Chapter 1051: Principal Niu Arrives (3)
When Qin Hao saw Niu Baidao, he bowed slightly and greeted, "Principal Niu."
Niu Baidao was from the same generation of Qin Hao's father. It was natural for Qin Hao to be deferential in front of such a senior. There were still some surviving Sunmoons from the same generation, but most were dying from their old injuries or in constant seclusion. Very few of them were still active. And Niu Baidao was the most active Sunmoon from that generation. He could constantly be seen moving everywhere saving beautiful women in trouble.
Qin Hao greeted Ye Hongyan as well, "Greetings, General Ye."
He did not dare to call her Madam Niu. That might offend her.
Niu Baidao merely smiled. Beside them, Zhu Guangshen hurriedly greeted as well, "Teacher Niu, you've arrived as well..."
Niu Baidao had been a teacher of many people. One could say that he was the teacher of almost every single descendant of Great Ming King. It wasn't surprising for Zhu Guangshen to address him as a teacher.
"Yeah." Niu Baidao smiled, "I'm here to see how Su Yu is doing."
His tone turned helpless as he continued, "He promised that he's only leaving Great Ming for a short trip. But what is this? He has gone on a trip he can never return from. By the way, did any of you see him before leaving?"
"No." Qin Hao sighed, "He's probably still alive, but he has definitely converted into a resident. What a pity."
"There's nothing pitiful about it." Niu Baidao said, "Every single genius needs to undergo various tribulations and trials. The start might be difficult, but that will only ensure smooth progress in the future. The more you suffer today, the less you will suffer in the future. After suffering all these difficulties, Su Yu will soar to the high heavens with a single leap as long as he manages to get through this crisis. I need to see that kid. At this rate, those Invincibles will show up again. He won't be able to get too many people killed. It's also pointless to get those people killed."
While they were moving, Qin Hao asked, "Is there really no way for him to kill them?"
"No. At the very least, he won't be able to kill all of them." Niu Baidao shook his head, "The ancient city can stump those Invincibles for a short time, but not forever. Before long, they will return. If that happens, things will become even more troublesome. They won't have the courage to enter the city."
Niu Baidao continued, "Yes. They will be a lot more cautious and stay outside. But they can still do a lot of things without entering."
Qin Hao nodded. They started heading toward Ninestar Island. Or to be precise, they started heading toward where Ninestar Island used to be. With their cultivation, it didn't take long for them to reach the lone floating city.
Some experts were gathered near the city gates. All those experts looked toward the newcomers.
When they saw Niu Baidao, one of them coldly said, "Niu Baidao, so you're still alive."
"Haha. That's all thanks to my luck!" Niu Baidao cupped his fists as he offered his greeting, "I know you. Back then, I visited the Divine Realm with some Invincibles. We killed your entire family. Wow, it must have been hard for you to survive until now..."
Niu Baidao had a friendly smile, but his words were enough to drive the Sunmoon who had spoken to him mad. He was speaking the truth. Back then, he had indeed followed the prefecture founders to the Divine and Devil Realms and killed numerous people.
This Sunmoon naturally still remembered Niu Baidao. Among the human race, Niu Baidao had an extremely high seniority. That was also why he rarely entered the Allheaven Battlefield. He simply had way too many enemies.
Including Niu Baidao himself, there were six late-stage Sunmoons in their group. Thus, he wasn't too worried about these people. The divines and devils had lost a few experts previously while some of their experts were still trapped in the city.
Late-stage Sunmoons were rather rare. At the moment, only two late-stage divine Sunmoons had arrived. But both of them were quite strong. One was a ninth-stage Sunmoon while the other was an eighth-stage Sunmoon. The person who had spoken to Niu Baidao was not a late-stage Sunmoon.
Niu Baidao said, "Everyone, amiability breeds wealth. Don't look at me with hostility. I'm here to act as a middleman, not as a killer. I'm quite close to Su Yu. He will listen to me and release those people. Don't think of creating trouble for me. That might cause those geniuses to die instead. You will probably be punished upon returning if that happens, right?"
A dragon said, "You humans are enemies with the divines and devils. But the grandson of our grand elder is still trapped there. And not long ago, Su Yu caused the death of Long Dou. Is the human race trying to make an enemy out of the dragon race?"
"..."
Niu Baidao rolled his eyes and said, "Little Dragon, stop roaring at me. Su Yu is not a part of the human race anymore. Just treat him as a one-man race. If he can be considered human, wouldn't your act of attacking him together the same as a provocation toward the human race? The dragon race is still unqualified to become our enemy. Since we did nothing when you guys tried to kill him, you guys should go after him for what he did, not us."
Niu Baidao continued, "Also, don't waste your time talking about making an enemy out of anyone. Let me be frank. You guys are only so cocky because you're joining hands. Can the dragon race produce even thirty Invincibles alone? If the human race decides to invade your Dragon Realm and eliminate your nest, what can you do?"
"So don't waste my time with those pointless words. Let's talk properly instead of throwing threats around. If you really wish to become enemies with humanity, prepare to lose at least half your Invincibles. Stop being dumb. Just look at how silent the divines and devils are. Are you offering to be their vanguard? By the way, my prefect's mount is also from the golden dragon race. Strictly speaking, we're on the same side!"
"..."
Those words only served to further anger the dragon. He said, "Niu Baidao! Tell Zhu Tiandao to return the prince to us!"
"No, please don't! Your leader has plenty of children. He has at least thirty children. Our perfect is such an important person. With his status, he only asks for a single dragon to serve as his mount. Let me tell you that the little dragon is living a good life with us. I reckon he will refuse to go back even if he's given the offer."
Yes. Zhu Tiandao's mount was actually a descendant of the leader of the golden dragons. Of course, that golden dragon was not the first generation descendant of the golden dragon leader. Rather, he was the grandson of the leader. He was quite strong as well. He had already reached the Sunmoon Realm.
According to Zhu Tiandao, he was the prefect and the son of an Invincible. A person of his status needed to look good when traveling. Thus, only the descendant of an Invincible was worthy of serving as his mount.
Finally, Niu Baidao moved on from the topic, "If we keep wasting time here, those inside the city will probably start dying to the death qi. Everyone here needs to serve as witness. The dragons are trying to delay the negotiation to get the geniuses from your races killed. Look at how hard he's trying to waste my time."
"..."
The dragon instantly shut his mouth. In a way, he was indeed delaying the negotiation.
With a friendly smile, Niu Baidao looked at a faceless expert standing further away from the group. He said, "Has the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion established contact with Su Yu?"
"No."
"That's not even surprising. You only have yourself to blame for your terrible reputation. How can he trust you after you sold his location once?" Niu Baidao said, "Get your member inside the city to tell him that I'm here. I wish to have a talk with him. How about this? Just leave an index copy at the center of the city. Then, get everyone to retreat to the gates. There, actively release their auras to leak their whereabouts to him. That way, he will not suspect that this is yet another trap by you guys."
"..."
The crowd merely stared at him coldly.
Niu Baidao laughed, "So are we doing this or not? If not, I'll be taking my leave. I know you guys are still waiting for the Invincibles to come. But let me remind you that Great Xia King and Great Ming King are still waiting nearby. The moment your Invincibles arrive, our Invincibles will rush over and go wild before fleeing again." For origınal chapters go to novｅlfire.net
Their expressions sank. This was what they feared most. If that happened, everyone in the city would die. The human Invincibles didn't even need to kill anyone. They only needed to attack the city to cause Invincible death spirits to appear. When that happened, there was no guarantee that the geniuses would be able to escape even if they were waiting near the gates.
The safest option was naturally to wait for the city to be unsealed by itself. That way, they would be able to leave without any issues.
A peak Sunmoon stepped forth. This was a devil from the Dao Affirmation Ranking. He coldly said, "Follow his arrangement for now. Get the people inside to gather near the gates. I'm curious. What does Su Yu want exactly?"
Niu Baidao laughed, "What else can Su Yu ask for? He's already a living dead. He will die sooner or later. He will probably ask for a few thousand strands of heavenearth profound light, ten thousand drops of Sunmoon blood essence, a few drops of Invincible blood essence, a few hundred heaven weapons, some divine weapons..."
"..."
A suffocating silence descended.
Suddenly, Niu Baidao laughed, "That was a joke. Don't mind me. I'm not Su Yu. That won't happen."
Inwardly, he was grumbling that there was no way Su Yu would release those people without a hefty ransom.
Chapter 1052: I Can Still Do Something (1)
Inside the city.
White One's voice rang out again, "Su Yu, Principal Niu Baidao is right outside the city. He wishes to have a talk with you. All of us will retreat to the gates and release our auras actively. An index copy will be left behind for you. You can communicate directly with Principal Niu Baidao."
Su Yu did not say anything.
The others did not mind his silence. Before long, one expert after another started heading toward the gates. They were able to easily block off the death spirits they encountered on the way. An index copy was left in the first ring, awaiting Su Yu's collection.
Inside an ancient building.
Su Yu frowned. Was Principal Niu really here? What did Old Niu want to talk about? Su Yu guessed that Old Niu was probably going to persuade him to release those people. He knew what the principal was thinking. Killing all these people wouldn't help him in any way. He would only provoke bigger trouble for himself.
But he did not fear trouble. Of course, it would be extremely difficult to get all these people killed. The Invincibles might even reappear before he could do so. Even so, he wasn't willing to let them go without killing at least a few of them.
At this moment, he had completed his forty-seventh body forging. His physical strength was reaching 160,000 acupoints. This was a terrifying level of strength. It was already beyond the strength of a regular seventh-stage Mountainsea. At the weakest, a seventh-stage Mountainsea would have the strength of 100,000 acupoints.
But Su Yu was confident he could kill even an above average seventh-stage Mountainsea. This naturally did not include the top geniuses of the major races. It was pointless to measure the strength of geniuses through their cultivation levels.
His willpower had reached the seventh-stage Cloudbreach Realm. He did not further improve his willpower cultivation as that would require him to use the rest of the Invincible notes. He only had seven left, so he had to be thrifty with them.
"Principal Niu..."
Su Yu started thinking. Should he talk to Principal Niu? Of course, he was not about to collect the index copy himself. Just because those people were waiting near the gates did not mean that nobody else was hiding in the city.
For example, a certain injured mayor had been remaining silent. And the mayor's residence wasn't even that far away. The moment he caught the mayor's attention, there was a chance that the mayor would betray his location to the others. Fınd the newest release on novel fire.net
At that point, they only needed a single seventh-stage Sunmoon to wait outside his building. He would not be able to do anything to stop the city from unsealing itself. All those people would be able to leave easily.
Su Yu also didn't trust the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. They could still track him through the index copy. They had completely lost his trust after they sold his location once. But it wasn't like he had no way to deal with their tracking. He could create clones. Sure, he wasn't able to create sophisticated clones, but what he knew was sufficient for now.
The clone could even carry one of his characters. That would increase his control over the clone. As for the option of having a death spirit use the index copy on his behalf, that was not feasible. These death spirits were too dumb. Apart from blankly sending beams of death qi at others, they weren't capable of anything.
"They are probably keeping a close watch over the inner ring even now."
That was not an issue for Su Yu.
He summoned a death spirit over with his medallion. Then, he gave a drop of his blood to the death spirit. Noticing the death qi mixed amid his blood, he sighed. The death spirit left with the drop of blood.
Before long, a death spirit appeared at the center of the city.
Main city gate.
Some people were observing the inner ring with glowing eyes while some were observing with unique tools. It was impossible for them to leave the inner ring completely unsupervised. If they could discover Su Yu in advance, why bother negotiating?
They could simply keep him trapped in a building. They could even keep him trapped forever by having experts keeping watch in turns. It was natural for these experts and geniuses to bear a grudge toward him after suffering so much because of him.
When they noticed the death spirit, one of them muttered, "Is that Su Yu disguised as a death spirit? Since he has such an ability, perhaps he's really brazen enough to do this..."
Right after those words were said, the death spirit tossed a drop of blood out. The blood bloomed and transformed into a Su Yu with a blank expression. Then, a character revealed itself.
This was the process of creating a character clone. Naturally, this was a simpler version that was different than the character clones of Sunmoons and Invincibles. The character fused into the clone's body. Before long, traces of intelligence gleamed in the eyes of the clone. This clone had basically transformed into a puppet.
Near the gate, someone said, "He's using a clone. His blood and character can be found in the clone. If we manage to capture the clone..."
They might be able to track Su Yu through the clone. Should they do it?
Seemingly knowing that he was under observation, the clone smiled and said, "Don't try anything stupid. My main body isn't here. Instead, I'm hiding somewhere with a bunch of peak Mountainsea death spirits. If you wish to die, I'll gladly oblige."
He spoke softly, but his voice could be clearly heard by those near the gates since they were all spying on him. Right after those words were said, the Sunmoons who were starting to get impatient cursed and stopped talking.
The gates were quite far from the center of the city. Even a Sunmoon would need a little bit of time to cover that distance. If Su Yu decided to really kill a bunch of peak Mountainsea death spirits, they would be in quite a lot of trouble.
The clone picked up the copy index. After thinking for a bit, he wrote on it, "If you want me to stop, sure. I only need all Sunmoons to self-detonate..."
A row of words appeared.
"That's impossible. Su Yu, stop dreaming. Su Yu, there is still hope of survival for you. There is even hope for you to reverse your fate. But if you remain stubborn, the myriad races will deploy a large number of Sunmoons in the city. It is only a matter of time before they locate you and trap you inside your building for life."
Su Yu was surprised. Who was this? Was it the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion?
A new row of words appeared, "The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion hereby offers a common communication channel for everyone. Each race may assign one individual to join this channel. The joining fee is one drop of Sunmoon blood essence per person."
"..."
Su Yu blanked out slightly before cursing madly inwardly. Then, a large empty screen appeared on the copy index. However, the number of participants was not shown. Inside the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, the elders were all greatly excited. Once again, they had earned a massive profit. A lot of races had stealthily joined the channel.
Only one participant was allowed per race. From the backend, the elders could clearly see how over seventy races had joined instantly. They had announced that only one participant per race was allowed, but they couldn't be bothered to actually enforce it. One of the elders asked, "More people are asking to join. Do we allow them?"
"Yes. But inform them that they will need to get through the verification process before they're granted permission to write anything. We need to maintain order during the negotiation."
Before long, the number of participants surpassed three hundred. Clearly, everyone was very interested in the negotiation.
An elder said, "Put a special tag on those with the permission to participate in the negotiation. For example, the representative of the devil race can be given the devil tag, the representative of the divine race can be assigned the divine tag, and so on. As for those without permission to write anything, leave them untagged."
"Yes."
"..."
The elders were in a great mood. They were essentially offering a live broadcast of the negotiation between Su Yu and the various races. As for whether Su Yu and the negotiating races would be pleased to learn about this or not, that did not matter to the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.
***
Meanwhile, Su Yu's expression was changing.
Fuck!
Again!
The damn Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was here to milk him again! Even with only one participant per race, there would be at least several hundred participants. So the damn Heavenly Hunt Pavilion would be the ultimate winner from all this?
Suddenly, Su Yu's clone disappeared, leaving the copy index on the ground. On the index were the following words: "The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion needs to pay me five hundred drops of Sunmoon blood essence first before I agree to proceed with the negotiation."
He was gone. Even the character had vanished into thin air at the same moment.
For a moment, the entire Myriad Realms sank into silence.
The main character had decided to not negotiate. In short, everyone had purchased the tickets for the live broadcast when the main character decided to end the broadcast.
Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.
The expressions of the elders changed drastically. Holy shit! They had completely forgotten about the nature of Su Yu. That was one petty bastard. This was definitely something he could pull off.
What were they supposed to do now? They had already received the payment of all those people. Even at that moment, numerous masked individuals were still collecting payment everywhere. New participants were still joining at every moment.
Suddenly, someone wrote furiously: "Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, are you courting death?"
"Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, if the Sunmoons and genius of my race die because of your greed, we will not spare you!"
"For every Sunmoon my race loses, we will kill ten Sunmoons of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion!"
"..."
The ones with the permission to write started complaining furiously. The ones without the permission to write started messaging the Heavenly Hunt Pavillion for refunds. Since the broadcast was not happening, the Heavenly Hunt Pavillion better refund them or prepare for endless troubles.
The elders looked at each other in dismay. Their joy from earning a large profit had yet to fade but the trouble was already knocking?
One of them cursed, "It's not like Su Yu is losing anything. Why is he doing this?"
He wouldn't lose anything! The negotiation was going to proceed either way. Why care about all the spectators? Just pretend they weren't around!
"We made a blunder. We shouldn't have allowed the others to participate as spectators..."
"Yeah. Which idiot made it clear that every race can join? We should have let them join silently instead."
"..."
The elders were feeling quite gloomy. Which idiot decided it was a good idea to state everything clearly? Look at the trouble they were in now. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was powerful and mysterious. But they also had numerous branches everywhere. It would still be a considerable loss to lose all those branches.
If the first thing the myriad race experts did after seeing them in the future was attacking them, they would no longer be able to continue doing business.
"What should we do now?"
"What else can we do? Refunding is not an alternative. Get Su Yu to rejoin the negotiation. We don't have five hundred drops of Sunmoon blood essence to offer him. Tell White One to offer him ten heavenly source fruits..."
Inside the city, White One started shouting again.
Nobody replied.
The various races were still raging. The damn Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had scammed them. Su Yu had never intended to negotiate.
As for the divines and devils outside the city, they all had terrible expressions. They were not the only ones paying attention to this. Some divine and devil experts were paying close attention as well. In fact, even Invincibles were secretly paying attention to the negotiation.
Chapter 1053: I Can Still Do Something (2)
Before long, one Heavenly Hunt Pavilion member after another started yelling in dismay, "Elders, things are getting bad. Divine King Hao said that if Zhan Wushuang dies from this, he will kill a hundred Heavenly Hunt Pavilion Sunmoons as the offering for Zhan Wushuang..."
"Dao King and Xuan King are warning us that if Dao Cheng and Xuan Wuji die from this, they will make reprisals on us..."
"Three dragon kings are starting to pick fights with us..."
"The five ancestors of the five elemental race are messaging us..."
The elders looked at each other in dismay yet again. The negotiation had yet to even start. For the sake of earning money, they had somehow gotten themselves in huge trouble.
Holy shit!
They were feeling immense regret.
They greatly regretted making that extra remark earlier. If they hadn't, Su Yu wouldn't have known about the profit they were making off the negotiation.
Great. Ten heavenly source fruits were clearly not enough to tempt Su Yu.
Inside an ancient building.
Su Yu snorted coldly. Heavenly Hunt Pavilion...this damn organization had earned a lot off him. They sure were good at doing business. Even now, they were still trying to profit off him. One drop of Sunmoon blood essence per participant?
That was too profitable.
Su Yu wasn't bothered about the fact that the myriad races were being made to pay. He was bothered about the fact that he was not given a share of the profit. That was his biggest issue.
He was the core of this whole thing. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was merely an intermediary for the negotiation. Why were they getting so cocky? How dare they forget about his share of profit?
He would be more than happy to profit together with them. But since he was not getting a share, he couldn't be bothered to entertain them.
Soon, White One's voice rang out again, "Su Yu, there was a misunderstanding. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion has to exhaust a large amount of energy connecting the various parties involved in the negotiation. We have no choice but to accept the fee to cover the cost..."
It was only natural that a large amount of energy was required for what they were doing. That was something Su Yu could believe.
But it was complete nonsense for the cost to be as high as a drop of Sunmoon blood essence per person. He had been in communication with the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion numerous times. Had the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion actually spent hundreds of drops of Sunmoon blood essence just communicating with him alone? There was no way that was true.
A short while later, White One spoke again, "Even if we wish to give you the Sunmoon blood essence now, we don't have any way of bringing it into the city. If we give it to Principal Niu, you won't find out if you refuse to keep an index copy on you. What about this? I'll leave fifty strands of heavenearth profound light beside the index copy..."
Su Yu remained silent.
After some time, perhaps the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was forced to compromise from the massive pressure on them. White One said, "A hundred strands. That's the limit of what we can offer. There really aren't that many participants."
Su Yu was totally not buying that. But that was quite a decent offer. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was indeed rich.
He waited a while longer. Finally, White One spoke again, "Two hundred strands. That's really the highest we can go."
A short while later, Su Yu's clone reappeared. After picking up the index copy, he wrote on it, "Is Principal Niu here?"
"Yes."
"How many moles are there on Cui Lang's face?"
"..."
Yet another suffocating silence descended. That was clearly a question to verify Principal Niu's identity. But...what manner of a question was that?
Outside the city.
Niu Baidao was stunned as well. After a while, he replied with a troubled expression, "I don't remember. I don't think I've ever noticed that."
"How many students are there in the academy?"
"Uhm...too many. Including those from the previous batches who have yet to graduate, we have 31,890 students."
"How many cubs did Big Ball give birth to?"
"Three!"
"How many beds are there on Heart Paradise Island?"
"One!"
"..."
After asking dozens of questions, Su Yu was finally sure this was the principal. He was also out of questions. If he wanted to keep asking, he would have to ask really private questions like the color of Principal Niu's underpants and such.
The myriad race experts were all left speechless. That was such a boring section of the broadcast.
"Principal Niu, I'll ask you a question each time you say anything. That way, we can prevent someone from taking over your role halfway through the negotiation. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion is definitely capable of that. Also, to prevent the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion from distorting my words or altering what I'm trying to say, we'll communicate in a secret code. Do you have the Long Life Art I gave you? We will use that as the basis for our secret code."
He hurriedly added, "If the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion dares to alter my current statement in any way, this negotiation will end immediately. I will find out while communicating with Principal Niu through the secret code."
"..."
This was driving the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion members crazy. Damn it! That damn fellow sure was thorough in his considerations. Not even they had considered that option, yet the damn kid had actually thought of it. Sure enough, the kid was a natural swindler. They couldn't help but admit that this...had been rather inspiring for them.
Of course, that also further increased the vigilance of the myriad races toward the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. They were reminded that unless absolutely necessary, they shouldn't communicate through the Heavenly Hunt Index. There was a possibility that the Heavenly Hunt Index might alter the contents of their messages to mess with their plans.
Suddenly, Su Yu cursed, "What is the meaning of this, devils? Ten strands of heavenearth profound light for Mo Duona? Is Mo Duona's life so cheap?"
"..."
Silence descended.
What was going on?
The devil representative asked, "Su Yu, what are you talking about?"
"Huh? Thirty strands?"
"..."
The reply was completely nonsensical. Seeing that, the devil representative questioned furiously, "Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, what is the meaning of this?"
"..."
Meanwhile, the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion elders were in total confusion. One of them said, "What's happening? Investigate!"
The masked individuals started their investigation. Moments later, one of them reported, "Elder, no issues detected. This shouldn't be happening. This is a real-time communication channel..."
One of the elders realized something. "He's doing this deliberately! He's stirring trouble to make the myriad races believe that we're tampering with the conversation..."
At this moment, Su Yu sent a new message, "Oh, that was a test to see if the messages are going through smoothly. Alright. I'm done checking. Everything is fine."
"..."
The elders were on the verge of emotional collapse. One of them warned, "Su Yu, stop playing these petty tricks. With Heavenly Hunt Pavilion's prestige on the line, I promise that we will keep the communication active at all times without any tampering. If we mess with the negotiation in any way, may Heavenly Hunt Pavilion meet instant destruction."
He couldn't take it anymore. This human was too cautious. More importantly, after this little episode, the myriad races would grow even more wary of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. Of course, the myriad races had always been hesitant to use the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion's communication channel unless it was absolutely necessary.
But that did not mean that they would completely avoid using the Heavenly Hunt Index's communication channel. Their current situation was one such example. When they were trapped in locations where talisman communication was not possible, they would have to rely on the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.
The communication channel of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion would only stop working on extremely rare occasions. And the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had always charged an extravagant price for these services.
After what Su Yu did here, even this business of theirs might be adversely affected.
***
Su Yu smiled. He wasn't too concerned.
Prestige? That was worth nothing.
"Hand two hundred strands of heavenearth profound light to Principal Niu first. We'll continue after that."
Niu Baidao said, "Kid, I'm worried that I won't be able to return alive with such riches on me. I'll probably die on the way back. Maybe I should get an Invincible to keep these things for you. But we probably need to pay that Invincible if we wish to solicit their service, right?"
"..."
Su Yu was left quite speechless. Getting the help of an Invincible? Who? Great Ming King? If Old Niu was already reacting this way because of a puny amount of wealth like this, how were they supposed to continue the negotiation?
Su Yu couldn't be bothered to entertain that suggestion. He went straight to the point and said, "Since everyone is here, I won't waste anyone's time. You want me to stop killing and allow the city to reopen, right? Sure.
"Nine hundred strands of heavenearth profound light per ninth-stage Sunmoon, eight hundred strands for per eighth-stage Sunmoon...and so on. It's very cheap. That's almost the same price of a corpse with the same cultivation level. As for the geniuses, the price depends on their ranks. A thousand strands for the first rank, nine hundred strands for the second rank...and so on. Beyond the top ten, it's a hundred strands per person. Yes, that's right. They are so worthless I can't be bothered to make things complicated for them.
"If you agree, let's do it. If not, forget it. Furthermore, I won't deal with each race individually. I will only deal with everyone at once. So make sure everyone agrees. I can release them, but I'll only do it for all of them or none of them. You can also try your luck with the moat. If you're lucky enough to survive that, I'll have nothing to say." Dıscover more novels at N0velFire.ɴet
"Because of you, I'm now a living dead. My cultivation will no longer grow. My heart will eventually be filled with death qi. I'll transform into a death spirit. This is the only way I'll agree to release all of you. Don't bother talking about anything else. I don't care anymore. A death sovereign personally converted me into a resident. Nobody can survive the conversion of a death sovereign for long."
It was that final statement of his that shocked everyone.
Someone from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion clarified, "A death sovereign personally converted you?"
"Yes. Death Sovereign Xing Yue."
"..."
Absolute silence descended.
Niu Baidao's expression changed. The expression of every single person paying attention to this negotiation changed.
A lot of people had limited understanding of these ancient cities. But that did not apply to the top Sunmoons and Invincibles. They all had a rough idea about the ancient cities. Generally, each resident would be converted by a death spirit of corresponding strength.
Meanwhile, a mere Cloudbreach like Su Yu required an Invincible to convert. What did that signify? That signified an astonishing level of potential. Even the death sovereign was placing great importance to him. The death sovereign had personally converted him to turn him into a subordinate as soon as possible.
There was no surviving this. No wonder this fellow had been acting so crazy. He was a person with zero hope. It was unlikely for him to lie about this. At his cultivation level, he wouldn't know too much about the inner workings of ancient cities. Thus, he would only know about it after experiencing it himself. He might not even know about the existence of death sovereigns otherwise.
Niu Baidao's expression turned incredibly complicated. He wrote, "Su Yu, is that true? A death sovereign?"
"Yes."
He was not using any code. When he spoke of using a secret code early, he was merely doing it to tease the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. Niu Baidao didn't know what to feel anymore.
He had thought that there was hope for Su Yu to reverse this. Su Yu was too talented to fall like this. Even if the converter was a Sunmoon death spirit, Su Yu should still be able to do something.
But a Sunmoon was very different from an Invincible. Su Yu had actually caught the eye of an Invincible death spirit. Such an existence had personally converted him. In that case, he wouldn't even live for long as a resident.
Chapter 1054: I Can Still Do Something (3)
Main city gate.
The various geniuses had complicated expressions as well.
They were extremely shocked to hear about the level of talent Su Yu possessed. He was so talented he had caught the eyes of an Invincible death spirit. This was probably the very first time something like this had happened. One ought to know that even the ancient city mayors were only converted by peak Sunmoon death spirits.
Very few people had the privilege of being converted by death sovereigns. Meanwhile, Su Yu was enjoying such a privilege as a mere Cloudbreach. He had surpassed even the mayors who were ninth-stage Sunmoons.
These geniuses didn't know if they should feel regretful or relaxed to hear this. Su Yu was already dead. He wouldn't be able to survive for long. As for the ridiculous price he had asked for, nobody was bothered anymore. The secret they learned from Su Yu had overshadowed everything else. For the myriad races, this was a good thing.
But it was a massive blow to the human race, especially the likes of Niu Baidao. Su Yu...could no longer return.
***
Outside the city, Qin Hao, Zhu Guangshen, and the other humans sank into silence.
An Invincible death spirit had personally converted him. Not even Invincibles could help Su Yu anymore.
Regret, helplessness, sorrow, fury...
All sorts of emotions welled within them. They didn't know what to say anymore.
With a sigh, Niu Baidao wrote, "In that case, let's cancel the deal. Su Yu, just kill as many people as you can. At this point, wealth is pointless. You have my support. Just drag them all to death. As for their Invincibles, there are Invincibles in the human race as well. If you have to die, you naturally need some people to accompany you as the offering."
Dealing with the myriad races? Nope. He had only proposed a deal because he believed that there was still hope for Su Yu. But that was not the case. In that case, what was the point of a deal? Just drag all these people to death instead.
Immediately, the expressions of the geniuses and experts in the city changed.
Su Yu was left quite speechless. What was this? What was this attitude Old Niu was showing? Old Niu was essentially saying that he was already dead. But that was not what he believed. Not at all. Fresh chapters posted on N0velFire.ɴet
Seriously! He wouldn't even be doing this if he wasn't interested in a deal. It wasn't like he could kill that many of them. He would rather rip them off instead. Not even an Invincible death spirit could transform his source qi into death qi as fast as he could reverse the transformation.
Even the myriad races couldn't help nodding. Right, Su Yu was going to die. He didn't even have that many friends and family. What was the point of wealth for someone like this?
Shortly after, a divine wrote, "Niu Baidao, stop creating trouble. Su Yu, there might still be hope for you. According to the ancient records of my race, there is a way for even a resident to break free. As long as you enter the Luminous Domain Mansion and stay inside long enough, your connection with the source of death qi will be severed. It is very likely that you can revert your fate that way."
Niu Baidao countered furiously, "Don't listen to that nonsense. Nobody can stay in the Luminous Domain Mansion for longer than a month. Nobody has ever survived staying inside longer than that. Attempting that will only accelerate your death."
Originally, Niu Baidao was here as a proponent of peace. But now, he had chosen violence. This was driving the myriad races crazy.
Holy shit!
Wasn't this fellow supposed to be here for peace? Didn't he promise that he could persuade Su Yu? Now that Su Yu was interested in negotiating, why was this fellow trying to stop it instead?
The myriad race experts felt extremely gloomy. They were the ones who had to console Su Yu instead. They had to convince him to stay positive and not give up. Would someone in the depths of despair still care about wealth?
"Su Yu, think about your father. What will he do without you? You should leave a large amount of wealth for him. That will help him grow strong. That is also a way of leaving a legacy behind."
"Su Yu, I know you're loyal to those who have shown you kindness. Your teachers, your grandteacher, all of them are waiting for you to return..."
"Su Yu, if you buy enough heavenly source qi, you can soak yourself in a pool of heavenly source qi and slow the growth of death qi in your body."
"Better a bad life than a good death. This is an ancient saying of the human race. Even if you continue sealing the city, you won't be able to kill too many of them. Yes, the human Invincibles might appear when our Invincibles arrive. But so what? You know very well just how many Invincibles humanity can afford to send."
"Only some of them will die, but most will survive. At that point, you won't even get anything."
"Su Yu, think this through."
"..."
The divines, devils, immortals, and dragons started consoling Su Yu and telling him that he wouldn't die so quickly. There was still hope. They believed that it was extremely important to show Su Yu some hope. That damn Niu Baidao actually had the courage to think that there was no hope anymore. They all showcased their utmost confidence that there was still hope. Only hope could prevent one from descending into madness.
Even the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion joined in, "After checking our ancient records, I found that there is indeed a way to break free from this. As long as Death Sovereign Xing Yue dies, you will be free. For any other resident, a new death spirit will take over the task. But at your level, your converter is already a death spirit of the highest rank. There won't be anyone taking over the task."
Look at how everyone was kindly thinking of a solution for him. He should not give up hope. Meanwhile, Su Yu was completely dumbfounded. Holy shit! From the way this conversation was going, one might even think that the myriad races were his actual allies while Niu Baidao was his enemy.
After a short silence, Su Yu wrote, "I don't want to die. What do you think about my offer?"
"..."
Silence descended.
Only then did they start doing their calculations. The devil race had two late-stage Sunmoons, and Mo Duona to ransom. One of the Sunmoons was at the seventh stage while the other was at the eighth stage. The two of them were worth 1,500 strands. As for Mo Duona, he alone was worth 1,000 strands. With Su Yu out of the index, Mo Duona was once again the top ranker.
Thus, just the devil race alone would need to pay him 2,500 strands. Was that a joke? That was such an excessive price.
Not all races had so many people to ransom. But there were sixteen late-stage Sunmoons in total to ransom. Therefore, Su Yu would end up making over ten thousand strands from this deal.
Was he crazy?
"Su Yu, heavenearth profound light isn't that useful to you. Why don't you switch to heavenly source qi instead? We can provide you with some heavenly source qi to delay the growth of death qi in your body..."
"No thanks. I only accept heavenearth profound light or other valuable treasures that can be exchanged for more heavenearth profound light with the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. They won't be refusing my business, right?"
The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion said nothing, but that silence was an answer. Of course they would accept his business.
"Su Yu, even without this deal, more than half of them will survive this. Only a few of them are in actual danger. If you continue killing death spirits, you will also risk discovery."
"Su Yu, we can offer you three hundred strands for everyone. That more than what many cultivators can make in their entire lives..."
Could Su Yu not ask for such a crazy price? That was heavenearth profound light he was talking about, not heavenly source qi. Yes. The price was too high. Even the major races would find it painful to pay such a price.
If they agreed, each of them would end up paying as much as the divines in the scam. Yes, yes, that was the same as adding salt to the wound of the divines. Even now, they were still hurting from that scam.
"Su Yu, don't take the deal. Keep killing. You'll die soon anyway. Even if they discover you, so what? Just kill as many death spirits as you can."
Once again, Niu Baidao offered his opinion.
And once again, Su Yu was rendered speechless. Old Niu was encouraging him to die faster. Why did that fellow lose hope in him so easily? Even the myriad races were persuading him to not die so quickly. What was Old Niu doing?
After a short silence, Su Yu said, "How about this? The people in the city have arrived with a large amount of resources. If they can gather five thousand strands worth of resources, I will stop. I don't even need Principal Niu to accept the payment on my behalf anymore. This way, his safety is assured. That's my final offer. If all these people die inside the city, they won't be able to take those things out anyway. Consider my offer properly. That is all. If you agree, send someone to place the payment in front of unit 180 two and a half days later. Of course, you guys are free to try killing me during the collection. I will only stop when I have the payment in my hands. Otherwise, you will have to keep enjoying your time in the city."
"..."
After leaving those words behind, the clone tossed the index copy away and dissipated into nothingness. The character also vanished with a flicker. Some Sunmoons tried to track the character, but that was the deceit character. It was impossible to track. In the blink of an eye, everyone lost track of it.
Shortly after, several Sunmoons arrived at the center of the city. But no traces of Su Yu or the character could be found. The Sunmoons cursed inwardly. That damn fellow was too good at this.
Even now, they could only be sure that Su Yu was within the three innermost rings. But they didn't have the time to search the three rings.
Five thousand strands.
Could the people in the city gather that amount?
Yes.
The experts and geniuses were willing to pay, but they weren't the actual owners of these resources. Then again, if that was their sole option, they would definitely be willing to give up on these resources. Nothing was more important than staying alive.
They might end up punished after returning, but they would still be alive. The experts and geniuses grouped up again. They said nothing to each other, but they understood what the others were thinking.
Two and a half days later, they would make the payment for their lives. As for the decision of the experts outside the city, that was none of their concern. These experts and geniuses had many enemies as well.
That was applicable even among those in the same race. How was it possible that the likes of Mo Duona wouldn't invite the jealousy of others? As for these experts, they were all individuals of high status in their respective realms. In their positions, there were naturally people waiting for them to die and take over their positions.
The deal had thus been accepted. None of them said anything. But they all reached the same decision through their eyes. Five thousand strands. That was an excessive price. But they could still afford it if all of them contributed.
***
Outside the city.
Niu Baidao stomped his foot in anger, "That foolish kid! You won't even live for long! Why do you need all that wealth? Someone else will benefit from it in the end. You should drag them all down instead!"
Beside him, Qin Hao and the others were left speechless. No matter what, Su Yu was still showing some desire to live. Meanwhile, this old fart giving up all hope.
Still maintaining the same helpless expression, Niu Baidao sent them a voice transmission, "Why are you looking at me like that? If I don't act like this, the myriad races won't compromise so easily. Since the kid is still showing the desire to live, there might still be hope. I'm merely playing along. What's the problem?"
His unyielding attitude and unwavering belief that Su Yu would die had been the biggest factor for the myriad races to compromise. They wouldn't be willing to let their experts and geniuses die alongside someone with zero hope like Su Yu.
Five thousand strands...even Niu Baidao was shocked to hear that price. The kid sure wasn't holding anything back when asking for a ransom. Yes, he had initially asked for an even bigger ransom, but that was nonsense. That was merely a negotiation tactic. Rather than paying such a price, their Invincibles would probably rather try their luck with the ancient city yet again. There was no guarantee that the human Invincibles would return.
After all, things were still extremely tense at the borders.
Chapter 1055: Ancient City's Calm (1)
With the negotiation over, it was time to wait.
Su Yu was using time to wear down the patience of the experts and geniuses. He would allow them to wallow in pain and distress. With the sliver of hope he was showing them, they would not be willing to risk their lives.
He had been very careful when asking for the ransom from the people trapped in the city. If the amount exceeded what they could gather and those outside decided that they didn't want to pay, he would end up with nothing.
He might have claimed that he would get everything just by waiting for them to die anyway. Dream on. Unless one was killed before one could react, which of these people would willingly leave their belongings behind to be plundered?
A true expert would ensure that nothing was left for plunder even after their death. Someone like that would rather destroy their own corpse than let others have it.
After careful consideration, Su Yu had decided that five thousand strands of heavenearth profound light was an acceptable ransom. Even the ones trapped in the city could afford it. The major races had entered the city with at least two thousand strands worth of treasures.
Of course, the divine were probably the exception since he had emptied their pockets. But the devils and dragons were probably still quite rich. As for the other groups, he also had a good estimate of their wealth from their bids during the auction.
Most had given up after the bid reached a thousand strands. Thus, five thousand strands were still affordable for them. That was around just the right amount to empty their pockets.
As for White One from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, that was the only person Su Yu couldn't get a good read on. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was too mysterious. Perhaps their agents could simply wait for deliveries instead of carrying those treasures on them.
Basically, Su Yu was aiming to milk all these people dry. Killing was not his goal here. Yes, these people were strong. But they weren't Invincibles. To be perfectly honest, killing anyone below the Invincible Realm was pointless in the grand scheme of things. Su Yu was confident he would become an Invincible earlier than all these people. So what was the point of killing them?
Yes. He was still confident despite being a living dead. What was there to worry about? He hadn't even tried to deal with the death qi in his body seriously. If he wanted, he could reverse the death qi all day long. At present, he had only been doing it an hour or two each day. Even that was already enough to slow the growth.
As for the reason for this...what nonsense. Why should he? He had learned about the removal of his name from the Heavenly Hunt Index. If he tried too hard and converted himself back into a non-resident, his name would reappear on the index. Everyone would start viewing him as a threat again. That would be extremely troublesome.
No thanks. He would keep himself covered in death qi. He would let everyone believe that he was dying. Would anyone wish to take a massive risk and suffer a massive loss just to kill him?
Wouldn't it be much better to wait for him to die naturally? As far as everyone was concerned, he would probably die in a few months. Meanwhile, the loss one might suffer in the process of killing him might take much longer to recover from.
Su Yu called this strategy. He had a feeling that if he tried really hard, he could probably fully reverse the death qi in his body in no more than three days. But...he might reappear on the index. Also, he was trying to figure out the conditions for one to be removed from the index.
Why was his name not removed when he transformed into a death spirit previously? Since his name had been removed after becoming a resident, would it reappear? He needed to learn more.
But he did not want to test anything yet. What should he do if his name really reappeared during the test? The Invincibles would probably try killing him again. After surviving something like this, they would view him as an even bigger threat.
"From now on, I'm half a death spirit."
Su Yu smiled. This was a good thing. Who would be willing to push someone who was already in the deepest pit of despair? He would have a thick layer of death qi around him at all times. Anyone would be able to see that he wouldn't live for long. Would they be willing to risk their lives to kill someone like that? It was simply not worth it.
"Sure enough, you need a good brain to do well in the Myriad Realms."
Su Yu couldn't help but think about his childhood friend, Chen Hao. In the same position, Chen Hao would probably try his best to prove that there was still hope and instantly start reversing the death qi in his body.
"I wonder if I can really get the ransom. If I do get it, how many actual strands of heavenearth profound light will I get? And what other treasures will I get as the substitute?"
During his previous deal with the divines, he had only received 500 strands of heavenearth profound light when the deal itself was worth 2,300 strands. The rest had been substituted with other treasures of equal value. But he didn't mind that.
After all, the heavenearth profound light was only good for body forging. It was not too effective for the nine transformations of Cloudbreach Realm, the acupoint fusion of Mountainsea Realm, and the strengthening of the Sunmoon Realm.
He started thinking of a way to safely receive the ransom. Before long, he thought of something.
He dragged the little furball out. While yawning, the little furball grumbled, "Yummy, you're starting to smell. Can you clean your sea of willpower? It's starting to smell real bad."
Some death qi had intruded upon his sea of willpower as well. Fortunately, the amount was still quite small. The little furball had been hiding at the untarnished parts, but the place still smelled terrible. Thus, he had been in a terrible mood. His favorite sleeping spot was one of the smelly spots. As of late, he could only fall asleep on characters, surrounding himself with the scent of characters.
"Apart from sleeping and eating, what else are you good for?"
Su Yu snorted, "Two days later, make a trip for me. Collect a storage ring and check the contents. Make sure there are no traps before hiding in a random ancient building."
"Huh?"
With a timid expression, the little furball asked, "Am I going as a lone ball?"
"..."
He was scared of going alone. It would also feel lonely.
"Yes. Alone. I need to stay hidden to keep them in check. They won't dare to try anything as long as I'm still hidden."
Su Yu narrowed his eyes, "Do you think they'll be willing to pay up if I show up in front of them? They won't do anything even if they notice you."
If they really attacked, that might lure father furball over. Perhaps that would be even better. The little furball seemed to know what Su Yu was thinking. He rolled over unhappily before returning to sleep atop a character.
Yummy was so mean! There was no promise that Dada would come! Dada must have fallen asleep! The little furball returned to sleep.
Su Yu started thinking again. He wondered if he should scam them a second time. After thinking about it, he decided it wouldn't be a good idea. If he did that, the major races would pester him endlessly. This did not fit his plan to keep a low profile for a period of time. He wanted to spend some time to further forge his body.
He would release them before killing death spirits to seal the city again. That way, he would be the only living being left in the city. No, there would be a certain living ball alongside him. Oh, right, there was also that living lump of soil...
Su Yu suddenly remembered Topsoil Spirit. That fellow had yet to show himself. According to his previous words, he would remain sealed for a month. That fellow would remain stuck in the city for some time. The five elemental race wouldn't be able to leave with him. There were two of their Sunmoons in the city, but they had no way of opening the door of Topsoil Spirit's building.
Su Yu laughed in amusement. They couldn't blame him for that, right?
And thus, he reached a decision. After releasing the hostages, he would kill a peak Mountainsea death spirit every three days. The entire city would become his personal fief. He would be able to do whatever he wanted in here. Wait, there was also a mayor in the city.
With the mayor around, it would be hard for him to exercise control over the city. He couldn't guarantee that his plan would proceed smoothly with the mayor around.
Su Yu frowned. The mayor was very strong. Yes, the mayor seemed to have been injured, but that fellow was still very strong. As a ninth-stage Sunmoon and the support of the city coupled with some other trump cards, this was not an opponent Su Yu could deal with. Would the mayor go after him after recovering?
He wasn't worried about the other residents. There weren't that many Mountainseas among them. He doubted that there were any other Sunmoons among them. Even if there were some, he was confident they wouldn't be stronger than the early Sunmoon Realm. And that was not the kind of people he would fear. After forging his body a few more times, he would be strong enough to kill such opponents without even consuming blood essence.
According to Qin Fang, the weaker early Sunmoons would only have the strength of around 300,000 to 500,000 acupoints. Meanwhile, Su Yu would gain a massive increase in strength with each body forging. Thus, he predicted that it wouldn't be too long before he was strong enough to face early Sunmoons.
After deciding on a plan, he continued body forging while waiting for the people trapped in the city to reach a decision.
Unfortunately, he had to leave the index copy behind since the damn Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was capable of tracking him through that thing. That thing would have been quite useful otherwise.
At the same time.
The various races were in discussion about the ransom.
Five thousand strands. That was not a small amount, but shared among so many people, it wasn't that big of a burden. They could still afford it. Furthermore, it wasn't like their decision mattered anymore. Those trapped inside the city would most definitely pay regardless of what those outside decided.
"Why don't we get the kings to try their luck again..."
"Sure. Why don't you suggest this to the kings? Between paying and coming again, they will prefer paying. They will only come if Su Yu remains stubborn. But he has agreed to compromise. There are ten races involved. If we share the cost, each race will only need to pay an average of five hundred strands. Are you going to tell the kings to risk their lives for five hundred strands of heavenearth profound light?"
Dream on. Did this fellow think that those Invincibles were his servants who would be at his beck and call? They might consider coming if there were no other options. But the price Su Yu gave was still acceptable even if it was also quite expensive.
With such an offer on the table, the Invincibles would not move out. These ancient cities were as good as restricted zones for them right now. They would only make a move if they were prepared to deploy all their manpower for it.
To deal with a single ancient city, they would need to face thirty-six stone statues and countless death sovereigns. They needed to have at least double the number of Invincibles to minimize loss. For example, if they only had sixty Invincibles against fifty Invincibles, they would probably lose half their Invincibles just to secure a victory. Who would be willing to pay such a price?
The ancient cities were even harder to deal with than the humans. If they had enough strength to take down these ancient cities, they might as well use it on the humans. Why waste it on the eternally neutral ancient cities?
Furthermore, the stone statues were extremely strong. For now, they still remained in a petrified state. The moment they left that state...it would be disastrous. And thus, the experts and geniuses decided to pay. They even contacted their Invincibles and received silent agreements.
The deal was on.
Those stuck in the city could decide what to pay themselves. Those without enough resources to make the payment could take a loan from the other races and repay the loan after leaving the city.
This was decided mainly in consideration of the divines in the city, or to be precise, the scam victims. That was the only way they could afford the ransom. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel⸺fire.net
At the mention of the scam, the divines outside contacted the divines inside again. However, they still weren't sure what the scam was. But the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion did give them an unverified answer.
The ancient corpse...might not be ancient, after all. Previously, they had believed that it was an ancient corpse due to the death qi on it. That was something nobody could manipulate. But...that might not be the case, after all.
Furthermore, the divines also had a rough guess of who this eighth-stage Sunmoon was. Not long ago, an eighth-stage Sunmoon of the divine skywing race had died in the Human Realm. It was very likely that this was the corpse of that dead expert instead of some ancient expert.
In short, this was the corpse of a modern divine skywing with its blood essence extracted. After paying such a large price, the divines could do nothing except bury it. If they dared to do anything else to the corpse, the divine skywings would probably turn hostile against them.
They had essentially bought a Sunmoon character and an ancient heaven weapon for 2,300 strands of heavenearth profound light. But soon, they learned that something might be wrong with the weapon as well.
Chapter 1056: Ancient City's Calm (2)
Inside the city.
After receiving the message from outside the city, Zhan Wushuang took the ancient weapon out. There were over a hundred stripes on it.
Staring at the stripes, Zhan Wushuang's eyes flickered. He really wanted to believe that this was a real ancient heaven weapon. A middle-tier heaven weapon. That way, their actual loss would be slightly smaller.
But what he heard had thrown him into despair.
White One was in the middle of communicating with the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. Shortly after, he said, "Zhan Wushuang, you can try to shake the stripes with your source qi."
Zhan Wushuang frowned and said, "What if this is an actual ancient weapon? That might break it."
Beside him, Xuan Wuji sneered, "You're still hoping that it's real? Would Su Yu really give you an ancient heaven weapon? Stop dreaming."
Zhan Wushuang was unwilling to give up. This was his final attempt to resist the truth. But he didn't know what to say. Yes. Would Su Yu give this weapon to him if it was the real deal? But...the alternative was too hard to accept.
He gnashed his teeth and released his source qi. Then...stripe after stripe broke apart with a crack. Those were the fake stripes added by Su Yu. The original ancient trident only had ninety-seven real stripes.
And sure enough, only ninety-seven stripes were left by the time Zhan Wushuang was done. Well, it wasn't that bad. This was still an ancient earth weapon. For an ancient earth weapon in poor condition, a useless corpse, and a character, Su Yu had gotten 2,300 strands of heavenearth profound light from them.
The ransom to leave the city was set according to their numbers. There were twenty-two Sunmoons and sixteen geniuses trapped in the city. Three of them were divines. Their share of the ransom was four hundred strands. In a way, they had paid 2,700 strands in total for the corpse, the weapon, and the character.
Furthermore, they had all suffered considerable death qi erosion in the city. After leaving, they had to exhaust even more resources for their recovery.
The divines were the biggest losers of this incident. The thought of that was driving Zhan Wushuang mad. He was the main representative of the divines for the auction. But he had performed terribly.
The incident had even caused the white-haired divine king to suffer a grave injury. On top of that, more divine experts were forced to set off and negotiate on their behalf. One could say that all the geniuses present had suffered considerably during this incident, but Zhan Wushuang was the one who had suffered the most.
He had the urge to crush the weapon in his hand. He was in a terrible mood.
***
As Zhan Wushuang wallowed in grief and fury, two and a half days passed.
Su Yu had finally completed his forty-eighth body forging. It had required even more resources and time than the previous body forgings.
After the 30th forging, the subsequent 18 forgings had taken him 340 strands to complete. The latest 48th forging had consumed a total of 32 strands. It was getting more and more expensive for him to cultivate.
He was left with only 160 strands. At this rate, he would probably have enough to complete four more forgings instead of the five he had originally estimated. That would leave him at fifty-two forgings.
For the remaining twenty forgings, he would need at least forty strands per forging. The number would continue increasing, potentially requiring at least a thousand more strands for a full completion.
The total value of what he earned from the scam was enough to reach completion, but most of the payment was made through other treasures of equal value instead of heavenly profound light.
"For the ransom, at least one thousand of the five thousand strands should be in the form of heavenearth profound light, right?"
That should be the case. Thus, he would have enough to complete his body forging. The bigger issue was his nine transformations. He needed nine transformative treasures to assist with that. So far, 144 of his acupoints had completed the first transformation through Xia Longwu's saber qi. But what about the rest of his acupoints?
"The five elemental fruits should work as well. These fruits are treasures. Will they be enough to transform the rest of my acupoints?"
Su Yu was hoping that he would receive more transformative treasures instead. That way, he would be able to complete his first transformation properly. As for the Mountainsea Realm, he would worry about that later.
He had no idea how strong he would be by the time he was a ninth-stage Cloudbreach. All in all, he had profited massively from this. What he earned here would support his cultivation for a very long time. Without these transactions, a genius like him would not be able to support his own cultivation unless he received the help of an Invincible.
Take people like Mo Duona and the other geniuses. Which of them was without the support of an Invincible? Each genius required massive amount of resources to reach their potential. Sure, they had the potential to reach an incredible heights just by cultivating normally. But that would take a much longer time.
What was the point of potential if one reached old age before achieving one's potential? For most geniuses, they would use resources to fuel their growth until a point where they were stuck, such as the ninth-stage Sunmoon Realm. That would be the point to finally settle down and accumulate a strong foundation in preparation for dao affirmation. As far as a genius was concerned, the usage of resources was only for the sake of saving time.
Su Yu was an extreme example of such an individual. Through countless resources, he grew at an unprecedented rate. In just a year, he had grown from a Source Opening student to someone capable of killing seventh-stage Mountainseas.
A seventh-stage Mountainsea might have taken a hundred years to reach that level. Su Yu had merely taken a year. This was the difference between a genius and a regular cultivator.
"This is acceptable."
Su Yu exhaled in relief. For now, he only prioritized his body forging. He would think about the next stage after completing his body forging. Just completing his body forging would grant him an unimaginable level of strength.
The strength of acupoints did not matter for the Invincible Realm. But it mattered for everyone below that realm. Even Sunmoons would need to reach the level of a Pseudo Invincible before they could touch upon the concepts of time and tri-life bodies. Prior to that, brute strength was still very useful.
Even if he couldn't defeat Invincibles, Su Yu aimed to quickly reach a level where he could punch a ninth-stage Sunmoon to death with one hit. Only then would his safety be somewhat assured out here.
And if he could become a mayor on top of that, he would gain the strength to contend against Invincibles while inside an ancient city. And that would be enough for him. That was enough for him to rule over a large region. He would be able to act domineeringly while inside the city like the dark devil dragon who was the mayor of this city.
Unlike the cowardly dark devil dragon, he could disregard even Invincibles while inside his city.
***
Su Yu dragged the grumpy furball out.
Rolling his eyes, he said, "Open your eyes. Stop pretending to be asleep. Go to unit 180 and collect the payment. I'll get a death spirit to follow you. If everything is fine, don't move. If you notice anything wrong, just beat the death spirit to death and extend the duration of the city lockdown."
The little furball spoke with a pitiful voice, "Loophole! If I kill the death spirit, they will kill me!"
The furball was making his refusal clear.
There was no way those death spirits would spare him.
"Riches can only be sought amid danger. How can you succeed without taking risks? I have been the one doing the risk-taking all this time while you have been sleeping. Is this fair? Don't forget that you've eaten a lot of my stuff as well. Why are you being so lazy when I'm asking you to do such an easy job?"
"You can send your clone!"
The little furball was not stupid. He knew that Yummy could use character clones as well. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel(ꜰ)ire.net
Su Yu rolled his eyes, "Are you dumb? They can track me by capturing my character. But they can't do the same capturing you. I'll switch to a different building right after you leave. That way, you won't be able to leak my location even if you're captured!"
"..."
That logic was too strong for the little furball to argue against.
He gloomily asked, "Must it be me?"
"Are you going or not?" Su Yu said, "If you're not going, just walk away. We will part ways here. Apart from eating, what else can you do? I've been feeding you so that you can help me! I'm not feeding you for charity!"
"I'm a ball. I don't walk..."
Boom!
Su Yu sent the furball flying with a slap. Holy shit! This fellow had learned to talk back!
Ball his ass!
He would not feed someone who was too lazy to work!
Su Yu had been feeding this little fellow so that it could help him, but that fellow had been quite useless as of late. The little fellow couldn't defeat anyone, nor could he kill anyone. Even when he was only asked to do a little errand, he had to argue endlessly.
The furball slowly slid down the wall, indifferent to the slap. Inwardly, he grumbled that Yummy better not regret this! He would do it. But first, he would feast to his heart's content with the stuff in the ring. Upon his return, he would insist that the leftover amount was what he received in the first place.
Wow! That was such a smart plan! What was the human term for this? Tax! Right. He would tax Yummy for his service.
He stopped arguing and opened the door himself. With a flicker, he vanished into thin air. Due to the unique nature of his body, he was able to move and hide like a character. At times, Su Yu would even suspect that this fellow was actually a character. A devour character.
***
At the same time, Mo Duona was placing down a storage ring in front of unit 180.
After pulling back for some distance, he shouted, "Su Yu, the payment is here. The gates will reopen soon. We hope you can stick to your words or we will have no choice but ensure you suffer as much as us.."
"Go further away."
"..."
A young and tender voice rang out, alarming the experts hidden in the surroundings. What was going on? Who was that? Was this not Su Yu? Apart from them, was there someone else who was still alive in the city?
Right, Topsoil Spirit was still in the city as well. But there was no helping that. Not even the five elemental race could do anything about that. They judged that the city would not be sealed again after this. They could simply return for him at a later date.
The little furball yelled, "You! The bad guy with a white mask! Go away! Or else, I won't collect the payment. And Su Yu won't let you go! When the time is up, he'll start killing death spirits!"
Not far away, White One's eyes flickered. What was that? He looked in a certain direction. As his eyes shone, a faintly discernible silhouette appeared. A ball?
What was that?
A ball?
Was that a living being?
White One couldn't think of anything. He started drawing the outline of that ball on his index copy. Was that fellow telling him to leave to prevent him from capturing that fellow's aura?
Was this a young genius as well? What race was this person from? Why had he never seen this person before?
Chapter 1057: Ancient City's Calm (3)
At the same time.
Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.
The elders were still gathered. When White One's message arrived, they saw a ball...then, several elders dropped the cups they were holding.
"This..." One of them exclaimed in alarm, "This...is the living being helping Su Yu...do...any of you know such a race?"
"Y-yes..."
One of the elders answered while trembling. Of course he knew such a race.
Holy shit!
Su Yu had something like this on him? This wasn't right. When did he get together with someone from this race?
"Soul devourer!"
"Is this the offspring of that person?"
That person? Some of the elders were still confused.
A trembling elder explained, "That person. Do you remember the fight between Great Ming King and Twilight Divine King? The fight where Twilight Divine King died suddenly for no reason?"
Finally, all the elders recalled a certain existence. Fear and alarm covered their faces. The ancient race of soul devourers! The incredibly mysterious ancient race with a taste for characters?
Over three hundred years ago, Great Ming King fought a cultural researcher Invincible from the divine race. Unlike the fake cultural researcher Invincibles of the human race, that was someone who had truly cultivated his willpower to the Invincible Realm.
That was an incredibly powerful divine king, suppressing Great Ming King in the fight. Next...there was no next for him.
A ball had appeared in a flash before vanishing again. Then, multicolored rays of light spread across the entire Allheaven Battlefield. That was a phenomenon caused by the death of an Invincible. The divine king had died.
His entire sea of willpower had disappeared. That ball had devoured the entire sea of willpower in a split second. That was the most miserable, pathetic, and ridiculous death of an Invincible in centuries.
"Are you sure this is the offspring of that person?"
"Yes. They look exactly the same."
"Are there mentions of this race in the ancient records?"
"Yes."
An elder explained, "Over three hundred years ago, Twilight Divine King died suddenly. Through our investigation, we discovered some sparse mentions of the soul devourer race in our ancient records. This race has existed since the ancient past. Back then, there were very few of them around yet each of them was terrifyingly powerful. They were the bane of cultural researchers. According to the records, they seemed to have a complicated relationship with the multiple character faction of the ancient past..."
"And someone from this race has joined up with Su Yu."
"How did the two come together? Did Su Yu subdue this soul devourer himself or was this related to the multiple character faction?"
"According to the records, this is a very small race. It's very hard to judge their actual numbers. How did Su Yu meet one of them?"
"..."
The elders were very surprised. At the same time, they were also feeling fearful. They were aware of a certain entity in that race. That was an extremely terrifying existence. Someone who had eaten a divine king in a split second.
And the divines didn't even retaliate. Perhaps they had simply failed to locate the soul devourers. Or there were some other unknown reasons. In any case, war did not break out between the divines and the soul devourers over that matter.
"Even the soul devourer race is making an appearance...How troublesome. Get White One to stay further away. Do not try to capture the aura of this soul devourer. Since this soul devourer will be staying with Su Yu, we will have plenty of opportunities to do so in the future. He has probably been staying concealed around Su Yu all along. No wonder nobody knows this."
Shortly after, White One received his new order. He was ordered to not offend or alarm the furball to prevent anything unexpected from happening.
***
Meanwhile, the various experts in the city were also greatly surprised.
A brand new life form. Or to be precise, a brand new race had appeared. But not all of them thought the same. The two Sunmoon divines looked both doubtful and horrified at the same time.
What was that? That furball seemed so familiar...or to be precise, the furball resembled something they had heard of before. A lifeform with the appearance of a furry ball.
Fast, incredible concealment abilities, almost undetectable presence...
Finally, the two Sunmoons looked at each other with horror in their eyes.
Meanwhile, Zhan Wushuang was staring at the furball curiously. What was that? Su Yu was actually keeping a pet with him?
But next, the Sunmoon beside him dragged him away while speaking through voice transmission, "We need to leave! Immediately! The moment the gate opens, rush through it. Do not delay! Return and notify the Divine Realm to not send anyone here..."
"Why? Su Yu is still in the city. He scammed such a huge amount of wealth from us..."
"It's fine."
The Sunmoon said, "Just listen to me. The moment the divine king learns of this, he will forbid you from coming as well. Do you understand me?"
Zhan Wushuang frowned. Was this related to that little furball? He said nothing. Perhaps something he didn't know was at play here.
At this time, some of the other late-stage Sunmoons finally recalled something as well. Instantly, their expressions changed. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the nοvelfire.net
Soul devourer race! Someone from this ancient race had once devoured a divine king in a split second!
It wasn't that nobody had ever killed Invincibles before. There were plenty of such people out there. For example, Great Xia King and Great Qin King. The human race had lost a decent number of Invincibles as well. Naturally, these Invincibles had also been killed by other Invincibles.
But not a single Invincible had died in such a helpless manner. In a flash...everything was over. The body remained, but the sea of willpower had vanished.
As for the corpse of that divine king, it had naturally been collected by a certain human king who had nearly pissed himself in fear after witnessing what the furball did. At the time, there were other experts in the area as well. That was how words of that mysterious furball spread.
As for the human king who had collected the corpse, he had naturally stayed completely silent, thinking that nobody would know that the corpse was with him if he stayed silent. Even after someone called him out for collecting the corpse, he had vehemently denied it. But everyone knew that he had the corpse.
That was probably the best-preserved Invincible corpse in history. Why didn't that mysterious furball devour Great Ming King as well? Some speculated that the furball was probably full after consuming the divine king. Some claimed that Great Ming King was simply too ugly to be eaten. Anyway, nobody knew the answer.
That was why Great Ming King had reminded Zhu Tiandao to advise Su Yu against entering the Allheaven Battlefield with this little furball. That might attract the attention of that mysterious furball.
Apart from the divines, some of the other Sunmoons also started fleeing with their confused young geniuses. These geniuses were too young to know an event from so long ago. Back then, that incident had shocked countless people in the various realms.
With the passage of time, everyone had forgotten about that incident. But that ancient race had emerged yet again. Even though this furball did not seem to be the same furball, even if this furball seemed much weaker, they still didn't want to provoke this race. What were they supposed to do if they somehow caused the existence who had devoured the divine king in a split second to appear as well?
***
The little furball was able to collect the storage ring smoothly.
He started counting the resources inside, but he wasn't very good at math. Thus, his tender voice rang out again, "Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, 1,200 strands of heavenly profound light, 800 drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid, and many fruits. How much are they worth?"
White One hurriedly answered, "The heavenearth profound light and sunmoon profound yellow liquid are worth 3,600 strands in total. Each dragonblood fruit is worth 300 drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid, which is equal to 900 strands of sunmoon profound yellow liquid. All these things are worth 4,500 strands. The five celestial devil fruits are worth three hundred strands. The remaining two hundred strands are paid in Sunmoon blood essence of equal value."
The little furball nodded his entire body with satisfaction. Well, well, this fellow was quite tactful, after all. Since there were no issues, it was time for him to leave. He was still quite scared.
With the storage ring, he vanished into thin air. Before long, the door of a random building swung open. After hiding inside, he shut the door again. During the short moment the door was open, everyone checked inside and verified that Su Yu was not there. But this wasn't surprising.
What a cunning bastard.
Not long after, the city gates started shaking while the death qi in the city started receding. As for the Sunmoon death spirits in the city, they were starting to leave as well. Finally, the gates swung open.
All the experts and geniuses rushed out of the city. They did not dare to delay their departure for even a moment, fearing that Su Yu would go crazy again. They had barely left the city when the city gates swung shut again with a rumble.
Inside, Su Yu had killed yet another Mountainsea death spirit. This was his city now! At the very least, that would apply until the mayor was done recuperating.
***
Inner hall of the mayor's residence.
Xing Yue had reappeared. While looking at Su Yu, it said, "This fellow is killing death spirits nonstop. This won't do. They are his future colleagues. If he keeps this up, he will offend the generals under me."
But the stone statue ignored Xing Yue. In fact, he was more than happy to see death spirits dying.
Generally, a resident wouldn't be spared from killing death spirits. But Su Yu had been converted by a death sovereign. With the aura of the death sovereign on him, no death spirit could lay a hand on him.
As far as the stone statue was concerned, this was the most qualified resident ever. This was how a guardian of the ancient city should act. This was the real reason these residents existed.
While alive, they would suppress the death spirits. After dying, they would become death spirits.
Such was their purpose.