The Ultimate Freak Arrives!

"Taishan..." Su Yu murmured softly. He wondered who that could be. Yet that single murmur unleashed colossal catastrophe. Boom! Heaven and earth seemed to shatter! Su Yu's body shook violently, and the entire Human Face Realm trembled convulsively! "Taishan!" A mind-shattering roar of fury exploded in Su Yu's head, shaking his sea of will so violently that—*puff*—he sprayed a mouthful of fresh blood! Beside him, Xia Huyou and Huang Teng heard nothing, yet they felt it—a monstrous, sky-toppling wrath, a world-shattering tremor, and the suffocating crisis of imminent death! That unimaginably terrifying aura surged throughout the entire Star Astral Mansion! "Taishan!" The roar reverberated through heaven and earth, yet it seemed Su Yu was the only one who could hear it. It was a roar of fury, a shriek dripping with venomous malice, hatred, and despair. With that single murmur, Su Yu had truly stirred up immense trouble! *** Meanwhile. Outside the Star Astral Mansion. The White Jade Gate suddenly began trembling violently. Heaven and earth seemed to roar, and the entire All-Heavens Battlefield shook! Rumble! The Sea of Stars churned in violent upheaval! The expressions of one Invincible after another changed drastically! What had happened? That incomparably powerful White Jade Gate appeared to be struggling. Monstrous waves surged, the void was torn asunder, and the surrounding realms quivered! In that instant, over a dozen immensely formidable projections emerged. Above ancient cities, stone sculptures manifested their projections. Every one of them appeared surprised, shocked, and bewildered. Why had the Star Astral Mansion started acting up this time? Hongmeng City manifested once more! The Old Turtle appeared, his expression strange and perplexed. In the distance, the Hunting Heaven Pavilion emerged as well. At the pinnacle of the pavilion, the scholar also looked utterly baffled. What was going on? The Star Astral Mansion had spanned the myriad heavens for countless eons as the core of all realms. It had remained unmoved for tens of millions of years, so why was it acting like this today? At this moment, more passageways collapsed! More people fell! The first floor was in the midst of a violent convulsion, shuddering intensely as dangerous zones erupted and treasuries shook! "What is happening?" someone shouted in shock and anger. "Could the Star Astral Mansion be collapsing?" "Hah! You might collapse, but the Star Astral Mansion never will!" someone retorted coldly. "How could the Star Astral Mansion ever collapse? It is the supreme divine armament of the ancient era! This place contains the rules, the very seat of the rules governing all the Daos of the myriad heavens! If this place collapses, the rules of all Daos across the heavens will collapse along with it!" How could it possibly fall? It was out of the question. Something had to have gone wrong inside the mansion, triggering these tremors. At this moment, the grand gate of the mansion even showed signs of opening and closing. Someone gasped in astonishment, "This gate... could it be entered now?" "Why don't you try and find out!" someone replied with dark malice. People had tried forcing their way into the Star Astral Mansion before. The result... there was no result to speak of. Every single one who tried had perished, plain and simple! Right now, even though the White Jade Gate showed signs of swinging open, hardly anyone dared step forward. They didn't dare... but someone nearby apparently did. Just then, a dark shadow shot forward, streaking directly toward the White Jade Gate! Many had been drawn in by the sight, for inside the opening of the White Jade Gate, countless supreme treasures seemed to materialize! Some saw the Nine-Leaved Heavenly Lotus, some saw peerless divine armaments, some saw innumerable carriers, and others saw the colossal corpses of gods and demons... The surrounding Invincibles sensed it, but none moved to stop the figure, nor did anyone say a word. If someone wanted to go in and test the waters, let them! Either way, they would have to come out sooner or later. It was good to test the danger. If there was no danger, the Invincibles would gladly enter through the main gate themselves. The dark shadow reached the White Jade Gate in an instant... Boom! The White Jade Gate shuddered faintly. That ninth-stage Sun Moon Realm shadow was instantly pulverized into dust, leaving nothing behind. In the sky, a nearly full waning sun plummeted and shattered! A ninth-stage Sun Moon expert had perished without raising a ripple. No one knew which minor race this expert belonged to. Driven by desperation to attain the Dao and seize an opportunity, they had thrown everything away, only to not even leave a corpse. In that instant, the restless figures lingering nearby all halted in their tracks. Every face grew intensely grim. It was just as deadly as ever! The White Jade Gate! At this moment, someone let out a sigh and spoke in a soft voice: "In the ancient era, this gate was not originally called the White Jade Gate, but the Heaven Gate! As the saying went: *When the Heaven Gate opens, the myriad realms pay homage!* In the ancient past, only a select few were permitted to pass through this gate. Once the Heaven Gate opened, the myriad heavens and realms knew an absolute paramount figure had arrived. None beneath a Sovereign could enter or leave through this gate. Does a mere Sun Moon deserve to walk the Heaven Gate? Even we... do not possess that qualification!" Many turned to look at the speaker. They could see no physical form, only a river of time spanning heaven and earth. Above the river, various images continuously flickered—past, future, and some Invincibles even saw scenes of their own demise! Several Invincibles blanched! "The Fate Emperor!" The Half-Emperor of the ancient Fate race! At that moment, the void was torn open, revealing two massive eyes. The big fur ball peered at the spacetime channel. Just as everyone grew chilled, wondering what the God-Devouring race was about to do, the big fur ball spoke with an odd, surprised tone: "Old man... you're still alive? You actually haven't died yet! I thought you died a long time ago!" Upon that river of destiny spanning spacetime, the figure of an old man with white hair and a white beard emerged. He looked toward the God-Devouring Ancient Realm and gave a light chuckle. "Your Highness Doubao..." "..." Silence! Utter, absolute silence. Even as the myriad heavens trembled, the area fell deathly quiet. That peculiar pronunciation—the two words "Doubao"—was unmistakable to everyone present. They were all peerless experts; none lacked the ability to interpret phonetic language. That was clearly the human pronunciation for "bean bun." A Half-Emperor of the ancient God-Devouring race! The leader of the Fate race had actually called it... Doubao? The big fur ball didn't take offense. It stared at him with its two enormous eyes for a long time before saying, "You smell good... more and more fragrant. You smell even better than Tiangu! Are you that same one from back then..." "I am not," the old man chuckled softly. "The one Your Highness knew was my grandfather. However, I did see you in those ancient years." "Oh, oh, oh... You two look too much alike! I can tell Tiangu and his old man apart. His dad wasn't as fragrant as he is. Tiangu smelled delicious even when he was little. The first time I saw him, I said Tiangu would definitely be tasty once he grew up!" "..." Silence descended once more. This was an exchange between two ancient beings. And it involved three ancient powerhouses: the Immortal Emperor, the Fate Emperor, and the Doubao Emperor? Many felt bizarre thoughts welling up. Lately, these ancient entities kept popping up out of nowhere. Did this... herald something momentous? After all, some of these figures had not appeared for ages—like the Fate Emperor standing before them now, and Doubao. In truth, Doubao hadn't shown itself in an unimaginably long time. It had been asleep for eras! Yet in this era, at this very juncture, these ancient figures were emerging one after another. What did that signify? At this moment, an Invincible who had seen his own demise in the Fate Emperor's river of destiny could not help but ask, "Lord Fate Emperor, will I die?" The white-haired, white-bearded elder glanced at him and smiled gently. "No one can predict the future! Not you, not I—no one. Out of billions of possibilities, one can merely catch a fleeting glimpse of potentiality... What you saw in my river of destiny is likely just one possibility among countless futures. Everyone dies eventually; it is merely a matter of time." The Invincible fell silent, his uneasy heart far from reassured. This era had brought far more anomalies than previous ones. The awakening of the ancient cities! The awakening of the Star Astral Mansion! The reemergence of the ancient races! Powerhouses who had never appeared in the last era, or the era before that, were now making appearances one after another. The thirty-six guardians of the ancient cities had remained immobile for countless years, yet recently, they had intervened repeatedly. Even more than forty Council Member Tokens had surfaced! An Invincible could not help but look toward the human faction and ask in a low voice, "Lord Fate Emperor, this time, will the human race rise again, or will they be wiped out? Can the cycle of eras spanning all the way from antiquity still not break its destiny? How unfair the rules are! All races can be destroyed, yet the human race alone never perishes?" The humans felt the world was unfair, but the myriad races felt it was just as unfair! Why should that be? The myriad races had seen countless species wiped out. In every era, races fell and new ones rose, yet the humans had never been exterminated! Every single time! At that moment, King Dazhou and King Daxia both turned toward the Fate Emperor, looking into his river of destiny and the projected futures. King Dazhou saw many things, while King Daxia saw himself cleaving a Half-Emperor with his blade... before falling in battle. He remained silent. The human race never perished; it had always been so. Right then, the Fate Emperor spoke slowly: "Nine is the extreme. Since antiquity, there have been nine cycles, nine fresh starts... This is the tenth. It has reached the utmost limit of the extreme number, reaching completion! Perhaps... this era will finally see a victor and bring closure!" The old man sighed. "Do not say destiny is unfair. It is entirely fair. The human race's survival through nine cycles was earned during antiquity. However... having coasted on ancestral heritage for nine cycles, the blessing of antiquity has reached its limit!" Humanity's survival was not an injustice. It was the glory of their ancestors! Their forebears had been so overwhelmingly powerful that their legacy had shielded humanity through nine cycles of destruction. But this was the tenth, and the ancestral protection had run dry. King Daxia's expression shifted slightly, but he said nothing. Even if he didn't want to believe it, the words had come from the ancient, enigmatic Fate race. They were spoken by the leader of that very race! Just then, the big fur ball suddenly called out, "Old scammer! Back then, your grandfather also said I would definitely get to eat Tiangu, but I never did... Old scammer!" The Fate Emperor's projection wavered slightly. "Perhaps... it will come to pass in this era?" At those words, an Immortal shouted angrily, "Insolent! Fate Emperor, even if you are the emperor of the Fate race, you have no right to insult our Immortal race like this!" Tiangu's status was far above his! The Fate Emperor's projection rippled. "This old man spoke out of turn!" With that, the river of destiny trembled, and the old man vanished, though his voice echoed back: "This expedition to the Star Astral Mansion is fraught with calamity. In the end, I fear not one in ten will survive. Prepare yourselves, everyone!" Countless expressions changed drastically. Not one in ten would survive! Was a great catastrophe truly at hand? Out of thirty-six hundred entrants, would so few really make it out alive? One had to remember that more than twenty Invincibles had entered this time! The number of Sun Moon experts was terrifyingly large as well; at least three hundred Sun Moon cultivators had gone inside, with almost every race sending some, not to mention that nearly every genius on the Heaven Hunting Ranking had entered! Those alone numbered over a thousand! They were the pillars and key figures of the myriad realms. Could it be... that most of them were doomed to die inside? Several major races grew anxious, having sent many people in. The human race was no exception; including those who had entered through special passageways, nearly five hundred humans were inside, among them top geniuses and powerhouses. If the Fate Emperor was right... hardly any would survive! "Old scammer, don't listen to him!" the big fur ball shouted again. "I just went into the future of time to take a look! At least ten will survive! And he said not one in ten? Liar! More than ten will live, I bet on it. What I saw was real!" "..." Had it kept quiet, it would have been fine, but hearing it speak only chilled the hearts of the experts across the myriad heavens. This fellow was truly terrifyingly strong. Just how strong was the God-Devouring Half-Emperor? No one was entirely certain, but they knew one thing: a young Demon Emperor might not be its match. When it claimed it had peered into the future, it might very well have done so. And it said... at least ten would survive? Was that a joke? Thirty-six hundred had entered, with over twenty Invincibles among them! Did this creature not understand what "not one in ten" meant? It didn't mean only one would survive! With two Half-Emperors both offering grim omens, a heavy pall of gloom hung over everyone present. Among the humans, King Daxia's expression shifted slightly. Both his grandson and great-grandson had entered. The Great Xia Prefecture had already suffered grievous losses earlier. If Xia Longwu and Xia Huyou fell in there... everything the Great Xia Prefecture had sacrificed would be reduced to nothing. Once he died, the entire Great Xia Prefecture could be declared completely finished! He looked toward King Dazhou and sent a voice transmission: "Diviner, you can deduce the future. Tell me... is what they said true?" King Dazhou shook his head and said softly, "The Fate Emperor said it himself: peering into the future only reveals one of billions of possibilities; it means nothing definitive. What he saw, and what the God-Devouring Half-Emperor saw, prove nothing. Greater strength merely means the future one sees is more probable, but it is by no means the only possibility! Old Xia, you should understand this truth." "I understand!" King Daxia replied in a low voice. "I don't believe in fate! If I believed in fate, I would have died long ago; I never would have attained the Dao, nor could I have founded the Great Xia Prefecture! But recently, there truly have been too many anomalies..." King Dazhou fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "There indeed are many anomalies. Be careful out there! This era marks the tenth tidal change!" The tenth! Through the previous nine cycles, humanity had never been eradicated. They had won some and lost some, but they had never been wiped out. What would happen during this tenth cycle? Had the ancestral blessings truly been exhausted by this generation? Perhaps... they truly had run out! The ruins were gone, the myriad races were targeting them, the suppressive power could not be activated, and no Half-Emperor had emerged... In this era, could humanity hold out until the All-Heavens Battlefield closed? Once opened, the All-Heavens Battlefield would close after a thousand years at the shortest, or ten thousand years at the longest. Five thousand years was considered normal. Right now, barely a thousand years had passed. With good fortune, it might close quickly; with bad luck... they would have to wait several thousand years! Several thousand years from now, the human race might no longer exist. King Daxia lapsed into silence as well. He looked back toward the White Jade Gate. By now, the trembling had gradually subsided, but the spatial rifts left by the violent shaking remained, proving that everything they had witnessed was real. That thing had truly been shaking. *** While the outside world fell into silent gloom, inside the Star Astral Mansion... The violent shaking had also ceased. Su Yu coughed up blood, inwardly cursing. He understood now—that entity could apparently hear him speak! Only him! Of course, the prerequisite was that he had opened all 360 origin apertures. If he sealed just a few of them and spoke again, there would be no reaction. "Taishan..." Once the tremors stopped, Su Yu called out again, but this time there was no response. He couldn't hear the entity's venomous malice, and the entity seemingly couldn't hear his voice either. Su Yu breathed a sigh of relief! He felt a mixture of fear and excitement. I... seem to have stumbled upon an astounding secret! What was the name of the guy who was killed? Not important! That entity had been terrifyingly powerful, likely someone who had opened all 720 Heavenly Cycle apertures and unlocked the Heavenly Apertures—an existence capable of killing a Sun Moon cultivator with a single breath. And that was after death! For now, he would just call him Old Zhou. Since he opened the Heavenly Cycle apertures, Old Zhou would do. Old Zhou had been killed by Taishan and forged into the Star Astral Mansion. Even in death, he harbored boundless resentment toward Taishan. Because Su Yu had opened the Heavenly Cycle apertures, once they were all active, he could connect with that lingering resentment! Saying anything else was fine, but the moment he mentioned "Taishan," the entity went mad! *Is this only on the first floor, or the entire Star Astral Mansion?* *If it's the entire mansion...* Su Yu inhaled sharply. What an incredible trump card! He couldn't control the Star Astral Mansion, but he could do one thing: whenever he faced danger, he could shout "Taishan!" Old Zhou would riot, and no matter how strong the enemy was, such a violent disruption would leave them dazed and distracted! Caught completely off guard by a sudden eruption, nobody could withstand it! Even if he couldn't take advantage of it to kill them, he could easily make his escape! *Tsk tsk...* Su Yu didn't dwell on it too much, nor did he intend to try taking control of the mansion or communicating with that lingering resentment. What a joke—the person was already dead, leaving behind only remnants of mad ravings. Trying to converse with Old Zhou would be suicidal! He had to be careful not to trigger some apocalyptic disaster! If this fellow was dead... he might reincarnate in the realm of dead spirits. If he ever regained his memories... Su Yu didn't even dare imagine it! That person was simply too formidable. Of course, the one who killed him was even more terrifying. Was the ancient era truly so frightening? So terrifying that a mansion forged from a corpse could keep countless Invincibles from entering, and even Half-Emperors couldn't force their way in? By all accounts, the Star Astral Mansion itself likely possessed the might of an Emperor. Had an Emperor been slain? He didn't dare pursue that line of thought! The more he pondered, the more scandalous it seemed. It looked like humans had slaughtered each other; could the fall of antiquity have been caused by internal strife? However... the Star Astral Mansion should date back even earlier. After all, it hadn't been forged in the later years; it had existed from the very beginning, serving as the council center of the myriad realms, the headquarters of the All-Races Council. That meant Old Zhou had been killed long before. *Could it be... a struggle between two successive Human Emperors?* Su Yu fell into deep thought. That was entirely possible! Could there have been more than one Human Emperor, passing down through generations, and the previous Human Emperor had fought Old Zhou for the throne, ultimately executing him? If so... that previous Human Emperor had been utterly ruthless! Not only did he kill the man, but he also forged him into a weapon! While Su Yu was still musing, Xia Huyou and Huang Teng stood beside him, completely stiff and covered in blood. They stared at Su Yu as if they had seen a ghost. Xia Huyou's jaw had literally dropped; he shoved it back into place with his hand, trembling as he stammered, "Just now... that horrifying terror... did you do that?" Su Yu smiled. "How could I? What does that have to do with me?" "No... I... I heard you murmur something, and then... then heaven and earth tore apart..." Xia Huyou was terrified out of his wits! Holy crap! That was beyond terrifying! That fury and crushing pressure just now had felt far stronger than his great-grandfather, King Daxia. It was unimaginable! Right now, they were still deep within the ear canal and hadn't stepped outside. If they did, they would realize that the entire first floor had truly undergone a cataclysmic upheaval: countless towering mountains obliterated, countless rivers severed. The sea had engulfed the land, colossal waves surged skyward, and spatial fissures were everywhere. The entire Human Face Realm... anyone who had visited before would probably fail to recognize a single inch of it now! "It has nothing to do with me." "Then what were you muttering just now..." Xia Huyou's legs were still shaking. He eyed Su Yu with deep suspicion. *Does it really have nothing to do with you?* Su Yu laughed. "I didn't say anything much. I just muttered 'Taishan.' I was lost in thought, thinking about you and Huang Jiu. If you two hit it off... wouldn't you have to call my Master Liu 'Lao Taishan,' your father-in-law?" "..." Xia Huyou looked doubtful. Was that true? It did sound like what he had muttered. Yet... yet... right after Su Yu muttered it, that cataclysm occurred! Not only that, but as strong as Su Yu was, he had been the first to spit blood. Frankly, that shouldn't have happened. It was because Su Yu had taken the brunt of the impact first! The direct shockwave of that furious sound wave! The only reason he hadn't died was that his sea of will was protected by the Civilization Tombstone. Otherwise, his sea of will might have detonated on the spot. He had pushed things too far this time; he had merely voiced a random query in a quiet murmur. Who could have known that someone dead for countless ages could still unleash such terrifying power? Had that hatred been seared directly into the physical vessel? Truly horrifying! Beside them, Huang Teng's face was completely pale as well. They were actually the lucky ones. At that moment, a figure stumbled into the tunnel, drenched in blood. The ear canal was actually much safer; Huang Jiu, who had remained outside, had been directly engulfed by that crushing pressure and fury. Her body had nearly ruptured, multiple bones were fractured, and she was soaked in blood. She staggered inside, coughing blood with every step! Seeing blood at the corner of Su Yu's mouth, Huang Jiu actually felt her own pain lessen. Even this freak of nature had been injured! "Did you do that?" Huang Jiu asked. Su Yu was speechless. "It wasn't me!" What did it have to do with him! Old Zhou had done it! Why was everyone questioning him as if he were the villain? Honestly! The "Blood" divine character emerged, absorbing the blood from his body. His white robe... well, he still had a wolf's head right now, so he wasn't wearing his white robe. It looked rather rustic. Once he reclaimed his true identity, he would definitely wear his white robe again! Su Yu's left ear twitched, and he swiftly flew back from the platform. Activating all 360 origin apertures once more... he faintly heard that mad howling again. Su Yu quickly sealed one aperture. What a nuisance; he hadn't heard it before, but now that his ear was tempered, he heard it constantly whenever all 360 apertures were open! Annoying! It seemed this sound had likely persisted for countless years. Hearing it required two conditions: first, opening all 360 origin apertures; second, having one's ears tempered in this place. Otherwise, one wouldn't be able to hear it at all. Both conditions were exceptionally demanding! This place appeared tranquil, but without knowing the proper method, the moment someone stepped onto that platform... demonic sound would pierce their ears, shattering their sea of will and blowing their head apart! Tempering one's ears wasn't something just anyone could achieve. Su Yu exhaled. "Let's go. There are no more treasures here. Let's check out the other side!" There was still the other ear! He would temper them together. That way, his eyes, ears, and nose would all be fully tempered, leaving only his mouth. As for the navel... there was none here. In the Human Face Realm, where would a navel come from! On the other hand, the Baihui aperture should be located near the entrance to the second floor. *Never mind, let's finish the eight facial apertures first. As for the navel... if the Star Astral Mansion was forged from an entire body, it should be in another area, on a different floor... or perhaps still on this floor, just hard to find!* Su Yu thought to himself as he led the group outside... The moment they emerged... every single one of them froze. They truly witnessed what it meant for the seas to turn into mulberry fields! Outside, the Ear Sea was gone, which wasn't surprising. Flying out of the ear canal and beyond the auricle... looking around, the earth was cracked with massive fissures, mountains had collapsed, and the entire Human Face Realm looked as though it had suffered tens of thousands of devastating strikes, completely reduced to ruins! Earlier, it had at least possessed picturesque mountains and clear waters! In the blink of an eye... it was all gone. Turned to utter rubble! This was an immense realm. Needless to say, the entirety of the Human Face Realm was likely in the same state right now. What Su Yu didn't know was that at this very moment, the survivors were fleeing like mad toward the entrance leading to the second floor. Damn it all, the first floor was unlivable! No matter how many benefits or treasures there were, staying here was impossible! First, the Ear Sea had erupted, striking dozens of cultivators and pounding them into powder. Then, the entire Human Face Realm had violently convulsed: the Blood Plain, the Ear Sea, Twin Dragon Gorge, the Sinkhole—all of them erupted simultaneously, killing over a hundred explorers in an instant as dangerous zones burst forth without warning. Originally, around a thousand people had entered the first floor. Half had already ascended to the second floor, leaving five or six hundred behind. Now, Su Yu had slaughtered two hundred, and this cataclysm had killed half of the remainder! By this point, across the vast Human Face Realm—which historically always held the largest concentration of people—fewer than two hundred living souls remained, all fleeing frantically into the distance! They couldn't afford to provoke this place! Time to run! The second floor had to be better than the first, right? Something catastrophic seemed to have happened to the first floor this time. Countless cultivators cursed as they ran. They hadn't gained a single benefit despite arriving less than two days ago. Everything their elders had said about endless benefits, minimal danger, and other cultivators being the main threat had turned out to be utter bullshit! Nonsense! What other dangers? Cultivators hadn't even fought each other much; it was all natural disasters! How was this considered "not very dangerous"? Were they kidding! According to their elders, if you were careful on floors one through three, as long as you weren't slain by rivals and were content with modest gains, it was easy to walk away satisfied! Yet right now, everyone was fleeing for their lives, cursing every step of the way! At the entrance leading from the first floor to the second floor, several powerful cultivators gathered, their hearts pounding with lingering terror. They exchanged glances; whether human or from the myriad races, none had the slightest desire to fight. Fight for what? "Let's run! The first floor is impossible to stay on!" One person lamented, "Three members of my race came in. We worked so hard to secure our slots... and before seeing a single treasure, two of them are dead!" It was utterly tragic! The other races said nothing, all plunged into deep depression. Their original plan had been to spend ten days each on floors one, two, and three, exploring and hunting for treasures, before leaving after a full month. Now look at them—it was only the start of the second day! The first floor was completely uninhabitable. As they were speaking, someone still clung to stubborn hope: "Maybe there's still a chance..." Right then, someone let out a horrified shriek: "It's happening again! Run!" In the distance, colossal waves surged skyward once more! The Ear Sea on the other side had erupted! Rumble! Monstrous waves swept in from all directions. In that instant, the cultivators who had still harbored thoughts of scavenging scraps blanched. Without another word, every single one of them shot into the sky! Forget it! What scraps could there possibly be to pick! It had gone mad, truly gone mad. The Ear Sea had erupted again. They watched helplessly as several figures in the distance ran toward them in utter despair, only to be instantly crushed to death by the colossal waves! Run! Run fast! The surviving cultivators abandoned every shred of wishful thinking and fled. The first floor had devolved into complete chaos. *** Meanwhile, on the second floor. Hundreds of people suddenly poured in from the first floor. Some cultivators on the second floor were still puzzled by the earlier tremors. The second floor had shaken as well, but without catastrophic upheavals—just a shaking of heaven and earth that had caused mild concern. Yet now, a massive crowd from the first floor had arrived all at once. A few inquiries were all it took for the news to spread rapidly across the second floor: an apocalyptic upheaval had struck the first floor, leaving countless dead and wounded; the Ear Sea was gone, and mountains had crumbled. Anyone who hadn't made it up here could practically be presumed dead! Hardly anyone was left alive, and those few who remained were likely scared out of their wits! Out of over a thousand entrants, fewer than six hundred had reached the second floor. The rest had all perished in the successive disasters. Even if any remained, they were exceedingly few. At the very least, there were no more large gatherings of people! In a corner of the second floor, news of the first floor's disaster arrived. A small group had gathered here, led by Wu Qi and Bai Feng. Wu Qi's expression shifted as she said, "We never found Huang Teng and Xia Huyou on the first floor! It doesn't matter if Huang Teng dies, but Xia Huyou cannot die!" Not far away, Qin Fang was no longer riding his Flying Sky Tiger. Crossing his arms with his spear slung over his back, he said with exasperation, "Huang Teng won't die that easily. He probably went to find Xia Huyou! The Xia family poured immense resources into nurturing him; he wouldn't abandon Xia Huyou and run off like you did!" Wu Qi said coldly, "Stop looking for trouble! My mission is to escort my sister, not Xia Huyou!" That was indeed her mission, assigned by her ancestor. So the moment she found Wu Lan, she brought her straight toward the second floor, preparing to head to the third floor to search for Heavenly River Sand. As for Xia Huyou... the Xia family hadn't specifically instructed her about him. Huang Teng was likely the protector arranged by the Xia family. To the side, Bai Feng couldn't be bothered to pay attention to their bickering. Frowning slightly, he gazed into the distance. A catastrophic upheaval on the first floor, heaven and earth shattering... Countless dead and wounded! Why was it that the moment he heard this news, his mind immediately jumped to his "darling" disciple? Could it be... that he really had come in? However, Su Yu had shown himself outside the ancient city that day, so Bai Feng had assumed Su Yu hadn't come. Yet hearing about the cataclysm on the first floor now, he felt this matter was almost certainly connected to his dear disciple. Thinking this, Bai Feng couldn't resist sending a voice transmission to Wu Lan: "You said you ran into Su Yu that day, and that he intended to impersonate you?" Wu Lan glanced at him and casually replied via transmission: "Teacher Bai suspects the disaster on the first floor is connected to him? Don't doubt it—it's definitely him! Who else would do something like this, wiping out hundreds of people in one go? Who else has that capability? Who else is that vicious? Across the myriad heavens and realms, he's the most brutal of this generation. Don't you know that, Teacher Bai?" How strange that Teacher Bai was still doubting it! Wu Lan found it bizarre. Why would he doubt it? He should be dead certain! "B-but... they said it was caused by an upheaval of heaven and earth..." "Then why didn't heaven and earth undergo an upheaval in any of the thousands of previous openings?" "..." Bai Feng was struck speechless. How was he supposed to know? "Are you saying that kid Su Yu really came inside?" "Yes!" Wu Lan looked ahead and said aloud, "Let's go, up to the third floor!" Everyone turned to look at her. Wu Lan ignored them. That freak Su Yu was trailing behind them; having nearly wiped out the first floor, he would soon arrive on the second floor. He might not know they were here, and if he launched another indiscriminate, blanket slaughter... how unlucky would that be! In such an enormous realm, would Su Yu really take the time to search for each person individually? Judging by the situation on the first floor, that guy was killing indiscriminately with wide-area saturation. Wu Lan had no desire to get caught in the crossfire. Once they reached the third floor... it should be fine, because she had told him she was heading to the third floor to gather Heavenly River Sand. He would surely check before attacking, wouldn't he? With these thoughts in mind, Wu Lan urged the group to hurry. As for Xia Huyou and Huang Teng, what was there to worry about? They were probably freeloading off Su Yu! She knew very well that Su Yu and Xia Huyou had been partners in crime back in the Great Xia Prefecture, sharing a very close relationship. Bai Feng was still puzzled and transmitted, "If it really is Su Yu, you saw Su Yu step outside the city with your own eyes that day..." Wu Lan gave Bai Feng a peculiar look and transmitted back, "Isn't that simple? Just find someone to impersonate him. Nobody entered the city to investigate him anyway!" "What a joke. Who could possibly impersonate him..." As Bai Feng spoke, his expression suddenly froze. Who could? Given Su Yu's brazen, reckless personality, his maddeningly infuriating way of speaking, and his petty, shameless nature... come to think of it, Bai Feng actually knew someone remarkably similar. "Liu Hong!" His eyes flickered. Right—that dog of a man! He hadn't seen him this time. Last time, Su Yu had disguised himself as Liu Hong to go to Liu City. Bai Feng had forgotten all about it and neglected to ask where Liu Hong was. For Su Yu to suddenly disguise himself as Liu Hong, there had to be a reason! It meant Liu Hong couldn't come out! In that instant, enlightenment struck him like lightning! Holy crap! The one in the ancient city was Liu Hong, while Su Yu... that bastard had actually come in! Right under the noses of countless Invincibles, he had slipped inside. No wonder the first floor had turned into a slaughterhouse! Realization washed over Bai Feng, and he barked, "Move, up to the third floor!" His lunatic disciple might arrive on the second floor at any moment. He might not bother scanning his surroundings and could simply unleash indiscriminate, blanket destruction. Only on the third floor—where Su Yu knew their group would be—would they be safe! This time, Bai Feng and Wu Lan stopped bickering and rushed to find the entrance to the third floor. Both of them knew that a monster was lurking on the first floor! *** Meanwhile, on the first floor. Having finished tempering his right ear, Su Yu sighed with deep emotion. *Not a soul in sight!* He realized that hardly anyone was left on the first floor! His civilization chronicle was ravenous, yet after flying a great distance, he hadn't spotted a single person. Honestly, had they all fled to the second floor? How foolish! He had nearly finished exploring the first floor. Once he was done, he would leave. The second floor was far more dangerous! "*Sigh!*" Su Yu let out a sigh. "Those folks on the first floor are too foolish. If they had just hidden here, I would have left soon and wouldn't have bothered coming back to kill them. Now that they've all gathered on the second floor... it actually makes things much more convenient for me!" In that case, he would simply clear them out floor by floor as he advanced!