A Horrified Moduona!

Heaven-Cleaving Blade! Like slicing meat with a blunt blade, cutting away slice by slice, Su Yu brought out every technique in his arsenal. Was Zhan Kui strong? Stronger than him! Yet Su Yu was not aiming for an instant kill. He simply circled his opponent, inflicting minor cuts and grazes. The "Blood" character was steadily siphoning away the stray droplets of blood spraying into the air. Blood essence, after all, was refined from regular blood. In essence, Zhan Kui remained a Quasi-Invincible. It was only because his past incarnation had been annihilated that the resulting backlash caused his cultivation to plummet from Quasi-Invincible to the peak of the ninth tier of the Sun Moon Realm. Therefore, his blood was still that of a Quasi-Invincible. Su Yu was not as fast as him, but Su Yu possessed an endless variety of tricks. Without opening the River of Time, Zhan Kui might have had the advantage in speed, but he could not shake Su Yu off. Moreover, Su Yu deployed the "Slow" character to hinder his movement, the "Suppress" character to constrict the surrounding space, and the "Shock" character to jolt the area in every direction. At this moment, each and every divine character came into play. They could not kill Zhan Kui, and these Shanhai-tier divine characters could not even truly wound him. None of that mattered! To Su Yu, divine characters were merely auxiliary tools. While tangling with Zhan Kui, Su Yu glanced around. The book was violently trembling. Multiple experts were unleashing their might inside, obliterating the phantom beasts. Though the phantoms would reemerge after being slain, their strength diminished with each death. Some had even fallen below the Sun Moon Realm. Su Yu’s heart bled with anguish! *My book!* *My precious treasure! If all the phantoms are destroyed, the Civilization Chronicle might fall in grade! It already developed one hundred and ten golden patterns, and now those patterns might decrease! It hurts so much!* "Open!" Su Yu gave a low shout, death qi swirling around his body. *Xingyue, put your back into it! You're not supplying enough death qi!* …… Meanwhile. Beneath the dead spirit passage. Xingyue's face was dark as thunder, her death qi fluctuating violently. Just how strong was Su Yu right now? He was currently siphoning her death qi at a rate comparable to a peak ninth-tier Sun Moon cultivator! While that was still far from an Invincible, if this continued, ghost only knew how long that bastard was going to keep sucking! *Beast!* Xingyue roared internally. *He’s an absolute beast!* *I barely got here, and this beast targets me right away, sucking me dry!* Around her, several dead spirit monarchs looked in her direction with puzzled expressions. One monarch spoke up, "Xingyue, is something wrong?" "Nothing!" Xingyue replied coldly, "I am currently converting a Quasi-Invincible, testing whether I can turn him into one of us. He is inside the Star Astral Mansion. If the conversion succeeds, we can strike from within and without to tear open the passage. Then we can join forces with Hetu and turn the world upside down!" Hearing this, the dead spirit monarchs were taken aback. "You have a Quasi-Invincible in your grasp?" Xingyue said impassively, "Naturally. But his strength is immense, and converting him across the passage is exceptionally difficult. Could you lend me a hand? Otherwise… I can only give up!" Ever since crossing paths with that deceitful scoundrel Su Yu, she too had learned to play schemes! She could never admit that she was bound and drained by a living being. If she did, she would die. The moment these dead spirit monarchs realized she was weakened, they would devour her without hesitation. Her current excuse was perfect. She claimed to be converting a Quasi-Invincible. If it succeeded, everyone would reap the rewards; if it failed, there was simply nothing to be done. Sure enough, these dead spirits might have regained fragments of their memories, but how much could they really remember? If their minds were truly sharp, they wouldn't have been duped by Hetu in the first place. Moments later, one of the dead spirit monarchs spoke, "This person is so powerful that even you cannot force the conversion?" "The rules restrict me, so I can only persist in channeling death qi across to wear him down!" "We shall aid you!" Several dead spirit monarchs chimed in. In the next breath, massive waves of death qi surged toward Xingyue. One monarch remarked excitedly, "Once we successfully convert a Quasi-Invincible, shatter the passage, and welcome Hetu, this Star Astral Mansion will belong to us!" "Hahaha! Well said!" "Xingyue, convert him! Force it through! We have your back!" "……" Xingyue sat cross-legged with an aloof demeanor, letting vast quantities of death qi disperse into the void. A strange feeling surfaced in her heart… Dead spirits truly were dim-witted. No wonder that bastard Su Yu looked so insufferably smug every time he faced her. He had always treated her as trivial, someone he could easily handle. *Hmph!* *This monarch has also learned how to deceive people—no, deceive dead spirits!* *Su Yu, I am not afraid of you!* As the monarchs poured death qi into her, Xingyue accepted every drop without refusal. While transmitting the power to Su Yu, she cursed inwardly. *That bastard is getting stronger by the day. The rate he’s draining me now is almost more than I can take.* Fortunately, there were plenty of foolish dead spirit monarchs here to shoulder the burden with her. *A bunch of idiots. My thanks to you all!* Her death qi fluctuated wildly, which the other monarchs sensed. It only fueled their excitement. One dead spirit monarch marveled, "The one Xingyue is converting is quite formidable. Could he be on the verge of attaining Dao confirmation?" "Forcing a conversion consumes tremendous death qi. Everyone, put in a bit more effort! Quasi-Invincibles are never easy to turn…" "Indeed, but once it succeeds, everyone wins!" "……" The dead spirit monarchs were overjoyed; good news kept piling up. Hetu was on his way to breach the gate, and Xingyue was in the midst of converting a Quasi-Invincible. This passage was bound to open this time! Every monarch spared no effort, funneling endless streams of death qi into Xingyue’s body. Xingyue kept her expression icy. *Splendid. Drain away, you foolish Su Yu!* *I have an inexhaustible supply of death qi now!* …… Xingyue had actually learned to use her head! Su Yu had never anticipated this. In fact, he was somewhat worried that if he drained too much of her death qi, her strength would plummet and she would be struck down by other dead spirits. Thus, as he absorbed the energy, he remained somewhat uneasy. *If I drain Xingyue until she’s helpless and gets killed, I’ll be in deep trouble.* Without Xingyue, even if he opened his yang apertures, he might still be able to fight, but his endurance would vanish. He would quickly be drained to death by his own body, and that would be the end of him! At this moment, within Su Yu's "Blood" character, energy surged incessantly as a single droplet of blood essence gradually coalesced. Meanwhile, Zhan Kui’s strength was beginning to wane. Of course, Su Yu was covered in wounds as well… yet he kept munching on lotus root! "Damn you!" Zhan Kui bellowed in fury, "Hurry up! Blast it all, break out and kill him!" He was sustaining injuries, and at his realm, recovery was exceedingly difficult. Precious treasures were not something everyone possessed. To trade for a carrier, he had long since liquidated his entire fortune. Where would he find treasures capable of rapidly repairing a physical body? Yet Su Yu had them—and in absurd quantities! The lotus root in particular was a miraculous treasure for bodily regeneration. Earlier, when opening apertures, Su Yu’s body had ruptured repeatedly, only to recover in the blink of an eye. Without such a treasure, even Su Yu would have needed time to recuperate. Right now, Zhan Kui was practically spitting blood from frustration! *Fuck!* Who on earth frantically stuffed their face with healing treasures in the middle of a life-and-death battle? This defied all reason! Where had Su Yu obtained so many treasures?! He was on the verge of going mad! If this dragged on, Su Yu might not necessarily kill him, but Zhan Kui could already feel his strength slipping. Meanwhile, Su Yu continued to stall and wear him down. He needed at least two droplets! One to unlock the page, and one to swallow. Fighting up to this point, he had also sustained considerable wounds, but that was irrelevant. He was rich, so his recovery was swift. He was waiting for the second droplet of blood essence to condense! It would take a little time, requiring him to keep inflicting wounds and drawing blood. At least one-tenth of the blood in Zhan Kui’s body had to be drained to condense a droplet. Of course, blood essence was an inexhaustible resource in theory—as long as you didn't die, your body could produce it endlessly, but doing so severely damaged your foundation and physical vessel. Back then, the great demons Hong Tan had raised were constantly bled for profit. As a result, their foundations had been crippled, and to this day their strength had not returned to its peak—and that was even after Su Yu had used the Fire of Inheritance to repair them several times. "Mountain Shatterer!" "Suppress Sun Moon!" "Battle Invincible!" Having exhausted his punches, Su Yu began kicking, continuing to munch on lotus root between strikes! This style of fighting made onlookers want to vomit blood. Moduona, who was being beaten half to death, felt like spitting blood as well. He could not resist yelling, "Can you spare me a piece?" His injuries were catastrophic! Right now, Yang Hu had dragged him straight into the River of Time, attempting to reverse time to the moment before Moduona consumed the blood essence, intending to execute him then! At that point, Moduona had been exceedingly weak! And it wasn't all that far back in time! However, for a Quasi-Invincible, manipulating time remained immensely challenging. Yang Hu had attempted it several times without success, only to be impaled by Moduona’s spear instead. Driven mad with rage, Yang Hu unleashed a frenzied barrage of strikes, abandoning any thought of rewinding time! Such a method was viable for true Invincibles, but for him, the difficulty was simply too high. Against Moduona, repeated failures had only depleted his own vitality. Still, had he actually succeeded, a Quasi-Invincible executing a Shanhai would have been child's play! The final battlefield was contained within the book. Xuan Wuji and his cohort were unleashing everything they had, slaughtering the phantom beasts. Xuan Wuji said coldly, "Su Yu, the moment you exposed yourself, you were marked for death! Give us just a moment longer… and he will surely die!" *Boom!* He shattered a giant beast with a single punch. Of the three hundred colossal beasts, more than half had been wiped out. Victory was within reach! Even so, shock gripped his heart at how formidable this treasure was. Tai He, while fighting for his life, sent a frantic voice transmission: "Your Highness, we must seize this treasure! That spine is a carrier—an absolute carrier! Furthermore, for this spatial realm to be so durable, it must have incorporated another carrier as well!" He was far from the only one who realized it; practically everyone had deduced the same. Their eyes burned with ravenous greed. If this book were sold, it would fetch at least three carriers! Because at least two had been melted into its creation! *He is too fucking wealthy!* No wonder they, a group of Sun Moon experts, could not smash through the book. Su Yu, this madman, had infused it with so many supreme treasures! Even an Invincible would be tempted to snatch it. Dao Cheng was equally shaken; he had seen through it as well! Yet he had no leisure to covet treasures right now. He hastily transmitted, "Break out quickly! Once Su Yu is dead, everything will be ours!" Tai He was less anxious. "He is no match for Zhan Kui… Give us just a little longer, and we'll break free. Joining forces, we can obliterate him in an instant!" "My heart remains uneasy!" As they spoke, seven or eight Sun Moon colossal beasts pounced upon them. The duo hurriedly resumed their slaughter. These constructs were utterly maddening; even when beaten down a tier into the Shanhai Realm, they kept charging forward relentlessly! It was endlessly exasperating! …… Meanwhile, Su Yu continued dragging things out. It wasn't that he was slacking off, but rather that he needed time. *Just give me a little more time. The second droplet of blood essence is still gathering blood.* Zhan Kui was simply bleeding too slowly! By this point, Zhan Kui also sensed that something was amiss. The battle had worn him down, and while his exhaustion remained manageable, the void was eerily devoid of blood. The fight had been too intense for him to notice before, but now an unsettling dread crept over him. "Su Yu, are you absorbing my blood?" He bellowed in outrage. *Could it be true?!* Seeing that he had caught on, Su Yu wasted no words. The "Blood" character erupted with power, directly siphoning blood from Zhan Kui's open wounds. Zhan Kui roared, abruptly tearing through the void and aiming a punch straight for Su Yu's skull! *Boom!* From that moment on, it became brutal, unadulterated hand-to-hand combat. In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged thousands of blows across the void. Su Yu ignored everything else; he was dead set on draining blood. *Drain for me!* *Rumble!* Sent flying by a punch from Zhan Kui, Su Yu coughed up blood and hastily took another bite of lotus root. Over in the distance, Moduona roared once more, "Lend me a piece…" "Idiot! If I give it to you and it gets snatched away, then what?" Moduona fell silent! That was a fair point! Even so, Su Yu flung out over a hundred translucent, crystal-like lotus seeds, shouting, "Grab a few and heal up!" Moduona was overjoyed and lunged toward the lotus seeds! Yang Hu snorted coldly. *You underestimate me?* Not just him—the heavily injured Zhan Kui was instantly thrilled as well. *A divine treasure!* A single glance confirmed their immense value! They clearly originated from the same source as the lotus root, sharing an identical aura. As a Quasi-Invincible, he possessed more than enough discernment to recognize that. The lotus root was a supreme healing elixir; they had witnessed its efficacy with their own eyes! Even when Su Yu's body had ruptured, a single bite had restored him instantly. To let Su Yu squander such supreme treasures like ordinary food was a sheer waste of heaven's gifts! Zhan Kui tore through the void in an instant, grabbing for the lotus seeds! Moduona managed to snag a few, but seeing the rest scattered, he panicked. "You… why did you throw them around like that!" Su Yu unleashed a barrage of curses. "Fuck! Didn't you ask for them? You didn't even have the competence to intercept them, so why the fuck did you ask, goddammit!" Su Yu was practically fuming with rage! Of the hundred-plus lotus seeds, Moduona had grabbed four or five, but Yang Hu swept open a temporal corridor and snatched more than half of them in a flash, keeping Moduona pinned down. Su Yu and Zhan Kui scrambled to snatch the rest. Su Yu grabbed a dozen, while the remaining thirty or so fell into Zhan Kui's hands. Smoke was practically billowing from the top of Su Yu’s head in fury! "Moduona, you useless piece of trash, fuck!" He seemed completely beside himself! Zhan Kui paid no mind to his theatrics. Having lost a substantial amount of blood, he was ecstatic. Laughing heartily, he swallowed all the lotus seeds in a single gulp and roared with laughter, "Su Yu, my thanks, you fool!" Over on the other side, Yang Hu also swallowed half of his share in one gulp, brimming with delight! These were self-evidently extraordinary treasures! Supreme elixirs! There was no need to verify their authenticity, for they shared the exact same aura as the lotus root Su Yu had been consuming. Yet at this moment, Su Yu was merely sneering beneath his feigned exasperation. *Did you all forget that I, Su Yu, am the greatest swindler across the myriad realms?* *How infuriating!* *How insulting!* *Have I not swindled you people enough already?* As for Moduona swallowing all his lotus seeds in one gulp, Su Yu couldn't be bothered. It was only four or five… It probably wouldn't poison him to death, right? If Moduona hadn't eaten them, the ruse wouldn't have been convincing! As for Moduona not knowing they were poisoned… that had nothing to do with Su Yu. If he died of poisoning, it was just his own rotten luck. And if four or five were enough to kill him, then Zhan Kui and Yang Hu were utterly doomed. If the poison was truly that potent, killing them all in one fell swoop, Su Yu would gladly collect all their corpses together! Right now, neither Yang Hu nor Zhan Kui—not even Moduona—dared entertain the thought that Su Yu was trying to poison them! After all, Moduona was currently on the same side! If Moduona had eaten them, what could possibly go wrong with their share? Having swallowed so many lotus seeds, Zhan Kui laughed uproariously as he felt a surging torrent of power rising within his body. His wounds were on the verge of mending—or so he thought, until his expression contorted violently! *Pfft!* A mouthful of foul, putrid blood sprayed from his lips, followed immediately by thick black fumes billowing outward from inside his flesh. "Po… poisoned…" Zhan Kui stood utterly dumbfounded. *It's poisoned!* *You fed poisoned goods to Moduona too?!* Over on the other side, black smoke was also pouring from Moduona’s head… He spat blood, staring at Su Yu in sheer disbelief and horror. *You poisoned me!* Meanwhile, Yang Hu coughed up blood as well. His aura fell into violent turmoil, and even the River of Time snapped shut! Su Yu shouted, "What are you staring at? It didn't kill you! Quick, pin that guy down! He took way more poison than you did!" Moduona had no time to process his thoughts. He charged frantically at Yang Hu, though an overwhelming sense of sorrow washed over him. *I truly am plotting with a tiger!* *A ruthless monster like Su Yu wouldn't bat an eye even if he poisoned all of us to death!* *He is genuinely merciless!* Zhan Kui, meanwhile, was suffering absolute agony under the poison's torment. However, the toxicity of these lotus seeds didn't seem overwhelmingly lethal. Several dozen of them had only caused him to bleed from his seven orifices, threw his aura into chaos, and caused his flesh to rot… *Terrible review!* Su Yu cursed inwardly. It wasn't impressive at all. A single seed could at best poison a first-tier Sun Moon to death, nothing more! Several dozen of them had only shaved about thirty percent off Zhan Kui's strength! *Garbage!* Naturally, with Zhan Kui’s power severely diminished, Su Yu swiftly gained the upper hand, beating him half to death as blood sprayed continuously from the demon's body. Su Yu felt that dealing with this idiot might not even require Quasi-Invincible combat strength anymore! Right now, he could beat him to death with his bare hands! As Zhan Kui spewed blood, the "Blood" character absorbed even more, and the second droplet of blood essence was rapidly nearing completion. Zhan Kui howled, roared, and seethed with fury! Inside the Civilization Chronicle, the ninth-tier Sun Moon experts grew frantic as well. *Zhan Kui, that utter fool!* Then again, none of them had suspected anything just moments ago. Who could have imagined that something exuding such a sacred aura was actually poison? Just like that bastard Su Yu—he looked reliable on the surface, but his heart was pitch-black. He didn't even care whether Moduona lived or died! And to think everyone had assumed Su Yu was being generous to Moduona, tossing out over a hundred supreme healing treasures in one go! Turns out the brute was rotten to the core. What if Moduona had snatched them all? Wouldn't he have been poisoned to death? Well… on second thought, Moduona could never have seized all of them alone. Even in the heat of a chaotic battle, this bastard still had the mind to scheme against every living soul. Were Civilization Masters all this wicked? In the distant void, Moduona had no luxury to dwell on such thoughts. He hadn't eaten many. Spitting blood, he thrust his spear repeatedly, launching a crazed assault on Yang Hu. Yang Hu had eaten plenty! Far more than Moduona, in any case! Right now, Yang Hu’s aura fluctuated erratically. Unable to open the River of Time, he vomited blood continuously and roared in blind fury, "Hurry up…" His two incarnations were on the verge of separating! Once they split, he truly might not be able to defeat Moduona. Xuan Wuji and the others were taking far too long! With so many of them, they were actually pinned down by Su Yu's single book! Moreover, he cursed his own stupidity for coveting Su Yu's treasures. Look where it had brought him! He had previously been suppressing Moduona, but now his aura was unstable, the poison was spreading, and he was on the brink of exploding with rage! …… *Boom!* A terrifying blade glow ignited the hall. Su Yu’s slash sent Zhan Kui crashing violently into the hall's wall, coughing up blood. A thunderous crash echoed through the chamber. Taking advantage of the opening, Su Yu swallowed a droplet of Zhan Kui's blood essence. He needed to unlock the page in the catalog first! Panting slightly, he noted that enduring the blood essence of a Quasi-Invincible was no longer an overwhelming burden. Since he could already fight one head-on, bearing a single droplet was well within his limits. In an instant, the golden catalog in his mind shook, and a new page snapped open. "Race: Primordial Demon Race (Half-step Eternal)…" As expected, the page had unlocked. Su Yu looked up toward the others and grinned. *You are all finished!* He still had another droplet of blood essence, and once he killed Zhan Kui, he could extract many more. Excellent! At that moment, Su Yu suddenly recalled the Civilization Chronicle! Xuan Wuji and the others froze in astonishment. Just as they were on the verge of wiping out all the colossal beasts, Su Yu had retracted it. Cradling the book in his hand, Su Yu wore an expression of sheer heartbreak. "One hundred and nine…" Holding the book in his left hand, he pointed a trembling right index finger at them, his face ghastly pale with fury. "My Dao-confirming weapon almost dropped an entire grade!" He was genuinely furious! Truly enraged! How many lives had he harvested to upgrade his Civilization Chronicle to one hundred and ten golden patterns? And now it had fallen! One golden pattern had truly dispersed and crumbled away! Yet in that very instant, Zhan Kui and the others rejoiced. Zhan Kui, the five ninth-tier Sun Moon experts including Tai He, and the eight geniuses including Xuan Wuji immediately surrounded Su Yu. High above, Moduona’s face drained of color! Disaster had struck! Had Su Yu been overwhelmed? Yet Su Yu, his heart aching to the core, let out a deep sigh. "It seems the only way to make up for my loss is for all of you to enter my book and fill the void!" With a sorrowful sigh, Su Yu muttered regretfully, "Time to send you on your way!" In that breath, he swallowed the second droplet of blood essence. Instantly, Su Yu perceived a profound shift. He saw things that had previously been invisible to him. He seemed to see the flow of time—time had always flowed, but in the past, that had merely been a concept. At this moment, he could practically see it. He also saw a colossal, boundless River of Time. It did not belong to him; rather, it was something that inherently existed across all space and time. A Quasi-Invincible! A being that touched the domain of time! Through the blood essence, Su Yu had temporarily stepped into the domain of time, entering the Quasi-Invincible realm. At this juncture, his yang apertures began siphoning death qi at a drastically increased rate. Su Yu couldn't care less; he had no way to control it! He could only pray that Xingyue would hold on. …… Down below, Xingyue’s expression twisted violently! Yet she roared, "Quick, funnel more in! He is resisting! Resisting violently, struggling with all his might! Suppress him, pour in death qi!" The dead spirit monarchs were thoroughly shaken. What terrifying absorption power! Just who was Xingyue converting? To be this formidable! Having stepped into the Quasi-Invincible realm, the rate at which Su Yu's yang apertures absorbed energy was far greater than that of an ordinary Quasi-Invincible. The suction speed was staggering! If Xingyue had been on her own, she might truly have been drained until she collapsed limp on the floor. Fortunately, a full eight dead spirit monarchs were currently channeling death qi into her, which brought her immense internal satisfaction! *Drain away, you bastard!* *Keep draining!* *Drain yourself to death, you scoundrel!* She was genuinely frightened by this bastard's power. It was terrifying. Had she known earlier, she never would have come. Even if she went out there, drained like this without external support, she might not even possess the strength left to kill him! Utterly terrifying! Xingyue almost wanted to retreat back to where she came from. She was reluctant to stay here any longer. Being drained by Su Yu filled her with dread—if the other dead spirits saw through her… they would devour her alive! A critically weakened dead spirit monarch was nothing more than a juicy piece of meat! *What in the world are you doing?!* Xingyue prayed inwardly. *Stop quickly, I can barely take it anymore! If this goes on, they’re going to suspect me!* …… Inside the Martial Arts Hall. At this moment, Su Yu’s aura surged to unprecedented heights, making him the single strongest combatant in the entire hall. Su Yu smiled! His smile was radiant and brilliant, bathed in holy light. Like a saint descending upon the world! "Everyone, my thanks!" Su Yu chuckled and lashed out with a kick—Mountain Shatterer! Time! In this instant, he finally grasped the sheer brilliance of this martial technique. King Miecan truly possessed remarkable skill. This technique was never meant for ordinary people; it was designed for Quasi-Invincibles, directly involving the domain of time! As the kick landed, everyone’s vision blurred, as though they had been snapped back to a moment prior! Even Zhan Kui was forced back a step, while the other geniuses flew backward, retreating straight into their previous positions. In a flash, Su Yu materialized before one of them, smiled faintly, and flipped open a page of his book, instantly pulling the genius inside! A ninth-tier Sun Moon expert beside him let out a shrill roar and lunged at Su Yu. Su Yu unleashed another kick, blasting him backward as time seemed to slip away! Su Yu marveled. King Miecan… was truly formidable. Incredible! Only now had he comprehended the true essence of this martial art. He had merely captured them, not killed them. Once they entered his book, there was no escaping. Their physical bodies and blood essence were devoured in an instant, leaving only their seas of will intact to prevent dead spirits from manifesting! In the next instant, Su Yu appeared directly above another genius. The book descended over him. The youth resisted frantically, even unleashing a Heaven armament, but Su Yu suppressed it effortlessly, grabbing him and tossing him into the book! "What's the point of struggling!" In the distance, the faces of Tai He and the others warped with horror. Protecting the remaining geniuses, they fled toward the throne at the end of the hall, desperate to trigger the mechanism and escape! Yet Su Yu's speed was simply too terrifying. Boosted by the blood essence and touching the realm of time, his speed had reached absurd heights. Crossing the distance in a single stride, he seized Tai He and let out a furious roar. With a deafening *bang*, Tai He's physical body was crushed into paste. A book page manifested instantly, devouring everything. Dao Cheng fled in terror. Su Yu chuckled softly. *Think you can run?* Over there, Zhan Kui roared, "Don't run, kill him!" The remaining ninth-tier Sun Moon experts dared not hesitate. Regrouping around Zhan Kui, they charged toward Su Yu. Dao Cheng breathed a sigh of relief! Su Yu was right behind him, but the others were closing in to intercept… Just as the thought crossed his mind, Su Yu's calm chuckle drifted into his ears: "Did you think I wouldn't kill you? Wrong. I consider you an immense threat, so you'd better take a stroll inside my book first!" Dao Cheng roared, and a tremendously powerful divine character materialized in an instant! It was on the verge of stepping into the Sun Moon Realm! As that divine character emerged, Su Yu's vision blurred, as if catching a glimpse of the future—seeing himself die a horrific death, seeing countless fragmented visions… *Bang!* Su Yu shattered the divine character with a single punch, instantly sweeping the surviving fragments into his own sea of will. He laughed, "A fine divine character, but you are not worthy of it!" With a wet crunch, he crushed Dao Cheng's physical body and stuffed him into the book. His sea of will was suppressed in an eyeblink! Good things were wasted on the weak; possessing them changed nothing. "No!" Dao Cheng’s despairing howl echoed out, "I know countless secrets! Su Yu, don't kill me!" Su Yu smiled and sealed off everything. *Not kill you?* *Sure. Once I strip away everything you know, I'll execute you slowly—or feed you to the fur ball. How's that for generosity?* In a matter of seconds, Su Yu had captured three geniuses and a ninth-tier Sun Moon expert. Chills ran down the spines of the survivors. Xuan Wuji shrieked, "Su Yu, do you truly wish to wage an endless war of extermination against the Immortal race?!" "……" Su Yu paused, looking amused. "If I recall correctly… Tiangu already issued that decree himself. Weren't we already in a war of extermination?" He put on an innocent, bewildered face. "Could it be that Tiangu's words are nothing more than passing wind?" It was utterly hilarious! Xuan Wuji froze, speechless! In the next instant, Su Yu appeared directly before Zhan Kui. This time, there was no stalling. Su Yu roared at the top of his lungs, "Heaven-Cleaving!" "Mountain Suppressor!" "Battle Invincible!" "……" Thunderous detonations shook the hall. After an onslaught of relentless attacks, Zhan Kui’s body was battered to pieces. Just as Zhan Kui was about to risk his life in a desperate counterattack, Su Yu suddenly pivoted, landing a backhand punch that made another ninth-tier Sun Moon expert vomit blood as his body ruptured. Su Yu followed with a kick that shattered the vessel completely, flipping a page to swallow him whole! Terrified out of his wits, Zhan Kui fled backward, while Su Yu remained leisurely and composed! He couldn't push too hard all at once! Otherwise, a Quasi-Invincible like Zhan Kui might still possess a lethal parting blow. He had to leave his prey a sliver of hope for survival! Instead, Su Yu moved to harvest the others! One genius after another was reaped in rapid succession, suppressed and sealed away into the Civilization Chronicle! Of the eight geniuses, only Xuan Wuji remained! And of the original five ninth-tier Sun Moon experts, only one was left, cowering beside Zhan Kui and Xuan Wuji. Despair was etched across all three faces! High above, Yang Hu had been driven mad, frantically raining blows upon Moduona. Half of Moduona's body had been obliterated, yet he refused to yield an inch, roaring, "Su Yu, hurry up! I can't hold out much longer!" Since he had promised to stall his opponent, he would not allow Yang Hu to interfere! Such was the pride of a genius! Yet Su Yu was taking his sweet time, which left Moduona thoroughly aggrieved. In the distance, Zhan Kui’s face twisted into utter madness. "I’ll take you down with me!" At this moment, his blood vitality flared violently, bearing every sign of an imminent self-detonation. The sheer threat caused Su Yu’s advance to stall slightly. In the next instant, however, Zhan Kui whipped around and punched the ninth-tier Sun Moon expert beside him into pieces! Even the man’s sea of will was completely pulverized! *Rumble!* A full moon crashed down, and within the hall, an intensely terrifying aura belonging to a Quasi-Invincible dead spirit materialized! A ninth-tier Sun Moon expert had truly died! Zhan Kui snarled, "Su Yu, do not push us! If we die, an Invincible dead spirit will emerge…" Before he could finish, Su Yu tossed out over a hundred ancient city tokens. The Quasi-Invincible dead spirit possessed a faint trace of sentience. Looking at Su Yu, it spoke mechanically, "Not enough…" "Greedy creature!" Su Yu chuckled and tossed out several dozen more. Only then did the Quasi-Invincible dead spirit leave satisfied, vanishing on the spot. "……" Zhan Kui roared in sheer hysteria! *Fuck! That works too?!* He had never attempted it, because he had never possessed so many ancient city tokens! Xuan Wuji’s face drained of all color as he screamed, "Yang Hu, run! Take me and run, hurry!" It was over! They were completely incapable of standing against Su Yu. Su Yu, smiling amiably, remarked, "Look at you all, wasting so many of my precious treasures!" With those words, the book descended toward Xuan Wuji. Su Yu himself lunged straight for Zhan Kui. Zhan Kui bellowed, "I will self-detonate! An Invincible dead spirit will appear! Invincible dead spirits possess full intelligence; they cannot be bribed, and ancient city tokens will be useless…" At this juncture, suicide was his only threat against Su Yu. Su Yu had refrained from shattering anyone's sea of will up to this point, which proved he was afraid as well! Afraid of a dead spirit monarch emerging! "Su Yu, let me go! Let me leave, and I will never interfere in your affairs again…" He pleaded, "Let me go, or I will detonate! Truly, Su Yu, if I die, a dead spirit monarch will appear, and everyone will die! I am a Quasi-Invincible, so a dead spirit monarch is guaranteed to manifest…" High above, Yang Hu roared as well, "Su Yu, Moduona, you have already slaughtered so many! Let us go! We swear never to reveal a single word of what happened here! Otherwise, if Zhan Kui and I die, two Invincible dead spirits might appear! Can you hold them off?!" This was indeed an issue! A gravely serious issue! Invincible dead spirits might not honor ancient city tokens. Even if they did, did Su Yu even have enough tokens left? Yet Su Yu merely smiled. "As for me, I prefer to gamble. I gamble that you don't dare detonate. After all, if you surrender to me, your sea of will remains intact, meaning there's still a chance to live, isn't there?" In the next instant, he appeared directly in front of Zhan Kui and threw a punch. *Boom!* Unable to withstand it, Zhan Kui's body fractured as blood splattered everywhere. He screamed, "No, I dare! Don't push me! Su Yu, don't push me!" Meanwhile, Su Yu was sending ripples through the death qi he was absorbing. He wanted to check… could Xingyue come out? If she could, let her come! When it came to handling Xingyue, he had plenty of tricks up his sleeve! If Xingyue couldn't come out and another dead spirit monarch emerged instead, he wondered if disguising himself as a dead spirit would work. *Rules!* Su Yu pondered inwardly. Everything was governed by rules. Slaying someone summoned a dead spirit—that was the rule. How could he prevent a dead spirit monarch from killing him? In the ancient cities, all hostility reset after three days. Here, he was unsure of the conditions. Right then, Moduona suddenly called out, "Don't worry, I have a way! Since I chose to make my move here, I naturally came prepared!" Su Yu didn't dare place all his trust in him! He continued sending fluctuations through the death qi, contacting Xingyue: *Come out… come out in a moment… come out and kill me in a moment…* …… At that exact second, Xingyue sensed that distinct frequency of fluctuations. The other dead spirit monarchs paid it no mind, but Xingyue felt it and understood Su Yu's meaning. Her gaze turned frighteningly cold. *He is provoking me?* *Yes, he is provoking me!* *This is intolerable!* She abruptly stood up and said sharply, "I need to head out shortly. The fellow under my control will soon obey my commands and execute a Quasi-Invincible. I must step outside to issue further orders!" The other monarchs were immediately delighted. "The conversion succeeded?" "Almost, but not quite. I will step out and personally see it through!" "Splendid! If he can already receive your commands, success is right around the corner!" The dead spirits were thrilled. *We can finally go out!* Xingyue sneered inwardly. *A bunch of idiots. Just keep waiting!* *Like hell any of you are going out!* *Damn you, Su Yu, I'm not done with you!* She needed to step out to escape the storm anyway. If Su Yu kept draining her, she feared things would truly spiral out of control. Once outside, Su Yu wouldn't kill her; the bastard couldn't bear to let her die, since he would lose his source of death qi. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became! *I… actually have to rely on this scoundrel to stay alive! It infuriates me!* Shortly after, Xingyue sent an affirmative response through the fluctuations of death qi: *Just you wait, this monarch will step out and slaughter you!* …… Inside the hall, Su Yu grinned. *Oho!* *She can actually come out?* *Impressive!* Once a single monarch emerged, the others would be barred from following—such were the rules, unless several more Invincibles died. Furthermore, with Xingyue out here, she could help him take down Yang Hu! Before him, Zhan Kui howled, "Don't push me, Su Yu, I really will detonate!" "Go ahead and detonate then!" "I truly will!" "Detonate then! You're a Quasi-Invincible, why the hell are you blabbering so much? If you don't detonate, I'm killing you!" Su Yu threw another punch, shattering Zhan Kui's bones. Unable to endure such humiliation any longer, Zhan Kui hurled himself toward Su Yu with a thunderous roar, detonating on the spot! "You forced my hand!" Zhan Kui's agonized screech echoed through the hall as a blazing sun plummeted to its ruin! *I never wanted to self-detonate, but you forced me! Su Yu, die with me!* Su Yu retreated swiftly. In that moment, an Invincible dead spirit slowly materialized within the hall! Just as Moduona was about to intervene, Su Yu called out cheerfully from afar, "My dearest Lady, I missed you so much! You're finally here!" "……" Silence fell over the hall! At this moment, Zhan Kui's lingering remnant will still remained. Filled with endless confusion and grievance, it looked toward the cloaked dead spirit monarch. Xingyue wore a mask of frost. "Su Yu, are you provoking me?" "Perish the thought, my dearest Lady! We're on the same side, how could I ever provoke you?" Su Yu chuckled merrily. "My Lady, this Immortal Quasi-Invincible has been bullying me. Please strike him down! He was being far too abusive! He showed no respect to you at all!" Both Yang Hu and Moduona were utterly flabbergasted! *Holy shit!* *Holy fucking shit!* *He hooked up with a dead spirit monarch?!* *And… this was inside the Star Astral Mansion!* *How on earth did he hook up with her?!* They were utterly dumbstruck! When Zhan Kui's remnant will saw that the dead spirit monarch genuinely made no move against Su Yu, it dissolved into nothingness amidst boundless resentment, regret, and madness! "I cannot accept this!" No one in his position could have accepted it! Moduona's mouth hung wide open, and Yang Hu’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. In the next breath, Xingyue charged straight toward Yang Hu. *I cannot allow anyone to witness my humiliation!* The rules dictated that she could kill anyone she laid eyes on right now! Therefore, she would kill this man to protect her secret! With a muffled swoosh, death qi engulfed Yang Hu in an instant. Yang Hu completely lost his mind, screaming in utter despair, "No, this isn't right! Dead spirit monarch… yes, dearest Lady…" "Insolence!" Xingyue flew into a rage. *What did you just call me?!* *I will kill you, without question!* Only Su Yu was permitted to address her like that, purely because she had no way to deal with him. Yet this bastard dared mimic him? He was insulting a magnificent dead spirit monarch! *Rip!* Her cloak severed the River of Time, and death qi blanketed heaven and earth. Xingyue struck with a palm that nearly converted Yang Hu into a dead spirit on the spot. Seven or eight successive palm strikes followed, culminating in a colossal blast that obliterated Yang Hu's physical vessel! At this moment, Su Yu called out hurriedly, "Wait, leave the sea of will to me…" He darted forward, sealing the glowing orb into his book. As for Xuan Wuji, he had long since been captured. Beside them, cold sweat dripped relentlessly from Moduona’s forehead… *In all my life, I have never experienced such terror!* *In all my life, I have never seen a living person flirt and bicker with a dead spirit monarch… More importantly, that dead spirit monarch actually helped Su Yu obliterate a Quasi-Invincible!* *Did I just stumble upon some horrifying secret? Am I… about to be silenced?!* Moduona’s sweat dripped down drop by drop. Across from him, Su Yu collected the sea of will and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Xingyue. In that brief moment, countless horrifying scenarios flashed through Moduona’s mind, making him want to scream in sheer panic! *Can living people and dead spirits actually hook up like this?!*