Chapter 86 - 86

Chapter 1331: A Farce (1)

The various Invincibles had tacitly agreed to allocate the slots through a competition.

A battle for those below the Invincible Realm held in an ancient city would not result in much losses. Thus, the risk was acceptable for most people involved.

Just as everyone was nearly done picking their combatants, Xuan Wuji's voice rang out, "My lords, Xuan Wuji has something to say."

Dao King smiled and asked, "Xuan Wuji, we're in the middle of picking the combatants. What do you have to say? Are you uninterested in getting a slot?"

"Not at all." Hovering in the sky, Xuan Wuji bowed and said, "My lords, please give Xuan Wuji the chance to say something."

All the Invincibles looked at him with surprise. What was he trying to say at a time like this?

Dao King looked at the others and said, "Why not? Shall we?"

The others nodded. They did not mind. They were quite generous toward a Heaven Index genius like Xuan Wuji.

Xuan Wuji solemnly said, "I wish to say that someone is not qualified to participate in the selection. That person isn't even qualified to enter the mansion. As of late, a large number of young cultivators have been killed. They are too weak to be noticed by my lords here, but the losses are massive. The victims hailed from numerous races..."

"The murderer had killed all these people for a terrifying reason. It will be disastrous to allow this person to enter the mansion."

Dao King said, "Wuji, killing is normal in the Allheaven Battlefield. You worry too much. Don't waste everyone's time with a trivial matter like this."

"No, Dao King. We must take this matter seriously." Xuan Wuji took a jade talisman out, inhaled deeply, and argued, "I received this somewhere. When I checked the contents, I couldn't help but shiver. After many days of struggle, I concluded that those who had given me this jade talisman must have done so because they were worried that nobody would seek justice for them. That was why they decided to seek the assistance of the immortals. We need to uphold justice."

He tossed the jade talisman into the air.

Then, a scene started playing in the sky.

Splurt!

The sounds of bodies tearing apart resounded in the sky as the scene depicted the death of a flying sky tiger. With his back to the recorder, Zhan Wushuang retrieved the corpse and extracted the blood essence inside before leaving without bothering to look behind him.

With a flicker, the scene depicted yet another murder. This time, it was a mountainbreak bull.

Next, the scene of a massive scorpion's murder was shown.

Scene after scene was played.

Someone yelled in despair, "Why? Zhan Wushuang! Why?"

They wailed miserably. They wailed indignantly.

Everyone on the island could see these scenes. Amid the crowd, Zhan Wushuang watched silently. He showed zero emotions on his face. Around him, the minor race experts hurriedly distanced themselves from him. Some were even looking at him with hatred.

Seeing all those scenes, some divines started frowning. That was a tad bit too excessive. More importantly, some of the victims were merely weaklings whom Zhan Wushuang had killed without any reason.

The victims also hailed from too many races. Instead of killing only those from a few races, Zhan Wushuang had killed the members of a far larger number of races. What was he trying to do?

As a genius from the divine race, it wouldn't matter for him to kill a few weaklings here and there. However, Zhan Wushuang had clearly killed an excessively large number of weaklings without prejudice. To make things worse, it had been exposed openly. The divine race had always maintained the persona of a righteous race. This was putting them in a difficult spot.

What was Zhan Wushuang doing? Some divines started cursing inwardly. He had not only killed too many people indiscriminately, but he had also somehow allowed someone to record all the killings.

Of course, nobody here was a fool. The fact that all these scenes could be recorded proved that Zhan Wushuang was also the target of a scene. These scenes had been deliberately recorded. These were not accidental encounters as the sheer number of recorded murders in these scenes was too high for it to be accidental.

***

In the sky.

Xuan Wuji sighed, "My lords, I believe all of you know who this person is. A Heaven Index genius has gone mad. As an expert from the first divine race capable of contending against Sunmoons, he had decided to slaughter a bunch of weaklings from weak races instead. When I first received these recordings, I had a hard time believing them. After many verifications, I was able to verify that these scenes had indeed happened."

"He had been gathering a large amount of blood essence. When I asked around, I learned that this was most likely for the cultivation of some forbidden art or the production of ability blood essence."

He did not mention Su Yu's name. There was no need for that. Zhan Wushuang had started killing and harvesting blood essence indiscriminately after surviving his encounter with Su Yu. With the existence of ability blood essence, everyone would think of Su Yu the moment they saw these scenes.

For those from the divine race, killing some weaklings from minor races was no big deal. At most, they would merely be locked up for a short time as a punishment to pacify the masses. This was how the Myriad Realms had always operated.

Nobody would take Zhan Wushuang's life for the sake of those weaklings. Not even now. He might have suffered a defeat in Su Yu's hands, but he was still the number two genius on the Heaven Index.

Xuan Wuji was not trying to get Zhan Wushuang killed through these recordings. He was clear that it wouldn't happen. But he believed that the major races would take this opportunity to do something that would benefit them.

It was time to weaken the divine race slightly.

Sure enough, before any divine could say anything, Devil King Moge said, "How audacious! How could he slaughter the innocent indiscriminately? How dare he slaughter those from the races subservient to the devil race?"

Following Devil King Moge's lead, a minor race Invincible protested, "What is this? The divine race is one of the overlords of the Myriad Realms. We have treated the divine race with utmost respect all this while. Is this how the divines are repaying our respect? By allowing a genius divine to wantonly slaughter the innocent?"

"Zhan Wushuang has fallen to depravity."

"..."

One expert after another demonstrated their righteous fury at what Zhan Wushuang did. As for whether they were really as offended as they seemed, they were Invincibles. At their level, they would not care about such deaths unless the victims were directly related to them.

***

Nearby.

Su Yu seemed completely indifferent. He merely watched on with amusement. He looked at Xuan Wuji and smiled. Someone sent the recordings to him? Was Xuan Wuji sure those weren't the recordings he made himself? Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs NoveI~Fire.net

Then again, the origin of the recordings no longer mattered. The only thing everyone was concerned with was the fact that Zhan Wushuang had been killing those from the minor raes indiscrimately, attracting the wrath of the masses right as the slots were about to be allocated.

Both Zhan Wushuang and Xuan Wuji were eighth-stage Mountainseas. One could say that the two of them were the strongest eighth-stage Mountainseas in existence.

With Zhan Wushuang out of the way, the divine would receive far fewer slots during the competition. Thus, this was the perfect opportunity for everyone to weaken the divine race's position.

The white-haired divine king coldly said, "These are merely recordings. There are too many ways to falsify such recordings. Don't forget what Su Yu did. He is an expert at disguise. He is also capable of using the special racial abilities of other races through his ability blood essence. Who can be absolutely sure that these recordings are accurate? Someone is clearly trying to vilify a genius of the divine race."

The solution was to protest and deny adamantly.

The white-haired divine king was furious. He glared at both Zhan Wushuang and the immortals before snorting inwardly.

What a great scheme. They were trying to use this chance to stop Zhan Wushuang from participating in the competition or even entering the mansion itself. This would be a massive loss to the divines. The divines had expected to get at least thirty slots from the competition between the eighth-stage Mountainseas. But because of this scandal, they might end up with nothing.

"Are you trying to say that it wasn't Zhan Wushuang?" Moge said, "In some of the recordings, even the Divine Transformation was used. If it wasn't Zhan Wushuang or even a divine, I suppose it must be Mayor Su. He's the only person capable of using this ability outside the divine race."

When Su Yu noted the gazes on him, he grinned, "Why are you looking at me?"

He glanced at Zhan Wushuang and the white-haired divine king. Just then, he received a voice transmission from the white-haired divine king, "Su Yu, Wushuang did all that for you. Take the blame for him, and the divine race will reward you generously."

Su Yu was already someone known for his crazy feats. It wouldn't matter for him to take on the blame for this. If they could secure his cooperation, Zhan Wushuang would be fine. This was important as it concerned dozens of slots for the divines. Nobody would even be surprised if Su Yu were to take the fall for all those murders.

However, Su Yu merely snorted with disdain. Why should he take the fall for them? Did he look that stupid?

Noticing Su Yu's expression, the white-haired divine king frowned and sent another voice transmission, "Don't you want heavenearth profound light? A hundred strands for your cooperation. If that's not enough, I can offer two hundred strands."

In this situation, even if the divines did not care about the minor races, they had to be wary of the major races. They would be forced to do something about Zhan Wushuang's murders. They would have to either kill him or lock him up.

As Su Yu rubbed his chin, Dao King said, "Mayor Su, this is no small matter. Consider this carefully before giving your answer."

Su Yu smiled a the white-haired divine king and sent a voice transmission, "A carrier treasure and I'll deal with this for you."

The expression of the divine king changed. A carrier treasure!

But if Su Yu could really take the blame for Zhan Wushuang, this would be worth it. With all the slots Zhan Wushuang could win, the benefits Zhan Wushuang could win them were definitely worth more than one carrier treasure.

The white-haired divine king was furious, but he had no choice but to agree. "Deal."

Su Yu smiled and spoke, "Don't look at me like that. These are only some recordings. Who can be sure if they are reliable? Is it that difficult to forge some fake recordings? Tell me, Xuan Wuji. Where did you get these recordings?"

"The recording talisman must have come from somewhere, right? You can't accuse Zhan Wushuang of something so serious with some random recordings."

Xuan Wuji said, "There is no need for you to know about the origin of the recording talisman. They were worried about reprisals, so they had to do this anonymously. Even now, there is a large amount of blood essence on Zhan Wushuang. We only need to search his storage ring to verify this. The blood essence of the victims would most definitely be in his storage ring."

Rewinding time wouldn't help here as the possibility of doing so had been dealt with. There were some other methods they could use to find out the truth, but the easiest method was to search Zhan Wushuang's body for the blood essence. That would be irrefutable.

Xuan Wuji was not about to let Su Yu take the blame for Zhan Wushuang. He wanted to destroy the divine race's reputation. Without their foremost genius in the mansion, and with the internal conflict currently ongoing within the devil race, the immortal race would be able to dominate the coming expedition into the Luminous Domain Mansion.

As long as they could remove Zhan Wushuang from the equation, the immortals would be able to celebrate their victory in advance. They didn't even need to suffer any losses doing this.

Chapter 1332: A Farce (2)

Xuan Wuji added, "Furthermore, I believe Mayor Su knows full well who the blood essence Zhan Wushuang gathered is meant for."

Su Yu said, "Of course I'm clear. I told him to buy some blood essence for me. I even paid him in advance. Did he complete the purchase?"

He looked at Zhan Wushuang and asked, "Brother Wushuang, are you done purchasing the blood essence I ordered?"

Zhan Wushuang frowned. After a long while, he answered, "Some."

"Hand it over, then."

Zhan Wushuang continued frowning, but he still took a jade case out and tossed it over. With the case in hand, Su Yu merely smiled. Seeing the exchange, Xuan Wuji frowned and said,

"Mayor Su, the blood essence in your hand wasn't purchased. Rather, it was extracted by Zhan Wushuang from his victims."

"Why are you telling me that?" Su Yu said, "How am I supposed to know where he got the blood essence from? Perhaps he bought it from the white-haired divine king. I don't really care. I paid for the blood essence. So the blood essence is now mine. As for who the killer was, who knows? Unless you can get an Invincible to rewind time, we can't be sure of anything. It's way too easy for someone to be disguised as someone else. As for the racial ability...you must be kidding. Is Zhan Wushuang the sole first divine in existence? There are so many of them out there. Maybe one of them got bored and went out to kill some random victims. Who knows?" Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel_fіre.net

Boom!

Abruptly, a ninth-stage Sunmoon first divine sent an eighth-stage Mountainsea first divine flying before roaring furiously, "How dare you, Tian Qi? How could you disguise yourself as Wushuang and go on a killing spree? I will cripple you as punishment!"

"..."

Su Yu laughed as he looked at the expressionless white-haired divine king. The divine king had already received his answer. He would not take the blame for Zhan Wushuang. As for the scapegoat, any random eighth-stage Mountainsea would do.

He wasn't sure if the divine king would still pay him the promised carrier treasure, but he wasn't too bothered about it. Even without his interference, the divine race might still end up making someone else the scapegoat. They had only sought his cooperation previously because they were too anxious. Now that they had calmed down, they were able to easily push the blame away.

The ninth-stage Sunmoon divine looked up at the Invincibles and said, "My lords, this is my fault. I have failed in the education of my student. Tian Qi had disguised himself as Wushuang to perform all those murders so as to avoid any punishment from me. I will punish him for this. His physical body will be crippled. He will be prevented from leaving the Divine Realm for a thousand years. He will be subjected to the burning of earthfire for a hundred years. He will also suffer a hundred years of lightning punishment."

"..."

The expressions of the surrounding experts changed.

With a frown, Xuan Wuji said, "Lord, why must you do this? You know very well the culprit is Zhan Wushuang, not Tian Qi. Zhan Wushuang, is someone like you really so cowardly? Do you not have the courage to take the blame for what you did? Do you really need a scapegoat to save yourself?"

Compared to the rest of the young geniuses, Zhan Wushuang was a relatively honest and straightforward one. That was the truth.

In Su Yu's words, his ego was so strong he couldn't even bring himself to lie.

Hearing Xuan Wuji's words, the white-haired divine king's expression changed as he sent a voice transmission, "Wushuang, you're more important than Tian Qi. Don't worry about the punishments. They won't do much to him. If you feel bad, just compensate him after you leave the mansion. No matter what, do not take the blame."

Losing Zhan Wushuang's participation in the mansion would be a major loss to the divines. As for the so-called punishments, they were merely done to appease the myriad races. Was the destruction of the body of an eighth-stage Mountainsea from the first divine race not enough for them?

Were they going to personally supervise the rest of the punishments that were supposed to be carried out in the Divine Realm? If they had the courage to enter the Divine Realm for this, the divines would gladly welcome them.

Would they take nothing for an answer except for the death of the culprit? If they had to, the divine race wouldn't mind doing so. But would any race wish to form such a level of enmity with the divine race? Thus, the matter would likely end the moment sufficient punishments were announced.

Suddenly, Zhan Wushuang said, "I did not kill these people."

He looked at Xuan Wuji and Dao Cheng before saying, "After having my body destroyed by Su Yu, I have been spending my time in recuperation. I did not have the time to kill all these people. Xuan Wuji, just take the blame for what you did. Why are you trying to throw the blame on someone else? Do you not have the courage to shoulder the consequences of your own actions? Can you swear that they weren't killed by you? Perhaps Dao Cheng was in cohorts with you as well. What is the immortal race trying to do here? Are you trying to become the leader of the myriad races?"

Xuan Wuji frowned. What was happening here? This was not in line with Zhan Wushuang's character at all.

In fact, Zhan Wushuang was behaving so differently from normal that Xuan Wuji was wondering if this was a fake Zhan Wushuang. This was supposed to be enough to drag the truth out of Zhan Wushuang. According to Xuan Wuji and Dao Cheng's plan, even if the divines were to refute the accusation, Zhan Wushuang would still take the blame.

But...that did not happen.

How odd.

While Xuan Wuji was deep in thought, Zhan Wushuang said, "Xuan Wuji, why don't we seek the assistance of the Eternals from the fate and celestial chasm races and establish a heavenly oath together? The one to lie will be the one to die in the ancient city later. What say you?"

Xuan Wuji coldly said, "Zhan Wushuang, you're the killer. Why should I take the heavenly oath with you?"

Zhan Wushuang said, "Because I'm not the killer. I believe even these recordings are fake. Tian Qi was forced to take the blame because he was too worried about me. But I don't need his help. I am not the killer. You're the killer. You're trying to shift the blame to me. The recordings can be faked, but a heavenly oath can't. It is a very straightforward method to establish who among us is lying here. We will make the oath together. The killer will receive one heavenly punishment for each recent death he is responsible for. Is this fair enough for you?"

He looked at Xuan Wuji and said, "You did this. You and Dao Cheng. Why are you trying to push the responsibility away? You're making a joke out of yourself. If you dare, make the oath. The immortals are getting more and more ambitious. With the devils in chaos and the humans being targeted by the myriad races, you're trying to put the divines down as well."

"..."

Xuan Wuji stared at Zhan Wushuang for a long while. Finally, he spoke, "Zhan Wushuang, after your defeat to Su Yu, you have lost even--"

A loud bang rang out.

Xuan Wuji had been sent flying away by a slap. In his palace, Dao King stood with an unsightly expression as he stared at the three stone statues waiting right outside the entrance of his palace.

Su Yu's calm voice rang out, "Did you not hear my words earlier? Who are you to speak my name directly? Are you tired of living? Immortals, do you have no manners? It's fine for Dao King to address me by my name. But who are you, Xuan Wuji? Are you trying to die?"

Not far away, Xuan Wuji was coughing up blood with a large palm print on his face.

Su Yu said, "I spared your life out of respect for your ancestor, Immortal King Xuan He. If you dare forget your place again, I'll kill you."

Fury could be seen in Xuan Wuji's eyes. He had been slapped by Su Yu in public. This was a grave insult to him.

Damn it!

Su Yu merely snorted disdainfully. When the three stone statues vanished again, Dao King stared at Su Yu with a frown. Noticing the stare, Su Yu indifferently said, "Dao King, there is no need to look at me like that. Would you like it if your grandson were to start addressing you by your name directly? Where are his manners? He should learn to respect his seniors. The immortals are supposed to care about manners a lot. What happened? Why have you lot forgotten your manners?"

Dao King inhaled deeply, suppressed his anger, and sent Xuan Wuji a voice transmission, "Stop arguing with Su Yu. Don't call his name in public. Do you understand?"

There was no need to seek trouble for something so trivial. Su Yu had already flipped out once for the same reason earlier. However, it was too hard for everyone to engrave the lesson in their minds. Su Yu was simply too young. They were not used to speaking of him in respectful terms. It was far too easy for them to accidentally address him by his name.

Unfortunately, he was also a troublemaker. As a result, Xuan Wuji received a slap from Su Yu and suffered a loss of reputation, while Zhan Wushuang was still perfectly fine. The masses on the island couldn't even react to what was happening.

Some of the humans had been feeling unhappy about what Su Yu said to them earlier. But now, all of them were looking down speechlessly. Su Yu was simply too ferocious.

No matter what, Xuan Wuji was the descendant of an immortal king. The immortal race was one of the strongest races in the Myriad Realms. Yet Su Yu had slapped him in front of so many immortal kings. If Su Yu had the courage to treat even an immortal genius that way, what about everyone else?

As for the ones who had been berated and kicked by Su Yu earlier, they had completely dispelled the anger they were harboring toward Su Yu. They wouldn't even mention his name directly anymore. The consequences might be too disastrous for them to bear.

Zhan Wushuang merely looked at Su Yu with a complicated expression. He had learned one lesson from Su Yu.

At times, ego was worthless.

Caring too much about ego could be fatal. Back when he was Su Yu's prisoner, he would have died if he had clung to his ego. Instead, he had opted to lose some face and work for Su Yu. And thus, he survived.

Thus, when Xuan Wuji tried to provoke a confession out of him with his ego, the attempt had failed. His ego had been smashed apart. Not only had he been defeated by Su Yu, but he had also lost his body before surviving on Su Yu's mercy. He no longer had any ego.

As for the heavenly oath he had challenged Xuan Wuji to make, he only needed to ensure that he was not the one who had killed the most. He knew very well that he had not killed that many people.

In that case, Xuan Wuji and Dao Cheng must be the ones who had killed the rest. The plot to remove Zhan Wushuang from the competition had been turned into a farce.

Su Yu had ruined the plan. They didn't know what to feel anymore. They were sure Zhan Wushuang was the culprit. But he was unwilling to confess. He was even demanding that Xuan Wuji make a heavenly oath with him. Judging by how Xuan Wuji had tried to shift the topic when he was pushed to make a heavenly oath, the Invincibles could already guess the truth of the matter.

Zhan Wushuang must have reached an agreement with Su Yu to harvest some blood essence for him. And Xuan Wuji must have tailed Zhan Wushuang. He had probably killed quite a lot of these victims as well to make it a bigger case.

***

Up in the sky.

With a contemptuous laugh, Su Yu spoke lazily, "I guess we're at an impasse. What about this? Both the immortals and the divines can be punished. Zhan Wushuang, Xuan Wuji, and Dao Cheng will be banned from the mansion. Isn't it simple?"

Immediately after, Great Zhou King laughed, "That's a great idea."

Moge coldly said, "I have never agreed more with Mayor Su. The devils agree. Since both the immortals and divines are trying to cause trouble, both shall be punished."

The expressions of the others changed again. One of them laughed and said, "It is indeed important to investigate this matter properly. I agree with Mayor Su's suggestion. Zhan Wushuang, Xuan Wuji, and Dao Cheng will be temporarily barred from the mansion. We can make further decisions after the investigation is concluded."

With various difficulties plaguing the other major races, everyone had been worried about the stability of the divines and immortals. This was a good chance to slightly weaken both the divines and the immortals.

Chapter 1333: A Farce (3)

Su Yu smiled, "Xuan Wuji and Dao Cheng of the immortals lack tempering. That was why they believed it a good idea to play such tricks in front of Invincibles. How boring. Just accept that you're not very bright. If you really want to make a move, you might as well assassinate Zhan Wushuang. That would have been far simpler than this. Or you could have sent a third party like the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion to tail and record the killings since you knew what he was doing in advance. Instead of that, you had opted to follow him yourself and add some kills on top of his kills. Look at how that backfired on you. How idiotic."

"..."

Everyone looked at him.

He laughed and said, "Why are you looking at me? I did nothing. That was merely a guess of mine. But the truth is probably not far from that. Just ban all three of them. That's the easiest way to solve this issue. I don't really care since they didn't try to kill me this time. Those minor race fellows sure are pitiful. They don't have the courage to say or do anything even after losing so many people. I understand. The divines and immortals are major races. Who dares to provoke them? If they want to kill you, just shut up and die. This is the reality for the minor races. This is how the world works. Don't worry about it too much."

Someone coldly said, "Mayor Su, you must be kidding. We have no proof—"

Su Yu interrupted the speaker with a yawn and said, "Don't waste my time with this. It's not like the victims are my children or something. Why should I care about them? Also, do you think Invincibles really care about the deaths of some Mountainseas and Sunmoons? I don't care, and I'm not even an Invincible. For Invincibles, Mountainseas and Sunmoons are the same as ants. Would you care about some dead ants?"

"Enough." The white-haired divine king said, "Must we embarrass ourselves in front of the juniors?"

He looked at Xuan Wuji with a frown and continued, "Xuan Wuji, where did you receive these recordings?"

The look in Xuan Wuji's eyes changed. After some hesitation, he said, "My apologies, Lord. I suspect...I was fooled."

Suddenly, he sent a palm attack at a minor race Mountainsea. As the Mountainsea burst apart, Xuan Wuji gnashed his teeth and said, "This man lied to me. I was too foolish to take his words seriously. Clearly, I had misunderstood Brother Wushuang. I had foolishly allowed someone to manipulate me like a puppet."

"..."

This was indeed a farce.

With the death of a minor race Mountainsea, the matter ended.

Su Yu laughed with amusement. Clearly, they believed that everyone would need to take the blame if they allowed the farce to continue. Thus, they had decided to let the matter end and pretend it never happened.

Since both Zhan Wushuang and Xuan Wuji were unwilling to confess, what could they do? Were they supposed to search the memories of the two? Rewinding time was not feasible considering this matter involved geniuses like Zhan Wushuang and Xuan Wuji. They would not let such an obvious loophole around.

With a sigh, Dao King said, "Wuji, do be less rash in the future. You're too young. You need to learn patience. How could you fall for such lies? Fortunately, everything is a misunderstanding. Let's end the matter here."

He then addressed everyone, "As for the murders, we will investigate the matter properly. Do not let such a trivial matter affect what's important. The Luminous Domain Mansion will open soon. We don't have much time to waste. Let's return to business."

Su Yu was naturally not concerned about that. He sent the white-haired divine king a voice transmission and asked, "Lord Divine King, where's my carrier treasure? Brother Wushuang is perfectly fine now. I did you a big favor there! Without me smoothing things over, I doubt he could get off so easily. If he had been banned from the mansion, the divines would suffer a massive loss."

The white-haired divine king cursed inwardly. A carrier treasure for only a few words from him? Were carrier treasures so easy to make?

Dream on!

Furthermore, it was merely a secret agreement. He was more than happy to renege on it. Thus, he directly ignored the question. If Su Yu wanted a carrier treasure, he should go get one himself instead of asking for one.

Su Yu wasn't bothered. He was still smiling widely. However, he wouldn't forget this debt. One way or another, the divines would pay.

Suddenly, Great Zhou King's voice rang out in Su Yu's ears, "You shouldn't have helped smooth things over. Removing Zhan Wushuang from the competition would benefit humanity as well. Of course, I'm not ordering you here. I'm merely giving you my opinion. The divines are no friends of ours. There is no need for you to involve yourself. With this involvement, you have offended the immortals as well."

In Great Zhou King's opinion, it wasn't wise for Su Yu to get involved. He should have allowed the divines and immortals to clash. By involving himself, he had offended the immortals without gaining any benefits for himself. It was obvious that the immortals had been trying to get rid of Zhan Wushuang.

Su Yu merely smiled without giving a reply. Offending the immortals? So be it. Why should he allow the immortals to enjoy sole domination here? Without Zhan Wushuang, wouldn't things get a lot more boring? Su Yu told himself that Zhan Wushuang was his brother. How could he ignore a brother in plight?

At that thought, he waved at Zhan Wushuang and said, "Brother Wushuang, don't be scared. The matter is over. If you encounter more trouble in the future, feel free to look for me. Don't forget the blood essence you're buying for me. Try to complete the purchase as soon as possible."

Zhan Wushuang ignored him and returned to the group of divines silently.

Nevertheless, this little episode had made one thing clear to everyone: there was definitely an agreement between Zhan Wushuang and Su Yu. Zhan Wushuang wouldn't have handed the blood essence to Su Yu earlier otherwise.

With a smile, Su Yu sent the white-haired divine king a voice transmission, "There is no need to ignore me, Lord Divine King. The divines won't suffer a loss by cooperating with the ancient cities. My friendship with Brother Wushuang was forged through battle. That's the strongest kind of friendship. With the chaos within the devil race and the immortal race's growing ambitions, I reckon the divine race will receive their attention soon. You won't lose anything by cooperating with me. In fact, I love the divine race the most. If you don't mind, you should marry a divine lady to me. We can form an alliance by marriage. I am very easy to work with."

"..."

The white-haired divine king frowned. Alliance by marriage? Was the kid serious?

Su Yu continued, "Of course, I will need to request a small dowry for the marriage. With only three carrier treasures, you will get me as an ally. I'm very cheap!"

Piss off!

The divine king cursed inwardly. He must be dreaming.

But why did this feel so familiar?

Suddenly, his gaze landed on Xia Huyou. Then, he started cursing again. Yes! The Xia Family! Xia Longwu's son.

That bastard was someone with a prestigious background. Yet he had been acting like a coarse barbarian. Recently, he had been offering to form marriage alliances with many races. And he had managed to tempt quite a lot of races.

With his prestigious background and the rumors that he was the next prefect of Great Xia, a marriage offer from him was extremely tempting for many. Furthermore, his demand for dowry had also been quite cheap. Mostly, he would ask for ten strands of heavenearth profound light, three to five drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid, and ten or so earth weapons.

Such treasures might be valuable, but they were also quite affordable when an entire race was footing the bill. For many, this was a cheap price to pay for an alliance with Great Xia King and Carnage King.

Unfortunately, the offer had been made to way too many people. In the beginning, nobody knew that he was making that offer to everyone.

But before long, rumors started spreading that he had given the same offer to seventy or eighty families. That infuriated a large number of people. What manner of alliance was this if he was taking so many wives at once?

That was not all. He was also shameless enough to give even the minor races the same offer.

Just two days ago, he had given the same offer to the poor fire hog race. Seeing that they were too poor to afford his dowry, he had settled with a thousand fire hog bodyguards as the dowry.

The white-haired divine king inhaled deeply and looked at Su Yu again. How shameless! The human race was getting more and more shameless!

Or to be precise, the humans of this epoch were all shameless. Perhaps this was a product of the desperate situation they found themselves in during this epoch. In the previous epochs, the humans had always been bold and domineering. They had never been so shameless before.

The divine king couldn't be bothered to entertain Su Yu's proposal. He said, "Stop wasting our time for such trivial matters. Let's verify our combatants today. Tomorrow, we will start the competition. Remember, the combatants can only fight within their stage."

The final statement was clearly meant for Su Yu.

Su Yu shrugged indifferently. It was pointless to argue about this. He would receive no support. After all, Su Yu alone would be able to snatch hundreds of slots if the combatants were allowed to fight across stages. Read complete versıon only at novel·fire.net

Someone capable of defeating Su Yu in the same cultivation level had yet to appear. As he looked at his newly received blood essence, he smiled. It had been quite a while since he last opened a new page. Perhaps he could open a few new pages today.

Hopefully, there would be some cultural researcher blood essence among the collection he received from Zhan Wushuang. As for the competition, he wasn't worried about that. With him around, the victory for those in the ninth-stage Cloudbreach Realm would only go to him.

If he won more slots than he could use, he could always sell the extra. Furthermore, the ancient cities had also selected twenty combatants for the competition. They could probably win some slots as well. With thirty-six cities, they should be able to at least win a small number of slots, right?

***

As Su Yu lounged about lazily, Xuan Wuji and Dao Cheng were feeling both helpless and furious. With a sigh, Dao Cheng started playing with his characters in silence. He had nothing else to say here.

He had thought that the plan was perfect. But in the eyes of others, his plan was but a joke. He looked up at Su Yu, who was seated on his floating throne above the ancient city as the look in his eyes changed repeatedly. Was Su Yu totally out of his reach now?

Could he do nothing about his dead fiancée and dead teacher anymore? Was pursuing his vengeance no longer possible?

Chapter 1334: Consuming Blood Essence (1)

It had been decided that a competition would be held for the slots.

The various races were gathering their experts to get as many slots as possible from the competition. The humans were doing the same. Su Yu even saw Huang Teng, Qin Fang, Wu Qi, and the others in the palace of the human race.

The competition was a sudden decision. Fortunately, most geniuses picked to enter the Luminous Domain Mansion were already here on the island. Even those who were not on the island were already somewhere in the Allheaven Battlefield. With a night to prepare, the Invincibles had enough time to bring the rest of them to the island.

***

Inside the ancient city.

Su Yu landed from the sky.

Mayor's residence. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs NovєlFіre.net

Liu Hong had been listening to the discussion without showing his face. When Su Yu landed, he smiled and said, "Today, you demonstrated your strength to the masses and showcased the strength of our city. Well done, Mayor! However, do we have twenty combatants to participate in the competition? I can't think of a suitable combatant apart from you!"

Su Yu couldn't be bothered to answer. Instead, he sent a voice transmission to someone.

A short while later, Liu Hong vanished with a flicker as several demonic beasts entered the room under Senior Wang's lead.

Su Yu looked at them and said, "All of you were in the city during the meeting. You heard my words. Are you interested in the Luminous Domain Mansion? If you don't, it doesn't matter. If you want, enter the competition and fight for your slots."

They were surprised to hear his offer. Bloodmoon said, "Lord, can we really enter?"

"Why not?" Su Yu said, "Of course, it will be extremely dangerous. The various races are participating, including your blood devourer race. I saw an Invincible from your race earlier."

Bloodmoon was not worried about that. The blood devourer race wasn't a major race. It was a race with only one Invincible. Or perhaps two. He was unsure. In fact, there was no guarantee that the blood devourer race would be able to get even one slot from the competition.

He was more surprised by the fact that he was allowed to use the slot if he could win a slot through the competition. One ought to know that such slots were extremely valuable. Everyone wanted these slots. Some minor races weren't even qualified to participate in the competition.

Many minor race experts knew that carrier treasures were mandatory for dao affirmation. But could they learn from the humans and earn their carrier treasures through killing tri-life bodies? That would be nothing but a dream.

Their best option was the Luminous Domain Mansion. However, very few of these slots would end up in the hands of these minor races. Even with a slot, there was no guarantee that one would be able to get a carrier treasure in the Luminous Domain Mansion.

Bloodmoon hurriedly said, "If you don't mind our weak strength, we are willing to participate and win the slots for the holy city!"

There were five of them, and their strength varied. One-eye was the strongest among them. He was already a peak sixth-stage Mountainsea when he was captured by Hong Tan. At present, he had barely returned to his previous strength.

The second strongest of them was Great Mountain at the sixth-stage Mountainsea Realm, followed by Bloodmoon, who was a fifth-stage Mountainsea.

One-eye and Great Mountain would have to fight in the same stage, but it wouldn't be that big of an issue. There might be some adjustments to the matchups depending on the final number of the combatants.

The water elemental was an eighth-stage Cloudbreach while the shadow was a fourth-stage Cloudbreach.

Su Yu smiled and said, "All of you have converted into residents. You will have some advantages since the competition will be held in the ancient city. Of course, the geniuses sent by the myriad races won't be weak either. You might not be a match for them. However, I believe in my grandteacher. As his prisoners, you were definitely not weak among your peers. It is up to you how hard you want to fight. It doesn't matter even if you lose. Since you will be fighting in the ancient city, they won't dare to kill wantonly. You can even summon a death spirit to help if things get desperate."

Su Yu tossed a few ancient city medallions over and said, "With these medallions, you won't be helpless as long as you're in the city."

"Thank you, Lord!"

They were overjoyed. This was an important opportunity for them. Of the prisoners in Wentan Research Center, the suanni was the only one to have entered the mansion before.

The suanni was no longer with them. They knew that plenty of opportunities could be found in the Luminous Domain Mansion, but they had never entered. It was understandable why they were so tempted.

Even if they were now pseudo death spirits, it did not matter. If they could get their hands on some suitable treasures, they could still increase their cultivation. As regular residents, the amount of death qi they had to bear was very low. Su Yu alone had taken on most of the burden.

"That's all. You may start preparing now."

"Yes!"

They left joyously. A short while later, Old Man Bai entered the room and said, "Should I join the battle of the peak Mountainseas? With the yang acupoint, I doubt many peak Mountainseas can be my match."

The old man was speaking the truth. None of the top geniuses like Zhan Wushuang was a peak Mountainsea. Thus, Old Man Bai would enjoy quite a lot of advantage in his stage with his yang acupoint.

Su Yu thought about it before saying, "Forget it. I don't want anyone to notice anything. You should just focus on recuperation in the city. I will pick more combatants from the other cities."

"Fine."

In truth, Old Man Bai was quite tempted as well. After all, the Luminous Domain Mansion slots were already very rare in the past. This round, they had become even rarer than before.

"I wonder if Little Feng will participate..."

He was uncertain.

Su Yu shook his head, "I'm not sure as well. My teacher is rather strong among first-stage Cloudbreaches. Perhaps the humans will pick him as a combatant."

Just because Bai Feng was no longer as popular did not mean that he was weak. Among first-stage Cloudbreaches, very few people could defeat him.

Su Yu wasn't too concerned about this issue. But it was likely that Bai Feng would be picked. After all, the members of the multiple character faction were all quite strong. It was likely that even Hong Tan would be picked for combat. And since they wanted to enter the mansion as well, they might reach an agreement with the humans to enable their participation.

***

When Old Man Bai left, Su Yu sank into thought again. Before long, he started sending messages to the other mayors.

Apart from the demonic beasts and himself, he would pick the rest of the combatants from the other ancient cities. After all, there were so many of them. They should be able to pick enough suitable combatants among themselves, right?

The ancient cities shouldn't be so weak that they couldn't even pick enough combatants out of thirty-five cities.

***

Done with the matter concerning the combatants, Su Yu started studying the blood essence he received from Zhan Wushuang. He wasn't worried that there would be poison in the blood essence. His physical cultivation and death qi were enough to render that almost impossible.

Furthermore, he also had the tribulation character to warn him. He had requested that Zhan Wushuang gather the blood essence of cultural researchers for him. He wondered if the blood essence he received really came from cultural researchers.

He picked a random drop of blood essence from the collection. A tiny silhouette of a tiger could be seen in the droplet. This was most likely the blood essence of a flying sky tiger. That was a weak race.

After thinking about it, Su Yu consumed the blood.

Flying sky tiger (Seventh-stage Cloudbreach)

Racial Abilities: Tiger's Roar, Flying Sky, Rip (activation with blood essence, applicable below as well)

Foundation Source Art: Tiger's Roar Art

Foundation Cultural Art: Sky Tiger Soul Opening Art

Foundation Body Forging Art: Twenty-seven Forged Skytiger

Foundation Nine Transformation Art: Nine Transformed Skytiger

Su Yu's eyes flickered as he noted that this was the blood essence of a cultural researcher. A complete page had been activated. A complete page came with both source and cultural arts. Even the body forging and nine transformation arts would be included.

The flying sky tiger race was rather decent in strength as the thirty-second race among the top hundred races. It even had several Invincibles in the race. Furthermore, Qin Fang's mount was a flying sky tiger. It was unlikely that he would pick a weakling as his mount.

"Sky Tiger Soul Opening Art..."

Previously, Su Yu had learned the Heavenly Immortal Aperture Net Art. It required 108 apertures, but most of the apertures overlapped with what he already knew. He had only discovered thirty-six new apertures from that art.

He wondered if he would find new apertures from this art. Before long, he took out a second drop of flying sky tiger's blood essence. Generally, one could obtain ten drops of blood essence from a single kill. Thus, he would have enough blood essence to activate the art he wanted to test.

He wasted no time and consumed the second drop as well. As the art activated, one aperture after another lit up in his sea of willpower. Shortly after, all 89 of them were activated. He frowned. Eighty of them overlapped with what he already knew.

"This is not too bad. There are nine new apertures."

He exhaled in relief. This was acceptable for him.

Nevertheless, it was still a lower number than he had expected. The flying sky tiger was a decently strong race. However, even the blood essence of such a race couldn't show him too many new apertures.

Then again, nine was actually a decently high number, considering the number of apertures he had opened. Prior to this, he had learned the locations of 216 apertures. With the new additions, he now knew the locations of 225 apertures. To open these new apertures, a large amount of willpower would be required.

Su Yu was in no rush to open these new apertures. With his current cultivation, it would take a lot more effort to open new apertures. However, it was still possible so long as he had sufficient willpower.

"I still lack 135 apertures. The more apertures I know, the harder it will be to find new apertures."

Su Yu exhaled deeply. The more apertures he knew, the more likely it would be for him to discover zero new apertures after opening a new page. After all, the more apertures he knew, the more likely it would be for the apertures of his newly learned arts to overlap with what he already knew.

"What a pity that there's no blood essence from the divine and immortal races available..."

Su Yu shook his head with disappointment after checking the collection of blood essence he had. That was understandable since Zhan Wushuang wouldn't be able to openly kill those from the divine race. As for the immortals, Zhan Wushuang was no fool. If he attempted to harvest the blood essence of their cultural researchers, they would retaliate. If he wanted to do so, he had to find a suitable place to do it in secret.

Su Yu started checking and consuming his newly received blood essence.

Zhan Wushuang was quite reliable. The majority of the blood essence came from cultural researchers. However, some of the blood essence did not provide any foundation cultural arts even after consumption. Su Yu was unsure if there was some other reason for that or Zhan Wushuang was simply trying to fool him with some fake cultural researcher blood essence mixed within. After all, cultural researchers were too rare.

This time, Zhan Wushuang had provided Su Yu with the blood essence of seventy-nine races. As Su Yu consumed the blood essence without stopping, new pages were activated while some previously activated pages were further perfected.

And finally, he was done consuming all the new blood essence.

Only sixty-two new pages were activated. Most of the apertures he found through these pages overlapped with what he already knew. In the end, he noted that he had discovered a total of seventy-four new apertures. At this point, the number of apertures known to him had reached 290.

Chapter 1335: Consuming Blood Essence (2)

"Not bad at all."

Su Yu nodded with satisfaction. This was quite a decent result. It was clear that Zhan Wushuang had worked hard to kill so many cultural researchers. He was now only 70 apertures away from completing his 360 apertures.

Additionally, he had also learned some new racial abilities and cultivation methods. He had never consumed the blood essence of these races before.

For example, a minor race known as the tetherworm had a unique racial ability. This was not a powerful race, but its racial ability allowed one to latch onto someone else's body undetected. Furthermore, it also allowed one to consume the source qi and willpower of one's target stealthily.

"Not bad at all."

Su Yu was quite pleased. Things had been going decently for him as of late. He had also completed seventy-one body forgings. He was only one forging away from completion. He had taken one whole month to reach the seventy-first forging from the sixty-ninth forging.

He had nearly exhausted his supply of heavenearth profound light doing so.

His remaining heavenearth profound light was probably enough to help him complete his final forging, but the final forging also felt exceptionally difficult. He had been working very hard recently with a large amount of heavenearth profound light, but he hadn't been able to complete the final forging.

Nevertheless, he was in no rush. Back when he had completed the thirty-sixth forging, he had received a new unique ability. A layer of light had appeared on the surface of his skin. It granted him a defense that was one forging stronger than his offensive strength. That was why those in the same cultivation level could hardly damage him in combat. That was also why the iron devourers were so well-known for their defensive prowess.

However, Su Yu was also aware that the iron devourers were very powerful offensively as well. With Void Devourer and Skyshaking as the names of their racial abilities, could they really be weak offensively? What nonsense was that?

Su Yu was expecting to receive another special ability after completing his seventy-second forging. After completing the final forging, he would probably be a peak Skysoar or even a Cloudbreach.

After all, he had completed the transformation of 144 acupoints. In a way, he could already be considered a pseudo Cloudbreach. Naturally, he wasn't happy with his transformation. He would only be a proper Cloudbreach after completing the transformation of his 360 acupoints.

"I'm still too weak..."

Su Yu mumbled to himself. At present, his offensive strength had surpassed 1.6 million acupoints. If it wasn't for his sealed yang acupoint, his offensive strength would probably be doubled. That would be enough to fight even seventh-stage Sunmoons.

And if he added some powerful blood essence on top of that, his combat strength would probably surpass that of what the other young geniuses had demonstrated during the battle in the Human Realm.

"I guess my strength has reached a barely acceptable level."

Without the yang acupoint, his strength would be similar to a fifth or sixth-stage Sunmoon. With the yang acupoint, he would reach the level of a seventh-stage Sunmoon. That was actually extremely terrifying. One ought to remember that his physical cultivation was still stuck at the Skysoar Realm.

Of course, it hadn't been cheap for him to cultivate to such a level. He had consumed more than a thousand strands of heavenearth profound light so far. Not even the wealthiest of races could easily afford such expenditure. Perhaps even a Pseudo Emperor would go bankrupt trying to raise several Skysoars like him. Furthermore, not everyone could open 360 acupoints and complete 72 body forgings.

"At the Cloudbreach Realm, I will probably start needing a proper grand cycle cultivation method. I can't afford to transform my acupoints separately each time or it will result in a messy composition of source qi."

This was not an issue he had considered before. Only when Xia Longwu's saber qi helped transform 144 of his acupoints did he realize that he had no way of transforming all his acupoints at once.

"I need to think of a way to get a grand cycle cultivation method."

He did not place much hope in obtaining a completed version to cultivate. Nobody was sure if the version used in the ancient past was still around. It was likely that he had to derive the cultivation method himself.

He knew a large number of cultivation methods. That was especially true for source qi cultivation methods. Through a rough calculation, he noted that he now knew more than a thousand source qi cultivation methods. He knew all sorts of circulation and utilization methods.

The cultivation methods of the various races might be very different from each other, but there were some similarities. A trial-and-error method with his 360 acupoints would not be likely to succeed.

But he had a rough idea of what he needed.

Cycle.

A sense of completion, just like a cycle.

Of the 360 acupoints, almost all of them would correspond perfectly with a different acupoint. As for the few that were exempt from this rule, they ran along the central axis of his body. Thus, he was confident that the so-called grand cycle cultivation method involved linking all the acupoints in a complete cycle. Updates are released by Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

That was his hypothesis.

Su Yu was no illiterate fool. He was a well-read person who had derived a large number of cultivation methods before.

"If I really need to, I can rebuild the Source Soul Research Center to create a suitable cultivation method. It will only take some time."

A long time had passed since Su Yu had started consuming blood essence.

Just as he was deep in thought, Senior Wang's voice rang out from outside the room, "Mayor, morning has arrived. The competition will start soon. The various powers are waiting for you to kickstart the competition. Additionally, Mayor Tian He and the others are here with their selected combatants."

Hearing those words, Su Yu exhaled and shook his body as he circulated his breathing method to remove the stench of blood from his body. He had previously asked Grandstar about the breathing method.

During the ancient past, breathing methods were meant to strengthen one's talent and abilities. However, this breathing method was only slightly useful to Su Yu. That was mainly because he cultivated the 72-Forged Iron Devourer. It had granted him an incredible boost in his comprehensive strength. Thus, the breathing method was not able to do much for him.

However, it would be very helpful for everyone else. For example, someone only capable of completing thirty body forgings might be able to make a push to thirty-one forgings after cultivating the breathing method.

However, Su Yu still enjoyed using it every now and then since it was very easy to use. It would also help slightly in his body forging.

***

Inside the ancient city.

When Su Yu left the room, he noted that Mayor Tian He and the others were already waiting. They did not dare to leave alone. In fact, they had all arrived with their ancient cities. When Tian He saw Su Yu, he smiled and said, "Su Yu, Lord Heavendoom is inviting you to visit Heavendoom City when you're free. He misses you a lot."

"..."

Su Yu laughed in amusement. When his gaze landed on a familiar face, he said, "It has been a while, Commander Tian Men."

Tian Men was the commander in charge of guarding the gates of Heavendoom City. Clad in the same armor, he still looked the same as before. When he heard Su Yu, he bowed and said, "Greetings, Lord."

Tian He said, "Tian Men is a ninth-stage Mountainsea and he's quite strong. We might be lucky enough to win a few more slots through him. As for the first, seventh, and eighth stages of the Mountainsea Realm, I think we should give up on them."

That was mainly because of the Heaven Index geniuses. Zhan Wushuang was an eighth-stage Mountainsea, Ming Yue was a seventh-stage Mountainsea, and Long Yingyue was a seventh-stage Mountainsea.

There were also Mo Duona, who was a first-stage Mountainsea and Dao Cheng, who was a third-stage Mountainsea. All these people were dangerous opponents. It would be better to give up on those stages.

Since the ancient cities were only allowed twenty participants, it wasn't a big deal for them to give up on some stages. In truth, this was what many weaker races would do. They could always make further adjustments if there weren't enough participants to start the competition.

For example, many races would probably give up on the segment involving the ninth-stage Cloudbreaches. There was simply no point in participating.

Su Yu smiled and said, "We'll see. Things might still change. If some stages receive too many participants while other stages receive too few participants, further adjustments will be made. Brother Tian He, I'll be counting on you for the ninth-stage Sunmoon segment. You don't need to win too many slots, but I hope you can at least defend your own slot."

"..."

Tian He stared at Su Yu blankly. After a long while, he asked, "I'm...fighting as well?"

"Yes."

Tian He smiled helplessly and said, "Is that necessary? My strength is quite..."

"You're very strong." Su Yu nodded, "You have survived a slash from Xia Longwu's saber. You are definitely quite strong among ninth-stage Sunmoons."

Bullshit!

As Tian He cursed inwardly, Su Yu asked, "Brother Tian He, are you not interested in entering the mansion? You might be able to affirm your dao in there. At the very least, you will be severed from your death qi for a month. That is enough for you to capture a tri-life body and stop being a regular ninth-stage Sunmoon."

Tian He was still a ninth-stage Sunmoon. He had received a carrier treasure from Su Yu, but he had yet to use it. That was mainly because of the death qi in his body. But in the Luminous Domain Mansion, he would no longer be troubled by his death qi.

A month should be enough for him to advance.

Tian He agreed helplessly, "Fine. In truth, a lot of mayors are feeling the same as me. They really want to enter, but they're also scared. It is very likely that some Invincibles will be entering personally this time. At our age and cultivation level, it can be quite dangerous for us in the mansion. After all, the mansion is only kind toward young geniuses, not antiques like us."

Su Yu asked, "I have been hearing this a lot. Can you tell me more about it?"

"I do know a little about this." Tian He explained, "For example, after entering, the level you will be sent to is decided based on your age, not your cultivation method. Do you understand now, Brother Su?"

Su Yu raised his brow, "Based on age?"

"Yes." Tian He said, "At our age, we might find ourselves on the seventh level or higher. That's too dangerous. Meanwhile, you are young enough to be delivered to the first level. There are only a bunch of youngsters there. Will that be a dangerous place for you? Just imagine an unlucky old Skysoar being sent directly to the seventh level alongside a bunch of Sunmoons and Invincibles. How will that Skysoar survive? What do you think will happen to that Skysoar?"

After a slight hesitation, Su Yu said, "The Skysoar will blast a Sunmoon apart before being blasted apart by an Invincible."

"..."

Bullshit!

Tian He was instantly rendered speechless. Was this kid being serious here? Fine, fine. He acknowledged that things would really unfold in that manner if Su Yu were that Skysoar.

He seriously said, "Therefore, it is not advisable for those who are old yet weak to enter. Even if you have a super Skysoar who has been stuck at the same cultivation level for hundreds of years, things will still be dangerous. It doesn't matter if they are unrivalled among Skysoars. They will be sent to the seventh or eighth level with the Sunmoons and Invincibles. They will probably die after taking a single step."

Understanding dawned on Su Yu. In other words, seniority no longer offered any advantage to those in the same cultivation level. In fact, seniority might prove fatal in the mansion.

"What if someone were sent to the ninth level..."

"Nobody has ever been sent there before. Generally, the seventh level is the limit." Tian He continued his explanation, "Also, don't take the Luminous Domain Mansion for a normal building because of its name. That is actually a world unto itself. A massive world. Or to be precise, each level is an independent world. Do not misunderstand the mansion. Do not assume that the mansion is a small place."

Su Yu asked in surprise, "So it's massive?"

"Yes." Tian He said, "I have never been there, but anyone who has been there will tell you that each level is akin to an entire world. In fact, even reaching the second level from the first level will be extremely difficult."

Su Yu was very surprised. It was much better for him that the mansion was such a massive place. If it were a small place, perhaps a super expert or two would be enough to slaughter everyone else and monopolize the mansion.

Tian He said, "Inside, you also need to worry about the existing dangers inside. Some ancient races, heaven weapons, fractured weapons, and fragmented souls inside are extremely dangerous."

Su Yu nodded. He realized that he needed to collect more information. He couldn't just enter rashly. He should ask for more information from the stone statues.

Chapter 1336: Consuming Blood Essence (3)

Outside the ancient city.

When Su Yu floated into the air again, he noted that the crowd on the island had grown.

As he looked at the human race's palace, he saw some familiar faces, including Bai Feng. When Bai Feng saw Su Yu, he even waved. He did not shout loudly, but he didn't pretend he didn't know Su Yu either.

Su Yu was his student. It was pointless to try hiding that.

It was unknown if the discussion had been completed earlier. The moment Su Yu appeared, the white-haired divine king said, "The rules are simple. You will only receive the slot of the opponent you defeat. For example, when Mayor Su defeats someone who had defeated eighty-eight opponents, he will only receive one additional slot instead of eighty-nine slots."

"..."

Su Yu laughed, "Aren't you restricting yourself with this as well? Why bother?"

With this rule in place, it would be much harder for him to win all the slots alone. This would give others the opportunity to deliberately lose to someone else to preserve their slots.

The white-haired divine king said, "We're not targeting you, Mayor Su. However, the various races are unwilling to accept the previous proposal. This is our only choice. You're not the only one losing out through this new proposal. In fact, we will lose more than you. However, we have decided to agree for the good of everyone."

That was true as well. This would restrict the other young geniuses as well.

Su Yu said, "I understand. With this, I'll need to finish each fight rapidly. I only need to kill everyone before they can react and I can have all the slots. So this is a game of speed. Am I right? I have no issue with it."

That was nothing. Some of the Invincibles were rendered speechless while some merely laughed with amusement. That was true. One only needed to be fast enough and not give others the chance to collaborate with each other.

The white-haired divine king continued, "Additionally, each fight will last until someone concedes. Since it is inconvenient to kill inside the ancient city, you are allowed to throw a stubborn opponent into an ancient building to win if the opponent attempts to drag the fight out to waste your time."

That was actually a good rule to have. It would be troublesome if some people decided to harass others by refusing to admit defeat since they were fighting in an ancient city. Having the option to throw someone into an ancient building to win the fight would solve this issue.

Su Yu smiled and asked, "What if someone enters an ancient building voluntarily? If that is also considered a defeat, who will the slot go to? The slot must go to someone, right? In my opinion, such slots should go to the biggest winner of the stage. Those with the biggest fist shall get these slots. Is that acceptable? Otherwise, all eighty-nine of my opponents would be able to hide inside the ancient buildings at the start of the match. Am I supposed to give up on all the slots in that situation?"

The white-haired divine king nodded, "That was what I had in mind as well. If multiple combatants remained until the end, the extra slots would be split among them. If only one combatant lasted until the end, all the extra slots would go to that combatant."

"I agree!"

Su Yu did not protest since these limitations were not targeted solely at him.

He smiled and asked again, "By the way, how many matches can each combatant participate in?" Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novel✶fire.net

"Hmm?" The white-haired divine king said, "Didn't we agree on this yesterday? You can only fight those with the same cultivation level."

Su Yu grinned and said, "I mean an advancement or a drop of cultivation. Will that allow me to participate in the matches for the other cultivation levels?"

With a toying tone, he said, "For example, I'm a seventh-stage Cloudbreach now. After winning the match for seventh-stage Cloudbreaches, I will advance into the eighth stage. After winning that match, I can advance to the ninth stage and join the next match. Will that be acceptable?"

"..."

Everyone stared at him blankly.

With the same smile on his face, Su Yu said, "Don't look at me like that. I'm being serious. I guarantee my cultivation level will move for real. There are no tricks involved. So? Is this acceptable? Can you guys stop targeting me all the time? I'm working according to the rules. You are free to do the same as well."

Finally, Devil King Moge lost patience and roared, "Su Yu! Don't push it!"

Su Yu exclaimed in surprise, "What am I pushing? I'm merely asking some questions about the rules. Why is that bad? What nonsense are you on? I'm being serious. I am completely capable of dropping my cultivation level to the seventh stage. Why is that an issue?"

"..."

Everyone felt greatly annoyed. Why was Su Yu so troublesome? How could someone think like this?

Dao King emphasized, "Each participant can only participate in one match."

Su Yu shrugged, "You're targeting me again. Sigh. You guys are indeed sore losers. How boring."

"..."

All around them, everyone watched silently as Su Yu toyed with the Invincibles like they were children. They couldn't help but be impressed.

Su Yu continued, "By the way, are there any race limitations for the competition? That won't work for the ancient cities."

Everyone eyed him suspiciously. What trick was he trying to play now?

With a frown, Moge said, "There are no race limitations."

Su Yu sighed with relief and said, "Remember your words. Don't renege on them again. This whole thing will be completely pointless if you keep going back on your words."

Dao King said, "As long as you stop causing trouble, we naturally won't have a need to renege on our words."

He looked at the group of people behind Su Yu and asked, "Have you picked your twenty combatants? If you lack people, the immortals will be happy to help you out."

"I have enough people." Su Yu said, "Don't worry. I have more than enough people to participate. Do we start with the match for the first-stage Skysoars?"

"We can start anytime."

Su Yu smiled, "The Holy City Alliance will be participating as well."

As he said that, he casually tossed a drop of blood into the city. Then, a first-stage Skysoar death spirit manifested.

After marking the head of the death spirit with a shining circle, Su Yu smiled, "He will be our combatant. All the other first-stage Skysoars may enter the city now. Kill him and you will win his slot. You can also throw him into an ancient building if you're feeling merciful."

Stunned.

Everyone was stunned.

What was this?

Even Great Zhou King was stunned. Nobody had expected this.

Su Yu said, "I checked. You guys confirmed that there are no race limitations. The death spirit race is a race as well. Don't worry. He's weak. A normal first-stage Skysoar can easily kill him. Oh, right. I forgot one thing. This guy can't enter the ancient buildings. I guess you will need to kill him to get his slot."

"..."

Fuck that!

The others cursed inwardly.

Killing a death spirit in an ancient city? Wasn't that the same as courting disaster? Was that a joke?

Su Yu continued, "I'm being serious. It won't be hard at all. For example, when only three or five combatants are left, you can join hands to kill him before running. The city won't be sealed unless it's a Sunmoon death spirit. Don't worry. I'm not the type to make things difficult for others. Killing him will be your best option. If you opt to kill him earlier, things might get troublesome as more death spirits will spawn."

The others didn't know what to say. Then again, what he suggested was indeed doable. It would be fine if they waited until the very end before killing the death spirit.

However...the death spirit would eliminate quite a number of combatants before that. Yes, the death spirit might be weak. But a death spirit was also extremely troublesome to deal with.

Su Yu said, "The rules allow this. All of you are Invincibles. It won't be appropriate for you to keep reneging on your words. I might be an easygoing person, but you need to be reasonable as well. It's not like a death spirit is an impossible opponent."

The Invincibles exchanged gazes. After a long while, the white-haired divine king said coldly, "Fine."

Yes. A death spirit was not an impossible opponent. It was indeed inappropriate for them to keep changing the rules. However, Su Yu was truly too unpredictable. How could he think of something like this? This was so ridiculous that they couldn't help but be impressed.

Yes, the death spirit was weak. But it could still win quite a lot of slots for Su Yu. That was because fighting a death spirit in an ancient city was extremely troublesome. One had to constantly hold back to avoid killing the death spirit accidentally.

Even Tian He and the other ancient city residents were staring at Su Yu with odd expressions.

Mayor Su sure was creative. This was a great idea. He wouldn't even feel the loss if this death spirit were killed. After all, he had plenty of death spirits he could use.

Su Yu said, "This is a suggestion. I repeat. This is just a suggestion. It's a bad idea to kill the death spirit for only one slot. It's not like you can get more than one slot from killing the death spirit. Just drag it out and let the match end. If you kill a death spirit, more death spirits will appear. You will be making things difficult for the subsequent combatants. Just pretend the death spirit isn't there. It's only one slot. It's no big deal."

Once again, everyone was rendered speechless. It felt as though he was leaving only one possibility available. What else could they say here? Perhaps...they really had to ignore the death spirit.

The white-haired divine king was too tired to keep arguing. He impatiently said, "All first-stage Skysoar combatants, enter the city. If there are fewer than ninety combatants, we will readjust."

He glanced at Su Yu and cursed inwardly. If he had known this, he wouldn't have agreed to setting the ancient city as the venue. Unfortunately, all the races had been happy to accept the proposal to reduce losses. This was the only proposal everyone could agree with.

Su Yu grinned.

When his gaze landed on the weak death spirit in the city, his smile grew wider. What a pity that the Invincibles wouldn't be fighting or he would drag even Xing Yue out to participate. Would the Invincibles dare to kill her?

Wouldn't that be fun?

Chapter 1337: Absolutely Devilish (1)

The addition of a death spirit into the match by Su Yu made the whole thing a lot more interesting. This was only the start. There were thirty-five more matches to go. The first-stage Skysoar death spirit might be weak, but the subsequent death spirits might no longer be weak.

Zhu Hongliang was one of the human combatants for this match. He was a first-stage Skysoar. He had entered the Skysoar Realm not long ago. He noted that apart from him, the only human participating in this match was someone from Great Qin, an expert who had emerged from the army.

Zhu Hongliang sent his fellow human a voice transmission, "After entering the city, find a place and hide yourself. Don't force anything. Don't kill anyone. Don't even pick a fight..." The other human glanced at him and frowned.

Not fighting?

Hiding?

Zhu Hongliang continued, "Just listen to me. We're too weak. The death qi in the city is too thick. First-stage Skysoars won't be able to last too long inside."

He tossed a storage ring over and continued, "I have some heavenly source qi in there. Use it to last longer in the city."

The other human looked at him in surprise. Why was Zhu Hongliang doing this?

Right at that moment, the white-haired divine king said, "Enter the city."

At that, numerous silhouettes charged into the city before scattering away. Of the participants, Su Yu's death spirit was the most conspicuous, with the shining circle on his head. Some of the stronger Skysoars started roaming the city in search of opponents.

The humans were their first picks. However, one of the human combatants was Zhu Hongliang. The Zhu Family might not be too good at fighting, but they were very good at everything else.

Right after entering the city, Zhu Hongliang tossed a pile of black mist into the air...

No, not mist.

When the people around him saw what he tossed, they all frowned.

The white-haired divine king snorted coldly and declared, "No summoners are allowed to participate in the next matches."

These humans loved playing these tricks too much.

The black mist scattered, transforming into countless ants before self-detonating. Then, over a thousand death spirits appeared in the city. The death qi density in the city surged.

Only then did the other human combatant understand the meaning of Zhu Hongliang's previous words. Now, the bigger challenge was not the other combatants. Rather, it was the thick death qi in the city.

For people at their cultivation level, even a tiny bit of death qi could prove fatal. Thus, the best option was to find a suitable hiding place and survive for half an hour. Those failing to last that long would naturally be eliminated from the competition.

As a combatant from Great Ming, Zhu Hongliang never intended to fight a proper battle with the other combatants. It wasn't like he could win if he tried. It would also be too tiring.

That was not all. Zhu Hongliang proceeded to take out a massive ring. That was a special product of Great Ming. It could be used as a portable fortress. He went inside and sat down cross-legged. With a strand of heavenly source qi in hand, he grinned. He only needed to outlast the others and he would have a slot to enter the mansion.

***

Outside the city.

Numerous people looked at Su Yu, including Mo Duona and the other young geniuses. Zhu Hongliang's actions reminded them of Su Yu. Back when he first emerged from the Human Realm, he was very fond of such tricks as well.

He had killed countless sky devouring ants to fill the ancient city with death spirits.

Dao King frowned and said, "All summoners will be banned from the subsequent matches. Also, there are too many death spirits in the city. Mayor Su, switch to a different city for the next match. With so many death spirits, the subsequent combatants won't be able to fight properly."

They were willing to let this slide once. However, the death spirits were too troublesome to deal with. They had to do something about this.

Su Yu said, "Why are you so scared? Just get everyone to make more preparations. Won't this be a good trial for the combatants? I know that there is a death tunnel in the Luminous Domain Mansion as well. There will be quite a lot of death spirits in the mansion. If they can't even survive this, they will all die in the mansion."

That attracted numerous surprised gazes.

A minor race Invincible hesitated slightly and asked, "Mayor Su, are you saying that there is a death tunnel in the Luminous Domain Mansion as well?"

Su Yu nodded, "Don't you know this?"

"I...don't." Moge said, "It's normal that many don't know about this. But it's not something to worry about. The death tunnel is only connected to the fourth level and above. It's not like you guys can go that far. There is no need to worry."

At that, more people looked at Su Yu in surprise. How did he know so much about the Luminous Domain Mansion?

Su Yu beamed and said, "Don't look at me like that. I do know a lot. No matter what, I have the guidance of Pseudo Emperors from the ancient past. Unfortunately, I can't enter the mansion. After all, too many eyes are on me. I have no choice. What a pity."

Moge asked, "Are you not entering, Mayor Su?"

"Nope." Su Yu said, "I'm not brave enough. With so many people targeting me, entering is the same as throwing my life away. Of course, you still need to be careful lest I enter under a disguise. If you encounter me while I'm disguised, I might need to silence you by killing you."

Nobody could be sure whether he was telling the truth. They believed that it was quite likely for him to enter. However, they weren't sure.

Meanwhile, the first-stage Skysoars in the city were cursing furiously.

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What was this?

Thousands of death spirits were spawned right after they entered the city. How were they supposed to proceed with the match? The death spirits were everywhere.

At this point, it was no longer a competition of combat strength. Rather, it was a competition of endurance and perhaps luck. The death spirits would wander randomly. However, they would still attack when they encountered living beings. That was what Su Yu had experienced when he first entered an ancient city.

Furthermore, they were truly quite weak as first-stage Skysoars. The death qi in the city was too dense for them to handle. The various Skysoars demonstrated all sorts of abilities to survive in the city. They might be mere first-stage Skysoars, but some of them were still quite impressive.

For example, Su Yu saw a metal elemental transforming into a tiny sword before attaching himself to a random signboard in the city. All the death spirits were leaving him alone.

There was also a shadow who had adhered himself to the shadow of a death spirit to avoid detection.

There was also a nether who had created a miniature nether domain that the death spirits were avoiding by sheer instinct.

There was also an immortal who was combating the death qi around him with his thick life force.

Some of the combatants were even more impressive. They were somehow able to ignore the death qi and attack the other combatants. Meanwhile, some of the combatants were forced to hide inside the ancient buildings.

All the combatants reacted differently to the situation in the city. A rainbow mask from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was even loudly peddling as he shouted, "Heavenly source qi for sale! Twenty heavenly hunt points per portion! Don't even dream of robbing me! You won't get anything!"

Curious, Su Yu looked at the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion's building on the island. As usual, everything seemed perfectly calm there. He couldn't help but be impressed at how dedicated they were to doing business. Even in such a situation, they could find a way to do some business.

He wondered if the rainbow mask was already prepared to do business in such a manner of if the heavenly source qi had been prepared for something else when the rainbow mask saw an opportunity to do some business with it instead.

Su Yu also noticed someone running in the direction of the mayor's residence. He was unsure if it was because there were fewer death spirits there. Suddenly, someone appeared beside Su Yu.

With great discomfort, Su Yu said, "Sect Master Lan, it's very dangerous for you to approach me randomly like this. The lord guardians are all keeping an eye on me. As a precaution, I told them to kill anyone approaching me without a good reason."

This time, Lan Tian was not coming with the appearance of a woman. Rather, he came as a sagely old man. As he stroked his long beard, he lamented, "You're all grown up now. You have even learned to use your wisdom. Well done. Tiansheng's hopes have not been misplaced."

Fuck!

Could this guy speak normally?

Su Yu didn't know what to say. This guy was a lot more normal when he was disguised as Zhao Ming. Nowadays, he was way too abnormal.

While stroking his beard, Lan Tian asked, "Are you scolding me inwardly?"

"Nope."

"Don't lie." Suddenly, Lan Tian turned solemn as he said, "Su Yu, walk the same dao as me and Tiansheng. The dao of three bodies is definitely problematic. Only the dao of the myriad races is proper."

"..."

Bullshit!

Why was this guy preaching to him? Great Zhou King and the others were there. He should preach to them instead.

Just as he was about to argue, Lan Tian switched to voice transmission, "Trust me. The three bodies dao is problematic. How are you supposed to fuse three different individuals into one? Yes, the past you are you. The future you are you. But they are also not you. Fusing all three bodies, three of them will be you and not you at the same time.

"As for the myriad races dao, I am merely a part of the whole. I am still me. The myriad daos shall serve me. Wan Tiansheng walks the path of myriad daos as one. I walk the path of myriad daos for me. My clones will forever remain clones. He has no clone. Trust me, Su Yu. The three bodies dao is wrong. You will definitely encounter a problem in the future if you walk this dao."

Su Yu's heart thumped as he finally looked at Lan Tian.

With his long, white beard and sagely eyes, he was akin to a completely different person than before. Or to be precise, this was indeed a different person. The two Lan Tians were not the same. He continued, "I believe I will complete my dao soon. You will understand how worthless the three bodies dao is. It is unimaginably worthless. If you doubt me, try asking the stone statues. Have you seen any of them using a tri-life body?"

Su Yu was stunned.

Stone statues...and tri-life bodies..

What...was the meaning of this?

He had never seen the stone statues splitting their bodies. He had assumed that splitting wasn't possible because they had petrified themselves. Was that not the case?