Chapter 1310: Kindred Spirits (1)
"Liu Hong..."
Su Yu muttered as he sank into thought. Was Liu Hong here only to complete a deal with the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion? What could he even offer to the pavilion?
Su Yu considered the question as he rapped on the table with his fingers. When he last saw Liu Hong, that fellow was busy scamming the Invincible descendants in the Human Realm. He sure was lucky to still be alive.
Not only was he alive, but he had even entered the Yellow Index. He had done his reputation as one of the top geniuses of his batch proud. His batch was known as the second golden generation after Liu Wenyan's generation. Read full story at nοvelfire.net
A decent number of talented individuals had emerged from his generation. Of course, they now seemed weak to Su Yu. People like Huang Teng and Xia Yuwen all came from the same generation.
Su Yu had always been quite curious about Liu Hong and his character technique. Liu Hong had claimed to be the successor of Zhang Ruoling, but Su Yu had never believed that. He had asked Liu Wenyan and the others about that. None of them knew anything about Liu Hong being a student of Zhang Ruoling.
It was unlikely that Zhang Ruoling would keep his successor a secret from Liu Wenyan and the others.
"The inheritance of the multiple character faction will not appear out of nowhere."
There were several sources if one wanted to learn from the multiple character faction. Nan Wujiang, Yun Chen, Wan Tiansheng, Xia Longwu, and Marquis Xia apart from Liu Wenyan's line. Of course, there was also the possibility that Liu Hong had learned from a different academy. Just because the multiple character faction had originated from Great Xia did not mean that its teachings could only be found in Great Xia.
Su Yu gazed outside the city and sank into thought.
He wasn't too bothered about Liu Hong's deal with the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. He was more surprised about how Liu Hong had not bothered to put on a disguise despite knowing that this was his city. Yes, Liu Hong had left the city, but was he not worried that he would be captured and taught a lesson?
"Is he trying to lure me out?"
The look in Su Yu's eyes changed. Was this a plot to lure him out before killing him? That was possible. Liu Hong was most definitely not a good person.
Su Yu turned to look at Grandstar. After a slight hesitation, he decided to forget about getting Grandstar's help. This guy loved acting tough way too much. If he needed help, he was better off looking for Empyrean Cloud.
He should get Empyrean Cloud to accompany and protect him while he was out of the city. He had to figure out what Liu Hong's plan was. But if this was a trap, would Empyrean Cloud alone be enough? Then again, he could always summon the old turtle in an emergency.
"Liu Hong...Luminous Domain Mansion..."
Should he capture Liu Hong and enter the mansion disguised as Liu Hong? Su Yu rubbed his chin as he considered that option. Soon, he shook his head again. No, that fellow was a troublemaker with numerous enemies as well. He needed an identity that was less likely to catch anyone's attention.
It would be even better if he could borrow the identity of someone who wasn't a human. Even so, Liu Hong wasn't completely useless to him. As his eyes flickered, Su Yu vanished.
He had decided to look for Liu Hong.
***
Outside the city.
As Liu Hong moved, he shifted his appearance repeatedly. The five elemental worm planted on him by Topsoil Spirit earlier had long been burned away. Previously, he had merely pretended that he couldn't find it.
When he was far enough from the city, he took a black mask of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion and put it on. Not long after, he met the white mask.
He wasted no time and explained while taking a storage ring out, "We need to keep a low profile for some time after this so this will be our final job for now. The five elemental race is not to be trifled with either."
"No problem."
When the white mask checked the storage ring and noticed the profit, he smiled, "See you. Watch your back. He doesn't know me, but he knows you."
After a slight pause, he added, "Don't forget me the next time you have a job like this."
"Sure."
As the white mask vanished with a flicker, Liu Hong started fleeing again. It was time for him to go into hiding. These resources would suffice for quite a long time. He could probably cultivate straight to the Sunmoon Realm before he had to come out of hiding, right?
Suddenly, a massive palm dropped down from the sky. The powers of numerous characters could be sensed on that palm. Liu Hong's expression changed as he resisted. But before he could do anything, a unique power rippled through him, throwing him into a daze and scattering his characters.
Then, the palm continued descending.
Looking up at the palm, Liu Hong hurriedly said, "Su Yu, we can always talk this out!"
Boom!
The large palm sent him flying before wrapping itself around him, crushing him to the point of throwing up.
"Su Yu, I'm here to help you! Don't misunderstand me! I—"
Crack!
The grip tightened.
Walking out of the dark, Su Yu said, "My teacher taught me that I don't need to waste my energy talking to you. I need to beat you up first. I think I'll trust my teacher's track record. He has been prevailing over you for many years, after all."
Liu Hong had fooled a lot of people with his trickery, but he had never prevailed over Bai Feng.
That was mostly because Bai Feng had stuck to a simple principle when dealing with Liu Hong. He would gladly accept any benefit Liu Hong had to offer. When there was no benefit to offer, he would beat Liu Hong up. After the beating, he would pretend it never happened and continued working with Liu Hong.
Bai Feng was not the type to spend any money on his projects. He was both too stingy and poor to do something like that. Su Yu wasn't surprised that Liu Hong knew it was him before he showed himself.
He had utilized the Soul Expanding Art, something Liu Hong recognized. Furthermore, he was probably the only person who would attack Liu Hong unhesitatingly out here.
"Su Yu, I'm really here to help you. I'm telling the truth—"
Boom!
Su Yu flicked Liu Hong's forehead with the finger of his massive palm, throwing Liu Hong into a daze.
A short while later, Empyrean Cloud appeared with a white mask in hand. She smiled, "Too weak. There is no trap around. Don't tell me this is what you wanted my help with? These small fries?"
The white mask was by no means weak. He was a peak Mountainsea. But he was also nothing before Empyrean Cloud.
Su Yu laughed, "Lord, that was only an excuse for you to take a stroll out here. I need a proper excuse lest Lord Grandstar gets overly jealous, right? I wouldn't dare to trouble you for a mere Mountainsea. I can deal with such small fries myself."
Empyrean Cloud smiled with satisfaction.
Nice.
The future of this mayor was bright. Clearly, Su Yu was good at pleasing his superiors. Not bad at all. She had been curious about this. Why did Su Yu waste his time with a mere Mountainsea? In fact, she had been quite displeased earlier. How could he waste the time of an Invincible with a mere Mountainsea? But now, she was feeling great.
She said, "Well done. If you have need of me again, feel free to contact me. I checked. There is no trap here. Shall I..."
Su Yu smiled, "Please go ahead, Lord. Enjoy the stroll. Just remember to come back within three hours. I need to dedicate more time to cultivating for now, so you will have to limit your time outside temporarily."
Empyrean Cloud smiled again. What a good mayor.
She said, "In that case...I'll scout further ahead lest there are people plotting against you further away."
Then, she vanished.
Su Yu smiled respectfully, but he was rolling his eyes inwardly. What a poor excuse. Was she not embarrassed saying such a blatant lie?
He looked at the dazed Liu Hong and the unconscious white mask with a smile. With the two in tow, he vanished.
***
Mayor's residence.
Liu Hong woke up in a daze. When he looked ahead, he was greeted with the sight of Su Yu and a cup of tea. There were only the two of them in the massive hall.
His heart thumped as he hurriedly checked his storage ring. When he saw that the ring was still on him, he exhaled in relief. He hurriedly said, "Su Yu, there is no great enmity between us. I actually helped you a lot in Great Xia. Do you still remember the Skybreak Technique? I was the one who had provided that willpower text. I was also aware of the scam you performed on the single character faction, but I had never said anything about it.
"I'm only passing by this city. I did nothing. Why did you attack me for no reason? Strictly speaking, we came from the same line. I am the student of Teacher Zhang Ruoling. We are actually brothers of the same generation..."
Su Yu merely gazed at Liu Hong silently. After a long while, he smiled and offered, "Do you want a drink?"
"..."
Liu Hong was naturally not in the mood to drink. He said, "Su Yu, I—"
Boom!
A hammer descended and knocked him down again.
Su Yu's voice rang out, "My teacher was right. When dealing with you, I shouldn't waste my time talking. In truth, I enjoy talking a lot. I love talking sense into people. I am very reasonable. Alas, I also know that ninety percent of my words are lies."
Su Yu continued sipping tea in a leisurely manner. In short, Liu Hong was the same type of person as him. Strictly speaking, he had actually learned a lot from Liu Hong during his time at Great Xia...
Such as how to smile brightly while doing bad things.
Such as how to lie through his teeth.
Such as...
Su Yu had always believed that he was a good man. A lot of the bad things he had done were things he had learned from the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. There were too many treacherous schemers there.
And Liu Hong was among the best of them.
With his teacher in seclusion, he was able to do well in the competitive single character faction without any backing. He was someone worth learning from. After some time, Liu Hong regained his consciousness. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, a hammer descended again.
Once again, he lost his consciousness. After some time, he woke up again. But this time, he opted to pretend that he was still unconscious. Alas, the merciless hammer dropped down yet again.
Chapter 1311: Kindred Spirits (2)
After an indeterminate amount of time, Liu Hong regained his consciousness and hurriedly shouted, "Just what do you want from me?"
Su Yu smiled, "Don't talk. Don't pretend to be unconscious. I control everything in the city. I don't care about your explanation."
Liu Hong stared at Su Yu gloomily.
Su Yu continued sipping his tea leisurely. He said, "Teacher Liu, I have a question. Where did you learn your character technique?"
"My teacher, Zhang Ruoling—"
Boom!
Once again, he was knocked unconscious.
After some time, Liu Hong reopened his eyes. At this point, his head was already aching badly. Su Yu smiled and asked, "Where did you learn it?"
"I'm telling the truth. It's Teacher Zhang Ruoling—"
Boom!
He was knocked unconscious again. Liu Hong had numerous excuses prepared, but he was not given the chance to say any of them.
Su Yu knew very well how he should deal with someone like this. He was too familiar with people like this. Thus, he had an easy solution to deal with someone like Liu Hong. He would only believe what he wanted to believe. He would not listen to anything he didn't want to believe.
More time passed before Liu Hong woke up again. He hurriedly said, "Stop! If you hit me one more time, my sea of willpower will collapse! I'll come clean! My character technique was taught by Teacher Yun Chen. I was a spy planted by the Myriad Race Cult. But the truth was that I was meant as Teacher Yun Chen's contact person..."
Su Yu had a thoughtful smile as he said, "Are you saying this because you're sure I won't check with Yun Chen?"
"I'm telling the truth!" Liu Hong swore earnestly, "Why should I keep lying? Su Yu, I'm being truthful here!"
Su Yu laughed, "Whatever. Since you're refusing to say it, you'll probably take it to your grave. It's pointless to continue on this topic. Let's move on. You recently concluded a deal with someone. Who did you scam this time?"
"I didn't—"
Boom!
Once again, he was knocked unconscious.
After some time, he opened his eyes and helplessly said, "Please stop. No matter what, I used to be your teacher. You can't treat your teacher like this."
Su Yu smiled and repeated his question, "Who did you scam?"
"Topsoil Spirit."
Su Yu was surprised. He laughed in amusement and asked, "How did you do it?"
Helpless, Liu Hong explained, "That was a complete accident. I'm serious. I encountered him by pure accident. I know that the Five Elemental Art is somewhat related to the five elemental race. I also know that the five elemental race has been trying to find this art for a very long time. I also know that the Source Soul Art you released is slightly similar to their Five Elemental Art. Thus, I tried my luck with him. Surprisingly...he's dumb enough to buy everything I told him. I did not expect him to be so dumb. The entire thing was so smooth. I have never scammed someone so easily before."
Su Yu was much less surprised to hear that. Topsoil Spirit was smart, but he had also been misled by too much misinformation. In fact, Su Yu was the biggest source of this misinformation.
During his fight with Topsoil Spirit, he had utilized the power of the five elements. He had even consumed the powers of the five elemental Invincibles. Topsoil Spirit was already suspicious of the matter. Liu Hong's words had merely served to reinforce what he believed to be true. In any case, he wouldn't believe that Liu Hong was gutsy enough to scam him, the hope of the five elemental race.
Of course, the supporting cast in this scam had also played a massive role. The white mask had forced Topsoil Spirit to make a decision without thinking too much.
Su Yu laughed, "You are very brave, Teacher Liu. Is there anything you won't dare to do? The five elemental race has more than ten Invincibles. Do you think the human race will protect you from their wrath? Don't you know how many Invincible descendants you have offended? Are you thinking of remaining on the run forever?"
Liu Hong smiled awkwardly and said, "I had no choice. The Allheaven Battlefield is a dangerous place. With my strength, many places in the Allheaven Battlefield are forbidden from me. The places I can go are too dangerous for my liking. Left with no choice, I could only make a living out of scamming."
Su Yu stared at Liu Hong silently. After a while, he laughed and walked over.
Their gazes met.
Su Yu said, "Teacher Liu, stop acting. You are very brave. You have the courage to do anything so long as the benefit is large enough. Be honest. Why are you here? Was it really a coincidence? Or were you using my city as a way to avoid Topsoil Spirit?"
"That was really a coincidence..."
Liu Hong promised solemnly.
Su Yu laughed and asked, "Are you interested in a deal?"
"What?"
Su Yu said, "Teacher Liu, I've found that in terms of scamming and acting, you are among the best in the Allheaven Battlefield. I love disguising myself as others. Everyone knows that. Surprisingly, nobody has ever tried to disguise themselves as me."
"..."
Liu Hong's eyes flickered.
Su Yu continued, "Teacher, I believe you are the perfect person to disguise yourself as me. You are as cultured, as refined, as shameless, as silver-tongued, and as brave as me. You're perfect for this job.
"You also have a character technique. Do you know the disassembly method? It doesn't matter if you don't. I can teach you. Are you interested in changing the form of your character technique into that of a hammer? Your physical body is a tad bit too weak, and you have no death qi in your body. But everything else...tsk tsk. Teacher, we're so similar we are practically brothers of the same parents."
Liu Hong's expression changed as he asked, "You wish to borrow my identity?"
"No, not at all." Su Yu shook his head, "That will be too dangerous. You have too many enemies. That is too troublesome to deal with. I don't need your identity. But I need someone to sit in for me." Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novel⟡fire.net
Liu Hong asked gloomily, "What do you mean?"
Su Yu smiled, "Everyone believes that I will be entering the Luminous Domain Mansion. But why should I? If I know that everyone is waiting to kill me in there, why should I go? Teacher, why don't you sit in for me in the city? You can enjoy life as an overlord for a while. It won't take long. I only need you to stay here for a month."
Liu Hong studied Su Yu's face for a long while before asking, "Do you mean that I need to give up on entering the mansion?"
Su Yu laughed, "You might be able to gain some benefits after entering. But you can also get some benefits from me without going in. For example, you get to keep what you scammed this time. You will also keep your life. Don't you know that...all these are mine now?"
"Are you really entering the mansion?"
Su Yu said, "Of course. Why not?"
"I want to go as well..."
Su Yu shook his head with a laugh, "No. You don't want to go. You prefer becoming an overlord, even a temporary one. Isn't that great? You will love it."
Liu Hong turned even more solemn as he said, "I had believed that you only wanted my identity. But you're saying that you want me to take your identity instead. Are you telling me to convert into a resident?"
"Yes."
Su Yu praised, "You're so smart, teacher. I love talking to smart people. You will remain one of the living without converting. Invincibles aren't that blind. They can see through your disguise easily. You must convert to pull off the disguise effectively."
Su Yu met Liu Hong's gaze and said, "Yes, this is what I need. An expression that is a mix of fury and duplicity. This is perfect. Teacher, I feel like we're a copy of each other."
"..."
Liu Hong gnashed his teeth and said, "You're trying to kill me."
Su Yu shook his head, "Not at all. Life as a living dead is pretty good, Teacher."
Liu Hong frowned, "This is not possible. You might as well kill me now. The moment I become a living dead, my future will be severed. All my hard work all these years will go to waste. I did not struggle so hard just to become a living dead. I aspire to keep living. I aspire to grow strong."
"No, not at all." Su Yu shook his head, "Teacher, stop acting in front of me. It's pointless. For you, anything is possible as long as the benefit is big enough. Human, living dead, or death spirit does not matter. You will not mind so long as you get to keep your memories. Your memories are all you need to remain you. You're only refusing because you wish to get a better price for your cooperation. Am I right?"
Liu Hong was rendered speechless. After a short pause, he cursed, "Screw that! You're talking about becoming a living dead! That is too costly for me! I can't agree to this. I will die if I agree."
"It's not like you will stay a living dead forever. Breaking free is still possible." Su Yu asked, "Let me ask you again. Teacher, is your arrival a coincidence?"
Liu Hong insisted, "Yes."
Su Yu asked, "Who sent you? Or was this your idea? Did you believe that I would set my sights on your identity after seeing you? Are you here to deliver me a disguise for my coming trip?"
"That is absolutely not true."
Su Yu asked, "Did you expect even this request of mine? Did you come expecting to convert into a living dead?"
Liu Hong felt like coughing blood. He denied, "No! This has never been a part of the plan!"
"So you're saying that everything else is a part of the plan."
"No!"
Su Yu laughed, "I love seeing this expression on you. When you're stubbornly denying your scheme even after you're exposed, you look like a perfect copy of me. Like you, I would never admit to anything when caught unless an ironclad proof could be provided in front of me."
"..."
Chapter 1312: Kindred Spirits (3)
Liu Hong cursed. Finally, he sighed, "Can you think of an alternative? I really don't want to become a living dead. I still want to live."
"You can either turn into a living dead or you can die now. What is your pick, Teacher?" Su Yu smiled, "I do wish you would agree voluntarily. Only then will your act be more believable. How about this? I'll teach you a powerful cultivation method. This is an ancient cultivation method capable of opening the heaven acupoint. With the heaven acupoint opened, you can double your strength or even more."
Su Yu continued, "You're already strong. I promise that with the heaven acupoint, you will grow strong enough to contend against Mountainseas."
Liu Hong laughed, "Are you trying to fool me? This bait is too unrealistic."
Su Yu said, "Not at all. The cultivation method will be quite problematic if you refuse to become a resident. But it will be perfect if you become a resident. I can find a weaker death spirit to convert you. What do you think about a first-stage Sunmoon death spirit?
"That is strong enough, but not too strong that you will die. When you wish to break free, you only need to find an expert to sever the connection for you. I will also kill the death spirit for you. That should be enough to fully free you from the city."
Liu Hong asked helplessly, "Can I refuse? Also, I don't have any good characters to help with my disguise..."
"Are you kidding, Teacher?" Su Yu said, "How can a treacherous fox like you not have a disguise character? Or a concealment character? Or a transformation character? Why lie, Teacher?"
"..."
The two looked at each other silently. They reached a certain understanding without saying anything. Both of them were similarly treacherous. There was no point in lying.
Liu Hong said, "I find it really hard to accept this. Becoming a living dead? I—"
"Is the cultivation method I offer not enough? It's a very good cultivation method."
Su Yu said, "If you manage to master it and grow strong enough, I will even make you a mayor of an ancient city. You will be the second most powerful person in the alliance. You will enjoy the backing of all the lord guardians. You will be an overlord feared by many in the Allheaven Battlefield. You have too many enemies, yet you're too weak. Without the backing of an Invincible, you won't have a good life."
Liu Hong replied awkwardly, "Well, I don't really have that many enemies..." Newest update provıded by ⓝovelFire.net
"Sure. I'll deliver you to the five elemental race."
"No, no. Let's talk it out." Liu Hong said, "Do I really need to skip the Luminous Domain Mansion?"
Su Yu asked, "What can you even do there? Fight for some benefits? I doubt you can get more than what you earned recently from scamming. And it's very dangerous. A lot of people out there want you dead. Just calm down and stay in the city as my double. After I leave the mansion, I will be sure to share some of what I get with you. The more important question is...can you disguise yourself well enough to fool Invincibles? If you can't...you're useless to me."
And what would the consequences of being useless to Su Yu be?
Liu Hong was not stupid enough to ask that question. Rather, he continued struggling helplessly, "It's quite hard to fool Invincibles..."
"Don't worry. I can teach you some concealment arts to help with that."
"My name will disappear from the Yellow Index after my conversion. Everyone will know."
Clearly, he was starting to consider the feasibility of the task.
Su Yu rubbed his chin and nodded, "True. But there is a way around that. Just keep the death qi in your body below thirty percent of the overall qi in your body. That will keep your name on the index. You need to have some death qi in your body, but you need to keep the level low. With the heaven acupoint, that won't be an issue."
"What if it doesn't work?"
Su Yu smiled, "In that case, you will be useless to me. Or we can pick the alternative. I'll give you a large amount of heavenly source qi. It will also help in decreasing death qi. I believe in you."
Liu Hong asked, "But I'm not you. How am I supposed to get the stone statues to act when someone strolls in to provoke me while I'm pretending to be you? Staying silent in the face of provocations isn't your style, right?"
"True. Alone, it will be too hard for you to withstand the burden of death qi to enable a stone statue to leave the city. It doesn't matter. I can find one more person. The two of you can work together to withstand the burden for a short while."
Who could it be? Bai Feng's grandfather. Su Yu believed that he was responsible for saving the dying old man. But the old man didn't know him too well. It would be quite hard for the old man to fool anyone when disguised as him.
For this plan to work, Su Yu did not need to take Liu Hong's identity. He only needed his identity to remain in the city. All the plots and schemes hatched against him would be rendered pointless. As for what would happen when his identity was exposed inside the mansion...that was an issue for future Su Yu to solve.
At the very least, this plan would ensure that nobody would target him outside the mansion. Perhaps that would be enough to encourage the others to start fighting each other instead of focusing on him.
Su Yu couldn't think of anyone more suited to assume his identity than Liu Hong in the Myriad Realms.
Liu Hong protested weakly, "Su Yu, this plan isn't good enough. When a stone statue leaves the city, a large amount of death qi will be generated in my body. I won't be able to keep my death qi below thirty percent. My name will vanish from the index. That will expose your plan."
He coughed awkwardly and continued, "Maybe...we can work on this plan. I can lure Topsoil Spirit to kill me. That will provide a good excuse for my name to vanish from the index. What do you think?"
Su Yu asked, "So you agree?"
Liu Hong said, "Will you let me go if I say no?"
"No." freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Liu Hong shrugged, "What else can I do, then? Since I can't resist, I might as well go along with the plan. Also, you are known to have the combat power of a Sunmoon. And you have been quite active as of late. I'm not as strong. There are too many ways to expose my disguise."
Su Yu said, "That will change after you become the overlord of the city. If you have to, just send the guardian out once. That will be enough to wipe all doubt about your identity. You only need to withstand the burden with your partner for a short time. That will do."
Liu Hong said, "True. But who are you going as if not me?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"I'm merely asking. I don't expect you to tell the truth, though."
Su Yu smiled, "You know me well, Teacher. What do you think about Mo Duona?"
"..."
That was a blatant lie. Liu Hong rolled his eyes. So be it. He didn't even feel like asking anymore.
He said, "Su Yu, are you sure I can break free after becoming a resident? To be honest, we're not enemies. Do you remember the Mutual Aid Club you founded back then? I knew about it, but I never did anything about it. When your teacher was too poor to buy the War God Art for you, I supplied the money. You can ask Bai Feng about it. No matter what, I used to be your teacher. You shouldn't screw with me like this."
Su Yu laughed, "How am I screwing you? I'm saving you. I'm getting you a strong backer. I'm going to teach you the way to open the heaven acupoint. I'm not even robbing you of the profits from your recent scam. I'm going to provide you with free heavenly source qi. I'm going to teach you a good concealment art. This is absolutely a good thing for you."
Liu Hong sighed, "If you can help me break free after this, I will accept this. If not, I won't go in peace even after becoming a death spirit."
"You should save these words and say them when you're dead."
Su Yu turned around and returned to his throne before saying, "Teacher Liu, work with me. Both of us will benefit from this. Throw your voice transmission talismans away. Or you can destroy them yourself. Also, know that I'll have some people monitoring you even when I'm away. You're smart enough to know what you shouldn't do. You won't be able to escape after becoming a resident. When you become a living dead, we will be kindred spirits. As for your issue with Topsoil Spirit, we'll think about it in the future. Are you satisfied with these arrangements, Teacher?"
"No." Liu Hong complained, "I can only say that you're a lot more ruthless than me. No matter what, I used to be your benefactor. How can you force me to become a living dead? You're too cruel."
"Not at all. You might find yourself falling in love with your identity as a living dead. After living your whole life as a simp, you're finally getting a chance to act the boss. This is actually a reward for you."
"..."
Simp his ass! Liu Hong cursed inwardly. How could the kid say that? How was he a simp? Su Yu sank into thought. It was likely that Liu Hong's disguise would hold for some time. In that case, it was time for him to move on and prepare a suitable identity for himself.
He also needed to deal with the issue of the Heavenly Hunt Index. Perhaps he should disguise himself as a random ancient city resident instead? He also needed to get some slots for the ancient cities so that more people from the ancient cities could enter.
If he could enter as a random resident, he wouldn't need to remove the death qi in his body. He had to deal with his yang acupoint. Upon entering the mansion, his death qi connection would be temporarily severed. His name would reappear on the Heavenly Hunt Index.
However, the Heavenly Hunt Index was located in the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. This would be quite tricky to handle. He did not want to let the pavilion know about his plan.
Or should he reduce his death qi enough that his name would reappear on the index immediately? Perhaps the myriad races would get used to that before the opening of the mansion. They might feel even more threatened by him, but that was no longer something he was concerned with.
Numerous thoughts emerged in his mind. Suddenly, he looked at Liu Hong and said, "Teacher, I find that you are surprisingly calm at the prospect of becoming a living dead."
Liu Hong forced himself to smile and said, "It's not like I have a choice, right? Since I can't refuse, I might as well enjoy it. Am I right?"
Su Yu frowned. He gave Liu Hong a deep gaze. He noted that Liu Hong was a lot more cooperative than he had expected. Was Liu Hong really being realistic here, or was he plotting something else entirely?
Su Yu inhaled deeply and decided not to worry about that for now. It did not matter. Liu Hong wasn't strong enough to seriously threaten him. It was time for him to visit the old turtle again and get his yang acupoint sealed. Hopefully, that would work. Before long, he vanished from the room.
With Su Yu gone, Liu Hong looked around curiously, wondering if he was now the boss with Su Yu gone.
The kid was actually forcing him to convert into a living dead. What a ruthless kid.
Chapter 1313: Liu City (1)
Su Yu, who was on his way out of the ancient city, looked back at Liu Hong one last time.
Had this guy offered himself up on a platter? What a weird guy. That guy was someone with an extremely sharp sense of danger. Was this trip to the ancient city a way to run from some other danger?
As for the white mask they captured, Su Yu noted that the white mask was a regular member of the pavilion and not a human. He was unsure how Liu Hong had convinced the white mask to cooperate, but he wasn't too surprised. If Liu Hong was incapable of fooling even a Mountainsea, he wouldn't be able to survive in the Allheaven Battlefield.
***
Su Yu was not worried that Liu Hong would flee the city.
This was his city. Even without him around, Liu Hong wouldn't be able to leave unless he could somehow fool the stone statue as well. And to fool the stone statue, Liu Hong first needed to do something about the death qi the statue had to bear.
As Su Yu moved in the sky, he altered his appearance completely before diving into the sea. After some time, an ancient city appeared before him. Inside the city, the old turtle opened his eyes helplessly.
Not this again!
Grand Dream City had enjoyed countless years of peace and silence. Only a few days had passed since Su Yu became a mayor, but the peace and silence had been completely broken. The old turtle wanted nothing more than to have Su Yu leave him alone for perhaps tens of thousands of years.
Each ancient city was open for visitation. Thus, Su Yu was able to easily enter the city. Before long, he reached the inner hall of the mayor's residence.
Facing the old turtle, he went straight to the point, "Lord, I wish to seal my yang acupoint temporarily. Is that possible?"
The old turtle looked at him and slowly asked, "Doing it by force? I can. But when you reopen it, unless I'm by your side, it will remain open forever. It can't be sealed anymore after that."
"That is enough for me."
Su Yu did not mind. He would only reopen it when he was in extreme danger. And in such a situation, he wouldn't have the luxury to worry about the future too much anymore.
"Anything else?"
The old turtle sounded tired.
Su Yu was aware that the old turtle loved silence and did not enjoy trouble. Thus, he wasted no time and asked, "Lord, do you know a grand cycle cultivation method?"
"No." The old turtle asked, "Did you hear this from Grandstar? You might be able to find such a cultivation method in the Luminous Domain Mansion. None of us knows more than that."
"How helpful are the ancient city medallions when you're in the mansion?"
"Somewhat." After a short pause, the old turtle explained, "With these medallions, you can avoid triggering some of the restrictions in the mansion. Additionally, there might be a death tunnel in the mansion as well. It is unguarded. With these medallions, you won't be attacked by some of the death spirits that might emerge from that tunnel."
Su Yu asked in surprise, "There's actually a death tunnel in the Luminous Domain Mansion as well?"
"Probably. I'm not too sure. But don't worry. The death spirits won't be able to leave the mansion."
Su Yu was not worried about that. He had the urge to roll his eyes. That wasn't something he was concerned with. He was only surprised that there was also a death tunnel there.
Su Yu asked again, "Lord, is there a way to remove my name from the Heavenly Hunt Index? I would prefer not to have the index capture my status."
He was asking this because the stone statues seemed capable of detecting the Heavenly Hunt Index. Grandstar himself had attacked the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion before.
The old turtle sighed inwardly. He should have guessed that the kid wouldn't ask him about something that was not troublesome. After a short silence, he said, "There is a way to temporarily avoid the Heavenly Hunt Index's detection. Death qi is one of the options. Do you mean that you want to block the detection without death qi?"
"Yes."
The old turtle thought about it and said, "Yes. There is a way. Transform the Culture Tomb into armor. You won't be wearing it, but your sea of willpower will wear it. With that, the Heavenly Hunt Index will not be able to capture your aura. However...the Culture Tomb is inauspicious. I don't advise you to use it too much."
Su Yu blanked out. Was that actually possible?
Culture Tomb!
Su Yu immediately reached a different conclusion. If the Heavenly Hunt Index was a heaven weapon, the Culture Tomb was most definitely an item of similar tier, or it wouldn't have the ability to block the Heavenly Hunt Index's detection.
"Lord, do you mean that I need to cover my whole sea of willpower with the Culture Tomb?"
"Yeah." The old turtle said, "When the Heavenly Hunt Index captures an aura, it captures the origin aura, not the source qi aura. Simply put, it captures the aura of your soul. By isolating your sea of willpower from all external connections, it can block the Heavenly Hunt Index's detection like death qi."
Realization dawned on Su Yu. That sounded quite simple to do. If he had known that he could do that with the Culture Tomb as well, he wouldn't have been so worried.
The old turtle warned him, "Don't use the Culture Tomb too much. It's very inauspicious. Perhaps...it will create some unforeseen troubles for you."
"Troubles?"
With an uncertain tone, the old turtle said, "Just watch out. It's inauspicious. This is only a rumor, so I don't know more about it."
"I understand. Thank you, Lord."
The old turtle said, "Do you want to seal your heaven acupoint now?"
Su Yu nodded.
The old turtle wasted no time. Immediately, Su Yu found himself inside a pitch black spatial pocket.
Then, he sensed a massive pressure descending upon him. A tiny turtle shell appeared before him. With a rumble, the shell rushed into his body before blocking the yang acupoint. With the sudden blockage, the yang acupoint struggled. However, the turtle shell remained as unmoving as a mountain.
After a while, the yang acupoint calmed down.
When Su Yu reappeared in the inner hall, the old turtle said, "This thing will not stop trying to absorb energy. This won't last long. The more you keep it blocked, the more troublesome it will be. Try to deal with it permanently as soon as possible. Open the thing you call the yin aperture and complete the heaven acupoint."
"This subordinate understands." Su Yu hurriedly said, "Thank you, Lord."
"There is no need to thank me. If you really want to thank me, just visit me less in the future..."
Su Yu coughed awkwardly and promised, "Yes, Lord. By the way, you killed the tri-life bodies of that dragon previously. You don't seem to need the carrier treasure the dragon dropped. Since you don't need it, I can handle it for you..."
The old turtle asked, "Each carrier treasure is incomparably precious. Do I need it handled?"
Su Yu laughed awkwardly and said, "Yes, Lord. Uhm...can you gift it to me? I wish to increase the strength of some mayors or maybe even push them into the Invincible Realm. With stronger mayors, the guardians will have an easier time."
That was a much better reason.
Before Su Yu knew it, a scale had appeared before him. Then, the old turtle said, "This is the reverse scale of an ancient dragon Pseudo Emperor. It is a rather powerful carrier treasure. Use it well."
Su Yu nodded. As he wrapped his palm around the scale, a chilly sensation washed over his hand. What a treasure. With this, he would have seven carrier treasures in hand. This was an unimaginable number.
Previously, he had received two carrier treasures that Zhu Tiandao and the others had rejected. Wan Tiansheng had given him one, the Xia Family had given him one, and the human race as a whole had also given him two. And now, he had received one more carrier treasure.
Each carrier treasure was incomparably valuable and rare. And Su Yu had seven of them. If he hadn't given two carrier treasures away before this, the number of carrier treasures in his possession would be near two digits.
Among the carrier treasures in his possession, one of them was a tiny tree he had obtained from the dead Divine King Huoji. The tree was drenched in the blood of an Invincible. Su Yu was not yet capable of extracting the blood into blood essence, but he could make the attempt when he grew stronger.
Su Yu was quite curious about what the golden book would unlock with the blood essence of an Invincible. Would the page of an Invincible be different from the rest? Of course, that was not something he could do now. Even if he could extract the blood essence, consuming it would be the same as suicide. The blood essence of Invincibles was too powerful.
Su Yu was in a great mood. With seven carrier treasures in hand, there was no doubt that he was now the wealthiest person in the Myriad Realms. But then, he recalled that most of the carrier treasures in circulation originated from the Luminous Domain Mansion. With the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion's frequent monopoly of the mansion, it was likely the pavilion was much wealthier than him.
That reminded him of something else as he hurriedly said, "One last question, Lord. Can I use the nine-leaf skylotus?"
"Nine-leaf skylotus?" The old turtle had a look of nostalgia as he slowly muttered, "Are you saying that...the nine-leaf skylotus is finally appearing in the Luminous Domain Mansion? If my memories serve right, there is a lotus pond on the seventh level. It is very difficult for these lotuses to reach maturity, but a mature skylotus is very helpful for Eternals..."
He explained, "If you wish to harvest the skylotus, remember that behind each skylotus is a time tunnel. These tunnels are produced automatically by the skylotus. Be careful lest you get sucked into the tunnel. Each skylotus comes with nine leaves. You will need to harvest the skylotus nine times. After each harvest, a new one will bloom after some time. After nine harvests, nine will become one, creating the real nine-leaf skylotus."
Su Yu blanked out. Was the skylotus really so magical? The old turtle was impressively knowledgeable. Was the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion aware of this? Were the myriad races aware of this? The requirements would make the skylotus an extremely difficult plant to harvest. He had a feeling that the harvesting process would be very dangerous as well.
"Lord, are there any other dangers in the Luminous Domain Mansion?"
"Everywhere." The old turtle said, "I can't tell you too much, as things that are not dangerous for me might be fatal for you. Don't overestimate my breadth of knowledge. Don't think that you can freely explore the places you have learned about from me. Just because I can enter those places does not mean that you can do so as well. It has also been too many years. Things might have changed since I was last there."
"I understand."
The old turtle continued with his explanation, "I believe the nine-leaf skylotus will be very beneficial for you. But it is also too wasteful to use it on you. This is a treasure that can make someone a Daofuse. I believe this is what the current human race needs desperately..."
Su Yu grimaced and said, "If they need it that badly, they can fight for it themselves. Lord, I am not generous enough to sacrifice myself for the greater good."
"You can make your own choice."
The old turtle then shut his eyes. That was his way of telling Su Yu to piss off already.
Su Yu did not mind the abrupt end to their conversation. Just as he was about to leave, the old turtle opened his eyes and warned, "Do not enter the ninth level. No matter how many benefits you believe you can get there, don't go."
When Su Yu turned around again, the old turtle had shut his eyes.
Su Yu frowned for a bit before answering, "I understand." Orıginal content can be found at novelFɪre.net
Stay clear of the ninth level? So be it. There was no promise he could even go that far anyway. Why was the old turtle speaking like he could casually stroll into the ninth level?
Chapter 1314: Liu City (2)
Su Yu departed the city with a relaxed mood.
His yang acupoint had been sealed. His strength might have dropped a lot as a result, but that wasn't an issue. He felt a lot more comfortable without the yang acupoint constantly attempting to suck him dry. He could now put some of his effort into reversing death qi into source qi.
He could even try to get his name to reappear in the index and shock everyone before making his name vanish. After repeating that a few times, everyone would probably start suspecting that the Heavenly Hunt Index was broken. But soon, he tossed that idea away. He did not want to attract so much attention so soon.
He switched his focus to the Culture Tomb as he attempted to wrap it around his sea of willpower. According to the old turtle, this would prevent even the Heavenly Hunt Index from detecting his aura.
Was the Culture Tomb really so impressive? Why had he never felt anything from it? In the past, the Culture Tomb had always been treated as a simple teaching material. In fact, it had been locked inside the books depository for quite some time. So it was actually so impressive?
Even now, Su Yu still couldn't understand the importance the myriad races had placed on the Culture Tomb. Even Pseudo Emperors couldn't resist the temptation. It was said that the Culture Tomb could help Pseudo Emperors advance. But Su Yu had not been able to solicit any response from it. For him, the Culture Tomb was only important because it carried the inheritance of the multiple character faction.
He was in no rush to return to his city. He wanted to take a trip to Liu City and visit Bai Feng and the others. He also needed to use this chance to pick up the old grandpa from Bai Family. He would turn the old grandpa into a living dead.
After joking to himself about how ruthless he was, his face warped before settling on Liu Hong's face.
He did not mind using this disguise for a short time. It wasn't like he was scared of Topsoil Spirit. At worst, an encounter with Topsoil Spirit would ruin this disguise of his and mislead the myriad races that he would be entering the Luminous Domain Mansion as Liu Hong. He certainly wouldn't mind misdirecting the myriad races more.
***
Liu City.
It stood between the Plain of Desires and Eastrift Valley.
In a way, it was the outermost outpost of the human race. Back then, it was a glorious city. Nineteen years ago, it had fallen. A majority of its inhabitants were killed, with Liu Wenyan and Uncle Liu being the sole survivors from the main branch of the Liu Family.
The city was abandoned for nineteen years. Now, it had once again become the center of attention in the eastern sector. The Liu Family had returned.
Liu Wenyan had returned with many Sunmoons to rebuild the city. Formations were placed down while the landscape was being worked on. Life was slowly returning to the dead city. In fact, the city had slowly become a gathering place for the nearby vultures yet again.
Back in those days, the city was founded by the strongest group of vultures in the eastern sector. These vultures would rarely have a permanent base of operations. Thus, the city used to be a holy land for these homeless vultures. Unfortunately, the Liu Family had ultimately opted to return its allegiance to the human race, becoming the protector of the borders for the human race.
That resulted in the fall of the family. And now, Liu Wenyan had returned. After returning, he proclaimed the city a city of vultures yet again. He was no longer proclaiming that the city was the defender of humanity's borders.
A decent number of Sunmoons had gathered in the city. None of them were considered amazingly powerful among Sunmoons, but due to the city's proximity to the human territory and the many deaths of Invincibles as of late, the city had managed to escape much attention.
The occasional appearances of Nan Wujiang and Yun Chen in the area also helped deter anyone from causing any trouble for the city.
One of them was an Invincible while the other was an expert capable of fighting numerous Pseudo Invincibles at once. Yun Chen might not be as strong as a proper Invincible. but he was definitely strong enough to kill the tri-life bodies of Invincibles. As such, Liu City became a place nobody wanted to provoke for no good reason.
Yun Chen had even replaced Hollow as the number three expert on the Dao Affirmation Ranking. Clearly, in the eyes of the myriad races, Yun Chen was even stronger than Hollow.
***
Liu City.
In its own unique way, the city was starting to flourish. The number of pedestrians in the city had increased, with a majority of them being lone travelers and vultures. As the military and the prefecture experts had their own encampments and bases in the Allheaven Battlefield, Liu City had become the gathering place for unaffiliated humans in the Allheaven Battlefield.
In fact, even the travelers of some minor races could be seen in Liu City. That was especially true for the minor races close to the human race, such as the sky horse race.
For these people, Liu City was a relatively safe place for them to rest after their travels in the Allheaven Battlefield. It might not be as powerful as an ancient city, but its proximity to the human territory was in itself an attractive factor for those looking for a temporary shelter.
As of late, the entire Allheaven Battlefield bustled with activity due to the coming opening of the Luminous Domain Mansion. Due to that, things were starting to get busy in Liu City as well. A large number of lone human travelers had gathered in the city. It almost felt like the city had returned to the past when it was still the number one city of vultures.
Mayor's residence.
The mayor's residence was a grand and spectacular building.
Like the city, it bustled with activity.
Liu Wenyan was stroking his beard calmly, as though he had returned to being a regular teacher in Nanyuan. Looking at the bustling crowd not far away, he smiled.
Not far away, Chen Yong could be seen. His gloomy and cold expression was no more, as though he had returned to being a gentle and refined scholar from the academy. He was lightly patting Wu Jia's head with a happy smile on his face.
It had been a while since he last saw this student of his. Great Ming had sent his student over in advance. Even Wu Lan was here, alongside the demonic beasts that had followed Su Yu to Great Ming. At present, the demonic beasts were trembling in fear under the gaze of Hong Tan.
While rubbing his chin, Hong Tan studied the beasts before giving Bai Feng a kick. He said, "Did the suanni grow fat?"
Bai Feng nodded, "Yes."
The suanni shivered. Inwardly, he was roaring that he didn't want to be here. He only wanted to stay peacefully in the Human Realm and guard the door for someone. He didn't want to come!
Alas, he was not in the position to refuse. He had been brought here forcefully. He had been threatened that he would end up in a pot somewhere if he refused. Unfortunately, that had placed him in the sight of someone he greatly feared: Hong Tan.
Suanni was not alone in feeling like this. The shadow, water elemental, mountaindrill bull, One-eye, Bloodmoon, and Great Mountain were similarly trembling in fear. As far as they were concerned, Hong Tan was the most terrifying and sinister man in existence.
Back then, Hong Tan was the number one black market supplier of blood essence in Great Xia. He had been selling their blood essence for decades. Even now, that terrifying past was still haunting their memories. Even though they had regained their strength after recuperating in Great Ming, they were still fearful of Hong Tan. Before him, they didn't even dare to raise their heads.
There were nine of them in total. The inconspicuous fire crow and the white civet werehiding beside Wu Jia, trying their very best to look unassuming.
This was too terrifying.
They trembled even harder when they heard Hong Tan speak. With a genial smile, Bai Feng said, "True, Teacher. Look at them. They have all grown plump. Back then, the bull was quite a skinny one."
The beasts did not dare to say anything.
Inwardly, they were grumbling. How could they not be skinny back then?
Their blood had been extracted ruthlessly while their food supply had been extremely inconsistent, especially under the care of Bai Feng and Su Yu. The two were notorious for frequently forgetting to feed them. Things weren't as bad when they were under Chen Yong's care. The two were simply the worst caretakers ever.
In fact, their lives had improved significantly after Su Yu's departure. Alas, their good days did not last long. Once again, they were in the presence of Hong Tan. Were their lives of suffering making a comeback? With the expression of a wrong puppy, the suanni was desperately patting Wu Lan with his tail. He was terrified. He needed her rescue.
Alas, Wu Lan was too busy playing with the soil. Apparently, she was researching something. When she felt the suanni's tail, she looked at the suanni blankly before pushing him away. She did not like the suanni. As far as she was concerned, the suanni was too big. Moreover, his skin was filled with scales instead of fur. He wasn't even comfortable to cuddle with.
Why did the suanni pat her with his tail? As for the suanni's apparent growth in weight, Wu Lan was the culprit. She thought that the suanni would look better with more weight. She found the suanni ugly when he was too skinny. That was the only reason she had been so generous with food to the suanni.
After studying the soil for a bit, she looked up at the smiling Liu Wenyan and said, "Teacher Liu, my grandaunt said that she will be here in a few days. She reminded you to wait for her here. Apparently, she has a gift for you."
"..."
Liu Wenyan's smiling face stiffened as he asked, "Your grandaunt is coming?"
"Yeah." Wu Lan asked with a smile, "Are you overjoyed to hear that, Teacher Liu? My grandaunt said that you will be very happy to see her."
"..."
Bullshit!
Liu Wenyan rolled his eyes. What was there to be happy about? Why was Wu Yuehua running around instead of doing her job as a good teacher in Great Xia? The Allheaven Battlefield was such a dangerous place for her to be.
"Did she say when?"
"Soon. When I left, she was at Nanyuan to lead the training of some students in the ruin."
Liu Wenyan exhaled in relief. That would probably take some time. He asked, "Why didn't you enter the ruin?"
"I'm not a student of Great Xia anymore."
Wu Lan appeared completely indifferent. As she continued studying the soil, she added, "That ruin is only open for those from Great Xia. I'm not interested anyway since it's a boring place. Prefect Zhu said that I can research a lot of things in the Allheaven Battlefield. He's right. Teacher Liu, I found that the soil here is different. It has a lot of different materials in it. You can actually extract source qi or even willpower from the soil here. A lot of people must have died here." Follow current novels on novel⸺fire.net
Liu Wenyan asked in surprise, "Is this your current research?"
"Yeah." Wu Lan started complaining furiously, "That bastard Su Yu keeps running away even after I told him that I'm following him for my research! Because of his absence, I had to pause a lot of my research projects! Even now, there is no progress on the acupoint fusion method for Mountainseas. He promised to name it after me when it's completed! That bastard is too unreliable!"
Liu Wenyan was rendered speechless. He was doubtful that Su Yu would have any mood to proceed with any research these days. That fellow was very busy nowadays. Speaking of, this lass was only a fresh Skysoar. What could she even produce from her research?
Chapter 1315: Liu City (3)
Liu Wenyan might be a member of the multiple character faction, but he had never paid much attention to things not directly useful to him. Bai Feng was a lot better in terms of research.
He smiled in amusement and asked, "Wu Lan, what research is the Source Soul Research Center conducting recently? Tell me about it. Don't bother telling me about small projects."
Back then, Wu Lan wanted to become his student as well. But he had accepted Su Yu instead.
Subsequently, he found that Su Yu was like a wild dog that couldn't be tamed. Instead of focusing on research, he was busy running everywhere. He was more like Liu Wenyan in that regard, only interested in researching topics that would be directly useful for him.
Most of the time, he was only pretending to be a researcher. The moment Wu Lan heard the question, she held nothing back. She was quite petty as well. She still remembered how Bai Feng had rejected her as a student back then.
She started bragging, "We are researching a lot of subjects, but we only have one major project. Willpower purification. Teacher Bai, can you purify willpower?"
Bai Feng declared proudly, "How can that be considered a big project? It's easy. Of course I can do something like that."
"Without riversand?"
"..."
Bai Feng frowned, "How can we do that without riversand? That is the essential material as it works as the filter. Without riversand, it is impossible to strip willpower apart. Purification won't be possible. At most, you can only compress willpower to increase its density."
"Teacher Bai, looks like you're not very good at research."
Wu Lan said bluntly, "Back then, the first principal was able to purify willpower without any riversand. Teacher Kong was the one who had discovered the method of using riversand to purify willpower long after that. Prior to that, nobody used riversand for purification."
"Researcher Kong Yuxian?" Bai Feng asked in surprise, "You mean that's possible without riversand? But the first principal accomplished that through his unique character technique. That was the ability of his main character, similar to the fourth principal whose main character specialized in source qi absorption. Don't tell me that you're researching a way to purify willpower without riversand."
"Exactly." Wu Lan raised her head smugly, "I've made some progress."
"Are you sure?"
Finally, the conversation attracted the attention of others. Even Liu Wenyan and Hong Tan were looking at the two. Willpower purification was a subject that had stumped the myriad races. The low amount of ambient willpower available in the air was the main culprit for the much lower number of cultural researchers compared to warriors.
Source qi was abundant regardless of race. And willpower was rare everywhere. Most cultivators would rely on an inefficient conversion of source qi to willpower for their willpower cultivation. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novｅlfire.net
That was why the Willpower Grotto of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy was so valuable. With the grotto, one could produce a large amount of pure willpower as long as one had sufficient riversand.
Even Su Yu had benefited greatly from the grotto. He had opened a large number of apertures in it.
If they could keep the grotto active at all times, a large number of students would be able to easily open their apertures and enter the Skysoar or even the Cloudbreach Realm. Alas, they had only been able to open the grotto once every few decades.
This problem plagued even someone like Liu Wenyan. His sea of willpower was very powerful. It had grown even more powerful after his recent breakthrough. However, he was still stuck at the third stage. That was mostly due to a lack of willpower. Even after crushing Ye Batian's characters, he still lacked the willpower to further his willpower cultivation.
Thus, he couldn't resist asking, "Wu Lan, are you really researching this?"
"Yeah." Wu Lan smiled smugly, "At the moment, we are only performing small-scale tests. We also lack some materials. However, I'm confident I can complete my research soon."
Bai Feng snorted, "So it's not done?"
Why was the lass getting all smug here if the research was not done? Why was a little girl like her showing off in front of a genius researcher like him? The research wasn't even complete!
That greatly offended Wu Lan. Thus, she snorted before producing a character. It was time for her to widen Bai Feng's horizon. A short while later, she crushed the character, leaking some willpower into the air. Before long, she subdued the willpower and did something to it. After some time, a clump of pure willpower appeared in her hand.
Bai Feng was completely stunned while the others walked over to take a better look. With Hong Tan's attention occupied, the suanni finally exhaled in relief.
Liu Wenyan asked with an odd expression, "You have a character technique as well?"
"..."
Wu Lan blanked out for a bit before declaring, "I'm from the multiple character faction as well!"
Of course she had a character technique! Bai Feng and the others were stunned. Was she a member of the multiple character faction as well? Why were they unaware of that?
Recalling something, Wu Lan explained, "I joined in Great Ming. Did Su Yu not tell you?"
Nope.
Everyone was left speechless.
So she was now one of them as well?
Bai Feng was completely indifferent about that. Instead, he asked, "Did you do that with your character technique?"
"Yes." Wu Lan said, "But don't ask me how. I won't tell you. This is a secret."
Bai Feng felt like coughing blood.
He anxiously asked, "How...many characters does your character technique require? Are you interested in the disassembly method?"
"I know that as well."
Damn it! Bai Feng cursed inwardly. That bastard Su Yu was definitely the one who had taught her! How dare that bastard teach someone else his secret method!
He said, "I was curious how you became a multiple character cultivator. So you became one because of my disassembly method? That must be the reason you were able to advance into the Skysoar Realm so soon. In that case, you probably don't have enough characters to fill your character technique yet, right?"
"Yeah. I only have twelve characters so far. I still need eight to complete it." Wu Lan grumbled, "It's too hard to form new characters. A twenty-character technique is too annoying to complete."
"What was that again?"
Bai Feng and the others were stunned. What number did she mention again?
"Twenty." Wu Lan looked at them in surprise, "Is that a small number? I think it's decent. Don't think that I'm ignorant. Su Yu told me that a twenty-character technique is good enough to be a middle-of-the-pack technique. That's even better than your character technique, Teacher Bai. Am I right?"
She was sure her character technique was decent. How many characters did Bai Feng require for his character technique? She had heard that he needed less than twenty.
With a bizarre expression, Liu Wenyan asked, "Where did you get your character technique?"
"Su Yu's Character Technique Stele."
Understanding dawned on Liu Wenyan. No wonder. Then again, even for a character technique obtained from the stele, a twenty-character technique was good enough to be among the best one could get. That was extremely impressive.
With a slight frown, he asked, "How did you capture this technique?"
"Oh, I went in and grabbed it. Then, I succeeded."
Everyone shut their mouths. That was absolute nonsense. How could a twenty-character technique be captured so easily? Among them, Liu Wenyan had the character technique with the highest number of characters: eighteen. How was it possible that Wu Lan could capture such a character technique so easily?
Noticing all the attention on her, Wu Lan started feeling awkward. Thus, she provided more explanation, "I'm telling the truth. I just went in and grabbed it. Oh, right...Su Yu helped me as well. He went in first to lure the character technique over to the entrance. When I entered, a large number of character techniques were lining up to be grabbed. So I grabbed a random technique before leaving."
Bai Feng cursed, "How did that work? Why was I unaware of that?"
He looked at Hong Tan with the expression of a wronged child. Why did he not know about that? Hong Tan and Liu Wenyan looked at each other. Surprise could be seen all over their faces.
Su Yu...lured the character techniques to the entrance? How did he do that? If that was really possible, the multiple character faction would have been filled with people owning top-quality character techniques. That was simply not possible.
Bai Feng might not understand the stele too well, but Liu Wenyan and Hong Tan understood the stele well enough to know how impossible that sounded. They were so surprised they completely forgot about Wu Lan's ability to purify willpower.
Liu Wenyan solemnly said, "In that case, we must find Hollow and kill him to regain the Culture Tomb. Su Yu...is actually capable of controlling it. We can't lose it!"
Hong Tan turned solemn as well. They had to kill Hollow. No matter how strong Hollow was, they had to retrieve the Culture Tomb from him. None of them had imagined that Su Yu would have the ability to control the Culture Tomb.
If it wasn't for Wu Lan, they would still be in the dark about it. They couldn't resist cursing. Damn that kid! He only remembered this woman when he had something nice to offer. Why had he completely forgotten about them? Only now did they know that Wu Lan had actually formed a twenty-character technique. They had nearly embarrassed themselves before her.
They swore to give the damn kid a good beating during their next meeting.
***
Outside the city.
Su Yu shivered out of nowhere. He was surprised to note that even his tribulation character had pulsed slightly. Was someone badmouthing him? From the reaction of his character, that someone must be nearby. Did they notice his arrival?
Was that the case?
But why did the tribulation character react? How was this dangerous?
Chapter 1316: Gathering (1)
Outside Liu City.
Su Yu stepped through the gate to enter the city. This was his first time here, and his first impression was that the city was quite a busy place.
It was a decent place.
There were quite a lot of people in the city. The biggest difference between this place and his city was the lack of death qi. Generally, one would not enter an ancient city unless there was no other option.
That wasn't the case for Liu City. Thus, there was a lot more life to this city. Humanity was the main population in this city.
The few non-humans in the city would keep a relatively low profile since this place could be considered a part of the human territory. This was the same for the territories of the divines, devils, and immortals. The members of the other races would also maintain a low profile when they were there.
Some people noticed Su Yu, but they ignored him since they didn't know him. Some recognized Liu Hong's appearance he was using, so they were quite surprised. Then again, they did not have that big of a reaction either. With the recent deaths, the grudge between the single and multiple character factions had seemingly faded away.
In Great Xia, the legacy of the multiple character faction had been severed since the faction was no longer operating there. Could this be considered a victory of the single character faction?
Not really. This was a loss to the greater character faction. With them gone, Great Xia would no longer be known as the number one land of character cultivators as their strongest character masters were gone.
That was none of Su Yu's concern. With Liu Hong's face, he went straight to the mayor's residence.
Su Yu was aware of the secret dealings between Liu Hong and Bai Feng. Thus, this was quite an appropriate face for him to use. The mayor's residence here looked larger than even the mayor's residence in his ancient city. However, the architecture and design of the residence looked rather rough.
There were several guards in front of the residence. They were all Skysoars, so they weren't too weak. However, they also looked rather careless and lazy. Through his observation, he noted that they might be vultures. They all looked as thuggish as the vultures that he had seen before.
In fact, during his first trip out of the human headquarters in the Allheaven Battlefield, a group of vultures had followed him to loot his corpse when he died.
Noticing Su Yu's flowing white robes and scholarly appearance, the guards smiled politely and asked, "Sir, who are you looking for?"
Su Yu asked, "Is Bai Feng here?"
"Researcher Bai Feng? Yes. Lord...can you give me your name so I can notify Researcher Bai about this?"
"Liu Hong."
The guard wasted no time and went inside the residence.
Since Liu Wenyan had recently returned, things were quite simple in the city. These guards were merely the vultures and lone travelers he had recruited. Thus, things weren't that strict yet.
Before long, the guard returned. This time, he was no longer smiling as he said, "Researcher Bai told you to piss off. He's too busy to see you."
"..."
Su Yu sighed at how heartless his teacher was. How could his teacher be so heartless toward Liu Hong?
His teacher should learn from him. He had been so polite toward Liu Hong. He had even invited Liu Hong to the mayor's residence for tea. Meanwhile, his teacher was telling Liu Hong to piss off without offering anything else. How cold.
After muttering to himself for a bit, Su Yu laughed and raised his voice, "Little Bai, I'm here to discuss something with you. Why don't you show yourself?"
After a short moment, Bai Feng appeared. He had been busy discussing the matter of willpower purification with Wu Lan. Thus, he was quite unhappy to be interrupted. "Liu Hong, why are you here? Are you courting death? Piss off. I'm too busy to deal with you."
Abruptly, he coughed and added, "Come on in."
His attitude had changed completely. That wasn't because he had seen through Su Yu's disguise. Rather, he had noticed the strand of heavenearth profound light Su Yu was playing with. Bai Feng might have grown wealthier than before, but he could still appreciate the value of heavenearth profound light.
Inside, he reached for the strand of heavenearth profound light and said, "How courteous of you to come bearing gifts. You really shouldn't."
Su Yu had the urge to roll his eyes. Clearly, his teacher was still the same. He was fine with everything the moment money was involved. Without money, he wouldn't give Liu Hong the chance to even open his mouth.
This was indeed a great method to handle someone like Liu Hong.
What were you saying? Nope, I'm not hearing anything. Oh, you're here with money? Sure, come on in.
Outside, the guards were completely stunned.
One of them even looked fearful at the prospect of accidentally offending a guest of Bai Feng. When he looked at Bai Feng, Bai Feng said, "The next time you see this guy, tell him to piss off. Only notify me if he comes bearing bribes."
"..."
Wow. How straightforward.
Su Yu laughed, "Brother Bai, you're too materialistic."
Bai Feng sneered, "You would be dead by now if it wasn't for all the contribution points you have given me in the past. By the way, how are you so good at staying alive? Zhou Pingsheng died. Zhou Mingren died. Yu Hong died. So many people died, but you're still alive."
Su Yu smiled, "That's all thanks to your care, Brother Bai."
"Pfft!" As he walked, Bai Feng said, "Just be out with what you have to say. I'm a busy man. Say what you want and leave."
"For a strand of heavenearth profound light, you need to let me get a lot of words in, right?"
Su Yu said, "I see that you're finally a Cloudbreach. Congratulations, Brother Bai."
"Are you insulting me?"
Bai Feng was furious. Was this guy insulting him? So what if he was a fresh Cloudbreach? Was it embarrassing to be a Cloudbreach? Was this guy really trying to insult him?
"..."
Su Yu was rendered speechless. What was this temper? Back then, Bai Feng had a much better temper. Was he acting like this because it was Liu Hong? Or had he been too stressed recently?
Su Yu couldn't be bothered to push more of Bai Feng's buttons, so he moved on to a different topic, "Not at all. By the way, are Instructor Liu and Elder Hong here as well?"
"Heh."
Bai Feng sneered again and said, "You're dreaming of meeting them? Sure. Ten strands of heavenearth profound light, and I'll take you to them. You are free to go if you're not scared of death. I can't be bothered to waste more time with you. You need to be grateful you're still alive after all the scams you pulled off pretending you're Martial Uncle Zhang Ruoling's student."
Then, he snorted coldly and asked, "Explain. How do you have a character technique? Apparently, you scammed many Invincible descendants with that character technique of yours. How are you still alive? You sure are lucky."
Su Yu said, "That's not worth mentioning. Why don't we meet Elder Hong and the other first?"
"Wait, are you being serious?" Bai Feng exclaimed, "Are you not afraid of being beaten to death?"
"Why should I? Elder Hong is a kind man."
Bai Feng looked at Su Yu with surprise. Was this guy really not afraid? How odd.
As he walked, Su Yu smiled, "Let's go, Brother Bai. It will be fine. By the way, I heard that the slot allocation of the Luminous Domain Mansion has been finalized. Did you receive a slot?"
"That's none of your business."
After a short pause, he turned to look at Su Yu and asked, "Are you going as well?"
"We shall see." Su Yu asked, "By the way, I heard that your cousin will be going as well. Is that true?"
"That's none of your business."
"Will your grandpa be here to protect him?"
"That's none of your business."
"..."
Su Yu laughed and said, "I heard that Old Man Bai is having some difficulties with his health..."
Bai Feng frowned, "Are you asking for a beating? Or are you asking to die?"
"Not at all."
Su Yu smiled. For some reason, he loved seeing his teacher flipping out. Before long, he reached the back garden of the residence. He was surprised to see so many familiar faces, including Wu Lan. Even Wu Jia was there.
And those beasts as well.
These were all familiar faces. Oh, there was a new face. Was that a pig? No..was that the suanni?
Su Yu was utterly confused. How did the suanni grow into something like this? Back then, the suanni looked quite imposing. But now, the suanni's appearance had been completely ruined.
Liu Wenyan and Hong Tan noted his arrival. The two looked surprised. Then, they looked at Bai Feng questioningly. Why did Bai Feng take this guy here? How odd.
More importantly, why was this guy even here? Was he not afraid of being taught a lesson by the people here? He might have been a rival of Bai Feng for many years, but he had not done anything truly bad. He had also risen quite highly in the single character faction.
With the recent deaths, the survivors of the single character faction like Zheng Yuming and Hu Wensheng had been keeping an extremely low profile. Why was this guy strutting around like they were still in power?
Su Yu was just about to say something when he heard Wu Lan saying to Hong Tan, "Even beating Su Yu to death won't change anything. I don't understand how it happened. Stop asking me about this, Elder Hong. If you want, just go beat him to death in the ancient city."
"..."
Su Yu shut his mouth. What were they talking about before this? Why were they talking about beating him to death? Wu Lan noted Su Yu's arrival as well, but she merely gave him a glance before losing interest. Instead, she squatted down and started playing with the soil again. The soil was a lot more interesting to her.
Hong Tan did not continue the topic with Wu Lan. He looked at Su Yu and asked, "Liu Hong, what business do you have here?"
Su Yu cupped his hands and smiled, "Yes. I overheard Wu Lan talking about beating Su Yu to death. What was that about? I'm quite curious about that."
"..."
Hong Tan frowned with displeasure. That had nothing to do with an outsider like Liu Hong. Still frowning, he looked at Bai Feng. Why did Bai Feng take this guy here?
Su Yu smiled and continued, "I'm really very curious. Su Yu is such a great man, such an obedient child who is filled with filial piety, handsome, respectful to his seniors, and kind toward everyone. Why do you want to beat someone like that to death?"
"..."
Silence descended. They all looked at him with bizarre expressions. What the hell was that? Had this guy gone mad? Or was he so desperate for Su Yu's favor that he was doing this to fawn on Su Yu?
Suddenly, Liu Wenyan asked, "What comes after the fourth move?"
Su Yu smiled, "What fourth move are you talking about? We're talking about Su Yu. He has a bright future ahead of him. I am very optimistic about his future. I believe he is the hope of humanity and the Myriad Realms. He is an Invincible in the making..." Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novel⸺fire.net
"..."
Hong Tan, Liu Wenyan, Chen Yong...
All of them looked at each other uncertainly.
Had Liu Hong gone mad? Or perhaps this Liu Hong wasn't really Liu Hong? Was that...the case? Wasn't that fellow supposed to remain in his ancient city?