Chapter 36 - 36

Chapter 990: Zhu Is Here (1)

Su Yu continued roaming the streets of Bright City. After deciding that he was going to start scamming, he started paying attention to the so-called ancient products in the city. Ancient spatial pockets and collapsed grottos discoveries were quite common in Sea of Stars. Thus, a large number of ancient products could be found here.

Most people would only carry out a small number of useful items after discovering these ancient spatial pockets. It was very rare for anyone to take the more useless objects out of these spatial pockets.

There were numerous stalls in the city. The ape was not the only person selling ancient weapons. But most of these weapons were fake. And it was painfully obvious that the products they sold were fake. At the very least, that was the case for Su Yu. As an earth weaponsmith, he looked at their counterfeiting skills with disdain. He would be a fool to fall for these fake ancient weapons.

While roaming the streets, he also managed to purchase some cheap and genuine ancient products. For example, he bought a cheap cloak that was genuinely a product from the ancient past. Unfortunately, its grade was quite low.

He also bought several ancient cultivation methods. Some were written in the languages of the races they came from, while some were written in the unique language used in the ancient cities. One didn't even need to know the language to read these texts.

"I can try to learn this as well."

Su Yu had a pensive look. Most of the cultivation methods written in the language of specific races were mostly quite limited in usability. But the cultivation methods written in the unique language would actually be usable for the various races.

Of course, the few that he bought were actually quite useless. They only recorded some minor tricks that had been rendered outdated by the passage of time. This proved that something wouldn't be better just because it was ancient.

***

After some shopping, Su Yu asked a random guard for suitable lodgings in the city before heading to the suggested place.

Clearbright House.

This was a rather famous place of lodging in the city. It was an extensive compound comprised of numerous independent buildings with a graceful environment. It was also quite expensive to rent.

One needed to pay fifty drops of source qi liquid per day to stay there. This was not a price an ordinary person could afford. Most of the people staying here were the important figures of the various races.

With five hundred drops of source qi liquid, Su Yu rented one of the units for ten days. He was quite generous in spending. After all, he had a decent amount of source qi liquid on him after killing so many people. And he didn't even need to worry about anyone suspecting him due to the source qi liquid he was using. After all, source qi would remain the same across the various realms.

Under the lead of a clearbright bird in human form, Su Yu walked into the building he rented. After entering, he shut the door and sat down before sinking into thought.

"I need to start thinking of a way out after the scam..."

His scam would most definitely attract the attention of numerous Sunmoons. As for Invincibles...if he carried out the scam on Ninestar Island, he could prevent the Invincibles from attending his auction. After all, the rulers of Ninestar Island were very opposed to the presence of Invincibles. Nobody wanted to provoke their displeasure and ruin the status quo for no reason.

"I might even need to demonstrate the cultivation method during the auction. I will be exposed to the eyes of many people. Should I get an agent to conduct the auction for me? Maybe the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion can do it for me. But the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion might be able to see through the scam..."

Su Yu sank into deep thought. Perhaps he could work with the Allheaven Treasure House instead. That organization was pretty strong as well. More importantly, that organization was probably founded by one or multiple major races unrelated to the human race. At the conclusion of the scam, the buyers would fail to find Su Yu and direct their anger at the Allheaven Treasure House instead.

"After coming up with preventive measures to protect myself from my prospective partner and coming up with an escape route, I can start carrying out the plan."

But before that, he had to complete his study on the trident he bought. Soon, the trident appeared in his hand. After inspecting it for a bit, he frowned. It wouldn't be easy to take this weapon apart.

"It has a seamless surface with the formation hiding inside. Disassembling it with force might ruin the entire weapon."

At that thought, Su Yu scanned his surroundings. He even checked the area with his tribulation character. After confirming that nobody was spying on him, he entered the cultivation room in the building.

If he had to, he would simply take the weapon apart. Even if he ended up damaging the weapon, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

***

Inside the cultivation room, Su Yu worked on the weapon carefully. He was quite proficient in weaponsmithing. After all, he had learned from two of the best weaponsmithing legacies in the Human Realm, the Heavenly Forge legacy and the Zhao Family legacy. If Zhao Li's father had not died back then, he would have reached the heaven grade long ago.

After his death, Zhao Li and Zhao Tianbing had further improved the Zhao Family's weaponsmithing techniques. With the upgraded weaponsmithing techniques, Zhao Tianbing was able to become an earth weaponsmith at a young age.

Summoning his fire character, Su Yu hesitated slightly before he proceeded to burn the weapon. After some time, the weapon melted slightly. Then, he took out his Soul Expanding Hammer and started striking the weapon.

He spent the entire night working on the weapon. Slowly, he dismantled the trident. Eventually, the weapon was split into two main parts. One was the outer shell while the other was the inner components.

The most unique part of the weapon was the formation hidden within it. After dismantling the weapon, Su Yu was able to get a rough understanding of how the formation worked. It was meant to help the weapon recognize its owner.

In principle, it worked slightly differently from modern weapons. Because of the formation, only the original owner could make use of this weapon. The outer shell of the weapon could be used normally.

After taking the core formation out of the weapon, Su Yu started fiddling with the outer shell. After a while, a brand new trident was made.

Without the formation, Su Yu was able to easily channel his source qi into the weapon. Ninety-seven golden stripes appeared on the weapon. But over twenty of them had cracked.

Su Yu was very surprised.

"Ninety-seven golden stripes!"

Back then, this weapon was a high-tier earth weapon. This was truly surprising.

"This is quite an amazing trident..."

At seventy-three stripes, a weapon would enter the earth grade. At eighty-two stripes, a weapon would enter the middle tier of the earth grade. At ninety-one stripes, a weapon would reach the high tier. And at a hundred stripes, a weapon would reach the peak of the grade.

This trident was actually a weapon near the peak of the earth grade.

"This is actually a treasure. It is a weapon good for even a middle-stage Sunmoon."

Mountainseas would mostly use early-stage earth weapons, and even that was only applicable to rich Mountainseas. Early Sunmoons would start using middle-stage earth weapons. And middle Sunmoons would start using high-stage earth weapons. Late Sunmoons would most likely start using peak earth weapons. Of course, the premise for all that was being wealthy enough to afford the weapons.

"If I can repair this trident and spend some time taking care of it, there is a very high hope of restoring it to its previous state. But...that will be quite troublesome to accomplish. I will probably need some ancient materials as modern materials might not be enough. This weapon has probably been out of care for tens of thousands of years. It is even starting to rust..."

Su Yu shook his head. It was not worth restoring. It would be too expensive. If he wasn't a weaponsmith, it would probably be worth it to get an earth weaponsmith to help with the restoration. But since he was an earth weaponsmith himself, it was pointless to do so as he could do so much more with it.

"The original grade is quite high. This is good for me."

Su Yu was still quite pleased with this. A shell near the peak earth grade. Even if it was slightly rusty, it did not matter. The usability of the weapon did not matter. He only needed it to look good.

"This makes things easier. When I graft this weapon with a different weapon, I don't even need to add that many stripes to it. That will make things less suspicious. I only need to add one fake stripe for every ten stripes."

According to his judgment, this was doable. Soon, he tossed the shell aside. Just this shell alone was worth ten times what he paid for the weapon. Or even more than that. But this wasn't even the main reason he bought this weapon. A small shining sphere was in front of him. That was the core he had taken out of the trident, a micro formation.

When Su Yu sent a strand of his willpower over, a ray of light shot out with a rumble.

Su Yu's eyes flickered in excitement. Indeed. This formation was still active. It was probably stronger in the past. But now, its strength had dropped to the Skysoar Realm.

"Where is the energy source?"

Su Yu did not detect any absorption of the surrounding source qi. Something must be powering this formation. He took a closer look at the formation. He didn't know formations too well. He was worried about damaging it if he tried taking it apart. He wanted to put more use to this formation, so he couldn't ruin it.

"Formation...in theory, there are a lot of similarities between formations and character techniques. Each formation operates through the various nodes in it. Perhaps I only need to remove one of the nodes."

Eventually, he decided that if he failed...so be it. This was too tempting. He really wanted to know the energy source of the formation. Was it blood essence? Or was it a character? Those were the only probable options for this formation to last this long. And the energy source would most likely be related to the original owner.

The likelihood of the energy source being blood essence was quite low. Blood essence extraction was a process that would harm the owner of the blood essence. It was more likely for the energy source to be a character. After all, that was something Old Zhao had done as well.

Su Yu sent strand after strand of willpower over, and the formation kept resisting with numerous rays of light.

***

After a few hours of hard work, Su Yu's brows were beaded with sweat. Suddenly, he laughed. At that moment, a strand of willpower shot toward the formation and deactivated one of the nodes in it.

A series of rumbles rang out. Then, the formation faded away. The object hidden behind the formation revealed itself. Googlᴇ search novel·fire·net

Character.

Yes, it was a character.

Su Yu's guess was finally verified. It was a character. A character that was both powerful and weak. It was powerful because it felt comparable to Ye Batian's characters.

"It's at least a seventh-stage Sunmoon..."

Suddenly, Su Yu shook his head, "Too weak."

After so many years of exhaustion, he felt like this character would crumble apart at the weakest of impact. At that realization, he took out some heavenly source qi and wrapped the character with it.

The character hurriedly absorbed the heavenly source qi and started regaining some of its strength. Prior to this, its actual strength had probably dropped to a level below Skysoar characters.

While waiting for the character to repair itself, Su Yu took a closer look at it. He was surprised. It was actually a character written in the divine language.

Holy shit!

If this was a human character, he could further restore it and use it in a similar manner as the Ye Batian's characters he received. But since this was a divine character, it would be crushed right after entering his sea of willpower.

And since it was in such a bad state, it would only be useful for providing some nourishment to his characters. Counter. This was a counter character. It was meant for counter-striking. This was the origin of the rays of light that would appear each time he tried to study the formation.

"Owner recognition is probably not its main function. Rather, its main function is reflecting damage."

Su Yu's eyes sparkled. The original owner of this weapon was quite a creative person.

Reflecting damage.

In a fight, it was natural for weapons to clash with each other. With every clash, the character would reflect the attack back to the attacker. Back then when this high-stage Sunmoon character was at its peak, the reflective force was probably incredibly powerful. When fighting an opponent of the same level, the opponent would probably receive double the damage thanks to this character.

"What an interesting character."

It didn't matter that this wasn't a character he could directly use. He could still learn from it. Furthermore, he also wanted to see if there was any difference between ancient and modern characters. He had seen divine characters before. There were samples in Hong Tan's laboratory in the Human Realm.

Chapter 991: Zhu Is Here (2)

After studying the character more, Su Yu noted this character felt genuinely ancient due to its aura.

"If I can restore it properly, it will be a rather powerful character. But it won't be easy for me to make use of it. If I want to use it offensively, I need good compatibility with it. Or I can use it to create a grotto. A grotto with reflective properties?"

Su Yu shook his head. From its properties, a grotto formed of this character would be quite useless. It was possible to restore it. He only needed to use willpower or heavenly source qi and give it some time.

Su Yu thought about it. Perhaps he could restore it slightly to increase its strength. That way, it would be a lot more useful regardless of whether he wanted to plant it into a body or a weapon.

"Body..." Get full chapters from novel·fire.net

He needed a fake body. No, a real body would work as well. And it would be even better if it was the body of a Sunmoon divine...

"Right, I have the corpse of an eighth-stage Sunmoon divine..."

But he shook his head again. He couldn't bear to use such a valuable corpse that way.

"No...maybe this will work. I am probably strong enough to extract the blood essence in the corpse right now. I can extract half the blood essence...no, ninety percent of the blood essence. It is reasonable for the corpse to be weak since it is an ancient corpse. It is also perfectly reasonable for the corpse of a peak Sunmoon to drop to the eighth stage after countless years. It is also acceptable for its character to drop to the Mountainsea or even the Cloudbreach Realm..."

Su Yu was going to invest massively in this scam. Perhaps he would need to make use of his Sunmoon corpse for this scam. There was no profit without the willingness to invest.

He only needed the blood essence in the corpse. By extracting ninety percent of the blood essence, the remaining blood essence would allow the corpse to continue emanating the pressure of an eighth-stage Sunmoon. Wouldn't an ancient corpse capable of emanating the pressure of an eighth-stage Sunmoon even after so many years be incredible? This was most definitely a peak Sunmoon back then, right?

"But I need to make the corpse look ancient as well..."

The corpse was too fresh. Another idea rose in Su Yu's mind. That would be easy to accomplish. He only needed to bath the corpse in death qi for some time and it would instantly look old. He could even make sure nobody would recognize the aura of the corpse's original identity.

Did death spirits exist during the ancient times? If they already existed back then, the corpse would look even more convincing. He could make everyone believe that this was an ancient expert who had perished after a battle with an ancient death spirit.

"An eighth-stage Sunmoon from the divine skywing race...after processing it with death qi, installing an ancient character in it, adding an ancient weapon to it, and adding more items to the set..."

After some calculations, Su Yu concluded that this would be an extremely expensive endeavor. His investment would probably surpass twenty strands of heavenearth profound light in value after doing everything.

The largest cost was the drop of blood essence he would leave in the corpse. That blood essence alone was worth at least ten drops of first-stage Sunmoon blood essence. Coupled with everything else he was going to add, including the ancient cultivation method...

Holy shit!

He wouldn't be satisfied unless he received ten times his investment after so much work. After all, he had to invest so much resources and energy while risking his life for this scam. What even was the point of doing it if he couldn't get ten times the profit?

Su Yu rubbed his hands gleefully. After all that, would anyone still suspect this to be a scam? What a joke. This was a corpse that had been rotting for countless years yet still emanated the pressure of an eighth-stage Sunmoon. Could something like this be fake? Who would actually use an eighth-stage Sunmoon corpse for a scam?

More importantly, would someone capable of killing such an existence stoop so low? Would an Invincible carry out a scam just for a few hundred strands of heavenearth profound light? Absolutely not.

Even an Invincible would not be able to provide all the things required for this scam easily. Ancient characters and ancient weapons were not things just anyone could get their hands on.

Numerous thoughts rose in Su Yu's mind, improving his mood repeatedly. The more he thought about it, the more perfect the plan seemed. This was too believable to fail. Eighth-stage Sunmoon corpse processed with death qi, ancient medallion, ancient character, ancient weapon, and ancient cultivation method... It did not make sense for a scam like that to fail.

"All that's left is an escape path."

How should he conduct the scam to guarantee his safety? If he could figure out a reliable escape path as well, he would no longer have anything to worry about. While thinking about his escape path, he started working on the trident. He had to alter its appearance. The ape would recognize the trident. To be safe, he had to alter its appearance. Did the divine skywing race exist during the ancient times?

The answer was yes, right? He had to verify that as well. If not, he would have to eliminate any signs that would suggest that this was the corpse of a divine skywing. What was the favorite weapon of this race?

Bow?

Right, those from this race were known for their proficiency in archery.

"I need to check the history of the divine skywing race. The first divine race has existed since the beginning. That might not be the case for the divine skywing race. It will be awkward if I start the scam only to realize that this race did not exist back then..."

***

Shortly after, Su Yu packed up and left the building.

He needed to gather some information.

He could also take this chance to get in contact with the Allheaven Treasure House. Even the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion would do. Those bastards had ripped him off during their previous deals. He had not forgotten that.

Also, was his current identity as a mountainbreak bull suitable for this scam? He had to answer all those questions before proceeding with his plan. Would someone suspect his identity if someone tried to purchase the information of his fake identity from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion only to find a complete absence of information about this identity?

It would be much better to use an existing identity. And the owner of that identity must still be alive. That way, he would be able to capture that person and make use of that person's identity for a period of time.

"The identities of a dragon, immortal, divine, or devil will work for this. But since I'm going to auction it instead of handing it to a specific race, I need the identity of someone rebellious. That will make it much more believable..."

More and more thoughts rose in Su Yu's mind. He could also use the identity of someone from a race that was powerful yet lacking in resources. That would also give him a good reason to sell the discovery.

Several names appeared in Su Yu's mind. Anyone on the Heaven Index would work well for this. After all, every single one of them was endlessly arrogant and rebellious.

It wouldn't be surprising for them to sell something instead of submitting what they found to their respective races. Even if it was something extremely valuable, so what? These were arrogant geniuses with no concern for the thoughts of others.

"Should I kidnap a Heaven Index expert and borrow the identity?"

Su Yu cursed. The difficulty would be a tad bit too high. Strictly speaking, he wasn't the weakest of the Heaven Index geniuses, but his rank was still near the bottom. Also in the Heaven Index were existences such as Zhang Wushuang, someone who had killed a Sunmoon, and Xuan Wuji, a similarly freakish genius.

Even Mo Duona, with his relatively low cultivation level, was strong enough to deal with Sunmoons.

"If not Heaven Index geniuses, I can work with Earth Index geniuses as well. I'll pick one that will be left alone by Invincibles..."

Soon, several names appeared in Su Yu's mind. The first name he thought of was Topsoil Spirit. That was someone from the five elemental race. That was not a weak race, and it was unlikely that their Invincibles would pay too much attention to him when he was traveling the Allheaven Battlefield.

It was also quite likely that he had the freedom to freely deal with the treasures he found during his travels. Thus, it wouldn't be too suspicious for him to sell something like an ancient Sunmoon corpse.

The little golden dragon would work fine as well. That was an Invincible descendant. And it was evident that was an extremely arrogant person. He was also very petty. He might not be willing to hand any treasure he found to the dragon race obediently, as long as his own family did not force him to hand the treasure over.

The third name Su Yu thought of was Tianduo. That was a genius from the original devil race, also an Invincible descendant. Since the original devil race was giving most of their support to Mo Duona, Tianduo had been neglected. Not even his ancestor cared about him too much.

Su Yu heard that during the ancient city incident, Tianduo's ancestor had not even bothered to show up. The devil king that had arrived was only there for Mo Duona. Nevertheless, his status was still useful. Apart from his ancestor, other devil kings would not be able to easily snatch the treasure he was selling from him.

These were the suitable identities Su Yu could think of. Mo Duona's identity was most certainly the best among them. Not even the devil kings would say anything if Mo Duona was the one selling the treasure.

"Ninestar Island...all these fellows are probably there. But it won't be easy to catch either of them. Some experts might be paying close attention to that place. Things will get troublesome if those experts notice anything. I need to go there as well."

He only needed to capture one of them. Such an identity would even be helpful when he was making his escape. With the borrowed identity, nobody would lay a hand on him for a short period of time. The plan was near completion.

But it wouldn't be an easy plan to carry out. But that was fine. The harder it was, the more believable it would be. As for the risk of exposing his ability to transform into a different race...what nonsense. They already somewhat knew about it.

Ever since his identity as the fake Cui Lang was exposed, everyone was aware of his ability to alter his appearance and aura. Even Sunmoons couldn't easily see through his disguise. Everyone already knew that.

But what did it matter? It wasn't like they would be able to magically see through his disguise by knowing he was capable of disguise. But this had also somewhat ruined his original plan to affirm his dao with a fake identity.

"Time to visit my old friends at Ninestar Island. I'll just aim for any of them that's traveling alone."

He was quite confident in his ability to capture people like Tianduo, the little golden dragon, and Topsoil Spirit as long as they were alone. But the Dragon Realm was near...forget it. He would only capture the little golden dragon if he was out of options. He didn't want to attract the attention of any dragon Invincible.

As for Topsoil Spirit and Tianduo, their Invincibles would take some time to reach even if they decided to come.

"I also need to find a good place to extract the blood essence from the corpse and process it with death qi."

Chapter 992: Zhu Is Here (3)

Su Yu spent the next few days in Bright City.

During his stay, he gathered and bought all the information he needed, spending a large amount of money in the process. He had even restored the ancient character slightly. The little furball had tried to eat it a few times, but each time, he was caught and given a beating by Su Yu. What even was the point of eating it now? It was just an old and stinky character.

After the scam was completed, they would have plenty of heavenearth profound light. At that time, the furball would have plenty of good stuff to eat. It wasn't like heavenearth profound light was that valuable.

Each strand was only worth a drop of first-stage Sunmoon blood essence. He could get ten strands by killing a random weak first-stage Sunmoon. With the corpse of a peak ancient Sunmoon and the set of accompanying items, he could make a profit worth the blood essence of dozens of first-stage Sunmoons.

He wouldn't accept any deal lower than three to five hundred strands of heavenearth profound light. An ancient peak Sunmoon was totally worth thirty or even fifty first-stage Sunmoons, right?

Furthermore, heavenearth profound light was not something that could only be obtained through killing. It could be harvested from the void. It only required some time from a Sunmoon. And as a Sunmoon of a major race, was time a concern?

Time passed as Su Yu continued his preparations.

***

Far away from Red Clouds Island, Ninestar Island was bustling with excitement. One super genius after another appeared. Even Su Yu might appear here. That sparked countless discussions, and numerous people were gathering information all over the city.

Outside Ninestar Island, numerous Sunmoons were observing the geniuses instead of stepping on the island. They did notice several battles erupting during the past few days, but they weren't surprised. It was normal for battles to erupt when so many geniuses were gathered at the same place. However, they had not been able to discover the whereabouts of Su Yu.

The young geniuses on the island were constantly challenging different opponents. Each challenge was a fight with no restriction toward killing instead of a mere spar. If the loser was lucky, they might survive. If not, they could only blame their fate. Even with Su Yu's apparent absence, the geniuses were unbothered. Su Yu wasn't their sole target. They could always do something else here.

Meanwhile, Su Yu was busy perfecting his scam.

***

Somewhere in the Sea of Stars, a large battle was ongoing. Thıs content belongs to novel⦿fire.net

Sounds of weapons clashing rang out unceasingly.

Boom!

A shining saber flickered into existence in the sky, followed by a shining spear. The weapons stabbed through several figures. With a roar, a fist appeared and shattered the saber light before the spear stabbed through it.

"Huang Teng...Qin Fang!"

Tianduo glared at the two while coughing blood.

Huang Teng grinned, "Not bad, Tianduo. You seem to have improved. You're nearly as strong as me in combat now. Amazing."

Tianduo was a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. As for Huang Teng, he was a sixth-stage Cloudbreach. He was also a famous human genius who had killed a second-stage Mountainsea as a fifth-stage Cloudbreach not long ago. Thus, it was quite an impressive feat for Tianduo to actually put up a fight against him. Then again, Tianduo's cultivation was a stage higher.

Beside Huang Teng, Qin Fang was calmly looking at the distant Mo Duona. He was quite alarmed, but he pretended to be calm as he asked, "Mo Duona, are you thinking of killing us? Feel free to give it a try."

Mo Duona shot him an indifferent gaze before looking away. Kill him? He must be overestimating himself.

Previously, Mo Duona had only pursued Qin Fang for fun. After reaching the seventh-stage Cloudbreach Realm, Qin Fang had probably grown by about thirty percent in combat strength and gained the ability to deal with fourth-stage Mountainseas. But this was still too weak for Mo Duona. He was not interested in killing Qin Fang previously. And that had not changed.

He completely ignored Qin Fang and Huang Teng. Instead, he fixed his gaze behind them as he asked, "Are you interested in having some fun with me?"

The empty air warped as someone appeared out of thin air. The newcomer looked young, but he wasn't actually young. This was a human.

When Qin Fang looked behind him, he exclaimed in shock, "Big Brother Zhu!"

Zhu Guangshen. Grandson of Great Ming King, eldest son of Zhu Tiandao. In human age, he was actually not that young anymore.

He was a peak Mountainsea. Or to be precise, a peak Mountainsea who was the direct descendant of an Invincible. Meanwhile, Mo Duona was only a peak Cloudbreach.

Stepping on thin air, Zhu Guangshen stepped forth and smiled, "Mo Duona? I've heard a lot about you. I'm afraid I have to refuse your offer. People from Great Ming are bad at fighting. If you really want to fight...I guess you can deal with this guy instead."

At that, a second silhouette appeared.

The newcomer was plump as a ball, with black and white fur, and two black circles around his eyes.

Iron devourer!

Somehow, Zhu Hongliang's iron devourer was here.

With a smile, Zhu Guangshen said, "Great Ming is only here to take a look at the latest event. I'm also here to look for Su Yu. If I see him, I'll advise him to surrender himself and apologize to the immortals. You see, I'm here for peace, not to fight."

After saying that, Zhu Guangshen nonchalantly threw a wriggling black mass out. Mo Duona retreated instinctively before noticing the appearance of numerous ants. At that, one expert after another appeared around them.

A Sunmoon coldly said, "You! You from Great Ming! Take these things away!"

Zhu Guangshen smiled, "Relax. These are third-generation ants. We can slightly control them. Mo Duona wants to beat me up, right? What choice do I have if I want to protect myself? It's not like I'm his match. Don't overestimate me just because I'm a Mountainsea. My cultivation level is only a result of countless treasures by my grandpa..."

He sighed, "To protect me, more experts have arrived from Great Ming as well. I'm not here to fight. You young geniuses can keep fighting, but leave me out of it."

At that, another expert appeared.

Someone cursed. Holy shit! That was the chief commander of the Heavenly Dao Army.

And that was not all. The chief commander of Great Ming's Iron Cavalry appeared next.

Then, Umbra appeared as well.

Three high-stage Sunmoons. Yes. All of them were high-stage Sunmoons. Chief commander of Heavenly Dao Army, chief commander of Iron Cavalry, and commander of Shadow Guard...If all three of them fell here, Great Ming's military would instantly lose all their leaders.

Madness. Absolute madness. Were the people of Great Ming so cowardly? They actually sent several chief commanders over just to protect a single crown prince.

Zhu Guangshen laughed, "I really don't want to fight anyone here. I come in peace. And I'm not a genius. You guys can continue your fights. But don't drag me into it. Mo Duona, you're a genius while I'm not. You have an Invincible in your family, but I have one as well. It is pointless for us to quarrel because of something stupid like ego..."

Mo Duona left without saying a single word.

Piss off.

That damn bastard brought three high-stage Sunmoons as bodyguards just for a single trip. He had never seen someone like that. What even was the point? And Zhu Guangshen was right. He was not a young genius. He didn't need to take any risks. And he had three powerful bodyguards with him. Who would want to fight him?

Mo Duona reckoned that Zhu Guangshen would probably drag even his old man out here if his old man wasn't needed back home. The surrounding experts also left one after another.

Soon, only the humans were left. Huang Teng and Qin Fang exchanged gazes before cupping their hands at Zhu Guangshen. Then, they left as well.

They weren't here to show off by borrowing Zhu Guangshen's might. They were here to challenge and temper themselves. Could they still do that with three high-stage Sunmoon bodyguards around them?

Zhu Guangshen laughed, "Why is everyone leaving? Well, I guess this isn't a bad thing. Don't mess with me. I'm only here to enjoy the show and gather information about the next opening of Luminous Domain Mansion...Thank you, generals."

The three Sunmoons said nothing and faded into thin air again. Wasn't this amazing? This was how Great Ming operated. They didn't have any genius to participate in such conflicts. When their crown prince needed to go somewhere, he would be protected by three high-stage Sunmoons.

Was there a problem with that? It was unfortunate that Great Ming King was busy lately. Otherwise, their crown prince would have brought Great Ming King as the bodyguard instead. That was no exaggeration. Someone actually did that before. Someone by the name of Zhu Tiandao.

Back then, when Zhu Tiandao was exploring the Allheaven Battlefield as a young man, he did it with his old man, an Invincible, as the bodyguard. This was the main reason why most people regardless of race ignored Zhu Tiandao. This was why nobody believed he would ever affirm his dao successfully. Thus, they were not surprised to see Zhu Guangshen's entourage.

After all, this was the tradition of Great Ming. This was how Great Ming had earned its reputation as the home of cowards. The experts of myriad races never viewed them as a threat.

Chapter 993: Comfortable Life (1)

Battles were erupting all over Ninestar Island.

Things were slightly calmer on Red Clouds Island. But there was a countless stream of people entering and leaving the island in search of some fortuitous encounters in the area. Many failed to return.

Perhaps some had perished. Perhaps some had fallen into random minor realms. And perhaps some had fallen into some ancient spatial pocket and would only emerge after many years. All of these were common occurrences.

Inside Bright City.

Su Yu was finally done with his initial preparations. Even his fake ancient weapon was also ready. He only needed to work on the corpse now. He couldn't extract the blood essence of the corpse in the city as he was worried that the pressure of an eighth-stage Sunmoon would be too eye-catching. Thus, he was ready to leave.

Next, he needed to find a suitable place for blood essence extraction. He might even complete his work on the corpse there. After his investigation, he had verified that the divine skywing race existed during the ancient times as well.

In fact, that race had even produced a powerhouse in the past. According to their legends, an ancient expert of this race had once killed an Invincible with a single arrow. Thus, it wouldn't be too suspicious for an ancient corpse of this race to appear.

"Time to leave."

He had stayed several days in the city. According to the human calendar, it was already the 25th of July. A new semester would start on the 1st of August. This time, the Multiple Character Faculty would open as well.

That would be the beginning of chaos. He did not have much time left. Even if he was still relatively clueless about what those people were planning, he knew that the opening of the Multiple Character Faculty would be the prelude to a chaotic era in Great Xia.

"I need to pick up the pace."

Su Yu muttered to himself as he walked out of his building. He was greeted with the same bustling street. Sounds of activity could be heard everywhere.

This was the nearest island to Ninestar Island, so everyone had been keeping up with what was happening over there. In fact, some people specialized in traveling between the two islands to make a profit through the sale of information.

"Last night, a massive battle erupted near Ninestar Island. Zhan Wushuang of the divine race fought Xuan Wuji of the immortal race. It was crazy. Are they really Mountainseas? Those two felt even stronger than Sunmoons."

"They are indeed strong. But in my opinion, Nether Realm's Ming Yue is stronger. As a sixth-stage Mountainsea, she fought a peak Mountainsea from the celestial dragon early morning yesterday. With her powerful techniques, she killed that expert. As a result, Long Yingyue appeared. The two proceeded to fight three hundred rounds before parting ways."

"For real? A Peak Mountainsea of the celestial dragon race is probably strong enough to handle Sunmoons, right? Are you saying that Ming Yue is already strong enough to kill Sunmoons? Doesn't that make her stronger than Zhan Wushuang? She's only a sixth-stage Mountainsea..."

"That's hard to say. Without an actual fight between the two, who knows?"

"..."

Everyone was happily gossiping away.

Super genius. Every last one of them. And endless battles between them. This was indeed an event that could spark numerous discussions.

Nether Realm's Ming Yue, ranked fourth on Heaven Index and a sixth-stage Mountainsea had killed a peak Mountainsea celestial dragon. One ought to know that the celestial dragon race was a race as powerful as the original devil, first divine, and ancient immortal races.

A confrontation between experts of major races which ended with someone killed by someone three stages lower was a feat even more eye-catching than the battle between Zhan Wushuang and Xuan Wuji.

"That Qin Fang of the human race is very powerful as well. After stepping into the seventh-stage Cloudbreach Realm recently, he stabbed a first-stage Mountainsea from the lightning divine race at the Billow Gorge yesterday. That's a powerful expert from the divine race. No wonder he was able to enter the Heaven Index previously."

"Qin Fang? He's still somewhat lacking. As a third-stage Mountainsea, Soulcurse of the celestial chasm race killed a suanni ranked twenty-sixth on the Earth Index not long ago. He's already a fifth-stage Mountainsea."

Battles broke out constantly, and geniuses kept perishing. The Heavenly Hunt Index had been changing rapidly recently. A large number of geniuses had perished. The geniuses who had killed the other geniuses had also benefited immensely from their victories, growing even stronger than before.

Someone who was still evenly matched with an opponent the day before might suddenly find that opponent stronger just a day later. Battles between these geniuses had always been exceptionally dangerous and cruel.

Slaughter had always been the best method a genius could grow. Thus, these geniuses would never stop clashing against each other. One would perish while the other would emerge victorious and gain even more strength.

Su Yu listened to all the rumors silently. Soon, he heard yet another familiar name.

"Since two days ago, Huang Teng of the human race has been on the run. He was quite unlucky to somehow catch the attention of the crazy blood fire devils. Three middle-stage Mountainsea blood fire devils were in pursuit of him. I wonder if he'll die anytime soon."

"With Su Yu's absence, Qin Fang is the highest-ranked human genius around..."

"What are you talking about? There's Liu Wenyan, right?"

"What bullshit are you saying? That's an old man. He's busy hiding in the human territory."

"..."

Huang Teng was on the run yet again. Su Yu was rendered quite speechless. Why was that guy on the run all the time? The blood fire devils were indeed crazy. He knew that very well. How did Huang Teng end up provoking them? Su Yu couldn't help but laugh in amusement at that crazy guy.

To kill or be killed. That was what it meant to be a genius. And that was the thing separating them from the masses. Killing geniuses of similar strength was the fastest way one could grow. Through blood and sweat, one would rise to power. Thus was the way of a genius.

He also heard about Mo Duona. During the past two days, that fellow had been picking fights with Xuan Wuji and Zhan Wushuang. Those were Mountainseas while he was only a ninth-stage Cloudbreach. Su Yu wondered if that guy would end up beaten to death.

Then again, all that had nothing to do with him. In short, battles were still breaking out everywhere around Ninestar Island. His presence did not matter. All the index geniuses were busy killing each other.

Furthermore, as the date of the Luminous Domain Mansion's opening drew near, a large amount of source qi and willpower had started leaking out of the mansion, flooding the area with fortuitous encounters. Some had even discovered an ancient dragonblood tree on the sea. That was a treasure for the dragon race.

Dragonblood fruits were extremely beneficial for dragon Cloudbreaches undergoing their source qi transformation, allowing them to reach their maximum potential during the transformation. After hearing about the tree, the dragon race dispatched a Sunmoon to retrieve the tree. But the person who had found the tree was not stupid. He had sold the tree to the original devils for ten drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid. At the moment, the original devils were trying to rip the dragons off with the tree.

Su Yu was quite surprised. If even something like an ancient dragonblood tree could be discovered randomly, it wouldn't be so surprising for someone to find an ancient spatial pocket either.

But he also needed to ensure he had the ability to keep his discovery before selling it. A sufficiently powerful identity was required for that.

Just look at how the dragons had decided to rob the tree instead of buying it from the individual who had made the discovery. According to the rumors, that person was a Mountainsea, but not even that was enough to discourage the dragons from taking such an action. That individual was forced to sell the tree to the original devils, who were more than happy to buy it and use it as a bargaining chip over the dragons.

If it wasn't for the fact that they wanted to obtain the tree as soon as possible, even the original devils might opt to rob the tree from the person who had discovered it as well. The person who had found the tree had vanished after receiving the payment. It wouldn't even be surprising if that person had already perished in the hands of the furious dragons.

Meanwhile, the original devils and dragons merely argued with each other instead of fighting for the tree. This was the difference in attitude brought about in strength. With the strength of the original devils, would the dragons be willing to fight them just for a tree? New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel✶fire.net

It was normal for geniuses to fight each other. But a battle between Sunmoons could easily escalate into a bigger war. Thus, the dragons were forced to haggle for it instead.

And would the original devils sell the tree without overpricing it massively? For example, they could sell it for ten times the price they paid for it. A hundred drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid was comparable to three hundred strands of heavenearth profound light in value.

That was a value they could extract from a mere ancient tree. Would the tree be more valuable than the ancient peak Sunmoon in Su Yu's hand? Would the tree be more valuable than the corpse and all the other accompanying items he was going to sell alongside the corpse?

Sure enough, these major races were all incredibly rich. Well, the human race was probably the exception. After all, humanity had only stabilized their realms about three centuries ago. They had spent much less time in development compared to the other major races.

They were so pitiful that they had to resort to robbery just to get a few heavenly source fruit trees in the Human Realm. Meanwhile, the immortals could casually travel around with heavenly source fruits and still had plenty to spare in their realm. There was no comparing humanity and the other major races.

The more Su Yu listened, the more his eyes sparkled. Holy shit. They sure were rich. They were so rich that even strategic resources like sunmoon profound yellow liquid were being used as a trading currency.

The ancient dragonblood tree was a treasure as well. It could help the dragons with source qi transformation. That was something he needed to consider after he completed his body forging as well.

It was still too early for him to worry about that. He had just completed twenty-seven forgings not long ago and he would complete his twenty-eighth body forging soon. In recent days, he had grown rapidly by using both heavenly source qi and the breathing technique at the same time.

The difficulty was supposed to keep increasing as he progressed in cultivation, but Su Yu did not feel much difference apart from the increase in the amount of heavenly source qi he needed. At this rate, he would probably be broke by the time he completed his twenty-eighth forging.

He had even used some of his heavenly source qi to nourish the ancient character. At the very least, he needed to restore it to the level of a Mountainsea or even a Sunmoon to further showcase how amazing the corpse was.

Just look at how the character was still maintaining the strength of a Sunmoon even after so many years. Wasn't that amazing? Just imagine how powerful this dead Sunmoon was back then.

But the cost of his scam was also rising madly. With such a massive investment, this was almost not a scam anymore. The corpse was an actual eighth-stage Sunmoon with some blood essence remaining. The weapon was also an actual ancient earth weapon. And the character was also a genuine seventh-stage Sunmoon. Yes. How could anyone call this a scam? This was merely marketing.

Before long, Su Yu was out of Bright City. Standing outside, he sneered inwardly. Some people were spying on him. He must have caught some attention when he was running all over the city spending money and buying information during the past few days.

Including the weapon he bought from the ape and the rent for his accommodation in the city, he had indeed been quite a big spender during his time in the city.

Yes, the mountainbreak bull race was a top 100 race. But at maximum, an early Cloudbreach of this race would only be as strong as a fifth-stage Cloudbreach in combat strength. Could a Cloudbreach even be considered an expert in a place like this? Yes, but not a top expert. This place might be less busy than Ninestar Island, but some Mountainseas could still be found here.

Su Yu continued heading toward the shore of the island. Eventually, he was able to determine the exact number of people tailing him. There were three groups in total.

The first group was comprised of two late Cloudbreachs and one middle Cloudbreach.

The second group was comprised of four late Cloudbreaches.

The third group was comprised of one Mountainsea.

Through the Perception Jade, Su Yu judged that these groups were not working together. They were probably still unaware that there were multiple groups doing the same thing. It was also possible that the Mountainsea was aware of the other groups, but he was merely waiting for a chance to wipe everyone out and maximize his profit.

"Second-stage Mountainsea. This is not weak at all. Unfortunately for you, that's not enough."

Su Yu thought that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing for him. He just happened to be running out of blood essence. Since these people were volunteering to resupply him, he would gladly accept their offer.

He wasn't even surprised. Such opportunists were everywhere in Sea of Stars.

Chapter 994: Comfortable Life (2)

Together with his tails, Su Yu left the island.

The sea was as tranquil as ever.

As he headed further out, the ambient source qi started rising in density.

Sights of Skysoars hunting demonic beasts under the supervision of their seniors were quite common near the island. Su Yu did not approach any of them and continued flying away from the island.

He acted cautiously and even took the trouble to stop every now and then to scan his surroundings for any hidden enemies as he traveled. After about an hour, he was hundreds of kilometers away from the island.

At that moment, he stopped while grumbling about how patient his tails were. They were still silently following him. This place was devoid of people. Why were they still not attacking? What were they waiting for? Had they discovered each other and decided to act cautiously instead?

Su Yu did not have the time to waste as he still needed to find a suitable location to work on the corpse.

Floating above the sea, Su Yu spoke, "It's about time you show yourself, right? How long are you going to wait? How brazen of you. I'm a mountainbreak bull, a member of a top 100 race, a race backed by Invincibles. Are you not afraid of getting in trouble with my race?"

There was no response. Su Yu shook his head. They probably believed that he was bluffing. Whatever. It was time to end this game.

With his Perception Jade, he confirmed that they were the only ones in the area. He was also quite sure that there was nobody even in the immediate surroundings of the radius covered by his Perception Jade. His tribulation character remained completely calm despite the fact that a Mountainsea was tailing him.

This would be a good place to deal with these people. First, he would deal with the Mountainsea. With the Mountainsea gone, none of the Cloudbreaches would be able to escape him.

With his body reaching the level of thirty thousand acupoints, his speed, strength, and resistance had all reached a level comparable to a Mountainsea. He merely looked less impressive normally because most of his opponents were the geniuses of powerful races.

Abruptly, he shot in a certain direction, moving at an astonishingly fast speed. As he vanished with a flicker, the air around a certain spot warped. Then, a fist appeared out of nowhere.

Boom!

A cheetah appeared and hurriedly attacked with his claws.

Boom!

With a single strike, the cheetah's limb was crushed into mincemeat.

"Impossible."

The cheetah was alarmed. He was a second-stage Mountainsea while his target was only a Cloudbreach. How was this possible? How could his powerful claws fall apart from a simple punch? No, this was not a Cloudbreach. No, this wasn't even a mountainbreak bull! But that attack was clearly Mountainbreak, the racial ability of the mountainbreak bulls.

"Furball, time to work. Hurry up. Don't let any of them escape."

The little furball flickered and vanished from Su Yu's sea of willpower. He was a Cloudbreach from an ancient race. And he was an extremely unique existence. It was far too easy for him to deal with others in a similar cultivation level.

A painful wail rang out somewhere further away, but nothing was visible. As for Su Yu, he threw another punch. And when the cheetah tried to flee, a hammer appeared and descended upon him.

Boom!

Intense rumbles rang out in the cheetah's sea of willpower. With another punch by Su Yu, the head burst apart and blood sprayed everywhere.

"Trash."

Su Yu shook his head. He knew this race. This was the shadow cheetah race, a top 1000 race. It was a race with a ninth-stage Sunmoon and no Invincible. Even as a second-stage Mountainsea, this cheetah was far easier to kill than Lei Jue. Sure enough, the gap between a major race and a minor race was massive.

"Garbage with less than a hundred acupoints."

Su Yu shook his head. This was probably one of those weak Mountainseas with only the strength of around twenty thousand acupoints. Apart from a slightly faster speed, his cultivation method, body, weapon, and even combat ability were all incredibly weak.

Someone like this could kill regular Cloudbreaches, but someone like Su Yu could easily kill him without even using his willpower. He couldn't be bothered to waste more time and launched another hammer strike to completely crush the cheetah's sea of willpower.

After putting the corpse away, Su Yu grumbled again. This broke cheetah was so poor he didn't even have a storage ring. Apart from his body and blood, the cheetah had nothing else to offer.

Done with the cheetah, Su Yu flew to a different spot. There, a group of comatose individuals could be seen. There were seven of them. Not one had managed to escape. Floating in front of them was the smug little furball. After stacking all seven Cloudbreaches together, his smug smile stretched over his entire body.

He started showing off his contribution to Su Yu. Too lazy to say anything, Su Yu released his willpower and killed all seven of them. Then, the heavenly rewards for the accumulated kills appeared. Two shining clouds descended from the sky.

The bigger cloud approached Su Yu while the smaller cloud approached the little furball. The rewards were decent. After all, he had still killed someone an entire realm above him. But at this point, a reward that was decent for others was no longer decent for him.

He much preferred the rewards of killing geniuses. For example, killing Mo Duona would probably grant him even better rewards than what he could get from killing a Sunmoon. Yes, Mo Duona was merely a ninth-stage Cloudbreach, but that was how the heavenly laws worked. This was why everyone loved killing geniuses in the Allheaven Battlefield.

But to be fair, the reward for this kill was actually quite good. He received ten portions of heavenly source qi for an easy fight like this. Furthermore, rewarded heavenly source qi was much easier to absorb compared to regular heavenly source qi.

He started the process of absorbing and processing the heavenly source qi before tempering his body with it. His body grew slightly, and his progress on his twenty-eighth body forging increased further.

As for the little furball, he looked somewhat displeased. He received a little bit of willpower, but it wasn't enough for him. With a look of disgust, he ate the willpower and grumbled that it wasn't yummy at all.

Su Yu ignored the furball and started cleaning all traces of battle. Here in the Sea of Stars, one could die without anyone knowing unless one was an index genius. The vast Sea of Stars was also a massive graveyard. Before long, all traces of battle were removed.

Su Yu went through another round of cleaning just in case he missed something. He even gave the little furball a little burn before stuffing the furball back into his sea of willpower. "Don't leave your aura behind. If the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion manages to gather your aura, things will be very troublesome. Their people are everywhere."

This was the main reason why the little furball still wasn't on the Heavenly Hunt Index. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had yet to collect his aura. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was simply unaware of his existence.

As for the Heavenly Hunt Index, Su Yu was unsure if it wasn't powerful enough or if it was simply damaged as it could only rely on the manual entry of auras before it could start tracking the owners of those auras.

According to Su Yu's judgment, the Heavenly Hunt Index was a terrifying item. Even when he was killing inside a sealed ancient city, the index was still capable of tracking his kills. But why would something so powerful require auras to be entered manually? Logically, it only needed the names to be entered manually, not the auras. Perhaps part of its information-gathering abilities had been damaged.

Inside the sea of willpower, the little furball asked with anticipation, "When are we robbing the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion?"

"There is no rush."

Su Yu laughed, "What's the rush? If you really want it to happen so much, you can get your dada to do it."

"Dada won't do it. Dada is a good man."

Good his ass. Su Yu was totally not buying that. This was a race of people sustaining themselves by eating characters, willpower, and seas of willpower. Then again, the standard concepts of good and evil were probably not applicable here since they were such unique existences.

"Let's go. I need to find a safe place to work on the corpse."

Su Yu flew away. Not long after, several masked individuals appeared there. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion really seemed to be everywhere. For more chapters visıt novelꜰire.net

"Some people died here."

"One of them must be a Mountainsea. Some Mountainsea undulations were felt earlier."

The masked individuals started trying to capture the auras in the area with their tools. But Soon, one of them shook their head, "The auras are gone. They must have been cleared. The victor is very cautious."

The leader of the group nodded, "Yes. We don't know who the killer was. If it was an index genius or a former index genius, our tools should be able to detect it. I wonder if it was an index genius."

A backup would be kept for every aura gathered by the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. That way, they could determine the owner of the aura each time the aura was detected.

"Things are too chaotic right now. Too many index geniuses are here. It's either one of them or Su Yu. But we have no way of verifying that."

The leader shook his head. With the total absence of aura, they couldn't verify anything. He also suspected that Su Yu was the killer. After all, Su Yu was too murderous. But too many similarly murderous individuals had arrived as of late, so it could be someone else as well.

"The higher-ups want us to find him and hand him an index copy. He still owes us a sixth-stage Mountainsea corpse of the mystic armor race."

"He still has several Sunmoon corpses on him as well. All those are excellent products to trade with. What a pity that he's currently missing."

The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion members felt very regretful. That was a big customer. Apart from the profit they could earn from trading with him, they could also profit massively from selling his information to the various races.

As of late, numerous people had been trying to purchase his information. This was a massive business waiting for them. Alas, Su Yu was too shrewd. He had long tossed his index copy away.

That was not all. The Heavenly Index Pavilion suspected that he might have even tossed some of the things he had looted from his dead opponents. Otherwise, he would have been detected by some Invincibles long ago.

In fact, that was what those Invincibles had been trying to do. They had been trying to trace the dead Sunmoons, but something was interfering with their attempts intensely.

They were unaware that the things they were trying to track had all been buried in the Skyrend Valley. The auras of the two Invincibles who had fought there in the past and the unique environment of the Plain of Desires were making it impossible for even a Pseudo Emperor to discover anything there.

Chapter 995: Comfortable Life (3)

Su Yu, who was already far away, was unaware of all that.

But he guessed that those from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion were probably nearby. Those people were everywhere. He wouldn't be surprised to see them. He even considered killing a few of them during his next encounter with them.

In truth, Su Yu wasn't the first person to think of killing Heavenly Hunt Pavilion members. They would lose a considerable number of members each year. Just not long ago, Umbra had killed a Heavenly Hunt Pavilion member as well.

The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was also not bothered about that. Since they were selling the information of others, it also wouldn't be surprising for others to kill their people.

When one needed the services of the Heavenly Hunt Pavillion, its people would be regarded with great importance. When one didn't need their services, one would kill a few of them if possible. That was completely normal.

***

After flying for a while, Su Yu was finally far away from both Ninestar and Red Clouds Islands.

He then dove into the water before searching the area. He needed to make sure there were no realm entrances here. That would be troublesome. Naturally, he transformed into water when he was underwater.

After searching the area, scanning with his Perception Jade, before finally scanning with his tribulation character, Su Yu confirmed that there were no realm entrances or other living beings in the area. Then, he started diving deeper into the sea.

After sinking tens of thousands of meters, when the pressure around him was reaching an extremely high level, he stopped. This was probably good enough. If he had the time, this would also be a good place for him to cultivate for a bit.

Su Yu took out the corpse.

Right after the corpse appeared, the surrounding water started stirring. The seawater around the corpse was pushed away. This was the corpse of an eighth-stage Sunmoon. Those from the divine skywing race had placed a lot of effort into their attempt to kill Xia Longwu.

They knew that Xia Longwu was strong, so they had deployed five high-stage Sunmoons for the operation. Including the Divine Skywing Sect master, six high-stage Sunmoons were involved. In fact, the eighth-stage Sunmoon wasn't even the strongest among them. There was also a ninth-stage Sunmoon. But in the end, Xia Longwu was perfectly fine. Meanwhile, the divine skywing race had sustained heavy losses. Xia Longwu was already strong in the past. But he wasn't supposed to be strong enough to kill so many high-stage Sunmoons without suffering much damage.

Looking at the gigantic corpse before him, Su Yu was greatly shocked.

How amazing.

Even as a corpse, its aura was still so powerful. The sharp aura crashed into Su Yu's body repeatedly, leaving numerous cuts on him. His body was already comparable to that of a Mountainsea, but it had actually been injured by the mere aura of a dead expert. Just how terrifying would this person be if he was still alive?

Back when Su Yu faced Ming He, she had been injured by two peak Sunmoon characters and numerous death spirits. That was why he had not suffered much damage facing her. But when he thought back to it, his heart started palpitating.

How dangerous.

If it wasn't for so many factors working in his favor, Ming He could have easily killed him during their previous encounter.

"So strong!"

Su Yu hurriedly activated his Sky Sundering Saber. He had to be cautious with this corpse. This was an expert killed by Xia Longwu. His saber qi still remained in the corpse. If he handled the corpse carelessly, he might end up killed by the saber qi.

The moment he activated his Sky Sundering Saber, a shining blade appeared around the corpse and swirled around him instead of attacking him.

***

At the same time.

Somewhere outside Sea of Stars.

Xia Longwu suddenly looked in the direction of Sea of Stars. How surprising. That brazen kid was really there. Since he was the person who had killed the Sunmoon, he could naturally sense the saber qi he left in the corpse. In fact, he had sensed it the moment Su Yu took the corpse out. That sensation had only grown stronger after Su Yu activated his Sky Sundering Saber.

"What is he using the eighth-stage Sunmoon corpse for?"

Even Xia Longwu was confused. Could the kid even make use of the corpse yet? An eighth-stage Sunmoon was incomparably powerful. At most, that kid was only as strong as a Mountainsea. Xia Longwu completely ignored Su Yu's feat of killing a Sunmoon before as that was due to schemes and trickeries.

Just what was the kid doing with the corpse? How weird. Whatever. He tossed the matter to the back of his mind. That was such a reckless kid. He had underestimated the kid before.

Before long, Xia Longwu entered a crumbling city. The city was in poor condition. It was not located in the Plain of Desires. Nor was it an ancient city. Rather, this was a city that had stood for hundreds of years, also a city on the verge of completely crumbling apart.

Following his senses, he entered a massive hall. Two individuals were inside the hall. One of them was Uncle Liu, and the other was Liu Wenyan who was suffering from the backlash of detonating peak Sunmoon characters.

Uncle Liu was alarmed to see someone entering the building as he had not been able to sense the arrival at all. But soon, he exhaled in relief when he saw that it was Xia Longwu. He greeted, "Greetings, Prefect Xia."

Xia Longwu looked at the old man and sighed, "You're too polite. If it wasn't for that accident, we would have been in-laws by now. Huyou is still unmarried. If the Liu Family still has a suitable descendant around, Huyou can continue waiting."

Uncle Liu said, "Forget it. Let's not waste any more of the child's time. The two of us are the only survivors of Liu Family's main branch."

Xia Longwu sighed. But soon, he looked at Uncle Liu with astonishment and asked, "Mr. Liu...did you return to the Sunmoon Realm?"

Uncle Liu smiled, "Yes. My physical injuries are nearly all healed up. But my sea of willpower is still slightly damaged. I'll have to take it slow with that. For now, I've returned to the first-stage Sunmoon Realm. At my peak, I was at the third stage. I'm not fully recovered yet."

Xia Longwu exclaimed in surprise, "Back then, your injuries were extremely heavy..."

Uncle Liu laughed, "About that...I guess I have to thank Wenyan for his keen eyes..."

Liu Wenyan spoke weakly, "Su Yu provided my uncle with a set of cultivation methods and some heavenly source qi. That cultivation method is probably related to the immortal race's Life Trigger. Forget about that. Right now, I'm in big trouble. After detonating four characters, my sea of willpower is in chaos..."

"Hmm?" Xia Longwu asked in astonishment, "Haven't you recovered from that? Even Su Yu is perfectly fine after detonating three characters."

"..."

Liu Wenyan felt like crying. What the fuck was that? Fuck! How could this fellow compare him against that brat? Yes, yes, his sea of willpower was bigger and tougher, but the damage from detonating peak Sunmoon characters was truly massive.

As for Su Yu...there must be something weird in his sea of willpower. That damn kid was still so energetic even after detonating several peak Sunmoon characters. With the strength of Su Yu's sea of willpower, he should have spent months in recuperation after that. But since that did not happen, there must be something different about his sea of willpower.

In fact, Liu Wenyan had only left alone after seeing Umbra, Ye Hongyan, and the others there. He had believed that Su Yu would return with them. But instead, the damn brat had left alone.

Also, according to Ye Hongyan, the kid was actually perfectly fine. Ye Hongyan had seen the kid escaping as a gust of wind with her own eyes. As the aunt of his teacher, Ye Hongyan had paid him a visit before returning to the Human Realm.

During the visit, she had shaken her head with disdain after seeing the shape he was in. Just look at Su Yu. The kid had detonated several Sunmoon characters as well, but the kid was perfectly fine. In fact, the kid was even able to escape without leaving any traces.

Meanwhile, the pitiful Liu Wenyan was forced to hide in Liu City and rely on the help of an Invincible to stay alive. These days, he had been resting on his sickbed.

How pitiful.

Xia Longwu was really surprised. He had thought that Liu Wenyan would be fine since Su Yu was perfectly fine. But that wasn't the case. This guy here was in terrible shape.

Meanwhile, Su Yu had gone to Sea of Stars to stir more trouble again. And the damn kid was even healthy enough to do something to the Sunmoon corpse. From Xia Longwu's senses, the kid was not that far away from Ninestar Island. The contrast between Su Yu and Liu Wenyan was truly massive.

Liu Wenyan couldn't be bothered to say much about his condition. He said, "Why are you here? Be careful lest someone notice you. Just piss off and do what you're supposed to be doing."

Xia Longwu smiled, "There's no rush. I'm here to visit you, but I also want to ask if you can finally enter the Sunmoon Realm after destroying the fifth principal's characters."

Liu Wenyan did some calculations and answered, "Half a year. I still have seven Sunmoon characters. I will keep one and crush the others for cultivation. I can probably become a Sunmoon in half a year."

Xia Longwu was surprised. He asked, "Have you really decided?"

"Yes." Liu Wenyan said, "My teacher did not pass these characters to me so that I'll remain trapped by them. I'll only keep one of them as a memento. A lot of people are waiting for me."

"Sigh. But it's a tad bit too late for this."

Xia Longwu shook his head. How great would it be if Liu Wenyan reached this realization sooner?

Liu Wenyan rolled his eyes, "After becoming a Sunmoon, I can fully unleash the power of the one remaining character from my teacher. That will allow me to fight ninth-stage Sunmoons from the single character faction. That is the same level I could have reached by now if I had cultivated without my teacher's characters holding me back. So how is this late?"

This perfect was asking for too much from him.

"A ninth-stage Sunmoon of the single character faction..." Xia Longwu shook his head, "You're not Zhou Polong. You're still far from the strongest among them. You can deal with regular Sunmoons, but not the likes of Zhou Polong..."

Piss off.

This guy's standards were too high. Liu Wenyan couldn't be bothered to continue talking about this. He asked, "Do you have any news about Su Yu?"

"No. I haven't been paying close attention to him." Xia Longwu said, "But don't worry. He's doing far better than you. Not long ago, he took out the divine skywing Sunmoon I killed back then. I don't know what he's doing, but I do know he's very healthy right now."

The kid wouldn't be messing with the corpse if he wasn't healthy enough. Then, Xia Longwu looked at Liu Wenyan with pity. This guy should stop worrying about others. That kid was doing much better than this guy.

Liu Wenyan felt very helpless.

Holy shit!

So this was how it felt to be compared to a monster? Just what was wrong with the kid's sea of willpower? How was the kid perfectly fine after detonating three characters? There was also the fact that the kid had somehow managed to subdue those Sunmoon characters. How terrifying.

Xia Longwu said, "Just focus on recuperating. I have more things to do. Half a year? Fine. I'll wait for you."

"Alright." Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel{f}ire.net

Then, Xia Longwu vanished with a flicker.

Uncle Liu wasn't even able to sense Xia Longwu's departure. He exclaimed, "Truly the number one expert below the Invincible Realm..."

"That title belongs to my teacher."

"..."

Uncle Liu was left speechless. Sure, sure. Whatever. His nephew was getting all protective out of nowhere.

Chapter 996: Source Qi Nine Transformations, Underwater Topsoil (1)

Intense waves of blood aura were undulating somewhere in the Sea of Stars. The blood of an eighth-stage Sunmoon divine was incredibly powerful. Fortunately, Xia Longwu's saber qi was keeping the blood in check. Otherwise, Su Yu would need to put a lot more effort into extracting the blood from the corpse.

"How terrifying. Prefect Xia is scarily strong."

Su Yu was very impressed. Just how strong was Xia Longwu? From what he could see, this eighth-stage Sunmoon seemed to have been killed with a single strike. He also noted that the fatal wound on the Sunmoon's neck was probably much larger previously.

But subsequently, the wound had actually closed by itself. Nevertheless, the process was left incomplete due to the presence of Xia Longwu's saber qi, leaving a smaller wound on the neck.

If it wasn't for Xia Longwu's saber qi, this corpse would eventually return to pristine condition. After all, the corpse of a Sunmoon was powerful enough to do this. This was the terrifying power of a Sunmoon. Or to be precise, this was the terrifying power of an eighth-stage Sunmoon from the divine race.

A Sunmoon was capable of regrowing their body from a drop of blood. But the premise for that was the continued existence of the sea of willpower. Otherwise, the body could regrow, but it would only be an empty shell. And Xia Longwu's saber had directly destroyed the sea of willpower of this Sunmoon.

Carefully, Su Yu stored the blood he extracted in the best jade bottles he had. Each drop was stored in a separate bottle. He even formed a shadow barrier around each bottle with his deceit character to prevent the aura of the blood essence from leaking.

Before long, he was done extracting nine drops of blood essence. The pressure emanated by the corpse had weakened considerably. But there was one problem he had to deal with. The saber qi.

The saber qi had to be removed or it would be too hard for him to explain it when selling the corpse. Anyone would be able to see that this was someone who had died to the Sky Sundering Saber. Was he supposed to convince them that the Sky Sundering Saber existed back then as well? What nonsense was that?

"The saber qi is too strong."

Su Yu felt very helpless. He had to deal with it. He started hesitating. His cultivation of the Sky Sundering Saber was quite deep as well. Would he be able to absorb Xia Longwu's saber qi?

"I guess I can try. After all, I did manage to absorb some of Great Xia King's saber qi previously."

With his Sky Sundering Saber active, he started carefully absorbing the saber qi. With a sudden pop, bloody scars appeared on his skin while his internal organs shook violently. All 144 of his Sky Sundering Saber acupoints activated as he absorbed and processed the saber qi in the corpse.

While absorbing the saber qi, he started tempering his body with it. This was an excellent chance to forge his body. He could also strengthen his Sky Sundering Saber in the process. But even after spending more than ten minutes, he had only managed to deal with a single strand of saber qi. Looking at the remaining saber qi, he felt both joy and helplessness.

The joy came from the fact that he could continue strengthening his body. The helplessness came from the realization that a single strand of Xia Longwu's saber qi could kill him without much trouble.

Fuck!

The gap between them was still too big. The saber qi here had first been weakened by its clash with an eighth-stage Sunmoon before being left to its own devices for more than one year. Even so, it was still so powerful.

Was Prefect Xia really a ninth-stage Sunmoon? Su Yu couldn't help but wonder if that was really the case. Could a ninth-stage Sunmoon be so strong?

That was enlightening. A single strand of saber qi had nearly destroyed his body. One ought to know that his body possessed the strength of about thirty thousand acupoints. How powerful would a swing of Prefect Xia's saber be? It would be unimaginable. In any case, it was unimaginable for Su Yu.

Time passed as he continued absorbing the saber qi and strengthening himself. Gradually, an odd expression appeared on his face. The source qi in the 144 Sky Sundering Saber acupoints in his body had suddenly assumed the shape of a saber.

"What is this?"

Wasn't source qi supposed to be formless? His expression became more and more odd. The saber source qi worked like a seed. With a slight thought from him, a saber attack was released, slicing through the water in front of him and creating a massive opening between the parted water.

"Hmm?"

Su Yu looked surprised. His attack seemed to have grown much stronger than before. He looked at his acupoints again. Sure enough, the source qi in the 144 acupoints had taken the form of a saber.

Suddenly, he thought of something and took out a book. This was the Sky Sundering Saber manual given to him by Marquis Xia back then. And this was a manual written personally by Xia Longwu.

He flipped through the pages, trying to find an explanation for this. What the hell was happening? Abruptly, his vision blurred as he found himself once again brought into the world of a willpower text. One ought to know that he had obtained this manual a long time ago. The willpower on the manual should have dissipated by now. Furthermore, as he grew in strength, the weak willpower text had eventually lost the ability to host his willpower.

"Cloudbreach already?"

The moment Su Yu was brought into the willpower text, Xia Longwu appeared before him. That was a willpower projection. The actual Xia Longwu was not here.

"The saber achieves its form. Breach the clouds, undergo nine transformations..."

Su Yu was greatly surprised. This was actually the second part of the cultivation method. Or to be precise, this was the nine transformation method of the Sky Sundering Saber.

The Sky Sundering Saber he learned did not contain a body forging method. He had thought that the Xia Family had simply not intended to teach him more. But now, he reached a different conclusion. Perhaps the Xia Family had simply not bothered since their original body forging method was not particularly powerful.

Instead, the transformation method was left in this manual. Due to the transformation of his source qi, the manual had actually judged that he was a Cloudbreach. But this wasn't surprising. Su Yu's body was simply far stronger than that of a regular Skysoar. He had yet to think about his nine transformations because he believed that he was still very far away from that.

But in truth, with twenty-eight forgings, his body was far stronger than even someone who had completed thirty-six forgings. And after absorbing some of Xia Longwu's saber qi, even his source qi was starting to change. This was the start of the nine transformations. It was understandable why the manual would misunderstand that he was already a Cloudbreach and ready to learn the nine transformations. Fresh chapters posted on novel·fire·net

Su Yu's eyes sparkled. So...he could start his nine transformations in advance?

***

At the same time, Xia Longwu, who had just left Liu City, blanked out.

Once again, he looked toward the Sea of Stars. What the hell was happening? Cloudbreach already? Was it physical cultivation? How was it possible for someone to grow so fast?

That brat would aim to complete at least thirty-six body forgings, right? How long had it been? It wouldn't be surprising for the kid's willpower to grow fast. After all, the kid had opened a lot of apertures.

But physical cultivation required one to temper one's body bit by bit. And with how strong Su Yu's body was, his body forging speed would absolutely not be so fast. Even if the kid was given unlimited blood essence of divines and devils, it had only been about five months since the kid reached the Skysoar Realm in physical cultivation. Had the kid completed all his body forgings?

Xia Longwu frowned. Even if the kid was incredibly gifted and given unlimited resources to complete a forging every ten days, the kid wouldn't have been able to complete more than fifteen body forgings in five months, right? What nonsense was this?

"Did he receive a massive reward from the Sunmoon he killed, allowing him to complete his body forging in advance? Is he stopping at thirty-six body forgings?"

Xia Longwu was unsure. It was slightly possible for the kid to complete his forging so fast if it was thirty-six forgings. But it was also quite unlikely. Did the kid stop at twenty-seven forgings?

But after thinking about it, Xia Longwu blanked out again. A different possibility appeared in his mind. Did the kid... enter the transformation stage in advance accidentally after absorbing his saber qi?

That was possible. After all, the kid had taken the corpse out earlier. But...did the kid take the corpse out just to absorb his saber qi? Had the kid gone mad?

Xia Longwu knew very well how powerful his saber qi was. Any carelessness could result in the destruction of the kid's body.

"Yes, we are both Sky Sundering Saber cultivators. But my Sky Sundering Saber is different than your Sky Sundering Saber."

Xia Longwu was quite dumbfounded. Was the kid crazy? For the sake of strength, the kid was taking all sorts of risks. Nothing seemed too dangerous for the kid anymore.

Whatever. So be it. Xia Longwu was too busy to do anything about the kid. If the kid wanted to grow, he had to rely on himself. He wouldn't be able to grow into an expert if he was cared for like a baby.

***

Xia Longwu decided to leave Su Yu to his own devices.

As for Su Yu, his thoughts were far less complicated.

He was busy studying the Xia Family's nine transformation method. The so-called nine transformations was something that would occur when one's body and acupoints were strong enough to change the very nature of one's source qi. Each transformation would further increase the might of one's source qi.

For example, if the damage the source qi could do was valued at 1 before transformation, the value might increase to 1.1 after a single transformation. Or perhaps it could reach 1.2, or even 1.5.

Generally, each transformation would increase the source qi's strength by about ten percent. Of course, there were also people who would receive a pitifully low amount of growth after each transformation.

For example, someone with only thirty-six acupoints, nine body forgings, and the weakest of cultivation methods. It wouldn't be surprising to see someone like that gaining only five percent of strength per transformation after stepping into the Cloudbreach Realm.

Su Yu couldn't even be bothered to consider the strength of such Cloudbreaches. Why? Because they were simply not strong. But he still thought about it out of curiosity. Through his calculation, he noted that a cultivator with thirty-six acupoints would only have the strength of around fifty or sixty acupoints at the ninth-stage Infinite Strength Realm.

After undergoing nine body forgings to become a ninth-stage Skysoar, someone like that would only have the strength of about 120 acupoints. Sure, as a Skysoar, one would probably be able to gain additional sources of strength. Thus, Su Yu decided to be kind and assume that this person had the strength of 150 acupoints.

After reaching the Cloudbreach Realm, that person would receive a boost of around five percent per transformation. And after nine transformations...wow. That was so pitiful.

Someone like that would only have the strength of around two hundred acupoints as a ninth-stage Cloudbreach.

Su Yu wondered if there was really such a weak Cloudbreach in existence. That was so weak it was ridiculous. Of course, his calculation wasn't too accurate. He had neglected the boost one would receive after each breakthrough. But that was because he was so strong that the boost seemed negligible for him.

If there was really such a Cloudbreach in existence, that Cloudbreach would more likely to have the strength of around three to five hundred acupoints. Theoretically, such a ninth-stage Cloudbreach could exist.

But Su Yu did not think that it was very likely for someone like that to actually exist. Could someone cultivating the weakest of cultivation methods at each stage of cultivation even reach the Cloudbreach Realm?

If someone was capable of reaching the Cloudbreach Realm even with the worst cultivation methods available, that would only mean that this person was decently talented. In such a situation, why wouldn't this person switch to a better cultivation method?

Even his old man was starting to open more acupoints. His old man was also in the process of switching to a different body forging method. Otherwise, he would remain a warrior with only thirty-six acupoints.

"Such a person probably doesn't exist, right?"

Su Yu was feeling quite doubtful. For example, in the human realm, those with thirty-six acupoints would try to open more acupoints or pick a cultivation method with eighteen body forgings after reaching a certain level in cultivation.

In any case, he had never seen a ninth-stage Cloudbreach with only the strength of a few hundred acupoints.

Soon, Su Yu tossed the matter to the back of his mind. He reminded himself to never kill someone like that if he did encounter one. That was such a unique existence. He should keep such existence around and look at them in admiration instead. He started thinking about the XIa Family's nine transformation method again.

The nine transformations of source qi usually required the assistance of some external items to aid with the process. For example, the fruits from the ancient dragonblood tree could serve as this item. Or it could be any other treasure. Essentially, the process of nine transformations was the same as the process of gestation and rebirth.

With Xia Longwu's saber qi as the aide, Su Yu's source qi had entered the gestation process. It had yet to undergo rebirth. The saber-shaped source qi in his 144 acupoints could still be considered seeds.

After the gestation was completed, the seeds would break apart as the source qi returned to its original form. But it would improve greatly in quality. All geniuses would use a powerful item as the base for each transformation.

Su Yu had accidentally started the process with Xia Longwu's saber qi. Not everyone was capable of using Xia Longwu's saber qi as the base. For example, if Xia Huyou tried doing the same upon reaching the first-stage Cloudbreach Realm, his entire body would have been sliced apart before he could even finish absorbing the saber qi. Just remember the damage Su Yu's body suffered despite having the strength of a third-stage Mountainsea.

The saber qi wouldn't leave someone completely unharmed just because one cultivated the same method. Someone like that would face a weakened saber qi instead of receiving full immunity.

If not for the fact that Su Yu was facing a weakened saber qi, he would probably have a hard time withstanding it even with a body at the strength of a Sunmoon.

"In that case, Perfect Xia's saber qi is acting as the base for my first transformation." Su Yu muttered, "This must be a powerful base, right?"

That was what he believed. Xia Longwu was such a powerful person. How would his saber qi be a weak base? After completing the transformation, would his 144 acupoints grow much stronger than before?