Chapter 71 - 71

Chapter 1230: Main Body (2)

"Xia Huyou, how can the Xia Family slaughter the people of your own prefecture? You have gone mad!"

Xia Huyou said, "We can't force any justice on outsiders, but we can at least do something about our people. You have been enjoying our protection and grace, yet you are completely useless in external conflicts yet incredibly good at internal conflicts. Since the Xia Family is risking destruction, you guys should go to the afterlife in advance to serve as offering for the souls of Xia."

Boom!

One elder after another was killed.

Xia Huyou watched on from the sky indifferently. Since no Skysoars had been called to battle, he intended to leave them alone as well. They only needed to stay out of his way and he wouldn't touch them. But upon noticing someone, he landed on the group.

His gaze settled on a group of individuals attempting to flee. With a sigh, he said, "Huang Qifeng, so you're not dead? How lucky of you. Su Yu must have forgotten about a small fry like you. In fact, I've forgotten about you up until now as well."

Huang Qifeng hurriedly spoke in fear, "Xia Huyou...no, Prince, I'm only an Infinite Strength student. I'm not even a Skysoar. My service was never requested for the battle in Nanyuan..."

"Yes."

Xia Huyou nodded with a smile. Huang Qifeng was slightly relieved to see that.

"But...I personally feel like killing you."

"Sky! Sunder!"

With a roar and a swing of blade, a severed head dropped to the ground.

The eyes on that head were similarly widened in disbelief.

Xia Huyou looked at the companions of Huang Qifeng and said, "Kill them all. Yes, those below the Skysoar Realm weren't called to battle. But what is this luggage you're carrying with you? Are you preparing to flee Great Xia? The civilians are allowed to do this. But every single one of you is a reserve soldier. You are essentially deserting. The Xia Family will naturally allow you to go free when we are sure of our destruction. We won't ask for all of you to die with us. But we are still around, so why are you fleeing?"

At Xia Huyou's command, a group of soldiers rushed forth and killed all the students attempting to flee the academy.

Slaughter.

And carnage.

Miserable wails sounded all over the academy. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel~fire~net

Stepping on the blood-drenched ground, Xia Huyou walked around the academy indifferently. A rumble erupted above him as yet another Mountainsea was killed.

At this time, someone with disheveled hair rushed over and pleaded desperately, "Prince Huyou, I'm from the immortal race! The Immortal King Tian Yu is an ally of the Xia Family! Prince, please explain to these people that I'm different from the other immortals!"

Xia Huyou asked in surprise, "You're still here?"

He laughed, "I thought you were gone to Nanyuan as well. Why are you still here? Fairy Yu Xuan, there are quite a lot of immortals there."

Yu Xuan hurriedly said, "I...I couldn't bring myself to part with you..."

"Come here!" Xia Huyou beckoned at her. He flashed a friendly smile and said, "How touching. You couldn't bear to part with me?"

Yu Xuan flew over with horror on her face. She had not expected that the Xia Family would act against all these people who had refused to fight. These were the experts and geniuses produced by Great Xia.

Furthermore, the Xia Family was even killing the newly recruited students and the myriad race students. They had gone mad. As she approached Xia Huyou, she consoled herself that it would be fine. Xia Huyou adored her. He would protect her to gain the support of the immortals.

That thought had barely crossed her mind when she saw Xia Huyou raising his blade with a smile. Then, her head was severed from her body.

Xia Huyou said with disdain, "Immortal King Tian Yu? He's currently busy fighting our Invincibles."

With one swing of his blade, he had killed the fairy he had been fawning on recently. He even jested that this was a way to preserve her beauty for eternity.

He looked at the sky indifferently before turning to face the soldiers around him. He said, "Cleanse all the faculties. Apart from those commanded to stay behind, kill anyone at the Mountainsea Realm and above you see. As for the Skysoars and Cloudbreaches, arrest them for now. If they resist, kill. Nobody is an exception. Great Xia...has no need for such subjects."

"Yes!"

The soldiers moved out.

The chaos started spreading to the entirety of the city. An expert announced, "Everyone in the city is to remain indoors. The city is now in lockdown. This will remain for three days as we investigate the city for rebels."

Battles were erupting everywhere.

Some experts flew into the sky to flee, and some joined the battle against the soldiers. People were dying left and right.

Xia Huyou couldn't help but sigh. Great Xia had plenty of capable combatants. But with so many people in the prefecture, it was inevitable that they would produce some selfish cowards. It was fine for civilians to be afraid of fighting. But many of these experts had benefited and grown through Xia Family's patronage.

These people had been allowed to grow into powerful families and factions not to abuse their power in the prefecture. Rather, they had been allowed to grow so that they could lead by example in times of war. Alas, some had disobeyed and opted to stay behind.

In the sky, Zhou Mingren, who was riddled with wounds from his battle with the white dragon sighed. He said, "May I say a few words before I die?"

The white dragon looked at Xia Huyou. After giving it a thought, Xia Huyou nodded, "Yes, Faculty Head."

With his injured body, Zhou Mingren landed on the ground. He regarded Xia Huyou with a smile and said, "I understand why I must die. Strictly speaking, I am the culprit who has caused the many years of conflict between the single and multiple character factions."

Xia Huyou nodded, "I understand that you never intended to fully wipe them out. But why did you stay out of the battle in Nanyuan? Faculty Head Hong is there with the others. If you went, we might actually spare you..."

Some of the things the single character faction had done might not have been Zhou Mingren's intention. The single character faction was large. Some might act independently. He couldn't control everyone.

Zhou Mingren said, "I will still die for disobeying the Knowledge Seeking Realm. But I also understand the terrible reputation of Knowledge Seeking Realm in Great Xia."

"In that case, why did you choose to stay?"

Xia Huyou looked at Zhou Mingren. This was the sole Sunmoon who had remained in the city, excluding the two assisting him with the purge.

Zhou Mingren smiled, "You might not believe me, but I believed that the Xia Family could win. I might be able to preserve my life if I went. But...I'm tired. I have committed too many mistakes in my life. I am too selfish, and I have been tricked one too many times..."

He shook his head and laughed, "I'm not interested in living at the mercy of others, and watching helplessly as Hong Tan and the others regain power. A life of humiliation is not for me. In any case, I'm not innocent. I have knowledge of some matters, but I have merely been feigning ignorance, including the attempt on Feng Ji's life. I was unaware of the matter prior to that, but I was informed after it was done. And I opted to keep silent about it."

He laughed, "I did what I did. It's pointless to regret it. But...I predict you will find yourself in a problem of considerable size soon."

"Me?" Xia Huyou said, "What manner of problem will I encounter?"

Zhou Mingren said, "I contacted some people. They will be here soon."

"Who are those people?"

"I informed them that Great Xia's defenses were on the brink of collapse. In the capital, Senior White is the only Sunmoon left. In the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, countless grottos, cultivation methods, and other resources can be found. The Xia Family also has countless secret arts and treasures waiting for plunder."

Zhou Mingren grinned, "Thus, you will feel quite troubled soon. The criminals and other unsavory elements of humanity, some single character faction experts, and some Knowledge Seeking Realm experts might all be upon the city soon. Some might already be here. Protected by a single eighth-stage Sunmoon, the city is as good as naked. What do you think?"

Xia Huyou sighed, "So you created more trouble for me."

Zhou Mingren nodded, "But...I'm confident you have a way of solving this problem. Am I right? However, I advise you to keep me alive for now. It's fine to kill Mountainseas. Killing me will create a dropping moon everyone can see. They know that apart from Senior White, I'm the only Sunmoon left in the city. With my death, they will know that their plan to plunder the city has been exposed."

Xia Huyou asked, "Are they even capable of handling Senior White?"

One ought to remember that the old dragon was an eighth-stage Sunmoon.

After coughing a mouthful of blood from his injuries, Zhou Mingren said, "They can. Perhaps a ninth-stage Sunmoon will arrive. Or maybe three eighth-stage Sunmoons will come. Those will probably be individuals of considerable status in the Human Realm. Will you find the courage to kill such important individuals?"

"Why must you overestimate me so?" Xia Huyou shook his head, "This trouble is too much for me to deal with. Are you trying to get Xia Family destroyed?"

"Not at all." Zhou Mingren smiled, "I did notice that all of you were trying to lure more people to Great Xia. Just look at all those children of influential families and experts gathered in Nanyuan. I reckon none of them will survive. Our prefecture is, after all, great at producing lunatics. And since our lunatics are out in full force, I'm certain a massacre will follow. I was worried that you wouldn't get enough people to kill so I did what I could to contribute more lives to your blade."

Xia Huyou asked in surprise, "So you were aware of our plan?"

Zhou Mingren laughed again, "Of course. How many years have I been a peer of Hong Tan? Even Ye Batian and Yun Chen were people I had spent many years around. It was only a matter of time before I found out. In fact, when I first laid eyes on Wan Tiansheng after Ye Batian's death, I understood one thing. He has gone mad. He would seek revenge. But then...he stayed idle for fifty years. He did not even speak of it. When he acted against Yuming, that was a warning to me. I understood his meaning..."

Xia Huyou regarded Zhou Mingren silently. If he knew, why did he continue working against them?

Zhou Mingren laughed, "You don't understand. The multiple character faction has a special trait. Or should I say they have a major weakness? All of them are hopelessly loyal. Their unwillingness to be decisive has proven to be fatal to them. People like Ye Batian, the first and third principals, and even Wan Tiansheng share this weakness.

"Unless you truly force them, they will always find a reason to spare those they should have killed. For example, some were their former comrades. Some were their colleagues. They extended too much mercy to these people. In the end, Ye Batian died. And these people they had spared all jumped at the opportunity to turn against them.

"Isn't that foolish? Because of their stupidity, their juniors suffered. In truth, I had a decent relationship with them back then. If I were to apologize, they might even spare me. But I doubt I will stay idle if I stay alive. One day, I will turn against them again."

Xia Huyou asked, "So you're sacrificing yourself for them?"

"Not at all. I'm not that great a man." Zhou Mingren said, "I am merely uninterested in relying on their mercy to stay alive. That is too lowly an existence for my liking. I am also tired of being a chess piece. That will only make me look stupid. Everyone might think that the Zhou Family is the culprit in the suppression of the multiple character faction, but they have never been too involved. The only thing they did was plant me in Great Xia. They knew what I would end up doing. They knew me too well. They were complicit in all I did even if they had kept their hands mostly clean."

Xia Huyou said nothing.

Zhou Mingren continued, "I have one more thing to inform you, but I haven't been able to verify anything. This is merely a speculation of mine. I have been silent about it since it might be misleading. Are you interested?"

Xia Huyou smiled, "Tell me about it."

After a short hesitation, Zhou Mingren switched to voice transmission, "The Zhou Family has been researching the growth of characters. Characters, not cultural researchers. For example, they can have someone in the Mental Tempering Stage form a character. When the cultivator reaches a point where manifesting the character is possible, the Zhou Family will harvest the character before cultivating it independently of any cultivator."

Xia Huyou frowned slightly and replied, "This is indeed important. But...what's the big deal about a research like this?"

Zhou Mingren replied, "You're wrong. It's very important. Do you know who was the first person to propose this idea?"

"Zhou Polong?"

"No. His father, the one known as the Junior Zhou King." Zhou Mingren said, "With his death, the Zhou Family was forced to start from scratch since his research data was lost in the Allheaven Battlefield alongside him. In fact, the research was only resumed when Zhou Polong discovered some leftover data of his deceased father."

Xia Huyou was confused. And what was the problem with that?

Chapter 1231: Main Body (3)

Zhou Mingren shook his head, "Compared to your second granduncle and your father, you are indeed quite lacking in intelligence. Let me tell you one more thing. My student, Zheng Yuming, received his Mountainsea character from the Zhou Family. An artificially grown Mountainsea character. And how many years have it been? In less than fifty years, Zhou Polong has reached a level enough to produce Mountainsea characters after restarting the research from scratch. I also suspect that he might be capable of producing even Sunmoon characters."

Zhou Mingren continued, "How about his father? Human characters are unable to reach the Invincible Realm. But there is no such restriction for myriad race characters. Perhaps his father had produced even Invincible characters back then. As long as it's not a human character, anything is possible."

Noticing Xia Huyou's blank gaze, Zhou Mingren continued helplessly, "You...need to work on your intelligence. When an Invincible dies, a massive phenomenon will be produced. But who can guarantee that such a phenomenon can't be forged? For example, what would happen if one detonated an Invincible character? What if one sacrifices a tri-life body for it? The tri-life body of an Invincible?"

Finally, Xia Huyou's expression changed.

Zhou Mingren said, "Naturally, this is only my speculation. I have no proof. It won't be so easy to produce an Invincible character. Zhou Polong has been working hard in this direction for many years. I suspect that he might have guessed something as well. Is his father...really dead?"

Xia Huyou's heart skipped a beat. He said, "The traitor has appeared. Principal Wan is enough to deal with him. It matters not whether Junior Zhou King is still alive or not."

"No!" Zhou Mingren shook his head and said, "You're still not getting the point. Even if his death back then was fake, he wouldn't have enough time to kill Ye Batian. The attacker might be someone else instead."

Xia Huyou frowned, "Are you suggesting that there are two traitors among the Invincibles? Are you trying to say that he might have faked his death, but he wasn't the one who had killed the fifth principal? So he's still hiding somewhere while we only have the fifth principal's killer here? Is all this a guess?"

Zhou Mingren nodded, "Yes. I believe he faked his death."

"Why? What's the point?"

Zhou Mingren shook his head, "I have no answer to that. After all, I'm only speculating here. Also, to fake his death successfully, it is likely that he will require the help of the myriad race Invincibles. Of course, there is always a possibility that he is indeed dead and I'm merely being too imaginative. Or his act was realistic enough to fool even the myriad race Invincibles who were aiding him. He might not necessarily be a traitor as well, but what was his motive? And where is he hiding?"

"Why did you not speak of this before?"

Zhou Mingren smiled, "It's only a guess. It might be wrong. I don't want to mislead anyone, right? Consider this the rambling of someone without long to live."

At that, his aura started weakening as his body started falling apart. Eventually, only his sea of willpower was left. His voice rang out from the sea of willpower, "I don't know if anyone else from the Zhou Family has the same guess. I only hope that the Zhou Family...isn't the traitor. Can you keep my sea of willpower around until the traitor reveals himself? Allow me to die with less confusion..."

Then, he stopped speaking. All that was left of him was a dim ball of light. Xia Huyou frowned before sending all he had learned to his seniors. It did not matter if Zhou Mingren was wrong. It wouldn't hurt to warn his seniors of any potential variable.

So the Junior Zhou King might still be alive? Even if he was still alive, that did not necessarily mean that he was the traitor. But if he had really faked his death, he must be planning something major.

***

At the same time.

Wan Tiansheng landed another sword strike on the mysterious Invincible, causing the Invincible to cough blood endlessly.

He coldly said, "You won't last long unless you have your main body here."

As he said that, he turned around to push Devil King Lade back with yet another sword strike.

The aura of the mysterious Invincible roiled as he said in fury, "Wan Tiansheng, do you really think yourself capable of killing me?" Follow current novels on NoveI★Fire.net

"Isn't that obvious?" Wan Tiansheng answered nonchalantly, "You're only here in a tri-life body. Do you think I can't handle a mere tri-life body?"

He attacked repeatedly, creating more and more wounds on the body of the mysterious Invincible. As for Devil King Lade, he was putting less and less effort into the fight. Or to be precise, he was starting to consider withdrawal.

As he thought of escape, he glanced at the nearby ruin. He only wanted to grab two carrier treasures before fleeing. As for the Culture Tomb, he was ready to give up on it. He was lucky Wan Tiansheng was still focused on the human traitor. He wouldn't have lasted too long against Wan Tiansheng otherwise.

As for the traitor, he was getting more and more furious. Wan Tiansheng was getting too cocky. But Wan Tiansheng was also unreasonably strong.

Damn it!

"You're pushing me too far! Don't regret this!"

With an indignant roar by the Invincible, the River of Time spilled out of thin air. He was in a weakened state, but Wan Tiansheng did not take advantage of that. Rather, he waited indifferently as he said, "I'm waiting for you to complete assembling your main body. Do you think I'm joking?"

"You asked for this!"

Finally, the River of Time moved beyond the Human Realm. Wan Tiansheng was only preventing an escape, but he was not preventing the formation of the main body.

The Invincible had lost his calm from the beating he had received. His identity would be exposed after losing his tri-life body anyway. In that case, he might as well assemble his main body and fight properly.

***

At the same time.

Allheaven Battlefield.

Great Zhou King's expression changed as he looked toward the nearby Invincibles who were spread out in a defensive position.

The River of Time had appeared beside one of them.

Clearly, the river had traversed realms to arrive here.

Great Zhou King asked emotionlessly, "Why?"

The said Invincible started stepping into the river while answering furiously, "No reason. As I said, that was merely a personal grudge. Why must all of you force me so? I only wanted Ye Batian dead. If Liu Wenyan had obediently destroyed his characters, the matter would have ended with his death."

Great Zhou King merely sighed at the response. Meanwhile, the myriad race Invincibles started standing in the way of the other human Invincibles, preventing them from obstructing the departure of the traitor.

One of the myriad race Invincibles laughed, "What a surprise. So it was you, Fiery Sea?"

With the same calm, Great Zhou King asked, "Is your personal grudge with Ye Batian that big? Why wasn't I aware of it?"

From the River of Time, Fiery Sea King replied coldly, "Of course you were unaware. You, the controller of the Knowledge Seeking Realm. Yet apart from focusing on the reactivation of the suppressive force, you have neglected all your duties. Ye Batian had humiliated me several times in the past, but clearly, that was beneath your concern."

Great Zhou King replied, "That is not a good enough reason for you to kill him during his dao affirmation."

"You're wrong. For me, that is more than enough."

Fiery Sea King said, "I told you it was only a personal grudge. But again and again, all of you forced my hand! Ye Batian was too arrogant. If someone like him was allowed to become the hero responsible for reactivating the suppressive force, people like me will no longer have any peace of mind. He must die. Many shared this opinion. But I was the only one brave enough to take action."

Great Zhou King sighed, "You were used as a chess piece. Someone instigated you. Am I right?"

"What a joke." Fiery Sea King countered, "Nobody is capable of that. All who had ever humiliated me had paid with their lives. Hahaha! Great Zhou King, I was also the one who had sold out your younger brother. At this point, I have nothing else to fear!"

With a tired sigh, Great Zhou King said, "Foolish."

"Your younger brother humiliated me before as well! All of you deserve death!"

"Fiery Sea...fiery rage boundless as the sea. You have an inauspicious name."

Great Zhou King sighed and shook his head. As he still needed to continue serving as the dao protector of the humans attempting their dao affirmations, he did not give chase. Fiery Sea King had too explosive a temper. Someone like that had the tendency to die cluelessly.

Great Zhou King did not spare Fiery Sea King another glance. Rather, he looked at Zhou Polong, who nodded at him without saying anything.

***

Nanyuan.

The aura of the mysterious Invincible surged abruptly.

Two silhouettes walked out of the River of Time before fusing into one. The faceless Invincible was no longer faceless. His face was revealed to all.

Silence descended.

When Zhang Qi saw the traitor's face, he sighed and shut his eyes, saying nothing else. Those around him hurriedly distanced themselves from him.

Wan Tiansheng sighed as well, "Fiery Sea King. So it's really you. I know you have a fiery temper, but I have never suspected that you're the traitor."

Fiery Sea King replied coldly, "Wan Tiansheng, it's pointless to say more. The multiple character faction will pay the price for having the audacity to humiliate an Eternal."

Wan Tiansheng said, "I was there back then. Senior Brother Batian was indeed overbearing, but he never intended to humiliate you. I believed that as an Eternal, you would eventually understand my senior brother's intent. But instead...you killed him."

Fiery Sea King countered furiously, "Intent? In front of all of you, he fought and injured me before criticizing my ability. At the time, I assumed that it was only a regular spar. But eventually, I learned that he had been running around talking badly about me. He claimed that my characters were weak and my body was fragile. That was supposed to be a private spar, but he spread the results everywhere. He even sent me a second challenge discreetly, declaring that he would trample all over me. During the second spar, he destroyed my character. How could I let someone that arrogant live? How could I forgive him?"

Wan Tiansheng frowned, "You fought a second time?"

Fiery Sea King spoke angrily, "The two of you must think me a patient saint to tolerate such a level of insult. I could kill Ye Batian in the past. Today, I'll finish the job and take your life as well."

A fiery sea appeared in the sky as Fiery Sea King roared, "I'll show you what it means to have a rage capable of burning the sea! Ye Batian is dead. All of you will die as well!"

An Invincible had arrived in his full form.

And a massive battle erupted.

Chapter 1232: Fiery Sea Fall (1)

Not even Zhang Qi had imagined that the traitor would actually be his father, the Fiery Sea King.

Fiery Sea King was known for being hot-headed.

During the early days of the current era, humanity had produced eleven new Invincibles. Two had subsequently perished.

People like Heavenly Forge King, Heavenly Seal King, Silk Destroying King, and Fiery Sea King were among these newer Invincibles. Out of these Invincibles, four had affirmed their dao in the minor realms, two had affirmed their dao in the Human Realm, and three had affirmed their dao in the Allheaven Battlefield.

As someone who had affirmed his dao in the Human Realm, Fiery Sea King was considerably strong. The weakest Invincibles would be those who had affirmed their dao in the minor realms.

Everyone believed that Fiery Sea King's bad temper was a result the characters he cultivated. After all, he specialized in fire-related characters. In fact, not even what Zhang Qi did earlier affected the opinion of the masses toward Fiery Sea King.

He had also contributed heavily to humanity. He had been fighting the myriad races with the Invincibles even prior to his dao affirmation. He had fought many battles for humanity. But he was actually the traitor? He had even killed Ye Batian?

This caught a lot of people by surprise, but at the same time, it also didn't seem too surprising. If Ye Batian had really died due to a personal grudge, then it would indeed be likely that Fiery Sea King was the culprit. After all, he was known for his terrible temper. Just how had Ye Batian humiliated him back then for him to resort to such drastic action?

Fiery Sea King did elaborate, but it was clear the matter wasn't so simple. A regular spar would not be sufficient to create a grudge that would cause an Invincible to kill someone like Ye Batian. And with Ye Batian dead, it wouldn't be easy for anyone to figure out the truth.

Su Yu, who was still busy fighting in the ruin, only cared about the fact that the traitor had arrived. He wasn't close with any of the Invincibles involved so he wasn't concerned about the reason for Fiery Sea King's betrayal.

Looking outside from within the ruin, he could see three Invincibles in battle. But he wasn't able to get a clear look, nor was he able to see if there was any symbol on Fiery Sea King's wrist. He was only certain that there was no symbol on the wrist of Fiery Sea King's future body.

Su Yu was indifferent, but Liu Wenyan was enraged as he asked, "You could have killed me. Why did you target my family? Back then, my teacher visited you with me. I even accorded you the proper respect you deserved as an Invincible. Yet that was what you chose to do to my family?"

He was furious and sorrowful. If the Invincible had a grudge against him, the Invincible should kill him. Why must the Invincible go after his family? Not even the children were spared. Was someone like that even worthy of being an Invincible? As an Invincible, how could he take his anger out on the innocent?

Fiery Sea King coldly said, "That was never my intention. I only instructed some people to lure you out. But your family struggled too intensely, resulting in the eventual bloodbath."

He was speaking the truth. What could he gain from eliminating the Liu Family? He was only trying to lure Liu Wenyan out of Great Xia.

But his subordinates had misunderstood him and went over the board. Then again, he wasn't that bothered about the destruction of the Liu Family anyway. Sure, he was surprised to learn that his subordinates had attacked in conjunction with an attack by the myriad races, eventually resulting in the elimination of that family. Nevertheless, he only felt a slight surprise upon learning about it. He felt no guilt over it.

His words further infuriated Liu Wenyan. Read complete versıon only at novel•fire.net

"After killing my teacher and everyone in my family, claiming that it was never your intention won't be enough to clean the slate!"

The enraged Liu Wenyan fought with even more madness than before. Triggered by his fury, he grew even stronger. Meanwhile, the Pseudo Invincible facing him could only grumble sullenly as he dealt with Liu Wenyan's madness. Yet another human had gone mad. Why were there so many lunatics among humanity?

Fiery Sea King said nothing else. He was too occupied to say more.

Wan Tiansheng was not holding anything back. His killing intent surged as he sent Devil King Lade flying yet again before roaring, "Piss off, Lade! If you keep interfering, I'll kill you!"

Devil King Lade cursed under his breath. If only his tri-life bodies were still around.

Alas, he was left with only one future body. Thus, he had to be extremely careful.

Since the identity of the traitor had been exposed, he saw no need for him to keep fighting. Thus, he withdrew unhesitatingly and shot toward the ruin instead. Wan Tiansheng and Fiery Sea King could keep fighting for all he cared. Both of those were humans. Any of them could die as far as he was concerned.

It would be even better if both of them died together. Of course, the best result for the myriad races was the victory of Fiery Sea King.

Losing Wan Tiansheng, Yellow Department head, and First Profound would be a great blow to humanity. With such a blow, it would no longer be a big deal even if humanity managed to produce a few new Invincibles from the dao affirmations they were currently attempting in the Allheaven Battlefield.

While attacking Fiery Sea King, Wan Tiansheng shouted, "Lan Tian, stop Lade!"

There were too many humans in the ruin, including Su Yu and the others. He could not allow Lade to get into their midst.

Lade must not be given the chance to wantonly slaughter the weaker humans while everyone else was occupied.

Lan Tian, who was in the middle of affirming his dao, grinned and said, "Alright! I love this task! Wan Tiansheng, I like how domineering you are currently! I suppose I can settle with the devil dao for now..."

With a flicker, he appeared in front of Lade and asked with the tone of a bitter mistress, "Been a while, Lade. Have you been missing me?"

"..."

Devil King Lade cursed inwardly at the sight of the lunatic before him. Yes, this wasn't his first meeting with Lan Tian. But the way Lan Tian framed the question was too suggestive. He couldn't be bothered to waste his time talking. He was fearful of Wan Tiansheng, but the same couldn't be said for Lan Tian.

Boom!

He answered with a punch, instantly blasting a Lan Tian apart.

"How could you be so heartless, Lade!"

Hundreds of Lan Tians appeared. One of them said bitterly, "You should die and leave your body to me. I will fuse your body. You will be me. I will be you. We will be one. I will capture a past body for you. What do you think?"

Countless Lan Tians surrounded Devil King Lade as an intense battle erupted between them.

Numerous explosions erupted, with one Lan Tian after another dropping from the sky as corpses. But the remaining Lan Tians continued giggling joyfully.

"How manly of you!"

"I like it when you're so masculine!"

"Become one with me, Dear!"

Hundreds of Lan Tians spoke in perfect unison with hundreds of different voices. They came in all ages and genders, speaking the exact same words. Everyone felt their hair stand on end as they witnessed this madness.

Not only was Lan Tian crazy. But he was surprisingly strong. For some reason, it felt like he was growing stronger as the battle raged on.

When he fought the Pseudo Invincible previously, he only had a slight advantage, unlike First Divine who was overwhelmingly strong. But now, he seemed to have grown as strong as First Divine. He could even put up a good fight against Devil King Lade.

He might be crazy, but one couldn't deny that he could also be quite helpful at times. Not only had he killed a Pseudo Invincible, he had also kept an Invincible occupied and relaxed the burden on Marquis Xia's side.

Without Lan Tian, the pressure on them would have been much heavier. It was likely that a lot more humans would die.

Of the many battles around Nanyuan, the fiercest of them all was the one involving Wan Tiansheng. Space around him had been reduced to the darkness of the void as the two super experts fought intensely. Even the boundless void was shaking as chunk after chunk of realm barrier crumbled apart from the clashes between the two.

With his numerous characters, Wan Tiansheng unleashed all sorts of attacks against Fiery Sea King who was mainly using a fire character. He had other characters as well, but most would be blasted apart right after manifesting.

It was inevitable that this battle was receiving a lot of attention. After all, the two were the sole combatants with the strength of Invincibles present. The other combatants were either tri-life bodies of Invincibles or Pseudo Invincibles. Fiery Sea King was the only Invincible to have arrived in the truest sense.

It was only after his arrival that many had a proper appreciation of how strong an Invincible was.

With a swing of Wan Tiansheng's sword, Fiery Sea King was killed. Yet with the flowing River of Time, he seemed incapable of dying. He came back to life almost instantly with renewed strength.

Boom!

Wrapped around in flame, Wan Tiansheng could hear the sound of his flesh sizzling. But he ignored it and continued fighting with a grunt.

Fifty-one years ago, Fiery Sea King had stabbed him and Ye Batian in the back while they were in battle against others. Assisted by a second Invincible, they attacked when both him and Ye Batian were at their weakest. Ultimately, Ye Batian had died in the hands of Fiery Sea King and the celestial chasm Invincible.

At the time, both he and Ye Batian were already drained from battle. They were too weakened to deal with the sudden attack. That was not the case today. Today, he had arrived at full power. Today, he was only facing one opponent.

Fiery Sea King!

Everything Wan Tiansheng had done over the years was for the sake of killing Fiery Sea King. For revenge. The death of Nether River King did not even matter to him. The death of a single Invincible wouldn't change much. He wanted vengeance. He wanted Fiery Sea King's life.

Boom!

As the battle raged on, Wan Tiansheng found himself increasingly injured. Fiery Sea King was also dropping in strength. He might have the ability to endlessly resurrect himself, but the price for that wouldn't be low. After yet another swing of Wan Tiansheng's sword, Fiery Sea King's arm was severed. This time, the arm was a lot slower to regrow.

Gnashing his teeth, Fiery Sea King said, "The two of you are indeed impressive. Back then, Ye Batian was unreasonably strong. Today, you're also unreasonably strong. But Wan Tiansheng, you're not enough to kill me!"

"Burning! Sky!"

It was as though the entire world was set on fire. At the middle of the fiery tempest was Wan Tiansheng.

Stepping into the midst of the fire, Fiery Sea King said, "Wan Tiansheng, kneel and I'll spare your life."

Wan Tiansheng said nothing and continued swinging his sword.

"Hahaha! So you find this unacceptable as well? Back then, your senior brother told me to kneel as well. Who did he think he was to speak like that to an Invincible? The audacity of him!"

Wan Tiansheng coldly said, "My senior brother might be domineering, but he's not unwise."

As fellow humans with no major grudge between them, there was no way Ye Batian would do something like that. He wasn't that stupid.

Wan Tiansheng greatly doubted Fiery Sea King's story. Clearly, the so-called second spar had been won by his senior brother as well. He might have done something excessive. If he had really forced an Invincible to kneel before him, Fiery Sea King's response would be somewhat understandable.

No matter what, that was their senior and an Invincible of humanity. One should not slight him so. But would his senior brother do something so stupid?

Wan Tiansheng was very doubtful about that. After taking a look at the sword in his hand, he gnashed his teeth. A human Invincible who had affirmed his dao in the Human Realm couldn't be killed so easily in the Human Realm. But it was merely difficult, not impossible.

Chapter 1233: Fiery Sea Fall (2)

After inhaling deeply, Wan Tiansheng roared as the sword in his hand turned into a sword of light. The radiance of the sword illuminated the entire Human Realm.

Next, the sea of flames was cut apart.

The sky itself was cut apart as well.

In response to the attack, Fiery Sea King roared and gathered source qi from all directions before throwing a punch. All current human cultural researcher Invincibles were actually warrior Invincibles. Thus, most of them were stronger physically than mentally. Thus, it wasn't surprising that Fiery Sea King would resort to his fists when he grew desperate enough.

The sword exploded alongside about seven or eight characters. Wan Tiansheng was pushed back as a stream of blood flowed out of his mouth. However, Fiery Sea King wasn't any better off as he was also carrying numerous wounds on his body. He gritted his teeth and asked, "Disassembly method?

"No!" Wan Tiansheng said, "My character technique. I have no need for the disassembly method since I formed it the old-fashioned way."

"Freak."

After coughing another mouthful of blood, Fiery Sea King charged forth as the battle resumed.

After a long time, the two were separated yet again by a loud explosion. At the cost of an arm, Wan Tiansheng had crushed a character of Fiery Sea King. Meanwhile, Fiery Sea King had a dazed look in his eyes. His main character had been destroyed by Wan Tiansheng. The backlash from losing a peak Sunmoon character wasn't light.

"Wan Tiansheng...I can...die three times! How many times can you die?" asked Fiery Sea King with intermittent pauses to cough some blood.

Then, he roared and charged forth again.

This time, the battle lasted much longer than before. Eventually, a loud explosion erupted as a fiery seed dropped from the sky. In mere moments, Fiery Sea King reformed his body. But he was left with only two bodies.

His future body had been killed by Wan Tiansheng. However, Wan Tiansheng's aura was also much weaker than before. Both his arms had suffered considerable damage. His long hair was singed, and his entire body was riddled with wounds.

Once again, they charged at each other and fought ferociously. This was a battle to the death, not a mere spar. When Fiery Sea King was fighting with his life on the line, he was impressively strong. He might have lost to Ye Batian in the spars back then, but things might not be the same when he was really fighting for his life.

Wan Tiansheng was no stranger to an intense battle like this. The two fought fiercely with no regard for their own lives. More and more damage could be seen on Wan Tiansheng's sword as he lost one character after another during the battle.

Eventually, he detonated a few characters to destroy Fiery Sea King's past body. Left with only his present body, Fiery Sea King took a step back as the look in his eyes cleared significantly. He looked much more rational than before.

As for Wan Tiansheng, he was left gasping for breath while his six remaining characters swirled around him.

Both of them had suffered tremendously from this battle.

***

At the same time.

Grandstar was enjoying the show above the battlefield.

He did not intend to interfere. As a guardian, it would be unwise of him to get himself tangled in such affairs. It also wasn't a good idea for him to make a move in the Human Realm. That might end up increasing the intensity of the death qi in Su Yu's body. Naturally, he was allowed to act when his mayor was endangered. That would not break any of the laws.

As the battle progressed, Grandstar couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. These little guys were quite impressive.

As for that Fiery Sea guy, he was...ordinary.

He still remembered Wan Tiansheng. But their previous meeting was conducted through the River of Time. Now that he was seeing Wan Tiansheng in person, he was able to see more. With a regretful tone, he muttered, "What a pity. If he had picked the standard tri-body method to affirm his dao, he could have grown into an expert of considerable power."

That was the path Wan Tiansheng threaded before. But after losing his future body about fifty years ago, he had not bothered to capture a new future body. Instead, he walked a completely different path, placing him in a very unique state. Not even Grandstar could fully understand this new path.

And finally, the battle reached its climax. The battle would reach its conclusion soon.

This was his favorite part.

Suddenly, he looked into the distance in surprise. He raised his brow at what he saw, but he remained silent.

***

Left with only his present body, Fiery Sea King's personality had changed into a much calmer version of himself. He looked at Wan Tiansheng and said, "What a pity. How can people like us...die to an internal conflict?"

While coughing blood, Wan Tiansheng grinned, "Killing you alone is far more beneficial to humanity than killing ten enemy Invincibles."

"True." Fiery Sea King nodded and smiled, "Killing me will indeed benefit humanity a lot more. Wan Tiansheng, I'm curious about one thing."

"What is it?"

Both were buying time to accumulate enough strength for the final attack.

Fiery Sea King said, "Ye Batian once claimed that he was still very far away from becoming a cultural researcher Invincible. Why did he attempt his dao affirmation not long after that? Was that a physical dao affirmation or a willpower dao affirmation?"

"Physical." Wan Tiansheng answered, "He detected some issues with his cultivation so he wished to perform a test. Perhaps an advancement of his physical cultivation would help him troubleshoot the real problem. Unfortunately, he died before he could do that."

Fiery Sea King nodded, "I see. So just like the rest of us, he had yet to reach the peak of willpower cultivation as well..."

He roared with laughter, "In that case, he was not qualified to look at all of us with disdain. He was too arrogant. Wan Tiansheng, let me send you to him now."

"On the contrary, I think you should be the one to see him in the afterlife."

Boom!

The two clashed again, creating a deafening and blinding explosion that forced all the other experts fighting in dimensional pockets around them out of those pockets. Their immediate surroundings had turned into a large black hole in the sky, and even the boundless void was starting to become visible from all the damage they were causing to the realm barrier.

A curtain of light covered the sky only to be replaced by darkness.

Then, the sky turned into a sea of flames.

The sea of flames started falling while a slowly dissipating silhouette became visible in the sky.

A greatly weakened Wan Tiansheng could be spotted amid the sea of flames. He was left with his last character, but he appeared completely calm as he regarded the flames around him.

Shock and disbelief spread throughout the Human Realm.

A human Invincible who had affirmed his dao in the Human Realm had fallen.

The killer of Ye Batian had fallen.

The person responsible was suffering from grievous wounds.

Wan Tiansheng was unbothered about his wounds. His greatest wish had been fulfilled with the death of the traitor. This was the only thing he had been working toward all these years and now, he had succeeded. His job was done.

His gaze landed on a few individuals who were attempting to flee. He also looked at Zhang Qi. A smile formed on his face. After dealing with Fiery Sea, it was time for him to remove these parasites as well.

He appeared before Zhang Qi with a flicker. Softly, he spoke, "Go with your father."

Zhang Qi appeared completely calm as he said, "With Fiery Sea dead, it's natural for you to come after me..."

That caught Wan Tiansheng by surprise. Why was Zhang Qi addressing his father by name? Slowly, Zhang Qi raised his hand. Then, he pushed his palm forth. An unprecedented level of power erupted from the palm.

Wan Tiansheng's expression shifted from surprise to understanding, before settling into a helpless smile.

"Sure enough...Fiery Sea is indeed a fool..."

Wan Tiansheng sighed helplessly.

He had suspected this before, but he had not been able to learn about it. Just learning about Fiery Sea's betrayal was hard enough.

Zhang Qi.

No, this was not Zhang Qi.

This was a tri-life body. An incomparably powerful tri-life body that was probably as strong as Fiery Sea at his peak. Meanwhile, Wan Tiansheng could barely fight anymore.

Sure, he was still capable of killing Sunmoons. But in his current state, he stood no chance against Invincibles. He had killed two Invincibles in a single day. That was shocking enough a feat.

But it was unlikely that he would be able to defeat a third Invincible as well, especially in his current state.

Looking at the descending palm, Wan Tiansheng muttered with regret, "So Fiery Sea really did it for a personal grudge. What a fool..." Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

He finally understood.

There were two traitors. One had betrayed humanity way before the other.

The first traitor was the one who had disguised himself as Ye Batian and humiliated Fiery Sea. Thanks to his unstable temper, Fiery Sea was the easiest Invincible to be incited into betrayal.

And the plan had worked. Fiery Sea was used as both a chess piece and a cover for the real traitor.

The real traitor was probably the one who had stolen Ye Batian's research data. Fiery Sea might not have intended to eliminate the Liu Family. Those subordinates he had trusted with the task of luring Liu Wenyan out could very well be the subordinates the real traitor had sent his way instead.

Numerous answers came to Wan Tiansheng. He laughed at how ridiculous the whole thing was. Fiery Sea was essentially an idiotic chess piece. From the very beginning, he knew nothing. He was manipulated, a puppet of his fury.

Killing Ye Batian was all he ever wanted.

Those so-called subordinates of his had probably found their way to him instead of the other way around. The true mastermind was not Fiery Sea. Even the Whistling Wind Sword, Goldwing, and the others might not have worked under Fiery Sea's orders.

They had merely been ordered to submit to Fiery Sea, convincing Fiery Sea that he was the one commanding them. Goldwing had targeted Chen Yong for the Culture Tomb. But why would Fiery Sea even care about the Culture Tomb?

No. The true mastermind was the one targeting the Culture Tomb.

Wan Tiansheng was overcome by his curiosity. Instead of trying to fight back, he asked through voice transmission, "Can you tell me one thing, at least? Why reveal yourself now? We would have believed that Fiery Sea was the sole traitor. There was no risk of exposure for you..."

Fiery Sea was already dead. If this mysterious mastermind remained in hiding, nobody might be able to guess that there was actually a second traitor. Even if some might remain doubtful, with Fiery Sea's death, they would have no way to investigate more. It was very likely that the mastermind had not dirtied his hand from the very beginning.

He was not the one who had killed Ye Batian. He also wasn't the one who had attacked the multiple character faction multiple times. He had merely hidden himself behind the scenes, manipulating others to get their hands dirty for him. He only needed to remain hiding and nobody would be able to discover him.

Thus, Wan Tiansheng had a burning curiosity. Why did the second traitor reveal himself now? Just to kill them? Were they really so threatening to him?

Perhaps.

Chapter 1234: Fiery Sea Fall (3)

Zhang Qi's palm seemed to be endlessly enlarging as it descended upon Wan Tiansheng, upon Nanyuan, and upon the ruin all at the same time. He said, "You might not suspect anything, but the same can't be said for everyone else. The others might be suspicious of more, but they have merely been keeping silent about it. With all of you dead, the matter will naturally end for real."

He looked at the nearby Yellow Department head and asked, "Am I right, Yellow Department head?"

The department head was fighting the tri-life bodies of two Invincibles alongside First Profound. When he heard the question, he looked over and sighed, "Why are you asking me that? I'm not the one suspecting that there is a second traitor. I'm not who you think I am..."

Zhang Qi blanked out slightly. He said, "You..."

The Yellow Department head laughed, "Please don't tell me you think I'm that certain newbie. You're wrong. My apologies."

Zhang Qi said nothing and continued bringing his palm down.

With a helpless tone, the Yellow Department head said, "I'm telling the truth. Why must you doubt me?"

He swore inwardly that he had never even considered the possibility of a second traitor.

Then, he crushed his mask and smiled, "See? Can you trust me now?"

Instantly, Zhang Qi's expression changed.

Wan Tiansheng, who was under great suppression by Zhang Qi's aura, also turned his head with great difficulty to satisfy his curiosity. That...was not a face he knew. How odd.

A human Invincible?

Suddenly, Zhu Tiandao blasted the immortal king he was facing away before shouting in frustration, "Niu Baidao, I told you I'm not my elder brother. See? Do you trust me now? He's here! How many times did I tell you this? But your stupid brain refused to believe me. You even insisted that I spent three hundred years wearing diapers!"

Niu Baidao looked at the Yellow Department head before looking at Zhu Tiandao in stupefaction. The two...looked quite similar.

The department head greeted with a smile, "Greetings, Principal Niu."

"Uhm...you..."

Everyone was so surprised that they even neglected the fact that Wan Tiansheng was on the verge of being beaten to death. Then again, it wasn't like they could do anything in time.

"Greetings, everyone. I'm Zhu Tianfang."

The handsome department head smiled and said, "Us brothers are known as Tianfang (square sky) and Diyuan (round earth). Remember, I'm Zhu Tianfang, not Zhu Diyuan..."

Zhu Tiandao cursed and said, "Our uncultured old man was terrible at giving names. I'm now known as Zhu Tiandao."

Yes, his original name was Zhu Diyuan.

Niu Baidao was completely dumbfounded.

So everything had been one big misunderstanding? The Yellow Department head was Great Ming King's first son. He was still alive, but he had not transformed himself into Zhu Tiandao. He was still himself. He was still Zhu Tianfang. He had simply remained in hiding.

It was widely known that the Yellow Department head was already an Invincible over a hundred years ago. In short, Zhu Tianfang had affirmed his dao long ago.

With an apologetic tone, Zhu Tianfang said, "My apologies, Principal Niu. In truth, my old man found two ruins back then. He used one himself. The second was prepared for you. But you spent days scolding him after failing to snatch a ruin for yourself. Thus, he threw a tantrum and kept the ruin from you. Eventually, I was born so he decided to give it to me instead. He rationalized that since you were so unlucky, the ruin would be wasted in your hands. Sorry again, Principal."

"..."

That explanation was followed by a suffocating silence. Everyone had forgotten about the descending palm of annihilation.

Suddenly, Zhang Qi's expression changed drastically, as though he had recalled something important. Immediately, a River of Time unfurled from the space beside him. He started summoning his bodies over without any hesitation.

He could no longer keep his bodies in the Allheaven Battlefield. He had thought that the Yellow Department head was a certain someone, but he was wrong. And in this business, a single mistake could prove fatal.

Extremely fatal.

The Yellow Department head was actually someone he had not expected. The first born of Great Ming King was actually a real person instead of a lie. He was still alive. He wasn't even Zhu Tiandao. Unknown to everyone, he had entered the Allheaven Battlefield and joined the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. He had even climbed the ranks in the pavilion, becoming one of the department heads of the organization.

Zhang Qi was hit by a realization that he had miscalculated gravely. According to what he knew and his guesses, the Yellow Department head was supposed to be Zhou Tianyuan. Zhou Tianyuan, better known as the Junior Zhou King, the younger brother of Great Zhou King.

He was well aware of the research Zhou Polong had been conducting. He suspected the survival of Zhou Tianyuan. He also suspected that Zhou Tianyuan was hiding in the dark to investigate something...

That was why he had resolutely appeared after both Fiery Sea and Wan Tiansheng were exhausted from their battle. He aimed to kill Wan Tiansheng and the Yellow Department head, eliminating any potential threat to him. He was confident enough in his strength to do that.

But he was mistaken. The department head was not Zhou Tianyuan. Rather, that was someone else entirely. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novel-fire.net

The Yellow Department head sighed, "You're trying to assemble your main body? Looks like you're determined to wipe us out."

He smiled, "Sure enough, that guy was right. From how certain things were done, it was impossible for there to be only one culprit. There would be at least two of them. Fiery Sea wasn't capable enough to hide his involvement so well. Someone must have been assisting him. And Fiery Sea was dumb enough to not even know of the assistance. He was so proud of his nonexistent cunning. In truth, he was one of our suspects..."

"What's the point of saying this after the truth is exposed?" Zhu Tiandao spat, "Why didn't you say this earlier? Who did you learn this from? Is our old man aware of this?"

"Yes." The department head sighed, "But I now worry that we won't have enough time. This person here...is the real big fish we have been trying to catch."

The traitor was too quick to react. He had only exposed himself to buy more time and protect Wan Tiansheng. But as a result, the traitor had summoned his bodies unhesitatingly. Sure enough, that person was right. The traitor should not be underestimated. He had underestimated the traitor's decisiveness.

***

Allheaven Battlefield.

Great Zhou King frowned and gazed at the distance. With a sigh, he shook his head, "You...I can't believe this. I don't want to believe this."

With a sigh, he departed, leaving Qin Zhen and Zhou Polong behind.

Zhou Polong was left frowning helplessly. This...was too fast.

Noticing the confused Qin Zhen beside him, he sighed and said, "What are you staring at? We're not affirming our dao anymore. Time to flee for our lives."

"Hmm?"

"Run."

Zhou Polong raised his voice in frustration. His uncle was gone. What else were they supposed to do? Why the fuck was this guy still staring blankly in confusion?

Fool!

They should start fleeing while the myriad race Invincibles were confused.

Only then did Qin Zhen react. He fled unhesitatingly. The surrounding human Invincibles also recovered as they hurriedly attacked the myriad race Invincibles who were trying to stop their escape.

Even as they fought, they were still stealing glances at the distance River of Time with stupefaction. There, someone was departing the Allheaven Battlefield. However, he was intercepted by Great Zhou King. A big battle ensued. Alas, that was no ordinary Invincible. Victory would not come to Great Zhou King easily.

The other human Invincibles were feeling completely confused. This was the most confused they had been after becoming Invincibles.

That man...had betrayed humanity?

When it was revealed that Fiery Sea was the traitor, nobody was surprised.

After all, Fiery Sea was known for his terrible temper. All was good as long as his betrayal was made known to all. When Fiery Sea died, they were even relieved. With the death of the traitor, they could finally put this worry behind them.

But when a different human Invincible tried to leave, and when even Great Zhou King was roaring furiously, they felt a great sense of helplessness.

Just why? Why him?

Great Zhou King roared furiously, "Why? Tell me! Why? Have you forgotten? Have you forgotten our vow when we fought the myriad races side by side?"

The other Invincible answered calmly, "I have not. But I can't see any hope in humanity. All I see in our future is blood. And death. I saw your death. I saw my death. If Ye Batian had succeeded, humanity would have been subjected to the joint attack of all the other races. This world we live in does not belong to humanity. I'm sorry, Brother Zhou. I only wish to buy a few hundred years of peace for humanity, even if the peace is merely an illusion."

"Why? You could have spoken to me! You could have voiced your doubts to me! Why must you betray us? You even instigated Fiery Sky to kill Ye Batian! Do you have any idea how big of a mistake that was?"

The other Invincible asked, "You have been suspecting me all along, right? We have a very good relationship. If you never suspected me, Tianyuan wouldn't have faked his death. Polong wouldn't have suggested the destruction of the multiple character faction to me so many times just to test me. Brother Zhou, you're too indecisive. You're not suited for your position as the leader of all human cultural researchers..."

He laughed, "I'm alone in this. If I do end up defeated, I hope you won't implicate anyone else with your anger. There is no third traitor among human Invincibles."

With that, he vanished from the Allheaven Battlefield. Great Zhou King roared in fury, indignance, and disbelief. He summoned the River of Time as well and rushed toward the Human Realm.

Before long, more myriad race Invincibles arrived. All of them appeared shocked. None had expected that the second traitor would be...that person. It wouldn't surprise them for anyone else to be a traitor. But that person...was not someone they had ever viewed as a traitor.

Someone asked with disbelief, "What could Great Han King possibly get from betraying humanity? He did spend many years stationed in the Knowledge Seeking Realm. No wonder...but...why?"

Nobody had ever suspected him. He had been the Invincible stationed at the Knowledge Seeking Realm for many years, but he had always stayed away from the mundane affairs. That was why the eight families had been emboldened to act as they did. In a way, his blatant neglect and disinterest were the main reasons nobody suspected him.

Chapter 1235: Back In Time (1)

Great Han King had betrayed humanity.

Everyone was in disbelief. Even Great Zhou King was greatly pained by this betrayal.

He didn't want this to be true.

"Tianyuan, stop him!"

Great Zhou King, who had always been a calm person, was roaring furiously.

"I told you it was him long ago. You refused to believe me."

At that moment, space warped as the River of Time connected to the Human Realm shook before it was severed by someone with a character.

"Back in Time."

With a command, several characters appeared. Great Han King's expression changed drastically just as he was about to reach the Human Realm. Instead of moving forward, he started moving backward, as though time was moving in reverse.

"Zhou Tianyuan!"

Great Han King frowned. Behind him, an expert wearing a golden mask had appeared. The masked individual cupped his hands to the sky and said, "Fellow daoists from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, please accept my apology. Zhu Tianfang and I have been borrowing some of your space temporarily. You may have your space back."

Meanwhile, several Invincibles were fleeing madly with their headquarters in tow in the boundless void.

Fuck!

The Profound Department head was Zhou Tianyuan while the Yellow Department head was Zhu Tianfang. What in the name of all that was holy was this?

Screw those two!

The head of their Profound Department was actually Zhou Tianyuan, the Junior Zhou King who was supposed to be dead.

With a smile, Zhou Tianyuan looked at the River of Time that was flowing backward and said, "I suspected you even back then, but my elder brother refused to believe this. But now, I have been proven right. Liu Jin, are you still trying to return? It's not happening without my permission."

Great Han King looked at Zhou Tianyuan and sighed, "Your mastery of time has actually surpassed Wang Hu's. This is truly a surprise."

Junior Zhou King sneered and said, "I have been on alert against you. Nobody else suspected you. But I have never doubted my judgment."

"I can't remember doing anything that could potentially expose myself." Great Han King said, "In fact, I have not gotten my hands dirty at all."

"Heh." Junior Zhou King asked, "Are you sure? Many years ago, some of our military officials betrayed us. Wasn't that your handiwork? I was already suspicious back then. Sure enough, you were your betrayal was long in the making."

Great Han King said nothing. With a rumble, he stomped on the River of Time and forced himself forward yet again. At the same time, numerous beams of light ran through the Human Realm.

Human Realm.

With a roar, the River of Time appeared beside the Yellow Department head. He was going to assemble his main body as well.

At the same time, a loud voice reverberated throughout the Allheaven Battlefield, "Mohe, Tian Dang, summon your real bodies to the Human Realm. The voice could be heard across the various realms.

Six Invincibles had entered the Human Realm. Lade was there with his sole remaining body. Nether River King had died in battle. The dragon king had lost two tri-life bodies. As for the other Invincibles, they were only there in their tri-life bodies. A command had arrived from the various Emperors for them to summon their main bodies over.

That was not all. The Invincibles in the boundless void attacked Great Ming King and the others as they attempted to enter the Human Realm as well. They were determined to kill all the human experts who had shown themselves in the Human Realm.

That was especially true for the multiple character faction. It did not matter if none of them was an Invincible yet. The Culture Tomb must also be taken out of the Human Realm. Great Han King's betrayal had surprised all the myriad race Invincibles.

An Invincible roared, "Kill Zhou Tianyuan! Help Great Han King!"

At that, several Invincibles charged toward Great Zhou King and Junior Zhou King, keeping them from interfering with Great Han King.

Great Han King's son, known as Prefect Liu Wushen, had a complicated expression as he roared with desperation, "Father, are you really betraying humanity? Are you going to give up on even your descendants?" Fresh chapters posted on N()velFire.net

He gathered all three of his bodies from the River of Time.

With a mournful voice, he said, "Your son will be attempting his dao affirmation today. Father, are you going to kill those people in the Human Realm or are you going to protect your son?"

That gave Great Han King some pause. He looked back with a complicated expression.

With boundless sorrow, Liu Wushen said, "My father is a hero! A great hero of humanity! He is not a traitor! Father, don't abandon the Liu Family! Don't abandon Great Han! Is the uncertain future you believe in worth betrayal? Father, I'll start my dao affirmation. If you go, you will lose your son!"

At that moment, the surrounding myriad race Invincibles who were about to attack stopped after receiving new orders. Then, they looked at each other, smiled, and left.

Liu Wushen's expression changed as he roared with fury, "Bastards! Come kill me!"

After forcefully bringing his three bodies together, he chased the three Invincibles while roaring with desperation, "Come and kill me! Father, they're trying to kill me! Does this not matter to you at all?"

Someone else laughed and said, "Worry not, Great Han King. We won't harm Liu Wushen."

Great Han King frowned and coldly said, "Shut your mouth. I'm doing this for humanity. I'm not an ally of the likes of you."

"Hahaha. Yes, yes, you're right. Great Han King, the multiple character faction must fall for humanity's peace and prosperity. With them around, a war between humanity and the myriad races will be unavoidable. Believe in the future you saw. It won't be wrong."

With a sigh, Great Han King stepped on the River of Time again.

Liu Wushen continued roaring with desperation, "NO! NO! Father, they're doing this deliberately! This is a scheme! They will kill me after your departure! Father! In my mind, you're a hero, not a traitor! You are not!"

Boom!

Finally, his three bodies completed their fusion. Rays of multicolored light erupted from his body as source qi converged around him from all directions.

His dao affirmation was starting.

He would be the first to affirm his dao today.

A bizarre scene unfolded. Not a single human attempted to protect him. Not a single myriad race expert attempted to stop him either. In fact, he was the one giving chase to three myriad race Invincibles with the three trying their best to avoid him.

They had to keep their distance from him lest Great Han King misunderstood their intentions.

They were trying their best to assure Great Han King that nobody was going to kill his son, even if his son was attempting a dao affirmation. Go, Great Han King. Go and kill Wan Tiansheng.

Invincibles were everywhere.

Some charged toward the Yellow Department head's River of Time as they attempted to stop him from assembling his main body. Some charged toward the two Zhou Kings to prevent them from stopping Great Han King.

The human Invincibles previously in charge of protecting Qin Zhen's group had abandoned them to pursue Great Han King. Even more myriad race Invincibles were attempting to stop them.

Zhou Polong, Zhou Potian, and Qin Zhen were in the middle of fleeing for their lives when Zhou Polong looked around and noted that not a single Invincible was bothered about them anymore. All of them were busy dealing with the two Zhou Kings instead. He made a decision on the spot and announced, "Affirm your dao!"

Qin Zhen asked with stupefaction, "Now?"

"Stop wasting time!"

What a stupid question. Just look at how Liu Wushen who was already on the verge of completing his dao affirmation. All the Invincibles were too busy to deal with them. This was probably the first time ever a human had ever completed his dao affirmation so smoothly. As far as the myriad race Invincibles were concerned, the people inside the Human Realm were far more important than these aspiring Invincibles.

Everything was in a mess.

The three separated and started gathering their tri-life bodies.

When someone finally noticed them and attempted to interfere, Junior Zhou King roared, "Back in Time!"

Boom!

Once again, Great Han King found himself moving in reverse. He roared with fury, "Zhou Tianyuan, you're courting death!"

"Great Han King, we'll stop him for you!"

That pulled the attention of the Invincibles who were just about to interfere with the Zhou Polong's group away from them. There were four of them. Two withdrew to help Great Han King, leaving two to deal with the three Pseudo Invincibles in the middle of dao affirmation.

Not far away, Liu Wushen was still howling in fury and desperation, "Father! Must you insist on your foolishness! Must you force me to detonate myself here? If you dare to betray humanity, I will kill you! I will kill you to cleanse the dishonor you're laying upon our family!"

***

The entire Myriad Realms was in chaos.

The initial plan, or plans, had been thrown into a complete mess.

Even the Invincibles near Xia Longwu looked in the direction where all the commotion was unfolding. With an ashen expression, Great Qin King had to try very hard not to leave as well. He was left gnashing his teeth and muttering in fury, "It's him! It's actually him!

"Bastard!"

"Damn it!"

"Liu Jin! Why? Just why?"

Great Xia King was just as furious. He said, "It's actually him? Longwu, let's not affirm your dao anymore. I'll go kill him with Old Qin!"

"Sure."

With a nod from Xia Longwu, the two Invincibles prepared to leave.

"Heavenly Forge, Wang Hu, Heavenly Sea, the three of you will escort Xia Longwu away. His dao affirmation can wait. I won't rest before killing Liu Jin!"

The two furious Invincibles started attacking the encirclement madly. Their killing intent surged. Even their opponents were feeling intimidated by the sheer anger and madness they were demonstrating. It felt as though humanity as a whole had gone mad.

Great Han King, one of the ten strongest experts of humanity and one of the five most influential individuals in the Knowledge Seeking Realm, was actually a traitor. In fact, one could even say that he was the third most influential individual after Great Zhou King and Great Ming King.

Only a select few individuals such as Great Shang King enjoyed the same level of influence. Of the human Invincibles, Great Han King was one of the most senior. He might be able to even contend against Great Xia King. That was why his betrayal was such a big surprise to everyone.

"Stop them!"

One of the myriad race Invincibles shouted, determined to block any interference by the two top Invincibles of humanity.

Chapter 1236: Back In Time (2)

Suddenly, a human Invincible roared, "Everyone, start your dao affirmation! Keep them busy and do your best to survive! If they leave you alone, humanity will gain additional Invincibles. You can return to kill them all after your dao affirmation. If they do set their eyes on you, run and pray you're lucky. We won't let this rest before killing Liu Jin!"

With that, the group of human Invincibles abandoned their charges and rushed toward Great Han King.

With Great Han King, Great Zhou King, and Junior Zhou King all exerting their influence on the same River of Time, it grew wider and wider. With a calm and cold expression, Great Han King said, "If we keep this up, this will widen enough for the myriad race Eternals to enter together. Have you considered the consequences of letting all these Eternals into the Human Realm?"

That reminded some of the surrounding myriad race Invincibles as their eyes started flickering in anticipation. That was not something they had considered, but it was true.

Great Zhou King's expression changed as he bellowed furiously, "Are you going to consort with the myriad races? You dare? It's fine if you decide to give up on humanity, but if you dare to consort with the myriad races against humanity, I won't rest until I see you dead!"

More and more Invincibles were converging around them while the Pseudo Invincibles on the verge of dao affirmation had unsightly expressions. They scattered in all directions as they all started looking for a suitable place for dao affirmation.

Everything was in a mess.

Xia Longwu, who was in the midst of fleeing, gnashed his teeth and roared, "I'll be affirming my dao! Myriad races, kill me if you can!"

Rumble!

The River of Time spilled out beside him as three Xia Longwus became one. He declared, "Upon the completion of my dao affirmation, I shall slaughter the myriad races. Stop me if you can! Come and kill me!"

A divine Invincible shouted, "Give up on the others and focus on Xia Longwu! Kill him! The rest of you, go and help Great Han King!"

"Sever Zhu Tianfang's River of Time!"

With a rough plan drawn, the myriad race Invincibles ignored everything else and started converging in three locations. The first was Xia Longwu's location.

The second was Great Zhou King's location.

The third was the location of Zhu Tianfang's River of Time.

Meanwhile, Liu Wushen and the others were completely ignored even as they continued their dao affirmations. Or to be precise, only a token number of people, who were also weaker than the Invincibles initially tasked to interfere with these dao affirmations, were left to deal with them.

As chaotic battles were breaking out everywhere, a loud howl resounded all over the Allheaven Battlefield. Multicolored rays of light seemed to have replaced the sky of the Allheaven Battlefields.

Then, Liu Wusheng's voice rang out, tinged with madness and desperation, "I succeede! Father! Must you insist? Must you betray us? What should the millions upon millions of people in Great Han do about your betrayal? Father, what should I do? Am I supposed to follow in your footsteps and betray humanity as well?"

Boom!

His aura surged, growing more and more intense as his breakthrough neared completion. He continued flying toward Great Han King while roaring in fury, "Father! You can't do this!"

With a snort, Great Han King, stomped forth yet again, creating more cracks on the River of Time as he asked coldly, "Must you stop me? As I said, I'm not betraying humanity. I'm only doing this to preserve peace. The multiple character faction must fall for that."

"You can punish me as you wish for the lives I took and the lives I'm about to take. I can even kill a few myriad race Invincibles and die with them as the punishment. I don't wish to betray humanity. I'm doing this for humanity!"

He raised his voice in frustration, "Brother Zhou, of all people, you should understand this sentiment."

Great Zhou King grunted as his characters continued attacking, sending numerous shockwaves rippling out. Junior Zhou King also manifested a character. The incredibly powerful character exploded as it met Great Han King's fist. The massive explosion caused even the River of Time to shake. Seeing that, a myriad race Invincible bellowed, "Help him! Stabilize the river!"

At that, multiple Invincibles reached out to stabilize the river. Further away, Liu Wushen continued rushing over even as multicolored rays of light continued shining from his body. As he flew over, he roared and cried madly.

***

Human Realm.

Nanyuan.

Zhang Qi, the future body of Great Han King, frowned. Instead of resuming his attacks, he walked toward the River of Time as he coldly said, "Nobody can stop me!"

With that, he dove into the river.

Inside the ruin, Su Yu was also raging. How could it be...Great Han King?

Impossible!

He had even learned the strength character from Great Han King. He was finding it hard to accept that Great Han King was the traitor.

He wasn't surprised that there was a second traitor since the wrist of the first traitor did not seem to have any symbols. But he had never expected Great Han King to be the second traitor.

Under his lead, Great Han was also one of the strongest prefectures of humanity.

That was also a valiant prefecture. How could the Invincible of such a prefecture be a traitor?

How was that possible?

Several Invincibles were trying to summon their main bodies over, including the Yellow Department head. Noticing the interference to his attempt, the department head shouted, "Little Brother, affirm your dao! Now!" Read complete versıon only at novel-fire.net

Zhu Tiandao gnashed his teeth and said, "Fine. I'll do it right in the Human Realm. Don't blame me for draining Great Xia of its source qi."

Then, the Hundred Dao Pagoda reappeared with his future body. The River of Time appeared beside him as a second Zhu Tiandao walked out. The immortal king, who was Zhu Tiandao's opponent, was also busy summoning his own bodies over. Thus, Zhu Tiandao was free to affirm his dao without any interference.

Meanwhile, numerous Invincibles of both sides converged near Great Han King. In the boundless void, more than ten Invincibles were attacking Great Ming King, but they were only keeping the human Invincibles occupied instead of fighting with their lives on the line.

There was no need to risk their lives. Just keeping these human Invincibles occupied would be enough to achieve their goal.

If Zhu Tianfang was prevented from assembling his main body, he wouldn't be able to handle the other myriad race Invincibles in the Human Realm after they were done assembling their main bodies.

With a roar, First Profound started his dao affirmation as well. The First Divine Sect master did the same. One after another, they began their dao affirmation.

Meanwhile, the myriad race Pseudo Invincibles were left feeling quite helpless. Firstly, they needed carrier treasures if they wanted to affirm their dao as well. Secondly, this was the Human Realm. Were they supposed to affirm their dao in the Human Realm?

Was that a joke?

They might as well kill themselves.

***

In the ruin, Su Yu was feeling more and more furious. And the more furious he was, the faster the flow of death qi into his body became.

It was time to kill all these people. He saw no point in dragging this further. He wanted to kill them all before asking for the stone statue's help in the Allheaven Battlefield. His patience was running dangerously thin.

Boom!

With a furious punch, he blasted Soulcurse of the celestial chasm race apart. But that wasn't enough to kill Soulcurse. Thankfully, the little furball was around to swallow Soulcurse's sea of willpower to seal Soulcurse's fate.

The little furball had almost fully digested the Sunmoon character he had eaten earlier. In fact, he seemed to have advanced into the Mountainsea Realm as some heavenly source qi was descending from the sky upon him. However, Su Yu did not pay it much heed since the ruin was already filled with heavenly source qi in the first place.

But suddenly, a loud rumble rang out. Something seemed to have exploded.

"Su Yu!"

A mournful wail rang out as the ninth-stage Sunmoon who was Soulcurse's dao protector started rushing toward Su Yu madly. Prior to this, he was in the middle of a battle with Qin Hao.

Soulcurse had been killed.

Ranked eighteenth on the Heaven Index, he had been killed.

This was the only Heaven Index genius to have died in this incident. But Su Yu didn't even spare his latest feat much thought. He was still raging at Great Han King's betrayal. Like many others, he found that unacceptable.

How could that be?

That was a founding king, the protector of millions upon millions of human lives. How could he?

More and more death qi leaked out of Su Yu's body.

Suddenly, the mayor's medallion in his sea of willpower shook slightly as a voice rang out, "Keep yourself under control. Your death qi is getting too thick."

"..."

Su Yu was greatly surprised. What?

A message from the stone statue?

Was the stone statue so impressive that he could actually send a voice transmission across realms?

And the stone statue was even capable of monitoring his current state?

***

In the sky.

The stone statue was looking around. He was in a way a big lump of stone. If he remained still, nobody would notice him. He could also be considered a living dead. As long as he remained inactive, even Pseudo Emperors would not be able to notice him so easily.

His gaze seemed capable of penetrating the realms as he observed the battle around Great Han King, the battle around Great Ming King, the battle around Wan Tiansheng, who was rapidly recovering, and the various humans attempting to affirm their dao.

As he looked at all the ongoing events, something felt off.

Liu Wushen was the first to succeed in his dao affirmation. The entire process was surprisingly easy. Instead of trying to kill him, two myriad race Invincibles were keeping him occupied while pulling their punches to avoid harming him. They certainly didn't want to stop Great Han King from returning to the Human Realm.

Elsewhere, the other humans were also madly affirming their dao.

Some were attacked, some were left alone, and some were near completion.

"How odd..."

Something did not feel right to the stone statue. His gaze landed on Great Han King who was battling the two Zhou Kings in the River of Time as his three bodies were finally brought together again.

His gaze then landed on Wan Tiansheng, the Sunmoon who had killed two Invincibles. Why did Great Han King leave a weakened Wan Tiansheng behind instead of killing him? Wasn't that a dangerous person to leave alive? Why did Great Han King give Wan Tiansheng the time to recover?

At least twenty human Invincibles had gathered around Great Han King. The myriad races had about forty Invincibles there. They were battling around the River of Time, with the humans attempting to cut the connection to the Human Realm while the myriad races were trying to protect the connection.

Naturally, destroying was easier than protecting something. Even with forty Invincibles on their side, the myriad races were still having a hard time keeping the connection stable.