intellect at all, wandering aimlessly or standing motionless. And those who were even stronger than Xingyue in life find it all the harder to recover their memories, remaining muddled and chaotic..." Su Yu caught on! In astonishment, he said, "So you mean dead spirits like Monarch Xingyue are just the middle tier—just strong enough to recover some memories, but half-baked and incapable of recovering them all? The weak can't do it, the truly powerful haven't yet, so 'when the tiger is away from the mountain, the monkey reigns as king'?" That was precisely the gist! But Su Yu had likely provoked Xingyue once more. Sure enough, the next instant, the passage shook violently as an enraged roar reverberated through heaven and earth. Xingyue was driven mad with fury! Su Yu had gone way too far! She swore she would slaughter this bastard—this was intolerable! Xinghong continued to suppress the channel, chuckling. "You could put it that way. When truly supreme powerhouses perish, it is actually exceedingly difficult for them to become dead spirits. Even if guided into the Dead Spirit Heavenly River, turning into an active dead spirit is tough! When a dead spirit lacks consciousness, knowing nothing like a blank sheet of paper, it is no different from a mere corpse! Xingyue and her peers were quite fortunate. They are by no means weak, but through luck, they recovered fragments of memory and gained awareness, which drew them to the vicinity of this passage in an attempt to return to the Realm of the Living." Su Yu understood! The Necropolis Realm might be terrifyingly powerful, but when supreme experts perished and were received into it, they were like puppets without consciousness. No matter how strong or numerous puppets were, without consciousness, they were not truly terrifying. Understanding dawned on Su Yu, and he remarked with emotion, "So even in death, one shouldn't be too strong! Otherwise, being too powerful prevents memory recovery, leaving one as a puppet! Even dying requires dying at just the right level! Too weak won't do, too strong won't do—even being a dead spirit is hard work!" "You could say so. For instance, most of the dead spirits you killed previously had no consciousness at all. If you killed them, they simply died. They only attacked you by following certain ancient rules, without harboring any thoughts of their own. Only upon reaching the ninth tier of the Sun Moon Realm might they recover a sliver of memory." Su Yu gave another sigh of wonder and smiled. "In that case, Monarch Xingyue died just right—an exquisite death! Congratulations, congratulations!" Fuck! At this point, Xingyue couldn't even summon the rage to scream. She had realized that the angrier she became, the more Su Yu provoked her. She desperately wanted to slaughter this bastard! Su Yu chuckled inwardly. He loved nothing more than seeing people want to beat him to death yet being utterly incapable of doing so. It was thoroughly exhilarating! This conversation with Xinghong had enlightened Su Yu on many matters and given him a clearer idea of his next steps—such as seeking the Method of the Heavenly Cycle, or, if that failed, venturing into the Necropolis Realm to have a heart-to-heart with someone who had opened the Heavenly Cycle apertures. Of course, he'd shelf that idea for now; things hadn't come to that yet. If he went into the Necropolis Realm right now, Xingyue would probably hack him into eight pieces! ... Su Yu walked out from the rear hall. By this point, he had completed sixty-nine body castings. With just three more castings, he would finish his body tempering method and step into the Lingyun Realm. The issue with the yang aperture still had to be resolved. Furthermore... Forefather Bai, Bai Feng's grandfather—perhaps he could get in touch with him. After all, he counted as one of their own. Having taken control of several ancient cities, Su Yu could potentially have Old Master Bai take up a castellan post. Of course, that required turning into a living dead, but right now, the old man was in a worse state than the living dead, likely immobilized. As for neutralizing the yang aperture, that was a hopeless dream. Even Su Yu hadn't figured it out, let alone Old Master Bai. Even if Su Yu found the yin aperture, it would probably require opening 360 divine apertures. The old man was well advanced in years; he might perish before ever getting close to opening them all. In that case, turning into a living dead was far preferable—at least he would gain some freedom and live longer. "I should probably get in touch with Teacher!" Su Yu thought. Ideally, Bai Feng could bring his grandfather over to be converted into a living dead. Being a living dead wasn't so bad! At the very least, with his yang aperture fully open, Old Master Bai's combat power would soar. Still, the old man was only in the Shanhai Realm; even with a massive boost, he would likely only match the Sun Moon Realm. Su Yu didn't think much of that now, as he could already battle Sun Moon powerhouses himself. As he walked outside, Su Yu contacted the Heaven Hunting Pavilion. Currently, he was still a white mask; the Xuanjia mask was still in Nan Wujiang's possession. Taking out the Heaven Hunting manual, Su Yu asked, "I want to purchase a batch of blood essence. Can you supply it?" "What kind of blood essence do you require?" "Civilization Masters. I need essence from all major strong races. It doesn't need to be too strong—Tengkong Realm or higher will do!" "Civilization Masters..." The Heaven Hunting Pavilion was clearly contemplating or checking their inventory. After a short pause, a reply arrived: "Civilization Masters across the various races are few in number and rarely take the field. We have some from the human race. Does Elder require them?" "Screw your head off!" Su Yu was exasperated. Get lost! The Heaven Hunting Pavilion truly wasn't anything good! "Aside from the human race, do you have none from the other races?" "We have some. However, the Division Head just gave orders: if you want them, you may have them, but we can only negotiate after our cooperation is finalized." To hell with that! Su Yu snorted. It seemed they were trying to gain leverage over him. An order from the Head of the Heaven Division? Wasn't he in slumber? It seemed he truly had emerged and was now taking charge of the Heaven Hunting Pavilion. There were far too many traitors and double agents in the Heaven Hunting Pavilion. It definitely needed a purge! "We can discuss cooperation, but give me a batch of blood essence first—free of charge. Trying to squeeze me with this is pointless. I'm an Elder of the Heaven Hunting Pavilion after all, and you won't show me even a shred of face? Are you from the Yellow Division? Do you know the Head of the Yellow Division? Zhu Tianfang is my relative! Do you know Huangjia? Kongkong is an old friend of mine, and I have plenty of friends inside the Yellow Division. Speak with some respect, or be careful I don't have your direct-line Elder give you trouble!" Su Yu messed with them for a bit. Scared yet? The Heaven Hunting Pavilion was already riddled like a sieve, yet you dare put on airs with me? How the Heaven Hunting Pavilion reacted at that moment, Su Yu had no idea. If they wouldn't give it, fine; he would figure out another way. The matter of the yang aperture had to be resolved. Without solving it, he couldn't easily leave the ancient cities. Without Xingyue's support, he would be in deep sorrow, so he absolutely had to keep Xingyue well protected. ... Just as Su Yu was scheming to resolve his yang aperture dilemma... The Human Realm. The Eastern Rift Valley. No news had arrived before, yet today, a piece of news suddenly spread like wildfire. In this upcoming opening of the Star Residence Mansion, a Nine-Leaved Heavenly Lotus was said to appear on the seventh floor! The human race had never ascended to the seventh floor, so they knew nothing of conditions there, nor did they even know what the Nine-Leaved Heavenly Lotus was. However, word quickly spread: it was a supreme treasure with the potential to help an Invincible advance to Half-Emperor! A genuine peerless treasure! It was a treasure capable of forcibly strengthening the past and future incarnations, pushing the three incarnations to a pinnacle to step into the Half-Emperor realm. Humanity's foremost powerhouse, King Daqin, was reputed to rival a Half-Emperor. But that was merely a reputation! In past years, he, King Daxia, and King Dazhou had joined forces only to fight a Half-Emperor to a standstill, achieving what amounted to a draw without gaining the slightest upper hand. In this regard, the human race lacked pinnacle might. A single Half-Emperor could face seven or eight Invincibles; even if unable to kill them, they could keep them completely tied down. In a one-on-one confrontation, an Invincible could barely escape from a Half-Emperor's grasp—just like how Old Turtle had nearly crushed the Dragon Emperor to death. Whereas if King Daqin truly wanted to kill an Invincible, it was nowhere near as simple. He lacked sufficient restraining methods! The moment this news broke, the Human Realm was shaken to its core. ... In the Vanguard Camp. Qin Zhen, who had successfully attained Dao verification, looked toward King Daqin in shock. "Father, the seventh floor... the Nine-Leaved Heavenly Lotus! Is this news true?" King Daqin's brows knitted slightly! Only after a long while did he say, "Whoever leaked this news hardly harbored good intentions! Humanity had only just found a moment of peace. With this news out, the myriad races will undoubtedly target humanity once more, never allowing us to claim the Nine-Leaved Heavenly Lotus! It most likely wasn't leaked by the Gods or Demons—they would want nothing more than for us to remain in the dark while they quietly took it for themselves! Someone is trying to pull chestnuts from the fire. Nine times out of ten, it was leaked by the Heaven Hunting Pavilion!" Qin Zhen said agitatedly, "Father, regardless of who leaked it, since there is hope, we must fight for it! If Father truly becomes a Half-Emperor and unifies humanity, those fellows will no longer dare comply in public while defying in secret!" "You think too simply!" King Daqin shook his head. Having guarded the Eastern Rift Valley for centuries, how could he not understand the situation? In a grave voice, he said, "This is creating trouble for me! Can I become a Half-Emperor? Naturally I want to! And not just me—Old Zhou, Old Xia, Old Zhu... everyone wants to! My fear is that before the prize is even won, rifts will tear through humanity instead! We have only just settled down! Rather than that, I would prefer another race gain a Half-Emperor to heap even greater pressure onto humanity—ideally claimed by the Demon race's Blood Fire Demon King! If that happened, it would actually be a blessing!" "But..." Qin Zhen said unwillingly, "If Father truly succeeds, humanity might unite! With the Great Qin Prefecture leading the human race to fight the myriad races with one heart, it would be far better than letting someone else seize it!" "Ah, you are too young!" King Daqin shook his head and sighed. "This is no good thing. With this news out, I worry... Forget it, now that the word is out, we can only face it! The seventh floor... The bottom three floors are primarily for the Tengkong and Lingyun realms; the middle three floors are mainly for the Lingyun and Shanhai realms; and on the top three floors, it is difficult to even stand without Sun Moon strength! Is this a deliberate scheme to draw humanity's Sun Moon experts in? Or even draw Eternals to enter in person?" "I am willing to enter and seize this treasure for Father!" Qin Zhen declared solemnly. "Father, I am willing to enter the Star Residence Mansion!" "..." King Daqin felt a wave of bitterness. It was over—perhaps this was the very outcome the mastermind had desired. If even Qin Zhen reacted like this, the other great clans would likely be unable to restrain themselves. Would Zhu Tianfang go? What about Liu Wushen? What about the Zhou family? This opening of the Star Residence Mansion was going to bring massive trouble. The Nine-Leaved Heavenly Lotus... Whoever had cast this bait, was it a conspiracy, or did they simply wish to fish in troubled waters? King Daqin let out a long sigh. A Half-Emperor... Even if one became a Half-Emperor, would that really unify humanity? What wishful thinking! What humanity needed right now might not be a Half-Emperor, but something else entirely. As for himself... King Daqin gazed into the distance. Even if he truly reached the Half-Emperor Realm, what could he really do? Could he actually bring himself to slaughter those old friends of his? Right now, humanity had far greater need for an incomparably formidable powerhouse who was ruthless enough and held little personal attachment to the others! For instance... Su Yu? That fellow suddenly came to mind, but King Daqin shook his head just as quickly. No, Su Yu's feelings for humanity were not deep. He didn't understand those larger burdens; he was still too young, remembering only grudges and his own small family. It wasn't Su Yu's fault, but rather that in the course of his upbringing, he had never experienced certain things. He was not like himself! King Daqin sighed softly. "Troubled times indeed. The tribulation of the human race... is likely about to begin!" The expedition to the Star Residence Mansion had suddenly grown clouded with haze.