Chapter 1003: Ninestar Island, I'm Here! (3)
Su Yu's interest was piqued. He asked softly, "Lord, is there a way for us to get one of these rankings?"
Ying Yun, the Mountainsea, nodded with a smile, "Yes. But don't ask me about it. I don't have the courage to buy something like that. When you reach Ninestar City, you can try to buy one from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. The Allheaven Treasure House might try to restrict the circulation, but that's not the case for the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. They can even lay the blame on the Allheaven Treasure House. They are intentionally doing this to create trouble for their competitor."
Su Yu was both surprised and amused to hear that. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was actually selling a ranking maintained by the Allheaven Treasure House...
Ying Yun continued speaking, "That's not surprising at all. After all, the Allheaven Treasure House is also selling the results of the Heavenly Hunt Index. Index copies are hard to find yet everyone is very curious about the latest happenings. But the index copies are even harder to get than the ranking copies. Thus, the Allheaven Treasure House provides this service. Naturally, the index copies they sell do not come with the special functions of the original index copies."
Su Yu nodded. He felt like his horizons had been broadened yet again. So both those organizations were actively undermining each other. It was very obvious what was happening. He decided to buy the pirated copies later. He had been quite curious about the latest updates. His only source of information as of late had been gossip.
At the very least, he needed to read about the accomplishments of the various geniuses to form a more accurate judgment about their strength. As for the Dao Affirmation Ranking, he was only curious if Xia Longwu was ranked first.
He also hoped to see Old Zhu's name to boost his own confidence. After all, that was his backer. Then again, Old Zhu might not even be on the ranking even if he was also a ninth-stage Sunmoon.
There were probably too many Sunmoons among the myriad races to rank them all. In fact, almost all the prefects of the thirty-six human prefectures were ninth-stage Sunmoons. And that was excluding senior human cultivators like Cheng Mo of Great Tang and many others. Even with a conservative estimate by Su Yu, there were at least fifty of them. And that was the minimum number.
There were also the principals of the various academies, the generals of the elite armies, and the older experts who had retreated from public life to recover from their old injuries. And among the other races, even the races without Invincibles had some ninth-stage Sunmoons to offer.
Excluding the major races, just the minor races could produce hundreds of ninth-stage Sunmoons. Including those from the major races, Su Yu reckoned that there were probably over a thousand ninth-stage Sunmoons in existence. Of course, most of them would be staying in their own realms.
For example, the nine realms of Ninestar Island. They had more than ten ninth-stage Sunmoons, but not one of them would leave. After all, they were basically Invincibles when they were in their own realms. But if they left, other Invincibles would be able to kill them easily.
With so many ninth-stage Sunmoons in existence, Su Yu wasn't so sure Xia Longwu would be the strongest. Perhaps there were stronger Sunmoons around. He did not recall hearing about Xia Longwu killing ninth-stage Sunmoons. He did hear about some eighth-stage Sunmoons dying in Xia Longwu's hands, though.
Su Yu was normally unbothered about this since he had never thought too deeply about it. But now that he was thinking about it, he felt quite helpless. There were too many races in existence. Due to the sheer number of races in existence, there were also way too many Sunmoons in existence.
Su Yu had never calculated the exact number of races in existence, but he reckoned there were at least thousands of them. And for the most part, even the weaker races would be able to produce some Sunmoons. Thus, it was reasonable to put the estimated number of Sunmoons in existence to at least one thousand.
As for Invincibles, there were at least several hundred in existence. Or even more. Just the divines, devils, immortals, humans, and dragons had over three hundred Invincibles. What if the other races were included? The number would become far higher. The more he thought about it, the more tiny he felt. With so many super experts in existence, why was he feeling all smug about himself?
There were so many Sunmoons out there. The Mountainseas he had been killing might be able to act as the overlords of minor realms or elders of the human academies, but what were Mountainseas here? They were as good as ants.
Nobody knew what he was thinking. If they knew, they would probably go mad with anger. What bullshit was he thinking? How many years had the myriad races existed? There were countless living beings in existence. With so many living beings in existence, a Mountainsea was basically as rare as one in a hundred million. A Sunmoon was even rarer.
The seemingly huge number of super experts in existence was actually something that had accumulated over numerous years. As a mere nineteen-year-old human, why was he measuring himself against Sunmoons and Invincibles?
***
The group continued chatting with each other while moving at a moderate speed.
They did stumble upon several active battles on the journey, but each time, Ying Yun took them on a detour away from the battle. He would do the same even if the combatants were only Cloudbreaches.
There was no need for them to get involved. It was pointless to take the risk just to showcase their courage. There were simply too many Cloudbreaches in existence. Even the first and second-ranked geniuses on the Heaven Index were Cloudbreaches. There were also numerous Cloudbreaches on the Earth Index. All these geniuses were capable of killing Mountainseas like it was a game.
The number one rule to surviving in the Allheaven Battlefield was tact. It didn't matter how strong one was. There would always be someone stronger out there.
Su Yu had been paying close attention to his surroundings during the journey, taking note of potential routes for his escape after the conclusion of his scam. Speedy departure might be necessary after his scam. Thus, it wouldn't be a bad idea to study the area in advance. It would be awkward if he ended up delivering himself to his enemies during his escape just because he didn't know his way around, right?
"For now, Tianduo will be my number one target for identity theft."
Topsoil Spirit would be the better choice, but it was unfortunate that he had failed to capture that fellow. That was a potential disaster in the making. In fact, Topsoil Spirit knew so much about him that he no longer considered capturing that fellow. Rather, he wanted to kill that fellow to protect his secrets.
Su Yu was busy thinking when suddenly, a big fight broke out ahead of them.
Everyone looked in the direction of the fight. When Ying Yun saw the combatants, he hurriedly said, "Pick up the pace. We need to leave this area. It's Shi Zun of the stone golem race. His opponent is not weak either. It's an index genius as well. Sigh, not even Mountainseas can do anything against these geniuses."
He sounded endlessly helpless.
Shi Zun.
Su Yu's eyes flickered. This was a familiar name to him. Back when he was being pursued by Lei Jue, that stone golem had attacked Lei Jue out of nowhere, facing Lei Jue to take a detour around the stone golem.
One ought to note that Lei Jue was a ninth-stage Cloudbreach while Shi Zun was only a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. Furthermore, Lei Jue was someone who had killed Mountainseas before.
From this, one could imagine just how much of a genius Shi Zun was. When Su Yu looked into the distance, he saw an incomparably violent stone golem. Ignoring all the attacks his opponent was bombarding him with, the stone golem threw a punch and created a massive rumble. Punch after punch was thrown unceasingly, as though he would never run out of energy.
A short while later, his opponent started fleeing. Shi Zun did not hesitate to give chase despite his obviously slower movement speed.
Ying Yun was relieved to see the two leaving. He sighed and said, "There are too many geniuses on the island right now. Shi Zun is ranked thirteenth on the Earth Index, a rank lower than Tianduo. From my observation, the person fighting him earlier was probably Fu Shan, fifteenth on the Earth Index. He's also a giant, but not a primordial giant. Rather, he's a draconic giant. According to the rumors, this race was a result of breeding between dragons and giants..."
They all started gasping at the splendor of the geniuses. Meanwhile, Su Yu wasn't too bothered by what he saw. Rather, he was paying a lot more attention on a certain rumor he was hearing.
It was said that Shi Zun had a poor relationship with Topsoil Spirit. He would pick a fight with Topsoil Spirit at every opportunity. Su Yu was quite surprised. He wondered if Topsoil Spirit was really weaker than this fellow. Or perhaps Topsoil Spirit had merely been pretending to be weak.
Shi Zun was strong, but from the punch he saw earlier, Shi Zun's physical strength was actually slightly weaker than his. And he had failed to kill Topsoil Spirit even after consuming sixth-stage Mountainsea blood essence.
He had eventually pushed his strength to the level of a seventh-stage Mountainsea, but that was done solely to deal with the wooden stake.
"Shi Zun..."
New thoughts emerged in Su Yu's mind. Was the rivalry between Topsoil Spirit and Shi Zun real or merely an act? If it was real, perhaps Shi Zun held a natural advantage over Topsoil Spirit.
One of them was humanoid earth while the other was humanoid stone. They were quite similar in nature. As Su Yu was busy thinking, a massive city appeared ahead of them.
They had reached Ninestar City.
It was massive, but Su Yu's attention wasn't on the size. He was more focused on his slightly pulsing tribulation character. Evidently, a lot of people capable of threatening him were in the city.
Suddenly, a loud boom rang out above the city. A white dragon and a flaming devil were fighting.
"Long He, are you buying or not? If you're not buying, just piss off."
The devil snorted and threw a punch out. As a response, the dragon swung his tail at the devil. Heavy auras emanated out of them.
Long He roared furiously, "Dawo, don't push it too far! Your people bought the ancient dragonblood tree for only ten drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid. We have offered ten times the price, but you guys are still being greedy about it."
"Hmph! Five hundred drops. We won't sell it for any less than that."
"Damn it!"
"..." Thıs content belongs to novèlfire.net
Right at that moment, someone else soared into the sky and said, "Isn't it a tad bit too excessive for the two of you to fight in the city? You're both experts of major races. Are you going to make a fool out of yourselves before so many juniors?"
Beside Su Yu, the Mountainsea did not even dare to speak through his mouth. Rather, he used voice transmission, "The devils and dragons are fighting again. This is all happening because of the ancient dragonblood tree. The third expert is the mayor of Ninestar City. He's also an elder of the Thousand Region Alliance. He is a very powerful late-stage Sunmoon..."
Everyone in the group was trembling with fear. The first thing they saw after arriving was three late-stage Sunmoons. They were both excited and nervous to see so many experts. Wasn't this why they were here? They were only here to witness the splendor of these top experts. Today, that wish had been fulfilled.
Index geniuses, Sunmoon experts, divines, devils, dragons, immortals...they had seen all these people after reaching the island.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was much calmer. Late-stage Sunmoons were not that rare for him. In fact, he could feel that these three Sunmoons weren't even stronger than Ming He. They were also weaker than Mo He, the original devil he had seen before. Similarly, they were also weaker than the primordial giant he had seen.
After glancing at the three, Su Yu judged that they wouldn't fight for real. Sure enough, with the persuasion of the mayor, the dragon and devil descended from the sky and vanished from everyone's view. Su Yu inhaled deeply. This was so exciting!
Lovely. This place was even more exciting than ancient cities.
Chapter 1004: Fishing (1)
Su Yu had been at Bright City before. He noted that this Ninestar City was actually very different from Bright City. An example would be what was happening at the gate of Ninestar City. The moment he reached the gate, he found that he had to pay a fee to enter. Entry wasn't free here.
"Ten drops of source qi liquid."
The guard gave them a glance and named the price in a straightforward manner. And for that price, they would only be allowed to enter through the side door beside the gate.
When the guard noticed them looking at the gate, he said, "The strong enjoys our respect. Entry is free of charge for the top 100 races. They are also allowed to enter through the gate. Don't say stupid things like the Thousand Region Alliance looks down on minor races. We are minor races as well. Even our own people have to use the side door."
It was that simple. The division between classes was very strict here. After all, they needed money to keep the city operational. That was important because this was a city founded by the Thousand Region Alliance itself.
The guard said, "At the Mountainsea Realm, you can use the gate regardless of race. This rule is put in place for the safety of people like you. Don't look at me like that. A lot of experts have terrible tempers, especially those from powerful races. They might find you tolerable if you're at the Mountainsea Realm, but below that, they will view the act of walking the same road as you as an insult."
In short, the guard was telling them to accept reality. That was the only thing one could do without sufficient strength, sufficiently strong race, and sufficiently strong backing. It was that simple. Some of them might not feel too happy about this, but what could they do but accept reality?
Everyone paid up, including Su Yu. What else could he say? If even their own members needed to pay and use the side door as well, there was nothing to be said. What could he do if he was a garbage iron-winged bird? At the very least, he was a tiny bit better off than those from the fire hog race.
That was the most widely acknowledged weakest race in existence. Right after he stepped into the city, a powerful individual appeared above a tall building at the center of the city. His voice reverberated throughout the city.
"From today onward, nobody is allowed to approach the 810 western entrances of the Luminous Domain Mansion."
Nothing else was said. Su Yu was left confused. What was the meaning of those words? Right after entering the city, he saw a random divine proclaiming that nobody could approach some random entrances.
What was happening? Was this related to the Luminous Domain Mansion? He was quite confused. When he looked at the people who had entered the city alongside him, some of them looked confused as well.
Ying Yun, the leader of the escort team, was preparing to leave. When he heard the proclamation, he sighed and spoke through voice transmission, "With this, the number of spots available to the minor races during the next Luminous Domain Mansion opening will drop even further."
Seeing that some of them were confused, he added, "The Luminous Domain Mansion is a unique place. Only a limited number of people can enter the mansion each time. The manor can be entered from four directions, and each direction is split into nine levels and 810 entrances. Each entrance can allow the entry of one individual. In total, only 3,240 spots are available per opening."
"And now, the divines have monopolized the 810 western entrances. Since they're making this announcement, they must have completely sealed the area off from all outsiders."
Su Yu was surprised to hear that. Was that actually a thing? True. The spots to enter the manor had always been limited. As far as he knew, Great Ming had ten spots while Great Xia had twenty spots. One ought to note that Great Xia was one of the three strongest human prefectures. Thus, it was actually quite impressive for Great Ming to actually receive ten spots.
As a whole, the human race would probably only have a few hundred spots. Even if each prefecture was given ten spots on average, the human race would only have 360 spots in total.
So the humans didn't even have as many spots as the divines? After all, the divines had taken 810 spots all for themselves. Of course, the divines might not actually use all their reserved spots themselves. Some would probably be given out to reward their vassal races.
After the divine spoke, a different voice rang out, "You guys sure are fast at sealing off the western entrances..."
The same voice spoke lazily, "Since the divines have spoken, let me make my announcement as well. From this moment, the 810 southern entrances belong to the devils. Nobody is allowed to approach."
"The 810 northern entrances belong to the immortals."
"The 810 eastern entrances belong to the humans..."
The first three announcements went unchallenged. But when the fourth announcement was made, a cold voice rang out, "Since when has that been agreed upon? Of the 810 eastern entrances, the humans can get 300 of them. The dragons will also get 300 of them while the rest will be split among the other races."
"..."
Su Yu was still in a state of shock, but upon hearing those words, anger started building within him. Why couldn't humanity get 810 entrances as well? The divines, immortals, and devils had each monopolized a direction. But the moment the humans laid their claim, they were denied.
First, Su Yu was furious. But next, he turned gloomy. The humans...had actually conceded.
The same human laughed and said, "Fine. The humans will get 400 eastern entrances. Everyone else can share the remaining entrances."
The same expert who had denied the previous claim spoke again, "Are the humans even capable of keeping the 400 entrances?" Thıs text ıs hosted at NoveI(F)ire.net
The same human laughed and said, "I represent the War Shrine. These 400 entrances belong to the War Shrine. As for the Knowledge Seeking Realm, they can fight for what they want. If you disagree, you can talk to Great Qin King. Don't waste your time on me. I'm only here on behalf of the Invincibles. I'm not an Invincible myself. It's not like the claims made today will be final. During the day of the opening, things might still change."
One expert after another spoke. Everyone else in the city listened silently. The same show was starting. This show would repeat itself every ten years. Meanwhile, Su Yu was left confused. What was up with the humans? Why was the War Shrine laying a claim for themselves? What about the Knowledge Seeking Realm?
Was humanity still playing with their internal politics even out here in the Allheaven Battlefield?
Su Yu was left completely speechless. Whatever. So be it.
This was embarrassing. What a joke.
War Shrine and Knowledge Seeking Realm. The two holy lands of humanity. Each of the other major races was acting as one when it concerned the Luminous Domain Mansion. But the human race was unable to unite even in this matter. And from the reaction of the other races, this wasn't even surprising. Clearly, this wasn't the first time this had happened.
"They're letting their internal conflicts spread to even the Allheaven Battlefield..."
Su Yu cursed inwardly. But he was also inwardly hoping that this was merely an act to fool the myriad races. However, after thinking more about it, he cursed even harder than before. It was very likely that the internal situation of the human race was really this bad.
The Luminous Domain Mansion had yet to open, but humanity had already lost their momentum. Furthermore, they had also openly displayed their disunity in front of so many people.
Su Yu didn't know what to say. What were the Invincibles thinking? He only knew that there was a serious problem with humanity. The problem was so serious that even with the high number of Invincibles humanity could produce and their status as the hegemon of the eastern sector, they were unable to get as many spots as the other major races.
When the divines, devils, and immortals spoke, nobody dared to dispute their claim. But when the humans spoke, it felt like they were haggling in a market. This was too embarrassing.
No matter how much Su Yu resented some humans, he was still proud of his identity as a human after witnessing the pitiful fates of the minor races in the Allheaven Battlefield. Just look at how strong the human race was. Just look at the number of Invincibles they had.
They were the hegemon of the eastern sector!
But now, he realized that there was nothing to be proud of. The human race was inferior to the other major races. They were below the divines, devils, and immortals. Even the dragons dared to challenge them.
The humans liked to claim that the humans, divines, immortals, and devils were the four hegemons of the Allheaven Battlefield. But in practice, only the divines, immortals, and devils were first-class races. Meanwhile, the humans, dragons, and the ancient races were second-class races. The top 100 races were considered third-class races. As for all the other races, they were below the third-class races.
The human race was merely a second-class race. This realization hit Su Yu like a hammer. His excitement faded and he grew listless.
Back in the Human Realm, he had been quite proud thanks to all the heroic stories he had heard about humanity, such as how Great Xia caused the divines and devils to shit themselves on the battlefield, how Great Qin specialized in killing the immortal fairies of the immortal race, and how the various prefectures had always suppressed the myriad races on the battlefield.
But when he was finally in the Allheaven Battlefield himself, he found that the human race wasn't that big of a deal, after all. The divines, devils, and immortals had merely been holding back against an all-out war with humanity to avoid major losses. Out here, everyone still believed that the three races were superior to the human race.
They had merely been waiting for a better opportunity to defeat humanity once and for all. Meanwhile, humanity could only survive, not prosper. Just look at how quiet the humans were when the experts of the other races were trying to kill Su Yu. Since the major races were involved, humanity was forced to stay silent.
What if the situation was reversed? Perhaps the human Invincibles could try to kill Mo Duona as well. The devils would most definitely react intensely. It was fine if Mo Duona was killed in a struggle against other geniuses. But if an Invincible tried to get involved, things would not be pretty. That was how overbearing the devils were. And that was applicable to the divines and immortals as well.
Even the dragons enjoyed much more respect among the myriad races than the humans. That was because the dragons were also known to be extremely protective of their own. Humanity was the exception. They couldn't afford to be protective.
Su Yu was greatly dispirited. He felt empty inside. He had personally witnessed a human expert staking a claim before conceding the moment the other major races disputed the claim. He couldn't help feeling sad despite knowing that humanity had no choice.
Even when humanity was disadvantaged against the other races, they still persisted with their internal conflicts and politics. Served them right for being bullied by the other major races.
Su Yu cursed inwardly. Served them right! Not only that, but humanity had somehow even produced a traitor among their Invincibles. They deserved this treatment from the myriad races.
***
While Su Yu was thinking about all that.
On the top floor of a certain high-rise building. The top floor had been booked by a single individual.
Inside, Zhu Guangshen was sipping tea while smiling, "Who's the fellow earlier? The one from War Shrine."
Umbra answered, "Jin Shili."
"The one from Great Jin?"
"Yes." First, Zhu Guangshen nodded. Then, he sighed. Eventually, he smiled again, "That fellow sure is soft. But fortunately, it wasn't Xia Longwu or Qin Zhen here as the representative or a fight would have broken out earlier."
The general of the Heavenly Dao Army said, "It's not that he's soft, but he's simply weaker than the two names you mentioned. He couldn't afford to be as unyielding as the two of them. Furthermore, the Knowledge Seeking Realm has been acting quite mysteriously as of late. They didn't even bother to send any representative here this time..."
"I'm here, right?" Zhu Guangshen laughed, "I'm one of the nine family heads of the Knowledge Seeking Realm. How am I not a representative of the Knowledge Seeking Realm?"
"..."
The others blanked out upon hearing that.
Ignoring their reactions, Zhu Guangshen laughed again. When all the experts stopped speaking, he spoke, "The human cultural researchers will be claiming two hundred of the entrances. I'm here on behalf of the Knowledge Seeking Realm. Don't bother to reject me. I honestly don't care. I'm only here as Great Zhou King's messenger. You can look for Great Zhou King if you have anything to say."
After saying those words, he proceeded to ignore them all.
Their objections had nothing to do with him.
Umbra asked in astonishment, "Prince, since the Knowledge Seeking Realm sent you here to fight for these spots, why didn't they send more people to assist you?"
"Nah. I only made that claim for fun." Zhu Guangshen spoke indifferently, "Even if Great Zhou King learns of what I spoke, so what? Do you think those from the War Shrine will share their spots? Will Great Zhou King feel troubled because that's too many spots? Also, who's to say the claims made today won't change when the actual day arrives? None of this matters."
He laughed again. He was merely babbling nonsense when he uttered those words. It didn't matter if they wouldn't be able to actually get all those spots. At the very least, they had to look good, right?
So what if Great Zhou King eventually learned about this? He was one of the nine family heads. Since nobody else from the Knowledge Seeking Realm was here, he naturally had to say something on their behalf, right? Nobody would say no to more spots, right?
The one to say no would be scorned by all human cultural researchers. Thus, they would agree with him even if they weren't being sincere about it.
Chapter 1005: Fishing (2)
Naturally, Su Yu heard the same claim as well.
He was quite surprised.
That was a familiar voice.
He had met Zhu Guangshen before. Thus, he was able to quickly recall who the voice belonged to. He was surprised, but his mood also improved slightly. Someone from Great Ming was here. Zhu Tiandao's eldest son was here.
He had claimed two hundred spots on behalf of Knowledge Seeking Realm. Sure, humanity still had a smaller number of spots compared to the other major races, but at the very least, the total claim of humanity had increased to around six hundred spots. It didn't matter if they could ultimately get all those spots. At the very least, they had to show some backbone even if they couldn't say something domineering like humanity would take all the eastern spots.
They simply weren't strong enough to make such a claim. Sure, the person from War Shrine had tried to make that claim, but as a result, he had his face slapped. The others in Su Yu's group were not too concerned about the allocation of spots. All of them were talking in excitement.
"All the spots have been reserved. Sigh, it sure is tough being a minor race. Looks like all the other races can only fight over the leftovers and the special entrance."
"Why did they make their claim so early this time? With this, the other races can't even dream of getting more spots anymore."
"What do you mean? Things have always been this way. It's fine. When the time comes, the myriad races will force the humans to give up on some of their spots. They won't be able to get six hundred spots. They will probably be left with around three to four hundred spots."
"Don't forget the dragons, ancient races, and the top 100 races. It won't be easy for the minor races to get anything."
"..."
Suddenly, Su Yu heard something interesting.
"I heard you can actually try entering through the special entrance if you have ancient city medallions. I wonder if we can buy those medallions somewhere and what's the price."
"Yes, you can. But the price is crazy. With the next opening being so near, it won't be that easy to get your hands on one."
"..."
Ancient city medallion? Su Yu's eyes flickered. That was something he had. Or to be precise, he was in possession of many of them. But most of them were merely low-level medallions. Even the best he had was only a sixteenth ring medallion. He remembered that his Teacher Liu seemed to have run off after gathering a few high-level medallions. So one could actually enter the mansion through the special entrance with these medallions?
Su Yu had never heard of that. He needed to do his research later. It was obvious quite a lot of people were aware of this. Then again, that wasn't surprising since the mansion would open every ten years. For many cultivators, that was only a short period of time. In fact, some experts might have remained in the city since the previously opening.
"Zhu Guangshen is here..."
Soon, Su Yu thought of a different matter.
Wasn't that fellow supposed to be staying in the Knowledge Seeking Realm? Why was Zhu Guangshen here? Was that fellow here for the Luminous Domain Mansion? Or perhaps that fellow was here to save him? Was Great Ming still trying to save him? That was pointless.
Great Ming alone wouldn't be enough to protect him. Was Great Ming King going to speak up for him alone? That would do nothing. A single Invincible could not represent the entire race.
Su Yu sighed inwardly. He told himself to keep this favor in his heart. If Zhu Guangshen wasn't here for him, so be it. But if that was the case, Zhu Guangshen should just leave when possible. There was no need to drag Great Ming into this mess.
If Su Yu really wanted to rely on others, he would have returned with Umbra previously. He did not do that because he didn't want to drag others down. He was a very pragmatic person, but deep inside, his values were very simple. If one was kind to him, he would be kind in return. If one was unkind to him, he would repay it.
"Just don't get in the way of my plan."
He tossed the matter to the back of his mind. For now, he had to first get his hands on the copies of the two rankings. Then, he would start his plan to capture Tianduo. He had to get started with his plan.
As for all the other matters, such as the strength of humanity, the crisis humanity might be in, and the infighting of humanity...that had nothing to do with him. Up until now, apart from Great Ming, nobody had done anything for him.
Right, Great Xia did help him slightly. During the ancient city incident, Principal Zheng had arrived as well. As for Great Qin, their stance was still rather ambiguous for now.
As for the other prefectures and Invincibles, he had not sensed any kindness from them. None of them had expressed any desire to help him. So be it. He didn't need their help either.
"At most, I'll just repay anyone who has helped me tenfold when I gain enough strength to do so. As for everyone else, their fate does not concern me."
Even if humanity ended up destroyed, he could simply find a suitable minor realm and hide inside with his father and teachers. The Allheaven Battlefield was massive. There must be a suitable hiding place somewhere out there.
***
With the increasing defiance he was developing toward humanity, Su Yu decided to ignore the rest of humanity.
In fact, he was starting to see humanity the same way he viewed the myriad races. He would judge people on an individual basis instead of being blindly supportive of humanity. Again and again, humanity had disappointed him, turning him from a hot-blooded youth to a pragmatic youth.
That was especially true when he recalled what Zhu Tiandao once told him. Humanity did not lack multiple character cultivators. There were actually more multiple character cultivators out there who were not members of his faction. From that moment, Su Yu had realized that his faction was not as important to humanity as he had believed. For the rest of humanity, they were nothing.
When he reached the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion's branch, he made his request directly, "Give me a copy of the Dao Affirmation Ranking."
"A hundred drops of source qi liquid."
"..."
Damn these greedy bastards!
The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was as greedy as ever. Su Yu swore inwardly that one day, he would get everything he had spent on them back.
He did not bother haggling. After searching his storage ring, he made the payment with some source qi liquid, Skysoar corpses, and the random materials he had gathered during his travels.
What could he do if he was cash-poor? Soon, he received a crude piece of paper with the ranking on it.
Dao Affirmation Ranking.
The rank sounded amazing, but the material they used for this was quite unworthy of such a grand name.
A short introduction was given at the top of the page:
There are too many experts among the myriad races. This list only represents the opinion of a single party and it might be incomplete. This list is only meant to serve as a point of reference instead of the absolute truth. This is a compilation of individuals with the highest chance of achieving dao affirmation based on the known history and past accomplishments of these individuals.
The higher the rank, the higher the chance of dao affirmation, and the stronger the individual is believed to be.
1st on the rank: Soulcurse, celestial chasm race.
2nd on the rank: Endless Passage, fate race.
3rd on the rank: Blankspace, ancient spatial beast race.
4th on the rank: September, iron devourer race.
5th on the rank: Xia Longwu, human race.
…
Su Yu was quite surprised. The list was very simple. Only the rank, the name, and the race were stated. Nothing else.
Xia Longwu was actually ranked fifth.
And those above him weren't even divines and devils like Su Yu had imagined. Rather, they were all members of ancient races. There was even an iron devourer up there.
Su Yu wasn't too surprised to see that Xia Longwu wasn't at the very top. But were all these people really on the verge of dao affirmation? Also, the celestial chasm race actually had a super expert on the verge of dao affirmation? And this person was actually ranked first. Was this person basically a pseudo Invincible?
He continued reading. There were a hundred names on the list. Apart from Xia Longwu, he saw another familiar name. It was Zhou Polong at the 97th place. And finally, at the very bottom of the list was Qin Zhen, yet another familiar name to him. There were three humans among the hundred.
Xia Longwu was the highest ranked human. But the rest of the humans were actually ranked at the very bottom of the list.
Su Yu also noted that the major races like the immortals, devils, and divines didn't even dominate this list. Rather, he saw a lot of experts from the minor and ancient races. Upon noticing that, he sank into contemplation. After a while, he sighed.
He was starting to understand something. It was very likely that the divines and devils were the masterminds behind the Allheaven Treasure House. Thus, they might be keeping their own experts secret.
As for the humans they listed, those were the individuals everyone already knew. And Zhu Tiandao wasn't even on the list. Perhaps he would be able to see Old Zhu's name if the list included nine hundred or a thousand names. Old Zhu sure was pitiful.
Su Yu also felt like Xia Longwu's rank was a tad bit too high. Perhaps the divines and devils were deliberately doing this to turn him into the common enemy of the myriad races.
Furthermore, it wasn't necessarily a good thing for Soulcurse of the celestial chasm race to be the top ranker. Su Yu also found Ancient Mountain's name on the list. His name was right above Qin Zhen, occupying the 99th place.
In that case, Ancient Mountain was most likely doing quite badly since he was so strong yet his mount was only a hawk at the third-stage Sunmoon Realm. Just look at the second principal. His mount was a late-stage Sunmoon from the dragon race.
Su Yu shook his head disapprovingly. But he was only reading this list for fun. Next, he went to the Allheaven Treasure House and used the useless items on him to purchase a copy of the Heavenly Hunt Index. Sure enough, the index had changed since he last checked it.
The top three of the Heaven Index remained the same, but Dao Cheng had dropped in rank.
Ming Yue of the nether race had climbed to the fourth place while Xuan Wuji was at the fifth place. Meanwhile, Dao Cheng had fallen to the sixth place. At this rate, he would probably fall off the Heaven Index entirely if he didn't perform any new accomplishments soon.
As for Topsoil Spirit, he had climbed all the way to the fifth place of the Earth Index. Surprisingly, Su Yu saw Wu Lan's name at the very top of the Yellow Index. No, that wasn't the name he was most surprised to see. There was an extremely inconspicuous name in the Yellow Index. 359th on Yellow Index, Liu Hong.
"..."
Su Yu was completely dumbstruck.
Liu Hong?
Was that someone else with the same name?
Or was that really the same Liu Hong from Great Xia?
Was this a joke?
Was that fellow actually good enough to enter the index?
This was a ranking system for the myriad races. Su Yu himself had initially entered the ranking thanks to his identity as an earth weaponsmith. How did Liu Hong get into the index as well?
Past accomplishments: Killing a fifth-stage Cloudbreach.
Was this a joke? As far as he remembered, Liu Hong was only a second-stage Cloudbreach. Did that fellow kill someone above his level? In truth, Liu Hong was quite young. He was thirty, or probably twenty-nine.
Su Yu couldn't remember for sure. At that age, it was indeed possible for one to enter the index after killing someone above their level. It would be much harder if one was older.
"Liu Hong..." Orıginal content can be found at n0velfire.net
Su Yu checked the description and noted that this Liu Hong was from Great Xia as well. So there were two people with the same name in the same prefecture? That would be way too coincidental. It was more likely that this was indeed the same Liu Hong he knew.
Holy shit! Su Yu remembered that the last time they met, this fellow was still busy scamming everyone in Great Xia. How had that fellow gone from swindling in Great Xia to entering the index in the Allheaven Battlefield?
Even during his time in the ancient city, Liu Hong had yet to enter the index. Thus, this must have happened recently. Was that fellow really in the Allheaven Battlefield?
"Is it possible that...he was forced to flee the Human Realm after his scam was exposed?"
Su Yu had a very high suspicion that he was right.
Liu Hong was not the type of person to actually take risks. Su Yu couldn't understand how that fellow had somehow gathered the courage to actually scam the descendants of Invincibles.
Oh, there was also a third familiar name on the index.
3rd on Profound Index, Shan Xiong.
He was a first-stage Cloudbreach who had killed a seventh-stage Cloudbreach to enter the index. He was already on the index previously, but only the Yellow Index. Thus, he must have entered the Allheaven Battlefield recently as well.
That was yet another genius who was still quite young. His new rank signified that he was quite strong as someone capable of punching quite far above his level.
Chapter 1006: Fishing (3)
"Why does it feel like everyone is entering the Allheaven Battlefield?"
Su Yu laughed. More and more humans had entered the index.
Of the 630 spots, humanity had taken more than 20 of them. That was actually quite impressive. However, the divines and devils still had more geniuses on the index. Now that more and more of his old acquaintances had entered the Allheaven Battlefield, things would only get more interesting than before.
"Next, I'll need to capture my target."
Su Yu decided to stop worrying about humanity and focus on his plan instead.
"I'll find Tianduo, capture him, and...organize an expedition with his identity before killing those people...no, there is no need for an expedition. I should go to a place with some other people and punch space apart instead. A few of them will miraculously escape with the information about my discovery. That will look a lot more natural. It will be more suspicious if I actually bring a bunch of people with me when searching for treasures..."
He continued perfecting his plan.
Soon, Su Yu started heading deeper into the city. He started running his Perception Jade at all times. He was familiar with Tianduo. Thus, he could rely on the jade to look for Tianduo. This was a function Hu Qi had added to the jade. It would show a special mark indicating the different individuals he had met before.
This probably wouldn't even take long since Tianduo was likely staying in the Devil Consulate.
***
Devil Consulate.
Tianduo had just returned from a trip. He had been involved in numerous fights recently. For example, he fought Huang Teng not long ago. But that idiot went and provoked the blood fire devils as well. Even now, that fool was still on the run from the blood fire devils.
He fought Qin Fang once as well, but he was not Qin Fang's match. Instead, he was forced to escape after Qin Fang left a hole on his arm with a spear. If he was even a tiny bit slower, he would have died during that incident.
After entering the seventh-stage Cloudbreach Realm, Qin Fang had grown much stronger than before. Just a single additional source qi transformation had massively increased his strength.
Tianduo also fought Shi Zun once. He had thought that he could win, but they were actually evenly matched. Apart from these people, he had fought many other geniuses as well. He even fought the twelfth-ranked genius on the Heaven Index. With one punch, his bones broke. Fortunately, Mo Duona happened to be passing by at that time, forcing that person to flee. Otherwise, Tianduo would have died then and there.
The constant battles had increased his fame, pushing him to the twelfth place on the Earth Index. He had even advanced to the seventh-stage Cloudbreach Realm after all those fights. Of course, there was still no comparing him with Mo Duona even though the two of them had the same cultivation level. Nevertheless, he was still the highest-ranked original devil on the Earth Index.
Was this enough to catch his ancestor's attention?
Was he good enough?
At that thought, a self-mocking smile formed on his face.
Perhaps it still wasn't enough. He came from a massive family. His ancestor had achieved dao affirmation over five thousand years ago. Over the years, his ancestor had produced numerous offspring. By his generation, the family had swelled to an excessive level.
He might be the strongest in his generation, but there were Mountainseas one generation above him. And above that was the generation with Sunmoons.
No matter how talented he was, he was still a Cloudbreach capable of fighting early Mountainseas. Their family had produced plenty of such geniuses over the years. If he wanted to earn the recognition of his ancestor, entering the Heaven Index was probably the bare minimum of what he needed to accomplish.
"I won't stop growing!"
Tianduo vowed to himself.
Since he had decided to enter the Allheaven Battlefield, he would naturally not fear death anymore. He would keep advancing unyieldingly. He would keep growing until his ancestor had no choice but to acknowledge him. He would grow until not even Mo Duona could look down on him anymore.
"My next target...Topsoil Spirit."
Tianduo snorted when he thought of Topsoil Spirit. That fellow had actually entered the Sea of Stars as well. Furthermore, he had even killed a fifth-stage Mountainsea recently, climbing to the fifth place on the Earth Index. That was truly surprising.
Tianduo had fought Huang Teng, someone ranked fourth on the Earth Index before. The two of them were evenly matched. He had also fought Qin Fang, someone ranked third, and found that Qin Fang was slightly stronger than him. Now that Topsoil Spirit had climbed to the fifth place, he wanted to try fighting Topsoil Spirit as well.
"Mo Duona claimed that he has fused the five elements. Is that true?"
He read the information on Topsoil Spirit he bought from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion repeatedly. Fights among geniuses weren't really something with no order to it. For the most part, a genius would carefully investigate a potential opponent before proceeding with the fight.
Topsoil Spirit..."
Tianduo decided that Topsoil Spirit would be his new target. That fellow was quite hard to track, but it didn't matter. Tianduo was sure he would be able to find that fellow. It was only a matter of time.
***
Su Yu spent several days walking all over Ninestar City.
He had been gathering all sorts of information, including the names, strengths, and locations of the various Sunmoons in the city. He had also been paying attention to any unique items that might have entered the market recently. Tianduo's whereabouts weren't actually that hard to find.
Recent rumors suggested that Tianduo was trying to challenge Topsoil Spirit to a fight recently. Those words originated from Tianduo's own mouth. Clearly, he was trying to provoke Topsoil Spirit into appearing and accepting his challenge.
Su Yu's heart skipped a beat. Topsoil Spirit...
Yes, that was an identity he could use as well!
"Perhaps I can pretend to be Topsoil Spirit and reveal myself away from the city. That way, Tianduo will come to me himself."
As for the real Topsoil Spirit, that fellow was too crafty. Su Yu did not think that Topsoil Spirit would actually answer the challenge. He was only worried that the real Topsoil Spirit would also hear about the appearance of the fake Topsoil Spirit and suspect that it was him. Things could get very troublesome.
"The best option is to lure Topsoil Spirit over as well...But things will get very tricky if that fellow decides to send a few Sunmoons after me instead."
Su Yu sighed. This was such a headache. He had failed to deal with Topsoil Spirit and was now suffering for that.
Topsoil Spirit might decide to remain in hiding out of fear. But for this plan to work, Su Yu had to pretend to be Topsoil Spirit before capturing Tianduo. Then, he would disguise himself as Tianduo and reappear with a bunch of valuable treasures. Next, he would start auctioning those treasures. Would Topsoil Spirit not suspect anything after learning about all that?
Fuck!
It was very likely that Topsoil Spirit would be the one to see through his scam. Things could get extremely dangerous.
"Maybe I can reach a deal with Topsoil Spirit after capturing Tianduo..."
Su Yu decided it was pointless to worry too much. He would first catch Tianduo.
***
Before long, Su Yu left the city.
He spent several days roaming outside before picking a location with only a small number of people in the area. There, he fought intensely with a demonic beast with the appearance of Topsoil Spirit before disappearing.
And not long after, words of Topsoil Spirit's appearance reached Tianduo. That was naturally followed by Tianduo's departure from the city. He was out to search for Topsoil Spirit.
***
At the same time.
Inside the sole ancient city on Ninestar Island. Topsoil Spirit was cursing repeatedly while recovering his source qi. A few days ago, that damn stone guy had found him. He was forced to fight the stone golem repeatedly. Left with no choice, he fled into the ancient city.
An ancient city was still the safest place, after all. Of course, that would only stay true as long as a bastard by the name Su Yu wasn't there as well.
Whatever. His luck had been very bad recently. That bastard by the name Su Yu seemed to be looking for him as well. He decided to stay in the ancient city for a few days. Perhaps he might get lucky and stumble upon an opportunity during his time in the city.
Yes. He should focus on these ancient buildings for perhaps ten days or so. Those bastards could keep searching for him out there. They would never find him.
***
At the same time.
Shi Zun also received news of Topsoil Spirit's appearance out in the sea. He was dumbfounded. Out in the sea?
How fast.
He had been pursuing Topsoil Spirit all the way to the ancient city. He had thought that Topsoil Spirit was still hiding inside the city. But that fellow had actually gone all the way to the sea instead?
Shi Zun decided to continue going after Topsoil Spirit. Did that fellow think that a sea was enough to stop him? That fellow was underestimating him too much. He might be made of stone, but he was not afraid of water!
He concluded that Topsoil Spirit must have used some diversion to distract him. No wonder he had failed to find Topsoil Spirit even after two days. So that bastard had actually gone out to the sea. That damn lump of soil was too crafty!
The real Topsoil Spirit was completely unaware that his nemesis had actually left. He was resting in a random ancient building to recover while trying to find one of those so-called ancient city opportunities.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was ready with his trap. He only needed Tianduo to take the bait. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent
Chapter 1007: An Ancient Invincible Corpse Has Appeared! (1)
Somewhere amid the boundless sea.
Up above, stars glittered. Down below, waves billowed. Walking on thin air, Tianduo's eyes were shining brightly. A flame symbol was visible on his forehead. That symbol was the mark of the original devil race. With his fiery red hair cascading down his shoulders, he looked exceptionally handsome.
However, he also looked quite unapproachable. Everyone who had noticed him had hurriedly retreated. This was an original devil genius, also an Invincible descendant. For Su Yu, an Invincible descendant who was more than three generations apart from the Invincible was basically as good as a normal person.
But in reality, just being the descendant of an Invincible would provide one with numerous benefits regardless of generation. Most people wouldn't dare to offend an Invincible descendant, including the Sunmoons of minor races. After all, a minor race was a race without a single Invincible.
"Has any of you seen Topsoil Spirit around?"
Tianduo asked one of the random passersby. According to the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, Topsoil Spirit had thrown his index copy away. Thus, Tianduo had no choice but to perform the search himself.
Someone replied carefully, "I think I saw him northwest from here. But, I'm not perfectly sure that was him. Topsoil Spirit is supposed to be an earth elemental, but the person I saw was somehow swimming rapidly in the water..."
Tianduo laughed in amusement. If that was the case, there would be no mistake. That was him. Sure enough, that fellow might have really fused the five elements. No wonder he dared to head out here as an earth elemental.
Suddenly, Topsoil Spirit's decision to enter the Sea of Stars was no longer so puzzling. And it was also explainable why that fellow was so hard to track even after killing a fifth-stage Mountainsea.
"Thank you!"
"It's fine, it's fine!"
The person who had answered the question was relieved. He was also slightly excited. The mere act of holding a short conversation with an original devil was enough to earn him some bragging rights among his people.
As for Tianduo, he started moving northwest.
***
Northwest. On a small island.
After transforming into an earth elemental, Su Yu withdrew his aura and waited silently. He did not choose to blatantly release his aura as that would look too suspicious. He believed Tianduo would be able to find him.
If not, Tianduo would be an idiot instead of a genius. After all, he had already leaked his whereabouts. That should be enough clue for an index genius to locate him.
"Tianduo..."
"A big fight broke out between Tianduo and Topsoil Spirit. Both suffered heavy injuries in the fight. Topsoil Spirit was forced to flee while Tianduo stumbled upon an ancient spatial pocket by accident. There, he found the corpse of a pseudo Invincible..."
Su Yu continued perfecting his plan even while waiting. As for whether it would work, well, that depended on fate. He was also curious if Tianduo actually had a secret dao protector. That was rather unlikely. Tianduo was proud and fearless. Unless absolutely necessary, he would not seek help.
Su Yu decided to stop worrying about it. He would know when it happened. He continued waiting. Suddenly, devilish qi started rising all around him.
Up in the sky, Tianduo was walking over in a leisurely manner. When he looked around, his gaze landed on the small island. With a cold voice, he spoke, "Topsoil Spirit, show yourself and fight me. I know you're here."
There was no response. Tianduo snorted and threw a punch.
Rumble!
The entire island started shaking while the waves around the island grew berserk. Meanwhile, Su Yu hurriedly dove into the ground. As Topsoil Spirit, he definitely couldn't take the initiative and answer the challenge. If he did that, he wouldn't be a good Topsoil Spirit anymore.
Tianduo frowned. Did that fellow think that he was merely bluffing?
His eyes lit up and a beam of light shot toward the island as he said, "Topsoil Spirit, do you think you can hide from me?"
Boom!
The ground cracked.
Only then did Su Yu leave the island and move underwater while sending Tianduo a voice transmission, "Tianduo, what are you doing? We're not enemies. Don't create a problem out of nothing."
He then transformed into water and started fleeing madly.
Tianduo's eyes flickered, "Water movement...Topsoil Spirit, you have indeed fused the five elements. No wonder you're strong enough to kill a fifth-stage Mountainsea."
He was pleasantly surprised to find this.
Su Yu replied threateningly, "Since you know that, how dare you provoke me? Are you courting death, Tianduo?"
But Tianduo only grew excited as he said, "You're exactly what I need!"
This was someone who had killed a fifth-stage Mountainsea. Or to be precise, the index indicated that he had assisted in the kill. As for Tianduo, he was slightly weaker than Qin Fang. And Qin Fang was probably strong enough to handle fifth-stage Mountainseas. Meanwhile, Huang Teng would find it slightly difficult to handle fifth-stage Mountainseas. And Tianduo was similar in strength to Huang Teng.
Nevertheless, Topsoil Spirit was also not someone who had killed a fifth-stage Mountainsea alone. As far as Tianduo was concerned, after fusing the five elements, Topsoil Spirit would be the best opponent he could ask for. This was the kind of opponent he needed to further boost his own growth.
"Don't even dream of escaping!"
With a roar by Tianduo, the flame symbol on his forehead came alive. A beam of fire shot out and struck the sea, instantly causing the water around Su Yu to boil.
"Do you think I'm scared of you?"
Su Yu roared in fury and sent numerous golden beams toward the sky. The golden beams carried incomparable sharpness to them.
"Die!"
Tianduo's excitement grew further. He was more and more certain that this was an earth elemental who had fused the five elements. How interesting. He did not use any weapons. Instead, he merely took a step forward and threw a punch.
Boom!
After an intense clash, the golden beams dispersed while the fist started bleeding. Tianduo did not mind his wounds. Instead, he dove down in excitement. This was what he wanted. This was the kind of fight he had been looking for.
"Tianduo, must you force my hand?"
Tianduo couldn't even be bothered to say anything. What nonsense. Since he had traveled all the way out here, he was naturally here to fight. They were both geniuses. It was obvious why he was here.
To kill if possible, to fight it out if killing wasn't possible. It was that simple.
Booming sounds rang out repeatedly. The longer the fight went on, the more excited Tianduo grew. But at the same time, he was also growing more and more alarmed.
Strong. After fusing the five elements, Topsoil Spirit was far stronger than he had imagined. Water arrows, earthen shields, golden spears, blazing flames...
The two genius fought bitterly, one remaining underwater while the other remained in the sky.
All around them, more and more people noticed the fight. Nobody dared to approach. Instead, they stopped what they were doing and watched the fight.
***
Not far away.
Someone was gasping, "Topsoil Spirit...has fused the five elements. Is the five elemental race preparing to reunite their race?"
"No wonder he's ranked fifth on the Earth Index. He's really quite strong."
"Tianduo is pretty impressive as well."
"Yes, but Tianduo is an original devil. An original devil is born strong. That's not the case for earth elementals. They are born far weaker than the original devils. That's why Topsoil Spirit is ranked fifth while Tianduo is only ranked twelfth."
Suddenly, a loud roar rang out.
"Five Element Purgatory!"
Aquatic plants started blooming in the sea. Countless vines shot up, twirled around Tianduo, and started dragging him into the water. Next, the other four elements bloomed all around Tianduo as well.
Earthen walls, wooden whips, sea of flames...
All those elements came together to form a massive cage. Punch after punch, Tianduo caused the entire cage to shake. However, it remained stable, allowing Su Yu to drag him deep underwater.
One of the surrounding spectators gasped with amazement, "He's trying to push his advantage. I doubt Tianduo can defeat him underwater. That Five Element Purgatory is certainly very strong if it can trap even Tianduo."
"..."
All these people were staying far away. Approaching a battleground of geniuses could be very easily taken as an act of aggression. If that happened, it was very possible for the geniuses to stop fighting among themselves and proceed to kill the intruders instead.
Most of the people there were Cloudbreaches and Mountainseas. The Skysoars had fled the moment they sensed a battle between geniuses while there were no Sunmoons in the area. Not even Mountainseas could confidently claim that they were stronger than the two geniuses in combat. This was why Su Yu had picked this place to set up his trap for Tianduo.
***
Meanwhile, Su Yu was still dragging Tianduo deep into the sea.
Tianduo did not panic. As a top expert, something like this was not enough for him to lose his calm. Su Yu's Five Element Purgatory was actually not as powerful as the onlookers had imagined. It was actually weaker than Topsoil Spirit's.
That was mainly due to the fact that his willpower was weaker. After all, Topsoil Spirit was a pure cultural researcher. It wasn't surprising that he was further in willpower cultivation. Furthermore, the version Su Yu used was merely an imitation of the original.
Despite using only his willpower, Su Yu was still able to fight Tianduo evenly. Thus, it was safe to conclude that if Topsoil Spirit used all his strength, he would probably be stronger than Tianduo.
"Topsoil Spirit, do you think these tricks are enough to defeat me?"
With a sneer, Tianduo roared, "Devil's Descend!"
He was finally using his racial ability. Instantly, a certain silhouette reminiscent of an ancient deity of the devils descended upon them and entered Tianduo's body. His aura surged and his physical body gained a sudden boost of strength.
With his newfound strength, he threw another punch. The vines forming the innermost layer of the cage instantly snapped apart.
Su Yu was alarmed to see that. Was Devil's Descend really that powerful? This ability had increased Tianduo's strength by no less than twenty percent.
Holy shit!
How was he never aware of this? He knew this ability as well! If he had known it was so powerful, he would have started using it long ago. The divines seemed to have a similar racial ability as well. But he had not used any of them.
He had only tried using the racial ability of the immortals before. That was mainly because he didn't have a habit of using racial abilities. Furthermore, he had assumed that at his level, these racial abilities might no longer be that useful to him.
But when he saw how strong Tianduo became after using the racial ability, he was tempted. This ability, in particular, seemed rather special. It seemed capable of summoning an ancient devil that had existed in the past. Of course, the actual ancient devil was not summoned. Rather, it was calling upon the mark these ancient devils had left in the world by simply existing at one point.
With another punch, Tianduo broke the second layer of the cage. He looked at Su Yu coldly and said, "Is this all you can do? This isn't enough. When I break through all five layers, I'll be taking your life."
Boom!
Chapter 1008: An Ancient Invincible Corpse Has Appeared! (2)
Like a rampaging ancient devil, Tianduo bombarded the cage with his fists. Meanwhile, Su Yu was still dragging Tianduo deeper under the sea while releasing the powers of five elements to strengthen the cage.
Strictly speaking, Su Yu wouldn't be Tianduo's match if he relied only on his willpower cultivation. The cage wouldn't be able to remain forever. Then again, that might not be the case. After all, Su Yu had yet to utilize all his trump cards.
For example, he had the Soul Expanding Hammer and his character technique. He had only been using the Five Elemental Art against Tianduo. At 29 body forgings, his body had surpassed 28,000 acupoints in strength. That was excluding factors such as his strength character, yang acupoint, and blood essence. And including his semi-transformed 144 acupoints, he could exert the strength of 30,000 acupoints.
As for Tianduo, his physical strength had probably surpassed 30,000 acupoints while the Devil's Descend was active. Each punch of his was able to send tremors through Su Yu's sea of willpower. But that was not enough.
Was this really the best Tianduo could do? Were there any other trump cards?
During this fight, Su Yu had witnessed the Devil's Descend and some other techniques of the original devils. But was that all? He already knew all those tricks himself. He wanted to see something new.
Since he was going to disguise himself as Tianduo, he had to learn the signature techniques of Tianduo, right? He also needed to learn Tianduo's combat habits. That was why he had been dragging this fight out.
Otherwise, he could have used all his strength at the very beginning. He was certain that would be enough to instantly defeat Tianduo. The two continued sinking deeper underwater. A constant stream of water arrows and golden beams was sent by Su Yu into the cage to assault Tianduo.
But Tianduo seemed to have boundless energy. And punching was his way of dealing with everything. From the start of the fight until now, he had only been using his fists.
Su Yu started grumbling inwardly. Was Tianduo's combat style really so simple? Did this fellow not have any other trump cards?
Fine, fine. Some people prefer to specialize in only one thing. That was not surprising. If this was all Tianduo knew, there was no need for him to learn more. This would only make things easier.
Punching? He knew how to throw a punch as well.
When they were nearly ten thousand meters below the surface, Su Yu said, "Tianduo, why are you doing this? I can summon the ancestors of the five elemental race. I even have the talismans of the five ancestors with me. Must you force me to kill you?"
The look in Tianduo's eyes changed slightly. But he continued speaking coldly, "Topsoil Spirit, are these external tricks all you're capable of?"
How shameless.
Su Yu snorted and said, "You're the one trying to kill me. Tianduo, if you leave now, I'll let this slide. Otherwise, you will have to summon your ancestor as well to deal with my ancestors and talismans. I don't want to kill you, but don't force my hand."
Su Yu was essentially trying to see if Tianduo had access to similar trump cards as well. If he didn't, things would be very simple. But if he had similar trump cards as well, it was necessary to test the strength of those trump cards.
One could never be too careful when dealing with these index geniuses. With the same cold expression, Tianduo continued punching the cage.
"Topsoil Spirit, you have to defeat me first before you talk about killing me." Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by Nove1Fire.net
Summoning Invincibles? Travel time applied to Invincible as well. As for the talismans...since this fellow was dumb enough to mention it, would he still give this fellow the chance to use those talismans?
His aura surged as he continued bombarding the cage with his fists. The moment Topsoil Spirit was dead, the five elemental ancestors wouldn't even dare to offend the original devils anymore. What was the point of doing so for a dead genius? It simply wasn't worth it.
Did this fellow think that those words were enough to stop him? Thus, his current priority was killing this fellow. Finally, the cage was punched apart. Next, a punch was thrown toward Su Yu.
As for Su Yu, after concluding that Tianduo did not have any similar trump cards, he cursed inwardly. Why was this fellow so cocky if he didn't have any other trump cards? When he recalled how he had never used Devil's Descend before, he started wondering if he should give it a try. He had to take Tianduo down instantly, not giving Tianduo the chance to even activate a talisman.
He silently consumed a drop of sixth-stage Mountainsea blood essence. At the same time, his yang acupoint started opening. Even the acupoints to activate Devil's Descend were slowly activating.
Suddenly, a new worry appeared in Su Yu's mind. Would he accidentally kill Tianduo with only one punch? The combined power of sixth-stage Mountainsea blood essence, half-opened yang acupoint, strength character, and Divine Character...seemed a tad bit too strong. It would be troublesome if he accidentally killed this guy.
"One question, Tianduo."
Tianduo frowned and threw another punch at Su Yu. This was pointless. Did this fellow think he could be distracted by mere words?
"Wait, I'm being serious here. Can a seventh-stage Mountainsea kill you with one punch?"
Tianduo snorted, "You can give it a try. Even Aoyun, the genius ranked twelfth on Heaven Index, couldn't kill me with one punch."
Understanding dawned on Su Yu. Amazing. He recalled what he heard previously. This fellow was struck by someone ranked twelfth on the Heaven Index, but apart from some broken bones, this fellow had survived just fine.
In that case, it was unlikely that he would accidentally kill this fellow. This fellow sure was durable. Aoyun was not a seventh-stage Mountainsea yet, but his combat strength was already at that level. And in Su Yu's current state, he had also reached a similar level of strength. If Aoyun couldn't kill Tianduo with one punch, he wouldn't be able to do so either.
Sure, he might accidentally destroy Tianduo's body. But that didn't matter. It would be even better if he was able to seriously injure Tianduo.
With a roar, he completed the consumption of the blood essence, finished opening the yang acupoint halfway, fully activated the strength character, utilized his unique vibration technique, and activated the Devil's Descend. A vague silhouette descended out of nowhere and entered his body. Instantly, he received a large boost in strength.
Tianduo's eyes widened with shock.
What?
Ancient devil projection?
Devil's Descend...
How?
Next, an incredibly powerful aura erupted as a punch was thrown forward. At the same time, a rapidly vibrating hammer appeared above him and descended upon him.
Boom!
Both the punch and the hammer were arriving at the same time. But Tianduo couldn't spare any attention to the hammer. His aura surged and his devilish qi roiled as he roared, bracing himself for the incoming punch. That was an incomparably powerful punch.
Boom!
The hammer landed, sending tremors all over Tianduo's sea of willpower. Blood spurted out of his mouth as his aura started weakening. Then, the punch landed, punching straight through his chest.
A series of shockwaves spread out of the vibrating fist, breaking every single bone in his body. In the blink of an eye, Tianduo had been completely disabled. His entire body went limp, as though he was a boneless person.
Su Yu was greatly alarmed.
"Don't die!"
Tianduo stared at Su Yu blankly. What...happened? This was not Topsoil Spirit!
That was the last thought he managed to produce before Su Yu hammered him yet again. "You only need to faint, but don't die."
"Time to work, Little Furball. Hurry up and seal his sea of willpower. Don't give him the chance to send any message out."
The furball shot out and squeezed himself into the heavily damaged sea of willpower.
The first thing he saw in the sea of willpower was a floating drop of blood. He hurriedly swallowed the blood and sent Su Yu a voice transmission, "He has a drop of blood essence in his sea of willpower. He wanted to ignite the blood and call his daddy."
The little furball's voice was laced with absolute disdain. That fellow was actually trying to call his daddy or whoever the senior was in his family. How shameless. As for Tianduo, his consciousness was rapidly fading away. He stared at Su Yu as the light in his eyes slowly dimmed. Blood continued spilling out of his mouth.
"Su...Yu!"
Finally, he realized something. This was not Topsoil Spirit. This was Su Yu. That hammer was too obvious. Everything had happened so fast that he couldn't even think of that possibility when the hammer first appeared.
After thinking about it, Su Yu said, "How about this? Don't worry. And don't die. I'll only destroy your body. Your body is too big to hide. I'll seal your sea of willpower and preserve it. You won't die. And if my mood remains well, I won't kill you. Relax. Don't resist..."
Before Tianduo could even think with his sluggish mind, his body was completely destroyed. A shining ball of light appeared. That was Tianduo's sea of willpower. And inside the ball of light was an even smaller ball. That was the little furball.
Su Yu said, "Furball, swallow this thing but don't digest it. Just keep it sealed inside. After that, you can return to my sea of willpower."
With this, even when Invincibles tried to track Tianduo while he was pretending to be Tianduo, they would only find that both he and Tianduo were located at the exact same place.
He started gathering Tianduo's flesh and blood before burning all traces of his presence. At the same time, he constantly released bursts of devilish qi and five elemental qi in the area, generating numerous explosions underwater. That way, others would believe that the battle was still ongoing.
Meanwhile, the little furball did as told and swallowed the ball of light. He was very tempted to eat it, but he resisted. He knew that Yummy was going to carry out a scam and earn a lot more yummy stuff. Thus, he would generously spare that Tianduo fellow for now.
Only when Yummy was done scamming and gathering more yummy stuff would he eat this sea of willpower. The underwater explosions slowly grew in intensity. After Su Yu was done clearing the battlefield, he started transforming into Tianduo's appearance. He was also extracting some blood essence from Tianduo's destroyed body.
He wanted to read some of Tianduo's memories. That would allow him to further perfect his disguise. But he had to be very careful when dealing with memories with Invincibles in them. That could very easily be detected by the Invincibles in question even though he was only seeing them through memories.
Before long, devilish qi surged out of Su Yu's body. He activated the Original Devil Art. With that, a flame symbol appeared on his forehead. That symbol was extremely difficult to imitate. It was something that would only appear after opening the acupoint on the forehead. His original aura and his willpower were withdrawn deep inside his body.
He wasn't too worried about his body. Tianduo was a seventh-stage Cloudbreach while he was unable to project an aura of that level since he wasn't at the same level of cultivation. But his physical strength had surpassed that level. Thus, after some consideration, he decided to pretend to be a weakened Tianduo.
Due to the intense battle with Topsoil Spirit, Tianduo had sustained some injuries, resulting in unstable aura. That would be an acceptable excuse.
"I can't let any Invincibles lay an eye on me. They will be able to notice that I'm fake with one look. I also can't let the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion gather my aura while I'm in this disguise or they might be able to determine that I'm an imitation..."
Of course, there wasn't really a reason for the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion to go around gathering the auras from people they had already gathered from before. That was a waste of time and effort.
The people of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion wouldn't be able to easily differentiate the difference between auras, but the Heavenly Hunt Index would be able to do so easily. Thus, Su Yu was only worried about the Heavenly Hunt Index.
He continued creating explosions around him to make it seem like the battle was still ongoing. At that point, the little furball was done swallowing the ball of light. With this extra layer of security, Tianduo wouldn't be able to create trouble in his sea of willpower or get in touch with an Invincible.
"Little Furball, if he wakes up, shake his sea of willpower and make him faint again. Just make sure he stays alife."
"Yeah, yeah."
The little furball then returned to Su Yu's sea of willpower. With this, anyone trying to track Tianduo's location would only find that Tianduo was exactly where Su Yu was. Done with all that, Su Yu started moving deeper underwater.
It was time to proceed with the next step of his plan. The appearance of an ancient spatial pocket. While fighting Topsoil Spirit, Tianduo blasted through an ancient spatial pocket by accident and found an ancient pseudo Invincible corpse in it.
It was perfectly reasonable for something like that to happen. The people observing the battle would not dare to send their willpower over to avoid interfering with the fight. Thus, as long as he acted well enough, nobody would suspect anything.
He had to let those people witness the sight of space shattering apart. It would be even better if he took only the key items with him, leaving some useless ancient objects behind. Since he had been making his preparations for some time, he had purchased quite a number of ancient objects.
Naturally, he had also processed and transformed those objects somewhat to prevent anyone from recognizing them. The most important part of the plan was the spatial undulations that would spread after space was shattered. That was the hardest thing to fake.