Chapter 67 - 67

Chapter 1202: Clash (1)

Chaos was spreading in the Human Realm.

Numerous experts were hiding their identities and biding their time. Most people had their sights on the two carrier treasures and the Culture Tomb. Without the three treasures, the ruin would have caught a lot less attention. Even the fake ruin originally produced by the Xia Family wouldn't be able to attract too many people. In fact, they were banking on the disassembly method to grab more attention. However, that was no longer needed.

Nevertheless, there was no denying that the disassembly method was why some of these myriad race experts had initially entered the Human Realm.

***

15th of November.

After a few days of disappearance, Liu Wenyan had reappeared. At that point, Nanyuan was already surrounded by countless experts. There were humans and non-humans among them.

When someone noticed Liu Wenyan, it didn't take long for news of his reappearance to spread everywhere.

"Liu Wenyan!"

Someone soared into the sky and roared coldly, "Liu Wenyan, back then, you claimed that you couldn't manifest the fifth principal's characters. But now, you're already a peak Mountainsea. You have even given Su Yu some of the fifth principal's characters. What excuse are you going to use now?"

Liu Wenyan looked at the speaker and laughed, "Excuse? What are you talking about? Who are you?"

The man in the sky replied furiously, "Liu Wenyan, why are you pretending to not know me? Back then, my father followed the fifth principal and died in the Allheaven Battlefield. You once said that you were willing to show everyone the fifth principal's characters. But both you and Su Yu had destroyed those characters in battle. Were those characters yours to destroy?"

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Liu Wenyan laughed in amusement. He scanned the crowd. Some were indifferent. Some were sneering. Some were amused. And some were disgusted.

Liu Wenyan said, "I never promised to show those characters to everyone. That was something you imagined. Back then, I told the Zhou Family that the research data of my teacher was missing. Since they lost an Invincible in the course of helping my teacher, I promised to show them the characters once I gained the ability to manifest them. However...the debt between me and the Zhou Family has been cleared.

"Don't say that I'm being unreasonable. I'm a very reasonable person. Your deceased father is deserving of respect for following the fifth principal. He also deserves respect for his sacrifice in the Allheaven Battlefield. However, it is unreasonable for the family of every single soldier who had perished in the Allheaven Battlefield to ask for the belongings of the Invincibles in charge of the deceased soldiers.

"Prefectures like Great Xia and Great Qin had lost countless soldiers in the battlefield. Are the descendants of these soldiers supposed to split the belongings of the Xia and Qin Families as they see fit? How curious. Since when did the characters left behind by my teacher became public properties? Yes, your seniors died in the course of following my teacher. But...they also enjoyed numerous benefits from my teacher when he was still alive.

"Before the dao affirmation, he didn't force anyone to follow him. In fact, he even advised everyone against following him. But your father and the other seniors still followed him due to the sheer respect they felt for him. They volunteered to protect his dao.

"However, that is no reason for all of you to partition the belongings my teacher left behind."

Liu Wenyan's smile vanished as he continued, "Furthermore, my teacher himself had died as well. He only left some characters behind. Back then, I left the academy with nothing but these characters. I took nothing else. It is only fair for me to inherit those characters.

"I even agreed to take on a huge debt toward Great Xia since Great Xia was where my teacher had grown, and Great Xia was the prefecture that had supported him during his growth. The height he reached had nothing to do with any of you."

He looked at the non-humans and humans in the crowd and said, "You have gotten too used to bullying me. You think that my line is the easiest target to bully. Thus, everyone is eager to continue the bullying. Back then, my line left quite a lot of things behind. We paid what we should pay and we gave away what we should give away. We kept almost nothing with us."

"Eventually, even the Zhou Family agreed to settle any remaining grudge with us. I don't understand this. Who are you to demand the characters of my teacher?"

The man in the sky coldly asked, "Are you saying that those who had followed the fifth principal back then had followed him for nothing? Their deaths were worth nothing?"

Liu Wenyan sighed, "I'm very sad that those seniors had died. But...this is not a valid excuse for what you're doing."

He shook his head, "I'm trying to be reasonable here, so I hope all of you will be reasonable as well. When a general leads tens of thousands of soldiers to the battlefield and everyone dies because of some traitor instead of the general, everyone should go after the traitor. It is inappropriate to keep targeting the descendants of the dead general. Even if the traitor is very strong, that is no reason for you to shift the blame on the descendants of the dead general."

Liu Wenyan continued, "That is very inappropriate. It has been over fifty years. We have never fought back and swallowed all the bullying. Even when our people were killed, we remained silent. Even when our faction was pushed to the brink of destruction, we remained silent. Even when we were being suppressed and targeted, we remained silent. What more do you want? Are you going to be happy only when we decide to fight back and inflict enough damage that both sides will suffer?"

Liu Wenyan looked at the man in the sky and asked, "This isn't the first time, you're doing this, right? Why must you take the lead to further push us? Even if I give you the characters of my teacher, will you be able to make use of it? Will you be able to glean any useful information from it? We should have worked together to hunt that traitor down. But what did you do? You wasted decades targeting us. Was it fun? Or perhaps...someone promised you something to keep doing this?"

The man in the sky spat coldly, "Liu Wenyan, stop with your excuses. My father died because of your faction. Your faction naturally needs to compensate us for it."

"Sigh." Liu Wenyan said, "I tried to be reasonable. So be it. You're forcing me to be straightforward about this. My teacher did not make those people follow him for nothing. They were paid a fair wage for their services. They all received bonus payments for any battles they were involved in. Even the dead were given compensation. Every single one of those people had received the benefits given by my teacher. But when my teacher perished in battle, you started demanding further compensation. That...is out of line."

Liu Wenyan laughed bleakly, "It has been so many years. We have given all we should. We have also done all we should. Not many of my teacher's characters are left. Why must you insist on taking away the few belongings of my teacher that are still around?"

Before the man in the sky could speak, someone else sneered and said, "Liu Wenyan, you mean that since those people are already dead, we should forget about them? Because you paid, their deaths have nothing to do with your faction anymore? Sure enough, the multiple character faction is filled with liars. Your so-called honor and loyalty mean nothing. You have never viewed those people as your comrades."

Liu Wenyan said, "When I try to talk reason, you insist on talking about honor. When I try to talk about honor and loyalty, you demand compensation for those lost lives. In short, anything I do is wrong. You guys are already used to bullying me over the years. Perhaps you believe that I should get used to this as well."

At this time, a devil laughed and said, "Liu Wenyan, why don't you show everyone Ye Batian's characters?"

Liu Wenyan looked at the devil and laughed, "Sure. Do you want to take a look as well?"

The devil was stunned.

Liu Wenyan scanned the crowd and asked, "Are you sure you want to take a look? Are you really sure? In that case, you can look but you can't take it. Do you agree?"

The eyes of the man in the sky flickered with excitement as he exclaimed, "Sure enough, you can already manifest them! Liu Wenyan, take those characters out first. As for the ownership of these characters...that is not something you alone can decide."

"Who can decide, then?" Liu Wenyan asked, "They belonged to my teacher. He did not leave any descendants behind. Sure, he has an aunt, and his other student is my junior brother. His aunt is here. My junior brother is here. Apart from the three of us, is there anyone more qualified to decide on this?"

The pale Ye Hongyan snorted coldly and said, "Why are you wasting your time with them? If it wasn't for the respect I have for those deceased seniors, I would have taught all these people a lesson long ago."

Some of these people were the close relatives of those who had died fighting for Ye Batian. But some were barely related to anyone from Ye Batian's faction. It was also clear that these people were well-prepared to put Liu Wenyan in a difficult position. They must have been waiting for him here all along.

This wasn't the first time they were trying this. Even back during the battle in Great Xia City, Tang Yunfei of Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy had also used a similar reason to create trouble for the multiple character faction.

At this moment, Hong Tan and a few others soared into the sky.

Hong Tan said, "Senior Brother, speaking to them is a waste of time. Greed has taken over their logic. You can't reason with them."

Liu Wenyan raised his hand and laughed, "We need to be reasonable. If reason can't be found, we need to talk it out. Reason is something you can always find through dialogue"

Some people merely sneered at that.

This again. Liu Wenyan had always been a pedantic bookworm.

Reason?

This was not the kind of era where reason mattered.

This wasn't even Liu Wenyan's first time facing something like this. Back then, some people had even visited Nanyuan to demand the characters from him. At the time, he had also opted for dialogue and reason. Ultimately, those people were kicked away by the Xia Family.

Liu Wenyan smiled, "How about this? Anyone who believes that you deserve my teacher's characters may step forth. Let me see how many among the descendants of those people back then believe that they deserve everything my teacher left behind."

Nobody moved.

An old man in the crowd finally lost his temper and said, "Brother Liu, just ignore these shameless dogs. Who among the descendants of the main force behind your teacher has ever demanded anything from you? Our seniors did not follow the fifth principal to split his characters among themselves after his death. Back then, they followed him for an idea, a dream. For humanity.

"But now, the descendants of some rats are shamelessly coming out to demand these things from you. Take this Wang Chong for example. I know his father well. Back then, the fifth principal persuaded everyone to not follow him. But his father insisted on following. Since he was so weak, everyone told him no. But he threw a tantrum crying that everyone looked down on him. In truth, he only wanted to be there to bear witness to the dao affirmation and fawn on the fifth principal. Whose dao did he protect? What nonsense. Did the fifth principal even need the protection of a mere third-stage Mountainsea?"

The man in the sky shouted furiously, "What did you just say?"

Not to be outdone, the other man shouted back, "What did I just say? The truth! I never bothered to waste any time on you normally, but you have been very active in instigating everyone to force the fifth principal's line. Who do you think you are? You're a coward who fears the strong and tramples over the weak. The real killer of your father is right here. Or to be precise, his juniors are here. Why aren't you attacking them? Come on, attack them and avenge the father you love so much. Do you think everyone is blind? Do you think nobody can see the greed you harbor?"

He pointed at Soulcurse's group and raised his voice, "There they are! Kill them! Go ahead! You ignore your real enemies and step forth to force Brother Liu's hand. Are you not ashamed of yourself?"

The man in the sky replied coldly, "That is my personal business. Is it wrong for me to demand what my father deserved from Liu Wenyan? Do the characters of the fifth principal belong to him? No! Those characters belong to everyone!"

This was so ridiculous the other man couldn't help but roar with laughter.

Just as he was about to continue speaking, Liu Wenyan laughed and said, "Forget it, Brother Huang. It's fine. I'm a very reasonable person. Anyone else apart from Wang Chong? Wang Chong, you alone won't be able to get much since so many had perished back then. We have to be fair and let everyone get an even split, right? Also, if there are too many people, we have to talk about the split."

Wang Chong was overjoyed to hear that. He shouted, "Everyone, step forth! The fifth principal's characters do not belong to Liu Wenyan alone! They belong to all of us! We can all get a share!"

Unsurprisingly, a few people stepped forth after hearing his words. After a while, about seven or eight people had gathered around Wang Chong.

Chapter 1203: Clash (2)

With a smile, Liu Wenyan asked, "Anyone else? There are eight of you. I won't bother with asking about your background. Back then, hundreds of people died. With only eight of you here, you won't be able to get too big a share..."

Wang Chong shouted, "Liu Wenyan, the eight of us are enough to represent all of them!"

Once again, the old man from before roared furiously, "Even your ancestors will be ashamed of having a descendant like you! Who do you think you are to represent everyone?"

Wang Chong ignored the old man. After all, the old man had nothing to offer him. He was only targeting Liu Wenyan.

Liu Wenyan had always been known to be reasonable and gentle. Over the years, the descendants of those who had perished following the fifth principal had all been compensated in one way or another. The huge debt of Liu Wenyan and the few treasures the fifth principal left behind had all been split among them. And now, he was using the same excuse to squeeze even more benefits from Liu Wenyan.

Liu Wenyan sighed helplessly and said, "Fine. Come here. Only the eight of you are qualified to take a look. Nobody else."

Wang Chong hesitated and shouted, "Take it out yourself!"

With a helpless expression, Liu Wenyan manifested a character above his palm. The character appeared completely crude. It did not create a massive phenomenon. It did not release powerful undulations. It merely hovered silently. Everyone stretched their necks to get a good look at it.

As for Wang Chong and the others, they looked at each other and stopped hesitating. All of them rushed toward Liu Wenyan. They did not suspect anything. Liu Wenyan was reasonable and gentle. He was a pedantic bookworm.

Yes, that was what they believed.

Meanwhile, the eyes of some non-human experts flickered.

An expert beside Mo Duona sneered, "Mo Duona, is Liu Wenyan really giving them the character?"

Mo Duona glanced at the person beside him and asked, "What do you think?"

"What do I think? I think...this whole thing is a joke."

Yes. A joke.

But they were unfamiliar with the customs of humanity. Was it possible that Liu Wenyan was serious?

***

Before long, all eight of them reached Liu Wenyan.

With yet another sigh, Liu Wenyan said, "Fine, fine. So be it. You can have it. Catch."

Then, he tossed the character at Wang Chong. Overjoyed and excited, Wang Chong reached out to grab the character. However, it phased right into his sea of willpower. It appeared slow, but it was actually moving rapidly. Before anyone could react, it had entered Wang Chong's sea of willpower.

Rumble!

Next, a sea of willpower burst apart, followed by a body. Wang Chong wasn't even able to say anything before it happened. The last thing he could do was release a miserable wail.

Abruptly, the atmosphere turned solemn.

With the same smile on his face, Liu Wenyan said, "I'm very reasonable. Alas...you don't have the ability to keep the character."

Then, the character flew toward the others.

One of them exclaimed in fear, "No! We—"

Boom!

Yet another person burst apart. Still smiling, Liu Wenyan said, "You can have it. Back then, I stored all these characters in my sea of willpower. Since you want it, you may store it in your seas of willpower as well. You're welcome."

Boom!

In the blink of an eye, several people had burst apart. The few survivors were greatly alarmed. No! This was not Liu Wenyan! Liu Wenyan wouldn't act like this!

Liu Wenyan was the type of person who would remain patient regardless of his displeasure and anger. During the previous incident, Liu Wenyan had the ability to kill them with his characters as well. But ultimately, he had only killed Shan Tianhao instead of the main instigators like them.

Why? Because Liu Wenyan was too honorable and loyal.

One of them wailed fearfully, "No! My second uncle fought for the fifth principal once!"

Boom!

After bursting yet another body apart, Liu Wenyan laughed, "Yeah. Your second uncle. Not you. And the fifth principal. Not me. What a pity that I'm not the fifth principal."

And finally, the last survivor burst apart as well. The eight humans had been reduced into a cloud of blood in the sky. Everything had happened too quickly. The crowd didn't even get a chance to react.

After a while, one of them finally recovered from his shock. He roared furiously, "Liu Wenyan! How dare you kill your fellow humans! You have gone mad! You're betraying humanity—"

Right at that moment, Liu Wenyan's eyes turned frosty. The character floating above his palm transformed into an axe. His aura surged as he vanished before reappearing above the shouting man. Then, he swung his axe down.

The shouting man was alarmed. He was just about to mount his defense, but the incoming attack was so powerful he couldn't even move.

Boom!

He was cleaved into two. His sea of willpower suffered the same fate. A moon dropped from the sky.

Silence.

Shock.

Countless humans were stunned. Liu Wenyan...had gone mad! He had actually killed a human Sunmoon in public! This madman! Was he trying to turn against humanity?

Liu Wenyan returned to where he was and smiled, "Betraying humanity? Perhaps. When you killed our people, it was justice. When I kill you, I'm betraying humanity. How does this logic work? Back then, there were so many members in the multiple character faction. Today, only a few of them are still alive."

He looked at the crowd and said, "If you think I'm betraying humanity, bring it on. That was what you did to my martial nephew, Chen Yong, right? Let me tell you clearly now that yes, he killed all those people. So what? Those people had conspired to kill those from the multiple character faction. Do you think I don't know about that?"

Liu Wenyan raised his voice, "Ask yourself! Do you not know that? You play dumb. You pretend to be blind. Why? Because you believe our line is easy to bully. Isn't that right? It is righteous to kill us because the myriad races believe so as well. We are not the only multiple character cultivators around. It doesn't matter if we die."

Liu Wenyan's aura continued surging as he roared, "If you're too kind, others will step all over you. You call me a traitor? The real traitor has been left alone for so many years. In that case, I shall betray humanity as well. What about it? What's the big deal?"

"What bullshit are you trying to say?" An expert berated, "Liu Wenyan, watch your mouth! I'll be sure to report this to the Invincibles! You can seek justice from them when the time comes. Do not make a fool of yourself in front of so many outsiders. Marquis Xia, please arrest Liu Wenyan. This is an embarrassment!"

"..."

A lot of people looked at the big guy who had just spoken. That guy...was clearly trying to help Liu Wenyan. He had killed nine human experts, including a Sunmoon. After such an offense, this big guy was telling Marquis Xia to arrest Liu Wenyan? Was this a joke?

A lot of people recognized the big guy.

Someone spoke through voice transmission, "It's the chief commander of the Raised Blade Guard from Great Tang. He's actually here as well. And he's...clearly biased toward Liu Wenyan."

"But this...is not so simple. If Liu Wenyan can really produce proof that those killed by Chen Yong and those he had killed today had conspired to kill those from the multiple character faction in the past, nothing will happen to him."

Sounds of discussion rang out amid the crowd. Not far away, Marquis Xia smiled. Then, he assumed a stern expression and roared, "Impudent! Liu Wenyan, how dare you kill your fellow humans within Great Xia? You deserve punishment for this! Guards, arrest Liu Wenyan and drag him into the city to face justice!"

Right after that was said, General Zhao stepped forth.

But a divine Sunmoon blocked the way and asked nonchalantly, "Why the rush to take Liu Wenyan into the city? We don't intend to interfere with the internal affairs of humanity. But I'm curious. Liu Wenyan is a cultural researcher. Shouldn't he answer to the Knowledge Seeking Realm for his crimes? After all, the Knowledge Seeking Realm is the holy land of human cultural researchers. Am I right, Marquis Xia?"

Marquis Xia laughed, "Wow, as a divine, you know the rules of humanity better than some humans out there. Impressive."

His eyes turned frosty even as he kept smiling, "Yes. That's right. Is anyone from the Knowledge Seeking Realm here? Great Xia wishes to take over this case. Do you object?"

At the same time.

Numerous gazes landed on a group of more than ten Sunmoons standing somewhere within Nanyuan. That was a group from the Knowledge Seeking Realm. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel✶fire.net

Among them, Yuan Qingdong sent a voice transmission to his friends, "Pretend we hear nothing. Don't get involved."

It would be stupid of them to get involved. Just look at the fury the entirety of Great Xia was displaying. Just look at Marquis Xia. It would be unwise to provoke unnecessary trouble at a time like this.

But one of his friends disagreed, "All cultural researchers are supposed to fall into the jurisdiction of our Knowledge Seeking Realm. How impudent of Liu Wenyan to kill his fellow humans in front of us. Even for the sake of Su Yu's ruin, we need to arrest Liu Wenyan. That way, they will be forced to share!"

Clearly, some of them had also been blinded by greed.

Alarmed, Yuan Qingdong sent another voice transmission, "The Xia Family is furious—"

"So what? Is Xia Xiao'er going to kill us? The ruin does not belong to them. We're all Invincible descendants. We're not asking for much. We only want the carrier treasures. At worst, we'll give up on the Culture Tomb."

Yuan Qingdong was bursting with rage. Did this fool really believe that the Xia Family wouldn't dare to touch them?

His instincts were screaming at him that something was very wrong about how the Xia Family was behaving. To speak the truth, the Xia Family would not lay a hand on them if it wished to continue its survival. But he also had a feeling that the Xia Family was ready to throw caution to the wind.

Why must they get involved now? Was death not scary enough? The Xia Family had clearly gone mad.

Before he could even stop his friends, one of them roared, "Marquis Xia, according to our laws, Liu Wenyan deserves the death penalty for his crimes. But since he had provided new allegations to support his actions, he shall be arrested while we conduct further investigation. As he is a cultural researcher, this falls under our jurisdiction. We will be taking him in."

"..."

Chapter 1204: Clash (3)

Silence descended. It was obvious that Marquis Xia had merely posed that question as a challenge without intending to actually hand the matter over to the Knowledge Seeking Realm.

But...someone from the Knowledge Seeking Realm had actually denied him. The gazes of numerous myriad race experts landed on the person who had just spoken.

One of them said, "Granddaughter of Fiery Sea King."

"A member of the Zhang Family."

The Fiery Sea King was the leader of one of the eight leading families of the Knowledge Seeking Realm. He was not one of the prefecture founding kings.

The person who had just spoken was someone called Zhang Ying. She had spoken because she coveted the treasures in the ruin. At the same time, she was also furious at the disrespect Liu Wenyan and Xia Family were showing the Knowledge Seeking Realm.

Right at that moment, an empty space in the sky warped as an old man with white hair appeared. With a furious expression, he coughed and spoke with great difficulty, "Zhang Ying! Who told you...to get involved in this? Stand down! You have...no business getting involved in this!"

Zhang Ying knew who the old man was. She frowned and said, "Senior Wang, this is an internal affair of the Knowledge Seeking Realm. The eight families run the Knowledge Seeking Realm together. As a representative of the Zhang Family, I'm demanding the arrest of Liu Wenyan. This has nothing to do with you."

The old man was furious. He said, "Are you threatening me with Fiery Sea King? Back when I fought the myriad races, your grandpa—"

"Senior Wang!" Zhang Ying cut him off and said, "As you said, back then. You're getting old. Why are you running around instead of staying in seclusion?"

Many of the surviving old warriors who had fought for humanity back then were living miserably due to the many injuries they had suffered during the war. Almost all of them had been staying exclusively in seclusion in an attempt to delay their death. They weren't doing this because they feared death. Rather, they were only preserving their lives to fight one last time for humanity when the final war arrived.

In fact, among these old survivors, Niu Baidao was the most vigorous one. The others were mostly struggling at death's door.

Senior Wang was one of those who had yet to recover from his injuries even after all these years. He couldn't stop coughing as he hovered in the sky. Furious, he rebuked, "Ignorant fool! Shut your mouth! The Knowledge Seeking Realm...is not the holy land of...Zhang Family. It is not the holy land of the...eight families. It is the holy land of...all human cultural researchers! The Zhang Family is only one of the administrators, not the ruler! You ignorant fool!"

Furious at being rebuked, Zhang Ying said, "Senior Wang, your injuries are too heavy. I suggest you go back and focus on recuperation instead. The world has changed. Four hundred years have passed."

Why was this old man who was on the verge of dying being such a busybody?

"Impudent! You! You!"

Senior Wang raised his hand in fury, but he lowered it again. All of a sudden, sorrow gripped his heart. He wasn't completely helpless. He wouldn't have any trouble killing a mere first-stage Sunmoon like Zhang Ying.

But...that was the granddaughter of a comrade who had once fought beside him. He was assaulted by grief and helplessness. The Knowledge Seeking Realm...was no longer the same.

After so many years of seclusion, the world had changed into something he could no longer recognize.

After coughing a few more times, he spoke with some difficulty, "The eight families...no, it's nine families now. The Zhang Family...alone does not represent the Knowledge Seeking Realm! You...need the agreement of...the other families!"

He looked at the others and asked, "What is your decision? Do you agree with her? The divines and devils are our mortal enemies! The myriad races...can't be trusted! More than four hundred years ago...they carried out boundless slaughter in the Human Realm! More than four hundred years ago, I fought the myriad races alongside your seniors! We didn't fight...for the divines and devils! We fought...the divines and devils!"

As he spoke, his crooked back straightened, his coughing and gasping stopped, as he said, "Over four hundred years ago, we fought the divines and devils. We killed, and killed, until they bowed. Until they retreated. Today, we are a hundred times, or a thousand times stronger than before. But why...do you fear these divines and devils now? What is there to fear?"

His gaze landed on the divine who had spoken earlier. His killing intent surged as he said, "The human race of today is no longer the human race of the past. Four hundred years ago, all these bastards would have died by now. Back then, we had nothing to lose. Thus, we feared nothing. Today, Great Qin King and the others have too many things to lose. Have they forgotten the devastation back then?"

He was furious. These people shouldn't have appeared in the Human Realm. They shouldn't have appeared in Nanyuan. If internal strife must happen, it should happen among fellow humans, not before the myriad races. He was even more furious at how short-sighted the younger generations of the Knowledge Seeking Realm were.

Back then, they would have swallowed their anger in the presence of the myriad realms. How could they humiliate Great Xia before the myriad races? For hundreds of years, the Xia Family had served as the vanguard of humanity in the war against the myriad races.

How could they do this? Damn it! Senior Wang was incomparably furious. But he also felt sorrowful and helpless. He was old and crippled. Who among these youngsters would listen to him?

Liu Wenyan appeared as calm as ever. He smiled and said, "Senior Wang, I guess you should just let me be. Since the Knowledge Seeking Realm wishes to arrest me, so be it. Come on, then. Come. Arrest me. I'm here. I'm waiting."

Zhang Ying's expression changed slightly as she asked coldly, "Are you disobeying the will of the Knowledge Seeking Realm?"

"Do you represent the Knowledge Seeking Realm?" Liu Wenyan laughed, "Do you...even know what the Knowledge Seeking Realm is? Do you know how the Knowledge Seeking Realm came to be?"

Liu Wenyan roared with laughter.

"The Knowledge Seeking Realm was founded after the various prefectures were founded. About three hundred years ago, my martial ancestor, Mr. Xia Chen, founded the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, the first cultural research academy in the Human Realm. The other cultural research academies came after that. My martial ancestor joined hands with Great Ming King, Great Han King, Great Song King, Great Shang King, Great Zhou King, and a few other Invincibles to found the Knowledge Seeking Realm. They founded it to explore the greater mysteries of cultural research cultivation. It was never meant to be the ruler of humanity. It is merely a shrine, a shrine of culture and knowledge..."

Liu Wenyan continued, "The likes of you...are shrine keepers. Not rulers. The Knowledge Seeking Realm does not represent all cultural researchers of humanity. That is even more so for those from my line, since we were the founders of this shrine you're keeping. You have no jurisdiction over me. I don't owe you anything. Rather, you owe us. The power and authority you enjoy today originated from my martial ancestor. Who are you to arrest me?"

Liu Wenyan raised his voice, "Tell your Fiery Sea King to get over here. Ask him. Ask him if the Knowledge Seeking Realm has the authority to arrest those from the main line of the multiple character faction!"

Nobody said a single word.

Marquis Xia laughed. Senior Wang laughed as well. He said, "I doubt Fiery Sea King will say yes to that question."

The faces of Zhang Ying and the others fell.

Clenching her teeth, Zhang Ying said, "That is the past. Things have changed. Liu Wenyan, are you disobeying the holy land? Are you betraying humanity?"

Liu Wenyan sighed.

Noticing the cold expression and the slowly raising hand of Marquis Xia, Liu Wenyan shook his head at the marquis. He smiled, "Marquis, looks like I have no choice but to bear more crimes."

Right after saying that, he vanished with a flicker before swinging his axe. Since these people couldn't be reasoned with, it was time to apply some force.

Alarmed, Zhang Ying shouted, "Kill him!" For more chapters visıt ɴovelfire.net

The Sunmoons around her hesitated, but when they saw Liu Wenyan charging at them, they had no choice but to act. Several characters manifested to meet the axe.

However, they felt an incomparably powerful weight behind the axe. This was the character of Ye Batian. This was the weight behind Ye Batian's character.

At that moment, Liu Wenyan stepped out of thin air. He sneered and said, "Everyone calls me the second Ye Batian. But my teacher is my teacher. I am my own person. I am Liu Wenyan."

A sword appeared in his hand.

The axe belonged to his teacher.

The sword belonged to him.

"Heavens, sever!"

With a roar, a sword cleaved the sky apart. This was Liu Wenyan at the peak of the Mountainsea Realm. He was only a peak Mountainsea, yet the power of his sword far surpassed that level.

This was the real Liu Wenyan.

As the sword descended, Senior Wang reached out, intending to stop the clash. But then, he sighed and withdrew his arm.

The sword dropped down at an unprecedented speed.

A head dropped.

An expression of utter disbelief was frozen on the face of that head. Even until her final moments, she could not believe that someone would dare to kill her. After that attack, Liu Wenyan exhaled and pulled back. His axe also returned with him. Everyone else was still stunned. Nobody moved.

A moon dropped from the sky. Source qi dispersed everywhere, and multiple characters crumbled apart.

With one strike, the granddaughter of Fiery Sea King, Zhang Ying, had been killed.

With complete indifference, Liu Wenyan said, "I'm a traitor. Come. Arrest me."

If this was the humanity he was supposed to fight for, he would rather turn against it. In any case, these people couldn't even represent humanity as a whole.

Silence descended. A direct descendant of an Invincible had been slain publicly.

Shortly after, the air warped.

An old man walked out. Looking at the dead Zhang Ying, the old man strode over and picked up the severed head. With a sigh, he said, "Liu Wenyan, even if she was wrong, did that give you the right to kill her?"

"Zhang Qi!"

Senior Wang's expression changed. That was the father of Zhang Ying, and the son of Fiery Sea King. He was an eighth-stage Sunmoon.

Liu Wenyan said nothing. Instead, Ye Hongyan rushed forth and questioned, "Zhang Qi, what are you trying to do?"

The old man laughed, "He killed my daughter. What do you think?"

His laughter seemed eerie.

After putting Zhang Ying's corpse away, he looked at Marquis Xia and asked, "Xia Xiao'er, is the Xia Family going to continue protecting him?"

Marquis Xia shut his eyes and said nothing.

The answer was clear.

Yes. The Xia Family would continue protecting him.

Chapter 1205: Su Yu's Super Secret Weapon (1)

Marquis Xia remained silent.

But not everyone decided to stay silent. Hong Tan stepped forth, looked at Zhang Qi, and said, "Zhang Qi, you're also an expert of the older generation. You understand why we're here in Nanyuan. Now...nobody is untouchable. Zhang Ying deserves her death. Is the line of Fiery Sea King intending to interfere at this time?"

Zhang Qi sank into a short silence before replying, "I am my own man. My father is his own man. I know what you're doing here. But...Liu Wenyan killed my daughter. Zhang Ying was merely acting according to the rules and regulations when she demanded his arrest. What wrong did she do?"

Why was the multiple character faction here? To lure the traitor out. This might as well be an open secret at this point. With the Zhang Family stepping forth, one couldn't help but suspect them as well. But would the real traitor be so stupid and obvious about it?

Hong Tan and Liu Wenyan frowned. They said nothing else.

Marquis Xia opened his eyes and sighed, "Be direct. What do you want?"

"One carrier treasure."

"..."

Silence descended yet again.

Even Liu Wenyan was stunned. He had killed Zhang Ying to deter the masses from doing anything stupid. When Zhang Qi arrived, he had thought that the battle would break out in earnest. He was ready to face a bitter battle.

But what did Zhang Qi just say?

Zhang Qi calmly said, "Liu Wenyan, my daughter only acted according to the rules and regulations. She did no wrong. The rules and regulations were set by the eight families, not my daughter alone. It is reasonable and fair for the Knowledge Seeking Realm to penalize you for killing others, yet you killed her in response. The multiple character faction is pursuing its own goal today and the Zhang Family does not intend to interfere. We only act according to the rules and regulations, but you have broken the rules."

Liu Wenyan asked in fury, "You have been here since the beginning?"

Was Zhang Qi here since the beginning?

He did not answer.

Meanwhile, Yuan Qingdong and the others shivered. Had...Had Zhang Qi gone mad? He wanted to affirm his dao so much he had lost his mind!

Zhang Qi was a step away from the ninth-stage Sunmoon Realm. At that point, he would require carrier treasures if he wanted to affirm his dao in the future. And how had he gone about acquiring his carrier treasures?

The hearts of Yuan Qingdong and the others chilled. When Liu Wenyan started killing, they were alarmed, but they weren't really fearful. But now, they were fearful. If this was how Zhang Qi viewed his daughter, what about their own parents? All of them were early-stage Sunmoons. Where were their parents?

Yuan Qingdong swallowed as he trembled with fear. Follow current novᴇls on novel⦿fire.net

Madness. Absolute madness. Had all these people gone mad? The prospect of dao affirmation had driven them all mad.

Zhang Qi had definitely arrived long ago. He had deliberately waited for Liu Wenyan to kill his daughter before appearing. He might even have encouraged his daughter to provoke Liu Wenyan through voice transmissions.

They were not the only ones whose hearts were chilled.

Even some of the gathered myriad race experts felt a chill creeping up their spines. These humans were too ruthless.

Marquis Xia sighed. He stared at Zhang Qi for a long while and asked, "You want the carrier treasure?"

"Yes." Zhang Qi said, "Us of the Fiery Sea King's line are not traitors. We have served humanity admirably. My father has contributed greatly to humanity. I have also fought countless battles for humanity. I'm not a traitor. My daughter was not a traitor, yet Liu Wenyan had killed her. Even if you manage to lure the traitor out and kill the traitor, it won't affect us. Because we're not traitors. Your offense will be magnified when it is proven that we're not traitors, Liu Wenyan."

Marquis Xia asked, "So you're proposing a private settlement?"

Zhang Qi said nothing.

"Hahaha!" Marquis Xia laughed helplessly with some sorrow in his laughter. He said, "I understand."

Zhang Qi was not the traitor. The Zhang Family was not the traitor either. Of course, they couldn't be completely discounted yet.

However, it was clear Zhang Qi wasn't here because he was a traitor. Rather, he was here to trade his daughter's life for a carrier treasure. Such an act was something Marquis Xia couldn't imagine doing.

Yet Zhang Qi was right. Regardless of why he did it, Liu Wenyan had still killed a fellow human, breaching the rules and regulations in place.

Unless he died during the coming battle, the Zhang Family would not let this matter rest the moment it was proven that Fiery Sea King was not the traitor. Not even Great Qin King and Great Xia King could stop them from pursuing justice.

Zhang Qi was too cold. He had sacrificed his daughter for his dao affirmation. For a carrier treasure, he had allowed his daughter to be killed.

Marquis Xia sighed, but soon, he laughed again. The laughter seemed to hide a special meaning behind it as he said, "Sure. If the Xia Family or Liu Wenyan manages to obtain the carrier treasures, you can have one. You impressed me, Zhang Qi. I'm curious. Is Fiery Sea King aware of this?"

Zhang Qi calmly replied, "No. I believe my father is not a traitor. Of course, I have no proof. You are free to continue. Lure the traitor out. If the traitor happens to be my father...forget about the carrier treasure since that will make me the son of a traitor. But if he's not the traitor, I'll expect a carrier treasure if either the Xia Family or Liu Wenyan manages to obtain these carrier treasures."

"..."

The surrounding experts felt like their horizons had been broadened. Liu Wenyan didn't even know what to say. What a ruthless man. He did not regret killing Zhang Ying, but Zhang Qi's appearance made him wonder if Zhang Qi had committed an offense as well.

If it was proven that neither Zhang Qi nor his father was the traitor, what Zhang Qi did wouldn't be considered an offense. His daughter had been killed and he had opted for a private settlement by demanding a carrier treasure as compensation.

Should they give it?

Or should they fight him instead?

This was not the kind of choice Liu Wenyan had expected to make.

Senior Wang was also looking at Zhang Qi with complicated expressions. He sighed and muttered, "It is true that...no love can be found in the house of a monarch."

He could only sigh. Trading the life of a daughter for a carrier treasure. Was this a worthy trade? Definitely. But humans were creatures of emotions. Not everything could be measured by value alone. Zhang Qi was so cold-blooded it was terrifying.

But he had not breached any of the existing rules and regulations. Liu Wenyan was the killer, not him. The only thing he had done was opting for a private settlement. That was cruel and selfish, but this was not something the Xia Family or Liu Wenyan would argue against.

Just why...did the Knowledge Seeking Realm turn into something like this?

In truth, the Xia Family and Liu Wenyan could reject this proposal. Since they had decided to throw caution to the wind and stop worrying about the future, what was there for them to fear? Yet they had agreed.

They did not reject the settlement. Zhang Qi had gone mad. They did not want to waste more time on a madman.

Meanwhile, Zhang Qi appeared completely calm. After putting the remains of his daughter away, he vanished. It almost felt like he was only here to collect his daughter's remains.

***

Not far away.

"How cold." Su Yu asked curiously, "Can someone like this succeed in dao affirmation? Is he even worthy of having his dao affirmed?"

Beside him, First Profound replied coldly, "Yes. To both of your questions. It's not like there aren't Invincibles out there who are just as cold. They are simply...not as straightforward. Zhang Qi...son of Fiery Sea King. My horizons have been broadened. But...maybe Zhang Ying wasn't even his daughter. Perhaps his wife cheated on him with someone else and Zhang Ying was the product. Someone as cold as him has the potential to grow very strong. I only hope that there won't be too many people learning from his example."

Zhang Qi was too cold and cruel. It was as though he was incapable of feeling any emotion. Then again, it wasn't like he was the only person capable of such cruelty amid the myriad races. With so many living beings in existence, all sorts of people existed.

But First Profound was also itching to kill Zhang Qi. If someone like this was able to affirm his dao one day, would he even care about the well-being of humanity? Would he fight for humanity?

If he could sacrifice his daughter, who could promise that he wouldn't do the same to humanity for his own benefit in the future? For someone like him, there was a price tag attached to everything.

Su Yu had mixed feelings as well.

In fact, many of the humans had the same reaction. Meanwhile, the non-humans found it more amusing than anything. One of them laughed and said, "Well done! Zhang Qi, son of Fiery Sea King. Truly impressive. You have my admiration. Hahaha!"

Someone else said, "Fiery Sea King must be the traitor. With a son like that, you can imagine how the father is as well. If you ask me, the Xia Family should stop with this farce and fight Fiery Sea King to the death with whatever trump card you're still hiding."

The myriad races were still trying to guess if the Xia Family was hiding more trump cards. Perhaps the First Divine Sect master was the trump card. It was also likely that they had more trump cards hidden away.

This was also why the myriad races had not dared to start a fight over the ruin rashly. They were all wary of the possible trump cards of Xia Family.

But it was definitely not surprising to see them trying to further incite the humans to fight each other. The myriad races would be more than happy to see that happen. That son of Fiery Sea King was truly a surprise.

The myriad race experts grinned as they witnessed the internal conflict of humanity unfolding before their eyes. One of them laughed and said, "The eight families are truly deep schemers. No wonder they only have some weaklings here. Perhaps the rest of them are also planning to do the same. Liu Wenyan, kill more of them. You can settle the debt with only eight carrier treasures, one for each family. Hahaha!"

"Hahaha!"

The other myriad race experts also howled with laughter.

Marquis Xia ignored them. He looked at Liu Wenyan and said with a sigh, "Come on in."

Liu Wenyan said nothing else and started approaching the city under the escort of Ye Hongyan and Uncle Liu.

Marquis Xia said, "If anyone wishes to die, feel free to stand in his way. The Xia Family might not be able to do much to the others, but we have enough strength to kill all of you."

Someone answered, "Don't worry, Marquis! We won't enter before the human traitor appears. Not even if the ruin ends up in your hands! Hahaha!"

"We're all very curious to see this fish the Xia Family is trying to catch! Just who could it be?"

"I wonder if it will be too big of a fish and end up dragging all of you down instead. We're all very curious about this."

The myriad race experts laughed with amusement. This was basically an open conspiracy against the traitor. Everyone could see what the Xia Family was doing here. They needed to wait and see just what trump card was the Xia Family hiding. But Liu Wenyan must have the ability to inherit the ruin and show enough potential. Otherwise, the traitor might choose to remain in hiding.

The main show was about to start.

And the myriad race experts were waiting with smiling faces. Those who had remained until now were naturally those confident in protecting themselves in the event of a battle. Those without such confidence had long pulled further away from the city.

Things were getting more and more interesting. Everyone was waiting. Waiting for the ruin to emerge and for the traitor Invincible to show up.

Chapter 1206: Su Yu's Super Secret Weapon (2)

Finally, Liu Wenyan was back in Nanyuan.

Su Yu and the other pavilion members continued their wait somewhere further away from the city.

Su Yu gazed at Nanyuan with complicated emotions. After a long while, he said, "Elder, for the sake of dao affirmation, some people are willing to give everything up. Is dao affirmation really worth such sacrifices?"

First Profound thought about it and shook his head, "Don't ask me. This isn't an easy question to answer. Some will say yes. Some will say no. But some will do anything as long as they can hide it. Abandoning their significant others and children, killing their children and parents...There are too many living beings in existence. All sorts of people exist. Someone like Zhang Qi might not even be that rare. Perhaps there are more people like him out there that you're simply not aware of."

Su Yu nodded. He asked again, "Elder, do you think he deserves death?"

"Yes. But..." First Profound paused slightly and added, "He can't be killed. He is the son of an Invincible. Unless you can prove his betrayal, you don't have the right to kill him. His father had fought for humanity. He had fought for humanity as well. If they're not traitors, what right do you have to take his life?"

Su Yu sank into silence. But suddenly, he recalled something.

Su Yu's heart skipped a beat. A certain someone had claimed that he might obtain boundless infamy after this whole incident. Was that person...going to do what Su Yu was thinking of?

Had that person foreseen everything? If so, that person would most definitely be someone of boundless infamy after he was done. At the very least, he would be rejected by the whole of humanity.

Sorrow gripped Su Yu's heart. Was that person...thinking of doing what he wanted to do as well? So many people had been lured here. Had that person...been waiting for this all along?

Su Yu looked toward northward. There, the capital of Great Xia stood.

Heart Cultivating Pavilion.

Wan Tiansheng was looking southward. His gaze penetrated the massive distance between the capital and Nanyuan to directly observe everything that was happening there.

When Zhang Ying was killed, a smile bloomed on his face.

And when he heard Zhang Qi's proposal, his smile grew wider.

"Emotions...human nature..."

With the same smile on his face, he withdrew his gaze and looked at the sky, in the Allheaven Battlefield's direction.

They had too many misgivings.

They had too many shackles around them.

In that case, he shall assume the role of the cleaner. He alone shall cleanse the world of darkness. He alone shall bear all the blame and hate. Hopefully, the slayer would be able to complete the slaying.

Heroes...shall remain heroes. He would complete the dirty task for them.

"The gathering in Nanyuan. The deaths in Nanyuan. Nanyuan...what a good place."

He returned to his rocking chair, flipped a book open, and started reading as his chair slowly rocked back and forth. Under the ray of sunlight, he appeared like a frail old man, yet he had an expression of pure bliss and contentment.

Let the sunlight disperse the darkness.

***

Nanyuan.

With Liu Wenyan's arrival, Great Xia started gathering its forces in Nanyuan. More and more of their experts entered the city.

Mayor's manor.

Marquis Xia was rapping on the desk while deep in thought. After a long time, he asked, "When will the ruin emerge?"

Hong Tan replied, "Roughly three days."

Marquis Xia nodded, "Everything has been made clear. I am clearly trying to lure him out. And he...might be observing attentively. No, he is definitely observing attentively."

Marquis Xia laughed and said, "Tell Chen Yong to return and break through into the Sunmoon Realm. I want to let the traitor know that if he remains idle, it is only a matter of time before the multiple character faction finds him and takes him down."

"Fine."

Hong Tan nodded, "Do you think the traitor will really show up?"

"Yes. If Liu Wenyan can really step into the late-stage Sunmoon Realm instantly, or even the middle stage, it will work. I'm only afraid that he won't be able to do that. I also need you to start spreading the disassembly method. I want to turn all cultural researchers of humanity into multiple character cultivators. Today, you will teach the Skysoar disassembly method. Tomorrow, you will move on to the Cloudbreach Realm. The day after, the Mountainsea Realm..." Follow current novels on novel⦿fire.net

"It still doesn't work for Mountainseas."

Marquis Xia rolled his eyes and said, "If I say it works, it works."

"Fine." Hong Tan said, "I'll start teaching the public. Does the Xia Family have any other preparations? I'm afraid that the traitor will be too wary to show up if the Xia Family does not show more of its preparations..."

"Yes." Marquis Xia grinned, "Of course we have. How can we do something like this without a trump card that can handle an Invincible? Don't worry. The traitor will learn of our trump card. Everyone will learn of it."

Hong Tan smiled as well, "That's good to hear."

The two stopped talking and looked in the direction of Su Yu's house. Liu Wenyan was there, and it was unknown how long he would take to reach the Sunmoon Realm. None of them had bothered to talk about Zhang Qi after Liu Wenyan entered the city. It was pointless.

As for whether the Xia Family would really give him a carrier treasure if they could seize one, Marquis Xia's answer was yes. But...Zhang Qi had to be alive to actually receive the treasure, right?

Someone like Zhang Qi would bring more harm than help to humanity as an Invincible. At worst, they would throw their reputation away. Why should they care about something like reputation when they were ready to throw even their lives away for this plan?

***

Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.

Su Yu had returned to their temporary base of operations.

Liu Wenyan had successfully entered the city so there was no longer any need for him to keep a close eye on Nanyuan.

At this point, they were almost ready to launch the finale of the plan. In truth, there wasn't that big of a role for Su Yu to play anymore. The smartest thing for him to do was to return to the Allheaven Battlefield.

But...would he? Could he?

Nope.

Liu Wenyan, Bai Feng, Hong Tan, Chen Yong, Xia Huyou, Marquis Xia, Ye Hongyan...

Too many people. Some were close to him. Some weren't. But these were the people who had once helped or protected him. When all these people were preparing to face death, he couldn't bring himself to leave. Would the plan work?

Su Yu had no idea. What if the traitor remained in hiding? All their hard work would go to waste. Could people like Ji Hong and Chen Yong really ascertain the identity of the traitor through what they had been doing?

Su Yu wasn't too optimistic about that. Even if they could reduce the list of suspects, they wouldn't be able to do anything without proof.

"Why did he kill Ye Batian? To avoid the activation of Human Realm's suppressive force? Or was it merely due to a personal grudge?"

Nobody knew the answer apart from the traitor. They could only hope that the traitor would feel threatened enough by Liu Wenyan to show up. But what if that wasn't enough?

"The biggest genius of the multiple character faction isn't Teacher Liu. It's me."

Su Yu smiled. Yes. It was him. He was the multiple character cultivator with the biggest potential to eventually affirm his dao. If Teacher Liu wasn't enough for the traitor, what about him?

Would he be enough? Definitely. Just how long had it been since he started cultivating? How much had he achieved in such a short time?

He was constantly under pressure of death qi. What if he could contend against late-stage Sunmoons despite that?

"If I fully open the yang acupoint, it will start devouring source qi without any limit. I don't have enough source qi to feed it...but I have a limitless amount of death qi! At that time, it probably can't be called the yang acupoint anymore. It will be more apt to call it the death acupoint. Will I get myself killed with this reckless attempt?"

Su Yu grinned with madness in his eyes. He reversed his source qi into death qi and started pumping death qi into the yang acupoint. The bright yang acupoint instantly darkened as it became filled with death qi.

"Sure enough, it can accept death qi as well."

The smile on his face grew wider. What would happen if the yang acupoint was fully opened?

Bai Tianhao of Bai Family had killed a seventh-stage Mountainsea as a ninth-stage Cloudbreach with a fully opened yang acupoint. This was a feat very few people could achieve.

Was that ancestor of Bai Family even a super genius? Did he open 360 acupoints? Did he forge his body beyond thirty-six times?

No, he didn't.

Yet even someone of mediocre talent like him could achieve that feat with a fully opened yang acupoint. One could only imagine how big of a boost a fully opened yang acupoint would grant.

All along, he had refrained from fully opening it as he would lose control of it without the yin aperture to serve as a counterbalance. But now, he had thought of an alternative. A very interesting alternative. He seemed to have an unlimited supply of death qi.

In that case, would the yang acupoint drain the source of death qi dry first or would the death qi fill the yang acupoint to its limit first?

Which among the two would prevail?

Su Yu laughed.

What an interesting question.

He wasn't anywhere near locating the yin aperture, but he was in no rush. Perhaps this would be a good chance for him to kill more cultural researchers of the myriad races and obtain the locations of more apertures.

As time passed, the yang acupoint continued opening up. Death qi was flowing into the yang acupoint endlessly. He could feel his strength continuously growing stronger. He felt...very powerful. Much more powerful than before when the yang acupoint was only half-opened.

***

At the same time.

Grandstar City.

At the other end of the tunnel under the city was an incomparably massive world. Inside the world was a palace filled with death qi. Inside the palace, Xing Yue was suddenly roused awake.

The death qi in its body was flowing out endlessly. And the volume was only growing. An incorporeal channel was constantly transferring the death qi out of its body.

A certain someone was taking in death qi like a bottomless pit.

It was happening at an alarming rate.

It, no, she, stood up and instantly vanished before reappearing at the entrance of the tunnel. There, she asked, "Where's Su Yu?"

Her gaze landed on the city in search of Su Yu. Grandstar ignored her question. He kept his eyes shut.

But suddenly, he sensed something and opened his eyes, "You...your death qi...is stirring violently."

"Where's Su Yu?" Xing Yue asked coldly, "Where is he? He's not in the Allheaven Battlefield anymore. Where did he go?"

Damn it!

What was the little shit doing? The little shit was madly absorbing her death qi at an astonishing rate. She had no idea what the little shit was doing.

Grandstar was surprised as well. What was Su Yu doing? It felt as though he was madly devouring Xing Yue's death qi. Was the kid using that special reversal art again? Why waste his effort? What could he possibly achieve by doing this?

He should stop upon reaching a balance. It wasn't like he could sever his connection with Xing Yue. There would be no end to the death qi going into his body. Was he perhaps dreaming of draining a death sovereign of death qi? Was that a joke?

A death sovereign was an Invincible. Had the kid forgotten what his cultivation level was? Wow...just look at how energetic the kid was. Grandstar started regretting not spending more time outside the city. Ignoring Xing Yue, Grandstar suddenly moved away.

Xing Yue was stunned when she noticed Grandstar moving away from the entrance of the tunnel. The moment Grandstar moved away, a large amount of death qi entered his body as backlash.

But almost immediately, all the additional death qi vanished. Grandstar did not even need to do anything. Xing Yue was stunned.

"Are you...trying to kill him?"

Why would Grandstar shift so much of the death qi to Su Yu otherwise? Grandstar ignored the question. He was merely experimenting. That kid was too energetic. Since the kid was working so hard to drain Xing Yue's death qi, the kid might as well take more of his burden as well, right?

Chapter 1207: Su Yu's Super Secret Weapon (3)

At the same time, Su Yu's body shook slightly.

A large volume of death qi had suddenly entered his body.

Curious, he wondered if this was the stone statue yet again.

Whatever.

What was there to fear?

At that moment, his yang acupoint had turned completely black. It was still swallowing death qi endlessly, as though it was determined to continue until it drained Su Yu dry. And inside Su Yu's body, the death qi seemed to be answering the challenge.

More and more death qi arrived. Death Sovereign Xing Yue continued pumping more death qi into Su Yu's body. She refused to believe that as a death sovereign, she would not be able to handle a mere Su Yu.

Exhausting her death qi? Let's see how long he could keep this up! How dare he challenge her!

As long as the death qi within Su Yu's body remained at a certain level, she was limited in how much death qi she could send his way. But since he was somehow reducing the death qi in his body, she was allowed to send even more death qi into his body. The laws allowed that, and the kid could only blame himself for that. It was as though the yang acupoint and the death qi had entered an ego-measuring contest.

As for Su Yu, he only felt stronger and stronger. The yang acupoint had yet to even fully open. The original 360 acupoints in his body had been fused into nine acupoints. At the moment, all nine of them were orbiting the dark yang acupoint, looking like nine dark celestial bodies.

All nine of those acupoints were also black in color. With the nine acupoints in charge of transferring death qi into the yang acupoint, a sort of connection was established between the yang acupoint and the nine acupoints.

He could clearly feel his body constantly growing in strength. Eventually, the nine acupoints and the yang acupoint started showing signs of fusion. At that point, he gained an even bigger boost of strength.

Su Yu couldn't help but wonder just how strong he would be after fully opening his yang acupoint and completing his sixty-second body forging. That yang acupoint seemed capable of increasing his physical strength without any limits. How impressive.

"The old master of Bai Family..."

Su Yu couldn't help but recall one person.

Bai Feng's grandfather.

He was confident that the old man had opened the yang acupoint as well. And he was also fairly certain that the old man was probably on the verge of being drained dry by the yang acupoint.

Wouldn't that...be the perfect resident of an ancient city? Of course, he had to first learn the reversal art, or the death qi in his body might lose control and kill him before his yang acupoint could do much.

"If he learns the reversal art and converts into a resident, he will no longer suffer from his yang acupoint. In fact, he will be able to start liberally using his strength!"

Su Yu was more worried that the death spirit in charge of converting the old master would be too weak to support the yang acupoint. Would his death spirit be fine? Well, there should be no issues, right?

After all, it was a death sovereign who had converted him. As of this moment, he felt boundless gratitude toward Xing Yue. Thankfully, it was Xing Yue. If it was a regular Sunmoon death spirit instead, that death spirit would probably die feeding his yang acupoint. That would be regretful.

With such a thought in his mind, Su Yu continued working on his yang acupoint. Since there was no limit to his supply of death qi, he would put it to use. The more power his yang qi gathered, the stronger he would be. After fully opening the yang acupoint, he might even be able to consume the blood essence of eight-stage Sunmoons.

At that time, with an Invincible providing him with an unlimited supply of death qi, he might be able to put up a fight against some of his potential opponents.

Mo Duona? Thɪs chapter is updated by novel⚑fire.net

Young geniuses with ancient emperors attached to their bodies?

Heh, Su Yu thought that he now had a super trump card as well: a death sovereign connected to him. What was there to fear?

Bring it on!

If their bodies could withstand the power of those ancient experts, he could most certainly do it as well. In terms of physical strength, he did not think he was weaker than them. Their ancient emperors might be strong, but his death sovereign was no pushover either.

If Teacher Liu was insufficient to lure the traitor out, he would step forth and become the bait.

And if even a super genius like him wasn't sufficient, then perhaps that traitor should simply sit back and await his death. They would slowly investigate, close in on him, and kill him.

***

Impressed by this wild idea of his, Su Yu was starting to feel smug again. Meanwhile, Grandstar was blanking out inside the ancient city. The kid was taking in even more death qi?

Holy shit!

Even after getting so much death qi from him, the kid was still draining more death qi from Xing Yue.

Death Sovereign Xing Yue was greatly shocked as well. She started wondering...if she would ever be able to fully transform that kid into a death spirit. Furious, she decided to stop thinking about it. She gnashed her teeth and decided to throw more death qi the kid's way. That would teach the damn kid a lesson!

At the same time, Grandstar was also stealthily sending even more death qi to Su Yu. It would be fine. But Su Yu showed no signs of faltering. He was still actively draining Xing Yue of her death qi.

Grandstar was stunned yet again.

Holy shit!

Was that really possible? He had actually been underestimating the kid all along! He had been worrying that the kid would die if he left the city for too long. But instead...

What was going on?

Grandstar stretched and said to Xing Yue, "Don't cause trouble. I'm going on a stroll. Do you understand me?"

Xing Yue stared at him blankly. Ignoring Xing Yue's reaction, Grandstar vanished. It was time for him to party—no, visit his old friends.

Wow. This felt great!

He did not need to bear any death qi at all. That madman known as Su Yu was crazily absorbing death qi for some reason. Even after leaving the ancient city, Grandstar couldn't feel any death qi coming his way.

What in the world? In the blink of an eye, he appeared above a different ancient city.

Heavendoom City.

Heavendoom was stunned. He rubbed his eyes. Was he seeing things?

However, Grandstar did not disappear. Thus, he continued rubbing his eyes. After a while, Grandstar laughed, "Heavendoom, the world has changed massively. But it's still as beautiful as ever. I'm taking a good look at the world. You...may continue enjoying life in your city."

"Grandstar..."

But Grandstar was already gone.

Heavendoom's eyes widened. Holy shit!

He came?

And he left?

He was moving in his real body!

What the fuck was this? Where was the promised death qi backlash?

Unless a guardian found someone else to bear the death qi, the guardian wouldn't be able to leave. Otherwise, the tunnel would no longer remain suppressed. So where was Grandstar's death qi?

Stone statues like them could always leave their cities momentarily, but not for long. Perhaps in the span of three to five seconds, all the residents would die from bearing the increased burden of death qi.

For Grandstar to come here, he needed more time than that, right? And he was even going somewhere else as well?

"No...Su Yu...yes, Su Yu!"

Furious, Heavendoom punched Mayor Tian He.

"Fuck!"

What happened? Tian He was collapsing emotionally. In the city, only the stone statue could attack him like this.

What happened?

Before fainting, Tian He even wondered if he was the very first ancient city mayor to be knocked unconscious by their stone statue.

Heavendoom glared at the fainting Tian He and asked furiously, "Why didn't you abdicate your position to Su Yu previously?"

"..."

Tian He was able to hear that question before fully losing consciousness.

He was confused.

What?

What did he do to offend the stone statue?

***

That day, a stone statue became an adventurer.

Sea of Stars.

Stepping into the ancient city under the sea, Grandstar greeted, "Big Brother, wake up."

The stone statue in the city opened his eyes. After staring at Grandstar for a while, he shut his eyes again as his ancient voice rang out, "Did you get a new mayor? Don't do anything stupid. It must be the human I saw previously, the one with the ability to reverse death qi. Be careful lest the death qi grows too powerful and reopen the tunnel..."

Grandstar nodded, "I understand."

He hesitated before asking, "Can I take a look at the Human Realm?"

"No. Do not lead death qi into the Human Realm."

"My mayor is in the Human Realm."

The ancient stone statue sank into silence. After a while, he said, "Try to get him back as soon as possible. You should stop running around as well."

"Fine."

Grandstar nodded and vanished.

Looking at the direction Grandstar had gone, the ancient stone statue shut his eyes and returned to slumber. It wasn't a good idea for Grandstar to run around. If he accidentally caused a tunnel to form between the Human Realm and the Death Realm, he would be the one to guard that tunnel according to their rules.

If that happened, and if the ancient Emperor of humanity was in the Death Realm as well...hehehe. Grandstar would get a whole new appreciation of what the word disaster meant.

What a fool.

How could Grandstar allow his mayor to enter the Human Realm? Wasn't he aware that this was very dangerous?

Whatever. The ancient stone statue decided to return to sleep.

Chapter 1208: The Glorious Profound Nine (1)

"Profound Nine, are you fine?"

When First Profound saw Su Yu the next day, he was greatly astonished. What happened?

First Profound asked, "Are you out of heavenly source qi?"

Why was the death qi in Su Yu's body so thick? In the past, he couldn't even feel the death qi in Su Yu's body, but now, he could clearly feel it.

Su Yu gloomily said, "I'm fine. I'm merely a dying person fighting for a tiny chance to keep living. This is to be expected after staying away from the ancient city for so long. If the death qi hadn't been suppressing my strength, I would have been able to kill even third-stage Sunmoons!"

"..."

First Profound was stunned. Was the kid really dying or was the kid pretending? That tone of voice...and that attitude...felt like someone ready to go all out and do something crazy. He was suppressed by death qi.

Thus, his real strength wasn't at the early-stage Sunmoon Realm. Rather, he was probably at the middle or late stage. Was that what he was trying to say? He sure was good at making things up. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novelꜰire.net

Liu Wenyan said, "Everyone, Liu Wenyan has entered the city. The ruin will emerge soon. Due to the thick death qi in my body, I can clearly feel the increased rate of heavenly source qi release in the city. It won't be long."

Everyone stirred in excitement upon hearing that.

Was the ruin really emerging?

Finally!

They had been feeling quite stressed as of late.

The Titanic Strength Sect master asked, "When will it emerge? What should we do about the Xia Family? Everyone knows that the Xia Family is luring the traitor Invincible out so they definitely have a way to contend against even Invincibles."

Su Yu said, "That has nothing to do with us. Let the strong deal with the strong. We only need to keep killing those trying to fish in troubled waters. Luck is fickle. Why are so many young geniuses here? Because the myriad races believe that these young geniuses have fortune on their side. That is why these geniuses are still here even if things are getting dangerous. They believe that the ultimate winner might not be the strongest expert. Rather, it will be one of them."

The Titanic Strength Sect master exclaimed in realization, "So that's why!"

Everyone else rolled their eyes. How was this idiot only aware of this now? Wasn't this obvious?

Why else would these young geniuses be here otherwise? At times, the luck of these young geniuses was incredibly unpredictable, magical even. A lot of times, these geniuses were the ones to benefit regardless of how hard the various experts tried. That was why the various races had deployed their young geniuses here.

Su Yu said, "And these people will be our targets. We can intercept them. We can kill them. But we can't allow them to get the treasures in the ruin. As for the Xia Family and the traitor Invincible, or the tri-life bodies of the other Invincibles, that isn't something for us to worry about."

"I understand."

When they looked at Su Yu again, they couldn't help but feel somewhat regretful. Profound Nine was a super genius as well. They didn't know him well, but they could see that he was quite young as well. He was so strong, yet the thick death qi around him indicated that he didn't have long to live. Clearly, not even heavenly source qi could suppress the death qi in his body anymore.

This wasn't even the effect Su Yu had deliberately created. Rather, a certain stone statue had skipped on his job, causing this to happen. Su Yu was so frustrated that he felt like coughing blood. He felt like at this point, not even shutting his yang acupoint again would help. That damn stone statue had run off from the ancient city!

What a lazy stone statue!

Thanks to the lazy stone statue, he couldn't even hide the surging death qi in his body anymore. With the stone statue gone, he alone was bearing the burden of the ancient city, including the backlash from leaving the city for both him and the stone statue.

His annoyance was understandable. He had no choice but to further encourage his yang acupoint to absorb all the extra death qi. That was the only choice left to him.

Su Yu was left quite speechless by what the stone statue was doing. Was the lazy stone statue getting addicted to skipping work? Previously, the stone statue would only leave momentarily. That was still acceptable. But this was a tad bit too excessive! How could the stone statue skip work like that? He was sure the stone statue had yet to return from the surging death qi in his body.

He could only hope that the stone statue would return to work soon. After all, he might require the stone statue's help later. What was he supposed to do if the stone statue wasn't available to help when he required it?

Tossing the matter to the back of his mind, Su Yu said, "Let's go. We'll wait outside Nanyuan. The ruin will emerge in a few days. The traitor Invincible might even try something to test the Xia Family. Let us enjoy the show. Do not allow anyone to leave after arriving."

"Yes."

And thus, the group of Sunmoons moved out and formed an encirclement around Nanyuan.

The former sect masters felt great. They were encircling a city of Great Xia right before Xia Family's eyes. Sure, this was dangerous. Sure, they might even be forced to fight the divines and devils. But this felt liberating!

In the past, the Xia Family was so ferocious no cultist would dare to try anything under their watch. But now...hehehe. They could do anything they pleased. What could the Xia Family do to them?

So what if this would offend the Xia Family? They were no longer cultists. They were now pavilion members! Thanks to such thoughts, the former cultists were working very hard under Su Yu's command.

***

"The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion is here again."

"They're everywhere."

"How brazen."

"Of course they're brazen. Just look at their numbers. They have dozens of Sunmoons. Individually, which race can contend against them here? Previously, the devils suffered in their hands. And what did the devils do? They could only swallow their losses."

A myriad race genius asked, "Just when is the ruin emerging? Things are feeling more and more dangerous here in the Human Realm. I can almost smell the arrival of death."

"So you're feeling this as well? I'm feeling the same. Everyone, a battle between Invincibles might really break out here. Are we really staying?"

"Just what is the Xia Family going to use to fight Invincibles? Are they relying on the First Divine Sect master?"

The various young geniuses could feel the impending danger. Things were getting more and more dangerous. However, they had to stay since their respective races had ordered them to do their best and snatch the Culture Tomb.

Here, the young geniuses would be the main players while the top experts would only serve as helpers. This did not sound right at all.

The young geniuses were the ones in charge of fighting for the treasures while the top experts were only in charge of handling the other top experts instead of the other way around. But according to the experience of the myriad races, these young geniuses had a much higher success rate when fighting for these absolute treasures. It was more likely for the top experts of the older generations to perish instead.

Thus, there was a good reason for the myriad races to make this arrangement.

While everyone was busy discussing among themselves.

Suddenly, Hong Tan soared into the sky and said, "Today, the myriad races are here. There are many human experts here as well. It has been proven that the ruin here is a cultural researcher ruin. Great Xia does not wish to see everyone returning empty-handed. Thus, the multiple character faction will start teaching the disassembly method today. May humanity remain prosperous. May the multiple character faction of humanity last forever. May the myriad races learn from this."

Those words shocked all onlookers.

Immediately, someone protested, "No! Hong Tan, this isn't wise! You—"

Hong Tan cut that person off and continued, "We will pass on our teachings. May the teachings of the multiple character faction last for eternity. We might all die today. But the multiple character faction will remain. From today onward, the teachings of multiple character faction will be opened to the masses. Everyone will be able to cultivate straight to the Skysoar Realm instead of waiting. You can continue cultivating until you have more than ten characters before forming your character technique regardless of your cultivation level."

"Is this really possible?" Someone asked in excitement, "Will this work for Mountainseas and Sunmoons as well?"

Everyone could become a multiple character cultivator! This would greatly increase their combat strength.

Multiple characters working in a proper system would be far stronger than multiple characters working without a proper system. That was one of the main reasons why Liu Wenyan could kill Zhang Ying with only one strike.

Hong Tan answered, "Yes. But remember this. Danger might befall you after becoming a multiple character cultivator. You might turn into the target of the myriad races. Those from the myriad races are here. They know this. You know this. Thus, you need to be ready for what you might face."

"We understand." A young genius frowned and asked, "Faculty Head Hong, the previous limitation of forming sufficient characters before the Skysoar Realm has always been a way to separate the qualified from the unqualified. Eliminating this limitation might not be a wise thing to do."

Hong Tan looked at the speaker and asked, "Which prefecture are you from? Are you a multiple character cultivator as well?"

"I'm Yuan Shiji of Great Yuan, a Mountainsea of the multiple character faction." The youngster cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Faculty Head Hong, talent and resources are required to become a multiple character cultivator. Furthermore, the growth of all characters are required to properly display the strength of a character technique. It won't be enough to progress only the main character. The disassembly method might not be a good thing for our faction. Please consider this carefully."

Numerous furious gazes landed on him upon hearing those words.

"What is this? Are you trying to preserve the monopoly and rob us of this chance?"

"That's right!"

"Why can't we learn this as well?"

Hong Tan replied, "That is not something I care about. I am only doing my part to ensure the continuation of our teachings."

"Faculty Head, please think carefully. The myriad races are here. Even if you're doing this, you shouldn't let the myriad races learn what you know. This will prevent them from finding any loopholes to exploit..."

Hong Tan said, "This is my intention. I want the myriad races to learn that the multiple character faction will never go away. Perhaps the cultural researchers of the myriad races can even learn from us and spread our teachings among the myriad races. The multiple character faction will thus spread everywhere. You will never be able to sever our legacy."

A divine finally lost his patience. He soared into the sky and asked coldly, "Are you determined to turn everyone into a multiple character cultivator? You are challenging the patience of the myriad races!"

A devil expert appeared as well. He said, "Great Xia, do not force us to declare war on you. Having the multiple character faction exist among humanity is already the limit of our tolerance. Are you trying to provoke a war that will spread across the various realms?"

An immortal spoke up as well, "Fellow Daoist Hong Tan, please think this through. This is not wise. We all know that humanity's immunity to the suppressive force of the various realms is the biggest threat of the myriad races. If the multiple character faction is allowed to spread its teachings everywhere, the myriad races will be forced to take action."

Following that, the nether, celestial chasm, and dragon races voiced their objection as well.

This was not allowed.

They would not allow this.

One of the reasons they were here was to verify if the disassembly method was real. And with Hong Tan promising to teach this method to the masses, it was likely that it was real.

If this was allowed to happen, they would never be able to eliminate the multiple character faction.

Hong Tan coldly said, "Are you going to stop me?"

Nobody answered. But the answer was clear.

Definitely.

They couldn't allow their teachings to spread. There wasn't anything they could do about Hong Tan and those from his line knowing these teachings. They could even tolerate spreading these teachings to a slightly larger group of people. But Hong Tan was trying to spread it everywhere.