The Charm of a Top Student

Inside the special passage. Su Yu was anxious. At that moment, the heavens shifted and stars moved as portals disappeared one after another. The teleportation had begun! Yet Su Yu had not been able to see every route clearly. "Wait a little longer! Just wait a bit longer!" Su Yu cursed furiously. Could you not just wait for your grandfather for a damned second?! Damn it! With a hum, he felt weightless. At that instant, Su Yu realized what these portals were for—they were meant to protect them, shielding them from being torn apart by the tremendous forces of teleportation! But he did not want to leave yet! Fuck! He had not managed to clearly see the circulation paths of all 360 apertures, having only caught most of them. Of course, most of them was actually enough. Cultivation arts mainly hinged on the order in which the apertures were connected. With the majority connected, the remainder could be deduced without much difficulty. Still, Su Yu was irritated. *I haven't finished looking! What's your rush to teleport me?!* *Damn you!* Cursing inwardly, Su Yu quickly turned thoughts over in his head. *There must be a yin aperture diagram! Absolutely! What's more, the yin apertures should have their own circulation path as well. It's not the Five Elements Divine Art—that piece of trash only opens 180 divine apertures. There must be a heavenly cycle circulation method for the yin apertures too!* *Or... maybe there's only a single art: a Great Heavenly Cycle Method encompassing 720 apertures!* One thought after another flashed through Su Yu's mind. At this point, as far as Su Yu was concerned, whatever treasures lay inside the Star Residence Mansion held no interest for him! Boring! He had stumbled onto a massive secret—a monumental secret. *The Star Residence Mansion... is this damn place really just a mansion? Was it forged from a human body, or was it merely modeled after the human path of cultivation?* *No, no, no... nine levels... nine levels...* Su Yu muttered to himself, allowing the portal to carry him through space while he sank into thought. Why did the Star Residence Mansion have nine levels? Did that signify something? Nine... Cultivation realms had nine tiers, the Lingyun Realm had nine transformations, and the Eternal Realm had nine stages... If these special passages were modeled after the 360 origin apertures, then the nine levels of the Star Residence Mansion might conceal some secrets of their own. *No, the Star Residence Mansion is supposed to have been the headquarters of the Myriad Races Council, so it couldn't have been forged from a human body. But Xingyu, the one who built the Star Residence Mansion... If Xingyu was the ancient Human Sovereign, then when he constructed this place, he must have employed methods that foreign races could never comprehend!* *These are all secrets tied to the human race!* *In ancient times, they wouldn't have teleported like this, right? Back then, they probably entered through the main gate...* Thoughts surfaced one after another. Su Yu was, after all, a researcher. He was no brute. He had read an extraordinary number of texts, particularly when it came to cultivation arts. When it came to mastery of cultivation arts across the myriad realms, Su Yu felt very few could surpass him. At least beneath the Shanhai Realm, Su Yu had studied it to the utmost extreme. He had seen countless arts, experimented with countless arts, and experienced them firsthand. That was why he had instantly recognized the meaning behind the 360 special passages. From ancient times to the present, others might have noticed it, but Su Yu doubted anyone in this era had uncovered this secret. Within the portal, Su Yu was still in transit. He paid it no mind, not caring much as he muttered to himself and rapidly committed the operational routes of those portals to memory. Perhaps he would already be able to deduce the cultivation art. Of course, that would require continuous trial and error. As for which level he would land on, the first level was practically guaranteed. He was young, and his cultivation realm was not particularly high, so arriving on the first level was only natural. The first level held no real danger! The first level was meant for Tengkong and Lingyun cultivators; ordinary Shanhai cultivators would never be sent there. Su Yu, in truth, was still only in the Lingyun Realm. On the first level, Su Yu could walk around practically unchallenged. Though the first level had its own dangers, even Tengkong cultivators could survive, so Su Yu naturally could as well. Right then, Su Yu looked at the portal enveloping him. *This portal should correspond to the Zhongtan aperture... I wonder if circulating the Zhongtan aperture will have any effect?* As a researcher, once Su Yu understood the underlying logic, he could no longer hold back his curiosity. The next moment, Su Yu activated an aperture within his body. The Zhongtan aperture! As the aperture began to circulate, a massive surge of origin qi diffused outwards. Suddenly, the portal carrying Su Yu shuddered. Su Yu was somewhat surprised. There really was a connection? ... At that very moment, a cry of terror rang out from another traveler! "No... this... no—!" Suddenly, that person's passage collapsed. The portal protecting him shook violently before being shattered in an instant by the immense spatial pressure. His expression warped into pure unwillingness and disbelief! Why? The terrifying spatial suppression crushed him to powder in a heartbeat, erasing him completely without a trace! ... Outside the Star Residence Mansion. Teleportation had begun, leaving only the series of passages behind. Just as everyone began to breathe a sigh of relief, a black passage suddenly collapsed! "..." Silence! Absolute silence. At that moment, Invincibles from all directions craned their necks to stare at the collapsed passage, dumbfounded. What kind of joke was this?! How could that be?! This had never happened before! Truly, never in history had someone died right as teleportation began! It was impossible, unthinkable, utterly unbelievable! "No!" At that moment, someone roared in sheer fury! The Dao King! The Dao King was going mad—completely mad. Beside himself with rage, he shouted, "Who?! Who is plotting against me?! Just who is it?!" Impossible! Out of his thirteen slots, two had been snatched by Kongkong, and he had endured it. Yet now, of the remaining eleven slots, someone had died the instant teleportation began—and that person was a Sun Moon cultivator! No! Someone was definitely plotting against him! Yes, a Half-Emperor—some Half-Emperor had to be ambushing him from the shadows! The Dao King was wild with fury. Suddenly, his eyes turned bloodshot as he glared toward the Tianyuan race. Was it them? Were they cursing him? It had to be! No, not necessarily. There was also the Destiny race, and even his own Immortal race was skilled in such arts. He refused to believe he could truly be this unlucky. Someone had to be scheming against him. The Dao King cast frantic, icy glares all around, his voice chilling to the bone. "Someone is plotting against me, without a doubt! I will find you! I have lost two incarnations, exhausted my entire fortune, and in the end, I'm left with nothing... Do not push me too far!" The Dao King had lost his mind! At this moment, some could empathize. The Dao King had suffered too many blows in recent days. He had lost two incarnations and depleted his entire family fortune to purchase five slots, only to lose three of them in the blink of an eye! Truth be told, anyone in his shoes would have gone mad. It was simply too unlucky! No one paid the Dao King any mind. Instead, everyone stared at the severed, vanished passage with grim expressions. Was something unexpected going to happen this time? What an ill omen! Who ever heard of someone dying before the teleportation even concluded right after entering? Many of those present had entered before and knew how long the teleportation took. Right now, they were probably only halfway through, yet someone had already died. That meant they had perished mid-transit! Damn it! A problem occurring in a teleportation passage was practically impossible. Unless the Star Residence Mansion itself had developed a flaw and was about to crumble, this should never have happened! ... While they were lost in these thoughts, Su Yu was also slightly startled, murmuring, "This is a primary aperture!" A primary aperture! The 360 primary apertures corresponded to the special passage slots, while the secondary apertures were subordinate to these 360 primary apertures. A single aperture controlled nine passages. At this moment, Su Yu understood! He saw it. Nine points of light had suddenly appeared on his portal, but now, one of them had vanished, shattered. "This Zhongtan aperture is linked to nine outer apertures. All that talk about 'safe passages' is utter nonsense!" Su Yu was thrilled. He had uncovered a massive secret! Those fools—who the hell claimed the special passages were dangerous? Nonsense! The 3,260 outer passages were the ones truly fraught with danger. A bunch of idiots! "One primary aperture controls nine secondary apertures; this is the central hub!" Su Yu cursed, "To think they believed the hub was inferior to the auxiliary passages! Idiots, morons, fools! Speaking of which... who did I just kill?" Su Yu was puzzled. Whatever, forget it! Who cared who he had killed? It wasn't intentional anyway. Besides, anyone braving the Star Residence Mansion—even humans—had to be prepared to die. If you died, consider it your own bad luck! "The central hub can control the secondary apertures!" Su Yu continued to circulate his Zhongtan aperture, feeling like a genius—a super genius. While others were merely waiting for teleportation to finish, Su Yu was trying to figure out how to take control of the passages. "When a person dies, the passage snaps. What does that signify?" Su Yu pondered, then muttered, "A snapped passage means the return route is gone! Coming out of the Star Residence Mansion should follow the same route as entering... If it snaps, the sustaining power is lost..." Thoughts continued to bubble up. Su Yu suddenly murmured, "I... might not even need to hunt for treasures. I just need to find the corresponding portals. If nothing goes wrong, these portals will likely align in some location in the end. Those who exit might even have to gather in one place before they can be teleported out..." "Those fools wouldn't dare take the special passages out, meaning they'll probably leave via the secondary aperture passages. As long as I find the corresponding central hub apertures, I can trap and kill them all... No, killing them is one thing, but I might not get their treasures!" "Forget it, forget it. Snatching treasures is still up to me!" The more Su Yu thought, the more excited he became. At the very least, he had found a method to ambush his enemies. This was too fun! He looked at the eight remaining points of light on the portal, wondering whether he should trap and kill them as well. "What if they're human? Humans wouldn't be a big deal, but what if it's my teacher?" Su Yu felt a bit sheepish. Blindly killing people and accidentally wiping out his own teacher would be disastrous. Better not kill indiscriminately; just now had merely been an accident, as he hadn't understood the situation at first. Su Yu immediately set to work studying it. As the central hub aperture, there was no reason he shouldn't be able to control them or identify who was traveling in them. Could it be that things worked this way in ancient times as well? Or perhaps an important figure could lead nine lesser figures into the Star Residence Mansion? Maybe... this guess was correct. In ancient times, that might very well have been how it worked. "Why does it only open once every ten years..." Su Yu murmured, quickly realizing, "Ten years—one tide, the completion of one cycle!" Su Yu understood! Yes! To supreme experts, ten years was merely the snap of a finger. In that brief instant, they completed one full circulation of a cultivation art. Thus, once every ten years, the passages opened! It wasn't that they couldn't be opened at will, but rather that nobody maintained them, nobody supplied them with power, and nobody knew how. Consequently, they could only rely on natural laws, waiting for the decennial tidal force to drive the outer passages of the entire Star Residence Mansion into motion! Now he understood! "So opening the passage doesn't inherently depend on waiting ten years. It simply requires power to circulate the art, to drive the portals within the special passages, along with a powerful force to manifest the special passages..." In other words, as long as one possessed enough power and knew the Heavenly Cycle Method to drive the 360 portals within the special passages, anyone could open the Star Residence Mansion at any time! "I'm a fucking genius!" Su Yu sucked in a breath of cold air, stunned by his own brilliance. His intellect was simply peerless! "So next time I want to enter, I could actually find a Half-Emperor, figure out a way to manifest the special passages, and then operate the 360 portals myself according to the specific cultivation art's circulation method. Of course, that would still require the cooperation of an expert..." Thus, Su Yu could technically open it, provided he successfully deduced the cultivation art. Each realization left Su Yu more thrilled than the last. The Star Residence Mansion! This place had thoroughly captured his attention now. It wasn't just a matter of treasures; it harbored countless secrets. Treasures were insignificant. Su Yu was contemplating a broader question. "The person who built the Star Residence Mansion was definitely an expert who opened the Heavenly Cycle Apertures! Since the entrance was designed this way... No, not just the Heavenly Cycle Apertures—the builder might have opened 360 divine apertures as well, a Great Heavenly Cycle expert! In that case, he likely designed the entire mansion to conform to a specific set of laws as a sacred ground!" "Kaiyuan, Qianjun, Wanshi, Tengkong, Lingyun, Shanhai, Sun Moon, Eternal... Sovereign?" Su Yu muttered softly. Nine levels! Nine was a very special number. Cultivation realms were almost all divided into nine tiers. As for major realms, in the path of a warrior, if there was a realm above Eternal—supposing Dao Integration was counted with Eternal—there were indeed nine realms! "Could the ninth level correspond to the Sovereign? Did the ancient Human Sovereign conduct affairs on the ninth level, while the eighth level represented Eternal?" As Su Yu thought, he scratched his head in frustration! Damn it, he hadn't known these secrets earlier. Otherwise, with the Old Turtle present, he could have asked him. Had he gotten answers, he might have deciphered many of the Star Residence Mansion's secrets! Secrets that perhaps even the ancient Old Turtle had never discovered! "If the first level represents Kaiyuan, what are the characteristics of Kaiyuan?" "Kaiyuan has nine apertures!" Su Yu swiftly burned the Fire of Inheritance, calculating and deducing rapidly in his mind. If the first level represented Kaiyuan, the nine Kaiyuan apertures would be of paramount importance! "Nine locations. This should follow the human format, so if I find any one of these nine apertures, I can deduce the locations of the others... Do the nine Kaiyuan apertures represent nine locations?" At this moment, Su Yu calculated continuously. He pondered relentlessly. The first level held secrets, and perhaps every single level did—not just treasures. What did treasures amount to? When experts reached that level, would they build an unimaginably vast mansion just to hoard treasures? What a joke! That Nine-Leaved Heavenly Lotus might have merely been an ornamental plant to them. The creator certainly hadn't built this mansion for the sake of such trinkets. "Once I'm inside, I'll know!" "If things are truly as I deduced, then on the first level, there are nine locations hiding secrets—massive secrets! Perhaps supreme treasures, perhaps other things, perhaps cultivation arts... In short, I can test them all!" ... While Su Yu was lost in thought, no further passages collapsed outside the Star Residence Mansion, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed it truly had been an accident; the Dao King was simply unlucky, and there was nothing to be done about it. A freak occurrence once in ten million years! This time, the Dao King truly had rotten luck—so rotten that some wondered whether someone had genuinely schemed against him. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that, of all people, the Dao King's subordinate was the one who died? And while the Invincibles gathered here craned their necks in anticipation, in the depths of the Sea of Stars, the Old Turtle looked up. He, too, felt the intense spatial teleportation energy. Of course, that wasn't the main point. The main point was... Hetu had yet to return. That fellow had run off to find reinforcements, shouting as he left that he would return shortly with mighty experts, but... he had vanished. Had he gotten lost? Or what? What a strange fellow. Ever since losing part of his memory, Hetu had become unreliable. Truth be told, being alone was too lonely; having Hetu around was quite nice, giving him massages from time to time. Yes, massages. Every time Hetu attacked the passage, to the Old Turtle, it felt like a massage—very comfortable. Now that Hetu wasn't around, he was having trouble sleeping. "Where did Hetu go?" Were it not for saving face, the Old Turtle would have shouted into the realm of dead spirits: *Hetu, come out quickly! I miss your massages!* Just as the Old Turtle was thinking about Hetu, space rippled slightly. A golden slip of paper drifted down. Countless characters were faintly inscribed upon the golden slip. The Old Turtle opened his eyes, glanced at it, and said indifferently, "To what do I owe the pleasure of the Pavilion Master's arrival? Forgive me for not welcoming you sooner!" Pavilion Master! In all the myriad realms, only one person could be addressed this way by him: the Master of the East Pavilion of the Heaven Hunting Pavilion—or rather, the Master of the Heaven Hunting Pavilion himself! The Master of the East Pavilion was the Master of the Heaven Hunting Pavilion. At that moment, the page landed upon the ancient city. A moment later, an illusion manifested and chuckled softly. "Hongmeng, it has been a long time." "Quite long indeed!" the Old Turtle replied flatly. "Does the Pavilion Master have business with this old man?" "You could say that. Just now, the White Jade Gate trembled. Did you sense it?" The Old Turtle said slowly, "A little." From atop the page, the illusion stepped forward, gradually solidifying into human form—a dashing, elegant scholar holding a feather fan and wearing a headscarf! With a wave of his hand, the young scholar conjured a tea table out of thin air and smiled. "Hongmeng, have a cup." The young man that was the Old Turtle's avatar also stepped out from the stone statue, smiling faintly. "What tea?" "Xuantian Tea, a product of the eighth level. Three hundred tides ago, I had someone retrieve some. Taste it." "You certainly live a carefree life!" The Old Turtle chuckled, flicked his robes, and sat down opposite him. Watching the scholar brew the tea, he smiled and said, "I felt the White Jade Gate tremble. So what?" The scholar murmured, "Since the fall of the ancient era, the White Jade Gate has never opened again. No one possessed the qualifications to make it open once more! If the White Jade Gate opens again... it may herald the emergence of a new era, the rise of a new Sovereign!" "And what of it?" the Old Turtle said calmly. "Oceans turn to dust, and time marches on. One day, these myriad realms will be unified again! What is long divided must unite, and what is long united must divide! Countless years have passed since the ancient era. If another Sovereign emerges to unify the heavens, it will bring some measure of peace." He chuckled and added, "I have served as the Spirit-Guarding General for tens of thousands of tides; it is high time I reported on my duties! My brothers and old friends have served as guardians for countless ages; it is time for a change of guard. If another Sovereign takes up residence in the Star Residence Mansion, reunifies the myriad realms, and establishes order anew... that would be a fine thing! Having served as the Spirit-Guarding General for all these ages, even if I have no great merit, my labor cannot be denied. No matter who becomes this Sovereign, they must acknowledge my service!" The scholar poured him a cup of tea. The rich aroma drifted outward, floating beyond the ancient city. A small aquatic demon swimming past suddenly broke through from the Wanshi Realm into the Tengkong Realm. Its physical body began to transform—one cast, two casts... seven or eight casts in rapid succession. The small demon transformed into human form, becoming an elegant young maiden. She bowed respectfully toward the ancient city, her eyes filled with spirit and delight. Clearly, she knew she had received a stroke of miraculous fortune and encountered supreme figures! The small demon dared not leave, nor did she dare utter a sound to disturb them. Watching the two drink tea in the void from afar, she knelt on the ground and dutifully cultivated where she was. In an instant, the aroma drifted over once more, broadening her intellect and tempering her physical body yet again. ... The Old Turtle and the scholar merely cast a casual glance her way, paying it no mind. A serendipitous encounter was still fortune. One could only say the little demon had the fate for it. The scholar passed a cup of tea to the Old Turtle, poured one for himself, and spoke softly. "My visit today is merely to ask Brother Hongmeng: who among the myriad realms has the potential to become this Sovereign?" "How would I know?" The Old Turtle shook his head. Don't ask me. The scholar continued, "Then, with the White Jade Gate suddenly trembling this time, could this Sovereign be born from among these 3,600 living beings? Just now, anomalies occurred repeatedly! Someone suddenly perished during teleportation. You and I both know the Star Residence Mansion; even after countless tides, it would never crumble. It was forged by that person... a supreme weapon surpassing divine arms! Perishing during teleportation only occurred in ancient times, according to the few accounts I have heard. Now is not the ancient era, so why did this happen?" The Old Turtle pondered, then said, "You mean..." "Brother Hongmeng knows my meaning. Could it be... that the Star Residence Mansion is about to welcome its next master? If it welcomes a new master, where shall we go? Brother Hongmeng at least still holds an official post, but as for me... once a new Sovereign ascends, I fear disaster will befall me!" The scholar sighed wistfully. "The Heaven Hunting Pavilion was meant to oversee the heavens and monitor the myriad realms, yet I have made a complete mess of it! The Heaven Hunting Pavilion today no longer possesses the ability to monitor the myriad realms, and even the Heaven Hunting Ranking has become fragmented..." The Old Turtle said softly, "As the Marquis Warden of Heaven, your performance has indeed been poor, and your duties have fallen into disarray. Once a new Sovereign takes the throne, if past matters are not investigated, you might be spared; but if the past is scrutinized, you, Marquis Warden of Heaven, deserve to be executed—and you would die without injustice!" The Old Turtle paused, then said indifferently, "Why have you come seeking me? Do you think I am to be this new Sovereign? Impossible. My path is set; I cannot become Sovereign." The scholar said calmly, "I came to Brother Hongmeng only to ask a single question. For the sake of our past camaraderie as officials in the same court, I hope Brother Hongmeng will give me an honest answer." The Old Turtle said flatly, "Do not ask. I have no wish to speak of it, nor will I." The scholar sighed! "You know I want to ask about Su Yu... As expected, you know. Is he connected to the Time Master? Is he actually inside the city right now?" The Old Turtle said indifferently, "Do not ask me. Judge for yourself." "Alas!" The scholar sighed, then suddenly asked, "Then I will not ask of current affairs. I wish to ask one thing, Brother Hongmeng: have you heard the rumor that the Time Master was my direct superior?" "I have heard of it!" The Old Turtle nodded. The scholar looked miserable. "Then I am finished. If Su Yu becomes Sovereign... I hope I am merely overthinking things. Otherwise, if he truly inherited the legacy of the Time Master, I will certainly be held accountable!" With that, a golden page appeared in his hand. "The Heaven Hunting Ranking is already damaged; as for the duty of overseeing heaven, I am powerless!" The Old Turtle hesitated, then said, "When a new dynasty rises, the likelihood of holding past deeds against you is slim. Furthermore... Su Yu may not have received the Time Master's inheritance; you are worrying too much, Marquis Warden of Heaven! Besides, he is the master of a sacred city. If you, Marquis Warden of Heaven, also wish to kill him... I will not permit it!" "I know." The scholar sighed. "I harbor no such intention. I am merely... merely pondering some matters. Forget it, forget it. Having not seen each other for countless years, let us speak no more of this. I toast Brother Hongmeng with this cup..." The Old Turtle raised his cup, and the two finished their tea. The scholar lingered no longer. The golden page drifted, silently tearing through time and space, and the scholar vanished from sight. The Old Turtle shook his head with a faint smile. Looking at the two cups with a few drops of tea remaining, he casually tossed them outside the city. Before the little demon's eyes, countless Daos suddenly flashed, leaving her overjoyed! Picking up the teacups, she bowed in gratitude once more and did not leave. In an instant, she drank the dregs, her physical body immediately advancing to the tenth cast, eleventh cast... all the way to the eighteenth cast before finally digesting the tea's energy. Those two teacups had been casually conjured by a Half-Emperor, yet they were exceedingly sturdy, comparable to Earth-grade weapons, and retained the Dao rhymes of two Half-Emperors. For a time, the little demon was dazzled, cultivation arts surfacing in her mind one after another. Serendipity often lay in such unintended moments. The Old Turtle chuckled softly and returned to the stone statue. Looking at the sky once more, he sighed almost imperceptibly. The Marquis Warden of Heaven suspected Su Yu might have entered the Star Residence Mansion, and the book Su Yu forged had made him wonder whether it was connected to the Time Master. Who knew what the Marquis Warden of Heaven was thinking? Would he stay out of it, or intervene? Would he be a friend, or an enemy? With the Heaven Hunting Ranking damaged and the Marquis Warden of Heaven no longer monitoring the heavens, was he planning to swallow the Heaven Hunting Ranking for himself? That ranking was not his to keep. Thoughts surfaced one after another in the Old Turtle's mind. After pondering for a moment, he laughed at himself inwardly. *I shouldn't overthink this. Who says all of this is related to Su Yu?* *No one said that!* Why did he himself think this might be connected to Su Yu? Even the Marquis Warden of Heaven believed it might be related to Su Yu. A mere Lingyun cultivator had actually prompted him and the Marquis Warden of Heaven to sit here discussing in all seriousness whether he would become the next Sovereign. They truly had gone a bit mad! ... While two ancient Dao Integration experts were discussing Su Yu, Su Yu currently had no thoughts of treasure-hunting at all, feeling only the joy of having deciphered countless secrets. Unraveling secrets was a Civilization Master's greatest delight. Every time a secret was cracked, it brought a sense of joy and achievement. Through a simple teleportation, while others were merely waiting to arrive, Su Yu had already peeked into many secrets regarding the Star Residence Mansion. Not only was he studying this, but Su Yu was also trying to see if he could control the other eight secondary passages governed by the Zhongtan aperture. He wanted to see who they were. If they were enemies, he would just kill them. If not, he could see if he could pull them to his side so they would emerge together when teleported. "The Zhongtan aperture controls nine people. Actually, as long as I know one of them, I can deduce who the other eight are!" Su Yu still remembered where the various races had stood. If nothing went wrong, the nine passages controlled by this aperture formed a vertical column! Exactly nine positions! Knowing one person would reveal the identities of the other eight. Such was the capability of a top student! A photographic memory was a basic skill. While the 3,260 people had taken their places, a few hadn't stood in their designated spots, but they were the minority. The rest had all taken their assigned positions, so Su Yu was confident in deducing everyone's identity. He studied them carefully. Confirming their identities wasn't urgent; their strength was the key. If he accidentally pulled an Invincible over, he would be the one crying! He looked at the eight points of light, probing them continuously. As the central hub, there was no reason he shouldn't be able to control or communicate with them. The eight points of light varied in brightness. After hesitating briefly, Su Yu chose a medium-sized point of light and circulated his Zhongtan aperture to make contact. At that moment, the point of light trembled. A faint cry of alarm reached Su Yu's ears, laced with panic and fear. They were probably panicking over why something had gone wrong with the teleportation! "Hm?" Su Yu paused slightly. That voice... sounded somewhat familiar. "From the Immortal race?" Su Yu murmured softly. The Immortal race! Yes, it was likely someone from the Immortal race. He seemed to have heard this voice somewhere before. Right—Yun Sheng! Su Yu recalled that minor figure! The first time he went to the Sea of Stars, he had encountered several Immortals. Among them, a supremely arrogant Immortal had been named Yun Sheng, and he had even chatted with Su Yu. Those people hailed from King Tianxuan's Dao domain, originating from the Tianxuan Dao Academy. And that Yun Sheng was a third-tier Lingyun cultivator. Of course, he might be higher now—perhaps fourth or fifth tier? Su Yu hadn't really paid much attention! "Yun Sheng... Immortal race... That means all nine governed by this hub belong to the Immortal race!" Su Yu understood, because the Immortals were all clustered together in the northern passages. That meant these people were all Immortals. Even if not, they were from vassal races of the Immortals. "Yun Sheng... let me think..." Su Yu quickly recalled the scene and looked at the points of light. Above Yun Sheng, there were only two points of light, but Su Yu remembered there should have been three people above Yun Sheng! "Oh, the topmost one seemed to be a Sun Moon, so... that fellow died?" Su Yu clicked his tongue. If he remembered correctly, that... seemed to be one of the Dao King's people? That miserable? Surely not! Did I accidentally kill one of the Dao King's subordinates? "In that case, there's another Sun Moon, one Shanhai, five Lingyun, and one Tengkong..." "The Sun Moon should be around the third tier." "Among them... it seems there are two more from the Dao King's lineage!" This was normal; when the Dao King's subordinates entered, they naturally grouped together, while the rest were mostly King Tianxuan's people. The subordinates of those two were all stationed nearby. "Now I understand..." Su Yu rubbed his chin. Should he kill them? Wouldn't that be too cruel? Killing them before they even reached their destination? Wouldn't that make him too wicked! "Forget it, I'll have them teleport near me and kill them in one fell swoop. That way, I can collect their corpses too. I do love Immortal corpses!" Su Yu chuckled! He began trying to guide them to teleport by his side. Ordinarily, these people could never be teleported together given their differing strengths and ages, but Su Yu controlled the hub, so he felt it was feasible! Sure enough, after tinkering for a while, Su Yu discovered a pattern and began to guide them! The ancient city token! Yes, Su Yu was using the ancient city token to guide them—another idea that had just occurred to him. As expected, it worked. The next moment, those eight points of light drew closer to Su Yu. Inside those eight points of light, the occupants felt utterly dizzy! The portals they occupied were spinning wildly, nearly making them sick! A moment later, Su Yu saw a glimmer of light. The teleportation was nearly over! The others saw it too, filled with pleasant surprise! In an instant, the portal seemed to pierce through a barrier, suddenly emerging into a bright expanse. Around Su Yu, eight figures appeared simultaneously, all reeling with dizziness. The next moment, everyone caught sight of one another. Surprise, shock, astonishment, horror... Why... had they been teleported together? Impossible! Among them was a Sun Moon elder. A Sun Moon elder could never be teleported together with a Tengkong cultivator, unless that Tengkong cultivator was ridiculously old! Yet the Tengkong cultivators of the Immortal race were all young geniuses. By all logic, they should only appear on the first level! Why had this happened? The lone Sun Moon cultivator was terrified beyond measure. Furthermore, who were those two figures beside them... Just as the thought crossed his mind, the giant wolf chuckled. "Greetings, everyone. Please step into my book for a chat!" *Buzz!* Illusions of giant beasts manifested, lunging toward the Sun Moon cultivator in an instant. Caught completely off guard, the third-tier Sun Moon expert was dragged into the book before he could even react. It was utterly terrifying; he hadn't prepared in the slightest! A Sun Moon plummeted! The others were horrified to the core. What on earth was happening? In the blink of an eye, the giant beasts lunged toward the rest. When one beast reached for a certain individual, Su Yu paused, quickly commanding the beast to halt. The others vanished in an instant, leaving only that single person behind. Her mask shattered, revealing her face—and her terror-stricken eyes. Pure fear! "A human?" Su Yu was astonished. A human had appeared in the Immortal race's passage? What the ghost! "I... I'm human... yes... Huang Jiu..." The young woman's face had gone pale with fright. *Holy shit, what just happened?* *Where am I?* *Who am I?* *What the hell did I just run into?! A wolf instantly slaughtered a third-tier Sun Moon, and then... the other six Immortals vanished in a flash!* *I'm... not dead?* "Huang Jiu?" Su Yu's expression grew exceedingly strange. *Holy crap!* Huang Jiu! Kongkong had to be behind this, right? Had Kongkong switched this person over during the teleportation? Kongkong was truly capable! This Huang Jiu really was a human. Someone from the Liu clan? Su Yu recalled what Kongkong had said last time and felt a strange sensation. From the Liu clan? Was that true or false? Su Yu fell into deep contemplation. ... Meanwhile, outside, shock rippled through the crowd. In an instant, over in the northern section belonging to the Immortal race, where a single passage had previously collapsed, seven more passages abruptly crumbled at once. Only the passage claimed by Huang Jiu remained intact. Meanwhile, Kongkong's passage, positioned diagonally above, remained unchanged. The Immortals were stunned! The Dao King went berserk! "Ahhh!" The Dao King roared in mad fury. *Fuck your ancestors!* Another of his people had died! When Su Yu counted two, he had included Huang Jiu! Even so, out of thirteen slots, two had been stolen, and two had died in this short span, leaving only nine. The Dao King was truly on the verge of madness—out of the slots he had purchased, only one remained! He roared and howled, completely losing his mind! In the distance, on the Immortal side, King Tianxuan was also close to losing his mind. His people... were almost wiped out! Ahhh! He wanted to scream, but looking at the Dao King, he held back. The Dao King had it worse than him. When someone else was suffering more, it brought a strange sense of comfort. Forget it, his three incarnations were still intact, so his plight was nothing compared to the Dao King's. Let the Dao King weep; at worst, he would simply send more people in ten years later!